My little rabbit

ha.

This sign would be funny, except it is hanging up at my orthopedic doc's office and is pretty true.





Good thing I won't be going there anymore - it looks like I'm allllllll better! I've been running everyday and feeling just about 98.7% better. I can bend my knee all the way and even kneel on it (carefully).  Seriously, being able to really workout is doing wonders for my mood. Not that I was in a bad mood before... but I've missed my friend Mr. Endorphin very badly the last several weeks. Now for hours after my runs I'm amazingly happy. I can have all 3 kids yelling at me at the same time and still keep a smile on my face. I feel like my world is finally right. Well, almost. It would be right if I could fit into all of my jeans a little (lot) better. But this is how we attack that problem! 
Should I post a picture of my cool scar?  (and by cool, I mean gross.)

testing 1-2-3, pre-bath

I can take video clips with my phone! I know - welcome to 2005. But this is really exciting for me! I don't know if they transfer on to my blog well though. So here's our trial run. If this works, I may just start posting videos as ridiculously often as I post pictures.

Notice Bennett waving to the camera right on cue. We practice that everyday, right after algebra and french lessons. And Courtney's toots... yeah that gets practiced everyday too. But this is the only time in her life where it will be absolutely adorable for her to let gas out. Or maybe I'm the only one that thinks that's true. There's nothing newborns do to gross me out. It's all cute and funny.
Where's Brian, you ask? Why in the world am I doing the whole bedtime routine alone? He's at basketball. Because I'm a nice wife and let him go play with his friends. And then he can't complain when I leave him alone with the kiddos to go running.
Let me know if the video works, ok bloggy friends?

Courtney Deborah

I. LOVE. THIS. FACE.

Baby swinger

Just as I was about to go pay $20 for a baby swing... my fabulous friend Jami came knocking on my door, holding one she had just found at the thrift store for me!
Four bucks!

Notice she's holding her dolls - but a different one in each photo. She insisted they both get their separate turns going on the swing with her. She's better at giving her babies equal attention than I am!

iNsAnItY

I started the program today!

Of course, my copy doesn't quite look this cool... it's [ahem]{COUGH}burned{cough} (thankyou Kim!)  It's a 60 day workout plan and I WILL stick to it everyday  (except the nutrition part - not ready for that yet). There are 10 DVDs, with the first being the fit test. So today I did switch kicks, powerjacks, powerknees, powerjumps, globejumps, suicide jumps, pushup jacks, and low plank obliques. I had to record how many I could do in a minute. My numbers were pretty weaksauce. But it felt better than doing nothing....which I did for 4 weeks...and that may explain my excessive zeal for physical activity now. I have my laptop up in the living room and an agreement with Brian to entertain the munchkins in the evenings so I can go insane with Shaun T.   Brianna loves to come "esherize" with me, though she gets bored fast. But she's still probably in better shape than I am right now. I have a ways to go. But honestly - this isn't drudgery for me. It's fun. I genuinely look forward to putting on the DVD tomorrow, just as much as I look forward to running. It's recreation, not a chore.  Insane, huh?

Lunch break with an audience

Tricky treats

Brianna always asks for sprinkles on her ice cream (which is actually Kemp's frozen yogurt).

So I give her sprinkles.... Bob's Red Mill Ground Flaxseed.

And she thinks it's the most exciting treat in the world.

Take that, rock.

To commemorate my one-month anniversary since the worst mistake of my life, I decided I was ready to go on my first run. Of course, I went straight back to the same place I fell. I wanted to show that $#%^!@  rock who's boss. I ran right over it this time and stayed vertical. BOOYAH.

The scene of my near death experience, caused by that big rock. And my clumsiness.

I wish I could say running felt great, but it was pretty awkward. I'm babying my right leg - whether by choice or force I'm not sure. So my stride is unnatural. And despite my feigned courageous conquering of that evil rock, I'm totally scared to death that I'll trip again. So I'm staring at the ground and keeping my feet higher, almost prancing. More awkwardness. But hopefully by running everyday this will gradually even out and I can get in better shape. Walking on the treadmill just doesn't do it for me. It's actually giving me a minor case of shin splints. I'm just so far from my running goals, it's depressing. I fear I've lost my speed forever, along with my waistline. I want to do a half marathon, possibly another marathon, and a 5K under 20 minutes before I even think about getting pregnant again. So sometime before I'm 40  :)

I wonder if this is healthy or not.

