Life with twins

The last 3 weeks have flown by! I can't believe the boys are 3 1/2 weeks already! It's even crazier that I am still a week and a half away from my due date.

Things have been going really well.

We've had to make lots of adjustments and changes, but luckily everything has been smooth.

Devry was home until this past Sunday. It was wonderful to have him here for so long. He was of course extremely helpful, especially with helping Payton to adjust. It was so hard to say goodbye to him after having him here for so long.

I have been so spoiled with tons of help since he left. Carissa is still living here until this weekend (that will be a sad thing too..to see her move out!) She of course has been a lifesaver and helps me a ton!

Devry's mom has helped me, My SIL Rachelle, and the kids who live down the street have been off for spring break and come and take Payton for several hours at a time. It is so wonderful to have such kind and willing friends and family.

Twins is definitely more work then one...but not as much as I expected. I have been so blessed to have such great eaters. Because they were so good, I learned very quickly to tandem feed them (feed them at the same time). It makes it so much faster..especially becau

se they both eat in 15 minutes or less. Cohen eats in like 8 minutes! Kayson takes about 15...but then I burp them both, change them and I'm good for 3 hours. The biggest challenge has been that they both have acid reflux, and seem to take turns fussing, gagging and choking between feedings. It has made it more difficult to get sleep at night. I am really hoping their Dr. will give me medication for them at their next appointment. They actually have been going longer stretches at night. Last night they went from 12:30..to 4:45. Cohen woke up at 4:15, but took his pacifier for another 30 minutes until Kayson woke up. I wish it was 4 hours of sleep straight for me..but they woke up a few times each, gagging and so I did too. Hopefully the reflux gets better, because they are doing good about having a 4-5 hour stretch between feedings at night.

I have really been able to tell the little personality differences between them. They really are so different!

Cohen is a lot more active then Kayson. He lets me know as soon as he needs anything! He is still a great baby, just likes to be comfy and tells me when something isn't right. He is so sweet, and absolutely loves being next to me. When I hold him, he just cuddles into me and is the most content baby ever.

Kayson is SO calm and quiet. He eats then sleeps soundly anywhere till its time to eat again. Even when he gags and chokes he doesn't fuss or cry. He will be awake for a while before letting me know he wants to eat. I will randomly look over at him close to feeding time and he is wide awake trying to find something to latch on to...but is completely silent.

I adore them both so much. I LOVE having newborns. So many people ask if I am surviving, and I think they usually expect me to say I'm not, or barely, or something about how hard it is. Sure it has been challenging, but I would not trade it for anything in the world. Some nights I don't get much sleep, but I love every single moment I have to hold them, feed them, and love them. They are the sweetest boys, and I am so incredibly happy to have them!

Payton has been doing great! He is so soft and gentle with the babies. Th

e biggest problem is that he forgets he also has to be careful whenever he is close to them. No major incidents yet...I think Kayson took a little toy car to the head one time, but it barely hit him..and thats about it. He loves his brothers, and tells everyone all about them. He constantly tells them he loves them, and gives them kisses. If they are in their bouncer and start fussing, Payton will very gently rock them. It is so cute to watch. I love just sitting and listening to him talk to them when he doesn't know I'm listening. It is the sweetest thing to hear him tell him "you my baby brothers and I LOVE you!!"

I'm doing fantastic! I feel a million times better then I did a couple weeks ago. My bp is slowly coming down. My swelling is completely gone (I lost 30 lbs of water w

eight in a week!) I feel almost back to normal! It took probably 8-10 weeks after having Payton before I felt this great. At my 3 week post partum mark I fit back into my preprego clothes, and I'm only 5-6 lbs away from my pre pre go weight. That took me 2.5 or 3 months after Payton! Losing all the water helped so much...plus I've lost even more so quickly. I burn so many calories nursing twins! I go for another echocardiogram in a couple weeks, and hopefully everything will be normal!

And here are some pictures of the past few weeks. Mostly of Payton wit

h his brothers!

Here is Payton holding Cohen with "his" pillow. I have a twin nursing pillow (I totally recommend it as a must have for twins!! It is huge and straps around me and makes it so much easier to feed them...Devry jokes and says it looks like I'm wearing a floaty to go into a pool) Since I use that to nurse, my boppy is mostly for propping babies, but has been taken over by Payton. He holds babies in it...then lays down on it to watch tv. Silly guy.

Here he is with Kayson. Such a good big brother!

This next picture makes me laugh. We swaddle the babies a lot. After swaddling them one day, Payton brings his blanket and says "me too!" So here he is swaddled like the babies.

The next 3 pics are some AMAZING ones my friend Heidi took. She is so incredibly talented and I am so glad we snuck in a photo shoot on monday before they were out of the "newborn" stage.

Kayson

Cohen

We did a couple different sets of pictures. My friend Whitney, who also does photography took some newborn ones when they were only a week old, then did some family ones for us last week. Then Heidi got into town on the weekend, so she did some monday. I love both of their work and I am so excited to have so many amazing pictures of the boys and our family. I will post more when I get them!