11 Months

The girls turned 11 months this past weekend in what has been the fastest 11 months of my life.

They are both doing some crazy things and I just can't believe in one more month we will have one year olds. This month we have made some big developments and the girls are thriving. 

Kennedy seems to always be ahead of the game in the teething department and it has been no different this go round of teeth. A few days of extreme fusiness resulted in not one, but FOUR black bubbles and then 3 teeth have come through. One is still taking its sweet time, thus resulting in some biting action. Kinley didn't seem to be getting any teeth, but then last week I noticed two little black areas and one tooth is starting to break through. She is also experimenting with nibbling on people's toes and Kennedy's back. YIKES! 

Both girls are standing up on their own in the middle of the room but haven't taken the official first step yet. They will walk with their walking toy or pushing something else. I can see that they are ready to go, but can't pick up their feet yet without falling back down. We have had to start being super careful about closing the gate going up the stairs because they see it open and just go. Both girls have been found on the stairs a few times...luckily not high up.

They are super fun to watch play these days. They go back and forth between the playroom and the living room pushing toys or dragging things. We had to have a talk with Claire this month about the fact that she is going to have to start sharing more because they can start playing in there more. Not totally sure she got that :) They play sitting by each other sometimes and other times one gets something the other one wants and it turns into a slapping match, which usually ends in someone screaming. 

They have become super eaters! We have been expanding their diet every day and they aren't having any real issues with food or choking anymore. Their favorites are green beans, peas, strawberries and bananas. Towards the end of the month they tried more pasta which was a much better experience than the first time and chicken. They are pretty much eating all table food now that they can feed themselves. If its super messy we feed them to save our own sanity. 

I can tell that they aren't loving the formula as much, but they won't drink a lot out of the sippy cups. We are starting to add a little whole milk to their formula bottles to start the transition. I'm SO SO SO excited to not have that expense anymore! 

Sleeping is seriously amazing. When I went to LA Justin decided to just start laying them down in their beds and apparently it worked. They are both able to just be put in their beds with the noise machine on and out they go. They are still using a paci, but only to sleep when they are put in their cribs awake. I've got to get serious about breaking that too. I don't want them to be dependent on it. They go to bed about 7 and have to be woken up in the mornings to get ready for school. 

Both girls are babbling non-stop. Usually in their highchairs they will be "talking" back and forth. Occasionally they will let out a scream followed by a big belly laugh. They both have the funniest laughs now too. They get so happy when Claire talks to them or we come in door. Picking them up from daycare is so fun now too because they just get excited.

Life is pretty sweet right now.

FYI: I forgot to turn on the flash in the panic that was taking 11 month pictures last weekend! It is getting dangerous to take pictures on a gliding chair with people who 1. Don't stay still 2. Didn't want a picture taken!

Kennedy and Kinley: 10 Months

What a crazy thought! Ten months of pure happiness at our house. I'm currently watching Kennedy laugh at Justin and Claire while they play Halloween BINGO. Apparently she doesn't want to go to sleep tonight.

This past month has been a big month for the two little Brownies.

The started off the month with croup. It was a very long week. Kennedy started the fever and coughing first. We had our first child admitted to the hospital after a very long night in the ER. Luckily that stay wasn't very long because I was exhausted after only 18 hours. A steroid and a few breathing treatments later she got discharged to go home. I picked up Kinley from daycare and what do you know...she let out a cough. I thought I might be imagining it because it didn't happen again for a couple hours. Finally at 3:00 am Justin took Kinley to the ER to get checked out. She didn't have it as bad as Kennedy yet so she got a quick steroid and was sent on her way. She did get worse as days progressed and in my half asleep start thought I gave her too much medicine. Thankful for our doctor and our nurse friends who helped us out that weekend!

