Hat Cuteness...

  

All about the swaddle

One of the best things that I think we have done with our babies is swaddle them. The concept of swaddling is to mimic the environment that babies have in the womb. It makes them feel tight, warm and cozy. Infants also have a startle reflex that often wakes them up in the night. Swaddling prevents the startle reflex so that your baby can snooze through the night. Our babies woke up just once from 5-10 weeks and have slept all through the night since 10 weeks and I think swaddling has contributed to their great sleep habits. Both of my babies sleep 10-12 hours a night and our pediatrician said it is just fine to have them swaddled up until 6 months, some pediatricians say longer. When your baby begins to roll over from back to belly it is time to transition them out of swaddling or if they show signs that they are ready like fighting the swaddle when you are trying to wrap them. Once they can move on their own, you don't want a swaddled baby to roll over because then they would be stuck in that position. Also, when a baby can move on their own in their crib, there is no need to swaddle because they will find what position is comfortable for them. 

We transitioned Hadley out of her swaddle at 5 months and Jack Henry was more difficult to wean, but we finally did just before his 6 month birthday (I will write a whole post on this later)

Here is a look back on our our swaddled up babes...

In the babies first few weeks we just used a blanket to tightly swaddle them. We used a "five point" swaddle fold that we have shown in a video Here. Here is what that looked like...

Then when the babies got a bit bigger, we put them into to the Summer Infant Swaddlemes. They are a velcro swaddle packs that look like this...

Then when we outgrew them we went to the Miracle blanket (video also here)...

And in the chilly winter months we swaddle them in a heavy blanket over their miracle blankets...

The miracle blanket it one of my TOP baby items! It does such a good job swaddling and they have not been able to break out of it yet :) They love it, and actually smile when we start to swaddle them in it! I will soon show you what we now have the babies sleeping in, now that they have outgrown being swaddled. So if you have a baby coming soon, consider swaddling for a hopefully LONG cozy night sleep :)

Swaddling your baby with the miracle blanket

I finally figured how to upload videos! More cuteness to come :) 
This video was taken back when the babies were 4 months old. We are demonstrating one of our favorite baby items :)



To read the whole swaddling post, click Here.

Twin play date at Newport Aquarium

Last week Jack Henry and Hadley had a great time with their 10 month old twin friends Lauklin and Harper at the Aquarium. They absolutely loved looking at all the colorful sea life and it was so fun to be with another twin family who truly know the amazing blessing it is to be blessed twice. It was almost too much cuteness to take in, their babies are SERIOUSLY adorable.  We are thankful for these friends! We didn't take many pictures and it was hard to grab a shot of all four precious babes but here is what we have....

Our three shots are kind of pitiful. Next play date we will have to get more pictures :)

6 Months...

I can't even believe my precious babies are 6 months old now! A half a year! Sigh...Where does time go? As sad as am to see them grow, I am full of joy to have two healthy babies who are growing so well and I LOVE seeing them do and learn new things each and every day! It is true what they say, each stage gets better. Granted, time could SLOOOWWW down just a bit, but wow, I feel extremely blessed to call these little ones mine...

The babies are on a 4 hour eating schedule and are still exclusively breast fed. We introduced solid foods to them last month and they are officially un-swaddled at night. They sleep 12 hours at night and are becoming SO FUN! Here is the breakdown for each babe....

My sweet Hadley Girl,
You are so unbelievably curious. You want to see and touch everything in sight. You interact with anything and everything and are learning so very much by checking out your environment. It is precious. We have to really watch you because you will grab at anything in sight. This month you also have started to ever so slightly get stranger anxiety. Every once in a while when I pass you off to someone you will get a little sad and unsure but we let you get used to others, and you do wonderfully. You love to roll! You can pretty much get to where you want to get by rolling. You roll from belly to back and back to belly. You have the sweetest open mouth smiles, and love to smile often. You LOVE to eat, in fact you stare at mommy and daddy when we eat. We introduced you to solid foods this month. You have had rice cereal, oatmeal, avocado and carrots and have loved every bite. You are very drooly but have been since 3.5 months so maybe you are teething but then again maybe you are just my drooly girl. You went to the aquarium for the first time this month with some of your twin friends (Lauklin and Harper) and were started in cloth diapers this past month. Your little toosh looks so cute in them :) You sleep so well and only cry for about 30 seconds when we first put you down. You are taking 2 naps a day that last 1.5-2 hours and then a little cat nap in the evening. We put you in bed at 9 and you wake up and eat your breakfast at 9. You are my joy and my sweet little girl. I love you.

Jack Henry,
You are the smiliest, most giggly, most joyful little guy and I can't get enough of your contagious happiness. You love to screech and make hilarious flirty faces and are just so darn sweet. You love to hold things and while not as nosey as sister, you love to look at things and check things out. You still only roll from your belly to your back, but once on your back, you like to just chill there and play. We started you on solids and I can't say that you are a fan. You do the best with cereals (rice and oatmeal) and you really do not care for the only foods you have had: avocados and carrots. You love to "stand up" while being held and you love to cuddle. This month you woke up once at night for several weeks but you have already stopped since the pediatrician told us to let you cry it out at night, you only had one night of crying and you are back to sleeping 12 hours. You cry for a very short time when we put you down to sleep and you are like momma... not a morning person. When you wake up you usually wake up fussy, but as soon as we come to get you, you are back to my happy little fella. You are just like sister and eat every 4 hours, starting and ending your day at 9 o'clock. You take 2 naps that are 1.5-2 hours long and a small cat nap in the evening. You went to the aquarium for the first time this month and you were my Valentine this month :) My heart melts over you  my sweet little 6 month old. Momma love you!