Family Updates

Since Josh recently turned 8 months and the twins 1 month, I thought I'd do a little update post. Our family is doing really well. It's super hard having Tyler gone, but we're dealing with it and counting down the days until we're all together again. So, below are some updates on the kids and us. Enjoy!

JOSH

Josh recently turned eight months old. Wow, I remember when he was first born and a friend of mine had an eight-month-old and wondering what Josh would be like at that age. Turns out he is the best baby. He is always in a good mood, loves to smile and play. He has two teeth coming in, which are just the cutest things. He was a little fussy one day, but otherwise they haven’t been bothering him. I’m wondering if he is going to have some more coming soon, he has been drooling an awful lot! Josh is also sitting up really well now, he can hold himself a lot longer and can catch himself before he falls over. I’m not sure what his weight and height is, but it has to be at least 25 lbs and he’s fitting into 12 mo clothes! He loves taking naps with him Mom. We’ve been trying to take an afternoon nap together and it has been so much fun. He is such a cuddle-bug. He LOVES going for car rides and “field trips”. He went with my parents grocery shopping yesterday and loved it. He hasn’t started crawling yet, but he does roll over quite a bit. He loves new toys and is curious about everything. We love little Joshy and can’t wait to see what the next eight months will bring.

ASHLEY

Everyday I see things about Ashley that remind me of me. For example, right now she is sleeping soundly next to me…on her stomach. She loves sleeping on her stomach, just like her mom. She is a multiple sneezer, also like me (and her grandma and great grandpa). She loves her naps and being held. Recently she has started putting more weight on her little legs and will try and stand, it’s so cute. She knows that putting her lower lip out will get her just about anything and already has everyone wrapped around her cute little fingers. She is a good little baby, it amazing me how the twins will sleep through each other’s crying, even if the other is screaming right in their ear. It’s a talent I am very grateful for. I love having a little girl and I look forward to sharing with her some of my favorite things, like reading Nancy Drew together. Ashley is now a month old, not sure what her exact weight is, but I’m guessing at least 7 lbs.

AUSTIN

Well, one-month old Austin is still our little professor. Sometimes when you look at him he has this look about him like he has the weight of the world on his sholders. He is so serious and wants to get learning as soon as possible, I think it frustrates him that he can’t be reading a book. Josh has always loved it when you sing to him, it will always calm him right down. Austin prefers it when you talk to him and tell him stories. Maybe he just doesn’t like my singing? Austin likes to be held more than Josh or Ashley. He loves getting attention!! He is very alert and always looking around studying what is going on. Even when he was only a couple hours old he was wide awake and examining his new environment. It turns out that he is a great sleeper, at least at night. After his evening bottle he will go right off to sleep, and usually sleeps for 4 or 5 hours (on a good night). He looks just like his daddy, its so fun to hold him and see a little bit of his dad.

MOM & DAD
Tyler is doing really well. He has spent the past two weeks in Virginia for some training. It’s weird that while he has been in the states I’ve talked with him less. He doesn’t have a US cell phone so we have to use calling cards. I’m actually looking forward to him getting back to Japan so we can talk more often. He’ll be going to the Philippines for about a month. He is really excited to travel and by time he gets back from that we’ll only have a month to go before we all move over.

As for me, I am doing really well. It took me awhile to feel like myself, but I’m finally feeling much better. I’m trying to figure out what to do with this baby weight, it’s been a little hard squeezing in time to work out, and I still have a week to go before my doctor says I can actually do any real exercising. I am beyond grateful for the help of my parents. I know without them I would be completely exhausted. I am so happy to be a mom, I love every minute and am so grateful for these three blessings.

A Very Special Saturday

I’ve been meaning to write this post for the past week. With Tyler leaving for Japan, Josh and I coming down with the stomach flu and moving back to my parents, I have been a little preoccupied.

Last Saturday was a very special day for our family. It was a day we have been looking forward to for over seven months. We were finally able to bring Josh to the Temple and have him sealed to us and officially join our forever family. Tyler’s grandpa was able to perform the ceremony which made the whole thing even more special. After the sealing we went back to Tyler’s house and did the baby blessings for all three babies. Normally the blessing would be done at Church, but since the twins are so young we decided to would be better to do it at home with just immediate family. It was so amazing to do all three blessings together. Below are some pictures from that very special day.

Families Are Forever

Here is everyone that came to the sealing... Tyler's side: Barry, Jim, Laurel, Grandpa & Grandma, Ty, Me, Josh, Grandma, Brittney & Jake My side: Natalie, Rob, Siena, Doug, Ty, Me, Josh, Pop, Mom, Mark & Nicole
Josh and Grandpa This was a very special blessing dress. It was the same dress I was blessed in, my mom was blessed in, her mom was blessed in and it was made by my Great-Grandma Amelia a little over 90 years ago!

More Pictures

Josh has been staying with my parents for a few days, while I recover from the c-section and get the twins settled in. My parents brought Josh over for a visit yesterday, it was so fun to see him with the twins! He was really curious about them and was constantly reaching out to touch them and I could tell he was excited to be a big brother. He is a little over 7 months older than the twins and is quite a bit bigger!

Josh and Ashley (and a bit of Austin)

Too cute!

The twins meeting Great Grandma Donna for the first time.

The Triplets

Our first family photo.

Grandma and Grandpa

Me and Joshy

The Triplets, Josh is so gentle with them and also really curious about them.

Love it!

