Michelle & Trevor

Jane

2012-02-06T09:03:00.003-07:00

Jane picked out her own clothes last week.

Once more, for cuteness.

The Mega Christmas Post

2012-01-16T19:32:00.020-07:00

Heeeeeeeeey. It's still January. That means I'm not too late to blog about Christmas, right? I guess I am pushing it though. So I'll just blob it all into one great big post. That's how the professional bloggers do it, right? Wait until the last minute and then just slap a bunch of pictures up?

Sometime before or after Christmas we went for a little walk with my folks and the kids.

Jane and Daddy. She wanted to by carried pretty much the whole way.

But Lizzie walked with Grandma for the whole half mile loop!

We went to Johnson's tree farm to cut down the tree.

After we got out tree we got to go on a real, honest sleigh ride with jingle bells and everything. It was amazing! That's Shayna and Cheryl up front with the driver, they are our favorite baby watchers.

Atticus writing his letter to Santa

This white cardboard castle was one of the kids favorite gifts. They piled all the spare pillows and crayons in there and pretty happily destroyed it for two weeks.

Jane hanging out in her new kingdom

The traditional Butchart Christmas Morning Picture on the Stairs.

Sweet Lizzie girl

Atticus with his 6th garbage truck.

Jane in the pink, Lizzie in the red.

Mom on Christmas morning with her new mittens.

Lizzie looking like she wants to shank me at Gigi and Grumpy's Christmas sing along. I'm not sure why, everyone had a great time there. I love that skirt. I saw one like it on Pinterest and I had to make a copycat.

I also have to throw a picture of this sheep up. I made a few of the Christmas gifts this year, and this sheep was, hands down, my favorite.

LOOK AT THAT TAIL. It's a normal stuffed toy that Velcros on to a platform to become a pull toy.

A Bag of Body Parts

2011-12-10T19:39:00.001-07:00

We were listening to the news and we heard "bag of body parts found near garbled Canal Bridge" and of course we assumed it was the Hood Canal Bridge, right where we live. So I googled it and found out the bag of body parts was actually found found near the Ship Canal Bridge, which is right in downtown Seattle, and I immediately felt better because that where you expect to find a bag of body parts, right? And then I thought, dude, I expect to find a bag of body parts?

Thanksgiving at First Beach

2011-11-30T14:56:00.012-07:00

We spent Thanksgiving at First Beach in La Push with Nana, Pa, Gigi, Grumpy, Aunt Lorraine, Bob and Paul this year. It was pretty great!! The meal was great, and so was the beach!

We had good weather on Thursday and Friday, but the surf was ridiculous.

(Friday, with the good weather, but not the ridiculous ocean)

The tide was really far in, all the way up to the driftwood logs, and sometimes when the waves crashed you could feel it reverberating all along the logs. And the FOAM! I have never seen so much sea foam in my life. Or so much of any other foam for that matter.

(Foam. And this is the day after.)

(FOAAAAAM.)

We blew bubbles for a while, and they would stick to the sand until the girls popped them.

The kids were pretty good, despite not getting much sleep because everyone was in the same room. After the first night we decided to put the girls to bed at a normal time, but keep Atticus up so he could go to bed at the same time as us, thus minimizing disturbances. Turns out he gets funnier the later you keep him up. Saturday night he was running around Nana and Pa's hotel room talking about dragons, tigers, owls and chickens. He would run over and open the door and talk about whatever was going on out there, and then come back and tell us again. This video really doesn't do justice to the stories he was coming up with, but it's still pretty good.

And as a bonus, here are some videos of Atticus chasing chickens and of a bear smiling at the Wild Game Farm.

Halloween!

2011-10-31T21:16:00.003-06:00

We were so busy trick or treating, playing with Gigi and Grumpy, and having a bath in the dark with glowsticks tonight that we forgot to take more than one picture, and it's a pretty poor one at that.

So how did we spend our Halloween? It's pretty much summed up in that opening line.
Gigi and Grumpy came and played with us and talked with us, and that is always fun! When Daddy came home we immediately went trick or treating. It was so fun to go out, although Atticus still says "Candy Treat!" rather than "Trick or Treat!" When we got home half an hour past bedtime we couldn't just let the fun stop, so we got out some glowsticks and filled up the bathtub. We turned out the light in the bathroom and let the kids have some fun. Now everyone is in bed, and I don't think I'll last much longer. In case you can't tell, we reused our costumes from last year: Atticus the Sea Otter, Eliza the Lobster, and Jane the Shark.

Happy Halloween!!

Pumpkinception

2011-10-30T22:30:00.006-06:00

This year, my pumpkin was inspired by the work done by Peter O. Trevor's pumpkin was inspired by how hungry he was.

Happy Halloween! We'll post pictures of our sea creatures soon!

A Variation

2011-10-24T20:55:00.002-06:00

A variation on The Happiest Cookies Ever : Candy Corn Cookies. I actually used a different recipe for this one, because it tastes better. It's here

Have I mentioned that I love food coloring? Because I really love food coloring.

Pumkin Farm

2011-10-15T21:11:00.014-06:00

It's October. That means PUMPKIN FARM TIME.

Atticus started off the visit by getting out of the car, running to the first trash can he saw, and promptly getting stung by a wasp.

Luckily, an employee had some Benadryl spray for his cheek, and we were able to move on with the trip.

The Momma pig.

The sweet baby pigs. If I could get my hands on one of those teacup pigs that stay tiny forever, I would have it as a house pet.

There were also chickens, a rabbit and some guinea pigs, but no goats unfortunately.

There was an old wagon that Atticus LOVED. I'm pretty sure he was going to figure out how to drive it.

Jane giving us her best pumpkin grin!

We had a pumpkin race

And wheelbarrow rides

And some fun on the slide! This is where Atticus found out that rubber boots create traction on slides too.

It took a few minutes for him to work his way to the bottom, but he lifted up his feet the next time.

Eliza found a wagon that was closer to her size than the one Atticus was playing on.

But in the end she decided she's more of a horsey kind of babe!

Long Time No See

2011-09-21T09:05:00.004-06:00

Hey guys! So it's been a while since I've put anything up here. That's because we pretty much haven't done anything. Our lives has been consumed by what we *think* is a dairy allergy in Jane and Elizabeth. While we try to figure that out without a Dr's help, because they can't fit us in until October 27th, we're up to our necks in diarrhea, diaper rash, and grumpy babies. But here are a few pictures and videos that we've snagged in between grumpies.

Jane is starting to use quite a few words! YEAH!

Okay, quick quiz: Who does this picture of Jane

And this picture of Liz remind you of?

Any guesses?

Pumpkin head #1, circa November 09

Jane getting her V8 juice.

Doe eyed Lizzie

And lastly, this short video offers a pretty good show of what our life is like these days.

I also added a few more videos to our youtube channel, Grandma and Grandpa. Here's the link

2011-09-06T11:58:00.002-06:00

http://whoselineonline.org/

Every episode of Whose Line Is It Anyway? online for free.

Sorry I just ruined all your plans for the rest of the day.

Jane and Elizabeth's 1st Birthday Party

2011-08-14T09:55:00.023-06:00

e had Jane and Elizabeth's 1st birthday party yesterday! It was a candy shop theme, kind of. Well, as much theme as we could muster, anyway.

Dessert table.

This was my favorite: lollipop sugar cookies!

Chocolate covered marshmallows

We had Great Aunt Lorraine and Gigi there...

And Aunt Linda, Gigi again, and Great Aunt Lorraine again.

Grumpy, Great Grandpa and Great Grandma were there too!

Monica and Malcom

Jane and Elizabeth opened presents! Thank you everyone!

The birthday girls love this table. By the way, aren't they adorable in their little birthday dresses?

The... birthday. Cake. The outside didn't turn out how I imagined. Not even a little bit.

But the inside was still pretty!

Jane

Jane & Lizzie (she thought the cake was a pillow)

Jane and Lizzie

Lizzie.

Lunch.

2011-08-01T16:57:00.003-06:00

The Scene:

Kitchen Table. Atticus is eating lunch and making a mess. Mom tries to put a bib on him. Atticus flips out.

Atticus: (sobbing) "All done! All done!!"

Mom takes Atticus into her lap.

Mom: "Oh baby. Did I traumatize you?"

Atticus: "YES."

Fin.

By The Way...

2011-07-19T16:22:00.001-06:00

We moved.

Friends, Food, Fireworks and... Sweaters.

2011-07-07T08:49:00.011-06:00

We had a GREAT Independence Day! It was everything you would expect from a Rexburg 4th of July celebration. We went to the parade in the morning with all the kids, but we didn't get any pictures. Eliza slept through the last half hour, but they all enjoyed it!

