Hiding Again=)

My wonderful hubby has come home!! I am hiding again in my basement to get away and detox for a few....

You know the feeling...

The twins were cranky today and still are...possibly fighting and being healed of the virus that the big kids have.

My oldest son spent half the day dragging and sleeping in the bed and I haven't yet convinced him that veggies REALLY DO help fight off a sore throat...not to mention gargling. That he thinks is disgusting. My dancelover is also dragging and laying on the couch most of the day....I had to utilize my 3yo to entertain the babes as the sat in boucy chair and swing whining. I took turns holding them till the crankiness edge wears off and then swich....all this while I prayed off the achiness I have been fighting off. God will have to sustain me and heal these kids up b4 I SCREAM =) Oh never mind, I did scream "BLAH" and walked out with my dinner down here....

Now I have a little peace and quiet. Britt is now again handing me a crankpot baby but I am sending her off with directives to change the drenched dribbled tshirt first. The truth is the twins are SOOOOO cute. They are hard to resist even when cranky. Uh oh here they come...gotta go.

AHHHH!!

I am hiding in my basement AWAY from the kiddos! Need A BREAK....the twins are fussy b/c it is bedtime and the kichen is dirty while the kids finish dinner @ 9pm.... I think MAYBE school is not so bad when we are forced to have a tighter schedule in this house.

I am pleased that the babies are smiling away at 3 and half mos....and squirmy is getting the hang of sleeping for extended hours! YAY. I don't wake her her up when her brother awakes like the books say! I just leave her be! Awesome. I personally would rather deal with one baby at a time. I may get less sleep but it is more sane in my book!

A 7th new singleton child...the easy way

My older bunch have a new addition.....my 13yo godchild who is here for the summer....there is not much difference between 6 and 7 kids really...EXCEPT for the teen part....

One of my favorite sayings is "Everone should be 10yo". This is way before the hormones set in and the mood swings and the really serious chats that affect their lives....We can still play American Girls and Polly Pockets. Ahhhhhhhhhh refreshing is my 10 yo dd

The good news is we have another set of arms to pass the twins around.

Now I have 4 names to call for help instead of 3. This is truly a win-win situation. I even get to sharpen my teen skills as I deal with attitudial days of my godchild and my kids. Some days I go from really high after our INDOOR water fight (don't ask) and really low after I notice they stayed up into the wee hours of the nite to raid the kitchen and leave the mess for am.

The only other tricky thing about all this is that it seems with teens is that it seems like i have to do more spy work to understand where they are since they are so independant. I can't even tell when my12yo isn't choosing to eat since he doesn't feel like before he goes to play sports outside for hours. I find out once illnesses begin....migranes...ughh

In all these cases alo prayer goes a long way...

Liking 3mo Twins=)

Well the babes are 3mos old now and it is getting less hairy=)

YES they are still waking at nite...BUT there is a sense of flow now MOST of the time. I am so glad.....

The smiles they give us are priceless...we like to prop them in their Boppies(TM) and fluff a few pillows behind them. They love to smile and "laugh" at each other....especially squirmy. She is a social butterfly. SO she tries to make eye contact with Lil Guy and grins...it is a riot to watch. he seems to warm up more slowly.

Another blessing is the fact that my 3yo is not being scolded as much for the new baby rules. Yes he still climbs all over and around them on my bed but they seem more durable so we don't worry so much. Also, he gives them little toys they can barely hold. He also gives them MANY MANY kisses to a fault. Sometimes when he finishes with his love pecks the babes are left crying. This whole scene is a riot....fun stuf.

We never wuite got my milk up enough for the breastfeeding so we still use Good Start. They seem to like it and go fine back and forth. The 3oz snack bottles have now been sublimented too with water because it is HOT.

Feeding Diaper Bag for 2mo Twins

Ok I have issues...

this shouldn't be this thrilling ...

BUT I am so pleased....we have streamlined our bottle process=) I am too excited...it seemed like such a nitemare at first since i was used to breastfeeding all my others. I used to pack 1 bottle for emergencies only.

