Thank You Podee Bottle!!

So I finally got one of those Podee bottles here recently. My Mom and I were at Babies-R-Us and I finally redeemed the remaining gift cards we had there to purchase some needed items for the babes. This little invention however, has made the biggest impact on streamlining the feeding process yet. It makes it so I can breastfeed one and let the other feed himself. It is a HUGE time saver for me especially at night time. The gals at my Tacoma Parents of Multiples group had recommended these to me for a long time, but for one reason or another I never got around to trying them. The only down side to these is you have to remember to stop the process and burp them during the feed or you will end up with a large amount of spit up afterward. What I have done is to burp Daniel before switching sides and then set him down on the couch and get Caleb out of his chair to burp him also and that works very nicely. I highly recommend to all you multiple moms out there and even moms with more kids to care for to try this as it has been a huge help. I might add that they have a modifier kit that works with many types of other bottles than the Podee brand. Here pictured is Caleb chowing down with an Evenflo bottle and the Podee attachment.

Comparison Photos--Please Vote!

OK everyone! This has been a project I have been working on for a while and just now finished. Look at the pictures below and vote in the comments section as to who is pictured in these photos. I am not giving any clues, so you will have to figure it out on your own! I altered a few of the photos though as I thought they were too obvious otherwise. Have fun and I will reveal the answers after people have had a chance to vote.

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King Grandpa

When we went to MOPS the other day, Josiah made this crown. I asked him what the story they read to the group was about and he said, "Kings." A very non-descript explanation, but to the point I guess! He also told me that he put jewels on the crown, which apparently was important to him.

He wanted Grandpa to wear the crown and then he wanted to wear it and then Daniel wore it too. This was the best of the three versions of this picture!

This morning my two baby boys were up having some wide awake times together and I even have this shot of Caleb smiling and Daniel more serious, which is a rare moment. I am beginning to see that Daniel has his Daddy's eye shape and that Caleb has my eye shape as they have gotten older. I also noticed that Caleb has my ears as well, a realization that came to me when I pulled my hair back the other day and saw the resemblance of my slightly pointy ears to his.

Here is another cute shot that exemplifies in my opinion how different these boys look. Even with the weight difference they have such different features, it seems pretty obvious to me that they are fraternal twins.

Cool Dudes in New Duds

My friend Michelle from my MOPS group, who also has twin boys (7 months old), brought over some new outfits for my boys a little while ago. Her boys grew so fast that they hardly ever were in the 3-6 month size, so the clothes she brought over look brand new! If you look closely too, they are wearing cute little shoes with Dumbo on them as well! Thanks Michelle for the cute new clothes!

I imagine many of you can tell the difference between my two now I would think as their features are pretty distinct. But for those of you who are still confused, this is my little Caleb boy pictured here above and in the top picture on the right.
And here is my little Daniel boy with a sideways smile for you. As I was posing the boys on the couch, Josiah wanted in on the action, so I have two shots below (which I have to add later because my upload picture function on blogspot is not working now--keep checking back later today or tomorrow to see these.) One of smiling Josiah and one of Daniel after Josiah hit him in the face....AGAIN. UGH!! I know he is jealous sometimes, but sheesh....how many times do I have to tell him "Don't hit the babies." It is getting a little old!

Will the REAL Sudafed please stand up?

Maybe some of you already know what I am about to reveal, but for those that don't I will tell you this is a gem of revelation that I wish I would have figured out earlier!

In my quest to get some quality sleep, uninterrupted by violent coughing and/or massive sinus drainage, I made two little jaunts yesterday. One was to the doctor, who deemed that I do indeed have a sinus infection and gave me antibiotics (yeah!) and the other was to the pharmacy to get the prescription filled. I got to talking to the pharmacist about the difference between the nighttime Sudafed and the daytime version. He said that all Sudafed products are non-drowsy because they are stimulants (hence the reason the drug dealers bought it in mass quantity for harvesting) and that the nighttime stuff adds some anti-histamine to make you drowsy. Then it got me thinking to ask about the difference between the Sudafed I buy over the counter and the stuff they had behind the counter. He told me that that the literature he has says that the current Sudafed blend (without the drug the drug dealers want) is supposed to work just as effectively, but the the people taking it have complained that it isn't as effective. Then I began to reflect that though I had been taking this "new" Sudafed throughout this whole ordeal that it really hadn't helped all that much. This lead to the realization that perhaps I should sign away my life (not really, but it seems so) to get the behind the counter "old" formula to see if indeed it would help.

