Wiggle Worms!

I laid them down with a good 6 inches between them. This is how I just found them when waking them for their midnight bottle...

Love.

Last night during the midnight feeding Dan got my attention to look at Daniel and Garrett. I looked over and saw the sweetest thing - they were holding hands. Love.

Weekend Craziness!

Well it has taken us until today to recover from our weekend away, but it was so much fun!  We got up early on Saturday morning, fed the boys and packed everyone and everything into our car.  It was a bit of a challenge as we didn't actually have our car, but a loaner as Dan's vehicle was having recall work done on it.  We still don't have it back!  So we went from our typical 8 passenger vehicle, to a 7 passenger vehicle.  It all worked out ok though and we fit just fine.

Madelynn was great in the car as usual and just watched a movie on the ipad with headphones on, which meant that we didn't have to listen to it!  It was wonderful.  The boys were really good travelers as well and didn't start fussing until about 20 minutes from the destination...

We arrived at Dan's Grandparents' church just in time to feed the boys, and fortunately early enough that we were still able to be a part of the surprise!  It was his grandfather's 80th birthday and his grandmother's 78th birthday and we were having a surprise party that actually managed to stay a surprise!  It was so nice to see family and have everyone meet the boys.  We had help to feed boys all day and they were so good being passed around from person to person.

Arriving at church and very surprised!

The whole group, it was impossible to get one of everyone looking at the correct camera!

Ah young love!  Happy 80th Grandpa and Happy 78th Grandma!

  Saturday evening we left his grandparents and headed to the hotel which was most of the way to our destination for the next day.  We were smart enough to book a one bedroom suite, which proved to be a very smart thing to do!  After putting the boys to bed, Maddy took a tubby, then Dan, Maddy and I watched some TV while enjoying a snack.  At about 10:20 Maddy looked at me and said, "Mommy, I need to go to bed."  Ok! (Last time we stayed in a hotel she was running around until after midnight because she was so excited).  I covered her up and turned out the lights and went to the other part of the room.  By the time Dan returned from getting ice, she was sound asleep!  We fed the boys once more and were hopeful for a good night's sleep.  Not so much, the boys were up around 3 am and were up just about every half hour from then on, I think it was a long day for them!  We managed to get a little sleep and then Sunday morning we were on our way to State College for Dan's cousin's baby shower.

The shower was in a gorgeous park that had a creek running through it.  I am so happy that we were able to be a part of the shower, and it was so nice to have yet another day with Dan's grandparents and all of his Aunts, Uncles and Cousins.  It made for a great day.  The boys had another day of being handed off to everyone and just being held all day.  They enjoyed that; however, it made Monday a bit tricky!  All four kids slept the whole way home, and bedtime was a bit of a nightmare.  It was ok though because Madelynn loved it.  She asked us again today if Great Grandma was here.  I know she just loves them so much!

Congrats Meredith and Jason!  I cannot wait until Father's Day next year when our little ones will get to play!

Aunt Cindy made these awesome favors.  Local honey!

All of the grandchildren and great grandchildren!

We decorated onesies for the baby, don't worry Meredith and Jason LOVE fish!

Another one of the cute onesies.  There were a bunch and they were all super cute!

Maddy had some help posing from Aunt Patricia!

How can you not love that face?!

Maddy having fun with Aunt Patty!

Aunt Cindy, Meredith, and Meredith's mom, Darlene.

The kids' favors - balloons.  Maddy ended up "giving hers to another child" i.e. they flew up, up and away!

The weekend was tons of fun and I am so glad we were able to be there.  The boys and Maddy were so good and just rolled with all the changes to the schedule and being in different places.  I'm glad that we were able to have a weekend away and it gave us a good idea of how we can pack efficiently to fit everything we need.  Not sure we will be going away again anytime soon though!

And even though this blog post is extremely long - here are a few pictures of the boys from Friday morning.

