Away To Me

Relocating

Well we are going to be relocating in the near future. I've been looking at homes for the past week and I've seen quite a few that are amazing and such a good deal. My husband is currently working about 40 miles east of us in the desert area. It's a total resort area and very beautiful. Extremely hot, but very beautiful, especially this time of year. 

Saturday I looked at a home that was fantastic, but when hubby went to look at it a few hours later when he got off work, the selling agent called and said they had a full price offer in. So our search continues. Today I looked at the coolest house I've seen out there. But I didn't get to see the inside, hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to check it out.

We are going to lease our current home out. There is no sense trying to sell it. So we'll just rent it out and hope we can rent it for as much as our payments are. The interesting bit of news is that hubby's boss has offered to pay the difference between what we can rent it for and what we pay monthly on it just so that hubby can get relocated and work more hours. That's pretty good job security and I'm very thankful in this economy that he is that dedicated to hubby.

To give you an idea of how much of a buyer's market it is in the area we are looking, the house I liked today is listed for $200,000 LESS than what it sold for in Dec 2005! And we think we can offer them $40,000 less than the list price and still get it. (if we like the inside). Our agent told me that there are so many foreclosures in the area that the banks can't list them all for sale. If they did, it would flood the market so bad that the prices would tumble even worse than they are. 

I'm not thrilled about moving but it will be okay. There is a lot to do there and job security is important and having husband home within 10 or 15 minutes of his job is very helpful. Right now he is driving an hour. Being able to be a stay at home mom is our priority and so we make sacrifices. Although I must say, given how amazing these houses are, it doesn't feel like much of a compromise. I feel down right spoiled! 

By the way, do you know how exhausting it is to take two car seat carriers in and out of a big SUV and lug them to houses every time you look at a place. I'm sore and pooped out! 

Happiness is ...

.... Having 2 hours of sleep, two full breastfed babies, and 9 ounces of pumped breastmilk all before midnight. 

This bodes well for a good night. 

Bright Idea

Well we figured out how to keep Nathan sleeping more than 1 1/2 hours at night ...... we keep the light on. No kidding. I figured out that every time I tried to sleep Nathan would start to fuss. It was a cruel joke. I'd no sooner turn the light off and put my head on the pillow then he'd start to fuss. 

We haven't used the swings very much but last night I put Nathan in the swing that was located near my bedroom door. The swing wasn't even swinging, he was just swaddled and set in it. Then I turned on the magic hall light that shone right in on Nathan. Amazing, the kid slept for 3 hour stretches! The location of the swing is great because the hall light hits Nathan but doesn't flood my bedroom. So Wesley and I sleep great too.

My big boy

My Jake is sick. He is on the mend but he's had a very high temperature for the past 36 hours. He's so stinking cute, even sick he's adorable.  He sure loves his dog. She's the best baby sitter ever, especially when your sick and she shares her bed! (although this pic was taken before he was sick)

You know you have newborn twins when ...

You send your husband to the market at 9:45pm for a regular shopping trip. 

You had to use the bathroom at 3pm and didn't get to it till 9pm.

You dread the marathon night  that is about to commence but can't seem to fall asleep while they are sleeping. 

Different kind of rock star

I still feel like a rock star, except now I feel like the guy at the end of a long grueling road tour who has partied to hard. I'm exhausted.

My poor Jake got sick. He's got a bad temperature, up to 103. 5 and that was an hour after taking Motrin. Other than that he's fine, good spirits, no other symptoms than the temp and being tired. The temp is down this morning.

The boys were up ALL NIGHT long. Finally by 4am I'd had it. It seemed like every time I'd lay my head down they'd cry. The moment the light went off, they'd start to complain. Wesley especially was driving me nuts. Sweet baby boy couldn't stay asleep. (I call him sweet now, at 3 am after being up for 1 1/2 straight, not calling him sweet). At around 4:10 I woke up hubby and I threw in the towel. He got both babies and I went to bed and slept till 6:30. I am still exhausted. I'm hoping we can all nap this morning. I really can't let my body get so tired that it gets whatever is ailing Jake. 

Feeling like a Rock Star!

I was really going to post this yesterday, but I didn't want to jinx myself. So I'm posting at 2:45 am. LOL!

My mastitis episode was brief. I was lucky, I caught it early and did a few key things to help it pass quickly. For one, I used a hot shower often, and a hot compress and I pumped like you couldn't believe. Those three things really helped. Oh and I also took Tylenol, drank lots of water and tried to rest as much as I can with newborn twins and a soon-to-be-3-year-old. 

On Monday I went to visit my midwife to try again to get breastfeeding going better. The latch wasn't right, it was hurting every time I nursed. We figured out the problem and I've learned to just keep relatching until we get it right. Luckily for me I have extremely cooperative babies who put up with the relatching attempts. Nathan who was such a tough baby to get to latch in the first place, is not only my best nurser, he much rather nurse than take a bottle. Makes me so happy that he converted to the boob so well. Wesley is still "Shredder" but getting better. 

