Happy New Year!

 

What a month....

It's 6:30am, and I've been up since 5 or so. That sums up our month....

The kids have had a rough xmas this year and we hope the new year brings something better!

(That was written a few days ago... its been hard to get to the computer)

This month has consisted of doctor visits and urgent care visits. Lets go back to their well check at six months.

After that visit dad and boys got a mild cold that last a few weeks. And we manage to give it to tim and mary too. (sorry guys!) It was mostly congestion, easy to deal with. Then we get ready to fly to NH on the 19th for the holidays. Well, our flight was cancelled. So we rebooked for first thing on the 20th. But the night of the 19th was miserable for c. He was up most of the night not feeling good. Mom and him slept on the couch most of the night.

(And once again torn from the computer for a few days)

We finally make it to NH. The boys did alright on the plane, better for mom than dad. The thing that suck about flying with twins, they can't be in the same row because there is not enough oxygen mask in case of an emergency. So dad was in the back of the plane while mom was in the front on both flights. The air pressure didn't seem to bother them which was good. It was quite the ride getting there. Our tickets were only to NY. So I had to get the gate agent to book through Vermont, she had a hard time getting that to happen. She was able to right before our flight took off, but our bags were still stopping in NY. Once we landed in NY, I asked the help desk how to get our bags on our next flight without having to leave security and pick them up and recheck them within the hour. After some debate they said they will take care of it. We were slightly concern, but were relieved when we say one of the carseats going in the plane.

When we landed in VT, only one carseat and our check bag had made it. I went to the desk to see where it was. Long story short, the man was useless. So I just called the Delta airline and they very nicely informed me they had an app that would tell me where the bag was located. So we find that it was on the next flight to VT. So we needed to kill 4 hours in the small town of burlington... They did give us an awful loaner carseat so we could leave the airport. Most of our time was spent at lunch and walking VERY slowly around toys r us.

After we got the carseat, we headed home, but the rain quickly turn to ice and the road ways were a MESS. We had to drive real slow for 30 minutes or so, then everything cleared up and was smooth sailing the rest of the way.

The first night we are there G has a rough night. And to be honest the rest of the trip was hazy. I know there was one day that both boys felt miserable. They didn't laugh or giggle, they just laid there. They were running a temperature as they try to fight the cold. They manage to share their cold with grandpa too.

I called the on-call nurse to get opinions and she said it sounded like I was doing all that could be done for it and just continue to do it.

We attempted to fly back on Christmas night, but once again the flight got delayed then turn to cancel. We rebook for a flight first thing the next morning. They put us up in a hotel and give us vouchers to places that aren't even open. We get up at 4 in the morning and try to fly out. Overall it went well, just minor hiccups, like sitting on the runway for an hour cause they hadn't fueled the plan yet.

On Friday after xmas, C was still running a temp so I decided it was doctor appointment time. We went in and the dr didn't see anything wrong with c on first glance. She checked G over and heard wheezing and saw a small ear infection. So she rechecked C and found an ear infection in him too. So we got some meds and a nuebilizer.

Saturday C was miserable. He didn't eat much. Maybe one whole bottle slowly through the whole day. So I called the oncall nurse to get an opinion and she said I should take him into an urgent care to be safe. So we rolled into the urgent care 15 minutes before they closed. They quickly ran the FLU and RSV test on him and checked him out. They said he wasn't too dehydrated yet and the test came back negative. So just give him pedialyte until he can breathe through his nose better then switch back to milk.

C was able to take the pedialtye much better, and slowly began eating more through the night and on sunday. By Monday he was feeling much better but still battling congestion.

Must go help g take a nap, he doesn't want to do it on his own!

 

Happy seven months!

What a long month! Update on that soon!!


c

g on left, c on right

g

Check out these cute Indian Pants

Thanks Mary and Tim!

 

 

I know I know..

You all are having withdrawls of seeing cute baby pictures!

Its been absolutely crazy here. I've been on the phone for the past 3 months dealing with the VA DMV. Its a very long story- But I think its resolved... except to pay for the fines...When not calling them I have been calling the health insurance to figure out about charges. And when I am not on the phone with them, I am on the phone with shipping company to try to get a package from the west coast to the East for Anne.

So blog has been put on the back burner.

Both are G being so sweet! And look we are getting close to sitting-- He is falling in this picture though.

 

It's late- Bed time! Will post more soon.

Doctor Visit

We had our 6 month well visit yesterday!

Calvin-
H: 25.98in (22% percentile)
W: 16lb 2oz (24% percentile)
Head Circum: 17.13in (53% percentile)

Graham:
H:25.98 (22% percentile)
W: 15lb 9oz (15% percentile)
Head Circum: 16.93in (39% percentile)



We have caught up officially!

