Surviving...

...barely.

Lots of cobwebs around these parts lately.

Posts float around in my head all day long, yet every time I sit down in front of the computer, I can only manage to type out about ten words before a baby cries. At night, while I'm nursing, I'm reading blogs, but it's hard to type comments from my i.pod...I have great intentions of returning to posts during the daylight hours to comment, but they never transpire. So, please know that I'm still reading, and hope to offer support to you soon!

I'm on borrowed time, so I'll update in bullet form...hopefully I can get it all out before I'm needed!

• Big Boy & Pretty Girl are just over 3 months old! I have a 3 month post in the works, but we'll see if it ever is completed.
• Sleep is a becoming a problem again. After sleeping pretty good for about a month and a half, the twins have started to wake up many times a night...I'm surviving on copious amounts of caffeine.
• It sucks that you can have lost all your baby weight, yet NONE of your pre-baby pants fit.
• Pretty Girl loves to coo at anyone or anything. Her little voice is so sweet and she looks at you like she's carrying on a conversation.
• Big Boy rolled over from his belly to his back on Sunday. He hates "tummy time" and if I put him on his tummy, he immediately rolls over to his back now.
• I'm planning a baby shower for my sister with all my "free time".
• Strangers like to ask me, "If I'm sure..." about how old the twins are after I tell them. Yes, I gave birth to them, I'm pretty sure I know how old they are.
• My time nursing Big Boy is quickly coming to an end. He only nurses in the middle of the night now, and last night he nursed at 3am, yet woke up screaming at 4:30am starved and refused the br.east. I gave in and gave him a bottle and he slept until after 8.
• I miss exercise. I've yet to find time to do so.
• M. is a super dad! Last Wednesday night, he sent me off to a Mothers of Twins meeting...knowing that Pretty Girl won't take a bottle. He managed to get all three to bed, allowing me to stay away from home for 3 hours! And he got her to take 2 oz. of EBM from a bottle.
• Medical bills suck.
• Halloween costumes have been selected. Miss O. will be Tink.er.bell and the twins are going to be 2 peas in a pod.

Well, Pretty Girl is starting to fuss...my time is up!

Drum Roll, please...

Big Boy's weight this week...

8 pounds, 3 ounces!!!

He gained almost a pound in a week! Now, he had a 4 ounce bottle about a half hour before the appointment, I couldn't hold him off, he was hungry...but he definitely put on some good weight.

Doctor was happy, said to keep doing what we're doing.

That made this Momma happy and allowed her to relax a little. I think the LC's and doctor were right, he just was working too hard trying to nurse all day long, and needed to not expend as many calories as he was taking in.

Over the last week, Big Boy has been such a happy baby. Unless he's really hungry, he hasn't really fussed at all. Seeing smiles and hearing him coo have really made me feel like we've made the best choice at this point. And, I still nurse him at least once a day, so I have a little of that special time, too.

Pumping is going better, but I don't know if I'll ever pump enough for him to get full bottles of breast milk. I'm going to continue to try for that goal, but I realize now that either way he'll be okay.

What's important is that he's getting some breast milk, he's happy, and he's growing.

I can't ask for much more than that.

Half and Half...

...or the best of both worlds.

Thursday's doctor appointment went just as I expected.

Pretty girl looks good, weighing in at just under 10 pounds.

Big Boy, not so much. He weighed in at 7 lbs., 5 oz., not even gaining a full pound in the last 6 weeks.

My doc was wonderful about the whole thing, explaining that perhaps he's burning off just as many calories trying to nurse as he's taking in. He also stated that after the first 2 months of breastfeeding, you've transferred all the good stuff to the babies. Now, it's just about calories, so that they can grow.

The decision was to have Big Boy start bottle feeding. I'm giving him 2 ounces of formula and 2 ounces of breast milk every 3 hours during the day. At night, I'm free to nurse him at demand. I'm not going to lie, I shed quite a few tears on Thursday.

That's the plan.

I'm pumping the side that he would have nursed on, trying to keep my supply up and build up my freezer stash again. I'd really like to be able to have enough breast milk to drop the formula at some point, so that's the goal I'm working towards right now.

So far, it's gone better than I expected. He takes a bottle very well and is done feeding within 15 minutes, unlike his 40 minute nursing marathons. I'm shocked at how much wetter his diapers are! He always had wet and dirty dipes, but now there is no doubt when he's peed. Overall, he's a happier baby, smiling and cooing more, too. (At first, this led to more Mommy guilt, but I'm working on it)

We'll head in on Thursday to have him weighed again.