Christmas 2012

In case you haven't caught on to my new trend, I'll spell it out for you - get a blog post done before the next milestone/holiday happens.  So getting the twins 15 month post up before they turned 16 months, Adella's 2 month milestones before she turns 3 months and Chrismas before Valentines comes is all well within reason, right?  When your a mom of 3 kids that are 13 months apart in age, you betcha it is! 

We spent Christmas Eve hosting Dave's parents, his brothers Leamon and Sam and his niece Victoria.  It was a simple and relaxing evening spent just enjoying being together.  After dinner there was a lively game of parcheesi followed by some tasty homemade pies courtesy of Dave's mom.

Ian and Suzie got stuffed animals from Pop-pop and Grandma Traxler.  They are pretty cool and start out as a dog house and igloo then after pressing the doorbell you unzip them and turn them inside out to be a dog and penguin.  Suzie LOVED hers and wouldn't let go.  She ended up sleeping with it that night :-)

On Christmas morning Ian and Suzie had more stuffed animals in store, this time from their Great Grandma Hellie.  As you can see, Suzie gave her seal of approval again.

After enjoying a quite Christmas morning with just us and the kids we loaded up the car and headed over to see my side of the family.  The holiday festivities seemed to make me even more forgetful and I totally spaced getting a photo of our new family of five, BUT at least there are separate photos showing all of us that day. 

Ms. Smiles

Ian and Suzie had fun playing with their new toys (thanks Brook, Grandpop & Lela) and my dad was able to fit in lap time with each of the twins.

Suzie took a liking to this particular bottle of soda (which happened to belong to my cousin's girlfriend) and carried it around with her for quite some time.  Thank goodness for simple entertainment and caps that screw on tight.  This is one of the only pictures I have of Suzie standing up in that dress and I just love how she looks in it.  Having girls is pretty fun. 

After getting them in their Christmas jammies we drove back home.  Having a car full of sleeping children is pure bliss I tell you!  When Suzie and Ian woke up the next morning they were all smiles.

Ian couldn't wait to play with his new toys and Suzie was being her regular goofy self.

Then they noticed the snow falling outside.  It was determined an outdoor adventure was required to help celebrate a white-day-after-Christmas (and the twins turning 15 months old!).

Fifteen Months Old...only for the next few days

 Before the twins turn 16 months old I realized I needed to get their 15 month milestones up because if I don't do it now everything will just blend together and they'll be 18 months before I know it!  

Twins Official Stats - 

Suzette - 24 lbs. 10 oz (75th %tile) / 31.25 inches (75th %tile)

Ian - 25 lbs. (60th %tile) / 32.75 inches (90th %tile)

Ian and Suzette turned 15 months old the day after Christmas and lucky for them it snowed that day!  We took them outside to see the snow up close and personal, but then it started to turn more from snow to sleet, boo.  We were able to snap a few quick pics though.

At first Ian wasn't too thrilled,

but then he started to smile and enjoy being outside.

Dave not looking and Suzie smiling.

Dave looking and Suzie not smiling...

Adella all bundled up for her first winter weather outing

This is the first time since birth that Ian has weighed more than Suzie.  Both of them have lengthened out a bit so Suzie's weight is now spread out which means her bountiful belly is no more.  It has been funny to see pants that were too tight on her all of a sudden start to fit pretty well now.  Ian has always been lanky, but with his new heavyweight status he has started to get some more chubs on him, mostly on his thighs.  Because of Suzie's newfound "skinny" state she has been able to figure out how to do some things she couldn't before --

Like squeeze in between the fridge and wall to emerge victorious with the dust pan and swiffer.

Ian promptly swiped the dust pan from her to enjoy the moment to it's fullest.

Yes, that is Ian's tongue on the dust pan

Speaking of Ian's thighs they are doing some pretty exciting things these days -- we now have two walkers on our hands!  Ian took his first steps on December 5th and within just a few days he was walking all over the place.  Suzie started walking at 11 months and Ian was perfectly content to crawl everywhere until he was 14 months old.  It has been so fun to see the proud smile on his face as he toddles all over the place.  He has a pretty wide gait to help with stability and when he thinks he's about to fall he'll quickly squat down, wait, then stand up again all without his bum touching the floor once.  When Ian does fall it's not a big deal, but it's interesting that he tries to avoid it at all costs.  I'm thinking down the road when hindsight is 20/20 I'll understand better what it was foreshadowing about his personality.