The doctor continues to be impressed that we were 2 months early! She continously comments how quickly we caught our peers in growth. Now its time to catch them in motor skills. We are really close to sitting on our own, but need to continue to work on it.

We got 4 shots this time since we got a flu shot! Calvin handled it pretty well. But Graham seem to get more upset about them. And then stayed upset for a while afterwards.

We also discovered the love of tissue paper that's on the table at the doctor's office. We both claimed our half and preceded to draw a line by ripping it in half along that line. Then once we had our own piece, we shredded it until there was a small square left.

C

g

Six months old now! Half way through our first year!

-We full on giggle now. We have been able to for some time, but mom just finally was able to capture it on video.

-We are becoming a little better at eating solid food. We like yogurt and applesauce a lot.

-It looks likes we are going to get our side bottom teeth in first. We have been teething for a good couple of weeks. Nothing has broken surface yet, but lots of cranky days with tons of drool.

-We have been trying to sit up, we start to contract our ab muscles and try to begin to sit up, but we don't get too far.

-We STILL don't sleep through the night. We seem to be going backwards actually. We would go from 6pm-1am or 2am before needing to eat. Now it seems to be every three hours with no breaks. Let's hope this is due to growth spurt or teething.

-If we get tired we must have mom hold us now, dad just won't do.

-This month we started to go to the YMCA nursery while mom and dad work out. So far we don't seem to mind it since people will hold us there!

-G loves to play with his feet. Often times putting them in his mouth. C has just started to play with his feet.

- We are now in size 3 diapers

Jessie being killer cute

I'm not sure what is up with Jessie, but she is being very affectionate with the boys today. Maybe she can smell the stinky diapers they have had (5 between 7-noon) and would like to try to get her paws on one. Or she realizes they are in pain from teething and need love. Or she just wants attention...

 

 

Xmas is coming

 

 

I finally caught them giggling on camera! They usually stop when I turn it on.

Monday Morning Pictures

Its been a while, so here are some pictures. There should be a couple of post in the next couple of days as I catch up. I've been on the phone all last week dealing with internet, health insurance, and va DMV. I'm tired of waiting on hold, thats for sure!

The biggest problem been our internet, I think we got it to stop cutting out now which was a major problem. To just slow upload speeds, which I can deal with.

Anyways Cute boy pictures.


They really started to play with each other here, so I had to snap a few quickly!

 

And I just think they are cute in this outfit!
C on the right, G on the left

G on the left, C on the right

C in the front here

Look at me go!

hedgehogs!

 

 

 

 

 

So, yes the boys got two costumes. We originally were going to do calvin and hobbes, but I felt bad that I only made one of them an outfit. Then I found a cute idea of hedgehogs and had to do it!

Happy Halloween! (a little early...)

G is hobbes, and C is Calvin (of course!)

This may not be their only costume... more on that soon.

I only made the Calvin outfit. I found the tiger outfit at a thrift store in Aug and had to get it. 

"I dunno How do you do it!"

"I dunno how you do it with two!" 

This is a question that I run into almost on a daily bases now. I know the people that say this will never read this, but for my own need I am going to answer this here. :)

Here is what our day is like. (Probably with more detail then you like!) 

Its hard to say when the day begins, but for the sake of this lets say 5am. Its around this time that the kids want more food again. Typically its Marcus that gets up and takes care of it. I am awake though, because I have to pump. I do try (but often fail) to cover the rest of the night, so he takes this one. He will feed them then hang out for a while making sure they fall back asleep before he jumps in the shower. 99% they don't fall back to sleep so into the bed they come. 

They are super cute at this hour, and I don't really fully appreciate their cuteness. Instead they lay next to me on our huge bed kicking and squirming while I attempt to fall back asleep. As I drift off, they decide cute time is over and they need their pacifiers back in their mouths so they can go back to sleep. So I listen to them make all sorts of sounds for a while and help sooth them back to sleep as we approach 6/6:30. Eventually we are all back to sleep and on really great mornings we will sleep until 8:30 when one of them decides its now morning and we must get up and play. And on not so great mornings, I will have been up since 3:30 dealing with them and want to murder them by this point. 

So off we go to the computer room. Typically they want more to eat so they get a meal. They get feed one at a time and whoever is the loudest gets first dibs. (If they are both loud, then I try to make two bottles and place them in seats that I can feed them in.) Between feeding two kids this is about an 30-45 minute event. Once all is settled I proceed to turn on some awful day time television, eat my cereal, and check my e-mail and take care of computer things (costume/etsy stuff, pay bills, make calls, etc) while the boys play with their toys. All the while I am pumping. (this consumes my life!! Guess what I am doing right now :).... ) The morning time is where I can get the most time uninterrupted so I try to get important things done.

