Memories of a Busy July

Our busy summer continued into the month of July.  Our July calendar was filled with fun events and summer trips to Indiana and Ohio.  Although we weren't as active during the summer days as we were in previous summers, I still managed to get out and about on a regular basis with all four kids.  We made several trips to the grocery store during the week, which is quite the challenge.  Thank goodness they all are usually very well behaved in the store and for the shorter, smaller carts that Adalyn is able to help me maneuver through the aisles. The five of us in the store are a sight to see as we usually take up the majority of the aisle with the double stroller, small cart and wandering Carter, but we usually come out successful and the big kids often earn kids meals from Sonic for their effort!  

At the beginning of the month we packed up the crew and headed for a visit with family in southern Indiana.  This was the babies' first trip to Indiana and their first lengthy car ride.  They did great on the way home.  Holden got a bit fussy on the last 20 minute stretch home, which is understandable after for riding for so many hours backwards in the car seat.    As always, our trip home was filled with lots of fun events and visits with family.  We went home a few days before the Fourth of July so that we could the big kids to Holiday World. We grilled out with my family at Mom and Dad's house and visited the park in Owensboro that the kids love so much.  

Posing in front of Grandma and Grandpa's House

All smiles at Grandma and Grandpa's House

Riding the Turkey Whirl together.  Carter wasn't so sure about all the spinning!

Addy rode this ride over and over again until I finally had to pull her off.

Fun at the park

Thank goodness for waterproof casts!

Derek is proud of this shirt!

Happy Fourth of July!

Holden isn't feeling very Patriotic in this picture

Our trip home was capped off with a "Meet the Twins" get-together with my side of the family at Ferdinand Park.  It's difficult visiting everyone when we head to southern Indiana, especially with the twins, so Mom and Dad decided to throw a small party and have everyone come to us at the park.  It was great seeing many of our relatives and getting the chance to introduce them to Holden and Wyatt.  I know that our big kids also had a blast seeing their relatives that they don't see all that often and playing with their second cousins.  Unfortunately I was so busy socializing and catching up that I didn't take many pictures of the fun day.  I have been dropping the ball on taking pictures lately.  Hopefully I can get back in that groove as the babies become more and more independent.

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Wyatt and Aunt Ashley

Big kids playing on the playground

After the fourth of July we managed to squeeze in two weeks of swim lessons for Addy and Carter.  Addy has taken them through Normal Parks and Recreation before but this was Carter's first summer taking lessons.  I will admit that the though taking four kids to the pool had me a bit nervous, but we managed.  Carter was as enthusiastic about lessons. so I mostly hung out on his end of the pool and pushed the stroller over to watch Addy periodically through the lessons.  Addy did great and learned two strokes.  It was a bit of a challenge for her to take lessons with her cast, but she did her best under the circumstances and learned a lot.  Carter made big steps in becoming more comfortable in the water and trusting his teacher.  He is definitely much more cautious in the water than his sister was at this age.  Thankfully we had the early morning lessons, so the babies didn't get too hot and were comfortable sleeping in their car seats most days.

Carter working on his back float

Working the backstroke

At the end of July we packed up the minivan for a mini-vacation to Columbus.  We had been debating whether or not we would take a trip this summer, but anyone who knows me knows that there's no way I was going  without a vacation for a summer.  I had heard great things about the Columbus Zoo and Science Center from mom in my mom's group and we hadn't been there, so we decided to make the five hour trip to the Buckeye State.  Derek's mom went with us and was a big help with "kid management."  The Columbus Zoo definitely lived up to our expectations.  It actually has an amusement park and water park connected to it, but we only had time for the animal part.  It could definitely be a two day trip if you planned to swim and ride rides. 

Addy and Carter got to pet a Flamingo.  I was impressed at all of the "hands-on" exhibits the zoo had.  The kids got up close and personal with many animals.

Hanging out with the bears

Wyatt and Holden loving their ride

The kids also really enjoyed our visit to the Science Center.  There was a water table area where the babies got their first water play experience.  They had a water table especially for them with baby seats built in.  Holden was totally hands on and loved the splashing.  Wyatt was more cautious and wasn't too about the whole thing.  The museum had tons of hand on exhibits that the kids loved.  They also had the traveling Myth Busters exhibit that we had seen once before in Chicago.  Addy loved it so much the first time that she really wanted to visit it again, so  we bought the tickets to play with all of the fun things from the show.  The museum had a large exhibit where you walked through towns that were set in different eras.  The kids were really interested in the fifties era as their Grandma was showing them all the things she grew with.  Addy couldn't believe that the televisions were black and white and were in such big "boxes" and Carter thought the gas pumps were funny looking.  We had to explain the concept of phone booths to both of them, which made me feel very old!

Holden's ready for some water play!

The babies had their first swimming pool experience at the hotel.  They were both a bit unsure about being in such a huge "bathtub."


The twins had their four month check up  at the end of the month.  Dr. Boe said that the babies looked great.  The nurses all commented that they were "big boys" for twins.  Wyatt was 25.5 inches long (75th percentile) and weighed 18 lbs. 13 oz. (95th percentile).  Holden measured 25 inches long (75th percentile) and weighed 18 lbs. 8 oz. (95th percentile).  We frequently weigh the boys, so we knew how much they had gained.  Their personalities are certainly coming to the forefront more and more everyday. It is evident that their personalities are very different.  Wyatt continues to be very easy going while Holden is more active and a bit more needy.  The are both characters in their own right and are certainly keeping us on our toes!

