Will and Travis 2 month well check

I intended to write up a whole cute post complete with pictures about our sweet 2 month little boys. Yeah, that's not going to happen. We are just too busy. Joe has already worked 40 hrs this week and that means my poor mom has been over her A LOT. The boys got their two month shots this afternoon and boy has the rest of this day been rough. Joe and I have each had one boy trying to calm them down for the last two hours. Finally they are asleep! Time to veg out and watch our recording of the Holiday Bowl. Go Huskers. Neither of us have energy for anything else. Bet we make it 30 minutes before we fall asleep.

William
16 lbs (98%), 23.75 in (67%), 91% head circumference

Travis
13 lbs (70%), 23 in (40%), 70% head circumference

I can't believe there is a 3 lbs difference now, although its completely obvious when you see them together. I pretty much stink at everything these days but one thing I don't feel like I'm failing at is nursing.

Diapers, Diapers, Diapers, and Diapers

We now officially have children in 4 different sizes of diapers.

Travis in 1s

Will in 2s

Maddie in 3s

and Emily in 4s (only while sleeping).

Geez...

Davies family Christmas

Davies family get-togethers are always fun but this one was especially fun. We went to the Copelands for conies and then we played kickball!! We had enough for 2 full teams and it was so much fun despite our varying levels of athleticism. Our family is really growing - there were 6 grandchildren there!

Weslee, Maddie, Lydia, Alicia, and Travis

Stephen and WillMost everyone who was able to attend, not pictured are Aunt Lorrie, Kristen, and Hayden

Christmas Day

After opening presents, we headed over to Mom and Dad's for Christmas dinner, more presents, football throwing, and more games.

Nate and Will

Maddie with a game of Memory in the background

The girls received a lot of great gifts, but this Radio-Flyer from Grandma and Grandpop was the hit of the day!

Christmas morning

I wasn't too good about taking pictures Christmas morning, but my Dad was good enough to record most of it. Here are a few that I did manage to take.

Christmas Eve

Our festivities started with the 4:30 church service with my parents and Eric. Always interesting trying to keep 4 kids quiet.

Maddie insists on sitting by Travis

Then we came back to our house where Nate and April joined us for some tortilla soup and tamales and some rounds of Wits and Wagers

Little girls prepared for Santa!

Christmas baking

A few days before Christmas, Mom and I decided to attempt to do some Christmas baking so we could bring plates to the neighbors and well, also so that we would have lots of yummy goodies to eat! It went much better than expected. Mom poured, stirred, and baked steadily all day and I helped her between nursing and changing diapers. We made 6 different types of cookies, not too bad! The girls got in on the action too...

First Road Trip

Last weekend was our first road trip with 4 kids. We didn't expect it to go well so we were pleasantly surprised when it wasn't horrible. Our trip was 3 nights at 3 different houses - the MacGregors, the Deanes, and then my Grandad's house. Those with young kids know how much stuff babies and little kids need and how much loading and unloading we did to move from house to house. Yuck!

Here is Joe entertaining the girls at Buc-ees while I nursed the boys. Amazing how cool peanuts and sunglasses are...

Visit with Grandma and Grandpa Reynolds

A family friend of the Reynolds got married last weekend and we were lucky enough to be invited - its amazing how close the Lone Rock crew has remained over the years! Grandma and Grandpa Reynolds drove in for the wedding, so we made sure to make it up to Kingwood so Grandpa could meet the boys and Grandma could get her kisses and hugs in. The Deanes were so kind to put us up and keep our bellies full with wonderful food! Its a small world - I played softball with their daughter, Sheila, at Trinity, not knowing that her family was so close to my future in-laws.

Here is the wonderful former night nurse, Mrs. Deane

The fun bed and life-sized dolls that Mrs. Deane set up for the girls

One of Will's first smiles caught on camera - reminds me of Eric's smile

Quick stop at the MacGregors

Our first stop on our Houston road trip was at the MacGregor household. It was too quick. I need a week with Noelle and her family. Ok, maybe not a week, but still, I... need... more... girl... time... Not to imply that Rob and Jackson are girls. :) As usual, Noelle took much better pictures, so look here. Here is the best picture I took of our visit. Yes, I am that bad. Mostly though, I was chasing around 2 kids and trying to keep the other 2 from crying.

4 generations!

Did you notice that I haven't posted in over 2 weeks? Thats because we have been so busy and I'm finding it all-consuming to take care of all these kids (even with my mom's help almost every day!). When I have time on the computer, its only for a few minutes.

Anyway, enough whining. One of the reasons we were so busy is that we had a visit from my Great Grandma Ives from Florida. Can you believe this woman is 90 years old?? She was a champion baby rocker and we tried to convince her to stay even longer!

4 generation pic. Actually, its a 5 generation picture because the memory of my Grandma is with all of us, all the time.

Seriously, she is a kid magnet!

Travis smiled!

Nope, didn't get a picture, but I was so happy to see it! A tired mama needs a little encouragement from her babies. Here are some other pictures of him from today in his new blanket.

A House Divided

Tonight, our house is divided - but not the way Texas households are usually divided. If you know anything about college football, you know that the Longhorns are playing the Cornhuskers for the Big 12 Championship. Having been born and raised in the Austin area, I am the UT fan and Joe's family is from Nebraska so he routes for them. May the best team win...

Still sick

Will and Travis both had a hard time sleeping and nursing last night due to their congestion. Its been a week since they first got sick, so today we took them to the dr again. Will had a little wheezing in his chest so he got a prescription for albuterol :( The pediatrician thought Travis still looked a little yellow, so they took blood for another bilirubin test. Still waiting to hear back on that. Neither had a fever and both had 100% oxygen, so thats good. They are both also making up for being squished together in my belly.

Will - 11 lbs 6 oz (75-85th percentile) birth weight - 8 lbs 2 oz
Travis - 9 lbs 14 oz (almost 50th percentile) birth weight - 6 lbs 9 oz

They finally fit into some of the clothes they received as gifts!

Will and Travis - 1 month

The boys are 1 month old now! They say you take less pictures of each consecutive kid. Not only are they the "third" kid, there are 2 of them, so they get even less pictures taken of them. Its hard to get a good one!

Travis

Will holding his head up

Together in the swing - Travis red because he was ticked

Will

Travis

Cupcakes again

Its a little harder for us to get out these days, so we sometimes try to figure out fun things for the girls to do at the house. Last night, it was cupcake mixing and baking. Tonight, it was cupcake decorating.

Emily spreading the frosting (didn't know she had a bloody nose)

In case you weren't sure...

Yesterday was a great family day. Things went smooth for the 6 of us and there weren't too many behavior problems. We played a good game of Candyland together and I finally beat Emily.

Joe had to fix something at the duplex right before the girls' bed time so I decided to let them stay up until he got home. We did the fun Melissa and Doug Sparkly Solar System puzzle. Emily is learning about the planets and pointed out Earth.

I say "Yep, that's the planet we live on"

She replies "Umm hmm and Noelle and Rob"

So there you have it, the MacGregors are also earthlings. made ME laugh anyway...

Will and Travis - 4 weeks

Both Will and Travis are spending their 4 week birthday sick. They have gotten worse since yesterday's doctor visit and both are really congested. Travis has a slight fever, so I'll be watching him tonight to make sure it doesn't get high enough to warrant an ER visit. I hate ER visits. I didn't take any pictures today because they have spent most of the day sleeping. Besides the worrying, its been an easy 24 hrs because they are sleeping so much!

At the doctor yesterday Will weighed 10 lbs 9 oz and Travis weighed 9 lbs 5 oz with his clothes on so we guess he'd be about 9 lbs naked. So, I guess thats proof they are growing!

Will and Travis are starting to see things and notice us a little. I also think Travis may have noticed Will. I was holding them both in my arms like the picture below and Travis was staring in wide-eyed wonder at Will who was screaming his head off.

Overall, we are still in survival mode. On nights when its just Joe and I, we've been taking turns or I'll take the first part of the night and Joe will take the second. When the girls were babies, I did all the night shifts since I was staying home and I'd just bring the girls to bed to nurse them when they woke during the night. That plan doesn't work with 2!! Sometimes it feels like we are first time parents again! OK, I'm too tired to write more or to even read what I just wrote. Those babies are sleeping, I should be too - just have to get a snack first

Maddie - 20 months

This last month has been crazy, especially for Maddie. All of a sudden she isn't the baby and can't be picked up whenever she wants. She's acting out like most "not-the baby-anymore" kids and is displaying the rockin' temper she got from me and Grandpop. Thankfully, Maddie is really sweet to her brothers, like Emily, and loves to take care of them. Mom, Grandma, and Emily aren't as lucky.
She continues to talk all the time and her and Emily have starting having conversations together which is usually really sweet. They are sisters after all, so isn't always sugar and spice. The nice convos go something like this:

Emily: Maddie, how you doin today?
Maddie: Dood! (Good!)
Emily: What you want to do today?
Maddie: Playmound!!!! (playground, which is exactly the same way Emily says it)

Silly face, cute dress from Noelle

Love this picture!!

Diaper head, naked bottom

Update

We've been busy and I'm usually too tired to post or even take pictures. Today Mom and I took all 4 kids to the pediatrician because they all have some ailment of some sort. Emily was the worst off, lots of snot and a croopy-sounding cough. They tested Emily for flu and thankfully it was negative. Will also had a yucky cough/sneeze and seemed to have trouble breathing too. Doctor thought they might all/some have RSV, but gave me the option to test for it since the treatment would be the same either way. I opted not to test, of course, since I hate to spend moola unnecessarily.

Anyway, thats more than you ever wanted to know! Here are some recent pictures.

Our neighborhood had a fall fest and we loaded everyone in 2 double strollers and headed to the duck pond. Too bad the fest was lame but I got some exercise anyway!

Emily "nursing"