Miracle of the moment...

A Picture Post

2012-01-24T21:04:00.000-08:00

Lil' lady...

Mr. Cool...

"Polar bear!!"

Auntie Nessa got them this superfun book for Christmas, and we have had a blast playing with it...

Man-Jammies...

Abigail loves watching football with Daddy..."TOUCHDOWN!"

Sibling love...

Apparently, Luke and Abbey felt their friends made some poor choices, because they put them Time Out.

It's a bird! It's a plane! It's...my family!!!

2012-01-22T21:04:00.000-08:00

Last weekend we celebrated my sister Vanessa's birthday. She and a friend had rented time at Sky High Sports.

Dave and I were excited to go celebrate with friends and family, but not sure how Abigail and Lucas would do at a place basically filled with trampolines.

Turns out? They freakin' loved it.

They both walked right on and started jumping, moving and exploring like they owned the place. It was SO fun to watch them try new moves and have such a great time!

Luke and Auntie Natlalie

Abbey and Auntie Natalie

Momma playing Ring Around The Rosies

3 outta 4. (Luke was wayyy too busy jumping to take a photo!)

We all jumped and jumped and jumped and then jumped some more. We were sweaty and exhausted when we were done, but we had SO much fun! AND the twins slept until 9:15am the next morning...hellllloooo love!!!!

Carpe Kairoses

2012-01-14T22:51:00.000-08:00

A sweet friend of mine sent this link (at bottom of post) to all the Moms of Multiples in our group, and I just wanted to share it here in case anyone else needed to hear it today.

One of the best gifts I ever gave myself (and my family) was when I realized -and accepted- that as grateful as I was for the blessing of my twins, some moments just aren't "enjoyable". Because we had waited for so long and wanted them so bad, I only made the challenging moments worse when I allowed guilt for not soaking up every second to be piled on top of an already difficult moment.

I remember it exactly. Both babies were SCREAMING bloody murder at the same time, and all that would make them calm down was to be held and bounced as I paced up and down the hallway. Back and forth. For an entire morning. After only about 3 hours of broken sleep the night prior. I remember feeling so incredibly stretched and exhausted, and wanting to just cry. And then the tears did stream down my cheeks as the guilt set in when I recognized I was not enjoying every second of my precious babies.

And then it hit me.

Some moments are just plain not enjoyable.

Fact.

And ya know what? That's ok.

It didn't (doesn't) mean I love my children any less.

In fact, if anything, recognizing that has freed me to love them in a different, better way.

Now whenever I meet a new Momma, I always say "enjoy the good moments".

I still struggle, and probably always will, with stopping to savor the good moments (this blog was titled as such for a reason), but I have been a lot better about it since then. And I pray constantly that God will keep my eyes and heart fresh to recognize and take in more special moments. But I really believe accepting that some things (moments, days, weeks, seasons...) are just plain hard and not enjoyable, assists you in recognizing and soaking in the good ones.

For your reading pleasure:
http://momastery.com/blog/2012/01/04/2011-lesson-2-dont-carpe-diem/

Planes, trains and automobiles

2012-01-13T20:45:00.000-08:00

We've had lots of fun in the last two months that I haven't made the time to blog about. For shame...gotta document these memories =) !!

In December we went to the Zoo Lights with some of our favorite family friends. Unfortunately, it was FREEZING, and Luke and Abbey refused to wear their adorable gloves I had bought them. So even though we had every other part of their body triple layered (including double socks and their warmest shoes!) their poor little hands were too cold and thus we had some cranky toddlers. I only managed to capture one picture:

Awesome, right? Ha. I was too busy comforting an unhappy toddler (or two) to take any pictures. Hopefully next year we can get some gloves on those precious hands!

We've also made several trips to OMSI recently and the kids seem to love it more each time we go. I love that the little kids room is only one (giant) room with only one manned exit. It helps me feel so much more secure when I take them there by myself, especially as they continue to explore further and further away from Momma.

Luke was in Heaven playing with all the cars and trucks on this car mat!

While Abbey dug the sand...

...and the water play! Sis was right at home playing here!

