The Twin's "Social Resume"

Colin and Claire start daycare tomorrow at 17 weeks (just one week shy of 4 months old) -- they are 11 weeks, adjusted age. I filled out their "Social Resume" for daycare today, but there just wasn't room for all of the things I want and need them to know. So I wrote an email and am sending it to the school. (The pictures were not necessary for the email but I am also not one to do things at the bare minimum. It might be obnoxious, but I don't really care).

Dear ***Name of Daycare***,

Colin and Claire Ham start "school" today in the infant room, and there are a few things that I wanted to mention because it won't fit on the Social Resume. Can you please print this and attach it to their "All About Me" paperwork?

Colin and Claire are one week shy of 4 months old, but their adjusted age is 11 weeks old because they were 6 weeks premature.

 This is my sweetheart, Claire.

She is social and smiley, and adores having someone to talk to. Sometimes when you talk to her she'll grin so big you think she's never been happier in her life. She'll smile even when she's never been hungrier or sadder. She loves to snuggle and chit chat.

Claire has very little problem with digestion or fussiness and is not colicky, but can get overstimulated and struggle to sleep. She dozes, and takes cat naps throughout the day. She will nap anywhere, but is a very light sleeper and will not always truly fall asleep. She nearly always wants her pacifier to soothe her. I am also leaving a pink cloth "doll" that has my scent on it for her to have near her when she sleeps.

Claire also has extremely sensitive skin and cannot use Johnson & Johnson products. Please only use Pamper's Sensitive wipes on her skin as well.

She is very in tune with her twin brother Colin and if he cries for long, she will cry too. Usually, if you can get Colin to stop crying, she will stop as well. She is one of the easiest babies I know, but would benefit very much from some socialization from some smiling adult faces as well as some smiling baby faces. I would love if she could be around Colin to smile at him and continue bonding, but I'd also love for them both to interact with other babies.

Claire is strong and she can almost sit up already and has excellent head control. She could really use some work at tummy time and using those neck muscles to hold her head up. She rolled over at 5 weeks old, but has not rolled over much since about 2 months, so she needs a little more practice. She has found her hands and immediately puts him in her mouth. She is working on sitting up on her own, finding her feet, and holding a bottle.


When she's overstimulated she tries to stuff both of her hands in her mouth at once and she grunts. She doesn't like the sound of trash bags rustling or or loud sneezes, but she recovers quickly with lots of hugs. Her favorite things to do are sit up, talk to and smile at everyone, and cuddling with her twin brother.

This is my sweet little boy, Colin.

He is the strong, silent type, but adores being held and talked to. He may cry when you put him down, but that's because he doesn't want to be left there and worried you will leave him. If you talk to him when you put him down for a diaper change, he'll smile his big smiles and he won't cry. Colin does not take a pacifier because he refuses. I am sending a white cloth with stars on it that has Mom's scent for him to keep near him while he sleeps.

Colin has had some troubles with digestion for the last 2 months, and we are working on the miracle combination of food, a splash of prune juice, and probiotics to help keep his colic and his acid reflux at bay. While you won't need to give him any medicines while he is at school, I want you to know in case he cries and you can't figure out why. He's comforted by soft voices and smiling faces. He really likes to have help sitting up and looking around the room, and this also helps with getting out all those pesky gas bubbles too. When all else fails, he is calmed by being near his sister. At home, they sleep together.

Colin prefers to sleep on his stomach and struggles to fall asleep on his back. I know that because of regulations you cannot put him to sleep on his stomach, but if he is having a hard time, he will sleep better if you start him on his stomach (maybe tummy time?) and flip him over after he has fallen asleep. He likes to be rocked if he feels very sick, so you may have luck getting him to fall asleep if you rock him.

His time in the swing should be extremely limited, as he has plagiocephaly on the right side of his head, and we are attempting to keep him off of that side and out of the swing as much as we can. When you feed him, please put his head on your right elbow instead of your left in order to keep pressure off that side of his head. We go for a follow up appointment to see about a helmet on October 23.

My Colin is laid back and sweet, and I call him my little Bear. Even though he may cry it is truly because he doesn't feel good or he is overly sleepy, and he likes to be in a quiet dark place to sleep. I know that isn't always possible, but he is used to loud toddler voices because his big brother Adam is two, and adores his baby brother and sister. Colin is used to hearing his sister cry near him while he sleeps, so even just a little bit of quiet may help him calm down.

