The Twins 1st Christmas 2014

This year we went to "The Crandall Cabin" in Garden Valley for Christmas.  We had so much fun eating, playing games, watching the kids open gifts, did i mention eating.... :)  The twins did great however right before we left I had eaten some of Christys delicious spicy tacos and this STRONGLY disagreed with the boys.  They were super gassy, had angry poops, and little red tushies.  Due to this I ended up pouring out 2 full bottles of my breast milk.  Whoever said no use crying over spilled milk has NEVER PUMPED or is a man!  This made me short on my milk supply.  Curtis mom Sherry and his sister Christy offered to take care of the boys for the night doing all the feedings, changes, and snuggling so I could just sleep and pump for one whole night.  It was wonderful however I was short on milk..... So we had to supplement with some formula.  At first I was a little sad about having to give them formula but have come to terms with it and realize that in the long run introducing it to them now is best.  Also they did awesome with the half and half mix!  I defiantly feel less stress knowing that if my "Big Gulps" run out we have a back up. 

We also got some great gifts this year from his family!  A few of them were:

This handmade cutting board from the Beal family.

This note from the Haws family "When we were poor collage students just starting our family, this is what we wished for" and it was a box full of money:

And from the Crandall family we were outfitted with these matching shirts:

Thank You everyone for a most memorable 1st Christmas for the twins!

Carter & Charlie

Charlie Daniel Crandall

Carter Ryan Crandall

Moby Wrap

Curtis testing out the Moby Wrap with Mr. Carter.  Only took us about 15 min to figure out how to wrap it around Curtis and another 15 min to figure out how to get Carter in!  :)  I would say we succeeded! 

 "Look, No Hands!!!!"

First Night In Their Crib

First night out of our bed and in their BEAUTIFUL crib.  I do have to admit I had a little anxiety about them not being in our bed anymore so we moved the crib from it place against the wall to the foot of our bed!  Call me crazy but it works!
* Note the bedding was handmade by my mother in law Sherry Crandall.  She is so talented and has such great taste!

Late Night Feedings

Curtis and I take shifts feeding the boys so that we can each get a stretch of sleep each day.  I take early morning to evening and Curtis takes late nights to early mornings.  Tonight I can came down stairs after pumping around 2am and found Curtis like this!  What a great father he is!

Babies!!!!!!!!

I was scheduled to be induced on 12/1/13 at 7am.  As expected the night before was spent tossing and turning, running to the restroom, and sleeping for what felt like hours only to wake and realize just minutes had passed.  Finally the clock read 5:00am and it was time to get going.  I was only allowed to eat a light breakfast in case they needed to do an emergency C-section so I ate my “light breakfast” of cereal with toast and we were off.   The car ride to the hospital was pretty quiet, I think due to both excitement and nerves.  We just listened to Christmas music on the radio and enjoyed our last few quiet moments we knew we were going to have!  Once we arrived (with about a month’s worth of luggage) and got checked in reality really struck.  We were going to have twins today!  They stared the pitocin at about 8am and at that time I was already dilated 2cm.  Time seemed to go by slowly at first but then the contractions started.  Not too bad a first but as the pitocin got stronger so did the contractions!  We already knew that I would have an epidural and around 10am Curtis had convinced me that it was time.  I tried to stick it out as long as I could but boy those contractions are painful!  Oh and when I say that Curtis convinced me it was time to get the epidural I mean he hit the call nurse button and told her I was ready!  He is a good man!  Once I had the epidural I was feeling a little better.  The back contractions were not as strong but the front contractions were causing me to white knuckle the bars on the side of the bed.  At this time the pitocin was causing me to contract ever 45 seconds and I felt every contraction!  Once again Curtis to the rescue!!!!!!  He hit the “Call Nurse” button and explained to them that I was still feeling the contractions.  Turns out my first epidural failed and I was going to need another one.  This is when the tears came!  I think it was more out of relief than pain.  Knowing that I wasn’t crazy and I was feeling the contractions and that I will get an epidural that WILL numb me!  After the second epidural I was finally numb, and I mean REALLY NUMB!!!!  Life was great!  They wanted to check me again after the second epidural (around 12:30ish) and by that time I was ready to push!  I was shocked!  I was thinking we were going to be there all day, waiting for them to come and all of a sudden it was time… and I wasn’t ready!  They started my labor in the “Labor and delivery” room but we knew we would eventually have to move to the OR for the actual delivery.  While pushing in the labor and delivery room I unfortunately got “sick” every time they put me on my back to push.  On top of all of that   Carters heart beat started to drop so we were rushed to the OR.  After that everything went smoothly.   

Charles (Charlie) Daniel Crandall was born at 1:54pm, 5 lbs 12 oz, and 19 inches long.   

 

Carter Ryan Crandall was born at 2:06pm, 6lbs 9oz, and 20.5 inches long.

 

 And here are just a few more pictures!