A Day in the Life

When I got pregnant I started reading a lot of different blogs because honestly I was just getting bigger and more tired by day. Sometime during my pregnancy I found the Twin Talk Blog and loved reading birth stories and eventually the Day in the Life stories, where parents shares a day in their life at various stages, like 1 month, 2 month and so on. Well for the fun of it, I tried to write down yesterday's events. Every day with these munchkins is a different day. Yesterday was definitely one of the chaotic ones where they refuse to sleep at the same time = very little Mommy time, but that is okay, we are still just getting a hang of it. Well we are 3 1/2 months into twinhood...

4am - Babies are stirring in the cribs. This is not one of those stirrings that will quiet down. I go make bottles. Hubby and I grab a baby each. They both down 3oz and go back to sleep. We are back asleep at 4:15. No diaper changes done at this point.

6am - Babies start stirring again.

6:50am - I get up and make bottles, coffee and breakfast.

7:00am - Hubby and I change their diapers while still in the crib. Both babies are happy and smiling this morning.

7:15am -  Begin feeding Caroline but she is just playing with bottle. I put both down on the mat in living room while I eat breakfast with hubby. Babies are really busy looking at the Christmas tree lights.

7:30am -  Back to feeding. Joshua takes 4oz. Caroline only eats little over 2oz. I put her back down to mat. Joshua get some baby massage to relieve his gas.

8:00am - Starting first rinse of diapers and begin washing bottles. Caroline eventually decides that she is hungry again so she eats an additional 2oz.

8:25am - Return to washing and sterilizing bottles. Caroline is out like a light and Joshua continues to play.

8:45am -  Joshua is still awake and I try to do some hand-eye coordination play with him. He is not interested and I give him his toy elephant and he finally falls asleep at 8:50 while I finish cleaning kitchen, make the bed and continues the diaper cleaning routine.

9:05am - Caroline has her eyes open but is calm, so I sit down and drink 2 glasses of water while going over the recipe for dinner tonight, hoping that Caroline will take another cat nap and not wake up her brother. Nope, I take her to the other room to play with her

9:30am - Joshua wakes up. Babies play together and do tummy time while I get the 2nd rinse done on the diapers.

10:00am - Feeding - both are being really goofy. Caroline gets her reflux medication in 2oz and Joshua eats only 1 1/2oz.Seriously??!??

10:15am - Naked time. This is perhaps their favorite time of the day. I put down a pee pad, towels and extra diaper prefolds and just let them be naked while covered with their favorite fluffy blankets.

10:45am They decide to be hungry again and I feed them rest of their 4oz bottles. Caroline falls asleep. Joshua is fusses and I put diapers in the dryer. After a while I decide to take Joshua into the shower in bouncy seat so that I can get a shower, hoping that the steam will help his congestion. It does settle him down but before I know it, I'm out of hot water. Brr, nothing like a cold shower.

11:30-12:30pm -  What follows here is the twin mom's nightmare of napping/fussing.
Caroline is awake again. Put both of them in play gym while I contemplate lunch. I start an episode of the Biggest Loser on the computer while doing stuff like laundry and random house chores during commercial breaks. During this hour, Joshua falls asleep, Caroline is awake but fussy. Caroline falls asleep but Joshua is fussy. And so on and so on. They take turn waking each other up and falling asleep. Normally Caroline would be napping in her crib in the bedroom but since we are having a cold spell, we had to move cribs away from the walls since our central heat doesn't really heat our room up all that well. It just so happens that Caroline refuses to nap there when it is not up against the wall.

12:45pm -  Joshua starts screaming of the top of his lungs. Give him 4oz he falls asleep before finishing bottle (only had 2oz) and before getting his gas medication. I put him in the bouncy chair. If he wakes up, perhaps we can finish bottle, if not, I may have two sleeping kids. Fingers crossed.

1:20pm - Caroline wakes up. I change her diaper and feed her almost 4oz of fortified formula. We thicken her formula in the afternoon because this is the time that she tends to have most reflux.

1:40pm - Joshua wakes up. I change his diaper and feed him 2 1/2oz plus gas medication and he sure is farting a lot.

2:20pm - Decide to leave for walk at nearby nature center. Before we leave I change both diapers. Joshua left me a diaper filled with poop (he seems very happy with himself - it obviously made him feel a lot better).

4pm - We return from our walk. They both did great. No crying getting in their car seats, no crying in the car and only minimal fussing while walking and returning in the car. Quick diaper changes and then feeding. Joshua took forever but eventually ate a bit more than 4oz. Caroline ate 3oz fortified - all in all she is a very happy girl this afternoon (not all afternoons are like this).

4:40pm -  Both at mat for play time. I wash the bottles.

5:00pm - Singing with babies. Today they are really diggin' "Let's give them something to talk about" Caroline is showing some fussiness and possibly starting to reflux. I give her gas drops and elevate her. She actually falls asleep. Disaster avoided. Joshua not wanting to sleep. I keep an eye on him as I slowly start food prep - Brusselsprout/Tofu stir fry from Bon Appetit Magazine.

5:30pm - Daddy comes home. Joshua is again resisting a nap. I make food while Daddy plays with Joshua.

6:15pm - Caroline wakes up screaming. Daddy gives bottle but she isn't all that interested. She settles down and falls asleep in elevated chair. Joshua is in his bouncer in the kitchen with me. I rock him to sleep while cooking dinner.

6:35pm - Dinner ready both babies asleep. We enjoy some wine and dinner.

7:00pm - Joshua wakes up. We help each other clean out his nose with the NoseFrida. Hubby start feeding at 7;15 and Joshua consumes 4oz while I continue  with laundry. I have to start yet another load since I dropped Caroline's nighttime blanket while walking (that makes 4 loads today - diapers, baby laundry, our laundry and another baby load). I clean kitchen, get stuff ready for bedtime and fold laundry. Joshua eventually falls asleep on Hubby's chest.

We wait for Caroline to wake up for additional feeding. It doesn't happen...

9:15pm - Caroline wakes up. We bathe them and feed them. They are sleeping in their cribs at 9:50pm - We hop in bed too and likely won't be up until somewhere between 3-5am for their first feed of the day.

Zzzz