A Day in the Life of Bowey & Gabriella

Bowey & Gabriella joined our family on Christmas Eve night.

For Christmas Natalee requested twins - a boy and a girl - and she was pretty specific about wanting to be able to tell who was the boy and who was the girl when she undressed them to change them.  Santa delivered and Natalee's aunties (and a couple raids of my "baby supply stash) helped her accessorize these little beauties.  

They *are* anatomically correct, as proved when my dad, on Christmas morn, was helping her change the boy and he got him stripped, only to proclaim, "why, this is indeed a BOY DOLL."  Sure enough. 

Nannie had a friend & co-worker make darling cloth diapers for the babies - and boy did Kristina go over the top.  These diapers are BEAUTIFUL!  They are all lined - both sides on most of the dipes having printed fabric.  The insides are all soft soft fleece.  The kids can easily get them on and off thanks to the velcro fasteners and they fit great.  Natalee delights in getting out her stash of 6 every morning and choosing what the boy and girl are going to wear!  Since we are planning to cloth diaper with our #3 this was too perfect!

I'd say her favorites are the baseballs and the ladybugs, however she rotates them pretty well and really loves them all.  Sometimes the babies have to be changed more than once a day just to get a fresh diaper.

(Bowey on the left, Gabriella on the right)

Usually Bowey & Gabriella's morning starts with a change from PJ's to real clothes, fresh diapers, bottles, and some play time.  Natalee can usually rope Xavier into helping with this routine unless he's already engaged in something more important.  If he helps he always cares for Bowey because, in his words, "I know more about penises that Natalee." 

 

 

Their day varies depending on what we are doing, however they stay pretty active.  At night we do the whole clothes change again - getting back into PJ's with another diaper and a bottle.  So far, mom's had to be fairly active in helping with clothes, although the kids are getting better.  Preemie clothes fit the babies well and Aunt Kea gave Natalee 3 piece winter outfits for both of them that are darling.  It's just tough to get their not-so-bendy arms into the sleeps, etc.

Aunt Kea also gave Natalee a pack with disposable diapers, which have been fun to try out, and big baby bottles.  Bowey drinks milk and Gabriella drinks orange juice because she's lactose intolerant (he he he).

(Mike and I gave her the high chair for Christmas.  Mike was going to make one but we got this one for a steal of a price and it's sturdy and darling!).

Aunt Kea also found Natalee a sling on Etsy, and though she wasn't sure about it at first, after I got my Didy wrap and she saw my excitement she's understood her sling a bit more.  This morning both of them needed wraps so Xavier borrowed my ring sling and then tried out Natalee's pouch sling when she was done.

Granny & Papa chose a double stroller for Natalee's babies - this pic was taken the other day but the stroller is pretty sweet all in it's own.

So you see - we stay pretty busy with these 2 new additions.  

It's a joy to watch my little girl be a little mama and answer her questions about baby care.  She dug through my baby basket and got out burp cloths...this morning she said she would need to look for some chewy toys so her babies didn't get bored.

And along the way, Xavier is getting some pretty good practice on being a big brother and, in turn, a little daddy.  He's actually probably the more gentle and attentive of babies in general.

Happy New Year, friends.  May your 2014 bring you THIS much joy!!

Fun Winter Day!

 

Today we took the kids to a new (to us) indoor pool.  It happened to be in the same town that my little sis lived in while finishing her RN degree so we'd driven by it several times but never really knew what was inside!  The pool was awesome - terrific staff, Christian atmosphere...truly a great place to spend 5 or so hours!!  There's another indoor pool we like in IA that is connected to a hotel, but I have to say - for HALF the cost of admission and just as much fun this might be our new "hotspot."

A total total perk that I LOVED was that all the changing rooms were "family rooms."  So to get dressed and undressed our family of 4 had a nice large bathroom with our own shower, toilet, bench, sink, etc. and a locked door. That was unexpected and awesome - no splitting bags boys/girls only to get to the girl room and realize I had Xavier's underwear or some craziness like that!

I was a little embarrassed for myself - I don't have a maternity swim suit and at 6 1/2 months pregnant obviously can't fit into my one piece suit that I normally wear.  Thinking I was smart, I just took old underclothes, with a tank top and shorts/capris to swim in.  I was fully covered, looked decent (though likely not too fashionable) and felt fine with myself.  However...we got there and got in and one of the {young} lifeguards came and asked me if I had swim clothes on under my tank/shorts.  Um...no - if I had swim clothes to fit this bod I'd be wearing them.  Apparently in the state of IL it's law that you have to have on swim attire, even if you wear clothes over it.  So I could have worn a bikini (shudder) with clothes over it and been okay.  Sigh.  Failure.  She was kind and compassionate and totally appreciated that I wasn't just letting myself hang all out and in the end let me wear what I had on, even though I offered to get out lest she get in trouble.  However, if you know me, you know it's hard for me to "shake" these kind of things, so for the rest of the day I felt like kind of an idiot.  Oh well.  In the end, the children had a WONDERFUL time and that's what mattered!

