15 Weeks, 6 Weeks Adjusted

Tomorrow the girls will be “6 weeks adjusted,” that is, 6 weeks from their original due date. We have come really far in these past 6 weeks! We visited the doctor this week and had many triumphs. First and foremost the girls are very healthy and growing stronger every day. They weighed in at 8 lb, 12 oz (Amanda) and 8 lb 13 oz (Jill)! Unfortunately this was an immunization visit and the girls got 3 needles each. As proud as I was of myself for being able to handle my first solo doctor visit with the girls, I was really wishing I had another set of arms if only for hugs after the shots! I can really only hug one baby at a time and it was a miserable feeling to not be able to sprout two more arms so I could comfort them afterwards. Jilly had her first big-girl cry with tears and all! But they were very brave and the crying did not last too long. Before we knew it, we were back in the car and on the way home.

The girls are becoming more awake and alert all the time and starting to notice the world around them. Some of their favorite things are: the red balloon mobile, looking out windows, bath time and hearing mom and dad’s voices. Every morning the girls spend a good hour transfixed by the red balloon and they make little grunty noises talking to it!

All of that is great stuff, but really, the best new developments of the past week or two have been seeing the first smiles and the beginning of our new night time routine. The smiles are not consistent yet, but they are unmistakable and heart-meltingly adorable – times TWO – when they appear. Nothing beats seeing your own baby smile for the first time and we are lucky enough to get it twice as much as the next guy! If you see me in a puddle on the floor, it’s probably because I just melted with joy because both babies smiled at me simultaneously. Send help!

The night time routine was started out of desperation and we had no idea if it would work, but it seems to be going better than we expected and has resulted in one straight week of TWO RESTED PARENTS. OOOMMMMGGGG. Our fingers are crossed that things keep moving in the right direction in this department, but for the past week we have both been able to get some decent stretches of precious night sleep. We were both at the end of our rope as far as sleep deprivation and we were so done with being slaves to this so-called “on-demand” feeding schedule. Whoever thought that babies should be able to have a say in how often they eat, didn’t have twins. OMFG. No one was happy in the house. The babies were eating every two freaking hours no one was getting any rest and it was pure hell. So one night we decided to throw down. It was time for the parents to set the schedule and impose a consistent bed time routine for the girls AND for the parents. The first few nights didn’t go that great, but after a few days, my god, it started working! The girls are starting to recognize their room as the night time sleep place and they now sleep in their own cribs instead of sharing. As cute as that was, they were waking eachother up too frequently. We also have a “last bottle of the night” routine that the whole family participates in, comeplete with pajama changing, dim lights and soft music. We feed the girls quietly and put them down to sleep. After a few nights in a row of doing this we had minimal fussing and the girls usually quiet right down and sleep, sometimes as much as 6 hours (!!!) until they need to eat again. Can I get an AMEN? No seriously, can you please pray for us that they keep doing this? Thanks.

Our new sleep schedule combined with the onset of spring and the introduction of the double stroller into our lives has opened several new doors for me and the girls for our days. It feels like the end of our indoor wintertime prison sentence is coming to an end and we are ready for some real adventures! As soon as cold and flu season is over we’ll have so many more options too. For now we’re just going to stick to bringing the girls to their doctor appointments and for walks in the neighborhood. But when we are in the clear from RSV season we’ll be able to go to public places if we want. I am still terrified by the thought of that, but I’m sure we’ll figure it out!