2 Month Wrap Up!

Here we are just past the 2 Month mark! We finally went to see the Dr. yesterday morning for their 2 month checkup and some stinky shots. :( They both did so great! Just cried during the actual shots then they calmed right down. Yay! AND they are getting SO big!! Anders weighed in at 12lbs 5oz 23.6" long and Joline not far behind at 10lbs 4oz and 22" long!

I'm so happy with their growth and it really encourages me to feel like I'm doing a good job. One of the most frustrating parts of having twins is trying to breastfeed. So far I have not been successful at breastfeeding both at the same time; which is what I really had hoped to be able to do. However, being that the babies were premature and had a hard time learning to breastfeed it didn't work out that way. They're still learning so what we do is a little breastfeeding, and I pump a lot to make sure that most of their bottle feedings are breast milk. We use formula too and I'm not against it I just know how good it is for them to have breast milk and I want to do everything I can to help them get it. So knowing that they are getting so big and are both healthy is a really great feeling!

Joline
Cold winter days call for hats; sometimes they don't stay on the way you wanted. :)

Anders 

This month both Anders and Joline have successfully moved themselves to a four hour feeding schedule, they are both now consistently sleeping from about 11:30pm-5:30am, and they have been practicing their smiles. Yay!

Soon we will start a new adventure with cloth diapering! We are going to be using the gDiaper system for the babies. This system will hopefully save us a lot of money in diapers because we will only use disposables when we go to church or someone else's house and at bedtime. I'll post more about how its going next time since we haven't started yet.

That's all for now, on to the next adventure in month #3!

-CW

Digging Our Way Out!

Every time I sit down to write I feel like saying "Wow, time is flying!" The babies will be 8 weeks old on Sunday and it hardly seems possible. They are growing like weeds. Anders has moved to his 0-3/ 3 month outfits and both he and Joline are in size 1 diapers already! :) Yay! They are doing fantastic and I  can't wait for next week's Dr.'s appointment to see how big they are. My bet is that Anders is somewhere in the 10lb range and Joline about 8ish. They slept straight through from 11:30-5:00am last night too! That's the first time they both did that in the same night! So thankful and hoping for more nights like that to come.

This is a big weekend for us because we are finally almost finished with the nursery. If you recall, we moved into our house May of last year and because of being put on bed rest in August and having to reconstruct some of the room, the nursery project has been dragging on throughout the year. But we're really really close. Jared has a few finishing touches to make to the room this weekend and we will potentially be putting the babies in there as soon as next week. :) Yay! I will have a full before and after post once it's complete.

SO this weekend, my part in this project is to dig our way out of boxes and bags to organize and sort through all of the gifts and baby items we've received as well as all the boxes of things left from our move. This will be a really gratifying job because right now our spare bedroom is covered in boxes and bags and our entire upstairs is pretty incomplete because we don't have it set up. The goal is to have a loft space where the babies can play and relax, while I have a small area set up with my sewing machine and crafts as well as a reading nook. The spare bedroom will be just that. (Although we don't actually have a spare bed yet! :) And the nursery will be complete as a cozy place for the babies to not only sleep but also play and have snuggle time with Jared and I and have a place to curl up in a big chair and read. (We don't have the chair yet either!) :) We will get one soon though I hope!

So here's to a productive weekend! I hope you have one as well.
God Bless, Sleep well!

-CW

Here are a few picture I forgot to include in the last post. :) 

The babies meeting Santa. :) AKA Mr. Anderson! 

Aunt Caroline and Anders

Aunt Caroline, Anders, Me & Joline =) Love!

One Month Wrap Up

Wow! Where does the time go? When you have two babies everything kind of runs together. :) Here is a wrap up of the twins' first month and first Christmas!

Once everyone made it home healthy and happy both Anders and Joline started to grow like weeds. By their two week check up Joline made it to 7lbs and Anders 8.6lbs. We are on a 3 hour feeding schedule during the day which means that they eat, have some awake time, and then nap before it all starts over again. We just started this plan last week and so far both babies have different times of day that they actually will stay awake after their feeding and sometimes they go down for their nap good and other times they cry. We are working on sleep training with this schedule and according to the "Preparation for Parenting" plan they should be sleeping 7-9 hours at night by around 8weeks old. Now, because my babies are premature this might take a little longer because technically, they are only 3 weeks old if you go by their due date. The twin world calls this their "adjusted age". Hmmm. We shall see how it all plays out. Right now Joline still wakes up at night for night time feedings. Anders would sleep until 5:30-6:00 if I let him but I try to keep the babies feedings together so I'm still feeding him at 2:00 with her. I might stop that though...

This is all a huge learning experience for Jared and I. We have no idea what we're doing. We have had many friends give us great advice about twins and babies in general but at the end of the day we have to do what works for our babies and for us. Right now, a Schedule is essential to daily living. Without it I would get nothing done. And it keeps me sane. I know this is just a stage and like the rest, all stages will have their challenges. I welcome those challenges but I know I cannot do this alone. God is sustaining us physically and otherwise. We absolutely cannot do this without His strength and guidance. I don't know how any parent can. Some would say that God is a "crutch" for the weak but its not that at all, it is the simple truth that I am so very weak and my faith is not a made up thing I cling to to get through hard times. Faith is believing what you cannot see and trusting Him when you're unsure. It takes incredible strength to have faith. But even the strength I have to keep my faith is coming from Him. He is so gracious with me as I stumble through this parenting thing.

The babies turned one month on Christmas day! What a busy and fun season this is. Although it does kind of make things interesting when you have two new babies. :) We were able to make it to all the family parties and enjoy time with our loved ones. What a blessing! We even had a visitor all the way from California. My 93 year old great-aunt came home for Christmas and to see the babies, both ours and my cousin's new daughter. What a blessing she is. I know that she has been praying us through this journey and it was so much fun to be able to introduce the babies to her in person. It was last February that I was sitting in her house on vacation pouring out my heart to her about how Jared and I wanted so badly to be parents and how hard it was to wait on God's timing. And here they are! I know that her prayers helped them get here. Unfortunately, Jared ended up getting a really bad bout of the flu & a head cold and we were not able to spend much time with her outside of the Christmas party and our family Christmas since she was staying with my parents. Maybe someday we will be able to take the babies to her in California! Wouldn't that be awesome! :)

I went to church for the first time in 4 months last Sunday. It was great. Jared stayed home with the babies and I went with my sister. I really just tried to sit back and take it all in. Because Jared and I are very involved people I have come to realize through this journey how much I take for granted our Sunday morning service. It is such a blessing to be able to go and freely worship with my brothers and sisters in Christ, and receive teaching from the Word of God. What a blessing to hear our pastor again! Of course everyone stopped me to ask where the babies were and I had to bring the bad news that I had left them at home. :) They will make their appearance soon. Maybe even this coming week. Its hard to know when to bring premature babies out into the public and especially hard when it's cold & flu season. We will get out eventually though. I'm starting to get stir crazy so I'm ready to get out to do more with the babies. I should be receiving my stroller anytime today and I'm anxious to get it out and practice with it. After a lot of research and weighing our options I landed on the Stroll Air MyDuo stroller. This is a side by side, one of the only ones on the market that will accommodate 2 car seats at once. It will grow with us and we won't need to buy another stroller hopefully. All of the reviews were great on this one so we'll see if it lives up to it's reputation.

Here are some pictures to wrap up:

Aunt Kasey & Joline

Grandma & Grandpa Parcels with Joline 

Anders on Cpap

Mom & Dad with Joline in the Hospital

Family of Four! 

Aunt Sandy & cousin Kami meeting Anders

Anders in NICU

Grandma Winell and Anders

Both babies home for the first time! 

Uncle Jake and Joline 

Grandpa Winell and Anders

Grandma Winell and Anders

Nana with Joline

Papa and Anders

Aunt Abby getting tricky with both babies! 

Uncle Dan and Anders

Jared, Anders, Fitz, Aunt Abby and Joline. 

Winell Christmas Grandma and Grandpa with all their grand babies! 

1st Christmas as a family of four! 

Parcels' Christmas Grandma & Grandpa and all their grand babies. 

Grandma & Grandpa Parcels with Anders and Joline on Christmas day. 

Ok, I'm sure you're tired of reading. I've been saving up this post for a while so I have a lot to say I guess! :)

God Bless, Sleep Well,
-CW