It's hot outside!

14-1/2 weeks.

Kohlden - still heavier than Madelyn, although she finished her milk a lot better than he did this week.

Tangie's turn as Allen is working late tonight.

It's been hot and after very little rain from tropical storm Bonnie on Friday, we've had pretty much no substantial rain at the house. Seems to hit everywhere else in Orlando except us. The grass is dying. The temperatures read about 100 degrees in the car. Very hot and muggy. Welcome to summer in Florida.

Friday afternoon we were shocked to find Lala at the house when we returned home from work....without Lolo. She drove herself through the rainstorm!!! We are so proud of her as she hasn't ventured driving to Orlando EVER. She couldn't miss seeing the babies and didn't want to wait until Saturday when Lolo wanted to come as she had planned all week to come on Friday. Way to go!

Saturday night we had the Grodacks over for fondue. It was fun to see the girls try to dip some stuff in the cheese and chocolate, although I think the adults liked the chocolate even more than they did! Then the girls got to go swimming.

Sunday Allen had to go to work. Nana took Braelyn shopping and Deeda watched the babies while I did some home chores. Then after naptime for Brae, which she went down without any fight, was some more pool time.

Braelyn had swimming class every day this week and is progressing well. Channel 6 had a special feature on the news this week regarding the importance of child swim lessons and Braelyn's teacher was in the background. That was neat to see.

Nana took Braelyn to/from school. They were learning about community helpers and were visited by a fireman, policeman, and mailman. She enjoyed getting to see the firetruck and getting a firehat.

We dug out of the archives the 2007 Lake Powell trip video when Braelyn was 3 months old to compare her to the twins. You can definitely tell they are siblings. She was actually chubbier than Kohlden is. She seemed bigger (as did mommy. I guess I didn't keep the weight on as much this time. hurray! still a ways to go though). She was really a mixture of Kohlden and Madelyn. She's the second picture here.

The twins are starting to respond even better with some smiles and are more focused on what their hands are doing. Thanks Deeda for talking to them all day! Its still taking me quite a while to get out of the house in the morning. I can't get up as early as I used to go to work since I really haven't had a lot of sleep at that point. Can't seem to get out of the house before 9a. We've been getting them down between 7-8p and letting them sleep til they wake up, which has been anywhere between 12:30 and 2:15a. We feed them and then they've been sleeping until 6ish, but one day Kohlden woke up at 4a. Another morning I was feeding Kohlden and he was getting a little uncomfortable so I raise him to burp. I guess he hadn't fully digested his previous meal because about a gazillion ounces came pouring out all over me and the bed. Glad Allen wasn't there sleeping, cause he would have had a very rude awakening. So much for sleeping in that morning. Both babies got early baths! Might as well bathe both if you have to do one.

Have a good weekend!

Back to work…for all of us

13-1/2 weeks

Kohlden – 12lbs-7oz
Madelyn – 11lbs–6oz

It was a full week and a full house with Deeda, Nana, and Uncle Jay here. With the help of Deeda, the twins are being more active in smiling, cooing, and being more content during the day.

. Friday night we joined the Mahavirs x 3 and the Ottatis for a nice BBQ dinner. We enjoyed everyone’s company. Devi got a chance to see if she could calm two babies at once....not so easy is it. :)

This weekend we took the kids to a family festival at Loch Haven Park. We had attended it last year and had lots of fun, so we made sure to go again this year. It was very hot, but Braelyn enjoyed making the crafts while the twins enjoyed a little outdoor air. It was also our very first outing as a family in our new van, so I guess we’re officially a minivan family now. Afterwards we were treated to lunch at some family friends, the Becker’s, who knew the Campbell/Loomis family from when they lived in Denver. In the evening, Lolo and Lala came up to swap cars with us. They had our Infiniti for a couple weeks while we were playing car swap with them and Uncle Mike while he was staying with us. Auntie Esther also brought along a cache of formula, for the nighttime feedings. Thank you!

