Our Little Ladies are FIVE Months Old

In the blink of an eye, spring was gone and we were into June and summertime! School was out for the summer and this meant that I got to spend each day, all day, with my favorite little ladies! As sad as I was to let such a wonderful group of kindergartners (and parents) go, I felt such relief and pure joy knowing that I would get to spend the summer days watching, learning and playing with my babies. As happy as I was to have this time, the fact that school was out meant something big -- Laura would no longer be staying with us during the week. 

Her last official week was Memorial Day week -- May 28 - 31. I know she was feeling sad and I was too. She had been with us since the very beginning, like driving-me-to-the-NICU-when-I-couldn't-drive-to-see-the-girls-everyday beginning. She had been right there with me for the middle-of-the-night feedings, exhaustion, and just figuring this whole twin/baby/breastfeeding/new mom thing out. I know my mom would have given anything in the world to be here with us, too, and I know she is so thankful for Laura. I will never be able to repay Laura or express my gratitude. Although some wives would cringe at the thought of their mother inlaw spending four months with them, I enjoyed every second. And I know George enjoyed the time with his mom too. I may or may not have sobbed like a baby when she left on Friday, May 31st. It was silly because she was coming back that very next week to give me a day to run errands and get things done, but when she left that day, it was the closing of a chapter in all of our lives. My preemie newborn twins were no longer that. They were thriving in their fifth month of life. We were on a schedule and starting to get the hang of this twin thing (sort of--ha).

We are so thankful for Grandmother. 

The girls' personalities continued to blossom in month five. Something I have failed to mention is that we spent a whole lot of time with Lindsey and EV. I can't express how nice it is to have a close friend (and neighbor) with a daughter just 11 days older. Lindsey and I have bounced so many thoughts, ideas, joys and frustrations off of each other and I think kept each other fairly sane. Most days ended with all five girls (two moms and three babies) sitting on the front porch visiting until the Dads got home. We also took the girls to the club just the two of us for lunch. They did so well! It was funny because we saw a girl there with three week old twins. She seemed so tired and commented that we seemed to "have it all together." I laughed to Lindsey that if she could have only see the three ring circus at my house of babies laying on pallets in the bathroom while I got ready and me singing every nursery rhyme in the book, she would retract her statement. 


Month Five Stats:

Annabelle 

Ashley

Annabelle - 15lbs, 6oz (45th percentile)
Ashley - 14lbs, 8oz (27th percentile)

Milestones/Development:

Month five was big because on Monday, June 9th, Annabelle rolled over (back to front) for the first time! She was so proud of herself. She had been close for a while and finally did it! Ashley wasn't as interested in being on the move like her sister, but she rolled back to front on June 28th. She was in shock when she did it and it was so cute! We had our four month shots this month and they were no fun. It took us about a week to get back on our sleeping schedule. We had to make a trip to Dr. Worsley because we had an icky cold and cough and mom wanted to make sure our lungs sounded fine. Bonus was that we got our weight checked! The girls continued to be so charismatic and show us their sweet and playful little personalities. This is such a fun age! They also continued (and probably the frequency increased) grabbing EVERYTHING! Teething was a big, not-fun happening this month. Although we never saw any teeth, our girls seemed to be pretty uncomfortable, which prompted mommy to buy not one but two Sophie the Giraffe teething toys at $20 each. Daddy was not as impressed by the expensive "chew toys" (his words) as I was. However, I reminded him that I was the one here with two fussy, miserable little girls all day and I was DESPERATE for some relief for all of us!

Annabelle rolls over!

Ashley rolls over!

Other Happenings:

The second weekend in June was Crestival, which is the annual member/guest golf tournament at River Crest. The girls had their first overnight stay without Mom and Dad at their grandparents' house in Granbury. George and I celebrated 6 years of marriage on that Saturday. Of course, Aunt Rachel, Uncle Dom, Kathy and Charlie all joined in the fun at PawPaw and Grandmother's house.

On June 11th, the girls made their first big road trip down to West Columbia to visit Nonnie and Pawpaw. We put them to bed in their car seats and they slept until Pearland. They did great the whole weekend and were showered with lots of love at a sip-and-see at Nonnie and Pawpaw's house. They loved meeting their West Columbia friends! They went swimming for the first time at Aunt Coco's parents' pool and loved it.We also got a big surprise from Aunt Coco and Uncle Matt--we will be getting a COUSIN in February 2015!!!! WOW! How exciting! Oh what memories to be made and trouble to get into! We had a great time and the girls did pretty well on the right home until we were about 30 minutes away. All in all, it was a wonderful weekend!

