Happy Halloween!

Our Halloween plan is to head over to Grammie and Pappa's to hang out with them and Amy's brother's family. We are not sure if C&C are going to go trick or treating tonight with the Baker kids. The twins might just help pass out candy.

We didn't do much in the line of Halloween costumes but I think the kids pull it off. We went with matching "My 1st Halloween" outfits.

Our angelic Caroline.
Our stoic little man.

Here is Caroline bullying Caden to get some more room. Caden must be having flashbacks to being in the womb with his big sister taking all the space she can get.

Once they finish jockeying for position, Caden and Caroline enjoy laying close to each other.

One Month Checkup

The twins had their one month checkup today. They are very healthy and everything looked good. Caroline weighed in at 9 lbs 1 ounces and Caden weighed 7 lbs 13 ounces. Both of them were quite a bit heavier than I was expecting. They gained almost two ounces a day since our last doctor visit!

Happy One Month Birthday!

One month ago today, our twins were born! Amy and I could not ask for better babies. We are so thankful Caden and Caroline are such laid back little babies that eat and sleep very well and are very healthy. (Today should be their 3 day birthday and not their one month bday.) It would have been much harder raising twins if even one of them was a tough baby. Hopefully Caden and Caroline will continue blessing Amy and I with how good they are. :)

Amy loves baking so she made a batch of cupcakes in honor of our twins. Both twins loved the chocolate frosting we gave them! Especially Caroline. She licked all of it off my finger. I bet she would like some chocolate breast milk.

Here are some pictures I took of our twins posing with their cupcakes. We couldn't get a good one of them together or one with their eyes open but we got several good individual sleeping shots. (The cupcakes are extra large so they make the kids look smaller than they actually are.)

Oh, and I'm totally kidding about letting them eat some cupcake. Amy and I were the only ones who partook in the special treat. :)

Happy Due Date and 4 Weeks!

Today is the big day!! October 24th! Well, at least, it should have been. The twins are officially due today, but, instead of celebrating their birth, we're celebrating their 4 week birthday. I'm sure glad we didn't have to wait until today to meet them! Here are a few pics of our kiddos over the last 4 weeks.

Our sweet Caroline. She's starting to laugh, smile and interact. She doesn't know it yet, but she's got her daddy wrapped around her fingers already!

Here are a few pics of our precious Caden. He is around 7 lbs now (we'll know for sure after our doctor appointment Monday) but we still call him our little man. He is just a bit more subdued than his big sister. Caden seems to get bigger and bigger with each day!

Visit From Grandma

My mom stayed with Amy and I all last week to help out and play with her grandkids. She was a very big help and did all sorts of stuff for us like change diapers, help with early morning feedings, make meals, and clean. The kids (and their parents) definitely appreciated Grandma visiting.

When Grandma was here, she was almost constantly holding one of the babies and talking to them. I don't know how someone can have so many words. It was especially nice having her here in the middle of the night. If someone wouldn't go to sleep, Amy and I wouldn't need to argue who's turn it was to stay up and calm the baby. (Not that this is really a big problem...Our kids have been little angels during their first three weeks.) Grandma was always up in the middle of the night ready to help.

It was nice having someone help out with the first week I was back at work (half time). That allowed Amy time to run an errand or two during the day and made it possible for Amy and I to go on a date Friday night. Since Amy hadn't been out to eat in over a month, I told her she could pick any place she wanted to go. With her choice of any restaurant, Amy picked a little known place called Chili's. I'm a fan of chains and I like Chili's, but I was still surprised that is where Amy wanted to go after eating at home for over a month. :)

Here are a few pictures of Grandma and grandchildren.

Pictures from Our Third Week

We have been working on our tummy time a lot more this week. Neither kid enjoys it but they will normally deal with it for a little while.

During the last bath time, we decided to try out their robes. Both kids enjoyed the robes...though the robes are probably a little to big. I'm sure they will fit a lot better in a month or two.

Here is Caden crying and showing us his old man face. I love the wrinkles he makes in his forehead. This crying only lasted a couple of seconds before he calmed down. He is such a good little boy.

Amy loves baby feet. Here is a picture she took of Caroline's feet.

Our Two Week Checkup

We took the twins in for their two week checkup. Everything is going really well. Here are a few of the things that happend during this visit.

