Hey Y'all!

Catching up on the latest.

2011-01-31T21:36:00.003-06:00

Well, we all know how tired I am of being behind. Here is a run-down of our past few months, which is mostly comprised of firsts and milestones :) It's crazy to look back at this list and see how far they've come in such a short time! At the beginning of the list 11/5/10), they are learning to sit on their own. By the end of the list, they are standing on their own (1/31/11). Amazing.

I was delusional thinking that this semester of Student Teaching would be any easier than past semesters.... In fact, it is going to prove to be way harder than the rest. I will slowly take over more and more of the school day from my cooperating teacher and will eventually be running the entire school day for at least 20 days, 10 of them must be consecutive. That means that I have to do the lesson plans for every subject that I'm teaching on TOP of projects that are due every few weeks. It's ridiculous and overwhelming. Anyways... Here's a timeline of what we and, more importantly, the boys have been up to lately...

nov. 5th infant-see program

This is a FREE program that my eye dr's office offers to help with early detection... you should check it out! The boys were asked to come help TRAIN the doctors who were there from out of town to be trained on how to administer the tests to children 6mo-2yr (i think that's the range). The boys were 6 mo and perfect subjects. They did a great job...even after having their pupils dilated!

At this appointment, they were officially good at sitting up.... very big deal!

nov 12th lowered crib mattresses b/c they were showing signs up pulling up.

mimi caught JH w/ wires. very scary!

nov 21---JH officially pulling up to feet on the end of their bouncers... mother's son---I was quick in my physical development---I walked at 7 mo!!

nov 22 H officially pulled up to feet! (not full standing position, but still pulled up)....

they are getting to be SO GOOD... already great babies, but, for example, we went to target with Eden, reagan and wyatt....boys were very quiet and happy in the stroller and only got fussy at chick fil a when it was nap time, understandably!

On that Target trip, they had their 1st time to ride in stroller and hold own bottle! did FANTASTIC! didnt drop them once! wow.

Boys have started to move into what i've read about.... 2, 2 hr long naps in morning and afternoon... they still do a cat nap in the afternoon. we'd do an earlier bedtime, but i think they will wake up too early.

nov. 30 both boys pulled up on the ottoman! new fave thing to do... stand at ottoman and pat it :) xoxo

dec. 1st.... Josh walked into nap time and JH was standing up in his crib! Same for me this afternoon... he was crying and i remembered that he'd done that earlier in the day, so I checked on it and he was standing up..

nov 14th, reagan's bday party! first time to try puffs

11/20 went to grand river outlets w/ Eden, Wyatt, Reagan, Josh, Jack Henry, Harrison

11/22 target w/ Eden, Reagan, Wyatt, Jack Henry, Harrison

11/23 tried the zoo for first time w/ Grace, Eden, Wyatt, Reagan, Jack Henry, Harrison... but we got rained out, so we went to Brookwood Mall for lunch :)

boys first thanksgiving last week...
josh's parents came the saturday after thanksgiving.

went to outlet malls to shop around

12/09 BAMOM new/expectant moms brunch/play date

12/10 jack henry cruising well and transferred from couch to chair

12/11 BAMOM cmas social

12/12 aunt cynthia/uncle tim babysat boys while we went to verizon party

H has started chatting more

12/13 started chatting a lot more again... lots of babbling

12/14 harrison pulled up in bed

12/17 JH said dada at dr

H ended up having 2x ear infxn/breathing treatment

jh 1 infn

12/18 trip to see regenia and milton---I got brave and took the boys BY MYSELF to see Regenia and Milton in Nashville... It's important to me that the boys have a relationship with their grandparents, near and far. I also felt like it'd honor them as their grandparents, and most importantly, Josh as my honey.

On this trip, JH started crawling hand/knee/hand/knee

12/22 Took the boys to see Santa. It was pretty anti-climactic. They weren't upset, but they weren't happy. It was time for a bottle, but I was afraid that they'd choose that moment to spit up, so I held off... I wondered afterward if they'd been happier for picture if I'd given them some bottle first. You live, you learn...

Right before cmas, JH started dancing

12/24 cmas even service at mtntop com church

1st time in other church nursery

met at turners' to exchange presents

Josh, the boys, and I spent night at my parents...even though we live down the street from them :) This is our tradition when we are in Bham for Cmas.

12/25 Christmas----It snowed on the boys' first Cmas, which made it all the more memorable.

12/26 Harrison crawling hands knees

My sisters Grace and Paige's bday dinner at parents

12/27 went to mcwane center w/ eden and kids and josh

12/31 Harrison started transferring

1/2 first time to ride in car attachment buggy at Publix. They loved it and didn't try to eat the cart hardly at all! haha

H 103 fever--- double ear infection again

JH ear infection...new antibiotic. gave big them time diarrhea and rash on their booties. It was a NIGHTMARE.

1/3 was reading book to H and he kissed the mirror 3 or 4 times... so sweet!

1/4 H started saying Dada!

1/6 H started clapping

went to visit MDO---we met their teachers and got a tour. I really hope that the boys will love MDO. I'm a big supporter of the social development side of it, especially!

1/9 We moved over to my aunt and uncle's house (even though they'd gone to Nashville) because of the snow/ice storm. They have a generator and we didn't want to chance losing power/heat with 2 little babies in the house! It felt like a little mini-vacation with my little family.

1/12 i started student teaching

1/14 JH clapping

1/16 The babies turned 9 months old!

1/18 started MDO---we wanted to make sure their diarrhea had stopped and their rashes had cleared up before starting at MDO.

noticed JH letting go and standing a little bit

1/19 JH standing big time!

1/20 JH standing and clapping... SO SWEET!

1/23 We moved our big boys up to size 4 diapers.

1/25 I got up at 5am and went to the gym. I'd like to get in the habit of doing this because I have GOT to lose a lot of weight (I'm totally overweight, and it doesn't help that my sister's wedding is in 110 days!)

1/27 JH waved for the 1st time! (at his Aunt Eden)

H has started standing some...

1/28 9 month well-baby JH was 28.5 in, 21 lbs 6 oz..... H was 28 in, 21 lbs 15 oz. Each has 1 ear infxn... ugh... Got anti-biotic shot and prescribed oral 1x/day for 10 days. Gave them diarrhea and some rash, but not as bad as last time, PTL.

1/30 I've noticed Harrison has started doing what I'd call "social laughing".... when we're all laughing, he'll join in.... it's sooo cute!

1/31 H standing for longer!

Boys have gotten more affectionate.... H likes to give kisses sometimes and then sometimes JH will come lay his head on me when I'm laying in their pen with them. Love it!

Whew!!! We're caught up on milestones/big firsts, etc... Although, it feels like they are always doing something new! The boys are continuously more and more fun. I am so grateful for them and the beautiful, healthy, happy boys that they are! I never want to take these blessings for granted.

End of October

2011-01-08T22:17:00.000-06:00

I started this on 11/13/10 but then got VERY busy.... so hang in there! xoxoxo

On the last October post, I ended mid-October... around that time, the boys started having longer spurts of sitting up on their own--especially Harrison.

At their 6 month appointment, Harrison weighed 18 lbs 6 oz and Jack Henry weighed 18 lbs 5 oz. I am drawing a blank on their lengths, so I'll have to get back to you on that one, but I do know they were still 3/4 in different, which makes a big difference... since they basically weighed the same, but Harrison looks bigger b/c he's chunkier from being shorter haha.

Ok the past post left you at the babies' 2nd dedication in Hendersonville, TN.... right outside of Nashville. We went to Nashville for Vanderbilt University (my alma mater) Homecoming, which Josh and I have done every single Fall since we started dating back in 2004! That makes this our 7th one together! wow! Anyways.... one convenient thing is that Josh's parents live in Hendersonville, TN, which, as I said, is right outside of Nashville (about 20 min), so we always have a place to stay AND we get to see Josh's parents all in the same weekend. Sometimes we've made plans to stay with friends/family in Nashville depending on what we've had going on that weekend so we could be closer to campus. This year, the Homecoming trip was the boys' first visit to see Gigi and Papa, so, of course, there was no staying in Nashville :) They needed to be right with Gigi and Papa for the visit! (I will say that it certainly didn't hurt to have free, enthusiastic and very loving babysitters built into the trip!)

One thing that we have learned about traveling with babies is to drive when they can sleep most or all of the trip. I did not have class the Thursday night before the weekend of Homecoming (Oct 22-24th), so I was home with the boys and was able to get us all packed. We were just waiting for Daddy Joshy to get home from work, which would be around 8:30pm... well, one thing led to another and I don't think we ended up getting on the road until 10pm. Fortunately thatguaranteed that the babies slept [HARD] the whole way! BUT... that also meant mommy and daddy Gamble were T-I-R-E-D! We stopped to get Daddy Joshy some coffee and gum (his stay awake arsenal) and headed up to TN. Needless to say, we got there late and went as straight to bed as we could after getting the boys settled....

I forgot to mention something VITAL to our life..... We started sleep training on Monday, October 18th, 2 days after the babies turned 6 months old. I personally feel (and there are books that support the feeling) that, although we had to endure some very strenuous times of bad sleep, etc., that 6 months old is a great time to do sleep training and probably the earliest I personally would do it. MAYBE 5 months. (obviously the rest of you should do what your comfortable with for your babies!) I feel that until about 6 months when they cry, they are trying to tell you something is wrong... but around 6 months, they learn to be a little more manipulative and learn to cry just to get you to come play. Who can blame them? Mommy and Daddy are the bestest, funnest people they know! Annnnyways....we decided to do the 5/10/15 gradual method and the boys have done very well with it. It's a month later and both of them sleep through the night 98% of the time and have been going down much faster for naps and bed time. We finally decided to do it for a few reasons... Harrison had really started fighting naps and sometimes bedtime badly. He would rare up and fight us trying to pat him to sleep... it was EXHAUSTING and heart breaking b/c you just wanted him to get some rest and he just cried and fussed... Jack Henry did some of that, but he was also getting up approximately every 2 hours after having been only waking us up 1-2 times when he was 3-3.5 months old.... CLEARLY we knew he was not only capable, but should be sleeping better than that...so if he was going to be waking up so much, he needed to learn how to put himself back to sleep. So, sleep training it was. I had fought letting them cry as part of learning to self-soothe so hard.... and the bottom line is that they are going to cry some...and some days it will be more than others. In the beginning they will be exhausted and sleep better b/c they are tired from crying (that part makes me sad) but they do eventually learn to put themselves to sleep and life is so much better. You also do learn differences in their cries. I am a lot better at telling when they are just crying b/c they are angry or tired rather than distressed b/c they are stuck or something. Not perfect, but better. They are also actually having better car rides b/c they used to cry more in the car when they were tired and now they just lull off to sleep. Its very peaceful and sweet... and relaxing to not hear so much crying that I couldn't really do anything do help them stop or feel better. I digress. Bottom line. We have babies who sleep through the night more than just one time a month (as they did in [I think]July, [definitely] August, and [definitely] September).

Dont you just love that sweet face and those chubby thighs!

He doesn't suck his thumb often but I think it is so cute when he does :) Love this sweet face and thighs too! ah!

OK BACK TO HOMECOMING! Soooooo.......... We got up Friday AM and hung out around the house mostly. Then, per Gigi's request, we took the babies up to the hospital where she works so she could show them off :) She's a proud grandmama. After we got back, we hung out a bit and then I headed in to Nashville to get my hair cut at The Yellow House Salon, a new and SUPER CUTE salon in Nashville co-owned by a sweet friend, Kris Whipple. If you are in the area or headed that way, I SERIOUSLY recommend giving them a call and making an appointment. No lie, Kris gave me the best hair cut that I've had in a long time AND for a fraction of the cost. Plus, he's an very nice guy. Anyways.... While I was gone, Josh took the boys up to his High School to see his favorite teacher. He said it went very well, and I just love it that he wants to show off his baby boys. He is a very sweet daddy. That night, we met up with my cousins Rachel and Laura along with their husband and boyfriend, respectively, and a few other friends at Cabana, a delightfully delicious restaurant in Nashville. I remember sitting there thinking how we have gotten to such a wonderful place. We are in the place that I looked forward to for so long as a child.... adulthood... with our husbands/serious boyfriend... having babies (just me so far)... It was really pleasant and so nice to be able to spend time and enjoy each other.

Go 'Dores!

Harrison snoozing at the AOII house.

This is what we call HUGE SUCCESS.

We got to visit the Howorths, Charlie and Laurie, who have boy-girl twins who are 26. They are so sweet to the boys!

The next day, we headed to Vandy's campus with the boys after their AM nap. I was a bit anxious about how to handle naps and going to campus with the boys, but my mom gave me some great advice... we have to live life. She said to just go and that the boys would figure it out---they'd nap in the car or in their stroller and she was right! They did and it turned out to be a wonderful day of visiting with old friends, showing off our beautiful babies :), and eating good food! It felt amazing to be back on campus and brought back floods of memories. I like it that Josh and I have this yearly tradition and hope that we'll be able to continue it for many years to come! Who knows? Maybe the boys will end up at Vanderbilt (pray for athletic and/or academic scholarships!!! ha-ha) and we'll be coming up for Vanderbilt Homecoming and to visit our boys. Sigh...One thing that I adore about having these babies is that, while it feels like so much has already past in the 7 months that they've been here, we still have SO MUCH amazing life to experience with them! Vast amounts of laughs, fun, and growing up. I knew that I would love having children (that is honestly what I feel God has as my calling in life---wife/mommy), but I never imagined that they would just BLESS ME so much!

Back to Vandy.... that afternoon, we returned our little love muffins to their anxiously waiting Gigi and Papa and then headed BACK to campus to enjoy some time alone and attend the Vandy game! We had a fun time and got to meet up with more friends like sweet Lucie Burford and visit. The next morning was the boys' dedication and you all know how wonderful that was from my previous post... That weekend, JH really found his "squeal" and would just bounce in the jumperoo that their Gigi bought for up there and squeal and squeal.... so precious. Harrison also started slinging (for lack of a better way to say it) toys up and down... it is really cute and especially when he has a rattle in his crib and we'll hear him banging it on his mattress lol. That weekend they started wearing size 3 diapers during the day and overnight size 4 at night. They also tried banana for the first time and loved it! Up until that point, they had not eaten a huge volume of food, so they'd had some rice cereal and split a cube of food (the cubes are bigger than ice cubes). That was just all they were interested in eating and I knew they'd come around eventually and wasn't going to push more on them. They ate a whole cube together on 10/23/10 and have been increasing more since! On 10/25, they ate a whole cube (probably applesauce) and 1 whole banana!

