Bananas and Dad out of town

Jeremy has been working a lot these days- like insane amounts. His company is doing several stores across the country and he is running things on many of them. His workload is insane and he has to travel to some of the locations to help out and learn what is being done. He's tired, I'm tired.. the babies were sick last week and they're stuffy and crabby which makes things more fun for all of us. Jeremy left Sunday afternoon to go to a remodel and so I've been on double duty.

Sunday night, my parents came over and helped with bedtime, which turned out to be a great thing because both babies were super high maintenance that night. Lyla was chatty and tired and refused to go to sleep. We could hear her blah blah blahing (her latest noise) for 30 minutes after we put her down. Jack was wired and definitely not tired. The house was a mess, the dishwasher needed to be emptied.. my parents were a huge help that night.

Last night, I was on my own. My mom called to see how things were going and if I needed help and I told her I thought I had everything under control. I had picked the babies up from the sitter at 4:15 and she thought they would probably need to be fed by the time I got home. I put them in their highchairs and let them play with their sippy cups while I made their dinner- cereal and bananas. They ate great- Lyla likes to talk while she eats- num num num num la la lala lalala.. she's very noisy these days. Jack has learned how to give raspberries which is super cute, but not while you're trying to feed him. He and I were both covered in slimy bananas by the time he was finished eating. After dinner, I changed them into their pjs and they played in their exersaucers while I cleaned the mess, made bottles and started to steam some peas for them for later this week.

Around 6:15 Jack started to rub his eyes and get a little fussy. I warmed a bottle for him and he fell asleep about 3.5 ounces in. He went right to bed, no problem. 6:30, one kid down.. one to go.

Lyla played a little while longer, then started to fuss so I warmed her bottle and attempted to feed her. She was grabby for the bottle, but kept fussing about it. She'd take a few swallows then get really angry so I'd sit her up to burp and she'd grab for the bottle again. Finally she took 4 oz and seemed to be finished, so I stood up to burp her and take her to bed when the girl literally exploded all over the two of us. I have never seen such a geyser of bananas, milk and cereal come out of a child with such force and height. All I could do was stand there and make sure her airway was clear when the river of not quite digested food had finished flowing from her tiny mouth. When she was finished she looked up at me and smiled. The kid didn't seem the least bit fazed by what had just happened. I was awestruck.. and covered in bananas. We snuck into the babies' room to get a change of clothes for her and some wet wipes for a quick wipe down. Her pjs were toast.. soaked and stinky. I got her changed and just happened to glance at myself in the mirror.

This really doesn't even do it justice. Most of the river of slime ended up DOWN my shirt and IN my BRA. My shirt is wet from being soaked from the inside out. The vast amount of bananas that were found in my bra was amazing. It was almost as if I just poured the mashed bananas into my bra.

I cleaned myself up (ended up getting bananas in my hair in the process) and gave the girl another few ounces because I knew there was NOTHING left in her stomach. She went right to bed after that, waking up at 5:15 this morning.

Moral of the story- Mom can handle the babies, a huge river of slimy bananas in her bra and end the night making peaches and peas for the babies all before 9:15 all by herself. Yay me :)

PS- This isn't the first time Lyla has exploded on one of her parents.. but Dad just got covered in milk

Few Random Pictures 6 months old

MU Tailgate

Jeremy and I took the babies to their first MU Game on September 25th. I feel like I spent the whole week beforehand trying to get everything together for the 2 hours drive to Columbia- cooking things for the tailgate, prepping the kids outfits, doing laundry and cleaning the house because we wouldn't be home that day until late and those things needed to get done at some point.

The game started at 1:00, and our tailgate started at 10:00, so we knew we were going to have to leave the house early to get there in time. We left the house by 8 and the babies slept almost the whole way there. We picked up my sister at 10:15 because she was going to be our 3rd set of hands and wanted to spend some time with the munchkins (we are SOOO lucky to have such an involved aunt!!).

The plan was to have Jeremy drop us, the babies and all of our STUFF off at the tailgate then park the car somewhere else because we didn't have a parking pass. The girl at the entrance of the lot wasn't going to let us even pull into the lot, but after a lot of convinceing that we had TWO VERY SMALL BABIES, she finally let us in. We parked right next to our tailgater friends and never left the lot...oops! There were plenty of spots available and the parking lot police never said a word to them.

The babies were fantastic the whole time. They each took naps, ate their bottles and were great sports the whole time. We decided not to go into the game which turned out to be a good idea-it was loud and hot in the stadium and not really baby appropriate. Plus they got more time with Aunt Caitie. We loaded up around 4, took Aunt Cait home and were on the road by 4:30. The slept until about Warrenton then were very vocal about needing bottles. We pulled into a parking lot, gave them their bottles and headed home. It really could not have been a better day.

