Newborn Pictures

Hannah and Hailee had their newborn pictures taken about a month ago.  They were taken the week Hannah got home from the hospital.  I just got them back earlier this week.  Below are the watermarked images.  I'll be sending out their announcements this weekend with some of the same images, but I just couldn't wait to share!

Hannah, Ella, and Hailee

One of my favorites

Hailee

Another one of my favorites!

Hannah

Hailee

STTN...well, almost

The past 2 nights Hannah and Hailee have slept from about 10:00pm until 4:00am.  I'll take it!  Then I am up at 4:00am with them for the rest of the day, but if I can get that 6 hours or so in, I think I can survive.  It really just happened all of a sudden.  We have been focusing on keeping them awake in the evenings more and making sure they are stuffed before bed.  We bathe, do tummy time, walk around with them (they love to look outside), play, then feed.  They usually get all fired up at some point throughout the process which tires them out too.  I know this will not be an every night thing, we may be hit or miss at times, but it is really nice that Paul and I have both gotten to sleep for more than a 3 hour period at a time in the past couple nights.

The day before Easter mom watched all 3 girls so that Paul and I could go out for a daytime date.  We really just wanted to get out of the house together.  We decided to go to Home Depot and look around at stuff for some spring projects that we want to complete.  We have been wanting a new, deep sink for a while.  We thought it would be a good idea to go ahead and buy one.  Paul figured it would only take him 2-3 hours to install.  Needless to say, at 11:00pm that evening Paul and dad were still working on the plumbing.  Below is a picture of my kitchen the night before entertaining about 10 people for Easter dinner.  They did get it done though, after a few leaks and 4 more trips back to Home Depot.  Now we have a nice new sink that really made a huge difference in our kitchen!

Our Easter was really nice.  All 3 girls got extra spoiled with their Easter baskets and gifts from their grandparents.  We went to church for the first time since Hannah and Hailee have been home.  It was such a beautiful service.  It was so nice to be back.  Mom and dad were here to help us get ready that morning, otherwise I'm not sure that we would've made it.  We don't do very well with schedules these days!  Hannah and Hailee were nice and quiet until about the last 5 minutes of the service.  Again, I'll take it!  Dinner after church was great.  We had an egg hunt and Ella had a blast with it. 

The twins were not being very photogenic on Easter

But Ella was..as always!

Our 3 girl's Easter baskets

Our family picture...Ella wanted to go out and play!

Ella finding her first egg!

Out playing with Ella's new bubble maker

Chloe wishing she could come out and play too!





Van-less for 3 days :(

A few of you have probably heard the story:  I was hurrying home from the hospital while the twins were still in the NICU.  It was raining.  I got home in just enough time to pump and then have to leave to pick up Ella at Kim's.  I shut the garage door, closed the garage entry door, and heard the crunch of the garage door down the back of our new van! UGH!!  I ran back outside and sure enough there were 2 long 6 inch scratches down the back of the van.  I didn't pull it in far enough.  So, we finally took the van in today to get fixed and it will not be back until Friday evening.  So, I am pretty much stuck in the house for the next few days with no means of transportation. 

Other than that, everything is status quo around here.  Ella is loving the nice weather we had some of last week.  She stands at the back door pretty much all day waiting for me to take her out to play on her swingset.  Hannah and Hailee are still fussy (hehe) but are getting better about actually being awake and not having to be held ALL the time.  Maybe only 90% of the time now :)  We are still on a 3 hour feeding schedule.  I guess it's normal since they are only 2 weeks adjusted age, but it seems like it's been a lifetime of sleepless nights!  

Hailee's sweet little face with Hannah sleeping next to her



Ella hugging her baby.  She is definitely a baby lover (real or fake) !




Ella putting a flower in her hair.  All of a sudden she loves bows and flowers in her hair.  I love that she's a girly girl!



We are hosting our first Easter here this weekend.  Well, really our first major holiday here ever.  We normally travel for all holidays.  (Note:  I am not counting this past Christmas when I was on bedrest.  I don't consider it hosting when everyone else had to do the work and I just laid there.)  I was really hoping for nice weather for Ella to have her first egg hunt, but it's not looking very promising.  I have all of the girl's baskets together and I can't wait for Easter morning!   

We did go to the mall to visit the Easter bunny this past weekend.  Our plan was to get all 3 girl's picture with the bunny.  Plan failed!  Ella would have NOTHING to do with him!  She started fussing, climbing up me, holding on to me for dear life.  I tried putting her down and she wrapped her legs around me so tight.  Poor thing!  I even tried to give her a sucker and she just threw it at the bunny!  You can see by the picture below that the twins didn't like him very much either. 


Hailee and Hannah's first visit with the Easter bunny










No news = Good news

I really don't have much to blog about...which is a good thing!  Everyone is doing great here! 

Hannah and Hailee had their eye appointment to check for ROP again yesterday.  They both graduated!  Their blood vessels are completely mature now.  I am SO happy!  They will not have to get another eye exam until they are 3 years old.  I saw a nicu mom friend of mine there with her one baby (her other baby was at home as she had already graduated :)  It was so nice to talk to another twin mom and realize that there are people out there that are going through the same crazy madness day to day that I am.  She also has a 2 year old, so our lives are very similar.  Even though it was at the doctor's office, it was nice to have some mom to mom time! 

