Sunday, November 28, 2010

So much to be thankful for...

Last post for the night but not least, things to be thankful for...

  1. The amazing 2 babies that God chose to bless us with
  2. A healthy Linley and a healthy Caden; we could be in such a different place if it wasn't for Gods grace and healing hands
  3. The time it took for them to arrive, it has given us a whole new perspective and appreciation for them
  4. A wonderful husband and the amazing hands-on dad we always knew he would be
  5. Friends and family whose support never ceases to amaze us
  6. Family... lots of hands to help feed babies during holidays!
Austin was fantastic; time to get away from our day to day, time to see friends and family, time to enjoy good food, great wine and better company.

What I am most thankful for...



GiGi and Linley at North by Northwest




I love sleeping with my hands over my head





GiGi and the babies

Poppa and Linley



I was really tired

Extra hands... 






I love football!

Uncle P... what a natural

too much turkey


Linley loves to be swung in her bouncy
seat when she is fussy







the whole family... at least for now

Our first trip out of town... Houston here we come.

So, we headed out to Houston earlier this month... Trip was EXTREMELY fearful that this was going to be the worst idea we ever had!  Our sweet friends Claire and Nathan (Kristin's brother-in-law and soon to be sister-in-law) got married in The Woodlands and we wanted to be there!  So, we headed down with a plan to stay with Lauren and Bern for a couple of days, then go to the wedding and drive back to Dallas directly after the wedding since the wedding was at 4 pm, we were already and hour or so closer to Dallas, and because it would give us a full day in Dallas to recuperate and get the babies back on schedule.

Surprisingly enough, the trip went really well... until 7:15 pm Saturday night.  We had a great weekend hanging out with Bern and Lauren, we ate dinner at Lupe's (and lunch), we went to the Galleria, saw a couple of good friends and went to the wedding.  We had such a great time and Lauren, Bern and Talan were such great hosts and wonderful helpers!

On Saturday, we only gave ourselves 1 hour to get from Houston to the church (we needed 1:15 due to Houston Saturday afternoon traffic???).  So only Caden was fed before we went into the wedding, luckily, both babies were fantastic during the ceremony... Linley slept and Caden was content.  We decided to push Linley to the next feeding so she would be on schedule with Caden since she was sleeping away, VERY BAD IDEA.  She slept until the next feeding but when she woke up at 6 pm to eat both she and Caden were pissed.  So there we are feeding them at one of the tables at the reception, thank goodness that Therese had the foresight to put us at a fantastic table with a group of really sweet friends, lots of grandparents, so it worked out okay.  Then we decided to head home, caution, this is where it gets bad... since we skipped Linley's 3 pm feeding the 6 pm feeding wasn't quite enough and as soon as we got in the car to drive back to Dallas she starts screaming at the top of her lungs and would not calm down.  Trip stopped to get gas in Conroe and the gas pump asks him 20 questions before it will allow him to pump gas (DL #, odometer reading etc...) so he got REALLY frustrated and decided to go to another station.  At that station I decided to jump out and warm up the bottles in the restroom since that was the only thing I could think of doing to calm miss Linley down... no hot water.  I tried the coffee machine, no hot water?  Really, no hot water at the gas station, ANY WHERE.  I finally did the one thing you aren't supposed to do, I microwaved the bottles.  I promise I didn't scald them, but really, NO HOT WATER????  I tried feeding Linley in the car seat, no go, still screaming... so I resorted to pulling her out of the car seat and feeding her, sorry I know, I am a bad mom.   She finally calms down enough to eat but about 3 ounces into the feeding I realize I had made a terrible mistake.  Unfortunately, this realization came after she threw up all over me... there were 4 bottles in the cooler, 2 of formula and 2 of breast milk and formula.  I accidentally gave her a formula only bottle and her little tummy was very upset with that.  I had throw up all over me, all over her and all over the car.  So there I am in the back seat of the Expedition with throw up all over the place, searching for burp cloths to clean us up, searching for new PJs for Linley (she ended up in Caden's) and new PJ pants for me.  It was not good!  In fact, the car looked like one of the bags exploded the next day when Trip unpacked.  Meanwhile, I had been needing to pump since about 6 pm but since Linley had her meltdown I hadn't had a chance.  After I got Linley situated (she was finally happy), I climbed up to the front seat and busted out my pump.  Yes, that is right, there I was in the front seat pumping after an hour and a half of screaming Linley.  All of the sudden both Trip and I start laughing and he just shakes his head and says "where did my life take such a drastic left turn?"  I think it was the pumping in the front seat that put him over the edge...

Caden has figured out how to grab and hold toys



Lauren and Caden

I think people thought we had triplets... Casen, Ashtyn,
Byron, Sherry, Hauck and Lexi joined us for lunch at
Lupe's


Lauren and Linley

Bern and Caden



sleeping away the wedding, if only we knew what was
coming next.

Dad and Caden recovering on Sunday... Caden in his
hamburgler pjs as Trip calls them.

One of 3 updates... I am so behind

Been a while since our last post so there are quite a few pics to get everyone up-to-date... babies had their 4 month check up at the beginning of the month, they are doing fantastic.  They are completely on track; Caden is in the 10th percentile for weight and the 6th percentile for height, Linley is in the 3rd percentile for weight and 5th percentile for height.  Why this is great... they are on regular growth charts, not accounting for the fact they were preemies and 2 months early; they may be on the bottom of the chart but they are on there and trending perfectly!

They are both social smiling and laughing now; they are so funny to watch and play with now.  I know it just gets better and better with every stage but I am really enjoying this one, I love how interactive they are now.  They are both sleeping well; Linley sleeps from 11 pm to 8 am pretty much every night unfortunately Caden isn't quite as predictable.  He goes to bed at 11 pm and he wakes up at 4 am or 5:30 am or 6 am or 8 am... none-the-less if he wakes up before 8 am he doesn't get fed, he just snuggles with mommy and goes back to sleep.  I must admit, I love how snuggly he is... Trip says we sleep nose to nose in the bed. 

Linley... the etrade baby, helping Kristin with Claire and
Nathan's wedding slideshow... a nightly ritual.



Our first walk in our jogging stroller,
thanks GiGi


Mrs. Shelley with Caden at Jenner's Birthday party


Jenni with Caden at Jenner's birthday


Jenni & Kelli with Linley Grace
Our good friend Bennett



Daddy & Emme making Caden laugh
Mrs. Mandy with Caden