Here are a few pics of our Christmas morning:
Ellen's favorite presents from Santa: Chapstick and a Santa sippy cup
Anna in the "my first Christmas" and Lucy in the "I love Santa" shirts.
Tuesday, December 25, 2012
Merry Christmas!!
We are spending Christmas in Eagles Mere this year with my parents. It's been wonderfully relaxing with lots of beautiful snow!! And we are supposed to get another 6 inches tomorrow!!
Here are a few pics of our Christmas morning:
Ellen's favorite presents from Santa: Chapstick and a Santa sippy cup
Anna in the "my first Christmas" and Lucy in the "I love Santa" shirts.
Here are a few pics of our Christmas morning:
Ellen's favorite presents from Santa: Chapstick and a Santa sippy cup
Anna in the "my first Christmas" and Lucy in the "I love Santa" shirts.
Tuesday, December 4, 2012
Anna and Lucy's Birth Story
Warning: This is a BIRTH STORY! There will probably be TMI (too much information) in this post, so consider yourself warned! :)
I'll start with Tuesday November 13th. I went for what I thought was a routine growth ultrasound and office visit. The growth ultrasound went great as far as Matt and I were concerned, the babies looked adorable, both were over 5lbs, and we thought everything was fine. Anna (baby A) was still head down, and Lucy (baby B) had flipped to breach. Matt left the appointment after the ultrasound to go pick up Ellen from nursery school, and I stayed to have my office visit and then hospital non stress test.
During the office visit, my doctor (Dr. Patel) told me that the babies were small, smaller than they would like, and it looked like their growth had slowed. She seemed concerned, and said she was going to talk to the other doctors and see what they thought. Anna in particular looked like her growth had slowed down the most. She said I should go ahead to my hospital non stress test (where they hook heart rate monitors to your belly and wait for the babies to move to make sure their heart rates increase along with their movement, I had been getting them twice a week for a few weeks)
At the hospital another doctor came to talk to me and said she had spoken with Dr. Patel and that the consensus was that the babies should come out tomorrow! (Wednesday the 14th) I immediately burst into tears. It wasn't that I was sad that they were coming, just so shocked. She also said Dr. Patel would be happy to let me attempt to have a vaginal delivery, but since Lucy (baby B) was breach, if she didn't flip, I would need a c-section. So there was a chance I could end up with one vaginal birth and one c-section birth. It was a risk that I decided I was OK with, it was worth it to me to attempt to have both girls vaginally. That is how I had Ellen and it was a good labor with an easy recovery, so it was worth a try! :)
Looking back on it now, I wish that I had asked for a second ultrasound to really confirm that their growth had slowed. I didn't realize just how early 36 weeks really is. I always thought that 36 weeks was fine and once you hit that magic number your babies could live outside perfectly with no help. Turns out I was wrong. 36 week babies, especially early 36 weeks which my babies were, still need A LOT of help once they are born. I was totally not prepared for this. Or maybe they would have let me keep them in an extra week, I don't know. I can't change any of this, I just wish I had questioned their decision more, or at least understood the gravity of it.
Anyway, back to the story! So, the rest of Tuesday was a blur, Matt and I ran errands and thankfully my Aunt was in town to help watch Ellen. I of course slept almost nothing Tuesday night, and Wednesday morning we got up super early to get to the hospital by 7:30.
As soon as we got to the hospital we were admitted to a room, they had plenty of room, in fact I think we were the only people in labor that day! The OB doctor that had been on call the night before came in and checked me around 8, and found that I was still only 1cm dilated and ~70% effaced. (at my doctors visits prior I had only been 1cm 50% effaced, basically there was no change, no surprise there!) He then inserted a cytotec pill to help start contractions and soften my cervix to make dilation easier. And then pretty much nothing happened for a few hours. We were allowed to get up and walk around, so we walked around and around the L&D hallway to try to help coax labor along. Eventually I started feeling really really minor contractions, but at least they were starting! Dr. Patel checked me a few hours in and said she wanted to start me on Pitocin. That meant back to the bed for me. I was hooked up to an IV, fluids, and the baby heart rate monitors. They started petocin and slowly I started to have more contractions. At the beginning I'd have Matt look at the computer screen I was hooked up to to see if I was actually having a contraction. Eventually they turned the petocin up to 5 (highest is 20) and they got a little stronger, but still nothing bad. Nothing as intense as when I was in labor with Ellen.
The worst pain actually, was from the stupid penicillin IV that they had me on in case I was group B strep positive. I had only had my test the day before, so the results weren't in yet. (turns out I was negative so I had to take those stupid antibiotics for nothing, hopefully they helped the babies in some way!) The penicillin burns your arm as it goes in the IV and I swear that burning was worse than any of the contractions!
