Got Milk!!!!

I really don't even know where to start with this one. Last week Addy came walking up to us holding these things. All we could do is laugh and let her continue playing. I guess she has watched Kristi so many times that she now knows exactly where they go. I know Kristi wishes she could help but I just don't think it's going to work.

TOO FUNNY!! I guess I will just keep on laughing for now and then start worrying when she begins hooking up all the cords to the pump, plugs it in, and turns it on. If that happens then I think we will have to have a little talk.

Addy taking over!!

I think our family room has turned into Addy's little play room. She has pretty much taken it over and everything in there is hers. We are now just visitors and I'm considering having her pay rent. She has her own little kitchen, her own little table, a tea set, every dish, cup, and fake plastic food a kid would want, she even has a toy laptop computer. It's everything a toddler living in a fast past world with a on the go lifestyle would need. The only thing we need to teach her now is how to pick up after herself.....I'm guess she gets this trait after her mother. Take a look at this room. It looks like a tornado went through it. I guess one little babies mess is another babies paradise or something like that.

Here is Addy with her twin dolls, Brutus and Shaniqua....Don't look at me I didn't name them. She changes Brutus, burps Shaniqua, and carries them both around like they are her own. I think in this picture she is just putting Brutus down for a nap and changing Shaniqua's diaper. What a busy little mom.

"Grandma, would you like one cube or two with your tea?" Addy loves to have tea parties and it seems like Grandma is her # 1 tea partner. Here they are discussing all the hot topics that they read about in all those gossip magazine. "Addy did you hear that John Travolta really can't dance...I guess he had a dancing double in all his movies. It also states that he has eight toes and pee's blue" "I don't know about that Grandma. I'm pretty sure he can dance...Where did you read that?"

"I guess you were right about John...He can dance....Lets drink to that!!"

Grandma Linda Visits The Twins.

Last week my mom flew into Seattle to visit the twins and to spend a couple of days with us. We absolutely love it when any family member from Minnesota gets the chance to come out and visit but this one was a little special. Having her here wasn't only great because she got to see Easton and Owen but it was also nice to have a couple extra hands around the house while we got our feet grounded those first couple of days.


Here is the gang. The twins still have to visit grandma, Cele and Great Grandma, Qualey but I'm thinking that will happen when we make the trek back to Minnesota in late May and early June for my brother Doug's wedding.

***QUICK FLASHBACK*** I remember this one time when I was a kid and my mom and I were packing boxes because we were getting ready to move. It must of been around 1 or 2 a.m. and my mom and I were just starving so we went to the Truck Stop and got some Cauliflower with Cheese Sauce.....man I love that stuff. I think right then and there if we had a chance to look in a crystal ball and see that I would be living in Seattle, have a daughter, and have two twins boys we both would of started laughing and broke out the Miller High Life to go with our Cauliflower and Cheese and I honestly think my mom would of let me polish off the whole case with her even though I must of just been 10 or 11 years old.

I think one of the highlights during my moms visit was that she was able to go with us for the postpartum exam. The exam was at the hospital where all three of the kids where born so I thought that was pretty neat. With my whole family living back in Minnesota they really don't get the opportunity to see this side of our life so I was grateful that she got to be there for that.

Thanks for coming mom and we will see you in June!!

I never thought.....

Here are a couple things that I never thought I would ever see in my lifetime and some things that I totally forgot about from the time Addy was a baby .

I never thought...........

...............a baby could poop 3 times during 1 feeding.

...............I would catch myself covering my sons privates with my hand while he decided to take a pee.

...............I would be pushing a gigantic stroller and pulling a shopping cart all at the same time.

...............I would be shopping and buying a cargo box for the top of a mini-van so we would have room during vacations. (GREAT DEALS AT JOES SPORTS IF YOUR IN THE MARKET)

.............I would be so against dressing my twins the same!

.............taking the dog for a walk would be considered a break.

I totally forgot........

................how hard it is to wake up from a deep sleep to feed a baby.

................how loud babies can cry when you change their diaper.

................how small a baby can be, Addy is small and she is a giant compared to the twins.

................how big a poop can be when they haven't pooped for 48 hours

.................how you stand their and wait for some type of movement while they sleep just so you know they are breathing.

and the last thing I forgot is............

................how precious kids can be.

I'm sure there will be many more I never thought or I totally forgot moments but like most of you I wouldn't change them for the world.

Addy and the twins!!

How's Addy taking all this? She is doing very well in my opinion. I won't lie and say she's been perfect because she does have her moments but she is doing a lot better then what I thought she would do. She loves touching their head, rubbing their back, and I'm not sure why but she LOVES squeezing their nose.

Here she is sporting her Big Sister shirt that she got from Grandma Pair!!

She is always very curious and does like to be by them a lot. One thing I didn't expect is how she is. When we are changing the twins they of course cry and the first couple of times I would glance over at Addy and her face expression would totally change and she would start crying herself. I feel really bad for her but at the same time find it PRICELESS.

Here Addy taking a look at Easton.

Here Addy and Grandma Pair checking in on Owen.

Here Addy is letting Auntie Brooke know that she's holding Owen and not Easton.

Overall I think she is enjoying having them around. The only time we got a little concerned was when she took this old digital camera and launched it into the Pack-an-Play like it was a grenade. Luckily, she missed both boys. I think she was trying to tell them, "Enough pictures of you guys....now take some of me.

Here she is smiling away with her two brothers!!

In the operating room!!

I thought some of you might be interested in seeing what happened in the O.R. It was an expereince that I will never forget and like I mentioned before the whole thing wasn't my cup of tea but here's what it was like in a nutshell. Kristi, Karen (Krisit's mom) and I were allowed to be in the room for the procedure. We started right around 9:00 am and was finished shortly after 10. Karen was allowed to take pictures behind the curtain but I thought some of them were pretty graphic so I sorted through them and picked out the ones that I didn't think would make anyone sick.

Here is a picture right before the C-section began. Or anesthesiologists was Dr. Kim....This guy was amazing and was actually Kristi's anesthesiologist for her surgery when she had her cerclage put in. He was the first guy Kristi saw when she came into the room making her very excited and giving her a great feel of relief.


Her is Eastons first moments out of the womb. Dr. Morell not only delivered the twins but also delivered Addyson. Kristi and I absolutly love him as our doctor and think he does a GREAT job.

Owen was a little tricky because he was transverse, meaning that he was sideways with his back showing. If we did have the boys naturally we probably would of had to have an emergency C-section because Dr. Morell wouldn't of had anything to grab onto which would of made the whole situation pretty scary. Dr. Morell even said, "I'm so glad you had a C-section."

As soon as the boys were born two nursers grabbed them and pulled them over to the infant table to check out their vitals and clear their airways.

The nurses had to give Owen a little oxygen but everything turnout to be fine.

Here is Karen and I holding the twins. It was funny because we were standing for the picture against the other wall but Dr. Kim told us that we had to move because it wasn't surgical enough so he had us move to the other wall.

I think it's so crazy how peaceful babies can be after being born. Their whole world just got turned upside down and they look so peaceful...AMAZING!!

Changing Roles!!

When the twins were born we had to do what they call "finger feeding". It's pretty much a syringe with a tiny tube attached to your finger. You then place your finger in there mouth and while they suck you push the formula through the syringe. It wasn't the easiest thing at first but I do have to say I became a pro by the end. I would wake up, feed both twins, change both diapers, and do it all in a half an hour.

At first the nurse assisted us in the feeding but I was mostly on my during the night.

It's kind of funny because when we had Addy Krist did all the feeding. I would wake up with her (KIND OF/NOT REALLY) while she would nurse. This time the roles changed totally and I was the one waking up every two hours feeding Easton and Owen. I never woke up Kristi because she was dealing with her own pain with the C-section so I thought she needed to sleep and recover.

Here is Owen eating. At first they only took 5 cc's. We then jumped that up to 10 and ended at around 17. They did so well.

We have now switched to bottles and they are taking about 1 oz of formula. Last night Kristi and her mom did all the feedings. I'm not exactly sure why they didn't wake me up but at the same time I'm not going to complain because that full night of sleep was SWEET!!

