October update

Hello, everyone! Here it is, the end of October, and if Kris & I thought we needed back surge ry before, we had no idea what was in store for us! We have our next doctor's appointment the weekend before Thanksgiving. So, we'll have updates about how big they are, etc. then. We're eating cereal & fruits & vegetables right now. Dinnertime is an extraordinary mess that I would show you, except I don't want to get rice cereal on the camera.

So, it was Halloween weekend, and we got adorable pictures. We also went to get our holiday pictures from Penney's & both babies smiled & were adorable the whole time. I was so relieved, but that really made it hard to decide which pictures to order! Nana Karen was in town, and she helped a lot this weekend. We finally feel caught up on laundry, ironing, grading, etc...until next week!

Matthew is growing like crazy. I think he thinks he needs to catch up with his cousin Zachary, who's 6 months older. Right now, his gums are all red & sore because he's getting teeth already, so he's a little fussy. Matthew can stay in a seated position if we get him there to start...Aunt Jan & Aunt Kelly said he held himself up with one hand last week while he emptied the toy box with the other!

Rachel is growing well, too. She is excited that we borrowed Zachary's bumbo seat & now she can sit up all the time. She is so proud of herself! She accidentally pulled herself up to a standing position from Aunt Jan's lap last week, too. She surprised herself & sat right back down. She's still talking all the time. I can't wait to find out what she's saying. We started putting her hair in a "Pebbles" ponytail to keep it out of her eyes...and Matthew thinks it's a new toy for him! He may start crawling just to get to reach it. There's a gleam in his eye whenever he spies his sister's hair.

Let me know how you all are doing! I can't wait to see everyone during the holidays!

August Update, with pictures, of course

So, my darling children are both sleeping through the night! They turned 4 months old yesterday, and they are just getting more and more beautiful. We went to see Dr. Reichert last weekend, and Matthew weighed in at 16 lbs, 11 oz, 26 inches. Rachel is a lot more petite at 13 lbs, 7 oz, 24 inches. They are both giggling & smiling all the time. Matthew has learned to roll over onto his stomach and hold himself up. He's very proud of this (as are we!). He can reach for toys (or his sister) from this position and try to eat them. We started rice cereal last week, and we'll start carrots (YUM) tomorrow. I can't wait to see the orange splatters on my children & my ceiling. Matthew loves to play in his bouncy seat or on the floor, while Rachel is still very happy in her swing. She loves to talk to her fish mobile. If that's not available, she'll talk to the ceiling fan. My daughter is definitely not a snob!







The babies got to watch their first Bears game with Daddy a few weeks ago. The Bears beat the Colts (hooray), and the babies were thrilled. The next weekend, the Bears were beat by the Panthers, and Daddy was very good. His yelling (like the offensive line can hear him through the TV) only scared Rachel once.







Meanwhile, Kris & I are both back to school & trying to figure out how to do everythign we used to do and add in sleeping less & taking care of the babies. We couldn't do it without Aunt Kelly & Aunt Jan. They are watching the babies every day and deserve sainthood for it (oh, yeah, we're not Catholic--they'll have to settle for my undying love & gratitude). In two more weeks, I get a fall break. I'm so excited to spend a whole week with my babies! (And maybe, during naptimes, I might get to read my book for book club!)

So, we're a little tired, and the house is a little dusty (okay, a lot dusty), and we're eating way too much Hamburger Helper, but, wow, we're having fun. I finally figured out the video thing, so you can see my babies in action!

Rachel & my niece Jordan

Just an update, with pictures

Well, the babies are 10 weeks old now, and they're growing so fast! At our 2 month doctor appointment, Matthew weighed 13 pounds, and Rachel weighed 10 pounds, 13 ounces. It's so funny that after holding her, it seems like he weighs about 20 pounds. We think he's trying to catch up with his cousin Zachary. At this rate, he might make it!

