SAHM

I've had a lot of jobs in my life. I started working at 15, before I could even drive mom or dad took me to work at my first job at Andicott Floral. Then it was Bed Bath and Beyond, then Russ' for quite awhile, both in Grand Rapids and Holland. I had a brief stint at Kingma's Produce, then in college it was nannying, an office assistant in the Education Department at Hope, security at Holland Hospital, retail at Harborwear, and icecream scooper at Nutcracker Sweets. After college I was a Branns waitress, and finally kitchen designer at Standard and Youth Pastor at church. That's 12 jobs. While I absolutely loved being a youth pastor, and various things about all those other jobs, nothing comes close to being a stay at home mom and wife.
I always knew I was meant to be a mom, I remember telling people in college that it was all I really wanted to do. But I also knew I wanted to have a thorough education and of course, if it took a long time or I never got to be a mom, I wanted to be able to support myself...
While some days all I want is for Elijah and Evelyn to take a decent nap so I can get some stuff done or have a few moments to myself, all it really takes to define a good day is happy babies and food on the table for dinner. I know there are a lot of women who need to work outside of the home in order to feel fulfilled, and that's fine, but for me, this is really all I need.
Every day that passes I feel more and more settled into this lifestyle. We've reached the point where I can accomplish more than just one thing a day; like cleaning the bathroom AND writing a grocery list. Or doing a few loads of laundry AND reorganizing the nursery. They are little things but I love that my sense of accomplishment is growing as the babies learn to entertain themselves and be happy without being held all the time.
I've also noticed lately that some of the things I love most about being a mom and wife are small. I love being able to wear what I want every day. There's no dress code if I want to stay in comfy pants all day, but most of the time I enjoy just dressing the way I am most comfortable: jeans and a nice top. (I'm especially loving the long tops and leggings/skinny jeans- SO comfy yet fashionable!:) I also truly enjoy finding ways to stick to our budget while still making healthy meals and keeping us stocked with all the essentials plus some fun extras. Who'd have thought that finding a great price and free shipping online for cloth diaper detergent could feel like I won the lottery?
While life has gotten a bit more challenging lately the challenges are the type that really suit me. There is nothing better than providing comfort and happiness for my family. Overcoming obstacles like finding the best way to put a baby to sleep, or discovering a new recipe that's easy, inexpensive, and tasty, are keeping me busy and happy lately. I also love that I feel better able to keep up with friends and family. While coffee with friends or a day spent with my sister might seem like a luxury, it's part of what keeps me sane and allows all of us time to talk about our kids, our faiths, our marriages, etc. It's like a business lunch, only better, because these are people I really want to invest my time in!
This might seem like a silly post, but since one day I plan to print out my blog for posterity, I think it's important to write about the little things and not just major milestones. Right now I'm really enjoying the little things.

