Eleven Weeks Old!!

I am home all alone!!! Shawn and I are going downtown this weekend for our anniversary, and my parents took the babies home with them early so I could be by myself....I hardly know what to do...I can't decide whether to watch t.v., take a nap, or run screaming around the house. The sad thing is, I already miss the babies a little, and they have only been gone an hour...I am going to try to enjoy this weekend and not miss them too much.
This week has been SO MUCH FUN with the babies....they are smiling so much and "talking" a lot. Cale's word sounds like "Doh!!" Homer Simpson style....Hayden has been singing a little (or maybe it's crying) and it sounds like "Nye Nye Nye" It is too cute! She does that right before she breaks into a full cry....like she is warning us...."You people have about thirty seconds to figure out what I want before the REAL crying starts!" Cale's crying starts out with a sound that resembles a cat spitting and hissing...then he screaches like Howard Dean on the campaign trail. It makes us laugh so much...we let him "spit" for a minute before picking him up because we know he's getting ready to make a hilarious sound....
I have officially learned to do everything with one hand!! I can eat, cook, make a bottle, vacuum...I even once changed a diaper with one hand! I am learning skills I never imagined..which is good, because for some reason, Cale has decided he has to be held every minute he is awake....we are going through a little difficult phase...I will get him asleep and as I am laying him down in bed, he starts crying with his eyes closed....he has a sixth sense!
This week I met Kelly at Babies R Us to help her register, and then we went out to eat. I was gone for about four hours, and Shawn decided he did not like being left alone with the babies that long. I have to say, he is the best husband...he willingly watches them and doesn't complain at all....and he only called me three times while I was gone. It was pretty funny....he said Cale spit up all over himself, the loveseat, etc., which was pretty surprising because Hayden is the puker, not him. I asked Shawn what happened and he said, "Well, he cried, so I gave him another two ounces...and then he kept crying so I gave him another two ounces..." I guess there is only so much room in a stomach before it has to go somewhere.....Shawn said he would not want to be a single parent....I know EXACTLY how he feels....If I think he is coming home at six thirty and I call and he's still at his office, I feel like crying sometimes!!!

Actually, Shawn had it WAY worse two weeks ago....I woke up at about six a.m. with the most excruciating pain I have ever felt....It was way worse than any contractions or any pain associated with the c-section....I called my obstetrician, thinking surely she left a scalpel or sponge in me or something....she sent me to the ER where they determined I had a KIDNEY STONE! I thought only old men got kidney stones (or maybe that is prostate problems...whatever!!:) They gave me morphine (and lots of it) on an empty stomach, and I proceeded to throw up for two straight days...I felt a lot better after I stopped taking the pain meds...I think I might have overdosed a little. Shawn and my mom had to take care of the babies for about 48 hours while I laid in bed...I was trying to eat something so that I could take my medication and I was literally laying on my back in bed eating with my eyes closed. It was horrible!!! Thank goodness we live near our families, and that my husband doesn't travel. I am not sure what I would have done without them. My kids would have had to lay around in a dirty diaper for two days. Anyway, long story short-I am not sure if I passed the stone, so I have to anticipate that pain coming back again at some point...which I am not looking forward to. I couldn't even enjoy laying in bed all that time because the pain was so horrible.....I would never wish that pain on anyone, but it is true when they say having a kidney stone is the closet thing a man can experience to childbirth....I didn't even have the babies naturally, but the kidney stone pain hurt WAY worse than the contractions did. I felt guilty the whole time I was sick, like I was neglecting my babies....hopefully they don't have any awareness that they were being ignored by me! Come to think of it, I hope they don't realize we are leaving them this weekend....moreover, I hope my parents don't change their minds about keeping them....Shawn and I were joking that we are going to hear a knock on our hotel room door, and when we open it, the babies will be sitting in their carseats on the floor outside. I am sure we will miss them, but I am going to try to enjoy our time away, and not talk about them the whole time!!!

