One month old
Five months old
Before long, they'll be too big to fit in the chair!!
Monday, January 21, 2013
In case it isn't obvious. . .
I was looking for a photo this evening and happened across the boys picture from when they were one month old. It seems like so long ago and it's so easy to forget that they once were so tiny!
Before long, they'll be too big to fit in the chair!!
Before long, they'll be too big to fit in the chair!!
Sunday, January 20, 2013
Play time
We have lots of fun play time these days. We had the hand puppets out the other night that Gramma gave the boys for Christmas. Lucy was entertaining her brothers and I went to start dinner. When I came back in the room, I found Charlie with the duck puppet on his hand. I just figured Lucy had done that. . . until she came up to me and asked if I had put the puppet on his hand! I guess he had so much fun watching us make the duck puppet move, he wanted to play too!
Lucy has had a big time playing with her castle and her princesses. The castle was her Christmas present from her brothers and she loves it. You never know who you will find in the castle - princesses, ponies, Little People farm animals. . . everyone is welcome!
Bathtime with the boys has become tricky. They are getting to big for a bath in the sink but they are still too little to sit up in the tub. Since we only give three baths a week due to their eczema (for all three kids), I have just been putting on shorts and a t-shirt and giving them a bath that way. It has been lots of fun. . . we have discovered splashing! Then I hand them off to Michael who is in charge of lotions! Lucy saw me giving the boys a bath the other night, so she asked if she could "help." I think she had as much fun as they did. :) I only bathe one at a time, but here's when I had just finished with one and was getting ready to wash the other.
Lucy will probably hate me for this one day. . . oh well. . .
Getting ready for church
So, I'm going to run out of time to get a five month photo. . . seems I never am able to get all three children together when they are in a pleasant mood and looking decent and awake. As I was getting the boys ready this morning, I just decided to go ahead and take their picture without Lucy since she had already gone down with her Daddy.
They had their 6 month checkup with the pediatrician on Friday. (Remember their immunization schedule started at 6 weeks, so they are always going two weeks before their __ month appointments.) Charlie's weight was the same at 13 lbs 11 oz as it was at his developmental follow up, but his length was measured at 25 3/4 inches. Alex's weight was 13 lbs, 13 oz. and his length was 25 1/2 inches. Their weight is growing right along their curve and their height is actually in between the 25-50th percentile for an average 6 month old! The pediatrician was pleased with everything they were doing and said they looked great. The boys actually babbled happily through the whole appointment too - I guess they wanted to show off their excellent language skills already! ;) They had 4 shots each and were tired and cranky the rest of the day. (I guess that's to be expected though!)
Alex loves eating. He has started now with oatmeal cereal since he loves rice cereal so much. He doesn't eat much but he sure does love it when it's meal time. Once you set him in the high chair and put his bib on, his legs start kicking and he wiggles and squeals in excitement because he knows it's time for food! I tried Charlie again with rice cereal and while he ate some, he looked so miserable and unhappy as I tried to feed him. So maybe he still needs some more time, which is just fine.
Overall, these are two sweet, wonderful, healthy little boys! We are so blessed!
Charlie - he looks so much like Michael in this picture
Alex - such a happy little boy
5 (and a 1/2) months old. . . filling up this chair quickly!
They had their 6 month checkup with the pediatrician on Friday. (Remember their immunization schedule started at 6 weeks, so they are always going two weeks before their __ month appointments.) Charlie's weight was the same at 13 lbs 11 oz as it was at his developmental follow up, but his length was measured at 25 3/4 inches. Alex's weight was 13 lbs, 13 oz. and his length was 25 1/2 inches. Their weight is growing right along their curve and their height is actually in between the 25-50th percentile for an average 6 month old! The pediatrician was pleased with everything they were doing and said they looked great. The boys actually babbled happily through the whole appointment too - I guess they wanted to show off their excellent language skills already! ;) They had 4 shots each and were tired and cranky the rest of the day. (I guess that's to be expected though!)
Alex loves eating. He has started now with oatmeal cereal since he loves rice cereal so much. He doesn't eat much but he sure does love it when it's meal time. Once you set him in the high chair and put his bib on, his legs start kicking and he wiggles and squeals in excitement because he knows it's time for food! I tried Charlie again with rice cereal and while he ate some, he looked so miserable and unhappy as I tried to feed him. So maybe he still needs some more time, which is just fine.
