Merry Christmas!!- a few more pictures

Ethan & Amber 18 months; Jackson 9 days old

Amber giving Uncle Kevin kisses (he was putting 7-up in her cup!) Brian having fun with the twins before bedtime.

Hannah cleaned up the house, set the table and poured some sparkling grape juice for Brian and I so we could have a 'date night.' This was all done while she had us busy doing a 10 step treasure hunt complete with sneaky hidden clues. It was very fun and very creative- a great Christmas gift-Thank you, Hannah!!

snow day pictures and Jackson update

Jackson is doing great, I took him to the pediatrician for a weight check and also asked them to remeasure his length...he seemed longer than 18 inches to me, turns out he is 19 and 3/4 inches! That's a pretty big difference, almost 2 whole inches off! I guess the nurse in the hospital didn't stretch out his legs very well. He is a good eater and pretty good sleeper so far. Brian has been going in to work but coming home earlier in the afternoon, so that he can help with the twins after their nap. Aunt Sarah came one morning this week and played with Amber and Ethan until lunch time, then we put them down for a nap. What a huge help! Thank you Aunt Sarah!!! I feel a little guilty about not being able to give them as much attention as they are used to, and for having PBS on for most of the morning. Oh well, they are really into Sesame Street and Elmo, and Arthur, and Cliffard now. It will hopefully only be like this until Jackson gets on a more regular eating schedule. I've been calling him "Hungry Jack!" I can't believe he'll already be one week old tomorrow!

Jackson Lowell Menicucci

6 lbs, 15 oz; 18 inches long

he arrived at 3:14 am on December 13th (we arrived at the hospital at 3:08 am!!!)
38 weeks, 3 days!

A little after midnight, Gina started contracting somewhat regularly but not too intense or painful and it seemed to fade after an hour or so. She rested on the couch for about an hour while her fearless, watchful, and ever-diligent husband fell back asleep in bed. Around 2:00 am Gina woke up to intense contractions that were only a few minutes apart. We left the house at 2:40am for the hospital and called on the way to let them know that we were coming in ready to go with contractions only 1 minute apart. As we rushed up to labor and delivery, our doctor who happened to be on-call met us and scurried us to triage while rounding up some nurses. She checked Gina and she turned out to be 9 centimeters already. The nurses wheeled her into a delivery room and with one more contraction, she was 10 centimeters and told to push. The first push and his head was out, and after a few intense seconds and one more push, little Jackson was in Gina's arms. We were only at the hospital for 6 minutes before he was born! He is nursing really well and has a very cute little cry. He has a small amount of peach fuzz blonde hair and blue eyes.

-Brian

Update: We just got home this Sunday afternoon, even though everything happened so fast, it was still a long time to be away from Hannah, Amber and Ethan. Grandma Menicucci and Aunt Sarah did a great job taking care of everyone while we were gone. Thanks! Hannah is already a big help while the twins are just sort of unsure of what Jackson is all about. They aren't terribly interested in him yet but point and say "baby." Enjoy the pictures!

Love,

Gina

my ob appointment today

Today at 1:00pm I had my appt. I was 4cm dilated and still about 75% effaced. So things are still progressing (last week I was 3cm and 75%, the week before I was 1.5cm and 50%)...I'm still contracting like I have been but nothing real regular or intense. I just feel like a walking time bomb. My next appointment isn't until the 22nd, I hope I go into labor before then!

Amber and Ethan, 18 months!!!

We went to their 18 month check up today, they are both doing great. They did well with their flu shots too, minimal crying due to a couple of Halloween suckers that I packed for them! (I got that tip from a friend.) Here are the stats:

Ethan is 25lbs = 50th% and is 35.5 inches tall= >95th% (off the charts for height!)

Amber is 23lbs=50th% and is 34 inches tall= 95th% (almost off the charts for height!)

Wow! At their last visit when they were 15months, they were both at the 75th% for height, but they've both obviously had a big growth spurt.