Ashley snoozing on the way to West Columbia. 

Annabelle snoozing on the road trip. 

We are going to be BIG cousins!

We love swimming!

The girls made more trips to church this month and did great. We have fallen in love with Arlington Heights Methodist Church and look forward to joining and having the girls baptized there in the fall. 

Daddy and Annabelle before church. 

Mommy and Ashley before church. 

We had a fun swimming day at the club with Aunt Rachel while Daddy and Uncle Dom played golf. Even though we were only in the baby pool about 20 minutes (after a couple of hours of preparation), it was totally worth it and everyone took a nap afterwards. 

Week By Week

Week 18:

Week 19:

Week 20:
Father's Day in West Columbia

Week 21:

Ashley says that being five months old is tiring.

Annabelle says she is NOT tired!

Week 22:

Ashley loves her new friend, Sophie!

This is how I found Annabelle one day after nap. We are in trouble!

Month Four Recap

Our sweet girls continued to grow, grow, grow and get smarter and sweet every day! Month four was a fun month. They started developing little personalities. It was a tough month for me because I was back at work to finish out the school year. I really have so much respect and admiration for working moms. I don't know how they do it every day. I was an emotional wreck and struggled so much with not being able to give anything (the girls or my kindergarteners) my all. Thankfully I got lots of hugs every day and everyone at school was so kind to me. Laura was a godsend staying with the girls those five weeks, and I know she enjoyed it so much. When the girls turned four months old on May 28th, I had almost made it to the end of the school year and getting to spend every day, all day with them. Four months felt like the final leg of a race--I had almost made it! And for me, the final leg of the race is almost as sweet as crossing the finish line. 

Annabelle Jane

Ashley Dianne

Month 4 Stats:

Annabelle weighed 14lbs, 1.5oz (36th percentile) and was 26.5 inches long (90th percentile) at 4 months.

Ashley weighed 13lbs, 5oz (20th percentile) and was 25.5 inches long (81st percentile) at 4 months.


Milestones/Development:

Their bubbly personalities continued to shine. They also started sleeping through the night from 8-8. We still gave them a dream feed at 11:30p.m. to help them stretch, but they did not wake up. Dr. Worsley was very impressed that they were sleeping 12 hours at this point. He said it was a huge accomplishment not only for a 4 month old, but huge for 4 month old preemies. Woohoo girls! This was the month working on rolling over for both girls. Annabelle was on her side a lot and trying so hard to push herself over. She just couldn't figure out how to get that pesky arm out of the way! Ashley would roll to her side and like to just hang out there and look around. That sums up their personalities perfectly -- Annabelle always likes to be on the move. She likes to be walked around and bounced and taken into new room/areas. She is on the go! Ashley is very detail oriented. She likes to take in her surroundings and focus on every little thing. She's quite content on her back because she finds so much to study. Then when she flips to her side, she has a whole new world to discover. The girls also enjoyed sitting in their bumpo chairs. We would face them towards each other and they would just babble away. I loved seeing them "communicate." It warms this mama's heart! These little girls are just as smart as they are sweet! We love watching them grow and develop!

Other Happenings:

The first week Mommy went back to work and Daddy left on Wednesday for a work trip. Talk about crazy! Thankfully we had Grandmother here and then Aunt Coco came in for the weekend to help. We had a great time and even went to the mall and through our first car wash with Aunt Coco. 

Good little shoppers!

We love Aunt Coco!

The next weekend we had both sets of grandparents here and Aunt Rachel and Uncle Dom for Mother's Day. We took some great pictures with our namesakes and had a wonderful time. Every time my parents are with George's parents, I am just so thankful to have two families that have meshed together like one big family. The girls are so lucky to have both sets of grandparents together often. What great memories will be made (and pictures taken) later in life. 

Happy Mother's Day!

Ashley Dianne and Annabelle Jane with their namesakes. 

