Earthquake #2

Ok, so last night at about 2:30 am I was trying to go back to sleep after feeding a baby and another earthquake hit. It seemed a little harder than the one the day before, but this time it woke up Jeff, Ashley, and Taylor. Now I'm getting nervous. In Kansas we always had to worry about tornados during certain times of the year, but the weather man always gave us plenty of notice. With an earthquake there is no notice. So with two periods of feeding babies and pumping milk, Parker getting up with a croopy cough and having to stand outside for a few minutes, and an earthquake which caused my mind to whirl for about an hour, I have to say I'm a bit tired today.

Earthquake

So last night I was upstairs putting clothes away while Jeff was in the basement with the kids. At one point Taylor was on our main floor bouncing a ball that kept hitting the ceiling, so I got after him to stop. Just a few minutes after I told him to stop hitting the ceiling with the ball I felt this huge jolt. It felt like one of my older kids jumped off a dresser or something. I started calling for Taylor, asking what he just did, and then realized he wasn't there. He had gone to the basement as well. It then dawned on me that something other than my kids made the loud shaky noise. It almost felt like a straight line wind hit the house as happened in Kansas once, but when I looked outside the weather was perfect, not even a breeze. I did notice my neighbors though, and found out that they also felt the jolt. Well, that night on the news we found out that we'd had a 2.5 earthquake. Pretty crazy. We might just add earthquake coverage to our home insurance now.

Fun with the babies

The kids really like the babies, and they are always willing to help with them.

Watch Us Grow

So the babies got these really cute playmats from their Grandma Blair before they were even born. The mats are so soft, and the babies really like them. I decided to take a picture of the babies each month on the mats so I can see how they have changed. Of course I didn't get a picture their first few weeks, but I have taken a picture at month 1, 2, and 3. It's so fun to see them get better.

More photos

Emily's Birthday

Emily's birthday falls on New Year's Eve so we always try to do something fun. This year Jeff's parents and Julie came over and we went to Boondocks - a fun game place here. It was especially exciting because they were having a New Years Eve party deal. The kids got the bonus of getting a bunch of noise makers. I was grateful that Jeff's mom was willing to stay with the babies so I could go party. After playing for a few hours, we came back to our house for cake and presents. It was fun.

Christmas Day

Christmas was as exciting as ever. In fact, it was even more exciting because Jeff and I had to juggle trying to maintain some sort of order to the present opening while holding two crying babies. We had to stop and take a break a couple of times so we could get the babies to calm down and sleep. It was a fun morning overall though. In the afternoon, Jeff's family was nice enough to come to our house for dinner so we didn't have to pack up the kids and leave the house. It was fun to have them come for a little while. It was a great day.

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve was as exciting as ever. It's amazing how children almost ooze energy on this night. If someone could bottle that maybe we could solve the energy crisis. Anyway, we were happy to have Karolee join us for Christmas Eve. It's always nice to have someone else around to help these days. We had dinner and then acted out the Christmas story before opening the Christmas Eve presents - the kids get to open two, one that's pjs and other small thing. Anyway, the kids had fun acting out the story. Ethan got to be baby Jesus because Spencer fell asleep. That was the big debate in our family. I guess Spencer will have to be that part next year. Anyway, it was fun to watch the kids so excited. That's what Christmas is about.

Parker's Hair

I love Parker. He is the sweetest little five year old. He's usually willing to share with Carter, and he's always mindful of other's feelings. His hair is another story though. It has never been easy to cut Paker's hair. If I cut it too short then he looks bald up front. If I leave it a little long, then it sticks up in back. Hopefully as he grows it will be easier to control. It does make me smile though.

Happy Birthday Carter!

