I have always been a sprinter. From athletics to deployments, I do things best when I can see the end in sight. I have the "I can do anything for 5 minutes attitude". So, it should come as no surprise to me that I am dreading the end of maternity leave with a kind of sick anticipation that comes with anything I am asked to do that requires endurance.
Friday is my first official day back at work. I am trying anything to fill time beforehand with pleasure. I have a massage scheduled for tomorrow in hopes of finding bliss for an hour before the end of what has been 6 months of intellectual vacation (when you include the bed rest before birth).
For now, duty without a paying boss calls...
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Monday, September 15, 2008
My first weekend alone...
This weekend was Clay's first in the field of the new school year. That means that he left our house before 5 am on Friday and was gone through the weekend. That's right, it was me vs. the 3 of them for 3 days and I lived to tell about it. Not with an abundance of sleep, never with an extra moment to do anything, but none-the-less, the house is standing, all the kids were feed and bathed and rested and even...just maybe...had some fun. We managed to go out to lunch on Saturday and to an open house at a Kid's Gym to let Kayla work off her energy. It worked once I got over nursing both of them in public (not at the same time) and accepting the help of any poor soul that offered.
On Sunday, we did the almost unthinkable. We went to church alone. Now, I thought this was a great plan because let's face it they all go to the nursery or Sunday school for an hour and my mind though BREAK TIME! if I could just get us there. But, alas this is where the plan had logistical issues. Getting all of us up, showered, fed and dressed in dresses took 3 hours. But, really at one point I was posed to be on time. I had Kayla on the front porch, Karsen locked into her carrier and was walking across the living room with Kennedy when, yup, she threw up all over both of us. Not the little spit up that I have learned to live with and pretend is parenting perfume, but most of the contents of her stomach on my entire outfit, the floor and herself. 15 minutes later we were redressed and on our way, again. Now late for church the children's staff helped me get everyone to their rightful places and me settled into an extra chair in the back of the sanctuary where I could fight sleep and contemplate how long it would take me to leave the house if I had short hair. That is when another 'good' idea struck me, I could go to the nursery and feed each baby with the help of the staff. (Read: Whoever is picked in line to be eater number 2 will begin to protest a few minutes into number 1's meal and I will once again have to silently list the reasons I nurse rather than bottle feed them). To spare you the details let's just say, by the time I left their room BOTH babies were in new outfits, one nursery worker needed to go find something to change into and sad Kayla was the last kid left in all of the Sunday School wing declaring she had been forgotten. I decided that all that effort earned us a trip out to lunch where I fed Kayla everything she asked for off a salad bar (attempt at mother of the year award) and fielded question of the passer-bys that are twin genuises about why they aren't identical, both are both girls and no I don't sleep enough! (see previous blog venting on these things).
Alas, Clay returned home in time to do that magical thing he does were he and the babies sleep on the couch (why has this never worked for me?) and I started the process of catching up all the things my not-so-free hands did not do all weekend. I promise not to share out loud my support for the Citadel's plan to go into the field once every month and instead focus on the things that came out of this weekend.
1) Both babies now go to bed at 7 pm and do not eat again until 6:30 am. That does not mean they sleep, but at least they don't eat.
2) I discovered Kayla can in fact feed herself from the fridge or pantry when I forget to. Who knew a 4 year old could make PB&J?
3) If you don't do laundry for 3 days, it only takes 5 hours to catch up on it!
Monday is back and let's just admit it - thank goodness for Natasha. In addition to keeping me sane, here are a few of the pictures she took to mark their entrance into month 3. Perk #885: her love of photography.
