2 Months Old

The boys turned 2 months old today and I can't BELIEVE how time has flown. Somehow 8 weeks sounds like a lot less time than 2 months. Both boys continue to do very well and are growing like weeds, way to fast if you ask me. We have yet to go to the dr. for our latest stats.

This month the boys have started sleeping in one crib in their room. The night time routine is getting better and they usually go down to bed between 9:30-10:30pm. They have slept through the night once but typically sleep for 5-6 hours for the first chunk, nurse and then go back to sleep for anywhere from 2-4 hours. Since they've moved over to their room, about a week ago and knock on wood, they haven't spent any time in the swing or bouncy chair at night. Both boys are still swaddled and look like long mummies. However in the next week or so I'm sure they will each get to keep one arm out of the swaddle. Hopefully this will not only help them soothe themselves but also because they tend to work really hard and get frustrated until they get one arm out.

During the day they still sleep quite a bit, but when they are awake we try and spend time on the playmat on the floor either on our backs hitting at toys or on our bellies working on head control and looking at toys. Awake time has been getting more and more fun as the boys have started smiling and interacting with us and enjoy vocalizing. For the time being Justin is my flirt and just has this adorable cute smile. Ryan smiles and then usually follows it up with making lots of sound and just captivates you and reels you in!! They are also better able to grasp objects such as rings, and my hair, hence one of the reasons I got it chopped off!!

Nursing, I'm still exclusively breastfeeding the boys which has been difficult more so in the time that it takes more than anything else. I haven't completely given up on tandem nursing but it has not gone as well as I had hoped and is very difficult when I'm here by myself. The boys nurse every 2-3 hours during the day. I had been stressing about keeping them on the same schedule, so I let it go a little bit this month. But having them get off schedule makes life even more difficult so I think I will again try to keep them closer together with their nursing sessions this month. They boys have found their hands and this has helped not only in self soothing but also an easier much nicer, quieter way of letting me know they are getting ready to eat instead of just screaming once they are really ready.

Some questions we've gotten this month regarding having twins is do they tend to look for one or the other of you to be comforted. My answer to that is mostly no, it seems like we hold Justin more often because he seems to be on edge a little bit more, but honestly Justin seems to be becoming a Mama's boy. He will be smiling and laughing with me, just have eaten and changed and be fine and then I leave and he tends to fuss for whoever is watching him, until I return. But this isn't to say that when I'm around he's not fussy or that I can calm him any better than anyone else. I've also been asked can you believe you have twins, or do you ever think Wow I have twins. My response to this is that when it's hectic--no believe me I'm quite aware of the fact that not only do I have twins but also a toddler. But when it's all calm and Abigail is sleeping and it's just the two boys and myself, I often think "WOW-- I have twins and I carried both of these beautiful boys inside me for almost 9 months. The last twin thing that really isn't a question is just their sense of knowing when the other is upset. They can be in different rooms and if one fusses the other starts as well, thankfully this doesn't seem to be true at night, even though I wake them both to eat at the same time.

Other things that have occurred this month have included your First Halloween, your Baptism and your First Thanksgiving--I hope to blog about the later two even though I have yet to do so. Life tends to be busy and blogging doesn't always happen when or even as often as I would like. But there you have the the long and short of it. It's been another fun month, at times long, but very rewarding and always a learning experience.

Smiley Man

Both boys have started smiling much more these days. Justin will smile anytime that he gets near Mommy or when you tickle his feet. He also is starting to really enjoy interacting with his mobile, rings or other toys that you dangle in front of him. This video is of Justin talking, smiling and hitting at the rings attached to his mobile on the upstaris swing. He was so proud of himself and so are we!! Way to go Justin, keep smiling.

1st night in a crib

Last night the boys slept in a crib together for the first time. They had been sleeping in the pack n play in our room. They both did great!! Ryan went for 6 hours and Justin for about 6.5 hours before they woke up to nurse. They were both a little unsure of going back to sleep in the crib but after some tears and screams of protest, being reswaddlded and some Mylicon all was well and they continued to sleep for 3 hours--Justin and 4 hours for Ryan. Good job boys!!!

Sleeping through the night!!

Last night BOTH boys slept THROUGH the night in the pack n play!!! Yesterday was a long day for them with the baptism and our schedule was off but that didn't seem to hurt them at all. Justin nursed at 10pm and Ryan around 10:30pm and Ryan woke up at 5am and we woke Justin up at 5:20am to nurse!! They are not yet in their crib, which is the goal for this week, we have to put a monitor in their room first. But not only did they sleep through the night , they did so in the pack n play and not the swing or the bouncy chair!!! Who knows how often this will happen and whether or not this is a sign of things to come but after a long day, I'll take it!!

