Happy Birthday!

And he's TWO! Time went fast, but seriously, this kid has made it pretty fun! With Branson I felt like his terrible two's started more around 18 months, whereas with Spence, I haven't had to deal with too much yet. I worry when he's quiet because I figure he must be into something and everytime I go and check on him, he's reading a book, or playing blocks, just doing something on his own, totally fine. I'm used to silence meaning trouble, but it's not with him - which is such a nice change! He's funny because he gives people the crustiest looks, totally glares at people, but he's always the one that wants to cuddle and is so super sweet.

And then there were 4...

This post is SO overdue, I've been a wee bit busy lately! Even now, I'm having to type this one handed while I hold a baby... This may take me a while! So when I left Texas (June 29th) I was 29 weeks along, I had a Dr.'s appointment that week and I was 2cm dilated, pretty scary at that point, I was scared everyday that I was going to go into labour prematurely...Little did I know then that we'd be forcing these guys out! Brett's graduation was on August 11th, and he had a couple days left in clinic after that to get the hours and adjustments that he needed, but then had to plan a few days to drive home. This was the big thing we were waiting for. With twins you're full term at 36 weeks and they won't let you go over 38 weeks and I was 36 weeks when Brett graduated. At every Dr.'s appointment he was surprised I was still there, when I first went to him at 32 weeks, he didn't think I had that much time left. So I was put on a "moderate" bedrest, all I have to say about that with my children is, "yeah right". Bedrest shmedrest. I was just as crazy as I was before but just WAY more uncomfortable. Oh the uncomfort, it's indescribable! I had nights where they would push so hard on my ribs, I could feel it in my shoulders. NO position was comfortable, sitting would squish them, laying down would give me acid reflux, standing made my stomach hurt... 2 babies in a five foot girl is not a great idea!

So I had my induction date set for 37 weeks and 2 days. I don't know what it is about having a "date" set, but all of a sudden I was so scared that I knew the day this whole thing would go down. It's like when I'm pregnant I forget that I actually have to give birth. I really thought these babies would come on their own so I called and changed it to the next week so that I would be the full 38 weeks, plus 2 days. Gladly, my Dr. was good with that, and I really hoped they would just come on their own. No such luck, those babies were perfectly happy where they were! The nice thing about getting induced I guess is that you can be prepared. Brett and I were able to go on a date the night before. I had my bags all packed and legs shaved, I was ready to go. There's something weird about CALMLY driving to the hospital knowing you're going to give birth to twins that day. At least if you go in labour, you don't have time to think about the craziness of it! So here I am, in the hospital parking lot, as big as I could possibly get!

We got up to the labour and delivery unit just before 9am and they took us right away into our room, the Dr. came in and did an ultrasound to check the positions and both of them were still head down - perfect for a natural delivery. I was positive for Strep B, so I had to go on a drip for that, then he broke my water. We had to wait about 10 minutes for the anesthesiologist (Parker people, don't judge me for having an epidural, they pretty much enforce it with twins!) so Brett and I went for a walk in the hallway. Just before the anesthesiologist got there, I got my first contraction. He gave me my epidural and I got a few more contractions, but a little more intense - which seemed quick for me since it was only maybe my 4th or 5th contraction. By the time the epidural kicked in, I was glad we did it that early! So we were just hanging out, I napped, Brett read, we were pretty relaxed.

At this point I was having 6 contractions every 10 minutes and since they hadn't given me any pitocin yet, I asked if they would call my Dr. and ask him if we could just do this naturally and he was good with it. So they checked me and I was 6 or 7cm dilated so they wanted me to go to the bathroom so that I didn't need a catheter. I was helped (since I couldn't walk so well) by Brett and one of my nurses and while I was in there, my nurse was suddenly like, "Heather, the baby's crowning!" The two nurses carried me on one side and Brett on the other (in a sitting position - just to give a visual) back to the bed, pressed a button and said the babies were coming and within 30 seconds, the stations set up for the babies had all the pediatricians and other people necessary, all ready to go. My Dr. walked in and said he didn't have time to change and put on a hospital gown, came over and said, "let's go". Luckily he was in the elevator coming up when they called him! So my Dr. is this super hyper man, like really, really hyper. I wasn't sure how he was going to be in delivery but he was amazing! Unlike the other Dr.'s who have done my deliveries, he was like, "don't push yet, we'll let the head stretch things out and just take our time". My other deliveries were more like, "let's get this thing out of here, PUSH!" So after just a couple pushes, Parker was out. It was amazing! He was born at 1:05pm and weighed 6lbs 5oz. I had hopes that my babies would at least be 5 pounds each, so over 6 was incredible!

