Questions, Questions

So when you are the mother of multiples you get asked a lot of questions that you don't get asked when you have just one child at a time.  The questions vary from my mom to people in the store.  Now being a teacher, you always tell the kids that there is never a stupid question.  At the end, you can tell me if you think that is still true, because I'm not so sure.   Here are some of the many things I've been asked throughout and after having the boys:

Q.  Is it just crazy in your house?
Me- Um, I have 2 babies and a 2 year old.  So yes it is, but I have to say that I feel like it is a little less crazy than it was a  month ago.  I think that everyone is getting a little more adjusted to what goes on everyday. 

Q- Have you lost all of your pregnancy weight?
Me-  NO!!  You would know the answer to this without asking after walking into my bedroom and you can't see the bed from clothes being thrown everywhere after I strip them off of me in disgust.  But I do have to  say that the weight has come off faster than it did with Karter, mostly because at times it is hard to find any time to eat.  Don't worry, I'm finding more time now. :)

Q- Did you get really bored when you were on bedrest. 
Me- Oh, how I would love a day of bedrest now.  Just 1 day to lay on the couch and do nothing.  I did get bored after 12 weeks of bedrest and it wasn't fun at all.  I was so big and uncomforatable.  I think that was the hardest part.  A lot of people say, "I don't know how you did.  There is no way that I could do it."  Well, I am not the best person at sitting still especially after my ADD kicks in, but when your children's lives are in your hands, you can do anything.  There were times that I would think that I could get up and do some laundry, but then I would have contractions or feel something funny.  Then I would feel guilty, because I just knew that I wanted my boys to have the best quality of life possible, and the one person that could help do that was me.  It ended up working out pretty good and 3 months of boredom gave me 2 healthy little boys.

Q- How does Karter do with Max and Kane?
Me- Awesome.  Most people probably wouldn't be able to say that about a 2 year old that has 2 new babies come into their home, but Karter really has been awesome.  I mean she is a 2 year old, so with that comes tantrums and a busy body.  We are really lucky to have such an amazing little girl....even though she wears me out....A LOT.

Q- Are you ready to go back to work. 
Me- I have mixed feelings about this.  In a way, it will be nice to get back to a routine and just to work in general.  I haven't worked since January 19, so hopefully I remember what I am doing.  I remember with Karter I felt good about getting back, because I love being a teacher.  When I go back to work, I will also get a little time for myself, which I think is so important for everyone, not just a mom.  I will also miss my babies like crazy, but am so lucky that I have been able to be home with them as long as I have.  Not many women get to stay at home with their babies until they are 4 1/2 months old.

Q- What are the boys going to do when you go back to work.
A- Well, plans have actually just changed on this one.  They were going to go to the same sitter as Karter, a woman that does in home in Pleasant Hill, but John and I got an offer last week that we couldn't pass up.  Karter's sitter would have been great and Karter will continue to go there, but we are so excited that our friend has offered to watch the boys, and ....... she is coming to the house.  Do you realize that this means that I don't have to get 2 babies and a 2 year old out the door in the morning and make it to work in time, that I don't have to haul 2 carseats in the freezing winter temperatures, and that our boys won't be exposed to other sicknesses in their 1st year.  I am all about building up their little immune systems, but I'm sure they will get enough from their sister.  And with them coming into this world early, it probably won't be a bad thing at all.  So anyway, I think that this is going to relieve a lot of stress for me going back to work. 

Q-  Do you ever take all 3 kids to the store by yourself.
Me- Absolutely NOT.  I have taken them all with the help of my 8 year old niece and once with my 11 year old nephew, and it still wasn't easy.  The best way to go to the store is alone.  Plus it gives me a little bit of Kari time.

Q- Are the boys good.
Me- If you would have asked me 2 weeks ago, I would have said "No, I have 2 very fussy babies."  But fortunately, I can now say that my boys are pretty good.  We were having a lot of trouble with formula, gas, and acid reflux.  All of these things just made them very uncomfortable and not happy babies, which made mommy and daddy stressed.  The day after the 4th, I called the pediatrician again, and just told her something else had to be done, because they were just miserable.  She said I could try to up their dosage of Zantac or try adding rice cereal to their bottles to thicken the formula to try to keep more of it down to help the amount that comes back up.  I didn't feel that the Zantac was the answer because it helped a little to begin with, but the boys were still fussy.  The cereal in the bottle definately was not my 1st choice, but I decided to try it.  After about a day, we had totally different babies.  The still spit up a lot, but they are content, happy, and are even starting to gigle.  In turn, mommy and daddy feel a lot better.  There is nothing worse than sick babies that you can't help. 

