6 Weeks Old

Last week the boys turned 6 weeks old. We had a semi-busy week. Monday Justin was sick so he was home with us all day. I didn't like that he was sick at all but we sure did enjoy having him home with us. We didn't do much but just hang out around the house.

Tuesday the boys and I went over to Amy's to keep Taryn and Trey for a little while so Amy could go to a meeting. It went pretty well but I have to say it was very interesting to have four children under the age of four. Poor Taryn isn't too sure about the twins so I felt kind of bad for her. We had fun anyway though. I always enjoy being with my niece and nephew.

Wednesday I had my 6 week check up with Dr. Evitt. Everything was perfect and I was released from all restrictions. That meant I was able to go back to praise team practice full time, vacuum and work out. Three things I was very much so looking forward to doing. I stop going to praise team practice about 6 weeks before the boys were born when I was put on bed rest and went back to practice three weeks ago but haven't been singing much at practice and definitely not on Sunday's. I hadn't used the vacuum since probably November or December. Justin wouldn't let me. I know it sounds weird but I do enjoy cleaning my home. I was ready to start working out too because I want to get into better shape to be healthy for my boys. I am already down 4 pounds below where I was at my first doctor's appointment at 8 weeks pregnant. I am pretty excited about that and hope it keeps coming off.

Thursday I decided I was going to go for an early morning walk with the boys in our subdivision. Two large hills later I thought I was going to die and realized just how out of shape I really am. I did not think about having to push the stroller up the hills. I was so sore but still felt good about being able to do something. Thursday night I went to praise team practice. My sweet friend Erin came to help me with the boys. Justin was out of town and I don't like them staying up on the stage in front of the monitors. I am afraid it is a little too loud for them so I asked Erin to come sit with them off the stage while I practiced. I am so thankful for my wonderful friends who are so willing to help any time I need it. The boys will be staying home with their daddy while I go to practice when he is in town.

Friday the boys and I went to meet my friend Amanda and her boys at the mall for lunch and to walk around a bit. We had a great time. Again...So thankful for friends!!!

Saturday Justin, the boys and I went down to Market Square downtown. We were heading for biscuit festival but when we got down there it was lunch time and we wanted something more than biscuits. :) We ate some lunch and then walked around for a little while through the Farmers' Market. It was such a beautiful day to be outside. After that we did a little shopping and then hung out at home for the evening.

Sunday we all went to church and I got to sing again for the first time in a long time. I do love to sing for the Lord. He gave me my voice and I will use it to ever praise Him!!!! We spent the afternoon at Grammy and Poppy's with the rest of the family.

It was another wonderful week with my boys. They are just so absolutely precious. It is so neat to watch them grow and to see how different they really are. They are still sleeping most of the time. However, I did notice this week that they are becoming more and more alert and aware of their surroundings. I love to see them with their eyes wide open and now we get to see that a little more often. I am so thankful for my two little boys. They are doing so well. They will go at least one 5 hour stretch at night between meals and sometimes two. So I am getting a good amount of sleep and feeling great. Jackson usually takes between four and half and five ounces of milk/formula and Jacob takes anywhere from three to four and a half ounces. Jacob has had pretty bad baby acne for the last two weeks at least but it is starting to clear up. It started out looking like oily pimples and then it dried out and started peeling. His poor little face looked so bad but is looking much better now. Hopefully it will completely clear up soon.

Here are some pictures from their 6th week.

Just hanging out with mom

All ready to go to Aunt Amy's

Jacob and mom cuddling

Getting ready to go to the doctor with mommy

Mommy and Jackson cuddling

Just hangin out with each other

Jackson napping with Daddy. Just so peaceful

Sleeping at Grammy and Poppy's

5 Weeks Old: Lunch, Church,The Zoo and Mother's Day

Last week was another wonderful week with my boys. They are starting to sleep a little more through the night. They are going 4-5 hours between feedings which some nights means that they only get up once in the night. It is nice to be getting a little more sleep. We missed Daddy (Justin) a lot this week. He was gone three nights this week. We miss him terribly when he is gone but are so thankful for his job and how he works so hard for us. Monday we went to the doctor for their one month check up but you have already heard about that. Tuesday we went to see Aunt Tia, Aunt Erin, Noma, Grandma Bev and Allison for lunch. (These are the ladies I work with) We met them at Red Lobster in Oak Ridge and had a wonderful time. later that day we ran some errands for Grammy and Poppy. Then Tuesday night I went to my first meeting with the Knoxville Multiples Club. I didn't really want to go because new people make me extremely nervous but Justin made me go. He said I needed to get out and have some time alone. He was taking the boys away from me anyway to go shopping for Mother's Day. (He is such an amazing husband and daddy) So I went to the meeting and was glad that I did. It is amazing how easy it is to talk about your kids. Ha ha ha!!!! It was great to know that everyone there knew exactly what I was going through with two that not every mom of singletons understands. Everyone was very nice and extremely supportive. I think it will be a good thing for me to be involved with. It was hard to leave my boys but nice to be out at the same time. Here are some pictures from our lunch trip...

