Welcome, Ethan Henry and Dylan Christopher

 Our sweet baby boys decided they couldn't wait till their due date to enter this world, which was in another month.   Ethan Henry and Dylan Christopher came into the world May 8th, 2015 at   Ethan was 19 inches long, 6.12 lbs and Dylan was also 19 inches long and 6.0 lbs, they were 35 weeks 4 days.

I had put myself on bedrest for the past five weeks after having contractions and testing positive for delivering the boys early.  Lucky for us my mom was able to come out to take care of myself and Ella while Scott was at work, she was a huge help.  During those last 5 weeks I had to visit the hospital 6 times to have contractions stopped, that was until I figured out just sitting wasn't good enough, I had to lay down to keep contractions away.  Finally at 35 weeks I was tired of doing nothing and getting really uncomfortable so I took myself off bedrest and started doing things here and there.  During that last week my contractions came back and my body started preparing for the boys arrival, my system was clearing the way. lol I had let Scott and my mom know the night before what had been going on with my body since I kept it to myself.

The morning of May 8th at 6 am I woke up having to use the bathroom, the second I stood up all of a sudden a rush of "water" came pouring out. I said, "Oh oh", as I ran to the bathroom.  Scott said, "What your water broke?"  Yep! He knew this because this is what happened with Ella also.  Scott proceed to get things together and to tell my mom.   We arrived at the hospital around 6:30am, the contractions were just starting as we arrived.  I was wheeled back to labor and delivery and things started to move pretty fast. I was already 3 cm dilated with contractions getting stronger and closer by the minute.  Well since our Drs didn't do their job I had to get blood work done that they should've ran way before and had to be put on medication since my drs didn't feel the need to do this blood work.  All during this time I was telling everyone to hurry up because I go fast, I don't think they took me too serious.  I ended up getting an epidural this time because the Drs kept telling me that the boys heads were at the 98%, and I was afraid I wouldn't be able to get them out.  They wouldn't give me the epidural until the blood work came back, so there I sat with contractions 1 minute apart and growing very uncomfortable for 1.5 hrs.  Finally the epidural came and once it was in place they checked and I was already 9 or 9.5 cm dilated (don't remember), um they probably shouldn't have put it in. Well it was a good thing, 20 minutes later I was 10 cm but they had me sit there for at least another 45 minutes or so, so all my antibiotics could go through.  I was not very happy about this.  Meanwhile, our Dr was on vacation and all the other Drs who do vaginal twin delivery were working so we had the on call Dr who doesn't do twin deliveries vaginally, well after some words she agreed to do ours the way we wanted it, after all both boys were heads down.   

So finally around 10 am ish we were wheeled back to the OR room.  There were probably 12 people in the room busy getting things ready for the boys arrival.  Around 10:15 ish the Dr told me to push, I did so and she then proceeded to tell me to stop while everyone scrambled around the room to get ready, these boys were coming!  Once everyone was ready I pushed through another 3 contractions and out beautiful boy Ethan Henry was born around 10:25 am, he made sure to spray the Dr on his way out. Ethan had a head full of dark hair and gray eyes.  The Dr then let Dylan come down on his own while she guided him through 2 contractions.   Once he was in place she had me push and another 4 contractions later our beautiful Dylan Christopher was born around 10:34ish, I believe he also sprayed someone too. Dylan had some dark peach fuzz for hair, and gray eyes. We see a combination of us in them both, will be excited to see how that changes as they grow. Welcome to the World!

The boys didn't get to spend a lot of time with us they were taken to the nursery pretty fast, but I was able to hold them both first.  The next couple days at the hospital were a blur, the boys spent their time in the nursery and I had to go down there to visit them.  Ella loves her brothers, she was very excited to come visit us in the hospital. Despite the boys not spending anytime with us in the room they were able to come home with us when I was discharged on Sunday.  We feel very blessed to have not only one healthy baby boy but two!  We are in love and very tired, Im sure this will be our new norm for a while but I wouldn't change it. 

