Alex and I took in a hockey game tonight compliments of Dan and Leanne. It was a Christmas present to Joe and Alex but Joe's back was too bad so I got to take him :) Stewart drove us to/from the game and Alex fell alseep on the way. He was pretty excited when he woke up in front of Mile One. He insisted on having popcorn, sitting in his own seat and seeing Scorch but lost interest by the end of the half time show after first period as expected and we went home. Fun time!
So it is almost 1:30 am and I've been up since about 6:30am. The girls were up three times last night and Alex once. Joe is on both a heavy duty muscle relaxant and a narcotic painkiller so he's been out of commission for most of the day with the execption of when Jen and Don came over to let us run out for a couple of hours (thanks guys). It has been a rough few days with so little of Joe's help but on the bright side it has given me the opportunity to get better at this 3 kids thing. If I could just get them all to sleep before midnight and have them sleep through the night even once every week or two I think this would be so much easier.
Tonight Sarah fell asleep early and just as I got Samantha beat out, changed and was going to nurse her hopfully to sleep, Sarah woke up. For a few minutes I thought the girls crying woke Alex too and I was starting to feel beaten but he didn't get up. I had to change Sarah too so once Samantha was asleep and Sarah was settled away I tried to nurse Sarah back to sleep. As you can see from this picture, that didn't work out in my favor. So I'm sitting here at 1am writting this blog, trying not to pay attention/stimulate her while she sucks on a pacifier in her swing with a full belly - a combination I hope will put her to sleep.Wish me luck.
Mom used to have a big boxing day meal for the Byrne family when we were still the "kids". We all still poke fun at the "kids table" that most of us sat in well into adulthood with some hope of eventually graduating to the "adult" table.
This year my cousin Jennifer and her family have abruptly moved home (much to my glee) and the tradition saw a comeback at thier spotin the East End. Three of the Byrne "kids" were in attendance (Jennifer, Brian and Frank) and Nancy called while we were there. Ed, Jon, Ken and Sharyn, some friends and relatives from the Byrne side. Mom, Dad, Dan, his lady friend Leanne and her son Ryan all went. Also, instead of one or two cooks this was a potluck and there was some damn tasty food!
Sadly Joe missed out on the event. He spent most of the day at the hospital about his bad back and I suggested he stay home to rest it up. It was hard trying to get through the day with the 3 kids, feedings, baths and trying to cook for the potluck on my own. By the time Joe got home and I got to Jennifer's I was almost 2 hours late but it was well worth it! Joe was asleep when we got home and well.. he still is! He has definitly beaten our record hours of sleep since the girls come home. I'm jealous :) There are a bunch of Photos of the gathering posted. Thanks Jen and Derrick for the hospitality!
Christmas Day we were late to reach the Norman family gift giving and meal at Alice's but they still waited for us (thanks folks). Sue, Jen, Don, Adam, Alyson, Alice, May - it was especially nice to see Tracy and the kids again. Joe too off early to get some medictation for his back but the kids and I stuck around until after dinner (mmm turkey). The Norman's have a "Santa Bag" tradition and you've never seen such a mess until you've seen Alice's room covered in wrapping paper and Santa Bag presents. I've also never seen a mess like that cleaned up so fast and replaced by a supper table. Wow.. just wow.
There are a couple of photos of Jonathan and Andrew playing with Alex in Alice's hallway that are very cute. I also managed to snap some awesome shots of Alex "hiding" with Aunt Sue under the dinningroom table. Merry Christmas and Enjoy!
Poor Alex didn't quite grasp the tradition of "daddy" going downstairs first and him having to wait until Daddy was ready for the kids to come down (aka turn on the tree and get the video camera). The poor child almost started Christmas morning crying! When he reached the livingroom and saw the train set Santa left for him, he was so excited he couldn't get past it to any of the other presents. We have it on video which I will post but for now I'm just going to get some pictures up.
A surprise treat was Sarah's reaction to the train. She'd stand by the train station watching as the train did the track and everytime it stopped at the station and made the associtated noises, she's go into fits of laughter. It never got old for her or us :) After we opened our presents, Kathy, Mike and Dan came over so we could open those we had for each other. You'll see a walking toy that both the girls are playing with from Kathy and Mike and a VERY LOUD tractor and dump truck they gave Alex that dad is playing with.
Unfortunatly Joe seems to have done something to his back and he thinks he might have a muscle in spasm (yuck).
PS: Sarah has a tooth!
I couldn't resist dressing the girls up for some photos. Alex and I got our cameras and did a photo shoot while the girls sat in front of the tree in our livingroom. What can I say, these two presents are the best gifts we got this year and Sanata hasn't even come yet :)
Joe and I put together the table for Alex's train set last night. His "big" gift from Santa. I can't wait till he sees it!
After a successful hunt, we let the tree dry overnight and stuck it up the next day. Stewart, Jen and Don came over to help decorate it. Alex has been pretty good with the tree so far but Samantha rolled until she got under it and managed to pull down 3 ornaments!
For many a year my family has been doing our Annual Christmas Tree Hunt. I remember when we used to hike to the old scout camp and spend the day hunting one down, drinking hot chocolate, singing christmas carols and dragging the darn tree back to the truck. How many times did we pick out a HUGE tree and hear dad say "sure, if you carry it back yourself..." or "the trees are like that (shaking hand) scared to death..." This era's quick jaunt to Hodgewater pond, driving over a snowplowed road right to the door of the "cabin" and walking 5 mins to find a tree almost feels like cheating.
I love this tradition which usually also falls on my brothers birthday. Last year my folks brought me back a tree. This year we snagged a beauty (good eye Kathy) even if it is the smallest one we've had in this house. All these milestones to Christmas are really starting to get Alex hyped up. It is so much fun :) I'm even pulling the "now Santa is watching and he only brings presents to good boys...." which actually works sometimes!
Here are a few photos of the outting. Dan and Joe cutting down the beast and some spectators :)
I took some pictures of the girls in just diapers today to help one of their doc's with a presentation she is doing tomorrow. Some of the pictures came out quite cute. Especially this one of Sarah. I had a similar one of Alex that my friend Chris Smith did when Alex was about the same age. The girls are doing well overall though Joe and I have decided the only real thing we want for Christmas is for them to sleep through the night :)
Samantha is so close to crawling! She gets up on her little hands and knees then rocks back and forth gently. It is very cute. Sarah is sitting up with some support from pillows and loves to play with the front of their walker. We all went up to visit my folks at the cabin on Monday while Jose, Anne-Marie and Jen cleaned my house (yay!). Alex loves it up there. We'll be going again this weekend for the annual Christmas Tree hunt :)
Today marks the anniversary of what I can easily say was the worst day of my life. December 5th, 2005 was the day we had our first ultrasound on the twins and were told by a radiologist that there was twins (we didn't know) and that one wasn't going to make it and more than likely, the other wouldn't survive the loss of the twin. I'm not prone to being emotional, but I've been anxious everyday leading up to today and I've had my moments throughout the day. I thought about hosting a party or as my cousin Jennifer aptly dubbed it an "F-U Party" for my family and some close friends, but we've been sick most of the last two weeks so it was hard to pull together. Also, I think maybe I'm a little too sensitive this time around, I guess the nursing hormones don't help :) I read back over what I wrote when this was all happening and I can't believe my two fighters are upstairs asleep. I keep wondering how we got through all that turmoil. I know I owe a bunch of people some credit and thanks along the way... Mom, Dad, Jen, Don, Dan, Sue, Doris, Frank, Stewart, Dana, Jay, Megan, Ken, Sharyn, Lisa, our doctors, nurses and of course my Joe. I owe a huge thanks to the girls of the TSPreg forum (you know who you are!) What a year hey guys? Here are some excerpts from the first thing I wrote shortly after the girls were diagnosed and with this note is a picture of Sarah's feet (top) and head(below) in one of her ultrasounds:
My husband and I went for the 1st ultrasound of our 2nd pregnancy just over a week ago. We already have a healthy, beautiful boy. We found out that I am pregnant with twins girls...
The doctors say there is no real hope for the ill girl. In fact, while they saying nothing is impossible, they estimate 2-3 weeks before she passes away...
We are facing so many challenges and I just feel overwhelmed...
I don't mean to be cruel but if this was a miscarriage it would be over and I could begin to deal with that, but I feel these babies moving inside me every day and not knowing if it is one or two or if there is even a chance for even the healthy baby at all is torture.
Sarah and Samantha were born with little to no complications on March 21, 2006 and I am the luckist mom in the world.
