Six Months Old!

It's hard to believe that a full six months have passed since the girls were born.  Wait - seven months now - it's taken me a month to get to posting this.....

What to say?  The girls are doing great.  Both learn so much every day, their giggles and laughs and squeals and squeaks increasing along with their proficiency for picking up a chunk of steak or a piece of carrot.  Watching them grow has been the most rewarding experience of my life thus far.  Taking care of them while they grow - one of the toughest.

It seems I hear two things from parents of infants.  In public, it's usually "my child is so great and did this and did that and they are so wonderful and I love being a parent!" (while said kid sits in a sandbox eating a cat turd).  In private, the horror and war stories come out;

"the little shit screams non-stop for three hours during my favorite TV time of the day, and then proceeds to scream for four hours non-stop starting at 1am!"

"Little Johnny was like a park fountain, spraying liquid from both orifices, all over the bills and tax papers sitting on the table!  Then he bit me!"

"Yep, kid just picked up the ninja throwing star and hucked it at me.  Good aim for a six month old - just grazed my ear.  Maybe I shouldn't have left that next to his high chair....."

"I think the twins are ganging up on me!  Ahhhhhhhh!"

There definitely is a love / 'not liking so much at this time right now' relationship with infants.  You never stop loving them, no matter what they do.  It doesn't mean you have to smile through it all, though.  The outside world generally only gets to see the good times through pictures and videos.  Well, I guess I've included some of the bad stuff too (I find it funny at times).  It's all part of the experience in my eyes.  The good and the bad.  And yes, any parent who says, "what bad?", is absolutely full of shit.

Now, here's the part where I get to sound like a proud parent:  we have been blessed with some incredible little girls.  Many of the issues and problems that we hear others complain about don't register with our little family.  The girls are both so well-mannered, happy, and joyful babies.  Except for the occasional hiccup, they really have no problems with sleeping or eating, are easy to cheer up when they get grumpy, and usually have a smile for you, even if you're a perfect stranger.

They also burp and fart and tend to slobber on themselves a lot.  Don't tell anyone, but sometimes they still mess their diapers, too!  Siena has been having some issues with her eyes,  in the morning looking much like mine did in college upon waking after a previous full day of football and tailgating.  Névé still has remnants of her cradle cap on the top of her head, reminding me of the friendly alien from "The Last Starfighter".   Both girls can be a handful in the evening before bed, Névé refusing to finish her dinner while Siena whines about a bloated belly.  So no, they aren't perfect, but we love them exactly how they are.  The next six months with these girls is going to be a lot of fun!

Many more pictures can be found on my Flickr Site and also on both Dawn and mine's Facebook pages

Home Alone with the Little Ones

I don't have much time here. It's just after 12:30PM and both girls have gone down for a nap, which I'm sure will be brief. Hopefully I can get to a couple of things on my 'to do' list while they are sleeping. I find that feeding infant twins is similar to being one of those guys who balances and spins plates on thin sticks. You are always hurrying back and forth in order to avoid imminent disaster. In the case of the twins, this entails trying to keep a bottle in each girls mouth, something they are absolutely no good at on their own at this point. One will be peacefully sucking down her milk, while the other is crying due to her uncontrollable kung fu arms violently bashing the bottle from her mouth. It's never ending. It's a very rare occasion when both are quietly drinking at the same time, the bottle of milk ever so close to falling from it's precariously balanced perch. I can't wait until our Podee's get here. I just wish we would have known sooner that these existed!

Here's are some clips of the girls I took this morning. They are getting a lot more vocal and enjoy "talking" when they are in a good, playful mood. I must say, it's quite adorable and a lot of fun to watch!

03 April 2012 - Baby Noises a video by Nathan A on Flickr.

With Dawn back at the office now, we've worked out a routine where she puts the girls in bed with me before she leaves.  So far, this has worked quite well.  We usually get up around 9 am or so, then the fun begins.  This morning, however, I actually was able to sneak out of bed without waking them up and captured the below pictures.

Some Fun Pictures From Last Weekend

What's more fun than wet snow, a pregnant woman, and a dog?  That's right, not much!  Especially when it's a woman pregnant with twins racing a dog down a long driveway while wet snow falls from the gray, dreary, miserable German sky!  A few pictures that we had fun taking this past weekend.  So, I just stood there pushing a button while Dawn and Osu did all the work - and it was fun to watch :)  .....

Looking out from the office balcony

Heading down the driveway

 

Racing Osu

Click this text for more pictures

Woche Sechs und Dreissig (Wk. 36)

Well, 35 weeks have now come and gone. My doctor still expects the girls by the end of the month, and they are full-term twins after this week and full-term (singles) after next. They are still putting on weight, about a ½ lb a week each, and having a merry time dancing and kicking in the evening.

I was given a doctor note last week to stop working, as he thinks I could go into labor anytime now, which I guess is partly true. I had planned to work through this week, but an extra few days would be good to finish up some things around the house, just in case they do come any day now. I still hope to sneak off to the gym this week, as I had a few really nice workouts last week. If not, I have our home gym too. That is right; I haven’t quit working out yet. The girls seem to like it and I continue to be impressed with what I can still do. Anyone else know a woman doing pull-ups at 36 weeks? I’m only a minute or two behind the guys in my class and beat some women.

On a not as fun note, I am now rocking some really tight compression socks. Tight as in put-me –into- labor as I try to pull them on tight. I would like to not wear them, but the twins have decided to give me cankles. I really shouldn’t complain, as these are just about the only pregnancy type symptoms I’ve had. I’m still quite mobile and full of energy. I hope with my time off now I can finish up the projects I didn’t want to do at night after work. Look out blanket and pile of diaper packages, here I come!

Osu hanging out in the nursery.
                    

"I'm a giant" pose.

Story time


More Belly Shots can be found --------->>>>> HERE <<<<<<------------

Week 35

Happy New Year! We somehow made to midnight, all 5 of us, and now into week 35. The girls are feeling more cramped these days, as they are moving quite a bit and stretching. They should be the size of honeydews and somewhere around 5 pounds. Plus, both girls have had the hiccups now, although Névé gets them almost every day.

As for me, I have a little less energy, but am still doing pretty well. My feet have finally, and unfortunately, become puffy. Oh, and I waddle. But, the fun part is that I can still workout and almost have no trouble putting my socks and shoes on.

I am down to having two weeks left of work and then will be off until April. We can hardly wait for the girls to get here and get no sleep. The good news is that all their stuff is put together, we know how to use the car seats and strollers and my bag is half packed. Couple more weeks to go…

The entire Belly Photo Collection can be found here:

See The Girls Grow!

Ultrasounds from the Winter Solstice

Dawn will be along to annotate these later.  I just wanted to get it posted up - even if a few days late!  Click to see larger size.

The first picture is Siena's profile. The second is the front view of Névé's face. You can see her giant lips vertical in the middle and a big nose to the right and then eye sockets. The third is Névé's profile with her hand on her forehead.

PS - this was the first scan using the new scanner from Ma and Pa Will.  Thank you!

*** Two more pictures that I might as well add in here.  Dawn and the girls in that classic, "hands make a heart over the belly" preggers pose.  It had to be done.

            

Week 34

The Night Before Christmas - UPPO style

‘Twas the night before Christmas, in the old German house,

Nothing was moving, not even Osu while he dreamt of chasing Alaskan grouse;

The ugly ‘made in China’ stockings weren’t dangled with any particular care,

For the crumbly German walls were too weak the weight to bear;

The babies, they were nestled all snug in mommy’s womb,

While sounds of Christmastime bounced ‘round their darkened room;

And momma in her muumuu, and I in my back brace,

Had just plopped down, thankful for the day’s slowing pace,

When out on the street did we hear such a sound, 

I eased up out of bed so I could take a look around;

Up to the window I stumbled over a bump,

Stubbed my darn toe while tripping over Osu’s body lump.

The moon, partially hidden behind dark clouds dropping wet snow,

For this was Germany, land of weather expectations that are incredibly low;

When, what to my glazed-over eyes did appear,

But a sausage-shaped sleigh being led by eight flying beers!

With a toasty-looking driver, his accent so thick,

I figured it out, it was that jolly old German, the flying Herr Dick.

Faster than the fall of Poland, his courses they came,

And he belched and he bellowed and called them by their Catholic-given name;

“Now Helmut! Now Dolf! Now Heinie! Now Fritz!  

On Gretel! On Uta! On Hildegard! On Frau Giggleschnitz!

To the top of the Zugspitze, to the top of the Berlin Wall,

Macht Schnell! Macht Schnell!

Vee must get beer to all!

As dry hops that before the Alps Autumn Föhn fly,

When they meet with a rock wall, turn elsewhere and say goodbye;

So up to the house these stupid beers flew,

Towing a ridiculous sausage straddled by Herr Dick in a leather Christmas tutu.

And then, a bit of tinkling, I did hear above my head,

Was it the breaking of a beer glass or Herr Dick peeing instead?;

As I moved from the window and was spinning around,

Through the ceiling came Herr Dick, having put on some pounds.

He was dressed in an FC Bayern Kit from his shoulders to his feet,

Another blowhard football fan, oh boy, what a treat;

A crate of Augustiner he held under each arm,

In his left hand a bottle opener shaped like German football legend Olli Kahn.

