I love Griffin's pose and the outfit isn't so bad either, is it? :) Randy's co-worker and his family gave us the outfits the boys have on in the photos.

Today was a big day! The boys stayed awake for the longest I have seen so far! I put them on this little mat that was passed on from all of our neices and nephews. Music plays when the arches are tapped. The other kids would kick and make the music happen. The boys aren't quite there yet but, they really seemed to love looking at things. Of course I had to get out the video camera. I could just stare at them for hours as they start exploring their world! I promise not to make you watch the video if you come over....unless you are one of the Grandparents. :)

40 weeks due date today, April 29th

It is official. Today is the last big pregnancy date we had on the calendar. If we were having one baby, today would have marked the final day of the pregnancy (40wks if you don't know things in pregnant lady talk). I am so glad we got a few free weeks with ours coming at 33wks! Hard to believe how fast the past 7wks have gone. As you can see from the photo's, they are growing and thriving. These precious little boys have us wrapped around their little bity fingers.

Graduation day!! Hip Hip Hooray!!

1st playdate

My friend Jody and her son Evan.

Evan and Claire on the left, and Griffin and Gavin on the right.

Jody and her husband Bryan attended an Expecting Multiples class with us at Abbott Northwestern Hospital where we all delivered. She and I found that we were due within 2 days of one another. She and her husband did IVF also. Her babies were due May 1st for a 40wk due date or April 17th for the adjusted twins due date. My 40wk due date, which is also full term for 1 baby, is today and my adjusted twins due date was April 15th. I delivered at 33wks and she delivered 1wk to the day after us at 34wks. Gavin and Griffin's birthday is March 14th and her babies are March 21st. We were all in the Special Care Nursery together since the babies were all preemies. Hers were in Suite A and ours were in Suite G. She has been a great support throughout the pregnancy and now into the newborn stage. We bounce our ideas off of one another and learn from each other. It is great to have someone at pretty much the exact state we are at.

The boys and I needed to get out of the house for a couple of hours today and since I am not up to tackling them by myself for too long in unfamiliar settings, I asked her if she was up for company. Her kids are some of the only kids ours can be around since they have the same restrictions to prevent RSV. It was nice to get out of the house. It took a lot to get out of the house in a semi-timely fashion but, I did it. Both boys decided to spit up and poo several times before we left so they had a few wardrobe changes. All in all, it took me 2hrs and 15mins to get me and them ready and out the door. Whew.......Now, if only we lived closer to Jody and her babies!

Skyping with Gramma and Grandpa Witt

We have been setting the kids up so they can "talk" with Gramma and Grandpa Witt. Skyping is free and essentially an online phone call. If interested, give us a call to set up the time and we are happy to introduce you to the little ones! :)

Ready for the first walk

Randy with our new stroller. He is pointing to

a sign on our car that says "Got twins?"

Ready to break out of the house and go for walks around the neighborhood.

The boys are ready for their first stroll. Griffin in the green hat, Gavin in the white.

Gavin's hat is a little big, huh?

Lucky boys

Randy's cousin Steve and his wife and daughter came over to meet the boys. Alyssa, on the far left is the talent behind the paint choices in our nursery, living room and kitchen. They are the only family Randy has here in the Twin Cities and we value their friendship and wisdom in raising good kids. They have 3 of the best.

Griffin (l) Gavin (r)--outfits courtesy of Auntie Annette, my brother's wife, the shirts say "Mommy thinks chicks dig me".

My little rockstars; outfits courtesy of Auntie Jenn, my sister

We have been so overwhelmed and overjoyed at the outpouring of gifts and generosity from friends and family. I am a little behind on thank you's but, I promise, they are coming!! In the meantime, those of you that have sent the boys gifts, we do appreciate it! Thank you all!!

Gavin and Griffin - Lazy Days

a day out with family

This was taken today at the Mall of America. We were told we could go to the Mall and walk around. It was nice and quiet there today so it allowed us to be out and my anxiety level was low since we sort of had our run of the place. My mom is in town visiting so she helped me take the kids out. A huge thank you to her!! (she has been helping out with the babies and lavishing them with love as well as cooking for us) We met my brothers wife, Annette, and her kids at the Mall. My mom and the big kids enjoyed going on some rides at the Nickelodeon park. I enjoyed holding my babies and being out in a different environment and a good chat with Annette. Max, Mia and Adam are very respectful of the rules of not touching the babies. They love to look at them though. Max and Mia wait paitently for their turn to hold the boys. I keep telling them by the time cousins Ava and Jack (my sisters children) get here from Colorado in early June, they will be ready for holding by other kids...especially their cousins.