So I held him and fed him while we waited for Maci to make her way down. I kept asking, "do you need me to push?" and he was just like, "no, we'll let her make her way down" and then he broke her water (I never really thought about each baby having their own water). So while I'm pushing with her, I'm feeding Parker, of course I handed him over to Brett for the end, and she was out at 1:43, weighing 5lbs 2 oz. They were perfect and it was crazy how smooth it was. I don't know if it's just because with Branson and Spence I had hours of hard contractions before getting the epidural or what it was but everything about this was so smooth and easy. I had NO tearing at all, thank goodness for small heads! When my Dr. was leaving, he gave me a pat on the leg and said, "that was fun". And that's how it felt, like we were all just hanging out, having twins! I only have the "new" pictures with Parker on here, Maci's showing too much for the internet and once I had both babies with me, I was feeding, so that was a little more skin than I'd like to show on here. I just don't want anyone to think I love her any less since there's less photos of her on here.

 These are my nurses, the one was my sister's best friend growing up,
so that was fun to have someone I knew!

 Here's my perfect little babies, finally out! 

My mom got to the hospital with Branson and Spence just as I was leaving the delivery room, they were SO excited to see the babies!

 

Luckily, for these boys that don't like to share, there's one for each!

 Crazy that in 6 years, we have 4 kids... 

And well, that's how babies are made!

Branson's Wisdom

So Branson's been making observations lately on the opposite sex. So far these are the things he's come up with...

After swimming lessons one day, he gets in the car and I asked him how it went and he was like, "mom, girls get really sad!" Just wait til you're a teenager, you have no idea!

We were driving in the van and totally random, Branson says, "mom, boys understand girls but girls don't understand boys". I'll remind him of this when he starts to date!

Branson was outside with my mom at my parents house and their dog's name is Jack and the neighbor dog always comes over and her name is Tika. Jack was in the trees and Branson said "Jack's in the trees because he's lost. Tika stays here because she's a girl and girls never get lost... Boys ALWAYS get lost!"

I love hearing his thoughts on girls!

Goodbye's

How did we already get to this point?? 3 years ago we were like, "we can't believe we're actually moving to Texas" and now we can't believe that it's already over! This is really hard for us to leave. We're excited to back in Canada, and to be closer to family but we really have the most amazing friends here, we're so sad to leave them! I tried to fit in as many girls nights and farewell parties as possible before we left, but it almost made it harder because it made me realize how many great friends we have and how things will never really be the same. I have my different groups of friends, yes, I clump my friends into categories... I have my Parker friends. These are the girls that our husbands all started in the same trimester and we all moved here, not knowing anyone and we became each others family. These are the friends that we've spent our Christmas's, New Years, Easter, July 4th, Thanksgiving, every kids birthdays and everything else in between, with. These are the girls that when our husbands were in clinic 12 hours a day we would depend on for our sanity. Or when they were studying for Board Exams and were gone every weekend, we'd meet up at Ikea and let our kids play in the playplace and eat at the restaurant there on the kids eat free days. Even if we just met up at the mall play place, these were the girls you could count on that when you were feeling so overwhelmed with being a Parker widow, they were probably in the same boat. The beauty of these girls too was that all our kids are the same age... And for the most part, all boys! It's nice to have others who are as poor as you as well. Everything about life that was hard in the past 3 years, we all went through together. I'm pretty sure I'll never have friendships quite the same as I had with these girls, because they felt like my sisters when none of us had our family close. The pictures are missing a few of the girls...

April was the first of us to leave, she left in May and it was super hard to watch her go and realize how much things were about to change as we all finish up.

 

 Nadine, Heather, Yralia, me and Shannon.

 

So I've also got my friends from my ward, my friends who used to be in my ward and moved to neighboring cities, and my Jill friends (the friends I'd made through one of my friends Jill, whose husband was a couple tri's ahead of us). These are the different groups of friends I tried to get in that one last girls night/lunch/playdate with. I'm sad I didn't get pictures at every outing!

 

 Ashlee, Stefanie, Heather

 

 Zaundra

 

 Danielle and Jodie's kids - Not sure why we didn't get a

cute picture of ourselves... But the kids will have to do!

 

 Cameron and Branson

 

 Spence and Malory - These 2 love each other! She gives a cute "Cheese"

face, while Spence is more focused on saying "cheese" than smiling!

 

 Branson and cute little Reese. Love this girl! She can run and

play like a boy but is delicate and feminine.





 

 

Branson's 4th Birthday

I can't believe Branson's 4! It makes us so sad that he's growing up so fast, it really doesn't feel like it's been 4 years already! We had Branson's gifts out on the table in the morning when he got up, he was so excited to come around the corner and see everything sitting there. He said, "did my friends come in the night while I was sleeping?" We let the kids have a fun cereal for their birthday breakfast, so far it's always been the "rainbow cereal" that's been picked. Unfortunately, they only eat the marshmallows and leave the actual cereal - which is a good reminder why we don't buy that cereal on a regular basis.

So our last birthday party with the pool... So sad! My days of not having to plan activities and games are over! We usually do our parties pretty small, because, well, let's be honest, the thought of having a million kids over makes me nervous, so this year we did 2 parties. Popular little Branson's accumulated so many friends over the years, we could have easily had 5 or 6 parties, so we had to narrow it down. It's starting to really hit me that we're moving and having to say goodbye to our friends. Although we talk about moving to Canada all the time, Branson doesn't realize that we're actually leaving everything and everyone. I feel sad for him, he really has such good friends here!

 

 Spence's girlfriend Lyla

 

 Smith

 

 Jones & Hudson

 

Cameron, Hudson, & Branson, showing off their rings

 

And party #2...

 

Chase, Grant, Dahlia, Alyssa, Alexandra, Talmage, Brener, Branson, & Dexton



Swimming Lessons

Branson did swimming lessons this year, and it definitely went better than last year! I think we needed that extra year to be fully comfortable without his lifejacket. I was amazed at how much he learned in the 2 weeks. He's a little fish now!

They pushed their faces in the water to make sure they kept them in. They had the kids lined up along the side of the pool and threw them in so they could get to the surface and swim to the side on their own. In the end Branson was jumping off the diving board and swimming to the side on his own. We could only watch the lesson on the last day, so it was crazy to see the improvement! 

Summer Fun

We have to fit in as many fun summer things as we can before we leave. And it's so crazy hot outside, the pools and splash parks are pretty much our only option!

 It took Spence a bit to get used to the splash park, this is actually the first time he went in, but he loved it once he was comfortable

 There's beach volleyball courts beside the fountains, and the boys love to go over and play in the sand. It had rained a couple days before we went and the courts were just giant mud puddles... Of course the kids loved them! They just ran and slid, went face first into the mud, they were in heaven!

 Anyone who really knows me is looking at this thinking, "The Caryn we know would never let her children do this". It was hard at first, I will admit, but they had so much fun!

Branson and his friend Hudson, hanging out by the pool

Baby Shower

My amazing, talented and creative friends, Heather and Nadine threw me a baby shower this weekend. It kinda made me feel bad for anyone that I've ever thrown a shower for. They went all out and everything was super cute. I really don't think that much about all the cute little details, so it's nice when other people do! It was so good to see so many of my friends too, it just makes me sad that I'm going to have to leave them!

 We stenciled cute little pictures on onesies. So stinkin cute. I've forgotten how little newborn clothes are!

 Jamie, Jodie, and Danielle... Jamie and Jodie had to leave early, so they weren't in on the group picture

Heather, Nadine, Ashlee, Danielle, and Shannon

I love these girls, will I ever find replacements??

Teeball

We were able to get Branson in teeball this year. He was actually too young for the league, but they let him in anyway, and he had SO much fun! Teeball's a wee bit intense here, we started practice in February, which he had 2 per week, then once the games started, we had 2 or 3 games a week. He loved everything about it though, his uniform, his cleates, he couldn't wait to get dressed for the games. The best part though was that his team name was "Rangers", so he actually got to be a Texas Ranger, perfect for this kid!