Ikea Tent = Priceless

A couple weekends ago all 5 of us ventured out of the house on a Saturday afternoon to run some errands. This was our first time out in the world on a Saturday with 3 kids in tow. Normally I'll run errands (like Target, groceries, etc) during the week when the stores are empty and shopping can be done in a relaxing manner. It's a luxury for us stay-at-home moms, and I avoid these places on the weekend. However, we were determined to find a shelving unit to organize the toy explosion in our basement, and that required Nick's help on a Saturday.
SO, we went to IKEA. What were we thinking?! IKEA on a SATURDAY! You'd think we were at Disney Land! That place was packed! First, we parked a mile away. Then, this was our first time operating our new double stroller and it was obvious, it took us far too long to figure out how to latch both car seats into the stroller without sacrificing the comfort of the child in the front because he was too upright (sorry Calin). Once inside we realized we have a beast-of-a-stroller trying to maneuver through long lines and Disney Land crowds. To add to the chaos, IKEA is designed like a maze with a map of specific trails and short-cuts to get you from one area to another with the EXIT as far away as possible. We finally found the elevator. Our first destination was the shelving area, which was near the food court. We had planned to stop for a snack because we were all hungry by then, but the lines for cheap food were over 30 minutes long. WHO would wait that long for a $3 lunch? It's just not worth it. Anyway, the trail through the 3rd floor led us past the kids area, of course. By then we were hungry, in a hurry and desperate to get out of the maze. But, Ethan spotted the toys and had to stop and look. In our desperation to get out of there as fast as possible we agreed Ethan could pick out one thing. He chose a $14 tent. Cute tent, now lets go! We skimmed the shelving units and didn't find what we had in mind.
The tent was set up just before nap time and he asked to sleep in it. Sure, why not.
That night the question came up again. "Can I sleep in the tent?" Now, as a parent you must think 10 steps ahead and try to identify any possible ways this could come back to bite you in the butt. I thought it was safe to say "Yes". Sure, why not.
Well, it turns out that agreeing to let Ethan sleep in the tent was not only a good decision, it was a great decision and has been a LIFESAVER!
Ethan sleeping in his tent frees up a twin bed just down the hall from our room! Nick and I take turns sleeping in Ethan's bed while he is sleeping in his tent! It's QUIET! We can take breaks from the constant grunting, fussing, crying, and screaming. Nick takes one feeding "off" in order to get a longer chunk of sleep for work on the weeknights. Then I get to do the same thing on the weekends with Nick giving them bottles for one feeding.
The trip to IKEA was a nightmare, but it was truely PRICELESS! We can take turns sleeping in peace for a few hours at a time.
Ethan has been sleeping in his tent every night for 2-3 weeks, and we're praying he'll continue to do so until Teagan and Calin are sleeping for long chunks of time.



Calin & Teagan are growing so fast. Here they are, 7 weeks on Sunday:

Happy Easter

Looking for bunny tracks in the 8 inches of fresh snow...

Locks of Love

When I was pregnant with Ethan, 4 years ago, I grew out my hair in order to donate 10 inches to Locks of Love. During my pregnancy my hair grew fast and thick due to hormones and vitamins. I don't remember losing a single strand of hair while pregnant. Whereas, normally I shed a good amount of hair in the shower. With Ethan's help we were able to help make a wig for a child with cancer. I thought of this as Ethan's first charitable contribution.

SO, I did it again. After a couple of years of growing out my hair I finally had enough length for my goal. With help from Calin & Teagan in uetero, and their double dose of hormones, I was able to grow my hair fast again and donate 12 inches of my hair to Locks of Love last Friday.

Here are the little ones today, at 5 weeks old:

Feeding the Addiction

Coffee is the necessity of life right now.

Actually, the MOCHA.

Nick and I have always loved and craved the occasional mocha and even got into the habit of walking to the local coffee shop every Saturday and Sunday mornings for the past couple years for our mocha treat.

Now that we are onto the 2nd month of averaging 4-5 hours of sleep each night, the "occasional" mocha treat has evolved. It is no longer considered a treat. It has become our lifeline. We need the mocha to stay alive and function as normal people, and now we have one EVERY morning.

This new addiction can not just be blamed on the twins. Nope. My parents and my sister are mostly to blame for feeding the addiction. My parents decided they needed a new espresso machine a couple weeks ago. Therefore, they gave us their old machine as a present for our new kitchen. Then, they gave us lessons on how to make the tastiest mocha (just the right ratio of chocolate to espresso). So, we were set up for our addiction. BUT, that's not all. Shalene works at the DBC (Dunn Bros Coffee). She gets FREE bags of espresso each week, and she gives them to us!