Brianna's been having to play by herself a lot more lately. I'm tied down for obvious reasons, and the first few weeks of constant playdate offers has died down a little. So here she is, playing on the swing set with her one available friend, Blanket:

I took the picture because I wanted to remember to report what I overheard: "Blanket, you want to swing? You want to go CRAZY HIGH? I push you crazy high! Ready, set, ok! Wheee! Blanket, you be careful! Oh Blanket, you so funny!"
She does this type of thing with her dolls too. Yesterday one was put in time out and got a little lecture about not hitting. Another doll was told she couldn't go outside until she got dressed. I wonder if other 2 yr olds are doing this too?! I'd rather her play with real people!

Loving these feet

They make a heart shape!

Sentiments like, "savor these moments, it all goes by too fast" are pretty cliche. It seems like everyone says "it's all flown by so fast!" when their children hit annual or other major milestones. I don't feel that way. I think time crawls along at a slug's pace. I think it seems like eons until Brian and I get to load up all the kids and head out to Disneyland or boating on the lake or Hawaii. Don't get me wrong - I don't dislike this stage of our lives. I often wish the world would stop turning and I could just lay back on a recliner cuddling with my babies tucked into my arms for hours. I love it. I love them. I love our lives. I guess I'm just anxious for the more active part of parenting. I spend a lot of time just sitting. Sitting and breastfeeding, sitting and changing diapers, sitting and tickling babies... it's great, but it's not a family game of soccer or a family bike ride. I want to run around with my kids!

Neighborly

We were really lucky/blessed to move into an awesome neighborhood with an awesome ward (because the neighborhood basically encompasses the whole ward. Actually there are people in my neighborhood who aren't even in my ward). It's mostly young families like us. In fact I have 4 girlfriends on my little street whose offspring makeup is the same as ours - 2 girls, one boy.

Last summer we had Wednesday night BBQs every single week. Not joking. Every week. It was really fun. This summer we planned on doing the same, but our street corner venue became unavailable. So people had to volunteer their backyards. I never jumped at that because we had a boring backyard for kids.

But now that we have the goods - sandbox, tramp, swingset, slide... we're total candidates. Oh, except that I'm not exactly up for playing hostess, with all these babies and a bum leg. That didn't stop Brian from volunteering us though! When he informed me last Sunday night that the neighbors would all be at our house in 3 days... he's lucky I wasn't able to run and kick him. But it ended up being super fun and helped me feel like I'm getting back to normal social life. Like I'm actually capable of doing something beyond basic childcare.

Unrelated story: last night Brianna said the longest sentence I've heard from her: "Hey Bennett, I gonna tell you secret to your ear - no poopoo no peepee in your pants cuz mommy daddy no like it and they be sad."

Week 7

I don't know how long I'll keep doing these weekly updates. But I feel like writing so I'm going to write. It's interesting how I thought I'd totally have no time for unnecessary things like blogging once I became a busy mom of 3. Yet I've kept up my ridiculously frequent posting just like always. So I guess it's just like everything else in life - we never HAVE time for anything, we MAKE time for what we value. I value keeping a record of my family's activities and staying in touch with people I care about. This is the easiest way to do it. So... ON WITH THE POST!

Guess which baby always Houdinis out of the swaddle...

Life is slowly getting easier. Everyday I'm feeling physically and mentally stronger, now that I'm sleeping a teensy bit more and my owies are healed. Courtney gets the sleeping award - that little princess has consistently slept at least 6 hours every night this week. Last night was 7.5 hours straight. She must be trying to win the favorite twin award. I wish her brother would get more competitive though - he hasn't gone more than 4 hours straight yet. I think he likes to eat more than she does. But to his credit, he tends to be more mellow during the day. He'll just sit in his bouncer or propped up on the boppy and chill. Courtney prefers to be held. By "prefer" I mean she yells until someone picks her up. Then she's happy again. Until she's put down. Fortunately I lovelovelove holding her, otherwise this would be annoying. Thank goodness for my wraps & slings, or I'd never have both hands to do anything.

