Other events while home...

I finally started using the baby Bjorn. This is GREAT, especially if you only have one baby. **** Tip for all new moms- make sure you know how to take it off BEFORE your baby starts to cry:)) (It is like a puzzle putting this thing together)

On Friday night all of my girlfriends and their husbands came over to hang out. The boys played Wii the entire time while we chatted like a bunch of old ladies. It was fun to see all the girls, which doesn't happen too often since we live in four different states. We were lucky to see them too because the fog on Friday night was so thick you could probably only see about 10 ft ahead. I am embarrassed to say, but I had been driving in Newton that evening and got lost trying to get out of town!

I had planned on meeting some friends in Des Moines on Saturday, but couldn't make it because of the weather. Fortunately, the roads cleared up on Sunday and we had a nice and safe drive home. We had a lot of fun seeing all our family and friends while home, too bad the week went by so fast. We will plan to make another trip back sometime in February. Keith has class every Saturday from 8-5:00 in January.

Christmas 3/3

Stella got a new bed!!

The boys had a great Christmas this year at Grandma and Grandpa Bucklin's house. Some of the bigger gifts were high chairs for the boys, a tool chest for Keith and a new winter coat for me. Jennifer got the boys some pretty cool Cyclone football jerseys so they will be ready for tailgating next fall!!

Bucklin Christmas

Grandma Bucklin

On Christmas Eve Keith and I took the boys to the Younkers Rehabilitation center to visit Grandma Bucklin. She had moved from the Newton hospital to Methodist on Monday and will be there for at least a month. It was hard to find time to visit her between the nasty weather and her busy physical therapy schedule. They have her in therapy from about 7:30 am - 5 pm.

Grandma is doing really well with her therapy and was in great spirits!! It was good to her and she was so excited about the boys and enjoyed holding them. Whenever a nurse would come into the room she would tell them all about the boys. We had planned on seeing her one more time on Saturday but couldn't make it to Des Moines again because of all the snow and ice.

Visiting Grandpa Kalma

I was so happy the boys were able to meet Grandpa Kalma. We spent a lot of time with grandpa this week. On Wednesday we moved him from the hospital to a nursing home in Newton. He wasn't healthy enough to come to our house for Christmas, so all of us were going to go visit him on Christmas day and bring him pie and presents but he ended up going back to the hospital temporarily on Christmas. He had developed thrush in his throat making it very difficult to eat and talk. He seems to go up and down each day, hopefully the arrangements at the nursing home will be temporary until he gets better. I think he really enjoyed meeting and holding the boys. I wish we lived closer so he could see them more often.

Between the hospital visits and Christmas festivities, our week home was extra busy. Mom had been so busy with grandpa at the hospital that she didn't have time to wrap all her Christmas presents so I managed to wrap about 40 - 50 presents at lighting speed!! I was wrapped out by the last present.

Road Trip

This is what it is like to travel with two babies!! The cab was just as full.

We took the boys on their first road trip and they have now spent 1200 miles in the car. I will have to say that we are pretty lucky because they probably only cried about 10 of those miles.

Our little "relaxing" vacation to Iowa became a very busy trip full of all sorts of nasty weather!! On Sunday we left Sibley and our timing couldn’t have been better because there was a storm the night before and another one on its way. When we left the air temp was a frigid 16 below…air temp!! We made the two hour drive to great grandpa and grandma Bormann’s house and it was a good thing Keith was driving because driving in northern Iowa is like driving in the middle of nowhere (or maybe it is)…..miles and miles of cornfields with few small towns in between. Unfortunately, we couldn’t take the boys to see their great grandma Ludwig because her driveway had still been drifted over from the snowstorm. We finally made it back to Baxter Sunday evening. It took us a couple hours to unload the jammed packed truck, move into my parents house and then I was off to Newton to visit my grandpa in the hospital.

2 months old!

On the December 22nd the boys were two months old!! They continue to be more alert everyday. Here are some of the newer developments we have seen and noticed this past month:

• Their necks are getting so strong, when they are on their tummies they really lift their heads high and look ahead. If their arms were stronger, they would be crawling.
• We are seeing more and more smiles each day and they are trying to mimic us now. They are even starting to giggle.
• They are starting to get used to their schedule and now they start to get pretty fussy when it is nap time. We are starting to get extended nights of sleep and for the most part we have dropped the late night feeding. Let’s hope this continues!!
• On Christmas day Carter rolled over from tummy to back, but I think this was by accident since neither have done it since then.
  

These guys change so much, I can’t wait to see all the fun things they do this month. Oh yeah, did I mention they are HUGE!! We have their two month appointment this week, I will be curious to see their percentiles.