Overall, these are two sweet, wonderful, healthy little boys! We are so blessed!
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
Photo Book
Click here to view this photo book larger
Shutterfly photo books are the new way to preserve your memories. Create your own today.
Sunday, January 13, 2013
Some extra photos
Four posts in one day - what??!! I know! We have had some fun playtimes together this weekend, so I had the camera out. Here are just a few more photos of my beautiful children!
Charlie in his overalls - I don't think there is anything cuter than little boys in overalls!
Tummy time together. . .they are enjoying spending more and more time like this!
Alex looks so big!!
Michael was burping Alex after his last feeding before bed. . . he had played hard!
(And yes, he gave himself those awful looking scratch marks in his sleep! No matter how far back we trim the boys' nails, they still claw at their heads while they sleep!)
Such cutie pies
Would someone please tell this little girl to stop growing? I can't stand it!! She gets more grown up every time I blink!
Lucy wanted some tummy time with Charlie too! :)
Eyes
They say that the eyes are the windows to the soul. . .if that's the case, then my kids are some of the most beautiful souls I know. I'm so glad they got their Daddy's lashes. :)
Cereal time!
We have been saying we would start solids with the boys soon but things have been so hectic. So this afternoon, since there were no church activities and everyone seemed fairly tame, we gave it a shot! Alex was first - he is my child who is constantly watching other people eat. The other night, he lunged towards Lucy as she was eating as if he was going to take her food away! So we got him in his seat and got ready. . .
Towards the end of his feeding, he would hold his hand out and move it with the spoon towards his mouth. What a good helper! :) He ended up wearing most of it on his face, but he really seemed to enjoy his food.We'll try some more tomorrow.
Charlie was next. . .
Charlie didn't seem to enjoy himself. He actually spent most of the time eating with his head leaning to the right and the cereal spilling out of the side of his mouth. Oh well - he is just not ready for this step yet! That's ok - it will be easier to start with only feeding one for the time being. We'll let him try again in a week or so. :)
Getting ready
Not too sure. . .
Ok, I like this!
Towards the end of his feeding, he would hold his hand out and move it with the spoon towards his mouth. What a good helper! :) He ended up wearing most of it on his face, but he really seemed to enjoy his food.We'll try some more tomorrow.
Charlie was next. . .
Not so enthusiastic. . .
I'm not sure about this.
Are we done yet?
I'd rather chew my fist, thanks!
Charlie didn't seem to enjoy himself. He actually spent most of the time eating with his head leaning to the right and the cereal spilling out of the side of his mouth. Oh well - he is just not ready for this step yet! That's ok - it will be easier to start with only feeding one for the time being. We'll let him try again in a week or so. :)
Alex having fun
This was Alex tonight, playing on his piano mat. This boy sure was having a good time! :)
Friday, January 11, 2013
5 months old ( a day late)
Sorry, this 5 month post is also missing it's picture of the boys and Lucy! I promise we haven't forgotten but it has been an interesting week. Lucy woke us up around 11:30 PM on Wednesday night with an awful barking cough. She sat straight up in bed, started coughing and couldn't catch her breath. I took her in the bathroom and turned the shower on and we tried to help open her airway up with some steam. It seemed to help a little, but every time she would cough, she would struggle to breathe right after that. This only led to her crying more and getting worked up. . . none of which helped her breathing. So after it appeared home remedies weren't going to help her, Michael took her down to the ER. They diagnosed her with croup, gave her a steroid to open her airways and by 3:15, they were back home. She didn't cough the rest of the night and since then, has had no more than a dry cough that only seems to come when she exerts herself. We've kept her home from school the past two days - she has been a little on the loopy side (I think from the steroid) and her sleep schedule is completely off. She has also been a little on the whiny side, but I think this just comes from being bored stuck inside and not allowed to do much. (Since her cough gets worse, the more worked up she is.) Oh well . .. hopefully, she hasn't shared it with the boys but only time will tell.
