Life as a family of five

Bayla and Harper have been home nearly 3 weeks now, and we're settling into life as a family of 5 + dog. The girls are doing so, so well-- as of a week and a half ago, Bayla weighed nearly 7 lbs, and Harper was at 7 lbs, 3 oz. I'm sure Harper's topping 8 lbs, and Bayla is probably well past 7. They're eating pretty well, and up until the past few days, they've been extremely laid-back. My due date was May 27, and as we'd heard, they did start to wake up and cry more.

We're feeding them every 3 hrs, so we head off a lot of the hunger-related screaming. If they're crying, it's usually because they need some love, and after a little holding, they're better. I do not expect this good luck to last. I remember late, difficult nights with infant Brady, so I'm bracing myself for that times 2.

Speaking of Brady, he is mostly a very sweet, very caring big brother. When we first brought them home, he was so interested in their "funny faces" and "little handses and footses." The novelty has worn off, and like any good 3 year old, he tests his limits around them. "Can I throw this ball near them? What about a head butt? What if I poke their eyes? What if I scream as loudly as I can around them?" It's exasperating. Throw in a week and a half at home because daycare was closed, and you have some exhausted, frustrated parents. He also has some very sweet moments, like last night, when he insisted on getting on the play mat with them and just lying there, and tonight when he offered Bayla his bath after he was done. After all, "There are lots of toys for her to play with." He's getting plenty of attention (both good and bad), but this is a huge life change. It's hard to go from being the center of the universe to one of 3 suns. We're trying to be patient, but that wears pretty thin after 1.5 hours of trying to get him to go into and stay in his room at bedtime.

We're also getting out more. Brady's full social calendar (I'm not even kidding) has seen Mommy or Daddy taking him to a birthday party nearly every weekend. It's nice alone time with him, and it gives the other parent a break and a chance to focus on the girls. We've made a few family excursions, but we're trying to keep the girls from being around too many people (and related germs). We take walks around the neighborhood a lot, which is great for everyone.

Mostly, this is an amazing, miraculous experience. Sometimes we'll all be sitting on the bed, or hanging out in the den, or going somewhere in the car, and I'll think, "Holy s@#t, we have 3 kids!" It's a lot to take in, but we're unbelievably fortunate to have 3 beautiful, healthy children. '

Sure, we're exhausted, but the night nurse, our neighbors, and some family and wonderful friends are helping us as much as they're able (Bonnie took a week off and came up here to help-- we miss her!!), and it makes such a difference. When Brady was born, I refused almost all help-- I wanted to do it on my own, my way. I won't be making that mistake again. It takes a village, that's for sure. And we appreciate it more than those helping will ever know.

So that's a lot for now. All is well, although tiring. I'll do my very best to get on here more often with anecdotes and updates about the Slemons family. I'm also going to do my best to figure out how the hell to add photos so you can see the progress and my beautiful kids. :)

More updates soon!

More about the girls

It's been 2.5 weeks since our girls were born, and as predicted, the journey has continued. Bayla and Harper have breathed on their own since birth, and they're perfectly healthy. They're still in the hospital because they were born too early for their suck, swallow, and breathe reflex to have been developed, and they're having to learn to eat. But as of today, they're each taking four bottles on their own and even breastfeeding sometimes, so we're expecting them home in the next week or so.

Bayla and Harper are marvelous to look at. Sometimes when we're at the hospital, I just look back and forth from bassinet to bassinet, amazed that Shawn and I have created these two perfect babies. Bayla's head is a little smooshed and her neck is very tight because her sister was taking up so much room in utero, but it will even out in the next year. Their good health is more than we could have hoped for, and we are just so, so grateful for these girls. I'm sure there will be challenges here and there because they are preemies, but for now, we're just on cloud 9.

I've gotten a taste of how exhausting it is to run a household and go back and forth to the hospital everyday, and I can't tell you how impressed I am with my husband. He did an amazing job during the 3 months I was out of commission. Brady is happy to have Mommy home, and Mommy is beyond happy to be home. I can't tell you how unbelievable that first shower at home was, and how great it is to sleep next to my husband, down the hall from my son every single night.

Now that my incision is healing well and I'm feeling more like my old self and can do more, the house is getting back in order. I'm happy to say that we're all ready for the girls to come home and get settled. The house is messy, but I think that's just how it's going to be for the next 20 years. Oh, well!

So now we're focused on getting Bayla and Harper home, and getting Brady adjusted to truly being a big brother. He hasn't even met the girls yet because NICU doesn't allow children younger than 14, so it's going to be interesting. I can't wait to have the entire family together. I get teary thinking about it.

So anyway, that's all that's going on. Sorry for the disjointed post, but I haven't even had a chance to process all the emotions and thoughts, much less articulate them! We'll do better about updating the blog and keeping everyone in the loop. Continued thanks for everyone's love, support, thoughts, and prayers. More updates soon!