Daniel (6.5 weeks)

Ryder (6.5 weeks)

Garrett (6.5 weeks)

 

6 weeks old

6 weeks have gone by so quickly! The boys are so incredibly cute and oh so chubby! We are having so much fun getting to have a little "play time" each day. The boys are becoming so much more interactive and every now and then we get a smile that is not gas related! Madelynn has enjoyed playing with them on their activity mats too! They are also eating a ton! Daniel has graduated to 6 oz bottles, while the other two get 5 oz bottles. They eat every 4 hours throughout the day. We then feed them at midnight and they go anywhere from 5-7 hours after that. We love the 7 hour days!

This past week was a bit crazy. Tuesday during the day I missed a pumping session bc of the boys hip ultrasound. Then, Tuesday evening my pump started acting funny, so I thought that it was the battery dying and that I just needed to charge it. Well I had it plugged in all night and the next morning it was still dead. I was thinking gee great. Even plugged in it wasn't working. I made sure to have the boys nurse at each feeding and I called Medela. The Medela rep thought it was my charger, so even though the pump was out of warranty she sent a new one overnight free of charge! I received the new charger Thursday around 10:15 and immediately attempted to plug in the pump. Well it didn't work. So off we went to babies r us to get a new pump. As a result of the 2.5 days without a pump, my supply took a big hit. Fortunately it seems to be improving, but I'm still not getting what I was. The scary part is that without providing at least some breast milk we will be using a can of formula a day. Yikes. The coolest part of this whole ordeal was that Tuesday morning we received two checks in the mail for supplies for the babies... The total was exactly the amount of the new pump. It is amazing how God provides!

We were also able to have our first date night on Saturday night. We left the boys and Madelynn with someone other than family, which was super stressful for me, but went really well. We were able to enjoy dinner with good friends. It was so nice to have an adult conversation and enjoy a meal without the interruption of a crazy two year old or fussing from a newborn!

We have a weekend trip planned for this upcoming weekend, so we get to figure out how to pack a car for a family of 6 for an overnight stay. We are looking forward to the adventure and I will have to write about it when we get back!

Until then some cuteness...

1. Sleepy Ryder 2. The boys in their big boy crib 3. Drowsy Garrett 4. Happy Daniel

Happy Due Date!!

I cannot believe that today is the boys original due date!  I also can't believe that had I been pregnant with a singleton I could very well still be pregnant! Thanks boys for making it shorter for me!  We have had the boys for 5 weeks and I cannot imagine it any other way.  It's amazing how quickly you discover a new normal.

The boys are getting huge!  Ryder is still our tiny guy, but with the week he's had it really doesn't surprise me.  Shortly after the doctor's appointment last Tuesday we noticed white spots on Ryder's tongue.  And of course Wednesday was July 4th, so we had to wait until Thursday to get medicine for his thrush.  Because he was uncomfortable he wasn't eating as well, but fortunately he was still gaining weight.  We started Nystatin and though it is taking care of his thrush it's making him throw up, so we have yet again increased his calories as he is not getting as much volume.  I'm hopeful that it won't be too much longer and we can be done with it.

We are now feeding them every 3.5 - 4 hours on demand and we are letting them go as long as they want after the midnight feeding.  We did manage to sleep six hours last night!  Pretty sure we won't be that lucky again, but I'll take it!

The boys continue to be more alert and are much more interactive.  They alert to rattles and our voices and we have even received a few smiles!  It has been fun watching them change over the past few days even.


We were daring the other evening and took the family out to eat at Maddy's favorite place, Red Robin.  We survived and they boys did great!  I don't know how frequently we will be going anywhere for meals, but it was nice to get out of the house and enjoy a wrap and fries!

Today we had to take the boys for hip ultrasounds just to make sure that everything developed correctly due to their positioning when they were in my belly.  I'm happy to say that all six hips looked perfect!  The boys were very good for the ultrasounds and actually slept most of the time.  After the ultrasound we went to MFM to visit.  Everyone was thrilled to see the boys and how big they were.  How fitting that we went to see them on the boys due date!

