Four Months!

Being the tired, sleep-deprived, work-out craving mommy that I am, I didn't have a chance to post this yesterday (Wednesday), so we're a couple of hours late. But I figure you'll forgive me since, darn it, it was a busy day!

Yesterday was the boys' 4 month birthday!!! Holy moly! It blows my mind every time I think about it. That's 1/3 of a year! Seriously? We only have to go through that amount of time two more times before they're a year old, and I know exactly how fast the first four months went.

I'm personally at a very interesting...crossroads, I guess? I love, adore, and gush over Levi and Asher as infants. What's not to love about emerging chubby cheeks and rubber band wrists? But let me tell you, I am really ready for a lot of things that older children bring: being able to just hand them a bottle and they hold it themselves. The boys playing together so Mommy can accomplish something outside of the time when they're sleeping. Holding their own heads up all the time so I don't have to worry about two lolling heads. Less crying...oh my, less crying. I guess that's about it, beyond the obvious of looking forward to just seeing how they change and grow.

And yet don't get me wrong, for how much I am looking forward to those times, I am fully appreciating the sweetness of the present. Because I am going to so miss my infants when they are gone. I think I may cry now. Or have another child. Wait. Scratch that. We just met a gal yesterday at the Health Department who has two sets of twins. My uterus is cringing. I think I'll just live vicariously through my singleton baby producing friends.

Now, I don't want to jinx this, but I think we may be already heading towards bluer skies in terms of the boys' sleeping habits. I'm starting to notice a pattern, and I just hope it continues in the direction it's going. For the past week or so, both of the boys have been having their last feed of the night somewhere between 10 pm and 1 am, and then falling into a very deep sleep...which they then have been staying in for anywhere between six and eight hours. No joke. And then after their morning feed, whenever that happens, they usually sleep for another three hours or so. Let me tell you folks, this is bliss. Please Lord, I'm begging you, let this continue. Because it's nothing short of a miracle that they're both sleeping this well.

*Edit* Yeesh, for a second I thought I had jinxed it just by typing about it, because I heard one of the boys grunting and moving over the monitor but when I poked my head in their room, they were both still sound asleep. They're just incredibly active sleepers. Right? That's not crying I hear over the monitor now, is it? Please? Nope, that's definitely crying. DANG IT! Then again, it's not surprising since their last full feed was at 8:30ish and it's now 3 am. Excuse me while I go feed two hungry boys.*

Speaking of the Health Department, that's where we spent a good 4 hours yesterday getting signed up for WIC. Usually I hate the idea of using assistance like that because we have it a lot better than a lot of people, but let me tell you, considering the fact that we have twins and are surviving on essentially one income, I'm totally ok with taking however much free formula they're willing to give us! Which, it turns out, is actually quite a bit and will be saving us approximately $300/month. Yes, that's about how much we spend on formula each month, kid you not. Thank you Federal government, we appreciate it!

At said appointment, I got my finger pricked to check the iron level in my blood - not sure what they're going to do with that one; "Sorry, your iron level is low, no soup for you." - while the boys got weighed and measured again. So as of their 4 month birthday, Asher weighed 9 lbs 15 oz and Levi weighed 9 lbs 14 oz. Both of their height to weight ratios are at 80%, which the WIC nurse said was totally amazing for preemies. Woop woop!

After getting done with the boys' 1:00 WIC appointment (I had mine at 8:30 am, which consisted of the previously mentioned finger poke and a lot of questions about the boys), Nathan and I hit up the store with our freshly printed vouchers, got the boys' formula, and then my mom and I hit the gym. Oh sweet sweat, how I've missed working out. No really. The way my body feels after working out is kind of like a drug. What's that? Those are the endorphins, you say? Ok, well, as long as they keep making me feel that good, I'm more than happy to keep working out. Because have I mentioned how much I miss my pre pregnancy/c-section body? The one that had lost 11 lbs as of the day I found out about being pregnant? Cause if I haven't mentioned it, I do miss it. A lot.

And speaking of my mom, here's some exciting news! Not sure how excited they are about it, but I sure am excited! My parents are staying in Baker for the next month to help Nathan and I get further settled into our 'Nathan staying at home with the boys, Lindy working' routine and to give us a little more time to track down some good help with the boys!!! We're hoping to find someone older than high school age to come in on the days that I'm working, in order to give Nathan a couple of hours to rest since I pretty much work and sleep on the days that I work. 12 hours shifts will do that to ya if you want longer than 6 hours of sleep. Oh, and also to give Nathan and I the ability to have more than one date night a year. Ok, that's a bit of an exaggeration, but that's what I do.

So I get to keep my workout partner for another month, which excites me to no end because, ya know, I kind of like my parents. But then I'll need a new workout partner, because I'd love to be in good enough shape by next November to do the 2nd Annual Turkey Trot, the 5k race that takes place here in Baker on Thanksgiving Day. So if anyone would like to join me during my ridiculously random times at the gym (gotta love having a rotating schedule) or knows of an older baby sitter/nanny type just waiting for two adorable boys to come into their life, just let me know!