Onesie says "Daddy's Helper." 

They're still sleeping in their extra car seats in our room. I think I'll try to move them to their bassinet soon. Maybe. I just think they look so cozy all snug and propped up. They listen to heartbeats or ocean waves while sleeping. The rest of the time they listen to Josh Groban or Andre Boccelli. Gotta train them young. Oh and they also listen to my treadmill for an hour everyday. Not running yet (hoping to start tomorrow or Saturday), just speedwalking. It's a loud treadmill, and I have to keep them near it so I can see them, but it doesn't scare them like I thought it would. They usually sleep soundly the whole time!

Squished face Courtney

Bennett's hair is starting to grow back - that makes me veryvery happy. My poor little guy had male pattern baldness issues because I had scrubbed his baby hair off in my attempt to free his scalp from cradle crap cap. I've decided I prefer him having hair though. So the flaky skin remains. Courtney has it on her forehead. I love Courtney's face. Brian and I often gush to each other - "OH - she's so BEAUTIFUL! Look at her - so pretty! SO PRETTY!" Anyone else would get really annoyed having to hear someone so obsessed with their baby. Although we are very careful to try to give equal compliments and attention to Brianna. If I'm sitting down near Brianna, playing with Bennett and telling him what a handsome brilliant little man he is (in the ridiculous baby-talk tone of voice adults feel obligated to use with children, of course), I'll always throw something in like, "you're so awesome and strong and cool - just like your big sister Brianna! Hey Brianna, Bennett wants a high-five and a hug from you!" I spend a lot of time making Brianna feel loved. Even when I'm totally exhausted and can barely drag my feet around, if she wants to be held I hold her. If she wants me to push her on the swings I push her - even when that requires me holding both babies and pushing her with my feet.

Brianna loves napping with Bennett. He doesn't feel the same way.

And I send Brianna on important jobs like checking on a baby or reinserting a pacifier. She beams when I tell her what a great big sister she is. I'm not writing this down as part of my mother-of-the-year application... I just hope that she reads it someday and thanks me. Or at least shows her psychiatrist so he can see that I TRIED.
When are these babies going to start smiling and laughing at me?! I catch glimpses of their smiles while they're sleeping, or at random times... but not in response to my efforts yet. It's so awkward to smile and tickle and baby-talk to a little face that just blankly stares back. Maybe they're mad because we ran out of Huggies and now they're just in the cheap brands again until they can make it to size 2.

Happy daddy, with babies waving like mad scientists.

Hmm... what else... I could talk about their poo and gas routines... or I could just be done now.

They better start doing something else, or the Week 8 update will be more boring/crude diaper talk!

Sneak preview: babies' blessing day post coming soon!

This is how we roll

One of the best perks of Brian's job with Enterprise is that he gets to drive a rental car to and from work. So we only own one car, which saves us a lot of moolah. He's supposed to use the smallest most economical car for his daily commute (the whole 7 minutes of it).  But lately they've been "running tight," so sometimes there's only one or two cars left for him to use, and they're far from economical. Like the other day he came home in a jumungous 15 passenger van. Then yesterday he came home in this bright blue gorgeous Mustang: I'm wondering if our neighbors who don't know what Brian does for a living see our ever-changing flashy cars and think we're drug dealers.

funny or gross?

When I came into the bathroom and saw this scene, I told Brian to stop playing with toys in the potty. He didn't think I was funny. So I just thanked him for taking care of Brianna's latest quirk.

While on the subject of bathrooms and toilets, we also discovered this scene recently:

Classic, I know. It's the one time I've been glad we buy the cheap toilet paper. If we just have one 2yr old's antics driving us nuts... what's going to happen in a couple years when we have TWO 2yr olds messing with our bathrooms?!?!

8 pounds!

I wish I could say this is what I've lost this week, but sadly I'm going much slower than that. Not being able to run and having an insatiable appetite isn't helping. But 8 pounds is what each of our babies weigh!

The dude that cut me open and took my kids out

We took them to my 6 week postpartum appointment today and gave them a turn on the scale. Eight pounds flat! This may not sound like a lot - Brianna weighed that at her 2 week checkup - but I feel like we need to throw a party for these fatsos. I'm especially happy about Bennett catching up - he's always been smaller. But he eats more and sleeps less, so we can thank that for his weight gain! And actually... that's what I do too (eat lots, sleep little)... so maybe I should be more like Courtney...  ok I'll stop complaining about my size and just be happy about theirs. =)  I don't know what percentile that puts them in... and I don't care, because that whole system is screwy. I'll spare you my rant on it.

So...I like my doc... but I'll be very happy if I don't see him or a hospital again for a loooooong time!   
These babies are fabulous, and worth every second of crap I went through these past couple months (and the $6K price tag), but I'm so DONE with being a "patient" and ready to just be a normal self-reliant mom  (if that's possible?!).

She's doing exactly what you think she's doing

I can't wait for the responses on this one.

Strollin'

I was feeling brave this morning (or just stir-crazy?) and decided we were ready to venture out solo - meaning without Brian or anyone else to help me. It's amazing how intimidating 3 little people can be when I'm all by myself and outside of my house. What if one of them has a diaper/potty emergency? What if someone gets stung by a bee? What if I forget something essential, like my phone/wallet/waterbottle ...? Or the worst - what if BOTH babies start crying at the SAME TIME... that's the most horrible sound! I've read somewhere that human beings are biologically programmed to find baby crying unpleasant. I believe hearing two babies crying biologically programs me to want to run and hide. Fortunately that rarely happens. So this morning I decided the neighborhood yard sales were too tempting to skip. I loaded all three up after B left for work and we went sale-ing. I scored some great finds! Gymboree dresses in 4T for $2, like-new cute frames for .50, good quality shoes and snow boots for Brianna for .50, books for a quarter... Brianna was having so much fun going through all the books and being able to have whatever ones she wanted (though I took a few out when she wasn't looking - some kids books are really pointless and annoying). We hit 4 yard sales, visited some neighbors that hadn't seen the babies (confession - I reallyreally like showing them off and the ooohhs and ahhhs from strangers - as long as they DON'T TOUCH!) and were gone for 3 hours! That's the longest I've been out of the house in 6 weeks! Sad, I know. But days like this make me feel more normal. Getting a decent night's sleep helped too - both babies gave me a 4-hour stretch - at the same time! Then a two-hour then a one-hour. That's good for us. I think I even have enough energy to go hit the pool for some laps. That will help me work through my depression about missing the Cedar Half Marathon today. Yep, still mourning over it. Dang knee. Funny story - while strolling, I asked Brianna if she wanted me to push her faster and RUN - she looked very concerned and said to me quite seriously, "no, mommy. You'll fall down."  Sheesh. I've scarred her against running now. Hope she gets over it - because I sure will! So back to strolling... it was fun. I lovelove our stroller and the features on it.
Especially it's magical ability to put all the kids to sleep.

Reminder

I took this photo and texted it to Brian yesterday with the words, "remember who you REALLY work for!"

