What we have been up to....

 

 You give the boy one M&M and this is what happens.

 Lincoln's letter to Santa Claus he made one morning at Chick fil a....he did have some help from Brad in case you can't tell.

 We ventured out to Target as a family of five and survived!! The store was packed so we got a lot of double takes and hearing "whoa, they have two babies!" Guess we should get used to that from now on.....

Halloween 2013

This past Halloween was Lincoln's 2nd time dressing up but we count this as his first time officially trick or treating. He had a Halloween party at his daycare and a trunk or treat at my school before going out on Halloween night in our neighborhood. This year, he was Jake from Jake and the Neverland Pirates. He had a really good time getting dressed up and even wore the wig the entire time. He ended up only wanting to be out for around half an hour (which was totally fine with us!!). We of course "inspected" his candy as all good parents should do. I think his favorite thing was dumping all the candy out of his bucket and then putting it back in. He did pretty good with the candy, actually ate some, and was good about when we told him that was his last piece for the day (as good as any two year old would). We look forward to what next Halloween is going to look like with three in tow!

 Couldn't quite keep his pants up...sadly Jake's outfit doesn't come with a belt like Lincoln needs these days.

 Trunk or Treat at DDMS

 

Hide your gold doubloons....

 The twins choose to take this Halloween off and chilled in the NICU at Cary. Until next year.....

Sawyer and Ainsley are home

After five very long weeks, we can thankfully say that Sawyer and Ainsley are home from the hospital!!! Sawyer came home on Saturday, the 16th, and Ainsley on Sunday, the 17th. This has not been the easiest on our family. We have burned many a mile on the highway going back and forth to visit the kids at the hospital, often multiple times a day. Although I can't say these past few weeks have been easy, I can say that I am thankful we made it through in one piece and it was the grace of God that lead us through this time. We had a few bumps in the road along the way. Sawyer was having issues going to the bathroom since birth and was causing him to be in a lot of pain all throughout the day. After two procedures and a trip back to WakeMed Raleigh, we learned that Sawyer tested positive for Hirschprung's disease. He will need to have surgery to fix the issue once he is at least 10 pounds. We have to do irrigations twice a day until surgery but we are so thankful the doctors were able to figure out what was going on with him and we have a solution on how to fix it. Ainsley, who we thought only was going to have issues the first few days of her life having to be on a ventilator for two plus days, decided that she was going to have issues drinking from a bottle. She would have apnea episodes where she would gulp down her milk and forget to breathe. Very scary but she has learned how to control her eating and has learned to slow down a bit when it comes to eating.

Brad and I are very thankful for medical technology. Myself and the twins received great care all along the way and we can't say enough about all of the neonatologists, nurse practiononers, doctors, and nurses that worked on our kids every day.  I am very excited to wake up and not have to go to a hospital. We are so grateful for all the support and kindness that both WakeMed Raleigh and Cary gave us every single day. Having all three kids under one roof is a blessing!

Lincoln's last official meal as an only child.

 

He has done pretty good with them so far. He has been sweet giving them hugs and kisses when we ask him to but we have already had to have talks about be quiet when the twins are sleeping and not throwing things across the room because of what it could hit. I found his cup in the pack n play yesterday afternoon after he had launched it over the couch. Its about to get really interesting here at the Davenport Den!

Sawyer and Ainsley

Sawyer & Ainsley decided to be born on October 11. They were a little bit early, eight weeks to be exact! After spending five days in the NICU over at WakeMed Raleigh, the kids were transferred over to WakeMed Cary. It has been so nice being over there. Not only does it cut the distance in half for us, there are usually around five kids in the special care nursery at any given time. It is so much less stressful of an environment over there and the nurses are great. Right now I am going over there twice a day to visit with the kids and helping them learn to eat. It is a pretty slow process but overall they are doing good. They started sleeping together in the same crib last week and have a lot less tubes and wires on them. As of yesterday, Sawyer weighed in at 4 lbs 2 ozs and Ainsley was 4 lbs 6 ozs. They still have to be eating on their own before they can come home but we are thinking both of the kids will be home by Thanksgiving. Right now, Ainsley appears to be winning the race of who is going to come home first.....So far we don't see that they look alike too much. They have the same nose but that's about it. Sawyer is too busy looking exactly like Lincoln did as a newborn and is a dead ringer for his dad. Jury is still out on whole Ainsley looks like.

 

 

 Sawyer

 Ainsley

 Sawyer

 Ainsley

Both kids like to squirm but we have started to notice that after you lay Ainsley down, she starts to creep closer and closer to Sawyer.

2013 - changes

To say that I haven't blogged in awhile is a bit of an understatement. A lot tends to change when you hear two heart beats on an ultrasound instead of just one. Back in April, we learned that I was pregnant! Everything was about the same with this pregnancy except I felt nauseous very early on (so early that I if I hadn't taken a test, I would have known a few days later...). We excitedly went to our first doctors appointment and basically our worlds got rocked at that ultrasound. The doctor even played it perfectly letting us know we were going to have twins!! I sat up on the table from shock and Brad just went back and forth starring at me and the ultrasound. Its funny how you like to think that you are in control of your life but we got served a huge dose of "yep, you are not in charge like you think you are" that day. Brad and I had this "plan" where in a couple of years we would buy a new house, get me a new car, and I would eventually quit my job. Instead of getting to take care of those things in the next three to five years, we quickly realized we had three to five months!

