4 Months Old

I know it's cliched, but time really does fly by when you have little ones!  I still feel like I just gave birth to them, but they've been with us for a quarter of a year already.  I can't imagine what life was like without them around.  They are bringing so much life and joy into our home and lives.  

We are loving this. 

Their 4 month appointments are not until this upcoming Friday, so I will go back and update their stats after we get them weighed and measured :)

Benjamin

                            

• 15 lbs 9 oz (75th %ile)   26.5 ins (95%ile!)
• He is our talker!  He loves to babble and coo.  His favorite words are "la-ah-ah"  I wonder when he'll start saying "Mama"?  :)  He's a pillowtalker--when we put him down for nap or bed, no matter how sleepy he is, he needs to talk for a few minutes before falling asleep.  
• He's rolling over!  He was a little slower than his brother, but he can now officially roll from back to belly and belly to back.  He's definitely better going from back to belly, but he can do both.
• He has started to prefer sleeping on his side/stomach.  Usually during his naps he goes to his side/stomach, but he still sleeps on his back overnight.
• He has a big, gummy smile with a sweet little dimple on his left cheek. 
• He loves chewing on his right index finger.  It's like he's teething, but I don't think he is yet. 
• He's generally a very content, easygoing baby.  When he does cry, it's pretty blubbery and pathetic.  There is no crying it out going on over here with him!  It makes me too sad when he cries!!  He cries if he's overtired or really hungry.
• He has started to notice his brother more than before.  Sometimes he just stares at him for a little bit during playtime.  So cute.
• He's eating 4-5 oz every 3-4 hrs.

Here are my silly boys chewing on fingers and talking.

Zachary

                   

  

• 14 lbs 11 oz (50th %ile)   24.5 ins (50th %ile)
• If Benji is our talker, Zachary is our mover!  He is so strong and only getting stronger.  He wants to stand all the time and sometimes gets frustrated when he's not standing.  He's been rolling over both ways for a couple of months now.  When he's on his tummy, you can tell he knows there's more to it (crawling) and wants to move.  I won't be surprised if he starts crawling on the early side.
• He does talk, too, but sometimes it comes across more like grunting because he's so busy :)
• He has had a full out belly laugh a few times now.  He's a big smiler.
• He's a pretty good sleeper.  Once he falls asleep, he barely moves.  BUT he has been waking up a lot at night again.  I'm pretty sure it's his reflux.  I know he's gained weight so I think he needs more Zantac.
• He's eating 4-6 oz every 3-4 hours.  

Their schedule (rough):

4-5 am:  wake for a feeding, right back to sleep

7:30/8:  up for the day, 4 oz bottle, play time

9/9:30 : Nap #1

10:30/11:  awake, 5 oz bottle, playtime

12/12:30:  Nap #2

1:30/2:  awake, 5 oz bottle, playtime

3/3:30:  Nap #3

4:30/5:  awake, 4 or 5 oz bottle

5-7:30:  extended playtime with a lot of fussing in between :)  sometimes there's a catnap in there, sometimes we can go for a walk, sometimes we're out (and they do well then)

7:30:  start getting ready for bed, PJ's, 5 oz bottle

8 pm:  Bedtime

{10 pm:  dreamfeed}

We flew to Boston the first weekend of August!  My mom and I took a redeye with the boys, Andy flew from Dallas, where he was at a pastors' conference, and met us there the next day.  I couldn't have done it without my mom!  She has been a huge help watching the boys when I work and helping out all the time. It's such a blessing to have her and my dad and brother here in Phoenix.  The redeye was an interesting experience and one that I don't want to do again with twin infants for awhile, BUT it wasn't horrible.  My mom had Benjamin in the Bjorn, who slept mostly the whole way.  I had Zachary in the Bjorn, and he had a little bit of a rougher journey :)  But overall, they were pretty good babies.  And we got to Marblehead in one piece and got to meet a lot of friends and family!  It was a great trip.  Here are a few pics from that time and recently:

Meeting our cousin, Nolan!

I love Grammie!

Meeting Auntie Ann

Daddy and his brother Ben with Nolan

Nanny, Bo, and Abbey

Benj could pass as Auntie Melissa's son!

Listening to Grammie read Make Way for Ducklings

Big boys in our umbrella stroller!

Mr. Zachary loving to stand

best buds

Celebrating Uncle Nick's 23rd birthday today
(a day after we turned 4 months)

                                          

5 Year Anniversary // 1 Year Celebration

5 years ago today this happened:

I married my bestie!  

Marriage has been FUN.  Andy is truly my best friend, and I love living life with him by my side.

I am honored to be his wife and partner.

Marriage has also been challenging, humbling, and revealing!  

I can be quite stubborn... these 5 years (and many many more) have allowed God to shape and form me to be a little more like Jesus... but I still have a LONG way to go.

Andy helps me to be more

patient, 

calm, 

trusting, 

joyful.

And we have tons of fun and laughter together.  5 years have flown by.

August 8th will now also forever be another anniversary of sorts.

This day last year, we suited up to go into the OR and have our 3 precious embryos implanted into my womb.  

We were so expectant for God to move in miraculous ways.
This was a day of excitement and hope, 

despite all of the setbacks and pain we had endured leading up to this day.

Here we are waiting and ready :)

Little did we know that these little guys would soon turn into our sweet

Benjamin and Zachary!  

One of the perks of IVF, if you could call it a perk, would be that your baby's 

first photo is taken when they are literally seconds old...

Here are the sweet little embys as they were just nestled into my uterine lining.

Crazy!  I am still in awe of medicine and science and the way God moves in creation.

What a full 5 years we have had... looking forward to many many more!

3 Months Old!

I'm a day late with this post...  Wow, I just can't believe a quarter of their first year has gone by!  I know I'll be saying something to that effect basically their entire lives, but still.  We have really seen their little personalities come out this past month.  And they're getting stronger and more interactive.  It's getting fun around here!  It's so interesting that they both look SO different from one another, and we're thinking they're personalities are going to be just as different.  Their next doctor visit isn't until August, after they turn 4 months, so I don't know their weights/heights, but I can definitely tell they're getting bigger!

Benjamin

• He is our smiley guy!  He's really good at the social smile and seems to love to smile at us.  He's got the cutest little dimples, and sometimes we catch him just laughing at his toys.  He also loves to watch Andy and smiles when he gets near.
• He talks a lot!  His little coos are so so sweet.
• He doesn't love tummy time as much as his brother, but he doesn't cry.  He just gets pretty lazy after a few minutes of lifting his head up high and lays his head down and sucks on his fist.  
• He has found his hands and often sucks on his fingers and fist if he's sleepy.
• His eyes are still deep blue.
• He's still a good eater.  Takes 3-4 oz 7x/day
• Fits comfortably in 0-3 mo. and 3 month clothes, Size 1 diapers (Size 2 Pampers overnight)

 
 
 

 

Zachary

• Zachy loves to smile and laugh, too.  He just seems to be tough and serious more often.  It's like he's always working hard and lets out little grunts. Once he locks eyes with me, it's very easy to get him to smile back at me.  Love it.
• His reflux seems to be under control--the painful part of it, at least.  It seems like his spit ups have increased.  Some feeds he spits up 3-4 times during play time.  That might not be a lot, but compared to 0 from Benji, it is!  
• He LOVES to stand!  His legs are so strong and he can stand with me holding his hands for a few minutes.  I think he may walk at an early age!  (I walked at 9 months...)
• He is definitely capable of rolling from tummy to back and has almost made it from back to tummy.
• He has recently discovered his hands and has started to suck his thumbs! It's pretty cute to watch.  He has even started to prefer his thumb over the binkie when going to sleep.  He also loves his hands and balls them up into little fists during playtime.  You can see in some of the pics below.  I love that the photographer captured this about him.  We call him our little boxer!
• He has several bald spots, hair is still light orange/strawberry blond
• His eyes are a dark greyish.  Not too sure what color they will end up being!
• He's doing better with eating and takes 3-5 oz 7x/day (but is still pretty messy!)
• He fits comfortably in 0-3 mo. and 3 month clothes; Size 1 diapers (Size 2 Pampers overnight)

 
 
 

Sleep
Their bedtime is 7:30/8pm.  They'll have a 4 oz bottle, then go down for the night.  We go in and feed them a "dreamfeed" bottle, which they sleep through, around 10pm.  They have recently been sleeping until 5-5:30.  It's usually Zachary who wakes, but we'll wake Benjamin up and feed him, too.  They get 3 oz at the dreamfeed and this early am feed.  The goal is to get them back to sleep until about 7:30/8am, but sometimes they fight it or play a bit in their cribs.  (Especially Benji, he can get really giggly after this feeding!)  Needless to say, we are getting much more sleep these days, and it has been amazing for my mood and overall perspective on life!   I'm able to get up and start my day before they do, and this is huge.  Thank you, Jesus!

Other mentionable details...  they have started noticing one another --slightly.  We've caught them smiling at one another and they touch and kick each other!  I love that they have a built-in playmate!  So cute.  They love to lie under the activity mat and bat at the hanging toys.  They're funny to watch. They also went for their first swim on the 4th of July.  They were very calm and quiet.  The pool was so warm, maybe it didn't even feel like they were in water!  

Life is good around here.  I'm much more comfortable with our day to day and am not stressed out.  It's not a problem for me to have them on my own or run an errand or two (although grocery shopping is only possible if I leave them home with Andy).  I'm so in awe that we have TWO SONS and am thankful daily for these gifts.  

                    

That face!

                                     

First swim!

Funny little swim outfits

3 months old!