Three Years with Two Babies

Three years ago this evening, I was incredibly nervous. Not only were we about to become parents for the first time, Darren and I were about to welcome TWO tiny baby girls into our lives. The next day, a little after noon, on Wednesday April 30th, two 6+ pound babies came screaming into this world.

Well, they're not screaming in this picture, but you can imagine the noise level!



They were perfect. Dark hair and dark blue eyes in the beginning. When I first saw them I desperately tried to recognize something familiar in them. I studied their features for hours on end trying to memorize everything. I was their mother. It was important for me to be able to tell them apart. While they weren't identical, it does take a bit of time to notice the difference between two brand new infants. I'll admit, it did take me a few days to truly tell them apart. I repeatedly had to refer to their hospital bracelets to make sure I didn't call either baby by the wrong name. Seriously, look at the picture above. For those of you who have met my babies...can you tell which one is which? :)

Here they are on their first birthday...now it gets easier to tell them apart:

and finally on their second birthday:

Apparently on their first and second birthdays, I failed to capture any pictures of them together! Now I have a goal for their third birthday!

During the last three years we have had our fair share of adventures. I never imagined myself with twins, but now I can't imagine it any other way. I stare at them constantly and think about how lucky I am to have them. Hopefully I will continue to remember that as they get older and the parenting issues become more challenging.

Happy birthday to my precious baby girls!



My baby has a first name...

...but not much else. In case you didn't get it, the title of the blog should be sung to the tune of the Oscar Mayer weiner song. Ever since we decided on the name, that song has been going through my head. I'm weird like that.

Most everyone I talk to on a regular basis already knows this, but I feel the need to publicly declare it. Partly because it makes it more real and it means that the hubs can't renege on the deal.

Drumroll please...

Our new baby girl will be named

Claire!

Don't you love it? I hope you do, but don't really care if you hate it because I love it. It's been my top girl name ever since we found out we were having another kid.

In other news, she also has a more firm potential birthday. My original due date is June 6. My doc says if I want him to deliver, I have to do so via C-section. Who am I to argue with my doc? He wanted to schedule the c-section at 39 weeks to minimize the chance of me going into labor (I'll spare you the details of why). So, baby Claire will be here May 31st! assuming she doesn't try to make her appearance early!

Coincidentally, if she arrives on May 31st, she will share her birthday with Brooke Shields. Some people say she's my celebrity twin. I have hard time seeing it, though.

I don't see any resemblance.  

May 31st! That's 7 weeks away people! I am not prepared. One of the more frequent comments I hear is "Well, at least you have all your baby clothes and gear left over from your girls." Wrong! well partially! I have some clothing the girls wore that I couldn't consign because it was stained or so cute that I just wanted to keep it. Most of the "gear" we used for the girls was borrowed from a lovely couple who had twins 10 months before we did. We were very lucky to be able to borrow a lot of big ticket items like car seats, bouncers, swings, bumbo chairs, etc. But, when you borrow stuff, the lender sort of expects to get it back! Thus our problem in having to replenish our baby gear supply. I've done a pretty good job of replenishing thanks to the amazing JBF Consignment Sale that I frequent. There are some things though, that you can't save from one kid to the next or purchase used: pacifiers, breastmilk storage bags, bottle nipples, diapers, wipes, diaper genie refills, etc. You get the picture! I am slowly but surely working on this list but fear I will forget something. I have come a long way, but still feel ill-prepared.