Ode to my husband

Ya'll, I am blessed.

I am married to a wonderful man.

I could go on and on about how great he is, but the mush factor on a scale of 1 to 10 would be 112 and for your sake I will avoid that.

But I do have to brag about this one thing...

So ever since the twins have transitioned to only waking up once during the night to eat (for the most part that is), I have been able to handle the feedings completely by myself. Especially since most of the time only one wakes up and I can dash in there before the other does, I can feed them independently and that makes it SO easy to handle by myself. I usually feed whomever woke up, change them, and then rock and settle until drowsy, lay them back down to go to sleep, and then wake the other and repeat. The whole process usually takes just under an hour and a half. Then I head back to bed.

Then, in the morning, when a baby cries out (usually Luke wakes up first), something wonderful happens...
My man pops out of bed, runs into the nursery, grabs that baby, and takes him out into the living room (so the baby monitor doesn't act as a bullhorn) and changes, cuddles, rocks, and just generally "fends off" the baby (or babies) for 5, 10, to 15 minutes.

Why does he do this?

So that I can lay in bed.

Yup.

You see I am NOT a morning person.

At. All.

I am soooo cranky when I first wake up and start my day. What's funny is I honestly didn't know how bad it really was until the babies came. That's because before, David and I rarely got up at the same time (we always started work at different times) and so I would always have the morning to myself. I would wake up (after hitting the snooze at least once), and stumble into the shower. I would spend approximately 20 minutes in there, just waking up. Then go downstairs and get my coffee and begin my day. If David was either asleep when I left, or had left before I got up, then sometimes I wouldn't utter a single word until I got to the office. All that time in the morning to myself...

I had no idea how important all that time was. I apparently absolutely require alone time in the morning before I can open my mouth.

Or at least before I should open my mouth.


After our routine began to set in with the babies, we noticed a pattern of them waking anywhere between 5:30 and 6:45am each day, and just decided we would both get up and our family would begin the day together. Well, the first few mornings of this, I was just so cranky. Snippy. Rude.

David took it in stride.

He handles mornings better than I do.

(He also can drink more than one cup of coffee as he is not nursing.)

(He also is getting a full nights sleep.)

(And he also just loves me very much.)

After a few mornings of him trying to exchange pleasantries and me biting his head off in return, he gently suggested that he get up with the kids first thing and that I stay in bed for a bit (and wait for Satan to give me back). I argued "but they are hungry in the morning", to which he pointed out that he was perfectly capable of entertaining them for a few minutes while I adjusted myself to the day.

It has made a world of difference.



After he jumps up to the nursery, I lay there in bed and stretch and yawn and pray. I ask God to give me the grace to accomplish what He would like me to accomplish that day. I ask Him to grant me patience, and love, and wisdom.

Then I get out of bed, head out to the couch, adjust my back pillows and giant twin nursing pillow, and my sweet husband hands me our children. Then he goes in to the kitchen and magically returns with my coffee with just the right amount of fat free french vanilla creamer in it, and something to munch on.

Seriously, how lucky am I?

He may not be a perfect man, but he is the perfect man for me.

The color purple

Lots of purple around our house these days...


Purple baby lips




When they woke up the first morning after we tried this stuff, they had it all over their lips, cheeks and faces! We kept saying how they looked like characters in the movie "Braveheart"....FREEDOM!!!!!!!!! hahaha.


We have purple stains on sheets & blankies & shirts.

All this purple thanks to Gentain Violet, which is working wonders for our thrush! Thanks to those of you that suggested it, and a HUGE thanks to my amazing sister Natalie who drove to 47 different stores to get it for us.


Oh, and also, a purple pinky toe...



'Cauz I broke it.


And do you know what you do for a broken toe? Absolutely nothing apparently.


Not much else going on around here. Lazy weekend for our family. Natalie was here Thursday and Friday, which is always fun =) She made us a super yummy dinner and we played Scrabble.
We stayed home from Church today because our family needed some more sleep. We've had some off nights this week. Don't know if it's the hot weather or perhaps a growth spurt, but Abbey has re-introduced a 12:30am feeding three out of the last five nights. Then Luke is up around the usual 3am, and I learned I've got to wake Ab's up after he goes back down and feed her again, or she'll no doubt wake up the minute my head hits the pillow =). This morning when Dave's alarm went off at 7am, both babies were sound asleep...a rarity in this house! So we took advantage of it and slept more too. Luke woke up a little before 8am, and we woke Abbey at 8:45am! I know what so many of you are thinking - The Eleventh Commandment: Thou shalt never wake a sleeping baby- well with twins that "rule" doesn't really apply, or they will be on opposite schedules all day!

Hope you all are having a nice weekend =)

Pictures

Play time together!

A Lucas smile!

An Abigail smile!

Big boy in his (sisters) bumbo chair.

Sweet girl


All tuckered out. In a pink boppy.That's what happens when you have a sister 15 minutes younger than you, you end up in pink a lot. (Can you see his eyelashes?)

Abbey's new version of tummy time.

Abbey Mae in the sweet little spring dress I wrote about earlier...

Little Luke straight chillin'...

Come on Momma, put the camera down and let's go for a walk already!

Miracles do happen...

This morning, in a rare moment of curiosity, I decided to weigh myself again to see if the scale did in fact say that number yesterday...

