Saturday, June 5, 2010

Making It All Worthwhile

As I mentioned yesterday, I had my driving test, and passed. One less on my list of things to do. I am officially a holder of the G class license. I also went to renew my driver's license, and that left Wayne alone with the babies for almost 2 hours. The babies were still alive when I got home, of course. Wayne wasn't even the least bit frazzled looking. Again, I resented him. He was, however, quite tired. Emily and Lucas both awoke within minutes of my leaving, and Wayne had to get up to take care of them.

Yesterday was a much happier day for me. The babies were not nearly as cranky or whiny as they usually are, and I even got a great nap in the afternoon. I woke, fed the babies dinner, then got treated to some fast food from my dad--thank you. As I was finishing my meal, one of my best friends called. Last night was the Relay For Life. She asked if I was up for heading over and participating with my old work crew. Seeing an opportunity to get out for me and the kids, I nearly bolted out the door in anticipation.

Relay for life is really important to me. I didn't realize until last night, how important it was. My friend died of cancer at 23 (under 3 months before her 24th birthday). Two days before her 24th birthday, I found out I was pregnant with Lucas. I felt as if she were with me, and missed her terribly. Taking the babies with me to Relay For Life helped a lot. It made me feel as if I were helping in some way. I definitely want my children to understand the importance of such events.

On a funny note:
Lucas said 'Peepee' last night while I was changing Emily's diaper. Now, I don't tend to
use baby words with my babies, so I was quite confused as to where this word came from.
Yes, she had a pee diaper, but that's not the point. I thought it cute, but still confused on
the word.
This morning my mom was bouncing Lucas on her knee. She said 'Yippee!'. Lucas, in
turn, said, 'Peepee!'. Now whenever Lucas says it, at least I know what it means. He
was saying yippee to Emily because she was done her diaper change. God I love him!

Days/nights like these make babies all worthwhile.

Friday, June 4, 2010

Term 'Irish Twins'

I feel obliged to apologize to anybody or persons I may have insulted by using the term 'Irish Twins'. I do realize that this term was used condescendingly towards the Irish. I mean no offense whatsoever. When I use this term, I only am referring to my children, and other siblings, born within 12 months of one another. Although, it has now broadened towards siblings born less than 24 months apart.

It was actually something I kept thinking about last night, among other worries, that kept me from falling asleep soundly.

Now that I've gotten that off my chest. I have a driving test today. That means, that Wayne is in charge of the babies while I'm gone. As liberating as this feels, I can't help but feel a little apprehensive. Wayne is a wonderful father, most of the time. Not to say that he's a horrible father at any time. Just that he tends to do things differently from me, and doesn't know all the little things the babies like and don't like. He also feeds them differently and does everything differently then I do. Obviously, he isn't me, and I can't expect him to do everything my way. That being said, I do still feel apprehensive about him watching the children so early.

Usually, Wayne doesn't wake up, unless he has to, until much later. That's why I've already put the babies down for a nap, and hope they stay asleep as long as possible for their father's sake. He's not exactly a morning person. Who is, though, when you wake up to two screaming and hungry babies?

Well, I best be off to my test. I reiterate, I apologize to anybody or person I may have insulted by using the term 'Irish Twins'. I do not use this word condescendingly at all in any of my posts, and think the Irish to be a very fun and interesting lot.

Thursday, June 3, 2010

Rounding Off the Day

As every stay-at-home parent knows, the night/evening is the most chaotic time of the day. At least, it is at this house. Doubly so, since Wayne is away at work. I have to make dinner and/or feed the children (the or when my mother makes a generous dinner to include us), feed myself, entertain the children while making dinner and after dinner. Then there's the whole night time routine, bath or no bath, brushing teeth, and winding them down for a good night's sleep.

A good night's sleep only entails Lucas sleeping through the night, and Emily only waking up once. An amazing night's sleep is when Emily sleeps through until 7 or 8am the following morning. This is a very rare occurrence, but it has happened.

Once the babies are sleeping, it's mommy time. First I check e-mails and messages. Usually, I need to make myself something to eat--since, eating while the babies eat is near impossible at times. Then I watch my shows, read a book, or do anything to make me feel like I can relax, since this is the only time of day I can sit back and not care. Unless a baby wakes up.

Now for dinner. Lucas eats almost anything. This little man got his first two teeth when he was 4 months, and had a full set by the time he was 10 months. Emily is almost 10 months old now, and only has her first two teeth. Naturally, I feed her mushed up food/baby food.

She's capable of eating/gumming cheerios, and puffs, has had bits of bread and mushed up banana, but before all this, we tried out new foods every 3 days as the doctor advised. We weren't nearly as cautious with Lucas, however, Emily was 3 weeks early and had preemie tendencies.

