Final thoughts

This is my 154th blog. It all started on April 22, 2009 when I found out on my birthday that Andrea was knocked up. 7 days later I posted this blog- I can't seem to stop thinking about the possibility of twins. Andrea keeps having dreams about twins. I keep getting an urge to go to Minnesota to see a baseball game. Everywhere I go I seem to see twins. There is only a 20% chance of twins so why is is so prevalent in my thoughts. Last night my dad asked me what I wanted, one or two. I still want one since it is safer for the baby and Andrea but I keep thinking that I may be a little bit disappointed if there is only one in the oven. Maybe twins would not be so bad. I think Andrea would be very excited if it could be one girl and one bulldog. I don't think that is possible but you never know. I guess I will have to continue to wait till Monday.

Who would have known what the next 15 months would hold. A very sick wife, some pre birth health scares with Riley, a late night trip to the hospital several times, months without sleep and now 2 -7month old girls that I can not imagine loving any more than I do. The girls are more fun than ever and learn new things weekly. Andrea has found her true calling in life, being a mom. R&R are a true blessing from God and I look forward to seeing them every day. I cant wait to see what the next 15 months hold for Andrea and I. I think it is time to do my last blog. I never intended on doing this forever and it seems that I just can't seem to find the time to keep up with it. Andrea and I post lots of pictures and videos on Facebook so if you have been reading this blog over the last 15 months feel free to become friends with us on Facebook to keep up with how the twins are doing. Send a friend request to Jeff Gregg and Andrea Goldberg Gregg with the word "twins" in it and we will accept your friend request. See ya.

Reagan lounging with Boo Boo

Just a quick update, not much new this week. Reagan is rolling over more but still gets stuck when she rolls on her belly. She is definitely teething and gets grumpy about that some times. Riley still thinks mommas funny voice is hysterical. Andrea can make her laugh just about anytime she wants. I have a busy travel month in July. Have trips to Philly, Boston, Charleston SC, Los Angeles, San Diego and maybe Virginia Beach. Andrea and the girls will be going with me to SC for 8 days. With the exception of the California trip all will only be 2-3 days but that short amount of time can be a lifetime for Andrea if the girls give her a hard time at night. She can handle it though. After all, she is supermom!

Another week in the life

It has been a fairly normal week with the exception of my first Fathers Day. The girls continue to progress, learn new things and get cuter. They also occasionally still try to kill us also though. Reagan has a tooth about to poke through and that makes her a bit grumpy every now and then. Riley is very close to crawling and holding her own bottle. They sleep through the night about 1-2 times a week and the other days they still get up anywhere from 2-4am for a bottle. Reagan is babbling all the time. I have no idea what she is saying but she thinks it is very important. Riley can be made to laugh with funny faces and voices at almost anytime. Reagan often looks at Riley and starts laughing for no reason. Riley must be a very funny girl, or at least sissy thinks so. Every week holds something new. I hope this weeks newness is a good nights sleep. And so it continues.

Welcome home

I just returned from a 3 day trip to Chicago. I was busy the whole time I was gone but sure did find time to miss all my girls. At first I was not sure if I was going to make it to Chicago at all. We took off Wednesday at 7:30 and at about 7:50 the captain said that we were returning to Pittsburgh with a mechanical problem, something about the landing gear not retracting. He said that there were no safety concerns though. As we were landing there were fire trucks on the runway waiting for us and a firefighter got on the plane when we got to the gate. We never did find out what happened but we were stuck at the Pittsburgh Airport until 4:30 that afternoon. When I got home today the girls acted like I was never gone but at least Andrea and Booboo were excited to see me. Andrea and the dog were sick while I was gone but between the two of them they took good care of the girls. I took this video of Reagan talking to Booboo when I got home. I am looking forward to my first Fathers Day.

6 month birthday

Yesterday was the girls 6 month birthday. Grandma Gregg put together cupcakes, presents and gift bags for the other neighborhood kids and of course we had to sing to them. I can not believe that it has been six months since Andrea and I sat in the waiting room at Magee waiting to be called in to the Operating Room to meet Reagan and Riley. Since then they have tried to kill us through sleep deprivation hundreds of times. I estimate we have gone through about 2200 diapers, over 6000 baby wipes and made about 2400 bottles. They have been kissed and hugged thousands of times and only sent us to the brink of a mental meltdown a few times. Andrea and I have worked as a team throughout the process and as I knew would be the case she is the best mother ever. They both now can roll over and laugh and giggle constantly. They think that momma is hysterical and Andrea has turned into a "baby whisperer". Sometimes she can just sense what they need while I am baffled as to what the cause of the current implosion is. I am looking forward to seeing what the next 6 months has for us. I am sure there will be many more meltdowns, sleepless nights and super stinky diapers to change but I sure am having fun.

Sunday morning wrestling match

Buy 2 get 1

We go through what seems like a ridiculous amount of diapers, butt wipes and formula. So, when we saw last week that Babies R Us was having a buy 2 get 1 free on the formula we use Andrea hit the road to stock up. Unfortunately she found only 3 on the shelves at the Cranberry store and our intention was to by 3-4 cases not 3 containers. They are $16 each and as I said we go through lots. As I was about to accept defeat she had an idea. She called Toys R Us and they had a bunch and said they would honor the Toys R Us discount. So this picture is not of a store room at some warehouse it is our basement. I just hope they get used before the expiration date.

Stuck

It has been a long weekend with both girls and I recovering from a cold that Andrea was kind enough to share with us. The girls have been getting up overnight several times so we have been sleeping as much as we can when we can for the last few days. Yesterday morning I was up at about 8am feeding Reagan while Riley was rolling around the ground and Andrea was in bed catching up after the girls ran her hard overnight. I was sitting in my recliner feeding Reagan and Riley worked her way under the recliner so I could not lower the legs to get up. Since I was holding Reagan I was stuck. I had to yell up and wake Andrea to come remove Riley so I could move. I used my phone to take a picture of Riley to confirm where she was at. That is the picture above.