6 Weeks!

Courtney and Bennett must have been reading my baby sleep books, because right on schedule they've started sleeping for longer stretches at night! Well... one night anyway. Last night we put them to bed at 9:30, they slept til 1:30, ate, then slept 2am-4:30. That's amazingly good for them! And a full 4 hour stretch at the beginning felt amazing for Brian and I. He's so good about doing his part at night. With Brianna he rarely had to get up with me at night because I never really needed him to. I just kept her bassinet by our bed so I could just pick her up and feed her, then diaper changes were so quick, and she usually went right back to sleep. But this time around... Brian has had sleepless nights right along with me! But last night was better. And actually the night before that wasn't as bad as the week before. Hopefully this trend will continue. I'm trying really hard to teach the babies to fall asleep unaided. But it's SO easier said than done. I nursed Brianna to sleep all the time, and ended up with a 9 month old that still woke up 5 times/night, unable/unwilling to go back to sleep without being nursed for 30 seconds. We're not going there this time! Although another reason it's tempting is because I honestly love to breastfeed. I'm still amazed at how it all works - the whole foremilk/hindmilk system, the way babies are born knowing absolutely nothing except how to latch on and suck, the closeness, the ease of it all... I love it. The first week or two of soreness wasn't fun, but now it's my favorite part of the day (all 10-12 times - yeah, they eat a LOT!) And tandem feeding is sweet. It's so fun to watch four little eyes go from me to each other then back to me then close and drift off (and I'm supposed to try to keep them awake?! Ha!) They're both getting better at doing full feedings and not snacking. Though sometimes they pull off too soon and get sprayed in the face and up the nose - hard. Over-supply issue here! Is this TMI to be talking about booby milk? Tooooooo bad. This is my life. If I did bottles, I'd be blogging about cleaning them all day. But I do boobs. So that's what I blog about. Maybe if they'd start doing something besides eating and pooping I could blog about something other than milk and diapers. OH WAIT - they do - they've started doing a few little coos! I think that's what you call it. Cooing. The cute little noises. It's so nice to hear something besides crying come from their mouths.  
Brianna's doing pretty well with them. It's amazing how she can totally sleep through any crying she hears at night. The first few days she woke to it, and would yell, "MOMMY BABIES ARE CRYING!"  Oh thank you Brianna. As if I wasn't painfully aware. But she's stopped now. And actually she's started sleeping in later - like 7:30am. Thankyou Brianna! (not sarcastic this time).  The only issue we had is when she threw a pear at Bennett's head a few days ago. She hit him hard. He cried. But I don't think she was aiming for him. She also pushed him off the couch. Fortunately the boppy was on the ground and he was ok. I can't leave her alone with them ever. I don't think she'd intentionally hurt them.... but that could easily happen as she's just "helping" or "playing" with them. Today she told me she wanted to put Courtney on the swing set. Can you just imagine that one...
And now for the Mommy update... I'm doing SO MUCH BETTER! I can WALK now! Totally normal! I have some killer scars and an ugly knee for the rest of my life. Oh well. I can bend my knee almost 100%. It's still sore - like I got kicked in the kneecap by a horse. So no running. But by next week I'll try for sure. I've been speed walking on the treadmill and doing laps at the pool. It feels so incredibly awesome to exercise again. I'm like a druggie that hasn't had a hit in so long that the withdrawals almost stopped. But I'm happy to relapse. Brianna does pushups with me in the morning - I'll try to take a picture, she looks so cute trying. It feels so great to just function normally - walk to the mailbox, sit in a chair, sit on the floor, pick up stuff with my feet because my arms are full of baby (I know other moms do this too!)... I'm really grateful for a healthy body. Healthy - but far from in-shape. My belly is jelly. Seriously. So gross. And my pants are mostly all still too tight. But I've gotten rid of all my maternity clothes (thank you consignment store!) so I wear PJs a lot. Fifteen pounds to go. It's depressing to think of where I'd be at if I hadn't had the fall. I'd be doing a half marathon on Saturday. I would've been totally ready to hit it. I probably wouldn't be as jelly-bellied because I'd been running for 4 straight weeks. I can't even think about the half marathon, it's so depressing. A bunch of my friends are doing it. Ok must stop whining.
Bennett and Courtney are getting bigger! Everyone notices it. When visitors come by (everyday! I love it!) they comment on their size increase. They're even wearing size 1 diapers now and have outgrown all the preemie clothes. Bennett has some neck rolls. Courtney looks a lot longer. I swear she looks feminine and he looks masculine. Even if they were cross dressed I bet I could tell their genders. Maybe.  Or maybe I'm just a bragging over-confident mommy. I love being a mommy. I love having three kids. I love thinking about our future together - fun family vacations, FHEs, sports... I think life can only get more sweeter from here on out.

double diaper duty

Our sweet little big sister takes her "jobs" very seriously - one of them is to fetch clean diapers and throw away the old ones. She holds them up high in the air then SLAMS them down in the garbage can.

And... I think I already posted this one... but I really like it so it's going up again:
Brianna and her babies. I'm really glad I only have to nurse and diaper two of them.

Baby wearing

I have the Moby, the Mei-Tai, the ring-sling, a front pack carrier.... and now - a Maya wrap!

Babies' preference: the Mei-Tai.

Mommy's preference: Daddy holding the babies so I get a break!

