first year

we started a parent co-op preschool at our church and we just completed the first year. It was so much fun to be a part of and Caed loved it too. He especially loved playing with more toys!! We (I had zero production credits) put on a little graduation. The kids were so funny, and us parents were funny to watch too. thankfully we were able to make all of us (Jon, myself and the twins) being there a success because we had our friend Arlene here to visit and help for the week. she was so generous to just fill in where needed.

we are hoping to be there in September but we need to figure out how to make the co-op part work with the twins...what a blessing to make those connections at church more then just on Sundays-we don't want to leave it!

Early family support

about 3 weeks before the twins were born, Jon's parents came to help us. I needed the help with wrangling Caed and getting things done, and then we were going to need the help with once the babies arrived having the care of Caed when we were in the hospital. Jon's parents prepared and planned meals, dropped off and picked Caed up from school- they kept things moving around here seamlessly. we were blessed by their giving. they got Rado out nearly every day too, he LOVED them.




After Aldan and Theron were born my mom was next to come to spend the first week with us. Man, that first week is always hard because you don't know when they are going to sleep...she was a trooper. Helping with whatever I asked. She helped me with one of our first outings by double stroller (we had to call Jon up at work to ask how to open it!). She worked hard, it was no easy vacation for her. She tried to sleep when I did- and reminded me how precious the early days are.



My sister Heather and her husband Jerry came down the first weekend they were home- as did Jon's brother (already posted that picture) and wife, Sally (who will come for a week in June). Then Heather returned on her kids spring break to help out one overnight. (tough stuff!!) She had sick Caed last week and she'll be back too once the kids are out of school. She gives invaluable phone support too.



The second week my sister Kristen took a week off of work, and a week away from her husband and life to help us. She was just as hard a worker too. Willing to do whatever I needed. She was patient with me, Caed and Rado (she doesn't like dogs no matter how nice they are!!). She loved on the babies ALL the time and helped me think about how to get through situations. and we got out EVERY morning. One trip to trader joes, and I can't remember where else now!



Auntie April has come over WHENEVER i asked. She (& boyfriend tom) picks up our extra person when we go to church and can't fit everyone in the car. She helps calm some of my darkest feelings (will they EVER sleep? take a bottle?) and just doesn't fret about a single thing. And she intuitively takes care of Aldan and Theron and more so feels challenged when they cry to soothe them with her magic touch. I don't have a picture of her with them yet!! How can that be? (it must be because she's always here, I don't feel compelled to try to catch the picture)

We are so appreciative that our family village has come to us...

Happy Birthday!

I don't get to blogging all the birthday's I want.

Today would have been my dad's 67th birthday. Missing him today. Aldan, Theron and I took a special trip to his "mailbox" at Arlington on behalf of my mom and sisters.

pictures

I try to do activities with Caed in between the feedings. This one was an idea from my sister Kristen- I finally bought toothpicks and we got to play around with marshmallows- we had two different sizes, and caed made a long train out of them...he's so cute.



This is from today actually- Theron.



From today- Aldan:



From this weekend...what two different babies! I love looking for ways they are similar and different in personality at this point.




Some tummy time on the ottoman:





Big brother Caed loves to help with bath time.He gets to wash the feet, although he'd rather help with the head!

I think this is the picture i took for 4 weeks old. They don't like to sit up like this...

Oh Rado, moved to bottom of the totem pole. But we love having him around. I am working my way up to day time walks with him and the kids.

Jon's mom made this shirt for caed after we searched every store before the babies were born for big brother shirts...we found big sister one's, but no big brother ones!! He LOVES this shirt and wants to wear it everyday. We have to set limits!

finally, some more pictures.

