More Halloween pictures

     

Vacation Day 6

Today we went riding in the Buffalo Creek Recreation Area in Colorado. It was a great trail. A hours plus climb, then a hour and a half of rolling singletrack at the top and then a blazing downhill to the parking area.

Above is the view from atop Buck Gulch Trail.

Here’s Nanc and I with Ethan and Emma in a Pagoda at the Pine Valley Ranch Park. It is one of the only original historic buildings on the park. It was quite popular in the days before air-conditioning as it was near Pine Creek and in a shady area.

Here's Mom and Carl with Ethan and Emma in the strollers we had to buy to fit al the stuff in for vacaction. It was so nice of them to watch Ethan and Emma on vacation while we were able to get some mountainbike rides in.

Ethan and Emma visit Grandma and Grandpa Wiese

    

Ethan and Emma finally got to meet Grandma and Grandpa Wiese. We took a vacation to Denver so Ethan and Emma could meet them. Mom Wiese was the only baby sitter I ever had and took care of me from the time I was 6 weeks old while my Mom worked. She, Dad Wiese and their children Ed and Shiela were like a second family to me growing up and we have managed to stay in touch even after they moved to Denver. I have such great memories of being at their house growing up.

Everyone has something especially wonderful in their life that they have no right to have and Mom and Dad Wiese and their family are mine. I always tell people how incredibly lucky I am to have them and their family in my life. I just hope I can do as well taking care of Emma and Ethan as they took care of me.

It was so great for Ethan and Emma to meet you all. Shiela made a great dinner and Ed, his wife Peggy and their daughter Amanda were nice enough to drop by as well. It was great to see all of you again and to meet Amanda.

Here's my Mom Wiese holding Emma. Can you tell she is a natural?

  

Here's Mom and Dad Wiese holding Ethan and Emma.

Here's Ethan, and left to right; Amanda, Shiela and Peggy.

Here's Peggy holding Ethan while Ed entertains Emma. They loved the voices and hand motions Ed would make.

Here Mom and Carl catch up on things with Mom Wiese.

Carl and Dad Wiese when we first arrived.

We are on vacation ! -Day 3

Here we are at the highest paved part of Rocky Mountain National Park just outside Estes Park, CO. It is over 12 thousand feet high and one of the few Alpine areas in the lower 48 states. The views were unreal. A nice person volunteered to take all our pictures together

Here's Ethan practicing his running to get rid of the fussies that sitting in a car seat for hours can cause. I love the pic Nanc took because it looks like he is running off the rock and that I am trying to catch him.

Daddy goes motocrossing

Finally got back on a offroad motorcycle after 30 years! All things considered I did not do too bad. Fred invited me to the annual Labor Day party at his boss Skips family farm where he and Fred have built a nice motocross track. Fred was nice enough to set me up with a bike and all the gear as well as some instruction. It was a blast and what a spread of food to boot. All of Skips family rides and they were all there. The young kids were ripping it up and as good as some of the adults (yours truly for sure). I can't wait to see Emma and Ethan get on some mini-bikes.Thanks to Nanc for letting me go, and thanks to Fred and Skip for a great time. Even though I had a great time, I must admit to sneaking a few looks at pics of Emma and Ethan on the iphone and couldn't wait to see them that night.

Here's Ethan helping water the plants

We got back late from taking the lawn wagon and walking over to Home Depot to get Nanc a mum for the front yard and Ethan and i had to water the plants as dinner was cooking. Notice the Goober from Mayberry brim flipped up look on his hat.

Emma and Ethan go to Marinel's 3rd birthday party

Emma and Ethan got invited to our good friends Tahra and Keith's daughters 3rd birthday party. Mike, Marta and their 20 month old son Jordan were there also. Tahra, Mike and I all opened the Lincolnwood Kohls' store together and also all worked at Kmart but at different times. It was great to see everyone again. Hopefully we can see each other more now that I am a stay at home dad and have more flexibility in my schedule.

