The Twins' 1st Christmas...Post 1

.......was a blast!!! I've been looking forward to the Holiday season ever since I learned I was pregnant and due in the fall. The only sad part is that it flew by! Let's get to the fun stuff ... pictures!

First, as promised, here is the adorable photo of the twins meeting Santa. The kids did great at the mall..Santa looks as though he could use some whitening shampoo, but he handled the twins like a pro :)



This photo made possible by the entire Thompson family! We all got up early and headed to the mall to handle these two 10 lb beings...it took all 4 of us! Here is Gigi and Papa T (who never even went to the mall for Santa with his OWN kids...oh the power of Grandkids :) )


Aunt Rob and Jenna Girl



Me and my little Santa





Next we had a fun craft activity. I saw this idea online and sooo glad I did! I made these little Rudolf Reindeer's using the twins' hand prints as the antlers. Now we can always remember how tiny and precious their hands were for their first Christmas. I'm going to put them in some cute frames I found with a "J" and "C" on them.



Then...quite possibly my favorite activity so far...we had another Photo Shoot. Thanks to Aunt Rob going CRAZY on our new camera...we got this shot. My. all. time. favorite :)



We went to see Mama Peggy on one of the warm days. I was soooo excited she was able to meet my babies! She is essentially my "adopted grandma" since my Dad's mom died when I was so young. Ms Peggy has been a wonderful grandmother figure in my life and we love her so much!



The week before Christmas we had a Snow Day! So...what do you do when you are trapped inside with 9 week old twins? You have fun photo shoots :) I had the best time because 1) Caden was really into smiling (Jenna is finally starting to catch up now) and 2) I could play with our Christmas present to each other...a new camera! Check out some of our fun shots:



Yes, you know you have child with reflux problems when a continuous shot camera catches spit up at any given time...bless her heart.









This was all of the fun we had BEFORE Christmas...as you can see we took advantage of fun times with our first Christmas as a family of four! Up next...Christmas with our families....

Christmas Time is Here!

Now that it is the week of Christmas, I found the time to do a Christmas post. HA!Thank you twinsies :) Pretty early on in November we realized that the twins (and all of their stuff!) have taken over our home. There is no room for our Christmas tree anywhere in our house! So while this was a very sad realization for me...Ryan literally leaped for joy I think because it meant he didn't have to haul our Christmas stuff and Giant Sequoia Christmas Tree out of the attic. Sooooo, alas, our attempt at having a Christmas environment in the midst of mini Babies-R-Us.

Our pitiful entry way tree ... can't fit alot of presents under there! :)



Christmas Mantle complete with plaid sheet to block the draft coming in the fireplace. haha





Sometime early December I realized we needed stockings for the twins! My mom and I began the hunt...we found Jenna's first....adorable! The matching one for Caden still had some sparklies on it so while we tried to justify it , I knew ultimately if I brought that home for Caden, Ryan would seriously object. So we found another one :) Now, disclaimer: I know that some of you will say that Jenna's is bigger...not true. Hers is skinnier and longer. Caden's is shorter and wider. So total square footage is equal!!!! :)




The twins had their first Christmas Party with our old YM1 Lifeclass at church. It was such a fun night and soooo good for Momma to get out of the house and see her friends :) The night was perfect for a Christmas Party b/c it started snowing! The twins had a majorly exciting night: first snow and first Christmas party! Whew! They were worn out! In honor of our their first party, we had them dressed to impress. I love them, how adorable!







Next we had a photo shoot one morning in their Christmas onesies...I had a blast and LOVE the pictures we got.










THEN, we had a wonderful time at a party with a dear family from Church. The twins were perfect and had such a great time! Caden turned on his charm big time and smiled at every lady in the room. He became best buds with Ms. Emily. Jenna decided this was a party where she needed to catch up on some beauty rest.







Every time we are at a party or place that has a tall Christmas Tree, I get someone to take our picture since we do not have one here at the house to snap photos in front of.







We have had a fun whirlwind December...can't believe that Christmas is here! We took the twins to meet Santa yesterday. Stay tuned for some melt-your-heart cuteness!

Whooooo are You?

The title of this post is meant to be sung to the tune of "Who are you? Who, who, who, who?" by The Who. :)

A while back my mom brought this dress over to our house...it was mine when I was a baby and yes, she had kept it for 27 years. The picture below is me at 6 weeks old. The picture below that is our little Jenna girl in her momma's dress at 7 weeks (and yes, with her tongue out in typical Jenna-style.)







A few observations: I had some mega hair compared to Jenna. I dont think we look alike...maybe its b/c I see J every day ?

What do YOU think?

Wishin' we were in NEW YORK!

Check out our little photo shoot sportin' our New York Onesies. Our friends bought these for them when we went to NYC in May.

Two Months!

Can. Not. Believe. It. I've been so blessed to have my babies here with me for 8 weeks! Certainly the hardest, longest, shortest, best 8 weeks of my life :) We took the twins to their 2 month appt on Friday and they got such good grades on their report cards! Already so proud.... :)

I'm so thankful that Ryan was able to go with me...the first dreaded shots meant we needed a little extra cuddle time in the office before we started our 30 minute process of packing up! haha The kids are doing great! The Doc was so pleased with their progress and development. Thankfully, we got some help for their reflux, they are both on medication that we give them twice a day. We are praying that this will do the trick so they can have some peace after eating!

Since Thanksgiving, Caden has been ready to sleep longer at night...we have to pull every trick out of the bag to get him to eat at the late night feeding (10 or 11 pm) and the early morning feeding ( 3 or 4 am ). Jenna? Not so much. She is ready to get up and EAT! How silly of me that I never once thought about the fact that they might not sleep through the night at the same time. haha We tried letting Caden go once night and not waking him up...not good, he only slept 45ish minutes more so by the time we got J down and in bed, Caden was ready to get up and eat. We only did that one night :) Since then we have done what we can do to wake up him up each time J gets up. We have to force him to take down an ounce. In the mean time, Queen Jenna tanks 4 ounces no problem at each feeding. So for about 3 weeks now Caden takes 3 ounces if we're lucky and Jenna devours 8 ounces in a night time! We have certainly been able to tell too! Jenna has chunked up so fast...I just knew that she would weigh more than Caden at this appointment. Well, she certainly made up ground and gained more total weight, but C-Man still has her by an ounce. Caden weighs 9.8 ( 20%) and Jenna weights 9.7 (25%). They both grew taller too - over an inch! yea! C is 20.75 (2%) and J is 20.25 (3%). They still come in at pitiful percentiles since they are being compared with other full term 8 week olds. When we asked the Doctor about an adjusted scale we looked at his computer and the twins are about 50% in every category! That was good to know, glad we asked! They both got 2 shots each and something by mouth. They were pitiful! I spent the day cuddling and soothing and did literally nothing else :) This picture is my favorite and melts my heart with their little bandaids!




Jenna smiles when she is falling asleep and Caden has begun to smile in the mornings and most times you put him down to change him. We are so excited to see them start smiling more in response to us! Jenna has decided she does not want to go to sleep at night and continues to have her fussy time in the evening. She is a JOB to soothe and get sleepy at night. Once she is asleep, she is golden. In the mornings,if she wakes up for some reason too early, she is easy to soothe back down for another hour or so of sleep. Caden...oh goodness. He goes down like a dream at night. But once he wakes up (for whatever reason)..that's it! He's up. So as you can see this is just one example where the twins gang up on us and give us fits at different times of the day. It is exhausting some nights/mornings, but neat to think about how this is just reflecting their personalities God has given them to live out.

They consistently have a 5 hr cycle at night (eating/changing for first hour then sleeping for 4) followed by a 3 1/2 hr cycle. So we usually have a 11:00 pm - 4 am - 7:30 am night-time schedule. They have tricked us one night by sleeping from 11 - 5:30 am. That was heavenly..but hasn't been repeated yet :(




We are working on tummy time and breaking out some of their toys like the play gym and such. They are good for a short time before they start spitting up since they are flat on their backs...so we are hoping the medication will kick in soon so we can play more!




