these days

 it's been raining a lot lately and while we use the time in between rain to go outside, we are spenging a lot of time inside at the moment...

-driving around with the Bobby Car

-drawing

 -playing and building with the wood blocks

-or the bigger blocks

-reading

 - or playing with the wood puzzles

First Frost

It was half past ten last night when I let the dogs out in the garden to do their business before we all tucked in for the night. I noticed the grass had turned crispy slightly and the air was crystal clear. I figured it was going to be cold night, and with the way the grass crunched underneath my feet, I figured we most likely would get frost too.

Waking up this morning confirmed my thoughts from last night. The first slight frost was upon us. The boys and me wrapped up and went for a walk in the late hours of the morning. It was kind of foggy but you could see that the sun was waiting behind all the fog. The air was clear and not many people about. Me met Zoe and her mom on our walk, they went to see the horses too. Now it is time to finish the alst work in the garden before everything is tucked in and away for winter.

Hello November

 I have been quiet on the blog lately. But I had so little time to go online in the last few month. The boys have finished changing their daytime routine and right now it suits us. They are down to one nap per day, which they take roughly at 11:30am (depending on when they get up (they might go down at 11am instead). They go to sleep very quickly (like 5-10 minutes) and after that I have an hour and a half min to get some work around the house done. At the moment we are still spending lot's of time outside. It's still ok weather wise and not too wet.  

There is still lot's too do in the garden. I set a temporary play are up in the garden, so I can get some work done but then we had too much rain, to get much done. 2/3 of the garden are done and the blackberries are trimmed back already. Some trees need some cutting still but the major concern is to get the last 1/3 of the garden ready for winter. Anything else is a bonus in my eyes.

My dog has been poorly once again. She had a cyst or tumor on the base of her ear and had an operation last week to remove it. It looks ok so far but we are still waiting for the results. The boys and me took some fall pictures on the one day that it was possible (between rain the previous days and all leaves gone the next day). The dog in the picture is my friends dog. We also celebrated Omi's birthday and spend time inside playing with blogs and reading books. Both boys love their picture books and it's usually the first thing they will get.

BBQ

Today we had the first BBQ of the season. My brother was manning the BBQ while the boys loved being out exploring the garden. The weather was warm and sunny with a blue sky. The food was great and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. 

Pretty May

I absolutely love how May seemed to have changed everything. Last week it was April, it was cold, rainy and grey, temperatures were just above freezing and the wind was chilling. Today we have May and everything seems so green, sunny and full of life.

It has been a warm day today. After we spend the morning taking Omi food-shopping, the afternoon was spend in the garden. When they woke up from their nap we went outside and just enjoyed the sun. It became too hot too quick for us, so we went back inside and while Omi watched the boys, I cut the grass before went on our late afternoon walk. 

The boys were tired from today, so they are asleep since 18:30 already and I am cleaning the kitchen and sorting out the freezer after I de-frosted it last night.  

So how is your start into May>

6 month

On Friday my boys turned 6 month already. They are still (usually) happy babies. They get more and more agile, turning from stomach to their back (and back in Niki's case) and trying to somehow move forward. Their head control is pretty good but no attempts yet to sit unsupported.
Nik has his first two teeth, which he got without problems when he was 5 month and 3 days old. His gums are swollen though and seeing how fussy he is at the moment I think more are on it's way.
Jake has no teeth yet, he is struggling for the past 2 month already and still nothing but swollen gums and pain. I feel really sorry for him as there is not much to do to help him.

Size wise they are wearing cloth size 68 right now and I will know more on their size in 1,5 weeks when we see the Doctor for the 'U5'.

We still go out twice a day, and in that time they usually have a 1 hrs nap. They also have a nap after lunch time, which is usually around 2 hrs (sometimes half and hrs more sometimes half an hrs less). 

I still don't get too much done around the house with them but it gets better and I can now leave them in the living room for some time, while I potter around the living room or kitchen.

Nights are ok, Jake is waking up 1-2 at the moment due to his teeth but goes back to sleep pretty quickly after he has his bottle. Nik nurses throughout the night when he is hungry but rarely wakes up now (he usually nurses about 2-3 times for a few minutes). 

