We survived the week -- yippee!! Tim made it back safely on Saturday and we spent the weekend running errands, doing stuff around the house / yard and resting. Now that the camera is back, I promise a post of only B & K pictures sometime this week.
On to even more exciting news . . . I didn't want to say anything sooner, but in the midst of all of the craziness last week, Bennett & Kendyll have decided to *almost* sleep through the night. With the exception of the "Horror Night", as I like to call it (the night I lost my ring & of the storm), B & K have been going to bed between 8:30p - 9:00p and sleeping until 5a. It started last weekend . . . Friday night they went 9p - 4a, then Sunday 9p - 4:30, and a little bit longer each night. Last night they went down around 9p and slept until after 6a!!!! They have been eating more during the day and I think that has a lot to do with it. Woo-hoo! Hopefully I didn't just jinx myself, but I'd like to think this is a sign of life getting back to normal for us all (read: consecutive hours of sleep).
Sunday, June 8, 2008
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Ugh!!
THREE nights down, THREE to go . . . .
It was a rough 24 hours . . . I lost my wedding band, the kids were up every two hours at night, we had horrible storms / monsoon and Tabasco threw up all over our new family room carpet. Ugh! But we are surviving and things are looking up. I always take off my engagement ring when I get home from work and just wear my band at night. The kids were fussy, so I decided to pack them up to go do a few errands (read: make them sleep / be quiet in their carseats for the evening). When we got home, they were SCREAMING to eat, so I gave them quick baths, fed them and put them to bed. As I was cleaning up and (STILL) trying to put our kitchen back together, I happened to look down at my hand and realized my ring was missing. I had not taken it off and my mind started to race about all of the places I had been /things I had done that night and where it might have fallen off. After searching through diapers / diaper pails, trash, laundry bins, couches, calling Target, Home Depot & Lowes and waking the twins up to look through their cribs & blankets, I had no luck in finding it. I didn't sleep at all Tuesday night, sick to my stomach about losing such an important thing (plus, it was stormy and for whatever reason B & K were up at least once an hour). I called Tim Wed. morning to confess my news and actually had a really bad day at work (for other reasons). But just as the saying goes, once you stop looking for something it appears in front of your eyes (um, not sure if that is really a saying . . . ) . . . I am happy to report that I found my ring under the dish drying rack in the kitchen. Did I put it there -- no . . . I have a feeling it fell off into a dishtowel as I was drying my hands. Did I look all over the counter -- I swear yes, but I don't really care anymore at this point.
Whew! Hopefully this is a sign of good things to come. Tabasco still isn't his old self, but I'm sure he ate something he wasn't supposed to in our yard. :-) I need a drink at this point (if only I weren't a single parent this week . . . ).
It was a rough 24 hours . . . I lost my wedding band, the kids were up every two hours at night, we had horrible storms / monsoon and Tabasco threw up all over our new family room carpet. Ugh! But we are surviving and things are looking up. I always take off my engagement ring when I get home from work and just wear my band at night. The kids were fussy, so I decided to pack them up to go do a few errands (read: make them sleep / be quiet in their carseats for the evening). When we got home, they were SCREAMING to eat, so I gave them quick baths, fed them and put them to bed. As I was cleaning up and (STILL) trying to put our kitchen back together, I happened to look down at my hand and realized my ring was missing. I had not taken it off and my mind started to race about all of the places I had been /things I had done that night and where it might have fallen off. After searching through diapers / diaper pails, trash, laundry bins, couches, calling Target, Home Depot & Lowes and waking the twins up to look through their cribs & blankets, I had no luck in finding it. I didn't sleep at all Tuesday night, sick to my stomach about losing such an important thing (plus, it was stormy and for whatever reason B & K were up at least once an hour). I called Tim Wed. morning to confess my news and actually had a really bad day at work (for other reasons). But just as the saying goes, once you stop looking for something it appears in front of your eyes (um, not sure if that is really a saying . . . ) . . . I am happy to report that I found my ring under the dish drying rack in the kitchen. Did I put it there -- no . . . I have a feeling it fell off into a dishtowel as I was drying my hands. Did I look all over the counter -- I swear yes, but I don't really care anymore at this point.
