First 4 Days at Home

We all came home from the hospital on Thursday, and things couldn't be better! Ry and I are having so much fun with these little cuties! The kids want to help out a little too much sometimes, and they are not really liking the boundaries we are setting for them. They do eventually accept them because they want to be close to the babies. The first time Ty held one of the babies since we arrived home he said quietly, "I love you! My name is Tyler." It was so cute! Then he said, "He knows me now mom."
I have heard tons of stories about twins that the first few months are crazy and you never get any sleep and it all just becomes a big blur. I actually feel quite the opposite, granted I have only been home for 4 days. I am having the time of my life with my new little family! Sure it is hard work and I do have help from my family, but what family isn't hard work. I just can't get enough of the two new sweet little boys that are new to our family! I love how much they look alike, but how their personalities are different. We don't get too much sleep, but being pregnant with twins, sleep was something that you just heard about and never believed could ever happen. So even a little bit of sleep is better than none at all.
Hanna is quite the little mommy! She tries to make sure that they have their blankets and everything else that they might need. Any noise that they make Tyler is there right away to make sure they are okay. When they make little noises, Ty looks at me and says, what did he say? It is really funny! Ethan likes to look at them but that is about it. He is not very interested in the babies, but he likes them because he can get away with more things while we are busy with the babies.
To help them gain weight a little faster, I am breastfeeding them, then pumping and giving them a bottle of my milk right after. They have been gaining weight well and are doing amazing!
We are in for a ton of fun at our house for many years to come!

They're Here!

We finally had our twin boys! They are so much fun to hold, look at, well everything with them is just fun right now! They look more and more alike everyday. I went into labor Sunday night and at 5 o' clock Monday morning the Dr started my C-Section. Abram Dylan Later was born first at 5:18 AM. He weighed 6 lbs. 1 oz. Then almost immediately after, Owen Ryan Later was born, still in his amniotic sack. Technically they were born in the same minute, but they waited to count Owen until his sack was ruptured so 5:19 AM was his time. The Dr. said that the Native American Indians thought that it means that your baby is very special if it was born in its sack, because it is so rare. I thought that was pretty cool. They looked great from the beginning! They both had great apgar scores, and they each had little red "distinguishing marks" on their foreheads by their hairlines. Abram was a half of a pound bigger than Owen, and Abram's nose seemed a little bigger than Owens. We were excited to be able to have some ways to tell them apart. But then to our dismay: the marks went away, their weights started evening out, the swelling on Abram's nose went down, and then look well. . . .. . IDENTICAL! Holy cow it is hard to tell them apart! Thank goodness for the little bands on their ankles that tell us who they are! We will have some trouble with that when we get home, I hope we don't mix them up! I think Owen is on the left and Abram is on the right.
Grandma and Grandpa Baird brought the kids up to see the babies, and they were so excited! They kept asking, "Who is this?" They couldn't tell them apart either, not that I expect them to though. Their favorite part was getting to hold the babies! Abram is the one with the little bald head, and Owen has the white hat on.
I decided to throw in a picture of these adorable wrinkly legs! Owen posed so well for us to get that picture. It is a little blurry, but you get the idea.
They are eating well and they are so darn cute!! We think that they look a lot like Tyler when he was born, also some Ethan in there too. They are a good mix of Ryan and the boys. Oh, I am so excited to bring these two boys home!

So this will be your second set of twins?

I get asked this a lot when I am out with my other children. Granted Ethan and Hanna are very close in age (11 months), and they do look alike!
I am now 36 and a half weeks along, and feeling very full of babies! The doctor says they are about 5 pounds each now, and if I keep them in until 39 weeks then they will weigh about 6 pounds each. Just what I have always wanted, a 12 pound baby! No, I'm really excited to be having twins! I can't wait to meet them and hold them. Now if we could only decide what to name them. . . .