I vaguely remember Matt reading magazines to me, I think he was reading something really boring from Wired, and something more interesting from Redbook that my mother had bought for me in the gift shop. We also watched a few episodes of How I Met Your Mother on DVDs. (thank you Mom for bringing us entertainment!) With Ellen's birth the labor was so quick once we got to the hospital that we didn't need any of the entertainment stuff that we brought. So, we didn't think to bring anything with us for Anna and Lucy's birth. Being induced has a bit more down time though, so we called my mom to bring us entertainment! It made a big difference! :)
In the early afternoon Dr. Patel came to check me and said that I had made it to 3cm dilated. She decided to break my water and that is when the contractions got much much more intense! Still not as bad as with Ellen, but they definitely hurt and I had to really concentrate and breathe through them. I have these sand stress balls that I made for Ellen's labor that I was using and they really helped. I pictured myself pushing the pain through these sand balls. Sounds silly but I think it made a real difference. Instead of resisting the pain I tried to push through it, I visualized that the pain was helping me to dilate more. I think it actually worked because 10 minutes after she broke my water I was checked again by a nurse (for practice or something) and I was already at 4cm. Dr. Patel strongly encouraged me to get an epidural at this point, since she said things were probably going to go fast and I needed to make sure I had an epidural in case a c-section (for Lucy) was needed.
Before I got the epidural I asked for an internal monitor to be put on Anna's head so I could get out of bed easier. Lying down is the WORST way to get through contractions, its so much better to be standing up. The only problem with this is that monitoring two babies is way harder if you are moving around. Anna was so far dropped that it was really hard to keep a monitor on her. They put an internal monitor on her head that was awesome. I highly recommend it for anyone who wants to move around during labor - they were able to read her heart rate easily and she stopped dropping off of the monitors! This was important additionally because with twins there is a higher chance that one of them won't tolerate labor, and an emergency c-section would be needed. So everyone was pretty hyper about checking to make sure they were both doing OK.
Anyway, I got my epidural, and once that was done, my nurse told me to tell her if I felt any pressure (meaning that I needed to push). I looked at her and said, wait, I think I do feel pressure. It had only been maybe 45 minutes since Dr. Patel had broken my water so I could tell she didn't really believe me. But, she checked, and sure enough I was at 10cm and ready to go! :)
Then things got really crazy. I had been able to labor in a regular L&D room, but once I was ready to push, I needed to be transferred into the operating room in case a c-section was needed. (standard procedure for twin deliveries) No one was expecting it to be so fast, so everyone was running around like crazy. My doctor was yelling orders at everyone (she was kind of scary!) and poor Matt wasn't even allowed in the room until they got everything set up. I was rolled onto the operating table since I was pretty much completely numb from the waist down due to the epidural. My legs were propped up in to these stirrup things, I was totally exposed in front of at least 15 people (nurses, doctors, med students, who knows who else was there!) And then, because we needed to wait for there to be TWO OB doctors, and a pediatrician, I just lay there and waited for everyone to arrive. Thankfully with an epidural you don't really feel the immediate need to push, so I was able to just lie there in minimal discomfort and try not to think about all of the people looking at my business!!!
Finally everyone arrived and I was allowed to push. Anna's head popped out during the first push, and then the rest of her during the second push! Talk about an easy delivery! As soon as she was out the doctors put an ultrasound on my belly to figure out where Lucy was and try to flip her. They pushed and pushed at my belly, but that sweet stubborn child would not budge. Instead of going head down, she settled butt down and head up. :) So, it was time for a c-section! Thankfully I was pretty numb from the first epidural, and the anesthesiologist just had to administer some extra medication to make sure that I was 100% numb.
The weird thing about a c-section is that you can feel the pressure and movement of them cutting you open and taking the baby out. You don't feel any pain, but you definitely feel pressure and movement. Its very strange. I made the mistake of looking up at the operating light and realizing that there was a REFLECTION in the light, and I could see past the surgical cloth barrier. AHHH! I looked away immediately. Anyway, Lucy was born minutes later - "butt up" just like she wanted according to Dr. Patel. :)
I got to see Lucy as they were taking her out to the nursery, and then they worked to put me back together for the next 20-30 minutes. I was doing fine, just really really cold and shivering, probably partially because of the hormones, but also because the operating room was FREEZING. They wheeled me into the recovery room and put warm blankets all over me which was nice. Then I started to feel major pain. I was having to breathe through the abdominal pain as my epidural wore off, and it was horrible. Worse than any contraction! I kept asking the nurses to give me more and more pain medicine - they gave me both morphine and demerol, and only then did I start to feel better. Meanwhile Matt came in to check on me and let me know that Anna had been put on oxygen. I didn't realize at the time that this was the start of a week and a half of oxygen and worry for our babies! Lucy soon followed and needed oxygen about 20 minutes later. :/
They continued to be "stable" through the night and didn't thankfully need to be taken to a NICU, but it was a rough first night for both of them. Our pediatrician was awesome and stayed all night with them to make sure they were OK.
