Babies 1st Easter

The babies had a great first Easter. Nana and Granddad were in town the weekend before and truly spoiled them. Nana bought everything for their Easter basket and even made their outfits. She got them a couple of outfits for when they are bigger and a few toys 3-6 months for when they are a little bigger. I didn't end up buying them a thing for their baskets. Although I did buy them their adorable personalized Easter baskets. I plan on re-using them each year. I can't wait until they are big enough to carry them around themselves hunting for Easter eggs. We spent the day at Aunt Rosemarie's with her kids and some of Shawn's family members. We ate yummy foods and the babies got passed around for all to see. All in all it was an extra special day. They may not remember it but I sure will!

I took this picture on Easter morning before the babies woke up

Tummy time with her cute little bunny bloomers
Is this not the cutest bunny butt you've ever seen???

Avery's adorable 1st Easter dress made by Nana

Grayson's 1st Easter outfit made by Nana

Spoiled rotten babies

Our 1st Easter as a family

Love my babies

They didn't like their Easter baskets very much

One month old

The babies turned one month old on March 18th. Yet again I am behind on this post but hope to be caught up by their second month birthday. I couldn't believe how quickly their first month passed. We spent two weeks in the hospital and two weeks at home, It was an amazing first month as a mom with my sweet babies. I love every moment with them and try to cherish all the firsts. We had lots of first visits with family and friends, our first trip out alone, our first night home alone, our first walk, and so on.

Happy 1 month my sweet beans. We love you to the moon and back and can't wait for all the months and moments ahead!

Ellie watching over the beans

My little beans

The picture didn't quite work sitting in their crib

They fit in their bouncy seat together

Kevin as a dad

One of the best parts about bringing these babies into the world is seeing Kevin as a dad. I had always imagined it would be a gradual adjustment for him once the babies arrived. I was SO wrong. He became an amazing dad the instant these babies arrived. I have grown even more in love with him (if that's even possible) watching him with our children. He is protective and absolutely in love with them. From the moment they came out of my belly he has been smitten with them. The entire time we were in the hospital he asked questions and jumped at any chance to take care of them and change diapers. I never once had to ask him to do something or help me. He was more than eager to do anything he could. Even with all the wires he did not hesitate.

One of my absolute favorite moments in the hospital was when I was in Grayson's room feeding him and Kevin was in Avery's room holding her. They were adjoining rooms so we could hear each other but couldn't see each other. Kevin spoke across to me and said, "I thought I married the most beautiful girl in the world but I hate to say you may have a little competition. Avery is so beautiful. We made one beautiful baby girl". All I can say is my heart melted at this moment. I'm not sure I even said anything back. I just smiled and took that moment in :)

Every day I see Kevin with his children makes me the happiest person in the world. The days he has to travel for work I miss him more than he knows. He is a huge help and I can't wait for him to get back to our little family. I can't wait to grow even more with him and our children and see all that is ahead for us.

Catch up...

Since I am clearly WAY behind on posting about life with the babies I am going to do a catch up post of memories. This could be a boring post but I want to remember all the little things about the first days with the babies...

We came home from the hospital on Friday March 2nd. When we arrived home Kevin's Mom Kay and Aunt Rose Marie were at the house to welcome us. Later that night Chase, Melissa, and McKenna came by to visit. We ended up getting take out food from Lure's and enjoyed dinner together.

Saturday and Sunday March 3rd and 4th we had numerous visitors in and out to see us now that we were home. I think we tried to get a little sleep in between but it's all kind of a blur now. Kevin's mom came by one last time before she hit the road to head back to Winston-Salem. She had been in town for a week and it was now time for her to head home.

On Monday March 5th we had the babies newborn session with the photographer Stacey Lee. We gave the babies their first bath that morning as we quickly rushed to get ready before she arrived. Of course they decided for the first time they wanted to stay awake when we were hoping they would sleep through the pictures. Stacey and I spent hours trying to lull them back to sleep so she could get the shots. We finally got them to sleep and she got some amazing pictures. I will post those soon...

As soon as the photo shoot was over we headed to the babies first doctors visit with Dr. Gvozden. They did so well and weighed in at. We then headed home to greet Kevin's step mom Karen as she was arriving from Winston-Salem to spend the week with us.

Sadly Kevin had to head back to Richmond on March 6th to work for a few days. He made it home to join us for our next doctors appointment on March 12th. The babies did very well again and weighed in at.

On March 7th we took our first walk and trip down to the beach in our neighborhood. Karen was still in staying with us. We loaded the babies up in their carseats and snapped them into the stroller. I made sure they were extra bundled. It was a beautiful day out. We walked around the neighborhood (which felt great) and on our way back to the house we stopped down at the beach so the babies could see our awesome neighborhood ammenity. We all really enjoyed the fresh air and sun so we made sure to take a walk every day that we could. Sometimes daddy was able to join us.

