One Year Later...

On June 26 Chris and I celebrated our first wedding anniversary. WE HIRED our first babysitters and headed out for a day/afternoon of fun on the 25^th as the 26^th was a Sunday! We went for dinner and a movie… in reverse order. We watched an AWFUL MOVIE that I wish we would have walked out of. But you know when you think it MUST get better? Well it didn’t. We ate at Milestones downtown on the ocean front. It was great. We laughed at being able to hold hands as we walked and not having them full of babies. When we finished dinner we were SO eager to get home. Both of us missed the girls. When we got home I was so curious how everything went but our babysitters were probably the shyest girls ever and all I know is that it went “good”. Haha. They did have our phone number and they didn’t call AND the girls were sleeping when we got home so it must not have been that bad.

On Sunday (the 26^th) I made a roast for dinner and it was glorious. It is crazy how much can happen in a year… and how much more in love you can be with someone (I didn’t know that this is how it goes). Everyone says the first year is the hardest… well we DID IT and we are happier than ever!

The Lord Moves in Mysterious Ways

About a month ago Chris and I started looking for places to live in Victoria. We were SO tired of our home that has become so cramped. We also had agreed to move out of our current place September 1- they had offered to pay our July rent if we moved out August 1. We had concluded that it would be best to move for August 1 for obvious reasons and so the house hunt began. We were looking for 3bedroom places and the cheap ones we found were between 1550-1700/mo. We fell in love with one place but as we started talking about it on the way home we discovered that we would spend 30 thousand in RENT for the year and that we both felt sick about paying that much money. In that conversation we starting talking about moving but decided we really had nothing to take us anywhere else. No job, no school etc. We left it at that.

That weekend we headed up to Port Alberni for a family reunion. On Sunday my sister Rachel called (repeatedly) because she was FULL of excitement and really wanted to tell my mom and dad about a couple of families that had moved into Nanaimo Ward. One of which had moved for a MBA (Masters of Business Administration) at Vancouver Island University. My ears (that are always on keen alert to hear little tid bits of information) heard this and my jaw dropped. Within minutes I was on my parents DIAL- UP internet researching the MBA program. I found out that it was a double degree giving the MBA and also a degree in International Business. I looked at the requirements and knew that Chris met them all, the program is only 14 months, and the price seemed so great too (fifteen thousand dollars less than Royal Roads). Then my eyes fell on the start dates and application due dates. Well turns out he could start in October 2011, or June 2012 and the application deadline for October (the preferred start date) was passed- April 30.

On the way home from Port Alberni to Victoria we talked a lot about potentially moving to Nanaimo, and how Chris felt about the program (he has considered a MBA for years). We decided that we should contact the director and see if they would accept a late application.

I called VIU the next day several times until I got through to the director. He was a friendly man on the phone and said well we have never done that before but let me talk to the director of admissions and I will get back to you. He called on Friday to let us know that they would indeed accept the late application. We both spent our free time the next few days getting transcripts ordered, reference letters lined up, resume and cover letter written etc. On Tuesday of the next week we faxed away the application.

Yesterday Chris got an email of ACCEPTANCE into the FALL 2011 program! We are thrilled. Chris has wanted to get back to school but wasn’t entirely sure of what he wanted to do and spent the year considering MBA or Law degree.

There is no doubt in my mind that all these things fell together perfectly for a reason. It also makes me very grateful that despite the internet telling us we were too late that by taking initiative we made something wonderful happen. It is no wonder why there is a saying "The Lord move in mysterious ways."

I have LOVED looking at places to rent in Nanaimo for the last 2 weeks. They are so much cheaper and most are re-done with dishwashers in them!

I have lived in Victoria for the last 5 years and Chris the last 6 on and off. It is with a just a little bit of sadness that we leave. BUT who knows we may be back!

The Beauty of Sleep

It feels like I have a thousand things on my mind that I could blog about… but where to start?

