Twins?

Here's a picture of Camryn at one month old and one of Macey about the same age. I have a feeling that when they are older they will be asked if they are twins.

Doing well

I may be still riding the postpartum highs (unlikely), but we are doing really well. Of course there are times when I'm (or substitute Sean here) dragging myself to the changing table at 3am, just trying to get one foot in front of the other, times when all 3 kids are crying, and times when we are about to bite each others head off due to lack of sleep, but it's all worth it. Would you really appreciate the smiles, hugs, laughs, etc., if it was a walk in the park? Maybe you would as they are an extension of you and your spouse. From my experience, rewards or achievements have much more value when there's lots of hard work involved. Not that kids are mere rewards or achievements, but you certainly do cherish them as your most valuable trophy you'll ever earn. I hope I'm not making it seem like I think my kids are some kind of object, they are not, I know I'd love them no matter what kind of work it was to raise them. I think the hard work does make all the sweet times that much sweeter.

Our life really isn't filled with chaos. Would you call being greeted by your 17 month old daughter in the morning with a big smile as she's eager to start the day chaos? Or listening to your 17 month old call for her dad as soon as she gets up chaos? Would you call hearing your 5 week old son coo chaos? Or watching your 5 week old daughter stare at the world around her chaos? That's our life, those are the defining moments. Maybe I have a different perspective on our life because I had previous experience with caring for multiple children that were the same age. Or maybe I have a different perspective because I was destined to have the kids I have. Which ever it may be, I wouldn't trade it for nothing.

I think I always knew I would have twins. I know as a child I wanted to have twins. I even had the Barbie who had twins (with the two car seats in the back of Barbie's oh so cool Mom car). Months after we had Macey, Sean and I were going somewhere and having a conversation on our way there. I think we were talking about how ridiculous the cost of day care was, among other things. I mentioned to him in "passing", "what if we had twins next." We both laughed and said that paying for day care then would be stupid. Maybe it was just a coincidence, but I say I had woman's intuition on this one.

Macey is getting more "gentle" when dealing with the babies. She will put the pacifier back in their mouth, but sometimes it gets shoved in there. If one of the babies loses their pacifier Macey will notify us by saying "OH" and pointing to the babies. She likes to help give them a bottle, but again, sometimes it gets shoved in the face and she likes to keep taking the bottle out of their mouth. She is still in love with her daddy. She's doesn't like it when he leaves and she can't go with him. She dances a little jig when he returns and pretty much says "dad" or "daddy" all day long. Yesterday we went on an outing in the morning. As I mentioned in a previous blog, her shoes have to come off when she gets in the car. She was indicating that she wanted her shoes off, Sean was on the phone, so I reached back to take them off. She quickly pulled her foot away, looked at me and said, "No, Daddy." I got the message. Surprisingly she waited patiently for Sean to get off the phone. Her little eyes lit up as Sean turned around and removed her shoes.

Miles has become the more vocal baby in terms of cooing. He is most vocal in the morning. Camryn enjoys soaking in her surroundings. She will stare in wonderment for quite a while. They both are doing well and sleeping well. They still generally eat every 3 hours, sometimes shorter, and on occasion longer. They both enjoy taking a bath.

"We may not have it all together, but together we have it all."

Had to share

Angelina Jolie had boy/girl twins this summer as many of you know. Here's her take on breastfeeding twins.

http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20241136,00.html

It's a juggling act, that's for sure. For anyone who has breastfed you know that some babies are fast eaters, some are slow, sleepy eaters. If you have one of both, it makes for some interesting feeding.

Crib bumpers

So we finally have the crib put together. No, Miles and Camryn are not using the crib yet as they are still sleeping in our room in the bassinet. I was putting the finishing touches to the crib, including putting up the crib bumpers, this morning and Macey was helping me out. That is when I realized the real reason the crib bumper was invented...to toddler proof the crib. You see they act as a barrier. Macey can't get her arms/hands into the crib with the crib bumpers up. So we finally have a "safe" place to lay the babies and not have to worry about Macey poking their eyes out or smothering them with kisses.

We went for another out of the house adventure today, so that means that everyday this week we've loaded up everyone and went somewhere. Today was to Toys R Us and Target. On our way back home we stopped at Dot's to pick up some lunch and I fed the babies. We took lunch to a park in Pflugerville and ate at the park. Macey chased the squirrels and birds and played on the playground. It was a beautiful day to enjoy a picnic at the park.

Fun links

My English teacher from my senior year in high school, Susan Adcox, writes for about.com. She is on Facebook, as am I. She saw the pictures of Miles and Camryn and requested to use some of them on her posts for about.com. Of course I didn't mind. Here are the links.

Ms. Adcox gave each of her students a book at the end of the year and she had written something in each book. I still have that book and still enjoy it. My step daughter stole it from me for a while, but it's been returned :-)

http://grandparents.about.com/

http://grandparents.about.com/od/advicefornewgrandparents/tp/twinsmultiples.htm

Daily adventures

We are still doing well. Miles and Camryn are great, Macey keeps us entertained, and we are not that exhausted (considering).

I had a doctor appointment on Monday with my endocrinologist. My thyroid levels are good, so I'm staying at the current level of thyroid replacement hormone. I don't have to go back for a year. We packed everyone up and they went along for the ride. I got up at 6:30 for the 8:45 appointment and we were only about 5 minutes late. If you ask me that's pretty good considering the doctor's office is at least 15-20 minutes away. I went into the appointment on my own as toting all the babies in would be pointless. I was ready to get out of the house for an "adventure", so I had suggested that we pack everyone up and go walk the mall after the appointment since there wouldn't be many people at the mall that early on a Monday. So that's what we did. We got to the mall a little after 10am. We pulled out the triple stroller and loaded all the babies in and we were off. We went into Macy's and it didn't take long before we had two sweet elderly ladies oohing and awing over the babies and giving Macey equal attention (it was great for these ladies to understand that big sister needed to feel important too). We were able to get some shopping done in between the oohing and awing. We made it home around 1pm.

