A visit with Mamaw and a trip to the zoo!

I'm horribly behind in posting about our lives, and we've done so many fun things recently! I'm going to try to get caught up, although I may post things in a kind of random order for a while.

The first week in August, Estella and Cordelia were two weeks old. Adelaida was making a huge adjustment to life as a big sister, and Dale was going back to work. I was still not getting around very well after my c-section and seemed like I was nursing almost constantly -- and nursing was still pretty painful. The constant nursing continued through the night, so I wasn't getting a whole lot of sleep -- and neither was Dale, who was up almost all night changing the babies' diapers and soothing one baby while I nursed the other. It was into this crazy household that Mamaw came for a visit.

What a great help she was! With the constant nursing and little sleep, I was having a really hard time doing even simple things like unloading the dishwasher and helping Adelaida use the toilet, not to mention the more time-consuming tasks like making dinner and going grocery shopping. Having Charlotte around enabled me to survive and even enjoy Dale's first week back at work after the babies were born. In fact, I was feeling so good while she was here that Charlotte and I took all three girls to the zoo one morning!

We had a wonderful time -- between the two of us, we were able to push the stroller, hold one baby part of the time, hold Adelaida's hand, and enjoy seeing some amazing animals. We saw tigers and seals and peacocks and kangaroos, and Adelaida was brave enough to let Mamaw hold her while she fed the giraffe!

After a long lunch for all five of us, Adelaida fed the ducks on the way out of the zoo. She had a handful of duck food pellets, which she put down on the edge of the duck pond. She picked up the pellets one by one, threw each one to the ducks, and laughed after each pellet was thrown. This was about a one-minute process for each duck food pellet, and there were a lot of duck food pellets! I thought we'd never finish feeding the ducks, but fortunately some other kids came up to Adelaida's stash of duck food and tried to take them from her, which encouraged her to throw them a little faster so that the boys wouldn't take her duck food.

When all the duck food pellets were finally gone, we walked toward the entrance and realized that we'd overstayed Adelaida's "happy time" by about ten minutes. We had a rather unpleasant walk to the car, which included me carrying a screaming toddler through the parking lot while Charlotte pushed the stroller. Adelaida took a really long nap that afternoon!

All in all, we had a great time with Charlotte visiting, both at our house and on our trip to the zoo!

Cordelia and Estella at Two Months

The first two months with our newborn girls have been kind of a whirl-wind of nursing, changing diapers, visiting with family, and more nursing. For a few weeks I think I spent more than half of my time nursing one baby or the other! But all that nursing has paid off, as both girls are growing big and strong and healthy.

Cordelia has really grown a lot in the past month. Her head and neck strength have increased significantly and she loves to wrap her little hand around my finger and hold on to me. Just like her momma, Cordelia appreciates her sleep! She falls asleep easily and is starting to sleep longer stretches at night, although her little stomach still demands food a little more frequently than I would like in the middle of the night. Cordelia is still a little smaller than Estella, but catching up to her, just a few ounces behind.

newborn Cordelia
 

one-month-old Cordelia
 

two-month-old Cordelia
 

Estella has changed a lot this past month, too. Most significantly, she has become a much more mellow baby! For the first month, when Estella wanted something, she wanted it immediately. She would cry so long and so hard that I rushed to take care of her first, even if Cordelia needed my attention at the same time. In the past month, however, Estella has been crying less and less, and seems to be much more calm and able to wait for whatever she needs. She is also sleeping better at night! It is still hard to get her to go to sleep sometimes, but once she is asleep she will often sleep for an eight hour stretch at night.

newborn Estella
 

one-month-old Estella
 

two-month-old Estella
 

Such a great big sister!

Estella with a blanket and doll, courtesy of Adelaida

Before Estella and Cordelia were born, I worried about how Adelaida would react to the twins. They would certainly take up more of our time and we wouldn't have as much attention to give to Adelaida. Would she start to misbehave? regress with toilet training? resent Cordelia and Estella?

