Baby Lucas

We got an early Christmas present this year -- Baby Lucas (also known as "Bebe Wookie" by Sam &
Ty) arrived December 4, 2011 at 12:52am weighing 8lbs 7oz and 21 inches long. 

It all started when I went in for a regular check-up on Friday, December 2 to my OB.  Without going into too many details, she told me things were progressing and I might even go that weekend.  I was blown away.  And I really didn't believe her (I wasn't due until December 23rd).  I started having contractions early Saturday morning and they continued all day Saturday.  Jack says he knew we were in for it when I dropped an entire gallon of OJ on the floor and it cracked (the plastic split on impact, juice everywhere) at 6am when getting juice for Sam & Ty.  I finally called the doctor around 4pm (Jack had gone into work and we had a Christmas party that evening so perhaps I was procrastinating a little) and shortly thereafter, the contractions became a little more intense.  I still thought maybe we'd be sent home and we could go to our party ...but alas, we were admitted (total denial).

We got settled in to our room, we both took a nap, and then boom: water broke at midnight, Lucas arrived at 12:52 (the doctor barely made it).  Because he came early, and because we were deadlocked, he was BabyBoy VanderPloeg for about 20 minutes while we decided on a name but now we are thrilled with "Lucas".

As he lays sleeping on my chest now, I can still hardly believe he is here.  It's amazing how something so small fit in my belly only a few weeks ago.  He is beautiful and healthy.  He is sleepy and cuddly.  He is simply perfect.

Thanksgiving Weekend

It has been a very busy couple days. On Wednesday, we carpeted our upstairs stairway and the two bedrooms in order to move the boys upstairs. While we loved the look of the hardwood steps, it just simply wasn't safe with the boys in socks or sleepers going up and down those slippery steps. We officially moved them up last night and it went really well! (Note: we did have to take apart their two cribs and then put together the three in one night ... something I never would have envisioned as an exciting Saturday night activity). Their room needs a little bit of love in terms of stuff on the wall and it is certainly an adjustment not having them in "their" old room (for us maybe even more than them -- it just seems empty), but overall it looks good. I even got the new crib bedding washed up and on the new crib and that looks pretty nice too. 



Stairs Before

Stairs After

Thursday was a busy day of Thanksgiving with family. I played my trumpet at church so we had to get a little early start to the morning for practice and then went straight from the service to my folks' house. After a fabulous dinner with my family, we went over to the Ploeg's for the afternoon and didn't get home until 7pm -- it was a long day but the boys did pretty well.




Sam's Cookie Area

Tyler's Cookie Area

Friday was the annual Christmas cookie-a-thon with the VLugts at my mom's house. It's funny how things have changed over the years as we now have more kids than moms which means lots of rotation of who is watching the kids vs. the cookies but the results were delicious. My buddies even got in on the decorating (I have a wonderfully relaxed mom who doesn't get worked up about a sprinkle or two on the floor)! Friday afternoon I also had a dinner date with two of my high school friends who I don't get to see often enough and it was so wonderful to catch up.



Saturday was a much needed day of relative quiet with just me and the boys (Jack was working). The boys and I put up some Christmas decorations, went to the grocery store, played outside, and just hung out. I even squeezed in a nap!

Sunday was the VLugt birthday celebration of the twins turing two. I can hardly believe my babies are two! My mom made them special diet-friendly cupcakes which they loved (I tried them and they were actually good -- this is not always the case with these gluten free, dairy free, etc. mixes). They also made quite a haul in terms of presents: Elmo's, baseball gloves, PJ's, noisy Tonka trucks (with no off switch -- thanks Kristin), books, a Thomas movie, and an art easel with supplies (and probably more that I forgot). They absolutely loved it. I wasn't sure how much they'd get into it but they were both honestly pumped about all of it! Ty was particularly excited about his own glove as Sam wasn't much of a sharer of daddy's old one.

For years I have loved celebrating my beautiful niece and nephews' birthdays with presents, cake, and fun for their special day but I find when the attention is turned towards my kids, I have a lot of the same feelings I felt with my baby or wedding showers -- this is all too much! You are all too nice! I hope this wasn't too much trouble! As I have said before, I have a wonderful family and on this weekend of Thanksgiving and with all its activity, I am reminded how lucky I am to be surrounded by a family who loves me (and my kids) as much as I love them.

Praise the Lord for all his wonderful blessings!

The boys totally zoned out after a busy weekend.

More Dancing

Brothers

It must be so fun to always have a buddy. Whether they are tackling each other or hugging, stealing toys or sharing, they always have a buddy around to play with. The other day, we were at the Woodland play area and twice I noticed Tyler mid-climb on the banana or bowl of shredded wheat suddenly looking around, calling for "Sam, Sam." He just was wondering where his buddy went. And one morning last week, while Sam was still in his crib, he spotted Tyler out with mommy in the hall already and shouted "Tyler!" -- to which Ty immediately responded with "Sam!" and ran towards his crib.

