Happy First Birthday, Whitaker and Davis!!

Posted in Davis, Twins, Whitaker by Liz

Our sweet boys turn one year old today! It’s hard to believe just a year ago they came into the world as teeny preemies born six weeks early. I made this video looking back on their first year.

I’ll never forget their birth story. It was the most physically difficult day of my life, but the most joyous emotionally. After miscarriage, infertility and a hard pregnancy, my boys were here and healthy! The first time I held them it felt like after almost three years I could finally exhale.

This year has been a lot of work, no doubt, but I loved it all. The hard moments caring for two infants plus a four year old paled in comparison to the dark moments we faced trying to conceive them and then carrying them for nine months. There’s definitely something to be said about the hard times making you appreciate the good even more.

It also helps that these boys are FANTASTIC babies. Seriously, we got so lucky with these two. They are two of the most laid back, happy, curious, content babies I’ve ever been around. We had their first birthday party this weekend and everyone was amazed at how chill they were (even when mommy dresses them up and there’s 40 people in their house!).

Most of the time these boys pal around together, crawling side by side from one room to another getting into trouble. Some of their favorites are pulling down the curtain in our TV room, dumping the entire bucket of lego jrs onto the floor, pushing kitchen chairs around and standing at the gate trying to shake it open. I love that already they are inseparable.

Let’s hold hands, brother #batmantwins #twins #twinboys #twinmom #meltsmyheart #babyboy #10monthsold

A post shared by Liz Batman (@elizbatman) on Mar 26, 2017 at 6:54am PDT

On their own, they have very distinct personalities. Davis, despite being the smaller one, absolutely houses food at meal time. You can’t put food in front of this kid fast enough and usually he’s two handed shoveling it in. Meal time is definitely Davis’ favorite time!

How big is Davis?! #sobig #davisray #11monthsold #sweetboy A post shared by Liz Batman (@elizbatman) on May 4, 2017 at 5:19pm PDT

I think Davis enjoyed his cake! #davisray #firstbirthday #cakesmash #cincodemayoparty

A post shared by Liz Batman (@elizbatman) on May 6, 2017 at 11:21am PDT

Davis is super smiley and saves his biggest smiles for his sister. He loves to cuddle (I finally got a cuddler!!) and will nuzzle into my neck before bed while sucking his thumb. He’s a curious little cat and loves to go off and investigate the toys, turning each one over in his hand, banging it on the ground or chewing on it (always chewing!). Whitaker is a total boy in the sense that he is very physical, loud and silly. Wherever there is a loud BANG, you know Whitaker is nearby. He loves his bottle and is usually happy to let his brother steal food off his tray. While he’s not a cuddler, Whit is the most content when he’s being toted around on someone’s hip. He gets this hilariously smug look on his face like “heh heh I’m being carried and you’re not!”

Whit has taken to grunting when he wants something, like our attention, his bottle or a toy. His laugh cracks me up. It’s this deep, cackle like you’d hear on an old man. The quickest way to get a smile or laugh out of him is to pretend to bite his belly. I absolutely love this kids personality.

This boy has the gruntiess laugh. I just love it! #whitakerJohn #babylaughs #myheart

A post shared by Liz Batman (@elizbatman) on Nov 16, 2016 at 5:34pm PST

Being a twin mom is seriously so amazing. I’m glad I get to experience this unique version of motherhood. I’ve become a much more relaxed mother since having twins. When you have two infants, you just have to let go of little worries like schedules, routines, milestones etc. Since my time is filled to the brim caring for these children, I’ve learned to savor moments and to be more present when it matters. I like this version of myself as a mom very much.

The first year with twins is absolutely insane, but also incredibly fulfilling. I thank God every day for blessing us with these two souls. I know how lucky I am to be their mother and I can’t wait to see who they become.

Happy birthday boys! Mommy, Daddy and Lila love you so much. Thank you for bringing so much joy, laughter and peace to our family.

12Feb2017

Life In the Fast Lane

Posted in Davis, Lila, Liz's Life, Twins, Whitaker by Liz

Oh me, oh my. It’s been far too long since I’ve sat down to blog. It seems life is moving so quickly and each moment of my day is filled to the brim with caring for babies, giving Lila my attention, working, exercising and trying my best to be a present wife, friend, daughter and sister.

Sadly, time for blogging has been hard to come by.

Beyond being busy busy, life has been really good lately. Our boys are now nine months old (!!!) and getting cuter and cuter by the day. They’re crawling all over the house, eating solids like bottomless pits and letting their personalities show.

Davis may win the award for World’s Happiest Baby. The dude seriously just smiles all day long, giggles when you just look in his direction and seems to absolutely love life.

A great example of how chill Davis is happened today. We drove 3 hours home from visiting Luke’s parents and unbeknowngst to any of us, Davis was sitting on top of five of Lila’s mini, plastic My Little Ponies the whole time. You never would have known little plastic toys were digging into his back based on how quiet and happy he was!

Whitaker in contrast is a little beef ball. If he does not like something, he will LET YOU KNOW IT! He exudes personality and goes from giggling, to yelling, to crying and back to giggling all within minutes. He’s very physical and is usually crawling into every nook and cranny of our first floor just checking things out.

Whit is a serious little baby and you can tell he’s thinking, thinking, thinking constantly. He’s also very vocal and is always blabbering to us. He is judicious with his smiles, so when you get one, you know it’s really special.

The boys are starting to show that special twin bond. Just recently they’ve started smiling and giggling at each other. They still mostly play next to each other, but occasionally I’ll see them playing together – usually in the form of crawling on top of each other, pulling each other’s hair, or stealing a toy.

Lila seems to be maturing so much these days. She’s morphing into a little girl and I couldn’t be prouder of her.

I was worried how things would go once the boys were here and my time was split into thirds when she was used to having it all for 3.5 years. If anything, I think this change has been very positive for her.

She’s learned to entertain herself, be more patient if I’m busy and become very self-sufficient. The other day I was so impressed when she saw I was busy with the boys and got her art cart out to do art on her own for an hour.

She’s gotten really into playing make believe and every day for our “play time together” we play barbies. I’m usually the little girl and she’s the mommy or babysitter. We play out little storylines that usually seem to intersect with what’s actually happening in her life. It’s a special time for the two of us and I love getting a glimpse into how she perceives her world.

Almost every day we play barbies together while I pump. I love hearing her made up songs and little storylines. #lilakate #barbies #4yearsold #mommyandme #mybestbud #pretendplay

A video posted by Liz Batman (@elizbatman) on Dec 23, 2016 at 6:58pm PST

We’ve been fortunate enough to find two great babysitters who watch the kids two afternoons a week while I work, and for date nights. Those first six months with the twins were all-consuming, so it feels good to get some time away to focus on my career and time with my main squeeze.

I’m not going to lie, there are times when I feel like our life is so hectic and chaotic I’m not sure how we get through the day. On the good days, when everything goes according to plan, I catch myself thinking “twins are not so hard!”

But when one gets sick, or Luke has to travel, or things get out of whack, I can feel like a chicken with it’s head cut off. Like I’m just running around attending to someone’s needs every minute of the day. On those days I’ve found some good ice cream and talking with Luke about our life brings my perspective back in line.

Life certainly is an adventure with these kids. It’s hilarious, frustrating, joyous, difficult, unrelenting and satisfying all at once. Through the ups, downs and very full days, I take solace knowing that being their mother is exactly what I’m meant to be.

10Nov2016

We Survived 6 Months!

Posted in Davis, Lila, Twins, Whitaker by Liz

When I was pregnant and met other twin moms, they mostly said the same thing, “Get through the first six months and it gets much easier.” Well I’m excited to say that the boys are officially six months old and we’re all still kicking!

These past six months have been some of the craziest I’ve ever experienced. It started with a hospital stay for me due to preeclampsia, the boys being born six weeks premature and a month long NICU stay. Flash forward to today, and we have two healthy, thriving boys, a content and curious almost-four-year-old and a lot more sleep all around.

Here are some six month stats for the boys:

Whitaker has always been the bigger of the two, and now weighs in at 15 lbs 2 oz or 14th percentile. He is 26.7 inches tall or 58th percentile. For a preemie, it’s great that he’s even on the scale, let alone above 50th percentile. He eats a TON. The boy will put down 7-8 ounces like it’s nothing. He just started eating solid food and is loving it so far.

His play routine involves:

1. playing with a toy on his back for a few minutes

2. Rolling to his stomach

3. Realizing he still cannot figure out how to roll back

4. Screaming in frustration until I put him in “baby time out,” which is his rock n play with a toy

When he’s not locked into this routine, Whit tends to be a very happy, smiley and grunty baby. Yes, grunty. This boy is always sniffing and snuffing and generally making monster-like noises. He’s our little meatball.

Davis is our small guy. He’s just 13 lbs 4 oz or 1st percentile for weight. For height he is 25.3 inches or 8th percentile. If he was my first baby I may be worried about his size, but Lila was exactly the same. In fact, even being a full term baby, Lila weighed less than a pound more than Davis at six months. Now she’s 97th percentile for height! Besides, they say preemies typically don’t “catch up” to the scale until age 2.

Davis continues to be going for the world record for the World’s Easiest Baby. This boy is all sweetness and happiness and ease. He flashes me the biggest smiles and full on belly laughs at just about anything – especially his sister.

Davis thinks his big sister is HILARIOUS! #davisray #lilakate #siblinglove

A video posted by Liz Batman (@elizbatman) on Nov 9, 2016 at 1:57pm PST

Davis rolls both ways, likes playing with toys and going for walks. Mostly this guy likes just about anything you throw at him. The only times he gets upset is when his brother rolls on top of him, or his bottle gets temporarily “borrowed” to calm his hungry (loud) brother first. :)

One the biggest challenges and victories for me these past six months has been my journey breastfeeding twins. Since the boys were in the NICU at first, they were exclusively on bottles. I started off exclusively pumping and thankfully had a great supply.

I worked my butt off those first 12 weeks to transition the boys from bottles to nursing. It took a lot of practice, five trips to a lactation consultant, lip tie revision for both boys, a bout of mastitis and a LOT of frustration, but we finally got there. I had a lot of support from my sister who pushed me to keep trying in the early days when I wanted to give up.