(photo notes: that's my sweet friend Erika's little Ethan in the background. And our door filled with Christmas cards. I leave them up year-round. And it's Courtney in the wrap. And yes - not wearing any makeup, hair hasn't been washed in a week, double chin and flubby arms - that's life right now!)

Sleeping tight

The fun has arrived!

Now we just have to somehow turn this:

into this:

ps - I'm going to be really annoyed if Brianna likes playing with the jumungous shipping boxes more than the brand new swingset.

 ***update: Brian spent allllll Monday and Tuesday evening putting this together with a friend! It looks awesome and Brianna loves it. Though her 4-yr old friend Olivia made her feel bad because she doesn't know how to "pump" her legs on the swings. How do I teach Brianna to pump?!?!

fone phun

I lovelove my new cell. It's actually not anything fancy - just a Samsung W15somethingsomethingblahblah. My old phone cracked in the accident. I was trying to get by with using it and just not being able to see the screen. Then I stopped being so cheap and got a new phone. But it only ended up being $19  (oh, and I had to sell my soul to AT&T for another 2 years).
But the reason I love my phone is because it has a 3.2 mp camera! That's the best you can get without buying one of those fancyschmancy phones that requires a data plan. So it's a high enough resolution to print decent 4x6 photos, and more importantly - blog! Lots of fun features on the phone - like this:

Guess the diaper count!

Let's play a game...

How many diapers do we have in stock right now?

Bonus round:  How many diapers did we go through in the first month?

Closest guesser wins.... a FREE WIPE! (lame, I know. But these diapers weren't free! Ok, some were. And the rest were super cheap - never more than 15 cents/diaper! Yay for good deals).

Answers will be announced on Monday! (and everyone's going to come back to see the answer, right? Because everyone else thinks diapers are super exciting and the world revolves around them?  It couldn't just be me....)

The 5th Week Breakdown

I vaguely remember this happening with baby Brianna during her 5th week of life. But somehow my memory glossed over that horrible night and thought perhaps I would be spared this time around. But no, it happened again. Just last night. I broke down. I cried and cried. The sun was just barely rising, both babies were up, and I hadn't closed my eyes for more than an hour. And I hadn't closed my eyes for more than 3 consecutive hours for the past 5 weeks. My head hurt, my eyelids hurt, my stomach hurt, and of course my lacerated patellar tendon didn't help. I didn't want to bug Brian - he had been up with me most of the night already, and had to leave for a 12 hour work day soon. I knew Brianna would be up with the sun and I'd probably have to feed her or something. Everything was just so overwhelming at that moment - physically and mentally. I prayed for help to suck it up and somehow be able to do what I needed to do. Apparently that helped because I'm alive now a day later to write about it. And the only reason I'm writing about this now is so I'll have a reality check to read in case I'm baby hungry in anything less than 4 years. I hope my baby sleep books are right and that the 6th week will magically be better (something about the cortisol levels in their brains finally being sufficient for them to sleep 5-6 hrs at a time). But our babies were 2 weeks early, so will the 6th week developments happen in their 8th week?!  I hope not. I'm wondering if this 5th week crash happens to every mom. By this time, offers for assistance have declined, yet baby's habits aren't much different than week one. And for the first few weeks, surviving on the 1-3 hour naps is totally manageable. But it catches up to ya. Then right when you think you'll just DIE and leave your precious child(ren) semi-orphaned.... that fabulous first sleep-through-the-night occurs. I clearly remember when it first happened with baby Brianna. Pretty sure I cried again - tears of joy this time. So we're toughing it out til then. I'm really glad I had one single baby first instead of twins first. Or I may not have had any more.

Quick baby update:  they eat, sleep, and poop. That's about it. I'll go out on a limb and label them: Bennett's the gassy one, Courtney's the spit-up queen. Courtney's our bright-eyed beauty, Bennett is the serious furrowed-brow man. Both nurse well, both are chunking out slowly but surely. I think I may have even seen some sweet fat rolls on them today. They sleep in their car seats (cause I'm paranoid about them choking on spitup) next to a sound machine playing ocean noises. They sneeze a lot and have occasional boogers - thanks to a c-section with no labor. They cuddle up under my neck with their bums sticking out and legs tucked in. That's my favorite.