Heemstras Lately

I know it's time to update the blog but I'm at a loss for a good topic so I'll just give a brief glimpse into our lives lately.
Andy has been flying quite a bit, most recently he was gone for a week and I did my first two nights alone. I had help from friends/family for 4 of the 6 nights but I'm glad I went ahead and took the plunge into doing a couple nights by myself. Things like that always seem more intimidating than they are don't they? It isn't something I'd want to do on a super regular basis, but I have to say it went well. I just keep telling myself this stage is brief. Pretty soon they'll be sleeping completely through the night and then I won't have to worry about who will be here with me or whether I'm mentally capable of handling a whole night alone!
The babies are doing well at night; we seem to have established a bedtime of 7:30 or 8pm and we've developed a good routine. We start out with a nice bath, fresh (and over-stuffed for duration) diapers and pjs. Then we grab a couple warm bottles of nighttime formula. The nighttime formula is thicker and sometimes a bit for Elijah to handle since we have to use faster-flow nipples, but regardless the effort usually knocks them both out. If we're lucky they sleep until 1 or 2 am, eat, sleep till 5am, eat, then sleep again until 8 or 9am. Ideally we all get up at 8am as this sets us up for hitting the same bedtime that night. The morning nap seems to be getting regular too. They definitely sleep the longest stint of the day at around 9:30 or 10am.
Right now daytimes are still a trick. Elijah is a hot and cold baby- when he's happy he's very happy, when he's not he is VERY not! He also sleeps much less than Evelyn so I'm constantly making him "try" to nap when his sister does though we are largely unsuccessful. Thankfully having just one baby awake allows us to spend some quality time with him and Evie still gets the sleep she needs whether we are in and out of the nursery with Eli or not.
Evie is in many ways the "easy" baby. She usually puts herself to sleep like a dream- put her in bed on her tummy, insert pacifier, cover with blankie, done. As long as she's tired, she'll close her eyes and try to sleep no matter how wide awake she seemed before. A couple days ago she even fell asleep with the hiccups! In fact, if I try to put her to sleep with rocking or cuddling it is actually a more difficult process. She lets us know when she is tired and down she goes. Elijah needs rocking but since we switched him to his belly we've accomplished the "drowsy but awake" approach to laying him down which works most of the time.
Right now my favorite time of the day is bathtime, they love their baths now! Both of them will sit in their little seats and smile away as we pour water over them and scrub them from head to toe. Andy and I both take our time as they seem to enjoy it so much. They are also getting better about lotion applications so I like to give them each a little massage before putting on the pjs. Bedtime is pleasant most nights and since they go to bed at 8 o'clock it seems like we finally have a little time to ourselves to accomplish whatever we can't get done between naps during the day or to just plain relax!
One of the most fun developments is that they are becoming very aware of their surroundings, including each other. If we prop them in such a way that they can see each other they both break out in huge grins. Eli is really finding his voice and getting louder, he'll talk and talk to Evelyn who mainly smiles face-cracking smiles back with the occasional verbal response. They do tummy time together and grab at toys, suck on blankets, grab each other's hands, etc. I forget that being so aware of other babies isn't "normal" at this age- when they see other babies their age they both try to smile and/or coo at them but most babies simply don't respond! Maybe being a twin helps them learn some social skills a bit early??
They've also started "exercising" alot. Until now they were so small and basically immobile that we rarely had to strap them into their swings and bouncies. Not so anymore! Several times they've kicked their way to the bottom of a bouncy and today Evie's little feet were tapping the ground as she swung, she'd worked her way down so far. She also likes to pull acrobatics in the crib: a couple weeks ago I found her in the exact opposite position I'd left her in- feet where her head had been! Since her mattress is slightly inclined right now I think this did not help her congestion :).
As for me, I've started going to TCC's women's Bible Study. I also have MOPS twice a month, and the neighborhood girls and allll the kiddos have been getting together once a week for coffee in the morning. We pass babies around and enjoy catching up. This week we started talking about joining the new Kroc Center nearby so we can work out together and I'm hoping if we join to do the baby swim classes you can start at 6 months. Gotta get ready for summer!!
In short, we've been having a lot of fun lately, I can't believe in just a few short weeks we'll already be able to start "solid" foods in the form of rice cereal! Both babies can sit in the bumbo and love to "stand" on our laps. They are growing in leaps and bounds and we are loving watching them change and learn!
(I'm sorry for the lack of pictures, our camera is on the fritz so I've mainly been taking pictures with my phone and uploading those to Facebook...hope to get our good camera fixed soon!!)

