Sometimes, this is just how it is.

I had gone downstairs for something and came up to find Clara trying to comfort both babies.  Sometimes, this is just how it is. 

School 2012

Here are some pics of the 1st day of school.

Clara is in 5th grade!  She is still attending the accelerated school, CAS.  Her teacher is Mrs. Taylor this year.  But the class is pretty much the same from last year.  She has a good group of friends that she pals around with, Larissa, Shaulana, and Brooke.  She is in choir this year, although she wanted to be in musical theater (surprise).  Maybe next year.  She doesn't like learning Algebra.  But does like creating power point presentations. 

Collin is in kindergarten.  His teacher is Miss Vanderpool.  We were a little worried about Collin, just because he has a hard time focusing on school related things.  But he seems to be doing great and is progressing will with writing his letters.  I see a huge improvement just in the 2 months since school started. 

Blessing day

We blessed the babies on Sept.  2.  It was a small affair with Mark, Mark's dad, my dad and Mark's brother Mike standing in the circle.  Mark did a good job and the babies were quiet, thank goodness.  Our good friend, Tara, made these beautiful blessing dresses.   My mom's neighbor crocheted their booties.  They just looked so cute.  We struggled getting pictures of them because Celia wouldn't keep her hands to herself. 

4 months

We've come a long way.  The girls are really porking up.  We had their 4 month appointment this last week and Celia weighed 12.4 lbs (12th percentile) and Alice weighed 13.9 lbs (37 percentile).  When Celia was born she was in the 0.0001 percentile and was in the 1 % at her 2 month appointment.  Alice was in the 1% at birth and in the 8% at 2 months.  So they have grown a ton.  The doctor was very impressed. 

We are surviving quite well.  We moved the girls down to their cribs last week and they are sleeping like champs.  The are consistently sleeping 10-11 hrs at night.  It's a little bittersweet to move them out of our room.  But let's be honest with ourselves.  I'm a crappy sleeper and had to move them clear across the room and blow a white noise maker in my ears, plus wear earplugs, just to get some sleep.  So I am sleeping a lot better without them in our room.  

Alice I would say is the lower maintenance of the two.  She is quick to smile.  When she's mad she likes to blow raspberries with her lips.  She currently sucks three right fingers although I suspect it will go down to two, just like Mark and Clara.  She is almost rolling over but just can't quite get it.  We can almost get her to laugh.  So close. 

Celia is the first to cry, the first to wake up, the first to get tired when she's ready for naps.  She is not as quick to smile as Celia.  She has a cute little grin that my dad calls the Mona Lisa smile.  She loves to stick out her tongue.  It's the longest, pointiest thing and Clara thinks it's so funny.  She also sucks her three right fingers.  She has rolled over once but I think it was an accident and a surprise.  She also likes to laugh when she gets bounced on your knee. 

Where has the time gone

 I can't believe the babies are already 2 months old.  It has been a crazy and tiring two months.  Since I'm finally coming out of the fog, I figured I'd better get some birth pictures uploaded. 

My goodness, that last 2 months of pregnancy was brutal.  I was so ready to be done.  I was having to do non stress tests twice a week and ultrasounds every week.  Every time I went to the hospital for those, I kind of hoped that I could stay.  But I made it to 37 weeks and survived.  They chose to induce me on Wed, June 2oth.  We arrived at the hospital around 8 in the morning.  By 8:30 or so they had started the iv.  The nurse wanted contractions to be a bit strong before they gave me the epidural.  So we waited.  Around 11:00 the doctor came in to give me the epidural and break Baby A's water.  I informed the nurse that once my water breaks, labor progresses very quickly.  Both Clara and Collin were born within 45 minutes of my water breaking.  I don't think the nurse believed me.  She came in an hour later to check on me and to her surprise, I was ready to deliver.  That was fast, she exclaimed.  Told you so.  She didn't even have time to give me the bladder catheter, which you can imagine was not pretty during delivery.  So they wheeled me down to the operating room.  She just had me lay there until the doctor came.  I was that close to delivering.  As soon as the doctor came I began pushing.  I pushed about 4 times and Celia came at 12:32 weighing 4 lbs 6 oz.  The doctor immediately broke Baby B's water and she arrived at 12:36 weighing 6 lbs. 4 oz.  Both babies were head down so I didn't need a C-section.  Thank goodness.  The doctor and nurse both agreed that that was the easiest twin delivery they had ever done.  Within minutes I was back down the hall to my room with two babies.  Completely unprepared for what was to come.  Both babies were healthy even though Celia was so small.  She was only a couple of ounces from having to go to the NICU.  She did have low blood sugar so they had to watch that.  Other than that she was great.  The nurses kept expecting her to fail all the tests and have to go to the NICU but she didn't.  Both babies were able to come home with us after 2 days.  And we hit the ground running.

Just waiting for the doctor.

Celia just minutes old.

Alice minutes old.

Can you see the look of terror behind those smiles?

Clara and Collin came within the hour.  They were so excited to hold their sisters.

Ready to go home.

The first day home, Sammy, a cousin came to visit.  She is 3 months older than the babies. 

This is what the first few days entailed.  Lots of sleeping. 

Super pregnant

 36.5 Weeks pregnant with twins. 

About what I feel like 36.5 weeks pregnant with twins. 

Huck Finn

Clara has been doing a little acting class for the last few months.  It was super informal but she had fun.  Her teacher picked her to play Huck Finn in their abbreviated version of Big River.  She worked really hard on her lines and songs.  She realized how hard it was to memorize so many lines, since she was in every scene.  But she did great.  She was feeding everybody else their lines as well.  Which was funny to watch.  She says she wants to take drama this year in school.  Help.