6 months!

holy toledo, 6 months already?!




stats from today's appointment:
summer: 15 lbs 6 oz
emsley: 15 lb 14 oz


(summer left, emsley right)

a few things about my 6 month old babies:
-they love to watch their cousins play. nothing more entertaining than watching a crazy 4 year old playing with his toys.
-still great little sleepers! they go to bed around 6:30 and wake up around 6.
-summer loves to sleep on her side all curled up or on her tummy. she goes to sleep usually without a peep once I put her in bed.
-emsley...not so much. she likes to lay in bed and whine and fuss for about 20 minutes before falling asleep. luckily summer sleeps through it all.
-they love to roll over! front to back, back to front, and repeat!

nursery time

I finally decided to separate summer & emsley into different cribs when they would practically roll up on top of each other. not safe! thankfully, they love their separate cribs! it took a little getting used to, but now they love to roll around and stretch all over the place. I think they also like to coo and scream just so that they know they aren't alone in the room.
they "talk" to each other--its cute :)



I painted the rocking chair, changing table, and then this dresser:

this dresser was a disaster to sand and paint. Maybe it was because I was 30 weeks pregnant and doing it, or maybe it was because it was a rainbow of colors underneath. If you can see in the picture, it had first a layer of cream, then purple, then green, and I painted it orange without sanding any of it away (great idea?) so I had to get all that junk off and start fresh with the blue that I love. then I coated it with polyacrylic and ta-dah!

before:

after:

love!

my latest {beauty} favorites

and now for a post that has nothing to do with babies, and everything to do with some of my latest and greatest product finds.

neutrogena naturals purifying pore scrub
first off is this great scrub that I recieved as a gift (thanks mom!)
I love a good exfoliating scrub, and this one is really fine-grit so you can use it daily. I also love how it lathers like a face wash but leaves my face feeling like a cream cleanser does.

the next two are what I like to call mad-dash products. these are things that get amazing reviews on different beauty blogs and suddenly there is a this crazy hysteria get to the store to buy it (um, butter london nail polish anyone?)

urban decay primer potion
so I try to avoid getting caught up in the craziness, but the urban decay primer potion is really worth the hype if you wear eye makeup.
google it. you will love it. enough said.


maybelline instant age rewind eraser dark circles (in "brightener")
I've tried a ton of eye products that range from really expensive to dirt cheap. I love it when a drugstore product (like this) works BETTER than a sephora high-end brand product. I have yet to find an undereye brightener better than this (my last favorites post included benefit's eye bright pencil, which I still love, but this product beats it up)
behold:


this lotion gets me out of my fall-winter-nastiness gloom. if something could smell like the opposite of winter, this would take the prize. it smells SO so so SO good!


and finally, a hand cream that I first bought randomly in an airport Body Shop store, and it was my instant favorite hand cream EVER EVER EVER. this coming from someone with hands as dry as a desert...

5 months!

5 months old today and finally a smiling picture!


tickle tickle!




--Just this week we started having the girls sleep in separate cribs (more to come on that later). They definitely love to stretch out and move around in their own little space, but I think its making it hard for them to fall asleep!

--They are eating 5 times a day and taking 2 long naps and 1 short catnap

--Summer has figured out that she can roll onto her side from her back...

--Both girls love to coo and talk, especially when we are talking.

--Emsley likes to let out a big scream and then look around like "Did I do that?"

We love our happy girls!

(emsley on the right in all these pictures)

reading

I hope these girls love reading as much as I do! I think we're off to a good start...




Okay, okay. So we really only ever read one book. They haven't told me that they're sick of it yet, so we'll continue to read it over and over and over.

