4 month old!

Hi all!
Sorry for not updating for a while. I am so busy like no tomorrow. I seriously need at least 30 hours a day. I am a mommy on the run!

Let's see.. where do I start?

Well, I am STILL pumping milk, producing 70-75oz( a little over 2 litter) aday. I get surplus everyday that we had to buy a big new freezer to put in the garage!

My thought of this month...
Baby girl piercing. My husband wants them little ears pierced really bad. I am more toward not wanting it done. I know it won't hurt as much as immunization shots because the needle is not going thru the muscle. I am from the culture where no parents will do ear piercing to their children. It is taboo thing. We get in trouble even in high school if there are pierce holes in the earrobe, kind of considered to be

My regrets...
I have 3 furbabies. I feel as if Im abandoning them since I barely have time to go for a walk with them. They used to go everyday. I used to blush their teeth everyday, but now I am so exhausted at night that I get lazy and tend to skip the cleaning. I feel I always tell them NO NO NO, and am not showing enough love to them. I feel really really bad. I have to get better at this. They deserve my love. They are all being good boys!

Big Step!
We enrolled in the day care and they had 2 hours stay there! It went rather quick. Im sure it was too fast that they didn't know what to think of it. We wanted to enroll to reserve our spot in case we need it. Next month we need a few days there since mom is going to have a surgery.
I thought 3 month and 4 month old is a big difference. They have reached a couple of milestone this month!

4month shots..
UGH it was the toughest night for all of us. The girls were inconsolable that night, and we, parents, were in distraut. This was the worst night I ever had since birth.

CJA---

after bath tummy time

I kinda eat my fingers

oops! I look too chunky in this pic

mommy and me

im sitting up, but my head is still heavy!

*17weeks she weighs 12lb 2oz
* She is on breast milk exclusively. 7oz-7.5oz each feeding 4 times a day.

*Her forehead acne is finally going away slowly.
*She sucks her fingers, not thumb.
*She doesn't take paci at all. Just no interest in it.
*She is on #1 Diaper! Maybe soon onto #2? since her poop blows out and spill from the diaper!.  6 months onesie and 6-9months pants. Big girl now!
*She can do tummy time. Her head hold up high, but she seems no interest in it. lazy girl?
*She loves bathing, nightly ritual before bedtime. When I put her down to take clothes off, she knows what's up and make a crying baby happy all of a sudden.
*She is LOUD when she talks! When she is sleepy but can't fall a sleep, she talks LOUD but different kind from chatting.

KACI---

With daddy, at Pediatric office,,waiting waiting waiting

about to take bath!

life is good

hi! I like to sit up unlike my sissy, Cja

im not sure how to smile to camera just yet

*at 17 weeks, she weighs 11lb 1oz. She is always a pound smaller than Cja. Still going!
*She is on breast milk exclusively. 6.5oz, 4-5 times a day.
* Her hair was like a punk rock star last month. Now it keeps growing upward more and more. This month she has become a peacock :-) I ordered hairbow, still not here yet!
* She never liked tummy time. All she did was cry and got angry on tummy. At 18 weeks, she was the first one to roll. Since then, she rolls from back to tummy all the time. One morning, we found her this way.

 *Last month, she talked herself to sleep. This month, she sucks her thumb to sleep.
*She used #1 size diapers and 3-6months clothes. She can still fit certain 3month pajama.
*She learns things quickly. I hand a toy to her, she takes it and starts to play. It seems she has a good control of her hands and cordination. 


They are getting bigger and bigger everyday in front of my eyes. Next thing you know they are growing out of every cute outfit I have! I see why people always tell you don't buy too many. Some clothes went unused. Really, does anyone want them? I will ship them to you!

baby conference

hello~

sit up is fun

hi grandma~

and with daddy!

I'm little late for this 4 month old update. 5 month update is soon to come!

US Citizen!

As of September 2012, I am officially a US Citizen!

"oh~ say can you see~~~~"

3 month old!

Happy 3 months old!

Already 3 months. No words can describe how blessed I am to get to be a mommy of my beautiful twin girls. To this day I am in disbelief that I actually carried them for a whole term!

