Schaack Christmas

 We celebrated Christmas with the Schaack family on January 5th at the Adventureland Inn in Altoona, IA.  The swimming pool was a big hit with Alena and her cousins and they spent many hours Saturday evening and Sunday morning swimming.  Lauren and Caleb even took their first dip in the pool (just their toesies!). 

My Little Swimmer

 Aunt Emily and Lauren

 

 Cousins Danielle and Billy

 

 Aunt Vera and Caleb

 

 

As usual, the kids were spoiled with presents and Alena particularly enjoyed playing with Danielle.  With three kids we decided not to spend the night at the hotel, but Justin and Alena did go back in the morning for a little swimming. 

Now a couple cute, random pics of the twins:

Merry Christmas

What a fun Christmas we had.  We spent the weekend before Christmas in Grundy Center with Grandma S and Grandpa.  It was nice being there alone with the grandparents.  Alena and Grandma S spent a lot of time playing dress up with her hats and necklaces.  They also made peanut butter Ritz crackers dipped in almond bark.  Alena got a little crazy with the sprinkles!  She also went sledding for the first time with daddy and had a great time, even when she fell off the sled and got snow in her face.

Grandma S and Caleb

Grandpa and Caleb

The babies pretty much stayed on schedule while we were in Grundy Center.  Caleb rolled over for the first time from his tummy to his back. 

 

Christmas Eve day we headed to Ames to spend time with Papa and Grandma Joyce.  Alena enjoyed putting puzzles together with Papa before we headed to church. She was too excited about getting dressed up for church to take a nap!  After snapping a few photos of all the kids dressed up, we headed to St. Cecilia Church for mass. Alena liked listening to the children play Christmas tunes on different instruments.  The babies ate at the beginning of mass and then were awake the rest of the time.  As usual, Lauren's head was on a continuous swivel checking everything out.  She particularly liked the large Christmas tree at the front of the church and all the lights. 

We continued our annual tradition, and headed to The Mandarin for dinner.  Every year we comment about how many more people are at the restaurant (the first year we did this, there were maybe one or two other families eating there).  We were hopeful the twins would sleep during dinner since they were up nearly the entire church service, but soon after getting our egg rolls and crab rangoon they woke up.  It had been about three hours since their last feeding so it was time to eat again.  We asked for two glasses of hot water to warm up their bottles and chuckled when the waiter brought out two "tea pitchers" full of hot water.  Papa and I multitasked and fed babies while we enjoyed our chinese meal! 

Once back home the fire was stoked and Alena was allowed to open one present.  We all watched A Christmas Story before Alena got a plate of cookies ready for Santa (she loaded it up!).  She also left a glass of milk for him and some carrots for the reindeer. After getting that all set out, she decided to get a glass of water for the reindeer (what a thoughtful girl!).  After all the kids were in bed, the four of us played a couple games of golf before heading to bed. 

Just the Girls



Christmas morning, Alena was more excited about putting together puzzles than opening presents. We didn't open gifts until around 10:00 AM.  The kids all got some great gifts:  Alena got an easel, easy roller, clothes, books and probably her favorite gift, a harmonica!  The twins got some toys and clothes.  After enjoying homemade cinnamon rolls, we packed everything and everyone up and headed back to Urbandale. 

The twins slept while Alena opened her gifts and their gifts.  She was most excited about the scooter Santa brought her.  The rest of the day we spent playing with gifts and putting them away. 

Overall, it was a great Christmas-with all the traveling we did, we were very glad we had our mini van! 

Twins-3 Months Old

Wow, a fourth of their first year is already over!  Things are really starting to become fun-

Lauren:  You are quite the smiler and have the cutest little closed-mouth grin that shows off your dimples.  You are also starting to coo and talk a lot more.  Your head continues to be on a swivel-you doesn't want to miss a thing.  Because of this, you are sometimes a cat napper during the day.  However, no matter how much or how little sleep you gets during the day, you are almost always in a good mood.  You continue to sleep well during the night-maybe waking up once between 2-3AM, although you have slept 10-11 hours at night before.  You remain our little peanut and don't seem to be gaining weight as quickly as Caleb.  Your acid reflux has acted up a couple times so I have had to increase your meds to help with the symptoms.  You continue to eat 4 ounces every 3-4 hours during the day, and have hardly had any formula your entire life! 

Caleb:  You love to give smiles and talk during the 3AM feeding!  You like to eat and sometimes don't like to wait the 3 hours to have your next meal, especially in the evening.  You are eating anywhere from 4-6 oz every 3-4 hour and has had 7 ounces before.  It is obvious you are gaining weight quickly and you will probably be my Michelin  Baby :).  I can't wait!  You are becoming more observant and your head control is much better now.  You can sit in the Bumbo seat for 10-15 minutes without difficulty. 

Lauren seems the closest to rolling over, but neither twin loves tummy time.  They do continues to love their baths and being read to.  They are not great car riders and often cry in their carseats.   

Alena:  You continue to be such a great big sister.  Now that they are more interactive you love talking to them and trying to calm them down when they are upset.  The twins LOVE smiling at you and watching you.  You are definitely their biggest fan-I know you will continue to entertain them as they get older, which will be SO helpful for mom and dad.  I love how you call Caleb "Buddy" and Lauren "Sister" or "Little Girl."  One evening, we put the babies to bed before you so that we could spend a little time alone with you.  But you weren't really happy that the babies were not downstairs with us and wanted us to get them...you love them so much! 

