July 2, 2014 35 Weeks AKA 8+ Months
I thought I would jot down what a typical day looks like for the girls so when they are older they can have this and so that people know what my life is like at the moment. Disclaimer: this is our summer schedule. Obviously things will change when school starts back up
6:30 am Wake Up
Typically the girls wake up around 6:30 and talk in their cribs. When I hear them wake up, I head downstairs and warm up the bottles. Since I am going up and down the stairs so much, usually I will crash on the couch for 15 minutes or so until I head back up to change the girls.
7:00 am Breakfast
I change the girls and take them downstairs one at a time and put them in their exersaucers. They jump around for a minute or two until I have both babies downstairs. Then it is feeding time. They get a bowl of oatmeal and a jar of pureed food. We start with the food first so that the bottles can continue warming up.
After food, they drink anywhere from 6-8 oz. The girls are big eaters, hence the reason they weigh so much ;) Once the food is done, they go back into the exersaucers to play and interact with each other. My mom and I call it Twin Time. Adelyn jumps up and down and entertains Clara who is usually sucking on some rattle because she is teething.
8:30-9:30/10 am Nap Time
While the girls are napping, I use this time to shower, clean up the kitchen and catch up on a few zzzz's myself.
10:00-11:00 am Play time
The girls play in the living room with their toys. I use this time to sing with them or get down on the floor and
play with them. I am noticing that the older I get, the harder it is for me to get up from the floor. Oh to be a young sprite of a mom.
11:00 am Lunch Time
The girls have another bowl of oatmeal mixed with puree. I usually give them some sort of veggie puree. I started making my own food for the girls (they are not the biggest fans) so I have been giving them home cooked pureed carrots/potato mix. Then they get their bottle and again they drink 6-8 oz. After lunch we head outside for a walk or I put a blanket down on the grass and we sit under the umbrella to get some fresh air. If it is raining, it is back to play time in the living room.
12:00-1:00 (sometimes even as late as 2:00) pm Nap time
I definitely try to catch a nap at this time as well but otherwise, I check my email, clean up around the house.
2:30 pm Snack time
The girls get another bottle.
3:00-5:00 pm. Long Stretch
This is the girls long stretch. Usually we go for errands, or stop by my mom's house so the girls can play
with Gramma or both. Around 4 pm this start rubbing their eyes but EVERY time I try to put them down for a nap around 4:30 they just cry and refuse to go
to sleep. SO I get them up and entertain them until dinner at 7pm.
5:00 pm Dinner
The girls get another bottle and their final food. The girls usually have some bowl movements and I don't want them to have one while they are sleeping so they eat up and still have plenty of time before bed.
5:30-6:00 pm Walk
We go for a walk around 5:30 pm every day (unless raining) and the neighbor kids/moms are out in our cold a sac so I bring the girls out and we all visit by the time we are back from our walk. I really enjoy meeting up with my neighborhood moms. There are three of us. Kara has 4 year old twin girls and a 6 year old daughter; Sara has a 2 year old son and a 4 yr old son; and Heather has a 4 year old son. I am so thankful and lucky that my girls will have kids their own age to grow up with and I just think their moms are awesome. It is our own Wisteria Lane without all the drama.
7:00 pm Final bottle
While the bottles are warming up, I start the bedtime routine around 6:45 pm. Every couple days I give the girls baths and we get our "night time" diapers on and pjs on. Then around 7:15 they are ready for their bottles and after bottles, I read them a couple stories. By this time, both girls are rubbing their eyes continually and are ready for bed.
7:30 Bed Time
I take Clara up to bed first. She is the easiest to put down; lately anyway. She gets her pacifier, bear blanket over her face (she LOVES her face covered when she sleeps) and her giraffe doll next her neck. Adelyn is a different story. If she is tired enough, she will go right to sleep. Usually I am not that lucky. She is very difficult to put to bed. She cries and cries and cries. Usually I will rock her to sleep through one song. Their lullabies are playing on the CD. While I am rocking her she loves to look at both sides of the rocking chair and then will nuzzle her head into my neck. Then repeat. That girl cannot sit still. After 2 minutes or so, I put her in her crib and she gets her three dolls to hug. She has a pink giraffe that she sucks on their ears/horns while she sleeps. She has a medium sized giraffe doll that she sucks on the tail. and finally she has a pink bear blanket that she sucks on the ears as well. She will roll to her side and hug the animal and immediately find the spot she likes to suck on. As I tip toe out of the room, both girls will chat with each other and usually fall asleep
within 10 minutes of being put down. That is a good night's routine. Lately there are hell night routines where Clara throws fits when she is put down and then Adelyn feeds off of Clara's distress and she starts throwing a fit. Those nights, I take a deep breath, hanker down and spend a lot of time sitting on the floor in the room where they can see me while I play Candy Crush. When the girls can see me, they settle down quicker.
Schedules make our lives a lot easier and the schedule is something the girls can count on. When you have twins, organization and routines are a major part of survival. Now with that said, there are days when the schedule gets thrown out the window and routines get adjusted. Like now for example. As I am writing this my day has already been thrown off the normal rails. Clara refused to take her morning nap, so while sister slept sounding for 1.5 hours, Clara played with me down stairs. Now it is 11:30 and Adelyn is awake and playing while Clara is sleeping. Needless to say, it is going to be a long day. BUT you adjust, roll with it and hope that the next day, routines will be restored. :)
