The Paulson Blogtacular

Hank's first train ride

2012-01-27T15:41:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday Brett took Hank on his first ride on a real train! They rode the Caltrain from the California Avenue stop by our house all the way down to San Jose Diridon station. The girls and I dropped them off and then picked them up in SJ (which is right next door to the apartment complex where we lived back in the day!)

When we picked them up we went to Chipotle by the train station and grabbed some lunch and met up with my good friend Julie.

The girls enjoying watching me eat my lunch.

Hank stuffing a lot of food in his mouth.

The highlight of lunch was a little Thomas the Train bath tub toy that Julie gave him. It was a "big brother" gift but it was perfect for celebrating his very first train ride! He LOVES this toy!

Here he is giving his toy its inaugural bath! He is so happy he has this toy. He likes to go get it from the bathroom and bring it all over the house. It has forced me to remember to dump out the water...lesson learned...I don't need bath water all over the house.

Brett can't wait to take Hank on a train ride again. Hank had so much fun and he was yelling "choo choo"
over and over again and it was a total blast for both of them. Whenever the train would stop at a station, Hank would start begging for "more" because he wanted the train to start moving again. I have a movie Brett made and I'll get it posted this weekend.

It was also so great to see my pal Julie! We are in Junior League together and we hardly have time to see each other besides at our meetings. I was so happy she finally got to meet the girls! (Sadly, I didn't get a pic of her.)

-a

Watch the sistas grow!

2012-01-23T21:19:00.000-08:00

I finally have all of the weekly pictures of the girls pulled together and posted on on their own pages on the blog! I have been taking their individual pictures as well as pictures of the two of them together. My sweet friend Annika generously gifted Charlotte and Ruby each a super fabulous quilt handmade by her! I've been taking their pictures on their quilts each week but I didn't start using the quilt until they were three weeks old so the first few pictures are on a different background.

Quilts made by Annika! (Annika - I got his pic from your blog...thanks!)

You can find the pages over in the sidebar if you want to come back from time to time to check them out. For now, you can see them all below.

Watch Charlotte Grow

Watch Ruby Grow

Watch the sistas grow together!

-a

Advice

2012-01-20T08:00:00.000-08:00

Getting up to speed on parenting tips to share with Brett and me.

By the way, this hat is on his head most of the time. My friend Elizabeth hand-knitted it and gave it to me as a baby shower gift. He started wearing it about a year ago but over the past several months it has turned into a constant accessory. He sleeps in it during naps and at bed time. He wears it around the house and even out and about. I can't believe I don't have more pictures of him in this hat here on the blog because it seems like he is wearing it all the time. Anyway, it's an adorable little hat and it is kind of like a lovie for him in that I think he sees it as a comfort item. Sometimes when he is crying I ask if he wants his hat and when he puts it on he cheers up. It's so sweet and I love that it was a handmade item from a very special friend!

-a

Say cheese

2012-01-19T08:00:00.000-08:00

Hank is really into pretending to take pictures these days. He got a toy camera for Christmas from the Kavals but of course he loves to play with the adult cameras too!

In the last picture he was trying so hard to take a photo. It was soooo cute!
-a

Henry laughing at the TV

2012-01-18T08:00:00.000-08:00

About a week ago Hank started laughing at things that he finds funny when he watches TV. One night we were watching football and a commercial came on that has a baby throwing cheerios. Hank started laughing so hard. His laugh was awesome. It was the hardest little honest laugh and I loved it. He kept asking us to play the commercial again so we kept rewinding the DVR so he could see it. We happily replayed the commercial over and over just so we could hear his sweet little laugh!

Note how he says "two" when he does the sign for "more". That's his thing these days. Since he has more than one sister, he thinks two means more.

-a

NeNe and Hank the rascal

2012-01-17T22:27:00.000-08:00

We had so much fun with NeNe here this past weekend. She came in town on a last minute trip since she had a three day weekend from work. It worked out perfectly because Brett had to go out of town on Saturday for an overseas business trip and he returned today. It was so much fun to get to spend time with my sis and she was such a huge help with the kids.

Hank loves NeNe so much. Before she got here he kept saying "NeNe coming, NeNe coming". When I picked him up from daycare on Friday he kept pointing to the spare seat next to him in the van and saying "NeNe sit, NeNe sit". When we all went in the van on Saturday she happily obliged him and rode in the back with him. He was so happy!

Hank was a super rascal every time we tried to get a picture of Courtney and him together. In the picture at the top of this post he closed his eyes ON PURPOSE when I asked him to pose for a photo with Courtney. Then he ran off so that means all I got was that blurry photo. In the last picture he tried to squirm away and would only let her hold him for the picture once I gave him the keys to the van. Even then all he wanted to do was play with the keys in her hair. Every time he looked at me he would frown. Maybe some day we'll get some pictures of the two of them together! For now, these are unfortunately perfect because they definitely show how rascally this boy is with her.

We love you Courtney. Come back soon. I promise the kids will be perfect angels!!

-a

Ruby giggling Char smiling video

2012-01-17T10:17:00.000-08:00

Even though they both have colds and Ruby has a fever, they are still smiley and happy today!

(All three of the kids have a cold. Perhaps Hank should stop kissing his sisters??? We try. We try.)

-a

NeNe loves!

2012-01-15T14:22:00.000-08:00

-a

Snuggly Saturday

2012-01-14T22:39:00.000-08:00

With Aunt NeNe and me!

-a

How we go

2012-01-13T11:28:00.000-08:00

We received a double stroller as a gift from some very generous friends before the girls were born. We've used it often but only for Hank with his stuffed monkey companion in the other seat. Until now, a stroller walk with all three kids required two adults and two strollers. The girls have been riding around in the bassinet of our other stroller. Well, the girls are almost too big to go in the bassinet together so it was time to try out the double stroller for real. (We have an UppaBaby Vista stroller that in theory could hold one baby in a car seat plus Hank but every time we have tried it Hank goes B-A-N-A-N-A-S at having his view blocked by the baby car seat, and I don't blame him, so we are not going to use that stroller in that configuration. Perhaps when the girls are big enough to go in the bigger seat of the Vista we will try it again.) This photo is from the first adventure with two kids in the side-by-side stroller. Ruby and Hank rode in the stroller and I wore Charlotte in the moby wrap. It was a fun outing and I think Ruby loved being able to see the world around her and then she dozed off for a nice nap.

After making a stop to play at the park, Hank got to walk with Brett for a while instead of getting back in the stroller.

Ruby enjoying her new ride.

The next outing, we let Charlotte ride with Hank and I wore Ruby. Charlotte liked the stroller too.

All this was a practice run to see how Hank would do with a sister sitting next to him instead of a stuffed animal. We've done this quite a few times and it works pretty well. Last week I took all three kids out on walks by myself. It is really hard to push two kids and carry one. It felt like I was pregnant with twins again! I also realized I need to start working out again. But that's a different topic and oh yeah I need to find time!

On the last walk he gave Charlotte quite a few non-gentle taps and it was a wee bit stressful for me. Now if I can only get Hank to leave his little sisters alone for the entire walk then I might be more inclined to do this every morning.

(Oh and I've done the whole just put the girls in the stroller and let Hank walk thing - that ended with Hank running away from me and crossing a street by himself, even though he had never done that before and he gets to walk with us all the time. I had to leave the girls parked on the sidewalk and run down the street after him. That was not fun and I was panicking and I don't think I can do that again for a while. Plus I looked like a real big nutcase yelling and running down the street.)

My sister Courtney is coming in town today so I'll rope her into helping. It's going to be a fun three day weekend!

-a

A toddler, a teddy bear, two babies, and a dog

2012-01-11T08:01:00.000-08:00

-a

Big kid pose in the baby gym

2012-01-11T08:00:00.001-08:00

Hank likes to lay around in this pose nowadays. He thinks there's something cool about resting his chin in his hands. On this particular day he felt the need to watch his TV show in the baby gym.

He looks like such a big kid when he does this. Pretty cute.

-a

Hank feeds the baby dolls

2012-01-10T08:01:00.000-08:00

The girls got these baby dolls from my mom for Christmas. He likes to play with them sometimes because they cry and he can make them stop crying by feeding them with the baby bottle that is attached to their hands. That's pretty entertaining stuff.

One day after I finished nursing the girls I left the room and when I came back I found this...Hank sitting in the middle of my nursing pillow, feeding one of the baby dolls. Next to him on the couch was the other baby doll laying on a burp cloth. He had ran to get the burp cloth from the stack of clean folded cloths that are stored in the changing table in my bedroom. He did this whole set up on his own! Good boy. He has learned how to feed two babies at one time, just like his Mom!

-a

Trying to get the girls to talk to me

2012-01-10T08:00:00.000-08:00

They were both real chatty before I started making the video. Charlotte on the left, Ruby on the right.

-a

Hank's first haircut

2012-01-09T08:01:00.000-08:00

I gave Hank his first haircut about a week ago. I just cleaned it up a little. He had a few sections that were very unruly and much longer than the rest of his head. His new 'do still allows for the crazy whispy sometimes curly stuff to happen but at least it's even now - or almost even! We'll get a legit haircut when we really want to get it all nice and perfect looking. For now, we like the toddler messed up look.

I didn't touch his bangs at all because they didn't need it but in the last picture of him debuting his new 'do it looks like they are really short!

