Busch Gardens & Historic Williamsburg

Devin, Kevin, the babies and I set off for a little mini vacation last Wednesday. We stayed the night in Richmond with Kevin’s cousins Myra and Buddy. Their parents Lois and Dick and their son Rick and his wife Joan came over to meet the babies. It was such a quick visit I forgot to get the camera out.

We spent Thursday at Busch Gardens. It was the one request my sister had of things she wanted to do while visiting with us. We had such a great time. My parents met us at the park for the day and the seven of us set off to explore. My sister, Kevin, and mom spent the day riding roller coasters. Dad, the babies and I hung back and watched them ride those crazy things. We caught a few shows, had some yummy food, and overall just enjoyed the babies’ first theme park visit. We stayed at the park until fireworks at 9:30. The babies did SO well, but this mama was exhausted. My head couldn’t hit the pillow fast enough. The babies had their first hotel stay and must have been worn out because they slept until almost 9am!

A little blurry but shows where we were!

Love my little pink and blue

Granddaddy and his Grandson

Family photo #1

Family Photo #2

Daddy and his little boy

The next day we spent a few hours walking around historic Williamsburg. It was super hot and I had to get a few hours of work in so we didn’t stay long. We had a great little trip and were excited to spend the time and memories with my sister. I can’t believe she is leaving in a week L

We wanted to take a family photo in historic Williamsburg but Avery was sleeping so Grayson got some one on one time with us.

Love that face

Once Avery woke up it was time to take a photo on the cannons

I promise she was excited about this!

5 Month Photos

Month 5 photos were taken while we were visiting Busch Gardens...thus the fun backgrounds!

I mean how cute are we?!?!?

 

Hmm...I like your sticker!

Moooo!

5 Month Stats...

Aren't those expressions priceless?!?! I had just tried on a pair of baby VANs a friend in our neighborhood got us...too cute! Avery in a little dress with VANs haha

Weight

A: last check 2 weeks ago 9 pounds 5 ounces but I'm sure she's gained at least a pound in the last two weeks. G: 9 pounds 13 ounces but I'm sure he too has gained at least a pound. Ever since we added supplement once a day these babies have been packin it on!

Height-

A: ? G: ?

Clothing size- at 5 months Avery is still in newborn and Grayson still fits in his newborn but is branching over into 0-3 month in some brands. I was beginning to wonder if they would ever make the step out of Newborn.

Diapers-

Newborn for Avery. We started Grayson in 1's this week because he was beginning to overflow newborn diapers at night.

Feeding-

Still nursing when I'm home and they get a bottle of my pumped milk while I am at work. Although with the stress of me going back to work and not nursing quite as much I feel like we may have to start giving them a bottle at night because I don't feel like I have enough for them by the end of the day to keep them full. Pumping just doesn't seem to be keeping my supply up the way the babies could before I went back to work :( When they do get a bottle it's 4 ounces.

Hair/Eyes-

Avery's eyes are still a smokey blue and the hair she has left is dark like her daddy's. It will be awhile before she has enough hair for bows!

Grayson's eyes are a slightly brighter blue. His hair is much lighter. It began as a very light brown but seems to be turning to a dark shade of blonde. He still has a cute little bit of hair on top that will curl sometime or we shape it into a Mohawk!

Sleep-

The babies are beginning to go down earlier and earlier every night. Right now they go down between 8-8:30 depending on their fussiness. They are still sleeping until around 5 am most mornings, they nurse, and then go back to sleep until approximately 7:30. Although we've had quite a few off nights lately. I'm assuming it has had to do with Avery's virus.  It has been SO much harder to get up so many times a night now that I am back at work. They will take a short cat nap in the morning and in the evening with a longer nap in between. The afternoon nap is anywhere from two to four hours!!! We are blessed with great sleepers. They are still doing incredibly well sleeping together in their crib. I still keep them swaddled but a few times they have broken free. I hope I can keep the swaddle up a bit longer because the times I've tried not swaddling them they certainly don't sleep as long.

Fun Stuff-

Aunt Devin has been watching the babies and she seems to get the BIGGEST smiles out of them.

I ordered a baby pool off Amazon for $5 and it is awesome! Avery loved it but Grayson wasn't a huge fan. We used outside water and it was pretty cold so next time I will try filling it from inside. I put the gazillion rubber ducks in it that I got at our Raleigh baby shower and they just loved watching them float around. I could tell they wanted so badly to reach out and be able to grab them. Avery kept pushing herself back and laying flat on the water like a little sunbather. It was super cute.

I thought Avery would be our first talker (babbler) but sure enough Grayson is proving me wrong and it's him! He loves cooing and babbling.

We leave tonight for a little mini vacation in Williamsburg. My sister really wanted to go to Busch Gardens while she was here so off we go and I can't wait! Although even a short trip requires WAY too much packing when you have two babies.