Can I say....NIGHT and DAY? The minute I took the "old" blend, it dried me up so much that I had to get a cough drop to wet my throat! AND, I was able to breathe clearly through my nose without any congestion. This combined with the twins not waking until 3:15am equated to me getting 5 1/2 hours of straight, solid sleep. What a difference that made! So instead of sitting here in bleary eyed, coughing up a lung, nose running torture, I am dried up and ready to go back to bed after their feeding right away! And perhaps I will get to it now!

So here's to the "old" Sudafed that actually works! Thank you all for your prayers and I hope I am on the road to feeling normal again soon!

Sicky Family Update

I said in the previous post that Caleb wasn't sick....well he is now. The only officially well one is my hubby now. I have just finished feeding both the boys and though they are SO tired, they are both hacking away off and on as they fall back asleep. I wish I could help them somehow. I am hoping that a good night's rest will be a good start. I am sick too still and really need to get some antibiotics on board, but since I am still nursing, who knows what they will actually give me to kick this thing. I feel so helpless and overwhelmed with this right now. Perhaps I shouldn't post things at 1:21am in the morning anymore, but that is how I am feeling right now. On facebook, there is this fun little game where you are awarded a superpower and mine is "super strength." Well that is what I need right now in real life to keep this boat afloat this week. David is very busy at work and I have a load of lessons this week that we really can't afford to cancel. Please pray for me, that I can get through this week. Thanks.

Sicky Family

The latest Carpenter update is that the majority of us are sick...AGAIN! This would be the 3rd bout with "stuffage" to date for me (in a row I might add) and the only ones not officially affected by the latest cold wave are David and Caleb. Daniel and I have it the worst thus far I think and Josiah also is starting to be real congested also.

I am hopefully going to get an appointment with my Ear, Nose, and Throat doctor soon to see if there is some greater problem or solution for me. I had a sinus surgery done last March and up until this last February I was doing pretty good, hardly getting sick at all. I know that the pollen count has been rather high in this area of late and also that I think we need to get the whole heating sytem in our house vaccumed out due to all the dust it kicks out (I am highly allergic to dust). And I am sure that the "lack of sleep" factor has something to do with my continued illnesses. Please pray that I can get through with the Lord's strength, as it is becoming increasingly clear in recent weeks that I cannot do all this without HIM!!

Incidentally, in these latest photos, I put the boys in the play pen with their boppies and a few toys. They are really not interested in toys yet, but I thought I would try. I have to keep reminding myself that they are more like 2 months olds in their behavior than 4 month olds. In the first photo up above, Daniel is on the left and Caleb on the right. Then in the next photo is Caleb with the ring around his arm and Daniel is pictured here dressed as my little "Pooh Bear" boy.

We would covet your prayers for our families' health! Thanks!

Josiah Play

Here is Josiah's little friend Hannah as they played in the backyard on this sunny day. They are starting to play really nicely together. It was touch and go at first with each of them (though more so Josiah) being unwilling to share the toys they were playing with or Josiah would get frustrated and push Hannah down, stuff like that. Now though, they enjoy each other's company quite a bit and Hannah even gets to the point where she doesn't want to leave.


We have been told that before she comes over to our house that she tells her whole family that she is going to see Josiah, Daniel, Caleb, Heather, & David. It is very cute! Here they are hugging. Sharel and I saw them holding hands walking over to the chair in the house. Then they sat on the chair together and Josiah put his arm around her and she leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. It is very cute now of course, but once the "girl" and "boy" cooties stage sets in we will likely see no more of that!

Here they are playing on the slide outside. They also exchanged dandelions at one point as well. Josiah and Hannah love to bring them in and give them to me as a present. Little do they know, they have just given me a weed that when they aren't looking gets tossed in the garbage, but it is the thought that counts right?




Here is another cute photo of Josiah and Sharel.

Both Smiling Together!