A couple more pics

Keith's friend Justin made the boys these sweet onesies!! Dr. Quinn and Medicine Women are on the way:))

Christmas 2 of 3

We went to Sibley on Thursday night and celebrated Christmas on Saturday evening. Unfortunately, Keith's brother and sister in law, Adam and Sara were unable to make the trip due to the blizzard and bad road conditions. We got all kinds of fun gifts- I think Keith's favorite gifts were his new electric toothbrush and a remote control helicopter (he is still a really big kid). I loaded up on sweatpants, sweaters and a gift card for a massage, three of my favorite things. The boys got some new outfits, new books and some toys too. Stella got a new bear and she has been playing with it nonstop.

I was a little worried that the boys would sleep poor in their pack and plays, but last night we had one of our best nights yet!! We had our late night feeding around 11ish and we didn't feed them again until 7:00 this morning- I will repeat that, 7:00 this morning!!! Let's hope for another night like that!!!

We plan on hitting the road early tomorrow right after the boys first feeding and will be heading to Keith's grandparents and then to Baxter. Hopefully the wind dies down so we don't have any troubles on the road. It's looking like it might warm up to a high of 10... woo hoo!!!

Christmas 1 of 3

We celebrated Christmas at our house early this year since we left for Iowa on Thursday morning. The boys didn't seem too interested, they pretty much fell asleep after about 5 minutes. Stella on the other hand was quite excited about her stocking and getting some new toys. My favorite gift was a new pair of slippers, I LOVE them and have been wearing them nonstop.

Christmas 1 of 3 pics

The results are In and the boys are.....

We finally received the results of the boys DNA test tonight and....................................in a couple years you better watch out for these two because they may be playing tricks on you since they are.......................................... identical!!!

Also, in the last post I forgot to include that the weighed the boys when we were at the doctor's office on Monday. Carter was in the upper 11 lb range and Dylan was in the lower 11 lb range. These guys are getting to be HUGE!

Doctor, Doctor...

Dylan

Carter, Cade, Dylan

We started the week off with a trip to the doctor. Both boys had thrush, which is like a yeast infection in your mouth. Both of their mouths were white inside and looked like they had a bunch of formula in their mouths. So I had to go to the Walgreens pharmacy, AGAIN!! The antibiotics are working quickly and it has already cleared up.

We have been working hard at wrapping up all our Christmas shopping. My mom came up on Monday and left today, it was nice to have her here to help out. The boys really enjoyed having her visit with them and tell them riddles. They would just sit and gaze at her and kick their legs.

Tonight we had our little family Christmas- I will be sure to post pics later.

We have spent about the last six hours packing up for our trip to Iowa. We are pretty much packing everything we own for the boys. We decided to leave tomorrow morning instead of Friday because of the ice and snow on its way. We will be heading to Sibley first to Keith's parents, then on Sunday we will stop in the Algona area to visit Keith's grandparents on Monday and then we plan to be in Baxter Monday through Sunday. Hopefully the weather cooperates with our schedule. We haven't been home since September, so I am really excited to get back and see everyone. One of our first stops will be to Skiff hospital in Newton. We have had a run of bad luck these past couple weeks. My grandma Bucklin had a stroke about two weeks ago, then my grandpa Kalma has been ill and is at Skiff as well. Grandma has been working hard and doing really well with her rehab. Grandpa hasn't been doing quite as well, today is his 89th birthday. Neither have had a chance to meet the boys so I am anxious to get them there.

Santa Claus

While Cade was visiting, we took the kids to see Santa Clause. It was kinda crazy that we had to pack into two cars to get everyone to the mall. Should we be looking into a mini van??? (If I discuss mini van options with any of you, please remind me that I am 26 and say NO)

We weren't really sure what was up with Santa's outfit. We had to pay $15 for that picture and I am thinking if Santa was going to show up in his pajamas, then maybe we should only have to pay half price. Cade's pic was pretty funny, since he was screaming the entire time. Sorry, I don't have his pic to post.

berries & bubbly

Friday night was a big night for the Bormanns, Keith and I left the boys for a night out for the FIRST time. No worries, the boys were left in good hands. My sister Jennifer, her husband and my nephew all came up for baby duty. Three against two.

For our first night out, we attended my work's annual holiday party. This year's theme was berries and bubbly. The evening was filled with dueling pianos (my favorite- they rocked), a mashed potato bar, a crepes bar, a magician and good company. We even managed to do a little dancing Beyonce style and by we, I should say I.

This evening marked a big day for me too, my FIRST drink since sometime last February. I played it safe and stuck with beer all night. I was quite happy with that choice when the boys woke up around 3:30 and again around 6ish. I will have to say though, I was in need of a little extra sleep on Saturday.