Shutterfly, the best place to order your holiday cards!

Shutterfly has the best selection of holiday cards. I can't wait to order ours this year. They allow you to use as many pictures as you would like and have an amazing selection of designs to chose from. Here is the link to the photo cards, which is what we plan to use. Here are Christmas cards http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery. If you prefer Happy Holiday cards, you can find them here. http://www.shutterfly.com The non-photo Christmas cards are also very nice. http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/christmas-cards


In the past we have ordered photo items from Shutterfly and have been very impressed with them. This will be our first year ordering cards, but I can't wait. We plan to use a 3 photo card, which allows us to put a picture of each of the boys individually (since it's much easier to get "good" pictures individually) and one of them together. Sending out photo cards is such a wonderful way to share our little guys with family and friends we don’t get to see as often as we would like to.

If you are a Blogger as well, you can take advantage of a great promotion Shutterfly has going on. Bloggers get 50 free holiday cards from Shutterfly… sign up: http://bit.ly/sfly2010

Happy card shopping everyone!

It's been a while!

Wow, so I guess I suck at blogging! I will post more, I promise! Maybe I will start posting a picture a day, that will keep me on top of it! :)




Connor and Aiden will be 6 months old in 8 days. It's amazing how quickly time flies! I am home with them every day, and I love it! They are a lot of work, but I really enjoy spending so much time with them and watching them grow. They are both healthy and happy. Aiden's reflux seems to be improving which is great! He still has some rough days. This past Saturday was one of his worst days. His hemangiomas seem to have stopped growing. Hopefully they will start to shrink soon. They both have had two sets of ear infections, but other than that we have been healthy.

Their Baptism was last Sunday, February 21st. It was lovely. They looked so handsome in their outfits. Aiden cried through about half of the ceremony, but such is life! We had a party at my parents' house after which was really nice. The boys were exhausted and slept great that night!

They have changed so much! They love playing with mommy and daddy. They constantly want to be entertained. The love their exersaucer and jumperoo! The laugh all the time, they are just so much fun! Aiden weighs about 14 lbs, while Connor weighs 19ish. Watching them learn and develop is amazing. They still haven't rolled over, but hopefully will soon. Their adjusted age is a little over 4 months. Some milestones they seem to reach a bit late since they came over 6 weeks early. For most though, they seem right on track.




We took them out to dinner for the first time this past weekend. We went to Applebees and went at 4:30, so that if all hell broke loose there would hopefully not be too many people there trying to enjoy a nice dinner. It went well, actually! Aiden slept the entire time and Connor enjoyed looking around and playing with toys. It is nice to know that we can go out to dinner again. :) I missed going out to restaurants. They both started eating solids over a month ago. Some favorites are: sweet potatoes, carrots, applesauce, and peas. We set their high chairs up over the weekend and they seem to love them!





I am so ready for spring. It will be so nice to be able to go on walks, go to the zoo, enjoy the fresh air, etc. This has been a long winter, or at least it seems that way. We are able to take them in public now which is nice. We go on trips to Target, CostCo, etc. during the day. It's nice getting out of the house. They love shopping! Mommy's boys.... :) They also love watching Kevin play video games and like to watch sports! :)

Life with Twins!

I haven't updated this in quite some time! Our little guys don't leave me much time during the day to do much of anything. :) Aiden is on my lap as I type this. :) Connor has discovered his hands and now loves his jungle gym! He is on that playing! Neither of them have slept since Kevin left for work this morning at 7:30. It's 11 now!

They are absolutely amazing! We love them so much! They are a ton of work, but they are wonderful. I am home now almost every day with them by myself. Some days go great, some I am in tears! There are days where I literally won't have more than a minute without a crying baby. They tend to wake each other up, so many times one crying baby turns into two! They sleep much better at night now though, which is nice. They still wake up every 3 hours to eat, but usually sleep well in between feedings. We have been sleeping downstairs with them most nights since they came home. We started a bad habit! Some nights, I will take one of the babies up to our bedroom and they will sleep on the boppy in the bed next to me. They have yet to sleep in their cribs at night. We are going to try to get them in their cribs every night by the end of next week. :) We will probably have a few long nights, but it will be so nice once they sleep in their cribs.

