Trying to get in the swing of things

I've been back to work a few weeks now, and it still doesn't feel like we've gotten into the groove. We are desperate for some structure, some sense of routine, and it's just not happening. The girls spend much of their time in the bouncy seats (not that they seem to mind), but we're trying to work on expanding their horizons a bit. Some mornings are good (read: Brady gets dressed easily and doesn't fight us on every.little.thing), while others are more challenging so he doesn't get to preschool until 8:30. But everyone is fed, hugged, (mostly) clothed, and occasionally bathed (including Belle the dog), so I guess we're doing okay.

I can't begin to tell you how hard it is to juggle everything. Poor Shawn went to dinner at a dear friend's for some much deserved guy time the other night, and I had to call him home. 3:1 just doesn't work very well at bedtime, even though Brady was well behaved. There are so many balls to keep up in the air, and the most important ones are the ones in danger of falling. Let's just hope they're bouncy balls and rebound.

But there are some really funny times, as evidenced by the new photos I just put up. And again, everyone is healthy. Harper now weighs over 11 lbs, and Bayla is 10 1/2 lbs. They're rounding out and getting ridiculously adorable, and I can't believe how much they've changed. Brady continues to grow. I had him on the changing table the other day (a rarity, but it couldn't be helped), and realized just how big he is. It's hard to believe he ever fit on that thing. More hilariousness will ensue soon-- the paci fairy will be visiting Brady's room. Here's the convo when I told him about said fairy:
Me: "Brady, the paci fairy is going to come soon to get your paci. She gets pacis from all the boys and girls who are too big for them. But she leaves presents!"
Him: "The paci fairy? Will he pinch me?"
Me: "No, honey! She's a nice fairy. She brings presents."
Him: "Is he blue?"
Me: "Um, sure. She can be blue."
Him: "Is him a person?"
Me: "She's a fairy. You know, with wings?"
Him: "But a person?"
Me: "No, honey, a fairy."
Him: "Where does her live?"
Me: "In Fairyland. Maybe that's next to Dragonland."
Him: "Next to Dragonland? And her brings presents?"
Me: "Yes! Maybe a Tokyo Mater or a Mac [truck from Cars, not the computer]!" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VonerCejzg4&feature=related)
Him: "I want a BIG ONE! A red one, a green one, and a blue one!"
Me: "Well, we'll see. If she brings a Mac, it'll be red, and if it's a Tokyo Mater, it'll be blue. But you know, she'll take your paci and leave you something cool."
Him: [blank stare]

So...we'll see how that goes....

We were hoping to get through the summer without illness, but Brady had a mild fever for one night. Bayla came down with some virus (probably shared by her brother) and we ended up in the ER with a 103.3 degree fever. So far, Harper hasn't come down with it. As for me, I went to the dentist for a cleaning today and discovered I have NINE...9...NINE cavities. Isn't pregnancy wonderful?

We're also getting ready for our first trip as a family of 5. We're heading to Savannah for a week. To be honest, it's scaring the crap out of me. But a week at the beach is much needed, even if it's with 3 kids. We hope to see our SAV friends and family while we're there. Then, when we get back, Brady will be starting at his new preschool. It's a lot of change at all once, and we'll probably wait for him to settle into the new school before the paci fairy makes her appearance.

So life around the Slemons house continues. It's chaos, it's messy, it's frustrating at times, but we'll take it.

More updates (and beach photos!) soon!

Musings on a maternity leave

Well, here we are...12 weeks in...and it's back to work (part-time, most likely temporarily), thanks to some very accommodating bosses. It's hard to believe it's been 12 weeks since Bayla and Harper came into the world. The hospital is all a blur, for which I'm grateful. Brady has adjusted, for which I'm equally grateful. The girls are both doing amazingly well-- they're our little miracles, truly. They're filling out and getting bigger, and we're waiting for their smiles. We have our screamy days and our calm days, and then we have our screamy screamy days. The bouncy chairs are our best friends, with the swings coming in a close second. We don't get to hold them enough, and we wish they'd eat more, and more quickly. We wish they'd sleep 6-7 hours and look forward to a more structured schedule. We laugh a lot, we cry sometimes, we grumble, and we trudge through our tired day, looking forward to feeling like ourselves again. But we don't complain, because we could not be more thankful for the bounty of blessings that we've gotten. Three beautiful children? A nice house? Enough money to pay the bills? Enough food to fill our tummies? What's not to love? There's a lot of love in and around us, and I am just so happy.

Here are some things I've learned the past 12 weeks:
1. I never thought I'd be content just staring at 2 babies.
2. I never thought I'd be so comfortable/happy paying for someone else to care for my kids.
3. I never thought I could go this long without having a meaningful conversation with my husband.
4. The DVR holds A LOT.
5. In a million years, I didn't think I'd be so torn about going back to work. If you knew the Becky of 5 years ago, you'd know what I mean.
6. Beans and rice makes an excellent (and fast) dinner, even 2 times a week. Frozen pasta too!
7. I complain about living all the way out in East Cobb sometimes, but we couldn't ask for more wonderful, caring, genuinely good people to live around. Our neighborhood is amazing.
8. A family of 5 produces a remarkable amount of laundry.
9. What's exhausting about twins, besides the obvious lack of continuous sleep, is that you have to make a million small decisions every moment of every day-- should I feed the one who's stirring first, or the one who usually goes first? should I change that wet diaper and risk waking her up? has she been in the bouncy seat too long? I have to be somewhere at 3, but they eat at 2-- how am I going to make that happen? is the diaper bag packed/do I need to bring x, y, or z?
10. I never thought a 3-yr-old would be harder than a preemie newborn.
11. Stretchy fabrics are highly underrated. Who needs to get into those old clothes anyway?
12. Daily hygiene is overrated.
13. Reminder: Health insurance companies love to screw you at every possible opportunity. It's like they enjoy it.
14. There's a lot of decent TV on between 8 a.m. and noon-- then it kinda sucks.
15. The most important thing: if you anticipate feedings, you save yourself a lot of grief, stress, and shrill screaming.
16. Waking a sleeping baby to eat, no matter how much of you dies inside each time you do it, is sadly necessary when you have 2 of them.

So I'm sure there's more, but it's time for another feeding, so I'm off to get the bottles ready. (see #15) More updates soon!