January and some of February.

There isn't a whole lot new around here. Matthew has been chipping away at some of the reno's we are working on. He also was recently promoted at work  :-)
I've been trying to get things organized around here in-between diaper changes, feeding kids/babies and keeping up with the cleaning/tidying. Sleep seems to be a big topic with me for the last little while here...  I've always been able to function fairly normally even if I have little sleep, but I guess almost 2 months of 3hr or less increments of sleep, and not being able to take very many naps is really starting to take it's toll on me. I'm trying a few things to help Ian sleep better, so far I've been able to get him to stop waking every hour after 3am, (thanks to all my facebook friends tips and suggestions!) but I'm going to keep trying to get him to sleep longer.
Miriam is doing well in school, and when she is home she loves to read, watch tv, take care of the twins, play outside and does a few household chores. She lost a front tooth this past week and is pretty excited about it! (she has lost a few on the bottom row, but the top is apparently more exciting lol)
 Dylan is growing up so fast! He comes up with the strangest stories that are quite entertaining. He does a few household chores now - more when he was participating in the coin race at school for the mufu home during Manna week at school last week! ;-) He loves reading, and building things at home.
Lydia is becoming a really great helper for me, always willing to help, she puts dirty dishes in the sink, helps me empty the dishwasher, cleans up stray socks her siblings leave around the house. Her vocabulary seems to be growing daily, she has also learned to 'count' to 3. We have tried a little bit of toilet training... but she doesn't seem to get it... she will NOT pee on the potty or the toilet. but fairly soon after she gets off she'll pee all over the floor. She is pretty shocked when she pees and starts yelling to me that there is a MESS!!  haha... I think we'll wait for a bit and try again in a few months lol.
Ian is now a whopping 10lbs 5oz! We have tried a little rice cereal and it made him a little constipated (I think this is good... all the other formulas and my breast milk that we tried earlier just shot through him and he didn't break down or digest it). He was a little gassy for a few days after though, but I'm not sure if that was from the immunizations which he happened to have the same day (duh! I should have tried it a different day... oh well) I'll try some rice cereal again soon and see how he does :-)
Ryan is now 16lbs 9oz! What a porker! lol He reminds me of Miriam when she was a baby. She was (until now) my biggest baby. Ryan has rolled over back to front now, loves to babble and continues to be a very content and happy baby.

Watching baby einstein 

So cute to see such a small baby playing with toys.

Since Mom's nap was unsuccessful Lydia thought she would try...

Little Ryan LOVES the bouncer! 

Fell asleep in the bouncer awww! 

Aww! 

Weigh day! 

Lydia and Dylan wanted to be in the picture too! 

Big helper! Lydia LOVES these little boys SO much! And they love her. 

Some twin time  - no secret language!! 

A TALL tower!

Smiles

Starting to see that they are identical

Giggles!

Cuteness! 

Dylan's evil grin... You see that bruise on his upper arm? Lydia has started defending herself by using her sharp teeth! 

They really DO love each other! 

A fun game. 

Run down the hall, around the coffee table, and then back up the hall and touch the door. Repeat. 

Best. Game. Ever.

Two bouncers!! Ian needed a stool to bounce haha! 

My boys! 

Dad of twins... 'nuff said. 

Ryan is a little too big for this sleeper....Dylan wore it when he learned how to walk... Oh boy! Dylan wasn't big, and was walking all the time at 9 1/2 months. Ryan is almost 6 months (4 1/2 corrected) and far from walking lol. 

A big muddy mess in the house in February...

Follow the trail of dirt

Matthew dug a sump pit recently - we REALLY hope this means we won't have any water in the basement anymore. In the coming weeks he will be working on putting in the pipes to pump the water outside.  

A pretty deep hole (the reason it's all dug out on the left is because he started there and then ran into a drainage pipe...

Miriam do you want to go in?? 

Yup, pretty deep 

Okay, take me out now. 

Lydia helping me clean the fridge.

Cutie

Entertaining the twins.

Some random pictures from late 2013 and early 2014 :-)

So I'll finally post some pictures of us opening presents at the hospital in Ian's room. We opened presents this year the evening of the last day of school - this way the kids have the whole 2 weeks to play with their gifts :-) We opened up presents on Christmas day as well because at the hospital 'Santa' visits and drops off presents for all the children AND their siblings! - those pictures I took on Christmas day were taken with Matthew's cell phone, and I haven't uploaded them to the computer yet... maybe another post lol.

In other news Ian now weighs 8lbs!! We are so excited! He is now officially NOT 1/2 the size of Ryan anymore haha! Ian is on a special amino acid based formula called Neocate, the plan is to leave him on this formula till he is around 6mo (adjusted, so beginning of April) and then if he is at a good size by then we will try a normal formula and see if his body tolerates it. The Neocate formula is very expensive (about $700 a month but I'm sure soon it will be closer to $1000 a month since he is eating more and more). We are trying to get coverage for it, but in the meantime we are SO thankful we have such an amazing church community that has been very helpful in covering this hefty cost! THANK-YOU!

Since Ian has come home we are falling into a bit of a routine, the twins aren't on the same schedule due to the size difference, but at least we have a bit of a routine. The last few days I've only had to get up 1-2x a night (instead of the 5+x Ian was waking when he first came home... *yawn*) Now that I'm able to stay home all day most days, I have started cleaning and organizing. The house has been basically left as it was back in May, besides the bathroom reno that Matthew managed to do this summer. Since May were able to set up the twins crib, take out the baby clothes and things, wash and put them in plastic dresser things, but mostly everything else has just been in a 'get through this' mode around here which results in piles of things that should have been put away long ago, and garbage/unused things in every room. sigh... (Not to mention the water that flooded the basement after getting back from Toronto and having to rip out all the carpet in the basement...So glad that's over! Hoping this year our basement stays dry! ) I'm happy I finally have time to go through things and de-clutter, the house is feeling a little bigger, and it's getting much easier to find things again.

Playing with some of the toys the hospital gave to us. 

The SUPER FANCY swing Ian used while in the hospital. 

Ian's first room in the pediatric ward. (he moved to a different room a few weeks later)

Miriam is pretty great with the twins. 

A gift from one of the teachers... I asked her what she is going to do with all that money - she said 'buy another one of these of course'! haha! Smart girl. 

At the hospital waiting to open presents

Dylan LOVES mario! 

Special moments. 

The sweater Miriam is wearing was a present. 

Ryan loving all the activity around him.

After opening the presents we headed to the playroom to use up some energy.

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We made a Train! The kids (and the adults) REALLY loved this playroom! 

Watching TV while Dad and Mom pack up and say good -bye to Ian for the evening. 

Putting together one of his presents

Lydia wearing her Minnie sweater (the pic of minnie is hiding in this picture)

Opening presents with the DeBoers

These kids were spoiled this year! 

Lydia wouldn't have anything to do with Mickey the night before when she opened him, but in the morning she liked him. Silly girl! 

Ian is strong enough to sit in the bumbo and bouncer... but he's much too small haha! 

Watching the Saturday morning news....

Oops, forgot to rotate this one... Outfits from Uncle Nate and Auntie Lin

My SUPER bit helper! she was holding Ryan, patting and talking to Ian, and giving Lydia leg rides while I made supper.

Just love how helpful she is! And at 6yrs old she's got this down pat! 

Its challenging being small in a big world - we just improvise. 

Ian doesn't really like laying down all the time... so strapping him securely to a chair results in quite a few smiles.   

Always ready to tell a story or sing a song to the twins - a great helper for me, even at 4yrs old! 

8lbs today!! Our little superman!