Adventures before the Holidays.

Has anyone noticed how crazy life gets before the Holidays? I know a lot of the craziness here is my own fault, procrastinating and whatnot. But just one year I would love for things to be smooth. I guess we'll get there or at least closer someday.

Adrian's birthday was on the 17th and we made a full day of it. Andy took a day off and we played, went out to lunch, played some more, then went to dinner with Auntie Shannon, Uncle Tim and Jesse. It was such a nice night and even though Adrian has the 3 year old attitude down to a science, we all enjoyed ourselves. Adrian's favorite thing to do is yell now. He yells at his brothers, yells at me and Andy, and just yells for fun. lol! Oh and don't call him a boy or anything other than a Jedi because he will yell at you like you have never been yelled at before. It is somewhat funny, I called him a biscuit the other day and he freaked out at me and then broke down crying. "I'm not a biscuit, I'mma Jedi!" Poor Auntie Shannon got yelled at last night for calling Jameson "Buster." Adrian thought she was talking to him, and went off. I have a lot of work to do to get that settled down.

But he enjoyed his birthday and got fun toys from my parents and Andy's dad. My parents got him cowboy guns, a shotgun and a handgun with a holster. He hasn't put the shotgun down in DAYS. He SLEEPS with it. So funny. And then he got a Luke Skywalker costume, light saber (that lights up and vibrates) and a build your own blaster from Grandpa Bob and Grandma Dee. The light saber as you can probably imagine is just slightly taller than he is, but it is heavy for him and when he swings it around, it is DANGEROUS!!! lol. He got a card with money in it from Great Grandma too and is anxious to go and buy something cool. :) I think he felt like he had a million bucks walking around with the cash. It was so cute. Thanks you guys for the gifts!

His party is on Saturday morning at the House of Bounce, and he is so excited. I took him over there last week to drop off the contract and the gal there let us play for a few minutes. Needless to say I had to DRAG him out. lol. He is going to have a blast when his friends are there.

The babies are growing leaps and bounds. Jameson has 3 teeth now, the bottom two and the top left tooth broke through the other day. Steven has 5 teeth, the two bottom and 3 of his top teeth. Let me tell you it HURTS to get bitten these days. lol. Steven is closer to crawling, but isn't quite there yet. Jameson is all over the place and pulling up on everything, he is getting brave now too and letting go of furniture. But he is also sitting a lot better on his own and can get himself into and out of the sitting position without help.

Andy and I are excited for the Holidays since this year we are going to Auntie Karen and Uncle Neil's for Thanksgiving and then home for Christmas with a stop in Jersey on our way up. Since this will be our last year close enough to go we are going to spend as much time with family as we can. I can't believe Thanksgiving is next week... I am SOOOOO excited.

Just a quick pregnancy update...

On Monday we had a little bit of a scare, but all is well with the baby and with me for now. I have a placenta previa and a hematoma so things are could get a little complicated. For now we are enjoying little restrictions and no bedrest, but it could come down to strict bedrest eventually. If we could ask for prayers that the previa resolves itself we would really appreciate it. Thanks all!

ALSO! There is a button on the sidebar for a baby pool. Click on it and make your guesses. We will be finding out the gender on Dec. 16 but we may not tell everyone. Hurry before the 16th to make your guesses and we might tell you. *insert evil laughter here* Thanks!

Ok much love... I will leave some recent snaps of the boys.
Adrian the day before his 3rd birthday

Steven 6 months

Jameson 6 months

November!

It's November already!!! We had Dad here for Halloween and part of his birthday, and it was such a nice visit. The boys loved having him here. They are having a hard time adjusting to him being gone. Adrian told me after we dropped him off at the airport that "Papa had to go far away," and then he said "Papa's plane is going round and round." Papa said that was more accurate than Adrian could have imagined. lol! Then Adrian said,"Papa misses me so much." It was really sweet.

The babies are getting so BIG! Jameson started crawling about 3 weeks ago and is now pulling himself up on furniture, the stairs and us. Steven isn't far behind... he is getting up on all fours now too. I can't believe it. Such big boys. Jameson also started to say what sounded like Papa while Dad was here. We got a kick out of it. I still have to bring them in for their 6 month appointments, so we don't know how big they are right now.

Andy is still plugging along at work. He has a new class as of the beginning of Oct. and is doing the typical first few weeks of weeding through and stuff. Fun as always. ;) We are still waiting on official orders but we are going to Guam for pretty certain. Andy is really excited and I am trying to be. It is just so far away and with babies and stuff it will be hard to be more far away from family. I know it will be a great adventure and is an awesome opportunity for us so I am excited about that. I just wish I could pack up the whole family and go. lol!

As for me... most of you know I am pregnant again. Things are going well and I have been sick a LOT less than with the twins. I am due on May 18, 2010, and we are thinking pink this time. Other than that... doing the ombudsman thing for the next two days and Shannon and I have been pretty busy with our photography. Very exciting! Just a plug... but the fall colors have come out so if you want some pretty fall photos... call us ASAP! As always the link to the photography site and blog is on the side. The blog has recent sessions on it so check it out!

Ok enough... I am sleepy and going to rest. Thanks for reading!

5 months old and Chief Daddy

Well I have been slacking severely. Things have been crazy here and I keep forgetting to update the blog. It is fall! The weather here has been great. The high yesterday was only about 74. Perfect in my opinion. I love it. We have had the windows open off and on, but with rain and humidity we decided to keep the a/c on a little bit longer. It wouldn't be so bad if our house was one story, but the upstairs gets a ton of direct sunlight and it is at least 20 degrees hotter up there.

The boys are doing fantastic! Both Steven and Jameson have their two bottom toofers in and are drooling up a storm. Jameson is getting dangerously close to crawling already which is funny since he doesn't sit on his own yet. He is close to that too, but not quite there yet. Steven recently found his feet which we call his take-a-long toys. J-man has been playing with his for about 2 months. I think Jameson is definitely going to be my wild child. :)



Adrian is a monkey. He is always climbing on things and getting into things. He is so busy. He started saying "sorry Mommy" with that sarcastic undertone. Grrrrr. I guess the terrible twos don't go away... they get worse. Ha ha ha ha. He's lucky he is so cute and that he has somewhat good manners. ;)

Andy's Chief Pinning Ceremony was on September 16, and it was so nice. Adrian, my dad, Bishop Ferris (who is a retired Chief and handed his anchors down to Andy) and I got to pin him. It was a little emotional seeing him in all khaki and then with the combination cover. I think I am still in a bit of shock that I am a chief's wife.













At the pinning, Adrian found a little girlfriend. It was adorable, the two of them sat together coloring and swapping writing utensils. I am in trouble I tell ya! lol!




But not only am I a chief's wife... I was chosen with another wife from the command to be Co-Ombudsman. I attend the Ombudsman training on the 5-6 of November. I am a little scared and excited to do this. It means more involvement with the command and with the wives, so that can be good and bad. I intend to make it a good experience.
This is Andy and I with the CO



What else... oh yeah. We are unofficially going to Guam next year for our next duty station. Andy is slated to go to Guam and be the E-Div Chief on the USS Buffalo. What an adventure it will be. The official orders will be issued at the beginning of the year as the military's funds for transfers is non existant right now. Fun! So if you wouldn't mind keeping us in your thoughts and prayers, for going to the right place, we would greatly appreciate it.

Ok well I guess that is it for now. Lots going on and lots still to do. Hope all of you are doing well and that you catch up with our goings-on by reading this mess. lol!

The boys

Just thought I'd blog the picture of the boys I took yesterday. I think it is pretty cute and since not everyone who reads my blog is on my facebook, I figured I'd share.

The boys are doing wonderfully. Adrian is talking up a storm and can identify all colors except blue. We can't figure out why he has such a hard time with blue. We are working on identifying numbers and letters on sight now and he is doing so well. He is so smart.

The twins are getting big too. We just moved them up into 3-6 month clothes and started them on cereal. It is pretty messy, but Jameson loves it. Steven could do without it I think. lol! Such big boys! We are getting lots of smiles, coos and giggles from them too.

Andy is ready to be done with the chief select stuff. One week from today he will be pinned and start wearing his khakis and no longer be Chief Select. He has enjoyed it, but all the away time is catching up to him. He's ready to be home again.

