Allie in the South of Spain

We have survived three months!!!! I feel like we should get some kind of prize. Not that having these two adorable babies isn't a prize but having twins is tough. Having one baby is hard so two, you can imagine. This is the last month that Jose works late every day so I have been counting down the days until he is home at 300pm. Even if it isn't just to have an extra set of hands to help (which will be nice), I am looking forward to having another adult to talk to during the day. Because you can't have an update without a sleeping picture The girls are doing well. They are eating more and getting bigger. Vera weighs 4 kilos 600 grams and Laura weights 4 kilos 300 grams. We have had a lot fewer doctors' appointments but did get their vaccinations. Laura had her surgery at the beginning of the month and it went great. Her belly button looks good and she had no complications.  Staring intently  In the last month Vera and Laura have started responding a lot m...

Recently I asked my Facebook friends for suggestions for books to order for my girls and I got a lot of good ideas. Of course I remembered some of my favorites from my own childhood but was also looking for any new books that people have enjoyed reading with their kids. I have placed a few orders for books from Amazon and am discovering my preferences as a mom who will be reading and re-reading the same books over and over. Because of this, I have decided to create some posts here on my blog to review the books that I like and those that I don't (I have found that a lot of books that are considered classics really aren't that great). Maybe it will someday be a resource for other new moms looking to create a library for their baby. I love this book!!!! You need it in your life. The first book that I have chosen to write about is one that I had never heard of, I think because it might be British and might not be popular in the U.S.? But I LOVE it. Why did no one recommend ...

Last summer Jose and I did a bit of traveling even though we didn't leave Spain. July and August are unbearably hot in Seville and it is miserable to have to stay locally so we decided to get away for a while. I never actually wrote a blog post about the trip we took to Las Palmas in the Canary Islands for a week in August of 2015, so here it goes.  Las Palmas is the capital city on an island called Gran Canaria in this Spanish archipelago. After a two hour flight from Seville we landed in paradise where we stayed in a hotel right on the Canteras Beach which is famous for tourists. It was actually a lot less busy than I expected it to be which was nice. Our hotel wasn't anything fancy but it was separated from the ocean only by the long promenade or boardwalk which ran the length the beach and which we enjoyed strolling down in the evening. There were tons of restaurants and bars around us within walking distance. View from our hotel One thing we always enjoy doing wh...

This summer we are headed back to Michigan to see our family and friends! Yay! This means a trip which consists of three flights and almost an entire day of travel with our twinfants. No! The plus side of traveling with them at what will be four months old is that we don't have to pay for seats on the airplane. The down side being that they will be in our laps for lots of flight hours. I am seriously praying that they behave and don't cry the entire time. Hopefully they will sleep. Please let them sleep. For reals. Anyway, it will have been two years since we have been home by the time we get there this summer. That's a long time. To give you an idea, I have a niece who will be turning one who I haven't even met yet. There are a lot of positives about living abroad and the south of Spain is a beautiful place but often times it sucks because you miss big life events. Most recently has been a couple weddings for both family and friends. I hate it and adding little ones...

The last time we went to the neurologist we were told that we really needed to do lots of tummy time with the girls since they hadn't been lifting their heads when she did part of her examination. Luckily for us they don't exactly hate it (like I have heard from other people whose kids would just cry the whole time). They do tend to fall asleep though. I am hoping that this isn't a sign of things to come in terms of their development, hopefully they will catch up soon. It is interesting, however, to see changes over time. I am going to sort of ignore the milestones at this point but the best thing so far is seeing them both start to smile in reaction to us. Laura started first and now Vera will smile when she hears our voices or sees something she likes. It is enough to make your heart melt. We have also been wondering if our girls will have blue eyes or not. Their eyes are not the same color (surprise, surprise since they don't look anything alike). ...

I have to tell you that people lose their damn minds when they see a double stroller. I had heard and been warned from other twin moms that people would be curious, would make comments, would ask questions and would sometimes be inappropriate. I can now say that all of the above is true. Most of the time it doesn't bother me if people ask about or comment on my girls. I understand that twins aren't all that common (though right now it really seems like they are. It's one of those situations like when you have a new car and you look around and it seems everyone has that same car. For me that is what having twins is like: I see them everywhere!). What does bother me is when people go in to touch them. Please don't. This is especially annoying when we are at the hospital or at the doctor's office. I don't know why you are there or what disease you might be carrying. Don't touch my babies. Thank you. I realize this might make me seem overly protective but...

As promised in my last post I am here to explain and describe what a day in the life with twin babies looks like for us. To be honest there is lots of sleeping and eating but we do do other things as well. We haven't got a strict schedule (besides feedings), just some activities I try to incorporate into our day when I can.  I have mentioned before that the girls eat every three hours. That means eight bottles a day per baby which adds up to about 960 bottles over the past two months give or take. That is a lot of formula. Preemie formula is shockingly expensive so I was happy when we were able to switch to regular formula recently. With each feeding comes a diaper change plus some extra each day depending on how the babies' digestive systems are working. I will round off the diapers used to about a thousand. Luckily we started to buy diapers when we found out I was pregnant so we had a bit of a stash. Unfortunately since the girls were born so small we had to buy quite a fe...