Then we came home and cooled off, because it was a HOT day. Atticus has must have been listening to me talk about the new Harry Potter movie, because he decided to live in the cupboard under the microwave (since we don't have stairs).

Peter and Leigh-Ann came over in the evening to play with us! We love them. They are both fantastic and hilarious. And they both support soda.

In addition to the fireworks, we had a great lighting show out in the northeast. I couldn't get any pictures of the lightning, but the clouds were pretty beautiful too.

Our neighbors across the street had a little fire, and I had found a box of colorful flames earlier that week during packing. So Leigh-Ann and I took them over and tossed them in and watched them with their family.

Aaaaand FIREWORKS.

Unfortunately, most of my pictures look like this.

After a dinner of burgers, but before the fireworks, we had some patriotic treats! Leigh-Ann baked this beautiful (And delicious!) cake.

I made an attempt at candy bars, and even though they don't look pretty, they sure tasted great!

That's nougat with hazelnuts covering a cookie layer, all covered in chocolate. Yum. I used the recipe here, even if they don't look anything alike.

Finally, I knitted another sweater. It's for the girls, but sized for a 2 year old, but whatever. They're not shrinking. I'm particularly proud because I did a lot of alterations on the pattern, and it still turned out cute! I love the squirrels!

And a Few Others

2011-06-26T11:14:00.004-06:00

Can you tell I just cleaned out the camera? Here are a few others that I couldn't fit into a topic.

All our kids love to be upside down. I know my mom always said I would kill all my brain cells by hanging that way, but it's one sure way to stop crying.

Baby in a box.

Some nights are just 5$ pizza nights, you know? Jane, Elizabeth and Atticus are okay with that.

Funny Face... s

2011-06-26T11:02:00.008-06:00

Sometimes, our girls like to look a little silly...

(Jane)

(Liz)

Aaah, there's my beautiful girls!

Thank You Grandma and Grandpa!

2011-06-26T10:58:00.004-06:00

(Kindly ignore the general mess)

We're Moving!

2011-06-22T19:55:00.005-06:00

So we're moving to Washington. Most of you already know that. If you didn't, then Ta-Da!! We're moving to Washington!! Trevor got a job with FKC Screwpress in Port Angeles, WA. We're pretty excited! Here are pictures.

This is Port Angeles. That is Trevor's new place of business circled in yellow.

A reference for our new home.

It takes an hour to get from Trevor's folks to our new home. As opposed to 13 hours.

New details to come!

We should have more news stories like this.

2011-06-09T16:45:00.004-06:00

"A man in Hoquiam, Washington, burst into the apartment of his girlfriend’s ex-boyfriend and punched a guest in the face before fleeing.

According to a police report, the perp may have become enraged when the victim inquired as to the dead weasel the man was holding. “Why are you carrying a weasel?,” asked the assaulted guest. “It’s not a weasel, it’s a marten,” responded the attacker before striking the philistine.

“Martens are members of the weasel family,” reports the Associated Press. The more you know!"

Butchart Kids, LIVE and UNREHEARSED!

2011-06-06T08:06:00.003-06:00

Licking the spatula from his chocolate birthday cake. I'm still not sure if he was hamming it up just for the camera, or if he just really enjoyed the chocolate.

Eliza muggin' for the camera. This is silly face I was talking about!

Getting dressed after his bath, just Atticus being Atticus.

There are some great videos of Atticus doing his best Fred Astaire over on our Youtube page HERE. If you feel like a laugh, you should go watch them.

What The Kids Are Up To

2011-06-01T19:13:00.002-06:00

Atticus

Getting the oven mitt and giving it a high five while yelling "HIGH FIVE!!"
Putting his cougar on top of cups (bum down) and saying "Potty! Yay!"
Yelling for no apparent reason.
Hours upon hours of garbage truck videos on Youtube. Only the ones with automatic loaders. If people are doing it, then he could care less.
Getting his 2 year molars.

Jane

Stealing everything that anyone else has. If it's in your hands, then she wants it, AND SHE WILL HAVE IT.
Crawling some of the time, scooting forward on her rear end the rest of the time.
Getting a hang of sippy cups and straws.
Got her 3rd tooth.

Eliza

Crawling like a champ and standing without support pretty dang well too.
Making funny faces when she's feeling silly (I'll try to get a picture soon!)
Really not getting a hang of sippy cups or straws.
Crawling around her crib and pulling down her bumpers and jabbering as loud as she can when she doesn't want to sleep.
Got her 3rd tooth

You Now Want an Otter for a Pet.

2011-05-24T08:38:00.002-06:00

"Disney options 'Running with an otter' in 3... 2... 1..."

Atticus Turned 2!

2011-05-20T08:21:00.014-06:00

Atticus turned 2 last Sunday! We got to have Nana and Pa here with us, and we threw a s'mores party the day before! It was a pretty great week.

Before we could have the party, of course we had to bake the cupcakes. We did cupcakes baked into jars, which I'll probably post about later. Atticus really enjoyed the process.

Then we had the party! The s'more party is a great idea for anyone inviting a lot of age groups, assuming you have a gate for the fire, or something else like that. The kids who were Atticus's age really enjoyed burning marshmallows and letting them drop into the fire, and everyone else really enjoyed eating. Who doesn't?

Pa and his Ladies.

Atticus snagged a row of Peeps.

And then ate them. I should mention that before this, he has never eaten more than one peep at once, by his own choice.

The result of a 2 year old eating 4 peeps.

Then, despite beautiful sunny weather all morning long, and sunny weather that came back 20 minutes after everyone left, we had a huge dark thunderstorm roll over to us.

So we moved the party inside and opened presents!

And Atticus got to play with all his friends

And Auntie Mandy got cuddled by Eliza.

The next morning Atticus was detoxed enough to open his big present from Nana and Pa: a RED WAGON!! Woot! This is almost more of a present for me than Atticus, because now I can plop all three kids in it and take them for a walk.

Since Atticus's birthday was on Sunday, we all dressed up in our springtime finery and went to church.

Nana and Pa had to leave Monday morning, so Sunday night, Atticus said goodbye, and tried to trap Pa into staying forever. It almost worked.

2011-05-18T19:54:00.001-06:00

There's too many kids in this tub!
There's too many elbows to scrub!
I just washed a behind that I'm sure wasn't mine
There's too many kids in this tub!

-Shel Silverstein

"If you give a man a cookie..."

2011-05-04T20:16:00.003-06:00

"Here babe, I only want two of these Oreos, you have the other three."

"SIGH. If I eat 3 Oreos, I'll have to get a glass of milk. If I go get a glass of milk, I might as well get some more Oreos. Then when I'm dipping my cookies in milk, my fingers will get really cold. Then I'll have to go make a mug of hot chocolate to warm back up. And you know if I have hot chocolate then I HAVE to put a candy cane in it. SIGH."

So he took the Oreos.

Easter with Gama and Pa

2011-04-29T21:26:00.008-06:00

Last weekend we took a trip to Yuba City to see my parents. The 30 hour round trip was made worth it by my magnificent parents and the BEAUTIFUL 70 degree weather.

Atticus does the one armed prayer pretty well. He likes to leave the other arm free to snag food.

He loves his Pa!

We took a trip to Fairytale Town! He loved this tractor, but so did the little boy standing behind him. Atticus is still learning what the word "sharing" means, so we had to forcibly remove him.

Robin Hood and Little John

After a while he found a train and it was all uphill from there. The only thing that might have made him more excited would be if there had been a giant WALL-E.

I tried to upload some videos, but no luck tonight. I'll try to post them another time, there's an especially good one of the LONGEST Easter Egg Hunt of all time. Instead I'll leave you with a great little story:

Lunchtime was a little crazy today. The girls suddenly decided that they were starving to death, and thus began screaming for their bottles while I was finishing up some macaroni and cheese for Atticus. I dumped it on his high chair tray and then ran to the sink to start making the bottles. Before I turned on the water I heard Atticus saying something, so I looked over to see him with folded arms saying something along the lines of "Deaw Hewy Fawe, blah abo pop tooth youb sa MEN. Yay!!" (Atticus always celebrates the end of prayers)

Atticus is so great at reminding me of those primary lessons. Even when I am in a hurry, there is always time to pray.

I Love This Movie

2011-04-19T20:45:00.003-06:00

"...otherwise there is World War 3, and everybody is blaming YOU."

Some Stuff and Pictures

2011-04-17T08:22:00.008-06:00

Jane and Elizabeth are getting so big! They're getting much better at standing on their own, and they're scooting backwards with reckless abandon.

He looks a little like he's saying "HEE-HAW!!"

Atticus and Jane are ready to go dirt biking. But they have to wait another 19 and 20 years respectively.