I have to stop typing now because staring at this monitor is burning my eyeballs. Good night (or good day - there's no difference).

Stitches out!

I'm finally free of the "spiders" tied into my knee (that's what Brianna calls them). I got them all removed today. Sadly, I still have to keep my right leg straight all the time until I go through physical therapy for gradual mobility. Apparently the tendon fibers could tear more if I go too fast. I see the Orthopedic guy tomorrow, which means another appointment I have to carefully orchestrate so all my kids are taken care of and someone chauffeurs me. I'm really grateful to my fabulous friend Lisa for sitting in the car today with the babies while these sutures were removed. When I hobbled back to the car today this is how I found her:

Poor girl - juggling two babies, trying to keep them happy, while attempting to read her Hunger Games book. I wish I could read it too - everyone says it's so good. But I literally - LITERALLY - cannot keep my eyes open and focused long enough to do any real reading. And I probably wouldn't retain anything I read. This sleep deprivation is getting to me. Where's the light at the end of the tunnel?!?! I don't see it yet.

Airing out

Confession: I only make "green-friendly" lifestyle changes when it saves me time or money. I get a few warm fuzzies from reducing my carbon footprint... but not enough to make me willing to sacrifice the bottom line. But fortunately for mother nature, I'm totally into line-drying our clothes. In addition to saving money and making our clothing last longer, I think it's kindof fun. I've never had a nice clothes line dryer until NOW:

We got this puppy from Home Depot! I'm so excited! It rotates/spins and folds away and holds a ton without taking up a lot of space. Booyah.

Brian recruited our neighbor Tom to help him cement the bottom part in. I think he really gets a kick out of doing backyard/outdoor projects like this - even though he isn't very supportive of my clothes-drying habits. I have to compromise and use our dryer for whites and his work clothes. Brianna also enjoyed the cement project and told me, "Daddy and Tom outside getting dirty."
=)

Quadruplets in our house

Brianna's new obsession life = BABIES. Not one baby - she'll rarely play with just one. It must be TWO.

Fortunately, we have two! Thanks to fabulous friend Kristin, we have this awesome twin doll set:

Thankyouthankyou! We love it. Brianna makes sure to swing, stroll, diaper and feed HER babies everyday. Then she attempts to do it all with my babies too. Poor girl is so busy with her four children.

To Brianna's AUNTS: Meg, Becky, Jenny, Lindsay, Jocelyn, Sammy, Meredith, Melissa, Ashley, Brandi, and Jami:

MORE delivery day photos

As if I haven't posted enough already....

Daddy and babies

Brian keeping tabs on the nurses per my request.
I didn't quite trust them.

Confession: I don't know which
baby I'm showing Brianna.

I was hoping Brianna would somehow magically
kick the thumb sucking habit when
the babies arrived. No such luck.

Our good friends the Gardners visiting.
They had to get to know the babies right away,
since they knew they'd probably end up babysitting our kids a lot.  :)

Courtney...with gas.

C & B

B & C

Brian practicing the double hold

Confession: we accidentally took one of these
striped blankets home and I doubt I'll
bother to go return it after the $9K bill we received.

Nonny, Brianna, Courtney and the bili-light-pad

Brianna wouldn't look up for any pictures.
She just stared and smiled at the babies all day.

Brianna about to leap on to my c-section scar.
Mom contemplating stopping her.

This photo actually captures a monumental occasion -
Brianna's first time EVER sharing HER blanket with ANYONE!
She decided on her own to share it with her little siblings!
Seriously, I was really surprised and touched.

Nonny and Brianna taking the babies on a stroll in their metal bed.

Do you know how hard it is to take a picture of
two babies while holding them?

The night before delivery mom gave me a pedicure! LOVELOVELOVE that woman.

This is the ridiculously massive camera Brian took into the operating/delivery room to film the event. Kind of embarrassing. I just posted it for sale on craigslist. Someone please buy it.

Sixteen days post delivery, putting on my shoes to head out for my first run.
It felt awesome. I miss it. If I wasn't such a clutz, I'd be
ready for the Cedar half marathon in a couple weeks.

My girls. And I look like I'm on drugs... because I am.