Rob and Rachel

Saturday, February 2, 2013

January

We're back into the swing of things with school, and we're all adjusting pretty well. Truman and Elliott are already 3 months old! They are such sweet boys, and are starting to be more interactive when we talk to them. They smile easily now and are getting close to laughing. They love being read to and sung to. Their naps are sporadic but getting a little more regular, and some days they have exact opposite nap schedules. The good thing about this is that I have more one-on-one time with each of them and less time with two babies crying or needing to be held at the same time. However, it is a little tiring when the second I finally get one baby to fall asleep, his brother is opening his eyes. These babies keep me very busy and so does Collin, but I love being with my boys.
The twins still sleep well at night. We have been putting them to bed the same time as Collin and are amazed every day at how much different an experience this is than when Collin was a newborn. I remember the dread and frustration when nighttime came around, and the hours it took to get Collin to sleep, only for him to wake up frequently and cry for a long time while we were both hopelessly exhausted. With the twins, though, I lay with them on our bed, swaddle them, feed them a bottle/ nurse and sing a few songs, and they are out- sometimes within 5 minutes. During a typical night, they wake up to eat around 3 or 4, then go back to sleep without crying. Then usually, when it's too early to get up, at least one baby will wake up so I'll bring him into bed with me and we'll snooze. I often spend the early mornings half-sleeping with a baby on each side, rolling back and forth to nurse when one stirs, until Collin wakes up (which is typically around 8:30 right now). I don't mind it and feel well rested most of the time, which still amazes us. Of course, some nights aren't as perfect. Sometimes they are cranky in the evening and it takes longer to get them to sleep, and sometimes they wake up more frequently during the night, but for the most part, they are amazing nighttime sleepers.
Collin just keeps getting funnier. He loves making people laugh and being silly. His favorite books right now are The Cat in the Hat, and Chicka Chicka Boom Boom (much to Rob's dismay). His crib has become a little ridiculous. Not only does he insist on sleeping in a nest of every stuffed animal he owns, he also requests several books to be in there with him. For a while, when we would check on him later at night, we'd try sneaking a few things out. Until one night he woke up at around 4:00 crying for all the stuffed animals that were missing. He always has his songbook of primary songs in his crib, and at bedtime, he asks us to sing the "daddy song," "mommy song," and "spring song." (Heavenly Father Loves Me). Other honorable mentions include "hello song" and "mission." He likes to stall bedtime and get as many songs as he can! Also, for about 2 months, he didn't want to go to sleep without a Band-Aid on his finger. When we would start to leave, he would say "Band-Aid! Blue Band-Aid please! Red Band-Aid!" until we got him one, then he would say "this finger" and hold out the finger he wanted it on. We finally ran out and told him they were gone, so now at bed time he says "band-aid all gone." We are planning to move him into a toddler bed soon, but he's never tried getting out of his crib so we are fine with the setup for now.

And some pictures from January!

We tried out Collin's new tunnel and tent set one evening. We turned off all the lights and gathered "s'more" type treats and brought out a flashlight to play with. Collin loved it!

Happy chocolate-faced boy

Testing out the flashlight

Cuties in their Bumbos! I sometimes put them in those and have them face each other.

3 boys in their own little chairs

Tru has the best hair! It goes into a perfect faux hawk on its own, especially right after a bath (we fluff it up a little when it's wet so it doesn't stick to his head, and it dries like this). Elliott doesn't have much hair on top. This is the easiest way to tell them apart right now!

Cozy

Happy Elliott

I've started asking Collin what he wants to wear in the mornings, and he used to always choose a Halloween shirt that is ugly and too small. So I was glad the other day when he said "red sweater."

I just love these little bellies!

Brothers

Monday, January 28, 2013

December

January is almost over, and I'm finally blogging about December! The only way I can remember details is by going through my pictures, so here it goes. (I'm also going to label which twin is which, left to right, in each picture)

December in pictures:

Daddy feeding the boys! Usually, I give them their bottles just as lovingly. . .

but sometimes I have to multitask. Don't judge. (Elliott left, Tru right in both of the above)

Always the fashionable one.

Collin's favorite color is red. He went through a phase when he would cry anytime we tried to take his red pajamas off him (in the picture above), saying "Red! Red! Red!" And then one day I wore this shirt and he did the same thing, only insisting that I take the shirt off and let him wear it. Fortunately he's over this.

So precious! (T, E)

This picture was taken on 12/12/12 at 12:12:12! We only had one shot and this is what we came up with! (T, E)

Sometimes, Rob falls asleep with an adorable sleeping Elliott on his lap. And then, Collin takes this opportunity to gather all his balls and stack them on top of him.

Collin likes to tell the babies to "Wake Up!" if he sees that they are sleeping. Luckily they usually sleep through it! (T, E)

Santa came to our friends' house! It was so nice of him to make a special trip just to see the kids in our neighborhood.As soon as he walked in the door, Collin ran up to him and gave him a big hug! Collin was so happy to see Santa! I asked him what he was going to ask Santa for, and he said a "yellow car" which (with suggestion) evolved into "yellow truck."

