sweet sleeper.

while elise was sawing some serious logs, i snapped a few photos her. 

 this is what we call the praise Jesus position.  

love my sweet sleeper.

one-eyed.

little miss clara sleeping away. 

 little miss clara catching me eating way too many chocolate chips.

first week home.

we are definitely adjusting well to life with two newborns.  

cole is doing AMAZINGLY well!  he love his sisters a lot and checks on them frequently.  

he likes to hold them for about 15 seconds at a time and then says 'all done'.  

here are a few pictures from our first week home.

snugglin' in the bouncer with sister (clara on left)

 they got their first baths (this is elise)

 poppy and clara

elise is not to sure about about being swaddled.  or being squished with sister.  

one week old.

the girls are one week old today!  

every day i am amazed at God's goodness, that he has allowed these sweet angels to come into our lives.  we are so grateful for these precious, healthy gifts.

they are both such good babies too!  they remind me a lot of cole as a baby.  

they are eating really well, about 9 or 10 times a day, and we are finally getting the 'feeding two babies at the same time' thing down.  i think that they would go at least 3 1/2 hours between feedings if we let them but since they are so little and lost 8 oz at the hospital, we are trying to bulk them up and so we are having to feed them about every 2 1/2.  

neither of them are big criers, although clara definitely lets us know that she does not like for her clothes to be changed.  and they are pretty content sleeping in their crib, bouncer, or swing.  that is of course when we actually let them out of our arms!  but they are usually pretty quiet and content.

i am loving getting to see their little differences emerge too.

so far, clara appears to be our more stubborn girl and elise is our squealer and more sensitive one.

but they truly are so alike!  

what a great week this has been (except for the whole surgery and recovery thing!)

hospital pictures.

here are some of my favorite pictures from the girls in the hospital.

they love to snuggle together!

elise

 clara

clara telling me 'stop flashing that light in my face!!'

my response?  

'get used to it child!'

i'm really not that mean.  i did not stop.  eventually.

but how can i stop snapping photos of these precious munchkins?

 sweet clara fast asleep

 sweet elise right next to her.

we had a wonderful experience in the hospital (other than the food) but we are so glad to be home and are adjusting really well!

family pictures.

here are a few of our family pictures from the girls' birth day. 

 first family picture. 

 cole wanted to hold his sisters and was a little upset.  

he finally got to hold a sister.

 clara was the lucky winner to be the first held by a toddler.

cole was thrilled (although you really can't tell it in the picture) and was wanting to get up and carry her around the room.  

don't worry sweet clara, we didn't allow it. 

poppy and elise

 nana and elise

gammi and the girls

there will be more pictures tomorrow.  i have slept about 5 hours in the last 3 days so i am going to stop for now and try to rest.  

but we are LOVING every minute with our sweet girls!

Birth Day.

Here are the stats:

Clara 

5 lbs, 13 oz.  18 inches.  born at 9:58 am. (purple hat)

Elise

 5 lbs, 14 oz.  17 3/4 inches.  born at 9:59 am.  (pink hat)

details to come!

my big boy.

(wearing daddy's boots!)

preparing for the babies' arrival has made me realize how big my boy really is.    

i still think of him as little, and yet he is so much more like a boy than a baby these days.  over these last few months particularly, he has let go of almost all his baby habits.  here are some of the most major changes.  

in november, just after he turned 2, we made the switch from crib to toddler bed.  i was a little nervous about this switch but the kid has proven himself good as gold in this area.  he has only climbed out on his own twice.  he still waits for us to come and get him in the morning and after his nap.  we wouldn't have asked for a better transition. 

in december, we stopped using diapers and i am proud to say that my little guy is potty trained! (although we are expecting some regression starting this week).  it is hilarious to see how so much of his thoughts and experiences now revolve around the bathroom since we obviously talk about it all the time now.  anytime someone is not in the room or leaves the room, he announces that they must be going potty.  he likes his cars and trucks to go in the potty too.  he wants us to know when the dogs go outside.  he likes to go in every store we enter.  he constructed a potty for his lego man out of legos.  and since he is the only one in his class at school that is potty trained, he lets us know that everyone else goes in their diapers.  and apparently at school, all the other kids think it is really cool that cole goes in the potty and they talk about it too.  the process was not nearly as scary as i thought it was going to be and he has done really well.  

(on a side note, it all would have been easier if i had not been pregnant because let me tell ya, 

8 months pregnant + potty training toddler + grocery store = no fun!!)

he is talking in more sentences and it is fascinating to watch his mind work and to try and build a correct sentence.  yesterday, believe it or not, we actually had snow flurries for about half an hour.  of course nothing stuck since it was in the 70s last week, but it was fun and cole loved running around outside while the snow fell.  he ran up to me and said "mommy snow" then paused and said "snowing"  and then paused again and said "mommy its snowing".  i was very impressed!

he still sleeps with his pacifiers at night, though.  i was determined back in the day to get rid of these by the time he was 2 years old but when cole started showing signs of being ready to potty train early, we asked ourselves, which one would be better to have conquered by the time the girls get here, "potty training or no pacifiers?" we decided it would be much better to tackle potty training now (hello, one less butt to buy diapers for!) and the pacifiers later, especially since he only uses the pacifiers at night.  so that will be our next challenge.  

i am so proud of the boy he is becoming, sweet and kind and curious and full of imagination.  

i am thankful for his ability to adapt to things so quickly as that is going to help him out over the next couple of months!  

i am so blessed to be his mama.    

(sorry if this post is too "day in the life of a stay at home mom" but i want to remember some of this stuff that i know i will forget too quickly!  but be rest assured, no more posts on potty training!)

baby names.

since we are mere days away from the the girls' arrival, i thought that it was time that i shared about how we chose names for both of them.  

let me preface by saying that when we choose our baby names, it is mostly me making suggestions and brenner either hating them and immediately shooting them down, or him saying, yeah, that's okay (which means that it is a possibility).  

this goes on and on.  example:  we finally decided on cole's name when i was in labor.  

but with the girls, we felt like we shouldn't keep their names a secret like i was planning on.  

in addition to people telling us that they wanted to monogram and personalize things for the girls, we also felt that with all the complications and the prayer over these girls, we wanted people to be able to pray for them by name if they wanted.  

but then it took us a while to actually decide.  

Clara Elisabeth

clara is a name that we both like.  we liked the way it sounded with campbell, it is not a really popular or trendy name and i like that it is a little old fashioned.  

elisabeth is a family name and i knew that one of the girls would have it as their diddle name.  it was my maternal grandmother's name, it is my aunt's name and it is my middle name.  we considered spelling it with a "z" instead of an "s", especially since spell check always auto corrects it, but we ultimately decided to stay with the family spelling.  elisabeth means "god is gracious" and we fully believe that based on all that he has done in our lives and in his miraculous work in these babies.

Elise Faith

elise is another name that we both just liked.  i have had this name on my "name list" since i was in high school.  i met a girl at camp named elise and immediately thought it was one of the prettiest names.  ironically, she was from texas too.  so when we found out we were having two girls, i really wanted to use this name.  i have never met any other elise, and yet i have learned of 3 of my friends whose daughters' middle name is elise.  but it is also a little old fashioned and not super popular, both things that we liked.

for her middle name, we wanted something that was meaningful and also sounded good with elise.  this was the last name that we decided on because it took me a long time to find something.  but the name faith means "trust in the lord" and we felt that was perfect for the journey that we have travelled over the last 9 months.  

there you go!  

(and just so you know, clara has been designated as twin "a" and elise is twin "b")

prayers.

the other night at dinner, we prayed  for our food like usual and began to eat.  about a minute later, cole announced that he wanted to pray again.  i asked him, what do you want to pray about?  and he answered, chewy.  

he likes for us to lead him in his prayers so we prayed for chewy that he would stay safe and be a good dog.   cole was very happy.  

then yesterday morning, just before we had our family devotion, cole asked to pray again.  we prayed for our family to be safe and to have a fun day.  he has said amen after our prayers for months and insists on holding hands with us too.  but he is now wanting to pray more and more on his own.  

it touches our hearts so much to hear our little man have a heart for God.  we love that he loves to read his bible stories and go to church.  in bible study fellowship, he has learned that the bible is God's word and it is special to get to touch it and read it.  during our daily family devotion, which he usually is playing through, he typically pauses, runs over to whichever one of us is reading and places his hand of the bible gently with a big smile.  then he goes back to trains and cars.  

