Cuddles

One of James' favorite new games is playing "baby". We wrap him up and give him a pacifier sp? and cuddle him like a baby. On this day he was playing baby by laying down in the girls' boppy. We decided to let him cuddle his "own" baby. It was too cute. He kept his "I'm a tough boy" poker face on, but we weren't deceived. :)

Can anyone tell me why blogspot turns my photos some of the time??!! Grrr--well you get the idea.

Carrying the girls kangaroo style!

I've been experimenting with ways to carry the girls around while I try to get stuff done. This is me with my homemade Moby wrap. The girls absolutely love it and fall right asleep. It's not so bad while they're still under 10 pounds. :) It's just a bit warm for the summer time, so I only can use it indoors.

Clark County Fair

Hum, James I'm not sure it's a wise idea to pet vampire bunnies.

James goes for a ride on a "big eyed" cow.

Doesn't look like he's going anywhere fast!

slugger

Ok, for some reason this photo comes up sideways even though it's right otherwise. But it was too cute not to up it on the blog. Looks like Clara is getting her revenge for all the times Kate kicked her in the head while they were on the inside! I don't think she actually slugged Kate . . . But who knows! :)

Blessing day!

The girls received their blessings on Sunday July 27th. Justin did a wonderful job and the girls behaved perfectly. Grandma Sarah made the gorgeous blessing gowns. It was a beautiful day.

Trip to the cabin

James looking for the perfect skipping rock on the Lewis River

Justin, Jessica, James, and one of the girls at the Cedar Flats

While Michele (Grandma Hughes) was here we got to visit my family's cabin. We hiked Cedar flats, Lava casts, Ape Caves, & the Lewis River trail. I decided I can never go hiking with any fewer than 4 people. One person to each child and one person for the back pack! The last picture is of James with his handy-dandy dust pan. He spent hours "cleaning" the cabin with this. :)

Grandma Hughes comes to visit!

Grandma Hughes does the Baby Bijorn

Grandma Hughes got to spent one wonderful week with us. We did our best to show her a good time. James was quick to corner her for reading stories. (I mean really quick--she had only been here an hour!) The girls enjoyed lots of snuggling time. By the time she left she was a pro baby bijorn-er!

Hollywood Divas

Happy 4th of July

Here are some pictures of us celebrating the 4th of July. James had a rockin' time playing with his older cousins and watching fireworks. Do you like the smile on my face? It's my "take the picture quickly before one of us gets burned" smile. I hope you all had a great day!

My sister, my best friend!

I caught this adorable picture of the girls the other day. I hope they're always so happy together.

Going home day!!!

Happy Momma!

Happy Daddy!

All loaded up and ready to roll!

Finally the day came to bring ours little girls home. Last Sunday we got to take them home. They weighed in at 5 lbs. even for Kate and 5 lbs. 2 oz. for Clara. We are so happy to have them home. They stayed 22 days in the NICU. Now we are home and adapting to real life! (The grey/blue car seats match the new double stroller we bought. We just couldn't see putting James in the front of a pink daisy stroller!)

Big brother James comes to visit

James came out to visit his little sisters. He is a great big brother. He loves to give kisses to his sisters and is very good at pointing out their noses, ears, mouth, and eyes. He loves to hold them and calls them "sissi". We've had a few moments of jealousy when he reaches for mommy to pick him up but mommy is already holding someone else!! :(

Getting ready to go home

Ahh--together is best!

Kate gets moved to her own bed

The Car Seat Challenge

In order to go home the girls had a couple tests to pass. First they had to go back to separate isoletes to prove they could maintain their temperatures. Next they had to pass their car seat challenge--prove they could maintain their oxygen levels while in their car seats. Of course they passed with flying colors!

No longer a mom of 3 under 2!! Happy Birthday James!

Happy Birthday James!

Well, for 12 long days I was the proud momma of 3 kids under 2. I'm happy to say those days are gone. ;) We celebrated James' birthday on Thursday with the help of Grandma Sarah & Grandpa Ron, Great-grandma Athay, Aunt Jeny & Uncle Jeff and cousins Lauren, Alex, Jacob, Jonathan, & Matthew.

Great-Grandma Athay parties with James!

Dad mans the Cam

Our little houdinis!

So we ran out of cute preemie outfits the other day and had to resort to the hospital issue onesies. The only problem is that the hospital has the same outfits for all new babies--whether they're 4 pounds or 8! Well, I arrived at the hospital and found the girls like this. Kate had completely escaped her sleeves and Clara was working on it as well.

Reality Sets In

Ever since my little sisters nicknamed the family minivan "Blueberry" back in the 90's I have vowed to never own one. I have always held to the notion that your vehicle is in some part an extension of yourself. We often buy our vehicles not out of practicality or need, but based on emotion. We chose a vehicle because of it looks, iPod adapter, or some other high tech gizmo. However, there is one vehicle that is not purchased because of the emotion it evokes. The dreaded minivan. I think the minivan is the one vehicle that is purchased solely out of necessity. The cold reality is that we can't strap James to the roof of the Galant while his little sisters sleep comfortably on the inside. We tried to hold off on the purchase of the minivan but we couldn't even get the doors closed in our car with three car seats in the back seat. So I have finally swallowed my pride and youthfulness and purchased a minivan. Go ahead laugh, I am too.

Cuddle Time

This was taken before Clara had to go under the jaundice lights. They slept super well next to each other--until Kate started wacking her sister in the face!

I love this picture.

Daddy & Daughter time

First Bath

Justin was able to bath Kate and I bathed Clara on their first day.

Our latest arrivals! Clara and Kate

Well our two little angels are here! (For those who are interested details of delivery are provided in next post.) They made their grand arrival quite a bit early--33 weeks and 2 days. We were hoping to make it to at least 35-36 weeks. They were born on 6-7-8. June 7th, 2008 at 11:50-ish a.m. and 11:54-ish a.m. Both girls weighed 4 lbs. 1 oz. and were just over 17" each.

We expect them to stay in the NICU for about 3-4 weeks, but they could leave as early as 2 weeks. They must be able to keep their temperatures up and take all their feedings from breast or bottle. Right now they are fed mostly through a tube into their tummy. Although, Clara did take an entire feeding and more from breast today!

The NICU has private rooms for the girls. We have a bed for the parents to sleep over (which Justin did last night) It's really super nice considering all. Life will be pretty crazy for awhile. But the girls are doing well and just need to keep growing!