Adventures

Yesterday we took the boys for their first walk in their stroller. We went around the neighborhood and the boys loved it! They slept the whole time. Several neighbors stopped up to compliment us on the boys. Hopefully this will be a new pasttime for us!

After our walk, the boys had some cuddle time with each other. So cute!

And today, to get ready for our doctor's appt, we had our first real baths in the big boy tub. Walker wasn't a big fan!

But he did like lounging in his bathrobe!

Garrett did a little better for daddy during his bath

And Garrett loved his bathrobe too!

We went back to the doctor today for our 2 week appt and everything looks great! The boys have both gained weight, with Garrett up to 6 lbs 2 oz (3 oz up from birthweight) and Walker at 6 lbs 4 oz (his birthweight). Walker has grown an inch (20.75 in) and Garrett has grown 1/4 inch (19.75 in). The boys look great and don't have to go back until they are 2 months old!

Hanging Out

We've enjoyed just hanging out since we've been home. Here's a little peek of what we've been up to...

The boys (Walker on left, Garrett on right)

Lexie thinks the boppy is a new pillow for her :)

Garrett looking bored after eating

Walker at bath time

Daddy, Lexie, and Garrett

Walker watching Daddy nap

Daddy and Garrett napping

Garrett after his bath

Garrett sucking his thumb

Walker chillin' in the bouncy chair

Adjusting to Our New Life

Well, it's been a week today since we brought our little guys home from the hospital. We are loving life as mommy and daddy! The boys are doing wonderful, eating good and sleeping quite a bit. We have only had a couple of semi-rough nights, but nothing too bad. We have discovered that Walker needs more "awake" time during the day so that he doesn't want to hang out at night :)



We had our first outing to the peditrician's office on Thursday. The boys both did great and the doctor was pleased with their progress. Although Garrett's temperature was still a little low, he wasn't concerned since he was eating well and making lots of dirty and wet diapers. We go back this Thursday for a follow-up appt.



Auntie Jessica was able to stay with us through Sunday morning and was such a big help! The boys and their mommy and daddy enjoyed being spoiled for a few days and miss her a lot. But hopefully she will be back for a visit in July.


We had a lot of company on Saturday with both families dropping by to visit. The boys really enjoyed hanging out with everyone and we got a great night's sleep on Saturday night since the boys were worn out!

Lauren with Walker

Margaret & Amelia with Garrett

Amelia with Walker

Blair & Lauren with Walker

Jim with Walker & Sue with Garrett

Auntie Jen with Garrett (l) and Walker (r) Auntie Jessica with Walker (l) and Garrett (r)
Aunt Cindy with Walker and Nana with Garrett

Auntie Jen, Nana, Auntie Jessica and Mommy with the boys

Our sweet boys are here!

On Thursday, May 13th, we welcomed our sweet baby boys into the world! We arrived at the hospital at 4 am to start the induction process. After two rounds of cervical gel, we were dilated to just over 3 cm. We then started the pitocin, which sped things up a lot. The contractions after the pitocin were very painful, but the epidural made all of that go away :) About 4:oo or 4:30 pm, we got the good news that we were fully dilated and ready to go! Garrett's delivery went really smoothly and he joined us at 5:10 pm. He let us here his healthy set of lungs and we were able to enjoy him a little while we waited on his "little" brother. He weighed in at 5 lbs 15 oz and was 19.5 inches long. Walker briefly stirred things up as he pulled his arms and legs up toward his head, making it impossible for him to come out. After a try at breech extraction didn't work, our dr briefly mentioned a C-Section, which was our worst nightmare after a successful delivery with Garrett. Luckily, he wasn't in distress and after a few minutes of waiting patiently, he decided to cooperate and put his arms and legs down and quickly made his entrance. He arrived at 5:45 pm, weighing 6 lbs 4 oz and measuring 19.75 inches. They are both perfect!!

