Summer fun! (Part 1)

I know, I know...we have slacked off a bit on the blog. It was not our intention but these boys are on the go and we can hardly keep up! The boys are crawling around everywhere and our house now includes gates, play fences and other ways to keep the boys at bay. They love to go, go, go and explore! They are also eating table food now. They have given up on baby food and eat whatever we are eating for their meals. Both boys do an amazing job with tying new foods and since both have 6 teeth now, there isn't much we can't feed them.

Since the last blog we have been busy! At the end of May, Aunt Katherine and Uncle Chris came to viomsit from Arkansas! We had a blast showing them around Newport and spending time with them. Uncle Tim, Aunt Alissa and cousins Sean and baby Tatem also
Came to visit! We explored Bay Street and spent time hanging out and playing! At the beginning of June we traveled to California to pick up the girls! We spent a week there celebrating Sam's 17th birthday, visiting family, traveling around the state, going to the boys first MoBand concert and on June 10th the boys were baptized. All of our family and friends were there to help is celebrate this special day. It was a great trip full of fun and great memories!

Once we got back home, our summer continued to be jam packed with fun vacations and other activities that filled up the weeks while the girls were here. We started with a trip to Seattle which included a visit to Seattle Reproductive Medicine (where our boys were conceived), a visit to Amy's old work, a visit to Pikes place Market, a wedding shower for good friends of ours and lots of time spent with friends we miss so much. It was a whirlwind of a trip but a very memorable one!

Grandma Lynne came to visit for the July 4th week and we had a great time! We traveled a bit up and down the coast and had a great time lighting off fireworks! Aidan loved watching the fireworks but Jacob, not so much. Sam was a great big sister! She sat in the van with Jacob to keep him away from the noise. He ended up falling asleep in the back seat and Sam was still able to enjoy the view the windows.

There is sill more summer tales to tell! I'll cut is short here so I can include pictures of our fun!

Fun times!

We made it! Our trip to San Diego was a success and we all lived to tell about it! The boys did amazingly well and had a great time. We did lots of sightseeing, saw a lot of friends and enjoyed the sun.

Our trip started with a flight delay but the boys did great. They slept almost the entire way on the plane. Aidan woke up once we got there and was wide awake. Jacob woke up while we were waiting for Gavin to bring around the rental car. We didn't get to the hotel until about 1 am. We were all happy to fall into bed that night! The next day we headed to Seaport village for some shopping after daddy attended a morning class. The next day we spent the day at the zoo learning about animals and then had dinner with one of out friends, Dan,from high school. Monday Gavin and Lillian attended some more classes but we also got to sightsee around Old Town and see our friend Erik. We also got to spend some time with Gavin's practice partner Megi who was also there for the conference. Tuesday the boys got to get their few wet in the Pacific Ocean for the first time! They loved it! We headed over to Coronado in the morning and introduced the boys to the sand and surf! They enjoyed having their toes in the sand and water. Can't wait for Hawaii in July! They are going to have a blast. Wednesday was the ceremony in which Gavin was inducted as a Fellow into ACOG. The boys were great through the entire ceremony and daddy looked great in his cap and gown! We had a celebratory lunch, checked out of the hotel and headed to Old Town before going to the airport. The boys did great on the flight on the way home and we were all glad to finally be home. All and all the trip was wonderful and the boys did great with traveling and being off trot schedule. Thank goodness!!! Looking forward to more and more vacations!

Life...at the speed of twins!

I had a great blog already written and my darn app erased it all! There is so much to write and I'm trying to do it all on my iPhone :). Let's see what happens...

The boys are growing so fast! Blogs are getting fewer and fewer as the boys become more and more mobile. We apologize for not keeping you more up to date. Both boys are enjoying food, learning to crawl and enjoying exploring the world around them. As we speak we are in sunny San Diego while daddy and Nana are attending a medical conference here. The boys went on their first airplane ride, visited the beach and the San Diego Zoo and have enjoyed sightseeing around the city and visiting with friends. They have done a great job and seem to travel well...thank goodness! We will be here through tomorrow. Gavin will be inducted as a fellow to ACOG and the boys are excited to attend this special ceremony! Go daddy!

So much to do today so I will fill you in more on our happening when we get home. Lots of fun in the upcoming weeks! Cousin Katherine and her husband Chris will be visiting from Arkansas, Uncle Tim, Aunt Alissa and new baby cousin Tatem will be visiting and we'll be traveling to California to get the girls, celebrate birthdays and the boys will be baptized! Busy, busy....we can't wait!

Pass the squash, bananas, and peas please!

Our Kiddos!

