Just Some Pics of My Bambinos

Chloë and the Boys

Hmmm...not too much to report.  We are just busy as bees over here.  I rarely have time to type a blog these days, let alone do anything that doesn't directly involve the care of a small person... The days are a bit of a whirlwind, especially the days when Chloë doesn't have preschool.  Right now she goes on Tuesday and Thursdays for 3 hours, 9am-12pm.  We're discussing changing it to M/W/F so I can have a bit more "help" or time with just the boys.  Wrangling the three of them at once can be quite overwhelming, but usually it's all dependent on Chloë's mood that day...or should I say that minute.  She can be good as gold and super-sweet or she can be cranky and testing me every second all within a 2 minute period.  She loves her baby brothers, but sometimes the love of a toddler can be painful.  She likes to give them big hugs when they are in their bouncy seats, then the next second I see her pulling the backs of their bouncy seats all the way to the ground and then letting it go, in what looks like an attempt to catapult them right out.  They've definitely gained air.  I've started making sure that I strap them in for the ride...just in case there is one.  She also likes to "tickle" them which ends up being more like pinching them, or she pokes at their little heads.  I definitely do feel guilty a lot because she is often asking, "Mommy can you play?", "Mommy, play now?", "Mommy play ball?" and I have to continuously say "Just a minute", "Right when I finish this...", or "As soon as I'm done feeding the baby" or "I can't right now, Chloë" etc.  I know it's all part of it and it's good for her to be able to play alone, but still...it can be hard...and it breaks my heart when I feel like I'm saying that to her all day long...and there are days like that.  I have twin infants!

For the most part, the boys are very chill little guys.  They will sit and hang out in their swings, bouncy seats or on the play mat and just look around and kick.  For the most part they only cry when they are hungry, wet, or tired and ready to nap.  It's fabulous!  I just hope it continues!  Chloë used to cry for seemingly no reason at all...and often!  (Wait, she still does that...I think it's partly because she's female..because I do that sometimes, too).  I remember the first few months having to hold her all the time, she would never sit in a bouncy seat or swing for more than 5-10 minutes, and she NEVER laid on a play mat and looked at the dangling toys.  We wondered if she had colic, we gave her colic drops, gas drops, reflux meds, etc.  Nothing really seemed to work consistently.  Even my mom once said, "Well, she's just mad at the world".  That was her diagnosis after years of child-rearing experience.  Thanks, Mom!  :)  (I had to put that in here because we still joke about it to this day).  

Chloë & Elijah

Chloë & Owen

She really does love her little brothers and she's a great big sister! :)

Stranger Danger

Week two on our own is going well so far.  Of course having our parents here to help was awesome and we definitely miss it, but we are handling it so far.  The babies being on the same eating schedule has been pretty crucial to staying sane.  They eat every 3-4 hours in the day and do one longer stretch (5-8 hours between feedings) at night.  Right now they must be having a growth spurt because they aren't going much over 5 hours at night.  We got spoiled when they did 8 hours a couple times so it's difficult to go back to only 5.

So we had our first encounter with "the stranger who asks inappropriate questions" the other day.  I always hear about this happening.  It's similar to the pregnant woman getting her belly touched in the grocery store, or some other public place, by the complete (but usually well-meaning) stranger.  I never had that happen with either pregnancy.  With Chloë no one was every really sure if I was pregnant or just eating too many burritos right up until my last month because of the way I carried her.  I never got really big in the belly.  With the boys I definitely got bigger and was obviously pregnant sooner, but I was on bed rest so I never experienced the outside world enough to allow the infamous stranger-grope to occur.  So anyways, back to my story- Myke, myself and the kids were enjoying a nice dinner at a pizza joint.  Sitting outside minding our own business.  We had the double stroller with Eli in it and I was holding Owen.  So a woman walks up and oohs and ahhs at Owen and then the conversation went like this:

Woman:  How old is he?

Me:  Almost 2 months.

Woman:  Oh! How much did he weigh at birth?? (Her tone suggested that she was taken aback by his small size...or something like that)

Me: 5lbs6oz.....but he's a twin.  (I nod towards the stroller)

Woman: Oh twins!  Are you breast feeding?

(Just to set the scene: The woman is standing behind Myke who is across from me.  So I can see her but he can't unless he turns completely around..  Though she is close enough to him that he probably felt her hot breath on the back of his neck).  When she asks this Myke and I glance at each other and he starts laughing --shoulders shaking but not making sound.  I try not to laugh.

Me: Yup.

Woman:  How's that going?

Me:  Pretty good, I guess.

Woman:  How far along were you when they were born?

Me:  38 weeks, 1 day

Woman: How was the birth?

Me: It was fine.

Woman:  Was it vaginal?  (are you freakin' kidding me?!  do you really need to know this?)

