At home and doing well

The first car ride - they slept the whole way home!

It sure doesn't feel like we've been home for over a week. The hours and days just seem to slip by so fast. I guess that's why everyone keeps telling us to try and enjoy this crazy time when they are so young because it'll be over before we know it. Of course, it doesn't feel that way to me at 4am when I'm trying to feed one baby, calculate how long before I'm done with both feedings and how much sleep time that will leave me before starting the cycle all over again. Until last night, I don't think I'd slept more than 2 hours at a time. We tried something new though and had Grandma Reinke do the early morning (5am) feeding today and I got to sleep a whole 4 hours. It was wonderful! One weird thing both Paul and I have noticed is how we keep waking up throughout the night and have these feelings that one of the babies is in the bed with us. Paul says he wakes up and feels like his pillow is a baby and I often wake up fearing that I fell asleep while feeding and the baby is mixed up in the comforter. I wonder if these are common for a lot of new parents.... It's like we spend so much of the day consumed with baby thoughts that we can't let it go when we sleep.

Anyway, back to the past week... Last weekend, my sister and her family came down from Michigan to visit. It was great to see them and fun to watch our nephew and niece (Braden and Kendall) hold the babies. My favorite was when Braden asked if they could crawl yet. :D Thank goodness that is still several months away! I kind of have a feeling Braden and Kendall are looking forward to when the girls a little more interactive and at least stay awake and maybe give a real smile or two. I imagine that by the time they see us again, the girls will look - and act - quite a bit different. My Mom went back to Michigan on Sunday afternoon, with Brooke and Todd, giving Paul and I a chance to try a couple nights on our own. While a little scary at first, we all survived.

On Monday, the 10th, we had our first outing. I knew it would take us longer to get ready and out the door, but I had no idea how much longer! I better practice and get a good routine in place before I start back to work. At least I have about 10 more weeks to get that figured out. The first trip out was to the pediatrician's office for the 1 week visit and both girls had good reports. Amelia was already a couple of ounces over her birth weight, at 4lbs 10oz, and Penelope, while still a little shy of her birth weight, was 5lbs 10oz and had still gained compared to her weight when she left the hospital. Their Dr said that while they are really small, they are still doing great, especially since we had transitioned to 100% nursing and hadn't given them any formula supplements since our first day home from the hospital. Paul has been weighing them here at home every night and on the 12th, Penelope hit a mile mark and was 6lbs 1oz and on the 13th, Amelia had her own big moment, coming in at 5lbs 1/2oz. The jump from 5 to 6 pounds and 4 to 5 pounds was a really big deal to us. I guess it just made us feel like we're doing OK as a new Mom and Dad. Another good sign - the preemie clothes are getting too small, especially in the length. Unfortunately, the newborn outfits are still pretty big so we are stuck in a weird phase, trying to make do with the 2 or 3 preemie items that do fit. That means more laundry right now, but thankfully we've got Grandma Reinke staying here for a little while to help with those kinds of chores.

Tuesday, the 11th, was my 33 birthday. Things have been so crazy around here, I really didn't have any time to even think about it being my birthday. Paul keeps asking for gift ideas, but nothing comes to mind. Maybe by Christmas I'll think of something I'd like to have. :D I'm sure this is one birthday I won't soon forget though... I spent the day in my pajamas, hanging out here with Paul and the girls. For dinner, Paul's Mom brought us Applebee's takeout and some really yummy desserts from the Whole Foods bakery.

On Wednesday the 12th, we had another outing, this time to my Dr's office. I went in for a quick blood pressure check while Paul waited in the car with the babies. My blood pressure was down a little from what it was in the hospital but my Dr said that if it's not considerably lower by the time I see him for my 6 week check-up, I'll probably need to find a good internal medicine doctor to try and find a more effective medication. I'm hopeful that the more comfortable I get with all these changes at home and maybe even squeeze in a little time for exercise, my blood pressure issue will start to resolve itself.

Thursday and Friday were hard days as "Dad" had to find the energy to go back to work. Grandma and I did our best to handle all the nighttime feedings and fussiness so Paul could get as much rest as possible - although the sleep deprivation had already set in and was already pretty severe at that point. Thank goodness it was a short week for him. Not that the weekend really meant anymore sleep for anyone at our house....