 

Four Months (Wyatt-left  Holden-right)

June Recap

After counting down the days of school the beginning of June marked the beginning of summer for the Freihaut Family. Each year summer is highly anticipated in the Freihaut household. I always have lots big ideas about places to visit and things to accomplish. This summer was no different.  During one of the first days of summer vacation I decided to sit down with the kids and make a "Summer Fun List" of all the things we wanted to do during the summer.  We posted it on the bulletin board in the kitchen and started planning a strategy to "knock out" the list.  My skeptical and somewhat more realistic husband took one look at the list when he got home that day and raised his eyebrows at me and gave me the "how in the heck are we going to accomplish all of that" look.  I was confident that we would accomplish most of the items on the list and since I am writing about our summer fun list in September, I am proud to report that we did accomplish the majority of the list!

The first three weeks of the month were super busy with t-ball games.  Addy was still playing two games (sometimes three) and ended her season in the middle of June with a Saturday tourney where each team played one game on the big field and the players were announced throughout the game.  She really loved playing t-ball and is already talking about playing next year.  It was a great introduction to the game for her and she learned a lot about hitting, fielding, and the game itself.  She was very proud of the medal she received after the tourney game and wore it around town as we ran errands that day.

Addy was so proud of her medal!

Carter also played t-ball during the month of June.  His experience was more of an instructional league where the coaches taught the kids skills using mini games.  He went twice a week in the morning and the final practice was a game where the kids played the parents.  At times Carter was much more interested in quoting lines from Despicable Me 2 than t-ball.  But he had a lot of fun and managed to get a lot of laughs from his teammates.  I think we may have quite the character on our hands!



Hey Batter, Batter!

One goal the kids and I put on our summer fun list was to visit ten different parks throughout the summer.  I thought this would be something fun and was definitely an attainable goal.  Carter and Addy love to go to playgrounds and it's easy to take the babies along in their stroller.  So we made it to quite a few parks in the month of June and managed to exceed our ten park goal by the end of the summer.  Unfortunately one of those park visits lead to a visit to prompt care for Addy.  During one of Carter's t-ball practices, Addy was on the monkey bars at the nearby playground and crash landed on her arm.  She started crying immediately and when she continued to complain about the pain, we knew there was probably something wrong.  I was so glad that Derek happened to come with us to practice that day so that I had someone to help me with taking Addy to Prompt Care.  After spending several hours at Prompt Care and getting x-rays taken, it was determined that Addy had indeed fractured her arm.  We went to an Orthopedic Doctor the next day to get a cast put on.  Addy and I were thrilled to learn that her cast would be waterproof.  I had no idea that waterproof casts existed but was so thrilled when the doctor asked us if she was interested in one! The crisis of missing Holiday World and swimming lessons was averted! The first night of the cast, Addy had some difficulties with the feeling of it and managed to wriggle it off in bed.  Imagine my surprise as I up folding laundry after the kids had went to bed and she comes walking into our bedroom holding the cast in her hand!  We called the doctor the next day and got a new one put on and this time it stayed on.  No more cast Houdini acts for our little escape artist! She wore the cast for four weeks and got it off in mid-July. 

 

Addy's color choice was hot pink which matched most of her summer wardrobe.

 

Cookies from Grandma and Grandpa made things ALL better!

Holden enjoying the great outdoors

Wyatt loving some deck time

Our Small "Fry"hots (Holden on left and Wyatt on right)



Addy "rockin' out"

 

 

Carter loving on his little brothers

Holden (left) & Wyatt (right)

Playground fun

At the end of the month Derek and I celebrated nine years of marriage.  It is hard to believe that we've been married for that long!  Derek was in the Cayman Islands on business over our anniversary--trust me that was a hard pill to swallow for me!  He did manage to send me an edible arrangement to celebrate our anniversary. 

Three studs!

Three Months Old! (Wyatt-left & Holden-right)

Catching our Breath..continued

Let's continue our catch up posts with the month of May....

During the month of May, we started to get back in the "groove" and began to get more accustomed to our new "normal."  Although there were still many days (and there still are) when I would wake up and be in disbelief that I was a mother of four children, but it was in the month of May that I started to get out with the kids on my own more and began to learn the tricks in staying home with four kiddos.  The babies continued to grow like weeds and were eating every two hours around the clock.  We kept them on the same schedule, so when one work to eat, we woke the other.  The twins had their 2 month well check visit with Dr. Boe on May 28th. Both  Holden and Wyatt weighed 12 lbs. 4 oz. (70th percentile) and were the exact same length at 23.25 inches (45th percentile). 

 

Wyatt

Holden

My favorite day of the month was Mother's Day. We started the day by taking the whole family to church and then headed to Monical's for lunch which is a family favorite.  It was an awesome Mother's Day spent with my four kiddos.

 

Addy's t-ball season started in May.  She loved playing and had some great hits off the tee during her first game.  After the first few games, they moved from the tee to "coach pitch" and Addy did great hitting a "live" ball.  She loved playing first base and pitcher and made many great friends throughout the season.  She played two games each week and we packed the whole family up for most of the games. 

 

Addy's last day of Pre-K was on May 23rd.  She was excited to be on summer break but was nervous about leaving her Pre-K teachers and about entering Kindergarten in the Fall. 

We continued "Freihaut Birthday Palooza" in the month of May by celebrating mine and Carter's birthdays.   All six of our birthdays fall in the months of March, April, and May which will certainly make for a festive spring in the upcoming years for our family.  I wrote about Carter's birthday in a previous post.  He celebrated becoming 3 with a Toy Story party and a trip to the Field Museum to see the dinosaurs.

 

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Holden relaxing in his rocker

Sleepy babies

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)