1 month old

Written Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2013

(Anna left, Elise right)

Happy 1-month birthday to our darling little girls! Where has the time gone?

Anna and Elise, aside from the frustrating moments of trying to console them—which is particularly difficult when they are crying in stereo—and nothing seems to work—are really easy babies. They like to have full bellies, dry bottoms and warm bodies. Everything else is just icing on the cake.

Here’s the quick run-down:

Likes: Being held and rocked (now made possible for this stay-at-home mom of twins by two electric baby swings); stroller walks; car rides; kisses from Dexter.

Dislikes: Being hungry; being wet or dirty; being completely naked; baths (on occasion); boogers (and having them sucked out).

Weights: Anna, with her clothes and diaper on, is 5 lbs, 11.5 oz, while Elise is 5 lbs, 6.5 oz. Both have gained 5.5 oz in a week. (Mommy and Daddy are proud and feel like rock stars!)

Lengths: Anna and Elise both are approaching, if they haven’t already exceeded 19 inches.

Milestones: Anna flipped over from her back to her tummy at 9 days old. Elise did it at 10 days. Elise also clearly followed an object (a fly) with her eyes at 6 days old and smiled (what we believe to be socially—in reaction to Daddy’s voice) at 3 weeks old.

Eating: A combination of breast milk and formula. Both girls are nursing better and better every day, spending more time at the breast and sucking stronger. They get bottles of half to two-thirds formula (sometimes less, depending on the milk supply in the fridge) in the evenings and overnight, to help them stay full and sleep longer and more soundly.

Wearing: Newborn-sized clothing, folded cloth diapers (folded the way my Oma taught my mom and my mom taught me) during the day and size 0 all-in-one snap-up fleece diapers at night.

Nicknames: Anna Banana, Elise Bean, Peanut, Peanut Butter, Peanut Pants, Pumpkin, Pumpkin Pie, Pumpkin Pants, Sweetums. (My mom this past weekend took to calling them Poopsie and Snookie Wookems.)

And how are Mommy and Daddy doing?

We’re hanging in there—and getting better and better with each passing week. Christopher returned to work late last week. I really miss his company and his support…and of course, his extra set of hands. I was worried about how I would possibly handle changing, feeding and soothing two babies all by myself. And I was right. The first night Christopher was back at work actually wasn’t too bad, but yesterday night, after my mom left, was tough; I couldn’t get the girls to nurse well or go down for a snooze, and I couldn’t console them, and I just sobbed.

Christopher has a loose plan every night to come home for at least an hour. If that hour coincides with dinner, which it usually does, we’ve sat down for a meal together. If that time coincides with a feeding, we’ve tackled that together. It’s not perfect, but it works. Sometimes, that time is respite enough for me to go to the bathroom, throw in a load of laundry or fold diapers. Other times, it’s not respite at all. Every day with these girls is different.

The girls completely dictate the schedule around here, though. We feed them when they let us know they are hungry, and we sleep (at night) as long as they are asleep. We run errands during the mornings, when they are content or napping in their car seats. We (well, now, just I) tackle chores and personal stuff in the evenings, when they are napping. And we (again, now, just I) try to go to bed after a well-timed feeding, anywhere between 9 p.m. and 11 p.m.

We’re both eager for the days (which ARE coming) when the girls are a bit more self sufficient, so one parent can easily handle both of them, leaving the other parent to go out or exercise (God, I can’t wait to go on a fall run!)…but also so we can better interact with them and watch them learn and react to us and the world around them.

We really cannot imagine life without these little peanuts. They have just absolutely turned everything upside down, but we wouldn’t have it any other way. They are our everythings. We are so, so privileged to be their parents and shepherd them through this thing we call life.

Happy birthday, sweet peanuts. We love you so much!