All the things
I’ve been kind of quiet over the last three weeks or so. One because I wanted to finish the second draft of Aileen 7. It’s done, by the way. It came in at a whopping 144,000 words. People, it’s Firebird long. And there’s one or two things I need to add that didn’t make it in this round. I’ve never had so much trouble writing a book where I know everything that happens and how I want it to end.
Mostly though, my silence stems from the fact that the twins decided to arrive a full two months early. They were born mid September at 31 weeks. In the early morning hours on the day of the baby shower their grandmother was supposed to be throwing them. (We missed it and spent the hour or so before their arrival frantically texting friends and family not to come because I wouldn’t be there as I was busy giving birth). It figures my daughters would enter this world in a way that would have us telling this story for years after the fact.
Because of their early arrival, they have a decent NICU stay ahead of them. (I should say had since that was several weeks ago now:) They’re doing great. Amazing, actually. All the reports we’ve been getting from the doctors have been very positive. We don’t know exactly when we get to take them home since that is based on their meeting all their development goals. In the meantime, we’ve been using those periods when we are home to prepare all the things we didn’t get to do before their arrival.
For me, that means writing. And writing. And writing. Also, organizing their areas of the house and washing sooooo many new born and premie clothes.
Writing has been good for my mental health. It has given me a feeling of normalcy at a time when things are very topsy turvy. Also, it’s nice being in control of at least one aspect of my life.
The goal right now is to have this next draft done and the book sent to beta and editors by the time the twins come home so that I can focus entirely on them in those first few weeks/months. Normally, this is totally doable as a third draft takes me about a week. Maybe two if the book is super long/the writing needs more massaging. That’s probably not going to happen this time. I’m working in between NICU visits while also trying to prepare for the twins homecoming. I do what I can do and refuse to stress out when it’s not as much as normal.
To be honest, I’m still processing that I’m now a mom. It’s cool. Exciting. But also surreal.
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Responses to “All the things”
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Congratulations ❤️
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I’m sending good thoughts and healing light to you and your babies. Your life is crazy now and is going to get crazier as your children age. And when they’re grown you will miss the crazy like crazy.
Take care of yourself and enjoy your babies. (Genders, names maybe? ) -
Congratulations to all of you.
I hope you’re health-wise ok.
All the best for this new chapter of your life.
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Congratulations!
May the babies hit and exceed their development goals and get home soon.
Wishing you well. -
Congratulations! May much happiness and good health be before the four of you.
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Congrats!!!!! If you feel overwhelmed at any point just know “the days are long, but the years are short.” My mom group said that a lot and it really helped me when I felt overwhelmed! You’ve got this and I’m glad to hear the twins are meeting their development goals! I hope they get to come home soon.
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Congratulations to you and your husband! I hope and pray that they continue to grow and reach their milestones so they can come home soon.
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Congratulations Tobey! Fingers crossed you bring your girls home soon. Enjoy the prepping process and get as much sleep as you can now! Book will be ready when the book is ready.
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Aww, congratulations for the birth of your twin babies! May they grow up healthy and bring more joy and blessings to the family^^/
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Congratulations!
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Congratulations!!! Becoming a new mom is so amazing, but also so difficult! Go easy on yourself, and enjoy those first few months. It goes way too fast! Good luck to you and your little ones! ❤️
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Congratulations!!! Really happy for you, and it sounds like all is (or will be) well for you and your girls. Being able to identify what you can control vs can’t, goes a long way towards retaining sanity. ☺️
Very much looking forward to the new books when they are ready! 🥰 -
Congratulations and hello to babies Shea Allegra and Kira Aileen. I doubt those are their names, but that’s what I’m calling them.
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Awww congratulations Momma. As another twin mom who had NICU time, please take a moment to get as much rest as possible now. I know I had zero sleep once they were home for a few months. So happy for you and your family.
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Congratulations to you and your husband on your two little girls!!
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Congratulations. I am glad we have such amazing hospitals in our fair city.
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Congrats! My 1st was in the NICU also, and our neighbor girl was born so early she was in doll clothes in the NICU. so I know how that is. PS our neighbor is now a super active 8yr old – you would never know.
Hang in there! -
My daughter was born at 28 weeks…30 years ago. She’s healthy and a new mom herself. She had to stay in the NICU 9 looooong weeks.
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Congratulations. I’m so happy for you!!! The most important thing is to take care of yourself and those precious little girls.