The water was 85* and the room was just as warm so the camera quickly got foggy taking pictures! 

We fed the kids a big breakfast, drove to the center, swam for 5 hours, then pulled them out and got dressed before going for supper at 3:30ish.  My original plan was to let them eat at the grill that is in this rec center but it was closed (for the holiday maybe?) so that was a non-option.  We weren't supposed to have snacks in the pool area, even at the tables, but at one point I did pull the kids out and slip them a tidy, easy snack of nuts and an applesauce pouch (another mark on my naughty chart), simply because, even though we could have dressed, left and eaten and come back and not been charged again for the day I couldn't fathom dressing them, going out into the cold, eating, then bringing them back to put on wet suits and get back in.  So we just had all the fun we could have until they absolutely were exhausted, then filled their little food tanks at a restaurant before grabbing a few groceries and heading home.

She was SPENT after 5 hours in the water (she's waiting for brother to finish up).  Xavier wears a puddle jumper so his body probably doesn't work quite as hard as Natalee's does, as she doesn't like the feel of any life jacket on her.  She's getting braver and braver in the water - swimming lessons are HIGH on my list for her this summer!

You know we try to eat fairly natural, lots of fresh fruit and veggies, etc.  But every once in awhile...well...who can pass up a Steak and Shake? ;)  After assessing the children's hunger I opted to forgo the children's menu and instead got them adult meals.  Our little lady put  away a double cheeseburger with fries and Xavier totaled an adult order of chicken strips with fries.  Yowzers.  We sat there for an hour while they just ate and ate and ate...

This morning before we left for the "surprise day" (kids didn't know we were swimming yet) Natalee asked about her babies.  They couldn't stay home for the day alone (gasp) and couldn't sit in the car if I allowed them to come along (obviously) and I could see the Natalee anxiety starting to build (I remember having anxiety like this as a child...poor thing comes by it honestly).  Finally I bargained with her that we could stop in at Aunt Lauren and Uncle Lance's house (mid way between our house and where we were headed) and have them babysit for Natalee!  Genius!  I did chuckle that, like any little mama, she seemed nervous about leaving them.  Poor dear.  They did fine and Aunt Lauren sent Natalee pictures of their adventures.

 

They "faux cooked" - Natalee was relieved when I told her they didn't really let the babies cook!  As she explained very seriously to me "they are too little."

Uncle Lance fed them.  Great job Lance - Natalee checked the picture when we received it to make sure each one had the correct bottle.  Whew, you passed that test!

 And they looked out the window to see if their mama Natalee was ever coming back.  

Aren't fun aunts and uncles the best?  Totally played along and "Bowey and Gabriella" were snug in their Moses basket - all wrapped up and sleeping - when we arrived to pick them up!

What a fun day!  Such a blessing to spend time as a little family and try something new!  Now...if you need us tomorrow we'll be sleeping in, lazing about, and soaking up the last 2 days of Christmas break!

Christmas 4 of 5

We are STILL celebrating the Savior's birth by loving and spending time with family.  Today after a BLESSED Christmas worship at our home church we went to my grandparents house for lunch.  We were supposed to celebrate with them last weekend but my grandma actually had a little heart attack preparing for everyone to come so we postponed.  We are blessed that she was able to come home, only needing one stint.  She'll go back when she's stronger for a defibrillator.

Our grandparents handle Christmas by giving us money and asking us to buy for our children.  While everyone has told them many many times that this is unnecessary, they say it blesses them by being able to watch the children open gifts and play happily.  So...we continue the tradition.  And it is fun to watch our little people thank their great grandparents and play toys with them and show them "what's new" today.  Actually, it's pretty awesome that my children have great-grandparents that they know, call by name, love, and who love them. 

It blesses me to watch my children play with cousins, love on each other, tickle the babies, and enjoy the company of extended family.

Day After Christmas

Our "Christmas season" extends for quite some time.  On the day after Christmas we celebrated #3 of 5 family get-togethers (counting our own little family's celebration).

This time it was with Mike's family.  Again, we were blessed with too much and enjoyed the company and family time together.

 scooters for the little scoots!

 I got a Didy wrap!  Very exciting...even though I had to bribe my "babies" to let me practice. 

Mike got a Keurig and has enjoyed many a cup of coffee, cider, and hot chocolate in the last few days!!