9 month well-child

A few things surprised me by this appointment. But for the most part it went very well!

Stats:

Braley:

Weight: 18lb 11oz (25%)

Height: 27" (25%)

Head: 95% (lol)

Jack:

Weight: 20lb 1oz (50%)

Height: 27" (25%)

Head: 75%

I was shocked at how Braley is falling off the charts. And it makes me feel guilty that I can't get him to take much formula at all. It makes me wish that I hadn't quit nursing. But my doctor assured me that he is doing okay. She gave me the okay to slowly start introducing whole cows milk, as he might like that better. She said I can also give him full-fat yogurt. And she said, just give him what he likes (which is oatmeal mixed with any fruit and breastmilk). He will eat bowls and bowls of that!

She said the rest of their development is right on track! The boys were chatting up a storm with each other before she came in the room, but she was standing right outside. When she came in, she said, well I don't even have to ask you if they are vocalizing well!

I was a little nervous that Jack doesn't really combine syllables with consistency (like mamamama and dadadada). But she heard him and said he is doing exactly what he should be doing at this point.

One interesting thing - she said that sometimes twins don't develop normal language as quickly as singleton babies because they develop their own little language with each other and don't feel the need to form words. She stressed the importance of talking to them, reading them books, and singing, etc., to make sure that they do learn. No problems there! That is what spend 80% of our day doing!

I continue to be thankful for the good health of my kids. We are blessed

9 months old!

First, remember my freak outs about Braley's lack of mobility? Well, as of today he can officially get himself from the sitting position...

almost there...

to crawling! All by himself! And he is also crawling! Finally : ) Jack is standing and crusing all over, and Braley is SO close. I am no longer worried at all about his gross motor skills. Naturally, it is just my nature to find something else. I feel like Jack doesn't babble very much. I am excited tomorrow is the boys' 9 month well child, so I'm sure she will tell me I'm nutso (if I had a nickel...). I am also excited to hear how much they weigh!

The kids and I have our routine in the morning. I get Paige up, we go in and get the boys up, everyone goes back to my room. Paige eats her breakfast while I feed the babies their morning bottle. She is allowed to eat her breakfast out of her highchair and with the ipad watching Caillou, so Paige loves breakfast time!

Only this morning, Jack finished his bottle before Braley, so I put him down on the ground and he would not leave Paige alone!

He was loving it. Bless her heart, she was kind of annoyed. I told her to get ready, girlfriend. Her life is going to be filled with being annoyed by her brothers.

But it is also filled with love for them.

Sometimes, it truly blows my mind how blessed I have been. I love my beautiful children.

Happy 9 months to my sweet boys!!

I am exhausted by everything lately. Once again, this surgery is proving to be a lot more than I ever imagined.

13 days post surgery

So, how am I doing? Well - I have good moments and bad moments. But for the most part, I'm doing well. My drain sites got infected. But they still wanted me to keep them in because I am still draining quite a bit of fluid. I am on antibiotics 2x/day, and it is clearing up.

I had a moment yesterday of some intense pain, and I cried to David, "why did I do this? Why did I put myself through all of this?"

Then the pain went away, and I took my binders off this morning. The swelling is continuing to move south (that is how the lymphatic system works...swelling moves down and eventually goes away) and I am looking better all the time.

Here is a front view with no girdle on, 13 days post surgery:

Side:

Up close. As you can see (these pictures aren't very clear, sorry), the skin that had the stretch marks and just hung down is gone. I am very tight in that area. Just some swelling.

Just to keep being totally honest - this is what it looks like to have the girdle on. You can also see my drains. They are inserted just above my scar and come out the bottom of the girdle.

Then this is what I look like 99% of the time - girdle, binder, and drains pinned up. I wear sweats over this mostly, although I did put on a pair if jeans on Saturday when we had company. But it isn't comfortable. I feel most comfortable in sweats.

They gave me a picture of the piece of skin they cut off me. It is crazy. I can't believe my twins did that to me. But I love them anyway : )

We are all doing great over here. Thanks so much for all the support through this. I hope my honesty about everything can help someone who is considering this surgery.