It has been a month since I am back to work. I need more than 24 hours a day to do all the things I need to do. I am usually up by 5am to get ready for work, pump breastmilk and out the door by 7:30. Kaci usually wakes up between that time so I can get to spend a little time. Cja sleeps in everyday so I just kiss her before I leave. Some people have asked me how I feel being back to work. Well my days are a lot more hectic but it is a nice change compared to being at home 24/7 in pajamas. I love putting make-up and getting dressed. It makes me feel better and I feel prettier myself ;-)  I do miss girls alot!! I miss out all the action girls are doing during the day. It's sad that I can't be there but that's a life of a working mother.

My mom babysits the girls everyday while me and dh are at work. I don't know how she does it, but she feeds girls, read to them, play with them and all the house chores, and still wanting to watch them even we are at home. Since the girls spend most of the time with her now, their first word may be a Japanese word! (my mom can't speak English). I am so thankful my girls are in the best hands!

The girls have started to coo a lot more this month. Kaci usually is the talkative one, like mommy. She talks herself to sleep at times. Cja is catching up on "talkative" part but she sure states opinion loud when she does!

Here is how girls are doing..

CJA---

hello~

with my lovely auntie Diane!

Staring contest

precious girl!

me and little lamb, zzzz.....

*13weeks she weighs 10lb 9oz
* She is on breast milk exclusively. 6-6.5oz each feeding 4 times a day.

*She has had baby acne since shortly after birth. Now just a small redness on her forehead. She is growing out of it. Yay!
*Cja is the easier baby now. She falls a sleep right away. Do not constantly cry. She is such a happy baby and only gets a bit fussy because of the sleepiness. I don't know what happened but Cja and Kaci's role switched around. Cja was 'the' crying baby last month. Not quite a colic but she was up there.
*She doesn't take paci at all. Just no interest in it.
*She is on #1 Diaper! and 3 months old clothes. Big girl now!

*Her neck has gotten a lot stronger. I lay her on her back and pull both arms. She tries to lift her head making the neck to her back horizontal line.

*She has good concentration. She now shows an interest to especially moving objects, like mobile. Also vivid color in baby book draws her attention too! TV is the best way to go. She just is drawn into it.

*She loves bathing! Nightly bathing is her ritual before bedtime ;-)
*She is LOUD when she talks!

KACI--

Look how tall I became!

mommy just became US citizen, like me!

I'm a leopard

in a new outfit

mommy playing with my hair, how do I look!?

daddy is the only one who can throw me in the air!

 *at 13 weeks, she weighs almost 10lb. she is big compared to the birth weight, but still she is a tiny girl!
*She is on breast milk exclusively. 5.5 oz, 4-5 times a day. Last month I thought she had some sort of acid reflux, but I think no worry there. I have started to learn her pattern. She has regular spit up, sometimes it is cottage cheese kind, but after the spits, she feels much better and I can see it in her expression.
* Her hair is like a punk rock star. Hair in the middle continue to grow forward and upward, with a little touch, she is a total punk girl!
* She still does not like 'tummy-time'. When I put her on tummy, she doesn't move. She just gets mad and starts to cry. So I do it sometimes, but really for short periods. 
 *She can now talk herself to sleep. She will try to sing with us or talk to us. She has very soft voice but very very talkative!
*She officially graduated NB diaper yesterday (14weeks). Big girl!

I have a couple of video to share with you. In the second one, Kaci and I were able to hold conversation through cooing! Kaci is always aware of camera. As soon as she realizes there is a camera looking at her, she stops whatever she is doing and just stare.

 

 Hardly have no time to sit down and write blog posts these days! Sorry for the late update. In another 2 weeks, they will be 4 months old.  More pictures to come! Thank you for all your support and keeping up with the girls' growth!

Clogged milk duct scare/ Citizenship

Twin's update is coming soon.

