Living the Dream

Photo from Flickr bitzelt

It's about 4:30 a.m. and one of my little girls is hungry because she hasn't eaten since she went to bed at 11:00 p.m. My wife wakes up and begins the routine of getting ready to breast feed my child. This doesn't sound too bad but when you do this every night and you only get a few hours of sleep your sleep bank becomes like the United States deficit, it keeps growing the wrong way. However, the kiddos will grow and hopefully like the United States deficit there will be a surplus down the line. I can't complain too much because I am like a crooked politician I steal but instead of money I steal sleep. My wife is like the middle class she is the engine that keeps our family moving. She has to feed the twins so she has to deal with a lot more sleepless nights and still has to provide the goods to keep the girls growing. I try to help but since I don't have the goods it is hard. I am however trying to talk my wife into letting me feed some formula every now and then so that she can get more sleep. I think the idea is starting to sound better one sleepless night at a time.

My wife and I talk about the days when we could sleep until noon if we felt like it and now we are really pumped if we can sleep in on weekend until 8:00 a.m. Our girls are growing very fast and it is crazy! They both have started to coo and smile when you talk to them. The other night they actually looked at each other and gave each other a smile. It was pretty sweet because usually Layla is the one smiling at Katherine but this time Katherine shot her a smile back.

Speaking of Katherine the little trooper was put on her belly to get her to work on her neck strength and she was so mad that she willed her self to rock her body to flip over. My wife and I were being really loud as we cheered her on to keep going. If someone had a video camera on us I am sure we would have been on YouTube and people would be like look at those fools! When she finally flipped over on her back she looked very surprised and she just smiled!

As a dad I don't realize how much poop and puke my wife has to put up with. I help with a lot of diaper changes but since I have to work she takes care of a lot more than I do. She also has to smell like sour milk for long periods of time because she is by herself with the twins during the day. I get puked on a few times and I have the luxury of changing right away because she is there entertaining the kids. The good thing is that my kiddos puke is not as nasty as it probably could be because it is just breast milk and not solid food yet.

One thing I want to make sure everyone reading this knows is that kids are amazing! I wouldn't change anything we have gone through for not having them. People can say all they want about "don't you miss when you and your wife had more freedom of sleep, going to events" etc. The reality is that yes we would like more sleep and like to go to places but no we wouldn't go back for anything. I think when my girls smile at me and coo at me I forget that I haven't slept or done other things in a long time. We are blessed and life is great, we are living the dream!

- The Babies Dad

p.s. hopefully more writing soon as you can tell kind of busy as of lately!

About The Names

I wanted to write a quick post about how we came up with the names of our two little darlings. There was a long period of discussion when it came to boy names but for girl names it took us a few chats.

Week Recap

Another week another 100 diaper's changed but I did get more smiles as well. I am just going to summarize the week like I did in the last post since I hear someone in the other room squirming. The babies' mom went to the store so I am all alone with both my little girls. They are suppose to be sleeping but we will see how long I get into this post before I have to go and see which one is fuzzing.

• I went to work on Monday as a first time dad and it was tough.
• I worked from home a couple of other days thanks to my understanding boss.
• There were a couple of really rough nights when the girls would eat and then want to just hang out in the middle of the night. It was fine until we parents started nodding off.
• Both the girls decided to poop on their mom on the same day. I thought it was pretty funny but their mother didn't.
• We officially hate Huggies preemie diapers. 
• We officially like Pamper's Swaddlers diapers!
• Even though times have been super busy we have managed to still do normal stuff like read, watch netflix and read magazines. 
• On Friday we took our first official family walk around the neighborhood. The girls slept through the outing but they seemed content in the stroller.
• They put out a mobile speedometer deal in our neighborhood and I decided to see how fast it would clock me at when I ran past it. I tried it about three times and I clocked in at 15 MPH!
• I was asked to go play soccer in the town we used to live and I was really looking forward to it but the girls had a different idea, stay up really late at night so daddy wouldn't play. No biggie we all slept and it was grand!
• We officially love Playtex Drop-Ins. 
• We also love the little Newborn Gift Set by Playtex a life saver, especially when we you don't know you are not feeding your kids enough and have to feed them formula for a day or two.
• I learned that trying to figure out a babies schedule is pretty complicated but as long as you are flexible the babies will be happy.
• This a tip for all fathers out there, the babies really like to be close to their mothers. One of my little girls will stay awake for extended periods of time until her mom cuddles with her for a minute or two then she will fall asleep.
• This same little girl stayed awake for about four hours with dad fighting the sleep, so dads don't have the magic touch, maybe when they are older.
• Having your mother-in-law stay the night to let you sleep so that you can function at the work the next day is pretty much amazing!
• Having your mother-in-law get asked how the twins are doing by the toll operator is hilarious but awesome at the same time.
• Letting your wife know how much you love her on a daily basis and her telling you the same back makes you love life even more.
• Having two little girls wide awake looking around at the same time just makes you wonder how amazing God is for creating us.
• Having your wife help you in your fantasy football draft while you take care of some unwanted visitors pretty much let's you know that she still wants you to do "man" stuff even with all the new girl power in the house.
• Taking naps during the day while you are at home reminds you of late nights in college. I wish we could take naps at work.
• Setting a date for when your babies will be baptized is really amazing.
• Knowing that your sister-in-law is coming to town to meet her nieces, priceless!
• Knowing your mom is coming to town and staying a while, priceless!

Okay more later...baby is waking up!

The Babies' Dad

First Day Back To Work As A Dad

Last Night

I want to start by saying that being a dad is amazing! It also takes a lot of patience and understanding. I am blessed to have a wife that has my back and is willing to talk through things even when it is 3 a.m. and we are both tired. I am glad to say that through all of this we still haven't had that "blow up" at each other moment. Yes, we did get a little edgy but the key is communication. We know how to talk to each other and that helps greatly.

The Dad Stories - Week One

To make this post more enjoyable and easy-to-read I will just use bullet points with random thoughts of the last week. Ready! Set! GO!

Hospital

• First night with the babies was brutal! Hospital wasn't very helpful after they were born. I will say some of the nurses were good but some of them were not. Katherine slept all night even when Layla would cry right in her ear. 
• I ate a bacon cheese burger from the cafeteria at about 2am. The burger was good!
• Katherine finally woke up in the morning heaving, which worried us greatly. It turned out that she had swallowed some of the fluid therefore she was a full happy baby.
  

Timeline of Events Plus Dad Stories

Friday, August 13
Time: 2:45 p.m.
The Babies' Dad Workplace
(Inside the babies' dad brain all brain power and skill are full blast!) 
Double check that the final edit is done. Oh Crap! They are paging the engineer! How much time is left? Finish! Finish! Finish!
(Engineer picks up the phone and dials 768 to pick-up the page)
J The Engineer: This is J the Engineer. Yeah, we are almost done. How long until we are done? gives me a "Give me a time!?" look, then replies: Ten-minutes at the most 15. words came through the phone Yes, we know shipping leaves at 3 and you need this right away. Okay, bye. (Hangs up the phone)
Me: I saved it. Do you need me to print it?
J The Engineer: Put it in the pending folder. I will run downstairs and get them to print these so we will get these out of the door.
Me: Okay.( I was thinking YES! We made the deadline! All this hard work paid off!) 