So far, we've had lots of smiles from both babies. They are sleeping sometimes up to 7 hours at a time (which was scary the first time it happened!). Next week, they'll start going to Aunt Kelly's every day while Kris & I go back to work. That's going to be so strange, but getting back into a routine will be good. We've tried a couple of trial runs with Aunt Kelly, and they seem to be going well. My Aunt Jan is also there, so Kelly isn't going crazy with our twins, her newborn, and her toddler. Or, at least she has company while she does go crazy.

Last week, we were lucky enough that Kris's mom, Nana Karen, came to visit--we were able to take naps, and get a lot of stuff done around the house (plus she always brings brownies & her recipe file, so we got to eat like kings!) The babies loved hanging out with their Nana. They also got to meet their Great Aunt Jean last week. We went to cousin Cailyn's 2nd birthday party, and I forgot my camera! Hopefully one of my sisters or sisters in law will send me some pictures of my darlings (hint, hint).

I know you don't really want to read my rattling--you're just here to see pictures, so here they are! As soon as I buy a new USB cable, I will upload some video, too. (I have either lost or accidentally thrown away the cable that came with the camera in my semi-sleepless state!)

Matthew on the 4th of July

Here is Matthew with the remote--hopefully this doesn't happen for real any time soon!

An extreme closeup of Rachel

Here's a blurry Rachel--but she's smiling, so we had to keep the picture. My mother in law got a great one of her smile, so I'll hopefully have a copy of that soon!

The picture of 3 babies is the one time I had Matthew (left), Rachel, and their cousin Nathan (right) all at once while Kris went to the grocery store & Aunt Kelly took Terra to the park. It was only an hour, and we all survived.

Here is our good friend Max holding "his" baby Rachel. He was very excited until the baby was actually in his lap--and then he was done.

Pictures of the babies

Here's Kris at the hospital with both babies (5/19)

Rachel looking thoughtful. (3 wks old)

This one is Matthew drifting off to sleep. (3 wks old)

The twins are here!

Hello, everyone! I promised a few people I would do this, so here we go. Most of you know that Matthew & Rachel were born May 19. They were only two weeks early! I was just supposed to have a regular doctor's appointment that morning, but when Dr. Lindsey asked if I wanted to have babies that day instead of waiting, it didn't take me long to decide--being pregnant with twins is not nearly as wonderful as one would imagine, and I was dying to see my toes again, so I called Kris & we had a C section at 5 in the afternoon. Matthew Kristopher was 7 pounds, 3 ounces, 19 1/2 inches long and Rachel Barbara was 6 pounds, 12 ounces, 19 1/4 inches long. By now, they're almost a month old, and they've grown a LOT!

We had lots of visitors in the hospital, which we really appreciated. We were still getting lots of sleep at that point since the nurses took the babies at night, so we were able to stay awake to talk to all of the family and friends who came to see the babies (we won't kid ourselves that anyone really wants to see Mom & Dad anymore).

By the way, speaking of nurses, if anyone in St. Charles county needs to have a baby, we HIGHLY recommend Progress West in O'Fallon. We quit calling it a hospital & started calling it a hotel. The food was great, the room was huge, and my bed at least was comfortable (I'm sure Kris has a different opinion there--he had a fold-out chair.) We were the first twins to be born there, and the whole hospital staff made it a point to stop by and see the twins. The president of the hospital & the head of PR came by the room with balloons & cake for us, too. We were minor celebrities for a week or so, and it was great. Supposedly, they were going to print a story in the company (BJC) newsletter, by we haven't seen it yet.

We came home on Friday the 23rd, and since then we are learning to sleep in 2-3 hour bursts. We are lucky that most of the twins' grandparents live in town, so we have help most of the time. (They think they're just visiting the babies!) Then, Kris's mom was able to come visit for a whole week from Detroit, so we hit the jackpot with 24/7 help. That was fabulous. Kris was able to go in to work for a couple of days, & Nana made sure we ate balanced meals every night. I'm sorry to say that's not really happening any more.

Lately, Rachel has been sleeping for 5 hours at a time sometimes, and Matthew is stretching past 3 hours occasionally. We're learning how to keep enough bottles washed & how to keep up with the amount of laundry we now have. We can't wait for the rest of the relatives to meet them!