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Friday, December 30, 2011

Christmas, part two

We had to wait a few days to celebrate with Alex's side of the family, since some people were traveling to Indy. We had another great meal, and lots more presents. Alex got tools and cooking stuff, which is great with him (and me since I get to eat what he cooks!) I got some new clothes and a few Christmas ornaments. The boys got more toys and books, including a special twins book, and some cute bulldog lovies with their names on them! It was a nice, relaxed visit. The guys like to watch whatever football games come on TV, and the girls like to catch up and pass around the babies. Next year will be pretty crazy when both the twins and their cousin Josh are walking around!

I was determined to get some good pictures this time, since we didn't have very many of his family. The boys got to wear their Christmas outfits one last time!


We went back one more time on New Year's Eve, but I didn't bring my camera. We did get a picture with all the cousins/grandkids, but I need someone to send it to me before I can post it! :)

So in all, the boys had a great first Christmas/holiday season. They are lucky to be so loved and spoiled by all of our great family and friends.

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Christmas, part one

I figured I'd break Christmas up into two parts, since I have too many pictures to choose from! I kept Christmas low key at our house, since we didn't seem to have much time to decorate. Two things I want/need to do for next year are going and picking out a real tree with the boys, and getting stockings with their names on them. We also didn't go crazy with buying them presents, since they have TONS of clothes, don't play with toys much yet, and we knew the grandparents and aunts and uncles on both sides would spoil them!

We usually go to my parents' house on Christmas Eve, and do snacks before church, go to church, and open presents afterwards. This year, we knew we didn't want to stay up late to do presents, and we didn't want to bring the boys to church and have them out late and around so many people. (Even though everyone would have loved to see them!) So we still did the snacks, and took some pictures. I wanted one of me with both boys, but it didn't turn out that well, as you see above, but at least I look happy! We finally got a full family portrait! (The boys probably didn't enjoy their polo shirts, but I do.) Then Alex took the boys home and put them to bed, while the rest of us still went to church. We had a quiet Christmas morning as a new family of four. I'm sure next year will have the start of many more traditions, but for this year we just enjoyed a lazy morning together. I opened my gifts from Alex, and made sure to get a few picture of my favorite "presents" with bows on their heads.

Official Christmas picture of 2011!
Holden in red, Henry in green

Christmas day we went back to my parent's house to open presents. They got toys, outfits, diapers, and the start of their college fund! We especially liked our new Sophie the giraffe, and our Butler and IU onesies from Uncle Evan and Aunt Lauren! Alex got a leaf blower, and I got a new camera lens! (I'm still playing around with it, but I hope to keep getting better with my camera.) Then we got to eat our traditional (delicious!) Christmas lasagna. And lastly, I'll leave you with a picture from our Christmas card. (Side note: I had to go to Walmart and Target to get the two matching/coordinating sleepers. Who knows why they couldn't have both designs at each place, but they look good together and that's the main thing! I realize that my life will be realizing there are NEVER two cute outfits in the same size...sigh.) So, first the one we didn't use, although it's cute, and finally, the winner for our first card. (Oh, Holden's in green, Henry in red.) Merry Christmas!


Sunday, December 18, 2011

Three months!

December has been a busy month for us here! I had gigs playing in Anderson and at a local church service for the first two weekends of the month, and we've all been recovering from our family cold that we passed around after Thanksgiving. Alex has been trying to finish up some projects around the house, but we're not quite there yet. Hard to believe time is moving this fast...the boys are a quarter year old already!

Stats for this month: Henry weighed 11 pounds, 8 ounces, and Holden was 11 pounds, 6 ounces. No doctor visit or shots at three months, so that's a good thing. They are both smiling and cooing to anyone that they meet. They love to stare at new people and take things in. Both boys track movement and are still very social; they love to be held! Sleep is going pretty well at night, we put them down about 8:30 or 9 and they can usually sleep until 2:30 or 3:30. Some nights even a little longer! They're still in the car seats in the cribs, but we're going to get rid of them soon. Still no big milestones, like rolling over, but they're getting better head control, and seem to be pretty strong.

We made it to see Santa, since I want to have some Christmas traditions. We went on a Wed. morning, to the Clay Terrace mall Santa, and it went well. There wasn't much of a line, and the boys just sat quietly on his lap for the picture! :)

One good thing is that we got a lot of great pictures of the boys this month! It's hard to choose which to show, since we liked a lot. :) Now that we can get some of them smiling at us, it's hard to turn the camera off. So here are some favorites, including the three month shots. (Notice they're almost bigger than the bears now!)


Holden in his reindeer jammies, Henry on the couch 
LOVE this one of Holden


Holden in the auntie onesie, Henry in the awesome booties
Henry is grandpa's sidekick!



Sunday, November 27, 2011

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was definitely different with two babies to think about! We usually are pretty flexible, with both families within driving distances, so sometimes we do both sides of the family in one day. This year required a little more advance planning, which is tough with relatives on both sides traveling in at different times. But we made it work! We went to Alex's mom's on Thanksgiving, and it felt like we packed every single baby item in our house! We brought carriers and bouncy seats and plenty of diapers...I'm sure we didn't use half of it when we got there. I had their cute Thanksgiving shirts on, and of course Henry peed on his as soon as we got down there and changed his diaper! (Shows me that planning doesn't mean much with babies!)

