4 months

The babies are 4 months old.  I can't believe how time has flown!  We are slowly getting the hang of things around here.  I'm sure all first time moms and dads feel the same way... but there are times where I just feel like I have no clue what I'm doing.  We've managed to keep everyone alive though.  I should get an award for that :)

We have our rough times, but the smiles and coos make up for it.

 

I had mentioned in their 3mo post that Alton was having some feeding problems.  At the time we thought it was gas.  Since then, we have found that he has some reflux issues.  It just decided to rear its ugly head later than Ashlyn's reflux problems.  He is now on prevacid like Ashlyn.  It has been getting better, but he still puts up a huge fuss when it's time to eat.  

We are starting to get them used to not being swaddled.  So, at bed time we put them in these sleep sack things and when we do their "dream feed" at 10pm this is how we find them :)

Ashlyn's eating has gotten better.  She still has her rough feedings where she will spit her food out at you and cry through it, but more often than not, she eats like a champ and sucks it down!  She is also eating so much more and has been throwing up less.  Woohoo!  (knock on wood for the feeding coming up at 10pm tonight...)

 

Alton and Ashlyn have been having a lot of tummy time lately.  We have to do it before they eat now.  Otherwise, all their food just comes out if we do it after a feeding.

Alton used to just love being on his tummy, but the last month, he has been super grumpy about it and not the biggest fan.  He is coming around though. 

Ashlyn is so good at tummy time!  For a while she really struggled and she couldn't lift her head.  Now she is a pro!  I have a feeling that she will crawl before Alton!

 

The babies had their 4 mo appointment on Friday the 26th.  My mother-in-law, Anne was able to come with me to help.  Before we packed up the babies we found Sookie hanging out in Ashlyn's car seat. It was quite comical :)  Poor cat.  She has handled the babies pretty well though.  She is hesitant of them and keeps her distance, but she is always nearby.

 

The doctor appointment was pretty rough.  Alton (our resident grump), started crying at the very start when he was getting weighed.  Poor little guy.  He is just so sensitive!  I had a hard time trying to talk to the doctor because I was just trying to calm him down.  The doctor was really happy with their growth and she didn't have any concerns this time around.  Thank goodness!  The babies got 2 shots and an oral vaccine.  There were a lot of crocodile tears.  It hurt my heart to see them in pain.  Those needles are big!  Bigger than the syringes I had to use when I was going through infertility treatments! Sad!  They've been doing well though.  No fevers or anything.  The only noticeable difference is that Alton has thrown up a few times.  He did this after his 2mo shots too.   

Stats:

Alton:

Weight: 13lbs 11oz   -  27.17%
Head: 16.26"
Length: 24" (19.57%)... I think he was closer to 25"...

He loves:  Smiling and giggling, wearing socks, looking at pictures, sucking on his hands, standing, playing on the activity mat, reaching for toys, sitting in his "buzz chair", splashing in the water at bath time, bicycle legs, being held and talked to and cooing back to you..... and being grumpy haha.  Although, you can't tell by these pictures :)

Ashlyn:

Weight: 11lbs 6oz  -  9%
Head: 15.83"
Length:23.5" (24.21%)

She loves: Smiling, tummy time, holding her ball rattle, sucking on her fingers, standing, making sounds, being on her side, looking at pictures, seeing herself in the mirror, watching everything and tracking things with her eyes.

 
No pictures of them sitting next to each other on the couch.  Ashlyn kept pushing up on her feet and that caused her to slide down every time we were about to take a picture.  Oh well. 

  This was after we finished taking their 4mo pictures haha... They were getting bored :)  I love Ashlyn's face... "Seriously, Alton?"

 Okay, one last one :)  I have a hard time getting good pictures of Alton.  I will work on that.

So, this happened...

Today I needed to do some laundry because burp cloths were running low and Alton had thrown up on me in the morning.  I added some extra items to the load, started the washing machine and left.

When I went to move it to the dryer, this is what I found.

Yep.  A DIAPER! I have no idea how it got in there or why.  Thank goodness it wasn't a dirty diaper!!