Summer


Emsley

eep! cuteness!

this will melt your heart.

there is nothing that melts my heart more than seeing these two little girls start to love each other. more and more every day!
this is the first time I got it on camera.
having twins is such an amazing blessing! how did I get so lucky?!


and on that note:
our waiter at chili's on Friday night looked at me and Joel and the babies and said,
"Wow...I feel really sorry for you...."

and to him I say: I feel sorry for YOU! you have no idea what you're missing out on!

operation "crib sleepers"

operation crib sleepers was finally put into action last night.
for the past two weeks I've had this conversation with joel:
"tonight the girls are going to sleep in the crib for the first time..."
"ok"
then come around 8:00, this decision starts to look less and less appealing. I start getting tired, babies start getting fussy, and mama just wants some peace and quiet. which means just putting them in the car seats and having them sleep without a peep for the next 9 hours.

at which point I tell joel, "actually I'm going to do it tomorrow night because...
...we need to wait for the weekend,
...we need to get a bumper for the crib,
...they had a hard day,
...I had a hard day,
...the crib is too big,
...actually, the crib is too small,
...actually, we need two cribs,
...they need sleepsacks,
...they need a glowing seahorse..."

but alas, I motivated myself enough by reading sad stories of babies that died sleeping in their carseats (thanks, google).

so last night was rough. and mama is VERY tired today.
but....they did it!
emsley slept through the night like a champ. summer put up a good struggle but ended up falling back asleep when she woke up at 2 and then again at 4.

the first night is the hardest, right? tonight is going to be better than last night, right? RIGHT??!?!?!
and I never thought I'd say this, but that glowing seahorse? best purchase ever.



and an update on this morning's nap: turns out that sleeping next to a pillow is much more enjoyable than sleeping next to something that won't stop tossing and turning and kicking

"they look like Joel!"

to all those wondering who the girls take after, I leave you this:

a picture of me around 6 months:

look a little familiar? :)



(I need to get a baby picture of Joel for a real comparison!)

4 months old!

We love them so much!




(Emsley on right in all of them)

4 months and....
Eating 5-6 times a day now

Sleeping from about 8:30-6 without a peep (YAY!)

Smiles every day! Except when my camera is out...seriously, these smiles are elusive!! Its driving me crazy that I can't get it on camera!

Getting super strong! They hold themselves upright like little champs!


They can roll over from tummy to back when they get mad enough, but not from back to tummy just yet. I'm sure its right around the corner!

going bald and enjoying bumbos

Lets compare a few photos...
Look at all that dark gorgeous hair!


And now a day away from 4 months:


Wahhhhhh its falling out and they're going bald! (especially emsley on the right!)


I loved that they had such dark hair like their daddy, but alas it appears as though they are going to be little blonde babies like I was.

They love their bumbos. They sit and look around and love life*.

(you see? emsley even gives it a thumbs-up)


*for approximately 5 minutes and then WAHHHHH GET ME OUT OF THIS THING!!!!!!

Feeling lucky

These little lovies slept for 9.5 hours last night!

We've slowly been creeping back their bedtime and thankfully it hasn't affected when they wake up (always around 6-7 each morning) so last night they went down at 9 and didn't make a peep until the morning!
They started sleeping through the night about a month ago, but still going to bed late around 11. Now I am so excited for these earlier bedtimes. :D

Maybe this is their way of making it up to us after a very very very rough first few weeks. Joel and I both agree that having newborn preemie twins has got to be the hardest thing ever. Having a preemie baby is hard enough, but two of them...bad news bears. Colicky at night, horrible reflux/gas, trouble breathing, even more trouble eating....need I continue? I will admit that Joel and I both had our emotional breakdowns, thankfully not at the same time. And now all that is just a big blur and I can't even remember how we got through it.

I feel so blessed that I get to stay at home and spend every day taking care of my cute little babies. They smile like crazy these days, but I've yet to get a good picture of it!

life these days

How about an update?
Well, we're finally getting into a good routine. The girls take a lot of naps during the day, which is a lifesaver for me when I need to get things done...or just SLEEP. Who am I kidding? I just use that time to sleep.