-a

The boots with the fur

2012-01-09T08:00:00.001-08:00

Brett bought Hank a pair of boots that have fur in them. Obviously in Nor Cal we need boots like this right?!? Anyway, they are super cozy and do a good job of keeping his tootsies warm when he demands to go outside to play at the crack of dawn and it's still 40 degrees outside.

Now, getting him to wear clothing that keeps him warm is a whole 'nother thing! This was from a day when he had made a big deal at bedtime the night before about wearing a pair of his shorts jammies with his long sleeve top from another pair of jammies. Whatever gets the kid to go to sleep.

-a

Just because

2012-01-08T20:00:00.000-08:00

..they are so cute all swaddled up and happy!

-a

Ruby & Charlotte - 3 months

2012-01-07T23:29:00.000-08:00

Ruby and Charlotte

Our sweet baby girls are three months old today! This month they are...
--Smiling, smiling, smiling!
--Loving baths.
--Nursing really well. Around 9 weeks it seems like everything justclicked. They nurse in about 10 -15 minutes now. I nurseboth at the same time and it has done wonders for helping me feel like I havemore time to do things other than feed babies.
--Reaching for toys that hang in front of them.
--Reaching for us sometimes when we go to pick them up.
--Doing more tummy time (Thank you Henry for chilling out!)
--Getting big girl cries. Gone are the newborn whimpers.
--Continuing to be good sleepers. Although they still wake up once between midnight and morning to nurse, they go immediately back to sleep so I can't complain too much. Night time is pretty easy but I can't wait until they can go 7p-7a! Three kids that sleep all night long is going to be so great.

Still sleeping together swaddled in the bassinet in our room.

Ruby - 12 weeks

Charlotte - 12 weeks

These are our last babies and I will miss that newborn baby size...they are getting so big already. Today we weighed them. Ruby: 9 lbs 1 oz Charlotte: 8 lbs 11 oz

The girls are at the perfect age right now. They are small but sturdy and they are content just hanging out wherever we put them. They are so easy to take care of and so sweet and tender. I love how they look at me like I am the center of their world. I want to hold them and keep them this size forever!

-a

Hank playing baseball video

2012-01-07T23:00:00.000-08:00

Video of Hank using a cardboard tube as a baseball bat. In the end he runs off because he sees a baseball sticker that he put on the floor earlier that day.

-a

Blogging bonanza - complete!

2012-01-07T22:59:00.000-08:00

The blogging bonanza is complete! All of the stuff that's been swirling around in my head that I wanted to get on The Blogtacular is finally out. It feels good.

There are a few more things I am going to post that took place in December but they aren't really time sensitive or need to be in a certain order on the blog so they'll get posted this coming week. I'm just telling you this since there is a Christmas tree in the background of a few pics. ha ha

Also, one last thing...eventually I am going to get a slide show together of the pics I have been taking weekly of the girls to document their growth. I've been taking the pictures, I just haven't edited them all and put them together for the blog. It will happen soon...no need to worry...you'll get to see those girlies grow!

Yay - now I can post about stuff happening now!

-a

Charlotte & Ruby - 2 months

2012-01-05T22:52:00.000-08:00

Ruby - 8 weeks

Charlotte & Ruby - 9 weeks

Charlotte - 9 weeks

During their second month...
-They got eyelashes that you can see...no longer the invisible peach fuzz ones from birth.
-They grew real fingernails That hurt. Not the thin kind they were born with.
-They were both smiling a lot.
-They slept really well and were on the same schedule.
-They were starting to nurse better but feedings still took forever.
-They were still fitting in size newborn clothes and diapers.
-They were starting to melt our hearts more an more every day as they became more alert and interactive.

Stats from their two month doctor visit:
Charlotte
Weight: 7 lbs 9.5 oz (1.05%) Height 21.75” (25.49%) Head Circumference 14.49” (7.32%)
Ruby
Weight: 7 lbs 15.5 oz (2.07%) Height 22.25”(45.47%) Head Circumference 14.49”(7.32%)

Still so itty bitty but growing every day! Our pediatrician says they will probably stay in the lower weight percentiles for a while and that most twins catch up with their peers between ages 2 and 3.

-a

Hank with pig tails

2012-01-05T22:31:00.000-08:00

My sis Courtney sent me a couple of pics that she came across from when I was 2 years old. The resemblance to Hank at 2 years old is crazy! The eyes, chubby cheeks, crazy whispy hair, all of it.

Question: Can you tell which parent I look like in real life now? Answer: My Dad. When I opened this picture the first thing that jumped into my head was that Ruby looks a lot like Courtney in this pic.

-a

Hank's 2nd birthday party

2012-01-05T22:11:00.000-08:00

Hank was obsessed with balloons the whole day!!

We were able to celebrate Hank's birthday on his actual birthday since it fell on a Saturday! We had a fabulous time and we thank all of our friends who came to celebrate Hank's special day. It was a great little party!

Showing off his crashing-and-pretending-it-didn't-hurt skills.

Baby Helpers!

We love our baby boy, who is now no longer a baby. Such a sweet little party for our sweet boy!
-a

Bike helmet

2012-01-04T23:20:00.000-08:00

Hank got his first bike helmet today. (He intentionally falls off of his Plasma Car and crashes so he needs a helmet if he uses it outside.) I need to adjust the fit and the straps but he couldn't wait to try it out. He wanted to wear it during his nap (um, no!), that's how much he loves this thing.

-a

Hank - 2 years

2012-01-04T23:03:00.000-08:00

Our little boy turned 2 years old on December 3rd! Two!

Stats:
Weight: 26 lbs 11 oz (35.55%) he was 7% at the one year mark!
Height: 35.5” (83.20%)
Head: 19.49” (73.93%)

Random stuff about Hank at age 2…

Sliding - He is really into sliding on the floor. He slides on the wood floor by taking a running start down the hall and then goes to his knees and slides as far as he can go. Sometimes he pushes his big dump truck really fast on the wood floors and then takes off sliding behind it. He thinks it is so hilarious when he slides. He slides so fast and hard that he sometimes hurts himself by hitting his head or sliding into a wall. He whimpers for a moment, gets up and starts sliding again. He also slides on the carpet when he is playing football or baseball.

Football – He has seen quite a few football games on TV and this has led him to try to play football by himself. (My sis Court also helped him refine his technique when she was in town a couple of months ago and he has been honing his skills ever since.) He pretends he is playing quarterback. He holds his football, spreads his legs, hikes it to himself, makes grunting/huffing noises, runs around in the pocket, passes it (basically just throws it haphazardly somewhere), then falls to the ground as if he were tackled. When he plays football with Brett, he tells Brett where to stand so that he can tackle him.

Baseball – He got a t-ball set for Christmas from my mom but before he had the real equipment he would take any long object that would work as a bat and use it with any ball. He loves to swing the bat and even if he doesn’t hit a ball, he will run and slide as if he is sliding into a base. He's got a pretty good slide technique with one leg out in front of him and one tucked underneath him.

Trucks – Are still a big obsession. He has several dump truck toys and he plays with every one of them each and every day. When out and about in the neighborhood or on a ride in the car, he still points out every bus, fire engine, bulldozer and trash truck that we see.

Trains – We got him a Thomas the Train set for his birthday and it has been a big hit. It essentially kicked off an interest in all things Thomas overnight. He says “choo choo” lots and lots every day.

Sleep – His sleep has been crazy the past few months since the girls were born. Around Thanksgiving he decided that he would use his jumping out of the crib powers constantly. Oh how I thought I was going to lose my mind. It was taking 30-45 minutes to get him to stay in bed and go to sleep for naps and bedtime. He was waking up at all hours of the night and showing up in our bedroom. We had to get a crib tent to keep him in his crib. He’s not ready to go to a big boy bed. Rather, we’re not ready to take the time to train him to stay in a big boy bed. The crib tent is totally ridiculous looking and we even had to buy a new crib just to use it. But we needed a second crib for the girls anyway. It took a few days but he goes to sleep right away like he used to and that is just what we need! This little guy is very happy almost all the time but when he wakes up he is cranky and had a frown on his face. He screams at the top of his lungs for us to come get him. Lately he has started waking up before 6 am on most days. It’s really great. Since the girls have been born he wants to sleep with a hat on his head because the girls used to wear hats. Sometimes it’s a beanie, sometimes it’s a baseball cap.

Mommy/Daddy – Sometimes he wants only his Mommy and sometimes he wants only his Daddy. Usually he wants his Mommy. When he wants to be only with me and if Brett comes in to the room he says “out, out, out” and he waves his arm and points to the door. We have been trying to let Hank know that he’s not the boss. Ha! In the afternoons he usually wants his Daddy and I have to say over and over "Daddy is at work, he will be home later." We stand vigil at his bedroom window looking for Daddy's car a lot.

Bible stories - For the past month or so we read from his little Bible story book at every nap and bed time, per his request, and we read the same four or five pages out of the book each time.

Door locks – No standard door lock can stop him. Only childproofing locks positioned high up on the door can keep this kid from opening a door. We have to lock him out of our bedroom so that he doesn’t go in our room to wake up the sisters. Last week I found him out in the middle of our driveway so we had to install another lock high up on the outside doors to keep him inside the house!

Screwdrivers – We have to hide them or else he will try to use it on everything in the house that looks like a screw. That’s not a big deal per se, but I don’t’ like to see him running around with a screwdriver pointing at his face!

Sisters – Big time obsessed with them. Loves to know what his sisters are doing all the time.

