Oooh la la! What a difference a month makes! First, accept my apologies for the total lack of blog updating and Facebooking. It is a tragedy that just at the time that everyone wants photos of the wee babes, their mother is too overwhelmed and busy to post a single one.
Well, I'm back and will do my best moving forward to be more regular with my postings. I just needed a minute there to catch my breath, accept that I have 4 children 4 and under, celebrate Christmas, host 5 branches of our families at different times and deal with various other demanding issues like the power going out for 3 days in the middle of a cold snap. More on that later.
So first things first, as you all heard from Matt's triumphant announcement email, the girls have arrived, safely, soundly, and did minimal damage to their mother in the process, hallelujah! In all seriousness, I feel like I got away with murder. We are so grateful to have had an issue-free twin pregnancy, a natural delivery and two healthy babies born with no time needed in the NICU. I'm not sure how we won this lottery but wow are we lucky?!
And the prize? Two delicious little baby girls. June and Dylan are so scrumptious I can't even tell you. They've gone pretty easy on us so far - crying rarely and usually only for a moment or two. They are sleeping well and eating well, gaining weight steadily. I spend approximately 6 hours just feeding them everyday, and that's if the feeding goes smoothly. Throw in the time it takes to change their diapers, change their outfits and get them back down to sleep and you can probably add an hour or two to that tally. You can see why 'round the clock assistance is in order. And thank the lord that we have that! There is basically a nanny on duty from 8am-8pm every day, and a night nurse that cares for the babies overnight. So actually I have no idea if they are sleeping well or not. But I am!
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| June at 1 week |
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| Dylan at 1 week |
This last helper is the key to it all my friends. Without her I would not be functioning right now. No no no. I would have been checked in to an insane asylum a few weeks ago. I know this because I have lived one night without her aid since the babies came home and learned very quickly that I have no idea how to care for them at night. They were up essentially all night long, with the exception of a few hours when they slept in bed with Matt and I because that was the only way they would stop screaming. Never again, never!
So, with this magical nighttime helper in place, I am sleeping 7 hours a night! This is a miracle! I would do anything for this woman. If she ever tries to leave she will have to pry my desperate fingers from her ankle as she tries to walk through the door. She could basically demand anything at this point and I would willingly hand it over. Deed to the house? Done. Keys to the car? Sure, who needs it?!
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| What is better than little baby girl feet in little baby girl socks? Nothing I tell you, nothing. |
So we've had everyone from my side of the family visit so far and we are now on to Matt's. It's been great seeing everyone and the boys have especially enjoyed spending time with their aunts, uncles and cousins. Speaking of the boys, they have been impressive big brothers to the girls. We can't get over how well they've accepted the new additions and how sweet they are to their sisters. They are always bringing them toys and giving them lots of kisses. Gus can get quite aggressive with his baby kissing moves, but they come from the heart.
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| Hank trying to calm a screaming twin... |
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| Gus moving in on June for a kiss |
We had a wonderful Christmas, the best part of which was not being in the hospital! Nana and Papa were visiting for the week and the boys had a great time opening their gifts. This was the first year I saw them get really excited when they got gifts they really wanted and the Santa belief was in full force. We had Whitney and Ryan in town for New Years and we all went out for dinner with a group of our friends who were visiting from New York (it was our anniversary after all). Chanel and Grant were up next for a visit with Hayes in tow. Hank and Gus were thrilled to have him here to play with and they showed him what DC had to offer on the playground and museum fronts. Katie and Maggie were with us last weekend and the boys were officially Maggie's fan club. They played for hours and Gus even insisted on looking at pictures of Maggie on Katie's phone when she "slept in" one morning (you know, past 6:30am).
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| Hayes, Hank and Gus do lunch over the holidays |
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| Aunt Whitney doing what she does best, caring for wee babes. |
Those were the ups. The downs have included a stomach bug that I came down with when the girls were one week old (oh joy!) and the real kicker was that time the power went out for 3 days when the babies were 3 weeks old. We have never lost power in this house in the 7 years we have lived here. But of course, at the time we can least afford to have a major house issues, the power goes out one morning at 6:45am. I thought, hmmm, okay, I'm sure it will come back on in a few hours. And the power company's website said as much. Apparently an underground transporter had blown up a few blocks from our house and blew out power to most people in our neighborhood. As luck would have it, we were in the midst of a cold snap that had the temps in the 20's. Our ancient home leaks heat like a sieve and within a few hours the temperature inside had dropped into the 60's. Still checking the website which promises power restoration within hours...mid-afternoon and the temperature is in the 50s. The babies and I have taken to cuddling in bed under the covers to stay warm. By the time I got home from picking up Hank at school, the power was still out and the sun the was going down. In a total panic and racing against the last light of the day, we packed up all 4 kids and all their stuff and headed to a hotel up the road. Long story short, the damn power was not on the next day so we had a second night in the hotel (and spent the day trying to make sure our pipes didn't freeze). Finally at the end of day 3 we got heat and electricity back. What a royal pain the ass.
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| The ladies in their first hotel room |
At any rate, we are all happily back at our house with the heat on. It's been a whirlwind of a month that has really flown by. We've really been enjoying our time together as a family. It still feels surreal when all 6 of us go somewhere together (yes, we have managed to do this a handful of times) but we wouldn't change it for anything in the world. Stay tuned...
PS - I wrote this two weeks ago and it has taken me this long to get it posted. Lord have mercy taking care of these kids takes up a lot time!