Riley thinks momma is funny.

It is 7am and I think I am in for a day. I am up with the girls because Andrea was up with them twice last night. Unfortunately for me I now have the cold that the girls have also. Both girls are feeling a bit better but still real snotty and congested. Check out the video we took yesterday.

CHEAP OR THRIFTY???

Andrea has always had a good work ethic. I say that it is because I raised her from a pup. I married her young enough that I was able to train her. She always worked hard and did whatever she could to bring $ into the house. Now that her full time and then some job is raising my beautiful baby girls she no longer contributes financially to the cause. In no way am I complaining. I would not have it any other way. What she can do to contribute is to be an informed value shopper. I have said before that she is maybe not "cheap" but at the least "very thrifty". This has been proven by her recent purchase at Kohl's. As you can see from the receipt she purchased $78.00 for under $1.00 for a total savings of $77.01 or about 98.2%. I guess she really does not want to go back to work anytime soon.

Reagan laughing

Those little girls continue to get cuter and more fun. They both have colds but not that bad. This video is of Reagan being tickled by momma. They have been going to bed every night before 8pm and get up at about 4-5am to eat. Sometimes they go back down for a bit, sometimes not. It would be nice if they slept in a little longer but we will take what we can get. Reagan rolled over for the first time in a month yesterday and then again this morning. Riley rolls around the floor like a top and is not far from crawling. We took Riley to the Dr. today for a quick check up as she was breathing a bit hard from her cold and after our visit to Children's Hospital a few months ago we were a bit concerned. It turned out that all she had was a cold with a side of "new parent syndrome". She is fine.

Boo protecting the bone

Sharing is nice

Boo finally gave in.

Boo not sharing

Bella expressing her displeasure with Boo not sharing.

Batchin it

Andrea has been gone with my girls since Sunday and I sure do miss everyone. They are on the road now coming back to me. I hope the girls don't give her too hard of a ride back. They are stopping in Wythville VA tonight and will be home tomorrow afternoon. Boo and I have been bachelors for a week and it is getting old. Tonight we went swimming at Doug and Lisa's house. Check out the video of Boo and Bella.

Rileys attempt

Here is Rileys second attempt at the tasty peas.

Reagan attempting to eat Peas

Rice Cereal is not loved by the girls so we thought we would move on to some tasty tasty peas. That did not go so well either. You would think that my daughters would excel at eating.

5 months

Five months ago today Reagan and Riley met the world. Last night to celebrate their 5 month birthday they slept all night for the fifth night in a row. They have been going to bed between 7-8pm and getting up between 6:30 and 7:30am. What a difference in our quality of life. Andrea and I got a present today also. After relentless calling to our Dr. on my part we got the results back for Andrea's biopsy that we were looking for. The thyroid nodules are not cancerous. She has to go to the Dr. in about 10 days and talk about what they want to do but this is a big step in the right direction. On to further baby news. We have started trying to feed the girls cereal from a spoon and while it is not going as well as I expected Andrea assures me that this is normal. Riley at first thought the spoon was trying to kill her and she shrieked with terror. As you can see in the video, Reagan has not mastered the concept yet either.

Our first Mothers Day

It has been a busy week as I started back to work and Andrea was back to flying solo more often. She had a biopsy done on Monday checking 4 nodules that are growing on her thyroid. The results are not back yet but we expect to hear word in the next few days as to what is going on. She had to have 11 needles stuck in her neck so it was not a fun experience. The girls are excited to share their first mothers day with their momma and as a gift to her they both slept through the night the last 3 nights. They went down each night between 8 and 8:30pm and slept to 7am each day. This has been the best gift they could have given her. Monday after Andrea's procedure I got up with them overnight so Andrea could sleep. It was a rude reminder of what she goes through every night at 3-4am. Yesterday we loaded the girls and Boo up and headed to Columbus for a birthday party for the girls cousin Trenton. They did great in the car for a total of 8 hours. Andrea will be taking the girls to Myrtle Beach next Sunday with her family so wish her and her Grandmother luck as the go 10 hours in the car each way. Be praying for Andrea's results this week and I want to give a big attagirls to all the mommys out there. I have the best one here caring for my girls but you all do a great job also. You just can't be #1. Andrea already has that one all locked up.

Mommy and Daddy time

In early January the girls were doing everything they could to try to kill us. We were getting no sleep and I knew that at some point we would need a break. I booked a cruise for Andrea and I for last week. It seemed like a good idea at the time but as we were getting closer to the time to leave we started second guessing our decision. How would we be able to leave the girls for 8 days. Not that we did not love them lots in January but they kinda grew on us over the months. As the date got closer we were seriously considering cancelling the trip. If we had not booked it with friends of ours from St. Louis I think we may have. Last Friday we got on a train to NYC. We had a nice time just being together and being able to talk for 9 hours. We had spent the last 4 months together but really not able to do anything but baby stuff. We went out to dinner Friday night in Times Square, as it turns out we were standing 100 feet from where the car bomb was last night. Saturday we got on the boat and went to Port Canaveral and Nassau. We were to go to their private island but it was cancelled for some reason. We were only able to call my parents on the day we were in Orlando but we e-mailed them daily. We got back to NYC Saturday morning and back in Pittsburgh last night at about 8pm. We were way ready to see R&R. They look like they grew a bunch while we were gone and while my parents did an awesome job watching them I know they were ready for a good nights sleep. The girls got us back in the groove of normal life quickly with Reagan getting Andrea up at 2am and both of them getting us both up this morning at 6am. Reagan pooped and peed on me today and Riley puked on me and boy did I love every minute of it. It is great to be home.

