The Schulers

Lilo and Stitch - Movie Night

noreply@blogger.com (Amy Schuler) — Sat, 22 Aug 2015 02:51:00 +0000

We watched Lilo and Stitch for movie night this week.

We started off with a little craft time, making a "palm" tree for our dinner table.

The kiddos made their own english muffin pizzas (per our usual movie night routine), but this time we made Hawaiian pizza with canadian bacon and pineapple.

We also had fruit kabobs, coconut macaroons, and bacon & cream cheese "sushi" rolls. So fun!

4th of July Slime

noreply@blogger.com (Amy Schuler) — Wed, 01 Jul 2015 04:06:00 +0000

We made 4th of July themed slime this week. Braysen always loves to help make it (and play with it). This was the first time the girls got to play with the slime.

This time we used a different recipe. I stumbled across a recipe that used starch instead of Borax. Using starch instead of Borax eliminated one step in the process, so we decided to test out the starch recipe.

4th of July Slime

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup clear glue

1/2 cup liquid starch

food coloring/glitter/sequins (optional)

Mix the water and the glue.

Add any food coloring, sequins, or glitter.

Pour the starch into a separate bowl.

Slowly mix the water/glue mixture into the starch.

That's it! When you first pick it up, it will be a bit sticky, but once you work it with your hands for a bit, the stickiness mostly goes away. I normally use clear glue, but for the white slime, I opted to use white glue for coloring purposes.

Berlyn decided that slime just isn't her thing. But she enjoyed watching Braysen and Brynlee play with it!

Toddler Book Club - June

noreply@blogger.com (Amy Schuler) — Thu, 18 Jun 2015 04:45:00 +0000

This month, we focused on Leo Lionni for book club. We read Little Blue and Little Yellow, A Color of His Own, and Swimmy. I had my settings messed up for most of the day and didn't realize it, so a lot of my photos turned out grainy. :(

Our first activity was centered around Little Blue and Little Yellow. Each kiddo got a ziploc bag with blue and yellow paint. They mixed the paint to get green, just like in the story. They then used their fingers to draw shapes or write letters on the paint in the bags.

The other activity was based on A Color of His Own. The kids painted onto bubble wrap and then used the bubble wrap to paint their paper chameleon cut outs.

Disney's Planes - Movie Night

noreply@blogger.com (Amy Schuler) — Fri, 12 Jun 2015 01:39:00 +0000

We try to do movie night here every Thursday. Most of the time, we just order a pizza (or make English muffin pizzas), take early baths, then make popcorn and pop in a movie. Most weeks we just have popcorn and make a special treat like cupcakes or cookies. Sometimes (when mom plans ahead) we make treats that go with the movie theme and when we REALLY get into it and have time, we do a craft.

Tonight we watched Disney's Planes.

While the girls napped, this guy helped me prep one of tonight's movie treats.

We made these cute little cloud and sky treats with jello and whipped cream.

Boil 2 cups of water.

"It's boiling, Mom!"

Mix in two packets of blue jello

Stir in 2ish cups of ice cubes.

Then pop the jello in the fridge to thicken (ours took about 15 minutes). Once we started pouring it into our cups, we realized it still was too watery and mixed a little with our whipped cream. Next time around we may even leave it in as long as 20 or 25 minutes.

While the jello thickened, we made the whipped cream.

We put 1 cup of heavy cream into the mixer and mixed until it started to thicken.

Add 1/8 cup sugar and mix until very stiff.

The taste test...

I found these little plastic cups in Target's Dollar Spot. Thanks Target, you never disappoint!

We poured a little of the blue jello into the bottom of each cup.

Then smashed some whipped cream onto the sides in different areas to create the clouds.

Not as pretty as some of the others that I've seen, but the kids loved them!

We also made little planes out of wafer cookies and white chocolate.

Tonight, instead of ordering pizza, we made our own English muffin pizzas. The kids LOVE to do this and they usually are more likely to eat if they helped make them.

Toddler Book Club - May

noreply@blogger.com (Amy Schuler) — Thu, 21 May 2015 00:15:00 +0000

Today we had our very first toddler book club. We chose 3 Eric Carle books:

The Mixed-Up Chameleon was fun, with lots of different animals.