Adelaida holding Cordelia and kissing her hand

Fortunately and amazingly, she hasn't done any of these things. Adelaida adores her baby sisters. She spends more time "taking care of the babies" than she does playing with any of her toys. Sometimes when I'm nursing a baby she wants me to put the baby down -- but not so she can have my attention; she wants me to put the baby down so she can play with the baby!

Adelaida holding Estella

Adelaida dotes on her sisters so much that we've had to establish a few rules about them. Adelaida loves to give the babies kisses (only on their foreheads) and cover them with blankets (only one blanket at a time, and not over the baby's face) and hold them (while sitting down on the sofa with an adult supervising). I am amazed every day at how much she loves Cordelia and Estella and how lucky we are that Adelaida's adjustment to having two new babies in the house has been so easy!

A Dancing Fool

Part of being a great parent is protecting your kids, right? With three daughters, our greatest threat is going to be teenage boys. With that in mind, Dale took the following video of Adelaida "dancing" last night:


(Facebook friends can find the video here)

He can't wait to show it to her first boyfriend.

Even better, there is a naked version, in case the boyfriend is really really bad! (Note: Dale wouldn't let me post the naked version of the video, but here is a censored screenshot.)

One Month Old Girls!

Today, Cordelia and Estella turn one month old. Although it is hard for me to recognize it, I know they have both grown so much in the past month.


Estella spends a lot of time awake, just looking around with her great big blue eyes. (Yes, her eyes are still blue! They could still turn brown, but every day they remain blue gives her daddy a little more hope that he'll have a blue-eyed baby girl.) Estella's head and neck control has really improved in the past month and she can almost push her head up when she is laying on her tummy.

Newborn Estella


One-month-old Estella



Cordelia enjoys laying on her back, batting at toys dangling above her. Cordelia seems to sleep more than Estella does, but when she is awake she is active! Cordelia also has blue eyes, but they are darker than her sister's eyes and sometimes look almost hazel. With Cordelia's darker complexion, I suspect her eyes might turn brown relatively soon.

Newborn Cordelia


One-month-old Cordelia

Favorite Newborn Photos

Our fabulous photographer, Tammy Staley, just finished editing the photos from our recent photo session and sent us a CD with all the photos. They are great! Here are some of my favorites:

Adelaida kissing Cordelia, who is laying on top of Estella.


Estella


Cordelia snuggling up to Estella


Cordelia is on the left; Estella is on the right


Cordelia, wide awake and happy!


Cordelia


Dale holding Estella


Estella, Adelaida, and Cordelia, three happy girls!


This picture was taken moments after the previous one. Both babies are now awake and crying, Estella has grabbed Adelaida's face, and Adelaida is just trying to look at the camera and hold the babies' heads, like we told her to!


Dale, Adelaida, me, Cordelia, and Estella. A family of five!


Estella and Cordelia, former womb-mates, share a cozy wrap.


The other photos can be seen at our flickr page, http://www.flickr.com/photos/daleandmarie

Newborn Photos

When Cordelia and Estella were eight days old, we had a professional photographer come out to our house to photograph the girls and our family. She was here for four hours, posing the girls and taking amazing photos of them, and she didn't even bat an eye when all of her beautiful cloths and backdrops were peed, pooped, and spit-up on!

The photos are now available to view. First, she put a few of the photos on her blog, at http://staleyphotography.com/blog/. Go to the August 6th entry (titled Twin Newborns) to see our photos. Now, I have a favor to ask of you. Please go to this website and look at our pictures, and at the bottom of our photos, please comment on them! If we get at least fifteen people to comment on the photos, we'll get a free 8x10 portrait. Thank you!

The blog only has a few photos, but she took hundreds of photos. To see more, go to http://www.staleyphotography.com/. Click on the baby on the left to Enter Site. At the bottom right of the next page, click on "CLIENTS." A box will pop up in the main part of the site; the box will say "Enter Password" above it. Enter "Parkes" (without the quotes) and click on "Submit." You'll see our photos in a slideshow mode; to see them at your own pace, click on the photos on the bottom right of the screen (more photos if you click on the down arrow next to the photos). The photos will only be available until August 21, so check them out soon!