The doctor asked Amy and I if we are giving the kids plenty of tummy time. We said yes. Apparently, Amy and I didn't know what tummy time meant exactly. We thought it included laying on our chests facing us. However, tummy time needs to be on a hard surface like the floor. Our bodies made it too easy for them and would not encourage them to build muscles. When we learned this, both Amy and I were worried they would fail their tummy time test. Instead, they passed with flying colors. The doctor said both of them were "showing off" and she did not expect them to be able to push up and move their heads as well as they already do.

One of the things we were looking forward to was weighing the twins. At our first checkup, Caden weighed 5 lb 3 ounces (down from his 5 lb 10 ounce birth weight) and Caroline weighed 6 lb 6 ounces (down from her 7 lb birth weight). Our goal for this checkup was for both kids to weigh at least their birth weight. Amy and I were thrilled when Caden weighed in at 6 lb 4 ounce and Caroline topped the scales at 7 lb 10 ounces. Both weighed 10 ounces more than their birth weights!

After weighing Caden (completely naked to make sure it is exact), the nurse thanked him for not peeing everywhere and then told me I could put his diaper back on. The nurse, Amy, and Caroline then went back into the exam room while I started to put Caden's diaper on. Seconds before I was able to do so, Caden decided to see just how much stuff he could pee on. I think he must have been practicing his distance because he was able to spray a wide variety of stuff at different distances including the scale, a calculator, and several nearby office documents (not to mention his own head). On the bright side, daddy was standing outside the line of fire and and he didn't need to clean this mess up. :) Oh, and the doctor thought it was funny. I doubt she will be the one to clean it up either.

The best news at the visit (other than they are healthy, of course) was that we no longer need to wake them up at night for feedings! We are allowed to let them sleep as long as they like. The doctor expects them to be able to sleep for 4 to 5 hours! I hope that is right. We will find out tonight.

We head back to the doctor in two more weeks. Hopefully, that appointment will be as good as this one.

Pictures from Our Second Week

Today, marks two weeks since the birth of Caden and Caroline. Here are some pictures of our second week with the twins.

Here is mother and daughter enjoying an after dinner nap. Both Amy and baby get very tired after/during breast feeding.

Caroline posed nicely for her dad for these next two shots.

Amy and I realized that we have been keeping the twins separated too much. They rarely saw each other during their first week. They sleep in the same pack 'n play but there is a divider between their sides. We are now trying to make a point of letting the kids hang out together. Here is a picture of Caden and Caroline snuggling with one another.

We put Caroline in her swing for the first time this week. At the moment, she is still a little small for it but I can tell she is going to love it. I bet we can start using it soon.

Here is Caden looking very serious in his conversation with mommy.

The Twins First Baths

Last week, Amy Baker helped us give Caden and Caroline their first baths. Both kids hated getting their bodies washed. This was not surprising to me since they both hate being naked and normally scream whenever their diaper is off during a diaper change.

The part of the bath both kids enjoyed was getting their hair washed. We held their head under the faucet and used a soft brush to massage their head.

Here is Caden in between his screaming sessions.

Here are a couple videos I made of their baths.

Caden's first bath

Caroline's first bath

Oh, Caroline...What Did I Ever Do To You?

Our little girl has been the twin who enjoys peeing with her diaper off. More specifically, she enjoys peeing on dad. Today, she took this to a whole new level. I was in the process of changing her diaper when she started peeing. I backed away and looked for some paper towels to stop the flow. All of a sudden, a large stream of poo came flying out and got all over the changing table, counters, floor, and wall! She shot the stuff a good four feet! Thankfully, I had moved outside the line of fire in search of paper towels. Mommy thought all of this was hilarious. I'm pretty sure I saw Caroline smile as well but I'm not sure...I was busy gagging.

Our First Babysitter

Today, Amy Baker came to visit and teach us a thing or two about parenting. She helped us give our kids their first bath (I'll probably post some videos of that later), taught us how to take a rectal temperature (Amy and I were nervous about that), and to top it off, she said she would watch the babies so Amy and I could spend a night on the town. And by "night," I mean less than two hours in the afternoon. And by "town," I mean HEB.

Amy Case actually missed shopping for groceries at HEB during the month she was on bed rest. When Amy Baker said she would watch the twins while we went on a date to HEB, Amy Case was thrilled. While we were gone, everything went very smoothly. Thankfully, our kids behaved nicely. (Not that them behaving is a surprise. They are great kids.)

