CUTE is not a good enough word

Perhaps you expected a lot more twin cuteness on this blog.
Truthfully, I did too.

I simply have not had the energy or the time!
Yes, I suppose that is obvious, and if I were being realistic I might have realized this would be the case.  But you never know what something will be like until you've lived it.  And life with twins is something you can only imagine.  If you have children, you have a little bit of a better idea what two at a time is like.

Let me tell you...it's crazy.
And it's wonderful.
It's exhausting.
It's busy.
And it's so incredibly fun!
You have all of the adorable, precious, heart-swelling sweetness of one baby...times two!

Loretta and Graham at 6 weeks

But had you asked me what it was like any time in the first seven weeks, I would have only given you the exhausting and crazy answers.
I was only getting about 4 hours of interrupted sleep each night.  Mastering breastfeeding was a month long challenge. I cried every evening as I tried for 40  minutes to get my daughter to latch on.  When one of them would finally fall asleep, the other would awake. Or worse, one would wake and cry while I was already busy feeding the other. When they hit a growth spurt, or needed to increase my milk supply, at 2 and 4 weeks, I literally sat in my chair and nursed all day long.  I was always hungry.  I longed for a 30 minute steaming-hot shower.  I wrote mixed up notes to the kids' school teachers.  I word botched or spoke complete nonsense on a daily basis.

But gradually, life with twins got easier. And at seven weeks, I started finding the joy in raising them.

You know why I say seven weeks?  Because that is when they first smiled at me.
I was having a pretty rotten morning.  I was exhausted and wondering "why did I get twins? Why me?!?" I went outside (because that was one of the surest ways to stop their crying), sat on the bench, and placed Graham on my lap. He made eye contact with me and smiled! (Loretta had already smiled, but Grandma and Daddy got those ones). In an instant, all the sleepless nights, all the tears of frustration, all the floors we paced, all of it...was paid off by the sweetest, most fleeting smile.

And now that they are 12 weeks old, we have lots of daily doses of baby love.  They are smiling and coo-ing and wiggly and squirmy and basically the most squishable, lovable little beings out there.

Graham and Loretta - 3 months old

Our family is always saying "they're just SO cute!". But cute is not a good enough word.  Cute does not convey what happens when you hold your newborn baby.  It is not a strong enough word to explain how your heart swells to bursting, or how the rainiest day is suddenly sunshine, or how you relax and smile, or how the laughter bubbles up from deep within, or how you would give your very life for this tiny little being (or these two!).  So we all continue to say "they are just so CUTE!".
We love on them like crazy.  Although I'm not sure who's doing the loving and who is receiving!
These two babies (as were all my other babies) are the best cure for any frowns, because they are just so cute.

So if you are a soon-to-be mother, or another mother of a newborn (or are lucky like me and have multiples)...take heart.  The exhaustion, discomfort, and pain will all be worth it soon.  Life does get easier. You will be rewarded.  You will get to shower again some day.  You will eventually sleep (I'm still waiting for that one).

And if you try to explain your baby or mine, and can only come up with "they are soo cute!", it's okay.
I completely understand what you mean.

How we girls get-er-done

One morning, the girls and I spent some quality time together.

Cleaning their room.

We had way too many stuffed animals and dolls, and it was time to get rid of some.

I think we'll keep the one on the left!

No seriously...we had some great girl's time!

Because not a whole lot of cleaning was getting done.

And because for some reason my camera was on the bed beside me.

It started out well.  I nursed Loretta on the bed, and directed the girls to bring everything out of the closet and start making piles: donate, keep, and trash.

Loretta fell asleep, and since Graham was sleeping soundly already, I decided to hold her while she slept (who wants to clean, anyway? It's way more fun to hold sleeping babies).

photo credits to Aubrey

In hindsight, being in my robe probably hindered my productivity...but anyway, after seeing this picture on my camera, I noticed that there was really great lighting in their room. So we rolled with it.

Elaina makes a really great subject.

Actually, both girls are really photogenic.  And a whole lot of fun.

While Loretta slept, I snapped pictures. And we laughed at how Loretta bounced on my chest when I laughed.

It was a fun hour.

This was what the bedroom looked like when we left it that morning.

Yeah. We got a lot done!

Later that day (after I had finally gotten dressed) I went back in there alone and finished cleaning and organizing. 

I didn't mind. I prefer my photos and the fun we had to their help getting the room done.

In exchange for room and board

When we bought our house, the "outbuilding" was a shed/workshop. I imagine some atv's were stored on one side, and someone worked with wood on the other.

Double doors on the left and smaller doors on the right

A nice little wood burning stove occupied the space along with lots of fluorescent lighting, a huge workbench, and a laundry sink (do you need water when building? When fixing your riding toys? Perhaps my theory is incorrect). Anyway, we don't need a toy garage, nor do we need a wood working shop (actually, it sounds fun, but I haven't the time nor the tools at this point...).

We decided the building would make a pretty good guest house, or mother-in-law quarters.  After all, it already had electricity and water. We drew up some plans and filed them away. It became a storage shed as our mothers are not in need of quarters.

Then we bought a sauna. So the guest house plans were modified to include a sauna room. Dean built a wall separating the space into two, installed an interior door, and wired the sauna into the corner of one of the rooms.

Then a friend of ours needed a place to stay for the school year.  So it became rustic living quarters (in other words, a roof over a young guy's head).  Dean added real exterior doors and a window.

guest room on the left, sauna room on the right

Then we found out that we were going to have a guest for the summer. So we decided to make it a little less rustic by finishing the electrical work and texturing/painting the walls.

And what a good thing it was to finish that room!

well...finished except for the floor

It was used by Tiina for the summer.

