They're here!

They're here!  Okay, they got here about a week ago.  I know it has taken me awhile to update about our sweet girls, but we have just been settling into home and getting to know our new family of 5.  I'll write about their birth story soon, and about all that has taken place since their birth.  Until I get a chance to do that, here are the basics.

Our sweet daughters were born Thursday, January 21st.  Alison arrived first at 3:19 pm, and Samantha quickly followed at 3:23 pm.  Ali was 5 pounds 11 ounces and 19 inches long.  Sam was 5 pounds 12 ounces and 19 inches long.  All signs point to them being identical.  (I know, we have gone back and forth on this for a while.  Trust me when I say sometimes it is not as clear as it should be if twins are identical or fraternal.)  They do look almost exactly alike.  As we get to know them we are getting better at noting the differences, but I still write down what they are wearing anytime I change their clothes.

They have been as sweet as can be.  They are eating well and sleeping as well as any new baby can be expected to.  Ben is adjusting pretty well to life with sisters.  It's hard for him, but he isn't really acting out.  Pat and I are trying to shower him with love and attention as much as possible.  I think he'll come around to his new role amazingly well.

And finally, the most important thing right now- Pictures!!

I haven't posted a lot of belly shots.  I'm not entirely sure how much people want to see that (or more accurately how much I want people to see that.)  But I wanted to note how big my belly was at the end.  This is from the morning the girls were born.

Later that afternoon, the girls were here!  This is my first picture with my sweet daughters.  And no, I am already not sure who is on which side.  Whoops, sorry girls.  Identical twin problems start early, huh. ;)  (Note, this is only like 2 hours after birth, so ignore the fact it looks like they left a third sister in there.)

 And the proud father!!  Pat and his daughters.  I think he is already trying to figure out how to keep them from dating.  Ever.  :)

 Our first picture as a family of five.  Ben was able to come meet the girls shortly after they were born.  He loved running around the room and trying to push buttons, but he wasn't too sure about the new babies yet.  We haven't pushed him.  He also wasn't too keen on holding still for pictures, but this is better than nothing, and an accurate portrayal of what was going on.  I'm sure we have plenty of pictures to come of our whole family, but not a single kid actually looking at the camera. :)

So there we are!  Team Cartwright is now a family of 5!!  I kind of still can't believe it.  Yes, I know I was pregnant for long enough to come around to adding to the family.  And yes, I know we've known it was twins for a long time too.  But I look at my girls and I can't believe these two amazing little people were all squished in my belly.  I know it is cliche, but it really is a miracle.  I feel so blessed when I look at all three of my miracles.  Life just got crazier.  Pat and I are officially outnumbered.  But I also know it just got so much better.  I love all my babies so much.  We are so blessed.

Thank you to all our friends and family for the love and support throughout the pregnancy.  And thank you to everyone for all the outpouring of love for all three of our little ones this past week.  We love you and appreciate you all.

-Kim

Baby Watch: 2016

Twin update!  Okay, there is really nothing to update.  They aren't here yet.  We are in the 36th week.  I know for a single baby that means plenty of time before we should start to be on baby watch.  But with twins, well, it's on.  We are in the any time now stage.  It is exciting of course, but also frustrating.  With Ben of course I was excited to meet him, and in general looking to get things going.  I never was good at being patient.  But I could relax a bit knowing he was fine, first time moms often go late, he had until 42 weeks before we really had to worry, etc.  With the girls it is a little different.  We are on a bit stricter of a deadline.  I know I said in the last update we were hoping for 37 weeks.  That has been up for a bit of debate between my doctors and myself, but needless to say we are focused on what is best for the girls.  That being said, I am hoping to avoid induction.  Not judging or anything I just think it is easier on my body if things happen naturally.  Of course I might not get that choice, the girls' health comes first.