Kisses - Gives me kisses on the lips for no reason at all throughout the day. I love this to no end!

Eating – He eats only when necessary. Snacks he loves, but he takes forever to eat his meals because he’d rather play and get up and down from the table in between bites.

Talking - He is talking a lot and says so many sentences now. But there are still times when he can’t find the words to tell us what he wants and he just acts it out with hand motions. When we don’t understand him he gets so frustrated and it breaks my heart. Today he said “pway” which means “play”. It was so cute. We were out in the back yard and he wouldn’t come inside when I asked (imagine that!). He said “I wanna pway”. First time he has said that word! He is getting better at saying please and thank you. But he doesn’t do it all the time.

Giving instructions – He likes to give us instructions. When he wants us to sit by him when he is playing, he will say “sit” and pat the spot next to him with his hand. When we are driving somewhere, he thinks he knows the way to go. He says “no, go that way” and he gets very upset and starts kicking his feet. It’s as if he really thinks he knows which way we should go. Totally cracks me up every time even though he is really in a tizzy.

Singing – He sings a lot. He doesn’t sing all the words to songs but he does a lot of humming and loud noises mixed with words. He also bobs his head along and goes side to side. I absolutely love it when he is singing because his face is so sweet and there is this innocence about him. He sings the theme songs to the Curious George and Thomas the Train shows whenever he watches them. He also loves to sing nursery rhyme songs.

Clothing – He is very particular about what he wears now. It’s sometimes hard to get him to wear what we want so we are trying to let him pick out his clothes.

Trader Joe's - He loves to go to Trader Joe's, the grocery store we go to all the time. Right when we walk in the door of the store he starts pointing to the direction of where the free samples are. He wants to eat snacks instantly.

The Park - If given the opportunity, he would run straight to the park down the street every time we walked out of our house. This makes leaving the house and getting him loaded into the car a very carefully planned event on our part.

“Two” - Instead of saying “more”, he now says “two”. It’s as if he has made the connection that two means more than one. He will still do the sign for “more” but he hardly ever says the word “more”.

Nicknames - Brett and I call Henry by a lot of different names - Hank (obviously!), Henrique (my personal fave), Hen, Henny, Baby Cakes, Sweets, Buddy Boy, Bubba, Sunshine

He is such a big boy now. It's so crazy to think that he's 2 years old. We just love this little guy so very much. We are so proud to be his parents!

-a

Ruby and Charlotte 7 weeks

2011-12-30T23:34:00.000-08:00

Ruby

Charlotte

-a

Blogging bonanza - getting closer

2011-12-30T15:17:00.000-08:00

Hi - the blogging bonanza is getting closer to completion! Just checking in to see if I've lost anyone.

I am fully aware that doing a million posts in a week about 2.5 months worth of events just to get caught up isn't ideal and runs the risk of no one actually reading said posts but that's OK with me. The intent of The Blogtacular is first and foremost to serve as a place for us to capture the ongoings in our life (adventures, non-adventures, crafts - although it's a little light on crafts lately, photos, etc.) for us to look back on some day.

It will be all updated soon and ready to start the new year with a clean slate!

-a

Time with Daddy

2011-12-30T15:05:00.000-08:00

Ruby and Charlotte - 7 weeks - Thanksgiving weekend

Hanging out in Baby Central - previously known as Our Bedroom.

-a

Thanksgiving

2011-12-30T15:00:00.000-08:00

We spent our first Thanksgiving all together at our house in a very low key holiday. We didn't cook one thing because my Mom & sisters treated us to a Thanksgiving meal made by Whole Foods! Let me just say that it was the most delicious meal and I kinda want to order it every year. Thanksgiving dinner without the hours and hours spent in the kitchen? Very good invention. Plus, the box they pack it up in is very sturdy and provides endless entertainment for kids.

This is basically what Hank did all day on Thanksgiving. Push around a box full of the girls' diapers and drive trucks on the Whole Food box. By the end of the day, Hank and Brett had turned the WF box into a car for Hank and he was pushed all over the house in it.

We spent a lot of time at the park on Thanksgiving and over the weekend in general. We are so lucky to have such a great park just blocks from our house!

The fall leaves were just beautiful and there were oodles of them for Hank to romp around in.

Fearless.

Absolutely fearless.

We also took time to take pictures for our Christmas card. Setting up all three kids for a photo these days is pretty hard but we had great success and we managed to get a few pictures where no one was hurt, extremely smooshed looking, or crying. Success!

-a

Granmama's blankets

2011-12-30T14:17:00.000-08:00

My mom made each of the girls the nicest little faux chenille blankets. They are quilted on one side and faux chenille on the other. They are super thick and perfect for play time on the floor and stroller rides in the chilly weather. I am so glad she took the time to make these gifts for the girls! Such sweet keepsakes. My mom taught me how to sew as a little girl and I can't wait to teach my kiddos (including Henry...oh yes...including Henry!) how to sew one day.

-a

Two reasons for no tummy time

2011-12-30T14:07:00.000-08:00

#1: no one wants to get smashed by this kid

#2: ...or this truck

For a while there it was looking like these girls could never hang out on the floor unless the little Godzilla was napping for fear that they'd get a nice little unwelcome visit from him. He is way better with them now and they can even get time on the floor when Hank is awake!

-a

Mardi Gras - toddler style

2011-12-29T15:49:00.000-08:00

Back in November, I found Hank decked out like this...

-a

Sister cuddles

2011-12-29T15:35:00.000-08:00

Ruby and Charlotte

Sisters at six weeks old. Sometimes when I put them down together they intertwine their arms like this and it makes me smile.

-a

Charlotte 5.5 weeks

2011-12-29T15:32:00.000-08:00

-a

Ruby 5.5 weeks

2011-12-29T15:30:00.000-08:00

-a

First real bath

2011-12-28T23:27:00.000-08:00

When Courtney was here we gave the girls their first real bath. It was about time...they were about to turn one month old. I have to admit that while I have gotten better at giving them more frequent bathings, I won't be winning any mom of the year awards in this category (or any other category for that matter). But come on, it's not like they get dirty. The past two baths I have had Hank "help" me bathe them to help us burn up some time on weekday mornings. I think this is how we'll get them bathed moving forward. Entertain Hank + give sisters a bath = good idea.

Charlotte was not a fan of the water.

Charlotte was a fan of the big cozy towel.

Ruby enjoyed her time at the spa.

Ruby also enjoyed her big cozy towel.

Charlotte and Ruby

Two little sisters nice and clean from head to toe and ready for bed. I love giving them baths because they are so soft and cuddly afterwards!

-a

Bouncing again

2011-12-28T23:16:00.000-08:00

Courtney visited in early November and we took Hank (and the girls) to the bouncy house place. Hank and I have been there a couple of times before the girls were born and we still had some Groupon credits to use up.

This time was so much more fun for him because he is bigger and even more fearless. He went straight for the big kid slide and in this video you can see him get a little air when he goes down the slide. He also went bananas in all of the other play structures too.

I love this picture. He is flying so fast down the slide. He has no fear.

Courtney and I tag teamed Hank and the girls and it was a very successful outing! (Back then it was super hard to get out of the house at all, much less get out and even be able to do something for more than an hour!)

-a

Tree trimming

2011-12-28T23:04:00.000-08:00

When Gigi was here after the girls were born, she took Hank out exploring in the neighborhood a lot. One day they saw some workers trimming some trees. Later that day I found Hank in the back yard holding a pair of his toy pliers attempting to trim a bush. He did this on his own without any prompting from us! Pretty creative of him...if I may say so!
-a

Ruby and Charlotte's first family visitors

2011-12-28T22:17:00.000-08:00

A lot of family members have come to meet Ruby and Charlotte. Here's a roundup!

My mom was here the first week. She was so excited to hold the girls for the first time. She was also their first visitor (along with Hank) at the hospital. The girls are her first granddaughters.

Hank and Grandmama

Grandmama and her Paulson grandchildren

Brett's mom, Gigi, came out the second week. She was such a great help as always! The girls are her first granddaughters too.

Gigi and Charlotte

My Uncle Larry was in town for work so he was able to come by and spend an evening with us while Lisa was in town. He visited us when Hank was little too.

Auntie LiLi (I did manage to post about her visit when it actually happened.)

Courtney visited when the girls were a few weeks old. She stayed for almost a week. Hank had fun with her but he also decided to make her his punching bag. (This was the week he really started to show people he knows how to hit.) She's going to remind him of it when he gets older, I'm pretty sure. ha!

We are so thankful for everyone who has been able to come visit. We are so lucky to be so loved.

-a

Blogging bonanza - back at it

2011-12-28T22:15:00.000-08:00

Ok, now I'm going to start working on posts that are long overdue! I am hoping to have the blog all nice and tidy very very soon.

-a

Char's new smile

2011-12-28T21:54:00.000-08:00

The girls have both been smiling for a few weeks. Ruby smiles at everything I do but Charlotte makes me work for it. Today she started smiling so big and I was so excited because I didn't do anything except look at her! I tried to snap it on my phone but it takes pics too slow so every time I snapped a shot I could only capture the tail end of her smile. Here are my best attempts at capturing it.

-a

Ruby finds her hands!

2011-12-28T21:43:00.000-08:00

Mom, let's do knucks.

I caught Ruby checking out her hands for the first time today. She made little fists in front of her face and just checked them out over and over. She was so serious and totally studying them. I love watching babies learn.