You'd think that the holidays would be enough excitement during the months of Oct through Dec, but we had to add five birthdays into the mix. Carter's is one of those birthdays. He turned 3 on Dec 20th, and he was so excited about it! As with the other birhdays, he got to celebrate twice - once with each side of the family. He celebrated with the Blairs while we were in Kaysville for the family Christmas parties, and then at our house with the Kollers. For some reason I have no pictures of the Christmas parties or his birthday in Kaysville, so I must have forgotten my camera. I'll have to get some from someone else (hint hint). It was slightly stressful getting ready to go there for the weekend because we had to move all of the oxygen tank stuff for the babies. We'd also never taken them anywhere besides the doctor, so I was nervous. They pretty much just went from our house, to the grandparents house where they stayed in one room away from anyone else. It was either take the babies with the family so the kids could go to the two family parties that weekend, or me stay home with both of them for two days. I couldn't fathom that, so I went with the babies. It turned out to be a great weekend, and it was nice having the extra help with the babies. Anyway, Carter enjoyed his birthday in Kaysville and the next day at our house. He's at that age that he is starting to know the party is for him.

Candy Houses

Right after the girls' dance performance, we went back to the house to make candy houses. Jeff and I figured that since we had the grandparents with us, we might as well enlist their help with this endeavor. It is a tradition for our family to make candy houses every year around Christmas. This year our life had been rather crazy, so I didn't know if we would get to it or not. At the same time, because our life had been crazy due to the babies, I wanted to try and maintain some of our traditions for the older kids. They needed to have some fun things to do too. Well, it turned out to be successful. In Kansas we'd gotten together with our friends the Christensens to do this for at least four or five or our nine years there, and we all missed them this time around. At the same time, it was a lot less chaotic because we had only five kids to make houses for instead of ten, and we had six adults instead of four. One adult had to take care of the twins, but the rest of us were able to man the frosting and kid help rather easily. It was a great day.

The Grinch

Emily and Ashley's dance group put on a performance of Cindy Lou's version of the Grinch. I had my doubts about what it was going to be like, and was missing the Nutcracker that Ashley had been part of in Kansas, but it actually turned out really cute. Both girls were really excited to be in the performance, and we were all excited that the grandparents were actually able to see one of their performances for the first time. I think that was the best part. Anyway, it was fun watching the girls dance. They are taking modern dance this year instead of ballet, and they have both really taken to it. They did a great job in their performance. It was also nice to get out of the house. Someone in our ward volunteered to take care of the babies so all of the adults in our family could go to the show.

Holiday Fun

One Saturday I was able to get out with the kids for a little while. We went with my parents to the BYU holiday party. My parents were invited, so we tagged a long. It was fun going to the party because I used to go to it when I was a kid. Not a lot has changed miraculously. Why change a good thing. The kids got to do a craft, play some games, and watch various different dance and singing groups perform. They even got donuts and cider (the same refreshment they had when I was a kid). We didn't wait to stand in line and see Santa, but we ran into him on our way out so I got my picture. :)

Blood Transfusion

A week after Thanksgiving the twins went to the doctor to get their first RSV vaccine. While there I told the doctor that I thought Spencer looked too pale. Well, he did a blood test and it came back with his iron level being too low. The doctor then sent us to the hospital for a more exact blood test to see if he was truly anemic. Well, that test showed that his levels were even lower than they thought. His hematocrit level was 19, and that is low even for a premie. So, back to the hospital we went. This time we had to go to Utah Valley Regional Medical Center in Provo. It is closer than Primary Childrens, but it is still 30 minutes away. Luckily this time it was just an over night stay. I thought it was funny that our one month old had already spent time in three different hospitals. Anyway, I didn't get to the hospital that night until midnight because Jeff and I had already planned on going to The Forgotten Carols in Orem. I thought for sure we'd be done earlier, but we weren't. Luckily we'd already been admitted earlier. The hospitalist probably just thought we were crazy. Jeff ended up staying home with the other kids while my parents went with me to the hospital. They had been watching our kids while we went out. I felt bad that they had to stay up so late, but I was grateful to have them there. It was nice having someone else to walk the halls with at 3 am while the nurses tried over and over to get the IV into Spencer. If I had stayed in the room I probably would have hit them. It's just the mother instinct. I'm glad my parents made me leave for a few minutes. The blood transfusion went well, and Spencer looked 100 % better the next day. After the transfusion his crit level was 32 which was what the doctors had hoped for. He still has to take iron, but he's much better.