Lucy's whining could also be related to her lack of a nap along with her strange sleep schedule. I was awakened at 4:15 AM this morning by hearing her Veggie Tales CD start playing in her CD player. She hadn't coughed all night, but at this ungodly hour, she decided it was time to wake up for a little karaoke. I heard her singing loudly in her bed, which led to several (just dry, no bark!) coughing spells. I went in, turned her music down and told her she needed to stop singing so that she could stop coughing and go back to sleep. As I was leaving, I heard a quiet little voice. . . still singing along. Sigh. . . Then today, instead of napping - she started that darn Veggie tales CD again. After 3 times through the CD, singing and all, I went into her room, took it out of the CD player and put in a lullaby CD. Didn't bother her - she just started up a conversation with herself, talking loudly so she didn't have to listen to it! What a mess that girl is! ;)
I gave an update on the boys a few days ago so not much has changed since then. Alex is doing an awesome job of sitting up - he can even sit by himself for a few seconds and even for a few minutes with a little help from the boppy. However, when he gets tired he just leans to the right and falls over! Don't worry - someone's always right there. ;) Charlie on the other hand is figuring out how to move himself across the floor. You can't call it crawling, but at the rate he's going, he'll figure it out before too much longer! First he rolls onto his stomach. Then he gets his feet to push him forward. He wiggles his shoulders and arms into place, looks up to see where he is, then puts his head down and pushes with his feet again. Today, he made it from one side of his playmat to the other. He was quite proud of himself, but was so tired after that he took an extra nap today!
We're going to start the boys on a little rice cereal next week as well. We had wanted to try this week but it has gotten away from us - life with a three year old and twins certainly has a way of doing that!
These two boys are two of the sweetest little people in the whole world. I fall more and more in love with them every day!!! Enjoy a few pictures from play time this afternoon. . . .
Lucy's whining could also be related to her lack of a nap along with her strange sleep schedule. I was awakened at 4:15 AM this morning by hearing her Veggie Tales CD start playing in her CD player. She hadn't coughed all night, but at this ungodly hour, she decided it was time to wake up for a little karaoke. I heard her singing loudly in her bed, which led to several (just dry, no bark!) coughing spells. I went in, turned her music down and told her she needed to stop singing so that she could stop coughing and go back to sleep. As I was leaving, I heard a quiet little voice. . . still singing along. Sigh. . . Then today, instead of napping - she started that darn Veggie tales CD again. After 3 times through the CD, singing and all, I went into her room, took it out of the CD player and put in a lullaby CD. Didn't bother her - she just started up a conversation with herself, talking loudly so she didn't have to listen to it! What a mess that girl is! ;)
I gave an update on the boys a few days ago so not much has changed since then. Alex is doing an awesome job of sitting up - he can even sit by himself for a few seconds and even for a few minutes with a little help from the boppy. However, when he gets tired he just leans to the right and falls over! Don't worry - someone's always right there. ;) Charlie on the other hand is figuring out how to move himself across the floor. You can't call it crawling, but at the rate he's going, he'll figure it out before too much longer! First he rolls onto his stomach. Then he gets his feet to push him forward. He wiggles his shoulders and arms into place, looks up to see where he is, then puts his head down and pushes with his feet again. Today, he made it from one side of his playmat to the other. He was quite proud of himself, but was so tired after that he took an extra nap today!
We're going to start the boys on a little rice cereal next week as well. We had wanted to try this week but it has gotten away from us - life with a three year old and twins certainly has a way of doing that!
These two boys are two of the sweetest little people in the whole world. I fall more and more in love with them every day!!! Enjoy a few pictures from play time this afternoon. . . .
These boys love this ball popper!!
"Hey - how did I end up over here? I started back there!"
Alex didn't realize that the piano had lights until he sat up!
Holding hands with brother
So precious!
Their faces in this picture crack me up! What do you think Charlie is thinking?
So tired after playing - Charlie's new love is his giraffe from Aunt Tanya.
Alex still loves Monkey, but he's pretty fond of his cow from Uncle Day Day too.
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
Charlie and Daddy
Tuesday, January 8, 2013
Developmental Follow Up
We had an appointment for the boys today with the Mission Hospital Developmental Follow Up team. They track all of their NICU babies for two years to check their progress and provide any services these children might need due to their prematurity. The boys as of today are 4 months and 28 days chronological age but only 3 months and 7 days adjusted age.
The boys met today with an RN, a physical therapist, and a speech therapist. A nurse came out to get us and commented on how big the boys looked. Her exact comment was, "They were premature?" Haha - the way they are growing, you can't tell anymore!! ;) They were first weighed and had their lengths noted. Alex is now 13 lbs, 11.5 oz and 24 inches long. Charlie weighed in at 13 lbs, 11 oz and was 25 inches long. I was surprised how their weights were almost the same but I figured Charlie was a little longer. They have both been playing a little in the exersaucer at home and Alex has to have a towel underneath his feet where as Charlie does not.