Our First Snow

Thursday night we got our first dusting of snow. It was enough to cover the grass and was a very wet snow--perfect for making a little snowman. Although the grandparents have had snow at their houses already this year and Abigail has seen snow there, this was the first time we've had snow at our house since we've lived here. It was a little late at night for Abigail to go out playing, but she had a late afternoon nap and was so excited that it was "Snow Time." Also it was the boys first snow--so we bundled them up in their warm bear outfits and took their "first snow" pictures and got them back inside, then Guy and Abigail worked on making a snowman and Zoey ran around in the cool air.

Snuggles with Daddy

The bed time routine is to get Abigail down around 8:00 and then start swaddling the boys and feeding them around 9:30 so that both of them are down a little after ten. Tonight, Abigail went down as usual and so did Justin. Ryan however had a rough time falling asleep so I help in the rocker for awhile until he calmed down as was willing to fall asleep. Around that time however Abigail woke up crying (she had been feeling sick). She was crying so hard that I went into her room and found her sitting up sobbing. I picked her up and held her but as soon as I started to put her back in she broke out in tears again. So I decide to have her cuddle with me in the rocker which was really special. She just laid on my lap perfectly still and we both drifted in and out of sleep. Mommy came by to check on us which was good, although Abigail got upset when she left the room. We stay cuddled in the rocker for about an hour or so and once Abigail had fallen asleep I carried her back to the crib where she slept just fine. It was some of the best cuddle time we have ever had : )

Nicknames

So how did you name your kids? What nicknames do you or they have and how did they get them and lastly do you like them? Nicknames are difficult sometimes it something simple that just ends up sticking, like "guy" and often it's ok. But how you deal with it or what do you do if you don't like the nickname that someone has given you or your children. When we named Abigail we knew and still do know that some day if she chooses she may be an Abbey (with any various spellings) and at the time we liked that. However now we always call her Abigail and can't imagine ever calling her anything differently. I often wonder when others call her Abbey if she even knows they're talking to her or what she thinks of a name she's not used to being called. I'm almost surprised that she doesn't correct them, becuase she tends to correct everyone about almost everything including when we call Zoey by any of the random nicknames that we have for her. Many of the nicknames that we do have for Abigail are very random and we don't even really know where they came from and it's odd for me to hear others use these nicknames for her even though we do.

So this time around knowing how bothered I get or how I just don't think Abbey fits Abigail for a nickname we put a lot of thought into the boys names--trying to find names that didn't have nicknames per say. In fact it's one of the reasons we ruled out some names that we really liked. However we quickly found some nicknames for the boys as did others. Ryan is my "Little Dude" and Justin is my "Little Man" although I really call both of them both names. The other thing that I've caught myself doing, is saying can you get me "the other one". It's something I must say I'm not proud of because it would be so much nicer to say can you get me "his brother" or even use their names--Guy is much better at this than I am. What really made me think of this again was when I put them in Thing 1 and Thing 2 onesies--very cute, but not really nice I suppose, especially since I'm trying to get better about using their names. I guess even though Guy and I both go by our nicknames it's odd to say that I typically don't really like nicknames. Yet there are the small few that we've chosen for the kiddos that change over time and as new ones emerge the old ones are hopefully left behind but not forgotten.

When it rains it pours

I so often blog about our family and the kiddos, after all the name is Five and a Dog. This weekend my good friend Ami came down to visit us and spend a long weekend. So today I'm blogging about my afternoon/evening with Ami. Almost the whole time she has been here it's been raining or at least misty, foggy and cold. Yesterday we went shopping and of course right as we headed out of Khol's it started to POUR and we got SOAKED. Well as the saying goes "when it rains, it pours" --this could not have been more true. When we got to the Explorer we found that the battery was not working properly, so after a couple of calls to Guy we figured out what to do and got it under control but not after our clothes were completely soaked. You'd have thought that that might have put an end to our shopping trip but no, off to Target we headed. The rain had mostly subsided to a drizzle by this point but again when we got out of Target the battery wasn't working quite right. So Ami was kind enough to go "fix" the problem while I tried to start the car, needless to say I pulled up so far, in our VERY close parking spot--something that never happens at Target, that she had to jump over and basically in the bushes to get to the hood. Then to make matters worse apparently I forgot to say ok and our communication was lacking as I tried to start the car and sparks were flying-- in the end no damage was done just a surprised Ami, but the car started and we headed home to get warm and some food and drink. The whole experience was a good opportunity to share a good laugh and create a funny memory with a great friend.

