8 Months old!

Lola and Jackson are 8 months old today! 8 months ago this morning I had no idea we were going to see Lola and Jackson for the very first time. Here are some pics from the first night:
Dad looking in on Lola the night she was born.Dad smiling with his new son Jackson.
The morning of March 11th, 8 months ago, I was trying to force down yet another protein shake (on order of the hospital nutritionist) and watching the Golden Girls. I already had my morning visit from the nurse to check the babies' heartbeats and my vital signs. My blood pressure was high (again) and the nurse reclined my bed all the way and told me to lay down on my side and drink the rest of my delicious shake (every drop of it) through a straw. "Another lame day waiting for nothing," I thought. Yeah, right.

8 months ago today around 3 pm my doctor came for a routine visit before she left town. It was Tuesday and she would be back on Friday. We discussed whether I would be discharged for home bed rest after she returned and decided that was not such a good idea. She would get back on Friday, check in with me at the hospital, and then we would wait out yet another boring weekend. That was the plan. But before she went, "Just one more liver enzyme check, in case..."

8 months ago today at 5:30 pm the very sweet but firm Nurse rings through the intercom, "Honey, when was the last time you ate anything." Thinking she was about to scold me for not finishing my delicious lunchtime protein shake, I lied "Not too long ago I had some milk and sting cheese."

8 months ago today at 6:00 pm I called Aaron and told him "Not to rush or anything, but you might want to come on over cause we're gonna go ahead and have the babies." People have a funny way of minimizing big scary things. Like when my mom used to tell people "We had a little house fire" when the entire attic burned, a large portion of the roof fell in onto the second floor, and the whole house had to be re-done. I meant it when I said to him, "Finish your emailing and just come on whenever." Of course he was in my hospital room in what seemed like seconds.

At 6:30 pm I was pumped full of some IV liquid that flushes out any food and drink before I get an epidural (a fitting punishment for exaggerating my food intake for the afternoon). My night nurse had just arrived (she was 8 months pregnant herself) and we joked about how different our situations were despite being the same gestation.

8 months ago today at 8:00 pm my hysterically funny pregnant nurse and I walked down the hall to the operating room (the first time I had walked down ANY hall in weeks) and Aaron took a final picture of the 2 of us belly to belly, laughing our way to deliver Lola and Jackson.

At 8:35 and 8:36 pm 8 months ago today we got our first glimpse of Lola Belle and Jackson Forrest before they were whisked off to the NICU. They are perfect and amazing and I could not image, at that moment, how wonderful and terrifying and joyous and trying and absolutely amazing our lives would become.

A little perspective on how far we've come:
Mom feeding Jackson in the NICU, less than a week old (fyi, the IV is in his head because he kept pulling on it; feisty little guy from the beginning!). Jackson feeding himself at 7 months old.Lola asleep in Mom's hand, 4 weeks old.Lola with her head on the arm of the couch, 7 months old.
Jackson sitting in his bouncy chair at 3 weeks old.Jackson climbing into his bouncy chair at 7 months old.
Lola all wrapped up after her very first bath, 3 weeks old.
Lola playing in the bath tub, 2 days before turning 8 months old.
Dad holding Lola and Jackson in the NICU, 1 week old.
Mom holding Lola and Jackson on the way out of the hospital, 2 weeks and 5 days old.Mom holding Lola and Jackson at 7 1/2 months old.
8 months ago today Aaron and I met our kids for the first time and boy has it been a wild ride since!

Babies Everywhere!

Lola and Jackson are all of the sudden everywhere I turn (and step)! It started slowly. I would walk in to the kitchen and by the time they made it halfway I was already walking back to the living room. Now it seems like they are always underfoot. And even worse than almost tripping on Lola or Jack is not knowing where they are! Since we don't have a babygate that will fit the doorway to the side hall yet, I have tried to get in the habit of keeping the bedroom and bathroom doors closed. Well, it hasn't really become second nature yet and the first time I walked in to the living room and couldn't find my daughter I totally panicked! It was such a weird feeling not to find her close to where i left her. I'm slowly getting used to this new mobile lifestyle. I'm sure as soon as I do they'll be on to a new stage!
Here are some great pictures of the kids and their newfound freedom:
Can't you just see them conspiring to put a peanut butter sandwich in our DVD player...
No longer satisfied to actually sit in the excersaucer, Lola and Jackson have started playing with it "like big kids."Pulling up everywhere... "If I can't reach my toy down there...maybe I can reach something interesting up there!"
Here are some pictures of Jack and Lola in their Halloween jammies. Unfortunately they slept through most of Halloween (were at our friend Tracy's house with some friends) and these were taken the next morning. Under the picture on Jackson's outfit it says "Hair-wolf" and under Lola's mummy it says "Mummy loves me." Very cute and appropriate for a Halloween they didn't really participate in. Next year we'll do costumes.And some "just because they're so cute" pictures:
Here are Lola and Jackson ready for their walk in the arctic. Mommy got a little excited during the little cold snap last week. Jackson finally lost his battle against the nap.Cutie pie with big smiles coming at ya!Oh, and Lola has 2 teeth! No pics of them yet but I'll keep tyring and post one as soon as I can.