Amy Baker sure set the bar high for future babysitters. She came to the table with a resume featuring being the mother of three great kids and working as both a pediatric nurse and a neo-natal intensive care nurse. So yes, we felt safe leaving the kids with her.

Caden and Caroline, Meet Your Cousins

The Baker family came to visit us (and by us, I mainly mean Caroline and Caden) today. Ella and Will were very excited to meet their new cousins. Cal, well, not so much. He was excited to run around and play at our house while the older kids held babies.

Will was a big fan of Caden. He thought Caroline was just okay. Ella went the other way where she liked Caroline more than Caden. I guess they are sticking to their genders.
Big Will holding our little man. I swear Will has grown a foot and put on 50 pounds since I last saw him. Either that, or I'm getting used to being around much smaller kids.

Ella was very happy to hold Caroline. (There sure is a lot of pink clothes in this picture.)

Here is Ella with Caden. How cute are they?

Both Ella and Will were great with the twins. They couldn't have been more gentle and sweet. Caroline and Caden definitely likee their older cousins.

Our Little Aggies First A&M Football Game

One of the things I've been looking forward to with the twins is watching some A&M football. This Saturday, we watched our first A&M game together. Despite the outcome of the game, it was still a lot of fun watching it with Caden and Caroline and I hope there are many more games to come.

Cousin Ella gave the twins some A&M clothes that were perfect for a football watching experience. They are a little big on the twins right now but I think they will work for the entire football season.

Here is Caden getting pumped up for the game. I think he was in awe of the entire experience.
As you can see, the twins really liked watching the game. I don't think they missed a play. Here the three of us are early in the first quarter.

Caroline was very upset with how A&M was playing.

Caden dealt with losing the game differently.

Here are our little rookies trying to recover from the game watching experience. You can tell that Caroline is on the right by the color of socks she picked out for the game. I tried to take a nap like this next to them but it is just not as comfortable as they make it look.

I've Been Peed On...

...Twice! I'm sure you are thinking I opened Caden's diaper and he peed on me. Well, you would be completely wrong. It was Caroline! She did it two diaper changes in a row. I never would have thought she could squirt urine out that far. I have no learned. I'm sure Caden will have much more distance but she can still get ya. Amy actually saw the second incident and thought it was hilarious.

On a related note, multiple people told me changing diapers isn't bad, especially when they are from your own kids. Now that I have changed a number of diapers, I can safely say, I can no longer trust those people. Changing diapers is disgusting. But I guess it is just something I have to do.

Pictures from the Hospital

Amy and I just before the C-section. I'll leave out all the pictures from that part of the story. I'd rather people picture our kids as cute. And trust me, they were not cute back in the operating room. :)
Here is little Caroline exercising her lungs soon after being delivered. Of the two kids, she is definitely the loud crier. Caden didn't cry for a couple days. He's figured it out now...especially when we strip him down for a diaper change.

Sweet Caroline...

Cute Caden...

Most of our immediate family was able to make it the night our twins came into the world. Here is Amy's mom, Abbie...aka Grammie.

Here are the Baker men Gary (Poppa), and Uncle Michael. Michael's family could not make it on Saturday night for the event but they plan to come visit this weekend. From what we understand, they were very excited. Will couldn't wait to learn the names and is worried he wont be able to tell the twins apart. All three kids had a birthday cake in the honor of our twins.

My mom holding her grandson. My mom is going to be Grandma just like I called her mom. For years, my sister and I have called my mom "Grandma" when she does something like her mom. Now, I think the name might stick.

Here is my sister, Aunt Angela. Her fiance, Allen, was around as well but I didn't get a picture of him holding any of the kids.Here is my dad who will either be called Grandpa or Poppie. I think I'm leaning towards Grandpa.

And my Dad's wife, Peggy. I think we are going to call her Mimmie but I'm not positive about that. My dad and Peggy almost didn't make it down in time. They were both away from their phones when I was calling to say the babies were coming early. Thankfully, Amy had a bowl of cereal in the morning which made doctors postpone the C-section to later that night, which gave them just enough time to make it to Austin.

Here is Aunt Angela and Grandma comparing the little ones. I think they were trying to figure out who they look like.