Chicago Botanic Gardens

It's my goal to do at least 2 "go somewhere" fun things a month (not including the bi-weekly trip to Sams Club and the grocery store) and in that spirit, this past week we decided to visit the Chicago Botanic Gardens. It's not exactly easy finding places to take your 3 month old twins where people won't mind the possibility of a lot of crying, nursing, and where I don't mind showing off my spit-up upon attire. The botanic gardens are the perfect adventure for us for several reasons: outside babies can cry all they want and no one gets mad, there are plenty of secluded benches for nursing, it gives us a chance to get a little exercise, there are lots of pretty colors for the babies to look at, and the best part is....drum roll... it's FREE! woo-hoo! That is, for military anyway. So off we went with sandwiches in hand and babies snug in their blankies.

Camden all snug with his daddy

co in the snap and go. we decided to switch off who rode in the stroller and who was carried. The one getting carried gets a great view and extra snuggling

Sleepy Cohen. Wonder what he's dreaming about...

What a cutie!

I want a vegetable garden just like this! It's fantastic! These boxes let in the sun but can be closed to keep the plants out of the elements. The bottom is open to the soil.

These huge vegetables were all around the vegetable garden, there was one pumpkin as big as 2 men!

beautiful vegetable garden! can't wait to have my own like this one day...

They have a bonsai display with 20 specimens, some over 50 years old. these things are amazing the way they are grown and shaped to look like full grown trees! I wish Trevor could have been there with me to see them.

Forest, or bonsai?

I spy with my little eye...Find Cameron and Camden in these two photos!

cameron decided to take the babies on their first "off-roading" adventure

Don't you love my luscious lips! mwah!

I know this guy does...

Gettin' ready to eat some yummy milks for lunch

I see the boob, I see it!

Is it my turn yet mom?

A really cool cactus in a really warm greenhouse.

Love the eyebrows. Can't wait to see what he can do with them when he's older

Cannabalism?

PEEK-A-BOO! I see you!

There was a cute little water feature in the hallway so I decided to sit a bit with Co before going back out into the cold

There was a flower show going on at the time-the pink one and the white one are my top picks. I would love waking up to a vase of these freshly picked every morning!

Cool prickly brain looking thingie

Public Museum

A week before we went to the zoo, we tried to go to the zoo but ended up going to the Public Museum of Kenosha instead because of bad weather. We've been there once before when the babies were in my tummy but didn't get to finish seeing all the exhibits so we decided to give it another go. Little did we know that if it was hard to see everything when I was PREGNANT, it is near IMPOSIBBLE to see everything with two hungry babies needing attention!

Daddy loves to make funny faces at the camera!

haha there is a baby under there but I bet you can't tell!

I'm making a weird face...not sure whats going on there. camden is sure a cutie though!

Luckily we found a nice sunny spot upstairs where I could nurse (I think it was a total of 4 times, which occupied more than 50% of our two hours in the museum). As it turned out, the art display they had was kinda weird, so I didn't mind sitting and nursing most of the time; there was such a great view out the windows of the lake and the sailboats on it.

this is what Cameron did while I nursed. Cameron + baby + more than 5 minutes = sleep

I'm so glad I found this car seat carrier on craigslist for $20 bucks, woot! so much easier than getting them out of their car seats and putting them into a stroller when they're sleepy

camden's whats goin' on face

I think there were also exhibits on Renaissance art studios and some stuff on Kenosha in the past, but I just saw lots of babies, go figure!

Cohen: My sleeping angel of chub

First Trip to the Zoo

So we were feeling adventurous a few weeks ago and decided to explore Racine, a little city north of here. Ok so we weren't feeling as adventurous as we really just couldn't afford the gas to spend the day in Chicago...but we do love exploring! When I found out there was a zoo OF COURSE we HAD to go! (If you know anything about me you know I LOVE zoos! I even used to work at one  & it was the best job of my life...besides being a mom that is! I digress...so we went to the zoo in Racine.

the zoo is right on the beach! guess if the animals escape they better know how to swim!

I guess it's about 35 minutes or so away, but it's such a nice drive through the countryside to get there it doesn't seem like a burden (unless the babies are crying...that was on the way HOME luckily). Once we got inside Cohen started crying to eat, of course! I thought I had found a secluded spot to nurse in a little building but it seems like once I got the cover on and the baby latched everybody in the whole zoo suddenly entered! Talk about awkward! Luckily there was a tank of fish I could stare at and pretend I wasn't nursing my baby under this little cover with 15 complete strangers standing all around me staring in my direction (the fish tank was a good distraction for me, but unfortunately it was pretty much the only thing to look at in the building, and since I was right in front of it, they were all looking at me)!

After that whole ordeal things went a bit more smoothly (if you don't count the 2 other feedings and 2 diaper changes thrown in, lol) and we got to see a few animals.

Cohen in front of the exhibit of his fellow Gorillas

Notice the capacity for complex facial movements

the depressed penguins :(

The "easily ridable cows" (no that is not the scientific name). so dubbed by Cameron, as they have "big horns to grab onto so you don't fall off".

I admit I was pretty disappointed with the selection. It seems they had some cooler ones, but they were rebuilding some of the exhibits. We were, however, very much entertained by the meerkats (all 5 of them). Not natures finest specimens, but very enjoyable to watch in this instance. There was one little meerkitty who was standing watch who decided to be lazy and fell asleep at his post. It was pretty hilarious actually as he started to slide down the hill.

Before he fell asleep, vigilantly standing guard! who knows when some passerby might threaten to destroy his clans peace by throwing a piece of trash in the exhibit!

The main exhibit, however, appeared not the be the animals, but US! I guess the sight of a man carrying two babies in a front pack is unquestionably an interest since EVERY person we passed awwed and oohed and told us how cute it was!

I think we should have started charging people to stop and look at the cuteness!

standing up straight, a fine specimen of manhood!

camden

cohen (and the hairy chest)

US!

Time for more photos

So I thought I would put a few more photos on here (you can't have too many pics of babies!) to show how these guys are growing! 

Aunt Wendy made this fun blanket! We also love a good nightie

I think Cohen was surprised by something? Camden is chill

This is my FAVORITE face Cohen1 You are adorable! I adore you!

What's going on over there?

I don't know why I have so many shots of Cameron sleeping while holding the babies. Maybe because he's always sleeping?

Its almost like he knows how cute he is

Cohen is getting to be a CHUB! I can't believe they have doubled in size already1

Classic Cohen face

Camden hanging out in the swing. He looks like he has a really fat belly in this pic...must have just eaten

Does it say anything in the baby handbook about machine washability?

what I see every day and I love it

My sweet pie guys

These are my favorite outfits. They just barely started fitting into their 0-3 month shorts (now that it's starting to cool off of course!) so they can finally wear them!

Little Miracles

This is such an amazing story of a baby and mother connection. A little boy born at 27 weeks was pronounced dead, but after being held and loved by his mother came "back to life"! http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1306283/Miracle-premature-baby-declared-dead-doctors-revived-mothers-touch.html
It makes me upset that after Cohen was born I didn't get to hold him until I was discharged. After his birth they thought he was having a hard time breathing and whisked him away to the NICU before I even got a look at him and then off to another hospital to be monitored after he was stable without even giving me the chance to hold him. We need to demand as mothers that babies be left in the room with their mothers. I feel he would have done tremendous if he had only had the chance to be with his brother, father, and I before they decided he needed to live in the NICU. There is no reason why babies can't be on monitors in their mothers rooms where they can be held and fed the way nature intended for healing, not by a stranger with a schedule. I'm still looking forward to when I get the chance for a "natural" childbirth experience!

p.s. since Cohen has been home he's gained more weight than when they had tubes down his throat because he wouldn't eat for them. I wouldn't eat for a strange lady with a bottle either if I could have yummy warm milk from my mom!

Achievements Unlocked!

So since we have been parents for a whole two months now, we wanted to share with you some of the things we are becoming good at as professional parents (woot woot!). Hey wait..I'm the only professional one around here! ;)  I asked Cameron to put together a list of what he thought. Of course, Cameron puts things differently than I do...so below you will find Cameron's list of top ten parenting bests, followed by my explanation of what the heck he's talking about (with a picture in the middle for posterity).

Cameron's List
10.Flying
9. Spanking
8.Gettin' naked
7. Triscuitback riding
6. Sleeping in class
5. Speed Changing
4. Pee-dodging failure cleanup
3. Making burritos
2. Scaring mom
1. Break Dancing

Kristie's Explanations

10.Cameron running around the house with the babies pretending they're airplanes (I do not endorse this)
9.  Patting their backs when they're gassy
8.  Breastfeeding (of course, I am the only one in this house good at that!)
7.  Cameron likes to hold them over Triscuit and pretend that they are riding him...poor Triscuit
6.  Waking up in the night to take care of the babies.
5. Changing two poopy diapers in under 30 seconds flat!
4. Lots and lots of laundry (done mostly by ME I might add...)
3. Swaddling the bubs in blankets to put them to bed at night (Cameron definitely wins this one)
2. Cameron pretending to throw the babies in the air (also NOT endorsed by me)
1. This one is hard to explain...you have to see it to get the full effect, but basically it's Cameron's signature move...wiggling the babies when they cry. It's like a vibrating chair and they really like it.

And they came two by two

As all of you probably already know, the babies have arrived! Or rather...were born (since they were here the whole time...just in my tummy!! :) Here is a brief story of what happened on their birthday (sorry there aren't many hospital pics since it was an emergency delivery):

   I woke up around 2:30 am Monday the 21st to go to the bathroom and as I stood up it felt like a geyser shooting from between my legs (sorry-this part is not for those who don't want to hear about gross stuff!)! I was 35 weeks, 1 day, and my water had broke-against everything my birth class had told me! ;) Anyway it wasn't clear like it was supposed to be but bright red so the dr. told me to get to the emergency room asap. Surprisingly I was incredibly calm throughout the whole thing. I called a few friends, woke one up, and she was over in 20 minutes. By then the bathroom floor was soaked and there was a nasty trail from the couch to the bathroom and a very confused triscuit. In the mean time I was able to gather a few things together for the hospital, mop up the bathroom floor and stuff several towels between my legs. I called Cameron and in a haze he said he would find a way to get to the hospital from the base (where he lives-he sleeps at home on the weekends only). When my friend and I arrived at the hospital (only 1 contraction by this time) she had to find a wheelchair and wheel me in-from there they took me upstairs to labor and delivery and my very sleepy dr. arrived to do an ultrasound. He didn't tell me why there was so much blood but that Camden (A) was breech and we were doing a C-section in 45 MINUTES! I frantically tried to get a hold of Cameron, and luckily he arrived literally FIVE MINUTES before they cut me open. 

Almost time! Waiting to go to surgery. Don't we look so nice at 5am!

The whole thing happened extremely fast. I walked into the room and sat on the table-they had me lean over and gave me the epidural and before I knew it I felt like I was paralyzed from the waist down. The funny thing is that I could wiggle my big toe on the right foot the whole time, but couldn't feel anything else! I wiggled that toe the whole time to keep myself from freaking out about not feeling my bottom half! lol It seemed like only 5 minutes or so until Camden came out squealing like a little piggy. 

 

Camden's first pic

Cohen came out one minute later and only made one little yelp. In the recovery room they noticed he wasn't breathing right and he was rushed upstairs to the NICU.

 

 Cohen's first pic before they took him upstairs

Cameron was great the whole time-he couldn't look at anything that was happening, just told me everything was going great and we would all be fine (love you Cameron!). After another few minutes stitching me back up they took me to the recovery room where I shook violently for about an hour and threw up a couple times (isn't birth beautiful! ;) I never even got to see Cohen until they let me see him in his isolet before sending him downtown to the Children's specialty hospital for testing and observatin (they thought he might have sleep apnea or seizures). The next few days in the hospital are a blur. Cameron had to be on base doing paperwork to get time off, and all I really remember is that they had T.V. and a great menu to order from! lol

 Cameron and Camden asleep on the couch/cameron's bed

Camden AKA "cherry tomato" in his wheelie bed. 

He was so small and red with a round face, he looked just like a little tomato!

I have several great friends that took care of the mess at my apt and watched Triscuit for me during my stay at the hospital, I don't know what I would do without them! They arranged the babies room and set everything up, even sorting the clothes into separate age groups and putting them in my dresser. YOU GIRLS ARE AWESOME! Cameron, Camden, and I came home 5 days after the delivery. My mom and Gretchen arrived the day before I was discharged.

Cameron and Camden snuggling (Cam looks pretty tired). Camden always finds a way to stick his feet out of anything!

Sleepy Camden

Unfortunately Cohen had to stay in the hospital for 3 weeks for all sorts of tests including an MRI and a couple EEGs to determine whether or not he was having seizures. So far all they can see is that he has a cyst in his brain that occured in utero and is clearing up on it's own. It shouldn't do him much damage since babies don't start using that part of their brain until they are around 6 months old and he can store that info in another part of his noggin'. We will just monitor him and do a couple more tests as he gets a little older. As of now, BOTH MY BUBS ARE HOME!