It has been quite some time since my last post, nearly 4 years and 11 months to the day to be more precise. A lot has happened during my absence. My sons are now 5 and 1/2 and I have a different job (where I have been for more than 3 years) to say the least.
I am contemplating starting to try to blog regularly...weekly perhaps? I know daily is way too often, and monthly is not enough. My posts will cover a broad range of topics. Parenting, coding, teaching, a variety of outdoor activities, and many others to name a few.
We'll see how this goes. I hope my writing is cathartic for myself and entertaining or educational for you.
Friday, May 15, 2015
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
My first solo trip out with the twins
My first solo trip out with the twins was entertaining. I had been planning what I wanted to get AW for Mother's Day for awhile. The problem was, I couldn't leave the house to shop for her without telling her what I was doing. This meant I needed to make a covert trip while she was at work...which meant I had to take the boys with me since we don't have any family in town to babysit (and we haven't established a list of approved babysitters yet, but that's a whole different story).
The first time I went to take them out, I got both of them situated in the carseats (which was still taking about 10 minutes per baby at this point), get my diaper bag (the 'manly' one, not the flowery one that AW carries) on my shoulder and pick them both up to walk out the door. No sooner did I open the door to leave (after arming the security system) then they both, at the exact same time, start to scream their heads off. Scratch that trip...
A few days later I repeat the process of getting them ready, we leave the house, get loaded into the car and drive to the jewelry store. When we get to the store I get the stroller setup and drop A in (we have the Britax Chaperone carseat/stroller system that is awesome) and then strap on my carrier (an ERGO baby carrier)
Now this isn't one of your standard mall jewelry stores where anybody and everyone drops in to browse. This is one of the more elegant (read: expensive) stores with a "higher class" of clients. Needless to say, I brought the entire store to a halt when I walked in pushing a stroller with a baby strapped to my chest. I could see the salespeople, who are normally tripping over each other to help people walking through the door, flipping a coin to determine which schmuck would have to help the poor, misguided, teenage (because apparently I look "too young to be a daddy") father. It probably didn't help that I was dressed in very casual khaki shorts and a t-shirt, but I wanted to be comfortable with the little radiator strapped to my chest.
A salesperson finally came over and was surprised to find out that I knew exactly what I wanted and where it was. I, like usual, had done lots of research online prior to visiting the actual store. There were a fair number of people in the store, with it being a few days before Mother's Day and early in the evening, so I was very happy that my boys were on their best behavior and were totally content to just sit there quietly and look around nearly the entire time we were there.
I lucked out and got the "last" of many charms for AW's bracelet. Many times the salesperson had to dig through the "overstock" hidden beneath the display boards. It surprised me that being such an expensive jeweler and always putting forth the "high class" facade that they didn't have a better inventory control system. All tolled we were there for a little over an hour and a half and AW was none the wiser to the secret trip. A few days later, when we were visiting the park on her birthday (a few days after Mother's Day), the boys and I gave her the bracelet and she loves it!
I then proceeded to tell her about our adventure and she was very impressed which made me feel great. I didn't think it was all that amazing, but looking back I realize that I accomplished quite a feat and moved into the next phase of my "dad of twins" experience. Now I take the boys out more and more frequently all by myself. It's still not easy, but I'm getting better at it each time.
The first time I went to take them out, I got both of them situated in the carseats (which was still taking about 10 minutes per baby at this point), get my diaper bag (the 'manly' one, not the flowery one that AW carries) on my shoulder and pick them both up to walk out the door. No sooner did I open the door to leave (after arming the security system) then they both, at the exact same time, start to scream their heads off. Scratch that trip...
A few days later I repeat the process of getting them ready, we leave the house, get loaded into the car and drive to the jewelry store. When we get to the store I get the stroller setup and drop A in (we have the Britax Chaperone carseat/stroller system that is awesome) and then strap on my carrier (an ERGO baby carrier)
Now this isn't one of your standard mall jewelry stores where anybody and everyone drops in to browse. This is one of the more elegant (read: expensive) stores with a "higher class" of clients. Needless to say, I brought the entire store to a halt when I walked in pushing a stroller with a baby strapped to my chest. I could see the salespeople, who are normally tripping over each other to help people walking through the door, flipping a coin to determine which schmuck would have to help the poor, misguided, teenage (because apparently I look "too young to be a daddy") father. It probably didn't help that I was dressed in very casual khaki shorts and a t-shirt, but I wanted to be comfortable with the little radiator strapped to my chest.
A salesperson finally came over and was surprised to find out that I knew exactly what I wanted and where it was. I, like usual, had done lots of research online prior to visiting the actual store. There were a fair number of people in the store, with it being a few days before Mother's Day and early in the evening, so I was very happy that my boys were on their best behavior and were totally content to just sit there quietly and look around nearly the entire time we were there.
I lucked out and got the "last" of many charms for AW's bracelet. Many times the salesperson had to dig through the "overstock" hidden beneath the display boards. It surprised me that being such an expensive jeweler and always putting forth the "high class" facade that they didn't have a better inventory control system. All tolled we were there for a little over an hour and a half and AW was none the wiser to the secret trip. A few days later, when we were visiting the park on her birthday (a few days after Mother's Day), the boys and I gave her the bracelet and she loves it!
I then proceeded to tell her about our adventure and she was very impressed which made me feel great. I didn't think it was all that amazing, but looking back I realize that I accomplished quite a feat and moved into the next phase of my "dad of twins" experience. Now I take the boys out more and more frequently all by myself. It's still not easy, but I'm getting better at it each time.
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
What a difference...
What a difference five months makes. When we first brought the boys home we had to have a fan or the radio on when we slept or we were up at every sigh, toot or peep they made. Now, we've come to realize that sometimes they just have to cry it out.
For instance, tonight A was overtired, and due to that he couldn't fall asleep. Since he was overtired and couldn't sleep, which is what he wanted to do, he got angry and started screaming. We tried to settle him, but nothing helped. We had just fed and changed him so we knew his tummy was full, his butt was dry and he was warm and safe...so we put him down in his crib and let him cry.
And cry he did, for about 15 minutes straight he did nothing but scream, shake his fists and roll around. And then, as quickly as he got angry, he fell asleep.
That's good advice for life...Sometimes you just gotta cry it out, and then everything is better.
For instance, tonight A was overtired, and due to that he couldn't fall asleep. Since he was overtired and couldn't sleep, which is what he wanted to do, he got angry and started screaming. We tried to settle him, but nothing helped. We had just fed and changed him so we knew his tummy was full, his butt was dry and he was warm and safe...so we put him down in his crib and let him cry.
And cry he did, for about 15 minutes straight he did nothing but scream, shake his fists and roll around. And then, as quickly as he got angry, he fell asleep.
That's good advice for life...Sometimes you just gotta cry it out, and then everything is better.
Sunday, May 30, 2010
First Few Months
The first few months were rough. Between me and AW adjusting to 4-6 hours of sleep a night (she was already used to 6 because of her job) and getting into a good routine of feeding and diaper changing there were many meltdowns, by the boys, by her...and me. Raising kids is tough, those first few days were hell. I went from getting a solid 8 hour rest each night to anything from 6 hours to no sleep at all! I used to be able to focus on work for the majority of the day, especially when AW was at work, but not anymore. I'm really not sure how I accomplished anything "at the office" for the first three months.
See, our situation is somewhat unique (compared to all of our friends with kids), our families live 5+ hours away, so I couldn't call my mother, father, sister or brother for help, or the in-laws. For the first two weeks our mothers stayed with us and helped out at every turn, but by week three we were on our own. A few weeks after that AW had to go back to work because her maternity leave only covered 6 weeks. But soon it all started to click. When AW went back to work, it threw me into the work-from-home/stay-at-home Dad role. Now I was outnumbered...at least with AW home we each had a baby to care for...now, more often than not, it seemed they were ganging up on me. I'd start making bottles the second the first one woke up, but...like clockwork, as soon as that bottle hit his lips his brother would wake up and let me know he too was hungry.