Painful? Yes. Emotionally draining: You bet. Worth it: I think so : )

Happy Saturday!

I hate not having my camera : ( But I couldn't let time go by with no pictures - so I dug down in David's office and found my old crappy one. But I think the kids are cute regardless!

We are staying home all the time. I can't drive until I get my drains out. 8/22, as of now. Things have been harder than I thought. I figure I'll do weekly pictures for the next several weeks, so those who are considering a tummy tuck (yes, I called it a tummy tuck. I had been only referring to it as abdominoplasty, as it made me feel better. But let's call a spade a spade: I had a tummy tuck) can see the progress. Since I did my last one on Monday, we'll continue with Mondays!

Cute boys in their new jammies for fall!

Jack has a 6th sense and is totally aware of all doorstoppers in any room he is in.

Feeding time at our house

We have been spending a lot of time playing upstairs.

Tonight, we are having steak and wine night with some of our best friends out on our patio. I'm excited! I am pretty specific in who I allow to see me with a huge girdle, binder, and 2 drains coming out of my stomach! So I'm lucky that our friends come over to visit.

Hope yall are having a great weekend!

Blessed

Sorry, no pictures. The flash on my camera stopped working, so I had to send it back to Ni.kon. I hope to hear word on it this week. I need to bust out my old one so I don't let too much time pass and miss what my babies looked like this week.

Something happened tonight. Something that reminded me what it means to be a mom. We did our usual bedtime routine: dinner, play, baths for all three. I watched my three children splash around in the tub. Laugh, play. I watched their father, the love of my life, carefully shampoo Paige's hair, gently rinse it out. With ease, he made sure the boys were clean, head to toe. I helped lotion, diaper, and get jammies on three precious, happy, and now clean kids. Then I took Jack back to the bedroom to feed him.

He fell asleep while eating, in my arms. I picked him up and let him lay on my chest. I felt him breath, in and out. I started thinking - these are the days. Hot tears were pouring down my face. I asked God, why? Why does time have to go so fast? Why can't I stay here, in this moment, with a perfect sleeping baby on my chest, a husband and two more kids a room a way. I was angry with myself for previous nights, when doing the same routine, I got annoyed with my precious child for not falling asleep fast enough. I have dishes to clean, bills to pay, a playroom to pick up, and I'd like to watch some TV before bed.

But tonight, I soaked up this moment. This perfect moment. I studied his ears. They are so tiny on his big head and fluffy hair. I looked at his ten little fingers. Freshly clipped finger nails. And his sweet fat feet. The smell of a little boy, straight out of the bath tub. I breathed in every ounce of my perfect son. I was thankful that, just for a little bit, everything was right in my world.

Tonight, my prayer is this: God, please help me to remember to cherish these days, always.

6 days post surgery - warning - pictures...

These aren't graphic, but do show how violent abdominoplasty is! So don't keep reading if you don't want to see!

6 days post surgery, and I am feeling pretty good. I still have to set my alarm for 4 AM so I can take my pain pills. If I go too long in the same position with no pills, I am in too much pain when I wake up. Other than that, I am starting to feel human again.

The swelling is awful. And what is worse, one side is more swollen than the other. I have an appointment on Thursday, so I plan to ask him about that then. Still thinking drains will stay in at least another week. I am still draining quite a bit of fluid.

I'm alone with the kids today, and doing fine! Thank goodness!!

kids and more surgery updates

I am feeling better with each passing minute, now! I am feeling positive about the surgery and happy that I did it. Even with swelling, drains coming out of me, bruises all over - I look better! You can already tell. The extra skin that I had is all gone. Stretch marks? Gone. My ab muscles are tight, and even with extreme swelling, you can see some definition.

I will take some more detailed pictures tonight when I get out of my binders. (I will have surgical drains in for at least another week, and be required to wear the binder at all times, except showering, for another 4 weeks).

I hope that those of you who are considering abdominoplasty will think long and hard before doing it. Do you have a support system? People to care for your children that first week so you can rest. Do you have people to come bring you dinner? People to visit you at the hospital? I know the only reason I am doing so well is because of the strong support system David and I have.