Don't even mention "naps" to me...

I would love to write that we have now pretty much conquered napping. I put them down, they may fuss for a minute or two, and then they fall asleep. They usually sleep for an hour and a half or so. Sometimes longer, occasionally shorter. I would be thrilled to write that the babies go to sleep easily every night around 7, no real fussing, and sleep easily until 6 ish every morning. They no longer wake up at 4:30 and want to play. How fabulous would it be to write that we no longer have any sleep issues.

But as I type this Jackson is crying, well screaming really, in his crib in protest to what I'm sure he would call "this RIDICULOUS napping!" He cried for 20 minutes, quit for 10 (I foolishly thought he had fallen asleep), and has now resumed his protest. He's not hungry, cold, dirty, or wet. He is, on the other hand, VERY TIRED.

Oh well. I guess I'll order another book. Amazon.com must make a fortune off moms like me.

In non-nap related news, Lola and Jackson are eating like big kids in high chairs now. They have really taken to it and enjoy their peas, sweet potatoes, apples, etc. We eat fruit with oatmeal in the morning and a vegetable with rice cereal for dinner with fruit for desert. After they eat I give the a Gerber Graduates "puff," which is basically an apples flavored dissolveable Cheerio. They don't seem to love it or hate it. But they do make some pretty hilarious faces. Jackson likes to talk and squeal through most of the meal, breaking occasionally to stare out the side doors when a train comes by. Lola, on the other hand, seems to take eating far more seriously. I have to work to get a laugh out of this child who is usually overflowing with huge smiles. She just sits there are stares at the spoon until it's her turn. Pretty cute.

Nap Drama, day 4

Well, we seem to have made a SMALL amount of progress in our napping. The morning nap is going fairly well, with less than 15 minutes of crying and at least 45 minutes of sleeping. The afternoon is harder, though. Yesterday Lola cried for an hour and took no nap at all. Today, on the other hand, Lola has taken 2 naps and Jackson is currently taking his third. But none except the first had any overlap. And they don't last much more than an hour, if that long. So that means I have been putting kids down for and getting kids up from naps pretty much all day. And the only time I have had both down and some time for myself is the 30 minutes of overlap I had at 7:45 this morning.

I haven't gotten any more used to hearing my babies cry. As I started this post Jackson was screaming and I really think I could hear "mama" among the wails. I stand at the door and try and peek through the small crack in the doorway, silent tears welling up in my eyes. It really stinks. I hate it. Thankfully they both usually fall asleep right about the time I think I'm going to loose my will.

We have not yet achieved the 2 2-hour naps per day that I am hoping for. But we press on. The better we nap the more energy we have for play!

As I type my children are in there cribs trying to go down for a morning nap. Those of you who know our regular routine realize that this is the time when I would be taking my cherished "morning drive," usually either around the lakefront looking at dream houses or to Laplace and back. I would be returning phone calls, daydreaming about Christmas outfits and preschool choices, and enjoying some grown up music. Instead, I am sitting on the deck listening to my children scream in protest to being left to fall asleep alone.

They had gotten so used to our morning ritual that many mornings as soon as I put them in their carseats on the porch their eyes would begin to get heavy. Just knowing the order of operations(car seats, front porch, car, morning drive) was enough to coax them into sleep. This is when I first started to accept that times were changing.

If simply beginning our morning routine was enough to induce sleep, I was missing the opportunity to establish long lasting healthy sleep habits. Why not a diaper change and story rather than the car seat on the porch? Why not, really? Because I don't want to give up MY ritual. I like the freedom of loading them in the car and driving wherever I choose. Looking at neighborhoods and houses I could never afford. Getting anything I could possibly get in a drive through. I don't want to stay at home all day because of nap schedules. And when I dig a little deeper, giving up my morning drive meant one more way in which my babies were getting older. No more, "any way you can get them to sleep." Now "They are able to sleep if you let them." So who was the one really going down kicking and screaming?

This morning we all three are growing up a bit. And since they have now fallen asleep while I have been writing this post, and I am now sitting here in tears, I guess it's evident who is having a harder time with it.

Sometimes the joy is in the small accidental things...

Every day in the Freedman house is different. Some days we are a little bit cranky, some days we're a little bit sassy, and this morning, we were a little bit rock and rolll!

Aaron and I had nothing to do with this hairdo. This is how Jackson looked when we got him out of bed this morning. Pretty awesome!

Recent Adventures

Some fun pics from recent days:
Those of you who know about my gymnastics background can appreciate this one; Lola in her very first split!Naked babies are sooooo cute! It doesn't even matter what they're doing. Just hanging out on the blanket, and they're absolutely adorable!The whole family enjoys it when Aaron gets a rare day off. Recently Dad has been working 6 very long days a week to make up for out of town managers, and so on his last day off Jackson didn't miss the opportunity to snooze on his chest like he did in the beginning. Lola and Jackson chatting and laughing about how much they enjoy sweet potatoes. It wasn't until I was looking at these pics that I noticed pink poodle bib on Jackson and the blue striped bib on Lola. Ah well, what mother hasn't sleepwalked through a day or two :)