3 Month Professional Photos

I told you I would post these when we got them.... so here are some of our favorite shots from the boys' 3 month photo shoot.

Some shots of them together.... Even Mandy (photographer) was amazed she was able to get these shots with them both sleeping and snuggled up together. So precious.

MacKay wasn't in the best spirits on the day we had these pictures taken, so we didn't have as many pictures of him to chose from, but of the ones we did have they still were pretty good.

We had a ton of pictures of Oscar so it was hard to pick out of those... but I had to put the hat picture in. That turned out so adorable even tho he was swimming in that hat.

Shower, Roll Over and More....

Well this last weekend we had a shower to go to for the boys. The Doerr side (Chris's Mom's side) threw us a wonderful shower and it was so great to see everyone. We finally got to see Jackson who was born 3 months before the boys. Can't wait til they all are a bit older and can play together. The boys did tremendously well too and "hung out" with (and slept on) lots of new people. We got so many fun gifts too .... a lot more clothes for summer and beyond, Tonka Trucks, Radio Flyer Wagon, Scoop n Ride, Horsie Bouncer, Walk n Ride, Bounce n Spin Zebra and a new High Chair. Not to mention a very creatively made scrapbook that their cousin, Kelly made for them. Quite the haul. We've got some spoiled babies here :)

And we've hit yet another milestone.... MacKay rolled over from front to back yesterday. The boys were on the playmat (on their backs) and Oscar was attempting to roll to his tummy again but wasn't quite getting all the way around so I ran downstairs to get myself my frozen lunch out of our freezer and by the time I got back Oscar was on his tummy. Guess he just needed a little bit of privacy. So I took the boys and did some tummy time with them (since Oscar was already there) and about 20 seconds into tummy time (and me snapping pictures) MacKay pushed way up and to his own surprise flipped right over onto his back. WAY TO GO MACKAY!

And they still are being such good boys about eating (consistently finishing their 6-8 oz bottles), napping and sleeping. We've been putting them in their cribs for naps for a while now (vs letting them fall asleep wherever they are) and they go right down and sleep for an hour or so. And still sleeping 10-12 hours every night which is a godsend. Worried that once we stop swaddling them that all that will change.... but hopefully they fall right back into their schedule when we try that (maybe this weekend?)

Well as always here are some new pictures. Some of the shower, some comparisons of who they take after (even scanned in one of Chris's baby pictures), and just some miscellaneous ones too.

Here are some pictures of the shower of the boys with us, Grandma Diane and Noreen (who is expecting a baby on my birthday this year - YAY). They just loved Noreen... Mac sat with her blabbing all of our secrets (tsk tsk) and she had Oscar in stitches later talking about "poop". I should note that the cute Ralph Lauren outfits they were dressed in were from Don and Sue Rassett. Although as you can see, Oscar got a little too warm and had to shed his shirt after a while to take a nap on Grandma Diane.

Here are the boys in their new Horsie Bouncer from Grandma Chris. They haven't quite gotten the jist of how to bounce themselves, but they enjoy being in it and having US bounce them.

For some reason Daddy likes to mess with their hair (when it is desperately in need of a wash) and decided to try make MacKay look like Alfalfa *** see previous post where Oscar has a mohawk

And finally - everyone keeps asking or commenting on if the boys look like us. We personally think they are a pretty good "mix" of the two of us and our families. But after digging through old family photos we've found that they do take after certain people for the most part.

MacKay is practically a spitting image of Chris (see baby picture below). MacKay's face is a little more round where Chris's is more oval but the eyes, mouth and nose seem to be almost a perfect match. So lil Mr. MacKay is going to be a handsome dude just like his dad.

And Oscar seems to be a mix between his Mommy, his Grandma Chris, his uncle Dennis and mostly his Great Grandpa Skitch MacKay (who our MacKay is named after). Infact we have a picture of my Grandpa Skitch as a baby (which I took a picture of - see below) that looks SO much like Oscar it is just eerie. And Grandma Chris constantly sees little pieces of Skitch in Oscar when he smiles and looks a certain way.

So that's our opinion on who the boys look like - just a real good mix, but definitely leaning more in one direction. Take a look yourself and let us know what you think.

And We Have ROLL OVER !!!

Well we've hit yet another milestone and this one took us completely by surprise. For the past 3 weeks MacKay has been oh so close to rolling over. He gets over onto his side and his arms just prevent him from going all the way. Last night Chris yelled "Look at Oscar..." and from out of nowhere he bypassed his brother and flipped right over from back to front while playing on his play mat. He did it 5 more times for us so we could get it on video as well. We always said that Oscar would be the one to watch MacKay suffer through all the "firsts" and just learn from watching him.... I'm wondering if this is actually going to be the way it happens from here on out. Either way - WAY TO GO OSCAR.