Suzie has become quite the talker.  Words starting with B are easiest for her to say - baby, ball, blue, book and bye-bye.  She has continued to say mom and dad as well (maybe she'll say mommy and daddy when she's talking more or did she just skip that and go straight to mom and dad?) and has added, "peas please" to her meal time vocabulary.  Suzie also says nose while pointing at Adella's.  As for her health status we received the official diagnosis of asthma from a pediatric pulmonologist in October and have been doing nebulizer treatments of an inhaled steroid twice a day since then.  The dosage was doubled after her hospital stay when Adella was born.  Her follow-up with the pulmonologist went well, but Suzie didn't get past the end of December without getting sick again.

Dave and I gave in on our "no tv before 2 years old" rule to make the time Suzie has to sit still for her treatments bearable for everyone.  So Signing Time and Baby Einstein it is.  At least with Signing Time their signing vocabulary has improved a ton!

This time it started with a cold she got a few days after Christmas which lead to her first ear infection, but luckily her asthma has remained under control.  Ian actually went a few days without catching it, but then finally did and despite all our efforts Adella caught the cold as well.  Three sick children was no fun, but the silver lining was that I never caught the cold so in my sane moments (they are in short supply these days) I was able to take care of all my sick babies during the day.  Once Dave got home from work he jumped right in and would grab hold of the reins to help with whatever was needed until he'd go to work the next morning.  Bless his heart.

Ian & Suzie truly are toddlers in every way.  Curious and very mobile.  These days it's all about figuring out any way they can climb up onto or over things - chairs, couches, dressers, tables and any sort of barrier these days don't seem to stand a chance.  This has lead to some heart attack moments for me.  It seems they know when I'm sitting down nursing Adella is the time to strike.  That is when I saw them first figure out how to climb over our make-shift stair barrier (a coffee table turned on its side) and make their way upstairs to wreak havoc on any and everything they could get their hands onto.  I do have to say their methods for climbing over the barrier were pretty interesting so I recorded it the next time it happened.  If you have a few spare minutes you can see the difference in how Ian does it at the beginning and then Suzie at the end.

Hmm, need to check out why my video isn't uploading.  Hopefully I'll get it figured out and posted soon.

I think problem solving is great and secretly part of me so interested to see how their little minds and bodies figure out how to maneuver onto and around things, BUT I enjoy my sanity too and not having my heart skip a beat wondering if they'll break their neck falling down a flight of stairs or get a concussion while falling off the back of the couch would be nice.  I know each of their strengths and trust their abilities for the most part, but the twins like to follow each other in these escapades.  So while it may not be such a big deal for one toddler to be climbing/jumping/running on the couch, when two are doing it while your holding a baby in your arms it puts this mommy's nerves on edge just waiting for the moment when one falls, trips or gets pushed by the other and tumbles down.  I can certainly say I've never been so grateful for having carpet in my life!

 

**UPDATE**
I typed this up yesterday during their afternoon nap.  Upon walking into their room to get them up I found Suzie and Ian both sitting up IN THE SAME CRIB!!!  Suzie somehow managed to climb out of her crib and into Ian's!  Oh my.  Dave figured out how to drop the crib mattress even lower (it was already on it's lowest setting, but his fabulous engineering mind came up with another solution), but it may be time to look into getting a crib tent as well.

All in all fifteen months is pretty awesome, but once they turn eighteen months and can be dropped off in nursery for the last 2 hours of church will be even more awesome!

Onward and Upward

Since completing his Masters in Sustainable Energy Engineering Dave has been focused more than ever on the path that will lead him to having a rewarding and meaningful career.  Part of that has been preparing for and taking some critical credentialing exams.  In Febrary of 2012 he passed his Leadership in Energy Engineering Accredited Professional (LEED AP) exam.  Here is a little blurb from Engineering Daily about what that means:

A LEED AP is looked upon as an engineer with a high level of knowledge in integrated design. Many companies look up to LEED AP to facilitate the LEED certification process.

