Moment of "normal"

For a brief few moments things almost seemed "normal" again. The kids and I were eating Talmage's homemade pizza on the patio, under the shade of the umbrella, washing it down with lemonade. There was a strong breeze, but it was warm and comfortable. Then, it was feeding time again.

Six Weeks

Last Friday:

Lyle weighed 5 lbs. 13 oz.
Rex weighed 5 lbs. 10 oz.

Every oz. represents a lot of work and we count each one!

Eleven Years Ago today...

...I started on a wonderful adventure. In fact, I had NO IDEA how wonderful!

(+ laundry, + clutter, + boxes of diapers = a time and a season for everything)

This evening we didn't go to dinner or a movie. (We brought Talmage home on our first anniversary and we've never been very good at "celebrating" since. We just "celebrate" with babies instead.)

So tonight, a friend came and got our big kids, Mom stayed with Rex and Lyle, and we snuck away to something we have been dreaming about for these eleven years.

No, not weeds...a place to raise our kids on country sunshine.

School's Out

This is a journal entry of Bryant's from the first few days of school:

This is Bryant receiving the award for the top AR reader in all of McGee's 2nd grade:

Favorite Face in the crowd. James made it to the boys' last day of school assemblies.

We always celebrate the last day of school with homemade pizza.
Talmage made it almost single-handedly for us this year!

This is what the boys spent the rest of the week doing...
Cub Scout Day Camp

Sariah and Hyrum at it again:

This is tiny, little Rex. We were trying to get a picture with proportion.
They have broke 5 lbs., but they really are SO TINY!

Four weeks

At the boys' "one week after discharge check-up" all the long hours of feeding paid off.
Lyle weighed in at 4 lbs. 15 oz. and 18 1/2 inches long.
Rex weighed in at 4 lbs. 12 oz. and 18 1/4 inches long.
Yeah!

Today is four weeks since their birth. What a whirlwind!

In the meantime:

Arriving at Father and Sons

Tent Pitched

Hyrum's First Father and Sons

Kickin' Back

Four "Men" in the Four Man Tent.

And this is Talmage at the end of a long day:

Perfect Imperfectionist

Since I spend a considerable amount of time sitting and pumping each day, I've reopened a book given to me when Talmage was born, So You Want to Raise a Boy? It was written by a man who also has five sons.

I skipped to one of the final chapters entitled, What is an ideal mother? He writes, "The ideal mother is a deliberate imperfectionist..." and "By design the ideal mother is a perfect imperfectionist." I like that.

Today Lyle had his first immersing bath. Thanks to a few tricks I learned as a NICU nurse he was totally fine with it. In fact, not a peep until I went to put his fresh diaper. He looks so handsome and smells so fresh. Rex still hasn't lost his cord yet (today is day 23). I'm wondering if umbilical lines for a week of life have something to do with holding on to that cord for so long.

Tomorrow morning we find out how much weight these guys have gained in the last week. For as much as we feed them around here, it better be substantial!

Since I spend close to 20 hours a day in my bedroom attending to little guys, I've been making a point to go for a walk each evening with one of the kids. Tonight, it was Hyrum and I. Spending so much time indoors when it has finally turned beautiful outside is a hard thing for me. In Hyrum's words, "Too Fair Mom!"

Three Weeks Old

Rex and Lyle came home last Thursday, June 2, 2011.

Dressed to come home.

First car ride. (Needless to say, the strategic seating in our van has drastically been altered.)

Our enjoyable evening routine of family storytime is one of the things that has been disrupted. I was so pleased when the kids tried to give it a go themselves.

These little wraps were designed by an engineer who lost a son to SIDS. They are wonderful. The hospital gave us the preemie size but I will be looking for (or making) bigger ones.

A Nightime feeding.

New Routine:

At 2am, 6am, 10am, 2pm, 6pm and 10pm, it goes like this:

Warm bottles

Feed and burp Lyle (about 2 ounces)

Change Lyle's diaper

Feed and burp Rex (about 1 1/2 ounces)

Change Rex's diaper

Assemble pumping apparatus

Pump

Measure out breastmilk

Fortify breastmilk

Store excess breastmilk

Wash and sterilize bottles, nipples, pump parts

If I have someone to help me feed one of the boys, the process takes about 1 1/2 hours. If I'm on my own, it takes about 2 1/2 - 3 hours. (Preemies are very slow eaters and have to be diligently attended to because they choke easily and turn blue. It's very scary.)

Three weeks old today:

They are much cuter than this picture makes them out to be.

Two babies! TWO BABIES! It's hard to believe.

Big brother!

These are the darling thank you favors that a friend made for those who do so much to bless our family. They are better pictured on her blog. (Post 5/25/11).

This is the box full of thank you cards another friend prepared for me. It was packaged so nicely I was reluctant to break into it.

Yesterday, between feedings while my sister was here, I slipped out to see Talmage take part in his wax museum. He memorized his monologue with the greatest of ease. He's amazing.

Tonight, James went with Bryant to his Spectrum Program orientation. We are down to the last 4 days of school. Life goes on around us.

The last three nights, Sariah and I have taken an evening walk. I spend probably close to 20 hours a day in our bedroom tending to little ones. It feels so good to get out.

Rex and Lyle Come Home

We brought the boys home this afternoon. Kind of scary with no wires attached to tell us how they are doing. They got completely worn out with everyone wanting to hold them and didn't do very well with their evening feeding. James actually is back at the hospital getting bottle nipples since the ones we have seem to be too fast flowing. Next try 11:30pm.