Today i took the twins with me (alone) to my doctor's appointment. It was quite the spectacle. I carried in the two car seats and the diaper bag, and my purse....I decided not to take the stroller with me because my doctor's office waiting room is really tiny, and I wouldn't be able to take it all the way into the appointment with me anyway. I got in there fine, but then theron (pronounced more like theer-in) was crying...I am trying to give him a bottle, he didn't want to take one from me- I was flustered by that...then my doctor was extremely patient, so it made it okay and he had his receptionist help me back to the car. It was very sweet- but next time I'll make sure they are somewhere else for these appointments. They were asleep on the way home so I went through the McDonald's drive through for one of their special coffees. I wish every store had a drive through so I could get stuff done while I was in the car and the kids slept. On Long Island as kids our parents often frequented a chain of stores called Dairy Barn. You could pick up lots of different grocery store items, so it was kind of like a convenience store with drive through. I understand their benefit these days. i would love to drive up and just pick up a dozen eggs, gallon of milk, loaf of bread and some ice cream without getting out of the car and managing the double stroller. I am learning and getting better at it- but it sure would make some of those experiences a little easier at this stage.

A lot of people ask if I'm doing alright with the twins and how am I feeling? I actually do pretty well. writing/ saying that makes me feel like it will end- but I know that isn't true. It's also not all the time that it's okay. There are hard times during the day/ night but I trudge through them and I appreciate the glimmer of hope with a nights sleep, an in sync nap and a shower every morning. But i think for the most part I approach each day as a list to get through at this point. I look forward to knowing when I am going to feed the twins, give them "play" time and bath time (done every night as to give a sleep routine and again, an indicator to me that we are still passing time, and getting through the day) and fitting in Caed's needs helps too. I want to incorporate some flexibility, but right now I am giving myself 3 months with this mentality. My nature I am not a scheduled person. I have not been a list accomplisher (i love making lists!) but more and more I become the kind of person that thrives in this- to a fault. For now in these early years, it works for me and I try to be sensitive to when I need to be flexible- sometimes with the prompting of a family member...

Also what helps is not being daunted by crying. With Caed his cries were really hard for me to manage. He wasn't really consoled by things I might do anyway so I felt paralyzed by the thought of him crying- this time there are just times i cannot do anything for the crying. I feed them, burp them and change them- if they both still cry I try to take it as I can. I cannot easily hold them both with ease at the same time- and if I need to get something done, and I know I've met their apparent needs, I get the task done and come back to them and try things again and possibly try to put one in a carrier.... But I know they are safe, fed and clean...their crying still makes me on high alert but I deal with it differently this time- and it helps that other people have been here to help with picking them up and helping with one of them too.

one month....four weeks?

Tuesday the twins were four weeks. Now I guess they are officially one month. We were at the doctor today- I feel comfortable stretching their feedings a little further apart, and not a bit guilty if they sleep until 5am. (only one night..!)

They are gaining weight beautifully, which I was a little worried about since no one has given me any guidelines about the nursing only of twins, I've just tried to 'go' with it.

Among all the good things from the visit, Aldan had to be taken for jaundice testing, again. and last night's sleep was horrible. another good night is bound to come 'round again, right? please? and if you've done or given to us something that I intend to write a thank you for, I'll get to it. This week has involved very little simultaneous sleeping by anyone, so I haven't been able to go back to my list and write more. We are so VERY thankful though for everything that has been done for us. We're in need of all the generosity and it's been so great.

good things

last night the babies slept until 3. What a blessing. The cleaning people are here right now so I've showered already too. These things have to happen when they can. I can't plan or think about what the afternoon looks like, I can only deal with an even shorter forecast. That helps me cope a lot. I take the opportunities I have and try to get what I can from the immediate.

Wednesday I want to go to our little playgroup. That's at 10:30. All I will think about is how to feed the babies right before I want to go. I also have an appointment at 10:30 on Friday for them at the pediatrician. I'll do the same thing.

We made it to church yesterday too.

