4 months has gone way too fast ...

I cannot believe they are already 4 months old! This has been such a huge month for the boys! I feel like they are much more aware that the other is there. You can just tell the way they interact and look at each other. It is so sweet, melts my heart!

Drake rolled over for the first time, belly to back!

Mommy went back to work! I cried the night before and that was it. I was worried I would miss all their firsts. After being with them for 16 weeks it was incredibly difficult to only start seeing them 4 to 5 hours a day! Of course, Drake rolled over the first time in the evening with me and daddy :)

Hunter started teething, and Drake was only a couple days later!

They got sick for the first time! Runny noses and cranky! I was sick first with a soar throat and runny nose! So, I am sure their throats hurt too! :(

They moved up to 6 to 8 ounces per feed!

They started sleeping COMPLETELY through the night! Typically 10 to 12 hours!

They started cereal in their morning bottle!

They started playing in their jumperoo and exersaucer!

Drake moved up to size 2 diapers!

Hunter had a reaction to something with a fragrance and got little bumps on his body! He could not have any lotion for a couple weeks. We are now using a sensitive lotion on him!

They had their 4 month shots! Drake puckered up watching Hunter cry while he got his shots. It was precious! I got teary-eyed at this round of shots. Drake was asleep before we were out of the office!

Nadi (my mom) started keeping them during the day while I teach! She is doing an amazing job! We are so blessed to have her for the boys this year! I do not know what I would do without her! I have happy babies and I do not have to load them up in the mornings and take them to a stranger! She picks up the house, and it makes my life so much easier! Thank you mom! We love you!

They only drink 5 bottles a day!

Hunter is IN LOVE with his tongue! It is constantly out of his mouth!

Hunter enjoys standing up, and gives lots of smiles when he is!

Drake has really found his voice! He gets so loud at times I cannot hear the T.V. :)

They still love their swings!

They love their activity mats!

They can FINALLY do tummy time!

They hold their heads up when on their belly!

Hunter has started straightening out his body when you try to sit him in his boppy! So, his but is in the air and he slides down!

They have both found their thumbs since they started teething! They don't typically suck on it, but will chew on it for a minute or two!

Drake always turns in his sleep with his feet towards me in his crib. So, we have had legs sticking out the slats of the crib!

Hunter always turns the opposite way, with his head towards me in his crib. He constantly ends up with his head against the slats and I scoot him over!

We are still in 3 months size clothing!

They LOVE their changing table! Anytime you lay them on it they are all smiles and ready to talk!

We have decided Hunter absolutely has this "sweet" quality about him. There is just something different about that baby boy! His smile, his demeanor, everything! Not that Drake is not sweet, there is just something about my Hunter Paul! Lots of his daddy in him! 

Drake is his mommy in so many ways! He is looking more and more like my baby pictures! He has my eyes, nose, and smile! He is so expressive like me! talk, talk talk, smile, smile, smile! He has a big smile like me! :)

Both boys wake up ALL SMILES, and it is the sweetest thing I have ever seen. Walking up to that crib to a smiling baby is the best feeling in the world.

Knowing all their little quirks makes me so happy! I know them better than anyone else in the world, and it makes me melt! I know when they need to bounce, how they want to be held, if they are tired, if they are in pain, etc. Being a mommy is the most amazing thing I have ever done!


Drake weighs 13 lbs 14 oz and 23.5 inches long!

Hunter weighs 12 lbs 15 oz and 23 inches long!

Raising Twins ...

I have found a couple things helpful to me and thought I would share! I wish someone had told me some of these things! You never think about some of these things until you see someone else do it.  This is what I have found during my pregnnancy and the first 3 months!

Join amazonmom on Amazon! You get 15% off diapers, wipes, lotions, diaper genie refills, formula, etc! Basically anything baby related!

If you choose to "subscribe" and have things delivered to your house on a schedule you save another 15% and free shipping! So, 30% off!! As often as you go through diapers and formula, this is amazing! It is NOT easy to get out and to the store!!

Bottles:

• Fill up your bottles with the desired amount of water.
• Fill up the travel formula containers with the amount of desired formula. We have 3 of the travel formula containers. Buy them with even numbers of spaces! I have one with 3 spaces, kind of pointless for twins! ;)
• This makes feedings much faster! You are drowsy in the middle of the night. Doing this leaves little room for error!
• Buy multiples gallons of water at a time! We buy anywhere from 3 to 6.
• Buy multiple containers of formula at a time! We would go through 4 regular sized formula cans in approximately a week!

I feed the boys at the same time. When they first came home, it would take an hour to change, feed, and burp. They eat every 3 hours. So, if I fed them seperately I would sleep at most an hour. Not happening! So, even though the saying is "Never wake a sleeping baby" This so does not apply to twins. If they are both sleeping! Absolutely let them sleep! BUT, when one wakes up and it is time to eat, you wake the other baby! After about 2 months, I stopped waking them together during the middle of the night feedings! So, some nights I was up at 3 AM & 4 AM. BUT, this lets you know when one baby starts sleeping through the night.