The Happiest Cookies Ever

2011-03-29T20:37:00.013-06:00

The Happiest Dough Ever.

The Happiest Cookies Ever.

The Happiest Boy Ever.

The Happiest Twins Ever.
(who unfortunately can't eat the Happiest Cookies Ever quite yet)

The Happiest Lizzie Ever.

The Happiest Jane Ever.
(even if she wouldn't show it to the camera)

Knitting: It's Pretty Awesome.

2011-03-25T17:02:00.005-06:00

So I've been teaching myself how to knit lately. I just finished my third project, a lacey type scarf.

Unwashed hair, Trevor's shirt, and baby food on my jeans. Take me home to mom, 'cause I'm all lady.

See how long it is? This scarf is knitted lengthwise, not by width like most scarves. I had about 4 feet worth of stitches scrunched onto 12 inch needles. I just want you appreciate how hard this was before you take a close up look at my work.

Okay, so it's not perfect, but it's only the third thing I've ever knitted.

And no, I also didn't make those flowers. I'm terrible at crocheting. Really terrible. If you have endless amounts of patience and feel like teaching me how to crochet fancy little flowers let me know!

Anyway, knitting is pretty awesome. If you knit and want to share patterns with me I would love that! Or if you live close to me and want to learn how to knit, I would love to teach you, because it's fun!

Atticus to English Translation

2011-03-19T20:54:00.001-06:00

Since Atticus likes to call everyone on my phone, often without my knowledge, I thought I should post a translation guide to a few of the words he says.

Different Cultures

2011-03-17T12:33:00.001-06:00

This is a commercial that has been running in Japan to help kids understand the nuclear crisis that is happening. There are a lot of poop jokes involved.

Hey Guys.

2011-03-13T18:46:00.002-06:00

So.... Atticus has quite the imagination. Of what, we don't know. Here is an example:

No, I don't know what he's pretending, or if he's pretending at all. Maybe he really does think you can drink from a block put to a horses tail.

These next videos are just of the girls eating, and their first experiences with pineapple. These are for you, grandparents!

Hey Dad! Remember when we were on the phone, and I said Atticus was making a video of his nose, and that I would send it to you? Well, I'm posting it on the blog instead. Here you go!

Happy 28th Birthday Trevor!

2011-03-10T13:59:00.007-07:00

March 1st was Trevor's 28th birthday! Isn't he handsome for such an old geezer ;)

Unfortunately everyone was sick on his birthday, but we did get to eat chocolate cake AND chocolate baklava AND wear a fancy party hat.

Funny Story of the Day

2011-03-03T13:34:00.002-07:00

So about 3 months ago I was calling in a perscription refill, and I grabbed the wrong bottle. I accidentally called in my old Zofran script from my pregnancy with the twins. I have (multiple times) told the Wal-Mart pharmacy that I don't need it, but for some reason they can't seem to get rid of the request. Every month since then, a different nurse from my OB has called me to see if I really need it. The conversation always goes similar to this:

"Hello?"

"Hi Michelle, this is (insert name of nurse I know pretty well here) from Seasons Women's center."

Then they start using a soft, sympathetic voice. Almost the tone you would use if you found out someone's spouse had cancer.

"I have a request here for you to get a refill of Zofran?"

"No, no, that was a mistake. I've tried to get the pharmacy to delete that request a few times, but I guess they haven't done it yet."

-insert HUGE sigh of relief from nurse-

"Oh! Well, I am so relieved for you! I thought that was pretty brave (she means insane) of you to be pregnant so soon again after twins!"

Haha, I guess when you have 3 babies in a year, and they all go into the NICU, your nurses really feel for you :)

Valentine's Day and a New Era

2011-02-14T19:29:00.012-07:00

We gave in to the dark side and got a minivan. I'm actually kind of excited for it though. Long trips are gong to be SO. MUCH. EASIER. And by "long trips" I mean anything longer than the 5 minutes it takes me to get to Wal-Mart.

I wanted this middle row so much. 3 removable seats, way wider than our Sebring, and arrangeable in any formation that we want. AWESOME.

Enough trunk space for all our stuff.

Other details: It's an '03 Chevy Venture, but with only about 60,000 miles on it and in very good shape. 4 doors, the passenger side sliding door is automatic, and there's a built in car seat (weird) that looks really uncomfortable.

I know this is totally tooting my own horn, but I have to tell you: For Valentine's Day I gave Trevor a card that said "I only have eyes for you" and I stuck googly eyes everywhere. I mean EVERYWHERE.

Trevor said it made him feel like he was living in Muppet Land. I never want to take them down.

Some Stuff

2011-02-14T18:51:00.010-07:00

Atticus had some intense cabin fever the other day, and he was driving everyone into the looney bin. So I sent him outside and watched him from the door.

Later, Jane was sitting on the couch and crawled up next to her, lay his head in her lap and they cuddled. It was the sweetest thing I've ever seen!

Baby Giggles

2011-02-09T08:43:00.001-07:00

Last night Lizzie was in a really good mood after her bath. You are the beneficiaries.

The Boxer and His Adoring Fans

2011-02-08T15:01:00.000-07:00

We fully expect him to go pro.

In the Wii leagues anyway.

More Babies

2011-02-02T21:07:00.007-07:00

Jane and Elizabeth love tummy time now, I'm hoping it will lead crawling soon!
(Elizabeth in purple stripes, Jane in pink hearts)

Someone was feeling a little left out though...

I kept my 3D glasses from Tron, and Atticus loves them.

He also thinks Jane should love them.

And Elizabeth should love them.

I've Been Ironing My Walls

2011-01-29T16:53:00.005-07:00

For reals. Apparently this is a trick that's been around for a while, but I just learned about it. Did you know you can take fabric covered in stiffener and IRON IT TO YOUR WALL? And it just peels off without any damage or even any residue! Awesome, right? This would have been PERFECT as an apartment dweller.

So I made a picture frame! This is what I did:

I painted both sides of the fabric with stiffener and let it dry. I put the fabric in between two pieces of parchment paper and ironed it a little to make it straighter (If you have fabric stiffener in a spray bottle, you probably wouldn't have to do this)
Then I cut out my frame shape, allowing about a quarter of an inch on the inside to hold the picture to the wall.
I placed the frame on the wall and put a piece of parchment paper over it to protect the wall, and I ironed that sucker right on there.
Then I ran my fingernail under the inside edge and put the picture in. Ta-da!

I also put some elephants next to the light switch in Atticus's room because they're cute.

And here's some other stuff I've been working on for the past couple months.

I "upcycled" (I'm still not sure what this word means... what makes it different from just recycling?) one of those giant Christmas popcorn tins into toy storage for the girls room. It's a fox applique that I made based off of a fox illustration I saw somewhere. I just embroidered it onto a white dish towel and mod podged it onto the can. The pink stripe is just a ribbon covering up a gap, because I didn't measure the dish towel, and it wasn't quite big enough. I have 3 babies, okay?

Some wall "art" I made for the girls room. A kind of woodland theme has arisen in there.

More fun with fabric stiffener! I used a tutorial from here, and I still don't have it quite right, but basically I made a stuffed animal fox, covered it with fabric stiffener, dried it, took the stuffing out and put some LED Christmas lights in it.

Also, I had my first attempt at redoing furniture. This is supposed to be a distressed side table, and it turned out okay, but mostly it was a really good learning experience. Next time should go must better.

I also redid our pantry, and pictures of that are coming soon!

Babies!

2011-01-29T16:41:00.007-07:00

Little Boy Blue

2011-01-29T16:35:00.005-07:00

It was a purple cupcake. Can you guess what color the frosting was?

Words! And We Can Understand Them!

2011-01-23T19:46:00.003-07:00

P.S. We are taking donations for a Flip, or looking for a good price on a used one!

P.P.S He knows where his teeth and cheeks are, he was just done playing the game.

Set of Three of Two

2011-01-22T14:30:00.009-07:00

Series One: My Sister is Delicious

Series Two: The Camera is Fascinating.

Series Three: Jane is Happy

Lunchtime

2011-01-17T15:02:00.004-07:00

Why? Because

2011-01-12T16:03:00.008-07:00

Why, you might ask, am I at 4:00 pm standing at our kitchen sink that is full of dirty dishes, wearing my husband's left shoe and my pajamas (not again, but still), while sniffing at some Tupperware that was holding heaven knows what while yelling at my child to stop ramming a rocketship into the dog?

The short answer would be that I am a mom.

This is the long answer, with many explanations:

Atticus is obsessed with putting shoes on people's feet. Anytime he finds a shoe, he'll either put them on himself, or come find us and put them on our feet. He did this while I was standing at the sink full of dirty dishes, which I should explain also.