-a

Pre-Christmas play time

2011-12-28T21:36:00.000-08:00

The five of us were supposed to hang out over at the Chen house tonight with the Chens, Millers, and Kavals but it was one of those days and this mama just couldn't swing it. But all was not a loss...Brett made it out of here and was able to go hang out with our peeps! Anywhooooo, I thought I'd post some pics from last Friday morning when they came over to hang out for a little while. The boys had a blast hanging out and I am pretty sure Sandy needs to get Max a vacuum or teach him how to use hers because Hank's little vac was a big hit.

I say it every time, but Max is so stinking cute!!

Max can vacuum while laying down!

Max and Hank went up and down the hall over and over. I love to see these boys together!

Charlotte was bored.

So was Ruby, so she went to sleep.

-a

Christmas day

2011-12-26T22:58:00.000-08:00

Hank was super eager to start opening presents, so this was the best pose I could get out of him for his official Christmas morning picture in front of the tree.

Charlotte and Ruby kick back in the bouncy seats and watch all of the action.

Hank wanted both of the girls to hold a teddy bear.

Hank helps to open presents for his sisters.

The girls with their new lovies and some of their new toys.

Hank got a Thomas the Train outfit from Aunt Sherry and he wanted to put it on over his jammies immediately.

Hank loved his new PlasmaCar and spent most of the day on it. Hank wore the Thomas outfit over his clothes (jammies he had on most of the day too!) all day until he had to get dressed for Christmas dinner.

Dad and Ruby take a nap after lunch. Charlotte was near by in a bouncy seat.
Later in the afternoon, we went over to Sarah & Colin's house to have Christmas dinner with them and their girls Kate and Jillian.

Family of 5 on our first Christmas together! (Ruby looks like she is about to start crying...it's hard to get three kiddos to look happy in a picture at the same time.) I love our not-so-little family!

Hank and Jillian. Hank is ready for his sisters to get a little older and get toy strollers.

Kate found a great hiding spot under the coffee table!

Hank LOVES Kate and loves to play at their house.

He was also loving Jillian's new chair. Totally cute. Made himself right at home.

Beautiful Christmas dinner table.

Wearing our crowns from our Christmas crackers. We wore them all night!

Our beautiful hostess Sarah. (I missed getting a picture of her and Colin with my camera.)

We had a wonderful first Christmas as a family of five. Christmas is about our Lord Jesus Christ and his love for us. Our whole holiday weekend was filled with love and happiness and I don't think I could have asked for anything better!

-a

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-25T08:00:00.000-08:00

Here's our Christmas card this year. We hope you all are having a wonderful holiday with your families! We're excited to celebrate our first Christmas as a family of FIVE!

-a

Ready for Christmas morning

2011-12-24T23:28:00.000-08:00

Tonight I finally got a shot of all three kiddos in their Christmas jammies. They have been wearing them all month but they never seem to all three have them on at the same time.

Hank knows his sisters have jammies that look like his. Every time he's worn them, he has pointed at his jammies and said "sissies, sissies!".

It's been a great Christmas Eve. We went to Christmas service at church this evening and actually made it there on time! The babes are sleeping soundly, I have a breakfast casserole in the fridge ready to cook tomorrow morning, and we are watching It's A Wonderful Life on TV right now. We are loving our cozy little holiday at home!

Everyone's ready for tomorrow morning! Can't wait to see what Santa brings!!

-a

Hank visits Santa

2011-12-24T23:15:00.000-08:00

We went to see Santa this week! Only Hank visited with Old Saint Nick. Ruby and Charlotte were sleeping so soundly when we got to the front of the Santa line so we decided to let them sleep.

Hank was a champ. He walked right up there, got on Santa's lap, and then proceeded to tell Santa a bunch of things about every thing and then he pointed at every thing in sight and told him a whole lot more! This is the official photo taken by Santa's helpers. It's pretty cute!

-a

First Christmas

2011-12-24T23:08:00.000-08:00

Charlotte

Ruby

Hank

Pictures from everyone's "first Christmas". I was pulling them together to make ornaments for the kiddos and thought I'd post them.

-a

Putting up the tree

2011-12-24T23:02:00.000-08:00

Hank got to help me put up the tree this year. We put it up a couple of weeks ago on a Saturday morning while the girls napped. Normally I love to get it up ASAP after Thanksgiving, but this year we were lucky to find time to do it!

He was loving the step ladder and he went up and down the steps a thousand times.

The lights were a big hit for him. Even now he loves turning on the tree every morning when he gets up. Every time the tree lights up his face lights up too and he gets the biggest smile!

Doesn't he look like the Grinch here? The cutest little Grinch.

Dad, please stop napping and help us.

I was nervous about having the tree up with our curious little Hank. But it has turned out to be no problem at all. I didn't put any breakable ornaments on the bottom half of the tree and we only used about 20% of the ornaments that we have. I also forgot about the ribbon garland that I usually put on the tree so we got the tree decorated in no time, even with Hank's "help". He has enjoyed looking at all of the ornaments and taking them off of the tree. But it's no big deal because I taught him how to hang them back up when he's done playing with them. Also, he hasn't even noticed the boxes under the tree. I have no idea why but he hasn't bothered one single present. Yay!

-a

Blogging bonanza - update

2011-12-24T23:00:00.000-08:00

I'm making good progress on the blogging bonanza. I hope to have the blog all caught up in the next week or so. For now, I'm going to take a break from the updates so I can post real time about Christmas.

Stay tuned for more updates from the goings on in November and early December! It may seem a little wonky to do this all out of order but that's how I work. Hey! This is way better than how things went after I had Henry. With him, I fell of the face (on the blog at least) for six months!

Thanks for hanging in there and for reading!
-a

Ruby & Charlotte's friends

2011-12-24T00:57:00.000-08:00

The girls have had a bunch of visitors since they were born. I have been able to get pictures of most people that have visited. For those who I have missed...I am sorry. Come back. :)

I have created a new page on the blog over there on the sidebar to house this little slide show permanently and I will add to it as the girls make new friends!

I have more photos to add to the slide show...will get it updated in the next few days.
-a

Henry welcomes home his sisters video

2011-12-24T00:41:00.000-08:00

<br><br>ha

-a

Henry and his newborn sisters video

2011-12-24T00:40:00.000-08:00

-a

First trip to the park

2011-12-23T23:50:00.000-08:00

When the girls were a week old we ventured out to the park down the street from our house as a family for the first time. The girls rode together in the bassinet in the stroller.

The boys hung out like this for most of the time because Hank wanted to check out the squirrels. I love this picture of them.

-a

Bringing home the girls

2011-12-23T23:30:00.000-08:00

Nice fuzzy out of focus picture taken by the sweet gal that wheeled me and the girls out of the hospital to our car. I really wanted a little group shot before we left and this was as good as we could get.

Ruby and Charlotte's first time in the van. Started out as a scream...

Ended up sleeping peacefully. Oh how I hated having to sit up front and not get to stare at them the whole way home. With Hank I sat in the back seat and watched him on that first car ride. With the girls, I couldn't fit back there with them since their seats take up the entire third row pretty much. Oh well!

When we got home, they were passed out.

They were so much smaller than Hank so we weren't used to seeing itty bitties in the car seat all slumped over and messed up looking. We have since remedied the situation and we use the rolled up receiving blankets on both sides of their bodies to help bolster them.

Hank was stoked to see the babies in HIS house. He looked so surprised that we actually brought them home with us!

Trying for our first official family photo. Didn't work out so well. We never got a shot with all of us looking at the camera because Brett and I got nervous with Hank trying to handle the girls.

Hank was adament that he get to hold his sisters again like he did the day before at the hospital. He kept sitting down and patting his hands on both sides of his legs indicating he wanted his sisters to sit next to him. It was pretty cute.

-a

The real deal

2011-12-23T23:09:00.000-08:00

In the hospital, seeing two baby bassinets next to my bed every time I woke up from a nap was so nuts to me. It was the real deal. They were finally here and now we got the privilege of taking care of these sweet little bundles. The last 11 weeks have been hard, but when I look back on these sweet newborn faces I can't imagine our life without them.

-a

Henry meets his sisters

2011-12-23T23:00:00.000-08:00

Hank got to meet Ruby and Charlotte on Saturday morning, about 12 hours after they were born. He came up to the hospital with Granmama. She had been practicing the word "sisters" with Hank and when he got there he was pointing to his "sisters". He was so excited to see the babies. He had a huge grin on his face the whole time.

Checking out Ruby

Examining Charlotte

Pleased with both.

When Hank walked into the hospital room my heart melted. It was so overwhelming to see my little boy who was at once a big boy and a big brother. It really hit home for me...I now have three kids!

HUGS!!

Hank's fascination with his sisters started that day and has yet to cease!

-a

Blogging bonanza

2011-12-23T22:59:00.000-08:00

Hi. I'm back. I'll be doing a blogging bonanza to get this blog up to date. It's killing me that it's so far behind but I have had a lot of other things I needed to do in my spare time. Like sleep.

I'll be getting The Blogtacular back up in no time. I know I make a lot of empty promises about the blog but I am hoping to keep this one!

-a

The day we met Ruby & Charlotte

2011-11-15T12:20:00.000-08:00

It's been over 5 weeks since we first laid eyes on our sweet Ruby and Charlotte and I'm just now getting the time to sit down and document that day. Here it is...

Last family photo as a trio! The day we went to the hospital.