The girls have started a lot more solid foods. We tried last month but it just didn't go well. There was choking and gagging so I decided we could wait a little bit longer. Claire is loving the opportunity to shove food in their mouths. We have talked a lot about only giving them one piece at a time until they are better at eating. She takes her job very seriously so the few times I've fed them table food she has been yelling from her seat to only give them one piece at a time!!!

I had to make a list for their Ms. Diane, so here is what the two little piggies are adding to their diet these days:

• Strawberries
• Yogurt
• Kiwi
• Peas
• Green Beans
• Bananas
• Carrots
• Apples
• Noodles
• Rice
• Peaches 
• Pears
• Puffs

They love to eat and since they can hold their own bottles now it just makes life easier. We do still give them a bottle at night while we hold them, which I love because they are so mobile now they hardly want to sit still. 

Speaking of moving: They are all over the place. Kennedy still does this funny crawl that looks similar to a seal moving around. She sometimes gets up on all fours, but moves so much quicker when she is shoving herself with one leg back. Kinley has finally started moving just as fast. I love watching them race around the kitchen or down the hallway upstairs before and after bath time. 

They are both pulling up on the furniture now. The beginning of the month had a lot of falling and crying going on. By the end of the month they were both able to pull up and stay up on their feet for longer periods of time. They have started to cruise around the furniture and even have gotten pretty brave and let go a few times. They can't stand unassisted so this move usually ends in falling down gracefully. Their favorite place to play is in the kitchen while slapping the sliding glass door that looks out to our lanai and backyard. They also frequent the magnets on the refrigerator that sing. 

Both girls are still very serious about their sleep. The parents in this house are very serious about sleep so it's important that our girls are too ;) They have been going to sleep anywhere between 7:15-7:45 most nights of the week and we have to wake them up about 6:40 in the mornings to get ready to go to Ms. Diane's. They take 2 naps there and usually take a cat nap on the way home in the car. By the time we get home from Ms. Diane's we all play a little bit, eat dinner, take a bath and get in our pjs.

They are so fun to watch when they play. They laugh at each other with tiny belly laughs, steal toys, steal pacifiers, crawl on us, crawl on each other, follow Claire around, make loud noises, love to Skype/Facetime with family and friends and just sit and watch the craziness around here. Kennedy has started shaking her head around in this crazy way and Kinley has started waving while saying something that might sound like "bye". It's so fun to watch them learn every day. 

We got rid of some of our tiny baby stuff over the past month. We had a garage sale and got rid of all our baby clothes, any baby items and this past weekend gave our jump-a-roos away. I LOVE this stage of life. We have all the tiny people we want under our roof. We know we are done having kids and we can just enjoy life with a complete family. I can have our Christmas card pictures taken this year and know that in a few years I won't feel bad having it still hanging up because all our chicks will be in that picture. 

I really can't believe that 10 months has come and gone. They are such a blessing to our lives and truly make our days better. I love when Justin gets them out of their beds in the morning and they still have their little sleepy faces on and they come in for an open mouth smooch. I'm happy to be one of the first things they see in the morning (Claire usually is the first!) and the person who gets to smooch them both before we lay them down to sleep.

We love you two baby girls...even if you're getting impossible to photograph :)

Kennedy and Kinley: 9 Months

Nine months has come and gone so fast.

Both girls are growing like crazy and I can't believe the changes that took place this month. Seriously intense crawling, trying table food, pulling up, and teeth!

Movement has been crazy this month. Kennedy started off for the big girl playroom first with this gimpy crawling movement. It looks like a sitting position while lunging forward and dragging one of her legs. She pushes off the dragging leg and moves so fast. Kinley is sticking to the army crawling for the most part. She has added in getting up on all fours here and there, but she is quicker when slithering like a snake.

Kennedy

Kinley

Both girls have tried table food and it went over HORRIBLY. There was choking and gagging all around the kitchen table. Carrots were the first things we tried and Kinley actually wanted more even while choking, but Kennedy wasn't having it. Both girls did like the apples we offered and they are liking practicing with the mum-mums which Claire is happy to shove in their mouths. They have been busy eyeing up everything on the table, so I know everyone is hoping that table food is coming quickly!

