Cute kid

Gary shaved Konner's head again the other night. Chele says what little hair he has left is very blond, which makes those blue eyes really shine.

I don't like it when they do that to him, but I don't have to give him a bath and wash hair every day, so it's not my call.

Konner says it's "nasty."

I love that kid!

Another good day

It's another good day in the Johnson home. Lots of formula, diapers, bananas, and ball cereal (Kix). The babies are up to 5.5 ounces each, six times a day. Makenzie still has attitude, but it's because her mother doesn't drop everything (including Tyler) to take care of her when she cries.

Chele said they had to share feeding times during the night, and that's challenging. I can't imagine life in the household of the octuplets born yesterday in California. Of course, they are several weeks from going home, but when they do . . . they will have to have help. And certainly someone will have to share feeding times.

Konner is wonderful. He and Mom slept in a little, and they've had a busy day.

All in all, life remains great!

God is definitely in control!

This morning, I walked into the first bathroom and smelled that electrical smell -- hot, not good, electrical -- and instantly thought "Konner's fan needs to be unplugged."

Several things are strange here. For one, I wasn't in Hobbs. I was at home, and there was nothing plugged in. So how did I smell it, and why did I think of Konner's fan? It was 140 miles away!

I had noticed something last weekend when I was there -- thought it might be the fan or tv -- but it wasn't important enough at the time to worry about.

So I sent Chele a text message at 6:30 a.m., which is not a nice thing to do to someone who gets up at night with babies. But I did it anyway. It was a rather cryptic message, something about smelling Konner's fan and to go check on him. And I got a message back immediately, asking what??? So I explained a little, but said go check on him and unplug his fan.

Oh yeah, that was the second really strange thing. Chele doesn't have her phone on "ring" during the night. It was on vibrate, yet it rang when I sent the text. She double checked it, and it was definitely on vibrate.

Back to the fan, and the third strange thing: Chele had unplugged it at 5:30 this morning for no apparent reason. She checked on Konner and he wasn't cold, but she unplugged it anyway.

At my request, she checked on Konner and he was fine. Awake, thanks to my text message, but fine otherwise.

The fourth strange thing, not chronologically, was that she had smelled something electrical for a split second at midnight but hadn't done anything then.

And when we were talking, I said not to worry, that Gus would have woken her up. And she remembered falling over Gus twice last night because he was lying in front of Konner's door. After she checked on Konner this morning and made sure everything was unplugged, Gus was fine and went to a more usual spot to lie down.

We laughed about Cristobel and the bars she put on their windows, and about me not being the one who is sleep-deprived but still the one having hallucinations.

And this afternoon when Chele went to put Konner down for his nap, she plugged in the dvd player in his room, changed his diaper, and by that time could smell the dvd player. It had to be thrown away because it was bad.

God takes care of the details and the really important stuff. Sometimes we don't listen the first time (last weekend) or the second time (midnight). Thank God -- He kept at us until we finally heard Him.

A few more pictures

Konner is learning to dress himself. Backwards is a matter of opinion. :) Tyler is tired of the paparazzi.

Kenzie doesn't care. She knows sleep is important to looking your best, so she's getting her beauty rest.

The last two nights, the babies have slept between five and six hours in one stretch. Chele feels like a new woman! They go to bed 10-11 p.m. and get up to eat at 4:00, then back to bed until about 8:45 a.m. I really hope they continue this!

Sick kiddos

Just a quick note -- the kids have colds, Tyler's is an ear infection, and Makenzie's isn't -- so her attitude is just that. Attitude. :)

Chele doesn't sound like she has the cold, so hopefully she'll dodge this. It's not a bad cold, but when you multiply it by three little noses and the one thing she can't handle (yuck nose), I'm sure she's not having loads of fun.

She's also very thankful, as we all are, that it is just a cold. She has a very healthy fear of RSV so was quite relieved to hear that this isn't that. Chele has been very careful to keep the babies away from people. They haven't left the house other than to go to the doctor since she brought them home. So someone brought in the germs. Let's see, who is around the most people, who forgot to change clothes when we got in from Lubbock and Sams and Target, and who else has the cold? Mimi. :(

New pictures

If they had been born on time, these two would be one week old today, instead of seven. I think they're doing just fine! Tyler weighed 8.6 pounds on Saturday, and Makenzie weighed 9.2 pounds on Sunday (on Mom's bathroom scale).They are doing very well! They have outgrown preemie clothes and some of the newborns, and are now in 0-3 month clothes. (I didn't even know you could buy anything smaller than 0-3 -- and I never bought them because I'd never been around a baby who could wear them for very long!).

As you can tell, it was over 70 degrees in Hobbs today. We had windows open and everyone was wearing shorts or capris.

And here's my little hot rod! I will post more tomorrow but I just had to share these before I crashed for the night!

Mom says she's never going out again . . .