Sunday we, excluding Allen, took the van and ventured to New Smyrna beach. Boy was it crowded. We eventually found a place to park. It’s been awhile since I’ve been to the beach, so my list in my head of things to bring was a little foggy. Next time we need a lot more towels and some chairs. Luckily we did have our umbrella, although with an expanded family, one is not enough anymore. I was so concerned that the kids were covered up from the sun that I didn’t get sunscreen all over me….and have been suffering all week after trying to build a sand castle with Braelyn having my back towards the sun.

Monday we had to say goodbye to Uncle Jay. But also we said hello to swimming lessons for Braelyn. 10 minutes a day for 4 weeks. She was excited before she got in the pool the first day, but as soon as the teacher had her put her head under water, she was crying for mommy. The teacher took her to a different wall where she couldn’t see us and told her she could go back to the other wall to see mommy if she stopped crying. After that, smooth sailing. She was very excited about the lollypop at the end. Since the first day, she has not cried, and is enjoying herself a lot! She can swim with her head underwater for about 4+ feet, can float on her back for approx 7 seconds, and is progressing. Today, while waiting for her lesson, Allen was making small talk with her and mentioned that her little sister Maddy said hi, to which Brae responded without missing a beat, “she can talk now?”

Allen starting Sunday and starting Monday for Tangie, we went back to work as did Deeda and Nana taking care of the twins and then taking Brae to her swimming lessons. I think all the kids thoroughly enjoyed themselves. It’s been hard to try to get to work in the mornings with little sleep the night before. Madelyn, poor thing, also had a fever one night which made us get even less sleep. She’s doing better now but both of them were a little congested. We are not looking forward to those sick days.

They are both responding to smiles and facial expressions now. We are starting to remember this stage when Braelyn was their age. Just the eye contact and recognition makes up for any communication we were missing the past 13 weeks. Allen was finally able to make both of them smile at the same time!

Weeks are flying by. FLYING. Thank goodness they finally got a cap on the leaky oil well. And we’re only to the “B’s” in this year’s named storms?!?! We’re grateful for the rain to accompany Tropical Storm Bonnie.

3 months down. Have a great weekend everyone!

Houseguest Rotation

12-1/2 weeks

Kohlden – 1-1/2 lbs heavier than Madelyn

They are both moving their hands a lot this week. They keep pushing the passies and bottles out of their mouths. But, they kept accidentally hitting the bouncer rattles, which kept Maddy entertained for quite awhile.

This is the only way we can get our little munchkins to sleep for more than 10 minutes at a time. Burritos it is.

And, when they are almost awake in the morning, they get to move to the big bed. Maddy was especially enjoying it. But it looks like Braelyn needs a bigger bed since she seems to be falling out of hers.

Braelyn decided that the twins wanted to watch Dora with her….it worked for a little while. Kohlden is hooked.
We said goodbye to Uncle Mike this week as he moved all of his stuff in a road trip to Cali. We are glad he made it safely. We will miss having him stay with us but excited he is moving on to a new chapter in his life. See you in October!!!

Another road trip occurred…in the opposite direction. Uncle Jay drove our new minivan from Colorado to us in Florida, arriving the same time on Tuesday that Nana and Deeda flew in. The Town & Country is very nice, with lots of bells and whistles to enjoy. Braelyn is stoked to have not one but two tv's to watch, as she already is pushing buttons and exploring the minivan. It was hilarious turning on the car and the wipers were on, and the air was on high heat. Allen's favorite feature is the remote start, so we can get the air conditioning going before loading up. It will definitely serve us nicely!

We now have a full house again. Allen worked a full week. I went back to work on Wednesday. My oh my is it hard to focus the brain again! It is still sleep deprived and probably lost a few cylinders. Processing time has been significantly delayed. It will come back…eventually. I’m glad my co-workers are understanding of the blank stares I’ve been giving them occasionally.

We are happy we have some additional hands to hold the babies as well as have fun with Braelyn. Too bad they don’t do night duty too. : ) More pictures to come next week.

Kohlden was trying to sneak into my purse so I could take him to work with me. Sorry Buddy. I think you'll enjoy spending time with your grandmas much more!!