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Category Archives: year 1
Mother’s Day
Although people tell me that last year when I was pregnant was my first Mother’s Day, This is my first official Mother’s Day. Motherhood, for me, started the day I finally got to hold my baby boys in my arms, and what a wonderful way to start that new job it was!
First day of Motherhood
Thinking back to my short 6 months of motherhood, I’ve come to some
conclusions. Motherhood is hard, but at the same time the best and most rewarding job I could ever ask for.
I call it a job because that’s just what it is, a job. But it is such a blessing and a praise that I get to do this job every day and I wouldn’t trade it for the world.
As with any new job, you learn as you go. When you start out you don’t really know a whole lot but the longer you do it, the more you learn. And, eventually you learn enough to get by, or at least fool people into thinking you know what your doing. Motherhood is one of the only jobs you can be completely clueless for the first 90 days and not get fired!
Here are some of the things I have learned in the last 6 months:
1) sometimes you do what you have to do to get by. That may mean one baby has to cry while you are dealing the other baby.
2) you may not get a shower everyday…and thats ok
3) the way you do something may not be considered the “right” way to do it, but if it works for you and your baby, it’s the right way for you. (unless its dangerous of course)
4) your house probably won’t be as clean as it one was, or cleaned as often…same goes for the lawn, laundry and anything else that need regular maintenance
5) “me” time is pretty much non existent
6) spit up happens, so plan on changing your outfit at least once a day
7) you need to teach your baby to fall asleep on their own, this is a learned skill
8) when babies learn to sit up on their own, you get some of your freedom back
9) squash and carrots stain clothing, bibs, blankets, etc.
10) Biz is great at getting the above out of clothing, as long as it isn’t set
11) always double check to see if there are wipes in the box before you change a dirty diaper
12) always have a burp cloth handy
13) the more you have on your to do list, the shorter nap time will be, and nap time will NEVER be as long as you want it to be.
14) as a parent of multiples, you gain instant “celebrity” status when you are out and about
15) hearing your children laugh is one of the best sounds in the world
16) You can’t get home soon enough from your “real” job
17) babies wake up waaaay too early, but seeing that face smiling back at you when you go in their room makes it all ok
18) sometimes babies get too stimulated with a lot of people or noises around them
19) you need to take time for yourselves, whether it’s 5 mins or 2 hours.
20) If momma ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy!
The best part of joining the motherhood club is watching your child learn things. It is a feeling I simply cannot put into words. Watching their face when they realize they can do something or helping them one day and a few days later they are doing it all by themselves. That is one of the best feelings in the world.
I am so thankful I was able to become a mom and that God entrusted these two precious boys to Jonathan and I, without them I would be lost!
me and my boys
I have to say that If it weren’t for my mom’s loving devotion and Godly example in my life, I would be lost. She is the only reason I know what to do and how to be a good mother. She has taught me by example to be loving, nurturing, self-sacrificing and patient. All of which are characteristics and attributes a mother should have.
Happy Mother’s Day Momma!!
Sleep Training
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Who would have thought that you could train yourself to sleep? Well, for adults this is difficult, but for a baby it is a necessity. Babies crave the closeness of another human being, mainly their mom and dad, and like to be held and rocked to sleep, after a while they get used to this. This is where the problem lies. The baby gets used to being rocked to sleep and never learns to fall asleep by themselves. Not only does this cause a problem for them at bedtime, but it causes issues related to waking in the middle of the night as well since the baby is not able to fall back asleep by him/herself.
Waking in the middle of the night a lot can cause a whole other problem of the baby not getting enough sleep and then being sleep deprived which can in turn cause….sleep issues. It’s a vicious cycle. Night time sleep issues tends to carry over into nap time problems as well, which again, can cause sleep deprivation.
There are so many different sleep training methods out there and it can be quite confusing when trying to figure out which one you will try. Our boys were about 4.5 months old when we even tried to start sleep training. They would take naps all throughout the day but only 30 mins at a time and we could tell they were not getting enough sleep. The boys have always slept pretty well but they would wake up a few times a night just wanting a pacifier or us to get them back to sleep. When we dropped the middle of the night bottle but were still getting up 3-4 times a night to get them back to sleep, we knew something had to change.
