Lucas is 21 months old!

Wow! We can't believe we are three quarters of the way through Lucas' second year of life! In no time, we will be celebrating his birthday! It just doesn't seem possible that life is moving so quickly.



So what is Lucas up to now a days? First and foremost, this child LOVES music - he loves to dance to it, to listen to it, loves to sing and to be sung to. We signed him up for a music class for the fall called Kids Music Round and the child can't get enough! He has been attending class several times a week since he enjoys it so much! Usually, I take him once a week and grandparents have taken him at least once a week, as well! Lucky boy! Lucas' teacher, Miss Andrea, is constantly in awe at how much he participates for a child his age. She uses word such as "remarkable" and "amazing" to describe him. She also says he can "feel the beat" and this can be seen when the rhythm of a song changes and Lucas can pick up on it by modifying his dance moves or changing the way he's playing with the instruments she hands out. It really is wonderful to see how much joy he gets out of class and music, in general. He asks to play the Music Round CD a lot in the car or at home, and we will have little dance parties with his shaker eggs. He is really good at remembering the "moves" to a song that we sing in class, even after only learning the song once! When Eric gets home from work, we usually have a nightly dance party with adult music :) Here's a fun video of a recent one!

 

Words and vocabulary have take off in the last several months! We've lost count of all of the words Lucas says, and he adds more to his list on a daily basis. Favorites that we love to hear include, "yellow", "blue", "trash truck", "mailman", "uno", "Amen", "auntie", "uncle", "football", "aaachoooo", and "cheese". He has several short sentences like "hi mama (or dada, Mimi, doe doe)", "bye mama (or dada, Mimi, doe doe)", "doe-doe ni-night"(translation: Darby is sleeping), "choo choo up" (talking about the train at Wegman's that runs on an overhead track).

As you can tell by some of his words, we have been working on colors. Lucas can point out red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, brown, and black (all of the colors in his jumbo crayon box). Though, if you ask him to name a color, he will usually say yellow or blue first :) He can also repeat all of those color names (except for orange).

Lucas is very into praying. When we say our blessing each night at dinner, he always sits nicely with his hands folded, and on most nights, he will actually initiate the prayer. He loves when we sing the Johnny Appleseed prayer but regardless of the blessing, he finishes up with a hearty "A-meeen" at the end. He also will not stand for anyone at the table that does not have their hands folded - he will call them out by name and point to their hands until they oblige. One night, I was nursing the babies in the family room and I told everyone to just start dinner, and I could hear Lucas during the blessing saying "mama, mama" - he did not want me to be left out! Also, before bed, he will lay in his crib with his little hands folded and say "pray, pray?" to begin bedtime prayers and bless our loved ones. Of course, the "A-meeen" at the end is just the sweetest!

Playtime at this age includes building towers with mega blocks, playing with any type of ball, coloring, driving cars up and down this Little People ramp toy, playing with any of his Little People toys, mowing the lawn or carpet, assembling chunky wooden puzzles, and reading books!  Books with animals or the moon are always a hit. But, "Bear Snores On" remains a favorite - especially the part where Bear sneezes.

Lucas has also taken to the iPad (but we usually have to hide it or it is all he wants to play with). One day he turned it on, went into the Skype icon and proceeded to call up Eric's Aunt Dede. It was pretty cute and very intentional as he was saying "Dede Dede" the entire time! Unfortunately, she wasn't available to answer, but that would have been awesome! I saved my old iPhone when I upgraded, and have since given it to Lucas as it has music, photos, home videos, and apps still on it. The best part is that the wireless and phone are disabled so he can't mess with my emails or make phone calls ;) So, yes, our toddler has his own iPhone! Haha!

Lucas is also becoming kind of bossy! First child syndrome, anyone? Ordering people around has started at a young age. He is very persistent and will tell people where to sit, whether it be at the dinner table, or next to him on the floor to play or read. He will sit down and then point to the floor or the chair while saying "Dada, dada, dada" or whoever his pawn is at the moment! Haha! He will even tell Darby where to lay. He even does this with the babies when he wants us to put them on the playmat, bouncy chair or floor - "baby, baby, baby" - all while pointing to the location he wants them in. Bossing around his siblings is starting early! Lucas will grab our hands and drag us to the playroom or towards the door to go outside to play. Also, if we want to sing him a song and it's not a song he wants to sing, he will firmly say "no, no, no" and shake his head while we go through numerous songs until we hit the precise one he wants to sing!

Lucas and Darby play with each other more and more. He will throw a ball for her and she will fetch it. Also, if Lucas notices her bed or a toy has been left out, he will get it for her and bring it to her.

It's not always all fun and games with these two. Darby has taken to stealing Lucas' food straight from his hands at meal time (yes, bad parents for not managing our dog better!). He has started to yell at her, "nooooo! Doe-doe!" It's also cute when we tell Darby to lay down and Lucas follows with a "stay" command along with the hand signal :) For the most part, they are best buds, though.

So, 21 months - what a great age! Lucas is providing us with lots of fun and lots of laughs on a daily basis! We are so proud of how our big boy is growing and developing! He is just so inquisitive and curious - everything he does at this age is a learning experience and we feel so fortunate to be able to watch him grow!

Here are some pictures from the pumpkin patch/farm we visited as a family last weekend. The horses, tractors, and petting zoo were a blast! We LOVE living in the country, where we have an abundance of farms to choose from within minutes of our home!

 

 



 






 



 









 

Lucas as a Big Brother!

Spotlight on the Big Brother, Lucas - Week 1 was also a bit difficult for our, once, only child. But, Eric and I must say that we are blown away by how well Lucas has transitioned into his new role as big brother. The biggest thing that was "off" with Lucas during the first week was his sleep. Not sure if it was because of all of the commotion, or because his grandparents and family were here, or just less attention from mom and dad. But, Lucas would not go down for his nap or at bedtime without shedding tons of tears. Very unlike him as he is usually a wonderful sleeper from the time we lay him down and he says "ni-night" and waves goodbye to us as we shut his door. He would sleep just fine once he fell asleep (even through all of the baby cries), but it was getting him to his crib that was the hard part. Luckily, that only lasted for a short time, and we are back to our normal sleep routine. Eric and I make it a point to spend one-on-one time with Lucas each day, and it helps tremendously to have grandparents here to help out.

 

We weren't sure how Lucas would take to David and Claire since he is so young, but, surprisingly, he seems to love the "babies"! They are the first thing he wants to see each morning. He loves to touch their feet and give them kisses on their head. He even sings them songs mainly "twinkle, twinkle", pulls the strings on their bouncy chairs to play them music, pops their pacies back in, and gives them his books and toys! Oh yes, and can't forget that he loves throwing their dirty diapers in the diaper pail! We really could not be any prouder of our big boy!

Two weeks in...

It's been two weeks since David and Claire were born. Two weeks since our family dynamic changed drastically. And two weeks since our hearts grew triple in size to make room to love these two as much as we love Lucas. As hard as it's been, it's been an amazing two weeks!

Week one was the most difficult. AND we had help! Grammy Irene stayed the entire week (what a Godsend!), and Grandpa Bob and Auntie Michele split the week (again, amazing!). Eric was home for the beginning of the week (so special!), and Uncle Craig was here for a night too. Someone always had to be on Lucas duty. Everyone else was on twins duty. All of our visitors were super helpful, but it was still hard!

The twins and I had to get in to a groove with nursing. After the first night home where little sleep was to be had, I quickly learned how important the phrase "one up, both up" was. And it's been that way every since! Tandem nursing the babies at the same time streamlines each feed drastically. Fortunately, for me, it's no more difficult to breast feed two babies than one. These two are wonderful eaters! They latch beautifully. I can position them myself on our double nursing pillow while on our bed or the couch, but I do have someone up with me for a little while during night feedings to change diapers, hand me babies, and help get them back down, if needed. David started to lose weight when we got home from the hospital, but he caught up when I started pumping and supplementing an extra ounce of milk a few times a day for two days. He gained 6 oz in two days because of our efforts and has been doing wonderfully ever since! Both babies were back up to their birth weights by one week old! At two weeks old, both have surpassed their birth weights - David is 7 lbs 7 oz, and Claire is now 6 lbs, 14 oz!

We also went against recommendations (to wait 3-5 weeks) and introduced bottles of breast milk before they were one week old. This was mainly to maintain mommy's sanity and give me a chance to sleep a bit. Again, our wonder babies were amazing. They now take one bottle each night before bed, while I pump and attempt to go to sleep on the early side. David is up to a 4oz bottle and Claire will take 3oz. They still continue to nurse very well and don't have any issues going back and forth from bottle to breast! Bottles also help when I want to run an errand or take Lucas to music class, and a grandma is staying with the twins.

Sleep was very hard to come by the first week. We were waking the babies every 3 hours to eat, and getting only 2 hour stretches of sleep at night. Plus, the first few days one of the babies would need some extra TLC to get back to sleep, so that cut in to our sleep too. We were a very sleep deprived household! Once the twins hit their birth weights at one week old, we started to let them sleep a longer stretch at night. That transition still took a few days because David was still on the every 3 hours schedule. The stretch has gotten longer each day, so far. Every 3 hours turned into 4 hours and then 5 hours and, dare I say, 6 hours! Needless to say, we are improving in the sleep department!

Week two has been a lot easier as we settle into our groove. This past week and next, Grandma Joanne is here to lend a hand, and again, we are so thankful for the help!

David is proving to be our alert little chill guy! He is so interested in our world when his eyes are open! He loves to look around and stare at the faces of whoever is holding him. He is also quite a good sleeper, so far, and as long as he is swaddled, it doesn't take much for him to drift off to dreamworld! He reminds us a lot of his big brother with respect to sleeping and his physical appearance - though, David, has a ton of dark hair that Lucas did not. Let's just hope he continues to take after Lucas in the sleep department! David also is the one that will not miss a feeding. Eric and I joke that he must have an alarm clock on him, as every 3 hours (many times, on the dot!), he is asking to eat! David is a slow eater, but he is very efficient and will actively eat the entire time he is sleeping.

