Diary of a New Mom

For those of you who follow our blog, you may remember that about a year ago, I posted a marathoner’s diary about a marathon that I ran in Taiwan. Well, a year later, I find myself in a completely new type of marathon… new mother of twins. I thought it only appropriate to post a diary about this harrowing experience as well.

8:00 PM

Attempt to have “last feeding” of the day. Both twins fed, go to brush my teeth and get ready for bed. Ha.

8:10 PM

Twin #1 decides it isn’t time for bed yet and gets a little fussy. Wondering if maybe she didn’t eat enough at her last feeding and try to feed again. Soothing / feeding for an hour.

9:30 PM

Twin #1 goes down.

10:00 PM

Twin #2 wakes up ready to eat. Feed twin #2 and try to put her down.

11:00 PM

Twin #2 doesn’t want to go down. Wondering if she ate enough at her last feeding. Doesn’t seem interested in eating so try to rock her to sleep.

11:15 PM

Twin #2 goes down.

11:30 PM

Twin #2 begins to scream.

11:45 PM

Twin #2 goes down.

12:00 AM

Twin #2 begins to scream.

12:30 AM

Twin #2 goes down.

1:00 AM

Twin #1 wakes up ready to eat. Feed and soothe twin #1. Debate waking up twin #2 in order to eat and perhaps get her back on the same schedule as twin #1 since it has been a couple hours since she ate last. Wish that babies had a fuel gauge to tell me how much food they had in their bellies.

1:45 AM

Wake up twin #2 to eat.

1:46 AM

Regret waking up twin #2 to eat.

2:30 AM

Twin #1 fed and asleep. Soothe and put down twin #2.

3:00 – 5:00 AM

Sleep, glorious, glorious sleep for mom and grandma.

There are two lessons that I took away from this night. Number one, motherhood is one of the most demanding but by far the very best experience I have ever had. Number two, there is no way in the world that I could do this without my own mom here with me at each and every feeding providing an extra pair of hands, moral support, and some much needed comic relief when I am at my wits’ end. So, I would like to raise my proverbial glass to all moms out there and give you a shout out of appreciation. Go have a glass of wine (or three). You deserve it.

It's Not Whether You Win or Lose...

By: Coach

When someone meets me one of the first traits they might notice (other than my dashing good looks) is my competitive drive. If you play me in anything I will devote 100% of my energy to beat you. Cards, video games, backyard football, it really doesn’t matter what the activity, I simply hate to lose. It started when I was eleven – my first year playing on a basketball team. Actually, it probably started when I was 8 and first caught the Auburn football fever. At any rate since a very early age competition has been a big part of my life and winning is the gage that measures one’s true competitive nature. I am 30 and not much has changed. I wear a t-shirt with a Vince Lombardi quote that says: “If winning isn’t everything then why do we keep score?” I love that, its catchy, it makes sense.

A really strange thing happened to me last night though. Before I go into detail I need to preface it with what should have happened based on the previous 8 seasons of being a high school basketball coach. The night should have looked something like this: I come in, I exchange unemotional pleasantries with my wife because frankly there is not a lot I want to say. I sit on the couch for several minutes not saying a word until I finally get up to get some food because I realize I haven’t had dinner. I eat dinner in total silence. I move back to the couch and watch SportsCenter or something mindless like that until I start to get tired and turn it off. I climb into bed and try to sleep, by try I mean lying there waiting for the ringing in my ears to die down so I can think better. But thinking is my worst enemy, it’s why I know there is no way I am falling asleep anytime soon. For hours my mind goes back and replays the game, quarter by quarter, play by play. Which plays does my memory bring back over and over and over again? A player fouling out, every single crucial call made by the ref, the missed layup late in the game, my technical foul. You get the idea. That usually describes what my nights are like following a gut- wrenching loss.

Yesterday the conference tournament was held here in Seoul for the JV boys. After starting the season undefeated, we took a skid and lost 3 out of the last 6 games leading up to the tournament. The last coming earlier this week as we suffered our only home defeat in the last regular season game of the season. Needless to say Wednesday night looked a lot like the scenario I laid out earlier (just no SportCenter). To make a long story short we got our revenge and beat that team in the semi-finals of the conference tournament. For the first time in my coaching career I found myself in a championship game at the end of the season. It was a very exciting game, one that went down to the wire (as championships should). Unfortunately we did not come out on top. My players were devastated. I had no idea what I was going to say to them after the game, this was uncharted waters for me. The dialogue that ensued was why I became a coach in the first place. Instead of my guys pouting and being “sore” they came together and verbally expressed appreciation for one another for an unbelievable season. It was like straight out of a movie! My players got it. Winning is NOT everything. The team and the relationships that form through difficulties is what really lasts. It was especially touching to see the whole team come around a player that had picked up a technical foul late in the game. He felt extremely bad and figured we lost because of his actions. The guys assured him that, “we win as a team and we lose as a team.” As a coach I try to use the teacher approach. I teach them all that I know, fundamentals, strategy and hopefully about life. Last night the teacher became the student. Last night I came home to my family and kissed my wife and told them about my team’s championship effort and how great of a season it was. I could barely eat my dinner because I wanted to tell her everything. I never even thought about turning the television on and sleeping….well it was still tough with 10 day old twins!

And Two Became Four

Lily Cynthia: born February 2, 2011 at 11:41 am weighing 2.51 kg

Lucy Victoria: born February 2, 2011 at 11:42 am weighing 2.28 kg

The new loves of our lives