Having one baby is life changing for anyone, so having two is intense to say the least. I'm going to touch on a few things in this post on how they were and how they are now. There are a ton of things that are different now, but lets just touch on the following:
Sleep:
This one's pretty obvious. On average, I probably got about anywhere from 6-8 hours of sleep before becoming a dad. This is good sleep. The kind where you fall asleep as soon as you touch the pillow or the kind where you stay up late watching Fresno State vs Air Force because you're getting points and Air Force is driving with a few minutes left, grasping for a backdoor cover. That last sentence is so foreign to some reading this I just chuckled. Anyway, I can function on less than the 6-8 hours I use to get, but this was a whole different definition of "function". If I was tired and didn't get something done or did something half ass it really didn't matter before. I was in charge of myself and that is it. Now, not so much. First of all that 6-8 hours seems like I was getting 12-15 hours before. If you didn't know babies don't sleep that much. We actually seem to be lucky after talking to some parents since our girls are sleeping in 3 hour increments at night which isn't the case sometimes. They need to be fed every 3 hours, which I bow down to Nora since she is breastfeeding. During the day we try sneak in an hour nap after their 3 pm feeding once they fall asleep. By sneaking in, I mean if they go to sleep. Londyn sleeps like a rock. She's like her daddy. Once she is fed, she gives you about a solid 2 minutes to 20 minutes until she is out. Wren on the other hand is like Nora. If her swaddle isn't just right, or if she doesn't want to lay down she screams and can't go to sleep. I don't swaddle Nora before we go to bed, nor does she scream, but if I had a dollar for every time she has got up to fix the sheets to tell me they aren't right I'd probably be able to retire next year. What the fuck does that even mean "not right"? Sheets on a bed is pretty universal no? Back to the point. All together, we are getting about 5 hours of sleep in 45 minute to hour increments. This has increased drastically since we have brought the girls home so I'm not complaining. I didn't know that I could do so much on lack of sleep. As I stated before, pre-baby I could basically just zombie my way through the day, but now with both girls I can't do that. Being in charge of two other human beings is the most exhausting, but rewarding thing I've ever done. I wouldn't trade it for the world.
My basement:
Nora and I live in a 2700 square foot townhouse and the basement is basically my man cave. I have my money couch, 70 inch silly TV, monkey waiters in tuxedos, my MacBook, and a full bathroom. Ok the monkey part was a lie, but everything else is true. I spend probably 80 % of my time down in the basement. I play with Stark, Nora and I eat occasionally down there, and Nora comes down to watch TV until she passes out 11 minutes into arriving. Hours at a time have been spent in my basement over the last 2+ years living here. I think I've been down there for 29 minutes total since we brought the girls home. It's not that I can't go down there anymore, it's just not at the top of my priority list. I have more important things to do like shower, remember to breathe, or brush my teeth in the 37 minutes I have free. I make sure to go down there to play with Stark any free moment I have because I don't want him to feel neglected. Which is the next topic.
Stark
My man! He was, and always will be our first baby, and he has done so well transitioning with the girls that I can't even put into words. Stark's day Monday-Friday pretty much consisted of getting up with us at 5:15 am where I would take him out and once he was finished, come back in to get ready for work. While we were getting ready for work he'd either be under our bed or in his crate sleeping. He'd be in his crate from 6:30-4:30 pm during the week BY HIMSELF. Sorry big guy. That whole by yourself thing is long gone. The good part is Stark hasn't been in the crate all summer for longer then a 2-3 hours since June. He won't be in crate probably for that long until the girls go to school full-time, which I'm told isn't until their 4 or 5. Bushleague. Stark isn't complaining, and still goes in his crate to lay down every once in awhile. When he was in the crate he probably slept a good 8 of those 10 hours while we were gone. Again, those 8 hours are long gone my friend. He now goes up to bed with us around 10 am and lays down in his money embroidered bed which we paid entirely too much for, or under the bed like I previously stated. We really didn't change our time we go to bed with the girls, it's the amount of sleep he's getting. The poor guy gets up when we do almost every time. He doesn't physically move, but he opens his eyes and gives me a look like what the fuck is going on. Babies Stark, that's what. Nora and I are moving around during the night feedings, and the 3 am one is where he is really confused. We have a bathroom in the hallway, which I frequently use during this time and his confusion was defined the other night. I was in the bathroom and heard something coming towards the door. I didn't think it was Nora crawling to me, but if she did poke her head around the corner from the floor, I wouldn't have blamed her. Standing up and walking takes a lot of energy and if she was barrel rolling to me to tell me Wren needed her diaper changed, who am I to judge. It wasn't Nora (sorry to disappoint some, but maybe that will be a story that happens at a later date), it was my main man Stark. He stood in front of the bathroom door, turned his head towards me, gave a big sigh out, and collapsed. I laughed my ass off. He literally had no idea where he was or what he was doing. All he knew was he wanted to follow me, and once he found me, he was doneski. I rubbed his belly and gave him a kiss on the head and slumbered my way back to bed. I found him exactly where he passed out 3 hours later.
