Family Photos!!

Ever since the Things were born, I've wanted to have professional family photos taken. Sure, we've gotten some decent pictures with our cell phone cameras, but I don't want them to grow up and feel like I missed out something. They're changing so much every day, and I want to capture all of it.

Thanks to my sister-in-law, we got our family pictures taken the other day, and I'm so excited to have them!

L to R: Thing 1 likes to fly, the whole family, Happy girl!

In other news: I managed to get in three runs last week! It's been a long time since that's happened, and I think I might have figured out a realistic schedule that will let me keep it up (I've already got two under my belt this week)! It seems like spring might finally be on its way in, and I think the sun and the warmer weather will really help me get out and run more. I've really missed it this winter, and I'm looking forward to getting back into the swing of things. I know I'm slower than I used to be, and I need to build my mileage back up again, but it feels great just to be out there again. I'm looking forward to actually participating in this summer, instead of just watching in envy as everyone else runs past me.

Whew!

I had every intention of posting last week, but things got really busy (and barfy), so that just didn't happen.

The past week plus has been been pretty amazing (mostly). March 7th was our 5th anniversary. I can't believe it's already been 5 years since Hubby and I tied the knot, but so much has happened (especially in the past year), that it also sometimes feels like a lot longer. We didn't celebrate our anniversary the same way we used to, but we still had a good time! We both took the afternoon off from work, and went out to lunch and a movie together, then packed up the Things and drove to visit my family for the weekend.

This was their second trip, and I think they did pretty well! They were completely adorable on Saturday, when we celebrated GG's (my grandmother) birthday. They cuddled anyone and everyone, and even slept pretty well. Then Saturday night rolled around, and Thing 2 woke up crying. We went in to check on her, and she'd thrown up, and was throwing up more as we held her (real throwing up, not baby spit up). It was pretty terrifying to see her obviously suffering and struggling, so we moved her down to be with us, and called the pediatrician on call at our doctor's office. She told us there was a stomach virus going around, and told us what to do and what to watch out for, so we were able to let Thing 2 sleep eventually, and get some rest ourselves. (It turns out Thing 1 got the other end of the virus...that was a fun surprise the next morning...) The babies were pretty much back to themselves Sunday morning, so we were able to head home happy after a great visit. Sunday night, I had my turn with the bug (and so did my parents and sister). Let's just say the babies are GREAT at sharing, and leave it at that.

We love GG!

Monday, the Things turned 6 months!!!!! Yikes! To celebrate, we took them to the doctor and let them get poked with needles! Other than being pissed off about the shots, they're completely perfect, but I already knew that! They're both big enough that they don't need to be on an adjusted age chart anymore, which is a couple of months ahead of schedule, and the doctor is thrilled with their progress. Yay for healthy babies!

So big!

The rest of the week was a whirlwind of St. Patrick's Day concerts (I'm in an Irish choir), preparations for our next opening night at work, followed by the event itself, and recovering from my lovely stomach bug (thanks for that, babies). Oh, and watching Thing 1 learn how to roll over! That was pretty awesome, I have to admit! Though, now he'll sometimes roll over in his sleep and wind up on his tummy, or migrate and end up with his feet through the bars of his crib...he's a talented one!

Puppy Love

It's time to introduce the 5th member of our merry band: our awesome puppy!

I grew up in a dog family. We'd always had one, and it was something that I'd always wanted for myself when I "grew up." Hubby didn't grow up as a dog person, but became one in college (thank goodness!). When we got married, getting a dog was an agreed-upon eventuality, but it took us a while to get the timing right.

Finally, Thanksgiving Weekend 2012 rolled around. My sister-in-law and her boyfriend had been looking to adopt a puppy much more actively than Hubby and I, and they'd found a litter at a shelter they wanted to go check out. Hubby and I decided to tag along, with no thoughts of acquiring a dog at the time; we just really wanted to play with puppies.

We behaved ourselves very well at first. We saw lots of cute puppies, but weren't in love with any of them. Until we saw HER. Hubby and I still disagree over whose idea it was to ask to see her, but we both agree that her complete adorableness won us over. As soon as we held her, it was a done deal. We stayed until they weren't doing any more adoptions that evening, to make sure that no one took her, and then went home to "sleep on it." Yeah, right. We were picking out names on the car ride home.

The next morning, we showed up right when the shelter opened, to be sure we no one got to her before we did. We sat through the informational video on adopting pets, filled out all the paperwork, paid our adoption fee, and then finally got to leave with our puppy in tow! The past few years have had a lot of good days, but this one ranked right up among the best of them.

L to R: Adoption Day, How can you not love that face?

 Mischa has been with us through some bad times, and a lot of really good ones. She's a wonderful big sister to the Things, and we can't wait to see how much fun they'll all have together as the Things grow up. It may have taken a while to get there, but I'm so glad we finally have our dog! Nothing says love like having a dog run to greet you when you get home (and lick your face to show you how much she's missed you).

Can you say photobomb?

Just to give them a shout-out: Wright-Way Rescue is where we found our sweet Mischa. They're a wonderful organization, and we had a great experience with them. Visit them here: http://wright-wayrescue.org/ and then go adopt one of their awesome animals!