Hailee

Ella, with a bib on her bear and feeding her a sippy cup :)

Hailee

Hannah

Ella, eating strawberries in her strawberry shirt

Hannah

The twins finally have a positive adjusted age!

My due date was this past Wednesday.  That means Hannah and Hailee finally have a positive adjusted age!  It's nice that they are not 38 weeks, 39 weeks, etc anymore.  This next Wednesday their actual age will be 11 weeks and their adjusted age 1 week old.  We had their first visit with a Neonatologist last week and everything is looking great!  Hannah weighed 7lbs 3oz and Hailee 8lbs 13oz.  They are both getting so big!  Hailee is a chunk!  :)  The doctor said that many times with a discordance the babies won't "even out" until they are close to 2 years old.  The girls should developmentally act somewhere in between their actual and adjusted age.  So, they should be acting and doing the things that a 1 month old would be doing.  We are urged to do lots of tummy time with them and talk to them often. 

I have been nursing both babies more versus bottle feeding them pumped milk.  They are both doing better with it than they previously were.  It's such a relief because I am really getting sick of so much bottle making and bottle washing!  It's just so much easier. 

I must say, the girls have gotten fussier in the past week or so.  I actually think they may be more like a normal baby would be.  Ella was just such a good baby, so we aren't used to a baby that is fussing just to fuss.  Hopefully as Hannah and Hailee get older they will be able to better self soothe themselves. 



Hannah



Ella and mommy

Hailee

Hailee, ready for another doctor appointment

Hannah and Hailee

Ella, Hannah, and Hailee

Ella wondering why Hannah is STILL crying :)

Hannah

Our sweet, smiley Ella :)

Out and about with 3 in tow!

Today was my first time taking all 3 little ones out by myself.  It was difficult, but fun!  I had Hannah and Ella in the double stroller and Hailee in the Baby Bjorn.  We just went to Babies R Us.  I had a couple things to get for the girls along with some gifts for the many baby showers I have coming up.  All 3 girls were really good!  Hannah and Hailee slept the whole time.  Besides Ella taking some rattles off the shelf and out of the package and leaving a trail of french fries through the store, she was good too.  You may notice I let the little things go these days :)  I saw a mom of triplets at the checkout.  Her babies were 6 months old and she said she has never taken them out alone (her mom was with her).  I can't even imagine!  She also has a 4 year old, so I guess 4 at once would be a little much.  I am a mom on the go though...so my kids are now babies on the go!

Hannah and Hailee are doing really well.  We had their 2 month appointment yesterday.  They are both gaining good weight and seem on track developmentally.  They had their first set of vaccines.  I'm glad Paul was able to be there for that.  We had their eye appointment last week to check the progress of the blood vessels for ROP and they are both almost completely mature.  We go back next week and that will hopefully be our last appointment.  We have the girl's neonatology appointment on Thursday.  That will be similar to a regular pediatrician appointment, but with a preemie specialist.  He will just be checking on their development throughout the next couple years to make sure they are on track.  The appointment is supposed to be about an hour per girl.  I really don't like all of these appointments lately, but it is reassuring to keep hearing that things are going well. 

It is just so great how good Ella is doing transitioning with the girls being home.  I don't sense any jealousy or anything.  She runs right down to them in the morning and pats their bellies.  Besides a couple toys or sippy cups in the head at times, she is for the most part gentle with them.  She really loves them a lot!  She laughs at them and babbles at them.  She tries to imitate what I do to the girls with her baby dolls and stuffed animals.  Yesterday she was wrapping donald duck in a blanket and putting him in the boppy.  It was so adorable.  Ella is also so patient.  Generally if I am busy with a baby, I can just talk to her and she can hold off until I can help her with what she needs.  Last night I gave all 3 girls a bath.  Ella had to wait until the babies were done for her turn.  I let her play on the side of the tub and watch us.  Ella loves her baths, so I am sure this was hard for her!  She just stood there playing in the water and then got really excited when I said it was her turn.  I had a lot of water to clean up, but it was worth it for 3 happy, clean babies! 

I am finally better today from mastitis (a breastfeeding infection) that I got on Sunday.  It was awful.  It is flu like symptoms with extreme breast pain.  My fever was from 101-103.5 all day Sunday and Monday.  I called and got an antibiotic on Sunday and then had to follow up at the doctor yesterday.  It was difficult even getting through the days feeling that bad.  Paul let me get a lot of sleep last night, so I think that helped me get better quick.  I had to bring the twins to my appointment with me.  We got to see my doctor that delivered them.  He was so happy to see us and to see how good the girls look. As he said "I paid the toll and won 2 prizes!"

I guess I haven't taken many pictures lately.  Too bad there was no one at BRU today to capture a photo of that!  I will try to take more in the next day or so and post soon.

Hannah and Hailee, sleeping beauties :)

Ella now insists on eating everything on her own.  She won't let us feed her at all, even with utensils.  She was using a spoon to eat her yogurt, but she must not have been getting enough of it at once.  When I looked over she was drinking it.  Notice the yogurt down her bib!

Ella loving on her sissy's

Hailee and Hannah