10/25 both boys were army crawling (and maybe a little before that in their cribs, but I just really count it on the floor)

10/29 JH holding own bottle pretty well, esp if in little bottle

10/30 H started finding his paci on his own in his crib! Walked in this AM and he was just lying there, sucking on his paci like a sweet boy. Then, in 1st nap, when I went in to check on them, he was asleep with his paci in his mouth---that I didn't give him! So proud of these boys :)

10/30 The boys (esp JH) are getting in crawling position and are all over the place army crawling. H likes to push up on my hands to stand...big time. When he sees me sit on the floor, he'll cry and squirm over to me until I help him push up on me haha.

oct 30/31st----JH started crawling! Officially called it crawling on Monday when he'd gotten a little better. It's not a real classic "knee-hand" crawl... more of a both hands, both knees....inch worm crawl.

Aw man... that's so far, dad.

yay!

Miley is in trouble now! The boys, especially JH, have been into her, and now he can actually go get her!

H was doing some army crawling, too.

10/31 The boys' first Halloween! They were OBGYNs...aka: baby doctors... get the pun? haha anyways... they were SO CUTE in the baby scrub outfits that their Gigi had gotten them. They didn't trick or treat, but we did walk up and down the street some to say hi to neighbors and do a few house calls for the sick.

"Da da" with his "little men"

Dr. McPoopsalot

Dr. McDrooly

The Drs. Gamble

Tiiiiimmberrr...

At the end of October, the boys had started to get a lot better at sitting up.... lol... but obviously weren't great at it yet haha...

It is driving me crazy that I've gotten behind on the blog. I'm sorry, y'all. School got VERY busy and that, along with my sweet boys, have kept me occupied and away from the blog. I promise I'll try to do better!

I am grateful.

2010-11-12T19:17:00.001-06:00

A sorority sister of mine had this posted as her Facebook status today and I just loved it and the check in my spirit and attitude that it gave me. Gratitude is one of my greatest convictions. While I think I am a grateful person, I feel we can never be grateful enough! We are so very blessed.

I am grateful…..for the teenager who is not doing dishes but is watching TV, because it means he/she is at home and not on the streets.

For the taxes I pay, because it means that I am employed.

For the mess to clean after a party, because it means that I have been surrounded by friends.

For the clothes that fit a little too snug, because it means I have enough to eat.

For my shadow that watches me work, because it means I am out in the sunshine.

For the lawn that needs mowing, windows that need cleaning and gutters that need fixing, because it means I have a home.

For all the complaining I hear about the government, because it means we have freedom of speech.

For the parking spot I find at the far end of the lot, because it means I am capable of walking and that I have been blessed with transportation.

For my huge heating bill, because it means that I am warm.

For the lady behind me in church who sings off key, because it means that I can hear.

For the pile of laundry and ironing, because it means that I have clothes to wear.

For the weariness and aching muscles at the end of the day, because it means I have been capable of working hard.

For the alarm that wakes me early in the morning, because it means that I am alive, and for too much e-mail because it means that I have friends and family who are thinking of me.

I promise to do a "rest of October" update ASAP!

Babies' Dedication(s) Oct 17th and 24th

2010-11-06T13:53:00.016-05:00

Dedication #1: Homewood, AL
Dawson Memorial Baptist Church: Dr. Gary Fenton
October 17th, 2010

As you can tell from the title of this post, the boys were dedicated on October 17th AND 24th. Josh and I knew that we wanted to dedicate them at Dawson Baptist Church because it is where we have been attending church for the past few years. I also suggested that we dedicate them at Josh's home church (if it is even still called that now that he's been in Birmingham for 10 years haha) because it was very important to him growing up and it would be a good way to honor his parents (and let them show off their grandbabies, which they love to do!)

It was very humbling how many of our friends and family took time out of their week to come worship with us at Dawson on the 17th and what a wonderful service it was! Almost all of my extended family in Birmingham made it--including, but def not limited to the boys' great great aunt and uncle and their great and great great grandmothers; friends from church came, Paige's soon-to-be B-I-L, my sisters came in from Huntsville, TX and Auburn, AL, and my best friend, Joy, and her husband, Luke, even drove in from Atlanta that morning. It touched my heart to see all of these people who were so important in my life and now, the boys' lives.

The service started with the hand bell choir playing and then the children's choir sang. It was as if God had worked it out for that service to be particularly special and ornate just for us in celebration of these precious, precious gifts he'd given us!

Dr. Fenton gave a wonderful message. The most memorable line was when he quoted: "You can't stop a bird from flying over your head, but you can stop it from making a nest in your hair." Basically meaning, you can't help what thoughts come your way (especially worrisome in this case), but you can choose whether you let them settle in your head and you stew over them or not. One kind of crazy part of of the service was when he put a picture of traffic on the screen and there was a truck with "GAMBLE" across the front! Very doo-doo-doo-doo, doo-doo-doo-doo... and then, he was talking about cell phones and the picture he put up was all Verizon Wireless phones! (Where Joshy G. works!) Talk about a service tailor made for us and the boys :) Haha... Even though I know they didn't do it all on purpose, it was so neat to see those and know that God was celebrating with us and was surely getting our attention!

Another special part of the day was how excited about the service my friends and family were, especially my sister, Paige. She said that the service really spoke to her heart. Who out there doesn't LOVE for people they love to be spoken to, especially when they invited them to the service!? It was just perfect. Only thing that could have made it better was if a few other friends/family who live out of town and are constantly missed (ie: my BFF Eden in CA, the Jones family in FL, Aunt in NC, etc.) could have made it, but those were trips I wouldn't want them to take just to be there with us in person. They certainly were there in love and spirit!

Let me also brag on Dawson a bit. As my mom put it, they are a "well-oiled machine!" They have the whole dedication day down to an art, not only making it easy on the family, but making it very special for them, as well. Brooke G., the head of the preschool ministry, met with us and Dr. Fenton to make sure that he had the boys' names correct (which he already knew before meeting with us---meant a lot to me) and helped us with the details of the day. It could not have gone better! The boys were delightful, even giddy during the dedication. Then, some of the helpers from the nursery, who brought them up to us fed, dressed, and ready to go, took them back to downstairs for us to enjoy the rest of the service baby-free. Well. Oiled. Machine.

After the dedication, we had a few of our close friends and a lot of family over to my parents' house for a celebratory lunch. It was just a great day on the whole and touched my heart for everyone to be celebrating 2 of the MOST important people in my life as we made a public declaration of dedicating them to our precious, generous, and very gracious God.

I love how proud Josh looks as Dr. Fenton introduces JH to the congregation

Enthralled with Dr. Fenton

JH is smiling at H being introduced... too sweet!

Dedicating JH

H was clearly making himself very comfortable as he propped his foot on Dr. Fenton during dedication haha... Just loungin' while we talk about Jesus.

(sorry, a few of these next ones are from before the service)

LOVE this picture... unfortunately Joshy G didn't know Grace was taking a picture with him in it, so he didn't smile. We have got to get better about making SURE to get family pics. This is our only family pic from such an important day.

LOOOOOVE this one with my sweetness, Harrison.

We served lasagna, salad, and bread.

Oh, and we can't forget an Edgar's cake! YUM! I asked them to add almond to the icing to make a french vanilla almond taste (like our wedding cake, actually), but it was too overwhelming. I don't recommend anyone else doing it... nor will I be doing it again. Regardless, the cake was still delicious.

Fantastic pic of my sister Grace with some of our very favorites, Katie and Cullen Byington.

VERY PROUD PARENTS!

The pumpkins that Paige (top left: spooky castle), Grace (bottom: growling wolf), and I (spider on a web) carved the night before.

That is my Aunt Sharon, the boys' Great Aunt, sitting at the table with my Great Uncle Johnnie, the boys' Great-Great Uncle! Coming in the door is my Great Grandmother, Nannie, the boys' Great-Great Grandmother, and behind her is my Daddy, the boys' Grandfather, aka: Big Daddy. :)

The front two people are my Godparents, Susan and Michael Bayliss. Appropriately, they are two of the sweetest, most Godly people that I know. In the back are my Aunt Cynthia and Uncle Tim. They are so much fun and I enjoy spending time with them!

Here is my sister, Paige, aka: Aunt Podge looking foxy, as usual.

Dedication #2: Hendersonville, TN

Cornerstone Church: Pastor Maury Davis

October 24, 1010

(Right outside of Nashville. Where Daddy Josh grew up after moving there in elementary school from Shreveport, LA. His parent still live there.)

The next weekend was Vanderbilt Homecoming, which many of you know, is a tradition in the Gamble household. Josh and I started dating Summer 2004 and we have been to every single Vanderbilt Homecoming since then! This post isn't about that trip, just the dedications... I'll include that trip in my post about the rest of October. I will say, though, that, in a nut shell, Josh's mom went out of her way to make sure that the trip up was easy for us and she did such a great job. I can't thank her enough, and tried to do so every opportunity I could get. We'll definitely be going back up soon!

Back to the dedications... Since we knew we were going for that, I asked Josh's mom if: A. She'd be interested in us doing one up there at their church (she def was!) and B. She thought that they could get it scheduled on that Sunday that we'd be up there for Vanderbilt Homecoming. (Pastor Davis usually does dedications on Weds nights, but made an exception for us!) We got up that morning, did our regular thing w/ the boys, and prayed they'd take a good nap, since we were going to have to wake them up early in order to make it to the service in time. Josh's mom was really anxious about us making it on time, calling a few times to check on where we were (I think she was just anxious/excited), etc..., and usually her nervousness about our making it to church on time is unfounded because we can handle it and we always make it on time (she and F-I-L go ahead for Sunday School and we meet them there for the service), but this time, it was true... we were running late b/c we wanted the boys to get as much nap in as possible.... then, we got half-way to the church, and realize that we went off and forgot their dedication outfits---totally my fault. I think I was anxious about being late, so I went off and left them. We weren't actually *late*, but we weren't early, as we'd originally hoped we would be. When we were almost to the church, we got stuck in traffic b/c there had been a bad 3-car wreck right outside of the church. We finally got through that traffic after some prayers for the people involved and gratitude that it wasn't us, and got in the church in time to change the boys' clothes and diapers, go into the sanctuary for a minute or two, and then we were called to the stage! Whew.... Just in the nick of time! Later, Josh's mom said it was probably good that we had to turn around for the outfits, because it could've been us in that wreck. Funny how things have a way of working themselves out, huh? Praise the Lord for protecting us and our babies!

After the dedication, JH started to squeal a little bit, so Josh and I took the boys to the room for parents and babies w/ a tv screen showing the service. It was way better in there, b/c we weren't concerned about the boys making noises, etc. Pastor Davis did great job w/ the dedication and service! Afterward, we grabbed lunch at Cracker Barrel and headed back to start packing. I don't want to forget to say how much I appreciated my cousin, Laura, and her boyfriend, Warren, coming from Nashville to the dedication! They weren't able to make it to the one in Birmingham so it worked out perfectly that they could come to this one! I have really amazing and supportive family, if you didn't notice! On our way out of town, we stopped in Nashville to eat dinner, feed the boys, and spend a little time with Laura and Warren before driving the rest of the way to Birmingham.

Pastor Davis introducing us to the congregation and giving a little back story about how Josh grew up in that church, moved "far away" (LOL.... Um... Birmingham? ha ha) and that Regenia constantly blesses his family and so he wanted to make an exception and dedicate the boys for all of us.

GREAT picture of the proud Gigi and Papa watching their grandbabies, son, and D-I-L on stage.

It was a good service and I am very grateful that Pastor Davis did our family the favor of making a special exception for our baby boys. I know it also meant a lot to Josh and his parents, so that means a lot to me.

Beginning of October

2010-10-18T15:34:00.010-05:00

Ok... I'm going to get started on October so I can finally be blogging in present time! I'm pretty proud of myself that it's the 18th and I'm blogging about the CURRENT month... that hasn't exactly been my M.O. lately, unfortunately! Sorry to any readers out there.... between the twins, 15 hours of school including 1 online class, a husband, and keeping a house, I get behind on the blog :)

So let's see... here are a few pics from the very end of September of my 2 little turkeys playing on the blanket.....

9/25 As I said in my previous post, they've recently begun grabbing their feet in the air.... I love it :)

10/1 I randomly put the boys in the same crib to just hang out for a little bit one night. I heard JH crying... this is what I found. H LOVES his brother and does this occasionally. He just wants to be close to him! haha..... JH doesn't like it as much as I think it's cute lol....

10/5 in our exersaucers...

10/7 Was a special day for me b/c it was the anniversary of the day when we had our first ultrasound last year and found out that we were going to have TWINS! What a life-changing day :) We were blessed more than we could have asked or imagined for ourselves!

10/8 Harrison is getting better and better at holding his own bottle! I used to feed the boys up on the love seat, but have recently moved to feeding them on the floor. It is safer b/c I'm not worried about them falling/rolling off :) Plus they were getting too squirmy for me on the couch. As you'll see in the 2nd and 3rd pic, sometimes I use these bottle holders to hold their bottles for them, and other times I'll hold it for them or let them hold it (as long as they can). I've also discovered they really like it for all of us to be touching :)

That morning, we went to my parents' so my mom and I could go ahead and cook the lasagna for the boys' post-dedication lunch that I was going to have at their Mimi and Big Daddy's house after their dedication the 17th.

HUGE NEWS!!!! Jack Henry cut his first tooth that day!!!!

10/10 I had been chatting with my mom about how we'd started feeding the boys my home made baby food and that we were feeding them in the exersaucers b/c that was the best we had at this point... and man was it crazy! There are toys on it to distract them and it bounces! H actually got an eye full of applesauce one morning! haha... So, Mimi offered to buy us their highchairs for early Christmas. Boy do we love them! We got a great deal! We were going to get the Chicco chairs, bc they were cheaper, but they werent vinyl (or plastic-y, easy to wipe material) and these were. i didnt want to spend $170 x2 of our cmas money from my parents but we liked them and they were nice....also easy to wipe off. well they rang up as $130! then we got multiples 10% discount (BBBaby) and then i had a 20% coupon from babies R us...so they ended up being about $103 and $115 or something. awessoooome! CHA-CHING!