Yesterday, Sharel (my babysitter during lessons) was able to get a shot of both the boys smiling together, which as my husband would say is a "rare spawn." For those of you who play online role-playing games, that phrase would mean something to you.

Here is a close-up of our smiley Daniel boy. I have noticed recently he has been putting his hands up near his face more. And certainly when he is super hungry, he moves a lot more too. Normally, he is sort of sedentary, not as wirey as his brother.

Caleb has been smiling a lot more of late and also has been cooing up a storm! In fact, last night rather than crying to wake me up, he was talking to himself, cooing and gooing away. It was really cute! When I came in the room, he smiled really big too! I might add that all his talking woke up his brother who was also ready to feed at the very early time of 1am this morning. Ugh! I had just fallen asleep probably around 10:30pm. Oh well, this worked out in a way because then I had my larger chunk of sleep from 2:45am to 6:00am when Daniel woke me up again and so I feel more rested this morning than usual.

The Josiah-ness Monster

After Josiah's bath the other day, there were LOTS of bubbles leftover in the tub and he refused to get out as he wanted to slip and slide and play with them before getting out. I eventually had to hose him down with the shower head, which resulted in him slipping and falling and bonking his head which was not popular at all! Thankfully, he was OK and didn't even really cry, but he did want to get out finally! In the above picture, he was saying "I'm monster!" and was trying to get me.
Daddy caught this lovely shot the other day soon after Mommy had been feeding the baby boys. Josiah said, "Look I'm feeding babies!" I think this must be an older brother thing to do because another fellow twin Mom had her son who did the same thing with her nursing pillow as indicated on the link below.

Josiah is growing by leaps and bounds and his language is getting more and more precise. We have been amazed at his progress of late. http://mjcady.blogspot.com/2007/12/family-of-seven.html

Serious Business

This is a shot I have entitled "Serious Boys" and I am sure you can see why. I took it at a time when I think both were ready to go sleep and so they were on an energy low perhaps! These are now 3-6 month outfits, so they are officially in "their size" for their age! Incidentally, I think Josiah was in 6-9 month clothes at this stage, but oh well! They are both on the normal weight scale now just barely for their age.

Here it looks like Caleb has either seen an alien being off in the distance or he is concerned because he is bonking heads with his brother. As usual, Daniel is not phased by either scenario! It is funny though because Daniel is the one that startles the easiest when there is a loud or unexpected noise. He in fact cries very miserably when he gets scared. We would think that it would be our jittery, squirmy Caleb that would scare easily, but he isn't bothered too much by loud or unexpected noises.

I thought I would include this wide shot of our handsome boys in their cute outfits. We went to MOPS today (Mother's of Preschoolers) so they got to charm all the ladies there! Also, for those following the blog...both boys are well now, though they each have this lingering cough from time to time. Daniel's coughs make us wonder if he is dying (they are VERY extreme) sometimes, but he isn't of course and recovers from them afterward. The great news is though that they did not seem to contract RSV and got over their colds as full term babies would, so that is wonderful! When they left the hospital, we were concerned that they may have further problems, but so far they have been normal healthy babies, of which we are very thankful! Thanks for all your prayers when they were sick!

Our 4 Monthers!

As you can see, getting older just means our boys are getting cuter! David informed me though today that I dressed them in the wrong outfits. Since Daniel is our big eater, he should have the "Winnie the Pooh" sleeper as we can imagine him sitting around with his honey pots. And Caleb is our mover and shaker he should wear the "Tigger" sleeper as we can imagine him being more like Tigger bouncing off the walls. I will be sure and get it right next time!

I call these next three pictures, "See No Evil, Speak No Evil, and Hear No Evil" and you can probably guess why by looking at them. Apparently Daniel is getting Caleb back for all the kicks to the head inside the womb!

Our boys are again doing very well as far as the doctor is concerned. Daniel weighed in at 12 pounds 8.5 ounces and is 26.62 inches long. Caleb weighed in at 11 pounds 14 ounces and is 22.83 inches long.

Caleb got his vaccinations today, but since Daniel is still fighting off this virus, we held off getting his until he is feeling better. Both boy's had their iron levels tested and they are now in the normal range, so that is good for them!

