Two Healthy Babies

Both kids are over their fevers and seem to be feeling better!

Caden's temperature finally broke last night and it has been normal all day. He is still a little sleepy and doesn't talk quite as much as normal, but he is doing well.

Caroline has never been happier. She smiles and laughs more than she ever has before. She has been a big flirt the last few days.

Both of them still have a cough and will have it for a few more weeks. Caden's is quite a bit worse than Caroline's. Now, Amy and I would be happy if their coughing didn't wake them up at night.

Tomorrow, we plan to send both kids to pre-pre-school for the first time. They have enjoyed it individually so hopefully they will like it ever more together.

Another Sick Baby Update

Well, Caroline got over her cold and did not have any more problems during her follow up checkup on Thursday. However, on Friday our little man got sick. :( Amy felt better taking him to the doctor to make sure his ears were doing okay. Just like big sis, Caden tested positive for RSV and his ears looked good. Well, they looked good after the doctor cleaned out all the wax so she could see in. It looks like Caden might have inherited the ears from Amy's side of the family.

Thankfully, my mom has been in town helping take care of the kids. She has spent most of the time holding Caden this weekend. Caden took being sick much better than his wimpy older sister. He definitely wasn't happy but he didn't cry anywhere near as much. He loved being held but didn't insist on being soothed non-stop. He ever slept most of the night in his own bed. He felt much better today and his fever has started to drop.

Monday is pre-pre-school and once again, we are only going to send one kid. Caroline is going to attend without Caden. My mom is going to stay one more day and remain home with our sick little boy. We think he will be able to go on Tuesday.

Caroline Update

Caroline is doing better but it is obvious she still doesn't feel well. Most of the time, she just seems out of it. But a few times during the day, we have made her smile and she has shown her personality. Those times have not lasted long. I stayed home with her Monday and Tuesday and plan to do so again tomorrow. Her temperature is consistently in the low 99s without Tylenol and she sleeps most of the day.

Caroline insists on being held most of the day. She has been held all day other than about thirty minutes. She wont even go in her swing (which she normally loves). The only place outside our arms she will stay for a short time is on the couch where I sit. I sit her up pretty much exactly how I sit and she is content for a few minutes.

Thankfully, Caden is doing well. Hopefully, he will not get sick.

Our First Sick Baby

Our sweet little Caroline is sick. :( This is the first sick baby we have had. I know it will be the first of many but we still feel really sad for her.

A couple days ago, we noticed Caroline had a stuffy nose. We cleaned it out with saline and that bulb thing. Yesterday, she started to get worse. Caroline did not have much of an appetite, she was coughing, it was hard for her to breath, and we could tell the mucus had moved into her chest. We also measured her temperature as high has 102 degrees. Amy was up most of the night holding Caroline. Holding her is just about the only way to prevent her from screaming.

Today was suppose to be Amy's first day back at Dell and the twins first day in pre-pre-school (Amy doesn't like calling it daycare). Instead, today is Caden's first day of pre-pre-school. Amy didn't have enough time to get upset about dropping him off because she needed to come home so we could take Caroline to the doctor.

After dropping Caden off, we took Caroline to the doctor where she tested positive for RSV (respiratory syncytial virus). This is pretty much a cold and there is not much the doctor can do. Thankfully, she is not wheezing (the doctor doesn't think she will), her lungs sound okay, and her ears are clear (ear infections are common in the Baker family and often go hand in hand with RSV).

Sadly, Caroline will likely have a cough for four to six weeks. :( Her fever should die down in a few days. We have a follow up doctor visit for later in the week. We are worried about Caden getting sick as well. The doctor said he would almost assuredly get sick but at the moment, he is doing great and has been very pleasant.

I guess Caroline wont make it to child care this week. We are not sure if we will have Caden go without her. Since Amy really does need to work some this week, I'm going to stay home with our sick little lady and work when I can. Thankfully, my mom was already planning to come into town Wednesday night of this week. We'll be glad to get some help trying to comfort our sweet little Caroline.

Our First Christmas with the Twins

We celebrated Christmas in Austin the weekend before Christmas with Amy's side of the family. On December 19th, the Baker Christmas Eve, we had our annual Christmas Eve dinner at Pappasitto's and then headed back to the Baker house for desserts and stocking presents. Everyone has their own monogrammed stocking hanging on the mantle...including Caden and Caroline. Our four stockings are the ones on the far right. Oh, and "stocking presents" do not come in these stockings. They come in a very large gift bag.

The next day, we opened all of the presents. Since Amy and I can no longer make it anywhere on time, the niece and nephews were forced to wait for us before they could open gifts. (Actually, Cal opened one the day before after Ella said do him, "Cal, don't you want to go open presents right now!") Our best gift was a Nintendo Wii and a Wii Fit Plus. It has already been played a ton in the last couple weeks.

That night, we went to the Austin Trail of Lights (or whatever the politically correct name Austin is calling it this year). Amy and I had attempted to go earlier in the week but the parking was closed due to rain. We were glad to go check it out for the twins first Christmas. It had been several years since we had seen the trail of lights. At that time, Will was a little baby and Cal was not around yet. The Baker kids loved it. The twins were not impressed. :)

And that was it for the Baker Christmas celebration.