What We Do and How We Do It Part #1

People are forever asking us how we "do it" with twins. I'm always tempted to tell them there is no trick, you just do what you have to, but when it comes right down to it I have to admit we do have little tricks up our sleeves that we've developed over the last 3 months. (Lest I get too proud of myself I just think of all those moms out there with twins plus an older child, two sets of twins, or larger order multiples like triplets or quads!)
In the interest of keeping a good record of our twin journey here are a few things we do to keep ourselves sane:
1) Avoid "passing the buck" when it comes to a crying baby. Very frequently, after an hour and half or so of feeding, changing, playing, and rocking the babies, we finally get settled on the couch with both babes sleeping away in the nursery when suddenly the quiet is shattered with a wail. It would be really easy at this point to get into an arguement about who's "turn" it is to care for the crying baby based on who is the most tired, who was the most busy today, etc. But we've fallen into the patter of having "his and hers" babies. Basically, whoever held that baby last is responsible for getting it back to sleep and/or pacified. It's not like we ever sat down and discussed this, or that we even really acknowledge the rule in the heat of the moment, but if you were a fly on our wall at 6pm each night you would see this pattern play itself out pretty regularly. Usually a baby becomes your responsibility when you feed it, since the babies eat about every 3 hours during the day that means you are responsible for that baby for at least 3 hours (we also typically switch who we feed at each feeding though that also has never been discussed). It works well since we avoid arguments and by keeping eachother's sanity in mind the other person knows when to step in and give a break when it's needed.

Since I never have more than 15 minutes at a time to myself the next section will have to wait for next time...

Because I seem to be short on time lately:

Enjoy this little clip that all moms of multiples agree sums up our experience every time we leave the house with both (or all 3, or 4...) babies. Andy and I were LOL'ing:
http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/7767627/

For Your Viewing Pleasure:

How to gift wrap a cat for Christmas:
http://laughingsquid.com/how-to-gift-wrap-a-cat/?ref=nf

New Soundtrack and Some Favorite Moments

There's a new soundtrack in the Heemstra household. It consists of lots of baby crys, snorts, grunts, big sighs, toots, and burps. Every day we become better at interpreting the meanings behind all these little noises. For instance, was that a "wet" or a "dry" burp? (A wet burp necessitating a mad dash for a burp rag before whatever just came up goes all over baby and whatever he/she is laying on). The same is true for a toot, though I'm sure I don't have to explain.

Each baby has their own personal noises and meanings as well. For instance, both babies tend to grunt and make little noises in their sleep that aren't signs of fussiness. However the moment we hear Eli begin to pant we can be sure a cry is soon to follow. For Evelyn the warning sign is more of a snort, though the frequency of the snorting signals whether we're in for a real scream or just a bit of a fuss.

Sleeping peacefully.

It really is amazing how much they change from day to day. I can't locate my camera battery at the moment so these pictures are about a week old and I can't believe how much bigger and just plain different Elijah and Evelyn are from only a week ago!

Auntie Bradi, Raegan and Sydney picked out this fuzzy headband for Evelyn. Already it's getting a bit tight on her little head! However it's great for a laugh, especially when Samson decides to investigate the fluffy little thing that has suddenly appeared on "his" baby's head.

"Hi."

"Um...I guess you can sniff it, just don't lick my face, ok?"

Samson found the headband to be very tickly when inhaled, so after much snuffing and nervous dancing in place he decided she was better left alone.

Another favorite "Samson and Baby" moment from this week has been his new desire to somehow "help" the babies when they are crying. Twice today, when a baby was screaming for some reason or another Samson brought his favorite bone and placed it right next to them. This morning, as Evie cried, he brought the bone and placed it on her, to which she let out a little grunt, so he picked it up and set it next to her bouncy seat before giving her a little sniff and walking away. There isn't much a dog can do for a crying baby, but he seems to be doing his best to show them he cares...and provide an early lesson in sharing!

The old saying "sleep when baby sleeps?" Yeah, we got that.

Happy Halloween!

Our Halloween started off with a bath for the stinky babies. There had been lots of spitting up that day and everyone needed to be clean for their costumes:
A welcome change was that both Eli and Evie seemed to decide that baths are not meant to torture them and could be a rather warm and relaxing experience- no crying here!

"Ooh, so warm!"

After baths it was time to get in our costumes and pose for the camera!

"Why'd you have to dress the skinny kid in the skeleton suit??"

"I know I'm a little chubby but a Pumpkin-Ballerina? Really?! I'm going to need counselling."
Evie decided the best way to deal with the situation was to just go to sleep. Eli wasn't so sure...

Happy Halloween from the Heemstras!