Destination good, trip bad

We came home from SC last Saturday. While in Charleston we had a great time relaxing and spending time with family and friends. Andrea and I left the girls for a couple days with my parents and headed to Disney. We rarely get any time together alone so we had a great time. We did find that we talked about the girls about every 10 minutes and looked at pictures and videos of them all the time. We still had fun though. We were definitely ready to get back to see them. Saturday we headed back towards the Burgh. We had high hopes for the trip as they slept the entire way down the previous week. Things did not go as well as we had hoped for. We had multiple explosions of wailing and general unhappiness. It started out ok but after about 4 hours all went down hill. At one point they were sleeping but someone and by someone I do not mean myself or Andrea had a real stinky one in their pants. Andrea and I were at a serious decision point. Do we pull over and change them? If we do, they will surely wake up and scream again. Do we roll down the windows for some fresh air and a little stink relief for us? If we do that the wind noise will wake them and they will scream. Our choice was to ride in a poop filled, foul smelling, quiet car for an hour until they woke on their own. We managed to do a 10 hour trip in just over 13 hours and got home at about 10:30pm. I have heard it said that it is not the destination but the trip, not with 2 four month old girls. For us it is all about the destination. The trip may hurt a bit. While we were in SC we had 2 things happen. Both girls laughed while Grandma Gregg was tickling them and they both rolled over on their own. Reagan has regressed a bit on the rolling since then but Riley is getting to be a professional. This presents a new issue for us with her. She rolls over onto her belly and then gets stuck and this angers her greatly. She has no concerns with sharing this anger and baby rage with us. This is only exaggerated by the fact that she has started teething. The baby rage that occurs when she has acid reflux, and teething pain while being stuck on her belly flailing around like a fish out of water is so extreme that I am sure that if she was placed in a room with any captured Al-Queda member they would be giving up every known location of enemy combatants just for some peace and quiet. She may have a future with the CIA.

Plantation tour with the girls

We are in Charleston SC for a week. We came here Saturday and the girls did fantastic. They slept the whole way here. It took us 12.5 hours to get here with the stops for them but they were awesome. Sunday we went to Folly Beach and had our friends over to dinner at my parents house. It was great to see Ron and Sandy and let them meet R&R. Today we went to the Magnolia Plantation and walked throught the gardens and took a 45 minute tram ride through the property. Ron was the tour guide that you can hear in the background on this video. Tomorrow Andrea and I are leaving R&R for 2 days and heading to Disney till Thursday. We know the girls will be in good hands with Grandma and Grandpa. We have seen Jason Nat and Ky each day.

Reagan laughing

The Souldier

As most of you know my favorite brother had a double lung transplant in late 2008. He was in town this week for follow up testing and while all the results are not in yet things looked good. His lung capacity was at 90% which is fantastic. He has written a book and it is about to be released. As our family was going through the trying ordeal of watching a loved one go through such an experience many of you asked what you could do. Here is your opportunity to help. GO BUY THE BOOK! Seriously, I am not asking I am telling all of you, my friends to go to http://www.winepressbooks.com/ and search "Jason Gregg". You can preorder it now and save a few bucks. For $10 you get a great read and the chance to help a brother out, literally. Don't let me come to your house and not see it on your bookshelf. I am a large man that carries a gun. Do you really want to make me mad. Enjoy the read and you can check out his site at www.thesouldier.com.

Riley talks

The girls are doing good. They are getting over a cold and are sleeping better. Andrea still gets up once a night for someone but that is it. We are going to venture to Charleston SC tomorrow. It is normally a 10 hour trip but with R&R in tow I am guessing it will be alot longer. We will see what happens but we are going to try to make it there in one day without stopping overnight. Wish us luck. The girls have been "talking" all the time. It never gets old. Check out the video.

Thunder monsters are coming to kill you.

We are used to getting beat up overnight occasionally but last night Boo joined in the mix. As it turns out my lab BooBoo is terrified of thunder and we had a big storm roll through last night at about 4am. He was up panting, drooling and was convinced that the "thunder monster" was coming to kill him. Just when he got calmed down Reagan decided at 5am it was time to eat and then Riley at 6am. Always something new. I have been enjoying my week as I am currently unemployed until the first of May. I have been talking with a company since December and I accepted a new position with them last Weds. I met with US Foods on Thursday and was let go on Friday. That is fairly common in the food business so it did not come as a big shock. We are gonna use the time well and go to Charleston SC to see my family next week and then Andrea and I are gonna take a little trip while my parents watch the girls. Being able to spend so much time with all my girls is awesome but it makes me realise how incredible my wife is. These girls keep you busy from 7am till 10pm every day. She handles it like a pro and continue to impress me. Sorry all you other moms out there but at least for this year you have no chance at the mother of the year award. Andrea is hands down the winner.

Famous brother

As most of you know my brother had a double lung transplant at the end of 2008. He has been doing remarkably well and will be in town next week for some medical appointments. He will be interviewed on the Stacy and Hutch show on 101.5 FM Saturday morning in the 10am hour. Check it out if you get a chance. His web site is http://www.thesouldier.com/. He is also doing a walk for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation on May 15th. If you go to his blog you can get a link to donate to the cause.

My chair

I walked into the living room yesterday and was informed by Andrea that I had lost my chair and had better not kick my daughter out of it. She had been a terror for hours and the chair made her happy. Riley was sitting in my chair watching the Home Shopping Network on TV. I have lost sleep, financial security and my sanity over these girls but I am drawing a line in the sand here. I refuse to lose my chair.

Dr. visit with Riley

After weeks of waiting we went to the GI Dr. for Riley about her acid reflux. As we thought, we were told that we are already doing everything there is that we can do for her. It looks like we just have to wait for her to grow out of it. Andrea has been going out with the girls more often and is getting pretty good at it. It is not an easy task to load everyone up and be out for hours. We have regressed a little in the sleeping department. Riley sleeps all night every night but Reagan has started getting up once to eat anywhere from 2-5am. Andrea gets up with her every night and lets me and Boo sleep. I have a wonderful wife. The picture above is Reagan in their new bouncy seat. I put the seat together with no help from Bob.