And then last weekend was my Moms of Multiples winter party at The Children's Museum. It was our first time there, and David wasn't able to go so it was just me and the twins, so I was busy chasing and playing with my babies most the night, but I did manage to grab a few pictures...

Both kids loved this train table!! I see one in our future...

Driving a bus...

A couple of cuties!

A photo session with two toddlers

2012-01-04T22:18:00.000-08:00

Sweet as my babies are, they are at a stage where sitting/standing still to pose for photos is not high on the want-to-do list.

I forgot to grab photos of Abbey and Luke in their Christmas outfits on Christmas Eve, so they wore them again to Church on New Years Day. I had high hopes of documenting their precious outfits and even more precious smiles as they stood together, arm in arm, perfectly still, beaming at me.

Instead, we got this:

No halo's and arm links, but still pretty precious!!

A New Year

2012-01-01T13:59:00.000-08:00

Today we begin 2012. I am so excited to see what God has in store for this year.

2011 was a blessed one for me and my family.

It was the year in which we transitioned from being just the two of us (that we had grown accustomed to for nearly 6 years) and two babies (that I once, during their newborn days, described as two angry house guests that wouldn't stop yelling at me), to a Family of four distinct individuals. It's been the year that I really started to see Lucas and Abigail as these little people that I like - nay, adore - and have so enjoyed watching them grow. I really look forward to seeing more of who they are. When I think of "us", it's no longer Dave and I and the babies. It's us. All four of us. Our Family.

Thanks be to God.

Christmas 2011

2011-12-31T22:15:00.000-08:00

We celebrated Christmas as our little family of four on Christmas Eve morning. After our traditional homemade hot chocolate, popcorn, and Christmas Vacation the night prior that is.

This year my baby sister joined us, which made all of us super happy =). Abbey and Luke slept until about 7:30am - a vast improvement over last year, to be sure. We started with stocking stuffers; new Elmo pop-up books, new racecars, dumptrucks, teddy bears, sippy cups with straws, and harmonicas... because David and I momentarily lost our minds while in ToysRus.

Then we moved on to opening under the tree presents. The twins really seemed to have the hang of opening gifts this year...I get to tear at this paper? And there is something fun inside? Awesome!!

My Mom and StepDad gave them baskets of pretend healthy breakfast, lunch and dinner foods, which they seemed to love playing with. But they loved it even more when we pulled out the Big Guns from the laundry room...

A new play kitchen!

To say this gift was a hit is a giant understatement. Our kids have played with it practically non-stop since that morning. They love putting things in the microwave and pressing the buttons (that make noise!). They put food in the fridge and pretend to wash their hands in the sink. My favorite thing they do is ask us to move way back when they open the oven - something they know is expected of them when we open up the oven. "HOT!" they say. Too cute.

After lots of play time and a good nap, we headed to our Church's Christmas Eve Service, which was wonderful.

Christmas morning we got up and enjoyed a quick breakfast before packing up the van and heading down to celebrate Jesus' birth with David's family. We were so happy to see everyone and enjoyed watching our kids' faces light up anew.

We don't have stairs in our home, so it's always a favorite at Grandma and Poppa's house!

Abigail hardly let this Elmo out of her sight all day.

We're so lucky to have such sweet cousins!!

Luke checking out his new "laptop".

Ab's showing off her piano skills.

Daddy set right to work on putting together all the new toys...

A new play tent and tunnel from Grandma and Poppa!

A fuzzy picture of our family (the only one I managed to have captured)

After seeing Luke enjoy playing with these cars and ramps so much, it made me wish we hadn't talked ourselves out of getting him this for Christmas. On the birthday Wishlist for sure!

David enjoyed re-discovering some of his old toys, and sharing them with his babies...

After a day of fun, before we knew it it was time to settle in for bed...

The next day we enjoyed some more playtime...

...before we were off to visit some of our favorite friends on their farm!

Lo and behold, we were having so much fun I hardly took any pictures.

An indoor slide might have to go on the Birthday Wishlist as well...

Luke was fascinated by their chickens...

2011 has been a wonderful year, full of blessings. Our Christmas this year was another thing added to our long, long list of things to be thankful for.
I hope yours was too.

