Although it has been such a short time, these little ones are changing so much. Already they barely even resemble their first pictures. They are both 10 pounds now and Charlotte only has an inch on her brother at 22 inches and Nathan 21 inches, They both got a bunch of immunizations at the doctor today, but they took them like little champs.
This month has been similar to last month in most ways. Caring for them is still very hard. And now I've been back at work for 3 weeks. When I had to go back, my wife stayed with them alone for the first two days but it is just too much. It is a two person job so now Grandma comes over during the day while I'm at work. She's been wonderful and we're so thankful that we have her.
We got the loft furnished so it's like an upstairs living room now. It is pretty sweet and that's where we've set up shop. It's much easier than hauling baby gear up and down stairs every day. It's a pretty good size so when they start crawling they'll have plenty to explore, which is good because downstairs we have ceramic tile and that would not be fun to crawl on. Another nice thing about that is our bedroom is a bedroom again.
Besides getting bigger, the babies' personalities is really starting to show. Charlotte has been a princess from day 1, but it's really more than that. She just wants to be held, to feel close to someone. My mom says she is so much like I was when I was a baby, which is crazy because I have a very different personality now. I like to think I'm more like Nathan. He is still much calmer but he's also better at self-entertaining and self-soothing. Both still cry a lot and sleep still isn't the greatest. But we're trying some things and it's not as bad as it was before, most nights.
They have both outgrown most of their newborn size clothes and are now in 0-3 month. It's nice to have some new outfits. We passed on most of Nathan's clothes to friends that are having a boy in April and we're going to just donate Charlotte's. We're not having any more and we're only hanging on to a couple of outfits that have sentimental value. We dress them every day even if we're not going anywhere, which is pretty rare that we don't go at least one place. At night they're wearing sleep sacks with wraps and that has helped them to sleep.
They're both starting to smile and not just because of gas (although they are both champion farters). Nathan will smile up a storm when you have him on your chest for tummy time. He is also starting to coo when he lifts his head and looks at you. He is already making motions like he wants to crawl. He's a little beast. Charlotte can lift her head just as well, but she does not enjoy tummy time the way Nathan does. She also doesn't coo as much, but she did smile at me when I got home from work one day. It was really sweet.
They have both been able to breastfeed better too. They can latch now, despite us giving them pacifiers. If anyone is pregnant and taking classes, beware of preachy lactation nurses. The class we went to made it seem like if we ever gave them a pacifier or used the wrong bottle or gave them formula at all, they would NEVER be able to breastfeed. Well, the bottles they told us to get suck balls. They leaked and were a pain in the ass to wash and put together. So we scrapped them and went with the Playtex ones the doctor suggested. Charlotte loves her pacifier and Nathan likes it when he's falling asleep. And they've been on about 50% formula. All this and they are able to breastfeed just fine now. Though with two of them it's just easier to pump and put it in bottles for them. Especially for Charlotte because she eats so slowly.
But as it turns out, we've decided not to breastfeed anymore. It was just too hard and too much pressure pumping for two babies. They got a good 2 months of breastfeeding and we're both fine with that.
As for the adults, my wife is doing much better. She is feeling better and looking great. We did a mile walk this month. We normally do the 5K, but this year that wasn't an option since the babies are still too young for the jogging stroller. I'm barely holding it together, though. I've been seeing my therapist weekly, so she must really think I'm a hot lava mess because before the babies it was every 3 weeks. She really wants me to see a doctor about medication to even out my mood but I haven't been able to get a appointment until the middle of March. Every day is a struggle and the struggle is real.
On the plus side, I only have one more month of work until my next vacation so there's that to look forward to. I feel like I miss so much when I'm at work. I've actually been taking Mondays off anyway to spend more time with them. I should have gotten those days off anyway, they really did me wrong shortening my leave. So I'm taking as many days as I can until vacation and then we'll see where we're at.
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