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.