he also has learned that the bible is true and we talk about that a lot: bible true. 

it amazes me that God speaks to his little heart and is working in him now, preparing him for the man of God that he wants him to be in the future.  

i am also thankful that brenner and i had parents that taught us to pray so that we can be those same examples to cole and the girls.

love my sweet boy. 

valentines activities.

i have been trying to squeeze in some fun activities with my little guy and we have had fun painting and making valentines crafts.  i only remembered to pull out my camera for the painting though. 

cole loves to paint and overall he does very well with keeping the paint where it belongs.  

 look at this cheesy little face.  

it is hard for me to get a genuine smile from this dude these days.  

we also made valentines cookies last night.  

i thought it would be fun for cole.  

and i was in the mood for some cookies.

it was a big success for everyone.  cole ate about 2000 sprinkles since i let him decorate his cookie by himself.  the ones that fell off the cookie he licked off his plate.  

he got that idea from his other parental figure. 

reflections.

we are a mere week away from the twins arrival.  i cannot believe that we have made it this far!  

i have about 20 different emotions per minute these days, and it is not just because i currently have the hormones for 3 females, although i am sure it plays a part.  

i am so excited about meeting these little girls and beginning life as a family of 5!  

i am nervous about nursing 2 babies and all those logistics.  

i am thrilled about not being pregnant for a long time.  

i am overwhelmed at thinking about meeting all the needs of my family daily. 

i am a little sad about having to give up my days of just me and little man.  

on this last point, i know that cole will adjust to being the oldest of 3 and will love being the big brother.  i know my heart will not love him any less just because there are 2 more babies now to love.  but i am honestly a little sad that he won't be my only baby.  and yet i want a big family.  

i know that this sounds crazy and contradictory.

 but i don't think i realized emotionally how hard this would be on me.  cole and i have spent most of our days together, especially since i stopped working 9 months ago.  

since brenner works out of the house, we are blessed to be able to see him a lot throughout most days.  but most activities are just mommy and cole.  

it is going to be hard giving that up.  

because we will not be able to just pick up and go to the park or go down the street to get a cupcake or go to the children's museum because we have nothing else planned. 

 life is about to seriously change!

at least we will be giving these things up for a while.  

because my mind cannot work out how i will take 2 nursing infants and a potty training toddler out in public by myself for a very long time. 

i am trying to cherish each day i have left with my little man before the craziness begins! 

tunnels and trains.

for christmas, brenner's mom got cole a tunnel system. 

it basically takes up our entire living room but he loves it. 

 chewy also tries to get in. 

 here is what cole dragged into the main section.  balls, blankets, and elmo.  and of course he dove out of the shot as soon as i was camera ready. 

 brenner climbed in there with him (brenner's body is actually in a tunnel) and by that time, every car that cole owns was also in there with them.  as you can see, chewy was still trying to work his way in. 

 cole loved having daddy in there with him.  he wanted me to join him too but that wasn't going to happen.  i don't know if this belly could even fit down a tunnel but i wasn't going to try.  

this week we also got cole's train table set up.  we bought it back in the beginning on december, actually the grandparents did, for christmas, but we didn't have room to set it up yet.  

well, last weekend we got the girls' room all set up (pictures will come soon hopefully) and that meant moving cole's changing table/dresser into the girls' room.  and so now there is room for the train table.  

 to say that he loves this train table is an understatement.  

this little guy has been obsessed with trains for months and this is so perfect for him!  we wavered on whether or not to let him have a train table because typically we just go to barnes and noble to play with all the trains in addition of course to playing with the track and trains we already have.  we really thought that this was enough.

but thinking about going to barnes and noble with him and two newborns just didn't seem like a realistic option.  going anywhere with him and two newborns seems daunting if not impossible. 

but we will deal with that later. 

 i love his little face of concentration.  he pulls his bottom lip in a little and sticks out his tongue some.  

it is so cute!  

so far our only issue with the train table is cole trying to have too many trains connected together.  

he keeps making a long train, like 12 train cars, and then gets upset when they get stuck or fall of the track.  poor kid, he gets so frustrated.  

but his love for trains has now only been fueled by this new addition!