Aunt Tia hogging Jacob

Noma and Jacob

Wednesday I got to clean my house for the first time. Although I still couldn't do everything because of restrictions from the doctor it was nice to do a lot. It was such a weird but neat feeling to be cleaning my house like I would any other time but this time was different because I had the sound of a monitor in the background and kept checking on my little babies. It is still so unbelievable that I am a mom of two little babies. They are just so precious!!! Here are some pictures of just the boys from the week.

Sweet little Jackson cuddling with Mommy. Both the boys love to have their hands near their face. They are so peaceful when they sleep.

My two little monkeys

Jackson

Jacob

The boys hanging out in their bouncy seats. This is where I feed them. I can put them both in their seats and have my hands free to hold their bottles. When I burp one the other can get a little upset because I have to take their bottle out to have both hands free but we make it work. This is the best way to do it for us in order to keep them on the same feeding schedule.

 Thursday the boys and I went on a field trip to the church to meet some of the Pastors and church staff. We got to see Pastor McGinnis, Pastor Jeremy, Pastor Tom, Becky, Janice and Casey. Jacob hadn't slept very good the night before so he was a little fussy but everyone was happy to see them.

Pastor McGinnis and Jacob

Janice and Jackson; Pastor and Jacob

Pastor Tom and Jacob

Pastor Jeremy and Jackson

Friday we went to the mall to shop for my Mother for Mother's Day. Then we went to the grocery store so I could make dinner for us Friday night. This was my first meal I have made since i can't even remember when...probably before Christmas. It felt so good to be in my kitchen and cooking. I made baked chicken and homemade noodles. Justin had been out of town almost all week and I knew he was tired of eating out. Then we just spent the evening at home as a family. I am loving our family Friday nights at home. Justin also gave me my first Mother's Day gift that was from him...it was an iPod Touch. I was absolutely shocked. I love music and am so excited about it. I will be able to hook it up in my van which I LOVE!!!! Thanks again Babe!


Saturday we took the boys to the zoo for my company's picnic. It is always so fun to show off our boys to everyone. We didn't stay too long but did walk around a little bit. We got our first family picture while we were there though.

First trip to the zoo

Aunt Tia with Jackson

Our first family picture...LOVE IT!

The boys in their zoo outfits

Yesterday was Mother's Day which was absolutely amazing. I am thinking it is always going to be one of my most favorite days of the year. My first ever Mother's Day that I got to celebrate with two little boys. What an amazing honor to be a mother. The boys got me a beautiful heart-shaped necklace from Tiffany & Co that says "Mom". I will absolutely cherish it forever. Another amazing gift I got yesterday was to take my boys to church for the first time. That was just wonderful. I enjoyed the day so much!




First time to church :) You can kind of see my new necklace there.



Mommy and Jackson

Mommy and Jacob

It may be Mother's Day but Daddy needed a picture with the boys too....I wouldn't be a Mother without this wonderful man of mine!

Grammy and the boys

Grammy, Mommy, Jackson and Jacob. Couldn't celebrate Mother's Day without celebrating my Mother as well. :)

Well it was a fun eventful week. We don't have too much planned for this week. A little house cleaning, lots of bottle washing and an enormous amount of loving on my Jackson and Jacob.  I will be going to the doctor for my 6 week check-up and hopefully will be released to sing, vacuum and workout...three things that I desperately want to do. :)

Doctor's Appointment: One Month Check-up May 7, 2012

Well today was my actual 40 week due date. Hard to believe that I could have still been pregnant if I went completely full term. I have to say I am pretty thankful that I was not still pregnant today for several reasons. ha ha ha :) I took the boys to the doctor today by myself for the first time. Our doctor's office is really small so I was a little worried about getting my limo stroller in there but I have no choice but to use the stroller when I am by myself with the boys. I am still on a lifting restriction but even if I wasn't it is going to be so much easier to just use the stroller. We had to leave the stroller out in the hall but we made it in and out ok which is good. :) They even offered to come out and help me in in the future. I'm loving our pediatrician so far.

