Hallelujah

Alright, so let me start by saying I HATE to hear my babies cry. I actually have a "no cry rule". I'm serious, an absolute NO CRY rule, so much so that I will hold both kids at the same time to keep them from crying. My husband, along with everyone else, thinks I'm absolutely nuts. I don't care. I hate to hear the helpless cries of Olivia and Cole, it's like nails on a chalk board. With that being said, night times had become a complete shit show at our house. For the first three months it was the putting down of the kids that took forever, literally. We would be lucky if we were done in two hours. Then that finally got easy about three weeks ago and the middle of the nights became hell. The kids started waking up around 11 or 12 and again at 4:30. This would be hard with one child, let alone two children. They never coincided their wake ups, they would always stagger them one to two hours apart, so Bryce and I would literally be awake the entire night. On top of being up the entire night, when the kids woke up they would scream bloody murder and kick and throw their pacifiers (yes, at four months old). I kept making excuses until one night Cole did this for three hours. I had it. Bryce and I kept tossing him back and forth to each other because he wouldn't calm down for either of us. I'm not sure if he wanted to play or was just pissed in general that the sun wasn't up, but either way it was utter chaos. The next day Bryce and I sat down and I said "something has to change". I, like many other mothers out there, had not slept for more than a four hour span since I was three months pregnant. THREE. I felt like a walking zombie, but had learned to have that feel like the norm. It was pathetic really. Well, on Sunday after Mass, Bryce and I made the mutual decision to have the kids cry it out. This is a method that I swore I would never do, especially since I have a rule about no crying, even for one minute.  Well, I threw that method out the window and we started with night one. I had been warned that some babies cry for up to three hours so I prepped myself for the absolute worse. Night one wasn't too bad, Cole cried for a solid eighteen minutes and Olivia cried for twenty minutes and then they both put themselves back to sleep. Some how some way, they can sleep through each other's wailing. I don't know how the hell they can do that, but they can. It's a true talent.  Night two was a bit of a different story. Cole woke up first and cried for an hour and eight minutes. Longest hour of. my. life. Olivia woke up thirty minutes later and whimpered for ten minutes (not loud enough to keep Bryce or I from falling asleep, I know that's horrible). The next day Bryce had to leave to go to Houston for business. Super. I prepared myself that I was going to have to fend two crying babies by myself. I had my cat cuddled up in bed with me and gave him a pep talk that he would have to cuddle with me through the loud cries of my children. I woke up at 3 am to silence, I woke up at 4:30 am to silence and I woke up at 6 am to...silence. Both Olivia and Cole slept the entire night. 11.5 hours. Best 11.5 hours of my life. I'm probably jinxing myself by writing about this and telling everyone, but I don't care. Even if it was a one night thing, it was a glorious one night thing.  

Big Recap

Hello! Sorry I haven't written in a while, we have been super busy! We went to Houston three weeks ago and Bryce came back and forth from Pittsburgh and Houston for business and Olivia and Cole's baptism. The twins and I stayed with my parents for two amazing weeks and I was so sad to leave. While we were in Houston we took advantage of the warmer weather (warmer compared to the sub zero temperatures we are used to) when we could. The majority of the trip we spent trying to kick the colds we caught.  First, Cole caught it, then I caught it, Olivia caught it, then my mom and dad got it. It was seriously like the walking dead for  a while. Luckily, Tylenol did the trick and Olivia and Cole started feeling better in a few days. We did get to see all my friends that I haven't seen since July (my last trip home) and it was so good to see all of them. Unfortunately, during the time that Olivia was sick was one of my best friends bachelorette parties. I opted to go just for the lingerie shower and go home before the night started because I didn't want to leave Olivia her first time sick. I was so sad to miss the bachelorette party, but her wedding is in two weeks and we are going back to Houston for it and I absolutely can not wait! On our last day in Houston, my parents, Olivia, Cole and I went to walk at the bayou. The bayou is one of my favorite places back home. It is so peaceful and I absolutely love being outdoors. 

The day after we got back to Pittsburgh, Olivia and Cole turned four months! They are growing so fast and every day they do something new...it is so fun! Everyone asks me "How do you do it? How do you handle twins practically by yourself with Bryce working and having no family close by?" Honestly, I just do it. I don't know anything different. I'm not going to lie, there have been a few days where I call my mom or Bryce crying because I am so stressed out because the kids just keep screaming or their nap schedules are COMPLETELY not on the same schedule (which makes for absolutely NO time to myself ). It will be so much easier when the weather is 

warmer and we can spend our days outside instead of being cooped up with little to nothing to do.  Warm weather makes everything better. :)

Speaking of warmer weather, I did a little Spring shopping (online) last night. I LOVE spring and summer clothes and there are so many cute clothes out there right now. I also got a new diaper bag! My old one was a Carters and I really liked it, but it just wasn't practical with two babies. It had to go on the shoulder and when I carry both babes, it would always fall off and hit one of them or just be a total pain in the ass. I have been wanting a new one for a while, but didn't know which one to get, until my friend Pam came over to my parents house in Houston! She had a Petunia Pickle Bottom bag and I fell in love with it.  My mom and dad ended up buying it for me and it just came in the mail yesterday! The thing I love most about it (besides all the room it has) is that it can be used as a satchel or as a back pack. I am going to use it as a back pack because with two babies, you need both arms as much as possible.

Well, I think I've caught y'all up on what's been going on the past month or so. Hope y'all have a great Friday, tomorrow!