Life With Twins

A few people have asked what it is like to have twins so I thought I would do a post about how my life has changed.

This might be lengthy so if you don't have time to read the post, in a nutshell this sentence should sum things up...I started this post over a month ago and I just now have time to finished it and publish it.

I'm busy!  Things are always a little crazy at first with a new baby, but with two new babies it is relentless. All of my time is taken in the care of the babies.  I feed them, dress them, try to find time to pump and then if there is time and the babies are sleeping or happy I have time for the laundry and chores.  I occasionally have time to email, but not daily like I would like or used to do.  I don't get to spend as much time with Kimball and Rebecah as I would like or they need and want.  I feel bad about this, but as the babies get older I hope I can find time for all of my children.

Before the babies were born I had a lot of concerns, but thankfully, most of those concerns have not been reality.

Before the babies were born I thought I would never get out of the house.  The reality is that I need to get out of the house so I don't go crazy.  Going out and running errands helps me feel normal.  I went grocery shopping with Joseph when the babies were 2 weeks old just to get out.  I now run errands a few times a week just me and the babies.  Thankfully, most people I encounter have soft spots for babies so when you have two babies they go out of their way to be helpful and then I reward them with a peak at the babies.

Before the babies were born I thought I would be a zombie from lack of sleep.  While it is true that I am tired every single day and I usually go weeks without a nap, I don't feel like a zombie.  I also go to bed pretty much as soon as the babies are settled for the night and I'm ready for bed.  I have gotten faster with our routine and when Joseph is home to help the babies are usually settled by 8:30 and when I'm running solo it might be another 15 minutes.  Joseph is able to get up with the babies a few nights a week when he doesn't work early the next morning.  It is nice that Joseph's work schedule varies so much.  If he weren't able to help at night it would be much harder.  The weeks he is on call are a little harder since I don't get help for 5-6 nights in a row.  When I have to go 2-3 nights in a row getting up 3-4 times and I start to feel really tired I just pray to Heavenly Father and let him know that I really need a good night of sleep.  The wonderful thing about our Heavenly Father is that he knows what we need and when we ask him he gives us our simple requests if it is in our best interest.  Thankfully this tender mercy is repeated weekly in my life and on the nights I say this prayer before bed are the nights the babies only get up once and it is at the same time.

Before the babies were born I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to feed both of them and that we would have to use formula.  The truth is that I'm able to feed both of them.  I nurse Lincoln and Annika takes a bottle of milk.  About once or twice a week we recently started giving Annika a bottle mixed 50/50 with milk and formula just so she can develope a taste for formula in case she needs to drink formula on a regular basis.  I have to make a conscious effort to pump regularly so I keep a good stash of milk around. Sundays and days where we are gone a lot are the hardest to find time to pump.  I was pretty disappointed when Annika didn't pick up nursing, but here again, I realized it was a blessing from the Lord.  Because we give her a bottle we decided to try Lincoln on a bottle at times.  This means that I can leave the house by myself and I know that Joseph can feed both babies and I don't have to rush home.  This is a freedom that I never had with Kimball and Rebecah.

Before the babies were born I thought they might have health problems which would make it hard to care for them.  The babies were born at 38 weeks and are perfect.  Once they both got the hang of feeding and I learned how to balance nursing and pumping the babies have thrived.

The transition to life with twins has gone so much better than I thought it would.  The biggest factor has probably been Joseph.  He has been so supportive and I know I would be the stressed out zombie mother of twins if it weren't for him.  He has probably done more laundry and cleaning in the last 3 months than in the almost 10 years of marriage.  That isn't to say that Joseph didn't help before, but I always tried to have the laundry and chores all finished before he got home from work.  Now when he gets home if he sees a basket of laundry waiting to be folded, he just folds it because he knows I haven't had time.

Everything takes longer with two.  I don't know why I didn't realize this would be the case.  It just takes a lot of work to get both of them ready and myself.  BUT, I have never once been late for church or any other appointment for that matter.  I am proud of that fact; I just set my alarm earlier if we have a deadline to meet.

I don't intend for my life to seem like it is all roses.  There are the moments where I feel so tired that I just want to pause time so I can relax and sleep.  I have times when I have to give myself a wake up call and tell myself that it is okay that I don't get everything done that I hope to do each day. And I repeat over and over that it is okay that my house is messier than I would like because it is the babies that matter.

Life with two babies is wonderful.  They are precious babies in our home and we love them.  We have good days and rough moments.  I would like to have a little more free time where I don't have to choose between a nap, sending email, my church calling, blogging, etc, but I manage.  Someday I'll even have time to read a book again! I know we have been blessed in our transition because the Lord wanted us to have these babies at the same time.  I must close this...both babies are starting to cry!

Beaver Lake Park

I came across this post today.  It is a trip we took in October about 6 days before the babies were born.  We went to Beaver Lake Park and enjoyed a hike and the visitor's center.  This was our last family outing where we still fit everyone in our car before becoming a family of 6.

Along the trail.

A fun tree we climbed.

Kimball and Rebecah taking a break on the tree.

A fun Joseph shot.

Fall colors

Having fun.

In this picture it looks like Kimball is aiming a gun.