3 month photos

I did not know it but there must be a federal law that says you have to go to a professional photographer for 3 month photos of little girls. Andrea made an appointment for the girls at Target today at 11am. I was not sure if I would be able to stop by while they were there so she took her friend Patti to help. As it turns out, she needed the help. Between the crying, wailing, puking, wardrobe changes, acid reflux attacks, Patti and I babbling like idiots to get them to smile and Andrea playing the Beyonce song all the single ladies song on Patti's phone and dancing around the studio like an idiot, we had to be an amazing sight. In the end we got a few good shots but we were all ready to be done. You can see the pictures we took at http://www.thesmilestation.com/

Customer name- Andrea Gregg

Access code- LTTT0954105855TAR

Shame on you congress

Today was the perfect day to get what we got in the mail. It could have not been more appropriate timing. I got another bill for our portion of Riley's hospital stay last month. In addition to the $600 we already paid we now have another $800 to pay for her care. I have no problem paying it. Of course I would rather not but we owe it. My question is how much more will it be if there is ever a next time. Our government passed a historic bill last night that will give many more Americans health coverage, at some point making them have health coverage even if they do not want it. Who will pay for this new law? Me, and I don't want to. In fact the majority of hard working Americans do not want this but we were ignored. I hope that all of you that voted for "change" are happy with what you got. You blindly voted for change and what we got is screwed. The Decleration of Independence promises us "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness". These three aspects are listed among the "unalienable rights". Healthcare is not a right. I work hard to support my family and I do not want to support those who chose to not work as hard as I do. I agree that healthcare needs fixed but this is not it. Obama and Pelosi are socialist that are endangering the future of this country and the future for my daughters. November is coming and hopefully the voters in this country will wake up. I just pray it is not too late.

Happy girl

Not much to report but I had to put this picture up from last night. They are still on the same sleeping schedule. It is about every other night that Andrea has to get up. Last night she was up with them at 3:30 and the night before they both slept all night. They are going to my parents house tonight for a visit. The P's are headed to SC on Monday so they have to get their last fix in. Andrea and I are helping Doug and Lisa Meyer move this weekend so by Sunday I should be making all kinds of old man noises. When I was in my 20's I helped lots of friends move and it was never an issue. As I approach 40 the list of people I will move furniture for gets smaller and smaller. Fortunately for Doug he is still at the top of the list. Andrea will have the Ben Gay ready.

Crisis Averted

Yesterday morning Andrea had plans to go to the mall to have the girls pictures taken with the Easter Bunny. She was a little sleep deprived since the girls both decided that the night before was a good time to revert into their old ways. She had a lot to do to get them ready. After all they needed to be fed, cleaned, changed into something pretty, and off to the mall. The intention was ( and trust me, this was planned, practised, talked about, scheduled, etc. ) to have them in their pretty pretty pink outfits with the built in ballerina slippers and wearing their bunny ears that Miss Patti from across the street got for them. Now mind you, I was not here to witness the following events so I am just relaying what happened as it was told to me by a busy stressed out momma. Andrea was upstairs working on getting the girls ready and she had to come downstairs to get something. That's when it happened, the end of the world as we know it. There he was, the idiot black lab laying on the floor eating the bunny ears. What to do, call 911, panic, call me to come home and kill the dog? All were valid options at the time. She quickly finished dressing the girls, minus the bunny ears of course and ran from door to door in the cull de sac like a Jehovah's Witness with a confusion on what it takes to get into heaven. At the third house she located a back up set of ears. Crisis averted! She loaded up and off to the mall she went. I had a meeting in Ross Township so I met her there to watch the magic. We had a great time and as you can see the girls were not that impressed. Can't wait to meet Santa.

I think they are cute.

I don't have that much to report, I just needed an excuse to show you this picture. I know that every parent says their kids are way cute but I think mine really are. At some point in life you find yourself turning into your parents. I was told that these exact words came from my mother many years ago. I can only assume she was referring to my brother Jason when she said it though. Speaking of Jason, he is doing very well and you can keep up with his progress at www.thesouldier.com. Now back to the girls. They are sleeping much better still. They usually get up once a night but we do get some all nighters every now and then. Sunday night they went over 9 hours. Riley continues to have issues with acid reflux and we have an appointment with the GI Dr. later this month. It is sad to see her in pain because you can't do anything for her. She gets REAL grumpy several times a day from the reflux. They both are getting more reactive. They smile, babble, and look at you. Riley watches Andrea intently as she moves around the room. Andrea is doing a fantastic job with them. I knew she was the best wife but she is even exceeding that as a mother.

TNT ( toenail teaspoon )

There are a few things that I would rather have Andrea do. One is give baths, they get all slippery and squirmy. The other one is cut fingernails and toenails. Andrea has been cutting their fingernails for months but they have not needed to have their toenails cut until now. While I was at work today she cut Rileys toenails and thought that I would want to see them. So what to do with very little tiny toenail trimmings. She thought she would put them in a teaspoon and sit it on the kitchen counter until I got home. Why a teaspoon you ask, actually, I have no idea. I guess she just figured that they were so small and they would be easy to see and not lose there. Fast forward to several hours later when I get home. They were fired up so I went to fix bottles. 5 ozs of water, 2.5 scoops of formula and 4 teaspoons of rice cereal. Yup, 4 teaspoons of rice cereal. It was later that we realised that I had used the "toenail teaspoon" to make the bottles. Did the toenails make it into the formula? No one really knows but it is a definite possibility.

Hello sun!

We had a bit of a set back last night. Both girls wanted to eat over night so Andrea was up from 4-5am. Other than that they were down from 10pm till about 8am. It is easy for me to say since I am not the one getting up but we can live with getting up once over night. With the warmer weather Andrea ventured out this afternoon for a walk around the hood with her friend Sylvia and her 1yr old Noah. Boo and Brandy got to go also. I stopped by the house at lunch time to check up on everyone and the picture above was what I found. Spring can't get here soon enough. We are getting cabin fever and we are looking forward to being able to head outside more with the girls.

