Deetleville

After three weeks of me yammering on in HFKAJ's ear about how I need to find the baby gate and put it up, I should get to the basement and get that baby gate, I can't find the hardware to the baby gate, I ordered new hardware and it should be here next week, etc. my dear husband decided to meander into the storage part of the basement and look for the hardware and TA-DA he found it. Which never happens, but it did. So the hardware that I ordered will serve as a back-up set and the baby gate is up at the bottom of the stairs.

 

Not a moment too soon! Twin M is on the loose and cannot be contained. Which means that I am going to have start sweeping our floors much more regularly than I currently do, which is when I start to see the dust bunnies organize (think Watership Down) or when I start wearing shoes in my own house because I can't stand how dirty my feet get. It is nice to see her motor along and I am amazed that she can get that rump up and moving. This is by far one of my favorite stages - pretty much self-feeding, learning something new everyday and not getting as frustrated about not being able to get things, plus they start to form very visual attachments and you see how much they love you, their blankies, etc. Fewer diapers and less waking up at night helps, too.

 

Besides a bit of babyproofing, we had a nice weekend at home. Ventured to Sweet Home (Oregon, not Alabama) and hung out at Fern Ridge Cattle Co. for a birthday party, but other than that just kind of hung around the house. Nice and quiet, with the neighbors all gone to Reno and a little onsite entertainment since it is haying time. The man that hays our field is a farmer/neighbor/hippie that I have known forever and his hay cutting attire is colorful yet scarce. What starts out the day as a t-shirt and short shorts eventually looks to be just a pair of shorts that resemble boxers. Nice guy, but I do worry about his sun exposure.  

 

HFKAJ also set me up with a new blog, so I will be working on transferring. We will see how it goes.

Happy Father's Day to all the dads! HFKAJ had "the best day" so far, mostly because he discovered that the girls love to clean. He made a giant game of cleaning out the garage (which has been an absolute pit since the babies were born) and it is unrecognizable. L2 was on recycling duty, L1 was sweeping and I took the babies to the grocery store to let them do their work. HFKAJ has such a hard time multitasking with the kids and feels like if he isn't playing what they want to play than he is ignoring them but then I point out that our parents never played with us. Ever. We either played with our siblings or made our own fun, so he is not being a bad dad if he takes a few hours to get something done while still entertaining the kids. Then it was off to my brother's house for a BBQ and waffle cones.

 

Side note- out of the clear blue today L2 says "When people die do they go to the dump?" I say, "No, people aren't garbage and they don't go to the dump after they die." She says, "When I die, I want to go under my favorite tree out back." Her favorite tree du jour is the camellia tree right outside our back door, mostly because it has great flowers that she can reach and she can climb it without assistance. Nevermind that it probably isn't suitable for burial due to its proximity to the back door and basement. Sometimes I wonder about her...

No point in some long winded catching up, because that is the overwhelming thought that has kept me from blogging lately. But I have to get back to it, because it is my kids' baby books. Here is the abbreviated run-down:

 

L1 : Done with preschool! Finally kindergarten in the fall, the moment I have been waiting since I first signed on for this crazy gig nearly 6 years ago. She is excited, and getting to be such a fun kid. Loves to be outside, hates shopping and more foods than I care to list right now. Talents include: whistling, doing whatever it takes to make the babies laugh, and people pleasing.

 

L2 : Settled into her role as the dreaded middle child (with the help of imaginary friends Hammy and Jenny) and hasn't let her spirit be squashed. Starting to enjoy the babies a bit more now that they are interactive, and after a few years of not really growing that much, has suddenly started to grow! Except her feet, which are still small. Maybe that is why she can't tell which is the right foot when she puts on her shoes?

 

Twin C: Hands down... happiest baby I've ever met. Almost to the point that we worry about his IQ. No, not really. He is a bright, social baby but has been a lesson in the differences in the genders. He seems to be about a month behind his sister with the *milestones* but full of energy and a smile for everyone. Much like L2, he seems to have no interest in crawling, perhaps thinking that with his sweet smile he will just get rides everywhere all of his life. Not that he needs to go anywhere, because he can entertain himself no matter where he is.  

