Group pics

The girls


The guys

Uncle Travis visits

Uncle Travis (Jamie's brother) also made the trip down to see Kendall and Kaleb




Uncle T with his first nephew

Auntie Shawn and Uncle Tom

Auntie Shawn (Jamie's sister) and Uncle Tom came down for the long Memorial Day weekend. Their daughters are getting so big, so they got a kick out of holding such little babies again!

Cousins!

Our nieces Madison (26 months old) and Keiley (11 months old) love their new cousins!

Jamie with Kaleb and Keiley

Keiley enjoyed swimming in the pool! She looks like she could model for the Coppertone Baby!




Madison had fun with the sidewalk chalk


Madison and Kaleb

Grandma Sandy and Papa David

Papa David came down the first weekend Grandma was here, then had to go back to Detroit for work during the week. He came back the following weekend to pick her up and visit with us again.

Grandma Sandy came to visit

Jamie's mom came to stay with us for a week. It was so wonderful to have her here! She cooked all of Jamie's favorite meals from when he was growing up and really helped me with the day to day activities.

Pooh and Tigger

Kaleb and Kendall have these really cute Pooh and Tigger hats and booties. They are so cute!

Kaleb getting ready for pictures



Kendall was not quite as excited for her pictures...ha!

Kendall

Kendall is still on oxygen and an apnea monitor (although it has been a very long time since her monitor has gone off). The pictures you see without her oxygen have been taken just after her bath. We take her oxygen and monitor off to give her a bath, and usually end up taking some pictures before we put everything back on. We will be doing a sleep study this Friday night to see if she can come off of her oxygen...keep your fingers crossed!

She loves to snuggle and has the prettiest eyes! Jamie was holding her the other morning and she looked up at him and gave him the biggest smile. It melted his heart!

Kaleb

Kaleb is our little wiggle worm! He is always very alert and very strong!

Family Pics

Jamie and I were talking the other night about how lucky we feel to have twins! Sure...it is sometimes overwhelming, can be double the work and we always have to stay one step ahead of them, but it also has brought Jamie and I even closer together. We really have to act as a team and allows both of us to be very involved in the day to day activities of caring for them. We really love being parents and cannot believe how complete our lives feel!

Last Thursday, their weights were:

Kaleb - 8 lbs, 1 oz

Kendall - 8 lbs, 3 oz

Kaleb in his Bumbo seat

Bumbo Seats are fairly new (within the past couple of years). They are rubber seats, and used to help teach babies how to sit up (basically supports their legs, back, sides, etc). Kaleb has such remarkable strength in his neck already that Jamie put him in his Bumbo kind of as a joke. He is still a little bit too young for it. He looks so funny because he is so small in it!

Good Sleepers

Although we don't have anything to compare them to, we feel very lucky with how well Kendall and Kaleb sleep at night. They wake up about every 3 hours (every once in a while we will get a 4 hour stretch, or not so lucky and get only a 2 hour stretch). We feed which ever one wakes up first, then wake the other one up to feed them so that we are not having to get up just a little bit later to feed the second one. It takes any where from 40 minutes to 1.5 hours to get them fed, burped, diapers changed and back to bed. Then, we have about 2 hours to sleep before it starts all over again! Thankfully I don't have any problems falling back to sleep once I am up!

I nurse them during the night, and if they wake up somewhere around 6:30 am, Jamie will take that feeding and spend some time with them before he goes to work in the morning (plus he helps out on weekends so that I can get longer stretches of rest).

We have this wonderful "co-sleeper" attachment for our bed that they are sleeping in. It is so convenient to have them right there!

Outside in the Boppy pillow

We took Kaleb and Kendall outside and propped them in the Boppy pillow. As you can see, Kaleb was passed out so we positioned him with his arms around his sister.



Kendall was giving Kaleb kisses (or trying to eat his face)...either way it was hilarious!






After we took Kendall away, Kaleb just tipped over but kept his arm out like he still had it around her.

Muscle shirts

We love our daddy!

Kaleb and Reece hangin' with daddy


So precious!


Daddy can multitask!