Sitters

No, not the 16 year old kind that you hope don't invite their boyfriends over for make out sessions while they are supposed to be watching your precious little ones.. I'm talking about having two 7 month olds that are now officially sitting.. well, with a little help. We have had a few tumbles, but they're doing great. Jack gets a huge smile on his face when he loses his balance and hits the floor. Lyla squawks in frustration until someone rights her.

TaTa's

I have been a little neurotic about BF over the past 6 months. I believe the BM is the best thing for the twins and luckily, I've been able to keep up with their feedings and I have a good amount stock piled in the deep freeze. When the twins were about a month old, I was having trouble getting my supply established and ended up taking Fenugreek for a few weeks. That got things rolling and things have been great ever since. I think both babies have each only had one bottle of formula since they were born. That being said, I totally understand that BFing isn't for everyone. Some can't get a supply established, some don't have the time- every one has their reasons. I'm for feeding babies- doesn't matter which you feed them :)
Honestly, I'm an EP (exclusive pumper). I have been since the babies were about 6 weeks old. It's just a lot easier for me to pump and bottle feed them. Yes, it takes a bit more time, but when you have two it's a lot easier to have my husband, mother, mother in law, sister, etc. feed one while I feed the other. My friends always ask just how much I'm able to pump and they're always amazed. I pump 5 times a day. My first pump is always my largest- about 20 oz and I do that around 5:00 AM. My second pump is about 14-16 oz sometime between 9-10AM. Third is about 12 oz- 2-3PM, forth 6:30ish and I get about 10-12 oz and fifth is right before bed. I usually only get about 8 oz then. Yes, I'm a dairy cow. I don't mind the pumping and it has been going really well for me. I love to be able to eat pretty much whatever I want- I weigh less now than I did before I got pregnant. I really love that I save us about $200/ month in formula.
Why all this talk about TaTas? Well, I have a clogged duct. It hurts like hell and I'm afraid it's getting infected. I've been working on it for more than 24hrs and it still won't unclog. Heating pads, hot showers, massive amounts of pumping.. nothing seems to be working and I'm starting to stress. I almost stayed home from work so I could work on getting it out. I brought my heating pad to work with me so I could heat and pump at the same time.
It's time to pump now- fingers crossed that I can work this sucker out!!!

UPDATE- The clog came out.. after lots of massaging and hoping and swearing and 'please oh please.. it came out. No medical intervention needed.. WHEW.

Oh, so tired

Jack and Lyla are teething. Well, at least we think they are. Jack has already popped two teeth and is absolutely adorable. He grins and two tiny perfect white teeth can be seen. Lyla has been drooling, chewing, gnawing, etc on everything she can get her hands on. She has recently began crying fits for no reason which leads me to believe we're going to see a tooth soon (fingers crossed).
Needless to say, with all of this teething going on our house hasn't been so quiet the past few weeks. We got a few good nights when we started cereal, but things have returned to 'normal' and we're up 2+ times a night. Lyla, our normally good sleeper, has been waking up a few times a night and just won't go back to bed. We've been resorting to putting her in her swing and sleeping on the couch- NOT something that I want to become a habit.
Yesterday, I was exhausted. I think I woke up around 3:45 and never really got back to bed. When I got to work, I tried to use my garage door opener to open the gate at my office.. it didn't work.

6 Months Old

Okay, so I've been away for a while. Let's just say life with twins is insane. It's loud, messy and so much fun. There have been tears (both mine and the twins) and there has been screaming, (me, Jeremy, the babies- we have screamed at one point or another) but there have also been moments so great, I never in a million years could have imagined how great these kids have made me feel. I feel like I've finally found something that I'm meant to do- and I'm good at it. Granted, I'm tired and sore and my house has definitely looked like a tornado hit it on more than one occasion, but I am loving my life right now.
Jack and Lyla are 6 months old now. She weighs 14lbs 8oz and he weighs 14lbs 1oz. She has a temper like her father and he is laid back like me. Her eyes are the same blue as my mom's and we think his are going to be grey/blue.. hazel? She loves her pacifier and hates green beans. He loves his Big Bird and is a great eater. He has 2 teeth (lower middle ones) and she still doesn't have any. These days, neither of them are sleeping though the night. Jack loves to cuddle and Lyla would rather do her own thing. I love their smiles, their smells (even the stinky ones) and spending time with them.
My goal is to begin posting several times a week. I have loved looking back at this blog and seeing how things were a year ago. I only wish I would have kept better notes over the past 6 months! So, starting today expect at least 3 posts a week from me. And more pictures- LOTS of pictures :)