 

Twin M: If Twin C is Odie, than Twin M is Garfield. Her smiles are fewer, she is more guarded, but still a very agreeable baby. And most definitely a girl with a sing song voice, smaller hands and feet than her brother (even if she does out weigh him), and very vocal. And as of this week, crawling and has one little tooth. She is off the charts for her height and weight and looks almost identical to L1's baby pictures, with the exception of eyebrows. She is a beautiful baby, but I could be biased.

 

HFKAJ - Still coming to terms with the fact that he is the father of 4 small children and has "no time." A great dad, and there isn't a week that goes by that I don't tell him I can't believe that he comes back to this zoo everyday. Because I am not sure if I left everyday if I would come back..... Maybe that is why I don't get out much.

 

But tomorrow I am getting out and getting my first ever facial, courtesy of a birthday gift from DCM. Let the record show that I think that I will completely breakout, but DCM assures me I won't. I'll let you know.

This week is the first week back to work for HFKAJ and my first week of being an alone-at-home-with-4-kids mom (read: Insane Person). I am allowing myself only this week to wallow in self pity about this new job I have, on Monday I suck it up and deal. But, in honor of the wallowing and the season I have for you a little jingle that I have been singing to myself:

 

For the twelve days of Christmas, my husband went to work and left at home with me:

 

12 extra pounds

11 "What can we do?'s"

10 trips up and down the stairs

9 hours to kill

8 loads of laundry

7 diaper changes

6 shoes to find to get out of the house

5 more years until they're all in school

4 screaming children

3 meals to make

2 minutes to myself

and 1 crazy family.

 

Happy Holidays.

Today began our final home improvement project for the rest of lives... or at least for a enough time to pass so as I forget what a pain in the a** remodeling is. Which will be a very long time. In addition to adding the bedrooms, we also decided that we needed to do something about our driveway. It hasn't had gravel put on it in over 5 years, and it is a long driveway on a steep hill. So it gets really muddy in the winter, dusty in the summer and unless you drive it enough to know where you need to steer to avoid the hidden potholes, bumps and sneaky corners it is just in general a nuisance.

 

So I broke down as HFKAJ was stomping around complaining about it and said "Fine, get gravel." We had gotten a quote before we knew we were having the babies so I had a ballpark figure in my head. Enter my neighbor and his ideas that are always prefaced with "It's only money, and it isn't mine, so why do I care." Now we have a ditch that is nine feet deep that was dug through our driveway allowing our basement to drain naturally without the aid of the pump that malfunctions more often than not, power running under our driveway to our front yard for Christmas lights, our phone line was cut even though we called our dear friends at Qwest for them to come out and mark it, three culverts crossing our driveway for drainage, an intricate series of pipes to allow the water from the gutters to run away from the house, and the entire driveway is being shifted over by about 10 feet. The estimate for our bill has tripled in one day of work and the whole thing is supposed to be done on Wednesday. So much for laying low during these tough economic times.

 

Speaking of tough times, only two more weeks until my dear husband/cell mate goes back to work and leaves me alone with this circus all day every day. Not only have I loved having him home these past three months, I honestly don't think it would have been possible without his help. I will miss our BOGO Moolatte Monday dates, his smiling unshaven face and our "friendly banter" over who had the car keys last/lost the checkbook/forgot to put more diapers into the diaper bag, etc. Of all the dads that I could be on this adventure with, he is most definitely the best.

 

As for the kids, they are all doing well. L1 is in a bit of an annoying phase, where her little neurotic habits are starting to come out in full force and driving everyone crazy, but she is starting to really enjoy the babies and is a great help. L2 has everyone on edge, she has started to realize that if there is only one parent here and four children, she can stage a coup and there isn't much anyone can do about it. Which has lead to a revisit to the afternoon nap for her which has been nice. Baby M is like the other girls, she is more difficult to get smiling but she can coo and talk your ear off... or her brothers, or the light fixtures, or her toys. Whoever will listen to her breathy little voice. Baby C is the opposite. He doesn't "talk" much, but he is very quick to smile and giggle and laugh. Which is probably good because if there is one thing he will need it is going to be a great sense of humor. The babies are sleeping more and if I went to bed when they did (which I don't) then I could get a 6 hour stretch of sleep a night. Our next step is to move them out of our room and into theirs. I'll keep you posted.