A trip to church

We finally went to church last night with the girls. I will save you all the details of what it takes to go out as you have read them before and I don't feel like typing that much right now. Just be assured that it is quite an ordeal to load and go. We got to the church and had back up waiting for us. We met my parents there and sat in the back of the sanctuary. There is no way that 2 little babies could take on 4 well trained, baby experienced adults. We started into the service with all going well. During the musical part of the service they enjoyed themselves. Grandma was holding Riley and dad had Reagan. Riley was dancing and Reagan was taking a nap on grandpas chest. Everything was going as planned until Pastor Scott took over the service.
I don't know if it was that they were not impressed with his version of Sampson and that evil wench Delilah or if it was that he was not wearing a sweater vest in honor of their first trip to church. Either way they were not happy. Riley had to be escorted out several times by several people. On one trip out Andrea took her to the cry room at the church. It is a room where "mothers" can take their crying children to feed them and still watch the service through a one way mirror. There are 3 rocking chairs in there and all were filled. One by a woman that was breast feeding, one by a woman that was rocking an upset child and one by a man that was just there to be with his wife. Now Andrea enters into the room with a crying child and he just sits there. He does not get up, he does not offer her the seat, he just sits there. Now Andrea should have asked him to move, get out, something. She was not in a confrontational mood so she moved on. She has been given strict instructions that if this ever happens again that she should come get me. Church or no church, it's on. I am pretty sure that God will understand me punching an idiot in his house. Who knows, maybe he will even turn the other cheek and I will get a good second shot in. Andrea went back into the lobby and at this point Reagan started going off. So now dad and Andrea were in the lobby and mom and I were still in the service. Andrea came into the service to get a bottle and I went out to help. They needed fed and we stayed in the lobby watching the service on a TV. I think in the future we may just start there. We were going to go to eat after with my parents but we had had enough. We went home and grandma and grandpa brought over pizza. Before we left the church I put a little something in the offering plate and guess what happened. Last night was the first night they both slept all night. They went down at 10pm and slept till 7am. Did it have anything with the offering at the church? I don't know but I am not willing to risk it.

Zzzzzzz

Hey we got something going here! We are at a week with very improved sleeping patterns. They even went to my parents house on Wednesday and did pretty good over there also. It is currently 7:20am Saturday morning. We fed them at 9pm last night, put them down at 10pm. Andrea fed Reagan at 5:30am and then she went back down. Riley has been down since 10pm and I am up and waiting for them to get up. The wake up is my favorite time of day with them. They are in such good moods when they first get up in the morning. They talk and smile bigger than any other time of the day. My dad commented on Reagan smiling and talking in the morning when they stayed over. I kinda expected him to show up for some unrelated reason every morning at about 7am to experience the daily "cooathon". When mom and dad returned them Thursday evening I was not sure I was going to get mom out of the house. I could tell she had lots of fun with them for the day and she had not been able to spend much time with them in about 6 weeks. Andrea took them out for a little road trip yesterday by herself and we are going to try to take them to church tonight. Twins at this age are still a full time plus job for both of us and then some but it gets alot easier if you can get some sleep. Our social life, sleep patterns, savings account, work productivity and house organization have all suffered but we sure are having a good time. It is amazing how one well placed coo or smile can erase an hour of crying and diaper changing.

The start of a beautiful thing

Do we have a new trend starting at the Gregg house? We sure hope so. The last two nights the terrorists, oh excuse me, I mean my two beautiful baby girls went to bed around 9-10pm, got up once around 3am and slept till 7am or later. Reagan did do the most impressive puke so far last evening just to show us that they are still in charge but things may be headed in the right direction. The other good news is that Grandma and Grandpa are back in town form SC so we are gonna get some relief there also. I think they will be going for an overnight visit tonight. I hope the trend continues for them.

Medical update

Friday I took Miss Riley to the Dr for a post Pneumonia check up and to get her 2 month immunizations that we missed with her being sick. All was good and she was cleared to return to normal activity. She weighed 12lbs 12ozs so she is getting ready to make a run at her buddy next door Cameron that checked in at over 17lbs at her Dr visit this week. There must be something in this Cranberry Twp water that grows em big. Reagan and Riley are both felling better. Rileys acid reflux is improving with the Zantac. Reagan has still been trying to kill Andrea overnight. She has been hungry every 2.5-3 hours. Last night we started Reagan on the Rice Cereal and she went from 10pm to 3:30am without a peep. That is a record! Hopefully it is a trend that will continue. They both continue to get cuter by the day and are cooing and smiling lots. Check out the picture of Riley at the Dr. yesterday. Look at how red her hair is getting. I have always said that every red head woman I have ever met was insane. What am I in for?

Road trip

We have been a bit scared to take the girls out on any trips. Just the logistics of packing up everything was a little overwhelming. We decided to make a run at it tonight and packed up for Costco. I first had to figure out the stroller. That was an hour to figure out how both car seats went in. We then had to feed both, change both diapers pack them in their warm clothes, hats, blankets, binkys, etc. The dog then realised that we were leaving and decided he wanted to go. After about 90 minutes of preparation we were on the road. At Costco we then had to set up the stroller, keep the dog from jumping out of the car and get the girls loaded into the stroller. Since I have been up since 5am I was now ready to be done and we were not even in the building yet. As if it was any surprise to anyone, Andrea got to push the stroller and I had to push the cart. It was at about this point that we realised that we did not bring the diaper bag so we were hoping there would not be a blow out. We would have had to buy a box of 200 diapers for one. We finished the shopping and headed back to the car where we had to go through it all again. Remove the car seats, collapse the stroller, yell at the dog for jumping out of the car, get the dog back in the car, load all the boxes into the trunk, load the girls in the car and back to the homestead. Once we were home we had to get both girls, dog and food into the house. We then had to get everything put away and Reagan decided she had to be fed. It was an ordeal but we got through it.