After Karen left I was officially alone with the babies on March 11th. We did very well. The babies were still sleeping all the time so it really wasn't too difficult. I was able to catch up on some work and things around the house I needed to get done and I even fit a little sleep in. We spent the week getting adjusted and had a few visitors in between. It was a nice first week alone.

The babies and I had our first trip out on March 11th. Suzanne came to spend the day with us so we took advantage of the extra help and took a trip to Babies R Us. We needed a couple of things for the babies so we loaded up the car with the returns, the babies, the diaper bag, the stroller and headed off. With feeding every 3 hours we only had a little over an hour before the next feeding so we had to be quick. There were a few customers that had to ogle over the babies but thankfully no one touched them.We scooted in, scooted out, and made it back home just in time for some hungry babies. All in all it was a successful first trip out.

Our first trip out alone was on March 14th. Again, it was a pretty tight schedule to get an errand ran in between feedings. Since I was going solo on this one I made sure I had everything ready and in the car before I fed the babies. Once they were done feeding we jumped in the car and headed to Target. We got a few baby items we needed as well as a few groceries. With two I have to maneuver around with their stroller. Using a cart is no longer an option for us :) Using their stroller I can only get what will fit in the cart below their stroller. We took care of what we needed, packed back in the car, and headed home for the next feeding. I didn't even have time to unload the groceries. That had to wait until after the babies fed. Needless to say errand running isn't as easy or quick as it used to be.

Our first day without a single visitor was March 16th. The babies had at least a visitor a day for a month. We took advantage and sat back and relaxed, slept and enjoyed our day together.

Annette and Jim came to visit the next day on March 17th. They were in love holding the babies. It was so neat to see two people so special in raising me caring so much for my babies. They also brought lunch, cooked dinner and left extra groceries. We were spoiled by the Fisher's as usual.

On March 23rd it was the first gorgeous, warm, sunny day of spring. So we took advantage and packed the family (including Ellie) into the car to go to downtown Annapolis for a few hours. Wow was our car packed with two people, two babies, their double stroller, diaper bag and the dog. We quickly realized how small our car might be for our family. We went to Sly Fox a restaurant downtown that has a huge patio where you can sit outside with your dog. Looking around I realized there wasn't a single table that didn't have a dog with them. We had a great time and a few people checked the babies out. I even had my first beer. It was delicious. We couldn't wait to do this a little more often but it was a bit tiring.

Our next doctors appointment was on March 26th. In the two weeks since the last appointment the babies grew almost an entire pound! Avery weighed in at 5.6 and Grayson weighed in at 5.11. Because of their amazing weight gain I was FINALLY able to begin feeding them on demand at night rather than ever 3 hours. :) Whew...this was such exciting news to this tired mama. Little did I know it would take about 2 weeks before they would really increase time between feedings. We also began Avery on reflux medicine at this point after speaking with the doctor. I had always thought babies would be inconsolable and incredibly fussy with acid reflux. Avery had shown to be a bit fussy after feedings and would spit quite a bit here and there. Based on our conversations the doctor decided to put her on Prevacid and wait and see before we put Grayson on it. Eventually we ended up putting him on it as well. About a week later I noticed vast improvements for both.

On March 28th the babies finally hit a "long" stretch of sleep. They slept a whole 4.5 hours in a row. I felt like a new person :) The next night they went back to waking every two to three hours. On the 30th they took another 4 hour stretch and then went back to 3 hour stretches on the 31st. For the next week we went back and forth as they learned to adjust to a longer stretch. Finally two weeks later they pretty consistently went about 4 hours between each feeding. I was finally able to get more done and get a little more rest in between feedings!

Breastfeeding these babies I have learned a few things I can't eat such as broccoli, cauliflower, and anything spicy. I found it directly affects the mood of the babies and makes them incredibly gassy. Avery more so than Grayson. I'm sure I will discover a few more things as we go along.

When I came home from the hospital it was suggested that I rent the hospital grade beast pump to get my supply going for twins. It was so nice to have it because it definitely increased my supply and made pumping so much easier and quicker. I hated to have to return it but I did so a month later on march 23rd and began using my medela. It works but definitely isn't as strong.

Below are a series of catch up pictures of the babies over their first month...