Whew! Hopefully this is a sign of good things to come. Tabasco still isn't his old self, but I'm sure he ate something he wasn't supposed to in our yard. :-) I need a drink at this point (if only I weren't a single parent this week . . . ).
Monday, June 2, 2008
The Netherlands
ONE night down, FIVE to go . . . .
Tim arrived in Amsterdam at 1a my time (7a there) this morning. He called me later in the morning to let me know he arrived and at that point he had been up for about 24+ hours (and when I talked to him again before he was heading off to bed -- at around 2p my time -- he had been up for over 32 hours . . . reminded us of our trip back from our honeymoon in Tahiti where we were up for 36 hours straight. We have trouble sleeping on planes, but I digress). He said the weather was really nice (70's or so) and that everything was VERY expensive!!! Gas, for example, was over $9 a gallon (USD). He was able to snap a few pictures of the locale around his office -- ahh, it is almost like I'm there. So since I have no new pictures of the kids, I thought I'd share the view from the Netherlands.
On the B & K front, they have not ganged up on me yet. Whew! We went for a long walk at a park by our house last night with "Aunts" Leslie & Rachel and they are going to come visit us for dinner tonight. The rest of the week I'm going to try to occupy my evenings with the kiddos by shopping and getting the rest of our kitchen put back together before Daddy comes home on Saturday (wish me lots of luck there!). I find if I keep myself busy I don't realize I'm alone (OK, I know I'm not *technically* alone when I have two little people and a furry person in my home. But I don't really have anyone to talk to who will talk back, if you know what I mean).
Enjoy the pictures and I'll be sure to update our progress again soon.
Tim arrived in Amsterdam at 1a my time (7a there) this morning. He called me later in the morning to let me know he arrived and at that point he had been up for about 24+ hours (and when I talked to him again before he was heading off to bed -- at around 2p my time -- he had been up for over 32 hours . . . reminded us of our trip back from our honeymoon in Tahiti where we were up for 36 hours straight. We have trouble sleeping on planes, but I digress). He said the weather was really nice (70's or so) and that everything was VERY expensive!!! Gas, for example, was over $9 a gallon (USD). He was able to snap a few pictures of the locale around his office -- ahh, it is almost like I'm there. So since I have no new pictures of the kids, I thought I'd share the view from the Netherlands.
On the B & K front, they have not ganged up on me yet. Whew! We went for a long walk at a park by our house last night with "Aunts" Leslie & Rachel and they are going to come visit us for dinner tonight. The rest of the week I'm going to try to occupy my evenings with the kiddos by shopping and getting the rest of our kitchen put back together before Daddy comes home on Saturday (wish me lots of luck there!). I find if I keep myself busy I don't realize I'm alone (OK, I know I'm not *technically* alone when I have two little people and a furry person in my home. But I don't really have anyone to talk to who will talk back, if you know what I mean).
Enjoy the pictures and I'll be sure to update our progress again soon.
Sunday, June 1, 2008
Six Nights
Tim left for Amsterdam this afternoon. I will officially be alone with B & K for the longest period of their lives . . . SIX NIGHTS!! So far, so good. Grandma & Grandpa Z and Uncle Mark came down for the day to watch the kiddies while I painted the kitchen. I can tell I haven't been to the gym in a while . . . my arms are killing me!!! It looks nice, though, and once we finish pulling off the miles of blue tape and accessorizing I will be sure to post a picture or two. It looks a MILLION times better!!
Sorry no new pictures of B & K . . . actually, it will be a while as Tim took the new camera overseas with him to take some pictures. So maybe I'll post a few of those this week (along with a few of the kids, too, I guess).
I'll be sure to post again later this week -- countdown style -- to note our progress. Right now I have to go take care of my other baby, Tabasco, he is dying for some attention before we go to bed.