The Tiny Seed was a bit too long-winded to hold the attention of most of our little ones.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar is one of those books that you just can't go wrong with. The kids always love that one.

We started off with iced coffee for us, because, let's be honest, this play date was just as much for the mommies as it was for the kids.

Lots of snacks, of course. If you know my kids, the one way to make sure they are happy is to make sure they have plenty to munch on. I started off just with foods that the caterpillar ate through (apples, blueberries, watermelon, strawberries, cheese, salami), but then ended up adding some sweets like banana bread mini muffins, rice crispy treats, and mini cupcakes.

The first activity we did was a color-sorting caterpillar. I used pom poms, foam stickers, cut up paint chips, and stickers from my kids' craft supply.

We also did a caterpillar craft. So fun!

And, of course, snacks and play time!

Mother's Day 2015

noreply@blogger.com (Amy Schuler) — Wed, 13 May 2015 07:36:00 +0000

Now that I have pretty much closed up my Etsy shop, I have decided I want to continue with my little blog. So many posts to catch up on, so little time! More pictures, less words for now!

Back to School - 2014

noreply@blogger.com (Amy Schuler) — Tue, 12 Aug 2014 03:11:00 +0000

Braysen goes back to school tomorrow. He is nowhere near as excited this year as he was last year. Even after school clothes shopping, getting a new haircut, and picking out a new back pack and lunch pail, he still isn't showing much enthusiasm.

One of my twin mom friends that I met on IG has a little boy who started 2nd grade a few weeks ago, and she posted pictures of a back to school dinner that she does for him every year. So fun, right? The printables she used were so cute! I found them for free here!

He got to choose our dinner for tonight. Pasta and salad? Yes, he is my child. If you know me at all, then his choice of dinner shouldn't surprise you at all. These are pretty much my two favorite foods of all time.

But his favorite part? The cupcakes! I opted for {gasp} a boxed cake mix and canned frosting. Not my style, I know, but my little headband business has really been eating away at my extra time!

Brynlee was thrilled to get part of a cupcake!

Shaving Cream Painting

noreply@blogger.com (Amy Schuler) — Wed, 06 Aug 2014 20:24:00 +0000

This week we used shaving cream to paint. This was a fun one! I was quite certain that the girls would try to eat the shaving cream/paint mixture. With me being outnumbered 3:1, chances were good they would consume it, so they sat out for this activity.

All we needed was shaving cream, paper, paint, a fork, and a flat surface. We used a cutting board, but you could also use a cookie sheet.

Braysen sprayed the shaving cream all over the board.

And then spread it all around.

The girls weren't very happy that they were missing craft time today.

I squeezed some blobs of paint out onto the shaving cream and Braysen used a plastic fork to swirl it around.

Next we pressed the paper down over the shaving cream.

The girls finally gave up and decided to play.

Clean up time!

Foam Dough

noreply@blogger.com (Amy Schuler) — Fri, 01 Aug 2014 19:43:00 +0000

Foam dough was fun, but really messy!

We needed shaving cream, corn starch, and a plastic tub.

Remember when I said messy? I had this stuff all over my kitchen! Next time we will probably do this one outside.

And of course, any type of dough becomes a jump for his motorcycles.

I'm really glad he likes to use the vacuum. It makes cleaning up these messy activities a breeze. :)

A Little 4th of July Craftin'!

noreply@blogger.com (Amy Schuler) — Thu, 03 Jul 2014 05:17:00 +0000

Today we started our 4th of July crafts. This is the first real project that the girls got to participate in. They loved it!

We started by painting some plastic spatulas. The original plan was to use wooden spatulas, but I couldn't find any with holes in them, and the holes are necessary for what these will become!

They started off doing a great job with painting their spatulas.

Then Berlyn moved on to do a little feet painting.

And then some finger painting.

Busted girlfriend!

The hair on these babes! Seriously?

We left them outside so they could dry.

I'll update tomorrow after we finish up!

Valentine Bird Seed Ornaments

noreply@blogger.com (Amy Schuler) — Tue, 11 Feb 2014 22:39:00 +0000

Today we made some bird seed ornaments as part of our Valentine crafts. These take a few days to dry out, so we made them a few days in advance and we will hang them up outside on Valentine's Day.