When Chris and I started thinking about having children to our minds came the fact that both of us do not function at happy or high capacities when tired.  I have watched my siblings have wonderful bed times and children who sleep wonderfully and knew that was what I aspired to. When I told Chris that I wanted our children to go to bed at 7pm and wake up at 7am his immediate response was “that is SO early.” I quickly pointed out that when children go to bed early we would have time with just the two of us to relax or we could get needful things done- not to mention sleep ourselves. He quickly jumped on board. When we found out we were having twins I became more determined than I thought possible about a schedule and getting them to sleep 12 hrs a night. I knew I would need energy during the day as they got older to keep up with them running in different directions! My belief is that when you start schedules or routines earlier kids don’t really know any better and adapt to the routine happily and quickly.

Isabelle in May (I thought she looked hilarious)

And so it began immediately. The girls ate together and slept at the same time since birth. At times in the early weeks we would have to wake one up to ensure that they were fed at the same time. Now at the ripe old age of 11 weeks the girls instinctively wake up at the same time. SOMETIMES they even poop one after the other (which I find hilarious). From the very beginning Chris and I dreamed of the day when they would sleep through the night- I remember distinctively thinking at 4 weeks that I didn’t know if I could make it until they would sleep through the night- my goal of 12 weeks old sleeping through the night being still another 8 weeks away CRUSHED my insides. At around 6-7 weeks the girls started experimenting with sleeping longer 7-10 hours. We were thrilled. My aim was to get them eating as close to 7am and every four hours after that. For the last 5 weeks the girls have been extremely fussy between 7pm (ish) and 11pm (ish) and then after they ate that last feed would fall fast asleep until morning. Well in the last week they started eating poorly at the 11pm feed- anywhere from between 1oz to 4oz and they used to gobble down 7oz at that time (and every other time during the day). I began to think to myself do they really need this feed? I followed the advice of my mom who said “they will let you know when they are ready to drop that 11pm feed” and kept feeding them and powering through the 7pm-11pm fussy period (it typically wasn’t ALL that time but a majority of it).

Isabelle and Abigial (less than 4 weeks old)

AND THEN IT HAPPENED… on Tuesday night after the bath, feed, book reading and singing they FELL ASLEEP. I kept checking on them and finally 11pm rolled around and I SWEAR it looked like they hadn’t moved since they fell asleep… we decided not to wake them and see when they woke up (Chris thought I would feed them then… but I had other hopes). Well Isabelle woke up at 2am and I put a binky in her mouth and her little eyes closed just as fast as I put it in… exciting to me as I KNEW she wasn’t hungry she just needed help learning to fall back asleep. Well the saga continued for an hour she would sleep for 20 minutes and wake up again… I let her cry and then consoled and boom back to sleep. Abigail woke up just as Isabelle was falling asleep. I put a binky in her mouth and she was out. Abigail woke up at 5 and Isabelle was still SOUND asleep. There goes my statement above that they wake up at the same time now… So I woke up Isabelle and fed them. So last night (Wednesday) the girls ate had a bath, ate at 630, I read them books and sang songs to them and they were FAST asleep AGAIN! And again they didn’t wake up at 11, so we hurried off to bed. I awoke to both girls crying at 3am. I was SO TIRED and I thought I don’t have this in me for tonight I am just going to feed them. I put bottles in the water and then I picked up Abigail and put a binky in her mouth and put her down to go get Isabelle and when I came back Abigail was fast asleep. I re- swaddled her and put her down and that was the last peep I heard from her until 5am. I also put a binky in Isabelle’s mouth at 3 and she too fell fast asleep until 5am.

As you very well may be able to calculate that is not 12 hours BUT it is progress! I am thrilled. It is so rewarding to have my motherly intuition be correct about such a thing. To top it all off the girls are SO HAPPY! I have started keeping them up for 1hr- 2hrs after a feed and then putting them down for naps and doing something that keeps them entertained after the 3pm (ish) feed so they are ready for bed at 7pm (ish).

I couple weeks ago I got slack from someone for having the girls sleeping just the 7-8hrs they were doing and it really put me back. But I have done lots of thinking about it because it made me feel bad for what I was doing (but really I was just following the lead from the girls)… BUT from a MEDICAL standpoint there is an equation based on the weight of your baby that they need to get in a day in order that they grow healthy… well my girls were eating 35oz a day… WELL over the daily needs. AND more evidence that I gave myself was that Abigail has doubled her birth weight (2 weeks ago) and Isabelle is really close to double her birth weight.