After I finally was feeling better after recovery, I told my night nurse that I hadn't even been able to SEE Anna since she was whisked away after her birth and they were so focused on trying to flip Lucy. So, she awesomely decided to wheel my ENTIRE BED into the level 2 intensive care nursery!! I was still on IVs and not able to move of course (this lasted for 24 hours) and the babies couldn't come to me since they were on oxygen. Being able to see them, even though it was scary to see them under oxygen hoods was still wonderful and I will be forever grateful to that nurse!
After Ellen was born, we were so spoiled and got to love her and feed her for about 2 hours before they took her to the nursery to get weighed and bathed. So by the time she was a few hours old she had already nursed at least once. I realized that I wasn't going to be able to do that with Anna and Lucy, so I was determined to pump. I told my nurse that I wasn't going to bed until she got me a pump, and that I was going to wake up every 2 hours to pump that night, just like Ellen did her first night. She looked at me like I was a little crazy, but kindly got me a pump and was very supportive all night by helping me work the pump and taking my milk to the nursery. Unfortunately the girls were having too much trouble breathing to even be allowed to try to eat the expressed milk that I was getting, but we started building a stash in the nursery refrigerator. I was determined that when a doctor started talking about how they needed supplementation, we would have plenty of milk to supplement with and not have to use formula. It turns out that all of that pumping just caused my milk to come in super fast (yay!) so by the time they were able to eat, I was able to start nursing them and no supplementation was needed because my milk was already in.
So that is Anna and Lucy's birth story! I can look back on it now and love that they are here and healthy. I wish I could do it again and wait at least a week to try to give them more time to grow and develop their lungs. The pediatricians assure me that there will be no long-term affects of being born so early and that they will be perfectly healthy and should have no issues breathing later on. I am very thankful for this, but I still wish I could have given them a few more weeks! They are lying here on a pillow next to me snoozing away as I type this, in fact Anna just started fussing and wants to eat so I will sign off now!
I'll start with Tuesday November 13th. I went for what I thought was a routine growth ultrasound and office visit. The growth ultrasound went great as far as Matt and I were concerned, the babies looked adorable, both were over 5lbs, and we thought everything was fine. Anna (baby A) was still head down, and Lucy (baby B) had flipped to breach. Matt left the appointment after the ultrasound to go pick up Ellen from nursery school, and I stayed to have my office visit and then hospital non stress test.
During the office visit, my doctor (Dr. Patel) told me that the babies were small, smaller than they would like, and it looked like their growth had slowed. She seemed concerned, and said she was going to talk to the other doctors and see what they thought. Anna in particular looked like her growth had slowed down the most. She said I should go ahead to my hospital non stress test (where they hook heart rate monitors to your belly and wait for the babies to move to make sure their heart rates increase along with their movement, I had been getting them twice a week for a few weeks)
At the hospital another doctor came to talk to me and said she had spoken with Dr. Patel and that the consensus was that the babies should come out tomorrow! (Wednesday the 14th) I immediately burst into tears. It wasn't that I was sad that they were coming, just so shocked. She also said Dr. Patel would be happy to let me attempt to have a vaginal delivery, but since Lucy (baby B) was breach, if she didn't flip, I would need a c-section. So there was a chance I could end up with one vaginal birth and one c-section birth. It was a risk that I decided I was OK with, it was worth it to me to attempt to have both girls vaginally. That is how I had Ellen and it was a good labor with an easy recovery, so it was worth a try! :)
Looking back on it now, I wish that I had asked for a second ultrasound to really confirm that their growth had slowed. I didn't realize just how early 36 weeks really is. I always thought that 36 weeks was fine and once you hit that magic number your babies could live outside perfectly with no help. Turns out I was wrong. 36 week babies, especially early 36 weeks which my babies were, still need A LOT of help once they are born. I was totally not prepared for this. Or maybe they would have let me keep them in an extra week, I don't know. I can't change any of this, I just wish I had questioned their decision more, or at least understood the gravity of it.
Anyway, back to the story! So, the rest of Tuesday was a blur, Matt and I ran errands and thankfully my Aunt was in town to help watch Ellen. I of course slept almost nothing Tuesday night, and Wednesday morning we got up super early to get to the hospital by 7:30.