The LEED accreditation is the highest valued environmental accreditation and its importance cannot be undervalued in the coming years. Today most companies are audited for compliance to green initiatives. There are stringent rules to comply with the green regulations and any failure can lead to huge fines. With more and more companies resorting to go green, the LEED accreditation will only gain further importance.

Most recently at the end of October (less than 2 weeks before Adella was born) Dave took the Professional Engineer exam.  He'd been preparing for it by studying for months almost every moment he wasn't at work or sleeping.  When I'd glance at the problems he'd be working on from his textbooks I'd be intimidated within seconds.  There wasn't anything simple or easy about it.  Lots of dedication, time, fasting and prayer helped to guide Dave in the best way to study and prepare for the exam.  This is what the National Society of Professional Engineers has to say about the it:

To a client, it means you've got the credentials to earn their trust. To an employer, it signals your ability to take on a higher level of responsibility.  Among your colleagues, it demands respect. To yourself, it's a symbol pride and measure of your own hard-won achievement. 

To become licensed, engineers must complete a four-year college degree, work under a Professional Engineer for at least four years, pass two intensive competency exams and earn a license from their state's licensure board. Then, to retain their licenses, PEs must continually maintain and improve their skills throughout their careers.

 Yet the results are well worth the effort. By combining their specialized skills with their high standards for ethics and quality assurance, PEs help make us healthier, keep us safer and allow all of us to live better lives than ever before.

When explaining it to my family and friends I'd always equate it to someone who went to law school, but never took the bar and how that would limit what they could achieve and how far they could go in their career.  So the PE exam to engineers is like what the bar is to lawyers = it's a BIG deal!  Dave had been running into a glass ceiling of sorts with just his Masters and not being a PE.  The test is only offered 2 times a year and if Dave didn't pass in October it'd mean more studying and paying the not-so-small fee to take it again in April.  Not to mention we'd have a newborn on our hands and study time would be limited.  So the day before he took the exam he left work early, drove to the city where the test was being administered and checked into a hotel.  No distractions, plenty of sleep and some last minute study time would set him up well to be as focused as possible on passing the test.  As for me, I just kept my fingers crossed I didn't go into early labor while he was gone.

After the 8 hour exam was over Dave called me on his way home and said, "I feel good about it."  I was glad to hear that, but knowing my husband is always optimistic (not by nature, but by choice) I had a feeling he'd say that.  Official confirmation came just a few days before Christmas, DAVE PASSED!!!

Only a licensed engineer may prepare, sign and seal, and submit engineering plans and drawings to a public authority for approval, or seal engineering work for public and private clients.

Dave's Christmas present to himself was ordering the stamp he'll use on drawings that he approves.   

To say I'm incredibly proud would be an understatement.  

(Un)Happy Holidays

Our attempt at a Christmas family photo resulted in some rather unhappy children...

but at least Dave and I look good!  Wishing you and yours a very Merry Christmas and safe New Year!

One Month and Change

 You may not be able to tell here, but she's about to...

 scream!

 Awww, cute Adella we love you red eyes and all!

Last Friday Adella turned one month old on the 7th.  She is already out of her newborn size clothes and diapers.  Her legs fill up size 3 month pajamas perfectly and she's able to fill her size 1 diapers just as well.  At her 2 week visit to the pediatrician she weighed 9 lbs. 1 oz. (which is what Suzie weighed at 1 month - Adella did have a 2 pound lead on her to being with though) and I was reassured that she is indeed getting all she needs from me while nursing.  Since her weight was so good we were told a 1 month visit was not necessary and just to come back for her 2 month one.  You don't have to ask this mommy twice to skip a doctor visit!  I feel lucky and blessed that nursing is going so well and that our sweet baby girl is growing bigger and stronger every day.  So strong that at only 7 days old she rolled over from her tummy to her back!  I could hardly believe it.  Dave said he thought as she got bigger she wouldn't be able to move the weight of her body quite as easily, but she's still going strong and rolling over during tummy time.  I'll upload a video soon - I know a claim like that need proof!

Sadly, the typical 2nd child syndrome (in our case 3rd child) has taken hold already.  I have yet to fill out a single thing in her baby book, her first holiday (Thanksgiving) went completely undocumented and I will be lucky if I'm able to document, in photos, her growth each month of her first year of life as I did with the twins.  She'll be 5 weeks tomorrow and I'm just now getting this post out of draft format and finally published.  While I do want her to grow up knowing she was just as cared for and loved as her older siblings I understand that there are no two ways about it, certain things will have to give and my expectations for myself will change as my life with 3 children under 14 months evolves.  So pardon the blurry iPhone photos (sometimes it's all I have handy to snap a quick pic) and overall lack of photos in this post and future ones.  