This was our first trip to his parents' and the boys' first meeting with most of their family on that side. I didn't get a ton of pictures, but we did get a pretty cute cousin picture. The boys' cousin Emma plays violin, and had hers with her that day. It was the CUTEST thing ever when she got it out and played "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" for them! Holden just stared at her while she played...I so wish I had that on video!! :) They also got to meet their cousin Josh, who's just a few months older than they are. He lives far away, but it'll be fun to watch them grow up together so close in age!

On Friday, we went to my mom's house. Not too much to say, another yummy meal and lots of baby passing/holding. We played games and just hung out! Got a few pictures of everyone holding the boys. It's funny to think ahead to next year, and how they won't be in someone's arms or in the car seats sleeping. They'll be big boys, sitting up at the table and probably stealing food off of people's plates, or flinging it at each other!! So here are pictures with grandma and grandpa, Uncle Evan and Aunt Lauren, and a family picture.

Friday, November 18, 2011

Two months!

Hard to believe...we made it to two months! Time for another set of stats. Both boys are 9 pounds, 9 ounces this month! We've made it to size one diapers. Still sleeping in the car seats, in the swaddles, in the crib. They sleep 4-5 hour stretches at night, and they love looking at their mobile as they fall asleep! Still no regular naps, but they will sleep in the swing or while someone is holding them during the day. They are starting to smile and interact more, and both are still very sweet! They're easily consoled if someone is holding them. :) We also started tub baths, which they seem to enjoy. They both have sensitive skin, so they can't take long baths, but they look pretty cute splashing around.





Holden on the left, Henry on the right. (He looks like he's asleep, but he's not.)














Ok, so the two month pictures aren't that great either...I meant to try again a different day and forgot! But at least it shows the progress from month one.




Monday, October 31, 2011

First Halloween

Ok, I admit, I really love the fall. I usually go all out decorating, and I love going to orchards to pick apples and pumpkins, eat caramel apples, and get apple cider. This year, being largely pregnant, I did not get my decorations down, and I had to settle on one caramel apple the day before the babies were born, and a quick trip to get a pumpkin when my parents were babysitting. But I did get the babies awesome pumpkin costumes!!! I was pretty excited about that. They had some other cute Halloween outfits, but I'm not sure we got pictures of all of them. The entire time I was pregnant, I was excited for dressing them up at Halloween. My husband was NOT into the idea and kept telling me not to torture the boys. Well, on Halloween night, my sister-in-law helped me get them in their costumes. They were basically warm, velvety sleepers; the babies fell right to sleep. I got some really cute pictures and let them enjoy their nap on the couch. And hey, what do you know, my husband saw the pictures and immediately asked, "When are you printing some so I can take them to work?" :) Yup, that's right. Score one for mommy.




Tuesday, October 18, 2011

One Month/Dr. Visits


I wanted to put up some pictures/stats from their first few dr. visits. Their discharge from the hospital weights were Henry 5.5 and Holden 5.3, and we went to the doctor's office for the first time the Thursday after we were discharged. They gained some weight, up to 5.10 and 5.8. At the next check, around 2 weeks, they were up to 6.1 and 5.15! And finally, we made it to the one month mark! It wasn't the most remarkable month, they weren't doing much of anything yet, but it was a good milestone for us anyway. Henry was 7 pounds, 8 ounces, and Holden was 7 pounds, 6 ounces! They were still in newborn size diapers, but we were finishing them up. They slept in swaddles and in the car seats to help with the reflux/spitting up. The boys got up still every 3 to 4 hours at night to eat. They loved to be held, were easy to console, didn't cry much, and were very sweet! Not much social interaction or smiles yet. Our pediatrician calls them "black holes," as in, you give and give and get nothing back yet! Although we wouldn't say nothing, they're pretty darn cute to look at and cuddle. 




And this is where I started my series of month birthday pictures! Henry gets the brown bear, and Holden gets the panda. (We try to keep Henry on the left in most pictures, but it doesn't work out all the time. At least in these we'll know for sure who's who. :) And month one was not my best...it was hard to prop them up, and they didn't feel like modeling for long. Also, I did have the pictures cropped and edited a little better, but they didn't show up on the blog that way! I'll keep working on the picture quality. :)




Sunday, October 16, 2011

Newborn pictures

I was disappointed we couldn't get these done sooner, but we finally managed at three weeks old! My friend Christie took them, and my sister-in-law Erica knit the pumpkin hats! They turned out really cute, and I used the pictures in their birth announcements (which I'll have to scan in and put on here.) The boys didn't both want to sleep at the same time, so it was hard to get some of the shots we wanted. Holden stayed mostly asleep, but Henry kept fussing, even though he's usually pretty relaxed! So here they are for your viewing pleasure. :)




Holden

Holden

Henry
Henry