It Began with a BBFT

Thursday morning Ryan and I went out for breakfast (with the twins in tow). We were highly caffeinnated and discussing how low gas prices were getting--then Ryan said "hey, we should take a road trip" and I said (kind of joking really), "well, we are currently jobless" and now we are in Hilton Head Island, SC feeding the girls from our balcony overlooking palm trees and the pool! I also had to use 2 weeks of vacation for this maternity leave so it made sense to actually take a vacation. Now I'll be honest, I'm more of a planner and never was really spontaneous to begin with so of course I was reluctant to plan a trip in 24 hours ( we left Friday night) but to prove I have small shred of spontaneity I went along with it. We got a great deal on a condo since it's off season and the weather forecast doesn't look half bad. We split the trip up into two days and stopped every 3 hours to feed the girls. The girls had a lot of firsts along the way--first hotel stay, first time in starbucks, mcdonalds and cracker barrel--pretty much everything is a first I these days. We plan to ejoy the beach and pools in between feedings. Why not be tired in a nicer environment ?:)

Yesterday Ryan and I got up super early, bundled up the girls and made our way downtown for the Columbus 1/2 marathon. I was a well rested (and warm) spectator while Ryan ran the entire 13.1 miles (in 30 degree weather) like a champ. His average pace was a little over 9 1/2 minutes per mile which I'm thoroughly impressed with. Several residents came out to help with the babies and to cheer Ryan on (bottom picture L to R :Stacy, Me, Jess and Eddie). Lydia and Grace slept peacefully in their baby bjorns and supported their dad from their dreams :). I'm sure next race they'll be much more animated. By the way, at their last doctor visit they were each up over a pound--Lydia was 6 lbs 4 oz and Grace was a solid 7 lbs.

We were trying to take a picture of the girls in their matching "daddy loves me" outfits. I think the pics just keep getting worse :). Don't judge my kids looks by these pics--their lack of head control at this stage makes photo shoots challenging :).

So, last night I did something I haven't done in months--I slept on my stomach! Sounds like no big deal, right? To me though it's a milestone in my recovery from pregnancy. Every day I realize little things that I am able to do again now that I am closer to a normal size. I can't believe the reductions in trips to the bathroom--and walking without a waddle really is a perk. I never thought I'd say this, but sometimes I do miss being pregnant. I don't miss the aches, pains and awkwardness that came with carrying a 35 lb medicine ball around, but what I do miss is being a little threesome with the twins. It was kind of fun to have them around all of the time and now that they are out in the real world , mom and twin cuddle time doesn't happen nearly enough with all the daily demands of raising newborn twins.

Yesterday Ryan's family came to visit, including his Grandpa Battles. We enjoyed the great weather and went to Inniswood park with the twins and the rest of the family. It is hard to get used to being tethered to our home by these two little ones unless we bring them along. The weather has been amazing lately and before we had the twins we would have been out riding our bikes, taking a long hike in the park, or enjoying a date at a restaurant with a patio. It's easy to miss the lack of responsibility we had before Lydia and Grace came along, but I know that we really maximized our time together without kids and we're entering into a new chapter. We have these two beautiful babies as a trade off and sitting around giving them bottles and hearing them burp loudly has become our new mainstay of entertainment :).

We've survived our first week of parenting! The twins seem to be no worse for it. They might smell a little more like spit up and dirty diapers than when they were in the NICU, but at least they are growing and thriving. We've settled into our routine for the most part. Ryan is sleeping as I am taking the morning shift. It's only 9:45 and I've fed and burped two babies, fed two dogs (and refereed their eating since Bocce is a bully and eats Widgets food), pumped breastmilk (while feeding a twin--hope that didn't give you a visual) and finally fed myself. I'm still in my bathrobe though--a shower and real clothes are my next task. Today Lydia and Grace are 3 weeks old. We took them on their first walk in their stroller yesterday. They weren't too excited about the walk--they slept through the whole thing. I'll have to attach a photo to my next post that our neighbor kindly took. My friend Jess volunteered to babysit the babies last night so we took advantage of it and went on our first date since the girls have left the NICU (within one week--pretty good). She's a pediatrician so she was way overqualified as a babysitter. Well, I'm off to the shower before the next feeding rolls around and we have to do it all over again.

Titles put the post in a box, so no title today for this post. The babies had their first pediatrician appt yesterday and were given a clean bill of health and they both gained weight. Ryan had to work and I planned to do our appointment solo, but one of my resident friends, Jess, graciously came over early to feed/diaper/dress a twin and to help me out with the appointment. The visit was so successful that we decided to try out the mall. Jess played 'defender of the babies' to aggressively ward off any people who tried to touch them and the girls had their first taste of fashion (although they both slept through banana republic so I think we'll have to work on their fashion sense). We were also given the green light by their pediatrician to let them go 4 hours between feedings at night which is especially good for Ryan as he is the nighttime guy--it's part of our new arrangement. I wish that meant that I was able to sleep for 7 straight ours, but I still have to get up every 3-4 hours to pump. I get the morning shift so he can sleep in.
It's weird to not be able to go out for dinner whenever we want or just run to the store but for now I think we're o.k. with that. We are enjoying spending time together at home, feeding the girls, burping, changing and especially cuddling the twins.

The twins are officially home. We had quite a busy day yesterday. My parents happened to be in town as well as my sister (Laura) and her baby, Charlie so we coincidentally had lots of help. Ryan spent the morning running errands like made since again we were unprepared for these two while I tried to complete last minute details around the house. After several trips to the car for forgotton things (those darn car seats--are they really that crucial?) they finally let the girls leave the hospital. They looked so tiny in their carseats! We have uploaded new pics onto the picassa album, but I've added a couple to this post as you can see. Our wonderful neighbors made us a sign that read "Welcome Home Lydia & Grace" and put it up in our front yard and my mom decorated the porch with two pink balloons.
We survived the first night in one piece--mostly because the girls are still on their NICU schedules and we are trying to keep it that way. We actually braved Babies R Us and Target with them in their double stroller and of course we got quite a few comments. They currently burritoed (our term for swaddled) and lying next to eachother in Grace's crib. So cute.