Slacker!!

I have been awful with the blog!! Mainly because I always want pictures to accompany my posts (but you will have to wait till tomorrow for pics). It has been a busy couple of months. Nothing can prepare you to handle 3 kids under 2!! But it does get easier each day, here are my updates on each baby:

Ethan - He is as handsome as can be (and he looks like his father) so he is a lucky boy!! I have mentioned before that he had a hard time adjusting to his sisters. But we have come to discover that he has a speech delay and possibly a sensory disorder. He knows how to tell us what he wants without words but can't communicate with words. It looks like he'll qualify for the state funded therapy program . Which mean he has to rank 33% below his developmental age. So it is heartbreaking news that he so behind but it is also a blessing that we caught it early and he will receive the help he needs!

Claire- She has been smiling for a few weeks now and she started to giggle last week. Now she will full laugh when I kiss her. She is such a cuddler and loves her mom! She has great head control but hates tummy time, we have to work on rolling over...she's gotta beat her sis and that will take lots of work!! As of today she weighed in at 11lbs 11oz.

Brooke- She is soooo social. If you even walk past her she will smile and "talk to you" she loves people and playing with anyone who will give her attention. She just laughed for the 1st time today! She is soooo close to rolling over, we just need to work on that neck strength. And she weighted in at 10lbs 14.5 oz

Ok pics of the pumpkin patch to come tomorrow....I promise!!

We're alive....

....but everything is a blur!! I couldn't tell you what happened yesterday! Okay well maybe I could since Jeff got sick (either food or salmonella poisoning) and Hot Grammy had to come to the rescue....but for the most part I don't know what day it is!

The girls are 2 months old. They are smiling at us and they are starting to "play" on their own. They are amazing sleepers (nothing like Ethan ever was). They go to bed around 8, then we wake them to eat when we go to bed around 11 and they sleep to 5 or 6 then get up again around 8. It works out well and gives us some alone time with Ethan before the girls get up.

Claire

Brooke
The Girls


Ethan is slooooowwwwllyyy.....very slowly adjusting to his sisters. For the 1st month they were here after each nap he would run downstairs so excited until he saw that the babies were still here and then he would have a complete meltdown. But those are in the past now, he realizes the girls are here to stay.

His age right is hard because he can't really talk to us yet but he is starting to understand us and will take our hand and pull us to what he wants. I can't wait for him to start talking and communicating with us (I know once he does start talking I will wonder if he'll ever stop). The funniest is when we have a baby and he wants to be held he'll pull us to the swing and grab the babies leg while yelling "down." We make sure to give him 1 on 1 time with us each day. I take him somewhere in the morning and Jeff does something with him in the afternoon. He definitely gets lots of love from us but we still feel beyond guilty when he's watching TV again cause were feeding the babies. I just keep imaging how awesome next summer will be when the the kids are all friends and can play together. I am living a dream here (not thinking of the fights and tantrums)...so don't burst my bubble here!!
And last but not least here is a picture of my handsome baby boy

Ethan

They're here!!

Our baby girls are here!!
They were both born June 28, 2010 at 7:48am

Claire Addison
6 pounds 7ounces
and

Brooke Riley
5 pounds 1 ounce

The girls beautiful and they are doing great. They are in the NICU and we are not sure when they will be coming home with us, but they are very healthy for twins and just need some help with eating and breathing.

Here are some pictures of the little ones
http://picasaweb.google.com/jeffstarkel/StarkelTwins

Baby Showers

We have been blessed with 2 wonderful baby showers!! The girls have been so spoiled by our family and friends.

The 1st one my parents and sister put together in the Bay Area. Ethan was still trying to get over his awful cold and we were so close to having to cancel but we pulled through. It was a little rough because Ethan just wasn't happy, but Jeff and I had a great time!!

The 2nd baby shower a few of my friends put together. It was just the girls and my Mom and sister came up to hang out with us too!! It was nice to have a morning away from kids and just chat with my friends!!

We are so lucky to have such wonderful family and friends!! Thank you all!!

3 Car Seats

The car seats are installed and there is no room for anyone but the babies!!

31 Week Belly Pics

We had a doctor appointment at 30 weeks and the doctor said I was measuring the size of someone 40 weeks pregnant with 1 baby!! Wow...no wonder it is impossible to do anything and its only going to get worse.
But I have still been able to take Ethan to the park and doing all our normal errands. We get lots of stares, some questions and plenty of comments. And I love when someone makes a rude comment like "you sure didn't want long to have another...when are you due?" and I will say July and keep walking. I keep the twin information to a minimum as it brings on another set of questions and comments. Today Ethan dropped one of the groceries he was playing with while I was loading the car and I went to get it but this guy said "let me get that for you, I'm affraid you would topple over if you tried!" And its almost true, I am a little front heavy.

