Mothers' club

I feel very fortunate to be surrounded by so many peer-mothers this time around. It certainly is less lonesome knowing that my sisters and friends understand when I'm excited about 4 hours of straight sleep or when I cry about laundry. My older sister, Roberta, had her son in December and we are on Maternity leave together. We've decided to have twice weekly get-togethers because we are only 40 minutes from each other. Tuesdays I head to her place with the girls and Thursdays she comes to Holden with Colin and stays until Syd is home from school. The only rule is that the person coming brings lunch. We just hang out, talk, feed the babies, hold each others babies and change diapers. It has been so awesome - I'm so thankful to have her in my life right now.

We got together with other Mothers (Erin and Shara) for an actual outing. Instead of a "real" restaurant which may have been difficult with four adults and 6 kids we chose the lobby of St. Vincent's hospital in Worcester which has several food places and a huge open "rainforest-like" lobby where the toddlers could run (herded by Sydney) in our full view. It was so much fun (and so hilarious) that we are going to do it on a monthly basis. Other local moms following the blog are welcome to come! Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures.

Baby triangle of diaper changes.

Colin's hansome smile.

On an unrelated note, the babies aren't the only ones who enjoy the nursing pillows (count 3 in this photo!) Poor Sully lost his place as baby #2 at the twins' arrival but he's weathering it well.

Ella (left and 7lbs7oz) and Charlotte ( right and 7lbs15oz) were officially discharged from our home nursing services this week. While we liked the weekly reassurrance, we're happy that they're too well and big to need any more medical support at home. Thanks UMASS VNA!

Big Sister's Vacation

Charlotte checking out her Big Sister

Sydney, Ciara (in Ella's bouncer) and Charlotte haning out.

The twins (exactly how we like them) with their big sister.

Sydney was on February vacation this week and I LOVED having her around during the day - she's great company (and a big help with the twins). She had a pretty busy schedule however, a sleepover, a visit from Auntie Erin and Ciara, a mini babysitting gig during our "mommy's lunch club outing" (with Erin, Shara, Roberta and respective children). She ended the week by going on the train to Boston and staying at Uncle Bill's beacon hill apartment with Bill and Avanti. They caught an opera and checked out the MFA - Syd is definitely a city girl at heart!

Dairy Queen

I just realized that I spend 4-6 hrs a day breastfeeding! Mooooo.....

Breastfeeding the twins has been going really well - I needed it to go well after that difficult pregnancy and a delivery that I did not participate in - I finally feel like I have control over something! I mostly feed them at the same time and just ordered a specialized "twin nursing pillow" because they are too big for the boppy now (one usually starts to slide off - ouch!). I do feed one at a time occasionally (if they are off cycle after discordant naps or if we are in public - just imagine trying to feed both in public at the same time..... )

The amount (and quality) advice people give you about breastfeeding is amazing! For example when the girls weren't gaining great weight early on the Visiting Nurse told me to try and extend the feeds to 30 minutes. The next week the Fallon Nurse (insurance nurse who calls once a week) told me that "no woman has more than 15 minutes worth of formula in her breasts" and "your babies are just using you to suck." Guess whose advice I followed...... I'm convinced that mothers and their baby(ies) have to just figure it out themselves - every diad (or triad) develops their own system.

Anyways - I thought that update would be interesting for my many breastfeeding (currently or past) friends and sisters.

Wicked Smart

Sydney got her report card yesterday - despite her rocky last few months (sub-par mother, new preemie twin sisters) she didn't falter at all and got straight As (up from 2 A minuses last time). We are so proud of her hard work in school. More important than her grades she has really blossomed as an independant thinker and a strong participant in the classroom. She has so many opportunities open to her and I get very excited thinking about her potential futures!

We tried to celebrate last night but in the middle of dinner Ella decided that she hates, HATES friendly's - so we took off in a hurry. We'll have to try celebrating again at a different venue.

1 month old

Charlotte on the left and Ella on the right

Ella

Charlotte


They would have been due tomorrow!