Our beautiful blue eyed girl

Adella-Bella-Boo (or Bella-Boo for short) and Addie Mae are the two nicknames we have been using so far, but mostly Dave and I just say Adella.  We still feel the name suits her so well and I'm glad we made the change when we did.  Little Miss Adella has some strawberry blonde tones to her hair and I'm hoping it stays that way.  My mom says she reminds her a lot of what I looked like as a baby.  There are parts of me I can see in her, but mostly Dave and I feel she is her own person with a look and personality unique to her. 

Ian and Suzie are starting to notice her a bit more than before, but luckily still no resentment that mommy is with the baby more than playing with them these days.  Ian is fascinated with her pacifier and anytime he is in striking distance he will try to snatch it away.  He has also developed in interest in sticking his finger in her mouth.  Needless to say she remains in my arms, in her bouncy chair up on the table or in the pack & play where it is harder for Ian's curious fingers to reach her most of the time.  Suzie is quite the opposite from Ian in that she will very gently touch Adella's leg or arm then giggle then walk away to playing with something a bit more interactive.  

Dave and I relish our time in the evenings with just her after the twins are in bed.  Two doting parents focused on one baby - its a new concept to us and we're loving it!  I turned to him one night and said, "This must be what it's like to only have one."  Imagine.  Adella already has Dave wrapped around her pinky.  He loves having her close to him - sleeping on top of his chest, wearing her in the Moby, laying on his lap while he comments of every facial expression she makes.  It is a joy for me to see how much our sweet baby girl is adored by her father.  

My connection with her is quite different that what it was with the twins as newborns.  During their pregnancy I knew the genders, thought about them and talked about them with Dave by name, knew the differences in their heartbeats (I was paranoid during the 1st trimester and bought a fetal heart monitor which I used often throughout the pregnancy) and was able to develop a close bond during that time.  Having delivered them via c-section there was a bit more separation during their first hours of life than I wanted and a few other details that just result as the nature of having twins - especially as your first.  With Adella, not knowing the gender during pregnancy AND having two children to focus on and be occupied by made me feel a bit more disconnected with her during the actual pregnancy.  We had names for each gender, but still always just called her, "the baby" or "baby #3" since that's what she was to us.  I also did not have all the opportunities to see her through ultrasounds  that I did with the twins since this was not a high risk pregnancy.  But being able to deliver her via VBAC, have the skin-to-skin contact and the opportunity to nurse her right away created such a strong bond that I'm still amazed by it today.  I love the time I have with her.  I love breathing her in as she sleeps on my chest.  

I love hearing her noises as she's dreaming.  

I love washing her beautifully perfect newborn body with her long fingers and toes.  

I am soaking in this precious time that I'll only have once with each child.  Not so long ago she was still in my belly and now she is here in my arms.  The wonder of that always leaves me in awe.

Out Numbered

I have to be honest, the transition from 2 kids to 3 has been hard.  And it just may be that has something to do with the fact they are all under 14 months old -- three kids in diapers, three kids with feeding and nap schedules, three kids at home all day long, three kids in cribs...you get the idea.  It's been a big adjustment to figure out this past week and a half what the "new normal" for the Traxler Tribe is now that I'm on my own.  

I have to say for never being a family of 3 and having 2 kids to start with Dave and I got pretty good at tag teaming.  Schedule and routine are also things we quickly learned to embrace and make our friends all in the name of saving our sanity.  Even when it was just the twins and me and I was technically outnumbered I never felt too much out of control.  Difficult things would come up, but somehow it always worked out to just find a way to deal with them.  So now that our one on one ratio is no longer there are situations that arise that make certain things a bit more difficult.  Cast in point - last night...

