Baby A is our boy, Colt; full name Colton John Edwin Morgan. Colton, meaning from a dark town (or coal town). We were torn on what to name him for the longest time - we had a D name we liked as much as we liked Colton. But once we realized that we could call him Colt most of the time, we were 100% into the name. John is Paul's middle name (and my Dad's middle name, my grandfather's name, Paul's great grandpa's name, and between the two of us we have 2 uncle's named John and 3 cousins). Edwin is Paul's Dad and other Grandpa's middle name.
Baby B is our youngest girl, Charlotte; full name Charlotte Abigail Lois Morgan. Charlotte, meaning "petite" or "feminine", was picked because we liked it. I LOVE the idea of having a little girl called Charlie, and Char (soft ch), and Paul has been calling her Lottie from day one (mostly so he can say, "well lottie-dah"). Abigail because again, we just liked it. We had almost named Bailey Abigail but figured "Abbie" and "Avie" were just too similar, but this way we still get to use the name we liked so much. We picked Lois (meaning "more desirable" or "better") to honour my Nana (whom I love dearly and is a giant gift to me). Plus that means her initials spell CALM. Hoping that that is somehow a foreshadowing of her life. Right now she's lying in front of me on the couch sleeping, so far so good.
So far having twins is awesome. It seems totally normal now that there are two babies. It was barely real until it came time to push Char out, and since that moment that I held two babies, it's been our new normal. It feels like the same newborn stage as the other two - just a bit more baby, a bit more feeding, a few more diapers, and a lot more snuggles. I have been surprised by how normal it's all felt. Awesome, and normal. Exhausting and normal. I won't pretend we aren't dealing with the classic newborn start to life - eating all night to gain birth weight. Pumping and feeding and diaper changes. But it's all so much the same as it was with our other two newborns. Yes, there are two of them, but honestly, it doesn't feel like that many more diapers or that many more bottles. I think we got so scared by the idea that it's falling short of that fear and I'm thankful for that. All that being said, if twins is your first or even second child, whoa boy, I bet it would feel like SO MUCH MORE. There's something about the fact that baby three was already always going to be insane, that makes twins added to that not super crazy. If this was my first? Oh man, I remember the fear and uncertainty and anxiety and emotions of that first newborn/postpartum time. Can't imagine THAT with two. As far as I know (as far as we've planned) these are our last babies - we've always wanted 4 kids. I have gotten to soak up each stage, and say goodbye to each stage as it ends. My last pregnancy, my last labour & delivery, my last newborn hospital stay, my last 'first-two-weeks-postpartum', etc. Soaking up these newborn baby snuggles, embracing what there is to love about this stage and moving past the hard moments. PLUS - we have lots of help! Paul's mom was here for the first week, my aunt was here for most of the second week, Paul's Dad & stepmom took the kids for the weekend, and we have a lovely girl from church over three mornings a week to help AND have a night nanny 3 nights a week for a month (started this week and oh my goodness sleep is amazing). The help keeps us sane as we navigate the needs of 4 tiny humans, aged 3 and under.
Speaking of 4 tiny humans, we are now a family of 6. 6! How is that possible?? Are we adults now? Bailey and Avie are so into their new siblings. Avie is in love, and Bailey is fascinated. Avie picks a baby at different times in the day and asks to "hold that baby" and will not accept any substitution. She will hold them for 10-15 minutes, stroking their faces, whispering sweet nothings, singing them songs and generally being so stinking cute. Bailey pokes at their faces and says "hi!", which is really all she says regularly in life. It's sweet in its own way. Balancing 4 kids is certainly interesting - the biggest pain point in the day is the moment after the older two wake up when we desperately want to still be sleeping after the night with the twins. But after 9am we wake up enough to rally and make magic happen. And there's always nap time - sleepy newborns sleep a lot, and the older two have naps that overlap by 30-60 minutes, so that time is gold to us. Pure gold.
We also had our newborn photo shoot! Laura of Paraphrase Productions was AMAZING as per usual. We got to match and mirror some photos from our previous newborn shoots and get some great twin shots. Even Paul, who hates photo shoots, got into it. It helps that it was Mothers Day and he realized his cooperation was a great way to give me a free mothers day gift :)
And there you have it! Our last baby announcement - and one that is double the fun.
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