Valentine Bird Seed Ornaments

-twine (I couldn't find any around here, so I used some string we had)

-valentine cookie cutters

-2 packets Knox gelatin

-1/2 c. water

-1 1/2 c. birdseed

Dissolve packets of gelatin into water, bring to simmer until dissolved. I let it cool a bit because Braysen would be stirring it together.

Pour into a bowl and mix in birdseed. It would have been a lot faster (and less messy!) for me to measure out the birdseed myself, but then we'd miss out on talking about measurements and fractions.

Fill the cookie cutters halfway and pack down the seed mixture. Lay tied twine and the fill the rest of the cookie cutter with birdseed mixture and again pack down.

I popped mine in the freezer for about an hour so I could easily remove them from the molds. Now they are sitting out to dry out and we will hang them outside on Friday!!

And this is what the ladies did. :) Next year they'll be big enough for some Valentine fun, but for now it's best that we wait until they're napping for craft time.

Birthday Party Planning

noreply@blogger.com (Amy Schuler) — Sat, 25 Jan 2014 16:33:00 +0000

We're doing two separate birthday parties for the kids this year. I've received a bit of flack for it, but the truth of the matter is, this has been a rough year for Braysen, and that's putting it mildly. Not only is it tough for a kid his age to adjust when a new baby comes home, but he had two, and they cried nonstop for the first few months of their lives until their reflux was under control. I have so many painful memories of holding, bouncing, and shussing both babies at the same time, only to have Braysen crying right in front of me because he wanted to be held too. Those were the days that all 4 of us would cry.

We want to have a party for the girls' first birthday (mostly for us once we actually survived this first year). His birthday is only two days after theirs, and after everything that has happened this past year, I cannot imagine having a party for them and not Braysen. I do realize that having one party for all three would save my sanity and wallet (and save family members from having to attend two parties), but we really would rather let him have his own day and not have to share that day with his sisters. At least for this year.

We're keeping the parties super small this year. Braysen's party will be just family and the babies' will have a small guest list of family and friends.

This was the first year Braysen made it clear about what he wanted his party theme to be. We've done pirates, bugs, and robots. This year he wants Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, which was no surprise at all.

For the babies I was not going to do a theme, I originally was just going to go with a mint, pink, and gold color scheme, but eventually settled on an ice cream party.

10 months

noreply@blogger.com (Amy Schuler) — Tue, 21 Jan 2014 23:31:00 +0000

It's been AGES since I did a monthly update for the girls (MONTHS really, but who's counting?). I took the monthly photos, just never got around to posting them. Boo.

10 months

Both babies are crawling. EVERYWHERE! They've learned their way around the house. I can no longer keep them in the living room to play. They want in the play room. I would like to blame it on the fact that Braysen is in there playing, but they wander in there even when he is napping. When they do decide to play in the living room, they enjoy cruising the furniture. They no longer enjoy spending time in the walked or jumperoo, they want to be free so they can explore!

They will no longer eat their puréed food, and want chunks of food only. I had quite a bit of baby food prepped in the freezer that I ended up tossing because they refused to eat the purees anymore.

Both babies have their two bottom teeth.

The girls love love LOVE their brother. They follow him around the house. They love to hold his hand in the car (on most days) and it is the sweetest thing EVER to look in the back seat and see all 3 of my little loves with their hands linked together.

Neither baby seems to care for sippy cups, but love their straw cups. Braysen was the exact same way.

Brynlee

Brynlee continues to be feisty. She's my little "grabby" girl and wants everything within arm's reach. It is so funny to watch her eat because she grabs the biggest handful of food she can and just shovels it into her mouth. Sometimes she will do this with both hands at the same time! I have to separate their high chairs at mealtimes because she will grab food off of Berlyn's tray.

She has also mastered the "duck face".

She loves to eat broccoli, pears, peas, bananas, avocado, scrambled egg yolks, cheese, chicken, toast, and pretty much anything else you put in front of her.

Brynlee has mastered using her straw cup.

She seems to really be excelling with her fine motor skills.

She has also finally mastered crawling on her hands and knees. She was doing an army type crawl (we've been calling her "Scooter") up until this last month.

Brynlee loves to smile and giggle and is super ticklish!