Sorry no new pictures of B & K . . . actually, it will be a while as Tim took the new camera overseas with him to take some pictures. So maybe I'll post a few of those this week (along with a few of the kids, too, I guess).
I'll be sure to post again later this week -- countdown style -- to note our progress. Right now I have to go take care of my other baby, Tabasco, he is dying for some attention before we go to bed.
Monday, May 26, 2008
New Toy!!
Sorry for the lack of updates this week -- it has been a busy, hectic, crazy one that has included the continuation of our kitchen renovation (couter-tops tomorrow, yeah!), a trip to the ER (me . . . long story and I'm fine), the news that Tim will be heading to Amsterdam next week for work (nothing like a last-minute, week-long trip oversees sprung on ya!) and a road trip to visit all Grandparents up North for the long weekend. Thankfully we survived it all.
Our new toy -- the camera! -- arrived earlier this week and Tim snapped a few new pictures over the weekend. Enjoy!!
Our new toy -- the camera! -- arrived earlier this week and Tim snapped a few new pictures over the weekend. Enjoy!!
Monday, May 19, 2008
Happy Birthday, Daddy!!!
Today marks the end of one of Tim's favorite weeks of the year. You know that song "Its the most wonderful time of the year . . ." -- it is normally a Xmas song (and sometimes used during one of our other favorite weeks -- Football Bowl game week!). But I think of Tim singing that song this week -- for this one week of the year I am two years older than him. Yep, that's right -- from May 12th through today I have been 33 and he was 31. Big friggin deal! :-) But he LOVES to point out that he married an older woman and often makes comments about things from "my generation" or back in the day when I was in school (mind you, one year ahead of him!). It is cute, though, and I'm always excited to get the week over with. Welcome to being 32, my love!!
Seriously, though, a HUGE happy birthday to Big Poppa -- I love you!!!
Note: We have ordered a new camera . .. this pic was taken with our video camera . . . not the greatest.
Seriously, though, a HUGE happy birthday to Big Poppa -- I love you!!!
Note: We have ordered a new camera . .. this pic was taken with our video camera . . . not the greatest.
Sunday, May 18, 2008
It's a lot of work . . .
We like to refer to ourselves as "freak show" when we go out in public. You'd be very surprised by some of the comments, gawks and general questions we receive from perfect strangers when we go out in public with Bennett & Kendyll. I guess growing up with a mother who is a twin and having other family members with multiples I never really thought twice about it being rare or an oddity (and I can only imagine what it would be like if we had more than two!). Some of my favorite questions are:
"Do you have twins?" (no, we just like to bring two baby carriers everywhere)
"Are they identical?" (this is AFTER we tell them they are a boy & a girl)
"Did you have them at the same time?" (this is a new one, just asked of us yesterday)
"I couldn't imagine having two at one time" (really, I couldn't imagine only having one)
"Is it hard to tell them apart?" (again, this is AFTER we have told them they are a boy & girl)
Usually we are very polite with our answers and my standard response these days is "it is very hard and a lot of work, but we are very blessed".
So in the spirit of things being a little more challenging with multiples, I thought I'd document our feeding process. Tim asked why I would want to do this and the reason is two-fold: a) so everyone can see what our lives are like and 2) so some day MANY years from now when he or I get a little nuts and think we may just want to go through this again we'll remember what it was like (because we both know with my genetics and age we'd end up with quads next time!!).
As many of you know, I am a very organized person. I wouldn't necessarily say I'm anal -- because I know people more organized that I am -- but I do like to be neat & process oriented. I didn't realize how bad I was until I was training our nanny on how to make & clean the bottles. In all honestly, as long as the formula is mixed correctly and the bottles end up clean it doesn't really matter how it happens, but of course I got into a routine and I expect her to follow the same routine. She is now the one to make & clean the bottles during the week, but I get to slip back into my neurosis on the weekends. :-)
Since B & K were originally on a special recipe for formula we were forced to mix up a day's worth of bottles at one time. Although this can be a little time consuming, we have found that it is actually nice to have the bottles mixed & ready to go, so now that we are mixing the formula according to the can we have kept up this practice. But it is nice to know that we could mix "on the fly" (i.e. if we are out & about) or use the "liquid gold" pre-made stuff if we had to.
