Thursday 27 October 2011

2 Months


















Today the babies (as we call them, never call them "the twins" for some reason) are two months old. We had their 8 week check up on Tuesday (Mark's Mum came with me) and Evan weighs a whopping 10 lbs 5 oz (from 5lbs 3 oz at birth) and Sienna weighs 8 lbs 5 oz (from 4 lbs 11 oz). Evan is still very chilled out, only getting upset when he eats-he has 5 oz bottles where Sienna has 3 or4 and as the doctor said, he really can't handle the 5 oz which is why he gets sick after each feed and has gripe. Sienna is very much a girl, so dainty and sweet-everything about her is different to my two boys at this age and I can't wait to see her grow up.


The night nanny, Sue, started last week and it's been great to have 3 nights a week of uninterrupted sleep. You forget the noise babies make when they are sleeping (much less how hard it can be to get out of bed for that 2 am feed)! The first night she came I was reluctant to give up the babies, even though they were only upstairs I felt like I was going to be missing out on time with them which is already going by too fast. Although that has changed once I experienced 8 consecutive hours of sleep! The days after she is here I feel like I can do anything, I've even braved two public outings-to the mall and the library, with all 3 kids and am feeling much more confident about getting out and about.


Calum continues to be a great big brother, helping me feed the babies their bottles, getting me bibs and etc. when I am feeding them and showering them with lots of kisses and cuddles (well, Sienna mostly). He's loving nursery and they are getting ready for their Christmas play-so cute to hear him singing the songs, he will be a shepherd and I'm really looking forward to it. Feeling so blessed to have these 3 in my life, I honestly haven't begrudged for one minute my new role and the extra work-it's so worth it x













Wednesday 12 October 2011

Big Brother

Big brother Calum, almost 2 and a half


Sienna 6 wks


Chilled out Evan



Well not only is that the name of my guilty late night pleasure, but also what Calum is proudly referring to himself as lately. When we got back from the hospital Calum announced that he was the "big brother" now, Auntie Rachel and Uncle Paul had done a great job teaching him about his new role in our household and he really hasn't disappointed in terms of doing the title justice.


Calum loves his new siblings to bits, introducing them to everyone we meet as See-enna and Eb-an, kissing and smothering them first thing in the morning, when he gets home from nursery and anytime we're out of the room it seems-always a bit frightening coming back in and finding him literally on top of one of the babies. Unfortunately the play pen is getting a lot of use these days as it's the only safe place in the house.... Maybe even more scary was me coming back into the living room yesterday after a nano second in the kitchen to meet Calum carrying Sienna to me-luckily his hands were around her waist and not her throat (seriously, toddlers have no concept of the pain they can inflict on others!). Sure, feeds can take a lot longer then necessary when Calum insists upon holding the bottle and maybe the babies are getting lots of extra air as Calum doesn't quite know how to hold the bottle the right angle, but it's been pretty sweet to have a little helper at home not only to keep me company but also to warm my heart with his new found love for his brother and sister.

The other Big Brother around here is the ultimate reality show which is still running here in the UK and sadly motivates me to get out of bed for those 2 and 6 am feeds. The twins are feeding every 3 hours in the day and 4 hours at night, Mark and I do the 10 pm feed together and during the week I'm on my own with the 2 and 6 which in the beginning were pretty difficult but now have become a normal part of our routine-thankfully I'm so tired these days that I'm usually able to fall right to sleep after I get back to bed after the feeds. Our night nanny starts on Tuesday so 3 nights a week I will be able to have uninterrupted sleep from 10 to 7, something I haven't had since January (preggo with twins = bathroom visits almost hourly in the night!).

Hard to believe these two have been part of our lives for just over 6 weeks now.... Yesterday they were weighed and Sienna has gone up to 7lbs 3 oz (25th percentile for their adjusted age, technically they are term babies now as my due date was Oct 4th) and Evan is at 8lbs 5 oz, 50th percentile. Finally fitting into newborn size clothes although the 3 and 6 month stuff we have looks ridiculously big and I really do wonder if they will ever be big enough to wear it! Not that I am wishing them to grow, having babies around again is pretty special x