Poop

I so wish there was a better title for this entry. Torin has been struggling with this word for three months now. No, not saying the word 'poop', actually being able to go to the bathroom is the problem. The issue started getting bad around his 15 month well-check appointment. I brought it up to our pediatrician and he said to start Mirilax with him once a day to see if that would help. Unfortunately, it didn't. Torin had gotten up to having 10-12 small BM's a day and was struggling to get each and every one of those out. His temperament didn't change during the day, but we started seeing a big change in his naps and sleeping habits at night. We (mostly Paul) were getting up with him 4 and 5 times a night with stomach cramping and there were nights where he'd be awake for two to three hours at a time. I brought him back to the doctor a week ago Tuesday (the 19th) and our pediatrician was worried. Torin actually went through his 'trying to poop' routine while the doctor was in the room so he got to see first-hand what we were dealing with. He ordered lots of tests, x-rays and blood work to be done. The tests came back negative...no strep infection or blood in his stool. The blood work came back normal...no Chrone's Disease or Ciliac Disease. The x-ray, however, showed that he was completely full of poop...literally. So we were referred to a Gastroenterologist to see what the problem is. We will be seeing this specialist on the 24th of February. He will be checking for strictures and many other things that I can't pronounce nor spell for that matter. Until then, we have T on Mirilax twice a day, have to chart all of his BM's (when he has them, the size, etc.) and hope we can figure out what the problem is soon. Mirilax twice a day is helping some. With the exception of last night, he has been sleeping through the night again and taking better naps for the past week. Last night was a rough one again, which is why I'm reminded to write this post.
We will keep you updated with how things turn out after our appointment on the 24th. We hope this issue, whatever it may be, will be fixed soon.

We're having...

Twin A is a GIRL! I wish we had a profile shot of her, but they didn't give us one on the cd. We will be having many more ultrasounds as the pregnancy progresses, so hopefully we get some more shots of her. It might be difficult to read, but below are her stats...I am 18 weeks 5 days today and she is measuring 19 weeks 1 day, weighing 9 ounces. She has all of her body parts and her heart, brain, kidneys, stomach, bladder, etc. all look perfect. We are excited to be able to buy some pink!
Twin B is a BOY and he is not afraid to show his parts just like his big brother was! We got a good profile shot of him below along with his stats. He is still bigger than his sister. Here are his stats...he is measuring 19 weeks 4 days, weighing 10 ounces. Just like his sister, he has all of his parts and all of his organs look fantastic.

We are thrilled to have two more healthy babies on the way. Many people have asked on names and we haven't even begun to discuss names at this point. We will be keeping the names a secret again just like we did with Torin, so everyone will have to wait until June to find out.

Belly Shots....18 Weeks 3 Days

I've been told these photos are WAY over due so here is the first installment of belly shots of the twins. I'm still brave enough to hold my shirt up. We'll see if that continues to the end! Our BIG ultrasound is tomorrow morning along with my diabetes check. We'll post the NEWS of boys, girls, boy/girl tomorrow night if we get a chance. Get your votes in now!

Mommy's vote - boy/girl
Daddy's vote - ?????
Torin's vote - Wait...those babies are coming out of your belly?

Milk and Cookies

A delicious snack time shared by Mommy and me yesterday. I also had 1/2 of a banana so there was some health added to my snack of milk and cookies. YUM!

16 weeks

As of today I am 16 weeks 4 days along in this pregnancy. I am feeling much better these days as far as nausea goes. I still am pretty tired by the evening and the lower back pain is kicking in already...I wonder if that has anything to do with the fact I'm carrying around a 26 lb. little boy????!!!! I've gained 8 lbs thus far and now have to have my bloodwork and glucose/diabetes check done in the next couple of weeks. Our last appointment was on Friday when I was 16 weeks 1 day along. Here are the stats...
Baby A is above and looking very healthy. He/She is measuring 16 weeks 3 days and weighs 6 ounces.

Baby B is the bigger twin at this point measuring 16 weeks 6 days and also weighing 6 ounces.

Above is a photo of both heads. They are still in their own sacs, but now the OB isn't sure they have their own placentas. We will be having a high definition ultrasound on January 26 in Fort Collins to determine if they share a placenta or not. We will also get a good look at genders at that point. We have an idea as to what genders the babies are now, but have decided not to say anything until we know for certain what each of them are.

If all goes well, we will have a scheduled c-section between 37 and 38 weeks which puts us at the first week of June. I'll have Paul take a belly picture in the next couple of days so you can see how big I am already. Our next OB appt. is Feb. 4.

Baking Cookies

Mommy had a craving for chocolate chip cookies last week, so I said I would be her big helper while she made them.

Every big helper needs to do a little taste test to make sure the dough is good. I helped Mommy A LOT with this.

After the fact, we found out that Torin still doesn't react well to egg, so he finished off sampling the cookie dough with a dose of Benadryl. I think he thought it was well worth a little eczema to eat the dough!

Herding Christmas

Since South Dakota had a blizzard over Christmas, we were snowed in at Grandpa and Grandma Herding's house for a few days. Here is a recap...
We opened lots of presents of course.

Skyler received lots of new puzzles and games to put together and play.

Torin was a BIG helper when it came to playing the games.

Can you tell by this face how BIG of a helper he was? :)

Grandpa's dog, Jax, even got to come in the house for a bit to warm up. Torin loved this obviously since dogs are his favorite thing.

Torin even got his first sled ride during the storm with Skyler.

It was still snowing pretty good out, so it was hard to see with the snow in our faces. We were only out for a few minutes, but T loved each minute out there.

Zimmer Christmas

We were able to celebrate what will more than likely be the last Christmas in Grandpa and Grandma Zimmer's home. Grandma is looking to move this coming summer/fall, so it was a special day being able to get together one last time in their home. Here is a group shot of some of the grandkids and great-grandkids.
Grandma and her girls...Karen, Joan, and Mom (Theresia)

Bartmann Christmas

These came up out of order, but here is the run down from Christmas 2009. Torin received this awesome rocket tent with tunnels to crawl in and out of. He plays with this for at least an hour each and every day since we've been home from South Dakota. It was a great gift, Hope!

Daddy had to explain how to crawl in and out of the tent the first couple of times.

Grandpa and Grandma Bartmann gave Torin an AWESOME book with pictures of the Bartmann farm. It is titled Torin Goes to the Farm and he loves reading it every day, especially since there are pictures of him in the book.

He loves Grandma's camera and insisted on helping her take pictures during gift opening.

He also helped Grandpa open his presents.

Kayla and Zoey had Paul take some photos of them modeling for him.

Torin helped Joe with his laptop.

Sarah cooked up some cider for dinner.

Here are the grandkids at the 'kiddy' table.

Torin of course thought he was big enough to sit at that table now.