Me:  No, C-section  (Myke is continuing to shake uncontrollably at the situation).

Haha..I can't remember the rest of the conversation but it basically ended there.  I guess I was just surprised a complete stranger was asking questions like this right off the bat.  The conversation above was it.  No "how are you?"  or asking our names.  Lol.  She then went on to say she had a friend who was currently pregnant with twins.  The woman is 41 and single so this woman, who is her closest friend (according to herself) will have to help out a lot.  She seemed like this was going to be the end of the world for both her and her friend.  She was not looking forward to it.  Anyways, the whole situation was pretty humorous.  Of course after it happens we were thinking up all the funny answers we should have given or things we should have said... but you know how hindsight goes :)

Other than that I don't have too many other funny stories of stranger encounters.  They do get a lot of attention when we are out.  Occasionally, people ask to touch them or ask questions about them.  Mainly, asking their age, if they are both boys, etc.  They don't usually question which way they exited my body.  A woman in Old Navy last week asked if she could tickle their toes and then proceeded to do so before I could even open my mouth.

Anyways, on a different note.  The boys had their 2 month doctor appt yesterday.  Vaccines and all.  But only 2 because I feel more comfortable spreading out their shots instead of getting the 8 at one time like they do for the 2 month appointment.  Don't get me started on the long wait at the doctor office.  Horrendous.  Luckily, the boys were absolute angels and ate and slept while we waited...and waited... and waited.  As for their weights:

Elijah: 12lb 3oz
            23 1/4 inches long

Owen: 11lb 5oz
            22 1/4 inches long.

The gap is closing between them as they both chub up.

Being angels in the doctor office

Owen smiling at the ceiling fan...one of his best friends lately

Eli doing what he does best:  chillin'

Owen slumped over napping 

Hiking

 

My babies are two months old today!  I can't believe it's already mid-July and the summer is half way over.  Though here in San Diego our hot, summer weather really comes in August, September and even October so that is when it really feels like summer to me.  Today was a beautiful day and we decided to go opposite of the rest of San Diego and head east to the mountains to go on a hike.  The traffic was crazy busy with people driving to the beach so we were more than happy to get out of town for the day.  Mount Laguna is only about 45 minutes to an hour drive east but the landscape and terrain couldn't be more different than where we live at the beach.  You are suddenly away from the sand and palm trees and surrounded by pines and meadows, nature and quietness.  They even get snow there in the winter.  It's a nice escape.  Today was the boys' first hike.  We took Chloë on a hike when she was only two weeks old.  It's more difficult to get out with twins I guess!  They seemed to enjoy it and didn't make a peep the entire ride there or during their "hike" in the Bjorns.  Chloë enjoyed herself as well--overall, it was a fabulous day...all the kids were awesome, no breakdowns (amazing!), and everyone just had a good time.  Here are a few pics:

The trail

We were all dusty and filthy after the hike...bath time!

Date Night!

Myke looking so THRILLED that I'm taking his photo with

my phone and using the flash!  He loves when I do that in public places like restaurants!

margarita!

The kids we left behind...thanks Kristy for holding down the fort for us!

Smiles :)

O

E

Gluten Free Vegan Crack Muffins

Chloë and I made GF/Vegan Muffins from a box we found at Vons...they were amazing...

Myke says they are "like crack" and has eaten half the batch already...

The crew

Breast Pumps & Minivans...

Lucas & Chloë

Not many of our "pre-baby friends" have kids.  Most of them are still doing the single thing, the downtown thing, the bar scene, etc.  We have friends with kids, but I think almost all of them we've met since Chloë was born...I guess that's just the way things happen...especially in southern California where it seems like people do the single thing for a lot longer than other places.  Finally, one of the few married couples that we were friends with "pre-Chloë" had their own baby.  He was born in February and I'm pretty sure I posted his photo on here back when he was born.  Anyways, these friends came over last week for dinner and brought Lucas with them.  The whole "realization that we are old" thing started when we planned dinner for something like 5pm on a Saturday evening.  We had to keep Chloë and Lucas' bed times in mind.  Then we decided it would (of course) be easier to order in instead of do the restaurant thing with a toddler and three babies.  So we ordered Thai food and ate it at the house...and then we were sitting around talking and before I knew it the conversation was about breast pumps and minivans.  I even found myself talking up our Honda Odyssey - they are planning to purchase a new car in the next year or so.  Yes, I was SUGGESTING a minivan!  The one I was so resistant to get a few months back.  I couldn't even believe the words were coming out of my mouth as I spoke.  What has happened to me????  Myke says the me-ten-years-ago would barf if she knew what the me now was driving, saying...and not to mention wearing--it's 1:15pm and I'm wearing my bathrobe over a tank top and stretchy capri legging-type things.  Hey, it's about the comfort!  At least I got a shower in.  

