Travis' Lumberjack Birthday Party

For Travis' 3rd birthday, we went with a "Lumberjack" theme.  Honestly, the idea was derived out of the simplest way for me to keep up my Christmas decorations while trying to keep it from feeling "Christmas-y" and it worked great.

It was a "Rugged & Manley" birthday celebration and a very hearty Lumberjack Meal! 

On the menu:

The most amazing lumberjack cookies I've ever seen - thank you Ashley.  You are so talented!

Sorta-Smores - they were, eh-hem..."deconstructed"

...my fancy way of saying, I put out marshmallows, graham crackers and hershey's chocolate for people to make their own.  

Unfortunately we didn't have a fire going to melt the smores (correction, that was not unfortunate - a 3 year old party really doesn't need open flames... but is it really smore if it's not melted?)

I made 16lbs of roast with roasted red potatoes and baby carrots.  

There wasn't a lick left.  It was either a big hit or people were hungry or I didn't make enough... 

I labeled it "Meat & Potatoes" to help it feel as MANLY as possible.

We had "wood logs" 

long pretzel sticks

...A cookie cake - because that's T's favorite

There were lumberjack beard signs placed around the house... hehe... I can't help myself. 

"Wild Bears" aka Teddy Grahams

I also tried to make Homemade Hot Chocolate - that was a disaster.  I'll be doing the powdered stuff next time.

We got crafty and painted the kids hands and made ornaments.  

Thanks to all our family and friends that made it!  We had a great time!

xoxo, Cyndy

(...what would have been) 40 Weeks!

Today, the twins would have been 40 weeks!! 

Instead my little boys will be 3 weeks old tomorrow!  Life at the Bagley house has been in a constant state of movement.  

We have been feeding, sleeping (some,) burping, diapering, swaddling, cooking, laundering, washing, oh my.

So many -ings.    

Luckily, Jason's mom, sister and my mom have been here almost non-stop.  This is actually only the 2nd night since we have come home from the hospital that someone hasn't been here with us to help with the boys.

Random thoughts: today, I mowed the lawn.  It felt so good to be outside in the grassy air.  Small victories to normalcy.  We made dinner (shrimp and veggies, eeeehhhh...) then, Travis and I visited two of our pregnant neighbors to deliver some baby gifts.

After our visits, Travis had a colossal meltdown.  Probably the biggest, worst one he has ever had.  Jason gave him a bath while I was nursing the little boys, so I didn't see it, but he tells me that he got himself so worked up that he actually scared himself.  Poor guy was beyond tired - we stayed out too late with the neighbors and it threw off his schedule big time.  That boy does best when he is in bed by 8, not starting his bath at 8.  It's amazing how fast time flies when you're living your life in 2 1/2 - 3 hour increments between feedings.  The time just got away from me and my sweet boy melted down because I was being yappy.  Sorry buddy, I will try to be better.  I was just enjoying getting caught up with our friends again and got distracted!  Bad mommy  :)

Twin news:
Barrett lost his umbilical cord on day 9, Pierce on day 11.  Yay!
The boys got their first baths on day 12 - for some reason, I was absolutely not as stressed about bathing this time around.  Practice makes perfect, I guess... and the newness of dealing with a newborn was all soaked up by Travis, so my confidence level was much higher with these two.  They both are water babies thus far, barely a peep of crying and they both seem so peaceful when the water goes down their little faces.  So so sweet.

(Pierce)

(Barrett)

At their 2 week check up last week, they were both back up to their birth weights.   

Actually, they both SURPASSED their birth weights!  

Pierce was 6 pounds 7.5ounces, Barrett 5 pounds 7.5 ounces. 

They seem so big to me.

As they grow, it's amazing to watch how their dispositions are developing.  I am trying really hard not to label them - "this one is the quiet one, this one is the happy one, this one is the grumpy one, this one is the whiny one" but it is funny to see how different they are.  You'll have to get to know them and you can make up your own mind on if you think they are different.  I am still in awe to be so consumed in love for these people that I have only known for what seems like minutes.

What else, what else...
Nursing.  Well, it is definitely easier this time around, but it still sucks.  Pierce has a really shallow latch but is a great eater.  Barrett has a fantastic latch, but falls asleep mid-feeding almost every time.  I'm nursing them tandem (thank, God.) so we are able to a bit of life in the middle of the 3 hour milking sessions.  Still, it's an adjustment physically and that just takes time... so as much as it hurts right now, it isn't that bad in the grand scheme of things.  They have been exclusively breast feed this whole time, which I am so pleased about... all those good antibodies and fats and lipids and whatnot.  Magical baby milk.

What else -
We made our first out of town trip this past weekend.  We went to San Antonio for 3 days over Easter to be with family.  It was lovely lovely lovely.  So nice to have so much family in one place.  The Easter bunny came, and Travis had a BLAST hunting for eggs.  His cousins were so sweet helping him find eggs.  It was one of those moments in time that was just priceless.  I don't know what it is about Easter - probably the fair weather and the relaxed nature of the day and the oh-so-sweet outfits that I love, but I think it is one of the friendliest & happiest days of the year.  Yay, Jesus.

My little ones need to eat... so off I go.  Sweet dreams,

xoxo, CB

37 Weeks

I missed you too...

It was only a week ago, but so much has changed this week that it feels like a lifetime ago.

Last Thursday night, we hit FULL TERM twin status.  What a surprise!  All the doctors we meet along the way told us that we likely would deliver before I got to 37 weeks - haha, they were all wrong (and so was I!)

My body started making very obvious changes two weeks ago, Friday.  For lack of a better way to explain it, my champagne bottle popped it's cork on March 21st.  I'm not going to go into any more graphic detail on that one.  Regardless, once it happened, it is said, that you could go into labor within "minutes, hours or weeks" so, I called Jason and put him on High Alert.  Unfortunately, it is a really tough indicator of when you'll go into labor, but I had it in my mind that these babies would be coming sooner than our 4-4-14 scheduled delivery date.

For the next two weeks I went into crazy prepare mode - making lists at work, making lists at home, savoring every single "last dinner" and we waited, and we waited, and we waited.  Week after week, there were a few changes, both up and down - I would dilate a little here, a little there, I'd be 40% effaced, then 70% effaced, then 40 again.  As I rested more, my cervix would squish (efface) and unsquish like a coke can, all the while, the babies were able to keep developing and growing.

3 weeks ago we were told that Barrett (Baby "B") was getting too small compared to Pierce (Baby "A") and if they didn't see marked growth they would have an emergency c-section on April 1st.  I chuckled to myself as I made the appointment, because I truly didn't think we would make it to April 1st!  Then there were some complications with Barrett's heart rate - it spiked about a week before they were delivered, so every 3 days I would go back to the doctor for more tests to monitor how they were doing.  It was extremely stressful to try to keep calm through all of the changes, but it all worked out, as it seems it always does.

Finally, April 1st came and to our relief, the boys looked good to the sonogram doctors.  They were growing, still small compared to all the mythical babies in "rate your baby against all the others" sizing terms, but they looked healthy.  I believe they were both somewhere in the 17-35th percentile.  My little bits.  So we counted down the hours until our Friday c-section...

Thank God for my Jason.

As much as he DROVE ME NUTS keeping me off my feet and nagging (yes, NAGGING) me to sit and stop doing so much, I truly believe that much of the health of these babies is because of him.  I over-do-it.  I push myself to do to much... just one more thing... and when it comes to the lives of 2 other people (and mine, sort of) it really was a blessing to have a partner, that took the job of keeping all of us safe, very very seriously.

He is the most annoying and wonderful love of my life :)  I am truly honored to be his wife.  I married a man that is loving, giving and selfless.  He makes me so happy.   YAY, HORMONES.  I'm gushy :)

Here we are, in our last family photo as a family of 3, the night before our two little boys were delivered.

Travis and Nana's Giraffe 

 I only wonder, how long would they have cooked if we hadn't had our cesarian the next day.  

I'm so glad we did, it was a completely different experience than Travis' birth, but I think I'll always wonder. 

That's all for now - soon, I'll fill you in on P&B's birthday.  

Whenever I can keep my eyes open long enough to type and click :) 

xoxo, CB.

Side Belly

  

Travis' 2nd Birthday

My sweet Travis was born 2 days after Christmas, 

which as I'm sure you can imagine, is quite a hectic time 

for family 

and friends 

and travel 

and gifts 

and all that goodness... 

so, on his birthday, we try to keep it special but very low key 

(in light of all the aforementioned crazy!)  

And so not to cheat him out of the big birthday parties all little kids should have, 

we have adopted the idea of having a half-birthday party in June.

A big summer party - we send invitations, friends are invited and we all play in the sun! 

For Travis' 2nd birthday, it was all about pizza and pancakes!  

Two of his very favorite foods... 

Travis was telling everyone he was six... 

See that little hand???  He would raise it up and say "I'm six!"  

Uncle Bubba got the biggest kick out of that. 

Then to add a little something extra special to his day, we ordered a cookie cake.  

 It was hilarious to watch him get excited about his cookie cake.

He was trying to put his face in the cake before anyone else got to it.   

Little ham :) 

 After pizza and cookie cake,  we opened gifts and all hung out.
It was so nice to be with our closest friends and family and I think Travis really enjoyed it! 

Happy 2nd Birthday my little man.  

We love you so much!

Thank you to our family and friends that came to share the fun with us!

xoxo, mommy

Travis' Birthday Breakfast

Today is Travis' big 2nd birthday! 

I can't believe sometimes how fast it has gone.  He is such a great kid and this morning we had a pile of pancakes to kickoff the day for our special boy!

Below is the towering stack of pancakes. 

Right now, there is no other food in Travis' morning that he loves more, so we thought he'd enjoy it! 

Getting into his birthday "cake"

Happy as a clam.

Happy Birthday, Travis!

xoxo, mommy

19 Months

I'm playing catch up because my laptop has been verryy grumpy for a long time and I was so frusterated with it that I just stopped posting... but now, thanks to Longhorn Mac Repair and an amazingly talented computer guy named Patrick, the 'ole MacBook Pro is back up to speed.  I couldn't be happier - this laptop is probably 5-6 years old but it is a great computer.  I hated the idea of having to buy a new one because the keys were getting stuck and the touchpad was acting up... so I took it to a repair shop (first time ever!) to see if they could fix it and VOILA, within 24 hours it was back to new again.  I am tickled.  

Enough about the laptop... CATCHING UP.  I took these pictures when Travis turned 19 months, so they're definitely a bit dated, but I don't want to forget how he looked (he's already changed so much!)  AND, if I don't post the pictures here, they'll get lost in the abyss of iPhoto, so I think it's better for them to have a place to live in blogland :)

Travis at 19 months

taken: August 1, 2013

That's Lovie in the picture up there.  Lovie is Travis' favorite toy... 

he snuggles and plays peek-a-boo and sleeps with lovie...  sometimes he even covers up Elmo with his Lovie "blankie" 

It's very sweet.  

Thank you, Steph for the HUG! book.  He got it for his 1 1/2 birthday from one of my best friends and he LOVES that book... it has magnetic paws that "close" the book, and he likes to read it to himself.  Sometimes he lets me read to him, but on this day, he was being a very independent big boy reader. 

Yay for books!  The best gifts :)

xoxo, CB