Ella At One Year!

Sorry this is late, all the information is from May 17th - June 16th.

Age:  12 months

Weight:    19 pounds 12 oz  ( 50th%)

Height:   30 inches (78th %)

Head:  45cm (52%)

Milestones:  

Best Moment: 

Worst Moment:  

Hair: Still have light brown hair, its gradually getting longer and thicker.

Eye Color:  Your eye color looks more like a light brown.

Who you look like: 90% Daddy and maybe 10% Mommy.   :)

Clothes:  You still wear 12 month pants or shorts, since you are skinny little girl. You wear mostly 12  month onesies and 18 month t-shirts for the length.

Sleeping Through the Night: You are sleeping through the night until 6:00 ish, Mommy feeds you then you  sleep until 7:15 - 8:15am.

Schedule: You go to bed around 8:30pm and wake up around 6:00am for a snack then wake up for good at exactly 7:15-8:30 am.   You have been taking two naps a day, first nap is around 11:00am the second is usually around 3:00pm,  lasting about 45-60 minutes.  

Eating:  During the day you like to eat you meals about every four hours.  We now feed you oatmeal with cinnamon, vanilla, and a fruit in the morning, pureed food at lunch and at night which you really enjoy.  You are still on Mommy's milk, usually before and after each of your meals, after you wake from your naps, then a couple times between lunch and dinner then again at bed time.

Teeth: You still have two bottom teeth and your two top teeth, adorable.

Diapers: Size 3 of Earth's Best diaper. 

Travel: We visited Las Vegas, NV and Phoenix, AZ; from May 31- June 10.  We also visited Grandma and Papa in Ohio for your first birthday.

Biggest Change: 

Extra Comments:

Ella at 11 Months

Sorry this is late, all the information is from April 17th - May 16th.

Age:  11 months

Weight:    Around 20 pounds

Height:  Around 30 inches

Milestones:   New foods you have tried and have enjoyed are stew, bread, oranges, Acci berry juice, mac-n-cheese, grape, and yogurt.  Mommy and Daddy also had you try formula, since we are going to Phoenix at the end of May, Mommy wont be with you all the time so we needed to make sure you would tolerate the formula. Good new is you handled the formula fine, so hopefully that means you don't have Mommy's lactose intolerance.  You also are sleeping through the night, Mommy and Daddy are enjoying this. You started using the sign language sign for more.  One thing you enjoy doing is "cruising" around the furniture and pushing the laundry basket to help you walk.  One new trick you have is rolling your tongue, Mommy and Daddy were amazed when you started doing this.  You out grew your baby car seat around the second week of April, now you are in your convertible seat and seem to really enjoy it since you are able to see out of the windows better while traveling.  On 5-4 your top two teeth came through at the same time, so needless to say sleeping through the night has stopped, it was nice while it lasted.

Best Moment:  Seeing all the changes you have made and what a happy baby you have been. 

Worst Moment:  When Mommy and Daddy caught you trying to get a bug while it was still alive, yuck!

Hair: Still have light brown hair, its gradually getting longer and thicker.

Eye Color:  Your eye color looks more like a light brown.

Who you look like: 90% Daddy and maybe 10% Mommy.   :)

Clothes:  You still wear 9 month pants or shorts, since you are skinny little girl, you also wear 12 month bottoms. You wear mostly 12  month onesies and 18 month t-shirts for the length.

Sleeping Through the Night: You were sleeping through the night until 6:00 ish, Mommy would feed you then you would sleep until 7:15am.  Once the top teeth started to come in you would wake up once or twice during the night, usually around 1:00 or 3:00 am then again around 6:00am.

Schedule: You go to bed around 8:30pm and wake up around 6:00am for a snack then wake up for good at exactly 7:15 am.   You have been taking two  to three naps a day, first nap is around 10:00am the second is usually around 1:00pm, that is if you would take this nap, then the last nap around 3:30- 4:00pm, lasting about 45-60 minutes.  

