Our little Flower (and Pumpkin and Hotdog!)

Well the big day has come and gone. Katie had a blast. She was so excited to dress up in her costume. I had told her that I would paint a ladybug on her face last week so she was very excited to be a complete flower.

Addy is the pumpkin and Marcus is the hotdog.

Katie and Carson

Aunt Heather, Aunt Flossie and Cousin Carson came up to go trick-or-treating with us. Katie had a blast hanging out with him for the weekend.

One happy family!

It took Katie about 2 houses to figure out how this whole thing works. She was not shy at all about walking up and and taking the candy. We had Marcus in a stroller and I carried Addy in this fabulous sling that I made. We live in the best neighborhood for trick-or-treating. We only made it through a few blocks before we had too much candy.


Katie and her bowl of candy that Dad & Mom will end up eating

Here are some other random shots from this weekend.

Katie and Mark playing ball outside .

They are so cool in their hats!

Church today.

We just thought that Addy looked so cute in this headband.

Shout out to Bethany!

This is the dress she brought home for Katie from China.

Daily life

Well, I think that we are settled into a pattern, it doesn't make us any less tired but... at least we know what to expect. Marcus did give us a little scare with some stomach problems on Tuesday and had to go back to the the doctor. They changed his milk and he is fine now, but they weighed him again, last Fri he was 7lbs 15oz and Tuesday he was 8lbs 6oz!
(And no, they have not started sleeping longer at night, but we love them anyway.)

Here are some highlights from the week.

Marcus and Addy passed out when they should be doing tummy time.

The amazing big sister!
Addy was crying so Katie held her on her belly and Addy calmed down right away.

Katie reading a bedtime story to Addy and Marcus

This weekend was filled with some fun fall activities for Katie. While none of these are a first for her, this is the first time she will actually be able to remember having done it, or at least be able to talk about it for the next few months.

Thursday

Katie and I went outside and raked the backyard and played in the leaves. Katie made a bed for us to sleep in and even made some covers so we were toasty warm.

Saturday

During the day Katie went with Mark to the Zooboo at the Pittsburgh Zoo, the zoo is less than a mile from our house. She dressed up and got to trick-or-treat with the animals. We are not posting pictures of her awesome costume because we don't want to ruin the surprise of the big day coming up on Friday.

In the evening some of our law school friends came over and we had our annual pumpkin carving party. Katie got to stay up a little later and was in heaven helping everyone with all the sticky pumpkin guts.

Staying out of the way of the knife

Helping clean out one of the pumpkins

The final result!

Sunday
Marcus and Addison's first Sunday at church. Luckily we don't have church until 1 pm so I had all day to get everything together. We actaully made it on time and everyone, including Katie, were angels for the first meeting. Wow, I can't believe we have three kids!

We didn't get to take pictures until after church, I promise Mark doesn't wear t-shirts to church

(Ok so church wasn't a memorable fall activity for Katie but she did hear music coming "out of the sky" when she left sacrement meeting to use the bathroom and learned what a speaker was. She hasn't stopped pointing them out since. )

...

We have officially watched all 4 seasons of Grey's Anatomy in the past month. I feel like I have a new set of friends. Katie is asking us right now to watch more. (I promise that she just knows the name and that she doesn't really watch the show.) We are now started on Lost... The point is that we spend a lot of time sitting on the floor feeding babies and we are watching TV shows that we never watched before. We also got DVR so that we can record shows, so that at midnight and 5am we have something to do other then fall asleep sitting up. If you want to know what shows are good and which aren't, just ask us, we know! I am so sick of TV. I can't wait to not have time to watch anything again.



We went to the doctor on Friday. It was a good visit. Everything is great. Addison was 8 lbs 2 oz and 20 1/2 ins long; and Marcus was 7 lbs 15 oz and 21 ins long.

We're tired

Well, the twins will be four weeks on Tues, but are still eating every three hours...all night long. We are so tired! We are hoping that this will be the magic week that they start sleeping just a little bit more.

This week was fun because my parents and my little sister Gabby came to visit. Mark and I took advantage and got out of the house. Thursday we went to do some shopping and even went to a movie--we figured it will be the last one for a really long time.

Katie is sitting in her baby doll pack n' play while "her mommy" was feeding her

Katie was in heaven because she had someone her age to play with for four straight days. Every morning she woke up and asked when Gabby was coming over. She ignored us most of the time.

