on exhaustion

Don't get my wrong, the babies are adorable. They're even starting to sleep more (more on that another day), but for most of the last 7 weeks (5 home in Quinn's case), they've been up every 2-3 hours over night. I often think how easy a single baby would be - after all, it WAS easier before Quinn came home, logistically anyway - but I know that's (somewhat) unfair since our girls ARE fairly good sleepers for their gestational age. I don't know how people with bad sleepers (I'm looking at you Katy!) survive (and am hoping I am not jinxing myself with this post).

Our nighttime plan (which sorta kinda works out, as we haven't really worked out Bedtime yet, though I suppose the girls are a little young) is basically for me to be on duty until midnight or so, then Chris takes over until 5 am. I get 5-6, then she's got the babies from when I get into the shower until I get home. The upside of living with my parents right now (between houses and all) is my mom is sometimes around to help.  We've been able to make this work since (something finally went right and) Chris has been very productive in the milk department (again, fingers crossed) and is usually a feeding ahead. Neither baby loves to breastfeed, and Avery in particular doesn't latch well, so they're mostly on pumped milk. I think this is awesome for so many reasons:

• I can feed them
• breastmilk has such great antibodies formula can't replicate
• I'm pretty sure what we've spent on a pump + bags for the last 7 weeks is just over what formula would have cost us, so we'll be ahead financially soon
  and
• breastmilk (and breastmilk poo and spit up) doesn't smell that bad. I had a few wiffs of formula in the hospital and it freaking reeks. I don't want to think about the out-of-baby stuff until I am forced to!

But, before I am too sunshine and roses, here is what we get a lot of in the evenings:

yes, it is almost always Avery.

When I'm really tired and woken up in the middle of the night (if there's two babies awake, all bets are off), I've been known to go searching the bed for a baby. In pillows, under blankets...the irony - we never take the babies to bed with us! (Thank goodness, since it seems I'd lose one). I frequently can't recall who I fed or changed in the middle of the night either, so its probably good we almost always do them both back to back!

But they are cute:

"I'm bigger and will take you!"

And still so crazy small:

Quinn in a 0-3 Carters gown

they're growing so fast

I just can't keep up.

5 weeks (I think), in a lil' joey (Quinn) and a Thirsties XS (Avery)

Post bath darlings...

tummy time is often a failure....and becomes naptime...

Due

Our babies estimated date of delivery was Thursday, September 1. Now, granted, no OB in their right mind (in the american environment of lawsuits especially) would let twins go to 40w (there's plenty if research to support that), but it is still a big milestone.

I think our (5 week old) babies are pretty advanced for just hitting where they'd be born if they were singletons!  Avery is kind of out of the squishy newborn stage and both lift their heads off our chests and have LUNGS.

One month old

Bedtime #1 (evening nap...let's be serious, at one month and 39w gestational age, bedtime is a mommy concept...or dream...)

Newborn diapering

Size conundrum I mentioned in my previous post aside, I've been pretty happy with cloth diapering so far.

First, they're pretty darn cute. 
Second, Bailey has, um, snacked on a couple of used disposables. Have you ever seen pee soaked disposable diaper gel? It reminds me of that silica gel stuff used to keep new shoes and such moisture free. Everyone in our house looks at me a little weird when I talk about it, but having that stuff next to our little newborn's bottoms 24/7 kind of skeeves me out.

Anyway, Avery is in cloth about 50% now, and Quinn will be soon (eg, when I make diapering decisions).

So, a rundown of my reviews to date on our newborn diapers:

Prefolds: nice and soft, love how fast they wash/dry, cheap and absorbant. I don't love changing them since, well, they're wet, but they go on fast and I love them for when I know I'll be changing a diaper again asap (eg, before a feeding). They're also a million times better than bibs as, well, bibs. Maybe we have crappy bibs but spitup seems to roll right off of them.

Workhouse fitteds: So far s
o good. I feel like the elastic in these is a tiny bit tight but maybe her little legs are just sensitive? They are on the thinner side and I find the snaps a little difficult, but I love how these fit under covers.

Thirsties fitteds:  We have some XSs (discontinued, I bought them used) and size 1s, both in velcro. LOVE these. easy on, and so plush and soft. Pretty fluffy though on our 6lb-ish baby, about the same size as a snappied prefold.

Covers: We have some Thirsties XS, Thristies Duo size 1, Rumparooz NB and Bummis Super Bright NB. The Bummies are 7-10 lbs and huge on her, so no review there. My favor on the others is the order I listed them in. I find the rumparooz are sort of wide.  The Duo is a trimmer cover, which must be why it doesn't feel as bulky despite similar snaps.  The XS is a nice fit though, even on our little baby.

Lil Joeys: freaking adorable and work just fine for us! These also dry suprisingly fast.

Bum Genius XS AIO: I think these are also discontinued, but we have a few in the xs and s sizes. The XS is supposed to be 6-12 lbs, and I like how trim they are, but we keep getting leg leaks. I think Avery's thighs are still too skinny.

Thirsties Duo (Size 1): Love. We've been using just one insert (it snaps together) and so far so good. LOVE the gussets.


As a sidebar, I got Luvs for our "extra" disposables and I hate them. We have 300 and they're working fine, so we'll use them. But I'm thankful the 300ish Size 1s we were given are Pampers. The Luvs smell TERRIBLE when peed in. Maybe it is on purpose to be sure you change the baby?

models

ok, not really, but the girls had their first photo shoot on Saturday for their newborn photos. We went with a new local photographer, and I'm really excited to get the pictures!

Here's a sneak peek!

Tiny

If you're never held a 5 lbs baby, here's a little bit of assistance in seeing how tiny they are...

This is Avery at about 5 lbs 4 oz in a lil'joey newborn diaper. Next to her is a XS Bumgenius (6-12 lbs), a S Bumgenius (8-16lbs) and a One Size Bumgenius (10ish-35 lbs).