MoM- uh dude you spelled it wrong in your title. Actually it’s an acronym for Moms of Multiples. The more you know! I never knew how much this acronym would come to mean to me. Living life with twins is a totally different world. So thank God for MoM friends, MoM groups, and MoM Facebook. I have learned so much from them; every day I find a new one I hope to be like.
There’s a mom who has her own business. In fact, between her and her husband, they actually have two! It’s pretty amazing! It really gives me hope that it is possible to do all the things even with twins! But on top of it all, she’s fair, and honest, and full of personality! I want to be like her and someday be able to GIVE the way she does. It’s amazing!
There’s another mom who is going through some hard stuff with one of her multiples: gender dysphoria. Actually there are a few of them. And it’s really hard to watch the comments on the posts she makes about it because no matter how supportive MoMs are, there’s always someone who’s gotta have their “say” on these posts. But I really wanna be like her: she embraces and loves her child, she’s the biggest advocate for them, and she goes above and beyond to make sure life can be as normal for them as possible even in a world who wants to make things uncomfortable.
There’s a mom who is so kind and positive. In fact, I’ve met her now! And she has wholeheartedly embraced me for all my own flaws and missteps. She has showed me that life with twins is fun, that art projects can definitely be done (every day!!!?!), and that kindness is definitely worth passing on. I wanna be like her and keep my personality, raise my kids, and stand up to the bullies with kindness the way she does!
There are so many MoMs I want to be like. And I am so thankful that’s there are such great ways to access the community! Whenever we have needed advice, or knowledge, or even hand me downs, MoMs are there for each other. It’s pretty dang awesome!
It’s 2020 already! I really don’t understand how the time has gone so quickly. It is pretty crazy!
In general, you are 10 months old now! We like to play in baby jail, we really love toys that light up and make noise, we like to throw books and chew on them, and we are really attached to our loveys.
Katherine, you were baby A, which means you were attach lower in my uterus. You have developed quite the personality. You like to yell, you’re crawling (mostly army crawling) all over the place. Your pacifier and your Lamby (lovey) are your favorite things! If your sister has a pacifier in her mouth, you have deemed this fair game for thievery! You are pulling yourself up on all the furniture and toys no matter how problematic. This means one of your other favorite things to do is when you wake up from naptime, you like to play peekaboo by yourself with the window curtain. Usually you do this without even making any noise so Mommy doesn’t even know you’re awake yet until she hears you laughing at yourself. You had quite the Christmas this year. You had a funky virus which meant we all spent Christmas day home together because you were throwing up all the things! You even had your first ER visit to stop the puking. It was pretty gross, but you did learn to cuddle while you were sick, so I cherish that. You give pretty good cuddles.
Elizabeth, you were baby B, which means you were attached higher in my uterus. You love to chatter! You really like Cookie Monster and you love your toast, with butter or peanut butter! If your sister is too close to you and can or does touch you, you like to let us know by yelling at her to get away. You haven’t quite figured out how to get around yet by crawling, but you sure do roll around to get where you want to go. You love your Bunny (lovey) but you still hate naps. You had a hospital stay in early December because your little body caught a virus and you had a double ear infection at the same time. We were there for 24 hours getting you some fluids and meds to feel better. It was the first time we all spent a night apart. And then to start off the new year, you’ve caught the common cold which has been a snotty-coughy-no-sleep nightmare. But through it all you laugh and smile because you’re such a happy baby (as long as Kitty Kat isn’t pushing you around!) You’re definitely an observer too! You like to watch things happen and take it all in. Which means, you’re a littttttle behind on crawling so we’re being proactive and going to physical therapy so that when Kat tries to get you, you’ll be able to get away on your own!
I’m going to try to write more often so we catch things a little better; I want to remember the first time you used the “more” sign at dinner (Bee you did this the other day!). I want to remember which foods you really like (TOAST and YOGURT BITES) and which foods you just spit out (EGGS… are you really my kids??) I know some great things have happened and there’s some really great things coming. Thankfully, Mommy and Daddy are getting a lot more sleep in general (much less when you’re sick though) lately so we’ve been able to catch up and relearn how to be good functional adults.
Currently, we are living in Great Grandma and Grandpa’s old house. We really love it here! It’s huge! We are working on locating the perfect house to purchase to make it our home. We hope it happens in the next year, but we’re in a really good place to bide our time!