Maybe I blogged this BUT here we go

We premeasure the powder...into the bottles with nipples, carry 2-3 bottles of boiled water. We purchased a tea kettle that I boil at nite and cool off till morn...this was stremlined from using a giant POT and hoping no one DUMPED it by morn in which case i had to START OVER...uuugh......we also stopped buying distilled water that we moved to once I was sick of boiling. $ saved.....

We still run the bottles thru the dishwasher @ nite so the can dry by am....

Finally, for a day, we pack 4 mini 3oz bottles each babe to tide them over between nursings if we're riding and a 4oz in case we know i won't get to them.

OH and we include sanitizer and a "spit cloth" too!

I am thrilled....now if i can get my KIDS TO STOP leaving it upzipped in the car so the stuff won't fall out...AND if i can FIT all that WITH the regular diaper bag=)

I'm shopping for a duffle bag next!

The TRIP with the twins TO REMEMBER

Well I promised I'd chat about the trip....

Travelling with the twins was quite an experience. We took them on an 8 hour trip with the 6 kids plus 1 adult....I was told it was a recipie for disaster but it went well overall....KINDA SORTA...it is all a matter of perspective.

To pack I picked items based on my moms advise she gave me one day during a 3AM feeding....I must say while I was NOT receptive to conversation at the time I heeded her advice.

So we chose for the twins:

2 boppies -we only needed 1

1 swing that the kids liked the most- invaluable once we went to Walmart to replace the batteries

1 bouncy chair- these batteries also probably ran out when it was packed in the truck.

Too many wahclothes and 4 drying towels

Receiving blankets that we packed in the suitcase that we should have left out for the highway

Tons of hand sanitizer

A special car bag with extra diapers, a canister of formula (supplimental feeding) and a sling

Clothes for mostly cool weather- with only 3 onsies in 90 degree weather, I had to wash. Half the time we just stripped into a diaper...

A fluffy blanket for mom to sleep on (not the twins) Oh did I mention...there was NO FURNITURE in the place we were going?

So the trip there went surprisingly smooth as the twins LIKED the car since it was like their swing=) PLUS they liked bottles, unlike my other children who only nursed and hated bottles.
Before with my others...I'd have to STOP, sit and nurse ever 2 hours and the 8 hour trip would take close to 10-12hours....now THAT used to be frustrating.

Well they DID get sick of the car after a few hours and but it was MEAL TIME....so we relaxed. Due to sleep deprivation we FORGOT the key to the house.....soooooooooooo when we got there it was a nice 3 day surprise. Since the house was for sale it was quite a game getting a simple door open.

Overall that worked to our advantage since we had 3 days and "FRESH ARMS" to hold on and love on the twins....we all got a nice break!

GOING HOME

The ride home was another story...the twins did ok for a bit but I was EXHAUSED b/c they had had one of THOSE NITES and were up from 4-6AM I was sooooooooooooo tired. Fortunately I made a quick cofffee stop which was helpful and we cruised for a bit but THEN oh boy....LOUD CRYING in a contained area....torture! I couldn't hardly think straight to figure out the turn I needed to make.

Thank God we atleast had the DVD player for the 3 year old. So we listened to 3 hours of Larry Boy because he only wanted to see 1 of the choices over and over and over and over.

Then finally when the rain started we stopped for a pit stop to relax at a friends which was the best idea of the day.....the funny part about that was when my friend SAW us caring for the twins she reminded us how much we were doing=) Oh well.

We got home safe. It was a nice diversion form the routine...

Is it hard to parent 8?

Well I believe there is a reason God made a progression to the scheme of things....having babies in a certain order...1 then 2, then 3 and so on...but then when u grow by twos and add a few friends...whew.

One day, we took 2 friends and hung out for a bit...and had to have friends carry some kids home because our van was too small! It was something!

The dynamics change by numbers in a surprising way. The kids who were normally assigned to each task:

One kid gets Wil Guy the other gets Squirmy, another gets my 3yr old, I generally get the diaper bags...one for everyday use PLUS a cute Good StartTM back pack we use for bottles (the bottles have the powdered formula premeasured in them with nipples and we carry distilled water- took me weeks to smooth out a workable system)

This 15min system was thrown off since my two rode with the friend. What a mess....we lost count of kids and ugggh. Everyone survived but lets just say I now have a healthy appreciation for JUST 6.

