Back to Work...

Week: 10 (Post-Pregnancy)

Weight: 133 (Pre-pregnancy weight=125 and Peak pregnancy weight=195)
Cravings: I'm not pregnant anymore, but unfortunately my ice cream craving kind of stuck with me post pregnancy. Calories in ice cream don't count when it's 100 degrees or more, right?!
Body changes: Luckily, my body snapped back fairly quickly. Within one week of labor, I had dropped 40 lbs. It appeared that a majority of my rapid weight gain towards the end of pregnancy was water weight. I do now have a nice flab of loose skin and stretch marks left, but I haven't done much toning work so I'm hopeful that I can at least tighten it up a little bit more. If not, it's worth the trade off for sweet little babies.

Rose (good thing) and thorn (bad thing):
Rose-I was blessed with two amazing boys. I love my life.
Thorn-I have a serious lack of sleep and acne like a teenager.

Tomorrow, I return to my job at Prime after I've spent the past 10 weeks with my new baby boys. I am choosing to go back to work 2 weeks early but part-time (Mon/Wed/Fri) for the first 5 weeks to help transition back into things. I'm excited to get back to the adult world of work life, but I thought I should finally get a blog written to catch up since my last one I wrote in June.

My 2 bundles of joy!

On June 13th, my whole life was changed forever as two sweet little boys joined us. Lucas and Logan were born about 10 mins apart via vaginal delivery, and I immediately fell in love with them. It was the most amazing feeling to bring two new souls into this world with my husband Josh. I felt like watching my husband look into our children's eyes and cry tears of joy over them intensified the love that already existed between us. We were so blessed to have two boys with no health issues except a mild case of jaundice. (Unfortunately, I had excessive bleeding  post delivery and was sent back to the operating room to have an emergency DNC. This is what caused extra time for the boys and I in the hospital. The loss of blood on top of the pre-eclampsia that I had (that caused my admittance into the hospital for labor) created the need for more healing time.) 

Proud daddy with his boys

Just as everyone says, time flies with kids. When I was pregnant, time seemed to stand still. I just couldn't wait for the boys to get here. The babies finally arrived, and it all seems like a blur already. The past 10 weeks have been filled with literal sleepless nights, multiple meltdowns, bouts of crying (from both myself AND Josh), getting pooped on, puked on, and peed on, learning to breathe, learning to tune out crying (as much as possible), learning to let others help, learning to sleep 10 mins at a time, discovering what a hemorrhoid is (in case you're wondering, they suck), finding out that I'm talented at balancing two babies in one arm, and falling more in love with my husband.

Cousins...Luke, Logan, Alistair, Emerick, and Thomas

Being a mother is the most wonderful and most difficult job I've ever had. When I was in the hospital, I had a huge hormonal meltdown on day 3 or 4, and I loudly told my husband to "CALL MY MOM!" as I uncontrollably sobbed. I am so grateful to my mom (and to my sister Amanda) for coming to my aide when I was overwhelmed by motherhood on that day and helping me feel better. It was so comforting to have my mom be there for me knowing that she had been right where I was.  It's amazing how you can feel so many emotions when you're responsible for a human. You can feel on top of the world when you look into their eyes and know you created that little, precious baby and quickly go to feeling like the world's biggest failure when you hear that little, precious baby crying at the top of his lungs and not knowing what you're doing wrong. I'm happy that Josh and I are getting better as each week passes at figuring out how to keep the babies happy, and there is less crying going on for everybody involved.

I will admit I thought stay at home moms probably had it pretty easy. Well, after doing this stay at home mom gig for the past 10 weeks, I can now say that I was very wrong. It's a lot of work, and it is a job that never stops. Even when I got a break from them, I still was thinking about the babies the whole time (next feeding, do we need more diapers, will they sleep tonight, do they even like me...). Major props to stay at home moms (my mom did it for many years when I was growing up and my sister Ash and sister in law Jessica both do it now)! I totally support those who do it and can afford to do it. As for me, at this time, I want to try to balance the work/family life because I truly love my position at Prime. We'll see...maybe someday I'll change my mind or find it too hard or who knows...but for now, I'm giving it a whirl. My sister Ashley is braving the possible chaos and taking on watching my twins (along with her set of twins Alistair and Emerick and her older son Thomas) until the daycare at Prime can get them in. Tentatively, that will happen in late Nov/early Dec. I'm thinking she'll be needing some extra caffeine and chocolate, but I am excited that my sons will get to spend time with her and their cousins. Or worst case scenario, we can look back and laugh about the time we thought the idea of 5 kids under 5 under Ash's care was a good one.

Lucas enjoying one of our walks...sleepy little man!

I've really enjoyed my time at home with Lucas and Logan. I did quickly become stir crazy though so we have had many outings together this summer. My favorite part of being with them these past weeks has been our morning walks. Initially, I started walking a mile here or there to get some fresh air and try to shake some of the extra weight I put on. I've worked my way up to 3 miles at a time. We walked over 85 miles this summer between Phelps, Nathanial Greene, Sequiota, and our neighborhood. We've walked with Josh, my sister and her kids, and my friend Courtney and her twins. I found it to be very therapeutic to make myself get out and get some exercise. I definitely would recommend walking (when possible) to new moms. The boys really seemed to like the walks, too...as in they just sleep through the whole outing.

As of last week, Lucas was weighing in at 10 lbs 9 oz, and Logan was 9 lbs 10 oz. They are both getting so strong and can smile and coo at us. They are becoming little chunks with chubby cheeks and fat thighs, and I love it. Their expressions are hilarious right now. They are getting easier and more fun each week. I am still looking forward to the day when they stop crying/fussing so much, but it's much better lately than it was in the beginning. The last week, they have had a few nights where they only woke up once to feed...which was AwEsOmE! 

There's way too much that has happened since June 13th to squeeze into one blog...well without writing a novel or boring you to death, but I can sum it all up by saying I am incredibly happy with my life right now. Yeah, it's a LOT of work. Yeah, I would love to get a full night's sleep. Yeah, Josh and I have changed over 1000 diapers so far. But I wouldn't change my life for anything else. I love getting to experience the highs and the lows and watch my boys grow and change every day. Children are such a beautiful miracle, and I feel blessed to have been able to become pregnant and receive not one but two little boys.

I love my little studs

I want to give a shout out to everyone who has visited us, helped us, given us gifts for the boys, and shared advice with us so far. I think I probably would have lost my mind without the support and love we got from so many people especially during those first few weeks. A very special shout out to my husband who has made it possible for me to stay at home these past weeks as well as helping out so much with the twins (feedings, diaper changes, etc)! I love you Josh Mueller!

Tomorrow will be interesting. If you see me and I look like a hot mess, don't judge me. I'll probably be running on 6 or less hours of sleep and be on my 3rd or 4th Red Bull by noon. lol

Hope everyone has a wonderful week and stays cool! God bless.