2 Months!!!

It's been awhile since I've posted. I've started several new entries but never end up finishing them! I hope to finish this one!

Lots of stuff has been going on around here lately, I'll try to touch on the most interesting...

2 Month Doctor Appointment
Our appointment was today and it went pretty well.  Despite the controversy, we have decided to go ahead and vaccinate our children. We didn't make the decision lightly, but in the end we decided it was the right choice for our family. The babies really cried and screamed while getting the shots, which was hard to watch. But they bounced back really quickly afterwards and only cried for a few minutes.

They are both growing like weeds. Valentina is 22.5 inches long and 9lbs 7oz. Zoe is 22.5 inches long and weighs 8lbs 13oz. For being born 5 weeks early, this is great. Valentina is in the 10th percentile for her weight and Zoe is in the 2nd. The doctor said it's wonderful that they are even on the charts at all!

Cloth Diapering
We finally started cloth diapering in earnest a few days ago. So far it has been pretty cool. We have a few Bumgenious all-in-ones and a bunch of Sun Baby pocket diapers. We have a total of 31 cloth diapers. At night we're still doing disposables, I've been nervous about leaving them in a cloth diaper overnight, although it should be ok. I do baby laundry almost every day, so adding the diapers is not a big deal. I think some people might shudder at the thought of putting a poo diaper in the laundry, but really, it doesn't ruin the washing machine or anything, it's totally fine. I usually do a rinse with just diaper laundry first, then I add the rest of the baby laundry (blankets, towels, clothes, burp clothes, etc). So far so good!

Sleeping
We are still doing a 2-3am feeding. John takes care of it, which is awesome for me! The doctor said they should start sleeping for a 5-6 hour stretch. So far, we only get about 4 hours max. Can't wait for the 6 hours to start!

Eating
Nursing two babies has not gone as well as I expected. I really believe I would be an excellent breast feeder if I only had one baby to worry about. It's a whole different game with twins. Tandem feeding is really challenging unless you have a helper (John). When the babies start crying and fussing when I'm tandem nursing, I feel totally helpless. Feeding one at a time has other challenges. I have a really hard time telling if they've gotten enough. It's so frustrating to finally be done feeding after a long session, only to have them cry and fuss a short time later and be wondering if they're still hungry or not. It's very stressful to me.

This might sound a little cold, but efficiency rules around here. There's just not enough time and not enough of mommy's patience to fiddle around too much. You would think that breastfeeding would be the most efficient way, and maybe it would be with a lot of work. Instead, I've been pumping milk and feeding by bottle. The babies drink it in a reasonable amount of time, I can bottle feed both at once if necessary, I don't have to wonder whether or not they got enough, and I can easily predict when they'll be ready for the next feeding. Also, other people can lend a hand with feeding from a bottle!

So I am an avid pumper. Right now I'm up to pumping around 40oz per day. The average baby consumes between 25-35 ounces per day, which means ideally I should pump 50-70 oz. I'm trying to build up my supply so I can do this, but for now I have to make up the difference with formula. I really hate giving formula, I don't like feeding myself processed foods, and I certainly don't want processed food for my babies. But at this point in our lives, we all have to make do with some convenience foods (including myself, as I have no time for cooking). I really am striving to pump a little more each day so hopefully by the time I go back to work we won't need formula anymore. There are various things I'm doing to build my supply mostly lots of water, massage, brewer's yeast, and Guinness. Not sure if the beer really helps, but it does take the edge off a really long and stressful day of babies.

Ok, this post is getting really long so I'll probably end things here. Love and light!