10/11 H has been holding his bottle on and off for the past few months, but on the 11th was his first official feeding of holding it the whole time! He does better with the 5 oz bottles (if he drinks 9 oz, I give him a full 5 oz and then refill it w/ 4 more oz) but he's getting a lot better at the big bottles, too! This is getting to be so helpful! I just have to kind of monitor it in case he drops it, but otherwise, I can help JH with his and let H feed himself. We have arrived!!!!

YAY HARRISON!!!

10/11 The boys used their high chairs for the 1st real time. It seemed to go pretty well. We need to do better at feeding them their "breakfast" (puree in the AM after bottle) earlier b/c they start to get fussy and that makes for a bad time trying to feed them. We've also discovered that Josh is really good at feeding them :) I do just fine, but he's good at it and it's nice b/c that gives me some time to eat breakfast, clean up, etc. while he feeds the boys. Plus, I like it that they have their "thing" each AM. :)

This week....

For a while, H has been sleeping through the night most nights, but this week, he has started getting up a few times a night like JH has. As of today, he has slept well again the past 2 nights--unless he leaks out of his diaper. Let's hope he keeps it up...and that we can get some overnight diapers!

JH has REALLY started paying attention to Miley. He's all about her! H has started noticing her, too, but JH is more into her than H is so far.

10/14 That morning, I was loving on Harrison and, being in a very "grabby" stage, he accidentally grabbed my eye, scratching it 2x giving me a bad corneal abrasion. It hurts SOOOO BAD!---I cried! My mom was generous to take me to the Dr. for an emergency appointment while Josh stayed with the little turkeys. She and the Dr. were impressed by how big the 2 cuts were. I was given some moisturizing drops to put in my eye every 30 minutes and some antibiotic drops to do 3x that day. My eye was so sensitive that I had to wear my sunglasses inside all day long. I also had to get a prescription for Lortab to help with the pain. They put a contact on my eye to act as a band-aid--which is the reason for the moisturizing drops (to keep it from sticking to my eye/the cut). Friday morning I had to go in for a follow-up appt Friday AM where they took off my contact and prescribed me some antibiotic ointment (which is basically like putting Vaseline straight in your eye--yuck!!!). She said that I must be healthy b/c the cuts were 99% healed already! My eye stayed swollen/squinty and red until Sunday morning. Thank goodness it cleared up just in time for the boys' dedication!

10/16 Harrison has started giving kisses lately! I LOOOOOOOOOOOOVE IT! I've always kissed them on the lips and he has really picked up on it lately b/c he has been either giving me one back (opening his mouth purposefully) or randomly leaning in for a kiss! (sometimes on mouth, sometimes on face). What a sweetheart.

On 10/16, the boys turned 6 months old!!! What a milestone, to me. I used to think how far away 6 months sounded. That afternoon, we tried to get some pictures of them at my parents' house. For those of you who don't know, my mom is a great photographer and even knows how to hand-tint, which is a lost art, IMO. We may have gotten some good ones, but I think the best ones will be from our previous photo session a few weeks prior. I am working on finding the perfect picture for our birth announcements. :)

That day, my sisters were both in town for the boys' dedication on 10/17, so the boys, Josh and I went to my parents' house. We watched football, hung out, and the girls and I carved pumpkins! It was such a JOY to have them in town and for all of us to be cut up (no pun intended [carving pumpkins haha]) and laugh together!

HUGE NEWS is that JH cut his 2nd tooth that day!!! I love it when the boys have milestones/big things that happen on their exact "month birthday" :o)

The boys are getting a LOT better at sitting up, which is exciting :) We're working on it and I think they'll be there pretty soon! They have their 6 month appointment on Wednesday and I am interested to see what their stats are these days! Josh weighed himself and then himself with each of the twins individually and they are both weighing approximately 19 lbs!~ So... we'll see what the scale at the Dr. says!

I'm going to do a separate post about the boys' dedication this past Sunday. It was a wonderfully special day. We were VERY blessed by both the service and by all of our friends and family that came to celebrate that blessed day with us!

September with the Gambles

2010-10-10T21:18:00.002-05:00

Here is a quick run-down of September with the Gambles. There are a good bit of "firsts" including Harrison rolling to his tummy :)

9/1 first time in johnnie jump ups

H loved it

JH was tired so not too into it

9/2 hanging out in the johnnie jump ups

9/4 first game day

9/6 i didnt have school bc of labor day so we got to go walk that evening

9/7 JH has been putting feet in the air a lot. started kicking toys on his bouncer... so cute!

9/8 Just hanging out with Mommy and Daddy and playing on the floor

9/9 just hanging out before mommy goes to class

9/10 Today is my daddy's b'day! The boys celebrated by jumping in the JJU's and taking great naps :) We were supposed to get together for dinner with my parents, but my dad had a very long day at work, so we celebrated on 9/11/10 by getting take out Cocina Superior and watching some Alabama football.

9/11 I started making baby food.... my mom VERY GENEROUSLY bought me some Beaba containers, baby spoons, plastic (easy to wipe off) bibs, and a few books about making my own baby food after I'd mentioned, totally in passing, that I was planning to make our baby food. It not only meant a lot to me that she listened and remembered, but also that she was so supportive of my efforts that she went out of her way to make sure it happened and I was successful. Thank you, my momma!

9/12 Jack Henry has been scooting in his bed all week. yesterday he was scooting across the play mat. really good at pulling knees up under himself already. Neat to see signs of future crawling.

9/15 BOTH slept thru the night = 5 month b'day present to mommy and daddy

9/16 turned 5 months old, Gigi flew to town. First trip to the airport

MOST IMPORTANTLY, HARRISON ROLLED TO HIS TUMMY ON THIS DAY!!! He, apparently, was just waiting until he knew he'd be good at it, b/c within a day, he was just as good at it as Jack Henry, who had been doing it since the end of July! Here is his first successful roll...

Gigi came to town that day, too... Here are the boys when we were about to leave for the airport to pick up Gigi!

This last one cracks me up.... Jack Henry is all... "enough mom..." and Harrison is saying... "sigh... come OOON mom..." LOL...

9/16-9/19 Gigi Papa kept them alone for the first time while i was in rachel's wedding

That weekend I was really busy with bridesmaid duties and events to attend... I had a great time (although I did miss my sweet boys). It was a special weekend b/c my cousin Rachel (the bride), her sister Laura, my sisters, and I have grown up very close---more like sisters than cousins. I can't believe Rachie is grown up enough to be married! (or me having babies?? wow...) It's crazy that Paige, my little sister, will be getting married in May. Although it is a little hard to believe how much we are all growing up, it also excites me that we are entering the stage of life where we will spend time together with our husbands.... and eventually let our children play together and hopefully be close like all of us were. :)

Bridesmaid luncheon at my God mother's house

Rehearsal at Highlands United Methodist Church

My precious twin sisters, Grace and Paige
Rachel and her daddy, my Uncle IraPaige and her betrothed, Brent.
The rehearsal dinner was at the Veranda

Paige with her fiance, Brent, and his twin brother, Robyn (yep! twin engaged to twin!)

JH snoozing on his daddy Saturday AM
Nervous, but very excited bride waiting for time to walk down the aisle!
1st dance as Mr. and Mrs. Chris Weingartner
They are a great couple. I love Rachel to death and Chris is a fantastic guy!

sept 20/21 I finally got out exersaucers... the boys thought that they were pretty neat, but were a little tired, so they weren't too excited about them yet. Here are the boys earlier that AM.

sept 22 started for real on cereal---much better at moving food from front to back of mouth, rather than innate reflex of pushing things out of their mouth

last week josh said jack henry started grabbing toes but I saw it for the first time yesterday?

putting paci in their mouth

harrison getting good at holding bottle

9/24harrison started grabbing toes while sitting on josh's tummy a while ago, but is now starting to grab them in the air.

9/29 squash last week, sweet potatoes this week

last night, Aunt Sharon and Uncle Ira said JH was petting Miley's face, nose and ears for a long time! I'd never seen him do that...but since then, I've noticed that he's really into her!

this AM was josh's first time to feed the babies---better than mommy!

9/30 went to visit professor from Spring semester Dr. Melanie Shores

I'll see if there are any more pictures to add to this post... hope you enjoyed it!..On to October!

The loss of a good friend.

2010-09-25T10:42:00.009-05:00

OK, that might have been a little misleading. There hasn't been a death, but there has been a loss, per say. When I graduated from Vanderbilt in 2004, my parents bought me a new VW Touareg. I loved it and have continued to for the past almost 5.5 years. (I got the car in December.) It is a very nice car, great interior, excellent sound system, heated seats, pretty big trunk space, built in window shades in the back seat, side mirrors that fold in at the touch of a button, a sun roof, etc. I loved the color: wheat beige. Great car. Only things about it that were not so great... gas mileage wasn't awesome and repairs were RIDICULOUSLY expensive and a bit too frequent. For example, I know that Josh and I spent at the very least a good $3,000 on repairs (not counting the new tires and brake pads!) in the last year alone. His 1996 Cutlass Supreme hasn't been in the shop SINCE WE GOT MARRIED 3.5 YEARS AGO! Red. flag.

Well, this Summer we grew tired of bleeding money, so we talked to my sister's soon-to-be brother-in-law, Robyn, who is a broker (can get you basically any car you want for a great price from auctions, etc.) and he shopped around for us. [PLUG: If you are at all interested in shopping around for a different car or buying one, you should definitely give Robyn a call! He can even sell your current car for you. He's great to work with and a nice guy to boot.] We initially played with the idea of a minivan because we could get it for a good price, lots of room, and there were even a few that were still under warranty! BUT, we decided that we didn't need that kind of space quiet yet and if we didn't need it, I wasn't quite ready to take the minivan plunge. Neither was Josh haha. It's not that I care about the stereotype... I AM a mommy! Not to sound completely horrible or superficial, but I don't find them cute in the slightest and if I have the choice, I'd rather drive something a little more visually appealing to me. It's a personal opinion. Please try not to judge. [I'm sure many people feel the same way whether they'd all like to admit it or not haha] Granted, there may come a time when that will be the best option for us and I will *happily* take the minivan plunge if that is what is best for my family [although my sights are on a Chevy Traverse or a Yukon type situation]. I've actually heard a lot of people say that they love theirs!

All that to say, we ended up getting a 2007 Chevy Equinox. Great car. Better gas mileage. Approximately the same room in the car (a little narrower and the slightest bit less trunk space it appears [def frustrating-we thought there was as much or more-oh well, we'll deal. it's not much less at all]. Cheaper repairs. Newer car. OOOOH the BEST part is that the seats originally were cloth and Robyn knows a guy who does leather seat installation for a good price, so we got new leather seats put in and the car feels brand spanking new!

I have to admit, I am having a little bit of a hard time with the transition. I'm REALLY excited about a new-er car with all of the above perks. I am so blessed to have a car in the first place. Please don't read any of this as being ungrateful. However, I am a sentimental sap, and when I think about the VW, memories flood my mind... Josh driving us on dates. Driving to my BFF Eden's bridesmaid luncheon at Cobb Lane and subsequently her wedding. Picking up friends and family at the airport. Trips to Nashville. Driving home from my aunt's farm and calling everyone to excitedly announce our engagement. Bringing Miley home from the Humane Society. Driving through the middle of the night to get to FL to be in my other BFF Joy's wedding. Tons of trips to the lake. We drove away from our wedding in the VW. We brought our babies home from the hospital in that car. These are only the high points that immediately spring to mind. However, it all boils down to this: the VW is a material, replaceable thing. Those memories will stay with me forever. End of story.

I don't always handle change well initially; Josh said he even expected that I'd have a little bit of trouble, but now I'm ready to make new memories with my new family of four in my new-er car.

Finally finished August.

2010-09-24T22:05:00.002-05:00

Ok.... So I need to have another night where I just sit down and blog/add pictures like I did tonight so I can get September blogged. I've been making myself some notes so it'll be a quick one. The problem is that I have 100's of pictures to go through and choose which ones to use! Ah well. I WILL get caught up! I'm so close... Hope you enjoy August with the Gambles below.

August...finally with pictures!

2010-09-12T19:50:00.023-05:00

Just a picture of a really sweet moment between Harrison and me.... I like to put my hand on the side of their face and they seem to be soothed by it. Sometimes they'll be deliciously precious and put their hand on top of mine :) Sigh... love. it.

8/5 joy/luke came to visit! we went to our 10 year high school reunion that Saturday 8/7/10. It was way too expensive, but so much fun to see everyone and catch up! The twins were a huge topic, of course, and it seemed like everyone was really keeping up with them through Facebook, which was very flattering!

8/6 The night before the reunion, we went to see some of Joy and Luke's college friends play a concert at Briarwood Church. They are the Christian band, 10th Avenue North. They are GREAT! I'd met a few of the members over the years before they were a band, so it was good to see them again. I met the lead singer, Mike, back in 2003 when I went to visit Joy at PBA during Spring Break. He's hilarious and so talented. His wife, Kelly, is another one of Joy's very close friends and former roomies. Anyways... that night, Jack Henry gave me a GREAT surprise! HE LAUGHED OUT LOUD! It was music to my ears.... Sigh :) I was changing his diaper (on a pew haha) and tickled his tummy just being silly and he looked me in the eye and let out the sweetest giggle!

8/7 The morning of the reunion, Harrison started grabbing some of the toys hanging on their play mat. I'd been waiting for that for a long time...after watching them just look at them for months haha...

Playing with each other on 8/11/10

On 8/14, the boys and I went to the lake for a day because aunt podge was in town. They were glad to see her, but not as much as I was :) The boys had both been cooing and stuff since June, but the main chatter box had been Harrison. That weekend at the lake, Jack Henry REALLY found his voice and has been chatting away since then! He will squeal and coo and it is soooooo sweet! For a little bit Harrison actually got quieter again, but now (9/12/10) they both chat a ton!

Waiting to get in the car to head to the lake!

(LOVE these gingham bubbles my mom's cousin "aunt marilyn" gave the boys)

JH alseep in Big Daddy's lap

Deep conversations with Big Daddy

On 8/16, the boys' 4 month birthday, they had their 4 month well baby appointment where we tried a new pediatrician, Dr. Dennis at Over the Mountain Pediatrics. We REALLY liked her! The boys weighed in at 14 lbs 10 oz (H) and 15 lbs 5 oz (JH). They were 24.75 and 25.5 inches long, respectively. The craziest thing about their weights is that they are 11 oz apart. If you will recall, when Harrison was sick before his pyloric stenosis surgery, he lost 11 oz that week. Strange coincidence! They did FANTASTIC with their shots.. funny story... mom and I stand back when they get their shots so they can't see us when they feel that pain LOL... We'd rather them associate that with the nurse haha.... well, when the nurse laid JH down, he looked at her and smiled! She said "ooooh please dont look at me and smile before I have to give you this shot!".... He is such a sweet boy :) They both really are.