Confession Time

Okay, something has been weighing on my mind, and I need to put it out there: I'm not breastfeeding the Things anymore. It's silly that this feels like a huge, terrible thing that I'm confessing, but I think that's what has happened to breastfeeding in this country. It's become a huge, polarizing issue that everyone has strong opinions about. So many people seem to think it's okay to enforce their opinion about your breasts as soon as you have a baby (or babies), and they disagree with each other passionately!

When Hubby and I started trying to get pregnant, I had idealistic visions of breastfeeding my baby until...well, I wasn't sure how long, but I knew it was best for the baby and that's what I wanted to do. I completely believed that it would be so easy for me to breastfeed, that baby and I would know right away what to do, and it would be this magical bond between us. When the doctor told us there were two babies in there, my plans only faltered slightly. Other women can feed two at once, right? It should be easy as pie for me to figure it out!

Once the Things were born, I started to realize that it might not be as easy as I'd thought. Thing 2 latched on like a champ from the beginning, but Thing 1 had trouble, to the point that he seemed to scream in terror every time he looked at my breast. So, I started out breastfeeding Thing 2, and pumping to bottle feed Thing 1.

When I started that process, I had no idea how long it would all take. With feedings every three hours, my schedule was completely taken over by the vicious cycle of feedings and pumpings, and I frequently felt overwhelmed. Then of course, I had to find time to feed my own voracious appetite. If breastfeeding one takes a lot of calories, feeding two is superhuman (and, I can't even imagine feeding more than that!). If I'm not adequately fed, I turn into a terrible person, and there just wasn't enough time to feed babies and myself (unless someone was there to make food for me). Actually, it may be more accurate to say I didn't have the energy to feed all of us. Once I was done feeding and pumping, all I wanted to do was nap, not wrestle together something for me to eat! There were multiple occasions when Hubby found me in tears because I hadn't eaten enough to fill the wooly mammoth-sized hole in my innards.

I should take a moment here to point out that I had an amazing support system through this ordeal. Hubby was a huge trooper; making me food when I was hungry and crazed, feeding Thing 2 while I nursed Thing 1, reassuring me when I was crying hysterically because I was hungry and crazed, getting up during the night with me to handle the changings and feedings. Seriously: he is SuperDad.

I think I probably could have continued with things as they were, had Thing 2 not suddenly decided that nursing time was the perfect nap time. She'd get cozy and fall asleep, so I'd try to wake her up. When she remained stubbornly asleep, I'd try to put her down, at which point she'd wake up and scream like I was murdering her. I was already feeling guilty about spending so much more time with her than with Thing 1, and I let her poor nursing stress me out even more. Since nursing her was suddenly taking so much longer, I decided to switch to bottle feeding both of them, and only nursing her "for fun." This was around the time Hubby went back to work, so I found myself on my own for long periods of time with both babies, and trying to nurse Thing 2, and bottle feed Thing 1 wasn't conducive to keeping them on the same schedule.

That change made things feel more manageable, although it was a challenge to find time to pump when I was home alone with them. More times than I care to count, I'd have myself hooked up to the machine when one or both Things would start fussing. These babies are excellent at bad timing!

Once I got back to work, it got harder to find the time to pump as consistently as I should have, and I got so tired of the whole process. I felt like I was missing quality time with the Things every time I had to go pump. Plus, I hated that it was the first thing I had to do every morning, and the last thing I had to do every night. I started to resent my pump, and just felt stressed out about the whole process.

Once the Things hit 4 months, I decided it was time to quit the pump. It took some doing, and lots of tears, but I made it! I've stopped pumping, and I'm so glad to have extra time with my babies, but I still catch myself missing the idea of nursing. I worry that I missed out on a key motherhood experience by not trying harder, and I still feel guilty that I didn't make it longer nursing them. That's a problem. Nursing shouldn't be something that makes women feel guilty, and that's what it has become. One way or another, nursing is stigmatized, when it should simply be a way for mothers to feed their babies. Whether we do it in public or in the safety of our homes; whether we opt for formula feedings or breastmilk, we all just need to relax and let go of angst surrounding it.

I desperately need to take my own advice. Almost two months after quitting, I still feel guilty, even though I know that the only important thing is that my babies are fed by a mother who loves them with all of her heart. Whenever I doubt myself, I need to look down at this face, and realize that they will love me no matter how I feed them.

Breast or bottle, Thing 1 loves mommy!

Crazy Weekend!

Last week marked the first time my BFF got to meet the Things, and it was an awesome, crazy visit! We've known each other since first period, first day, freshman year of high school, and we've been--what?--two peas-in-a-pod, inseparable, two hellions running amok...ever since! We've both changed a lot in the years since we've known each other, but it never ceases to amaze me that we can still pick up right where we left off every time we're together.

Obviously, since we no longer live in the same state, we don't get to visit as much as we'd like, but we make the best of it when we can. Her last visit was necessarily sedate, as there wasn't much physical activity I could handle, being enormously pregnant.

