Zoo Lights

I'm a little behind on posting about our trip to zoo lights, but here it is. A couple of weeks ago, the twins had their first trip to the zoo; it just happened to be at night. For those of you not from Arizona, every year the Phoenix zoo puts on what is called "Zoo Lights." They have a staff that works on it all year long and they end up putting up more the 2.5 million lights around the zoo. This was our first year to go..and it was well worth it.

It runs every night from 6-10.. We arrived a little after 6 o clock, just as it was getting dark. I sort of figured once we put the girls in their stroller it would be lights out for them, but not so. They must have been really enamored with the lights, because they stayed wide eyed the entire time. We circled the zoo twice, before we headed for home & they were perfectly content the entire time.

It's so funny walking around with twins...they certainly get a lot of looks and the "ooh, look it's twins" from all the passer-by's. My favorite is when people ask, "Are they twins?" I always want to respond by saying, "No, we just have babies REALLY close in age that happen to look alike." HA!! Of course instead, I smile & say "Yes, they are."

6 Months

Well, it's hard to believe the but the babies will be 6 months old on Tuesday. They grow up so fast!! It seems as though everyday brings a new development. I spent the first 3 months wishing they would hurry up and get out of the newborn stage. Now I'm wishing they would just put on the brakes a little bit.

They are well on their way with solid foods. They've now tried sweet potatoes, cereal, avocado, & bananas. So far, they eat everything with a smile. They haven't rejected any foods yet. They also got their first sippy cup of milk. They both did fairly well.. However, Ellie always seems to catch on to things a little faster when it comes to eating.

They hadn't had a bottle in quite some time, but when I went to have my hair done I had Justin give them a bottle. All of a sudden, Audrie grabbed the bottle and started feeding herself. Now, she also thinks she needs to hold the spoon.

Audrie now has her first tooth. It seems unreal that my baby can have a tooth!! She hasn't really been fussy; just putting absolutely everything in her mouth and a little drooly.

They are both sitting up pretty well on their own. They are certainly giving crawling a shot. I swear I'm going to look over one day and they're just going to take off. The both get their little rear in the air and scoot around, but just can't quite figure out the arms yet. We will be in for it when they do figure it out. Baby gates, here we come!!

Happy 6 months Ellie & Audrie!

Our 2 Little Turkeys

Well, I must say we had the best Thanksgiving with our 2 favorite little turkeys. How is it that having kids makes the holidays so much more fun? Ellie & Audrie had a big day!! I woke early, fed them & then started preparing dinner. As I was making the sweet potatoe casserole I soon realized I had way too many sweet potatoes. Lucky day for the girls!! I decided instead of waiting until next week to start them on cereal, they would get their first taste of "real" food on Turkey Day!! I was able to freeze 4 trays of sweet potatoes for the girls from the extra that I had. I had so much fun, I think I'm really going to dig making baby food for them.

They did SO good with their first meal...yes, it was a bit messy; but I think they managed to get some food in their bellies. Ellie started opening her little mouth and slurping down the orange goo right away. Audrie, on the other hand had a little more unique way of eating. She opened wide and then would try to lick the food off of the spoon. Both ways seemed to work for them though!! Oh what fun!!

Their bellies were full & they went for a nap. When they awoke, Dad had brought back the Christmas tree. We turned on some Christmas music and decorated their first tree. Their busy day much have tuckered them out because they had their best night of sleep yet. Normally we put them down at 8:30 and they wake up a couple of times throughout the night. Last night....not a peep until around 6:30 this morning...YAY!!!

AND can I just say, I think I have the BEST husband. He kept the kitchen clean while I cooked, cleaned up dinner and kitchen, put away left overs & wrapped packages. What a man and what a great Thanksgiving!!

The Greatest Gift

Well, now that I can truly look at nursing twins as the "Greatest Gift" I've given my girls; I'm going to blog about it. My hope is that maybe this story will help any mother who is getting ready to start nursing or maybe having a hard time with breastfeeding and is ready to stop.

My goal from the moment I found out I was pregnant was to breastfeed exclusively. Even when I found out I was having twins I never waivered on this. People said it would be difficult and it might not be the ideal situation with twins; depending on if they were born early. Boy, were they right!!

I had read every book and I had decided NO bottles or pacifiers would be given for the first 2 weeks until they were established nursers. HA!! With a picture perfect start, your baby would be put on your chest after delivery and you would be allowed to nurse within a very short time. This was not the case for us. Because the girls were born at 34 weeks they were taken straight to the NICU. My first trip into the NICU and they already had binkies in their crib and were started on bottlefeeds. I about flipped but then realized they were doing what they had to in order to care for the babies. So much for that idea...at this point I knew it was going to be a struggle to nurse them later, but the nurses assured me it could be done.

