4th anniversary, back to work & the twins are 6 mo old!

Ok, so I just realized it's been over 2 months since I updated the blog. Suffice it to say, things have gotten a little hectic as the twins have gotten older. Steve and I just celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary, the twins are one day away from 6 months old and Sofia started preschool a few weeks ago (she is 28 months old). The jury is still out on Sofia and preschool as she has developed a profound fear of one of the teachers, so fingers crossed it works out. I started back to work and am adjusting to being a working mom to 3 little ones. With the exception of mornings, the transition has been relatively smooth. My sister in law, Laura is watching Sofia and the boys, so once again, I am very thankful to have her able to do that for us. We are having the children baptised this weekend and are looking forward to all the fun of the upcoming holidays. We already have their Halloween costumes.

Regarding the kids, the boys are doing great. David is pushing up, trying so hard to crawl. William prefers to hold toys, he's much more tactile and has turned into quite the smiler/laugher after we were convinced he would be the serious one. Must have been that bonk on the head in August. Just kidding!! They both sleep relatively well, but we are a slave to the binkie, so hoping to nip that in the bud soon. Sofia is 2 going on 14, can say her address, full name and has taken to calling me Melissa. She has her obnoxious moments, but for the most part, she's a hoot and a joy to be around. Every day presents its own unique challenges and we are learning to adjust and roll with things as best we can.

The Days of Summer

Things are good with the boys. They are getting bigger every day. They love to eat, typically sleep from 8 pm- 6 am, so no complaints. I think David is getting ready to roll over and they are both looking like they may start batting at toys soon. They're not so good with their trunk strength, that's my fault. I need to get them on the floor for more tummy time. Both of them are really happy most of the time, smiling and cooing. William still lets you know when he wants something, with his trademark angry wail, but it could be much worse. David is very patient, will wait for you without complaining, just smiling at the air. They are starting to get to a very fun age, thank god. I never thought I would get here.

Life with 3 under 3

So life is pretty good now. The boys are pretty regular at this point. I have kept them pretty scheduled from the beginning, but now things are really falling into place. They wake around 6 and eat, then eat every 4 hours, final bottle around 7 p.m., then bath and to sleep at 8:00. Typically, we don't hear from them until 6 a.m. I realize we are very lucky. Sofia was the same way, thank goodness. Soon, I will have them in the nursery with her. Not sure how that will work out, I suspect she'll be "talking" to them.

Yesterday, we were driving in the car and she had her toy cell...she was calling them on the phone. It was pretty cute. She really does love them and I suppose that is one of the benefits of her being so young. She doesn't understand jealousy much. She is always asking where they are. In fact, we went out yesterday and as I put her in the car, she questioned why they weren't coming. It's pretty cute...

I have had to take care of all 3 a few times this week, for the first time. It was hectic, but I managed. It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be, just involves a lot of time management and juggling. It literally takes me 2 hours to get everyone fed, dressed, myself showered and coiffed. If I skip the coiffing, goes quicker. I suspect I will be skipping the coiffing most of the time.

Little D and Dubbya are 3 months old!

So, finally, things are good. We had a little "incident" with William, but I won't get into that. Most of you know what happened. Suffice it to say it was pretty scary, but he's doing great now. The boys are sleeping from 8pm - 5am regularly, so life is good. They are smiling and cooing lots, getting bigger every day and so much fun to be around. We get a kick out of how different they look. David is the little Irish boy, complete with reddish hair and all. William is our little Mediterranean ladies man, complete with olive skin and dark, piercing eyes. They literally could not be more different! In fact, I suspect that when they are in school, people won't believe they're twins. :P Genetics are a crazy thing!

McFlirty & Dubbya are 10 weeks old!

Well, it's official. They are "sleeping thru the night" (6 hour stretches) -- I am beside myself with happiness. I honestly didn't think they ever would. I realize how lucky I am for them to be doing this.