They have been pulling up and falling all over the floor. The very hard floor. Our downstairs is all tile minus the rugs that aren't padded except in the playroom. We made a small corral on the foam pads out of pillows on the floor so it has taken a little bit of the edge off when they fall. There is still a considerable amount of screaming, but Claire is always willing to come pick them up by their arms or even better their necks! YIKES!

The learning table that makes noise is a favorite place to pull up on and bang buttons while laughing. They are both pulling up on the couch and just standing while leaning on it. As the month came to a close they were able to slowly put themselves back on the ground. 

Monthly pictures are getting more difficult to take if someone isn't dancing like a complete fool behind me. 

Both girls now have two teeth! Everything goes in their mouths and they are gnawing on everything. I could do without the horrible teething process these girls have, but they are so cute with tiny white "toothes" as Claire says. 

Both girls have been babbling a good amount. Both started with "mama mama mama" and have moved to adding "ba ba ba" "da da da"... It won't be long until they are more noisy. 

At their 9 month appointment both girls were right around 16 pounds and tracking so great. I find myself rocking them and trying to remember what they felt like 9 months ago. Tiny is all I remember. They take up a lot of room in their cribs now and when they are laying flat out flat they seem so big.

Kennedy and Kinley at 8 Months

These girls have been hanging out in the world for as long as they were inside! 8 months. Time is flying by us.

This month we had a visit from Aunt Kim and Jared. They came in from LA for Claire's birthday party. They were a big help from the night they got in until it was time to go. We went and ate at new places we hadn't been before, went to the beach twice and played at home. Claire likes to play with both of them so it's always fun. They hadn't seen the girls since Easter and they've totally changed since then.

The girls also celebrated their first 4th of July! This is one of my favorite holidays and we hosted all of our friends at our house for a night of grilling out and playing in the jump house. There were no fireworks on base this year, which is always my favorite part of the night.

Both girls perfected sitting up this month! I figured it would take a few more months because of their adjusted age and Claire sitting up around 7 months (I compare a lot, which I shouldn't do!). We worked hard for this goal. I wanted them to be able to sit up before they started daycare with Ms. Diane. It for sure makes for a more pleasant playtime experience when they can sit up and look around. They also started daycare at Ms. Diane's house. Claire went for almost 2 years to Diane and loved it. So far the girls are loving their days at Ms. Diane's house and I'm loving knowing that they are getting to be in a fun environment.

They are eating everything we offer them! They eat cereal or oatmeal for breakfast, fruit for lunch and a veggie for dinner. They drink a 4 ounce bottle with every meal, an extra bottle most days for a snack and a 6 ounce bottle before bed. They've adjusted well to eating at home and school and most days share a bowl of food with one spoon. Talk about contamination :) We work smarter not harder around here.

July was a month of runny noses due to what we think is teething starting and starting daycare. We made a trip to the doctor for a rash on Kennedy and several Facebook messages to their doctor. Their stuffy noses are so miserable for everyone in the house. No one sleeps and nothing helps them. Because of a trip I did find out that they are about 15.5 pounds! Whew! No wonder carrying them around is getting more and more difficult.

Their biggest accomplishment this month is that they are on the move. Kennedy started off the scooting and Kinley was just days behind her. I found Kennedy close to the stairs one night and Claire promptly made sure she was safe, grabbed her by the ankles and wheel barreled her back to the play mat.

The whole time I was pregnant I always thought it would be so fun to watch them interact and play together. It is no joke the most fun thing to watch. They laugh at each other and Claire. They roll on each other. They grab at each other's cloths and pacifiers. I think sometimes just to see if the other one is still there. I can't imagine if we could see what it's really like on the inside. I often think about what they could possibly be thinking when they watch Claire or listen to us talk. They are so observant now and such sweet little people.

