Happy Thanksgiving

The boys first Thanksgiving was a good one. My parents and little brother came into town on Wednesday night to help us celebrate. Mom and Dad took on the first part of the night shift to let Jessica and I sleep which was great. Dad also decided to sleep on the couch so that he could be a part of all the feedings and help out the whole time. He did decide that diaper changing duty wasn't part of his job description, but that was a fair trade for all his work with feeding the boys. On Thursday morning we started to get all of our stuff ready since we would be away from home for an extended period of time (the boys took a nap while we prepared). We quickly filled the car with a pack and play, bags, bottles, diapers, blankets and other needed items.

We then hit the road to the North side of town to my aunt and uncle's (Connie and Jerry, and we can't forget David) for a great meal. We were also joined by Grandma and Grandpa Bormann who were both pretty excited to see the boys. Grandma's first comment was questioning what type of work we expected the boys to do since they had their work overalls on. When Carter started to cry and Dylan was sound asleep, Grandpa wondered how he ended up with the angry one.

Rete, Rufus, Spencer and Margo also joined in the fun and all contributed to the food with side dishes and great deserts. The day consisted of too much food, a sampling of deserts, some football and a nap for Jessica and I. It was great to be able to relax for a little bit and know the boys were in the hands of a group of experts. From what I hear the boys cooperated and took a decent nap as well.

With one more holiday under their belts the boys are excited for the countdown to Christmas.

Keith

On our own...

After 4 1/2 weeks with overnight helpers here, we are on our own. As much as we LOVE the help, I think Keith and I were both feeling more confident with feeding both of them at once and were ready to have a little time alone with the boys. Unfortunately, Mondays and Tuesdays are LONG days since Keith goes to work around 6:00 and has class until about 9:00. We survived both days, but are completely drained and exhausted. I feel terrible for Keith, I’m pretty sure he has only had about nine or 10 hours of sleep in the last 3 days. Which reminds me- I should add a disclaimer to these blogs- these would probably be a little more entertaining and make a little more sense if we had a few more hours of sleep. I’m learning it is impossible to get anything done! I start the day thinking I will accomplish so many things, but am lucky to do the boys’ laundry, wash bottles and eat a little- anything I can quickly take a bite of on the go- and maybe take a shower. So if you visit, please expect a messy house and if you are lucky, I may have showered and be wearing a clean sweatsuit.

WE'RE ONE MONTH OLD

We have had the boys for one month already and time has been flying by and it seems like we were just in the hospital trying to take in everything. On the other hand, the last month has been one big blur with our days filled with bottle feedings, diaper changes and minimal sleep. I think we are starting to get a method to this madness and learning how to adjust from life as DINKS (dual income no kids) to a family.

We have been keeping the boys on a three hour schedule, which has been going well for the most part. I think the most challenging part is always getting them back to sleep and keeping them asleep. At first they did so well sleeping next to each other, but now they are now hearing each other and waking each other up. They are really noisy babies, so it doesn’t take much for one to wake up the other during a nap. So, we have been trying to have them nap in different rooms. Our latest challenge is formula! They were getting terrible tummy aches and we were constantly giving them gas drops. We switched to a different formula that helps and they don’t seem to be having as many problems. But now it seems that they don’t really like this formula and are fighting to drink it aren’t getting full feedings, which equals less sleeping for all of us. They seem to like my milk OK, just not this formula. So we will be experimenting with a different kind tonight. Unfortunately, these are spendy experiments. Hopefully they will start to let us get a little more sleep during this second month. Keith hasn’t been waking me up as much looking for the babies in our bed, but I have caught him “shhhing” the monitor three or four times now. I have to kindly remind him that the babies can't hear him when he talks into our part of the monitor. We will have to keep working on this one.

A different kind of party....

I couldn’t help but to post this picture. I have been speeding up late night bottle making by measuring out a nights worth of formula and putting it into these cups. When I woke up the next morning, the cups were scattered all over the counter. I couldn’t help but laugh and think how my much life has changed. There were numerous times, especially in college, when I would wake up in the morning to a similar scene with a kitchen full of used keg cups from a wild evening. So it seems to be, we are back to late night partying, waking up a little rough around the edges and struggling to remember all the details of the night... it’s just a smaller party with a drink that’s not quite as much fun.

Watch out Mark and Ryan, these two are ready to handle newborn twins!

Last weekend, we were excited to welcome a couple visitors from the south. Autumn was a rock star and made the road trip from sunny Kansas City to a cold and dreary Minneapolis for the weekend. Of course she wasn’t alone, she stopped in Des Moines to pick Nicole up on her way. They arrived a little after midnight on Friday and we had just finished feeding the boys, so they arrived at a good time.

The two quickly got a aquainted with the boys and even got a little down and “dirty.” Nicole was a natural handling both of them and they loved up Autumn too, even though they only peed on her. We were hosting the two of them, but these two completely took care of us. They took care of dinner Saturday night and then were SOOOO kind to send Keith and me to bed on Saturday night while they teamed up for the late night shifts. Both boys agreed that they did a great job taking care of them all night and wished they lived closer so they could see them more often. Keith and I were both so thankful for their help- we were both exhausted and in EXTREME need for a long stretch of sleep. This completely saved the both of us (at least for a couple days)!! We will have to return the favor to them someday, but I’m guessing Carter and Dylan may have added a couple more years until these two are ready for kids.

Our Midnight Hero

We received a generous phone call from Keith’s Aunt Rete offering to come over and help out on the night shift. Both of us thought that would be a great idea and she works nights, so staying up late was a normal night for her. Neither of us had known that in her 20 years of nursing, she had spent some time in the hospital nursery and was an expert at feeding two babies at once.... which meant an entire night of sleep for both Keith and me. Yes eight hours! It was AMAZING! She also taught us a couple other ways to feed two at once, which has been really helpful.

