Nispiros Portal

Last week they officially passed their 6 month milestone!  Wednesday they go for the 6 month immunization shots and check up.  We’re guessing that they are about 16lbs each and about 30 inches tall.  We think that is above the normal for kids in their age group, especially for twins.

This week we continued feeding them baby food and bottled water.  They still get their breast milk and formula through out the day.  This change to their diet has slightly improved their sleeping habits, Justice more so than Jasmine.

Justice continues to talk up a storm and be very active like the boy he is.  Jasmine on the other hand is very laid back.  Even in the jumper toy she just sorta stands there.   I guess she’ll be more active later.

This past weekend we went to Daisy’s Baby Shower.  They were surprisingly well behaved.  They were handed off to strangers without crying (knock on wood).  Of course when we left and got them in the car, they reverted to their natural state lol.  No worries, we got home in no time and got them back to their routine.

I believe they are getting used to their routine.  We just have to be disciplined enough to follow it on a consistent basis.  When we are not consistent, it shows.  They get tired and grumpy, then we get agitated, then no one is happy.  However, when we do follow their schedule, then they are happy tots.

Here’s a compilation video from the last couple of weeks.

Here they are at Target.  Gotta love Jasmine propping her head up with her chubby little hand.

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Today Justice and Jasmine are just short of their 6 month birthday!  Sunday is their official birthday. We have high hopes for this milestone, but also setting our expectations low so we don’t disappoint ourselves.

This week we’ve seen some interesting improvements despite both of them being sick with the cold. First of all, they are now eating baby food. During the day and before bed we give them cereal and flavored baby food. They both seem to like sweet potatoes, apple sauce, and banana. They didn’t fall in love with baby food like we thought they might, but they are getting used to the idea of it.

As of yesterday Jasmine finally turned over from her back to her belly.  That was a major accomplishment! Woo hoo! Congrats Jasmine! You did it!

Yesterday Justice started to talk baby talk. His cries have turned into baby words and baby screams. For now it’s amusing. He is really anxious to grow up. A couple of days ago he was caught crawling backwards. He wants to walk and talk as soon as possible.

They both started to finally interact with one another. If we put them side by side, Justice will actually reach out to her. Jasmine will responded with a cry for help because Justice like to pull on her hair and/or clothes. Here’s a video of Justice terrorizing Jasmine at the kitchen table.

What’s also new this week is that they really want to be held. We can not walk past them without them screaming, ‘hey pick me up!’. Thank God we have all these baby videos to keep them occupied.  5 minutes later they forget we just walked passed them.  It works most of the time, but not always.

Their sleeping habits have not changed much. They still get up several times a night. This might be because of their cold. However, it seems like they are sleeping sooner and deeper since they’ve started eating baby food. I just wish it was deeper and longer. Funny thing about Justice is that he scratches his head while he is nursing. This is something that Ebru does when she’s tired.

Justice also started to stare at the mirror on his jumper toy. I guess he realizes he has a face, eyes, and button nose. He gets very excitable to both extremes. He can be very very happy or very very vocal.

Jasmine is usually more laid back and very girly. Her cries are softer and she carries herself like a little girl. Although there are times when she is just so loud. I guess she gets this way when she is tired right before she falls asleep. She can fall asleep without a swaddle. Justice needs it because he will scratch his face off if he doesn’t have his hands protected.

Both have nails like Wolverine.  A couple of times they scratched us so hard we nearly dropped them.  They always seem to find our most vulnerable areas like the back of our arms and neck.  Why don’t they scratch themselves or their clothes lol.

The first 6 months have been interesting for sure.  We see a lot of promise in their development.  We just hope that it will be in the positive direction so we can be better parents.

Jasmine and Justice 6 Months Young

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After 9 days of straight rain in Elk Grove we decided to weather the storm and go out to run errands last weekend.  Part of our weekend run included trips to Panera Bread, Target, and Nugget.  This weekend we happened to be near Cool Cuts 4 Kids and decided to get Justice and Jasmine a haircut.

We were not sure how they were going to react to a haircut, but we went for it anyway.  This would be their first haircut almost 6 months later.  We were very happy with our hair stylist Kim.  She was patient and very very careful.

We were surprised at how still Justice sat there.  He enjoyed it.  Jasmine on the other hand cried her little pretty head off.  I guess she was scared and didn’t know what was going on.

At the end of their haircuts Kim saved their hair in a nice clear holder so we can save it for the future.  We highly recommend Cool Cuts 4 Kids.  They have all kinds of activities to keep any kid at any age busy.  I love the seats the shape of cars.

Here is Justice and Jasmine’s reaction to their first haircut.

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Well it’s been over 5 1/2 months now and it still hasn’t gotten better.  In fact it’s gotten worse.  Either that or I am so tired that my whole prospective on life and parenting has turned upside down.  I’m drained and exhausted!

