Update Pics of the babes

Not a whole lot to say tonight, but I did want to post some pictures of the babies. They are growing so fast! After holding little Audrey today I realize how much Hudson and Brooklyn have changed in the last 12 weeks. They don't make any little newborn sounds anymore, they both love to smile and Brooklyn especially loves to "talk" to us. They are sleeping at least 6 hours at night and they are starting to self soothe, aka cry themselves to sleep for naps and bedtime. It's not easy to listen to, but necessary for mama's sanity in the long run.

Mr. Hudson, chillin on the couch.

This is one of a couple "matching outfits" that they have. Pretty cute I think:)

Both Hudson and Brooklyn do pretty well with tummy time. Hudson enjoys it a little more than Brooklyn. I think he just like to show off his strong neck. He has rolled over a few times too when he gets his arm tucked under himself just right. So fun to watch them grow and learn.

12 weeks old last Friday!

We finally took the babies to church today. We decided to attempt a kid pic too. It was interesting to say the least and I think this is the best one we have. We'll have to see what we can come up with for a Christmas card this year:)

It was so fun to dress the babies up. Since we spend most of our time at home I don't dress them up very often. I had fun today:)

Hudsers laughing at daddy.

Sweet Miss Brooklyn. We've yet to capture a good smile from her on camera.

My dear friend Mary started the weekly picture tradition for my kids. When each of my kids was born she sent them a stuffed animal and note cards with week1 - week 52 written on them. I took pictures of them each weekly and put them in a little photo album. Ethan and Morgan love to look at their books of when they were babies. It has proven to be a good way to make sure I take regular pictures of the kids, especially the twins. I'm going to try to take yearly pictures of the kids with their animals as long as they'll let me. we finally got around to taking EJ and Mo's pictures a couple weeks ago. A few months late, but better than never!

Yep, that's about as still as I can get this little girl to sit these days.

Ethan's preschool class went on a field trip to the pumpkin patch. I found babysitters for the other three so I was able to go along with him. It was fun to watch him interact with his classmates. Although I wasn't paying very close attention to what group we were in and we ended up in a group with only one boy, the rest were girls....oops!

Hudson loves to smile and interact with anyone who will take the time to chat with him. Here he is giving daddy one of his adorable smiles. Brooklyn likes to smile as well, but she really likes to talk to us. One of these days we'll have to get a video of her chatting.

Hudson and Brooklyn had their two month check up this past week. They are growing well and look "perfect" as the doctor said. But then we already knew that:) They each had to get 3 shots which is never fun. Here are their stats:

Hudson:

11 lbs 10.1 oz

23 3/4 in

head 16 1/4 in

Brooklyn:

11 lbs 2.7 oz

24 in

head 16 in

For Halloween this year we hung out at my parents house so that we didn't have to hand out candy at our house. Ethan was an army guy and Morgan was a nurse. My mom and I took Ethan, Morgan and Annika around to a few houses by them. Ethan was of course very timid at first, but the girls jumped right in. After a couple houses Ethan warmed up and didn't want to stop trick or treating. The got a lot of candy, most of which found its way to daddy's "prize stash" at school. It was fun to watch them get into knocking on doors, ringing the bells and saying trick or treat. All three were good about saying thank you. Annika even signed "I love you" to several people.

A day we've been waiting for.... Hudson is finally enjoying his baths. He screamed bloody murder during his baths for the first 9 weeks of his life. He screamed every time we changed his diaper for the first 5 weeks. The kid just doesn't like to be naked.

Warrior Dash

This past weekend me (Kevin) and a few friends ran the Norcal Warrior Dash.  The race consisted of a variety of challenges designed to test only the fiercest warriors in California.  OK, there were plenty of weird people in costumes who looked liked they trained for the race by consuming cake batter, but not us.  Some obstacles encountered during the race were jumping over cars, a hill run, cargo nets, tunnels, jumps over fire, and a large mud pit to wrap things up.  This picture was taken upon the completion of the race and right before we went to claim our hard earned free beer!  You can check out the warrior dash website for more information on this race.  We'll be doing it again next year!

Time for an update

I suppose it's time for an update again. We definitely get caught up in the daily routine of life around here. Nothing super exciting to blog about, other than the babies getting bigger. I recently got together with a friend of mine from San Jose, who mainly keeps up with us through our blog, ask me how things are really going because I always sound so upbeat in our blog. When I started this blog I decided to make it mainly a photo and general info blog, not a journal with my deepest thoughts. It is a place for family and friends to keep up with us on a general level, but if you really want the details it's best to ask. I'm mainly including pictures of our happy times. Just because I don't want to get into the nitty gritty on this blog. Don't worry I could definitely post about the meltdowns in the evening , the hungry screaming babies who have to wait for me to help their big sister, the big sister who, right now, LOVES to empty the wipes and Kleenex containers, the big brother, little sister fights, the timeouts, the neverending feedings....you get the picture. Real life is definitely happening around here....I'm just choosing to focus on the positive, hoping that will help me get through the day when I only get 2 hours to myself before I crash in bed at night. So with that, let me show you our happy growing family:)

Snuggling during nap time. It is going to be really hard for me to separate them into their own cribs. Won't they miss each other?

