To begin....

I thought I would start a blog for a couple of reasons. First to keep distant family and friends up to date on the daily life with our newest additions. Secondly, to maybe help out a new mom of twins.
Our blessed event arrived at the end of November when Calista came bursting into the world screaming and Alex sort of wandered in quiet as a church mouse. Of course they were early, as most multiples are. So Calista spent the first 2 weeks of life in the NICU.

And with multiples and preemies you can always expect complications. Our little Alex had reflux, (actually he still does), so he found himself with an extended stay at the NICU.

By January though we had our whole family home with us, and that's when things started to hop around here! For those of you with 1 baby that think it's a lot of work... well you're right, but you're still just Jr. Varsity. When it was just Calista home with us at least someone in the house was getting sleep. But when Alex came home nobody was getting any sleep. That is until my Mom and Dad stepped in. They started staying the night and switching shifts, Mom would stay one night, then Dad would stay the next. What a gift this has been!

We're now just passing their 3 month age, and with Preemie's you'll find that you have to 'adjust' their age. For instance their birth date was supposed to be Jan. 13th so in reality the 'adjusted' age is more like 2 months old.

The good news though is that we are now down to one 3 a.m. feeding and a nice long nap in the middle of the afternoon. This has allowed me to finally get back to my home business, http://www.djbeads.com/ and http://www.flutterby-jewelry.com/ as well as try to start up a blog.

So up to now this is my advice for new twin moms.

1. Take any and all help offered to you! I thought I would be super mom and do it all myself, my body told me something different. When you've been on your feet for 2 hours and had only 3 hours of sleep, swaying a wide awake screaming child back and forth your legs just won't hold you up anymore. It's nice to have someone to hand them off to so you can take a short break.

2. Patience may be a virtue, but it's pretty hard to come by at 3 in the morning. No matter what, always keep in the back of you head that it's just a little baby. If they are screaming there is something wrong and crying is the only way they know to tell you about it. I run down my 'Problem Solving' list. Is their diaper wet? Are they hungry? Do they need some love and cuddling? Is something hurting? After all of that I assume they are just over tired, and unfortunately the only cure for that is sleep that they just won't do.

3. Once they give you that first smile and/or giggle... OMG! Is it all worth it! This is when you truly fall in love with your baby.

I'd also like to give a quick shout out to a few products that I feel are the best.

Every child and parent is different, but in this house Pampers rule. We've had Huggies, Luv's and every generic diaper on the market today brought through the front door. And while we're very grateful for the kind gestures and free diapers, trust me.... the time and money you spend doing laundry because the diapers leaked is hardly worth the savings on the diapers.

Also, I wasn't sure if I'd use it or not, but I bought a Boppie nursing pillow. This thing is GREAT! I would recommend getting a couple of covers for it though. I only purchased the one cover and it seems like it's always in the wash.

So here is my initial blog. I'll do my level best to keep posting with the daily or weekly goings on around here.