Pillow

OK

I'm so sorry it took sooo long to tell you how much I LOVE my nursing pillow. It's pretty hysterical . Jon says it looks like a highchair tray table. He said that I could walk around with it on and eat off of it. HAHA It is HUGE. It's perfect for twins. Really it is. Here are some pictures of the Boppy Pillow compared to the Brestfriend Twin Pillow.

I purchased the pillow from a boutique for more than I wanted to. I was there and they had it, so being so impatient I bought it. They do have in online at BedBathandBeyond for $20 cheaper. So after shipping it would have been $10 cheaper. I just didn't want to wait for the pillow to be shipped...haha

Nursing Pillows

Let me start off with telling you how proud I am of myself. YES I am tooting my own horn!

I am breastfeeding my boys. I have met several people that have had twins recently. TWINS are so popular right now. With all the fertility help out there twins are actually common. Well Jon and I had our twins the old fashion way. We are sooo incredibly thankful that Micaiah and Gunnar are spontaneous twins. Meaning my egg split and BAM then there were two (identical). I couldn't IMAGINE not having both of them. A lot of people (not all) with twins are 'sort a' expecting it. Or at least they know it's a possiblity (becuase of all the treatments). I can't say we had no idea. Actually we have always talked like we were going to have twins. Why? I have no idea. So we actually weren't supprised when the doc said there were two in there. :)

Well let's begin my woes. Again, I am sooo proud that I AM nursing my boys. It is SO good for them. I'm not going to get into all of the benefit of breastfeeding now. We're talking about woes now.

Even though I am proud of myself, I am a little jealous of all those people that I have recently met that I mentioned earlier. We met an awesome couple at a twins class we took before we delivered. They were great. They had fraternal twins, both boys, both absolutely gorgeous! Well, from what I understand she tried breastfeeding at the hospital and got discouraged. She didn't react kindly to meds that were given to her and she decided it would be better for her to bottle feed. That way her husband, mother, mother-in-law, etc. could help her. Here is where my little green monster comes in. HELP HER.... I don't have HELP. Jon doesn't have milk dripping out of his chest...he can't help me. YES, yes, I could pump and give him a bottle to feed them, I could just take the (easy) route and change to formula, but remember, breastfeeding is soo good for babies.

ANYWAY... proud of myself remember :) haha Moving on from my rambling...

I purchased a Boppy Pillow before delievering (actually it was a baby shower gift at my request). Can I tell you how much I HATE it. Yes that's right I hate it. Well, I hate it for nursing. I think it's great for floor time. Not just great for the boys to use during tummy time and even while on their backs, but it's great for me to use when laying of the floor playing with the boys. It's comfy cozy. It's just NOT for nursing.

Right now I nurse the boys seperately. After they learned how to latch I tried to nurse tandem. However, (excuse my bluntness) I would just dangle my breast infront of ones face and wait for him to latch on. Then I would do the same with the other and the one that was latched would fall off. The Boppy Pillow isn't wide enough for both boys. There isn't enough width for both to lay on there, etc. So I would use my hands to TRY to hold them into place and just dangle breasts. Its was a pretty funny sight to see. After such poor latching I had several different ouchies to deal with. Therefore, I went back to feeding one at a time.

Feeding one baby at a time can be time consuming. I do enjoy it at times because I get to be with just him. However, there are times that the other is SCREAMING and I can't do anything about it. I'm home alone all day. The poor kid has to just scream and wait his turn.

I went online to see if there is a better pillow for me. I found 3 that I could choose from. This is the one I decided to go with. It's called My Breast Friend Twin Nursing Pillow. http://www.mybrestfriend.com/twins

I haven't gotten it yet. There are a few places that carry it and I want to find it for as cheap as possible. I'm willing to spend anything if it actually works for me, however, my wallet isn't.

I will let you know how I like it. I am going to go to the different stores on Wednesday and pick it up. I will also let you know where it was cheapest.

2 MoNtHs

Can you believe it? My babies are 2 months old today.

HAPPY 2 MONTH BIRTHDAY MICAIAH AND GUNNAR!

You boys have made my life more amazing than I could have ever imagined it being. I LOVE you soooo much!

These past 2 months have gone by so fast. The boys have gotten so big so quickly! People are so right when they say, "it goes so fast".

Boys Schedule

People ask me all the time... How are the boys doing? I tell them they are great. They ask if they are good babies. OH my goodness, YES they are. They ask how they are sleeping. I tell them pretty good. They are giving my 2 1/2 - 3 hrs from start of nursing to start of nursing. Which I suppose is great. UGH...

