by rustedrobot | Apr 4, 2008 | Babies
So yesterday I’ve got the babies seated in their high chairs for breakfast before I wheel them over to day care. I start to feed them and I witness them, for the first time, really starting to connect. They each put their hands out and stretch as far as they can until they’re holding hands and smiling at each other. They proceeded to try and hold hands for the rest of breakfast. It just made my heart sing. I got that feeling deep down in my gut – the same one that you get when you first fall in love or accomplish something amazing. It was a great moment. Not to say they haven’t acknowledged each other before – they certainly have. But this was the first time I’ve seen them start to comprehend their bond. Thrilling stuff!
by rustedrobot | Feb 28, 2008 | Babies
In addition to putting EVERYTHING in their mouths, our babies are also starting to pull themselves up to something resembling a standing position. They’re much better at climbing and babbling, but the standing is improving every day. Which means one thing: walking isn’t that far away. They appear to be right on schedule. Except for one thing – I think they’re geniuses. Maybe evil geniuses, though. I went into the kitchen to make their breakfast this morning and when I came back, they were admiring their work:
by rustedrobot | Feb 10, 2008 | Babies, Music, Random
I’m sitting here watching the Grammy’s, trying to comprehend two things:
1) How does this show remain on a major network? I actually feel bad for Brad Paisley. They made the mistake of giving us a camera shot from behind, with the crowd all just sitting there like lumps, with 50% of them probably checking their Blackberries and the other 50% drooling, on the verge of passing out. Poor guy. Not really his crowd. And what about the whole Cirque D’Soliel Beatles thing? Did I spell that right? Whatever. That was five minutes I just couldn’t comprehend. Ringo must have been sitting there, just shaking his head. Horrible! As much as I think Alicia Keys can sing, I’m SO tired of her being on all the awards shows. Just go away. Please. The one bright spot: Kanye West. Whatever that song he did with the white sunglasses and ’80s-like special effects was completely kick ass. Even better: when Vince Gill said “I just got an award from a Beatle [Ringo Starr]. Kanye, has that happened to you yet?” Classic! Yet, I still sit here, waiting for Amy Winehouse to save the night.
2) It has now been five consecutive weeks that someone in this house has puked. I keep hearing that the first 1-2 months after you put kids in daycare are like this while the kids “work out” their immune system, but really, this is insane. My poor father-in-law came over for a while last week and two days after that, he got it. Some advice: don’t come here. Until like April. K? Good.
And here’s a third thing: how the HELL does one find a pillow that works? I feel like I’ve purchased pretty much every pillow that’s ever been made and I can’t find one that works for more than two months. Thoughts?
by rustedrobot | Jan 22, 2008 | Babies
You always hear about projectile vomiting with children, but until you actually see it, no words really do it justice. One of the, um, joys of having twins is that if one is sick, it is a damn good bet that the other one will be shortly thereafter. This theory was deployed flawlessly here in the house this week. Zachary’s projectile moment came a week ago Friday – I was working, so I missed it. However, this past weekend I had a front row seat for Nathan’s projectile vomit debut – right in his chair as he was being fed – and it was really something. All I can say is that during the gastro episode, it appears as if a small alien has taken over your child’s body. Their face looks more stunned than anything else. When the puking ends, there’s no crying, no tantrum, no befuddled baby. He’s just sitting there, looking around as if what had just happened was no big deal. And it isn’t, because YOU are the one cleaning it up and freaking out.
Look, I used to be a little mortified about the prospect of cleaning up child vomit. Or a very messy diaper. I always thought that if I saw vomit of any kind, I’d follow shortly with my own version of it. But each time something gross happens, I’m stunned to find out that it doesn’t really affect me. Perhaps I’m just too dialed into the health of the kid to really think about how gross it is. Or maybe it’s just less gross than I always thought it was. I’ve always been afraid of puke. Don’t know why. But my suddenly iron stomach is….well…..a pleasant surprise. I mean, I won’t be scouring the internet for disgusting moments or anything, but…….it kind of feels like progress.
by rustedrobot | Dec 12, 2007 | Babies
Our babies recently crossed over into six-month old land, so I’m going to take a minute today to express some thoughts. As I mentioned before they were born, this is not going to be a baby blog – except for the photostream, of course. My goal is to continue this blog as it’s always been – a mish-mash of whatever. But I think consistently talking about the babies would get boring. Now and then, though, I need to get it on digital paper so I can look back and get my thoughts from certain junctures.