As soon as we got to the hospital we were admitted to a room, they had plenty of room, in fact I think we were the only people in labor that day! The OB doctor that had been on call the night before came in and checked me around 8, and found that I was still only 1cm dilated and ~70% effaced. (at my doctors visits prior I had only been 1cm 50% effaced, basically there was no change, no surprise there!) He then inserted a cytotec pill to help start contractions and soften my cervix to make dilation easier. And then pretty much nothing happened for a few hours. We were allowed to get up and walk around, so we walked around and around the L&D hallway to try to help coax labor along. Eventually I started feeling really really minor contractions, but at least they were starting! Dr. Patel checked me a few hours in and said she wanted to start me on Pitocin. That meant back to the bed for me. I was hooked up to an IV, fluids, and the baby heart rate monitors. They started petocin and slowly I started to have more contractions. At the beginning I'd have Matt look at the computer screen I was hooked up to to see if I was actually having a contraction. Eventually they turned the petocin up to 5 (highest is 20) and they got a little stronger, but still nothing bad. Nothing as intense as when I was in labor with Ellen.
The worst pain actually, was from the stupid penicillin IV that they had me on in case I was group B strep positive. I had only had my test the day before, so the results weren't in yet. (turns out I was negative so I had to take those stupid antibiotics for nothing, hopefully they helped the babies in some way!) The penicillin burns your arm as it goes in the IV and I swear that burning was worse than any of the contractions!
I vaguely remember Matt reading magazines to me, I think he was reading something really boring from Wired, and something more interesting from Redbook that my mother had bought for me in the gift shop. We also watched a few episodes of How I Met Your Mother on DVDs. (thank you Mom for bringing us entertainment!) With Ellen's birth the labor was so quick once we got to the hospital that we didn't need any of the entertainment stuff that we brought. So, we didn't think to bring anything with us for Anna and Lucy's birth. Being induced has a bit more down time though, so we called my mom to bring us entertainment! It made a big difference! :)
In the early afternoon Dr. Patel came to check me and said that I had made it to 3cm dilated. She decided to break my water and that is when the contractions got much much more intense! Still not as bad as with Ellen, but they definitely hurt and I had to really concentrate and breathe through them. I have these sand stress balls that I made for Ellen's labor that I was using and they really helped. I pictured myself pushing the pain through these sand balls. Sounds silly but I think it made a real difference. Instead of resisting the pain I tried to push through it, I visualized that the pain was helping me to dilate more. I think it actually worked because 10 minutes after she broke my water I was checked again by a nurse (for practice or something) and I was already at 4cm. Dr. Patel strongly encouraged me to get an epidural at this point, since she said things were probably going to go fast and I needed to make sure I had an epidural in case a c-section (for Lucy) was needed.
Before I got the epidural I asked for an internal monitor to be put on Anna's head so I could get out of bed easier. Lying down is the WORST way to get through contractions, its so much better to be standing up. The only problem with this is that monitoring two babies is way harder if you are moving around. Anna was so far dropped that it was really hard to keep a monitor on her. They put an internal monitor on her head that was awesome. I highly recommend it for anyone who wants to move around during labor - they were able to read her heart rate easily and she stopped dropping off of the monitors! This was important additionally because with twins there is a higher chance that one of them won't tolerate labor, and an emergency c-section would be needed. So everyone was pretty hyper about checking to make sure they were both doing OK.
Anyway, I got my epidural, and once that was done, my nurse told me to tell her if I felt any pressure (meaning that I needed to push). I looked at her and said, wait, I think I do feel pressure. It had only been maybe 45 minutes since Dr. Patel had broken my water so I could tell she didn't really believe me. But, she checked, and sure enough I was at 10cm and ready to go! :)
Then things got really crazy. I had been able to labor in a regular L&D room, but once I was ready to push, I needed to be transferred into the operating room in case a c-section was needed. (standard procedure for twin deliveries) No one was expecting it to be so fast, so everyone was running around like crazy. My doctor was yelling orders at everyone (she was kind of scary!) and poor Matt wasn't even allowed in the room until they got everything set up. I was rolled onto the operating table since I was pretty much completely numb from the waist down due to the epidural. My legs were propped up in to these stirrup things, I was totally exposed in front of at least 15 people (nurses, doctors, med students, who knows who else was there!) And then, because we needed to wait for there to be TWO OB doctors, and a pediatrician, I just lay there and waited for everyone to arrive. Thankfully with an epidural you don't really feel the immediate need to push, so I was able to just lie there in minimal discomfort and try not to think about all of the people looking at my business!!!
Finally everyone arrived and I was allowed to push. Anna's head popped out during the first push, and then the rest of her during the second push! Talk about an easy delivery! As soon as she was out the doctors put an ultrasound on my belly to figure out where Lucy was and try to flip her. They pushed and pushed at my belly, but that sweet stubborn child would not budge. Instead of going head down, she settled butt down and head up. :) So, it was time for a c-section! Thankfully I was pretty numb from the first epidural, and the anesthesiologist just had to administer some extra medication to make sure that I was 100% numb.
