Lucy and Ellory- Two months.

Lucy and Ellory are two months! They are such sweet babies. We are so thankful they are healthy, generally happy babies. We are also grateful for the amazing help from our families, especially both grandmas- it has been so valuable! Lucy and Ellory, you are very loved by many people! We have been on “house arrest” this whole month still, as the doctors wanted them to avoid being exposed to RSV/influenza and to keep them as healthy as possible, so there are many people still waiting to meet them!

Stats/Doctor visits: Ellory ended up at the doctor two extra times this month. She went at 5 weeks because her nose was so congested, but it turned out to be viral. She weighed 7 lbs 3 oz. Lucy ended up being congested too, but not as bad as Ellory. We just ran the humidifier in their room each night and did lots of bulb syringes and some saline nose drops. Ellory went again at 7 weeks because she was pooping so often, almost every hour, and her poor bottom was completely raw. The doctor said the pooping was normal, but gave a prescription diaper cream, which helped a lot. She weighed 9 lbs 3 oz.

The girls were doing well at their two month wellness check! Ellory weighed 9 lbs 14 oz (14%), 21” (3%), and head circumference 14.75” (25%). Lucy weighed 9 lbs 1 oz (4%), 22” (27%), and head circumference 14.75” (25%). It was surprising that Lucy was taller and that their heads are the same size, because Ellory seems bigger all around.

Feeding: The girls eat every 3 hours (7:30, 10:30, 1:30, and 4:30). Since they were NICU babies, the doctors wanted to be sure they ate every three hours, so even waking them in the night if they were sleeping (which in most cases they weren't anyways!). For two of the feedings, they have fortified bottles (my milk mixed with a special preemie formula). It's 1/3 formula and 2/3 breast milk. We started doing a tiny bit more formula so I would have enough milk, because I wasn't pumping quite enough for the bottles, but it's worked out fine. There were a few times they were so congested it was hard for them to eat, but most of the time they are great eaters, which we are very thankful for! Ellory has 3.5 oz in her bottles and she chugs it, and Lucy has 3 oz (just because she doesn't want as much) and is a slower drinker and sometimes doesn't finish. Ellory is getting pretty good at projectile spitting up!

Diapers/clothes: Both wore newborn diapers and clothes all month. Very different from Norah, who only did that for two weeks! Ellory poops smaller amounts more often, and Lucy poops less but they are big when she does. Ellory often pees/toots while being changed!

Sleeping: Sleeping is still not great. Can't wait for that to improve! They got slightly better this month, but both were still up pretty often. It's a good stretch if I got a full hour uninterrupted in bed. They had one night where they both only woke up for feedings, and a couple other fairly good nights, which was glorious, but most nights they were still up often.

Developments: Many people commented this month how strong the girls are getting! Around 6 weeks, they got much better at holding their head up and kicking with their legs. Both can roll onto their side. They do pretty well in their car seats, though we haven't gone many places. They usually enjoy going for walks in the stroller. We've seen some reflexive smiles, like when they are sleeping, and a couple random smiles in response to us, but nothing consistent. About 7 weeks they started grabbing onto things more, like my hair and shirt. They are starting to have more defined awake periods, especially in the morning, and the evening is their most fussy time. Their alertness and eye contact really grew also. They take lots of tiny cat naps during the day and don't have a nap schedule at all yet.

Favorites: Being held is a big favorite of both (which is a big part of the sleeping issue- they want to be held to sleep!). Ellory's favorite spot is laying in the nook of your arm between your elbow and armpit, and Lucy's favorite spot is laying on your chest. They love to relax in the tub and be covered with water, but hate getting out. Ellory loves her pacifier. A couple times Lucy has sucked her thumb or fist, so maybe she will be a thumb sucker like Norah?

We love you, Lucy and Ellory! So thankful you are a part of our family.

Big sister Norah was also 2 1/2 the same day!

Baby chicks and matching.

Aren't matching babies super cute? They are getting big so fast!

We are thankful to have wonderful grandparents that live close, so sometimes the girls' great grandmas take turns coming for an hour so Norah and I can escape to the young moms fellowship at church or the Babygarten song class at the library. It's a win win, because they get to hold babies, I get to get out of the house, and Norah still gets to do some normal activities and see her pals. After Babygarten one day, we stopped at the local hardware store to check out the baby chicks.

Norah loved looking at them! She said the black ones were her favorite. (It went much better than last year when she was scared!)