When You're 7 Months Old...

You might just be at the most fun age so far.

We are flying solo without Tutu helping these days and all five of us are doing great. We are able to enjoy all our girls, do things we love doing and not feel so confined to the house anymore.

Cheesy wheezy faces are happening all the time.

Loud giggles come out when Claire and Daddy do funny faces and jump around like monkeys. You both are exploring your voices and really like to hear yourselves talk.

Your toes might be the yummiest things to reach your mouths or you just want to show us how limber you both are. Toys and whatever else you can put up to your mouth goes in. We need to work on holding bottles. I did order you a present from Amazon. We will see how it works :)

This month was fun! You made your first trip on an airplane to Texas and you both did great. Flying with a baby is never an event I've heard anyone be super excited about. I was freaking out for several days before the flight. I came armed with lots of goodies in my bag, but none were needed. Both of you slept the entire flight going and most of the flight coming back.

While in Texas you got in a pool for the first time. You like the bath so I figured you would enjoy a good dip in the pool. You both splashed your legs around and tried to go in face first.  It was so hot outside that you could only go out for short periods of time before someone would take you inside.

You got to meet most of our friends and family! You were so good and always went to everyone. They all loved getting to play with you. That is for sure one of the hardest parts of living so far away. I so wish our favorite people could see you grow up in person. One day...

You are rolling! You both roll quickly from your back to your stomach where you promptly start pushing your feet to try and get up in the crawling position. You get very frustrated when you don't go anywhere. Towards the end of the month you have been scooting short distances across Tutu and Pop's flood. It won't be long and you will be following us around the house.

You started solid foods! Cereal or oatmeal in the mornings and then a veggie or fruit at night. You love everything except peas and green beans. I did find some that are mixed with other things that you will eat. We don't need you turning orange.

I feel like we are turning a corner and starting to get to a place where you are going to be "easy". I feel that we are coming out of survival mode and we are able to enjoy life. We can, and did, go downtown the other night to an outside bar, don't judge, to listen to music and fireworks. We were out way past your bedtime, but you were so good and we accomplished your bedtime routine when we got home. You are on a schedule most days and are both pretty predictable. You still don't nap great (I wrote this and I'm just adding pictures 3 days later and you two have been napping twice a day for an hour and a half! Sorry for throwing you under the bus), but your sleeping at night is amazing and that is all that matters to me! You both will lay on the ground and play for about 10-15 minutes and then you get bored and start screeching. I love watching you look around and explore the big world around you.

Claire is still in love with her baby sisters and she reminds me daily that she knows the names of her sisters. Both names are Kinley. Kennedy is proving to be a little tricker for her tongue. I love listening to her tell you that it is okay and mommy will be right there. She is such a big helper and gives you toys, puts your paci in while we are in the car and will come make you both laugh whenever she feels like it.

We LOVE LOVE LOVE having these baby girls in our family. They have been such a blessing and I've so enjoyed my summer with them.

Six Months

Memorial Day marked the girls 6 month birthday. Half a year. 31 Weeks. Holy lightening speed!

Six months has got to be my favorite month so far! These little ladies have been making big changes and keep us on our toes. Both girls are moving around and scooting from one place to another. 

The girls love playing on their play mats {as in two-there is zero sharing at the moment} They continue their trend of liking to have their own space. Maybe this will be a little peek into our future...liking to be with each other, but also liking to do their own thing! They really like their bouncers and are both getting really good at moving around the entire circle in it. 

and the laughs! Oh my goodness! They both have the cutest smiles with the sweetest squeals and giggles. Kennedy is for sure more vocal but neither one has issues letting us know they need something. Kinley has found her feet and loves to stick them in her mouth whenever possible. 

Both love to smile! Always finding someone to cheese at. This person is mostly Claire and for sure never a stranger who is making weird faces at them. 

