Life with the Laughlins

Every Cowgirl Loves a Rodeo!

2012-01-31T14:27:00.000-08:00

Grammy and Papa recently took all of us to the International Finals Rodeo. We also went with them last year and we all had a great time. The girls loved the music, the animals, and of course the popcorn. Here is Reagan with her cousin and her Papa.
Yee-haw Cowgirl!!
The girls and Grammy with their cousin.
My blue-eyed cowgirl. She loved the trick riding cowgirls who rode upside down while their horses were at a full gallop! She immediately exclaimed, "Look a trick rider!!" She rides her bouncy horse at home and frequently does crazy stuff on it so we always call her our trick rider. It was so cute to see her recognize what we had been talking about.
Reagan again clapping to the loud music. What can I say she hears music and it moves her!! Her whole body can't stop moving and clapping. It is so cute!
Did I mention we love going to story time at the library? It is the highlight of our week. We also recently tried story time at Barnes and Noble and it was so much fun. Here are the sweet sisters hugging onto each other waiting for the story to start. For some reason the girls won't sit very long at home for me to read books but they love to hear other people do it.
We also recently went to a birthday party for one of the girls' friends. It was a 2yr. old Tutu Tea Party! Such a cute idea. The girls had a great time and grandma even came with us for a little girl time. Thanks so much for coming Grandma and Happy Birthday to Quinn. Unfortunately I didn't get any great pics of all the kids in their tutus but here are my little cutie pies!
Reagan rockin' her tutu. I must also add that a friend made us these tutus and headbands as a baby shower gift. We took their newborn pics in them and they still fit us now! Thanks so much Crystal, we love them.
Renna giving me her little attitude face, with enough already of all the pictures mom!

Basketball & Dance Class

2012-01-20T15:00:00.000-08:00

My parents and I took the girls to their first Cowboy Basketball game recently. My friend Stacey and her little baby Berkley joined us too. We had a great time. The girls really enjoyed watching the game and Reagan loved the band. She stood up and clapped to the music. Here is the only picture I managed to get of the girls with my parents. Thanks for taking us Grandma and Papa! Go Cowboys!
Renna cheering on her Cowboys.
Reagan and Papa watching the game intently. Did I mention how many snacks and popcorn they ate? You have to have something to eat while you cheer!
Reagan loving on Berkley. She is so drawn to little babies...she wants to constantly put pacifiers or bottles in their mouths...such a little mommy. Berkley was pretty excited about her first OSU game too!
Stacey, me, Berkley and Reagan
We recently got to go to dance class with our friend Piper. It was bring your friend to dance class day and she was so sweet to invite us. The girls were super excited. Piper let us borrow some leotards and the girls were so excited to wear their "dance clothes & tutus." As soon as Reagan put her outfit on she started spinning and twirling!
Renna modeling her leotard.
Here are the girls walking into dance class with Piper, Shelly, and Briggs. Aren't they cute holding hands? Look how grown up they look.
We got to class a little early and the girls posed for a few photos in the hall. Renna and Piper have become such good friends!
My little Reagan was so excited she could not stop smiling and running in circles in the hallway.
The pictures during class were taken through a window in the door so they aren't great. Here are the girls doing their bar exercises.
Time to stretch...
After the class was over Renna ran back in to play at the bar!! She was so cute up on her tippy toes. I am more determined now than ever that we are going to start dance when the girls turn three. Look out world we have some little ballerinas in the making...

December Catch-up

2012-01-05T13:59:00.000-08:00

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas. Since I am way behind on my blogging I have decided to skip right over Thanksgiving and just do a December catch up. We had a busy but wonderful month with lots of holiday fun. These first few pictures are from a photo shoot I tried to do by myself one morning with the girls. Lets just say I got a few cute ones out of about 200 photos! Two two year-olds are not the easiest to photograph and I never managed to get one of both of them smiling. Anyways here are a few of my favorites...look how sweet they are kissing here. They have really started becoming good little playmates and friends lately. They of course have their fights but they really seem to be looking out for one another a lot. So precious!
Renna holding our Merry Christmas sign on the front porch.
Reagan excited about seeing the outside Christmas decorations. That is pretty much it from my photo session. I don't think I will be leaving my day job for photography anytime soon.
We had a really fun playdate with three of my friends from college and their children. Shelly hosted it and we all had a great time. We made Christmas ornaments, had some yummy food, and just enjoyed watching the kids play. Amber got all of the girls matching shirts for Christmas and little Briggs (the lone boy) a new shirt too! What a ladies' man!
Here is Reagan, Shelly, and I making her thumbprint reindeer ornament. They came out so cute. Thanks so much for the fun crafts Shelly.
Here are all the kids eating. I had to post this picture because it seems pretty amazing to me that there are four two-year olds, a three year-old, and a 14 month-old all sitting at the same time! It is so fun to get together with girlfriends/roommates from OSU and see our children becoming friends as well.
Renna and Piper playing. The playdate was at Piper's house and her and Renna have become such good friends since they recently moved here. Her mom and I have known each other since high school and lived together in college as well. These two together can sure get into trouble fast! Renna definitely keeps this momma on her toes as she can find anything that isn't baby proofed and quickly get into it (even a lot of the baby safety stuff she has mastered). Never a dull moment with her!
Our next December adventure was to go see Santa. We put the girls in their Christmas dresses and met up with my best friend Sonya and her little girl. I had grand visions of beautiful pictures...how quickly I forgot my last photo session attempt. Here the girls are seeing Santa for the first time while waiting in line. They were so excited about seeing him this year but things would soon change...
More photo op attempts...Renna of course went right under the chain barriers and quickly convinced her sister to do the same. Don't they look so precious in their dresses? This is about the best picture I got of them together.
My best photo of Reagan. She was in awe of the big Christmas tree. Our little Pickle is such a sweet girl and is my little snuggler. She still loves singing about anything and everything and it is usually accompanied by some dancing as well. I love hearing her singing in her bed or when we are driving in the car...she makes up the cutest songs. It makes this momma so proud. She is very independent and enjoys playing by herself when we are in a large group.
Sadly my best photo of Renna. She was clearly annoyed with my pleads for smiling and multiple attempts at the perfect photo! Our little Pumpkin is growing up so much. She is beginning to have conversations like a 5yr old and never misses a detail of anything we discuss. I am also proud to announce she is now wearing big girl panties! What a huge accomplishment for her and us.
We went to see Santa with the girls' best friend Natalie. We had bought them matching Christmas dresses and Sonya and I of course wanted to get some cute pictures of the girls. Again, try taking pictures of three two year-olds. This one came out cute as they were so excited to look at the train.
Renna briefly sat on Santa's lap by herself. She seemed to like it until I tried to put Reagan down on his lap and Reagan began screaming which quickly resulted in Renna deciding Santa was scary too!
We tried to convince them Santa wasn't so bad. They had been talking about him for months but talking with him is something different entirely! They did both manage to tell him they wanted yellow presents with pink bows. Renna started this statement about a month before Christmas and Reagan also thought it was a great idea and began repeating it as well...I guess great minds think a like.

So...we all four took a photo with Santa!! Reagan would not quit covering her eyes in fear. So hilarious. She did manage to peek at him right before we left and quickly say "Thank you Santa" before covering her eyes again. Too funny!
We made Christmas cookies with Grammy. The girls really enjoyed it this year...and actually made a lot less of a mess this year.
Reagan was so proud of her cookie making.
Hard at work on the cookies...what fun!
Renna cheesing it up for a little Christmas cheer!
This was the first year we got to open Christmas gifts with my whole family and the girls!! It was so wonderful to see all of the cousins playing and opening presents together. Here they are enjoying a little couch jumping at Grandmas.
My parents got the girls their very own jeep!! Here they are getting in for the first time. They love it but still can't get the hang of the steering thing...they have the gas pedal down really well. I think I will be getting lots of exercise chasing this jeep.
Renna on Christmas morning seeing what Santa brought.
Santa brought a kitchen which of course was wrapped in yellow with pink bows!! It as well as the shopping cart with the babies was a huge hit.
Reagan doing a little cooking. You can see the shopping cart and baby are never far from their reach.
Renna opening her stocking and trying on some headbands.
Reagan digging in her stocking.
The girls on Christmas day at Grammy and Papa's house. They are watching this dancing baby that they got. It is so cute! We all had a wonderful December and were very blessed to get to do a lot of fun stuff and spend a lot of time with friends and family. Adam and I truly feel blessed beyond what we deserve. We hope everyone else had a great holiday season. I will try to blog more frequently now...sorry about the really long post.

Belated Halloween Treats

2011-11-09T14:32:00.000-08:00

Here are my sweet little chicks!! We had a very very busy Halloween WEEK!! We went to four different events where the girls got to wear their costumes and they loved every minute of it. The first thing we went to was the Storybook Forest around a lake near our home. They act out several nursery rhymes and the kids walk around to each one collecting candy. The girls loved it but anytime a costume or something made them nervous they would hold hands. As you will notice in the rest of the pictures, Reagan refused to wear her hat and Renna pretty much never took it off. So get ready for Halloween picture overload...
Their favorite was Humpty Dumpty. My curious Renna even pulled his leg off!
Some excited girls waiting in line to get started trick or treating at the forest. I took them with me to pick out Halloween buckets and I was thinking about a pumpkin or something, of course the search was over as soon as they spotted Elmo buckets!
I love this picture of Renna because it shows how genuinely excited she was to wear the chicken costume...the girl loves chickens!!! She loves gathering eggs, petting chickens, dressing like chickens, feeding chickens, and even eating chicken! She was so proud of herself in her costume and didn't want to take the hat off even when we were indoors and she was sweating.

Family photo time at the Storybook Forest. I was actually surprised as this is the first family photo in months (or maybe ever) where everyone is smiling and looking at the camera. Yeah!
The next day we went up to my sister's work and participated in their Halloween celebration. They put on a huge party with iced cookies, games, a DJ, and decorate floors of the office building for the kids to come around to get candy. The kids had an amazing time going through the floors of the offices and seeing all the decorations and of course getting candy! Here is the only picture I could get of all 4 cousins. Notice we had Gage and the girls dress alike...they are such good friends and it was fun to see them be little chicks together! It is funny because we always get asked when we are out with them if they are triplets (they are 7mo. apart) and that is totally magnified when you dress them alike.
Reagan loved the idea of carrying her basket and getting candy...even as she got overloaded she wouldn't let us help her carry anything. She was all about the buckets.
Here are the 3 little chicks getting their candy. It was precious to see them actually say Trick or Treat this year and then hear them say thank you to everyone.
Daddy and Renna eating their sugar cookies.
They had a DJ and we couldn't pull Reagan away from the music!! She wanted to stay and dance, this shot is of her dancing in action. Notice the hair flying as she spins and shakes! We definetly have a little performer on our hands...which I must admit makes me pretty proud.
We tried to get a group picture with Aunt Amy and all the kids but Renna wouldn't cooperate. Thanks so much Aunt Amy for inviting us. We had a great time!!
On Halloween night we went to a Fall Carnival with my best friend Sonya, Natalie, and her family. My mom got to come with us too so she could see them in their costumes. Thanks mom for coming and helping out. The girls had so much fun playing games. This is the best picture I got of them together. I was shocked we got them to both sit there for a few seconds. Look at those long legs!
The girls loved all the carnival games! I don't think they really even cared about the candy they just wanted to play. We also went to a great fall carnival at our church but I failed to get pictures since I took the girls by myself...try taking two two-year olds to a carnival alone and see how many photos you get!
This is the only photo we managed to get of Natalie and the girls together. Natalie was an adorable ladybug, this was at the end and I had to make the girls take their costumes off because they were sweating so badly. Thanks so much Scott family for inviting us. We all had a wonderful time.
And last but not least what Halloween is complete without a bounce house? We literally had to drag all 3 girls out at the end. Once they got in we could not get them out. Needless to say everyone slept really well that night. Now the next question is after all this Halloween fun, what are we going to do with all that candy? We had such a fun Halloween week this year I am thinking it may now become one of my favorite holidays, it was even the first year that Adam and I haven't dressed up and I didn't miss that at all because I was having so much fun watching the girls enjoy it. So Happy Belated Halloween everyone.

Pumpkin Patch Adventures

2011-10-19T14:30:00.000-07:00

We recently took the girls to visit a pumpkin patch on Adam's day off. Grammy came with us too and we had a great time. The weather was above 80 so we wore our summer clothes for our fall adventure! We loved the weather! I tried to get a cute pic of the girls posing together with some pumpkins but they had nothing to do with that. I did think this was pretty cute of them off to look at the pumpkins together. I see them holding hands a lot more now especially when they are somewhere new or get nervous about something. It melts my heart to see how much comfort they get from each other. So who needs a good posed shot when you get some serious sister love in action?? Too precious for words!
This was when I was trying to get Renna to pose...she thought it was a ridiculous idea!
Reagan didn't want to stop climbing in the pumpkins.
Reagan carefully surveyed the patch before choosing her pumpkin.
Renna dove right in and started grabbing pumpkins! She is carrying three in this picture. We had to convince her we could only take one home.
They loved climbing in the wagon of pumpkins.
Reagan loved milking the cow!
Reagan and Grammy riding the carousel, we had to ride it twice!
Renna loved the carousel too but only wanted to ride with her daddy...def a daddy's girl!
There was also a little bouncing area, which they loved. It was a great workout.
They also got to go on a pony ride. You would think we don't have our own horses at home as excited as they were. I think they liked being on the smaller horses. I was pretty proud of how excited they were.
We also took a train ride around the farm.
Reagan riding the horse. She did not want to get off...like mother like daughter I guess.
And finally it was time to take our pumpkins and head home. You can see how windy it was so it took some effort to carry their pumpkins. And can you believe after all that activity they did not nap at all that day?? These girls need shockingly little amount of sleep. I guess they get that from their parents, but seriously I was exhausted after this adventure. We sure are on the lookout for pumpkins now. Everywhere we go Renna likes to point them out and count them. What a fun fall adventure! Thanks for taking us Grammy!

Thomas the Train

2011-10-15T13:56:00.000-07:00

We recently went to visit the Real Live Thomas the Train!! We went with my grandma (Meme) and my sister and her family. Daddy was working so it was nice to have some help from the family on our big adventure. The girls don't actually watch Thomas the Train but they are pretty excited about trains in general. Here we are posing with Thomas.
Here are all the cousins before the train ride. Sadly, they all look a little crazy here but this is the only one I got that they were all four in! They take you on a ten minute little train ride and everyone really enjoyed it.
Reagan was pretty excited when the train actually started moving.
The girls looking out the window at the station before we started moving. I thought it was a cute photo op!
Renna wanted to wear the conductor hats they were handing out. She was pretty excited too when the movement started. Her face here cracks me up!
Me and my little ladies waiting for the train to start. We had such a fun time. Thanks for all your help Aunt Amy and MeMe. More fall adventure pictures to come.

The State Fair

2011-10-03T14:19:00.000-07:00

We recently spent some time at the State Fair. We got to go with Grammy and Papa and our cousins to see Toy Story on Ice! It was really fun. We were a little unsure about how the girls would do because they don't watch Toy Story but they were so excited by the music and dancing. They continued to ask "where pig go?" "where doggy go?" etc...as the characters skated off the ice out of sight. They are full of questions these days and it is sometimes quite comical. I love how much they can carry on conversations with us as well as each other these days. It is very entertaining also to watch them talk to their baby dolls and say the same things to their dolls as I say to them! This is just a picture of the girls in the stroller as we were making our way to the show.
Reagan excitedly clapping her hands to the music. I know I have mentioned it before but this child loves loves music just like her momma and I often find her sitting around singing making up cute little songs. She lays in her bed at night and sings and her Sunday School teachers have commented on how she really likes to help with the singing in class. I love watching her face light up when music comes on. Lookout world we may have a little performer on our hands.
Renna and Aunt Lindsay eating some popcorn during the show. Renna usually won't let many people hold her but for some reason that evening she decided to get in some much needed time with her aunt, it was really cute.

