Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Peter's birth story

Peter was due June16th. When I found out I was pregnant with him it was crazy thinking that there was that slight possibility he could end up being born on Jack's birthday...it seemed so unlikely though. This pregnancy had been so much better. I was still very sick at the beginning, but I had been put on a medication called Zofran after my first appointment and instead of throwing up between 4-6 times a day it was reduced to twice at the very most. The months passed quickly, maybe because I was so distracted with taking care of Jack, but we were also house hunting. We were living in an apartment in Wilsonville, and I was seeing Dr. Schrinsky in the Meridian Park hospital in Tualatin. We closed on our house here in Newberg May 4th, so once again we were moving near the end of my pregnancy. Thankfully Ryan's family were living in Salem at the time (an hour away) and could help move us in. I decided that since I was so close to the end of the pregnancy that I would make the 30 minute commute to my hospital so I could stick with the same Dr. Well, after doing that 1 time with Jack in tow I decided that was kind of a nightmare and I talked to my Dr. about transferring to someone in Newberg. He recommended a friend of his, Dr. David Johnson.

I immediately thought Dr. Johnson was amazing and I was so glad I'd made the switch for convenience sake as well. Monday 8th, 2009, I went in for my weekly appointment and Dr.J said he could strip my membranes if I wanted to encourage labour. I agreed. It was so painful; I totally screamed. He had warned me it would hurt, but goodness, I wasn't expecting that kind of pain. Poor Jack was with me and looked horrified.
The Dr. thought there was a good chance I would go into labour that weekend, but if for some reason I didn't, we scheduled an induction for Monday 15th (Jack's birthday!).

Nothing happened at all that weekend and we had a wee get together to celebrate Jack's birthday on Sunday evening with a few friends we'd made since moving into our new ward. I felt sick with nerves all Sunday night and tried, but failed, to get much sleep. We were due to show up at the hospital around 7am and get the induction going, but around 4am I felt contractions begin as I lay in bed. I woke Ryan and by 4:30 they were 5 mins apart and I was ready to head to the hospital. Liz was staying with us to take care of Jack, so Ryan ran in to tell her we were heading in earlier than expected. In the car I was a little scared; I was so glad I'd switched to the closer hospital. We entered in at the Emergency entrance to the hospital because the main doors don't open till 6am. We were greeted by a worker who asked if we were the 7am induction. "Yes, but I'm in labour now!", I exclaimed. I didn't really want to dilly dally. Thankfully she grabbed a wheel-chair immediately, got me seated, and we were on our way to the maternity ward. I was already "checked-in" online, so everything went quickly. I was changed, in a nice private quiet room, and being checked by a nurse by a little after 5am. I was dilated to a 4 and completely effaced. Dr. J came in and talked to me while Ryan had stepped out for a minute...he hadn't met Ryan yet. I was monitored and left to progress for a little while. He would be back to check on me and break my water soon. I told Ryan to go get something to eat because I thought, based on my labour with Jack, that it would be a while before anything significant happened. He decided to wait till Dr. Johnson had come back and then he'd run out after. The day staff came on, which I was grateful for...I really wasn't too crazy about the nurse that had been tending to me. Trudy, my new nurse, was so lovely! She made me feel very comfortable and taken care of, but also gave Ryan and I our space.