Once we knew I was getting induced, my mom made arrangements to be here the day before we went to the hospital so that she could take care of Hank for us. This was the first time both Brett and I were away from Hank overnight at the same time. Maybe we need a vacation!?!

On Thursday night, I think I slept maybe one or two hours. I couldn't stop thinking about the fact that I was about to go into labor the next day and all of the unknowns that labor could bring. It was just so crazy to me to know the exact day our children were coming and that I wouldn't have to wait around and be surprised by contractions starting. And honestly, I was nervous about the physical pain of labor too. With Hank I didn't have an epidural and it wasn't so bad (it was bad, just not super super bad) and I was so happy I did it without medication. This time my doctor suggested that I get an epidural since it was a twin delivery and there could be complications. The possibility of complications had me scared. I really didn't want a c-section. I tried to pray as much as I could that night so I could be at ease. It definitely helped.

On Friday morning, I called the hospital at 6:00am (as requested) to confirm that they had space for me and still could take me at our appointment at 7:30am. Of course, they didn't have space and said they'd be in touch later in the morning. And so our day of waiting began - this was the theme for the day. We finally got the call around 9:45 telling us to come on in. I was so excited but instantly nervous and a little panicky because I couldn't believe we were actually going to meet the girls very soon. As we grabbed our bags and said good bye to Hank that morning, it was so emotional. I held Hank as long as he would let me because I didn't want to forget what it was like to have him as our only child and I wanted to give him one last special hug before he had to share me. (OK that's enough about that. I am going to start crying as I type this!)

We rolled in to the hospital around 11 am and we were ready to get things going! Unfortunately, we did a lot more waiting that day.

Hanging out, waiting for the show to get on the road!

I can't really remember why it took so long but I didn't get my epidural until around 2:45pm. I had decided to get one based on more information the on-call doctor provided me. I don't know why I was so against it with Henry. But this time I was pretty scared of being able to feel it all so I went for it.

Around 4pm they started the pitocin. Long story short...the epidural didn't work and despite having complete feeling the contractions caused by the pitocin didn't hurt! They were no more painful than all of the contractions I had been having forever before this. They kept gradually increasing the pitocin but I wasn't dilating any further despite all of the contractions. When I checked in to the hospital I was dilated to 6cm and I was still the same. Around 7:45pm finally somebody made a decision and got me another epidural so they could crank up the pitocin. Once that epidural went in I couldn't feel a thing and shortly after that the doctor came in and broke my water. Breaking my water got the ball rolling. I dilated to 10cm within an hour and a half. At 9:30pm the doctor checked me and said it was time to go deliver the twins...I was ready to push!

Dad ready for the OR

I had to deliver the twins in an operating room instead of in our labor and delivery room because it was standard procedure for twin deliveries. As a result, Brett got to dress up in a fancy outfit for the birth. I got a little hat like his too. They rolled me in to the OR and got me all set up in there. Within a few minutes, the nurses asked me to push once. They all started freaking out because they could already see Baby A's head. They got the doctors in there right away. A few pushes later, Ruby Genevieve (Baby A) was born at 10:01pm.

Ruby Genevieve (Baby A)

Once Ruby was born, they did a quick feel on the outside of my stomach and they could tell that Baby B was still in the head down position. They didn't have time to do an ultrasound to verify because Baby B's heart rate started to drop and they asked me to push even though I wasn't having a contraction. After a couple of pushes, Baby B moved around and her heart rate was back to normal. A few pushes later Charlotte Piper was born at 10:07pm.

Charlotte Piper (Baby B)

Dad keeping an eye on Ruby after delivery.

Leaving the OR to go back to our room. It was really sweet to get to hold both of my babies together for the first time.

Ruby and Charlotte together back in our room.

The birth of our daughters was so amazing. Two babies! It is still crazy to us, even now 5 weeks later, that we got two babies that day. They are both so perfect and we couldn't be happier with them. We are thankful that God blessed us with happy, healthy babies and that the delivery went so well.

-a

Brett got this fortune cookie this week

2011-11-11T22:38:00.000-08:00

Word! So hilarious!!

-a

Cuddle then squeeze

2011-11-11T22:28:00.000-08:00

First he cuddles all nice and innocent like.

Then he schemes.

Then he scopes out the situation.

Then he squeezes. And they shriek. Good times!

-a

Charlotte & Ruby - 1 month

2011-11-08T14:23:00.000-08:00

Charlotte & Ruby turned one month old yesterday! Not much to report other than all they do is eat, sleep, and use up diapers non-stop. They are spending a little more time awake each day and we are working on trying to get them on some sort of nap schedule.

This month has gone by so fast yet so slow at the same time. Our days pretty much consist of feeding the girls, cleaning up after feeding, getting a short break, then feeding the girls again. Luckily we are starting to get a couple of hours in a row of sleep each night so we're feeling a little more rested.

We are enjoying getting to know these two! I'm sure we'll have more milestones and fun stuff to share about the girls over the next month but this month was pretty chill - other than the whole getting two new kids thing. I should clarify - the girls have been chill. Life around the girls and this household has been anything but!! It's been a little nutso to be outnumbered by our kids.

I still have several posts in draft mode about our first few days with the girls including the hospital stay and when Henry met the girls but I need to find time to get them finished up. They'll be posted soon!

-a

Hank - 23 months

2011-11-03T11:48:00.000-07:00

This is his first time to ever give me a "smile" when I asked. This reminds me of his "scrunchy face" that he used to do all the time when he was really little.

Hank is 23 months old today! He is already practicing saying his age in preparation for when he turns two next month. Two is his favorite number. If you ask him how old he is, he'll say "two". How many sisters do you have? "Two!"

He's so obsessed with trucks and construction that it's taken over most of his play time right now. He touches and plays with his trucks all day every day. He even sleeps with them.

This has been a big month full of bursts of new words in his vocabulary. He finally says "mommy". He only says it when I am not around or not in the room and he wants me. He hasn't walked up to me and called me "mommy" yet. He has been saying "daddy" for a while so I have been anxiously awaiting my day of fame around here. He now says so many words it's hard to keep track of them. He talks in full sentences all day long although we still have a hard time understanding him at times. Another highlight of his new vocabulary is that he sings a lot each day now. He loves to sing the ABC's (even if he isn't saying the letters correctly he is trying to) and a whole bunch of other kid songs like Twinkle, Twinkle and Clean Up.

This month has also been probably the hardest of his little life so far. His sisters have been here for 4 weeks and he has had to make some major adjustments. The girls take up a lot of my attention right now and it has been so hard to see how sad that makes Hank at times. I am trying very hard to make alone time for Hank and me each day but sometimes it's not for as long as he would like. Frankly, I miss my time with Hank too. I guess it's been a hard month for me as well. :) I don't think it's a coincidence that he now says "mommy" right when he can't be with me as much and it seems like he wants me more than ever.

Despite all the changes taking place around here. He is still his lovable, adorable, hilarious self. Hank and Brett brought me home some food from Chipotle (our fave restaurant for when we're eating with Hank) the other night and as soon as the food was out of the bag, the bag was on his head. He was wearing the bag and making sure we were watching him and laughing.

We love this little guy so much. While Brett and I are knee deep in newborn craziness over here it is so amazing to see this little boy and realize we somehow made it through the newborn stage with him and he turned out OK!

-a

Pumpkin patch & Auntie LiLi

2011-11-01T10:55:00.000-07:00

This past weekend my sister Lisa came out for a quick visit so she could meet the girls and get to spend some time with Hank. I miss her so much - it was too quick! While she was here, our big adventure was taking Hank to a pumpkin patch. Lisa has two boys and she was so great with Hank. She even managed to convince him to wear his pirate costume this day - something I had failed at achieving prior to this. The funny thing about the costume is that Hank slowly started to shed the pieces the longer we hung out at the patch.

Pirate hat is gone. He had so much fun running around at the patch and he decided he didn't want the hat on any longer. I did manage to get him to sit nicely and pose with a pumpkin for an "official" Halloween 2011 picture. Here it is. ha!

The wagons and carts used to haul the pumpkins were a big hit with Hank.

Bouncy house craziness. Pirate shirt now gone.

Climbing hay stacks.

"Driving" the old tractor. He was afraid to get on it when we first saw it. About 10 minutes later, he was pulling me by the hand and asking to get on it.

A fun adventure on a beautiful fall day with my lovely little family and sweet sister Lisa. Perfect!

Sleepy heads cuddling in the morning!

Auntie LiLi - we enjoyed your visit. Come back soon and bring Pearce and Luke! Love you!

-a

Happy Halloween - surrender the booty!

2011-10-31T22:37:00.000-07:00

Tonight our family of five made it's first visit to someone else's house. We all headed over to the Chen's house to trick or treat and to celebrate Sandy's birthday. Hank and Max were pirates and they got to ride around the neighborhood in their very own pirate ship!

Sandy made the wagon look AMAZING and it was so cute to have the boys in matching costumes. I have to give BIG HUGE THANKS to Sandy for making this Halloween so much fun. Last month we decided to dress the boys as matching pirates. Since I was going to be useless in the craft department for a while after the girls arrived Sandy took care of everything! She ordered both of the costumes AND did the wagon. My kid got to have a cute Halloween and I didn't even do anything!

On our trek we came across a house that was all decked out with pirate goodness. It was perfect for a photo op so Brett rolled the wagon right through their lawn so the boys could pose by a treasure chest. ha! Good thing the creepy lady passing out candy on the porch didn't seem to mind.