FREE espresso machine and FREE beans-
Talk about feeding the addiction! It's like giving free drugs to the junkies! We're so sleep deprived we can't say NO to the free mochas...so we drink.

Thank you to Connie, Kevin & Shalene...


Cheers!

Pictures for you...

We love knowing that so many friends and family members are checking the blog! The biggest request is for more pictures.

I love posting pictures, so here are pictures from this week just for you...

Cheese!

Brothers

Calin

Ethan took this picture!

2, 5, 8, 11, 2, 5, 8, 11

We live life in 3 hour chunks of time. Our clocks are set for nursing the babes every 3 hours. Because they were born a few weeks early we need to stick to a rigid schedule and make sure they wake to feed at least every 3 hours. We are supposed to keep this schedule until they are 1 month past their DUE DATE. Their due date is March 12th (yes, I'd still be pregnant!!!), so we can't allow them to sleep any longer at night until the middle of April. Yikes!
Calin & Teagan nurse at 8am, 11am, 2pm, 5pm, 8pm, 11pm, 2am, 5am....repeat. Right now each nursing session takes about 45min-1hour if I'm alone and can be cut down to 35min with someone to help change and burp.

This is a typical day:

7am-Ethan, Nick and I all wake up. Nick gets ready for work and leaves within 45min. Ethan and I get dressed, eat breakfast and get ready for the day before Calin & Teagan wake up.

8am- Wake, change first baby's diaper, nurse that baby, burp. Baby #1 sits in chair while I wake, change, feed and burp Baby#2. Nick is already at work and Ethan is watching an educational TV program until I'm done and he's out the door for preschool.

9am- Done nursing. Entertain babes, pick up the house if possible...or maybe even shower!

11am-Wake, change diaper, nurse Baby#1, burp. Repeat with Baby#2. I'm still nursing them separately because they both require a lot of attention at the boob to stay awake and get to business.

12noon- Done nursing. Ethan is back from preschool and I'm making lunch for us.

1pm-Get Ethan ready for a nap or "rest time." Then hurry back downstairs to get ready for next feeding.

2pm- Wake, change, feed and burp...x2.

3pm- Ethan gets up and we have play time.

5pm- Wake, change, feed and burp....x2.

6pm- Pop a frozen meal into the oven and have dinner.

7pm-Get everyone ready for bed- bath, books, bed.

8pm-Wake, change, feed and burp...x2.

9pm-Hope the twins are tired in order to get a nap in before the 11pm feeding.

Then Wake, change, feed burp x2 again at 11pm, 2am, 5am....and the day starts over again at 8am.

Usually they are fussy, grunty and spitty throughout the night, which allows us to average about 4 hours of sleep each night. That doesn't mean 4 hours straight! We get 4 "naps" in 1 to 1 1/2 hour blocks. On a fabulous, but rare, night we'll get closer to 5-6 hours of naps.

Going on our 4th week of 4 hours of sleep each night is leaving me feeling a little foggy and spacey. In fact, I went to renew my driver's licence and barely passed the vision test, even with squinting heavily. Either my glasses need an updated prescription or I'm so tired my vision is blurry. Luckily, I only had to read the top line of the chart and she gave me a passing grade. No sense in getting my eyes checked until I'm getting more sleep. :)

"Cal & T"- 3 weeks old

Has it been 3 weeks already?!

Time is flying by, but we are making sure we cherish every moment and taking tons of pictures. I don't mean to sound cheesy, but "they grow up so fast." We still remember Ethan as an infant so vividly that it's hard to believe he is already 3 1/2 years old. Plus, there is always the reminder that "this is the last time." We're done having babies, so that phrase comes to mind often, especially in the middle of the night when we're up again after only an hour of sleep. Our motivation is, "This is the last time our babies will be this tiny and precious and soon they'll be sleeping thru the night, and then we'll look back and miss this stage in their lives." Just bring on the coffee!!

Calin and Teagan definitely have their own personalities. Teagan is working on her beauty rest still and we rarely see her eyes. She wakes briefly to eat and then falls back to sleep.


Calin is the opposite. He is alert and ready for the world. He is constantly talking- much like his daddy- and wants someones attention.

These two have a special twin language of their own and they will grunt back and forth to each other. Calin always initiates the conversation and usually wakes Teagan up to talk, and his favorite time to talk is in the middle of the night. Most nights it sounds like we have a room full of farm animals with all the grunting and other odd noises. They sleep in the same crib, but we often try to separate them at night to minimize the "talking." Although, this has proved pointless because they only seem to talk louder, giving us the surround sound version of their farm animal orchestra.

Our two little billy goats grunting back and forth: