Twin's 4 Month Update

Hannah and Hailee's 4 month doctor appointment went great!  Hannah weighs 9lbs 4oz and Hailee 11lbs 4oz.  They are still 2 lbs apart, however the discordance percentage is lower between them than it was at birth.  Hannah is now only a half inch shorter than Hailee and her head less than an inch smaller.  So, she is getting there.  We just still need to be working on plumping her up!  Preemies have their own growth chart.  They don't go by the normal "percentile" chart that most babies fall under.  Hannah and Hailee are both following right along on their preemie chart at where they should be.  Hailee is actually in the 5th percentile on the "normal" chart.  Hannah isn't on it yet, but she is close!  Both girls are hitting the milestones they should be at this point.  They are both eating and sleeping great going by their adjusted age.  We have to be reminded every once and a while that they should really only be acting like 2 month  olds...not 4.  Their doctor said they both look great and she has no concerns for them at this point.  Paul and I were both very reassured leaving the doctor.  It had been so long since we had been there.  It was nice to get them both checked out.  :) 

Hannah and Hailee, and Ella in the background

Twin Photoshoot

I took some shots of the twins last week.  Some of them turned out good!  They are not touched with Photoshop, so I would change a few things to perfect them a bit.  I am just starting to learn Photoshop.  Good friends of ours gave me the best version out there and I am super excited about it!  Ryan has used Photoshop for work for a few years now so I am taking lessons from him in the evenings to get better at it.

Hannah

Hailee

Hailee and Hannah

Hailee's sweet little eyes

Hailee and Hannah.  Love their faces in this one!

4 Months Already?!

The twins were 4 months old on May 27th.  Time has really flown!  They have a doctor appointment later today and I cannot wait to see what their weights are!  I hope they have both grown a lot since their last appointment.  I still get the comments in the store, "How old are they, a month or two?"  "Um, no, they are 4 months but they were premature so they are still small."  "Oh, they are adorable."  I think I am going to start saying their adjusted age so that I don't have to deal with the akwardness. 

Mommy and the twins

Hannah and Hailee

Hailee

Hannah and Hailee

 Ella has been having a blast so far this summer.  She loves playing with friends and being outside whenever possible.  She has started to get a couple small freckles on her cheeks.  They are so cute!  We are keeping her sunscreened up as much as possible! 

Love this picture!

Morgan and Ella had such a fun week together last week!

LOVE this one too!  Ella's new favorite thing to do is draw with chalk.

I set up this princess table for Morgan and Ella to play on last week.
This is what I found when I walked in from the kitchen.

Ella

Busy, busy, busy

Paul has been out of town for the past 3 days (I am SO ready for him to be home), so the girls and I have all kept very busy!  I took them all to the mall the other day.  Ella did Build-a-Bear and then we played at the playland for a bit.  The playland didn't last long.  Since when is it ok to bring your 7 and 8 year olds to play there??  The big kids were just plowing over Ella.  After about the third plow, I decided it was best to go home.  It was fun while it lasted.  Morgan is with us today and will be all week next week too.  I'm sure I will have some cute pictures of Ella and Morgan by the end of next week! 

Ella loves coloring.  She has displayed her artwork on our floors more than once. 
Good thing they are hardwood and I can just wipe it right up! 

We went to the zoo with Mandy and Morgan last weekend.  We have a zoo pass this year, so I plan on being there a lot.  It is one of the few places I will feel comfortable bringing all 3 girls to by myself.  We had so much fun!

Ella, pooped from a long day at the zoo!

Daddy ready to take Ella to Kim's for the morning to play for a couple hours.  Ella loves mini pancakes. 
She normally takes them to go because we are always running late!

Hannah and Hailee are getting so big.  They have started hitting some milestones.  They both now smile (Hailee more than Hannah), roll over (Hannah more often than Hailee), and do much better picking their heads up during tummy time.  They also like bath time more and it doesn't sound like some horror film in here for the half hour that it takes to bathe them both.  They are much better about just "chilling" out and not having to be held all the time.  They keep their food down better now too.  We don't even give Hannah her reflux medicine anymore.  It is so nice only getting puked on once or twice per day instead of twice per feeding!   The past two nights that Paul has been gone they only got up once in the night for me.  I don't know if they knew I needed my sleep while he was gone or if this will continue.  Lets hope it continues!  I guess Paul will find out since he will be pulling the night shift tonight and tomorrow night :)  Have I mentioned that I miss him??



Loving their playmat!



Hailee

Hannah, sleeping peacefully after her bath.  Her poor little nose was red from her cold. 

Hannah.  We did a little at home photo shoot yesterday :)

Hailee

Ella giving Hailee a smooch!

Hannah

We had a good run...

with no colds!  Ella has had a cold since late last week and now Hannah and Hailee are both stuffy and congested too.  They don't seem too miserable at this point.  I just hope they don't get worse.  I have a call in to their doctor just to see what, if anything, I can be looking for as a sign to bring them in.  I am hoping she doesn't want to see them already, but won't be surprised if she does.  It's important to make sure fluid doesn't get into their lungs since they still aren't completely developed. 

Mother's Day with my 3 girls

I started taking a photography class this week.  I have always wanted to learn how to take better pictures for myself and for other people.  Paul bought me a digital SLR camera with a couple different lenses for my birthday this year.  I figured taking a class to learn more about my camera and taking better portraits was the next step.  I would eventually love to start my own business taking pictures of babies, children, and small families.  I have started by practicing on my own children and will then move on to other's children.  This is always something I've wanted to do and thought I would be good at.  I have the perfect test subjects to practice with and figure no time is better than now to start!  With the times that we have gotten professional portraits done, I always leave saying to myself "I could have done that"...or "I can see myself doing this."  I feel that with a photography business, I can be as flexible as I want.  I can work in the evenings or on the weekends as little or as much as I want while always keeping my family first priority.  I still have a lot to learn, but am so excited to be starting this new venture in my life!  Hopefully you will notice my pictures on here improving as time goes on!

Finding time to blog: Impossible!

Finding time to do anything these days has just been impossible!  Most days I don't even get a chance to shower until late afternoon while Ella naps.  I try to prioritize my days with getting done what is most important first, but at times that is easier said than done!

We are all doing well.  The twins are getting bigger and bigger.  They haven't been to the doctor for over a month now, so I don't know how much they weigh but I do know that they are growing out of their clothes which must be a good thing.  Ella is getting cuter and cuter.  Last night while making dinner, I peeked at her in the family room and she was changing her baby:

She still does everything with her babies that we do with the twins.  Earlier today she had a Boppy pillow around her belly like I have around my belly while feeding.  So cute! 

The twin's nursery was really put on the back burner during the end of my pregnancy and while they were in the hospital.  I physically couldn't work on it while I was on bedrest and then after the twins were born I was more focused on spending time with Ella in the evenings when I got home from spending the day at the hospital.  I finally have it finished for the most part.  The bedding is purple with white and chocolate accents.  It has little birds on it, so I got some other bird decor too.  I wanted to stay away from pink since Ella's room is pink and green.  I really love how the color turned out!  I also love love love that we got the cribs with the small changers on the side.  They work well with a smaller room, and both babies have their own changer and extra drawers!

Hailee's crib

Hannah's crib (with Hannah waiting to get dressed after her bath)

I hope all of the mom's reading have a wonderful Mother's Day this Sunday.  I can't wait to spend the day with my 3 little ones and with my mom (and Paul and my dad).  I would never have guessed that I'd have 3 children to celebrate with at this point in my life, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

Ella hanging out on the ottoman, watching TV (probably Yo Gabba Gabba)

Sweet little Hannah

Hannah and Hailee

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