Again, if all else fails, just put him near Claire and hopefully he will feel better.

Colin does very well with tummy time and is working on controlling his head movements while sitting up. Colin also rolled over at 5 weeks old, but does not do it very often anymore and could use more practice. He is also very interested in finding his hands and is close to start working on finding his feet. He would benefit greatly by having some one-on-one attention if possible and some help practicing sitting up, because he's very motivated to do so.

This is their big brother, Adam, who is almost two and a half. He is in Ms. Jenny's class and absolutely adores "his babies."

Thank you so much for caring for my little babies while I am away from them. I hope that seeing Colin's face and big dimpled smile everyday brings you as much joy as it does for me. I hope that chatting with Claire's always smiling face is as fun and exciting for you and lights up that room just as it does at home.

Please do not hesitate to call or text me at any time.
Erin Ham

It's not a Pity Party if I'm Telling the Truth

Today is the first day of a week that, to put it mildly, I am not looking forward to. Since college I have made it a point to only complain when it's truly called for. So I avoid it at all costs... but this upcoming week makes me want to crawl into bed and hide.

On Monday I go back to work after almost 6 months on disability and leave (almost 7 weeks Bed Rest + 6 Weeks Disability + 10 weeks Leave of Absence to care for Colin and Claire). It is not that I'm dreading going back to work, because that's not it... in fact, in some ways work would almost be a vacation compared to the work I do here at home. I have almost forgotten what it would be like to have an actual lunch hour and eat without having to stuff it all in my mouth at once while holding a crying baby, or even to actually get to eat and finally shrug off that bad habit of grabbing candy and skipping the meal because there's no time. I don't know what it will be like to talk to adults all day long, because I have forgotten. I hope I'm not rusty.

But I know that dropping off my sweet babies at school will be emotional draining, and that I'll cry all the way to work, sit in the parking lot and try to calm down and make my face return to it's normal color (instead of that tell-tale blotchy red with puffy eyes that's a dead give-a-way that I've been balling like a baby).

After work on Monday I will pick the babies up and cuddle, but then need to take Eli back to the vet for a follow up on his ear infections, where they will probably tell me that they are not gone because who has the time to wrestle a cat to the floor twice a day and torture him with cold drops in his hears? Very few people... but especially not me.

On Tuesday Adam has an 8:30 am pre-op appointment at the ENT, who is a jerk, but a jerk I trust... and we'll find out what we're in store for when we have Adam's gigantic tonsils and humongous adenoids removed on Friday. Originally they wanted to do the surgery as a 30 minute inpatient surgery in a pediatric surgery center. But because of the size of his tonsils and his young age, they are doing it at Medical City in Dallas with a 23 hour observation. To say that I'm scared would be an understatement.

So this appointment will be right after I drop off two very sleepy babies that I haven't seen much of in over 24 hours, and I will probably cry harder on that day, and then I'll take Adam to his jerk of an ENT, who is very good at his job but has no bedside manner... and I'll try to ask questions while Adam climbs the walls and touches everything he can get his hands on. (They have A LOT of interesting things to touch in their office). While I'd go ahead and pick a different guy just on principle, Adam's tonsils are in dire need of removal, NOW. Not because someone told us so, but because I've known this for at least a year . . . and the time has come for them to go. 

On Wednesday is our 4th wedding anniversary. What, only 4 years? Well, in the grand scheme of things it's more like 12 years of friendship with 8 of those years being "romantic." We've packed a whole lot into the last 4 years though. (Wedding, House, First born, twin babies...) What are we doing for our 4th anniversary? You're very funny. (We took an hour and a half to have sushi on Friday night while my parents watched the babies. It was great sushi though).

Thursday I will be exhausted. I will probably cry because I haven't seen my babies and cry because Adam will have surgery the next day. I probably will sleep even less Thursday night, if that's possible... and I won't have any fingernails when it's all said and done.

Friday is the day of the surgery.