So while we are on baby watch 2016:

source

Yes, this is more for me than anyone else.  I have never been good at waiting for things when I have decided it is time for them to happen.  I don't like when things are out of my control and I have to just let them proceed as they will.  But that is all you can do in these final days of a pregnancy.  I suppose it is good for me to get back to a go with the flow attitude.  Two newborns are going to be making a lot of decisions for me soon. ;)

Fortunately things are ready to go at home.  Yes, day to day living means there is always more to clean up, more laundry to do, and so on.  But overall we are ready to drop everything and go have some babies!  I have still been using this time to hang out with Ben and enjoy our one on one time.  Pat had yesterday off for MLK day.  I was happy to have another family day to relax just the three of us.  Ben has been his usual busy delightful self.  One reassuring thing to me is knowing just how much fun he is going to have with Meo and Omi while Pat and I are at the hospital with the girls.  It is going to be a very special time for him.

While we wait, Ben has been keeping us highly entertained, just by being him.  Here are some silly pictures of him over the past week or so.

I just love this little guy so much!  I am so excited for our growing family.  I can't wait to see Ben shine as a big brother!

-Kim

BFBN Day

Today is a BFBN blog switch day!  I sadly had to opt out of this one.  The girls are coming soon and there is plenty to be done still!  But we have a new blogger joining the group, so yay for that!  Check out all the ladies in the BFBN to get some great hints and tips!

Elaine - Faithfully Infertile
Emily - The Journey of Parenthood
Katrina: Mama's Organized Chaos
Kimberly - Team Cartwright
Shea - The Moses Home
Stephanie - Giving it Grace
Val - Chronicles of a Babywise Mom

-Kim

Twin Update: 35 Weeks

Well, it is getting closer to twin time!  I am 35 weeks along, which is awesome.  At this point the girls are spending their time just trying to grow and gain weight!  I am all for that.  I want them to be as big and healthy as possible when they are born.

We are hoping the girls will stay put about another two weeks.  That should bring us to 37 weeks, which for twins is considered full term.  I am pretty happy that they have stayed in for as long as they have though.  While it would be considered preterm, they could arrive at any time.  (No, this is not permission to constantly ask us if the babies are here yet.)

I am currently at the stage where I go to the doctor every week to check on the girls.  I know, with all the other appointments this really isn't that different.  At the last growth check Baby A was 4 lbs 5 oz, and Baby B was 4 lbs 11 oz.  I know that these scans can be off, but according to that those sizes the girls are both at about the 50th percentile for single babies.  No wonder I've been feeling so huge!  That was about 2 weeks ago, so I am hoping they are even bigger now.  (And it sure feels like they are.  Although that could have something to do with my moving to the Ben and Jerrys portion of the pregnancy.)  Every week I meet with my doctor and have a non stress test (NST).  So far the girls have been nailing the NST.  No problems there at all.  I am very happy about that, and I am very happy that my biggest complaint is that those tests are boring.  You just kind of lay there and push a button when the babies move while they monitor the heart rates.  One thing is that I can't bring Ben with me.  I do have to hold still and the room the test is in is full of buttons.  Important buttons that two year olds should not be touching, but would want to touch.  Fortunately Meo and Omi have been awesome about watching Ben while I got get these done.  I am trying to enjoy the quiet time and think of it as something relaxing to do.  But really, it's just boring.  Oh well, it's still an easy thing to do to make sure the girls are healthy.  We have one more ultrasound scheduled, but just a fluid check to make sure they are doing okay.  The next time we get a size on them should be when they are actually here!

I think I am just about ready for the girls to arrive.  The kids' room is basically ready to go.  We have a couple more pictures to hang up, but really that is more for me.  I really don't think the girls will care what order the pictures are in.  But for some reason wondering if Winnie the Pooh should be in the middle, or perhaps Tigger because he is so fun, is a thought provoking question.  The pack and play is up in our room.  Our room has like no space to move around in, and Dagger thinks we put the pack and play in as a new bed for her.  But that's okay.  With Ben she never tried to jump in while he was in there, so I imagine it will be the same with the girls.  Of course once they are mobile we may have to give it to Dagger so she can have an escape. ;)  The rest of the house needs some picking up, that is for sure.  It is still toy city.  Honestly it will be for the foreseeable future, so no need to change that.  The basement is a huge staging area right now, with bouncers and boxes of diapers in the ready.  Oh, and more toys, because of course we need more of those. ;)  We've done a big Sams Club run, hit up Target for last minute items, and worked on the hand off plan to get Ben to Meo and Omi.  The girls' bag is packed, Ben's clothes and diapers are with Meo and Omi, and my bag is mainly packed.  (Only one bag left, cough cough... Pat, pack your bag... cough cough)