You see, I have two 5 month old twin girls and a year and a half old boy. When I have 5 minutes that is not being filled with a dirty diaper, baby food, crying, or teaching -someone who doesn't speak English- how to be a person, I have a priority list. The list changes from time to time depending on what smells the worst in the house and just how eye twitchingly crazy I feel, but for the most part it's like this:

1. Drink something, eat something, go to the bathroom since I've probably been holding it for at least half an hour.
2. Individual playtime with the babies.
3. Sit down for as long as the kids will let me.

You will notice that cleaning is not on that list, which is why it changes depending on what smells bad. Cleaning out the fridge went to the top of the list today.

I will now explain the rocketship. A couple of days after Christmas, Meijer.com was having an awesome After Christmas sale. I mean AWESOME. I found a Radio Flyer Retro Rocket Ship for super duper cheap, and I just knew Atticus would love it for his 2nd birthday. So I ordered it. Last night it came... and we saw the weight restrictions. We realized that Atticus, who now weighs about 35 pounds and is over 3 feet tall, could very well be too big for it by May 15th. So we let him open it. This morning, I remembered that I hate toys like this. This is why: Atticus climbs onto the 4 wheeled car/airplane/rocket ship, and immediately starts ramming into Blake. He thinks it's hilarious. So I have tried my hardest to teach him to stop, and for the most part he doesn't do this anymore... until he found a way around my restrictions.

So now let's put the whole picture together.

I am still in my pajamas because I just haven't gotten that far today. The leftovers have been dumped into the trash and the containers are in the sink. I put the girls down for a nap, push my sleeves back and dive into the dishes. Atticus runs into the kitchen saying "Shoooooooo! Shooooo! Uuuuuunnn!" I lift up my left foot while rinsing out bottles for the dishwasher, and he crams it on there. As soon as he turns around I kick it off my foot, and he comes back yelling "UUUUUUUUUNNNNN!!!!" So I put it back on. He looks at me, nods his head approvingly, and walks out of the kitchen. I continue with the dishes. I come to one that held a mystery food, and realize that it smells a little... Dean Martin-ey. No... I haven't let the food go THAT long... could whatever was in here possibly have fermented? I take another sniff and hear WHAM! Atticus giggles and the dog skitters around, looking for a safe place. Still holding the possibly alcoholic Tupperware in my hand, I peek around the corner. Instead of riding the rocket ship into the dog, Atticus has PICKED IT UP and is CHUCKING IT at the dog. This thing weighs 17 pounds.

At this point, when I honestly feel like giving the kids to my neighbor, getting in the car and going to live on a beach anywhere away from the 4 feet of snow I'm living in right now, I have a thought-

I am going to miss this someday.

What We've Been Up To Part Two

2011-01-10T19:06:00.008-07:00

Since the girls have started getting bigger, I've needed to give the girls a couple of extra bottles in the late afternoon. I refuse to buy a couple of Podee's since the girls will be able to hold their own bottles soon, but in the meantime I've needed to get creative...

Liz's bottle may or may not be resting on the bum of a sock monkey.

Cute Jane being cute.

Cute Liz being cute.

It's rough to be an indoor dog with a huge soft pillow and more than enough food.

Atticus reading his Thomas the Train book that he got from Gigi and Grumpy for Christmas. He loves the trains and Sir Topham Hatt!

What We've Been Up To

2011-01-10T18:50:00.008-07:00

Our old TV started making a high pitched noise when it was turned off (yes... off) so we got a new one. We LOVE our new TV, but it's half an inch too wide for our armoire. We decided to move it into Atticus's room to store some of his toys...

...And sometimes him.

When I see these pictures, I always think of "Daddy's gonna kill Ralphie!"

The girls hold hands all the time now, which usually leads to tasting each others hands. This is Jane eating Liz's hands.

She really is happy to be Elizabeth!

I hate winter, but it does have a few nice moments.

New Years Resolution

2010-12-31T14:00:00.003-07:00

My New Years Resolution is to not have any babies in 2011. Not even one.

And also maybe to start an Etsy shop at some point.

Trevor's is to quit smoking. It should be pretty easy, since he doesn't smoke.

Atticus's is to stop using his pacifier and his bottle, even though he doesn't know it yet.

Jane's Resolution is stop peeing on us every time we change her diaper.

Elizabeth's is to get everything into her mouth.

What's yours?

Atticus

2010-12-29T12:05:00.005-07:00

My son

Loves

Peanut butter.

When he eats it, he is obsessed with the texture, taste, and color. In other words, he is completely absorbed in the moment.

But when he's done, he's done. He moves on to the next moment. And he completely absorbs himself in that one too.

A lesson I need to learn from him.

Jane

2010-12-29T12:00:00.000-07:00

Jane is technically our middle child, and Elizabeth's older sister (by five minutes).

She is inquisitive and curious.

...and sometimes a little concerned by what Mom is doing.

And she is also our smallest baby, with the smallest feet.

And she is turning into a ravenous finger sucker. When I lay her down for a nap, the first thing she does is knock out her pacifier and start working on her fingers instead.

And she loves to kick up her heels.

And I am starting to realize that she has a cow lick in the form of a very small mohawk.

And we love her more than we could possibly tell you.

Elizabeth

2010-12-29T11:36:00.000-07:00

Elizabeth is our baby.

Lizzie loves to sit up in her bumbo

And she loves tummy time, even if it wears her out a little bit.

Eliza is a pretty happy little girl.

With the brightest eyes and longest eyelashes.

And a sister with whom she loves to smile and make faces.

Sometimes she's serious and contemplative.

But it's never long before she's to smiling and chatting with you.

And she is certainly the most loved Lizzie, Eliza, Liz, or Elizabeth that I've ever known.

Christmastime Comes Once a Year, Now it's Here, Now it's Here

2010-12-26T18:25:00.011-07:00

We had a GREAT Christmas! We all got up at 7 and opened stockings on our bed, as per Hall family tradition. Atticus was so excited for his toys and the first thing he did was ask for some chocolate.

Evidence of the chocolate can still be seen on his chin. Do you see that camera lens cap he's holding? It belongs to my BRAND NEW DSLR camera! Given to me for Christmas by my fantastic, wonderful, selfless husband! I love the camera, almost as much as I love him.

There isn't really any difference between the pictures yet because I still haven't figured out how to really make the best of it, but I'm so excited for it! Here, Trevor is opening one of his gifts from me, "A Muppet Family Christmas" and "John Denver and the Muppets: A Rocky Mountain Holiday" on DVD.

Jane received some very generous gifts too! Thank you all so much, the clothes and dolls are going to be well loved!

"MERRY CHRISTMAS."

Mom holding a grumpy Jane

Atticus has all the tools a little boy could ever need! So far he has "fixed" the TV, the baby bouncers, and our closet door.

The aftermath of Christmas morning

Atticus holding Jane and showing us where her nose is.

I hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas! We love you!

Yes, They Are My Twins

2010-12-26T16:13:00.003-07:00

Today at church I met two other moms who had twins. I love talking to other mothers of twins; it's really good to see that they haven't been driven completely crazy and that they get to have hygiene now. One of the moms even had identical twin girls when her boy was 21 months old, so she REALLY understood.

You know who doesn't understand? Almost everyone else. They don't even seem to understand basic concepts of what's appropriate in conversation or how childbirth and parenting works. As proof, I offer you a list of things that have been said to me in my short 5 months of having twins.

Mr. Suspicious: Are those twins?
Me: Yep!
Mr. Suspicious: Are you sure?
Me:... pretty darn.

Mrs. Nitpick: Twin girls, oh how sweet! Are they identical?
Me: Yes, they are!
Mr. Nitpick: No they aren't, this one is a little bigger.
Me: Okay.

Ms. Notamom: Are those your twins?
Me: Uh-huh.
Ms. Notamom: Which one is the good one?
Me: They're both pretty good.
Ms. Notamom: Oh, come on, there's always a good twin and a bad twin. Which one is your favorite?
(By the way, this different versions of this conversation happen all the time. I'm usually not asked outright "which one is your favorite?" but a lot of people assume that there is a good baby and a bad baby)

Mrs. Expert: So how are your twins doing?
Me: Great! They're gaining weight slowly, but they don't have any developmental delays!
Mrs. Expert: Oh, you won't see any developmental delays now, that won't come until they're older.
Me: Oh, did you have a preemie?
Mrs. Expert: No.
Me:...
Mrs. Expert: Atticus doesn't do very well without you, does he?

Mrs. Mom: Oh, are those your twins?
Me: (Only if you're not going to say something dumb) Yes.
Mrs. Mom: Oh, well I have a three year old and two year old, so it's just like having twins too! In fact, I bet it's harder.
Me: Okay.