Max and Mia, for those of you just joining us, are our 4yr old neice and nephew that are also IVF twins. They have been very good teachers to Randy and I. This whole experience hasn't been as scary or nervewracking because of them. They even watched me receive shots when Randy was traveling for work. I would go out to their house for my brother or Annette to administer the shots. Both kids wanted to watch so we let them. Because of this, they were in on things from the get go and have been waiting for these babies along with the rest of us. Cousin Ava in CO has been praying for the babies and their safe and healthy arrival from the beginning also. She too is excited to meet the babies! My sister and her family will be joining us for 2wks in June! We are patiently waiting to introduce our sons to them.

I found one more of Gavin.... he was making all of these faces while Randy was holding him two nights ago. We just kept snapping pictures and caught a few good ones.

Thanks to Auntie Annette,Griffin and Gavin sported shirts that say Mommy thinks I am a chick magnet.

Griffin (l) Gavin (r)

Gavin and more of his cute faces

Griffin (l) Gavin (r); this was after their first shots. Theyreceived a shot of Synagis medication to help give them a layer of protection against RSV; the respiratory illness I have mentioned eariler. They needed this due to being born a bit early. They both let out a really pitiful cry but, we had an ounce of formula ready for them and as soon as the bottle was in they both stopped crying immediately. My little champs!
A nurse came into our home to administer the shots. She was really quick and has had years of experience with preemies.
She weighed our boys and Gavin weighed in at 7.7lbs and Griffin was 7.14lbs. We are getting some big boys on our hands. They continue to change daily. This makes me so happy and sad all at the same time. People are not lying when they say to cherish each moment as it goes by way too fast!

Thanks to Randy

Thanks to Randy, I finally got a few more posts on here. Life with these little miracles is not hard but, it is busy when I am here by myself. Usually I start a post and then have to save it and get back to it at some point. Hence the mass posting each time I post lately.

Randy took care of the kids by himself tonight so I could run out to a couple of stores to return some things. When I got home, I finally got to update the blog and return some of the emails that keep accumulating. I am so glad he is a hands on husband/dad and that he isn't afraid to handle the kids by himself.

Please know that I am doing the best I can to keep up with communication with everyone. I love reading emails to know that there is a world out there that we will get to rejoin in full force soon. I can read emails easily. I usually read them on my phone while I am feeding a kid. I try to feed each child without any distraction for most meals but, usually the 2AM feeding it is good for me to read my emails while feeding so I don't fall asleep on the little fellas.
If only responding to everyone was as easy.......

Next on our agenda is a visit from my mom, aka Gramma C. She will join us on Sunday to help out next week. The boys are excited to get some good cuddles from another Gramma and I am excited to have someone to help share in the fun! :)

April 15th!! Official due date

I took these pictures today, April 15th. Today marks 38 weeks and my official due date. (twins full term is 38wks compared to 40wks for a singleton) It is hard to imagine for so many months we were so focused on getting to Tax Day. When I look at my sons today, it is crazy to picture still being pregnant with them. For size purposes only, I am glad we met them a little early.

After feeding Griffin, I put him in the bouncy chair. I put the blanket over it to cover the pink. I didn't want him to spit up on the blanket while I was feeding Gavin, so I put the Gramma Witt-made burp cloth under his head. As I looked at him, I thought it kind of looked like angel wings.

My little angels. I am so blessed.

Gavin

The thinker

Tiny toes

Cozy on daddy

Snuggling with Daddy after he gets home from work. Gavin(L) Griffin (R)

Gavin's outfit says "if you think I am cool you should see my dad". I love when he poses like this. :) Not sure where his neck went though.....

More feeding fun

Do not try this at home.......unless you have two demanding mouths.....this was one of my many purchases at the MVMOMS sale. It works really well with Griffin because he is a clean eater. Gavin is sort of a messy eater and this way doesn't work well for him. I only use it when I am home by myself and both boys are demanding service.

Griffin in the front, Gavin in the background.

Gavin holding his own bottle too. We know this is rare and early....and, it doesn't happen often but, we'll take it when it happens.

Photo fun

Here are a few of the photo's that Gramma Witt took.
This is Gavin.

Pretend the one chair isn't pink.....I bought it used from another twin mom for really cheap. The kids seem to enjoy the chairs and don't care that one is pink....Gavin (L) Griffin (R)

Griffin

Gavin (we know this smile is probably not on purpose but, we'll take it.)

