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.

OB and Ultrasound Update VI

According to the trusty internet, I'm currently as big as a woman who is 40 weeks pregnant with a singleton. I can only wonder how much bigger I will get in the next 2 months. My stretch marks are so deep and red it looks like they might start to bleed. I've started putting oil on my tummy every night in hopes that it will help my skin to stretch. Claire has already dropped, which has come as a surprise. Dr. Robbins had originally told me that the babies probably wouldn't drop until I went into labor. It is early for her to drop and it has made things more uncomfortable for me. Dr. Robbins thinks that she was just trying to make more room, which makes since. I took the glucose test and it came back negative which was a relief. I am anemic so I have to start taking iron with my prenatals but other than that things are going well.

OB and Ultrasound Update V

We are now 25 weeks and still going strong without any complications. Both babies are still growing right on schedule and weighing at about 1.5 pounds each with Drew just a little bigger. They are now both head down. I'm so excited! We are praying that they stay this way, it will make delivery much easier. Dr. Robbins has finally given in and will let me deliver vaginally as long as Baby A is head down, even if Baby B is breech, as long as I understand the risks. I didn't gain any weight which shocked me but Dr. Robbins is happy with how the babies are doing and does not think that my not gaining weight is effecting them. I feel the babies moving constantly and I'm starting to get uncomfortable but I know that it won't be much longer. I'm trying to take things easy and not overdo it. My goal is to carry these babies to at least 37 weeks. Next week I will take the glucose test to make sure that I don't have gestational diabetes.