11 week update

Not that 11 weeks is any sort of major milestone... it just happens that Courtney and Bennett are 11 weeks old today, and I have a few minutes to type - with BOTH hands!  They're having their morning nap right now. Their napping is kinda-sorta-maybe getting a little more regular and predictable. They're up with the sun a little after 7, then eat, play (meaning, Brianna and I see how many smiles and coos we can get out of them), then nap around 9, Brianna watches a movie while I get on the treadmill or do my Insanity workout DVD, babies get up sometime between 11-12, eat, play, and then I try to have all 3 take an afternoon nap around 1. I SHOULD nap too at that time... but I usually use it to do housework or computer stuff. If Brianna has a playdate after her nap I load up the kids in the stroller and take her there, otherwise we all hang out at home in the backyard or in the living room, playing with Brianna's activity bins or whatever. From about 4:30 til Brian gets home at 6:30ish is when it's really tough. Ideally the babies take another late afternoon nap, but sometimes they've been thrown off routine and are too wound up or... I don't know... it's tough to know why they're grumpy in the late afternoon. Often I'll load them all up in the stroller (one baby in back, Brianna in front, other baby in my Mei-Tai or ring sling) and walk to Sunset Park, so the babies will fall asleep again (or at least be content) and Brianna will be happy. Brian probably gets sick of my 6pm phone calls begging him to HURRYHURRYHURRY home. His office closes at 5:30, but he's never been home before 6:15. Sometimes it's as late as 7:30. When he gets home I either go on a run, or do my Insanity DVD, whichever I didn't do in the morning. Or if he's too late or I'm too tired, we just have dinner then get the babies ready for bed. They always go down before 8:30. Sometimes as early as 7:30. I like our routine - they seem to have caught on that bathtime means bedtime. We keep the bathroom lights dim while bathing them one after another in the sink in a little hammock-type tub. They LOVE baths - they get so calm and smiley. Then we bring them in our room where both of their bassinets are (I can't believe I originally thought they could share a bassinet - ha!), have the room as dark as possible for me to see what I'm doing, the sound machine on ocean waves setting, and I feed them both. Brian gets Brianna into her tub while I do that, then checks on me every few minutes because sometimes one of them needs to burp or finishes early and I can't do it myself because it would disturb the other baby. 
This twin thing is seriously a two person job at times.

Bumbo!

Sometimes the babies need pacifiers to fall asleep - like if my milk supply was low, which I'm always paranoid it is. It's so tempting to freak out and start pumping or taking fenugreek or whatever. But I just have to trust that my body will regulate itself to what my babies need, as long as I'm letting them eat as much and as often as they want. I don't have time for pumping. Or the desire to at all. The last time I did was in the ER when I was getting my stitches 2 months ago. It just doesn't feel right to me. I pumped alllllll the time with Brianna, but not until she was older - like 8-9 months - and I thought it would give me more freedom. Ha. I'm going to try and keep it simple this time around. Just breastfeed directly until they ween themselves. I'm actually dreading having to start solids in February. That seems like a long time away though. I can't picture my babies doing or being any different than they are now. I can't picture them crawling or sitting up... but I think it will be SO fun when they are! Especially for Brianna. I can't wait until she has two little playmates.

Tummy time - Courtney was taking a break.

So - there's the run down of our typical days and all the fascinating things on my mind.
Stop yawning. It's a wild exciting life, I promise.
So it's not. But I'm really happy right now. I love my kids and this motherhood thing more everyday. I'm trying to get better at it, and I'm seeing gradual improvements. I learn a lot through trial and error. It's one step back, two steps forward.

Even though videos obviously won't show up when I print this blog into a photobook (but wouldn't it be cool if they DID?!), I still want to take short 30 second clips like this often, so I can remember what my babies were like at each stage. This stage of life is called, "blank stares while wiggling and gurgling."