Berlyn

Berlyn is a very sensitive babe. She continues to be startled by loud noises and gets anxious when she's in an unfamiliar place. She is so happy to see familiar faces though. If you walk into the room she will give you a huge grin and race toward you. She is a super fast crawler! She mastered hands-and-knees crawling from the get-go and has been on the move ever since!

Berlyn loves to be held. I can count at least 20-25 times each day that she will crawl up to me and want to be picked up.

Berlyn is still practicing with her straw cup.

She seems to really be excelling with her gross motor skills.

She loves to eat peas, bananas, pears, and avocado. While she prefers chunks of food, she doesn't really like to feed herself. She will eat a few handfuls and then look at me and wait for me to feed her the rest.

Onto the pictures for this month. I have nothing to say but OMIGOSH PICTURES ARE SO HARD RIGHT NOW! I used to stress to try to get great shots of both babies, but I've stopped doing that. This is our everyday life right now. This is 10 months.

And since I haven't posted monthly pics since {ahem} 5 months, here they are:

Me-Time for Mommys

noreply@blogger.com (Amy Schuler) — Wed, 15 Jan 2014 06:14:00 +0000

My twin mama friend Amber talks a lot on her blog Mommy's Me Time about carving out time for yourself in order to be a better mom. Somewhere along the way I have lost this mentality. I understand the concept, but sometimes I get so busy caring for the little people in this house (and other things that need to be done around here) that I put off doing things for me, or even taking care of myself for that matter. Thoughts like "I'll find time to sit down and eat once the kids are asleep" or "If everybody actually sleeps well all night tonight we'll go for a run in the morning" or "if I get all the housework taken care of tonight I'll sit for a few minutes tonight and watch some TV or blog" happen, and before I realize it, it's the following day and none of those other "things" I wanted to do ever end up getting done. And they never will, because I will always find something that needs to be done around here.

It wasn't until I had a scare today that I realized how much I was putting myself last on the list. I think it's just something we as moms do. I won't go into too many details, but I will say that the most I ate over the course of almost two days was a donut, a few slices of cheese, and a crap-ton of coffee. That's it. And my body decided to punish me for it.

I've decided that in order to be a good mom, I need to start taking better care of myself. Now. I am committing to find more time for myself.

5 Months

noreply@blogger.com (Amy Schuler) — Fri, 23 Aug 2013 00:31:00 +0000

The girls are 5 months old! Where has the time gone?!

The babies are still very different in both temperament and personality, but some of their traits have switched.

Brynlee is no longer the high maintenance "diva" I thought she was. She is very social. Brynlee is my chatty girl. She loves people, loves to smile, and loves the camera. And the camera loves her. The camera always seems to catch her with a smile on her face.

Berlyn has become my high maintenance babe. She loves to be held and prefers that to being on a blanket on the floor, in the swing, in the Mamaroo, in the Bumbo, you name it. She wants to be snuggled for most of the day. Makes things a little difficult when there is another infant and a pretty demanding 3-year old. And she growls. It is the funniest thing ever!

Berlyn has figured out how to roll from her back to her tummy. She loves sleeping on her tummy and will no longer stay on her back to sleep.

Both girls are still nursing but are beginning to wean. Tandem nursing has become too difficult because the girls now prefer to nurse alone. There is a lot of hair pulling and eye poking going on when I try to tandem, and sometimes they refuse to latch on at all. Nursing them separately is a problem because it never fails that the baby that is not nursing suddenly needs something and will start crying, then the baby that is supposed to be nursing won't eat because she can hear her sister crying. Drama already! ;)

They are currently taking 2 formula bottles each day and are nursing for the rest of their feedings. They are still not sleeping through the night. They both wake up 2-3 times separately, which means (as long as Braysen doesn't wake up as well) that I am up 4-6 times a night. I'm ready for some sleep!!

They have started solids and are doing fabulously with rice cereal. Braysen never cared for it and I almost just skipped it with the girls. They both love it! Berlyn eats like a champ. Brynlee still has a little trouble keeping the cereal in her mouth, of course, that could be because she talks or is smiling and laughing through the entire meal.

Neither baby is all that crazy about their paci. They use them to sleep sometimes, but more often than not they will spit out the paci and stick their fingers in their mouths instead.

They are both sleeping unswaddled.

The girls have just started to notice eachother and it is so sweet to watch them interact (when their interaction does not include hair-pulling)

Brynlee

Likes:
Braysen's old baby swing
using her feet to grab toys and kick things out of the way
bath time
sleeping on her side
pulling hair
Sophie the Giraffe

Dislikes:
getting dressed
being put in her car seat

Berlyn

Likes:
playing with her feet
blowing raspberries
being worn in the wrap
being held
sleeping on her tummy
bath time
pulling hair

Dislikes:
getting dressed
being put in her car seat
being set down

Kiwi Crate

noreply@blogger.com (Amy Schuler) — Tue, 06 Aug 2013 01:27:00 +0000

Click here to receive $10 off your order at Kiwi Crate!

Braysen is really difficult to buy for. He was the first grand-baby on both sides of our family and the first great-grand baby on my side. My parents and Tony's parents look for any excuse to buy toys for him, as do my aunts and my grandma. When it comes to birthdays and Christmas, it is hard to think of what to buy for him because he has so much. Our toy room is out of control. I feel like we need several play rooms just to store all of it.

For his birthday this past March, the last thing I wanted to do was to buy him another toy. I pinned the idea of Kiwi Crate on Pinterest a while back, but decided that this year would be the perfect timing to buy a subscription for him for his birthday. I usually do a lot of crafts/experiments/learning activities with him, but I knew with these babies on the way I would have a lot less time to prep materials. Kiwi Crates are perfect, because they come once a month and have all the supplies needed for two crafts/experiments/learning activities. They also give you other activity ideas that many times the materials are already included in the crate or are materials you have at home. All the activities are science-based and educational, so you know the elementary teacher in me approves!

The Kiwi Crate comes with Braysen's name on it, so he's thrilled to open the door and find a package for himself!

Each month is a different theme. This past month was Wonders of Water. It's so nice that all the materials needed for the activities are included in the box, there's even a "Mess Mat" for him to work on! Each activity has a small booklet of instructions that include pictures so kiddos can learn to read directions, even when they can't technically read yet. Each activity book includes guided questions that you can ask them to promote critical thinking and also includes extension activities.

I didn't get pictures of all the activities from his crates, but here is the one from the previous month:

4 Month Update

noreply@blogger.com (Amy Schuler) — Mon, 05 Aug 2013 16:06:00 +0000

I started this update after I took their 4 month pictures but with our trip to Havasu and the beach camping trip, I never got around to finishing it. :( Here is what I had.

4 months
The girls are sleeping in their separate cribs now. They love sleeping together and fall asleep so much faster when they're snuggled up next to each other, but Brynlee is such a wiggle worm in her sleep that she always manages to wake Berlyn up, and then poor Berlyn cries because she has a hard time going back to sleep. They are still swaddled. I tried unswaddling and it was a complete disaster. I started off leaving one arm out of the swaddle during naptime and both girls did fantastic so I started leaving both arms out. It was So much easier for them to fall asleep because they could hold their lovies up to their faces and (sometimes) hold their pacifiers in. But we tried it for two nights and I was up every hour and a half because neither baby could stay asleep. Fail. They are swaddled again for now.

They are only a quarter inch different in length and about two ounces in weight.

Brynlee:

Length: 23.5 inches
Weight: 11 lbs 5.6 oz

Likes: bath time
taking pictures

Berlyn:

Length: 23.75 inches
Weight: 11 lbs 3.2 oz
Likes:
Sleeping
Cuddling
Bath time

I started taking pictures and then realized she didn't have her sticker on. Once I got her sticker on her, she decided she was done smiling.

4 Months!

noreply@blogger.com (Amy Schuler) — Fri, 12 Jul 2013 16:15:00 +0000

Happy 4 months sweet baby girls!

4th of July

noreply@blogger.com (Amy Schuler) — Wed, 10 Jul 2013 06:09:00 +0000

We had a very eventful day. Tony worked really late the night before and didn't arrive home until 4:30am, so while he slept, Braysen and I had all kinds of fun!

Red velvet pancakes! I just made the pancakes using this recipe and then used a star cutter to cut them out. They were just ok. I will probably make them again next year, but will use this recipe instead. Braysen is obsessed blueberries, so he loved them.

