First Day Alone

**I wrote this Thursday night, I'm not sure why it didn't post, so this is a few days late**

Since coming home from the hospital, we’ve been lucky enough to have family here helping us. My mom drove up from Georgia the night before we were released so she was here to welcome us home from the hospital. 3 weeks later, Greg’s parents flew in from Arizona. My mom actually left the day morning after they got in, so there’d be no lapse in help. Greg’s parents were here for 2 weeks, leaving this morning around 9:30. While they were here, we realized that we wouldn’t mind having help for a week or two after they left and since Greg has Friday off, we figured it’d be silly for her to be here the day Greg’s parents left since I’d only be alone for a day, so she’s driving up on Sunday.

So, today was my first day being home with the babies by myself since they were born. Greg’s parents did run to the grocery store while Greg was at work one day, so I was left alone with the boys for less than an hour once. And Sunday they went out for lunch and a little shopping, leaving Greg and I alone with the boys for the first time ever for about 4 hours. Greg has a little time saved up, so he offered to take today off if I wanted him to, but since he was already taking tomorrow off to give us a 3 day weekend together, I didn’t think it was necessary to take today off too. Before he left, he said that he would come home whenever I wanted, just to call him and he’d leave right then if I needed him.

So, here’s how my first day went. Greg’s parents left at 9:30, while I was feeding Evan. Both the boys had been put in Huggies this morning, which apparently don’t fit as well as the Pampers that we’ve been using do because both boys leaked, so after changing both of their clothes, and then another outfit change for Evan because he spit up all over the new outfit while I was throwing their leaked on outfits in the dirty clothes. I fed both boys (not at the same time) and after burping and holding them, they fell asleep. I used the hour to eat a slice of pizza for breakfast, do some laundry, clean up the kitchen, pick up downstairs, mail some more announcements, put away bottles, and call Greg. Then both boys woke up. Carter wanted to be held while I was feeding Evan, so I put our boppy to use, using it to prop Evan up and feed him with Carter in my lap. Then, it was time to feed Carter using the boppy and Evan in my lap. Evan then went to sleep and Carter was wide awake. I took some pictures of the boys and then started to get really sleepy, so I laid down on the couch with Carter on my chest hoping he’d get sleepy too. Thankfully it worked, and we had a nice little nap that lasted less than an hour. It was perfect and I felt so refreshed afterwards. I then made some more bottles (we make several up, so we have them in the fridge ready to go when the boys are ready to eat). The boys had been getting closer and closer to eating at the same time throughout the day. Evan was due at 3:00 and I knew Carter was going to be hungry shortly after that. Carter did not want to be put down and Evan was starting to stir. I was so eager for Greg to come home and start our 3 day weekend, so I caved and called him and asked him to go ahead and come home at 3:00. I was sitting on the couch holding both boys waiting for Greg to come home so I could feed Evan without juggling both of them and as soon as Greg opened the front door, Carter started crying with gas pains. He and Evan ended up getting them and having them for an hour or so before we tried something called Gripe Water that the pediatrician recommended yesterday. Almost immediately the boys stopped crying and seemed completely fine. After the boys calmed down, we watched Survivor, ate some dinner, did the dishes, and got the boys ready for bed. Greg ended up going to bed about 7:30, and I stayed up with the boys. It’s 1:00am now and the boys are still doing good. I think my first day by myself with the boys went great and our first night together with the boys went great after we tried the Gripe Water. I’m feeling so confident now that we can actually handle this. I know we’ll have good days and bad days, but it just feels good that we did it today and it wasn’t bad. I think having the next 3 days alone to figure out what works when it’s just the two of us here is great, and then to have my mom out for a week after that so we still have some backup while we work out any kinks in our routine is going to be so helpful, mentally, I really needed her to come up for one more week. I just wasn’t ready or prepared to do it on my own yet, but now I’m feeling really good and ready to do it alone starting in a little over a week.

We’ve been so lucky to have so much help, I don’t know what we would have done without everybody. I’m so thankful for everybody and every second that they were here. The way I look at it is I can dwell on how helpful they were and be sad/scared about not having them here after next week or I can be thankful but look for the positive points about having it just be the four of us after next week. Personally, I’d rather not focus on the negative parts of not having any family here, I’d rather be excited about starting our life as our own family and getting into our own routine. I hope nobody thinks that we’re not grateful for everything because we are and we know we couldn’t have done it without everybody, but we’re also excited about what’s to come. I think I’ve learned a lot over the past month and I think Greg’s a great father and husband and I have faith that we’re going to be okay after my mom leaves next week.

Here's some picture I took from today.

I think the boys like the boppies.


I tried to get a picture of each of the boys smiling.

