Feeling Blessed...

As I am now counting down the days until I return to work (next Monday, exactly one week from today) I am feeling a little sad, a little happy, and very blessed. I cannot believe for a second that these babies are already 11 weeks old. Every parent will tell you how fast time flies, but I never really believed them until it happened to me. It seems like only yesterday we were spreading the news of our pregnancy, and yet my babies are here and we are getting to know them more and more each day.

People now ask me two things (in addition to the NUMEROUS twins questions). They ask me if I enjoyed being pregnant and if we will have more children. I was pretty ambivalent towards pregnancy. I could take it or leave it. It was ok I guess. It wasn't fabulous, and it wasn't awful. My whole thought process in all of this was the end result - babies. All pregnancy was to me was to have my babies. It was like a plane ride. It kind of just gets you there. Sure, you might enjoy looking out the windows, and the thrill of the ride, but all in all, you just want to get where you're going. I felt that way too about my delivery. I didn't care about how they got here. Who cares if I delivered vaginally or via a c-section? Does it make me more of a mother to do it one way versus another? Nope! All that matters is again, the end result - babies!!

Do I want more children? I don't know. As of right now, I am thinking no. That might change down the road and I may eat these words. But as of this moment, Josh and Jules and my very, very special miracles that I prayed for and we tried so hard to have for years. They are my life right now and I can't imagine anything happening to change that. I feel like God gave me these because we tried so hard, so I feel like having another might take away that special feeling. But again, I may just eat my words here in a few years. We'll see!

Some blogger friends of mine have their precious miracles in the NICU. I don't know what it is, but I am waaaay over-emotional about the NICU. It began when we toured it in our multiples class. I guess it was because there was such a good, strong possibility that my babies would be there, and it scared me to death. Those precious little fighters just make me sob. There were some babies there less than a pound. I feel so completely blessed that my babies were born healthy and at a very good weight and we got to take them home with us from the hospital. It is so very rare that twins can do that. I don't know what I would do if I had to visit them there day in and day out. I commend you strong mothers out there with your sweet babies in the NICU. I know they are well taken care of and are little fighters. I think and pray about you often.

I know this blog post didn't make much sense, but I am just thinking about my babies today and how much I love them and how blessed we are that they are here and happy and healthy (well, happy MOST of the time, LOL). I know going back to work is going to be so hard, so I am going to enjoy my last week with them as much as possible!!

9-10 Week Slideshow

GO UT!!!!

Ok, I don't mean to brag or anything....


but when my babies were two days old, Tennessee beat the #1 team in the country, Kansas, 76-68. Now, for the first time in history, the Tennessee Vols basketball team are going to the Elite 8 in the NCAA tournament. A councidence??? Or are my babies magical? Hmmmm.....

Jules, 2 days old, sporting an orange and white bow after the Vols beat Kansas




We are UT fans here, no doubt about it

Baby Announcement

You can still announce after 9 weeks, right, LOL?? I have been busy!

10 Weeks- Update on the Babes

10 Weeks Old! (2 weeks until work....sigh)

Feedings: Jules is still doing great with feedings! She is now back up to 2.5 ounces along with rice cereal and is so proud of how good she is doing. We have maybe...*maybe*...had a vomit episode, but is has only been a very few times. Whew!! Josh is still a spit up king. The doctor says not to worry about it, so we aren't. What I thought was another food allergy (they had a rash on their face) turned out to be just a normal old infant rash that is now, thankfully, gone. So yay! We are good to go.

Waketime/Napping: They have both been sleeping very well. I have been closely monitoring their waketimes, and try to put them down after being up for around 50 minutes. I try to keep it to that, but sometimes it doesn't happen. Like, right now for instance, Josh is wide awake in his pack and play and has to eat in 30 minutes (FYI- he has been awake almost his entire naptime, thanks). They usually nap great in the mornings, so-so in the afternoon. After the 4:00 feeding they nap terrible. I have read that that they call this "The Witching Hour" in the evenings. They are just fussy during this nap and rarely sleep well.

