Fiesty Babies

Our twins are sassy and have quite the personality!!  They are very demanding, especially when it comes time for feeding.  The second they see the bottle inside the other baby's mouth, the other one immediately hops over and tries to grab it away.  So greedy!  If you're trying to take a nap, they come over and hit you on the head.  But who cares.. they're still cute!  I can't imagine what they're going to be like 10 years from now when they're in school...

Leo: "I love wearing this around my head..."

"What?! You're taking a picture?!?"

They like to stick together.  Whenever one baby crawls away, you can be sure that the other one is following right behind him!!

Max.  It's hard being a baby... so exhausting.

Ladies man

Nursing Strike!

NURSING STRIKE: when babies refuse to breastfeed and keep saying "no more breastfeeding, no more breastfeeding!"  .... or according to kellymom.com, "when babies abruptly stop nursing." 

I have been reading a lot that babies rarely wean themselves from breastfeeding before they are one year old.  Well, our twins must be that small exception that does stop breastfeeding, unfortunately.  Why does this happen?  Such a tragic event!

Breastfeeding the past 5 months has been such a rewarding and uplifting experience.  Since I pretty much am not able to get either baby to nurse, I can now say that I regret not trying harder to breastfeed more often in the past.  Perhaps it was mostly due to poor latching...which eventually led to frustration and a decrease in nursing sessions until I was feeding them with the bottle 98% of the time.  I feel very sad that the babies never try to breastfeed or anxiously look for the breast when they're hungry (which they used to do all of the time!).  All of a sudden, one day, I tried breastfeeding them and they immediately cried and arched their backs as if it was pure torture.

I have read on other forums that this is called a nursing strike and it commonly occurs around 4-6 months.  This is the time when babies are going through new phases, such as crawling, eating solids, becoming more conscious of everything around them, talking, grabbing things, etc.  Who wants to be forced to stay in one position and eat when they can go explore and try out all of these new things they're experiencing?!  I have also read that it is just a nursing strike and the baby will go back to breastfeeding eventually if you keep trying.

The only time I am successful at breastfeeding is when they have already fallen asleep (almost) while drinking the bottle.  I'll do a quick switch and trick them and sometimes get them to nurse.  I'm successful 10% of the time.

I guess the only thing moms can do when facing this bump in the road is to be proud and thankful for the time they had in the past with breastfeeding.

Something I have also realized is that consuming large amounts of chocolate may lead to a more fussy, crying baby if you feed him/her your breast milk.  This is from personal experience.  So I try to not eat chocolate if I know I'm going to attempt to breastfeed that day.  I have read that your diet can consist of only M&M's and this would NOT affect your breast milk.  Well, I always feel the babies cry more than usual on days when I eat chocolate.

So, hopefully this is just another phase that the twins are going through and that it will pass.  Kellymom.com states that "self-weaning is almost never abrupt."  Let's hope it's true!  I will update this post in the future!!

6 Months - Solids!

SO much has happened in the past couple months and there are TRULY not enough hours in the day.  The twins have been trying to "hop" (can't crawl yet) and they just started eating solids a couple days ago.  I've decided to make all of their solid food rather than buying it at the store.  It's going to be a big commitment, but I hope to stick to it!  It's not that commercial baby food is necessarily bad, it's just that homemade baby food is more fresh and I know exactly what goes into it.  To start off, I'm feeding them brown rice cereal.  So easy to make!  The first time they weren't so sure about it, but the second time, they actually open their mouths eagerly... even though 90% of it spills out since they don't know to close their mouths!

If you're interested in making baby cereal, brown rice is a great first choice since it's more nutritious than white rice (wholesomebabyfood.com).  

1. Grind the rice so it's a fine powder.

2.  Store in an airtight container until you're ready to use it.

3.  Boil 1 cup of water and add 1/4 c. rice powder gradually, stirring constantly.

4.  Simmer for 10 minutes, while stirring.  

5.  Add formula or breast milk to desired consistency.  

Since I like to make it fresh, I usually just boil about 1/2 c. water and add a few tablespoons of rice powder.  I was told by the doctor to keep doing this for about a month, and if they still spit out most of it, add a little fruit to it to sweeten the rice up!

My mom got me some Gerber BPA free baby spoons that are great.  They're rubber coated and small enough to fit in their mouths.

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They also have been chewing on everything!  Sometimes I feel like I have two new puppies!!  I am happy to say that they are now able to say mom!  Well, technically it's "mom" in korean... eomma, or oma.  So everytime they cry, I always hear "eommmmmaaaaaaa"!

We put Leo in the Pampers diaper box.



I went to grab a diaper for 2 seconds and Max was already trying to get away.



Leo... and cartoon Leo



Their favorite toy right now is probably this elephant.  It plays a melody if you press it and it's the only thing that will stop them from crying!  I found Max asleep like this hugging the elephant :)



Max, again, sleeping and smiling... must be dreaming about an unlimited supply of milk to drink!



Max was hiding behind this blanket.  Looked like a ninja baby ready to attack!



Max (left), Leo (right)



They are starting to fall asleep on their backs more now.  Leo passed out in a mound of blankets.



Whenever we feed them, they insist on holding the bottle.  See below for example :



Leo was jealous watching Max hold the bottle all by himself.



Leo sucking his thumb.  Two brothers looking at each other.



Max fell asleep after I put him in his bear coat.  They no longer fit into these coats, unfortunately.  So sad.



I caught Max attacking/playing with Leo!