As for me I am trying to keep up with everything and everyone. It's busy. Not too much else except my birthday is coming up and I am 1 year closer to the big 3-0! Ahhhh! Crazy how time flies!

Ok well I better run and check on dinner in the crock pot and try to clean while the boys are sleeping. Much love to you all!

4 months old and Potty Time!

Well to start... Adrian has been more and more interested in the potty. YAY for us! He has been going more and more on the potty, but now thinks it is ok for him to take off his diaper and poop on his floor. Yep that's right he pooped on his bedroom floor and peed all over his bed yesterday. FUN! We bought pull ups and he loves them. I love them too, because there is less accidents happening on the floor and more making it to the potty. He is doing really well with it so far.

The twins had their 4 month appointments this morning and they are doing awesome. Their stats are below:

Steven
birth- 7lb 7oz 20 in
2 months- 12lb 11oz 23 1/2in
4 months- 15lb 6oz 25 in

Jameson
birth- 6lb 13oz 19 in
2 months- 11lb 13oz 23 1/2in
4 months- 14lb 15oz 25 in

They had shots and took them like champs. The appointment was easy for me because my awesome friend Shannon came with me and took on Adrian. He loves her so much, but not as much as I do. Thanks Shannon!

Andy is super busy with Chief Select stuff, so we barely see him these days, but there is less than 3 weeks left now. Thank goodness. He is doing great and we will all be relieved when it is done. lol!

As for me I am trucking along in my duties, and trying to be the best wife and mother I can be. Luckily I have help from wonderful friends and family. Thanks guys, you know who you are!

Ok enough for now. I will post more soon. love to all!

Hail to my Chief!!!

Wow... it's been a while since I last blogged. Sorry about that. A lot has happened in the past month, Lola flew in and spent the weekend with us July 17 then left the 21st. Kate and Emmy flew in on July 22 and on the 23rd we packed up the van and drove to NC to spend the night with Auntie Dollygum and Uncle Neil. That was an adventurous start to our very long journey, first we got pulled over before even getting out of SC by a jerk of a cop who really made me mad. Then Emmy had to go potty so we stopped at a Wendy's for her to go and before pulling into a parking spot, Adrian started throwing up. FUN! Needless to say it took us 6 hours to get there.

Once there we had fun, it was a short stop and we wish we could have stayed a bit longer though. We left about 9 the next morning to start on the longest part of the trip, but we got lost in Reidsville and couldn't find our way out. Stupid GPS was taking us in circles. lol! We got out of Reidsville at about 10am after a call to Auntie Dollygum, and started on our way. We were going pretty good for a while, but then got stuck in accident traffic, drove into a major downpour where you couldn't even see the road in front of you, and lasted forever. We decided to stay over in Frackville, PA. We left at about 8 the following morning and made it home at about 12 noon. Longest trip EVER! lol!

We had a blast in CT though... the night we got there we went to a Connecticut Defenders baseball game and Adrian loved it. We had great seats along the third base line, but after a fly ball hit Adam (while he was holding Jameson) I was a little terrified. Lola's friend Jennifer gave us skybox tickets and we moved up there. It was so nice of her, and made my night less scary. Part of the benefit of being up in the skybox is that the mascot comes up and sees the kids, I didn't know what Adrian would do, but he LOVED it. He wouldn't let it go and chased him all the way across the room holding on to it's legs. lol. It was so cute. Then after the Defenders won there was a great fireworks show. We all had a blast.

Our trip went way too fast, but we had so much fun. Luckily while we were there we got to see Aunt Donna, Uncle Dan and the kids, I would have been heartbroken if we had missed them. We spent a little time with Auntie Steph (sorry it wasn't longer Auntie Steph) and an afternoon with Jillian and Rocco. Was supposed to have a BBQ with them but we cut my trip short because Andy was missing us too much. We saw Jen and Lorelei a bunch (but not enough ;)) and met the sailors my sisters are friends with. What a fun bunch! It is nice to be home though, and the babies are back into their routine (thank goodness.) Hopefully we will end up back up there when Andy goes back to a boat. Sorry we didn't get to visit more guys!

