Adjusting

It's hard to believe that the girls will be 2 weeks old on Thursday. These past couple of weeks have certainly had their challenges, but the joys far outweigh the challenges. We are loving having these girls in our lives, and while life will never be the same, we wouldn't have it any other way.

I'm feeling pretty good, and for the most part would say that having a c-section was an easier recovery than the other way around. I loved having a planned c-section, and everything about the whole process was smooth and the recovery has been great. My energy is getting back to normal, and I'm learning that the new normal is okay. I might not get as much done as I would like, but spending time cuddling with the girls and being a mom is the best gift I could ever have.

Note what the mug says... that's how Andy feels in the morning after a long night of being up with the twins! :)

Andy had to go back to work today, which was kind of a downer, but at the same time, we know that he needs to provide for our family. :) Those girls have him wrapped around their fingers, and he loves to sneak in cuddles whenever he can, too. He's adjusting to diaper changes with a girl and has already gotten pretty used to lots of pink all over the house. Now he tries to reign me in as I get tempted to get lots of cute girl things for the twins- so many more options than there were for Kaden!! :)

Kaden playing with his sisters

Speaking of Kaden, he really is adjusting well. He always comments on how cute his sisters are, and loves to look at them and give them kisses. He is pretty gentle around his sisters for the most part and loves to help out whenever possible. Yesterday he held one of the girls on his own for the first time and thought he was pretty cool stuff. Every once in awhile he has his moments of crying about nothing or melts down, but I'm pretty sure that any 3-yr. old would probably do that anyway! :) It's funny how much older he seems to us now that there are two newborns in the house. He LOVES having Grandma VDH living with us for a month and keeps her very busy playing during the day. Sometimes I think she's more excited for Kaden's bedtime than we are! :)

The girls are doing great. They are nursing really well, typically every 2-4 hours unless it's at night and then they decide to cluster feed (which makes this mama quite tired in the morning). They still sleep quite a bit during the day, and we're trying to keep them up as much as possible between 8-10pm so they sleep better during the night. The latest pattern is that they don't like to settle down until around 2-3am, and then they sleep for 4 hours, wake up to feed, and then sleep for another 3-4 hours. This was fine until Andy had to go back to work today, and it's fine for me right now since my mom is still here. I usually send Kaden downstairs to play with my mom when he wakes up and I go back to bed for a couple more extra hours of sleep while the girls sleep. While it works now, I know it's not the ideal schedule, so we'll work on adjusting slowly but surely as time goes on. I don't expect them to be on a schedule at this point, but I do try to feed them back-to-back. The pediatrician and lactation consultant don't recommend feeding them both at the same time until they are a little bit older and strong enough to latch on without as much support, so for now I'll feed them separately. We have a lovely spreadsheet which helps us keep track of who fed on what side, for how long, diaper changes, etc. If you know us, you know this is so typical of us to make a spreadsheet for recording the girls' info :). However, it's so hard to keep track of who we changed, and who ate when, and what side they fed on, etc. So, we're making it work and keeping track of everything they do on a spreadsheet. Tomorrow we find out how much weight they've gained, and I'm curious to see how they're growing. They're eating really well, so I am guessing they're doing just fine. Most importantly, they are getting cuter and cuter. We just LOVE having these precious gifts in our lives and I'm so thankful to enjoy them outside of the womb and sneak in every chance I can to cuddle with my sweet girls.

Sleeping soundly

Enjoying some swing/bouncy seat time

Cuddling in their matching outfits