Six Weeks Old...and Growing Like Weeds!

The boys in their stroller bassinet back in May - plenty of space

The boys in the same stroller bassinet today 6/30/11

Cuddling up 

Being a Mom-Mom is hard work!  

Yup, so is mothering twins...

(The boys "first pedicure")

Being cute is hard work...zzzzzz

Summer Time!

children's play area

cooling off

Chloë and her friend, Sammy

Mom-mom & Chloë

Some photos from our day at the Tierrasanta Rec Center pool today.  It was a beautiful day-- in the 80's out east where this pool is located so perfect for getting wet.  Eli and Owen slept in their car seats (on their mega stroller, not in the car!) the entire time except for waking to eat at one point.  They are such troopers!  We'll definitely be going back to this place again.

Sunday Breakfast

This morning Myke and I took Chloë to church and then out to breakfast (thank you, Maureen, for watching the boys!).  It was great to have a little time to just focus on our little girl and give her full mommy/daddy time for a bit.  I'm sure it's slightly difficult going from being an only child to suddenly having to share the attention with two little babies who seem to eat or need their diapers changed ALL THE TIME.  

We went to The Mission in North Park as I had done a little research (which is now the norm before going to eat) on places with gluten free breakfast options.  Not only gluten-free, but they needed to also be free of animal products (aka vegan) for Myke.  His diet is quite possibly the most challenging type out there.  Anyways, that said, I was surprised when I came up with quite a few options right off the bat via Yelp.com.  We ended up picking The Mission because it had fresh baked gluten free rosemary bread on the menu, it was closest, and it had a shorter wait for a table than some of the other places.  The food was great, Myke ate a huge plate called Papa Loco- a dish of black beans, rosemary breakfast potatoes, avocado, grilled jalapeno, the rosemary bread, etc.  I'm not even sure what else was on it because I was too busy enjoying my breakfast quesadilla with soy chorizo.  As for the gluten free bread, I was curious about it since we haven't found any worth buying yet--and it was delicious!  We even ordered a loaf to take home.

Bye to Pop! :(

I feel like I just said "Pop is here!" and now it's already time to say goodbye!  Myke's father left early this morning to catch a flight back home to the east coast.  It was a short but sweet visit - SOOO nice to have an extra set of hands for a few days...we all got a lot done.  Myke and I even had a date night!  

Date Night!

Yummy drinks at Tower 23 followed by sushi (veg/GF) in La Jolla....ahhhh...

Eli & Owen - still fitting together in this bassinet stroller...but not for too much longer!

They will be 6 weeks old tomorrow already! 

Scooter queen...again!

(best $3 yard sale scooter ever found--thanks, Gramma!)

Pop hard at work- Thanks for all your help!

Bath Time (aka a productive day)!

Elijah lounging in the hammock 

Eli post bath

Owen post bath

No, it's not their first bath...but I can still count on one hand the number of baths the babies have had and they are almost 6 weeks old!  Not sure if that's OK or not...but you try having twins AND a toddler and doing regular baths for everyone....!  Chloë, however, does actually get bathed regularly, but she is a whole lot more filthy than the bambinos.  Anyways, the boys seemed to enjoy their baths - and looked so cute wrapped up in their towels that I had to post these pics.  :)

Pop Is Here!

Pop and Owen - Breakfast on the beach

Quick post, because like usual, I have very minimal time and lots to do!  Myke's father arrived Wednesday night and has to leave on Sunday morning-so it's a short visit, unfortunately, but at least he got to meet the new grandbabies!  Also, I think they plan to come back in August for a more extended visit.  It has been great having 3 adults to 3 kids during the day while Myke is at work.  His first day here felt like a vacation!  I got to go run an errand to Target BY MYSELF!!  I felt naked!  Myke's mom and  I have spent the past two weeks constantly juggling the three kids during the day while Myke works.  I have NO clue how I will manage when I'm on my own ...I try not to think about it too much yet, but the reality is coming!  Myke's mom is leaving after the 4th of July.  Or so that's the word on the street!  At this time I don't really have time to even think about that far in the future...I'm still living my life from one feeding to the next.  Speaking of feedings, it is taking less time now (not taking 1.5 hours every 3 hours like it used to) but it still take A LOT of time and the reality is that the routine I'm on now just will not work when I'm on my own.  So that's another area I need to put some thought into and decide what will be best for everyone...and what will help me to stay sane (if I'm not insane already).  