I'm extremely nervous. I'm more nervous about this than I was the pavlik harness, the helmet that Colin will probably need for his plagiocephaly, and even more nervous than when Colin was in the hospital. All of those times, the treatments were to fix something. And this time the tonsil and adenoidectomy are to fix something too: The constant infections, the constant sore throats, the behavioral problems because of the antibiotics, the snoring, the lack of sleep because of the snoring, the lack of ability to concentrate because of the lack of sleep from snoring... you get the idea. I think he screams because he can't breathe well and it opens up his passageways, and he's becoming a mouth-breather in an almost uncomfortable way. I would say that in the last two years, he has probably been sick 3/4 of that time. The adenoids and tonsils are starting to interfere with his life, and I've known that his adenoids have needed to come out since he was about 6 months old.

But this time feels different than the other scary parenting moments, like I'm sending him in to intentionally feel pain. This is temporary pain that will in the long run cause him less pain over the course of his life, but still. It feels scarier. Mostly because they will be using anesthesia and using a scalpel. I don't like it. Not one bit. I've been on the verge of tears since I scheduled the surgery.

On Thursday of this week I took the babies to Party City and got Adam some balloons. He loves to read Curious George and at the end of the book, where the man is selling balloons, Adam tries to grab them off the page. He yells at the little boy who gets to have the balloons (yes, the cartoon), and tells him they are "Adam's balloons!" (This is just part of his charm; tonight at dinner he had yogurt and pizza and he said, "NO, PIZZA, it's Adam's yogurt!" as if the pizza was making a move on his side dish.)

The balloons were a great hit. I probably should have saved it for surgery day but I don't care. I will spoil all my kids as much as I possibly can when it costs less than $5 and I get to tell them how much I adore them.

 

This past Friday was the last free day for Adam and me to make pancakes. It had become a tradition, and this time he even got to help crack the eggs. When he started stirring, he asked me to take a picture of him. He really does know the drill.

Adam can say pretty much every word: "Incredible, extremely, eyebrow, binoculars..." But he has trouble with his "p"'s and it's very, very cute. Unfortunately all of his favorites start with p, so we translate...

Pancakes are "cancakes"
Popcorn is "hotcorn"
Popsicles are "hotsicles"
Lollipops . . . well, he has trouble with L's too, and he knows it, so when I say lollipop, he repeats "sucker." Smarty pants.



Later that day while we were washing baby bottles together, we heard a baby cry (I'm pretty sure it was Colin, but Adam knows how to fix it when Claire's upset -- he gives her the pacifier. Or he just shows up in her face and she grins). Adam said:

"I'm coming, Baby Claire, I'm coming! I'm just washing baby bottles and then I'm coming."

He then filled up a Dr. Brown's baby bottle with water, put all of the attachments together (which, if you aren't familiar, the Dr. Brown's are probably some of the best out there but they are kind of a pain to assemble. He did it like he's been doing it for years). He came running in and looked at me all sweetly and offered it to her. It broke my heart to have to tell him she needed milk instead. He's such a sweet boy.

So instead, he showed her the bottle and said, "TA DA!" (Which is my new favorite thing - he is a little magician who says "TA DA!" when he assembles something, when he opens something up, when he finds something, and then, sometimes, he'll just walk into a room, spread his arms wide and say, "TA DA!" because he has arrived. That's my favorite.)



Here are some more pictures of my last day at home with my sweethearts.

Rare "all together" moment.

"Claire, look!! There's another Mom in the shiny door."

Rocking away Colin's colic.

Silly face

Her tutu.

 

"Oh, Colin, you're so cute!"

 I'm going to miss this. A whole hellavalot.

How to Fill an Entire Day

8 pm Saturday Night: Adam is put to bed after a VERY rough day of tears, yelling, and defiance which is a direct result of feeling bad and not getting enough sleep over the last week. (He needs sleep, but is too tired to sleep. Ever been there?)

8:30 pm Saturday Night: I go to bed with Colin. Shannon goes to the couch with Claire.

1 am Sunday Morning. Adam wakes up screaming. I put him back to bed.

2 am Sunday Morning. Adam wakes up screaming. Shannon puts him back to bed.

3 am Sunday Morning. Colin wakes up hungry and I feed him (He slept 9 hours!!)

3:30 am Sunday Morning. Adam wakes up screaming. I put him back to bed.

After feeding Colin, I need to pump. I just do. So I do for about 20 minutes.

4 am Sunday Morning. Adam wakes up screaming. Shannon puts him back to bed. I watch him in the video monitor that we set up since the sleep has been so bad lately. He lies there for 20 minutes, not crying, not upset, just not sleeping. I believe I went back to sleep before he did.

7:30 am Sunday morning. Colin starts to stir. I jump out of bed. I have a soccer game at 9 am and need to leave the house by 8, but also need to feed Colin, pump, get dressed, and get out the door with my bag and water.

I have no time to pump. I nurse Colin. I get dressed. I look far too long at my stash of Red Bulls and realize that it isn't the breakfast of champions. I grab some grapes for breakfast. I make a jug of water. I find my keys. I kiss Claire on the head and she smiles at me. I contemplate running away with her and just hanging out and smiling at each other all day. Adam wakes up about ten til 8 and I get him some grapes. He is happy because he finally got some sleep... until he realizes that I'm leaving and he wasn't invited to come.

8:15 am. I manage to get out the door. I still make it on time.

8:30 am. I'm on the soccer field, meeting 13 new people and feeling very nervous about playing my first soccer game in almost exactly three years (no games since I found out I was pregnant with Adam). During both pregnancies, I dreamt every night of playing soccer. It makes me feel powerful, free, independent and confident, and relieves stress. I believe this is why I dream of soccer while pregnant - it's my way of returning to myself at night while I sleep.

In my dreams, I am awesome. Professional, even. In real life today I was . . . okay. I was in better shape than I expected, probably because my kids keep me up and moving all day long. My skills were rusty and my sprained foot/ankle held me back a tiny bit even with the brace, but I didn't pass out. One time my whole upper body kept going while my legs decided not to move, and I fell on my face. That was embarrassing. But I didn't have any complete disasters. I played 80 minutes of a 90 minute game as sweeper, and no one scored while I was in the game. We won, 3-1, the goal against us being about 5 minutes after I came off the field. I am not going to be able to walk tomorrow, but I don't even care. I had a blast.

10:45 am. I stop at Raising Canes for lunch for me and the guys.

11:15 am Lunch.

12 pm Sunday afternoon. Adam goes down for a nap. I convince him that if he goes down for a good LOOOONG nap, we'll go see Mamie and the Grand Pepa afterwards. He basically runs to bed. And only gets up about 3 times before staying there.

12:30 pm. Shannon and I watch football and I convince Shannon that we (meaning I) should really do the laundry. I do two loads . . .

1 pm. Shannon and I feed Colin and Claire.


1:30 pm - 2pm. Take pictures of Colin and Claire in Cowboys gear.

 

2 pm - 3 pm. Talk to Colin and Claire and help Colin fall asleep.

3:30 pm Sunday afternoon. Adam wakes up from his nap, asks for his backpack, packs his blankie and his pacifier, and then says, "Go see Mamie-Pepa?"

(Shannon ends up doing all the laundry and hanging it up. Thank you, thank you, thank you.)

3:45 pm Sunday afternoon. We leave for Mamie-Grand Pepa's house.

4 pm. Talk to Mamie and the Grand Pepa in the backyard, then decide to go for a walk with Koko to the playground.

4 pm - 5 pm. Walk Koko. Slide down slide. Slide down slide. Go up Ramp. Find a square rock ("My hold it!") Swing on all the swings. Walk back with Koko.

5:30 pm. Adam eats some mini corndogs and plays with a money bank with Mamie, then does a puzzle, then cries when I tell him we need to go home and see Colin and Claire and Daddy... "No, Momma, see Mamie and Pepa."

6 pm. Leave despite the tears and desperate pleas to stay. Get McDonald's (two fast foods in one day, yes, I know. It was mostly for me.)

6:15 pm. Exit the freeway. Adam whines. Adam throws up. Adam moans "owwww..." Adam throws up again. Call and warn Shannon, ask for back up.

6:20 pm. Shannon helps strip the car down. I strip the boy down and give him a bath.

7 pm. Adam in pajamas. Adam eats and feels better. I hold Claire for 15 minutes and we giggle and smile at each other.

7:30 pm. I finally pump.

8:30 pm. Adam and I read Curious George. Adam goes to bed.

9 pm. Adam finally lies down and goes to sleep.

9:30 pm. I finish writing this blog. And now, I will ice my foot, take some Tylenol, and pass out.

Good night.

Where Have You Been All My Life?

Okay, the title is stupid. I agree. You agree. Let's just move on with our lives. The point is, there's an app that I have been resisting. Ugh, Instragram? I so don't need that. Well, I'm sorry Instragram, I was wrong and I hope there are no hard feelings... you are so much fun. Maybe not marriage material, but definitely an app I can have fun with.

Caley has gotten a lot of publicity lately, but we do still have two cats. Gus is about 13 and Eli is about 9. After the babies came home, Eli started spending more time outside. I guess he was feeling like the house got too full... and then Colin came home from the hospital and Eli was nearly the first person to greet him. But shortly after that, he went back outside and pretty much stayed there. For about a month, I let it go because I had way too many things going on, but I constantly wondered if it was due to the lack of space in bed or to something else... until I realized one night when I was trying to tell him he could sleep inside instead of in the heat, I realize that he STUNK. I stopped trying to convince him to come inside, but made a vet appointment for his ears.

And after getting them cleaned out, they told me he had two very "impressive" ear infections - and the tech even told me it was one of the worst cases he'd ever seen. Of course.

And here's my pretty Gus Gus in his new collar...

After I "Instagrammed" that picture of Eli, I was hooked. Oh no. I took my new toy and Colin and I goofed off... A LOT.

 

 

And then I got some of Claire...

Mesmerized by biggest brother

She wants to take pictures, but she she talks the whole time. Makes me wish I was taking video instead.

Claire's big grin.

And of course, a couple of them together...

Cowboys Cheering Section

Go Cowboys

And then, because I couldn't help myself... I made Shannon, Adam, and Caley (and Koko, Mamie and the Grand Pepa's dog), get in on the action.

Our first walk in the new stroller

Copying Dad.

Walking Koko.

And then I did some with Colin and Claire together with Shannon...

Can you tell who is who?

 ... and me...

First Day of Fall Photos Featuring Dapper, Proper, and Frolic

Today I looked at the mess of a kitchen, the mess of the family room, the mess of the babies' room and of our room, and I did nothing. I neither thought about cleaning it or thought about leaving it, I just did nothing.

I fed Claire, I fed Colin, and Adam and I had more waffle iron cinnamon rolls and some bacon, and then,  between everyone's naps, we took pictures all day long.

I think I had the energy because my little Colin slept all the way through the night last night. After watching some of the football game, he slept from about 10 pm to 7 am, and I even had to encourage him to wake up then. All day instead of eating 4 oz every three hours, he wanted 5.5 oz every 4 hours. Perfect. Maybe this is the beginning of a new phase for him.

Of course, Claire has a little cold so she still needed to wake up every 4 hours during the night, which is fine, and Adam has a tough time sleeping every night because he snores so badly and his throat constantly hurts (another reason he's so attached to that pacifier).

So even though I was asleep about 11 pm, up about 1 am, 3 am, 5 am, and then up for good at 7 am... that's still the best sleep I've gotten in weeks... wait. Make that months. How sad is that...

I believe I was able to tackle this activity because I felt somewhat revived by my vacation of a total of 5 hours sleep last night, and here's what came of it. I am calling these my Fall Photos: Featuring Dapper, Proper, and Frolic. Enjoy. (There's even and outtakes section at the end, so don't give up. Just keep scrolling!)

This series is one I call An Introduction to Frolic (before Frolic's nap)

Big Brother.

This next series is called A Boy and His Dog, featuring Frolic and his loyal companion Reliant.

Trusty Reliant.

 

The next, An Introduction to Proper.

And now, her brother: Meet Dapper.

Dapper has a half smile.

  Dapper and Proper also hang out together. Twins in Fall.

Proper has a half smile sometimes too.

 

Dapper also likes to wear suspenders. This series is called White Collar.

There's Dapper's full smile.

  Proper likes to dress formally also. Girl in Pink.

There's her full smille!

 

Wait! Frolic is back from his nap!

Here is Frolic in a piece called Frolick in the Trees.

And now, Frolic in the House. 

  ...And now, the outtakes...

OMG, MOM. THAT'S TOO CLOSE!!

Spitting is a BAD habit.

Little Wild Boy

Aren't you glad pictures don't have a volume button?

Wait, what?

My camera! I DO IT!!

GRRRRRRRR. (Too bad my Bear wasn't wearing his Baylor shirt for this one).

Baby Claire was so cute, Adam just HAD to touch her face and coo at her.

Claire says it's time to break for lunch. Look at the size comparison!

For future reference, as in, next week when I forget. Colin and Claire are 3 1/2 months and Adam is 28 1/2 months in these photos.