Harrison likes to grab his paci out of his mouth, so a while back I started giving him a "dummy paci" for his hand to distract him from the one in his mouth haha

Snuggling with Daddy as a big 4 month old :)

Brotherly chats at the Ped office

"No way!"

"Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time..."

Impromptu photo sesh with Harrison at the Pediatrician's office. I love that beautiful smile!

After we got home, I tried to get a picture of the boys together to document their 4 month birthday. I had a bit of trouble b/c Harrison kept giving me the same shocked face and Jack Henry wouldn't look at the camera. LOL... It makes me giggle to look at it!

That night, Susan and Michael Bayliss, my God-parents, came over to see the boys and to learn their night time routines because they are keeping them for me one night a week this semester as I go to class from 5:30-8. Susan and Michael are two of the most precious and Godly people that I know. They are SOOO wonderful with the boys and it just touches my heart to see people who I love so much loving on my babies.

On 8/17 Aunt Podge came over to visit with me and the boys before she headed back to Texas to soon start classes. During her visit, JH gave us another little surprise..... he laughed out loud AT HER when she was talking to him! It was the first time for him to laugh at someone and apparently Aunt Podge was very funny that day! :)

That morning:

That night, I started my first class of the semester. I think I've lost my mind taking 15 hours at night while being a stay-at-home-mommy during the day...but I'm so ready to be finished w/ this new degree. I'll student teach in the Spring and be finished, thank goodness. God willing, Josh will still be making enough to fully support me and the boys, like he is now and that will allow me to be a full-time stay-at-home-mommy for a while...at least for a few years. We'll see how it all turns out.:)

On 8/20 JH started grabbing toys hanging on their playmat, too! It is so neat to see the boys develop and grow. They are both hitting great milestones, getting stronger, and learning fast, but they do all of it in different ways and at different times. It is always such a good reminder that they are VERY different babies and reminds me to treat them that way, too. They are their own person and will develop at their own rate that is best for them.

Hanging out with Daddy being cute :)

That night we tried to go try out the new Mexican place at the Summit, Chuy's, and follow it up with Yogurt Lab, but it was a 1.5 hr wait, so we went to Flipburger (delicious) and 32 degrees since it was right there and the boys were growing weary.

On 8/21-8/22 Gigi and Papa (Josh's parents) came to visit and we got to go to Chuy's and Yogurt lab :) Not only did she show up with quite a loot for the boys, but Gigi also took us shopping and got the boys some good Fall/Winter clothes at Belk! It's nice being the only grandbabies in the family, isn't it? :) That weekend the Gambles were also learning about the boys and their schedule because they will be here for my cousin Rachel's wedding weekend to keep Jack Henry and Harrison for us because I will be REALLY busy with Bridesmaid stuff like luncheon, nails, rehearsal, rehearsal dinner, after party, brunch, makeup, pictures, wedding, reception, etc! Whew... I'm tired just thinking about it but SO excited b/c it'll be a really fun weekend. I love Rachel and I love weddings!

Hanging out at Chuy's during dinner

BEAUTIFUL sunset after shopping! What a blessing.

The weekend they were here, Harrison started this random leg-pushing when he was in his bed. It seems somewhat developmental... at least he's building strength, I guess! Unfortunately, like most babies, ours like to practice their "tricks" while sleeping at night (and nap time) so that new trick cost us a few hours of sleep in the nights to follow, but it's OK. We are incredibly blessed to have healthy, wonderfully developing babies. That in itself is worth a few hours of missed sleep here and there. GOSH I love those boys so much!

On 8/27, my mom and I hit the Birmingham Area Mothers of Multiples consignment sale. We got some good stuff---another pack n play (since the boys now need two), some baby gate/play pen, clothes, bible song CDs... that might be it.

The next night, 8/28, was my cousin Rachel's couples shower. That was the night that the boys had their 1st non-family babysitters! Some of our best buds, the Byingtons (Katie and Cullen) kept JH and H for us and we really appreciated it! I did not worry about them one bit and knew that they were in great hands. That night we decided to give the babies some rice cereal in their bottle to see if they would sleep better and they did~! They slept through the whole night! Unfortunately, it wasn't the beginning of an every night thing, but they have been sleeping better in general. :)

Discussing what fun stuff they were going to do with Aunt Katie and Uncle Cullen.

8/29 was a really big day for the boys and for me. It was their first time in church nursery! Now, let me just say... I have been "leaving" the babies since the moment I gave birth to them. (unfortunately b/c of NICU stay).... so leaving them to go run errands, etc. has never been the issue. The issue for me as a new mommy is WHO I leave them with, which I feel is a very valid way to feel, especially as a new mommy. Well, on August 29th we decided to go ahead and put them in the church nursery! It was a fantastic experience. My BFF Eden did a good job reassuring me that it would be a positive experience, reminding me that the people in the nursery were volunteers who wanted to be there to see the babies and love on them.....unlike some of the daycare/preschool workers I'd observed in various development and learning centers over the years who were just plain mean to children and even babies. Thank goodness the nursery workers wouldnt be that way.

My friend Heather P. made these GORGEOUS bubbles for the boys. Every gift means a lot to me, but I have to say that the hand made stuff means the most b/c people sacrificed their time to spend it making a gift for me/my babies. It touches my heart.

Brooke G, the head of the preschool ministry at Dawson, had already gotten in touch with me about the boys' information, so they were already set up in the computer and their teachers were ready and expecting them when we showed up. It made for a very smooth transition and I cannot thank them enough. The boys did GREAT! There were no tears for them or me! haha... I have to say. I love my boys with every ounce of my being and then some times infinity plus infinity. That said, it was nice to get a break to worship w/ Josh while knowing that the babies were in the nursery being loved on and made over by the sweet ladies in there!

That afternoon, I went to a linen shower for Rachel and when I got back, we gave the boys some cereal on a spoon for the first time! It was clearly not a very successful venture haha.... but they've gotta start somewhere to learn how to swallow food correctly! They'll get it figured out soon, I'm sure.:) We didn't keep it up regularly, but practiced a few times in preparation for starting for real in September.

Harrison's first bite

Apparently rice cereal is HILARRRIOUS! haha.....

8/31/10 Waiting for Big Daddy and Mimi to come over and keep them while I went to class. I think they were watching Go Diego Go or something. It's JH's favorite. (Everything in moderation, don't worry!)

Well, that's August with pictures. Whew! Stay tuned for September.

End of July...and some August

2010-08-29T20:17:00.023-05:00

I am SO ready to be caught up, so I'm going to try to really get on it so I can be caught up! It's time to be able to blog about current events! Hopefully I can persevere and get it finished fast! Some of the blog will be old information mixed with current information. That'll help us get caugh up, too!

On July 23rd, the boys slept from 10-6:30AM with no wake ups whatsoever! This was very exciting, especially for Josh, who was home alone with the boys. Yep, it was my first night away from them. I slept at my parents' house because I was taking the Praxis early the next morning and wanted to ensure a good night of sleep. Little did I know the gift the boys would be giving us! The afternoon after the Praxis, we went swimming w/ Joshy. (Daddy)

On 7/26/10 JH rolled from his back to his belly and H rolled from his belly to his back. (pic from that day below) It is also the first day they slept in separate beds. I think it was harder on me than it was on them. It makes me sad to have to separate them, but I felt like with all of the rolling going on, it just wasn't safe anymore. I've thought about maybe, in the future, letting them have the option of special nap times where they can sleep together if they want. Obviously, this will come when they can communicate w/ me lol.... so, it'll be a little while. It will also just be a special treat unless they can behave really well and, more importantly, SLEEP really well when they do it! We'll see :o)

The rolling over was the beginning of about a month of hard nights for us, on and off. It pretty much lead us into the 4 month sleep regression. Whew. We would put Jack Henry on his back to go to sleep and he'd spend the whole night squirming while practicing his new trick, waking himself up, and wanting his paci. So, I got to the point where I said, "He can do it on his own, so no harm done..." and I went ahead and put him on his stomach, prayed over him, and started sleeping better again... for a few nights, at least. Eventually, we started putting Harrison on his stomach, too, even though he's not rolling to his stomach yet. I pray over both of them for their safety, and we all sleep so much better. I know that it's controversial, but I feel like I would have less peace about it if it wasn't the right thing for my kids. No?

Although this picture is from a day or two before, I officially started the boys on a nap schedule on Thursday, July 29th. They responded really well, and that first day is still, to date, the best nap day they've ever had! haha The sleep regression has hurt our nap times, too, but they seem to be getting better a little bit at a time, just like our night times.

Being silly with daddy 7/31/10 before going to swim with Laura

Poor, sweet Miley girl. She doesn't get as much attention as she used to, but she's still well-loved. She is VERY sweet with the babies and has grown up so much since they were born and she also turned 2 in May--I think that made a huge difference! This puppy who used to sleep in her crate every night is now so trustworthy that she basically has free roam of the house at night. She usually starts off in our room and sometime during the night she will work her way out to "her couch." I am incredibly proud of her!

On July 31st, we took the boys over to Aunt Sharon's to swim with my cousin Laura. Laura was so excited about them swimming with her that she and Aunt Sharon went out and bought the boys swimming outfits, complete with hats. It was so generous of them and they picked out some cute stuff!

Jack Henry and "Captain" (Uncle Ira)I wish the shadow wasn't over his face, but JH just looks like such a ham in this pic. I look forward to the years of entertainment and joy these boys will give/share with us :)

HAHAHAHA I know it's blurry, but H makes some of the best faces! LOL

AUGUST 2ND-----Just a little play time with Mommy (yay! I've made it to August! We're almost caught up... )

On August 3rd, I went to Oak Street over in Crestline for one of my former Camp Winnataska campers, Mallory P., to cut my hair.... for the first time since last Fall! Crazy. That morning, I also caught this cuteness on my cell phone camera. Sigh.... :o)

We started the morning of 8/3/10 with the boys' first stroll in the jogging stroller their Gigi got for them at a garage sale for $35----what a steal! That morning's stroll is definitely filed in my mind as a learning moment. Josh and I thought that leaving at 7:45AM, the weather would be cool enough for us to walk to Panera, eat breakfast, and walk back. Weeeeell.... As new parents, we are in a constant state of figuring out what works and what doesnt AND... that morning just didn't work well. LOL. It was too hot in the first place, but we also kept the boys in their long-sleeved pajamas.... Clearly it just wasn't thought through very well. You live, you learn. When we got to Panera, we stripped them down and cooled them down w/ some cool paper towels and AC. On the way home, we hustled and discussed what we learned from the experience Ha ha....

Before leaving.

Here is how we left....

....and here's how we returned.

Talking with Daddy on August 4th

Bath time that evening..

Most of the time I bathe them in the sink, but they are really too long to do it anymore, so I've been doing it in the tub some, too. This AM (8/31/10) I actually put their sponge pad that I use in the sink in the tub for them to lay on and it seemed to work really well. They were easier to keep from sliding all over the place than they are in the bath chair. haha...

I think I'll wrap this up for the evening. I actually see the end of "catch up" in sight! I've made an outline for myself of big days in August, so the next post should be an easy one to whip out. Maybe I can get it done tomorrow? Hmm.... No promises Ha ha.

Sweet dreams, y'all!

I can't help it...music to my ears!

2010-08-21T21:07:00.004-05:00

Ok.... I know I'm not caught up, but I can't help but post some of these "present" things... such as the sweet laughter of my sons, which is..... music to my ears. Btw... it's still crazy to me that I have "sonS" haha...

"Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine..." Eph 3:20

We are.... SO BLESSED!

Those are MY toes, Daddy!

2010-08-20T20:37:00.004-05:00

Even though I'm still not caught up, I just HAD to share this precious picture I got of Josh and JH while we were waiting for our dinner at Flip Burger. (Which was delicious, btw.) LOVE this pic!...and of course I can't leave out my sweet baby H :) Snoozin' like a sweet boy!

Part 4 July

2010-08-17T20:07:00.011-05:00

The first weekend of July was 4th of July weekend and just like we do every year, we packed up and headed to beautiful Lake Martin! Except this year, we had two little love muffins in tow! Needless to say, it was quite a different 4th for the Gambles. We did not go to the fire works and I don't think we'll be going next year either b/c the boys will only be 15 months old then.

Originally, we were going to have to leave that afternoon, but Josh got his Monday shift moved to working in Sylacauga (close to lake house) so we could stay longer. He didn't have to work until 11am on Tuesday, so we were able to stay through Tuesday morning. We love getting as much time in at the lake as possible!

An exciting event of the weekend was the boys' first play date with Sawyer Scott, who is actually only 4 days older than they are! I went to school growing up with his daddy, Keith, and actually met his mommy in a breastfeeding support group when the babies were 2 weeks old. I saw Keith at our 10 year high school reunion and we are planning to all get together soon. Josh and I are really excited :) I'm hoping Keith and Josh will hit it off as buddies b/c I really like his wife Lindsey!

Gigi (Josh's mom) bought the boys their patriotic onesies when she was visiting the weekend before. Here are some pictures from the weekend...

To begin.... some of Harrison's many faces.... He is so expressive!

Aunt Podge, you are so funny!

Um..and then what?

NO WAY!

Love that H sugar!

A little smirk from JH

Napping on the swing bed on the dock

Soon-to-be Uncle Brent with Aunt Podge. They are festive!

PRECIOUS baby boy!

Another little smirk.

Hanging out with their daddy and watching a little TV

Love those chubby thighs :) At this point, JH had 2 lbs on H.... but he's pretty much caught up now~
H's hand

JH's hand

Someone once commented that the boys were sleeping in all of the pictures that I took of them.... insinuating that all they do is sleep. Ha ha. Well, clearly I've caught them awake in some pictures, too, by now.... but the reason there are so many sleeping pictures is that they are actually still! Ha ha.... It's also because they are so preciously peaceful when they sleep. I love to take pictures of it. Maybe I should make a picture book of all of their sleeping pictures for them. :)

July was a bittersweet month. My sister, Paige, moved to Texas on July 14th, 2 days before the babies turned 3 months old. She will be there a good 6 or so years (Boooooooooo) because she is getting her PhD in Psychology with an emphasis in forensics. She will be a wonderful Psychologist and we are so proud of her! At the same time.... we are so sorry to see her go and miss her so much! It was also bitter for me, b/c my whole family went out to TX to help her move in, but I couldn't go b/c the boys and I would not be much help and actually more of a distraction. Brent (fiance), his twin brother Robyn, my sister Grace (Paige's twin), and Paige all drove out to Texas and my parents flew out there a few days later. I know that was a long drive, but I also think that road trips can be so fun, especially with the right group!