Everything you read says you need to put your child in bed awake, but drowsy. If you constantly put them in bed asleep, they will never learn to fall asleep by themselves and when they wake up in the middle of the night, they won’t be able to fall back asleep. So we make sure we put them to sleep awake, sometimes they are pretty drowsy and sometimes they are wide awake.
We chose to do the cry it out method
After they started going to sleep easier, they would sleep through the night better and by about 5 months they were sleeping 11 or 12 hours straight. They would wake up some through the night but once we gave them their pacifier back, they would go right back to sleep. Of course now that they are teething, it does throw a wrench in things. The last few nights, they have woken up quite upset and had a hard time going back to sleep.
Another thing that helps with sleep training is to keep a consistent bedtime routine. We give the boys their bath starting about 7:00 pm and then get them dressed and let them play a little bit in their room before bottles. Once they drink their last bottle, we put them in their “happy sacks” and say good night. They may whimper for a minute or two, but some nights they don’t. And they usually sleep until the morning. They had been sleeping until 8:30AM or so but the last week they have been getting up about 730 AM so it may be time to make their bedtime a little earlier.
The type of sleep training we did worked for us. It may or may not work for you. Every child is different, even our two are different. Hayden can lay in the bed and cry and then go to sleep, while Ian gets worked up the more he cries and there is no going to sleep after that. So we let Hayden cry a little longer than we let Ian. If you are interested in sleep training your child, just try different avenues and find a solution that works for you and your family. Luckily we did find a solution for our babies and I praise God they sleep well because with two babies getting up all throughout the night, we would never sleep.
6 months old
My boys were 6 months old yesterday…that’s half of a year! In some ways the time has flown by but in other ways it seems like it’s been a full year. They have grown so much in the last month, not only physically but developmentally too. It has been so fun to watch them grow and develop new skills and abilities.
The boys have started eating solid food and Ian really likes it, Hayden not as much…he’d rather drink his food. They have eaten green beans, squash, carrots (neither of them like carrots) and sweet potatoes. We’re waiting to introduce any sweet foods like bananas, apples, etc for as long as we can because if they are like their momma, they’ll develop a serious sweet tooth! 😉
The older the boys get, the more they notice one another and its funny to watch them interact. Hayden likes to touch Ian and be close to him. He will just put his hand on Ian’s back or arm or whatever, as long as he is touching him he’s ok.
Hayden and Ian
Although now Hayden is being a little more annoying than sweet when he tries to be close to Ian. He likes to try to pull on Ian’s Doc Band and the other day, he actually grabbed Ian’s pacifier out of his mouth and attempted to put it into his mouth – haha. But, being the #1 mom that I am, I didn’t really try to stop him once I saw his hand go towards Ian because I wanted to see what he would do. Hehe and he did just as I thought he would!
They are both sitting up really well these days. Ian has been sitting up about a week or two longer than Hayden and its amazing how much difference you’ll see in their strength in just a weeks time. It is so nice to be able to set them on the floor on a blanket with some toys and you can just sit their with them instead of having to hold them. It’s pretty difficult to sit their with two babies and hold both of them.
Hayden 6 months old
Hayden is such an explorer, he loves to see how things work. He can sit there and play with the knob on a drawer or the texture on the walls for 20 minutes and be completely content. He is doing really well at sitting up and loves to sit and play with some toys…as long as you are sitting there with him. He does not like being alone. It’s a good thing he has a built in roommate and playmate! He is coming out of his shell a little and will smile and laugh a lot more now. Hayden rolled over onto his stomach from his back a few weeks ago and sine then there is no keeping him off his stomach to sleep. He rolls all over the crib and absolutely loves to sleep on his tummy. This made Jonathan and I pretty nervous at first, but once they learn to roll over, there really isn’t anything we can do to stop. We were also given a little assurance from the pediatrician who said it was ok for him to sleep on stomach since he is rolling over on his own now. Within 10 seconds of putting him on his back, he rolls over. Hayden also loves to be outside. When he is fussy all we have to do is take him outside and let him sit in the grass or sit in your lap on the porch. Hayden has recently started to “talk” himself to sleep. He will kind of moan, groan, talk, etc when he is sleeping and dozing off. We can always tell when he is about to fall asleep just by listening to him.