One thing I learned very quickly: just accept everything that happens and adapt to it, otherwise you will be an unhappy person – and that’s not good for yourself, your spouse or your babies. That can be a very slippery slope – and a fast one. I am no longer an independent being. It’s just that simple. Almost everything I do now hinges on our babies schedules and fitting it in. It used to be I’d have a few hours to myself after my wife went to bed – I’ve all but given that up. I’m now in bed between 10-11pm every night, because the next day requires me to be alert and awake. I just accept it. Luckily, I feel like I took this attitude very early on. There are, without argument, frustrating moments, but these are minimized if you can come to terms with that early.
Six months also appears to be a time when your babies are getting more focused on the world around them. This means they’re less happy to be restrained in your arms or in a bouncy chair or whatnot. So much is new and they want (and need) to take it in visually, mentally and physically. This is really fun to be a part of. Introducing new things to them is truly a joy. There is, however, a little sadness within me that holding them is just a little less important to them now. One of my favorite and distinct memories of the past six months will be their little heads resting on my shoulder, or singing to them and bouncing them as they lay on my lap. Oh, this still happens occasionally, but most of the time they want to be on the floor, roaming around and playing with toys. Early on, I read somewhere how important it is to relish those early cuddling moments as much as you can. I did and I am SO glad for it. Each and every time I held those babies, I didn’t think about what else I could be doing. I thought about how beautiful a moment I was having.
We’re also so lucky we have a couple of very happy babies. There was no colic or extended screaming/unhappiness. There was PLENTY of long nights, sure, but that’s part and parcel of having a baby. We expected that. I take that back – we knew we’d be losing sleep, but we didn’t know to what degree. Holy crap, it was hard. You simply cannot be prepared for it until it happens to you. But we had read the importance of getting twins on a schedule as early as possible and thanks to Steph’s truly remarkable planning skills, our babies got on a schedule early and it has paid off in spades.
Speaking of Steph, words don’t describe what a great job she’s done and what a tremendous mother she is. This has been harder for her in so many ways, because she had to transition from a full-time employee to a full time mother at home. Not easy for anyone. Now add twins and the complexities of napping, feeding, entertaining, etc! I’m still working, so that part of my schedule remains consistent. For her, it was a complete upheaval. No amount of money or gifts can even come close to giving her what she deserves. We’ll have a whole new challenge after the holidays when she goes back to work and the kids go to day care, but we’ll handle it, because she is who she is.
And me, well, I’m just great. It’s been the hardest six months of my life and I wouldn’t trade it for anything. The joy I get when I see my boys uncork a simple smile on me is irreplaceable. It’s forever. There’s no better feeling of getting home and seeing how excited they are to see me, in their own way. Zachary’s eyes get wide and he flaps his arms and legs furiously. Nathan coos and smiles his big, open-mouth smile. It’s touching. What has surprised me the most, though, is my self-confidence. Before these babies were born, I always got a little nervous about things like work presentations and large social gatherings. Little things would sometimes get to me, not to mention the unknown of becoming a parent. All that is no more. What Steph and I have done and what we’ve overcome in the last 18 months has given me a newfound sense of confidence that I’ve never felt before. And I’m not letting it go.
All in all, my experience is probably no different than any other parent – it changes everything. EVERYTHING. And it’s hard. But it’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me.
Update: How has having children changed me? Well, for one I find myself enjoying Jack Johnson’s Curious George Soundtrack. That’s just bizarre.
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Now playing: Son Volt – Catching On
via FoxyTunes
by rustedrobot | Nov 19, 2007 | Babies, Food
Stephanie and I concluded last night that the last six months were the hardest six months of both of our lives. I probably don’t need to explain and I won’t. I also can’t claim with any degree of honesty that things are back to normal. Things will never be back to normal. We’re finding small pockets of time to try and reclaim our lives a little bit. Sleeping has stablized somewhat (yeah, there’s that one baby who keeps waking up at 5am, ready for the day), regular naps are starting to form and once in a while we can leave them alone to play for 10-15 minutes. These are all huge victories.
It does mean we’re finding time to cook again, which we both missed. As we find our way through the haze, we’ve decided it works best to each take 2 nights for cooking every week. In the past week, here’s what the menu has looked like:
black bean soup with cornbread and salad
chicken paprikash with noodles and veggies
flank steak stir fry with peapods and brown rice
maple glazed pork chops
chicken cordon bleu with veggies and brown rice
Do I expect that pace to continue? Hell no. But it was great to sort of feel “normal” again.
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Now playing: Built To Spill – Bad Light
via FoxyTunes