Now the best news... on Fri. July 31 Andy called me and told me he made Chief! We weren't expecting him to make it, but hoping and praying for it. So what a huge surprise it was when he told me he made it. His pinning is on Sept 16th. He is so excited and I am so proud of him. He has been working toward this his entire Navy career. He is super busy, but loving every second. I can't wait to see him in his khaki's, and his choker whites. YAY!

Ok here are a few pics from our trip.









Here is a video of Jameson giggling while I was tickling him.

I'll get the rest up when I get them edited. Thanks everyone for the great visit. Hopefully we'll be up there next summer for 4 years!

2 months!!!

I can't believe the boys are 2 months old today. Holy moly where has the time gone? We have their 2 month well baby appointments Monday morning so we will find out exactly how much they weigh and how long they are. We are guessing they weigh close to 13 lbs each. Big boys!

Still not smiling very much, but some. They smile more at Andy and the ceiling than they do for me. Little Boogers! The boys and I are looking forward to Lola's trip down here next month for a few days and then the day after she leaves, Kate and Emmy are coming down. Kate and I are packing up the 4 kids and driving up to CT where the boys and I will be staying for about a month! We are so excited!

Here is Jameson on his 2 month birthday...


and Steven aka. Steveson


And a little smile from Steven


We will update after we get back from their appts. Much love to all!

Photos

A few pics of the twins. The black and whites are Jameson and the color are Steven.

5 weeks old...

Wow! Seems unreal that the boys are already 5 weeks old. Where is the time going? Everyone is doing great here. Besides a little tired, things are going pretty smoothly.

We had some exciting fun over Memorial day weekend, Andy's dad and stepmom came for a visit. It was great to finally meet them and we had a blast. We went to Patriots Point and visited a ton. I got to see some pics of Andy as a kid and see some big resemblances to the boys. Got to hear lots of stories too. I feel like I know Andy so much better now.

They spoiled all of us rotten too. The boys were held and played with so much and they all loved it so much. Here is a pic of Andy and his dad with the twins.


We are so lucky to have had them come down and can't wait to see them again. Hopefully that will be in August when we are on our way back from CT. Which reminds me... I am heading to CT with the boys in July and then will drive back with Andy in August. Can't wait to see everyone and introduce them to the newest Finn boys.

The long birth story...

My Twin Induced VBAC story

So I had been 3-4 cm dilated for about 3 weeks, thought that meant I was about to go into labor. Nope. I made it to 38 weeks with twins, which is super, but at the same time I was ready to be done. lol. So on the morning of 4/23/09 (38 weeks to the day) I checked in to the hospital to be induced. Normally they won’t induce for a VBAC because of the risks of uterine rupture, but my cervix was favorable and I already had some significant progress with dilation so we decided to give it a go.

We got to the hospital at 6:30am and checked in. I had to sign consent forms for a c-section just in case and also had to sign a consent for attempting a VBAC. The doctor came in and checked me I was 4cm and about 50% effaced, they wanted to do an ultrasound to check the position of the babies. Since Steven (baby A) was breech until about 35 weeks, they had to check and make sure he hadn’t flipped back around. The u/s machine was frozen so they had to go find another one and that took a while. So about 8:15am they came back and checked babies positions and Steven was head down and low, and Jameson was semi transverse looking like he was going to move head down.
They started Pitocin at 9am very slowly and I finally started a regular pattern with contractions around noon, they weren’t painful at all. At about 1pm they came in and broke my water and the contractions became more uncomfortable but still very tolerable. At about 2pm the anesthesiologists came in and told me that they were about to start a c-section that was anticipated to take a few hours, so they wanted to give me my epidural then. It is very strongly encouraged for a twin delivery to have an epidural since the chances of c-section are still very high and also if they have to reach in and turn the second baby it is more comfortable with the epi. So I reluctantly agreed to go ahead and get the epi then. I was a little disappointed since I hadn’t had any really strong painful contractions, but oh well.

I got the epidural around 2:30pm and immediately felt nauseous. I ended up throwing up throughout the rest of my labor. I think I am sensitive to being numb. I don’t like it. Plus it was a low dose epi or walking epi so I could still move my legs. That is a weird feeling. They came in to check me shortly after my epi and I was 5cm and 75% effaced. and at a +1 station.

