Updates

There is so much going on that never makes it into here... but here are some updates from the past week.

First, I had my post-partum appointment with my OB.  He said everything looks good, and I was cleared to go back to exercising, and am allowed to resume having sex with Eric (should we ever have time).  I got weighed (which I had been avoiding) and found out that I have about 15 pounds to lose.  I have no plans to diet, because breast feeding makes me ravenously hungry, and I would rather be overweight and feed my babies than fit back in my old pants.  My OB also checked my abs and said they are in good shape, and said that my stomach looks great-- better than most people after they have a pregnancy with one baby.  That was nice to hear!

I came home from the doctor and did some push-ups to see if I could still do them-- I did 10 in a row, and then another 10 later.  Not a bad start.  On Tuesday and Thursday I went "jogging" for the first time.  I basically plod along with legs of concrete for as long as I can, then walk to recover, then go back to "jogging" again.  On Thursday I made it 0.7 miles before I needed to walk.  Considering that 10 months ago, when I had my last jog, I did about 4 miles no problem, it is clear there is room for improvement.

Last weekend we took our first road trip with the babies.  On Friday, my mom and I drove up to Cambridge to visit her parents, who had not yet met them.  The car apparently has a narcotic effect on babies, and they slept the whole way there.  When they woke up, I fed them from bottles, but they fell asleep in the middle of the bottles.  Here are pictures of them sleeping in the car:
Asher:

Benjamin:

They are wearing bibs in case of milk spills.  I think it looks especially funny on Ben!  The sleeping in the car was only good as long as we were in the car... when we got to my grandparents' apartment around 6:30, the boys were RAVENOUS and cried and ate for the next 3 hours.  They then woke up throughout the night every 3 hours on the dot to be fed, which they had not done since we stopped waking them 5 weeks ago! 

On Saturday, we went up to Maine to visit Eric's parents, and tons of family came over to meet the boys.  And we got to meet their new cousin, Kiptyn!  Eric's brother and his wife, Kerisa, had their baby boy on Sunday, May 2.  We are so excited that our boys have a cousin so close in age that they can grow up with.  Kiptyn is adorable! (Unfortunately, no pictures yet because Eric's cousin Deb took them and I haven't gotten them yet.)

But here are pictures of our nieces, Taylor and Myah, holding Asher:
Taylor (who just turned 6):

And Myah, who just turned 4, with Eric's mom next to her:

On Sunday, we had a Mothers Day brunch for my grandmother.  My cousin, William, and his wife, Rachel, joined us with their four children.  We attempted to take a picture of my grandparents with their 6 great-grandchildren, with mixed results.  William and Rachel's youngest was not cooperative, as you will see.

Those are the 2 best pictures of the approximately 8 that were taken.  My grandparents are 85 and 86 years old, and I feel so lucky to still have them, and for them to have met my sons. 

Then we drove home again, stopping twice to fully wake our babies and feed them big bottles (I was pumping while we drove, with my fingers crossed that we didn't get stuck in traffic!).  It took us a long time to get home, but our night went much more smoothly than Friday night, so it was worth it.  And the trip was good practice for our next trip to New England, in about 6 more weeks.