Alistair & Emerick - 1 Month Update

Woohoo. We've done it. We made it to that one month mark.  We got over four weeks of TLC take-on under our belt for our tiny duo.  Here's a little status update.

Nursing: Since less than 24 hours post birth, it's all been tandem nursing for us (minus a couple feedings where I thought it would be "fun" to nurse one at a time and quickly realized how misguided I was).  The boys eat every 2 and 1/2 to 3 hours during the day, initiated by whomever is ready first, and offer only a tad bit longer intervals during the night, sometimes stretching to a whopping 4 hour stint.  At night, I wake to cries (not my own yet), carry babies to living room, unswaddle on top of Brest Friend twin nursing pillow, latch both boys, start timers on best favoritest app in the world that all twin mommies need (Baby Connect), fall asleep one hundred times in 15 minutes, and then burp, diaper, and swaddle both babies before tucking all three of us back into each of our beds... so no biggie. 

The boys reach out for me or the other while nursing. It's adorable.

Sanity Walks: I take a walk each night.  As you might have surmised from above, I rock those wild and crazy nights primarily solo, except for those occasions when Paul, in a fatigued stupor and 9/10ths asleep proclaims he's following me out to the couch to help and I end up getting to stare at him sleep while doing the routine and debating with myself whether I will yell, "Paul... Paul... Paul...Paul... PAULWAKEUPANDSWADDLETHISBABY" or just do it myself.  Okay, anyway, back to the sanity walks.  I need them so I take them.  This is one of the hundred ways Paul has been of big help to either his credit for insisting I treat myself or my insistence that there are no other options really.  I lace up and tuck my beloved headphones into my ears and head out into the neighborhood for the bliss of breathing fresh air and hitting the sidewalk to explicit hip hop lyrics for 30 minutes, an effort that undoubtedly balances out the abundance of mature goodness and motherly instincts I've exhausted throughout the day.

Outings: I've ventured out into public with the twins in tow. However, our car seats are not of the portable sort, so this means one momma on the loose with two babies atop each other in her arms while she searches for a bottle of wine or a last minute card.  When I took the babies to their 2nd doctor's appointment a couple weeks ago, the crowded waiting room inched closer and closer while we waited, asking nearly every question conceivable (minus the fertility treatment question) regarding twins.  Fish bowl it was.  And apparently Super Woman I am (I'm not) for toting around the two on my own.  General reaction out in public is "Aw, how cute, a baby.... (wait for it, wait for it)... OH. TWO!"  I feel like the boys' agent rather than mommy.  Alistair & Emerick's first true outing, our first outing together as the whole family, was Americafest at my sister's house.  As you can see below, the boys were out of control. 

The Vessel:  My body is one hot mess.  I first noticed a major problem on my  hands  hips when I studied YouTube videos a week ago to take my measurements.  I studied the videos. Okay, no problem. Let's do this. I went back to my room, took a look in the mirror at my exposed and vulnerable flesh, and realized my body shape in no way resembled what each and every video told me to expect. My body is no hourglass.  It's jello. It's flabby.  It's a few more curves than I bargained for and all in the wrong places.  And according to my sister's brother-in-law, it's also a temptation for others to ask "Are you pregnant?"  So yeah, if I wasn't already fiddling around with the idea of becoming that weird obsessive exercising personality type for a couple months while I shed this shape, there's no fiddling now. I'm getting full on freak to lose the last 15 lbs.

Differences: Pointing out differences in the boys sends me into a bit of nail biting.  I have to be careful not to label or make lesser.  So I'll only tell you the two notable differences we've found in the boys (still not enough to actually tell them apart without help from the toe nail polish).  Alistair appears to have notes of yellow in his skin and Emerick tends to have fairer skin and get fairly red when he's upset.  And then there's this, and I get that it sounds silly to note but it really is notable: Emerick toots a lot.  If I hear a baby fill his diaper or let some gas in the funny honktastic squeak newborns love to make, I check the toes and almost always see green.

Balancing:  The transition / regression / the-fuzzy-period-we're-working-hard-to-forget is largely over, but learning to balance it all is something I will be working on forever and always.  I can have a whole string of minutes that are peaceful and relaxed. Maybe Thomas is outside rousing neighbors' suspicions while he goes to town with nothing but a bucket and a hose while his mommy grins from inside or maybe Thomas happens to find intrigue in a forgotten toy for a good chunk of time while I'm nursing.  But there are other times I've got a whole queue of needs lining up that range from critical to urgent to important and I'm the only adult around to assist the littles in their cries for help or, in the case of the time I was stranded on the couch tandem nursing and Thomas announced he had to poop and I about crapped my pants myself, cries for "more toilet paper pleeeeeeease!"

Baby Blues:  I think they might have passed me by this time.  In fact, I think I got whammied with the opposite.  I was on an overdrive of joy for the first two weeks and shifted slowly into a more human range of emotions the 2nd half of the month.  I did have a good cry ten days in because I didn't want the boys to get any older (feeling the same way about Thomas as well), but I was able to let go of that brand new baby stage somehow.  I credit how well things have gone this time to a great many things: help from others (and me saying yes to it), frozen food, two books (Seven Habits & Baby Wise--just a little), showering, a sheer refusal to complain or welcome negativity, the nursing, those walks, and God's grace.  (This is absolutely not to say these things guarantee success for others, just simply my experience.)

Travel:  Paul travels a lot.  People have tossed me their sympathy from time to time for it and I've tossed it right back because really, his travels have 90% of the time been a piece of cake. International travel is a little dicey, but in house stuff is no big deal.  However, I will tackle my 1st stint of his travel and me home alone with the babes next week.  I'm a tiny bit nervous. I might take to Twitter or Facebook for solace from the clamoring of boys. And maybe some sympathy too.

What will I do without this kind of help?

Look What We Can Do: Emerick has rolled over twice from belly to back, in a fit of baby rage, and the boys have considerable head control, just like their brother Thomas did.  Both boys started cooing a few days ago and my heart melts something fierce every time.  Both boys track faces and sounds well and it's fun to watch them do so.  Both boys, but often Alistair, smile a lot after nursing.  Also, both boys have learned five sign language words. Just kidding. They've learned ten. No really, that's a joke.