Tomorrow?

June 17, 2008 -HAPPY TEN WEEKS!!!

The babies are 10 weeks today!! Can you believe it? My apologies to everyone for not posting sooner. Things are a little bit crazy with three babies. The days are flying by and I barely have time to take a shower or brush my teeth. Paul and I are very fortunate to have my family staying with us and his family right across the street. We have a lot of help and we are still so busy!

Word on the street is that Cal may be coming home tomorrow. That would be wonderful and amazing and completely insane all at the same time. It has been difficult for me to get up to the hospital every day to see him, but I have and I really enjoy our one-on-one time together. Knocking out the thirty-five minute drive to the hospital and the thirty-five minute drive home, the ten minutes it takes to park in that silly parking structure and get to floor four and check in will be extra time we can spend just enjoying the babies in our own home. Calahan has not needed to be stimulated for the last four nights. If he makes it through the night with no stim, then he is coming home tomorrow. Cal's reflux is severe and he will have to be monitored very closely at home. He needs to be upright almost all of the time. We can't pat his back instead we need to rub his back. No rocking or shaking for this little guy. It will be tricky since it is second nature to do these things with the other two babies, but we will all be mindful of his condition since we have anxiously awaited his homecoming for so long. So, tomorrow is the big day...with the stipulation that there is no stimulation tonight. Please pray for him!

Aidan and Brooklyn are doing wonderfully at home. Aidan has long periods of awake time and we just love to see his big eyes staring back at us in wonder. Brooklyn enjoys sleeping most of the day. I view it as her fueling up for the long night of babbling, cooing and grunting that she loves to do.

We have a schedule down, but this will all change when cutie Cal comes home. Right now we are on a 1, 4, 7, 10 schedule. Here is an example of what goes on at each of those times:

Start warming bottles, change Aidan, put Brooke's paci in, go back to changing Aidan, put Brooke's paci in again, finish changing Aidan, start changing Brooke, put Aidan's paci in, continue changing Brooke, put Aidan's paci in again, finish changing Brooke, put Aidan's paci in, go back only to change Brooke again (because as my sister says, "she likes a clean diaper to poop in"), change the water warming the bottles, draw up and give them their iron (7 o'clock feedings only), feed and burp both babies. This whole process takes about one hour from beginning to end. After all of that I have to pump for future feedings; so far I have been able to keep up with their demand. Then we wash out bottles, syringes and breast pump equipment, throw a load of laundry in, tidy up around the house and play with the babies for a short while before it is time to start the whole process over again.

Paul had a great Father's Day! He was able to go golfing with his buddies on Saturday and he really enjoyed himself. Then on Sunday we ventured out with the babies for our first official outing (besides to the doctors, emergency rooms or hospital). The destination? Paul's parent's house right across the street. The babies did a great job and Grandpa, Grandma, Uncle J, Auntie K, Jacob and Cameron watched Brooklyn and Aidan so Paul and I could go and visit Calahan. The babies got their Daddy some t-shirts, tennis shoes and a hat.

Happy Belated Father's Day to the Dads!