Time 2:55 pm
There are multiple people in the my cubicle. However, my phone rings and I ignore it. I check my cell phone since it is always on silent when I am at work and it says I missed a call and two text messages from my wife. I hear the following words over the speaker," Eloy call on 765" I immediately think,"OH CRAP!" I dial the extension and I hear a frantic/teary wife.

is it night or day? these babies like to eat and we suck at feeding them but they are eating. layla shared her excess food with katherine this morning. yummy!

okay so katherine is a sleeper and not much of an eater and layla is a crier and loves to eat haha crazy how that works love them still!

i am about to eat a burger and fries momma is resting and little girls are sleeping...layla started to chirp before i left so momma had me bring her over.

they were born at 10:05 and 10:17 on friday the 13th! thank you Lord!

hello world! katherine anne and layla mae  have been born! 5 lbs and then 5 lbs 1 oz! my wife is a beast when delivering babies!

everyone is healthy and they are kicking! more in a few...stay tuned ...i know i am cruel

going to deliver im going to be a dad! im going to be a dad! no text until done. love u all! pray all goes well!

baby is plus 2! full dialation! maybe i wont get to eat that burger and fries i just asked for...but i dont care! baby is moving out oh crap! baby is coming!

okay wife is feeling contractions a little more..wondering if she can have more medicine but will see what doc says in a bit

wife is starting feel contractions closer...oh and we somehow were stuck with a bad machine that has the ivy stuff..they just replaced it.dialation update soon

my wife said she is hungry probably not a good idea to eat anything here...lol...she is now taking a much needed and deserved nap!

if u looked at my wife right now u couldnt tell she was in labor. i married a stud baby momma! contractions are at 2 minutes apart

i know some people think what the heck is he doing blogging while wife is in labor..this is how we want to connect with family and friends and share our joy

i know some people think what the heck is he doing blogging while wife is in labor..this is how we want to connect with family and friends and share our joy

wife upddate: 8cm dialeted...about -1 station still...

water broken! paging doctor! i dunno what that mean... but its getting closer.

babies are making it hard for the nurses to monitor heart haha pranksters.... they are moving...oh i just heard "they want to break her water" from a nurse

leave it to my wife to ask for a chair for me...i didn't notice i had been standing this whole time

wife doing okay blood dropped gave her medicine and she is feeling better...oh it goes without say but prayers are welcome

dain epidural set up takes forever...i think they are done...going to read comments to wife in a bit please keep posting comments i will try to keep updating

and yes paper work sucks..i should have said paper work suxs bc my wife was not feeling good and they still wanted her to fill out paperwork...lame!

thanks for the comments! i will keep checking them as we go hopefully i have publish them so i just did lots of good people tuned in! love u all!

i was just called a pansy for walking out of the room while they gave my wife the epidural..haha i will not pass out! i want to see little twin soccer players!

paperwork sucks....but we are hanging in there

okay while they poke her with needles i want to say please leave comments so that i can read them afterword..and i can print them for our kids to read when old

oh crap! i looked back and they were about to poke her....ummm breath! i will not pass out...i will not pass out...!

they are about to stick her with a needle im not looking she is amazing taking the pain like a champ no real hard contractions she even smiled for me a few time

about to be moved to different room doc has been called...asking for an epidural now...but first need ivy!

wife has no epidural yet...she hasnt needed one but they just offered she thinks she will take it..more soon

twin update: 6 cm dialted -1 station...and nurse just said bulging bag 90% effaced....i think theey are on their way.
mom update: feeling good no hard contrac

i am frazzled but excited. they are hooking up the machines so that we can hear the twins!

heading to the hospital...maybe this is it!

this is a test.

Dear Babies This is Your Dad in 2008

I want to begin by saying that the day "our life is going to change" is right around the corner. God knows when that will be and what we will have (boys, girls or one of each). My wife and I are excited, nervous, excited, nervous, in pain (mostly my wife) and did I mention that we are excited and nervous? The twins keep growing and everything seems to be going well.

I must say that we have been blessed with the opportunity to become parents. We have heard and read about other happily married couples that have had issues or lost babies along the way. I can honestly say that it pains me deep in my heart when I hear those stories. The pain happens even if I don't really know the people because when it's not happening for you, the world seems to be stacked against you. The only thing I can do is pray for the families that struggle achieving pregnancy and for babies.

