Finally Catching our Breath...Three Months Later!

With a blink of an eye, the twins turned three months old on June 27th and I have fallen WAY behind on documenting the craziest three months of our lives.  The next several posts will be an effort to recap some of the highlights of the past three months primarily with the use of lots and lots of pictures.  We feel so blessed and complete with the arrival of Holden and Wyatt.  Their birth has certainly made being parents challenging, but has also been SO rewarding in many ways. 
 It has been so much fun watching Wyatt and Holden come into our home and be welcomed by their brother and sister.  Addy and Carter adore their baby brothers and are always asking to hug, kiss, and hold them.  When we are out and about and someone asks about the twins, they are often the first ones to run over to the stroller and introduce them as Wyatt and Holden.  It melts my heart to watch them love on and cuddle with their baby brothers.  We are so blessed to have such a wonderful family. 

So, without further ado, let's begin with.....

April
The month of April was a bit of a blur for all of us.  We were still getting used to having two newborns in the house and also trying to resume somewhat of a normal routine with the big kids. Yes, we now refer to Addy and Carter as the "big kids."  Wow, I never would have dreamt that I would have enough children to separate them into "big kids" and "little kids" :)  Addy returned to school after Easter and was excited to share the news of her little brothers' arrival with her teachers and classmates. 


Holden and Wyatt had their 2 week doctor's appointment on April 11th.  Holden weighed 7 pounds 1 ounce (10th percentile) and measured 19.75 inches long (25th percentile).  Wyatt weighed 6 pounds 11 ounces (5th percentile) and measured 19 inches long (2nd percentile). 

The boys love to cuddle together




One week old!

 

 

 

We celebrated Derek's Birthday on April 8th

 

 

Holden's first bath

Quality time with dad (x4)

Holden showing off the birth anouncement

Grandma Freihaut and the kiddos

Our first family outing to the zoo.  This was the first time we got to try out the "jumbo" stroller.  I can already tell that this thing is going to be a lifesaver!

A ride on the carousel is always a hit with the big kids

 

 

Two weeks old!

 

 

More cuddles at two weeks old

Adalyn loves holding her brothers

Official Tummy Time Supervisor

 

Sibling Love

Carter decided to introduce Holden to technology early!

Brothers!

ONE MONTH OLD (Wyatt on left & Holden on right)

Our little man is THREE!

Carter turned three on May 27th which was also Memorial Day.  We celebrated on Sunday by having a small party with the grandparents and aunts and uncles that could make the trip.  We were hoping for a nice warm, sunny day so that we could have the party on our deck, but unfortunately it was  a windy and chilly day, so we ended up partying inside the house.  Carter chose a Toy Story birthday theme this year and was excited to wear his Buzz Lightyear t-shirt and loved his life-size Buzz Lightyear balloon.  Carter chose an ice cream cake from Dairy Queen this year. He isn't crazy about sweets, especially cake, so he was happy to have one made of ice cream.  Not loving sweets certainly isn't something he picked u from either of his parents :)  Carter received so many wonderful gifts from his loved ones.  He is one lucky little guy to have so many people love him and make the trip to celebrate with him!  This year it was so much fun seeing him get so excited about his big day.  He actually understood what all of the excitement was about and definitely loved the attention.

One thing Carter really wanted to do for his birthday was to see the dinosaurs at the "dinosaur museum."  He has been making this request for quite some time (since before the babies were born) and was actually referring to returning to the Indianapolis Children's Museum.  Since we had just been there in October, we decided to take Carter to the Field Museum in Chicago to see the dinosaurs for his birthday trip.  We headed to the Windy City on the Friday morning after his birthday and visited the museum and stayed in Schaumburg for the evening.  The following day we ate lunch at Weber Grill and then dropped off Derek at O'Hare Airport for his flight to Washington D.C. where he had a conference and then went on to Miami for a business meeting.  Derek's mom also went with us to Chicago and stayed with us while Derek was out of town.  I am so thankful she was able to stay and help out.  It certainly helped things go a lot smoother and allowed me to get much more rest than if I had been with the kids by myself. 

It's so crazy to think that Carter is already three years old.  It has been so much fun watching Carter grow this year.  He has learned so many new things and changed so much.  He conquered potty training this fall and is also so much more outgoing with people than he was a year ago.  He feels comfortable staying in his classroom at church and at M.O.P.S.  He loves to sing and make up stories and is ALWAYS making us laugh with his carefree and joking personality.  We love our little man and can't wait to watch him grow and learn even more!

 

Double Buzz Lightyears

Carter and his new bike

Ice Cream Cake!!

Family Picture

Make a Wish!

Freihaut Cousins

Carter with Grandma & Grandpa Schum

Carter and Aunt Ashley

Ahoy Mateys!

