The View From Here

I am working on the birth story... for those of you who keep asking!  But somehow it's just not something I'm up to writing right now.  That and going through all the pictures...  I'll get to it!

In the meantime... the girls are 2 weeks old already and I've got a few recent pictures...

They are sharing a crib for now, and even the same blanket!  One time we came in to find the Joy (on the right) had scooted over closer to Hope and Hope had her arm out and was touching her head.

Small enough to share the same bouncer for awhile... although I'm not having to fish their arms out of their jammies every time I pick them up now.  They're definitely growing, although the jammies are still very large width wise!

Hope on the left, Joy on the right  

And most of the time Hope will be in pink and Joy in yellow, purple, brown, etc.

Taken yesterday for possible birth announcements...

  

We can actually tell them apart and just tonight Brian switched the blankets on me and handed me one to feed... I looked at her and said, no, this is the other one.  I checked the (painted) toenails to be sure and I was right. :)  Currently it's mostly due to the faint red birthmarks on their foreheads and eyelids, which will fade eventually, but they also have different personalities and Hope's face is rounder than Joy's.  So we'll see!

They are pretty good babies and eat very efficiently, for which I am thankful!  The house is actually rather quiet with just them here and the boys gone for a couple days!

Five!

There's a five year old in the house today... how is this possible?

Cory, my son, you are somewhere between a little boy and a full grown boy.  On any given day I'm not sure which is which!

New bike from Nana and Papa

You are independent and yet still need me for snuggles and play time.  You can take care of yourself, but sometimes you don't want to.  You're very particular and like things to go a certain way.  Sometimes it comes across as bossy, but I think I understand where you get it...

Showing Joy your new dragon

You're so creative and the things you say just crack me up!  I can't wait to see what you'll do with your life!

Loving on baby sister

Most of the time you are so helpful when I ask for a little thing.  I'm so glad to have you around now with my hands full of babies!  I know you love them too and it's so nice to see you lay down next to them and talk to them like you did with Noah.  You are a great big brother!

You love books and going to the library is a new favorite thing.  You're even starting to learn to read on your own and I was so impressed when you told me that a sign said "open" and you'd figured it out by sounding out the letters!

Cory, I pray that you will continue to think of others around you, that you will always be curious about the world, and that you will love to be around people like you do now!  Happy 5th Birthday!

Two!

Noah, my little boy, you are two!  Not a baby any more and being gone for almost two weeks I see you differently now.  You are a great big brother already, "tittin" the baby sisters all the time. (kissing)

You are my little helper, always trying to do what I'm doing when you see you might be able to help.  You also want to do EVERYTHING that big brother does.  I'm sure that is helping you grow up much faster than I want!

You talk in almost complete sentences now, something that really bloomed while you were at Nana and Papa's house.  But you're still not always easy to understand!  You ask questions about everything and they're very appropriate to the situation.  Besides "why" which you've had for awhile you now ask, "What happen?" and "What dat, Daddy?"

You are a little ham and keep us all laughing!  Daddy told a silly joke at Christmas about a duck asking the guy at a lemonade stand for grapes.  Every day he comes back and finally the guy says "If you ask me again I'm going to glue you to a tree!" and you love this joke.  Now you come and ask me, "Glue tree, otay Mom?" as if you're going to glue ME to a tree!  And you think this is hilarious!

You have firecracker jammies and when we ask you if you're a firecracker you say "Boom!"

You say "Uh oh - Bey-yo-yo" for Uh oh, Spaghetti-O

Nana also taught you a poopy diaper song and now you sing, "Poopy diaper, my spesh-al-ee" (specialty) (Also, thanks Mom)

Your favorite characters are Mah-nee and Yanni - also known as Mater and Lighting
Your favorite color is orange - Grandpa is proud!  You know most of your colors too!
You love Elmo and "Cookie Mah-tin" and looking for the moon!

You want to "nuggle" with your "bue bi-ya", but it usually only lasts for 30 seconds.  Still, you're my little love bug, kissing me all the time and saying, "I love you too, Mom".  And then when you're done snuggling you say "Ti-toe me" and I do and I love to hear you laugh!

You try to play the Wii with Daddy and brother.  When you play Mario Kart you are always last, but you don't care and you throw your arms up in the air and proclaim "I lose!" just as happy as if you'd come in first!

When you are sad you wipe your tears away with both hands and it is the cutest thing ever.

But most importantly you remind us to pray.  At dinner and at bed time.  You fold your hands and put them up on your forehead or sometimes even on top of your head.  And when you pray you remember all the people you love.

Never forget to pray, buddy.  We love you!

Wordless Wednesday: Spring

Last week I had a couple of crocuses pop up, but when we got home from the hospital they were all in bloom. I'm thankful for the volunteers because I probably won't be doing much gardening this spring! Daffodils are almost ready to bloom too!

And yes, I have lots of baby pictures... but it's easier to edit one than one hundred!

Welcome to the World!

 My babies are here!

Hope Elizabeth ~ 3/15/12 at 3:15am

Joy Elaine ~ 3/15/12 at 3:08am

Both weighed 5 pounds 12 ounces and 18 inches long

News!

1:30am: Water broke, contractions definitely on.  Here we go!

Happy Birthday Noah!

Even though Noah's birthday isn't for a few more days the time is getting short for me so when my parents decided to come down for dinner I thought this would be as good a time as any to have a cake for Noah.

Someone had this Elmo cake pan at Bible study last year and I snagged it.  Totally awesome even if it did take me practically all day to make and frost it!

When he finally figured out what it was, Noah thought the cake was very cool!

While we sing Happy Birthday, Noah's version is "Happy Diaper".  He's been singing that to my mom all week and she always hope it's a "happy" diaper!

