A Day in the Life of Twins

Copy catting a friend who did a Day in the Life post about her baby daughter, I thought it was a good idea to do our version! So this is our day today, when the boys are 7.5 months actual/5 months adjusted.

530am – Dan’s alarm goes off. He gets up and gets bottles ready for the boys. Emmett is awake and chattering, Beckett is asleep. Emmett has been sleeping soundly since 8pm last night. Beckett woke up about 3 times and needed comforting (1230am, 2am, 330am). I think I changed his diaper at 330am in case that was the problem.

545am – Feed the boys. I take Emmett and he eats SUPER fast and easy. Dan takes Beckett and he fights it a bit (makes sense because he was asleep and we woke him up to eat).

6am – Both boys back in bed. Dan gets up, I go back to bed. The boys chatter and cry for a little bit but after I get up and pat butts and rub backs they stop and go to sleep.

8am – Both boys wake up, happy chatter while I attempt to pull myself out of bed.

815am – Get the boys up and put them in their bouncy seats in the living room. Down a Diet Coke.

830am – Give the boys their Prevacid and talk to them while they sit still in their bouncies, letting the meds work. I check my work email and start downloading some files I need to edit today.

850am – Change diapers, get them dressed for the day.

9am – Feed Emmett. He eats 6 ounces, but not easily at all. Burps are hard to come by and he’s uncomfortable when I can’t get one out. Takes 30 minutes to do this bottle.

930am – Feed Beckett. He gags the first time the bottle touches his lips and for about 5 minutes he gags/spits up medicine/turns tomato red while I hold him on the floor in case he pukes. He finally stops gagging and won’t take the bottle unless I walk around with him. I walk, he eats, then we sit and he finishes his 5 ounces rather easily.

10am – Both boys sitting in bouncy seats, playing with the toys on the bar while they digest a bit. I eat some Cinnamon Toast Waffles and have my second Diet Coke. I start blogging and wondering when I should put them down for a nap. Generally when they’ve been up for 1.5 to 2 hours it’s time for a nap. But in the morning they don’t do much since it takes me an hour to feed them, so they aren’t always ready for a nap by 10am. As soon as someone rubs their eyes though, it’ll be nap time!

1015am – Beckett yawned! Nap time has arrived!

1020am – No one is sleeping, both boys are whining and rolling around their cribs while I watch on the baby monitor. Going to pat butts and rub backs now.

1030am – Turns out some of the fussing was because they both had dirty disgusting diapers. Remedied that and put them back down. Both screaming right now.

1034am – Emmett fell asleep. Beckett is wide awake, pissed and spit up. This is why nap times never sync up. I decide to move Beckett to the Pack N Play so he doesn’t wake Emmett with his screaming, but the Pack N Play sheets are in the dryer downstairs. Go get them, but by the time I get back upstairs, Beckett is asleep! Success!

1040am – Work!

11am – While my work is exporting I go get today’s solids thawing. Today is sweet potatoes after this nap, then peaches after their next nap.

1115am – Beckett is awake. Watching him on the monitor until he makes noise.

1120am – Move Beckett to the Pack N Play so he doesn’t wake Emmett. Beckett’s naps are usually half in the crib, then the second half in the Pack N Play.

1130am – More of my work is exporting so I fold the first load of baby laundry while the other load dries. Watch the Daily Show, then some of last week’s Dallas on Tivo.

1145am – Give up on Beckett napping more, so we play until Emmett wakes up.

12 noon – Emmett wakes up, all smiles and happy. He and Beckett play on the ground while I set up lunch.

1210-1230pm – LUNCH! Sweet potatoes. Beckett is not into it today, so he only has a little before the jaw clamps shut and won’t open. I give him the spoon to play with while I finish feeding Emmett. Emmett is VERY into it today and eats all of his and most of Beckett’s potatoes. He opens his mouth wide the second he’s done swallowing, ready for the next bite.

1230pm – Beckett pooped while we were eating, so maybe that’s why he wasn’t into it. Change him. Then the boys play on the ground while I make more of Emmett’s formula for the rest of the day (the Cadillac of formulas unfortunately, Elecare).

1240pm – Beckett pooped again! Change him. Getting tired of poop for today.

1pm – Feed Emmett. He only eats 5 ounces this time, probably full from all those sweet potatoes. He spits up a little and it’s orange. I have a one second long panic attack thinking “OMG he’s spitting up blood!?!” then I remember he just ate a ton of sweet potatoes. Beckett is falling asleep in the bouncy seat while waiting to eat. Every time I wake him up, he gives me huge smiles and giggles. If he sleeps now, he won’t nap afterwards so I keep waking him up. Poor guy!

120pm – Feed Beckett. A sleepy Beckett is a Beckett who eats quickly and easily, so he downed his 5.5 ounces in 15 minutes. Yay! Of course, I put him down for his nap afterwards and despite being so tired, he’s still crying about it.

135pm – Emmett’s been grunting as I fed Beckett and sure enough, nearly a pooptastrophe! Change him. Attempt bagel lunch for me after I put Emmett down. Both babies are screaming. I have a love/hate relationship with nap time.

155pm – Emmett just now stopped screaming and fell asleep. Beckett is still screaming. Nothing I do makes him stop, so I attempt to eat my bagel. Though how anyone could have an appetite while listening to this is beyond me.

2pm – I admit defeat and move Beckett to the Pack N Play. He’s still screaming for about 5 minutes.

212pm – Beckett fell asleep in the Pack N Play. Of course, because the boys are napping in different rooms this means I can’t nap with them. Gah.

240pm – Beckett is awake in the PnP, but quiet. I hope he goes back to sleep because without a good 1.5 hour nap, he’s a little fussy monster. Emmett is still sleeping soundly.

300pm – Beckett fell back asleep in the PnP after playing with some blocks for a while.

315pm – Emmett wakes up smiling. We play on the bed, flying, tickling, finding his feet until he starts spitting up sweet potatoes. No spitting up in mama and daddy’s bed so we get up.

335pm – Emmett started refluxing (gagging and coughing on formula coming up in his throat) so I sat with him on the floor on my lap and held his hand and kissed his head until he stopped. But we woke Beckett up, so it’s time for afternoon snack!

340-355pm – We attempt day 2 of eating peaches. Beckett flat out doesn’t like them and Emmett doesn’t know what to make of it. Beckett usually sends more out on each spoon than I put in and his jaw is clamped shut the whole time. Emmett opens his mouth for it every time, but every time he gives me a “Mom, WTF IS THIS?” look.

355pm – I lay on the ground and play with the boys. We practice sitting up, it’s a lot of work but Emmett is getting closer. It’s about to be Beckett’s turn but Emmett is apparently STARVING and MUST EAT NOW so Beckett will have to wait! Emmett goes from zero to I’VE NEVER BEEN THIS HUNGRY IN MY WHOLE LIFE in about two seconds.

415pm – Feed Emmett. He eats about 6.5 ounces in 15 minutes. Not too bad.

435pm – Change Beckett’s diaper, then run outside to grab the mail while his bottle warms. Come back in to the scream that only means “I JUST PUKED OUT MY NOSE!” and this time it’s Emmett. He’s smiling by the time I get him into a new outfit.

440-5pm – Feed Beckett. He eats 5.5 ounces. Won’t let the bottle in his mouth initially until I sing the ABC’s, then we have to change positions to get him to take it back after each burp, but he finishes it nonetheless.

5pm – The boys play on the ground while I have a glass of wine.

510pm – Beckett is looking sleepy so we play is current favorite game, Swaddled Up Baby Beckett. Alas, it turns into The Great Swaddle Escape and he rolls over to play with Emmett (while wrapped in the blanket still).

530pm – Poor Emmett has the disadvantage of having longish hair. Beckett grabbed two fistfuls of it and yanked! Oops! Floor play time mainly consists of me either pulling them off each other or grabbing whoever has rolled away and bringing them back to the blanket!

534pm – Beckett starts gagging and coughing so I grab him and stand him on the floor with a cloth in front of him. Big puke all over the carpet (thankfully we rent and its berber (?) carpeting). Clean it up and set him back down to play since he’s fine as soon as the puke is out and I got to him before he went so his clothes stayed dry. I put on some music for the boys since they’re getting fussy. They stop fussing and stare at me. I wonder if they don’t like my music???

620pm – Emmett is in the jumperoo playing and Beckett is taking his nightly “I played myself to sleep” nap on the floor. He does MUCH better at napping when it’s on his terms (in other words, not in the crib).

640pm – Emmett is sleepy and fussy so we read Goodnight Moon while laying on the ground. He turns the pages (Dan taught them that a while ago). Beckett wakes up when he hears his favorite story being read. Now is the time of day where the main goal is “keep them from being hysterical until bedtime.” Beckett, who catnaps when he’s tired at the end of the day is happy and playing on the floor. Emmett, who does not, is hysterical. I am exhausted and counting the minutes until bedtime bottles (730), bedtime (8) and Dan getting home (815).

7pm – Beckett is playing in the jumperoo, which consists of manic jumping and swatting at all the toys. Emmett nearly falls asleep on the floor after screaming for 20 minutes. But he pops up to watch Beckett play.

Tried for 5 minutes to get a picture of Beckett in the jumperoo, but he wouldn’t stop jumping so all I got was a Beckett-shaped blur.

715pm – Prevacid time. Bedtime song. PJs. An hour or so from now they should both be sleeping soundly. I remind myself of this for the final push. Since we changed their bedtime, now I have to do bedtime bottles and putting them down alone. When bedtime bottles were at 830 Dan used to help, but now he’s not home in time. It’s rough to do alone and I’m still getting used to it.

725pm – Realize I forgot to put the waterproof pads back on the boys cribs, so I have to do that now before bedtime. Make a list of other things I forgot to do today, so I can take care of them tomorrow. 1) Call the GI doc to see if they’ve heard about whether our insurance will cover Emmett’s Cadillac formula (it’s actually considered medical food which by law is required to be covered, since it’s his sole source of nutrition, but getting an insurance company to comply is a PITA) 2) there’s still a load of baby laundry in the dryer that needs to come up and be folded 3) fold the grown up laundry that’s on our floor and clean and 4) shower.

730pm – Feed Emmett. Hungry tired Emmett is the easiest Emmett to feed. 7 ounces in 12 minutes. He was basically asleep by the end of it and was trying to roll over and go to sleep before I finished getting him in his jammies. Said our good night things and he gave me a big smile before rolling over and passing out.

745pm – Beckett in jammies and feed him. He eats 6 ounces in about 20 minutes and while I’m getting that last burp out of him Dan gets home. As soon as he hears the door open, Beckett stares at the door waiting for him to come in, then he’s all smiles. Since he’s done eating, he plays with Dan for a few minutes before he puts him down for the night.

815pm – Babies in bed. I’m so tired I don’t even want to think about dinner let alone eat it. Will choke down some salad or something and attempt to go to bed early and watch some Dance Academy on Netflix on my phone.

Since we didn’t go out today I’ll do a separate post about what it takes to go anyplace with two babies. That’s a fun one. Especially when it’s 90+ degrees out.