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Congratulations! Glad to hear everyone is doing well. Take care ❤️
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Congratulations! Enjoy every moment you can.
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OMG Twins you are truly blessed! Congratulations!
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A will of their own. So glad everything turned out ok. With the first child your like oh they are actually sending this little human home with us. I’m at the age where I give unwanted advice lol. So here it goes…you got this momma!!! I know I’m a Stranger but I’m the mom of 5 adults (well one will be 18 in a month) if you ever just need someone to say hey its OK. Shoot me a message. As for Aileen, woman, you grew two humans. I find it amazing you can write at all!!
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Congratulations! You’re a family of 4 now. May your daughters continue doing well. As a twin and a twin mom you and your husband will do great. You adapt to your situation.
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Sending love and healing thoughts your way. As many have said, do what you can when you can and don’t sweat the rest — and rest while you can! Congratulations 🎊!
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Congratulations to you and your new family. I wish you guys all the best. I LOVE your books, so please don’t stress about writing and deadlines. I hope you just focus on yourself and your daughters’ health. We will all wait patiently for the awesome books. 🥰🥰🥰
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Congratulations! Blessings on your sweet little girls! Make sure you take time for you the momma!
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Congratulations! My first son was born at 30 weeks and spent 6 weeks in the NICU. I wish them a short stay and you as much sleep as possible during this transition. There’s nothing like adding more stress to one of the most stressful situations to exist, newborns.
Take care, mama!
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You got this! Congratulations! My sister had twin boys(now 21). It went so fast for me, I couldn’t imagine how fast it went for her. Books can wait, time with those babies can’t. We will be here waiting .
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Congratulations! I’m glad you and your family are doing well. In my experience, everything feels surreal until you bring the baby(ies) home and the whole family is under the same roof. My daughter came a few months early, and hubby and I felt like we started off behind.
Question: This odd question has been on my mind since your last post: Do authors give their favorite names to their characters or children?
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How exciting!! Congratulations!!
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Congratulation’s! You have a very exciting time ahead of you.
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Congratulations and good luck with everything!
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So very happy for you. Bringing one baby home was tough. Bringing two – well, it will be all hands on deck for a while. Good tidings to you and your new family.
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Oh wow, congratulations!
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Congratulations on the arrival of your twin daughters. Wishing you all the very best in the new chapter in your life, in becoming an amazing mum. You are already an amazing author.
❤️🥰😘 -
How wonderful what lovely news, the babes literally couldn’t wait to meet you🤗While you wait for your girls to come home, please take this time to rest and recover yourself. Blessings on you all.
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Congratulations and best of wishes
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Congrats and happy to hear that everyone is healthy and well. So excited for you. Take all the time in the world and get to know those two new little girls.
Looking forward to reading the book but if it’s later then at least we will know why and there is absolutely no better reason for it. Take care of you all.
Though I have to tell you: enjoy the time you are still you .. in 1 or 2 years time you will not be known as you – you will be known as “the mother of x and y”. Not sure how it is in the US but here (in Germany) I lost my identity in kindergarden and school and will be forever remembered there as “X’s mom” and later “y’s mom”. LOL (Yes, I do have a life otherwise … it’s been a while.) -
Congratulations! This is such an exciting time in your life (keep telling yourself that when there doesn’t seem to be enough time to do things like, oh, sleep. 😉). Thanks so much for keeping us posted. Take good care.
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My oldest was in the NICU for almost 2 months. Very stressful but the nurses are top notch there. Sleep now. As much as you want them home there will be no more sleep… edits, try for now or forget it. You will be past exhausted with these 2 blessings. Enjoy them! The time passes too quickly. Mine are 34 and 29 now.
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A new adventure! Congratulations. Girls are a ton of fun.
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My granddaughter was 8 weeks early. She was perfect and came home after 4 weeks. She is 8 years old now and you would never know that she was premature. So I am just picturing this for your sweet little girls.
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Wow, that will be a story for the future. Congratulations!!!
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Congratulations!! My twins also had a suprise arrival and a couple of months in the NICU, its such a crazy and surreal experience. We had these little curtained pumping stations on the nursery floor, all in a line like milking stalls… I used to moo to get the other moms in their stalls to laugh. My twins are 14 now, and I am still in touch with some of the mothers and nurses. NICU is something that brings people together. I hope you make good memories and bring your girls home happy and healthy.