And he knows ALL about blowing out the candles!

After licking off the candle... a frosting mustache!

The cake was Betty Crocker gluten free Devil's Food cake and even though the pan called for 2 layers I think it would have been too thick/heavy.  As it was, we had a thin cake, but it tasted pretty darn good!  And eating the eyeballs and nose, etc, was fun for little boys as well!

Time for presents...

Aunt Annika brought lizards, one for each of the boys... they are a BIG hit!

Noah got the orange one... orange is his very favorite color right now!

Annika also got this fun plane that the propellers spin, there's a pilot that comes out, and a cargo hatch on the bottom the holds a little life raft.  Super cool.

Of course the parents are the ones that get the boy a toy with 30 pieces... don't ask me what we were thinking!

And someone has been very envious of Brother's Hexbug Nano that he bought last month... so we got him his own...

Orange of course!  And I have to say, kudos to the Hexbug people because apparently various colors of bugs are rarer than others.  So when I emailed to ask about finding an orange one they just sent me one!  I guess orange is rather rare.

And finally... he figured out how to get stuff out of bags most efficiently... just dump it!

Here's a very cool beach towel from Nana and Papa that has "Mani and Yanni" on it.  That would be Mater and Lightning in case you were wondering!

The birthday crew!  Annika's the end of February, my mom was last week, and Noah this week.  Yes, we have a lot of family birthdays in February and March!

Wordless Wednesday: Science with Daddy

Brian boiled purple cabbage to make ink... then he used vinegar and baking soda to show Cory how the colors would change.  A little acid/base chemistry!  Why yes, we are science nerds...

36 Weeks = Full Term

According to my doctor at least I am now considered full term with twins.  And I am so DONE with being pregnant.  The itching on my belly is barely contained with benadryl cream and full on benadryl at night (I can't take it during the day or I'm worthless... or at least more worthless than I am already!)  Of course then I had to go read the ingredients today and discover that the cream is full of parabens... something I've been trying to avoid for the last two years in all cosmetics and body products.  Ugh.

Sleeping with Daddy's blanket... before the sick

On top of all that, Cory finally succumbed to the plague that we've all had and left us a lovely mess to clean up Thursday afternoon.  It required a carpet cleaner rental.  Noah stepped in it so I tried to carry him to the bathroom and of course managed to pull something in my lower stomach.  So, I'm back to the walking like a cripple and taking many minutes to get in and out of bed.  At least it's not my pelvis so I can sit somewhat better this time around.

I think we are all mostly healthy now, but Noah is on quarantine from any large group activities since he seems to be the most likely point of infection.  Poor kid.  But at least he got a few days by himself with Nana and Papa and he's having a ball.  Jello is the highlight of his week.  Who knew???

And on Wednesday the teachers at Brian's school (and my former) had cake and ice cream for us at lunch and supplied us with more diapers.  They even had a small gluten free cake for the boys.  We totally love this school!

At this point I kinda hope the girls wait another week since Noah's birthday is on Saturday and I'd really like to have a small party for him.  But at least my doctor will be back tomorrow night and my friend who will be my doula is back from her trip to Hawaii.  So... anytime!

35 Weeks and Holding

Well, I'm definitely feeling better than I was on Thursday.  Although you can see the lovely bruise on the back of my hand from the blown IV.  There's a matching one on the other hand.

People keep telling me how small I look and I'm thinking... what planet are you from?  It's very odd to me because I know I'm way bigger than I ever was with either of the boys (comparison 35 weeks with Noah), and it is ALL in my stomach too!  Notice how far back I'm leaning?  Yeah, I didn't realize that until I looked at the pictures, but it's counterbalance!

I was measuring at term a couple weeks ago and he didn't even measure me last week.  At the last ultrasound they were also still growing each at the rate of a single baby so I'm guessing (according to the online averages) that they are each at least 5 pounds by now.  That's a lot of baby in there!

Now we just play the waiting game...

35 Weeks and a Little Hospital Adventure

I keep thinking today is Saturday... might have something to do with losing an entire day yesterday.

My poor sick toddler shared his bug with me yesterday.  I spent the day on the couch and about the time Brian got home from school I lost it all... and couldn't keep anything down for 6+ hours.  By then I was pretty dehydrated, which was giving me some pretty strong contractions.  So, thankfully my mom came down to get Noah and we went in to the hospital.

Let me just say up front... I know they have a place and a job to do, but holy cow, sometimes I think hospitals are the most inefficient, worst places to get well in.  Sheesh!

We got there a little after 10, I had called the OB on call and knew they would give me fluids, but it still took them almost 2 hours to get my IV started and I was complaining that I was dying of thirst.  Not to mention they didn't listen when I told them I have tough veins to stick even when I'm NOT dehydrated and instead they blew out both hands before trying my arm. :(

But finally they got both babies on the monitors (oh, how I despise those things!) and an IV in.  It took almost 2 full liters of fluid and me drinking on top of that (they gave me some anti-naseau meds so I could) before I felt like I didn't need anything more to drink.  That's bad!  And for a pregnant girl going 8 hours without needing to pee... yeah.

The girls were champs through all the contractions so that bodes well for later!  And as long as they don't make me lay on my back (those labor beds are ridiculously hard) I think we shall do fine when the time actually comes.  And my own heart rate was so high they wouldn't give me a shot to stop the contractions.  Apparently it makes your heart race and you feel like you're having a panic attack so I'm glad I avoided that!

So it took 6+ hours for my contractions to stop and now my stomach muscles are way sore, but I'm home, slept half the day, and hopefully the worst is past us.

Here's to another week of sleeping in my own {comfy} bed and getting a few more things done!