Cooing and lots of smiles

The girls have been feeling better. They have both started smiling alot more and Reagan especially is doing lots of talking. Riley has been doing alot of her own kind of talking but hers sounds much more angry. She has been fussy from the acid reflux that we are still trying to get a handle on. I have no idea what they are saying but it seems very important to them.

Home sweet home

We came home Wednesday from Childrens. Rileys O2 sats are running around 95% and they needed to be over 90% to go home. We took Reagan to the Dr on Wednesday afternoon for a checkup on the Bronchitis and cold and she is doing better. She got her 2 month immunizations and was not happy about that. We took Riley to the Dr. Friday for a Pneumonia check up and she continues to improve. I would say as of now they are both just acting like little girls that have a cold. They have been a handful for the last few hours and tried to kill Andrea over night. Here was their feeding schedule since last night. It is 10:30 am now.

11pm- Reagan

12am- Riley

1:30am- Reagan

3:30am- Riley

4:30am- Reagan

5:45am- Riley

7:00am- Riley

8:30am- Reagan

9:45am- Both

CHP Day 2

We had hoped that we may be able to go home today but Miss Riley has decided that she wants us to sleep on these very comfortable couches at least one more night. She is improving in several areas. Her lungs are starting to sound better, she is eating more, her color is improved and she has not puked after eating. The O2 sats are the last hurdle before we can be released. She is on oxygen all the time and if you take her off it she still drops into the 80's The magic number is for her to be able to be at at least 92% on room air with no supplemental oxygen. I ran home today for an hour to check on Grandpa, Reagan and Boo Boo. Grandpa Paul cancelled his flight back south and is staying until at least Sunday. I have tried several times to get him to let me get him some help so he can get some real sleep but he is adamant that him and Reagan are just fine and he doesn't need any help. He is doing a great job, even changed his first massive poopy blow out diaper. We are waiting to meet with the doctors again tonight and we will see what they have to say. We are hoping for a Wednesday release but that is up to the little one.

Back to the E.D.

So I have decided this parenthood thing may be a little more than we thought. We went back to the E.D. last night at about midnight for Riley and were quickly sent by ambulance to Childrens Hospital for admission for pneumonia. Riley was in some moderate distress and they were afraid that she would crash at some point so Andrea rode with her in the ambulance and I followed. It started with Andrea waking me after a very restful 1 hour of sleep and we decided it was time to go in. I called my dad to come over and watch Reagan. It is a 20 minute ride so just as I thought 22 minutes later he was walking through the door. Riley is doing ok now at 1:30pm but still struggling to breathe. She is not a fan of being suctioned, x-rays and especially IV's. I know she will be fine in the end but it is hard to see her suffer until we get there. Andrea is currently sleeping on the floor on a pull out couch thing and Riley is out for a bit also. They have confirmed the pneumonia and are treating with antibiotics. She is currently on oxygen also and the last time we tried to take it off her it didn't go well. This will get better but her oxygen sats dropped into the mid 80's. Perfect is 100%. She is doing well on the O2 now at 98%. More updates to follow as I get time.

First trip to the E.D.

We have decided that raising twins is not twice as hard as raising one baby, it is four times as hard. Especially when they are both sick. It has been a busy last 24 hours. Friday when I got home from work I was surprised to see my father sitting in my chair holding Reagan. It was a surprise because several hours earlier I had talked to him and he was in Charleston, SC. He knew we were getting our butts kicked and jumped a plane to the burgh to give us a hand. It was even harder than he thought it would be since Atlanta got snowed in and he was flying Delta. He got to the airport and his flight was cancelled so he got a different flight through Charlotte on USAir. We had no idea he was coming but it was a big help because last night at 6pm the Childrens Hospital nurse I was talking to told us it was time to take Reagan to the Emergency Department for dehydration. Luckily Passavant Cranberry has a pediatrician on duty in the E.D. every day from 1-10pm. Dad stayed with Riley and off we went. We were there for about 3 hours and they sent us home. Reagan and Riley are both puking alot now and we are having trouble keeping them hydrated. They both look so pathetic and helpless. You can tell by looking at them they feel miserable. Dad is here till Tuesday morning so it is a perfect time for an extra set of hands. Going to the E.D. is a scary experience for a new parent but we got through it ok. Looks like we are going to be house bound a few more days with two unhappy girls, two stressed parents and one very helpful grandpa.

Dr visit

Went to the Dr for Reagan. It's official, she has a cold. We weighed the girls while we were there.
Reagan- 11lbs 1oz
Riley- 12lbs 6 oz

Family status

Dad- Sick and tired
Riley- Sick, cold and acid reflux
Reagan- Sick, bad cold, very congested
Mom- Very tired
Booboo- Ignored

Crisis averted

The night dwellers continue their evil ways. I think it is a game to them to see how much they can keep us up overnight. Andrea has been doing more than her share of the overnight shifts as I have been sick for 5 days now. Monday overnight she only got 3 hours of sleep and I could do nothing to help her on Tuesday as I had to be on the road working. At about 9am our friend Linda called and asked if we needed anything at the grocery store. Big mistake, I told her that we needed nothing but for her to go to the house and watch R&R so Andrea could get a few hours of sleep. Being the wonderful person that she is she was there by 10:15 and Andrea got to sleep until 2pm. You have no idea what a few hours of sleep can do when you are exhausted, so a big thanks to Linda H. for the save. I think that both the girls have a cold but luckily we have their 2 month Dr visit today so we will look at that and Riley's acid reflux. They are also due for some vaccinations. Otherwise everything is going well except that this morning I went for coffee and I thought we were out. I frantically searched the kitchen and found one last pack buried behind the popcorn. I guess a Costco trip is in needed.