Everything was absolutely perfect with them. Jackson is now 7 pounds and Jacob is 6 pounds 10 ounces!!!! That is just crazy to me. I knew they were getting big but I didn't expect either one of them to hit 7 pounds just yet. They are eating well. :) Jacob has a little bit of what looks kind of like a rash or pimples on his face and the back of his neck. I asked the doctor about that and she said it is just baby acne. I figured that was the case because I had that as a baby. I also asked her about both of the boys kind of having cruddy noses and some drainage. She said their passages are so small that it is easy for mucus to build up. She said we can use saline spray in their nose and a cool mist humidifier in their room but wasn't concerned about it. We are giving them formula and breast milk still but they are getting more formula that milk. She said we still need to be using the Neosure which is an extra calorie formula for premature babies until they are over 8 pounds. So we will continue doing what we are doing. She said we will be way over 8 pounds by our three month check-up so if we wanted to come in just for a weight check we could so that we could change to regular formula.

I am just so happy that they are doing so well. The doctor was so happy and that makes for one happy momma. :)

One Month Pictures

Justin and I took some pictures over the weekend for the boys' one month milestone. They turned out so good if I do say so myself. I am just one proud momma. Jackson and Jacob are just so adorable. I can't stop looking at them!

Jacob (left) and Jackson (right)

Jacob just chillin on his "sofa" from Grammy and Poppy

Jacob (right) and Jackson (left)

Our First Few Weeks Home

Ok ok ok...so I have neglected my blog and I do feel terrible about that. However, I feel like I have a pretty good excuse...two newborn babies, at the same time, they were in the hospital and I had to go back and forth, trying to get into a routine, lack of sleep, recovering from surgery...ok enough excuses and back to work for those of you who follow my blog....especially my Granny. :) I will now "stop whining".

Well we have had the boys home for three full weeks now and it has been absolutely wonderful.

Just a couple days after coming home it was Poppy's birthday. So we took the boys to Grammy and Poppy's for their first Sunday family lunch.

Our first week home Justin was home with us. We didn't do much of anything but take care of the babies and sleep. :) We took the boys to their first doctor's appointment the Monday after they came home. They were absolutely perfect. Jackson was up to 5 pounds and Jacob was 4 pounds 11 ounces. This is what we were welcomed with at our pediatrician's office...

I thought that was really neat.

Our second week home we started off with me jumping in head first. Justin had to leave to go out of town on Monday so it was all up to me. :) It went really well though. It is amazing how you just jump right in and do what you have to do even on very little sleep. Sleep is overrated when you have the two cutest, sweetest boys in the world. The boys went to the doctor again on Monday of their second week home for a weight check. They just needed to make sure they were gaining weight and sure enough they were. Jacob was 5 pounds 3 ounces and Jackson was 5 pounds 11 ounces.

The third week home was much like the second...Justin had to travel a lot. We have made it through though and are extremely thankful for Justin's job and how hard he is working to take care of us. He has a lot going on right now that just happen to hit at this time but that is ok. We miss him terribly when he is gone and cherish every second we get to spend with him. It is very hard for me when he leaves. It's not because I need him here to help because I don't like him to get up with me in the night when he is working anyway. It is just the support of having him here. I am going through the same withdrawal I went through when he first started traveling. I am sure I will adjust again but I just hate being without him. I know it is probably harder on him because he has to leave his boys too. We will all make it and as the boys get older we will just do some traveling with him.

We have taken the boys to the mall already to walk around. We also took them to Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg. Justin and I have been wanting to go to Johnny Rockets since they opened in Gatlinburg but when I was pregnant it either didn't sound good or I was too tired to make the trip all the way up there. So we finally made the trip and the boys did absolutely fantastic. We are so excited for all the things we will be able to do with them and places we can go as they get older.

Well they are now a month old. I just cannot hardly believe they are already a month old but at the same time it feels like things have always been this way and they have always been here. It's hard to remember what I did without them. Yesterday Justin took them shopping for Mother's Day and I almost didn't know what to do with myself....it was only like 30 minutes!!!! I missed them terribly! :) Justin took some awesome pictures of them to document them being one month. I will post those later in another post. I am taking them to the doctor today for their one month check up. I am anxious to see how much they weigh because they are definitely growing. They are eating over three times as much as what they were eating when we first brought them home. I have also successfully transitioned them from an every 3 hour eating schedule to every 4 hours.

I am definitely going to try and get back to updating the blog weekly because this is way too much information for one post. :)