I do not buy "gossip rags" as my husband calls them. I have been known to read Auntie L's when I am at the in-laws, or read them at the doctor's office, but I can barely keep up with the people that are important in my life, let alone random strangers that happen to be famous. That said, I do go to the grocery store and can't help but be bombarded with pictures and headlines about who is getting married/divorced/too skinny/too fat/in and or out of rehab and the rest of the life changes that people seem to care about.

 

This week I see that rumor has it that Angelina Jolie is sporting a "baby bump." Pregnant again so soon after her twins this summer? Good thing there is no one catching candid shots of me after my twins, because I too am definitely sporting a belly 3 months after giving birth to twins and most likely will continue to the rest of my life. Did anyone ever think that she might just be too busy to work it off instantly as so many stars do? Or that maybe she hasn't had a chance to get in to get that tummy tuck with all her kids and jetsetting? If she wasn't so damn rich and pretty I just might feel sorry for her.

Yep... still here. Not much new lately, just hanging out with babies who are now weighing in at a whopping 10 lbs. 3 oz and 12 lbs. 6 oz. I won't even bother mentioning which is which. Both babies are starting to come out of the newborn stage and becoming a little bit more interactive. Nothing like a little positive feedback to help me through those middle of the night feedings.

 

Baby M is a P baby through and through. Besides her looks, she also has dry skin that requires daily ointments and sneezes through only her mouth and not her nose. Baby C, we still aren't sure who he takes after, maybe he is his own man. Either way, they are both relatively easy kids and I am doing my best to enjoy my last trek through babyville, even though there are days that I swear the clock has actually stopped and that the end of the day will never come.

 

Halloween was good. We are slackers and after growing our own pumpkins and two trips to the pumpkin patch we didn't get around to carving any. That is OK with me and it got me thinking that Halloween is definitely a holiday for the young for the following reasons: 

1) the idea of my body in any sort of costume involving fishnet stockings,  and/or ill-fitting, clingy cheap nylon is the most frightful thing I can think of

2) today as I was eating the minibox of Milk Duds that I stole out of L2's Hello Kitty pumpkin bag when she wasn't looking I couldn't even enjoy them for fear that I was going to lose a filling

3) after having three C-Sections, reaching into and pulling out the guts of a pumpkin is the last thing I want to do

 

But the girls had a good time and made quite the haul. This year they chose their own costumes and L1 was an angel and L2 a witch. Very, very fitting and they both looked so cute. The babies were in little pumpkin t-shirts but because they had their shots didn't make it into the stroller and trick-or-treat. They will have lots of years for that.

 

Other than Halloween the excitement has been getting our house painted. We chose the color three days after we brought the twins home and after discussing white or maybe a shade of light grey for months, for some odd reason that neither HFKAJ or I remember we went with a green. Not a forest, or a kelly or even a sage, more like kind of a seafoam. Picture a giant dish of mint chocolate chip ice cream, minus the chocolate chips. It is a lot different than the old color, and we aren't exactly sure what we think of it yet, but it matches the swatch perfectly so it is what we chose. It is starting to grow on us but there is a reason that people shouldn't make decisions during times of stress. I'll get a picture up when it is finished.

 

Baby M (known as the Squeaky Wheel, as in the squeaky wheel gets the grease, or in this case the food) slept for 6 1/2 hours on Saturday night. Of course it was in her carseat and not her bed, but it is a start. As is usually the case when my babies start to sleep for longer bits, I was sure that something horrible had happened when I woke up before her early Sunday morning, but I gathered my courage and checked her breathing and sure enough, still alive and well and just asleep. Her brother (known as Simon Pegg) is still only about 4 hours at a time, but at least he will sleep in a bed as opposed to a bouncy seat/car seat/swing/parent's arms.

 

Even if they don't sleep much yet, they sure are damn cute...

 

Here I am, exhausted, buried in a mountain of laundry and so many different voices crying and screaming and explaining things that I can't think straight, staring at sink full of dirty dishes and hoping against hope that the babies will get it together and sleep together for a little more than a few hours at a time and I hear my husband yell up the stairs in his deep I-mean-it voice..... "I am coming up there and both girls had better have panties on!!" Now that is just funny.

