Two Months Old

The twins are now two months old. (Please pretend that I had been able to post this on Monday, October 27th). They had their two month check up the day they turned two months old exactly. It wasn't a very happy day. They had to get three shots, and they cry real tears now, so it was extra sad for Mommy and Daddy to watch. They were extra fussy the rest of the day, and they both had fevers, but it wasn't too bad. That night David slept through the night for the first time! A whole seven hours of sleeping without crying or eating once!!! I was really looking forward to that night. Too bad Erik cried the entire night, so I actually ended up getting only one or two hours of sleep total. Silly babies! David slept seven hours the next night too, and Erik only woke once. I got to sleep for five hours straight! It was heaven. The night after that Erik slept for 7 hours, but David woke up once. Again I got about 5 hours. Now I'm waiting for the magic day when they both sleep through the night.



Before they went to the doctor, we took some pictures to remember the day. These little outfits were from their Great-Aunt Angela (not to be confused with great Aunt Gigi).

We even caught David smiling a little. They never smile as cute in their pictures as they do in real life. David is on the left, and Erik is on the right. Don't they look like they are holding hands?

I think Angee gave me the idea to take a picture of the boys with an object once a month to see how they grow. I decided the teddy bears Aunt Jen gave them would be perfect. We also went with the diaper only look to get a better idea of how big they really are. (About as big as their bears!) Here is baby David sticking his tongue out for the camera.

And here is baby Erik. It looks like his teddy has his arm around him. Look close and you can see Erik's outie belly button. The pediatrician said that his belly button will eventually go in, but it won't happen until he is three to five years old. I think it is cute, but Steve is glad because he didn't want Erik to feel like he was the only one in our family with an outie.

And here are the twins together. You can really see how different they look when they are side by side like this. (David left, Erik right). Their bellies look pretty similar I guess. And they are both turning into rolly pollies!

Here are the twin bears. They are fraternal too, but it's a little harder to tell them apart. I only wish I had taken the boys pictures at birth and one month, too. Still, it will be so fun to see how they grow.

First Smiles!

I know that it is hard to believe, but the boys both smiled real smiles for the first time on the same day! October 22nd. I didn't catch the first smiles, but I did get a few half smiles later that day. Enjoy our happy babies!


David smiled first during his playtime after his 10am feeding. I was just singing silly songs like always, and he grinned right at me.


Erik smiled later that afternoon. That's when I decided to break out the camera. They were both so alert and playful. Here is Erik's smirk.

Baby Bears

Here are the boys being cute baby bears! Erik is on the left, and David is on the right. They didn't really like their hats too much, but Mommy and Aunt Gigi thought they were darling!

Here's a close up of David. His baby acne was really bad that week. Poor guy. Still cute though.

Here is Erik's close up. He looks like he is smiling in this picture, but it's just the angle. Cute picture though, right? Try to ignore the drool on the blanket.

Here they are together again. Erik left and David right. We had this one as our computer background for awhile. They kind of look like they are dancing. Cute, dancing, baby bears.

Kristi's Birthday

We kept my birthday pretty low key this year. We can't really go places very easily, so we had a few of our favorite people over to our place. We wish Angee and Robby could have made it, but they live too far away. Just kidding Angee. I wanted the boys to wear these really cute puppy outfits that Aunt Gigi gave them. Instead Erik decided to poop in his. Then he spit up all over the next thing I put him in. I asked the boys to sleep through the night as a present to Mommy. Instead they both peed on me, and I had to change Erik three times in one hour. Silly babies!

We had a picnic in our living room. Here is the Nichols family enjoying their time at our house. (You had a good time, right?) Sam is getting so cute (not that he wasn't cute before) and so big! We're so glad that Jordan and Carly live so close, or rather that we live so close to them. They did live here first.

Sam said, "I have a binki!"
Jordan said, "I have a binki!"

Here's a Harris family picture! Jake and Jen are in front; Kristi, Steve, and Mike are across the back; and Erik and David are in Granddad's arms.

