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.