We don't think we saw Claire's eyes the entire first week of her life! What a little sleepy head! Around 10 days old, she finally started to wake up and now she will stay awake for an hour stretch once a day or so - usually in the early evenings. Claire is proving to be one who wants to be held and rocked to sleep. Many nights, she is the baby that is harder to get down. Each feeding takes about half the time as her brother, but with Claire, it's all about getting back to sleep as soon as possible, so she is all business during a feeding! We also think we are going to see smiles from this one early.

2012 Christmas Cards from Tiny Prints!

Now that the twins are here, we have been starting to think about designing their birth announcements! After Lucas was born, it was a no-brainer that we would use Tiny Prints as our stationary of choice. So many of our friends had sent out beautiful announcements and cards over the years, and when you flipped the card over, the Tiny Prints logo was found more times than not.

Of course, as I was perusing the Tiny Prints site, my eyes couldn't help but wander towards their Photo Christmas Cards. Eric and I considered sending out a combined Christmas/Birth Announcement, but in the end, decided that we really wanted to have a special announcement for the twins as a keepsake, so double the cards it will be! Plus, we absolutely LOVED our Christmas cards from Tiny Prints last year, and can't imagine not having one this year, as well:

We are not quite sure if we will go with one photo this year (it may be very difficult to get a decent shot of a toddler and 2 newborns!), or a collage with individual kid photos, but here are some of the designs that caught my eye:

 

Check out Tiny Prints Special Offers page where you can find all of their current promotions and coupon codes.

 

Tiny Prints has sponsored this post.

They're heeere!

On the afternoon of Friday, October 5th, at 38 weeks and 1 day gestation, David Robert and Claire Elise made their debut into the world!! David weighed 6lbs14oz and was 20.5" long. And Claire weighed 6lbs 1oz and was 19.75" long.

At almost 13lbs of baby, we were SO ready to meet these two when Eric and I headed to the hospital after breakfast on Friday morning for our scheduled induction. The ride to the hospital this time around was SO different than with Lucas' birth - it was so calm - no middle of the night driving, water breakage or contractions to contend with. We just walked into the hospital like it was any other day.

Once we got settled in our labor room, my doctor came in to check me - 5cm! Yay! Halfway there before we even got started! So, at 9:30am, she broke David's water bag, started the Pitocin, and ordered my epidural. At 3:00pm, I was checked again and found to be 9cm! Doc said it should be around an hour til I hit 10, but about 30 minutes later I started to feel the urge to push! Uh oh! My doctor was in the OR performing a C-section and we hadn't been moved to our OR yet! So the nurses frantically started to get everything together for our move!

I should backup for a second and explain that although we were going for a vaginal delivery, it is protocol at many hospitals to deliver twins in an Operating Room (OR). This is mainly as a precaution in case an emergency C- section has to be performed primarily on Baby B. Plus, there are so many people present for a twin delivery, that an OR provides more space for everyone to spread out.

We got to the OR at 4:05pm, and the small circus was already setting up - anesthesiologists, pediatricians and pediatric nurses (one of each per baby), a backup OB in case mine didn't make it out of surgery in time, several nurses, and some student nurses that we allowed to witness their first twin vaginal delivery! There must have been 20 people in there!

I was determined to wait for our doctor - she was the one who I trusted to deliver our breech Claire (Baby B) vaginally! David (Baby A) was ready to go and was descending rapidly. But, we waited. And I breathed and breathed through contractions and the strong urge to push for 30 minutes!! Looking back - that just sounds crazy!

Our doctor came in at 4:35, and pushing started almost immediately! David Robert was born 6 minutes later with a full head of dark hair and a strong cry! He was whisked away to the other side of the room to get cleaned up. I didn't get to see my baby boy, but, through tears, Eric assured me he was beautiful and perfect! What I had to focus on now was Claire! The doctor broke her water bag and according to Eric, a foot popped out immediately. The doc reached up (yes, seriously!), grabbed her other foot and helped guide her out. Before I knew it, her body and shoulders were out. I honestly cannot remember if I had to push her head out or if the doctors just pulled her out, but 2 minutes after her brother, beautiful baby girl, Claire Elise, entered our world!

David needed an IV of fluids because he was a little pale. And Claire swallowed some blood and didn't breathe for about 90 seconds (scary!). But, we were assured by the pediatrician that both of those complications were minor and both babies were very healthy. Neither baby needed extra monitoring in the NICU, and after everyone (including momma) was cleaned up, both babies were wheeled back to our labor room with us!

These two little ones are so amazing! Giving momma an uncomplicated pregnancy that lasted over 38 weeks, healthy weights, no NICU time, and a twin vaginal delivery that could not have gone better in my wildest dreams! Angels were looking down on us, for sure - we are so very blessed and will be forever grateful for their safe and healthy arrival!

Welcome to the world, David and Claire! We love you so much!