1 Month Old

I cannot believe you boys are 1 month old (5 weeks actually, I’m a little late in posting this). So much has changed since we brought you home from the hospital. When you came home, you both weighed 5lbs 14oz, you were so tiny that we had to put you two in preemie diapers and you were swimming in all your newborn clothes. Boy, how things have changed.

Carter, you now weight 8lbs 8oz. I cannot believe how much you’ve grown in a month. You used to not even fit into the newborn clothes we had for you and now you can fit into 0-3 month clothes. You have outgrown the newborn longsleeve white onsies we bought you to sleep in. They fit around your waist, but they are just too short now. A month ago you hated to get a bath, you screamed and screamed when I’d undress you and place you in the tub. We nicknamed you “Pigpen” because we didn’t think we were going to be able to bathe you very much since you screamed so much. It broke my heart because I had visions of a fun, nightly bathtime routine. Now you don’t mind baths at all! You don’t cry or scream, you seem to enjoy the warm water, which makes me so happy. You have developed quite a personality. You are definitely the dramatic one. When you want something, you want it right then and there. You like to let out quick, high pitch squels to let us know that you want something. I can’t believe how alert you are. You love looking around and seeing what’s going on around you. You’ve started to coo the past couple of days and it’s the cutest thing. You are a great eater and you make your daddy proud with your powerful man burps and farts.

Evan, you now weight 8lbs 1oz. You can still wear most of your newborn clothes and the ones you can’t are only because of how long you are. You fit well into the sleepers we put you in at night and look so cute. You are definitely going to be chatty. You are always making noise, grunting, cooing, etc. All the time! It makes it hard to sleep in the same room, but we don’t mind. You still love baths and love having you hair washed. You are a little more patient than your brother and don’t usually mind if there’s only one of us that we pick him up first. You can stay up for hours just looking around and don’t mind doing while we hold you or while laying down in your changing pad. You make the funniest faces that make us laugh. I’ve definitely seen some social smiles from you and it melts my heart every time. You eat a little slower and have less powerful burps but you make up for it with your powerful farts. I don’t know how something so stinky comes out of something so cute. After we feed you, you like to hold on to the burp cloth like it’s your blankie. It’s adorable.

You both are really easy babies. Besides gas, you only cry when you’re starving and sometimes when your cold. We went to the pediatrician yesterday and she gave us some great suggestions on what to do for your gas, and we are very hopeful that they are going to work. You guys are great sleepers, loud noises, lights, tv, talking, running the vacuum, etc. don’t bother either of you at all. You’ve really seem to have your nights and days straight. A couple of weeks ago you both would wake up at night and want to be held and spend that time looking around, now you know that after eating, it’s back to sleep. It makes life easier on both of us and we think as soon as you don’t have to eat every 3 hours, we’ll be getting plenty of sleep. I can’t wait to see how much you both change over the next month. I’m looking forward to more smiles and can’t wait to hear you both laugh. We have our first family tradition planned for October—a trip to the pumpkin patch. I can’t wait. I know you guys are too young to enjoy it like we do, but I think it’ll still be fun. Greg and I have pretty much gone every year since we’ve met and we always have a good time, it’s exciting to think that something we did last year for fun is a “family tradition” this year. You already have outfits for the occasion that your Aunt Caroline bought for you. Y’all are spoiled rotten, that’s for sure. ;)

On another note, on your one month “birthday”, I weighed myself and have officially lost all the baby weight. On one hand, I’m so excited and relieved to have lost the baby weight so quickly and easily, but on the other hand, I was overweight when I got pregnant, so by no means am I at or close to where I want to be. Now, I’ll start Weight Watchers and start exercising to get to my goal weight. Not only do I want to be healthy for myself, but it’s important to eat healthy and exercise to set a good example for Evan & Carter. It’s also a necessity to be healthy so I can keep up with my boys. Soon I’ll be posting updates on how the weight loss is going and weight watcher recipes that I find that we like and don’t take too long to prepare.

Now time for some pictures. We had a hard time getting them both to cooperate for their 1 month picture, so I posted some of them separately as well. Next month, I promise that I'll get a good picture of the two of them in the chair. The pictures here are not that great, I'm still figuring out everything on my camera and the pictures in the chair were taken in a hurry before they started crying. the other ones of them by themselves aren't the best pictures, but I wanted to post ones of them in their footy pjs and that showed pretty much their whole body.

This was a picture we took just a few days after they got home from the hospital. Those blue bottoms are shorts--you can't tell because they're so big on them.