What's with my ugh you ask... well.... (bare with me there's a lot of explaining to do first).

Let me break down the boys schedule for you. Honestly it's great!

7:00am wake, feed, play - our play consists of changing diapers, washing face and hands, getting dressed for the day, reading a bible story, and saying a morning prayer -

8:00am ish nap

10:00am wake, feed, play - our play consists of floor time (mommy shaking rattles in the twins faces haha, talking and googling at eachother)

10:00am ish nap

1:00pm wake, feed, play - our play consists of floor time (tummy time, shaking rattles, singing/listening to silly songs)

2:00pm ish nap

4:00pm wake, feed, play - play consists of floor time

5pm ish nap

7:00pm wake, feed, play - play consists of DADDY'S HOME :) This is a LOUD playtime. Daddy is much louder than Mommy. Sometimes this playtime is more of a cuddle time since it's the only time during the day Daddy gets to be with his boys

8pm ish nap

10:00pm wake, feed, change, BED

I try to stay on schedule as much as possible. Mind you, I'm not always on the minute. I might sway 30 minutes sooner or later than the listed time. I try to be as close as possible. I DON'T follow the whole "Don't wake a sleeping baby" phrase. If 1:00pm comes and they are still sleeping I wake one and feed him. I then lay him on a pillow next to me, go and wake the other cutie and feed him (all while trying to keep Baby A awake and happy).

The boys are doing great with this!! I truely believe this is one of the reasons they are so happy and why they sleep so well. Now, yes, of course there are days and naps that they don't sleep so well. That's ok...it's expected.

When I put them down for a nap I put them down awake. I never put them down asleep. I want them to be able to soothe themselves. They are great with this. Again, there are times they aren't haha. A lot of times I can (now) put them down and they put themselves to sleep right away. Other times I put them down and they stare for a while, then fall asleep. AND of course there are times I put them down and they need to cry themselves to sleep. (The whole crying themselves to sleep is a little hard to do. Normally I let them cry for 15 mins. If they are still crying after 15 minutes I go in and try to give them their binky. If they are unconsolable with the bink I might pick him up until he relaxes a bit (again I don't let him fall asleep in my arms). If Jon is home, I have a hard time letting them cry themselves to sleep. Well I should say HE has a hard time letting them cry themselves to sleep. Now is that because he can't handle hearing them cry or is it because he can use it as an excuse to hold them longer. I'm not sure. However, it does frustrate me at times.

Now this is where I stop being so strict on the schedule. During the night I DO NOT wake them every 3 hours to feed. I mean COME ON NOW. I want to sleep longer than 2 hours. You have to remember even though it's 3 hours from the time they start to nurse to start to nurse again it takes me about an hour to feed and change both. So technically I only get 2 hours of sleep.

Even though I don't wake them during the night they normally wake themselves every 2 1/2 - 4 hours. I get sooooo excited when they last 4 hours. It's honestly like getting a full nights of sleep. haha.

OKAY... so here is the UGH part

A normal night -

10:00pm nurse, change, bed

1:00am nurse, change, bed

4:ooam nurse, change, bed

UGH, UGH, ugh, ugh, ugh, UUUUUGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

5:00am the boys wake again...now here is the point that I HAVE NO IDEA what to do with them. I don't want to feed them...I mean COME ON they just ate. I am NOT one to feed for pleasure or just to make them stop crying. SO I try to give them their binky, I try to pick them up and rock them until their eyes start getting heavy, I even wait until they fall asleep in my arms. This lasts till about 5:45am. Come 5:45am I just can't do it anymore. I break down and I feed them. Now remember, they just ate a 4:00am, so they aren't really hungry. So it's a quick feed and change (if I change them at this time). They are back in their crib around 6:00. Guess what...do you remember their wake time...scroll back up...it is at

7:00am RISE AND SHINE

I just don't know what to do with them with the whole 4am thing.

Mother's Day was amazing. They gave me a 4 hour stretch first, then a 3 hour stretch. Which brought us to 5am. I fed them at 5am and they slept until their 7am wake time.

Maybe I will try to hold them off from the 4am feeding until 5am...ugh..

Night time is rough...it's hard to stick to your guns when you're working with your eyes closed.....

For your viewing pleasure :)

Micaiah Jon

Gunnar James

Gunnar Micaiah