Anyways, I have to get going--but here some pics from today.  Kids went to Sea World.  This is Owen & Elijah's 3rd trip there already!  Spoiled!   Chloë has always LOVED adults wearing giant animal costumes (is she a future furry?!)  

Penguin hugs!

Does this penguin look evil to you??

Shamu smooches!  

Winston the Walrus 

Chloë dumped an entire bag of popcorn on the floor of our new car...fun times!

Owen: "Property of Mom" and don't you forget it!

Feet: Owen, Chloë, Eli

5 Weeks Old

5/22/11

Better late than never:  Happy Father's Day to my awesome husband and the best father this side of the Mississippi:  Myke!  :)   I love the above photo of him taken when the boys were just a week or so old.  They are so teeny there!  As for Myke, I truly couldn't ask for a better father for our kids.  He is so involved in their lives, is so fun and energetic with them, and can't wait to get off work to scoop them up in his arms and go on outings like a walk, to the park, etc. to give me a few moments to myself.  Happy Belated Father's Day to you, Myke!  

I have plenty more that I want to write about but I really need to go to bed.  It's after 10pm and I'm never up this late anymore unless I'm on first shift.  We work in shifts here at the Hines' household.  For night time anyways.  Thank you to Maureen, world's best mother-in-law ever, that we have three people to cover the shifts.  By shifts I mean feeding the babes, burping the babes, changing the babes, swaddling the babes and putting them back down to sleep over night.  The shift also includes washing out the bottles and setting them up for the next person.  It also includes pumping for me so there is milk for the next feeding.  Is that TMI?  Pumping is such a HUGE part of my daily life right now that I don't even know if it's disturbing or awkward for other people to think about.  Like I really care...but jus' sayin!  

My life revolves around breastfeeding one, pumping, bottle feeding the milk from the pumping to the other, changing diapers (a new landfill will have to be created for all the diapers they go through!  I do NOT recall Chloë needing her diaper changed so often...but maybe I'm just thrown off by the whole two baby vs one baby thing... And, yes, we did use cloth for Chloë but not until she was about 3 or 4 months when she started fitting in the Bum Genius brand that we bought).  Luckily, we have had help this entire time!  And don't forget there is a very energetic toddler in the picture:  

The fabulous Chlo-bear! 

(she picked out her hair clip)

We aren't allowing Mom-Mom to leave us!

So anyways, life is busy.  Busy but good!  I've decided that twins are easy....it's twins AND a toddler that's a big challenge.  And one baby?  I don't know what I ever thought was hard about that?!  That must have been a piece of cake!  

The boys during one of my night shifts.  I thought they were going to wake up for their every three hour feeding but they slept for a couple hours on these Boppy pillows and did a 5 hour stretch between feeds....the pillows say "Not For Sleeping" on them...

Oops!

Myke & Eli this evening

Maureen and Owen this evening (he looks so long!)

Enjoying the outdoors while relaxing under a palm tree...ahhhh

Farmer's Market

I love the weekends because we have Myke around to help out--and it gives us a 3:3 ratio of adults to small people.  It just makes life overall easier....which is why we decided to hit up the farmer's market in the Little Italy district of San Diego this morning.  There are farmer's markets all over San Diego on Saturdays and this is one we had never been to-- and we definitely had been missing out because it was fabulous!  I'd go as far as to say it was the best one I've been to here.  We'll definitely be going again.  So much fresh produce, handmade goods, treats, and (surprisingly!) a bunch of gluten-free vegan stands!  What are the chances?!  There were at least four stands serving gluten-free vegan foods/baked goods.  Myke was able to eat his way through the market like the rest of us which was nice!  I don't like to be a pig by myself, afterall!  

One of the GF/V stands

This dip was so amazing!  

Definitely NOT gluten-free/vegan

but yummy none-the-less

Yup, this is how we roll these days!

Chloë the model

Who knew that Cookie Monster also frequented the local farmer's markets?!

