July 4th

This was the girls second July 4th. The first one they spent in the NICU. They were about three weeks old. I remember feeling guilty because we left them early to go watch fireworks.

This year was more fun. We went to Oklahoma and visited family. We took the girls to a parade and went swimming in a pool. They ended up going to bed and not watching fireworks. We decided that their sleep was more important and we will take them next year.

Below are some before and after pictures of the parade.

Before

After

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.