About US

SIX MONTHS?!?!

Mon, 20 Sep 2010 16:09:24 -0400

Has it really been six months, half a year?!?! Why didn’t time go so quick when I was waiting to get pregnant?!?! Why didn’t time go so slow while I was reveling in the joys of pregnancy?!?! Some days it feels like forever and other days I feel like I just had them. I blame that on the sleep deprivation and the inability to focus or concentrate on much. But I love my little Rob and Edie and can’t believe how much they’ve grown. They have gone from this:

to this in six months:

We have their six month appointment next week so we’ll get their stats then but my arms can attest to the fact that they are growing! Edie has cute little chunky thighs and round cheeks. Rob is still pretty skinny but he is one strong guy. They are both sitting up unassisted and it is so much fun to watch them play and interact. Edie gets pretty mad at her brother when he makes his way over to her and starts sucking on her arm. If there is a toy in between them they will play tug of war with it. Rob is very observant and loves checking every thing out. He is quite the flirt and if any female speaks to him he smiles away. Edie seems to only like her mom and dad right now. She’s not too fond of letting strangers hold her. They are so much fun even at midnight and two a.m. One day we’ll get them to sleep through the night but for right now we still get to see them every couple of hours!

Mmmm, Mmmm, Good

Sun, 19 Sep 2010 21:37:12 -0400

Any of you who know Robert, know he likes to make things homemade even if it’s not less expensive, easier or less of a mess! A couple of examples so you get the picture are his homemade ketchup and homemade oatmeal cream pies. So where I am sleep deprived and am more inclined to grab the Gerber baby food off the shelf at the grocery store, Robert really wanted to make our own baby food. I was weary at first because if I have five minutes to spare I want it to be spent laying on the couch with my eyes closed. But it has turned out to be so much fun and I’ve actually taken pride in it. We’ve made it in bulk and froze it in ice cube trays and then can just pull out what we need each day. We’ve made bananas, peaches, avacados, pears, apples and carrots. I know we are lacking in vegetables but we’re going to be doing those this weekend and hope we haven’t completely spoiled them with sweet fruits and that they’ll eat their veggies! They are messy little eaters but it is so fun to feed them.

Rob is a true boy and will eat anything you put in front of him. Edie is a little bit pickier but she’ll eat a gallon of peaches any chance she gets! As you can see I have mastered the art of multi-tasking!

Sleepover

Sat, 28 Aug 2010 15:01:46 -0400

The best present I received for my birthday was an uninterrupted night of sleep! I can’t tell you how wonderful that was after five months of every 3 hour wake up calls. My parents graciously offered to watch Rob and Edie for us overnight so I could enjoy my fabulous surprise party (see below) and catch up on some much needed sleep. I was really nervous to leave them because I didn’t want my parents to have a disastrous night. But when we went to pick them up in the morning everyone was happy and my mom even said she’d do it again. Whooohooo! Such a relief that it went well and that another night of sleep may be in my future sometime!

And just some random cute pictures....

Scrabulous Surprise

Wed, 25 Aug 2010 17:05:07 -0400

If I had wanted to keep my nerdy obsession with Scrabble a secret, it’s out now! I’m crazy about Scrabble in any form, the traditional board game, the facebook version, speed scrabble, the iphone ap version, scrabble slam, super scrabble. You name it, I love it!

My 30th birthday was on August 20th and I walked into my sister’s house expecting a low key family dinner and what I got was a rocking surprise party! I’ve never had a surprise party before and while there were a few things throughout the week that I thought were mildly strange I was too sleep deprived to piece them together so I was truly surprised. My sister throws a great party, if you’ve never been fortunate to attend one you need to get to be her friend!

Thanks to my friends Alana and Bryan for filming my entrance!

A Scrabble themed party isn’t as popular as say Barbie or Star Wars so Andrea handmade everything from scrabble tile plates to throw pillows. She also made delicious homemade Cafe Rio. It was amazing and she is so talented.

The front door decoration.

The throw pillows I got to keep!

The scrabble tile banner and a few of the conspirators.

Andrea showing off the plates she made and cutting the tile cake.

Thanks everyone for making it great to turn 30!

Lake Disaster

Sun, 1 Aug 2010 10:53:17 -0400

So remember number ten on my previous list? I love going to Lake Anna with my family and was really really looking forward to getting away this year.

I knew it was going to be a little different with two babies but I had myself fooled that I might get to enjoy an hour or two a day laying on the dock reading or swimming while my two rascals napped.

However I made some rookie mistakes. Like taking them to the doctor the day before vacation and having their four month shots given. And changing their bedtime on the recommendation of my doctor to help them start sleeping through the night. On top of that there was much more going on around the house then these two are usually used to.