The weird thing about a c-section is that you can feel the pressure and movement of them cutting you open and taking the baby out. You don't feel any pain, but you definitely feel pressure and movement. Its very strange. I made the mistake of looking up at the operating light and realizing that there was a REFLECTION in the light, and I could see past the surgical cloth barrier. AHHH! I looked away immediately. Anyway, Lucy was born minutes later - "butt up" just like she wanted according to Dr. Patel. :)
I got to see Lucy as they were taking her out to the nursery, and then they worked to put me back together for the next 20-30 minutes. I was doing fine, just really really cold and shivering, probably partially because of the hormones, but also because the operating room was FREEZING. They wheeled me into the recovery room and put warm blankets all over me which was nice. Then I started to feel major pain. I was having to breathe through the abdominal pain as my epidural wore off, and it was horrible. Worse than any contraction! I kept asking the nurses to give me more and more pain medicine - they gave me both morphine and demerol, and only then did I start to feel better. Meanwhile Matt came in to check on me and let me know that Anna had been put on oxygen. I didn't realize at the time that this was the start of a week and a half of oxygen and worry for our babies! Lucy soon followed and needed oxygen about 20 minutes later. :/
They continued to be "stable" through the night and didn't thankfully need to be taken to a NICU, but it was a rough first night for both of them. Our pediatrician was awesome and stayed all night with them to make sure they were OK.
After I finally was feeling better after recovery, I told my night nurse that I hadn't even been able to SEE Anna since she was whisked away after her birth and they were so focused on trying to flip Lucy. So, she awesomely decided to wheel my ENTIRE BED into the level 2 intensive care nursery!! I was still on IVs and not able to move of course (this lasted for 24 hours) and the babies couldn't come to me since they were on oxygen. Being able to see them, even though it was scary to see them under oxygen hoods was still wonderful and I will be forever grateful to that nurse!
After Ellen was born, we were so spoiled and got to love her and feed her for about 2 hours before they took her to the nursery to get weighed and bathed. So by the time she was a few hours old she had already nursed at least once. I realized that I wasn't going to be able to do that with Anna and Lucy, so I was determined to pump. I told my nurse that I wasn't going to bed until she got me a pump, and that I was going to wake up every 2 hours to pump that night, just like Ellen did her first night. She looked at me like I was a little crazy, but kindly got me a pump and was very supportive all night by helping me work the pump and taking my milk to the nursery. Unfortunately the girls were having too much trouble breathing to even be allowed to try to eat the expressed milk that I was getting, but we started building a stash in the nursery refrigerator. I was determined that when a doctor started talking about how they needed supplementation, we would have plenty of milk to supplement with and not have to use formula. It turns out that all of that pumping just caused my milk to come in super fast (yay!) so by the time they were able to eat, I was able to start nursing them and no supplementation was needed because my milk was already in.
So that is Anna and Lucy's birth story! I can look back on it now and love that they are here and healthy. I wish I could do it again and wait at least a week to try to give them more time to grow and develop their lungs. The pediatricians assure me that there will be no long-term affects of being born so early and that they will be perfectly healthy and should have no issues breathing later on. I am very thankful for this, but I still wish I could have given them a few more weeks! They are lying here on a pillow next to me snoozing away as I type this, in fact Anna just started fussing and wants to eat so I will sign off now!
Sunday, December 2, 2012
Anna and Lucy are home!
Anna Lyn: Born on 11/14/12 at 5:32pm, 5lbs 6oz, 18in long
Lucy Elizabeth: Born on 11/14/12 at 5:51pm, 4lbs 15oz, 19in long
We got home from the hospital last Sunday (11/25) and the girls are doing great!
We spent a week and a half there which was really hard, but thankfully they are strong and healthy and home now! I was induced at 36 weeks (birth story to follow) and they were just really early 36 weekers, they needed extra oxygen though nasal cannulas to help them breathe for the first week+. But, after they matured enough to be taken off of the extra oxygen, they've been super healthy and haven't looked back! They are gaining weight really well - Anna is up to 6lbs 1oz, and Lucy is up to 5lbs 11oz (2 1/2 weeks post birth).
We have been home with them for a week now and they are great babies - all they want to do is eat and sleep! :)
We've only mixed them up a few times, we still think they are fraternal but really have trouble telling them apart! In fact we mixed them up coming home from the hospital! I was changing "Lucy" when we got home and I said to Matt - "Lucy is wearing Anna's hospital bracelet!" Oops! Turns out that really was Anna. So...I immediately painted one of Anna's toenails red! :) I also ordered them ID bracelets from ETSY that they can wear on the outside of their clothes and are super cute.