Makenzie apparently did not appreciate being left home with Dad and Tyler when Mom and Konner went shopping, because she insisted on one-on-one time with Mom from about 10:00 p.m. until 1:15 a.m. -- exactly eight minutes before Tyler woke up to eat. So it that's what it was, Mom said she is never going anywhere again.

I imagine she'll relent on that, though.

We didn't do any major shopping in Lubbock -- just ate lunch, checked out a couple of stores, then hit Sam's pretty hard. Formula is so much cheaper there that Mom had to take advantage.

The most exciting purchases of the day were a stuffed Mickey Mouse (mee mou) and a Handy Manny chair (meemee). If you aren't paying attention, you can mistake Handy Manny and Mimi for each other right now, but this was definitely a case of Handy Manny. Konner was so much fun, and it did all of us good to spend some time just laughing.

Did I mention that he's awfully cute? He even took care of Mickey Mouse on the way home, pretending to give him a bite of his Rice Krispies treat (oh yeah, Sam's had the BIG box!).

And he also ate half of Mom's and Mimi's lunches . . . He had about a piece and a half of chicken parmigiani. He didn't think the olives were too much fun . . . they were 'nasty,' which sounds mostly like nanny.

I was especially proud of Mom because she didn't have a full-blown panic attack at being back in Lubbock. When we were nearing Lubbock, she said she lost her appetite but she managed to fight through it once we got to Olive Garden. :)

It seriously took a little while before we both calmed down and started laughing again. It wasn't comfortable driving into town, even going to our favorite place. The healing of that wound was not as complete as I had thought. So the laughing was that much sweeter when it came.

And today I hope Mom will get some rest while Mimi and Bobo are here. Dad is back at work today. Of course he did an amazing job with the babies yesterday. And the house looked normal -- not at all what it looked like when Mimi had them for only a couple of hours!

We made it to the weekend!

Friday night. Ahhh. I love the weekend! I got to talk with Konner a little tonight. He said Mimi, then something else, then it was Bobo, Bobo, Bobo. Then he handed the phone back to Chele, like he didn't want to talk to Mimi anymore and Bobo wasn't answering. It's a good thing I don't have a fragile self-esteem.

The babies are doing well. Makenzie scared Chele yesterday, because she threw up, then didn't want to eat for a few hours. I don't want to eat after I throw up either, so I don't know why Chele was panicky. (Just kidding -- I was panicky enough that I left my phone on during class today. And it rang.)

But Makenzie's okay now, and Tyler's okay, and Konner's okay. Tomorrow, Bobo and I are going to Hobbs (with Max), then we will leave Max to play with Gus, and go with Michele and Konner to Sam's. We said we didn't ever want to go back to Lubbock after December, but there isn't a Sam's in Hobbs. The closest ones are Lubbock, Roswell, and Midland -- and no one will go to Midland with me any more after the key incident.

So it's back to Lubbock, just for the day. Gary is staying with the babies. He's a much happier man when he doesn't have to go shopping with us. And he has to go back to work Sunday morning, so he's getting in some extra time with the little ones.

For the long weekend, we are just doing our part to stimulate the economy. Shopping and eating out -- it's our patriotic duty!

Sleep is a precious commodity!

Why would we waste time together by sleeping? Everything is so much funnier when you are sleep-deprived (you have to get past the initial pain and learn to embrace the fog, then it gets funny). Michele is very funny these days.

It's Tuesday night, and I'm just now recovering from having spent Saturday night and part of Sunday with Michele and the kiddos. Talk about wimpy -- it took Bobo and I both to drive home Sunday evening. We had to trade drivers twice, and it's only 140 miles!

Michele said she has learned to function with the sleep she is getting. She actually said that with a straight face. I know better.

This picture of Makenzie is just too sweet:

She is laid against Dad, and snoozing. We need a swing designed to mimic that position!

Seriously, the sleep issue is rough. The babies aren't sleeping at the same time in long enough stretches for Michele to get any quality rest, but hopefully this week with Gary home, they can take turns and at least they'll each catch up a little. Last night the babies didn't cooperate, but tonight they had cereal so hopefully that will encourage them to sleep in longer stretches.

When I prayed for Michele to have some help this week, I had no idea how it would work -- and then Gary had three vacation days crop up that were "use or lose". God takes care of the details in ways I can't even begin to imagine.

We had company!

"Aunt" Shawna came today to play with babies! She must have the touch because they are both passed out! (Konner was still running around like crazy.)

Chele weighed the babies today, and according to her scales, Makenzie is 7 lb 4 oz and Tyler is 7 lb 6 oz.

When I flipped to my January calendar yesterday at school, I had a notation on January 12 that said "Baby due!" I must have put it on there as soon as Chele told me we were having a baby -- before we knew there were two!