World Vision - Press Center

World Vision - Press Center

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FUNNY CARTOON

Travelling with Twins

I hve just packed half our house to travel with the twins for a week....we will see how it goes....

Twins - The First Year is an Adventure

I was just reflecting on the year to come.....TWO in highchairs, two in a crib...oh that's right, once they start rolling I will probably need to split them up so they don't roll on each other...thats what I was told by other twin moms.

THEN twin toddlers, imagine that. Now THAT will be entertaining...something to think abot at 5am while I tend to Wil' Guy. I was corrected by my oldest son and not Lil Guy. I stand corrected!

Good Friends Help Moms

Lord I thank you for good friends that come and give help and in encouragement. They ae supportive and helpful....

I thank you for Miss .com as we call her who im-ed me so we can "chat" like old times....thank u for her example of laying down ones life for the gospel and she shares the love of Jesus. She is so funny and can brighten any day....

Then I I thank u for Donna, another homeschool mom, who came to visit and said something like....

In Christ we are like JELLO, even if we feel scattered we are still held together somehow. God holds us together.

That was really a funny but true analogy to me. She had LOTS of wisdom to share without even knowing it by just being the light that she is....its cool b/c knows so much about lots of things. In fact she should go on a game show one day!=) She is a good example of a mom who can take what she has to be a blessing to others. She uses her resources and shares them with everyone. She didn't as anyone permission to do this, except God and her family=) God uses her family to help alot of people. That is inspiring. God used her to remind me how important it is to just keep things in perspective in these early days with newborns. I will need patience. She also reminded me that God understands that I am a new mom again and has grace for us. She used a verse but I can't find it=) oh well.....I even checked biblegateway.com.

SOOOO I will go back to training and scheduling the twins and 3yo like I should. I'll write about THAT later. Maybe I will share some of that stuff on our HFK site too.

Please give me the strength to be the mom you have called me to be...

I thank you for these precious ones Lord.....I love You...

In Jesus Name
Amen

Last Day of Homeschool this year!

The last day of school is a widely celebrated event........we were thrilled. For now at our homeschool we can rest from hearing these familiar sayings:

"Focus, focus, focus"

"What are u working on now?"

" DID U read that whole book in the last 5 minutes AND answer 2 pages of ???? PPPLLLLZZZ slow down and ACTUALLY DO the work!"

"What are u up to?"

"You can take a break AFTER you check the box"

"Check the box, check the box, check the box!" (my husband's chant to the kids=)

"God has a plan for u... u have to actually FOLLOW the plan"

"...just get the work done please!"

"You CAN do this...it's NOT to hard 4 u"

"Praise God....I knew you could do it!"

"WHY are you doing this to urself....don't wait till the last minute"

"DO the work plz"

"If u go to bed at nite, u won't be so tired"

"Go help your little brother, quick"

"Stop crying.....lets go over this tooo-gethhhh-errr "

"Great! But did you DOOOO the work?"

"For Math you HAVE TO SHOW THE WORK"

"You must obey mommy, YES MOM"

"No im-ing while ur working...say goodbye...sign out NOW"

"We need to pray, I have no idea how we are gonna get all this done"

"Why do we care more about your education than YOU DO?"

"Finish well"

"If you don't hurry up we will have to do it too-gethhh-err"

"Good Job, I am SO proud of you..."

Total Exhaustion......

You know they talk about sleep deprivation for prisioners of war as a form of torture....I believe it. After a few days of inadequate sleep from being up with the twins...judgement and perspective sometimes are compromised.....amazing!

There is also a REASON for having kids young....so u can physically manage....being over 40 make me wonder how I did it when I was younger with 3 kids under 4yo...BOOOGGGGLLYY TIRED!!!!!

