George & Lauren’s Weblog

Keeping up with the Lantzs…

Babies’ First Christmas December 29, 2008

Filed under: 1 — georgelauren @ 5:53 pm

Well, as much as I love Christmas, I do have to admit that I am glad it’s over.  This past month and a half have been really busy for us and I am glad it is all winding down.  Here’s a synopsis of our Christmas:

Christmas Eve-We went to church for the first time.  We lasted about 30 minutes into the service before the girls got too fussy and we had to leave.  They wore their Christmas dresses.  You’ll see it in the pictures, but I’ll describe them here.  It was a fuzzy red long sleeve dress with snowflakes on it.  They had santa hats, white tights, red panties, and black mary janes to complete the outfit.  They were so cute!  That’s the first dress they have worn.  After church we went over to Nannie and Grampie Lantz’s house and did the traditional Chinese meal with about 30 other people.  This was their first official debut to the family.  It was fun, but we had to leave early because all of the noise made it hard for them to sleep.

Christmas-We woke up early and got out of the house by 8:45.  That was a Christmas miracle in itself.  We went to the Lantz’s and opened gifts and ate breakfast.  Then we headed to the Schaefer’s house and ate lunch and opened gifts.  Hannah and Kate were the center of it all.  They got spoiled with a capital S!  We are so grateful though!  Around dinnertime we went to Brandon’s NICU and delivered some care packages to the families that had babies there.  We didn’t get to hand anyone the gifts, but it was such a blessing to be able to give, even if we’ll never know the recepients.  We also brought the girls and showed them off to the NICU staff.  They were so appreciative.

George’s vacation is winding down.  He goes back to work tomorrow.  I’ve been so used to having an extra hand that I am a little scared of taking care of them by myself again.  I’m sure I’ll fall back into the swing of things.  The girls also made their first Bible Fellowship debut yesterday.  We had a very small class and it went better than expected.  We are starting to get to a “normal” life as we feel more comfortable to take them out.  We are still sheltering them, i.e. no one can hold them or touch them, we don’t take them in most public places.  They are also starting to sleep for 5-7 hour stretches!  Praise the Lord. 

Hope you had a Merry Christmas and will have a Happy New Year!  God Bless!

 

Family Pictures December 24, 2008

Filed under: 1 — georgelauren @ 12:55 pm

So let me start off by giving credit where credit is due: ABBEY SAXTON.  She is the photographer who took these pictures for us.  She has been doing pictures for George and I since we were dating, our wedding, my pregnancy, and now our expanded family!  If you ever need someone, she is fantastic!  No, she did not ask me to do a plug for her.  I am just a satisfied and happy customer!  Here are some pictures from our first growing family shoot.  Enjoy!

 

12/22/08 Update December 22, 2008

Filed under: 1 — georgelauren @ 6:52 pm

Hello there!  So life has been crazy busy with trying to get ready for Christmas.  George has had about the last week off, but he’s been busy doing things around the house or having fun so I haven’t had his help as much as I thought I would.  I still have presents to wrap, cookies to make, and cards to write.  Every year since we’ve been married George and I have carried on this tradition of giving a “Jesus gift” to one of the least of these.  We say that we are giving a gift to Jesus because in His word it says that whatever we do to the least of these we do unto Him.  We usually donate some gifts to Worldvision and they are sent around the world, but this year we felt it was important to give something back to the NICU.  We decided to create care packages for those families who have been in the NICU or will be in the NICU for a while.  We just want to encourage those who are walking where we’ve walked because we know how hard it is.  We also wanted to give back to the staff that took care of us.  So we assembled some items: Christian children books, antibacterial wipes, a disposable camera, and a gift certificate for a restaurant.  We want to do this or something similar every year and involve the girls in it when they are old enough.  We are both really excited about this!

We also had family pictures taken for the first time with a family friend who is an amazingly talented photographer.  Those of you who have children know how big of a task it is to get pictures done.  Wow…imagine that times two.  It went well, but we were hoping they would sleep through it a little bit more so we could get cute poses of them together, but they woke up whenever we moved them.  The total shoot took about 4-5 hours.  The pictures turned out great!  I’ll share one with you when we get them. 

