Happy Bellies!

Today Claire and Drew had baked sweet potatoes for the first time. This is the first vegetable that they have tried. They have been eating cereal since they were four months but I wanted to wait until they were six months to start veggies and fruits. Of course, they LOVED the sweet potatoes. We are giving them Sprout Baby, it's an organic brand that I've found at HEB. It wasn't my first choice but it's the only thing around here that I could find.

They also played in the floor together. They would look at one another and smile. Claire was talking away to Drew. Whatever she said didn't go over well with him though and he grabbed her face, poking her in the eye. I had to remove his hand from her and of course, by then, she was crying. So far Claire has gotten it twice in the face by Drew.

Every night I get in the bath and bathe the babies. It's my one on one time with them. No matter how hectic our day is, we end with a nice relaxing bath where each baby gets Momma all to themselves. It's a time that I look forward to and I think that they look forward to it too. Tonight, Drew got really tickled while taking a bath. I bought two little toys, a butterfly and octopus, for them to play with in the water. I started hitting them together, making a knocking noise, and he that it was hilarious! He belly laughed every time I would do it. I yelled for Todd to "hurry and get the camcorder". This is the first time I've heard Drew belly laugh. It was so cute, and now we have it on video. Awesome. Now, we just need to catch Claire with her belly laugh. Every once in a while she gets tickled and it's so funny. It's usually when she's really tired, but we will get her on camera....eventually.

These days, I'm keenly aware at how fast my babies are growing. I try to hold them as much as I can and just smell them. (You momma's know what I'm talking about). I wish that I could just bottle that sweetness up and have it for always. I am so overwhelmed with love for Claire and Drew and so blessed to their Momma. Thank you, God. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

6 Months Old........well, almost.

In just 6 short days Claire and Drew will be 6 months old. I'm in awe of how fast our babies are growing up. These days both babies have lots to say. Claire really likes to mimmic sounds that we make. She's especially found of "hi" and "hoo-hoo". Drew has so much to say that he ofter wakes up in the middle of the night to have a chit-chat with himself. It's so funny. I just let him lay there and talk and after a while he falls back to sleep. They have become more interested in each other. Just this past week Claire had a toy and Drew managed to get himself to her and grabbed it out of her mouth. Claire immediately started crying. Is it too early for the "sharing" talk? She likes to watch Drew play from afar but Drew prefers to be within reaching distance of her. If he gets close to her he starts trying to touch her, which is fine, although sometimes it gets out of hand. Both are also doing their best to sit up. They still have to have a little support but it want be long now.

We will be heading to Keller for a few days next week. Claire and Drew have their well baby check-up and we will also be getting out Christmas pictures taken. I'm really excited. I found some cute Christmas outfits for them.

We are still not in our Gorman house yet. Can we say "money pit?" Most of our things are unpacked and we will be in it by Thanksgiving.

I would also like to say a big "HOWDY" to Tyf. She makes sure that I keep this blog somewhat updated. So, thanks Tyf!

Mozart and Beethoven

Claire and Andrew are in LOVE with Baby Mozart and Baby Beethoven. Grandma Jane and Grandpa Charlie bought them the entire set of Baby Einstein DVD's and they are loving it! They laugh, kick and talk through each one. It is so fun to watch them. I only let them watch each one once a day, usually one in the morning and one in the evening. NO, I am NOT letting the television babysit my kids! My Mother has the letters of the alphabet on big flashcards so I'm showing them the letters of their names and teaching them how to sound them out. Some may say that I'm crazy but these are the years that their little brains soak up LOTS of information and I'm going to pack as much knowledge into them as I can.

Both Claire and Drew had colds this past week. Their Daddy was kind enough to pass it along to all of us. I took them to the Pedi just to make sure that it was just a cold and nothing more serious, knowing that there wasn't anything to be done for a cold except ride it out. Claire weighed 12.4 and Drew a whopping 15.1! Holy smokes! He's barely four months old and is already wearing 6-9 clothes. What happened to my little premies?

I'm reminded of a song that I heard:

"I count it as a privilege, I count it cause to pray

To kiss my children good-night after load-some, weary days

For I know too soon their up and gone

And walking out the door

And I'll never have a child to kiss good-night anymore

It's very strange how times have changed

From the present to the past......"

I was just telling Todd last night that I try to remind myself every day to cherish the moments. Even when they are crying and having a little fit because one day we wish for those moments back. I cannot put into words just how I feel about my babies. I guess those of you who have littles know exactly what I'm talking about though.They are a blessing and I can't imagine life without them.