I have been reading a lot of Weissbluth, which I used with Sofia, and it seems to be working. Lots of consistent naps during the day, bedtime routine, earlyish bedtime, etc.

I bathe them at feed them, then bathe them and put them down between 7-8 p.m. I do wake them (they don't really wake much) at around 10-10:30 and feed them, then they are sleeping until 4:30 or 5 a.m. I'm really encouraged and hopeful that eventually, they will sleep until 6. As I'll need to get up at 6 when I return to work, this would be fine.

David smiles like crazy. He smiles as if you have just told him the funniest joke he's ever heard, his whole face lights up -- much like Sofia. William makes you work for the smiles, but he's smiling more and more every day.

They had their 2 month appt last week and David weighs 11 lbs -- William weighs 11 lbs 7 oz. They are doing great!!

Moving Forward...

So as most of you know, I was in the hospital for 10 days with pneumonia and "complicated pleural effusion" - what occurs when too much fluid collects in the pleural space (the space between the two layers of the pleura). I started out at Sequoia and ended up at my hospital in SF. Suffice it to say, it was a horrible and scary ordeal; being that sick, being away from the twins and Sofia, etc. I won't get into huge detail about it here but will just say that I am on the mend. I visited my primary MD last week and while my chest xray is still not normal, it's improving. As most of the specialists had pre warned me and my doctor confirmed, it can take weeks and even months to recover from this - I will most likely have permanent scarring from it.

The first few weeks home were tough as I was still pretty weak, but things are getting progressively better. The boys are officially "sleeping thru the night" (defined as 5-6 hrs of sleep in a row) so we are beside ourself with that development. Steve has been handling the one middle of the night feeding to let me sleep. Yes, he's a ROCK STAR.

As some of you also know, David was admitted to the hospital last week due to a high fever. Because he didn't have his 2 month shots, they had to do a bunch of tests on him to make sure he didn't have a bacterial infection. We had to stay there for 48 hours. Turned out he was fine, so that was a relief. Everyone seems to be on the mend now *knock on wood* and life is settling into a normalcy - or the new normalcy I should say.

I would like to express my gratitude to both of my sister in laws for all the help and support during this scary time. We don't have a whole lot of family, so it was so amazing to have everyone come forth to help us during this time. Aunt Laura watched the twins during the day (even taking them overnight to give Steve a break) and Steve cared for them at night. (Yes, that's right, Steve took care of month old twins!) Aunt Jessica and Uncle Mike took Sofia for a week which helped everyone immensely. Sofia had a blast, but of course, I felt awful and guilty about being away from her. I would also like to give a special thanks to my friend Natalie. She watched both Sofia and the twins multiple times, even taking the twins overnight on 3 separate occasions. I was incredibly touched that she would even offer to do that and am forever indebted to her. Quite frankly, I don't know what I would have done without the help of Laura, Jessica, Natalie and of course, Steve. I am just so fortunate to have such wonderful people in my life.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

A Hellish 2 Weeks

Well, the past few weeks have been quite hellish. I know that several of you have called and I have not returned your call, so just wanted to let everyone know that we are all doing ok. It started with Sofia getting sick, her getting the twins sick, then my getting sick and it kind of went downhill from there. The twins are fine, have minor colds, but I got hit very hard with asthma and the flu, so taking care of the babies has been incredibly challenging. We've been to the doctors for the boys and for me many times. Steve has been a godsend and I am so thankful that he is able to help right now. I don't know what I would do were that not the case.

Anyway, just wanted to let you know that the "boys" are doing well, gaining weight, getting bigger, etc. I definitely want to take them out for their debut soon, but I really need everyone to get healthy first. Hopefully in the next few weeks.

I tried to take Sofia to see the Easter Bunny at Hillsdale, but she was having no part of that. She clung to me for dear life. I can't say that I blame her. Here's what she would have looked like had she taken an Easter Bunny picture (this was on our way there).