Q- Do you have help?
Me- No, not really.  I mean John when he gets home from work, and my mom or John's mom, or one of my sister-in-laws or a friends sometimes will come over during the day for a couple of hours so I can run some errands.  I guess there would be times that it would have been nice to have the help, especially when the boys were younger, but I managed to get through it and we are still all alive.  I'm pretty excited about today though.  John is taking off early so I can head to Ft. Dodge to watch the Dowling girls in their 1st game at State.  I am pretty excited about just having a car ride....by myself.  I might make some phone calls or maybe actually listen to some music and not Dora on the DVD player. 

and lastly one of the best questions (I think I got asked this question about 15 times when I took the boys to The Cracker Barrell to meet my mom and grandma for lunch one day.)

Q- Are they twins?
Me- Yep.   Really?  I have nothing more to say to that.  My mom says that people are just trying spark converstaion.  It seems like I am with my mom a lot when I get asked this question, and I would like to say, "No, one is hers." 

So that is where I'm not sure if there ever a stupid question, but the boys do bring a lot of attention.  For some reason people find mulitiples very fascinating.  I guess I do too.  At times I can't believe that I was able to grow both of these amazing little people inside of me.  When the boys were fussy, it was very frustrating.  There were times I wondered why John and I had to have babies that didn't feel good, but then my dad, being a dad, made me bring things back to perspective again.  We could have so many other things that we could have to deal with. 

Here are some recent pictures from our summer activities, which lately have just been hanging out in the cool house.

Kaner is full of smiles when he wakes up.

Karter got to watch fireworks 4 nights in a row during the 4th.  This was outside the Embassy Suites downtown during our friend's wedding reception.  She loved them!

Big boys in the Bumbos.
Max & Kane

4th of July outfits thanks to my friend and Max's nurse at Blank
Kane & Max



My loves.
Max, Karter, & Kane



Maxer showing off his smiles.

Karter and Max watching the U.S. Women in the World Cup.
Kane decided to nap for it.

More smiles from Kane.

And the award goes to...

Kari Price for being The World's Worst Blogger!  So when I first started this blog, I didn't think that it was going to be this difficult for me to keep up with it.  To my defense, I have had two different blog posts written, and they both were lost when I tried to post pictures with it.  Lets hope that it doesn't happen again, because believe me, I was not happy to use an hour of my free time (twice) for it to be lost.  Free time doesn't happen very often, and it seems to be more sparse every day.  The older the boys get, the more they are awake, and it seems a lot of times, they are awake during the day at different times, which means that there isn't much time for this mamma to get much of anything done some days. 

For the most part, we are have been getting along pretty well.  Since my last post, we have had some ups and downs, but that is just part of having a baby...especially when you have 2 and a 2 year old.  We found out that the boys both have acid reflux about a month ago.  They are both taking medicine twice a day and it seems to be helping a lot.  Poor boys were so uncomfortable before the medicine.  Just imagine having heartburn 24/7.  Doesn't sound like fun to me.  They also have had a lot of gas issues.   A lot of times they could be mistaken for a grown man, with the sound and smell.  Unfortunately they aren't able to release the gas as easily and are in pain A LOT.  We switched their formula to Similac Sensitive, and that seems to be helping, but there are days when I just feel like there is nothing I can do to help them.  So if any of you out there have any good tricks to help a gassy baby, I would love to know.  They are still waking up every 3 hours to eat, which is not fun at all, but we just have to realize that they really should only be about 4 weeks old, so their little tummies are still developing.  Some nights they will sleep between 4 and 5 hours the first stretch.  Of course I am not in  bed during this time, because this is when I can change laundry around, get the house cleaned up, and just have a few minutes of quiet time to myself.  I cherish that a lot these days.  The boys had their 2 month check up last Monday and they both weighed 9 lbs 15 ozs, so our little Maxer has caught up to his younger (by 1 minute) brother. 

Kaner after a walk.

Playtime in our pajamas!

Kane our blue-eyed boy, for now anyway.

