The Growing Girls

Needless to say, based on the lack of posting recently, Jeni and I have been up to our glazed eyeballs busy with the girls... and loving every minute of it (ok, well, almost every minute of it.)

With this in mind, I thought it might be kid of fun to share with you a little list of things we never really realized would be the case until the girls were home. Sure, countless kind souls gave us advice, but, as teachers we know that sometimes you just need to learn by doing!

Things We Never Knew Would Be The Case With Twins
(Until They've Been Home for a month)

10. Nap Times Are Few And Far Between (for us as parents):
A guilty pleasure... perhaps, but there is nothing better some days than a good ol' nap. However, with the growing girls, getting more than twenty minutes of sleep in a nap during the day is a major accomplishment these days.



9. Picking Out Girls Clothes (that please my wife) Can Be a Daunting Task:
Ask me about the Brewers and I'll go on for hours. Ask me about teaching world geography and I can probably give you lots of insight. Ask me to choose "the right" pair of pink pants that match Hope's outfit and I'll stand with my mouth open and mutter, "huh." I am learning, slowly but surely about the joys and challenges of dressing to twin girls (especially when the pre-coordinated outfits are dirty). Jeni and I have had more laughs with some of the combos I've come up with. Frankly, I am sure neither girl really seems to mind that Daddy isn't quite the fashion guru.

8. Feeding/Changing the Girls is a Full Time Job
Jeni and I crunched some numbers the other day. Jeni figured that she spends approximately 8 hours a day feeding babies. When Hope and Grace eat is up to Hope and Grace. While we try to keep them on the same schedule, this only works part of the time. Sometimes they like to eat together, other times they'll squawk like ornery birds at the thought of dining with their sister and will need to eat alone. Their schedules can vary from eating every 3 hours to eating every hour and a half (that's what Gracie is doing right now during the day). The good news is that both girls are growing and eating.

As for diapers, that's another story. On average, each girl goes through about 10 Pampers Swaddlers a day, and when there's a big "Code Brown" that number will increase fast!

7. Every Day We Play "Lunch and Dinner Roulette":
To squawk and scream or not to squawk and scream, that is the question. Since being home for a month, I can't think of one meal that we've had at home that hasn't been interrupted with the babies squawking about something. Jeni and I have come up with "Lunch and Dinner Roulette" when we wager whether or not we'll get through our whole meal uninterrupted or not. We've realized, rather quickly, that the girls enjoy being held by us far more than anything else.

6. Going to the Grocery Store Can Be A Blessing
Prior to having Hope and Grace home, Jeni and I would sometimes bicker about who would have the lovely opportunity to go to the grocery store once a week. Nowadays, going to the grocery store is seen as "an hour out of the house." All of a sudden, the grocery no longer seems like the unwanted chore.

5. The Odds of Brett Favre Coming to a Peaceful Resoultion with the Green Bay Packers are Exponentially Greater than the Odds of Hope and/or Grace Making It Through the Day With the Same Outfit On.
FYI- The girls do have their same outfits on today, so, there is a chance! However, there are still two hours left in the day, and a whole lot of eating and "bathroom stuff" still likely to happen.

4. Laundry is the Job that Never Ends:
... it goes on and on my friend! If we're not doing the twins' laundry we're doing the adult laundry. Our laundry machine and dryer are working hard!

3. Contrary to a Previous Post, Grace Does Not Have Anything Against CC Sabathia... She Spits Up On All Sorts of Shirts:
While the girls go through several outfits a day, so do their mom and dad. I started the day wearing a white t-shirt, then changed into a blue polo, and now am wearing a red Wilco t-shirt. The first two shirts fell victim of the wet-burp. The fate of the Wilco shirt is still to be determined.

2. The Girls are Each Other's Best Friends:
Being an only child, I never really got to understand the relationship between siblings, let alone identical twins! However, there is something to be said about the close bond that twins have. Truth be told, our girls get more of a kick out of watching each other than us. When I put Grace down, she'll sneak over by her sister Hope, or vice versa. They really seem to enjoy being around one another. I hope this trend continues throughout their life.

1. I've Never Been Happier Getting Up at 2, 3, 4, or 5:00 a.m.
Groggy or not, grumpy or not, there is nothing more beautiful than seeing my daughters happy and eating. Perhaps I'm happier the next day, rather than hearing the raucous screeching pouring out of the baby monitor at the wee hours of the morning, but overall, we are just so grateful that our girls are eating well and "look great" according to our pediatrician!

FYI: Hope is now 7 lbs. 8 oz. and Gracie is an even 6 lbs. The girls have more than tripled in size since their birth! What a blessing!

A Wild Friday!

