shots

tawnya & maddie at the dr waiting for shots

abby on the dr's table waiting for her shots

so the girls are two months old now, which means shots - what an ordeal. we get the girls up two hours earlier than they normally get up so we can be to the dr on time, and even though we're the first appointment of the day we still wait 50 min to see the dr. in the mean time they both got weighed and both abby and maddie weigh 8lbs 5oz, and abby inched ahead in the length category at 22in to maddie's 21 1/4in. i wouldn't have guessed it, but abby does tend to scrunch her legs up under her and maddie is always kicking and stretching so she seems longer.

we talked to the dr and things are going well. they are growing just like they should be, which is a worry sometimes when you're nursing, but they are good eaters so i don't worry too much. he did say that it was time to let them 'cry it out', which we've been doing - sorta but not very consistently, and definitely not long enough. he said it would take about two weeks for them to figure it out, but then they would not cry as long when you put them down for naps and things. so while they're crying their eyes out i just have to remind myself that i'm responsible to teach them how to calm down on their own and that i'm being a good mother by letting them cry - very counter intuitive. i'll have to update you on how this little venture is going.

so after we talked to the dr, the nurse came in with her tray full of shots. three shots each and one that they swallowed. two in one leg and one in the other - so both legs got pinched and there was a fresh cry with each shot, but jason got to hug maddie after her shots, and i got to hug abby after hers and by then they were so tired that they basically just fell asleep. on advice of aunt penny (who has twin girls as well) we gave them some tylenol before the shots so it wouldn't take as long to kick in.

as you can see we are all doing well one day after our shots

i was a little worried how the girls would handle the shots and what kind of day it would be like. i had aunt penny and lindsay merkley on call and ready to come if it was a bad day, but the girls really just slept all day. i noticed that they were both warmer, but not enough to be concerned and we kept up with the tylenol, so it was actually one of the quieter days we've had in a long time. i am just grateful that they didn't get sick

smiles

the girls are starting to smile!! this is a new activity this week. maddie was the first to smile - at least that I saw. I was getting ready to feed her a few days ago, she was laying on my lap, looked up at the fan and smiled really big. then maddie was really hamming it up for her grandma hansen, so I grabbed the camera as fast as I could and caught a few of them before they turned into cries for a nap. So some of them are a little blurry, but very exciting.

we took some more the next day with both abby & maddie smiling. jason is putting together a slide show of it, so i'll update it here once he has it done.

white dresses - first in a series of three

aren't these the most beautiful dresses you have ever seen? a great big thank you to grandma skinner who got them while she was down for a visit, i'm usually not the frilly fru fru girly, but i must admit that i cried when i saw them. must be all the hormones - but they were so perfect.

i have to tell you this, i put their dresses on them the day before to make sure we didn't need to exchange for a different size, and they fit perfectly - just like they were made for them. the whole time neither one made a peep, and they usually don't like to change clothes too much, but you could just tell that they knew this was a special dress, and they felt so pretty in them. i took them off pretty quick before they could even burp in them, and as soon as i did they both started to pout! it's amazing how they know so much.

sunday morning we started at 7 am so we could all be out the door at 8:45 a noble goal, and i think that we made it out by 8:50, it's a good think the church is only a block away. we told all the family that we wanted to sit in the back, as it is flu & cold season and our girls are only 7 weeks old! so scary. so we all took up the last two rows of the soft chairs in the back, and everyone got there before we did. i guess i'm not too surprised though.

when it was time to bless the girls, jason took abby & i walked up with maddie and sat on the front row so we could do a quick switch. we had a large circle with lots of family - jason's dad & brother (sheldon & jeff) along with my brother tyson & the brother in laws - brad & randy, uncle mike, and jeremy (from the ward). unfortunately grandpa law was in utah, and ben couldn't make it due to a conference, we missed them both, but there were plenty of men up there. the blessings were beautiful, jason did such a great job. we talked about it some before hand, then he made lots of notes on what he wanted to ask for these two great girls. of course they were very similar, which was a concern for jason, but really, we want the same good things for both of them.

