Calling in Reinforcements

If you want to see a total meltdown, try telling your wife, who had twins less than three weeks previously, on your third day back to work, that you have to go to Germany the next week.  That's not pretty.  Luckily, I have amazing family and friends, who stepped up to the plate to help out.  Also, Wei-Yand was none to happy about having to travel so quickly after the girls were born, and the trip got pushed back a week, which was good for everyone.

Wei-Yand left Monday morning and returned Friday afternoon.  I know that I could have handled taking care of the babies by myself during that time, but when your hormones are still out of control and you're being double teamed by two babies, it seems very, very difficult.  Let me say at the outset that Harper and Tannah are very good babies.  They are sweet and adorable, and I couldn't love them more.  They also cry, as babies generally do.  When you have twins there are two levels of crying: tag team crying and double teaming.  Tag teaming is when they alternate being upset/fussy.  Double teaming is when they are both going at it at the same time.  This is the worst, as I only have so many hands, and while it's hard to pick up two babies at the same time, it's even harder to put them down.  If I manage to pick both of them up, I often end up holding them until Wei-Yand gets home.  Luckily, they don't really get fussy until around 5:00 pm.  This is when I really look forward to having a second set of hands.


When I called my mom (there might have been some crying involved) to tell her about Wei-Yand's travel plans, she immediately formulated a plan.  I would take the ferry to Michigan while Wei-Yand was gone.  I would still be on my own while my parents were at work, but I would have help at night.  Unfortunately, that same day the ferry launch date was pushed back into May, so I would have to drive to get to Michigan.  Again, that would be doable, but logistically, the idea of driving two babies through Chicago by myself was a little daunting.  I would have to stop at least once, but probably twice, to feed them.  What if I needed to use the restroom?  There were multiple issues with this scenario.

This is when Aunt Brynne really stepped up.  She decided that she would take the train up and stay with me on Monday and Tuesday nights.  This meant that I also got help during the day.  Jackpot!  A good friend of mine volunteered to come spend Wednesday night with us, and my parents had already planned to come visit that weekend, so they came in on Thursday.  I so appreciated all of their help, it made the week a lot less stressful for me.  The girls enjoyed all of the attention and extra hands as well:)

Brynne and I actually took the girls our for lunch while she was here.  It was a very nice outing!