Little Details

Nolan and Carter are 7 weeks and 3 days old. Can you believe it!

And here's a sweet picture!

Here is a fun picture of the Kowalski Twins (Brad's sisters) with the new Kowalski Twins:

If you just want to look at the latest pictures, here's the link.

If you want to learn more about the happenings in the now chaotic Kowalski household, read on.

Everytime a baby burps, most of the people in the room say in a rather high pitch but with alternating highs and lows, "Oh good job! Do you feel so much better now?" Most of the people meaning the women, and sometimes Brad. But the other day, Brad's dad was the first to express his wish that people would do the same when he burps. Could you imagine burping then everyone congratulating you on your burp and commenting on the fact that you must feel so much better? But of course, we all agreed!

I don't know what happened since the month one post, but these babies are now definitely in charge of us.  They used to just sleep and eat and look around a lot. They never fussed. It is like week 5 hit and these boys became bossy! But how can we complain and not do everything they want when they are just so adorable?! We really started feeling completely exhaused when Carter started wanting to stay up later than we wanted. We decided to start putting them to bed with their last feeding around 9. That would mean the next feeding would be around midnight. Well, Carter just started wanting to be rocked from 9 until the midnight feeding. He would start to doze then let out a scream, then doze, then scream. Putting him down in the crib was not an option. Once, Brad's mom got him to fall alseep while we watched some TV. She put him down and he stayed alseep! It was a serious celebration!!! Not even kidding. I was worried I wouldn't be able to sleep because I was so excited. The next day we tried to repiclate the previous evening. WHATEVER. Consistency is not possible here. =)

In fact, we now have to refrain from speaking any positive comments about the babies regarding sleeping and fussing. The second we say how great something is, these boys do just the opposite! We are sitting at the table, Nolan in someone's arms, and I say, "He is doing so much better this time than last night. He isn't fussy at all and seems so calm." One minute later, "WWwhhhhhaaaaaa, Wwhhhhahaaaaa, Wwwhhhaaaaa." One evening, we sit watching the video monitor, hoping Carter really has fallen asleep without the passy in his mouth. Brad says, "I think we got it this time. I think he's really out." One minute later, "Wwwhhhhaaaaa, Wwwhhhhaaaaaaa, Wwwwhhhhaaaaa."  I mean, we are to the point now that we stop each other from finishing our sentences when we know something positive is about to come out. It is like reverse magical thinking. Don't say it and it will happen.....we hope!!!! 

Here's an adorable picture to break up the story and remind you just how sweet these baby boys can be!

So I used the same "Wwwwhhhhaaaaa" spelling for each baby. Really shouldn't have. Nolan and Carter have quite distinctive cries. I would say Carter screams. He settles, then screams, then settles, then screams.  Unless he is really pissed though. He has a loud cry. I used to say that Nolan still had a sweet baby cry but one day he decided to grow his cry up and though quite different from Carter's screams, it is still ear peircing.

I'm kind of joking about their cries, but I have to say how hard it is when you can't get your child to chill! You feel so helpless! He is full, he is changed, temperature is good, we've bounced, we've walked outside, he won't even take a passy, so on and so on.  It makes me so sad!  I hear that my cousin-in-law, Jacque, always says, "Nobody ever died from crying!" So it reminds me that the crying will pass and the discomfort will fade. Everyone will be okay!

We have been so lucky to have a house full of help over the last month and more! Brad's family has come in segments, one after the other, so I haven't had to take care of two newborns all alone since that one week in between visitors.  Brad's mom came for 3 weeks, Sister Alli for 1 week, Sister Krissi for 1 week, and Dad for 4 weeks. He is totally doing great projects around the house for us!!! We call Brad's mom the baby whisperer for obvious reasons. Whichever baby is fussing, she says, "I'll take him." and sure enough, he is calm moments later. Alli has given us the "Alli Bounce" technique. It works wonders when little Nol has tummy problems after eating too fast. Krissi has helped us finally start a bedtime routine that seems to be working. Oh, man I shouldn't have said that!

Anyway, we have actually had a few good nights. Just in time to practice for back to school Wednesday. One day I calculated that had I gone to work, I would have slept only 3.5 hours. NOT g0od! The last 3 nights, we've done a feeding at 7:30 or 8:00, bath at 8:30, nice warm bottle at 9:00, sleeping babies by 9:30 (we hope). We started swaddling them again, too. They faught it some, but have now given in. I think it does help them sleep longer. They don't startle and wake themselves up so easily. Last night was the best ever! They actually slept 4 straight hours and had 5.5 hours between feedings! This was for the first round of the night, then after that, we fed every 3 hours like usual.   I've also been trying to cluster feed the boys all day. They need a total number of ounces in a 24 hour period and if we can get most of those during the day, they'll need less at night. That's the idea anyway. I want to be laid back about baby scheduling and such but right now, I just want more sleep at night so if that means scheduling, then so be it!

Some have asked how the feedings are going with twins. I breastfeed them at the same time only during the day. Feeding them in tandum saves so much time! During the night, they get pumped bottles. When I would feed them at night by myself (so working Brad could sleep), I would place the crying baby in a boppy and wake the other baby and put him in a boppy next to his bro. Then I'd hold both prepared bottles. That wasn't too bad. Burping them back and forth and changing them without the other baby getting fussy was challenging. Now that we are starting to trust their sleeping, and thanks to some advice of other mothers of twins, we are now each responsible for one baby and try not to wake the other baby while feeding.  Just means we have to get them back on the same schedule the next day but that's doable!

Some stats....my big boy, Carter is now 10.5 lbs!!! Nolan is still gaining well at 8.5 lbs. I can't believe they are approaching double their birth weights. Maybe you can tell their sizes in these pictures:

I really try each day to remember how they felt and looked in the hospital when they are were so small and so new. Still makes me teary eyed. We love them so much, it is indescribable!
Here I am with Nolan:

Here's Carter admiring his dad: