Our New Baby Boy

I just realized that I never actually posted on this blog when our son was born. He was born April 10th. It was a crazy slow-quick birth. For me it felt like it went on forever. But from the time the doctor broke my water to baby out was 4 1/2 hours. But that was my longest labor yet.

We went and were induced.

This is my one and only baby bump photo for this pregnancy.

We named him

Lawrence Howard

9 lbs even, ante 19.25 inches long

And oh my goodness he was born with RED hair!

All the kids are handling the new baby just fine.

They are all happy he is here

Law makes the cutest bug eye baby faces

He is now over a month old. Has grown more than 2 inches in that time and is 10 1/2 lbs.

The Verdict is In

Our DNA tests came back and we're identical.
We suspected it. The doctors all said in their opinions and experience they would guess their identical.
Now we know they are right.

Aren't we the cutest Identical twins.

Reasons why I'm glad to finally know:

1. Now I can give people honest uncomplicated answers when asked if they are "identical or fraternal". Before when people asked I'd say "we think they're identical", then people would ask what that meant and I'd have to tell them the whole story. My mom kept telling to just say "they're identical" but I couldn't because identical means more than just looking alike. I can't be untruthful. But now I can be scientifically right, simple, truthful.
2. Now I can stop looking every little tiniest difference between them and wonder if its because they aren't identical. I can now look at those differences and be grateful they have differences so that I can tell them apart.

Passing Out Baby

Funny little girl. The other night Nellie was angry baby one moment trying to crawl to the computer (my girls LOVE to hit buttons on the computer) and then, just shy of the computer she passes out. It was so cute.

Three kids on a bed

My sister thinks my girls are the biggest hams for the camera. They are very photogenic. They were being so cute and I wanted to send this photo to their grandma by text/email on my phone, but my phone was almost dead. So I picked up my camera take take this fun smiling photo.

Looks Who's Crawling

Both girls are crawling and moving around. They are all over the place. I'm in trouble now. Rose is the better crawler. Good thing I have a baby gate. I was just getting to the point where me might as well take down the baby gate. A few people asked why I hadn't, my answer was that before I knew it I would need it there for the girls. And here we are with them only 8 months old and I NEED the gate there.

Watching General Conference with babies

 My niece is so cute. I posted this photo of her cuz she was just sweet.

 During the Priesthood Session my mom, sister, and I with all our children went to DI. 

It was hard listening to General Conference with two adorable babies biding for our attention. Grandma and Grandpa were loving the time they got to hold my babies.

Rose Loves Solids

Rose loves solid foods. She was being so cute trying to feed herself. 

Nursing blanket clips

I see clips to make any blanket into a nursing cover, they range anywhere in cost from $5 to $30. I started thinking about how nice it would be to have them but I didn't want to spend the money on it. I looked for clips to make my own, but I didn't really find anything. Until I found a set of sheet straps at the grocery store. I paid about $4 for a set of 4. Sure they don't have some ultra cute fabric covering them, but it works. Since there are 4 in a pack I have extras to keep in the diaper bag, the car, my house... I could always cover it if I really wanted the cute fabric.

Twins- 6 months!

Its crazy that our girls are now 6 months old. They are rolling around, pushing themselves up, getting ready to crawl any day now. They are too cute. They still look really identical. But we don't know if they are identical. It drives my mom crazy that when people ask I don't just say "they are identical".  Instead I answer "we think they are identical." If they ask anything else then they get the explanation. 

Matching Swimsuits for Matching girls

I found these matching swimsuits, almost more leotards than swimsuit.

They were so cute we had to do a photo shoot with the twins.

two darling girls

They actually rolled and around and smiled and cooed. All while its in the middle of winter.

the size on these suits are 12 months- yet they fit my almost 6 months old right now.

I guess I'm going to need to purchase a new swimsuit for actual swim season.

I doubt these suits will still fit come May.

5 months

My girls are getting so big.

They are now 5 months old.

4 1/2 months

2 Jan 2012

4 1/2 months

Look how big the twins are getting.

Figure it out and move on with life

Life doesn't stop. You can't just sit in your house and wait for your children to grow up. There are still things that need to get done and things to go out and do. Life lately has been about finding things that work for me as  a mother of a toddler and twin new born girls.

I am grateful for the double universal car seat stroller that we were given and the Moby wrap that someone gave us. Without those two things I don't think leaving my house I could be functional. 

I meet people all the time who say that they have no idea how I'm doing this, or are in awe that I'm brave enough to leave my house. My answer is almost always something to the effect of "well life doesn't stop, so I had to figure it out and move on with life."

Cloth Diaper Photoshoot (2months)

I only have 2 diapers that fit my babies well. I wanted to take some cute pictures of them wearing their cloth.  I'm no photographer. In fact these pictures are comical to me.

 Rose

 Rose on the left and Nellie on the right.

 Rose on the left and Nellie on the right.

 Rose on the left and Nellie on the right.

 Rose on the left and Nellie on the right.

 We can tell them apart by Rose's birthmark on her left eyelid. Its the only way we know for sure on how to tell the difference. 

 I laugh every time I look at this photo.

Thanks for stopping by and taking a look at my darling babies.

One Month with Twins

 The twins are now a month old. They are both about 8 lbs. You can see the difference is 3 lbs. Their cheeks are getting chubbier, and so are their tummys, arms, and legs. But they are still small for 1 month olds.

A friend of mine had their little baby girl this week, she weighed 8lbs 10oz. I laughingly told her that her "newborn is bigger than either of my one month olds"

 We're just doing day to day. The highlight of the day is when we get to talk to daddy though Skype. I'm trying to get them to stay awake more and more during the day so that they will learn to sleep at night. We're doing mostly good with it. 

When we left the hospital, they made us rent their carseats because our carseats didn't adjust small enough for  how small our girls where when they were born. The photo is of the hospital's carseats- which I have already returned to the hospital. We are now in our own carseats. 

I have finally got brave enough to use the Moby wrap to carry both girls at the same time on my person.

I'm grateful to have such a carrier. I finally found some multiple baby carriers online at a Multiples specialty store and it was $130 before shipping for their twins carrier. Also the twin nursing table I was let has been a blessing too, that too is a 2nd hand item someone gave to me that I don't know how I would live without it.

 Al is trying to be a good helper. I'm glad he wants to be a good helper. Its hard sometimes to let him be a helper. After all a 2 year old can physically and attention span wise only do some much.

I've survived so far and I'll continue to figure it out and keep moving on with life.

I have really good kids.

They're Here (Announcing the birth of our Twins)

Short Story:
Doctor decided I needed to be induced. Checked into the hospital Tues night but due to no room in the inn (labor and delivery), I sat around the hospital until Wen night when at 9pm my doctor broke my water sac on Baby A, presenting baby. Baby A was born at 1:06am. Baby B being breech my doctor was awesome and delivered her fully breech, born 1:10am.

Here is the long story (not for those of you who hate birthing details)
Last Sunday my husband arrived back from his deployment for his RandR. RandR planned to be here for the birth. Due to the distance we live from our doctor and the hospital we were planing to deliver, we went to Tucson to stay for however long it would take. Tuesday morning when we arrived in Tucson I had an NST (nonstress test) and then a doctor's appointment. The NST went well, and so did my doctor's appointment, when the doctor checked me I was dilated to a 6! Not in labor. So we discus that although our hotel is 8 minutes from the hospital, it isn't 8 minutes from the delivery room and if these babies come anywhere near as fast as my son, then we might end up delivering in the hospital lobby. So it was decided that she'd induce me that night, show up at 8pm to the hospital. But by 8pm the hospital was hopping and it was super busy and there were no available beds in Labor and Delivery, but I was considered Pre-Term labor and they put me in a room to wait. In the morning we did an amniocentesis to make sure they were actually ready to come out (SUPER PAINFUL- rather have contractions than that ever again). Their numbers were good so we were a go. Still just waiting on a bed in Labor and Delivery to open up. I was so upset, I felt like a prisoner in the hospital and that they were never going to move me to L and D unless I went into full labor. Finally around 8pm they said there was going to have a bed open. At a few minutes before 9 my doctor broke my water on Baby A. Contractions started, but even after 2 hours I hadn't progresses a ton. After a lengthy discussion I finally gave into a low low dose of Oxytocin. This really kicked the contractions into gear. I was able to stay on top of them, but they were hard and didn't always let up with a break in between. Then the nurse boosted me to a higher dose. This almost made me pass out. I couldn't take it. I started to not be able to breath and my face was flushed. I asked the nurse to lower the does back down. I was so grateful that she complied because I couldn't do those high contractions. After all a woman can only take so much with no pain reliving drugs. At about midnight they wheeled me into the surgery room. Because Baby B was breech they had to be ready in case a c-section was needed. Baby A still wasn't far into the birth canal so we had a lot of pushing to do to get her down and out, born at 1:06am. Then the high risk doctor assisting my doctor was looking at Baby B through the ultra sound, she was telling everyone to prepare for a c-section. My doctor was so awesome. I am so grateful we felt inspired to go with her. She told everyone to hold on, reach up inside, grabbed Baby B's feet, pulled her partial out. Broke her water sac, then reached in again tucked her arms safely down and pulled out the rest of Baby B, born at 1:10am. Wow that was intense on my end but I am so grateful that she was comfortable doing that rather then resorting to a c-section. Awesome. 

Welcome back all readers....

We named Baby A, Penelope. And Baby B we named Rosalind. We are going to call Penelope, Nellie, or just P is what our toddler calls her. Rosalind we are going to call Rose. I wanted to call her Roz, but my husband doesn't like Roz, but we were both will to go with Rose. They are new and beautiful and so tiny. The Pediatric nurse who discharged us said that she wouldn't have felt comfortable discharging us if this was my first pregnancy, they would have kept us at the hospital at least until Sunday sometime. But because I was showing I knew what I was doing with nursing and taking care of them she was comfortable sending us home with our babies who were born pre-term at 36 weeks and 2 days. I am so grateful everything worked out well. It was a great stress in my life. Now my stresses can change to learning to take care of two babies at once with a toddler running around.

Baby Shower for Twin Girls

My mom and sister threw me a baby shower for these twin girls. Everyone must love picking out girl clothes because we were given so many more clothes items then we did with my son. It was going to be a smaller family and close friends shower, but just about everyone came and it was a big group. 

Sometimes I forget that when you're inviting just family even we have a huge family then add in a few friends and we have a big group. I wanted to talk to everyone, but it was so busy and I hardly had the time. My sister did a great job planing. She enjoys putting things like this together. She wanted to play some twin games. She came up with two. 

The first one was called "Is a twin or has twins" I've pasted it here, see how you would have done:

·         Justin Timberlake

·         Sarah Jessica Parker

·         Elvis Presley

·         Shawn Marion

·         Singer Duffy

·         Celine Dion

·         Vin Diesel

·         Millionaire tycoon William Randolph Hurst

·         Lisa Marie Presley

·         Ed Sullivan

·         Liberace

·         Isabella Rossellini

·         Denzel Washington

·         Jane Seymore

·         Julia Roberts

·         Broncos quarterback John Elway

·         Mariah Carey

·         Mohammad Ail

·         Actress Parker Posey 

·         Actor Andy Garcia

·         Eva Green

·         Terminator Linda Hamilton

And the answers...

·         Justin Timberlake-twin(Laura Katherine, died after birth)

·         Sarah Jessica Parker-has twin girls, (Marion Loretta and Tabitha)

·         Elvis Presley- Twin (Jesse Garon, died at birth)

·         Shawn Marion- twin (sister Shawnette)

·         Singer Duffy- Twin (sister katy)

·         Celine Dion-has twins (Boys 2010)

·         Vin Diesel-twin (Brother Paul Vincent)

·         Millionaire tycoon William Randolph Hurst- twin died at birth

·         Lisa Marie Presley- has twins(Finley and Harper)

·         Ed Sullivan- twin, died in infancy

·         Liberace- twin, died in infancy

·         Isabella Rossellini- Twin sister (Isotta)

·         Denzel Washington- has twins (Malcolm and Olivia)

·         Jane Seymore- has twin boys

·         Julia Roberts- has twin (Hazel and Phinnaeus)

·         Broncos quarterback John Elway- twin brother

·         Mariah Carey- has twins (Monroe and Moroccan)

·         Mohammad Ail- has twin girls (Jamillah and Rasheda)

·         Actress Parker Posey- twin (brother Chris)

·         Actor Andy Garcia- conjoint twin, brother died shortly after removal

·         Eva Green- twin sister Joy

·         Terminator Linda Hamilton- twin sister Leslie

           How did you do? 

       The other game she came up with was done on Power Point. She would show a picture and we'd have to       guess who the person's famous twin is. Most of them I didn't even know who they were. I'm not up on my current celebrities.

        We had a great turn out to the shower. 

Thank-you to all who came. I wish I had been able to catch up with each of you.

Going Good

my sister caught me off guard with this photo, 31 weeks

Everything is going well with these twins. They are growing at a healthy rate. We're doing good. Twins are a lot more trouble getting them to full term than I'd want to deal with. Not only do I have my weekly doctor's appointments but now they want me to go to the hospital maternity ward for NST monitoring (non stress test) twice a week. It just takes so much time out of my life to be doing all these appointments. Every time I go I should expect it to take an hour, but the baby on the left is a trouble maker and keeps moving behind her sister so we can't read her for the full time, so it gets extended. When the one on the right is done with her ~20 minutes she decides she is done completely and kicks the monitor until it goes away. How do I end up with such stubborn children? The nurses at the hospital are going to know me real well after all this.
In addition, I'm gestational diabetes. I had already been eating a gestational diabetes diet since 24 weeks. My midwife had recommended this with my son and it made since. She recommends all her patients to eat this way for the last couple months of their pregnancy even if they passed the glucose test. She says that it helps you and your baby gain "the right type of weight". Well with Little Al I only gained 13lbs total and he weighed 7lbs 6oz so I felt confident that eating that way helped. So I had decided to eat that way. Now until week 27 I wasn't super strict on it. I would eat something here or there. I took the one hour test and failed it. Since I had already made the commitment to this type of diet, I declined taking the three hour test. I just didn't feel like I could handle it or the stress of doing it. So my doctor got me a glucose meter and I test myself regularly. The hardest part about actually being GD is I can't every once in a while say oh well and eat something. But I can't now.
Overall all the frustrations of this pregnancy haven't been that bad. Nothing that I can not cope with. I was telling my chiropractor the other day when getting my adjustment that if this back pain from carrying two is the  worst thing to happen during this pregnancy I should feel blessed. Sometimes I can't help but wonder if the only reason everything is going so perfect for twins is that Heavenly Father knows that with all the other trials in my life right now the last thing I need is to be on bed rest in the hospital worrying about my son. Whatever the reason, I feel very blessed.

Its official TWO GIRLS!

Thursday the 12th of May we did a 3D ultra sound with my husband there just before his leaving us on Friday. We did it through Peek of You in Chandler. It was the same place we went to see our son and learned he was a boy not a girl.

This time we learned that they are both very obviously girls. Baby A (the one on the bottom left) would show us not only what she was, but she was letting us see her sweet face.

 I am going to be the mother of two kick boxing champs. The whole ultra sound they were kicking each other in the face. Back and forth. This is a photo of Baby B (the one more on the top and right side of me) kicking Baby A in the face. Wack Wack. Some I felt but some I had no idea the battle of space going on in there.

 Here is Baby A stretching with Baby B's leg pushing against her face. Since I was almost 24 weeks they warned me that my babies have not gained much fat and would appear anemic and more fetus still than baby.

 It is very cramped in there. We are 24 weeks along. Each baby weights about a Pound and a half.

Can you tell where one baby begins and where the other starts?

This picture is easier than many of the others. It is crazy. Sometimes we know that a foot has to be the other baby's because there is no way that baby could bend that way, but there is everything everywhere. It took the tech a while to even be able to see the two sacs, I had to tell her how the doctor pointed it out to the tech who does my growth ultra sounds. They are super close together.

I am grateful that we were able to do this before my husband deployed. I'm grateful he was able to be there. Our toddler came to and he kept pointing to the TV and saying "babies" then he'd point to my tummy. I don't think he actually understands but it was sweet moments for our family. I am also grateful we were able to see both of their genders. Getting serious about any names have been really hard not knowing what they were. Not saying we have them picked out. We're still thinking- a lot!