Newborn Pictures

We had newborn pictures taken of our sweet boys a couple weeks ago and I am beyond in love with them.

 

I feel like they already look bigger and different than they did just two weeks ago.  Our photographer is a teacher by day and patient, calm, talented photographer in her spare time. I didn’t know how newborn pictures would go with two babies, let alone ones that were almost a month old already but she was amazing.

 

I love how she got some of them individually and of course some of them sweet and cuddly together. I feel like they look so much alike in these pictures that I had to look closely to figure out which baby I was looking at!

 

 

The picture above is our little Luke. Right now he’s our calm, more go with the flow, smaller baby.

 

 

This sweet boy is Reid. Aren’t his cheeks the best? He’s our cuddly, more opinionated, lighter haired, bigger twin. I think Reid looks a lot like Caleb and Luke looks more like Eli.

 

I absolutely treasure our newborn pictures that we had taken of Caleb and Eli and I’m excited that these are the perfect companion to those. I know when you add a member (or members!) to your family, money can get a bit tight.  I’m all about cutting corners to make ends meet but in my opinion, newborn pictures are not on the list of things to skip!

Life with twins- 1 month old!

I’ll be honest.  This month has been a total blur.  Ironically, today is actually my original due date! It feels like just yesterday I was still pregnant and yet I also feel like they have been here forever. We are totally and completely exhausted and I’m not sure I can form a coherent thought but I’m going to try! 😉 I’ve got a bunch of pictures to share so at least we have that.

Josh has been back at work for about two weeks right now.  My mom came to hang out with me during the mornings for the next week and it was such a blessing to have her. During the week she was here, it was kind of a trial run for me to have all four by myself. Packing up the babies twice a day to drop off and pick up Caleb and Eli from school while I was still recovering from the c-section was a challenge and I was glad she was here to help!

We are extremely lucky in the temperament of these sweet babies. So far, they are pretty easy going. I mean obviously they are newborns and don’t have a lot of chill in them when they want something, but so far no one cries just to cry. They are pretty easily comforted with a snuggle or a pacifier and after having a difficult first baby, I really know what a blessing that is!  They wake overnight about every 3 hours to eat and then thankfully almost always go right back to sleep. (As a side note: I’m super lucky in that I have always had a husband who was willing to help me with our babies overnight but with twins it is definitely ‘all hands on deck’ overnight and he jumped right in and never looked back!)

We are tandem nursing now and it’s going great. I’ve definitely had to grow extra arms to get everyone into position at the beginning but we’ve pretty much got it down now. I can’t believe how much time it saves and it also allows us to sit and snuggle together after they finish eating which I LOVE. Reid has consistently done a good job gaining weight and Luke has also gotten back on his growth curve in the last couple weeks which is an amazing relief.

Caleb and Eli are pretty obsessed with them and love ‘playing’ with them and getting things for them.  They have these adorably high and sweet voices when they talk to the babies and just cannot get enough. Caleb even offered to get up with them overnight for us and I’m seriously considering it? Haha!

So overall. We are doing great. They are doing really great. We are all pretty exhausted. Honestly though, I would take this exhausted phase over the third trimester any day. I’m getting way less sleep and yet have way more energy. Those pregnancy hormones are no joke!

 

I’m so determined to get monthly pictures with these guys like I did with our older two but I have to say- it is so much harder with two! They kept scooting down on the chair before I could take the picture so they are a little scrunched. Done is better than perfect!

I’m so thankful for these babies and I’m trying to treasure every minute. This time I really know how fast they grow.

Our newest Cubs fans

Just popping in to share some pictures of my newest favorite Cubs fans! Our family decked out for the Wild Card game on Wednesday and Luke and Reid were so excited to witness their first Cubs playoff win that they partied hard into the night. 😉

We’re playing the Cardinals in the NLDS right now and I’m loving every minute of this playoff season!

Overall we are doing really well.  Obviously, we’ve never been more exhausted. Like ever. But these little guys are doing great! They are sleeping as well as can be expected at this point and so far have generally been pretty go with the flow. With two older brothers that go to school every day and have extra activities, that is such a blessing! We started swim lessons for Caleb and Eli last weekend and the babies just slept like sweet angels in the stroller while I watched lessons.

They have both started to gain weight and their bilirubin levels are both starting to come down slowly which is a huge relief. They are nursing like champs and we are working on getting tandem feeding down. We got their newborn pictures done last weekend and I’m so excited to see them!

Off to feed some babies. Go Cubs!

All under one roof

Finally. Finally.