Here are some pictures from last night....

Clockwise from top left - Maddy, Daniel, Ryder, Garrett

Daniel, Ryder, Garrett (5 weeks! Happy Due Date!)

Daniel was talking to Daddy

Ryder yawning

Garrett thinking about giving us a smile

Maddy was picking my flowers!

Maddy enjoys blowing the dandelion seeds!

Happy 4th of July!

We had a busy day as usual, but it was such a fun day!  We had two friends stop by in the morning to hang out with the boys, and they were nice enough to help with a feeding while they were here!  I'm so glad they came as they are fellow counselors for a camp that we participate in and for obvious reasons we won't be able to do camp this year.  I will share more about Camp S.T.A.R. later as we are still planning on going to camp for part of the day.  It wouldn't be summer without it!

This afternoon we went to my friend's parent's house for a BBQ and some pool time for Maddy.  She just loves her friends, Jordyn and Joleigh, and we can relax and have fun when we are with them.  I have known their mommy since freshman year of high school and I am so thankful to have a friend like her!  Her parents are such loving and helpful people, so we were happy to spend the day there.  And since it just feels like extended family, everyone helped with the boys, which gave me a little break!  Dan on the other hand got in the pool with Maddy, so he is exhausted tonight!

Here are some cute pictures from our day...

Maddy swimming with Daddy!

Swim Jordy, Swim!

Grace (Sherisa's neice) being her adorable self

Joleigh being her crazy self!

Jordyn, Maddy, Joleigh... it's tough to get all of them to look the same way!

The kids

Having a tea party... these two are so cute together

The boys!

4 weeks old... ALREADY!

I cannot believe that the boys are 4 weeks old today!  It just blows my mind that time is going so quickly.  Maybe it's because we do the same thing most every day on repeat!  The boys are getting so big, and are spending much more time awake and alert.  They seem to enjoy tummy time and like to reach for each other.  They definitely prefer to be near one another and get fussy if they are apart for too long.

Daniel, Ryder, Garrett hanging out on their bellies!

We had their 1 month check up today and the doctor was very pleased.  All of the boys are growing very well and have moved up in percentiles on the growth chart.  Garrett is in the 12th percentile for weight!  We have been given the go ahead to feed on demand.  I guess that means no more waking up sleeping boys to eat.  Let's be honest though, Garrett won't go much longer than 3 hours between feedings.  He loves to eat!  We are also allowed to start giving Ryder the regular mixture of Neosure instead of mixing it at higher concentration.  That means we only have to make 1 pitcher of formula a day!  Haha, yes, pitcher!  I'm now strictly breastfeeding either Daniel or Garrett at each feeding.  The other boys get milk and formula mixed together in their bottles at each feeding.  It's exhausting trying to keep up, but for now I will keep trying. I think at midnight we will start doing straight formula, simply for selfish reasons in hopes to have them sleep a bit longer!

Here are their stats;
Daniel - 7 lbs 9 oz and 20 inches long (11th percentile for weight, 13th for height)
Ryder - 6 lbs 5 oz and 19.25 inches long (3rd percentile for weight, 3rd for height)
Garrett - 7 lbs 11 oz and 20 inches long (12th percentile for weight, 13th for height)

I'm one happy momma!  Oh yeah and Daniel now also has a little birthmark, fortunately his is on his back, which is different from Garrett! So we now have marks on 2 boys to help tell them apart! Phew!!

We may be adventurous and try to find a good place to watch fireworks, though I don't want to be too close that it is super loud.  Guess I need to look up the schedule!  Happy 4th of July everyone!

And who doesn't love pictures...

Snuggling to sleep (D, R, G)... Can you tell they are identical?

Maddy was posing for her daddy.

Daniel, Ryder, Garrett - 4 weeks old