We went on vacation---sort of

Last week we went to the beach with the Hatten family. It was a vacation--sort of. We did get to see the ocean but it was far from a relaxing week! Here's a quick breakdown of the highlights:

On Saturday when we got there the air conditioner upstairs was broken. It was a solid 92 degrees up there. The technician didn't get there until 9:30pm to work on it. By then, I pulled out blankets for the big 3 kids to sleep on Steve and Marcy's floor, the babies and I were in a small room with a single pullout loveseat, and Jay was on the couch in the living room. To fix the air conditioner, the guy had to hotwire something together and the air conditioner would not turn off the rest of the week!

On Sunday while doing laundry, the washing machine started to smoke. The new washing machine wasn't installed until Tuesday, at which point we were all down to our last set of clothes and underwear that were not dirty from the ocean or covered in spit up.

When you take two 5-week olds to the beach you pretty much plan to stay inside with them the whole time. There were a few times I got outside with the big kids for an hour or so, but it took a lot of coordination from 3 or 4 adults to arrange it. 

It rained a lot this time. Some thunderstorms and some times of just pure rain, which is unusual for August. That did make it a lot cooler than normal but left some children upset about wanting to play outside at the beach. On the rainiest day Jay and the other adults took all the big kids to the aquarium while I went to visit my friend Deborah. 

On Thursday morning Jay got sick with a stomach virus. He was in bed all day and missed playing golf with his dad and Andy. By Thursday night, Will was throwing up. Not a highlight for sure....

On Friday things seemed a little more normal. Jay and Will were feeling better so we all ventured out for lunch--the only time all of us went to a restaurant the whole week. We did have a fun time with everyone playing in the ocean on Friday afternoon.

On Saturday we headed home and got stuck on I-26 in the rain. Melissa and Andy's 12 hour drive to Pennsylvania turned into a 15 hour drive with a 2 yr old.

On Sunday night after we got home, I got the stomach virus and was sick all day Monday.

I think the only time Jay and I had a real conversation with each other was in the car ride down there and back. Otherwise, all of our conversations revolved around who was caring for which child/children at what time and where.  Jay's favorite new saying: "Eventually we will have fun on vacation, right??" We figure this will be one of our hardest years to take everyone to the beach (or anywhere for that matter). 

And we did have fun. It wasn't all bad. Just not relaxing!!!

So all that being said, here are a few pics of our adventures:

Playing in the ocean. The kids really did love jumping and swimming and splashing in the ocean this time. Especially Marshall! That boy will just dive in face first. 

The kids loved playing "band" with Marshall. He can sing and play music and dance with the best of them. I foresee a strong musical career in his future.

Catherine got her face painted at the aquarium. Such a pretty design with her blue eyes.

The babies were happy to have extra arms to hold them.

On the day Jay was sick in bed, I hooked up a sprinkler we brought so that the kids could play outside and I could stay close to the babies.  Marshall thought it was a nice water fountain! And look how white he turns when you put sunscreen on him :)

On Friday we attempted to get some group shots of everyone.

The grandkids: Catherine (age 6), Elizabeth (6 weeks), Marshall (age 2), Anna (age 2), Will (age 4), James (6 weeks)

The Derr family:

 Mimi and PopPop

 The Jay Hatten family: our first family photo as a family of seven! We may never have a family photo with everyone looking the same direction again.

 The whole Hatten family!

 Will loved playing golf outside with daddy

 And he loved running to the beach

 Marshall loved loved loved the water.

The kids liked burying my feet in the sand

 Sweet Elizabeth

 Sweet James

 More beach fun and sweet kids:

 Anna loves Marshall. They're our other set of twins since they're the same age!

 Marshall's favorite place to play was behind the curtain. If you couldn't find him, you may just see his feet sticking out and he would be sitting back there hanging out.

 Sometimes he would find a few other people to hang out behind the curtain with him!

We did have a good trip and enjoyed being together with our family.  But we may need a vacation after this vacation!!

What's it like? How are you? and more questions answered

People are constantly asking me what it's like to have twins (and 3 other young children). How am I? Are they sleeping? Am I nursing? How are the big kids handling it? How's Jay? and more questions. So here are a few answers from our first month:

Overall, it is good. Really good. We love these two little ones so much and can't imagine not having them here with us. I feel immensely blessed when I look at them. At the same time, it is challenging. It's a lot of work to have 5 small children. There are lots of diapers, dishes, and laundry. Lots of "mommy, watch this" and "mommy, where are you?" and "mommy....mommy....mommy" And two of them can't even talk yet! 