By 7:30am Dr. J had returned; I was dilated to a 5 and he was ready to break my water. Ryan had gone to the bathroom, and came back into the room just before he broke the water. Dr. J turned around and said, "You do exist! I was beginning to wonder!" Hahaha!
The tools used to break the bag were a little terrifying, but it didn't hurt at all...all I felt was a huge gush. The nurse would call the Dr. when I got close to a 10, but for the time being he had patients to see in his offices on the other side of the building.
Ryan ran out quickly at this point to grab some breakfast and I was actually doing really well. Within the next half an hour I went from feeling fairly good to being in a great deal of pain with each contraction. Ryan wasn't back yet, and that had me worried. I asked for an epidural, but the nurse told me that at this point it may not be effective because I was dilating so quickly. I told her I wanted to try anyway. After I was given the epidural, Dr. J was called back in because I was at a 10. I honestly couldn't believe how quickly it had all happened compared to Jack's birth. Ryan came into the room looking very wide-eyed. He was shocked how quickly things had changed since he'd left. The epidural wasn't kicking in at all and so an oxygen mask was placed over my face as I struggled through each contraction. The anesthesiologist stood on my right and said "sorry" as he tried to numb my pain by injecting more medication. Ryan stood on my left side holding my hand. I felt so breathless even with the extra oxygen.
As I began pushing suddenly the epidural broke my pain. The nurse, Trudy, and my Dr. had to tell me when to push...I really couldn't feel much of anything. I didn't like that I couldn't at least feel the pressure of the contraction, but I'd take it. Peter was facing down as he came out and had to be turned, but after half an hour of pushing he was out (we had decided on his name just a few hours before...it hadn't ever been on our name list, but Ryan suggested it as one he liked a lot and I really did too)
.
Dr. J asked Ryan if he wanted to cut the cord, but he really didn't. I got a brief glimpse at my wee handsome guy and then Peter was taken off to be cleaned and weighed, etc. Ryan spent a few minutes over with Peter and then came over to make sure I was doing okay. Dr. Johnson brought Peter over to Ryan and I swaddled and clean. He had a tiny bit of bruising on his forehead, but he was so perfectly sweet.
(Nurse Trudy)
Liz brought Jack, the birthday boy, up to the hospital an hour or so later. When he walked in the room and saw me in the bed he backed away and began to cry a little. It broke my heart! I could tell he was very confused and he looked worried too. He has always been such a sensitive wee boy. After a few minutes of hiding behind the curtain in the room he came around and jumped into the bed with me. That very morning presents had arrived from my parents in Scotland for Jack, it was such perfect timing! Jack opened the presents and cheered right up...due to the fact there was lots of delicious chocolate inside and wee car toys. Ryan handed me the baby and Jack and I looked at his new baby brother together...it was a lovely moment.
I stayed in the hospital 2 nights, only because I thought it might be nice to have a little longer with just the baby. Jack was in good hands with Ryan and his mum.
Peter Chris Harris: 8lbs 11oz, 21 inches, born at 9:25am, 15th June, 2009

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Jack's birth story

Jack's due date was June 21st. It had been a fairly rough pregnancy as I was very sick and teaching full-time at Forbes Elementary in American Fork. I remember throwing up numerous times in front of the kids in my class and I could barely keep any food down for the first 25 weeks. I had a little break in the middle where I felt pretty good, but then I began to throw up again periodically during the last month or so. Ryan was in law school at BYU and we were a little concerned about money as I planned on quitting at the end of my school year to be home full-time with Jack. We had been living in Union Square(married housing)for the majority of the pregnancy, but then at the end of April '07 we moved to Wymount (BYU housing)...it was slightly cheaper, but gave us an extra room which was what we really needed.
The ward there was pretty nice and we had some grassy space/a park out front that I looked forward to spending time on with Jack.

My brother, Euan, cousin, David Rae, and friend, Jamie Munro, were coming over to travel around a wee bit in the States at the end of May through the middle of June. About a week before I went into labour, I drove up to SLC by myself and met them at the Christus statue in the visitors center. It was such a great day and we toured around all the sights for around 6-8 hours. By the end of the day I was very tired and just as I was leaving the bathroom in the visitors center before I drove home, I started having severe cramping. I was so nervous about driving back myself, but I managed just fine. That next week I had a couple of pains here and there, but on the whole I felt totally normal.
On Thursday (14th), the boys came down to Provo to stay the night with us before heading to Vegas for the weekend. We ate out at Cafe Rio and watched a film at night before everyone hit the sack. I asked everyone to hold off taking a shower in the morning till Ryan had taken one as he was going into work the following morning. It was around 12:30pm that night that I went to the bathroom, threw up, and then my water broke. I grabbed a towel and went back to our bedroom to tell Ryan that I wouldn't stop leaking (at this point I guess I wasn't positive that my water had actually broken). I grabbed our phone and called my mum for advice, while Ryan grabbed his laptop and starting looking up pregnancy stuff on the internet....haha...what a sight we must have been. After talking to my mum for only a few moments she told me to call the hospital and then go in. Thankfully I had only just finished gathering a bag of supplies together for the hospital a few days prior, so we were able to leave quickly. I tried to climb over the sleeping boys in my living room (jamie was in the bedroom though), with a towel between my legs! Good grief. I woke Euan up and told him I was going to the hospital. He was in a daze, but I got a "GOODLUCK" and a "thumbs up" from him and David before we left. (I found out from Euan later that because I had asked the boys not to use the shower until Ryan had been in due to early work, that Jamie had been sitting in his room waiting for ages wondering when the devil Ryan was going to shower! Ha. He had no idea we were off having a baby!)