His eyes -- how they were bloodshot!  His breath, oh so scary!

Smelling like strong egg nog, his nose redder than a Maraschino Cherry!

His toothless tiny mouth was all puckered up like an O,

the beard on his chin still containing frozen vomit mixed with snow.

The end of a bratwurst still stuck in his matted hair,

bright yellow mustard dripping to his shoulder, on to my antique chair.

He had a pudgy face and a gigantic beer belly,

That moved like wobbly head cheese at the local corner deli.

He was smelly and dirty, but still a happy ‘ol Mensch,

And I couldn’t help but chuckle, then gag, after smelling his stench.

A grab of his crotch and a creepy long leer,

Told me that this Herr Dick had had one too many beers.

He uttered not a word, but got straight to the task,

Filled all the oaken kegs and empty bottles, then he turned way too fast;

And now finding himself down on the cold hardwood floor,

He got to his knees and slowly scooted towards the front door.

Hailing his team with a burp and a fart,

He and the sausage-shaped sleigh pulled by flying beer mugs did depart

But I heard him slur as the sausage twisted out of sight,

“Beery ChristMaß to all, and I really doubt that I’ll remember much from this night!”

Week 33

We are now in the middle of week 33, and I waited to do this week’s post until after our doctor appt. The girls are now 4 and 4.4lbs and still head down. I was surprised they gained about 2lbs each in the last month, but this is the time to gain all their weight. Hopefully in the next month they will gain another 2lbs each and be all ready for their début.

The girls had their first heart monitoring today and did okay. Névé kept kicking the monitor, as she didn’t like it pressing on her, and Siena rolled over and kept setting the alarm off on the machine. They are both fine, but we needed to stay longer to get more constant heart beats.

So far I have gained 30lbs, 5 have probably been in the last week. I still have a lot of energy, but require a little more sleep now. The girls get sleepy around 9 in the evening and sometimes like to sleep in until about 6. We now require pre-dinner again, but still feel great and continue going to the gym.

Tying my shoes has become a little more difficult, but I can still get them on my feet. I can still see my feet if pull my belly back. As long as I can keep moving along at about the same pace, we should be good.

Now for Christmas in the next couple days. The cards are late and few this year as we have been busy getting ready. Merry Christmas!

  

The Indoor Garden

Here is a picture of our winter garden showing most of what we are growing indoors right now.  Click on the picture to take you to an interactive photo where you can get information on each area of the garden.  The only thing this doesn't cover is the small herb garden we have that is to the left, out of the picture.




Here is a closeup of the Pink Lady Apple Tree we have growing.  One day, while eating a Pink Lady Apple, I took a bite and found an already sprouted seed.  I had some extra soil and an extra pot, so I planted it and this is the result so far.  We've been surprised at how well it's actually done!

The Cucumber vines are growing great.  We have to move them each day to make sure they grab on to the right things!

Our little tomatoes.  These are the same heirlooms we grew this summer - and they are good!  Looking forward to these getting bigger.

 

Week 32- Counting down

This beginning of week 32 and things are still going pretty smoothly. Unfortunately, I finally have more pregnancy symptoms that I should or could have had sooner. I guess I should be happy I have had energy for so long. As we are getting down to the last 6-8 weeks I have become tired about 9pm. This is pretty good, and I hope it lasts a while, so I can still get a few things done after work.

I have to say the worse part is that heartburn has finally found me. Most days are pretty normal with little or none, but the last few have me eating Tums like after dinner mints. On the plus side, I kind of like them...then again that might not be a plus.

For a real plus side, I am still working out and doing Crossfit three times a week. I hope to keep my arm strength, and maybe be able to do unassisted pull-ups when I return a few babies lighter. I kept up with the boys for a good workout on Monday and maybe even scared them a bit.

The baby clothes are all washed now and we are just waiting on a few last things to show up. The car seats will be coming out soon, so we can figure out how they work. It looks easy until you try to remove the seat from the base at the store and look like an idiot because you can't find the magic button.

As for Nate, he had a shot of ozone put into his disc last week. Hopefully, it will start doing it's job more each day. As of now, Nate says he feels 10% better, which I'll take over worse. We'll let you know more as that continues to do its thing.

And now it's bed time for me...

Giant Dawn or Tiny Door?

The three of them are always in the kitchen looking for food.....

Dawn's "WTH are you doing Osu?" look

Getting Osu's attention

Week 31 - Like Baby Squashes

Things have been busy around our house lately. We aren't just getting ready for the babies this week, but preparing for Nate's next step with his back and his new Mac laptop.

An update with Nate's back procedure... not surgery. He will be going in this week for an injection into the disk to help regenerate and heal the disk. This came after many visits and meetings with the doctors, but should be all he needs to start healing his back. We are looking forward to less and less back pain and more mobility.

