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| This was me and the boys on their due date, already 2 months old at this point. |
Warrior at Heart. Some days I truly feel like I have to be
in warrior mode. It’s a constant battle to simply keep sanity I think. Most
school days go a little something like this (some of the times are estimated based
on how the babies are sleeping):
-1:00am- feed babies (occasionally both by myself, but that
is pretty rare because ZED is amazing and usually gets up to feed babies with
me. The only times he doesn’t get up with me is when I don’t wake him up
because he’s got a big day going on.)
-2:00am-pump & clean up
-2:40-back to sleep
-5:00am-feed babies
-6:00am-pump & clean up
-6:30am back to sleep
-7:30/8:00am-breakfast for the big boys & myself
(hopefully)
-9:00am-feed babies
-10:00am-pump and clean up
-10:30am-lunch for Mr. J and Otis
-11:00am-big boys brush teeth and get ready for school and
the bus. Lucky for me the bus picks up both boys outside our house. Mr J is in
kindergarten and Otis is in Preschool, both at the elementary school campus.
-11:15am- shower
-12:00pm-lunch for myself
-12:30pm-feed babies
-1:30pm-pump & clean up
-2:20pm-pack up twins and pick up Otis from preschool—the bus
doesn’t bring preschoolers home.
-3:15pm-Mr J comes home from school- I work on snacks and starting
homework
-3:30pm- feed babies
-4:30pm-pump and clean up
-5:00pm-Me time/cleaning/laundry/piano practice, etc.
-5:30pm-start cooking dinner
-6:30pm-dinner time & clean up
-7:00pm-feed babies
-7:30pm-baths
-8:00pm-bedtime routine
-8:15pm-pump and clean up
-9:00pm-Zed and I can finally & hopefully relax a little.
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| Mr J in SOO loving to these sweet babies. He always wants to do something to help them. |
So most nights the babies will sleep 4-5 hours in between
feedings. I always pump right before or after feeding times when possible (less
possible when we are not feeding the babies at home). During the day they eat
every 3-4hours, so the times I gave were kind of just examples. But by time I
finish pumping and feeding babies I usually have 60-90minutes before I have to
start all over. A lot of times making dinner gets pushed back because the
babies need to eat. Sometimes everything gets out of order because one of the
babies stays awake, and needs to eat sooner than the anticipated 3-4hours; or
one or both are incredibly fussy for no apparent reason in between feedings and
nothing gets accomplished in that time that I normally would have to do
something…anything.
The other day Zed took a whole bunch of time to treat me to
housework. He did ALL the laundry, which means he folded about 500 baskets of
clean clothes and then proceeded to wash another 87 loads of laundry. OK, those
numbers might be slightly exaggerated,
but that is exactly what it felt like for me. He also cleaned up all the dishes—which
I’ve actually be pretty good about staying on top of clean dishes I think; it’s
because I am cleaning bottles about 14 times a day I think, so I just get the
dishes moved to the dishwasher really quick, and start it up if ready.
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| I got this shot fairly early in the morning. Apparently first thing they did when they woke up at my moms was become pirates. |
Today my mother in law took the big boys with her to visit
her mother so I had the entire day just me and the babes. I tell you what, it’s
been relaxing. For the first time since I came home I had a GUILT free nap….I’ve
only had 1 other nap and it was because I thought I was going to die from
exhaustion so I called my amazing mother in law at 8am to come watch all the
kids so I could go back to sleep, but I felt incredibly guilty for asking her
to take over my responsibilities. But today it was great. I had the boys clean
up the living room a little yesterday, so today I just put a few things away
and am totally ok with how my front room appears. I even just laid on the bed
with the babies (who were fussy so I was holding them really) and played on the
iPad. I could’ve been cleaning something, but I truly enjoyed relaxing. I had
to start this post with a look at my normal day to justify the relax time
though. Because that’s who I am I guess.
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| It's crazy to imagine that on the left was not even 9 months ago. It was the shot that made us realize that this was not just another pregnancy. We were having twins. On the right is these guys earlier in the week. I am so immensely blessed to have these 2 boys. I can't even imagine only having 1 of them....I can imagine the sleep I might be getting, and the more frequent quiet moments that would occur, but I simply can't imagine our family with only 3 boys and not 4. |
Well almost 2 weeks ago was Mike and Will’s due date. It was
great to be at the due date and know how strong and healthy my boys are now. A
few days later I took them to their 2month check-up. Mike weighed in at 7lb 5oz and Will
weighed in at 7lb 10oz. 2 month and both babies have gained EXACTLY 4
pounds!!!! I was so excited! So yeah, they are 2months old and just barely the
size an average newborn. They are 2 months old and are still at least 1pound
shy of what by other 2 boys weighed at birth. But I am loving them being so big
and healthy! The doctor explained to us that for milestones we are looking for
the milestones of Mike and Will’s “corrected age”. So basically instead of
looking for things that an average 2 month old does, we are looking for things
that the average 2week old does. There are a lot of things these guys will do
that 2 weekers won’t (like starting to hold their head up) but most things are
on the corrected age.
