{mommy & Jack}I was looking back through my pictures and came across these. They are some of my favorite pics. The boys were still so little, and so scrumptious in their tiny Osh Kosh overalls!
{double feeding}When I quit breastfeeding and started formula feeding, I used those Boppy's within an inch of their lives! Every three hours during the day I would set myself up on the couch or floor with two bottles, two boppy's, two burp rags & two babies. (Here I am at my mom's... I never left home without the Boppy's!)
{mommy's perspective}My mom took this picture (well, all of these actually) for me. She said she thought it would be nice to have it from my perspective. Feeding them like this didn't always work perfectly. They didn't always finish at the same time, and sometimes they would scoot down, away from the Boppy, but it was the best way I could find to keep them on roughly the same schedule and feed them at the same time by myself.
{Mommy with Jack & Logan-in my lap-)When they were about half way through their bottles, I would stop to burp. Logan was notorious for throwing up every.single.ounce. of his bottle if he had a burp. So we always stopped mid-feeding to prevent this.
{Mommy & her bubs}When I look at this picture (me with two teeny, tiny babes) I wonder, "How did I do it?" I now understand why people always asked me this. Looking back, I don't really remember. I guess I just did it because I had to do it. I did the best I could with the resources I had at the time, and we seem to have come out of it alright!
{my sweethearts}I remember carrying them like this was somewhat nerve wracking. For a long time they lacked the neck control necessary for me to carry both of them. But necessity caused me to carry both of them together quite often. With time it got easier, and now they have the neck control, but I am lacking the bicep strength! (I do carry them both, more than I should, but I just love them so much! Plus it's a good workout. They are roughly sixty pounds all together!)
{holding hands}We used to love when the boys would touch each other, or hold hands. When they were a little older they started looking at one another, and that was exciting,too. It's amazing to think that now they are able to talk to each other.
The other day Jack was sitting on the floor, playing with the food from his "kitchen" and Logan walked over to him. "Jack. Up. Push," he said matter-of-factly. He then walked into the kitchen, sat in the baby doll stroller and waited. Jack promptly got up, walked over to Logan and pushed him around and around in the stroller.
They also tell each other no, to share, or if they want to trade. They are surprisingly good at trading toys and sharing. They often will say (with no adult intervention) they want to trade, and the other brother will oblige. This makes me so proud.
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Looking back at what it used to take every day to keep the boys happy and healthy, I am proud of how far we have come. I am thankful that our journey has been so joy-filled and wonderful. I realize more and more just how blessed I am.
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Tonight as I read them "All By Myself" by Mercer Mayer (a Cunningham household favorite) in the rocking chair I got two years ago when I was 33 weeks pregnant with them, their blonde hair shiny and still damp from their bath, their skin glistening from Johnson & Johnson pink lotion, their green binkies being sucked (suck-suck, suck-suck) and their chubby fingers rubbing their favorite soft spots on their bubs, I take a real deep breath (perhaps the first one of the day) and realize that this is just what I have been waiting for. This is what I have been dreaming of my whole life. I have two beautiful, healthy children who beg all night long as we get ready for bed to read a book in "mommy yap!?!" (lap)
And after stories, it gets even better (if that's possible) as they say, "Mommy hug?" I scoop them up (the boy, his binky, his two bubbas (I think they think they need twins, too), and their blanket) and I sing to them "You are my sunshine." Only now, I don't sing it solo. No, those sweet, cherubic cheeks start humming along, mostly belting out the word "Sunshine" at random intervals- working hard to sing around the binkies that, at this point, must be left in. I rock them back and forth in my arms as if they were brand new babies, their big chubby hands sometimes wrapped around my neck, sometimes loving their bubbas, and I thank God for them. I pray for their safety and health through the night, and I lower them, one by one, into their beds, telling them to "go night-night", "Mommy loves you".
Oh yes.
Mommy loves you.
