Twin Tales: moving

So it's been exciting here the last couple of days. Monday the boys went in for their four month check. Levi weighed in at 15 lbs and William at 14. Levi may have William beat by a whole pound but William is still longer by a quarter inch (23.5 and 23.75 inches). Doc said they were doing great and he gave mommy an A+. He paid me a compliment too. He said he can tell I was going to be a great mother because I was laid back, calm and didn't get worked up about little things. I said that once you lose one child everything else seems trivial and he quite agreed.

So while we were waiting in the room waiting for the doctor to come in I had laid William on the table and Levi was sitting in his cars eat. The second William touched the table his legs and arms started going like a tap dancer. I think he loved the crinkly sound of the paper because he just went on and on dancing. After a couple of minutes watching and laughing at him I looked over at Levi and that kid was trying to squirm, or should I say escape his way out of the car seat. It just made me laugh even harder. He was in his orange diaper and that chubby little tummy of his was wiggling all over the place. He was so far down in the seat that his legs were sticking way out and kicking the other car seat that was setting opposite of him. They have come a long ways from being newborns.

So the boys had a series of shots and Levi was not a happy camper about it. He thought the world was ending. I was expecting William to act the same but surprisingly he did much better. He cried when he got poked but once the nurse picked him up and held him he was completely fine. I was still trying to calm Levi down and he didn't settle until I put him the car. It was not a pleasant evening. Levi was very agitated and crabby all evening. I finally gave him some tylenol when he felt warm and feverish and he finally went to bed about ten. William was somewhat cranky too and he wouldn't go down until 10:30 and that was after a lot of coaxing. I finally had to lay in my bed with him and hold onto him while he squirmed and completely wore himself out. He was still whining as he drifted off. I let him lay there until midnight and then moved him to his crib. In the morning Levi was back to his old happy self but William was a super cranky baby all day long. He was a constant barrage of whinery, and not the tasty kind. Thankfully he crashed early last night and was in bed about 7:30.

So this morning Doug got Levi up and dressed him in a Michigan onesie. So of course when I got William up and dressed I put him in the Michigan State onesie. Doug did not approve. Anyway, Doug fed Levi in the dinning room and I sat with William in the living room. William was playing with the bottle and since he wasn't interested in food I laid him on his tummy on the floor. He looked around for a minute or two and then, ploop, he rolled over with what seemed no effort. I screamed just as Doug walked into the room with Levi. He missed seeing it by 1 second. I rolled William back onto his tummy and hoped he would do it again but he didn't. Maybe later today. It was a fabulous first anyway. The irony in this is that I was imagining him rolling over and that I should go get my camera to record some video. Who knows I might catch his first roll over on video....so much for that happening. Now that William has beat Levi in the "who will roll over first" contest, will this be a prediction as to who is going to win the Michigan vs. Michigan State game?

And while William was rolling over I missed taking a call from my dad but I called him back right away. Apparently two ducks had just flown through his front, two-paned picture window. So I walked over there with my camera so he could take pictures for his insurance. There was glass everywhere and he shooed them outside before he saw the blood on his couch. So there is an injured duck out there somewhere. I hope he ends up being okay.

Time for another update and a few stories.

The first time we took the boys out was on Mothers Day. We went to my Mom's church to show them off to everyone there that had been praying for us. It was nice to see everyone. I think the only reason I was able to make this trip was that I had not yet run out of energy. The boys got passed around a bit and it tired them out so they slept most of the afternoon for us.

Shortly after the boys were born I had to bring them into the WIC office to update our information. They needed to take measurements and what not of the boys. While I was stripping Levi down I noticed a bruise on his forearm. I of course started talking to him and asking him where he got it from and the woman assisting us looked at it too. I'm sure she has written something in the chart to watch for bruising and signs of abuse. I was clueless as to where it came from. My mom had stepped out of the room but when she returned I asked her if she knew anything about it. At first she couldn't think of anything but then she did mention he had been sucking on his arm the night before when she was getting a bottle ready for him. That made sense. He did that a lot when he was getting hungry. However this was the first time that he actually gave himself a hickey. My mom was a little nervous that they were going to have CPS stop by or something; which they didn't.

A couple of weeks ago I was giving Levi a bath. You know I love naked babies and I had to take a picture of course. I was amazed at how Levi would stretch out and want to have his feet planted on something. So I handed him to Grandma to hold him as he stood on the table and I took a picture. Well just as I was snapping the photo he decided to pee. It was his first stand up pee. And then I heard a loud fart and a splat of poo showed up on the towel. I was dying from laughter. Thank goodness he didn't do that in the bath water.

Levi made my morning by just being so happy. He was all smiles for me. I ate it all up. And in typical boy fashion Levi has already discovered the humour in pooping and farting. This morning he was letting out some significant explosions in his pants and after each one he would look at me and then give me the biggest smile. He was practically laughing. Which of course made me laugh too.

One more thing about Levi. He has been cooing for the last few days. It is the sweetest sound in the world. It makes me melt. William isn't quite there yet but he has these funny little outbursts that last about 1 second. Kind of a shout out to say "hey!" It's pretty stinkin' cute.

William had a few days where I don't think he was feeling all that well. He would burp up quite a bit of his food. But I think that was related to the heat we were having and he has gotten over that problem. But he has a problem of swallowing a lot of air when he eats. This makes his tummy hurt and he is not a happy baby. Today seemed better and there wasn't much crying when we had to burp him. I'm hoping he gets better with the feedings.

Last time I asked that you pray about the breast feeding problem. Well I did start getting another infection in the other breast so I decided to give it up. I cannot function as a good mom if I'm sick frequently. However I have still been fighting a fever and body aches. They come and go every couple of days and I don't know why. More prayers for this please.

On the up side, a friend of my mother has been pumping and freezing her milk for the last few months and praying for someone who could use it. So I'm the answer to her prayer and she is the answer to mine. I don't like the idea of the boys being completely on formula. They have been on her milk for the past week and it is going well. I'm so happy about it. However I have still been fighting a fever and body aches. They come and go every couple of days and I don't know why. More prayers for this please.

So the big news this past week is that we had to make an emergency exodus from our home. We knew the roof was leaking and a couple months ago found out how bad it was. It needs to be completely replaced. Well with all the rain we have been having the leaks have gotten much worse. And then the hot and humid days have created a serious mold problem. It was starting to make Doug itch and we were concerned about the boys health and my Mom's health. So a couple days later we moved into my Mom's condo. Everything is chaos right now and I'm overwhelmed by all that needs to be done. But I know we will survive somehow. The important thing is that the boys are safe. This is only a temporary solution while we figure out something more permanent.

So while we stay at my Mom's it puts us close to my Dad and he walks over nearly every day to see his grand babies. He likes to sit in the recliner and rock them to sleep. It is nice to have him here because I can occasionally take a nap w/out worrying about my Mom having to handle both babies.

Some days I don't think I'm going to make it through the challenge of taking care of infants but yet I know I will somehow. I will look back on it and say, "see, you did it." But for now, I'm whooped. Sometimes I want to just cry myself to sleep from exhaustion and feeling overwhelmed. I admit it is easier that those first three weeks but not by much. I wouldn't trade my little angels for anything in the world. When I start thinking I can't make it I just need to look at them and when they smile it just lights up my world.

If anyone is serious about wanting to babysit for me during the week please let me know. I would like to go to my house and pack up some things but I don't want to leave my mom alone with two babies. It is too much to ask any one person to do.

And some random pictures....