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Dear Tobey, I’m happy for you and on the other hand I’m worried and hope that the babies come home safe and sound. Being a mother is strange. Yesterday the babies were growing inside you and suddenly they’re there and instead of one person you’re suddenly three. I can understand that completely. My baby has been 17 for a few days now. Yes, and it’s true, they grow up so quickly. So – even though I’m addicted to your books – family comes first, time together is precious. I wish you and your family good health and not too many sleepless nights.
Greetings from Germany
(or Crete- wäre I am currently staying)
Daniela -
How wonderful! Congratulations on baby girls and being a mom. Hardest and best job in the world.
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Congrats! So glad you and the twins are doing well!
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Awwwww, twin baby girls!! Congratulations on your tiny bundles and being a mom.
Cannot WAIT for the new Aileen!! A brick will last longer than a day so I’m all for the long page count.
Thank you for being the most amazing author.
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Congratulations! I love being a mother to twin girls. You will get to do everything twice. Plus, there is a lot of cake on their birthdays because they each get their own cake.
In all seriousness, now that my twins are teens, I look back and wish I had held them more when they were babies. Babies have a terrible habit of turning into big people in a blink.
It still blows my mind that my body supported the development of two new souls at the same time. Just think during your pregnancy how amazing you were. Your body was supporting three hearts, three brains, six lungs, and six kidneys. Well done mumma!
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CONGRATS!🎉
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Congratulations on the birth of your babies and wishing you all the best of health.
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Congratulations, Mom (and Dad)!
I am so glad everything turned out well! Take your time, enjoy every moment, we and the characters will be here waiting patiently.
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Contratulations. I quess they wanted to be virgos. Best sign ever 😁
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Congratulations on becoming a new Mom, and approaching the finish line on your latest Aileen book. Hope you and your babies are doing well. Don’t worry about deadlines – we’re here for whatever you write, whenever it drops.
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Congratulations!
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Congratulations on your children. I also had a NICU child who unfortunately was extremely sick from E’coli pneumonia and oxygen deprivation. He’s 20 now but I remember those days and how exhausted and scared we were. I had already been on full bed rest from 14 weeks on and had actually been in the hospital for more than six weeks when he had to come. Like everyone else, I recommend getting as much sleep now as you can because there isn’t much when they come home. He was really ill for a long time even after he finally came home and we had other kids so I didn’t really come out of the haze for about five years. His oxygen loss caused damage requiring hours and hours and hours of physical, occupational and speech therapy all the way through elementary school with some things just being deficits which weren’t repairable. I say absolutely none of that as something scary (although it just is) but because no one was ever honest with me about how hard it is to adjust your expectations of what’s happening around you. Having a baby is such a huge change in how you view life, your body, your work, everything. It’s not bad or good. It just is but when you have a vision of who you are and what you accomplish, it’s hard to figure out what to think, what to expect and how to handle it. Being an author is a pretty solitary life and figuring out how to add parenting to that and then parenting way out of what you think is going to happen? It’s hard. I enjoy your books and hope to read more but please make yourself as little crazy as possible. If you need a year to adjust? Take it. Take it from someone whose entire self and career changed – the ride is changed. Try to treat yourself well. Being a parent is amazing. Being a whole mostly functioning adult, even better.
Blessings to you. J- -
Congratulations!!! Both my boys were premie and the oldest was kept for a month. He’s now 6’1” 280lbs so I can say with certainty that being premie is scary but with the improvements medicine has made I’m sure your sweet ones will be just fine 🙂. Make sure to take care of yourself and enjoy your precious babies!
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What a wonderful surprise for you and your husband. The girls were just ready to meet y’all face to face. As a twin may I just say that I wish I’d been referred to more as Melissa, than “the twins”. Also even though my brother was my twin, my mother had my older sister and I wear matching outfits even up to about age 8-9 years old. Some girls may like it some may not so watch what the girls say about it or how they behave etc as they get older. I will contradict myself with one caveat- babies and toddlers are precious and when they wear matching outfits at that age the “adorable/cuteness factor” goes sky high ☺️. Nothing matters but the four of you, so take care!!
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Congratulations! I’m glad you all are well!
I remember how strange the first weeks felt with our preemies in the NICU. I needed some time to really process that I’m am mom now, too – I was told that this feeling happens often for preemie parents.
Its a rough start for all of you but I cross my fingers that your twins can soon leave the NICU!
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