Happy New Year Y'all!

Hi everyone and Happy New Year from Southwest Montana!  We finally got some more fresh snow but it is cold up here (I have officially stopped checking the Snowbird website before I pack up our Subaru and move us back to the Wasatch).  Sean is out skate skiing this morning and it's minus 12 F!  For those of you who know the skate skiing story, Sean has gotten quite good thanks to some lessons and serious persistence!

We hope everyone is having a great holiday season and had a wonderful Xmas!  All is well here, lots of family and friend visits., which will be the focus of photos today.  We love seeing everyone and sharing these awesome girls with the special people in our life!

The kickoff started with the Dorgan family (mom's side)...

Great grandma Lucy, Lucy (hence the name!), and Wrangler.  Pretty special day to meet her!

 The 4 generations with great grandma Lucy and grandma RaeAnn.

Great aunt Mary and Ellie.

Jen Mac and Ellie- some cute girls!

Jen Mac, Emily and the O's- lots of cute girls and Sean O (what a lucky guy!).

Merry Xmas from Ellie (affectionately called "the belly")...

... and Lucy (aka "the LPO")!

Story time on xmas day.  They are very interested, as long as they have a boppy and a binky.

Grandma spent a lot of time holding, feeding and changing the girls while here, and they loved it!

Another family hike, Happy Holidays from the O's!!!!  XOXO!

6 Pounds of Sausage...

It's official, we survived the first 2 weeks!  Everyone says that's the hardest part and it should be smooth sailing from here.  Right?  Ellie and Lucy are feeding great, we even tried the double breastfeed yesterday.  That's interesting!  We have another wt check Monday, but we think they definitely feel bigger.  They also lost their umbilical cords, which means tummy time has started!  We have now gotten in the car twice with the twins to go do something fun.   We went out to breakfast at our favorite Butte eating spot, "The Hummingbird Cafe."  (Yes there is a local, organic, hip spot to eat in this town!)  Then we went up to our favorite skate ski spot, "Homestake Lodge," to visit with some friends and Sean tore up the trails.  It has been very exciting and liberating!   I even went and got a massage today, very nice!   All is well on Foxtail Lane...

The liberation device... double carseat stroller with lots of storage space.

Lucy Pearl.  She has started waking up more and more during the day, leaving us to wonder what to do with an awake newborn?

Hanging with the Axelson's at Homestake Lodge.  Soon we hope the girls will be skiing with Lars.

Tummy time has begun.

Post-Ellie's-tummy-time-meltdown, phew.  We sleep when we can around here.

Are these enough ducks and elephants to evoke a seizure?

Daily Livin' with the O's

It's been a little while since we posted here, life with the O's has been very busy.  We have had some momentous days on Foxtail Lane!  Ellie and Lucy got their first sponge baths, Sean tried out feeding both at the same time, we've now gone for 2 "hikes," and Lucy has outgrown her Little Joey carseat insert.  All is well!  So this will be brief but here are some pix, since that's the best part anyway!

We love hearing from everybody!  As always thanks for all the well wishes and humor!  It's been especially fun hearing from some fantastic old friends and soon we will start meeting some important people.  We might take another bath before then, but not guaranteed.  Grandma RaeAnn will be here in 8 days as well as great grandma Lucy (hence the name).  Hopefully a Missoula trip from the Porters.  Then Jen Mac and Ham Smith + fam will be around over the holidays.  And in the works is Grandma Camilla, Aunt Steff, and Uncle Darrell in January.  We are looking forward to it!

Ellie raising her hands up to some Michael Franti & Spearhead.   We still like his music and messages, even though he's somewhat of a sell out now.

Who says sleep is overrated?  Really I didn't think it was possible to be more sleep deprived than in residency... but I think it's pretty darn close!

The twin feeding pillow, he's a natural.  Every extra 20 minutes helps!

Gearing up for the first hike ever!  Ellie is giving us the one eye of questioning.  What are they up to now?  It will be many years of that I'm certain.

Ready to brave some Butte weather-  this is Butte tough in the making.

Really it was pretty amazing out and they slept the whole time.

Happy Holidays and dance for more snow!!!!!

