Celebrate the Differences
One thing I worried about pretty soon after finding out we were pregnant with twins was how I feared they would compare themselves to each other. I worried that if they were the same gender they would struggle with being different from one another, have jealousy, envy over competing with one another, or try hard to show people their differences, that they are two separate people, they both have likes, dislikes, opinions, strengths, weaknesses and so on. I was hopeful that if they were boy/girl twins they would not have the comparison issues that I built up in my head if they were the same gender. Well, as you know we ended up having boy/girl twins so of course I immediately felt a sigh of relief for the initial fear of comparing the two. Having both genders definitely comes with pros and cons of their own and I have begun to notice myself here at the 5 month mark to worry about their differences in reaching milestones that I know I would not worry about or focus on as much if they were singletons. The physician offices where my family are patients has a system (which I am sure most do at this point) where you can message the doctor for general purposes, schedule/confirm appointments, request prescription refills and so on. Well, I have used this service a LOT for both myself and my children. Specifically referring to the twins, I will message their pediatrician about concerns with their growth, development and more. I am not a first time mom, but somehow I seem to have forgotten pretty much everything from the first two. I am finding myself worrying about Ryne being behind Harlow when it comes to rolling over, enjoying tummy time, his head shape, spitting up and bearing weight on his legs. On the flip side, Harlow doesn’t talk much where Ryne is a jabber box, she constantly wants to be held, stands up when you’re holding her and rolls all over the place. One night, after all the kids were fast asleep in bed (so around 11:00PM just to give you a time reference) I found myself typing into Google all of these questions regarding milestones at the 5 month mark. Eventually I was driving myself crazy with all the different suggestions from Baby Center to WebMD that I ended up messaging their pediatrician with my concerns. It wasn’t but a few minutes past 8:00 the next morning that I received a message back from her saying that she is not worried one bit about their differences. As hard as it may be to not compare two babies the exact same age that all babies develop at different stages this first year and beyond and to keep doing what we are doing to encourage those developments. Can I get an AMEN? AMEN! I don’t know how many times I have been told in my life to not compare yourself to others, that we are all different, to celebrate differences, that we were not born to fit in….all of those wonderful sayings need to be on repeat in each of our minds day in and day out. Especially as we are raising the next generation of kind and caring citizens. Time to focus on having the mindset of being in a world full or ordinary, be EXTRAordinary.
Did we just become best friends?
Oh be still my heart. Ryne and Harlow have definitely shown to have a special bond since we first knew of their existence. However, we are noticing more and more how they are beginning to really pay attention to one another. In the beginning they would calm each other down when put next to each other, they would snuggle up to one another and even look like they were lonely if the other one wasn’t right there. Now we are seeing them reach over towards one another, hold hands, touch each others faces, trying to grab the other one, “talking” to each other and smiling and laughing together. Pretty much everyone in our family makes an announcement for the rest of the family to come to wherever the twins are if they show any type of acknowledgement of the other one. If they hold hands, touch the other one’s cheek, roll on top of each other, put a foot on the other one’s stomach or one my new favorites...Ryne putting his arm around Low’s shoulder when she is all feisty which is a LOT or when Low grabs his arm and hugs it in tight like its her blanket. I never seem to get my camera up fast enough to catch any of these sweet moments but I am bound and determined to do so. I feel like a bit of a stalker when I sit there staring, laughing, singing and playing with them but have my phone constantly open to the camera just so I’m prepared at a moment’s notice. I have been able to capture a few from time to time, but apparently I feel as though I need to catch them ALL. It’s all good though, being a Mamarazzi is all in a good day's work.
Stranger Things? No, Just Strangers.