Before Jasmine and Justice were born I read most of the popular baby books, but none of them prepared me for what has happened in this short period.  There are just some things I wish I knew before having Jasmine and Justice:

• Physical preparedness – What the hell was I thinking about having kids at my age! As of Justice’s last examination on Saturday, he now weights over 14lbs.  Can you imaging having to lug around 14lbs around the house for hours on end?  You have to be physically fit to have kids.   There are no breaks with twins.  You put one down and have to pick up another. You need to do a lot of squats, pull ups, and curls.  The books should have talked about what exercises to do in preparation for their care.
• Patience – WTF! I thought I had patience before the kids, but having twins wears down your patience to nothing!  The books should have said, when you have kids be prepared to wait for hours on end before they go to sleep.  Be ready to stare at the clock that never seems to change.  Be prepared to have your patience tried and tried over again until you’re ready to keel over.  That’s what the books should have said.
• Tolerance – The books should have said invest in ear plugs.  When you have two crying babies screaming their heads off you have to be tolerant of it and be understanding of their needs.  Never mind that they are tearing out your soul.  When one or both of them are sick be prepared for erratic behavior, moodiness, and 10x more fussiness.  That’s what the books should have said.

The books should have said, when you have twins and no support from family or friends, then be prepared for the worse.  Remember you are only one person with two arms caring for two little people.  You can not be at two places at once.  You can not try to put one asleep while the other is screaming their head off!  This is just impossible and be prepared to manage two crying babies.

Having twins and trying to put them to sleep is like being on a plane from hell.  You have to sleep, eat, and watch TV in an upright position while rocking a baby.  All the while you have the noise from passengers around you, other screaming babies, and no service from the stewardess.  Imagine this night after night.  Most times we can’t even take a shower, use the bathroom for basic necessities, or even get a drink of water for God’s sake!  No service, no time.

The books should have also said, as parents of twins you will have no time for nothing else.  You won’t have time to clean your house, pay your bills, and care for yourself.  You should have saved your money for maid service, created automatic bill pay, and had a simple lifestyle to begin with.  We did none of these things.

Be prepared to have your faith tested.  This is a big one for us.  The books should have said, if you have any faith all, be prepared to have it tested over and over again.  You may ask for help everyday and you will get no response from your God.  You might ask to your God to watch over your kids from harm, evil, and danger, yet something will still happen to them against your will.  You might ask that they sleep through the night so you will have the energy to care for them only to find that your sleep will  be cut short night after night.  You might ask for the simplest thing such as 5 minutes of peace only to find that peace filled with cries and constant wanting.

Finally the books should have said caring for multiples is not going to be fun the first 5 1/2 months.  You will be drained of every resource and you will not be totally happy with your new lifestyle.  You will have many many many sleepless nights and it will effect your mental, physical, and emotional health.  Do all that you can do ahead of time so when you do have these kids you can concentrate on just caring for them and nothing else, not even your own well being.  Invest in baby videos and bouncing toys to try to keep them entertained.  You might have a chance to eat your left over breakfast from the day before while they are busy watching and playing.  There should be an honest straight forward baby/parenting book like this for parents of multiples.

We had a tough 3 day weekend this week.  Justice has the cold and we’re trying to buffer Jasmine away from him as much as we can.  Ebru has caught his cold and I’m trying my best not to get it. I’m sure the cold will make its rounds and I’m trying to delay it until at least Justice gets better.

Here is Jasmine and Justice at the Kaiser office.  Justice had a major running nose and a cough.  Unfortunately, he is too young for any medication.  We invested in a humidifier to help with his sneezing and coughing.  Poor little guy.

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The madness never ends.  Just when we think they’ll sleep through the night, bamm!  They don’t!  There have been a few exceptions, but not enough to catch up on our sleep.

We have done everything imaginable from filling them with formula and mommy’s milk before sleep, playing with them all day, swaddling them, and even giving them tough love and nothing seems to work.  It doesn’t matter if they get a lot of rest during the afternoon or no rest at all, they just don’t sleep through the night.

Now before you think, ‘it’s going to get better’, please don’t even say or think that.  We have lost hope in that.  We know it’s only been 5 months and almost 2 weeks, but in our minds years have passed.

The lack of sleep is driving us mad!  I’m not sure how much more we can endure.  They are not normal.  Normal would be your baby gets sleepy, she closes her eyes, and falls sleep.

Our definition or normal is, they cry and cry because we think their sleepy.  We feed them, burp them, swaddle them, and rock them to sleep for 10 – 60 minutes or more.  Then maybe, just maybe they’ll fall asleep.  They just refuse to sleep, especially Jasmine.  She is the lightest sleeper on this Earth.  Justice sleeps good, but he hasn’t mastered his bodily functions like Jasmine.  He has to wake himself up just to burn, fart, or day dream.

We are sleepless in Elk Grove.  We are not asking for much, but a little heavenly intervention would be great!  OK and maybe winning the lottery would help too.  Then we could be ‘comfortable’ enough to have someone help us.  They way we see it, if they get sufficient sleep, meaning if they sleep through the night, then we will have the physical, mental, and emotional energy and enthusiasm to care for them as they truly deserve.

Right now, they only get about 50% of our energy and attention because we are so tired.  Our backs hurt, our wrists are sore, and eyes are heavy and we are just thinking about peace and quite.  Actually, we are dreaming of peace and quite.  We don’t know if it’s going to be possible in this lifetime, in our lifetime.  Right now, it’s just plain torture!

We just hope the lack of sleep doesn’t kill us.  We are more careless because of it.  God help us!

When we do muster some energy, then we are able to at least play with them and make them smile.  We smile too, but ours is more of a tired half smile.  We bring them to the mall and out on our errands.  We still hear whispers in the background ‘oh twins’.  Sometimes people actually stop us just so they can take a look.

Here are some pictures of them taken with our iPhones.  They are cute when they want to be.  Their lack of sleep doesn’t seem to effect them at all lol.

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