Reagan and daddy getting some snuggle time during the last half of the show.
Mommy, Grammy, and the girls enjoying the skating.
It has become an annual tradition for us to go to the fair with some of our best friends from Vet School, Moose and Amber and their sweet little girl Paisley, and grandma Dawn. Moose was sick and couldn't join us and we really missed him but we ate some extra calories for him just so he wouldn't feel left out! In this picture we stopped to watch some Percherons pulling a carriage. It was a crowd pleaser for everyone. Our fair trip always centers around seeing all the animals (as if they don't see enough of those at our house or my parents) and eating of course!!
The girls were really excited to see the baby pigs. They look so grown up here hanging over the fence. They are such big girls lately in everything they do! Renna being a whole minute older is definitely becoming the big sister as she tries to help Reagan with everything, even when Reagan doesn't need her help. It is pretty sweet because Renna always tries to comfort Reagan when she cries, except of course when the crying is due to hitting that Renna has inflicted!
The girls loved feeding Paisley anything they could get her to eat. They all even shared some ice cream sundaes...yummy!!
The girls all loved the Ag building where they have interactive stuff for kids to play with. Have I mentioned how much the girls love chickens? Especially Renna, they feed and gather eggs at my parents house with their chickens and it has now become an obsession. Every bird that we now see in a parking lot or something walking around is proclaimed "baby chicken" by Renna. She gets so excited I haven't had the heart to correct her. This cute picture captures Renna's amazement that these chickens weren't moving. She was more than a little perplexed by it but still loved gathering the eggs. Spoiler alert: you may see some little chicken costumes in our future!!
Reagan was excited about picking apples and putting them in the sand garden.
And here are my little ladies burying apples in the sand. Did I mention this picture was taken at like 9pm at night and my little night owls were still going strong with their little friend Paisley? The girls are at such a fun age right now. Of course two has its share of challenges but overall they are playing together so much more and are starting to use their imaginations. It is really cute to hear Reagan rambling on using many words we cannot understand but then Renna gets exactly what she was trying to say. I have to use her as a translator sometimes! We have been spending as much time as possible outside right now and enjoying the gorgeous weather before it starts getting cold. More pictures of our other adventures to come.

First OSU Football Game

2011-09-14T21:06:00.000-07:00

We recently got to take the girls back to our college for their first college football game. Some of our friends gave us the tickets and we jumped at the chance to enjoy the game, the beautiful weather, and of course teach the girls our love for the OSU Cowboys!! Luckily the girls still fit into their hand me down cheerleading outfits from last year, so we were dressed and ready to cheer on the Cowboys. We also got to go eat at our favorite restaurant with some friends from college before the game.
Renna waiting patiently on her yummy pizza. She looks so big in this photo.
Quick family photo before the game. Reagan was less than thrilled about stopping for a photo.
The girls really loved the game. Their favorite part was Bullet galloping onto the field, Pistol Pete and the large cowboy hat, and of course the cheerleaders.
Our seats were beyond great as we were on the second row. However, I am pretty sure everyone around us looked at us like we might be crazy as we crawled over people with two year old twins! I am confident they were all thinking, "what were those parents thinking?" Reagan loved standing up and clapping at every opportunity. We cracked up because there was a very very loud fan sitting directly behind Adam and Reagan proceeded to tell him several times he was too loud!! Funny enough the guy was so loud he never even heard her. I love the frank honesty of children. She looks so excited in this photo.
Renna and I cheering on the Pokes! They both waved their little hands in the air like pistols and hollered Go Pokes. It was so priceless. Renna and I even got our pictures up on the jumbo tron at the game. Renna kept asking every two seconds "Where Bullet go? Where cheerweaders go? Pete take hat off?"
They got a restless at halftime so we let them run around a little down by the concession area. You can only ask so much for two year olds. And apparently Renna is on to the smell of popcorn because before she even saw any she started asking for some...of course we had to have some after that!
Daddy and his little cowgirls. Renna looks like she is sleepily rubbing her eyes here but our little night owls stayed awake all the way home and didn't go to bed until about 11:30! They actually still had a lot of energy when we got home. I guess they were just pumped up about their first football game...and the Cowboys win of course!
After halftime we moved to some higher up seats where it was less crowded. The girls were so cute because they wanted to sit in the seat together. Here are the sweet sisters sharing their goldfish with each other...I caught them at a good moment...they don't always share this well. The adventure was exhausting but a ton of fun and we made lots of great memories. The girls always want to play catch with the football now and now have the color orange down for sure!! Thank you so much Taylor family for the great tickets, we appreciate it more than you know. Lets Go Cowboys!

Roadtrip and a Rodeo

2011-08-09T14:52:00.000-07:00

We recently took a road trip back to my hometown to see the annual rodeo. We went with my friends Amanda, Tanner, and their family. Amanda and I have been friends since preschool so it was so wonderful to see our daughters get to play and have fun together. Her parents were nice enough to let us all stay at their ranch house. Here are all the girls. Amanda, baby Ally, Ava, Renna, Reagan, and me. We were waiting for the big rodeo parade to start. The weather was pretty much 100 or over the entire weekend so you can see how sweaty we are. It was so fun to be back at my hometown for the first time in about 5 years. Adam and I enjoyed driving back to my parents land and seeing the spot where we got married. I wanted to show it to the girls but by some miracle they fell asleep in the car and I wasn't about to wake them. We enjoyed every minute of it. Thanks so much Tanner and Amanda for inviting us to come with you on this trip.
Reagan eating her first Tootsie Roll. They were throwing them at the parade and she was definitely a fan!
This is the only family picture we got the whole weekend. The girls weren't even looking...but at least we got some documentation of the girls seeing their first parade.
Watching the parade with Daddy.
Our three sweaty girls getting refreshed at Dairy Queen after the parade.
And that evening we went to the rodeo. The girls watched bits and pieces of the rodeo, but mostly they were hot and wanted to walk around. This is the face we got most of the evening...hot and wanting to do something else!
Renna watching intently...see they had their moments.
Reagan pointing at the bucking horses at the beginning of the rodeo. Her favorite part.
Here are the two mommies, very hot and tired at the end of the evening.
At the very end of the rodeo there were trick motorcycles. They did jumps and flips. Look how excited the girls are watching them. The motorcycles were the kids' favorite by far. Of course we take them to a rodeo and they get excited about the ATVs and not the animals!! I must admit I was pretty impressed myself.
Reagan loved watching the motorcycles with Tanner and Ava.
Here is the best picture I got of the whole outfit with the skirt and boots. This is Renna tired, no bows, and ready to go home. However, the boots have now become their favorite foot attire! We had a wonderful trip and cannot thank Amanda's parents, Ken and Karen, for allowing us to stay at their ranch. And we survived our longest road trip with the girls (3hrs)!! Thank goodness for Elmo on the DVD player.It was a fun trip full of great memories that might become a yearly tradition for us.

Summer Fun

2011-07-16T20:42:00.000-07:00

We have been having a really fun summer. It is flying by as it always does. Here are a few pictures of just a few things we have been up to. We took a weekend trip to the lake. The girls had fun but got up really really early every morning and of course didn't nap. It made for an exhausting weekend but it was a ton of fun.
Family swim time
Reagan was happy just to play in the sand and drag the wagon around. Doesn't she look proud of herself here? She did get in the water but it took a lot of encouragement. I think she might take after her momma in that way and just want to tan and relax near the water rather than actually participate in the lake sports!
Renna loved playing in the sand as well but was more eager to run back and forth into the water. She is our little daredevil and wants to try and swim by herself. She will probably be Dadddy's little skier (if she can get over the fear of the loud noise of the boat of course).
We took two quick boat rides. The girls were really nervous at first but liked it once we started going. Can you tell how tired we all look here?
Most people know I competed in pageants in high school. My mom, grandma, and I recently took my niece Sara, and the girls to their first pageant! I was so excited for them. They really enjoyed watching the contestants sing and dance. They excitedly talked about the microphone and the dresses were all "cute" according to Reagan. It made me happy to see them enjoy it. I might have some future beauty queens on my hands! They got pretty wild during intermission and judges deliberation but overall they were great and made their momma proud. This picture is right before we got seated...we couldn't get one of both of them looking of course.
We have been spending time playing in the girls' new playhouse outside. The girls got it for their birthday from Grammy and Papa and no matter how hot is is outside they never want to quit playing in it. Here is Reagan playing at the sink.
Renna loves to peek out the window while she is cooking.
We have gotten to have several playdates lately with our best friend Natalie. The girls have such a great time together. Here are our bathing beauties right before we got in the pool. Aren't they precious? Look at all that curly frizzy hair they all three have! We also went to the circus with Natalie and all three girls loved it! I will find our pictures eventually and post those.
The girls played with some pop rock fireworks and watched their cousins set off a few. It was fun to see their mixed emotions of scared and excited all at the same time. You can see in this picture how attached we are to our baby dolls as they go with us everywhere. Just what I need is two more babies to keep up with!!
The girls really enjoyed watching the fireworks this year. We got to watch some on the 3rd and on the 4th with each of our families and it was so fun to see their little faces get so excited at the explosions.
We have also gotten to swim with our cousins at our house. Gage and Sara are becoming quite the little swimmers. I love watching the girls gain more confidence in the pool as the summer goes on. They love jumping off the ladder into the water.
We got to have a playdate with one of our best friends, Paisley and her momma and daddy recently. We haven't gotten to hangout much with them since our swim classes ended this spring so it was fun to get the girls together again. That is a quick summer catchup to the Life with the Laughlins. We hope everyone is staying cool and enjoying their summer too!

Renna & Reagan are Two!!

2011-06-22T15:08:00.000-07:00

About a week and a half ago our little ladies turned two! Where has the time gone? Everything seems to be going turbo speed. It is hard to believe these babies were such tiny little miracles only two years ago. They are at such a fun age right now, I just want time to stop for a little while so we can enjoy this stage. They are our little chatterboxes, talking constantly, laughing at each other, and even making up silly songs to sing!! I love seeing them become such good friends with each other. I often catch them hugging each other and holding hands. So rewarding to see. Renna is still a little shy around new people but is getting more outgoing everyday. She takes after her daddy in almost every way. She is very in to details and immediately notices when something is out of place and wants to fix it. They can now say most of the alphabet and can easily count to ten sometimes higher! Reagan is my little snuggler and definitely a momma's girl. She loves singing and any type of music makes her dance...I wonder who she gets that from? She is our little night owl and will stay up until 11 o'clock just singing and laughing. Such a happy girl.
We had a zebra party this year. It was a lot of fun for me decorating and dressing them up. I am sure next year they will tell me what kind of party they want, so I enjoyed one last year of primping them like princesses. Here the guests are just starting to show up and the girls were feeling a little overwhelmed. They soon warmed up and had a great time.
Our family picture with the cakes. I made the girls' name signs in the background.
Aunt Lindsay made the girls birthday cakes again. We were really impressed!! They looked amazing and tasted wonderful too. Thanks so much for making them Lindsay.
The girls playing outside on their new grill while daddy cooked for everyone. Thanks for the grill Grammy and Papa, it is a real hit. Here they are with their best friend Natalie and our friend Molly. They really had fun with their friends this year at the party.
Daddy hard at work grilling the food. Uncle Dustin looks very hungry!
Enjoying the cookout from the highchairs.
Opening presents was really fun. They got a ton of gifts. We want to thank all of our friends and family for coming and celebrating with us. The girls had a fantastic time.
We got the girls their first tricycles!! It has really been a hit....especially the music and buttons to push on the trikes. They have figured out to put their feet on the pedals but haven't been able to make it go using the pedals yet. Mommy is getting a good back workout pushing them.
Grandma, Papa, and MeMe got them their first bouncy horse. They absolutely love it. This was one of my favorite toys as a child so I love seeing them enjoy one too! Thanks!
The girls actually blew out the candles on their cakes! It was so cute. I was surprised that they understood what to do. Here is Reagan doing hers.
Renna blowing out her candles.
The day after the party the girls got to eat their own piece of cake and since they weren't in their special outfits I let them enjoy it and get it everywhere. My silly Renna cheesin it up for the camera.
My sweet Reagan with her cake face. Don't those brown eyes just melt your heart? I have enjoyed these last two years more than I ever knew I could. I don't think we could have asked for such special double blessings! God has far exceeded my expectations of how rewarding it is to be a mother. To see them so healthy and happy is the best gift anyone could ever give me. I love every second I spend with these little girls. Looking forward to many more memories and adventures in the Life with the Laughlins.

First Fishing Trip

2011-06-01T20:23:00.000-07:00

For my birthday we went out to my parent's house for the girls first fishing trip. This was actually the same day as the march of dimes walk, so we had some tired girls since they didn't even nap. They loved every minute of it. They got filthy dirty, played in the red dirt, fished, watched frogs and turtles, road four wheelers, and of course ate cupcakes and ice cream! What a great birthday I had. The girls seem to like the fishing but mostly loved playing in the dirt with their cousins. You can see how dirty and sweaty they are here. But can't you see how much fun they are having? It was catch and release since our niece and nephew enjoy feeding the fish daily, but we still had a great time. Hopefully it is the first of many fishing trips in our future.Aunt Amy and Renna were great fishing buddies. You can kind of tell in this picture how much Renna looks like my sister, they have the same profile for sure. Aren't they a cute pair?

Reagan holding the pole and pointing out at the bobber.
Daddy fishing

Renna was very serious about the fishing for the first 3 minutes anyways!
Reagan getting a closeup look at Papa's catfish.
Uncle Ray with his prize catfish.
Sara, Gage, and Renna touching Papa's catfish.
Mommy and Reagan...the serious fisherwomen! I actually caught the biggest fish but the line broke when we got him up on the bank and he flopped back in...that sounds like a fishing tail doesn't it? No pictures=No fish
Papa teaching Renna how to cast a line!
Of course Grandma brought snacks. The girls have never eaten so good! I guess everything tastes better out in the great outdoors. It was a wonderful birthday and I was constantly reminded how blessed I am to be the mom to these girls and have such an amazing family.

Team Laughin Twins March for Babies

2011-05-25T21:19:00.000-07:00

We recently did our annual March for Babies and we had a beautiful day and a great turnout for our team. We had 22 adults, 15 kids in strollers, and two babies on the way in their mommies' tummies! Wow! We had an amazing group and we raised almost $1600! We want to thank all of our friends, family, and others who supported us by walking or by donating. Adam and I were very pleased with the results and feel like we are all working together to make a difference in the lives of many children who are born prematurely. This photo is of the girls playing right before the walk. They were so excited about the stickers and the pom poms being handed out. They were my little troopers and rode in their strollers the whole way without complaining.
I posted this one out of order but here are the girls at the end of the walk, exhausted and hot! My sweet little ladies are all tuckered out.
Quick family picture at the end of the walk.
Here is part of the team anyways. It was a little crazy at the beginning and we didn't end up getting a photo of the whole group this year. So if we missed getting you in the picture, sorry but we appreciate each and every one of you.
Amanda, Ava, Ally, Amy, Michelle, Frannie and Atticus walking.
Sonya, Darran, Natalie, Chandra, Sophia, Lilly, and my mom
The girls with their friend Paisley and her grandma, Dawn. Paisley's momma made a shirt that said Team Renna & Reagan for her to wear!! So cute. It gave me a great idea to make the girls some shirts to wear next year. We love that little girl...and her family too!
A group of us went to the park to each lunch after the walk. Here I am with my best friend Sonya, her daughter Natalie, little Sophia (my good friend Chandra's little girl), and my niece Sara.
I love this picture of the girls with their best friend Natalie. They have such a good time together...I look forward to many fun memories with them all playing together.
My friend, Michelle and her kids, Frannie and Atticus. Michelle and I have been through a lot together from high school to college and now babies! It is so fun to get to see our children play together now. I wish I could name everyone who walked with us and post pictures of everyone but we simply didn't get all the pictures I wanted. Just know we appreciated each and everyone of you and we cannot thank you enough for supporting Renna and Reagan and our cause! We are a very blessed family.

Happy Belated Easter!