On Sunday, we did the almost unthinkable. We went to church alone. Now, I thought this was a great plan because let's face it they all go to the nursery or Sunday school for an hour and my mind though BREAK TIME! if I could just get us there. But, alas this is where the plan had logistical issues. Getting all of us up, showered, fed and dressed in dresses took 3 hours. But, really at one point I was posed to be on time. I had Kayla on the front porch, Karsen locked into her carrier and was walking across the living room with Kennedy when, yup, she threw up all over both of us. Not the little spit up that I have learned to live with and pretend is parenting perfume, but most of the contents of her stomach on my entire outfit, the floor and herself. 15 minutes later we were redressed and on our way, again. Now late for church the children's staff helped me get everyone to their rightful places and me settled into an extra chair in the back of the sanctuary where I could fight sleep and contemplate how long it would take me to leave the house if I had short hair. That is when another 'good' idea struck me, I could go to the nursery and feed each baby with the help of the staff. (Read: Whoever is picked in line to be eater number 2 will begin to protest a few minutes into number 1's meal and I will once again have to silently list the reasons I nurse rather than bottle feed them). To spare you the details let's just say, by the time I left their room BOTH babies were in new outfits, one nursery worker needed to go find something to change into and sad Kayla was the last kid left in all of the Sunday School wing declaring she had been forgotten. I decided that all that effort earned us a trip out to lunch where I fed Kayla everything she asked for off a salad bar (attempt at mother of the year award) and fielded question of the passer-bys that are twin genuises about why they aren't identical, both are both girls and no I don't sleep enough! (see previous blog venting on these things).
Alas, Clay returned home in time to do that magical thing he does were he and the babies sleep on the couch (why has this never worked for me?) and I started the process of catching up all the things my not-so-free hands did not do all weekend. I promise not to share out loud my support for the Citadel's plan to go into the field once every month and instead focus on the things that came out of this weekend.
1) Both babies now go to bed at 7 pm and do not eat again until 6:30 am. That does not mean they sleep, but at least they don't eat.
2) I discovered Kayla can in fact feed herself from the fridge or pantry when I forget to. Who knew a 4 year old could make PB&J?
3) If you don't do laundry for 3 days, it only takes 5 hours to catch up on it!
Monday is back and let's just admit it - thank goodness for Natasha. In addition to keeping me sane, here are a few of the pictures she took to mark their entrance into month 3. Perk #885: her love of photography.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Look at me!
I can barely believe it when I see my "baby" Kennedy (technically not the baby by 2 hours and 10 minutes) sitting up in her bumbo seat.The twins are now 3 months old and changing fast. They are sleeping from (okay, sleeping might be an overstatement)...they are going without eating from 7 pm when they happily go to bed to 5:30 am when they decide it is time for breakfast. They immediately return to sleep until about 7:15 or so. Thus, we are all getting more sleep on...um, well...most nights. Karsen is addicted to the pacifier (aka baby crack) and occasionally decides during the night that she must have it NOW. So the sleepy parents wander over and replug her every so often. How often dictates how much sleep the rest of us get. And here I thought I was saving myself from a battle over the thumb.
By some crazy genetics, both babies still have blue eyes. Kayla never had blue eyes, they were dark from the start and are huge brown saucers now. I seriously doubt that either little one will keep them, but I am trying to enjoy them everyday that I have them since it is such an anomaly to me. Karsen, if I have to admit it, gets referred to now by the street gawkers as red headed. My dad had red hair so technically this is possible, but I still can't see it.
Speaking of folks on the street who insist on commenting on twins, may I explain the definition of identical? Identical: The SAME in every way.
In all seriousness, I get asked on every single outing if 1) they are identical and 2) if they are a boy and a girl. This is almost always from the same person in that order. #1 if they are identical how in the world do they have the different everything you are commenting on (hair, size, etc). Please see the definition of identical. #2 If they are identical as you seem to think, how would they be a boy and a girl. Have you ever compared the anatomy of a boy and girl? Hmmm. See definition of identical. #3 If they were identical twins of opposite gender then yes, I am the type of mother that would dress both of them in matching pink outfits - who cares about the boy's sense of identity. If it didn't happen so often, it would be as amusing as it sounds.
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Mommy, I see God.
If you need a good laugh, hang out with kids. Yesterday while driving to our first Citadel tailgate (the football may be nothing like A&M, but the festivities are not all that different), Kayla starts shouting from the back of the car - "mommy, I see God, I see God". Confused I turned and asked the intelligent question - say what? and Kayla explains, there is God, right there mommy while pointing out the window.
She had spotted a lawn statue of Jesus and was as absolutely as excited as if God himself were standing there in the flesh. Clay and I couldn't contain ourselves, I love the wild abandon of 4-ness.
Little does she know, I see God everytime I see my girls...
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Sleep, sleep come back to me...
Everyone knows that when you have a baby you will, for a time, sleep less. Now, when you have 2 babies does that mean 2x less. When you add 2 babies to 1 four year old, what is the nth degree? When you add 2 babies to 1 four year old to 1 husband and 1 dog, let's face it, there is just no hope. I search in vain for 8 hours.
Of course that is not to say we haven't come a long, long way. The babies no longer eat every 2 hours. In fact, they now go to bed between 7 and 8 and sleep some part of the hours until 4 am when they eat again. They go back to sleep until 7 when they wake for the day. The problem with this schedule is that 1) I don't go to bed between 7 and 8. 2) It doesn't account for the "other" night time needs (you know - Kayla, Clay, Noble, my ridiculous appetite, the over flowing milk supply, the raccoon that breaks into the porch...).
I actually dream of sleep. While falling asleep last night, my final thought though was "boy, I wish I could find time blog..."
Of course that is not to say we haven't come a long, long way. The babies no longer eat every 2 hours. In fact, they now go to bed between 7 and 8 and sleep some part of the hours until 4 am when they eat again. They go back to sleep until 7 when they wake for the day. The problem with this schedule is that 1) I don't go to bed between 7 and 8. 2) It doesn't account for the "other" night time needs (you know - Kayla, Clay, Noble, my ridiculous appetite, the over flowing milk supply, the raccoon that breaks into the porch...).
I actually dream of sleep. While falling asleep last night, my final thought though was "boy, I wish I could find time blog..."
Sunday, August 10, 2008
How fast it all goes...
What a week last week was. Tuesday Kayla officially turned 4 and the babies reached their 2 month milestone. We have had 2 parties, 3 sets of shots and one visit from Peaches and Papa Bear and one from our beloved friend Blannin. Things have been so busy, my own brothers have been completely unable to reach us by phone to wish the birthday girl well. However exhausting, the minutes continue to race by. Some moments I fight the urge to wish the time away (...if only they could sleep longer, if only they could play with toys, if only she could make her own...) and some moments my heart breaks that whole stages are gone forever.
This was the first birthday that Kayla completely dictated. She insisted on cupcakes (Ariel in the end) for her friends in her class on her "actual" birthday and a party with her other friends at the Splash park on Saturday, complete with pink and purple balloons, etc. Clay's parents, a.k.a. Peaches and Papa Bear, were here for a long weekend. Kayla has loved having them in town to party with and us parental types have been able to enjoy a nice meal or two while visiting with actual grown ups. For those that love stats - Kayla weighed in at 41 lbs (75th percentile) and is 41 inches tall (90th percentile). She will start Pre-K next week. Unbelievable. There is NO way I am old enough to have a 4 year old.
The babies now smile and coo! It makes all the work worth every single second. Kennedy weighed (and I say weighed because you know a week later they have grown) 11 lbs and 1 oz (75th percentile) and is 22.5 inches long (50th percentile). She is ever alert, but relatively easily entertained much like Kayla was. Karsen weighed 11 lbs and 12 oz (90th percentile) and is 22 inches long (50th). A little higher maintenance, she needs to see or hear someone at all times. She is a happy baby, but she will snuggle in and make a nest at the first chance -- choosing to be with people rather than play solo every time.
Natasha is another of the blessings I can't believe keep coming. She is WONDERFUL with the girls and just enough type A that she surprises me with an organized linen closet or the like in addition to keeping our entire house happy. I somehow haven't found that her presence extends the day, but I have found that it makes it more enjoyable. Since she started, I have managed to slip in a pedicure and a haircut in addition to the birthday party planning and runs to the grocery store. For those who have asked - She is 26, not Russian (although she says she gets that question all the time), engaged to be married next May, a photography apprentice and a super gentle, kid-loving soul. We are getting along great. If only life worked where I could have a nanny and not a job! With 6 more weeks before I have to go back, I try not to think about it.
The Citadel freshman come in for their orientation week on Saturday. Clay is excited to get started. I however am not looking forward to him leaving for PT at 445 in the morning or teaching a class that doesn't end until 6 p.m., but I embrace the TGFN (thank goodness for Natasha) attitude and accept my fate.
I have slews of pictures of all of Kayla's parties, but our home computer is in the sick bay and I can not download pics to my work computer. I promise more as soon as I put the computer back together from its tragic launch through the window...
Much love,
Heather
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