The Pee Contest and The Pacifier Defense

We have been keeping score of how many times the twins pee and poop on us (we can’t keep up with the spit-up). Madelyn is winning right now with 8 incidents. 7 from Dylan and once from Kiera. Yes, Madelyn knew the possibilities of this happening before the twins arrived but it still happens. Kiera got Madelyn during their first bath. As soon as Madelyn took off Kiera’s diaper and layed her on the towel Kiera completely relaxed. Madelyn did learn her lesson and Dylan’s diaper stayed on until the very end. Dylan did get Todd two times at once. Todd was being very nice and changed Dylan’s dirty diaper even though the diaper was soiled while Madelyn was holding him. During the diaper change Dylan let loose. Todd jumped got a diaper covered Dylan up but then relaxed on the covering and Dylan let loose again all over Todd this time. Dylan has a rather impressive aim. The best part is that all of this is not just limited to parents. Kiera got Nana today. While changing Kiera’s diaper Nana was delayed on having the diaper just right and Kiera not wanting Nana to feel left out peed all over her blanket. When Nana asked if Kiera thought that was funny Kiera actually giggled. Now just as we stated previously, we are first time parents so if we say Kiera giggled, she giggled.

Current Stats
The Twins:
Dylan – 9
Kiera – 2

Everyone else:
Madelyn – 8
Todd – 1
Nana – 1
Teah – 1

Kiera after her first sponge bath
(This doesn't fit with anything in this post, but how could we not post a picture this cute??)

The hospital told us that we needed to give the twins a pacifier to help with sucking reflexes and digestion. Now that’s not needed anymore, so we have almost completely stopped using pacifiers. Apparently, Dylan’s afraid we are going to completely eliminate the pacifier as he’s learned to hold onto his pacifier with a death grip. He’s always done a better job of holding on to it. Kiera’s too intense with it and it flies out of her mouth. One day Dylan was holding it with both hands like he was afraid to lose it. Maddy tried to pull it out and he fought her for it. See the pictures below to find out who won that fight – I bet you already know who won.

My Pacifier

And No One's Taking it From Me - Not Even Mom!
(Look at the intensity in his eyes)

The Winner!!!
(and future Texas Tug-of-War Champion)

Kiera has been making the greatest pirate face ever, but we haven’t been able to get a picture of it yet. She closes one eye and opens her mouth to the side in a huge yawn as if to say, "Arrgghh, Matey". Okay, maybe we're sleep deprived, but its funny to us. And yes, that is what she's saying. She says a lot of other things to us, but we're afraid they'll commit us if we reveal all our conversations with Dylan and Kiera. Anyway, it’s the funniest thing, but it never lasts long enough to record it.

Purely Photos

Class of 2030
(Kiera on the left and Dylan on the right)

Leaving the Hospital

Dylan's First Thumb Suck

The Cutest Twins Ever!!
(What's up high that she likes and what's down low that he dislikes?)


Daddy and Daughter
(Ignore the painting shorts)

We're Home!

This post is a combination of several intended posts that we haven't had time to write.

We're Home

We left the hospital Saturday around lunch time! So we were there about three days and 14 hours. The twins never had to go to the NICU and we didn't have to bring them home with tubes, machines or anything else attached. Pretty good considering we had premature twins from a c-section. We're praying that this continues and Dylan and Kiera stay healthy.

One Week

Dylan and Kiera are a week old today! Of course, you could also say they're negative 2 1/2 weeks old if you look at their due date, but that's too much trouble. We're thrilled that we've made it through the first week with healthy babies and neither parent has been put in a looney-bin - though we're not far off.

Cross-Eyed

Todd's been frustrated that he doesn't burp the babies as well as Madelyn. She keeps tellling him he has to hit harder and he thinks that's cruel. So we were discussing this as we were feeding and burping (yet again). Todd is burping Kiera, when he looks up and sees Dylan go cross-eyed after getting burped by Maddy. So yes, Maddly literally slapped her son cross-eyed! It only lasted a couple of seconds, but is one of the saddest, scariest and funniest things to happen to us so far. Todd's sticking the softer pats and the back rubs even if it takes twice as long to get the burps out!

