Nothing new really...

Tom's out of town again and my mom is here helping. I was able to get through the first night on my own unassisted. Mom helped get Lily to sleep by wearing her in a sling before bed, and they got up more than usual, but all in all it went pretty well. I'll have to figure out how to do this all by myself by the end of October b/c Tom is off to Asia from Oct 29th - Nov. 11th.. this will be my first 24/7 time w/ the babies. Dad will be here for the weekend, but the rest of the time I'm on my own.. wish me luck. We'll be pushing hard on the napping thing when we get back from PA!

Lily has grown out of her newborn diapers and I'm working on selling them online (see advantages to cloth diapers.. you get some money back!!!) I've already purchased some new medium diapers for Jason on www.diaperswappers.com and am anxiously awaiting their arrival.. I now see how people can get addicted to buying new diapers... there are so many types out there! I was tempted, but am still sticking to my "keep it simple" plan. I really like using the cloth!!! I dont' mind washing them at all... we'll see if that changes when they start eating solids and their poops get nasty! We use disposables at night b/c 1. I'm too damn lazy to get up in the middle of the night to change them and 2. I'm too damn lazy to experiment w/ cloth to find some that work overnight. :) HA! YES.. I'm lazy..as if that comes as a surprise to any of you!!!

Mom and I are excited and nervous about the trip to PA. I'm excited to be there.. it's the getting there that I'm not so excited about. Driving that far w/ two 3 month olds has the potential to REALLY suck! Hopefully they will get some much needed sleep on the trip!

Still running my 2 to 3 times a week and loving it! :) Only a few more lbs to be at my pre-preg weight! YEAH!

A shout out to my girls!

When I got home from my run last night all sweaty and feeling the blood pumping.. I looked in the mirror at my sweaty self and really missed the girls! I so miss our runs together... getting done and being all sweaty and going across the street to Starbucks.. or Revolutions later in the progression of our runs together.

So much of my life in Seattle revolved around those runs... even the 5am (God help me) runs w/ Julie and the gang when we lived over in Bellevue... I still think back fondly on those.. though there was no fondness at the moment! ha (5am is just too damn early).

Running gives me so much energy and so much of myself back to me after a long day of baby care, but it also makes me nostalgic and kinda sad. Like a part of me is lost forever, or a chapter of life has closed it's door. I miss you guys so much and miss our runs terribly. Running alone (well w/ the burrito) just isn't the same, and when I think that I need to meet other running women here in Madison my heart aches a bit b/c I certainly do not want to replace you guys. I know I can't, and wouldn't be, replace you guys... but it's like the runs should be reserved to be shared w/ you all.. ya know?

Can't wait till we can all run together again. I know we will.. some day!

Could having twins have improved my figure????

Or is it the breastfeeding?? Most likely my perspective and attitude! I'm still 10 lbs away from pre-preg weight, but lately I'm feeling really good about where I'm at w/ my "shape". :) I went for a run tonight (a SHORT one) and wore prepreg running garb.. a tank and a pair of shorts! I wanted to wear a sign that said, "I had twins THREE months ago!" Not as an excuse for my appearance, but to brag about my appearance!! WOW! That is the FIRST time in my ENTIRE life I've ever felt like bragging about my appearance! I'm just so amazed to have my waist back already.. I'm sure having boobs doesn't hurt my attitude! :0 Sure makes my waist look small.

So to you preggos out there that are worried about your body going to shit after this... fear not.. there is a chance you will feel even better afterward. Don't get me wrong.. things w/ my body are certainly different.. when I sit down my once flat belly now kinda rolls over the tops of my pants.. these days more b/c of skin than fat, but hey.. I look good when I stand up .. oh, and hold my tummy in.

All in all I feel good! AMAZINGLY good. And running is going well. I dont' feel like I'm starting ALL over again... my body remembers. I'm trying to take it really easy b/c I don't want to be really wiped out at night or the next day when I have to do baby duty all day... being physically exausted really isn't an option at this point. I run walk, but when I'm running I feel great and like I could run longer, but like I said, i don't want to push it. I feel there may actually be another half marathon in my future... or dare I say another marathon somewhere down the road. Maybe I'll even do that triathlon I keep saying I'm going to do.

The best news is that "I still got it".. and I don't mean my shape... I mean my ability/desire to keep on running and being active. I saw a guy on the trail running along side his kid on his bike.. some day Jason, Lily and I can do that.. w/ Phoebe too!

Okay... enough rambling... damn... getting out on my own has turned my attitude around.

Cousin IT no longer!!

