Nine and one half hours!

Oh My Goodness, Ruby-girl! You slept 9.5 hours last night. You can see the clock says 6:27 AM and her last feeding was 9:00 PM. However, the night before she awoke at 5:30 AM. Both Kristin and I confessed to going in and checking to see if Ruby was still breathing! Prior to that her longest sleep was 6 hours. I made the mistake yesterday morning of getting her up immediate when she made her first peep, because I was sure she would be starving. Oh no. Ruby Grace Roberts Jones barely would take the bottle and when she did, it was only about 1/2 of her regular feeding. So this morning I waited for her to not only wake up, but unwrapped her swaddle and allowed her to stretch and wiggle in her crib for a while and for her stomach to tell her mouth "I'm hungry!" (see the photo) And yes, she did gobble down her entire bottle. But, she was ready for some more sleep. Eat and sleep, eat and sleep. I guess that is why Ruby is growing so fast. Now, if her big bro could learn a bit more about sleeping through the night! Carson is still every 4 hours.

Gretchen's Visit

My dear friend, Gretchen from Aptos, CA flew up to Kristin's for a week-long visit. She came baring gifts -- home made pesto, coffeecake and Santa Cruz sweatshirts for the kids. She also brought the twins some of her children's favorite books. Here she is reading I LOVE YOU STINKY FACE to Ruby. Yesterday we took a walk along the Columbia River and enjoyed lunch at one of the restaurants along the waterfront. This was the first time the twins joined us for a meal in a restaurant. They mostly enjoyed looking around at all the many new sites, and didn't even cry when four F-15's flew overhead! The sound was deafening. Quite by accident, I captured the family that had been eating lunch next to us with the same double stroller, trying to fold it up to get in the car. Now I know we are not the only ones who have trouble getting it right.

Miracle Grow/Three Months Old Today

I have only been gone from the twins for 10 days, and WoW have they grown! I accused Kristin of sprinkling some Miracle Grow in their formula. Not only do I see growth, but both have become much more interactive, coo-ing and easily return a smile. It's so much fun to hear them chatting in baby-ese at their hanging toys.

Today they are 3 months old. So hard to imagine that 90 days have gone by since they came into this world. They have more than doubled their birth weight. Kristin put away all the Newborn onesies and got out the 3-6 mos. size. We are on our way to growing up!

Professional Photographs of the Twins

When the twins were 8 weeks old we had them photographed by a wonderful photographer in Vancouver. Here is her blog site with some of the pictures of the Jones family. I'm so pleased with them, I tear up each time I look at them. Turn up your speaker so you can hear her fun music while you enjoy the photos. http://lightshadowphotography.blogspot.com/ (Click on AUGUST and look for Beautiful Family with Two New Little Ones)

Gifts of Love from Aunt Nan and Nanette

My Aunt Nancy and Cousin Nanette surprised me with some "gifts of love". Years ago Nanette and her mother, Nancy, had sewed and embroidered this quilt. Nancy had traced characters from coloring books. Nanette had made the frog to match. These items were lovingly placed in Nanette's hope chest. Nanette has never used them and wanted them to stay in our family. She sent them to me to give to the twins. I cried as I opened the box and read Nanette's note to me. Thank you, Nanny, for your sweet gift to the twins. I appreciate it so much and feel all the love you sent with it. (She also sent some other items that I will photograph and include later.)

Ruby is the sleeping-beauty and Carson is hanging out with Mr. Frog!

Pretty in Pink Flowergirl

Kristin's BFF, Stacie, had a small, garden wedding at her parents home. Since Carson had a cold and was feeling rather "snorky" he stayed home with Grammy. But Ruby was all dressed up in the adorable outfit that my friend, Susie, made. It is a white onesie with a pink tu-tu stitched on. The tu-tu has loose flower pedals in it. Then it is topped off with a fluffy, fuzzy pink jacket. I don't have to tell you who stole the show!

Weather change

After wilting in the heat, the weather changed to October-like rains, thunder and lightening. After several days of that, we all were having cabin-fever. Kristin decided to try the B.O.B running stroller. We were not sure if the babies were big enough to hold their heads up. We bundled them up and off they went. All was well. I'm sure this running stroller will get lots of use.

Party Time!

Kristin was co-hosting a wedding shower for her BFF, Stacie. Since it was a girl-thing, Ruby got to go. I stayed home with Carson and we enjoyed watching the Olympics in an air conditioned house. It was one of those terribly hot days in Portland -- 90+ degrees, but Ruby was sweet the entire time. She had her sundress on and was ready to party.

Fun toy

This toy can keep their attention longer than anything. Both babies love laying under this toy and looking at the things hanging down, the flashing lights and hearing the music. You can see that in one picture Ruby somehow managed to get one of the rings off and around her arm, all by herself -- I think she was trying for a fashion statement. And if you look closely, you can see the new Adidas shoes that Carson is sporting.

First outing with the double stroller!

