Roz’s mix tape

Rosalyn always picks this song to eat to.

We’re not sure why, but it seems to calm her nerves.

Rosalyn arrives, survives, and thrives

Nicole got really sick Friday night. So she drank some hot chocolate, which usually clears things up. But not Friday night…she didn’t “hold onto” that hot chocolate for very long. It must not have agreed with the soup she had earlier…

The next morning her stomach tried to rid itself of any vestiges of hot chocolate remaining. Whether it was dehydration or just “the time” she soon realized that the abdominal pains she was feeling were actually contractions. She remained in the bedroom while I fed the boys breakfast. When she emerged from the bedroom, her water had broken.

We were going to clean the house Saturday morning, and Nicole was going to attend a cookie exchange. I was going to hang out with the boys—maybe go to the park. There’s a real nice fenced in park over in east Chapel Hill that the boys love. I tried to vacuum the van there once, but—oh, wait, I’m telling a story here.

Not long after Nicole told me what was shakin’, we commenced our phone calls starting at the top of tree and worked our way down. It was a small tree—we were probably going to expand it on Saturday. Some really nice people helped out, and we were on our way to the hospital at 11 am.

Nicole: Since my previous labor was induced, I was worried that I wouldn’t know when I was actually in labor. But to my opposite-of-chagrin (don’t know what word fits there), I was admitted to the labor room. Since I had been feeling sickly, I opted to have an epidural pretty early. It was apparent that I was too exhausted to be messing around with labor pains.

I got really hyper after the epidural and chatted with the nurses incessantly. After that I was able to relax for the next 5 hours before I started pushing (I like pushing--really I do).

Nicole could still move her legs and enjoyed that fact—maybe one of the reasons she was hyper. She started pushing at 8:15 pm and finished pushing at 10:05 pm. Rosalyn was trying to pull a Brookston by looking sort of upwards instead of down like you’re supposed when you’re coming on out—I mean everyone knows that…

She looked pretty bruised up, but she was pretty darn cute.

Credit: Rebecca Mudrick of Darling Art Photography

This beat the trash out of 8 hours of pushing. The room was so calm throughout the entire process, and Nicole was a champ. No crazy post-partum craziness for Nicole this time, just straight to the recovery room with a sweet li’l Roz.

It wasn’t until the next day when we were told Roz’s platelet levels were really low, which probably contributed to the bruising. But look at that picture above. Does she look like she needs anyone to tell her what’s up? Regardless, they took her to intensive care to keep a close eye on her.

A day and a half later, her platelets were normal with no signs of severe internal bleeding. That’s right, Roz, you tell ‘em. That just left her with high bilirubin counts and a kidney procedure (that we had ben expecting since week 18 in pregnancy). But the procedure was a fairly simple one according to the pediatric urologist, so we weren’t to worry about that.

Nicole: I was discharged on Monday feeling really great and not swollen. But with Roz in the NICU it made feeding her a bit tricky. It was like we were homeless people in the hospital. But with the help of a lot of kind nurses and staff we were able to land boarder rooms in the hospital. Each time we secured a room for the night (which was an uncertain day to day thing) I would cry for joy. Just bawl. So that’s good.

We sat in that boarder room waiting for Roz to wake up enough from general anesthesia to get a good meal in. We were hoping to bring her home for Christmas. I thought she’d fit pretty well under the tree.

The boys came to visit once while Nicole was still in recovery. They had a blast looking out the window and calling out every car that passed on the street below.

Friday came, and the nurses told us Roz had lost a lot of weight and was a bit dehydrated. So they started her back on IV fluids to try and get some good stuff in her. She also had a distended looking stomach, which turned out to be a lot of stool just backed up from the lack of GI motility during general anesthesia effects. With a little bit of stimulation to her hind parts and some good meals on Friday she was back up to her pre-Friday weight and her bili counts were markedly lower on Saturday.

Of course, they wanted to observe a good trend in health, so we spent Christmas in the NICU. They let Roz sleep-in with us Saturday night.

Nicole: The day I went into labor it snowed, and the day we brought Rosalyn home it snowed again. Roz made it happen – her middle name is Frost and she likes to arrive in style.

We had fun that night, but are glad to be home. The boys stared in awe and amazement when we brought before them Miss Rosalyn, and I think they’re going to enjoy having her around. I must admit, though, that I’m a bit nervous about what kind of schemes they’ll devise at their sister’s expense.

Welcome home, Roz. Welcome home.

Tradition

THE ASSEMBLY:

The goods:  

The concentration:

The lovely parents:  

Nick’s ho-ho chimney:

My Oreo sandwich roof:

THE FINISHED HOUSE:

The front:

The back:

The snowman:

The lollipop trees: 

The duck pond:

The end!

no gloves? no problem…

…at least for a little while.

 

Christmas Toy Recommendations

One of my friends asked for my recommendation for a toy to buy for her 18 month old nephew, (Hey Lauren!  I hope this isn’t too late) and I told her I’d blog about it.  So, this is not a wish list, this is a review of some of my boy’s favorite toys:

Schylling ABC Humming Top (I found this on sale at Target).

Just B. Meowsic Piano (I also found this on sale at Target).

Automoblox (Okay, my boys don’t have these, but I wish they did.)  Right now my boys like just about any car of any size and shape.

There you have my top three toy recommendations for boys around 18 months old.  I’m sure this has meant so much to every one of you.

Two apples meet their end.

The aforementioned apples were prematurely plucked  from the grocery bag by two crafty toddlers.  Before parental intervention could prevent it, the apples were carried off into the woods and slowly devoured.