Typical Grayson chilling and typical Avery with her hands expressing herself

Our first visit to the beach in our neighborhood

The storks we came home to in the front yard

snuggling

Nana Karen with the babies before she left

Amy and Kaileigh came to visit

Savannah and Christopher doing a great job holding the babies

Avery's sweet little feet

Grayson's sweet little feet

Becca came to visit

Bug eyes

Mama Ellie

The NICU

The babies are officially 6 weeks old and I am clearly way behind on my posts. Let's just say we've been quite busy. We spent two long weeks at the hospital working on getting the babies stronger and healthier. When my babies were wheeled off to the NICU I was one scared mama. When I saw them so tiny and fragile hooked up to wires and machines I was so scared for them. I knew there was a pretty good chance with twins we would end up in the NICU but I hadn't really prepared myself for what we were about to experience.

The first few days were the roughest and blurriest. Thank goodness I was in the hospital for those days and could see them whenever I wanted. We had a large influx of family and friends coming to see the babies. I spent as much time in the NICU with them as possible but would also have to go back and forth to see the visitors that were coming by. I was incredibly exhausted. Grayson was hooked up to so many wires. He had a feeding tube and a breathing tube. We weren't able to hold him for the first three days of his life. That saddened me the most. Avery was doing much better. She was hooked up to monitors but did not have the breathing tube or feeding tube. I was able to breastfeed her on day 2 and we were able to hold her immediately. The babies were in side by side rooms with a door adjoining the two. That made it so much easier to spend the time back and forth with the two of them.

I was incredibly emotional on the third day when Grayson was finally stable enough for Kevin and I to hold him. I think we both had tears of joy and sadness for what that poor little boy had to go through. He just looked so much weaker than his sister. We were told that white males always came into the NICU a little behind the others and Grayson proved this true. On his 5th day he was finally strong enough to have his feeding tube removed and I was able to see if he would breastfeed. My little fighter was definitely a strong feeder. He latched right on and fed like a champ. At this point I was feeding the babies separately because Grayson was still hooked up to other things that prevented me from feeding them together. Due to feeding every three hours (from the start time) I was pretty much feeding Avery, feeding Grayson and then heading up to my room to pump and back down to start all over again. I'm not really sure I got much if any sleep the first few days. It was a holiday weekend so on Tuesday the guests slowed down a little. On Wednesday I was discharged which I was dreading. Even though the babies weren't in the same room with me it was so much easier to go from my room to theirs within the hospital. I cried when I got discharged knowing I wasn't going to be able to take the babies home with me that night. So- I took my stuff and posted up in the room for the rest of the day until I had to go home that night. They wouldn't let you sleep in the NICU. The next morning my mom took me bright and early back to their room where I spent all day until I had to go home again to sleep a little. I repeated this cycle the entire time they were in the NICU. My mom was there to help that first week bringing me back and forth, getting me food, doing laundry etc.

The following Monday February 27th my mom was leaving and Kevin's mom Kay was arriving. On that same day the babies were doing so well they moved us from the NICU to the step down NICU. This was more of a hospital room where the babies could be in the same room...thank goodness. This made it so much easier on me when feeding. I was also able to spend the night with them :) I was one happy mama. At this point the babies were off of most of their monitors and were working hard to regulate their temperature. Every time we took them out of the isolette we had to take their temperature. If they were 97 or above two consecutive times their isolette temps could drop. We were slowly working their isolette temps down to 27 degrees Celsius. This seemed to take FOREVER. Once they reached that temp they could go into an open crib. If they held their temperature for 24 hours in the open crib that meant we got to go home. I was told not to get too excited because some babies have a hard time with that and have to go back into the isolette. On Wednesday night February 29th Avery's isolette temp made it to 27. She was able to go into an open crib :) I decided to go home and rest that night since she could be coming home soon and I knew I would need to try and get some good rest. Kevin was in Richmond for work so I told him to come on home to prepare to at least bring our baby girl home. The next morning I arrived back at the NICU to find that Grayson had caught up to his sister and made it to an isolette temp of 27. He was moving to an open crib as well! Now were were praying they regulated their temperatures in the open crib and would be able to go home the next day. Sure enough my little super stars did so well and we received the good news that they were going home TOGETHER on Friday March 2nd. We couldn't be more excited. Kevin's mom met us at the hospital to take pictures and soon enough around 3 that afternoon we were headed home. It was such a special moment for our little family.

We drove home (extremely carefully and slowly). As we arrived at the house we saw two HUGE storks that Kevin's Aunt Rose and Uncle Shawn had delivered for the arrival of the babies. I loved it...Kevin thought it was tacky but loved it too haha. Kevin's mom and Aunt Rose were at the house to take pictures of us coming home and settling in. They stayed about 30 minutes and then left us to settle in as our new family of 4! We were over the moon in love and happy. I think we all 4 (and Ellie) settled onto the couch and took a nice nap!