Bumbo!

They aren't quite big enough for the Bumbo but they are close!

Counting down the days

and getting a little sad . I keep doing the math and I don't like the final numbers at all!!! When I go back to work in a week I will see the babies for maybe an hour in the morning, and then if I get home at 5:00 (which will be rare since I have to go to the grocery store, run errands, etc) then I have about 3 hours to spend with the babies before they have to get baths and go to bed. During that time I'll be fixing dinner and straightening the house and doing laundry which means that I will get at most 20 hours with the kids each week and a lot of that is interrupted time. I know most of you did the same thing, I just never looked at it that way until now - that daycare and school will see my children way more than me! I guess that is just one of the struggles of a working mom. I really, really wish I could find a way to see these two grow up more than just evenings and weekends, but it is just not feasible right now for me not to work If the real estate market would improve I might have a chance, but as is these hospital bills, vaccination costs, diapers, formula, clothes, and so on require two incomes! I keep trying to tell myself that tons of families do it this way and their children are happy and well-adjusted. I guess my biggest fear is that the kids will love the ones they see more often more than me or that all of my time spent with them is doing things like feeding and bathing and I won't get to experience any of the milestones and fun new things. I am rambling, and being silly, these are our children and they will love us (and eventually hate us) regardless of our work schedules - I guess I just wanted to put into words the worries and fears I am having right now because hopefully they will be thoughts of the past once I see how things really work. If you had asked me before these munchkins were born I would have told you that I couldn't handle being a stay at home mom and that I was definitely working mom material - I guess you just never know!

Things I wasn't told about having children...

* - That your back would hurt all the time! It makes complete sense now that I am living it, but I just did not realize that you do soooo many things that make it ache. Picking them up from the various contraptions that are meant to sit them upright, allow them to sleep, or entertain (ha) them, changing diapers, putting them in carriers, putting the carriers in the car, and the ultimate back killer - bathtime! They love their baths now and we completely jip them out of calming, fun bathtime because we just can't bend over for that long. I guess this is another reason that people have children before 30!

* - That I would look for things to vaccuum just so I am not running the vacuum pointlessly. We are going to submit a video to America's Funniest Home videos because the kids reaction to the vacuum is truly hilarious. They can both be completely freaking out, inconsolably crying, turning red with fists clenched and as soon as the vacuum comes on they calm down and next thing you know their eyes are closed and they are sleeping! Unfortunately, once you turn the vacuum off the crying resumes, and it can get pretty annoying to endure the constant sound of a vacuum. We are going to record the sound and put it next to them to try to tone down the loudness, but who knows when we will actually get around to doing that.

* - That your conversations with friends and each other would completely change and that it would be completely normal to discuss the consistency and frequency of poops, the exact amount of spit-up that is acceptable, and how cute little naked butts are! And that you would spend way, way too much time trying to determine if a squawk is really a coo or if that was gas or a smile!

* - That absolutely everyone will have an opinion about how a baby should be fed, how long they should sleep, if they are allowed to cry, if they should be out of the house, if they should have vaccinations - the list is endless. Never would I have guessed that L and I would be "arguing" over sleeping and eating schedules or that either of us would care so much about the merits of our "method."

* - and one that I was told but that I had no idea what it would be like - that we would love them so much that it hurts, that I would love L even more seeing what an amazing father he already is, and that a little tiny, sweet baby could be both frustrating beyond belief and the most awesome gift imaginable.

An explanation for the fussiness!

The nurse came today to weigh and measure the babies. They are expected to gain an ounce a day and Katie exceeded that - she now weighs 9 pound, 9 ounces! The big news is that Tyler is now........(drumroll please) 9 pounds, 8 ounces!!! I can't believe it and neither could the nurse. She weighed him three times then she weighed Katie again just to make sure the scale was working! She is 19 1/2 inches long and he is 19 1/4. I guess this explains why Tyler has been so fussy, clingy and hungry lately - he was (and maybe still is) going through a massive growth spurt. They are doing fantastic other than the constant crying and wanting to be held and yes, Lori, Katie does open her eyes! They need to gain about 8 more ounces and we can start trying to let them sleep through the night - woohoo. Right now we are letting them sleep until they wake up at night and they are naturally waking at 2:30 or so, so they aren't ready yet to go for much longer than four hours but soon!

Beautiful Photographs

Katie and Tyler's newborn photos are done and I think they turned out really, really well. I am completely wacko for being awake right now since the babies are asleep so I am going to bed NOW but wanted to remember to tell all that the pictures can be seen for the next four days. If you want the password and directions for viewing them email me! Nighty Night...

Photos - 7 Weeks

mandyjohnsonphotography.com

When Katie and Tyler were about a month old they had a "photo shoot" with photographer Mandy Johnson. These are preview shots from her portfolio - she is awesome and I highly recommend her to anyone looking for perfect newborn photos!

Our life in pictures

I am not going to re-post the stuff I wrote on the other site, but I am going to add pictures. I think the pictures up until this point tell a lot of the story - they are still growing well and eating good. The nurse from Nurses for Newborns is coming this week to weigh and measure them and if they continue to gain like they have been Katie will be over 9 pounds and Tyler will be at least 8 pounds!!! They are recovering from their first colds (so sad but I guess it had to happen some time, better when I am home than when they start daycare). They are still sleeping pretty well, after the hell of the first two weeks, three hours straight seems like a solid slumber. They go down at about 10:30, wake up (actually we have started to have to wake them) at 2:00 to eat and then go back to sleep until 5:30 or 6:00 and then sleep from 7:00 to 9:00 AM. The 2 hours in the morning will have to end when I go back to work soon and I hope we can adjust! Not too much longer before we are allowed to try to let them sleep through the night. We have gotten conflicting information - some say when they are 10 pounds, some say when they are three months old and others say at 8 weeks typically, but that we have to add 6 weeks to that to account for prematurity. I think we are going to try when they are about 10 weeks just not waking them for their feeding and seeing when they naturally wake up and go from there. The best laid plans...

Here are some pics!


This is from when they were first home - they slept together in the same side of the bassinet for a while. They are to squirmy for that now!

This one is about a week after they came home, they were already becoming a lot more alert!

Here are a couple of our favorites from when they were almost six weeks old:

HELLO!

This is a bit retroactive since the babies are 7 weeks old tomorrow, so I thought I would do a little catch-up on what got us to this point!

Lance and I were married 7 years ago (as of August). After about 3 happily married years we decided to start a family, but alas that wasn't in the plans for us at that time. Now, four years later, we are the proud parents of boy/girl twins! We have already been asked many, many times whether or not these little munchkins are "natural" twins. Katie and Tyler are here thanks to advancements in fertility science, but all it takes is one look at them or any other baby to know they are truly miracles and gifts from God (plus just one diaper change is definite proof of their "naturalness").

So, here is their birth story.

After a pretty uneventful pregnancy, minus a bout with kidney stones and the normal trials and tribulations of carrying twins, Tyler and Katie were born on September 2, 2008. On Labor Day 2008 (September 1st) I went to the hospital because of high blood pressure (taken at Publix) and a headache. After a couple of hours of monitoring and no real change in my blood pressure I was told that I was to be admitted. I was initially happy to be moved from triage to a room with a tv (football was on) for the night, but soon came to hate it since that is where they began to pump me full of magnesium and deny food and water!!!

For posterity sake I'm posting a picture knowing full well that I should never again willingly post a picture of me looking so haggard and large!

It was determined that I had preeclampsia and would not be going home until the babies were born. The original due date was October 11, 2008, which would mean that Tyler and Katie would be almost 6 weeks early!!! The goal was always for them to make it to at least only a month early (September 11th) and up until Tuesday morning I still had hope.

However, on September 2nd, 2008 the doctors decided that it was indeed time for the twins to arrive and a c-section was scheduled for that afternoon. While I was prepped Lance waited nervously, but he was excited! This picture was taken before the nurses in the delivery room tried to force him to look over the sheet at the umbilical cords (yuck) - that was the closest he came to passing out - he just had to sit back down!

Katie (Baby A) was delivered first at 3:33 PM and mom was overjoyed when Katie let out a big wail! She was 5 pounds, 9 ounces and 18 1/2 inches long.
Just two minutes later Tyler entered the world with an equally loud cry. He was 4 pounds, 14 1/2 ounces and 17 1/2 inches long. Both babies were given a little oxygen right away because they were early and not quite breathing as well as a full-term baby would. Tyler and Katie spent time in the brand new Baptist Hospital NICU, but thankfully progressed well and Katie's last day in the NICU was September 10th. Tyler got to go home just two days later. The first family photo was taken the day after Tyler came home!!!