Ethan is learning more and more everyday. He is such an inquisitive kid and learning comes so easily. He loves going to school and I think would do great with 5 days a week. His attitude on the nonschool days sure makes me wish it was 5 days! Here he arranged all our magnet letters in alphabetical order. He was pretty proud.

Morgan and Cousin Annika pretending to sleep in  Morgan's bed. They are getting along better and better and can now play together for quite a while. Morgan is talking more and more. She is putting 2 and 3 words together to form sentences and she repeats everything she hears. One of my favorite phrases of hers right now is when it gets dark at night she calls it "dark time." She keeps us on our toes!

The four after baths and all ready for bed.

7 weeks old. The twins can now spend about 15-30 minutes just laying on their backs checking things out. They are starting to mellow out a little more and seem to be even more content to just be. I can't wait until they are entertained by their big brother and sister.

We usually take a walk after dinner, just to get the wiggles out before bath time and to get some fresh air. Sometimes that is the only fresh air I get. The babies aren't too fond of their carseats, especially Hudson, so we've started to just carry them in the baby Bjorn's. Ethan and Morgan like to imitate all things baby so they were carrying their babies around like this after their baths. After bath time they usually play really well together. It is fun to watch them imagine together.

Smiling Hudson-While this little guy is more cranky and touchy than his sister, he is also much more generous with the smiles. He LOVES to have us talk to him and almost always rewards us with a smile.

Miss Brooklyn seems to be a little more serious, but she is almost as mellow as her big sister Morgan was. She is pretty quick to drift off to sleep in her bouncy seat or her crib. Does that mean she'll be just as much trouble as Mo is too????

6 weeks

 It is hard to believe that Hudson and Brooklyn are 6 weeks already. In some ways it feels like they've always been a part of our family, and in some ways it seems like they were just born. They continue to be pretty mellow babies. We have a melt down each evening between 6 and 8, but I remember that happening with the other two as well and it usually gets better after 6 weeks, so I'm hoping the same is true of these two. Life is busy and crazy. I don't know when I'll be able to manage a whole day with all four kids and no help from others. My mom has been a HUGE help, coming over each morning before she goes to work so I can take a shower and get ready in peace. She usually makes the kids breakfast and brings Ethan to school, or watches the younger 3 so I can bring him to school. I also have someone watching the babies on Tuesday mornings so that I can take the older two to bible study with me. It is so great to get out of the house, fellowship with other women and spend a little bit of extra time with Ethan and Morgan. It is such  a blessing to have people around to help. Here are a few snapshots of our life right now.

Ethan and Morgan dressed up as Daddy and Mommy. Ethan's imagination and ability to create imaginative situations has improved since he started school. It is fun to watch him and Morgan play nicely together, in between all the fighting that goes on most of the time.

Mr. Hudson thinks he's big stuff holding up his head.

 Just chillin' on the floor. While I don't think these smiles are intentional we have gotten smiles out of both babies in the last week. Brooklyn hasn't smiled for me, but she has for Kevin. Hudson is pretty generous with his little grins.

 I finally brought the babies to meet my Grandma Bulthuis. Unfortunately she is pretty confused lately. She was unsure of whose babies they were, but she was sure happy to hold them and watch the big kids run around. Kids bring an instant smile to her face.

Brooklyn-6 weeks

Hudson-6 weeks

Nothing cuter than little baby bums.They are getting bigger. I'm not sure how much longer we'll have them share a crib. They are getting so long!

A few pics

"Say Cheese" Ethan and Morgan love bathtime together.

Snoozing in Mommy and Daddy's bed.

Brooklyn snuggling with Daddy. So sleepy....

I've been having them sleep on their tummys more. One nap time Hudson had scooted over and was cuddling with his sister. It has helped Brooklyn sleep at night and I'm hoping it will start helping Hudson soon. He thinks he has to hang out with me for a while after he eats in the middle of the night.

Week Two

We're two weeks into life with 4 kids and so far so good. The twins have been amazing babies. They are sleeping great at night and for the most part they are pretty chill during the day. Kevin went back to work last week. It went pretty well here at home, however I've yet to be home all alone all day with all four kids. That will come soon enough though:)

Sleeping Brooklyn.

Sleeping Hudson.

So tiny in that great big crib!

I took this picture while they were on my lap after eating. Don't they look so content?

A little bit of awake time after their bath.

My mom offered to watch the babies today so we could take the older two to do something fun. This summer I had big plans to take them to do some fun day trips, but with being placed on "restriction"  we didn't get to do what I hoped. So we took a few hours today to take Ethan and Morgan putt putt golfing and go-carting and out for lunch.

Ethan actually did really well and had we been keeping score he probably would have beat me. Of course he wasn't following around a 2 year old like I was.

Morgan did really well. She actually putted on the first hole and carried her ball and club around for 4 holes and the rest of the time she just explored and adjusted all the landscaping lights on the course. It was a lot of fun to spend some quality time with the two of them with out worrying about babies.