Preemies are born without a good suck reflex and for this reason I wasn't allowed to try and nurse them until day 5 to make sure they were getting the nourishment they needed. Let's just say it was a long road...I was engorged like you wouldn't believe and was pumping 8 times a day to bring milk for them into the NICU. Once they came home I was pumping, allowed to nurse them a few times and day and then also bottle feeding. Every feeding took about 2 hours, so basically by the time I was done it was time to feed again. I thought I would never make it!! Many days I wondered why I was trying and thought about how easy it would be to just give them a bottle of formula.

Now, granted every mother doesn't have all of these challenges and setbacks. Preemies can be particularly difficult, but I know many mothers who struggle to nurse only to eventually resort to bottle feeding. I can't tell you how glad I am that I stuck it out. In the beginning it was so painful..everyone who says it isn't is lying. I used to dread every feeding, but then eventually it just got easy!! Now at 5 1/2 months it is a piece of cake. I look forward to every time I get to nurse the girls and now dread the day when they no longer want to nurse. To this day, I am proud to say they have not gotten a single bottle of formula!!! I truly feel like I have given them the best start to life!!

Well, this post turned out to be much longer than i planned, but I wanted to share my story. Who knows...maybe it will help a first time mom who is ready to throw in the towel!!!

5 Months ( 3.5 Adjusted)

Well, last week was another week of firsts. Both girls have been rolling over from their tummy to their back since they were just a couple of weeks old, but they've now mastered the "full roll over." Usually when they tried to go from back to tummy they would get an arm stuck and just couldn't "quite" make it over. On Thursday of last week Ellie was the first to do it and by Saturday Audrie had it down too. I love that they are rolling over, but it makes nap time a little hairy sometimes. Now that they are good at it, everytime I lay them down on their back; five seconds later they have rolled to their stomach...then they get mad until I roll them back over. Fun times, HAHA!!

Also, it's been really fun having Audrie find her voice. All day long she talks just to hear herself. She'll squeal and draw out all of her sounds, just to test out the old vocal cords. I was thinking it was extremely cute, however her dad was trying to get some work done so I knew he wasn't quite as amuzed. Oh well, squeal on Audrie!!

What Big Girls!!

Ellie & Audrie turn 19 weeks tomorrow and my how time flys!! We've hit a couple of milestones over the past couple of weeks. First off, neither girls are being swaddled to go to sleep. I can finally just lie them in their crib and they fall right to sleep. Okay, give or take 10 minutes!!

Also, last week I mentioned that it was about time for them to stop sharing a crib. Well, we did finally have to make that leap. I think I was obviously more sad about it than they were. I just love having them share a crib and be able to snuggle together. It was getting to the point though that they were really kicking each other and rolling over on each other. It was funny the first morning nap they took in their own crib. I think they were finally like, "Wow, my own space." I went in to check on them and they were both sprawled out taking up the whole crib, so I think they like having their crib to themselves.

The other "biggie" is that they are finally sleeping through the night. They've been doing it for a couple of weeks. I feed them at around 8:30 and they sleep until about 7AM. They do wake up a few times a night, but we just give them a binkie and they go back to sleep. So while Justin and I do still wake up a few times a night; it is worlds away from where we were. I'm sure before long they'll be sleeping through the night without a peep. Well that's all for now!!

I'm Back

So you'll notice I haven't blogged in awhile, but I do have an excuse. My laptop crashed, so I've been without a computer for several weeks. Today I'm using my husband's computer, but mine should be back in a few days, YAY!!

It's been crazy busy at the Rollins house. Last Friday we moved to a new house which is "sort of" challenging with 2 babies. We aren't completely moved in yet, but we are getting close. We just keep going back to the old house to pick up small loads.

The girls have recently turned 4 months old and they are really growing & changing. They are super smiley. I think my favorite part of the day is putting them on the changing table. I know, right...changing a diaper is the best part of the day? It really is though because it's like they immediately get bit by the smile bug and can't stop smiling. It's so cute!!

They are still sharing a crib, but I'm not sure for how much longer. They are both little wiggle worms, especially Audrie. I think it's time they have their own space. Audrie is no longer being swaddled for naps or at night and Ellie is getting close. Ellie now sleeps with one arm out. What big girls!!! Well that's all for now!!

We have their halloween costumes and will be taking them to the pumpkin patch soon. You know we'll take lots of pictures.