After Ian and Suzie finished dinner it was bath time.  Adella was upstairs sleeping so I decided to help Dave bathe the twins.  Right in the middle of bath time Adella woke up and started crying, I check my wonderful iPhone app and saw it was time for her to nurse again.  I left Dave to finish washing and rinsing the twins while I went to nurse Adella.  A few minutes later I hear Dave shout from the bathroom, "Oh no!  Ian pooped in the tub!"  I told him I was still nursing and wasn't really able to get up and help him out.  When giving the suggestion to scoop up the poop in a cup and dump it in the toilet Dave informed me it, "it's not that kind of poop," ewwwww.  So he had to lift Suzie up and rinse her off then do the same for Ian.  Next thing I know I see a wet naked Suzie walking into our room followed by a wet naked Ian.  Dave was trying to salvage the bath toys that weren't dirty yet and quickly rinse out the tub.  Meanwhile I'm still nursing Adella and Ian and Suzie are walking around our room checking things out.  Ian comes over to stand by my side of the bed and Suzie finds a spot she likes in front of our dresser.  It wasn't until Dave came in (couldn't have been more than 2 minutes later) that he, exclaimed, "Oh no, they both just peed!"  At this point all we could do was laugh.  Now this is the really funny part - Suzie squatted down when she peed and left a manageable spot to clean...

Ian on the other hand remained standing by my side of the bed the whole time and just let loose, resulting in the bed skirt, sheet and carpet all needing to be cleaned.  Ahhh, boys!

We are just at the beginning of our journey of being out numbered and it's become quite clear - you win some, you loose some.  On this one we lost.

Thankful

I've been in such a newborn daze lately, but wanted to at least get one more post in before November is over.  I didn't even get a single picture from Thanksgiving ( I have a feeling Adella's 1st holidays will be a lot less documented than Ian & Suzie's), but still wanted to write about how wonderful it was!

This year my parents planned to forgo the extended family gathering to come and "do Thanksgiving" for us.  Man oh man was I grateful to have all their help.  My dad has been here ever since Dave went back to work helping with the twins while I take care of Adella which has been amazingly helpful.  He loves playing with them just about as much as they love playing with him so it's great.  My mom did most of the meal preparations at her home before arriving here early Thanksgiving morning.  She got to work right away in our kitchen and the complete meal was hot and one the table right as the twins went down for afternoon nap, it was perfect.  We've been enjoying the leftovers pretty much for every meal every day since.  No hassel, no stress and lounging around in my pajamas - now that really was the perfect way to spend Thanksgiving this year.  

My mom stayed through the weekend to help where ever needed and because of that on Saturday Dave and I decided to do our very first outing as a family of five...to Costco!  It was the first time loading all 3 kids into the car seats in our MINIVAN.  Yup, that's right folks, it ain't so pretty trying to get 2 toddlers and a newborn into the back of a sedan or SUV so we had to make the leap and join the minivan club.  It's true what everyone says, once you see how spacious they are you'll wonder why you didn't make the change sooner.  The twins sit all the way in the back and Adella is behind the passenger seat.  I sat next to her while my mom and Dave were up front. One the way to Costco Dave looked in the rear view mirror and smiled saying, "I can see my whole family!"  It was pretty fun...and crazy.  That day was so cold and windy that unloading in to the cart and getting into the store was a hurried frenzy to make sure all the kiddos were warm enough.  Good thing we had the extra set of hands with my mom there to help.  Again, I was lame and didn't think to get a photo, sad. 

This holiday was been wonderful and having our newest daughter join our family this month has filled our hearts with even more joy than we thought possible.  We are both so grateful for the families we came from and the family we've made together.  

Cast of Characters

It feels a bit like a circus in our house these days.  Introducing the cast of characters in the Traxler Tribe...

SUZIE AS THE

IAN AS THE

and

ADELLA MAE as the newborn little sister

 Ian & Suzie's sweet Utah cousins -- Christian, Hayden and Johnny -- made these awesome shirts for them (with a little help from Aunt Emily).  Since Suzie was sick at the time Adella was born we were not able to get a photo in the hospital with all of them, so we had a little photo shoot of our own at home today. 

Ian was bribed to sit still with the tv remote

Whoa, how does something so small make such a loud noise?

Perfect smiles, captured with an imperfect camera that was out of focus - boo

Thanks for the shirts Utah Traxlers!  Dave and I are still adjusting to life with three kids, but love to mug on these sweet faces as much as we can.  In this season of giving thanks we feel beyond grateful for our precious tribe of five.  Blessed indeed.