Cuddling

Dylan and Kiera seem to fit the stereotypes of males and females. She loves to cuddle and he tries to get away. Yes, we know they're only a week old and they don't know what's going on, they can't roll over, they don't know who anyone is, etc. etc. They do just enough, though, to convince you that maybe they do know. They're sharing a crib (there's enough room to put four more kids in there without anyone touching each other) and almost every time we put her down on her back, she rolls towards Dylan and quite often reaches out to grab him. Compare the first picture below, "Snuggling", with the Sept 28th picture, "Two Cute Babies". In "Babies", Kiera starts off close, but not literally face-to-face. By "Snuggling", she's all the way next to him when he hasn't moved. This happens every day. She usually has to move further than that to get next to him and she always finds a way.

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While in the hospital, Kiera was able to get ahold of Dylan's nose and she wasn't letting go. We laughed as she held on for quite a while. Eventually, Todd had to pick Dylan up for a feeding and she still wasn't letting go even as Dylan was in the air. When Todd pulled Dylan free, Kiera was ticked and let everyone know about it!

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Kiera (on the left) Snuggling with Dylan

Got Your Nose!
(Kiera's grabbing Dylan)

Gulliver's Travels into the Land of Giants - What a Difference a Few Weeks Makes!
Neil and Andi Weathersbee visited us in the hospital and brought along 4 week old Jonathon. We were amazed at the size difference so we laid our "biggest" twin, Dylan, on the couch next to Jonathon - WOW!! Technically, Jonathon has eight weeks on D&K since he's four weeks old and our twins were almost four weeks premature, but still. Its amazing to see how fast they grow!

Dylan and Jonathon

Cats
At this point we have three cats in the house, two babies, a mother-in-law (she's not allowed to leave) and the two of us, so we have a pretty crowded house. Why do we have three cats - I don't know! Maddy found Lucky in the middle of the street when Lucky was a small kitten. Eight weeks after getting married we adopted eight week old Peanut from the shelter. When Maddy's father died, we found a home for his dog and younger cat, but we're taking care of Sydney until we find her a home. The cats haven't eaten since we've been home - obviously they're a little bothered by all this. One of them (Todd's blaming Lucky) peed on our bed Sunday. This is a frustrating situation. One bright spot is that Peanut seems okay with all this. Ironic since she's the biggest coward you'll ever see. By Sunday, she was sniffing the babies and even laid down and rested her head on Kiera's bottom.

I'd like 2 Burritos - To Go, Please

We've really been blessed by God to get these two wonderful babies. The two of them seem really healthy. We're extremely fortunate.

Burrito Babies


Two Cute Babies

Thursday brought in the first (non-family) visitors for the twin terrors. Here are a some pictures of a few of the visitors

Charis and Sam

Jenny

Jessica chillin' out

Kiera's Close Up

Janelle's Crazy Eyes - No idea what's going on

Janelle loved holding the twins, but soon asked us to take Dylan so she could hold Kiera. She LOVES her "Keer-wa".

The Day After - What Do We Do Now????

I'm not sure if "the day after" is accurate since we basically never slept. We got a couple hours sleep this morning around dawn. Its been a full day with all the doctors, nurses, therapists and every other profession that can stop by - and find a reason to bill us! :) They've all been great, but they have a long ways to go to match up to the antepartum nurses that helped us for so long. Those nurses were incredible and were probably the reason why we didn't go crazy.

Here are some pictures of our immediate family that stopped by today. Actually, Madelyn's mom, Della, drove up here as soon as we told her Maddy was going into labor and left around 3am this morning. Todd's parents live in Livingston and drove as soon as they found out and arrived at the hospital about 2am.

Happy Mom and Babies!

With Todd's father, Charles

The Grandmothers: "Nana" Della and "Grandmom" Sherolyn

Big cousins Preston and Janelle loved holding the twins

The Twins Are Here!!!

Last night Maddy started having contractions every 2-6 minutes, so the nurse called our doctors and said it was time to go have some babies! Todd hadn't eaten in 8 hours, so he told Madelyn and the nurse that no kids were being born until he ate the sandwich he just made. It turned out to be a great sandwich! Afterwards, we went to Labor and Delivery and the babies were born about 10pm on Tuesday, September 25th. The first one was a boy and named Dylan Jacob King. The second one out was a girl and named Kiera Jane King.

Dylan weighed 5lbs 9oz and was 17 inches long. Kiera weighed 5lbs 6oz and was 17 1/2 inches long. Both are doing great and were able to bypass the NICU and go straight to the nursery - a huge accomplishment for premature singletons or any twins.

Madelyn is doing great. She's enjoying not being confined to bed rest as she has been for the past month and a half.

Dad (with the Lunch Lady cap) & Twins minutes after their births

Dylan

Mom and Kiera

Dylan and Kiera