Life with Twins and their 4 month stats

I have never thought of writing about how we do things with twins, I mean make it work everyday with two babies.  I thought it would be fun to write a little about it.

So daily schedule a bit:

Matthew and I both get up at night.  When we hear them crying, I get up first, go make bottles while Matthew starts changing diapers.  We each feed one while we sit in the dark on the bed.  Side-note:  Middle of the night conversations usually aren't a good idea, especially when Matthew is not really awake.  The babies usually only get up once a night now.

Then in the morning after Matthew has left, I hear the little guys waking up.  It's always different who wakes up first, but in the last few weeks it has been John more than James.  I grab one baby with one arm then put my arm under the second baby, flip him into my arm safely.  With both babies in each arm, I make my way downstairs, change diapers, make bottles, and feed them.  The reclining chair is where I feed them both at the same time.  I flip up the bottom of the chair and lay each baby on each of my legs, with the side of the chair helping each one stay put.  Then I feed.  It's getting harder now.  The babies are bigger and aren't fitting as easy on my lap.  Also, both of them have found how fun it is to smack their bottles with their hands while they eat and they often smack them out of their mouths so there's a lot of adjusting going on.  However, in a few more months they will probably be able to hold their own bottles, so I am just being patient.  If I have to burp one in the middle of feeding, which I always do, I stop feeding the other and sit the guy up on my lap.  The other baby waits impatiently until it's his turn to be burped.  Then after I finish feeding them, I get them sitting on my lap, grab one with each arm, get up, and help them onto the floor, where I let one lie on the floor for a while while I put the other one in the exersaucer (spelling?).  Then I try to make them happy for another forty minutes until their naps.

Naps...

That is another story.  They are actually fairly good nap takers.  But we live in an apartment, with the babies room upstairs.  It is getting exhausting for me to haul them up for each of their three naps a day. If I take both at the same time on the stairs I often get too tired and doing one at a time makes me use the stairs a lot.  So....sometimes I brave the stairs, and other times I try to get them to sleep downstairs.  I just lie them on the floor or in the swing, turn off the lights, and make the kids play upstairs.  They will usually sleep for about fifteen to twenty minutes this way.  This isn't very long, but it's a nap at least.  If they sleep in their rooms, Nathan and Mary often wake them up from playing.  I am always telling the kids to be quieter, but there's not a lot of places to play in this apartment.  Sometimes when the babies are upstairs, I make Mary and Nathan come down and watch a show.  But someone is ALWAYS forgetting something upstairs and running up there singing before I can catch them.  Ah~!

We play the feeding, playing routine over and over.  Someone often needs to be helped and usually one or both babies need my attention constantly.  It really is physically tiring, but I am grateful for the Lord's help in this.

In the afternoons if I am lucky and one baby wakes up before the other, I will feed one baby at a time.  It is easier.  It takes longer, but I can snuggle and hold them better and not deal with all that comes with feeding two at a time.  Usually this happens once a day or less.  I love it when Matthew is home to help.  Things seem to go much smoother!!  Another person's hands help so much.  In the evenings, we both take one to feed.  Matthew has given me a few breaks and fed both of them before they go to bed.  Matthew does not get enough breaks...and neither do I!  But we have learned how much we need each other and we both have to give a full effort.

We used to take turns with Mary and Nathan and now it takes us both working full time in the evening.  At first it was a big change, but now it is getting more normal.  It is still busy, but it is life.

I remember Matthew holding both crying babies during dinner time and trying to rock them and he had been doing it for about twenty  minutes.  He turned to me and said:  "I would never have known how hard twins were until I had them myself." (That is not a normal Matthew line) I sometimes want to tell him how hard it is all day by myself (and I have told him), but I think he knows....mostly :)  We both help each other and we truly do both work hard.  I am grateful for his sacrifice for our family.

So I really am doing well!  It is super busy at our home and just getting through the day is the best we can do most days, but we are extremely blessed.  I have about three good days in a row where I feel good and not too tired and am happy and then I have a "break-down" day (I'm just going to be honest about it) where I don't know how to keep going.  I ask Matthew to hug me, and just have to let a lot of things go when I get that exhausted.  I don't clean those nights and I usually call my mom to tell her how it is going.  I also try to get out once a week on my own.  That is all!  Going out with all four kids is....ridiculous.  I have done it a few times and it was completely exhausting!  I am sure it will get easier when they are bigger.  Those nights I go out for about an hour or less, Matthew is exhausted when I come back!

Everyone I talked with who had twins told me it was hard, and overwhelming at times.  It really can be.

I am happier though, healthier, less-stressed than I was years ago even with the babies.  It is hard, but not as hard as it used to be and that has put a lot of things in perspective for me.  The Lord does bless us in interesting ways.  Mary and Nathan and me sick = twenty five times harder than it is now (I am being serious).  I love Him and I try to remember every day that the Lord just wants what is best for me, with all of my trials and with my blessings.  He knows me and if I strive to follow his pathway, I find happiness even if it is in the "small and simple things."  But "with small and simple things, great things come to pass."  (not looking at Alma 37 so not sure if completely on).

Here's the Twins Four Month Stats:
James - 14 lbs 4 oz.--23 percentile
Height:  25 in. - 38 percentile
Head:  42 1'4 in. - 39 percentile

John - 14 lbs 5 oz. - 24 percentile
Height:  25 in. - 38 percentile
Head:  43 in. - 58 percentile