Abigail in May (hitch hiking hahaha I need to teach her better)

All in all we are thrilled to be making progress. My sister once said to me once they start sleeping longer on their own that gives you the clue that they are ready to do it- and if/when they wake up you can be a little surer that they don’t need to eat!

Tender Mercies

Today as I look at my sleeping daughters I am extremely grateful. They fell asleep in their car seats in front of me without crying- just slowly put themselves to sleep. This isn't uncommon for them. They are wonderful babies. Not only are they wonderful babies my wonderful sister in law Heather gave me a book for Christmas called "Ready or Not Here We Come". I read and thought it was insightful and funny. One thing the book stressed was keeping a sense of humor. Another thing it did was talk about schedules and the need to keep multiples on the same schedule. I thought it was a good idea and hoped I would be able to do this... not knowing how to DO it. The day we got home from the hospital (I was feeding them one after another at this point in time) I took note of the time it was taking me to feed them and concluded that it was INSANE to not feed them at the same time. Tandem breastfeeding started at that point in time... only to last 10 days as I did not have enough milk supply. Thankfully I had read in the book all the greatest tips for bottle feeding- ie making enough formula and storing it in the fridge for a full 24 or 48hrs etc. The book saved the day yet again because I had knowledge to lean on.

Another great thing this book did was have a list of great books on sleep patterns, preparing your own baby food and other such things. I went to the local library and got some books that Ready or Not suggested. Reading these books set me out to help teach my girls how to self soothe- not become dependant on me, a swing, a bouncy seat etc in order to fall asleep. It also encouraged paying attention to them when they aren't crying to teach them they don't need to cry to get your attention... both of these things were taught in order that you can establish a routine and get them sleeping through the night by 3 months! A bold promise the book makes... we will just have to wait and see (the lady who wrote the book does sleep training and scheduling with twins and triplets and singletons all over the USA, has been doing it for 10 years with sucess AND had twins herself... I must say I have high hopes).
All in all I am grateful for wonderful people, those who write good books and those who give thoughtful gifts. Knowledge and others insights are an invaluable gift. Thanks Heather!

Abigail and Isabelle always eat together, if one is sleeping we wake the other up- and whoever is woken is always very gracious and eats no problem. Thursday and Friday night the girls went 7 hrs between feeds, Saturday night 8hrs between feeds- of course I would have fed them if one of them woke!
I took these pictures today of them as they were falling asleep. I think they are adorable (okay I took 36 photos but who needs to see all of them!)

She smiled for a photo!!

Can you tell the difference? I think they look so sweet in these photos.

Our First Walk

Since the girls were about two weeks old I was eager to take them on a walk. I decided to give my body a little more time to recover before I went. Between me taking naps during the day and rain it took a while for it to happen. I think the girls were 3 and half weeks old by the time it finally happened. After the first time I took them a few times that week. I was surprised at how exhausted I was after a 25 minute walk. It was crazy. I have since been on an hour long walk with them and it was GREAT! I of course took pictures of “their first walk”. The front of the double stroller we have doesn’t recline very far so I thought that I would put them both in the back part. I think they are adorable.  

Abigail left Isabelle right

Isabelle left Abigail right

(I just hooked my camera up to the computer to transfer the pictures we hadn't uploaded yet... and while I was waiting I was thinking we haven't been taking very many pictures as of late... then it says new pictures- 168... think again Laura!)

Middle of the Night Humor

For the first 2.5 weeks Chris and I both woke up at every feed during the night. My mom was here for the day time and we were all on our lonesome at night. I was tandem breastfeeding the girls until they were 10 days old at which point I said ENOUGH- while breastfeeding I needed help to keep the girls feeding (ie re-latching… often) and so I obviously needed another set of hands and Chris was them! Chris very kindly woke up every feed (often times before me because I ALWAYS seemed to be dreaming that I was feeding one of them… and the other one was far away crying and of course Chris needed to get her because I was already feeding one (?)- the reality was Chris was up getting them and I was passed out. ANYWAYS we have since started dividing up the night between the two of us so both of us get a solid chunk of sleep and it is GRAND!

BUT when the girls were about two weeks old and we were in the hazy state of no sleep Chris did something really funny.