Time Well Spent

We haven't had a chance to blog lately becuase time is precious and life has been very busy. We've been blessed with lots of visitors and lots of help and yet there often seems to not be enough time in the day to get everything or anything done. So as it was time to go to bed tonight and Ami and I were trying to decide whether or not to stay up and watch TV or go to bed. We talked about how I never know what the nights hold or when we'll be up again so we said good night and off to bed we went. Well last night that was deffinitely the right choice, not because the boys were up a lot or that it was a long night, but because it gave me cuddle, snuggle and quiet time with each of my boys. Ryan had a rough time falling asleep and maybe I just wanted to hold him a little bit longer while he's still so young, so we rocked on the rocker. Then Justin decided that he too needed a little Mommy time, I swear they know when the other is being held and know how to work me (and probable always will) so Justin cries, Ryan smiles because he's being held and then drifts off to sleep. So after Ryan gets back down I held Justin rocked him and then fed him--Ryan still had a few peeps and Justin smiles becuase now he's the one being heldand fed and then off to bed we all went.

Sleeping Beauty

If my boys could sleep on their bellies they certainly would, especially Justin. Today he decided that instead of working his muscles and his head control for tummy time he'd just take advantage of the pillow and use the time to sleep on his tummy. Eventually he took his head off of the pillow and just laid his head down on the play mat. It was so cute I couldn't resist taking a ton of pictures. He then just kept getting cuter and put his little bum up in the air and so I kept snapping pictures.

A story by Abigail...

Once upon a time there was a dog who went woof, and he went for a walk to the farm. Then he hid and he had something to eat--a bone, then he sat in chairs and he saw something and a big hug and gave a big a kiss and then he saw a man, then saw mommy and babies and tvs and some toys to play with, then he saw me and gave mommy a hug and kiss....(and then we started over at the beginning with once upon a time)....

Usually Abigail likes Guy to tell her stories and she lists all the things that are to be in the stories, generally starting with sharkie and the princess and various other things. Today she told me the story while we were sitting on the couch. So she looks around and names the things that are in the room and put them together as noted above, pretty smart and imaginative for a 25 month old, ok so I may be a little biased. Since this was the first time that she put so much together I started typing as she was telling me the story.

Little Bo Peep and her Sheep

Little Bo Peep and her Sheep had a great time "halloweening" according to Abigail. We tried to convince her that it was trick or treating which she thought was ok. Abigail even learned the words to Little Bo Peep but was too shy most of the time to say it without a lot of prompting.

In the early afternoon we tried to go see Mom Wetzel who wasn't feeling well and then we headed over to Grandma and Grandpa's house. In the early evening we hit a couple of neighborhood houses and then over to the Pro's for a Halloween Open house and trick or treating around their townhouse development with a bunch of other little kiddos. Since it was such a warm night we even took the boys out with us and carried them.

We had a great time and it was nice to get out with friends not only for me but also Abigail. She talked all the way home about how fun trick or treating was and how she liked playing toys and getting candy!! The boys did very well and were cute as could be in their sheep costumes.

Saturday Nana and Pop-pop came over to check out the costumes and Abigail thought she was going trick or treating again...sorry Little Bo Peep not today. But it was a good opportunity to take a TON of pictures of the little ones all dressed up together without being rushed and Abigail could be bribed by the candy that she got the night before!! She has since talked about it almost everyday and even told Guy when he got home from work that she went trick or treating again on Mon. Silly girl....

Some One on One Time

It is often really difficult for any of us to find one on one time with anyone else in the house, but this weekend in addition to our family fun including Halloween and another trip to the river, we were all able to do so.

Guy and Abigail...they usually to get the most one on one time..going to church and working in the yard, playing in the basement and bath time tend to be some of the things they do a lot together.

Guy and the boys..well Guy got some of this time as well but not exactly the time that you may want. He got time alone with Justin listening to him scream for no apparent reason, while rocking him on the rocker trying to keep him out of hearing distance for the rest of us. I'm not sure what alone time if any Guy got with Ryan this weekend but he was part of the special bottle that Abigail gave to Ryan--and it was nothing like what giving a bottle was like to Abigail.

Me and the boys...usually that's what it is with little time with just one or the other. Ryan and I got some great snuggle time in bed after nursing one morning and we also were able to read some great books together that their great aunts have sent to them. Justin and I spent some time with him laying in his crib watching his mobile and he had huge smiles-probably his first real smiles.

Abigail and I...we got a lot of time together but not just the two of us and she and I got some special time playing in her house with her Alphabet puzzle.

Abigail and her brothers...Abigail got in Justin's crib with him and watched the mobile with him and just enjoyed time the two of them. They also got a big bath together with Guy's help. Abigail also gave Ryan his bottle all by herself for the first time with close supervision by Guy.

Guy and I..yes we too also got some alone time when Nana and Pop-pop watched all of the kiddos so we could get out and go to a nice dinner just the two of us!! It was close by and we were only gone for about an hour and a half but it was time well spent away from the house.