The RN looked them over and declared them healthy. She did note their eczema but that was an issue we're already aware of. ;) The RN and the physical therapist both commented on the excellent shape of each of the boys heads - yay! No flat spots for these boys!! I am hoping this means we are out of the woods as far as needing helmets. This was a big worry of mine and I'm so glad that it looks like we avoided it.
The speech therapist was there to watch the boys take a bottle and to make sure that they were handling everything well. Their technique looked fine and since they don't seem to have any reflux issues, they said everything seems fine. I did ask about starting solid foods since their pediatrician wanted them to start them before we come in for their next appointment. The boys have also seemed to be more interested lately in watching other people eat - I though Alex was going to reach out and grab Lucy's slice of pizza the other day! The speech therapist said that she feels like they should be about 5-6 months adjusted age before starting any solids. . . so I'm not sure what we'll do about that. She did say it was ok to let the boys "play with" eating some rice cereal in a few weeks or so. I had thought about starting them on cereal this week, so I'm not quite sure what I'll do. On one hand, they are only 3 months old in the adjusted age group but they are showing signs of readiness. . . . so we'll see.
The physical therapist had the boys down on the mat and they showed off with their rolling skills and holding their heads up. Both of them were smiling and talking and kicking and showing off just like they love to do. They also showed off their new found skill of reaching out and grabbing at objects. She said that while they expect for the boys to be at a 3 months skill level, they are actually showing skills of what an average 5 month baby does! She did caution that at our next visit they may be closer to their adjusted age as they get more involved in fine motor skills but that wasn't unexpected. She also talked about how language development can sometimes be slower with premature children as well as with twins. I had read some about this - often times, twins can have delayed language because people forget to speak to them one on one. . . since you are interacting with both of them. This can lead to them tuning the language more into the background which causes them not to learn quite as quickly. But since we're aware of this, we make a conscious effort to engage both boys one on one. And if they are anything like their sister, language won't be a problem! ;)
Overall, it was a great visit. It's always nice to have professionals reaffirm that you have happy, healthy children who are right on target for their age. Sometimes things can get so overwhelming and there are so many times where I feel like I could be doing such a better job at being a mom. All of them though commented that we were doing a great job with these boys - a little reminder like today is always helpful. We love our boys so much and even though we certainly wouldn't call life with twins "easy," we are so blessed and thankful to have these precious sweet boys to love.
Sunday, January 6, 2013
Christmas Recap
Whew - it's hard to believe we're already a week into 2013! It has been a crazy few weeks for the Flack family since Christmas Eve and hopefully, we will be able to settle back into our routine in the coming week. But I didn't want to move on into January without recapping our Christmas. (Mostly so that I won't forget!)
It was a busy Christmas - I definitely wasn't prepared mentally/emotionally/physically for Christmas with three children. For some reason, all of our Christmas celebrations were one right after the other. All of that excitement, along with the travel and lack of a schedule (including naps!), was exhausting for us. The boys also decided that they needed to go through a little growth spurt during the week as well and wanted to eat 4-5 ounces every two hours. All of the exhaustion and stress caused a drop in my milk supply, which only served to exhaust and stress me out more! However, as crazy as things were, it was wonderful to be with family and there were wonderful moments that I will remember. So here goes. . .
You would think as excited as Lucy had been about Santa coming that she would have been up at three in the morning! However, she didn't wake up until around 7:30. . . I was walking back down the hall after getting something out of the kitchen when she sat straight up in bed and said, "Santa! Has he been here?" We went into the living room, where she went straight for her Tinkerbell doll.
Eventually, she got around to looking at all the other things as well. She needed a little guidance to figure out what exactly her Leap Pad was, but once she learned how it worked, she was good to go! :)
The boys got this piano play gym which they LOVE. Santa should have been smart and gotten two . . .
After Daddy and Charlie came and joined Mommy and Lucy and Alex, Lucy decided it was time to open stockings. She dug items out of her stocking one by one and got excited about each one. She pulled out a bag of Mint Hershey kisses, which she loves, and some Mini M&M's, followed by "Princess Lipstick" (Bonnie Bell lipgloss) and then PONIES! My Little Pony has these little ponies that come in a bag at Walmart. The excitement is that you never know which pony you will get! She pulled one out, got all excited as I opened it, and then went back to her stocking, only to pull another one out. She got even more excited, and then pulled another one out. I wish we had the video camera out as she pulled out the fourth one (four in all) because she was jumping up and down and screaming and it was hilarious! After she discovered all that was in her stocking she moved on to help the boys open their stockings. (She also helped them "play" with their new toys too - isn't she thoughtful! ;) ) When she opened her Daddy's stocking, she found there was toothpaste, deodorant, razors and things like that. (Santa wasn't creative with Mom and Dad's stockings!) Michael asked Lucy, "Does Santa think I smell?" and she replied, "You do sometimes!"
Lucy played a little more with her gifts from Santa while the boys kicked and played with their new mat. They seriously love this thing - they have always loved to kick and now it has a purpose. They also love all of the items that hang from the overhead bar. We have several playmats that we've used with them and this is the first one where they will reach out and grab at the hanging items.
We opened the family presents that were under the tree next. . . . there was no waiting until after breakfast! Everyone seemed to enjoy the things they received. On Pinterest, I had seen a pin that talked about the four gift rule: A gift you want, a gift you need, a gift to wear, and a gift to read. . . . I thought this was a smart idea and after this year, I think we're going to stick with that plan. Michael surprised me with my "gift you want" and got me a Mother's ring. He designed it himself and it has the three birthstones of my precious babies. :) Needless to say, I was shocked - not only had he paid attention when I said it was something I wanted and done all that work himself, but he had managed to keep it a secret from me! That's pretty big considering he told me about my engagement ring the day that he bought it! ;)
After all the present fun, Daddy played with all the kids so that I could get breakfast going. We had French Toast Casserole (thanks again to Pinterest!), bacon, eggs, and mimosas for the grownups.
We played until about lunch time, then loaded up the car and headed to Mama Mae's house. Below is Lucy in her dress made by my college roommate, Carissa. Lucy wanted to put the dress on as soon as she opened the package - she LOVES it! :)
We got to Mama Mae's and after a crazy screaming session by two hungry little boys, we had a nice meal together. Things from that evening are a blur to me, but it was nice to see everyone. The next morning was something out of sitcom though - all you could do was laugh at the insanity of it. We had just finished feeding the boys around 4 AM and had gotten them settled and back to bed. I had gone to the fridge to put in the milk I had just pumped and came back to find Michael stuck - one of the bed frame slats had fallen and he was wedged in between the mattress and the headboard. It was obvious that we couldn't fix the bed since all three kids were also asleep in the room, so I laid down in the floor with Lucy (who didn't have a nap the day before and also didn't fall asleep until sometime after 10:30!) and Michael went and laid on the couch. The boys soon woke up, wanting to eat again, Lucy woke up in an extremely tired state and that combination of fatigue/post-nasal drip/lack of food in her system caused her to get sick a couple of times. So the morning was spent washing her hair again after getting sick, trying to keep the boys calm enough until we could get food in them, as well as trying to pack up for our next Christmas celebration! Too bad we don't have a reality TV show - that morning would have made a good episode!
We headed to Statesville for our next Christmas with Great Mommy and Great Daddy. The boys got to finally meet everyone on that side of the family and we had a really nice meal. Charlie was a little tired out though . ..
We played Dirty Santa which was a lot of fun this year. It was also nice to see everyone as well - we don't get to see everyone from that side of the family as often as we would like so we really enjoyed our time. I was also glad that "Great Mommy" got to see how big the boys are getting.
The next day was Christmas with Grammy and Poppa, Aunt Nae, Mamaw, and Uncle Latimer. We weren't celebrating until the evening, so the boys had a nice afternoon nap. It's hard to tell in this picture who is who, right??
Of course, Lucy's naptime was spent like this. . .
How can you sleep when you have such fun toys to play with? Oh well. We tried to keep the morning/afternoon as low-key as possible. So we mostly played with new toys all afternoon. Charlie and Grammy had a good time together. . .
After a DELICIOUS meal (Can you tell that we ate well during this week?), we got ready to open presents. It was almost the boys bed time when we got started. Alex managed to stay awake for a little while. . .
He saw a few of his presents. . . he gave this giraffe the staredown. Even now, when we pull it out to play, it holds his attention for awhile - I think he must really like this toy!