At about 5pm they came back and checked me again and I was 6cm, 80% effaced and at a 0 station. They put an internal fetal monitor on Steven and also put an IUPC (catheter to monitor contraction strength) in. All day long Jameson kept moving and coming off the monitors, so they had to keep bringing in the u/s machine to find him and get him back on. He was a turd. lol. He flipped so that he was face up so we couldn’t get his heart rate on the monitors. Stubborn boy.

At around 8:30pm they came in and examined me again. I was still 6cm but thinned out a lot and baby was moving down. They told me they would let me labor if I continued dilating, but that it looked like maybe a c-section was in the cards after all. I was not ready to hear that at all. I was so upset I just cried. But I wasn’t ready to give up at all.

They came back in around 11pm and I was barely at 7cm complete on one side of my cervix but still had a lip on the other side. They said my contractions weren’t strong enough to do what they were supposed to do, and that they would let me go a few more hours but after that it was c-section for me.

I turned on my other side and said a prayer and went to sleep. I was too upset to think about things, and I was exhausted. When I woke up at 1:30am they checked me and I was complete and complete and we were off to the OR to deliver. I was so relieved! So we got to the OR and they set up, I was on the table at 1:50am and started pushing. At 2:03am Steven Andrew was born and started crying immediately. He weighed 7lb 7.7oz and was 20 inches long. He had Apgars of 6 and 9.

They were going to bring in the u/s to check position of Jameson but they felt his head come down so I started pushing. At 2:17am Jameson Thomas was born. He had the cord around his neck once and didn’t cry right away. Jameson weighed 6lb 12.9oz and was 19 inches long. His Apgars were 5 and 9, he gave me a little scare. They were both crying after a few minutes though and it was so awesome to hear.

I tore quite a bit and lost a lot of blood. I had an estimated loss of 400cc of blood at delivery. I felt a lot of them repairing my tears since my epi had been in place so long it was wearing off. OUCH! They said it is common to lose a bit of blood after a twin vaginal delivery because the uterus is so stretched.
The boys were brought to the Level 1 nursery where they were completely checked out. Jameson had low blood sugars so I didn’t get to see him again until about 10am. Steven was doing well so they brought him in around 6:30am and let me nurse him.

Later on that morning they checked me and decided to bring me back into the OR to repair the tearing since I was still bleeding and had already lost so much blood. While in the OR I lost another 750cc of blood. My hemoglobin was at 6.7 after the OR trip (normal is about 13.) They kept talking about a transfusion but it scared the crap out of me. It wasn’t until I saw myself in the mirror that I realized how bad it was. I was ghostly pale and looked awful.

The told me I had 2nd degree sidewall tears on both sides and a sulcal tear on the right side. They put vaginal packing in and that was really uncomfortable too. Also pain management was a rough area for me because I am allergic to Morphine and Codeine and can’t have Motrin. So they finally decided on Lortab and it was wonderful. lol. They put a catheter in me and it wasn’t in right. I kept peeing around it which was so odd and gross. I kept telling them that something wasn’t right with it, but they told me it was because of the vaginal packing and swelling.

When they took the catheter out the next day, I ended up peeing more than I had ever peed before right afterwards, which meant it wasn’t in properly because otherwise I shouldn’t have had to pee at all right away. I couldn’t believe my bladder had held all of it. Funny thing is the catheter was draining urine too, so I must have really been backed up. Ugh.

Nursing was a challenge at first only because it was hard for me to sit up enough comfortably to feed them. The lactation consultant was AWESOME though and we got all fixed up in no time. The boys are doing great with nursing now.

We were able to come home on 4/26. So glad for my VBAC and for these beautiful boys. Adrian is adjusting well and loves his brothers.

4 days Steven weighed 6lb 13oz and Jameson weighed 6lb 8oz. (4/28/09)
11 days Steven weighed 7lb and Jameson weighed 6lb 13oz. (5/5/09)
18 days Steven weighed 7lb 11oz and Jameson weighed 7lb 8oz. (5/12/09)