6 Months Old

It seems like it was just yesterday that Bill and I found out we were expecting. I was just thinking back to the day that I found out I was carrying twins. I knew that it was a possibility and honestly I had a deep down feeling the day that I took the home pregnancy test that it was twins.

Nothing prepared me for what was to come. I was relived that our long journey to parenthood and all of the fertility treatments were over. What I didn't realize was that all the new worries of a high risk pregnancy were just around the corner. I had a few scares, an ending to my first full year of teaching on modifided bedrest, a summer of bedrest and preterm labor and then the laughter of scheduling my induction.

Many days I would rest on the couch and feel each baby move inside me. I dreamed about what they would look like, and who they would take their traits from. Those moments were beautiful and amazing. I wish I could go back and experience it all over again, the time went way too fast.

On our trip to Michigan last April, Bill and I had the huge discussion about what we should name the babies. At that time we didn't know their genders and knew we didn't want to name one son William III if we had two boys. On the way back from Michigan we picked out our two boy names, two girl names and one of each. The day of our ultrasound we were overwhelmed with emotions when we found out that we were blessed with one of each. We knew at that moment they were our little Bekah and Billy. The funny part about this is when Bill and I were dating, summer of 2001, Bill and I said those were the names we would like to name our future children. We spent all that time driving to Michigan and back talking about names we didn't even use. :)

After a couple false alarms I knew when we were ready for delivery. On their birthday I woke up and was "leaking" very similar as before, but I just knew something was different. I remember sitting in the bathroom at 3:45 am thinking "my water just broke." The next thought was what is the date. I realized that my children were going to be born on August 23rd. I don't know why that was so important to me, but it was.

Over the past 1/2 a year we have been through so many different emotions. We experienced the birth of our two wonderful miracles and all the joys and worries that go along with that. We had colic, reflux, RSV and other small things. Right along with it has been the best smiles, grins, "talking", laughing, rolling, "crawling", scooting, jumping, swinging, snuggling, cuddling and even tears.

Thanks for enjoying the first 6 months with us, and hope you enjoy the tales of the rest of the journey :)

Baby Wrestling

This is why we don't leave the kids too close to each other on the floor. Moments before these pictures they were both laying on their backs talking and making faces. All it took was Billy rolling over and realizing that he could reach his sister. They were having so much fun, but we had to break it up when they started scratching faces. It was cute while it lasted though. :)

New look

I decided to get a little crafty and play with the blog design. The background is one that I downloaded, but the header is one that I created on my own. I'm thinking that I'm going to give up scrapbooking regularly and start digital scrapbooking. I'm loving some of the stuff out there and the ideas I have come up with already. I hope that I can have some time soon to work on albums for the kids. As you have probably read in my last post, the last statement is pretty much a joke. :)

A day in the life

Many have asked "How do you do it?" and my usual reply is "you just do."

Here is a glimpse of my day. 

5:45 Get out of bed, let Kaylee out (unless she decides to stay in bed with daddy), put ice pack in bottle bag (for pumping), put ice pack in my lunch box, make my breakfast, put bottles in kids bag, get a glass  of water.

6:00 Eat breakfast while pumping, go over the "to do" list for the day, check email for work and personal, look over lesson plans

6:20 Take my breakfast dishes to the sink, put milk in the fridge, load pumping bag, get all of the kids bags ready, get car seats ready, brush teeth, use the restroom

6:30 Jump in the shower, do my hair, give both kids meds, wake bill up to get the kids in their seats, get dressed.

7:00 Double check kids bags (check for diapers, wipes, bottles, cereal, clothes), 1st trip to the car: load bags, 2nd trip to the car: load Bekah, 3rd trip to the car:load Billy and we are off. 

7:15ish Arrive at Meloney's house, bring kids in, debrief Meloney on kids night and anything else important. 

7:25ish Head to school, run through mental "to-do" list see what is important

7:35ish Arrive at school, unload my bags, remember that I forgot to grade papers or something else the night before, make sure classroom is ready for the day, get my computer up and running, check work email again. 

7:45 Use the restroom, sign in, check work mail box.

7:50 Pick up my students and start my day.

8:00 Morning meeting

8:15 Math meeting

8:30 Math 

9:15 Specials (Art, Music, Computer, PE, Media, Guidance) Tuesdays and Thursdays I have meetings, the other three days I meet with parents, staff or get things done.

9:55 Small math groups

10:30 Writing

11:00 Read aloud

11:10 Recess

11:40 Lunch

12:00 Restroom, get ready for the afternoon

12:15 Shared reading begins

12:45 Guided reading

1:45 Content/ICU (I teach SS/Science)

2:15 Pack up, review the day, any last minute instructions/reminders

2:25 Dismiss students for 1st load, car riders/walkers, get 2nd load students ready and dismissed to classrooms.