Yea! Our son has finally graduated his remedial nursing course taught by the lactation consultant at the hospital and is on his way to eating and growing like a regular kid. Good thing because me and the breast pump were starting to have words. He is officially up to 8 lbs. 2 oz. and has figured out that if he doesn't eat it, his sister will step on his head to get his share in addition to hers. I told HFKAJ (who thanks to A and his big mouth has renewed his plea that I never mention him on my blog) that when I take the twins to the lactation appointments they don't even bother weighing M. I honestly think if we left her in the forest she would forage for grubs and mushrooms and come out with her onsie just a little tighter on her belly.

 

Besides the babies growing over the last few weeks we have: had a birthday party for the girls, settled back into our house even though outside work continues, the girls moved into their new room, we harvested 11 pumpkins from our garden, we have realized that it would have been nearly impossible for HFKAJ to go back to work and are so thankful that he has a couple more months off, got to see A and N and meet the "delicious" Mason, and started to learn which of our favorite restaurants we can still go to and all sit at the same table. Other than that every day pretty much consists of a "morning briefing" with HFKAJ and I, where we identify what ABSOLUTELY has to be done that day and one little it-would-be-nice-if-we-could-find-time-to each. For instance.... We absolutely need to get to the grocery store, and it would be nice if I could shower first. Or... I have to go to a meeting at 1:00 and it would be nice if we could find some time to kick L2 down a bit of attention before she barricades herself in her room with weapons. 

 

HFKAJ did admit to me after being home playing Mr. Mom (or the DILF as he refers to himself these days) for the past 6 weeks, that my "job" is a lot more mentally taxing than he would have ever thought. The constant bombarding with questions that have to be responded to, lack of any time to yourself, etc. is much harder than he thought. And he realizes why I listen to AM radio and ditch him with the kids on Saturdays because otherwise I have no real interaction with the adult world. I am sure he will forget he ever said that when he heads back to work, but lucky for me I documented it!

 

   

The babies are three and 1/2 weeks old, which means that it is been nearly a month since I have gotten more than three hours of sleep in a stretch, so please forgive any typos, misspellings, or psychotic episodes. Things are going as well as can be expected with the exception that we are STILL at my parents, at least until the weekend.

 

The older girls have actually proven to be more difficult than the babies. They have had a lot of changes this month, miss their beds and toys and have been allowed to get away with a lot more than usual which makes them pretty hard to handle. Hopefully they will return to our sweet daughters when we move home, but right now they are pretty off track.

 

C and M are getting bigger and starting to settle in a bit. Meaning they sleep when they want and eat when they want, poop and pee whenever their diapers are removed for even a moment and basically are completely unpredictable every night. Just when we think we find something that will work to get either HFKAJ or I a little more sleep, they throw us a new issue. Good times. Currently we are considering separating them in their bed, not because they wake each other up, but because we are starting to worry that M might eat C during the night. She is what we like to refer to as "solid" compared to her brother, who HFKAJ pointed out resembles the dad off of Everybody Loves Raymond. Not that they sleep in a bed anymore, I gave up and they both sleep in their bouncy seats, which seems to give me a little bit longer stretches of rest between the circus that is breastfeeding twins.

 

L2 celebrated her third birthday on Sunday with brunch out (her request!) and then her and her sister are having a party together on Saturday. L1's brithday is on Friday and she is still thinking on what she wants to do to celebrate her big day. Anyway, I'm putting up some more pictures for your viewing pleasure.

 

One final thing - I would like to request that anyone who is getting those frantic requests texted to them from my husband to put him out of his misery, please don't. He may be completely useless in the middle of the night, requiring more sleep the last three weeks than he has EVER needed in his life, and driving me OUT OF MY MIND with his mere presence, but I have a feeling I will eventually need his help and at the very least his paycheck. So please just ignore his cries for help and tell him to put down his damn phone and pick up a baby.

for aquiring the most obscure illnesses known to man!! What I thought was a horrible rash from hospital sheets (would it kill them to toss in a little Downy?) has been diagnosed as "hormonal and/or heat related hives". Basically, the backs of my legs are covered in hives and itch like hell, and since I am breastfeeding I am kind of limited to what I can take. So today I start a low dose of 'roids with hopefully enough oompff to kill this rash, but not enough to bother the bambinos. Though HFKAJ's eyes did kind of light up at the idea of C getting steroids every three hours in this early growing phase. JUST KIDDING!!

 

Shamelessly posting yet another picture of our beautiful babies....