We are basically in the wait around period.  To me this is one of the more annoying stages of pregnancy.  On the one hand I am mentally ready to get this show on the road.  But on the other I want the girls to have their maximum time developing.  So wait it is.  Fortunately I do have things to keep myself occupied.  There is always cleaning and organizing to do.  I mean, we already have a toddler, there is always a mess somewhere that needs cleaning up.  I am also trying to spend as much time as possible just hanging out with Ben.  We play, watch the shows he likes, and just enjoy each other.  I fully plan to spend as much one on one time with him as possible even with the girls, but I know I will be super busy with just the basics of taking care of his sisters for a time.  I am going to miss this time in our lives when Ben is our only child.  I know every second time mom goes through this, and I know Ben won't even remember a time when he didn't have his sisters.  But I will, and I will always treasure these special times with my sweet boy.

I think that pretty much sums up where we are with the girls.  They are doing great.  I feel so blessed to have had such a smooth pregnancy, especially with twins.  I am very fortunate that I still feel pretty good.  Oh yes, I am quite big and frankly very slow at everything.  I get tired easily, but nothing that isn't normal for this stage of pregnancy.  A few things are different compared to this point with Ben.  Mainly though it is that I am so much bigger and more full of baby.  With just one baby in there, I could kind of coax Ben to one side.  There was some give to balance things against myself (like a laundry basket), and I could kind of bend a bit.  Now?  No way.  This belly is solid and those girls are not going anywhere.  Having a toddler and being this pregnant has its challenges.  I feel bad I can't jump up and down off the floor to play with him.  Ben doesn't seem to mind it takes Mommy a moment to get herself down with him, and it takes a moment or two to get back up again.  (Pat of course has found this part of the pregnancy to be quite humorous.)  While I know I will miss feeling the girls move around inside me, I am very much looking forward to being able to move more freely again.  Poor Ben can't sit on my lap very much anymore.  If I move at all my belly pushes him off!  I do enjoy being pregnant, and I am a little sad as this is the last time we plan to do this.  But I am ready to be back to myself a bit more.

We are still hoping for a few more weeks before the girls are born.  Blogging will slow down a bit when they first get here, but I will try to put up pictures of our sweet girls and fabulous boy.  I can't wait to have them meet each other.  By the end of January I think we will be a family of five.  I am so excited!


-Kim

Yes, another box post

Sweet, wonderful, dear Aunt Lindsay was kind enough to send us some diapers.  I was pumped.  (Yes, these are the things I get excited about.)  What the other members of my family were more excited about were what the diapers arrived in.  You guessed it, a box.   This one was huge.  Despite it being late and Ben needing to go to bed, Pat and Ben went right for play time in the box.

This was my first sight of the two of them.

Oh, hi Mommy!

Always a good idea to wrestle in the box.

Besties!

After we finally put the box away and Ben went to bed, one last little one had to check it out.

You just can't keep a kitty out of a box.

I have not yet gone in the box.  I have to admit I do see the appeal of a fort, and once heaving myself up and down from the floor isn't such an ordeal I will be back in the action again.  Until then these crazy kids get to have all the fun.

-Kim

Holiday Recap

I know, I've been a posting slacker lately.  I'll just assume everyone knows the normal excuses around this time of year, so I will move on from them.  A big thing we have been doing is getting ready for the girls, and enjoying these last few weeks as a family of three!

Ben had an awesome Christmas.  Of course he had a great time at first Christmas with Gramma and Grampa.  You can read about that here.  We had a blast on the actual Christmas day as well.  We started the night before, by attending church on Christmas Eve.  With Ben we go to the kid's service.  This is in part because, of course, we have a child.  It is also because it is the earliest service.  This year it was pretty good!  It was mainly singing interspersed with Bible passages.  Ben loved the singing.  He actually tried to sing along with us!  Plus at this service they have a cake to sing happy birthday to Jesus, which I think is just so cute.  It can be hard to get kids excited about the reason for Christmas.  Santa has some good PR going.  But I have found a lot of kids understand birthdays just fine, and knowing it is Jesus's birthday helps draw some attention back to him.  Ben was pretty good for the service!  I was a little amused, as most of the kids there were a little older than Ben, or a bit younger.  And they all sat nicely in the pews.  Ben was quiet and well behaved, but sitting was not on his agenda.  He was up, he was down.  He was standing on the pew to look around.  He was sitting on my lap, Meo's lap, my lap, held by Daddy.  He was still quite busy.

After dinner we headed back to Meo and Omi's house.  After a nice dinner and some fun watching Christmas Mickey movies, we wrote a letter to Santa and put Ben to bed.  He did sit there while we wrote the letter.  Obviously Pat and I wrote most of it, since Ben is new to the Santa game.  A few years ago, before Ben was born, Pat and I helped Charlotte write the letter to Santa.  I was writing and began of course, Dear Santa.  I asked Charlotte what she wanted to write and she yelled out "Cookies!"  Well I started the letter this year and asked Ben what he wanted to say.  What did he yell out?  Yep- Cookies!  So apparently this is how we start Santa letters in our family. :)  Uncle Jared wasn't able to make it  home until after Ben went to bed, but it was great he made it!

Christmas Day we woke up and jumped into presents.  Ben had fun handing out presents and helping people open them.  He got a little frustrated that he was able to open up toys, but not play with them.  He did pretty well though!  Everyone was very generous with Ben, and he got some wonderful gifts.  After presents, we cleaned up and got ready for the rest of the day.  Aunt Chrissy, Uncle Wayne, and Cousin Kyle came to visit for the day!  Really we just spent the day eating good food and enjoying each other's company.  Ben had fun running around and playing with his new toys.

The next day Chrissy, Wayne, and Kyle left to go visit other family they had in the area.  Pat, Meo, Omi, and Uncle Jared went and saw the new Star Wars movie.  As Ben and I had no interest in seeing that movie, we took a much appreciated nap. :)  I counted it as a win.

New Years Eve I have to saw we did not do anything too exciting.  We let Ben stay up a little later, but again as he really doesn't know what the night is about we didn't keep him up too late.  Pat managed to stay up until midnight.  I fell asleep on the couch for a bit, but I was up at midnight to ring in the new year with Pat.  Yes, a quiet little celebration.  But when you have a toddler and are super pregnant with twins, well, it was just what I wanted to be doing.

New Years Day we have a tradition of just hanging out at home with our little family.  We eat yummy food (basically finishing off the junk food from the holidays), wear jammies, and watch movies.  I know, right now that is what we do a lot of weekends.  But when Pat and I had kids we know that holidays would get busy quick.  We spend a lot of them traveling to see family.  And as the kids get older I know they are going to want to go out with their friends and not spend New Years with their parents.  But nothing really big happens on New Years Day.  Pat and I decided that would be our day to hunker down and enjoy some holiday family time with just our nuclear family.

Overall, it was a nice holiday season.  We had a lot of fun with the family we got to see.  Of course we missed the family we didn't get to see.  We had great food, and got to relax.  And happily the girls did not decide to try to show up too early to see 2015.  :)

I hope everyone had a great holiday season too.  I feel we are recharged and ready to get going with 2016.  Lots of excitement is headed our way, and I can't wait for all the good things this new year will bring!

Happy Holidays from our family to yours!

-Kim