Sunday, January 22, 2012

Change the diapers, change the diapers: Weeks 5 and 6

For those of you who do not remember, that is a Johnny Two Times reference from  Goodfellas.  Call me Carrie Two Times because we do everything twice around here! If baby A wakes up hungry, you know a few minutes later B will wake up just as hungry and need to be fed.  If B is pooping and needs his diaper changed, A will be right behind (he he he, behind get it).  About the only thing around here that is done with any efficeny is pumping because at least that is done two at a time (what a way to put a positive spin on such an annoying task).   Overall Chris and I are getting the hang of taking care of two babies at the same time but the learning curve has been steep and messy. 

“A, you're crying and need to be fed while B appears to have fallen asleep with the bottle of breastmilk in his mouth.  Here, take B's bottle.... ut oh, B is waking up, go go gadget foot and let me rock you in your chair while I pump.  Crap, Rocco is making eye contact and whining asking to go out (the animals have been so understanding by the way), --hang on buddy, I will take you out as soon as I can. “   That is a pretty typical hour in my house! I love that the first day my sister was here, she shook her head in defeat and said “my god, it is taken me 2.5 hours to unload the dishwasher.  Someone always needs something!”  (Thanks for all of your help Rachel, we miss you)!    And yesturday when my friend Tianna was here to spend the afternoon with us (thank so much T- you made Friday fly by and so much less stressful), she could not get over that she could barely eat an apple before one of the babies needed something!  Heck, it has taken me 3 days to post this update!  We are surviving but it is tough.  I know it will get easier and it's the prospect of easier times and small victories that are getting us through our days.

Don't think I am singing the blues over here though, we have our share of small victories and happy moments too!  For example, this week, the boys seem to be awake more during the day and sleeping a little more at night.  Although the boys rarely wake and sleep at the same time, longer night-sleeping increases the chance that their sleeping sessions will overlap, increasing our chances for a nap! (it is all about probabilities and math over here!) Two nights ago, all 4 of us were sleeping at the same time- the first time that has happened in the McLean house since the babies were born.  Victory number 1!

I started to drink coffee again, a beloved habit that I gave up as soon as I found out I was pregnant.  My first sip of the coffee was like drinking in pure happiness.  Each morning, I look forward to enjoying my single cup of Joe, and, even though I have yet to actually be able to finish said cup before someone needs something, it is still a bright spot in my otherwise caffeine free day!  Victory number 2!

I left the house to go somewhere -other than the doctor -for the first time in 4 weeks!  My sister and I spent 90 glorious minutes at the maternity store buying nursing tops and at Target.  Victory number 3!

I extracted a bugger 0.25 inches long from Brody's nose using tweezers.  I fished for this bugger like I was playing the game operation.  I went right up the center of his nose, pinched said bugger, and pulled it out.  I was so proud of my mad operating skills that I have been looking for buggers to fish out ever since.  Victory number 4!

We took our first family walk today.  We packed up the babies and the dogs and headed to the local Greenbelt and walked for 20 minutes.  Although it took us more than 40  minutes to actually leave the house,  the 20 minutes we spent outside were glorious!  Victory 5!






The boys get bigger and cuter every day.  Victory is mine!




Brady


Brody

p.s. No joke, as I type this, I have a baby sleeping on my lap, a baby over my shoulder, and I am typing this one handed on a computer balanced on the arm of the chair.  Adapt or never get anything done!

Thursday, January 19, 2012

1 month old!

Wow!  They say a watched pot never boils.  Turns out that even if you watch every hour pass by on the living room clock, time still flies! (Does that make any sense? It tool 3 times to try and say what I mean and it may only make sense to me!).  

Anywho- our boys are 1 month old!  They are getting so big and as they gain weight, they look more and more alike.  At least once a day Chris or I mistake one for the other,  harder to do when Brady was so much smaller than Brody.  Now, Brady is less than .5 lbs away from his brother.  We have some serious eaters!

After having about 4 weeks of coverage from my mom, Chris's mom, and my sister, Chris and I are on our own.  Send reinforcements please! ;)

I am short on words so this post is going to have to be mostly pictures!  Happy 1 month birthday boys!


















Thursday, January 5, 2012

Week of firsts: Week 3

Although the days melt seamlessly into nights around here, technically another week has gone by meaning our boys are 3 weeks old!  



The activities around the McLean household have been centered around feeding, changing diapers,  rocking babies, and catching cat naps whenever possible.  The boys are still up most of the night and I am hopping they start to move to being more awake during the day soon!  Chris went back to work this week ending our 3 weeks of nuclear family fun. Mary McLean is here this week to help and to play with her new grand babies.  It was been wonderful to have her here; I don't know what we will do when she is gone.  

Firsts this week:

Baths:
This week our boys had their first tub bath (yes, I waited 3 weeks to bath them, is that weird?!  They have had sponge baths up until this point and we kept meaning to bath them, but we kept running out of time!).  For 2 boys that hate to be naked during diaper changing, they loved being naked in the bath water.  This really made us excited to take them swimming!

(Truth, I am not 100% sure which baby this is.   As Brady gains weight, they are looking more and more alike  and they look surprisingly similar when wet!)

Pop quiz: what do you do when one baby starts to poop and pee in the towel he is wrapped in?
Answer: you very quickly throw a diaper on the other baby so you do not have to rewash 2 babies!

Gas:
Our biggest obstacle this week is gas.  There have been some serious man-farts coming out of these little boys!  At some points, it sounds like a scene from a Monty Python movie.  Brady especially seems to be plagued with grown-up gas problems making him angry and me sad.  I am not sure if this is typical 2-3 week of age digestive turbulence or if it is something I am eating. . . We figured we would give it a bit of time to see how is shakes out (so to speak).  

Michigan Football Game:
While the boys have technically "watched" all the regular season games in utero with Dad, this week they got to see their first real live Bowl Game!  The boys were happy to be wearing their first Michigan Game Day onesies and to keep Dad company--even into overtime!




Play time:
The boys got to play with their Christmas gift from Aunt Rachel!  They loved laying on the mat together and touching each other in the face.  I can't wait until they are able to play with the toys that were all around them!  Rocco, like a good nanny, watched over them while they played!




This has been a very exciting week for all of us! Can't wait to see what next week brings!  Just a few more pictures to capture their changing faces!

Brody:



Brady: