Cute Updates (and not so cute)

Today, all 3 kids got their flu shot and their H1N1 shot. I'll admit that I'm a bit nervous about the whole H1N1 shot even though rationally I know everything will be o.k. Apparently, Ben didn't cry at all (I wasn't able to go) but just flinched a little. He got a cool shiny band-aid. Well, Ella saw this and apparently thought that it was a cool fun thing, so he stated enthusiastically that it was her turn...she didn't like it so much, it turns out. Neither did Nicholas who gave Jon an angry cry.

Onto the cute updates...

The other day Ella was playing with her baby swing I got at a sale. I recently put the batteries in it so she had it going (that thing moves FAST) and the music playing. She started talking to her baby and at one point said "You having fun, baby? You're a silly boy!" Something I'm sure I've said to Nicholas a number of times.

Nicholas is a crawling guy and will now pull himself up to his feet using the Fisher Price farm or a chair. He has his butt sticking out a little bit and last night, he was doing a bit of a booty dance. He also starting saying "ma" a lot more and enjoying the game of "pass the baby!" between the two parents. The other day, he was crawling all around and came across a small orange inflatable ball a coworker gave the twins one day when we came (that, of course, they fought over). He would get to it and it would roll away - he kept crawling all around the livingroom with it.

Benjamin has taken to not only "reading" his books but also my books. There are no pictures in there, but he is fascinated by it anyway. Ella, seeing this, has also joined in a time or two.

I think it is coming close to me not pumping at work anymore. I feel incredibly guilty about this and feel like I'm letting Nicholas down. I just can't do it at work anymore. It's a frustrating experience and there isn't much milk coming out anyway. I wish that I could keep going until he's a year old. I will continue to pump in the mornings before I leave for work and breastfeed him at night for a while longer, but pumping at work will be stopping. Sorry my little guy. We do have enough frozen breastmilk to last for a little bit longer so we will get close to one year, but I'm not sure if we'll get quite to one year, as was my goal. (And, of course, now that I'm thinking about it and it's nearly time to go home, I'm feeling the need to pump but I'll still only get a little bit out of the whole process).

Children & Books & Breastfeeding

Right now, I'm going through my old posts to see what Ben & Ella were doing when they were 6 months and up as I haven't filled in the baby book in quite some time. It's interesting to compare with Nicholas. He's been flipping over on his belly from his back for a while now and it seems Ben & Ella took a bit longer - maybe because they were born early.

Anyway, I noticed that I used to blog all the time with Ben & Ella and what they were up to, but lately, I've been bad about it and since I may need this information later when I'm filling out baby books for them and for Nicholas, I probably should try to write more just for that reason if no other.

So here's another update on my kids:

Nicholas - gets very excited when he sees someone he likes. He flaps his arms and kicks his legs, much like I remember Benjamin doing. He likes to say things, but he seems like he's more into moving forward on physical stuff than talking (kind of like Ella). This morning, though, it really sounded like he was saying mama. I wished Jon was around to see if it sounded like that to him.

Nicholas can flip over both ways, but does it more from back to belly and I'll find him sleeping on his belly these days. It's probably alright, but I still feel the need to flip him back over. I guess I'm paranoid after a coworker's friend lost her 3 month old most likely due to SIDS. He gets onto his knees sometimes, but not too often. He LOVES to be held and stand while someone holds him. I'm starting to work on him sitting up on his own. I put him down the other day and he just sort fell forward (not really fell, but moved, I guess).

Benjamin & Ella - picking up so many new words each day that I can't even keep track anymore. Both of them have said garage. Benjamin told us the other day what sound Jon's coffee maker makes. He can say everyone's names though he laughs when you ask him to say his own name. Ella said her own name for the first time yesterday (at least, it was the first time I heard her say it). Their bedtime is still a bit of party time, but lately, they've liked being on our bed for a while. This seems to calm them down enough to bring them to their own beds to go to bed. They also like to come on our bed and do a bit of wrestling - one will be lying down on the bed and the other one will do a body slam - they think this is hilarious - I do not since most of the time, I'm on the bed with Nicholas nursing him. Though I can't help but smile when they crack each other up so much. Last night, they were also putting their heads together and finding that fun. I wondered if they found that fun since in the womb they had their heads together?

The daycare told me the other day that Benjamin knows his colors (which I knew) and his shapes (which I didn't). I wonder what other stuff he does that I don't know about. Same with Ella and Nicholas. It's hard being a working mom sometimes...a lot, actually.

Speaking of, I'm reading this book now called "The Other Mother" by Gwendolen Gross. It's an o.k. book so far, but the author (so far) makes it seem like she agrees with the SAHM character that working moms are horrible and why would they leave their children like that? The working mom character is feeling all guilty for leaving her kid (as I do), but unlike myself, it seems she doesn't have to work, she chooses to. One of the characters said in the book, why have kids if you can't afford them or take care of them or something along those lines? All I can say to that right now is ugh! Anyway, I'll see how the rest of the book turns out. I still have another 100 pages or so to go.

And on a final topic - breastfeeding. I feel as if my supply is dwindling - it seems I'm pumping less and less these days. My goal is to give Nicholas breast milk exclusively until he's a year old - this is going to be hard, I think. I still feed him when I get home and in the middle of the night if he wants, but pumping in the morning (as he's not up usually when I leave) and twice at work. I hope that I can hold on until he's a year. I made it to 6 months with the twins, but I guess, I feel as if I should do better at it this time.

A long overdue update

Nicholas

At about 5 weeks, Nicholas has been giving me huge grins when he sees me. It just makes my heart melt! It is so adorable and then he follows it up with some cooing - so incredibly cute! I tried to take pictures today of his smile, but I'm not sure if they turned out. I'll upload as soon as possible.

This little guy loves to be snuggled or wrapped up. I tried to have him sleep in his own bed last night and it didn't work. He wanted to be with someone. Jon ended up taking him upstairs and somehow got him to sleep not right next to him but just near him. During the day, he loves to snuggle and he likes the swing - so much so that I wonder if I'm making it so he'll only sleep when snuggled or in the swing. In a little while, I am going to attempt to try to get him to take his naps in the co-sleeper - wish me luck.

Benjamin

This little guy has started to say so many new words that it's hard to keep up with the new ones he's said. He has told me lately that he's stuck (when in his high chair) or he wants a rock or one day he told me wanted to get up (he said "mommy, I want to get up"). Other words include saying anything starting with a b with two b's - for example "b-bye", "b-ball", "b-book" "b-block", and, of course, "b-baby".

Ella

She's saying more words, but not as much as Benjamin. However, she seems to recognize pictures more than Benjamin. If you ask her to find the block with the elephant or the kitty or the tree, she can find it. I think that is because Benjamin wasn't really into reading books and asking what something is until recently whereas Ella has been doing that for a while. She is starting to repeat more words lately.

Lessons learned - do not change routine on a child or you will have cranky toddler central. They took their nap way later than usual yesterday and it was cranky time the whole rest of the day.

Do not leave toddler with baby even for a moment as toddlers like to put pacifier into baby's mouth even while sleeping. Or they like to rock the swing a little more than is necessary. I moved the swing to where I could see it after that.

Other - breastfeeding is going well...so well that our freezer is pretty much breast milk. We have no room for other foods in there - at least, not much.

I learned last night that my dad is going to have gall bladder surgery soon. I hope that goes well.

I'll be returning to work on June 10 and work that day and the 11th and take that Friday off as it is Ben & Ella's 2nd birthday. Unbelievable how fast time flies! Then the following week, it will be back to full time. I certainly don't want to go back to work because I'm not that fond of my job, but at the same time, it would be nice if I could just work a couple days a week and that was it. I think that's all I need to feel sane. The rest of the time, I'd like to spend with my kids. Speaking of, the twins do go to daycare for a few hours a day. Someone asked me why I'm doing this - there are a few reasons - the main two are to be able to bond with Nicholas and the other is preserve some part of my sanity. Just a few hours alone with all 3 can be a strain on my sanity - I'm sure those with toddlers understand. I feel guilty all the time with doing this - I feel like I should have them home with me more, but this is working for us right now, so this is what we're doing.

Anyway, that's all for now. I am really going to try to blog more so I don't keep having these long posts.

Welcome Nicholas James!

Nicholas James was born on February 25, 2009 at 4:17 a.m. He weighed 8 lbs 9 ounces at birth and is 21 inches long.

Here is our birth story (warning - it is a long post):

It is Tuesday morning and I'm feeling a lot of pressure and it is obvious that baby has lowered. I became a little concerned that I was leaking amniotic fluid but only a little as it wasn't anything like when my water broke with the twins. Just to be on the safe side, I went to the OB's office - thankfully, since I was in the vanpool that day, my boss said she would take me.

We get to the OB's office - she offers to wait until Jon gets there but I get called back before he does and I tell her she can go. My blood pressure was o.k. I had gained another 1 1/2 pounds since Friday (most likely water weight based on how my feet looked). The OB on call comes in and checks me out - no amniotic fluid and I had only dilated another .5 cm. Based on this, I thought I had would be one that would slowly dilate and it would be another week before baby #3 arrived. I was wrong.

Jon took me back to work. I was feeling mostly alright - just feeling that pressure. I stayed at work until 4:30 and went home with the vanpool. I wasn't feeling any noticeable contractions at this point. I waited until Jon got to the park 'n ride and we went to go pick up the twins from daycare. It is now about 5:20 or so and still nothing. I just needed to pee really badly, so we stopped by home first before getting the kids.

After we got home, we waited until a couple friends of ours got to our place to help me watch the twins before Jon went off to pick up his mom in Tacoma. She was coming to help us with the twins for whenever #3 decided to arrive. Good timing!

I started feeling a little icky (nauseous) when eating dinner that night. I had ordered a pizza for us and our friends and I don't think my body really liked that. But in any case, I was feeling pressure but I hadn't begun to feel any pain. But then it was like a switch went off and all of a sudden, I was having pain. I thought maybe, as is common for pregnant women, I was in a bit of pain because I was constipated (though I took medicine to help with that). But...the pain was coming in waves I had noticed - at first, maybe 10 minutes apart (I say maybe as I hadn't yet started timing them). This was about 7 or so. I started to time them a little after 8 and at that time, I think they were about 8 minutes apart. I knew then they were definitely contractions. They hurt but I could still talk through them mostly.

I decided to go take a shower in hopes that would relieve the pain I was in, and it did for a bit. But then I got out of the shower and the pain was becoming more intense and I noticed closer together. I tried to leave the bathroom numerous times to go lie down but it wasn't happening - the pain would just cripple me and I went to sit down until it passed. When Jon got there, he helped me to the bedroom to lie down, but that wasn't helping. I told Jon to call the OB. When the OB called back, I told her I wasn't sure if I was just having pain b/c of contractions or b/c of constipation (after all, I had a false alarm with the same OB earlier in the day so; for some reason, I was feeling nervous about looking silly again with her), but the pain was coming every 3-4 minutes at this point. She asked me if I wanted to wait until they became more intense or come in and get checked out to see if I was in labor - I said now (I wanted that epidural as quickly as possible if this was truly labor). Thank goodness we did because things were progressing fast.

When we got there, they eventually got me into a bed in triage and hooked me onto the monitor and checked how dilated I was. This was maybe 10:00-10:30? I thought for sure, the nurse was going to say 1.5 cm as it was earlier. Nope. I was at 3-4 cm. That is when I thought - I am truly in labor and I'm going to have this baby tonight.

After a while, we got the word that I was going to be admitted. This after being in the bed feeling the most intense pain I have ever felt in my life. They transferred me to the Labor & Delivery room where I was again hooked up onto monitors. This was maybe around midnight-maybe a little before? Not sure as the contractions made me feel out of it. I was sweating and just not with it. At some point being in there, I was checked again and in that space of time, went from 3-4 cm to 7 cm. OMG! This was going fast, but I had a thought that I'd probably get stuck at 7 and they'd have to do a c-section anyway. They also gave me an IV around this time and after 4 pokes and 3 different nurses, they finally got one in. My stupid small veins!

After suffering through many contractions, the nurse asked if I wanted a drug to help with the intensity before the epidural could be done. I nodded my head yes after she explained what that drug was. Speaking of, they asked some questions about our previous pregnancy and the c-section while I was going through the contractions - did they really think I could answer them? I could barely get through the contractions still breathing, let alone trying to have a conversation. Maybe they were asking Jon.

(oh, it turns out after reading the best ways to get through contractions, that I get through them best by moaning through them and saying "Oh my God, Oh my God"- that's about all I could say or "I can't do this." I told Jon later when I could talk again not that we're planning to have any more, but I don't want to do this ever again.)

Eventually, the anesthesiologist came and after several pokes of that, got it in. That's also fun trying to curl up while sitting up while going through some painful contractions. It's not easy. It was as if I was a brand new person once the epidural started working. I could talk and have a conversation. I could call my parents to let them know what was going on. I could text friends and family to let them know what was going on. Getting through the contractions were a piece of cake once the epidural started working. The epidural was doing its job around 2 a.m.

They told us to try to get some rest. This is when they do labor down or something like that for a couple hours before they check on my progress and pushing may begin. I tried to get some rest, but I was too anxious about the pushing part. Was I going to be able to do it? Was the baby going to be able to come out? Would I have to do a c-section anyway?

Well, around 3:45, I was going to start to find out. It was time to start pushing. I was at 10 cm. When they said it was time to push, I hoped that I was able to do it. After the first couple contractions came and I was pushing, I felt I was making no progress. The nurse had told me that for first time vaginal deliveries, it could be 2-3 hours of pushing so I wasn't getting too discouraged but I was a little. Oh, and there was no pain with pushing at all. Epidurals rock! The only discomfort I felt was some pressure and trying to hold my breath and push at the same time. After a little while, the baby's head was out a little and they asked me if I wanted to feel the head. I was hesitant at first, but I did feel and I just about started balling at that point feeling that head coming out of me. I was going to have another baby! I was going to be successful with VBAC. I would soon find out if it was a boy or a girl!

After a few more pushes, our little baby was out. I asked "what is it?" and although the nurse knew we didn't know, it seemed she laughed at my question. Jon looked down (as we told the nurse and OB that Jon was going to share the news with me) and announced "we have a son" in a voice that sounded as if he was crying.

I only pushed for 1/2 an hour before Nicholas was born. The nurse and OB kept calling me a rock star after the IV poking, the epidural taking more time than usual, then 30 minutes of pushing. The nurse in the postpartum unit said that they were impressed that I had a successful VBAC after having twins. They did have to give me some stitches as I had a 2nd degree tear (and let me tell you, it hurts to go to the bathroom as it stings. I'm hoping that will end soon. Because of that, I don't know which is worse in pain levels -a c-section or the vaginal delivery).

Nicholas is a healthy boy. He latched onto the breast right away. He really doesn't like his baths or getting his diaper changed - he really likes to be kept warm and snuggle (but a lot of babies are like that). The first full night was rough, but the 2nd night was better.

There are pics on my friend's flickr site if you would like to see. I will upload mine soon, I promise!

Benjamin is a little nervous around the new baby, but he has come up to pet his head and he gave him a hug. Ella immediately thought the new baby was a cool doll. She has shown some signs of jealousy though when she wants mommy to hold her and I can't because I'm feeding the baby. To help a little bit with that, I took her to Target with me to get some stuff while Jon hung out with Benjamin. My mother-in-law stayed with Nicholas.

I think that about covers it. Thank you to Kelly for coming to visit and taking some wonderful pictures. Thank you to Paul & Ally for making us dinner tonight and coming to visit yesterday! Thank you to Paul & Ally for being here the other night (the night it turns out I was in labor) and helping me out with the twins! Thank you to my mother-in-law for being her to watch the twins while we were at the hospital! Thank you to everyone who has given me support throughout this pregnancy. I truly appreciate it!

Manic Monday...wish it was Sunday

I wish I could watch those videos of Benjamin & Ella talking when I'm at work - they are so cute! This morning - I'm guessing around 4 a.m., I heard Benjamin talking in his crib. So incredibly cute. It had to be dark in there, so maybe he was trying to tell us to come get him or maybe he was trying to wake up Ella. In either case, it worked. Ella woke up and Jon went to go get her - he went upstairs with her. Then a bit later, I got up to go get Benjamin. I laid him down next to me and we fell asleep next to each other. It was hard waking up this morning at 5:30 to pump with his cute little self next to me. I eventually did get up and when I was done pumping, Benjamin woke up and gave me a huge smile.

That reminds me, yesterday, I was sorting some clothes for a friend and I thought Ella was sleeping, but I turn around after getting some hats out to sort, and there was Ella staring at me and giving me a big smile. How sweet is that?

I just went to go pick up the pics I'm going to submit to the baby model contest I mentioned a few days ago. We'll see if anything comes of it. The pics I chose are a couple that are on my flickr site - I'm too lazy to point out which ones.

Some of these look kinda cute - I'm tempted to get some for Ella.

We will be spending Thanksgiving at our house with my in-laws. Hopefully, despite my mother-in-law's dislike of the holiday, we will have a good time. I'm looking forward to it. I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to the holidays with my babies though I do wish my family could join us. I guess I just like big celebrations.

I really don't think I'm going to make it to 6 months for pumping. My supply is seriously dwindling. It makes me kinda sad it's nearing the end because I want to give my babies breast milk, but also glad that I won't have to strap on that bra and those suction cups anymore. Speaking of, I should finish up my lunch and go pump.

My thoughts are just all over the place today!

Santa, Modeling & More

This Saturday, Benjamin and Ella will have their first photo taken with Santa! My employer has a Santa picture day at the office, so we can avoid all those lines at the mall and we can take our own pictures. We aren't required to buy pictures from the photographer there. I'm curious how Benjamin and Ella will do.

My employer is also looking for baby models for our products - I'm going to go ahead and enter Benjamin and Ella and see what happens. It was not my intention to go searching for modeling gigs for my babies - I just saw this when I came into work yesterday, so I thought we might try it just for this.

Regarding pumping - My goal was to make it, at least, to when the babies were 6 months, but my supply is dwindling that I wonder if I will be able to make it that long. Ever since I started working, my supply has slowly gone down. It kinda makes me sad that I'm not able to give Benjamin & Ella as much as I feel I should.

It makes me sad that I'm never going to have that much time off with my children ever again. I envy the stay-at-home moms now - I didn't think that I ever would, but I do. Of course, I say that now as I'm sitting at work. What I'd really like is a part-time job. If only.

Random thoughts

Have I mentioned how wonderful it is to be a mom? I still find it hard to believe that it's real even though they are almost 4 months old. I have a daughter and a son? When did that happen?

My husband called me earlier and left a voice mail on my phone of Benjamin laughing and I accidentally deleted it - so sad - his laugh is so cute!!! I still have the other voice mail he left with Ella talking - so cute!!! I teared up a bit listening to these messages.

It's almost time to go home - I can't wait. It's been a busy day so it went by fast, but I'm looking forward to seeing my babies. Unfortunately, it was so busy today, that I only pumped once and I think I should have pumped twice - finding time to go is been a challenge. I talked to a friend I met through the multiples class I went to and she thinks she might be stopping with pumping because pumping, especially at work, is challenging.

So, off topic of babies and pumping - somewhere in the 2nd trimester of the pregnancy, my knees started to bother me. It would hurt when I bended my knees - like when I had to go the bathroom or pick something up. It seems my knee issues have continued past pregnancy. They just hurt to bend - I'm not sure what the issue is. I've made an appointment with my regular doctor for next Monday to talk about it. The only time it feels good is when I have my legs stretched out. Anyone else have this issue? I feel like my knees are those of a 80 year old.