Gingerbread Houses and Cute Kids Being Cute

2010-12-22T13:17:00.013-07:00

We've done some stuff lately. Here's some pictures of it. I'm really tired. Can you tell?

We built graham cracker "gingerbread" houses with Peter and Leigh-Ann. It was really fun and everyone but Leigh-Ann ate a bunch of candy. Apparently she has this thing called "self-control". I wonder how that works?

Leigh-Ann's house

Peter's church tower. I don't know if that's what it actually is, but that's what it looks like to me.

My house with the Trident roofing shingles.

Then we had a weekend up in West Yellowstone where Trevor and I went snowmobiling and forgot to take pictures. But we brought home Nana with us for a few days, and the kids were pretty happy about it.

Lizzie

Jane

Atticus. These pictures are horrible because our camera is about dead. But I know what Santa is bringing me for Christmas, and our photographic blog offerings are about to get MUCH better...

It's a little hard to get out of the bumbo once you reach a certain size.

Jane (in the purple legwarmers) and Elizabeth ( in legwarmers with hearts) love standing now! We just have to hold onto their hands and they'll be happy as a clam.

Christmas Youtube

2010-12-12T19:02:00.002-07:00

My Dad sent me this first video and it is HI-LAR-I-OUS. It's worth a watch or five!

Also, I thought I would post Trevor's favorite Christmas song. Really. Starting in November he walks around the house singing it all the time

"I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas"

You Have All the Tender Sweetness of a Seasick Crocodile

2010-12-06T13:32:00.007-07:00

It's Jane and Elizabeth picture time!

These adorable baby bows that we always get compliments on are from Aunt Pam! I love them. If you think her bows are as cute as I do, her Etsy shop is here.

Jane being contemplative.

Elizabeth being surprised.

The girls have discovered just how delicious their hands are.

We also just took them to the pediatrician today, who says they don't seem like preemies at all! They are now measuring them on the full term growth chart instead of the preemie one. Jane is 11 pounds 1 ounce and 23.5 inches long, which puts her in the 5% for weight and 20% for height. Elizabeth is 11 pounds 4 ounces and 23.8 inches long, which puts her in the 8% for weight and 28% for height. They've almost tripled their birth weight!

Developmentally they are coming along just fine. They love jabbering away at us, and recently have loved standing on our laps. They smile a lot too, it's just hard to get it on camera! Hand eye coordination is coming slowly but surely. We head back to the preemie ophthalmologist in March to make sure they don't have any other major eye problems associated with prematurity.

We also got the okay from the pediatrician to start them on some rice cereal, which I am CELEBRATING WITH JOY. They have been nursing every 2 hours during the day (this is even with the 2 bottles of high calorie formula that they get at night), which means that on a normal day I am nursing 14 times, and on a crazy day like Sunday, I am nursing one billions times.

Mac & Cheese Addiction: It's Hereditary

2010-12-02T16:15:00.003-07:00

When I was a kid, I loved macaroni and cheese. Just ask my parents. My mom and dad have all kinds of stories about it. I'm not sure if I'm remembering this correctly, but I think one time when I was a toddler, I asked my mom for mac and cheese right after breakfast. I threw such a fit that she ended up making it for me at 10:00, and I would have eaten the whole box if she would have let me. Is that right mom?

Therefore, it comes as no surprise that Atticus got into the pantry yesterday and walked around during the afternoon doing this:

Yes, we did have Macaroni and Cheese for dinner. And yes, there were cut up hot dogs in it.

Answer:

2010-11-27T17:37:00.000-07:00

Jane on the left and Elizabeth on the right. Did you guess right?

Can you?

2010-11-19T15:55:00.001-07:00

Can you tell who is who?

Jane and Elizabeths Birth Story

2010-11-17T12:46:00.007-07:00

For Premature Birth Awareness Day, I thought I would post Jane and Elizabeth's birth story in full. It's really long. Good luck.

(Taken the day before Jane and Elizabeth were born)

At 4:30 a.m. on August 2, 2010 my water broke. I had just reached 33 weeks with the twins that day. I put on a skirt (the only thing left that still fit me) and woke up Trevor with a sharp “My water broke. We need to go to the hospital.” I woke up D. Ann, who had been staying with us since I was put on bed rest, to tell her what had happened, and would she please take care of Atticus, our 14 month old son. Trevor grabbed his keys, I grabbed nothing since I had somehow failed to pack a hospital bag, and we were off.

We went to the E.R. entrance and told the nurse at the desk that I needed to go to Labor and Delivery. He called up and we waited for the wheelchair as I filled my shoes with amniotic fluid. When we arrived upstairs, our nurse asked the billion or so questions that are required to be checked in. I was checked into a room just as the day shift took over. I was the only mother on L&D, which was shocking since the last time there had been 12 or 13 women laboring with me.

The contractions weren’t horrible, but I requested an epidural anyway because I knew I would be getting one eventually. I knew I wanted an epidural because of the possibility of an internal version. An internal version happens when Baby A is born head first, but then Baby B turns breech. The doctor reaches all the way up and manually flips the baby down head first. This was not a memory I wanted to have. The anesthesiologist promptly arrived and inserted my epidural, and I lay back down not thinking anything of it since I had such an easy time with it last time. Then I started to feel nauseous... I told my nurse, who reached for a puke pan… but the room wasn’t stocked. At this point I knew something would be making an appearance soon, so I tried to tell Trevor to grab a trashcan, but it was too late. One sheet change and some Zofran later, my blood pressure came up, righting what was wrong, and I settled in to wait for the babies.

(A picture of Elizabeth from one of the billions of ultrasounds we had)

If you’re wondering why I wasn’t having a panic attack or freaking out the way most women would be in this situation, it’s because I was as well prepared for it as I could be. 3 days prior to my water breaking, I had found out I was 3.5 centimeters dilated, so it would have been a miracle to make it full term. We had also already had a baby in the NICU, so we were prepared for the awfulness of having our babies in the hospital. This was the time to grit our teeth and deal with it.

A few minutes later, I realized we didn’t have a camera. I called our beautiful friend Leigh-Ann and woke her up to ask her to go to our house and pick up our camera for us. She obliged and even brought us muffins and juice too. We chatted for a while and I was very grateful for the distraction from the two impending premature births. After a while though, she needed to leave. Shortly after she left, Dr. Meredith and Dr. Harling came in to talk with us, noting that my contractions had nearly stopped. I should have remembered that this is what happened when I was fully dilated with Atticus, but I didn’t. I just thought “Great! Maybe I can keep the girls in a little longer!” Dr. Meredith brought in an ultrasound machine in to check if Jane was still head down. He stuck the Doppler about halfway up on my belly, looking for a head, but he couldn’t find one… he moved it down farther and farther looking for a head before Dr. Harling finally said “It might be quicker to look the other way.” Sure enough, I was very nearly fully dilated with hardly any contractions. Not that it really takes 10 centimeters to give birth to a 33 week baby anyway.

The nurses rolled me out of the room and into the operating room, where all twins and preemies need to be delivered "just in case". Everything was gotten ready (except the temperature of the room; it was freezing in there) and 2 pushes later, Jane was born. She cried, so they briefly allowed me to see her and touch her before she was handed through a window to the NICU. 2 more pushes later, Elizabeth was born. She didn’t really cry, but she gurgled a little bit. I also got to see and touch her very briefly before she was whisked out of the OR. The NICU called out to us “four eight and four eleven!” Four pounds, 8 ounces and four pounds, eleven ounces.

Trevor left me to wait outside the NICU until he could go see them. I got cleaned up and wheeled back into L&D to recover. After a while, I’m not sure how long (it always seems like forever when you don’t know what’s happening to your baby) I asked the nurses if I could try standing and clean up. They were doubtful that I would be recovered enough, but I guess they just didn’t understand the motivation. I stood up and got into the shower, quickly cleaning off. Trevor returned, and we were given permission to go to the NICU to see Jane and Elizabeth. That's where, through 2 half inch thick sheets of plastic, I met my daughters.

Prematurity Awareness Month

2010-11-08T12:43:00.004-07:00

Mom goes into labor, Dad drives her to the hospital. Anywhere from minutes to hours to days later, with anything from needles to birthing balls to scalpels in between, a baby is born. The baby cries, the baby lays on mom's chest. The mom gives the baby to the nurses to be cleaned and measured and weighed and given an APGAR score. The nurses hand the baby back to mom. Mom and Dad smile at their child, kiss their child, cuddle their child, feed their child. Mom and Dad and Baby move to the recovery floor. For two or three days, Mom and Dad and Baby figure out feeding, change lots of diapers, receive visitors and try to sleep. Then they all check out of the hospital, Dad brings the car around, Mom puts the baby in the carseat and they all drive home to start life as a newly minted threesome, foursome, fivesome, or more.

Mom goes into labor, Dad drives her to the hospital. It's too soon. Usually minutes rather than hours later, with anything from tears to terror to stoic acceptance in between, a baby is born. Sometimes the baby cries, but usually not. The baby is taken immediately from Mom to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, the NICU. The baby, rather than being cuddled and kissed and fed, will be given oxygen through a CPAP and have needles poked into her veins. Instead of being fed, she'll get an I.V. Her first sounds won't be coos or "I love you" or songs. They'll be the rushing sounds of medical professionals trying to preserve life and the loud alarms from monitors that signal whether or not the medical professionals are succeeding. Dad will wait outside the door of the NICU until the baby is stable enough for a doctor or nurse to leave and tell him it's okay to look at his baby now. A discussion will be had on whether or not the baby will be staying at this hospital, or if the baby is too small, too sick, too premature and must be moved to a bigger hospital that is likely hours away from her parents. Mom, who has been doing all the recovery things that must be done after a birth, has been moved into a postpartum room. Right next door to the moms who have their chubby, healthy babies in their arms. Mom is finally able to go visit her baby, hours after she's been born. If she's lucky, Mom will be able to gently touch her baby. Not hold, not even stroke her skin. But Mom and Dad can gently press fingers to their child through holes in a plastic box that is their child's home. In two or three days, Mom will check out of the hospital. Dad will bring the car around, and she will get in by herself. Mom and Dad will drop off their belongings, turn around and go straight back to the hospital, where Mom and Dad and Baby will spend the next weeks or months. And this is all only if Mom and Dad and Baby are one of the lucky premature birth families.

I don't want to be shocking, or just attention grabbing here. I want to give you a comparison of births. I want you to understand why I think that premature birth is something worth talking about, because talking about it helps prevent it.

How does talking about it help prevent it? The last time we were in the NICU, a teenage girl came in 26 weeks pregnant and 9 centimeters dilated. She hadn't told her family she was pregnant. Now, I know that there were hundreds of bad decisions that brought that girl and her baby to that place, but maybe if she had heard what premature birth was like, she would have made different decisions. Or maybe the thousands of women who go to the hospital for premature labor due to dehydration every year would just drink more water if they saw it on TV.

Here is a list of symptoms of preterm labor, and here is a list of possible causes and this is how to prevent and treat it. Please feel free to link to this blog to pass the word around, especially to your pregnant friends. November is Prematurity Awareness Month, and it seems as good a time as any to reduce the amount of premature births.

It's the Great Pumpkinhead!

2010-11-01T15:41:00.011-06:00

I'm listening to Christmas music and eating leftover Halloween candy, so it must be November 1st. Here are some Halloween pictures!

I actually took these a few days ago, but I had to show you:

The girls do this all the time when they're playing next to each other. It cracks me up!!

Jane being all adorable and whatnot.

The cute pumpkin hats that Nana sent to her granddaughters. They actually wore these trick-or-treating since (as you will see) they didn't really like their costumes...

Sea otters are pretty dang cute. Particularly baby sea otters. They are probably my second favorite mammal, my first being humans. So what do you get when you cross the two?

The cutest mammal known to man. And a mother who wants her son to wear his Halloween costume everyday.

His very first trick-or-treat! And yes he DID say "trick-or-treat!"... two weeks ago. He got plenty of candy anyway.

Jane did not like being a shark.

And Elizabeth was underwhelmed by the lobster costume.

Hopefully next year they'll be happier with the costume choices, because that's what they'll be wearing again!

Blessing Weekend Pictures

2010-10-25T08:55:00.017-06:00

Leaves are not as tasty as previously thought.

The cousins had a pretty good time together!

We tried to get some pictures of all the kids together, and we shamelessly bribed Atticus with sour apple rings.

Yes, we still had our tub in our front yard. We're classy.

This is Malcom, Marshall's brother. He is one of the 3 cutest ginger kids I know.

Coming in the future: Close ups of the girls in their blessing dresses, since we forgot to take them on their blessing day.

Shaun the Sheep

2010-10-11T17:37:00.002-06:00

In case you haven't heard of Shaun the Sheep, I present this video for your viewing pleasure! It's worth a watch if you have the time. My favorite part is at the end.

Videos GALORE.

2010-10-02T15:16:00.004-06:00

I broke down and uploaded a bunch of videos on Youtube. I'll continue to post some here, but you can go over there for a complete library of chubby Butchart babies.

Linky Linky

Jane:

And Elizabeth:

AWESOME.

2010-09-27T13:18:00.001-06:00

P.S. I put caramel in the middle.

Five and a half weeks old

2010-09-08T16:47:00.008-06:00

A week and a half to go until their due date, this is what the girls look like! Elizabeth is in the stripes and Jane is in the hearts.

(Elizabeth)

And one of the pumpkin for the road.

Cher Guevara

2010-09-04T13:40:00.002-06:00

Hot Dogs and S'Mores

2010-08-30T09:39:00.006-06:00

This weekend we managed to have a fire in our backyard and roast hot dogs and marshmallows. Atticus obliged by being extra cute :)

I bet you want a s'more after looking at that picture, huh?

Atticus ate his s'more in parts.

The dog house is also his personal playhouse.

By the way, his bum is wet because he sat in a puddle, not because he made a puddle.

Marshmallow goo makes an excellent glue for sticking EVERYTHING to a one year old.

Butchart Babies

2010-08-30T09:21:00.009-06:00

The girls are getting bigger every day! They're even starting to outgrow their preemie clothes!

Train Wreck Mommy and the 3 Bottomless Pits. Sounds like a band name.

Elizabeth all dolled up in her sheep uniform

Jane after her bath. I love babies in hats.

We've been trying to make sure Atticus gets some special time too, so we've taken him to the splash park and carousel a couple of times! He's indifferent to riding the carousel, but he loves dancing to the carousel music.

He's great at making friends :)

Down the slide with Daddy!

Jane and Elizabeth Come Home!

2010-08-20T20:21:00.006-06:00

On Monday the pediatrician told me that Jane would be coming home on Wednesday, but not Elizabeth, and only after rooming in at the hospital on Tuesday night. Elizabeth and the nurses overheard, so Elizabeth picked up her game and started eating more, and the nurses talked the doc out of having us room in (since we're second time NICU veterans). So the pediatrician came back Tuesday morning and said "You want 'em? Take 'em!"

So we did!

...Technically, they still weren't big enough for their carseats yet. Carseats are only for babies who weigh at least 5 pounds, and they were both about 4 pounds 12 ounces when they came home. BUT they passed their "carseat challenge" (where they have to sit in a carseat for an hour while attached to their monitors to make sure they can tolerate it), so our nurse told us "Go directly home and don't go anywhere else until they're 5 pounds. Do not pass GO. Do not collect 200 dollars."

Daddy and Jane. Their Going Home outfits were the cutest preemie clothes I could find. They had little ruffles on the bum and a fuzzy owl on the front.

Atticus has been so good with them! Every now and then as he walks past them, he'll crouch down and gently poke them, and then giggle.

And, of course, we are remembering what it is like to have newborns. We are tired.

We took the girls back to the pediatrician today, and here are the stats, with the growth percentiles (because I think the percentiles are funny). Also, I have no idea why they give us a BMI for newborns.

Jane: 5 lbs 1 oz, 2%
19 in long 34%
12 in head circ 0%
BMI: 9.9

Elizabeth: 5 lbs 1 oz, 2%
19.5 in long 50%
12 in head circ 0%
BMI: 9.5

By comparison, I took Atticus in for a check up on Thursday, and he's 28 pounds (86%) and 33.3 inches (95%). These girls have a lot of catching up to do!

Atticus Meets His Sisters!

2010-08-15T18:07:00.006-06:00

Jane and Elizabeth moved out of the isolette and into a regular pediatric crib! We also got to move into the isolation room, which is where they put the healthiest NICU babies! Well, it's where they put the healthiest NICU babies if none of the NICU babies have a contagious disease. And none of them do, so this is a good thing.

Because of this, we could finally bring Atticus up to meet his sisters for the first time. He stood there and looked at Jane for a while, and then got bored and wanted to watch the nurses station. Oh well. He'll get it when they come home and don't leave.

And now, some pictures of the two prettiest preemies!
Elizabeth looks like she's saying "BRING IT."

Jane is the one laying on the white and pink burp cloth, Elizabeth is laying on the purple and white polka dot burp cloth.

All swaddled up in their preemie halo sacks!

A picture of the whole set up.

One Week Old!

2010-08-09T15:05:00.005-06:00

Jane and Elizabeth get to sleep in the same isolette! This is the first time they've been back together since they were born. They seem to like it :)

A Little Perspective

2010-08-07T18:58:00.003-06:00

Jane, being burped by Trevor

Elizabeth wearing a preemie onesie that's way too big for her

I just wanted to give you a little perspective on just how big 4 pounds is.

The Unexpected Party

2010-08-06T08:30:00.008-06:00

As you may (probably) have heard, our twin girls arrived at 33 weeks on Monday, August 2nd. My water broke at 4:30 in the morning, and they were born at 8:51 and 8:56 a.m. The girls tolerated labor very well and I did not have to have a c-section.

Jane Melody Butchart
Born 8:51 a.m August 2, 2010
4 lbs 8 oz 17 in

Elizabeth Ann Butchart
Born 8:56 a.m August 2nd, 2010
4 lbs 11 oz 18 in

Jane and Elizabeth are doing well considering how early they are. It's been confirmed that they did have some Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome at the end, Elizabeth had about twice as much blood at Jane, among other things. They've had PICC lines put in for their IV's, but they're feeding by mouth pretty well. They both need to be gavge fed (through a tube in their noses that goes directly to their stomachs) a few times a day, but it could be a lot worse.

We get to do Kangaroo Care once a day with each of them. Kangaroo care is where you lay the baby skin to skin on your chest and sit quietly and still for 2-3 hours. It has a lot of benefits to the babies, I'd recommended reading about it a little bit. I think it's pretty interesting.

They're both breathing on their own really well (probably due to the steroid shots I received and the lung surfactant they received right after birth), and they're getting better at regulating their own temperature. We have an excellent neonatologist and pediatrician and absolutely wonderful nurses, and we are confident that the girls are getting the best care at Madison Memorial. Thank you guys so much for all of the love and help you've given us!!

More Baby News

2010-07-29T15:46:00.002-06:00

I went to the doctor this afternoon and found out that I'm dilated to 3 centimeters. Not so good.

I'm now on complete bedrest, and I'm getting some steroid shots to mature the twins faster. Luckily I can stay at home for a little bit longer. I might end up in the hospital for a while before the twins are born, but hopefully just taking away some of the gravity will be enough.

Dr. Meredith says we will probably be having the babies before 36 weeks, so that's what we're preparing for now, although I'm still hopeful that we'll prove him wrong.

That's all for now, thanks for reading with us through this!

32 Week Update

2010-07-27T07:24:00.002-06:00

My uterus is nearly at full capacity. Yes, I'm really this big. I keep waiting for Scotty from Star Trek to run in and yell something like "We're going to have to eject the core to get back to normal, Cap'n!"

This weeks appointment did not go perfectly. The biophysical profile showed that Baby B has some pretty low amniotic fluid levels. Baby A is still fine, she has plenty of room to kick (trust me). Because it's just one baby the Dr is pretty sure this means that the placenta is not functioning as well as it should, not that I'm just dehydrated. If Baby B's fluid gets much lower, then we'll be having some premature babies.

Both babies are still handling life in utero well, the NST went fine, and they were both doing some great practice breathing on the BPP. We didn't get any measurements this week, but they look (and feel) bigger. Probably about 4 pounds each by now.

Also, The Butchart Home is where electronics come to die. Our computer is down and out for the next week, so my online presence will be pretty quiet.

Thank you for reading our update, and please keep the girls in your prayers. Thank you! We love you!

Nature Park and the Apocalypse

2010-07-14T15:50:00.010-06:00

Yesterday we took Atticus to feed the ducks! He was more interested in chasing after the ducks and slow geese than feeding them, but we all had a good time anyway.

This is the only picture of his face that I could get. The rest of the time he had his back to me.

One of the dumb geese.

Atticus contemplating what he would do if he caught a duck. My guess is that he would try to cuddle the duck, then pull out some feathers, and then get bitten.

Herding the ducks.
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Last night we also experienced what I expect the apocalypse to look like.

It had been super windy all day, and it hasn't rained in a month so all the dust kicked up, and then there was a huge fire out by INL in the afternoon. Around 4 we saw this huge brown cloud rolling toward us, kind of like those old pictures of the dust bowl, except that it was higher up in the sky.

It was amazing how yellow and orange everything looked! Trevor said he felt like he was living in O Brother Where Art Thou.

None of these pictures have been edited at all. This is exactly what we saw when we looked straight up into the sky.

Luckily the fire is contained now, and we're back to beautiful blue skies :) I hope everyone is having a great day! We love you!

A Boy and His Taffy

2010-07-06T09:57:00.016-06:00

We went to the park again! This time with Daddy!

He LOVES to crawl back and forth in the tunnel. And sometimes he likes to sit in the middle and look out the windows, like he's observing his kingdom.

I love that big lopsided grin.

It looks like the apple didn't fall far from the tree... and then he rolled back even closer to the roots.

I just thought I would post this as proof of the hugeness of the twins.

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Last Saturday we went to Rexburg's 4th of July parade! It was GREAT!

Atticus got to pick up some taffy that they were tossing out and eat it.

It's tough to chew taffy, even when you have 12 teeth.

The Broulim's float is always my favorite

This is the float for the Madison gymnastics program. It has a trampoline in it so that the kids and flip and tumble while driving down the parade route. Trevor helped build it a few years ago!

The milk face kid also drank an entire carton of chocolate milk by himself (that's right, the Rexburg parade hands out cold chocolate milk. It's awesome.) plus his regular 6 ounces of whole milk that we brought with us. He should have some unbreakable bones.

And lastly, here is a video of Trevor coaxing Atticus to run through the sprinklers. Ta-Da!

Classic Muppets

2010-07-05T15:10:00.001-06:00

"Ready? MODULATE!"

Susan and Lucy? Jane and Elizabeth? Anne and Diana?

2010-07-01T10:29:00.004-06:00

We are still taking suggestions for names.

Here is what the twins look like at 28 weeks, which is what I reached on Monday! This week the babies are blinking and sensing light that filters through to them. They're also getting fatter! We love roly-poly babies.

And THIS is what the twins look like from the outside

It looks even bigger in real life. I wish I could capture some of the acrobatics I see from the outside on video, but I'm never quick enough. Anyway, I hope everyone has a good 4th of July weekend!

More Pictures, Courtesy of D.Ann's Camera

2010-06-27T20:10:00.014-06:00

I am not feeling great today, so here are some pictures that made me happy. Maybe they'll make you happy too.

The first time I saw this picture, I couldn't figure out what the blue ball in the corner was... until I realized it was me.

We got hot at the park, so we came home and played in the hose.

Here I am, modeling the latest in maternity swimwear fashion. Or maybe I just put on clothes that were headed for the wash anyway. Atticus thought it was hilarious to wave the hose in my face.

Below is a quick series of pictures that I like because it shows Atticus's concentrated look. He has such a good attention span when he's trying to figure something out... just like a certain man that I know named Trevor.

The cat declined his offer for a bath.

Once again trying to figure out where the water is coming from.

Atticus and The Wading Pool

2010-06-24T12:51:00.009-06:00

I still don't have a camera, but D.Ann does! It's finally been getting warm enough to play in Atticus's wading pool, so here are some lovely pictures stolen from D.Ann for you.

Yesterday we started off by playing with Blake...

... or at least trying to. Atticus was trying to throw the ball, but somehow ended up sitting on it.

He's just cute in this picture. By the way, Uncle Austin made Atticus that cool turtle onesie that he's wearing in these pictures. Isn't he crafty?

He doesn't like to spend a whole lot of time IN the pool, he mostly likes to splash from the outside.

Stirring the pot.

He has his lower lip tucked in like that because he's teething in some bottom teeth.

I think he thought that the hose would turn on if he stuck it in the pool. He was disappointed when it didn't.

1 little, 2 little, 3 little babies

2010-06-21T13:01:00.003-06:00

Hi guys! I just got back from an ultrasound, and I got a pretty cute picture of Baby B:

I love those profile pictures. Her nose looks bigger than it actually is because her face was squished up against the side of my uterus. But look, she totally has Atticus's chin! Which means Baby A does too, because they're identical! Cute, huh?

The babies are still keeping that same small difference in growth, so that's good news! They're also still pretty huge for twins, measuring a little bit above 50% on the chart. They've slowed down a little, which is fine by me and the doctors, since I have no desire to give birth to two 8 pounders. Right now Baby A weighs 2 pounds 4 ounces, and Baby B weighs 2 pounds 7 ounces. So, nearly 5 pounds of BABY.

As for our 3rd little baby, he's doing alright. He has a cold that Daddy brought home to us, and I think he's working on bringing the total tooth count to 12. But he's still happy to play, and had no problem eating some ice cream cake for Father's Day yesterday :) So, we'll talk to you all on the flip side!

