7 Month Itch?

They are so cute but these babies are driving me crazy today. I am starting to look back and wonder where we have gone wrong with sleep training and why all of a sudden their daily schedule has completely stopped?

When we brought the girls home from the hospital, we used a sleeper box for about the first 2 months. They were then moved to their cribs and that was a pretty smooth transition. They slept solid through the night from about 4-6 months I would say and here we are back at square one. They no longer go to bed at a predictable time and 12:30 AM seems to be the new wake-up time. What gives?

I am starting to get a tiny bit concerned about their dependency. Yes, they are only 7 1/2 months old... but they have no desire to do anything for themselves. They don't show the least bit of interest in self feeding (bottles, sippy cups, or treats). They also rely on us to roll them over if they decide they are uncomfrotable or bored. Crawling has been a "in a couple of days" rut for more than a month now. I sure hope these aren't signs they will have a lifetime of laziness.

On a positive note, I think we have some of the best babies for public situations. They love to socialize. (knock on wood) We have not had one bad experience outside of the home. This weekend we were on the go quite often, but we were so proud of the little ones during our long day of shopping and then attending a hockey game. We have actually been complimented by strangers numerous times at restaurants, concerning how well behaved and quiet they are.

So I guess that means we have to take the good with the bad and it reminds me again of how differnet every little baby out there is from the next.

Let's Fast Forward 6 Months!

I am welcoming March with much happiness. March brings spring and with spring brings weather that I can stroll the babies outside and get out of this boring house! The girls are growing like weeds... I have missed out on blogging about so many fun events, but to sum it up, we have experienced... rolling, sitting, reaching, teething, falling, bruising, and plenty of crying! Their sleep schedule was perfect around 4-5 months then one day they decided they were too good for their cribs. We have tried sleep training, and its just not doing the trick. I think the next step is to move one crib into our guest bedroom and letting them both cry it out at night. :( Sounds cruel, I know... but that did work for Anna temporarily until we tried it with Abby and that just went horribly wrong with Anna in there. Typically we end up with one of the girls in our bed by morning and that is definetly a habit we want to break!

Also with the arrival of March comes big lifestyle changes. Now that I am responsible for two darling little lives, I finally see that I need to change alot about me to insure I am around for a long, long time to bug them with my motherly advice. :) I gained a lovely 40 pounds with the pregnancy, lost about 35 of it, and now put on another 30. YIKES. Needless to say, our food choices and daily activites will be changing. We purchased a treadmill (yay) to start out on and like I said, once the weather allows, we can take many walks/jogs with the girls soon enough!

Lastly, we will be building our dream home with construction beginning in September 2010. 2010 may shape out to be a great year afterall. Now if I could only get these spoiled twins to sleep at night!

Meet Abigial Elizabeth Nagode

Happy Birthday, Abigail!
She was in this exact pose in one of the 3D sonograms.

3 weeks old and already alret!

Abigail loves her binky!

During a smile session, but mom couldn't catch it on film!

Abigial is the "Nagode baby" with the exception of her dark hair which is more like mom's! She has been our chubby little cheeks baby since day one. Many have made the comment that she looks like a chipmunk and lots of people love to kiss and squeeze those darling chubby cheeks! Abigail started out to be the fussy baby, but big sis Anna Mae has now taken on that role. The only time Abigail fusses is when she is craving that taste of bottle! Abigail seems to get bigger eyes as the days past. She is becoming much more alert and LOVES to smile when we talk to her. She is making really good eye contact and seems to be socializing quiet well for a 6 week old.

Nana nicknamed her Cuddle Bug, which is very fitting. When she is cuddled she will quickly fall asleep and is very content. It used to be, that the second we put her down she would stir around and quickly let you know she wanted to be held. 6 weeks later, she is much more content when she is placed down for a nap, and even has the ability to soothe herself to sleep.

Abigail seems to be independent and rather smooth sailing for the most part. She is shorter than Anna Mae, therefore developing multiple and such adorable thigh roles! She likes to be tickled, patted, talked to and played with.

We love you, little girl!! :D

Meet Anna Mae Nagode

5 weeks :) and so Precious

4 weeks! Isn't my face filling out well?

Three weeks! So big!

I love car rides... looking out the window especially!

Happy Birthday, Anna Mae!

Anna Mae is the big sis by 1 minute! At birth, she seemed so dainty and fragile. She kept us up those first couple of nights by sneezing here and there, and making some odd noises. :) Matt quickly was drawn to her because Abigial was (then) more fussy and liked being held by mom. Originally she was quiet and now she is the noisemaker of the family. She is a very good eater (eating anything from 4-6 ounces), very good sleeper (sleeping anywhere from 6-8 hours), but oh-so crabby sometimes (crying anywhere from 1-3 hours)!!!

Anna Mae has not yet blessed us with a cute smile, but she makes the prettiest coo's and she sneezes so darling! She always ends her sneezing sessions with a big "Ahhh." When she fusses, she starts out so quietly and we think it will be an easy soothe, but then she really works herself up to the point of where nothing is comforting to her. She is typically very alert and loves to be held all the time. Right now that is the only way to put her to sleep... close cuddling and easy rocking.

Anna seems much longer than Abigial, and we think she is putting on weight a little more quickly than her little sister since she consumes more formula during a feeding. She has this pretty strawberry blonde hair currently, and we look forward to knowing if her pretty baby blue eyes will stay baby blue! Anna Mae is often compared to looking like her mommy.... just about everyone has made that comment. She seems to have more Jackson than Nagode in her!

