So Much To Say

Phew. It's been awhile, hasn't it?

There is so much going on and it's been incredibly busy. I've had 4 or 5 posts that I've meant to sit down and write, but I just haven't found the time.

I'd love to tell you that life with these two wonderful babies is all rainbows and unicorns shooting out of my ass, but then I wouldn't be being honest with you, now would I? And as much as my blog scares you, I know you like the honesty.

Bullets it is.

• The boys turned 5 months old this week! How did that happen? How are we still alive??
• They are doing new things almost everyday and it's so much fun to watch them grow and thrive.
• I always mean to write on of those "Dear Sons" every month and I just never find the time. I know I'm going to regret that. It sucks.
• We braved the NYC subway with a double stroller and twins. It took us a 10 minute walk to the subway station with elevators, 2 elevators, 1 crosstown subway, 2 more elevators, 1 uptown subway, 2 more elevators and then a 15 minute walk up Central Park West to the park location. Our local twins club was holding their summer twins picnic and it was a lot of fun to meet all the other twin families. It did make us feel inadequate about the size of our boys when we saw other 5 month old twins and we were envious of all the fancy new strollers, but that's life. Our boys are growing and our $800 stroller was bought used for $100. Everyone is growing just fine and we are $700 richer.
• We decided to walk home 3.5 miles rather than go through mass transit again. We are not going to Central Park until the boys can walk on their own! There are plenty of parks downtown within nice walking distance and you'll find us frequenting those for the next two years!
• I've already started selling so much of our baby crap and clothes. Made myself a nice profit so far of almost $200. Loving that. And loving the free space to make room for a new stage of baby crap!
• Chicken started back to work and her first assignment was in Chicago! Yes, her new 'non-traveling' job. I had my first all alone all-nighter and let me tell you it was hell. We all survived but I'm not really sure how.
• We thought by now it would be getting easier and it is...sort of.
• The boys are elusive sleepers. Getting them to sleep is taking up half of our day and hours of our nights.
• Naps are HELL.
• Getting them down for a nap takes anywhere from 30-45 minutes. When we do get them down they cat nap. Every once in awhile they will give us an hour stretch, but it's rare. Doing this 3-4 times a day takes up a lot of your energy.
• Because getting them down is so difficult, it means it's harder than ever for me to pump. As we've increased their intake, the pressure for me to make 2 bottles a day is huge and if I don't get all of the pumping in, I can't keep up. The milk pills are really helping, thank god. But there are times, I have to miss pumping because baby wrangling is never ending.
• We still have had exactly (3) times they have slept in a five hour stretch during the night.
• That means for the last 5 months we have been operating in serious sleep deprivation mode.
• The good news is that from about 3 months on, once they are down for the night there is minimal fussing whereas we used to be up every couple of hours dealing with the fuss for well over an hour. This really helps.
• Until this past week. When the middle of the night fussing began and caused me to want to kill myself. No reverting! Cannot revert!
• We have tried every method out there to get them to sleep. None of these kind and gentle baby-to-sleep methods are working on our kids.
• Sleep Begets Sleep
• If you know this phrase you are dealing with a sleep issue yourself.
• If you do not know this phrase or who Weissbluth or what Ferberizing is....well, you will have no idea what my life is really like! Unless you have dealt with a baby who simply Will.NOT.Go.To. Sleep, then it will be hard to relate.
• We started sleep training this week. I've thought about whether or not to post those details because sleep training is a hot button topic in this community with a lot of "I would NEVER to that". I used to think the same thing. But rest assured, we have tried it ALL and at this point if something doesn't change and fast, our little family could fall apart. If mommies can't get some sleep and babies can't get some sleep we are all deprived and functioning at a sub par level. This isn't good for anyone.
• Chicken has enormous pressure on her now to do well at this new job. She realized she won't get any work done working from home, so is working from a study near our apartment. We have been bickering quite a bit lately and we both know it's all due to lack of sleep and the feeling that nothing is ever going to change. So, with great sadness, we resorted to the last known sleep method we both swore we'd "Never" do.
• Interesting, most twin moms I know have ended up doing sleep training as well. I think when you are dealing with two babies at the same time, the game is totally changed.
• It's only been 3 nights, but it's working.
• Naps....not so much. But bedtime? Yes!
• We hired a nanny for the summer. We could either get a two bedroom apartment or a nanny. I feel like such a wuss admitting that, but with the napping issue I just can't do this by myself. Cannot Cannot Cannot.
• She's young but with 10 years experience. We have a great deal in common and um....she's Latina and pretty damn easy on the eyes. Plus, I'm learning some more Spanish. And she lives across the street and has lots of twin experience. We scored. Chicken keeps asking me if I'm going to pull a Jude Law. I am not. She loves the boys and is SO good with them, but even with all her experience, she cannot handle the two of them alone getting them to sleep.
• Believe me when I tell you these boys are so hard. Even in Argentina their Nana admitted she'd never been around babies like this. The nanny said the same thing. WTH?? I really think once we have these sleep issues sorted out life is going to change dramatically.
• We are going out for the first time tonight. We have a wedding to go to and I have dreaded it...because I had no idea what to wear and I don't have any time to go shopping. So with great trepidation I tried on my collection of little black dresses and....they all fit!! Somehow, 5 months post birthing twins, I'm back to my pre-pregnancy size. It feels great!
• My feet on the other hand, weren't so lucky and I had to make a call for back up shoe support. My friend Fab C, who is ALWAYS there for me, showed up with 2 pairs of shoes and a Guinness. Nice. Now I'm all set to get dressed up for the first time in well over a year!
• Our CSA farm share started 3 weeks ago. Yum! Fresh, organic produce! Hard to find the time to figure out what to do with it all, but we are managing. Would hate for it to go to waste.
• OK that's all I can think of now...I am going to post the sleep issues in a separate post because who knows, maybe there is someone else at the end of their rope and they are considering sleep training as well. If you hate me because of it, that's life. But unless you have twins and have had 4 hours of sleep a night for 5 months and spend up to 5 hours of your day just TRYING to get your baby/babies to sleep.....please hold judgement.