Mandy-ology

Got this from my fellow pregnant/mommy bloggers and wanted to play along!


FOODOLOGY:

What is your salad dressing of choice? depends on the lettuce. Ranch on iceberg, vinagerette on romaine or spring mix/spinach

What is your favorite sit-down restuarant? Fleming's

What is your favorite fast food restaurant? Probably Chick-Fil-A

What food could you eat every day for two weeks and not get sick of? PB&J

What are your pizza toppings of choice? Jalepenos and Mushrooms

How many televisions are in your house? so many its embarassing - 8

What color cell phone do you have? Black

BIOLOGY:

Are you right-handed or left-handed? Right

Have you ever had anything removed from your body? Teeth, sunspots (moles) and endimetroisis

Have you ever been knocked unconscious? No

Have you ever fainted? No

BULLCRAPOLOGY:

If it were possible, would you want to know the day you were going to die? Hmmmmm. Maybe

If you could change your name, what would you change it to? Princess Consuela Banana Hammock (hopefully someone will get this)

How many pairs of flip flops do you own? probably 5 and three of them are black.

Last person you talked to? My mom and Jake (and Josh and Jules)

FAVORITOLOGY:

Season? Fall

Holiday? Christmas

Day of the week? Friday

Month? September

Color? Red

Drink? iced tea

Alcoholic? Miller Lite, Pinot Noir

CURRENTOLOGY:

Missing someone? always

What are you listening to? the music on the vibrating chair that Josh is in

What are you watching? Golf (why do you think I'm blogging?)

Worrying about? Nothing =)

What's the last movie you saw? watched some of Mamma Mia today

Do you smile often? Yes

If you could change your eye color what would it be? I love my brown eyes thanks to Van Morrison

What's on your wish list for your birthday? Nothing. I have always wished for babies on my birthday

Can you do a chin-up? HELL no

Does the future make you more nervous or excited? Both

Have you been in a car wreck? Yes

Have you caused a car wreck? Yes

Do you have an accent? A southern one

Last time you cried? I'm sure I have creid, but I honestly can't remember. I know for sure I did when they took Josh out, but surely I have cried since then...

Plans tonight? Nope! Chillin at the house

Have you ever felt like you hit rock bottom? Sure

Name three things you bought yesterday? Margarita, valet parking, dinner

Have you met someone who changed your life? probably Jake if I had to pick someone

For the better or worse? Better!

How did you bring in the New Year? over at a friends house. Very low key, which was fine since I was going to birth babies a week afterwards

Would you go back in time if you were given the chance? Yes

What songs do you sing in the shower? Anything and everything

Have you held hands with someone today? No :(

Who was the last person you took a picture of? Josh

Are most of the friends in your life new or old? Old

Do you like pulpy orange juice? yes

Last time you ate peanut butter and jelly? a couple of days ago :)

What were you doing at 12 a.m. last night? Sleeping

What was the first thing you thought of when you woke up? which time????? LOL - I have newborn twins!

5-6 week Slideshow

6 Weeks - Update on the Babes

6 weeks old!

I have been looking for some way to continue doing my questionnaires that I really liked doing while I was pregnant. Since I am not doing a "baby book" and instead doing a baby blog (although i am sure I will eventually do a scrapbook or something), I wanted to make sure I captured all of these milestones. But, I couldn't find any type of milestone questions. So, I decided to go by BabyCenter's milestones chart and go from there. However, I am a little late to the game since my sweet babies are a VERY old 6 weeks! I honestly start cannot believe how fast this is all going, and sadly, I am afraid its just going to continue forever this way. Anywho, I am going to backtrack and start at the beginning. Enjoy!!