2011-12-30T20:55:00.000-08:00

Tonight I un-decked our halls. And for probably the first time ever, I'm not totally sad about it. Normally, Christmas being over makes me feel...blue. But for many reasons, this year I'm fine with it.

It's not that we didn't have a great Christmas, because we totally did (pictures to come). It's just that I'm ready to move on. Start the New Year. This month has been a fantastic one in many ways, but it's also been a strange one.

I haven't worked for the last 6 weeks, and as of yesterday am starting a new job in January. I'm both excited and nervous for this. Excited because it's a great opportunity and seems like a wonderful work environment. Nervous because it'll be all NEW, and I haven't started a new job in 6 years. And my memory/brain function isn't what it used to be pre-twins...=).

Having so much time off has been fantastic. Dave has been off for Christmas break, which has meant many full days of our little family of 4 being together. Such a gift. We've done a lot of fun things, and a lot of nothing - both of which have been glorious.

We've had some major changes within our Church in the past 2 weeks, including our pastor (whom we adore) resigning. We so love our Church, and didn't realize what a huge part of our lives it was (is) until it's structure was uprooted recently.

We've watched a family we love unexpectedly find themselves in a tumultuous season, and we've ached for them.

When you watch someone you admire -someone you think has the answers- fall, it's unsettling. If it could happen to them, what chance do I have? Luckily, in the past few years I've been bombarded with the message of Grace, and what God expects -requires- of us. To love Mercy.

I guess all this adds up to why I'm ready to usher in the New Year. Ready for some structure and order, our new routine.

But not without first documenting my babies 2nd Christmas...=). Hopefully I'll get to that tomorrow.

Greetings from Luke & Abbey

2011-12-23T19:48:00.000-08:00

We wish you a Merry Christmas...

We wish you a Merry Christmas...

We wish you a Merry Christmas...

...and a happy New Year!

Good tidings we bring...

...to you and your kin...

Good tidings for Christmas...

...and a Happy New Year!!

(what a difference a year makes, huh?)

Because I want to remember...

2011-12-21T12:56:00.000-08:00

Luke has been so into cars and trucks lately. He takes his little vehicles, and drives them all around every surface of our house. The other week, we noticed he was making "vroom vroom" noises as he drove cars around the house. So cute.
Then, today at lunch he was eating some saltine crackers. Dave and I were talking to each other when he suddenly stopped and quietly said "look..."
Our sweet boy had chewed his saltine into a odd looking shape, and was driving it around the table, muttering "vroom vrooooooommmm!"
It's so fun having a boy.

Busted!

2011-12-17T22:24:00.000-08:00

The other morning I was up with the kids playing, drinking milk (for them, coffee for me) and watching Elmo...just like most mornings. Abbey and I settled into reading a book, while Luke was playing with some cars. He disappeared into the kitchen, but I didn't think much of it...they have a drawer in there that is full of tupperware and play dishes, and it's one of his favorite spots.

After a few minutes though I began to wonder what he was up to...he was being awfully quiet in there...

Yup. That's my baby boy, doubling fisting the sugar cookies.
Before breakfast.

What's a Momma to do? Grab her camera, and document the time she caught her son, green handed.

JJ Jump!

2011-12-16T19:12:00.000-08:00

Today we had a playdate with another twin family from our Church. Their b/g twins are 3 months older than Abbey and Luke, and we always have so much fun when we get together!

We went to JJ Jump and had an absolute blast. We had set up this play date forever ago and made sure we did it during a time when only 5 years and younger were allowed in, that way we didn't have to worry about the really big kids accidentally trampling our little ones.

Not only was this place an entire building of inflatables, but it also had a really large playroom.

Abbeygirl making some "eggies"...

Luke appreciating his sister's culinary skills...

We were enjoying the fact that Luke and Levi spent most their time in the kitchen...

While Abbey and Annabelle much preferred playing with the construction set...

They were all about this play tent -which is great, cauz we happen to know Grandma and Poppa got them one for Christmas!

Dave carrying Abbey and Levi up the inflatable ladder to go down the inflatable slide...

