Sunday, January 22, 2012

Bye Oma and Opa, Hi Grandma and Grandpa

Oma and Opa have left for a much needed break after being such a wonderful help and Grandma and Grandpa are now here for 3 weeks to help and enjoy their first trip ever requiring a stamp in their passport. 

Here are a few pics from the last couple weeks.

Checking out big sis'

Elise showing Paul how tummy time is done
Opa with his namesake.

 Lily likes to wear goggles for bathtime.
 Oma's cuddle time with Paul.  It's mostly Paul in these kind of pics because he doesn't sleep long otherwise these days.  I don't think Oma minds. :)


Paul and Elise are starting to smile and give us a little bit longer stretches at night which we are grateful for.  We don't feel as rested as we thought we might at this point which I guess just has to do with cumulative loss of sleep.  Lily was a rockstar sleeper already at this point and Elise is there too but good ol' Paul is still quite the night owl.

I was realizing the other day that I haven't been able to enjoy a good hug for several months.  I couldn't effectively hug when I was really pregnant and now I can't because it hurts my boobs.  Side hug it is for a while longer.

Here's a video I took this morning of Paul and Elise right after being unswaddled.  

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

1 Month In as Mather Family of 5

We survived the first month and even though it's incredibly hard and the sleep deprivation physically hurts, it's all good.  We did it and living to tell about it. I want to write a few things down from the first month that I don't want this fog we're living in to steal from our memories.  There were moments, unfortunately rare, when they slept at the same time during the day.


I asked Nate what he thought their personality was like so far and all he said was "lacking."  True - way too early to say but there are few things to make note of.  

Elise kicks butt at tummy time moving her head back and forth like she's watching a tennis match (yes, i exaggerate but only to make the point :) ).  She has the louder cry when she's really upset, flaps her arm like she's trying to fly when she's upset, and gave us the first smiles on her 1 month Birthday.  She may weigh a little less than Paul now unlike at birth but she's stronger.

Paul hasn't moved from the smushed face in blanket position yet during tummy time.  The vast majority of the time, Paul wakes up first to eat especially at night.  Paul has surpassed Elise in weight probably because of his bigger head now. He is much more wide eyed looking around including feedings being the first to check out his sister.  He is more of the cuddler wanting to be chest to chest as much as he can and will wake up the moment we put him down over and over and over again.

They are both about 10lbs at 1 month and have already grown about 3 inches which is awesome because they have gained about an ounce a day since birth with change and all by only breastfeeding, can't help but be proud of that.  I just need the pain to go away on one side and I'll be closer to hitting cruise control.  I can't help but envy moms with one for being able try more feeding positions (o how I miss side lying) because it's quite a process to get these 2 latched on at the same time.  Surfing the internet, talking on the phone, is still a ways off.  Gosh, I carried Lily in a sling and then an ergo most of the time for the first 20 months and LOVED it.  I won't be able to do that this time around unless I have help and leave one at home.  Enough grass is greener crap, I get this as my view after feedings which is pretty darn cute.


Lily loves being with her new siblings.  She is very sweet, always wanting to hold, touch, and play with them.  She has entered the question asking phase and likes to say "Remember this...."  The other day I found her putting nipple lotion on her own boobs, turning to me and saying "my boobies hurt mommy."  She then said that milk comes out of my boobies and food comes out of daddy's boobies.  She's also trying to be funny more often on purpose.  She said " Daddy puts his computer in the potty and I would laugh. "  Nate does home office meetings in the bathroom now which is where she got the idea....yup, our place is small.  Lily is also all about hearing stories, especially the Wizard of Oz..."tell me about the Tin Man...tell me about the Lollipop gang.."  It's really cute even if she asks all the time these days.

 Wanted to post a quick pic of their first bath.  Never thought I'd bathe them in a bucket but apparently it's pretty common here.  Paul hated it.  Elise loved it.  

Had to post a pic of Oma because she's our Godsend.  We need her, no question, NEED her.  With one baby awake pretty much all day long, she gets lots of cuddle time.