Out and About

I seem to be running quite a few errands lately.  We've reached the food stage so I've been working on gathering essentials for feeding babies.  Rice cereal, spoons, bibs, oatmeal, pureed food, looking for books on making your own food, more spoons and likely more bibs and some bowls.  I also had a day were I tried to find outfits for S and E 6 month pictures, and then a few days later returning the clothes we didn't use.  S has recently jumped up to the next size, 12 MONTH, and after "shopping" the clothes tubs of gifts and hand-me-downs, I'm sad to find out he mostly has winter clothes in that size, which makes sense since he is only 6 months old and it will be dead of winter when he is a year.  So either we need to visit some place where he can wear sweats or he needs some summer clothes in his size. At any rate we've been out a lot.

When out in public twins get a lot of attention, especially our adorable ones.  :-)  I have also found that when I'm by myself more people talk to me than when I'm with Paul.  Today while in Estes Park I was sitting next to a park bench with the stroller watching the people, and the river, waiting for Paul when no less than 4 people stopped to talk to us in less than 5 minutes.  I was wondering if I was wearing a sign that said, "Please talk to me!"  I really don't mind, it is kind of fun to hear what people have to say.  So here is a sampling of what we hear from strangers.  We get the usual:

• "Are they twins?"
• "A boy and a girl?" usually followed by something along the lines of "How perfect now you can be done."
• "Are they identical?"  --no silly, they are a BOY and a GIRL
• "How old are they?"
• "My sister's cousin's boyfriend's family has twins and...."
• "Double Trouble", "Better you than me"  "I bet you're busy"...
• and my favorite "They sure are cute"

But every once in a while you'll get a really interesting one.  From the cashier at Sam's Club a couple of months ago:
It is amazing the kind of stuff they have for twins these days, now that they are popular.  (Paul and I had no idea we were part of a trend.)

Today at Sam's Club from a nice older man:
You really have a live wire there.  Her car seat is bouncing and moving all over and his is barely moving.  (This is a very true statement.  S was a little under the weather today...solids are a pain.  E on the other hand was in quite a mood.  She loves books and gets super excited when you show one to her or give one to her.  She had already entertained Paul and I in the book section while I read her some for sale, then in line I gave her the box of books we bought and she was kicking, flailing her arms and squealing with delight.  I LOVE it.  She continued to kick and move and did indeed bounce around her car seat that was in the cart for almost the next 20 minutes while we ate pizza.  I love the description... live wire.)

Last thought about running errands.  I am currently using our Double Snap 'N Go stroller to run errands when I'm by myself.  It is easiest to just put in the car seats.  I will write about my stroller dilemma soon.  It is a tandem stroller so it is difficult to steer but fits wonderfully through store doors.  But it is a juggling act to try to open the door, steer the stroller and pull it into the store.  It makes me want to shop in a real mall where I don't have to open a door to get into every store.  So next time you are out at your local outdoor mall and see a mom struggling to maneuver a stroller into a store help her out and hold the door open for her.

6 Months

We had another amazing month.  Sam and Emily are getting more active and interactive.  They are so much fun!  (Pictures to come soon.  Didn't quite get them all yet.)


Sam
Your personality is really starting to develop.  Today while I was on the phone with your Nana you grabbed my hair, I said ouch, and you giggled.  You are still quick to smile and have become more vocal.  You have started to move a lot while you are on the floor.  Yesterday you somehow managed to get your head under the ottoman.  You didn't seem to mad about it either.  It was just something else to play with.  You finally managed to get yourself from your side onto your stomach and you can occasionally turn yourself from your stomach to your back.  Your side seems to be your preferred playing position.  From your side you manage to wiggle yourself around.  You prefer to be held or around people.  You don't like to be left alone or ignored.  Eating still seems to rank pretty high in your favorites but don't stop you in the middle of your bottle.  Rice cereal is okay but sometimes you can't eat it fast enough, which makes you mad.  Your fingers seem to get in the way while you eat your rice cereal and sometimes your bib makes it into your mouth too.  So feeding you becomes a defensive task as we try to just get food into your mouth.  Those hands are fast too and try to take the spoon.  You are still my snuggler when you get sleepy and in the morning when we are trying to get you to sleep for a little while longer.  You've found your toes and like to lay and hold on to your feet.  When you are tired you still get grumpy and need your pacifier.  You have been working hard on keeping up that big head and you're getting stronger and stronger.  We got out the Jumperoo and you LOVE to jump in it.  It is great for your legs and feet.

Emily
You are such a happy girl, most of the time. Today you smiled at just about everyone who looked in your direction.  It was great for pictures.  The photographer had no problem getting you to smile.  You are starting to laugh more too.  Maddy was making you giggle today, she really is funny when she is rolling around on the ground.  You love to play with your toys, especially the ones that make a lot of noise.  You normally are content to sit lay and play on the floor for quite a while.  You love your brother and will watch him until he looks at you then give him a huge smile.  You watch Maddy too and it will be someday soon when you manage to grab her.  You've been working on a tooth since about the beginning of July.  You are very drooly and are chewing on just about everything.  You get super excited about eating and kick and wave your arms when you see your bottle.  I think you are beginning to be wary of strangers.  You still are startled and scared by loud noises.  We keep taking you out to expose you to those noises so they aren't so scary.  You've been to your first basketball game and heard bagpipes for the first time this month.  You found your feet a day or two before your brother a like to play with them.  You also have rolled from your back to your tummy and the OT thinks that you'll be sitting in no time.  I almost forgot the cutest new thing you've started doing this month.  Often when Sam gets upset and is crying you make the cutest little cooing noise like you are trying to tell him it will be okay.  I will have to try and get it on video.

