Bath time for babies

I finally figured out how to get the videos from our camera. We have tons of short videos from in the hospital when the girls were first born. '

One of my favorite videos is of Hannah getting her first bath, actually her 2nd. But its the first one I was there for. You can hear me asking tons of questions, first time parent and all. Thankfully the nurse that night was awesome at explaining things to me. Giving your child a bath for the first time is a little scary. Well, at least I found it scary.

Unfortunately that video is to large to load. So here are videos of both girls getting baths last night. As part of our routine we started on Monday, they get a bath each night after about 30min of tummy time. I was expecting there to be lots of screaming during the bath. I've heard about a lot of babies that don't like baths, who in turn just scream bloody murder throughout the entire bath. Hannah and Hailey on the other hand seem to love it. It really does calm them down.

It calms the girls down while providing Mommy time where they get my undivided attention. I love those moments where its just me and my girls. I can't wait to have many more Mommy time moments with both Hannah and Hailey!

Success!

Ever night after Hannah and Hailey were born have been ruff. As I would assume it is for every new parent. We just have an extra challenge thrown in to the mix with two babies. But the last few nights at my parents house, Christmas Eve and Christmas night, were especially challenging.

Hailey sometimes wakes up with tummy issues and screams. I feel really bad because there is not a lot we can do other than hold her, kiss her, and try to calm her down. We are giving her gas medicine that sometimes works, but at this point the doctor says to wait on switching formula. (Al thought I am pretty sure we are going to try sensitive formula with her over the next week or so.)

So Christmas Eve and night were not good nights for Hailey. And that we have been able to deal with. We usually just end up sleeping on the couch with her sleeping on our chest. That leaves the other one of us able to go back to bed and sleep. Well not these two nights. Hailey was upset and we couldn't get her calmed down as easily as we have in the past. But Hannah was WIDE AWAKE in the middle of the night. As soon as we would put her down in the pack-n-play she would scream until we picked her up. Eventually, both nights, Jake and I ended up sitting on the couch with either a little girl who was screaming in pain, or a little girl who just didn't want to go to sleep and would sure as heck let you know if you tried.

After over 48 hours with maybe 5 hours of sleep, none of it in more that 30min chunks, we decided it was way past time to start a routine with the girls for bedtime. I always thought that it would just be something that happened with them, especially with having to have them on a 3 hour feeding when they were just born. But boy was I wrong. We have truly paid for it.

Last night at about 9 o'clock we did tummy time with each of the girls. They are great at holding up their heads and turning them from side to side...but they don't like it at all and usually cry the whole time. Crying = good way to tire out little girls. After about 15min or so of tummy time for each of them we gave them a nice warm bath, washed their hair, and massaged them dry. Gave them a bottle, read them a story, and put them to bed.

I was expecting crying. Having to endure a very long 5min of screaming from both girls. Consoling them and then enduring another 5min of screaming. But, guess what? It didn't happen! There was no crying, no screaming, no fussing at all. Both girls went right to sleep actually. 45 min later I decided to go to sleep. Yeah, the whole "sleep when your baby is sleeping" thing...we actually listened to this time.

Both girls slept for over 3hours! And each time they woke up they went right back to sleep for another 3 hours. Hallelujah!!! Needless to say, after a great night of sleep, I feel great! I hope this routine helps get the girls to sleep at night. Even if every night can't be this amazing, I will take these when I can.

Woohoo, one happy mommy :O)

First game of the season

I know this post is very late, but I have not been able to find time to do anything other than sleep, eat, feed the girls, change their diapers, sooth them when upset, put them to bed, and so on and so on. It seems to be never ending these days. I know we will get into a routine soon, I just don't feel like there is enough time in the day any more.

But, that is not what I was going to blog about. This evening, while doing tummy time with Hannah and Hailey, I was reminded of my mom. Poor girls, Grandmother always tortures them with tummy time.

One of the first times they were being "tortured" was the same night as the first basketball game of the BE Tiger's 2011-2012 season, against Sedro Woolley. Unfortunately I was not able to make it to the game, for good reason, so we were listening to the game on the radio. The game was a killer. The score went back and forth most of the game. All the way down to the buzzer where a Sedro player hit a 3 pointer to tie the game. We went into over time. Not once. Not twice. But three times. Burlington ended up winning 87-75.

The point of this is not that Burlington won in triple overtime (although that is awesome and we were all very proud of Daddy for winning his first game.) The point is actually that with 3 seconds left of the 3rd overtime, Hannah had a very loud poop. The kind only a new born baby can have. Not out of the ordinary but both Grandmother and I look at each other and laugh a little. And then, the part I never expected especially from my mom, Grandmother gets this big smile on her face and says....

"Daddy, I was so excited you won your game I shit my pants!"

We laughed so hard we both cried. Even now, 7 games later, it still makes me laugh. I think this will be one of those moments that the two of us will never forget. I can't wait to tell the girls about their first experience listening to their Daddy coaching basketball for Burlington on the radio and how Grandmother made us cry laughing.

One of those stories that my mom will never live down and I will never forget.

Our miracles

Jennifer takes some absolutly amazing pictures! I am so thankful she likes taking pictures for us :O) These pictures are of both Hannah and Hailey. I absolutly love love love these pictures...

Our little Miss Hailey

Here are the pictures of Hailey at 11 days old taken by Jennifer...

Our little Hannah

At 11 days old, we had Jennifer (our favorite photographer) take pictures of the girls. It was a fun afternoon. And she took some amazing pictures! Here are a few of our little Hannah...

Tiger Basketball

December 2nd marked the first game Jake would coach as the BE Tiger Head Basketball coach. The past two weeks have been a great start to what will be an amazing Tiger season. After playing all of their big rivals (Sedro Woolley, Mount Vernon, and Anacortes) and beating all three of them, we decided it was time the girls went to their first basketball game.

We only went to the 2nd half, not knowing how they would handle all the loud noises with all the buzzers and whistles and what not. But the girls did great! They actually slept through most of it. Sleeping or not, I think it was a successful evening. Here are some pictures from the evening...

Our first family picture in our BE gear.
The Girls representing Daddy's numbers from when he played sports at North Central High School.

Jake enjoying a great Daddy 'n Hannah moment. This is going to be one of those moments that he will remember for the rest of his life!

Hannah and I with some of the girls in one of Jake's classes. They were so cute and so excited to see our twins.
Future baby sitters I think :O)

The back of Hannah's shirt with Daddy's number. Hailey's had 42, his other number.

Hailey was not really happy at this moment, but the game was over it was ok.

All in all it was a great outing. I can't wait to be able to take them to more of Jake's basketball games. And I hope the Tigers keep up the winning streak...5-0!