Ryan and Annabelle...

Twin Daddies are so talented =).

Ramblings of a woman up way (WAY!!) past her bedtime...

2011-12-10T00:04:00.000-08:00

- Did you all hear that Michelle Duggar had a late term miscarriage? So sad. My heart just broke when I saw that today. They were going in for a routine appointment to find out if they were having a boy or a girl. Regardless of the thoughts or feelings of her perhaps being "too old" or their having too many children already - this woman needs prayer. I've been where she is at...back home after a tragic doctors appointment... still in your maternity pants...knowing that the baby inside of you is no longer alive...wondering how long it will be before your body realizes it... I spent a week that way. Worst week of my life.

On to lighter things.

- I came across this recipe a few weeks ago and decided to try them.
Big. Mistake.
They are probably the best cookie I've ever tasted. I've made them 4 times since. (the diet is going well, thank you for asking)

- Remember how I claimed to be oh-so-on-top-of-things this year in the Christmas card department? Yeah. Well. We had a family picture taken before Thanksgiving, (see! I was planning ahead!!) but the photographer took forever and two days to get us the image. It just came in the mail yesterday. I'll order them this weekend, they'll get shipped here, I'll address and stuff them...and they'll arrive in our friend's and families mail boxes like Dec 24th. Oh well, still before Christmas.

- Hanging in our master bedroom are my maternity photo and a newborn shot of Lucas and one of Abigail. I was staring at them the other night, as I often do, and found myself focusing on this picture...

...and remembering that moment. And then laughing out loud.
That is Abbeygirl curled up in my arms. I remember my emotions as this moment was captured...she had FINALLY settled down after a mammoth freak out. I remember feeling so distressed because I couldn't calm her down. They were barely 3 weeks old, and I felt like the worst mother ever because I didn't have that Snow White effect on my babies (ya know, where she's so calming that wild birds land on her shoulder?). I remember in that moment staring down at my daughter and fearing she might never properly attach to me.
If you know us at all, you know why this memory is now amusing to me.
Baby Girl LOVES her Momma. Thanks be to God.

- I'm so happy it's Christmas time. I just LOVE this time of year. We've been playing Christmas music nearly non stop around here, and I just don't seem to tire of it!

- Luke has been super into dramatic play lately. We love it. It's pretty dang adorable to watch. He'll take an empty cup, go over to the fridge, hold it up to where the water dispenser is (which he can reach, but thankfully it has a "lock" feature), hold his cup there for a minute, and then take a "sip" of his pretend drink. Sometimes he'll bring it around and offer sips to the rest of us. This morning he "spilled it" and went to get a dish towel to wipe it up with. So cute.

- Speaking of dish towels, I was in the kitchen making lunch the other day when one of my sweet cherubs came over to the oven, grabbed the (clean) dish towel hanging from the handle, wiped their runny nose on it, hung it back up, and ran back into the living room.
I had no idea they used that towel as a kleenex. We use it to dry our clean hands.
Yuck.

- Okay SERIOUSLY I've got to go to bed now. It's tomorrow already. Night All.

To Santa or Not To Santa

2011-12-06T23:02:00.000-08:00

That is the question.

Realistically, I know he is unavoidable. He's everywhere this time of year.

But what do we tell our kids about him?

David and I believe in Jesus. We believe that the Christmas season is a time to try and focus on the Miracle of His birth.

But.

I also LOVE giving gifts. And (shhh... confession time here)... I kinda like receiving them too.

And I love so many other things about this time of year. The lights...the ornaments...the holiday music...the cheesy Christmas movies on ABC Family...the sugar cookies...the gingerbread lattes...the monogrammed stockings...and on and on...

So my question remains. What do we tell our kids about Santa Claus? How do we teach them the true meaning of Christmas and try and keep the focus on Him?

Dave and I go back and forth on this. While neither of us think the story of Santa Claus is particularly harmful, Dave has some reservations about misguiding the kids.

What do you all do? Even those of you out there who aren't Christians, how do you keep Christmas from becoming all about self indulgent materialism?

One idea I'm stealing from a student in my preschool teaching days is to make Jesus a birthday cake on Christmas Eve day. Love that idea. As Luke and Abbey get older I also want to encourage them to participate actively in their gifts for others, whether it be giving it a few days to think about what they want to get each person...something they would really like. Or spend some quality time and talent creating thoughtful gifts.

So this is where I want to hear from you all. It's late, and this post isn't nearly as eloquent as it was in my head when I was driving home from Playgroup this morning, but it's up nevertheless. (I did take the time to at least spell check it, I'm not a total savage) So tell me your thoughts. Friends, family, blog hoppers, lurkers...what say you?

SickBay

2011-12-02T11:32:00.000-08:00

David came down with a cold last weekend that lasted a few days. It looked like the kids and I were going to avoid it -which would have been miraculous- until about mid week. Runny noses, low grade fevers, and ohhhhhhhh the whining.

But, despite all that, we've managed to squeeze in some adorableness too.

My babies giving their babies saline nose spray...

And, a little less adorable, but equally entertaining...the other night, after chugging a bunch of this stuff, I crawled into bed and fell into a deep sleep...

...until a few hours later when David came to bed, and I (apparently) sat up, looked him square in the eyes and asked him "did you get the lights fixed on the canoe?"

"Um...what?"

"THE CANOE!!! WE TALKED ABOUT THIS!!!"

At which point I (apparently) laid back down, thoroughly annoyed, and fell back asleep.

I don't recall any of the conversation.

Thanksgiving

2011-11-30T20:19:00.001-08:00

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We sure did.

Thursday morning we headed South to enjoy a feast at my Mom
and StepDad's house. It was so fun to get to see 3 out of 4 of my sisters (we missed you Amanda!) and many other great family members. We enjoyed a traditional Thanksgiving meal, started off by tasty appetizers. Luke and Abbey were delighted they could partake in their favorite eating ritual..."dip, dip, dipping!"

Both Abigail and Lucas loved playing on this rocking horse...

(I love this last picture...something about the angle...those cheeks...she still looks like my Baby here...)

That is until Abbey fell off of it, simultaneously giving herself a black eye and the nickname "Rocky" for the rest of the weekend.

The Men in my life...

After we stuffed ourselves silly, we headed over to my Dad and StepMom's house to settle in for the weekend. Auntie Em stayed there too, much to the twins' delight. We hadn't been there 20 minutes before they set right to work, sweeping her...

There is a beautiful park right around the corner from GrandDad and Grannie Annie's house. It was so fun, we visited it twice during our short stay!

Abbeygirl LOVES to slide!

My Daddy and my son...

Another winner this weekend was the big picture window in the kitchen. Luke and Abbey spent tons of time, standing on the window seat, looking out at "trucks!" and "birds!" and "qurls!" (squirrels =) )

And before we knew it, it was time to come back home. Lucky for us, Auntie Em came home with us for an extra day of fun...

Winners!

2011-11-28T12:18:00.000-08:00

The three winners for the Shutterfly giveaway are...

"Three Boys and an Old Lady"

"CreatedFamily.com"

"Kaylee"

Congratulations!!

Please leave me a comment with your email address and I'll get you your codes for 25 FREE Christmas cards!

Then & Now

2011-11-23T21:45:00.000-08:00

Lately Luke and Abbey are totally into being wrapped up like babies. They will pull blankies through their crib slats and bring them out to us demanding "baby! baby!" nonstop until we wrap them up like little burritos and hold them. It's not only the most still they will be during any given day, but it's also pretty darn sweet.

It's also what prompted this edition of Then & Now...

April 2010

Nov 2011

Playgroup

2011-11-22T21:30:00.000-08:00

The Church we belong to happens to host Indoor Playgroup for their County. It's once a week, for an hour and a half, and basically the kids have free reign to an open gym full of toys.

And basically I love it.

The kids seem to as well.

This boy LOVES himself a play kitchen. Good thing there is already one out in our shed awaiting Christmas morning...=)

And a makeshift ballpit? Why, what more could a 19 month old ask for?