Okay first off, can we talk about how unbelievably addicting Stranger Things is on Netflix? I mean come on, I am not a Sci-Fi girl and I am hooked. I can barely stand that I have to wait for season 3 to even begin production, let alone how long we will have to wait until we actually get to binge watch it in its entirety. If you haven’t watched it, be prepared to not get any sleep until you’ve watched the entire thing...you’ve been warned. But back to what this post is supposed to be about, strangers and how the babies, specifically Harlow is noticing them now more than ever. Being a parent to a new baby is kinda like carrying around a sign that says “hey look at this cuteness” and being a parent to twin babies is like carrying that same sign but it’s written in neon lights and you have celebrity status as if you’re a Kardashian. People love asking questions about the babies, normal questions, invasive questions, unrelatable questions...you name it we’ve probably been asked it. For the first five months the babies generally just sat there in their car seats, slept or stared back. The other day we were at Old Navy and came across two women and began fielding the twin questions. One of the women leaned closer and began gaggle talking to Harlow and in turn Low immediately began to scream out and cry looking for me. I took her out and the woman replied saying that that has never happened to her, all babies/kids just love her. She then proceeded to find us two more times in the store to try and win our little Low over and the first time Low gave her a no expression stare down and the second she looked away and began to cry again. So needless to say, we have entered the stranger danger, where is my mom phase. Ryne isn’t quite as afraid of strangers as his sister, but he puts up with her Harlow-tude and understands how to chill out when she gets feisty.
“Don’t take it so personally, okay? I don’t like most people. He’s in the vast majority”.
— Jonathan Byers, Stranger Things or could easily be Harlow Brown, The Brown Pack
Oh you have a clean shirt on? Let me take care of that for you.
--says every baby on the planet
Spit up. Even saying the words “spit up” sound gross and unnecessary. However, if you have been around a baby right after eating, 20 minutes after eating or even an hour after eating you are in the danger zone. Be cautious not to bounce, play airplane, twirl or pretty much any movement other than sitting and snuggling that sweet baby. Even then you just might not escape your clothes getting stained with milk that has seen the inside of a stomach and decided that’s not its final resting place. We have tried everything from having them stay upright for 20 minutes after eating, not moving hardly at all (as much as we can having four kids ya know) for as long as possible after feeding, keeping bibs/burp cloths on the babies and on our own shoulders, laps, etc. to feeding less, feeding more, changing the nipple size, debating on changing formula and so on. We have come to terms with the fact that babies sometimes just spit up. We have talked to the pediatrician and if they aren’t acting in pain before, during or after the spit up...it's just what they are going to do. Changing formula won’t have an effect on the situation if they are spitting up just because it’s what babies do. We just have to be prepared to not be 100% ecstatic about our outfit choice day in and day out because it might not last all day. Having lots of wardrobe changes also comes with more laundry. So there’s that.
Sleep Regression? Ain’t Nobody Got Time For That.
I am going to start off by saying we haven’t really hit this just yet like not full on at least. We have had a few nights and a few naps where sleep has not gone “as planned”. When this happens both Matt and I act like a deer in headlights. We have no idea what to do. We stare at the monitor, will for whichever one is awake or both of them to fall back asleep, wonder how long it will last, should we go get them and risk waking them up more, should we feed them and hope that does the trick but we don’t want to start a new routine where they always wake up to eat...so many decisions! Generally we wait for about 10-15 minutes, keep our fingers crossed they, he, she falls back asleep and/or does not wake the other one up in the process. In fact, currently while I am trying to type this post Ryne woke up about three times last night but fell back asleep on his own all three times. Harlow woke up around 7:30AM (they usually sleep until 8-9ish) and was screaming, I mean whaling up there. Once I got up there I assumed they were both awake at that point seeing as how he woke up several times and she was absolutely screaming. To my surprise Ryne was completely asleep! I mean out cold. I could not believe it, so I grabbed her as quickly as possible and let him sleep a little longer before bottle time. And now, during their afternoon nap he is up there having a hard time falling asleep, crying and upset and she is out cold. It just amazes me how they can sleep through the other one’s cries and just continue on with their own sleep! I am hopeful that we never really hit the sleep regression stage or if we do it is short-lived. I have a feeling we will be growing out of the magic merlin sleep suit here really soon and I am afraid our nights of good sleep are numbered. What tips do you have that maybe you could share in helping the transition? For the life of me I cannot remember what we did with the older two and they were always great sleepers after we transitioned to the crib without sleep sacks or anything like that. So who knows maybe they will transition perfectly but I can tell you right now I have a feeling when Low turns herself over on her stomach she will get MAD and most likely not recover until one of us goes up there to calm her back down. She already has escaped from her sleep suit and her pajamas a few times and ends up on her stomach and isn’t very happy about it, but I really can’t blame her.
Harlow the Houdini
Five months old, we can hardly believe we are coming up on your 1/2 a year birthday. Time is just flying by and you both are growing absolutely perfectly and we couldn't ask for anything more. Five month milestone pics below....
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