Us In A Nutshell

Have you ever heard the song by Switchfoot before called "This Is Home?" In my mind, I think they wrote it for me. I absolutely love it, and I would say it sums up my feelings of what it felt like to become a mother and now what it feels like to be right in the middle of it all.

These past few months have just flown by. How on earth the twins are 3 months old already is beyond me. There is no doubt that I am incredibly busy Baby Whispering everyday and I pretty much live my life in these 3 hour increments, but this motherhood business is really better than I thought it would be. I truly have been blessed with amazing little people to call our own.

I wish I had enough time in my day to return phone calls, emails, texts, or better yet BLOG about how the babies are doing, but I flat out am pressed for time. I hope I still have friends a year from now when things are (hopefully) not as hectic! So please forgive me in the coming months if I don't get back to you in a timely manner.

So what's the scoop on the Johnson 4? Well I'll tell you...

Elle is all smiles all the time, especially first thing in the morning. She is already full of personality and she gets a real kick out of herself while looking into her little mirror. She is always kicking her legs and squirming all around, hence one of her nicknames Fidget Midget. She is a good eater and a really good sleeper. At 7 weeks old, she started sleeping about 11 hours through the night and I have congratulated her daily for it since. She has such tiny, sweet features and creamy soft skin. She is luscious! A few names that we have given her are: ELLE BELLE, FIDGET MIDGET, BEAUTY or BEAUTY QUEEN, and MABLE short for MAYBELINE because she has very long lashes.

Liam is my little cuddler and will hug you like a little koala bear as long as you let him. He has the squishiest cheeks that I am constantly kissing and he has the absolute sweetest disposition. He rarely cries and loves to sleep, though it took him until he was 11 weeks old to sleep 11 hours through the night too. He is quite the little talker and coos and goos and makes noises when ever he is awake. He really is just so chill and even tempered. ALL. THE. TIME. A few names that we have given him are: TUG BOAT, LI-HOM CHONGA (don't ask), and LIAM LOVER.

Daddy is a rock star. Big surprise, right? He helps with every feeding when he's home, changes diapers, washes all the bottles twice daily, folds laundry, the works. In the early days, the lack of sleep was hard for him, but then he adjusted to waking up in the middle of the night with me if both babes were up. Now of course he's back to good with the exception of the "dream feed." Jeff has never been around babies or little kids for that matter, so it has been hilarious to hear some of the terms he uses for things...such as "leotards" instead of onesies. He is so hands on, helpful, and lightens my load in ways I am truly appreciative of.

Me, well I truly am loving my new life. As cheesy as it sounds, Elle and Liam complete me. They make my days brighter and my smiles bigger. I look forward to waking up to them each and every day to see their tiny smiling faces and kiss their soft little cheeks. It's the perfect start to my day.

I won't lie, the first 6 weeks were really hard. Not as in I was depressed or had postpartum meltdowns but the double everything bit that I had to deal with was rather overwhelming at times. I obviously knew it was coming, but no one could really prepare me for the amount of feedings and diaper changings and outfit changings and hours of sleep lost that we had awaiting for us. Good grief it was alot. And still is. I am just use to it all now.

In the early days, I was only getting 3-4 hours of sleep, so I was always feeling exhausted and overwhelmed. And on top of that, I was really trying to get them on the same schedule so that life would run smoother in the long run. Um, that about did me in. I will be the first to tell you that I HATED waking up sleeping babies just to feed them. How lame does that sound, right?! And I swore I woke up every day and claimed that that was the day that I was going to quit The Baby Whispering method. Actually I did once. For a whole half day. And it was a disaster, so we were back on track by 4 pm. But through all the hard days and long nights, inside I was experiencing a joy like no other and decided early on to greet each day with gratitude for what we had been given. And that is what got me through.

When the babies were around 6 weeks old, that is when we seemed to hit our stride and settle into life. And when they both started sleeping through the night, that is when life really got good. I can't complain that as a new mom I am now getting close to my preferred 8 hours of sleep. Please don't throw tomatoes. It was a lot of hard work. And I will never forget the night I was awake from 2 am to 7 am and NEVER slept until later that night. Ugh, it was the worst night of my life.

I still NEVER leave the house, which has been an adjustment for a girl who was always on the go. One of the times I did decide to leave for a few hours, I was so stoked because it had been forever. Well it wasn't to go to Nordstoms or any place fun as one might expect, but rather I took a trip to Costco. Whoo hoo. So after about an hour of gathering up oversized boxes of everything, it was time to check out. I did realize when I walked into the store that I had left my debit card in my diaper bag at home! But not to worry, I had my business debit card to save the day. Or so I thought. So I go to check out and enter my pin # to the card I hadn't used before I went on bed rest (so about 5 months prior) and flat out forgot those four little numbers! After 3 attempts it locked me out from trying again and again! So there I was with a big ole cart of crap THAT I COULDN'T PAY FOR!!! So I left the store and pretty much wanted to cry. But instead I called a dear friend and together we laughed. Thank goodness for Grandma who saved the day and drove over there that night to rescue my groceries and her scattered daughter too!

Other than that and the time last week when Jeff opened up the cupboard and found a bottle of breast milk sitting on the shelf (I have NO RECOLLECTION of doing that one!!!), I think everything is going rather well and that I am handling it all a-okay. I know there will be many tough, exhausting, frustrating, etc. days ahead, but I hope I can continue to greet each day with love and appreciation for my children.

So, that's us in a big nutshell. And here are two pics of my Diamonds. Thank you for reading...and saving me hours of time by allowing me to update everyone all at once!

Next up: A Q&A session with Elle + Liam!