State Fair

My parents and sister decided to go to the State Fair this past weekend and invited Cambree to join them. I decided since I hadn't been out in a month, I should get out of the house and join them.

It was my first time really leaving Addison. I wasn't too sad to leave her since she was home with her daddy. She's such a snuggle bug, I had to give her loves before Cambree and I left...

 

As we started walking around, I was pushing Cambree in her stroller and she said "Here papa" and reached out her hand. It was pretty dang cute, I was pushing her in her stroller while she held my dad's hand. Such a Papa's girl.

 

Cambree LOVES animals. Any kind of animal to her is cute. She was excited to ride the pony's. I can't believe how big she's getting, she looked so independent while riding the pony. You could tell even though she had a serious face, she really enjoyed it. All day today she has talked about riding the horsey's.

 

We walked barn to barn looking at all the animals, and Cambree was beyond thrilled. She would shriek and giggle when we'd enter each stable and see the different animals. She has no fear what so ever. She walked right up to all the animals to pet them. We asked if she could pet this huge cow, they told us as long as she stood behind the cow that it was fine to pet him. She didn't care where she needed to stand as long as she could pet the cow, she was happy.

 

 

I was so happy I joined Cambree at the fair with my family. I love to see her excitement.

 

The kids of course went on some rides. Spencer and Cambree were cute riding the train together, they held hands most of the ride.

 

One of Cambree's favorite rides is the carousel. I love this picture, it makes me want to be little again with no cares in the world.

 

Chelsie and cute little Emma on the carousel...

 

And the last ride of the night was a ride I'll never forget. Since Cambree isn't quite tall enough, I had to go on this hot air balloon ride with her. I took this picture before we took off. The ride went up and down in the sky, not very high since it was a kids ride. As we started taking off she made a noise of nervousness, it made me laugh because of her facial expression. After that she hysterically laughed the rest of the ride, which made me laugh so hard that I can't remember the last time I laughed that hard. You could tell she was in pure heaven. Moments like that make me feel so blessed as a mom, that I can experience simple joys in life with my kids. It was the perfect way to end the night.

 

As I sit here I am grateful for every moment I have with my family. Allie impacted my life in such a wonderful way. I've learned since her death that she makes me want to be a better mother. And nothing else really matters in this world than loving those around you. I can't even explain just how much I love my girls. They are everything to me.

 

It was a perfect night.

Life Lately

I cannot get over how quickly life passes you by. It's been almost 4 weeks since our little girls were born, it makes me cry just thinking about it.

Life at the Carnahan residence has sure been different. I for one have secluded myself indoors these past weeks. I haven't really been talking to anyone besides Benton. I have made myself answer phone calls from our family. Unfortunately for my friends I have been declining your phone calls and not returning your messages. I love everyone for their support, I've needed it and will continue to need it. So please don't give up on me. I'm just not ready to talk about it yet.

We've been taking Addison into the doctor weekly because of her weight. At three weeks she weighed in at 5 lbs 2 oz. My doctor talked to us about avoiding large groups of people for the upcoming holidays, which is hard since that's pretty much what the holidays are all about. But honestly in the grand scheme of things missing one year of spending the holidays with our families isn't the worst thing that can happen. So we've become over protective with our little baby, Addison. Our doctor said "Make sure you ask everyone before they come over that they aren't sick. Also ask them to wash their hands really good and not to kiss her face & hands. And ask Grandparents to get their whooping cough vaccine & flu shot." So that's what we are doing, following the rules of our doctor to the tee.

Cambree is getting a little house sick. She asks me to go bye bye everyday. I don't feel comfortable driving Addison around in her flat car seat, so I tell her she has to wait till daddy gets home. So we've had to entertain ourselves like never before. If you know me, you know that I like to go go go. So it's quite different being home all day everyday.

Cam playing dress up as Minnie Mouse...

 

Making cookies...

 

We've been sitting outside on our front porch. This is Cambree looking with her eyes. If you ask her what she sees, this is what she does...

 

Cambree and I went to Target last weekend to buy Cambree some new shoes, since she's grown out of her other ones. I'm going to be in trouble with this little girl, she LOVES shoes. I couldn't resist buying her these pink boots, they looked too cute on her. She must put them on ALL by herself!

 

 

Sponge bath time for Addie, she didn't like it very much...

 

Miss Addison's umbilical cord finally fell out so she was able to get her first bath and she was so content. We were expecting her to cry, but she quite enjoyed the warm water.

 

 

After both girls are clean, Cambree loves to snuggle up to her "baby ister".

 

Time for bed, Miss Addison is tired...

 

And here's Miss Cambree. Do any of your kids look like this when they go to bed? She asks for each of her stuffed animals and is very specific about what books she has in bed as well, it's quite a production.

 

And my favorite, Cambree's morning hair...gotta love a bees nest each morning!

 

We've LOVED every minute we've had with Miss Addison. She sleeps all day besides when it's time to eat. I'm sure it's because she is growing and needs her strength.

Hopefully with time my pain won't hurt so bad. I just never know when something is going to remind me of our sweet Allie and make me burst into tears. We sure do miss our little sweetheart. I guess it makes us grateful for the two little sweeties we have here on earth, I don't know what I'd do without them.

2 Weeks Old Already

On September 4th our sweet little addition to our family turned 2 weeks old. I forget how quickly time passes when you have a newborn at home. She weighed in at 4 pounds 10 ounces, not quite on the charts yet. Our doctor said hopefully at her 4 month check up she will be on the charts. We're happy she's above her birth weight and is doing well at home.