This picture is blurry, but I had to post it because I just love the grin on Abigail's face. Luke was figuring out how to work the Sit-n-Spin (side note- how old are those things?!? I remember having one when I was a little kid) and she thought it was the funniest thing ever to see him go round and round.

Yea for indoor play places. This Pacific NW woman is THRILLED to have another option to keep her toddlers busy during the looonnnggg winter months.

Wedding Weekend

2011-11-20T22:34:00.000-08:00

Last weekend we headed down to visit family and be there for David's brothers wedding! It was so fun to be around family and such a blessing to be at the wedding.

We arrived Thursday night shortly before the twins' bedtime. We ate a delicious late dinner, and then started our bedtime routine. Luke and Abbey couldn't help but be enamored by this gigantic bear at Poppa and Grandma's house. I get that. I was kinda enamored by him myself.

It became even more fun when Daddy tossed them on it...

The kids went down without a hitch (praise Jesus) and we all slept great. Dave's parents took us out to a tasty breakfast the next morning and then we came back home to play.

It took awhile for Luke, Abbey, and Omar to all warm up to each other, but before long they were all buddies...

...I see a Dog in our future.

Our niece Evelyn was so incredible with Abbey and Luke! They just loved playing with her and she was so sweet with them.

Friday night was the wedding (11/11/11). Here are ALL the cousins on Dave's side of the family:

Words nearly escape me when I look at that picture. God has been so faithful to our family.

The wedding was beautiful...

...and thankfully Luke and Abbey were pretty good - for being 19 months old. Dave stood as resident Best Man, and they were a little distracted by that. I just kept shoving goldfish crackers in their mouths and saying "shhh...yes, that's Daddy up there...shh..." =).

My little family...

We went over to the reception for a bit and then had to head back to Grandma and Poppa's to get the Littles to bed at a decent hour.

Some of the cousins spent the night at Grandma and Poppa's too, so the next morning there were kids playing everywhere, and Abbey and Luke were loving it!!

After a fun morning of play, our little family piled in the minivan and headed home. Dave and I kept saying during the drive that this felt like somewhat of a milestone trip. It was the first time we've ever stayed somewhere else and felt like we relaxed so much since having kids. It's hard to take babies outside of their normal environments, routines...etc, and this time our kids seemed old enough to adjust quickly and enjoy themselves, leaving us to sit back and watch them. A GREAT time was had by all.

Shutterfly Giveaway!!!

2011-11-19T19:06:00.000-08:00

Hello all!

Anyone else starting to think about their Christmas cards this year? I am! Last year I waited until the 2nd week of December to get our photos taken for the cards, and that meant they went out at the very last minute. Planning ahead this year =).

Last year Shutterfly contacted me to blog about their products and services. We ordered our Christmas cards through them, and I can honestly say I was very pleased with both the process and our finished cards. The cards were of the highest quality, sturdy material than any other cards we had ever used in the past. Their website was easy to navigate and ordering was a breeze.

Here are just a few I'm lookin' at for our card this year:

Aren't those great? And there are so many more options - check them out!

Last year I made a few calendars for 2011 through Shutterfly for Christmas gifts, and they got rave reviews. We may or may not be creating some again this year =). I've also thought about making some photo books.

I am excited to see all the other fun photo gift ideas Shutterfly offers. How cute would those magnets be as stocking stuffers?

So in addition to getting some Christmas cards myself (hooray!), Shutterfly is also letting me give away 25 free cards to THREE of you!!!!! If you're interested, leave me a comment and I'll select the 3 winners at noon on Monday, November 28th.

Happy Holidays!!

The Lookouts...

2011-11-12T20:54:00.000-08:00

Anticipation

2011-11-10T14:34:00.000-08:00

Alright Momma, we're all bundled up and in the stroller, now where are we goin'?

The Park.

It can't get much more random than all this

2011-11-08T20:04:00.000-08:00

- I'm playing this diet game with 25 women from my Mom's of Multiples group. It's fun to be playing with so many great friends, but TOTALLY time consuming. So many rules! Hence the fewer blog posts and less frequent commenting. Sorry. Only so much time in the day. Anyways, there's a quote in the book that I just love and wanted to share with you. The author is talking about how one's goal should be getting healthier, not just skinnier, and makes a point that skinny does not necessarily equal happiness. She shares about a time in her life when she was very thin, but had many difficult things going on, and then about a time where she was incredibly happy in life, but needed to lose some weight. She says "sometimes a little cush is borne of a little extra happy, and sometimes, that's a beautiful thing". Don't you just love that?