Here is a picture comparing the diaper that soaked up tons of water in the wash (left) and a normal wet diaper (right).

Rookie mistake- haha!

3 Months and a visit from Auntie Shannon and Uncle Ron!

Okay- I'm behind!  I'm at least getting their 3 mo update before they hit 4 months on the 27th, right?? 

On March 22-25th my sister, Shannon and her husband, Ron were able to come out for a visit.  I felt bad because their daughters, Madison and Serena weren't able to come, but they'll come out some day :).  For the trip we rented a mini-van.  Can I just say... I can't wait to get a mini-van??? That thing was so nice!! Anyways, on Friday the 22nd we fed the babies in the morning and then we went down to pick up the van so that we could all go and pick up Shannon and Ron at the airport.

When we picked them up at the airport, their gate was E something.  So, we headed to terminal "E".  I knew that E was for international flights... but I wasn't sure where else to go.  They got in and it turned out they came out in terminal C.  It was a little funny.  We sure had an adventure finding them haha.  

Anyways, we had fun hanging out at home that night and then we went out for fro-yo at Menchies.  Other outings we made while they were here was going to the grocery store, looking at model homes, going out to eat, church and things like that.  Nothing super exciting, but it was so good to have them out here to meet the babies.  It was fun to watch them see and feed the babies for the first time.

The babies were still sleeping downstairs when they were here, so they weren't bothered by any crying :)

Thanks for coming out!  We loved having you here!  Next time we can go out and do more fun things :)
 

Alton didn't want them to leave :)

On Tues. the 26th (a day before 3mo) Ashlyn had another doc appt. She looks thrilled, huh?

 The doctor put her on new formula that smells so horrendous.  It's terrible!  It's supposed to be digested more quickly so that she doesn't have the opportunity to throw up later.

 So we will see how that goes.  She has been on it ever since.  She is doing pretty well on it.  She has still thrown up... but I guess that's just normal baby stuff.  At this appointment she was also taken off of Zantac and put on Prevacid.  I was SO thankful.  Zantac was 3x/day by a syringe in the mouth.  She hated it.  Prevacid is a pill that we have to cut in half and then it either dissolves in her mouth by us holding it in her cheek or I dissolve it in a little water and have her take it through a syringe.  She is much happier about taking it.  

She was also weighed at that appointment.  She was 9lbs 7oz!  Alton weighed that much at 2months haha.  Oh well.  The good thing is that she is growing!  She was back up into the 3rd percentile.  

A week after that appointment we were to go back and check up on her.  They weighed her and she was 9lbs 14oz :)  Woohoo!  Almost 1/2lb in a week!  She was even in the 4th percentile!  Slowly but surely... she's getting there :)  We just have to keep going a day at a time and be very patient.  She still takes forever to eat and you never know when she's going to have a formula explosion!

Alton has just been a champ.

 He is such a good little boy.  His head control has gotten really good!  Last week we even got a laugh out of him for the first time ever.  It was so cute!  Jon was tickling him and I looked over and his eyes went wide was like "oh my gosh!! Alton laughed!!".  It was so exciting!  

The past few days for Alton have been a little rough.  I think he's going through some funny gas pains.  He just starts crying while he's eating and gets super fussy.  We are having to take our time with him now.  Two babies who have problems eating... yikes.

At 3 months we made the big move to their nursery upstairs!!  I know... big step!  I wear a pedometer that also counts flights of stairs.  I've had days where I've hit 30-35 flights in one day.  At least I'm getting my exercise!  I need to take pictures of their nursery... but for now, here they are sleeping in their cribs for the first time!  Note: that fuzzy thing they are on top of is now gone.  It was just to help them transition from being super snug in their bassinets to being in a wide open crib! (sorry the pics are so blurry...)

 

Here they are at 3 months!  They are just so dang cute!  My days can be really tiring and frustrating... but when they smile at you- it makes up for all of it.

One of those days...

I just wanted to write this down before I forget... it'll be something to laugh at later :)

So, there are days that seem never ending and like nothing could get any worse.  As parents, we've all been there.  Getting puked on by a baby while the cat is throwing up... and then you have another baby crying at the same time.  You just don't have as many hands as you need!  Well, Sunday night-Monday (April 1st) morning was one of those times.