Our very first proposed outing using the double stroller that holds both car seats, didn't turn out like we planned. Since neither Kristin nor I really understood the stroller/car seat thing and Casey was at work, she ended up just taking Ruby and walking with her girlfriend, with Ruby in a kangaroo sling on her body. I stayed home with Carson. Duh, we felt so dumb because we couldn't figure it out.

Then the next outing we figured out how to put one car seat on the stroller, but couldn't get the other one to hook on securely. We decided to put Carson in the car seat on the stroller, and put Ruby just in the stroller. It worked out great and Kristin and I enjoyed a stroll along the river. It was one of those 90+ degree days in Portland, so we walked early and headed back home to AC. Both kids did great. Can you believe how wonderful Kristin looks after only a few weeks??

First Father's Day, 6/15/08

Happy Father's Day, Casey Ray Jones. You are the most helpful, loving and competent new father I have ever seen in action. Since Kristin had such a hard time, you had to step in and care for the babies in the hospital and when we first brought them home. You were the one who changed them, fed them and loved Carson and Ruby. I'm so impressed with you! Keep it up.

Home Coming and Doulas!

This is what the twins were busy doing while we enjoyed our first meal home together. Gotta love those swings and bouncy chairs! First night in their own crib. They slept together like this in the hospital, and in the womb for that matter. On June 12th Kristin and Casey brought Ruby and Carson home. I had already been in Vancouver 1 week and would continue to stay another 2 weeks. Fixing meals, doing laundry, playing with our two big dogs, Sonny and Snowy, plus helping to care for Ruby and Carson was a real labor of love. It's a lot of work to take care of TWO babies. Since Kristin had such a difficult time and was quite weak and fragile, and also realizing that I didn't really know how to care for infant, preemie twins, we called for help. I called ABC Doula Services and received excellent help. For those of you who do not know what a Doula is............. (I didn't really know either!) A postpartum doula is a woman trained to give in-home care to mothers with newborn babies. Many new mothers find that the challenges of having a newborn are more than they anticipated and they appreciate some extra help. While a postpartum doula specializes in newborn care, her ultimate goal is not only to care for the baby, but to help the new mother to mother her baby more effectively. A postpartum doula will usually come in right after the return home from the hospital stay and provide care for the mother, baby and household during the “settling in” time. Sometimes a postpartum doula will come after the new father returns to work and the mother is left alone with her baby for the first few weeks. Ultimately it is the needs of the new mother that will determine what type of postpartum assistance is needed and for how long, and we will be flexible to your needs. We enlisted the help of night time doulas for the first 5 nights, and thereafter 2-3 times a week through August. They arrived at 10:00 PM and worked through the night, leaving at 6:00 AM. That meant the adults in the house could sleep and not worry about getting up to care for the babies. What a blessing! We had 5 different women, all very trained and caring, who came into the home and made such a difference in our lives. When we knew a doula was coming that night, the adults in the home would dance and sing! We looked forward to being able to catch a good nights sleep. One of our doulas wrote the book You'll Never Nanny In This Town Again. Suzanne's web site is http://www.hollywoodnanny.com/ and I highly recommend reading the book. She gave an autographed copy to Kristin, which I enjoyed reading, especially since I now knew the author!

House Arrest

I was so surprised to see these ankle bracelets on both babies (in fact on every baby in the hospital). They are there for security so that no one can snatch a baby and run away. We were told that if a baby is taken out of the area where the nursery and mother's rooms are located, the hospital goes on full alert, elevators are locked down and security is alerted. Wow!

Meeting the Family

Grandpa Bill and Grandpa Ray Grandma Carrie and Grammy Julee Auntie Kat Auntie Lindsey Great Aunt Stephanie and Great Uncle Jimmy

Meeting the Family

Both sets of grandparents were at the hospital each day to spend time with the babies and to support Kristin and Casey. Since it was a very difficult labor/delivery for Kristin, she was in the hospital 6 days, and needed to recover. We were able to hold, feed, change and generally bond with Ruby and Carson during their hospital stay. The nurses were wonderful and allowed us into the nursery at any time. Most babies were in their mother's room, but since Kristin needed time to rest, the twins spent half of their time in the nursery and we were able to be right in there with them. And unlike when I gave birth, the father (Casey) was able to spend the entire 6 days in the hospital with Kristin. The hospital room looked more like a nice hotel, complete with a flat screen TV, refrigerator and futon/hide-a-bed for the Daddy.

Auntie Katharine and Auntie Lindsey also were there to welcome their niece and nephew. Such joy and love radiated from these two young Aunties as they embraced the babies for the first time.

Great Aunt Stephanie and Great Uncle Jimmy also made the drive down to Portland to meet the newest family members.

The Arrivals 6/6/08

After laboring all day and all night, Carson Ray Jones made his grand arrival on June 6th at 12:49 AM. He weighed 6 lbs. 2 oz. and was 20" long. Ruby Grace Roberts Jones wasn't as eager to come out and it took another 2 more hours. She was born by emergency c-section at 2:47 AM and was a bit larger than her brother. Ruby was 6 lbs. 4 oz. and the same length. It was, by far, the most difficult thing Kristin has ever done, but we were twice blessed with these precious babies that were perfect in every way -- including beautiful!