Forgotten Fall

Soooooo now that it is Christmas Season, Im' catching up on some things we did this fall. (It has been a whirlwind October and November folks...a little grace, please :) ) Anyway, this is really just for me to document the fun memories we made this fall before Craziness 3.0 took over our lives.

First...I got sneaky with my girlfriend Amber and we decided to surprise our husbands with a boys weekend in the big OH. So after a few close slip ups, we pulled it off and managed to get the final piece of the puzzle to drive up and join them so it could be a complete boys weekend. :)

Driving down to Ohio is never fun...esp 33 weeks pregnant. But we made it...a few scars to show for it, but we made it:) A hotel with two tired kids is always fun.....insert sarcasm. (and people wonder why we want to drive to drive thru the night when we come home for Christmas - two 2-yr olds AND a newborn? nope.)

We got to spend alot of time with Nana and Papa so we went to parks, played outside and went to our first Pumpkin Patch! We covered every square inch of that place and had a blast! Sweet, sweet memories made.....except for maybe the big, black slide :) Hilarious video to come.

 

Could this picture be any more precious!?

I could eat him...

Trying a new way to swing..

Love my kids!!! When other kids came into the jumphouse, they ran together and went and sat in the corner.

Jenna got the hang of it in 2.4 seconds...Caden? bless his heart. nope.

 

We celebrated sweet Adelaide's birthday...

We became best friends with BDB (Bad Dream Buster {the dog}...ask Robin...) Rode around the neighborhood in Papa T's new truck! (barely went 1 mph and no one drives in the back of my parents neighborhood), played with Uncle Brent and Aunt Courtney, and had fun ice cream parties at Aunt Alice's house.

I humbly demanded (is there such a thing?) that we be in NC to celebrate the twins 2nd birthday this year. Enough of being up here away from friends and family...I wanted to celebrate my babies with people we knew! My kids' birthdays are a big deal to me so I like to do them up big! So, if your going to the trouble of flirting with the "non-travel" rule for high risk pregnancies, might as well make it worth your trip! So the twins and I stayed for 2 weeks while Ryan traveled back and forth so he could work ;(

It is SO nice to know where Home is...let me just say. We miss it. Alot. But moving on....we jam packed a ton of fun in with friends and family so my sweet babies could get spoiled rotten with attention from grandparents and family :) (turns out this was a good thing - they got their cup full of attention down in NC since I was put on bedrest when we got back and couldn't play. oopps). Thank goodness they play together well ... most of the time :)

 

 

 

 Mommy broke some rules and went Trunk or Treating with my Super Hero's. Could.not.stop.staring.at.them! Adorable!

Our other twin friends up here. I love how they both stuck with their own twin...no twin cross-contamination! haha

Took the twins to get their first hair cut...Jenna was super fine with it (of  course)...Caden? He cried the entire time. NOT a fan (of course).

and after...he looks like a toddler now...such a big boy!

 

Wonder what they are doing? They are watching it SNOW the day before Halloween!!!!

All in all, Happy Fall, Ya'll! :)

 

 

Up next....the twins 2nd Birthday Party (and some pictures of the forgotten child...Baby Easton!).

Sneak Peak!

Framed With Hearts Boy Birth Announcement

Shutterfly has cute birth announcements and cards for Easter.

View the entire collection of cards.

At the Hospital

Our stay at the hospital was very......calm. quiet. the antithesis of our hospital stay with the twins. I told Ryan I was kind of sad sometimes that we didn't have lots of visitors and people to come see us like we did in Raleigh. But It truly was a quiet, peaceful time we could enjoy and prepare for the chaos of home. First, little man Easton fully cooperated in making our stay enjoyable. The night I delivered him, he nursed FANTASTIC. I was so thankful we seemed to have a baby who "got it." Then he fell asleep. And he slept....and slept....and slept. He probably went a solid 20 hours or so without waking up enough to eat more than 5 minutes or so. Oh, the difference in your first and second babies....I didn't really worry about it. If he was hungry, he would wake up and eat!

 

I told the nurses about his super slumber and how we noticed he was "gagging" and acting like he was trying to spit up. The nurses said they had been watching him in the nursery too because of his choking/coughing. Then they explained why. Turns out, when babies are born fast (as in hardly in the birth canal at all!) then all of the amniotic fluid in their tummies is not pushed out during the birthing process. Poor fellow flew out so fast he still had a tummy full of amnio fluid. That is what he was trying to spit up and that is why his tummy felt full without nursing. Either way, they said not to worry too much as long as he "woke up" around 48-72 hours old. So...we just snuggled and enjoyed our sleeping baby!

 

 

We had to do a bit more logistical planning for my mom to come up to the hospital since she was the only one up here watching the twins. She got to come up and snuggle with E while Ryan stayed home and napped with the twins....I'd say that was a win-win for everyone :)

After nap time, Ryan brought my first babies up to visit! And yes, it was that cold. I missed them so much, it was fun having them for a visit. Thank God I bought some stickers for them to play with. Huge hit! They were not too sure about Easton during their stay. They didn't want to touch him or really have anything to do with him.

 

 

We did manage to get our first family picture as 5. So thankful....

Something of note: The hospital up here was very persistent in asking me about getting my Pertussis vaccine. Is this something new? I didn't hear about it in NC and never heard about it when the twins were born! Anyway, they kept talking about it over and over so I went ahead and said sure, give it to me. They said it was combined with Tetanus which my mom reminded me would make my arm sore. So...thinking ahead....I asked them to put it in my left arm...you know, just in case. Well, the rest of this story will come later but for now,  heed my words: DO NOT GET THE PERTUSSIS VACCINE RIGHT AFTER YOU HAVE A BABY!! (or in my case....never, ever get it period. I certainly will take my chances on catching Whooping Cough from here on out).

Stop, Stop, Stop it. So precious!

 

 

We packed up and asked to be discharged on Sunday morning. We were packed up and headed home 36 hours after Easton joined us. Again, oh the difference in your subsequent children! haha

 

Yes, we have already introduced the lifesaving Wubbanub. Easton did great in the car ride home...he appears to love his carseat -falls asleep every time. yea!

 

Ryan got mega brownie points and went ahead and ordered Easton's initial and birthstone for my necklace. I asked him what he would have done if E had come 2 days earlier...in October (a different birthstone)...he said he honestly didn't even think of it! Bless his heart. Anyway, I LOVE it. So proud of all of my babies.

So that was our calm, easy hospital stay. Easton was not sent back to us from the nursery due to him being "inconsolable" (refer to Jenna/Caden's birth story - yes that happened). I did not and still have not had my ultimate breakdown in front of everyone. There was no desperate call for the lactation consultant to teach my baby how to nurse. In other words....lots of grace :)