One Step Forward...Two Steps Back

Well, you know how they say "Karma is a bitch!"?? Well, THEY aren't kidding are THEY? In all honesty, I think I am being punished for being so witty. The universe is only allowing me to have a certain amount of "witty allowance" and I apparently overdrew my witty account...

And the over-draft charges, being my screaming bundles of joy, really suck!

That's what I get for putting nana nana boo boo out into the universe, and I kinda knew that, but I just didn't care, I was just so elated that the boys slept for several hours at a time! And it wasn't just a fluke, they did it again this weekend, but now I am paying the price...

The boys have gone on a sleep-protest. I'm not sure when they made their plans, but it's been a rough couple of days. I'm guessing when I was fast asleep thinking that they were fast asleep they made a pact with each other to slowly drive their mother insane. Not only are they not sleeping at night, or during the day for that matter, but while awake they have taken to screaming incessantly. And there is nothing quite like babies screaming in stereo. I said sleep deprivation should be a torture device, but if anyone really wants the goods from a POW, make sure they are good and sleep deprived and then unleash two screaming babies!!

I didn't know that two little guys could make so much noise, I mean they are preemies, shouldn't they have that "Oh it's so cute, they are crying" type of cry?? Nope, these are two seriously PISSED OFF babies making sure they let me know that I am ignoring them, in case I forgot. I mean it is so easy to forget that you have two impatient babies screaming bloody murder, really it is.

Just in case I was getting cocky about my parenting skills, this has definitely been a wake up call. Of course, I feel incredibly unsure of my ability and this episode has just reaffirmed my inadequacies. "Yes, big man upstairs, I realize that I know absolutely nothing about what I am doing, thank you ever so much for reminding me."

::Sigh::

They STTN!!

Ok, so I know you guys are like "What the hell is STTN??, some strange new vaccine??". But it is an acronym on the message boards that I frequent and the one acronym that any new mom would KILL for...SLEEP THROUGH THE NIGHT. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, my twin boys slept through the night, on the same night and at the same time...WOO freaking HOO!

Sleeping through the night is what I would consider the Holy Grail of early parenting...I understand that there will be much more important milestones later one, but in the first year, sleeping through the night is what all parents aspire for and what most don't get nearly enough of!

While I have only waited for this moment for 8 weeks, since Brody came home and coincidentally I started this blog, I realized how unattainable a goal it is, you know, with the odds stacked up against me; first of all I have 2 newborn babies, so even if I get one to STTN, there is still the other little guy to keep me up AND second of all, since they are preemies it will take them that much longer to get to the magic 12lb weigh, which is this mythical weight where STTN is possible! I knew I had very little hope reaching the Grail in the next 6 months.

But still, when I saw those posts on my message board....OMG my baby (singular, mind you) STTN!!!, or DC (dear child) STTN since he was 1 month old, I wanted to reach my hand into the computer screen and strangle these braggarts for being so selfish that they felt the need to torture us poor sleep-deprived souls in that "nana nana boo boo" sort of way. Just like those stick thin actresses say, "ooh I just eat what I want and I don't work out, my body is just this fabulous without any work"...shut-up be-otch! Of course in your heart of hearts you are uncontrollably envious of such an alien concept and would sell your soul to be in their shoes!

And here I am, NANA NANA BOO BOO - My twins STTN!! While I am not dumb enough to believe that for one second, this wasn't more than a fluke, I don't care! I have had a full 6 hours of sleep (oh, yeah BTW that is considered STTN, when in my reality it would be about 10 hours) and I feel like a new woman! I mean look at me, I am downright witty in this blog entry! Usually I am lucky if people can understand what I am writing with all my spelling/grammatical errors!!

But don't get used to the witty Amber, because as fast as she showed up, she will be swallowed up again only to be replaced by sleep-deprived-just-trying-to-survive Amber. Enjoy her while she lasts :)

Sweet Freedom!!

Well, Matt and I had our first date since both of the boys came home. The inlaws offered to watch the little guys so we could go out to dinner at eat and feel a little more like normal human beings! For me, I am pretty much a prisoner in my house for most of my days...I mean I can take them out for a walk, but I have yet to master taking them both out, gulp, alone so getting out of the house is a big deal! Even bigger, I did my hair and make-up and I even TOOK A SHOWER.

On a side note, people that don't have kids yet, never ever take for granted the wonderfullness (yeah I know it's not a word) of a nice hot shower. I used to get one at least once sometimes twice a day! Now I am lucky if I get one once a week...pathetic, I know, but have a kid (or two in my case) and then judge me :)

Anyway, I was beside myself that I was able to look like a human being and go out and do human being things, like eating at the restaurant of my choice and not picking one because it has a booth big enough to fit 2 carseats. We ate at this new place in Lowell called The Blue Taleh for dinner. The food was good and the drinks were delicious, but in all honesty we could have gone to the 99, ok not really, but it was just nice to go out with my husband and wear real clothes. Never underestimate actual clothing, it is a fabulous thing!!

Needless to say we were back home and practically asleep before the clock struck 11:00, but what do you expect when we are only getting 3-4 hours a night?? We just can't hang like we used to. We are now night-owls for a different reason...to entertain our little men!

And I am off to do just that!!

Two months and counting...

Wow, Josh & Brody are two months old already!! I cannot believe how fast the time has flown by! The past 9 weeks have just gone by at light-speed, but at the same time it seems like the boys have been here forever because I could not imagine my life without them!!

I'll have to say that it is extremely hard to raise two little newborns, much harder than I had ever anticipated! And the fact that they are night-owls doesn't help the situation either. I keep on trying to tell them that they will want to stay up late when they are much older and in college when there is drinking to do, not now when Mom & Dad are at their mercy!!

As hard as it is, wow it is so special to be a mom of twins. I still cannot believe that I am a mom of twins and that I carried two little boys in my belly (although my belly believes it quite well and wants to remain this jiggly mushy blob, ick) and now they are here and they are mine...it is quite surreal. They are starting to coo and it is the cutest thing ever, I love hearing their little voices and it makes my heart melt. I cannot wait until they start to notice each other, what a trip that will be!

Another milestone that I am desperately waiting for is the age they can hold their own bottles & pacifiers. It must be quite an amusing sight to watch me feed these guys...I think that the bottles are all propped up in a good position and then just as I go to burp one, the bottle falls on the floor and crying ensues. Then, while fetching the bottle off the floor, the other little one starts crying because I had taken away their bottle to burp them and they are ticked off at mommy! So it is this constant back and forth for the entire feeding that is so amusing that I find myself laughing at the comedy of it all :)

It's just so amazing how fast my little ones are growing...they are both almost double their body weight at birth which is great, but a little sad at the same time. I loved them so tiny in their little preemie clothes that I have now had to pack away, since they are moving into the newborn & 0/3 month sizes now. What a sap I am for being sad to pack up the preemie clothes, but I have a feeling that when the next size gets put away, I will have a little pity party for myself...that's what moms do, right? Get sad that their little ones are growing up.

Here is their two month shot...pardon their expressions, in order to get the picture we had to stuff their faces with binkies and then take them away and quickly get a picture of the two of them not crying, that is a feat in itself!! Now I am off to enjoy my party animals :)

Be careful what you wish for...

Well, we have officially had both boys home for 24 hours now and I am starting to actually believe that I have twins :) Well, my lack of sleep actually proves that I have twins because we have never been so tired with just one in the house (yeah, what are you moms of singletons complaining of, lol!).

Sleep deprivation has taken on a whole new meaning...really, if the US treated people to this kind of sleep deprivation, there would be no war secrets and Bin Laden would have been found ages ago! Of course, I am exaggerating, but wow it is amazing that when you have two home, it isn't 2x worse, it's actually 3 or 4x worse! I think we both slept a total of three hours last night and that was not in one clump!

Plus, on top of being exhausted, we had to take Josh to his first doctor's appointment. We had already done that with Brody and it wasn't too bad, we got there on time and everything! No such luck this time, but I think we ended up getting there 10 minutes late which wasn't too bad considering how logistically difficult it is to feed, change and get two little newborns out the door!

Josh is officially 8lbs 1oz and is about 1.5lbs heavier than his brother! I'm guessing that he is taking his role of older (by 3 minutes) brother very seriously!

The monitor system we have to hook Josh up to isn't too bad either...he only has to be on it when he is sleeping and we are not watching him, other than that he is cord-free!

What a trip to get to have both home now. It won't be easy, but man, I'll have some great stories for this blog! Here are some of the first photos of the boys together since delivering them...enjoy! Just in case you can't tell, Josh is the bigger one, lol!