Right now, we wake up around 6:30 (Mommy is usually up and moving like a Ninja before you!) and we have a bottle. We have breakfast at about 8:30, and take an hour nap at about 9:30. When you get up from nap, we have another bottle; usually this happens around 10:30 for Kat, but Bee, you make up your own schedule with this every day. Sometimes it’s 10 when you wake up, sometimes you refuse to nap and have a bottle at 10:30/11 and then decide that’s a good time to sleep. Goofy kid. Twins is hard guys! Let me tell you though, I wouldn’t have it any other way because watching you guys when you interact and have fun together, nothing is better. You really love it when Daddy holds both of you and dances. Your favorite song to dance to is “Un Poco Loco” from the movie Coco. You love the song… but not the movie!
You guys have so many nicknames! Mostly, Mommy calls you Stinky or Monkey. Individually, Katherine, we mostly call you Kitty Kat, or Kat. Sometimes we call you Katherine. You do respond to all of these, so that’s good! You don’t respond to these ones, but sometimes I call you Bully and Thief when you’re terrorizing your sister, and sugar bean when you’re being so sweet. Elizabeth, I really thought we would have more nicknames for you. Other people call you Lizzie or Bee, but mostly I just call you Elizabeth or Little Bit. Daddy does call you Bee though. Again, you respond to them all so you guys are sure smart! You don’t respond to these ones, but I call you Whiny and Cranky Pants sometimes too!
I’ll write again soon babies. It’s time for a lovey, a blankie, and a snuggle before nap!
I can’t believe almost 6 months has gone by. I keep meaning to write letters, but honestly I’m mostly just busy, sleepy, or just soaking up as much time and memories with you as I can. Here’s a quick recap:
March – Daddy was home with us! We learned how to breastfeed together, we dealt with baby reflux with Kitty Kat, Elizabeth’s constipation, and at the end of the month, we ventured out all together to church for the first time – and no one got sick!
Kat on left and Bee on right
April – Daddy was home again, hooray! We learned how to stick out our tongues, we were all a little more awake, had some fun cousin time, celebrated Easter, finally met Mommy’s grandparents, and sadly (Mommy cried a lot!) ended our breastfeeding journey. Mommy’s body needed extra energy to heal from the broken ankle and c-section so her body ended the journey on its own for all of us.
May – you guys were getting really cool here! You started to coo and make noises. You got so interactive!! Your baby shower happened this month, which was super fun! You got to be little celebrities for a bunch of family and friends. Mommy got to celebrate her first Mother’s Day: Daddy got us all a beautiful canvas print family photo and mommy got to have some mom-mosas. One day we will have those together but it’s a very long ways off.
At your shower, Auntie Maddie gave you the cutest onesies: “Sometimes when you wish for a miracle” & “You get two!”
June – we started venturing out more! We went to the cabin, out to eat with you guys, out for coffee!! We all went to a wedding where you guys were a hot commodity: between all the family there, you hardly spent any time in your stroller and you both just loved all the attention!
July – Kitty Kat rolled over!!! You did not like it at first. But you kept doing it! You also had your first ear infection, poor baby! Bee started using her hands and voice more. She figured out how to growl and it was so stinking cute! Your smiles kept getting bigger and more frequent and your laughs got so big! Toys and entertainment and sleep schedules started to become very important, especially because Daddy took a new job with more consistent hours and so the three of us had to figure out how to do a 1 parent 2 baby ratio during the week! Don’t worry, we nailed it… with only a modicum of tears and sleep loss.
Fourth of July at the cabin 🙂
August – Well we’re caught up! Halfway through August puts you guys at 5 and a half months old! So crazy, we’ve gone from counting weeks to counting months! Kitty Kat has decided she doesn’t want to spend time on her back anymore, so she’s working really hard on trying to sit up, bounce in the bouncer, and rolling from her back to her tummy! Bee has been working on her leg strength and wants to “stand” on everything! She wakes up in the morning talking to the baby camera, and never quits – you’re definitely mommy’s kid! We even did a little food testing so far with the blessing of our pediatrician. So far we’ve tried peas (yuck), green beans (ok this is better), and squash (yessss gimme!!!). This also means we’re experiencing new levels and types of poops! Oh get over it, moms talk about poops!
Well, we’re caught up! I ran into a friend who reminded me that if I don’t write some of these things down, I may not remember silly funny moments, and even if it’s just for me, I’m going to write more letters!
The Koep House 