A short logistical summary of the last year...

A quick summary of the last year:

* Dishwasher: In the first 3 months of the babies life, the dishwasher would run 3 times daily. Now it's back to only running once. Rarely do we need to run it twice on a normal day.

* Laundry: In the first 3 months of the babies life, I would do at least 2 loads of kids and baby-related laundry daily. Now we throw one load in every night. Rarely do we need to do 2 loads.

* Diapers: In the first 3 months, we were using almost 30 diapers a day. That's approximately 900-930 diapers and $215 per month.

* Breastfeeding: Didn't last long. It was too difficult for me to manage a very active 2 year old all the while nursing two little boys who treated me like their snack bar. They would nurse and nap and I didn't have time for it. I would have loved to keep nursing them... but logistically, it wasn't working.

* Pumping: I pumped milk for 6 months and then I threw in the hat. It was getting hard to find the time to pump. It was exhausting and sucking me of every last ounce of energy. And, quite honestly... my body was having a hard time keeping up. But, I do admit that at one point I was practically on "cow status", as I pumped 18 ounces+, during a single pumping, on more than one occasion.

* Formula: When the pumping stopped... we went from filling a bottle 50/50 with formula and breastmilk to all formula. This also meant spending a lot of money on formula. At it's worst, we were going through a 38oz package ($27 at Costco) every 2 days. That's roughly $405/month. YIKES!

* Burp cloths: When Gabby was a baby, I always wondered what on earth I would do with all the burp cloths I had. I rarely used them. With the twins, I learned about the love affair people have with their burp cloths. I never had enough (even though I have piles!) and used them ALL DAY LONG. Rocco had really bad reflux and Matt was a good burper and drooler after eating. They'd both always have milkfaces.

* Toys: At one point, our TV room was a minefield of baby apparatus. Now, it's just a minefield of toys. Yes, we trip constantly. Yes, major cleanup in needed daily. But, it's not as crazy as it was at one point during the summer.

Here are photos of the babies shortly after birth:

Photos from the day we brought them home:

A few photos during the first month of their life:

1 month old:

2 months old:

3 months:

4 months:

5 months:

6 months:

7 months:

8 months:

9 months:

10 months:

11 months: