The Nelson Narrative

Thanksgiving was the twins' first, and my first hosting! It was so fun to finally be able to use all the wedding china and stemware. We had a small group--just us, Paul's parents, his sister and her friend. I made stuffing for the first time in my life and luckily it turned out pretty good! The girls got their first taste of mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes (of the non-pureed variety) and pumpkin pie. No turkey, though, as they still don't really have the hang of finger foods. Friday we started decorating for Christmas, and yesterday we made what will be the annual Thanksgiving Weekend trip to the tree farm for the Nelson Family Christmas Tree. It was kind of rainy and the girls got a little wet and fussy, but overall we had a fun time. Friday was also the girls' 9-month birthday. Olivia is finally crawling and is much less fussy--thank GOD! She's been pretty frustrated lately with her lack of mobility and her frequent whining was grating on my nerves! The last few d...

Last Saturday we spent the day at the In-Laws. When we got home around 10:00 pm, Olivia was shivering. I thought it was strange, but figured she must just be cold so I put her sleep sack on (which I was going to do anyway since it was time to go to bed). The shivering stopped and we all went to bed. The next morning we had a wedding to attend at 11:00 am (the couple had availability issues with their site, thus the 11:00-am-on-a-Sunday wedding). As we were getting ready, I thought she didn't quite seem herself but figured I was just being paranoid. We went to the wedding, but while we were waiting for the ceremony to begin, I could tell she didn't feel well. She felt warm and went from fussy to really sleepy. So, when the ceremony was over I decided to run home with her to take her temperature (we were only 5 minutes from home--nice!). Sure enough, she had a high fever. I gave her tylenol, called the doctor and then had to go pick up Paul and Kayley, who were still at the weddi...

If you're wondering what it's like to have twins, I'll use a trip to the store for a small taste. First, when I decide I want to go out I start by making sure both babies are changed and fed, then I have to pack the diaper bag (mostly already packed but I fill bottles with water and pack the formula or might need to add a few diapers or whatever). Then I have to get myself ready, i.e, put on a little makeup, socks, shoes, pee, grab a coat, etc. This can all take anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour and a half. When that's done, I get the carriers out of the pantry, put socks (they would normally already be wearing socks but they never stay on) and a jacket on one baby and strap her in. Repeat with the other baby. Then, since it's too hard to carry both carriers and the diaper bag at the same time, I take one baby and the diaper bag and carry them out to the garage. Then I go back in the house for the other baby. I get one baby in the car, go back to the garage for th...

Tomorrow is Halloween, and I've been looking forward to it for an entire year! See, I love being home on Halloween giving out candy to trick-or-treaters, but for the last several years I've lived in condo/townhouse communities that don't have many children so I/we haven't had any (or extremely few). Either that or I went to a party or had Bible study that night or whatever. This year we are in our new house in a very family-oriented neighborhood and are anticipating several. It was about this time last year that we were visiting this neighborhood frequently, checking progress on the house as it was being built, meeting with the loan officer, going through the model home for measurements and decorating ideas, etc. and as we drove around we noticed that many of the houses were decorated for fall/Halloween. It made me excited for this Halloween, knowing that we'd finally live in a neighborhood where we'd actually get trick-or-treaters and be able to hand out candy....

Today the girls are 8 months old! I can't believe it. It goes so fast. Kayley has started pulling up on furniture but Olivia still has yet to assume all fours. Routine-wise, they have started sleeping later, until between 7:40 and 8:00. Great on one hand, but it pushes morning nap time back so late that Kayley often skips her afternoon nap and Olivia takes it so late that she ends up staying up until 9:30 or 10:00. It's too early for them to have only one nap a day (mommy needs a break!)! I'm wondering if I may need to started getting them up at 7:00, but I'm just not sure I want to mess with their natural body clock, so I'll give it a few more days and see how it goes. The last week or so has been pretty tough as the girls suffered from their second cold (mom, too). One day in particular Olivia was very demanding of my time and attention, causing me to neglect Kayley somewhat. I felt horrible. That's one of the hardest things about having twins. You just do the...

The twins were born on February 28th, 2008 via scheduled c-section due to breech presentation. The surgery went fabulously, with both girls born at 9:09 am. Olivia Brooke was first and weighed 6 pounds, 13 ounces. Kayley Renee followed and was 5 pounds, 15 ounces. Great size for twins! The next 48 hours were a sleepless blur with a constant stream of nurses and visitors. We actually let the nurses take the babies to the nursery from 1:00 am until 6:00 am both nights so we could get some sleep--we were SO tired! I never thought I'd go for that but I was desperate! Unfortunately, however, it didn't really help because nurses were still in and out checking blood pressure, etc. all night long. On Saturday, March 1st we arrived home with our precious bundles, accompanied by Paul's parents, a family friend and her daughter, Paul's sister and her then-boyfriend. We all had dinner and then they watched the babies while Paul and I tried to get some much needed rest. Around 7:00 ...

So I finally decided to start a "real" blog (I've been doing a teeny bit of blogging on the Nest/Bump), although I'm a little leary that I'll be able to find time to keep up with it. But the twins are starting to sleep in even later (I thought 7:00 am was pretty good but now it's more like 8:00! Whoo-hoo!) which means I can stay up later so I should be able to find blog time after they go to bed. Anyway, they are almost 8 months old now! Unbelievable. I guess I have a lot of catching up to do as far as pictures, etc. but I'll take my time. This is such a fun age. They are really playing and interacting with us and each other and they laugh and giggle and squeal when we "chase" them or play horsie. Kayley is crawling and Olivia has two teeth. Their first Halloween is coming up and I'm not dressing them up. I hope I don't regret that later. I just can't justify spending $20, probably even more, a piece, on costumes that they will wear f...