Breakthrough

Last night. Nathan pats Isaac's head (gently, I might add). "Nathan's Isaac," he says, his big blue eyes looking at me for approval.

Yes, Nathan, your Isaac. A little brother for you--with whom you can play and fight and run around and get dirty and make general mischief. You are a lucky little dude.

Playhouse

I am more homebound than usual nowadays. (I wonder why!)

In an effort to make our yard more of a Kid Playland, Brian recently decided to build a playhouse during his week off. I was all for purchasing one, but Brian saw the potential for: 1) big cost savings, 2) a better playhouse than we could have afforded to purchase, and 3) a fun project for him. (We also cleaned out the sandbox and bought some very fun toys for it.)

Anyway, here is Brian, in his element. (I swear the guy can do anything. Maybe I'll blog about that later.) Our neighbor, Todd, helped quite a bit as well. We share the backyard with his family, and we have visions of many happy afternoons with our kids and theirs in the playhouse.

Here is the barren yard, pre-playhouse constuction.

Here is the foundation.

The playhouse is framed.

I should note that some of the wood for the house was scrap wood from the new church building being built a few miles away. Brian also used an extra, unused piece of linoleum from our kitchen as the floor covering inside of the playhouse. He is very creative in trying to cut down on costs.

And it has a roof.

The completed project. Maybe someday we'll get around to painting it.

My Life

(After I finished writing this post, I read through it again and realized that it sounds really negative. I don't intend it to be negative. I intended it to be "real." So don't pity me :) My twins are a HUGE blessing; I just wanted to record--for posterity--the craziness of my life at this moment in time.)

In a former life, I used to read. A lot. Intelligent books, like biographies and histories and classics--and plenty of fun, frivolous reads in between.

But today, I read these books:


The last "adult" book I read from start to finish, which I completed in January, was this:

The book I have sitting on my nightstand right now (along with my scriptures) is this:

I started it in February. I have not opened it since then. I am on page 36.

In my living room, I have a large bookcase full of great reads. Someday I'll dust them off.

My life now seems to revolve around one area of my body--and it's not my brain. Look below to guess what it is.

Are you shocked at my openness? You shouldn't be. In the last two months I have nursed openly in front of many people, friends and family included. You can only nurse under a blanket for so many hours of each day before you, well, start to sweat.

Actually, it's well nigh impossible to nurse twins, a) together, and b) discreetly. Those two ideals are at odds with each other. Thus, the immodesty.

Above, you see my hospital-grade piston-style breast pump, lent to me by the powers-that-be, specifically because I have twins. While it IS amazing and highly effective (I pumped sixteen ounces in six minutes flat), I have used it just three times. Two of those three times, the pumped milk sat in the fridge for too long and got thrown out because it was too late to use it and too late to freeze it.

Instead, I nurse the babies. Together. A lot. It reminds me of the line in "Dead Poets Society," when Neil is told to "Assume the Position." Even though I've had three children previous to twins, I never imagined that so much of my life would revolve around the ouput of my chest. "Assume the Position, Jen. Here we go again."

Tandem nursing is a bit of an art. I had to do some research on it before I had twins. Thank goodness I had some prior nursing experience with single babies.

Regarding tandem nursing, you must meet the "E-Z-2-Nurse-Twins" nursing pillow. (Great name, huh?) For a mere $50 + shipping, it, too, can be yours. Actually, it's worth every penny and then some.

Below, you see the print on my lovely "E-Z-2-Nurse-Twins" pillow:

Can't miss that print! It was this or zebras and giraffes. I opted for this one. "Feeding time at the zoo."

Below, you will see a nice blue "E-Z-2-Nurse-Twins" pillow. This one is on loan to us from a very kind attending at the hospital who has twins of her own. She is no longer nursing them and so she lent it to us. I have a three-story home. This pretty blue one stays in the living room on the main floor. My, um, more flamboyant pillow hides in the babies' room.

Above, you see the pillow positioned for a feeding. Note the green couch. Some days I feel like my tush is duct-taped to that couch. (Note: It is impossible to nurse twins while sitting in a chair. Not enough working space. If I am not on this couch, I sit on the floor. ) The small pillow in back is for lower back support. Nursing two babies at once requires you to lean fffaaarrr forward.

Here is a close up. Note the white strap. Supposedly this is to hook the pillow around your waist while feeding, so that it doesn't shift. I have never used it. Personally, I find the strap puzzling. Anyway, the pillow is angled so that the babies, one on each side, naturally incline toward the mother. It works well...until the baby spits up. Then the spit up runs down the incline and all over Mom's lap. If you live near me and are reading this, look closely at the pocket area of my pants sometime. I GUARANTEE you will see the remnants of dried spit up, thanks to this phenomenon. I have taken to placing a spit up rag across my lap as a preventative measure.

Occasionally I nurse Isaac and Madeline separately. It is far more comfortable that way. Except for yesterday. I found myself doing a little multitasking. While nursing Madeline on the right side, I was folding laundry with my left hand. Isaac was laying on his tummy across my legs, which were straight out on the floor in front of me. Occasionally I would pause from folding laundry to eat a bite or two of my spaghetti lunch. I was also talking on the phone. Whoever says mothers can't multitask is wrong. Dead wrong.

