Sick x Six

The last 2 weeks at our house have been rough. I thought we were doing pretty well...scheduling playdates, taking showers in the morning and actually styling the girls' hair, getting to school on time, cooking healthy dinners, babies going 9-12 hours between night feedings (still waking up, but on the verge of sleeping right through)...all that fun stuff. And then it hit us: gastroenteritis aka the "stomach flu". It all started when Brynn threw up in primary...and then about 10 more times that afternoon. She even *fell asleep on the bathroom floor.  The next morning Ryder started spitting up more than usual and Ellie started complaining of her tummy hurting and sure enough she was throwing up by bedtime and after cleaning up her crib a couple of times, we made up a bed in our bathtub for her. As soon as we got her situated, Morgan started in, and Lincoln had a very fussy night. Tuesday Lincoln was spitting up more than usual and Chloe was the one complaining of a sick tummy until she started throwing up in the middle of the night.

Needless to say, it was a sleepless couple of days, a lot of cleaning, and a whole LOT of laundry! Once everyone finished throwing up, Seth and I both got hit by a pretty rough cold which slowed us down through the weekend while we still worked to recover from all the sick kids. On Sunday Ryder started projectile vomitting again, but much worse this time, and Lincoln started to get fussy again. Monday both Lincoln and Ryder were spitting up violently and exploding through diapers left and right. I spent the day feeding them 2-5 minutes at a time every 2-ish hours. And just when we thought we were through it, Seth woke up very sick to his stomach Tuesday and had to stay home from work for two days. 

So now, I am the only one who hasn't had the stomach bug and I am living in fear and overdosing on vitamins (prayers are welcome!). The good news is that everyone seems to be on the mend, and the babies are almost back to where they were with their nighttime feedings before all the illness. With any luck I might actually get a full nights sleep sometime this week (I'd even be happy with 3 hours in a row - sad, but true). The bad news is that I don't think I can handle the six sick kids thing ever again. Yesterday morning I thought I was going to have a complete breakdown as the kids were making messes in every room of the house I had stayed up late cleaning the night before, dawdling instead of getting ready for school and Ellie was eating the kids' packed school lunches as they were getting their shoes on to head out the door. And since I know that hoping the sickies never make their rounds at our house again is unreasonable, I'll just hope that next time, I will be well rested and ready to take it on.

*links are to pictures from my instagram feed

Still so fresh

I feel like I borderline post too much of our lives here on the internet, yet that never seems to be on this blog because the truth is I rarely turn on my computer anymore. Thankfully instagram can be posted to from my phone while I am feeding babies (which is a pretty significant portion of my life right now). ;)

This new twin life of ours is still what I consider to be quite wonderful! We have our ups and downs and some days are harder than others, but on the whole, we are surviving and thriving despite a major sleep deficit and a busy schedule now that the kids are back in school.

Tomorrow marks 3 months since those two sweet boys entered this earth life and forever changed me and our family. I hopped on the computer tonight to print some pictures for Brynn's star student poster for preschool tomorrow, and came across the pictures from that sweet day 3 months ago. Immediately, a flood of emotions came over me, and it was as if I was right back there in that operating room meeting them for just a few short seconds before they were whisked off to the NICU.

Lincoln (sorry for the graphic baby boy parts)

Ryder

Holding Lincoln for the first time

Holding Ryder for the first time

What we thought would be a picture of the 4 of us, but the nurse who was taking the picture didn't know how to use the camera so Ryder was out of the frame and we are all out of focus. Seconds later Ryder started turning blue and in just moments all three of my boys were gone to the NICU:

 

And then when I finally made it to the NICU over an hour later, I remember how this sight broke my heart, humbled me to the core and filled me with the deepest sense of love all at the same time.

Lincoln:

Ryder:

And I remember how glad I was to have this man by my side as the tears streamed down my face that night. I remember how sweet it was to pray with him before he left for the night and how quickly our prayers were heard and answered. I remember how calm I felt listening to the doctors say a whole bunch of stuff I didn't understand, knowing that he was there with me understanding all of it. I didn't think it was possible to love him any more than I already did, but having babies always does that to me. How could I not melt seeing the way he looked at that sweet little Ryder man (and how funny it is to think that at that point we still just knew him as Baby #2 formerly known as Baby A).

But, the pictures that take me back the most, are the ones from those 12 days in the NICU. The emotions are still real and raw and I can still say without a doubt that those were the hardest 12 days of my life.

Lincoln:

Ryder:

Lincoln left, Ryder right

And when Lincoln was released from the NICU, but we still had to stay to be with Ryder...

So grateful for the amazing progress they have made in the last 3 months, the tender mercies of the Lord through all of it, and the sweet experience of being their mom, however hard the journey may have been and however hard it may be in the future. Love these little boys with all of my heart!