Reid was able to come home yesterday after spending 10 days in the NICU. By sheer luck, my parents were up yesterday morning to watch our big boys so Josh and could actually go visit Reid together. (Our hospital was amazing and always allowed us to bring Luke with us when we visited Reid. I know that is not typical of all hospitals so we were very lucky they allowed us to do that.) During morning rounds, one of the doctors unexpectedly said that she felt like Reid was eating, breathing and maintaining his temperature well enough to go home that day as long as we brought him to our next doctors appointment for Luke on Monday so she could check them both out. Reid passed his car seat test required for NICU babies with flying colors and we were discharged to go home! It was such an amazing day.

It felt so sudden and nonchalant that they said we could take Reid home so we didn’t waste any time! We had one of our nurses snap a couple pictures, loaded them in their car seats and practically ran for the exit before anyone could change their minds.

The going home outfits I had bought them were 0-3 months and they were gigantic but I absolutely did not care. We worked hard for this moment!

We came home to some beautiful driveway art from my aunt and sister and a warm welcome by our wonderful neighbors. We brought them home on an unseasonably warm October day so we took them for their first mini walk lead by their proud big brothers of course.

 

Last night was our first night all home together and it went better than we expected. Obviously taking care of two babies is not easy but we managed to each get some chunks of sleep. The babies are only about 37 weeks gestation at this point so they are still pretty sleepy.  We have to wake them to nurse every 2-3 hours and then they were more than ready to go back to sleep. I know this won’t last forever so we will take it while we can!

Knowing that we don’t have to run back and forth to the NICU anymore is a feeling I cannot even describe. I hope I can let a little of that stress go now and actually help my body start healing from my c-section. Josh has about a week left on his paternity leave and I am so grateful that he will be here to help get us adjusted before he has to head back to work.

Our greatest adventure begins now! Life with 4 boys 4 years and under!  Wish us luck and excuse the blog silence as we settle in!

 

A week with us- a Toy Story Halloween!

We’ve really been trying to get out and enjoy this beautiful fall Iowa weather this year more than just about ever before. We’re totally exhausted but I also feel physically rejuvenated not having to carry around 14 pounds of baby in my tummy anymore! The end of our summer was pretty dull for our kiddos since I couldn’t get out and do very much so we’ve definitely been trying to get out and do all the fall things now to make up for that!

We took the big boys to a local (free!) pumpkin patch over the weekend while the babies stayed with my mom and aunt. For being a tiny little patch, they had so much for the kids to do. Caleb loved this giant pipe slide!

This tiny little ‘train’ was a huge favorite. I’m pretty sure it went about 2 miles/hour and went in a small circle but my kiddos thought it was the coolest thing ever. We were lucky that there wasn’t a ton of kids there around lunchtime when we went so they rode it over and over and would probably still be there if we hadn’t convinced them to move on to something else!

Tractor rides are always a favorite in our family! Someone along the way came over with a chicken from their farm and let all the kids see it up close. That was pretty cool for our boys!

We got our pumpkin decorating on which of course had to be painted like ninja turtles.  We are big fans of painting pumpkins instead of carving them at this age because then the kids can help with everything and anything that doesn’t involve knives around a 2 year old is good news for us.

This is pretty much what these guys did while the rest of us were enjoying our outside fall fun. They wanted to be festive in their Halloween monster sleepers though. Don’t they look alike here? (Luke is on the left.)

The big boys helped Daddy rake up most of our overdue leaves… and then jumped in them and tracked them all over. If we’re being honest, that’s exactly where they still are today. I’m playing the newborn twin card for that one.

 

Our older boys have been obsessed with Toy Story since we watched the first movie over the summer and they have been talking about dressing up as Buzz and Woody for Halloween for months. It was all I could do to keep them out of their costumes until Halloween night.

Since Luke and Reid didn’t have much of an opinion this year, we went with the toy story theme and they were the Toy Story aliens! 😉 Their hats are just pieces of felt that I cut up and hot glued together. And of course added the pipe cleaner at the top.

Caleb and Eli went trick or treating around the neighborhood with Daddy and I stayed back with the little dudes. They definitely got a lot of attention from the kids that came to our door!

Trick or treaters are exhausting for a 1 month old!

That was our Halloween week!

They are here!

Last week we welcomed our two newest, beautiful blessings into the world.

We proudly introduce:

Luke Henry    6 lbs 6 ounces, 19.3 inches long

and

Reid Joshua    6 lbs 13 ounces, 20 inches long

 

Yep. That’s right. I am now the proud momma of FOUR beautiful boys. How wonderfully God has blessed us.