...and right then and there I witnessed a miracle.

I am back down those 6 pounds.

Overnight.

Maybe it was the desperate power walk I took the babies on yesterday evening. Maybe it was the 4 oatmeal cookies I ate after dinner. Maybe the makers of Pop-tarts knew their profits were about to plummet and so they all got together and prayed for a miracle. And God heard their prayers!


Whatever it was, I'll take it!

But even though the "new" 6 are gone, the original 13 are still there, so I still am going to jump back on the Weight Watchers train next week. But I am feeling less of a push now to be hardcore about it.

Here's to unexpected blessings =)

List-style Monday

**Thrush update- Luke's little mouth is already looking A LOT better, and he's only had 3 rounds of the little mouth wash...Hooray! Abbey's is looking about the same, but she didn't have it as bad as him to begin with. Looks like we are on the right track. I am still dealing with cracking, redness, and soreness externally and sharp shooting pains internally. But, hopefully we will see an end to that soon too. (Thanks Lindsay for the "cocktail"! The ped had only recommended Monistat for me so that's all I had been using. The cortisone and ointment are very helpful for the itching and soreness.) The babies don't seem too bothered by all this, and it could be argued that it's making me fussier than it is them. =). I don't mean to be a whiner, but last night the shooting pains were so bad I actually took a pain pill left over from my c-section!



**Thank you for the great crockpot recipe ideas! I am looking forward to trying all of them, and hoping to get a few more, so if you are reading this and have a great, EASY, crockpot recipe, see two posts below and leave a comment with your recipe!



**So at my 6 week post partum follow up, I stepped on the scale (required-ugh) and was pleasantly surprised to learn I only had 13 pounds left to lose to get back to my pre-pregnancy weight. I was thrilled to realize that my weight loss plan of sitting on the couch nursing twins all day and eating anything and everything I wanted had paid off. =). Shortly after this I read that a woman nursing twins needs about 3000 calories a day and a QUART of milk. That explained why I was so FAMISHED all the time! Seriously, I am so hungry ALL the time. Way more than when I was pregnant. So with some of the weight having come off so easily, and with reading that I actually "needed" an insane amount of calories a day, I continued to give myself license to eat anything and everything I want, whenever I want. And friends, it's not pretty. My diet often includes Poptarts and cookies and ice cream and licorice. Not pretty. Fun, but not pretty. Today I stepped on the scale (ONLY because David and I wanted to see how much the babies weighed, and we figured if we weighed ourselves without a baby and then with one, we could get a pretty accurate weight) and was horrified to find out I am UP SIX POUNDS. That's six in addition to the original 13.

So it turns out the sit-around-all-day-nursing-and-eating-tons-of-junk diet is not working for me after all. Bummer. Looks like it's time to jump back on the Weight Watchers train. But not until next week. I am giving myself one more week of freedom...mainly because my sister made a giant batch of delicious oatmeal chocolate chip cookies just the other day and I am powerless against them.



**Yesterday I dressed Abigail up in a spring dress I had purchased back in October of 2006. I was pregnant and shopping at the Carter's outlet. Even though it was too early to know the sex of the baby, the dress was downright adorable and on sale so I bought it. It even had a matching hat. I remember when we lost that pregnancy, I was so sad packing up all my pregnancy and baby stuff, and when I put away that dress I remember staring at it for awhile and wondering if I would ever have a baby girl to put it in. Flash forward 3 and 3/4 years, and there I stood in Church, swaying and holding my precious little Abbeygirl, wearing that very same dress, and singing the verse "Hope which was lost, now stands renewed". Amen.


Happy Monday all.

Ugh.

Two posts in one day?! What would prompt such a thing you ask????

A need to complain.

Lucas. Has. Thrush.

And we are pretty sure I do to.

Ugh.

On my way to Walgreens to pick up an RX for the wee babes (Abbey is just starting to show signs, so we are treating them both.)

Every binky we own is currently being boiled on our stovetop, along with every pumping piece I own.

And as per the doctor, we will sterilize them every.single.day until none of us are showing any symptoms...which could be up to two weeks from now apparently.

It feels a little like headlice.

Did I mention UGH???

Well, at least he isn't showing any signs of being in any pain. He is still nursing just fine...thank God. Please pray he continues to. We have worked so hard to get to this point with breastfeeding and I just can't even stand the idea of taking a step backwards...

Thanks for listening.

Pics and a question

Hey all! What a blogging slacker lately =)

Here are a few pics from the last 2 weeks...


A coworker of mine made the babies these ADORABLE cupcake hats, and Emily and I had dress up time with them one day before a walk...

Most days when I get home from work (right before 6pm) the babies are really drowsy. I nurse them for about a half hour, and then we play for a bit, then I nurse them again around 7:30pm and then they head to bed after that.
Well the other day I came home to some seriously tired babies...

Lights. Out.

Isn't that hilarious?!


Anyways, lastly I am wondering what wonderful 4-6 hour crockpot recipes you all have out there...come on, give 'em up! It's been working great if a couple days a week we can throw something in the crockpot before I leave for work and then have dinner DONE already when I get home. But I am already running out of recipes, so I need your help! And by the way, I am more looking for quick throw-all-the-ingredients-in-the-crockpot kind of recipes, not the ones that take 27 hours to PREP before even starting the timer. Thanks!

Happy Saturday!