Twins - 4 months old!

I feel like this month the twins have made the biggest leaps in their development. It's been a very awesome month for the Schauerhamers!

Our night times used to seriously be a total mess. Getting Oliver down has usually been fairly simple. But Savannah - not so much. And we never got them down for good before 11pm. We'd try starting at 9 but she would never stay down. Also, we had a crib in the living room so we would put them down in the living room.

Now, we actually have more of a routine. The first 3 months we were so sleep deprived and seriously we are first time parents who have no idea what we are doing, and we have twins... So here is our new routine. Firstly, we set their pack n play up with the bassinet insert in our closet. Luckily we have a large closet with a door. So they now have their own room.

We cluster feed them fortified milk a couple hours before bed. Every other day we give them a bath. We put lavender on their feet. When it starts to be time for bed, we dim the lights. We feed them their last bottle, then we put them in bed, awake, between 8-9:30 depending on their last nap. We give them their wubbanubs and their blankets (we make sure they are only on their lower half, so it's not a choking hazard - but Sav especially will not go to sleep without a blanket) and we leave.

Sometimes they go right to sleep. We usually have to put pacifiers back in 2-3 times and they are out! IT IS AMAZING. Trev and I are actually getting some adult time at night most nights. We bought Donkey Kong for the wii we are borrowing from Melissa. That has been so fun to play together. The house gets cleaner. IT IS THE BEST THING EVER.

Also, when I get up for night feedings, I keep all the lights off and use my phone for a flashlight. This has helped so much in keeping night feedings quick and the twins are falling asleep so much better! Up until recently I was up for about 2 hours with every night feeding. It took forever to get them back asleep. And they were up every 2-3 hours. Keeping the lights off has really helped. I can usually get both babies fed, pump and back to bed in 30-45 minutes.

Our night times has been probably the biggest and best development of the month!

Savannah!

14.5lbs, 23.75 inches

Nicknames - Savvy, Savvy Sue, Chunky Monkey, Punkie Poo, Punkie, Jabba the Hut, Stinky Cheese (so from the beginning, she's had the worst diaper blow outs. Poop everywhere. She ruined every single one of her cute outfits. This is where Stinky Cheese comes from)

Eats 3 ounces every 2-3 hours

She smiles at us ALL THE TIME! She will smile when I pick her up in the morning or after naps. She will only smile when she makes eye contact. She doesn't smile at objects or just for no reason - it's always directed at us. She loves to look around, and often won't even look at us because she's so preoccupied looking at everything, but once she does look at us she beams. WE LOVE IT!

She loves to look around. She's always taking in her surroundings. We put our Christmas tree up and it's made night feedings hard, because in the middle of the night she can't focus to eat because she wants to stare at the tree.

She's started to drool and suck her hand all the time (I caught her sucking her thumb once). I hope she isn't starting to teeth!

She still loves her binkie. We got Wubbanubs for them - Savannah's is an elephant. She will hold on to it so tightly, stroke and hold it's ears and legs. She's shown no interest at all in any toys I've given her - but she will hold onto and cuddle her wubbanub.

She loves being wrapped in the Moby. She falls asleep as soon as you put her on. She loves especially cozing up on daddy's chest and sleeping in the Moby.

She's been our harder to get to sleep child. She would NEVER fall asleep on her own. We used to have to rock her forever to get her to sleep, and then put her in her crib and repeat the process 2-4 times before she'd actually fall asleep for the night (and by night I mean 3 hours). Then she went through a phase she'd only sleep in her swing. It made me really nervous, but it was the only way we could get any sleep. Then she went through another phase where we had to rock her again - but put a blanket over her face so she couldn't see anything. She has a hard time cutting out visual stimulation, so we have to take away all visual stimulation and as soon as she can't see - she falls right asleep. It's been a game changer!

We're to the point now where for naps and bed time, I put her in her bassinet and she goes to sleep on her own. I usually have to put her pacified in a number of times, but she almost always will fall asleep on her own fairly quickly.

She has been doing so much better at sleeping! For the first 3 months, I was getting them down around 10-11. Then feeding them at 12-1, then again at 3-4, then up for reals at 5.

This girl has started sleeping pretty consistently from 9-10 to 4 or 5. It's amazing! I was getting her up with Oliver at 3, since every twin mom tells you to keep them on the same schedule!! Feed one when you feed the other!!! But I didn't want her to depend on that night feeding because of habit, not because she wanted it. So I've been letting her sleep when I get Oliver in the middle of the night, and usually she makes it to 4 or 5. Trev gets up for work at 5, so when I get up with Oliver I will warm her bottle and put it by my bed. Then when she wakes, I pull her in bed with me and feed her. Then when Trev leaves, Oliver is usually up again so Ollie joins us in bed for another bottle and we all sleep another hour or two.

On nights she sleeps better, she wakes up hyper and out of control. She acts like she's on speed. She's so happy and smily and won't stop moving. I can't change her diaper or feed her until she's had activity mat time, because she's so hyper she wants to kick, roll, punch!

She is standing up amazingly. She has such incredible head control. She really doesn't love to be cuddled or held close unless she's sleepy. When she's awake, she wants to be sitting or standing up looking around. She's getting an excersaucer from her Johnson grandparents and I cannot wait to put her in there!!! I think she's just going to LOVE IT and go crazy.  She loves to sit in her bumbo and rarely fusses when she is in it - but she has no toys to play with. So I cannot wait to introduce her to her exersaucer.

She still loves her piano activity mat. She goes crazy hitting the toys and kicking the piano. She's started to grab the toys - huge news! So exciting. And one of the toys is on a ring, and she frequently gets her arm stuck in it. So she's purposely putting her arm through the ring which basically I think means she is a child prodigy.

She still screams during tummy time - however - she is holding her head up much, much better and ROLLED OVER! GO SAVANNAH! She rolled over twice in one day (the day before she turned 4 months old, so December 9th) and hasn't rolled since. Lame. But I think she's just been cranky since, since the next day she got her 4 month shots and both babies have been kind of a mess since then.

Speaking of her 4 month appointment - she looks great. Doctor is so happy with her progress and weight gain. She's on schedule for a 4 month old.

She screamed for her shots and it was terrible. She had to take one shot via mouth - in liquid form. Which she gagged on and threw up all over the floor. So we had two screaming babies, a floor covered in puke and both the bottles I brought were leaking so we were all covered in milk and the babies weren't soothed by the bottles since they were leaking and we were soaked. It was basically a mess.

She's getting so hard to feed. She wants to look around at everything. She turns her head every way, swings her arms, kicks her feet. She loves to worm off our laps and eat with her head hanging off our laps. 

She is cooing and talking quite a bit. She's so close to laughing. She will just play her piano, play with her toys and talk. It's so cute.

She's doing alone time much better. Putting herself to sleep in her bassinet when she's tired, and doing better on the activity mat and in her bumbo for longer stretches.

She has to have her naps. She gets so unbelievably cranky when she gets tired. She wakes up in the morning uber hyper, but lasts a maximum of an hour and a half before she's completely falling apart. Luckily, she's doing so much better going to sleep so I can just put her down with her paci and she falls asleep (unless her brother keeps her up which happens all too often).

She went from adoring Oliver to wanting nothing to do with him. She'd scream and cry when we put him next to her - she wanted her own space. She's now loving him again. They are starting to notice each other and enjoy being next to each other. It's so cute. The other day she was grabbing his hand, and wanted to hold his sleeve by his hand. They do better when we put them to sleep at the same time.

She's such a happy girl. Sometimes I can't get her to take her paci because she's smiling so big at me, it keeps falling out.

She's made so much progress this month. She's getting so fun and interacting much more.

Oliver!

13lbs, 23.75 inches

Nicknames: Ollie, Ollie bollie, Ols, Handsome, Mister

Eats 3 ounces every 2-3 hours

He has made some major developments this month.

He's started to smile. He still doesn't smile often, but he will! It is always at his parents or his sister.

HE LOVES HIS SISTER. This guy. He smiles so big when she is put next to him. He reaches his hand under the bassinet divider to touch her.

He loves to snuggle.

He is starting to look around more and more and focus on things.

He knows his mama!!!!! He's been held by 3 people in the last couple weeks while I was close by. The whole time he wouldn't stop staring at me. He'd follow me with his eyes wherever I went. And in one case, tried to push off the person holding him to get to me.

He has the stinkiest farts.

He's sleeping through the night better. For the last month he's nixed one middle of the night feeding, and usually won't get me up until 2-3am. He falls right back asleep and wakes up at 5am and will go back to sleep until 7 or 8.  He's always been pretty easy to put to sleep, as he will put himself down and self sooth, which took Savannah much longer to learn. Lately though, he's started to freak out and cry when he's asleep. It's been harder to put him to sleep and keep him asleep for bedtime and naps because he'll just scream and cry. Usually he stops when he gets his binky. But still - it's so strange. I wonder if he's having night terrors. Breaks my heart to think about!

Sav needs her naps and gets so ridiculously cranky when she doesn't get one on time. Ollie is so easy going all the time. He went through a phase where he was super cranky, but that didn't last long thank goodness. He doesn't really change when he's tired. I can't tell when he's ready for a nap like Sav. His eyes don't get tired, he doesn't get cranky, cry... so I give him naps when Sav naps. Sometimes he falls asleep, sometimes he just will lay there with no interest at all in napping.

He's getting so much livelier with his movements. He moves around much more, kicking and waving his arms.

He loves his activity mat, and loves kicking the piano keys. He will occasionally hit at the hanging toys.

He tolerates sitting in the bumbo. His head control when he's sitting is still not great but it's gotten so much better this month.

He stands up so much better as well. He will put lots of weight on his legs and hold it for much longer, and his head stays up. It's so great! He's really gotten a lot more mobile and stable this month.

He doesn't love tummy time anymore, and he isn't super close to rolling over. He has rolled over twice, but its been so random and months apart. He doesn't lift his head up at all on his tummy, and doesn't really try to roll over.

He gets so much earwax/goobers in his ears!! I'm always finding earwax and having to clean it out.

He loves to snuggle and cuddle.

At his 4 month doctor appointment, everything looked great. He's doing awesome! Gaining weight like a champ. He's closed the gap in height and head circumstance with Sav, they are now the same. She still has a pound and a half on him, but at their 2 month appointment she had 2 pounds on him and was taller.

He screamed for the shots, but calmed right down. He's had a fever since then and been fussy and not taking naps, so I don't think he feels well, poor guy.

He is such a sweet, calm, easy going dude. We are crazy about him!

They are growing too fast. They are both wearing 3-6 month clothes now. Time is flying by. I'm seriously loving this phase. They are both getting so fun!