The night before we baked some sugar cookies. I was ~~lazy~~ short on time, so I bought a roll of premade dough from the store, which is something I never do. When it comes to sugar cookies, I usually always make them from scratch.

And this is why. I'm not thrilled with the way the cut outs distort when baked.

I used pre-packaged dough, but I did not use store-bought frosting. You will never see that happen in this house! We whipped up a yummy batch and Braysen got started with the decorating.

We also made some red, white, and blue marshmallow sticks. These were super easy and he loved them. You just dip a marshmallow in water (a quick dip so they don't become soggy) and stick it in a bag of jello powder and shake. We set them out and let them dry before sticking them on some stripey straws I had left over from Christmas time.

These were fun too! We used watermelon, apple, and blueberries. He ate all these within 5 or 6 minutes.

More fruit. We like fruit in this house.

And some yummy jello treats.

Fire-free fire works. We also made fireworks out of coffee filters, but I forgot to take pictures.

And this what the girls did while we were busy in the kitchen. Thank goodness they were pretty good for most of the morning, because we had a full schedule that day! Next year I will have three little ones to plan activities for!

Watching fireworks.

Seaworld

noreply@blogger.com (Amy Schuler) — Tue, 02 Jul 2013 22:36:00 +0000

Back in May I scored a screaming deal on Seaworld tickets. They offer a deal every year for credentialed teachers. You fill out an online form and they send you a free ticket. When you go to Seaworld and redeem your ticket, they give you a Fun Card, which will basically get you into the park for the remainder of the year. In addition to that, I was also able purchase adult Fun Cards for the kids' price.

We went again this week for my mom's birthday. Since I never got around to posting pictures from our first trip, I just posted them all here.

Brynlee

Berlyn

Riding rides with Grammie

I took this picture of Brynlee's hair as we were getting ready to leave. Look at how light the tips of her hair are!

Girls' First River Trip

noreply@blogger.com (Amy Schuler) — Sat, 29 Jun 2013 04:17:00 +0000

My parents went on their first river trip of the summer last weekend. They asked us if we wanted to go, but I was extremely hesitant. Just having one little one out there is a lot of work, I couldn't even imagine what it would be like with 3!

I've been a little torn when it comes to decision-making with different activities. Things go much smoother with the girls if we just stay put at home, but on the other hand, I feel bad making Braysen miss out on things because of that, especially when he is stuck at home all day as well.

After we found out that Tony had to work both Saturday and Sunday, we just decided that I would take the kiddos and go, rather than just sit at home alone all weekend.

All the kids did really well. They all napped and slept better than they do at home!

My parents have a membership through CRA and camp at Emerald Cove. They have a sah-weet trailer that will sleep at least 10 people. My brother usually brings a boatload of friends with him, but this trip it was just my parents, me, and my kiddos.

The girls are about the same age as Braysen was for his first river trip.

Braysen was sooo excited. He had been asking me every day that week, "Are we going to the river today?" As soon as we got there, he took off for the water. I didn't even have a chance to change him out of his clothes and before he tried to catch the ducks.

Brynlee & Berlyn

My dad had the back of the trailer opened up so he could unload it, so I set the babes down on the bed for tummy time. This is the sweet view they had.

Brynlee testing out the water.

"I'm FWOATING, mama!"

Grammie and Braysen going for a boat ride.

Brynlee & Berlyn

Just part of my new normal: burping two babies simultaneously.

Braysen & Grammie going for an early morning bike ride. (Well before the temperature made it into the triple digits)

And then some miniature golf with Papa.

And a little time at the playground.

Brynlee & Berlyn

Papa, Berlyn, & Braysen

Grammie, Berlyn, & Brynlee

Papa & Berlyn

Sometimes naptime at the river means mommy holding you so you can sleep down by the water.

Me with all my babies

Braysen played so hard in the water that day.

He was so busy that day, it's no wonder he had 3-hour naps each day! Just recently his normal 2-hour nap had become about an hour and a half, but not at the river!

My dad's morning wake up call at 5:45.

Surprisingly, the girls slept right through that wake up call!

Braysen got to see a helicopter take off when somebody needed to be airlifted to the hospital.

We took Braysen up river to check out Pirate's Den, which is a bar & grill that sits on the water.