I had checked in with Utah Valley Hospital a couple of weeks before, so that when I went into labour it was faster. We were able to go directly to the maternity ward where they only had me wait a minute or so before taking me into a room to check if in fact my water had actually broken. Immediately the test strip came back blue meaning that it was my amniotic fluid. But when checked I was only dilated to a 1....annoying. They started me off on pitocin around 1:30am, but I was warned that I was likely to be in for a long night. Ryan tried to sleep a little on the uncomfortable couch that was in my room and I tried to sleep some too. I managed for a few hours, before I was suddenly woken up by sharp pains shooting through my abdomen. I woke Ryan and he got the nurse in to check me. I was dilated a little more, but only to a 4. They told me that when I got to a 5 I could have an epidural if I wanted. I did. Thankfully it didn't take too long before I was at a 5 and then they called in the anesthesiologist. He was not very friendly.and he scared me to death by telling me that if I moved even slightly as he was putting the needle in that I could cause major damage to my back. Great. I was already nervous about the size of the needle....I never actually saw it but Ryan said it was huge. I lay on my side as he put it in and tried not to move a muscle and I cried. When he was finished he left immediately and I was abandoned for a couple of hours. Getting the epidural didn't hurt, but instead of numbing the pain I suddenly started to feel numbing in my face and down my right side only. When I nurse returned she told me that she would have the anesthesiologist come back in and give me the epidural again.....I wasn't sure about that idea. Then almost immediately my legs turned to blobs of jelly and I couldn't move them at all, but still I had all the pain of labour in my stomach that was not numb. I started to panic and told Ryan over and over again that I did not want the epidural anymore...too late for that! He kinda didn't have a clue what to say to me at that point other than that there was nothing to be done about it now. He tried pressing the button a few times to get the epidural medicine to kill the labour pains, but it did nothing. After 11 LONG hours in the hospital, the new morning staff had come on, who were so much nicer, and they checked my progress again. Finally, I was dilated to 10 and I was ready to deliver.

Throughout my entire pregnancy I had never seen the same Dr. more than once. I didn't like that.
With no Doctor in sight I began with the aid of a veteran nurse and her student nurse to push the baby out. The student nurse was really great actually. She stood by my side and was very encouraging. Ryan didn't really know what to do...he looked as scared as me and had his camera in hand to take a few pics and a video. They kept saying, "push down through your bottom", which I wasn't fond of. Then a doctor I had never seen before came flying into the room. He asked one of the nurses to grab a mirror so I could see what was happening and then we proceeded. I wasn't entirely sure I even wanted to see what was going on. His name was Dr. Kent Gamette and he was a very nice older man, and had obviously delivered a lot of babies. He asked if he could cut me a tiny bit in order to prevent tearing, so in the moment I agreed, but I'm not sure if I really should have. It was very small though...on a scale of 1-10 it was a 1. I only pushed for 40 minutes before the head crowned. I could see it in the mirror...it was very surreal and bizarre. Ryan was still making a video which I thought I might regret later (I do and don't...I was bawling when I watched it back). The doctor told Ryan, who had been by my side the whole time, to come down beside him. He got there just in time to see baby Jack slip right out. The doctor held him upside down and said, "what do we have here?".....I was like, "um, it's a boy", we already knew that...but he just wanted to hear me say it I guess. They asked if Ryan wanted to cut the cord, but he really didn't so they took Jack away to clean him up and weigh/measure him.
Ryan stayed close by the nurse to watch and take pictures. I still had to deliver the placenta...which I had not thought about at all. This was actually very painful. He pressed very hard on my lower abdomen, it was only briefly, but I started to cry again. I felt the placenta fall out of my body and then the Dr. began to stitch me up. Ryan was holding Jack now and brought him over to me.
The minute I took him in my arms I became very overwhelmed again. He started to cry and I panicked for a second as I tried to soothe him, but he calmed down quickly and Ryan and I were in complete awe of him. I had heard the nurses as they were cleaning him, "his hair is red, no it's brown, no it's blonde!" I thought, good grief decide on a colour people...but it was fluffy and blonde. He honestly looked like a baby chick. His wee face was so sweet and I was very smitten with him right away.
I called my family in Scotland right away to tell them the news...my poor mum had been dying to find out what was going on being so far away. Then we had visitors a few hours later...the Guisti's came, the Claytons, and Ryan's sister, Rachel, and Uncle Jim and Aunt Julie. It was nice to have some family there with us. I stayed in the hospital for 2 nights before heading home. When we got home Sunday afternoon we relaxed and enjoyed Jack. The boys returned on Monday from Vegas to see baby Jack (I had such a hard time with them leaving), and Ryan's mum had arrived that same day to stay with us for the week and help out.
Jack Alan Harris: 7lbs 3 oz,19 1/2 inches, born at 12.47pm, 15th June, 2007.

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

End of Feb

Some more brief happenings...this may become a trend.

-The twin lovelies started rice cereal last week shortly after turning 6 months old. Today for lunch it was sweet potatoes. They are thoroughly enjoying eating from a spoon.
As always I'm feeling all sad about how fast they are growing, but at the same time enjoying this 'rolling, laughing, blethering, grabbing, sitting and playing with toys' stage immensely. I didn't think I'd get much use out of my massive nursing pillow once they got too big to lie on it, but it's been great. They take turns sitting in the middle of it and have tons of wee toys within reach.
-Every Sunday I feel like I've just done some intense workout by the time I get to the church building...and that's just getting there, good grief! Thankfully since the time has changed to 11:30am it's not quite as crazy.
I watch all the wee kids causing havoc at the back of the RS room during the 3rd hr and I get a wee lump in my throat thinking about my future in there with the babies....pure madness! And I just got extended a calling after my 8 month hiatus!

-Poor Jack, he desperately wants to live in Scotland so he can be close to his cousins. He asks EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. if we can go to Scotland so that he can play with them...he's really concerned with finding out what kind of toys Samuel and Isaac have ( my brother, John's boys). Ryan's youngest sister, Callie, is expecting her first baby in the middle of April, so he'll get his first cousin here in the States, however, Jack was really disappointed that it wasn't a boy...he's over it now and seems to be fairly excited to meet baby Zoe. I know I am.
-A week ago today was Pancake Day/Shrove Tuesday. Jack and Peter were ecstatic about getting to help make the pancakes and eat them for dinner. I found a great recipe in a cooking book I use a lot...they were the most delicious pancakes I've ever made. Ryan was working late that night and missed out, but we ended up making them again two more times that week because they were so good! Ha.

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Valentine's Day

This Valentine's Day ....
we made each other lovely cards, played with our new super heroes, watched some Disney Valentine's cartoons, smelled some sweet red roses, ate delicious Abby's Heart shaped pizza, and played with two happy and then very fussy wee babies.
Here are my lovelies:
Hope your day was special.

Thursday, February 9, 2012

Goings on.

I have sat down at the computer umpteen times over the last few days with the determination to produce at least a brief post....either a wee one is suddenly in desperate need of my help or I feel guilty thinking about the state my house is in, etc and shut it off. Seldom do I post any more because ...well, you know, life is busy, but I am anxious to get at it again. It's important to document and I vow to try and be better.
Here are some random quick thoughts and happenings:

-The twin lovelies haven't been terribly well, just a horrid cold that is causing many sleepless nights...6 to be exact. I thought I was coping with the sleep deprivation fairly well until yesterday, then it hit me hard and I felt my feet dragging all day. By the late evening I cried it out. Sometimes I figure it's best to join when the babies are having a good bawl.

- Jack is learning to read. It's wonderful seeing him light up when he recognizes a word in a book we are reading. Peter is learning along with him and is actually the one giving Jack a prompt if he forgets a word....he says, "Great job buddy!", whenever Jack gets one right. I am really loving the great best friend relationship they have.
- A couple of weeks ago I started exercising everyday. I don't really care to discuss the details of this because it's kind of boring, but I wanted to note my absolute favourite part which comes at the end of the work-out. Without fail Peter will say, "You did it Mummy? You're finished?! YIPPIE!" His voice is so excitable, it is just about the funniest thing ever.
- The twin lovelies are 5 1/2 months and just wonderful. They are sitting (although still a wee bit wobbly), rolling everywhere, standing against furniture, and killing themselves laughing at all the mental things my wee boys are doing. Olive particularly enjoys watching the boys have a good wrestle and gets a kick out of seeing Jack jump...she may not be so mellow after all.
- Ryan got to argue a case at the supreme court in Salem, Oregon last month. We were very proud of him...he did a really good job. I, however, was a basket case of nerves as I watched the recording of it online. I was pretty annoyed at one judge that was trying to challenge Ryan a lot, but, of course, that's what they do. It wasn't exactly personal or anything, but I was definitely feeling defensive as I watched it. Ha!

- I said in a post not to long ago that I was "finding myself" again and coming out of the "initial haze" after having the babies. I was really kidding myself. The reality of my new life has been slowly creeping up on me....and let me say this, I truly love this family of mine, but life has become completely, totally, and utterly overwhelming at times.
When the babies were almost 2 months old a dear sweet lady from my ward who had come to help me a number of times made a very innocent comment that catapulted me into a place that really had me struggling and panicked. "The babies are 2 months now, so you should be totally fine now, right?", she said.
I'm pretty sure when I replied with a confident, "yes", I was trying to convince myself more than her that I'd be alright. But I was secretly dying off inside. I don't like the idea of being needy. Really though, most people don't, it's not like I'm the first mother to think I can take on everything and anything.
While I was pregnant with the twins I committed to myself that I would accept the help of those that offered it. Everyone told me that the one piece of advice they could give me was to let people help. So, I did. Most people that offered never actually followed through....that's fine...people have lives and are plenty busy. I had some dear friends that were so kind and helped a lot particularly with the boys. But I also had expectations for myself and I thought I'd be pretty much back to "normal", what ever that is, and taking it all in my stride within a matter of months. I really wanted to just do it all myself again and be successful at it. And I kinda don't think that's such a bad thing either. I mean I have 4 wee kids and I'm their mum, I need to figure it all out and get adjusted to it soon enough. But, goodness my expectations were high! I absolutely thought I was capable of getting everything taken care of around my house every day, that I'd have wonderful positive relationships with everyone, and I'd be a fun, creative mum to my wee lovelies.
To make a long story short, it's taken me longer than it probably should have to learn the need to be more patient with myself. Reading and studying from some of the best books and exercising have been key to my current sane state of mind. Ha. It's going to take many years before I feel like I've got a handle on things around here, but I am making more confident strides towards getting there.

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Christmas 2011

Our Christmas holidays were very busy, but really lovely. These wee gorgeouses are just growing too fast for my liking. But it was so wonderful seeing their wee curious eyes light up as they gazed at their big brothers who were going bonkers over the excitement of all the Christmas festivities!

Olive is truly the sweetest wee girl.
And Penelope, you are pure dynamite I tell you!
A rare picture of me with both my girlies. And once again I look flippin' exhausted. One day I hope to look half decent and not utterly disheveled.
We had Ryan's parents(who drove from Wyoming), his brother Mitch (who had flown in from Florida), and Callie and her husband, Josh, with us for the weekend. We started off with a new tradition I stole from a lady at church on Christmas Eve, a "Shepherd's dinner". We laid a blanket out in the living room, read the scriptures that told of the shepherds on the eve of Christ's birth and the ate basic finger foods which may, or may not, have been kinda similar to the foods that shepherds might have eaten whilst in the fields. It was a lot of fun and Jack and Peter really got into it, so I fully intend on continuing it every year. Jack couldn't get over the fact it was like we were having a picnic but inside!
After the dinner and chocolate mousse (that was a success this year!), we let the boys open their p.j's and get into them before we headed out to look at Christmas lights in the fancy neighborhoods. Peter got spiderman jammies and Jack got Batman ones that were unfortunately a tad too big. He got pretty upset about it, but after a wash they aren't that bad at all.
Christmas morning wee dearest Penny decided that she was going to wake up at 5:30am and she wasn't in the slightest bit interested in going back to bed. Since I knew we'd have a lot of adults trying to get in the shower in a few hours before Church, I decided that since we were up I best just get myself ready. A couple of hours later the boys were awake and a few of us gathered in the boys bedroom before going upstairs to see what Santa had brought.
Both boys were spoiled and got really nice presents from Santa, family, and friends. Their big presents were a bike and a scooter. It was a chaotic morning, and I really loved taking a wee break and heading out to church for an hour to get away from the madness and focus on the most important part of why we were celebrating.
The dinner turned out delicious with some help from Liz. We had a honey glazed ham, brussel sprouts, roast potatoes, rolls, wee sausages wrapped in bacon, stuffing, and sparkling apple cider. I felt very homesick throughout the day and wished so badly that I could have been with my family too...I hope to go over one year for Christmas, it's been 7 years since I've spent it with them.
Ryan and uncle Mitch took the boys outside for a few minutes to try out their new pressies...Jack fell off his bike almost immediately and started crying that he would never go back on it EVER again. Thankfully that lasted about a minute and then he was back on riding to his hearts content. Peter even got a wee shot too.
And here are my wee lovelies in their new dresses that cousin, Madeline, sent over in the wonderful Christmas crackers she made for us. So beautiful.
A wee photo of all of us...I know Pete is t-shirtless and I should have put one on him, but this is how he runs around most nights and I want to remember that about him :)
And lastly, Ryan reading Each Peach Pear Plum to the wee ones before bed, I should have tried to squeeze Penny in there too.