It is amazing how quickly they have grown! I can't believe these were my little 4 and 5 lb babies. Connor is 12 lbs now, and Aiden is almost 10. They have grown out of most of thier newborn clothes and newborn diapers. I am still procrastinating boxing up all the clothes! I just haven't been able to do it yet! They wear 3 months now, and Connor probably won't fit in those too much longer!

It is so neat to watch their little personalities developing. They are so much more alert now. They both love watching tv! They love tummy time too! Aiden is a fussier baby because he has reflux. I feel so bad for the little guy. His belly is always bothering him. He is on Zantac now and it has been helping some. We feel so bad for him. It seems to hurt him so much just to eat. :( I really hope it gets better soon! Poor little guy. He also has hemangiomas. They are vascular birth marks. He has a few on his head and some on his chest and legs as well. They are supposed to go away by the time he is two or so. They don't bother him at all. He goes to a dermatologist at Rainbow Babies and Children's for them. I feel bad that he has them, but I realize that they don't bother him at all! :) By the time he is old enough to have them bother him, they should be gone. Connor herniated his umbilical, but the Dr. said that it shouldn't be a problem. Besides that, our boys are happy healthy little guys! :)

We miss daddy lots during the day! It is so much easier at night when he gets home! Kevin is a wonderful dad! My mom is back at work now, but she was such a help! She has still been helping us out! My parents came and watched the boys for a few hours on Saturday night so Kevin and I could go out for a date night. We missed our little guys, but it was so nice to have dinner together! It was the first time we had been out to dinner since our anniversary in August. We haven't had the chance since the babies came and I really hadn't felt up for it at the end of my pregnancy. We had a really nice time. :)

Walks are another lifesaver! The boys love them! They sleep the entire time! On nicer days, I go for nice long walks all around Lakewood. Too bad it is getting cold.... I wish we lived somewhere warm! We can't wait until we are able to take them out more. So far, the only places we have taken them are: for walks, the doctor's, the zoo, and the pumpkin patch. I think things will be much easier once we are able to take them places. :)

I can't believe our little guys are 9 weeks old already! Time is going by SO FAST!

Being a dad :)

It has been awesome!  They came into this world a lot faster than we had planned but I guess you learn pretty quickly with two.  It still doesn't feel real sometimes when I think about being a dad.  I look at these beautiful little guys and I'm amazed.  It is hard leaving them to go to work, especially after the weekend.  I look forward all day to 4:00 when I can go home and see Lauren and the boys.  I am learning patience which is not one of my finer traits.  It's been really hard to get used to the lack of sleep but I have learned the value of a strong cup of joe!  I take the night shift to give Lauren some sleep.  She goes upstairs anywhere between 9:30 and 11:00 and can normally sleep until 1:30 - 2:30.  I give her a lot of credit because by two o'clock I am pretty much done.  It is definitely a tough job trying to take care of them by yourself.  They are getting better at sleeping more at night and hopefully we can get them in their cribs soon.  They both are getting so big, relatively, and they have become a lot more alert.  It's a new adventure every day and I look forward to what the future will bring all of us.  I’m going to cut it short because Connor is crying :)  Till next time........

 

Birth Story!!!

September 10, 2009



September 10th was supposed to be my second last day at work and I was so ready for it!  I was 33 weeks and 5 days pregnant. I had been getting the stomach cramps that I had been getting the past couple of weeks and they were really bad again.  I had to pull over on my way to work in the morning.  \.  I was uncomfortable all day, but didn't think much of it since I thought I was just having the same muscle spasms I had been having. It was a LONG day at work! I couldn't even sit. The ride home was also really uncomfortable and I pulled over while driving, but not as bad as the morning.  I finally got home and laid down on the couch to relax a little bit and hopefully get rid of the cramping (I think at this point they were contractions).  I had been laying there for about 5 minutes when I felt something kind of funny.  I stood up to go to the bathroom and realized my water had broken!  Kevin rushed over to see what was wrong because I was freaking out.  He grabbed my phone and called the doctor.  The answering service had her paged and told us she would be calling us back.  It seemed like forever until she did, but I think it was maybe 5 minutes tops!  In the meantime, Kevin frantically tried to pack the hospital bag that I had not yet packed and planned to do that upcoming weekend.  He eventually gave up and decided he would come back home and grab everything!

