Almost 15 weeks old

The time has been flying by.  The days can be very long, which anyone home with a newborn (or more) can tell you all about, but the weeks are gone in a flash.
Last week, we celebrated the Hindu New Year.  It seems like there is another holiday every week, I swear.  Here's my MIL with the kids who are looking oh so enthused just minutes before a meltdown...

She is honestly the sweetest person.  Yes, it would be nice if she could speak more English, or drive, or chart, or not nap every afternoon, or any number of other things.  But she loves those babies like something fierce and is awesome with them and we are so glad that she is here to share this time with us.  Ganesh I am not, so she is my extra set of hands..

I could go on and on about how huge the kids are still getting and how cute they are (non-objective mom, right here!) and how busy and interactive they are, but I'll just share some quick pics instead...

 Oh goodie!  Time to eat!

 I'll say it again, this kid is hilarious.  He is just a happy guy, like his daddy.

My sweet baby girl

 Chilling on my Boppy (in my six month clothes)

 Mom, you're not supposed to be listening, this is a kid's tete a tete.

Tummy time is such hard work...

It looks like DH's only brother is getting engaged and will likely be getting married (in India) this December.  Which means that we will all be traveling there, just in time for the kids' first birthday and Christmas (wedding high season in India).  Maybe in an effort to sweeten the deal, though I'm almost too tired to imagine what taking two emerging toddlers around the world and back will entail and be like, DH is talking about finally taking our much delayed trip to the Maldives while we are in the neighborhood.  This would work out well, especially if I decide to go back to work in 2013.  I've been getting a ridiculous amount of work offers, but with BFing and no childcare set up yet and DH doing so well, I'm just passing on everything for now. 

We are getting excited for getting out of town in a few weeks to travel up to WI for cousin Abbie's baptism and the twins meeting all the extended family, and then (hopefully) to MI in May for the Tulip Festival (one of DH and my very first trips together seven years ago), if it's not cancelled for the very early spring we are having (hello, warmest March ever in recorded history).  And then to OH over Memorial Day for Grandma G's 90th birthday celebration. 

My mother and eldest sister will be driving out to Boston (and the Cape) for the annual Williams Syndrome convention over the Fourth of July (since Sara has decided she no longer likes to fly) and of course I've toyed with the idea of exploiting this fact to make our first family trip out East.  I'm just not sure that we'll be ready at six months for a big trip (we'd definitely fly).  It might be a good mini dry run for India, since I don't know if we'll be traveling in the fall.  Or maybe we'll just wait until fall and go to Boston then, since I'd love it for it to be one of the very first places that we take them.  BC is celebrating their sesquicentennial, so there are all kinds of fun events planned for that.

My six year old washing machine decided to stop spinning this week, so my fancy new one comes tomorrow.  It is embarrassing how excited I am about this.  I love doing laundry (I'm a freak) and am so glad as I watch it all pile up this week that we are not cloth diapering right now. 

Happy weekend! :)

12 weeks and (form) Letters from the President

I got the kids dressed up to go to the temple on Saturday, but we got there and the temple was closed (N.B. the temple is never closed), but at least we got some cute pics.  I know I sound like a broken record, but they are really getting big.  I just ordered size two diapers, she's over 10 lbs. and he's over 12, so they have now been in four sizes in the last 12 weeks.  My mom is coming to hang out with us for a few days this week while my BIL is still home on paternity leave.  After he goes back to work, we may not be seeing her again for awhile.  She hasn't been here since January when MIL arrived from India.  Having them both here = date night!  Our first since we went to the Hamptons in August.  Needless to say, we are very excited. :)  Having a little freedom may actually get my butt in gear for the ultimate sitter search.

The kids are doing great and are only getting up once at night now (~2-3am), when DH and I usually both get up so I can pump and we can feed them both.

We received our WH greetings recently (thanks for the tip M!), though they strangely addressed the envelopes to DH and me, but fun for the baby books none the less.  These mean even more to me since I have met and chatted with our president (at a fundraiser for his Senate run in 2004) and he was elected when I was in my first 2ww on this crazy journey...

The big news is I'm starting to get some feeling back in my hands!  I can't tell you how good this feels.  I'm not sure whether it's just a function of time (it has been nearly three months now...) or if the acu is actually helping.  She started out just working generally on my hands, but the last few weeks she's been pulling out the big guns.  She's been doing moxa for awhile now, where she applies heat to the needles in my hands.  And then she went for needles in the tips of my fingers, which is as bad as it sounds, but showed us I did have some feeling deep down in there afterall.  Ouch.  Then last week, she "bled" my fingers, which is almost as bad as it sounds, where she pricks the tips, getting a drop or so to get things going.  Sounds very weird, I know.  But you get desperate after so long and I trust her completely after over two years.  I will probably only continue to go to see her until the rest of my prepaid sessions are up in a few more weeks.

My MIL is helpful during the day and does a lot of cooking.  It is pretty standard in Indian families for the parents/inlaws to come and stay for at least six months.  Sadly for us, my MIL is here alone as my FIL passed away suddenly when we were getting ready to do IVF in late 2010 and yet again my BIL is not able to get a visa (he missed our wedding here as well). 

Besides being really sad for all of us, on a practical note given her very limited English, the fact that she doesn't drive, and her difficulty with our advanced project management system we have in place (deciding how much formula to offer when the BM is gone, charting, etc.), she is an effective mother's helper and soother, but I don't leave her home alone with them.  My FIL used to be our translator and DH does when he is home.  So I go out to run errands, if I must, when DH gets home from work and on the weekends.  But we spend our days in near silence, save the baby chatter that is now filling our home.  Yes I probably should have been learning Hindi or Marahti, in my free time.  I'm a confirmed bad DIL, though she is lovely...

I finally got to reading (the elder) Dr. Weissbluth's, Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Twins, which is kind of embarrassing given how quick a read it is.  One of the things that jumped out at me was actually his blurb talking about the connection between hormonal infertility (which seems to be our/my problem getting and even more sadly staying pg) and supply issues.  Makes a lot of sense.  Not that at this point I have serious supply issues (I get ~ 35 oz/day), but it's too little for two and I wouldn't feel comfortable trying to switch back to the breast unless I was getting more than they now eat from pumping/supplementing.  I had guilt for about two seconds about supplementing, since they are getting the vast majority of their feeds from breast milk, and pumping/bottle feeding works well for us given all the people who are here to feed them.  It also means we'll have no issues going to formula and bottles later.  And they've been disadvantaged enough by my body's inability to do what it is supposed to, I had/have no intention of starving them too, even though and especially since they are now growing so well.  I'm not that much of a purist and they are thriving. 

I also think I've pretty much bagged the idea of cloth diapering.  It just has about zero appeal to me now, though I guess that could change.  I chalk it up to being a casualty of multiples, since I thought I would want to.  Seventh Gen diapers are really nice and they haven't had any bottom issues, yet.

My sister got home from the hospital in time for her birthday last month, and it turns out that it was actually a really bad staph infection.  Thanks for all your prayers!
Next up, getting the kids pics done for three months (next week!) and filling up their Easter baskets, which I got from Pottery Barn Kids (Peacocks and Plaid!).  I see more Jellycats in our future... :)  The Easter bunny comes to our clubhouse on April 1st.