Maxer pondering him and his brothers 1st trick on his sister.

A couple weeks ago, my mom and I took the boys and headed to IA City for Kane's 6 week check-up with the urologist where we came away with good and bad news.  The surgery that he had when he was 13 days old to remove the ureter seal was a success.  The seal is completely gone.  That was the good news.  The bad news is that the reflux that he has in his kidney is slightly worse.  He did have Grade 4 reflux and now has Grade 5, which is the worst, so he will for sure have to have surgery again to fix the reflux.  Nothing is going to be done right now, because he has to get bigger for the surgery to work the way it should.  We go back in 6 months to see the urologist again.  They would like to wait  until he is a year old, but if it hasn't gotten any better at the next appointment, we will probably have to have it sooner.  I'm not very excited to have to put my baby under again, but it is definately necessary.  Until then he is on antibiotic every day to prevent infection, so hopefully he will not get one from now til then. 

So now, that you are caught up on the twins, I better update you on our sweet, but sassy 2 year old.  She is now home with me everyday and loving it.  I often feel bad for her because a lot of times I am doing something with a baby, but she has handled it all really well.  We just try to take her when we can and have some 1 on 1 time with her, which she loves.  I took her to the Dowling softball game the other night and she had a ton of fun!  She is starting to sing her ABC's and can get about half of them correct all the way through and beginning to count to 10 with a little help.  She also likes to push our buttons.  We will ask her to do something and she will say "No Mom." or "No Dad."  At that time we begin the count.  Usually by the time we get to 2, she comes back with her sweet voice saying, "O-tay Mom" or "O-tay Dad".  I mean, this girl knows how to work us already...especially her dad.   Every day is something new with her and she definately brings so much life and joy to our world.  We can't imagine what we did without any of them in our life. 

A little playtime outside for Karter. 

As for us, well, we actually have been really busy.  We have celebrated our nephew Payton's birthday, John's birthday, gone to 3 weddings, 2 graduation parties, and just been trying to keep up with the kids every day.  We went to a wedding this past weekend in Brookfield, MO (about a 3 hour drive) and just took the boys.  Karter got to stay at Uncle Jared and Aunt Angi's and play with "Addy, P, G."  That is what she calls Addy, Payton, and Gavin.  I only hear it about 1200 times a day.  It wasn't easy taking the boys, but well worth it to see some friends that we hadn't seen in over 6 months. 

Addy, Kane, Payton, Karter, Gavin, and Max at Payton's 6th birthday party.

Big Cousin G with Kane and Max

So, I am going to try my hardest to not get the award for The World's Worst Blogger again.  Our lives are so crazy right now, and at times, I really wonder if I can handle it.  But...we always seem to work through it and at the end of everyday, when I check on the kids one last time before laying my head down (sometimes it is only for about 30 minutes before I have to get up again), I realize how blessed John and I are to have 3 amazing, healthy babies in our lives, and that is what gets me through the rough days. 

Oh, and I started writing this post about 24 hours ago.  So it wasn't easy to get it done, but here it is!  Now I have to get ready for the next feeding and then I am going to have dinner with a few friends.  It is amazing how refreshed I am after coming home after just a couple hours out of the house.  And lucky for me, I have a husband that not one worry crosses my mind when I am gone. 

Mommy Time: Good and Bad and Another Busy Weekend

Well, I think that it is just the beginning of a very busy summer.  This weekend we were very busy and traveling all over.  Any of you that know me well, know that I am not good at just staying home.  Some people may think I am crazy for taking the twins and Karter places by myself, but I don't really think much of it.  I love social activities and I think Karter does too.  She loves going to parties, which we did a lot of this weekend.

