Step by Step Parenting

It is so hard to believe that this upcoming Monday, we will be at the six month mark with our twin girls… six months! An entire half a year!

I know that I have said this before, but I swear it is going by so fast this time around, much faster than it did with my first daughter. I don’t know if it’s because there are three other kids in the house, if it’s because I am working so I am home less, if it’s because I myself am older, or maybe a combination of all three. But dang, I wish time would slow down.

In some ways, I feel a little robbed of the typical experience that most moms get in the first six months. Although I’ve written before about how it wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be, and I hesitate to call it survival mode because it was genuinely good, it was definitely a very different experience than if we had just brought home one baby. Life felt like it was a constant relay race to and from the nursery and the kitchen, washing bottles, rocking babies, and oh my goodness, so. much. laundry. It felt like I was too busy trying to keep my head and our family above water to really savor some of those moments while they were still babies.

That being said, I think me and my husband did the best we could to really cherish this very brief phase of life. Even though I went back to work at five weeks postpartum, and have remained a full-time law student since the moment they were born, my husband and I were able to tailor our schedules around it all, with one of us almost always being home with the twins. We wouldn’t have been able to make it work without some help from my mom and family friends as well, but I am so thankful that my husband and I got so much time with our girls.

This might seem obvious, but one of the most interesting things about having twins is all of the tiny moments where you really realize, Holy crap there’s two different babies! With a heavy emphasis on the word “different.” Even though they were born on the same day, and they share lots of similarities, they are very much their own little people, and it has been so fun to watch their personalities shine through. Within 24 hours of their birth, I was struck by how different they are, and Kevin and I have only noticed that more and more over time. It’s so fun to have a little “pair” of cute babies, but even though they have matching names, matching bows, and matching clothes, we try to focus on who they are as individuals.

Emersyn Janell, the older twin, was the first to smile, and she smiles so big, her eyes start to squint! It doesn’t matter if your mama, dada, mimi, or a complete stranger, if you smile at Emersyn, she will smile at you. Emersyn also loves naps a lot! She doesn’t really need to be rocked to sleep, nor does it take her awhile to settle down. If it’s nap or bedtime, plop her in the crib, and she’s good to go. Emersyn also does this funny “superman” pose where, if she’s on her stomach, she’ll lift both of her arms and legs off the ground and just scream! It’s so funny! We joke that she’s trying to lift off, but eventually she gets so mad that she’s not moving anywhere, and then we feel bad. She can roll wherever she wants, but poor girl just wants to crawl. She’ll get there!

Evelyn Jane, the younger twin, has been a little spitfire since day one, but it’s adorable! She has really, really wide eyes, and that is what most people comment on when they first see her. We joked for a long time that she always looked surprise! The shocked expression on her face has faded some as she’s filled out, but you can still tell her apart from her sister by her eyes. It took her a few extra weeks to come around, but Evelyn is smiley now, too, and has the cutest dimples! She also finally figured out how to scoot around and army crawl last week, which she loves because she can get to whatever toy she wants, but I think it has made her sister mad.

These first six months were fun! The girls started off so small, and for a while they were getting even smaller. Evelyn got down to only 4.5 pounds in the hospital! To watch them not only grow, but learn to use their voices, hold their own bottles, and scoot all around the floor has been nothing short of amazing. And the fact that we get to watch those same milestones happen with two babies simultaneously? Nothing short of miraculous. Both girls are around 14 or 15 pounds now, and they are doing so, so good. I was pretty sad when we made the decision to stop breastfeeding, but they have adjusted to formula really well. We have even started solids these past few days, and I can’t wait for that adventure!

The past six months flew by, and I know that the next six months will likely fly by even faster. Anytime I get the chance to snuggle one of the them a little longer, let one of them sleep in my arms for just five extra minutes, or get to carry both of them around the house at the same time, I try to memorize every part of it, so that I’ll never forget when they were so small. If I think too hard about how much they’ve grown, and how they’ll never be this small again, I actually cry. I know the best is yet to come, but it is so bittersweet to say goodbye to all of the beautiful phases along the way. I wish I could go back to that first night in the hospital just one more time, to hold them as brand new babies, just one more time. As one of my favorite baby books says,

“I’ll love forever,

I’ll like you for always.

As long as I’m living,

my baby you’ll be.”