Happy 6 months to the boys! (February 28).  Amazing how times flies!  So many things have happened over the past month and we are having so much fun watching the boys learn to play with their toys!  Our biggest news is that the boys are now eating real food!  We decided to buy a "baby food maker" and make all of their food ourselves.  We started out with rice, oatmeal, and barley when they were about 5 1/2 months old and 2 days before they turned 6 months the boys were introduced to squash.  I think that Gavin and I were way more excited about making the food for them than they were about eating it.  Gavin carefully diced up the squash to the correct size for the food processor.  We then watched patiently as our new machine steamed and then blended the squash into a yummy, pulverized food that the boys could enjoy.   When the moment of truth came, we learned that Jacob LOVES to eat and Aidan...not so much.  Jacob is now opening his month on his own, even moving his bib or fingers from his mouth when he sees the spoon coming.  His legs and arms start to go crazy when he sees us coming at him with his bib.  He knows he is going to eat!  Aidan is still getting used to the idea of eating.  He didn't do well with squash...had a little bit of a reaction and has had issues getting excited about eating since.  He does like bananas and his oatmeal but we are working on improving his palate.  The boys have tried squash, bananas, peas, and now sweet potato! I personally think that Gavin has more fun feeding them that they have eating.  He is like a kid in a candy store when we go to look at all the baby food combinations to get ideas for the boys.  He wants them to eat everything now!  Patience, grasshopper.....

We also took the boys on a California adventure to meet their family and friends living there!  After a week long trip the boys met over 65 people! Talk about a mad rush through that state!  We are still trying to recover!  The boys did great though.  We drove to Modesto on Friday and stayed the night with my parents.  The next morning we got up and took my grandma to Hanford to watch Katie play basketball and pick up the girls for the week.  That night we headed back to Modesto to celebrate Christmas with my parents, step-grandfather, brother, sister-in-law, and nephew.  We had a great time!  The next day we attended the baptism of our niece and got to see Gavin's sister!  Later that afternoon, we met up with my mom and Roy for lunch with everyone, including my aunt and great aunt.  There were 15 of us at lunch and we just passed the boys around to everyone.  They loved it!  Monday, we headed to my dad and step mom's office to meet everyone and then headed to lunch where a friend of mine surprised us!  The next few days we spent in Hanford with my mom.  We visited friends and took the boys to meet all of their sisters' friends at their schools!  We also celebrated Valentine's Day and Katie and my mom's birthdays.  We then headed to Modesto on Thursday for the night.  We joined Nana's office staff for a luncheon and then spent some time with my grandma and cousin as well as our good friend, who also went back to my dad's with us for the evening. Nana joined us there too!  The next day we met up with Gavin's sister, niece, and future brother-in-law, and then headed to the Bay Area to meet some good friends from high school for lunch.  We then spent the night with Gavin's aunt and uncle and their kids.  We had a belated Chinese New Year's dinner; his uncle from San Francisco also joined us.  It was so much fun!   It was a mad rush seeing everyone but we are glad that the boys got to meet more of the family that loves them.  Can't wait to visit again in June!

The boys are growing and changing more and more each day.  Aside from getting bigger, they are learning to do more and more each day.  Both boys love to play in their saucer and their bouncer.  They can pick things up and can move them from hand to hand.  They can both roll over and we are working on sitting up on their own.  Of course, everything goes in their mouths and we are waiting for the day when teeth finally peek through.    They also love to sit in their Bumbo seats and their high chairs.  Daddy likes to put them in a "High Chair Train" while he works in the kitchen and they love it.  It amazes us each day to watch them learn and discover more and more about their world.




Ready for Katie's basketball game!



Sam and Jacob

Sam and Aidan

Katie and Jacob

Happy Valentines Day!

The boys hanginig out in their chairs at home!


 

Happy 5 months boys!!!

Love how they love each other so much!




Jacob with Piglet!  5 months old!



Aidan with Pooh!  5 Months old!

 Wow!  Time flies when you are having fun!?  5 months ago (and a few days now) Aidan and Jacob made a dramatic entrance into our lives.  At 10 weeks early Aidan decided he had had enough of getting kicked by his brother so he decided to get the heck out of dodge...was he in for a rude awakening when his brother followed him!  Now at 12 and 13+ pounds, the boys bring joy to us every day.  It has been a hard road but we wouldn't give it up for anything (even when Jacob is screaming!)  ;0) 

Since the last post much has happened!  Grandpa George and Grandma Dawn came from California to visit.  They were the first of our family to visit the boys when they were born so they were amazed at how big they have grown.  We had a great weekend of sightseeing and hanging out together.  The boys loved being with them and Grandma loved humming Don Williams songs to Jacob to calm him...go figure! It worked!

