Surviving

We did it!!! We survived the first six months of twins!  Let me tell you, some of these days were pure survival just to make it through dinner and bedtime. Luckily now, we’re able to get out and about almost every day, get everyone (including me) dressed and fed at regular intervals, AND even occasionally go fun places like my parents’ house or the zoo.

Once or twice, we even all went running (literally) errands to the doctor and bank; though I prefer to do those things without having to buckle up all three kids and make sure I have a fully stocked diaper bag. We even finally paid off the tab for these $12K babies (after insurance, ugh!). Good thing Medicaid chipped in, since that saved us a few thousand at least.

I figured out the best way to make it through the day is to make everyone take a nap at the same time, even if it means Liam goes down at 11:30 and the twins only take a 30 minute nap (we’re in the process of nap-training---ick!).  Since we went through a non-napping phase, I’ve given up on trying to make Liam nap and so I just put him down for “not-so-quiet-time” after the babies go down. It just so happens that now he wants to take a nap every day.

I’m totally cool with that.

And we’re starting to get William used to the idea of siblings.

Sometimes he even gets excited to go feed them (because he gets to jump on the bed, lol) or have them come to the park (like I’d leave them home). He still mostly ignores them, though occasionally we can coerce him into giving out a hug or kiss. It’s pretty hard to resist cute faces like these:

The last six months have seriously flown by (or dragged on, depending on the day).  I can’t believe we made it this far, and am so excited by the changes we have seen and those still to come in the near future.

Like sitting up.

Caleb does a lot better than Lily, even starting to sit up without using his hands for support, whereas Lily sits up in a very flexible version of tummy time.  Or just eats her socks.

And they’re starting to fight over toys.  Though by “fighting” I mean that Lily tries to take whatever she decides she wants since Caleb is still very uncoordinated.

They’ve gone back to the smaller percentiles…we thought for sure Caleb would pass up William, but he’s slowed down at only 14 lbs., 5 oz. Lily is even smaller at 13 lbs., 12 oz.. Both just over 25 inches, with Lily being a bit longer, and Caleb having a slightly bigger head. But considering they were born small and early, and their brother was on the smaller side his first year, no one is that concerned.  Especially thinking that all that growth was entirely on breast milk, and that they sleep through the night a fair amount, it’s not surprising that they aren’t as big as some other babies. I love thinking that all that chubby cuteness was grown entirely by me.

But alas, we’ve had to resign to the fact that solids would come into their lives.  I tried to put it off as long as possible (would YOU want to spoon feed two babies and pay for all that? Not me.), but we decided to give in this weekend and start with the mushy goodness that is rice cereal.  Lily isn’t a fan, but Caleb gladly finishes her portion.  It’s just as crazy as I anticipated with all the preparation, cleanup, and supervision (of an older toddler, too) that you can imagine. I’ve even pureed a bunch of vegetables and fruit to save us money on these double portions. I hate this phase…hoping we move into finger foods before too long.

I’m excited to see what the next six months brings to the Garff family.  With Steve’s new job and a move next month, we’re thrilled with the changes to come and the craziness that will accompany it.  Especially once we get two mobile babies…Stay tuned!