Slowly but surely everything stated to fall into place. The boys and I got into a routine. They'd wake me up, I'd feed them, change them, let them play for a little bit, and then they'd nap in their swings. A few hours later the cycle was repeated. And that's how we started to make it through the day. As they got older the cycle got easier. Sure, every once in awhile the cycle would break and we'd have a "bad day" and I'd need some alone time as soon as AW got home from work, but those days are few and far between.
Looking back, at month 5+, I don't remember much from the first 3-4 months. That makes me a little sad, but at the same time I'm happy because it means the boys are growing and nothing bad happened during that time.
See, our situation is somewhat unique (compared to all of our friends with kids), our families live 5+ hours away, so I couldn't call my mother, father, sister or brother for help, or the in-laws. For the first two weeks our mothers stayed with us and helped out at every turn, but by week three we were on our own. A few weeks after that AW had to go back to work because her maternity leave only covered 6 weeks. But soon it all started to click. When AW went back to work, it threw me into the work-from-home/stay-at-home Dad role. Now I was outnumbered...at least with AW home we each had a baby to care for...now, more often than not, it seemed they were ganging up on me. I'd start making bottles the second the first one woke up, but...like clockwork, as soon as that bottle hit his lips his brother would wake up and let me know he too was hungry.
Slowly but surely everything stated to fall into place. The boys and I got into a routine. They'd wake me up, I'd feed them, change them, let them play for a little bit, and then they'd nap in their swings. A few hours later the cycle was repeated. And that's how we started to make it through the day. As they got older the cycle got easier. Sure, every once in awhile the cycle would break and we'd have a "bad day" and I'd need some alone time as soon as AW got home from work, but those days are few and far between.
Looking back, at month 5+, I don't remember much from the first 3-4 months. That makes me a little sad, but at the same time I'm happy because it means the boys are growing and nothing bad happened during that time.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Becoming A Dad
My boys, I like to refer to them as mine even though they are our boys (my wife and I), were born in December of 2009 (yay tax breaks!). My amazing wife (referred to as AW from here on) and I knew from early on that we were having twins, and as soon as we could find out, that we were having boys (we didn't want a bazillion gender neutral items as gifts). We'd been trying for over a year and a half before we finally got pregnant. It's funny how I've always said "we got pregnant", when really she was the one that "got" pregnant and did all of the heavy lifting for 9 months.
I had 9 months to prepare myself, and I honestly thought I was ready for anything they could throw at me. AW and I dealt with multiple trips to the hospital for monitoring for some concerns that the OB had prior to the birth. Whether the concerns were founded or not I'm still not totally sure, and after the 5th or 6th trip to sit there for an hour or more AW and I were starting to get impatient.
Finally at 37 weeks and 6 days, what seemed like a long time but felt like a single day, we went to the hospital expected her to be induced and deliver the boys at 38 weeks exactly. As part of the preparation for the induction they do an ultrasound. At this point ultrasounds were still cool, but old news for us as our OB was taking them every few weeks to keep an eye on the boys. This ultrasound started like all the others, they found "Baby A" and saw that he was in the correct position for birth (just like he had been 2 weeks prior), then things got interesting as they started looking for "Baby B." At first they couldn't find him. I thought to myself, "What do you mean you can't find him, he's been there for nearly 9 months, it's not like he snuck out in the middle of the night." Turns out "Baby B", who just 2 weeks prior was head down like his brother and ready to make his grand entrance, had decided to slide up under AW's ribs and take a lateral (laying across from left to right) position. After discussing our options with the Dr. we opted for the cesarean section (C-section) which was the safest way to get the boys out.