Seriously...another long story

I totally jinxed myself with my previous post..."a better week"...I never should have said such a thing. This is my baby tonight
He started to get sick over the weekend. On Saturday he was throwing up when he ate and on Sunday he slept lots, had no appetite and was just cuddly and clingy to me, but by Monday morning he was running around playing. So he seemed to be feeling better and this morning he woke up and wanted to run around and play but he still had no appetite to eat. So I decided he was well enough to go to school for a few hours. He loves playing with the other kids and gets so excited when we get there. But when we got there he was the only kid there! The teacher asked if he got the "dreaded sickness" so I said yes but he seemed fine yesterday and doing even better this morning. Well she called me at 11:30 and said she took his temperature and his fever was around 105...wait...what....so I freaked out. When I got him he didn't feel that hot and our pediatrician's office was closed for lunch so I took him home and gave him tylenol and I got a temperature reading of 100. He went down for a nap but he woke up about 45 minutes later with a little cry/whimper and still had his eyes closed. His fever had gone up again (around 101) so I took him to the doctors, but his fever at the doctors was still around 101 so it seems he is just fighting off this cold. We came home and he slept a little more but when he woke up his fever was back up to 102+ so I gave him more meds and it has slowly come down. I am waking him up tonight to give him meds so his temperature doesn't spike again. The doctor thinks it easily could have been at 103...that's so scary to me...especially since I thought he was okay!!

So our week of doctors and more doctors has continued and we need it to end soon!!!

Oh and at my prenatal appointment on Monday my belly measured smaller than it did 3 weeks ago...how does that happen??? I swear it is huge and I look like I am going to pop. He then talked about scheduling the c-section around 39 weeks...so I told him (jokingly of course) that I was going to have to find a new doctor...39 weeks...Ethan was born at 39 weeks weighing 7lbs 11oz...so if we double that....I could be delivering almost 16lbs of baby. He laughed at me and asked if he was scaring me yet...seriously we don't need anymore scares around here...but thanks!!

A long week and a really long post!!

So our week started off awful but slowly got better and honestly after the start of the week I prayed it couldn't get worse (don't worry..it only got better)

Sunday: Started off great! We enjoyed sitting outside by the pool with my parents and my sisters family. And the kids got to swim in the pool with Poppy and we were have a great time. Then as Ethan was getting out of the pool he slipped on the concrete and hit his head...he hit it hard. He had a huge red bump on the side of his head. We took him inside iced it, tried giving him a paci and that didn't help calm, tried a bottle and that didn't help he just kept screaming and then he suddenly feel asleep sitting on my lap. Ethan doesn't do this! We were then unsuccessful at waking him up so we threw some clothes on him and went straight to the ER. They took him back right away and found that he was conscious so we went back to wait like everyone else in the waiting room. He woke up after about an hour and couldn't walk. If I put him down he would try to crawl and then just sit there and reach up for me to pick him up. The doctor even asked us if he knows how to walk...umm.... yes he runs!! So they took him right back for a CT scan and of course I couldn't be in the room with him because of the pregnancy so my sister had to comfort him (and she did a great job...thanks Meg for singing to him and telling him stories...we love you). Oh and Jeff wasn't with us for any of this, my cell phone battery was dead so I didn't have a phone with me and we finally called and told him what happened after the CT scan. I didn't want him freaking out at home while we were sitting in the waiting room. After the CT scan Ethan began to walk and finally started to run the hallways and explore everything, at that point we knew he was doing better. After a couple hours of waiting I asked if we could leave since he was better and it was getting close to bed time. But apparently hospitals aren't hotels and we had to wait, so my Dad came down with dinner for Ethan and we waited till I was done waiting and finally the doctor called the radiologist to see where are results were...needless to say it was a long day!! But everything was okay and Ethan is back to normal!!

Monday: Just hung out with my sis, Jake, Abbie and my mom. The kids played outside and took nice long naps then we played a little longer and made the drive back home to see the progress Jeff made on the nursery (pics to come in another post...but he has done a great job so far)

Tuesday: I had to do a 3 hour test for gestational diabetes. I failed my 1 hour glucose test by 1 point so I had to repeat this test. They make every pregnant woman do this test, you drink a really gross sugary drink and an hour later take your blood to check for gestational diabetes. Since I didn't pass this test I had to fast for 12 hours have my blood drawn, drink the sugary drink and then have my blood drawn again every hour for 3 hours. I have some awesome bruises as proof from all the blood draws.

After that test I had to take Ethan in for his 15 month baby well check....I was only a month late on this and forgot his immunization card! But I thought for sure he didn't need any shots....of course I was wrong. He had to get 2 shots and his leg got nice and swollen and is just now starting to look better...poor baby he is traumatized of the doctors since Sunday so this visit to the pediatrician didn't help! But we got some new stats for him:

Height: 34 inches (95 percentile)

Weight: 25-26 pounds

(we had a hard time getting him to stay on the scale...50-75 percentile)

Head: not sure but he is in the 50 percentile

Wednesday: Ethan had his 1st dentist appointment. Again he freaked out once he realized he was in another doctor office. They had us in a room with lots and lots of toys all around for him to play with and after a few minutes of no one doing anything to him he slowly started playing with toys. So we were able to talk to the hygienist and ask questions before the dentist came in to look at his teeth. He did great and his teeth look perfect.

Thursday: Found out I passed my diabetes test!! Yay!!! No gestational diabetes for me...bring on the candy and fruit!

So the week has gotten progressively better!! Jeff and I are celebrating our 6 year wedding anniversary this weekend and on Monday we have a doctor appointment to check on the babies!