As much as he loved Santa, he didn't want to sit still for the family picture. (Rob has E, I have T)

Just look at that smile!

Santa and the twins

I think Elliott and Collin look alike in this picture!

We had snow one day! We almost never get snow here, especially snow that sticks, and it doesn't last. So when I woke up one morning and looked out the window to see huge fluffy flakes, I panicked. I needed to get Collin outside to play in it fast! But I had 3 little people to feed, diaper, and dress before we could go outside. Also, I had no idea how to go outside and chase Collin around with 2 other babies to hold. I rushed like crazy and 45 minutes later, we were ready. I ended up putting the babies in their stroller and fortunately, lots of our friends were outside to play with us! Collin had fun with the snow and it was pretty much gone an hour later. But we made it!

Daddy and Truman napping.

These boys are so funny when they sleep with their hands sticking up.

The twins were blessed by their dad on December 23rd. It was such a special time for us, and Rob was a little nervous about two blessings, but they went great. Besides Rob, the other people in the circle were Grandpa Grothaus, Grandpa Grimmer, Uncle Justin, Nathan Otto, and Reed Richards.

Elliott

Truman

Blessing day (we took a picture in the same place after Collin's blessing). (E, T)

Truman, Elliott

My parents came from Utah for Christmas, along with Katie and Justin. We were so glad they were all able to come, and had lots of fun!

We went to Peacock Lane and loved looking at all the fun lights. Every time Collin saw a Santa decoration, he said "Ho ho ho, Merry Christmas!"

We are a 5-Stocking family now.

Santa came! He brought the yellow truck. *(Out of nowhere today, a month later, Collin said "Santa came. Yellow truck. Santa so nice")

He had lots of fun presents to open!

Santa babies (E, T)

Collin loves his little dog, whose name is "Ruff."

He also loves sitting in his very own camp chair!

We celebrated our 4th Anniversary on December 27th! We were lucky to have babysitters visiting us, so we went to dinner at My Brother's Crawfish, a cajun place. We think we're pretty cool because for an appetizer, we had alligator!

Can't have too many sleeping twin pictures. Love these adorable babies! (E, T)

Collin loved having his grandparents here, and K&J. Sometimes when I hear him talking to himself, I hear an "Uncle Justin, Aunt Katie" somewhere in there.

Precious husky babies! (E, T)

And hopefully I will post pictures from January soon!

Monday, December 31, 2012

2012

As the year ends, I just want to write a little family "newsletter" since we didn't mail one out. My family always did newsletters growing up, but I didn't think I could summarize this year into one page (or even into words at all). 2012 was definitely one of the craziest and most amazing years for us. Here are some current updates for our family:

Rob just finished his 9th quarter of chiropractic school out of 13. We can't believe he only has a year to go! He really enjoys his schooling and is now treating patients in the school clinic. He keeps busy and balances his time well between school, church, and family. He trained hard and ran his first full marathon in October.

I also met my goal of running a half marathon in February, and then soon found out that I was pregnant with our twins. Most of the year was dedicated to this eventful pregnancy and preparing for our babies, while enjoying spending time with Collin. Our sweet boys were born on October 19th. I am currently staying busy taking care of our 3 boys and couldn't be happier!

Collin is 2 years old and is such a joy. He is growing way too fast, and we are so surprised and entertained by the new things he learns and says each day. He communicates well with words now, and is a great helper. He is becoming independent, too - he finds foods that he wants from the fridge or pantry (he walked into the living room carrying a carton of eggs one day . . . ) and plays or reads alone often. He still loves music and dancing, playing with blocks or cars, and his favorite movies "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs" and "The Lion King". He also loves his baby brothers, and gives them lots of hugs, kisses, and loud hello's when they are sleeping.

Truman and Elliott are 2 months old, and are the babies of our dreams. They are very content most of the time, sleep well during naps and at night, and are generally on the same schedule. So far, they have made this twin experience far easier than we anticipated. It is definitely very busy taking care of them, but they are just so adorable and sweet. They have each started giving us smiles, and are already growing so quickly!

Though so much of this year was spent worrying about our babies after finding out they had TTTS, I'm not sure we can even call it a big trial when the blessings we received from it so far outweighed the struggles. We are still amazed when we think of all the things that could have easily gone wrong, yet how perfectly everything turned out. We weren't certain whether the babies would be okay through the incredible surgery we underwent in July, and we didn't know if it would be successful. But, it was, and it saved our babies' lives. We were sure our babies would be very premature and were prepared for the possibility of months in the NICU and lifelong health problems for our boys. We bought preemie clothes and were happy when we got to 28 weeks without going into labor yet. But, the babies were born at 36 weeks (even needing to be induced)! The preemie clothes were too small, and we never set foot in the NICU. We were certain that I would be on bed rest for a large part of my pregnancy and stressed about how we would take care of Collin. But, I never had to be on bed rest, and aside from the expected discomforts of being huge, I was very healthy. Even the C-section I was convinced I would need, didn't happen. We truly received so many miracles and are forever grateful.

We have grown this year as a family, and have felt the love and guidance from our Heavenly Father in our lives. We wish all our friends and family lots of happiness in the year to come!