This time around, we managed to make it a bit more like old times. BFF got me running with her when we lived in DC together, and we've both stuck with it. There's nothing better than catching up with a run when we get together, so I'm so glad the weather cooperated while she was here! We ran the farthest I have run since that half-marathon we ran last February, and actually got up to some decent speeds. I lost a lot of my speed and distance while I was out of commission for so long, so it was really nice to see a light at the end of the tunnel! I may not be there yet, but I know I can get back into shape, especially if I have friends to keep me motivated!

Naturally, there was plenty of hanging out with the Things to be done, and we watched lots of Olympics and ate tasty food as well. Visits where we do lots of sight-seeing are great, but I almost prefer the quiet ones where we can just catch up on what's going on in our lives, and just hang out together!

This weekend also marked the Things' first playdate with other babies! I'm the member of a great group of women who all had twins last fall, and a few of us all live near each other. Four of us (and our significant others, and our twins, and two toddlers) all got together for an awesome afternoon, and it was amazing! The babies were all so well-behaved (and adorable!), and it was so much fun to connect with these women I've known online for months now! I can't wait for our next playdate!

At final count, there were 8 parents, 8 babies and 2 toddlers! What a day!

All in all, it was a great weekend! It feels like we managed to fit a lot into a short period of time--just thinking about it makes me sleepy!

Oh my! I almost forgot to mention: The Things are officially five months old! I can't believe how quickly the past five months have gone, and how much they've changed in that time. They seem to grow every day, and I love watching them figure things out. I'm so looking forward to seeing what changes the coming months bring for them!

Getting the News (2/12)

One year ago today, hubby and I were in my doctor's office, waiting to get our first glimpse of our baby. We were excited, and pretty nervous (but that's a story for another day), and just looking forward to seeing that tiny heartbeat. The one thing we weren't expecting was what we actually got...

It started out pretty normally: the doctor pulled up the ultrasound image, and we saw a tiny little blob. It looked a little different than were were expecting, but we aren't doctors, so we just assumed that we were reading something wrong. We smiled, relieved and thrilled at the first glimpse of our baby.

Then, the doctor said two words that would forever change our lives: "Double Whammy."

Suffice it to say it's really hard to get a good image on an ultrasound when you're laughing hysterically!

Twins don't run in either of our families, so it never entered our heads that this would be something we encountered. Some women just know that they're having twins, before it's ever confirmed by a doctor. We had absolutely no idea, and were completely floored. We spent the rest of the day texting each other repeatedly "TWINS!!!!" We were both supposed to be working, and I'm not sure how I made it through the day (or the next several weeks) without giving the secret away to all of my coworkers at once. I couldn't stop giggling, or wrap my head around the idea of the two people who had taken up residence in my uterus.

Hubby and I had resolved to wait until 12 weeks along to tell our families that we were expecting, but give our inability to go 20 minutes without randomly screaming "TWINS!!!" we figured that wasn't going to work. So, we called both sets of grandparents-to-be that evening and shared the news. None of them were surprised that I was pregnant, but the number of babies we were expecting took everyone by surprise. Those were really fun phone calls! :-)

Now the babies are here, and every day we marvel at the enormous, unexpected difference in our lives from this time last year. I still find myself looking at these  babies in surprise that there really are two of them. Most days we have a hard time believing that we're old enough to be parents, let alone the parents of TWO! But, now that they're here, I can't imagine my life without them. They're amazing, incredible, exhausting and beautiful. The past year has been a whirlwind, with so many huge changes, and I just feel so fortunate to be here with our big, beautiful family.
 

L to R: Babies' first picture, 6 weeks pregnant, 36 weeks 1 day pregnant, 8 weeks old, Family portrait

My Favorite Things: Fisher-Price Rock 'n Play Sleeper

On the advice of another new mom, I decided that the twins should sleep in Rock 'n Plays when they first came home. She mentioned how great it was for babies with reflux, and even though the Things hadn't been born yet (and we had no idea whether or not either of them would have reflux), I got my heart set on them. Turns out, it was a good thing I did, because Thing 1 actually does have reflux, and sleeping flat on his back just wasn't an option for the first few months of his life.

We got two different Rock 'n Plays; one with a vibrate feature and one without. The vibration actually was a huge lifesaver for Thing 1; it helped soothe him to sleep when he was at his fussiest and most uncomfortable.

We actually kept the Things in our room in their Rock 'n Plays for the first couple months, since we were up and down with them multiple times a night. On their worst nights, I'd actually keep the fussiest one right by my side of the bed, so I could reach out and rock them or pat them if they started to cry. They've now made the transition to crib sleeping, but we still use the sleepers for the occasional quick nap, or just hanging out around the house. They're so easy to fold up and move around, that we've used them in almost every room in our house!

In the interest of full disclosure, I know some people have had issues with mold growing under the pad, but we haven't had that issue so far. We have removed the pads and washed them several times (a necessity, with all the spitting up that goes on with two babies), and they're very easy to take care of in that department.

The Things have been excellent sleepers from very early on, and I think we can give at least part of the credit to the Rock 'n Plays! You can find more information on the Rock 'n Plays here.

The Things taking a nap