June 15, 2018 – Jocelyn Rau

We’re reaching the end of the first week of summer vacation, and it’s off to a great start!

Personally, I love summer vacation, what with the total lack of schedules since I cherish our lazy days and don’t make the kids do tons of activities and lessons in the summer. People keep saying oh man, how are you going to manage all 5 at home this summer, and I just politely smile and nod and think psshht, I got this. Just like any other day.

Lana finished up K4 the day before Della finished 2nd grade, and they both had such wonderful years. I can’t believe Lana’s first full year of school is already over!

But to kick off our summer break I’ve already taken all 5 of them on a run, we got the big 3 signed up for the summer reading program at the library, they had a picnic lunch in the backyard, the girls have both created and started filling nature drawing binders, the girls are also loving the daily entries in their summer bridge workbooks (a sure sign it’s still early in the summer since Della has never wanted to finish it by the time school starts up again), we’ve played at the school playground where Della and I raced on the monkey bars (totally a tie!), and Ryan’s taken them to various parks a couple times plus out to lunch. He’s home for 4 weeks right now finishing his paternity leave from the twins and working on the attic. Plus we play with friends every day. And by playing with friends, I mean all the kids run around together while the parents enjoy cocktails.

We also sold the little wooden playhouse we’ve had in the backyard since Lana was born. The girls were outgrowing it, even though they all still played in it a lot, but they all voted to set up a new picnic area in that space instead of fixing up the playhouse. So away it went, with us all waving goodbye to a good little friend. Fortunately we are all enjoying what I like to call my new cocktail lounge very much.

We’re going on a family trip up north next week, and we’re all really looking forward to that. Summer is here, and life is good!

Nat and Avit turned 4 months old the same day Morrison turned 3 years old, so that was a very fun day around here.

We did have a 4-month well check, so here are the twins’ official stats:

Nat

Weight: 14 lbs. 15 oz. (38%)
Height: 25.5″ (62%)
Head: 41.2 cm (33%)
BMI: 16.2 kg/m2 (24%)

Avit

Weight: 14 lbs. 8 oz. (27%)
Height: 24.5″ (18%)
Head: 42 cm (59%)
BMI: 17 kg/m2 (45%)

So Nat is an inch longer and half a pound heavier, yet Avit’s head is slightly bigger. These 2 have gotten so big! No more tiny babies. Not that they ever really were super tiny, though, both being born the same size as most singletons. Just tiny to us.

I can’t remember if I switched their clothes before or after they turned 4 months, but now they wear mostly 6 months sizes. There are just a couple 3-6 month pieces I’ve kept up because they’re cute and run a little bigger, but I couldn’t bear to squeeze their chubby little legs into 3 month sleepers anymore.

I’m bumping up to size 3 diapers for this next shipment, but, in all fairness, I think the brand we use runs a little smaller than others. They’re still almost exclusively breastfed, with their daytime bottles having just a little formula mixed into each one. I haven’t really noticed any difference in their sleep patterns based on the amount of formula they have, but I like mixing it to stretch the milk supply and get them some vitamins and minerals.

They’re still getting their 4 bottles throughout the day, then nursing overnight, and I pump twice a day to keep the stash stocked. We haven’t started any solid foods yet, because they’re still young enough to not really need them, plus I’m lazy and bottles are easy.

I’m finally starting to notice the typical baby 3-nap-a-day pattern – sleep a little while between the last nursing of the morning and the first morning bottle; may or may not sleep after the first morning bottle; take a pretty solid nap after the noon-time bottle (hopefully!); then doze a little off and on after the mid-afternoon bottle. Then they go right to bed after the 6:00ish bottle for the night (hooray!).

Thankfully I’ve noticed a slight increase in their overnight sleep, too. I won’t feed them before about 1:00 at the earliest now, and most nights it’s become closer to 2:00-3:00. A few nights ago one of them actually slept until 4:00! And because I’m still so sleep deprived I can’t remember which one it was, but I think it was Nat. Avit did wake up for about 1:30 and 3:30 feedings that night, but for some reason little Natty Nat didn’t (I think). Then it’s about every 2 hours until morning for feedings after that. So if it’s a 2:00 wakeup, I can generally count on that one to be up again around 4:00 and 6:00, etc. I don’t force them to wake up at the same time anymore, because I’m so tired that I just grab any sleep in between wakeups that I can get. Hopefully they’ll both get to the same wakeup schedule soon, though, and stretch it out even more overnight.

Their smiles and talking sounds are amazing, and Avit has started adding some “D” sounds to all their “G” sounds, coos, and oohs. And they have both now laughed, which about makes my heart explode every time.

I just brought the jumperoo up today and took both arched playmats out, so we’re transitioning them to more activity, too. They’re so close to rolling but just can’t quite get all the way over yet, so maybe getting them a little more physical will help. Lying on the floor like little blobs doesn’t exactly do wonders for large motor skills. They both try to pull themselves up to sitting positions, too, and Nat is so close. He can get himself about halfway up, then curls up into a little ball on his side. It’s pretty funny to watch. They both loved the jumper this morning, though, so I’m sure it’s only a matter of days before they both jump themselves to sleep in it, just like each of the other 3 did.

I say it all the time, but I still can’t believe there are 2 of them. I look at them both every day and just think how happy they make me. All 5 of these kids are little miracles running around my heart.