More visitors

After another week in Minnesota mom had to head back to Iowa. Of course after taking care of two infants for a week, she wasn’t going home to relax. She watched my nephew Cade for a few days because Jennifer surprised Cory with a trip to Vegas for his 30th birthday (what a great wife). You know who else likes surprises... You know who else likes Vegas... OK enough dreaming, vacations are in my distant future.

My Aunt Kathy had been wanting to meet the boys since they were born and made a trip up to help out for a couple of days. She was a great help and made us dinner every night. Even better, she made us pumpkin pie – my favorite, which I found myself eating for breakfast a couple times. The boys were pretty good most of the time while she was visiting. We had one really bad day, which I think was my fault. Both boys were terribly fussy and seemed to have the worse tummy aches. Well, I started thinking about all of the things I had eaten, which included about half a jug of orange juice one day. I think it may have passed through to the milk and upset their tummies, I felt awful! I have been trying to be a little more careful about what I eat now.

Another Monday down...

Dylan, Carter

Carter

Dylan

It is hard to believe the boys will be 4 weeks on Wednesday already. The last few weeks have been one big blur as we are slowly getting used to life as new parents- parents of TWINS!!

Keith still continues to wake me up about once a night in a panic either looking for the babies in the bed or asking me why I have the baby in the bed, which we NEVER do. Hopefully he will grow out of this phase! I have been really testing my flexibility and multitasking capabilities. Somehow I can manage to hold a baby, make some bottles and play with the dog all at once. I have been finding myself bending over all sorts of ways to pick things up while holding babies. Keith has discovered that his toes are long enough that, if needed, he can hold a bottle with his toes. I've yet to see this technique in action!

We have the noisiest boys and they make all kinds of sounds while sleeping. At first they didn't seem to notice each other. Lately though, they have been waking each other up and then when one hears one make noises, the other thinks he needs to make noise too. Needless to say, this behavior makes nap time a struggle for mom. Yes, they seem to be teaming up on me all ready.

Today I realized that I can hardly carry both babies in their car seats at once. This is somewhat of a problem since they are going to continue to get heavier as the boys grow. I guess I should have been lifting some weights in preparation.

We went to the doctor again today! Carter has a terrible rash and it looks like Dylan is getting it too. We seem to be going about once a week and I have been to the Walgreen's pharmacy more times in the last three weeks than I have been in the last three years.

Two hands, two bottles, two babies... I think we will survive

Thanks to a technique I learned from another twin mom, I think I will survive the double feedings. As soon as I get a little better, Keith may even be able to skip a few night feedings.

Now we're ready for winter!

It snowed on the day we came home from the hospital, now we are prepared to survive the next six months!

Time to meet our cousins

My mom and my nephew Cade joined us on Thursday. I think Cade was pretty happy to see his mom and excited to meet his little cousins. Surprisingly, he was more jealous of his grandma holding the babies than his mom. Keith and I learned that a 15 month old keeps pretty busy and can be quite demanding of his mother's time (hopefully ours will keep each other busy at that age, at least that is what I tell myself:)). I also learned that I am not going to watch any Baby Einstein DVDs until I absolutely have to. Jennifer changed the Diaper Genie for her last and fourth time, which is four more times than I have changed it, and then she was on her way back to Iowa with Cade.

My sister Jill and two of her three kids came to visit on Saturday. Morgan had been really excited to come meet the babies - even though they are both boys. She was really hoping to have at least one girl cousin instead of 5 boys. She and Logan did great with the boys and even did a couple feedings.

Our first photos

When the boys were just one week old, we had some adorable naked pics done. They are finally done and quite precious (of course I am a little bias:)). If you would like to see all of them go to:

http://www.3peasphotography.com
and click on the tab that says (Client Log-in)
Your password is: BTwins

Aunt Jennifer to the rescue

Monday Keith went back to work and left me home alone with the boys for the first time. I survived feeding/changing and putting them both to sleep simultaneously - but was extremely happy when Jennifer arrived.

She is getting a pretty good taste of life with twins. On her first day here, we left her alone with the twins because Keith had class and I had a dentist appointment. Of course my appointment was right at their feeding time and it went late. I rushed home as quickly as I could, but when I got home she had managed to pretty much feed both of them on her own.

After a long weekend the sleep deprivation really set in for both Keith and me. I felt like a zombie and I think Keith was in bad shape too. I'm pretty sure I didn't have a complete thought for about two days. Jennifer has been a savor and has been helping us feed the boys at night, so each of us have been able to get a solid 5 hours of sleep!!! Unfortunately for us, she is leaving us on Friday. I think she will miss the boys, but will be glad to get back home and care for one 15 month old instead of two newborns.

2 weeks old = time for our first trip to Menards

Carter

Dylan

This weekend Keith and I decided to be brave and venture out to Menards with the boys. They will have their own tool belts before we know it.

We decided we better take Keith's truck in case we made a lare would have went for the quad cab.

We discovered last week that the boys really like sleeping in the moses basket- they will be crying in their crib and if we put them in there, they tend to stop crying and go ge purchase. We thought it would be a tight fit in the truck with the two car seats and both of us- and YES, it is a tight fit for the passenger. It looks like we will only be traveling as a family in Keith's truck on "short" trips. If only we knew twins were in our future when we bought it, wto sleep. So now I call it the "magic basket." We just have to hope it keeps working!!

Stella is still adjusting to being #3 instead of #1. So she tends to need attention the most at the hardest times - like when you are trying to feed two babies at once.