Hank is really dressed as half of a pirate. The other half is surfer. He wouldn't take off his hoodie shirt (so he wore the costume top over it), he only wanted to wear shorts (and not the pants that came with the costume) and he went barefoot. But all in all he still looked like a pirate! At least he wore the full costume this past weekend at a pumpkin patch...I'll get to posting those photos eventually!

Our little pirate says "arghhhhh surrender the booty!"

The girls slept their way through their first Halloween all nice and cozy swaddled in the stroller.

The girls also slept their way through photos before we headed out to go trick or treating. Look at the adorable hair bows Annika's mom (Crafty Jan!) made for them!! I didn't exactly position the bows in the right spot on their heads in the photos but they looked so cute!

Tonight we were an hour late getting to their house. How come it is so hard for me to remember that newborns take a while to get out of the house? We have two newborns so it takes twice as long. Eventually I'll get it. Gone are the days when we could just toss our kid in the car and head out. Now we have to change about 5 diapers, adjust car seat straps 10 different ways and actually pack a diaper bag. All this and work around their eating schedule. We have gone on little errands here and there but this was our first outing where we actually hung out somewhere for a long time. It was pretty successful and thank goodness we were visiting our good friends who were so understanding when we rolled in so late!

Happy Halloween and Happy Birthday Sandy!

-a

Where does Hank fit?

2011-10-25T11:57:00.000-07:00

Over the last month or so, Hank has slowly started to accumulate more and more toys, books, and objects that he feels need to be in his bed in order for him to go to sleep. Lately, we have been able to ask him to make choices and not to pile everything in there. It seems to be working out OK and we've been able to scale back a little. We were starting to think that Hank couldn't fit in the crib laying down anymore with all the stuff. It definitely isn't our favorite new habit of his but whatever gets this little guy tucked quietly into bed is OK with us! (We have learned to ban the noise making truck from the crib...it was too tempting to play with during nap time. All the other trucks stay "parked" at the foot of the bed while he sleeps.)

-a

Sleeping sweeties

2011-10-19T16:36:00.001-07:00

Ruby

Charlotte

Charlotte and Ruby

These girls are so sweet. I love watching them sleep...

-a

Introducing Ruby and Charlotte

2011-10-17T22:35:00.000-07:00

Ruby Genevieve and Charlotte Piper have arrived!

Ruby Genevieve Paulson
October 7th 10:01 pm 6 lbs 3 oz 19.75 in

Charlotte Piper Paulson
October 7th 10:07 pm 5 lbs 15 oz 18.5 in

Thank you for all the well wishes, thoughts and prayers. Everyone is doing great. Ruby and Charlotte are as perfect as can be and they have already stolen our hearts! As you can imagine, life with two newborns and a 22 month old is busy so it has been hard to steal a moment to update the blog. I have lots of pics and posts planned and I'll get the blog updated soon!

We are falling more in love with this new family of ours every day!

-a

Baby girls update - 38 weeks - it's go time!

2011-10-06T22:17:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow I'll be 38 weeks and it is going to be an extremely exciting day! We were hoping to avoid any kind of intervention and let the twins come naturally but since I am about 6 cm dilated and 80% effaced (and the whole high risk pregnancy thing too) we really want to make sure that they are born in a hospital and not anywhere else (such as at our house or on the way there - my labor with Hank was very fast). After talking it through with our doctor earlier this week we decided the best thing for us was to get induced once we hit the 38 week mark, which is considered full term for twins.

We can't believe their birthday is finally here. We are so excited but we can't help but feel a little nostalgic for our nice little predictable life we have going right now as just a trio with Hank. Things are never going to be the same, but of course once we see our sweet little girls tomorrow we are going to be so glad our lives are changed forever.

Pardon the camera phone belly shot. The real cameras are packed away in the hospital bag and I'm not about to start pulling things out of there! I hope this will do for those of you who've been begging for one more shot! Please keep us in your prayers and we'll get some pictures of the newest additions up on the blog soon.

-a

Rainy season is here

2011-10-03T22:19:00.000-07:00

Today was the first rainy day of the season and Brett got Hank all decked out in his rain gear so they could walk Ellie and so Brett could teach Hank about jumping in puddles.

I met them outside so I could snap some pics of them returning from the walk. Hank is explaining to me all about the puddles he jumped in. He even reenacted it at the edge of the driveway so I could understand.

Really excited that Dad just said "let's go jump in the puddles again!". I took Elle inside for them and they went back out in the rain to have some fun.

-a

Hank - 22 months

2011-10-03T14:15:00.000-07:00

Hank is 22 months old today. This boy is so fun, loving, and adorable. We are so blessed to have this little sweetheart.

He usually gets a stoic face the instant I turn on the camera but today he was having so much fun hamming it up while eating a snack that he continued to show off his funny side while I took pics. Thanks Hank!

-a

Big brother practice

2011-10-03T14:04:00.000-07:00

This morning while I was getting ready in the bathroom I look over and see Hank entertaining himself by changing his baby doll's diaper. (Yes, my little boy has a baby doll! It's a little boy doll and it's totally cute.) He sat there with his train and a new dump truck pulled close to him. The baby doll was being pushed around in the dump truck most of the morning before this. He must have decided that the baby needed it's diaper changed. Once he decided he was done he gave his baby a big hug! I think this little guy is going to be a perfect big brother.

-a

Baby girls update - 37 weeks

2011-10-02T14:46:00.000-07:00

STILL COOKING! At my doctor's appointment on Tuesday we discovered I was almost 6 cm dilated. You'd think those babies would be out by now but alas, they have made themselves a nice cozy little place in there and apparently are quite content. I know it's a good thing because every day they get bigger and better but now that I know I am so far dilated the waiting is killing me!

Like I mentioned before I have contractions all the time but they aren't the super painful or close together kind so no need to go to the hospital yet. They are just very intense and real uncomfortable at times. Since I am so far dilated when the real contractions do start I am now afraid of having these babies in the car on the way to the hospital. We have an ongoing debate around here as to which car it would be better to have the babies in. Brett's car or the new van??? I kid. I kid.

I have another doctor's appointment on Tuesday so we'll see what the status is then! My ultrasound on Friday showed that everything is looking good and both babies are still in the right position so we're really just ready to get the show on the road. Of course, when they are ready they'll be ready and we know that God has this all in His hands. But...we can't wait to have those little girls in our arms. I'm falling in love with them more and more every day and I haven't even met them yet!

-a

Touch a truck

2011-10-02T14:25:00.000-07:00

Last weekend Brett and Hank went to a "Touch a Truck" event with Brett's friend Chris and his daughter Teagan. Here are some pics Brett took with his iphone. Both kiddos must have had a great time because they both fell asleep and took naps on the way home. To let the kiddos sleep a little longer Brett and Chris cruised around for a while in the minivan and ate lunch in the car on the go. They came home after they had finished their In N Out (not cool for not bringing the pregnant woman any food, not cool at all).

Sitting in a front loader or mini loader or whatever they are called.

Checking out a mail truck. This was probably the highlight of his day because he really loves to point at mail trucks all the time. When he sees them he says "mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm truck". This is because I overemphasized the "mmm" sound one day when I taught him how to say it and now he really really overemphasizes it.

Discovering toy trucks near by.

This week Brett and Hank met up with Chris again but this time for lunch while I was across the street from Chris' office at a doctor's appointment.

Hank loves to write on the white boards at Brett's office so he immediately wanted to draw at Chris' as well. Note how Brett embellished the board with "buy/sell" to set the scene like Chris was actually doing work on the white board.

Apparently Hank thought Chris was a lot more fun than his Dad during their lunch adventure because all he wanted to do was hang out with Chris and ride on his shoulders. Since then Hank has been wanting to get on Brett's shoulders whenever we are out and about!

-a

Baby girls update - 36 weeks

2011-09-23T19:54:00.001-07:00

The girls are still cooking and today's ultrasound showed that they are getting bigger. Both are estimated to be over 5 lbs each, but Baby B seems to be the biggest.

We are extremely happy to have made it to 36 weeks. We feel like we are so much closer to bringing home healthy babies! We are so blessed to have overcome all the hurdles that have popped up so far and we keep praying that the girls continue to do well.

I am getting really anxious and can't wait for them to get here!

-a

It's my birthday!

2011-09-21T08:00:00.000-07:00

Today is my birthday and I couldn't ask for any better gift than my loving boys...oh, maybe two little girlies would be nice too!

-a

Just because

2011-09-20T08:00:00.000-07:00

...using a headlamp to help you see your snack is sooooooo necessary.

-a

Baby girls update - 35 weeks

2011-09-19T22:43:00.000-07:00

Last Friday I hit the 35 week mark. It was an eventful yet uneventful week. Eventful because at my doctor's appointment on Tuesday I found out that I was already 4 cm dilated. Therefore, the rest of the week became uneventful because my doc put me on bed rest. Since then we've been juggling childcare for Hank and I've been trying to stay on the couch. I would say I have had about a 75% success rate with this attempt at bed rest. I'm not cut out for not getting up and around. Add a toddler to the mix and there's just no way.

I think learning that your babies might be here sooner than you think and also having to be off your feet at the same time is a mild form of torture. The urge to nest is at a fevered pitch around here and my lovely Brett is being such a trooper and trying to help get things done that I can no longer do. I even asked him if he would - get this - sew something for me and he said yes. I was completely joking about having him do it (I cheated and completed two sewing projects this week - I was sitting down, does that count?) but the fact that he said yes without even flinching was so amazing! This is why I like this guy. He is the best partner!