Charlie never saw any of his presents that evening. He had to wait until later. . . he was so sleepy. The boys went to bed about halfway through the present fun so Mommy and Daddy opened the rest of theirs for them. And just in case you were wondering, Baxter is still around . . .
We had lunch the next day with Tanya and the Thrifts. Lucy was so excited to get to go play with Nathan and Lillian. I think she would have enjoyed her time even more if she had been well rested. She was remarkably well behaved for a child that had missed her nap for 5 days in a row but she had a major meltdown at lunch. I took her back to Tanya's room just to rock and rest and pull ourselves back together but while I was holding her, she fell asleep in my arms for about 10 minutes. I can't even recall the last time that happened, so I know she was tired. And this is what she looked like on the way home . . .
Uncle Latimer came back by with Jenni that evening and we had more presents! All three kids love spending time with their "Funcle!"
Finally, on Saturday, we had just a lazy day. . . full of rest. (Oh, and feeding the boys every 2- 2 1/2 hours!) It was a much needed break!
Isn't this one of the sweetest little faces in the world?
That was Saturday. . . sleep, feed boys, rest, play with new toys. I went out and had breakfast with Kendra - I hate that we don't get to see each other more often, but I love that we have the kind of friendship that picks up naturally no matter how much time has gone by. We had a nice visit and it was nice to have a little time with another adult and no kids!
On Sunday, Uncle John and Aunt Carol came over to see the boys and Lucy. It was their anniversary - 12 years since Kendra and I had played the music at their wedding. Seems like it was just yesterday . . . . time sure does fly.
On Monday, we went over to the Flack house - Lucy had the best time playing with her cousin. She loves Harper so much! It was a crazy, fun-filled time with four kids under the age of four. Wow. . . .Harper is growing so fast and is at the age where she is crawling and exploring everything. As I watched her flit from place to place, I thought about how much life is going to change once these boys are mobile. Not quite sure I'm ready for that. . .
Tuesday was another lazy day. Michael and I did get to go out to dinner that night followed by a trip to Target. It's the little things, right? ;)
Wednesday was our family Christmas at the Flack house. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures from that - forgot my camera! I'll have to get some from Mike. We had a good time together and Lucy enjoyed showing off her reading skills by reading the To/From tags.
And then it was Thursday. . .time to pack up and head home . . . only to repack and go to a hotel because our oil had run out and the house had no heat. Oh what fun. The excitement of the hotel was almost too much for Lucy to handle! This little girl thinks hotels (even the Holiday Inn) are a big deal!
So that's our Christmas. . . in a nutshell. There were many times this week where I found myself overwhelmed and stressed and just ready to hide in a closet and not come out. But after a few days at home, as I reflect back, I know that there are many good things to remember. Like the time with family - we aren't promised more than the moment we're in and how blessed we are to have so many family members to spend time with. We won't always be so lucky. We received so many wonderful gifts and our kids will be so well dressed and have so much to play with in the coming months. As I look back on this Christmas, I want to remember the feeling as my baby girl sat in my lap and read a book to me. Yes, READ to ME. I helped with a few words here and there but she was reading. . . and it was book she had never seen before. And even as crazy as it was, I am so thankful for my family of five. I have a wonderful husband who works hard to provide for his family and loves his kids and me. I have the best daughter in the world. She is wicked smart and so funny. She loves her brothers so much and when she hugs me, my heart just melts. And my two boys - they have the best smiles in the whole world. Even though they exhaust me in this infant stage, I wouldn't trade it for anything. I love them more and more every day and am so thankful that God knew I needed both of them. And even as chaotic as this Christmas was, I am so thankful for the chaos. It means that my life is full of hope, joy, love, and even peace. . . just like that first Christmas. And when I reflect on the arrival of Christ, I imagine that it was a little chaotic as well.
It was a busy Christmas - I definitely wasn't prepared mentally/emotionally/physically for Christmas with three children. For some reason, all of our Christmas celebrations were one right after the other. All of that excitement, along with the travel and lack of a schedule (including naps!), was exhausting for us. The boys also decided that they needed to go through a little growth spurt during the week as well and wanted to eat 4-5 ounces every two hours. All of the exhaustion and stress caused a drop in my milk supply, which only served to exhaust and stress me out more! However, as crazy as things were, it was wonderful to be with family and there were wonderful moments that I will remember. So here goes. . .