Baby Delivery Class: An Epic in One Post

"Umm...do the phases start all over when it's the second baby's turn to come out?", asked my wife sheepishly. The whole room let out a very dramatic gasp. I believe all the other couples were thinking the same thing,"She has to go through all that again!?" The nurse conducting the class answered,"Yes, but the phases will happen a lot faster and you won't have much time to really think about what phase you are in. As soon as the first baby is out, the next baby will be deliver as fast as possible." At that moment I looked around and saw that everyone was staring intently at us with their faces showing great sympathy.

My wife and I signed up to do this baby delivery class in one day instead of doing it in pieces. It just worked out better for us. There was a lot of stuff that they covered in this class. I believe we are better prepared because of the stuff that was covered. However, I don't even know where to begin!

The Babies Are Coming!

The Dream

I have to start this post by saying that there are no words to describe how I feel about being a dad. I have imagined all kinds of scenarios of how it will be but I can never see baby faces in those scenarios. Last week I woke up smiling because I had a dream where we were at the Hospital and they were delivering the twins. I remember holding my wife's hand and then watching the nurse clean the goo off of one of the kids. The next thing I did in my dream was say, "Hey, Baby!" Then this beautiful new creature that I will someday call my son/daughter looked up with these really big dark eyes and dark hair and just looked at me intently. It was like the kid new who I was and he knew that we were now a family. I also remember how I looked over at my wife with my "OMG!" face. My wife just smiled back at me and the doctors kept working on the other baby.

To The Love Of My Life

Dear Wife,

Today is July 12th, 2010 and it is our two-year marriage anniversary. I want to write you this "love" letter because I thought it would make you laugh. The other reason for this letter is because when I get old and grumpy you can read this back to me to remind me of our first two years of marriage.  I guess I better start writing some of the memories of our first two years.

How We Told Our Parents We Were Expecting..And Then Told Them Again

The hardest thing to do when you are expecting is coming up with a creative way of letting your parents know the great news. My wife and I talked extensively through our marriage about the different ways we could break the news to our parents. I must say that some of our ideas were very cliche. In this post I will explain how our pregnancy news was delivered.

The Challenges

The first challenge that came up during the conversations my wife and I had was how we were going to let my parents know the news. I would like to preface this by saying that we are in an interracial marriage. That means nothing to us but I guess that is what people would categorize our relationship as. My parents understand English better than they can speak it.

The second challenge was keeping the news quiet until we told both sets of parents. We were very worried that if somehow people found out we were expecting, the news would be all over the internet. We did not want to have that happen. We like the people we are "friends" with online but we also are kind of old school and wanted to call our parents first.

The third challenge came in the form of creativity. How could we deliver the news and make it a little bit more special? I believe I am the creative person between the two of us but my wife was of great help on this topic.

You are going to be a dad, to twins!

"Will this be the month?", my wife asked in a doubtful voice. "All we can do is pray and hope that this is the month," I replied. My beautiful wife and I tried to achieve pregnancy for about a year and a half by now. To some that doesn't sound like a long time but to us it was an eternity. As a husband I was running out of encouraging words to say at the end of the month when mother nature sent my wife her unwanted gift. It was tough seeing my wife's face wet from the rolling tears pouring out of her baby blue eyes. It tore me from the inside because as a husband you always want to do whatever you can to make things right for your wife. In this case all I could do was pray and keep the faith.

Our Struggle

Our story is no different from other couples trying to achieve pregnancy. As young couples we get excited at the thought of starting a family. The let down happens when you realize that pregnancy isn't as easy as you think. Through our troubles achieving we heard other couples' struggles and realized that this sort of thing was more common than we thought. After consulting a couple of doctors and trying some different things we decided to take a step back and regroup our thoughts. We discussed the possibility of not being able to pro-create and those discussions were really mind numbing and exhausting. Were we ever going to have kids of our own? Was there something in her body that wasn't working? Was my body to blame? All these questions and no concrete answers.