Nightime: We are still on the 5-6 hour stretch (last night 6). I would really like to see some improvement here, but other moms I have talked to seem to think this is fantastic. They usually will not sleep through the night until they are about 12 pounds, so mine just aren't there yet, because they are so little. And that is just fine by me :)

Our Schedule: Still on the same schedule as before

Outing/Events: They weather has been nice, so we have been able to get out more and more to walk! We usually will walk after the 1:00 feedings, and they love it! We are also still taking them out to dinner sometimes. They surprise us by doing so well. However, the one time we went out with a group of people to our country club for dinner, they decided it would be best to scream and fuss the entire time. And, honestly, the crying and fussing wasn't nearly as bad as the people that kept coming up to me and telling me "they could stop them from crying", or "I could put them right to sleep", or "I'm finished eating, want me to hold them?" "I can rock them", or "My granddaughter (who's like 6) is done eating, so can babysit". UGGGGG. This has never happened before, and was GETTING ON MY NERVES.

Diet: I am exercising so much better. I have started doing crunches, which I am not overdoing, as I don't want to pull anything. This loose skin has got to go though.

Milestones: Jules is doing much better with her head control. She is so cute too, now that she is smiling. She is such a happier baby than she used to be. They are both pushing up really well on their legs in your lap. They are both so strong. They love mobiles and any kind of light or movement. I have also started them on Baby Einstein videos when I am feeding them one at a time, so that the other can watch something wile I feed the other. They are completely mesmerized by it, and its so funny to watch. They hair is getting fuzzy and can tell its going to be curly when it gets longer!!(I mean, of COURSE it is)

I'm ready for my close-up

I don't know why I started doing these. But, I'm glad I did. I love looking at how much they have changed in their sweet faces. I did it when they were newborns and when they were a month old. Now, here is their two month ones. Its so cute how their expressions are changing.

Josh

Jules

2 Month Well Visit

We had our big 2-month well doctor's visit this week. Which meant it was the very scary big V visit. Yup, thats right - vaccines. They got the diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, hepatitis B, polio, rotavirus, and pheumococcal disease vaccines. Whew! There are so many things to be scared of when it comes to vaccines. Number one, of course, if the pain it causes your babies!! They each got three shots and one oral vaccine. They were so good though. I was prepared and gave them infant Tylenol beforehand, so they only cried for a second, but they were hurting, and that meant that Jake and I were hurting as well. I made him be the parent with the one getting pricked. I was the wimp who buried my head into the other baby. Number two is the craziness that surrounds the vaccine debate.

I really don't know how I feel about all of it. In my opinion, there is no real proof on either side, I believe both sides. I do think the amount of vaccines we are pumping into these BABIES is ridiculous, and yes, I am sure it does cause problems in some children. However, I also would be terrified if one of my babies got one of these horrible diseases that I could have prevented by getting them vaccinated. So....I am getting them vaccinated and just praying real hard that nothing happens.

They had a great visit overall, though. Jules weighed 7lb9.9oz (3rd percentile) Her height was 21.25 inches (3rd percentile) and head circumference was 14.57 inches (10th percentile). Josh weighed 8lb11oz (3rd percentile) was 21.25 inches long (3rd percentile) and his head was only 14.96 inches(10th percentile)!! We honestly thought his head would be twice as big as Jules', lol.

Newborn Photos

I finally have the professional photos!! Yay! For those who don't remember, they are the ones that I talked about a couple of weeks ago. They are absolutely beautiful. I swear, they are just the cutest, sweetest babies! Thank you to Josh Harris!

7-8 Week Slideshow

8 Weeks - Update on the Babes

8 weeks old/2 months old!

This is a tricky thing. When do you start going by the actual date? I guess now, huh? Because technically, they were two months old on Friday, March 5th (8 weeks). But, if we go by months and date, they were two months old on March 8th. Soooo, I know you don't really care, so I guess now I'm going to start going by the date, as my ticker at the top of my page is going by the date too. Anywhooooooo.......

