Sweet sisters

Blondies

Never a dull moment

And now the Tooth Fairy is back to work...Brinn looks way too grown-up with that gap.

Baby Update

 I still have lots more pictures to upload, but here's our newest family-of-eight shot and a few more of our favorites from that past several days.  We have been so blessed to have the help of both grandma's and Grandpa Gregg even made a trip in from MI to meet the twins yesterday. We are sleepy but enjoying this short stage.

 Here is my FB post the day after they were born--someday I hope to type up a birth story too:

A few more details since people have asked...Everly Lou was born first at 3:30 pm and weighed 5lbs, 9 oz. She was named after her grandmother, Sandra Lou, and we call her Eve as a nickname. She is feisty with dark curly hair and blue eyes. Grant Jonathan was born a quick 9 minutes later and weighed 6 lbs, 2 oz. He has the opposite of his twin' s dainty features but is mellow and calm, with blond hair. We never found a boy F name that fit for him so we skipped that letter totally and moved on to G. Both babies are healthy and eating well. Their mama is especially thankful for the easiest labor and delivery yet and one with double the reward.Thank you all for your prayers, kind words, and support.

Can't Believe You're Mine

We are overjoyed to welcome Everly Lou and Grant Jonathan to our family. They were born on March 9, at 3:30 and 3:39 respectively. Everly weighed in at 5 lbs., 9 oz., and her younger brother was a little chunkier at 6 lbs,.3 oz. We are so very thankful for an easy delivery, healthy babies, a good start to recovery, and the many hands that are here to help. We cannot believe how blessed we to have these two as ours. Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

38 Weeks! We made it!

Full term (for twins) as of today. All that is left to do is pack these sweet outfits for our hospital trip tomorrow.

February Fun Days

February was filled to the brim with various themes for the days/weeks of school.  Here's a sample: 

100th Day of School (Carrigan dressed as an 100-year-old)

Pajama Day and I don't know what else

Valentine's Day (Opening presents and cards from Grandma Deni and Grandma Sandy & Grandpa

State Day (Second Grade had Texas)

Decade Day (Our 50's Girls)

Fun-with-the-Ryan Day (not technically a theme day, but we'll take any day with these wonderful buds of ours.  Especially if it includes Discovery World, Mama Pedicures, and Kopps.

Quote of the Day, by Mali

"Nobody should celebrate Dr. Suess's birthday, unless they are his family!".  (A third-grader who was slightly jealous that her Kindergarten sister got to celebrate Dr. Suess's birthday with a pajama day.  Back in her day, pajama days had to be earned).

The Nesting Urge

And, just for for fun, the other day on the way to my dr. appointment, I talked with the kids about what it could look like someday when they were mothers, heading to their own pre-natal check-ups.  We pretended it was Brinnly, the expectant mom and that the Aunt Carrigan, would pick up Brinnly's older kids from school. Amalia said that they could then come over to Aunt Mali's house to play and that Aunt Delaney would bring over dinner for everyone so Brinnly wouldn't have to cook that night.  Delaney agreed, and determined that it would be pizza, and that "no one would even have to eat the crust!". 

In all seriousness, I think they will be wonderful helpers to each other as grown-ups someday.  One the of the real blessings of a big family.  I really enjoyed this blog post and the links with it the other day on this topic. 

Soaking it up

Her last few days as the baby of the house

36 Weeks

These huge babies are one week away from what they consider full-term now. Today is the day of my marathon-long appt. where the babes will be scanned, measured, and hopefully booked for an induction date. Both are head-down so I am hopeful to avoid a C-section. The crib and co-sleeper are set up, green, yellow, and orange clothes are prepped and a bag including a list of names is ready for the hospital. We are getting excited for these two!

First Day

 Speaking of growing, now that Delaney is three, we decided to let her start at our school's child care center one morning a week during their preschool time. She was beyond excited and has talked about little else since our tour there a week ago.  She eagerly packed her lunch and backpack that day just like her sisters and even when she was a little intimidated, she put on her brave face.  I called to check in on her before picking her up and she was just finishing up her first project.  Glitter!  She's really a big girl now.  I am so thankful for a great place like this for her, especially when I have so many OB appointments for the babies. Once again, we are thankful for the blessing of Lutheran schools.  Happy belated National Lutheran Schools Week!

(She was really much more excited than this shows--just a little annoyed at her tearful mommy who kept interrupting her fun to snap pictures)

32 Weeks

Clearly, these babies are growing!  All signs (heartbeats, cord blood flow, and ultrasound movements/breathing) that they have been measuring for recently are good.  This week (I'm now actually 33 weeks) they will measure again for their growth.

Milwaukee Art Museum Field Trip

 I had the opportunity to occupy the older girls on their school field to the gorgeous Milwaukee Art Museum last week. What fun!  I haven't been there in years, and never with kids. There was a good bit of construction going on so not much actual art was on display.  Instead, we did an architectural tour along with time in the kids' workshop.  Each of the girls constructed their own art museum. The museum itself is a work of art (Calatrava was both an artist and engineer--work hard in math, kiddos) and is wonderful to see both inside and outside. The Chihuly sculpture was an added bonus.  This spring may be a little too ambitious, but I hope to make this a regular outing for our family.

 A pizza lunch afterwards was a hit too, especially when my girls excitedly devoured 5+ pieces Some boys in Mali's class had to be reminded to stop playing and actually eat.  Never a problem in our family!

Snow Girls

Snow forts and tunnels are the new attraction at the park around the corner. Girls are loving it!

Baby Update

We have been blessed with nothing but good news at all of our prenatal appoints so far, until this week. I went in on Thursday for a routine ultrasound and was told that one baby was only at 3% for growth, the other at 20%. A few weeks ago they were both at 40% so this was especially surprising.Fraternal twins like ours are less likely to take nutrients from each other, but this may be the case. All other signs are great (fluid levels, heart rates, movements, etc.) and my weight gain is certainly not a concern. The plan from this point on is to monitor the babies more, somewhat restrict my activity level, and increase protein.We are still very optimistic for two healthy babies carried to term and appreciate prayers in getting us to that goal.