Today has been a real circus. When I call home after teaching summer school, and Jeni answers the phone "Barnum and Bailey's" you know some thing's up. As we speak, I am up at 1:15 a.m. waiting for Hope to stir so that I can feed her and then sleep (hopefully) until 6:30ish with Jeni agreeing to take the "graveyard shift." For some reason, perhaps the fact that it was Friday, or that the Brewers 8 game winning streak came to a close this evening, Hope and Gracie decided that it would be fun to squawk and scream every time they were not held or fed today. Jeni calculated the hours she has spent nursing in the girls in the past 24 hours, and it has topped off at more than 8. That constitutes a full time job! Did I happen to mention that their feedng schedules are close to an hour apart?

However, despite today's chaos, just about an hour ago, I was able to capture the girls in their Pack 'N Play holding hands (see pic from above). How awesome is that?

As Hope begins to stir for her "late night munchies version 1.o," I have to laugh about the amount of noise, chaos, and absolute love that two little people can create. If these two are like this now, I can only laugh to myself at the thought of them both being toddlers (and that will happen before I know it!) For now, all we can do is drink copious amounts of coffee and Diet Pepsi Max, not take anything too seriously, and enjoy the sheer joy of these girls being home.

Home For a Month and a Brewers Sweep!

I am in the midst of teaching two summer school classes, one on web design, and the other on fantasy baseball. Our dear friend Judy, who is the Director of Summer Programs at my school and who I've known since I was nine years old commented to me today about how since Hope and Grace's homecoming, the Brewers have been white hot. After doing a bit of research, I've realized that the Brewers record since the girls came home a month ago today is 16-9. That's pretty awesome if I do say so myself! My friend Jon's brother Bryon, who lives in Pittsburgh, recently created "The Sweep Broom" which he mailed to his brother Jon, who, in turn, passed the broom along to me. Since acquiring "The Sweep Broom," the Brewers have had two road sweeps. Much to the chagrin of my wife, here is a picture of me with "The Sweep Broom" amidst my bobble head collection in our basement.

I have often used the Brewers' season as a backdrop for many of the stories I share on this blog. In many ways I feel baseball mimics life. There are highs and lows, winning streaks and losing streaks, players get into slumps and then have hot streaks, pitchers will have awesome outings followed by less-stellar appearances, and good fans support their team and their favorite players no matter what. One thing I will not do is boo anyone on our team... does that possibly do the player any good?

This seems a lot like parenting if you ask me. Our girls have had their share of ups and downs, as many of you already know. The NICU experience was extremely hard. It is frustrating during the social season of summer to be more or less quarantined to keeping our girls in our house to decrease their risks of infections from being in public places or around a lot of people. However, when you think about their development in a big-picture context, our girls seem to be just as hot as the Brewers right now. Hope is now over the 7 pound threshold (weighing in at a beefy 7 pounds 2 ounces).... hmmm, 7 pounds, 7-game winning streak... coincidence??? Gracie Girl still is lean and mean, but growing at about an ounce a day, weighing in at 5 pounds 11.5 ounces. The home nurse who visited today was pleased with the girls' development. Gracie still has frequent spit ups, but these seem to be more of a concern to Dad than anyone else. When you think about it, in a little more than 3 months, Gracie and Hope have nearly tripled their weights!

Speaking of spit ups, Gracie shows her love for the newest Brewer starter, CC Sabathia, in a most unique way. I was fortunate enough to attend CC's first start as a Brewer and was given a CC t-shirt as a gift that evening. I have made a practice of wearing this shirt every time CC pitches since. Gracie, not to be outdone by her dad, has also made it her mission to make sure she spits up on the CC shirt every time Dad wears it. Last night I thought we were in the clear, as I watched the end of the game with Uncle Aaron and Uncle Mike at Mike's house. However, upon returning home, I fed Gracie a bottle, and burped her, and sure enough, she spit up on the CC shirt once again. Is this Gracie's way of showing her love for CC, or is she giving her dad a hard time? Only time will tell. For what it's worth, despite the spit ups and frequent washing of the Sabathia shirt, CC has gone 4-0 since becoming a Brewer, and has pitched 3 straight complete games.

Ultimately, what draws me in the most as a baseball fan is watching how the long season progresses and plays out. Regardless of whether or not the Brewers make it to the post-season is somewhat inconsequential. While I would love to see post-season ball as much, if not more so, than other fans, it is the joy of the game and the sheer drama and strategy of it all that makes me a regular at Miller Park and glued to the television set or radio on the other days. Each game is a progression of the Brewers as a team. Likewise, it is the joy of watching my girls develop over the past month that has really made me recognize what a true blessing it is to be a parent. Instead of a 162 game season, Hope and Grace's season will span a lifetime. Jeni and I are just so overjoyed to watch them grow along the way.

Hope and Grace's First Montage

Enjoy this video montage of Hope and Grace's journey home and their first month. When you think about it, this journey is nothing short of amazing!

Early Morning Feeding Frenzy

It is hard to believe that next week the girls will have been home for an entire month! Where does the time go? The home nurse came this week to check in and said both girls looked great. "The Hopester" now weighs 6 pounds 12.5 ounces and Gracie Girl is up to 5 pounds 6 ounces. While Gracie is still much smaller than her sister, she is gaining about an ounce a day, which is pretty good.


The girls now need to be fed about once every 2-3 hours. This makes for days that are hectic, but seem to just fly by. Aside from the"graveyard shift," the other key shift is the early morning shift. I tend to do better with this one, and hence often awake to piercing shrieks permeating from the baby monitor in our bedroom sometime between 4-5 a.m. . Upon arriving in the nursery, I feel like John Wayne entering a high noon show down in a deserted Western town. Although, instead of John Wayne encountering the bad guys in this situation, I am greeted by my two loud, but lovely daughters.

Often times I see both girls wide-eyed, shrieking and trying to get their mouths on anything in sight (their sleeves, shirt, hands and even my arms are all fair game). The girls make a ton of noise during this time, which often snaps me out of my sleepy, groggy state. It is then up to me to get the girls changed, fed, and back to bed as quickly as possible, both to satisfy them and to preserve a few more winks of sleep for myself. Once I assure myself that the girls are ok, and that all the commotion is due to hunger, I race to the kitchen, grab two bottles out of the refrigerator, shake them, warm them, grab the Boppy pillows and burp clothes, and finally, rescue my daughters from their state of total hunger. Let the feeding frenzy begin!

Feeding both girls at the same time with the bottles is a challenge to say the least. Hope often gets cranky about not having my undivided attention, especially when I have to spend a little more time positioning Gracie due to her reflux. While I would love to take a picture of this scene to share, my hands are literally full, usually for at least 45 minutes or so. Once the girls get their bottles down, the next challenging aspect of the duel feeding is getting both girls burped while propping Gracie up to prevent the inevitable post-feeding spit up. To throw a CC Sabathiaesque slider into the equation, about half the time the girls soil their newly changed diapers during this feeding, adding for further challenges, both with them being uncomfortable, as well as their aroma making everyone (including Maggie the dog) want to leave the room running (which Mags often does if this occurs).

As the sun rises and the clock turns to 6:00 a.m., most days the feeding frenzy is under control (at least for now). I try to stumble off to bed, get another hour of sleep and then it is either Jeni or I up again for the 8:00 "1st breakfast" and the day begins again.

While Daddy and Mommy are mighty exhausted these days, there is nothing better than caring for our girls.

The Graveyard Shift

In an effort to be fair to one another, Jeni and I have taken turns pulling "the graveyard shift." This is the 3:00 or 4:00 a.m. feeding of the girls, which often involves mixing and warming up bottles, soiled diapers, wet outfits, and a whole lot of fumbling around in a very groggy state. Depending on how pokey the girls choose to eat, and whether or not they're on the same schedule, the "graveyard shift" can last anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour and a half.

Frankly, I can count on one hand, up until recently, how many times I've been up past 3:00 a.m. since college. While I am not a big television watcher, I've found that I need to have something going on that's mindless to keep me at least a little awake while I do the "graveyard shift" or else I'll fall asleep feeding the babies in their Boppy pillows, and that, of course would be a very bad thing.

I never knew what television programs were on at 3:00 a.m. Here are some of the gems I've found:

-Weird Documentaries: the other night I watched one about a filmmaker who made a movie about trying to land a date with Drew Barrymore. Don't get me wrong, what guy doesn't have a crush on Drew, but to make a movie about trying to get a date with the former E.T. star???????

-Reruns of Old (and more or less forgotten) Shows: Did you know that Dawson's Creek plays at 3:30 a.m. weeknights on TBS? I didn't until recently. You can also find Andy Griffin still floating around along with Dick Van Dyke. I will admit, I have gotten hooked into a few episodes of Dawson's Creek

-The Golden Girls: Granted this is a quality show (and comes on at 12:30, so it technically doesn't fall into the category of "Graveyard Shift").


-Celebrity Gossip Shows: Jeni and I are not much into celebrity gossip, but my goodness are there a lot of shows for people that are. Lindsay Lohan and Brittney Spears continue to be up to no good, but, hey what else is new.

-Reruns of the Brewers game (this is the perfect solution if we win... too bad we dropped 2 out of 3 games to the Reds this weekend).


With all of these exciting inane options for tv, thank goodness we have a DVR and I can start taping episodes of Saved by the Bell. That show at least brings back a few chuckles from high school.

3 Months Old- and gettin' bigger!

Hope and Grace just turned three moths old yesterday, July 11th. As we scroll back through the June blog entries, we are amazed to see how much these girls have grown.

Hope is now about 6 pounds, and Grace is close to 5 pounds. They keep growing a little bigger each day.



Gracie is fresh and clean, ready for her third outfit of the day (and it was only 10:30 a.m.!)








Gracie looks angelic while she sleeps.









Gracie looks super cute in her watermellon sleeper as she gets ready for her "before bed meal."









The Hopester wrapped in her swaddler.










Hope says, "why sleep when you can be picked up and cuddled?"








Dad and Mom are way sleepy as the girls feed every 2.5-3 hours throughout the day and on different schedules for the majority of the time. However, our spirit is great, and we are loving every second of having these girls at home!