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Thursday, June 30

June's Over So Fast

I'm very excited for the holiday weekend coming up; not that we have anything out of the ordinary planned. I can't wait for the short work week:) And to hang out with our babies all weekend.

Actually my best friend is getting married on Sunday. I was asked to be a bridesmaid last October and gladly accepted. In December we went and picked out super cute bridesmaid dresses that I was excited to wear. Then a month later I was put on bed rest. And then the babies were born much earlier than we expected. So I made the tough decision to respectfully back out of her wedding. There were just too many circumstances involved for me to feel comfortable going - did I mention the wedding is in Colorado? I am sad to be missing it but the couple has been more than understanding from the beginning. Best wishes to our friends Nicole and Andy! Your day will be wonderful, surrounded by loved ones and the beautiful scenery. We love you!

Kelsey and Drew are just being awesome otherwise:) They are eating well, sleeping well, and continue to be cute! We are having fun watching them grow and learn, especially with all the great toys our friends borrowed us. We are going to try and get 3 month pics taken tonight and I hope to get some good ones this weekend. The amount of pictures I've taken of the kids has been dramatically reduced since being back at work.

There is one thing that's been irritating since I started getting hospital bills for the babies: Craig's employer switched insurance companies on April 1st - practically the middle of our hospital admission. So I've been getting bills, HUGE bills and there is no insurance coverage. For example, I received a bill for Drew's circumcision and the insurance pending portion was $0. What the...? So I called the hospital yesterday and interestingly enough there was NO insurance assigned to that account and they still had the "patient" listed as "Bonin, Boy Baby." Thankfully I called and had it all cleared up and they are going to bill insurance. Which at this point I should have to pay $0 because we maxed out our out-of-pocket max MONTHS ago! Anyway, I learned that I need to read the bills closer to make sure both insurance companies are being billed before I pay anything.

Monday, June 27

Here She Is...

It worked! Here's my baby girl all grins:)



And I HAD to throw this one in of Drew laughing at his dad - what a cutie!

All Smiles


I could only upload the picture of Drew smiling - I have one of Kelsey but between the camera and the computer, something was preventing me from retrieving it. I'll figure it out soon and post it!

It was such a gorgeous weekend - FINALLY! We spent all of Saturday outside watching Craig play softball. In my 30 years of life, I still haven't figured out how much sunscreen to apply. I am a little fried to say the least. I plan to take some 3 month pics tomorrow, as long as it doesn't plan on raining. I know, can you believe it's been 3 MONTHS?!  

Thursday, June 23

Back to Life, Back to Reality

Thursday already! The week is going by quickly - I guess because there isn't any downtime. When I came home on Monday, I wasn't sure how I was going to make it thru a whole week of work. My suggestion, which I've heard from other new mom's as well, is to NOT return from maternity leave on a Monday. Go back mid week if you can - it will feel less daunting. But I would say I'm doing about as good as I thought. It certainly helps that I don't have to drop the babies off at the sitter. So I just get to leave for work when they are usually eating or sleeping. It was SO much harder to leave them the first night in the NICU.

Everyone asks how the babies are doing at the sitter....ummmm...since I haven't heard any different I would say good.  The older kids really like them, they are eating and sleeping fine for her. The only thing I noticed is that they seemed a bit more crabby/fussy in the evening the two days they were at the sitters. My mom  was home with the babies on Tuesday, so I have a couple days to compare. I know they are probably just getting use to being away from home and having someone new take care of them. But there is something to be said for having in-home care - the convenience of not having to pack up the babies and drop them off is almost priceless. We tried looking for a "nanny" but haven't had any luck.

I realized I've taken less pictures of them since being back to work - as in last night was the first picture I took of them since the weekend. I will have to post some new pics especially since we have captured both of them in full smiles!

Sunday, June 19

1st Father's Day

We had a good day/weekend after a big storm went thru this morning. Since it was Craig's day, he decided to play softball - which means he's been playing since Friday when the softball tournament started. The babies and I tagged along and had a good time. We *tried* to get dinner tonight but knew the babies' good behavior was going to be short lived, since they did so well in the humidity watching daddy play ball this afternoon. We had to pay the bill on the fly since both kids were in meltdown mode as we were on the way out to the car. Overall, I'd say Craig had a good day.

Not much else to say - we are busy getting things ready for their first day at the baby-sitter. AND my first day back to work; I'll take any prayers from you that I don't totally lose it on my way to work. We'll see if I even sleep tonight!

Thursday, June 16

School's Out For Summer

I'm sure most of you reading this with kids are thinking, "um, lady, school's BEEN out for a while." Sure, if you work/attend a "regular" school. Today was Craig's last day; yesterday was the last day with students. He finishes school this late every year. Every school has the same amount of days so MPS must have more days off throughout the year. And boy is Craig ready for the year to be over. It's been an especially trying school-year: firstly having 32 students with no aide/class helper, then finding out we were pregnant, the news of twins!, me having to go on bed rest, delivering premature babies, a couple weeks in the NICU, then attempting to finish the year after taking 6 weeks of paternity leave. So it is only appropriate that he is currently celebrating summer vacation with cold beverages! Craig is finishing his job while I am getting ready to get back to mine:)

Are you all sick of hearing me talk about garage sales? Good, because I think I might be slightly addicted to them:) Of course it is probably due to the fact that I am still off work, the weather has been nice, and I can take the babies along to get us out of the house. But now I am looking for toys, learning dvd's, and kid's movies.