Sleeping this month has been great. Both girls continue to sleep through the night after eating and going to bed around 8:30 and don't wake up until around 7-7:30. It's lovely really. We switched the nipple on the bottle to a faster flow so eating doesn't seem to take 45 minutes each like it was before we got smart.

We have been practicing sitting up in the Bumbos so that they could start solid foods. It seemed to have worked and we got the green light at our 6 month appointment to start some cereal and veggies. Kinley has started to try to sit up/do crunches while laying in the Nap Nanny. They both like being upright and looking around at what is going on. They are eating 6 ounces every 3 hours from a bottle. They are still on a regular schedule. If we weren't I can't even imagine how crazy our life would be. 

Kinley started rolling to her side at the beginning of the month, but big sister Kennedy was the first one to roll completely over during Memorial Day weekend. 

The big even that happened during month 6 was we were left alone as a family of 5 while Tutu went to visit Kim and Jared in LA. She left on a Thursday night and came back Monday night. Overall the weekend was a great success. I realized we would have made it without my mom here with us for the past 7 months but I would never want to find out what it would have been like and I'm forever thankful that she was able to come stay with us. 

The girls took their first trip to the beach during month 6. I wasn't sure how the trip was going to go while we were preparing {and looking like we were going on a year long vacation!}. They both did great! Ate a couple bottles, took a nap in their tent and even a dip in the water. They also hung out in their bumbos under the shade of trees. 

We also hosted a Memorial Day BBQ at our house! Our first get together at our house with the girls! It went well and by the end of the day I was ready to go to sleep for a long time! We celebrated with a 1/2 year birthday cake. I would have cut it in half, but two halves make a whole so we just had a whole cake. 

A few days after their 6 month mark we went to visit Dr. Woods and have our last visit with Dr. Lentz before she retires and moves off island. We will miss her! Both girls are doing amazingly well! Kennedy weighed in at 13 lbs 4 oz and 24 1/2 inches long! Kinley was 13 lbs 1 oz and 24 1/4 inches long. I feel like I look at them all the time and think about how tiny they were just a few months ago. They seem so big now and it's hard to believe that they were/are little premies. 

Claire continues to love her sisters to death. Like literally. She would squeeze them too tight if someone wasn't always watching. She likes to help feed them, rub their cheeks, lay on the floor with them and help momma, Tutu or daddy with any task associated with them. We are blessed with three great little girls!

Happy 6 months of life baby girls! We love you two too much! 

Who Knew What One Year Would Hold

One year ago today we found out we were having a baby.

How excited we were and how in the dark we were that there would be two of the cutest people joining our family. I remember taking a test, yelling for Justin and walking around with a secret for months just like it was yesterday.

I found this picture today when I was preparing for a professional development I was doing. Another thing that has changed over the past year has been my job and my decision to still work, but have the ability to focus more on my girls at home. Ah, life. I also wasn't 6 weeks pregnant at this point, but more like 3. Crazy multiple hormones!

One year ago tomorrow I went to the doctor to take a blood test to get confirmation. That was confirmed to us and when I went for my initial appointment the nurse asked me about family history of twins. Again, something I said was never going to happen.

But I can't imagine it any other way {Have you looked at my pictures lately?!? They're just all so cute!}

The date in that picture is just funny. On January 13th they were almost 2 months old! It is a crazy fast life we are living. We have to soak it up.

June 1st will mark the date of when we saw them for the first time. The first time my thoughts went to 3 kids and how in our original plans {God can start laughing now} we talked about only having 2. How I was freaking out and Justin was laughing, which is a perfect example of our relationship. Good thing we balance each other out. I'm not sure I stopped freaking out the entire 33 weeks and for sure didn't after they were born.

It was also the day we shared our secret with some of our closest friends and family. What a fun day!

Watching me grow at a rapid speed was pure craziness. Who knew a body could change so fast and so much. Getting to see two wiggling babies every 2 weeks was the highlight of the pregnancy.

