One Week Old

What a fabulous first week!  These girls are such a delight and still in that newborn stage of only sleeping and eating.  Abby Jane has adjusted beautifully so far!

Favorite characteristic of Joy: her expressive eyes, eyebrows, and forehead.  She can look really intense, which is comical on one so small!

Favorite characteristic of Blythe: she has really big eyes and looks all around her when she's awake.  Blythe makes really funny faces and is very strong for someone just over 6 lbs!

Abby Jane and Jake raking the front yard
She loves kissing the girls!

Daddy's lap is a wonderful place!

So are his arms...
Abby Jane reads to the girls and tries to teach them about things like blocks, Noah's Ark animals, etc.

Abby Jane helped with the girls' first baths...

They've already had their first trip to the park- it's been too beautiful outside to stay in.  Abby Jane is swinging in the background of this picture!

Thank you for all your prayers and congrats- the delight and easiness of this week has been is such a gift of the Lord!

First Few Days

Thanks for all your sweet prayers and congrats!  These first few days have been so easy, all things considered.  Blythe and Joy are little sweethearts, and they have been doing a lot of sleeping, eating, and looking around their new worlds!  So far, they couldn't be easier!

Joy

Blythe

They are both very healthy, but they both had a bit of jaundice.  Jake took this last night of both of them on the special bed they brought to our room yesterday to use until this morning.

In their going home outfits...

Abby Jane woke with a cold on Friday, so when we came home this afternoon, it was our first chance to see her and her first chance to meet the twins.  All she could do at first was say, "Hi Joy!!  Hi Blythe!!" again and again.  

Not sure how to hold them,
but great at giving them kisses!

Thanks again for all your thoughts and prayers!  We'll keep you updated!

Double the blessing...

Welcome Blythe and Joy! They were born at 12:37 p.m. and 12:39 p.m. Blythe was 5lb, 13oz, and 18in. Joy was 7lb, 3oz.,and 19.5in. Both are doing well. Em did great. Thank you for all of the prayers!

Blythe & Joy

Momma and her little girls (her big girl is with Grandma)!

First pic!

Last day of just us three...

Jake surprised us girls by taking the morning off to spend with us!  We started off with a pancake breakfast, then headed to the park after Abby Jane's nap (a.k.a. playtime in her bed).

After lunch, Jake went to work, and my mom watched Jane while I had a pre-op appointment at the hospital.  Then after Jane's afternoon nap, we painted a welcome sign for her little sisters.
We lost interest in painting somewhat quickly, so it became a fun fall afternoon of running in leaves, throwing acorns, and walking up our street to the stop sign, a frequent trek of ours that takes us past fun piles of leaves, nuts, and past various homes with Halloween decorations that range from tolerable to amazingly tacky.  
When Jake came home, we carved our pumpkin, and Abby Jane collected all our outdoor pumpkins for the event.
She actually participated in the cleaning out of the pumpkin, which was funny since she's persnickety about textures and gooey things!
We finished the day with dinner at Ted's, a somewhat random choice for our last family dinner out for a while, but it was incredibly delicious and Abby Jane had a great time making faces and playing peek-a-boo with other customers.

This girl delights our heart and fulfills the meaning of her name as "source of joy." Because she is the amazing blessing that she is, we chose to start trying for another little one a bit ahead of schedule.  We just didn't know we'd be getting a two-for-one deal!  Tomorrow we get to meet Abby Jane's little sisters, and for that we are beyond grateful and humbled.  Thanks for your prayers and encouragement!  Watch for the update as soon as we can get one up! 

Sewing Machine Survey

Yesterday was my birthday- and no, not the twins' as well!  Jake took Abby Jane and I to one of my favorite breakfast places, J. Christopher's, in the morning, then last night he came home with the fixings for a shrimp and grits dinner that he fixed by himself (the shrimp was just caught off the GA coast yesterday morning!) 

SUCH a treat.  I am married to the most wonderful man in the world.  Abby Jane was very excited to help blow out candles!

She also loved the musical card that I received and had a hard time focusing on anything else after that was opened!  I'm holding the box that contained a sewing kit saying that I get to pick out...

one of these!  I'm SO excited.  It may be a while before I get around to sewing, but I can't wait!  

SOOO since so many of you are now accomplished little seamstresses, tell me your favorite machine!  

This is the Brother SE-350, which was Lindsey's recommendation.  If what she turns out from that machine is any indication of how great it is, then it's the one I should pick for sure. Check out her blog- she sells the cutest, cutest things (several of you have received baby presents that were her creations) and is currently doing the twins' Christmas dresses!

Friday night at the Gross home...

Will include a family of five after tonight!  I am still due for a C-Section next Friday at noon unless I go into labor or have any other extenuating circumstances in the meantime.  So before Jake and I start watching the movie we have, I wanted to share a few things...

1.  Abby Jane has been trying to get potty trained.  This is all Jake's doing and initiative- I am not crazy enough to undertake that process right now!  But the facts remain that she has gone on the potty almost every day at least once for the last couple of weeks at our suggestion.  She is particularly good at doing it as a performance for any company we have.  I know- the whole thing is backwards!

2. I don't think I've mentioned that every night when we put Abby Jane to bed, we read her board book Bible, pray, then I leave and it's Daddy/daughter time for a few last minutes. Abby Jane enjoys this so much that her goodnight kiss to me could not be more cursory and brief if she were a 12 yr old boy in front of his friends.  Further proof that I'm married to a wonderful man... this is breakfast the other day- eating/sharing his cereal, drinking his coffee, and reading a book to his little girl.

3.  My big sister Jodi came in town yesterday through this morning for a quick visit so we could actually hang out a bit before the girls come.  She brought 3 yr old Ian with her while Katie stayed home b/c of kindergarten.  We are so thankful for the proximity to allow these visits!

4. My mom sewed a new covering with some fabric we picked out together for the Moses basket she used for me and my siblings- I could not love the end product more!

Happy weekend- WAR EAGLE!!!!!!!

Beautiful Saturday

Yesterday morning we had breakfast at Cracker Barrel, then walked up Kennesaw Mtn,. It was a CHILLY day here- it was 43 degrees and windy!  It was so fun to have one more Saturday as a family of three, though many other hikers and runners out asked if we were trying to induce labor... which would be just fine at this point!   There was a big battle fought during the Civil War here, so there were a lot of canons to explore!