Raising twins has been an interesting parenting experiment and it really shows you just how different personalities can be, regardless of how you parent. Sam is much more likely to want a certain cup, toy or blanket while Tyler is much easier to please and is generally willing to switch for which ever cup, toy or blanket Sam doesn't want (as long as he gets one, of course). Sam loves sports -- he carried his "glub" (aka glove) around for the whole week last week and he is actually pretty good at throwing and hitting off the tee. Tyler likes sports too but he is often content to "golf" (hit a ball on the ground rather than off the tee) while Sam is hitting homers. On that note, though, I must say I am very proud to say that they take turns really well with the tee lately. They love to announce "My turn!" and the other one backs up out of the way.

They are both very verbal lately and will repeat anything you say. On top of that, they also come up with their own sentences or responses to questions that actually make sense. The other day, Sam said to me totally unpromted, "I want ice cream" (definitely my son). They both are getting really good at naming all their cousins (their pictures are on the fridge). They suddenly love Elmo. They both started counting (for which I must give credit to either Kathy or Gramma because they didn't get that from me) and are working on colors and shapes too. There is a whole lot of learning going on in those cute little heads!

We bought our third crib last week and while I know that sounds crazy, I wasn't ready for the hassle of keeping Sam and Ty in big boy beds while moving them to an upstairs bedroom. We bought it on Craigslist and I figure we can always resell it. Funny enough though, two days later Sam showed me just how big he's getting by both climbing in and climbing out of his crib all on his own (neither of which did I actually witness, just the after-effects). He was so proud of himself. He kept saying "I did it!" for about 10 minutes afterward. He hasn't done it since though and I haven't reminded him of his new talent. We have yet to really make the changes around here to prepare for little bud (like moving the boys upstairs and finishing the construction in the basement) but I am aiming for the first of December for everything to be done ...

Smiles

Say cheese Ty!

Got a few wiffles, Sam?

Various Thoughts

Various thoughts from my crazy pregnant brain:

• Children's footed sleepers should all have that flap covering the zipper. Sam has discovered how to unzip and undress.


• Bleach is absolutely necessary in bathroom cleaning products. I tried other shower cleaners (in an effort to avoid the buring sensation in my lungs in our unventilated bathroom) but they simply didn't work. One round with the Tilex with bleach and it looks sparkly clean.


• Tigers in the playoffs means a lot of nights watching baseball in a row.


• When it rains, it pours. In the last few weeks, my 19 year old TV (that I bought in 5th grade with my allowance) died, our 6 year old laptop died (pretty sure), our 9 year old Nissan is running poorly ... and it's either a $500 fix or a much bigger engine issue fix.


• Baking / cooking / any task takes 1/5th the time without kids biting your ankles.


• I can't stand regular radio stations lately. Between the announcers and the ridiculous songs, I seem to find myself listening to NPR (which also repeats itself a lot and has stupid stories). Yes, I just turned 55.


• DVR is a fabulous invention.


• "Expensive" trash bags are worth every penny.


• I love my family. Obviously, I love Jack and my boys but I also love my parents, siblings and niece and nephews. Sometimes I forget how great I have it that we all truly get along and like to be together -- and it is a wonderful blessing.


• Random info for my never updated baby books: Ty is 33.5 lbs, Sam is 27.5 at 22 months.

Baby, Basement, and Food

Little baby Ploeg is 28 weeks now. He's moving and shaking all the time (especially right around 10pm ... hopefully that isn't indicitave of life outside the womb) and my Baby Center weekly email says he's over 14 inches long and 2 pounds. Crazy, huh? He'll be here before we know it and frankly, we're not ready! We are absolutely stuck on a name. We have yet to move the twins upstairs (or get it ready for that matter). I'm not ready for three hour increments of sleep. I'm not ready for another set of lungs hollering for mama. All that said, we are excited for this precious little babe to join our family. I'm excited to see who he looks like, how my boys will react to him, what he will be like.

In the mean time, the boys are doing well. They love to play outside ... a little too much and I'm nervous for the weather to really turn on us. Which is why we are seriously looking into doing some work on our basement to get it usable for them. They will need a place to run and they already love to go down there and play with the ping pong table and toys. Hopefully we can make that happen before December and baby roll around!

We went to the dietician last week but in all honestly, it wasn't all that helpful. We did get a recommendation for a prescription nutrition drink that I think will be good for the boys but all in all, she didn't have any novel ideas or recipes or tactics to make them magically eat carrots or grow out of their allergies. I got the sense that we weren't exactly an easy case (which to be fair, if we actually decide to follow Sam's full list of "bad" allergies, he won't be able to eat much more than carrots and beef -- all easily available grains are out and a lot of fruits). We haven't at this point taken any new steps in the diet though because both boys have been doing relatively well on the current wheat, milk, egg, and nut-free diet. If anything, I may try to exclude soy but that's in a lot of their existing foods that they actually like ... so I haven't decided yet. Wouldn't it be great if #3 didn't have any of these allergies? Unlikely, I know, but man that would be great!