The doctor said we ought to wait on trying solid foods with them since their adjusted age is more like 2 1/2 months or so based on their early arrival. She said it would be better for us to see how they were doing at the 6 month appointment before we start solids, which is fine because that is when I started Josiah on solids anyway and he was full term.

While we went to the doctor, my friend Melissa watched Josiah and then afterwards I came to visit with her for a bit. Josiah had a great time playing there (as he always does) and he found her son Isaac's masks and was trying them on. So I thought I would end with this cute picture of "Batman Josiah."

Recent Pictures

Today in the afternoon it started hailing and then afterward we got this beautiful rainbow outside our front door.

Here is my cousin Daniel holding our Daniel after the memorial service for my Grandpa last Wednesday. He and his wife Natalie have a little girl named Evelyn and it is clear that they are also hoping for a boy one of these days. They were both having fun gooing and gahing at little Daniel, who incidentally is sick now. He has had a bad cold, but I think he is on the tail end of it now. Tomorrow we go in for the boy's 4 month appointment, so I will post something on that soon!

This is a picture of my Aunt Genny with Daniel. At the time, I was feeding Caleb and so I didn't manage to get pictures of people holding Caleb as well, but he was there! I really didn't take many pictures as I was trying to visit with people as well as take care of the babies and doing my best to stay awake as well!

Reflections on my Grandpa Hal

On March 30th, 2008 at 3:15pm my Grandpa, Hal Minnich, went to be with Jesus. My Grandpa was a very well-read, intelligent man with a very humble spirit. He was fairly quiet, but when he had something to say it was well worth listening to, and it was usually about something he was passionate about. He had this infectious laugh that sounded more like a wheeze really and you couldn’t help but join in when he was laughing. He was a strong Christian man with a real love for the Lord. He and Grandma would always tell us, “We pray for you every day Heather, dear.” He wasn’t able to take compliments to well as I recall. Grandma doted on him saying how handsome he was and how she had to fight off all the other ladies that wanted Grandpa as their catch back in the early days of their courtship and marriage. Whenever she would do this, he would get this stern look on his face and would say, “OH Betty,” usually followed by an impromptu trip to the bathroom or an immediate need to find “something” in the bedroom. It was clear he was embarrassed!

After the birth of his first great grandson (our little Josiah) we took him over to see Great Grandpa and you couldn’t wipe the grin off his face as he looked at Josiah. It was obvious that he loved children. Before he passed on, I did call him at his home and had Josiah talk to him a bit. He said, “I love you Great Grandpa,” and some other things, and when I spoke to him afterward I could hear him smiling through the phone. He also said he was anxious to tell Grandma Betty about the conversation when he saw her next time.
I attended my Grandpa Hal’s memorial service this past Wednesday and brought the twins as well. It was a whirlwind trip (we flew in the morning at 9:00am and returned back at 8:45pm) and though it was a lot of work and preparation to bring the twins, I was glad that people could see them and enjoy them during this time. It was the first time in a long while that I can remember that most all the cousins were gathered together at the same time and we had a fun time reminiscing about Grandpa, Grandma and our various past family gatherings and such. One of the cousins commented how nice it was to hear the extended Minnich clan sing the hymns at church. Then Lynne (another cousin) said, “Yes, my husband asked me one time…does your family always sing when you get together?” Our collective response was, “Of course we do!” Our Grandpa and Grandma both loved singing and music in general and it was a guarantee that they would like some sort of performance by whoever would give one when we came to their home.



Here is Josiah "helping" Grandpa push Grandma in her wheelchair. I was told that Grandpa was one of only 2 men who daily visited their wives who were in the care center. He truly knew the meaning of "for better or for worse" and honored his commitment to Betty even through the tough times! What a great example to live up to for my first born and for all of us!

This event pictured here was the last time that I saw my Grandpa when he was living. We had come over to Spokane to visit our friends and family in December of 2006. We had hoped to come out there again this last Thanksgiving, but my pregnancy with the twins was just too complicated and difficult to make the journey. The wonderful news though is I WILL see him again! I look forward to the day when he will greet me in heaven!

I love you Grandpa and I am thankful you are free of pain and in a better place now!