2011-05-05T13:37:00.001-07:00

Here are a few pre-Easter pictures daddy took! He did a great job with our little mini-photo session. I was really pleased with the results; however, it is becoming increasingly harder to get a good picture of both girls looking the same way and smiling at the same time. Adam took over 600 pictures and this is the best one we got of both of them...amazingly enough it was one of the first pictures he took. Anyways, don't they look precious and grown-up in their Easter best?
Love this picture of my sweet Reagan so excited about the tulips!
This is my favorite one of Renna using her oh my face looking at a passing car.
Just had to post this one because the girls were walking holding hands! It has become a fun thing they like to do when we are out walking somewhere. How precious is that? They are certainly starting to really show their love for one another and serious concern when the other sister is not around. I just love it!! Don't get me wrong, they fight a lot too but overall they love each other a ton. We feel like they are so lucky to grow up together as little built in play friends!
The day before Easter we colored Easter eggs with Grammy and Papa and celebrated Easter with them. Reagan is proudly displaying her blue egg and blue hand! They really enjoyed their first time coloring Easter eggs. Thanks Grammy for letting us make such a mess. It was lots of fun.
Renna and Grammy coloring her eggs.
We next hunted the Easter eggs and surprisingly enough the girls really caught onto it. It was so cute because they had two very different styles of hunting their eggs. Reagan so thoughtfully stopped to open each one and examine the contents before moving on with a little prodding. It was really sweet to see her take so much time with each one.
Here they are with their baskets, if you notice Renna's is full and all the eggs are still together. Reagan's has a lot less eggs and all of hers are open with the contents spilling out!
Renna's egg hunt strategy was to rapidly put as many in her basket as she could. She really did a great job and kept dropping ones back down out of the overflowing basket. This system worked great because Reagan came along and proudly opened the dropped eggs! They are a perfect team!
This is Easter morning before church. My parents and my grandma came to go to our church with us. This was their first time coming to go to our church and the girls really loved it and so did we. Thanks so much for coming and sharing Easter with us. Church went well and we got to come home and eat at our house a nice home cooked meal that my mom made. It was a great day to celebrate our Savior's Resurrection.
Quick family photo before we walked out the door. So glad we got this quick shot since we managed to get no pictures of the girls opening their baskets that the Easter bunny brought.
A little Easter chocolate aftermath! After naptime we let the girls open and eat their very first individual chocolate and peanut butter bunnies. They were super excited about it. I guess the girls know when they have something good because they both cried for more when they were all gone. Anyways we had a very blessed Easter and loved spending time with both of our families. I guess you could say that our cup runneth over.

The Laughlin Twins March for Babies

2011-04-21T19:53:00.000-07:00

Here are the girls after a long day of playing outside. They love sitting on this ledge at the base of our house. It is the perfect size for their little bottoms. I love these milk and cookie outfits because they say "Can't have one...." "Without the other". That is pretty much how we feel about it too!

Most of you know our girls were born 3 months premature at only 28 weeks of gestation. Renna weighed 2lbs 15oz and Reagan weighed 2lbs. 10oz. They spent two and a half months in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and endured countless transfusions, IV's, bloodwork and surgeries just to name a few. They recieved wonderful and life-saving care. Adam and I feel so blessed to have them here with us and healthy little 22 month old toddlers. We are walking to support the March of Dimes again this year. The March of Dimes supports research for babies who are born prematurely or with congenital birth defects. This research likely helped save our daughters' lives. We want to give back as much as we can to help support such a wonderful cause. On May 7 Team Laughlin Twins will be marching for healthier babies. If you can help support us in anyway please visit our team website at: http://www.marchforbabies.org//team/t1496348. Any donation you can make is greatly appreciated and may help save some babies who are in similar situations that ours were in. We hope that someday all babies will be born healthy. We want to thank our family and friends who have supported us through this journey. We are so blessed beyond what we deserve. God has truly done amazing things in our lives and continues to do so everyday. We feel so blessed to be the parents of these two beautiful girls who continue to amaze us everyday.

Here are a few pictures of them when they were in the NICU.

Renna at about 2 weeks old
One of the girls at 2 days old.
Reagan several weeks old.

Babies, Babies, Babies

2011-04-14T13:23:00.000-07:00

The girls are really really into babies right now. Babies of all kinds, humans, dolls, animals, pretending to be babies. If it has the word baby they are interested. We loaned our bouncy seat out to some friends and we recently got it back. The girls latched right onto it before I got it put away. Here they are fighting over it and both wanting to be the baby.
My sweet Baby Reagan. This is so funny because for the first two months she was home from the hospital this is the only thing we could get her to sleep in. I guess she still loves it and insisted on being covered with her blankie as well.
Our friends Amanda and Tanner came over recently with their two sweet girls, Ava and Allie. The girls were so excited to feed and hold baby Allie. Reagan is especially intrigued by her and always wants to hold her or give her a bottle. It is so precious to see her trying to be a little mommy. Thanks Amanda for letting the girls play with your beautiful daughters!
Renna holding Allie. Sweet Allie just slept right through the process. But Renna who never seems to stop moving sit there for a really long time so still just holding her. We had to make her get down.
Right along with all of the baby pretending we have Renna constantly wanting to wear my shoes around the house. I guess here is she pretending to be me and take out the trash. The odd thing is she has my shoes spread all over the floor in the closet and always comes out with a perfect match! My smart little girl loves shoes
My parents are having baby goats right now and they have one bottle goat. She is so adorable. My mom brought her over to spend the day and the girls were so excited. They drug the poor goat all over the yard and pasture with us. Here is Reagan excited about feeding the "Baby Goaty" a bottle.
Renna feeding the bottle...or attempting to.
We led her all over the yard. She came willingly most of the time. Of course both of the girls wanted to hold the rope.
The girls newest phrase is "hold it". That is what we heard all day while the goat was here. She was so tolerant of all the loving and snuggling.
This goat even rides golf carts!
Did I mention she loves wagon rides too? I think a baby goat may be in our future next year.
These are a set of twin goats at my parents house. We wanted to get a picture of the twins all together....this is the best we got.
A little fun time on the farm riding the four wheeler. This winter the girls developed a fear for loud noises and were not too excited about the four wheeler. They took a ride with their daddy recently and now they are cured. They love riding around on it, especially with their cousin Sara. Don't worry we don't go fast. So that is pretty much what we have been up to lately.

Zoo Time

2011-03-31T14:35:00.000-07:00

Since the weather has been getting nice we have been on the go. Here are daddy and the girls walking at the zoo. I cannot get over how big they look. We have been to the zoo a lot lately with our zoo pass. What a great invention for people with children. The girls are really starting to notice the animals and enjoy the outing as much as I do. Their favorite so far are the chimps and the seals. I must say I agree with that as well.
Reagan walking with our niece.
Renna walking with our nephew. Aren't they cute holding hands?
We got to try the carousel since daddy was with us. Renna loved it as you can see. Reagan got very scared so I couldn't put her down to try and get a picture.
He we are loving the elephant show! It was great to see the elephants up close, they kept the girls attention for at least five minutes, and that is a lot for them!
We love that Daddy has one day off during the week since he works Saturdays. It is fun to go visit places during the week that are normally packed on the weekends. Renna was totally done with pictures as you can see.
Checking out the elephant statues.
Over spring break we got to go to the zoo with my mom, sister, and my niece and nephew. We had a great time even though the zoo was packed. It was fun to have my mom go with us because she hadn't been to a zoo since Amy and I were little.
Renna enjoying a little time with cousins Sara and Gage.
Are those really my big girls walking all over the zoo? They have gotten a little spoiled about being able to get out of the stroller since we have went with family recently. Usually when I take them it is a rare occasion to let them out of the stroller. We love having our families close so that we get to spend time with them. Everyone check out your local zoo, it is a lot of fun.

We're Learning to Swim and Growing up

2011-03-14T20:57:00.000-07:00

One of our best friends, Amber, invited us to go mommy and me swim classes with her and her sweet daughter Paisley. We were so excited at the opportunity for the girls to get a little water exposure before summer comes. This picture is us right before our first class. Daddy was able to leave work early and make it to the class. We were really glad he made it. However we need to thank Amber and her mom Dawn for helping me get the girls dressed and ready. We love spending time with you all and are looking forward to the rest of our classes. You can see Reagan was already a little hesitant about the situation.
Here we all are in the pool. Renna has loved the water, which is shocking because she is our little shy girl. Reagan who is our more outgoing daughter was really scared at first. I guess they are just trying to keep me guessing! Anyways they did really well and Reagan eventually warmed up to the idea even though she seemed a little troubled about the cold water.
Family pool time!
Here is Amber and sweet little Paisley. Somehow we managed to get no pictures of Paisley's beautiful face. You can see Renna and I in the background practicing swimming on her belly. We have three more weeks of swim classes so we are excited to see how the girls gain some confidence in the pool. Our favorite part so far has been socializing with Paisley and her parents!
I had to post a few recent pictures of the girls. They look so grown up to me in these next few pictures. I cannot believe my little ladies will be turning two before I know it. I am loving this stage as they are now starting to really communicate and repeat everything! My little Reagan may be small but she is very good at loudly expressing her emotions. She is also my little sweetheart and readily shares her toys with others. This most of the time leads to her getting pushed around by her sister and others but it is so sweet to see how giving she is. She is usually pretty confident in new places and trying new things. Love our little sweet Pickle!
Renna is our little talker. She repeats everything and continues to repeat the word until you understand what she is trying to tell you. It is so cute! She is very in to details and immediately notices and comments on what she sees. She is a very determined child and continues to push the limits at every corner. Our Punkin is also our little shy girl. She gets very overwhelmed at strangers talking to us and getting too close. The girl just needs her space and needs her mommy and daddy close by. I am also proud to report she has started using her potty periodically! She started asking to go so we got some potty chairs and let the fun begin! Of course we aren't officially potty training yet but when a girl asks she needs to sit on her potty.
I just love this picture of Reagan. She looks so happy! Notice the stick in her hand. She loves gathering sticks outside. Luckily we have lots of trees so an endless supply of sticks to play with. Reagan is also our little singer. She loves music and just has to sing and move to the beat....I wonder who she could get this from? It makes her momma so proud.
Renna giving Daddy the look! Seriously dad, more pictures?
We stopped at a boot store after church one day and the girls fell in love with some boots. They looked so precious in them and they both cried when we made them take them off. We didn't get any real cowgirl boots yet. We are enjoying the hand-me-downs from the cousins right now.
Renna rockin the hat and the boots! Everyday with these girls is something new and wonderful. I am so lucky to be their mom! We can't wait to see what adventures are in store for Spring.

Sledding in the Snow

2011-02-17T14:05:00.000-08:00

It seems weird to be posting this now when it is 75 degrees outside. We are definitely not complaining about the rapid change in temperature. About two weeks ago we finally got to get the girls out and do a little snow sledding at Grammy and Papa's house. I was a little concerned they would hate it but they actually had a great time. Here are a few pictures of the snow fun.
Renna getting ready to check out the snow. She was a little unsure at first.
I love this one of Reagan and her huge smile! This is an action shot of them going down the hill. She wasn't scared at all.

Daddy giving the big push off. He was so proud of his brave girls. They hung on really well.
Grammy and the girls playing with a snowball. They just wanted to eat it of course. I guess the snow ice cream we made earlier could have put that idea in their head.
Here we are getting all suited up to go out. I guess I posted a little out of order. We wanted to say thanks to our two sisters for giving us some hand-me-down snow suits and boots so we didn't have to buy any. We love all the hand-me-down clothes!
I just had to post this picture of our little Reagan reading the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association! She grabbed it and just had to have it in her highchair with her. She obviously needed to catch up on the latest in veterinary research...it is always good to keep yourself informed of the latest medical breakthroughs! I guess she is just a little veterinarian in training. Now I need to get her a little practical experience at the clinic to go along with her research reading!

Blizzard of 2011

2011-02-04T13:50:00.000-08:00

This picture is of the girls with their first snow on Dec. 24, 2009. Can't believe how tiny they were and they are 6 months old in this picture. This was basically the only time they have ever seen snow until Tuesday.
We recently had a blizzard!! Crazy! That doesn't happen here very often. And just one week ago we had 75 degree temps and were playing outside in shorts! Now on to 0 degree weather and blizzards! We enjoyed Daddy being home with us for one day off work during the worst of the storm. We decided to let the girls stay in their jammies all day. Here they are playing with some snow Daddy brought inside. You can see the towering sheets of white outside the door. We decided due to the very very low temps and the fact that the girls currently have a cold to play with the snow warm and safe inside the house.
Renna holding some snow. She kept saying Cold, cold, over and over. So Cute!
While the girls were napping we had to drag ourselves outside in the 3 degree temps and blizzard snow to shovel out the drift from the garage and driveway so Adam would be able to get to work the next day. Here I am all geared up. Needless to say Adam shoveled about 4 times more snow than me but at least I was out there trying to help right? I am pretty good and feeding animals and pitching hay in the snow but not a great shoveler.
Here is Adam just getting started. Did I mention he had the huge stall cleaning shovel and he gave me the tiny metal one? Probably a good move on his part. He wanted to get the job done. Thanks Daddy for working so hard and going back to work in the bad weather to provide for your family. You are a wonderful father and amazing husband. Saving the world one dog and cat at a time...right?
When the girls got up from their nap we played with the bowl of snow and made our first ever snow ice cream! It came out pretty good and we all ate some with a little chocolate syrup of course!
Reagan wasn't to happy about being fed the ice cream. She wanted to do it herself.
Renna loved the ice cream.
Just a quick shot of the end of the day with Reagan eating some Chicken Enchilada Chili for supper! Yummy!
A few more pictures of our cold days spent inside. Before we had kids we would try to do a date night on Friday nights, now on Friday nights we always do a movie night after supper. I know we are pretty wild and crazy, dinner at home and a Netflix movie. But we actually really enjoy this tradition. Usually it is just a movie for me and Adam but the girls stay up for the beginning. Anyways this is Daddy enjoying the movie when Renna came and joined in. I thought it was so cute I went to get the camera....when I came back I found this...
They were all three sucked into the movie!! How cute is that. I think Reagan was frustrated she couldn't see as well. Doesn't daddy make a good recliner? Precious family memories.
It has been so cold and miserable we have barely left the house. Here are both the girls enjoying riding their Ozzy! Did I mention he is the most patient dog in the world? He has pretty significant arthritis in his hips so I am sure this can't feel good, but he never complains.
My two favorite girls enjoying some time in the baby strollers while drinking their "Cokes." Don't worry it is just milk but those of you who know how much I love Coke won't be surprised that they call their milk Coke. Makes their momma proud! It could be much worse, they could be really asking for Coke. I wonder how long before they figure out they are drinking something different from Mommy? It cracks me up they always want to sit in these strollers themselves with their babies. Good thing they don't weigh too much. Not sure how much more these strollers can hold. So here is hoping for no more snow! These three ladies are ready for spring so we can play outside.

Rodeo Time

2011-01-22T21:09:00.000-08:00

We recently took the girls to their first rodeo!! Yeah! This was a big deal for many reasons. First it was the first time for the girls to ever go to a big public event center of any kind. We were a little worried about how they would react, be scared or just really cranky and not wanting to sit still. They did wonderful! We were so proud of them, we did have to leave and walk around some but overall they were great and we didn't even leave until ten o'clock at night! Renna has had a lot of stranger danger in the past but it seems to be improving. The second reason it was such a big deal to me is that I have always loved rodeo. I used to ride barrels and rodeo when I was little and I grew up always going to the rodeo and watching them on TV. So I was pretty excited to let my girls experience it too. I must say the girls actually really enjoyed watching the animals and even the loud music. Thirdly our outing was a big deal because for the first time in over a month that we were all four well with no fevers!! We hope the healthy streak can continue. A big thank you to Grammy and Papa for taking us to the rodeo. We probably wouldn't have even thought to attempt it by ourselves and it is always nice to have extra hands to pass the girls around.

Here is Reagan sitting with Grammy, she loved pointing at the horses. She especially loved the bucking horses. Her face lit up each time one came out of the shoot!! It was so precious. It made me so happy to see her feeling good again and enjoying herself. Doesn't she look precious in her cowgirl hat?

Here they are trying out some fancy saddles. They loved sitting in them and looking around. I think Renna looks like a natural horsewoman!
Reagan in the saddle pointing to the next one she would like to sit in.
Renna and Daddy enjoying the rodeo. She loved wearing her cowgirl hat. She didn't want us to take it off! Such a stubborn cowgirl but how can you say no to that face?

Christmas 2010

2011-01-11T13:08:00.000-08:00

The weeks leading up to Christmas and the weeks after have been a total blur of fevers, antibiotics, breathing treatments, and various doctors visits. The girls both had strep as I said last time and Reagan was off antibiotics for 24 hours when she woke up Christmas morning with another fever! She was miserable most of Christmas day and just wanted to be rocked and wasn't interested in her presents for more than a few minutes. The next morning she was worse with a high fever and began making a horrible honking cough sound. This rapidly proceeded from coughing, to wheezing, to gasping for breath. Mommy made a speeding drive to the ER with a very distraught baby girl. We were told Reagan had croup! Ugh! Her upper airways were swelling shut and she had to be given an Epinephrine breathing treatment and steroids. After about six hours in the ER they finally released us when she began breathing easier again. Talk about a very scary day, it was not a fun Christmas weekend for us. Renna proceeded to get a fever and cough about five days later which lasted for another week. Now I have been diagnosed with strep...so I guess the illnesses continue! We are just so glad to have our little Reagan be breathing easier. My side of the family had a bad case of stomach virus they were trading around all through Christmas so we did not get to celebrate with them until New Years Day. We did get to spend some time with Adam's family on Christmas afternoon it was just hard to enjoy because little Reagan was feeling so bad. Here are a few pictures of the madness!

Here we are Christmas Eve night right before bed putting the cookies out for Santa. The girls were pretty excited about Santa's cookies and couldn't understand why they couldn't eat all of them. This was the last evening with no sickness we would have for about 2.5 weeks.
Christmas morning fun! Santa brought the girls a Cozy Coupe which is pretty much still the hot toy item that they fight over daily. Believe it or not they both fit in there with a little bit of screaming involved. Doesn't it look great in our living room?
Santa also brought a Barbie Four wheeler! We are officially girls on the go. We have ridden it a few times outside but mostly in the garage right now. They know how to make it go by themselves but no steering is happening yet so you must be on your toes to prevent run overs and collisions! Can't wait for warmer weather to really get it broken in.
More Christmas morning fun with stockings and Kitchen utensils!
Here is Reagan at Grammy and Papa's house with her new babies. She was such a little trooper with her high fever, she managed to have a little fun here and there. As you can see she also thinks it is perfectly normal to always carry two babies around and rock them at the same time. My little ladies are going to be great at multitasking!
Grammy and Papa Ron got the girls these precious little chairs for Christmas. The girls absolutely love them. They are perfect for rocking their many babies. Although even though we have two of them somehow they always want to be in the same chair!
My dad, Papa Jim, made the girls a little tower thing that they can stand in at the kitchen cabinet. They are thrilled with it and love helping me cook and playing with their cooking stuff while I cook. He put their names on each side, it looks so cute. Thanks Papa Jim.
Here is another look at the tower. Their new favorite thing is throwing toys on the floor and saying uh-oh until I pick them up. Good times! On a different note the girls are really starting to play together and talk to each other a lot more. It is so cute and always makes me smile. The girls have also recently started leaving their hairbands in! Yeah!! Such an accomplishment for us. Aren't their pigtails hilarious?
This is Renna opening gifts with my family. The girls really loved opening presents and tearing the paper. My parents and grandma came to our house on New Years Day to celebrate Christmas since the rest of the family was still sick. We really missed not seeing them for Christmas so we will have lots to make up for soon with extra playtime.
Meme got the girls baby strollers and as you can see they are a big hit! They are constantly little mommies on the go. I guess my little girls are growing up. Hopefully we will get to start leaving the house a little more and will have more adventures to post. Here is hoping everyone has a healthier 2011! We were so blessed beyond what we deserve in 2010 and we thank God for all he has done in the lives of our little ladies. I continue to be amazed at something they do everyday and have to remind myself they are my little babies! I am so lucky to be their momma and I cannot thank my husband enough for allowing me to stay home with them.

Nov.-Dec. Catchup

2010-12-18T21:17:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving fun in the leaves at Grammy and Papa's.

Chore time after Thanksgiving at Grandma and Papa's.

This last month since Thanksgiving has basically been one illness after another. This seems to be our new way of life this winter. Luckily though nothing has been something we couldn't overcome and we just consider it more stimulation for their immune system. We had a wonderful thanksgiving with each of our families, promptly followed by two long illnesses. We were so thankful just to be able to celebrate this holiday with our families this year. It seems like last Thanksgiving, when we were homebound, wasn't that long ago. We have had several big milestone achievements lately. Since Thanksgiving we have given up bottles!! Yeah! This was a long time coming and was a huge step at our house. The girls don't use pacifiers so the bottles were their relaxation to go to sleep at night while we rocked them. We had a rough couple of days, but overall it went better than I thought. I think it was harder on mommy than it was on them.

We wore our first pigtails. It was fun to finally have enough hair to get up on each side. Too bad the girls only leave them in for 10 sec. And if one actually leaves them in the other one will promptly remove them! Thanks girls! It looks so cute so I will continue to try and persevere. Any hints on how to get them to leave bands and bows in their hair?

The girls had their first slumber party with my best friend's daughter, Natalie. She is only three weeks apart from them on their adjusted age so they are perfect little playmates. Natalie did so great when she came to play and spend the night. The girls really had a lot of fun and wore each other out. They slept in the latest they have ever slept that next morning. Maybe we need Natalie to come sleepover more often!

Renna has started loving to dress up in hats, aprons, scarves, glasses, etc...it is so cute.

We have one drawer in the kitchen that they are allowed to play in. We keep some aprons and kitchen stuff that they like to play with while I cook. One evening I was cooking dinner and this is the fight that was going on! They love sitting in the drawer and Renna couldn't wait for Reagan to get out to have her turn. A little sisterly fighting!!

Renna has also become a climber and loves getting up on the chairs and trying to get onto the table. Reagan doesn't seem interested in climbing yet, and she doesn't need to because Renna throws everything down for her to play with. Both girls love playing with their babies and trying to feed them and swaddle them. It is so cute.

Renna loves walking around with two babies. My guess is because this scenario is totally normal to her. Don't all mommies have two babies at once?

Reagan is going to be my little reader and writer. She loves reading books and studying things. She is my serious girl but also loves to cuddle and snuggle with her mommy. Since she has been so sick she has really been attached to me and I love every minute. The girls have most recently been battling Strep throat. My poor Reagan has been the sickest with two days of 106 fever!! That is enough to make any momma a nervous wreck, after two visits to the doctor we were assured she likely has strep with a concurrent viral illness. So we are staying in this week to hopefully recover and get well before Christmas.

Renna has started loving Ozzy. She loves to ride him, she is getting in some cowgirl practice for the horses this summer! Poor Ozzy, he is so sweet and never gets up, just lets her sit and ride.
Renna doing more Cowgirl training. This child won't keep a bow or hairband in her hair but will wear the cowgirl hat for hours! She also likes wearing my boots which results in many falls.
Adam made me post these pics because he is so proud of his little ladies eating ribs! While I was starting to clean up dinner he decided to let them chew on the bones...yummy!!
Reagan loved the Ribs and the Baked Beans as you can see.
We passed another big milestone, we moved to our forward facing carseats tonight!! They have still been using their little baby carseats because we were waiting on our little Pickle (Reagan) to reach 20lbs. She weighed 19 lbs. 15oz. at the dr. this week so that was close enough for us. We took them to look at Christmas lights tonight to see what they would think. The enjoyed it for a little bit but got tired. I think they were a little freaked out at first to be facing forward. I can't get over how big they look in these seats. I guess they are really not my tiny babies anymore!

Fun on the Farm

2010-11-17T14:37:00.000-08:00

First I must start by saying that November is Prematurity Awareness Month and today is actually Prematurity Awareness day. Early birth touches so many lives and not all of them end as happily as our story did. We need to continue to support the March of Dimes and the research that they fund to help little babies like my girls. The girls were born at 28 weeks gestation weighing on 2lbs. 10 oz. and 2lbs. 15oz. We were so blessed to be able to take home two healthy babies after two and a half months in the NICU. Please support further research to help save babies that are born too soon.

Now on to the current Life of the Laughlins. Things have been pretty crazy lately (I am pretty sure I always say that now). Anyways the girls have basically been sick with fevers, coughs, and upper respiratory infections now for almost two weeks. We even had to have one visit to the ER (more details below). We are hopefully on the mend now with antibiotics. We did get to go spend several days at my parents house while Adam was away on a hunting trip (those were the three days they were well). It was the girls' first time to spend more than two nights away from home and they did great. We had such a wonderful time playing with their cousins, Great-grandma (meme), and my parents. It was a bit of a vacation for me as well because it was fun to always have someone to help me with the girls during the day. This picture above is actually of the girls at our house before we were going down to the barn to feed the horses. I just thought they looked precious in their little hats! Here is a glimpse at the fun on the farm visiting with my parents...
Here is Meme and Reagan driving the golf cart. It is a great way to travel in the crazy wind and cold because it has a canopy thing on it. The girls loved it of course and loved driving with their Meme.
We spent alot of time riding trikes, bikes, fourwheelers etc in the barn out of the wind. The girls usually made a big protest when we had to go inside. This picture is special to me because it is my tricycle from when I was a little girl. I loved it so much and used to ride it everywhere. I cannot believe my mom still has it! I must admit it still works great and the girls were thrilled with it, of course they couldn't quite reach the pedals yet. Doesn't Renna look so grown up on it?
Renna riding in the golf cart delivering feed buckets.
The girls were obsessed with the feed buckets. They always each had to have one and loved digging through (and of course trying to eat) all of the feed.
I had to include this picture because Renna has discovered baby dolls. She fell in love with this one at Grandma's house and loved playing with it in this old toy highchair (another one of me and my sister's old toys). She now has latched on to some baby dolls at our house. It is so cute to see her want to be such a little mommy. Reagan is begining to love them too and likes trying to rock them.
Reagan riding the John Deere...her favorite ride!
Did I mention the girls pretty much got to do what they wanted while Grandma or Meme were around? Here they are digging through the kitchen cabinets. They were fascinated with the idea that there were no baby latches on the cabinets. It provided hours of entertainment! Aren't they cute in their little Carhartt jeans?
The girls got to go to church at Grandma and Papa's church for the first time. It was really fun to meet some of the people who prayed for them so much while they were in the hospital. It was also awesome to be at church with so many relatives to pass the girls around during church. It went so much smoother...if only we could be with them every Sunday.
Come here Goaties!! Time to eat!
More animals to feed. This is Renna walking with her cousin, Sara. Aren't they so precious together? What a sweet little cousin.
Papa was trying to teach Renna a little golfing. She actually got the hang of it...look out Tiger Woods!
This picture is before we were going out to do chores. It is so funny because the stocking caps totally crack me up, however if you know anything about my family they always think you need to have your head covered when you go out in the cold. So on Meme's pleas we always wore their stocking caps. Thanks for keeping their heads warm Meme (she actually bought us the cute little blue hats in the first picture too).
Papa built a little enclosed stool that the kids can stand on to help cook. Both girls fit nicely in there and they were overjoyed to get to help cook and watch everything...shockingly enough they didn't even push each other out.
I had to post this funny picture from home. They were fighting over the ever popular fairy car...the funny part is we have two of them. You can clearly see it in the background but in true twin fashion they always want the one the other sister is on. My sweet silly girls, at least they were trying to share a little I guess. You can see Reagan is also holding my phone. I am trying to teach them to text and drive early! Just kidding!!
Here is our visit to the Emergency Room last Friday night. My poor little Reagan Pickle had a 105 fever in this picture. Don't notice how gross I look, we were already showered and ready for bed. Needless to say when her fever got so high we knew we needed to take her in. It was very scary for me and daddy. She ended up having an bronchiolitis with a secondary upper respiratory infection but she needed some antibiotics STAT. We were so worried about her because the fever came up sooo fast and she was really out of it. They did chest x-rays and gave her an antibiotic injection and after several days of antibiotics she is feeling much better. Hopefully we don't have to make any more sudden trips back to the hospital. It was really weird being back at the same hospital where we basically lived for so many months when they were in the NICU. We need to thank Grammy and Papa for coming over so late to stay with Renna so we could both go to the hospital with her. We are so blessed to have them so close. They were life savers!

Halloween and Homecoming

2010-11-03T13:18:00.000-07:00

This post may be a little bit of picture overload. Our computer has been broken so I am a little behind on the postings of the crazy Life of the Laughlins. I will try to mostly do pictures with small explanations.

Here are my sweet Little Lambs. We went to the Storybook Forest with Grammy and Papa Ron the week of Halloween and somehow this is the only picture we managed to get of the girls by themselves! Don't they look so big?

Renna enjoying some time with her cousin and Papa Ron.

Reagan loved carrying the bag of candy. She didn't get to eat much candy but had a blast carrying it around.

For Halloween we went to our friends Moose and Amber's house. Since we don't live in a neighborhood they invited us to go trick or treating with them and their sweet baby Paisley. We had a blast and the girls actually enjoyed walking around carrying their little buckets. We did not get a picture of it but it was so cute. Here we are in our family costumes Little Bo Peep, her lost sheep, and my helpful Shepherd Boy!
The girls with their favorite new friend Paisley the Bee!
The group before we left to go Trick or Treating. Scary looking group aren't we? I am pretty sure we had more fun than the kids. Thanks so much for inviting us over.
We recently took the girls back to our Alma Mater for Homecoming Walk-around. This was very exciting for Adam and I because it was the girls first time to visit the town! We both went to school there, met, fell in love, and lived there for our first two years of marriage. Needless to say we hope they want to go there to college some day. We had a great time showing the girls all of the Greek house decks. They were troopers for such a long evening and stayed awake the whole time. They didn't get into bed until almost midnight but never complained a bit! We didn't get any pictures while we were at the celebration but we did take some before we left. This is Renna on the back deck ready to do some cheering. She looks so grown up here.
We tried a long time to get a good picture of the girls together, but obviously this is the best one so we had no luck. You can see Reagan was not into the photo session. She wanted to play outside instead.
The only picture of Reagan where she was halfway smiling. See any family resemblance?
Not a great family picture but the best we could get. After the photo session we were worried about how the trip would go but luckily my parents came along. We decided it is always easier to travel with grandparents to entertain the twins!

The girls with my parents. Thanks for all of your help with the girls Grandma and Papa Jim. We had a great time!

Pumpkin Patch Fun

2010-10-11T20:56:00.001-07:00

Last weekend we took advantage of this beautiful fall weather and took the girls to visit a family farm with a pumpkin patch and many other fun activities. It was absolutely gorgeous weather and we all enjoyed every minute outside. The girls are walking almost everywhere now and jabbering all the time. Needless to say they had a lot of fun picking out pumpkins, petting animals, and playing with Grammy and Papa.
We just got the girls' 15mo. shots last week (a month behind since they have been so sick). But we are happy to report they are doing great and growing by leaps and bounds. Reagan Kate now weighs 18lbs. 9oz and is 29" tall. We can't believe our tiny girl is getting so big! Still not ready for a forward facing car seat but nothing is going to slow her down.
Renna Ann weighed 20lbs. 9oz. and is 30" tall. We always laugh because she is consistently two pounds heavier and one inch taller. At least we know they are still right on track. Renna loved this unique looking pumpkin.
Trying to pick out the perfect pumpkin.
The girls were in love with this little bench. They didn't even seem to notice we were actually waiting in line to ride the train. Don't they look precious on it?
Petting the sheep, one of the many farm animals.
They both liked the carousel, but Reagan couldn't get enough. I guess she already loves riding horses, just like her momma! Thanks for sharing all of the Fall fun with us Grammy and Papa!

First Family "Vacation"

2010-09-15T14:28:00.000-07:00

As I said in the last post we recently took our first two roadtrips away from home. This was pretty much the girls' first time to sleep away from home (they stayed at my parents twice but they were tiny babies). So we first went to a family reunion to meet up with some of Adam's extended family that had never seen the girls. It was fun but exhausting and to top it off the girls were sick. The highlight of the trip was the girls got to meet their Great-great Grandma. Two weeks later we took another roadtrip to the lake with Adam's parents and his sister and her family. It was a fun end of summer trip, but again the girls were still sick and very cranky. We enjoyed a lot of family fun but were definitely ready to be home. Adam and I discussed how apparently after you have children a "vacation" isn't really a vacation anymore because it is just a lot more work for the parents and in no way restful or relaxing. It is hard to have two almost 15 mo. old babies toddling and crawling around in places that aren't baby proofed. We had our fair share of screaming fits and sleepless times at night and we could never get the girls to take a nap while we were gone. Who needs sleep right? Needless to say it was never a dull moment but we made a lot of memories. Here are a few of my favorite pictures. They are in totally random order from the two trips.

Daddy pulled us around in the tube on the shoreline. Mommy wasn't ready to put her sweet babies behind the boat yet...and who needs a boat when you have a daddy to pull you? Renna really thought this was fun as you can see her clapping. They were a lot more relaxed as they could enjoy the water without lifejackets on for a few minutes.
Here is Renna playing in the sand shell her and daddy made.
Reagan loved this little beach chair of her cousins. She wasn't too thrilled about getting sand all over her for a very long period of time. Who can blame the girl? She needed a little time to relax in the shade.
Renna loved the water and wasn't scared at all to try and take off into it! As I said never a dull moment.
Our family of four after a little beach fun. As you can see everyone was a little tired and cranky.
Adam and Uncle Dustin made breakfast each morning. Reagan liked helping with the waffles too!
The first time we got them in the water at the family reunion. It was a quick "swim" because they were a little scared. It was a little stressful for Mommy as well.
The girls got to meet their Great-Great Grandma Nita for the first time at the Family Reunion. Not many little girls can say they have a great-great Grandma. Aren't we blessed?
Reagan and Daddy driving the boat.
Reagan modeling her life jacket. She might look okay with it here, but they hate their life jackets! Hopefully next year when they can walk and move around a little it won't be so uncomfortable.
Renna not too sure about the boat or the life jacket.
Grammy was a big helper on the two trips. It is so great to have grandparents to help out. What a lifesaver. We don't know what we would have done without having the whole family to help out.

August Activities

2010-08-31T13:48:00.000-07:00

August has flown by for us. This post is a little long, I promise for shorter ones in the future. We have had several rounds of colds, fevers, and ear infections this month, but I guess that all comes with experiencing the world. We just keep reminding ourselves after every outing and inevitable sickness that we are strengthening their immune system. We actually took our first road trip and also had our first overnight visit this month. I know it seems strange but we just never go more than 40 minutes from our house, and certainly not since the girls were born. I will post those pictures soon. I had to post this picture of the girls using their new favorite toy, the diaper box. My mom cut a little door and window in it and they think it is a ton of fun. You can see here that Renna has barged in on Reagan's time in the box and is proceeding as usual to sit on her feet. Reagan doesn't take to the bullying or touching too well and always lets out a cry and this poor sad face. Doesn't that just break your heart? Reagan is my super sensitive girl...I can't figure out who she gets that from? Adam may have an answer to that question.
We recently took a road trip (our second ever) with my best friend Sonya, her daughter Natalie, and my mom. We went to host a baby shower for one of our close friends. The girls did great in the car together and they even all three napped on the way home. We did have a huge diaper explosion on the trip down. Poor Sonya had to clean up my Renna's nasty mess. You know that is a true friend. Thanks Aunty Sonya, we love you so much!
I love these next two pictures of my girls playing with the coke. Anyone who knows me well, knows how much I love my Coke. I couldn't have survived Vet School without it. I have now switched to the calorie free version and so far the girls love it too! Just kidding, I thought it was super cute that Miss Reagan immediately found it in the box and knew to put it to her mouth. Definitely my daughter! She obviously has great observation skills.
Renna got in on the fun too and decided she need to shake two at a time. These were full but luckily not open.
I love this picture of my sweet Reagan. It says so much about who she is. She is so into detail and constantly working on things to put them together or figure out how they work. She definitely gets that quality from her daddy. She will mess with trying to get things in a small hole for a long time. She is really good at studying things for awhile before diving in...complete opposite of her sister. So precious. Lately she has started dancing to music every time she hears it. She likes to bounce, shake her bottom, wave her hands, and even tries to sing/hum along. It makes me so happy to see how it affects her. I have music on a lot around the house (country of course) and we sing and dance all the time. Both girls actually seem to love music. Maybe I have some future performers on my hands. They might just take after their mommy. Reagan took a few steps on Aug.12 and she has kind of just done a few here and there. So not officially walking yet, but so close. She says mama, dada, uh-oh, and a lot of other words I just cannot understand!
Here is a new favorite past time...wrestling! They love to crawl over or wrestle anyone who lays on the floor. Renna is maybe enjoying this session a little more than Reagan.
Renna in one of her many "situations" she gets herself into. She got stuck in this drum toy and seemed to enjoy for a minute or two. Of course I had to grab the camera instead of rescuing her. This just shows her personality. She dives right into situations and isn't scared of much. If she can't figure something out pretty quickly she shoves it to the side and moves on. She is always looking for the next thing she can explore or trouble to get into. Reagan just calmly sits back and watches her as if she is saying, "I don't think you should do that." Renna has also come to love an audience and very humbly claps for herself after every new trick. She now says momma, dada, uh-oh, dog, ball, and is attempting a few others. She took about 4 steps on Aug 14 and has been taking some here and there as well. I guess you could say she is walking, just very very short distances.
The girls' doctor released us to start letting the girls go to Sunday School class at church. They had previously just been sitting on our laps through Church and Sunday school...talk about exhausting mornings. Anyways we were so worried they would cry and scream since we have never left them anywhere like that, and you guessed it...no crying! We were so proud of them. So far they seem to love going to class and playing with their new friends. They don't even give us a second look. I guess my little ladies are indeed growing up. Our Sunday morning routine is a little hectic but we have it down to a fine science. Here Adam is putting on the sandals while the girls watch intently waiting to see if he buckles them tight enough.
Our first trip to Adam's favorite japanese restaurant. We finally took the girls to this restaurant with Grammy and Papa for daddy's 29th birthday! The girls did great and were actually quite entertained by the cooking and the fire. They did leave a very noticeable mess of rice under their highchairs. At least we all enjoyed ourselves. Happy belated 29th Birthday to an amazing Daddy and husband. We love you!

Mommy & Daddy's Little Helpers

2010-08-05T14:07:00.000-07:00

The girls have been playing together a lot more lately. It is so precious for us to watch them interact. They love pushing each other in their fairy car, of course sometimes a few wrecks will happen! They also enjoy kissing each other, biting each other, and playing hide and seek around the recliner. I just love sisters! They are also becoming my little helpers/explorers. They want to "help" mommy and daddy with everything.
Here they are laughing at each other's hairbows. The next move is always one trying to pull the other one's hairbow out. It is as if they say, "Look what you have on your head" "No look what is on YOUR head" Then the pulling starts! Kind of frustrating once I get their hair fixed, but oh well!
So yes Reagan is finally wearing a topknot ponytail! Yeah! I was very excited even to have a tiny amount to pull up. You can see she is less than excited. But doesn't she look beautiful?
Yesterday I was unloading the dishwasher and turned to put up the silverware for a second. I turn back around to find Renna the little climber helping me out! She was so proud of herself and of course I ran to get the camera. Then she started looking at me and saying "uh-oh." Luckily Reagan was still napping so we haven't had both in the dishwasher...yet! Renna has also started using her toys as a step to get up on the couch. Such a smart girl.
Here is Reagan riding the donkey, Tilly, at my parents' house. She was a little nervous and wanted her mommy to ride with her. They have been sitting on Tilly but this was the first "ride" they took. They both really seemed to enjoy it. We will slowly be working our way up to the horses, but for now Tilly is just the right speed.
Renna loved riding with her cousin, Sara. Sara was so good to share the riding with the girls and hold onto them. She is a great cousin. Tilly is a great sport as always, going round and round. Renna was upset when we made her get off. She loved touching Tilly's mane too! She kept saying "OHHH." Mommy was so proud...hopefully two little horse lovers in the making!
The girls are helping daddy check his email. You can imagine how much actually gets done with them near the laptop. They are so fascinated with it.
Here is Reagan helping mommy put the bottled water in the fridge. Who knew plastic bottles were such fun? Notice Reagan is actually wearing shoes...we have been practicing wearing shoes recently in case they start walking. They hated the shoes at first but seem to tolerate them now.
The girls also recently took their first four wheeler ride with daddy and Sara. They seemed to like it and weren't scared at all. My little farm girls were helping do chores. They were too busy looking at the goats to be bothered by a picture.
Here are the girls teaching their friend Natalie how to climb into her toybox! First went Renna, then Reagan followed quickly. Natalie watched for a minute and then went in head first herself. So cute how they teach each other new things. I guess they will just continue helping each other learn new tricks all the time. Always keeping Mommy on her toes! That pretty much sums up our last couple of weeks. Can't believe the summer is almost over. We still have so much we want to do this summer...

Swimming Summer Fun and More

2010-07-13T13:53:00.000-07:00

The summer is rapidly flying by. It seems like things have been in turbo speed since the girls' birthday. Here is a quick catch up on pictures for a few things we have been up to. These first two are of the girls one year photos. These two are our favorite of them together. I haven't decided on my favorite individuals but when I do I will post those. What can I say, I am one proud momma. It was really difficult trying to get both of the girls to look in the same direction and we never succeeded at getting both of them to smile at the same time. I thought they turned out great anyways. I can't believe how big they look. My friend Crystal made their dresses as a baby shower gift, aren't they cute?
Our Little Serious Ladybugs.
Big news for our Miss Renna...our first topknot ponytail! I was super excited to be able to put this in her hair....I can't wait for more hair adventures. It seems like it is taking forever to grow. I was glad to see she can do the ponytail because she refuses to keep on the headbands anymore and mommy loves bows! Look at that silly grin! Renna has officially started say Dog this week. We were really proud of her, of course having two veterinarian parents what other word do you expect? She excitedly says it at Laney (our Maltese) as she chases her around the house. Renna now has four full teeth and two more on top working their way out! She has bitten me three times now...those teeth are sharp! I am sure it is only a matter of time before she turns them on Reagan.
My sweet little brown eyed girl Reagan, trying to make a quick escape thru the baby gate. Our living room has become a baby fortress of play. Any chance the gate is open they do a turbo crawl to get to freedom. Here she is caught in the act. Reagan started saying UH-OH this week! She doesn't always use it properly but it is adorable. She is becoming such a momma's girl lately and I love every minute of it. No ponytails for her yet, her hair isn't as long on top. Reagan has two full teeth and two on top that are beginning to make their presence known. No walking from either girl yet but they are standing on their own for about 10 seconds, I think any day we may have some walking girls on our hands.
Here are the girls sitting on the new deck Daddy put it. They are eagerly awaiting their first swim in our pool. This was over a month ago, but what can I say we have been a little busy. I will post pictures of the finished back porch area with outdoor kitchen soon. My husband is one handy guy and did it all himself. We are very proud of him.
Reagan modeling her swimsuit.
Renna not too sure about the water at first.
Reagan loves splashing in the pool! These floating crabs are a lifesaver when you swim with twins...or any little ones for that matter. Don't worry, I don't take them swimming by myself.
Swimming with Daddy.
The three girls getting some sun. Well that was a quick catch up for what we have been up to. We are just trying to enjoy this summer, play outside, and just be grateful we aren't where we were last year at this time. What a difference a year makes! God is so good.

Our Little Ladies are One!

2010-06-17T13:26:00.000-07:00

Yes it is hard to believe but our Little Ladies turned one on June 11!! Wow! It seemed like such a huge milestone for us, it even made Mommy a little sad that they aren't babies anymore! What a year it has been. We started out with over two months in the NICU at 2lbs. 15 oz. and 2lbs. 10 oz and now they are thriving. Renna weighs a whopping 18lbs. 3 oz. with Reagan close behind at 16lbs. 6 oz. I never thought they would be growing into 12 month clothes but they soon will. We had an amazing Ladybug birthday party and cookout. The girls actually had coughs, runny noses, and ear infections but enjoyed the party anyways. We are so blessed to have so many wonderful friends and family who have supported us all year with visits, encouragement, and prayers it was nice to have everyone together for the first time. Thank you to everyone who came. Here are some pictures from the girls' big day. We actually were so busy we didn't take as many pictures as I would have liked but we had several friends who stepped in and helped with pictures. Aren't our little Ladybugs cute in their tutus?
Allison, Owen, and Stacey with me and the girls
Moose, Amber (baby Gil on the way), and us
Renna wasn't so sure about all the new faces in her house, it makes a girl a little nervous.
Reagan wanting to investigate the presents.
Reagan, Natalie (she wore her ladybug outfit too), and Renna
The girls each had their own individual cakes to eat. Aunt Lindsay made them and they came out so cute! Thanks so much Lindsay, we loved them so much I hated for the girls to dig into them.

Reagan enjoying her cake.
Renna got covered in her cake head to toe.
This is the only picture we remembered to take of all four of us, after the girls had their clothes off.
Presents, presents, and more presents. What fun! I think I am enjoying the new toys to play with as much as they are.
The girls' favorite NICU nurse, Kathy, came to their party. We were so lucky to have her take such wonderful care of our girls while we couldn't. Thanks so much for coming Kathy, it was great to see you again. Reagan wanted to touch her face!

Teething and everything in between

2010-05-25T12:59:00.000-07:00

The girls are both now pulling up on everything! It has always been pretty busy around our house but now it is never a dull moment. It is amazing how much they can reach and get around by pulling up on furniture. They are definitely having to try and learn the concept of no! Here they are having a little fun in Reagan's bed after nap time.
Our living room is now a fortress of gates! The girls hate when the gate slams shut and are constantly at the gate trying to figure out their next escape. It has been fun to watch them start to play with each other more. The other day they were playing peekaboo together...priceless! It really warms my heart to see them enjoying each other.
We visited my parents house on my birthday and got to see baby goats for the first time. They really enjoyed patting him on the head. And cousin Sara loved teaching the girls all about the baby goats.
We got to meet some more of our cousins for the first time. What fun! It is hard to get a good picture with that many little kids, but so cute.
We now have two swings in the backyard. This was a birthday gift for me from Adam's parents. Thanks Grammy and Papa! I am pretty sure I was more excited about it than the girls. Now it is their favorite past time to go out and swing. I love watching them giggle and kick their feet. We are out swinging at least a couple of times a day. Here is Renna for the first time in her swing.
Here is Reagan in her swing. Notice she is pulling on her hair. It is just starting to get long enough that she notices it when the wind blows it....so adorable! I can't wait to be able to put bows in their hair. Both girls now have two bottom teeth that are poking through. Teething has been a little rough, but mostly because they have had a cold for two and a half weeks. It has now turned to a sinus infection and they are feeling better with antibiotics. The poor little ladies have been so uncomfortable lately. It breaks my heart to see them feeling sick. We look forward to them feeling back to their old selves soon. I would also like to report both girls are now saying Mama. It doesn't happen very often but when it does it makes my day. The developmental specialist came yesterday and the girls have officially passed all of their 9 and 10 month milestones and are starting to work on their 11 month ones. They are rapidly catching up to their actual age. Way to go girls! Such an answered prayer.

March of Dimes Walk

2010-05-16T09:26:00.000-07:00

Mother's Day after church
The Laughlin Family
My sister and her family
My friend Michelle and her son Atticus
Chandra, Me, Shelly (and baby on the way), Lilly, the girls, and Piper
Amanda, Ava, and Me
Stacey, Amber (and baby Gil on the way), and the girls
The fabulous Four
Reagan
Renna
Brittney, Adam, me, and the girls
Team Laughlin Twins!

As you can see our first March of Dimes walk was a huge success! We had a wonderful team of family and friends who came and walked with us in honor of Renna and Reagan. We had 24 adults, 11 kids, and two babies on the way!! Adam and I were very pleased with our numbers for our first year and even more excited about how much money we raised. Together we all raised $1950!! Yeah!! What a huge accomplishment. The kids all did really well in spite of the cool weather. They were all troopers. I couldn't have been given a better Mother's Day weekend. What a great gift for so many people who we love to come walk for healthy babies. Thanks so much to everyone who helped or donated. We are so blessed. We are all doing good here. The girls have been a little under the weather this week and Reagan is getting her first tooth!! So I guess we are in for a welcoming to the wonderful world of teething babies, I am sure Renna isn't far behind. I had to post the picture at the top of the girls in their sweet little dresses after church on Mother's Day. What more could a momma ask for?

Our busy life!

2010-05-06T13:27:00.000-07:00

This past month has flown by. Since being out of quarantine we have been a busy family. Both girls are now crawling and constantly on the go. We have had several fun play dates and family outings. Here are a few pictures for a quick recap of what we've been doing.
We had our first official visit to a park where they actually got to swing like big girls instead of just ride in the stroller. Thanks for the beautiful bows Amanda!
We went on a trip to Sonic and the park with the girls' boyfriend, Owen! Isn't he so cute? I think he was a little overwhelmed by his high maintenance ladies crying in the car, but he never made a peep. We have such a good time walking with him and his mommy, Allison.
We made our first visit to a restaurant as a family of four! The girls did quite well. It is surprising how many people stopped to talk to the girls. They were a big hit.
Play date with our friends: Molly, Reagan, Lilly, Sophia, and Renna. It was so fun to get together with some girlfriends from college and let our daughters play. Lilly and Sophia belong to one of my best and oldest friends Chandra (high school and college friend) and Molly belongs to Amber who is a dear friend from college. Maybe all our daughters will go to college together one day.
Reagan started crawling! Here she is showing off. She is keeping me on my toes now.
Renna is now pulling up on the furniture and her favorite place to hang out is here on the fireplace. Can you tell by her face that she enjoys making her momma nervous about smacking her chin on the brick? We have officially fenced in our living room as a safe play area...it looks like a fortress. We will post some pictures of that soon.
My very best friend Sonya has a little girl, Natalie who is only three weeks younger than the girls (their gestational age anyways). We got together for a long awaited playdate. They had so much fun. We hope they become lifelong friends just like their mommas. The girls just love it when Natalie comes to play. We also took a fun trip to the zoo with Natalie as well.
Reagan, Natalie, and Renna
We went to the zoo with my friend Michelle and her two kids, Frannie and Atticus. This picture was at the end of our journey and they were all really tired.
And finally we went to our first birthday party. My neice Sara turned five so we had our first party experience! The girls loved playing with the balloons. We had a wonderful time. The three oldest kids on the left are actually triplets who are now seven! Wow! I pumped their mom for some good advice. Well, that is our quick update. As you can see we have been very busy but enjoying getting out. It is very exhausting for all of us involved but worth every minute.

March for Babies

2010-04-21T11:22:00.000-07:00

Renna
Reagan

As most of you know our girls were born three months premature at only 28 weeks of gestation. Renna weighed 2lbs. 15 oz. and Reagan weighed 2lbs. 10 oz. They spent over two months in the neonatal ICU and endured many IVs, blood tests, ultrasounds, x-rays, blood transfusions, and surgeries just to name a few. This is something no parents should ever have to watch their children endure. They received wonderful, life saving care while they were in the NICU. The March of Dimes works to help fund research for premature babies like my girls, without some of this research and medical knowledge our story may have not had such a happy outcome. Adam and I are eternally grateful for the outstanding medical care that the girls received at such a critical time in their lives. Organizations like the March of Dimes support neonatal research for premature babies as well as those born with congenital defects. We feel so honored that God blessed us with these two little miracle babies and chose us to be their parents! What an amazing journey this last 10 months has been. Our journey as first time parents did not start as we had planned but we feel doubly blessed to have these little ladies. We feel moved to help support the March of Dimes cause so we have organized, Team Laughlin Twins to walk in the March of Dimes this year. We have many friends and family that have signed up to walk with us in honor of Renna and Reagan. We have a team website that you can visit to make a donation to the March of Dimes in honor of Renna and Reagan. Any financial help you give to the March of Dimes will be put to good use and will go to benefit premature babies. Our hope is that one day all babies will be born healthy. Thanks in advance for your support in this cause. Our team website is: http://www.marchforbabies.org/team/t1369221

I also want to say a quick thank you to everyone who has blogged about our walk, signed up to walk with us, and donated their money for this cause! What an amazing support system we have been blessed with. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts. We are all doing great and will post pictures of some of our outings soon.

Love, Adam, Mendy, Renna, and Reagan

Happy Belated Easter!

2010-04-08T12:40:00.000-07:00

Adam took these pictures of the girls in our front yard. I think he did a great job! Of course he had some very beautiful babies to work with. The girls were fascinated with the daffodils.

We spent Saturday at my parents house. It was a beautiful day for coloring Easter Eggs and some fun on the farm. This is their first time meeting their cousins (my sister's kids): Reagan, Sara, Renna, and Gage. The four of them had such a great time together. The girls were really fascinated by their first time seeing other little people who move and talk!
The girls got to sit on Tilly, the family guard donkey. We didn't really walk or move around but they seemed to like sitting there. I think this will be the first of many rides. It makes their momma proud!
We got to feed the chickens.The girls really enjoyed watching them. Sara even picked one up for them so they got an up close view! My grandma's sister was also down for a visit so we also got to enjoy some time with Aunt Florice.
The four cousins together at last with their Grandma and Great Grandma. Don't they look cute?
Our first family Easter was also our first trip to church. We really enjoyed seeing all our friends from church. The girls did really well sitting with us through Sunday school and then services. We were very proud of them. They didn't have any major stranger danger meltdowns so that was a huge success. Hopefully we weren't too distracting to everyone. Adam and I were more exhausted than the girls were once we got home.

After church Sunday we had lunch and spent some time with Adam's family. The girls got to meet their other cousins for the first time (Adam's sister's kids) Isaac, Renna, Avery, and Reagan.

So as you can see we broke out of quarantine in a big way. We had an exhausting weekend and realized we will soon have to become more flexible with our strict schedule if we want to enjoy more outings. We really enjoyed being together with our families for the first time since the girls had been born. We look forward to many more family get together. The girls have so much to learn from their older cousins. We have worried a lot about the girls getting sick once they got out and of course 24 hours later they were sick! So we have been struggling a little this week and trying to recover from a viral upper respiratory bug. I have gotten it as well and I am sure Adam is soon to follow. I guess we knew it was inevitable but had hoped to at least get a good week of fun in before the illness. We did get 48 hours of fun and we loved every minute. The doctor tested the girls for the dreaded RSV and it was negative. What an answered prayer. They seem to be feeling much better today and are no longer running fevers. Hopefully this doesn't slow us down for too long. The immune systems are now hard at work. You never know what we might be up to next. Renna is now doing the army crawl so she is keeping me on my toes. We will keep you posted.

One week to go!

2010-03-28T09:12:00.000-07:00

A little indoor fun in the wagon
First time taking a bath together
Sippy cups make great toys
Watching mom and dad work outside
Renna and the backwards crawl
A little sisterly love

One more week to go and the quarantine (aka house arrest) will be done!! Yeah!! You cannot begin to imagine how excited Adam and I are. I am sure the girls would be excited if they new that there lies a whole big new world beyond these walls that doesn't involve shots at the doctor's office!! We have been on house arrest since they came home in August...8 months of house arrest!! It has actually flown by and we were just so thankful to have the girls home from the hospital and healthy that we haven't minded it too much. But I can honestly say I am now super excited about the future that lies ahead. I can only imagine the challenges that are going to present themselves but I know we will conquer. Lately we have been very busy with new stuff at home. Adam is working on tearing out our old deck and putting in a new one. This has presented many challenges but we know it will be great when it gets done. He is such a hard worker and I am so proud of him for undertaking this huge project. My friend Courtney (mom of triplet boys) said they have been using bath seats to speed up the bath process. What an ingenious idea! Thanks to my sister in law and mother in law and a consignment sale we now have two functioning bath seats. They work really well and have cut down our bathing time by half. It is so fun to have them in the bath at the same time and anything we can do to save time is a must. My parents and my grandma got the girls an early birthday present this week...a red wagon!! I am so excited about it and the girls seem to love it to. I have been wanting a way to be able to take the girls to the swings or out to feed the horses without having to get out the stroller every time. I must say that the bath seats also work great in the wagon to keep the girls from rolling all over one another. What a great invention. I am going to enjoy taking the girls around the yard by myself and being able to have my hands free. We also started trying sippy cups. This mostly resorts in a lot of throwing cups on the floor and wet laps but they really think it is fun. I think they may be starting to figure out that it provides a drink but we aren't there yet. Reagan has made a few new developments this week. She has started patty-caking by herself and said DaDa for the first time! We are so proud of her. Renna continues to crawl around on her back but is getting up on all fours a lot more now and rocking back and forth. She usually just gets frustrated and resorts to the backwards crawl that she knows can get her around. Reagan is also getting up on all fours a little bit. I have a feeling a lot of changes are soon in store for our family. The Laughlin Twins will soon be making their debut so you never know where you might find us.

9 months old

2010-03-14T14:33:00.000-07:00

We had our nine month checkup this week....it seems so unbelievable that the girls are already so old. The doctor was very happy with their weight and their progress. Renna weighs 16lbs. 70z. which is amazing. I cannot believe she is that big. Reagan weighs 14lbs. 4oz, which is a lot of progress in the last month for her. I like to think the weight gain is due to my wonderful homemade baby food! Anyways our goal is to end the quarantine in April and to gradually start introducing the girls to the public world of germs. We will be counting the days.

We are on the move...

2010-03-03T14:29:00.000-08:00

A little baby wrestling
Daddy and Renna headed out for a walk. See how excited they are!
Getting ready to go out to play.
Cute winter outfits, some clients got these for us and we just love them.

Okay so no they are not crawling, but Renna goes wherever she wants by rolling around and arching her back to do a sort of a backwards crawl thing. It sounds really odd and it is. The developmental specialist said, not many babies do that!! That was her nice way of saying, that is so weird!! Anyways we think it is pretty cute except that she is rubbing all the hair off the back of her little head. And lets be honest my girls don't have much to spare. Renna is developing this pretty thick patch of beautiful blond hair right down the center of her head...just not growing much anywhere else. Reagan is doing great as well but hasn't quite mastered the rolling all over the living room yet. Adam baby proofed a lot of stuff in the living room and I can only imagine how it is going to go once both girls are really on the move. Reagan's hair is getting lighter and lighter as well. She has always been my little dark haired girl but it continues to get lighter. At least hers is growing all over her head just not as thick. The girls are also both sitting up on their own! What an accomplishment. Now I say that but of course they don't always hold it very long and I must always stay close to catch them before the inevitable crash to the floor. We are working on balancing and learning to catch themselves with their hands. This is much easier said than done. Everyday seems to have new moves and challenges and we are loving every minute of it. Renna is now officially saying "da da." It is very exciting but we are pretty sure she has no idea who da da is right now. She will rarely say it on command but we both just love it when she does say it. I am convinced that miss Reagan is going to save up her words and blurt out mama one day! You better believe we are working on that one. Reagan is our little growler. So adorable! They are eating solid foods usually three times a day and we are introducing fruits. Now all who know me well know that I hate any and all fruit. I know it is crazy...I can't help that I am a super taster (AKA picky eater)! Anyways we started bananas this week and so far Renna is hating them and making terrible grimaces and scrunching her face. I am powering through and continuing to give them to her but I must admit it is very hard. I want to tell her how much I sympathize with her...don't worry I am not. My children will eat fruit...I hope! They have never been great bottle drinkers but are really seeming to enjoy the solid foods. Yeah!! I am convinced it is because I am making the baby food myself. We got our last RSV shot this week and are very excited about that. I am continuing to long for spring and have really enjoyed a few days of nice weather recently. We have gone on a few short walks and rides in the golf cart to see the horses and we all seem to enjoy it. I can't wait to get them out to meet all of our friends and spend some time outdoors. I am sure it will be an adjustment for me and the girls. We have always been on a pretty strict schedule and it will be hard for us to become a little more flexible in order to get out and do a few things. I know it will be worth it though. The girls are sleeping a little better, last night they slept for nine hours straight which is a record for us. I am sure it won't happen often but I am pretty proud of them. I really enjoyed my sleep and of course had to wake up and go make sure they were still breathing! Crazy, I know!

Happy Valentines Day!

2010-02-14T10:38:00.001-08:00

Hope everyone enjoys some time together with their little (or their big) lovebugs!

They are catching up...

2010-02-06T13:52:00.001-08:00

Daddy's little Deer (thats what the outfit says) sweet big brown eyed Reagan
The girls working hard at pushing up!
Precious blue eyes Renna
Renna
Reagan
Reagan loving the green beans
Renna not loving the green beans

We are all doing well here. Just wanted to give an update on the baby food making. I am loving it. It has been really fun so far. Thanks for all of the encouragement and advice. I will let the pictures of the girls eating speak for them! The pictures are of them eating the green beans for the first time. Their faces were priceless. I am not sure they appreciate my cooking now but hopefully they begin to appreciate it. We have now tried green beans and peas. Yesterday my mom and grandma came to help and we cooked for like two hours and made more green beans, spinach and carrots. I can't wait for the girls to try them. I really love having my mom and grandma come help me, the girls really enjoy it too. We are so lucky to have family close. Thanks grandma and MeMe! We survived the ice storm and never lost our electricity...thank goodness. Adam luckily got to have four days off work due to the storm. It was so perfect. We stayed warm in the house with the girls and Adam kept a fire going while I cooked and we drank hot chocolate and played with the girls! It was really wonderful. I hated the ice for everyone but we loved the time it created for our family. The girls are pushing up on their arms a lot now and starting to get their little bottoms up in the air for a brief second. It is so cute! I thought since we dropped a bottle feeding I would have more free time but now we are feeding three meals of solid food so I actually have less time. Of course I am loving every second of it. They are starting to eat a little better and even seem to enjoy some of the food. Of course there is still more on the bib and face than probably in the mouth but that is okay. We do have great news that the developmental specialist came and the girls have successfully passed all of their six month milestones!! This is a huge step for us even though they are almost eight months old they have started making rapid progress to catch up to their actual age instead of their adjusted age. So they are catching up rapidly! Adam and I are so proud of them. It is weird to think about because they should just now be five months old if they had been born at their due date. God has blessed us so much with their progress and I continue to be amazed at what they do each day. Renna has been sleeping much better this week. I am not going to say anymore so as not to jinx us. I will let you know if it continues. Not much else exciting is going on right now. We have lots of doctors appointments this month but hopefully they all go smoothly. We are counting the days until spring when we can show our girls off! Adam and I escaped to the mall and a movie the other night (thanks for watching the girls Grammy and Papa Ron) and we were talking about how the girls will be in total culture shock when they go to a public place like the mall, church, or even a restaurant. They certainly won't know what to do with so many people to look at. I am sure there will be some scared tears but we will adjust. I can't wait!! We have so many things to show them.....come on Spring!!

We started solid foods!

2010-01-24T14:03:00.000-08:00

Renna
Reagan

Daddy and the girls getting ready for a ride in little red
Renna, Daddy, and Fancy
Me, Reagan, and Fancy. Doesn't she look excited?

Well we finally broke down and started solid foods...if you consider mushy rice cereal solids!! We talked with our pediatrician and decided together that the girls weren't ready to try foods until they were 7 months. Well last week we started the rice cereal and they still can't decide if they like it very well. Reagan seems more eager to open her mouth than Renna. This surprised us because we are lucky to get Reagan to drink 3.5 oz in a bottle but maybe she just wants real food! Can you blame her? Her momma is a meat and potatoes girl so I can totally sympathize. Anyways they make some really funny faces when we start the feeding. I tried to capture some but that is easier said than done. We are starting slowly and will be increasing the frequency of the feedings this week. We are hoping to not compound the constipation issues with the addition of solid foods...the prune juice daily continues to help us out. One thing I was surprised about is how big and grown up they look in their little high chairs. They are getting so big and it just surprised me how they don't look like little tiny babies anymore! Makes me kind of sad but excited for the adventures that lay ahead. I am going to try and make my baby food with the help of my friend Chandra's advice. If anyone has any great tips for how you all make your baby food let me know! I plan on doing another week of rice and then starting a new food....I will let you know how it goes. We have been doing great. The girls have successfully had two days of only five bottles. This is a huge step for us so I hope we can keep it up. They are sleeping better at night. Reagan really sleeps for 7 hours which is awesome, Renna is another story and still tries to wake up every 3-4 hours. She is getting better though. At the advice of several friends we got a sound machine yesterday to try and drown out the noise of each other since they constantly wake each other up. I hope it helps. The girls are rolling over all the time and trying to push up on their arms. It is so cute. They have also both found their feet and love holding onto them. Reagan has even started sucking on her toe...gross! I will try to get a picture of that soon! We enjoyed a little outdoors time with the nice weather...short trips of course. Papa Ron recently gave us his old golf cart and we love it. Thanks so much Papa Ron! It is so fun to drive around the pasture and up and down our long driveway. I think the girls enjoy it as well. We got a few pictures of them with the horses yesterday. I think I hopefully have a couple of horse lovers. The horses were just as curious about them as the girls were. Hopefully we have a few more nice days...I am aching to get outside. Spring can't get here fast enough for me! My poor daughters have barely seen the actual sunlight due to the quarantine. Hopefully we can make up for it this summer.