I spoke too soon

Ok, so when I wrote of the perfect storm a few days ago I may have jinxed myself. Here is my question, how did we go from 4-8 inches to the 2 feet of snow that is outside my house now? I still have a cold and Andrea was up alot last night with R&R so I was way happy to see my friend Bob show up with his snow blower today. This morning I let Boo out to pee and he disappeared into a snow drift. I had to dig him a spot just so he could go. We got the sidewalk and driveway dug out and we are settled in with enough diapers, formula and wipes. What more could you need? Andrea has been able to get some sleep today while the girls and I hang out and look at the snow. We were thinking of taking them out to church this weekend but it looks like we are stuck here for the duration. I guess it could be worse. During the blizzard of 93 I worked 72 straight hours.

The Perfect Storm

In a previous EMS life I can remember several calls where I showed up and had way more to handle than I could ever do myself. Times where I was with one other person and had multiple critical victims at a car crash or one time I showed up at a high school that had 30 patients show up at one time from a pepper spraying incident in the cafeteria at lunch time or the time that I got a 911 call asking my how many ambulances I could come up with immediately as a tornado had just hit Mt Washington. What I remember was that I did not get stressed out. I am pretty good at handling the big incident without losing it. I am a good multitasker. My skills were put to the test last evening. Working on 5 hours sleep the night before and with a cold I sent Andrea to WalMart for some things. As soon as she left it happened, the perfect storm encompassed my house. We had multiple pukes, multiple pees, multiple poops. Riley was angry, I am not sure at what but I think it was either the fiscal irresponsibility of the Democratic party or the DOW dropping over 200 points and Reagan was fairly convinced that she was never going to eat again. In the middle of it the dog had to go out and I got one call from a customer and one from Andrea upset that she had lost her cart at WalMart. I am still not sure how that one happened. We weathered the storm and got through it but it does make me long for days when the mass casualty incident was the most stressful part of my day.

A little relief

We started Riley on Zantac last week and it didn't really seem to do much. We have now started her on Rice Cereal in her formula and that with the Zantac may be doing something for the acid reflux. My dad was in town last Friday and Monday and Tuesday this week. We took full advantage of the situation and had him watch the girls several times, sometimes even several times a day so we could get some things done. He even had his first diaper changes. I mean the girls, not his. He isn't that old. He did a great job and is always welcome to take over again. ( On a side note it is currently 5:50am and I think I did something to Reagan to make her very angry ). Unfortunately I am taking him to the airport later this morning so we are losing that pair of hands. My parents will be gone for another month in SC and then we will get some help back in town. Thanks dad for the help.

7 weeks today

It has been a long week. We took Riley to the Dr. this week because we thought she had acid reflux which she does. We are now giving her Zantac and we are waiting to see if it fixes it. It has made for some long days and we are due for a break but unfortunately there are none in sight. My dad was in town Thursday evening and watched the girls for a bit so we could do some shopping. He is watching them again Monday so we can go out somewhere. Tomorrow is our 11 year anniversary. Andrea had a Dr. visit today and she was cleared to go back to normal activities. She is feeling pretty good outside of being tired all the time and a sore back from always carrying a child around. Thanks for an unbelievable 11 years Andrea, just think how awesome the next 11 will be with R&R. I love you.

Homicidal babies

What did we as new parents do wrong? What did we do to anger them so much that they are trying to kill us. I have stood toe to toe with grown men that wanted nothing more than to hurt me and I had no fear in me. I now live in a state of terror from 2 little cute baby girls. It is their goal in life to keep us awake all the time. With the exception of a couple good nights, and by good I mean 3 hours of uninterrupted sleep for us, the last week has been not so good. Riley is the mastermind of the pair. She takes the lead and only sends in Reagan when she needs a break. Their plan as I see it is the absolute annihilation of their parents. Have you ever seen the show Lockup on TV? It is a show about prisons around the country. Every so often the guards do raids of the cells. I think we need to do that in the nursery. Who knows what evil plans they have for us and what weapons they could be hiding under the crib or in the closet. I only have one idea as to what I could have done to anger them. I accidentally tried to drown Reagan last week. We needed more bottles so I went to Babies R Us and bought 6 more bringing our total to 25 in regular rotation. What I didn't realise was that there are different nipples for different ages. There are beginner nipples, slow nipples, fast nipples, etc. What do I know about nipples? I know I have two that serve no purpose other than decorative and Andrea has two that won't stop leaking. Other than that I am no nipple expert. I unknowingly bought the fast nipples and put them in the rotation. The first time I used one of them I thought Reagan must be very hungry because the bottle was emptying faster than normal. Halfway through the bottle Reagan sprayed puke 3 feet across the room. I cleaned her up and Andrea continued feeding with the same bottle and she got it a couple minutes later. My little Reagan could have a career as a fountain at the Bellagio in Vegas. It was an awful impressive puke. Luckily Andrea learned of my mistake while doing a nipple inspection. I apologized to the girls but I think that they are holding a grudge. Reagan and Riley, I am sorry! Please stop trying to kill mommy and daddy.

Labs are idiots!

Yesterday I had a long day and did not get home till about 9pm. Andrea was left to care for R&R by herself for most of the day. Our neighbor/friend Adam is deployed for a few months and was home for a quick visit. Our friends Doug and Lisa came over to help Andrea get the girls packed up to head next door for a visit with Adam as he was only home for 2 days. Now let me explain my dog Boo. He is an idiot. He is the best dog when you are home but as many labs do, he gets serious separation anxiety when you go out. Especially when he knows that you did not leave in the car. If he thinks you are in the neighborhood he loses his mind. He thinks that he should be allowed to go and gets all stressed out. I somewhat understand this but what confuses me is what is gained by breaking into the dirty diaper can and spreading dirty pee and poop filled diapers around the living room. Andrea, Doug and Lisa came home to find a living room that appeared to have a diaper bomb that had gone off and a guilty lab hiding under the table. Doug and Lisa stuck around and helped feed the girls and clean up and then met me at their house to give me their carpet cleaner. After a 14 hour day it was the last thing I wanted to be doing but Andrea said the smell was a bit offensive and for her to say that while living with me made me believe her. Thanks Doug and Lisa and thanks to my great wife and supermom for taking it all in stride.