If any of you guys need a well trained, finger feeding, syringe pushing pro I'm your guy, just give me a call at 1-800-finger-pro!!

The twins are home!!

April 8th....What a day!! I'm sure all have heard the details but if you haven't here they are;

Easton James Gamradt born at 9:23 am weighing 6 lbs 0 oz and was 19 inches long.
Owen Robert Gamradt born at 9:24 am weighing 5 lbs 9 oz and was 18 inches long.

The C-section went great but it was nothing like what I thought it was going to be. I'm sure there were more doctors and physicians in the operating room because they were twins but there were way more in there then what I thought there would be. I also wasn't aware that Kristi was going to be shaking the whole time. They might of told me that it was going to happen but it was hard for me to see her like that. The whole thing looked organized but I never knew what was going on and how things were going because everyone was so busy so I just kept telling myself if no sirens go off and no more people start coming in looking frantic they must have it under control and they must of because everything turned out just fine.

Here is a picture of Kristi, Easton, Owen, and I shortly after they were born in the operating room.



At the hospital the boys shared a crib and it always seemed that they some how found each other. The crib was small but it seemed like the were always nose to nose, head to head, or head on shoulder like in this picture. Easton is the one on the left and Owen is the one on the right, even though Owen is younger and smaller it seems like Easton is the one who always makes his way over to Owen.


This was the first time they found each other and the funny thing about this picture is that Owen was actually sucking on Easton's nose...I guess his way of saying, "Hey mom and dad feed me!"

Here is a picture of just the boys!!

Easton telling Owen, " I have my eye on you!!"

When they were born we thought it might be hard to tell them apart...in fact we thought it might be so hard we brought blue nail polish to put on one of their toes so we would have a little back up but as you can tell by the pictures there is no problem what so ever!!

Our last entry as a family of 3!!

Ready or not in less then 24 hours Easton and Owen are going to be here and our family is going to have a different look in a big way.

We are scheduled to be at the hospital at 7 am with the surgery beginning at 9 am. The doctor told us it should take around or a little over an hour. Since Kristi is having a C-section the doctor will have her stay at the hospital for at least 3 days. If everything goes OK we will hopefully be home on Saturday.

We did find out that the hospital does not have wi-fi or online access so I think the first pictures of the twins will exclusively be seen on Lori's blog. There is a lot of paparazzi in and out of the hospital trying to take pictures of Kristi and I do to our famous status but Lori will have the first and exclusive rights to put pictures on her blog.

If you want to check out her blog (CLICK HERE) How fast Lori blogs I'm guessing they will be on there Wed night or Thursday morning but we don't want to put any pressure on Lori so please be patient.

Here is the last picture of our family with just Addy, Kristi, and I.


Our bags our packed and ready to go. Grandma Karen even bought Addyson her own little back pack that she can bring with her when she comes to visit us at the hospital.



As you can expect the last couple days have been very busy at our house. We been taking items out and putting new ones in. My dad made this beautiful changing table that we just got delivered from Minnesota. It's amazing and we can't THANK him enough. GREAT JOB DAD!!

We have received a lot of cloth from friends and as gifts. We have gone through most of them and they are ready to be used.

The twins will be sleeping at the end of our bed for now. We set up these co-sleepers, Addy slept in one when she was born and it worked out great so we are going to try it again for the last and I mean LAST time around.

I'm sure there are many things that will come up that we haven't gotten done but how much fun would it be if we were 100% ready. As soon as we can I will post some pictures but for the time being take a look at Lori's blog!!

We can see the light at the end of the tunnel!!

What a journey it has been but it will now all come to an end on Wednesday, April 8th. Kristi will have her C-section on this day. We need to be at the hospital at 7 am with the surgery starting at 9. The doctor told us it should take around an hour.

During this process we have been through a lot. It's been a roller coster but we can now see the light at the end of the tunnel. Here are a couple of parts of the pregnancy that we picked out that we thought you might find interesting.