The day before Christmas Eve, we drove up to Dallas to be with my family. Amy and I were worried about the drive with the twins. The farthest we had ever driven with them before was Pappasittos (about 20 minutes away). Thankfully, our kids made the drive to Dallas (and back)without any problems. They slept almost the entire way and never got upset in their car seats. The only time we had to stop was when the baby swing in the back of the car turned on by itself and was making a clicking sound. This happened twice. I'll need to figure out a better way to package it next time. :)

The night we arrived in Dallas, my mom planned a get together with our Thanksgiving family (the Eakers and the Meiers) to show off her new grandkids. (We were unable to make it to Thanksgiving this year because we didn't want to travel with the little ones.) I didn't do a very good job taking pictures that night (or actually, all of Christmas) but here is one of the Eaker girls (they both have different last names now) posing with Caroline. Stephanie (on the left) is expecting a baby boy and is due in a few months.When we arrived in Dallas, the temperature was 70 degrees. By Christmas Eve, the temperature had dropped below freezing and it was snowing. I couldn't believe the twins first Christmas was a white Christmas! It is the only white Christmas in Dallas that I can remember.

The weather prevented us from being able to go to church like we normally do on Christmas Eve. Instead, we stayed at my mom's house, opened presents (yes, we open presents on Christmas Eve...which I think is the correct time to open them), and had our traditional Christmas dinner (ham and turkey from Honey Baked Ham Company, sweet potatoes, corn, sister shubert rolls, etc). It was delicious and I had tons of leftovers to take back to Austin.

Below is a picture of our white Christmas. It does not do it justice. I took this in the early afternoon after much of the snow had already melted. At one time, you couldn't see any leaves on the ground because they were all covered with snow! I bet we had around three inches--a blizzard by Dallas standards.

I had to go outside and take a couple quick pictures with the kids. It was a little too cold for their liking but they put up with it.

On Christmas morning, we had some of my grandma's caramel rolls. As you can see by the picture of my sister, they are delicious and we often fight over who gets them.

After taking a couple pictures in the snow and eating some caramel rolls, we all headed over to my dad's house to celebrate Christmas with him. Thankfully, the roads were not bad by the time we went over there.

At my dad's, we ate another traditional Christmas dinner and opened presents. Amy made one of her awesome apple pies for the occasion. It was a big hit. Thankfully, my sister did let other people have some of the pie.

This trip to Dallas was my sister's first time to see the twins since their birth. She was very excited and loved holding the babies. Angela knows tons of songs to sing to entertain the kids. I might need to get her to teach me some...the only song I know is "Itsy, bitsy, spider." :)

Here are a couple pictures Angela snapped on her iPhone. I'm not sure what face Caroline is making here but I thought it was funny.

Here is one of Caden when my sister whent to get him out of bed in the morning. If you want to see our kids in a great mood, you should play with them in the morning. The twins kept Aunt Angela and grandma entertained for hours in the morning (while mommy and daddy slept late).

A few weeks before Christmas, Grandma bought our kids little Santa hats. They wore them everywhere they went the week or so before Christmas. Here are a couple of pictures of Caroline sporting her festive hat. Amy and I hope to take a few more pictures of the twins wearing their hats and Christmas pajamas before they get retired. Yes, Caroline finds this comfortable. She sleeps peacefully with her head bent in all sorts of weird ways.

Here is a picture I took of us in front the tree we decorated in our front lawn. Okay, the "our lawn" part isn't true. It's actually right next to a post office in Cedar Park. I noticed it one night after mailing some stuff for. You can't really tell in the picture, but the kids were not happy about posing at this moment. They were both ready for their dinner. On the other hand, Amy and I were stuffed. We had just eaten a good meal at BJs.

Well, that's my summary of what we did for our first Christmas with the twins. We can't wait until Christmas comes around again next year. Maybe we'll just leave our decorations up all year round. I know that would make my wife and kids happy. The kids sure love the tree lights.

Baker Family Pictures

When we celebrated Thanksgiving with Amy's side of the family, we decided to take a couple of family pictures. Here is the best one of all of us.
Actually, in the above picture, I had to merge three pictures to come up with this one. It is really hard to get kids to look at the camera...especially when it is on a tripod with a timer. I replaced a couple kids heads with heads from other pictures and opened one adults eyes.

In one of the pictures, Cal and Caroline were checking each other out. I think Caroline was trying to say hi while Cal was making sure she didn't get too close where she could actually touch him. At the moment, Cal is not a fan of babies and makes sure he doesn't get too close to our twins.

Here is a picture of Amy's brother's family. It was easier to get the kids to look at the camera when there was actually someone behind it. Also, I was able to take a hundred pictures when I didn't need to use the timer.

In one of the Baker five shots, Will made this angelic smile. I love it...hopefully, Michael and/or Amy won't dislike it too much. :)

Dallas Cowboy Hats for the Twins

I've been looking for a couple Dallas Cowboy beanies for the twins. Surprisingly, I could not find any place to buy these. My mom heard about this and decided to make a couple of hats for the twins. My mom is pretty good with a sewing machine and sometimes enjoys making stuff. (She made me a really nice t-shirt quilt a year or so ago.) Below are some pictures of what she came up with.

She didn't know exactly how big to make the hats. The one thing she did know is that Caroline's head is currently bigger than Caden's. As you can see, she successfully made the hat for Caroline bigger than the one for Caden. The one for Caroline is almost large enough to fit me...
...While Caden needs to wear his tiny hat like a beret. :)

Well, my mom still had some more of the Dallas Cowboys material so she decided to try again. This time, she got the sizes right! Don't the twins look good in their Dallas Cowboys hats? They always where these when they watch Cowboy games with Daddy. Hopefully, there will be several more games this season for us to use these hats...