Then I see how I manage compared to my mom helping me.she's even more pooped.....in fact I know some heros who are 60+ who do this baby thing and are primary care-givers. Impressive. I guess if God sustains u and equips u...u can do anything.

I thank God that He keeps sustaining me....I can feel it even though it feels like my composure is challenged and slipping as I feel overwhelmed with resposibility....6kids, trying to bring order and routine back.....like normal bedtimes instead of kids passing out everywhere ....and meals together..instead of 8pm "whats 4 dinner??" conversations that are met with blank stares...

I have a newfound respect for Marj, Meg, Michelle...... parents who have 8+ kids, that are well-behaved, normal, the homeschool and one of them even runs a business with their kids....

I assume God must carry them along as they are my heros...how they manage w/o hiding themselves in the bathroom...

It feels good to vent and laugh about it all...it is comical when I really think about it....

After all there are REAL PROBLEMS in this world. Often in the midst of MY PITY PARTIES I think about women in the world who have to sleep on a mat in the dirt with their kids and DON'T have adequate shelter and food.....nor formula even at $12a can...I think abou it must feel as a mom who can't provide and watch their kids suffer.....THEN I GET MY PERSPECTIVE BACK!

In fact! I ran across an article where moms living with the effects of HIV/AIDS epedemic who are caring for their own children and othr children orphaned by AIDS. It is cool b/c they make Dorcus Beads and create jewelry that they sell to LIVE. The income literally keeps them alive. I heard about this b4 but in a magazine I read yesterday I got a link

http://dorcusbeads.blogspot.com/

NOW THESE WOMEN ARE TRULY HEROS.......so I guess I will remember be thankful today and stop "BEEFING"

I think there was a good book...."Managers of their Own Homes" or something like that to schedule family life. I have to find out...

Well my 3yo wants waffles for his second breakfast.....

SHHHUUUSSHH-ing Grandma made me laugh (on the inside of course)

TONITE…...WAS A NITE TO REMEMBER…..

3am
One of the twins, we call him Lil Guy, was crying b/c he woke up….that was ok…so I went to make bottles to supplement after I nurse. A little fussing for 2-3 min wasn’t going to end the world as he waited I thought.

WELLLLLL, Grandma BOLTED OUT OF BED and came downstairs and made her typical loud sssssshhhuussshhhh-ing sound to quiet him. This sound… at 3am seems harder for me to listen to than that of an infant crying full blast…but she means well, and I am grateful for her staying with us to help with the kids so I say as gently as I can muster “Mom its ok, really… u can go back to bed b/c I have a bottle. Really….AND if u let him blow off a little steam for 2 to 5 minute while I get ready we will all sleep better after I feed him” She ignores me of course because she raised me and continues ssssuuuusshh-ing and rocking. This goes on for a bit until I finally take him to change and feed him. Grandma goes upstairs.

3:30am
Lil guy is still nursing but “Squirmy” is starting to stir. Oh no, please Lord I think. She stays asleep…I put down Lil Guy and lay down myself for 2 minutes……Lil Guy stirs again and starts fussing. Grandma is quickly back and on to ssssshhhuuuussshhhh-ing till
lil guy settles. Grandma….pleased with peace and quiet goes back upstairs…..

THEN the fun began…

3:45am
Squirmy woke up to eat and I am ready for her with the bottle and all. I change her, nurse and bottle feed her quickly and she is UP wide eyed looking around. I put her in the swing. THEN Lil guy begins to cry again, I think grandma’s asleep so he will sit on his spoiled rump for a minute after all… I told her it would get us all more sleep.

NOPE! Grandma is back in action but this time it gets almost comical. As Grandma consoles Lil Guy he drifts for a minute and Squirmy starts. So Grandma managed to get her out of the tight grip of the old broken swing that stopped moving( we NEVER got around to replacing it with the new one sitting right next to it that only needs 5 minutes of wiping off)….and HOLDS her….after all that fussing about spoiling them. Anyway, I said nothing.. She decided Squirmy should be in the cradle this time and rocks her in there when Lil guy started up his engine again….I almost LAUGHED as I SECRETLY WATCHED Grandma go back and forth from cradle to bouncy chair across the room from each other. As soon as she’d settle one and walk away..…”WAAAA” Finally BOTH CRIED for a while. I fortunately had something important to do b/c the phone wasn’t working for my mom’s medic alert ….I just calmly sang as I worked. Hilarious I thought. How will she block crying for both (she hates crying & always has). I answer questions…..“No mom they are not hot I just turned up the a/c” “No there is no poop they have just been changed, yes I’ll recheck mom”

4:45
What a riot….this went on for a while until she wisely carried one next to the other to rock one and do her sssshhhuuussshhhh-ing and hold Lil Guy who cried even more.…

5am
After a while I felt bad that I was so amused that I bailed her out…I guess they were my kids after all….. and took Lil Guy from her and fed him AGAIN so we can all get some sleep!

6am
Uh ohhhh…I took too long to write and tidy up and squirmy is BACK AWAKE……AHHHHH!! Oh well, sleep is overrated! Right?

6:45 Sqiurmy fell asleep in my arms as I dose nursed and Lil Guy is up again!!

7am
My 3yr old wakes up asking for ketchup…..the first thing that popped in my head was………..”Go ask Daddy”

7:18
Daddy wakes up…give juice to 3yo and tells me “You need to call the telephone company, the phone really isn’t working” I realized waking up dad wasn’t the most effective strategy….as I think on my response I must have passed out because he woke me up at 9 to get ready for church……after all it WAS daytime. Oh…but I had to wait b/c Lil Guy is hungry again…at least he won’t be lil for long=) Thank God for twins and His grace….AND for Grandmas…they are truly heros even when they do their OWN THANG.

How many diapers do twins use?

150 diapers a week!!!!!!!!!!!!

I couldn't believe it...

Plus...Several cans of formula as we use them to suppliment nursing! I really regret offering formula in the hospital and those first weeks. I recently found out many twin moms pump to suppliment and don't need formula at all...I didn't catch that salient detail b4 so when we went to the hospital I confidently told the nurses to "botle away"....now 6 weeks later I feel like I am still plaing catch-up. I have been even praying or more milk to come in=) Funny, when I started praying a friend decided to have a box of "mother's milk" herbal tea shipped to me!!!! what a blessing. Amazingly it actually seems to work when u drink it....so while I am still playing catch-up...it will be a matter of time I believe and we'll be using LESS formula...not none, just LESS. We can't let dad off that easily.

I never really added up the COST of diapers and formula till I read the stats in a twin book...I could feel stress seeping in as I added up the monthly costs....I had to try to stop myself from worrying...I started to whine about and and talk to God about it and He reminded me to....thank God for baby showers!!! Then a few days later...a visit from a friend Margaret who came bearing gifts: MORE DIAPERS and FORMULA. A set for each twin....ok God I WON'T complain and I will try my best to NOT WORRY about your provision.

There were good reads I borrowed from our local library and twin club:

My tried and true fav book has been helping us remember milestones and answer my older kids contant questions about "How far can they see now ma?" "What colors do they see" and

"I think they can roll over, I saw them do that yesterday by themselves..Ma did U see them roll over(@ 2 weeks old...don't think so=) I smile and refer them to the book?

"Mom,at what age will they do anything besides stare in space for hours on hours at end...put me to sleep"

"Mom, I just thought of something...how are u when u start to itch?"mmmm not sure if the book will cover that one=)

This is it: What to Excpect the First Year by Eisenberg, Murkoff, and Hathaway

Mothering Multiples- Breastfeeding & Caring 4 Twins- La Leche League
by Karen Gromada
This book is helpful...I hope it helps us get on track....

I hope I can find one of the bookshelf widgety things....that would be fun. If I do I'll post it.

Twin Helps Us With the Website=)

We were working on our website and had a laugh today!!! We were trying to set up a talking character for our homeschooler/ parents/ educator page and one of the twins decided to help!! What a riot....Grandma did NOT like the sound effects.

Can U Spoil Twins in a Month?

Can u REALLY "spoil" twins who have only been in contact with the planet 4 a month????? Is that possible? Has Grandma been right all along?

YUP!!!

We brought home our cute twins and thought it would be fun to hold them and enjoy loving on them and such. They seemed content and so were we...the kids even had disputes over whose turn it was as they drooled over the opportunity to HOLD THE BABES. (These were the SAME KIDS who were "less than enthusiastic" about mom being pregnant not too long ago.)

Grandma cautioned OVER and OVER and OVER, "Don't hold those babies all day or u r gonna SPIRL 'EM" Yea, yea Grandma we said as we passed them around admiring their features and habits and lil personalites they had that were different from each other....

This routine was all fun UNTIL I noticed that they started settling less at night...huh? They wanted to be HELD to go to sleep and HELD while awake and there is just 1 me. The festivities of the day have passed and alas I am alone on the nite shift...dad has returned to work and helps when he can but needs rest...uh oh...

Uuuugggghhhhh Colds!

Let’s say Grandma visits to help with twins….yay! But day two u notice Grandma has a BAD cold…..do u send her home…of course not….u pray and quarantine a bit right. Well in this plan there was a wildcard….a 3yo!!! Lets say the 3yo PLAYS with grandma b/c everyone else is homeschooling and THEN a few days later…..achoo!

Well the 3yo who LOVES the twins was not convinced that germs spread and so playtime has to wait a FEW DAYS. so he goes by a twin and SNEEZES right in his face! Uggh…..
Many more days go by so when I am convinced that the wrath is over, baby A sneezes….often. and now mommy and both twins are cranky, crying and stuff…First cold. Oh well what can u do?

Pregnant with TWINS???

Well this is day 1 of my blog=)

My twin newborns have inspired me…..this should be fun!

I have so many thoughts bottled up since the birth of the twins…..

First I was in shock I was pregnant at all! I denied the biological clues so much my friend was laughing at me!

The funniest part was when my friend’s 15yo dd to me she just had a dream about me….she dreamt I was PREGNANT!!! She said she had a dream like that b4 her mom was pregnant too! I encouraged her by saying….”that was a terrible dream=)” I had told her nothing and still told her nada.

I even remember when I first found out I was pregnant with twins! My youngest dd was elated! Even b4 the technician discoved them my dd was going on and on about how cool it would be if we had twins….I SCOLDED her at the thought. I told her since her dad was supposed to be a twin that we’d SKIP this generation and SHE would be the one to have twins! THEN came the news…….I choked back the tears as I questioned her on how certain she was….how could this be.
I swore my dd to secrecy until i had time to digest all this….it took a while b4 I could talk about it to our family and many weeks b4 I could share it beyond that. The nausea probably made it obvious to my mom who was staying with us. Unbelievable fatigue and sickness….to some moms-to-be who pay attention…that should’ve been a clue…oh well I was clueless! Shock & dismay would lead to eventual anticipation and excitement.

About a week after I found out I was scheduled to attend Catch the Fire in Toronto Airport Christian Fellowhip. I HAD to tell my travelmates I thought b/c there was NOWAY I could hide my illness…..funny part was my one friend already thought I was pregnant….she was sooo positive and excited that it slowly began to rub off on me. By midweek I was a happy camper. The conference was awesome.

Nevertheless once I got home, my initial concerns were many…
How was I to carry twins in my belly…..I spent one evening with the internet….shook me up. So many medical warnings and threats of potential problems within the pregnancy! I was depressed for a days after reading that stuff…..uughh. God actually had a friend call me….she “knew” I was sad and wanted to know why so she could pray me. Plus the same day, God had another friend email me her concerns from something God showed her.

I had a level of comfort that God had people praying for us as I adjusted to the concept of pregnancy…

Again I had a kid who this time dreamed I was having twins b4 they found out and other teen friend tell me they “knew” I was having twins b4 I shared with them. At least I knew that this pregnancy was no accident….God was helping me realize with so many confirmations that this was all part of His plan that I STILL have yet to fully comprehend.

BUT twins over 40 as we homeschool 4 other kids???? How??? This brings trusting God to a new level!