Yesterday I wasn't feeling all that great (It seems that I have caught yet another stomach bug...this is the most I've been ill in several years). Even not feeling well we got out of the house again. We were going to go to another mall and walk around, but by the time we got there Macey, Camryn and Miles were all asleep so we decided just to drive around. So we drove around, looked at houses, and just talked. Sean cancelled all his trainings yesterday because I was ill, that helped out quite a bit.

I was still feeling a little under the weather this morning, but I think I'm better now (cross my fingers, I'm tired of getting the stomach bug). We hung around the house most of the day and then decided to leave after the babies had their 1pm feeding. We went to Babies R Us to pick up some items we needed. By the time we got there everyone was asleep again so Sean stayed in the car with the kiddos and I went shopping. On our way home we stopped at Boston Market to pick up dinner. I'm glad we did as it made the evening a lot easier.

Getting out of the house each day has made the days go by quicker and has helped in breaking up the monotony of changing, feeding, sleeping, changing, feeding, sleeping...

Speaking of sleeping, here's a cute picture of Miles and Camryn sleeping. This is not posed, this is how they were sleeping. I couldn't resist taking a picture. I might be able to use it against them later in life (he he he).

Miles and Camryn

Can you tell them apart? They have 2 completely different looks.

My little fashionista

Some of you may have heard me say that I'll take advantage of dressing up Macey as long as possible because I remember getting to an age where I wouldn't wear a dress. Well, she's come into her own definition of fashion. Here's one example. For some reason one sleeve was "bothering" her. This is how the shirt ended up many times during the day. No, this isn't one of those "one sleeve, off the shoulders" shirts.

She doesn't like shirts that have elastic around the sleeve. I've had to cut the elastic on a few of them so she'd wear them. Shoes must be taken off when riding in a car, absolute must. Certain pants are annoying and should be avoided.

Don't ask me where she came up with some of these...

Life with twins

We've only been part of the twin world for 3 weeks, but we've survived these 3 weeks and are still standing. How has life changed? In so many ways. Our lives are filled with the sweet noises of newborns as well as the funny gibberish of a 17 month old. It takes a while to get out of the house to go anywhere, but it is all worth it. Two infant car seats, loading a toddler in a car seat, preparing a diaper bag for 2 newborns and a toddler, whew, now we can get in the car and go... Changing diapers is like signing our name, we could do it with both eyes closed and one hand behind our back. Laundry is a daily chore, dishes are a daily chore (I should say running the dishwasher is a daily requirement), and getting outside the house on a regular (if not daily) basis is a must, even if that is just to sit on the front porch or walk down the street and back. Holidays are thought about differently. Think of all we'd need to pack to go visit anyone...at least 2 pack n plays, diapers (toddler and 2 newborns), wipes, kids clothes (and you can't forget the "just in case" clothes since "just in case" is a daily event), our clothes, bottles, formula, fun for the toddler while in the car, snacks for the toddler...the list goes on. Every room in the house has been given over to the kids. High chair in the kitchen, swing in the living room, toys in the living room, toys in the game room, bassinet and pack n play in our room, bouncy seat in our bathroom, bath toys in our bath tub, strollers in the study...just to name a few.

How is Macey adjusting? She's doing as well as can be expected. She's definitely stepped up the "testing the limits" game, but she's also 17 months old...so who's to say she wouldn't be doing the same even without the twins. She does get frustrated quickly, but who can blame her? Her mom and dad are occupied by these 2 things that only cry, sleep, and poop and getting their attention takes longer than it used it. Sean and I are both making an effort to spend one on one time with Macey. We both feel guilty for bringing this whole feeling on Macey. I know we're not the only parents to go through that feeling. We don't regret having these babies, but you can't help but feel sad for the first child, the one who had all the attention, the one who only knew Mom and Dad to be her family...it's hard to explain. She'll adjust and learn to enjoy her siblings instead of poke at their eyes or bang at their heads or shake their bassinet, hopefully.


How am I doing? I'm doing well. Still recovering from surgery and still adjusting to being a mom to 3. The incision site is mostly healed, one side of the incision seems to be more troubling, but that's normal. I've become semi-pro at juggling babies and other tasks at the same time. Who knew that you could lay down two babies at the same time (sounds easy, but think about their wobbly heads and laying them down together) or hold two babies in one arm, eat, and help a toddler eat all at the same time. I'm sure those are just a few examples of the many talents I'll master over the years. It's been a pleasure so far to have 3 kids.

How is Sean doing? You'll have to confirm with him, but he's doing well if I'm the one to make that call. He's definitely tired, but does an excellent job of getting the babies up and changed for their nighttime feedings, which gives me a few more moments to lay and rest. He's also shouldered much of the chasing around of Macey now that my family has left. He's been very supportive!

How are Miles and Camryn doing? Excellent. They are getting to the point where they are awake some part of the day. It seems like they take turns being awake. Occasionally they'll both stay awake at the same time. So far we've only had a few nights where they took turns being awake at night. They truly find comfort in each other. Miles likes to suck on Camryn's head. It's amazing how one can be screaming while laying right next to the other and the other one doesn't bat an eye or move. Neither one of them like having a dirty diaper, which is something new for us. Macey didn't care about the "status" of her diaper. We've learned the cry for "change my diaper."

I'll try to get some pictures up soon.