Sunday night I was feeding Ashlyn at the 10pm feeding.  She was taking her formula like a champ!  She had just finished her bottle and as I was taking it out of her mouth, she started to make a funny face.  Then, out of no where- it all came back up and the poor thing had formula coming out of her nose!  It literally shot out of her nose and hit Jon who was sitting on the floor next to me feeding Alton.  Jon just started laughing because he couldn't believe how much distance she got!  We cleaned everything up and put the babies down for the night.

I got up with Ashlyn at 2:30am and fed her.  While feeding her I heard Jon get up and he was mumbling something.  I didn't hear Alton crying upstairs, so I didn't know what was up.  I asked him what was wrong, and he said, "The cat threw up."  Great.  So, he was in the bedroom cleaning that up.  I couldn't help him because Ashlyn was sucking down her bottle. I was hoping this wouldn't foreshadow the rest of the night. For some reason, she takes her bottle like a champ at the 2:30am feeding.  I don't know what it is, but she sucks it down like Alton! Anyways, she did pretty well and she went back down pretty fast.  Alton started making some noise when I put her down.  I made sure he hadn't slid down in his crib (I have blankets under the mattress to keep them elevated).  I went back downstairs and went to bed.

Between then at about 5:30am I had to get up 2x to calm Alton down.  Then at 5:30am he started wailing!  Jon's alarm was about to go off to get up for the day and Jon was super grumpy (can you blame him? Cat throw up at 2:30am and now this. BTW- I hate waking up before the alarm!).  He got up to help Alton because we were able to see him on the camera monitor that he had rolled to the side and was hitting his head on the side of the crib.  I ended up taking over and Alton ended up going into the swing until just before 7am.  It calmed him down pretty well.

We had a Dr. appt for Ashlyn on Monday morning (8:10am) so we needed to make sure we were ready to go and start the feeding right at 7am so we could make it in time.  The feeding started and Jon was feeding Ashlyn. She was crying, Jon was tired, she wasn't latching or swallowing... so Jon's grumpy level started to go up.  Then... our cat, Sookie, started to dig her food out of her bowl so that the food went all over the floor.  Alton was in my arms just sucking down his bottle and then before I knew it... Jon was burping Ashlyn and then she threw up all over his work shoes and a nearby play mat.  Yikes.  I was half expecting Sookie to join in by throwing up, but thankfully, she didn't.

We got all cleaned up and got everyone ready and headed out.  We even got to the appt. early!  What a morning... it wasn't even 8 am yet :)  Oh the things that happen.  It is frustrating, but when you look back on it, it's something to remember.  We are so very grateful to have these sweet babies.  Even when they spit at us :)

2 months and a visit from Grandad

I know I am a bit behind.. but here are the ABC twins at 2 months :)  Feb. 27th, 2013

I'm biased.. but aren't they so cute????  Alton was looking when I took this picture but looked away right as it took the picture.  He's a silly little boy.

A little before 2 months we started getting worried about Ashlyn's eating.  She was taking forever to eat and she wasn't eating close to what Alton was eating.  I had many calls to the doctor's office where I spoke with a nurse.  They told me, "She's a girl.  She will eat less than Alton."  So, I figured that was that.  Then the spit up started.  Then the crying whenever she saw the bottle started, kicking, shaking head... this poor girl just didn't want to eat.  She fell from the 3% to the 2nd percentile.  Our doctor told us that she thought that Ashlyn might have an underdeveloped larynx (Laryngomalacia).  This meant that the cartilage of her voice box was very soft and it collapses while she breathes and eats.  This explained all her weird noises she makes!  She also has some reflux.  The doctor decided to put her on Zantac to help with that (we have since taken her off of it... that will come in a different post).  Oh.My.Disgusting! We had to give it to her 3x/day by a small syringe in her mouth.  It smelled so awful.  She hated it!  So did we. 

At their two month appointment they had to get shots! Boo!  Jon was able to come with me for that.  Ashlyn cried a ton (I might've had to fight back my own tears...) and Alton took his shots like a champ.  He hardly cried.  He's such a good boy!

