Christmas!

Christmas Eve in our Christmas PJ's, getting ready for our first trip to Muenster to stay at Grandma and Grandpa’s house

After mass on Christmas morning, which was the boys first time attending church.  Henry slept the entire time and didn’t even know that he was there, while Parker squirmed through it all!  I think he wanted to sing all the songs.

Henry and Parker’s first Christmas was fun and festive, with celebrations in both Prosper and Muenster with all the grandparents, aunts and uncles.  Santa made a visit to Muenster and brought the boys their very first {covered} wagon!  It was so big that we had to leave it at Grandma’s house…. no room in the car with two grown-ups, two babies, two dogs and a whole lot of luggage and gear! {Thanks, Santa}

Tonight we are ringing in the New Year with these little guys, hoping we can stay up until midnight!  Happy 2014 to everyone!

Two Months!

Time is flying and almost an entire month has gone by since my last post!  I guess two major holidays in there will do that to you… We had two very festive and fun First Christmases with the boys {one with each side of the family}, but right when we got back home from our travels, we hit the two month park for Henry and Parker.  Wow!  That is like sixty days with these guys in our lives.

 That’s almost a smile!

Too-cool-for-school Parker is doing a fly-by.

Month two was a great month and these two little bears did some good growing.  Not just getting bigger (which hello, they did) but also getting a little more used to us and life in the world. (And we are getting more used to having them in our world!)  I feel like Mark and I are figuring these boys out, learning how to keep them happy and in the process, keep ourselves from going crazy!

Parker Bear.  You have made such a turn during Month Two!  I never got around to blogging about it, but Parker came home from the hospital and immediately decided to scream and cry all the time.  If he wasn’t eating or sleeping, the kid was crying.  Or screaming.  Which stressed Mom and Dad out a lot.  But we learned how to keep you happy, and learned that when we freaked out and got frustrated with you, it only made it worse.  Many an evening were spent dancing around with you while we tried to swaddle/sush/swing/soothe/sing/whatever the “Five S’s” are to try and get you to calm down.  And eventually it would work, but not without some near tears on our part.  This month, we’ve learned to let you calm down yourself and not overwhelm you too much.  Mom figured out that you love listening to music (just like her!) so if I turn on my iPhone and let you listen in, you often will calm down, stop crying completely, and listen.  This especially works with Taylor Swift.  In the past week, you’ve turned a corner and are awake more and more, without being mad!  It is so fun to have you get to be up and hang out with us, while you are alert and happy.  You still LOVE your swing though, and sleep there all. the. time.  Maybe next month we will work on breaking that habit.  Or maybe not.  And we still love a good swaddle and some swaying with the white noise machine running to help calm you down when necessary.  Thank you, Happiest Baby on the Block.

Henry.  Oh Henry.  We started calling you "The Hulk” when you were still in the NICU, because you would go from zero to ANGRY in seconds.  One minute you are totally content and calm, and then you remember that you are HUNGRY and you FREAK OUT.  Or you realize that you are laying alone in your bed and not being held and you FREAK OUT.  It is actually really funny, and Mom and Dad enjoy making fun of The Hulk’s temper.  You are easy to please though, and no matter how much you work yourself up and yell (which can be a lot and SUPER loud!), you always calm right back down once you are eating/being held.  You are such a snuggler too, so that tends to help you get you your way, as Mom will often come rescue you from your cries for a chance to cuddle.  Henry and I like to have dance parties when I am home alone, which means I plug in my iPod headphones and sway around with him when he is refusing to nap.  Even when I sing along to music he can’t hear, he humors my terrible voice and will eventually drift back to sleep.  Henry is an easy baby, but also a ticking time bomb, since you never know when The Hulk will show his face.  Also, his head is still huge and he is still way heavier than his little brother.  We visit the doctor next week, and we’re curious to see how the official weights compare to each other.

Our second month with these little guys has been good.  We are sleeping at night (even if it’s only for around three hours at a time) and it’s not too common to have both of them crying and mad or fussy at the same time.  Mom is even surviving better with being at home alone with both of them during the day. They mostly give me a break and don’t double team me all the time.  Which helps!  I know Mark appreciates that the days when he comes home and I am near tears are much more rare now.  I’m sure month three will only get better, as they keep growing and learning how to be a part of our family.  We are ALL figuring it out every day!