I sitting at the head of the operating table telling my AW everything that was happening (since she was strapped down and couldn't see much). From the second I saw A's head I felt something change... It's funny to say and tough to explain, but in that exact nanosecond everything changed. I knew that I was now, more than I had been for the past 9 months, totally responsible for this little beings life. A little bit of me helped make him, he's MY son. I watched as they took him to the warming table and started checking him over. I started bouncing between the warming table and my AW constantly checking on both of them.
Three minutes later they finally convinced O that it was time to be born. Then I had 3 people to worry about. Both boys were doing great, 10 fingers and 10 toes, great APGAR (the scale used to determine a newborns health), crying loud and strong. My AW was doing well too, much better now that she had the 12 pounds of babies and all that came with it out of her. We were quickly moved to the recovery room and got our first quiet moments as a family.
The first few days were rough...two screaming little "bundles of joy" every 1-2 hours. But things quickly improved as we fell into our routine (sleep deprivation and all). Now, five months later, I find it difficult to remember those first few days. People routinely remark (when they see me/us with twins), "Boy, you must have your hands full!" to which I normally reply, "And I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world!"
I had 9 months to prepare myself, and I honestly thought I was ready for anything they could throw at me. AW and I dealt with multiple trips to the hospital for monitoring for some concerns that the OB had prior to the birth. Whether the concerns were founded or not I'm still not totally sure, and after the 5th or 6th trip to sit there for an hour or more AW and I were starting to get impatient.
Finally at 37 weeks and 6 days, what seemed like a long time but felt like a single day, we went to the hospital expected her to be induced and deliver the boys at 38 weeks exactly. As part of the preparation for the induction they do an ultrasound. At this point ultrasounds were still cool, but old news for us as our OB was taking them every few weeks to keep an eye on the boys. This ultrasound started like all the others, they found "Baby A" and saw that he was in the correct position for birth (just like he had been 2 weeks prior), then things got interesting as they started looking for "Baby B." At first they couldn't find him. I thought to myself, "What do you mean you can't find him, he's been there for nearly 9 months, it's not like he snuck out in the middle of the night." Turns out "Baby B", who just 2 weeks prior was head down like his brother and ready to make his grand entrance, had decided to slide up under AW's ribs and take a lateral (laying across from left to right) position. After discussing our options with the Dr. we opted for the cesarean section (C-section) which was the safest way to get the boys out.
I sitting at the head of the operating table telling my AW everything that was happening (since she was strapped down and couldn't see much). From the second I saw A's head I felt something change... It's funny to say and tough to explain, but in that exact nanosecond everything changed. I knew that I was now, more than I had been for the past 9 months, totally responsible for this little beings life. A little bit of me helped make him, he's MY son. I watched as they took him to the warming table and started checking him over. I started bouncing between the warming table and my AW constantly checking on both of them.
Three minutes later they finally convinced O that it was time to be born. Then I had 3 people to worry about. Both boys were doing great, 10 fingers and 10 toes, great APGAR (the scale used to determine a newborns health), crying loud and strong. My AW was doing well too, much better now that she had the 12 pounds of babies and all that came with it out of her. We were quickly moved to the recovery room and got our first quiet moments as a family.
The first few days were rough...two screaming little "bundles of joy" every 1-2 hours. But things quickly improved as we fell into our routine (sleep deprivation and all). Now, five months later, I find it difficult to remember those first few days. People routinely remark (when they see me/us with twins), "Boy, you must have your hands full!" to which I normally reply, "And I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world!"
Obligatory First Post
I'm a stay-at-home/work-from-home Dad of twins living in upstate New York. I'm also a volunteer firefighter and amateur photographer. I intend to use this blog to convey random thoughts, funny stories, helpful tidbits, frustrations/rants/vents and more...mostly about being a Dad, but some technical (computer programming), firematic, photo or other random topics may come up from time to time.
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