Look What Daddy Made!

2010-01-12T12:22:00.000-08:00

Late night spent working on crib #2
The begining load of wood for crib #2
My Beautiful cutting board
Renna's Crib
Window cornices
Sisterly love
Every cowgirl needs some pink John Deere clothes!

Those of you who know Adam know he likes doing woodworking. Before we even graduated from vet school he had started building a crib out of maple. It is a pretty involved project and the crib converts to a toddler bed and then a full bed. It was no small undertaking. He was almost done with the first crib when we found out we were pregnant....keep in mind it had been about a year and a half at least. After the shock of finding out we were having twins began to set in Adam immediately stated he of course had to make another crib. I said no don't worry we will just buy the other one. Of course Adam wouldn't have that. So he set to work on starting the second crib while he was commuting and completing his last year of vet school! Well as you can imagine I am very proud of him and his work. Both cribs came out so beautifully and I can't believe I haven't posted pictures sooner. Now since the girls have been born the woodworking has slowed down but Adam did manage to make me, my mom, and his mom beautiful cutting boards! I just love it! As you know he also made me some window cornices for the girls room. So this post is dedicated to all of daddy's hard work making all the beautiful things he made for me and the girls. He is such a wonderful daddy and husband. I am so blessed to have him. I must also of course say thank you to my mother -in-law for making the beautiful bedding and to Jennifer for making the curtains! Thanks I just love their room and know they will appreciate it one day too. We are doing well here. Can't believe the girls turned 7 months yesterday. They are growing up so fast. Renna now weighs 14 lbs. 4oz. and Reagan is a whopping 12lbs. 11oz!! We have just started wearing our 3-6 month clothing. Can't believe how big they are getting. It seems like their first birthday is now just around the corner...maybe they will start sleeping through the night before their birthday!! Lets hope! I am also including a few pictures of the girls. As you can see, Reagan is always moving in Renna's space trying to get attention.

A White Christmas

2009-12-30T13:51:00.001-08:00

We had a wonderful first Christmas with the girls. Of course the blizzard conditions altered some of our plans to go visit my parents, but they ended up coming to us on the weekend so all was well. Adam enjoyed several days off from work and the girls and I loved having him home. We got to spend all day Christmas eve and most of Christmas day at home, just our family of four. We did venture out in the snow ten minutes down the road to visit Adam's parents on the evening of Christmas. His parents even bought "twin christmas trees" to now plant in their yard in honor of the girls' first Christmas. Then as I said my parents came to see us on the weekend. Although this years Christmas was unconventional due to the weather and the quarantine, we had a wonderful time with our parents. The girls received way to many gifts and now our house is covered with plastic toys that sing and have flashing lights! It is so fun to see the girls learning to play and watch some of their new toys. They are really starting to enjoy each other a lot more which is wonderful to see as well. We took the girls out in the snow for about 45 seconds to get a picture of their first snow. Of course they did not appreciate it but we at least got a picture for our baby book. Adam made me some window cornices (spelling?) and got some curtains made for the girls room for Christmas. I just love them! Thanks Jennifer for making the curtains, they are beautiful. I will post some pictures of them soon. Hope everyone enjoyed the holidays. We sure did and we realized every moment how blessed we were to be getting to spend our first Christmas with our little girls. I never knew Christmas could be so fun until I had little ones to get presents for and open gifts with. Can't wait until next year when maybe they will know a little bit more about what is going on. Hope everyone has a Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-20T17:36:00.000-08:00

We had to post a few pictures of Santa's Little Helpers. The girls are pretty excited about Christmas as you can see. I was sad about not being able to take them to see Santa without being exposed to other kids....so our friends Moose, Amber, and Dawn provided us with a germ free santa experience! Thanks guys we really appreciate it! The whole family really enjoyed it! We will be spending time with each of our parents for Christmas but without our sisters and nieces and nephews due to the quarantine. They will all be greatly missed. We hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and enjoys getting to spend some time with their families.

We've come a long way Baby!

2009-12-07T20:32:00.000-08:00

Renna, 6 months old

Reagan, 6 months old

Reagan at two weeks old

Renna at one week old

In honor of the girls turning 6 months on Dec. 11 I wanted to look back at what huge improvements they have made. Actually that really seems like an understatement...they are our miracle babies and are tougher than me. It is amazing what God has done in their lives and how much he has blessed us by allowing us to be their parents. Renna started out at 2lbs. 15 oz. and is now a whopping 12lbs. 13 oz!! Reagan started out at 2lbs. 10 oz. and is now 11lbs. 7oz!! Can't believe how chubby they are getting. It really makes us smile. When we brought them home at 9 and 10 weeks of age we were making 16 bottles a day and feeding round the clock every three hours. We are now as of this week (hope I am not jinxing us) making 12 bottles a day and have just in the last few days started sleeping seven hours at a time!! Yes, I said seven hours!! What wonderful, blessed sleep. Of course I still wake up about every 1-2 hours to pat bottoms and replace a pacifier....but overall much much better. We still go thru anywhere from 14-18 diapers a day but who is counting! The girls are really starting to notice each other a lot more. It is my favorite thing when I catch them smiling at each other and then they coo back and forth. It melts my heart! I can't wait until they really start interacting with each other. How lucky they are to always have each other around. This six months has been the hardest of our lives but also the most rewarding. The experience with the girls spending over two months in the NICU was something I would never wish for anyone to have to endure. However I do believe as all hard times do, it made us so thankful for what we have. It brought Adam and I closer together and now we feel as if there isn't anything we can't get through together with the help of God. These little ladies can be very challenging at times but they are worth every second of lost sleep and worry. We don't get out at all except for our visits to the doctor which are actually quite frequent. So far we have seen: Neonatologists, Pediatric Cardiologist, surgeons, radiologists, ophthamologist, gastroenterologist, dermatologist, pulmonologist, and of course our pediatrician. I am sure there are a few in between that I left out. We recently ventured out to my parents to spend our first night away from home. It is nice having both sets of parents live within 45 minutes. So anyways Adam had to go out of town for some continuing education for work, so the girls and I went and stayed with my parents. It was so much fun...It was really good to spend time with my parents and my grandma. Plus it was huge for me to actually be out of our house for once and have some change of scenery. I was very worried about how the girls would sleep. Turns out the first night we stayed there the girls slept for about 6 hours!! Yeah!! The next night they slept seven hours!! Wow!! So far this week they have continued that. What an answered prayer. I will keep you posted on how it goes. We had a great time watching movies and just relaxing at my parents. I forgot the camera in all of the junk I packed so I will have to get some pictures from my mom. All in all it was a great weekend and I felt a huge sense of accomplishment at surviving away from our comfort zone. Of course it was also Adam's first time to be away from the girls and I think we missed him as much as he missed us. So to some it up, we now have six month old babies. We can't believe it. Everyday they do something new and fun. I am sure the next six months will prove to be just as exciting.

Thanksgiving with a cold...

2009-12-01T14:25:00.000-08:00

Grammy feeding Renna

Our first thanksgiving as a family of four!

Our four generation picture: Me, my mom, my grandma, and the girls

Well we survived our first Thanksgiving. We had a wonderful time visiting my parents on Thursday and then Adam's parents on Saturday. It was so nice to get out of the house briefly and relax with our families. We didn't get to see our siblings and our nieces and nephews due to the quarantine this year so they were greatly missed. We look forward to holidays when we can all be together again since we haven't been since the girls were born. Well again the viruses have come to haunt us. Renna began getting a runny nose on Wednesday and of course it turned into a full fledged cold and cough by Thursday. And of course you guessed it, by Friday I was sick and by Saturday Adam and Reagan had it too! Great!! It made for an extra cranky holiday, poor little ladies! Good news is that we are still battling runny noses but the cold doesn't seem to have gotten in their chest like it did last time. So far so good. It continues to baffle us as to why the girls keep getting sick. I mean we don't take them anywhere (except to their many doctor visits) and we practically sterilize ourselves when we come home from a public outing before we even touch the girls. Who knows, I guess they just have a weak immune system and if we were taking them all over the place they would probably be getting really sick all the time. We are just thankful that they are feeling better today. Reagan has her ultrasound of the lump on her head on Thursday so hopefully we will get some good news. Please keep that in your prayers. The girls have started trying to grab at toys and will put some of their stuffed animals up to their mouths. It is so cute. They seem like they are doing new things everyday. We managed to get the Christmas tree up this weekend despite the illnesses. We weren't going to let that stop us from enjoying the tree for a month. The girls really like the tree and the lights. Can't wait to start some holiday traditions with them this year. Hope everyone had a blessed Thanksgiving. We are so thankful for our wonderful families who continue to help us so much.

Fight for Preemies

2009-11-22T16:57:00.000-08:00

Lately I have been overwhelmed with the thoughts of how blessed we are that both of our little girls are doing so well. They arrived so very early at 28 weeks of gestation and had such a tough road. After surviving heart surgery with Renna, rectal biopsies with Reagan, and in general over two months of needles, IVs and machines in the NICU, we count ourselves very very blessed. It reminds you of how life can change in an instant. Our day had started like a regular summer Thursday and before we knew it I was in labor and we were racing to the hospital...four hours later our girls were fighting for their lives. We have, with God's miraculous blessing, survived and triumphed. I now often say to Adam that I feel like "our cup runneth over." I don't know why God chose this journey for our little girls or for us, but I do know that every minute was worth it when I hold my little sweethearts in my arms. Even though I complain about house arrest I must say any and every day at home is better than two seconds in the NICU. I have been thinking alot about the other babies that we met while we were there and of course the ones that we saw who lost their fight. Some babies weren't premature but were born with congenital problems and are facing a lifetime of surgery and illness. It makes me never take one second for granted. I know there are many babies all over the country who are in the NICU now over the holidays. Adam and I were just talking today about how tough it would be to be spending your babies first thanksgiving and Christmas in that awful place while your child/children fight for their lives. So as I have been doing all of this thinking lately, I decided I want to give back and get involved with the March of Dimes. As it turns out this month is Prematurity Awareness month. Over 540,000 babies are born each year in the US as preemies. Only a small one percent are born by week 28 or before. Of course we fell into that one percent. Anyways please visit the March of Dimes website and help in the fight for preemies. I am not exactly sure how I am going to get involved yet but I will be posting more information soon. I did send an email they already have written for you about increasing funding for research into prematurity. If you feel moved please email your congressmen as well. I will try not to turn this post into a political platform, just wanted everyone to know what has been on my heart lately. Please remember all the sick babies and children out there in the hospital who will be spending their holidays in the hospital. Say an extra prayer for them and their families. Makes you want to hug your little ones a little tighter. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

House arrest continues...

2009-11-17T18:20:00.000-08:00

Renna

Reagan

The girls are doing great and continuing to grow and have really started developing some chubby rolls! What an accomplishment for them! Renna now weighs a whopping 12lbs. 3oz and Reagan closely trailing at 10lbs. 14oz. I can't believe how much heavier they are getting to carry around. The girls have begun their series of RSV vaccines. We met with the pulmonologist and were again cautioned about keeping the girls from public areas and other children...blah...blah...So the house arrest continues. I am sad it has started getting cold since our walks outside had become something to really look forward to. Anyways, the holidays will be celebrated with only our immediate family in effort to restrict our little ladies from other children. It has been a hard decision for us to make but we have to do what is best for our girls. We look forward to seeing everyone and getting out and about once flu and RSV season have passed. We went to Reagan's dermatologist appointment last week for the bump/lump around her eyebrow. The doctor said it is one of two things (hemangioma or intradermal cyst). Both of these things are nothing to be too concerned about but may require surgery with a plastic surgeon to remove it! Great...another procedure...another referral. I guess we should just be glad it hopefully isn't anything too serious. It doesn't seem to bother her at all so that is good news. So we will be going to yet another specialist for an ultrasound of the area in December.We will keep you posted on that development. Renna is doing great and is still our little eater! Both girls are eating every three hours during the day but are doing one five hour stretch between bottles at night. Yeah!! I am very excited about that. Now you notice I didn't say they always sleep for five hours...but at least they are sleeping longer periods all the time. The developmental specialist came yesterday and informed us they are right on schedule with their gestational age. She actually said they were a little ahead of where they should be. We are so excited to hear that and will continue their daily "exercises." The girls are cooing, smiling, and laughing at us more all the time! We love it so much. Renna has started smiling huge when she is crying in the middle of the night and she sees me....it is like she knows my weakness. I have to look away and just pat her back to sleep or else she has me won over and I have to snuggle her! Ha! ha! We had a quick impromptu photo session before a doctor appointment outing last week. The doctor appointments are about the only time we leave the house so of course the girls must wear their best clothes (thanks for the cute outfits Moose, Amber, and Dawn)! As the beginning of the holidays approach I have been thinking about how blessed we are. We are so thankful for our miracle baby girls who are so strong and have overcome so much. We continue to give the glory to God for blessing us with them. We are also thankful for our wonderful family and friends who have been so helpful to us through the tough times and continue to help with the girls. We love you all! Hope everyone has a great thanksgiving next week!

Happy Halloween!

2009-11-05T14:36:00.000-08:00

Reagan, Natalie, and Renna

Renna

Reagan

Just wanted to post some pictures of our little pink flowers! We made a quick trip to visit my best friend Sonya and her little girl Natalie on Halloween. We know the girls are going to be best friends, even if they may not look like it in these pictures! It was fun to get the girls around another child/baby for once, even for just some quick photos. Sonya and Darran, thanks for inviting us over and helping with the photo shoot. Hope everyone had a great Halloween. We are doing well. I survived my first two whole days away from the girls last week. I had to do some continuing education to keep my license up to date. It was so hard being away from them all day. I definitely cried the whole drive down there the first morning. The girls did great and I am positive they didn't even know I was gone. Adam and his mom watched them the first day, then my mom and grandma watched them the second day. Sure made me realize how much I love being a mom and getting to stay home with my little ladies! We have a friend of a friend that lost one of their twin baby girls this week. I can't tell you how much this tragedy makes me remember that every moment that I have with my girls is a special gift from God. I will not take one second for granted. Our prayers are with the family and friends of sweet baby Kate.

Punkin & Pickle

2009-10-27T19:18:00.001-07:00

The girls are continuing to grow and learn new things everyday. Last week we had a meeting with a child developmental specialist who is now going to come once a month to evaluate the girls and have some special play time. The good news is that the girls are actually beyond where they should be for their gestational age of almost 7 weeks. They of course are not up to the development level of four month olds, but the goal is for them to be caught up developmentally by the time they are two years of age. We are very proud of them and how well they are doing! Of course Adam and I knew they were very smart! So we now have some massages and exercises we are doing everyday to work on motor skills etc...This is part of our "fun-awake" time everyday. It is very exciting because everyday we can see them learning new things and becoming more aware of their surroundings. They have both started smiling in response to Adam and I talking to them. This new development is so rewarding for us. It is actually beginning to seem like they know us. I can't tell you how happy and excited this makes mommy and daddy!! We now spend our evenings acting like complete crazy people trying to get them to laugh and smile at us. What fun! They are both cooing some and Renna has started trying to respond to us with coos when we talk to her. She will likely be our little talker. Who am I kidding anyone who knows me has no doubt that both my girls will be little talkers just like their mommy. Poor Adam will never get a word in once that starts. Last week the girls also got their four month shots (yes they are technically almost 5 months old). Ugh! They were very cranky for a few days but are feeling fine now. As a mom it is so hard to watch them get their shots and usually results in all three of us crying. I could not be the person to hold their arms down and let them look at my face while they were screaming in pain. So poor Adam had to be the bad guy. The good news about the doctor visit is that she was very pleased with how much they had grown. Renna weighed 10lbs. 15oz. and Reagan weighed 9lbs. 13oz! I was shocked at how much they weighed. She said we could start stretching the day feedings out to four hours. We have not tried this so far because every three hours they seem to be starving and I haven't been brave enough to make it thru an hour of crying just to stretch it out. As long as they keep gaining and eating well we may keep doing the three hour schedule. We have officially run out of breast milk for Renna and at the doctor's suggestion switched her to Reagan's whey protein formula. The hope is that this will help her with her constipation problems as well. We will keep you posted on the pooping progress. Reagan will also be going to see a dermatologist in a few weeks for a bump above her eye. We believe it started with a mosquito bite but it isn't going away so the doctor has referred us to yet another specialist, a pediatric dermatologist. Hopefully we get good news about this. I guess I should explain the title of the post. I have always called the girls my little punkins. Well Adam decided they should have different nicknames and just blurted out Renna should be Punkin' and Reagan our little Pickle. So it has kind of started sticking this week. I am sure it will be something we will look back on and laugh about with the girls one day. So we will keep you posted on the many adventures of Punkin' & Pickle.