I'll write a first week home post later, but now I'm going to write the birth story, I am finally ready!
Here are Anna and Lucy today with their ID bracelets on:
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
The Twins Are Coming Today!!
We had our growth ultrasound yesterday and while everything looks good, baby A (Anna) didn't grow as much as the doctors would have liked. So, we were scheduled for an induction today!!!! It was a major shock to me, in fact I burst in to tears as soon as they told me!! I was expecting to have at least a week, maybe two before their arrival.
Thankfully yesterday we got a lot done:
We bought a new car- a Honda Pilot that fits all three carseats across the 2nd row!!
We also got our dog adopted!! Amara was adopted by a very nice couple that owns a cattle ranch. They are very old (80s!!) but seemed to have a good way with Amara. She will hopefully be very happy there!!
Thankfully my Aunt Ann was on her way to stay with us and help out for a few days when we learned we'd be induced today, and so she jumped right in to take care of Ellen while we ran our errands!
So far induction has been pretty slow, they started me out with cytotec and hopefully contractions will start soon!!
The worst has been the IV and the penicillin for group b strep that they don't know if I have for sure or not buy since we only did the test yesterday it's too soon to get the results. The penicillin really burns!! Ow.
I'll post a full detailed birth story when they arrive!!! Until then keep us in your prayers!!
Thankfully yesterday we got a lot done:
We bought a new car- a Honda Pilot that fits all three carseats across the 2nd row!!
We also got our dog adopted!! Amara was adopted by a very nice couple that owns a cattle ranch. They are very old (80s!!) but seemed to have a good way with Amara. She will hopefully be very happy there!!
Thankfully my Aunt Ann was on her way to stay with us and help out for a few days when we learned we'd be induced today, and so she jumped right in to take care of Ellen while we ran our errands!
So far induction has been pretty slow, they started me out with cytotec and hopefully contractions will start soon!!
The worst has been the IV and the penicillin for group b strep that they don't know if I have for sure or not buy since we only did the test yesterday it's too soon to get the results. The penicillin really burns!! Ow.
I'll post a full detailed birth story when they arrive!!! Until then keep us in your prayers!!
Sunday, November 4, 2012
The Nursery!
The nursery is officially done! Thanks to all family and friends who contributed to our beautifully decorated twin nursery. The theme is "Sweet Safari" - basically jungle animals in pink. I had a lot of fun decorating it and planning for the girls arrival.
Here is Lucy's crib:
Here is Anna's crib and the rest of the room:
Sweet Safari stickers:
Its a pretty small room and it *just barely* fits two cribs, a changing table, and a love seat! You can't see from the pictures, but there are two built in dressers with bookshelves above in the opposite wall. There is also a closet so we have lots of storage space thankfully!
We are officially ready for the babies. They must wait at least 1.5 more weeks before arriving, and hopefully will wait 3 more. It so soon! :)
Here is Lucy's crib:
Here is Anna's crib and the rest of the room:
Sweet Safari stickers:
Its a pretty small room and it *just barely* fits two cribs, a changing table, and a love seat! You can't see from the pictures, but there are two built in dressers with bookshelves above in the opposite wall. There is also a closet so we have lots of storage space thankfully!
We are officially ready for the babies. They must wait at least 1.5 more weeks before arriving, and hopefully will wait 3 more. It so soon! :)
Halloween! Roar!
Ellen was a dragon for Halloween this year, and I was a pumpkin. :) Matt was a deranged umbrella holder? Not sure what this expression is. He claims he was roaring with Ellen. :)
We had a great time trick or treating - we went with a few families who also have toddlers - we had a dragon (Ellen), a lion (Liam), a candy corn princess (Emma), and little red riding hood (Joceyln).
We only stayed out for about 45 minutes and went to maybe 12 houses, but Ellen loved it! She loved knocking on the door / ringing the doorbell and then when prompted would say "trick or treat" or "happy halloween." At one house she was so excited she yelled: "Happy trick or treat!!" She loves all things chocolate, and at one house when she was given a bag of m&ms yelled immediately: "I'm going to EAT THAT!!"
We had a good time! I love halloween. And eating Ellen's chocolate after she went to bed. She doesn't need all of that! (but clearly I do!) :)
Here are some pictures:
The toddlers:
My pumpkin belly:
Ellen earlier in the day roaring on our front steps:
We had a great time trick or treating - we went with a few families who also have toddlers - we had a dragon (Ellen), a lion (Liam), a candy corn princess (Emma), and little red riding hood (Joceyln).
We only stayed out for about 45 minutes and went to maybe 12 houses, but Ellen loved it! She loved knocking on the door / ringing the doorbell and then when prompted would say "trick or treat" or "happy halloween." At one house she was so excited she yelled: "Happy trick or treat!!" She loves all things chocolate, and at one house when she was given a bag of m&ms yelled immediately: "I'm going to EAT THAT!!"