I did get to take a little break Friday night before it all began for a little "Mommy time."  I felt like I had been doing pretty good with getting no sleep, but I hit a little wall last week and told John I just needed a small break from changing diapers and feeding bottles.  A friend had given me a gift certificate for a nail place, so I decided I was going to pamper myself and think about nothing for an hour during a peidcure.  I stopped at the nail place and there was a little wait, so I decided to return something to Wal-Mart.  When you think you are just returning something, you think that it will just be a quick trip in and out of the store.  Not so much on a Friday at 5:00.  So my "Mommy time" started with me dreaming about the pedicure chair even more.  First the line at customer service was about 20 people deep.  I'm thinking about what color of polish I'm going to get and up walks two screaming kids behind me....I thought that was what I was getting away from for awhile.  I try to ignore it, but the 30 something year old couple and their young toddler in front of me, made that impossible.  The mom thought that it was hilarious to tickle her son so that he screamed so the people could hear him across the street at the nail salon.  It may have been cute if it just happened once, but no.  She decided to do it the over and over and over again.  I thought to myself, "Really Kari.  Just let it go.  It isn't something to get worked up over."  That thought helped for a couple seconds until I glanced at the mom and she is giving her son a "wet willy."  She seriously put spit on her fingers and put it into her less that 2 year old son's ear.  Are you kidding me?  I took a deep breath and just tried to remind myself not to get worked up over the woman that has a lower IQ than my 2 year old daughter.  So to sum it up...this Mommy was very ready for her hour of pampering to enjoy herself.  I even got my brows waxed too.  It has been months since that has happened.

So the pampering was nice, but then it was back to "Mommyville", which I love a lot.  John helped his mom tile her kitchen last weekend, so as soon as I was home, he was off to make sure everything was ready to start on Saturday morning.  The kids and I headed to Indianola on Saturday to Ryan McCoy's graduation party.  I remember when he was playing in the dirt at our high school softball games, so it made me feel a little old.  After the party, we went to Grandma Connie and Papa Bob's for the boys' 1st overnighter.  Karter was very excited to stay since we hadn't been to my mom and dad's for months.  I think Karter stayed there once while I was on bedrest, but I hadn't been there since December.  It was nice to be there, because there is nothing like going home.  We got a visit from the Diehl's that night and then had 2 baby showers the next day.  Then I got to finish up the weekend with some more pampering by getting my hair colored and cut (which had also not been done since November)  by Lance while Lindsay played with Karter and watched the boys.  She is an awesome friend.  Karter loves going to the Diehl's farm, so it was to good to end a great weekend there.

I am still taking Karter to daycare, and I will until the 1st week of June.  It has been good to be able to spend the time with the boys and to have the time to rest myself, because there is no rest when our wild child is home.  She wears me out!  The boys are still waking up every 3 hours to eat and I have gotten the night time feedings down to about 30 minutes. This is especially helpful when 1 of the boys decides to only sleep for an hour and a half before waking up to get me out of bed. 

So we will try to rest up before another busy weekend of graduation parties, a birthday party, and a wedding.  The boys are having fun meeting so many people!

Here are some pictures from the week.

Karter with her new water toy for her birthday. 

Max snoozing before getting his clothes changed.

Sweet Kane

Busy Weekend and Dr.'s Appointments

Snuggling brothers.

Karter cheesing on her birhthday.

We  started off our busy weekend on Friday celebrating Karter's 2nd birthday.  Where in the world did the last 2 years go?  Our sweet little baby is now a wild, rambunctious, but still very sweet little toddler.  She is so loving and has made the transition of bringing 2 more babies into our home much easier.  Karter loves her brothers so much and has done extremely well adjusting to Mommy and Daddy giving attention to others besides her.  I can't imagine what it would be like if she was jealous or had a hard time being around them.  We had to quickly plan a little party for her because we hadn't made many plans with not knowing what was going to happen with the boys.  Karter was able to have her grandma's, papa, aunts, uncles, and cousins at our house to help her celebrate.  She did a good job opening her presents and we were lucky that it was nice out so we could all be outside so she could play with some of her new presents, like her bubble mower and her new trike. 

Saturday was another busy day as I took all 3 kids to John's cousin, Megan's, baby shower.  We picked up John's sister and our niece and headed to Ames for a nice shower.  A lot of John's family were  able to meet the boys for the 1st time, so they got a lot of love.  When we got home, we were very excited to have some good friends, The Otto's and The Steinfeldt's, over to also see the boys....and of course they wanted to see all of us too.  We tried to get a good night's sleep Saturday because we knew Sunday was going to bring yet another busy day.

