The major street near our neighborhood has been in the process of being repaired for some time now. The repairs involved some pretty major road destruction and then reconstruction. In order to do this, traffic has been rerouted to the other side of the street, turning a 4 lane road into a 2 lane road. As you can imagine, traffic has a tendency to back up during the busy times of the day. A couple of days ago, as I was driving through the construction zone, I noticed a sign that read “Thumbs Up for Progress!” and it proceeded to list the total cost of the project ($5,135,672), the number of jobs that the project had created (50), and an estimate of the progress on the project so far (75% complete). Because I don’t often drive in that direction on that road, I had not noticed the sign before, and I decided that it was a great idea. Construction zones tend to create a fair amount of annoyance to everyone who has to live near them or drive through them. We typically spend so much time thinking about how the construction zone is creating an inconvenience in our own lives that we forget that these projects are good for the economy and good for the neighborhood after the work gets completed. The road will be smooth, less likely to flood, and will look better overall.
I decided that given our current situation of dealing with reflux, weight gain, two sick kids and two sick parents with full time jobs, that we needed our own Thumbs Up for Progress analysis to think about. So, here goes…
1. Audrey and Andrew are both happy and calm babies most of the time.
2. Audrey and Andrew have both doubled their birth weights of 7 lbs and 5 lbs by around 3 months of age. They are now 14 lbs and 10 lbs. Andrew is a regular porker, like his momma!
3. Andrew sleeps 8-10 hours at night. Audrey sleeps about 5 hours at night. She would sleep longer, but we make her wake up to eat. Makes me look forward to the teenage years.
4. Our daycare is fantastic. They love our kids. They all have so much experience at working with babies that I have learned valuable knowledge from them.
5. Audrey still vomits almost every day, but she now seems to be able to lie on her back and feel comfortable most of the time. This is a great thing and is definitely progress!
6. Dave and I are now absolute rock stars at changing diapers and cleaning up messes. Between four pets and two infants, someone is always puking, pooping, or blowing other fluids out of themselves.
7. Audrey is stubborn as all get out. Wonder where she gets that?
8. Andrew is close to rolling over.
9. They seem to enjoy “talking” to us and to each other.
10. They enjoy each other’s presence and become calmer when the other is near.
11. They both have great smiles that make your day. I love to see them first thing in the morning!
12. We have learned how to manage a schedule of caring for twins and each working full time jobs. We do need help from time to time, particularly when I travel. We are very tired, but so far we maintain sanity. Well, at least as much as we always have.
13. We are almost 1/3 of the way through the first year already!
14. We’ve both learned how to push a double stroller holding 2 kids with one hand and drag a shopping cart behind.
15. We are experts at swaddle, shake, swing, sway, shush, standing sway, standing swaddle sway, standing swaddle sway shake, and standing swaddle sway shake shush, all of which are sometimes required to feed Audrey.
Two thumbs up for progress!

This post is about the moment when I reached my stress limit at exactly 8:35AM on Tuesday Oct 29. I was sitting in the parking lot after dropping the kids off at day care. I was pondering the appointment we had had the day before with a GI specialist for Audrey. They had prescribed some new medication, which had to be given 4 times a day, as well as another formula change to a formula that is only available at a couple of stores in town and is very expensive. As I pulled my car out of the parking lot, I began to think about the trip I was to take for work the next day. I planned to meet with a customer to discuss a contract of importance. I was looking forward to the trip, as it would be my first trip after returning from maternity leave and I really wanted it to go smoothly. I also began to mentally prepare for a meeting I had scheduled for that morning with two of my new coworkers. I was to meet them for the first time at a local Starbucks. I had just enough time to get home and make myself presentable for the meeting.

The phone rang and I saw that it was our pediatrician calling. She reported that the results of Audrey’s blood work from the day before had come back badly again and that Audrey was dehydrated. She would need to go back to the hospital. This time, we could not go to the hospital near our house. She wanted us to check her into the hospital located across town through some horrendous traffic so that she could be near the GI specialists for daily consultations. I asked when we needed to have her there and was told to take her in that day. I had planned a half a day of vacation for that afternoon in order to attend a costume parade at the twins’ day care. They were going as Thing 1 and Thing 2. I became immediately sad thinking of Andrew, alone in the parade, dressed as Thing 1. I had no idea how we were going to be able to manage another hospitalization across town and my mind began to spin. Just as I was beginning to give myself a pep talk on keeping it together, my phone dinged with a new work email. I opened the email to discover that I had been selected that day for a random drug test. I was to go home, wait for an envelope to arrive via Fedex, go find a drug-testing center near my home, and give a sample. It was to be done by the end of the day.

I realized I was going to have to be 3 places at once…a work meeting, a drug test, and the hospital. The parade, the work trip, the vacation day would all have to be cancelled. By this point, I wouldn’t even get to take a shower before meeting my new coworkers. I looked exhausted and probably smelled bad. I thought about crying. I hung my head and closed my eyes. And, as I opened them, I began to focus on something on my shirt. What was it? A GIANT booger surrounded by a gob of snot. It was pretty awesome in it’s disgustingness. I had been walking around all morning wearing it. There was nothing I could do but laugh. I laughed so hard that I cried, and then I picked up the phone and called my mom to ask her to come and help us. She started looking at plane tickets. Somehow we would make it through.

I went home, changed out of the snot shirt, and got cleaned up as best I could. I went to the work meeting, drank a gallon of coffee, and talked a mile a minute. I cancelled the work trip. I called and got an extension on the drug test, and then stopped at the day care to get a status on Audrey. I learned that she was eating fairly well. Yes! I called the doctor and relayed this info to her. She decided to let us stay home as long as she was eating somewhat ok. We would watch her very closely. Yes!! That meant that Thing 1 and Thing 2 could be together for their afternoon parade, which gave me a really silly sense of happiness. It was so much fun.

My mom was arriving the next day, and I began to look forward to her visit with excitement. She is always such a huge help to us and I couldn’t wait for her to see the kids. When I went to pick her up at the airport, she immediately announced that she had brought some cloths with her to give to me because they were great to clean with. She is the only person I know who brings her own cleaning supplies when she comes to visit! Joking aside, she stayed with us for the rest of that week and all of this week and was a huge help with the babies and the cleaning and laundry. It was truly great to see her. It is so wonderful to know that when we really need help, we have supportive parents who are able to be there for us. My mom took advantage of her time here not only to love her grandchildren, but to also stock up on my dad’s favorite brand of hot dog chili, which is apparently not available in Florida. She took 5 cans home in her suitcase!

Audrey is now doing pretty well. It turns out that she had a cold, which was contributing to her feeding issues. Andrew has since contracted the cold, as have Dave and I. Andrew also has contracted bronchiolitis and has lost his appetite. He is now eating less than Audrey! He is also vomiting quite a bit. Hopefully this is all just due to his congestion and breathing troubles. When it rains, it pours!

I’ve had the opportunity to become an expert on vomit in the past few months. Now, I’m becoming an expert on snot. In the past week, I’ve learned the art of the suction bulb, and also gotten past my initial disgust at the concept of the Nose Frida. If you are unfamiliar with the Nose Frida, it is basically a straw with a filter on it. You use your mouth to suck on the end of the straw and suck the snot right out of your kid’s head. There is no way that the snot can actually get in your mouth, but the idea of it is so weird! It truly does work though, and I love a product that works!

This wild life with twins gets crazier by the minute, but I wouldn’t change any of it!