Ian 6 months old
I still can’t believe they are all mine and that God trusted us to care for and love these two little boys! I cherish every minute I have had with them (yes, even the times I’m up at 3 AM) and can’t wait for another 6 months when we celebrate their 1st birthday.
Doc Bands
As I have mentioned before, the boys needed to get Doc Bands to help reshape their heads. Both boys have what’s called Plagiocephaly and Brachycephaly. This effects a large portion of twins due to limited space in the womb and a lot end up needing the bands . I knew Hayden would need one the first second I saw him, he was positioned very low in utero and didn’t move positions at all throughout the entire pregnancy. Ian on the other hand wasn’t nearly as bad but still needed one.
The boys got their Doc Bands a week ago and are quickly adjusting to life with a band attached to their head. They are supposed to wear the bands 23 hours a day with only 1 hour off for bath and to clean the band. So far we haven’t had a full 23 hours in the band. At first you are supposed to check them every 3-4 hours and if there is any redness leave the band off until it goes away. Well we’ve had some issues of getting really red and some skin breaking. But we have had each issue addressed by cranial tech, who we are using.
The boys weren’t too sure about the bands at first, but were great and didn’t pull on them or try to take them off or anything.
Ian in his Doc Band
They are sleeping in the bands and honestly, we expected them not to sleep well the first night or two. I don’t think it even phased them! They slept fine with the bands on.
The boys sure don’t let the bands keep them from playing. They love to play in their jumperoo and walker and won’t let that band stop them.
Ian
Hayden
The bands are just a white plastic and very medical like. So to make them a little more friendly and pleasant looking, we added a sticker to the back of each band and their names on the front so we can know which band belongs to each boy. The sticker says “Monkey See” on one and the other says “Monkey Do”…
back of the bands
There is a company in our area that does car wraps called 360 Wraps and they have started doing wraps on Doc Bands and other medical prosthetics for kids. They started out doing a few and it got so big they decided to start doing a once a month party where families can come and get their bands wrapped for free. We missed the April part because we got the band the same day as the party, so we are going to go to the May party and get their bands wrapped. I’ll post pictures once we get them done.
Like I mentioned earlier, there have been some issues with skin readness, rubbing and even skin breaking from the bands. Usually its not that bad and typically clears up in a short period of time. Well, I got Hayden up this morning and took his band off and this is what I saw…
This is what happens when you have a stomach sleeper and his face is pressed against the band all night. It has cleared up throughout the day and looks much better but we are leaving it off until it completely fades away.
We went for our weekly adjustment and there has already been some improvement in both of their head shapes. Both of their heads have grown a good amount so we had to have the bands adjusted so the growth will be redirected in the right ways. We will go back weekly for the duration of treatment and hope to continue to see improvements like we did today.
2 peas in a pod
It was around this time last year (I think April 5, 2010) that we found we were not only have one one baby but having two…our 2 little peas in a pod! Its amazing that a year ago we were looking at a sonogram of two little blobs with heartbeats and now I have two live, happy, healthy baby boys that I can snuggle and kiss on anytime I want to!!
One of my moms sweet friends, Nancy, had some onsies made for the boys and they are absolutely adorable. They have two peas in a pod on the front and on the back of each of the onsies has the first initial of their names.
Since yesterday was such a warm day we put the boys in their onsies and took some pictures of them.
Hayden & Ian
Hayden
Ian
Springtime & Bluebonnets
Ian & Hayden
Here in Texas, spring is all about the Bluebonnets. Any given Saturday or Sunday afternoon in the spring you can catch 5-6 cars on the side of the highway or other street taking pictures in the bluebonnets.
Well we decided to join the fellow bluebonnet picture takers this year. But not on the side of the highway….not with 2 infants! We found a spot close by our house with a TON of bluebonnets, perfect for picture taking.
We went with high hopes of getting some really good shots of the boys, but lets remember, they are infants. Infants that don’t sit up real well by themselves. Ian is really sitting up well these days by himself so that wasn’t a big issue with him, but both were more interested in the bluebonnets than they were looking at the camera!
