On My Own ...

Well this is it. Dave's mom was here, my mom has been going back and forth, and Dave took a total of 3 weeks off of work. All my family help has run out and I'm on my own for a while. I am very thankful to have a family that wanted to help me out so much. Dave has been really understanding and even let me hire a cleaning service. I'm a little embarrassed that I am not taking care of the house myself, but it is making a huge difference in my quality of life.
Things are starting to get a little more manageable. I don't know if it's because I'm starting to recover physically or if I'm just getting used to it all.
Here are some pictures of my mom with the kids.

It's always nice when my mom comes because Dave and I do something for ourselves. This visit we got tickets to the Colts v Redskins game. My mom watched all the kids and we went to the game with our friends Phil and Allison. We didn't get home until almost 2am. It was worth it though! We had a good time :)

Jack's 2 Year Pictures

We did Jack's 2 year pictures this weekend. He wants to run around/play and thus was not very cooperative, but we got some good ones anyway. I love the one of him on the 2 block, but mostly we did a lot of football pictures. This boy is all about football, so we wanted to capture that in these pictures.

And of course, we couldn't resist getting one of the twins


Chris on the left and Tim on the right



Coming home from the pictures ....

Gate Guard: So you're Charger's fans with Texas plates?

Dave: Yup. That's military for ya.

Happy Birthday Jack!

Here is my Jack! He loves fall already because of the crackling noise he gets when he steps on leaves. Look at what a little boy he has turned into!

Yesterday, Jack turned 2 years old. When he turned 1, it wasn't hard at all, but 2 was really hard for me. It's just been such a wonderful and special time for us. I didn't want to see it end. I think it's because the twins are here now and so we have moved into another phase of life. It's just sort of hit me on his birthday. It's going to be a wonderful phase too, but it's hard to leave the other behind. You know?
Jack is so much fun right now. We have little conversations at lunch everyday, go on walks where he runs around and laughs, he gets so excited about little things, but he still comes up and wants a hug everyday. My favorite thing is when he calls for me in the morning when he wakes up. "Mama!"
Jack's greatest loves are football, all kinds of sports balls actually, spaghetti, cookies, going to the park, cartoons (uhhhh), and his family :).

We had just a few families over for pizza, cake and presents. I made my first ever cake from scratch! I cut it into the shape of a football and made chocholate frosting so it would look like a football. I was really proud - and it even tasted good!

He was SO excited for the football cake. It made me so happy :)

Jack is funny to open presents with. He opens something and doesn't want to move on to the next gift. First thing he opened, he didn't want to let go of the card. Then he opened a truck and didn't want to stop playing with it. We knew to save the drum for the end. After he opened the drum, he didn't stop beating for over an hour.

Life with Twins

Being a twin mom is like being in a club. Everyone who has had twins or is a twin wants to come up and talk to me. It's pretty cool actually. People all say the same thing - you just have to make it through the first year/infancy. I can see why.



Baby dance party



Things that are hard for me:

1) Getting up all night with two babies (100 times harder than with one because you get no sleep)

2) Feeding two babies plus Jack and myself all day long - I know it will get better when all three boys can eat the same thing at the same time

3) Giving three kids seperate baths - it takes a long time to get everyone ready in the morning.

Things that are surprisingly easy:

1) Diapers - I am just in diaper changing mode and the extra baby doesn't seem to add that much

2) Leaving the house - it's not easy, but nothing like I thought it would be. We have been able to do things for a couple of hours at a time

3) Delivery - even though seven minutes apart sounds like a c-section, I did actually delivered them. I felt like superwoman afterwards, but really it wasn't all that different than Jack.

Then we have, the reward:

Getting a good picture of all three boys is not easy ... someone always starts crying, spitting up, or running away



Baby Tim



My Happily Ever After

I had a few days on my own after Dave's mother left and then my mom came to help out. My mom was here all last week and was a huge help (as always). She stayed through our anniversary so that Dave and I could go celebrate on our own. Yesterday (September 18th) was our 6 year wedding anniversary. We celebrated by going to 1789 (a french restaurant in Georgetown) and a moon light stroll around the monuments. It was a wonderful baby free celebration! Dave is a wonderful husband, and I'm so lucky to have been living happily ever after :).



All dressed up at 1789 Restaurant

I love the reflection

I'm on my own next week, but the week after that Dave is taking a week of leave (army speak for vacation). We are just going to stay around the house an enjoy our family.

Sleep ...

I think the hardest thing about having a newborn (or two) is not sleeping at night. However, one of my favorite things about having a newborn is the best naps ever complete with a sweet little baby to sleep on my chest! Speaking of napping, I have been very lucky so far and the boys all go down for a nap at the same time in the afternoon.

Napping with Tim

Napping with Chris

Jack still sleeps on me sometimes too :)

The twins nap like this quite a bit ... Chris in the swing and Tim in the bouncer

I went in Jack's room the other day and found this .... way too cute!

2 Weeks with Nana

Dave's mother (aka Nana) has been with us for almost two weeks. She has been a huge help changing diapers, making meals, grocery shopping, and of course holding babies :). I've been able to take some good naps and get a lot of things done without having to worry about the kids!

I heard that preemies "wake up" around their due date. The twins are no exception because they spend a lot of time awake now :)

She has made a lot of wonderful home cooked meals. Jack was impressed!

I have been able to take Jack over to the park while Nana watches the twins. Jack goes down the slide all by himself.  I think Jack would live outside if I would let him.

We took Nana up to Baltimore one day. I think this is a good picture of our stroller - we call it the tank but it has been refered to as the twin train :)