We are 6 months!!  1/2 of a year has gone by since my sweet baby girls were introduced to this world, and I am in awe at the thought of having two baby girls that are already 6 month old.  Where has the time gone?

June 6th was the girls’ actual 1/2 birthday, but I wanted to wait to post the update until after their 6 month appointment (yesterday).  These girls are growin, growin’, growin’!  Way too fast if you ask me.

Remember what they looked like 26 weeks ago?

Now..

Parker @ 6 months: 
Weight: 14 pounds 3 ounces (4th %)
Height:  25.8 inches (23rd %)
Head: 43.2 centimeters (32nd %)

Jolie @ 6 months:
Weight: 13 pounds 5 ounces  (6th %)
Height: 24.8 inches (16th %)
Head: 42.5 centimeters (52nd %)

Both in size 1 diapers, size 3 month clothes (although the shorts/pants are a little too big), and even though Jordan and I think these two are SO big, they are still petite little bits at just 4th & 6th percentile on the growth charts.  Dr. Butler is very please with these beautiful girls and their progress since the first day we brought them in at just a week old. 

What’s New

EAT

Ladies and Gentlemen, let me introduce you to my little piggies.  Feeding time reminds me of those big black hawks that come squalking at you with their beaks wide open (scary) and wings spread wide, shoulders back.  Have the visual?  Yep.  That would be my children. 
I mean.. look at that beak.. and no, she did not taste the donut.  Not yet.  How ’bout we try a sweet potato first?  You’ll hate it (gag, choke, spit it everywhere) and we will laugh..

More on that later this week..

I have continued with the girls on the same schedule during my work week and nursing them at 4am, 4:30pm, and then before bed at 7:30pm. They take bottles for three feedings (7:30am, 10:30am, and 1:30pm) while I’m at work.   We have continued with 5 ounce bottles and show no desire for an increase at this time.  I think the addition of oatmeal has helped with this. 

In the evening about 6pm I fix up about 1 cup of oatmeal mixed with about 6 ounces of warmed breast milk between the two of them.  Last month I totally doubted ever being able to get to this point so soon, but we are there.  Jolie out eats Parker, any time.  She loves her some oats!  This next weekend we’ll be adding in another cereal feeding and start incorporating more veggies, too.  We decided to start the second feeding in the morning while I’m off on my 4-day weekend so we have a few days to get used to it before Dad or BB has to do it solo.  Trying to figure out nursing, solids, playtime, and naps has got me all kinds of anxious!  Any suggestions on making this easy are totally welcome!

I’ve ventured out and purchased, with the recommendation of another twin mom, the Baby Brezza for making my own baby food/purees.  I made sweet potatoes and carrots over the weekend- it was very easy and I have a TON.  I’ll be writing a post on this, soon! 

SLEEP

We are sleeping so well these days!  The girls, for the most part, will sleep 12-14 hours through the night.  At the beginning of the month we were in talks of moving their bed time from 9:30pm to 7-7:30pm.  I reached out for some recommendations from other momma’s and ultimately decided to go cold turkey rather than 15 minute increments like some moms suggested (impatient, much?  Maybe.)  The girls did great and went down without a fight!  We dropped their cat nap in the late afternoon evening and stretched them between their last feeding (4:30pm) to 6-6:30pm for oatmeal, bathtime, and finally feeding at 7:30pm.  At first they had a hard time staying awake until 6:30pm, but we play and keep them busy until then and they don’t seem to have a problem.  The evenings are left to me and Jordan for enjoying dinner and catching up on the day together.  Even though it would seem like I wouldn’t have as much time with the girls by putting them down earlier, I feel like I have more than ever.  Now, Jordan and I eat dinner after the girls go to bed and rather than spending our time messing with getting dinner prepared and eating all while juggling babies, we sit and hold/play with them for two solid hours without worrying about dinner or other things.  Much more quality time with my girls.  Loving their new bedtime.

Jolie has turned into our super sleeper.  She is solid and hardly moves when she sleeps.  When she started to roll from back to belly, she also started to sleep on her tummy.  This is also when she started sleeping all night through.  Parker sleeps well through the night for the most part.  She will wake up once or twice just for her paci and monkey wubanub (she doesn’t suck the paci, but adores the stuffed animal!) and then goes right back to sleep without a problem.  Jolie doesn’t budge! It is funny how much thinga have changed in a few short months between these girls and their sleep habits. 

Their naps are pretty regular these days – They have two, one mid morning, and one about mid afternoon, and they last between 1 and 2 1/2  hours.  Jolie is more consistent with the 2 1/2 hour nap and Parker sleeps much less.  Her longest naps are usually an hour and a half- and if we are lucky she’ll hit that 2 hour mark.  I can only think that Jolie is just wiped out from the constant go, go, go that when she hits the crib she is out cold.   

This month I decided to mix it up with the letters to our girls- got the idea from my sweet friend Meredith and love it!

To my Jolie Grace,

You are one amazing and spunky little girl! You have such personality and show it off all the time. I remember the moment I saw you. You were so little and I was so worried about you. You just barely escaped a visit to the NICU, beating the weight cutoff by only 1.7 ounces. I will never forget when I first held you and saw those beautiful eyes looking back at me. You have come so far since that day. You are now trying so hard to crawl and I know you will at any moment. Even though you once hated tummy time, you absolutely love to be on your tummy now and have mastered rolling over to it. You smile all the time and laugh constantly. You bring such joy to your mom and I making us laugh often. You have become a pro at sleeping even though for the first five months you were not a very good sleeper to say the least. Your mom and I love it when you snuggle into us and give us “sugars.” You absolutely love to rough house and play, but sometimes you reach those sweet little arms out and just want to be held. How can we resist that sweet gesture with those stunning blue eyes? I think your gonna be our sneaky little one who isn’t afraid of anything. You notice your sister a lot now and try to talk to her, even though it sounds like your yelling at her. You even pick on her some by taking her paci to suck on, which you never want a paci unless it is Parker’s. you have begun to bury your face in my neck and fall asleep as long as we are cheek to cheek. I can rock you like that for hours. You are so special to me and melt my heart every time you bat those eyes at me and give me that happy grin.

To my Parker Jane,

You are such a ham! You are so sweet and have such a gentle demeanor. I remember when I first saw you, you came shooting out of mom with the chord wrapped around your neck twice. I was so thankful mom had planned to do a c-section. I remember when you were first laying on the table and your were screaming your head off like you still do when you are tired and mad, you were so beautiful. I remember holding you for the first time looking into your blinking eyes, immediately thinking you look just like your momma. You already had a calm and gentle look about you once I laid you on your momma. You have always been such a strong girl, always outweighing your older but smaller sister by at least a pound. You are able to sit up so straight on your own. You were the first to roll over to your back, but haven’t really cared about rolling over to your stomach. You will roll half way and decide its not really worth it. (I have no doubt you will master it when you are ready.) While your sister is always so busy, you are always wanting to be near us. You love to sit in our (mom’s mostly) laps and just be loved on. You have the sweetest desire to have us cover your face with our hand while you fall asleep. Wen we can’t stand anymore you graciously take your monkey wubbanub instead and twirl the tag in your fingers while you fall asleep. You always wake up before your sister and are always so happy to see us at your crib. you start to grin and kick your legs like crazy. I love watching you cuddle with your mom during church and watching you fall asleep face first in her chest while we sing praise songs. You are so special to me and you melt my heart every time you smile at me.  Love you, baby girl.

To my girls,

I wanted to take a second chance to make some promises to you. I have always wanted a family and have always wanted my daddy’s little girl. Who knew The Lord would give me two of them! I never knew I could love two precious little girls so much. I am tearing up right now as I write these letters to y’all. You two mean the world to me and I am so blessed to be your dad. I promise to always love you unconditionally. I promise to be your Father and not your best friend. I promise to always be tender, to listen, to guide, and to lovingly discipline. I promise to teach you that I first love The Lord, then love your mother, and then love y’all. I promise to continue to pray for the both of you for the rest of my life. I will continue to pray for your salvation until the day you accept The Lord as your Savior. I promise to teach you about your Lord and all the ways He has affected our lives. I promise to date you and to show you how a lady should be treated. I promise to be an example of what kind of man you should look to marry. I promise to pray with you and to talk about the hard questions in life. To encourage you and to always make time for you. Improvise that you will always be and know that you are a priority in my life. In promise to always love your mother and for our marriage to be an example for you of a Godly marriage. I promise to tell you everyday that I love you and to always kiss you good bye, even if its early in the morning before I go to the fire station.  I’ll never miss a day.

I love the way he loves them.