The boys were born at 35w5d when I went into labor and even though they were really good sized babies, they have had some complications typical of twins born prematurely.

Luke had to stay in the NICU for one additional night after I was released because he was struggling to maintain his temperature. Now he is home with us but he is having problems gaining weight which can be serious in premature babies. He is under the care of an amazing pediatrician and we are doing everything we can to keep him from being admitted back to the hospital.

Our sweet Reid is still in the NICU and having more complications than his brother. When they were born, he had trouble breathing and was immediately taken to the NICU. Thankfully, he has steadily improved and was taken off the ventilator the day after they were born. He is now working on weaning off all oxygen and learning to eat/breathe at the same time. We don’t know when he will be able to come home but we pray it is soon.

We would appreciate your prayers during this difficult time for our family. We are struggling to try to navigate this new path no one could really be prepared for! I am having a difficult recovery from an unplanned c-section while trying to balance being home with my two older boys who are searching for normalcy, one newborn at home and trying to be at the NICU as often as we possibly can with our other newborn.

We hope to all be at home together very soon and are overall so thankful for our new family of 6.

Twin Pregnancy- 35 weeks

Thirty. Five. Weeks. I can’t even believe it. During one of my 8 trips to the bathroom last night (yes 8 is the real number- that is no exaggeration) I looked at the clock and saw it was just after midnight which officially meant we had made it to 35 weeks. It seems surreal. 

In my opinion, anyone who makes it to 35 weeks (and beyond I can only imagine) carrying twins and pretends they aren’t fairly miserable is a big lying liar. I am ecstatic that I am still pregnant. I hope to continue to be for 14 more days at least. With that said, everything hurts and I can’t wait for it to be October. Like everything. All the time. This is physically the hardest thing I have ever done in my entire life.

Going on walks or to the store or out to eat has become near impossible because my hips and back hurt so bad. These sweet babies are so low that I’m pretty sure I walk like a sumo wrestler. I’m still working my normal half day hours and counting down the minutes!  The plan is to stop at 37 weeks even if these babies haven’t come yet- a week off to rest before delivering twins really doesn’t sound so terrible.  This picture is an extremely accurate depiction of how I’m feeling and looking right now I must say.

My husband seriously continues to be amazing. Picking up all the slack around the house and with the kids without batting an eye. A few weeks ago we started binge watching White Collar on Netflix and are totally loving it.  It’s so well written- fast paced and suspenseful that it’s taking my mind off all the aches and pains every night and gives me something to look forward to for making it through another day!

This weekend we finally did some last minute things to help me feel more prepared – if that is possible. We got out the new car seats, put together the double stroller, packed our hospital bags and washed the very last of the baby laundry. Seeing two car seats sitting side by side in our living room was totally crazy!

I’m pretty excited about the idea that we are past the 35 week mark which means that there is at least a decent chance of the babies coming home with us when they are born instead of needing to stay longer. Every day they stay in that chance goes up and that makes me a very happy Mommy. 

We have a doctors appointment this week to check them and also start non-stress tests. I had a million when I was pregnant with Caleb because of the knots in his cord, but certainly never with 4 belts to measure two babies. I loved sitting and listening to his heartbeat in the comfy chairs and I’m honestly looking forward to that again. 

Can’t wait to snuggle these monkeys!

Twin Pregnancy- 34 weeks

So… remember how I was feeling pretty happy that both babies were in a good position for birth and also feeling pretty happy about the fact that we were so far along that that fact was unlikely to change.  Guess what?  At our ultrasound appointment this week, we found out that not one, but BOTH of our babies had flipped positions. Baby B (our presenting twin) is now breech and Baby A is head down.  Which would be great if Baby A were first but as of now that is not the case.  Can you even believe it?

We’re very blessed in that we found a wonderful doctor who is very against c-sections if there is any way to avoid it.  Even she has said that if both babies stay where they currently are, she would advise delivering them by c-section.  The chance of neurological damage by delivering the first twin breech is too high for her to be able to recommend that. Especially in our situation because according to ultrasound, Baby B is larger than Baby A. She even went as far to say as there is no doctor in our hospital that would consider attempting a natural delivery given these conditions either.  It’s not like I disagree with her. Neurological damage is not something that I would mess around with given the choice either.

Sigh. I can’t even believe it.  Unfortunately with twins, we can’t attempt to manually turn the babies (ECV) because it’s too dangerous. You better believe that I have attempted and will continue to attempt all natural methods of turning babies that she recommended to me including twisting my body into strange positions!  You never know, right?  If they managed to turn themselves at this late date, they could turn themselves back?

