Mother's Day

What a wonderful day today turned out to be!  I was so excited to be celebrating my first Mother's Day.  Kenny brought me a present this morning and in the typical family tradition, it was wrapped to disguise the contents.  It was a large box and when I opened it, there were new diapers...Yeah! But in one of the diapers was a smaller box.  Inside that box was a beautiful ring: white gold with 2 offset blue topaz stones and diamonds.  Blue topaz is the birthstone for December and Kenny found the perfect ring with 2 stones for the 2 girls.  I know in the previous post we had talked about not spending this month, but I am really glad Kenny got me this gorgeous gift for Mother's Day!
We went to church this morning, played with the girls all afternoon and then Kenny made me Veal Marsala with pasta, biscuits, salad, and apple pie.  YUM!  I felt completely blessed today!

Videos from April and May

Here are some more recent videos of the girls.  They are really becoming more active and making lots of cute noises.  

April 16,2011: Jenna playing on the mat with my dad, Grandpa. 

April 20, 2011: Rachel and her singing grandma!  Rachel was talking while my mom was changing her diaper and singing to her.

May 3, 2011: Rachel found the mirror on her playmat.  She was making all kinds of noises while looking at it:

May 5, 2011: I laid Jenna on the playmat not realizing the little keyboard was nearby.  She starting kicking and making it play.  It was really cute!

May: The No-Spend Challenge

I had read an article in Reader's Digest about a family who would commit to not spending money during a month except for necessities. They went to the extreme including gasoline and internet access as things they could live without.

http://www.rd.com/family/hochman-family-cuts-spending/

We won't go that far! Kenny and I tried this a few years ago and we were amazed at how much money we saved in a month. As I try to make my decision about going back to work vs. staying at home, I decided that this would be a great time to try to make May the month of "no-spending"! Being at home, I often find myself browsing websites and being drawn into shopping online. There are all kinds of incentives and discounts that I find hard to pass up. We've received LOTS of clothes for the girls and as I organized I realized there was no NEED to buy more (but who can walk by the baby clothes without seeing something cute to buy!) So, I will refrain from online shopping for this month! There is a $20 bill in my wallet and I hope it is still there at the end of the month.

Our "rules":

• When meal planning, use what we have first, and then buy just what is needed and only what it on the list.
• No clothing purchases.
• No eating out or ordering in (pizza, subs, drive-thru etc.)
• Check cupboards and use what we have before buying more (cleaning supplies, toilet paper, etc.)
• Be amazed at our bank account and how much is saved!!

A post wouldn't be complete without some photos of the girls.

Jenna and Rachel

Jenna holding up her head! (Finally!)

Jenna in the Bumbo seat looking at daddy:

Jenna and Rachel with Cow outfits from my friend, Crystal:

The cow outfits from behind!

Busy month!

April has definitely been an exciting month for us. On April 17, the girls were baptized. We had Kenny's parents and 3 brothers, as well as my parents here for the special day. It was so much fun having family here visiting!

The following weekend, Daniel, Kate, and Elena came to visit for Easter. I love being able to have family stay with us! The girls had pretty, pink Easter dresses. They did so well during the church service too! They love the music and singing.

Rachel:

Jenna:

Yesterday, the girls were 4 months old. I can't believe how quickly the months have flown by! They had a doctor's appointment and we found out how big they are!
Jenna is 12 lbs, 10 oz, and Rachel is 12 lbs, 9 oz. Jenna is about 1/2 inch longer. The doctor was incredibly pleased with their growth, especially with them being breastfed. We looked at the growth chart and they went from not even being on the chart to being somewhere around the 30 or 40th percentile. Sometimes I wonder about my decision to exclusively breastfeed (no formula or bottles) because at times I feel tied down and not able to go out for more than an hour or two. When I think about how far they have come and how big they have grown, because of me, I think that it's encouragement for me to feel positive about my decision.

Rachel, 4 months old:

Jenna, 4 months old:

Beautiful sisters:

Getting Out

The past week was a busy one for us. I have several "facebook friends" who are twin moms. Many of them had been talking about getting out of the house with their twins. I had not ventured out with just the babies yet. I always have a "support' person. On Sunday, the weather was nice and Kenny was grocery shopping so I decided to go out. We went to Bed, Bath, and Beyond and Target. I was very proud of myself and proud of the girls...they slept the whole time.

Each time I go somewhere with our limousine stroller, I always get curious glances and sometimes people make comments. Here are some of the most common (sometimes I wish I was witty and had an interesting answer for some of the "less intelligent" questions:
"Are they twins?" (The babies are the same size)
"Are they girls?" (They are often wearing pink and their car seats are pink.)
"How do you do it? or "How do you manage? (Just fine, thank you!)
"Are they identical?" (An OK question unless I say "No" and some ladies say, "Are you sure?")
On Wednesday, I went to JCPenney's with a friend from church. She asked me if people always comment when we are out. She thought it was funny...the stares, people turning their heads, or yelling out "Ooooh, twins!"
A twin mom on one of the message boards mentioned that we should hang a sign from the stroller with answers to all the questions people ask.
I know that people mean well, but I don't know if mothers with one baby get asked all these questions when they go out with their child.

Some new pictures from this week:

Rachel and Jenna

Smiling Rachel

Jenna and Rachel

Smiling Rachel

Many new moms talk about the difficulty of trying to get a shower each day. I found a solution that works for us. Each morning, after the girls are fed and dressed, I put their Rock and Play sleepers in the bathroom. They love the sound of the bathroom fan and the sound of the shower. I'm able to get a shower every day!! Most of time, they fall asleep:

3 months already!

On Saturday, the girls were 3 months old. I was thinking about how much has changed since they first came home from the hospital. The first month was so hard with feeding every 1-2 hours, lots of fussy times (2 babies screaming at the same time is heartbreaking!) and nights where I only got 1 or 2 hours the entire night. They are not sleeping through the night but they sleep 3 -4 hours at a time and go right back to sleep after eating!

I kept reading about how it would get better and it has. We are finding some sort of daily routine and that seems to be making the days better!

I love how they are developing their own personalities.
Jenna was our pensive newborn who didn't make much noise (unless it was the evening) but just looked around and took in the sights and sounds. Now she is more vocal and loves to smile. She is very active and is always moving her arms and legs. Sometimes it looks like she's trying to run while she's in the bouncy seat. She loves when there is music and when we sing with her.

Rachel was the active baby while I was pregnant and she still is!! I love when she smiles because it's like her whole body is smiling. For the first month she really let us know when she needed something... She also loves music and if she's fussy, I'll play piano and sing and she moves her arms and legs like she's dancing. Rachel continues to make lots of sounds and she LOVES "talking" with me and Kenny.

The girls sleep better at night when they are swaddled. I took these pictures of them swaddled and unswaddled. These pictures make me smile!

Smile!

Smiling Babies!
The girls have really been smiling lately. They smile when we talk to them and have started cooing and "talking" back to us. I can't wait until they start giggling. I know it will be any day now!

Jenna's looking at daddy:

Rachel's happy in the morning:

We hadn't been to church since the girls were born. Kenny and I like to go to the 8:30 service so we are home by 10:00. Last Sunday, everything worked and we were able to go. I don't often dress the Jenna and Rachel in matching outfits but I did on Sunday because they were so cute!!

Why so serious?