Every time we go somewhere with Wren and Londyn, he has to smell them when we get back wagging his tail. The amazing part is he knows there are two. I took him out the other day with both girls in their rock and plays. When we came back 5 minutes later, Nora had taken Wren up to feed her so her rock and play was empty. He walked over and saw Londyn there and then walked to Wren's. When he noticed she wasn't there, he put his head on the rock and play, looked at me, and gave out one whimper. It was the cutest thing I've ever seen him do. She's upstairs big guy. They'll be a big part of the rest of your life. Wait until they start to walk, and pull your body parts...
Leaving the house:
Twins you need all hands on deck. Stark is great with the girls, but he lacks the opposable thumbs to really help. Nora can't really leave yet because if they need to feed and I'm just here, the girls are shit out of luck because you know, I don't have breasts. I've left the house a few times and I've pretty much turned it into a game. The girls were fed from 9-10 so I have about 2 hours to get done what needs to be done. I'm on the clock. You know how fast you can get through Wegmans when you are a man on a mission with twins? Fast. Really fucking fast. I have no time for you to park your cart in the middle of the bread isle sir, so I am going to swim move over top of you and get my Meirers Italian really fast. I'm like Usain Bolt in time trials. Some things, I don't need to go 100 % because I know I have enough time to get them done, but other's I know I need to give it my all to get back to Nora and the girls to be as helpful as I can be.
Nora and I have scheduled a few things that we are going to do with the girls in the next few weeks, which I'm sure will lead to more crazy shit which leads into more blog posts. Get excited people.
Sleep:
This one's pretty obvious. On average, I probably got about anywhere from 6-8 hours of sleep before becoming a dad. This is good sleep. The kind where you fall asleep as soon as you touch the pillow or the kind where you stay up late watching Fresno State vs Air Force because you're getting points and Air Force is driving with a few minutes left, grasping for a backdoor cover. That last sentence is so foreign to some reading this I just chuckled. Anyway, I can function on less than the 6-8 hours I use to get, but this was a whole different definition of "function". If I was tired and didn't get something done or did something half ass it really didn't matter before. I was in charge of myself and that is it. Now, not so much. First of all that 6-8 hours seems like I was getting 12-15 hours before. If you didn't know babies don't sleep that much. We actually seem to be lucky after talking to some parents since our girls are sleeping in 3 hour increments at night which isn't the case sometimes. They need to be fed every 3 hours, which I bow down to Nora since she is breastfeeding. During the day we try sneak in an hour nap after their 3 pm feeding once they fall asleep. By sneaking in, I mean if they go to sleep. Londyn sleeps like a rock. She's like her daddy. Once she is fed, she gives you about a solid 2 minutes to 20 minutes until she is out. Wren on the other hand is like Nora. If her swaddle isn't just right, or if she doesn't want to lay down she screams and can't go to sleep. I don't swaddle Nora before we go to bed, nor does she scream, but if I had a dollar for every time she has got up to fix the sheets to tell me they aren't right I'd probably be able to retire next year. What the fuck does that even mean "not right"? Sheets on a bed is pretty universal no? Back to the point. All together, we are getting about 5 hours of sleep in 45 minute to hour increments. This has increased drastically since we have brought the girls home so I'm not complaining. I didn't know that I could do so much on lack of sleep. As I stated before, pre-baby I could basically just zombie my way through the day, but now with both girls I can't do that. Being in charge of two other human beings is the most exhausting, but rewarding thing I've ever done. I wouldn't trade it for the world.
My basement:
Nora and I live in a 2700 square foot townhouse and the basement is basically my man cave. I have my money couch, 70 inch silly TV, monkey waiters in tuxedos, my MacBook, and a full bathroom. Ok the monkey part was a lie, but everything else is true. I spend probably 80 % of my time down in the basement. I play with Stark, Nora and I eat occasionally down there, and Nora comes down to watch TV until she passes out 11 minutes into arriving. Hours at a time have been spent in my basement over the last 2+ years living here. I think I've been down there for 29 minutes total since we brought the girls home. It's not that I can't go down there anymore, it's just not at the top of my priority list. I have more important things to do like shower, remember to breathe, or brush my teeth in the 37 minutes I have free. I make sure to go down there to play with Stark any free moment I have because I don't want him to feel neglected. Which is the next topic.
Stark
My man! He was, and always will be our first baby, and he has done so well transitioning with the girls that I can't even put into words. Stark's day Monday-Friday pretty much consisted of getting up with us at 5:15 am where I would take him out and once he was finished, come back in to get ready for work. While we were getting ready for work he'd either be under our bed or in his crate sleeping. He'd be in his crate from 6:30-4:30 pm during the week BY HIMSELF. Sorry big guy. That whole by yourself thing is long gone. The good part is Stark hasn't been in the crate all summer for longer then a 2-3 hours since June. He won't be in crate probably for that long until the girls go to school full-time, which I'm told isn't until their 4 or 5. Bushleague. Stark isn't complaining, and still goes in his crate to lay down every once in awhile. When he was in the crate he probably slept a good 8 of those 10 hours while we were gone. Again, those 8 hours are long gone my friend. He now goes up to bed with us around 10 am and lays down in his money embroidered bed which we paid entirely too much for, or under the bed like I previously stated. We really didn't change our time we go to bed with the girls, it's the amount of sleep he's getting. The poor guy gets up when we do almost every time. He doesn't physically move, but he opens his eyes and gives me a look like what the fuck is going on. Babies Stark, that's what. Nora and I are moving around during the night feedings, and the 3 am one is where he is really confused. We have a bathroom in the hallway, which I frequently use during this time and his confusion was defined the other night. I was in the bathroom and heard something coming towards the door. I didn't think it was Nora crawling to me, but if she did poke her head around the corner from the floor, I wouldn't have blamed her. Standing up and walking takes a lot of energy and if she was barrel rolling to me to tell me Wren needed her diaper changed, who am I to judge. It wasn't Nora (sorry to disappoint some, but maybe that will be a story that happens at a later date), it was my main man Stark. He stood in front of the bathroom door, turned his head towards me, gave a big sigh out, and collapsed. I laughed my ass off. He literally had no idea where he was or what he was doing. All he knew was he wanted to follow me, and once he found me, he was doneski. I rubbed his belly and gave him a kiss on the head and slumbered my way back to bed. I found him exactly where he passed out 3 hours later.
Every time we go somewhere with Wren and Londyn, he has to smell them when we get back wagging his tail. The amazing part is he knows there are two. I took him out the other day with both girls in their rock and plays. When we came back 5 minutes later, Nora had taken Wren up to feed her so her rock and play was empty. He walked over and saw Londyn there and then walked to Wren's. When he noticed she wasn't there, he put his head on the rock and play, looked at me, and gave out one whimper. It was the cutest thing I've ever seen him do. She's upstairs big guy. They'll be a big part of the rest of your life. Wait until they start to walk, and pull your body parts...
Leaving the house:
Twins you need all hands on deck. Stark is great with the girls, but he lacks the opposable thumbs to really help. Nora can't really leave yet because if they need to feed and I'm just here, the girls are shit out of luck because you know, I don't have breasts. I've left the house a few times and I've pretty much turned it into a game. The girls were fed from 9-10 so I have about 2 hours to get done what needs to be done. I'm on the clock. You know how fast you can get through Wegmans when you are a man on a mission with twins? Fast. Really fucking fast. I have no time for you to park your cart in the middle of the bread isle sir, so I am going to swim move over top of you and get my Meirers Italian really fast. I'm like Usain Bolt in time trials. Some things, I don't need to go 100 % because I know I have enough time to get them done, but other's I know I need to give it my all to get back to Nora and the girls to be as helpful as I can be.
Nora and I have scheduled a few things that we are going to do with the girls in the next few weeks, which I'm sure will lead to more crazy shit which leads into more blog posts. Get excited people.