Christmas Pictures and a HUGE milestone (@ least for this mama!!)

A sweet friend of mine took pictures of the twins for Christmas cards and they also happened to be their 7 month pictures.  I couldn't be more excited about how they turned out...especially since we were on the verge of the great stomach bug of 2011.

You can't tell, but Hannah's onesie says "You better not pout!" and Brady's says "You better not cry!"  I was so glad to get some great pictures of them and ones that definitely show off their sweet personalities.  (and Hannah's ornery streak!)

 

 

This last picture is how we spent probably 75% of the first "session".  Hannah would steal an ornament and Brady would scream.  Pretty much sums up life @ our house these days.  I'm just waiting for the day that he steals something from her.  The world might just come to an end!!

Hannah-@ 7 months you are 17lb., 27 inches long, and your head is 17 1/4 inches.  That puts you in the 50% for weight, 75% for height, and 90% for head. 

You are wearing size 3 diapers and 6-9 months clothes
You wear mostly size 2 shoes as long as they are narrow enough to stay on your feet.
You LOVE to eat.  Your favorites are puffs, sweet potatoes, apple sauce and peas.
You sleep 11-12 hours @ night, and you are taking 2-3 hour to hour and a half naps during the day.  Just depends on how tired you are.  We're trying to phase out one of the naps so that hopefully you will take two solid naps.
In true female fashion you LOVE to shop.  You love to smile and talk to people as you ride around like a big girl in the cart.
You are sitting up by yourself like a pro and you are starting to pull your legs up under you some, so I have no doubt you will be crawling soon.
You still just have your 2 bottom teeth, but you have 4 coming in on the top.
You have discovered Rocky and Boudreaux and try to terrorize them every chance you can get.
Your favorite toy is still the jumper, but you and Brady discovered the wonderful world of Little People this month and those are quickly becoming favorites...word has it that Santa is planning on bringing you some...
When you are sitting in our laps, you love to flip yourself over backwards.  So much so that I feel the need to warn anyone that holds you to beware of your backbends!!
You had the worst diaper rash ever this last month all thanks to a bout with strep, which won you your first antibiotic and antibiotic diaper cream.
You are a happy baby and you have such a sweet personality. 

Brady-@ 7months you are also 17lb, 27 3/4 inches long, and your head is 18 inches.  That puts you in the 25% for weight, 75% for height and 95% for head.

You are wearing size 3 diapers and 6-9 months clothes.  If they were long enough and we could get your big head through them, you would still be wearing a long of your 3-6 months clothes b/c you are such a skinny thing.
You wear size 2 shoes and LOVE to wear them.
You are a good eater and will eat just about anything we put in front of you.  Your favorites right now are blueberries, oatmeal, squash, sweet potatoes, and of course puffs.
You sleep 11-12 hours @ night also, however, if one of you is going to wake up in the middle of the night, it's you 99% of the time b/c you need your paci.  You take 3 solid naps a day.  We're trying to phase one of them out, but you are having a harder time with that than your sister.
You like to ride in the cart or stroller and just flash that big 'ol grin @ anybody that will pay attention.  You are definitely a flirt and you LOVE to talk to anyone who will listen.
You blow the best razberries.
You are sitting up great also, however, you are totally content to just sit there.  You have no desire to roll anywhere, and you are showing NO signs what-so-ever of being the least bit interested in crawling.
You just got your bottom two front teeth over Thanksgiving.  And boy were you ever a slobbery mess!
You love Rocky and Boudreaux, and anytime you can get your hands on them, you do!
You love to play with anything you can chew on, but mostly whatever you sister hasn't stolen from you.
You are still my little snuggler and you love to be rocked to sleep, but will also put yourself to sleep too. 
You are such a giggly little boy and so much fun to have around.

The big news around our house this week and is that thanks to a horrible stomach bug, we are now bottle free and officially on just sippy cups.  Last week they were both sick so we spent several days on just pedialyte, which they got in sippy cups.  So, yesterday when I started to give them 1/2 strength formula, I put it in their sippy cups to see if they would take, it and they did.  So we are officially going to pack up the bottles this weekend as soon as I can get a rubbermaid tub to put them in. 

Well, I guess I should get off of here and go to bed since they will be up in 5 short hours. 