And, by the way, our friends were out the door by 8pm... bed time for Lucas called.  Yes, it was a wild Saturday night, my friends!

Day One: Smooth Like Butta

Day one of being on my own with three kids couldn't have gone better!  I'm actually shocked at how smooth it has gone -- and I KNOW that all days won't be like today (I'm sure it was a fluke) but I'm so happy that we had such a good day.  And to top it off:  It's Friday!!  So I only had to do one day and then I have Myke with me all weekend.  Woo!  Let me re-cap the smoothness:

So first off all, the boys ate at 9pm last night and then went to bed.  They sleep swaddled in a PakNPlay downstairs.  We kicked them out of our room early as they are loud and grunty sleepers.  Anyways, so they were asleep by 10pm.  Usually they get up to eat again anywhere between 5- 6 hours after their last feeding of the day.  That is their longest stretch.  Well, this time they didn't get up until 5AM!!!  That's an 8 hour stretch from one feeding to the next.  Their longest to date!  I hope they repeat that again...  I even came down by 4am to make sure they were alive and then just dozed on the couch next to them until they woke up.  So it started off well because we all got sleep.  After feeding them at 5am I went back to sleep for a bit until Chloë woke up around her usual 7am.  Myke has been going into work at 9am lately so I we had 2 hours together this morning.  Having two adults on hand let us get showers, get dressed, eat breakfast, get Chloë breakfast, take the dog out, start laundry, etc without much trouble.  Also, today was a play date at one of Chloe's little friend's house.  It was a first play date outing for the boys - and they weren't even the youngest babies there- another friend of ours had her 4 week old baby there.  So we packed everything up and drove to the play date.  I was wondering how I would get two infants, a toddler and the huge diaper bag (and my iced latte) into the house by myself but it all worked out as some friends came out to help.   The play date went well... Chloë had a blast, the boys were pretty good, and when they did fuss there were plenty of willing arms to hold them.  We stayed for nearly 3 hours!  When we got home Myke was on lunch break so he helped us carry everything in on that end.  Then Chloë was tired and asked to take a nap. Yes, she has been asking us to go to sleep lately.  So she went down earlier than usual, and the babies were exhausted from the playdate themselves so they were both sleeping in swings....and I TOOK A NAP on the couch!!  I had about an 1 1/2 hours of rest time until Chloë woke up.  It was wonderful!  Anyways, I do need to cut this short because I hear a baby crying--but the rest of the afternoon went great.  The boys continued to sleep, Chloë was in a good mood and decided she wanted to sit on the couch and read a stack of books--so I had time to clean up around the house and do some things...then Myke got off early at 4:15pm.  Let the weekend begin!   

arts and crafts at the play date today

Owen smiling this morning

Had to add this one:

When I "google-imaged" "like butta" to get the photo at the top of this entry...this option also came up. 

Random....

Some Photos...

One Month Old

7 Weeks Old (4th of July Weekend)

4th of July BBQ

4th of July cupcake cutie

4th of July weekend at the beach

Kyla lounging in the sun

The boy sin their beach tent on the sand

Owen & Mom-Mom on the 4th of July

Double feeding time

Elijah started smiling over the holiday weekend 

Choo Choo!

Chloë in her pool

Bye to "Mom-Mom"

Well, after months of having family in town helping us it's time for Myke and I to be left on our own!  Time to sink or swim with three under three!  Maureen (Myke's mom) is leaving tomorrow morning to go back to the east coast.  She has been here just shy of a whole month already--and let me tell you, that month went so fast!  We had a lot of fun though, getting iced lattes on a regular basis (the caffeine was NEEDED!), going on walks to the beach, taking Chloë and the boys on various outings, etc.  Even with two adults running the house and caring for the kids full time- the work was non-stop!  It was difficult to find any time to check emails, make any phone calls, pay bills, etc. because one of the three kiddos always needed something, the babies feedings take two people for the most part, the laundry was NON-stop, the dishes were constant, etc.  Poor Kyla rarely got a walk.  Yes, and all of this was with TWO adults on duty while Myke worked.  Actually, Kyla rarely got a walk when we had BOTH my parents here helping either.  

So anyways, tomorrow starts Myke and I on our own.  The boys are 7 1/2 weeks old now so it's probably time we give it a shot.  

Chloë has been lucky to have had a "Gramma" or "Mom-Mom" here solidly since late February!!  We definitely appreciated all the help and feel so grateful that we have family that took so much time out of their lives on the east coast to come help us!

I may not have much time to update this blog anymore but I will try.  I actually have no idea how things will go over the next few weeks.  We will see!  

Pictures from Saturday

Owen napping on Myke's legs

Eli & Owen 

Owen 

Elijah