Twin Update!

Well folks, we're 8 weeks and some change with these little turkeys, and I'm feeling...okay? Still dazed, but starting to come around! We are already getting a lot of odd questions about the babies, so I thought I'd answer a few for our own records, as this is our family blog.

Are you seriously going to attempt to homeschool with 2 infant and two toddlers in the house? The short answer is "yes." Lucy will be wrapping up Kindergarten in the fall, probably right around Halloween. If we were to send her to public school, which we have discussed, she'd be repeating Kinder and spending muh of her year in a full-day setting doing things she's already mastered. As it stands, our plan is to finish Kinder in the fall and then take some time off until about February, when she'll start 1st grade at home. With two tiny babies (potential preemies) and two toddlers, we want to have the ability to limit germs and shut the world out if we need to, as we'll be welcoming two new babies during flu season and breastfeeding is anyone's guess. So really, sending Lucy to hang out with 30 random incubators all day long seems like a lot to work against. And then there's the whole "let's pack up 4 babies early in the morning in the middle of winter and then again during naptime to do the school runs" issue. Say wha?!? When 1st grade takes a maximum of 2 hours per day, I cannot see going to the hassle of "making things easier" by enrolling her elsewhere.

Are you going to find out the sex of the babies? Our initial answer was "no." But, we've talked it to death, and I think we've decided to find out for a number of reasons.

• I was alone when I found out I was pregnant, and I was alone when I found out we were having twins. Trying to keep the sex of the babies a surprise during 30+ ultrasounds and with two different doctors seriously increases the odds that someone is going to slip up and tell us, and with that many appointments, I'll be doing many of them alone. We do NOT want to be apart when we find out if they're boys, girls or both, so we're going with finding out together the first time. 
• With the number of kids we're about to have, we'd like some time to name them and start dreaming about their personalities. I'm a little afraid that the first days are going to be chaotic, so when they're born, I want to feel like I know them in case they end up whisked to the NICU and we have to spend time apart. 
• Finally, Lucy is very anxious about the possibility of having brothers, and we'd like a little extra time to prepare her if we do ed up bringing home a (gasp!) boy. This way we'd have some time to do a little shopping, prepare a nursery and get excited about the thought welcoming testosterone into the family. As Lucy says, "they talk weird and they don't have any hair." Whew. I hear you, sister. 

Are you so super excited? In one word, yes. To make that answer longer, yes and no. We're SO excited about adding two babies to our family, and we're so excited about adding to the chaos. We love chaos and we LOVE babies. We are, however, concerned and nervous. This will be a high-risk pregnancy and there are a lot of things to consider and prepare for, so we're approaching each week prayerfully and patiently. We have a lot of doctor's visits, sonograms and potential hospital time ahead of us, so we have a lot of thoughts to juggle right now. Our OB is confident that there is no reason to be concerned and that things will sail along just fine, so we're going with that, but any time you have an increased risk for prematurity and low birth-weight, not to mention two babies in one uterus, there is extra worry. 

In short, BABIEEEEEES!!! We can't wait. Our next appointment is on June 14th for our 11 week visit, and we can't wait to put out an update!