Before they headed out, they stopped by our house to kiss us goodbye and take a picture that we'd been wanting to take for a while: the Womb Mate picture! Back story---- G and P had called each other womb mates for a long time, so when I saw womb mate onesies on my trip to see BFF Eden in CA last Fall, I just had to buy them! They were actually the very first things that I bought for the babies. (At that point, I knew that there were 2 babies, but not their genders yet. Wow, that seems like yesterday!) My family loved that I found the onesies and I decided to have shirts made for G and P for Christmas. Knowing that the boys were growing like weeds, we'd been trying all Summer to find a time when both G and P were in town to take the picture. So, we grabbed this opportunity! Here are a few of the shots.

My 4 favorite womb mates!
Podge and H

Love this shot of Grace and JH

3 sets of twins! Robyn, Grace, JH, H, Paige, and Brent!

3 months old today!

Turning 3 months old is exhausting!

On July 18th, we went to a NICU reunion up at Brookwood Hospital. We enjoyed getting to see Dr. Mena (the neonatologist) and some of the nurses. It was disappointing that some of our other favorite nurses couldn't make it, but we still had a good time and were glad that we went. Josh and I particularly liked checking out all of the other twin strollers Haha.

The boys went swimming for the first time on July 22nd at my Aunt Sharon's house. Then, we went again with Daddy on Saturday. The boys really seem to like it and even naturally kick their sweet little chubby legs. :)

JH's first dip :)

Sweet little snuggly water babies

Happy H swimming with Daddy

Just loungin' in our new boat that Uncle Ira got us!
Sweet happy baby :)
Proud Daddy :)

The BIGGEST news of all is how GREAT these precious babies are developing!

July 2nd: Jack Henry rolled over to his tummy to his back.

July 26th: Jack Henry rolled over from his back to his tummy.

Harrison also rolled over from his tummy to his back that same day!

July 26th: The boys started sleeping in separate cribs (sad for mommy) because of all of the rolling around in their cribs.

(In July) They have gradually been "chatting" and smiling more and more. Harrison is particularly vocal and is my little wild man :) Jack Henry is so sweet and laid back. He doesn't talk as much, but when he does, it is the sweetest, soft little voice. They just melt my heart!

Ok... I think that will wrap it up for now. There is a little bit of July left, but I'm a tired girl and heading to bed! I'm so ready to be caught up on the blog so I can tell y'all about what's been going on lately!

Part 3.... June part 2

2010-08-05T13:43:00.014-05:00

Ok... where was I? You'd think that with all of those pictures and trips to the lake that I'd be far into June, but I was actually only halfway through it!

Day before turning 2 months old! Sacked out in Mommy and Daddy's bed... I could eat them up!

On June 16th, Jack Henry and Harrison turned 2 months old. My mom was kind enough to go to their appointment with me again. Jack Henry weighed in at 11 lbs 3 oz and was 21.75 inches long. Harrison weighed in at 9 lbs 2 oz and was 21.50 inches long. Praise the Lord for healthy babies! They did SURPRISINGLY well with their shots and you would've thought that the oral vaccination was candy because Harrison sucked it down fast! Both boys definitely let us know that it hurt, b/c it did---there were 4 shots!--but then quickly settled down once they were in our arms :) That night, Josh and I ended up accidentally sleeping most of the night with them on the couches. I kept waking up, thinking that the boys were going to wake us up at any minute to eat, but then I'd fall back asleep. It wasn't until about 2 or 3am (they were supposed to eat at 11pm) that they woke us up! That was the first time that they'd gone that long on their own! It was also a special/big night, because Jack Henry had his first social smile!~ I LOVED IT!!! (Harrison actually had his later that week, too!) So, thinking we were onto something good, Josh and I purposefully snuggled them up on the couches again the next night. They did it again! I was due to take the boys to the lake that weekend and were wondering if they were just doing that because the sleep sooo good on our chests/snuggled with us, or if they were actually learning to sleep longer. Well, at the lake, they kept it up and would do 5 and 6 hour stretches! YAY!

Josh and Harrison after a feeding on our 2nd "couch night" before getting comfortable and safe. we dont want anyone falling off of the couch!

JH before he and I got snuggled up for the night :)

That weekend, Josh came down Saturday night for Father's Day on Sunday. Here he is with his precious boys.

and here I am :)

Joshy had to get back to work, but the boys and I stayed through Wednesday because some of our VERY favorite people, Sherra (Nana), Kendal, and Paige Jones... plus 2 of Kendal's kids, Logan and Grace drove up from Orlando to spend some time with us at the lake house! They are very old friends (they're not old, the friendships are haha) from Camp Winnataska! My mom met Sherra while she was out there finding a way to be helpful around camp while her girls were campers. Sherra ended up going to nursing school and joining my mom at camp every summer for at least a week as the camp nurse. She is one of the absolutely most precious and Godly women I have ever known. Sherra's girls babysat all of us Brannon girls growing up. We all adore the Jones family!!! Unfortunately for all of us at the lake, the boys were going through their fussy phase.... they woul.d just cry and cry and cry. It lasted a few weeks. Aunt Podge and Aunt Grace were AMAZING and each took a night or two with me doing the "night shift" feeding the babies. I adored that special time together with them and the babies.

Because of this phase, this is the only way they were happy as I was helping to clean the lake house and pack us up to go:

Needless to say, this "fussy phase" made for a MISERABLE ride home from the lake! Thank goodness Aunt Podge generously rode home with us and was able to replace pacies and attempt to soothe the boys. Its hard not knowing why your babies are crying and how to help!.... There seems to have been no real answer during this phase other than it was a phase. That's my take on it at least. Fortunately, I've talked to other mommies who've experienced this as well.

Snuggling with Daddy the morning after we came home from the lake.

The next weekend, Gigi and Papa, Josh's parents came to visit! It was the first opportunity for Josh's dad to get to Bham since coming the weekend after the babies were born, so that meant it was his first time to get to hold JH...so that was pretty special. That Saturday, Josh's Aunt Brenda and grandmother "Memaw Grace" came to town and went to lunch with us and met the boys for the first time.

There are some days with babies/kids where you are just trying to survive. The next few pics are of one of those days...

Clearly this was still in the fussy phase.... (6/27/10)

Finally some peace....

The next day I had the tremendous honor of doing Hillside at Camp Winnataska, one of my all-time favorite places in the world! Hillside is a time immediately after dinner where the entire camp gets together for a brief devotional usually given by an outside guest. I'd done many things at camp: health hut baby/kid, camper, Leader in Training, Leader, Special Leader (worked in activity area while also staying with campers in hut), Senior Leader, and Staff for 2 years, but I'd never had the honor of giving a Hillside as an "adult." (I'd done one while on Staff, but this was different). I spoke about how incredible it was to me how God was using my baby boys to teach me more about Him and the relationship He wants from us, even at only 2 months old. They are completely dependent upon me, they trust me whole-heartedly, and love me unconditionally. My love for my babies gives me more insight in to how much God loves me, but is obviously not even comparable. It was a special experience and it was wonderful getting to see old camp friends and to introduce the boys to "the camp that we love the best of all!" Here they are in the Mainside Director's Hut getting a quick diaper change and a pic of Josh with H while I was changing JH's diaper.

My future Blackfeet:

This wraps up June for the Gamble family of four... I'll leave you with pictures from Tuesday, June 29th. Sweet babies!

Part 2.... June

2010-07-26T17:13:00.017-05:00

Here is the next installment of me catching up on our life on the blog... I'm going to try to do multiple ones so I can catch you all up to today, which happens to be a day of at least 3 firsts for the boys!

The week after Harrison was discharged from the hospital was my first official week on my own with the boys. They were about 5.5 weeks old. Then, as you saw in the previous post, we went to the lake for Memorial Day weekend. The boys' first of many trips to Lake Martin!

On June 1st, I walked into Jack Henry and Harrison's room to find this PRECIOUS sight. You know after weeks of being apart on and off after birth, they were glad to be back together and snuggling :)The first weekend of June (weekend after Memorial Day), I got really brave and drove to the lake with the babies all by myself!!! My mom was already down there and my sisters and Brent (Paige's fiance) came down, too. (Preparing for July 4th a month early....they are just naturally patriotic.)Being at the lake with new babies is a whole different ballgame. I'm glad my mom reminded me about how different my lake experience would be before our first trip with the boys. I stay inside most of the day with them because it is too hot for them out side. We try to take them to the dock early in the AM or later in the evening, when it is cool. Selfishly, this is mostly for my benefit, so I can get out of the house, but the boys seem to enjoy it, too, and I think the fresh air is good for them :)
Harrison and me on the bed swing on the dock.
Aunt Grace and I had a little photo session with the boys down on the dock. The lighting was so good! Grace took the pictures while I entertained them. At this point in their life, it was very easy for everyone to tell them apart. As you'll see in future pictures, as they have chunked up, they resemble each other more and more! Still obviously fraternal, but favoring each other more. Love how H is looking at me in this pic haha....
Jack Henry snuggling with Mimi that evening.
Harrison likes to hold his soothie sometimes and I think it's adorable. :)
Jack Henry sacked out on the dockVERY serious about those animals!
Aunt Podge doing what she does best. Harrison approves :)
Back home playing in the bouncers.Often, this is how I feed the boys when I'm alone. These days they stay awake longer after eating and we sing/chat for a while, but back in June, they'd often sack out just like this--especially after the mid-morning feeding and I'd just let them stay. Hey, sometimes it boils down to this.... a nap is a nap, wherever it is taken.

Jen and Eli West, friend of Josh's from high school, came over to bring dinner, catch up and love on the boys on June 11th. The boys were precious in their "womb mate" onesies and slept most of the evening. Jack Henry's PRECIOUS leg
Jack Henry sacked out on Jen's lap
Snoozin' by momma on the ottoman during dinner.
A little snuggle time with Jack Henry and those precious feet :)On June 13th, we took the boys to meet my Great Uncle Johnnie, my mom's uncle. I love for the boys to meet their family and this was extra special because her daddy (his brother) died when I was in college and this definitely felt like the next best thing to Pop getting to hold these sweet babies. Uncle Johnnie is a wonderful and kind man. I'm so glad the boys got to meet him (even if they wont remember it haha). It was also Aunt Sarah's birthday, which we didn't know when we went over there, but she said that seeing the babies made it extra special. They were so sweet to come visit us at the hospital when the boys were born. It was disappointing that the babies were in NICU and unable to meet them the day they came to visit.
Ok.... I'm going to have to conintue "Part 2 June" in the next post.... these pictures have taken forever to upload and I've gotta go get some stuff done and go to bed! Hope y'all enjoyed the pictures. It was fun for me to take a little trip down memory lane and look at how our baby boys have grown up and developed. Stay tuned for our exciting "firsts"!

Ok... Ok.... Part one.

2010-07-19T21:55:00.009-05:00

SOOOOOOOOooooooo... I'm FINALLY posting! I uploaded 700+ pictures the other day. It's well past time to post haha. I'm going to look through the pictures and discuss what we've been doing based on them. This will obviously be a multi-part post. haha. Side note, you will gradually see that the boys used to look very different and are looking more and more alike lately b/c they are both filled out so much with cute, chubby cheeks :)

You'll remember that our precious Harrison had his bout with pyloric stenosis back in May. Side note, you'll definitely notice and will not believe how much Harrison has filled out since the pyloric stenosis.... it's kind of sad actually, b/c it makes me realize just how teeny tiny he got from his weight loss and what a brand new baby he was when he had it. He is doing great now and should not have any more problems from it---yay! This is an extra relief b/c if it was reflux, as originally thought to be, it could have lasted a year or so as many of you have experienced. I feel like I dodged a bullet on that one... especially since I have a another baby to care for at the same time! It would've been daunting, for sure. Well, after discharging from the hospital, we came home and tried to take it easy. We watched Harrison for anymore throwing up, etc. He healed beautifully!

That next weekend was Memorial Day and we took the boys on their first trip to Lake Martin! I was really surprised how long it took me to pack and I even got some help from my mom. Fortunately, I'm a lot better and faster at it now! On this trip is when some of the breastfeeding issues really started. My supply and our breastfeeding "jive" got thrown off when H was in the hospital. The ped rec'd that I supplement with some formula. Then, H was compressing my nipple, causing a sore on one, so I turned to all pumping and supplementing...I tried to go back to full breast a few times, but the boys are eating a TON (5-8 oz per child, per feeding 5-6x a day... it's hard to keep up that kind of supply!) It was also getting hard to do by myself during the day---breastfeeding and then supplementing. So, jumping ahead a little in our time line for these posts, I am fully pumping and supplementing. When I originally had to put them on only bottles, they started eating more than they were getting every 3 hrs breastfeeding and switched themselves to a 4 hr feeding schedule----beautiful! This was a big source of angst for me, because I loved breastfeeding my babies, and it was going fabulously before H's hospital stay, and even pretty well immediately afterward, before the supply became a big issue. On the other hand, it was nice to have help feeding and you couldn't beat the new 4 hr feeding schedule! It just felt like the best choice and like the boys were happy getting so much more at a time. I'll definitely breastfeed our next baby(ies) and hope it will go better and longer. Either way, they are still getting a lot of breast milk, so I'm happy. I digress. Big stretch on the changing table (H)
It is fun looking through all of these pictures... and kind of funny because I didn't realize how much hair the boys had lost until I saw these old ones! LOL. I know it's normal... just funny.
Ok... I've GOT to get into bed... I have 3 month old babies who will be waking us up to eat.... at some point. That's a whole other post. Ha ha. Stay tuned for more lake fun, a visit from Gigi and Papa, 2 month doctor appointment, and more. Love y'all!

OOOOOOOOOOOH and I cannot remember if I posted about this or not---my guess is not, b/c I've been so crappy about it lately, but my precious sister, Paige is ENGAGED and getting married at Lake Martin May 2011! I am her Matron of Honor (my first time to be an "honor"!) and I'm really excited :) Brent is a wonderful and thoughtful guy, who is actually also a fraternal twin--so they'll be playing Russian roulette with that twin gene when they make babies haha. I joke with her that I'll just raise them for her...she plays along (I think she's playing??? haha hmmm...) and says that sounds good to her!
Anyways, it is going to be a GORGEOUS wedding and such a celebration. Josh, the boys and I are very excited---and actually are all in the wedding party, so that's fun!
CONGRATULATIONS PAIGE AND BRENT! We love you!

SWEET DREAMS!

Views that never get old...

2010-06-24T08:50:00.007-05:00

We are waiting to get our netbook back from the shop (removing virus). When we do, I will do my best to upload pics and do a big post.... or a few small ones. In the meantime, here are some views in my life that never get old. (cell phone pics)

Social smiling...

2010-06-17T14:06:00.002-05:00

Guess who started social smiling the other day.... at 3am lol... Here's a great shot that Aunt Grace got yesterday when she came over to visit. Sorry, again.... cell phone picture. Not great quality...but I could just eat him up!!!!

We're still here!

2010-06-16T07:39:00.003-05:00

Down on the dock at Lake Martin

Morning naptime (I monitor the tummy sleeping--no worries)

Womb mates for life! Aunt Podge and Aunt Grace also have womb mate t-shirts

I'm sorry that I have left all of you hanging for so long.... we are still here and will definitely be back to blogging more soon. I've been waiting until I had time to upload a ton of pictures that I've been taking. Our netbook got a virus on it the other day, so it'll be a little longer. In the meantime, here are a few cell phone pics to tide you over :)

Porking up

2010-05-31T16:43:00.003-05:00

Based on that double chin, I'd say baby H is putting on some weight! Ha ha---YAY! Hopefully he'll catch up to brother (who weighed in at 9 lbs 2 oz last Weds) soon! I am so in love with these baby boys!

Home!

2010-05-24T20:22:00.003-05:00

This sweet boy is home and doing GREAT!

Thank you all for your words of encouragement and prayers!

I'm so happy to have my happy, healthy baby back!

Sweet dreams...

2010-05-22T10:27:00.004-05:00

(Sweet Harrison last night--bright-eyed and alert! IV in head looks worse than it is. Sorry for cell phone pic quality)

Harrison is really alert this AM and you can tell he is feeling so much better! Good for this momma's heart! He had a big poop, which is exciting b/c it means he is keeping down a lot of the milk he is drinking and is also how he'll lower his bilirubin. He has gained 4 oz since Monday and his bilirubin is 9.9, down from 12. He's only thrown up a few small times. At 9am, I went to visit him just in time to feed him his most recent bottle. Afterward, I held him for about an hour while he slept and dreamed the sweetest dreams---he was lifting his eyebrows, moving his mouth, smiling biiiiig smiles, etc. Sadly, in the midst of his feeling bad last week, he wasn't doing much dreaming and it makes me realize just how horrible he felt. :( Poor sweet baby. I'm soooo glad to be getting my baby back! He is going to a room today and will probably be discharged tomorrow! I am so grateful for God's healing! Praise the Lord!

Jack Henry is doing so well and is being a wonderful baby for my family, thank goodness! They have been incredible to step in and help with him so Josh and I can be up at the hospital with Harrison! He is growing like crazy!!! Now drinking 5 oz bottles (I pump and send milk home for him), he is also size 1 diapers and wearing some of their 0-3 month clothes! My mom brings him up to the hospital to see me once a day so we can have some love time and let me nurse him. It is good for my soul and I'm sure he likes getting to see his momma! (sorry for dark cell phone pic)

Out of surgery and eating!

2010-05-20T19:08:00.003-05:00

Harrison is out of surgery and on the road to recovery! Praise the Lord! The surgery went well and as of now, they are looking for him to be able to eat without throwing up as part of the stipulations for going home. With Pyloric Stenosis, it is very common and almost expected that he'll still continue to throw up for a little bit after eating once he's had the surgery. He has eaten once and had 30 mL of Pedialyte to start him back eating again slowly. I do feel like I can already tell he's feeling better, so that makes me really happy :) They are thinking he'll be here another day or two. We'll see!

Surgery tomorrow

2010-05-19T23:50:00.004-05:00

Harrison's surgery has been set for tomorrow, but I'm not sure what time it will be. The doctor stopped the order for labs to be drawn every 6 hours because Harrison's electrolytes are good! YAY! Bless his heart, he is throwing up stomach acid b/c he's been NPO (no food allowed so he's ready for surgery) since yesterday afternoon. I can tell that it must burn his throat b/c he's been crying some and fussy today. Poor baby! I really appreciate all of your words of encouragement and prayers. God hears every word and is so faithful to provide! I'm guessing that we'll go home either Friday or, more likely, Saturday. We'll see!

Jack Henry got to come up here for one of his feedings today (and yesterday). I don't want him up here too much b/c he's so little and I don't want him picking up germs. At the same time, it's good for him and for me/my heart to get a little nursing and loving time together. I sure do miss his sweet face every minute I'm away from him, but feel that Harrison needs his momma at the hospital more. Besides, he is being spoiled rotten by my Aunt Sharon, Uncle Ira, momma, sister, and daddy at home--I think he's definitely ok. :)

Josh and I are looking forward to Harrison getting his own room post-surgery so we'll all have our own space to hang out/sleep and Josh and I can stop sleeping in the waiting room. The SCU is about to re-open for visitation, so I'm going to go love on my precious baby! (They are closed for rounds/shift change/etc. from 6-8:30am, 2-4:30pm, and 10pm-12:30am)

Hope you're all well and blessed. Sweet dreams! Kiss your babies!

Better safe than sorry!

2010-05-19T07:54:00.000-05:00

No surgery today. Pyloric stenosis causes alkaline blood, which can lead to respiratory acidosis (bad CO2 levels that can cause him not to breathe) if electrolytes not in order before surgery. Harrison's are definitely improving, but not to level need to be yet. In order to avoid respiratory problems they are waiting on surgery. Probably be tomorrow. Wish he was getting fixed today, but rather be safe than sorry any day with my baby!!!

No reflux.... Yes pyloric stenosis and surgery

2010-05-18T18:36:00.006-05:00

Well.... It has been QUITE a week and a half! It all started with my thinking Harrison had a little congestion and the Dr. was glad to find that it had not moved into his chest, then he started spitting up like crazy.... which became a "reflux" diagnosis and he got put on baby Zantac and we'd been making sure he didn't get horizontal..... then it all turned into throwing up basically everything he was eating. He ended up losing 11 oz over the course of the week and a half. Not good.

Yesterday, the doctor said that his weight loss was more than what was typical for only reflux to be the problem, so he ran blood tests and did x-rays. Those all came back normal and his x-rays showed no blockages, thank goodness! His bilirubin (jaundice) was elevated, but the Dr. was not concerned by it yet. He put Harrison on soy formula overnight to see if it might be a milk protein intolerance, but that seemed to be thrown up just as bad or worse. We (especially my mom and I) decided that enough was enough, and we needed answers, b/c he had no more wiggle room with this baby! He'd already almost lost back down to his birth weight at 1 month old. No good. We were very concerned that he was getting dehydrated as he was having fewer tee-tee diapers. Dehydration is bad in general, but especially in precious babies, and things can get bad fast when it comes.

Anyways.... Mom and I took him to the Pediatrician this AM, determined to get action and answers one way or another...and the Pediatrician was definitely on board after seeing Harrison and his jaundice, being lethargic, etc. and sent us down to the ER at Children's Hospital to have an ultrasound done and electrolytes checked. Harrison's electrolytes were definitely out of whack and his ultrasound showed that he did have pyloric stenosis, which is what my mom was suspecting he had from her research. (Good job, Mimi!) Pyloric stenosis is a narrowing of the valve between the stomach and the small intestines and is easily fixed with a laparoscopic surgery. It is most common in first born white males.

Praise God for answers!

They put him on an IV with fluids, etc. to re-hydrate him and get his electrolytes normal again. He has been admitted to the Special Care Unit, which is a step down from the ICU, so he can be monitored overnight. If his electrolyte levels are good, he will have surgery tomorrow, probably in the AM.

Josh and I are spending the night up at the hospital to be with our boy and my family is taking care of sweet Jack Henry (who has, btw, been a complete doll during all of this!). I am SO GRATEFUL for our amazing support system!!!

Well, that's about it... I appreciate all of your sweet words of love, encouragement, and prayers!

Oh, and Jack Henry is doing GREAT! He's taking breastmilk bottles while I'm up at the hospital. We already knew he was a FANTASTIC nurser, but come to find out, that big boy is taking 5 oz bottles! What a far cry from the original 15mL (abt 1/2 oz) that he started on in the NICU! He has been SUCH a sweet boy thru all of this with Harrison, and that has been so helpful!

Lately with the Gambles

2010-05-14T12:24:00.006-05:00

As you can imagine, life with twins has me pretty busy, so I haven't grabbed the opportunity to update the blog. The boys are on a 3 hr feeding schedule, so in between feedings lately, I've used that to quickly check e-mail, catch up on tv shows---which I often have to do in small increments (thank goodness for Tivo!), skype with Eden, take the boys to the Dr. and most of all, REST! In the beginning, getting up every few hours was a lot more exhausting. Don't get me wrong, it is still exhausting, but I think our bodies are adjusting a little bit. That, and I'm getting a little better about making myself grab naps here and there than I was in the beginning. Although, after I typed that, I remembered that in the beginning, there was basically zero time for taking naps between nursing a baby at home, trips to the NICU, and nursing a baby at the NICU haha.... no wonder I was so exhausted! Immediately post-surgery, no less!

Friends and family have been incredible to us, which is no surprise, and SUCH a blessing! We've had some amazing friends and family bring us dinners. My mom has been an all-star, coming over to the house daily (or she arranges for my aunt or sister to come help out when she's busy) to do laundry, dishes, cook dinner, etc. Her goal since I came home from the hospital has been to make my life so that all I have to focus on is taking care of babies and getting some rest. Sadly, the everyday help will be ending soon, as Mimi has got to get back to her own daily life, and we'll miss seeing her basically everyday....Although, I know she'll be over often :) It's hard to stay away from these precious boys! Their other grandmother, Gigi, is here right now to help out, which we really appreciate!

At their first Dr. appointment, the boys were both weighing in at 6 lbs 6 oz, a week later, they were up to (Harrison) 6 lbs 15 oz and (Jack Henry) 7 lbs 4 oz! As a breastfeeding mommy, unsure of exactly how much they were actually eating, that made me feel wonderful!

I initially started this post on 5/6/10, but have been distracted from finishing it by mommyhood, especially in the past week. Poor little Harrison has developed reflux and man... I do not wish it on any mommy or any baby! He was spitting up what felt like was non-stop and crying/screaming during/afterward, which made for particularly rough nights! It broke my heart not knowing what was wrong with our sweet boy, nor how to fix it! Concerned that Harrison might be losing weight with everything he was spitting up, I took him to the Dr. to have him weighed on Wednesday. My poor baby had lost 6 oz since Friday. The pediatrician didn't freak out, but took the weight loss seriously and examined him further to determine it was reflux. Thank goodness we figured out what was wrong! He has been put on some baby Zantac, which seems to have helped in addition to our making sure that he is never completely horizontal. He hangs out during the day and sleeps at night in his bouncer. I pray that this reflux thing is short lived b/c it is miserable for Harrison and hard on my heart seeing my baby not feel well. Plus, it makes for a ton of laundry due to burp cloths and changing his clothes multiple times a day when he spits up on them.

Moms with reflux babies: How do you do tummy time with them when they are not supposed to be horizontal???

Oh, and I'm doing pretty well... tired, but extremely happy being a mommy to these boys. I still cannot believe that I'm finally a mommy. Surreal. I'm already sad about them growing up and they're only 4 weeks old! Ha ha. My incision is healing nicely, but is still a little sore. My stomach has gone down a good bit, which is very nice--- although I certainly don't expect for things to be even close to normal only a few weeks after having twins. I am, however, especially looking forward to my skin tightening back up. I can live with stretch marks, which I hear fade drastically over time, but this loose skin is not cute. Mom says to give it time.

I have been taking pictures like crazy and, oddly enough, never feel like there are enough! It's like you know that every single moment is the only time they'll be that age and on that day and you want to document it all! Clearly, that's not realistic, but I do try to snap a few shots each day or most days. I've got to go nurse the boys, but I'll try to get back on soon and upload some pictures! I've had many requests for more! :)

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!

2010-05-09T09:57:00.002-05:00

I wanted to take a quick moment to wish my precious momma a Happy Mothers Day!

My Momma,

You have gone above and beyond throughout my entire life, and these past 3+ weeks with the babies home have been no exception! Thank you for all of your hard work, love, support, quality time, acts of service, and more. You have set the Mommy Bar very high with your excellence and I'm so grateful that I have you as the example to emulate. I love you and appreciate you even more now than I have before!

Love,

Your Taylor

2010-04-24T18:52:00.003-05:00

Josh's first time to hold Jack Henry since that sweet baby was born!

I love this shot of JH. I think my boys have beautiful eyes!

Taking Harrison home!

Hey Y'all!

I'm sorry that you haven't heard from me in a day or two! We've clearly been busy with baby Harrison and visiting Jack Henry at the NICU. We try to get up there at least 2 times; yesterday I went up there 4 times! Needless to say, it was exhausting to this momma who is 1 week post-surgery and up every few hours at night with her baby at home, but I guess my momma drive kept me going. I just hate it that Jack Henry is there alone and he loooooves it when I/we come up there, so I try to get up there as much as possible, while still being home enough to spend time with and nurse Harrison.

I was thinking about the whole NICU situation this morning as I showered. (yes! I got a shower! haha) While it is not my ideal situation b/c I want my babies all at home with me..... it has allowed us to spend some quality one-on-one time with each of our babies, both at home and at the NICU. It has also allowed us to have a slow transition to managing life with 2 newborns at home. I wish Jack Henry had been able to go home with us on Tuesday... heck, while I'm wishing, I wish they'd never been in there in the first place, but since he is there, I want him to take the time that he needs to be well before coming home. He is in the absolute best place that he could be with what he's been dealing with and I am so grateful for the doctors and nurses who have taken such great care of him in the NICU!

That said, here's the latest on Jack Henry!

Wednesday, we were disappointed to find out that Jack Henry wasn't going to be able to start taking a bottle as we'd been told b/c his breathing rate was a little high. The combo of fast breathing and drinking could be a bit much for him. While disappointed, we wanted whatever was best for him and knew that he'd get there eventually.