Thanksgiving pictures

Turkey Time

Thanksgiving was a fun day for our family. We had it at our house because he couldn't take our oxygen dependent babies anywhere else for very long. The small tanks only last a few hours. It was especially neat for us this year because there have only been a couple times in the last nine years that we were able to spend Thanksgiving with family. We always had friends over, or went to a friend's house, so we always had a nice day, but we felt doubly blessed to have both of our families over for the day. I think both sides of the family had fun too. Anyway, both sets of parents came, along with my sister Karolee, and Jeff's siblings, Lindsay, Julie, Rand and his wife Suzanne. Cayden and Cole were there too, which was a big plus for my kids. They love having cousins around. I believe we had 11 adults and 11 kids. The best part was we didn't feel too crowded. We like having more room in our house here. Anyway, it was a day that we had much to be thankful for, especially for having our two babies home and relatively healthy.

Lots of time at home

With two premies at home, we have not gone very many places. They pretty much just go to the doctor. In fact, the babies have still not gone to church and they are three months old. Jeff and I take turns going to church, so it's not like we have gone inactive all together. Anyway, much to Jeff's dismay, there has not been a lot of playing in the snowy mountains as he had always dreamed about. I keep telling him that he got a lot of that last year when we were in Kansas and he was here working and snow-shoeing with his dad. Anyway, there will be other years. Right now, caring for the babies is the most important thing. Jeff has not just sat idle though. Being stuck in the house has allowed us to start doing some of those projects we've been wanting to do, and unpacking the stuff that we don't need (we haven't seen it for almost a year). One of the projects that has gotten done (yeah!) are the garage shelves. Now we can store all of the stuff we don't need. :)

November

It was so nice having both babies home because we no longer had to drive back and forth to different hospitals. We started getting less sleep, but at least we had the babies with us. Having twins is a lot more complicated than having one baby. First of all, nursing is tricky all together. It's hard to make sure both babies will have enough to eat at the time they are hungry. Luckily we had a lot of extra milk stored up from when Spencer was in the hospital since he couldn't really eat for two and a half weeks. Unfortunately, the supply was not endless as it seemed at first, and now we have only a few bottles we are guarding for emergencies. I have had to figure out how to nurse Ethan and pump out a bottle for Spencer. Spencer is now getting better at nursing, but at first he had to have bottles because we had to add formula to the pumped milk to give him extra calories. These extra calories are supposed to help him grow faster, and he does seem to be growing. Anyway, so far it is still working, but there are days when we barely seem to have enough to feed the growing boys. Along with feeding, there is the night thing. Jeff has been really good about getting up with the babies at night. I couldn't do it without him. We both take one baby each night to feed. It's kind of funny because when one baby starts crying, we both lay there hoping it isn't the one we are in charge of. Poor Jeff was really tired the first couple of weeks. I was tired too, but I've been through it before with other babies, and this was the first time he's had to get up at night. He seems to have adjusted pretty well to it now. He's a trooper. Besides feedings, there are also diapers to change, and babies to comfort. At first it seemed like there was never a point in the day when both babies were quietly sleeping. Someone was always fussing. It's getting better as they grow, but poor Parker and Carter have had to watch a lot of TV lately. They don't seem to mind though, and I actually think they are learning something. Hooray for PBS! Anyway, we are adjusting and loving the boys. The kids are especially enjoying having two babies. There is always someone to hold whether they like it or not. Most of the time the older kids enjoy helping with and feeding the babies. Parker has even gotten good at giving Spencer a bottle. I am so lucky to have such great kids. They really are wonderful.