2 Months!

How can it be that my little babies are already two months old? Every once in a while I look at them and just can't believe we have twins! It's been a whirlwind few months, as it always is with newborns. They have grown so much and they are finally fitting into their "newborn" clothes.

The day of their birth - May 20, 2013. They don't look very small here, but they were tiny! 

Love this photo of me and my girls - this was the first time Elena held one of her sisters. 

 We were a little concerned with their jaundice, but after a few times in the sun, it was all resolved. As you can see, the girls really look very different. As the weeks have passed, we've seen their appearance change and their own unique personalities coming out. In two months we've learned a lot about our little ones; we can tell their cries apart! Lisa has a croaky, plaintive cry and Leila is our snorter. Lisa is our spitter and loves to bounce in her baby chair. Leila is very laid back and always falls asleep lying flat on her back. Both love to be swaddled tightly and only rarely use their pacifiers.

 They do everything together. It's really the only way to do it with twins. The older kids are on school holidays for the month of July so our routine has been pretty flexible, but when August hits, I'm sure the feeding/napping/bathing/playing schedule will be a little more structured.

 I get lots of help from the older kids. Still very much supervised, but it's fun to see them loving (gently) on their little sisters.

Here are a few stats on my little ones at the two month mark:
Height: Lisa - 54.5cm, Leila - 55.7cm
Weight: Lisa - 4.06kgs, Leila - 3.77kgs
Feeding: We keep a loose 3 hour feeding schedule, always nursing first, and then supplementing with formula. I had hoped to be able to exclusively breastfeed, but with two other kids to look after I just don't have the luxury to feed all day long, or pump after feedings to try to increase my milk supply. Maybe once the older kids start school I'll be able to try that.
Sleep: They usually nap pretty well during the day, 3 or 4 times. Nights have improved vastly from the first month, but they still wake up at least twice for feeding/changing. Although, last night Leila slept from 10-ish until 4am, but Lisa was up at 2:00. So, hopefully they'll both start sleeping for longer stretches. The girls share a crib in our room, but are getting so long already that I don't think we'll be able to have them sharing a bed for much longer. We're getting their own room set up sometime soon.

It has definitely been an interesting and exhausting couple of months as we adjust to life as a family of six. The twins are such an integral part of our family already, I can hardly remember what it was like to have only two kids.

We are so thankful to God for our little girls and love seeing them grow and develop.