i think that i held my breath as jason paused before he said abigail kate hansen, and then i relaxed and just listened as he got the name right. he later admitted that he had to look down and make sure he said the right name, even though we agreed that abby should be first. of course jason asked for them to be blessed with all the usual things, health, strength in the church, obedience, desire for knowledge and ability to go to the temple - but there were a few things that really stood out in my mind. one of them was that they would always be close to their mother - excuse me while i go cry my eyes out... another was that they would realize the importance of family and that they would always be close to their family and that they would especially enjoy the unique friendship that they have with their sister. the last that i found interesting was that while he blessed them with the desire to learn, there was a specific line about desiring to learn about the gospel. for some reason this really stood out to me as being important and different, but interestingly enough he said it for both of them. i just get the feeling that this is going to be a big thing in their lives.

anyways i just wanted to say thank you to all the family that came to support us on this big day. jeff & jenn came from california. michelle & fam were down for christmas, but just missed the blessings - but we had a great time with them. mike & penny have been especially fun to talk to with all their experience. and i don't know what i'd do without my sisters, they have been such a big help. it was so great to have kathy with her boys, who are so grown up, i just can't believe it. thank you thank you to everyone who came, it was such a great day.

mom & abby at the after blessing party

it was a long day for both, abby a little sad, and maddie a little sleepy
mom & abby, grandma & maddie
sorry ladies, jeff has found a new girlfriend with miss maddie
as you can see he's very smitten

grandma skinner

my mom got to visit us the beginning of december, the girls were about 2 weeks old, and it was the best! it was so special to have my mom there to see me become a mom. crazy! i'm still trying to get over the fact that i was pregnant!


it was so great to have her come and stay for a few days. the best part was that she really took care of me. of course she came to see the babies, but she really showed me what i needed to do to take care of myself, so that i would be able to take care of the girls. for example she said, "you're not drinking enough water, I've been here a whole hour and you haven't had anything" yikes, yes ma'am. she'll be glad to know i haven't made that mistake again!

but really, all joking aside it was the best 4 days, she cooked, she cleaned, she calmed crying babies, and occasionally their mother, but mostly i felt like she really was there to take care of me, and in ways that i didn't even know i needed. so thanks mom, i love you. we all wish you were closer, and can't wait to see you again.

ok, now that i've stopped crying, here are some pics of her visit, i can't believe we didn't take more while she was here! there are some of her with tiff & fam on her blog though.

merry christmas, er new year, um...

ok, so this was supposed to be our christmas card, but for some reason it just didn't make it out. so then it was going to be a new year's card, and somehow we missed that as well. so now it's just a family pic taken about a week before christmas. they look so tiny! either that or jason & i are ginormous. my vote is for tiny.

harley even got in on the family pic. she wouldn't stay sitting, so we only got part of her in it. she looks like she has a double chin, but she really doesn't - she has her winter coat, and i was pulling on her collar to try to get her to sit up and it bunched up all her neck fur over her collar. so no, my dog is not morbidly obese, just furry right now. btw i am so not looking forward to her shedding her winter coat-what a pain! she's a labradoodle and not supposed to shed, at least that was one of the selling points.

anyways, i am holding the maddie girl, and jason has abby. for those of you who have not noticed, abby likes to open her mouth for pics. i was going through a batch that we had printed up, and in every one of them her mouth was wide open! it isn't always in real life, but it seems to be a common theme in pics. (see the 'see how we grow' post) ha!

see how we grow

ultrasound at 6 weeks - amazingly enough we could see heartbeats! can you tell who's who? don't worry, neither can I. they are both 13 mm.

ok, so abby is on top in this little series taken at 8 weeks, the darkish circle on the left is her head. maddie is the bottom one, and we're basically looking at her backside. I can't tell if she's head up or down, you decide. btw they are just over 2 cm

this is where it started to get fun and you could actually see hands and things - taken at 16 weeks. they stopped measuring as it wouldn't be accurate, but before they started to guess their weights. once again abby on top, maddie on the bottom.

