I hoped that my stamina would match my joy when I was asked to come to Charlotte and help take care of my infant twin granddaughters for a week.

Before the birth of these girls on March 3, my youngest grandchild was a sturdy seven-year-old boy. It had been a while since I’d changed a diaper and soothed a fussy baby. I was a younger grandma then, with a little bit more energy. I wasn’t quite as addicted to my afternoon nap.

But I was willing in spirit and decided my weak flesh would have to get tough. I couldn’t wait to love on those sweet baby girls.

I arrived with barbecue and Brunswick stew from Smith’s Red and White for the new mom and dad, along with the bud vases I’d put in church the Sunday before in honor of the twins’ births.

I soon learned the girls were given a bottle of pumped breast milk every three hours. Around the clock. Day and night: 6 am, 9 am, noon, 3 pm, 6 pm, 9 pm, midnight, 3 am. Rinse and repeat.

Two people had been doing the job of feeding. Until my arrival, that had been Mom and Dad, but Dad was now due back at work and wouldn’t be home during the day. I didn’t protest when told I was relieved of night duty. I was needed more from 9 am to 6 pm.

My husband, Granddaddy Al, stayed part of the week and helped. In fact, the only picture I have of my week of nursery duty includes him. My son-in-law snapped this photo, maybe the Sunday night we arrived. (The days began to run together…) I was too busy to think of asking for or taking more pictures myself.

When my daughter had talked about putting a couch and a television in the babies’ room, I’d been skeptical. I’d pictured traditional nurseries, the ones decorated in pink for girls and blue for boys with cute little prints of circus animals or the alphabet or some such baby stuff on the walls. A nursery with cribs, a rocking chair, a changing table, and maybe a small chest of drawers.

But I was a fan of the girls’ room from the minute I sat on that comfortable leather couch with all those pillows and looked out the high windows above the cribs or watched HGTV at yet another feeding. When I wasn’t gazing adoringly at the faces of those sweet girls I held in my arms, of course.

I loved the green moose head, the antlered chandelier, and the framed travel posters on the wall behind the couch.

Evidently, it’s a whole new world in nursery decor. And also, I learned, in bassinets. Those two you see in the picture above are called Snoos. There’s a switch you turn on to provide white noise and to rock the babies gently as they sleep. This electronic bassinet will even pick up the speed of the rocking when the baby starts to get fussy, the idea being to lull an infant back to sleep. And get this: if an infant can’t be soothed, the Snoo will send a text alerting a parent that “your baby needs your attention.”

These Snoo bassinets worked pretty well during the time I was there. No one had to pace the floor with a cranky baby for any amount of time.

As Friday approached and it was time for me to leave, my daughter began to experiment with different ways she alone could give both girls a bottle at the same time. One method involved putting them in their car seats, sitting on the floor between them, and holding a bottle in each hand to feed.

As mothers do, she’ll figure out what works best for her and these two sweeties. I took my tired but happy self home, already looking forward to my next adventure in babysitting times two.