- The floors in our house are mainly tile and hardwoods, and they get downright cold in the winter. So I bought the kiddo's slippers. Here's Sis modeling her brother's doggy slippers.

Why is she pant-less? Why is she wearing Luke's slippers and not her pink bunny ones? No clue. She sure is cute though =).

- Did you see this article last week? Yikes. We had only purchased organic & non scented, baby shampoos and lotions for the twins' entire first year, mainly because we didn't know if perhaps they had any type of skin conditions. We had been given Johnson & Johnson shampoos and lotions at baby showers and I had saved them. One night a few months back we realized we were out of baby shampoo, so I grabbed some J&J out of the closet. We've been using it ever since. Not any more.

- On a much lighter note, how adorable is this boy of ours???

RIGHT?!?!

-Both Abbey and Luke have been super into books again lately. We've been reading with them since they were tiny, but a few months ago they started to seem less interested. We didn't push it, and now they are back to being bookaholics. Yea!

They super duper love their new lift the flap books! Thanks Aunt Amanda!!

- I am really, really enjoying this age. 18-19 months I think so far is my favorite. I loved about 4-5 months SO much, but this is even better because they sleep through the night, they are incredibly fun, they sleep through the night, they entertain each other, they sleep through the night, they are learning new things every day, they are sleeping through the night, they can tell us what they want when they are upset, and they sleep through the night!
=)
Really, we just enjoy them so much these days. They are these incredible little toddlers that want to learn and be helpful and laugh and play. It's pretty darn awesome.

- Remember how last year I waited until early December to try and buy my babies Christmas PJ's, only to find that is apparently too late in the Season to do so? Well, this Momma isn't a rookie anymore. Quite the opposite in fact. I picked Luke and Abbey's Christmas jammies up in October this year. Yup, October. As soon as they hit the stores I promptly plucked my two pairs up. And now? They're on sale. Even $7.99 at Costco. And it's only November. And the are tons of sizes.
Maybe next year I'll get it right.

- I have two giveaways I've been meaning to post about. I normally don't take people up on their offers to do such things here - not because I don't think they are nice people, or have nice things to give away - but because, well, I just like to keep it a simple ol' blog, and have no interest in getting carried away with advertising or the like. BUT, I want free Christmas cards (I want you to get some too) and the other one I am not getting anything out of the deal, I just think maybe some of you might like to take the opportunity for Holiday gift giving. Stay tuned.

Night all!

Hmmmm....

2011-11-06T16:32:00.001-08:00

What's that?

Yep, it's exactly what it looks like.

In order to help keep the crankies away while attempting to keep Luke & Abbey up an extra hour until nap time (Dear Day Light Savings- you suck) I may or may not have let them sit for AN HOUR in front of the Television watching "Play With Me Sesame".

Well I may not actually win Mother Of The Year, truly, it's an honor just to be nominated.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

2011-10-31T20:46:00.000-07:00

From the cutest little Cow and Chickie there ever was...

2011-10-27T20:19:00.001-07:00

"It is a happy talent to know how to play"

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

First Beach Trip!!

2011-10-16T19:52:00.000-07:00

This weekend we were incredibly blessed with a FREE trip to the beach! Some great family friends of ours gifted us their time share at a beach condo for Friday night. We had such a great time! I've been wanting to get Abbey and Luke in the sand for a long time now, and I am so happy we finally got the chance to do it.

Not only was it special being Luke and Abbey's first time at the beach, but it was also our first vacation as a family of four. We've traveled some with extended family, but never gone out of town just us =).