The following week we got the "storm of the century"!  Well, maybe not the century, but it was pretty bad.  It began with a hail storm on Sunday morning and ended with hurricane force winds and snow over the next couple of days.  The hail was so bad it looked liked it had snowed when we work up Sunday morning.  Later in the day the snow started and didn't let up until Monday morning.  It was so bad that Gavin's clinic closed for the day on Monday.  In 2 days we got almost 6 inches of rain and had hurricane force winds; the strongest gust was 95 miles per hour!  Aidan's surgery was scheduled for that Thursday and the entire state was getting hit hard with this storm.  Portland was covered in snow and the roads from the coast were impassable on Wednesday.  Fortunately, when we woke up on Thursday, the morning of the surgery, the road was safe enough for us to drive Aidan to the hospital in Portland.  His surgery was scheduled for 3:30.  He had his breakfast at 7am and then I convinced him to drink another couple ounces of breastmilk around 10:15.  No more food after that in preparation for the surgery ;0( .  He actually did better than I thought he would...and considering his surgery was postponed for an hour, he did a great job being patient with an empty stomach.  Both Gavin and I were very nervous for the surgery, but knew everything would be ok.  Finally, at 4:45 they took him back and the waiting began.....We were relieved, about an hour later, when the surgeon came out and told us that Aidan had done fine and that both hernias were fixed!  Thank goodness!  We had to stay the night at the hospital to make sure that he didn't have any apneic episodes.  Aidan did great recovering and the next morning we headed for Nana's house for the weekend.  We were all grateful that his surgery was over and that all was ok!   His recovery has been better than expected and he hardly seems phased by the stitches in his tummy.

The boys continue to grow and hit their milestones!  While grandma and grandpa were here, both boys began to laugh!  They laughed first for Daddy and then he came and got all of us to listen!  It is always cute to see them smile.  Now we love to hear them laugh!  They also began eating rice cereal and oatmeal!  So far they like the oatmeal way better!  They eat it about 3 times a day and are doing great! And on their 5 month birthday they both rolled over!  Jacob did it about 3 times while having a temper tantrum and Aidan followed suit later that day!  They continue to amaze us and we are so pleased that they are growing so big!






After surgery with his IV paddle!

  


Patient Aidan is his cool hospital gown!

 


Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Wow! It has been a long time since I have "blogged"....it was always the intention, as with most parents, to keep track of the daily happenings of our two little ones.  Of course, as they grow older and begin to be more and more interactive the less time we have during the day for ourselves to catch up.  So...here I am, over a month since our last visit trying to play catch up!  Much has happened and the boys are growing more and more each day.  I find myself  having to go back through the pictures on my IPhone to remember all the amazing things that have happened since the last time I wrote.  Of course, its not all roses.  Our little Jacob continues to have colic and cry a good part of the day.  I do try to wake up everyday and hope that the day will be better then the one before.  Sometimes I am pleasantly surprised and other times I am a bit defeated. I am reminded everyday, though, how lucky we are to have the boys and how much I love them.

In the month of December the boys really began to smile and interact a lot more.  They are definitely morning boys...I am not sure where they got that from though, as Gavin and I are not.  They have a "semi-schedule".  They wake up between 7-8am to eat, play for a while and then settle down for a nap.  They wake up around the time daddy comes home for lunch to eat again.  We play a bit more and take a short nap in the afternoon.  They spend a good part of the late afternoon awake and playing and then fall asleep for the night between 7-8pm.  They wake up once a night to eat but for the most part go about 5-6 hours sleeping.  Thank goodness!  We have yet to put them in their crib.  It is very convenient to have them in our room in their pack and play bit we know that the time is coming soon for them to move into their own room.  It will be a big change for all of us!

The holidays were wonderful...full of family, friends and great times.  The second weekend in December was the annual Festival of Trees fundraiser put on by the hospital.  I went to help some of the L & D nurses decorate their tree for the event and had a great time.  I brought the boys with me to help and Gavin joined us later in the day.  I got to meet many of the nurses that I hear so much about.  Later that week, we attended Trivia Night with the office and had a great time.  The boys got passed around the event and even the CEO of the hospital held Aidan!  The next night was the dinner and the boys got dressed up in their best sweater vests and jeans and Gavin sported his tux and I wore my wedding dress.  We had another great night and the boys ended up sleeping through the entire event!  It was a great way to continue with the holiday festivities!  We also hosted a holiday party at our house for all of the staff in Gavin's office, as well as the nurses on Labor and Delivery.  We had a great time and the boys enjoyed being passed around by all who attended.  Gavin and I enjoyed a bit of a break as well.  The girls were here for Christmas and we traveled to Shore Acres State park to see Christmas lights and went shopping in the big city of Albany.  We also saw Santa!  The day the girls flew in we decided to see Santa.  After dinner with Nana, we attempted to head to the mall for a picture with Santa.  After finding out it was a 148 minute wait, we began our journey back to Newport.  About a half hour into the drive we spotted some outlets and wondered if Santa might be there.  Gavin went to scout it out and not only found Santa but no line to wait in to see him as well!  The kids and I hurried to beat the crowd.  On the way there, though, Jacob got fussy because I was making him wear a hat so his head wouldn't get cold.  Because of this we got a traditional Santa picture, screaming kid and all!   We spent Christmas Day in Portland with Nana Lillian, Uncle CJ, Aunt Vicki and cousins Evan and Makena.  Jacob had a bit of an issue with over stimulation and the first night away from home was hard on all of us.  He screamed until about 2am and then finally settled down for the rest of the night.  The next day we went to the mall to go ice skating and to do some shopping so Nana volunteered to stay with him.  The rest of the trip was peaceful...for the most part and we all had a great time!  New Years Eve was spent at home as Gavin was on call.  We did make it to midnight though!