He we are again with Grandma Nanette. Jen and Jake in front again, and the boys are in Grandma's arms this time. Erik on the left and David on the right (when you look at the picture). It was so nice having Nanette here for the weekend. She hadn't seen the twins since they were one week old, so she was happy to be here too! She made the most delicious pot roast, tasty cupcakes, and yummy chocolate crinkle cookies. Yum!

I think this is my favorite picture from the whole night. Three generations of Harris boys. Steve is holding Erik, and Granddad (Mike) is holding David.

2 weeks to 4 weeks

Here are some more pictures of our twin boys being super cute! I still can't get over how small they were. They look like giants compared to these pictures.


I like to call this picture "chicken legs." I can't believe how skinny they are!!! They are about 2 weeks old in this picture, so they weighed about 6 pounds each. David is on the left and Erik is on the right. David just loved to buzz in that chair. He would always spread his legs way out to get maximum buzzing.


Granddad just loves his two little grandsons. And they love him too!




This picture is a great example of how the boys were during their first month of life. Erik was wide awake (grandma called it "big eyes"), and David had his eyes closed. I read somewhere that a lot of preemie babies will shut their eyes to avoid becoming over stimulated. That was our David.


When our boys were little, they didn't like to do tummy time for very long. We sure loved making them do it though because they would pose like little break dancers. Here is David showing off his best moves!

This one is Erik's specialty. I call it "The Cobra."

My mom and sister took some really cute pictures of the twins in these pea pod outfits. Naturally David slept through the whole thing. We didn't get any with his eyes open. So when he was alert later that afternoon, I took these pictures. I love this one because they look like they're staring at each other.

Everyone says twins have their own language. I'm not sure, but doesn't it look like David is whispering some secret to Erik. From Erik's expression, it's a pretty good secret.

Here's Daddy loving up his boys. Erik (in green) is just staring at Steve. David (in blue) is sleeping as usual.

First Week Home

So I'm a little behind recording all of the cute things the boys have done. Here are a few cute pictures from the boys' first week home.

Here is Mommy holding both of her beautiful baby boys. They were so little. Erik is on the left in blue, and David is on the right with a binki.

This one is Erik sleeping in his crib. They spent a lot of time sleeping that first week home. We actually figured out that Erik slept better with his arms swaddled by his side. We called him our baby burrito. He was pretty good at escaping though.

I love this picture! David found his thumb (on accident), and he looked truly happy. After the shock of finding something in his mouth, he started sucking so hard, and then he smiled with his thumb still in his mouth.

Here's a darling one of Mommy holding Erik. We don't really know why he's making that face, but I think it's really cute. He's definitely lovable just like his shirt says.

David just loved sleeping in people's arms. This picture shows him asleep on his Granddad's shoulder. We later figured out that David would often be awake when he looked like he was sleeping. He just preferred to experience the world with his eyes closed. I think he's actually asleep in this picture though.

The boys often slept in this position. Daddy laid down and joined in the fun. We figured out that they are about 1/40 the size of their daddy (by weight) in this picture.

The boys' first baths

Here are some darling pictures of the boys' first baths at home.

David's first bath

David in the tub.

Grandma helped.

All clean!

Erik's first bath

Erik in the tub.

Mommy gives it a try this time.

All done!

Erik Scott Harris

Erik was born on August 27, 2008 at 6:17 pm. He weighed 5 pounds 7 ounces and was 19 inches long.

David Matthew Harris

David was born on August 27, 2008 at 6:08 pm. He weighed 5 pound 2 ounces and was 18 inches long.

How our family grew to be four

This is the exciting and true story of how our twins were born. On Wednesday, August 27th, we left for the hospital at 4:30 in the morning. Steve thought I was joking when I woke him up to tell him it was time. When we got to the hospital I wasn't very far along, but my contractions were getting intense fast. After several hours of seriously hard labor I was finally able to get an epidural. The doctors were worried about my blood platelet levels, so we had to wait on several blood and clotting tests before the anesthesiologist agreed it was safe. Once the pain was gone and I was able to talk again, Steve and I finally agreed on what to name our babies: Shane Michael and Scott Matthew. We thought it would be cute to have their initials be the same as their daddy's.

When it was finally time to push, baby A took his sweet time coming. I swear they told me "this is it, here he comes" for about 20 pushes. It turns out he was facing up, so my doctor gave me an episiotomy and used the vacuum to help him out. When baby A cried it was absolutely the cutest sound I have ever heard. The nurses all said he was the cutest baby (which I suspect they tell every new mom), and he had the longest eyelashes. I thought Shane had been born, but Steve whispered to me, "His name is David," and he was right. He was our baby David.

Then it was baby B's turn to meet us. The doctor pushed him all around, which was not very pleasant for me as they had purposely let my epidural start to lessen to help me push. Baby came head down into the birth canal just as we had hoped. Then my doctor broke the baby's amniotic sac, and his cord prolapsed, which means his umbilical cord came out with his head. This cut off his oxygen, so my doctor had to do an emergency c-section. A nurse gave David to Steve, and Steve got pushed to a corner. When I realized something had gone wrong, I asked for Steve to hold my hand, but they basically threw him out of the delivery room, baby and all. I don't remember much about the surgery except that it hurt, and I didn't really understand what was happening. I found out later that my doctor got the baby out in just a few minutes, and his quick action saved our baby's life. When baby B came out, I didn't see him and I didn't hear him cry. I asked if he was okay, but nobody would answer me. The nurse just kept telling me it was going to be alright. I kept praying that we would all make it through so we could be a family.

I don't really remember anything after that until I was in the recovery room. Steve came in and showed me a picture of our baby in the NICU. He looked so tiny and fragile with tubes everywhere, but Steve told me that he was already doing better. He wasn't breathing when he was born, but now he was on a respirator and doing better all the time. Steve called him Scott, but I told him that I wanted to name him Erik after my doctor because he saved his life. I was pretty sure that Steve would have agreed to anything I asked at that time because he was just so glad that I was okay. They had left him waiting for over an hour before they told him what had happened to us. Then a nurse brought David into the room, and I got to hold my baby for the first time. He was so tiny and perfect, and I loved him so much. The moment was bittersweet though, knowing our other tiny baby was fighting to stay alive. A nurse took me to the NICU to see Erik before she took me and David to our room. It was so surreal. I don't think anyone plans on seeing their baby for the first time like that, but everyone seemed very hopeful that baby Erik would be fine. I was exhausted and hurting, and that night seemed to last a week. Steve spent the whole night going between my room, the nursery, and the NICU to check on his family. I don't think he slept at all.

Thankfully Erik recovered faster than anyone would have guessed. By morning he was out breathing the respirator, and they had him on a different machine called a cpap that gave him higher levels of oxygen through his nose and kept his airways open. Then next day, they removed that and his IV, and I was able to hold him. Then next morning, a nurse unexpectedly rolled Erik into our room - tube and wire free and just as perfect as can be. We were so happy to have both of our beautiful baby boys with us. We stayed in the hospital until Sunday afternoon, and then we all went home together as a family.

David and Erik are basically the cutest, best babies in the whole world, and we couldn't be happier! Their birth didn't go at all as we had planned, but I would do it all again to have these precious babies in our family.

The World of Blogging

I have had such a fun time reading my brother's and my sister's blogs that I decided it was time to write one of my own. I think I may need Angee to give me a blogging lesson, but I'm going to try this first post all on my own. It won't be very long because I have some chores to do before the boys wake up, but I do have a few minutes while they're napping. Life finally seems to be getting back to some sense of normal. The boys are 6 weeks old today, and everyday seems to get a little bit easier. I can't believe how much they have grown and how fast the time has gone. The last few weeks of my pregnancy seemed to drag on forever, but these weeks have flown right by. Everyone told me that my babies would grow up fast, but I had no idea how fast it would actually be. David and Erik just get cuter everyday, and each morning I find myself more in love with them than I was the day before. They really are such precious little blessings!