4 Month Pictures

I really hadn't planned on getting pictures done again until they were 6 months old. However, I heard on the radio that one of our local photographers here was doing mini sessions for flood relief and donating the proceeds. So, how could we not participate? Plus, I have realized that mini sessions are great! They are much cheaper and only 30 minutes long. Sure, you don't get near the amount of pictures taken, but its great with babies b/c their attention span is usually only that long! Thank you to Andi Inc Photography for the pictures! (and yes, I know they are now 5.5 months old, but we just got them back this week!)

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to my dad, Roy Prater, and to the daddy of my babies, Jake. He is an amazing father and just took to fatherhood like a complete natural who has been doing it for years. He loves his babies more than anything in the world. Thank you for heading up our family and for loving me and our babies immensly!

We were in Chicago for Fathers Day and didn't get home until around 9pm, and of course, they were already in bed asleep. I took these pictures last week and had my mom tape them to their cribs to surprise him. They had also "written him" very sweet cards. He was certainly surprised. He also got a Big Green Egg grill, which he loved as well. Happy Father's Day to all the daddies out there!

24 Weeks - Update on the babes

24 Weeks Old!

Boy, I am getting bad at this. What happened to Week 22 updates? Yikes!!! whew!! 24 weeks - seriously? I mean, SERIOUSLY??? We are technically 6 months old is week-time. They still have until July the 8th thankfully for their actual birthday. They are getting so big and changing every day. They are such a blessing in my life and I am so thankful and happy that they are here. I heard recently that one of my online friends lost one of her twin boys in May of SIDS. I cried when I found out, and could honestly not imagine what she is going through. They were only three months old. I pray for her and her family and his twin brother. I am seriously the luckiest girl on the planet and just want to kiss my babies constantly and thank God for miracles.

We got back from Chicago and I can say I did quite well. Of course, I missed them terribly, but Jake and I had a wonderful time. It was much needed and very nice to do. Yes, I could travel with my breastmilk, but I did have to check it. I couldn't carry it on (whole other story, and let me say I HATE the security at Midway. The only reason I couldn't is they didn't believe I had actually PUMPED that much milk. Hello....twins???)

Feedings: We used up alot of my frozen milk when I was traveling, so I have been able to replenish a little, but not a whole lot, as I still can't keep up with them! They take about 6 oz each per feeding (times 6 feedings) and I am only pumping around 50 oz per day. It seems like A LOT, but not really! Honestly once I move to the 4 hour schedule and drop the dream feed I will be fine. I have GOT to do this. We are working on it, though! I stopped taking Fenugreek b/c i kept forgetting. So now I am trying to do it again religiously. As you know, they started doing a bit of rice cereal a few weeks ago at their dinner feeding. Well now...(drum roll...) they are now doing actual food! This week we are trying sweet potatoes and pears. and they them both so far. We are doing a tb of sweet potatoes before the cereal at dinner time, and a half-full tb of pears at their mid-morning feed. I am also making my own baby food. Crazy...probably. But its fun and I know exactly what is in it - and I love using my Magic Bullet. So far we have made and frozen green beans, sweet potatoes, avocados, peaches, pears, apples, carrots and squash. Everything was organic except the green beans. We also have bananas, but you just have to mash those. I wanted those to be their "first fruits", but they weren't ripe yet. We are going to do a 4-day cycle with each thing, to make sure their are no allergy issues.

Waketime/Napping: Ok, I was doing really well here again, but we went out of town and yada, yada yada...guess who does great with their naps and which one wants to wake up right at the 45 minute mark?? She WILL eventually go back to sleep, but only after about 30 minutes or so. Jeez....backwards again...We are still at 1.5 hours of waketime, but I am going to try to stretch this to 1 hr, 45 min. We'll see...

Nightime: I am really, really, really wanting to drop the dream feed, but I am so scared of their nightimes. Today Josh got up at 6 ready to go. He is usually my good sleeper. Jules will always get up between 5-6 and start talking, but she usually goes back to sleep. But boy, if you go in there at all, she is ALL SMILES, saying, "oh boy! Its time to get up and play!"

Our Schedule: Still a different/weird schedule as we make our way to a 4 hour schedule...Also, I am going to flip flop our bath and 7:00 feeding, b/c they are just getting too messy with cereal and such, lol. yes, I know these are really tight feedings together, but, again, hopefully we will drop a feeding soon

7:30 (sometimes 7) - wake/feed 6.5 oz for Josh, 6 for Jules
9:00 - nap (hopefully 1.5-2 hours, but that never happens)
10:30 - feed 6.5 for Josh, 6 for Jules, 1 T each of pears
12:00 - nap
2:00 - feed 6.5 oz for Josh, 6 for Jules
3:30 - nap, a horrible one
5:30 - feed 6.5 for Josh, 6 for Jules
6:30/6:45 - 2 T cereal for each, and 1 T sweet potatoes
7:00 - baths
7:30 - story/bedtime
9:20 - dreamfeed

Outing/Events: They love, love love the pool. They seriously can just kick and kick for up to an hour. Then they start getting a little fussy and tired. We also made a trip to the mall - just me and the babes. Wow. It was tough, gotta tell ya. Especially when my main purpose was to try on a dress for this wedding in Chicago. Thank you Macy's for having a dressing room big enough for me, my double stroller, and also have enough room to push it back and forth once they started fussing. Here is pic of Jake and I from the wedding in Chicago!

Diet: ummm...Chicago food...

Milestones: So now Josh AND Jules are officially swaddle-free! Woohoo! They are both all over the crib. Josh is definitely a tummy sleeper, and Jules likes to sleep on her side or on her back. They both now all of a sudden love their lovies (the blankets with the heads, lol), especially Jules. I will let them hold it for a little while, but I don't let them sleep with it. We are now eating more foods, as you read above: First veggie-sweet potatoes, First fruits - pears. They are both so close to crawling Its so funny. They are so mad when they don't go anywhere. We are trying to work with them on sitting up, but that is going to be a while I think. Just last week I think they finally are aware of each other. They will talk to each other, and touch, slap, etc each other and they actually know what is happening! They laugh alot too. Josh is ticklish under his arms and laughs like crazy when you tickle him. Jules isn't ticklish...yet. Jules is just a little busy body. She cannot sit still. She used to love to be held, but now she just wiggles. She wants to kick, roll over, jump, bounce, play, etc. Anything besides sitting still. She is aways sideways in her bumpo, trying to get out of it. Thats why I still love the dreamfeed, because they are SO SLEEPY and just little cuddle bunnies. They are both filling out so much and have lots of little fat rolls. They are my little chunky monkeys!

21-22 Weeks Slideshow

The soothie pacifier saga...

Okay, seriously, are these soothies getting smaller, or are my babies just getting bigger?

We have gone from this...

to this!!

Where are my babies?? LOL

Josh (at two weeks and 5 months):

Jules (at 2 weeks and 5 months):

First weekend away....

I can do this, right??? How can I do this is the question. Will they forget me? Forget who I am? Should I record tapes of me singing and talking? Should I make a daily video of myself for them? I jest. Although I am going to LOVE going to Chicago with my hubby. I must admit I am a little afraid. I haven't been away from my babies for anything longer than 6 hours. But I am confident I can do it. I'll just expect my in laws to send my pictures on an hourly babies is all. Then I think I can manage. I am excited, though. We are going up for a dear friend's wedding. He is Indian, and is marrying an Indian, so it is a true Indian wedding, with all kinds of fabulous traditions. I am really excited about it. Poor Jake, though. It's his first Father's Day, and he's pretty upset about missing it. We don't get home until late Sunday. However, I have a surprise for him that will hopefully help make him happy. (I'll share that later).

So...here we go. How does a breastfeeding mom of two do a trip out of town you ask? Well, my freezer is stocked full of milk. Also, I am carrying on my old trusty pump. I also have been stocking up on water bottles (washed of course). I decided to go this route over the breast milk storage bags. I find that they develop holes and they DO leak, even though they say they don't. (I have wasted many a bags this way, which made me cuss a lot). I plan on pumping, then putting milk in each water bottle until it fills up. Then either icing them down in the bathroom sink or hopefully will have a fridge in the room. Then I am going to carry it all on board the plane on my trip back. I have one of those grocery freezer bags that supposedly works fabulously. This all seems very confusing and cumbersome, and believe me, it is. And don't even get me started on WHEN I will actually pump. I haven't thought that through yet. Being in a busy city, you don't always go to your hotel quite that often. Have to make exceptions though!!

So,please say a prayer that I will get through this weekend refreshed, enlightened, and back to babies that missed me terribly.

We're five months old!!