Things went well the next day before we found out later that night that the boys had lost a little too much weight. This complicated things a little, and resulted in their inability to maintain their body temperatures and caused a little bit of jaundice. We started supplementing their feedings with formula but it wasn't enough to allow us to leave as scheduled on Saturday. On Saturday, the peditrician recommended a precautionary round of IV antibotics to rule out an infection and wanted to continue to monitor the jaundice to see if they (especially Garrett) would need to go under the lights. The boys both got their IVs on Saturday evening and we waited for the blood work (which would take about 48 hours, as we later found out) to rule out an infection. In the meantime, the jaundice got a little worse and their body temps continued to decline slightly. On Sunday, the doctor wanted them to spend some time in the isolette, which is essentially a large warmer. They had to stay in this continuously except for an hour at each feeding for nearly 24 hours. On Sunday night, the jaundice had improved significantly and was no longer a concern and the boys had each gained some of their weight back with Garrett weighing 5 lbs 10 oz (5 oz under birth weight) and Walker weighing 6 lbs (4 oz under birth weight). After a long night in the nursery in the isolette, things turned around significantly on Monday. They were able to stay out of the isolette all day while maintaining their body temps. We were so happy to have them back with us! And with the help of a great lactation consultant, we were able to get the breastfeeding back on track. The blood work results came back negative, so the IVs were removed. The boys are both now fat(ter), happy, and sleepy! It has been a good day :) And it looks like we are headed home on Tuesday!

We appreciate everyone's thoughts and prayers for us and our little boys! We have been so blessed!

Our last picture as a family of two

Daddy, Mommy & Garrett

Walker James

Garrett Daniel

Us with our wonderful doctor, Dr. Roberts Mommy with the boys
Our new family (Daddy with Walker and Mommy with Garrett)

Finishing touches

In the limited time we have left before the babies come, I asked Jim to fix the floor between the living room and kitchen from where we added the doorway. It had been driving me crazy! He patched up the floor this weekend and it looks great. This project is officially complete!

The very beginning (living room)

The very beginning (kitchen)

After drywall, notice the patchwork floors All done!

End of a journey...and a new beginning!

(Note: this post is a little late, I started it a while back but never got it posted...)

Well, it's finally official...our boys will be joining us by this Thursday, May 13th! The dr plans to induce us then (we have to be at the hospital at 4 am..ugh!). I am so grateful that this pregnancy has gone so well. With all of the pre-term labor concerns with twins, who would have thought that we would have to be induced at 38 weeks? God has been good to us for sure!

As uncomfortable as I am right now, I am a little sad about the prospect of not being pregnant any more. The feeling of these little guys moving around in my belly is indescribable. I love being able to take them everywhere I go and enjoy having them all to myself :) But I am incredibly excited to meet these little babies that have been growing inside me for so many months and watch them develop and grow. My days of imagining what they will look like and how different their personalities will be are nearly over. We can't wait to meet them!

It continues to amaze me that just a few months ago, these little guys were created from a little piece of each of us and grew from just a few hundred cells the first time we saw them into perfect little people! I don't know how anyone could doubt that the hand of God is at work during this process. I am so grateful that he put us into the hands of doctors that took excellent care of us throughout the process and helped us realize the miracle of having kids of our own after Jim's struggle with cancer many years ago. We are so blessed!

Officially full term!

This week we reached a milestone--a full term twin pregnancy (37 weeks)! We saw the dr on Monday and everything still looks good, but no progress to speak of. The boys did well on their NST on Monday, and we went for a growth ultrasound on Tuesday. They are estimated to weigh 5 lbs 13 oz (A) and 6 lbs (B)! It is definitely getting crowded in there, although my belly had grown 2 cm in the past week to a whopping 47 cm!! We are only a week or less away from holding our baby boys since our doctor will induce by 38 weeks.

We were pleased that the boys didn't decide to make an appearance on Tuesday or Wednesday since Daddy was out of town for work. Now, it's just a waiting game. Unless something happens by then, we go back to see the dr on Monday morning and will get our induction date for later in the week. We are so excited!!

Hopefully this weekend we can finally get the car seats installed and finish a few decorative touches in the nursery. We had the carpets cleaned upstairs this week, so everything should be ready for our new additions to join us! We can't wait for you all to meet them!

My belly at 35 1/2 weeks

My belly at 36 1/2 weeks