Lucy and Ellory- Five months.

Lucy and Ellory are five months! This month has been really good. I feel like we all got into a good rhythm and we've enjoyed each other! Not that we didn't before, but predictability, schedules, and sleep definitely help us all! We have lots of smiles, coos, cuddles, and rolling over (the big event of the month!), and we love it. Norah is the greatest big sister and loves to get in their cribs with them when they wake up, hold them, talk to them, and give them toys. For the most part, they are pretty happy babies! They even handled their first sickness extremely well. They both caught a cold/fever from Norah, but thankfully they only had a fever for one day (7/18 at 19 weeks) and a stuffy nose for a couple days. They weren't even fussy about it, just more lethargic/cuddly.

Feeding: Feedings are going well. I'm very thankful to be able to nurse both and that it's going smoothly. They occasionally eat around dawn if they wake up in the night, but most times not. They have a morning feeding and then go back to bed, and then have late morning, early afternoon, late afternoon, evening, and bedtime feedings. They are still doing at least one, sometimes two, bottles a day. Lucy has done much better with the bottle this month! She has taken it well almost every time, and upped her amount and even beat Ellory a few times! (Doctors wanted us to do bottles to fortify my milk, to make it higher calorie, to help them gain weight. So, they get mostly my milk, but some formula.) We've even added a bit more formula, because they are drinking more in their bottles than I pump. (Bottle drinkers drink more than breastfed babies because they don't have to work as hard with a nipple vs. breast, and they can drink it faster.) They are both drinking 4 oz in their bottles now, and Ellory is very close to bumping up again. There have been several times where they were both mad when it was gone!

Diapers/Clothes: They started wearing 6 month clothes on 7/2, at 18 weeks. They still have a couple 3 month summer outfits they are squeezing in, but mostly are wearing 3-6 month and 6 month. At 20 weeks (7/15) they started wearing size 2 diapers. We pushed size 1 for as long as we could, but ended up returning a couple boxes because they were getting small, especially for Ellory.

Sleeping: Sleep has been pretty incredible! They have been sleeping so well for still being pretty young. There were some nights they woke up once this month (around 5 or 6 am), but more often than not they have been sleeping through the night. Way to go girls! Getting more sleep has made me feel so much better too! They go to bed late, about 11 by the time we get Norah down and then nurse them, and they usually eat at about 8am (sort of like a morning dream feed because they aren't fully awake), and go back to sleep until about 10. They got much better at taking a good afternoon nap this month. I decided to focus on one to start, so I wanted them to take a good afternoon nap when Norah was sleeping, and it's been awesome. They take a long afternoon nap from about 2-4, and usually take a really short morning catnap and two early evening/before bed catnaps. Lucy seems to need a bit more sleep than Ellory, as Ellory occasionally cries going to bed at night and sits with us longer and she usually wakes up from nap first. Once Lucy started rolling over, she became an immediate tummy sleeper!

Developments: Rolling over was the big event of the month! Lucy rolled over back to tummy on 7/11 at 19 weeks and Ellory on 7/15 at 20 weeks. Ellory had a couple tummy to back flips during tummy time, but I think it may have been a fluke because she doesn't often do that now. Ellory can roll over well back to tummy now, but is still learning to prop herself up with her arms and doesn't enjoy being on her tummy as much as Lucy. She usually just lays flat on the floor and rubs her face on the carpet. Once Lucy started rolling over, she never stopped! She rolls over back to tummy and tummy to back (started rolling all the way over the day after rolling back to tummy), and props herself up with her arms and lifts her head high and even lifts her legs. Norah calls her superman when she does that.

Favorites: They have started acknowledging each other more, which is super cute. They will coo at each other and hold hands while nursing. Lucy is a big drooler and loves to try to put things in her mouth. Ellory loves to suck her right thumb, and has started putting her left hand behind her head when she does, just like Norah.. Ellory likes to face outward when being held and Lucy still likes to cuddle on people's chests. Lucy is a huge wiggle worm and is almost always moving. Ellory is more chill and calm. Lucy cries/fusses more and wants to be held more often. They “talk” about equal and love to coo and make noises. Ellory cranes her head up when she's laying down to try to sit up, like she's doing a sit-up, and Norah used to do that too! They've recently started to be interested in baby toys.

Lucy and Ellory, you bring a lot of joy and we love you!