The kindness of not so strangers

Riley has been doing more than her share of puking after eating. I am not sure if this is the earliest known case of Bulimia or if she may have a bit of her fathers lactose intolerance. A sure fire way to send me straight to the bathroom in a hurry is a big bowl of ice cream. Riley may be the same so we tried a soy based formula today instead of the milk based one we have been using and so far we are having good results. Seems to be less fussiness, spit up and crying. My brothers wife's parents came over tonight and watched the girls while we went to church. It was very kind of them and they seemed to enjoy hanging with little ones again. They even brought us 2 cases of diapers. I liked this and think I may start a new B.Y.O.D. rule for visiting the girls. A reporter from WTAE named Kelly Frey was at the church tonight with her husband talking about what they have been going through with their 4 month old that was not supposed to live and is doing better than any Dr. said he ever would. Not many dry eyes in the church and it made Andrea and I so thankful for what we have. Signing off for now. It is 11:15 pm and we are going to try to put the girls down. Last night was a bit trying. Andrea ended up sleeping half the night on a couch in the babies room. Hopefully tonight she will be in bed with me. Thanks again Dave and Darlene.

So Sleepy

Andrea is currently unconscious at 6pm. She very well may be there in bed until about noon tomorrow. The girls terrorized us last night. Andrea got peed on twice, I had one do a beautiful 3 foot vomit stream past my head at 4am and they did not do much in the way of sleeping. We shipped them off to their weekly visit with grandma and grandpa to get us one night of sleep. I hope they don't destroy my parents tonight but I don't hold much hope for that. I am off to work on a project for my job and I am not far from bed also. Sleep well Andrea, you deserve it.

Back to the Dr.

Somehow the girls have found a way to continue to torment Andrea medically a month after their birth. You may remember that pretty much everything that could go wrong in the pregnancy did. It now continues with something called Postpartum Thyroiditis. She has a 100+ temperature and her neck is swollen. She was at the Dr. today and they are waiting on some blood tests to get back. Not sure what the end result will be but I am sure that somehow in some way it will cost me sleep. The girls are doing great with the exception of the sleep thing. They are eating at the high end of the scale for their age, what a shocker!

One month and almost all is well.

Grandma and Grandpa stopped by last evening with 2 cupcakes to celebrate the girls one month birthday. We celebrated it by taking them to the Dr. Reagan was up to 7#2 oz and Riley was up to 9# 7 oz. They were very happy with the weight gain and all checked out well. It is currently 4am though so all happiness has ended. Later today I will begin my hunt for the Sandman and I am going to knock his teeth in. Riley is mad, I am not sure at what but she is definitely mad. Andrea has been up and down so many times tonight that her belly was hurting from her C- Section so pops is in the game. This should make for another nice short day for me.

4 weeks

It is currently 3am and all is not well. Riley and Reagan had a great night last night and slept a 3 and a 4 hour stretch overnight. Tonight they are making up for lost time. We put them down at 10pm and at 1am we both got up to feed them. It is now 2 hours later and one of them has been screaming since we got done feeding. It is currently Reagan that is fired up and Riley should be taking over soon. My parents in the first 2 weeks told us that they did not believe us that the girls were ever bad because they were "precious angels" as my dad called them every time they saw them. The problem is that they always saw them at 2pm. 2am is often a different story as they have learned now on 2 occasions. The girls have gone to their house twice now overnight to give us a break. After the first one I called them at about 8am and all dad had to say was "you were right, I was wrong". They girls had them up all night. I don't want to say I was happy about it but I did feel a bit vindicated.

Things have been progressing. We are learning our way through the ins and outs of twins. I never want to belittle what the parents of single babies go through but WOW, twins are a different animal. There just never seems to be a break in the action. The biggest stress is times like now. Reagan is still screaming as I write this. She is fed, changed, rocked, clean, and should be happy but nothing I do will satisfy her. She is acting like a little woman already.

With the exception of going to the neighbors house once and my parents house and Andrea's parents house a few times we have not left the house with them since we came home 4 weeks ago. We are ready to get out of the house with them but fear the cold and flu season. We are trying to not be the kind of parents that are paranoid about germs, other people holding them, etc. but I see Andrea's mother bear instincts getting stronger. (On a side note it is now 3:10 am and Reagan just stopped crying and Riley has taken over. I swear they know what they are doing and want to give each other a break every now and then). Ok, back to Andrea. She is feeling much better post surgery but still hurts and is not back to normal. She is down over 40 pounds from the day she went into the hospital and is looking like one hot mom.

I went back to leaving the house every day for work last week and it was hard but we got through it. Andrea stays busy caring for the girls all day while I am gone but they are typically pretty good girls when the sun is up. Tuesday was a long one for her as I was gone for about 14 hours. (3:16am update- Reagan in the swing and Riley in the bouncy seat, Boo in his bed. Reagan and Riley screaming like the house is on fire and Boo sleeping like a baby, or should I say like I wish a baby would sleep). My goal now is to keep them going till 4am when I will feed them both and try another attempt at bed.

We have their one month Dr. visit on Monday. I am looking forward to seeing what the weights are. I am guessing that Reagan is at 7 lbs and Riley is about 45lbs. It actually looks like she is getting a beer gut. (3:21 update- Reagan sleeping and Riley is beating the hell out of the parrot on her bouncy seat while screaming at it. I don't know what that bird did to her but she is mighty angry at it). I will try to hold her a bit now and see if that helps at all but it often does nothing. I think she is just in one of those moods. The pics above were from better times earlier this evening. Signing off at 3:27 am. Wish me luck.