And just had to add this cute one of the babes napping in a queen-size bed the other day.

Obviously we decided it was summer for Eli and winter for Owen based on the outfits!

Not sure what that's about....  it's called lack-of-sleep, people!  (not for them obviously!)

Just Some Pics...

Yum!!

Chloë hosts a tea party!

"A spot of tea, Owen?"

Myke with the boys

Batman onesies!

Story time

The Boys are 1 Month Old Today!

Wow--did they plan these matching outfits?

Mother & Son Twin Day??

Evening stroll w/the boys

I can't believe how fast the time has gone!  How can they already be a month old?!  I wish I could slow things down and just have time to sit and enjoy ever second of their little lives, but that just isn't as easy the 2nd time around...and definitely not as easy with two infants (and a toddler).  I want to have quality time with all of them more, but the feeding takes up SO much of the time still that it's just not possible.  It IS getting better though, slowly but surely.  They are becoming better feeders and sometimes do longer stretches between feedings (we're talking 4 hours vs 3 hours).  I know the stretches will only get longer as time goes on.

Besides growing up too fast, they are doing great!  Their weight gain is good and our only complaint is their gas-- they definitely "pass gas like truckers" as Maureen puts it!  I definitely don't remember Chloë having the loud explosive gas that they have!  What bothers us is that it seems to be making it difficult for them to settle down after their middle-of-the-night feeding.  Yes, the feeding that you can't wait for them to fall back asleep.  That one.  After that feeding they take a loooong time to settle down.  They groan, grunt, fart, groan, grunt, cry out, fart again, etc.  No one gets rest at that hour!

Weights as of today at one month old:
 
Elijah: 9lb 8oz
Owen 7lb 15oz

big boys!

We had quite an eventful day yesterday.  After a morning stroll in Pacific Beach (for coffees, of course) with Mom-mom and the entire crew, we had some visitors come by.  Our friend Heather came down from L.A. and a mutual friend of ours, Corinne, who is in town from Colorado for a wedding, stopped over with her little boy, Aiden, and hubby, Z.  It was fun to catch up with everyone and see how big Aiden has gotten since we saw him last.  He is so cute, walking all over the place now.  Chloë was interested in him at first but quickly realized that, at over a year younger than her, he wasn't quite up to her speed of play.  It was cute to watch them interact a little bit though.  Later, after naps, Myke & Maureen (aka Mom-Mom) took Chloë and the dog to the park to run around and fly a kite.  Here are some photos from yesterday and today:

Group shot

Aiden is almost as big as Chloë and he's 15 months younger!

Chloë riding her Dora scooter on the sidewalk

Elijah napping

Myke, Maureen & the boys

Flying her kite at the park

hold on tight!

On their iPhones.  

Monday (today):

Another busy day-- I've been feeling a bit guilty about the little amount of one-on-one time I get with Chloë due to the intense and crazy feeding schedule that I've been on with the twins (not to mention the 8 months prior where I spent a big chunk of time on some sort of bed rest or another).  I've tweaked the schedule a bit in hopes of freeing up a little more time and plan to use that time to do things with her as much as possible (house chores have to wait!).  So this morning I took her on a walk in the jogging stroller.  I still am 17lbs away from my pre-pregnancy weight, and about 25lbs away from where I want to be, so I felt that it was time to incorporate some exercise into my day--and to get to be with Chloë one-on-one.  So we went down to the beach and back...AND....I even RAN a few of the blocks!  I haven't been able to run since last August or September!!!  My lungs definitely burned a bit, but it was worth it.  Slowly but surely I want to get back into running.  We'll see how that goes.  I was just excited that I did it and didn't barf all over the place or have a massive heart attack or something like that.  Success!  

(and don't worry, Chloë had fun, she got to ride along, eat snacks, and we even got out and walked on the sand by the water).  

We also went to the mall today! Shopping!!  Woo!

Everyone did great, boys slept the entire time, Chloë was an angel, and we made it out without any problems!  (though we did change 3 poopy diapers in the back of the car...and fed two hungry infants in the car as well)  Another success!!

This is how we all feel now!  Nap time! 

See ya!