Here is Ashlyn after her shots:

Here is Alton after his shots- he got a Batman sticker haha :)

Alton's Stats:

• Weight: 9lbs 7oz
• Height: 20.75"  - I really think this was wrong.  The nurse who did it was turrible... yes, you read that right: turrible.  Alton didn't stretch out very far either. 
• Head: 14.76"

Ashlyn's Stats

• Weight: 8lbs   
• Height: 20.5"
• Head: 14.45"

After this appointment we took Ashlyn to the ENT to check out her throat.  They had to stick a scope down her nose. Saddest.Thing.Ever.  Jon went in with her while I stayed with Alton. She was three rooms down and I could hear her like she was in the same room because she was just screaming.  Poor thing. They confirmed that she has Laryngomalacia.  It is pretty mild and will most likely heal itself and go away over time.  So... this mixed with her little bit of reflux makes her life really hard every feeding.  I have to keep telling myself, "I am strong and tough and I can get through this with her."  Especially during the feedings where she throws up and I have no idea how much she actually ate.

During this time, my dad (aka: "Grandad") came out for a visit!  We were so excited to have him here!  He was a little nervous to hold the babies, but he got used to them pretty quickly.  His first morning with us was a little funny.  I will never forget the look on his face when I told him, "It's time for them to eat again" and he was like "What? Really? Are you feeding them too much??".  The look on his face was priceless.  We didn't do a whole lot, but it was nice to visit with him and for him to meet his grandkids- #12 and #13 for him!  Thanks for coming, Dad!  We love and miss you and hope you come back soon!

 I loved having his help during the day.  It's so hard to feed both the babies at once.  Especially because Ashlyn puts up a fight and no longer likes to be fed on the boppy pillow.  Since her hatred for the boppy pillow has come, I am feeding them one at a time when I'm by myself.  Ugh.  So, I always need and love help at feedings.  It makes my life A LOT less stressful.  A lot less tears from Ashlyn... and mommy. 

One last thing that developed between 2-3mo:  They started holding their heads better!  Alton is getting really good at it too!  He will just look around and he is so strong.  Ashlyn still has to work on holding her head up.  It's hard to do tummy time with all this reflux.  All her food comes out when she's on her tummy.  So, for now, she is our bobble head :)  Alton loves being on his tummy.  It's his favorite position to be in.  He is our little meatloaf!

A day in the Criddle house

Our schedule is a little crazy and I am hoping that we can change this schedule up soon so we can get the babies to bed a little earlier!

6:40-7am:  Get up, prepare bottles, give Ashlyn meds, get boppy pillows ready with burp cloths

7-7:45am:  Feeding #1 (sometimes this goes a full hour- so the feedings below are written as a full hour)

7:45-8:30am:  Lay on activity mat, play with toys, tummy time, change diapers

8:30-10am: Lay babies down for nap.  Alton always gets up about a half hour before the next feeding time... so he usually ends up in the swing for a little while.  Laundry usually gets started here too.

10-11am:  Feeding #2

11-11:30:  Activity mat, tummy time, diapers

11:30-1pm: nap, lunch, chores

1-2pm:  Ashlyn meds.  Feeding #3

2-2:30: play time and diapers.  this is the time we go on walks if we do

2:30-3:30: nap... both babies are always up by 3:30.  I try to read, do the budget, make important calls

4-5pm: feeding #4 (I usually have help during this feeding from my in-laws)

5-5:30pm:  play on mat, sing songs, look at picture books, diapers

5:30-7pm: nap... well.. at least quiet time. Get dinner ready

6pm- Alton screams... time for swing

6:45-7:10pm: Jon gets home and we try to eat dinner- give Ashlyn meds.

7pm: feeding #5

7:45-815pm: bath time, change diapers and clothes

8:30pm: put babies down

8:30-10pm: wash bottles, get formula ready for the next few feedings, try to unwind and watch a show or something.  Put things away.. any other chores.

10pm: feeding #6

10:30-10:45pm: put babies down for night... sometimes Ashlyn is closer to 11pm because she takes forever.

11pm- get ourselves ready for bed, set out everything for 2:30am feeding for Ashlyn, set alarm, go to sleep.

2:30am: get up and wake Ashlyn up to feed her and hopefully get back to bed by 3-3:15am

Baby Blessings

The babies just hit 11 weeks on Thursday.  Time is flying!  I have so much to catch up on on the blog!  For now, I'll talk about their blessings :)

Our friends Amber & Cody and Nate & Jess came out from San Antonio and Austin with their children.  It was so nice to see all of them!  We had a great time hanging out on the Saturday before the blessing.

Cody, Amber, Jess, Crystal, Ashlyn, Alton, Jon, Nate and Jane

The blessing was on February 10th.  

Those who participated in the blessing:

Jon - aka: daddy

Clyde (Grandpa)

Cody

Nate

Stuart W.

Shaun S.

Jason Q.

Bishop Brown

Alton & Ashlyn

Jon was really nervous about it.  He kept saying "I've never been so vested in the blessing recipient.  I want to bless them with things like 'I bless you to be handsom or have hoards of money'."  

We got to church that morning and I was surprised because one of the nurses, June, from my fertility doctor's office came.  We found out she was a member of the church after going through IVF.  It was nice to have her there and I really appreciated it.  

Jon's mom and dad came along with Beth and her kids Jakson and Storey.  Zak couldn't make it because he was visiting his parents in Utah.  

Jon did a great job on the blessings.  I am so fortunate to have him as my husband.  He is a wonderful man, husband and father.

Mom and Dad with their babies

After the blessing, we all went to Jon's parents house for a nice lunch.  We had chicken salad sandwiches, spinach balls, fruit, rolls and amazing cookies.  We all had a nice time visiting and celebrating the babies.  We weren't able to get any pictures really of Alton on the actual blessing day because he leaked through his diaper in the car on the way to my in-laws house.  Oh well haha.  It happens.  

When we did take pictures it was before feeding time and both Ashlyn and Alton were crying.  We decided that we would take pictures of the babies on another day at the church to make up for it :)  Ashlyn was a little grumpy when we took the pictures a week later, but we did get a few really good ones!

Ashlyn and her Grandpa Criddle

Alton and Grandma Criddle

Blessings:

Alton:

Our father in heaven, by the authority of the Melchizedek Priesthood which we hold, we hold this baby in our arms and present him to give him a name and a blessing.  The name which he shall be known by in the church is Alton Blair Criddle.

Alton, at this time we would like to give you a special blessing.  We bless you that you will continue to grow and develop.  You will to gain physical strength and mental strength as well as you learn about the world around you.  We bless you that you will have a testimony of this gospel and that you will have a love for your savior.  We bless you, Alton, that you will have a desire to share that testimony with others.  You will have opportunities act to as a missionary for the church and can share your feelings so that you can help others to know the things which you have a testimony of.  I bless you that you will be able to overcome any challenges that you face.  You will have the strength and support so that any hurdle that may come in your life, you will be able to overcome.  We bless you that you will feel loved, that you will know that you are special to your father in heaven and also to your parents who love you very much.  We bless you with these things and all others that our Heavenly Father has for you as this time in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Ashlyn:

Our Father in Heaven.  By the authority of the Melchizedek Priesthood we hold this baby in our arms to give her a name and a blessing.  The name by which she shall be known is Ashlyn Bella Criddle.

Ashlyn, we hold you in our arms and we bless you that you will be a very happy girl.  We bless you that you will grow, that you will develop, that you will be smart, and you will be blessed.  We bless you that you will have a special love for others.  We bless you that you will see the good in others around you.  You will find ways to befriend them and show love to them.  We bless you, Ashlyn, that you will have the desire to have children of your own, to show them love as you have been shown, and to raise them in the gospel as you will be.  We bless you, Ashlyn, that you will be strong, you will be healthy, and you will grow and develop as our Heavenly Father would desire for you.  You will face the experiences in life that he has in store with the support that he will give you.  I close this blessing and any others that Heavenly Father wants for you at this time in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.