Proud Parents

Yesterday, June 14. Mike and I were preparing dinner and had set Juliana on the floor for some tummy time. Olivia was still sleeping from her nice nap. As I looked up from what I was doing, Juliana was on her side! I told Mike to "look!" and just as he did, she rolled over on her back! What an accomplishment for a 10 week old! We are very proud of her.

This morning, Olivia was on her tummy and pushing up on her side. It won't be long before she is catching up with her sister. It is so amazing to see how these little ones grow so fast. Before we know it they are going to be crawling and then walking. So exciting! Congratulations Juliana, Mama and Daddy are proud of you.

Juliana Grace Colburn - 10 weeks old

Double Trouble

Today the girls turn 10 weeks old. So far our days have been really busy and we are quite exhausted. I don't think anything could prepare us for twins. I told Mike that our lives have definitely slowed down. He informed me that our lives have not only slowed down, but they stopped. So far this summer, we have put all of the things we have wanted to do on hold. It has taken me a month so far to read a book that would have taken me a week. Mike is in school right now and taking a couple of online classes. There are some days, I have to take the girls and feed them and entertain them so he is able to get his work done. For the most part, our girls are really good, but recently we have experienced some double trouble.

Juliana and Olivia have started to refuse the bottle. They cry and fuss if they are really hungry and we offer them a synthetic nipple. I even had my first battle with Juliana last night. She fought me so hard...and she won. I gave up trying to feed her from the bottle and decided to breastfeed her. She immediately fed and then went to sleep.My precious baby was exhausted from trying to fight me. I was reading that Mike should be the one to bottle feed them because they have a connection with me. I found that babies can smell their mothers up to 20 feet away....I guess that would mean I would have to leave the house for awhile. I imagine that would be the opportune time to have a little "me" time. We will see. I also read that we should try to bottle feed them three times. If they refuse the bottle each time, wait 5 to 10 minutes and then breastfeed them. This is so they don't see that refusing would be the result of breastfeeding. SO FRUSTRATING.

Juliana

The other issue we are still encountering is their reflux. We started putting baby rice cereal in their formula to help keep it down. This has helped, however, we thought we could take them off of the medicine, we were wrong. They were off of it for about 2 weeks and now we are back to the beginning of the vomit issue. I have experienced a river of formula all over me, twice in the past two days. Needless to say, the girls are back on their medicine. I know that God will get us through this, but it has felt like a never-ending battle. I just keep telling Mike and myself..."not much longer...you can do it!" We appreciate all the prayers that have been made for us. They are very much needed. Many people do not understand the demand and the toll it has on the mind and body. For those of our friends that have twins....hats off to you and thank you for all the advice. It is so nice to have friends that have actually gone through raising more than one child of the same age. It is reassuring that we too can get through this.

 Olivia with Daddy

This afternoon was unbelievably peaceful. This was the first time that we as a family took a nap together. We were washing their car seat covers, due to a massive spit up occurrence, so we were not able to put them to sleep in their nursery.After feeding our little ones we decided to lie down in bed, Juliana on my right side, Olivia on my chest and Daddy, and Precious,our dog, on the left side. It was a peaceful 2 hour nap. A special family memory. These are the moments that Mike and I try to remember when life throws punches at us.

Napping with Mama

After the day is done and the world is whole again, we thank God for our beautiful girls and the unspeakable joy they bring to our hearts.

Olivia

Juliana

Blessings

Today marks two firsts, 1) The girls turned 8 weeks and 2) They went to church for the first time. Mike and I got up around 8AM when the girls got up. He brought Olivia to me in bed where I fed her while he got ready. When he was done, he picked up Juliana and fed her while I got ready. The whole family was fed and ready to walk out the door at 10AM. Not bad!

