"Mele Kalikimaka is the thing to say on a bright Hawaiian Christmas Day"

This was my 2nd Christmas in Hawaii and Mike's first. Christmas Day here is very different from when we are at home...it's a LOT slower paced! We had a good day that started out with a good nights rest for all 4 of us! That's a great Christmas present right there!

This picture below is our first family pic of the day, and right before we had our worst diaper "blow out" yet. Nora let out a good one that got all over Holden and myself--so Mike took Nora and I took Holden and we had about 1 hour re-group session of bathing, changing and clothes washing before we could go on with our Christmas morning.

While mommy and daddy were making sausage balls for breakfast, Holden was telling Nora all about the reindeer that pull Santa's sleigh. He especially likes to talk about their antlers.

Santa brought lots of gifts to our new "house residents". Nora got a Dressy Bessy, just like her mom had when she was little and then Holden got a matching Dapper Dan.

Santa also brought a Zippy just like Grandpa Caudle had when he was little. This Zippy is quite a bit bigger though and has a banana!

Nora received a special gift this year from her Great-Grandpa Butt and her Grandpa Caudle...a handmade baby crib. Great-grandpa started it, but didn't get to finish it before he died, so Grandpa finished it up when he found out that Nora was coming! Grandma Anne made the beautiful bedding that goes with it. Nora is going to love playing with this one day i am sure, but for now she's so little she actually fits in it herself!

Here's our best family photo for the morning. The babies were so content and quiet that we just left them in their chair to sleep while opened presents. I'll bet this is the last calm Christmas we are going to have for many years!

Here are the babies with all their presents before they were opened. For their first Christmas i think they "racked up"!

Holden got his first truck from Grandma Carlisle!

And here is Mike with his new Bike T-shirt.

Mommy bought this book for her little babies. It's actually quite sweet, don't be fooled by the title!

And here's their present from Daddy!

Aunt Vicki sent the babies cute matching shirts. And just FYI...i didn't pose them, you'd think they were twins or something!

And here's a family present that i am especially excited about. The wide mouth food processor from Kitchen Aid so I can make baby food easily and in bulk when the time comes! I am already excited about it and looking up yummy recipes. Of course I am sure I can use this to make yummy adult food for Mike and I too!

Mike gave me a very special ring with Nora and Holden's birthstone in the center and a small diamond on either side to signify each baby. I love it!

And here are the babies, post opening presents...still sacked out!

I have to sneak this picture in here, because these two sock people are my most favorite ornaments. They were given to me by my grandfather a few Christmases ago because i liked them so much. He heard I was plotting to "steal them" and he wanted to "keep me honest", so he gave them to me as a present. This year they were the tree toppers for our table tree...so cute!

Christmas night we went to eat dinner at our friends, the Williamses, house. Here is Marybeth giving Holden his first bottle. He took it like a champ!

and Daddy is giving Nora her first bottle! She also did great, and finished her bottle in record time, leaving Holden in the dust! Who says little people can't eat a lot? Although eating like that, she prolly won't be little for long!

Before we left to go back home, Mike and I tried to get a family photo with the babies. They weren't going to have any of it though. This is the best it got..after this picture it was nothing but screaming, flailing babies! Don't they know that they are going to want these pictures one day??

So, it was a good first Christmas with our babies. I guess next year, if all goes as planned we will be back in NC for a real Christmas--cause although it was a good day, it's just not the same away from home! It's crazy to think that next year that our little ones will be moving around and aware of what's going on. Geez, Mike and I are so shocked that they are already a month old...time sure is flying, but we are loving every minute of it.

Hope everyone else had a wonderful Christmas with their loved ones. We missed you all!

~If you wanna see all our Christmas pics, check our pic website~

Merry Christmas *Sneak Peak*

Hope everyone had a wonderful day with their family and friends. We missed you all!

We're just halfway done with our day, so check back tomorrow for a real post! But until then if you wanna see more pics check our pics website.

~Merry Christmas to all and to all a Good Night!

Photo Shoot

We had a mini photo shoot this morning since the babies had on matching jammies. Thing is, our sleepy babies very quickly turned into........ mad, hungry babies!if you wanna see the rest check our photo website at

http://picasaweb.google.com/jessi.burns in the "Welcome to the World Holden and Nora" Album

Holden Houdini

Watch me set my hands free!

A Little This and That

This is how Mike and I feel about the Survivor results....i mean really, Russell definitely deserved to win! We really are appalled!

We've had a lazy Burns Family weekend. In honor of the snow all of our family and friends have been experiencing, we too decided to have a "snow day". So basically we stayed inside, in our pj's, and just "vegged out". It was nice to have some family time with nothing to do and nowhere to be.

Mike and Nora

"Family Photo"

In between feedings today i worked on decorating the wooden letters for the babies nursery--its one of the things i have been meaning to do for months. Without the big belly i can again easily sit on the floor, spread out all my supplies and have plenty of space to work--it was nice to do something crafty again. Honestly, i can't say enough how glad i am to have my babies on the "outside"! Things are so much more enjoyable now that i can get comfortable again--and of course it's nice to love on my little ones!

Just a little update...

Nothing exactly monumental has been going on thr past few days, but i thought i would post a few photos just case you were missing the babies!

Also, here are some videos, mostly of Nora during her small window of "wakefulness" today--Holden hasn't had his yet as you can see in his video. It's been a very sleepy day for him!