Now both boys do a mixture of bottle feeding and nursing depending on the day. They have been exclusively on my breastmilk since they were three days old. Producing enough milk for twins (60 ounces a day!) is a pretty crazy undertaking for my body, so I’m proud to have accomplished this goal. I couldn’t have done it without the support of Luke who always helped me make it a priority to pump or nurse.

The boys are both sleeping from about 8pm – 6:45 am, which has drastically improved the quality of our lives. I don’t do well being sleep deprived. It took my body quite awhile to learn how to sleep longer than a few hours at a time once they slept through, but I’m finally starting to know what feeling rested is like again.

People often ask me if having twins is totally crazy. I tell them yes, and no. There are moments where everything is chaos and I feel like we live in the circus, but there are also moments where I feel like we manage very well and that having twins isn’t THAT much more work than having one baby. It helps a lot to have a very involved partner and supportive friends and family.

At the end of the day I wouldn’t have life any other way. Raising twins is such a unique experience and a total blessing. These boys are the perfect complement to our family.

19Jul2016

Update: Life With Two Month Old Twins

Posted in Lila, Liz's Life, Twins by Liz

The boys are 2 1/2 months old and time has been absolutely flying! The days tend to blur together and the minute to minute tasks at times are mundane, but overall we are loving life as a family of five.

It’s times like now that I am so grateful that both Luke and I work from home. The flexibility allows us to juggle work, babies, and even squeeze in a bit of personal time. They say it takes a village and that couldn’t be more true for us right now! We hired our next door neighbor’s daughter to help us transition through the summer three days a week, Lila attends school in the afternoons and my moms comes by regularly to help out.

Sleep has been hit or miss around here.

Luke and I each take a baby at night to lessen the burden on one of us. Typically Davis will sleep from 10:30 pm – 4:00 am and then back down until 7 or 8. Whitaker is a bit more unpredictable. Some nights he’ll sleep the same at Davis with one wake up, and others he’s up three or more times.

Breastfeeding has been challenging to say the least. For the first 8 weeks Whitaker could not latch at all and Davis could about one out of every eight attempts. It was incredibly frustrating. I saw multiple lactation consultants with not much help, until I decided to take them to a pediatric dentist to be evaluated for lip and tongue tie. Turns out both had rather severe lip ties preventing them from latching correctly. We had that revised via laser and after a very fussy few days, both boys were able to latch. Here’s Whit in a milk coma.

Davis is a nursing pro by now, but Whitaker still has some issues. Specifically he clicks a lot when nursing and loses suction. So back to another lactation consultant we go! Thankfully my supply has been ample so I have been able to pump and bottle feed them exclusively with breastmilk. But I will say pumping, bottle feeding AND practicing nursing with twins is a heck of a lot of work.

Lila has been a very sweet big sister. Her “jobs” include playing with the babies during their awake time, putting pacifiers back in little mouths and fetching diapers. She loves being around the babies … sometimes a little too much. We are working to teach her about boundaries and how babies like to be touched. Her favorite time is when the babies join us in her bed for bedtime books and stories.

We have become hermits this summer, spending most of our days at home. Going for a neighborhood walk feels like all the work I’m willing to tackle in a day! These boys like their routine at home and we’re slowly figuring each of them out.

Davis is a super chill guy. He is my trick baby. Meaning if I didn’t know better, I would think based on his behavior that all babies are easy! He doesn’t cry much and is generally happy. He makes these cute sounds like a goat when he’s trying to get our attention like “Um, hey guys? I’m a little displeased about something over here. Do you think you could come help me? Not right now? Oh okay.” That’s how he earned his nickname Goat Boy (aren’t we nice??).

Whitaker is a bit spicier. He goes from zero to a hundred in two seconds flat and he is a strong boy! He’s a full pound and a half bigger than Davis and very muscular for a baby. Luke jokes that when I got steroids in the hospital that they all went to Whitaker, which is why he’s so strong and angry. We call him meatball.

In terms of milestones, the boys are so close to smiling. I can just tell it’s going to happen soon. Otherwise, Whitaker about made me fall over the other day when he decided to roll over from his belly to his back multiple times. Like dude, slow down! You’re about two months early for that one.

Check out my new trick, guys! #whitakerjohn #2monthsold #34weeker

A video posted by Liz Batman (@elizbatman) on Jul 12, 2016 at 8:37am PDT

Life has already changed so much since these boys were born. We are exhausted, covered in spit up and recluses, but honestly I’ve never been happier.

After going through our struggle to have more children, everything about caring for these babies – down to changing a poopy diaper – gives me complete joy. I know just how lucky I am to call them mine.

Many thanks to Luke’s talented cousin Carissa for coming to Toledo to take family photos! If you’re in the Indianapolis area, please consider booking Carissa Hawkins Photography for your newborn, family or maternity photos.

A Batty Life

Finding My Way Through this Crazy World

Category Archives: Twins

Happy First Birthday, Whitaker and Davis!!

Life In the Fast Lane

We Survived 6 Months!

Update: Life With Two Month Old Twins