My doctor wanted me on bed rest just to try to get the twins to keep cooking until the end of this week when I hit 36 weeks. We'll see if we can make it. So far so good. I can tell you if they came right now I would be more than delighted. It's hot here and if I go to the hospital, I get to hang out in the A/C. Also, I have contractions ALL THE TIME. They aren't the you-need-to-go-to the-hospital-right-now kind but they are so annoying because they make me uncomfortable and it's been really hard to sleep more than an hour or two at a time at night. But enough complaining.

Soon enough we'll have two new daughters. We are getting excited!

-a

Annika & Brooks & Wiley visit!

2011-09-19T22:19:00.000-07:00

Over Labor Day weekend, we had a special visit from our super fabulous friend Annika and her two boys Brooks & Wiley. Sadly, her hubby Brett was not with her on this trip. We missed having both sets of A & B together! Before I recap their visit, let me just say right now that I am heart sick that we do not live in the same town as this crew. Not only do we love Annika and Brett to pieces, we love their boys just as much. Hank had so much fun having these two kiddos running around in the yard with him and dragging out every toy they could get their hands on. It makes this momma so happy to see her boy having a blast and Hank was in another stratosphere of fun with these two boys!

On Friday, Annika and the boys came by to hang out for the afternoon and to grab dinner. The boys explored the yard, "worked" on the fence, vacuumed the house, and basically touched or pulled out every single toy Hank owns. When the night was done, the house was turned upside down and it didn't matter one bit because I had the biggest smile on my face from all the fun!

On Saturday, we met up with them for a little while on Stanford campus so we could let the boys run free and try to catch some pics of the crew together. Again, Hank was totally in his element running around and climbing everything with the two boys. I loved watching him chase Brooks and Wiley and how much happiness and unbridled joy he had while doing it. I don't think I've ever seen him laugh as hard and as continuously as he did with them.

The boys throwing rocks into a storm drain. Over. And over. And over. And over again.

Annika and her boys.

Ahhh I love this picture so much. Annika is such a beautiful person and a beautiful mom and I just love how this picture shows this wonderful mom with her boys.

Brooks is such a good big brother and was a gentle little leader with the two other boys. I hope Hank turns into as good of a big brother as Brooks is!

Wiley. Mr. Adventurous. Love this boy so much.

We miss all of you so much. Can't wait to get our brood together again!

-a

Hank - 21 months

2011-09-19T18:30:00.000-07:00

Hank is 21.5 months old. (I've had this post in draft mode for a couple of weeks...apparently my attention span is about as big as Hank's lately and it has taken me forever to get anything on the blog.) Time really does fly by so fast with these wee ones doesn't it? The past few months have been a lot of fun with a few challenges thrown in too.

His number one favorite activity has to be playing outside. He is out on our back porch and in the back yard about 90% of the time when we are at home. He loves digging in the dirt, playing with his trucks, and squirting the plants with water bottles.

He has been climbing out of his crib. He's only done it a few times so he doesn't seem to think it's a viable option for him to escape very often so we're not too worried about it right now. I am dreading the day when he comes walking out of his room during nap time.

He has been saying "baby". It is so sweet because we have been talking about his new baby sisters a lot and at every nap time and bed time he wants us to read the book he has about being a big brother.

He thinks somersaults are amazing! He does them on the floor, on the couch, from the couch to the floor (extremely terrifying to watch!), on our bed, and even on top of people.

He jumps with two feet off of the floor. This "feat" makes him so happy. He thinks it's the best trick.

He can open all of the doors in our house. It's nice because he doesn't get locked in rooms anymore, but it's a hassle because now he can go anywhere! He has also mastered unlocking the deadbolts by pushing a toy or a chair up against the door so he can reach the lock.

He is talking more and more each day and we are starting to understand him more. It is nice that we can figure out what he is talking about. Whenever we do not understand him, he definitely gets very frustrated. It kinda breaks my heart sometimes because if he's upset and then we don't understand what he's saying you can see his little spirit feeling all defeated because were "not getting it".

Another obsession right now are transportation vehicles – motor cycles, trucks, busses, mail trucks, fire trucks, etc. When we are out on a walk or out in the car he points out EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM! He doesn't say all of these words every time but he makes the sound effects for each one and we can tell the difference between them. My favorite is the siren noise he makes. It's too cute.

He finally said “moo” recently. He could care less about animal noises and he only says a few of them. He would much rather toss the animal books aside and open up the books about other things.

With all of my doctor appointments and having to rest a lot, Hank has been spending tons of extra time with Brett. It is so sweet to see their adorable relationship. Hank is in LOVE with his dad and is so excited to go anywhere with him.

This summer we have really seen Hank blossom into a little boy. He is such a big kid but at the same time, our little baby boy. I say that all the time but it never gets old. He is a complete joy to have in our lives. Our little sunshine! We love you sweet Baby Hank!

-a

Baby girls update - 34 weeks

2011-09-09T15:03:00.000-07:00

Today I'm 34 weeks along with the twins. We are SO EXCITED to have made it to this milestone. Only 6 weeks left to go. Our goal has been to make it to 36 weeks, with a stretch goal of 38. If I hit 40 weeks please do yourself a favor and stay far away from me - it's not going to be a nice time around here. My body is feeling every bit of these girls and I can't imagine how it's going to feel as I get bigger in the coming weeks. But it will all be over soon!

All of the doctor appointments went well this week. Today's ultrasound took forever because as the girls get bigger there isn't much room for them to move around and it's getting harder for the sonographer to find everything they need to look at. I saw both of their sweet faces today on the screen and I can't wait to see them on the flip side.

Here's the long awaited belly shot. I figured I needed to get one up here quick in case they make a surprise early appearance. I have finally hit the size I was at when I delivered Hank at 4 days overdue!

-a

Hank waking up Max

2011-08-31T23:06:00.001-07:00

-a

More adventures of Hank & Max

2011-08-31T23:06:00.000-07:00

A couple of weekends ago, the Chens and the Kavals took Brett and me out to brunch at the Ritz at Half Moon Bay to celebrate the pending arrival of the twins. While we were gone, Hank and Max stayed behind at Sandy's house with Max's nanny watching both of the boys. When we returned from brunch, both boys were still napping so we all decided to hang out for the afternoon.

Hank got up from his nap first and when it was time for Max to get up, Hank got to go in and help wake up Max. Hank has gotten to do this a couple of times before and he always loves it. Poor Max has to wake up to a jumping Hank in his crib! I have a video of this and will post it next.

Hank pretty much didn't get off of this train the whole day. Hank wanted Max to ride it with him but Max preferred pushing Hank around in it.

This boy has a million dollar smile. I love it so much!

It's hard to capture this boy's smile, but when he does show it, it melts me too!

-a

Doing work for the girls

2011-08-31T22:12:00.000-07:00

My boys recently got to work putting together the changing table we are going to use in our room for the girls. Hank jumps at the chance to help with anything that requires a screw driver or tools. Needless to say, this project took twice as long as it should have - thanks to Hank's "help"!!

Things are coming together little by little around here. Hopefully, we'll have it all in order once the twins actually come home!

-a

Hanging with Granmama

2011-08-31T22:05:00.000-07:00

I am really behind on this post! Shortly after the twins started getting all this extra attention, my mom came out to visit and help me out for about a week. It was a great week - I got to rest a lot and we also squeezed in lots of shopping so I could get things in order (or at least closer to being in order) should the girls debut early. Hank got to spend a ton of time with Granmama and he definitely enjoyed having someone around that would indulge all of his explorations in the yard.

Thank you Mom for coming out here on short notice and for being up for all the craziness that goes on around here on a daily basis!

-a

Best buds at the fair

2011-08-28T22:16:00.000-07:00

Today we stopped by to pick up the Chens to they could check out the new ride and so we could make our inaugural trip with both families in one vehicle. Real exciting stuff huh??? We went to the street art fair taking place in downtown Palo Alto and walked up and down University Ave ignoring the art and searching for the best food.

After we finished eating, I parked Hank next to Max. (We didn't let the guys out of their strollers for fear that we'd never get them back in and we'd have to chase them everywhere.) Max instinctively reached out his hand to grab Hank. So cute! Even when they let go a couple of times, they would reach their hands out again. These two little guys are turning into best buds. We love it!

Sampling some of dad's corn on the cob.

He pushed it away and said "hot"! Oh well, we'll stick to corn off the cob I guess!

-a

Swagger wagon

2011-08-28T21:55:00.000-07:00

Done. We got a minivan yesterday. Brett is the best and took care of everything. He gives it a big thumbs up (please see his pose in this picture). I must say, an hour after he brought it home I officially declared that I am in love with it. It was a quick conversion to the other side. We got a Toyota Sienna and I am looking forward to how much easier it is going to be for me to load three kids into car seats. As Brett says, it's not cool, but it's practical. (Although by the end of today he was closer to declaring his love for it as well.)

Sadly, we had to say goodbye to our Toyota 4Runner that we owned for 10.5 years. I know it's so lame, but my eyes filled with tears as Brett drove away in the 4Runner to go buy the van. (Blame it on the hormones but that car just holds a special place in my heart.) I know it's just a car but it was our first new car to ever own (which seemed like a big deal to us when we were 23), we got it soon after we graduated from undergrad, it has been from the east coast to the west coast on our adventures, we brought Hank home from the hospital in it, and it holds so many memories for us.