Somewhere in between "The View" and "All My Children" I realized that I have officially lost my mind.....if someone could peek in my window during the day, they would send the guys in white coats to come get me! I just realized that I spend a HUGE chunk of time singing ridiculous songs to the babies....there are songs on just about every topic imaginable, most of them entirely too inappropriate to share! The babies seem to enjoy them though, so I guess I'll keep it up since I have such an appreciative audience! Both babies have been smiling so much the last few days-it is so much fun! Hayden learned to "talk" today....cooing and squealing at me, which is really good because yesterday the pediatrician asked if they were smiling and cooing, and I said yes. (I was counting grimacing as smiling) It's a good thing Hayden is adorable, since she spits up on everyone in the tri-county area!
At their appointment yesterday Hayden weighed almost eleven pounds, and Cale weighed twelve and a half!!! I didn't get yelled at about his weight....he is only in the seventy fifth percentile....Hayden, however is in the ninety fifth percentile in length, which I am pretty sure means she is going to be 5'11'' and a supermodel or professional athlete! :) They were so good at the doctor, and so tough about getting shots....they each got four shots, and it was so sad! They were just happy as could be on the table, and when the nurse poked them, both of them looked so shocked. The both turned red and opened their mouth so big like a scream was coming out....and stayed that way a full five seconds before the world's loudest crying commenced. Of course, I cried more than them. They were fine in ten seconds, but I felt so horrible for them!! You could tell they did NOT enjoy shots at all! I watched them all day to see if they were going to get a fever, but they seemed fine....
It is reassuring to visit the doctor, because I had been worried thinking Hayden wasn't growing like Cale...she doesn't seem to hold her head up like him, and she is so tiny! He said everything looked great, and that they are two totally different people so they will develop at different rates. I had been thinking she was too little until our friends the Maziurs came over Saturday morning....they brought their kids Matt and Marlie, who is only four weeks old! I took the girls' picture, and Hayden looks like a full grown man next to tiny Marlie. Marlie's mommy and I lived together in the dorm freshman year at Baylor, and I told her maybe someday Marlie and Hayden will be living together at college, too.....maybe someday they will look at that picture and laugh! We found out this past week that two of our best friends (Kelly and Ronny McGinnis) are having a GIRL!!! So far we know her name will be Logan, but they haven't decided on a middle name yet...Hayden will have so many girls to play with growing up! Everyone we vacation with and spend lots of time with is having babies which works out great for my kids....Luckily, our other really close friends the Zunkers are having a boy in September, so Cale will have someone to play with, too. Which brings to mind the topic of baby names....I thought we did a pretty good job of naming the babies something interesting without sounding like we were making up names for Dawson's Creek or something. Interestingly enough, though, everytime Shawn and I tell someone what we named the babies, we have to repeat ourselves about three times....it's not like we named them Moon Unit or ESPN (actual baby name I read about online...thank goodness Shawn didn't think of that one first!) Our own grandmas are baffled....Shawn's made sure to point out that "Hayden" and "Cale" weren't Catholic names...my grandma said, "What is his name again? Conn? Cane? Kyle? Carl? Shane? Shale?" Even she was laughing by the end of that list!!!
We had a fun fourth of July....hung out with family and drove to the church parking lot to watch the Schertz fireworks show....we left the babies in the car because of the last horrific event involving Cale and fireworks. Shawn opened the door to check on them, and sure enough, Cale was in the car crying!! He could still hear them with the doors shut and he was so angry! Poor Shawn....he LOVES buying fireworks and lighting things on fire-hopefully Cale grows out of that so that he can enjoy them with Daddy later and I can worry about them burning their fingers off. Hayden doesn't seem to get nearly as worked up about things as Cale....she is such an easy going baby. She hardly ever screams unless she is really hungry. They both have the best personalities...just like Mommy! :)
Last night was a huge milestone for us...Cale went to bed at eleven and slept until six thirty!!!!! Yeah!!! I actually felt rested when I woke up. Hopefully this means we are about to start getting lots more sleep.

The babies are sort of sleeping now, and I have sat down for the first time in about seventy two hours....my mom went to San Fran to meet my dad, and we aren't used to doing without her! At least it is the weekend and Shawn was home...I would have been laying around in the same clothes for three days had he not been here. The babies must be going through a growth spurt, because they aren't eating and going right to sleep anymore...they eat, sleep for about fifteen minutes, and then are either wide awake or start to fuss. I wondered when we were supposed to start feeding them more-I guess I know now!! Cale is HUGE! He feels like a linebacker compared to Hayden. She is so dainty like a little bird, which is good I guess.....if one of them has to be a beefy baby, I would much rather it be him. It would stink for him to spend his whole life being bullied by his bigger sister.
We ran all over the place this weekend....on Saturday, we went to Boerne to visit with Kelly and Ronny. We ate at a Mexican restaurant, and the babies slept pretty much the whole time... after dinner we stayed WAY too late at their house talking and laughing...Cale needed a diaper change, and we gave Ronny the chance to do the honors, since their little one will be here in about four months...he cracked us all up when he said, "No, the first diaper I will change will be my father's." Our idea of Saturday night fun has definitely changed, but we don't mind at all! At least everyone else around us is having babies, too-so we have lots of people to hang out with at home on the weekends! The twenty one year old me would think that this kind of fun was worthless, but that is why I am grateful every day that we waited until when we did to get married and have babies. I am so much better equipped for this now than I would have been even five years ago, and that isn't saying much. It is so true that everything works out in the end for a reason....
I am starting to feel like we are settling into a little routine....I used to be pretty scared to be left alone with the babies during the day, but it gets better every day. I have realized it is not going to kill them to cry, and sometimes they are going to have to wait their turn....even if it hurts everyone's feelings and ears in a ten mile radius. Some days are definitely better than others....one day I will feel like I am really getting the hang of motherhood, other days I feel like I would be doing everyone a favor if I just called child protective services myself and turned the babies over before someone finds out that I have no idea what I am doing! Those are the days that Shawn comes home and I am still in pajamas and haven't showered or eaten, the dogs haven't been fed, and the vacuum cleaner is still in the middle of the room where I got it out and meant to do some cleaning! I have really mastered the art of burping one of them while balancing the other one on my lap....which is pretty funny...the one on my lap thinks they are being held when in all actuality, they are really just being propped near me. Whatever works!!!
I guess this is probably how everyone feels, whether they have one baby or five. The other morning Cale was crying and I had tried everything....I fed him, and diaper changed him, burped him, gave him Mylicon, talked to him....and all the while I am thinking about all the things that needed to get done around the house.....I had so much I wanted to get accomplished and the crying jag wasn't fitting into the schedule. Finally, I just crawled into bed and held him, and he was as happy as can be. I guess he was just lonely....I realized that I had been so worried about getting dumb chores done, and really the most important thing I need to do every day is make sure these babies know they are loved by me! I sat and held him for a long time, and thought about the day that he would want me to drop him off around the corner from the movies, or when he wouldn't let me kiss him in front of his friends....(of course, I cried! Doing that a lot lately!!) I need to remind myself every day that they are more important than dog hair on my floor, or dirty dishes in my sink. They are only tiny for so long, and I need to enjoy them now while they want me all the time!! Before I know it we will be learning to walk, shopping for school supplies, graduating from high school....here I go again!! I need to invent Kleenex on a rope!