Yikes!! I have been seriously slacking on the posting, but as you can imagine life is pretty busy these days! Astral and Defy are becoming more and more mobile and require entertaining! The boys are the center of our universe and so much fun, especially compared to the eating, sleeping and pooping cycle of a newborn.
The boys are 25 weeks old and will be 6 months old in 4 days! Half of a year, it seems like just yesterday they entered our lives. DnA are barely recognizable from their former tiny selves. They are fully animated, strong and very vocal.
In the past 2 weeks they have come one step closer to being able to chew the yummy vegan food they'll be raised on! Little brother Defy sprouted his first tooth and then a few days later, not to be outdone, big brother Astral sprouted 2! They are the cutest little bottom teeth ever. At around 4 months they started drooling and chewing on their hands a lot so we knew it was coming, but we didn't realize how soon. Defy and Astral were both a little more fussy right before the teeth popped up and also the day they first appeared. It seemed to happen overnight. We give them cornstarch and frozen silicon teething rings and they also really love chewing on organic stuffed vegetables and fruits toys. We haven't given them unnecessary drugs and they are just fine. Astral really wanted to be held by me and no one else during this time, I was his all natural remedy! Thankfully we were on a trip visiting family so I was available 24/7. Fingers crossed that the rest of teething goes this well.
So we had our first road trip, the boys were awesome on the way there. It was a 12 hour trip each way, we rented a van to fit all of our stuff and so I could be comfortable in the back with them for entertaining and feeding along the way. On the way back they had one major freak out session, where they cried for a while. It was horrible, there was no place to pull over and I couldn't take them out of their car seats. It broke my heart to have them crying like that. I do not believe in the cry it out method at all. If my babies cry I comfort them. We have so much baby gear so flying would have been difficult as well, plus I am worried about them being trapped in a flying germ incubator at this young age. They will no doubt get on a plane, but I want to wait until they are at least 1.
The babies love their rice cereal now and will soon be transitioned to sweet potatoes/root veggies, we just want to wait until their 6 month appointment next week. They are so adorable eating their big boy cereal in their Bumbo seats or high chairs! Now that we've reached the 6 month mark, I am also going to slowly reintroduce soy back in my diet to see if they have a reaction to it.
They both love standing up while holding on to us and jumping up and down. They roll over both ways and army crawl or wiggle their way to whatever toy they want to get a hold of. It is so cute to watch them worm their way across our bed or the floor. They are well on the way to sitting up unassisted but balance has not been mastered. They do that tripod thing, where babies use their arms together in front of them to balance, but they are leaning so far forward I feel like I have to spot them very closely. Sitting up will lead to a whole new world for these guys and for mommy and daddy too. They're still sleeping through the night for the most part, they wake up on occasion, but usually a nice back rub or a cuddle will work to get them back to sleep.
The boys now steal toys from the one another, they interact all time. They stare at each other and laugh and baby babble. I think this is the beginning of their special twin language. They still enjoy exercising those vocal cords by screeching and screaming. At times I worry if they will hurt one another because they grab, bump, scrunch, pinch, poke and roll over the other. I guess this is only the beginning of having rambunctious little twin boys! Brothers...
We've been using the organic Boba baby carriers, as the boys get heavier and grab at anything and everything it is getting more difficult to hold them while doing things around the house. These carriers are really comfortable and help when they need to be soothed, but you need to make a bottle or do other things. If alone with the twinsies, we can strap one in and carry the other.
Astral has a hemangioma (red birthmark, collection of blood vessels under the skin) on the back of his neck, but it hasn't gotten any bigger in a while which is great. Hopefully it will start involuting soon. They go away on their own and are pretty much harmless depending on their location. They are really common in multiple births. Defy actually has one on the top of his head, but it is a pin point hemangioma and is super small and is being covered by his hair.
Their hair is growing so much!! It will be interesting to see how it turns out. We can't wait to find out their growth progression next week at the pediatrician. They are in 9 month clothing already and actually fit two pairs of 12 month old pajamas, though as you can see from the pics they are usually chilling around the house in cloth diapers only! They are happy healthy and have the most beautiful little spirits, we are thrilled to be their parents...
your boys are ADORABLE! I just recently found your blog after googling 'vegan pregnancy' and i sat and read the entire thing in one sitting. I a a new vegan who just recently found out I am also expecting. Your blog has been a godsend! I truely want to continue my vegan lifestyle while pregnant but have found some very discouraging things on the internet. Thank you so much for sharing your story!
ReplyDeleteI have also been following your blog. It's wonderful! I am 33 weeks pregnant, and was wondering if you ate soy while pregnant. I have had a lot of soy during my pregnancy, and noticed your cuties were possibly allergic. I just ask because as a child I had many, many allergies (soy and dairy to name a few), and would like to prevent allergies in my little one, but my OBGYN doctors have not been very helpful or knowledgable in this area. I did grow out of all my allergies by the time I was a teenager.
ReplyDeleteHaylee, thank you for the kind words, and congratulations on the pregnancy!!! I have seen many discouraging things about "vegan" pregnancy on the internet too. I see many excuses for non-veganism that in my opinion, boil down to nothing more than pre-vegan cravings. I can tell you firsthand that being vegan while pregnant is totally POSSIBLE and completely EASY and more importantly PERFECTLY HEALTHY FOR YOU AND YOUR BABY! For much of my pregnancy my diet was rather limited due to aversions but I just stuck to what I enjoyed most (pasta with marinara and veggies and chickpea cutlets with mashed potatoes were two of my go-to meals. I also always kept nuts, seeds, and fresh fruit at my bedside.) and filled in whatever nutritional gaps with a prenatal vitamin and vegan DHA. Veganism is not something I can just slip in and out of, it is part of the deeply held moral and ethical beliefs I hold and I could never have lived any other way. Consuming animals was never an option to be considered.
ReplyDeleteKeep us updated on your pregnancy!
Lalita, thank you and congratulations! I did eat soy while pregnant but it wasn't the main thing I ate. I have recently reintroduced soy into my diet and Astral and Defy don't appear to be responding negatively to it so we don't think they are allergic. The doctors weren’t sure if the boys had a soy allergy but they wanted me to eliminate it from my diet to rule out the possibility. I don’t think soy consumption during pregnancy causes allergies in children, though I can’t really give you any sound advice about preventing food allergies since I am not an expert, but I can refer you to a book we have titled Feeding Your Vegan Infant With Confidence by Sandra Hood. It can easily be found online. I also hear good things about the book Becoming Vegan. You may want to check that out too.
Stay in touch! We wish you all the best!