Decorating for Christmas

It has been our tradition to pick out our Christmas tree at my parent's house.  This year, we let Alena pick out the tree all by herself.  Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of us by the tree before we cut it down, but I was able to get some while we were decorating it. 

All ready to go pick out the tree

Alena is so excited about Christmas and loves to look at Christmas lights.  Although Justin said he wasn't going to put Christmas lights up this year, I think Alena talked him into it.  Alena is also curious about our little elf, Ernie (or she calls him Bert and Ernie).  She likes to see where he is hiding each morning.

 

It's become an annual tradition to make Christmas cookies at my parent's house.  So we spent a day in Ames decorating cookies.  Alena really got into it this year-I'm sure there were more sprinkles on the floor than on the cookies, but we all had a great time.   

A Thanksgiving to Remember

...or forget!

I definitely enjoyed my last week off of work, especially because Thanksgiving was coming up and that is by far my favorite holiday!

Justin had a "simple" inguinal hernia repar the day before Thanksgiving.  His surgery went great and we were home a little after 12:00.  My mom picked Alena up from daycare and took her to Ames for the night to make things easier on Justin and I.  Late in the afternoon, Justin got sick, but we thought it was from the pain medication. We decided to go ahead and head up to Ames Wednesday night in case Justin wasn't able to help with the twins.  Unfortunately we had a hard time even getting out of Des Moines!  I had to stop at the pharmacy to pick up Lauren's new acid reflux medication and while I was doing that, Caleb was crying in the van.  After getting the medication, we headed for the interstate, but he wouldn't calm down.  We ended up pulling over at a gas station so I could feed him quick before heading up to Ames. 

The Grandmas watched the babies during Justin's surgery

Thanksgiving day was great!  It was just my parents and the five of us, but we still had a whole spread of food (turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, sweet potatoes, the traditional jello salad, homemade rolls, green bean casserole, corn, and two pies!).  Justin was able to eat a little bit, but not much due to a lot of extra gas in his tummy.  The twins napped during our feast. 

                                                                     Making Rolls

Early Friday morning, Justin woke up in a lot of pain.  We called the physician on call and he thought he was constipated and recommend he take Milk of Magnesia.  Of course the bottle my parents had expired in 1999 so Justin had to drive to town to get some in the middle of the night because I was feeding babies.  Later that morning he got sick and was still having pain.  I knew something wasn't right and worried about an ileus or an obstruction. I called his physician again, and told him he still wasn't doing well. I asked if he was concerned about an obstruction and he mentioned that that is quite rare to get after a hernia surgery.  He recommended Justin have clear liquids that day and continue Tylenol as needed.  Unforunately he wasn't able to keep anything down so that next morning (Saturday) he was admitted to Methodist Hospital for dehydration.

An x-ray was completed which showed he was constipated.  He was hooked up to an IV and told to walk as much as possible.  He continued to throw up despite not eating/drinking anything.  An NG tube was placed Sunday evening and a copius amount of icky stuff came out!  Finally, on Monday morning when his surgeon walked in the room and saw the NG tube he knew something was not right.  A CT scan was ordered which showed a small obstruction in his bowel. He was taken to surgery and the bowel obstruction was repaired laproscopically (thanfully!).  To add one more complication to the mix, he had trouble peeing after surgery!  Luckily he was able to go home on Wednesday (a week after his original surgery).  Besides a little discomfort from having two surgeries in 5 days, he is doing well.  Alena missed her daddy and was glad he was home.

Unfortunately the timing of all of this was horrible, as it was my first week back at work.  We had already planned to have the grandparents watch the twins this week so we had a lot of help at the house (sometimes all 4 grandparents were there!).  We are so lucky everyone lives close enough to help out. 

Every one of us, except Alena, has been hospitalized this year!  We are really looking forward to 2013!

Twins-2 Months Old



Wow these past two months have gone by so fast!  Hard to believe I go back to work next week.  It will be an adjustment trying to get three kids ready to go in the morning.  The grandparents will take turns watching them the first week I'm at work and then they will go to an in home day care after that.  There are two providers at the day care and they will be the only infants.  We are hoping it will be a very positive experience.  If not, we will be able to get them into Principal's day care in April (they do not have any spots open until then). 

They continue to be on a good schedule:  The first feeding of the day is usually around 7, and then they eat every three hours until their evening feeding which is around 9:30 or 10:00.  Caleb is now taking 4 oz every three hours (sometimes he wants a little more so he gets a little formula),  and Lauren is drinking 3.5 oz every three hours.  Lauren continues to be my little peanut-Caleb is gaining weight faster than her.  We can really tell a difference when we are holding one twin and need to put that one down to pick up the other.  Lauren continues to struggle with some acid reflux (arching her back and crying during some feedings-we're going to try a different medication).  Caleb is VERY gassy so we're trying to figure out the culprit.  He doesn't get much formula but it may be the formula making him more gassy and a little fussy so we may need to switch to a different one.  If that doesn't help, I will need to eliminate dairy from my diet to see if that helps (I have had to make a lot of sacrafices for these babies! :)).

They had their 2 month check up today and I'm pleased to say that both babies are now on the growth chart-woo hoo!  Caleb weighs an even 10 pounds (12%) and is 22.8 inches long (39%).   Lauren weighs 8 pounds 10 oz (5%), and is 21.5 inches long (16%).  Every doctor visit has lasted nearly 2 hours long and I can't imagine doing the trip by myself!  Thankfully Grandma Joyce came this time.  They handled their shots great (it's always much harder on the mom).