As of yesterday afternoon, both boys have been nearly 100% breastfed. I can't believe it! All my hard work and dedication is paying off and yes, I feel like a Rock Star. I have nursed both babies so much in the past 24 or so hours and yet my nips are feeling pretty good! I've also been able to pump here and there so that I can give a bottle of expressed breast milk to one of them if they both should wake up and want to eat at the same time. I'm still not able to tandem feed them when I'm by myself. It's to hard to position one while the other is nursing. I'm sure when they get bigger and their latches are stronger/better it will happen. For now, I'm just happy being able to nurse them one at a time.

Monday was my birthday and hubby took excellent care of me. He cooked us a fantastic dinner (with the help of a ready made Costco dinner). LOL! And he bought me earrings. He got me just what I wanted, simple, plain, white gold hoops, medium size. Love them! My every day time earrings. 

He also took the 9:30pm till 1am shift for the babies. I got 3 1/2 hours of sleep. That was the longest stretch of sleep I had gotten in 34 days. Boy did it feel good. 

So that's the latest on breastfeeding. I hope to update on the babies and Jake some more. All three are getting cuter by the minute! My Jakey is such a good big brother, I can't get over how cool he is with the babies (as long as they aren't crying loudly) LOL! 

Three steps forward two steps back.

Crap. CRAP! Crapity crap crap.

I've got mastitis. 

I hurt. 

This sucks. 

Why does the universe not want me to be a breastfeeding mom?

Random Woohoos

Yesterday I wore my pre-pregnancy jeans. I could not believe it. yes, they were tight, but who cares! If someone had told me that one month after having the boys I'd be in my old jeans I would have laughed! I'm down about 30 pounds. 

Just about 40 minutes ago I breast fed both babies (not at the same time - consecutively). There is no high (for me) better than the high I receive when I see both babies milk drunk and content after nursing. 

One of the coolest things ever happened this week. Jake rode his bike like a champ (2-wheeler with training wheels on) ! I worked with him on Tuesday and all of a sudden it clicked and he started peddling away. Prior to Tuesday he would peddle one rotation forward and one rotation back.  I hope to get him on video tomorrow. 

Yesterday morning we went to breakfast at the small local airport in the next town over. Jake loves planes and we thought it would be cool to take him to the airport cafe so he could watch planes take off. He liked it a lot. Later we went did some shopping. While at Costco, people would come up and congratulate us on the twins and ask questions. On two different occasions ladies asked Jaked if those were his little brothers and he would say "yes". To which both ladies said, "you are so lucky". That made me feel good that Jake was hearing positive feedback about having baby brothers. Then someone asked him, "what do you think of having two new brothers?" Jake replied, "it's cool". LOL! I love my Jakey boy so much. 

Okay, natural breastfeeding high is fading. Time for more sleep!

24 hours

For the past 24 hours, my darling Natey Nate has been feed at my breast. I'm so happy I can't even begin to explain it. He's latching better each and every feeding. I'm not going to lie, last night was challenging. I cried more than once and whispered horrible language. LOL! It's hard, but anything worth doing can be hard at times and since I'm starting to see a bit of light at the end of the tunnel I feel like I can go on.

This morning I had an appointment with a lactation consultant at the hospital in the next town over. She was okay. She was extremely nice, but she wanted to toss a nipple shield on me and use a syringe with a tube to feed him while he nursed on the shield. I kept quiet for a moment and then I asked if we could try things without all the aids. I can use aids and have some success at home. I want to be nursing without all the contraptions, that's why I was seeing a specialist. She was receptive and low and behold we had success. I was so pleased. 

Wesley has a new nic name, "Shredder". I was cringing at his latch last night and the Dr. Scholls radio commercial for their odor eater insoles was playing through my head. If you haven't heard it, it features a dog chewing on some german doctor's loafers and in a heavy german accent he said, "Heel Shredder". Well that's what I was telling Wes last night, "Heel Shredder". 

The problem comes in with having the boys open their mouth big enough to take in my entire nipple. Wesley has an extremely shallow latch and he's really doing damage to my nipples. I hurt! So last night, he got expressed breastmilk in the bottle and saved my sore girls for Nathan. 

This will get better as they grow and their mouths get bigger. It will also get better when I help them get a better latch. Things will improve, I can do this. It's just going to take time. I keep reminding myself that. 

To celebrate my breastfeeding success ... oh, by the way, I tandem fed both babies again today with the help of the lactation nurse. I can't seem to do it on my own yet. But to celebrate my full night of breastfeeding Nathan, I bought two nursing tanks and a new nursing bra. 

I may be tired, but I feel like a rock star. I feel like all my hard work is paying off and that I wasn't crazy to keep trying. If I can breastfeed these twins, there won't be too much I can't accomplish.