 

 

Welcome to the world Callum Jacob (6 lbs. 7 oz.) and Marley Elizabeth (7 lbs. 9 oz.) born 8.29.08 at 1:53 and 1:54 a.m.!!

 

 

Born a little early (and I will thank them later for getting me out of the amnio that my OB wanted) but plenty big for twins and healthy with all their fingers and toes and that is all we really wanted. Both babies have been a dream so far, I keep telling myself that it must be because they are early and that all the crazy newborn fussiness and walking to sleep and singing at the top of my lungs just to drown out their screams will come once they actually wake up in a few weeks. Right now, they are literally only awake for 2-3 hours a day and two of those are spent eating. M is nursing like a champ, but C has presented us with the same nursing challenges that L1 did. So right now we are "working on his suck" and feeding him with a funky syringe and a tube. Which means nurse, pump, finger feed, cleam up all that and start again in 3 hours. Good times.

 

We brought the babies home to my mom's house, because construction (dirty, dusty, nasty - sheetrock, paint, varnishing) continues at our house. But the birth of the babies has brought out the big guns and stuff is finally getting done. Should be a couple of weeks. As depressing as not being able to bring the babies home to their own house and their own rooms is, the girls like being at grandma's and it is nice to have an extra set of hands. Plus, the day we brought the babies home we pulled in and their was a deer and her two little fawns in the the yard. That is an omen if I have ever seen one.

 

The girls still aren't used to the babies, often calling them "the boy" and "the girl" and not really too interested in their new siblings. L1 started her new preschool and loves it, L2 has has convinced L1 that she goes to "her own school" while L1 is away and it is "really cool."

 

Oh, and Happy birthday to Auntie L and Big Timber! More pictures of the babies coming soon.

I am not counting today, as I have already gotten up and showered and dressed and that is about the extent of my activity per day, so consider this one done. The babies are officially on the schedule for delivery on September 5th, bright and early. I kind of got my wish, not having to wait until 38 1/2 weeks to have them delivered by my doctor (since according to the March of Dimes only 6 1/2% of twin pregnancies make it to 38 weeks) but she is still making me get an amnio. I figure a giant needle into my enormous belly a day before surgery will just give me practice for my spinal. Good times.

 

As far as the belly comments, this week a couple of little old ladies didn't even wait for me to get out of earshot before one said to the other "Well, they must be Mormon!" Otherwise just the usual about how "low I am carrying" - hmmm, let's open up your abdominal cavity, sew in a 20 lb. bowling ball, and see if after a few months your skin just gives up the fight and starts carrying low - and how I must be miserable. Oh, and when the clerk at Jamba Juice offered me my "free boost" this week, btw, many thanks to JDC for the Jamba Juice gift card that has sustained me through the summer, she said "Sorry, we don't have a Labor Inducing Boost."

 

On Monday I hit the end of my rope. I was crying uncontrollably, had to call HFKAJ for help at home and now after a little brainstorming have made arrangements with the neighbor girl to help out with L1 and L2 in the afternoons so I can rest. MP has saved the day and the girls look forward to her coming over to help out, since she can actually do something with them that doesn't involve laying in a semi-reclined position. Plus HFKAJ has really stepped up around here and is not letting me do anything, which has been a welcome break, but does seem to make the days go slower.

 

We have set up temporary housing, FEMA style, for the babies since their room is still not even close to done (another reason I was crying uncontrollably and my blood pressure is slightly up this week.) They have a little dresser full of clothes in the family room, and looks like they will be in a pack 'n play in our room for a bit. Hopefullyl we don't have to move out when they finally get to finishing the rooms, but I am not too keen on newborn lungs with new paint and wood floors being sanded and varnished.

 

The big project around here is erecting the swingset that we got the kids for their upcoming birthdays. My dad and HFKAJ have excavated a gigantic play area, and are working on putting up a border and some soft landing spot, and then next weekend the girls' uncles are coming over to help put the thing together. We have kept it a surprise so far, and the girls will be ecstatic. Hopefully it will make up for the fact that we will be bringing home two screaming infants soon.

 

Ohh.... I would like to send a little baby dust A and N's way. Her due date is today, and we haven't heard that they have a baby yet, so here is a little baby dust coming your way to help speed up the process a bit. Good luck you two!!