Baths, Bottles and Bedtime

Ok, I have to brag on my wonderful babies for a minute. We generally start baths around 7:30pm. They get their bottles right after and then are down by 8:30pm.....9pm at the very latest. They usually wake up sometime between 4-5am for a bottle then they go right back down, with no problem going back to sleep, and will sleep until 8:30 or 9am. Drew sometimes will even sleep until 10am. As far as their naps, all we have to do is lay them down when they get fussy and off to dreamland they go, no rocking them or them fighting sleep. They have been doing this since about 2 months old! My secret? A book called "Baby Wise". Oh, and a sound machine. We take it everywhere we go. If the babies are asleep they will stay asleep because it blocks out background noise, so no cranky babies due to not getting their naps out. I am so blessed to be a momma to these precious little ones!

PS: If you are wondering where the pics are, ask Todd, that's his department. :)

3 months old

Today, Claire and Drew are 3 months old. I was just telling Todd that it seems like they were just born. How time flies! Claire is very laid back and lady-like. She has lots of auburn hair. She is content to sit in her bouncy or swing and take in the world. She is our beautiful, beautiful baby girl. Drew is only content when he has a bottle in his mouth:) His hair is thinning, just like his Daddy's! He loves for someone to walk him around so that he explore the things around him. He gets bored easily and loves to take a nap. He is our BIG, little baby boy.

This week Grandma Jane and Grandpa Charlie have been in Gorman with us. They are helping us get things ready at the house so that we can move in the next few months. It's nice that Claire and Drew are going to know both sets of grandparents.

For Tyf.....

On Thursday, May 21, 2009, Claire and Andrew were born. They are both so precious and so different! Claire is easy going and is willing to wait patiently while Drew, on the other hand, is very demanding and hasn't got an ounce of patience in him.....much like his Daddy:) Claire weighed in at 4.1 when she was born. She has auburn hair just like her Momma. She had difficulty breathing at first so she went straight to the NICU. She was breathing fine later that night but stayed in the NICU for 8 days because her doctor wanted to make sure she would eat. For us to "bail" her out we had to room-in with her during the day so that we could "prove" that we could get her to eat. We failed the first day but passed with flying the colors the next. Our biggest obstacle was keeping her awake long enough for her to get enough to eat.

Drew came out ready to conquer the world. He weighed in at 5.13 1/2. He has dark brown hair. He stopped in at the NICU for a few hours and then went to the Nursery. Drew and I both came home the following Tuesday. I was so sad to leave Claire but excited to get to go home with Drew. Claire had an awesome nurse, Florance. Without her I would have been a nervous wreck leaving Claire but Flo calmed my nerves. She has been a NICU nurse for over 30 years. We will NEVER forget her.

Today, Claire weighs 9.3 and her hair seems to get redder by the day....and thick, just like her Momma's. Drew weighs 11.0 and still has dark brown hair. Both have blues eyes, as all babies do, but Claire's seem to be turning hazel. Claire is sleeping through the night. Drew wakes up once to eat then goes right back to bed. They both sleep until around 9am. They are such great babies. We can't express how blessed we are to have them.

Long Awaited Update

Dr. Robbins sent me to a perinatologist to make sure that everything was fine with the babies because Drew is bigger. He was happy with how they were growing. Drew weighing 3.3 and Claire 2.11. So we were trucking along nicely until Saturday before last. I started having contractions and after trying everything I knew to do to stop them, we went to the hospital. Once there, I found out that I was having even more contractions than I thought. They gave me 2 shots to stop them but they didn't work. I wasn't diallated but I was 50% effaced and Claire was at a -2 station. They also did a swab test and it came back negative, so no babies for the next two weeks....if the test is accurate. So, since they couldn't stop the contractions they had to admit me. The Dr. said that the amount of contractions I was having during 30 minutes was the amount I should have been having in an hour. They started me on Procardia to stop the contractions and so far it's working with me only having an occasional contraction. They also gave me 2 steroid shots to prepare the babies lungs, just in case. I was discharged the following Monday on strict bed rest.

The next day I had an appt. with the perinatologist again. Once again things looked good. Drew weighing in at 4.5 and Claire at 3.10. Both are head down. He said that he wanted to see me again in a month if I was still pregnant. I'm hoping that that's one appt. I will have to cancel. The following Thursday I went to see Dr. Robbins. She wants me to stay on Procardia until I'm 36 weeks....ugh. I lost a pound, but she isn't worried so neither am I. I have another appt. with her this Thursday. I will be 34 weeks.