I am very curious to see if we'll turn into a long term minivan family or if we'll go back to an SUV once the kiddos are bigger and don't need as much help to get locked in to their seats. So many moms say once you get a van you never go back. We'll see.

For now, we're enjoying our new swagger wagon. Check out this video Sandy sent me. It's hilarious.

-a

Baby girls update - 32 weeks

2011-08-28T21:24:00.000-07:00

Another week down! We had good results at our two ultrasounds this week. The fluids are still looking OK but we are most excited about their growth - which has been something we have been worried about since all this extra monitoring started. They are both measuring right on track and Baby A is now bigger than Baby B by a smidgen. Baby A is 4 lbs 1 oz and Baby B is 3 lbs 15 oz. (In case you were doing some quick math...yes I am carrying 8 lbs of babies now. That's how big Hank was!) They are both measuring around the 50th percentile again. We are so, so, so happy and are feeling much better.

The perinatologist is pleased with their stability and feels that we can start coming in for ultrasounds once a week from now on rather than twice a week. But...since I have hit 32 weeks now their standard procedure is to have high-risk patients come in for a non-stress test (NST) for monitoring twice a week. The NST monitors the babies' heart rates and me for contractions. So....I am back to coming in 2-3 times a week...hoping to double up my ultrasound and NST appointments on one day to ease the babysitting burden!

Sorry for the lack of photos lately...the babies are so smooshed in there that it's hard to get cute ultrasound photos of them! But I can tell you they are so sweet to look at. These little girls are so cozy and cuddly together!

-a

11 years!

2011-08-19T22:39:00.000-07:00

On this day 11 years ago I married the man of my dreams. We celebrated our anniversary today in a very low key and totally Angie & Brett kind of way. We lined up our fabulous babysitter to watch Hank for the bulk of the day so we could go to our doctor's appointment, have lunch at Pizza Antica (our favorite restaurant), and check out some minivans. Yes you read that right and yes I really did just type that. I test drove a minivan. On. My. Anniversary.

Not 100% sure yet but it looks like we might get one. Oh man it is so hard to believe. If you had told me 11 years ago that we would spend this anniversary in an ultrasound room watching twin girls kick me in my ribs AND I would be out looking at minivans I would have called you crazy.

I guess this kind of crazy is our new normal. I love you Brett! Happy Anniversary!

-a

Baby girls update - 31 weeks

2011-08-19T22:09:00.001-07:00

We had two more ultrasounds this week and at both appointments the fluid levels looked OK for both babies. We are very happy about this and so thankful to have one more week completed.

We have two more appointments next week including an ultrasound on Friday to estimate their growth. We are praying that both babies have been growing strong!

Thank you again for all of your prayers and support!

-a

Baby girls update - 30 weeks

2011-08-13T23:17:00.000-07:00

I've mentioned before that the twins are considered a high risk pregnancy because they are sharing one placenta. Well, that high risk is now in full effect. At one of my perinatologist appointments a week and a half ago, the ultrasound showed that Baby A's amniotic fluid level is very low and Baby B's fluid level is very high, setting off alarms for the doctors. (I'll spare you all the medical terminology but basically both babies can suffer significantly from getting too much or too little of the nutrients from the placenta. The first indication of a problem is with the fluid levels.) We have been to several more doctor's appointments since then and so far, the fluid levels are still very different between the two babies but we are within an acceptable range.

We will continue to go to the doctor for ultrasounds twice a week from here on out to keep an eye on the babies and to check their fluids and growth. The goal is for the discrepancies to stay within an acceptable range so we do not have to do anything drastic...like deliver them super early in order to prevent one or both twins from suffering complications. (Last week we were kinda freaking out for a few days thinking we may have to deliver them! 2.75 lb babies? No thanks, we like them a little bigger.)

We have made it to 30 weeks with the babies still in utero and we're praying for at least 4 or 5 more. The babies are still looking good but each day is a milestone at this point. We're not ready for the girls to make their debut yet!

Thank you for all the well wishes, prayers and love! It's working!!

-a

P.S. We wanted to do an update here on the blog since many of you know a lot of what has been going on. We'll post updates periodically to let you know how things are going or if anything changes. xoxo

Cozy nest

2011-08-03T08:01:00.000-07:00

The maternity pillow makes a nice cozy nest for a little boy that is supposed to be helping me make the bed.

-a

Yes, please

2011-08-02T10:05:00.001-07:00

Thank you. I will take that spot.

-a

Holding hands

2011-08-01T22:55:00.000-07:00

Hank loves to hold Brett's hand when all three of us go on walks together. Brett and I start out walking side by side behind the stroller and at some point during the walk, Hank's little hand sticks out and we hear a grunt. This hand is only for Brett. I tried to hold it this weekend and I got dissed. He retracted his little paw from my grasp and stuck his opposite hand out the other side of the stroller and grunted again. It was so robotic and hilarious. We were dying! I love a boy that loves his dad!

-a

Diaper changes are sometimes OK

2011-07-28T08:00:00.000-07:00

Hank really likes this little diaper holder I use when we're on the go. The other morning I was packing our bag for swim class and he grabbed the diaper holder and went out to the hallway to play with it. I let him do this all the time because it buys me 5 minutes of non-Hank time and I can get a lot of stuff done in those 5 minutes!

After I finished packing I stood in the hallway to watch him play with the changing pad. He kept opening it and throwing it on the ground over and over again. It wasn't landing completely open so he kept trying. Once it landed open, he walks over to it and gets right on it like he's ready for me to change his diaper. I asked him to stay there so I could go get my camera to take a picture and he actually did it!

And for what seems like the first time ever, when I asked him to smile he actually SMILED and he did a pose! Now, if I can get him to start smiling on command I will be a very happy Mom.

I love this funny little man. His little brain is always cooking up something humorous.

-a

Staying cool at the po' man's water park

2011-07-27T15:48:00.000-07:00

Hank is so easy to please. Want to see him freak out and lose his mind? Here's how:
Turn the water hose on, set it to the mist setting (our hose is real fancy!) and point it at Hank. He goes bananas over the little droplets of water in the air.

We've done this trick a few times this summer and it's working out to be one of my and Brett's favorite things too. I love easy entertainment!

-a

Go, go Gigi

2011-07-27T15:36:00.000-07:00

In our family, everyone thinks Gigi is the Energizer Bunny. She keeps going and going and going! She came out to visit us last Thursday through Sunday and it was a great trip. She let me kick my feet up and take it easy while she chased Hank around all weekend long. Brett and I also got to go out on a little date on Friday night and that was soooo nice too!

When Hank is with Gigi he gets to explore everything and run a little wild checking everything out (in a good way) so I've spent the last couple of days having to get Hank back on to the "Mommy is pregnant and too lazy, I mean, too big to chase you everywhere so please sit still and play with this toy" program. He's doing OK readjusting to our slower pace.

Thank you Gigi for coming out to visit us and for spoiling Hank AND Brett and me too! We love you!

-a

Baby girls update - 26 weeks

2011-07-16T15:31:00.000-07:00

Baby B

She has her chin tucked into her chest.

Baby A

She has her chin raised and her little nose is smashed up against the dividing membrane.

I'm 26 weeks now. Here are two pics from the ultrasound I had yesterday. The girls are growing well and everything continues to look as perfect as can be. They weigh 1 lb 15 oz each, putting them both around the 50 percentile for growth. Nice and average.

-a

Stall tactics

2011-07-16T15:20:00.000-07:00

This is one of Hank's new stall tactics. He stops while we are walking and lays down on the ground. I snapped these pics with my phone when we were leaving gym class at the Y last Monday. We'd been hanging out like this for a few minutes so I figured since he already had passersby looking at me like I was a crazy parent I might as well take a few pics. After I took these he then proceeded to kiss the ground. And his kisses aren't closed mouth. To make this stunt even cuter at one point he started saying "hi" and waving to people as they walked by all while his cheek was pressed to the ground.

He's done this same trick two more times this week at different locations and all of them smack dab in the middle of a sidewalk with other people watching! Oh well, at least he's giggling and having a good time when he does this and he's not acting upset. I'll take a happy stall tactic over a meltdown any day!

-a

Nap time with fave book

2011-07-14T13:50:00.000-07:00

Over the past month or so, Hank has developed a new routine at nap time. He doesn't like to get into the crib unless he has sat on his bean bag and read a book or two. (This is his normal bed time routine but at nap time I used to just drop him right in the crib and walk out.) I'm ok with this since it only takes a few minutes and it seems to help him wind down for his nap. The other day, he wanted to read his favorite book called "Trucks" over and over again and acted defiant when I told him it was nap time after the 5th reading. I decided to let him take the book to bed with him instead thinking he can read it as many times as he'd like as long as he was in his crib!

These above pics are the antics he went through with the book before he decided to settle down and start to rest. I love how he starts out sitting, then he's down and facing his right side, then his left side, then he swaps sides a couple more times, then he migrates to the back of the crib, pretends to read some, then when I ask him to go night night he curls up with the book tucked underneath him and closes his eyes and pretends to be asleep.

I know for a fact that he didn't go to sleep in this position because when he got up from his nap a few hours later, he and the book were in a completely different place in the crib and the book's binding was completely torn off. Not sure exactly how he did that since it was not torn at all when I left it there!!! We've let him nap with a book here and there since this incident but he's only allowed to have the soft books now!

-a