2 and 3 Months Old

I am the worst blogger ever! No excuses, but having twins takes a lot of time! :)  Clara and Laurel are getting so big!  Here's a short recap of the past 2 months.

2 months old.....

Clara with her duck and Laurel with her bunny!!

Clara

Laurel

 Laurel and Clara are getting so big in such a short amount of time.  I already miss my "tiny" girls!!! :)  I think that is going to be a reoccuring theme at our house.  This month has brought a lot of smiles, a few giggles, and a lot of kicks!!!  The girls love to lay on the floor and kick their feet.  It is so cute!

We took our first trip to Fayetteville on February 8th.  It was so much fun to have friends and family meet the girls.  We were a little scared that being away from home would interfere with the routine that we were working so hard to perfect.  Laurel and Clara did great! 

3 months old......

Clara with her duck and Laurel with her bunny!!!!

Clara

Laurel

Clara and Laurel are so fun!!!  They are awake a lot more, LOVE to play, and full of smiles!  On the night of their '12-week birthday' they slept 5 hours straight!!  That is wonderful!  We have been used to eating every 4 hours so the longest they would sleep would be 2-3 hours at a time.  It was amazing that they BOTH slept that long on the same night. 

Clara's favorite thing is the ceiling fan!  Laurel would much rather kick and talk while watching the tv! :) 

1 Month Old

Laurel and Clara are 1 month old today! 

Laurel with her bunny

Clara with her duck

Thanks for our animals Meme!!!

Laurel and Clara

Laurel and Clara

Our First Christmas

Heath and I were given the best Christmas present ever this year!! 

NICU

Laurel and Clara spent a total of 15 days in the NICU.  I was lucky to be able to stay at Erlanger with them for 8 days.  Once I was released, I would drive to the hospital every morning and stay until after lunch then Heath and I would return after dinner to be there for the girl's night feeding.

The girls were getting stronger and stronger every day.  On Tuesday, December 20th we were able to take both of them home!!!

Our girls are ready to meet us

I'm a little behind on posting.  To get everyone caught up........

Around 1:15am on Monday, December 5th my water broke.  Laurel decided that she was ready to meet us (which meant Clara didn't really have a choice).  Since I was only 33 weeks, my doctor tried to stop my contractions.  Everything was going good until about noon.  My contractions started getting closer together and a lot more painful.  A decision was made to perform a c-section at 3:00.  Laurel was born at 3:33pm and Clara followed at 3:35pm.  Heath and I were so excited to meet our beautiful, healthy daughters! 

Laurel Kate Mann

3:33pm

4lbs 7oz

17 inches long

Clara Jane Mann

3:35pm

4lbs 12oz

18.5 inches long

As I was in recovery, Heath went with the doctors to take the girls to NICU.  Since they were 7 weeks early they needed a little help learning to eat, maintain temperature, and remembering to breath (kind of important stuff!!).  They were never on a ventilator of any kind, but their breathing was monitored to maintain their oxygen levels.  After recovery I was wheeled to NICU to see my sweet girls. 

First picture with Laurel 

First picture with Clara

33 Weeks

I am 33 weeks and Melissa is almost 36 weeks.  I think I've got her beat!!!!! :)  James, Laurel, and Clara will all be here very soon!!

Baby Bump

The babies aren't the only ones growing!!!  I went through a pretty big growth spurt between weeks 18 and 22.  This is the part that I'm not so wild about.  The bigger I get the more uncomfortable I am.  It will all be worth it when we can hold our sweet little girls though.

                                                                          10 Weeks:

  
                                                                         18 Weeks:

                                                                        22 Weeks: