Emersyn & Mckinley: 1 Month

My precious baby girls are a month old! I can hardly believe it. Lucky for me, they’re still pretty small so I think I’ll feel like we’re in the newborn stage for a while yet. They still sleep for much of the day, but every day they’re awake for a little longer, and we’re absolutely in love with their sweetness.

{Emersyn Jaye}

Oh Emmy girl, you are a beautiful, happy baby, and usually have the most peaceful look on your face. You like to make lots of eye contact with Mommy and Daddy when we hold you close – we love looking into your beautiful blue eyes! You like to stretch your little arms and legs so that you can touch your sister when she’s near. You don’t mind tummy time, and after a few minutes will likely dose off right there on the floor. When you sleep at night, you like to be swaddled, but if your arms aren’t tucked in just right you’ll work and grunt until you wiggle them out. Then after a few minutes you’ll cry because you want them back in. This means Mommy and Daddy make lots of trips to your crib as you fall asleep to make sure you’re comfortable. When you wake up, you want to eat right away. Since birth you have been on breast milk, and Mommy usually puts it in bottles for you to drink. At this point, you are drinking between 3 – 4 oz at each feeding. Your good eating has resulted in a lot of growth this month! You were 4 lbs. 12 oz. when you were born, and now you’re 6 lbs. 3 oz! You are now 19 3/4 inches tall, which means you’ve grown 2 3/4 inches! This puts you in the 7th percentile for weight, and 40th percentile for height. Baby girl, we praise God for you every day, and love watching you grow. Thank you for blessing our lives in a way we never could have imagined!

{Mckinley Jo}

Sweet Mckinley, you steal our hearts every day. Your beauty amazes us, and your content temperament is such a help. You love to cuddle when you’re done eating, and we often wish we didn’t have to change your diaper after a feeding because you would snuggle in our arms forever. You like tummy time, and like to wiggle over as close as possible to your sister. You are a mover, which has been the case since you were in Mommy’s tummy when you would often flip back and forth from breach to head down. You love to flail your arms, and I usually leave them out of the swaddle until you’re just about ready to fall asleep, because then you like to be cuddled up again. You like to take your time waking up, and the same goes for eating. At this point, you usually eat between 2.5 – 3.5 oz of breast milk at each feeding. You’ve done a fantastic job eating and have grown a lot since you were born! At birth you weighed 4 lbs. 5 oz, and now you weigh 6 lbs. 0 oz. You were 17 inches when you were born and are now 19! This puts you in the 5th percentile for weight and 8th percentile for height. We love you dearly, and praise our Creator for the way he created you.

Sleep

We put the girls in their cribs for the night around 7:30pm, or whenever their feeding around that time is finished. We put them down while they’re drowsy, but not fully asleep. They sleep in their nursery, each in their separate beds. We make sure to shut the blinds and curtains so its dark and they start to associate darkness with nighttime. At this point, they are sleeping for 4 hour stretches at night. When one wakes up, I feed her and then wake up the other up so they eat at the same time and stay on the same schedule. If they wake up at the same time, which happens about half the time, Jake and I feed them together. During the day they sleep together in the bassinet setting of the pack and play, and eat every 2 1/2 – 3 hours.

Clothing

They are both still in premie clothes, although I think in a couple more weeks they’ll be out of them completely because their little bodies will be too long. They’ve started to wear a few of the newborn clothes that run smaller, but still drown in most of them.

First Outing

As recommended by the pediatrician, outside of doctor appointments we didn’t take the girls out of the house until after their due date (which was Wednesday). Since they’re so small we didn’t want to chance them catching something out in public, and as I’m finding people tend to flock to twins and touch them! Of course my mama bear instincts kick in, which is why I ordered these signs for their car seats to hopefully remind strangers to back off in a polite way.  Their first official trip out was to Uncle Joey and Aunt Madison’s house yesterday. They even offered to babysit all three kids for us while we ran out for a bit. Being a family of five is starting to feel like our new normal, and I feel okay going out when I have help. But I don’t think I’ll be taking all three out by myself for a while yet – being outnumbered is a little overwhelming!

Big Brother Baylen

After a full month with sisters, I think Baylen is starting to realize that they are here to stay. He is super sweet to them, but yet at some points still could care less and totally ignores them altogether. We captured a pretty funny moment this morning when he was chatting up a storm and imparting big brother wisdom to his sisters. I would give anything to know what he was telling them!

Thank you all for your continued prayers for our family. We know this journey is manageable because of your encouragement and support. As someone recently put it, it is twice the work, but also twice the fun! We praise God for giving us happy and healthy babies!

Sending lots of love from the Kuipers!

Amber

P.S. For more reflections on parenthood and life, follow us on Facebook (Hun Let’s Run) and on Instagram: @ambermariekuiper and @jakekuiper! We’d also love for you to subscribe to our Hun, Let’s Run Podcast! For more info about joining our fitness community as a customer or coach, please email us at amber@mommysmetime.com!