B & K eat every 3 hours during the day and "on demand" once they go down after their 8:00p bottles. This basically equates to 7 bottles each a day. So we start out with clean bottles:
"Do you have twins?" (no, we just like to bring two baby carriers everywhere)
"Are they identical?" (this is AFTER we tell them they are a boy & a girl)
"Did you have them at the same time?" (this is a new one, just asked of us yesterday)
"I couldn't imagine having two at one time" (really, I couldn't imagine only having one)
"Is it hard to tell them apart?" (again, this is AFTER we have told them they are a boy & girl)
Usually we are very polite with our answers and my standard response these days is "it is very hard and a lot of work, but we are very blessed".
So in the spirit of things being a little more challenging with multiples, I thought I'd document our feeding process. Tim asked why I would want to do this and the reason is two-fold: a) so everyone can see what our lives are like and 2) so some day MANY years from now when he or I get a little nuts and think we may just want to go through this again we'll remember what it was like (because we both know with my genetics and age we'd end up with quads next time!!).
As many of you know, I am a very organized person. I wouldn't necessarily say I'm anal -- because I know people more organized that I am -- but I do like to be neat & process oriented. I didn't realize how bad I was until I was training our nanny on how to make & clean the bottles. In all honestly, as long as the formula is mixed correctly and the bottles end up clean it doesn't really matter how it happens, but of course I got into a routine and I expect her to follow the same routine. She is now the one to make & clean the bottles during the week, but I get to slip back into my neurosis on the weekends. :-)
Since B & K were originally on a special recipe for formula we were forced to mix up a day's worth of bottles at one time. Although this can be a little time consuming, we have found that it is actually nice to have the bottles mixed & ready to go, so now that we are mixing the formula according to the can we have kept up this practice. But it is nice to know that we could mix "on the fly" (i.e. if we are out & about) or use the "liquid gold" pre-made stuff if we had to.
B & K eat every 3 hours during the day and "on demand" once they go down after their 8:00p bottles. This basically equates to 7 bottles each a day. So we start out with clean bottles:
We then mix our Neosure formula (powered gold -- it only comes in these small cans and cost about $15 a can . . . we go through about 5 - 6 a week. Thankfully we received two cases from our pedi at the last visit, which meant we actually had a break for about two weeks. Whoo-hoo!):
First, I line up all of the bottles -- according to size of course. We use Dr. Brown's bottles, which are a WONDERFUL product . . . especially with very gassy babies. It is a little more work because there are more parts to clean (and they aren't very cheap either), but it is totally worth it if it keeps us from having a colicky or gassy / fussy baby.
We mix up 30 scoops of formula in 60 oz of water. Ten bottles (5 per baby) are filled with 4 oz of formula and we fill the other 4 with 5 oz -- these are the "nighttime bottles". We've started giving B & K a little more at night to "tank up" in the hopes that they will sleep better at night. It hasn't really started to work yet, but we're not ready to give up! The smaller bottles on the end are for their daily vitamins -- given with the 10:00a bottle.
Six bottles go up to the nursery -- with a two story house, the smartest thing we have done so far is put in a special outlet and keep a mini-fridge in the babies' room. I couldn't imagine having to go up & down the stairs at 3am.
Lastly, the remaining bottles go in our fridge in the kitchen for day-time feeds. Right next to the beer -- nice! So far we haven't had any mix-ups . . .
Sometimes I have a "helper" -- today it was Bennett:
So that's our lives right now . . . bottles, formula & diapers (which we still go through about 14 - 18+ a day). Lots of work, but lots of fun, too.
Note: the remodeling in our kitchen has begun. Notice the drywall in the background . . .our tile was removed last week (not a fun process) and new dry-wall put up where our old backsplash used to be. Hopefully the new counter tops will be in sometime in the next two weeks and we'll be able to get back to normal!
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