Mother's Day this year was all about my Grandma Barb.  Almost all of my 1st cousins and their kids made it to see Grandma at the farm at some point this weekend, which was pretty awesome.  Grandma has taken a little turn for the worse.  This doesn't seem to very easy for any of us.  For any of you that know my Grandma Barb, you know that she is one of the most amazing women in the world.  It isn't easy seeing her sick because she has lives such an active, healthy life.  Grandma was able to go to church, so a lof of us joined her.  Our family filled 1 whole side of the church and part of the other side.  Someone asked Grandma at the end of church if she was tired from sitting up that long.   With a big smile, she said "I didn't really think about it with all of these faces around me."  I'm so glad that we could all be there to spend some time with her.  We are hoping she gets to feeling better and can get some of her pain relieved.  Our day ended by stopping to see John's mom's for awhile.  Karter had a fun time playing oustide and screaming with her "Moo Moo." 

After a busy weekend, it was time for all of the kids to visit the Dr.  Monday I took Karter to her 2 year appointment, and it was by far the worst appointment that I have ever taken her to.  Her dad is definately taking her next time.  If any of you out there have kids that scream bloody murder the whole time a nurse or dr. is in the room, I would love advice on how you got your child to get over their fear.  I'm not sure why Karter acts like this, but it is not fun.  Although, she was not happy the whole time, everything looked very good with her.  She weighed in at 27 lbs and is 34 inches tall, and developmentally right on track!  Today it was time for the boys to go in for their 1 month visit.  You would think that taking 1 month old twins by yourself to the dr. would be a little stressful, but today was a piece of cake compared to yesterday.  The boys are also doing awesome!  Kane weighed 7 lbs 7 ozs and Max weighed 6 lbs 15 ozs, and they were both 20 inches long.  The dr. said that they should gain a 1/2 oz to 1 oz everyday, so they are right on track.  The boys have to be on special formula that has more calories and extra iron.  The iron is very important since they missed out on a lot of that being born early.  This formula has seemed to make Max a little bound up, so he is supposed to get Karo syrup in every bottle.  I would think that would make things taste a lot better!  The only other thing she said we need to watch out for is if Kane gets a fever.  If that happens, we will probably have to get a urine sample.  He is more apt to have UTI's because of his kidney disorder, so we want to make sure we take care of it soon so he doesn't get any other kind of infection. 

So after a very busy, but fun weekend and knowing that all of our kiddos are doing well, we are hoping to relax a little before another busy weekend.  John will be helping tile his mom's kitchen and the kids and I have some graduation parties and baby showers to go to.  People ask if I take all 3 kids, and yes, I do.  I'm not scared.  :)  Four years ago I watched 5 kids all summer long, and I think that prepped me a little for this!

Our 1st Post!






 So here we go with our 1st post on our 1st blog!  I thought about starting a blog during one of the many days of my 12 weeks of bedrest, but wasn't for sure if many people would check it out.  After having the Carepages blog, I found a lot of people probably would check up on how the twins are doing and probably like to know what our sweet, but very ornery, toddler is up to.  So hopefully I will be able to keep everyone up with what is going on in our world on a weekly basis, and post pictures of the always changing looks of our kiddos.  I can't believe how different the boys look everyday and I really do not know when our baby girl got so big.  People always told me that she would seem so big once the boys came, and man they were right.  Makes a me a little sad that she is going to be 2 in just 4 days. 

The boys were 3 weeks old on Saturday, and they are are doing well.  We are beginning to get on somewhat of a schedule.  The boys like to eat every 3 hours.  Sometimes they will stretch it out to about 4 hours, but not very often.  Last Monday at their appointment, Max was weighing in at 6 lbs 1 oz and Kane was 6 lbs 7 ozs, so they are definately growing.  We go back next week for their 1 month appointment and Karter will have her 2 year appointment.  We took Kane to the cardiologist on Thursday and everything went good.  Nothing seemed abnormal and the cardiologist doesn't need to see him again, unless the pediatrician would find a need for it down the road.   My mom stayed a few nights last week, which was great at night because John and I could each sleep through a feeding.  I'm sure she was exhausted, but I think I slept for 4 or 5 hours straight one of the nights.  I was a little freaked out when I woke up, but it was some much needed rest.  And, we mom and I got to see much of the Royal Wedding.  Sometimes I think all that rest that I was sick of during my bedrest sounds pretty good at 3:00 in the morning.

We don't have any Dr.'s appointments this week, which will be a change for us...but a good change.  We have a busy weekend ahead with Karter's b-day party, John's cousin's baby shower, and the boys' 1st trip down south (or as John says to "God's Country") to Mom and Dad's for Mother's Day.  Can't wait to see a lot of family and starting making memories as our family of 5!