The First Eight Weeks

I haven't had much time to log on here and post - as you can probably guess why! So I thought I would do a general "the first eight weeks" post to let you know how the past (almost) two months have gone. I was in the hospital from August 23 - August 28 (Saturday), so our first night home was Saturday night. My parents were in town for the babies' birth, but unfortunately, they were only here until that Saturday morning. So when we arrived home, it was just us four. It was great to be home. But it was also a bit scary to think that they let us leave with the babies. Ha! What were they thinking, we don't know anything about taking care of babies!

The first day/night was great. It was so nice to be in our own home with just us, a new family of four. Jim and I were excited to test out some of the babies stuff (swing, bouncer, pack and play) and we soon realized that most of the stuff won't be used for a while - the babies were just two small for it all! The babies were eating every 3 hours on the dot, so we pretty much spent the first hour of the three hour schedule changing, feeding and burping them. Then, was the fun part - snuggling them and watching them sleep in our arms. They are so beautiful and precious - and we love them so much! Here are a couple pictures from our first couple days at home! Look how tiny they are in the pack and play (where they slept the first couple days): OMG - so small - cuddled up on the couch: Jim and Abby cuddling - how adorable! To be completely honest, the first 3 weeks were really tough for me. I was experiencing the "baby blues" and would cry at random times for unknown reasons. I know for sure that exhaustion played a big part in my "blues" and the overwhelmed feeling of being a first time mom played a factor as well. I would cry though out the day for short periods, mostly for reasons unknown. But luckily, the blues passed after about 3 weeks. It is completely understandable why I (and any mom) would get them - things change so dramatically, practically overnight, and you are barely getting any sleep and are exhausted. I also felt overwhelmed when Jim had to go back to work and my parents left, which played into it as well. But I am happy to report that now (8 weeks later) I am doing great and am generally feeling really happy! I still have moments of stress, anxiety and sadness (mostly about how fast they are growing), but overall I am doing great!

Enough about me... let's hear about how Abby and Jimmy are doing! Abby and Jimmy have the greatest temperaments. They both are very easy-going (we can thank Jim for passing that down to them) and barely ever cry or get fussy unless they are hungry. Jimmy has struggled (and is still having problems) with gas issues, and would cry out off and on for about 20 minutes about one hour after eating. It is such torture for me to watch him be in a lot of pain and not be able to do anything about it. We eventually switched formula (from Enfamil Premium to Enfamil Gentlease - yep, that's right, I am not breastfeeding) which helped slightly, but the gas pains are still present (even to this day). We give them both the gentlease formula and mylicon gas drops before every feeding. And to help combat the constipation that is present due to the formula change, we give both Abby and Jimmy .5oz of pear juice mixed with .5oz of water. They LOVE the juice. 1oz is not nearly enough in their eyes and they are both so sad (read: fussy) when the juice is gone!

So what are the nitty-gritty details of a twin lifestyle look like here in the Frybarger household...

No sleep. Exhaustion. Felt by all those involved. See below for the proof. Bottles, bottles and more bottles. Washing, drying, filling and feeding...And then all over again. Sometimes we repeat that cycle twice a day since we only have 8 bottles. Formula galore. OMG- the cost of formula is insane and we go through ALOT of it. Yikes! When anyone is home alone with the babies, whether it is me, Jim or a family member, it is quite difficult to feed the babies at the same time. So what we end up doing is propping the babies up in their boppy's to feed them both at the same time. It does get a little hairy when it's time to stop and burp. Quickly, we pop a pacifier in one of their mouths to cause a distraction while we burp the other. But soon enough the one with the pacifier realizes that it's not the bottle and starts to get fussy... so we put down the burping baby, pop the pacifier in that baby and try to burp the other. By the end of the cycle, the babies and the mommy/daddy/grandma/grandpa are all cranky and the bottle goes back in. And then we repeat until the bottle is gone! Whew - it's quite the process.... see for yourself. It's amazing how quickly the time is passing! Before we knew it the babies turned one month old. Where did the time go. Every month on their "month" birthday, I dress them in plain white onesies and add a sticker to it showing off their age. It's actually a ton of fun to do and the babies so far have been very cooperative and tend to enjoy this little photo shoot. Here are my favorites from their One Month Birthday! The next 4-8 weeks flew by too! We a lot of visitors visiting with us and the babies and helping with feedings, changes and other household chores. Thanks to everyone who has been helping - your help has been very much appreciated by Jim and I and the babies love to see you! Both Abby and Jimmy were very close to smiling. I was even able to catch a smile from Abby on tape (Ha- I still call it tape and not video).

Well, that's the first 8 weeks in a nutshell. Having a new baby is such a learning experience and having two, well it's just that much more fun. Things were chaotic at times, and stressful, but also a ton of fun and I wouldn't ask for anything more. I am so in love with our new family!

Here are some of my favorite pictures from the first 8 weeks!