I talked to two moms of twins today, D'Ann Wiley and Cindy from the nail salon. D'Ann's twins are 17 today, and Cindy's are 3 1/2. They both said the first year is a blur, and to forget about keeping house. Just survive, because all that stuff will be waiting when the babies are older. D'Ann told about putting a very young Blake and Brooke in their car seats so she could take a shower, and coming back to find that Alison (3 at the time) had tried to feed Blake a graham cracker. Cindy said she has blocked the memories from the first year because it was so brutal.

So, if anyone has any time to rock a baby or fold a load of laundry, I'm sure Chele would be thrilled to have company/help at any time. I know of several people who have said "call me if you need anything" but the best thing would be for them to just show up and hold someone or play with someone. And don't look at the house. :)

Nothing new to report

Babies are doing well, Konner is doing well, Mom is doing . . . well, she could use a little sleep, but she's okay. It's so easy to forget how many adjustments have to be made and how frequently those adjustments have to be tweaked when you're not in the middle of it.

For example, the babies are not exactly four hours apart on formula every time, and the same one doesn't always wake up first, so by the time the second one wakes up, he or she isn't very patient while the first one finishes. I understand it is possible to burp a baby and feed another one at the same time. Or have one in your lap and the other one propped up on the boppy pillow, while both are eating.

And this is without figuring in Big Brother's antics and needs.

Kinda makes me wish I could watch. :) Of course, I would jump in and take one, but first it might be nice to be amazed by Chele for a few minutes.

Cuddly Tyler, Double chin, and Drive in

Tyler. Just makes me want to pick him up and cuddle him. Oh, and he cuddles very well!

This is the first picture that shows little missy with a double chin. I'm still not seeing the rolls on her arms, but I imagine they will come too. She looks so much different than she did five weeks ago!

Konner is practicing for going to the drive-in movie someday. In the meantime, this allows him to watch for 0.5 seconds, then run around and get into stuff, then go back to the movie. Mom will be appalled that I didn't edit out the disaster I had made in Konner's room. But I couldn't get it done without losing important stuff, so realize that Mimi is the reason the stuff is all over the floor.

Handy Manny and Mannita

Dad and Mom installed a dishwasher all by themselves yesterday, from cutting out the cabinets, to running the plumbing, to wiring in the power cord. It's amazing how talented they are . . . and how determined to get the dishwasher in so they can get help with that chore!

Things are smooth sailing, from what Mom tells me. It's hard to be back home, knowing the kids are growing up without me . . . yes, I've been gone less than 48 hours, but if you're not there every day you don't see so many of the little things. I miss the open-mouthed laughs, Konner's silly faces, kisses and hugs, sleep-deprivation. Okay, I don't miss the sleep-deprivation, but I feel badly that I am not helping Chele more. She probably wishes I would stay off the phone so she could do some of the things she needs to do, and that would be help enough!

All is Well

Mimi is back at her house, and the Johnson party of five is doing great.

I think we really do have the bottle issue solved for Tyler, at least for today. I was at the store late New Year's Eve (getting bananas for Konner, who thinks the first thing you do every single day is eat a banana -- yuck!), and I saw a brand of bottles called Soothie. The nipple looks like the ugly pacifiers that the hospitals use, and Tyler likes them. So we got a package, and while he still leaks milk about the same as with all the others, he doesn't get as much air in his tummy.

Makenzie and Tyler both slept from the 1:30 feeding -- which probably means about 2:30 that Mom got to bed -- until 7:00 a.m. That is a VERY long stretch for Mom, who has been functioning quite well on 1.5 to 2 hour spurts of sleep. Mom looked really good today. Well, she always looks good, but today she had a little more zip. It was good to see.

We added about a teaspoon of rice to each bottle at 9:30 last night (at Dr. Reddy's suggestion). That may have had something to do with the longer nap but I think they are just thoughtful babies who decided to do something nice for Mom.

Tyler laughed out loud in his sleep several times the last 24 hours. It's so sweet! It seems like he isn't staying awake as much as Makenzie, but he takes longer to eat, so it's probably about the same amount of time.

And they are both getting double chins! It's great! I told Uncle Jason they looked like little old people at the beginning, because they had no body fat, but they are now starting to fill in nicely. We went through passed-down baby girl clothes today (thank you, Mandy and Nancy!), laughing at the size of the "newborn" and "0-3" months clothes. They look HUGE right now, but Makenzie is already long enough for some newborn clothes, even though she doesn't begin to fill them out yet.

Konner is a blast. Eighteen months old is such a fun age. He talks constantly, some of which is understandable, and is willing to try just about anything. He also mimics everything you do, even if you'd rather he didn't stand up on the couch like you just did. He loves freely and completely, and will talk to anyone. He was making cheesy faces at some man in the grocery store the other night, just playing with him. And he loves to dance and sing. His favorite shows are still Finding Nemo and The Wiggles, but he also likes Handy Manny and his new Handy Manny tool box that makes so much noise that it is mysteriously "broken" except when Mimi "fixes" it.