AHHHHHHH!

James talking to Linda Templin..actually I was talking to her on the speaker phone and he was listening..it was really cute.





John David after his diaper change.




Many are asking...."How is it going?" Well, it is going like 5 kids under the age of 7 goes...loud, chaotic, stressful.... but more JOY, LOVE, and ADMIRATION I have ever felt in my life. The girls have adjusted well. Rob has done a remarkable job around the house (a true Mr. Mom) and I am becoming more whole each and every day. I guess when I look at where we have come from with this experience...I have to breathe a big sigh and say THANK YOU. SO here is the gist of the day:

Day Three: still eating every four hours AROUND THE CLOCK! So thankful each time I have to get up out of my warm cozy bed to feed TWO babies, however, it is hard to WAKE THEM UP each time to feed them. I have always been old school thought on "Never wake a sleeping baby", but this time it is different. These babies have to eat every four hours to maintain nutrition. So, I pretty much have to set my alarm clock each night for 1:00am and 5:00am so they can eat at their scheduled times. Tonight John David had some major POOP issues. He had not had a bowl movement since Wed. so Daddy went to Walgreens and got him some supositories. Worked like magic! Green magic that is..hahah!

We had a wonderful dinner delivered to us last night, (thanks Claire Caldwell, the soup was awesome!) and also tonight my super great roommom, Kelly Hazelwood, from school brought two meals and a very generous class gift from my kiddos. I sure miss my students. Teachers grow really close to their students when they have major life experiences like I have had this year. I will never forget them and what some of them did for me and my family during this time. I have truly been blessed with amazing kids and parents at Oak Mountian... Thanks Lucy Rice and Samantha Taylor and mom for preparing two delicious meals for our family. I tell you, if it weren't for these incredibly nice people bringing supper, we'd be back to corn dogs or oatmeal every night. Hopefully in a week or so I will have a better handle on "life" and be able to cook my family supper again. For now, we are all in survival mode. I pretty much spend 12-14 hours a day with BABIES, feeding, burping, changing and feeding, burping, changing, and all the same again and again a couple more times. Of course there are three other sweet angels that need my time as well. So between taking care of two newborn babies I am trying my best to be a great mom to Claire, Ellie and Jenna. I do have one friend (whom I admire so much) who has been exactly where I am standing right now. Her name is Kristy Wilder. God made sure for us to find each other. We met (through a substitue and church group) during my pregnancy. She had three boys and then twin girls. Seriously how many people do you know have three children of one sex and then twins of the opposite sex..??? She has been the best comfort and support through everything. I value her as a friend and look up to her as well. She is the director of the nursery at Brook Hills.

These little guys are changing so much each day it seems. I am still in awe of them. Ashley Richardson took Ellie for the weekend to have a spend the night party (bless you Ashley) and when they arrived today, Ashley was able to take a peek at the boys, she had tears and I did too~ it isn't hard to get emotional looking at them and remembering their journey into this world.

I am going to go to bed now for about an hour and a half, so I can be ready to go for the 1:00 feeding. By the way, nothing is more precious, sweeter, than nursing both of the these teeny tiny miracles. Tonight was the first time both boys nursed wihtout "help" from me or a breast sheild. Major accomplishment for preemie babies to nurse unassisted. Hopefully soon I'll have two footballs to hold and can cut our feeding time in half...nursing both at the same time.

FYI- Feeding schedule is 1pm, 5pm, 9pm, 1am, 5am, 9am...thank you NICU nurses.