Over the year we had a few scares when I was pregnant. An ER visit, is that contractions?! and the biggest one was calling Justin to get home because my water broke. Going to the hospital over a month early I would classify under the scariest day of my life. They thrived in the Tripler NICU and we made life long friends who love our girls. What a blessing those nurses and doctors were and are to us.

At the end of our experiences in the past year, I can reflect and be so joyful that we have three healthy and growing girls. We made new friends along the way. Grew together as a family. Helped each other. Cried {okay really just the girls and me}. Watched Claire burst with joy at seeing her sisters and do such a fabulous job at wanting to help. Made changes to jobs and so much more!

These two tiny faces make me so happy that we got two out of the deal! What a sweet life we have.

Five Months

Kennedy and Kinley are so fun! I initially was going to do two separate five month posts for them, but they are doing the same things, imagine that!

Here it is girls:

In the past month you have become the biggest cheesy babies in town. You are smiling with the biggest gummiest smiles, laughing and starting to bring your hands together when you get excited. You've started to notice that there are other people around and watching you smile at each other is so fun. Claire can't stay our of your faces so you've taken a liking to smiling at her and giggling. It makes me so happy to watch Claire with you and see how excited she gets when she comes home from school and sees you or gives you both the last smoochie before bed. 

You are both weighing in at 11 and a half pounds! I love that you are both becoming chunky and starting to get the rolls on your arms and thighs. You are making the transition from breast milk to formula and doing great. You are eating four 6 ounce bottles a day and still breastfeeding at night before bed. 

Speaking of bed time....you two are amazing sleepers! Every night we start our bath and bedtime routine at 8. By 9, you are asleep and snoozing for the night. We do have to get up a few times every couple nights to put a "plinkey" in your mouth, but it's not so bad. We've tried putting you in your cribs this month a few nights. All resulted in big failures and we finally gave up and put you in your rock n plays. You sleep so cozy good in them, usually until 7 in the morning! 

I consulted the doctor and he said no one has died of crying it out...month 6, watch out! We need to get in those cute beds :) 

We have been lucky that Tutu is still able to be here and watch you during the day. The three of you fill your days with feeding, playing and short naps! We only have one more month (May) with her at our house. Next month we are going to Texas with her and then back to Hawaii to do this as a family of 5. Holy moly. 

Other fun things you are doing:

• Kennedy was the first to roll over on her side and that is as far as you've gotten. Kinley has started rolling to her side too! Big girls.
• Looking in the mirrors on the floor and smiling at yourselves.
• Grabbing at toys that are hanging on your play mat and putting them in your mouth.
• Both of you can fit your entire fist in your mouth and try to choke yourselves. 
• You love listening to and watching Baby Einstein- we usually put this on in the evening when we are eating dinner and trying to reorganize the house for the next day. 
• Your are both making this loud sound to get attention and laughing when someone comes to talk to you.
• We bought another jumper and you like to get in the jumpers and look at each other. You have both been starting to grab the toys on the jumper and I think are starting to realize that when you move it makes noise. 
• You have specific swings you like to be in and make it known you don't like to switch it up. 

I look at you sometimes and still can't believe there are two of you. I can't believe that you are already 5 months and that means almost half a year! {Should I start planning a birthday party?!?!} 

Kennedy

Kinley

Love you two too much! 

Feeding twins...as in TWO people

I'm not one to write about my boobs and feeding people with them...but I was always looking for a blog post on feeding twins, what worked for people and what happened when it didn't work! The result: hardly found any at all and the ones I did find either were basically telling you that you were horrible if you couldn't feed them both for a year...or until they were 20...or apparently no one could do it.

I'm here to tell you that it can happen AND not to feel guilty when it is time to close shop. We are closing in on 5 months and I won't lie, I'm over it. I said it. It's out there. I'm over feeding two people every three hours. I'm over pumping after every feeding, which just causes more stress and less time. So we are transitioning to formula.