When we left the hospital, they gave us this car-seat because she isn't allowed in a normal car-seat quite yet because of her size. Because she is a preemie, she can't hold her head up enough, which will cut off her oxygen while sitting in an upright position. So she lays flat down in her car-seat, as you can see she doesn't like it very much.

 

I tried getting some pictures of just how small she is, it's hard to actually tell in pictures. Here's a comparison next to a package of wipes...

 

Love her cute little feet and tiny toes...

 

I tried putting her in these newborn pj's that I used for Cambree, but they didn't quite fit very well. She's going to have to wear her preemie size clothes a little longer.

Cambree 2 days old wearing the pj's...

 

Addie at 2 weeks old wearing the pj's...

 

We sure love our little peanut!

On August 21st...

I was 35 weeks along exactly. I had Benton take a quick picture of me before our doctor appointment...

We actually had our C-section scheduled for the next day but they still wanted us to come in to discuss what to expect. Everything went well at the Non-stress test. But once we got the ultrasound, they noticed Baby B only had less than 1 cm of amniotic fluid. They decided not to chance it and wait for my scheduled C-section but rather just do it that same day. It was quite overwhelming for us to take in even though we knew we would be back doing the same thing the next day. The girls had completely switched positions since my last ultrasound 4 days prior. So it was confusing because Baby A became Baby B and Baby B became Baby A.

So on August 21st our twin girls were born. Miss Addison Lee weighed 4 lbs 4 oz and was 18 inches long. And Miss Allie Mae weighed 4 lbs 12 oz and was 17.5 inches long. They were both born within the same minute of each other at 1:42pm.

Miss Addison is doing well and is a healthy little girl. She stayed in the NYI (Nursery Intermediate) due to her inability to keep her body temperature where it needed to be, which is completely normal for a 35 week old baby. She was in the hospital a total of 8 days.

Here's Miss Addison in her incubator. It was hard not having her in our room with us but we were just so happy she was healthy.

Benton, myself and Miss Addison while at the hospital during one of her feedings. She does really well at breastfeeding, which is a relief for me. We love snuggling with our darling little girl.

We were blessed with being able to spend about an hour and a half with Miss Allie before she left this earth and went back to heaven. We were told we probably would only have a minute or two, so we felt so thankful that we had as much time with her as we did. She truly is our own little angel and we know she is at peace wherever she is at

On August 27th we held Miss Allie Mae's funeral at the Clinton City Cemetery. We only invited immediate family to the graveside service. It was emotionally one of the hardest days of our lives, so we kept it really intimate.

It is so nice to finally be home and be all together as a family. Cambree has enjoyed having a "baby ister" in our home. She gives her loves and says "She's SO sweet" almost every time she sees her. I know she'll be a wonderful older sister.

We are so thankful for both our sweet little girls. We will never forget her twin sister, Miss Allie Mae. I know she'll be our own Angel watching over our family from up above.

34 Weeks

I went to my doctor yesterday. I did a Non-Stress Test and Ultrasound and both looked good. My doctor is going to a conference at the University on Friday and is going to discuss our situation with other doctors, surgeons, and specialists. She wants to get everyone's advice on when would be the best time to deliver our babies because of our complications. I wouldn't be surprised if they decided next week at 35 weeks to just deliver them. The reason why it's important to deliver just right is because they don't want Baby B to pass inside me because it could cause Baby A to have a stoke or other complications. So it's almost a guessing game as when is the best time to deliver. They don't want to deliver me too early knowing Baby A will probably have to go in the NICU. So we'll see what they say next week.

At 34 weeks pregnant with twins I am quite uncomfortable. I have gained a total of 12 pounds, my weight hasn't changed in the last two weeks. Pretty much anything is exhausting for me to do. I take breaks while getting ready, cooking dinner, cleaning, pretty much anything. I have a ton of stretch marks on my stomach that I didn't get with Cambree. I have been having Braxton Hicks Contractions, which is a new thing for me, since I didn't feel my first contraction with Cambree until they broke my water and started me on Pitocin. Physically I am ready to be done being pregnant, emotionally I'd rather be pregnant forever than face our reality. One week or so to go.

 

Family Fun

I've been naughty at bringing my camera lately to all the family get together s we've had. My cute sissy in law, Kattie came into town a couple weeks ago and thankfully we've been able to see her while she was here. We've gone swimming twice and both times I didn't bring my camera.

So when the whole family went to Layton Park, I made sure I brought my camera along. I know I say this often but I truly LOVE Benton's family and am so blessed I married into such a wonderful, fun, loving family. I love every single one of them.

Here's a a picture of us girls. From Left to right, Kattie, Me, Linda, Carol and Aimee.

 

Cambree enjoyed playing with the football with Benton. She adores her daddy.

 

 

We were so happy to see you Kate, missing you until next time!

New Obsession

Cambree is addicted to muffins or in her words "uffins". This past week we went through 3 boxes. I might have eaten two, but that's all. She gobbles them down like nobody's business.

 

She has a cute new way of communicating. If she asks you for something and you ask it back to verify, she always says "OK!".
For example:

Cambree: "I want a uffin".
Me: "You want a muffin?"
Cambree: "OK!!!"

So here's Cambree and her favorite thing to eat at the moment :)