Nate has decided to make the move to Mac for his new computer. This came just in time, as his Dell has been on its deathbed. Having a laptop has come in very handy for being able to work while unable to sit at his desk for long periods of time.

On the baby front, we have been feeling very well. The girls have been moving around more and more. My belly takes one a few different shapes and gets large lumps off the sides. It is pretty amusing, they keep us laughing. They are supposed to be the size of squash this week, so somewhere around 2.5lbs each.

We have been washing the clothes now and putting the last things away. I am working on a blanket that will go on the floor under their play fence. I am not embarrassed to say our kids will be in a fence, or the 'baby cage,' as I like to call it.

We'll post the new pictures as soon as Nate's Photoshop for the Mac comes in.  *Nate decided he didn't want to wait for Photoshop.  Adobe is taking way too long to get it here.

Taking our Christmas Photo

Osu and Dawn in front of the Christmas Tree

Week 30

Finally - pictures!  Sorry it took so long.  This was right in the middle of me switching computers.

Dawn in her sailor blouse in front of the Christmas tree

I'm not quite sure what's going on here.....

Week 29 - The countdown begins

Yes, I realize that this title may be a bit misleading.  We've been counting down the days until we have to rush to the hospital for the birth of our children since knowing we were pregnant.  However, now that we are in the third trimester, everything is more vivid and more real.  As in, "Holy crap!  This is really going to happen!"

Dawn is still doing great.  In fact, she is doing much better than I am.  Her energy levels are still through the roof and her mood has been excellent.  I wish I could say the same, but my back isn't giving me all that much joy right now.  Hopefully this will be remedied soon, but in the meantime, I am just so thankful that Dawn is feeling as well as she is.

In just a little over an hour, we will be heading to the hospital for a checkup to see how the girls are doing.  At this point, I'd say they are doing great and are showing signs that they plan on being just as energetic as their mama.  These little girls like to move!  If we get any ultrasounds that are worth posting, I will put them up.  At this stage, however, getting a good, clear picture of the babies is not easy.  I will see if we can't get some closeups of their hands or feet or something that is actually discernible in the ultrasound.

             

We've reached the third trimester!

We have finally reached the third trimester! The time really does seem to fly when you count by weeks, or just being busy. Nate and I have been trying to get last larger projects complete, new lights and sealing up the drafty entryway. Osu has been helping by leaving the door open when he comes back in the house.

No new or horrible symptoms of the third trimester yet, always good. I do have an urge to clean, which I'm sure Nate will appreciate. It's not midnight and I'm vacuuming again...yet.

In other news, Nate is looking in to back surgery. He has waited several years and things are only getting worse, so we figured now is better than with the girls around. Hopefully, things will go quickly and he'll be on his way back to normal, if he can remember what that was like years ago. Maybe he can even be back from Oregon before Christmas.

Our pictures this week show off our new jogging stroller, which I Love. Check out our little redheaded children and their new hats and monkey toys.

 

 

Week 27

We have reached the last week in trimester 2 and are awaiting the excitement of number 3, as I should become crazier and narcoleptic. I am still feeling fantastic and am undertaking more projects around the house that, of course, need to be done now. It’s only been two years, so why not finish our wedding album, right :)

Our double-wide stroller has come into my hands and will be put together right away. I love putting things together, which is good for Nate, as he does not enjoy this as much. This was one of our much awaited gifts that Osu will not get to try out first. I guess Osu can’t try out many, he would not fit in the baby bathtub, car seats, or cribs so well either. He has been subjected to hats and small things we can lay on him. I'm sure he will be much happier when there is someone else to be dressed up.

Enjoy the photos!

*Nate edit - photo.  I only have the one right now!  Dawn in the office with the winter garden in the background.

Week 26

The weeks have been flying for us. Recently we drove to the Czech Republic to attempt camping, but found the season is over. We did get to stay in a lovely hotel at the base of some pinnacle like stone structures, which had us keep guessing how they were formed. This was perfect for our morning walk in the dark, which Osu loved. After a nice breakfast we headed back through some beautiful fall colored valleys towards home.

As for me and the girls, we have been doing well. I still have quite a bit of energy and we have been doing a lot around the house. We have been sorting out baby clothes and putting together other little parts for the nursery. We have almost completed the décor and finally do have the girls’ names up over their beds. Osu doesn’t help much, but he does like to lay on the rug in the girls’ room.

Our outside garden was dug up this weekend to prepare it for winter and next year. Our indoor garden is growing well and we have a lot of veggies to look forward to over the winter. Nate has been doing a lot of work on the garden and it looks great.

I do not feel as large as I look in my side views, which is great, as I have a lot of growing left for these last 3 months.

Week 25