Here's the birthday girl getting ready for cake. She loves Dorie from finding Nemo, so Tahra had a really neat Dorie cake made for Marinel

Here Marinel is getting ready to blow out the candle.

Keith serves up the cake while the family supervises.

Marinel posing for her picture. She is quite the little actress. Tahra had this neat backdrop with Finding Nemo characters that could be placed and replaced in different spots so the kids could pcik whi they wanted their picture taken with. It was pretty cool.

Here's Mike and Marta's son Jordan. I LOVE his backpack. It's a Dale Earnheart Jr. car backpack and Dale Sr. is my all time favorite Nascar driver. Jordan is such a cute boy.

Here's Mike, Marta and Jordan posing by Nemo

Here we are. Can you tell we woke them for the picture and to put them in their car seats. They were not happy at the moment but qickly got over it.

Here's Tahra, Keith and the birthday girl Marinel. Happy birthday Marinel!!

We go on a walk

It was cool, but we decided to go for a walk over to the forest preserve on our first day home alone. Emma and Ethan were little angels.

Ethan and Emma with their bunnies

Here's Ethan and Emma with the bunnies from Grama and Grandpa

Here I am with my bunny from when I was little, now you know where I get being a packrat from :-)

Ethan's no longer tongue tied

I guess gettng his frenulum cut wasn't too bad, since he is sleeping like a angel upon returning home. Frenulum is the medical term for the small translucent piece of skin that runs vertically under the tongue, When it attaches too far along the tongue it can cause issues, We made the decision to get it cut so that he could nurse better and not have speech problems when he starts talking. Since we did it so young all it did was bleed a few drops of blood. :Last week at the consultation the Dr. had stated that I could be in the room, but someone from his office would have to hold Ethan during the procedure. Today when he saw how relaxed Ethan was in my arms he let me hold him and pull his front lip down for the procedure. I was happy that I got to do it other than someone that he did not know. He was a trooper and only cried a few little cries and his tongue was much more mobile immediately. He can now stick it out his mouth like his sister.

It was a crazy morning though, as at 5:30 when I got up to feed the twins I heard a weird noise like water going through pipes and went to basement to find out that the hose to refrigerator icemaker had split and was spraying all over haalf the basement. So I had to clean that up before the Dr appt at 8:40. Soaked the sleeper sofa and a bunch of other stuff. At least I knew how to shut it off and we were able to make appt. on time. Everything is drying out as I type.

Dad caught slacking off on baby watching

I was only being a good role model for sleep and acting the part. I was not sleeping... reallu mu eyes only look shut. I was keeing an eye on Ethan all the time.

Top Ten Things I Didn't Know About Babies

10. Cover that peepee or you get the weewee!

9. Wow... Poo can fly that far!

8. There may be a gas shortage for cars, but babies have plenty, and it's not easy to burp out

7. They go thru at least 16 bottles per day in addition to breastfeeding.

6. Yes they are on a schedule, Problem is they have us on a schedule, not us on having them on a schedule.

5. When they said we need to feed them every three hours, I didn't know it meant from beginning of feeding to beginning of feeding and included the 1 hour it takes to feed them. I thought this meant 3 hours after feeding ended, This means 2 hours of sleep is the most you get at one time

4. People are so nice, We have been overwhelmed by all the gifts, kind deeds, words and cards

3, 96 diapers won't even last 4 days with twins,

2, Twins means you never have to fight over who gets the baby.

1, That my love could expand so much for these two bundles of love. You don't love anyone else less, your capacity for love just grows immensely.

12 hours worth of bottles

Behold the aftermath of 12 hours of formula supplimenting the breastfeeding. I am the chief cook and bottle washer....and loving it!

Off to bed after a big weekend.

It's off to bed with the two little bundles of love

They had a really big weekend with visits all three days. Friday Aunt Jan, Uncle Dave and cousin Kelley came.

Saturday Aunt Laura, Uncle Jeff, cousin Brian and his son Logan visited first and then Aunt Linda, Uncle Jim, and cousin David came later. Then Sunday Uncle Fred and Aunt Polli came.

We look forward to visits from both sets of Grandparents in the next few days.  

Twins day 8 - Family visits

It was a busy for Ethan and Emma today. Their umbilical cord stumps fell off, so we gave them their first baths. I uploaded small videos on separate posts, but here is one with cousin Brian overseeing the bath.

Dad makes sure Ethan is warmly bundled after his bath in one of his cute hooded towels we received

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Here is Emma and Ethan's second cousin Logan. He is so cute and thought our steps were the best toy ever. He would crawl up the steps and slide down on his belly with the biggest smile on his face. Emma and Ethan look forward to being his posse as he is the ringleader in crime in years to come.

Here's aunt Laura holding Emma after her bath.

Here's aunt Linda changing Ethan's diaper. Thanks for the help.

Meanwhile uncle Jim feeds Emma her bottle.

Here's David feeding Emma. He was a little concerned about holding her at first since she is so small (not TINY), but as usual he was great with kids.

Uncle Dave, Aunt Jan and cousin Kelley come to visit Ethan and Emma

Jan, Dave and Kelley came to visit Emma and Ethan for the first time. Thanks for coming up after a long day at work. Ethan and Emma were thrilled to have their first at home visitors. Sorry they were a little out of it at first. We had fed them just before your arrival.

Ethan and Emma are gaining back their weight

Good news, after losing 5 lbs each both have gained weight over the past 2 days. Since Tuesdays weigh in at the pediatrician Emma has gained 2 ounces and Ethan has gained 4 ounces. This means Emma still needs to gain 3 ounces to get back to her birth weight and Ethan needs to gain only 1 ounce to regain his.

We were relieved they are back on track. Emma was starving tonight, and ate so fast she started howling and 15 seconds later gave me back a large portion of what she had gobbled. All down my arm, into my leather watchband and down my leg, and I was only upset because she did not keep it down after I was so excited how she was eating. Earlier I had her on the bed and was changing her poopy diaper when I reached for a wipe I heard a noise and she was squirting out poopies several inches out straight a my face, luckily I was out of range. I laughed my butt off. Then twice today Ethan did the little boy pee as I am changed. Nothing like a diaper and outfit lasting 60 secongs. Who would have thought I would not care about being "annointed" repeatedly all day. They fill us with such love we don't care.

Nanc is having some discomfort with the incision and now has to start feeding more like 2 hours than every 3 since the babies are really starting to nurse and want to be fed more often than the 3 hours feedings with formula. As usual she is super-woman and never complains. We go to her Dr. for week after delivery check-up tomorrow.

Got to go, it's only 15 minutes till the midnight feeding.

It's been a great (and long 2 days)

We went to see the pediatrician for the 1st time this Tues and all went well other than both Emma and Ethan lost 5 ounces. This is normal for newborms to lose up to 10% of their birth weights in 1st week or two. We go back Thurs to see if they have lost anymore. If too much they would have to take in for feeding. Think things will be ok, will let you know if not.

Emma was really worrying Nanc and I Tues night and Wed. a..m After the trip to the pediatrician and the trip there and back she was totally worn out, lethargic and would not stay awake to eat. We were beside ourselves and then finally little angel 1 got awake and eating around noon. Then ate pretty darn well 3 times before 10pm. and staying awake and/or alert for long periods of time. We were really relieved.

Ethan is great allowing us time to take care of his smaller twin by being very low maintenance and eating well. He is now nursing and Nanc's ,milk is letting down and we are hopeful he has gained back some of the weight. He is content to lay and look around and amuse himself.

Got to get to bed and get a hour of sleep before next feeding. Only getting about 4 hours per day so far. It will get better, and we would not trade places with anyone. It is so great having them in our lives.

Will post more after dr. appointments tomorrow. Hope it does not knock Emma out again.