Feedings: We are doing a little better with our reflux. It is still very frustrating. Josh is doing much better, I think. The acid doesn't seem to bother him nearly as much as it did. Jules, however, continues to throw up all the time. Its such a science with her after feedings. You literally can't move her or she blows. We are having them both sit up at least 20 minutes after every feeding. They are also on Zantac twice a day and Maalox 4 times a day. I decided to stop nursing after about two weeks. I gave it a go, but it was so hard with two. They were nursing maybe 10 minutes, then were supplementing with formula or extra breast milk, then I would pump. It was literally taking forever. Now, I am exclusively pumping, and everyone is much happier. I am thankfully producing more than enough milk for two babies, so hopefully that continues!
Waketime/Napping: We are struggling here too. My babies love to sleep, but once you wake them up, its hard to get them to go back down. I am really going to start paying attention to their optimal waketimes to know when they need to go down for their nap. I think they are probably getting over-stimulated, but because we have to keep them upright for so long, we hardly have any playtime, which sucks! As far as napping goes, they are pretty good, but tend to wake up after 45 minutes like clockwork. I have then been moving them to the swing or bouncy seat. But, now I think we are going to let them fuss for a bit to try and get them to self-soothe.
Nightime: We are doing great that first stretch. They have been sleeping a good 4 hours. Last night was 5! But after that, its terrible. We are up A LOT between 3-6am due to crying and fuss-fits.
Our Schedule: We are sticking to an every three hour schedule, and we're doing pretty good. Its nice when I have help, because they get to eat at the same time. But when I'm by myself, I usually start about 15 minutes early with Josh, because he's the fast hungry eater, so he's easy. Jules always takes much longer, so she has to wait. This helps my sanity, too, because Josh will start crying the moment he's hungry. Here is what we are currently doing:

6-6:30 am (whenever they wake up - sticking with this until they are sleeping through the night, then setting a 7am waketime) - wake, feed
9:45am - feed
1:00- feed
4:00 - feed
6:30 - bathtimes, feed
7:45- to bed
10:00 - dreamfeed
then we are letting them wake on their own during the night. Now, we are down to once around 2 or 2:30, then they wake again in the early morning. Hopefully we will keep stretching that out.

Outing/Events: We have had several lately! We took the babies down to Waverly on Sunday for the day. It was Jake's grandfather's birthday lunch. They did great and napped in their car seats like champs. They also went to a doctor's appointment due to the stupid sickle cell debacle . We also took them out to a restaurant for the first time! Jake and I met our friends Tom and Andrea Scobie and their daughter Sarah Grace for dinner at Nacho's Mexican restaurant. They did great here too, and slept the whole time in their car seats. They also got to stop by my office at AHA and meet all the girls there. So we have had a productive couple of weeks. Hopefully we can gradually continue this. I have had to cancel a couple of outings, though, because Jules would rather spend our outing time throwing up and getting changed several times :( She seems to enjoy that very much.
Diet: I had my doctor's appt this Monday so I am now cleared for exercise! (is that a good thing or a bad thing, really??) Now I have no excuses, LOL. I am only about 7 pounds from my pre-pregnancy weight, which is fabulous. But, I still have the baby pudge belly, so that definitely needs some attention.
Milestones: Josh is a rockstar when it comes to lifting his head up. He does so well when we get to have some tummy time. Jules is getting there. She does good at lifting her head when she is on your shoulder, but she doesn't like tummy time too much. Unfortunately, they don't get to have much tummy time because of the stupid reflux. They are also really good at following your face or following your movements. They have both starting smiling, which is absolutely precious. We talk to them and sing to them and read to them, and they seem to like it. (or at least we pretend that they do). They both kick and wave their hands all over the place. They both grab our fingers with their fists and cover being cuddled.

Pure bliss

Remember way back when (actually not so long ago) when pure bliss might have been a molten lava cake from Flemings Steakhouse. Or getting a massage at a day spa. Or soaking up the sun on a beautiful beach somewhere, with a fruity cocktail in hand.

Well...now, pure bliss is the twins sleeping 4 hours in a row last night. WOOHOO!!!!! We fed at 10, and they woke up at 2, then woke again at 6. THIS IS PROGRESS PEOPLE!!

P.U.R.E - B.L.I.S.S.

We like sleep around here. Oh how I have missed you.

Random pictures

Soem day (alright, most days) I'll just snap a picture of two of them being super duper cute. Here is slideshow of randoms that really don't fit anywhere.

Superbowl Sunday

We had our first outing with the babies on Superbowl Sunday. We went over to our friends Nate and Lori Fowler's house to watch the big game. Mimi went with us so she could let everyone see the babies and she was going to take them back home. But they behaved so well! They didn't make a peep and ate well and sleep amazing. I think they like all the noise!

Lori and Easton with Jules

Josh, Jules, Jake and Easton.