Introducing Ashley and Austin

How did these two babies fit inside me??? I still can't figure it out, I do know that it is so much better having them on the outside. Since I took up so much room on my last post I thought I better do a post full of fun pictures.

Facts: I went 38 weeks, baby girl weighed 6 lbs and was 19 in long. Baby boy weighed 4 lbs 11 oz and was also 19 in, and they came by c-section....

Ashley and Austin meeting Josh for the first time.

They are only a couple hours old.

Ashley is a little cuddle-bug.

Just welcomed into the world. Ty is now a proud papa of three!

What a cutie. I love how he's holding his hands.

I like to call him my little professor.

What a stud!

All three taking a nap!

(If you read the previous post you'll undersand why I look so yucky!)

Daddy'sm little girl.

Leaving the hospital.

Ty is going to need another arm to carry Josh!

The Story....

We are so happy to introduce the two newest members of our family…Ashley Marion and Austin Richard. Ashley and Austin were born Friday, January 18th. It wasn’t an easy journey, but the end reward was definitely worth it. I tried to keep it short, but once I got writing I got a little carried away. For those of you who wanted to know how things went this weekend and to answer some questions I’ve been getting here is an overview of the past few days.

While Tyler and Josh flew to California to finalize Josh’s adoption I was getting ready to be induced. Friday I was 38 weeks into my pregnancy and my doctor felt it was time to get these babies delivered. My parents spent the day with me and brought me into the hospital that night. Around 10 PM they induced me (Tyler got there around 11). About 17 very long hours later I was finally 10 centimeters and ready to push.

I have to deviate from the story for a minute. For the past few months I felt like it would be best to get a c-section. A couple weeks prior to their births my blood pressure was raising and the doctors thought I had pre-eclampsia and proteinuria, Austin had also been in the breach position for a few months and we thought a c-section would be the best way to go. At my last appointment the doctor did an ultrasound and Austin had flipped and he thought it would be better to try the traditional way. So, against my better judgment I agreed, on condition that I could have an epidural ASAP (I am a wimp and wanted to avoid as much pain as possible). Well, come Friday at 12:30 AM I decided it was time to get my epidural. My understanding is that the procedure is pretty fast and aside from the initial numbing shot, pretty painless. Forty-five minutes later my back felt like it had been through a torture chamber and I was literally sweating from the pain I had endured. For some reason, either my back is weird or the anesthesiologist wasn’t very good, for whatever reason he couldn’t find a proper spot and ended up numbing me in multiple places and poking me over 20 times. By the end my blood pressure had dropped so low I got pretty sick and was throwing up. Which is really weird when your numb halfway down. Long story short….it was awful. BUT, once the numbing took over and I was able to sleep I was grateful to have it.

Back to the story. I was now ready to push, but because my nurse was insistent, I could still feel everything despite having received the epidural. She insisted that they want you to feel when to push and only numb you enough to take the edge off (She said NO ONE gets totally numb now days). Trust me, I went back and forth with the nurse asking for more numbing only to be denied. My doctor even told her to give me more and she dragged her feet and really only gave me enough to last until pushing time came and then it wore off. Anyway, I ended up pushing for almost two painful hours. Ashley wasn’t facing the proper way, Austin’s blood pressure was all over the place, I was getting VERY swollen in multiple areas and its then they decide that I may be too small to deliver vaginally and maybe we should do a c-section (I should mention that Ty was awesome during this whole thing and so supportive).

After they finally agreed to do what I asked for in the first place, we then had to wait for a room to open up. I remember little of the procedure; they got me pretty drugged up. When they took out the epidural for some reason it caused me to tremble uncontrollably for over two hours, my mouth was insanely dry (and of course I wasn’t allowed to even wet it), and I felt completely exhausted, I could open my eyes for a second and had to shut them right away. I was pretty miserable throughout the whole procedure. I do remember Ty holding my hand the whole time and keeping me updated and giving me encouragement. I also remember hearing Ashley cry for the first time and then Austin, what a beautiful sound!! It felt like forever for them to sew me all up and get me back to the recovery room. My parents were there waiting and were soooo excited to see the babies. Ty’s parents came up as well and brought Josh with them. It was such a relief to finally have us all together. Josh loved seeing the twins and would try and reach out to them. He is going to be an awesome big brother. It did my heart good to see Josh and the twins all together.

You’d think that’d be the end of my ordeal, but of course there was more. Around 12:30 Saturday morning I began hemorrhaging, which took the nurses about two hours to stop (I’m starting to notice a 2 hour trend throughout this story….) My doctor thinks it might have been from having the pitocin for 17 hours and all the pushing I had done which caused severe swelling which led to the hemorrhaging. The next day I was completely out of it and ended up having to have a couple blood transfusions. Saturday is a blur and Sunday a little as well. So, long story short I have been recovering from my c-section with a handful of other ailments to keep each other company.

We were all released from the hospital tonight. It was so nice to get home and settled with our own comforts. After Tyler had gotten then twins and me settled he surprised me with some beautiful diamond earrings. He really is such a sweet heart. He is the best dad and takes such good care of all of us. He doesn’t hesitate to change a diaper (even the messy ones), feed the babies or just cuddle and play. The kids are sure lucky to have such an amazing example and Dad.

In the end I would do it all again to get Ashley and Austin here. What a blessing they are to our family. It is so great having Tyler here and finally having our three children together as well. The past year has been crazy, but probably the best of our lives. We’re so grateful for our three miracles and for all the joy they bring into our lives and of course we’re so grateful to our Heavenly Father for not only giving us these blessings but also for trusting us with three of His precious children.