The town home was put on the market in early June and it sold in about a week and a half! We eventually were able to find a house in Holly Springs and moved in on August 17th (conveniently my first day back at work). Although we haven't been able to spend a lot of time here yet, we can honestly say we love our new place. Lincoln has so much more room to run around and play. We have a backyard instead of the post it note size area my grandma referred to our last place as and we can finally park both of our cars in the driveway. So far, we have enjoyed our new neighbors and I really think this is going to be a good place for our family. A couple of weeks after we moved in, we traded my car in for a 2009 Chevy Traverse. I just couldn't do the whole mini van thing. I understand how practical they can be but I just couldn't do it.

My goal was to work as long into the pregnancy that I could. I had the end of October in my head.  The doctors told me that the furthest they would let me go was 38 weeks. I was thinking in my head that I could make it till the end of October but clearly my children and/or my body felt otherwise.

A little over two weeks ago at church, I noticed I was having some signs of preterm labor. We went over to the hospital in Cary that day thinking that they could stop labor and send me back on home but just on bed rest. Once we were there, the docs confirmed that I was dilated 2-3cm and I was having contractions. That meant that I needed to be transferred to Big Wake Med over in Raleigh and there was no going home for me at that point. After a nice ambulance ride over (no sirens...), I continued to labor into the evening. At around 10:00, the contractions were starting to calm down but my water decided to break. Brad and I started to freak out thinking we were about to meet our kids but we got a great lesson in biology that night. Apparently, you can continue to stay pregnant even after your water breaks if you can stop the contractions! It just means you get to ride out that time in the hospital - which is what I did for almost two weeks. Everyday, I was constantly monitored every four hours checking to see if I had developed any infection. The kids got to experience not one but two fetal non stress tests every day and developed quite a reputation on the hallway among the nurses for running from the sensors. I spent many a morning and night with a nurse sitting on my bed holding the two sensors chasing my children.

This past Friday, things got crazy. Within of span of 2 hours, I went from noticing that I was cramping some to all out labor. I dilated super fast and as they were wheeling me to a room to prep me for surgery, my water broke (and I mean broke - like bursting). The doctor checked me and told me that she could feel my son's head and that there wouldn't be time for a C-section for him. I was taken to an OR and then got to push my son out. Worst feeling ever!! There was no time for any drugs whatsoever. Needless to say, Sawyer doesn't mess around. His own dad didn't even get to see him being born. Brad was putting on his scrubs when he heard a baby cry and the nurse told him that it was his own son crying! After Sawyer was born, they had to C-section Ainsley out because she was breach. Sawyer Sears Davenport was born at 3:06 weighing in at 3 lbs 5 ozs and Ainsley Campbell Davenport was born at 3:25 weighing in at 4 lbs 1 oz.

Pictures and updates to follow soon....

Lincoln turns two!!

Back at the end of March, Lincoln turned two years old. His birthday coincided with my spring break so we once again attempted to spend spring break at our family's cabin and once again it was way too cold and we even snowed one afternoon. The snow was coming down so hard that we were worried about being able to get out but it ended up being okay. On the trip, we did some hiking in Linville and even found a new waterfall off of the parkway.  We ended up spring break with a trip to the NC Zoo in Asheville and then onto my parents and grandmas for Easter.

 We are in the process of getting him to smile at the camera. As you can see, its a work in progress......

 This kid will pull his wagon anywhere we will let him.

 The family at the waterfall we found of the parkway. As you can see, Newman is thrilled to be apart of the hike.

 Easter Sunday picture

 I think he got the most excited about the goldfish in his Easter basket.

 The cupcakes my mom made that he wouldn't eat. That's now two years in a row he won't eat anything cake related. And he doesn't seem to care for ice cream either. Not sure what is wrong with him.....

We just showed him the elephant behind us and this is the shot I got...pretty awesome.

 

It has been such a fun year with Lincoln. As much as I enjoyed his first year, this second one was so much better watching all the stuff he learned how to do. He learned to crawl, walk, climb the stairs, and talk. We look forward to the years to come....and if you know anything about what is going on in our lives currently, you know its going to get crazy!

Lincoln's first official snow

 

I know that is has snowed a couple of times already this winter but the snow a couple of weeks ago that lasted only a few hours was the first time Lincoln has been here and was old enough to go outside and "play" in it. It was the perfect snow. It was pretty, didn't stick to the ground, and happened on a weekend so I didn't miss school. Here are some pictures from that day.

 

We have neighbors with little boys both around Lincoln's age. Here he is enjoying the snow with Bryson.







At what age is it too old to play on the playground?

 

Meme's 80th Birthday Party

Back in January, my grandma turned 80 years old. Due to the death of a close friend's spouse, we had to postpone the party till this month but we had a great time. The theme was a 50's sock hop theme and everyone got dressed up for the occasion. My parents, aunts, and uncles all worked very hard to get the party together and during the party serving everyone hamburgers, hot dogs, and milkshakes. Here are some pictures of the party.

 

 

 

 

Several members of the family got dressed up for the occasion as well.

My cousin Justin and Brad

Mom and Dad

My aunts and uncles, Meme, and my parents