Perspective

I’ve been meaning to post a link to this video up here for awhile now.  It made the rounds on Facebook and some of the national news shows, so there’s a good chance you have already seen it.  But if not, take seven minutes to watch.  And if you have, watch it again.  I always do.  Every time I watch it, I get the big crocodile tears running down my cheeks in about the first minute and a half.  These parents had a little boy who spent over 100 days in the NICU.  Nothing compared to our easy three weeks.  But still, it tugs at my heart and reminds me how very lucky we are with Parker and Henry.  I hated the NICU.  Before entering into the patient area of the floor, parents and visitors had to wash their hands in these huge sinks with this terrible soap and little plastic scrubber brushes {think of when the doctors on Grey’s Anatomy are always scrubbing in before a surgery}  I know it was important for everyone to go into the NICU with clean and sterile hands, but I just hated that stupid soap and those industrial sinks and the whole process.  The smell of the soap and the very fact that we had to scrub up to our elbows just to go see our babies was just a reminder to me that they weren’t at home with us and that we had to drive back and forth to see them for a few hours at a time, when the were tethered to their beds with annoying cords and beeping alarms.  We are blessed to have our NICU days behind us.

Ward Miles - First Year

Click above and then scroll down into the article to see the embedded video.

One Month, Part One

No surprise here, that I am behind on sharing some Month One photos of Henry and Parker!  These boys hit the one month mark on November 29, so you know, 11 days ago.

Here are some snapshots from our first month as a family of four!
{click on pictures to make bigger}

 

 

Brother Bears, Parker and Henry

We love you!

Ice Apocalypse

The ice apocalypse did in fact occur today, and we’ve been iced in all day.  We lost power for about two hours this morning, but we’re lucky compared to many others I’ve heard from today, who have been without electricity all day.  Thanks goodness Mark also got snowed in and didn’t go to work today, because our two little guys have been having an off day.  Lots of tears and screams today, and very little sleeping or naps.  We may or may not have just busted open a bottle of champagne, just for surviving this far.  Which I may or may not be sipping as I type this!  Maybe the weather is causing the boys to be off today, but surely tomorrow will be better.

Yesterday, before the weather arrived, my mother-in-law came over so I could do a trial run of leaving the house with the boys.  I have yet to go anywhere by myself with them (in fact, they have only left the house twice so far to visit the pediatrician), so it was a big day for us all. We ventured quickly to the Galleria for a Christmas errand I wanted to do.  While we were making a lap around the mall, we came upon Santa’s “Workshop” and there was ZERO line.  Not a single person waiting.  Just the big guy in red sitting and waiting.  My MIL and I debated.. do we wake the sleeping babies and risk Mall Meltdowns to take advantage of this prime opportunity?

The answer was, of course, yes.

There were no Mall Meltdowns (at least not until after we left Santa) and for once Henry (on the left) was the one who wouldn’t cooperate and open his eyes.  Parker is usually the one who can’t take a good photo!  I surprised Mark by emailing him the photo at work when we got home, telling him we “ran into someone we knew at the mall today.”  He said it made his day :)  Proud Dad!

Moments like these, where we start little family traditions with the twins and get ready to celebrate their first Christmas, they make the days like today - when we are pulling our hair out and trying to reason with two five-week old babies on why it is actually good to take naps - they make it all worth it.

Winter Storm Warning

Today it was almost 80 degrees in Dallas.  In December.  And, even with these temperatures, we are technically under a winter storm warning. Wacky, right?  The temps are supposed to fall forty degrees in the next 24 hours, and we’re due to get some sleet and ice.  I would be all about some cozy days at home inside, but we had some big plans coming up in the next few days!  Plans that will likely get postponed or canceled.  Womp, womp.

With the cold weather coming, I’ve been taking advantage of these perfect days by taking the boys on a walk every afternoon.  It takes some major maneuvering to get them loaded in the stroller and then out the door and down the stairs in front of our house, and there is a very small window in between when both of them eat and nap when they are actually in a good enough mood to go for a walk, but it’s worth it to get out of the house and into the sunshine, even for only 20 minutes.  Henry always rides on the “lower level” of the stroller because he almost immeadiatly falls asleep.  Like before we even make it to the sidewalk from our front walk, he’s out.  Parker rides up top and watches everything go by.  I also play music on my phone while we walk and set it in his seat next to him so he can hear the songs.  He likes to listen to music, and doesn’t mind when I sing along as well!

40 Weeks

Today, December 1, is my due date.  Whhhaaatt??  You mean I could still be pregnant right now?  Shoot me now.  That would be miserable.  Miserable.  MISERABLE!

Instead, these two little bears have been on the outside for almost five weeks now.

Henry

Parker

We celebrated Thanksgiving with an overnight road trip to Mark’s parents’ house in Prosper.  They are only about 45 minutes away, so it was a nice trial run at leaving town with the boys.  Our car was packed to the brim with them, their gear, our two dogs, and the dog gear.  We had a great time and having so many extra hands around to hold, feed and change the babies meant that Mom and Dad got to take some naps!  

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!  We are gearing up for Christmas now.  And in case you were wondering, nope… neither of the boys’ stockings are finished yet.  Oh well.  Maybe by 2016?