On this post, I wanted to share just couple of things that happened last week with you. Two topics are so unrelated but I wanted to write it down ;-)

* Clogged milk duct scare
As many of you know, I pump my breast milk. 7 times in 24 hours period. I do about 3 times at night. Night session is about 20-25min. And I've been doing this since the girls birth. This one time last week, one or two milk duct got clogged and I couldn't get the milk to come out. It took me 1 1/2 hour to finally get it through. When pumping time comes, my breast is engorged,, hard and big. After pumping, it gets soft and lighter. I noticed the hard lump on my right breast and hurt when I touched. I immediately realized that was milk that got stuck. I massaged it, tried to pump it, took shower and massage in a hot shower and pump again. I was really frustrated because #1, I was losing my precious sleeping time and #2, i was scared of mastitis (breast infection). Thank god I was ok after so long of trying that night. Hope it does not happen again!

*Citizenship Application

I have applied to become US citizen back in March this year. The process was to take about 8 months at Phoenix Processing Center. I took fingerprints and photo in June. There, I was given a booklet to study for a test. 100 questions on US history and political structure. My only study time was when I was pumping my breast milk. That was the only time just sit and do nothing besides collecting milk. I just had an interview with an immigration officer last week. Speaking test was taken care of by interviewing me, and reading and writing test. I did not know that we need to have basic English skills in order to become citizen here. I was given 6 questions out of 100 that I studied. Well, I did so good and I passed! 
Oath ceremony to be sworn in is 9/14! 

2 month old!

Happy 2 month old, Kaci and Cja!

The time is flying by and the girls are getting bigger! I have a week till going back to work. Just couple of days ago, they have started to smile a lot more and it is a sad feeling that I can't be here most of the day to enjoy them and get to see them grow every moment.

As far as myself goes, I am doing great. I take about 1 hour for myself each day for walking, stretching and tummy exercise.. thanks to my mother, who is always there to take care of the twins! So physically I feel very healthy. I eat a lot 3 times a day plus sweet snacks in between. I pump 7 times a day every 3-4 hours. I get about 42-49oz/ day to keep up the girls' needs. I now have some frozen supplies! This is what makes me tired the most. I haven't slept more than straight 4 hours since the birth. Human body is amazing. I am still here functioning. Im not sure how I will do once I return to work. I will be a zombie mommy :-)

The girls start out great in the morning. They sleep good during the night and wake up so refreshed! As the day goes by, they get tired and once afternoon hits, they have hard time falling a sleep and start to get cranky and fussy. Most of the time Cja starts the crying and triggers Kaci to cry. Here is the just one moment of their crying time.

They will cry A LOT, but I don't think that's colic. I think it is just what babies are supposed to do. When nothing helps them, I use baby carrier to carry them around with me. They seem to like being held and being moved around. At times I had to have dinner carrying them in front of me. The last resort for soothing them is BATH! Bathing followed by warm milk. This seems to do the trick most of the time. Just that with twins, they need to be hungry somewhat at the same time especially before bedtime, so we can put them to sleep together, which means parents can go to bed right after that.

Here are some highlights of the girls.

CJA--

*6 weeks Pedi app, she weighs 8lb12oz!!

* She is on breast milk exclusively. 4.5oz each feeding 4-5 times a day. She could chug down 5oz but she gets some spit-up, so Dr told me to decrease to 4oz to 4.5oz.

*Last month, she had an eye infection, and that went away. She still has baby acne. I don't particularly put anything on her face since this is something she will grow out of it soon. Just from mommy's hormone...

*She smiles a lot especially in the morning. Cranky as hell in the evening. She always wants to be held,,, worse than her sissy Kaci. She also starts to get used to 'tummy-time'. She can't roll over yet but she can lift her head really good. 

*She doesn't take paci well, but eats her fist instead. I am ok with it for now. 

*NB clothes are so tight, so she wears 3 months clothes now. Still on NB diapers, but sure getting tight fit. Time to stock up size 1 diapers!

KACI--

*6weeks Pedi app, she was 7lb13oz!! catching up Cja! They were 1lb apart at birth and still the same :-)

*She is on breast milk exclusively. 4oz at each feeding 4-5 times a day. She eats so fast and seem to gulp air a lot. Her burp is really big. I think she has mild acid reflux. Haven't consulted with doctor yet but if I see definite sign, then I will take her.

