Life the First Week with Twins

Well...what's life been like this first week? BUSY :). God's been so good - we've had lots of help with packing, taking care of Josh, the girls, etc. Matt and I are SO glad we're moving. We knew the living area in our house was small, but it's taken on a whole new meaning with little girls and all their paraphernalia out with Josh. Poor thing, he can't hardly walk especially now with boxes taking up almost every square inch of our house as well.

I've been so proud of my little man. With all the hoopla, visitors, new sisters, packing, etc. he's been doing GREAT. Now he definitely has his moments where he just looks at Matt and me like, please, make it all stop - I want my old life back, but in general - he loves his sisters. He wakes up asking for them, and has even called them by name (which is better than I do half the time when I get handed a baby and have to check and see what color they're wearing to be sure I address them correctly).

And...we have the coolest OB doctor - he got curious to know whether the girls were identical or fraternal, so he decided to check and give us the results for free :). Kathleen and Karissa are not identical...they are fraternal, but I swear, the one time I dressed them alike, I sat there looking at them going - wait - no, that's Kathleen, no, it's Karissa. So, it will be interesting to see how their features change as they get older. They are definitely sisters though.

We've been to the doctor constantly for weight checks, etc., but we are now off of supplementing with formula - yippee!!! Just one kind of milk for my babies - don't make me do two :). Neither one of them did well with formula, and Kathleen has a hard time with the bottle because she's just so little - so, it's a good thing that I'm nursing them, or I don't think Kathleen would be doing well at all.

Okay - let's see - what other random updates from this stream of consciousness post - I love my kids...they are all three precious, and I wouldn't trade them for the world. I wish I had some pictures of Josh with the girls, but they all came out blurry - and as much as we would love to have taken tons and tons of pictures this week...let's face it - life is a little hectic right now...so, you'll have to be satisfied with a cute pic of the girls sleeping together in a bouncy seat last night :).

Meet the Girls - Part 2 (from Karen)

Hey guys!

Just wanted to add a couple of things - their stats:

Kathleen (Baby "A" according to the hospital) was born at 2:26 PM. She was 18 inches long and weighed in at 4 lbs 14 oz. Her head was 33 cm around.
Karissa Joy (Baby "B") was born at 2:29 PM. She was 18 1/2 inches weighing in at 5 lbs 12 oz. And her head was 32.5 cm around.

Things are great! Like Matt said, we have been immensely blessed. Now we just need to make it through the next several weeks of no sleep - please pray that we can get the girls on the same schedule as soon as possible. And pray for Josh as he adjusts to new sisters, sleep deprived parents, and a new house.

Love you all!

Karissa getting a bath...













Kathleen looking adorable in the nursery getting tests run...













Looking adorable sleeping together

Meet the Girls

Well, the moment you have all been waiting for has arrived. Yesterday Karen and I finally got to meet our twin girls, Kathleen and Karissa. God has been so good to us--the pregnancy was great; the delivery was great, and the postpartum has been great so far.

Karen is great. She's up and around like she never gave birth. All the hospital staff are shocked at how well she has done, especially with twins. What they don't know is that I am married to Wonder Woman. This will not come as a surprise to many of you, but Karen has the next few weeks mapped out in great detail. My next few weeks are pretty cut-and-dry--all I have to do is pack up all our stuff and move it. Oh, and there's something in there about graduation.

Kathleen and Karissa are doing very well for such small children. Both are fairly good at eating and are naturals at getting rid of waste products. They are, of course, beautiful, once you consider the source, this is no great surprise (the source being, Karen, not me. I don't think I'd make a particularly attractive woman). Well, enough of me prattling on, let me get to what you all really care about most anyway, some pictures.

Here we are before delivery



















Kathleen













Karissa













Karen with the girls













Matt with the girls













The girls sleeping in the same crib

Tons of News - Graduation, Babies, Moving, Josh, etc.

Hey everybody!

I know, I know - it's been forever since I've posted, which means I have a TON of things to catch you guys up on.

1. Matt defended his dissertation, passed with flying colors, and will graduate May 23...yippee!!!!
2. The girls will be here at the latest on Wednesday, May 7! I go in to be induced Tuesday night May 6 - so pray that all goes well!
3. We're MOVING! We close on our new house May 16. We are so excited. It's going to be crazy, but hey, there's never a good time to move :).

So, that's the nuts and bolts of it. Here's a few pics for what's been going on:

Here's Josh with his new riding toy:

But his favorite push toy is still the hand truck:


Josh's first time eating corn on the cob...


The bumper pads my mom made for the girls:

And here's the quilts I made for the girls:

Kathleen's:

And...Karissa's:
Like Father, like son (walking in our new neighborhood):
And last, but definitely NOT least...It's a bird, it's a plane, no...it's SUPER JOSH!



Well, the next post should be of the girls! We're thrilled and excited and can't wait to meet them!

Turned IN!!!!!!!!!!!!!

At 7:45 AM this morning, Matt sent off his completed dissertation to the copy center! I can't believe it!!!! I'll go by later today, pick it up, and turn it in to the Ph.D. office...it hasn't quite hit me yet, but Matt is walking around on cloud 9!

