Yay for #3 Fast Flow Nipples!!!

What an amazing day!  We changed out the nipples to the #3 nipples and feedings just went from challenging to downright pleasant!  What used to take up to 45 minutes of fighting and struggling just became 10-15 minutes (or less!) of pleasant feeding!!!  Where were you all my life, #3 fast flow nipple???

The twins are happier now.  I think they were fussy eaters because they were frustrated with the slower flow nipples.  So the question now is - what am I going to do with all my time now??!!!

I LOVE YOU #3 NIPPLE!!!

Good job Ellie and Grey!!

Love, Mom

New Tricks

Some new tricks that the twins are doing...Grey is blowing air into his bottle.  It's the opposite direction we want him to be doing while feeding but it's hard not to laugh.  He is so cute when he does it!  Ellie is sucking on her lower lip.  I guess it's like sucking her thumb and it must bring her comfort.  Both of them are working their core and enjoy doing V-sit position when they are in a recliner bouncy chair or nap nanny.

Best Friends

Mommy keeps telling us that we will be each other's best friends. 

Right now, it seems like Grey notices Ellie more than Ellie noticing Grey.  I wonder if that will be how it is when they get older.  Grey will reach out to her with his arm.  Sometimes Ellie will watch him and smile.  But they've never been apart, and I want them to know from an early age that they will always be there for each other.  They have a built-in playmate and a best friend.

New toys!

We have graduated to new toys!!  Time for the jumperoo and exersaucer.  We're still a little wobbly because we haven't learned to sit up yet, but these new toys are pretty fun and interesting!   We have to learn how to make it bounce with our legs.  Right now mommy and daddy do it for us.  It's pretty cool.

Ellie beat the Miracle Blanket

So I have been sleep-training Ellie for the past couple of weeks.  We are using the Ferber method loosely, and letting her cry it out for short amounts of time.  She was doing great, some nights better than others, but then she figured out how to flip over onto her stomach IN her swaddle!  Ay mamacita (as my nanny would say).  It scared me because Ellie would flip over and face-plant into the mattress without turning her head to the side.  So we decided it was time to wean her off her swaddle so that if she flipped over, her arms would be free to help her push up.  Well, as it turns out, Ellie loves her swaddle and wouldn't sleep without it.  She cried for 1 1/2 hours when I removed her swaddle. :(  So now we are slowly trying to wean her off of it for her naps during the day by leaving one arm out.  At night, we are loosely swaddling her so that she can get her arms out.  But we're sleeping her back in her bouncy seat until she doesn't need her swaddle anymore to sleep.  Then back in the crib she goes.  This is a picture of how I found her one morning...pretty much the swaddle was just a fashion accessory.

Does not even need a description

Grabbing with intention

 

On New Year's Day, Greyson started reaching and grabbing things with intention! Tina gave him a teething ring, which he pulled from his mouth, traded from his right to left hand and placed back in his mouth. This was all still with baby movements, but he knew what he was doing. Later in the afternoon, he reached for the glass of water I was drinking. He also reached for Christa's face while she was holding him during their visit to the house.

Ounces

I never understood what an ounce was before having kids. Coke bottles were my only real concept of an ounce - 12 oz can or 16 oz bottle. The twins really changed my understanding of ounces. Elliot was 4 lbs 15 ounces when she was born. In just ounce terms, she was 79 ounces. Greyson was 5 lbs 5 ounces, or 85 ounces. Their first feedings were fractions of ounces - .2 or .3 oz were at one time big meals for our small nuggets.

For anyone keeping track - Ellie now wieghs about 14 lbs or 224 oz. Grey is about 15 lbs or 240 oz.