Nora and her paci

looking a little bored

Holden "sacked out"

Me and my babies

loving Nora, like her shirt says. She kinda looks like..."aw mom!"

cutie pie

Nora Awake

Nora and her Paci

Sleepy Holden

Santa Claus is Comin' to Town

Today we went to the First Annual NICU Christmas Party. Families who had spent time in the NICU from the past 4 years were invited and there were LOTS of people there. It was so neat to see all the kids who had a rough start to life running around the room excited about Christmas. It's also crazy to think that before we know it, that will be us! There were lots of multiples at the party--3 families of triplets and 1 family of quads! One of the triplet families was in the NICU while we were. There last baby was discharged the same day we were. Their babies are just 2 weeks older than ours. A nice family--Dad is in the Navy and they are stationed here until summer of 2012 like us. We have plans to get together soon--Mike and I are really glad to have met them and hope they will be good friends for us during the remainder of our stay here. Obviously, our twins aren't going to scare them off considering they have 3 of their own!

Here are Holden and Nora with their NICU Grad name tags...kinda silly, but at the same it feels like a big accomplishment!

The party also had dancers from a local church come to entertain us. Mike and I weren't in the greatest position to see everything which might have ended up being a blessing as Holden decided the music was much too loud for his taste and cried the whole time. Holden is a much more sensitive baby. We joke he is like me...it takes him awhile to get over things--so even after the music was over he was still fussy and upset until we left. Nora on the other hand is like a light switch...mad one minute, but then all is forgotten the next--like her Daddy. She stayed asleep the whole time, nothing, not even Santa could wake her!

Mike and I had bought the babies Christmas outfits before they were born and then when we went to put them on this morning we realized they were WAY TOO BIG. All newborn sizes...but they were so big when you picked them up...the pants literally fell off of holden and nora's head kept falling inside of her dress like a turtle in his shell. So we improvised with anything we could find that was Christmas colors. Holden was thankfully given a cute Christmas onesie that 'almost fit' and nora did have a red dress in her wardrobe that had a small neck hole so she wouldn't "swim in it".

Since we found out we were having a girl, i have been collecting bows for her hair. Of course Nora's head is so teeny tiny, most of the bows don't fit. The one she had today was okay as long as it wasn't touched, but when we went to get her out of her car seat when we got back home, this is what we found--she was passed out!

Here are a few more pics of of Nora. She loves to stretch out and make funny faces while waking up. I just can't help but think she is adorable--i'm sure you'll agree!

And here she is again, cuddling with me!

We've had a busy past 2 days, so daddy and mommy have no plans tomorrow but to stay at home and try and decorate the house some for Christmas, listen to Christmas music and drink some apple cider. Stay tuned for more pics!

Lots-A-Firsts

We are just wrapping up our 2nd full day with our babies at home and everything's going well. It's like everything we do is a new experience now that we have our little ones here doing it with us.

We had our first doctor's appointment this afternoon and all is well. The main reason for the check up so close to our discharge is just to make sure the babies are gaining weight. The normal gain is 20-30 grams a day and they had both gained right at 100 grams in 2 days--which is great! We don't have to go back for another appointment now until their 1 month and it will be with a regular pediatrician instead of the NICU. Thank God for our healthy babies!

So far the babies have taken their first naps in their own cribs--together...currently they are sleeping in bassinets in our rooms until we get their monitors installed...we have taken them on their first stroller walk which they didn't really like all that much, but hopefully they will get used to it cause momma needs to do some major walking to get back into shape. They have taken their first baths in their new home and prolly screamed so loud that the neighbors could hear. They also ran their first errands with mom and dad after the appointment today so we could get some Christmas lights and 2 more stockings...the errands went great, they slept the whole time, no crying--only thing is we attract quite a bit of attention anywhere we go!

Here are some pics from the last few days.

Sharing a nap in Holden's crib

checking each other out

getting ready for our walk
Nora --so little even the snuzzler doesn't quite help with the fit

Holden

waiting for mommy and daddy to take us to the doctor

trying to eat my brother

best buds!

Burns Babies First Night at Home

Our first night at home started out quite uneventful, which we fully expected being that the babies are already on a routine from the hospital and they sleep literally all the time.

Mike and I settled back in the house, unpacked our things and spent the evening holding our little ones. Oliver was super glad to see us and even took to the babies pretty well. All in all it was a nice relaxing evening.

And then came nighttime.... We had actually had Nora in the hospital room with us the night before we left and she did great--but last night was a whole different story. I know it was a lot of adjustment to their little bodies...a new bed to sleep in, a much quieter house, a much darker room--even though we played with the lights off and on throughout the night trying to see if it would make a difference, it didn't. So with all these new things going on around them, they cried most of the night, taking turns of course instead of both at the same time, which meant there wasn't much of a break between 10pm-430am--sure kept Mommy and Daddy on their toes! After that, i guess they were finally worn out and this morning has been much quieter and they seem back to their old selves. Hopefully tonight will go a bit better!

Olie enjoying the new box...we weren't sure he was going to be able to get himself in this, but he figured it out!

Daddy and his 2 boysThis is how we finally solved all the crying last night. We have been swaddling them in blankets since being in the hospital, but last night regular receiving blankets weren't cutting it. So i went digging in their closets for the swaddle blankets that i affectionately like to call "straight jackets" and it seemed to work like magic.