My greatest accomplishment with the babies, is that I have generally made their baby food. I highly recommend a Magic Bullet for any parent interested in making their own baby food. I steam the vegetables in the microwave. It's the easiest way to do it, and keeps all the juices with the vegetables, which is key to making their mush. You want to keep the water to blend the veggies to the right consistency. Now, the 'right' consistency depends on your baby. Store bought baby food is quite runny, my babies always preferred it thicker. Obviously, the more water, the smoother/runnier and easier to digest the vegetable.

I have also steamed some fruits this way. Although, with most fruits you need to peel them, and I've found the fruit to be a bit too sour for my babies bums. In this case, I've used store bought.

Now don't get me wrong. I've used my fair share of store bought baby food too. I use both. With Emily, I must admit, I use far more store bought baby food, then I did with Lucas. It only makes sense, I think. I had much more free time when Lucas was young. There was no other baby to feed and care for.

Well, it's all what you prefer, and your baby/babies too, of course.

Off to spend some quality time with myself for the next hour or so. I believe it's the one thing that keeps me most sane. This, Wayne and my friends and family. I thank them greatly for all their love and support.

Good Day Gone Sour

Emily woke up twice last night. Even though Wayne fed her, I still woke and had quite a hard time falling back to sleep. To top that off, she woke at 6am, rather then the usual 7am. Despite that, I felt remarkably well this morning. I brought Emily downstairs and carried her on my hip while I made her bottle. Of course, Emily peed then and I could feel it, however, I have felt her pee in her diaper before. To my surprise, she peed through the diaper and all over my one side. Again, I was still in a fairly good mood, and just went and cleaned myself up, then cleaned Emily.

All was well and good this morning. I was able to grab a nap when the babies went down for a sleep, and felt nicely refreshed when I awoke later on. The babies ate their lunch, no problem. They played fairly nicely together, and Emily rarely whined for my attention. When it was time for Wayne to wake from his nap, I had Lucas scale the stairs to our bedroom. To my amazement, Emily followed suit.

I don't believe I have told you this, but Emily only recently learned to crawl. It hasn't even been a week since she started, and she's already climbing everything. I was happily surprised to see her start climbing the stairs (also a little worried she would fall) and was able to catch the last bit of climbing on video.

After waking their father, we all went downstairs, and that's when things started to go bad. First, my head started a throbbing headache... why? I have no idea. Emily peed through her diaper, again, because her father forgot to change her. Lucas was getting into everything he knew he was not allowed to, and most of all, Wayne was in a sour mood. Perhaps I'm still carrying some anger toward him from yesterday.

As you can probably tell, the babies are sleeping at the moment. Their afternoon nap, if you will. I have been trying to get the babies to sleep in the same room. Emily has been in our room since the beginning (in her own crib), and now I think it perfect time for her to move out. Mostly because she wakes both Wayne and I constantly and I think it doesn't help the tension between us at all. However, their morning naps together don't always go so well. Should Emily wake up, it wakes Lucas, and vice versa.

Wayne and I are anxiously awaiting news about a place to move into. Currently we're renting off my parents, which is a whole other story of problems. We're hopefully going to get into a 3 bedroom so each baby has their own room, and Wayne and I have our own private place again.

I hope to get Emily and Lucas in the same room, simply because we don't know how long it will be before we get to move out. Money is always an issue (can't live with it, can't live without it) and there's a waiting list for the place we want to live. We have a meeting to find out more on Monday, so I'll keep you posted. Also, if you've had to move two children into the same room, please feel free to help me. I am extremely open to all opinions and advice.

I suppose most mothers are. Once family, friends and even strangers know or see that you're pregnant, you get all sorts of opinions and advice--wanted or not. My favourite advice came from my friend's sister-in-law, she told me that everyone would have advice for me, and to just listen and decide whether or not you want to take that advice/opinion to heart or not. When asked, this is the only sort of advice I give to anyone who wants my advice/opinion on pregnancy/motherhood/parenting.

Well, my head is no longer aching, so I best jump in the shower while I've still got the chance. If anyone out there is reading this, I hope I've offered something to brighten your day.

If not, here's a little story to get you laughing:
Yesterday while making the babies lunch, Lucas came into the kitchen and sat on
a chair. I kept glancing over to make sure he wasn't getting into anything.
Quiet as he was, I half expected him to be doing something bad. However,
every time I glanced at him, he was sitting nicely with his hands somewhere
in his lap. Once I was able to truly see what he was up to, I found that he
was chewing something in his mouth. Instantly alarmed, I hurried over, only
to find an apple in those hands. He had been eating an apple he'd grabbed off
the table the entire time, and hiding it in his lap. By the time I had
realized what he was up to, he had eaten half the apple. I laughed so hard.
Here he was being all sly and thinking he was eating something he wasn't
allowed. An apple.

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

A Little Far Into It

I am a simple mother of two; two Irish Twins that is. Essentially, all that means is that I have two children born less than a year apart. My son is already 20 months old, and my daughter will be 10 months on the 13th.

If there are any other people out there with Irish Twins, you know how I feel, or at least somewhat. Not only do I have two itty bitty babies, but I also suffer from postpartum depression. In other words, I'm a mess. I simply went on my computer today, after quite a fight with my fiancee, to look up some help or group or something to help. There is nothing but old webpages to be found on Irish Twins filled with advice on saving costs and posting up pictures. But there's nothing on there about the anguish and pure enjoyment of such 'twins'.

I suppose I'm simply writing this blog as a means of venting and, of course, bragging about my babies. It may seem like I've started writing a little far into this whole Irish Twin baby world, but this is the first time I've had a chance to breathe. Perhaps only a little gasp of air, but at least it's something.

It all started when I got pregnant with my son. I was on the pill (apparently not as effective as I thought) and only found out because I through my back out at work. I was shocked, for sure, but pleasantly so. As was Wayne (my fiancee). Nine long months later, Lucas arrived via c-section. I'll not go into the gory details about my labor before c-sec. I tried with all my will to breastfeed my son, but I wasn't too good at it, and neither was he. Since there was no pressure on breastfeeding from Wayne or either families, we opted for formula. A decision I perhaps regret a little. When Lucas turned 4 months old, I found out I was exactly 8 weeks pregnant, again! This time, I balled my eyes out. I was sad, scared and worried all at the same time. Lucas may have only been 4 months, but he had just started teething at this time and was a little hellion to say the least.

At my 6 week check-up with the doctor after Lucas was born, I had the copper IUD put in. Obviously it moved before I got it checked (my own fault for not having getting the thing checked) and I got pregnant. My family doctor was able to remove the IUD, thank god, and I was left with the decision of keeping or aborting the pregnancy.

Wayne knew how hard it was with Lucas already. Remember, he was only 4 months old at the time, and extremely dependent on us for everything. I knew Wayne's decision, but also knew how I felt. Ultimately, Wayne left the decision up to me, and promised that he would back me either way. Obviously, I kept the pregnancy. Now only 6 long months later, Emily arrived via c-section as well.

I'll not go into gory details of that labor or delivery either, except to say that Wayne almost didn't make it into the operating room in time to see the birth of his daughter. Emily was born a full 3 weeks early and was extremely itty bitty to say the least. This time in the hospital was remarkably different from less then a year before. Not only was I in a private room, (we were in a ward with Lucas) Wayne was frequently back home caring for Lucas while I was left alone with Emily. Even though we had a great amount of bonding time, breastfeeding, again, did not go so well. By day 3 I had given up and moved onto what I knew best--formula. Another decision I regret, but do not beat myself up over.

The first 2 to 3 months after Emily came home is a complete blur. I do remember constant midnight feedings and changings. I remember Lucas' reaction to his sister--he thought her a doll, and smiled every time she made noise. I don't remember how I got through those first few months. I do know that I have my family, Wayne's family, and most of all Wayne to thank for helping me through those months.

One night when Emily was about 10 weeks old, Wayne made a comment about not having changed any of her diapers since the hospital. As all great women would do, I handed him the diaper and watched him change her, and made sure he was more involved with Emily, then just Lucas after that.

Many months leading up to now, are also a blur. I wake to a crying baby or babies, feed them, change them, entertain them, feed them some more, change them some more, put them to bed, and on and on it goes. Very rarely do I get any alone time. Wayne works afternoons. From 2pm (he starts at 3pm) until 11pm (sometimes he doesn't get home until 12 or 12:30am) I am alone with the kids. However, Wayne feed Emily late a night, so I get up in the morning at about 7am everyday and Wayne doesn't get up until 11:30am/12pm. For 2 hours during the week Wayne sees his babies. I resent him. It's hard not to. I miss going to work and getting out of the house. Getting out is difficult with two babies, especially when they were both born at the end of summer/beginning of autumn and the snow and cold is too much when they're just old enough to want to take places.

As for resenting him, I also admire his working. On the rare occasions that we've been baby-free for a few hours, I miss the babies terribly. Although, it's starting to get to the point where I would prefer to work (which is much easier) then be with the babies. Enough about that though... this is supposed to be more about support for parents of Irish Twins.

I suppose the one thing that has kept me going so long is those little moments. When Lucas took his first step, or called me 'mum'. When Emily first crawled/climbed. The reason I write this now is because Emily and Lucas no longer need me all the time. They are both capable now of entertaining themselves. As liberating as that is for me, it's also quite a downer. My little girl no longer wants to be coddled all the time, just sometimes.

One of those little moments, the ones that make your heart clench, happened earlier today. Emily and Lucas were playing on their plush chairs together. As in actually playing with each other! I literally swelled with happiness. Of course, I kissed both of them to death as soon as I could without interrupting their play.

Overall, I think this will help with my sanity and hopefully provide a few chuckles for others going through similar situations.