Around 10/11am (depending on the time we got up) they are getting cranky again and need anther bottle. And then off they go to the swing or bouncing chair for a nap. Unless I have errands to run and then we do that and they nap in the car. Once they are down for a nap, I run to the kitchen cause I only have 15 minutes and I eat everything I can find. Oh, I also wash all the bottles.

By the time I have done this nap time is over. Back to rotating between toys. 

The Race car chair

The boppy lounger

The play mat

The activity center

The Johnny jumper (not used a whole lot yet)

And when all else fails.. to the bath tub we go!

The game of rotating continues until they cry enough that I figure out they are hungry. Which these days seems like all the time. And then after I feed them they are still crying cause they are tired. So I will walk around the house with one while the other is in the swing. Its getting easier to figure them out at this point. The hard part is if I want to get something done that has to be done standing (ie- cook, wash dishes, sew, vaccum, etc) it can be a challenge. If I leave them for long they end up fussing a lot. At the computer I can hold one and bounce the other in a chair. So getting costumes done was hard and frustrating at times. I hope one day they like to take longer naps. (Disclaimer: Some days they do take longer naps, but never at the same time)

When all else fails, I get on the floor and play with them until they crash

Then we wait until marcus gets home... 

Once he is home, around 6pm, we cook dinner together, or one has the kids and the other one is cooking. By the time we finish eating and feed the kids again, they start to relax and crash (around 7). So then we can clean up the kitchen, do the dishes, and then head to bed or get other things done. 

The house is not always clean (see table in the picture below), but its easy to do a quick run through. We try to keep up with it so that it doesn't become too much. Though with me doing more costumes, I did let it go some. And I am now entertaining the idea of having someone over once a week for 3 hours to hang out with the kids while I take care of anything that hasn't gotten done yet. 

Then once everything is taken care of we go to bed... sometimes at 7:30pm. 

The kids are still not sleeping through the night, but for the most part have more good nights then bad. We can get the occasional 4-5 hours of sleep. But when we have a bad night, we are up every half hour or hour. Usually one of us will do it for a few hours, then the other person will get up. Lucky, the kids never scream all night. They just want their pacifier back and so we have to go back in and put it in. And as they are learning to roll over, they are getting on their tummies and are confused and sleepy and need us to turn them back over. 

That's kind of a quick run through of what our day looks like. But I feel as though I neglected some feedings, so just think I feed them every 2-3 hours during the day. And at the same point pump too. Between those two things, that take a minimum of an hour. That's not including washing everything that I need too. And when they eat every two hours- It leaves very little time. (Disclosure- I DO NOT pump every 2 hours. I could barely handle three, so its somewhere between every 3-6 hours. I am much happier with this arrangement and have continue to provide breast milk much longer then I would have if I had to pump every 3 hours or less) 

So some other tricks I use- 

I have arrange so that we have guest spread out so that I can have breaks occasionally. 

These rock n plays where a life safer the first couple of months. They slept great in them and they also were very easy to travel with. We still travel with them actually. 

If I can't settle them down or both are screaming. To the car we go and we drive around until they are asleep and I then go to a drive thru starbucks and get coffee :)

The stroller has worked too, but its now getting too cold to do that. And if they are screaming too much its sort of embarrassing to be out walking with them. Though they don't scream unless they want something when they are in the stroller. 

Though nothing is worse then running errands and they decide the car is lame and scream until you get home. This is rare, but does happen. At which point I pull over and feed them and re-pacifier them and try again. You just learn to be prepare-- always have food and a pacifier-- and be flexible. I don't start driving if I can tell they are going to be hungry. I make sure our bellies are full first!

The green pacifier leashes have been a life saver! When the kids were younger, they loved spitting the pacifiers out... well they still do.. and I spend half my time bent over picking them up and washing them. (You would think with all that bending I would have an awesome 6-pack already... but no) Well no more! And its harder to leave the house without them since they are attach to them. At night its easier to find them as well. In the car, its easier to reach back there and find them too. Everything is easier with them since the kids calm down so much when they are sucking on it. 

Maybe we just don't know better since we have never had one kid. But life really isn't that bad. Yes, I have my moments where I complain to marcus that the kids are going crazy and I can't take it. However, when I just have patience and wait it out it usually will pass. One of the harder parts of caring all day for them, is that I have limited adult interaction! I am looking forward to when they are old enough to play in a park and I can go to play dates with other parents so I can have more adult interactions.

We do wonder what it is like to have one. And what different challenges it poses... We do like that they have a built in friend and hopefully they will be great friends that will entertain each other soon. (And we dream about how they never get in trouble together...)

I am sure I will have to revisit this topic as the kids become more mobile. I am sure I will be eating my words. But 5 months in and this is how it is.