We have a lawnmower boy!

 Jackson has been watching Mike mow the lawn the past couple of weeks and finally decided he wanted to take over. No worries, my "green" husband has purchased a green mower that has no motor and is environmentally friendly. 

 Hard at work!

Emilie and Andrew

All I can say is I wish my friends were here to help me with a photo shoot!  When you have two, it is crazy.  Trying to make sure they both are positioned correctly and that nobody has an accident. I was fortunate to have my good friend Claudia who helped take Jackson's newborn photos, but she is in Germany now :(  She did such a good job, I can't let the twins not have great photos! Then Katie took over and always took our photos and did an awesome job too! Now it is up to me because with a fancy camera there is no way I am paying someone to take them :)    Emilie is great at cooperating and doesn't wake up at all.  Andrew makes sure he knows what his surroundings are :)

We survived our first week home with a full house

 Andrew and Emilie have been really good this week.  I wake them every 3 hours during the day and then hope for a 4-5 hour stretch at night.  Since they are peanuts, they are only taking 1.5 ounces each feeding. I even had to prop up their bouncy chairs on a package of diapers so they wouldn't slide down.   Andrew is in the same size as Emilie but you can see it just swamps him :)  Thanks Monica's mom and Melissa for the matching monkey outfits!

 Nana couldn't stay away and was up the following weekend :)

Emilie is wearing her first lei!

Last day at Daddy's Preschool

Jackson has been attending Mike's High School Preschool program for the past semester. On their last day, they had a short program to congratulate the kids on a job well done.  We were a little shocked when the kids came out in gowns and hats!  Jackson won't be attending next year because he will continue to attend his preschool in Trumbull. The commute to Mike's work has too much traffic when I would need to leave.  Jackson had a great time and loved seeing Daddy and having lunch with him every Thursday!

Andrew is Home

 We got the call that Andrew could come home on Tuesday, making his stay only 17 days!  Our first photo with the twins.  Wish Jackson could have been there, he was at school!

 Since Andrew was so tiny, I had to go out and find an insert for the carseat since it is only for 4-30 lbs.  Here I thought I was good buying the chicco seat since it was a smaller weight.  Little did I know, I would be bringing home a little peanut.  Andrew left the hospital weighing 3lbs15ozs.  He gained 2 ounces in one night!!!

An excited big brother holding Andrew!  

Visiting Andrew

We went to visit Andrew today and thought I would try to get their first picture together! It is hard to believe we were never able to get their picture together since they were always on monitors, etc. I kind of feel cheated like I missed out on all those first pictures since they were in the NICU. 

 Emilie pushing Andrew out of the way. 

 How they were in the womb!  Andrew was up under my ribs and Emilie down lower.  Both always head to head and in breech position. 

My babies, Andrew is able to come home when he weighs 3lbs 14 ozs. Let's go Andrew!!!

Emilie's Home!

Emilie's last photo in the NBICU!

After 2 weeks in the hospital, Emilie was finally released on Saturday, June 2, 2012.  It was so hard to leave Andrew all by himself.  However, I know he will be home in hopefully a week!

Emilie's all ready to go home, first ride in her carseat!

Jackson was so excited to hold her!  Actually we don't have any photos of the parents holding her!  I guess we are waiting for Andrew to come home!!!

Nana planting flowers with Jackson and Skylar

 My mom has come up to visit often to help get the house and twins room ready for their arrival home. It was hard not having the twins home for 2 weeks so I tried to stay busy between going to the hospital to visit the twins and recovering. While Mike and Mark were working hard in the house. The rest of us went to Home Depot to buy some flowers to bring some color to the house!

34 weeks, Delivery Day!

 Last belly shot before delivery

 Daddy's white suit for delivery

Andrew Kalani

3lbs 8 oz

16 1/4 inches
Jackson was able to meet the babies while I was in recovery from the c-section.

Emilie Leilani

5 lbs 1 oz

17 1/4 inches

We are home, it was hard not bringing the babies with us.  The only positive is I can fully recover from surgery before they come home.

Beautiful flowers from Nana and GG

Thanks Monica for a warm welcome home! You're an amazing friend!

Welcome home sign from my students in Hawaii!

33w5d Why???

I know I haven't been able to talk about the details of why we had to deliver.  So here is the story. The pregnancy was going great. The past 3 weeks the doctors started to monitor the twins more closely.  Emilie was doing just fine and gaining weight. Andrew was close to her one week and then wasn't making as much progress as her the next week with weight gain. Therefore, the doctors had me come in twice a week for stress test monitoring of the babies and a weekly ultrasound. On Thursday, I went to my regular stress test and diabetes monitoring at the hospital.  Mike was actually able to come to this ultrasound.  With his work schedule and the fact that they usually do appts in the morning, he has only been to one appt with this pregnancy. So we were very excited he could come to this ultrasound and hear the babies heartbeats.  Let me just say, I am so glad he was there! Once we found out that Andrew's placenta was not producing enough blood flow, I was a mess!  I just remember the Doctor saying you are not going home and will be having a steroid shot today and Friday and delivering on Saturday. The steroid shot makes the lungs mature pretty much almost in 48 hours. I had been mentally preparing myself for delivery after Memorial Day because the doctors had said it was going to be soon.  But I was definitely not thinking it would be at 34 weeks!  All along I had told Mike it could happen at a dr visit and they would say your delivering now but I never really thought it would happen to me :)  This is one of the last pictures of me pregnant, 43 pounds later. I asked the nurse to take it for me because Mike was at home getting our half packed bag and making arrangements.  We were going to take pictures at the park the day I delivered because it was supposed to be beautiful :(   

 All hooked up to monitors for the baby heartbeats and contractions.  Turns out with all the stress I started having contractions till they hooked me up to an IV.

 Our little photographer, Jackson taking a picture of mommy and daddy!

My handsome boy, he is getting so big!  Can't believe he is almost a big brother!!!

33 weeks Happy Mother's Day

 We had a lovely day hanging out as a family. Yummy shrimp kabobs, sliced potatoes on the grill and my favorite Dairy Queen ice cream cake!  Mike spoiled me with a spa day for the future :)

CT shower for the twins! 32 weeks

 Jana had a Staffaroni ladies shower for me in Connecticut. It was so wonderful to see everyone and celebrate the twins.  The shower was at a little cute restaurant in New Haven called Brazi's and the food was delicious!  Thank you so much for everything!

 It's a boy, It's a girl kisses 

 The yummy cake, when the waiter brought the cake out he was wondering who was pregnant with twins.  The whole time I had been sitting down and when I stood up, I think I gave him a heart attack.  He was so gracious to let me know that the only place I looked pregnant was my stomach, lol.

 The wonderful ladies, so thankful to have family in Connecticut!

 Homemade wrapping paper, love it!

32 weeks