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A Post of Pictures

We are still enjoying all of our quality time with Aunt Devin. It is so much fun to wake up every day and have her there. I don't know what we are going to do when she leaves. Work is okay but not as much fun now that I have two little beans I am constantly thinking about. I hate all of this time I have to spend away from them. Avery is beginning to improve in regards to her poor finger. We had one more scare with it but believe we are finally, truly, on the up and up. The babies are still doing an amazing job sleeping in their crib both at nap time and bedtime. To my surprise it was probably one of the easiest transitions we will face. They still wake one time to feed but go right back to sleep so I really can’t complain. Every day it seems like I’ve moved up their bed time as they are becoming tired earlier. They have the happiest easy going personalities and we can’t wait for each new milestone. There’s not much else going on in our neck of the woods this week so instead I’ve posted a few fun photos below of our adventures.

Hangin in the BOB for the first time

Ellie is babysitting as usual



Hangin with Aunt Dev

And she's out...



How cute is he?!?!

Loving Daddy time

and he's out...



Playing with Aunt Devin while Mommy works

Aunt Devin is in town!

After a little over a week with my mom we now have my sister in town. She is here to spend quality time with the babies and help me by watching them while I am at work. She is here for a month and we couldn't be more excited. We have so many fun things planned. Although I think her main priority is to get some good time in with A&G. She has been sending me super cute photos of the babies while I sit behind my computer screen. Somehow I think they are having way more fun than I am!



This is by far one of my favorite photos of the babies. She captured both of them smiling at the same time. I wonder what she did to get them to grin so big?!?!?

Avery's First Virus

Sure enough I go back to work and one of my babies gets sick. It started last week (my second week back). I came home from work July 3rd and noticed her finger looked a little red. It was after office hours so I figured it would have to wait until they reopen after the July 4th holiday. The next day it was worse so I called the doctors office and got the nurses hotline. I called in and they said I should take her to Righttime Pediatrics. Long story short I will never go there again. They gave her the wrong diagnosis of an ingrown fingernail along with the wrong prescription in the wrong dose. We were calling all over trying to get it filled and little did we know it doesn't exist. The next day we ended up in our Peds office and they gave us an antibiotic. Our doctor felt there was something she was missing so she had us come in the next day (Friday). It was then that she discovered what it really was. She has a virus that has shown symptoms in her finger. She is not acting sick but her finger was getting worse by the day. It was incredibly swollen and she had sores all over it that are similar to cold sores. They started showing up on the next finger over as well as a small patch on her arm. Our doctor opened the office on both Saturday and Sunday just for us to make sure Avery didn't need to be admitted to the hospital. Throughout this whole ordeal Avery has been such a trooper. We had a rough couple of nights of sleep but other than that you would never know something was wrong without looking at her poor little finger. Every day it was getting worse but finally on Monday when we made our 6th consecutive trip into the doctors office she felt things were starting to look a little better. Avery did not have a fever, there were no new sores, and the existing ones seemed to be looking a tad bit better. We are so thankful she is on the mend. By the looks of her poor finger I know it is super painful. We are praying for a quick recovery for our baby girl.

You can see in the pictures below how it just kept getting worse and really looks like cold sores on the finger.I kept thinking this can't get any worse and sure enough it did. My poor baby girl!

Laid back as usual waiting to be checked out

Smiley baby girl!

Rest is much needed this week!

A Few Must Haves

I recently sent an email to a good friend of mine that is expecting a baby in the next few weeks. It included a few must haves that weren't in the books or recommended from friends. I thought it would be something worth posting in my blog so moms to be could check them out. Below is the list. It certainly doesn't encompass all must haves but does include some that I couldn't live without but didn't necessarily know about before the babies arrived.
Pump wipes- they are super easy and guaranteed hygienic for pump accessories. I wish I'd had them sooner. Sometimes I was having to clean the pump pieces 4 times or more a day. They are especially great for work. I don’t exactly want to be cleaning breast pump accessories in front of all the men in my office kitchen. The nice thing about this pack is they are individually wrapped like wet naps you use after eating crabs. They also had the highest quantity for the cheapest price.

Milk bags- again the highest quantity for the cheapest price by far. You will definitely need these if you are nursing.

Bottle brush- I loved this one because there is no sponge on it. Sponges always stink and get nasty in my sink. This one has soft plastic bristles which are awesome and really get the bottles a lot cleaner in my opinion.

Dapple- baby safe cleaner. Before I was using baby safe cleaner to clean the bottle pieces, pump pieces, and pacifiers I had to REALLY make sure all the soap came off. If it doesn’t baby can get really sick. With this stuff or anything like it you don’t have to be as careful because of the ingredients used. This stuff is also designed to target milk residue. You can find this product on amazon or at babies R us.

Lucky baby slings- They seem to be the cheapest version. I got this one because it was on Zulilly. If you find it on there it will be even cheaper. I think I paid $30 something and this thing has been a LIFESAVER! It holds baby securely and provides total hand use while holding baby close. Avery is addicted. If she is the slightest bit fussy I throw her in and she's immediately calmed and usually falls right to sleep. I think she loves it so much because it mimics being in the womb. I have also taught myself how to make them so message me if you are interested or want to purchase one for a friend.

You could probably get by without some of these but I felt they made life a little easier...especially with multiples and going back to work.