Dear Scarlett & Rowan – 5 Month Old Twins

Dear Scarlett & Rowan,

Another month of standing in awe of you as you grow too quickly for my liking! This month was one of the hardest yet as you both (mostly Rowan) faced the 4 month sleep regression and your 4th mental leap . Your dad and I are super tired, but luckily starting to come out of it now.

It’s been wonderful watching your distinct personalities blossom. Scarlett, you are incredibly talkative – you babble on for long period of time and make kind of squealing noise when you’re vocalizing. You’re super smiley – if anyone makes eye contact with you, you light up! Your sister makes you laugh the most easily and it’s the sweetest sound! You love milk, but aren’t very interested in nursing so we rarely do it these days unfortunately. You’re great at tummy time and are now able to way up on your hands and get your belly halfway off the ground. You will let go and go straight into a superman pose – I feel like you’re going to be crawling before we know it! You roll all over the place and usually aren’t even close to where I set you down by the time you’re done playing. You are a great sleeper – although you regressed slightly this month, it wasn’t too bad and you’re back to sleeping through the night (11 hours or so) again.

Rowan, you’re the sweetest baby. Your smile is contagious and you are quick to smile. You started laughing this month and it’s adorable! You don’t laugh as often as your sister which makes it even more precious when you do. You’re a little more sensitive to noise or the cries of your older sister than Scarlett. The wonder week leap and the sleep regression hit you hard- you were more moody, cried more and woke up a lot more this month. Some nights you were up as many as 4 times, but most nights it was 1-2 times (when it coincided with Scarlett AND Siena waking up, we had some very rough nights!). In the last week or so we’ve put both you and your sister on more of a routine and you’re both sleeping better – you’ve slept though the night half the nights this week so I feel like we’re making progress. You still love to nurse in the night or in the early morning and since you’re often the one to wake up first in the morning, you and I get extra cuddle time in bed while you eat. You’re super mobile on the play mat and always end up across the room.

Our new sleeping schedule has made my life a lot easier. You’re now on a solid 3 nap a day schedule. The main focus of our schedule is not the clock itself, but instead the time between naps (2 hour max) and you take most of your naps in your cribs, with the white noise on, with Scarlett in your Merlin Suit and Rowan in a sleep sack with arms out. Rowan loves to sleep on her side or belly and Scarlett sleeps like a rock in her little marshmallow suit. You’re both really good nappers and generally nap 1.5 hours or longer – I try not let you go over 2.5 hours and sometimes have to wake you! I’ve also started waking you and putting you down within 15 minutes of each other so that you’re on the same schedule all day (I’ll write a full blog post on sleep soon!) with has helped tremendously with my ability to get work done throughout the day.

You both love to be talked to, sung to, read to and played with! We got out the activity center and you both love it (and so does your sister who insists on sitting in it!). You spend Tuesday mornings with our nanny Dani, and Thursday afternoon and Friday mornings with your grandma Christy, and we see your Nana and Boo, Uncle Josh and Aunt Claire often too. You’re very loved!

We still take you on our weekly Thursday night date nights, but now you don’t sleep through most of them anymore. You take in the sights of the restaurant and we’ve showed you the ocean. You’re both such happy babies – you don’t fuss much when we’re out and you’re awake, you’re just happy to be somewhere besides the living room!

I am so thankful to have such healthy, happy and adorable baby girls. You two make your mama very happy!

Love,

Mom