Kaleb helping out with some outside projects

Auntie Sarah comes to visit

My sister Sarah came down for about 5 days. The thing she was looking forward to the most was BATH TIME! She did a great job taking care of the babies (and of me)! She even took an over night shift and let Jamie and I sleep in the guest bedroom - much appreciated!

Uncle Dan and Jessie come to visit

Uncle Dan and Jessie also came down to visit. They loved taking care of the babies and helping around the house and with yard work outside. Thanks!

We took our first adventure to the mall with them. Dan was pushing Kendall and Kaleb around in their double stroller in the store and had all of these women telling him "oh...you're going to be so busy"!

My first Mother's Day

I had my very first Mother's Day on Sunday! Life could not get any better! I truely love being a mom!

We also had a doctor's appt on Monday (5/14) for weight checks. They are both getting so big!
Kendall: 7 lbs, 5 oz - 19 inches long
Kaleb: 7 lbs, 3 oz - 19.5 inches long

Such cuties!

Activities

Kaleb is not quite big enough for the Baby Bjorn carrier....he needs a couple of more inches (he is looking out the arm hole).


Kendall likes her swing


First walk together. Check out their Central Michigan University (CMU) hats for the lil' Chips!


Chillin' in their bouncy seats

Grandpa and Grandma Surface visit

My mom and dad came down to visit and help out! Here they are with their first grandchildren!

Grandpa with Kaleb

Grandma with Kendall

Hanging out with Grandpa and Grandma Surface

Twins with Taz

Taz is my parent's dog (my dog growing up) - he came down with them to Indy and he loved to be near the babies!

Bath Time!

Kendall had her first bath at home! She loved the water!




Daddy gives Kaleb a bath

Visitors

Dressed alike!

The night we got Kendall home we had to do a quick photo shoot! She is on the left, Kaleb is on the right.

Dressed alike!

Reunited!!!

Reunited for the first time! Within a few minutes, Kaleb moved over closer to Kendall to snuggle! It was so cute!



Proud parents admiring their little angels!


Relaxing with dad - there is no place he would rather be!

Kendall's Big Day - Coming Home!!!

Our prayers were answered! Kendall got to come home on Wednesday (May 2nd) around 1:00 pm. She was in the hospital for 4 weeks. She is on oxygen and an apnea monitor at home to continue to monitor her condition. It is a bit cumbersome to have her hooked up to 2 machines, but we are just so thankful that she could be reunited with us at home! She is doing great so far!

At the time of discharge, Kendall weighed 6 lbs, 5 ounces and was 18.3 inches long

Kaleb had a doctor's appointment on Monday, he weighed 6 lbs and was 18.75 inches long

Kendall leaving the hospital


Grand entrace home!


Meeting Reece for the first time!


Chillin' in her bouncy seat!!!

Kaleb helps mommy and daddy on the computer

Kendall back on oxygen, Kaleb still doing well at home

Well...as you can see from the picture below, Kendall has been put back on an oxygen nasal cannula. We were thinking that she would have come home this past Saturday, but she had a dip in her oxygen on Friday night that resulted in her needing to stay at the hospital. She was continuing to have desaturation episodes over the weekend, so in following advice from the doctor she was put back on oxygen on Sunday (this will help to keep her oxygen percentage higher). The doctor said it is very common for premies to take 2 steps forward and 1 step back, so this is nothing to be overly concerned about. When she comes home, she will be on oxygen and an apnea monitor so Jamie and I will be able to sleep a little bit easier knowing she will be okay.

Kendall smiling for the camera! Grandpa Surface has been going up every morning for her early feeding. She lays on the charm for him (smiling, cooing and looking up at him) and has started to wrap her little strings around his finger!!!


Kaleb continues to be an awesome baby! He has had 1 or 2 good feedings each day nursing, the rest he takes by bottle. If he is alert and awake, he nurses very well...if he is sleepy during his feed time, then he doesn't do so well.


Kaleb was taking a nap and turned to look at his sister's picture - he can't wait for her to come home!


Dad, mom and Kaleb resting