Well it sure has been awhile since my last post....I've been pretty busy as one may expect :). The girls did not get to come home on Thanksgiving :(. The night we roomed in with them, Lili has 3 bradys where her heart rate dropped to 30. Charli wasn't due to come home until Friday originally but they were going to let her come home with Lili on Thanksgiving for convenience. Since Lili was now pushed off another 5 days, we brought Charli home on Friday. It was tough leaving Lili in the hospital by herself....but she got to come home on Sunday so it was only for 2 days. Barrett was excited to meet his sisters! I think when we brought the 2nd baby home though he was a little confused :). He probably wondered why there were 2 that looked exactly alike and if there were anymore coming! He is an AMAZING big brother already and adjusted better than we could have ever asked for. Our family is a blessing.
Since being home the babies have done SO well. Last doctor's appointment, which was 12/19, Charli weighed 7.12 and Lili weighed 7.10....so they have gained almost 3 lbs since birth. They eat like champs! They never took to breastfeeding and I have stopped pumping. I wasn't getting very much and it was more tiring than anything. They got the most important stuff so I need to not beat myself up over it. We wish they were breastfeeding though....they go through a huge canister of Enfamil from Costco in 5 days!!! And we go through about 120 diapers in a week...that's including Barrett who will begin potty training after New Years. Once he is out of diapers we will be down to about 85 or so. I have mastered feeding both of them at the same time though. It took some practice, but with one in the Boppy and one on my lap, I get it done!
They have developed into little people with little personalities. As I thought while in the womb, baby A, Charli, is more laid back and takes after Louis. And baby B, Lili, is more fiesty and takes after me. They make funny noises and "talk" to each other all of the time. And they LOVE to be next to each other. I sometimes sit them together in the Boppy and they put their arms across one another....it's too cute!
My days seem to be consumed with feeding and changing babies, cleaning and always doing laundry....oh yeah, and sleeping when I can! Lili does well with sleeping in the middle of the night, only waking when it's time to eat. Charli on the other hand has her days and nights a bit confused....so we are working on trying to keep her awake more during the day. Louis and I share the responsibilities of feeding so we are equally tired :). We take turns every other day getting up with Barrett. It works out well....and I don't know if we would be standing if it weren't for him being in daycare during the week. That definitely allows for a bit of time for us to try and catch up. Although we admit, having 2 newborns is tough and we needed to have my brother Jeremy and his girlfriend babysit for the night while we went and got a hotel room to sleep. The next morning both of us agreed we could have slept another 12 hours...but it definitely did some good!
Christmas was fantastic! We hosted my family at our house. It ended up snowing on the 23rd-the 25th...so I had a true test of being a housewife since Louis was out doing snow removal :). I must say, I didn't do too shabby! I had to take care of all 3 kiddos, while cleaning and cooking for X-mas. And on top of that, once I finished doing all of that for the day, I had to bath all of us and get us ready to go to Louis' mom's X-mas Eve. It was very tiring, but I did it! I think the combo of those few days for me and the lack of sleep Louis got doing snow removal were the topper for us needing the night of sleep. Santa Claus was very good to Barrett...and he deserved it. He was such a great helper to mommy on X-mas Eve day while daddy was working! He LOVES to help clean so I gave him a Clorox wipe and he wiped down all of the walls and doors while I got some cooking done. And he helped with his sisters....which by the way he doesn't really know their names and it's so cute. He just calls them sisters. If you ask ones name, he answers "sister". I think he knows that one is Lili and one is Charli....but it's just easier for him to call them sister so that's what he calls them.
So all in all, I couldn't be happier. Having all 3 of my children together, home and healthy, is what I kept my mind focused on for the 10 weeks I was in the hospital. God made it happen and I couldn't be more thankful! I couldn't have done it without the love and support of my family and friends either, so for that I thank all of you. I will update periodically and keep you all posted on the crazy life of the Mullen family :). Until next time.......