Bathing Beauties

Bath time is a definite favorite activity @ our house these days.  The challenge being that the babies want to sit up and play all the time, and I haven't gotten them seats for the bathtub yet, so some days that is a challenge.  Right before Thanksgiving, I was doing stuff in the kitchen one night and needed to give Hannah a bath, so I decided to just let her play in the sink.  To say that she loved it would be an understatement.  She splashed and played for a good 45 minutes while I got a bunch of cleaning done.  (Brady had skipped his nap that afternoon, so he went to bed @ around 6:45 that night and missed out on all the fun.)  Tonight I remembered to put my camera in the kitchen before we got started, and was rewarded with some absolutely adorable pictures of my sweeties. 

 

This is one of my favorite pictures of Brady...the look on his face just makes me laugh.

 I'd like to know what the two of them were conspiring in the picture, or if Brady was plotting against Hannah since she kept reaching over to his side of the sink and stealing his toys!!

 Sweet girl...you can see some of her curly hair in this picture.  I miss her cupie curl she had as a tiny baby.

It's so fun to see them accomplish new things every day.  Hannah figured out how to turn herself in a circle in the sink tonight, so we spent quite awhile just turning in circles.  And Brady did eventually figure out how to turn the sink on, so I had to turn him around in the sink to get him away from the handle.  Such fun memories!!

Bad Mom Moment #2...

Well, I spoke too soon.  Shortly after I posted on Sunday, both kids woke up with 102 fevers.  Hannah only wanted to be held, even after the Motrin and Tylenol kicked in, so I knew she really felt bad.  Brady was a trooper, however, there was one point where I was curled up in the recliner with both of them in my lap.  Hannah had started to have a little bit of a diaper rash before we went to church on Sunday, but I didn't think anything of it, b/c it doesn't take much for her to get a little red.  Just slapped some Corona on there and went to church and made sure the girls in the nursery put some on her when they changed her.  It didn't look too red when we got home from church, but by the time she woke up with fever it was flaming red.  So I went to option 2 and did Lantiseptic.  That didn't help, so I tried every other kind of diaper rash ointment I have (which is about 6 other kinds) and nothing was helping.  Finally, I just left her laying on a towel in the living room floor without a diaper.  That didn't even help.  By the time we went to bed Sunday night it was all but bleeding, and by the time we got up Monday morning it was bleeding.  I had to get up several times in the night to change her, b/c everytime she was wet or dirty, she would wake up just screaming bloody murder.  I felt so bad for her.  So Monday morning when we got up, I did what any good mom would do, and I texted some of my fellow mom friends who happen to also be nurses, and asked for their suggestions.  We finally decided that I had exhausted all options and should call the doctor so I did...and after listening to the description of the rash and then her fevers, etc. she said she wanted to see Hannah.  Can I just tell you how incompetent I felt as a mom @ that point??  For pete's sake, I am a nurse and a PICU nurse @ that...there is no reason on earth that my child should have a diaper rash like that!!!  Long story short, took her to the pediatrician and she tested positive for strep.  Never realized that strep could give you that bad of a diaper rash, but apparently it can, so now we are on antibiotics, and having to occasionally give her prescription pain medicine so that she can sleep some.  Praying that she will at least sleep a little better tonight than she did last night.  No sleep @ night makes her a bear!!!  She can skip naps, but sister needs a full 12 hours @ night. 

The Weekend

We have had a pretty chill weekend around here.  It's been nice.  I worked Friday night, so my mom and Billy had the kids yesterday morning, and then once I got up we just hung out.  I didn't get a bit of the cleaning done that I needed to, but we got to spend some good time together, so I'll just deal with the dirty house later.  Last night we ran to Amarillo to do some grocery shopping.  It was so nice for there to be two of us so that we could each push a cart with a baby in it instead of me having to sling one of the babies while the other one rode in the cart.  And the babies LOVED getting to sit up and see all the people and sights.  Today, the kids and I went to church and Billy is in the office getting ready for their bowl game next weekend.  Can't believe that it's already Thanksgiving!!  Just a question...how long does your pastor usually preach?  We just got a new pastor and he's very good...just rather long winded it seems like.  I'll leave you with some cute pictures since we all know that that's the whole reason we read blogs!!! :)

 We were cracking up @ Hannah with her legs crossed while she drank her bottle yesterday!

 I just love him!!!!

 I was trying to get a good picture of Hannah in her turkey dress after church today, but no such luck...I'll have to try again when somebody is here to help me and get you a better picture Hillary.

Finally!!!

