Trippin'

It has been such a long time since we've/I've had a chance to post. Life with twins, I guess.

So over the last 2 1/2 weeks...

Addison and Lily had their 2 month immunizations and 2 month well-child check at the pediatrician. Despite all of the dire warnings of problems that can arise with the DTaP shots, the girls did well (Mom and Dad had to endure having their children stuck though). Both had low grade fevers and were rather fatigued for a day. We were told we do have well-children. Lily weighed 9lbs 5oz and Addison 9lbs 2oz.

We, the 4 of us, drove to Atlanta for Teresa to attend planning meetings at ScreamFree. We drove to Charlotte, NC and stayed the night at a hotel. Kind of scary, but the girls did great with minimal crying in the car and at the hotel. While in Atlanta we were fortunate to see and meet the entire ScreamFree family. We also saw Aunt Teresa, Keller and Erin. Shirley and John Riggins stopped in to meet the girls. Jon and Tasha Kaplan put us up at their place and Gram came up to Atlanta to help Mike with child care during the days when I was working.

Over Labor Day weekend we spent time in Forsyth so Pop and Grandmama were able to see and meet the girls. Uncle Billy and Aunt Kim drove down to Forsyth to meet their newest nieces and to bring another much appreciated load of hand-me-downs. Unfortunately Coleman was visiting her other grandparents, so the 3 newest grandchildren will have to wait for another time to meet. We also saw Uncle Mike Sheppard and Susan Rice who stopped in on their way to the ND/Georgia Tech game. Speaking of which, Gram was kind enough to let Mike use her precious ticket for that game so Mike was able to see ND in the season opener...and fortunately win.

Our friends Sue and Dave Welch and Jean and Chris Landmesser made the trek over to the Kaplans on Sunday. So Addison and Lily were able to meet them and their respective children. (Congrats by the way to Jean and Chris who are expecting their 2nd child next March).

We once again stayed the night in Charlotte on the way back home. We were fortunate enough to hook up with Jim and Amy Burger so we stopped by their lovely home and met Ellie and Daniel. Mike was very happy to have some of Ellie's birthday cake.

All in all the trip was wonderful. As you can tell we were able to see lots friends and family. Addison and Lily received lots of hugs and gifts. And Mike and I were able to eat several meals without attempting to also hold a child. The most difficult thing about the trip...packing the car. It required 2 1/2 hours to pack the car for a 5 day trip. And the Suburban was truly packed. Somewhere around 2 hours of packing up, I (holding Addison) turned to Mike (holding Lily) and said "This is really hard." Finally we wised up and put the girls in our front carriers so we could continue packing hands free. And despite 2 1/2 hours of packing and filling the car to the brim, we still had to stop at Babys R Us to get things we forgot!

Back in Athens, Mike started back to work. This means that I am alone with the girls for 7+ hours on Mondays and Wednesdays. So far I've survived 2 such days. Luckily the girls have been very cooperative and the time goes quickly. The worst part is trying to nurse Addison while bottle feeding Lily who requires frequent burping. I'm sure we all look quite comical at times.

We've all survived 10 plus weeks of babyhood. Lily and Addison are starting to sleep longer periods at night, but we are still operating at an extreme sleep deficit. An example of this...the other night I fell asleep while pumping. Bear in mind it was 5am. But there I sat with my double pump machine and while holding the collection bottles, I fell asleep. And not just nodded off...I was out for a good 30 minutes. Luckily I did myself no bodily harm. And I collected lots of milk.

We've been working with Lily on falling asleep on her own. Addison is really good at this...need I tell you who has been putting which baby down to sleep? For the most part we can put Lily down in her crib and she'll eventually fall asleep. Usually she has to talk and whine a bit. This afternoon, I was going through the exercise of put her down, leave, go back in a few minutes to tell her it was time to close her eyes, etc. One time after listening to her talk and whine a bit over the monitor for a few minutes, I went back up to try and settle her back down. I walked into the room and peeked over the crib. Lily saw me and gave me a HUGE grin. At that moment she could have asked me for anything and it would be hers. What a beautiful moment. But alas she still didn't go off to sleep.

This morning we weighed Addison and Lily and they weighed 10lbs and 10lbs 5oz respectively at 10 weeks 5 days of age. They both are smiling and laughing. Holding their heads up some. Trying to launch themselves off our laps by pushing off with their legs. Babbering at times. Talking to the fish and whale on their bouncy seats and swing. They've graduated to size 1 diapers and have outgrown many outfits.

Mike promises tomorrow he'll post a funny message and pictures. Something I'm sure you don't want to miss.