Heres our story...

Feeding tiny humans no matter if they are born early, on time or late is a challenge. Feeding them breast milk or formula is another can of worms I'm not willing to argue about. {A friend and fellow twin mommy of cute little boys wrote on her blog "formula is not poison". Amen and thanks for that reminder!} All three of the girls started off with breast milk and transitioned to formula for one reason or another.

Claire refused a bottle of anything until about 8 months {literally we were together for every single feeding for 8 months} and didn't know what a pacifier really was until the girls came along. At that point she knew it made them be quiet and she referred to it as a "plinkley". It was fine at that time because there was one of her and one of me. Plenty of time for us to eat and play all day long.

Fear not! I will not be posting pictures of anyone feeding from me- not that I'm against that!- just ain't happenin'

I knew with K&K I wanted to give breastfeeding them a shot. It wasn't the easiest of starts with them being born at 33 weeks and initially drinking 5 mL per feeding or 1 teaspoon! Geez that seems like a joke now!

In the NICU the girls were fed through a tube for the first couple weeks. They weren't mature enough to even try feeding and it honestly scared me to think about it. They were so tiny. The tube started off in the mouth and when all their CPAP machines came off the tube moved to their noses. A few hours after the girls were born and I was settled in my room the lactation lady came around with a bag full of pump supplies. The hospital was outfitted with a pump in each room and in every NICU room. I don't remember this with Claire, but I think I heard they were moving to be a more breastfeeding friendly hospital. They even arranged a hospital grade pump at home for 3 months!

I would pump, pump and pump some more until I thought I was going to start mooing. Justin did moo for me and my postpartum hormones wanted to punch him, but I just had to laugh. Claire would stare at me like I had 5 heads {or weird cones attached to me} and ask "what you doing, mommy?". Hope she isn't traumatized.

Our fridges in the NICU rooms were overflowing, the NICU freezer was full and so we moved on to storing hundreds of bags of milk in our deep freeze. We joked with the NICU nurses about selling milk {glad we didn't!} and I kept pumping. Every day we would wait to hear the new amount the girls would be eating. At that point we were measuring their intake in mL. Such a small amount looking back!

A couple weeks into our stay we decided it was time to try the bottle and actual breast. Kinley started off as the rockstar eater while Kennedy was more content just waiting for someone to come fill up her tube straight to her tummy with milk. I was going up to the hospital a couple times a day to try and get feeding under control so we could get them both home and still pumping. All the time. Finally, Kennedy turned the corner and decided to listen to the doctors, nurses and me. Home sounded like a fun place to her. The week leading up to Christmas she started getting really great and by December 22nd it was time for her to come home. Kinley decided she wanted to hang out with our favorite nurses a little longer and stay on the easy path of eating with a tube. I think she wanted a little one on one attention. She threw in a few choking episodes for good measure and about scared me off from bringing her home. She continued to choke once we got home but eventually got that straightened out.

Until I ended up getting sent home with mastitis {holy shit it hurt} when I was supposed to be spending the night in the NICU with the girls to get Kennedy home. All I needed. I cried, our nurse Amy just hugged me and told me it would be okay that they would keep her another couple nights until I was better and sent me home with a fever. The next morning I met the lactation lady in the NICU and she sent me to the ER because no clinic was open on December 23rd. I ended up getting medicine and going home to sleep.

There is Amy :)

The next morning, December 24th, I bounced up to the NICU to get Kennedy! She was coming home, but leaving Kinley. It was sad and I was worried how on earth was I going to feed one at home and one in the NICU?!?! Looking back it was so nice not having them come home on the same day. It didn't seem as crazy and it was a transition period. I continued to feed and pump then do it again. We were also supplementing bottles for Kennedy at that point. I would feed her on one side and then she would get a bottle of 60 mL with a 1/2 tsp of NeoSure, a high calorie formula.

