Niebauer Family: First week at home

It was a very busy first week back at home. We were lucky to have the continued help of Mike's parents, who watched Caroline several days as we ran around to various appointments. Monday it was the pediatrician, Tuesday we had a photographer come take pictures of the twins and the family, Wednesday it was back to the pediatrician to recheck their weight and jaundice, Thursday I went to the OB to check on my incision and general recovery, and Friday Caroline had a haircut and my mom arrived in town. Luckily, Mike was only working part-time from home, so he was around to help a lot as well.

Also, we've been getting dinners delivered by some of my local mom friends. People are just so wonderful and generous and we really appreciate it. We had quiche, enchiladas, and lasagne. Thanks to Deanna, Karen and Jess! They're also lining up to bring more in August, after my mom leaves. I love you people!!

The twins have been doing great. They still just sleep pretty much all of the time that they are not eating (and some of the time that they are). We love to snuggle them and have gotten into a pretty good routine. We're sharing the nightshift- Mike stays up until Midnight or 1, and then I take over. It got a lot easier when my mom arrived to help take over at 5 or 6am. Before that, I had to manage all three girls once Caroline got up in the morning, and that was just a bit too much after not the greatest sleep. By and large, the girls sleep well at night, but sometimes they just grunt and groan and need some snuggles to stay sleeping. Which can get exhausting. We've set up a twin bed with a co-sleeper in the twins room, and that has worked really well to handle the nights. We also have a bassinet downstairs that has been in Mike's family for ages and is really cute. It has wheels, which is handy, so we can roll it from the guestroom/office into the living room and back.

It has been fun getting to know the personalities of Julianne and Mirabelle. Mirabelle is definitely the more mellow of the two. She will only cry when she really needs something- to be fed or changed- and even then, it is usually just one cry and then she waits. Julianne on the other hand will howl until her needs are met, and sometimes just needs to be held to calm down. She also loves to pee whenever she's getting her diaper changed... so we're perpetually trying to avoid her getting the changing table and all her clothes wet. I can tell them apart pretty easily now, even without having to look at their hair color or to see if there is a little angel kiss on the eye (Mirabelle). I think their faces have just slightly different shapes, though their features are quite similar to each other and to Caroline's when she was their age.

Caroline has also been doing well. I think it is the combination of the novelty of the babies, plus loads of time with and attention from all of these grandparents, that is making the transition fairly easy. But I am still waiting for her to start resenting these new additions to our lives, and I suspect it will come at some point.

Here are some pictures from our first week at home.

Both girls wide eyed awake- pretty rare! You can see how similar they look here!