We said goodbye to her a week and a half ago, and we miss her dearly already.

But the room is still getting plenty of use.  I crawl out there when I can no longer keep my eyes open and need a quiet place to nap. My sister and her boys as well as my mother-in-law (hey, what do you know?! It's a MIL quarters after all!) have, and plan to, put it to good use.

I'm hoping it will see lots of use in the coming months and years!

What a blessing friends and family are! I don't know what we'd do without their help and support right now.
(And no, helping out is not a requirement for use of our guest house!
Wait, maybe that would be a good idea after all...)

If you know how to run a sewage drain line, welcome up to our beautiful mountain town!
We'll let you stay in our guest room while you work! ;)

Hangin' with Daddy

I feel lucky.

I have had so much help this summer.

Friends and family have cleaned my home, brought dinner over, and even taken all my kids for five days.

And I have Dean...who took a week off of work after we brought the twins home.

Oh, he worked!  He changed more diapers than he probably ever thought possible.  He learned how to make a bottle and feed a baby.  He burped and swaddled and bounced and rocked.  And pretty often, 2 am would mean I was in the chair nursing one baby while he sat up in bed burping the other.  I would sometimes blink fully awake and look up to find a perfect tiny little head against his bare chest. And I would smile.
And it would warm me down to my toes.

Graham and Loretta's arrival

"If you could be anywhere in the world right now, where would you be?"

That was the question I posed to Dean from my perch on the birthing ball.
We were in a labor and delivery room of our hospital, and I was getting sick of waiting for the full dose of antibiotics to drip into my system so I could get on with my induction.  I was looking for distraction.

The question was the wrong one to ask though.  We each knew the other didn't want to be anywhere else but there.  We were both ready to meet our twins.

And I was ready.  I had gotten over my fear and reluctance of being induced (call me chicken if you want, but I like familiar. Inductions were not familiar. Actually, come to think of it, neither were twins).

Regardless, I showed up at the hospital on Friday morning ready for pit, and whatever the drug would bring.
Except it took foreeevvveeerr to get the IV into my narrow veins.  And forever for the antibiotic to run (they were worried that I would have the babies before they could get the full 4-hour dose in, so they 'paused' the induction - which was just an ineffective gel at that point - to finish the penicillin).

I told Dean at one point that "being induced is for the birds!  It's such slow going!"

At 1:00 they finally started the pitocin drip.
At 2:00 I told the nurse "I got this. This is easy," as I rocked my way through contractions on the exercise ball.
At 2:30 I told Dean "two more hours" (I'm getting pretty good at guessing arrival times of my babies)!
At 3:00 I asked the nurse if she could "bump up my pit".
At 3:30 the Dr. broke my water (what a relief!) to intensify labor.
At 4:00 I was wheeled into the operating room (protocol, despite my natural labor).
At 4:20 my Dr. said "Whenever you're ready. Bear down whenever you feel you're ready".
And at 4:30 I was listening to two babies cry.

At that moment, I was utterly and completely exhausted!
But filled with the most peaceful happiness too.
My babies were here, healthy and whole!

Graham Reid arrived, wide-eyed, at 4:26 pm weighing 6 lbs 14 oz and measuring 19 1/2 inches tall.
Loretta Irene arrived, already exercising her lungs, at 4:29 pm with the exact same weight and height as her brother!

Throughout my two night stay in the hospital I got lots of congratulations.  Most of my nurses would enter my room for the first time and say something like "I hear you are a rockstar!"

But no, I am not a rockstar.  

I am a mom.  

A mom of seven.  

A mom of twins!

And it's pretty darn awesome!

The sweet welcome we drove home to.

They are so perfect!

We couldn't feel more blessed!

Oh yeah, they're here! The twins!

You know...I thought I'd try.
Try get a blog post about the arrival of our twins up.

But Loretta just let out a holler from the bedroom, and Graham is starting to fuss in the swing.
Oh, right, that's what we named them.  Loretta Irene and Graham Reid.  Born three minutes apart on June 27th weighing in at the exact same 6 lbs 14 oz.  These two are in sync!  So much so that if I take Graham out of the crib at night to feed him, Loretta senses he is gone and wakes up too.
Then I have two crying babies and only two hands with which to work.

Yes, the nights are sometimes crazy. And so are the days, actually.

Day five went something like this (thank goodness my hubby took a week off work)...

Struggle to get Loretta latched on (yes, I am breastfeeding both babies. Yes, I sometimes wonder if I am crazy, or will go crazy, for making that decision). Finally relax and feed Loretta.  Graham starts to cry and root around as she is finishing up.  Hand Loretta off to Dad to be burped, and feed Graham.  Loretta wants to eat again while I am burping Graham.  He loads his diaper, so I hand him off to Dad to be changed and feed Loretta once again. Graham comes back hungrier than ever now that he has room in his stomache.  Dad is pacing and bouncing Loretta, trying to stretch a few more minutes in until Graham is satisfied.

Repeat the above several times.

My sleep deprived brain is producing thoughts such as these:
Wait, did I miss lunch??
It would really be nice to take a shower today.
They are soo stinkin' cute!
Did I just take my vitamins, or was that yesterday?
No need to hold my bread while I butter it hon, I got this one handed stuff down pat.
I have been sitting in this same chair ALL day long! I need a breath of fresh air!
I just love newborn soft skin. And Loretta's hair!
I am starving.
Who the heck boils their breast pump parts for 10 minutes after every use?!?
Help! I am drowning in milk over here!      
My.
Own.
Milk!

So I apologize for not getting a real announcement with photos and a story posted here for you. It's coming, I promise. In the meantime, refer to the instagram side bar to the right for all kinds of adorable cuteness.

I'll be back once I figure out how to keep my head above milk...er water.