* She has no baby acne like Cja.

* She hates 'tummy-time'. She cries like she is so mad!! I know I want to do tummy-time with her, but I hate to get her mad when she is feeling good..

*She smiles a bit more than Cja. 
*She still wears NB clothes and diapers. If I think about it, she is about the size of any new born babies for singleton pregnancy! 


Cja on tummy, Kaci just chilling

 

Girls, mommy can't wait to do lots of adventure with you in the future! 

 

1 month old!

Somehow I am making it day by day as a new mommy of the twins. I can't believe they are already 1 month old. They are bigger and heavier and showing lot of personality!

Recovery from c-sec was tough for me. The pain was expected and I took it easy. Instead, I got a fever of over 100 and lasted for an entire week. I went to OB to check if it was from mastitis or infection from the c-sec, but all was ok. The fever was from exhaustion and sudden change of life on me that my body couldn't hold the right temperature. I was taking Oxycodone for pain and it worked as fever reducer. Hated the side effect (constipation) but it helped me. After two weeks of taking painkillers, the pain became tolerable and over all I started to feel better.

After a good recovery time at home, I drove my car to do errands for the first time in almost 3 months. I felt good to be independent again!

I have been pumping breast milk and seem to get good supply so I can give them that mostly. Every other day maybe one feeding session I give formula. I pump faithfully every 3 hours day and night. Even though the girls sleep throughout the night for 8 hours, I still have to wake up to pump, otherwise my boob hurts so bad like no tomorrow. Yes, you heard me. They sleep that long. We swaddle them at night and that seems to be the trick!

My mother came from japan for six months to help me out with twins. I have to go back to work in September so I am training her on babysitting! Taking care of two infants is hard. Especially feeding time. I want to put them on the same schedule but when I am alone, that's almost impossible. All I can do is to feed them one after another right away, hoping the first one won't cry and scream when I'm feeding the second baby.  But now I feel like a pro!

The twins are doing great without major issues. Just wanted to write down how they are doing individually!

CJA--(Baby A)

Cja at birth

Bathing time

She loves swing

* She was born 5lb 10oz. Healthy girl. At her 3 weeks, she weighed 6lb 12oz!

* She first started formula at the hospital and within 7 days she was chugging down up to 2.5oz at each feeding. Now she is eating 4.5oz, 5-6 times a day.

* She developed eye infection and got ointment from Ped. After a little over week of the treatment, her eye is much better although the eye bugger is still yellowish,, slowly healing.

* She seems to have 'baby acne'. Haven't gone to the Ped yet but will mention at their next appointment.

* She wakes up crying. After each meal, she falls a sleep for a little while and screaming cry to be held once. Then she is ok.

* She is on breast milk 90%.

KACI--(Baby B)

Kaci at birth

Milk drunk?

Diaper being changed!

* She was born 4lb 13oz, healthy girl. Not a preemie. Went home with mommy! At 2 weeks appointment, she was 5lb 10oz, caught up to her sissy's birth weight.

* She has been eating a bit less (about an oz) than her older sissy Cja. She eats 3.5 oz mostly and when she is super hungry then 4oz. She isn't most fan of formula. She is on breast milk 90%

* Unlike her sissy, she has no issue so far. If anything, diaper rash, minor one. So I put cream to treat it.

* She is not a cryer. She calls out for love but doesn't last really long. good girl.

* She has hard time waking up and she doesn't fall a sleep right after feeding. Always making noises and constantly kicking in the air and moving her arms. So when she is sleeping she moves a lot like this:

I always put them in the same direction. But after couple of hours Kaci moved like this.. then

Kaci turned 180 degree by the end of her nap time.

They are such a love of my life. Mommyhood is so wonderful. I thought it would be a lot harder but fortunately it's not too bad. I think mostly because I consider the twins s as easy babies.

And I often find they sleep the same way!

Dear Kaci and Cja,

Thank you for coming to this world. It has been 4 weeks since you were born and life may be harder than it was in mommy's womb. I am still learning to be the best mommy for you. All I want and pray is for you to grow up healthy and free spiritedly. I love you so much!