We love you little girl :D

Happy Birthday, Little Nagode's!

so tiny they can share the hospital bed :D

Our first family portrait.... a nice Christmas card? :D

Hello, little loves!

Here's the 38 week belly...

Ok, Ok... we may be 5 weeks late. Hopefully you all can understand that we have been extremely busy and adjusting to parenthood. We haven't had much time to think, let alone update our blog! Let us think back to July 22nd here and see if we can sum up the best day of our life together!

After a long, long day of waiting, off we went to Methodist Medical Center around 6:30 P.M. We checked in at the ER and away we were swept to the maternity ward. We spent a good hour and a half in the exam room where all sorts of monitors and an IV were put in their proper places. We of course did a run through of questions with the nurse and doctor and Melissa was then prepped for surgery...

Nerves really set in as the surgery time crept up on us. Melissa of course had a breakdown and bawled her eyes out for a good 20 minutes, fearful she was going to die. (She did not appreciate stories of infections, blood clots, and hemmorhaging on TV and magazines during her pregnancy). After the tears stopped and she came to grips with reality, she was walked down to the surgery room and Matt was strapped into his "monkey suit."

The surgery went very well. So quick and painless (thank goodness)! We can't tell you how much we LOVED the surgical team and especially our Dr. Gibson! Anna Mae made her debut at 9:07 P.M weighing in at a healthy 6 lbs. 2 oz. and was 19 1/2 inches long. One minute later out slipped Abigail Elizabeth one ounce heavier and 1/2 an inch shorter than her big sis! Daddy Matt snapped some pictures, Mommy Melissa layed their curious and paitiently to see her big girls! After about 30 minutes of clean up and sewing Melissa back together, away the girls and Matt went to the nursery and Melissa to recovery.

Recovery was horrible. Melissa threw up we don't know how many times and was so exhausted and completely out of it from the anesthesia. The next day, she was up and out of bed with ease and even got to take a shower on Friday morning! Overall, it was not nearly the horrible experience she had been dreading and of course the best results were meeting our new little ones!

The Waiting Game

Here we sit at 1:40. Another 5 hours and 20 minutes stand between our arrival at the hospital! Then we will have to wait another 2 hours and 10 minutes to see those babies!

We are both in good spirits today. Giddy is a good word. Matt worked a half day and Melissa did her nesting one more time this AM. She is currently starving and thirsty as she began fasting at 9AM for the surgery. What a cruel way to end pregnancy for women with C-sections! After pigging out and being told to drink lots and lots of water for 8 months.... she now has to go food/fluid less for 12 hours prior to the surgery. Ouch!

Matt's parents are currently making their long trip up from Georgia and should be arriving in a few hours. We are happy that they were willing to make the trip to share in this special day to meet their #5 and #6 grandbabies!! Melissa's family will also be at the hospital (parents, gramma, sister & family). We are fortunate to have so many loving family members who want to support us on our special night with us! Kudos to you all for waiting the long wait and probably not getting home until the wee hours of the morning. We are sure it will be worth it :D

We keep getting asked what we still need for the babies at this point. In all honesty, if you would just keep us all in your prayers and hope for a quick, safe delivery... that is all we need! We look forward to sharing pictures in the next couple of days and finally being able to introduce you all to our little darlings... Anna Mae & Abigail :D :D :D

The Twinsie's Birthday is Set

July, 22 2009. :D

We will finally get to kiss and squeeze our little girls' cheeks soooo much that day! After Dr. Gibson did his normal routine with us today, he decided it would be best to schedule a C-section for this week. He just didn't want to risk us going into labor on my own any longer. This Friday, he happens to not be in town so 7/24 was out. Then we took a step back and looked at Thursday, Jully 23rd. That also happens to be Mimi J's birthday. How cute of a gift to get twin grandbabies! However, there was really no spot for us available for surgery on 7/23. That made us look one more day back and look at Wednesday, July 22nd. That is his surgery day at OSF but he is squeezing us in at 9:00 PM! We hope Dr. Gibson can take a nap after his long day at OSF and before coming to take care of business with us that late at night.

Melissa will have to fast for 12 hours Wednesday. Yikes. Someone might be going into surgery a little crabby. Blood pressure was good today & babies are still breech/transverse (no surprise there). She has to go to the hospital tomorrow for some quick blood work and have a talk with the anesthesiologist. Then its up to Labor & Delivery to talk about our birth plan with the following questions... Can you drop the curatin so we can see the girls being pulled out? Can daddy Matt cut the cord? Can Melissa not be strapped to the table like Jesus so she can touch her babies once they are out? Can we take pictures and video? Can we attempt breastfeeding in the recovery room? ETC.)

Oh, and after speaking with several people with experience & after some of our own consideration, we are going to request visitors (with the exception of family) to hold off from coming to the hospital for a couple of days. Maybe Saturday at the earliest? Since we are having such a late surgery Wednesday, and Melissa is a big wuss for pain... Thursday & Friday may be one heck of a couple of days for us with lack of sleep, adjusting to little ones, learning to breastfeed twins, etc. We want to share our little girls with our family first and foremost, but once we are home we would love to show them off to you all as well!! Don't worry, we will try and post pictures ASAP from the hospital!

Can you believe it's finally time to have some babies? Looks like we may successfully make it to 38 weeks after all... and that's been our goal from day one!! :D