The Good Life at Home

The twins are a week old today.  Crazy!   They are doing well and we think we (mom and dad) are doing a little better everyday.  I'm pretty sure they think they are living the good life.  What could be better than someone feeding you, burping you, snuggling you, listening to some bluegrass, sleeping and starting over 2 hours later?  Except the small detail of having your diaper changed, which Ellie hates.  We are trying to think of a name for the primitive reflex of hip-flexion-unable-to-be-extended-when-getting-your-diaper-changed.  In addition someone has to wake you out of your deep slumber so you can eat, thus the photo of the baby crunches below (recommended for arousal by the nursery nurses).  Sean was happy to hear about this technique and has officially started the Ostrowski family boot camp.  The dogs seem to be adjusting too and both give the babies kisses and sniffs a fair amount.

Again, just wanted to thank everyone soooo much for their support!  Especially our Butte friends who bring us gourmet dinners regularly and give us a semblance of a social life!!!  Oh yeah, and how could I forget the ski reports from Ham and George!  Cheers...

Lucy Pearl doing baby crunches, looks like a promising athletic future!

Dad getting serious about sticking to the feeding schedule... Lucy seems concerned as well.

 Ellie O. tests out the boppy.  Seems to be working pretty well.

Visit to Dr. Graham (pediatrician and mom's partner), things are looking good!

Ellie and Mancha find something in common, the couch.

Thanks for the awesome blankets grandma Camilla!

The good life.  Mom and dad hope to do this again someday too!

Ellie and Lucy can't wait to play in the awesome Montana mountains.  We may go for our first hike this weekend, weather permitting.

Have a great day all!

Lucy and Ellie

First of all, HUGE thanks to all our awesome family and friends!  Your messages and warm wishes have been great, we really appreciate all of it!

Well, we finally have the names sorted out.  Good thing too, since we left the hospital yesterday.  Thanks for all the suggestions- from Mark and Marie, to Bobby, to Elvira, we have appreciated the help!

So, Baby A is Ellie (Eleanor) Francis.

Baby B is Lucy (Lucille) Pearl

Together they are pretty cute!

The last 3 days has been quite an adventure with trying to get the feeding rhythm down pat.  They both lost enough weight in the first 48 hours that we have been using the bottle somewhat.  Actually, for the last day we have been feeding Lucy exclusively from the bottle as she was smaller to start with and really wasn't doing so well with nursing.  Both are doing pretty well with the new system.

So we headed out from the hospital yesterday and are adjusting to life at home.  Wow!  Needless to say we were late for our weight checks this morning!  But all is good and we're sure we'll find our rhythm at some point.  For now we eat, sleep and change diapers.  We are very thankful for the diaper genie.  Cheers!

Here are a few highlights from yesterday which was mostly spent trying to get babies to nurse.  Our big baby A, who apparently is used to eating alot, figured out the nursing deal pretty quickly.  The little peanut, baby B, has had intermittent success.  It has been pretty time and energy consuming for Angie but the nursing staff here has been awesome and provided alot of help with tips and support.

If we have one mission today, aside from getting the feeding down, it is names.  We're pretty set on one of them but are still trying to figure out who the other one is.  We don't want to give anybody a neglect complex so we're not gonna announce anything until we have it all figured out.

2 snuggling sisters

Proud papa

A little girl time

They're here!!!

                          

They arrived this morning via C-section.  

Baby A was born at 7:50 a.m. and Baby B at 7:52.

Baby B: 5 lbs 4 oz

Baby A: 6 lbs 8 oz

Sleeping contently

Mama Bear and the sleeping cubs

getting a clean bill of health

Tomorrow's the day!

So... tomorrow is the day!  We have been trying to keep busy in anticipation.  More photos soon!

The Belly

This was 2 weeks ago!  Needless to say I am running out of clothes options.  The final date has been set for Friday, Dec 3.  That's 6 days away!

3D Ultrasound at week 32

Hey there-

 We thought that as we move forward with this great new baby adventure of ours that it'd be cool to have a way of sharing not only photos but the occasional running commentary as well.

So here are the latest photos courtesy of 3D ultrasound.  Baby timeline is 32 weeks and 2 days.  Not that we know the gender of the little ones but if I was guessing by looking at these images I'd say, if nothing else, they have Angie's cheeks.  Does that mean 2 girls?  Only time will tell.