Everett

 

  Brookston

 

The apples, intended for lunch the following day, were instead finished off in the bath tub.  Those toddlers had developed an affinity for their company, and would not be persuaded to let the fated apples go.  It was a delectable bath night.

 

If Brookston and Everett had their way they would have let the apples share their crib for the night.  There wasn’t much left of either apple, though, and the boys were content to sleep alone…even though they share a room…so they’re not really alone alone…but I think you get the picture.

31 weeks

31 weeks with twins                                                     31 weeks with a li’l lady

September and IKEA

Back in the day, that is to say, September, we took our annual trip to IKEA. If you’ll allow me to be open about the subject, it was far more stressful with twin boys who insisted upon moving themselves about the place in opposite directions than it was with twin babes strapped to our fronts. But it was equally amusing.

Last year our visit looked something like this:

And this year it looked like this: Until we hit the doors and then it looked more like this:

My beautiful mother was in town helping me with all my projects. She came along--and she gave excellent suggestions on couches and such. Here she is sitting on one. (A couch, not a suggestion. Though this was her couch suggestion, so I guess she’s sitting on both. Ah, well.)

Last year lunch was meatballs for the old people and the ‘usual’ for the little people. It looked like this:

This year we all ate meatballs, and we all used forks.

Brookston:

Everett:

Here is Everett busy eating while Brookston spies…

…a charming fellow a few tables down. They waved and enjoyed themselves thoroughly. However, Brookston was not inclined to share his meatballs.

And now, please marvel at this short video:

Will we brave it next year in September? Our little lady should be old enough to eat the meatballs by then…How could we not?

September

My Amy recently blogged about a game she plays called “Where was I?” and posted her Septembers thru the years. Her recall is amazing, and I’ve seen her track down dates in her head like a toddler on a cherrio trail (side note: I accidently just typed toodler instead of toddler just now and after laughing about it for a bit I’ve decided that’s what I’m going to call them from now on).

So, anyway, my recall is not amazing, (I’m like a toddler trying to feed herself those same cheerios with a spoon) and I spent a good hour or two looking thru old journals and school planners thoroughly confused and trying to recreate where I’ve been in Septembers past. So, for the sake of posterity, here I was in September:

September 1999 – I’ve finally arrived as a sophomore @ Greeley West High with great friends. I'm in some weirdo rigorous International Baccalaureate program and have a ton of homework. I'll soon be elected sophomore class VP. (We’re allowed to brag about high school, right? It was so long ago…)

September 2000 - I'm a junior in high school in a new town in Indiana where my dad is starting his new job. I miss my old high school, and the school spirit, but I'm trying to make the best of it. I learn what a ‘Hoosier’ is this month in an embarrassing manner.

September 2001 - I'm a senior in high school with plans to graduate early in December. Small town Indiana schools are evidently not for me.

September 2002 – I’m feeling pretty cool among all the new freshman as a 2nd Semester Freshman @ Purdue and am developing a crush on a cute boy in my biology class. Speaking of September, He had just written an album entitled September Blues. I’m on the activities committee at church and am planning and participating in all sorts of social events.

September 2003 – I join and quit the Purdue Crew team this month. They want your life (or every Sunday of your life) and I wasn’t willing to give it to them, though I loved it. My only journal entry this month is about missing Nick (that cute boy from Biology class), who is on his mission.

September 2004 – Interestingly enough, my only journal entry this year in September is about missing Nick and wishing he’d write to me. I guess it’s just September Blues. In my old planner I have things penciled in like Ultimate Frisbee every Saturday morning, Spanish class and interior design assignments that are due, and little notes marking the days where I had heart to heart talks with friends. A squirrel breaks into our house this month and leads us on a chase all over the house and we name him Mike. He is also immortalized in duct tape sculpture later that September.

September 2005 – I’ve just spent the summer in Maine for the second year with amazing friends. Though sadly I begin classes without my Hannah love, to whom I had been joined at the hip all through Interior Design. She’s married and off in Albuquerque. This September that cute boy of mine mentions wedding dates for the upcoming summer…

what we looked like Sept. 2005

September 2006 – I’ve been married for 9 months and I’ve just started my Senior year in Interior Design. I get to teach the Young Women at church and I love it.

September 2007 – It’s the first fall I don’t have to go back to school. I have a job and Nick is starting school. I don’t envy him one bit.

September 2008 – I'm new in Chapel Hill and Nick is just starting classes @ UNC. I love our new place and am excited to meet new people and re-define myself. I walk with him everyday to campus and spend time wondering around the gardens and reading books on the park bench. It’s idyllic.

September 2009 - I have ridiculously cute 3 month old twin boys and my moms have just left town. I am all alone and worried whether or not I can hack it. I’ve reached the stage when all the lactation consultants said feedings would be wonderful and I find they are gravely mistaken. But I still feel like I’ve won the lottery (for lack of a better phrase). Nick and I are closer than ever. e and b last September

September 2010 - I'm about 6 months pregnant with a baby girl, and totally excited to meet her, and nervous again to see if I can hack it with one more li'l kid. My little 16 month old toodlers (ha ha) are in life threatening peril daily but also make me laugh daily. My mom was just in town to help me get my nest in order and I’m feeling a little better with most of my projects finished. Thank goodness for moms!

It’s interesting to me how fast things seem to have occurred when written like this, and how slow it all felt when I was living it. Who knows what it will be next September!

Happy Birthday soon, Pops!