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| These boys are almost done wearing Newborn clothes and diapers....almost |
There was one thing that we learned that I didn’t like
hearing at their check-up. Mike has what is called a “communicating hydrocele”.
It is similar to a hernia, or is basically a hernia. It’s not super uncommon,
but does require surgery to fix. Will has a hydrocele, but since it’s not
communicating it will most likely resolve itself. Both of these happen as the
boys’ testes dropped. There is like a channel for them to drop down through and
the channel is supposed to close up. Will’s has closed, but it trapped fluid in
around the testes. The body will eventually absorb the fluid. With the
communicating hydrocele the channel did not close up and the fluid can go in
and out and there is risk for the intestines to herniated. PS, if you work in
the medical field and are thinking “wow, this girl has no idea what she is
talking about” feel free to comment and correct me. I’m just writing how I
understand things after having 2 pediatricians separately explain things to me.
Anyway…. Mike will need surgery, but we don’t want to do it until his corrected
age is 2months; so we are waiting until he is 4 months old.
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| My styling boys. They wanted to ride their bikes outside even though they kept getting caught in the light rain (thankfully they never got caught up in a downpour!). I can't get over Mr J's Cowboy Hat/Backpack/Neck Tie combo. Otis has TMNT slippers on and his backpack is on his bike. I love that everything is fun for them. |
A few days after this doctor visit we went back to Las Vegas
to have some follow-ups down there again. The boys both saw their ophthalmologist.
He said that their eyes are looking really good, but needs to do 1 or 2 more
follow ups in the coming months, then Zed and I decided we will switch to
someone closer. This guy is the one who saw them in the hospital and happens to
be the leading ROP ophthalmologist in the western states from what we’ve heard.
He is making sure that the eye muscles and around the eye mature properly since
they were so premature. Right now everything looks healthy, but since they were
so early he said their eyes won’t be matured until about 50weeks gestational
age (so 10 weeks after the due date). Everything grows, matures, and is learned
so much slower outside of the womb.
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| My AMAZING mom. She literally gets down and plays with the kids for the longest time. She impresses me every time we see her. |
I had a follow up as well and am doing great. Because of
multiple appointments we were able to stay at my mom’s for a few days and make
a trip out of it with the big boys too. They L-O-V-E my mom. It makes my heart
so happy. She is a fantastic grandma. She just plays with my kids, participates
in their games, their make believe, all of it. She encourages it even! This
time around she had bought a treasure chest and all sorts of pirate things to
go inside of it. When we got there she gave Otis a treasure map she had helped
him make this summer and they followed the map to the chest and got to be
pirates for the next few days. She was right along with them the entire time. I
know it’s a lot of work, and I know she was grateful we were only there 3 days,
but she makes my boys feel so special.
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| This right here is the Pirate fanatic. He knows how to melt my little heart though. |
Since we’ve come back home I’ve FINALLY started to work on
Mike & Will’s room. I’ve wanted to do it in a Cat in the Hat/Thing1 Thing2/Dr.
Seuss Theme. It’s starting to come together a little bit, mostly as I start to
move all of the boxes of things out of there from when I came home a month ago
and turned their room into a storage room! I’m pretty happy with how things are
going. I’m also starting to get mine and Zed’s room re-done. When he first left
the country so many months ago, I decided I was going to update our room, so I
order curtains, new bedding, and started mentally adjusting our walls. Then I
moved away. So I am now starting to get all of those things put together. In
the same breath, Otis and Mr J just moved into a room together over the summer
and I’m doing their room in a sports theme. These weren’t all supposed to be
happening at once. I had originally anticipated doing my room, then the big
boys, then lastly the babies. Oh well.
We are blessing Mike and Will at church in 2 weeks. If you
don’t already come to our church, or you haven’t been given the information of
when and where, just message me and I’ll update you. Thank you again for all
the love and support. ESPECIALLY from our ward members. Being back at church
these last few weeks has really reminded me how blessed we are in our ward
family. I am reminded how many of you really knew who I was through all of
this, even though I’d spent the previous 3years tucked behind the piano in
primary. I always knew who so many of you were and figured no one knew me
unless they did extensive time in the primary room. I am so grateful for your
continuous thoughts and prayers on my family’s behalf.