I would put the boys in the boppys, put a burp cloth under their chin, and use a blanket to prop up the bottle. I found a video of doing it with triplets! Always make sure you burp the babies! ;)





Diapers:

• Buy in bulk! We go through roughly 20 diapers a day.
• We have boys, and Huggies gave us major issues. They leak out the top everytime. I think they work better for girls that don't have anything pointing up ;) Pampers have never leaked for us!
• So, with the amazonmom subscription, we need approximately a box of Pampers every 4 days!
• Have a designated area to change the babies! Makes changes easier! Everything is right there! Wipes, diapers, cream, etc.

Formula:

There was no way we were going to use a name brand formula. We would have gone through 4 cans a week. We use the Target brand Up and Up. It is amazing! It has a comparison to The cans are dramatically larger and last a week with the boys. I buy 4 cans at a time and it is $80. This lasts us a month. If we were on name brand formula it would cost $100 a WEEK. I just want everyone to know don't beat yourself up if you do not use name brand. Not a big deal.

Zip-up pajamas work best! It is no fun snapping a wiggly baby in the middle of the night! I get mine at Target & Walmart! We have a couple Carter's, but most Carters are snaps!

The best socks for us to stay on their feet are the Faded Glory from Wal-Mart.

Walmart sells the exact same things as Target and Babies R Us, but for MUCH cheaper! Swings, diaper refills, tummy time mats, cribs, changers, etc. You can do site-to-store shipping for free! We were able to get Graco cribs that we adore from Wal-Mart for $100 cheaper than Babies R Us! We have the cribs, dresser, chest, and changing table! When you are having two babies and you walk into Babies R Us for furniture. The cost is ASTONISHING! That much for a nursery?!?! It is crazy! So, I researched other places! Burlington Coat Factory has an amazing baby department! Tons of furniture, gear, etc. Wal-Mart was the other place! They have much more online than in the store! With the free site-to-store shipping it is worth it!

Cribs: $139 each
Changing Table: $89
4 Drawer Chest Dresser: $249
Long Dresser: $271

This was all much more affordable compared to furniture at Babies R Us! We love the furniture!

Another important aspect of the nursery for me was personalizing it for my boys and not breaking the bank! I went to http://www.etsy.com/ and looked up "Nursery Wall Decals" WOW! They have so many different things! You can order names, quotes, trees, etc.

I also decided to do wooden letters above their cribs! I found a very reasonable person, and she does an amazing job! You pick the style letters you would like, tell her the theme of your nursery, and she goes from there! She has a shop on Facebook  here. It shows all of the work she has done! Girl names seem much more fun to do ;)

Before purchasing any gear, bedding, etc, I always enter the name of the item at http://www.google.com/ This brings up every store that carries that item. My bedding was $189 everywhere we looked. I found it at babysupermall.com for $129!

Join a community and talk to other people pregnant with twins! This helped so much. I loved this wesbite! I feel so close with the girls that were pregnant with twins at the same time! It has been a blessing! We still talk and keep up with each other!

Have your baby shower early! I was told before 28 weeks! I ended being put on bedrest at 27 weeks! Twin pregnancies are so unpredictable, so you want to have everything ready as early as possible.

These are the things I registered for that I could not live without!

2 boppys
2 sets of Boppy Covers
2 Fisher Price RocknPlay Sleepers
2 bumbos
2 high chairs
1 pack n play for any out of town trips especially
TummyTime mat
Activity Mat
2 swings
glider
6 bottles (could use more for sure!)
drying rack
lots of burp cloths (The thick Gerber ones not the thin ones!)
plenty of blankets (some plush to be able to prop bottles in boppy's)
diaper bag
2 carseats that go with a double stroller
double stroller (Only way I can leave the house!) I love my Graco Quattro Duo!
travel formula dispensers (2 or 3)
diapers
wipes
lotions
baby wash
bath tub ( I prefer this one! I like to bathe the twins at the same time. With this, you can fit two in the bath at the same time!)
8 baby towels
wash cloths
zip up pajamas
babybook
grooming kit

It is easy to forget which bottle goes with which baby. So, who left an ounce? Who left two? Someone bought my personalized inchbugs for their bottles! It has the name of the baby and you can order in different colors. So, Hunter has blue ones & Drake has green ones.

Here is a picture of one:

Routine:

Routine is key with infants. At 10 weeks we started to really stick to a routine. Bath time starts around 7:30. The boys take a bath, get lotion from head to toe, pajamas, night time bottle and we lay them down. They are groggy typically when we lay them down. Transitioning to this routine and sleeping in the crib at 10 weeks has helped us tremendously. This is when they started sleeping through the night. 

I am sure there are more things, but this is all I can think of right now!

I hope this helps someone even just a little to make life easier with the blessing of twins!