Yeah! I got my hair cut!!! It was nice to get out of the house too.. :) Oh my GOD look how horrible my hair looked:





(also great how lopsided my boobs are! haha)

And the after:


okay tom took this sitting down while I was standing so it's not great, but you get the idea. :)


and the back:


The ponytail off to Locks of Love

Happy 3 months babies!!!

Can you believe it!? They are three months old today (Karen kindly pointed out that 12 weeks did not equal 3 months in this case so I waited to take their 3 month picture.) Here it is.. how cute - and huge - are they???



And for reference the last age pic I took at 8 weeks:


They are both napping right now.. we are trying so hard to get them to sleep more during the day. I'm so excited that they are both sleeping right now.. in their pnp. Well, on in the co-sleeper and one in the pnp! ;) As always I expect no repeats. After this nap and their next feeding/changing I'm going to try to venture out on a walk w/ the kids and the burrito. :) Shhh don't tell Phoebe until it's time to go or she'll get all excited. The rigamarole to get the clan out the door almost makes my head spin.. first I have to get them ready.. then one out the door in the stroller in front of the house.. then leave that one in the yard (great) and go get the other... then leave them both in the yard to go back in to get Phoebe... I'm sure no one will baby snatch them.. ugh!

Babies, running and a hair cut!

Oh my goodness watching two babies is all consuming! On Tuesday I was dressed and ready when Tom got home. I said, "the babies have been fed and changed. I'm going to Borders for a quiet cup of coffee." and off I went! I just needed some quiet time where no one needed me, I didn't have to hold a baby and no one was barfing on me. I hadn't yet showered in two days and looked HORRIBLE.... HORRIBLE!!! It was GREAT to get out and have a nice slow quiet cup of coffee.. even if it was from Seattle's Best. And it wasn't that hard to get out of the house!

I'm going to start going for a run when Tom gets home three days a week. I need some way to blow off steam! Phoebe and I went last night.. it was fantastic. I felt like there is some bit of my former self still in there. I'm suffering from motherhood's "loss of identity". I'm hoping to run the Jingle Bell run here on Dec. 9th... hopefully it's as family friendly here as it is in Seattle.

I'm also going to get my annual haircut tomorrow. I measured it and I have enough to donate to Locks of Love - figure I should do it now before the post-partum hair loss takes it all!! No more cousin it for me... Yeah!

The babies craning their necks to watch TV... oops


and to cute to not share. We were going to go for a`walk, but they blew up on me right after this photo.

Fall is here!

Looks like Fall is finally here to stay. We had some of our last hot days while Karen and Andy are here and starting yesterday it looks like we are in the 70s till winter. :)

We walked over to Suzanne's for dinner on Saturday and got the kids dressed in some warm clothes.. even though we carried them in slings! :) Look how ADORABLE they are!





Dinner went pretty well. We wore the babies until they wanted to eat then fed them right before our dinner was ready. We tried to put them back in the slings to eat (poor things they live in there) and they were not having it.. especially Jason. So we tried just laying a blanket on the floor by the table and laying them down. They laid there through a good part of dinner then Jason got worn out and had to go back in. Thankfully Suzanne and Mike don't mind some baby crying.. this is Jason's newest trick. He cries whenever he gets tired and really wails when we try to put him down! Good times. :)

Andy, Karen, Liam and Riley came to visit

We had such a great visit w/ Andy, Karen, Liam and Riley. It was so fun to have all the kids in the house... it was funny.. they were here for a day then Andy took Liam and Riley w/ him to Minn the next day and it was kinda boring and strangely quiet around the house. I guess it's good to know that I will enjoy (>??? Is that the right word??) the chaos of two toddlers. :)

It was so great to catch up with Karen and spend some time just chatting and having help w/ the babies of course! Andy was so helpful too... he cooked and cleaned, watched kids and ran errands... THANK YOU SO MUCH! Both of you!!! Liam and Riley did a wonderful job too... they had a couple of long days and were so well behaved!!! (should I venture to HOPE that my kids will be that good!? ha)

we didn't do a whole lot.. mostly hanging out and going to the park.

Here are some pics.

It may be a while....

It may be a while before I can post again.. my mom and dad are leaving tomorrow (Sunday) at 10 a.m. I'll be flying solo tomorrow until Karen, Andy, Liam and Riley show up on Sunday night. Can we say SCARED! I'm worried that the day will blow up on me.. that they won't nap at all and that they then won't go to sleep b/c they will be so cranky and tired. UGH! I guess you manifest things so I better start thinking positively huh?

Tom comes home on Monday.. I can't wait. We miss him so much!

Here are some cute pics to tide you over till I get a chance to take and post their three month pics. :) Tom's friend Chuck from work and his Girlfriend Lisa gave us these onesies.... if they only knew how true!