Feedings: Jules has done a complete 180! She has only thrown up a handful of times lately. In fact, its now Wednesday and she hasn't thrown up since Friday (and that was only because she gagged herself on her pacifier). Josh, however, has been crowned the Spit-up King of Tennessee. I don't know where this is coming from, but he is now spitting up after he eats. Sometimes up to an hour or so afterwards. Seriously, what is up with that? An also lovely new thing to deal with is an apparent food allergy. I swear, I have taken just about everything I can out of my diet! They both have rashes on their sweet little faces. Hers is much worse that his is. I am completely dismissed this as typical baby acne, but my friend Larissa came to visit and said it was a food allergy of some sort. Great!!!

Waketime/Napping: I haven't done very well here either. But, Jules has been sleeping much better than she has been. She's been doing great with naps. Josh, however, has not done so well. Not only has he been crowned Spit-up King of Tennessee, but he also known around these parts as Mr. Fussy Pants. He has taken some cues from the former Ms. Fussy Pants (Ms. Jules) and realizes if you fuss then you get tended to: you might even get picked up and cuddled for a while :) He used to loooove his bouncy seat, but now he fusses in that. Poor Josh never gets the swing because Jules hates the bouncy seat (therefore, she always gets the swing). So, I think he has finally realized if he fusses enough, he can get swing-time too. (I tell ya, he's a genius!!!)

Nightime: Well, we go GREAT here for a few days, then have a set back, then do great again. So far, their longest has been 7 hours. But, we haven't done that since last Saturday. We are averaging 5-6 hours, which isn't bad. My goal is to get them sleeping through the night by the time I go back to work on April 5th, so we still have some work to do.

Our Schedule: Still on the same schedule as before

Outing/Events: We love getting out! Jake and I took them to eat sushi last Friday night, and we also took them out this past Friday as well, with our friends Hunter and Katie and Aunt Ginny and Uncle Jason. The weather here has also finally gotten halfway decent, so we have been going outside and walking! They love the fresh air and sunshine! We also got them out for a lunch date with Jake at his office, and made a stop at Target. Another fun thing we did was to have dinner with my cousins who live in Gallatin. My cousin, Rachael had a boy the week after me, so we got them together for their first playdate!

Diet: I am trying to be better, really I am! I am soooo close to my pre-pregnancy weight. I just wish I wasn't so hungry all the time! The good thing is that I can finally get outside and walk with the babes, so I am pretty stoked about that. Its nice to exercise again!

Milestones: Josh is still doing great with lifting up his head, and he has been rolling over quite a bit too!! Jules, sweet thing that she is, still just likes to lie there and push her legs up instead. Shes so cute though, so its ok. They are now starting to see things and follow things with their eyes. It is the best! We can entertain and play with them now! Its so cute! Josh is also Mr. Smiley now (boy he has received quite a few titles on this post). Jules is just starting to smile a bit, but not like Josh. So, we are working with her (lets just hope she is just not smiling yet, instead of being completely bored with us!) Life is so much fun with them in it. They are honestly the most precious things.

Baby Pictures!

As if you don't see enough of baby pictures on my blog already! (and honestly, its not like you are sick of seeing them - I obviously have the most beautiful babies in the world, if I do say so myself). In fact, I was a little disappointed that I didn't get their pictures sent in time for Regis and Kelly's Beautiful Baby Contest. They would have swept the polls. Alas, I am getting off track.

We finally got their professional newborn shots done last weekend. Josh Harris took them. If you remember, he is the one who took my beautiful maternity pictures. And poor Josh, he certainly had his hands full. These babies were constant wiggle worms. Usually, I love it when their eyes are open, because they are so super cute. But, here, all I wanted were some sweet newborn shots of them asleep cuddling and angelic. The babies had different ideas. They were EVERYWHERE and would not stay still at all. So, poor Josh had to work as best he could. We ended up having quite a few shots of them with their pacis in, which I didn't like, but oh well, we did the best we could with my fussy babes. I was amazed at how cute the few he showed me were! I can't wait to see the rest. Go here to see the sample!