Eating:  During the day you like to eat you meals about every four hours.  We now feed you oatmeal with cinnamon, vanilla, and a fruit in the morning, pureed food at lunch and at night which you really enjoy.  You are still on Mommy's milk, usually before and after each of your meals, after you wake from your naps, then a couple times between lunch and dinner then again at bed time.

Teeth: You still have two bottom teeth and your two top teeth, adorable.

Diapers: Size 3 of Earth's Best diaper. 

Travel: We visited Grandma and Grandpa (aka PaPa) for Aunt Lynette's shower.

Biggest Change:  How vocal you are.

Extra Comments: You love waving and saying hi to people when we are out, and about and people love saying hi to you.  You have become ticklish under the armpits and chin and giggle nonstop, which is so cute.  Taking after your Daddy you like to play "golf" with your rattle and the cats toy ball, hitting the ball with the rattle all around the living room.  One of your favorite games while eating is pretending to feed Mommy and Daddy.  You put the food up to our mouths, sometimes in our mouth,  then take the  food away last minute and feed  it to yourself, you get the biggest kick out of this. One of your favorite toys to play with and kiss is Meeko, you love your new friend.  On 5-7 you bit Mommy for the first time on the arm, not once but twice, that's all it took was the second time.  

Ella at 10 Months

Sorry this is late, all the information is from Feb. 17th - April 16th.

Age:  10 months

Weight:    20 pounds

Height: 30 inches

Milestones:   New foods you have tried and have enjoyed are turkey, kiwi, corn, "big girl" oatmeal, leeks, little bit of yogurt, cottage cheese,  and there were more but Mommy forgot to write them down.  You went from kneeling to standing to climbing on 3-20, then briefly stood for the first time on 4-8. Mommy and Daddy agree that you are  growing up way to fast.  You now say hi while waving to people, one of your favorite things to do.  You are now getting upset when Mommy or Daddy takes an object or toy away that you are playing with, oh no. :)  Mommy and Daddy had our first night where we didn't have to wake up and feed you on 4-10, aww finally better sleep.  You are now saying Mama, Dada, Hi, and a bunch of other "words" aka gibberish.  You are able to follow some one-step commands, when you want to of course.

Best Moment:  Seeing all of the wonderful changes you have made.

Worst Moment:  Taking you to the ER because you were dehydrated from throwing up for a couple of days.

Hair: Your hair still hasn't gotten dark like it was when you were first born, but you keep getting more so the bald patch in the back is almost gone. 

Eye Color:  Your eye color looks like brownish/greenish color.

Who you look like: 90% Daddy and maybe 10% Mommy.   :)

Clothes:  You still fit 6-9 months clothes but they are starting to get tight and short, but still fit. You wear mostly 12  month onesies and 18 month t-shirts for the length.

Sleeping Through the Night: It took Mommy and Daddy a couple nights of listening to you cry, because we wouldn't come feed you when you wanted, but you are now sleeping almost through the night.  You have been waking up once usually around 12:00am or 3:00am then again around 5:00am or 6:00am.

Schedule: You go to bed around 8:30pm and wake up around 7:30 am.   You have been taking two naps a day, first nap is around 12:00pm the second is usually around 3:30pm, lasting about 45-60 minutes.  

Eating:  During the day you like to eat you meals about every four hours.  We now feed you oatmeal with cinnamon, vanilla, and a fruit in the morning, pureed food at lunch and at night which you really enjoy.  You are still on Mommy's milk, usually before and after each of your meals, after you wake from your naps, then a couple times between lunch and dinner then again at bed time.

Teeth: You still have two bottom teeth, which are adorable.

Diapers: Size 3 of Earth's Best diaper. 

Travel: We visited Grandma and Grandpa (aka PaPa) for Easter, we had a wonderful time and you really enjoyed playing with the dyed Easter eggs. 

Biggest Change:  Sleeping better through the night, aww we love this.  