So all is pretty good here :)

A day in the life of a SMC of twins

My twin boys Niklas and Jacob are 9 weeks old now and I figured it would be interesting to post about a day in my life as a Single Mom by Choice. In a few month I will post another day, just to see how things are going or have changed.

It's 0:30 and Jacob is waking up and wants a feed. I change his diaper and prepare the bottle, he is not happy  and crying that it takes so long, yet he is still half asleep. While I am feeding Jacob, Niklas wakes up, he usually waits patiently when this happens for his turn but not today. I stop feeding Jacob to change Niklas and grab my nursing pillow to tandem feed them. When Jacob is finished I swaddle him, he is falling asleep within minutes, so I lay down with Niklas to continue to nurse him. We both fall asleep over this.

I wake up at around 3am and figure I might as well put my breast away now that Niklas is sleeping, turns out he was not as deep asleep as I thought and he starts to stir, so I quickly put the boob back in and he is back asleep and so am I. To be honest I feel very contend and peaceful when nursing and love the feeling.

At around 5:15am Jacob stirs and wakes up. I prepare him another bottle and change his diaper, Jacob used to refuse the breast and we are just now getting there that he is latching on but during the night he still gets the bottle, while I increase the milk supply. He is finished and I swaddle him again. I get up and put the diapers in the washing maschine (05:35am). When I get back Niklas stirs, so I change his diaper and then nurse him until he falls asleep at 06:15am. There is no point in going back to sleep, so I get up and make breakfast (fresh eggs, sausage, bread) and enjoy an early morning cuddle with the dogs.

At 7am my mom comes over to look after the boys while I take the dogs for a quick walk. We are back by 7:20am as Lily doesn't walk very far nowdays, I feed the dogs and the quickly go to the garden to harvest some lettuce and red onions for my lunch salad. Afterwards I have a second cup of tea and enjoy a few minutes of solitude while the boys are still asleep. 

07:45am the peace didn't last and Niklas is waking up. I lay down with him and cuddle & nurse him for a few minutes, what a nice way to wake up. Jacob stirs about 10 minutes later and I repeat the process of cuddling & nursing with him. 

 
08:05 am I set up the play mat & let the boys play to wake up. While they play I sort out their cloth. They have outgrown their current bodies and I sorted them out and out the next size up in the wardrobe, I also hang up the diapers and put the baby cloth in the washing maschine. 

 

By 8:50am they have played enough and they get cranky, so I wash & feed them and by 10am we head out for a walk in the pram. I looks as though it might rain, so we just go on a small round (meaning about an hour walk), I meet some people and stop to chat for a while. I enjoy those walks out in the country and work on my to do list in my head. Today I am working out all the things I need to do in order to raise meat rabbits again. The big question is still if I get a doe this fall or wait till spring.

We get home around 11am and after a quick diaper change, I nurse of them, while the potatoes are boiling on the stove. At 12pm Jacob is asleep but Niklas is still awake. I put him in the carrier, transfer the potatoes to the oven and head outside to hang up the washing. I have lunch at 12:30pm (port sausages, salad and crashed rosemary potatoes) and afterwards lay down with Niklas, who falls asleep with me.
I didn't get a chance to actually sleep for more then 10 minutes and Jacob is awake and crying. I nurse him but he wakes up Niklas anyway, so I grab both boys & we go for another walk in the pram. This time we go in the woods and to a nice park in the close by town. It takes me 30 minutes to walk there at a leasurley pace and we walk through the park and watch the ducks at the lake. There is some shade and especially when it's hot like this afternoon, I love going there, plus the boys sleep well in the pram.

We get home shortly before 4pm & after another diaper change both get something to eat. I hear the doorbell and my old neighbor is coming for a visit. Vera used to live in the house next door and I have known her since I was a little girl. She was in hospital and now wanted to meet the boys. Together with my mom we sit in the bedroom chatting for nearly 1.5 hours, in between the boys play on the play mat or nurse.