We went to Chick-fil-A this morning for breakfast, and just kind of stared at each other in amazement - that was in between the squealing, giggling, and dancing periodically (that was all from me and Josh - my husband's version of showing extreme excitement is a really huge grin and at times a bit of silliness). So, if you see us today - just know - we're exhausted, a little punchy, and in general thrilled to pieces!

So, phase 1 (and the biggest phase by far) of final countdown to graduation - complete!!!!!

Yippee Skippee!!!!!!! Oh, and haven't had time to post any cute pics in a while, but my son is stronger than I am! He spent 1-2 hours a day for 3 days in a row doing what you'll see in the video all over our yard - up and down the little rises and falls, all around the house. He LOVES his hand-truck. In fact, my son has started to kiss at the things he loves - that usually means me and Matt - however, on this particular day he walked over to his hand-truck and began to do little kisses with his mouth at it. Yes, girls love dolls - my son loves things with wheels. At least we know he's all boy!

Quick Dissertation Update

Hey guys!

Matt's on the home stretch! And we are so thankful for his new job. He's been pretty sick this week, so his boss told him to stay home until he's well and his dissertation is done! PRAISE THE LORD! Matt was trying to work through being sick but wasn't making a lot of progress. So, he's hoping to take the next two days off and finish everything. Pray he makes it and gets well - we've all been sick with something....so, just pray for stamina for all of us - but a new lifestyle for the Lytles is just around the corner! Yippee!

Also, one more update is that his dissertation defense has been scheduled for Monday, April 14. Mark your calendars so you can pray!

Kathleen and Karissa's big day!

I'm a little late posting this since I've been taking advantage of my last few official days of travel before being confined to a 45 minute radius of Rex Hospital :). Yes...I'm now officially 28 weeks...the official cease and desist your travel for a twin mom. So, I've been enjoying Winston-Salem with my sister's family and my parents over the last few days. Ah...it was great! And SO much fun!

But...on to other things. I had the most WONDERFUL baby shower last Saturday. It was so fun, so relaxing, so great. I couldn't have asked for anything better. Leah Finn, Mary Kathryn Lassetter, and Lindsey Isham threw Kathleen and Karissa a "Twist on a Traditional Diaper Shower." For those of you who don't know, I cloth diaper Josh, and I intend to keep up the cloth diapering with the twins. However, I also realized that with THREE in diapers, I was going to need something with a little more speed to it than the traditional prefolds and covers I've used with Josh. So, we're making the switch to the more expensive BumGenius - which are fabulous - but, as I said...more expensive. So, to help us with the cost, the girls threw me a diaper shower.

The theme was double-stuff oreos (I'm going to steal some pics from Leah's blog since I don't have the pictures downloaded from my sister's camera yet :). The invitations were absolutely adorable. Here's what they said:

Two times the love
Two times the fluff
These two little babies are sweet like "Double Stuff"

Two times the joy
Two times the yum
Two times the sweetness
Two times the fun

Join us to celebrate the impending arrival of Kathleen and Karissa

It was precious. Check out the picture of the adorable invitation:



A picture of me with my hostesses


And a montage Lindsey created - thanks girl!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Matt and I are so thankful for everything everyone has done for us to help us prepare for our girls. We now have two cribs in the house (and a third on the way - we're so blessed that people have given us their old cribs so that we don't have to move Josh to a twin mattress on the floor when the girls come - at 15 months...it's still a little young :). Mary Kathryn has lent us all of her girl clothes. Two bumbos that we are being lent. A beautiful nursery set that my Mom is making the girls in purples and greens. And I'm sure I've forgotten many of the other ways God has just poured out his blessing upon us. This diaper shower was just the latest. Yes, we still have some more to get...but, we are just overwhelmed by what God has already provided for us. It's so much fun! And I can't believe that in less than 10 weeks, they'll be here!

We had another ultrasound today. These are becoming a bit uncomfortable since the girls keep getting on top of each other and in the way as the poor technician tries to get all the shots she needs :). But...Kathleen is still breach, and Karissa is still transverse - so, we'll see what happens and if they end up turning before the big day. If not, no big deal...labor will be over a lot faster :)! if we have to have a c-section :).

We're getting so excited and can't wait to meet the girls face to face!

Oh, by the way - dissertation update: Matt has an external reader - MILLARD ERICKSON! That's huge - for those of you who don't know who this is - he's one of the biggest named theologians of our day, and he wrote one of the most widely used Systematic Theology textbooks in use today. And Erickson is so interested in the topic that he's flying in for the defense (not a common thing at all!). So, it's exciting and intimidating all at the same time. So, just pray for confidence and competence on Matt's part as he prepares for the defense. Also, Matt is in the middle of writing Ch. 5 and revising a few sections of Ch. 1-4. He and Dr. Liederbach have a big meeting to go over everything with a fine toothed comb tomorrow - so, pray that they have a really fruitful time together. He's still looking to turn in the completed dissertation on March 18 - so pray that that happens. Also, it looks like his defense will be the last week of April - so pray that the girls cooperate and don't come until after that.