We had a good time! I love halloween. And eating Ellen's chocolate after she went to bed. She doesn't need all of that! (but clearly I do!) :)
Here are some pictures:
The toddlers:
My pumpkin belly:
Ellen earlier in the day roaring on our front steps:
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Fall Projects
This past month I've been collecting fun project ideas from a few different blogs, one is a friend from high school who has twins a few months older than Ellen. She has the cutest ideas for fun fall projects and I've shamelessly stolen most of them. :) Another fun blog called: Play at Home Mom also has a lot of great projecty ideas, though sometimes they are a little more complicated than I'm ready for.
Here are a few of the projects that we've done:
Fall Wreaths:
I took Ellen and Emma to the park one day while babysitting and gave them two big buckets to collect leaves. They were both really excited about it, and when we got to the park immediately sat down to put all of the leaves they could find in their buckets.
This enthusiasm didn't really last the entire time, but we did spend about 30 minutes collecting leaves and pine cones. Ellen kept sitting down and declaring that she needed to rest. Emma was much more cooperative but got quite upset when she got sap on her hands from the pine cones. We got lots of different colored leaves, and the girls had fun finding different colors and shapes.
Here they are with their completed buckets:
The next day Emma and her mom came over to make the wreaths, so this was a two day project! I got foam wreaths from Michael's, and we used a hot glue gun to put the leaves in place. Ellen and Emma put a few leaves on the wreaths, but then both decided to be done. I gave them both markers and this bought a little more time, they decorated the wreaths while Melissa and I glued on the leaves and pine cones. The only issue we had was when Ellen was helping me glue on a leaf and put her hand down on the hot glue right after I had just squeezed it out of the gun. She was very upset and cried for a while. Her hand just got a little bit burned, it turned a bit red but there was no blister. Next time I might try for a different type of glue, but I'm not sure that it would hold the leaves and pine cones in place. At least Ellen learned not to touch hot glue!
All in all it was a great project - 2 days worth of activities and both girls are very proud of their wreaths which are now hung on our front doors. I will definitely do this again next year!
Fall Trees
The next project Ellen and I did together was a fall trees art project. This one was a good one in that I was able to sit still for most of the project, which is getting more and more important the more tired I get!
First I took some construction paper and cut up "leaves" in different fall colors: yellow, red, orange and brown. We talked about what colors I was cutting up, and then I let Ellen pretend that they were leaves falling to the ground while saying "Wheee!" She loved this!
Next I took some clear contact paper folded it in half, and cut out the shape of a tree (just the top part). I then spread the contact paper out on the table and we picked up the leaves and sprinkled them on to the sticky contact paper, again saying "Wheee!" Ellen liked that they stuck to the paper. I took the other half of the contact paper without leaves and pressed it on top to make a tree! I then cut out a trunk of brown construction paper, and added it to the tree top, making a complete tree.
We made two of them and then I hung them in the windows. They are super pretty to look at, the fall colors look awesome against our actual fall colors outside!
Beans with Halloween objects / Letters
The latest project we did which wasn't really so much a project as it was a fun new toy for Ellen to explore was a beans sensory bin. I bought a bunch of the cheapest beans I could find at the grocery store, some erasers, foam letters, and Halloween monster finger puppets. I put them all in a big container, and gave Ellen some spoons and containers to play with. She LOVED these beans and immediately told me to "Go away Mommy" so she could play independently! I happily complied and made dinner. :)
I am slowly trying to introduce her to letters, so far she knows the upper case letter E. I added in a few foam Ms for Mommy and Ds for Daddy into her bin as well as a bunch of Es. We practiced identifying them a few times and she seemed to enjoy finding the different letters buried in the beans.
Her favorite objects in the beans by far were the Halloween monster finger puppets. She kept putting them on her fingers and running around the house yelling "ROAR!!" to scare the cat. It was hilarious.
Our next project will be magnets! I bought some magnet paper that you can print on, and I've been collecting various objects that I plan to glue magnets to so she can play with them on her easel that has a magnetic side. I'm hoping to include her in picking pictures with me on the computer, she's never used a computer before besides to bang on the keyboard... so we'll see how that goes!
These projects have been a lot of fun to do over the past month. I'm hoping to have a couple set aside ready to go so people who are coming to help us with the twins can do a fun project with Ellen so she doesn't feel left out!
The twins should be here in a few weeks! I'm 34 weeks this week, need to make it to 36 to be considered "term" and to be able to deliver in the local hospital. This is my first goal! Once I hit 36 weeks assuming all is going well I'd like to make it to 38 weeks if possible. The babies aren't very big yet (only ~4lbs) so I'd like to give them as much time as possible to grow!