My doctor called and told us to go to the hospital. I think considering I remained pretty calm.  I did cry a little on the way since it was pretty early for the boys to be making their debut!  We called our parents and told them what had happened and that we would keep them posted. We got to the hospital, where they confirmed that my water had in fact broken.  At this point in time I was REALLY feeling the contractions!

The nurses asked me when the last time I ate was (which was 4 pm and it was now 6:30 or so) and told me we had to wait 6 to 8 hours from then to do the c-section.  I was really regretting that snack I had at 4!  They said I would just have to wait it out (without pain killers while having contractions and not able to drink anything....not fun!) My doctor got to the hospital at about 7, did an ultrasound to confirm that both boys were still breech (they were!), and said that she wanted me in the operating room getting prepped in a half hour (it was 7:15 and we would be going in at 7:45).....  I couldn't believe it!  I thought it was going to be 3 to 5 more hours......  We called our parents back to let them know they should leave asap!  In a way it was good that I didn't have anytime to get nervous about the c-section.  Not that I wasn't nervous....  I have never been so nervous in my life!  I think the more time I had to get worked up over it though, it would have been harder.

At exactly 7:45 I had to say goodbye to Kevin temporarily to go into the operating room for the prep and the spinal.  I cried while being wheeled in a bit since I was so nervous.  I was nervous for the spinal, but most of all nervous that the babies were coming and I was only 33 weeks pregnant.  There were so many people in the operating room!  It is all kind of a blur, but it seemed like about 15.  The spinal wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.  I didn't look at the needle....  They gave me a local anesthetic which pinched a little.  The actual spinal just felt like a lot of pressure.  The nurses and my doctor held my hands and talked me through it.  As soon as the spinal was given, they laid me down and let Kevin come back into the room.  Surgery was started.  It went by surprisingly fast!  Before I knew it, my doctor told Kevin to get ready if he wanted to take pictures because baby a was about to be born.  I heard the most beautiful sound in the world, at 8:13 pm Connor Daniel was born and I heard his cry.  The doctor or a nurse (not sure who actually did it) held him up above the curtain.  He looked so beautiful!  A minute later at 8:14 pm Aiden Patrick was born and I heard his beautiful cry and saw his adorable face!

They took them over to be cleaned up and evaluated.  Connor weighed 5lbs 5oz and Aiden weighed 4lbs 14oz.  Connor was 18 3/4 inches and Aiden was 18 1/2 inches.  They brought both babies over for a minute so we could see them, but we weren't able to hold them.  They were both absolutely beautiful.  They took them off to the Neonatal intensive care unit where they would be for the next 5 and 6 days.  They finished up my surgery and took me to the recovery room where we stayed until almost 11.  Both of our parents came in to visit.  We were really hoping to be able to go to see our babies!  On the way to the postpartum floor, they wheeled me into the NICU and I was able to hold Connor.  Aiden was having a little breathing trouble, so I wasn't able to hold him that night.  They were both breathing room air and were doing well.  Aiden had a feeding tube that night, but by the next morning he was bottle feeding.

The rest of our stay in the hospital was great.  I love Fairview hospital!  The rooms were really nice and the nurses were wonderful.  When it was time to go home Monday morning the 14th, I actually didn't want to leave.  The babies were still there and being at the hospital was nice.  Kevin and I both cried when we left since we weren't taking our boys with us.  It was really hard.

The next morning, September 15th I got a call from the doctor in the NICU and he told me that Connor would be coming home that night.  We were so happy!  :)  I went to visit the boys that day with my mom and brother.  That night, Kevin and I went to pick up Connor.  It was so awesome to have him  home!  :)  The doctor told us that Aiden would be able to come home the next day.  What an awesome feeling that was! The next night, my parents watched Connor while we went and picked up Aiden.  It feels so good to have our little family all home and together.  I cried a little when we left the NICU (which doesn't seem to make sense).  The nurses there were absolutely wonderful and taught us so much!  They sent us home with a ton of stuff.  I felt like the babies were so safe there and taking them home without all their monitors and nurses 24 hours a day was a little bit scary. 

So far, the babies are doing wonderful!  We love having them home with us.  Last week was pretty exhausting.  Neither of us slept a whole lot in the hospital.  The first couple of nights with the babies home were pretty rough as far as sleep is concerned.  The one night, Connor was up literally ALL night long fussing.  The past couple of nights have been much better.  Since they are preemies they sleep a lot.  They wake up when they are hungry or have a dirty diaper for the most part.  Some nights that is often, some it is only every few hours. 

 My mom has been coming over every day to help me out, which has been such a help!  It is hard to take care of two babies by myself when they both want to eat at the same time, etc.  Thank God for my mom coming to help out!  I hope Kevin can get a long weekend with us soon!  :)

We never realized how scary having preemies actually is.  We always knew it was scary, but after what the doctors and nurses have told us, it is much more scary than we could have ever imagined.  We were basically told to go into lock down for the next several months.  We are only to let very limited people visit and absolutely no little kids. We aren't allowed to take them out to a store or restaurant until about May when RSV season is over.  We can't put them in day care until at least the spring, etc.  If our kids get a fever they automatically have to go to the ER and get a spinal tap.  It's hard to hear these things, and it definitely doesn't help us to not worry!  It's going to be hard to tell people they can't see the babies for a while.  We feel guilty because we want everyone to be able to come see them and hold them right away.  Not being able to just run up to the grocery store when I am home with them is going to be difficult too.  The next few months are going to be long, but worth it.

We feel so so blessed to have these perfect little men.  It is so neat to see their little personalities already developing.  We love them so much!

Aiden Patrick





Connor Daniel





 So precious!

The first post....Pregnancy

Well, tomorrow I will be 33 weeks pregnant with Connor Daniel and Aiden Patrick. Kevin and I can't wait to meet them! I meant to start a blog sooner, but am just getting around to it now.

So I guess to sum up what I have not posted this pregnancy.... So far, it has been great (as great as it can be considering I am gigantic and can barely move at this point!). Kevin and I found out we were pregnant on February 20, 2009. We were surprised, but really excited! Three days later, I was having some complications and we feared the worst. I went into the doctor, ended up having an ultrasound and our one surprise became two! We found out we were expecting twins on February 23rd! Their official due date is October 24th.


It's TWINS!

I had a bit of a hard time with morning sickness in the first trimester and part of the second. It was pretty tough considering I was working tax season hours (minimum of 55 per week). Somehow, though it actually went by pretty fast and I got through it. Kevin did all the cooking and cleaning and basically took over the house work so that I could rest when I got home from work.

We found out that we are having 2 boys when I was 17 weeks pregnant! That weekend the shopping began. :)

We had two showers which were lovely. People were so generous and we got so much stuff for the boys! I think they have more clothes than Kevin and I do now. :) I can't wait for them to be able to wear them all.

As for the nursery, my grandma bought us one of our cribs and our changing table, my parents bought us the other crib, and Kevin's parents bought us their mattresses. The nursery is ready now, and I am really happy with the way it turned out.





This past week we had a little bit of a scare that these boys were trying to make an early arrival! I was having terrible pains in my lower stomach that were so bad, that I had to pull over while driving and was almost in tears. I went into the doctor and ended up in the hospital all day because I was having contractions. They gave me an IV, which didn't stop them, then a shot which eventually worked. We were able to go home that night. I can't go back to work until Tuesday, which is kind of nice because it was starting to get a little overwhelming and I needed a break. The doctor took a pre-term labor test, and it came back negative meaning the odds of me going into labor in the next 1o days are very small. We want these little guys to keep cooking.

As of this past Monday, Connor and Aiden are both breech, so it looks like I will have to have a C-section. There is still hope that they will flip, but according to the doctor and nurses it's pretty unlikely. They weighed 4lbs 14oz and 4lbs 11oz on Monday and were in the 91st and 85th percentile. They are big healthy little guys so far. :) Kevin and I feel so blessed and can't believe that they will be here shortly. If I haven't gone into labor on my own, we will have a scheduled C-section when I am 38 weeks along (around October 10th).

We are so excited! This pregnancy has actually gone by really fast! In a way I feel like I have been pregnant forever, but then again it has flown by so far. I am hoping these next few weeks go by quickly. I am very uncomfortable now and can't wait to be able to move again and meet these little guys! :)


Connor around 22 weeks


Aiden doesn't like getting his picture taken. We have never gotten a good picture of his face. This is the best 3d ultrasound picture we have of him (his spine). He wants to surprise us!


Aiden

Aiden's little hand

Connor Profile


Connor 27 weeks

Connor's little feet