Three Months Old

The babies hit the 3 month mark today, the 16th.   It is hard for me to believe that they are 3 months old already.  Where has the time gone?  Things are going so well with the babies and they are a joy in our family.  Kimball and Rebecah might disagree when they are having to hold a grumpy baby, but we love them!

This week I transitioned the babies from sleeping on boppy pillows to flat on their backs at night.  Over the Christmas break we transitioned them from their car seats to the boppies so we have come a long way. Lincoln has done really well with the transition.  I thought he would struggle since he doesn't like sleeping flat on his back during the day, but he has surprised me.  He is even sleeping better at night only getting up once to eat after going to bed at 8:30 and then getting up for the day anywhere between 6 -7:30.  Joseph and I tend to go to bed pretty early so only eating once in that time frame is great, I think.  Annika has had more of a struggle with the sleep transition, but she is still doing well.  She might get up twice in the night which is still pretty good for her.

Both babies are now smiling and it is so fun to see smiles break across their faces.  They smile at everyone in the family, but I still think I get the biggest and best smiles.  I should since I care for them the most!

They aren't rolling over yet, but I'm trying to be more diligent about tummy time.  I don't really care when they start rolling over because I know they will get there when they are ready.

Annika loves to sleep during the day in the swing.  If the swing stops it isn't long before she is waking up. Lincoln still loves to be held to sleep during the day, although he will nap in the bouncer.

The evenings are still the craziest because that is when the babies are usually the grumpiest.  When Joseph is gone in the evenings it isn't rare for me to be holding both babies keeping them happy.

Here are a few pictures from today.  I think it is hard to really capture their cuteness.

         

Lincoln smiling with his tongue sticking out.

           

More smiles.

I couldn't capture any of Annika's smiles.  She
gets camera shy or at least she doesn't
realize it is me behind the camera.

Chillin' in the swing.

Big smile from the big sister.  A baby post wouldn't be complete
without a picture of Rebecah with one of the babies.

Turning 5

Rebecah celebrated her 5th birthday last week.  She knew exactly what she wanted to eat on her special day and didn't change her mind once she decided.  I usually ask a few times just to avoid any meltdowns or last minute menu changes the day of a birthday.

Rebecah loves wearing dresses but I don't always let her wear them to school.  I may seem mean, but we live in New York and leggings just aren't warm enough when it is so cold and she is out waiting for the bus.  Rebecah wanted to take ice cream bars for her preschool treat so I drove her to school so she was glad she could wear a dress.

Cheese danish for breakfast with milk in her new Frozen cup

Joseph ended up working until 7:00 but Rebecah was very patient and waited until Joseph was home for her treat and presents.

I think this is a cute picture of Kimball and Rebecah.

Being a goof!

Cinderella fashion doll.  She was so excited!  She got a Snow White for Christmas so
 she recognized the box so she wasn't too surprised about the princess.

More princess books to add to her Golden Books Princess collection.

Lego set which Kimball was happy to build for Rebecah.  Rebecah was very content to
sit and watch the building process so it was a win-win situation.

Rebecah wanted pumpkin dump cake for her birthday treat.  I guess I lucked out because it is such an easy dessert to make.  I'm not even sure if I would have had time to make an elaborate cake if she had wanted one.

Keeping her hair away from the flames...good girl!

We love Rebecah.  We are glad she is in our family.  She is fiesty and full of spunk, but our family wouldn't be the same without her.  

Christmas Day

We had a great Christmas.  Everyone was happy with their presents for the most part.  Joseph had this great idea to give the kids PVC pipes cut in various lengths with connectors so the kids can use them for forts.  The kids have had so much fun with them.  I was a little skeptical of the idea, but the pipes haven't been put away for over a week.  

Here is Rebecah in the fort that Joseph built to display the pipes Christmas morning.

Kimball and Rebecah enjoying the fort.

The kids were excited about their presents from Santa.  Rebecah really wanted a Frozen castle, but it was a little out of Santa's budget. When she saw her Elsa dress she said that the dress was better than a castle! Santa was relieved to be off the hook.  She wears it almost constantly.

Seeing what Santa brought.

Santa gave Kimball a World Atlas and flags from various countries.
He LOVES his atlas and just pours over the pages.  Kimball said it was his favorite gift.

Rebecah next to her Elsa play dress.

Santa brought the babies a play mat.  They love it.  The babies will actually lay flat on their backs and look at the toys.  They usually don't like being flat on their backs.

Lincoln trying out the play mat.

Modeling her dress while opening presents.

Kimball was so excited that Rebecah gave him more Nurf gun bullets.  

Lincoln with his new toy.  I thought the babies would be a little young yet
for these toys, but they really like looking at them.

Here is Annika with her new doll.  She slept through all of the present
opening, but we saved her present for her.

Rebecah with her princess books.

Wearing his new watch and Germany shirt while building his newest Lego creation.

Annika enjoying the play mat.

To be festive the babies wore Christmas sleepers.  I tried to get a few pictures, but by the time I got around to it Lincoln was a little grumpy.

 

Elf Annika

           

Elf Lincoln

Together...Lincoln needed the pacifier in order to make it through the picture taking.

It was a great day and we enjoyed spending it as a family reflecting on our Savior's love and love for each other.