Friday we went to the zoo, of course in the craziness of getting 3 kids ready I forgot the camera so when my mom emails me her pictures I will add them. Marcus and Addy were little angels the whole time.

The weather the last half of this week has been a little reminder of summer so we have been trying to get out as much as possible. We took Marcus and Addy out with us tonight, they didn't like it as much as the rest of us did.

Pluggin along

Well, we survived our first week home, and Mark and I even survived being with all 3 kids for the last few days. Luckily, 3rd year of Law School isn't to bad (that and Mark has a job, so the pressure isn't there--did I mention that he accepted at Dechert in Charlotte where he worked this summer!) so he is home quite a bit and doing half of everything. Our plan of attack includes me going to bed at 9-10 pm (yeah, lots of fun) and he puts them down around midnight and then does the 3 am feeding. I get up with them around 5-6am and am up for the morning, and Mark sleeps until 10ish. It isn't tons of fun but at least we are both able to get more 2 1/2 hrs of sleep at a time. Someday they will sleep longer then 3 hours at a time.

We took them to a two-week weight check, while we had Eileen to stay here with Katie. Addy was 6lbs 14oz and Marcus was 6lbs 8oz and taller then her.

They keep each other awake by hitting each other with their flailing arms

Marcus is trying to suck on Addy's arm here

Katie is officially the best big sister ever. She doesn't seem to be jealous, she just loves her brother and sister. She always gives them hugs and kisses and wants to hold them. I am so proud of her. It is really nice having someone around who wants to get the diapers and wipes or the blanket or whatever.

Katie insisted on feeding Marcus. It didn't last long though because she
kept letting the bottle drop so that he was sucking air

Home again

This adoption process has been oh so crazy, but amazing.

This is us the day we left the hospital. Frantically trying to get lazy bum Marcus to eat (Addison had already sucked down her bottle) so we could get on the road before it was too late. Because of the hurricane there were no hotels anywhere in Nacogdoches and Houston. I want to give a shout out to the people that rescued us.
#1--This is Marsha with Marcus and Addison. She is the Relief Society president of the LDS church in Nacogdoches. When I called her the night before we flew to Texas all panicked because I could not find a hotel, she invited us to stay with her. She took care of us the 3 days that we were in Nacogdoches. #2--The babies are Elizabeth, Addison, Marcus and Ansley. Elizabeth and Ansley were adopted 7 weeks ago. I was the caseworker for their parents, Heather and Chandler. I stayed at their house for almost a week while I waited to get clearance to come home. We had a blast hanging out with four babies. I actually think we never had all four crying at the same time. #3--A blast from the past. My great friend Amy Jo. I haven't seen her in a few years, she picked us up the night before we flew out, and then went to the airport to get Eileen and then let us spend the night at her house and then got up at 4am to take us to the airport! She is awesome!

Finally, we got home and I was able to hug Katie again, and introduce her to her brother and sister.

Katie meeting Marcus

My sweet babies


The girls

Katie loves Marcus and Addison. She wants to hold them all the time! She does sometimes forget that they are real, and that she can't just jump up and push them off her lap like she does her baby dolls. She is trying to pass on her love for a pacifier to them by forcing one in their mouths at all times, even when they are asleep.

Katie reading Marcus and Addison their first book--"Good Night Moon."

Grammy

ANNOUNCING...

The arrival of Marcus Alexander and Addison Yvette. They are finally here!

Addison is on the left and Marcus is on the right

They were born September 16th in Nacogdoches, TX, weighing 5lbs 6oz (Addison) and 5lbs 4oz (Marcus) and 17 3/4ins and 16 3/4ins respectively, according to hospital records. (We did remeasure them when they left the hospital because they didn't seem that short and Addy was 18 1/2ins and Marcus was 18ins so either they had a major growth spurt in two days or the hospital was a WAY off!)

Addison

We spent their first 48 hours at the hospital with their amazing birthmother Courtney. Her and the birthfather signed and Addison and Marcus became ours on Thurs the 18th. Mark headed home to be with Katie and I am hanging out in Houston waiting for permission to go home. Of course because of Hurricane Ike there were no hotels in either Nacogdoches or Houston so we are staying with friends.

Marcus with birthmom Courtney