On a sad note - the flash on my camera stopped working! David is going to take it in tomorrow and hopefully they can replace it. So my pictures are blurry : ( But the kids are still cute!!

Jack is crawling everywhere, pulling himself up to standing, and climbing the stairs. They both love to stand at this activity table for 30+ minutes. They love it!

Hope everyone is having a nice weekend!!

Surgery recap

I got to the hospital at 8:30, and they got me back in my room right away! I was brought back to the OR around 9:30, got on the table, and surgery started at 10. I didn't get out until 1:30. Yes, it was a 3.5 hour surgery.

I don't remember much from the first day. I had friends come visit me, which was nice. David came up after the kids went to sleep (my grandmother was at my house) to keep me company until I went to sleep for the night. I don't remember being in that much pain.

Then I woke up Wednesday morning.

I felt like I had been beaten with a bat. My entire core was so sore - I need a new word for sore. I don't think I'll ever be able to adequately describe the pain. My doctor checked my incisions sites, changed my dressing, and sent me home. Valium, Percocet, and muscle relaxers were the only thing that got my through Wednesday and Thursday. I had to go to the doctor both of those days, and the car rides there were excruciating.

I regretted doing this surgery big time. I kept thinking back to right before they put me under. How easily I could have gotten off that table and simply gone home. Why did I go through with this?

However, I am happy to report that today is a new day. I am still very sore, but I haven't even taken a percocet today. I feel so much better. And the nurse told me this morning that I can expect to feel better and better every day now. I made it over the hump.

So for those who are thinking about doing this: expect 2-3 days of pure hell. You can not care for your kids at all. You can do nothing but lay in bed and pray for death. But know that you will turn a corner soon.

It is amazing how, even with tremendous swelling and bruising, my stomach looks flat. My muscles are tight.

I had David take a picture of my sides tonight, to show you just how much bruising there is. If you want are squeamish, don't look.

For real - this is a lot of bruising. Don't look.

I warned you!!

That is each of my sides. My stomach isn't as bruised, but it is swollen.

Crazy.

David has been awesome. Taken over full childcare duty. But I am feeling stronger every hour. He will go back to work monday and I know I'll be fine.

Off to bed...muscle relaxers about to kick in...

Girl's weekend 2011

Just got home from a fantastic weekend with my friends at Grand Lake, USA!

Us girls decided one day that we were going to make ourselves a priority (over husbands and kids) for one weekend a year, and it starts now! I can't tell you what a fantastic decision that was! We had more fun that we should have, but that is okay every now and then ; )

Our trip got to a bit of a rocky start. The turnpike was shut down because of a fire. We took advantage though, and got out of our cars and stretched our legs.

And take jello shots (those not driving!!)

Klassy.

Lots of people were out of their cars, so we asked a guy to take our picture. Of course, when we got posed and started to take the pictures, the cars started moving! We had to high tail it back to our cars and get moving!

The theme of our girls trip was the 80's. So we had visors, neon tank tops, and sunglasses!

We got in late Thursday night, and got up ready to go Friday morning! We hit the pool with plenty of jello shots and beer in tow.

After too much sun and alcohol, we went to lunch, came back and napped, then showered and got ready to hit the town of Grove, OK!!! Ha!

We went to a few different bars, danced, drank, and sang a lot of karaoke.

Stayed out until 2 AM. Then the next day, we went to breakfast and hit the water! One of the girls has an uncle with a fantastic boat and was so kind to take 9 girls out for the day!

Of course, there was booze, booze, and more booze!

Like a drunk idiot, I forgot that I am not 13 and a gymnast anymore. I was doing backflips off the boat, swimming, treading water, etc...and I woke up SORE this morning!

Anyway, after the boat, we came home, showered, and went out to a nice steak dinner.

We had 2 condos - these lovely ladies were the inhabitants of one condo:

And we stayed in the other:

I have been a "mother" for so long, I feel like I forgot what it was like to have pure girl time. No husbands, not kids, no timelines, no schedules...it was divine.

I was happy to get home to my family today. David did WONDERFULLY with the kids. The house was clean and all the kids were happy to see momma when I got home.

And now - I prepare for my surgery on Tuesday!