After the holidays my brother, Tim,  sis in law, Alissa, and nephew, Sean,  all came for a spur of the moment visit!  My brother was actually stabbed while working and because of this off work for a bit.  He was feeling fine so they decided to head out to meet the boys!  We had a great time!  Sean is a great big cousin to the boys and my brother and his wife got some good practice with the boys as they are expecting a girl in May!  A great time was had by all!

As for the upcoming weeks, my dad and step mom are coming this weekend to see the boys.  They haven't seen them since they were born!  Are they in for a surprise.  Aidan has his surgery on the 19th and I am getting very anxious about it.  I know everything will be fine, but I am still scared for the little guy.   I'll post more after his 'big' day!



Aidan and Jacob ready for Festival of Trees and the boys posing in a stocking!
Ho Ho Ho!

Jacob loves his bouncer!

So does Aidan!

First trip to the beach with Uncle Timmy, Aunt Alissa, Sean, Bailey, Murphy and Kasey!



The holiday season has begun!

Aidan and Jacob meet Santa!

As you can tell by the lack of blog posts...life has gotten more and more "exciting" by the day. The boys are more and more active and awake each day and they are beginning to interact more with us.  They love swinging in their swings, sitting in their Bumbo chairs and looking at the world around them.  Jacob love lights and the outdoors.  There is a plant in the corner of our living room that he loves to look at when he is spending time on his play mat.  Aidan likes to look at "Mr. Octopus" while laying on his play mat.  They both are growing so much each day and becoming more and more "human-like"...for lack of a better phrase.

Our first Christmas Tree!

Since the girls left, we have been busy!  This past Saturday night we went to the Newport Aquarium and saw "Sea of Lights". The aquarium was all lit up with lights and Santa was there!  After exploring the aquarium a bit, we decided to see how the boys would do meeting Santa for the first time.  We were pleasantly surprised!  Jacob had woken up about half way through the aquarium and Aidan was still sound asleep.  As we got closer to Santa, Gavin took Aidan out of the stroller to prepare for the big moment!  Once we reached Santa, the boys sat in his lap and no one cried!  We were even able to get in a couple of pictures with him!  How exciting!  It was a nice family outing and a great start to the holiday!  During the week, I took the boys to help decorate for the hospital's fundraiser "Festival of Trees".  It was a great chance for us to get out and help!  The boys had a great time and the nurses from Labor and Delivery had a even better time holding the boys.  Mommy got a much needed break and the nurses got some quality time with the boys they have been hearing so much about.  A good time for all!  On Tuesday we went out and picked out our first Christmas Tree!  We had a great time checking out some of the lots around town.  It was a bit cold, but the sun was out so it made for a perfect day.  Aidan fussed a little bit during the outing and Jacob lost it at the last lot.  A clear sign from both of them that we needed to find the perfect tree...and fast!  Luckily we did and all the people at the lot still gushed about how darn cute they were.  Always a good sign.  That night we went to Megi, Gavin's practice partner's, 40th birthday party.  We had a great time and the boys slept through the whole thing despite the noise and laughter.  I always tell Gavin that they make us look like great parents when we take them out...hopefully that will continue on as they grow up ;0). 

We have been dealing a lot with crying by our little Mr. Jacob.  We have found out that he is lactose intolerant.  After so many feedings of fighting with the poor guy, we finally tried him on soy formula.  I was sad since he had been getting breast milk since birth.  It was hard for me to let him give that up.  I knew it was for the best though.  I also felt bad since I had been "hurting" his poor tummy with the milk I thought was best for him.  After a few days on soy he was still fighting us with his feedings.  So now he is on hypoallergenic nutrition formula.  He has responded well to it and we are hoping this will help him.  He is sleeping more during the night and is much happier during the day. I'm telling you....never a dull moment with these kiddos!  I wouldn't trade it for the world though...

Jacob with a bubble mohawk from daddy!

Aidan ended up with more of a bubble comb over....

Smiley boy Aidan!

Smiley boy Jacob!