I still have some things I need to work on- with caed, I was a big supporter of the routine eat, play and sleep. I used a loosely based Baby Wise approach. It worked great for us. I haven' t been all that concerned this time around but I'm working on going back to that. It all takes a little more motivation with two babies. If they happen to fall asleep while feeding them I haven't wanted to wake them. So after their appointment on Friday and I find out their weight gains I'll feel better about a routine. I also need to set myself up with a better plan of what to do with Caed while I nurse (for when I'm on my own) and how we'll get out of the house during the summer.

tomorrow they are one month old. whew.

feeling hot, hot, hot

it went straight from late winter to summer around here this weekend. I am so thankful for the warm weather, and although some of the 70 degree weather would have been a nice transition- we'll take 90 as opposed to 50 and raining.

I wanted to get out earlier today, but it didn't happen. Jon and his dad did a bunch of yard work, and caed played outside to his heart's content. I was what felt like nailed to the couch today. I started the morning nursing the twins separately, and that always makes the sitting so much longer, but really it is nice not to have two babies on your lap fo 40+ minutes.

When Caed woke up from his nap we got the kids in the car and went for some ice cream. I had wanted to walk there, but it was still a tad hot out. so we drove to the ice cream place and walked around the corner to the playground. we had jon's dad with us- so you know where that put one of us? Me, in the way back. I was up for it, instead of leaving Jon's dad back or taking two cars. We also had the double stroller in the back, so I really felt like I was 7. It was so funny. Only fitting our family into the car is strange, but coming from a family of 6, that was all we had growing up. Not sure what else I expect....I do want to carpool and think about carting Caed's friends around with us, but that isn't practical either- I do have twin babies now. And kids Caed's age need carseats, the big super padded ones, that take up half the back seat. We do have an extra seat for our other car which I was using for the occasional friend- not every family does have one, and hooking and un hooking another seat...i probably won't do it that often. I'll now leave that task to Caed's friends'. Miss Katrina, you are really the most patient one with all the car seat moving we've done!

Also last night a part of our wedding aired on TLC Wild Weddings! I forgot it was going to happen (new babies, toddler, lack of sleep, etc..) or else i would have posted something about it. We (Jon) did DVR it so we got to see it this morning, and it was really fun. Wish I had remembered to tell other people. Maybe it will run again, it was practically right in the middle of the show. It wasn't wild, just funny.

Well now it's time to go to bed. the babies gave us a good night last night, so I am not expecting much tonight. It usually goes that way with them (at this point)....here's to hoping we get to church tomorrow..really want that happen.....

a few pictures..

i just looked at our Easter photo, and well, it's not good. There might be one salvageable picture, but if someone knows how to make a husband smile in every photo that would help us a lot. Mad looking dad in Easter photos are not ones to post! But here are some others...just random ones, not pictures of all our guests by any means...

Theron



Aldan

Big brother Caed getting a kiss from Aldan

i think this is funny for so many reasons

the cousins...

Chantz and Olivia, the most patient and loving cousins! being so silly!!

Auntie Sally and Uncle Andrew with nephews

deceiving

leaving my last post on such a high note is deceiving. The next night we struggled all night with getting sleep. These nights will tend to yo-yo, I know and remember all too well.

We made it to church and only 10-15 minutes late! Happy Easter!

last night

no pictures this post...

Last night the twins only woke up twice! And although when I woke this morning i only remembered waking up, feeding, and going back to bed- my mom did come up and sit with Theron in between the two feedings, and pretty soon that will have to be me. But after the second feeding we were all back to sleep! Caed finally slept until 7:30 this morning. He's been up at 6 or 6:30 most mornings.

Jon went back to work today. He called us before he made it into the office. he's going to be talking about us all day at work (especially with a team full of women!)

On Monday I was left for about three hours on my own with just the twins. It went well- they both fussed at one point at the same time, and I did really well with it. It didn't stress me out! Our friend katrina took Caed, and my mom and Jon ran some errands. I even think we might be up for church on Easter! with three adults in the house we should be able to do it, right? We'll see.