We got a new computer so I am going to slowly start updating the blog and getting it caught up.  For Halloween, the babies were monkeys, and if I do say so myself, they were pretty stinking cute monkeys!  We were supposed to go ride a hay wagon through one of the neighborhoods here in Canyon with a bunch of friends, but the babies were a little under the weather, so we opted to just go visit dad @ work, to see Molly and Katie, run and see Mimi and Papa and then I took them up to my work for just a little bit.  They were troopers and did great.  I'm sad that we didn't get to ride the trailer, but we will be there for sure next year!  And now for your viewing please...two very precious monkeys!!

Alive...

If anyone is still reading this blog, we are still here and doing well. The babies turned 4 months old yesterday and are doing fabulous!! Life as a mommy is everything I imagined and a thousand times better. Billy is fully drowning in football season and loving every minute of it. We had our first game on Thursday and lost, which was a bummer, but nothing you can do about it now. Now they just have to move on and get ready for our next game in two weeks. Hopefully I can figure out how to get pictures on here using my mom's computer without having to upload all of them to her computer first. Our computer crashed about a month and a half ago, so I've been using my mom's since. Hopefully we'll have a new one by Christmas...hopefully!!

Fancy Pants...

Saturday night a girl that I work with got married, so the babies and I got all dressed up in our best duds and went to the wedding. It was a lot of fun and the babies did great.

I can't decide what makes me laugh more in this picture...her screaming her head off or his facial expression. She was mad b/c I took her binkie out of her mouth to try and get one picture without it in her mouth.

One Month

So I am late getting this post up, but I was waiting on our monthly stickers to get here and take their pictures for this post.

Hannah

-Weight-8 lb even
-Length-I didn't measure their length this month. Have to remember to do that next month.
-You are starting to like bath time more. I think if we did it every night you would like it more.
-You still have your curls on top of your head and that we can tell you haven't lost any hair yet.
-You are starting to have more awake time during the day.
-You still love to be snuggled up in a ball in anybody's arms.
-You were the first to stay with a baby-sitter besides family. (You stayed with Emily while I took Brady to the chiropractor.)
-From 6-8pm is your fussy time and some days no matter what we do, you just cry and after 20 minutes or so you are okay.
-You finally got your pooping issues figured out.
-You religiously eat every 3 hours during the day (2 oz.) and are sleeping from 11pm to around 3:30 and then from 3:30 to 8:00 or so in the morning. It's SO nice.
-You love the swing and you like the bouncy seat as long as someone is bouncing you in it.
-You tolerate tummy time. It's not your favorite, but you are getting better about it.
-You love your pacifier, but you don't absolutely have to have it all the time.
-You are still wearing newborn diapers, but we are going to graduate to size 1 this week and you are in newborn and 0-3 mos. clothes. We have already had to retire some of your newborn stuff b/c it is too short for you. (Mostly the footie jammers)
-You are definitely a diva, but an absolutely precious diva! :)
-You sleep great in your crib with the positioning wedge.

Brady

-Weight- 8lb 1/2 oz. You have now officially surpassed your sister and your daddy couldn't be more excited!!
-Length-???
-You are definitely a fan of bathtime. Although you hate getting your lotion on and your jammers afterwards.
-Your best time of day is normally about 6:00-8:00pm. You lay on your back on your daddy's chest and are totally content for the most part. It's so fun to watch you lay there and look around.
-You love the swing and you like the bouncy seat okay.
-You are ADDICTED to your paci already. I have a feeling we could be in trouble with you when it comes to that thing. You blow your top when it falls out.
-You will lay in your crib during the day and just chill while I take care of sister.
-Your hair is falling out all over the place. You are pretty much bald on top now except for some peach fuzz.
-You have some of the funniest facial expressions.
-You eat every 3 hours during the day and like your sister are starting to sleep longer @ night, however, you are usually the first to wake up @ night.
-You are in mostly 0-3 months clothes now b/c we either can't get the newborn stuff over your head, or it is too short.
-You are in NB diapers, but will be graduating this week as soon as we finish off this last box of NB.
-Your first non-family baby-sitter was Amy. She kept you and Hannah while I ran to the post office and to Thompson's one afternoon.
-You have the longest feet and toes. Everybody comments on them. Uncle David calls them your tree climbing toes.
-You are not a big fan of tummy time, but you are starting to tolerate it a little better every day.