Quick Update

2010-06-17T09:23:00.003-06:00

Hi guys! I just thought I would let you in on some Butchart family updates. First of all, our camera heaved out it's last picture. We're looking for a new one, but in the meantime, I have no cute Atticus pictures to offer. I understand if you don't come back until that situation has changed.

Second, I've been given a few restriction recommendations, in terms of physical activity. My pelvis has started to come apart earlier than it's supposed to. It makes certain movements pretty painful, like putting on pants, or turning over in bed, or going up stairs. At first walking was hard too, but I'm getting better at balancing, which helps. But you always knew I was unbalanced, didn't you? Anyway, because of this, my doctor is a little more concerned about preterm labor. I'm not supposed to lift Atticus anymore, and I'm supposed to just take my day a little slower. So, it's not quite even partial bedrest, but hopefully this will help me avoid issues in the future.

However... have you ever tried to get through the day without lifting your 13 month old? I submit that it is not possible. So, the lovely and talented Mandy has come to stay with us for a little bit! We are so lucky to have her!

So that's what is going on here. Entertaining posts will resume when we have a camera again. See you later!

I'm making 2 little MMA fighters.

2010-06-07T20:15:00.004-06:00

That's right. Monica suggested it, and I think she must be right: I'm building two little mixed martial arts fighters. So what makes me think that I'm building MMA fighters? In the past two weeks, they have completely switched sides, from right to left and left to right. This is no small feat with such limited space. Not to mention they are always kicking and shoving each other during my scans. Here are some pictures from today's ultrasound:

In case you can't read the caption, that's Baby B waving "HI!" She also kicked way up at the top of my belly during the ultrasound, and surprised me into saying "OH!" which scared the ultrasound tech because she thought she had hurt me. She's a real sweetie :)

This is Baby A rubbing her eye. She must have been tired from all of the barrel rolls she's been doing.

In other uterus news, the babies still have a very small growth discordance, just 6%. The placenta hasn't started to calcify yet, and the babies still have enough fluid to do water aerobics. It would be pretty unexpected for either of those thing to have problems this early, but I guess if I'm going to be scanned every other week, they might as well start checking early. Also, I had my gestational diabetes screening today, and my body is pretty stellar at processing glucose, even when it's simultaneously making two babies. Woo-hoo! We celebrated with cupcakes.

I'm Real Good at Making People

2010-06-02T14:45:00.003-06:00

That's a whole lot of BABY. Right? Each little girl is about 13-14 inches long right now, with a weight of (probably) just over a pound and a half. So, total, I'm holding 27 inches and lets say 3 pounds and 4 ounces of extra human. In a normal pregnancy, you don't ever carry 27 inches of baby, and you don't get to 3 pounds 4 ounces of baby until 31 weeks. I'm 24 weeks. I'm just sayin'. It's pretty incredible that I haven't exploded yet.

What are the girls up to this week? Well, first off, they're VIABLE. Meaning that if I were to go into labor, they would have a 60-70% chance of survival at this point, which is pretty good. If I had gone into labor last week, they would have had about a 30% chance at living. Not that I'm expecting to go into labor anytime soon, it's just nice to know that if something dramatic were to happen, we would at least be able to try to save them.

The babies are working on their lungs, taste buds and big bad brains. They're also getting fatter. So am I. But my feelings on my looks right now are an entirely different post.

As for the three of us on the outside, we're trying to deal with the transition to toddlerhood with a certain little boy named after a lawyer, and we're trying to have everything ready for the girls by the time I'm 28 weeks pregnant just. in. case. It's going pretty good so far: I have the room painted, and we bought the chair rail last weekend, so that should be going in this weekend. I still don't have a second crib, but I have the sleeper they'll be sleeping in for the first 3 months. We're also still low on clothing, but I have my eye on Craigslist.

So, that's what's going on with us. How are you guys doing?

I think I win the Good Housekeeping seal for this one

2010-05-25T08:49:00.005-06:00

Look at what I made!

Detail:

It's a throw pillow on our couch in our living room. I actually made this a couple of months ago, but I haven't posted it because the craftsmanship is so shoddy. However, last night I was laying on it and I was again overcome with giggles over how funny it is, so I thought I would share it.

LED Sheep.

2010-05-24T16:06:00.001-06:00

What else are you going to do with your time as a sheep herder, I guess?

Wave O' Grandparents pt. 5

2010-05-14T16:01:00.014-06:00

Okay, here is my favorite part of Atticus's party: The epic battle of Atticus vs. The Cake

He could have taken on the whole thing by himself.

At first he was more interested in the texture of the frosting...

... but the he realized that his fingers were delicious...

...so he went back for more.

Atticus was declared the victor.

Finger lickin' good!

Once we got him cleaned up (no small feat), he got to open his gifts! Everyone was so generous! Unfortunately we could only fit a couple of things in our suitcase, and D.Ann is bringing down the rest when she comes in two weeks. We can't wait!

One of my favorite gifts that he got is that adorable sun hat! Thank you Monica! If you guys like it as much as I do, you can see some more of her hats here
It's some cute stuff!

And lastly, a minute of Atticus eating cake. I could watch him eat all day (some days it seems like I do), and I think it's the cutest thing in the world.

Wave O' Grandparents pt. 4

2010-05-14T15:10:00.016-06:00

Okay, I lied. There's going to be one more post after this, because I just couldn't fit it all in. So here I present to you: The day of Atticus's birthday party! Of course his actual birthday isn't until tomorrow, the 15th. We wanted the chance to celebrate it with everyone in Washington. So here are pictures of everything but the cake and presents!

Daddy and a big red ball. Could a little boy ask for anything more?

Oh yeah, a WAGON RIDE!

Atticus in 26 years.

While it's true that Atticus is like Trevor is nearly every single way, there is one difference: Atticus can handle a ride in the swing without puking.

Grandpa and the lawnmower!

Atticus and G.G.

Atticus and Grumpy

Okay, this one and the last picture were actually taken the day before his party, but I wanted to put them up anyway.

During his party he repeatedly tried to throw himself into the ivy, but it was too thick. He just bounced off of it like it was a mattress.

Going for another ride with Grandpa!

Uncle Larry playing with a box of sand while Aunt Janet wonders how old he really is.

During the whole party, he chased after the dog, and then flung himself forward to bury his face in her fur whenever she sat.

The Grillmaster! Those were some good burgers!

Picture of my little boy bathing himself in cake to come next!

Wave O' Grandparents pt. 3

2010-05-13T09:06:00.010-06:00

On Thursday in Washington we went for a little hike to see a waterfall! I can't remember the name, but it was a nice easy walk for a pregnant lady followed by some stairs.

Cool tree.

This wasn't even the biggest tree we saw.

Cute boy!

Atticus really liked to feel the moss on the trees and then compare it to the bark.

The beautiful D.Ann and handsome Rick!

All 5 of us.

I sure like this kid :)

I think I have just one more vacation post!

Baby Girlies!

2010-05-11T09:24:00.011-06:00

Hey guys! Ready to look at a mess of limbs that really looks like TV fuzz? Well, here you go! We had a great ultrasound yesterday, and found out that we are getting two GIRLS! I've tried to label these as well as I can, but you will be able to see everything better if you click on the pictures to enlarge them.

By the way, remember all those beautiful dreams of 4 week appointments instead of 2 week appointments? Those dreams are 6 feet under. The other woman at my practice who is pregnant with monochorionic twins went 4 weeks between appointments and came back with a 15% growth discordance (the beginnings of TTTS). So we'll keep watching it as closely as we have been, so that I can get to a maternal-fetal specialist ASAP if the need arises. And in case you're wondering, our babies are 4% apart, so we're still looking pretty good!

Wave O' Grandparents pt. 2

2010-05-10T16:05:00.011-06:00

After spending a few days with Grandma and Grandpa Hall, we headed up to Washington to see Grandma and Grandpa Butchart! Luckily, by this time Trevor was feeling better, so he was able to start enjoying the vacation and his home state.

Our first day there, we went for a walk on the beach at Fort Worden!

Atticus's pants never stay buttoned.

We stopped to play with some rocks and a crab shell.

We also found a jellyfish! Atticus touched it so gently until...

*squish* He poked a hole in it. This is even a picture of the act of the murder. Sorry, jellyfish.

Here is a video of Atticus banging some rocks on driftwood, and of us talking about roly-poly bugs. It's probably pretty boring to anyone who's not family.

After we were done walking on the beach, we went over to bunkers. Atticus LOVED crawling on the big open space, and was quite upset with me when I wouldn't let him crawl off the edge.

Most of the bunkers were built for WWII to protect the Sound from possible invasion.

We tried to get him to sit here for a cute picture...

... but he wasn't having it.

And that's what we did our first day in Washington. More posts to come!