Coolest - The day we heard that we were having twins. I'll never forget the look of shock on Kristi's face and me thinking, "Is this really happening."

Hardest -
Kristi - Pretty much everything in a nutshell but the hardest thing was the Bells Palsy and not being able to move her face. Not being able to pick up Addy and being on bed rest since December comes in at a close 2nd.

Ryan - Headaches from looking in the financial book. With the pregnancy being in 2008 & 2009 we never got a break from the insurance and with all the specialist, ultra sounds, and the cerclage it's been like pulling a rabbit out of a hat. It's been hard but I'm proud to say that we are doing well even though we just went over the $6,000.00 mark (NOW WHO'S MAKING FUN OF THE FINANCIAL BOOK!!)

Funniest -
Ryan - I'll start by saying that a long time ago we got these wireless headphones so Kristi could watch TV while I slept due to the fact that I have to get up at 2:15 am for work - A couple of nights ago I woke up and Kristi was gone so I called out her name....no response. I called out her name a little louder...no response. I'm now getting a little concerned so I now YELL out her name....KRISTI!!!no response. I jump out of bed and run to our bathroom to find Kristi sitting on the toilet wearing the wireless headphones listening to the TV with toilet paper in one hand taking a pee.

Kristi - The first time we told people that we were having twins no one would believe us... Everyone knew we were pregnant but when we spilled the news that we were having twins....everyone responded by saying, "Your kidding right!"

Strangest -
Kristi - To actually see the twins hand or foot go across her belly

Ryan - To actually loose weight during this pregnancy. When Kristi was pregnant with Addy every time Kristi ate a meal or snack.. I would eat a meal or snacked to the point were I gained 20 - 25 lbs this time I changed my eating habits and started exercising and lost over 60!!

Greatest Moment - Hasn't happen yet!! I think the first time we hold them and see that they are healthy, and know that everything is ok that will be the GREATEST MOMENT!! At that point we will then know that the journey was worth every second of it and we can now start as a family of 5.....6 if you count the dog!!

MVP - My mother-in-law Karen. Words can't express how GREAT she has been. Karen has been coming to our house 5 to 7 days a week through this whole process. She has done everything from watching Addy to cleaning the house and doing it all with a smile. We can't give you much but we give you our love and gratitude.

BIG THANKS - Julianne & Jennifer (Kristi's sister) They both helped us out in every situation. No matter if it was a doctor appointment or something else they both were there and we could count on them!!

Lastly, We want to say THANKS to all of our other friends and family for all their encouraging words and prayers. You guys mean the world to us so THANKS & HUGS!

I will do my best on keeping you all informed. I'm not sure if the hospital has wi-fi or not but I will post pictures, news, and whatever else we come across during the rest of this wild adventure. (Or just look at Lori's blog...that girl will have pictures of the twins posted on her blog 2 minutes after they are born....she's just that fast!!)

LOVE,
Ryan, Kristi, Addy, Easton, & Owen.....Riley if you count the dog!!

Three Of A Kind!!

I think we all have situations that are really cool but at the same time a little freaky...well this is one of them for me. As you all know getting a picture of Baby A (Easton) at our appointments hasn't been a problem. It's getting that picture of Baby B (Owen) that has been tricky. At our last appointment, the ultrasound lady asked Kristi if we had gotten any 3-D pictures of the boys yet? She told her that we got some of Easton but not of Owen and the lady replied, "Lets see what we can do about that."

After comparing both of the boys, it's crazy how much they look a like, that's the cool part....then we found some 3-D images of Addy, and that's where it got a little freaky because we looked at all of them and HONESTLY they all looked the same.

Here is a picture of Easton. I think the biggest similarity in all three are their noses!!


Here is Owen. He does look heavier then Easton but you have to remember his picture was taken 1 1/2 weeks later. If you go by the 1/2 lb a week rule he gained almost a pound more then Easton between the time of the pictures, and when you only weigh 4 - 5 lbs, I think that is a lot.


Here is a 3-D picture of Addy roughly about the same time. In my opinion we are going to have 3 kids that look pretty much the same at birth. If it continues as they get older lookout because there is going to be a lot of curls!!