Finally after 8 weeks, the newborn diapers are tight! We are finishing our packs around the house now and will just start using size 1 diapers and pulling them as tight as we can. Both kids have outgrown their preemie clothes and wear Newborn outfits pretty well. Size 0-3 month is still a bit big and baggy for the most part but we are enjoying our new options in the wardrobe dept now that they are bigger!

We took the kids to church twice...one Sunday just for Lifeclass to hear Daddy teach and yesterday we took them to class and worship. Once Pastor got up to speak, the kids didn't like the silence and wanted to eat! We are taking baby steps, baby steps...:)

The biggest news of their two month birthday is that they are nursing at the same time! A gazillion thanks to my friend and twin expert, Tara, for coming over and giving some pointers. Life is so good feeding them at the same time. It is definitely hard and one of the most challenging things I've ever done...but it saves so much time! Now, the entire process of feeding, burping, changing, soothing back down takes about 30 -40 minutes and that is it! Turns out they eat better and get a fuller feeding when they are together! Yea!

Now that a day-in-the-life has some sense of schedule and normalcy, we're beginning to do some fun things in our down time....down time was the wrong word there, we have none of that! Maybe I should say happy awake time :) We've done the best we can with our Christmas Decor amongst the overflow of baby stuff. Stay tuned for some really cute pics from the twins' Christmas Party '10 tour!

Keeping me on my Toes...

This is how I found the twins during their nap the other day. Oh my. There was apparently a party in Crib 1.

Wordless Wednesday - Sleep Sacks!

So my blogger friends tell about "Wordless Wednesdays" where you just post a picture and no commentary.Seeing as I have already typed two lines, I obviously don't get it. Anyway, here's a pic I snapped that was fun. We love Sleep Sacks!

Caden Yates

ahhh Caden...our little firecracker. There was definitely no mix-up at the hospital...both kids' personalities are exactly as they were inside of me. Caden doesn't know how to sit still...if he is still too long he gets frustrated and bored. He can't be quiet either...he is King Grunter. There will be no back-seat sitting in Church service with him haha. Caden is always moving...or trying to move. He has unbelievable strength ever since we brought him home. It was about a week we had him home when he picked his head up right off our shoulder. Ever since he does it all the time and can pick it up and move it side-to-side while on his tummy. Not bad for a preemie, huh? Those who are faint and weak shouldn't hold Caden...he takes energy and strength or he will bobble right out of your arms! He is a man of a thousand faces. He is sooo animated and has the funniest faces. We joke that Jenna is our calm and content baby and Caden is our drama...but he just keeps us on our toes. He is so much fun.

If Jenna is our Insta-Burper, then Caden is our Power Burper. There have been times that I was in the other room and honestly thought it was Ryan who burped. No siree..that is my son. He is all boy...a loud boy...on both ends. :) Caden has "silent reflux" meaning all the turmoil is going on inside, he just doesn't spit it up and out. He is so pitiful because you can see him gag and hear the milk trying to come up as he chokes it back down. Absolutely.pitiful.

Caden picked up the nickname "Old Man Krinkle" early on b/c he had the biggest forehead with tons of wrinkles! Definitely gets that from the Little side of the fam.






He too, is a precious sweet baby, he is just not content to be a baby. I joke that he gets frustrated because he can't just get up and walk around. He is a wonderful cuddle-bug after he eats. He has my eyes and hair so far - course,curly and totally unmanageable! Just about everything else is Ryan Yates...exactly. He loooves music! Any toy or trinket that makes music he loves and quiets right down when it plays near him.




Just like he fights being still...he puts up a fight with other things too. Including eating! 9 our of 10 times the two of us fight when I'm nursing him. It takes me 5 -10 minutes sometimes to get him to latch on. He certainly tests my patience! Yet somehow he has kept his half-pound advantage on his sister. He is also going bald front to back which makes him look even more like an old man :)

He is going to be so much fun to keep up with. I can see me telling Ryan to take him outside when he is older just to get some energy out....go play baseball or basketball or something! :) We can tell he is going to be quite animated and funny. I so look forward to watching him grow up and experiencing Caden's world.



We love you Caden!

Jenna O'Neal

I thought it would be neat to write a post on each of the kids showing how different and unique they are. It has been exciting every single day to see their personalities come out...its fun when you have another baby to compare to ... it really makes their individuality stand out!

Jenna is our first born, by an hour. She was still and content as could be inside and that is exactly her personality now. As you know, we hardly saw her...we got a quick glimpse at our last prenatal appointment but for the most part, it was a surprise until she was born. If you remember, I was freaking out that she had Angelina Jolie lips (click here to see that picture again). Well, now we know why! Our little Jenna always has her tongue sticking out! When she sticks it out, it makes her lips look huge. How fun to know that now! Exhibits A-C:





Jenna started out being our Insta-Burper. In the first few weeks, you sat her up and before you could get your hands situated, she was done! Now, she has evolved into our Volcano-Spit-up-er. You can hardly pat her back and out milk comes! She has reflux constantly bless her heart. Its to the point where she can't fall asleep on her back without choking now so she spends alot of time in her bouncy seat and propped up on the couch with pillows. Notice the milk in her mouth when Ryan snapped this shot:




She has adopted the nicknames: "Jenna Girl" and "Sweet Jenna." Just like in the womb, on the outside, she is our content and calm baby with few exceptions: when she has gas and when she is hungry. Other than that, she is precious. Also, just like in the womb, she always favors her right side...her perfect position is to slump her right ear to her shoulder. It looks horribly painful, but she is right at home when she gets "in position." We're working on that so she doesn't end up with a flat head...this is Ryans new mission in life ( Thanks AMBER! ) ;) She has the biggest eyes, compliments of her Momma. I have promised to teach her how to use them to her advantage later in life - hehe.






She is tiny and petite right now, but she has looooong arms and fingers...perfect for Volleyball and Piano :) She has been about a half pound lighter than her brother since birth. However, she is my good eater...she is slow and consistent, latches on first try and gets a good feeding in. (very unlike her Bro). In the first few weeks...it took her an eternity to finish her 2.5 ounce bottle at night. She has turned quite voracious the past few nights :) Like her brother, she has started loosing her hair from the front to back! What is that? Also in the past week or so, her skin has turned an olive color like her Momma again. It wasn't as noticeable until you put her beside Caden.




She is a total girl in her crying...its very high pitched. We temporarily gave her the nickname "Teradactyl" for a while...it was piercing! We can definitely tell who is who when we are not in the same room - her cry is very different from Caden's.

All in all she has us wrapped around her finger...especially her two Papa's!

We love you Jenna Girl!

First Thanksgiving

We had an awesome Thanksgiving holiday last week....it was such a special day to have these two miracles with us. We had a great, chill day with my side of the family. It was awesome to have aunts and uncles begging to help and hold the babies...I even got to go upstairs for a Turkey-Coma Nap!

I couldn't help but think back to last Thanksgiving...I was in my lowest point giving up on our prayer to have children. I was tired of shots, pills, doctor appts, bills, questions...everything! It was an all out struggle to turn my heart and mind to the blessings that God had given us...which was many! Shame shame on me!

I'm so thankful for these babies...I suppose that is what has carried me through these tough 6 weeks of sporadic sleep and loud crying at times:) I'm so very thankful that they are here...its hard for me to get fed up or too frustrated with them :) They were worth every shot, question and tear shed :)

For their first Thanksgiving, the twins had to sport a rocking, coordinating outfit. :) Jenna proceeded to blow hers out with poo so poor thing she is sitting in poo while I snapped some shots before we changed her out.









And the long awaited introduction/reunion of all of my babies! My Snuggle has been staying with my parents while life is crazy for us. Thanksgiving...he met the twins! He did GREAT, he sniffed and licked and more importantly, he snuggled with me :)