Together

Brothers and sisters are as close as hands and feet. ~Vietnamese Proverb

3 Months Ago

3 Months ago - Jace and Sophia were 4 days old. We had been home from the hospital for 24 hours and were still coming to terms with the fact that we had 2 new kiddos in our house! Wow. They were fairly quiet babies, who slept most of the day from being premature and had to be woken up to eat every 3 hours during the night and day. I was nursing them together at this point and supplementing bottles after each feeding because we were rapidly trying to gain back their birth weight. They were getting the hang of breast feeding little by little which I was so excited about and at their 1st pediatrician appointment they weighed in at 5lbs even for Sophia and 5lbs 3oz. for Jace. So, we had some work to do there! Even though they were so little, they didn't fit into most of their preemie clothes because they were so long. So, we had to put them into newborn clothes which were way too big for them! They were sleeping in our bedroom in two bassinets and we were trying to get used to them being very loud sleepers...making so many different noises! They didn't like getting their clothes changed or diapers changed...at ALL, and I finally started to realize how many times a day we would be doing so! We spent a lot of time staring at their little faces..who were already changing so much.

Jace & Ry at their 1st pediatrician appointment - 12/11/09 Sophia, 4 days old...I still can't believe my mom caught this smile

All snuggled up together

Today - Jace & Sophia are 3 months and 4 days old. We are still coming to terms with the fact that we have 2 babies in the house :) Actually, sometimes I forget what it was like before they were here! They are developing such personalities and I hardly recognize the little faces from the pictures above. They are so expressive and LOVE to be talked to and especially sang to. They have the biggest smiles and seem to know just when their Mommy might need one. They love to play on their playmats, swing in their swings and just started sitting up in their bumbo chairs like big kids! They are so strong. Ryan loves to stand them up (and they love doing it)and keeps joking that he is trying to teach them to walk already...trying to give me a heart attack! They are still nursing every 3 hours during the day, but no longer have to be woken up to eat...they will tell us when they are hungry without a doubt! We don't have to supplement with bottles anymore unless they need it and they are both weighing in around 11lbs. Jace is 22 in. long and Sophia is 21 in. We have been working hard on a sleeping schedule and right now (on an ideal night) they are making it 6-6.5 hours before their next feeding! This is a huge improvement from what they were doing up until now! The hours after their early morning feeding aren't going as smooth for both babies but it's still a work in progress.

They are starting to develop such different personalities. Soph is our mellow lady. She loves to just hang out, snuggle, play with her toys (batting and kicking on her playmat) and loves to have conversations with people. Just looking in her direction makes her smile from ear to ear and she is VERY ticklish! She is definitely going to be a social little lady. She is very vocal and has been starting to make many new noises, including giggles. Especially in the past few days, she seems to laugh at everything! She has developed quite the chubby cheeks and I think I find a new roll on her little body everyday (I mean that with love) :) Her favorite place to be is in her crib, laying under and watching her mobile go round and round. She cries when it stops and if I turn it back on she's happy again and smiles to say "thank you mama"! She also loves the motion and sounds of the TV and will find a way to turn her body so she can see it if it's on. She still has her beautiful blue eyes and we are hoping that she gets to keep those.

Jace is such a little man. He is just so handsome. He has big brown eyes and I'm happy to share that he has dimples just like mommy and daddy and they might even be bigger than ours! He has a huge, sweet smile, just like his sister and is also starting to giggle and make new noises. He is also a snuggler but tends to need to move around more than Sophia. He loves to kick his legs and makes it almost impossible to change his diaper or get him dressed at times because he gets moving so fast! His favorite place in the entire house is the changing table in the nursery. He can be crying away and as soon as I lay him there he quiets down and stares all around the room...it's very calming for him for some reason. I think he also likes it because it puts him up higher so when we talk to him he is right by our faces. Finding things that make him happy has been a bit tougher lately because he hasn't been feeling good. Jace has been taking medication since the beginning of February for severe acid reflux. It makes him a very unhappy boy sometimes and it makes me a very sad mama for him. But, we are working on his treatment with his doctors and are hoping that things will start to get better for him very soon. When he is happy he is so happy and we want to see more of that! If anyone out there has any suggestions for dealing with acid reflux in babies, please contact me!

So, that's the scoop for now on our growing, goofy, ever-changing, 3 month old babies. We are falling more and more in love with them everyday.

"A baby will make love stronger, days shorter, nights longer, bankroll smaller, home happier, clothes shabbier, the past forgotten, and the future worth living for."
-- Anonymous

11 weeks old...having a moment

Where has the time gone and how do I make it slow down so this doesn't all go by too quickly? Jace and Sophia are 11 weeks old and I am having an emotional moment :) Lately I feel like time is flying by so fast. They are changing so much every day and I can't believe that in a few weeks they will be 3 months old. When they were born 3 months seemed like a lifetime away and now it's right around the corner! Next will be 6 months, their 1st birthday, the Prom and then before you know it they are off to college and leaving me already :) Ok, ok...so I went a little overboard, but now I understand why my parents always made such a big deal about us getting older and growing up. It all happens way too fast.

Sometimes I still can't believe our babies are here. We wanted and waited for them for so long and here they are...sleeping, eating, smiling, crying, giggling, snuggling, cooing (if that's really a word), pooping, playing and loving all day long. Needless to say, we are so in love with these two little babies. I am loving being home with them everyday and right now I wouldn't change a thing. I might add a few more hours of sleep to my nights, but hey...what new parent wouldn't say that right?

I'm trying to get better about keeping everyone updated on what the babies are up to and now that I am getting more settled into our new routine I am hoping I can make writing something that is a part of that. Trust me, I think every little thing that they do is something to document so be careful what you wish for :)

“Growing up is never easy. You hold on to things that were. You wonder what's to come. But that night, I think we knew it was time to let go of what had been, and look ahead to what would be. Other days. New days. Days to come.”
The wonder Years

We are parents!

Ryan and I welcomed two healthy babies into our family on December 7th, 2009. I was 35 weeks and 5 days pregnant and these babies were ready to meet the world!

Despite my doctor's attempts to keep them growing even longer, my labor was progressing that morning and I was re-admitted to St.Vincent Hospital. At that time we didn't know if we would be meeting our babies that day or beginning another hospital stay, but within the hour I was taken to surgery and by 12:21pm we had two beautiful babies!

Sophia Raechel was born at 12:19pm, weighing 5 pounds 13 ounces and was 19 inches long. Jace Emmett was born at 12:21pm, also weighing 5 pounds 13 ounces and was 19.5 inches long.

It was the craziest, most amazing day of my life. I plan to share more details of our birth story at some point, but for now I just wanted to get back to my blog and begin sharing our babies with all of you!

Thank you for all of your thoughts and prayers as we made our journey to become a family of four. It is more than I ever could have imagined it would be.

Our 1st family photo - 12/7/09

Jace Emmett & Sophia Raechel

"It was the tiniest thing I ever decided to put my whole life into." ~Terri Guillemets