I got some decent pictures but none really of their faces. Poor Hayden doesn’t really have any good ones of his face because he wouldn’t look up for anything! The only decent picture we got of the boys, my eyes were shut, but because its good of the boys I could care less what I looked like in it.
Me and my boys
Hayden looking at the bluebonnets
Hayden grabbing and trying to eat the bluebonnets
Ian sitting in the bluebonnets
Ian about to eat the bluebonnets
I’m sure next year we will have a whole new set of challenges while trying to get some good pictures in the bluebonnets but I’ll take what I can get!
Weekend fun with mom & dad (as told by Hayden & Ian)
Hayden: Hi this is Hayden…well, Ian is here too but he is too busy laughing at a rock right now to talk. We wanted to tell you all about our great weekend we had with mom and dad.
It started on Thursday when mom came home from work early and was able to play with us. Ian was fussy all day and driving dad crazy, and of course I, Hayden, was the angel all day.
Ian: Hold up… this is Ian, and he was not the angel all day like he wants you to believe. By the way… have you seen this rock?! Look at it! I can’t stop laughing!
Hayden: Whatever Ian… since you’re too busy laughing, I’ll keep telling the story. So for dinner on Thursday night mom wanted us to try some new bottles, I guess you can call them bottles, I don’t know what they were. We liked them though because we could hold onto it and pull it out of our mouths when we wanted and then put it back in when we were hungry again.
Ian & Hayden drinking from their Podee bottles
Ian: Hey don’t forget to tell them about that loud woooo and dance dad was doing during the day! That was crazy!
Hayden: Oh yeah… (chuckle). It was pretty crazy!
So, let’s see, where was I? After dinner we went outside and played in the grass in the backyard. We can’t wait for another year or two when we will be able to run all around the yard chasing Presley or kicking a ball, that will be so much fun. But for now, all we can do is sit in the grass with mom and dad. But that’s just as fun for us because we had never seen this grass stuff before. It’s kind of itchy and feels weird on our feet. Mom took some pictures of us so we can remember our first time in the grass.
Ian - 5 months old
Hayden - 5 months old
Hayden & Ian
Friday was a fun day too. We went and got a lot of pictures taken of our heads for our DOC Bands we are about to get. Mom and dad said they had to take our pictures so we can get a molding done of our heads so the bands will fit correctly and not wobble around or make our heads even more misshaped, we sure don’t want that. The nice lady put this stocking thing over our head to flatten our hair down, because you know Ian’s chia-pet hair is everywhere.
My hair is so short it wasn’t that bad but I still had to wear the stocking , just you wait though, one day I’ll have luscious locks just like my brothers! The stocking didn’t bother either of us, we were big boys and didn’t fuss or cry or anything. Mom and dad said we were champs! Of course mom took pictures – we can’t do anything without having a picture taken, she keeps telling us that one day we’ll be glad she took so many pictures – we’ll have to see about that.
Hayden gets his DSI images for the DOC Band
Ian gets his DSI images for the DOC Band
Ian: After our pictures the physical therapist had to look at them and make sure we got good ones before we were able to leave, so mom and dad had to keep us entertained for a little while. That’s always fun. Nobody entertains us quite like they do. And I think dad wanted to do his loud woo again but I think he was afraid to make too much noise.
Daddy was making some funny faces at us
Hayden getting some tummy time in
Ian's tummy time
Hayden: Friday was a busy day for us and we didn’t take a good nap so we were kind of fussy that afternoon. Mom tried to keep us entertained and put her glasses on us…we looked pretty funny.
Ian wearing mommy's glasses
Hayden wearing mommy's glasses
That night Gramma and Grandpa came over to give us our bath and put us to bed while mommy and daddy went out to eat. Like I said, we were pretty fussy that day so I’m sure Mom and Dad were thankful for a little break.
Saturday morning we woke up and mom and dad brought us into their room and let us lay on their bed for a while before we are breakfast. That was a treat because we don’t get to sleep in their room, they say we need to learn to sleep in our own beds in our own room. After our snuggle time and breakfast in bed we got dressed and went to our cousin, Jake’s soccer game. Then we went to eat with Grammy and Pappa before going to check out our Uncle Brad’s new gymnastics facility. That was fun! We got to watch him and our cousin, Brooklyn, jump on the trampoline and pappa even let us play on a mat with him.