You would think as excited as Lucy had been about Santa coming that she would have been up at three in the morning! However, she didn't wake up until around 7:30. . . I was walking back down the hall after getting something out of the kitchen when she sat straight up in bed and said, "Santa! Has he been here?" We went into the living room, where she went straight for her Tinkerbell doll.
Eventually, she got around to looking at all the other things as well. She needed a little guidance to figure out what exactly her Leap Pad was, but once she learned how it worked, she was good to go! :)
The boys got this piano play gym which they LOVE. Santa should have been smart and gotten two . . .
After Daddy and Charlie came and joined Mommy and Lucy and Alex, Lucy decided it was time to open stockings. She dug items out of her stocking one by one and got excited about each one. She pulled out a bag of Mint Hershey kisses, which she loves, and some Mini M&M's, followed by "Princess Lipstick" (Bonnie Bell lipgloss) and then PONIES! My Little Pony has these little ponies that come in a bag at Walmart. The excitement is that you never know which pony you will get! She pulled one out, got all excited as I opened it, and then went back to her stocking, only to pull another one out. She got even more excited, and then pulled another one out. I wish we had the video camera out as she pulled out the fourth one (four in all) because she was jumping up and down and screaming and it was hilarious! After she discovered all that was in her stocking she moved on to help the boys open their stockings. (She also helped them "play" with their new toys too - isn't she thoughtful! ;) ) When she opened her Daddy's stocking, she found there was toothpaste, deodorant, razors and things like that. (Santa wasn't creative with Mom and Dad's stockings!) Michael asked Lucy, "Does Santa think I smell?" and she replied, "You do sometimes!"
Lucy played a little more with her gifts from Santa while the boys kicked and played with their new mat. They seriously love this thing - they have always loved to kick and now it has a purpose. They also love all of the items that hang from the overhead bar. We have several playmats that we've used with them and this is the first one where they will reach out and grab at the hanging items.
We opened the family presents that were under the tree next. . . . there was no waiting until after breakfast! Everyone seemed to enjoy the things they received. On Pinterest, I had seen a pin that talked about the four gift rule: A gift you want, a gift you need, a gift to wear, and a gift to read. . . . I thought this was a smart idea and after this year, I think we're going to stick with that plan. Michael surprised me with my "gift you want" and got me a Mother's ring. He designed it himself and it has the three birthstones of my precious babies. :) Needless to say, I was shocked - not only had he paid attention when I said it was something I wanted and done all that work himself, but he had managed to keep it a secret from me! That's pretty big considering he told me about my engagement ring the day that he bought it! ;)
After all the present fun, Daddy played with all the kids so that I could get breakfast going. We had French Toast Casserole (thanks again to Pinterest!), bacon, eggs, and mimosas for the grownups.
We played until about lunch time, then loaded up the car and headed to Mama Mae's house. Below is Lucy in her dress made by my college roommate, Carissa. Lucy wanted to put the dress on as soon as she opened the package - she LOVES it! :)
We got to Mama Mae's and after a crazy screaming session by two hungry little boys, we had a nice meal together. Things from that evening are a blur to me, but it was nice to see everyone. The next morning was something out of sitcom though - all you could do was laugh at the insanity of it. We had just finished feeding the boys around 4 AM and had gotten them settled and back to bed. I had gone to the fridge to put in the milk I had just pumped and came back to find Michael stuck - one of the bed frame slats had fallen and he was wedged in between the mattress and the headboard. It was obvious that we couldn't fix the bed since all three kids were also asleep in the room, so I laid down in the floor with Lucy (who didn't have a nap the day before and also didn't fall asleep until sometime after 10:30!) and Michael went and laid on the couch. The boys soon woke up, wanting to eat again, Lucy woke up in an extremely tired state and that combination of fatigue/post-nasal drip/lack of food in her system caused her to get sick a couple of times. So the morning was spent washing her hair again after getting sick, trying to keep the boys calm enough until we could get food in them, as well as trying to pack up for our next Christmas celebration! Too bad we don't have a reality TV show - that morning would have made a good episode!
We headed to Statesville for our next Christmas with Great Mommy and Great Daddy. The boys got to finally meet everyone on that side of the family and we had a really nice meal. Charlie was a little tired out though . ..
We played Dirty Santa which was a lot of fun this year. It was also nice to see everyone as well - we don't get to see everyone from that side of the family as often as we would like so we really enjoyed our time. I was also glad that "Great Mommy" got to see how big the boys are getting.
The next day was Christmas with Grammy and Poppa, Aunt Nae, Mamaw, and Uncle Latimer. We weren't celebrating until the evening, so the boys had a nice afternoon nap. It's hard to tell in this picture who is who, right??
Of course, Lucy's naptime was spent like this. . .
How can you sleep when you have such fun toys to play with? Oh well. We tried to keep the morning/afternoon as low-key as possible. So we mostly played with new toys all afternoon. Charlie and Grammy had a good time together. . .
\
After a DELICIOUS meal (Can you tell that we ate well during this week?), we got ready to open presents. It was almost the boys bed time when we got started. Alex managed to stay awake for a little while. . .
He saw a few of his presents. . . he gave this giraffe the staredown. Even now, when we pull it out to play, it holds his attention for awhile - I think he must really like this toy!
Charlie never saw any of his presents that evening. He had to wait until later. . . he was so sleepy. The boys went to bed about halfway through the present fun so Mommy and Daddy opened the rest of theirs for them. And just in case you were wondering, Baxter is still around . . .
Lucy was wound up tight that evening as well. . . as you can see, she was hardly still!
We had lunch the next day with Tanya and the Thrifts. Lucy was so excited to get to go play with Nathan and Lillian. I think she would have enjoyed her time even more if she had been well rested. She was remarkably well behaved for a child that had missed her nap for 5 days in a row but she had a major meltdown at lunch. I took her back to Tanya's room just to rock and rest and pull ourselves back together but while I was holding her, she fell asleep in my arms for about 10 minutes. I can't even recall the last time that happened, so I know she was tired. And this is what she looked like on the way home . . .
Uncle Latimer came back by with Jenni that evening and we had more presents! All three kids love spending time with their "Funcle!"
Finally, on Saturday, we had just a lazy day. . . full of rest. (Oh, and feeding the boys every 2- 2 1/2 hours!) It was a much needed break!
Isn't this one of the sweetest little faces in the world?
On Sunday, Uncle John and Aunt Carol came over to see the boys and Lucy. It was their anniversary - 12 years since Kendra and I had played the music at their wedding. Seems like it was just yesterday . . . . time sure does fly.
On Monday, we went over to the Flack house - Lucy had the best time playing with her cousin. She loves Harper so much! It was a crazy, fun-filled time with four kids under the age of four. Wow. . . .Harper is growing so fast and is at the age where she is crawling and exploring everything. As I watched her flit from place to place, I thought about how much life is going to change once these boys are mobile. Not quite sure I'm ready for that. . .
Tuesday was another lazy day. Michael and I did get to go out to dinner that night followed by a trip to Target. It's the little things, right? ;)
Wednesday was our family Christmas at the Flack house. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures from that - forgot my camera! I'll have to get some from Mike. We had a good time together and Lucy enjoyed showing off her reading skills by reading the To/From tags.
And then it was Thursday. . .time to pack up and head home . . . only to repack and go to a hotel because our oil had run out and the house had no heat. Oh what fun. The excitement of the hotel was almost too much for Lucy to handle! This little girl thinks hotels (even the Holiday Inn) are a big deal!
So that's our Christmas. . . in a nutshell. There were many times this week where I found myself overwhelmed and stressed and just ready to hide in a closet and not come out. But after a few days at home, as I reflect back, I know that there are many good things to remember. Like the time with family - we aren't promised more than the moment we're in and how blessed we are to have so many family members to spend time with. We won't always be so lucky. We received so many wonderful gifts and our kids will be so well dressed and have so much to play with in the coming months. As I look back on this Christmas, I want to remember the feeling as my baby girl sat in my lap and read a book to me. Yes, READ to ME. I helped with a few words here and there but she was reading. . . and it was book she had never seen before. And even as crazy as it was, I am so thankful for my family of five. I have a wonderful husband who works hard to provide for his family and loves his kids and me. I have the best daughter in the world. She is wicked smart and so funny. She loves her brothers so much and when she hugs me, my heart just melts. And my two boys - they have the best smiles in the whole world. Even though they exhaust me in this infant stage, I wouldn't trade it for anything. I love them more and more every day and am so thankful that God knew I needed both of them. And even as chaotic as this Christmas was, I am so thankful for the chaos. It means that my life is full of hope, joy, love, and even peace. . . just like that first Christmas. And when I reflect on the arrival of Christ, I imagine that it was a little chaotic as well.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)