2 weeks

Yet another busy week. I can't believe its already Thursday! Here are some developments over the past week:

• Ellis' umbilical cord fell off on Tuesday. Now he has a cute little belly button!
• The schedule we thought we had was thrown off as of Monday night. They had been sleeping for about 4 hours at a time (I know, that was lucky to begin with), but then they threw it off and started waking up every 3 hours. With Troy going back to work, we developed a schedule for him to feed them the first time they woke up and I would do the second time. Well, with waking up every 3 hours, with feeding and pumping during that time (plus making sure they are back to sleep), I got maybe an hour of sleep before they woke up a 3rd time (which we didn't have to worry about with their 4 hour sleeping pattern), so....
• I have found ways to multi-task. Pumping every 3-4 hours (for 20-30minutes) on top of feeding them with the same frequency (40 minutes for both of them) made it hard to get the sleep I needed, or get anything done during the day. So, I took the advice of another twin mom (shout-out to you Kim!!) and we decided to try feeding them in their bouncer so we could do two at the same time. I was afraid that with them being so small still that they'd try to wiggle right out of it (I didn't want to buckle them in all the time with having to burp them frequently too), but they had no problem with it. Instead of 40 minute feedings, we are now down to roughly 20 minute feedings.
• Although that was good, I still had to worry about pumping. During the day wasn't a big deal, but nighttime pumpings just sucked because I really wanted to get as much sleep as possible. I now understand why people "give up" on the pumping thing so soon (just as an FYI to those wondering why I'm not just breastfeeding, I'm producing more than they are eating right now. I'd still have to pump afterwards to get out the remaining milk or else I'd fill up just that much sooner. Plus, putting breastmilk in a bottle allows Troy to feed them too!). So, after reading a message board that was suggested to me, "Exclusively Pumping" (thanks Nicole), I decided to invest in a hands-free pumping bra. Basically it allows you to pump without having to literally hold it the whole time, which would allow for me to do something else at the same time. So, for the one feeding that I do by myself, I am able to pump and feed both babies in their bouncer at the same time. I tried it for the first time last night and it worked, but took a bit of time to get situated. I'm sure with time it will go even quicker. Anything to save a few minutes!!
• The boys are a bit more alert during the day now, so we decided to pull out the activity mat Nicole gave us and let them play alittle bit.

Tuesday -- Ellis was too tired to participate but Logan enjoyed it!

Wednesday -- Logan was too tired, so Ellis got his chance to play.

Bella wanted to play too, but was a good girl and just watched Ellis.

• We tried tummy time. It's amazing how strong their necks are already, so although it might be a little premature, we thought we'd see how they did on their tummies.

Ellis' first attempt

Logan's first attempt

Can't forget Bella -- she's the pro at tummy time!

• We've had some more visitors too! Joe, Bryan, and Sheila (with Lucas) stopped by to meet the boys. Unfortunately they were sleeping the entire time any of them were over, but hey, that's just what they do these days! =) Thanks for stopping by everyone -- we hope to see you again soon!

I'm not sure what's in store for this weekend yet, but with Troy not working again until Monday, hopefully I'll be able to catch up on some sleep. We all love when daddy is home! For now, happy Thursday everyone!