Extra Comments: You now say "num num" to mean chewing while you are eating food, simply adorable.   On 4-7 you gave Meeko a kiss and ate a piece of the kitties treat that was on the floor, oops.  When you want you hand things to Mommy and Daddy when we ask.

Ella At 9 Months

Sorry this is late, all the information is from Feb. 16th - March 16th.

Age:  9 months

Weight:     18 lbs 7 oz around the 16th of the month.

 Now since you were sick you weigh 17 lbs 13 0z (41% )

Height:  29 inches (88% )

Head:  44.5cm 

Milestones:  You have been trying to stand and have been doing planks, its pretty cute.  We started feeding you lunch around Feb 17th you have been enjoying this extra time of eating.  New foods you have tried and loved are apricot, broccoli, grapefruit juice, asparagus, oranges, spinach, chicken, rice cakes, teething biscuits, "cheerios" graham crackers. You started saying Momma when you are upset, it's pretty cute. You started pulling yourself to a stand using the couch, pretty proud of yourself.  Giving kisses, clapping, and making a fish face are some new tricks you have learned and love showing off these new skills.  On March 13th you started crawling under the table chairs to et into the kitchen while Mommy and Daddy are cooking, such a smart cookie.  You have been crawling to find Mommy and Daddy, it is one of your new favorite games.

Best Moment:  Playing the "Where is Mommy and Daddy" crawling hunting game.

Worst Moment:  Not getting a lot of sleep when tooth #2 started to come, and you were a little sick around that time so we got little sleep. 

Hair: Just like last month, you keep getting more a little at a time, bald patch in the back is almost gone. 

Eye Color:  Your eye color looks like brownish/greenish color.

Who you look like: 90% Daddy and maybe 10% Mommy.   I've been told a couple times that people can see me in you, that makes Mommy smile.  You have Mommies eye color, skin tone, and toes (ability to bend them into a fist).

Clothes:   6-9 month clothes are starting to get tight and short but still fit. You wear 9 and 12  month clothes with 12 month clothes fitting the best with the most room to grow.  

Sleeping Through the Night: Nope.  You wake up usually  two times during the night, but with the tooth coming and you not feeling well your sleep schedule has gotten thrown off.

Schedule: You go to bed around 8:30pm and wake up around 8:00 am.   You have been taking two naps a day, first nap is around 12:00pm the second is usually around 4:00pm, lasting an hour to hour and a half.  

Eating:  During the day you like to eat about every three of hours.  We now feed you oatmeal in the morning, pureed food at lunch and at night which you really enjoy.

Teeth: Yes, your lower left tooth started to show around the beginning of March.

Diapers: Size 3 of Earth's Best diaper. 

Travel: We visited Nana and Granddad for his surprise birthday. 

Biggest Change:  You are starting to laugh more and are much more mobile, adorable.

Extra Comments:  Mommy and Daddy have really enjoyed playing with you and watching all the different changes you go through on a daily basis.  You also got to spend some time with Lela, it was fun seeing you interact and play.

Ella at 8 Months

Age:  8 months

Weight:    Around 18lbs,I weighed myself then me holding you.

Height:  Around 29 inches 

Milestones: You went from laying to sitting on February 3rd.  Then 10 days later you started crawling (February 12 ish), we are in big trouble.  New foods you have tried and loved are carrots, blueberries, avocado, pineapple, prunes, raspberries, peaches, zucchini, potatoes, green beans, squash, and peaches.  We are so pleased at how well you are eating and enjoying all of these new foods.

Best Moment:  Watching you learn to crawl.

Worst Moment:  Can't think of any right now.

Hair: Your hair is getting a little longer and thicker in places, your bald patch on the back of your head is starting to fill in.  :)

Eye Color:  Your eye color looks like brownish/greenish color.

Who you look like: 100% Daddy, with Mommys eye color and possible skin tone.

Clothes:   6-9 month clothes are starting to get tight and short but still fit. You wear 9 and 12  month clothes with 12 month clothes fitting the best with the most room to grow.  