Singing

Sam and Emily are "talking" more and more.  Today on the way to get 6 month pictures we had a concert in the back seat. 

Feeding Babies

Feeding babies has been on my mind a lot lately.  In the past couple few weeks we've started rice cereal.  It went pretty good the first time.  It wasn't fast enough for Sam, but Emily ate like a champ.  The problem started a few days later.  We had been out of town and on the way back home poor Emily was having a tough time.  She was riding in my parents' car and we had to stop.  She was all stopped up.  We have been lucky and neither Sam nor Emily have been sick so this was the first time that one of them was not feeling right, and it broke my heart.  Luckily the problem resolved itself after a rough evening.  So after talking to the nurse we are waiting until their 6 month to try food with Emily.  I guess she might be on another type of cereal.  We have been working on Sam eating still.  He is getting better but still loves his bottle.  We aren't sure when he can start to eat "real" food with his rice cereal but we might just wait until next Monday.

This past week has also been the last week for milk for Sam and Emily.  Since they are almost 6 months old and I'm out of prenatal vitamin I've decided that I'm done pumping.  It has been harder to stop then I thought it would be. 

When the babies were first born they were too little to breastfeed.  Preemies generally aren't ready for breast or bottle feeding until 34 weeks (or later).  So I started exclusively pumping.  From the beginning I struggled with a low supply.  I had most of the risk factors that included: premature birth, C-section, pre-eclamsia, blood loss, and the fact that we needed help getting pregnant.  There was at least a week where every visit to the NICU included a visit from the lactation consultant about what to do about my low supply.  I was eating plenty, drinking enough, pumping every 3 hours, trying to sleep but still was barely producing any milk.  I almost gave up.  I wanted to badly to provide for my babies but my body wasn't working with me and having to talk about it every day wasn't helping.  After I finally broke and broke down crying to Paul when I got home and he told me I didn't have to do it if I didn't want to I decided I would just do what I could.  Some was better than nothing, right?  Breastfeeding never worked for Sam and Emily.  When they were in the hospital we tried and tried but I was impatient to get them home and they both ate great from a bottle.  I had numerous meetings with the lactation consultants to try to figure it out once Emily came home but my first bout with mastitis that took two rounds of antibiotics interfered with that.  (One doctor thought it might be yeast and the last thing I wanted my newly released preemie and my baby still in the hospital to deal with was thrush so I exclusively pumped and took a break from attempting breastfeeding.)  We tried again when Sam came home but it was going to require a great deal of supplies (breast shield and a supplemental nursing system) and a lot of time.  I decided that they were still getting all the positives from milk in a bottle and that it would be okay if they never breastfed.  I also knew that with my low supply they would still need to be supplemented with formula anyway.  I eventually was able to pump enough for Sam and Emily to get half and half. 

When I went back to work I continued to pump.  Teaching and pumping creates and interesting set of obstacles.  The first was where and when?  My schedule only allowed for two times an hour apart which wasn't ideal but it would work.  I luckily have one of two rooms in my building with a closed classroom with a door.  I figured if I locked the door I shouldn't have any interruptions.  But I was wrong.  We have very helpful janitors in our building and they unknowingly unlocked my door to let in students TWICE.  The first time they knocked and I was smart enough to stop but the second time was after school and the janitor closer so they walked in on me.  At least they were teacher's kids.  The other problem was field trips.  I can tell you there isn't a great place to pump and the Museum of Nature and Science.  I was still able to keep my meager supply up until the end of the year but I don't see pumping until January working.  It makes it difficult to meet with my teaching partner to plan, other teachers about issues and make phone calls to parents.

I think all of the work makes it hard to be done.  I had a feeling of satisfaction every time I was able to give the babies milk instead of formula.  The formula smells bad, is expensive and they seemed to feel better with milk.  But they are getting bigger and soon will start to eat more food and need less formula.  They will and have done great with their mixture of milk and formula and will grow with just formula.  So I'm done.

Fill in the Blank Friday

1.   My plans this summer include spending a lot of time with Sam, Emily and Paul.  Hopefully returning to the pool a couple of times and maybe making it up to the mountains.

2.  The best summer I ever had was  probably a summer out of my childhood.  You can't beat summer time with no responsibility and a ton of time at the pool and hanging out with friends.

3.  Summer is essential for well-being and necessary for a healthy life.  I can't imagine working a job year round.

 

4.  My favorite summer food is typical BBQ food: something grilled with potato salad, corn on the cob, fruit and maybe a little ice cream for dessert.

 

5.  The best way to quench a summer thirst is with   an ice cold beer or a giant glass of water.

6.  My summer uniform consists of comfy capris and cotton shirts, no shoes or flip flops.  Anything comfortable and low maintenance.

7.  The best thing about summer is  the freedom to do things that I don't have time to do during the school year and reconnecting with my little family.