Griffin

First photoshoot at 4 weeks old

The boys had their official first photo shoot with April, the woman that did my belly photo's and also works with Randy. We have seen a few of the shots but, the rest will be posted online at her website www.cameraobscuraimaging.com.

Family photo

Family photo at the Zoo parking lot.

Meet Gramma and Mr. Witt

We did pictures with Gramma and Grandpa this past Sunday.

On Saturday, after the MVMOMS sale, we all went to the MNZoo. (Gramma and Grandpa stayed with the babies while Randy and I ran to the sale) This was mostly fun but, I was nervous that it was too sunny for the babies so I covered them up...then I was too nervous that they couldn't breathe......then I was nervous that people would come up and touch them.....it was busy so we stayed outside in the open air (per our guidelines) and the good news is that people were respectful of them and no one touched them. Only one cute little girl asked if she could pet the babies. I was impressed that she knew to ask and didn't just run up and grab a baby. Unfortunately for her, I had to say no. Aside from me being a nervous new mom, we had a good time. I think the more we get out and about, the more I will get comfortable with things. Right now, we still need to be so careful but, I am so glad we can at least leave the house a little bit. My brother and his wife that have Max and Mia, our twin nephew/niece, couldn't leave the house for several months when they were born. They were born at 29wks in Sept '05 and ours were born at 33wks in March. Since they were preemies going into cold/flu season, they weren't allowed out and no kids could go to their house from the time they came home until late April of that season. I sometimes think I still have their mindset in my mind. My kids were born at a later gestational week and at the end of cold/flu season. Regardless, we are to be careful. I would hate to have something happen to the babies especially if it is something we can prevent. I border on being too paranoid and attempting to be "normal" for our situation.
The synagis insurance stuff is all situated and the boys will be receiving 1 dose of it this Saturday from a home health nurse. Their first shots!! Oh my goodness. I am so glad Randy will be here with me.

Gramma Witt was so good to the babies and us. She gave the babies lots of love and was a huge help with doing some things around the house for us. She also stayed with the babies so Randy, his dad and I could go play at the casino for a couple of hours. She got some great photo's while we were gone. I will post those in one of the next couple of posts.

Minnesota Valley Moms of Multiples Sale

Shoppers, on your marks, get set, GO!!

Sale floor

After I was out of the 1st trimester of the pregnancy, I joined a multiples group that puts on a huge sale 2 times per year. This was the first sale I attended. Since I was supposed to be pregnant still, Randy was able to escort me to the sale. It was insane! I even saw someone running to the item they must have wanted the most. When I saw that, I felt like maybe we needed to run....turns out we didn't run and we were the only ones who went for the first item I wanted to get to. Bottles. We are going through so many bottles per day that the dishwasher is always running. We bought enough that we don't have to rush washing anything. Best news is that usually the bottles are 3 for about 25$, the previous users had them placed in bags of about 6 and only charged 8$ per bag..... They are all used but, look brand new. I cleared the bin of one particular brand and Momma is happy!

Permission to go out.....a little bit

At our last doctor visit we were given permission to go out into open air places. We had some time to kill before Randy's parents landed from St. Louis so we decided to drive 45mins south down to Owatanna to Cabela's. We were looking for something specific and we just needed to get there....and we got to go. It was perfect. No one was there so we could walk freely without too much worry. After that, we went to a couple of children's stores looking for outfits for a photo shoot we were going to do over the weekend. The children's stores were in an outlet mall between our house and Cabela's. Again, no one was there so we continued to enjoy an evening out. We literally were the only ones in each store we went into. Not so good for business but, great for us!! We are still not to go into a restaurant or somewhere where we are in a close space with others. Especially anyone that may appear to have a cold etc.

The kids will be receiving a special injection of something called synagis to help protect them from RSV, a respiratory infection that can affect preemies in a severe way. The insurance got some wrong information from the hospital so we are working through those details but, should have a nurse out to the house in the very near future to administer the meds.

Visit with the Doctor

As of April 9th, the boys are weighing in at 7.3lbs for Griffin and 6.11lbs for Gavin. We can't believe our boys are growing so quickly! They will already be 4wks old this Sunday. It is a big weekend in that they get to meet Gramma and Mr. Witt. Dr. Durand and Mr. Witt were in Air Force pilot training together in Texas just a few years ago. We are lucky enough to live near the clinic where Dr. Durand is a pediatrician in Burnsville, MN. Meanwhile, the Witt's live down near St. Louis, MO.

We will post pictures of the Grandparent visit soon!