The girls:

Hannah rolled over for the first time last week!  It was a complete surprise to both of us.  She was doing tummy time and I noticed her out of the corner of my eye on her back.  She rolled 3 times that day, but none since.  She’s way ahead of the game though.  She’s smiling and doing great!

Kate also apparently rolled over for the first time on Saturday.  Nanny Krista was watching her and said that she rolled over twice.  I wish I could’ve seen it, but George has yet to see either of them do it so he’s a little disappointed.  I weighed her yesterday at home and she was 10 lbs.  She is quickly catching up to normal 3 1/2 month old babies.   She’s smiling and cooing. 

We debuted the girls to our Sunday School class for the first time at our Christmas party.  They got to meet many of their prayer warriors.  I was such a proud mommy getting to show off my little angels.  That’s it for now.  I’ll post some pictures later this week after Christmas.  Have a Merry Christmas!

 

Weekly Update December 15, 2008

Filed under: 1 — georgelauren @ 4:02 pm

Hello!  I’m back for what is turning out to be weekly updates.  I wanted to start off by saying THANK YOU to those of you who gave advice on breastfeeding.  I had a meltdown late one evening.  Kate was crying, I was crying.  I couldn’t understand how my plans to go to bed at a relatively decent hour (11:00) was turning into an hour long comfort session.  I just wanted to sleep.  I was so close to giving up on breastfeeding.  I think I’ve been way too hard on myself in some respects.  I am breastfeeding TWO babies, not one baby.  I’ve been doing this for 3 1/2 months and it’s been with preemies who don’t come with all of their development right off the bat.  And I’m doing this on usually 6 hours of sleep at night.  This night feeding stint will last much longer than the normal baby’s.  I don’t say this so everyone will feel sorry for me, but I have a tendency to condemn myself for even thinking about giving up breastfeeding because 90% of the moms I know all breastfed for at least 3 months and I compare myself to them.  My situtation is completely different though and I need to not allow Satan to discourage me.  With that said, I decided to get some fenugreek, Mother’s Milk tea, and do a breastfeeding marathon.  We’ll see how it works.  I know that most of you (namely men) could care less about my breastfeeding woes, but I’m sharing because I want to be completely open and honest about our struggles, prayer needs, and what life is like with multiples.  Most people comment to me, “I don’t know how you do it or I wonder how you do it.”  This blog is giving you a quick glimpse into our lives.  We will never get a TV show like Jon and Kate, but you can enjoy our circus through words and pictures (and video if I can figure that out one day).

Here are some exciting things that happened this week:

Hannah and Kate had their first sleepover at Grandma and Grandpa Schaefer’s house this week.  We decided that we needed a night of complete rest and we shipped the kids off, went out to eat, and crashed at home.  It was nice.  Some new moms can’t imagine spending a night away from their children, especially this young, but it changes when you have multiples, you haven’t had a decent night’s sleep in almost 6 months (this includes those restless nights of pregnancy), and you are used to leaving your children when they were in the NICU.  Not that we want to make a habit of it, but I was to the point of exhaustion and needed a break.  If it makes some of you feel better to know that I still love my girls, I did grab one of their blankets and start sniffing it while they were gone.  Grandma and Grandpa both survived the night.  Grandma said that they both cooed and smiled at her.  Hannah and Kate also got to meet their Uncle Michael (my brother) and soon to be Aunt Amy (they are getting married in June) and some of their great-grandparents.  

Speaking of their development…I think they have both had their first real smiles.  They looked me right in the eye and smiled.  They also have been much more alert, paying attention to noises and things placed in front of them.  I was breastfeeding them both at the same time the other day and one of them (can’t remember which one) just laid there and stared at the other baby.  Her eyes moved up and down her face and she was studying away.  I did hear Kate coo for the first time.  It’s so exciting that they are starting to do new things.  They have acted like newborns, and still do, for so long.  Hannah also almost rolled over on her own.  I know it sounds so early for that, but she got herself about 2/3 of the way over and then flopped back down.  They have more head control.  Hannah weighs a little under 7 1/2 lbs., while Kate weighs just under 9 1/2 pounds.  It’s amazing to actually have babies that are “normal” size.

Everyone keeps asking me when we are going to bring them to church.  Soon is my answer.  I’m not going to tell you the exact date, because I don’t want a scavenger hunt around the church to find them.  Even though they are growing and older and bigger, they are still at high risk for RSV and other illnesses.  So even when you do eventually meet them, I just want to warn you now, looking will be all that is allowed.  If that makes people “hate” me, so be it.  They are not “normal” babies, so they don’t get “normal” treatment.

Here are some recent pictures from the last week or so.  Enjoy! 

 

Not Much too Say December 8, 2008

Filed under: 1 — georgelauren @ 2:49 pm

For those of you who have been checking for a new post lately, I’ll give you a short one.  I don’t have much of an update.  Life has been so busy.  I’ve spent the last couple of days decorating for Christmas.  Normally I am all for decorating and gung ho, but this year it took some extra motivation.  I think it’s the lack of sleep and craziness that exists in our house right now. 

I did have my first doctors appointments with both girls last week.  I am glad that I enlisted help from my mom because I don’t think I could have done it by myself.  It would have required more of the nurses help.  One appointment was with the pulmonary specialist to get their Synagis shot (protects them from RSV~common cold on steroids) and to check their lungs.  He said they both sound great.  The other appointment was for Hannah to get her eyes checked out and he said that they look wonderful.  It is such a blessing to have healthy babies.  I don’t have any official weights right now, but Kate is inching very close to 9 lbs. and Hannah is very close to 7 lbs. 

I do have to admit that I am getting a little discouraged with breastfeeding.  My supply is not keeping up with their demands so I have to prepare extra milk.  It takes me about an hour to an hour and a half to feed them.  I don’t want to give up breastfeeding because we are not prepared for the price of formula…so if any of you breastfeeding moms (past and present), especially mothers of multiples, have any advice or encouragement, I would gladly take it.  I go through waves of wanting to quit, and I usually feel this way when I have gotten a horrible night’s sleep, which happened last night.

My brother and his fiancee are getting in to town today.  This will be the first time they meet their nieces so I am excited.  I’ll have some pictures to post soon.

 

Pictures Galore December 1, 2008

Filed under: 1 — georgelauren @ 2:24 pm

Wow, has life been busy here.  We’ve been going, going, going these past couple of weeks.  It seems hard to believe that Hannah has only been home for 3 weeks.  It just seems much longer than that.  She went to the pediatrician last week and weighed in at just under 6 lbs.  She gave us the go ahead to not come back until her 4 month checkup, which will be in the beginning of January.  So we are done with one weekly doctor’s appointment.  What a blessing health insurance is (most of the time anyway). 

Both girls are doing wonderful.  They are growing and doing all of the stuff that normal newborns do.  Since we are past their due date, we can begin to look for developmental skills that they would be getting if they were born on time.  They are both pushing up off the floor using their hands when they are one their belly.  They have really strong neck muscles.  It’s so exciting to see your children start doing these little things.  I feel like such a proud mommy. 

Our Thanksgiving was great.  We had meals with both sides of the family.  We left the girls with my parents for the Lantz meal though because we had a crowd of about 40 people and they are still very susceptible to getting sick.  It hurts to not be able to take them to family things or church like “normal” families can do, but it’s a selfish (but normal) thing to want to have them with me.  Them being premature has really caused me to keep my selfishness in check because there are so many things that I have had to lay aside because they are not “normal” newborns.  I asked the pediatrician the other day when they would start sleeping through the night and she said that they don’t recommend that until they have reached 12 lbs.  I wanted to fall on the floor and throw a tantrum.  I am tired with a capital T!  It takes me at least an hour, usually closer to two hours, when I wake up to feed them at night.  My milk supply hasn’t been keeping up with their demands so I also have to warm up extra milk.  This all occurs in the dead of the night when I would much rather be sound asleep in bed.  This is where I am most jealous of mommies who have babies born on time.  Most babies will begin sleeping through the night around 8 weeks.  I will have the wonderful experience of doing this for at least 20 weeks, since I’ve had to pump ever since they were born 12 weeks early.  The thing that I was the most unprepared for in parenthood was the lack of sleep.  Yes, it’s definitely worth it, but it’s hard.  It’s a good thing my girls are so darn cute because it makes waking up with them just a little easier.  Here are some recent pictures of them.  Enjoy!  We finally have pictures of mom and the babies (yeah)!