My great Saturday idea that kind of flopped.

A couple Saturdays ago it was supposed to be above 70 degrees, so in my mind I had envisioned a great, sunny, warm day that would be perfect for spending outside. I suggested that we go to the "lake" in the neighboring town, that has a park and water/sand area, so we loaded up after naps and went. (It's a lot to pack up three kids, and also all the extra sand/water stuff. Woah.) I'm really glad we went and it was fun to spend time together as a family, but it wasn't what I thought. It was cloudy and windy, and the twins were not happy about the wind and it really didn't feel like 70. So, needless to say, we didn't stay super long and none of my pictures turned out great, but this is what I got so this is what you get. We tried and that's what counts!

Lucy was clearly having a great time.

There's something about this picture that I really like. Oh Norah, you've had some challenging moments since the twins have arrived, but some super sweet times too. We love you so.

House tour- Norah's big girl room.

Norah moved into her big girl room a couple months ago, but it took awhile to finish all the details. We love how it turned out! We moved her to our guest room, and the twins are now in the nursery. We moved Kley's guitar stuff out of the main room in the basement (another post to come), and got another bed down there for guests when they come. 

Her bedding is the Hannah Floral from Pottery Barn Kids, and I like it because it's pretty and it will last her for a long time I think (like it doesn't look too young that she will outgrow it too quickly and it's not a specific thing that she might not like in the future). It turned out really nice I think! 

I really love how the gold dots on the wall turned out. We ended up using a friends' extra, which turned out great! I started with more in the top right and gradually did less across the wall because I knew we would be hanging things above her bed. I winged it, which was nerve wracking, but it turned out well I think.

The Norah letters are from her nursery (from Pottery Barn Kids a few years ago), and the "You are my Sunshine" paint is from her nursery also, that we had painted for her room from Megan Carty Art. The other frame had a newborn photo collage in it and we traded that out for one of her two year pictures.

We had a lot of work done to her closet. Below is a picture of it when we first moved in. The doors slid open and there was just a single rod, and the shelf up top was just open space that was hard to reach. 

We took out the top shelf and had doors and trim painted to match the other trim throughout the house, which looks much cleaner. We had the doors go to the ceiling instead, and had a long shelf on top with a rod underneath, and then we had shelves installed all up both sides of the closet. This makes it so much more functional and we can use the space much more efficiently.

Her newborn canvas is from her nursery, and I'm thankful the room was big enough to have some of her toys in there too, like her kitchen/laundry. She loves it!

This picture turned out dark, but her curtains are from her nursery too, from Pottery Barn Kids a few years ago, and the shelves on the wall are super cheap ones from Ikea, and we spray painted the brackets underneath gold to match the dots.

The two decorative pillows (pink lace and cream with small gold sequins) are from Target.

The Trust in the Lord wooden plaque is from Hobby Lobby, and the carousel horse print was actually from my old bedroom when I was young. My parents were getting rid of it and asked if I wanted it, and I think it looks so nice in her room, and neat that it was mine! It's light pink and the frame is gold, so it fit well. The alphabet poster is from her nursery also, from Paper Source. The chair is old from our first apartment.

I love how this book corner turned out! These are cheap spice racks from Ikea that we spray painted gold. 

Norah has done so well with the transition. We love you, Norah, and hope you enjoy your room for years to come!

Easter eggs and birthdays.

We had a fun weekend with Uncle Brett and Aunt Elizabeth visiting! It was Elizabeth's birthday, so we got to celebrate her. Norah really took a liking to Uncle Brett this trip and made him play with many toys. I think he changed her baby doll too many times to count- prepping them for if/when they ever have girls! Thanks for being good sports and playing with our daughters!

I was pumped to introduce Norah to one of my favorite childhood Easter traditions- egg dying! Unfortunately, she wasn't too into it. Oh well. She dyed a couple, and then I ended up dying a few dozen myself. Ha. But I'm glad we tried it!

Kley and Elizabeth said they never did it growing up, so they got to experience it too.

The best grandparents! I really love this picture and think it will be a forever favorite.

I also really love this picture! Love our girls and their daddy. Kley, you really are a terrific dad and I'm so glad that you're my parenting partner.

Our attempt to get the 5 of us didn't go so hot, but we tried.

Elizabeth's birthday dinner. (Love Norah in her birthday hat!)

Happy birthday Elizabeth! We love you!