Done.....

I think I am officially done nursing the girls. For the last week, I've been trying to transition them both to all bottles. Because of their prematurity, they won't go on whole milk until they are 14 months old (12 months adjusted). I stopped nursing Gracie a week ago because she kept getting frustrated and biting me. So, I just nursed Lizzie.

Nursing twins has been both good and exhausting. When the girls were first born, I had to pump and then it was fortified and fed to them through a tube. They didn't get a bottle until they were about three weeks old. While they were in the NICU, I tried a couple of times to actually nurse Lizzie (Gracie wasn't ready). It was really embarrassing because all that was between me and about 10 other people was a curtain. Not quite what I had envisioned. Wes and I decided that I would keep pumping and wait until the girls were home before we really tried to nurse.

The girls were finally home and I was able to feed each about once a day because they still needed the fortified milk. The doctor we were going to at the time was not a big proponent of breast feeding and when the girls weren't gaining weight like she wanted, she wanted them to go off breast milk completely and go back to all formula. We decided she was crazy and switched doctors. The new doctor said he saw no reason to not be completely on breast milk. So, I started tandem feeding the girls when I was home and pumping when at work. Feeding them at the same time saved so much time because they would take about 20-30 minutes to eat. We slowly got it down to 5 minutes.

All this to say that I only thought I would last 6 months at the most and I lasted a year.

P.S. I forgot to mention the 6 months that I couldn't have any dairy because of the girls milk protein allergy.

Bonkers

Today the girls and I went to a place called Going Bonkers. It's a huge indoor playland. We met some of our twin mommy friends and had fun.

Swimming

Today, the girls went swimming in their pool. They had a ton of fun. Both girls loved splashing around and knew it was very different from a bath. They love the pool they got from their Grandma. It has lots of things to play with.

Spaghetti

Tonight, the girls had spaghetti for the first time. They thought it was yummy and got it all over their faces! Lizzie was trying to take it out of her bib to make sure she got all of it.

Project Transformation

Tonight, Wes and I went with our Sunday school class to serve dinner to interns with Project Transformation. The interns are here for the summer and are college-aged. They create community oriented programs for children and youth living in low-income neighborhoods of North Texas. Each year our church hosts two dinners and two weeks of volunteers reading with kids.

For the past three summers, I have been organizing our church's activities. We served dinner to 100 college kids. We took the girls to their first ever mission project. They were a hit. The kids loved to see the girls and asked lots of questions. The girls had a good time too! The only problem was when Gracie knocked a plate off a table onto my toe. It still hurts three hours later!

Long week

On Monday, Lizzie got sick again. She threw up in the morning so Wes took her to the doctor. He said it was just a stomach bug and to make sure we kept her hydrated. The rest of Monday she was fussy but ok. Then at 10 that night, she threw up again and couldn't keep pedialite down.

The next morning, she woke up at 4 am, ate and threw up again. We called the doctor and he said it would be best to take her to the ER at Children's in Plano. So, we packed her up and left Gracie with Nana. Thankfully she was still in town from the birthday.

We got to Children's and went straight back. The doctor examined Lizzie and said that she wasn't clinically dehydrated but that she could have been if we waited. They gave Lizzie something to settle her tummy and wanted us to feed her to see if she could keep it down. Thankfully, she did and we got to take her home. She was fussy the rest of the day and wouldn't go to anyone but her mommy.

The other fun part of the day was that Wes was sick too and couldn't help at all with the girls. It was an exhausting day that ended with mommy in tears! Both babies (Wes and Lizzie) are feeling better now and good as new.

1st Birthday Party

The party went well for the girls. My mom counted 35 guests in attendance in our little house. The air conditioner was working over time and the house was very warm. It was around 100 degrees outside and 85 in our house! The girls loved eating the cake but Lizzie got sick and threw up all her cake. She was acting sickly the rest of the day and was laying down when we opened presents. Gracie enjoyed opening the gifts, but we think she enjoyed the paper as well as the gifts.

The girls did get to open their mommy and daddy present. We didn't have enough wrapping paper so we only wrapped part of the gift. We figured they didn't care any way and the paper was the most fun. Below are pictures from their actual birthday and the party.

Unwrapping Elmo and Cookie Monster

Wrestling over the paper

What is this? We have never seen anything like this.

Gracie eating her cupcake

Lizzie eating her cupcake that made her sick.
Our home made butterfly birthday cake.

One for each girl.

Happy Birthday!

Today is the girls' birthday! It's been a good day so far except it rained all morning. The girls went to the doctor and got their shots. Nana, Grandma, Papa, Sydney and Sam all came to visit. We went to Babies R Us and got presents. Of course the girls think it's like any other day. They have both been in good moods. Their birthday party is on Saturday. I'll post pictures soon.

One year ago.......

One year ago, I was in the hospital praying that my babies would stay in for a few more weeks. It was this time last year that I scared Wes and said I needed to go to the hospital. We thought I would be in there for four to five weeks. I was in for five days when the girls decided to make their entrance.

Just a few more days and our babies will be one.

Beans....

Last night we went to Taco Bueno for dinner. Because the girls are trying new foods, we thought we would give beans a try. We bought one bowl and were going to let the girls split it. We forgot to bring the girls spoons with us so we had to use the spoons they had. Instead of regular spoons, they had the soup spoons which were pretty big for their little mouths. Gracie was all for it but Lizzie was a little apprehensive about the spoon. Once both girls started eating, there was no turning back. They ate more than half the bowl! Lizzie started crying when Wes went to clean her up!

The race is on

We just discovered the girls love for Gerbers Graduates Puffs. They love them. Knowing this, we decided to have the girls practices crawling by crawling to a pile of them on the floor. It worked. They both worked like mad to get to them and when they did, they just rolled over and ate them.

Visitor

For the past week and a half, we have been dog sitting for my sister's dog Andy. He is an 100 pound Siberian Husky mix. He is getting older and his hearing is not as good as it use to be. Anyway, he and Molly love to play together. The girls think that he is pretty interesting too. Both of them have taken a turn playing with him. He is getting a little cantakerous in his old age so I was really proud of how he was so good with the girls. Below are pictures of the girls playing with him.