And now for the part you've all been waiting for...more pictures! :)

Right now this is probably my favorite picture of Brady!! I love it :)

All of these pictures were taken on their actual one month birthday. We did a little photo shoot in their room that morning after we changed out of our jammers and got ready for the day.
The last two pictures are from when we went to Hereford one weekend in May while Billy was out of town and spent the afternoon with my grandparents.

A Visit from the Bells

I have truly missed seeing my kiddos that I picked up from school this year. Their mom had her baby 2 weeks to the day before Hannah and Brady were born, so she's been home to pick them up from school and I've not seen them since they came to visit us in the hospital...that is until last Friday. Amy had a luncheon to go to and Lauren got out of school @ noon since it was the last day of school, so I went and picked Lauren up from school and brought her home with me. She is a pro @ holding babies and I'm pretty sure was in hog heaven holding Hannah. (She REALLY wanted a baby sister.) Once Amy got through with her lunch she went and got Jace and she and the boys came over and we all hung out for a little bit. Jace was so big and did such a good job holding the babies. We've been teasing him about holding Hannah b/c for forever he said he was only holding the boy babies and Lauren could hold the girl baby. He ended up holding Hannah though and we got some really cute pictures. Amy and I laugh everytime we get together and she holds Hannah and Brady or I hold Rylan b/c there is such a size difference in the 3 of them. She is going to bring him over to weigh him this week, and I'm curious to see what he weighs. He is a CHUNK! :) He was 8 lb 10 oz when he was born and I bet he weighs every bit of 10 if not 11 lb by now. They are such a sweet family and I have loved getting to be a part of their lives this last year and am so glad that we continue to hang out and be a part of each others lives.

Lauren and Miss Priss

The three amigos!! (Hannah, Brady and Rylan 5/17/11)

Jace and Little Man

Hannah and Jace

I don't have a picture of Lauren holding Brady b/c until today she hadn't, but they got lots of good snuggle time in today.

4 Weeks Already...

I guess since the babies are already 4 weeks old, I should probably post some pictures and update the 'ol blog! I ended up having a c-section b/c the little turkeys were both breech. I've always heard horror stories about c-sections and the recovery, so I was a little nervous about that. Let me just say, it was NOTHING like what I thought it was going to be. Yes, I was sore and it wasn't fun getting out of bed those first few times, but it was not bad @ all. I had a spinal block for surgery and it worked great for surgery, but wore off before I even got out of recovery, so I was in a little more pain than expected to begin with, but once they started me on the Toradol and Morphine PCA, I was good to go...minus being sick to my stomach from the Morphine. I was up walking the halls that first night, and I think that getting up and getting moving and staying moving was the smartest thing I could have done.

We got to the hospital on Monday around 11 and they of course got me hooked up to everything and got my IV started. Then about 1:20 they came and got me and we walked back to the OR to get my spinal and get started. Once they started my spinal, they laid me down on the table and were getting me all prepped and that's when things got a little exciting. Apparently Brady decided he was through being stuck inside me with his sister squishing him b/c he dropped his heart rate into the 50's and no matter which way they turned me or how much they messed with him, it wouldn't come back up, so what was supposed to be a routine thing quickly turned into an emergency situation. To say that I was terrified would be an understatement. The relief that washed over me when I heard his first little screams is a feeling I don't think I'll ever forget. So since he decided to rush Dr. David, both of them were born within about 20 seconds of each other. I remember thinking, "I can breathe" when they pulled Brady out and then when they pulled Hannah out, it felt like somebody had lifted a 45 pound weight off of me. It was such a surreal feeling.

We stayed in the hospital from Monday to Thursday. I could have come home on Wednesday, but am glad that I didn't b/c Wednesday night was a rough night for the babies, so I'm glad we got to send them to the nursery. Once we started supplementing them after they nursed, they were much happier with life and started to gain some of their weight back. I loved having people come up and visit us and come see the babies. Amy, Joi and Lindsey came up one afternoon and they brought Jace (5), Lauren (8), Gage (5) and Gracie (2) with them. The kids were so cute just looking @ the babies and inspecting them. Then they found the gloves and so they spent a good deal of time blowing up their gloves and playing. When they left, Billy said he felt like an F5 tornado had just blown through b/c the kids were so busy while they were in the room. :)

Billy had to leave on Friday after we got home to take his mom back to Louisiana, so my mom came and stayed the weekend with me while he was gone. We got the babies on a schedule in the hospital, and for the most part, have been able to stick with it since coming home. Just this weekend they have started sleeping for longer stretches @ night. Last night they ate @ 10:30 and were in bed asleep by 11 and didn't wake up to eat until 4, then went right back to sleep and slept until 8. I feel like a new woman having gotten that much sleep last night! :) They still eat every 3 hours during the day. When we first came home I was nursing them and then supplementing until my milk came in. Then I went to just nursing them, but we have since gone to me just pumping and then giving it to them in a bottle. I am much less stressed and they are in turn much happier. I am getting a scale from my cousin this week so I'll be able to update with their current weights for their one month post.