The First Two Weeks

We've now had our little girls home for two weeks and are settling into a nice routine. The girls are generally sleepy in the morning, then seem to wake up just in time for the family's afternoon naps. So, I end up getting a lot of housework done in the morning, then in the early afternoon we all lay down for naps -- Adelaida sleeps for two hours, Estella and Cordelia sleep for about fifteen minutes at a time but mostly want to nurse, and I try to lay down to rest but end up nursing for most of nap time. Eventually I give up on my nap, Adelaida wakes up, and we eat dinner. Cordelia and Estella nurse more in the evening, then sleep pretty well in their crib at night, generally sleeping in three-hour stretches at night. All in all, it's a routine I can live with!

The first week or so we were so intent on surviving that we didn't take as many pictures as we should have. But we did get some pictures, and even more this week. Here are some of my favorites.

This was the day after we came home from the hospital. Dale wasn't yet exhausted and even had a big smile on his face! Estella is in Dale's right arm and Cordelia is in his left.


We put Estella and Cordelia in their crib and Adelaida wanted to go to sleep with them. She soon realized she was too big for the crib! Estella is on the left and Cordelia is on the right.


Dale -- the ultimate multi-tasker! He is doing his knee exercises with the theraband, holding Cordelia, and catching up on the news on his phone.


Nonna and her three granddaughters. Cordelia is on the left and Estella is on the right.


Poppa holding Cordelia.


A family of five! I'm holding Cordelia and Dale is holding Estella.

Meet Cordelia and Estella

Estella Mae Parkes and Cordelia Belle Parkes were born on July 17, 2011. I won't dwell on the details of the labor/delivery, except to say that they were born by c-section and both girls were healthy at birth, weighing 7 lb, 3 oz (Estella) and 6 lb, 13 oz (Cordelia). After being born, they were dried off, quickly assessed by the pediatricians, then handed to Dale -- he held them both for the next hour while I was stitched up.

Although I spent most of the pregnancy with fears of delivering tiny, premature twins who couldn't breathe on their own and weren't able to eat or control their body temperature, Estella and Cordelia were full term, healthy, good-sized girls and neither of them spent any time at all in the NICU! I carried them 38 weeks (I would have been induced the following week) and felt so blessed to have an uncomplicated, full-term pregnancy. Of course, I got very big during the pregnancy, but that was a small price to pay for healthy babies!



(After taking a picture of me with my shirt up, Adelaida posed for the camera as well!)


In the hospital, Estella and Cordelia shared a bassinet, and seemed to take comfort from being near each other. Estella is on the left and Cordelia is on the right.


Even before I was able to get out of bed, someone handed me two babies to hold!


By this time, Dale was quite a pro at holding two babies.


Adelaida came to visit us in the hospital and was in awe of her little sisters. She wanted to be near them all the time, to touch them and kiss them and hold them. She is quite the adoring big sister! (Here she is kissing Estella.)


I promise to post more pictures of the girls soon!

Still pregnant

This weekend marked an important milestone in my pregnancy: I reached the 36-week mark, which (for twins) is considered full-term! Ever since finding out that I was pregnant with twins, I have feared having them too early -- tiny little babies who couldn't breathe on their own, couldn't suck to eat, and would have to stay in the NICU for weeks or even months. Of course we would have gotten through that difficult time if the babies had been born early, but I feel a little bit better every day they stay in my belly. And having reached eight months, I almost feel like I'm ready to meet our little girls -- almost.

I'll have an ultrasound on Thursday where I'll find out how big the babies are, but I expect that they are at least six pounds each by now, which is a very respectable weight for twin babies!

Being eight months pregnant with twins has taken a toll on my body. I'm more easily tired, can't climb a single flight of stairs without gasping for breath, and of course have a little bit of trouble bending over. Here's the belly shot (and no, I did not stuff my shirt with a beach ball!):