The last two months....

Well, I have a new profound respect for all mothers!  Being a mother is SUPER hard.  For the last two months, the hardest thing I've had to experience is their feeding schedules (or lack of) and sleep deprivation.  For all twin mothers, you are not alone!! I've had to experience constant non stop feedings lasting days,  hourly feedings during the daytime and hourly feedings during the nighttime.  NO downtime whatsoever.  Exercise is out of the question, eating is not even a priority anymore.  AND of course, during these cluster feedings, I've had zero sleep.

The girls are continuing to grow super fast, Keira is nearing 10 pounds and Naomi is nearing 12 pounds already!!  At corrected age, Keira is 50th percentile and Naomi is 90th percentile in terms of weight!!  The girls like to stand, do squats, kick and starting to hold their head up.  They are also more awake during the daytime. AND best of all, they are starting to sleep through the night (at least more than five hours in the middle of the night), YIPPEE.  Sleep is overrated anyways.  

As for me, I'm recovering super well.  You can barely tell I have bells palsey, I've already lost over 50 pounds, so only 24 pounds to go, I no longer have high blood pressure, my PUPPs is almost all gone and I don't take any more medication for hypertension!!  Woohoo.

Enjoy these pictures!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Keira and Naomi had their first visit with Santa last week.  It's funny how the photographer was able to catch both the twins striking a pensive pose.  Two months old, and they're already thinking about what presents they want from Santa :)

Lalu2 + McCourt2 = Twin-demonium!

Last week the McCourts went to the Lalus for dinner and Laura's mom made an excellent meal.

It wasn't that long ago that we were in the same house for dinner and both Tracy and Laura were pregnant, and now all four babies were there.  Amazingly, we all managed to sit and eat for at least 5 minutes before one of the four babies began to cry!  Luckily, Tracy and Laura were able to find time to eat their dinner in between many trips to the nursery to feed and change babies.

It was a fun night.  Can't wait for future opportunities for the girls to play together!

6 Weeks Old - Eyes Wide Open

So Naomi and Keira are growing really fast.  Naomi is well over 8 lbs and Keira is well over 7 lbs.  Can you spot the difference between the two pictures above??  They are big eaters but also fast eaters and my mom thinks they are very good babies  because they seldom cry...I'm very lucky!!!

Here are the two little girls with the eyes open and somewhat smiling :)

I'm sure very very soon, it'll be harder and harder to tell them apart once they are closer in weight and fatness :)  I'll have to paint their nails to tell them apart!!

Big help for big kids

Keira and Naomi are now starting to get too big for a single bassinet.
A couple nights ago we were just getting one to fall asleep when the
other would head butt her or hit her somehow. And they would take
turns either sleeping or hitting. So, we decided to put them in
separate bassinets and they've been sleeping better since then. At
least the bassinets are still beside each other so they can keep each
other company with their grunts and groans.

In other news, the girls got to meet Auntie Kristy (Rick's sister)
this last week. It was awesome having the extra help around the
house. And now the first of the grandma visits has begun with Tracy's
mom. Good thing the extra help is here because Rick has to go back to
work on Wednesday... boo!

More Pictures!

Tracy:  So just wanted to give a quick update before the babies wake up!  I'm recovering well right now, my bells palsey is getting better, my blood pressure is normal, and I'm off blood pressure medication! Although I still have the pregnancy rash, it is slowly going away!!  So yippee, I never developed any serious post pregnancy complications...which the doctors were worried about :)  

As for our new life together, its been busy busy.  We kinda have a schedule, we don't sleep very much but we still get out to walk the dog, go grocery shopping with the babies, or just walk around the mall!  We also had a couple of photoshoots with the babies, one of which is posted below for everyone's happy viewing.  

Keira and Naomi quick update:  They are growing well and fast. The pediatrician is very happy about their growth rate, they are growing at a rate of 1 to 2.5 oz per day!!

Courtesy of Michelle Tuck Photography: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001605701179

Funny dreams

One of the things our nurse and pediatrician said was that it's good
when the babies aren't swaddled and have their arms free because it
can help them move stuff away from their faces and help prevent SIDS.
After 3 weeks, the girls are still acting like preemies and don't need
to be swaddled to fall asleep... that's all they do is sleep.

Funny thing with their arms being free is that they often do the same
things while sleeping. This morning they both woke up looking like
this: