We made it!

First off, I have to report that the flight was totally successful and the babies did great!The flight attendants were even complimenting us saying they didn't hear them cry once.  Ethan cried a little during take off and Jane cried when the captain came over the intercom and woke her up.

I was lucky enough to sit next to some teenage girls that oooed and awwed over both babies the whole time and even held Ethan for a bit to give my arms a break.  The guy next to Dave had kids of his own and helped out as well.  Dave and I had to sit on separate rows because apparently there is only 1 extra oxygen mask per row so 2 babies can't be in the same row.

So we are here and Utah is beautiful and humidity-free!  It has been so nice to be with family and to see Jane and Ethan interact with them.

Gonna See the Mountains

We leave for Utah tomorrow, it will be the babies' first plane ride.  A little nervous about the looks we will get boarding the plane with not 1...but 2 potential screaming bundles of joy.  But then they will collectively look at Jane and Ethan's chubby beautiful cuteness and say, "there's nothing those babies could do to make us angry." And then they shall hoist us on their shoulders and cheer.

Whoa I have high expectations.

Also, the roof of the airplane wouldn't be tall enough for any hoisting.  And I still have some baby weight on me, so it would take a rather large dude...ANYWAY...

You've Been Ferberized

So the babies are almost 4 months old, which means we need to start helping them fall asleep on their own - in their cribs instead of the swing.  I've been reading a lot of books about it and trying to decide which method we want to use.  The thing is - I don't really want to use a method. 

I kinda just want to do what my instincts tell me. 

But on Wednesday, I tried the Ferber method. Basically you go in their room in intervals to comfort them and leave again.

I don't think of myself as a softie, but I just feel like some methods are not going to work for twins, and this is what ended up happening:

Every time one baby woke up from their nap, they woke up the other - which means we start all over again.  This repeated for about 30 minutes (and I was dead tired) so I brought them out to the living room and let them sleep.  They were OUT within 10 minutes.  No crying.  What is the deal?  Ferber would be upset with me. 

It felt nice to see them sleeping peacefully though, so for right now, I just have to go with my instincts.  The good news?  They sleep great through the night in their own beds.  So we'll just count our blessings and maybe after this experience I'll write my own book called:

 The title needs work.

Father

It was his first Father's Day yesterday, but if you watched him with our babies, you'd never know it.  I love his ability to calm them by kissing their cheeks.  I love that he'll change diapers.  I love that he calls them sweetie and tells them, "now we don't cry in this family" like they are adults and can understand what he's saying. He's an even better father than I had imagined.

Growing Up

Some people in this family are already growing up a little too fast.

Things Kids Say

 

These are my nephews and they are excited to meet their new cousin Ethan.  The adorable little thing on the right is Alex (5).  The toothless cutie is Isaac (7) and the cuddler on my lap is Nathan (1.5).  This is a conversation Alex and I had when they came to visit:

Alex: Jessica do you still have babies in your tummy?

Me: (Thinking to myself...oh great I still look pregnant to this innocent kid and he's going to say something about how I look big still) No I don't...I had them already - it's Jane and Ethan.

Alex: Oh I thought so because you look skinny.

Bless you child.

Isaac had a hilarious conversation with Dave when I was pregnant that went like this:

Isaac: Jessica I need to tell Dave something about after you have your babies.

Me: Ok let me get him on the phone.

Dave: Hi Isaac what's up?

Isaac: Dave just so you know, when a woman has a baby, she doesn't lose all her tummy right away.  It takes a while - even if there isn't a baby in there anymore ok?

Dave: Thanks for the heads up dude.

Isaac: You're welcome.

Oh the things kids say.  And for real, after you have a baby (or 2) it does take a while to lose that tummy.  And even if the lady at Target asks "when's yo baby due?" I just need to realize that I was huge and grew 2 human beings inside my body - so ya - it's gonna take a while before I take off my swim shorts at the pool.

Here's to motherhood and slowly getting my figure back by eating no sugar added ice cream instead of the regular kind.  What?  Giving up ice cream all together?  Not an option.

Newness

Recently I have been hearing a bird right outside my front door.  Chirping all day.  Don't get me wrong, I love birds.  But this chirping literally sounded like it was in the front hallway of our house.  I couldn't figure out why it was so loud.  I went outside and looked around for a nest.  I found it.  Right behind our wreath on the front door.  

My dad was in town and wanted to know if there were eggs in the nest, so he took my camera, held it up, and snapped a shot.  This is the beautiful photo that he captured:

I was so happy to see this!  And happy that I didn't knock down the nest.  It just reminded me of the beauty and newness of life in the summer.  I thought it was cute that this mama bird thought my front porch would be a safe place for her eggs.

It also reminded me of that traumatic time when I was a kid and a baby bird fell out of a nest in a tree in our backyard.  So here's hoping all my front porch birds survive and don't drive me crazy with their chirpity chirp chirps.  I already have enough squawking going on inside my house with my own baby birds.