The next week, Daddy left to go out of town again and Nonnie rode up with a friend to stay with us for FIVE whole days! It was so much fun having her here. We walked over to a neighborhood Farmer's Market Saturday morning and then had a girly lunch at Bluebonnet Bakery. We celebrated the fact that the girls slept from 8:00p.m. - 7:00a.m. the night before. One super special moment was that on Monday, Nonnie and Grandmother kept the girls while I worked and George was still out of town. I know all four of them had such a fun time! We were sad to see Nonnie leave on Tuesday. The next week, we had Chad and Travis visit for Colonial and I wrapped up the school year. The last day of school was on May 30th -- just two days after the sweet girls turned 4 months. What a fun month we had!

We loved our long visit with Nonnie!

One happy baby and one sad baby! Story of our lives!

Week by Week:

Week 13:

Annabelle

Ashley

 Week 14:

Daddy's girls

Week 15:

Sleeping Beauty Ashley

Sleeping Beauty Annabelle

Week 16:

Sister talk on a Saturday morning

Week 17:

Sister snuggles

Time is Flying -- Recapping 2 months and Celebrating 3 months!

Disclaimer -- I actually wrote this post just before they turned three months old but forgot to publish! Oooops! So my time references may seem a little off, but I wanted to remember that specific time and my feelings, so I didn't rewrite it.
 
Wow -- to say time is flying could be the biggest understatement ever. I always heard moms talk about how quickly time passes with little ones, and they weren't kidding. A family friend (who also had a preemie) told me soon after the girls came home that soon it would be hard to visualize and truly remember how tiny they once were. I thought about that this week as I can barely hold both girls at the same time. My little 4lb, 14oz Annabelle and 4lb, 6oz Ashley have been replaced with chubby cheeks, legs, arms, and bodies. They are growing and thriving and that is such a blessing. I have been able to continue exclusively breastfeeding, which again, I count my blessings. They are doing so well, and it is hard for me to remember them fitting on my forearm and being able to lay both of them on my chest simultaneously with their feet barely reaching my hips. My oh my, how time flies (and babies grow)!

I totally neglected our two month post, so I am going to throw it in with the three month post. I am a few days early with that one because on Monday, when they actually turn three months old, I will be back at work as a kindergarten teacher. As much as I love my students, co-workers, and job, I cannot imagine not spending the day with the girls. There hasn't been a day that I haven't cried about it since Sunday. I am just thankful that it is only for five short weeks and that I work in a profession where I get lots of hugs. Lucky for us, George's mom has offered to stay with the girls until I am done with work. What a blessing she has been these twelve weeks and will continue to be in the month of May. I truly cannot imagine what we would have done without her. She has given us the best gift and has taken some of the worry away from this mama!

Month 2

Ashley

 

Annabelle

Stats:

Annabelle weighed 9lbs, 13oz at their two month check-up and was 23 inches long. She's more than doubled in weight and grown five inches since birth!

Ashley weighed 9lbs, 2oz at the two month check-up and was 22 inches long. She, too, has more than doubled in weight and has grown five inches since birth.

Both girls are in the tenth percentile for height and weight.

Milestones/Development:

The girls continued to work on head and neck control this month. Every day they get stronger. It's amazing! We also started working on sleeping longer through the night. Dr. Worsley said we could try going four to five hours in between a feeding at night and see if they could handle it. Well, our girls could handle it and this mama began getting a longer stretch of sleep at night. Hallelujah! Towards the end of the month, we were putting the girls down after the 8:00p.m. feeding, then dream feeding them at 11:00p.m. (basically putting a bottle in their mouth and letting them eat while sleeping) and then they woke up about 4:00a.m. It made such a difference for me. I felt like a new person getting those extra couple of hours of sleep! The girls continued to stay awake longer and really study the world. We also started seeing little glimpse of smiles -- so sweet!