So I ended up with wild babies who wouldn’t sleep and wouldn’t eat and thus spent all their time crying. It was pretty miserable for all involved.

Thursday morning at about 3 am when we’d been up countless times I asked Robert through my tears if we could just go home. He promptly started packing and told me he was only staying for me. I didn’t want to give up but I just couldn’t take any longer. I took the babies for a walk at about 6am while he loaded the car and we waited for everyone to wake up so we could say goodbye.

On my walk I choked back sobs and fought the urge to feel sorry for myself. It was my first realization that parenthood does impact your life (other then the fact that I haven’t slept in the past four months!) but I really wouldn’t trade these two precious babies for anything, even a relaxing week at the lake.

Another silver lining...I got to have a very tender moment with my dad as he met me at the end of the driveway after my walk and we sat on the adirondack chairs overlooking the lake.

Our families have been so supportive during this transition into parenthood and have helped ease some of the stress and fatigue that comes along with twins.

So we did make it down to the dock once or twice and were able to capture a few memories....

Ten Thoughts

Sat, 10 Jul 2010 10:12:17 -0400

Just a few thoughts that have been rolling around in my tired brain lately:

1) Why aren’t there more drive thrus? I don’t always want to haul both the kids out of the car because they are so heavy in their car seats now that I also have to get the stroller out too but I would love to pop in a get a slurpee or a bagel. My only local drive thru choice is McDonalds which I can only take so much of. My local Panera and Einstein's would do booming business if they just put a drive thru in.
2) Why do people park so crooked? I have to have enough room to open both my rear doors wide enough to take out and put in car seats and it drives me crazy when I get back to my car and I can’t open the door more then an inch without hitting their car.
3) Speaking of parking lots, why do people insist on backing into parking spots? Do they really need that quick of a get away? Most people are not skilled enough to back into a predefined space without three or four attempts and it bothers me to wait for them to get it right while I have two screaming babies in the back seat. And inevitably they will park crookedly (see above!).
4) Why can’t I force myself to nap when my babies are napping? I am chronically fatigued but when I get them down at the same time I insist on cramming in all sorts of projects instead of taking a snooze myself. I always end up regretting it by the evening no matter how accomplished I feel by whatever project I got done.
5) Speaking of sleep, why are these babies sleep patterns still so unpredictable? I’m sure in fifteen years I’ll be lamenting that they are lazy teenagers for sleeping in until 11 but boy would I love it if they did it now!
6) I want to get a haircut but I’m scared of not being able to pull it back since that’s all I do with it now.
7) On the topic of hair, I’m worried I won’t have any left to bother with a cut. It is falling out by the handful and daily clogging up my shower.
8) I am obsessed with playing scrabble and wonder if it makes me a bad mother that I sometimes take my turn before soothing a crying baby!
9) I want a new hobby but doubt I have the time or energy to commit to something right now.
10) I can’t wait for my Lake Anna vacation but secretly fear that it’s going to be a disaster with the kids this year.

It Gets Better

Fri, 9 Jul 2010 13:53:25 -0400

This seems to be the twin mom mantra. Anytime I run into another mom with twins that is always her parting words, “It gets better, I promise!”

Work It Girl

Tue, 6 Jul 2010 13:23:58 -0400

Well I had been dreading this day since the moment I went out on leave but it came and went and we survived! I had been off for six months between my modified bed rest and then maternity leave. I was honestly afraid that I had forgotten how to be a nurse but it all came back to me very quickly. I forgot about all the nice things about working night shift...less annoying family members, less phone calls, less doctors, less orders, less meds, and some of the patients actually sleep!

Some lady had told me a few weeks ago that she cried for hours the first time she went back to work and had to leave her baby. I figured I’d be sad but there was no way I would cry about it. Ha, I totally bawled and Robert had to kick me out the door after the third time I came back in for kisses! I can’t imagine what I’ll be like when we finally arrange daycare and I have to leave them with someone other then Robert.

Robert did a great job with them over night and the next day so I was able to get some sleep. I’m glad the first night is over so I won’t dread work each week. For right now I will just be working one night a week and surprisingly I actually enjoyed using my brain in a different capacity then I have in the past six months.

Six Hours

Thu, 17 Jun 2010 10:31:55 -0400

Well I don’t want to jinx ourselves but these kids have recently improved our lives drastically by sleeping six hour stretches at night and napping during the day! We’ve been able to slowly inch back bedtime and they are currently going down by about 9:15 pm. They are also making it easier for me to resist the temptation to stay up late by taking two short and one long nap during the day. So I can get things done during the day and go to sleep at 915 with them. I am feeling much more normal these days so I’ve managed to get the camera out a time or two so here are some recent and not so recent photos....

Seems like it’s easier for me to get the camera out when they are sleeping but doesn’t she just look angelic when she’s asleep? Plus I love her chunky legs!

Best friends at times and twinemies at other times....

Strangers

Thu, 10 Jun 2010 18:12:54 -0400

I have this conversation with strangers at least ten times a day:

Stranger: Twins?
Me: Yep.
Stranger: A boy and a girl?
Me: Yep. (didn’t fool them with the pink and green car seats)
Stranger: Are they identical?
Me: Nope. (I spare them a genetics and anatomy lesson but maybe I shouldn’t so the next boy/girl twin mom they encounter won’t be forced to answer this question!)

And then we stare at my babies until I feel uncomfortable and announce that I better finish my errands while they are still sleeping.

These cutie pies definitely get me more attention in public then I’m used to. Everywhere we go people want to talk to us. I even had a construction worker chase me down on my walk in my neighborhood this morning to tell me that he was a twin, which was actually a pretty cute conversation with a grown man. Other twin parents had warned us of this public attention and they weren’t kidding!

Milestones

Sat, 8 May 2010 08:45:27 -0400

Last night I got hit with the thought that as I was recording Rob and Edie’s milestones that I needed to celebrate Robert and I’s milestones as parents! It has certainly been a transition for us into the sleepless, poopy, pukey, crying, screaming, smiling, cuddling, cooing life called parenthood.

I am so lucky to have a husband who wanted children as badly as I did and who is so involved in their care. He loves playing with them, bathing them, and rocking them to sleep as much as I do. He pops up out of bed in the middle of the night when both are up at the same time and I need some help. He goes to work almost as tired as I am but never complains about the fatigue.

But back to milestones....we’ve taken them out to eat multiple times without totally disrupting everyone else’s dining experience. We’ve taken them to a Nationals game and they slept through their first few innings of major league baseball and first two home runs before it started raining and we had to call it quits. We’ve had friends over to watch a movie. We’ve taken them out on the boat. We’ve left them with our parents to steal a few minutes to ourselves. I took them on a weekend vacation to Virginia Beach. I realize these are sort of dumb milestones but I can’t tell you how liberating it is each time we complete one of the above tasks and realize that life does go on and we can function in this world with newborn twins!

Happy One Month

Tue, 20 Apr 2010 13:47:20 -0400

Four weeks flew by. I imagined myself saying at some milestone down the road, “I can’t believe me babies are 18 years old” but I never thought I would say that at one month. They are growing so quickly. Stats from their four week check up:

Rob2 --- 21 inches (30%), 7 pounds 13.4 ounces (9%), head 37 cm (25%)

Edie --- 20 inches (13%), 7pounds 13.6 ounces (14%), head 36 cm (31%)

They are perfectly healthy and becoming more alert everyday. Edie loves tummy time and can roll over from her tummy to her back. Rob isn’t quite as enamored with tummy time but he tolerates it for a little bit.

Brunch Bunch

Mon, 19 Apr 2010 13:11:47 -0400

We are trying to take advantage of going out while Rob and Edie are still young enough to stay strapped into their car seats quietly and not terrorize the restaurant. We took my parents and Robert’s mom out to brunch at Trummer’s on Main as a thank you for all their help over the past few weeks. We’d be in big trouble if we didn’t have such supportive and loving parents that adore their newest grandchildren. Trummer’s opened about a year ago on historic Main Street in Clifton Virginia. The main dinning room is a large glass atrium. We were lucky enough to be there on a gorgeous sunny spring day so the atrium was filled with light and the doors were open to the outdoor seating area. They offer a three course brunch menu for $32. The first course is an assortment of breads and baked goods. We argued over who had the best second course because they were all so delicious. The contenders were fried green tomatoes, mango soup, salmon tartare, and oatmeal brulee. The food was perfect from presentation to taste. The service was a bit slow but not enough to deter us from making a return trip sometime in the near future.

The following week we met friends at Art and Soul downtown. Robert has been wanting to go here for a long time because he loves Southern inspired cuisine and because of the renowned chef. Again the twins snoozed through brunch and we got to visit with friends and enjoy another spectacular meal. We started with the pantry hoecake and I definitely ate more then my fair share of it. Robert had Chicken and Waffles (which not being from the south I had no idea this was a real thing) but Robert declared it was the best fried chicken he has ever had. I enjoyed the Eggs Benedict. We rounded the meal out with a brush in with the owner/chef Art Smith when he sat down at the table next to us and commented on our babies.

Hard to say which place was better, Trummers on Main or Art and Soul, so try them both!