I know last post I mentioned that MacKay had "found his feet" as well - and he continues to constantly play with his little digits down there. Well Oscar caught up on that one too and I found him clinging onto his feet when I went to check on him during his nap yesterday. Two milestones in one day for Oscar.

I thought since I am posting I might as well throw in a few more pictures too since I know you all skip what I write and go right for the pictures anyway :)

Here is some proof of the boys clutching onto those feet

Some pictures from this past weekend at Grandma Chris's. We've recently found out that the boys do much better at tummy time (tho Oscar still gives up very easily) when you get down there yourself and read to them. So here is a picture of Grandma Chris and MacKay reading together.

And this is what Daddy does when he gets bored at Grandma Chris's. He plays with his boys' greasy hair (Oscar was in need of a bath) and makes crazy hairstyles.

And just had to share these cute onesies that Karen Canham had made for the boys. At the shower that Heidi through for me she had all the ladies decorate onesies and hats for the boys. I'm also including the classic picture of them in their tie dyed shirts (from back in January) that the talented Susan Commers made for them. We've got some creative friends I tell ya.

I'll try post early next week again as I'm sure we'll have some news and pictures from the shower for the boys this coming Saturday at Auntie Char's.

What a BUSY weekend ...

WOW - did we just have a busy weekend. We had lots of places to go, people to meet and see... and the boys did pretty good overall. They had a hard time acclimating to all the chaos and weren't napping like they should and got a little fussy here and there.... but all is back to normal at home now.

Some new milestones with the boys: They've started using (and thoroughly enjoying) their exersaucers. Its fun to watch them move from toy to toy and make the full 360 degree turn to play with everything. MacKay has recently "found his feet" and grabs for them constantly, and both Oscar and MacKay have now started sucking their thumbs vs. trying to shove their entire fist in their mouth. They both are still little chatter boxes and giggling up a storm when Mommy and Daddy get goofy with them. And, to our delight, STILL sleeping through the night like perfect little angels. Tho Mommy is still completely neurotic and loses sleep waking up to check on them every hour. Unnnghh. When does the worrying stop?

We started out our busy (yet fun) weekend stopping by Lanny and Joyce Wadman's (Chris's friend Steve Wadman's parents). I hadn't seen them since our wedding so it was fun to stop in and introduce them to the boys. They were good at first but started getting fussy when it got close to their feeding time so we had to cut our stay a little short but we're so glad we finally got the chance to stop by with the boys. We then went to Grandpa Bean (Dean) and Grandma Bonnie's to visit and have dinner. Again - a little on the fussy side but Grandma Bonnie didn't give up and eventually MacKay and Oscar settled down. From there we went to Grandma Chris's just in time for their last feeding and to put them to bed. Had a great visit and Grandma Chris got her fill of her little boys again. She even got them all to herself while we went out and got our "sushi fix" with some friends. Not to mention the boys got to see/meet some more of Mommy's friends, Nikki Bjugan and Heidi and Chuck Nygren.

Sunday we packed the boys up and headed off to Great Grandma Bernice's (Hoglund) 90th birthday party. The WHOLE gang was there and it was so great to see the entire family and show the boys off. We even got to meet little Baby Trevor visiting from CA who was born just 10 days before MacKay and Oscar. The boys were SO good while we were there - no crying at all and were just smiling and taking it all in. We were invited to stop in at Dave and Noreen's house (Chris's cousin on mom's side) on Sunday as well. And I should note that we're now anxiously awaiting the results of Dave and Noreen's news on how many babies they're expecting. To date she is 7 weeks pregnant, they too went through IVF and had 3 put in.... very exciting. Dave's sister Steph was in town visiting from TX ... but the boys' schedule didn't really allow for us to make any more stops that day so were were not able to fit that into our already busy day. Ended up that they were completely wiped out after the birthday party anyway - but it was a bummer we couldn't make it to that. BUT.... we'll get to see them and the rest of the Doerr side of the family (Chris's Mom's side) next weekend at the shower they are throwing for the boys. We're very excited to introduce the boys to all of them. I'm sure there will be a lot of open arms there and the boys will get completely spoiled rotten with lots of hugs and kisses. :)

Well onto the real reason you come to this site.... some more fun pictures:

Here are some pictures of the boys in their new toys (the exersaucers).

Here are some pictures from Grandma Hoglund's 90th Birthday party on Sunday. The first is a picture of the Hoglund/Ledwein Family and the second is a picture of Grandma Hoglund with all of her Grandchildren and Great Grandchildren. What a lucky lady.

And as always I need to post pictures of cute outfits recenly worn by the boys that our friends and family have bought for them. The first are MN Gopher outfits that Heidi Nygren got for the boys. The second are outfits Grandma Chris bought for them recently - the first pair of overalls they have worn.

4 Months Update and More.....

Just some updates first. The boys had their 4 month check up last Friday (2/29). Everything is well and they are catching up to the averages in weight and height. They were born in the 3rd percentile and now at 4 months are right at 50%.

MacKay measured in at 24 3/4" and 14 lbs 12 oz. He had quite a hard time with the shots at this appt though. Naturally he cried during the shots but he was screaming for 15 minutes after that. Poor little guy. We also asked the doctor his opinion about doing his "circ" at 6 months like the urologist recommended and he understood our concerns and said we should probably wait until 9-12 months since he has to be put under anesthesia for it and would handle it better at that time. He's quite active still too - SOOO close to rolling over from back to tummy (if it weren't for that shoulder). And MacKay is SUCH a good sleeper. I think he would honestly sleep until 10am each morning if it weren't for Oscar waking up and making the morning feeding be closer to 8am. I suppose he exhausts himself silly with how active he is throughout the day.

Oscar measured in at 25" and 15 lbs 9 oz. It's amazing that there is less than a pound difference between the two considering when you hold each of them there is a SIGNIFICANT difference in how heavy they feel. Oscar is just dense and so thick. Oscar was quite the trooper for these rounds of shots. He cried during the shots but the minute I picked him up to console him he was fine. The next day he was a bit cranky though and developed a bit of a fever. But it was nothing that a little Tylenol and a nice nap on Daddy's lap couldn't fix. Oscar is still the more laid back of the two... but don't confuse that with being needy. He definitely is the most high maintenence of the two. Just wants to be held all the time. He is probably the better eater of the two though. He consistently finishes his bottle at every feeding.

Some fantastic news.... the boys are now on a regular schedule that we can plan our lives around. In the past few weeks they moved from eating 5 times a day to eating 4 times a day. They get up around 8am for their first feeding, and then eat every 4 hours until their last feeding around 8:30. At each feeding they are eating 6-8 oz too (closer to 8 oz for the first and last feedings of the day). And we lay them down around 9:30/10pm for bed and they sleep until around 8am the next morning. This is GREAT! And this time around the shots didn't affect their eating habits like it did last time so they are eating like champs. They're wearing 3-6 months clothes (tho not sure for how much longer) and in size 2 diapers (soon to move to size 2-3)

They both are little jabbermouths too. MacKay will sit and have an entire conversation with Chris. His "talking" is so sweet and soft. And then there is Oscar whose tongue is too big for his mouth and his "talking" sounds more gutteral and nasally. But he's definitely trying to communicate - tho he needs to learn he needs to take his fist out of his mouth first :) And we can get them into total fits of laughter by simply sitting them on our laps and clapping their hands together. So much fun to get them giggling.

Recently they have really come to acknowledge each other and interact with each other. They will reach out to touch each other (or just grab a handful of the other's sleeve and make them cry), talk with each other, smile at each other. They are genuinely interested in each other and will crank their heads around to find the other whether they are lying right next to each other or an entire room away. Can't wait for the day they play with each other and really start to bond and become the best of friends.

Below are some fun pictures we've taken in the last month .... and I know I posted a link to some of the photos from their professional session with Mandy Birdwell, but we should be getting the total package sometime soon and will post some of our favorites out here. She did such a fantastic job with them... can't wait to go back when they are 6 and 12 months. Enjoy.

Here are some fun outfits that the boys got as gifts from their many friends.

Gotta at least get them in them once and get a nice picture of it. I'm going to continue to do this as they get bigger and start growing into all the outfits people have gotten them. So stay tuned ...

These adorable coats were from their good friends Susan Chelte and Susan Link.

Dad was so proud to see his boys in these John Deere outfits from Mike and Harper Eichten. We really miss them since they moved away to Duluth.

These cute onesies were from the Nepote Family (Monica, Tristan, Ava and Preslee) and also came with matching Taggie Blankets. Unfortunately, RIGHT after this picture was taken, MacKay had his 2nd "blow out" and this onesie could not be salvaged. At least he got to wear it once though.

We got these outfits a LONG time ago right after we found out we were having boys. Grandpa Gary and Terri got so excited they had to go out and get them some matching outfits. There were cute hoodie sweatshirts that went with these but we never got a picture of them in those. MacKay and Oscar got dressed up in these when Grandpa Gary and Terri came to visit after getting back from their new place in Scottsdale AZ. We can't wait to take the boys there next year when they are a bit older.

Just some other pictures I thought I would share....

Oscar just loves his baths.... he smiles and laughs almost the entire time

MacKay is hit or miss on if he is going to have a fun bath or not... but I just love this pose he struck for this picture. Showing off those nice chunky legs...

The boys are smiling and giggling so much now. They truly are happy babies.