Yesterday, when I went in to my first NICU visit, I saw our nurse with her hands in Jack Henry's incubator and I asked what they were up to. She whipped his incubator cloth cover up and she was FEEDING HIM A 15 mL BOTTLE OF BREASTMILK!!!! YAY!

That was a HUGE step in his progress toward coming home! She said I could come back to feed him more that day, so I went back at 2:30, 5:30, and 8:30 to feed him either by nursing + 15mL bottle or just 15mL bottle. *It is important to note that he must be able to drink a 30mL before he can move to a crib, which is the last step before coming home. To stay in a crib, he must be able to maintain his body temperature. He must pass 2 glucose tests. Then, he must be able to take a 30mL bottle from Josh and/or me before he can come home.

Then today, I called to check on his feeding schedule so I could come in to feed him and found out that: A) he was being fed a 30mL bottle at 11:30am B) probably having his IV removed and C) MOVING TO A CRIB! I called my mom and burst into tears of joy. Our baby boy is making HUGE steps toward coming home! The babies have to spend 72 hrs in the crib before they can come home, which would put him potentially coming home on Monday! (I say potentially b/c we have to be flexible and supportive of him and progressing at his own speed. Things change, but we're very hopeful!) He will also still need to be circumcised, pass his hearing test, and pass his car seat test (just makes sure that he can breathe while in his car seat). He is strong and God has been so good to him/us. I know that he'll pass with flying colors!

Recent update: Went to NICU @ 2:30pm and 5:30pm today, so far. Will go back with Daddy Josh at 8:30pm. Jack Henry took 30 mL and 40 mL at the visits, respectively---all from nursing, which the nurse said is not common at all--usually have to supplement with a bottle to get full 30 mL. He's our little hoss! :) Because he passed 2 glucose tests with flying colors, they are removing his IV!!! Dr. Mena asked if it'd be ok if he came home on Monday haha... Um YEAH IT WOULD!!! As long as everything maintains as well as it is, he'll be home Monday. I can't wait to finally have my family of 4 together. :)

So, that's the latest!

Harrison is doing FANTASTIC at home, nursing and taking the occasional bottle when momma needs to be at the NICU and it coincides with his feeding time. He has given Josh and me the gift of 4 hr sleep stretches at night sometimes, too! I am so grateful for my parents, sisters, aunt sharon, and others who have been over at our house daily to take care of household needs as well as allowing us to make trips to the NICU.

Thank you ALL SO MUCH for your prayers and cheerleading for our new little family, especially Jack Henry (and Harrison when in NICU). After Jack Henry gets home, I'll probably slow down on updates significantly, since I'll be manning 2 babies! (with some help for a bit, of course)

Love,

Momma Tay

1st night and NICU visits

2010-04-21T22:21:00.003-05:00

Harrison loves his swing! Thank goodness for picture phones!

I responded to a friend's e-mail earlier and thought it was a good update to share with our friends/family:

first night was good... kinda rough, but only b/c of the sleep deprivation. harrison was a doll. we did have some trouble getting him down at the 12 o'clock feeding, but i ended up realizing that his room was too cool for him and we got a space heater for him. he slept great the rest of the times he was in there.

breastfeeding is good. i like that part, but pumping after every feeding is tiring. it's going to be crazy and interesting once we get jack henry home and he's feeding, too. hopefully i can master the double football hold. i'm trying to get some sleep, but definitely need to try harder. it's difficult to get as much as i normally would b/c we like to go up to the NICU at least 2x a day.

we actually just got back. he had his cannula (nose tube thing) removed this AM and is doing great on regular oxygen levels! we had more snuggle ("nuzzle") time. i introduced him to breastfeeding yesterday. I went to introduce him again today, and he ended up going to TOWN breastfeeding! same again tonight! i love it :) he's good at it already and bless his heart, they've had him on an electrolyte, lipid, etc mix for nourishment, but he hasn't officially been "fed" except for when i nurse him at these visits. (mainly b/c until now, he wasn't breathing well enough to master breathing and eating at the same time. they aren't just depriving him) they are going to start feeding tomorrow---- i am going to nurse and then give him a bottle of my breastmilk. we take 1 or 2 bottles of breastmilk every visit, so there is plenty waiting on him. he is such a sweetheart and definitely loves his mommy snuggle time.

alright, i'm off to feed harrison and head to bed! we took some good pictures of jack henry tonight. i will try my best to upload them tomorrow and send them out. g'night from the Gamble 4!

On the way home (4/20/10)

2010-04-21T09:49:00.002-05:00

Here's is another pic (also taken with cell phone) of sweet Harrison on the way home yesterday!

A very quick update

2010-04-21T09:36:00.002-05:00

Hey y'all! (I e-mailed this to some friends/family last night)

Wanted to let y'all see this picture----sorry for poor quality, it was a cell phone picture. It's not the most flattering of me, but who cares! :o) I'm holding my precious Jack Henry getting "nuzzle" time. We got to have some skin-on-skin time and practice nursing a very brief bit. It was amazing and special to me as his momma to see his stats get even better just being in my arms, when Josh and I talked to him, and when we loved on him. They are tentatively predicting that he'll get to come home this weekend! (YAY!) He is as precious as he can be and I can't wait to spend time with him and get to know him better, as I have Harrison.

We got to come home and bring Harrison with us today. It was a great car ride home and everything since has gone well----thanks to my family, who has gone out of their way to make this an easier time for us, especially for me. I am incredibly blessed.

Alright, I'm off to bed, as I am absolutely exhausted and will be up again soon to nurse my sweet Harrison. As tired as I am, I am loving every minute. This is a dream come true for me. Thank you for your prayers. Please keep them up---God hears them and He is answering them!

Update on my loves.

2010-04-20T12:55:00.001-05:00

Hey y'all!

I am DELIGHTED to report that our precious Jack Henry has moved from using a CPAP to a nasal cannula! (just nose tubes that blow air in) This is HUGE because he gets easily frustrated by the doctors messing with him, which usually gets his breathing rate up and sets him back. He did great! There is also talk of me getting to do some "nuzzle time" with him later this afternoon. Be still my heart :)I haven't been able to hold him since the moment that he was born and I cannot wait to get my hands on him!

Praise God from whom all blessings flow! :o)

Harrison is slowly being discharged from the NICU to go home with us today! He passed his carseat and hearing tests this AM--yay! I just nursed him and then he still took about 60 more milliliters of pumped breast milk from a bottle! He's a little hoss :) I could love on and stare at him all day.

We are absolutely in love with these babies and just feeling incredibly grateful!

Baby Update

2010-04-19T07:22:00.003-05:00

Hey Y'all!

We are feeling your love and seeing the fruit of your faithful prayers--THANK YOU!

Harrison has progressed very well and has been moved to a crib! He was able to come to our room yesterday evening and got to stay here until Josh and I were ready to go to bed! We were in heaven getting to love on our sweet boy! Our family has been so glad to finally be able to hold him and shower him with love. God is so good!

Dr. Mena predicted that Jack Henry would probably get a little worse before he got better and he was right. Yesterday morning, he did get a little worse and was moved to an incubator and put on a CPAP machine. However, he has responded really well to that environment and has made some great progress, requiring less and less oxygen to help him breathe and less pressure in his CPAP. Dr. Mena is still not worried about them and says that Jack Henry just needs time to get stronger.

As of now, it is looking like sweet little Harrison will get to go home with us on Tuesday! We haven't gotten an estimation on Jack Henry, but looking at the silver lining, taking one baby home at a time will allow us to make a slower transition to two babies at home. Clearly, I'dHAPPILY give up this smooth transition in a heartbeat to have my precious baby boy Jack Henry at home with us, but that goes without saying :o) I have complete faith that he'll be with us in no time, healthy as he can be!

Thank you for all of your thoughts and prayers--they are working--please keep them up!

This is my favorite picture of Harrison (and part of me) so far.. :o)

Gamble, party of 4...

2010-04-17T22:25:00.005-05:00

HARRISON NASH GAMBLE

8:30AM

19 INCHES

6 LBS 2 OZ

JACK HENRY GAMBLE:

8:29AM

20 INCHES

6 LBS 11 OZ

OUR BABY BOYS ARE HERE!!!

2010-04-16T13:12:00.002-05:00

After being discharged yesterday morning, I went home and slept pretty much all day. I started having painful contractions ended up calling the on-call doctor to see what to do . She said to come in for monitoring. This morning when Dr. Banks checked me, I was 4 cm dilated and he said it was time for the c-section!

The boys are here and they are BEAUTIFUL! Jack Henry was born at 8:29am and was 6 lbs 11 oz, 20 inches long.... Harrison was born at 8:30am and was 6 lbs 2 oz, 19 inches long! They are in the NICU for some fluid in their lungs, which is very typical for babies 35 weeks--even singletons. It should be a short stay though :) I'll post pictures as soon as I can and feel up to it!

I'll write more later. I'm falling asleep sitting up.

Back to baking!

2010-04-15T07:10:00.002-05:00

I'm sorry to disappoint everyone, but there was no progress this AM. Unless my water breaks before, we'll be back on monday for another non-stress test, ultrasound and appt to check cervix. It's disappointing in the fact that we were here and ready to go...and ready to meet them, but it's better they bake longer. This is definitely what's best for the boys --as long as they keep not being in distress--and they are our priority! I also hate it that we got everyone's hopes up :( I'm sorry, y'all. This all means it will be very soon, though!... and it's really awesome that we'll be making it to our 36 week goal-yay!

We could have babies soon....

2010-04-14T18:47:00.001-05:00

Well....I went to Dr. today. Non-stress test was GREAT. Boys measured approx 7 lbs 2 oz (A) and 7 lbs 4 oz (B). I was contracting a lot during test, 50% effaced and 1.5 cm dilated, so the Doctor is keeping me at the hospital overnight for observations. If I have progressed in the AM, I'll have a c-section and we'll meet these sweet babies! I will keep you all posted! We appreciate your prayers :)

34 week update

2010-04-07T14:17:00.005-05:00

Hey y'all! I just got back from our OBGYN appointment. Everything, as usual (PRAISE THE LORD!), looked wonderful! My doctor even said I should get a twin pregnancy award. Ha ha. :o) It was a tough ultrasound today because they are so big and all up in each others business. Both babies are technically head down. Jack Henry way lower (butt up & left) and Harrison is under Jack Henry's tummy (butt up &right). Jack Henry is approx 5 lb 14oz and Harrison is approx 6 lb 8 oz. They are some big boys and I love it! Each of them gained about 1 lb in the past 2 weeks, and if they continue that trend, they will be approx 6 lbs 14 oz and 7 lbs 8 oz at 36 weeks. That is stellar! Even if they are born and have the weights they have now, they'd have excellent birth weights.

They used the ultrasound to measure my cervix. Mine is still in good condition, but my Dr. did say that when it gets to the size mine is, typically the baby(ies) come in 2 weeks. His money is on 36 weeks, and I'm fully supportive of that. Granted, keeping them in longer would be ideal b/c they'd have more time to bake, but 36 is full term for twins and I'm just rooting for at least 36 weeks so they have a greater chance of lung development and staying out of the NICU. (Please, Lord!)

Next week, I am scheduled for a NST (non-stress test) where I will rest on my left side and they will monitor my contractions (I've yet to have a real one that actually hurts, but plenty of braxton hicks, which is normal) as well as the babies' movements and heart rates. It measures the reactivity of the babies' heart rates to their movement. Everything is ok. Apparently it is just something they do for different types of pregnancies, including, but not limited to, overdue and high risk (twins are high risk). Afterward, I'll move upstairs for an ultrasound and regular 35 week checkup where the Dr. said he will check me to see if I'm progressing. The plan is to let me go as long as possible granted I haven't progressed a certain amount each week when he checks.

I asked the Dr. what would make him say "ok, it's time" and he said if he checked me and I was 3 cm and was having real contractions (I have not had any at this point). I am so glad to know that we are on the same page. We are not going to take these babies out JUST because I make it to 36 weeks. If there's nothing wrong and I haven't progressed a certain amount, there is no reason to deliver them yet.

I guess that is about it! They will be here very soon and we're definitely trying to figure out everything that needs to get accomplished before they get here. Quite technically, there is nothing left to do that couldn't be done after they are born.... however, there's a short list of things that need to be done to make our life easier if they don't have to be done after the babies come.

Hope y'all are doing well. I'm off to write a paper for class. We did have an ultrasound today, but she did not send us home with any pictures. There weren't any good ones due to the fact that the babies were so squished together.

32 week 4D pics

2010-04-06T16:54:00.003-05:00

So, these are a bit late, I'm sorry.... I'm 34 weeks now (YAY!) and just hadn't gotten around to scanning these until today. These are exciting b/c we hadn't been able to get a good shot of sweet Harrison's face :)

Jack Henry

Harrison

Belly pics weeks 30-32

2010-03-27T22:48:00.005-05:00

30 weeks 6 days.... measuring 47 weeks!

31 weeks 5 days

32 weeks 5 days.... measuring 49 weeks!

EZ 2 Nurse

2010-03-25T21:36:00.002-05:00

I'm probably more than appropriately excited that my twin breastfeeding pillow came today!

BIG ole babies!

2010-03-22T19:05:00.003-05:00

Heading out the door to go eat with my honey, but wanted to share the latest update with y'all!~ Doctor appointment was great today. Josh's momma drove down just so she could go with us b/c there was an ultrasound--so sweet of Gigi! Both boys are measuring about 3 weeks ahead of schedule, which is awesome. Jack Henry weighed in at approx 4 lbs 13 oz and Harrison weighed in at approx 5 lbs 3 oz! BIG ole babies! They are in the 70th percentile for SINGLE babies! Dr. Banks said they don't have the technology for twins, but he'd put them in the 90th percentile for twin size! My 32 week belly measured 49 weeks! I'll try to post the last few belly shots when I get back. My man is super hungry, so I'm out the door! G'night y'all!

Following "Hey Y'all"

2010-03-19T17:33:00.006-05:00

I don't know much about the "following" process b/c I mostly look at the list of blogs on the bottom right of our blog and then sometimes I "blog stalk" others' blogs through those. Ha ha... I had a reader comment that I don't have a follow section or she'd be following our blog, so I thought I'd add it for those interested :o) You can find it under the "about me" section in the column on the right. It's very flattering and touches my heart that anyone is interested and enjoys reading about our life! Thank you!

Hope y'all are having a BEAUTIFUL Friday!