Along with nursing, there are the diaper changes. I change a lot of diapers. More than I can count, actually. I have three diaper-changing stations--one on each floor. Each is stocked with diapers (for babies and for Nathan), wipes, changing pads, plastic bags, balmex, a nose suction thing, and spit up rags.

Here is the basement's changing station:

And the one in the living room, with the addition of the Baby Bjorn:

And finally, the changing table in the baby's room. I have yet to change a baby on top of it this time around. It's just a storage spot.

I tote this nifty water jug around all day. I fill it up on average of seven times a day. It holds 32 ounces. You can do the math. The thirst involved in nursing twins is unbelievable.

Then, there's the laundry. I have two babies that are big spitters. Big Spitters. Below is half a day's worth of clean spit-up rags.

Below is the clean, folded laundry, which was generated in less than 48 hours for a family of seven. I am frequently found muttering under my breath, "I love laundry. I love laundry." If I say it enough, I start to believe it.

Here is Nathan. He is doing what he does best these days. Today I asked him if I could read him a story. He screamed at me. Then he asked to watch Mickey.

Below is Nathan's other spot. I would say "favorite" spot, but considering that it's the time-out chair, I won't. He is found in this chair quite frequently these days.

But in spite of the craziness of my life, I have to account for some wonderful aspects.

First, there is a little five-year-old who holds her crying baby brother while Mom and Dad take care of a couple things outside.

Then, there is the sweet eight-year-old who reads Wemberly Worried to her baby sister, just for fun.

Finally, and most importantly, there is the perfect husband, who walks in the door after a thirteen-hour workday, much of which has been spent standing in the operating room, and within thirty seconds sits down on the floor (at one of those well-used changing stations!) to change a stinky diaper.

Oh--and there's also the Cadbury Mini Eggs. A personal favorite. The day after Easter, my mother-in-law and I went to Sam's Club. The bulk-sized bags were on clearance for $3.81 apiece. I bought four. She bought two.

I now have half of one bag remaining.

Which Austen heroine are you?

Take the Quiz here!

For the record, I LOVE Jane Austen's wonderful stories. I found this quiz on my good friend Molly's blog and thought it was too fun. I'm not sure how I feel about the results of my quiz (see below for description). Anyway, try it!

"You are Anne Elliot of Persuasion! Let's face it; you're easily persuaded, particularly when friends and relatives try to use 'the Elliot way' against you. But this doesn't mean that you don't have conviction. Actually, your sense of duty is overwhelming. And though you won't stick your neck out too often, you have learned to speak up when it counts. To boot, you know how to handle sticky situations. You love deeply and constantly."

Sadness

Today is a sad day... I've been mournful all day, and yesterday, too. The weather outside has been dreary and cold, which matches my glum mood. Brian's mom, Laraine, left today after a wonderful nineteen-day stay at our home. She is the most wonderful mother-in-law anyone could ask for--kind and accepting and supportive and helpful and oh-so-easy to be around. I thoroughly enjoy hanging out with her, which is what we did for the last three weeks. Oh--and we worked hard, taking care of the house and my five kids. She was a godsend. She cooked and cleaned and held babies endlessly and drove kids to lessons and practiced piano with Emma and read to Nathan and got kids off to school and did endless laundry and ran errands and let me take naps and made me a yummy breakfast every morning. She even cleaned my windows and scrubbed the baseboards and cooked and froze a number of meals and just generally provided lots of cheerful support. The support, above all, is what I needed. (The extra sleep sure helped, too!) I have been dreading this time for a while now. I am now on my own with these kiddos, and I'm, well, quite nervous about managing. But I keep telling myself that millions of people throughout history have had newborn twins with older children to boot, and they survived the chaos and lived to tell the tale. We will, too. Ready or not...!

A Unique & Special Occasion

Last Saturday, the 29th, was a very special day for our little (OK, large!) family. Emma reached the ripe old age of eight a few weeks ago. Because of the very recent birth of the twins, accompanied by visits from family, we were able to schedule Emma's baptism and the blessing of our little duo for the same occasion. We had a number of family members come from out of town--aunts, uncles, cousins, and all four grandparents to our kids. We were surrounded with support and love. It was a very special, sacred day for our family, to see Brian exercise the priesthood and officiate in these ordinances for three of our five children. Someone pointed out that all of us, even Clara and Nathan and me, were wearing some form of white. That was not planned, but it made me flash forward to a future day when I hope the seven of us can be clothed in white in the temple.

Emma was the sweetest kid ever, so ready to be baptized, so humble and willing and understanding of the significance of the ordinance. Somehow she seemed older as she exited the font, and she was so giggly and sweet immediately afterward. I treasured having a few moments with just her and me at that special moment. Again, I flashed forward to a future day when she will go through the temple to be endowed and again to be sealed. This day was an important stepping stone...just one of them!

And our precious little Madeline and Isaac were so sweet in their white duds. Brian gave them beautiful blessings, and the Spirit was strong. It was a special occasion--unique--as we baptized Emma and blessed two little additions to our family. I felt so very fortunate to have such healthy, beautiful children--my "treasures in heaven." Times such as those are what I need to remember when things get totally and completely chaotic around our house!

Below are a few pictures from Saturday: