Travel Day!

So we embarked on our first family adventure yesterday. I had taken some time off work and with a lot of Rachel's family headed to Ohio for the 4th we thought it was a good time to take the babies to see everyone. Our plan was to head out after dinner time and drive through the night because that's when K and I sleep the best. Well . . . 6 to 7 p.m. is what we like to call the witching hour at our house and Tuesday was no different. We finally get them feed and in their car seats and both are screaming until we go out to the garage and both quiet immediately. Maybe it was because they were excited about the trip or maybe it was because a huge thunderstorm started. We then caught every red light in Pelham. Both kids were great, K fell asleep very quickly and I-man fell asleep right after his hiccups were done. We then made it all the way to Athens, AL a whole 1 hour 30 mins of driving before Kailyn was ready to eat. Here's where things get interesting.

We pull into a Chickfila and were 10 spots from anyone on either side and secluded from the windows of the restaurant but in full view of the drive through. Which happened to be the busiest place in Athens.......... there were 3 cars in line the whole time they were feeding. Rachel starts to feed K in the back seat while I run into the restroom before the store closes. Well, the back seat has little room and with the car not running Rachel becomes hot and claustrophobic fast. K is doing her best bucking bronco impersonation and soon both girls are near tears. Meanwhile I-man guzzles down his bottle and promptly falls asleep. K decides to take 45 mins to eat instead of her usual 2o so what we thought might be a quick stop wasn't. We also forgot a very important part of her routine, her gas drops. Bad idea. For the next 2 hours every 15 mins K would take 5 mins to scream her head off and spit up. I-man slept like a champ. We made it to the 5/8th mark and it was time to eat again. This time we choose a Days Inn parking lot which I thought was quiet and secluded (Rachel interprets as dark and scary and nearly broke her neck continuing to check behind us as she fed. She also self confessed when her head wasn't spinning like a record player she was checking the mirrors.) This feeding went well and we (not K) gassed up but the store was closed so I had to find a Waffle house to use the restroom (selections are limited at 3 a.m.) While I was in there K decided to blow out her diaper. I mean blow out. So I changed her diaper in the front seat (funny thing Waffle house didn't have a changing station) and when we got home realized poop was all over her legs and sleeper. I then realized we had 3 hours of driving time to go and if we stopped again we would get stuck in Cincinnati morning traffic. So I told the kids I would give them each 100 dollars if we didn't have to stop again. Sure enough both kids slept like champs and only had to be consoled in the last 10 mins. Like mother and father these kids can travel!
Here are some other facts.

Rachel did not go to the bathroom one time. 11 plus hours. How, I do not know
I was passed by a man talking on his cell phone at 4 a.m. Who was he talking to?
5 hour energy is amazing.
Seeing deer instantly makes you more awake.
5 hour energy makes the taker want to make jokes at 3-4 a.m. The wife of the taker does not find them funny.
The gas station where we stopped had 2 for 3 dollar sloppy joes. Seriously. I thought the hot dogs and tostatos on those hot metal rollers were disgusting but gas station sloppy joes. Yuck.
Both my kids are awesome travelers. If we had remembered gas drops the trip would have
been great.
We enjoyed seeing a beautiful sunrise over the rolling hills of southern Ohio.
A special thanks to Kristina and Leannya for letting Josh sleep the night and day before so this journey could be possible.

Smiling!

Kailyn and Isaac have been smiling a lot more lately and Kailyn has been cooing some. I took some video of them smiling and captured a view smiles in picture as well. Enjoy!

1 Month Old

Believe it or not, the little guys are now over 5 weeks old. Time is flying. Between feedings, diapers, naps, eating..........I don't seem to get a whole lot done but we are sure enjoying our little K and I. Time well spent if you ask me:) I don't have a lot of brain power to type much so I will leave you with some one month pictures and a few tidbits of the last month.



- weighs approximately 7 lb 6 oz
- eats every 2-2.5 hours during the day
- sleeps between 3.5 - 5 hours for one stretch in the night
- loves to be held at any point during the day
- spits up frequently
- smiles a lot and has even laughed out loud a few times
- a great cuddler
- full of expressions, see picture above
- has quite a bit of hair, that actually looks a little red in the sunlight
- getting a round face and tummy
- likes to know what is going on and very "in tune" to what is going on around her




- weighs approximately 7 lbs 7 oz.
- eats every 2 - 2.5 hours
- sleeps between 3.5 - 5 hours for one stretch in the night
- is a morning person
- great napper
- smiles frequently
- favorite activity is to stare at the ceiling fan from his Boppy
- lots of serious expressions
- hates to have diaper changed, clothes changed and bath time (likes to be covered at all time)
- loves to be sung to and to listen to music
- likes to cuddle if well fed
- getting pretty long and heavy and is very strong

Both are doing very well and are generally very pleasant throughout the day. We are very blessed! Now.....to see if I can catch a quick nap............

Go Vols

Hello! We have had a great week with Mama Linda in town. She left this morning and Aunt Robbie has replaced her as relative on duty. :) The kids are doing well and seem to be growing as we notice more fat wrinkles to clean last night at bath time. Rachel is doing well but tired as you might imagine. She is a SUPER mom if you ask me!! I'll leave you with a few pictures from our Tennessee photo shoot. They received matching UT onesies from Rachel which I love! We continue to be humbled and blessed by all the kindness and generosity of our friends and family. Thank you!

Here are some of the pictures from the photo shoot this week. My sister-in-law Andrea did the shoot. She is a spectacular amateur photographer who is not so amateur. Enjoy!

The Gravy Train

Hello all, there hasn't been too much new to report with K and I. Mainly they eat, sleep, poop and start over. Some people say "I can't imagine twins" so I'll give you a little run down on how feeding goes . . . 8 to 9 times a day. When one starts to wake up we take them (we'll say Kailyn) and change her diaper and hand her off to Mom for 15-30 mins of feeding. While Rachel burps her, I (or Colleen and mainly Colleen with me back at work) wake up Isaac and change his diaper. After and exchange of babies if Kailyn still acts hungry we'll give her some extra pumped milk or formula. She gets burped and hopefully falls asleep before Isaac is finished. When Isaac is done we give him some supplement if he acts hungry which he normally does. Rachel is off to pump, while I burp and put him to sleep. The whole process takes anywhere from an hour to hour and a half and is usually ready to start again between 2.5 and 3 hours after we started. It is exhausting to me at times and I'm sure Rachel is a little more tired than me. :) One cute look make it all worthwhile.

Dr. Visit

Many of you know we were concerned with the babies weighing only 5 lbs at our Saturday Dr.'s visit. Well today they weighed 5 lbs 9.5 oz ( Baby K) and 5 lbs 8 oz (Baby I) It ends up the lady that weighed us Saturday didn't know what she was doing. They were 5 lbs 5 oz and 5 lbs and 7 oz instead of 5.05 lb etc. So they checked out very well and we are relieved to know they are growing well. It only cost us Rachel and Colleen spending 1.5 hours in the waiting room. The most exciting part of the day is Aunt Janel is here for the late duty!