The doctor mentioned that for girls at 18 months, you can double their height and it is a ballpark number for what their height will be as an adult, so Amber could end up around 5'8. Yikes, that's tall, I'm only 5'3 or 5'4. She said you can do the same thing for boys when they are 2 years old. We may have some basketball players on our hands :)

So, being the nerd that I am, I looked back into my immunization record that happened to also have my weights and heights recorded....to see how accurate the theory is....at 18 months I was 33 and 1/4 inches....double that and you get 66.5 inches....I AM NOT 5 ft 6.5 inches tall...so who knows? I looked ahead at my record and at 24 months, I was only 33 inches, did I shrink over those next 6 months or did the nurse not measure me very accurately? Weird.

Here is a picture of our stockings hanging by the fireplace...I LOVE having a fireplace, it's so nice in the evenings and in the morning. You can see our lame little crocheted Christmas tree on top, that's as much as I wanted this year. Normally we're up in WI for the holidays and it doesn't make sense to get a tree, but this year, even though we are here, I didn't want one and have to police the twins more than usual! And, here is a picture of Hannah wearing my little black dress when she got dressed up for the Nutcracker Ballet. She looks very much older than 11 years old, don't you think?

Oh and here are my stats....I'm 37 weeks and 2 days, 3cm dilated, and 75% effaced; my weight is coming along nicely as well, but I'll spare those details!! Hopefully not too much longer to wait!

Happy Belated Thanksgiving!

We had a great Thanksgiving here in town with my inlaws and their extended family. I didn't get too many pictures that day, but Amber & Ethan got dressed up and enjoyed stuffing their little mouths. Hannah enjoyed having an extended vacation from school and had a sleepover with one of her friends. We also did a little shopping together, as in one store, it's all I can handle with the crowds and contractions and having to pee several times/hour. Brian and the babies are finally over their colds and are feeling much better so we are getting back into the normal routine. We visited a light show here in town displaying a family's homemade Christmas decorations with music and motion, it used to be at their home, but now all of the stuff is at a local school. I also posted some pictures I took of a couple of homes near our house that went all out with their lights...there is a contest in our neighborhood and I think they are going to win. Brian also put up our lights since we'll be staying here this Christmas and they look great. We are in definitely not entering the competition though! Last night we went to Hannah's choir concert, she wore her pretty black dress and the babies wore their Christmas outfits too. Hannah's middle school group sang beautifully and the babies didn't do too bad considering we were out way past their bedtime. I had plenty of snacks packed and between the all of the family that came, we had enough cell phones to keep them semi-happy.

The last picture are of the twins playing with a cardboard box in the yard (and fighting)...it seems lame but for some reason they really like boxes.

A Few Pics.....

Nothing new and exciting to report here...I've not been locked out of the house or anything this last week, so I'll just post some pictures. Ethan and Amber do some heavy duty wrestling every night with Brian which they LOVE and I finally got a few pictures of that. Ethan tries his hardest to get me to wrestle during the day, I'm not much of a match these days, but we still have fun. Amber has taken a liking to Hannah's old Bitty Baby doll and tries to suction out snot from it, THEY BOTH HAVE COLDS AGAIN, so the nose-sucker is out again, I am really sick of them getting colds!!! Amber has also tried to suction Colors, the cat, Ethan, or anyone else within reach! It's pretty funny. Hannah is doing well in school and has her Christmas Choir Concert coming up. We need to go shopping and get her some new shoes to match the dress and then get the dress hemmed exactly 2 inches from the floor with her shoes on...I wish my mom lived closer....she's good at those things. Hannah is also going to the Nutcracker this year with some of her choir classmates and she's borrowing my 'little black dress' and it fits her VERY well. It's insane, she's only 11 and is wearing my dresses?! I'll post a picture the night of the event. Also, she got a new haircut last week and now has some cute layers-it makes her look like she's 15, what do you think? The other picture is me trying to get cute one of all of the kids, it was much easier to do when the twins would just sit there, they don't do that anymore as you can see.

The pregnancy is going well, I'm 35 weeks on Wednesday....so if I go as long as I did with Hannah, just 3 more weeks. We have the new baby's room almost completely set up, it's hard to believe we are having another one in just a few more weeks. Yikes.

The BIG 5-0!!

Happy 50th Birthday, Grandma Foreman!!!!!
We hope you have a wonderful day making firewood, don't work too hard. Wish we were closer so we could celebrate with you!
Love,
Gina, Brian, Hannah, Amber, Ethan, & Lia or Jackson

A Bad Day

So today the twins and I decided to go out for an early lunch, at a nearby Burger King. They have a really good play place that is completely enclosed with a toddler area for the littler kids to climb on, plus I had a coupon for a free Whopper.... so we had to go! The twins had a great time playing and were not happy when it was time to leave. (I planned on doing some grocery shopping right afterwards and then needed to head back home for their afternoon nap, which has to be completed by 2:50pm so that we can be on the road to pick up Hannah from school.)

So, first of all, the day was a little odd because they both pooped while at Burger King. Lately, they only poop at home, and usually it's right before they go down for nap, but today they both decided to poop early....that wasn't so big of a deal, I had the diapers and wipes in the van, so after they played, I ended up changing them on the floor of the van. While changing them, I was all bent over in a sort of odd position, and I started contracting a bunch. Of course I had plenty to drink while at Burger King, and the contractions ALWAYS make me need to pee...but I was like, "oh, I'll be fine, I'll just finish up these stinky diaper changes, get those groceries, and then we can get home for nap, then I'll go to the bathroom."

And so we went on to Smith's for the groceries and I was so happy to be assisted by the nice bagger who offered to help me out with the cart full of groceries and two toddlers. I got them all buckled in, the groceries were loaded into the back of the van, and we were only minutes from home and a bathroom. At this point I was chanting, "I need to PEE, I need to PEE" to the tune of Mary Had a Little Lamb, no lie- all the way home. But we made it, I was quite proud to have gotten all of the groceries on my list and get through the store without any tantrums or serious whining.... and without wetting myself. We got home, I pulled into the garage, grabbed Ethan out of his carseat and put him and my purse and keys in the house (we go in through the laundry room), I quickly walked back out into the garage, got Amber out of her carseat and walked back towards the door to the laundry room when I heard a ....click...and could hear that Ethan was jiggling the door knob. I realized right away that Ethan reached up and turned the little lock on the door knob and locked me and Amber out of the house!!!
He was in the laundry room ALONE and there I was holding Amber in the garage outside the door! My keys were locked inside, along with my cell phone and purse, and there were no windows open and no way in to the house, (and I still had to PEE!) I hoped that Ethan might turn the lock back the other way, but he didn't.

That was an awful feeling. He was so mad that I wasn't coming back into the house, and he was crying "MAMA, MAMA!" over and over and over. I am so happy that I have a super paranoid babyproofing husband, I knew that there was nothing he could get into that would hurt him. Holding Amber, I ran across the street to my neighbor's house, borrowed her phone to call Brian, hoping he wasn't in some long business meeting or something; he didn't recognize the phone number so he didn't pick up the first couple of times we called. But, luckily, we were able to reach him. While I was over at the neighbor's I used their bathroom, then we came right back home. I just stood outside the door and talked to Ethan the whole time. He didn't wander throughout the house at all. Within 20 minutes of Brian getting our call, he was in the driveway with his set of keys.
Now we have extra keys strategically placed and will likely get a copy to our friendly neighbor too. Ugh...what an afternoon.

So, it turned out then that their nap was COMPLETELY off schedule, and we decided to let them nap and have poor Hannah stay after school at study hall. Brian picked her up on his way home from work, otherwise, the poor babies wouldn't have had more than 30 minutes to nap. It sort of worked out for Hannah though since she did have a lot of homework to do.

The twins are in bed now and it's 8:00pm and Hannah is throwing up- she has apparently caught some stomach bug like some friends of ours that we saw over the weekend. I am hoping and praying that the babies don't start puking tonight/tomorrow! Yuck, it could be another bad day.

Halloween Fun!!

(These pictures are in reverse order, start from the bottom of this post)

We missed a lot of the trick-or-treaters because we were out in the neighborhood ourselves; the babies found the left over candy bowl in the morning and started digging in while still in their pj's and slippers :)

Brian got caught sneaking candy from their pails!

The lambs got their first taste of candy, they were trying to eat suckers from their pails , so we decided to unwrap one for each. They love suckers!!!

Hannah and her friend Rachel as pajama girls with our lil' lambs

Getting ready for trick-or-treating in our neighborhood

We also visited a nursing home, Montebello, and the twin lambs were a hit!

We visited Great Grammy Ellis on Friday morning, they didn't want to get their picture taken.