How the Weekend Went

Well, I did survive the weekend. My husband left Friday evening, right before the babies' dinner. That was the first time I fed them solids all by myself (not a big deal, just something we've done together so far). It was totally do-able alone, just harder to keep them from getting food everywhere. We had just started carrots, and Anna hates them with a passion. Sam- he thinks carrots are hilariously delicious. No joke- he laughs and giggles through just about every bite, and carrots have been one of the only food we've tried (besides banana) that he opens his little mouth very wide for.

The evening went fine, even though b.b. (before babies) I would always be exhausted on a Friday night after teaching kindergartners all week, so a.b. (after babies) I am the walking dead on a Friday. Seriously, I am so tired I am physically ill some evenings. Teaching kindergartners full time plus being a full time mommy to twin 6 month olds is like running a marathon every single day, on less than 6 hours of sleep to boot.

Bedtime went okay Friday- it took twice as long to go through all the motions of pjs, books, bottles, etc. so it was tricky to keep a tired baby awake while I fed one and put one to bed first. I actually had to stop feeding Anna mid-bottle and start feeding Sam because Sam was dozing off in our swing, and once he's asleep for bedtime, nothing will wake him up for a long time. (Although all summer long I bottle fed both babies at the same time, I did not do that this weekend. They haven't been tandem fed on boppies since August and since then they have gotten increasingly distracted and wiggly. I chose to fed one at a time to ensure we got good feedings all weekend.)

Night time went okay too- Sam is still getting up once a night to eat, and we're finally considering attempting to wean him from that, since their eating seems to be stabilized and not a concern anymore. Saturday went well- they both took good naps, and we went shopping to break up the day. Sam and Anna are always in good spirits when we go out and about now, I always get compliments from other people at how content and happy they are while I'm shopping. I indulged and got a bunch of outfits for both of them since we're transitioning to 6-9 month clothing. :)

Saturday evening was not the best. Sam woke Anna up mid-night, and it is impossible to get both back to sleep when the other one is fussing/babbling in their crib. Eventually, they did go back to sleep and momma did too. However, their nighttime sleep disruptions impacted their naps the next day, and for the first time in a long time, on Sunday we had short crapnaps only. My husband was planning on being home for bathtime that evening, but because of road construction he was running behind. I ended up giving Anna her bath (Since baths are my husband's bonding time with the babes, I haven't done bathtime since they were newborns). Whew! Boy was I thrilled when he walked in the door and could take over with Sam's bath.

Believe me, by the time he got home I was ready for a baby break. It was nuts solo parenting twin babies for over 48 hours without any help at all. I thought I was busy before- this brought a whole new level to being busy. I did not really sit down all weekend- once they were napping, I ran around trying to eat, do laundry, wash and make bottles, etc. before collapsing in my bed for the night. I don't think I turned on our tv all weekend either.

I know several people who take care of two children while their significant other is gone for a few days. Although I am not dimishing that that would be hard too, two babies the same age is just different. Typically one child can feed themself and walk if you have two children that aren't twins. Often two children will have staggered bedtimes to reflect their ages. Two babies that need the same level of care is totally and utterly exhausting by yourself for an extended period of time. So I feel pretty darn good about being able to successful do it without any mishaps or super stressful points.

One thing I should mention is that a while ago, my mother had mentioned coming to help this weekend. The closer we got to it, she didn't mention it. (I think she forgot) In a way, I didn't want to mention it either, because I was partly hoping she wouldn't come so that I could just have some time with my babies to myself. My mother is kind of exhausting herself- always talking to me and although the help would be nice, I knew I would be craving the downtime by myself when the babies were asleep. I was actually considering thinking of a way to ask her not to come. But, on the other hand, I was slightly irritated that she finked on me. My MIL is coming for the entire week that my husband will be gone next week- my own mother couldn't offer to be here on a weekend that a little help would be nice? Oh, and she is coming in a few weeks for a weekend- because she has two days off of school and wants to come. It's even a little more irritating to me that she'll come when it is convenient for her but not for us. Our fall weekends with all four of us as a family are limited (hunting season and all) and I don't really want her to take one of them up by visiting. But, I am just trying to keep in my head that she's not coming for me, and Sam and Anna will benefit from a little grandma time, even if it isn't what I want.

So overall, things went better than I thought, I was more tired than I thought, and I'm pretty confident I could do it again without issues. My saving grace was that there were no weekdays that I had to get everyone up, ready and out the door before 7 am. When that happens- we all may just sleep in our clothes!