Other Happenings:

We continued to try and get in a routine. I needed it for my sanity, and I felt like the babies did better with predictability. We had lots of visitors this month. Matt and Cortney came up to see the girls the weekend of March 8th. We also celebrated Billy's birthday that weekend with the whole Buckmaster family. The girls loved seeing their family and definitely didn't spend many seconds not in someone's arms. Cortney was a lifesaver and got up with me for all of the feedings. I know she probably needed many hours of sleep to get caught up, as the girls didn't sleep much that weekend! The next weekend, my mom and Aunt Dixie came up to see the girls. Poor George got a terrible stomach bug so he was pretty MIA for about five days. Not only did he feel awful, but we didn't want him to get the girls sick. Mom and Aunt Dixie enjoyed loving on the girls and were so helpful to me. The last weekend in March, we ventured out as a family of four to Sundance Square. We pushed the girls around and then had an early dinner downtown. They did great and we had the best day I can remember in a long time. Those days are what mommy dreams are made of! At the end of the month, I was released by Dr. Benz to resume normal physical activity (including ab work) and was so happy to get back to Smart Barre after a hiatus since November.
 
Pictures from PawPaw B's Birthday Weekend:
 

 

 

 

 

 

Two months old and our first cold! Lots of snuggles were in order!

 

 

Let me just say that two months shots were TERRIBLE for us! Not only were the actual shots awful (and sad), but the girls were fussy for about four days afterwards. It was not fun times for them or me! I felt so bad for them and there wasn't anything I could do to make them feel better. Believe me, I tried lots of things: driving them around, walking around the mall, walking around the neighborhood, swings, bouncy seats, floor time, etc. NOTHING WORKED! Needless to say, I know that our girls have very healthy lungs!
 
The girls had their first babysitters this month! Rachel and Dom watched them while George and I attended a wedding of one of his inside salesmen. Unforunately for Aunt Rachel and Uncle Dom, the girls were still pretty fussy from their shots. It was nice for George and I to get out of the house and do something together.Grandmother and Pawpaw B brought pizza over and helped with the girls, too, so that was nice. The girls love spending time with their aunts and uncles and grandparents!

And now...month 2 in pictures!


Week 5:
 

 
Week 6:
 

 

 

 

 

Week 7:

 

Ashley

 

Annabelle

 

Week 8:

 

Annabelle

 

Ashley

  

Family fun in Sundance Square

 

 

 
 
Month 3

Stats:

Annabelle weighed 11lbs, 5oz (19th percentile) and was 23.125 inches long (37th percentile) at 3 months.

Ashley weighed 10lbs, 11oz (9th percentile) and was 22.5 inches long (14th percentile) at 3 months.

Milestones/Development:

Oh my goodness! We are really starting to get little personalities. We are smiling and interacting SO MUCH this month. The girls also enjoy laying on their back and just looking around, taking everything in. They have starting cooing a lot and I love when I hear those sweet sounds. I feel like they are really communicating with us! They enjoy laying on a blanket next two each other and looking all around and at each other. They really get their legs and arms moving and seem so active! Our sleep schedule really turned a corner this month. The girls go down after their 8:00p.m. feeding. We dream feed at 11 or 11:30p.m. and then they usually sleep until 5. it is heaven compared to those early days of eating every 3 hours! We also started using our bumbo seats. The girls love sitting up and seeing the world from a different view! Their little heads are still wobbly, but we are getting better head control every week.
 

Other Happenings:
 
Kathy Carmichael hosted a sip-and-see for the girls at her house the Thursday before Easter. It was great opportunity for all of my former co-workers to get to see the girls. They girls wore their Easter dresses (a few days early -- such a faux paux, I know!) and enjoyed being passed around and "ohhed and ahhhed" over. Then Easter weekend, mom and dad (Nonnie and Pawpaw T) came into town. We visited the Easter Bunny at River Crest and got our pictures made. Matt and Cortney also came up for Easter and we hosted everyone for Easter at our house on Sunday. The girls were champs at their first church service -- they slept the entire time!

Our Sip-and-See:

Our First Easter:

 

 

 

 

Although we made some great memories this month, it was definitely full of fussy evenings! About 4:00p.m. each day until they went to bed, the girls were so very fussy. The "witching hour" was witching indeed, but many parenting books gave me hope that this too shall pass. Once we got the bedtime routine down, this did help a lot with the fussy evenings, and needless to say, we went on a LOT of walks around 5:00p.m. each day! Poor Daddy George joked that he rarely got to see the girls when they weren't crying during the week, since he got home most nights right in the middle of the witching hour.
 
And the best part....month 3 in pictures!
 
Week 9:

Week 10:

Mommy's birthday! My real gifts arrived 10 weeks before!

Week 11:

Week 12:

Annabelle

Ashley