A special visitor...

We had our first visit from the TOOTHFAIRY a couple of nights ago! Thomas Scott lost is right/center bottom baby tooth as he was brushing his teeth before bed. He was so excited it took him an extra hour to fall asleep. He said he couldn't wait to put his name on the chart at school "right on top of Will Daly's name"!

Playtime with Claire and Ronan

Ronan was tolerating Lauren's manipulation a little better than Claire. It looks like he actually liked being put on the pillow and covered with her dolls' blanket. These playgyms are great for babies, but can be down right dangerous when the older kids decide that they can be used as flying saucers etc. Connor like to get under them with the babies and poor Claire and Ronan have taken more than a couple knees to the head.

Hooray for SMILES!!

Tummy time is very limited around here. Half the time it is just not safe to have them on the floor at all and half the time they have just eaten and barf all over the mat when I put them on their tummies. Hope they still learn to roll over and lift their heads eventually. :)

Toads and Lizards

Those of you who know Connor can picture him saying to Lauren "Ca I hol it, ca I hol it, ca I hol it?" over and over again until she handed it over. They found the toad at Grandma's house and brought it over in an old butterfly habitat. Lauren LOVED it and named it Hopper. Lauren and Connor spent the afternoon pretending to be frogs as they chased Hopper all over the grass. Eventually Carrie convinced them to leave him there so he could explore while they came in for a snack. "Run, frog! Run!," I thought, "Run for your life!!" It did, but only to turn up the very next day in our sand box where Connor was delighted to find him. Those of you who know Lauren, know that she is ALWAYS looking for a prince, even at four years old. Maybe she thought Hopper was her knight in shining armor? I just think it is cool that my little girl isn't afraid to pick up a toad (right uncle Tim?). Where is Hopper now? Supposedly living in our fountain somewhere with the two lizards that were captured and then escaped the next day.

The Stay at Home Crew

Connor, Claire and Ronan hang out at home with me and our helpers...Grandma, Grammy and Carrie. Connor is two and a half years old and he enthusiastically sends his dad and older siblings out the door every morning, waving and yelling BYE until he can't see the truck anymore. Thankfully he welcomes them back home (especially Brian) at the end of the day.
Claire and Ronan are 11 weeks old....gosh, that is still so young and so much has happened in that short time...they are doing really well. They are right up there in the "normal" range on all of the growth charts after measuring a bit small initially. They are good eaters and relatively good sleepers if not always at the same time. While big kids are at school, Connor plays outside, or entertains himself in the playroom. Babies go from eating, to bouncer, to playmat, to swaddled in bouncer, to bed and repeat. :) The days are becoming pretty manageable (with help) and even fun....now if everyone would just SLEEP THROUGH THE NIGHT!!!!

First Day of First Grade!

Thomas is in Mrs. Bahrmann's class at Corrales Elementary. He has many of his friends in his class and seems excited about the year to come. I am so happy that school has started so that someone else (someone getting a full night's sleep) will be in charge of stimulating his very active brain every day!

Lauren is in the Pee Wee class at Corrales this year. So far, she loves it. She even talked her teacher in to giving her the very first snack day so that she could be the first to bring in her show and tell item. September 1st....thanks Lauren! :)

We are all looking forward to a great year!

New Arrivals

Are they boxing or snuggling? The one below is definitely a snuggle. :)

Brian has his hands full now!

Claire stretches out more than any baby I have every seen. She doesn't just stay in that scrunched up fetal position.

Ronan is Thomas made over...we can't believe the resemblance.

I feel divided! Who do I pick up first? Who do I talk to first? :)

Connor greeting Ronan. He says "too cute mama, too cute!".

Just as Lauren is partial to Claire, Thomas thinks Ronan is the coolest.

We were all smiles when Claire came home.

Claire and Ronan McCarthy were born on June 8, 2009. 8:49am and 8:50am respectively. Claire came out screaming her head off and weighed in at 5lbs, 10oz and 18.5inches long. Ronan made a quieter entrance and measured 6lbs even and 19.5inches long.

Claire was able to join us in our hospital room several hours after the birth. Ronan had a few breathing porblems and had to head to the NICU. We were able to visit him later that day and then began the process of nursing Claire, pumping milk, and taking it to Ronan in a bottle.

We brought Claire home on Thursday afternoon, and were able to pick Ronan up the very next evening. With everything said and done, we feel VERY lucky to have everyone home within the week with no major complications for babies or mom.

C-section is quite the experience. Very different from what I had done in the past, but again, I am very thankful for the c-section option considering that both babies were breech and Ronan was significantly bigger than Claire. It is doubtful that he would have made it out behind her in a vaginal delivery. Everything happens for a reason. I am absolutely confident that God was watching out for us every step of the way on this twin pregnancy journey. We joke now that we apparently moved to El Paso just to finish the pregnancy and have our babies! Whatever the reason(s) we are ready and eager to move back to the Corrales area as a stonger, better, bigger family! See you all soon.

Arkeology

The whole cast! Along with Thomas' graduation, the school did a spring program called Arkeology. They sang songs about Noah and all the animals. Lauren was a giraffe...appropriate,as she is a head taller than every kid in her class and even some of T's classmates. We had to stick a bow on Lauren's giraffe mask because she is rarely without one herself. :)

Connor and Brian and I play a little as we wait for the action to start.