this is really fun, because i've got two pics below that are very similar to the 3-d ones above. these were taken at about 26 weeks. from here on out the ultrasounds were not as much fun because they were getting bigger and one arm took up the whole screen. so these are the fun ones, hope you enjoy

for more ultrasounds click here

our first outing

jason & his girls, abby & maddie

We got home from the hospital on Friday - late, we left around 11:00 pm, they are so slow... anyways we got home Friday, and our first outing was on Monday to see the pediatrician. It was an all day event to plan feedings so they would be done in time for us to pack up go there and be home before the next feeding. It took us about a half hour for us to get all packed up and in the car. It was a little nerve wracking when we got there to see that the "well child" and the "sick child" areas were so close together and only separated by a little half wall. We're a little paranoid about these girls getting sick, so we asked and they put us in an empty room where we could wait to see the dr. We saw several of the practice's dr.s at the hospital - whoever was on call that day, and there was one in particular that we really liked. He came in sat down looked at his notes and said, "it's official, they're perfect" how could you not like that! So when we set up the appointment we asked to see "the dr that was on call on Wednesday & Thursday" as we couldn't remember his name, and hooray we got him, he's LDS and has kids and grandkids of his own, and he feels like a very practical kind of guy. We really like him alot.

We did a weight and measurements check - Abby was 6lb 2 oz, 19" and Maddie was 5lb 8oz, 20" they lost weight those first few days and are starting to gain it back.

Afterwards we went through the drive through at Taco Bell, and I suddenly felt very connected to the outside world. Unfortunately I have no pictures of any of these events, as we were very focused on just getting us all out the door.

The girls are going 4 hours between feedings at night, boy what a difference that extra hour makes. We're not getting as much sleep as we used to, but what a great reason - TWO girls!!
mom & abby at the hospital

They are so sweet and content and my favorite is when you hold them against your chest and they pull their little legs in so they're just a tiny little ball. They are so sweet!

abby & maddie what sweet girls!

Ok, so this is the cutest thing, in the hospital they put the girls in the same little bassinet, and when you would take one of them out, the other would start to stir and wake up and look around for her sister. It was soo cute to see that they love each other and miss each other when they're gone. Best Friends Forever!

it's a miracle! it's two!

Our two beautiful girls were born on Monday, November 19th. Abigail Kate Hansen was born 2:31pm weighing in at 6lb 7oz and 19in long. Madison Jane Hansen was born at 2:32 and weighed 5lb 14 oz and was 20 in long. They were born three weeks early, but they have no complications or problems. They are just perfect. We had a c-section scheduled for Friday, but they decided they wanted to come on Monday when my water broke. They came by way of a c-section as they were both breach and that's why they were only a minute apart. Jason and I actually think it was less than a minute it seemed so fast.

I'm glad they surprised us came on Monday because it was so much fun to call Jason and tell him my water broke, and then repeat it 3 more times until it sunk in. Much more exciting than knowing about it on Friday. And I didn't have the chance to worry and fret about it. So here they are the two cuties fresh from heaven:

maddie on top, abby on the bottom

Abigail Kate Hansen born 2:31pm 6 lb 7 0z, 19" at about 30 min old

Madison Jane Hansen born 2:32pm 5 lb 14 oz, 20" 30 min old

Our sweet angels only a few minutes old

maddie & abby after their first bath

three girls one boy & a dog

Our little family has started to grow. My two beautiful girls are almost 8 weeks old, and it seems like it's already gone by so fast! So in an effort to keep up with them, and keep the family informed I think it's time to dive into the digital scrapbook mode of blogging. I've been putting it off for a while, but with these two special angels, I don't think I have any excuses left - we must push forward. Hmm this sounds like I'm having to psych myself up a little too much. Well, here we go... a new adventure every week for three girls, one boy & a dog.