I wanted to take their pictures in their new outfits, but I was so afraid that they would spit up all over them so I did not remove their bibs. It wasn't until after church I decided to remove the bibs and take pictures of their full outfits. I was right, however. Once we got the girls in the car and I sat in the passenger side, I could hear Juliana throwing up all of her milk. I screamed NO! and ran to open her side of the car door. Sure enough, she was still throwing up (a fountain!) Luckily, Mike had decided to cover her whole outfit with a burp cloth and bib. What a smart hubby! We were safe  to continue our journey to church.

Olivia

Juliana

On our way, Mike and I were talking about school and ordinary things as the girls slept in the backseat of the car. When we came to a stop light I heard this huge POP! I looked to my right just as three cars were slamming into each other! A 5 car pile up happened in the lane right next to us. Mike and I got out of our car to make sure everyone was alright and when someone called 911 I got into our Xterra and pulled it off the road and sat with the girls to make sure our vehicle remained safe. Out of the five cars, there was one serious injury, the one who got the most impact from the crash. I stood next to Juliana's car seat from the outside and kept praying in thanks to God for not letting it be us in that accident and for those that were injured. It is so easy to underestimate how God protects us. Many thanks to Him and His angels.

We finally got on our way to church and arrived there late. The girls were still sound asleep and we walked into the lobby. We were immediately bombarded with friends and church members and did not make it past the foyer. By the time we got into the sanctuary they were singing the last hymn. That was a little discouraging. Maybe we will be able to make it to the sermon next time. The girls were passed around in many arms all of which loved looking and holding them.

Upon returning home, the girls were screaming to be fed again and we didn't get to eat until an hour after they were fed. So glad that God has made us durable and able to withstand sleepless nights and hours of not eating at a time. :) I look forward to our next outing.

 Olivia

 Juliana

Olivia's Doctor Visit

      

Last Monday morning Olivia had a doctor's appointment. I usually have Mike with me to help with the girls but this time, he had to work and the task was up to me. It took me an hour to dress, feed, and pack the girls away. This time, I planned in advance how long it was going to take me. I didn't do that bad. I actually arrived at the doctors visit right at Olivia's appointment time.

Olivia's appointment was for a check-up to see how her reflux was doing. We were afraid that she was losing weight by the amount of fluid she was spitting up. It was quite scary to see 3 oz of fluid come out of someone so little.When we got there the nurse took her naked little body and put her on the scale. To our delight, Olivia weighed a whopping 7 pounds 4 ounces. She was growing just fine. After she was weighed the doctor came in and looked at her tummy and asked several questions about her vomiting. He decided to put her on Previcid. So far she has done really well. She is fed sitting up and burped real carefully.

One way that we have dealt with the girls' reflux is to put them in their car seats to sleep. They have done really well and have not spit up during the night. However, as they are growing they are getting a lot stronger. They are moving so much now we will be graduating to their elevated mattress and bed. Hopefully that will be a success as well.

Olivia

 Juliana

Zantac at 6 Weeks

Now that we have had the girls on soy formula for about two weeks, they have been functioning at a better rate. Poopie diapers are quite frequent and quite smelly. We however have encountered another problem with our girls. They have developed reflux.

Fountains of spit up, loads of laundry, several baths and crying babies have been our daily routines. We started them on Zantac to ease their pain. Juliana took to the medicine very well. She does not spit up as much as she did. Olivia, however, is not doing as well on the Zantac. We go to the doctor tomorrow to see if her weight is increasing. If it is not, they are going to put her on a different medicine. Feedings have changed too. Olivia has to sit straight up so the acid does not come up her throat, which makes it really hard to breastfeed her. Our new great finding are their car seats. We found that our babies are very happy sleeping in them. I don't know how long this will last, but we pray for them everyday that God would ease their discomfort. I hope they soon will grow out of this phase of life.

This week marks the girls 6 weeks of life. We are very proud parents and are very excited to see them grow. They finally grew out of their preemie clothes and are now wearing newborn size. They still have a ways to go until they fit fully into their newborn outfits. Juliana and Olivia are starting to recognize the items that feed them. When we place a bottle near their faces they automatically open their mouths wanting to be fed. What great joys we have when our little ones progress. Its the little things in our girls' lives that make our sleepless days and nights much worth it.