Weekend of Food, Fun, and Friends!

2009-10-14T19:37:00.000-07:00

Moose, Amber, Renna, Reagan, and myself at the Zoo.
Renna, Reagan, and Natalie at the Park.

Twincesses...ess...sss..err, wait how do you spell that?

The beirox in all its glory!

Renna doing her Shiloh Pitt impression (you know..Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's daughter)

Lately, as many of you know, we have been trying to quarantine ourselves from the rest of the world due to this little virus running around called H1N1. Every time I turn on the news I hear about another unfortunate child has either been hospitalized or died due to this dreaded influenza variant. With the history we've had with hospitals and our girls, we are in no hurry to return there anytime soon. Therefore, we've been having less visitors over and have only been taking the girls out to their doctor's appointments, and to Sonic (they never get to leave the car on these trips of course, nor do they get to order off the menu, purely selfish on our part). So after about two months of this we have gone a little stir crazy, and have decided to branch out a little and take the girls out to the park for a little stroll in their carriers. We even got to enjoy some time with our friends Sonya and Darran during this outing, and got a great picture of the their daughter Natalie and our girls together. We really enjoyed our time out of the house and thought "lets try this again!", tempting fate of course. So on Sunday, we made a trip to the Zoo and our first restaurant with our good friends Moose and Amber. So the task in one of these outings is to first and foremost keep all potential H1N1 carriers out of reach, even if this means running and screaming from people as if they have the plague. Outdoor spaces are a must, as "dilution is the solution to pollution". Potential H1N1 carriers include, but are not limited to: young people, old people, everyone in between, and anyone who coughs, sneezes, has watery eyes, runny nose, or looks like they might be thinking of getting sick. So pretty much everyone falls under this category. So if you see us out and want to chat, but we seem very awkward and almost antisocial, now you know why. Secondly, you must at all times keep your hand sanitizer handy, and not be afraid to use it even if you look ridiculous, even if all your friends laugh at you and think you are a "germ-a-phobe". That being said, we feel so much better having been able to get out and enjoy the great weather this weekend though. We did have a "scare" though at the restaurant, when twin girls (no joke what are the odds?) at the table behind us started coughing like 3 times while we were there. If I could only get a picture of Mendy and I after every time they coughed. You would have thought they tried to throw flaming hatchets at our daughters! The audacity of the girls, to cough and possibly spread infection so close to their own kind! But, I digress. One of the other exciting events this weekend was the making of the infamous bierox by my lovely wife. Now I know a lot of you are saying "big deal Mendy made some fancy German dish", but there is a little back story to this that will explain why it's such a monumental event for her to make, and me to eat, bierox. This is apparently a "German hamburger" that Mendy and her college roommate (thanks Michelle) made during their wild and crazy college years. While Mendy and I were dating in undergrad, she would often tell me about this elusive bierox and how great it was with its' warm crispy homemade bread exterior and its zesty hamburger, cheese, and cabbage interior. She would always end one of these tongue titillating tales with "I'll have to make that for you some day". So the days passed, and then the months, and pretty soon we were out of that "we're dating and I'll do anything for you phase", and moving swiftly into the "we're married and I just don't have time to do that right now, but I promise I'll get around to it" stage. Every time Mendy would say "what do you want for dinner?", what was my reply? Bierox please! And she would retort "I don't have time tonight", or "I have to get the ingredients for that first honey". So the years passed, and no sign of the elusive bierox to be found. Then we had the girls, and Mendy's mothering instinct kicked in. So what do I do? I planted the seed of "Sure would love to come home from work one day and try some of that bierox" and BAM! this Friday was the day I had hoped and dreamed of. And let me tell you, those Germans got it right, nothing like it in the world. It sounds like it really shouldn't taste that good; bread exterior filled with a warm mash of hamburger, cheese, and boiled cabbage, but let me tell you I couldn't get enough of them. So I've included a picture of a couple of fine specimens right before I ate 'em. I've got to thank Mendy's mom, Debbie, for coming out every week not only to help with the girls, but also for helping with the bierox undertaking. Good times!

16 weeks old

2009-10-04T20:21:00.000-07:00

Reagan sticking out her tongue

Renna blowing bubbles

Well after more than two weeks of illness we are finally feeling better and off of antibiotics. It is amazing how much a little virus can take out of you, especially when you have two sick newborns to care for. The girls turned 16 weeks old this week (4 weeks gestational age) and are continuing to grow by leaps and bounds. Two days ago we moved out of the newborn diaper size. We are still wearing newborn clothes but they are rapidly becoming too small. However, the 0-3 months clothes still seem way too big. I am sure it won't be that way for long. Renna now weighs 9lbs 10oz. and Reagan weighs 8lbs. 6oz.!!!! Such big girls! We have come such a long way. It is so fun to watch them become more aware of each other and of us. They have started looking at lights and will now follow Elmo when you dance him in front of them. Reagan has rolled once from her back to her tummy and once from her tummy to her back. I am pretty sure that she had no idea that she did it. The first time she did it was a 3:30 AM feeding and Adam was changing her diaper and she started screaming and just threw her leg around and flipped over. Adam and I were in disbelief. So far she hasn't repeated this. Reagan has also discovered she has a tongue and likes to stick it out a lot. It is so cute! Renna is getting really strong with her neck and is starting to use her little arms to push herself up a little during tummy time. Her favorite thing to do is blow bubbles with her saliva. It is really strange and as veterinarians we are a little concerned she might have rabies!! Ha! ha! Just this evening Renna rolled for the first time from her tummy to her back. She hates tummy time so that was her motivation. We are starting to get on a schedule as far as the sleeping and waking goes. We have been on it for about a week and so far it is working for us and helping us get a little more sleep at night. Hopefully it will continue. It is so hard to keep two newborns awake by yourself when they want to go to sleep! I wish I could sleep that soundly! We are still basically quarantined from the rest of the world in hopes that we don't get any more viruses or of course the dreaded swine flu. We appreciate everyone that has offered to come help, visit, and bring food. It really means a lot to us and we can't wait to get through flu season so we can start taking the girls out and showing them off! We tried to get some pictures of Reagan with her tongue out and Renna with the bubbles. This was a very difficult task. Hopefully you get the idea.

Here come the viruses!

2009-09-20T11:39:00.000-07:00

Renna

Reagan

Since the girls have been home from the hospital we have been very very careful about not taking them in to public places. We really have only been out for doctor appointments. We have been very strict about visitors, hand washing, no children have come over, etc.... This was all under direction of the doctors at the hospital and our pediatrician. All of these efforts have not been easy but we assumed would keep our girls from getting sick. I mean I knew nothing is 100% but I thought at least they wouldn't get sick until winter time. So you guessed it...I was totally wrong...they have their first of many upper respiratory viruses. It started with Reagan being really fussy and having an occasional cough with a lot of nasal congestion. Now it has progressed into full blown coughing and stuffy nose...poor little lady. So far she has not run a fever so we are very thankful of that. She was feeling bad enough on Friday that she started not wanting to eat very much so we took her back to the doctor (second time in a week) and they took a chest x-ray and said her chest is still clear. So that was really good news. Then they of course gave us the dreaded warning that if she didn't start eating by Saturday (at least 10-12 ounces) then she would need to be hospitalized again. You can imagine our reaction to that after what the have already been through, and so we were determined to prevent another hospital stay. All day Friday we did feedings of pedialyte and milk every two hours. Of course it took us almost an hour to get a bottle and her antibiotic down her and then we would start again. Thank goodness my mom was here to help while Adam was at work. Meanwhile Renna started coughing and not feeling well. Welcome to the world of twins, when one gets sick the other is sure to follow! Anyways long story short Reagan finally started eating better on Friday night and is feeling better now. She is still coughing and miserable but is eating better. Our Renna now has a more stuffy nose than Reagan and has started coughing even more today! To top it all off Adam and I both now have sore throats. Great! Maybe everyone should just steer clear of us for awhile! The girls being sick has made us realize how easy we had it when we just were feeding two healthy babies. I need to also rejoice that my mother in law came and stayed last night and helped Adam with the girls so I could get seven hours of sleep in a row!! It was so wonderful. I have the best husband and family. For all those who are on the edge of their seats wondering what I decided to do about the pumping...I have decided to quit gradually. So I went from pumping every three hours at feeding times to pumping at every other feeding. It is quite a relief and I am hoping this will gradually allow my milk to start decreasing so it won't be so painful to just stop. We decided since Reagan can no longer have breast milk and Renna only gets it for half of her bottles we can sustain her with what I have in the freezer for a long time. I cannot tell you how much I am looking forward to never seeing that stupid pump again. The hardest part is that I feel like a quitter since I worked so hard to make enough milk for two babies. Oh well, I guess at least I know I could have done it under different circumstances. My congratulations to all moms who strictly breast feed! It is not an easy task.

Pumping, Pooping, and everything in between!

2009-09-13T10:31:00.000-07:00

I can honestly say that I've never been so excited about the smell of warm steamy baby poop in my entire life! I mean, I put it right up there with fresh baked rolls on a cold winter morning. The girls have been having the most delightful bowel movement schedule with an average of one stool every 24-48 hours. Dont get me wrong, changing a dirty diaper still has its down-side, but the shear joy of knowing that your babies aren't full of crap anymore is priceless. On a less stinky note, Renna has developed a ravenous appetite. Mendy and I are really quite scared for Reagan, as the two are sharing a crib right now. Just last week we noticed that if Reagans hands or arms got too close to Renna's mouth, Renna would open up wide like a great white shark, and try to chomp down on poor Reagans unfortunate appendage. This week Renna has moved on to trying to eat Reagan head first like some sort of baby python....I see years of therapy for these two in the future. Our GI doctor has put Reagan on a formula exclusive diet, and changed her type of formula as well, which has seemed to help a great deal. Now we have more trouble with Renna in the GI area that we do with Reagan. I'm actually hoping that we can switch Renna over to the new formula as well just in case she has the same problem as Reagan. This would also give Mendy a free pass to stop breast-pumping. Although Mendy is a religious pumper (every 3 hours whether they need it or not) I can attest to the fact that those milk-suckers hurt (insert quote about milking anything with nipples Greg), and would not mind if Mendy quit pumping tommorrow. That being said, she has worked so hard for so long (to the point of third-degree flange burn for those of you familiar with the "milker lingo"), and stopping now almost feels like all of her hard work would be wasted. Nonetheless, going outside and smashing that blasted breast pump and its components on the concrete would be very rewarding for both of us. We also got to bring Laney, our maltese, back home this week. She seems very curious about the girls, but at the same time wants to keep her distance from them. We havent had any biting from either parties yet, so we consider ouselves lucky. Laney did have an accident in the middle of the living room when we got her home, but I like to think that this was just encouragement for the girls. The schedule of feeding every four hours at night is great. Well, that is when you can actually get them to sleep before the three thirty feeding...trust me, many nights they are not. When they do sleep it is a blessing to have an extra hour here and there. We have been so blessed to have our family home, and can't thank everyone who has helped us out enough for all their support. We are posting a few more pictures from our photo shoot at home and one of the cannibal at work. We tried to get some little cowgirl pictures during our photoshoot, but it was harder than it looks!

Full term babies!

2009-09-03T18:00:00.000-07:00

Well things went good with the GI doctor. We found out both girls have anal-rectal stenosis, which basically means their little bottom doesn't open up like it should. The opening is too tight! I will let you just imagine the jokes that Adam has made about this. The good news is that with some stretching they should be fine. Renna has already started showing some improvement and has been having more regular bowel movements. Reagan is still struggling quite a bit. The GI doctor suggested possibly trying her on all formula to see if the hormones in the breast milk are the problem. We started trying that this week. We will see if it works. I would love to get our little girl some relief from all the straining and stomach aches. The other news I was very excited about it that he said I could go back on dairy. Yeah! You wouldn't believe the amount of cheese I have consumed to make up for lost time! Things have been going really well. The girls turned 12 weeks old today. We can't believe they are really that old, they also hit another milestone as today was their official due date. We now have full term babies! They are starting to realize they are full term because Renna has decided she cannot consume enough milk to keep her full this week. Reagan is eating good too but is not ravenous like her big sister. We had their two month well check today (we are about a month behind) at the doctor and we were shocked at home much they had gained in just one week. Renna weighs 7lbs. 90z. so all of that eating is paying off. Reagan is growing as well and weighs 6lbs. 12oz. Our little ladies have come a long way from two pounds in just 12 weeks. I wonder how big they will be in 12 more weeks? Can't wait to watch them continue to grow. They also got their first set of shots today, with many more to follow. After everything they have been through the shots didn't seem to bother them too much. So far our schedule has been feeding every three hours even at night. We wake them up regularly to feed them if they are sleeping when the 3 hour mark hits. Today we got the okay to try a four or five hour stretch at night if they will allow it. I am very excited about this but I'm not sure how the girls will tolerate it since they are pretty used to their three hour schedule. They have been on this schedule even at the NICU since they were about two weeks old. My mom is coming to stay tonight so we are going to try the four hour stretch and see how it goes. I will keep you posted. We had the girls newborn pictures taken about two weeks ago and the photographer posted three of them on her blog. If you want to take a look it is http://www.deshazophotography.com/ and then it is under her blog. We think they came out pretty cute. Also Adam did a little photo session with them and those are the pictures I am posting today. He did a great job, I am very proud of him for his first session with them. I think they look very professional. My friend Crystal made the tutus. Aren't they cute? Thanks Crystal! We will post more pictures later because we took a lot of good ones.

Multi-tasking Mommy

2009-08-19T20:03:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to type a quick update. We have had a crazy week of adjustments here at our house! We are more tired than we have ever been and the house has never looked worse; however, we are loving every minute of it. My mom got sick last week so we have been on our own a lot. We have had our in-laws and lots of friends come to help so I can sleep which I greatly appreciate. Thanks to everyone who came and helped out. Good news is that I did one entire day by myself while Adam was at work. This may not sound hard but it really was. It is getting easier as we become better at multi-tasking. This may be too much information but I have now mastered feeding a baby a bottle while pumping!! Not as easy as it sounds but it saves me about twenty minutes, which is priceless and means possibly a little more sleep. But at least I now know that I can manage the two babies by myself. The girls are doing okay. We are still having pooping problems with Renna and Reagan. Renna is having some irregularities but seems to get better eventually and doesn't seem uncomfortable with it. Miss Reagan however, gets really uncomfortable and can't sleep and generally just has a meltdown. Poor little lady. I think she may have some colic as well. Anyways we took her to the doctor for her followup from the NICU and her belly as usual was bloated and she hadn't pooped in four and a half days (even with suppositories)! We discussed her problems with the doctor and we decided to pursue a workup with a Pediatric Gastroenterologist. That appointment is next week. Hopefully he will have some ideas or answers on how to make her a little more comfortable. We are also trying to give some Apple Prune juice to the girls. The doctor suggested this in the middle of their every three hour feedings at least twice a day! Are you kidding? It takes me almost an hour to feed both of them and pump so that gives me less than thirty minutes to clean bottles and get them a juice bottle. After all this they eat again in an hour and then aren't hungry to drink their milk bottles. I have been managing to get one juice bottle down them a day. We will see if that helps for now. The pediatrician also suggested I stop eating dairy to see if this helps. Yikes!! For those of you who know me well you know my favorite food is cheese. I would put cheese on everything. So this is proving hard for me but will be worth it if it helps my little Reagan. I will keep you all posted on the progress. In the mean time no one mention cheese around me...it is amazing how many things have dairy in them when you start thinking about it. Well I must go get back on my schedule...I hope it doesn't seem like I am complaining because I am actually loving all of my time spent at home with my little cowgirls.