This was taken on September 18th. Now they look like they're wearing shorts. I tried to put them in the same outfits that they wore in the picture above, but spitup happend.
Carter in his footy pjs. So cute, we cannot get enough of them in their pajamas, they look like such "big boys"


Evan in his pjs right before a diaper change.
I love this picture! Carter looks so cute and comfy, I love it when they sleep on our chests, it's so sweet. I know that it won't be long that they'll be too old to want to cuddle, so we're eating it up while we can. Evan's pose cracks me up, he's looks like he's just chillin', watching tv with Daddy. They are sooo cute!

New Fall Favorite

I did a fall favorites post the other day and wanted to add something to it. Today, I slipped into Bath and Body Works to get some antibacterial soap. I'm almost out and that's the only soap I use at home, it's the best. It has little exfoliating beads that leaves my hands feeling so clean. After going directly to the soap section and purchasing 6 of them, I turned around to leave and saw a display of their fall scented hand soap. They had Sweet Cinnamon Pumpkin, Creamy Pumpkin, and Caramel Apple. So, I had to get 6 more (they were having a sale-6 for $20.00). I cannot wait to use them. This weekend I'm going to decorate the house for fall, bringing out my pumpkin scented candles and now I'll have pumpkin scented soap, so everytime I wash my hands I'll be reminded that it's my favorite time of year.



On a completely unrelated note, while I was out today running errands, I saw Sissy Spacek at Whole Foods. She lives in the Charlottesville area, so it wasn't completely random running into her there. I didn't ask to get a picture with her. I was alone and felt weird going up to her by myself. If I was with somebody I think I would have had the courage to talk to her. Oh well, I still thought it was neat seeing her there.

Ice Cream Cookie Brownies

I tried a delicious new brownie recipe this weekend that I found over on Kevin & Amanda's Blog. All the recipes that I've tried from her blog have turned out delicious and this was no exception. It's brownies that have ice cream mixed into the batter and layered over oreo cookies. It's very rich. Greg and I will not be able to eat like this after all our family has left. Pretty soon I'll have to get out my Weight Watcher cookbooks, but for now, I'm enjoying all this yummy food we've been able to enjoy with our families while they're helping us with the boys.

This recipe is a twist on a recipe from Picky Palate that just adds the ice cream and hot fudge, not the cookies. Feel free to experiment with it. There's all types of oreos out now, like Chocolate Mint and Peanut Butter filled oreos, which I think would be just as delicous and you could use different types of ice cream as well.

Ice Cream Cookie Brownies

* 1 box of brownie mix and the eggs and oil that is called for on the back of the box, omit the water
* 1 heaping half cup of ice cream (I used Cookies and Cream like I saw on Kevin & Amanda's blog)
* 1/4 cup hot fudge topping, chilled or room temperature
* enough oreos to line an 8x8 pan



Preheat oven & spray an 8×8 baking dish generously with cooking spray. Combine brownie mix, eggs, and oil as directed on the back of the box, but do not add the water. Add ice cream and hot fudge to the brownie batter and stir to combine. Pour half of the brownie batter into the baking dish, layer with Oreos, then top with remaining batter. Bake for 40-50 minutes or as directed on the back of the box.

Fall

I'm so happy the weather is finally cooling off. I love fall, it's hands down my favorite time of the year. We've been taking advantage of the cooler weather and taking walks almost every evening with the boys. These walks got me thinking of all the things that I love and am looking forward to about fall.

Cooler Weather

Changing Leaves


College Football


Halloween


Thanksgiving


Pumpkin Patches


Pumpkin Spice Frappachinos from Starbucks


Pumpkin Pie flavored Hershey Kisses (so yummy!)


Bonfires

And new fall shows.

Coffee Break

On Sunday Greg and I decided that we were going to go out with the boys. We wanted to get out of the house and decided to go out for coffee. It's definitely not as easy to go out now that we have twins. We decided to go to Starbucks and thought we could sit outside, after we got the boys out of the car and into the stroller, Greg decided it was too hot to sit outside. So, we decided to go to Panera since their outdoor tables have umbrellas that provide shade. We didn't want to load the stroller back up, so I walked across the shopping center parking lot to Panera, taking the long way since I couldn't go up stairs with the stroller and I had to use the ramp. When we got there, we found out their patio was closed for some reason, so we decided we'd just go in and have coffee, but we thought the stroller was too big to try and get around tables, so we took both carseats out and went in and found a table. I sat with the boys while Greg took the stroller to the car and put it up. When he got back, he sat with the boys and I went up and ordered our frozen mochas and a cookie. They were out of the frozen mochas and had to make some more which took about 15 minutes. By the time we finally got our coffee, we only had about 10-15 minutes before the boys started stirring a little. We wanted to get home before they started fussing, so we finished out coffee on our drive home. It was quite a different experience going out for coffee with twins than it was when it was just the two of us. It wasn't bad at all, it was really nice to get out of the house and do something normal. It'll take us a little while to get things figured out, but pretty soon I think it'll be no big deal to hop in the car with the boys and go places.