Here's me at 34 weeks: (sorry its kind of grainy, Matt just took this tonight and the lighting wasn't great)
p.s. check out the upside down Elmo balloon in the background - that balloon is from Ellen's Elmo party on October 6th... over 3 weeks ago and that balloon is still going STRONG! :)
Here are a few of the projects that we've done:
Fall Wreaths:
I took Ellen and Emma to the park one day while babysitting and gave them two big buckets to collect leaves. They were both really excited about it, and when we got to the park immediately sat down to put all of the leaves they could find in their buckets.
This enthusiasm didn't really last the entire time, but we did spend about 30 minutes collecting leaves and pine cones. Ellen kept sitting down and declaring that she needed to rest. Emma was much more cooperative but got quite upset when she got sap on her hands from the pine cones. We got lots of different colored leaves, and the girls had fun finding different colors and shapes.
Here they are with their completed buckets:
The next day Emma and her mom came over to make the wreaths, so this was a two day project! I got foam wreaths from Michael's, and we used a hot glue gun to put the leaves in place. Ellen and Emma put a few leaves on the wreaths, but then both decided to be done. I gave them both markers and this bought a little more time, they decorated the wreaths while Melissa and I glued on the leaves and pine cones. The only issue we had was when Ellen was helping me glue on a leaf and put her hand down on the hot glue right after I had just squeezed it out of the gun. She was very upset and cried for a while. Her hand just got a little bit burned, it turned a bit red but there was no blister. Next time I might try for a different type of glue, but I'm not sure that it would hold the leaves and pine cones in place. At least Ellen learned not to touch hot glue!
All in all it was a great project - 2 days worth of activities and both girls are very proud of their wreaths which are now hung on our front doors. I will definitely do this again next year!
Fall Trees
The next project Ellen and I did together was a fall trees art project. This one was a good one in that I was able to sit still for most of the project, which is getting more and more important the more tired I get!
First I took some construction paper and cut up "leaves" in different fall colors: yellow, red, orange and brown. We talked about what colors I was cutting up, and then I let Ellen pretend that they were leaves falling to the ground while saying "Wheee!" She loved this!
Next I took some clear contact paper folded it in half, and cut out the shape of a tree (just the top part). I then spread the contact paper out on the table and we picked up the leaves and sprinkled them on to the sticky contact paper, again saying "Wheee!" Ellen liked that they stuck to the paper. I took the other half of the contact paper without leaves and pressed it on top to make a tree! I then cut out a trunk of brown construction paper, and added it to the tree top, making a complete tree.
We made two of them and then I hung them in the windows. They are super pretty to look at, the fall colors look awesome against our actual fall colors outside!
Beans with Halloween objects / Letters
The latest project we did which wasn't really so much a project as it was a fun new toy for Ellen to explore was a beans sensory bin. I bought a bunch of the cheapest beans I could find at the grocery store, some erasers, foam letters, and Halloween monster finger puppets. I put them all in a big container, and gave Ellen some spoons and containers to play with. She LOVED these beans and immediately told me to "Go away Mommy" so she could play independently! I happily complied and made dinner. :)
I am slowly trying to introduce her to letters, so far she knows the upper case letter E. I added in a few foam Ms for Mommy and Ds for Daddy into her bin as well as a bunch of Es. We practiced identifying them a few times and she seemed to enjoy finding the different letters buried in the beans.
Her favorite objects in the beans by far were the Halloween monster finger puppets. She kept putting them on her fingers and running around the house yelling "ROAR!!" to scare the cat. It was hilarious.
Our next project will be magnets! I bought some magnet paper that you can print on, and I've been collecting various objects that I plan to glue magnets to so she can play with them on her easel that has a magnetic side. I'm hoping to include her in picking pictures with me on the computer, she's never used a computer before besides to bang on the keyboard... so we'll see how that goes!
These projects have been a lot of fun to do over the past month. I'm hoping to have a couple set aside ready to go so people who are coming to help us with the twins can do a fun project with Ellen so she doesn't feel left out!
The twins should be here in a few weeks! I'm 34 weeks this week, need to make it to 36 to be considered "term" and to be able to deliver in the local hospital. This is my first goal! Once I hit 36 weeks assuming all is going well I'd like to make it to 38 weeks if possible. The babies aren't very big yet (only ~4lbs) so I'd like to give them as much time as possible to grow!
Here's me at 34 weeks: (sorry its kind of grainy, Matt just took this tonight and the lighting wasn't great)
p.s. check out the upside down Elmo balloon in the background - that balloon is from Ellen's Elmo party on October 6th... over 3 weeks ago and that balloon is still going STRONG! :)
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