Praise the Lord for this amazing weather today!

The hospital bag checklist...

2010-03-18T19:18:00.005-05:00

So, based on talking to my friend Eden, my mom, and all of your wonderful advice, here is the list I've got so far for packing our hospital bag:

*nursing bra/tanks (i'm only taking nursing tanks from Target to wear under jammies)

*call list
*jammies---i got 2 deep V-neck night gowns from Target that are crazy soft!
*big panties
*thin house coat-b/c i might want to put it on, but dont want to be hot
*slippers---slip on in case my feet swell
*video camera/dig camera
*makeup-in case i feel like it
*"going home outfits" for the babies

*a loose/comfty outfit for me to wear home
*nursing pads
*toiletries
*paper/pen-or note pad to remember questions (i will be on meds haha) and to write down info to later put in baby book
*blow dryer-in case i feel like it haha
*netbook (our small laptop to upload pics!)
*special toboggans from aunt paige (josh is bringing ones from hospital home to miley so she can start getting used to new scent)
*hospital favors for josh to hand out---TBD what we're doing but i want something to make josh feel special as a new daddy :o)
*pillow/blanket for josh

*flip flops for shower

*pillow/blanket for me

*twin nursing pillow in case i want it. i've been told that i might not want it b/c of my incision, but i'm brining it in the car just in case.
*change of clothes/toiletries for josh

Am I missing anything? I know the list seems long but I don't really feel like there are frivolous items on it.

Great advice from Anna was also to leave my stuff in the car (except cameras) until after my c-section because there will not be a good place for me to put it, and it will also give Josh a nice breather to get out of the hospital and walk to the car after an exciting, yet crazy busy morning.

Thank y'all so much for your advice. You are always such a great resource and willing to help when I need your wisdom. Thank you for taking the time to help me! Y'all are amazing!

The Checklist...

2010-03-15T14:40:00.003-05:00

As the big arrival of our sweet boys gets closer, I've started a list of things that need to happen, such as going to the fire department to have them install our carseats.... and getting the boys set up with a pediatrician (which I did this AM! YAY!). Those type of things.

Josh and I have decided that starting at a certain week, we will be taking the hospital bag in the car for every appointment just in case. I know that a lot of mommies read our blog and was hoping for your advice.

What do y'all recommend that I put in my hospital bag? (I'm planning to breastfeed)

Dr. appt today

2010-03-11T13:32:00.004-06:00

We had our weekly doctor appointment today. It was just the appointment part-no ultrasound, b/c he orders ultrasounds every other week and we had one last Tuesday. The babies' heart rates were healthy and in the 140s. My blood pressure was nice and low (as usual--thank goodness that has not been an issue for me in the slightest). Dr. Banks measured my 30 week belly's fundal height, which came out to be 47 weeks!!! Crazy! He wants me resting as much as possible, which is great with me! Haha. Sweet Josh is having/has already had to take over some responsibilities around the house such as grocery shopping, bathing miley, walking miley, etc. He's a wonderful husband and will be such a sweet daddy to these baby boys! Dr. Banks is also predicting that the boys will be about 6.5-7 lbs a piece around 36-37 weeks, which is when he's predicting I'll deliver. We'll see! :o)

Today is actually Josh's birthday.... He's 28 years young. :o)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SWEET JOSHY! I love you so, so much!~

The Nursery... almost finished!

2010-03-09T21:02:00.010-06:00

Well, I told y'all I'd post some pictures of the nursery and here they are!

Tree artwork: drawn by Lera Jean Roddam and painted by my mom and sister, Paige

A little background:

Bedding, rug, alphabet cards, window panels, small suitcases (not visible in pics) and changing pad cover: Land of Nod

Beds and changing table: Jenny Lind off Craigslist

Chair: Storkland

Dog: Birmingham Humane Society

I am LOVING how it's turning out. Hope you do, too! A lot of hours of love have gone into it. We still have a few finishing touches left. Oh, and sorry about the plastic over the beds. They are on there b/c the bedding is clean and we didn't want it to get nasty before the babies came. Once we finish, I'll take/share some pics w/o the plastic of the finished product.
Before:
After:

Belly pics weeks 27-29

2010-03-08T10:55:00.006-06:00

I'm sorry, y'all! I didn't realize quite how long it'd been since my last post. I've mostly been busy with school and getting the nursery ready for these precious babies. Oh, and I was also in a wedding, which was humorous. I'm exhausted today from a combination of an INCREDIBLE baby shower thrown for us yesterday with getting up at 5:30 this AM to do my homework (b/c I was too tired last night)....soooo I won't be writing a big post today... maybe I'll give it a shot this afternoon, but wanted to post my belly pics from the last few weeks. Hope you're all wonderfully blessed and I'm sure you're enjoying this BEAUTIFUL weather as much as I am! :o) I will say, however, that today is a big day.... for some reason, throughout my whole pregnancy, I've thought of 30 WEEKS as some big milestone. There's nothing of note that I'm aware of, other than the fact that, to me, once you hit the 30's in weeks, you are in the home stretch with a baby(ies) on the way! Last week, the boys were 29 weeks and weighing in at 3 lbs 10 oz (A) and 3 lbs 13 oz (B). Dr. Banks said that because the boys are so big, he thinks that I'll get to about 36 (full term for twins) or 37 weeks, my body will just say that it's had enough and I'll start having big contractions that'll lead to us scheduling my c-section. That would mean that the babies will be here in approx 6-7 weeks. Absolutely. Insane. We'll see! Here are the belly pics... You can probably tell that I'm growing forward, but what you might not be able to tell from these pics, is my belly also widening lol...

27 weeks-I think I was measuring 42 weeks28 weeks-measuring 43 weeks29 weeks-measuring 44 weeksAs you can see in the background, we've done some major work in the nursery! I'll post some pictures of that very soon so you can check it out :)

The Gamble Twins..... in 4D!

2010-02-23T16:43:00.003-06:00

Sorry for the long post... I send out an e-mail update to family and a few friends, so I just cut/pasted the e-mail update... lazy, I know... sorry :)

Last Thursday, we had a doctor appointment and got the 4D ultrasound done! Having seen baby pictures of Josh and my sisters (who were THE cutest babies/toddlers!), I knew that surely we must have some good "cute baby" genes going for us :) I do know that while some babies come out and look nothing like their 4D images, other babies DO look like them. It will certainly be interesting to see if ours do. In the meantime, the babies I saw in our 4Ds are as cute as they can be.

Jack Henry (Baby A) has chubby little cheeks, full pouty lips, and a cute little button nose... that actually reminds me of my cousin Rachel's nose, which is great! Harrison (Baby B) on the other hand, had smaller, more defined features reminiscent of Josh's in his hospital picture. I also looked at my hospital picture, and I was born with chubby cheeks, a button nose, and fuller lips. We'll see how these boys turn out! :)

Anyways... the appointment was great... boys still measuring about 2 weeks ahead and gained almost a pound each in the 2 weeks since the previous appointment, putting them at A: 2 lbs 13 oz and B: 3 lbs 1 oz.

I had my glucose screening test and, like many women (especially multiples), I failed my first test..... by ZERO points. Failing was 135....and I scored a 135! Needless to say, we are very hopeful that I will pass the next test, which I have on Thursday, but your prayers would be more than appreciated, as I'd really like to avoid having it! They will take a blood sample, I'll drink 2x as much nasty sweet stuff, and they'll take my blood at 1 hr, 2 hr, and 3 hr marks.

The nurse also said my nutrients are low b/c the boys are draining me, so she's probably going to give me some iron to start taking. The things us mothers go through to get our babies here safe and healthy ;o) haha.... Man, is it worth it though!

With all of that said, here are our boys! Jack Henry was VERY cooperative--quite uncommon for Baby A in twin 4Ds apparently! Harrison was fairly stubborn and uncooperative... but we managed to get a few pics. Yes, that is his foot that you see up by his forehead in some of the pictures... I forget how flexible babies are this young! We'll probably try again at another appointment, so we can get better pictures (no additional cost thank goodness).

We have officially started going to the doctor every week, with ultrasounds every other week. It is hard to believe that there are approximately 8-10 more weeks until the boys will be here. We've got a bit left to do and had better get on it! :)
These top 5 were sweet Jack Henry... and here's our other sweet baby, Harrison...

Can you see the difference? I CAN! :)

27 week appointment

2010-02-18T11:56:00.002-06:00

The appointment this AM went GREAT! Long... but great :) The diabetes drink was not gross...b/c I literally chugged it and didn't have a chance to taste it haha

It was cold and I was so thirsty from not having food/drink before appt!

The babies looked wonderful. Jack Henry weighed in at 2 lbs 13 oz (up 10 oz in 2 weeks) and loved the attention of the 4D and was very cooperative. Harrison weighed in at 3 lbs 1 oz (I think he's also up about 10 oz in 2 weeks) and was, on the other hand, stubbornly uncooperative...

We are officially going to the doctor every week now... and hopefully have approximately 9-11 more weeks until they are here in our arms :o) My momma went with us to see the ultrasound and I loved having her there, as I always do when she gets to come! I'll add the 4D ultrasound pics to this post later, but since daddy/momma treated us for Valentine's Day, daddy needs to see the pics/video before the rest of the world :o)

My 27 week belly measured *42* weeks! Whew!

25 weeks and 3 days ultrasound pics..and a "picnik"

2010-02-15T14:33:00.006-06:00

Well... I was wrong. I did not scan these on Friday or Saturday...* Snow * happened on Friday and then Josh and I had movie morning on Saturday. So, I scanned them today! Here are our sweet baby boys. 2 are shots of their sweet faces (not very pretty pics, but ultrasound rarely is they actually look kind of chinese! haha)... and 1 is of their heads by each other. I've also included a shot from our wedding that my BFF Eden edited on picnik. I think it is a wonderful picture...my sisters look beautiful, I adore how Josh and I are looking at each other :o) and Eden a great job editing!

A VERY special Valentine's Day surprise....

2010-02-14T21:41:00.013-06:00

Well, tonight there was a very special Valentine's Day surprise! Nope, not for me! :o) Granted, Josh and I have had a nice, low-key, inexpensive Valentine's Day (Neither of us care about going all out for V-Day) with a card this AM.... Sunday School.... I went to the library this afternoon while Josh worked all day, and then we had steaks at home this evening. But, that is not the purpose of this post! I am super excited to tell y'all that tonight, my parents

small group (they are the leaders) threw them a surprise

Grandparents Baby Shower

I LOVE IT!

First, I love that they were able to get one by my parents!

2nd, I love it that they were SO INCREDIBLY thoughtful!!!

and 3rd, I love it that they honored my precious parents like this!

What WONDERFUL friends they are for taking the time to celebrate their becoming Grandparents for the first time :o)

I know I keep saying it, but I just love it.... My parents do so much for us, for their small group, and for others....and I cannot get over how sweet and thoughtful it was of the group (who are some of their very best friends) to want to do this for them. What a special blessing! Not only did they get them a precious cake, but my parents received what sounds like many wonderful gifts to prepare them for Grandparenthood (can't wait to go check them out!) including, but certainly not limited to onesies, bibs, spoons, and their very own pack n play!

Here is the sweet cake!

"Congratulations Mimi and Big Daddy!"

(Harrison and Jack Henry are in the stork's bundle!)

Belly pic 26 weeks!

2010-02-10T15:58:00.013-06:00

Here's the belly pics! I am pleased to report that, miraculously, there are still no stretch marks on my belly, although I fear that they will make an appearance eventually. I will certainly be ok if they do, but what girl doesn't hope to avoid them? I cannot believe we're already to 26 weeks... It seems like only yesterday that I was 8 weeks pregnant and just found out that we're having twins :) I still love being pregnant, which is extra-wonderful to me since at 25 weeks I was measuring 37 weeks. Soon, not only will I reach full-term 40 week belly size (when most are very miserable with one baby!), but I will exceed it by a good bit! At 38 weeks with twins, my mom measured about 52 weeks! Absolutely crazy. I'm thinking that my good spirits, despite my belly size, are very mental... It's as if I know that I've got probably 10-12 weeks left of being pregnant, so being miserable now just isn't an option. I also attribute it to the sheer grace of God.....as well as the fact that He chose me for this....and this for me, for that matter. He has blessed me with a very healthy and happy pregnancy so far. I thank Him daily for the boys', mine, and Josh's health throughout this pregnancy and ask for continued blessings!... in a nutshell, I'm healthy, happy, and very grateful!

We have officially started going to doctor appointments every 2 weeks and have yet to have an appointment without an ultrasound, which I find amazing. I love seeing our babies, and Dr. Banks seems to like to stay on top of their stats, which he said were "perfect!" last week.... Music to a mama's ears! I cannot remember if I posted it, but last week, they were each weighing in at about 2.5 lbs (almost a pound more than average baby at 25 weeks), had put on 1 lb each in the 3 weeks since the last appointment and were measuring approx 1.5-2 weeks ahead in size. (love it!)

Our next appointment will be a long one. I have my diabetes test, a regular ultrasound, a regular appointment, and for Valentine's Day, my parents offered to treat us to a 4-D ultrasound! (Please understand that they do NOT usually spend that kind of money on us for V-Day... this was just a good excuse and special occasion!) So we have all of that next week, and I'm really looking forward to it. Speaking of ultrasounds, I do have pictures from last week, but haven't scanned them in yet. I will definitely do that tomorrow or Friday. Sorry y'all!

(I might have told y'all this, but preggo brain cannot remember...I'm sorry!)
As of last Thursday, Baby A, who we're thinking is Jack Henry, had flipped around and was head up with his feet down by my cervix..upon which he has started tap-dancing. Baby B, Harrison, on the other hand, was still transverse in the fetal position with his head next to Jack Henry's. Sweet brothers :)

On a side note... I am SOOOOO ready for Spring and some warm, beautiful weather! (especially since I am bound to Birmingham due to my travel restrictions!) haha

Nursery...... so far

2010-02-05T17:08:00.003-06:00

Well, it's a crappy quality pic b/c it's from my cell phone, but I wanted to share the nursery so far.... I am LOVING how it is turning out! We've still got a good bit left to go, but wanted to share a preview :o) Let me tell you.... the picture does NOT do it justice at all. Love. It!

Great post...

2010-02-05T09:23:00.003-06:00

I had a dr. appointment yesterday, and I'll post about that later... I just read a great post that I wanted to share.

http://mandyandnathan.blogspot.com/2010/02/nathan-said-i-left-everyone-hanging-by.html#comments