One night I woke up to him muttering to himself. He then became understandable and he was saying “Where is her face”… “Shoot where did she go”… “I lost her”. I start talking to him (my back is toward him) and he says to me “I can’t find her face, where did she go?” I tell him that there is no baby in the bed… he continues and then I turn over to see him holding a PILLOW in a football hold trying to find a face! I tell him “CHRIS YOU ARE HOLDING A PILLOW NOT A BABY!” He comes to and we start LAUGHING SO HARD. Chris told me to stop laughing because we need to sleep and ensures me that we can laugh about it later! The next day when he got home from work we remembered it and I laughed freely for about 5 minutes.

About a week later I woke up to hear him lifting the blanket up in between us.  He is a telling me that he can’t find her, that he lost her with panic in his voice. I tell him there is no baby in the bed (there rarely is a baby in the bed with us) he tells me that there is… then I get stern with him and I say “SERIOUSLY Chris there is NO baby in the bed” to WHICH he responds with a sound of annoyance “well obviously” and then he gets up to go pee. I told him about this the next day and he didn’t remember it at all until I said “seriously Chris there is no baby in the bed”.

Thankfully (or maybe not so much) these events have stopped happening as we have started to get more sleep!

Abigail on the left Isabelle on the right

Birth Day

I WROTE THIS 2 weeks ago... it has been sitting on my computer ever since. The pictures were not uploading correctly and so it had to wait as the time to feed my sweet girls had come. Hope you enjoy! There is more to come!!

If the girls stick to their 4 hour feeding interval they should already be awake, but they are sound asleep. I have been thinking about blogging for the last several days as there is so much I want to put up, since I am awake and they are asleep I figure now is a great time- the house is clean what else is there to do?  

Abigail and Isabelle are HERE! They didn’t want to come a day sooner than when they were forced to come. On April 18^th we got the call at 7am from the hospital to come in they were ready to induce me. They asked us to be there as soon as possible. Chris and I had been at a friend’s home the night before and lost track of time and didn’t make it home until close to 3am. Big mistake when you are going to give birth the next day… we slowly got out of bed and got ourselves to the hospital.

At 1140am they started the oxytocin drip I was 2-3 cm dilated and they expected things to get going soon. Well not the case Chris and I played cards on and off all day- at 4pm after being STRAPPED to the dang monitors for hours (I was getting uncomfortable at this point- those beds suck) they broke my water. I wanted to shower and so I did and that slowed labor down. Then at 9pm they broke my water again and then things started to ramp up. By 11pm I was having hard contractions with awful back labor. At 315am I had the urge to push… at this point I had to move over to the Operating Room as this is where twins are delivered just in case of emergency c-section. Just as I got into the O.R. the anesthesiologist walked into the room… we had been waiting for HOURS for an epidural but he was stuck in surgery. I wasn’t a happy camper.  I was so mad at the nurses in my head but Chris tells me that I still always said please and thank you to everyone. I was so mad that I was in that bed that was hurting my back… was it the bed? I don’t know but ugh I was mad. Anyways I got the epidural and they told me to sleep… which wasn’t a hard request I was practically asleep when they told me. We both slept until just after 5 at which point I started to feel contractions again. Pushing started at 520am and that was the greatest thing EVER (okay not ever but it is great… I finally got to DO something not just endure something). I loved it. Isabelle Ruth Gow was born at 703am and Abigail Catherine Gow was born at 724am April 19 2011. Isabelle weighed 7lbs and Abigail weighed 6lbs 1oz.  

Everyone asks how delivering a second baby was and all I have to say is that it really is two for the price of one! Labor sucks and so getting two sweet baby girls is the greatest reward. Abigail was out in two contractions. The OBGYN described the uterus as stupid and it thinks its job is over after one is out and it takes it a while to figure out it needs to keep working and get another baby out. We got out of the hospital Thursday at about noon. On the way home I was convinced that we had a flat tire because something just didn’t feel right I later confessed I was just anxious. Chris drove like a grandpa on the way home, extra cautious.

It has been four weeks on Tuesday since our girls were born. Time is flying by faster than imaginable. We are smitten with our babies; they are the sweetest things around!