Here's some pictures from our little outing.





Carter looks like he's crying here, but he wasn't. It's weird, sometimes he'll make a face like he's about to start crying or screaming and then he'll just go back to sleep.

Birth Announcements

It only took me a month. I promise I'll do a post soon that is more than just a picture or two.

Photo Shoot

Greg's friend and coworker, Kris, came by to take some pictures of the boys. We took off their clothes so we could get some cute, naked baby pictures but the boys did not like that one bit. We put them in diapers and tried to get some pictures, but they were still cold and weren't feeling it. Plus, Evan got hungry, so the shoot didn't last long at all. I was worried that we didn't get any good pictures, but Kris just e-mailed us these. I think they turned out great. I'm going to use these pictures for the birth announcement that we're sending out.

Family Time

Last night my dad and sister, Caroline, came up from Augusta to visit for Labor Day weekend. They came in and met the boys and spent some time with them before going to bed. This morning my dad cooked us all biscuits & gravy and eggs. Then him and Greg ran a couple of errands and worked in the yard for a little bit while me, my mom and Caroline hung out with Carter and Evan. Caroline is going to be a great aunt, she had so much fun holding them today--she was a natural. After Greg and my dad got done working in the yard, him and I left the boys with my family for about an hour and ran some errands. We had to go to Lowe's and the bank and then went to Dunkin' Donuts to get a coffee and sat and talked for awhile. Our little "mini-date" was nice and we have to take advantage of having family here while we can. When we got home, my dad started on dinner. He brought ribs with him that had been marinating since Thursday and he grilled those up for dinner. They were so delicious! They were seriously the best ribs I've ever had. The weather was so nice today, the high was 78! So, after dinner we decided to take the boys on their first walk. We've been wanted to do this sooner, but it's been so hot. Hopefully, the cooler weather is here to stay. I am so ready for fall. The boys did great on their walk, they slept the whole time.

Unfortunately my dad and sister have to go back to Georgia tomorrow. My mom is staying until Thursday. I have absolutely no idea how we would have been able to survive without her. She's been here since we got home from the hospital and she's been such a huge help. She does everything. Besides doing so much for the boys, she cleans, cooks, and makes sure Greg and I are well rested. We've been spoiled rotten these past couple of weeks. Greg's parents are coming on Wednesday night and they'll be out here for 2 weeks, so that'll be great. My mom has offered to come back out when his parents leave, but we're going to see how things are going.

Here's some pictures from today.

Evan and his Aunt Caroline



Carter in the swing for the first time. He's wearing a shirt from Aunt Caroline that says "Auntie Said I Could"



Not the best picture, but the four of us (even though you can't see Evan and Carter) before our first family walk

Lots of Firsts

Over the past two weeks, the boys have experienced lots of firsts. First car trip, first doctor's appointment, first shopping trip, first bath, etc.

The boys are great car riders. They've slept during every car ride we've made with them. Here's some pics on the day they came home from the hospital and had their first car ride.

The boys first doctor's appointment went very well, but the boys had not gained any weight since leaving the hospital, so we had to go back one week later for a weight check and the boys had gained weight and are now back on track. As of Tuesday, Carter weighed 6lbs 6oz and Evan weighed 6lbs 4oz.





Last Wednesday, when the boys were 1 week old, Greg and I decided it was time for their first shopping trip. We went to Target, Babies R Us and Walmart. Then since the boys were being so good the entire time, I ran them by my work to show them off to everybody. They were so good! My mom and I took them out this week to their weight check and to Target and they did just as good.



I was so excited to give the boys their first bath. I have a ton of baby soap, shampoo, lotions, hooded towels, etc. Evan did really well, he cried a little when we got him undressed, before he got in the warm water and when we got him out, before we got him dressed. Carter, on the other hand, hated his bath! He hates having his diaper or clothes changed, so we were prepared that he wouldn't like getting naked and taking a bath. Hopefully, he'll come around.

Carter hating his first bath. :(

Evan not minding his first bath.

Both boys all clean!


The boys also had their first play date last Thursday. There were 3 of us pregnant at the same time-Elena, Robyn and me. Elena had her baby girl at the beginning of June and Robyn actually gave birth on the same day as I did to her baby girl, Aubrey. It was neat being in the hospital at the same time and that our babies all have the same birthday. Aubrey, Robyn, and Robyn's mom came by to bring us some delicious food from an amish run grocery store called Yoders. It was so much fun to compare stories and swap the babies around. Aubrey is super cute and I'm looking forward to many more play dates. We're hoping to have a playdate with Elena's baby girl, Kylie, soon.

Getting 3 one week olds to pose is not easy.



I thought this was such a cute idea for a picture.