I keep meaning to update my blogroll (I was just looking at it) - I will get around to it eventually.

Well, that's it for now. I have other things to write about the next time I have the chance to blog.

Breast Pump

So I take it back - the new pump I'm using is worse than the one I rented. It seems like it takes twice as long to get the same amount I was getting before and I really don't have that kind of time to pump with two babies to watch. And I won't have that much time to do much pumping at work either.

Right now, the babies are sleeping. Ella fell asleep in the swing so I'm letting her sleep there. It allowed me to walk around with Benjamin until he fell asleep. In about 45 minutes, I need to get them up to get ready for our tea get-together over in West Seattle. Unfortunately, the timing isn't the best as they'll want to eat somewhere around the time we should leave or when we arrive at our party. Benjamin more so as he only wanted 70 ml this morning and he usually drinks around 180.

O.K. I wrote the above before I left for the tea, but one of the babies woke up so I wasn't able to finish. The tea was fun though at one point, I had two fussy babies, including Ella who was screaming about something. I checked all the usual things, but I have no idea what she was fussing about. I left a bit early from everyone else - they were about to go on a walk, but Ella was just too fussy so I came back home and just in time as they were both hungry just as soon as I walked into the door.

Well, anyway, off to get some dinner. :-D

Quick Post

Just wanted to write something quick while the babies sleep - they will probably wake back up again soon for some food. This morning, Benjamin was laying next to me sleeping and he started to laugh in his sleep. That is just so incredibly cute. Then they were both awake and we were having little conversations and I'm sure they were trying to sing me Happy Birthday. ;-D

On another topic, I've started to use a new breast pump that was given to me and I wish I had started to use it sooner - it works just as well as the hospital one that I returned yesterday and this new one is free to use. Oh well. I wonder how pumping will go once I return to work - I'm going to try to pump before I leave for work, again at lunch, then again when I get home, but we'll see how it goes. I want to try to pump/breastfeed until the babies are 6 months, but we'll see.

Well, that's about it for now. I do still want to write those letters but I need to finish my breakfast and the dishes need to be done before babies wake up.

Update

Update on breastfeeding - I got the bra/bustier at Birth & Beyond that Carol had mentioned in my post the other day. I stopped by on my way to my OB appointment on Tuesday. I used it for the first time Tuesday night and this thing is great! I maybe should have gotten the bigger size, but I can now read my week by week baby book while pumping. Lovely! And I don't have to worry about leaking if I lose my grip! Super lovely!

Regarding my OB visit - I actually saw the Nurse Practioner the other day. Apparently, I'm a bit of a mini-celebrity in my OB's office since I was on the hospital stay list for so long. Something to be proud of, I'm sure. ;-D

She said that it was nice to meet the person whose name she recognized though I feel like I saw her at least once while I was in the hospital and I know she was the NP we saw at our very first appointment in that office, but I suppose that first visit was a while ago and I'm not exactly sure she was the NP who came to me in the hospital toward the end.

Anyway, she said my incision looks good. She took off the rest of the steri-strips. I asked her about this bump I noticed above my belly button and she said it might be fatty tissue caused by my huge belly I had while pregnant. She said to keep an eye on it, but it should go away on its own. She also said that I can start to lift more things and exercise a bit more, so we'll see how that goes. I took a walk the other day by myself to a nearby park and that seemed too much. We also discussed Ben's circumcision - they didn't do it in the hospital because he was born a bit too early. It is now scheduled for next Monday in the OB's office, but I need to push that back a week as Monday I might be on my own and the week after, my mom will be here. Jon will be going with me to that appointment as it was his decision to have Ben circumcised. I think that was about all we talked about - oh, she did ask me about any postpartum depression symptoms I might be having. I think I do have some bit of baby blues.

Yesterday, when I was on my own for 4 hours with them, things were going well but then both babies wanted to be held and I'm just not coordinated enough to pick up 2 - 2 week old babies on my own. I laid them down next to me and that wasn't doing the trick for the longest time. Eventually, I was able to quiet them down so I could pump but it took a while and well, I did have a bit of a breakdown. Two babies at once is a lot of work - I need all the help I can get so I would welcome any help - especially next Monday, Tuesday and part of Wednesday when I might be on my own. :-D

Oh, back to breastfeeding - in response to a comment on my last post. I did get Ella to go on my breast for a little while. I was so happy she did so, but later on, she wanted nothing to do with it. She can be quite finicky and when she shows signs of hunger, she means right that very moment she wants some food and even though the breast is right there, she doesn't want it - to much work, I guess. I'm trying my best here. As long as she is getting some breast milk at this point, I'm o.k with that. There is just no way I can exclusively breastfeed twins - if others can do it, that is wonderful for them, but I just can't. Plus, the pediatrician wants us to supplement with formula to keep their weight up and I'm o.k. with that.

Thanks Kerry Lynn for your comment the other day - it's good to know that others with twins didn't pump for too long. I'm going to try to breastfeed and pump as long as I can - the original goal was 6 months but that will most likely change. Speaking of, time to go pump again!

Oh, and one small thing - I had completely forgotten until my husband mentioned it to me while he was writing his version of our birth story (of which you can read here - he's not quite done yet though) is that our daughter pooped on the doctor when the doctor pulled her out. I'm sure that is something that she will want others to know.

My version of the birth story can be found here.

Baby (& Other) News

I'm back to writing about baby stuff on this blog...it's nice to be able to access it again after so long and to be able to read other's blogs too. I haven't been commenting that much, but I try when I can.

Yesterday, the babies went to a 3rd doctor appointment because they wanted to check their weight again to make sure they're gaining weight like they are supposed to. Good news is that Ella is now past her birth weight! She's at 5 lbs 8 ounces! Benjamin isn't quite to his birth weight but he's at 6 lbs 5 ounces. He's gaining a little over an ounce a day so he'll be back to his birth weight soon.

They also had their second PKU testing done in which they poke the babies in the foot and fill 5 circles with their blood. Needless to say, the babies did not like that at all. Poor Benjamin has been poked in the foot too many times because right after birth, they had to keep testing his blood sugar.

I go to the doctor on Tuesday @ 11:20 to have my incision checked out. The steri-strips have started to come off - they said it would be about 10 days when they would come off and that's about when it started. Unfortunately, that's about when my pain started to make a bit of a comeback. Thank goodness for pain meds.

This morning, my husband took my brother to work and so I was on my own for a little while. It doesn't seem like that long, but, of course, that was when they babies were waking up for their next meal and diaper changes. I, thankfully, handled the situation rather well, I think. Both babies were changed, fed (at the same time as they laid on the boppy pillows), and burped. Poor Benjamin had the hiccups so he laid in their bed for a while trying to get back to sleep but those hiccups kept interrupting him. I hope that when I'm by myself for a longer period of time on Tuesday (when my husband will go back to work in the afternoon after my doctor appointment), things go well.

The following may be a bit TMI - so read at your own risk...

And finally, I just have to say that I really find the breast pump uncomfortable and there has got to be a better way to pump breastmilk than just sitting there holding the pumps. There are times that I will start to fall asleep and leaking will happen because I lost my grip. I'm going to continue to pump because it is good for my babies to give them breast milk, but that pump can hurt sometimes.

I'm also giving the babies breast milk by breastfeeding them, but Ella can be a bit picky as to the times she will breastfeed which is a big change from how she was in the hospital. When this first started to happen, I became frustrated and upset that my baby didn't want to breast feed a good portion of the time but I've gotten over it - for the most part, she is just getting her breast milk from a bottle - as long as she is getting some, right?

Benjamin has taken to it very well, but there are times that he doesn't want to breastfeed either.

We are also giving them formula as there is no way I could keep up with the twins by myself and that way, Jon can help feed them too.

Well, that's all for today. :-D