Hanging out in a Dino footprint!

Addy and Carter with Sue the T-REX

Carter was so excited to see SUE!

 

 

Addy and Carter enjoyed all of the stuffed animals at the museum.

Easter 2013

This year's Easter was a little different than years past.  We came home with the twins on Saturday and my parents were still in town to help out with the kids and  to celebrate Easter with us.  Thanks goodness they were here, or there may not have been any sugar cookies, dyed eggs, or Easter dinner for us this year. 

The Easter Bunny did find us and filled baskets for all four of the kids.  When I realized that the boys would be here before Easter, Derek picked up some small baskets from the store and I ordered a few things for their baskets online so that they would have something.  Thank goodness for Amazon Prime!  Addy and Carter had a blast checking out their baskets and hunting eggs outside in the backyard.  Mom and Dad took care of making a delicious Easter dinner.  Derek and I focused on keeping the babies happy and trying not to appear too much like zombies.  Even though it was a low key and not the most organized Easter we've had, we got to celebrate it as a family of six at home, which was truly priceless.

The big kids with their baskets

After a soggy hunt outside

Wyatt Cottontail

Our First Easter

Our FOUR Kiddos 

Family Pic

Posing with Grandma and Grandpa

Mommy snd her sleepy heads

Hugs for Holden

Introducing....Wyatt Joseph and Holden Jacob

And then there were SIX.....



Holden and Wyatt

On Monday March 25th I was feeling lots of pressure and decided to head to labor and delivery to be monitored.  When I got there we found out that I had actually dilated to a point where the doctor wasn't comfortable sending me home, especially since both babies were breech and if I were to go into active labor, things would be very rushed.  My doctor was out of town on spring break, so I was under the care of another excellent doctor that did a great job.  Since he didn't feel comfortable sending me home, I was admitted to the hospital and had no idea just exactly how long I would be there.  The babies were looking very happy on the monitors and I wasn't having a whole lot of contractions through Tuesday.  Derek brought the kids in to visit me on both Monday and Tuesday evening and Derek's mom watched after the kids during the day. 

The doctor checked me again on Tuesday morning and I had progressed a bit more.  At this point I was getting very uncomfortable and the hospital bed wasn't really helping matters.  The babies continued to look good and very always very active.  During these two days my doctor was carefully weighing all of the possibilities and was determining just how long he thought I could keep these babies inside me before going into full blown labor.  At this point it was evident that I would have to have a c-section since both boys were breech and he was deciding how much longer we could hold off.  Tuesday evening he come into my room and let me know that since I would be 35 weeks the next day, he would like to schedule the c-section for then, and at 7:15 a.m. none the less!!  I did get a bit nervous when he told me his plans.  I was apprehensive about having them via c-section and very worried about the boys being born at 35 weeks.

 After a night of tossing and turning and a whole lot of praying, the clock showed 5 a.m. and it was time to begin prep for surgery.  The whole thing seemed so surreal...like I was dreaming.  My parents left their house very early in the morning (2 a.m.!!) and made it just in time to see me go to down to the operating room at 7:15.

Derek felt very "official" in his scrubs.  It didn't help matters that the nursing stu dents who were observing thought he was a doctor!

Wyatt after the delivery

Holden after the delivery

Wyatt Joseph and Holden Jacob joined our family on March 27th at 7:33 and 7:34 a.m.  Wyatt weighed 6 lbs. 6 oz. and measured 18.5 inches long.   Holden weighed 7 lbs. 4 oz. and measured 19 inches long.  After their birth, they were taken to the nursery for observation.  They both scored very well on the APGAR but were having minor issues breathing, which is very common for late preterm babies.   I didn't get to hold the boys until later Wednesday evening which was very hard, but I was so excited when I finally had my little guys in my arms.   They stayed in the nursery on monitors and in warmers until about 5:30 the next day.  It was very hard not to have my babies with me, but I knew that they were getting great care and it was necessary to make sure they were healthy.  I did make several trips to the nursery to see and nurse them. 

Holding Holden for the first time

Daddy holding Wyatt for the first time

We spent three nights in the hospital after the boys were born and were realeased on Saturday morning.  We were so excited that the boys were realeased in the normal amount of time.  Before their birth the doctors and nurses were prepping us for the possibility of them having to stay longer due to the fact that they were late pre-term babies born at 35 weeks.  We are so thankful for all of  the thoughts and prayers sent out by family and friends for our precious boys. Our prayers were answered and our little guys are happy and healthy babies! 

 

Big brother and big sister meeting Holden

 

One proud Dad

 

Grandma and Grandpa with all  FOUR of their grandkids

 

Kim with her hands full

Superdad--feeding both babies at once

 

All ready to go home