Black Friday

Tom and I gave Kiley and Kara their first bath last night. Wow they were not huge fans :) Poor things looked so miserable laying there all in the buff. But we got them wrapped up nice and snug in their towels and each got some good snuggle time with Mom and a little something warm for their tummies. AND... for the first night since the hospital they were content to snooze together in their bassinet. The last few nights they had been winding up in bed with me after 4-5 hours of mom struggling with keeping up with their demands. I slept with Abs in bed with us but having two little babies who both want to be tucked up next to you can be interesting. I would have one snuggle up against me on one side and the other would sleep on my chest. It's amazing how aware of your body you can be when you become a new mom. The fact that I could wake up in the exact same position as I fell asleep in is amazing to me.

But anyways.... they snuggled together last night and just woke up every 2 hours to eat... which at times took me an hour to get them both fed and put down again. So I guess I slept in increments of 1 hour. I guess that explains why I'm so tired right now... Thank God for coffee!!!

Thanksgiving went... ok. We arrived late because we had to wait for Abs to finish her nap. She got up at 7am and REALLY needed it. So we got there an hour late and ended up with cold food. No one's fault but ours. I knew that would probably happen. Cold turkey is good though :) I was completely overwhelmed by the people. Gosh I am so paranoid this time!! I never felt like this when Abby was born. Perhaps the media H1N1 hype has gotten to me a little lol. I'm just worried with them both being barely 5lbs that if they got sick they could get really bad. They just don't have anything to lose! So having a large group of people who all want to hold them made me really nervous. In fact I was ready to go about the moment I walked in the door but made myself stay. Everyone really enjoyed seeing them, most couldn't believe how tiny they were. Kiley poo'd in her pj's and of course I had only brought 2 backups and both were dirtied by Kara before we even got there! (I go through a lot of outfits it seems) Thankfully Beth had given us onesies as gifts and so Kiley didn't have to go home completely naked. (We tucked her in the blankets good)

Abby and I put up a few Christmas decorations last night, Abby loved the 'preeties' but we are probably going to avoid putting up the tree this year. I feel bad enough telling Abby to stay away from the babies all the time. I don't want one more thing to have to tell her 'no' about. I should probably go see what she is up to, she just went downstairs again....

A thought to leave you with... We change an average of 20 diapers a day.... TWENTY... sometimes more

Almost Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving. How sad that so many jump right from Halloween to Christmas. Thanksgiving might be without presents or many decorations and it certainly isn't a retailors dream... but perhaps we all need to step back and remember what we are thankful for this year. With the economy in the dumps and bad news lurking around all corners it is easy to get lost in the world. So I'm praying that for a moment tomorrow, between the turkey and the football game everyone will take a moment to reflect on what they are thankful for, give their loved one an extra long hug and remember how lucky we all truly are...

Abby and I have hung out with Kiley and Kara all day. I'm sure she is getting a little tired of being cooped up. My mom and little brother stopped by for awhile this morning before they had to go to a few doctor's appointments. Abby really missed him and was glad to see him. They left during Abby's nap (2 hours yay!) It's still a bit of a battle to keep her from the girls. She wants to play with them like they are dolls and just gets too rough. It's exhausting at times to be on constant guard duty. I've been impressed so far as to how well I'm doing being at home with all three by myself. It's not easy but as I have discovered... you can do a lot when you have to.

Kara finally lost her little umbilicus (to Tom's delight, they creep him out) but Kiley is still holding tight to hers. I think we are going to give them their first baths tonight after Abby goes to bed. 8 days and no bath... we sound like horrible parents.. we aren't, just extraordinarily busy and exhausted parents. I'm excited and a little nervous. Giving babies a bath is hard when they are so small and 'floppy' and slippery. lol

It sounds like tomorrow we will be heading to the family Thanksgiving at least for a little bit. My mom is going to 'scope it out' a little and make sure people are healthy before we come. And if I'm uncomfortable with people holding them I'll just tell them no. The thought of staying home again all day tomorrow is not a pleasant thought... so we'll see how it goes.

Well Abby has once again discovered Kiley and Kara... gotta run!

One week old today!

Well lets see. Yesterday we went in for Kiley & Kara's first doctor's appointment. They got poked once again to check their Bilirubin levels. Kiley's dropped from Saturday's level of 12 to 10 and Kara dropped from 14 to 13. They were content to just watch the girls and as long as they didn't get more yellow or stop eating we were ok.

Today we had to go in for an appointment with the lactation people. At this appointment I met with the lactation lady, we had them weighed, fed them and weighed them again. Kiley isn't gaining as well as she should. She only gained 1oz since Friday and has lost more weight than she should have. Kara however is my little piggy and is well on her way to almost being back up to birth weight. So they want me to keep a close eye on Kiley and try to feed her more often (as if I'm not feeding all the time!) She told me to bring Kiley up some time and get a weight check the next time I'm in town so that we keep a close eye on it. If Kiley were an 8lb baby and was having this 'situation' they would be less worried but since Kiley is so little there isn't much wiggle room for error. But it's nothing to be 'concerned' about, I just have to watch it and get her checked out again to see if she starts to catch up.

It was a nice visit though, she said that she couldnt believe how well I was doing with everything and that I'm able to feed them both on my own without bottles. She said she would love to have me come back and talk to couples who are expecting multiples! (The class Tom & I went to) So that is how that visit went.

But we are home now, I'm tired and need to keep an eye on Abby whom is a little rambunctious right now. We are having to work on 'being gentle' with the babies. She loves them too much. :) We still aren't 100% sure what we will be doing for Thanksgiving yet. I'm a little afraid to take the girls to my big family gathering in Humboldt, too many people tend to come when they are sick. I'm pretty sure we will at least be going to Ida Grove Saturday-Monday. We'll see how long exactly we stay. Depends on how things are going and how we are all feeling. Ok have to see what Abby is up to...

5 days old now... wow

I'm losing track of the days a little. Hard to believe it is Sunday. Right now I am writing from my parent's house as Grandpa Timm is holding the twins. Kara is squaking a little so she might be getting hungry. We'll see how long I can stay on...

The girls are doing great. They are both still a little jaundiced but I'm doing my best to make sure they are eating and eating and eating. I wish I had thought to just tell the doctors I would like the bili blanket... it's less invasive than all of the 'pokes' they have had to endure and I wouldn't have to try so hard to feed twins. And yes, there are days I feel like all I do is feed them all the time. Thankfully it is getting a little easier each day. We are learning tricks and I'm figuring out how to manuever two babies at the same time.

Physically I'm doing a little less as well. Right now I have an awful headache and feel in general pretty icky. I'm hoping I don't have an infection. It doesn't help that I'm averaging 3-4 hours of sleep a night. I tried to take a nap this afternoon but wasn't able to fall asleep... how crazy is that? The Tylenol and Ibprofin haven't helped but I'll make it. I just feel a little bad for Abs because I've got so very little to offer her with how exhausted I am.

Tomorrow I have another doctor's appointment for Kiley and Kara. Abby is due for her 18 month appt but I think I will wait to do that until at LEAST after Thanksgiving week. Too much going on right now. Of course there are 2 homework assignments and a test due too... thankfully my Composition professor is very understanding with everything. On a similar note I found out yesterday that I won't be going back into the nursing program next semester :'( It's bittersweet to me, I will have more time to spend with all of my girls but it means delaying everything another semester.... *sigh* But I guess God has meant for me to be a mom now...

Well the computer battery is dying, Kara is hungry and I need to go take a bath to see if I can feel a little better. I'll try and write about the appointment tomorrow.