Little Chunks

Well, we went to the pediatrician yesterday again. The problem this time? Well, it seems Josh may or may not have sickle cell anemia. We got a letter in the mail last week that said his blood test from the hospital had come back abnormal and they needed to re-test it. And, of course, because they are twins, we had to bring Jules in too.

Now, the funny/not-so-funny thing about this is that sickle cell disease is an African American disease. Hmmmmm. As you can see, my children are not that. At least I don't think so. (ya never know whats in your family tree) Here is what I learned about who is affected.

In the United States people are often surprised when they learn that a person
who is not African American has sickle cell disease.
The disease originated in at least 4 places in Africa and in the Indian/Saudi Arabian subcontinent. It exists in all countries of Africa and in areas where Africans have migrated.

I mean, good grief, I hope we don't have it, LOL!!! My poor sweet babes had to get their heel pricked twice and had to fill little vials of blood. They screamed and I buried my head in whichever twin was not getting pricked. Jake was there to hold the twins that was. I don't know how I am going to get through these vaccines. Whew. The good news is that they are both little chunks. So, regardless of their awful acid reflux and all the vomiting, they are still gaining weight like champs. Which, makes me a little sad. Josh weighed 7lb6oz, and Jules was 6lb9oz. Crazy!! They are no longer my little baby dolls but actual babies that don't fit into their preemie clothes anymore :(

Our close ups at a month old

Jules

Josh

One month old!!

How is this possible? How is it that my babes are already a month old? Where is the time going? And boo! My maternity leave is already a third over :(

We really, really, really tried to take some fabulous pictures is honor of their month birthday. However, Josh & Jules had other plans. I tried to take their pictures after every feeding (as that is when they're awake - the rest of the time they are sleeping). They are just so much cuter when their eyes are open, because their eyes are HUGE and beautiful. However, it didn't work out that way. They either fell asleep or cried the entire time. So, this is as good as it gets. We have both of them asleep and Josh hunched over so he looks like he doesn't have a neck, poor thing, ha!! We even did matching outfits and I made a sign and everything. Don't they know the trouble I went through for this?

Also, I realized that I don't have a picture of me and my babies. How crazy is that? They are a month old and I don't have a picture of me with them! I end up always being the photographer. Now, there is ONE of me in the hospital with them, but that was the day after delivery: post preeclampsia, morphine, no sleep, hair in knots, etc and it is awful. I look like Don King (seriously, not joking). So, we won't be posting that jem on the old blog.

Update on the babes

The Baby Striblings are officially full-term! Woohoo! They turned 40 weeks yesterday. Hopefully, this will make life a little easier. At least that what the doctors say.

We are still dealing with babies with intentional issues. Boo!! They are still spitting up alot, vomiting, very gassy and just all-around fussy. Yes, I know it could be worse. They could have colic and cry for hours on end, so thankfully we aren't dealing with that. There is a light at the end of the tunnel though - WE HAVE ZANTAC!! It has been called into Walgreens. Please say a prayer that this will help them (and me...and Jake...and any and all helpers) , as I have thought for a while that they simply suffer from acid reflux.

They are still cute as ever and I can't stop staring at them. Every day they look so different. I hope I don't forget all this time. Most moms of twins say that they forget the first few months, as its such a blur and they probably have just blocked it out, LOL. Its a good thing we take tons of pictures!

Its hard to believe they are three weeks old already. Time is absolutely flying by. It seems like yesterday we were a month out from delivery, and now they are here and have just settled into our lives like they have always been here the whole time.

We are trying to do some sleep training. Its hasn't been very successful so far, as they have been premature, and as I said before, you really can't do anything like you can with normal babies until they are full-term. So, hopefully starting now it will get better. We have changed our schedules around it seems like 100 times already, but here it is so far (or at least what we are attempting to do so far).

7:00 - wake, feed
8:00 - nap
10:00 - wake, feed
11:00 - nap
1:00 - wake, feed
2:00 - nap
4:00 - wake, feed
5:00 - nap
6:15 - bathtime
6:30 - feed, then bed time
9:00/9:30 - feed again

Then they usually wake twice in the night to feed again. Sometimes (uggggg) three times.

So....riddle me this. With all this naptime, how come I am not sleeping?? Good grief! Where does the day go?