My sweet baby girls,
Happy One Month Birthday!
I can’t get over the fact that you are one month old before you were
even supposed to be born! Every time we woke
up to feed you in the middle of the night last night, I thought about what a
big deal this is and where I was exactly one month ago, how much our lives have
changed since then, and how I wouldn’t want it any other way.
This first month has flown by. You spent almost the first two weeks of it in
the NICU, and I am so happy to say that you have now spent more time at home
than you did at the NICU. You both seem
very content at home most of the time.
The first couple of nights you were home, you weren’t too sure about the
flat cribs we were making you sleep in, but after a few nights, dad and I got
into the groove. We figured out that you
really love to be swaddled, but not too tightly(except for when you’re really
fussy!). You like your hands up by your
chest when you’re swaddled so that it looks like you’re saying a prayer. When we swaddle you up, we started saying
your prayers…”Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the lord my soul to keep. May
angels guide me through the night, and wake me with the morning light.” You always turn your heads to one side,
usually the one that is facing mom or dad.
You also really love to have a blanket over you—we tuck it into the side
of your co-sleeper crib so it can’t move and cover your face. The final piece to the puzzle is your sleep
sheep or gentle giraffe. We have one
attached to each crib, and they both make soft noises, and you love to have
those on when you go to sleep.- Daddy’s favorite sounds are the ones that make
him feel like he is camping!
Sometimes you wake up in the middle of the night, and all it
takes is for us to turn those on and you go right back to sleep. Each night we
switch which baby gets to sleep by dad or me since we have one crib on both
sides of the bed. For the most part, you
are such calm babies. Often, we will put
you in your beds and you will still be bright-eyed and awake, but you don’t
cry—you just look around until you fall asleep.
You both have two different pacifiers that you like, which is very
convenient for us because we don’t end up mixing your pacifiers up. (We haven’t
really decided on a nickname for the pacifier yet… sometimes we call it a paci,
I call it a binky, and dad calls it a ginky).
Both of you make some funny grunting noises in your sleep. I can sleep through them pretty easily, but
sometimes dad has a hard time. We think you have found your voices and just
like to listen to yourselves talk! Ever
since we figured out that “magic combination,” you very rarely wake up crying
in the middle of the night.
You eat on a three hour schedule around the clock. First, we change your diaper, then we feed
you. Right now you are eating 55ml of
milk at each feeding. Annabel is an easy
burper and has ripped some burps our family is very proud of. Sophia, you don’t burp as well, and sometimes
it takes you a lot longer to let one loose!
You are both VERY good eaters and finish all 8 of your daily meals with
no problem.
Sometimes, by the time we change your diaper, you are so
hungry that you scream! Sophia, you have
the funniest cry, and you have ever since you were born. When you cry, it sounds like you are saying
“eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh” or “no, no, no, no, no.” Annabel, when you cry, you SCREAM. There isn’t a little whimper for you; it’s an
all out “ahh!!” I think you are just
making up for not crying right when
you were born. It is very easy to tell your cries apart, so that really helps
mom and dad!
We started using cloth diapers about a week after you came
home from the hospital. Sophia, you are
still a little bit too small for the cloth diapers. You need to put some fat on those skinny
thighs because the extra small, newborn diapers are still way too big for you,
and it causes you to pee through them a LITTLE bit! Your sister, who is about a pound bigger than
you, has chubbier thighs, so the diapers fit her perfectly. So right now, we have one baby in cloth
diapers and Sophia is still in disposable newborn diapers. Hopefully we only have another week or so
with Sophia in her disposables! We also
use only cloth wipes now, which are actually very convenient (and save mom and
dad a lot of money! – Dad counts a quarter for each diaper J)
You spend the rest of your day sleeping, primarily. Between feedings, you will usually have about
20-30 minutes of awake time. During that
time, you like to lay under your play mat, be talked to, stare at the Christmas
tree, or sit in your bouncer. When you
get sleepy, you spend time in either your swing or Rock N Play. Sometimes you rest in your Pack N Play,
too. To be honest, though, you are held
by someone a good majority of the time!
Between having me and dad here and grandmas and grandpa and Aunt Lauren,
someone is always DYING to hold you!
You both look so different! You are both still tiny enough to wear newborn
clothes at one month old. As different
as you are, sometimes when you are wearing the same thing and you fall asleep,
you look very very similar! Annabel, you
are definitely your mom’s little girl.