My dad picked out and bought these tanks from Pirate's Den shortly after we found out they were girls.

Wet washcloths are the way to go if you're trying to keep babies cool in the 108* heat!

Papa & Braysen

3 Months

noreply@blogger.com (Amy Schuler) — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 23:10:00 +0000

Both girlies have been prescribed Ranitidine for their reflux after yet another visit to the doctor. It has worked fabulously for Brynlee, but Berlyn still does not seem her mellow self. She has turned into a high maintenance baby, which she never was before, so I don't think she is responding well to the medication. I stopped giving it to her yesterday to see if she does any better. If her reflux still seems to be bothering her I will need to take her back to the doctor to see if she can get a different prescription.

Sleep has not been that great. They were sleeping fabulously at night, but I think that's because they were just so exhausted from crying and not sleeping all day that they just knocked out finally by the end of the day. Right now they are waking about every 3 hours to feed. Yes, still at 3 months. So if you see me and I look tired, it's because I AM!

I don't have updated stats on the girls because they haven't been to the doctor recently.

Brynlee

Berlyn

2 Months

noreply@blogger.com (Amy Schuler) — Sun, 19 May 2013 17:15:00 +0000

I'm a few days late with their 2-month update. I really wanted to wait until after the girls saw their pediatrician so I could have updated weight information.

The girls have been very fussy the past few weeks. To the point where I cannot even set them down for a few moments. It seems as if the only things they will do is sleep, eat, or cry. There is never any pleasant awake time. Thank goodness my mom has been coming over in the afternoons or evenings to give me another set of hands. She has been holding crying babies so I can spend a little time with Braysen, get a little laundry done, or pick up my house. I find myself wishing they would hurry up and grow out of this, but then feel horrible for thinking that because I don't want them to get big so quickly.

Sleep at night has been fabulous. They sleep for 4-hour stretches at night and go right back to sleep after being burped. Daytime naps are a different beast however. 15-20 minute stretches is how long they will sleep. And they wake up very upset. The rest of their awake time is spent with me either feeding them or trying to keep them both happy. Sitting in the bouncer or the Mamaroo? Nope. Playing in their little gym? Nope. Laying on mama's legs so I can talk to them? Nope. Laying on the floor playing? Nope. They want to be held all during their awake time. And with 15 minute naps, that's pretty much our entire day. I feel so bad for Braysen. I always tell him that as soon as the babies go to sleep I can spend a little more time with him. Yet I can never seem to get them to stay asleep.

We made a trip to the doctor, and as it turns out, the girls have reflux. She didn't want to medicate them unless absolutely necessary because of all the side effects the medication can cause. So instead, she gave me a laundry list of things I can do to help them. I will (hopefully) find a little time in the future to do a blog post about that.

The stats:
Brynlee:
9 lbs 1 oz (5 lbs at birth)
21 inches (18 inches at birth)

Berlyn:
9 lbs 5 oz (4 lbs 15 oz at birth)
22 inches (18 inches at birth)

I am so sad that I don't feel like I can do a personality update on either baby. What I typed above pretty much sums up everything at this point. I can't really find much that makes either of them happy, besides being held.

Brynlee

Berlyn

This was right before Brynlee pulled Berlyn's hair. Again. Yes it happens all the time.

Braysen wanted some pictures with his sisters so we threw him in there too.

First Month Favorites - For Twins!

noreply@blogger.com (Amy Schuler) — Wed, 01 May 2013 05:29:00 +0000

I started this blog post a while ago, but never got around to finishing it. I can only imagine why! ;)

I loved seeing the "First Month Favorites" on other blogs. This list isn't twin-specific, but these are all items that I found very helpful in the first month.

1. Boppy - We have two, one for each baby. When I occasionally bottle feed the babies to give them their vitamins or whatnot, I put one in each boppy and can hold a bottle for each of them at the same time. While it would be ideal to hold and feed one baby at a time, it's just not doable with another little one in the house. He needs my time too, so the Boppies have been a huge help with feeding time. I also use them occasionally for tummy time and the girls seem to like it.

2.Boppy Lounger - I loved this with Braysen and I still love it with the girls. When I first brought them home, they fit together on it perfectly. Now that they're getting a little bigger and more squirmy I don't use it as much for both of them, but it was perfect in those first few weeks. I still use it, but with just one baby at a time.