It's 5:30pm and Jacob and Niklas both fell asleep or so I thought. By 6pm they are both awake again and need their night time feeding(they usually get their evening meal between 6pm-7pm). It takes about an hour for Jacob to finally fall asleep and Niklas eventually followed him at 7:30pm. Bed time usually takes an hour till an hour and a half but now they are out until about midnight and I have some time for myself.

7:30pm, I do the dishes & bottles that have piled up in the sink, I make myself a cup of tea and have a quick dinner (sandwich). I call the dogs in from the garden and they get their evening meal. I walk through the garden to see if anything needs harvesting right now. I have read about calendula last night and since I have some in the garden, I harvested some and set them up to dry.



By 08:15pm I catch up quickly on my e-mail and the blog world. I want to try and be in bed by 9pm tonight and not 10pm like the last few day but there is still some things to do, like putting a parcel together to return the items I had ordered.

It's 9pm now, I just finished writing this post, I will wrap up the parcel & then head to bed.

5 things

1. I spend Saturday morning meeting up with my friend Nicole. I had the boys with me of course and we spend a couple hours just chatting. It was so nice to get out and have grown up conversation and just hang out and enjoy each other company. That's definitely something I need to do more often.

2. the boys are two month old today. I can't believe how quick time flies, it feels just like yesterday that I brought them home from the hospital.

3. Time is something that I don't feel I have right now. At least not time to sit down and do nothing or have me time. During the day I am pretty much on demand there for the boys (and I don't mind, I love them to bits), the few minutes in between that I have, I either try to do something in the garden or do the dishes, or eat something myself or spend five minutes with the dogs. In the evenings I am usually just able to wash the dishes before I either fall asleep with the boys or with the dogs. I know this will change one day (or so I hope)

4. I go out for a walk with the boys daily. We usually spend around 2-4 hours outside, them in the pram and me walking. Out daily walk usually takes us out in the nature around the village or towards the Osterbergsee. Being the introvert that I am I love those daily walks and get a lot of energy back that way.

5. I have tickets to see Jesus Christ Superstar in August and can't wait, hope I will be able to actually leave the boys alone with my mom for those 2-3 hours in the evening

Being a SMC of twins

Well let me tell you, right now being a SMC of twins is tough. Oh don't get me wrong I love the two of them so much and would not trade them for anything in the world but it's a lot of hard work and most days I am just exhausted. My life consists of feeding babies, changing diapers, washing and sterilizing bottles once a day, getting babies to sleep and start all over again. If I do have 5 minutes, I grab something to eat, or try to check my e-mail on the phone. At the moment it's rare that I actually get to spend time like I do now on the PC.

To be honest the nights are actually easier then the days. At night both Niki and Jake have a 2.5 to 4 hour rhythm in which they sleep before they need feeding. Niki is pretty easy, he latches on while we are both in bed and often the two of us fall asleep that way. Jake is more difficult, he still has not truly figured out how the milk bar works and at night it's more difficult to get him to latch on, so he often gets a bottle instead. We have figured out the position for that too now, with me either half laying/half sitting and him on my chest, or if by some twist of fate they both get hungry at the same time, he will lie next to Niki and I will hold his bottle to feed him and Niki is next to me drinking away at the milk bar.

During the day I sometimes manage to get them to latch on at the same time (thanks to My Breastfriend) or I feed them after each other or my mom helps out and gives one of them the bottle, mostly Jake as Niki refuses the bottle. I do have enough milk at the moment and if Niki is drinking on his own, I often pump at the other side and have Jake's  next meal ready.

After that it's sleep time and that's the biggest problem during the day. Jake just doesn't want to sleep and keeps himself up by all means possible. The only way for him to fall in a deep sleep is by laying on my chest. This means I don't get anything done. He is too small for the baby carrier still and I am still figuring out how to put him in a wrap, so we only do this for short times. Niki is fine going to sleep during the day most of the time, if not he gets an additional boob to nurse to sleep or a cuddle and he is gone to sleepy land.  

I know it will get better eventually and right now despite me being exhausted I love being a mom. I love bonding with them and I am getting tired of hearing that I am spoiling them by letting them sleep on me or in my bed, or by not letting them cry, so they learn. Well they don't need to learn, they need to know Mommy is there for them if they need me.

me & Niki

Niki & Jake

Jake