You are nicely filled out, you have big, bright beautiful blue eyes and
a FULL head of blonde hair. Grandma
thinks you are going to have curly hair.
You have a little “stork bite” right in-between your eyes…it’s just a
little red patch, but from what I’ve read, that will probably go away. You have recently started staying awake a lot
more—when you’re awake, you love to stare at the Christmas tree! You have gained so much control of your head,
and you like to turn your head from side to side and look around. When you were first born, and for the first
few weeks of your life, you had a really hard time keeping your eyes open. You would try SO hard to open your eyes, but
you would always fall right back asleep.
Not anymore! I call you a lot of
different things—My Bell, AnnieB, Belly, Annie, Annie Bananie, and Annabelly. Daddy calls you Miss Bell. When
you were still in the NICU, I found a song by Don Henley called “Annabel.” It was stuck in my head for days and days
because one of the lines is “Sleep tight, Annabel. You can always count on me.” I repeated it over and over in my head when I
was going to sleep and would wake up with it in my head, too. Now I sing that
song to you, and only you! 
Sophia, you are definitely your dad’s little girl! You are teeny tiny, have a full head of dark
hair, and darker skin and eyes than Annabel (and mommy). You love to hold your hands together, and you
love to put your hands in your mouth and suck on them. It’s adorable! Just yesterday, you had your paci in your
mouth, and you brought both of your hands up to your mouth and actually looked
like you were holding it in! You have
really begun to love your seahorse that plays lullabies and glows. If you are fussy at all and we turn it on, it
only takes a few seconds to calm you down.
I call you my Sopapilla Margarita Burrito Peanut Baby. Clearly, your mom likes food. Sopapilla Margarita obviously comes from your
first and middle name, but I always think you look like a burrito all wrapped
up in your swaddle, and you are our little peanut in size. Speaking of peanuts, I sing the song “Found a
Peanut” to you (and only you, my little peanut) pretty much every day. That’s another thing that really calms you
down, which is surprising to me, because my voice is really, really bad. You are a very active little peanut, and you
love to kick your legs all over the place and Daddy thinks that means you will
hike giant mountains with him.
Dad loves to play with you and can’t wait until you can
interact a little bit more. I think
that (and sleep) are what he is most looking forward to in the coming months. I
love reading to you both, even if you occasionally sleep through it. A few days after you came home, I read you On
The Day You Were Born and teared up a little bit because I was so happy you
were home. Then, I read Wherever You
Are: My Love Will Find You, and oh my goodness, your mom cried and
cried! Don’t’ worry—they were happy
tears. Your mom is a little emotional
these days. It’s amazing how much my world has changed with the arrival of the
two of you. I feel like I see everything
differently now. I won’t even try to put
that feeling into words here because it’s impossible for anyone else to
understand or relate to until they become a mother themselves. You have also read You are My Miracle
and On The Night Before Christmas.
You celebrated your first Christmas this year! You had a lot of adorable outfits, and you got lots of little presents. In all honesty, you slept through most of it, but gosh you looked cute doing it!
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| Medley and Annabel |
You also got to meet your sister, Medley this month! She feeds you two bottles each morning, and
she likes to pick out your clothes for you, too! She has spent some time taking videos of you
and showing you her magic tricks. She
might be a little bit intimidated by how teeny tiny you both still are, but she
is doing a great job being a big sister!
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| Medley and Sophia |
Your other siblings, Mandy and Carlton don’t bother you at all. Mandy does a good job of protecting you and
will often sit right in front of wherever you are. She gets very concerned when one of you cries
and will come and sniff you.
Occasionally, she will even lick you, which is strange, because she
NEVER gives kisses to anyone else.
Carlton sniffs you a lot. Daddy
says it’s because you leave lots of little presents for him. Other than that,
he doesn’t bother you at all.
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| Pups looking over Annabel on Christmas |
For so many months, I wanted you both to grow, grow, grow
and get big and strong and healthy. Now
I just want time to stop for a little bit and have you stay teeny tiny for just
a little bit longer. You are just so
sweet and cuddly, and I love to hold you close on my chest. On the other hand, though, I can’t wait to
see what the next month brings…everyone is going to leave soon, and dad is
going to go back to work, so it will be just the three of us at home during the
day soon. I’m a little nervous about
that, but I know we will have a great time, and I will have a lot of new
memories to write about on January 28!
I love you more than I ever thought was possible. You are my little miracle babies.
Love,
Mommy
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