The first 2 weeks we were home it seemed like all we did was go to the doctor. I had to go in and get my staples removed and get my blood pressure checked on Monday, they had to go in for weight checks on Tuesday, and I had to go back for another b/p check on Thursday and they had to go have ultrasounds done on their hips (because they were breech and b/c they were multiples they were @ an increased risk of having hip problems so we had to rule that out...). Then, I had to go back on Monday for my 2 week post-op appointment and another b/p check (it was FINALLY back down to normal then), Wednesday was their 2 week appointment with the pediatrician, Thursday Hannah had to have a barium enema study done b/c she wasn't pooping, Friday Hannah and I both went to the chiropractor and got adjusted and then last Tuesday Brady got to go to the chiropractor for his adjustment. Thank heavens we are through with dr. appointments for awhile is all I have to say!!! One thing I learned through all of it is that I am totally capable of getting out with both of them by myself (at least for little adventures) and it is an odd feeling to only go somewhere with one of them! :)

They are both starting to smile some and have adjusted well to sleeping in their own beds @ night. We started out with them both in Brady's crib, but they got to where they were waking each other up so Hannah quickly got promoted to her own bed! They both love the swing and neither one is really a very big fan of tummy time. Brady definitely looks like he has grown a lot in the last 2 weeks, so we shall see. @ their 2 week appointment, he was up to 7 lb3 oz and she was up to 7 lb 8 oz.If they aren't both 8 pounds by now, they are both pretty close I bet. We are already having to retire the newborn footie jammers...not b/c they are too small around, but b/c they are too short for our long legs and tree climbing feet.

And now for the reason everyone really looks at the blog anyways...the pictures...

My last picture as a pregnant woman

One proud daddy...

My first time to hold them

Still their favorite part of bath time...getting their hair washed.

And just a few random pictures...

They're Here!!!!

Hannah and Brady made their appearance on Monday @ 1:34 pm. (yes, they both have the same time of birth...) She weighed 7lb 3 oz and was 19 1/2 inches long. He weighed 6lb 12 3/4 oz and was 19 3/4 inches long. They are absolutely perfect and both are doing great. We are supposed to go home first thing tomorrow and then the real fun will begin I am sure! :) They are both nursing great and it's been an amazing first couple of days. I can't get my pictures to download to my sister's laptop so I will have to add pictures then, but trust me, they are PRECIOUS!!!! (and no, I am NOT one bit partial! :))

38 1/2 Weeks

Well, we are down to the wire. I seriously can't believe that I'm still pregnant. I really thought that these two turkeys would have already made their appearance by now. They are still all snuggled up inside though. Unless something crazy happens this weekend (which I am praying it doesn't b/c Billy has to be out of town), my c-section is scheduled for Monday @ 1pm. Crazy to think that they will be here in 72 hours!! The closer it gets the less prepared and the less ready I feel for the whole situation. I am so excited for them to be here though. I had a sono on Tuesday to measure them and got to see their sweet little faces. Sister has some big ol chubby cheeks on her and Brady definitely has his daddy's lips.

We finally got the nursery done this week. Minus putting the last bumper pad on Mr. Brady's bed and batteries in all the bouncers, etc., we are ready for them to be here. Hopefully I'll get pictures posted up this weekend after I get his last bumper pad put on. I am loving the way that it all turned out. The room is a little more cramped than I would like, but hey...what do you expect when you are putting two babies in the same room right?? :)

Nothing else very exciting going on here. The babies decided that they wanted to be a part of the Royal Wedding festivities, so they were nice enough to wake me up early enough to watch it all. I have to admit, it was pretty cool to watch and definitely one of those once in a lifetime memories for me.

Billy and I are going on our last pre-babies date tonight and then he leaves tomorrow and will be back Sunday and while he's gone, I get to go grocery shopping and pick up the last few little things that we need before Monday.