We follow a strict "feed one, feed both" and "one up, both up" schedule. If Emsley wakes up early, Summer also gets a wake-up call. This is the best thing to do if you have twins and ever want to get a wink of sleep. Thankfully they are usually awake and hungry within five minutes of each other anyway--I mean, they do share the same DNA, so why not the same schedule?

Speaking of being hungry, holy growth spurt! In the morning after sleeping all night they each drink 6 oz!! I'm still pumping about 80% of the time and nursing the rest of the times when they aren't too fussy and want to make an attempt. Its an ongoing process, thats for sure.

They are finally starting to make cooing noises and smile for us! Oh it just melts my heart!

Blue eyes?! I thought for sure they would turn brown, but alas it appears as though I have two blue-eyed babies. They get it from daddy. :)

Okay, enough talk. Here is what you really came for:

We love to play! (Summer on right)



Summer--hehehe


Emsley on right

our (boring) weekend in pictures

saturday morning...emsley (right) is giving a little grin!
these girls don't smile much yet, but its super cute when they do!


lazy weekend mess/naptime


shopping


double duty daddy



Can't believe the girls are already 3 months old!

Emsley Claire

My little Emsley,
You are an angel, plain and simple :)
I will never forget the day at Vanderbilt's NICU when Dr. Pope came to talk to me about your surgery. We left your room to go to a conference room where he could draw out the procedure. He discussed with me all sorts of worst case scenarios that could affect the rest of your life. I was left completely and utterly disheartened.
When I walked back into your room, you were laying swaddled in your crib staring up at that sea creatures mobile with those huge, beautiful eyes and such a happy face. It was the first time I had seen you wide awake and tracking that mobile with those huge eyes.
I was so happy to see that you were so peaceful, but it also broke my heart that I couldn't take you with me. After crying all the way home, I realized just how much I love you.

You are such a patient baby. Your sister will scream and fuss only inches away from you in the crib and you just go on sleeping! You don't cry as much as your sister, but when you do cry, you let it all out like its the end of the world. I think you are a dramatic little baby, and daddy calls you a drama queen.

Nana described you with a perfect word: inquisitive. Yes you are! When you are awake with those huge eyes, everything seems so interesting to you. Thankfully by now you've learned to put yourself to sleep--you used to just lay wide awake looking around at everything and not sleeping.
Emsley, you make the most adorable little "billy goat" noise. It makes us laugh every time. You also have the most dramatic frowny sad face I ever did see. It is literally a smile turned upside down. We love you so much! And more and more every day!

Summer Kate

My sweet Summer,
You are my "little love"! You were born first and cleared the way for your sister to get out so easily. When you were born the nurses warned me that you had bad facial bruises because of the forceps, but when I saw you I was surprised how beautiful you were. You were perfect, even with those little jaundice sunglasses on. You weren't even a week old when one of your doctors told us that you were much more feisty than your sister (apparently you kept screaming when you had a barely wet diaper). I didn't believe she could tell that early, but its true. You are feisty!

I don't want to ever forget the moment that the NICU nurse wheeled you into our "rooming in" room at the hospital and said "Well, good luck. Have a good night!" and walked out. Daddy was at school, so it was just you and me and a silent room. You were finally free from the NICU and it was the most surreal feeling to know that you were mine at last.
Those first few nights were rough. You hated being in the dark and just wanted to be held and snuggled.

You pucker your lips and arch your neck when you first wake up, and it looks like you are posing for toddlers & tiaras. It makes me laugh.
We call you our little "grumbles" because you are very noisy and grumbly. We've only had you for three months, but already you have taught us so much about being patient. Some nights you just cry and cry and cry...and then sleep forever. You don't always have a reason for your crying, but I think you just like to hear your own voice.
Your daddy thinks that you are going to be very smart when you grow up (because you are).
You were the first to smile at me and melt my heart, and you have a very playful personality. Sometimes I put you in your bouncy chair and you play happily with the plastic links that hang down.
I love everything about you!

(emsley, your post is next...don't feel left out)