Well who knew that with my husband deployed, a full time job, and twins I wouldn’t have time to blog? I knew it had been a bit, but considering the last blog post was when the boys turned five months and now they are SIX MONTHS, it really has been a while (that’s a month to be exact, in case you’re counting).

The boys are doing great. Miles is in the 75th percentile for length and Ollie is in the 50th percentile for length and they are both in the 10th percentile for weight (tall and thin like their dad!). They are eating solids like little champs, well except for Miles and peas and carrots tonight. I’m making all their own baby food and I just love cooking for them (don’t freak out, it’s actually REALLY easy… just steam some fruits or veggies and throw them in the food processor). They are interacting with each other a lot now, and it’s so darn cute. They love listening to books, taking their nightly baths, and and they love spending time in their exersaucer/jumperoo. And they’re going to bed around 6:30-7pm, each in their own cribs, and getting up only once to nurse until they wake up around 6:30am. Ahhhh…getting them on a sleep schedule has been wonderful. I’m hoping in the next few weeks we can drop that feeding as well.

They boys LOVE daycare. I’m still breastfeeding, and having daycare at work is about the best thing I could ask for. Working at a job I really enjoy has been key to my sanity during this deployment with two small babies, but being able to run down and breastfeed them twice a day means I have been able to nurse until 6 months (my goal…everything from now on out is gravy in my book!) and I get to spend a little bonding time with them throughout my day. And those ladies that take care of them just love them. Honestly, leaving the daycare/work situation is going to be the hardest thing about moving to Japan for me!

So, speaking of the move, I am starting to get a little nervous! Are we totally insane? Moving across the world with two infants? Well, I keep telling myself that I need to stick to my motto: Many people much stupider than I have done this and lived to tell the tale. . And with that, I’m off to go get a little shut eye while I can.

Today the boys are FIVE MONTHS OLD! I really can’t believe it…it seems like just yesterday my mom was driving me to the hospital! Sorry I don’t have many stats, because they don’t have another check-up until 6 months, but they are growing like weeds! They’re still long and lanky without much pudge, but look at their tall, skinny dad! They’re still breastfeeding like champs, still in cloth diapers, and are growing and changing each and every day!

A few weeks ago they started eating cereal in addition to breastfeeding and are great little eaters. They’ve also started to play with toys. I can hand them a toy and they’ll sit there for ten minutes playing with it, chewing on it, moving it around in their hands. It’s so neat to watch them figure out how to use their appendages.

Their little personalities are really starting to emerge. Miles is the feistier of the two boys…he’s pretty content to play by himself a lot of the time, but man can he scream when he’s mad! And he’s a talker. He babbles A LOT! He always sounds like he’s saying something very important.

Ollie is such a happy little baby. He  is constantly smiling and he is such a flirt. I love waking him up in the morning–he’s all smiles. I used to hate mornings, but when I wake up to that smiling face it’s hard not to be happy!

They are sleeping pretty well right now. They went through a growth spurt a few weeks ago and were eating every 2 hours at night. Ick (this, of course, corresponded to the Hubby leaving). Luckily, that seems to be over, but until last week they still were getting up a lot, but then they’d fall asleep after eating for two minutes. So last week I started to try to get them back to sleeping in their crib and staying down. Ollie is doing great. He goes to sleep at 7:00-7:30, I wake him to feed him before I go to bed around 10, and then he sleeps until 3 or so. I feed him and then he’s down until I wake him up to go to daycare around 6:45. Miles is on the same schedule, but after the 10pm and the 3am feedings he usually wakes up again after an hour. Right now I hold him, and give him his pacifier, so he’s getting the snuggle time, but used to not eating. In a few days, I’m going to work on getting him to stay in his crib with the pacifier, and then hopefully he’ll be on the same schedule as Ollie.

But the most exciting thing that’s happening in their lives right now? They’ve started to recognize one another! It is the coolest thing, and each time it happens I almost tear up. Here’s a little clip from this weekend:

Because, well, let’s face it…I’m a little crazy…I decided that balancing twins, breastfeeding, working, and dealing with a hubby who is often training/deploying was not enough, so I decided to try out cloth diapers.

