Swimming, getting bigger, and the 4th of July!

Just some new pictures of all the kiddos!

Look how big the babies are getting! Sitting up! "Army crawling" (McCall's new trick)! Babbling (Hadden has started babbling "dada" and "yaya")!


Jackson, his popsicle, and his army man swimming!


Hadden thinks Jackson is SO funny!


McCall loves splashing in the water!

Happy Birthday, America!!!!

I'll have more great pictures of July 4th soon! My wonderful friend, Jennifer, is a professional photographer (www.jennifergraysonphotography.com) and she took some great pictures of the kids at the 4th of July BBQ at her parents' house! Cant wait to see them all and post them here!

6 month stats

I took the babies for their 6 month appointment today (they're actually 6 1/2 months old today so we're a couple of weeks late getting in for the appointment!). Here are their stats:

Hadden:

20lbs 12oz (90th+ %)
27 inches (50th %)

McCall:

15lbs (just above 25th %)
26 3/4 inches (about 75th %)

I couldnt believe that they were basically the same length! McCall is going to be a skinny, tall girl! And Hadden is medium height and chunky right now!

Dr. Shelley asked me how much/often they're eating (formula) and he said that they're actually drinking more formula than most kids their age. I feed them formula first and then baby food, but I think I might try a little less formula and a little more baby food. They also love munching on their baby mum-mum crackers and like the puffs (but they cant pick the puffs up yet, so I have to put them in their mouths!). I've been guilty of breaking off small pieces of bread or whatever I'm eating and giving them some, but both of them have the chewing motion down pat, so I figure it's just practice for them!

They'll go back to the doctor in September for their 9 month appointment--no vaccines at that one, so no shots!

Jackson continues to be a great big brother! He loves his little brother and sister so much!

We've finally made some headway with Jackson being potty-trained. He's by no means there yet, because he still has tee-tee accidents in his pullups (the only reason he's using pullups at all is because I dont have enough regular underwear to last but a couple of days before being washed!), but he always poops in the potty. I havent changed a poopy diaper (of his, anyway) in days and days! It's so wonderful! We're just going to keep practicing with tee-teeing and hopefully the accidents he has in his pullups will wear off! The other night he actually woke Brian up around 3am because he had to go to the potty, so that's definitely a good start!

My kids are all growing up so fast! I just cant believe it!!!

Wedding bells

This past weekend we traveled to Columbia, SC for my friend, Freddy, and his fiance, Morgan's. wedding! I've known Freddy since high school! It was the babies' first trip out of town, and they did really well! They slept in Pack-n-plays that the hotel provided. We all went--all 5 of us, my parents, and my brother (who was the best man).

Unfortunately, the first day we were there, Jackson got sick. And he stayed sick the entire time we were in Columbia. In fact, we had to take him to the ER last night for a super-high fever (105 degrees). Turns out he has a double ear infection, so we have antibiotics and hopefully he;ll start feeling better soon!

Here are some pictures from our weekend in Columbia:


Jackson in the fire truck at the EdVenture Museum


Hadden


A rare picture of me, holding the twins! Of course, neither of them are looking at the camera!

Jackson at the museum

Hadden and Grandma at the wedding reception

McCall and Grandma at the reception

McCall with Daddy at the hotel (eating one of Jackson's Star Wars toys!)

Me with the bride and groom!!!

The fam at the reception (poor Jackson was sick)

I dont know how all of the pictures always get so out of order from the way I want them posted! But, there they are anyway!

Just an update...

I took McCall to the doctor yesterday because she had gotten a little congested and had a weird redness on her right cheek. I didnt really think it was anything big, but wanted to get her checked out because we were heading into a holiday weekend and the doc wouldnt be there Monday.

So, everything is fine. The congestion is very slight and she's not on any medication for it--just some saline nose drops if we want to, but I havent done it. The redness on her cheek is just some sort of skin irritation--possibly caused by the way she sleeps (and slobbers!) on it or even possibly from teething. All-in-all, a good report!

Of course, the nurse at the pediatrician's office weighed her before the doctor saw her, and I had Hadden with me and wanted him weighed, as well.

The babies are 5 months and 5 days old and their weights are:

McCall: 14lbs 4oz

Hadden: 20lbs

Hard to believe that Hadden is already at 20 pounds! I looked in Jackson's baby book to compare weights, and at 5 months old Hadden weighs more than Jackson did at 6 months old. I think we have a football player on our hands!!! He has almost outgrown the infant car seat that we have for the babies--the weight limit on it is 22 pounds, so we'll have to start looking for a convertible car seat soon! He is definitely very heavy to carry around in the infant seat already. And McCall isnt much lighter!

I started the babies on baby food and they love it! So far they've had sweet potatoes, carrots, and squash. They've also had some applesauce and some rice cereal with apples and cinnamon. I'm going to start the green veggies next, then on to more fruit!

