7 Months

Oh my! Where does the time go?! I am so delinquent in posting. My boys are doing great! They have changed so much in the last month or so. They are sitting up on their own, on all fours and rocking back and forth (close to crawling), getting their 2 bottom teeth, and eating solids. They are about 15 lbs. Baby B finally passed Baby A in weight at their last doctor's appointment. He feels so much heavier, but they always weighed and measured about the same. They are only in the 5th percentile still. I am little worried about them being small, but hopefully my little muchkins will catch up at some point.

Baby B looks just like my husband. He continues to do everything first. He is 100% on or off and is totally Mr. Independent. He plays hard and sleeps hard. He is so demanding about his food. He wants it NOW!! He LOVES solids...making "mmmmm" sounds the whole time he is eating. So funny! He is so close to crawling....I put toys out in front of his and he can get on his hands and knees and lunge forward on his belly and then get back up and lunge again. He does this for about 3 feet until he gets his toy. Such a determined little fella!! He rolls and grunts his way to whatever he wants. We call him "tumbleweed" because he just plows down whatever is in his path!

Baby A looks like me. He is my little sweetie. He laughs so easily and is so good natured. He is content to sit and watch his brother explore. He is sitting on his own and getting on all 4's, but not crawling just yet. He likes his food, but isn't quite as obsessed like his brother! He has been talking so much lately. I call it singing because it's like he is hitting a note saying, "AHHHHHHHHH!" It is so funny. He has his favorite toys and lights up when he sees his little Monkey friend. He LOVES electronics. He always wants to see my phone and gasps at the monitor if I am watching his brother taking a nap.

I started going back to work 2 days a week when they turned 6 months old....in fact on the very day they turned 6 months old, which made me feel so guilty. But, the time at work has been good. I love my babies to death, but I was getting a little burned out. It is 24 x 7 x 365. The weekends aren't the weekends....they are more of the same. And while I love spending time with them, IT.IS.EXHAUSTING. Whoever said being a Mom is the hardest job in the world was definitely spot on. I am so lucky because my Mom has been watching the boys on the days I go in to the office. Leaving them with my Mom and having peace of mind is worth so much!

I am still pumping and feeding breastmilk and even to my surprise, I am still keeping up with them. However, I have had a major challenge with the breastmilk....I just discovered that my breastmilk may have too much lipase which is causing it to sour more quickly. I will do a separate post on this in case any of you ever have to deal with this. Long story short, is that I now have to scald my milk after pumping to keep it from going "bad." So, another step in the process, which is time consuming, but I feel like I am giving my babies the best nutrition possible and keeping them from getting sick, so it's worth it.

That's about it from here!

Hope

When I started having trouble conceiving I knew of one acquaintance who had gone through fertility treatments and had a daughter using IVF. I'm not even sure I knew what IVF was at that time! ha! Anyway, over the last 3 years she has become one of my closest friends. She gave me this pillow that says "Hope" on it early in my journey. I hung it on my closet door. Every morning and evening I passed that pillow. Sometimes it gave me that extra boost I needed, sometimes a reinforcement of optimism I was feeling, sometimes I wanted to punch that pillow as I thought, "Hope! What a joke!" during a low point. Now that pillow hangs on the closet of my twins' nursery. Every time I put them down to bed or for a nap I see it and smile. I am so grateful for this gentle reminder to always have hope.

Separate Rooms

When I was pregnant I was sure I wanted my twins either in the same crib or in separate cribs, but in the same room. I read so much about how they had this bond from being in the womb together and how they comforted each other. I don't know if it's just my guys, and it's actually kind of hard to say, but they don't really care all that much about each other. In fact, it wasn't until about a month ago that they even acknowledged each other's existence. Now they will watch each other and smile at one another, but they would still much prefer to interact with adults. Anyway, I have had them in separate cribs, but the same room for quite some time. We got through sleep training (along with some crying), but toughed it out in one room. Everything I read said they will sleep through each other crying. That was true SOME of the time. I truly believe they go through sleep cycles and when they are in a deep sleep, yes, they will sleep through some crazy crying. However, if they are in a light sleep or on the verge of waking up and the other is fussing, they are done. Anyway, the latest challenge is that one of the boys has learned to roll over. Instead of sleeping during naps, he is practicing his new "skill." And he was disturbing his brother. As I began thinking about it, I realized that it is always going to be something. Soon the other one will start rolling, then they will start pulling up, and heaven forbid when they start talking to each other instead of sleeping! After lots of agonizing, I finally decided to separate them into different rooms this week. So far, it seems to be much better for both of them, but there is a part of me that feels sad or guilty or something....like I am breaking a twin bond. I guess I wanted to believe they would have that bond, that need to be together, but I never saw it. Everyone seems to sleep better when they are in different rooms, so I guess we'll go with that for now. I can always put them back together, right?