Twins!

Brotherly love (Adam left, John right)

The first day of the end of our lives finally came on August 22nd.  Adam Charles Ribar was born at 12:35 PM, followed by his little brother John Edward Ribar at 1:06 PM.  It was a long 31 minutes between births, as John was transverse in the womb, and the persistent (and excellent) doctor and nurses had to use a lot of skills to get him in position for delivery.

Like the movie Twins, we have one big baby (Adam: 7 lbs 7 oz, 18.5") and one small baby (John: 5 lbs 14 oz, 18").  Needless to say they are not identical.  Both boys are healthy with dark hair and dark eyes, and they already have different personalities.  Melanie's recovery is going well, but slower than previous times. 

Adam (left) towers over John in their shared cradle.

Even though he's the big brother (and bigger brother), Adam is our cuddler.  If he's awake, he likes to be held.

John is our easy going baby.  You can hold him if you want, or just lay him down -- he's ok either way.

Dave was happy with the numerically appropriate 2-2 birth date. (Adam left, John right)

Melanie was happy to get the 13 pounds of baby out of her belly and into her arms. (John left, Adam right)

Liz (with Adam), Juliette, and Sam (with John) are so excited and are constantly asking to hold the babies.  They usually request John because he's smaller and doesn't cry as much.  But they have a lot of love for both of their new brothers, and they are telling the whole neighborhood about them.

As expected, life with twins is difficult.  The biggest challenge is that you have to choose between attending to one baby at a time, or picking them both up and having no free hands.  Fortunately Nanah and Nadah Staab have been here all week, and they've been a great help in feeding us and keeping the house in running order.

We have many good pictures to share (including back to school photos), but it's going to take us a week or two to get them uploaded to the blog.