There are times when both babies are sleeping peacefully and the big kids are playing well together and I think "This isn't hard at all." And then about 20 mins later, both babies are crying and want to be fed, the big kids are screaming and hitting each other, the dog needs to go out the bathroom, the phone is ringing, someone spills a drink on the floor, someone needs help wiping in the bathroom, and someone else wants me to watch their newest acrobatic skill of jumping on my bed while I nurse. Then I think "oh my goodness. I can't do this. I may lose my mind." So there's some of both. In the crazy moments, I try to tell myself that within 20-30 mins it will probably be calm(er) again.

The babies are eating and sleeping well. They eat about every 3 hours during the day and 4-4 1/2 hours at night. I am nursing both of them and that is going well. My supply seems lowest at the end of the day so I've been taking Fenugreek (herbal supplement) this week and that seems to be helping. I would like to hold off on giving them formula for as long as possible. 

They are gaining weight well. James weighed 9lbs 6oz and Elizabeth weighed 9lbs 8oz today at their dr's checkup. He's catching up with her! They generally go to bed around 10 at night, get up around 2ish to eat, and then wake up again around 6ish in the morning. They have gotten much better this week about going right back to sleep after eating during the night, which is super helpful.

They both had their first baths a week or two ago. 

Here's little James

and my bath helpers

Here's Elizabeth getting all cleaned up

 They also had their first play date. Jill brought Wyatt over and Sara brought Sophie one morning so we could all visit. It was a morning of nursing and diaper blow outs and fun conversation.

 Jay is doing well. He says it is going better than he had expected, but I think he really enjoys his quiet times in his office during the day too :) He is very appreciative that I can walk again and am getting back to my normal self.

 I made our first big outing with all 5 this week. I took them to Anderson to play at the Cothran's for Eddie's 5th birthday. Lots of fun and birthday cake and art projects and silliness. It was really good for the big kids to have a day somewhere else. Overall they are doing well, but are a little stir crazy from being home so much this summer.

 Here's the birthday cake (that Julia ate before it was time for cake!)

Happy one month sweet babies!! We love you so much and are excited to keep watching you grow!

One month! And I need Jesus

These babies are one month old today! We have survived so far! I will upload pics and more fun info soon but I didn't want the day to pass without Claiming the victory of the first month! Our kids love to play dinner games. We have a box of dinner games and conversation topics but they also love to come up with their own. The other night Catherine invented the "I need Jesus" game. Everyone takes turns telling about something in their life that they need Jesus to help Them with. The kids' were things like "I need Jesus when I want to hit someone" and "I need Jesus when I don't want to obey". Mine were "I need Jesus when I am really tired and impatient with children" and "I need Jesus when I want to think about myself more than others". Nothing like a good dinner confessional for the whole family! But I do need Jesus. Without him I'm not sure I would have made it through the past month.

I can't believe it!

I can't believe it but in a few more weeks Catherine will be starting the first grade!! How is that possible? I guess I thought she would be a preschooler forever! She picked out a new backpack and lunch box and is super excited. I feel totally unprepared though! Time to start the school season of our parenting careers I guess.

Is there anything cuter??

Is there anything cuter than sleeping babies???

They're pretty cute when they are awake too!

I am NOT supermom....I am thankful

Pretty much on a daily basis I have people telling me I'm supermom these days. I am definitely not!! I am a mom who fiercely loves her children and is doing the best that she can on a daily (sometimes hourly) basis. But at the core, I am selfish and lazy and seek comfort and quiet and control.  I think that's one of the reasons God has blessed me with these 5 little ones--so He can sanctify me.

So if I'm not supermom, how do I do it? With lots and lots of help.

The past few months have required me to get over my desire to be self-sufficient and to rely heavily on others. It sounds like it would be easy to let other people help, but at times I find it very difficult. I think it's part of my desire for control. 

I am so thankful though for people God has placed in my life who are walking through this with us and are willing to be patient with me and our children and to help us all survive.

We have two wonderful young ladies from church, Anna and Rachel, who are here multiple times per week to help. They play with the big kids outside in the yard, take them swimming, do art projects, fix them meals, help with rest time, do my dishes, play games, and more. I am so very thankful for their enthusiasm and tender care of our children.

It has been a tremendous blessing to have Mimi and PopPop here. I can't even describe all the ways that they have helped us. Marcy came pretty much every morning the entire month of June and fixed breakfast for the kids when I couldn't walk in the mornings. They feed us dinner, give our kids baths, help with laundry, take our dog out, have the kids over for slumber parties, pick up things at the grocery store, watch the kids so Jay and I can go out on a date for an hour, and play and love on our kids like crazy. We keep telling them to let us know when they need a break! But they reassure us that this is one of the reasons they moved here and that they are so glad to be able to help. We are extremely thankful to have them here.

My family has also been so helpful. It's a little harder since they aren't in Greenville, but they have traveled back and forth multiple times in the past weeks to help with the big kids and to hold babies. They have kept the big kids for 2 and 3 days at a time to give us a little bit of a break. They bring us food and call to check on us and have been so encouraging.  We are really thankful that they are close enough to share in the joy of all of the chaos too!

I have friends (like these 2 lovely ladies) who have been extremely generous of the time and their homes to have our kids over for playdates, feed them lunch, and offer me so much encouragement.  They've been doing this for months now and hopefully soon I'll be able to return the favor and have their kids over to play! I am really thankful to have friends who know what I need without me even having to ask.

We also have a wonderful lady from our church who helps us with our laundry. We have members of our sunday school class/bible study/jay's work/neighbors who bring us meals. We also have a night nurse who is coming about twice a week to help us get a little extra rest at night. I am thankful for these extremely practical ways we've been helped.

And of course, I have a wonderful husband who is pretty much super-dad.  I am having to depend on him so much to help with the kids and household tasks that I normally handle. All while he works 11-12 hours a day too. He's pretty amazing and I surely couldn't do this without him. I am so thankful God gave me a husband who leads and serves our family.

So see, I am not supermom. I am an extremely blessed mom who has lots and lots of help and lots and lots to be thankful for.

Week One at Home

Our first week with the babies home went relatively smoothly. I had prepared myself for it to be total chaos and little people crying all the time, and that was only the case occasionally. If you set your expectations really low, then there's room to be pleasantly surprised at how well people are doing!!

The babies are doing what babies do--eating, sleeping, peeing, pooping, and sometimes crying. They like to be held and snuggled. They both like their swings and we are working on them lying in their crib for some naps and at night time. 

Who wouldn't want a welcome home like this?

The big kids made them each bears at Build-a-Bear. Each one has 3 hearts inside: one from Catherine, one from Will, and one from Anna.

It's been fun to start learning the differences in their personalities and what each little one likes, and kissing their chubby little cheeks.

Elizabeth is overall more laid back. She loves to be snuggled and as long as you feed her and burp her, she's relatively happy. She will just look around contently to check out what everyone else is doing. She is probably the "easiest" baby we have had.

James is our little old man. He looks around like "why are you people bothering me??" So far it's been easier to figure out what he doesn't like: He does not like to be hungry, have a dirty diaper, change his diaper, hear loud noises, or in general be disturbed. He prefers to nurse and be held by mommy :) He's just a little more sensitive to life right now and that's ok.

I love how excited the big 3 (this is now what I call them) have been to have our babies home. We spend a lot of our day taking turns holding them, and occasionally arguing over who held which baby longer. We may have to use a timer to keep things fair. Catherine and Will are great at holding them though and Anna wants to hold, snuggle, and kiss them too. Such lucky babies to have all of this sibling love!

James and Elizabeth got their big siblings some gifts to help keep them entertained while mommy feeds them. Fun activities like paint books, sticker books, water toys, a parachute man (will's favorite), and more.

Anna really likes to share with the babies. The other day she gave Elizabeth her baby doll to swing with. She also willingly shares her green blanket, which is Anna's prize possession. It's really sweet, although I do feel the need to wash that germy blanket a little more often before she puts it on their faces.

We do lots and lots of diaper changes. With two newborns and a toddler in diapers, there's always somebody who needs a diaper change.

See little man's grumpy face? It's adorable. I love it.

Happy one week babies! We're so glad you're here. It looks like they're still deciding what they think about us though.....!! They're just taking it in!