September Happenings

Boy it has been a crazy month! Two of my kids starting school, both of my Grandma's die within a week of each other, me getting very largo, and getting a bigger car. It seems overwhelming but it has been such a blast! The boys LOVE school! I love that the bus comes and picks them up from our house. Saves me a lot of sleep in the morning (which I can't live without, or be sane without for that matter.) The boys now share a room and it took about a month, but they go to bed pretty fast now. Ethan loves that he gets to be in a big boy bed. They play better together now too, its nice. Everyone has seemed to grow up a little bit, just in time for the new arrivals. I have also loved spending more one on one time with Hanna too! She is such a fireball! She loves Yo Gabba Gabba, and cuddling with me, her baby, and of course, naturally, a purse. I love that I got at least one girl to love! She sure is a sweetie! She let Ry put her hair in curlers the other day and this was the outcome: It seriously looks like she is wearing a wig! I keep dreaming of the day that I can bend over easily, roll over in bed easily, run, and play outside with my kids. I feel a little trapped in my body, but definitely glad that the twins are staying in! I am almost 34 weeks which is awesome! (Along with my size) Anyhow, my goal for the boys is to stay in as long as possible with them to not have to be in the NICU. I've had enough of NICU's to last a lifetime! We still do not have names picked out. I have NO idea what we are going to name them. Lets hope we find a cute name by the time they get here. Any Suggestions?
Ryan is being such a good sport with this pregnancy! You think that being pregnant with one baby is hard, emotional and limiting physically, and then you get pregnant with twins. He is a saint! Lets just say that I am not the easiest person to live with on a day to day basis when I am pregnant. He has joined our local gyms "The biggest loser," and is doing really well! It ends the day before Thanksgiving, lucky him!! He is a stud and will do well, I know it!
My sister just found out this month also that she is pregnant with twins too! My poor mother! No, it is really exciting! I can't wait to find out what she is having.
All craziness aside, I have really been enjoying this month with my little family! All of the little special moments that we get to share together means so much to me! Whether its giving Hanna "oatmilk" for breakfast, or letting Ethan talk to his "guncle Seth," or having ty tell us that he just "tooted" out of his mouth. There is never a dull moment! Oh, Hanna threw up a few weeks ago and I was talking to her about it and how she wasn't feeling good and she said, "Yea, I poop out of my mouth." So Hilarious!!
I have been busy trying to bust out as many quilting projects as I can before I turn into a zombie milking machine. I finished my moms quilts finally (I've been working on it for 3 years). Chloe's baby quilt and James's. Its nice to get things done. Now if I could only finish Ryan's applecore quilt that he has been dying for me to make him. Maybe I can get it done by Christmas, if he is on Santa's good list, we will have to see!
We tried on options for Halloween and here were the winners. Enjoy!

Lunchtime

Haven't you heard that it is better to take your time eating, in order to feel full earlier than you normally would, so that you don't overeat? Well referring to this statement it may be hard to understand my choices regarding lunchtime. My kids usually hurry to eat so that they can go play. I try to help encourage them to not hoover the whole meal down as fast as they can, but they are kids and ultimately will do what they choose. Lunch, however, they have come to find out is right before nap time. so they are really good about dragging lunch on for at least an hour. just to not have to go to take a rest any sooner than they have to. Annoying I know. So I have been implementing a timed lunch. After all don't they have timed lunch at school. So I am just preparing them for school right? Who knows. Anyhow, kids are a lot smarter than they want you to think they are.

August

So today I am 27 weeks along, and I feel huge! These twins are moving tons. Hopefully they are just playing and not fighting. For those of you that don't know the twins are identical boys. We have no idea what we are going to name them. We have some good choices to choose from though.
Last week we went to McCall, Idaho for a family reunion and we had so much fun! We stayed in a cabin right on a lake. The kids absolutely loved it! Ryan also got to ride a jet ski for the first time. I think he liked it a little too much, he wants one now.
After the reunion we drove to Oregon to visit Ryan's mom and dad. It was really good to see everyone. We all had fun!
Hopefully in 11 weeks we will see the babies, healthy and strong! The kids are really excited to see the new babies! I am having so much fun being a mom! I can't wait for the next two to come!

Should I be worried?

While I am so excited to have twins, I can't help but think of my fate for the next few years. I mean Tyler just turned 4 two weeks ago, so that would give me 5 kids 4 and under. Hmm, that will be pretty interesting.
For those of you who were wondering, I am due in November. Yea, that is a really long ways away! I already get really huge when I am pregnant, so it will be an even bigger treat to see me pregnant with twins! Ty is really excited and asks me every day if the babies got cut out of my tummy. (I have C-Sections and we tried to explain them to him.) The other two I think are oblivious to anything that doesn't deal directly with them.
At my next check up in a month they should be able to tell whether I am having identical or fraternal twins, so I will keep you posted.

We're Pregnant! (Well, I am at least)

So We are expecting again! We went to our first doctors appointment yesterday, where we saw our ultrasound. We saw one cute little baby, then they moved the ultrasound and saw. . . .TWO babies! Oh my goodness we are having twins! I am so excited and couldn't be more thrilled!