So while I work on that…. I’m also soaking up all the time I can with these crazies!

We’re trying to prepare them for life with two newborns but truthfully we probably aren’t prepared ourselves either! Savoring these last weeks as a family of 4. Their extreme and utter excitement at the prospect of these two monkeys joining our family is so sweet and makes me excited too! I’m glad that they are such good friends and love to play together. They will have each other when things are crazy those first few weeks!

For now though, we play and laugh and use my giant twin belly for it’s true purpose. A car garage of course.

Twin Pregnancy – 33 weeks

When I was pregnant with both of my boys, I had an incredibly vivid dream that I had given birth and was holding my brand new baby. In my dream, Caleb was a fair skinned blond haired baby. Which he turned out to be. In my dream of Eli, he was a dark haired, darker skinned baby. Which he was. This week I had another incredibly vivid dream that I was holding our first twin who had the sweetest, fair skin. In my dream my doctor handed the baby to me and said “we didn’t expect this, but the first twin weighs 8 pounds 8 ounces” (!!!). I woke up before giving birth to our second baby and the first thing I thought was that I never asked if the baby was a boy or a girl!  Pregnancy dreams are so crazy. I wonder if this one will prove partially true?  I also continue to dream that we have boy/girl twins and name them Jack and Lily. (Neither name is on our list.)

I’ve heard that with twin pregnancies, you get to a point where you just hit the wall. Meaning, a point where the pregnancy gets really tough and this week I totally hit that wall physically and mentally (and emotionally!)  I was actually thinking that maybe I was going to be exempt- not so much. It’s getting so much harder everyday to do life and motivate myself to keep on trucking. Approximately every minute I’m at work I think about starting my maternity leave but that equals less time with my babies once they are home. So on we go.

Josh finished building the boys their new bunk beds and now they are painted and ‘the best thing that has ever happened in our house!’. They have been sharing a room for a couple months now by choice so now they have the new beds to make it official.


We also had another ultrasound at our appointment this week to check on the monkeys. After being close in weight this whole time, they have started to get further apart. Twin B who is now presenting is around 5 1/2 pounds and Twin A is around 5. Our OB has now changed her guess and thinks we have one of each but I’m not so sure.  The ultrasound went great otherwise.  Everybody is happy and healthy in there! Seeing them move on the monitor is still amazing and I can’t believe they still think they have so much room to do that…

Just for comparison. Here is a side by side of 20 weeks and 33 weeks.  My gosh. No wonder why my back hurts!
34 weeks here we come.  One day at a time.

Twin Pregnancy – 32 weeks

We are 32 weeks today!  I am so, so grateful to be 32 weeks.   

Unfortunately, today I have spent the majority of the day fighting off contractions and trying not to freak out over the feelings of intense pressure I have.  Last night, we went to a minor league baseball game and while planning the evening I kind of forgot how pregnant I am.  We had a walk a pretty long way to the stadium and sitting in those stadium seats for so long really did me in.  Hopefully, my body is just making me pay for it today and I can rest and have these go away.  Needless to say, we are going to be taking it easy the next 3 weekends and trying to have end of summer fun for the boys in situations where I can sit in a chair.  I want to make it to 35 weeks SO badly for the babies- let’s be honest I’d rather make it to 37 but trying not to get too greedy in this moment. 

This week I got a lot of their clothes and things washed and worked on their room more.  I was folding and putting clothes away when all these contractions started this morning so you better believe they are still sitting in baskets for now.  Priorities indeed.  

When I was pregnant with Eli, I craved sweets toward the end like I never have in my life.  This time around I am craving WATERMELON.  Any time, anywhere.  I honestly can not get enough.  I’m hoping that the stores will continue to carry it even though we are nearing the end of watermelon season around here until these babies are born.  I mean there are definitely worse things to crave right?  

This weekend, we Josh just finished painting, redecorating, and rearranging our bedroom to make room for the babies to spend at least the first couple months in with us.  I’m hoping that they will be able to sleep in the pack and play newborn level together but we are prepared with two rock and play sleepers just in case.  Some how, some way we will need to attempt to get a bit of sleep because we have two other children.  I think ‘sleep when the babies sleep’ is certainly a thing of the past.  There is something about a newly organized bedroom that puts me in such a good mood!  

Hoping and praying to be back for a 33 week update.  (Please excuse the bathroom belly selfie- why doesn’t anyone else look so awkward when they do them?)