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Nov/Dec 2011


Usually we go and cut our own Christmas tree down; I do really love this tradition. However, with the babies having a wee bit of a cold and life being generally chaotic we opted this year to get one from a boy-scout troop that was selling them by the side of the main road. We'll resume the tradition next year. We payed a little more than we normally do when we cut it ourselves, but really it was still VERY cheap and the tree is quite beautiful. I justified spending a little more in knowing the money was going to a good cause.
We also started the tradition of getting our tree the day after Thanksgiving. This may be a little early for some, but really I just can't get enough of a Christmas tree and all the gorgeous wee sparkly lights, so the longer we can have it up the better! This year Liz drove out from Wyoming to spend Thanksgiving with us...she was actually here last year too. Chris had to work the day after and so it didn't seem worth it for him to come. The boys absolutely loved decorating the tree, although Peter got a wee bit crazy and kept taking the baubles off to then re-put them back on..and off and on again.
After Ryan helped Jack top the tree off with the star, we attempted to take some family pics in front of the tree for the calendar I make every year. It was a bit of a nightmare. We ended the night keeping up Ryan's family's tradition of eating donuts and having hot chocolate..completely delish.
My mum sent the boys 2 Advent calendars each! Lucky devils. They have been in chocolate heaven every morning after finishing their breakfast at lightening speed as to get to their chocolate faster. We also have a felt one I purchased from a friend of mine in our ward who makes them. The wee ones can hardly contain themselves as they count down the days. Jack is way more excited than ever and very concerned that the elves might be watching and tell Santa if he isn't behaving. Unfortunately, he still fights with his brother. It only after he's got a few good punches in that he starts to panic slightly that Santa might find out.
We went to Ryan's work party on the 3rd. It's always at the Lake Oswego golf club, which is pretty fancy. The food is incredible and Santa pays a visit giving all the kiddos a really nice gift. In previous years Ryan has asked Jack a month ahead of time if he's going to sit on Santa's knee. Of course, like the vast majority of children Jack has always been terrified and wouldn't go near him. We didn't push him at all and either Ryan or myself would collect his gift. This year Ryan again asked if Jack was planning on sitting with Santa to receive his gift. Jack was adamant that he wouldn't be sitting, but that he would go up and collect it. That seemed like huge progress to me! After watching a few older children sit with Santa, Jack seemed to be getting nervous that Santa had forgotten about him. He suddenly stood up and starting raising his hand and trying to make eye contact with Santa to let him know he was still waiting..it was so funny.
Then Peter's name was called. Ryan and I could not believe our eyes when we saw Pete literally launch himself right onto Santa's knee. He only stayed for about a second...long enough to claim his gift and then he was off-ski! It was hysterical. Jack was called next and guess what?! He also thew himself onto Santa's knee! I guess he wasn't to be outdone by his wee brother! They both got great batman toys and immediately wanted to go home right away after Santa left:)

The babies turned 4 months on Dec.19th . They look so big to me and Penelope is rolling all over the place....Olive not as much, but she's getting there. She's way more mellow and relaxed, but that's how peter started out and he's crazy now. They are lovely wee smilers and started laughing just yesterday too. They're pretty great.