Olivia holding her paci

Juliana sucking on a paci with daddy's help

First Month Doctor's Visit

Thursday was Juliana's and Olivia's one month doctor's visit. I never realized it would take me so long by myself to get them dressed, fed, and put in their car seats. I decided to start an hour early. Good thing I did, I walked in the doctor's office right at their appointment time. Mike met me there from school to help.

Once we were there, the first thing they did was had us undress the girls and weigh them. Olivia was first. She weighed in at 6 pounds 7 ounces. Juliana weighed in at 6  pounds 2 ounces. The girls are still on target for growth. They had their normal check up and we managed to make it through the doctor's visit with minimal crying.

We however had one concern. The girls were spitting up their breast milk and formula, usually the same amount that we were feeding them. The doctor thought it would have something to do with the formula that they were eating. I mentioned to him that I was lactose intolerant and right away he said to change their formula to soy. I was also told that I could no longer have any dairy, since they will get gassy due to what I ate. So, I guess this is a way that I am meant to shed the baby pounds quicker. I will do anything to make sure these little ones have the best health that they could have.

Once we arrived home we decided to try the soy formula, even though they were supposed to breastfeed. Both of the girls did really well. They did not spit up one bit. Hopefully, this will continue to go as planned. 

A Stroll at the Park

Yesterday Juliana and Olivia turned 4 weeks old. It is so amazing how these little ones grow so fast. Despite all the sleepless nights, loads of laundry, poopie diapers, and minor spit ups we have managed to do quite well so far.

For a Sabbath afternoon activity, we all went as a family for the first time to William Springs Park. It was a beautiful day (in the 80s) so we decided to enjoy the weather outside. We put the girls in their car seats, packed the stroller, diaper bag, blankets, camera, and dog into the car and headed out for a nice time at the park. When we got there, we unpacked everyone and went for a long relaxing walk. Half way through we decided to take some pictures of the girls so we took them out of the car seats and laid them on the blanket. As people were passing by, they would stop to comment on how cute they were, how little they were, and my favorite, "OH ARE THOSE TWINS?!" I always tend to wonder why people ask that since it is quite obvious. :) One couple there told us how jealous they were we had such a beautiful family. This made me feel like a proud mama, because God has truly gifted me with the best family I could ever imagine. After our adventure at the park we came home fed the girls and put them down for a nap. Everyone was quite tired from being outdoors, we all decided to relax in someway...even our dog precious who claimed a section of the couch.

Juliana Grace

 Olivia Judith

As I sat and relaxed awhile, I was thinking of all the ways Juliana and Olivia have grown. Some of the girls' new achievements these past 4 weeks have been: picking up and turning their heads, smiling (which might be gas), and drinking up to 3 oz of bottle (if not breastfeeding). The biggest accomplishment came as a wonderful surprise to mama and daddy last night. We fed the girls at 11PM last night and decided to go to bed and get as much sleep as we could until the next feeding. Sure enough, 2:30AM rolled around and Mike and I were up feeding again. We went though our normal routine of warming bottles, changing diapers, re-wrapping them in blankets, feeding them and putting them back down to sleep. We fell back into bed around 3AM, with the monitor on in our room, I was assured I would wake up in the next 3 hours to feed them again, but to our surprise, Mike and I woke at 7AM when the sun came up. We woke on our own...the babies were still sleeping!!! By 7:30AM I decided to wake them up and breastfeed them (tandem for the first time). THEY HAD GONE 5 Hours!!! We actually had 5 hours of sleep...in a row!!! This was the best gift the girls could give their parents.

So the 4 week mark has been a blessing to the girls and their parents. They are doing so well. We look forward to our many adventures and achievements ahead of us. We love our girls and have enjoyed their first four weeks of life, and we look forward to our life with them. 

Juliana Grace

Olivia Judith