They have also started sleeping much better (I hope I'm not jinxing myself!). They still wake up and fuss a couple of times a night, but I feed them and put them to bed around 9:45 pm and they dont eat again until around 5 or 5:30am. And this morning they slept until 6:30am! We'll see if it becomes a trend and if I need to readjust the schedule I have them on right now.

We'll be taking our first out-of-town trip next month. We're going to Columbia, SC to my friend, Freddy's wedding. I'm hoping that everything goes well and that the babies adjust well to not being at home!

Jackson is just the sweetest big brother I have ever seen! Surprisingly, he gravitates to McCall more than he does Hadden! I call Jackson and McCall the "dynamic duo" and I know we're going to have to watch out for those two in the years to come! Of course, he just loves Hadden to death, but he always wants McCall to sit next to him in the car, and he goes to her crib first in the morning, and he plays with her first. He loves his little sister (and his little brother, too!).

I've been trying and trying to potty-train Jackson, but to no avail. He just literally refuses to go to the potty! I know that pushing him to do it will just make it harder, so I'm just going to keep trying to encourage him to do it! I need to get some more bribery tools!

4 month well check-up stats...

The babies had their 4 month check-up today and the great mystery of how much weight that had gained was solved!

Of course, I knew they had gained weight and grown a ton over the past 2 months, but Hadden was the biggest mystery to me. McCall is just a petite little princess--always has been and always will be. But Hadden has bulked up to unbelievable proportions since his meager 5 lbs 5 oz at birth.

Because they were premature, their pediatrician follows them on 2 different growth charts--one growth chart for their age by when they were born (so, for a 4 month old) and one growth chart by their due date (which was January 17th, so for a 3 month old). Up to now, they were barely on the growth chart for their actual age--they were so small that they were only on the charts for babies a month younger than they are. But today that all changed! They caught up with babies their same age and are now on the "regular baby" chart!

So, here it goes...the stats:

McCall (birthweight of 3lbs 13oz): 12 lbs 8 oz (25th percentile)
24 1/4 inches

Hadden (birthweight of 5lbs 5oz): 17lbs 2 oz (90th percentile!!!!)
25 inches

You can do the math--since their birth 4 months ago, McCall has gained almost 9 pounds and Hadden has gained almost 12 pounds! Both of them have grown just about 7 inches in length! Hadden is actually bigger than Jackson was at this same age--amazing!

We have a busy month ahead...we have something to do every weekend in May, wrapping up the month with the babies' baptism on May 30th! We're looking forward to it all!

Birth Announcement and birthday party!!!

Yes, the twins are 4-months old now, but I have just finally gotten around to having their birth announcements printed up and put in the mail! Hey--I've been busy! :)

My wonderful friend, Jennifer Grayson (http://www.jennifergraysonphotography.com/) is a professional photographer and came to our house when the twins were about 6 weeks old and took some amazing pictures. And then she lovingly put together a beautiful birth announcement for me to print up and mail out. Thank you so much, Jennifer--you are awesome!!!

Photos courtesy of Jennifer Grayson Photography

So, onto the big birthday celebration:

Jackson turned 3 on April 3rd and we had a Pirates of the Caribbean birthday party for him this year. He loves Pirates (among other things), so we decorated the house and had some fun things set up in the backyard for the kids. But, of course, it rained that day so we were forced to move everything into the house! Jackson got some wonderful toys and had a great time playing with all of his friends. In true "Nancy fashion," all of the pictures I took are still on my camera and havent made their way onto the computer yet, but maybe I'll eventually get around to posting some!

Jackson also had his 3 year well-checkup with the pediatrician. He didnt need any shots, but did have his finger pricked--you would have thought that they tried to amputate his finger with the way he acted! He had a bright orange bandaid on his finger and all day long he refused to use his hand because he had it on and was "injured!" So funny!

His 3-year stats are:

Height: 37 inches
Weight: 32 1/2 pounds

He's right around the 50th percentile in both areas, so he's plugging along nicely! I'm just hoping that he can get closer to 40 inches tall before we go to Disney World in September so that he can ride some new rides that have a height requirement (we just might have to buy some platform shoes!) :)

The babies are going in for their 4-month well-checkup this week, so I'll update again on their stats. Hadden is huge and McCall is still a petite little girl, so I cant wait to see how much they weigh now!

Because I've been bad with posting pictures, here are a TON from way back...

Brian, Jackson, and McCall


Christmas Day before we went to the hospital



Family picture on Christmas Day in the hospital

The babies' names on the baby board from the hospital on Christmas Day. They posted their first names--we've cursed the babies by calling them by their middle names!

The day after Christmas--finally going home!

The car ride home--December 26, 2008

Hadden

McCall

Sweet, tiny babies

All 3 of my angels (McCall was not so happy about having her picture taken). I cant remember the date that this was taken...sometime in mid-January 2009.

McCall with soapy hair in the tub. March 3, 2009

McCall sleeping in her crib--do you think she's comfy!? March 4, 2009

Soapy Hadden--March 3, 2009