With twins, we’ve been lucky to have many friends offer us hand me downs, and cloth diapers have been no exception. I really wanted to try out cloth diapers with the boys, it’s something I’ve been interested in since before I was even pregnant, and I didn’t want the fact that I’d be cloth diapering two little bums to dissuade me from at least trying. And cloth diapers are usually MUCH cheaper in the long run, but there is definitely some upfront sticker shock especially when you’re purchasing diapers for two. So I was so, so grateful when a coworker who heard that I was interested in cloth diapering, gave me all the cloth diapers her daughter had just outgrown (Yes, you can reuse cloth diapers…just give ‘em a good washing and they’re good as new! There’s even a booming Internet market for buying used cloth diapers…). And my boys are doing GREAT in them. I got the most basic system, the prefold diapers with waterproof covers…and it works really well for us.

If you’re interested in reading more about cloth diapers, I highly recommend reading up over at Simple Mom. They give a great cloth diaper breakdown.

Here are a few questions I get about using cloth diapers:

1. Is it gross?

Honestly, it’s not really that gross. Once you take the diapers off (exactly like you would a standard diaper,) you never really touch the diaper after you throw it in the diaper pail. You just turn the pail liner inside out as you pop it in the laundry.

2. Doesn’t it make your washing machine icky?

Think about it…when your baby has a blow out, you throw the gross clothes in the washer, right? Same idea. And breastmilk poo requires no pre-rinsing!

3. Doesn’t your diaper pail stink?

Nope! Actually, the boys still wear standard diapers to bed…and our regular diaper pail smells so much worse than our cloth diaper pail! I put a bit of lavender essential oil in the cloth diaper pail, so it actually smells pretty good!

4. Don’t you have to do a lot more laundry?

Well, we actually considered a diaper service, that would do the laundry for us, but then it kind of negates the cost savings. But I actually don’t mind the laundry at all. It’s one load every three days or so, and you don’t have to sort it (my least favorite part about laundry) because it’s all diapers!

5. Is it better for the environment?

Some people question whether it actually is, because of the water used to wash the diapers. But with our Energy Star washer/dryer, I’m confident that we’re doing a little better than sending all those diapers to the landfill. But the real clincher for me was the cost savings! I LOVE not shelling out cash for diapers (or formula!) each month. It makes the cost of  having twins a lot more manageable!

And my favorite part about cloth diapers? Look how cute they are!

photo by Daniele Rose

Today, my two little bundles of joy are three months old! All I can say is WOW. These past 90 days have flown by; I can hardly remember what my life was like before I had Miles and Ollie to keep me busy. What did I do with all my free time? Wait, what IS free time? I don’t really remember.

I’m going to share a few pics of the boys from the past 90 days to show you how much they’ve grown and changed. I can’t get over how much bigger they are now than they were on March 30…they’re nearly double what they weighed when they were born.

And now, I thought I’d share a few things I’ve learned in the past 90 days:

*I don’t need much more than a sling, a swing, my boobs, and a stack of diapers to keep my babies happy.

*I can cook 40 cupcakes with one hand while holding a baby.

*Actually, I can do almost anything with one hand while holding a baby.

*I have amazingly generous friends who will cook, clean, hold babies, and even fly across the country to help. I am truly blessed.

*I don’t know what people did on maternity leave before Netflix instant streaming.

*The five S’s from  The Happiest Baby on the Block (swinging, swaddling, shushing, side, and sucking) have helped me maintain my sanity.

*Even with twins, I can breastfeed and cloth diaper, in fact, I almost think these things simplify my life a bit!

*The ipad was made for nursing mothers (my hubby got me one for my birthday a few weeks ago!!!)

*If I wasn’t in love with Trader Joe’s before, I am now.

*My husband is an AMAZING father.

*I wouldn’t trade the past 90 days for anything.