3. Baby Connect App - Hands down, the best iPhone baby tracker app I was able to find, especially for multiples. It allows you to track feedings (how much and how long), pumping (how much and how long), diaper changes, growth information, and so much more. It allows you to color code for each baby and you can track their info together or independently. It definitely has helped with keeping up with feedings. Coming home from the NICU, if the babies did not wake up on their own, I was supposed to wake them to eat every 3 hours, and this app allowed me to set an alarm to remind me. It also helped in the early days when I needed to really track input vs. output for my itty bitties and making sure they had enough wet/soiled diapers each day. I also had a friend who used it for her singleton baby and she loved it as well. Another great thing about it is that it can be synced with your iPad or other iPhones so if there is more than one caretaker they all can input information into the tracker

4. Mamaroo - Braysen hated his swing when he was a baby. I was certain at least one of these babies would fall in love with the Mamaroo. As it turns out, they both have. Brynlee was a little more hesitant at first, but now she loves it. It has been like an extra set of hands for me when I'm trying to cook and have a fussy baby (or 2). It doesn't have the traditional swinging movement, it bounces and sways, much like mommies do when they try to calm down a fussy baby. Now if they only made one big enough to put Braysen in for when he is grumpy and wants to be held. ;)

5. Oxi Clean - I should have bought stock in this company! Braysen rarely had leaky diapers, I think maybe one or two total. These girls were having blowouts at least once or twice a day each, no matter how often I changed them. I just sprayed this on the stains as soon as they happened, let it sit for a minutes, then rubbed the fabric on itself, throw it into the wash, and the stains came right out! I have since changed the brand of diapers we use on them and the leakage has stopped.

6. Carseat Canopy - This has become very useful when I take the girls out in public. Having twins is like your own personal freak show. Any time I take them out and about I am stopped multiple times. A one hour trip to Target turns into a three hour ordeal. Every person that stops me either wants to see them or wants to tell me about every set of twins they have ever known. It's hilarious. Anyway, I put these canopies on the girls' carseats to keep them covered in public and to keep people's hands off my babes! The best part is that they often offer huge discounts if you join their mailing list. You can get the canopy almost for free, but they charge a bit to ship, which is where they get ya. I got both of these for about $40 once I paid to have them embroidered and for shipping.

7. Munchkin Microwave Sterilizer Bags - I cannot believe that I ever boiled things to sterilize them with Braysen. These bags get popped in the microwave and sterilize bottle and pump parts in about a minute and a half! The best part is that each bag can be used as many as 20 times, and there are check boxes on the side of the bag to mark off how many times it's been used. Genius.

8. Swaddle Designs Swaddlers - With Braysen I used Swaddle Me swaddles, but they have been way too big for the girls. I received these swaddles as a shower gift and they are amazing. I don't own any of the Aden + Anais swaddles, but I think they are very similar. They are lightweight enough that I don't worry about putting the babies to bed swaddled when it is 80 degrees in my house. Yes, it's April and it's already that warm. They are also pretty large and fairly thin, so it is easy to get a pretty tight swaddle with them. Berlyn stays swaddled nicely but my little Houdini Brynlee somehow always finds a way to break an arm or two free.

Braysen's 3rd Birthday

noreply@blogger.com (Amy Schuler) — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 04:48:00 +0000

Because I was so pregnant this year, the plans for Braysen's birthday were nothing like those for his 1st and 2nd birthday. If you can remember, I really wanted to make it as far past his birthday as possible before the babies were born. I didn't want Braysen to have to share his birthday. I was heartbroken for him when my water broke 2 days before his birthday.

The night before my water broke we talked about what kind of cupcakes he wanted me to make him for his birthday and I stayed up that night to make his robot cupcake toppers. I'm so glad I did! My mom ended up making the cupcakes for him, even though he protested because he remembered me saying that I would make them.

Braysen stayed at my parents' while I was at the hospital, so my mom did some decorating to make his day special. I was so happy when my doctor told me she could discharge me if I wanted, that meant I could spend some time with him on his birthday.

A Farrell's had just opened not too far from us, so that's where we took him. He loved it!