Pappa and Hayden
Ian: Because we were on some really soft mats mommy let us practice our sitting up, we’re getting pretty good at it!
Hayden
Ian
Hayden & Ian
Hayden, Brooklyn & Ian
We were so worn out we slept the entire way home, I think mom even fell asleep too. We had such a fun and busy day that when mom put down to sleep we were out like a light.
This morning we ate our breakfast and then mom gave us some new food to try. We were eating rice cereal before but we got to try some squash today. At first we didn’t know what to think of this new food, it tasted weird and the texture was different. But after a few bites we ended up liking it and ate quite a bit. She said that we will get to try another new food next week, wonder what it will be this time?!
Hayden eating squash
Ian eating squash
Later after we had our morning nap we played on our playmat and Hayden found his feet. I found mine a few weeks ago and love to play with them but Hayden just found his and I think he has a new found love for them as well.
Our cousins Jake and Brooklyn came by to play with us for a little while before our nap on Sunday and we were so hyped up from all the fun with them we didn’t want to take a nap. Eventually we did fall asleep though.
So that was our fun weekend with mom and dad, we don’t want it to end… but tomorrow we’ll get to play with Gramma and then on Tuesday with Grammy.
5 months old
Hayden and Ian
Today my boys turn 5 months old and in the last month, they sure have started acting like little people instead of just baby blobs. I can’t believe how much they are growing and learning. Within the last month we have started a few different things with the boys, two of the biggest are sleep training, which includes scheduled naps in their bed and eating cereal. I’ll have a whole blog post later on sleep training, how we went about doing it, how successful it was, etc. In short, they boys are doing great with their sleeping but there is still some work to be done at nap time.
We started cereal a few weeks ago with Hayden and he just wasn’t ready for it, he kept sticking his tongue out an blocking his mouth as to say “I do not want that, you are not going to put it in my mouth!” So we waited and tried again this past week. We purposely waited until now to start feeding Ian cereal because the pediatrician was she wanted us to wait a little while longer with him due to his reflux and feeding issues. This weekend, both boys actually started eating it and were doing really well. They only eat a little bit at a time, but that’s enough for me. I’m sure they will start to eat more and more as time goes by. If they continue to do well with cereal this week, we may start squash or something else different next week, the possibilities are endless 😉
Hayden
He has started to grab at things and anytime Presley comes around he reaches out for her. Neither him or Ian are afraid of her and actually love to be around her. He is definitely our tactile one, he loves to touch things and feel their texture. Not only that, but he loves to have human contact. He would sit in your lap or next to you all day long if you let him, he just loves to be with someone else and hates to be alone. Good thing he has a brother and playmate to share a room with 😉
Hayden is doing great at sitting up, with assistance of course – but only minimal assistance now days. He as learned to roll over from his tummy to his back (he was the first one to do this) but hasn’t yet learned how to go from his back to his tummy, although he wants to soooo bad. He is talking and babbling a lot as well as making a lot of new sounds. He has learned how to make bubbles (although I’m not sure he knows what he’s doing) and loves to do that while making some of his new found sounds. Most of the pictures you see of Hayden show his serious side, and he is more serious than Ian, but he is also a very happy baby and loves to laugh and smile.
His hair is finally growing! He’s got quite a bit of it but it is lighter than Ian’s so you can’t see it as well. It is also very coarse where Ian’s is very fine.
Ian
He is doing great at sitting up with assistance as well, and loves to stand up. He has rolled over from his tummy to his back and from his back to his tummy (he was first to do this). He doesn’t roll over a whole lot but will when he wants to. Ian loves to play with his toys and will fall asleep playing in his frog exersaucer (Hayden does this too).
Ian loves to talk, babble, laugh, and makes all kinds of sounds. He’ll just sit there making noises for 10 minutes straight. It never gets old listening to him.
He has found his feet and loves to lay on his back and grab them. He even tries to grab them sitting up! I’m just waiting for him to grab them and try to put them in his mouth. I’m sure once he figures out he can, he will.
He is doing great with his reflux. He remains on Prevacid and Zantac, although we have almost weaned him off the Zantac! We tried this once before and it didn’t work, so we gave it a few months and tried again, so far so good – I hope I didn’t just jinx it!!
I say this every month, but the boys are such a blessing and I thank God every day for them. I think back to this time a year ago when we had just found out we were pregnant, but didn’t know there were two. I recently saw a friend say they prayed for their daughter and their son was a blessing. Well, we prayed for one and were blessed with two! Can’t wait to see what this month brings!
4 months old
Our once preemie sized, 4 pound babies are now 4 months old…and NOT 4lbs anymore!! They have definitely gown up and filled out. They had a check up last Friday and are doing great. I believe the doctors words for Hayden were “he is perfect”. Hayden weighed in at 16.5 pounds and 23.6 inches and Ian weighed 13.5 pounds and was 23.2 inches long. We are adjusting both of their medications for reflux. We are going to switch Hayden from Zantac to Prevacid and we are keeping Ian on Zantac and Prevacid. The GI doc wanted us to wean him off the Zantac and we did wean him off the morning dose, but he wasn’t doing as well so the pedi said we can put keep him on both meds, just decrease the Zantac dose a little. She said we can start solid food now if we want to but she would probably prefer to wait a little while longer, especially with Ian. Hayden just downed 10 ounces last night before bed so I’m guessing he is going to be ready to start them pretty soon. They got some more shots and this time they definitely protested to let us know they did not appreciate getting poked.
We are still in the process of getting the DocBands for both boys. We are trying to get everything set with our insurance company so we get some of it covered….they are pretty expensive, and we have 2 to pay for. Hopefully in the next month we’ll be able to get them.
Developmentally the boys have started doing so much and are learning new skills daily, it seems. They are becoming a lot more social and they love to laugh and smile! They both absolutely love bath time and splashing around in the water.
Ian
They are pretty much used to their bedtime routine now and have been going to bed a whole lot easier within the last month. They are sleeping through the night now…well, they aren’t eating in the middle of the night anymore. They still wake up sometimes, but all we have to do is generally give them their pacifier and they go back to sleep. They eat their last bottle about 8:00 PM and then don’t eat again until 5:00 AM. I’d say we are extremely lucky to have both boys sleeping through the night! Now we just need to work on their nap time.
My little chunky monkey, Hayden is still our snuggle bug. He loves to be held and take a nap in your arms. I am all fine and dandy with that because I love to snuggle with him, but remember the whole thing about him being 16.5 pounds, ya that’s kinda heavy when you’re carrying him around all day!! He also loves to smile and laugh. When this boy smiles, his whole face smiles…his eyes light up and all. Hayden also loves to talk but he doesn’t do it as much as Ian. He will sit and listen to Ian talk most of the time, but once he starts he gets on a roll and will talk your ear off too. While Ian thinks its funny to get his clothes taken off, Hayden simply loves having his clothes off. He loves to be in nothing but a diaper. He is our hot natured boy! If he is fussy and we don’t know why, we just start taking his clothes off and usually he’s happy after that, but not always. Hayden actually rolled over from his tummy to his back for the first time about a week ago. He rolled over and had this big grin on his face…priceless!
My little Ian Bian loves to talk and will talk your ear off. I can’t get enough of it and love to hear all his little noises and sounds he’s learning to make. Ooohhh that hair…he has a natural mohawk, It just stands straight up. There is really nothing we can do with it except give in and make it a stylish mohawk instead of just standing straight up. Ian loves it when you take his clothes off, he just thinks its the funniest thing. He is doing great at sitting up (with assistance of course), but his balance isn’t quite there yet. He wants to roll over so bad, he has started to roll onto his shoulder some but hasn’t quite made it all the way over yet. This boy loves to stand up and look all around. We laugh because he is so curious and constantly looks around and watches what everyone does. Take a look at the clip below from the movie UP. Ian kind of reminds us of the dog “dug” in the movie when he meets the boy and old man. He is talking and all of a sudden, mid thought, he gets distracted and yells, “SQUIRREL” and then goes right back to what he was saying. I have a feeling he will keep us on our toes as he gets older and will definitely be our comic relief.
The boys have been such a blessing to us and everytime I look at them I still can’t believe they are mine!