Otherwise we are getting ready to host the Bonin family tomorrow for a lunch grill-out. Tomorrow is Craig's *only* day off - he starts full time again at the country club as the pool manager on Monday.

Monday, June 13

New Pics

Firstly, if you want to see the babies' "newborn" pictures, you can check them out on our photographer's blog http://www.christytylerphotographyblog.com/2011/06/kelsey-drew-baby-photography.html. They are so awesomely fantastic and just CUTE!

Here are some randoms from life at home.







Sunday, June 12

Say What?

So the babies and I tried to rummage again on Friday.  Let me just say if people are going to advertise "LOTS" or "TONS" of baby clothes, then they better have it! But no - it was all toddler sizes. Even tho I enjoy buying "ahead", I wanted to focus on the present size/season. And I drove a significant distance to these specific garage sales in order to strike gold for the kids this summer. Well, mostly just for Kelsey. She's gotta be the only 2.5 month old girl with only a couple of summer play clothes in her wardrobe! I went thru Drew's things again, and because of some generous hand-me-downs, he is set til he turns 1:) But my 2 dear sister-in-law's have been super and did some rummaging in their areas and came up big.

Here's the issue with 2 babies - they don't both sleep thru the night on the same night. A couple nights ago Drew went 6 hours between feeds and last night Kelsey went 7 hours. So it doesn't matter if who is "sleeping thru the night" if they both aren't! Ha. Now let someone tell me, "I always wanted twins." Regardless I still wake up to pump.

And in exactly one week I will have the Sunday blues. It will be the eve of my first day back to work in 5.5 months. There's anxiety of leaving the babies, leaving them with a new person, will Craig get out of the house with them without a glitch, and especially how nervous I am to return to work, how tired will I be, am I going to be able to nap when I get home:). So I'm going to just eat them up this week!

New pictures tomorrow when I have more time. And I hope to have their newborn photos within the week - yay!

Thursday, June 9

Keeping Busy

Even though it has been tremendously humid, we have been getting out of house every day. On Monday we went to visit Aunt Tara on her lunch break, letting the ladies canoodle the babies before they had to get back to work. Then Tuesday I brought the babies into my work; I haven't been in that place in almost 5.5 months!! And I only have 11 days til I go back (EEK!). It was so nice to see everyone - my favorite people dressed in blue:) We went with one of my friends who had her baby almost 2 weeks after my twins and caused a bit of a ruckus in the middle of the surgery department! Yesterday we took a walk with my mom and later went with Craig to a little "student teacher" graduation celebration - Craig has always had student teachers in his classroom, so they honor the mentoring teacher also.

Today we might rummage (it's 30 degrees cooler than yesterday!) and tomorrow we might visit some more people. What's with all the bumming around, you ask? Well, this is my first week alone with the babies.every.day. Craig went back to work full time Monday to finish out the year and complete report cards. And next week, my last week home, I will have 4 days of just me and the babes.

But all in all, Kelsey and Drew are doing so great. D is starting to smile on his own. K is starting to coo and is totally observant of what's around her. We won't be going to the pediatrician until they are 4 months, so I will have to find a place to weigh them and see how big they are getting!

Monday, June 6

A Nice Weekend

It all started Friday evening: beautiful weather combined with good friends. We began our weekend and ended our night with our friends and their 2 two boys, cold beverages, and smores! I was supposed to rummage again Saturday morning, but the babies needed to eat right when Jill was leaving and it was super warm. My best friend came to see the twins, for the first time, before heading back home. Drew totally crashed in her arms for the couple hours she was here! Then Saturday evening when the humidity wasn't so intense, we were all outside doing yardwork and planting flowers (finally). Of course that was short lived because the bugs were coming out.

Sunday was our walk at Miller Park to support crohn's and colitis research in memory of my brother's friend. A bunch of the "walkers" came to our house beforehand for pre-walk festivites, also known as "baby-holders" :) The weather was super, the babies had a good day, and there were so many people out supporting the cause.



                                                   My brother and Drew before the walk.





Friday, June 3

Oh No You Didn't

Oh yes I did - I rummaged today - my first time rummaging - and I brought the babies. Now you might think that it is ridiculous that I have never been to a "yard sale." But I wouldn't say never been, just never shopped at one. This time I had a purpose and with the economy, everyone is trying to get a little money for their stuff. And there is used "stuff" out there that I would pay money for:) This might be hard to believe also but I've been a little shy to shop at someone else's house. Like I feel if I am there, I HAVE to buy something. I don't know why that is. I get the same feeling if I walk into a store at the mall and I'm the only one shopping - like I am personally hurting the salesperson's feelings if I don't buy anything. I know, it's weird. So that is why I have avoided them for my whole life. But now I have reason. Not that my babies are growing out of their clothes in record speeds, but to think in a years time they will have gone thru just about 5 different sizes...you don't have to convince me to buy second-hand. And I like buying for the "future." I found the cleanest, nicest looking winter jacket for Kelsey for next winter. And I think I totally scored on a pair of dress shoes for K to wear with her dress at my brother's wedding. It's a little more fun too because I am mostly shopping for Kelsey and people have LOTS of girl clothes. I've been getting great hand-me-downs for Drew from 2 of my friends - apparently everyone I know with little kids are boys!

Can't wait to enjoy the beautiful weekend we are supposed to have!