Kinley followed a few days later and our INSANE schedule started. Luckily both girls were on a 3 hour schedule for eating. It was always on the dot!

We tried tandem feeding but no one was a fan of that. They were still so small that it was hard to hold them, the pillow and get comfortable. So I always needed assistance. Someone would feed one of the girls a 60 mL bottle of breast milk (no formula was needed except a 1/2 teaspoon the first month and a half due to my insane pumping to keep the supply going!) while I would breastfeed the other baby, change diapers and switch! Lucky for us they would always go back to sleep very quickly.

After awhile of feeding at 8, 11, 2, 5, 8, 11, 2, 5.....people started getting crazy. People meaning the adults. We were tired. I was delirious from then having to pump after every feeding. I realized that since they took a bottle I didn't have to feed every single time. My mom made a schedule because we started "calling" who would get to go to bed with Claire at 8 and who would have to feed at the dreaded times of 11pm or 2am! What was so awful about those feedings is that by the time we fed them, it took about an hour, would get only about an hour to an hour and a half of sleep before they woke up again! Justin mainly won the bedtime with Claire until my mom got smart, thanks mom!

**I'll take a second and let it be known that my mom is the reason we are still functioning and I'm able to write about this without crying! Don't be scared to ask for help...or in our case, move in**

Whoever went to bed with Claire at 8 didn't feed and got to sleep through the 11 pm feeding until 2. That would mean every 3 nights someone got to sleep a solid 6 hours. We lived for our night. After a few weeks of being home we noticed they didn't want to wake up for the 11 pm feeding. They were probably about 9 or 10 weeks old or about a month adjusted age. At that point we decided we weren't waking sleeping babies, and we didn't. They would go down around 9 pm and sleep until around 2 am. Sweet slumber.

They were still eating 7 times a day and I was still pumping. Eventually my dad felt the need to contribute from China. Thanks Pop! He made us a new feeding schedule and we used it for a few weeks until they decided to move their normal 2 am feeding to between 3 and 4 and eventually to 5. Moving to 5 am was good for me because I went back to work and getting up at 3 to feed then pump- there was no point in going back to sleep which just made me super tired.

At almost 5 months {this week, what!} both girls are able to take 5 ounces from a bottle when I'm not home. When I am home they breastfeed and then take a supplemental bottle of only breast milk. They've come so far from the original 5 mL they were getting every 3 hours. These bottles consisted of  only breast milk until last week when I got over my mom guilt, asked Dr. Woods if they needed any special formula {no thank the Lord! and he told me that he wanted to tell me at their 4 month appointment not to cry, because he figured I would} and bought some formula. I'm not making enough for them to be full and happy. They won't tandem feed and I'm okay with that. They like their space. So we are making the transition and it's going great. Replacing a bottle or feeding of breast milk for formula every couple days. I still have frozen milk and we are using that too, but it's been going fast since I'm back at work full-time. 

My thoughts are this:

1. It's been 5 months of ONLY breast milk. Thats technically 10 months of feeding little humans.
2. The girls are thriving and gaining weight like "normal/term" babies.
3. Get on a schedule and fast. It does make life easier. Thankfully my mom is OCD and so am I and that is very helpful.
4. At the end of the day all that matters is that the girls are fed, happy and growing. And they are that! I will keep repeating that to myself for a few weeks I'm sure. I'm actually starting to enjoy my new found freedom from the pump every 3 hours.
5. My bank account will soon take a hit with formula...can they eat solids yet?!? The answer is no and I'm kidding. I'm happy to support their formula habit.
6. We are breastfeeding ROCKSTARS. End of story.

A few weeks old

Nice and plump at 4 1/2 months with only breast milk! 

I have the crazy feeding schedule on my Instagram, but can't find it on my desktop anymore. I must have removed it so I was no longer living in fear of never sleeping again.

That was a legitimate fear.