2 WEEKS

Our twins are two weeks and two days old now. They've already changed so much over the course of these brief two weeks. I can't thank everyone enough for your prayers, support, meals, visits, etc. It has meant so much to have so many well wishes. I'm feeling well physically; I'm able to get about 5 hours of sleep at night broken up and then a nap in the afternoons, which is my saving grace (not really, Jesus is my true saving grace). Both of the babies' belly buttons have fallen off so we were able to give them both their first real tub baths on Tuesday night. Berkley absolutely hated it and Meredith was calm at first, but figured out she really didn't like it after a few minutes. I'm noticing that Berkley is already trying to focus his eyes on people as they hold him. Berkley is our grunter - he makes the funniest noises while he eats. Meredith doesn't make noise but she makes funny faces and stretches all the time. Meredith is our sleeper, but Berkley likes to be awake - let's hope they both change to sleepers over time. Meredith's sweet little mousy cry is long gone; I think she's learned to compete with her brother's loud cry because now she has a strong cry - she actually makes a kind of "Grrrrrrr" sound when she's really upset - if she had teeth I'm sure she'd be grinding them. We're thankful that they sleep well even with lots of company and noise - they aren't bothered by our dog Larry's bark either. Larry has adjusted well to his new "puppies," he cried every time they cried at first, but now he just looks at them and looks at us like, "aren't you going to do something about that?" We're adjusting to our "new normal" but I still think it's going to take awhile. Parenting, especially breastfeeding these babies, is the hardest thing I've every had to do in my life. I've been reminded by several twin mothers that the first 6 weeks are the hardest, so I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to the 6 week mark - as if something magical will happen at that point. Steven goes back to work June 1st and he'll be required to be on-call every 4th night. Pray that we'll have a good schedule by that point and that I'll be able to manage the babies without his assistance. Pray that we'll be good about asking for help instead of taking on all of the responsibility by ourselves.