Hello Babies, Goodbye Sleep!

The good news is Saxon and Ella are perfectly healthy and doing all the things that babies their age should be doing. Unfortunately for us, this doesn't yet include sleeping through the night.

A number of well-meaning people have told me "You just sleep when they sleep." Sound advice I'm sure if you only have one child. What these singleton parents fail to realize is the panzer maneuvers twins are able to perform on their parents. Twins, it would seem, are immune to the effects of the cries of their counterpart. So when one awakes crying to be fed and changed, the other slumbers peacefully. Once you have successfully fed and changed the first, returning him or her to the comfort of your bed, you may -- if you're lucky -- get a brief respite before the other twin awakes and begins the cycle again.


(Saxon catches a nap while I do some driving. So much for "sleep when they sleep!")

But I wouldn't trade all the sleep in the world for these two precious miracles. We had another visit with Dr. Shaffiey yesterday and Saxon and Ella are great. The nurse weighed them with their clothes on, so the numbers are off a few ounces, but Saxon weighed 5 pounds 6 ounces and Ella was 6 pounds 8 ounces. With the deduct for clothes this is still almost a pound gain each since their doctor visit a week ago and well past the goal an ounce a day. We've been feeding them breastmilk and occasionally breastmilk fortified with formula and it seems to be working very well.

Although I am getting used to the lack of sleep, one parenting issue that continues to vex me is why binkies (or pacies, pacifiers, etc) are made of clear material. These things are nearly impossible to see in good lighting, let alone in the dim light of a 3 a.m. feeding. Seriously, binkie makers, what is the deal? Don't I have enough problems without having to search for an invisible binkie?


(Ella enjoys an invisible binkie)

However, one baby purchase I am thankful for is our van. I never in a million years would have guessed that I'd be driving a full-size conversion van (especially with the price of gas) but I can't imagine life without it now. Everyone fits. Everything fits. We have a gigantic tandem stroller that we don't even have to fold up. Plus the open space makes fitting Saxon and Ella into their car seats pretty easy.


(Ella takes in the sights as we drive across town)