Sleeping Through the Night: Nope.  You wake up usually  two times during the night.  The first time you wake is around 12:00 or 2:00 ish am, then again around 4:00 ish am, and finally waking up for the day around  8:00 am.

Schedule: You go to bed around 8:30pm and wake up around 8:00 am.   You have been taking two naps a day, first nap is around 12:00pm the second is usually around 4:00pm, lasting an hour to hour and a half.

Eating:  During the day you like to eat about every three of hours.  We now feed you oatmeal in the morning and pureed food at night which you really enjoy.

Teeth: Yes, your lower right tooth started to show on February 1st, adorable.

Diapers: Size 3 of Earth's Best diaper. 

Travel: We visited Nana and Granddad while Daddy was out of town for work.  We also traveled to Chicago for Sarah and Dustins wedding.

Biggest Change:  Crawling everywhere you want to go.

Extra Comments:  We can't believe how fast you are changing and growing, where did our little baby girl go...  You still are not sure about men, they are "scary".

Ella at 7 Months

Age:  7 months

Weight:   16 lbs 6oz (47th%) at your Drs. appointment on January 3rd. 

Height:  27.5 inches (90th %)

Head:   42.5 cm (48th %)

Milestones: This past month you have gone through tons of changes.  On December 16th we started you on pureed food, you had sweet potatoes and loved them. So far you have eaten sweet potatoes, peas, pears, bananas, apples, and squash.  We have found that there are some foods you like better homemade and others you like better store bought. Overall you have been a good eater, eating everything we have given to you.  You rolled over from back to stomach for the first time on December 17th, since then you have been rolling to get around.  Around January 9th you started getting your knees under your bottom, that then turned into rocking back and forth on your hands and knees. Shortly there after you started "army crawling" everywhere, we no longer can leave you unattended. Your favorite items to get are Mommy and Daddys shoes, your diapers and the cats.  You have now switched from sleeping on your side to sleeping on your stomach, you seem to sleep a little better since that switch.  You are now throwing fits when Mommy has to change your diaper in the middle of the night.

Best Moment:  Seeing all the changes you have gone through this past month, you are growing so fast.

Worst Moment:  When you fell out of your swing, Mommy felt so bad.  Also on January 29th you didn't fall asleep until 1am.  You had a fever during the day and was a little cranky during the day.  When bed time came around you didn't want to sleep and would wake crying every 20 minutes. Finally around 1 am Mommy decided to have you sleep on her in the recliner. We slept that way for a couple hours, then Mommy put you back into your crib, you slept there for a couple hours then it was back to the recliner for the rest of the night.  

Hair: Your hair is getting a little longer and thicker in places, you still have a bald patch on the back of your head. 

Eye Color:  Your eye color looks like brownish/greenish color.

Who you look like: 100% Daddy, with Mommys eye color.

Clothes:  You wear 6-9, 9, and some 12  month clothes.  The 6-9 month clothes are getting a little short but still fit.  

Sleeping Through the Night: Nope.  You wake up usually  two to three  times during the night.  Usually you wake around 12:00 ish am, 4:00 ish am, 6:00 ish am, and finally waking up for the day around  8:00 - 9:00am.

Schedule: You go to bed any where from 7:30 pm to 8:30pm.   You wake up around  8:00 am to 9:00 am, just depends on the day and what time you went to bed the night before. You are finally back to napping in your crib, Mommy gets you to take two naps a day.

Eating:  During the day you like to eat every couple of hours.  We now feed you oatmeal in the morning and pureed food at night which you really enjoy.

Teeth: Not yet, thank goodness. 

Diapers: Size 3 of Earth's Best diaper. 

Travel: We went to Ohio for your first Christmas, you really enjoyed the wrapping paper on your gifts. Nana and granddad visited after Christmas so we could celebrate with them.

Biggest Change:  How well you move around to get the things you want.

Extra Comments:  You now let women hold you but men are still scary.  We have really enjoyed seeing how you have grown and all the changes you have gone threw.