The Name Game & Gripe Water

I've run into an interesting issue with my baby girl's name. It has only happened at the doctor's office, but apparently no one can phonetically process Alaina. The problem is we thought long and hard about how we wanted to spell it. There are literally a million ways: Alayna, Alana, Elena, Elaina, etc. I liked her name beginning with an A as opposed to an E. But for some reason all nurses/doctors keep saying UH-LON-UH. First of all, it doesn't even remotely look that way. Either people are lazy or just afraid so they guess how to pronounce. I hope she realizes she will have to correct everyone-and she'll like it.

I also got recommended this weird stuff by my pediatrician called gripe water. I had never heard of it, but I suppose I wouldn't having had no children prior to now. It's an all natural remedy for colic/gas that has surprisingly positive results. I tried it on Ryan last night and it had good results. We are slowly trying to create a routine so they both understand night/day and maybe sleep more.


Here's our "going out" hoodies: Alaina is already throwing up the peace sign!





























And lastly, here's some bedtime buddies shots:

To Feed or Not To Feed

Oh breastfeeding and I are not getting along. Just like my crazy hormonal mood swings have come and gone, so has the need to breastfeed. I will admit I was into it at first, but now it is just driving me crazy. It's a love/hate relationship really. I mean sometimes I am into it, but most of the time I am not. I am truly hoping my granola loving pediatrician doesn't shake his finger at me. I mean, come on, I fed two kids for six weeks! I am not actually concerned with what others will think, just mainly myself. I don't want to give up, but it's really not that easy. Even being at home on maternity leave with ample time to nurse and pump and I still feel stressed out. I am going to give it until we visit the pediatrician again next week and then more than likely will let it go.

In other news I am still trying to figure out how to get this guy to sleep:

He's so cute. He'd be even cuter if he slept at night. We are trying some different things and mommy is trying to remember this is baby wasn't even supposed to be born yet! Cut him some slack!



My sis snapped some good "together" pics last week:


I also had my friend Carly (who painted the nursery) come and take some pics for their birth announcement-those should be done soon!

Other than that everyone is doing well and growing! At last check Ryan was 5 lbs 13 oz and Alaina was a whopping 6 lbs 1 oz (she is our little fat elf!)

Sleep Is Overrated

Oh sweet children, why do you torture your daddy and me? For whatever reason, this seems scarce:
And only for this guy. I refer to him as Tater Pants. Or Fussy Face. But his name should be "Confused About What Time Of Day It Is." Obviously I'm a new parent and it shouldn't seem weird to me that my child insists on staying up all night and sleeping all day. I have no clue how to amend this because my doctors orders are to let them sleep and wake them every three hours to eat. Unfortunately my son wants to eat all night. He literally lays there and looks around and then thrashes his binky like I've never fed him before. I guess I'll have to seek some advice from blogs or something about what to do. We've rocked him, put him in the swing, held him, nursed him (just me) and all to no avail. He simply prefers the night life.

Luckily sister has no problem sleeping. Here's me and her and me thinking: "Thank god you sleep all the time."

Of course I say that and she'll be up all night tonight.

In other news the twins are one month old! Can you believe it? I can't. They barely seem like they were just born much less been around for a month. Now granted half of that time was spent in the hospital and we've only had them for a couple of weeks. They are getting nice chubby hands and cheeks and next week at the doc we'll see what their weights are. Until then, I will continue to appreciate not working so that I can sleep during the day. Tonight it will surely be me and Club Ryan.

Photo Shoot

I just had to. My sister got these matching outfits and I had to capture it. I am sure it is the first of many....

Christmas Times Two

After a whirlwind week everyone is home! We luckily only spent 16 days in the NICU before they were allowed to go home. At first they were just going to let us take Alaina, but we both really didn't want to separate them and the doctor agreed to let us take both (I think they were just trying to be nice and didn't want to overwhelm us). Since it was so close to Christmas, we decided to not tell our parents and surprise everyone. My mom came on Thurs morning and Matt's parents came Saturday morning.
We had a very busy weekend, but all is well! Just adjusting to the every three hour feedings and they are so small they sleep pretty well at night. My mom is staying with us and helping at night since Matt is working. I will not be going back to work until March. I will be updating more as the weeks go by!

WHAT??? BABIES ARE HERE!!!

Funny how I finally updated my page on Sunday and then went to bed and my water promptly broke. And that's how it happened! I had a terrible time sleeping, turned on one side and it was like a waterfall. I had to call to Matt who had been sleeping in the other room to avoid my snoring and he was a bit frazzled. No bag packed, no preparations made seeing as I was only 32 weeks.

So we threw some stuff in a bag, headed to the hospital and two hours later my children were born.




Alaina Madison, born 2:27 am 3 lbs 12oz, 16 3/4 inches long





Ryan Porter, born 2:28 am, 3 lbs 151/2 oz, 17 1/4 inches long


Both are doing quite well in the NICU and working on gaining some weight so we can bring them home soon. It has literally been a whirlwind of emotion because we are so glad to meet them, but we want them to do well and be healthy. Luckily neither one of them need anything besides some monitors and IV's. We are allowed to change them, hold them, take their temp. They are being tube fed so far, so eventually they will get bottles. I just take them mommies special formula until we get to that point.

So that's the update! I stayed in the hospital for about four days after my C-section and we have been visiting them twice a day. Matt had already planned some time off, so he's been with me since I can't drive:( Each day I feel better and I'm able to get good rest since there are no crying babies at home yet!

We are especially thankful to all of our family and friends who have really stepped up to support, love and be there for us and the babies. It was unexpected for everyone, but we could not do it without everyone:)

I will keep things updated as much as possible-I am at home for the next 12 weeks!

Lofty Ideas Are Not For Pregnant People

I am approaching the home stretch. Going to the doc every week and ending work in just a few short days. I will say I am surprisingly well, just getting some severe leg swelling that will only go away if I sit still for awhile. This is a bit irritating since I am in full force "nesting" mode. I've had to just let it go because when you're pregnant you have all these grand ideas about how you're going to hand make every one's present and how you're going to do super sweet special xmas cards. Yeah right. Let's just reason with ourselves.....you're not going to make anything, everyone will simply get a gift card. If you can even get in the mood to make yourself look presentable, you MIGHT make some sort of xmas card that probably won't be printed in time to send anyway.

I think everyone will forgive me. They will get gorgeous newborn pics to make up for it. I will say my husband is the best for putting up xmas decorations, running out to get gifts and going upstairs to get various items for me like my ipod. Since I am about to be home starting this week, I will diligently pay more attention to the blogging.....so Carly can stalk me more:)