3ish take 2nd load students to the bus

3:15-4ish get ready for the next day, work on lesson plans for the next few weeks, make copies, phone calls, meet with grade level, any meetings (parents or staff)

4ish leave to pick up kids

4:30ish get home, feed kids cereal, playtime

5:00ish put kids down for a nap, unload my bags and kids bags, fold laundry, wash clothes, unload dishwasher, load dishwasher, pick up kitchen and living room, clean kitchen and living room, make my lunch and Bill's lunch, put cereal in bowls for kids lunch, put milk in bottles inf ridge, pack kids bags (all while running upstairs putting pacifiers back in mouths)

6:00ish kids get up and play, entertain kids and start dinner, work on school stuff if I can, eat dinner and play with kids

7:00 bath for kids

7:30 bottles, diaper change and pjs (some nights bath and bottles are in revers order)

8:00ish cuddle with kids, rock for a few minutes, take upstairs, put in sleep sack, turn on music and vaporizer, cover with blankies and give pacifiers, run back upstairs as needed to give pacifiers.

8:30 pick up living room and kitchen, watch a show with Bill, fold laundry

9:30 pump and go over the next day's "to-do" list

10:00 wash bottles and pumping parts, put milk in the fridge, get ready for bed. 

10:30 try to be in bed, Bill has pacifier duty till he goes to bed, since Bill doesn't hear the kids most nights, I have pacifier duty till I get up (may only be 1 or 2 times, or 15, who knows).

I know I have forgotten a few things, but here is a glimpse of my day. Hope you have enjoyed a day in the life of a twin mom. Are you tired yet? ;)

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Happy Valentine's Day from the Brands!!! 

William Glenn

William has discovered the best entertainment ever...his toes. He loves playing and talking with them. He has become the rolling master. He has started "crawling" he puts his head down on the floor, gets up on his knees and scoots across the floor. Can we say "rug burn"? Thankfully he doesn't do it all that often. He comes up with the cheesiest faces and grins. He loves to be tickled and will laugh forever. 

Rebekah Marie

Rebekah is getting so big and such a joy. She attacks the spoon when you feed her, full of smiles and laughs. Her latest is laying on the floor on her back and trying to look at whatever is behind her. She stretches her neck as far back as she can while picking her shoulders up off the floor. One of the pictures shows a little of what she has been doing, but it doesn't do it true justice. She is getting so big. You never know what position you are going to find Bekah sleeping in. :)

This is what we do when Mommy and Daddy are working. Fun at Meloney's house!!!

Brand Family Visit

Carrots

A little (lot) late. 5 months old!

Hello?!?!?! Anybody home?

This is directed more towards our family, WHERE'S THE COMMENTS?!?!?! It'd be really nice to get some feedback from everyone on the posts and pictures. Sometimes it feels like we're posting for Caspers sake. Feel free to make requests for certain things (i.e. bath pics, jumpy vids, etc), or just let us know that you think it's funny to see the kids preparing for the upcoming alien invasion (the last two pictures of the last post). It'd just be nice to feel like everyone is reading and enjoying the blog and that it's not a waste of our time.

Thanks,
Bill and Karrie

Back form the Dr.

As we thought, Bekah has RSV too. She is a few days behind Billy. Billy is very congested but he isn't really wheezing too bad. At this time he isn't showing any signs of pneumonia. The dr was very surprised on how well he was doing considering how congested he is. He was also surprised that he doesn't have an ear infection since they go hand in hand. With a baby this young and this congested, it is very rare that he isn't hospitalized(that is what the dr said). He is doing great considering his symptoms and the dr was just amazed(as good as an rsv baby can be).

We have to keep pushing the fluids(both don't like eating very much),doing breathing treatments, checking temperatures and Bekah will probably end up with an ear infection along with it(goes hand in hand with RSV). 

I'm exhausted from having a caughing baby sleeping next to me, worrying if he can still breathe or not. With every caughing fit, I put my hand on his chest to make sure he is ok. Now it looks like I will have two babies next to me. 

Update

Sorry it has been a while since we have last updated. We just had a great weekend with Dad, Jackie and Dottie. Towards the end of the weekend, we started to notice Billy was getting pretty stuffy. 

On Tuesday Bill took Billy into the dr and he was diagnosed with RSV. We now give him breathing treatments 3 times a day to help him breathe. He is misrable but making it. He will be going into the dr in a few min for a recheck and we are taking Bekah with us to see if she has it too(showing the same symptoms). 

We have been very busy with a sick baby and now we probably have two.