Home Alone

Where's daddy?
Back at work!
Where's mommy?
Juggling two babies!

Adele and Nadia are learning what it means to be twins - taking turns and sharing. Taking turns crying (when mommy's lucky, that is, and they aren't crying at the same time), taking turns being comforted by mommy, taking turns being held, sharing a book read-along with mommy, sharing a co-sleeper for naps, and more. As their mother, I'm learning to respond to the crying one first and accepting the fact that sometimes one just has to cry, because I'm busy with the other one. It can be a three-ring circus!

For the most part, the week has gone well. This afternoon was a bit of an exception to our good week... but here's a peek into life with twins:
I decided to be bold and leave the house to go for a walk with the girls. Because I can't 'wear' them both, they had to go in their car-seat-double-stroller contraption. First note: they hate their car seats. Second note: Adele hadn't slept well all morning and had been super fussy. For my sanity, I needed a walk, fuss or not the whole way. Well I got the girls in their bucket seats with NO CRYING... 1 point for mom. We got walking, and eventually Adele fell asleep... 2 points for mom.
I decided to go for a somewhat long walk. Third note: Mom is stupid! 50 minutes into our peaceful walk, Adele awakens, finds herself to be trapped in the dreaded car seat, and begins to scream. Third note: screaming babies don't take pacifiers. Fine, she can wail, I was ready for it. And she did, for twenty minutes, with crescendos every time the stroller went over a bump (I couldn't help but chuckle at that bit).
Upon arriving home, Nadia decided it was time to join her sister. Alas, the twin symphony. I brought them both inside, unstrapped them from their bucket seats, and somehow got them both atop the 'twin nursing pillow', which is essentially a huge U-shaped piece of foam that surrounds me as I sit on the couch, so that both babies can nurse at the same time. They both calmed enough to begin eating... 3 points for mom. But then Nadia thinks better of being calm and starts screaming again. So, of course, already-frazzled Adele believes there must be a reason to scream, as well. What to do? At this point, milk is squirting all over Nadia's face, further pissing her off. So I wiped her face (note: hates face wipe) and moved her beside me on the boppy, away from her sister so that Adele could continue to nurse. Adele finishes nursing 5 minutes later, and Nadia is, of course, still screaming. During burping Adele, she spit up all over herself and her mother. Enter clothing change for both of us. I take Adele to put her down for a nap, but she starts to cry. I picked her up and swaddled her, she seemingly fell asleep, and I layed her on the couch so that I could finally get to the screaming Nadia. Wrong. Adele wails. Anyway, somehow I soothed Adele to sleep (and she was flat out exhausted). Nadia was eventually calmed and offered some mommy milk 2 more times, but was apparently too flustered to eat (read: started screaming hysterically each time she realized that milk comes out of boob. Oh, so that's how that works...riiiight). So she eventually got swaddled and placed in the swing. All in all, someone or both of them were wailing for 1 hour and 10 minutes. And that's life with infant twins!

*** I hope the soon-to-arrive grandparents don't read this post prior to their departure for California ***