It was about a 2 hour drive (our longest so far) and due to work schedules we weren't able to leave town until after nap time, so the kiddo's needed a little break about half way through the trip. We stopped at a McDonalds, as I was thinking "don't they have Playplaces in there? Yeah it'll be disgusting and we'll have to sanitize like crazy after, but it'll be a good place to stretch their legs and get some wiggles out..."
Um, can you say WRONG?!? Rookie Momma over here. I had no idea the Playplaces were geared for older children. We walked in and I took one look at the giant stairs leading to nets and tunnels and went Nope. Luke was already tearing off to climb, and was very sad to hear that we wouldn't be able to explore such treacherous heights.

Luckily, a milkshake came in close second...

=)

We piled back in the van and made our way to the beach. Once we got into town we stopped and picked up a Pizza from our favorite pizza joint over there. David and I eat there pretty much any time we are over at this beach.
And pretty much every time we go, I make David climb into one of those photo booths with me and take our pictures. This year was no exception...

(please do like I am and pretend not to notice Momma's crazy eyes in the last one. Not sure what that's about)

When we arrived at the condo we were instantly STUNNED by how beautiful it was! Seriously, this place was nicer than our house. Luxury.

As Dave and I set up pack-n-plays and settled in, the twins had the best time exploring. They went from room to room running around and shrieking. They were THRILLED to find that none of the kitchen cupboards and drawers had locks on them. I laughed out loud when I flashed back to packing the night before and wondering if 2 balls and books would be enough toys to occupy them while we were there.

They made themselves right at home...

(Abbeygirl wearing Momma's discarded shoes over her own)

We finally got them to sit down and eat some pizza before letting them free to roam again.

After more play time, it was bath and bedtime routine, and night time for Luke and Abbey. They went down fairly well (Luke without a peep, and Abbey only needed a few minutes extra comfort) and then David and I spent the evening relaxing.

At one point I left to go sit in the outdoor hot tub - which was HEAVENLY. (Before you think me a terrible wife for ditching my husband to go relax in a spa, please know we recently canceled our cable in order to cut back expenses, so he was very pleased to be reunited with the letters E,S,P and N)

The kids woke up around 7 the next morning and we made some coffee and orange rolls, and just relaxed and took our time getting ready.

Then we headed down to play on the beach!!

God was beyond gracious to us, as the Oregon Coast is not exactly known for it's great weather, let alone in October, but I tell you it was perfect out. No wind, no rain. Just a calm day to play. We didn't even need our jackets, and ditched our hats half way through our play time.

The kids took right to the sand. Luke got right to work digging, just as I thought he would =).

Abigail pointing out a seagull flying over head..."BIRD!!!!"

"This stuff is AWESOME!!"

Daddy took the babies out to see the waves...

...and then reigned them back in when they got a little too comfortable...

The boys threw some rocks...

The kids ran and ran and ran...

...until they were captured, that is =)...

The Momma and her babies...

Our adorable baby boy...

Our adorable baby girl...

After plenty of beach time, we made our way back to our place to change into swimsuits and enjoy the heated pool.

After that, it was time for comfy clothes, pack up our stuff, and naps for two of us on the drive home. A good time was had by all...=)

Two Peas In a Pod

2011-10-13T20:04:00.000-07:00

These two have been major buddies lately.

The first thing Abbey asks for in the morning is to get in the crib with her "La-Ler" (brother), and play. Luke always greets her with a smile from behind his binkie, and usually a gentle face pat.

Throughout the day we see lots and lots of unprompted affection.

Here's praying they are always so close.

Some things I'm glad we did

2011-10-12T12:14:00.000-07:00

I could fill up all of Blogland with a post about all the things I wished I'd done better thus far in parenting, but instead tonight I'm thinking about a few things I'm glad we've done.

- Taught our infants sign language. We had begun using signs like "diaper" "nurse" and "more" around 7 months, just so Luke and Abbey would grow accustomed to seeing them, but the real credit goes to my sweet friend Heather who sent us these videos for their first birthday. At nearly 18 months Luke and Abbey aren't especially verbal, and signing plays a HUGE role in our lives. Being able to communicate helps eliminate frustration for all of us. Early this morning Abbey woke up crying and I went in to find out what was the matter, and the second she saw me she signed "diaper". Sure enough, her diaper was soaked. A quick change and she was good to go. We have many moments like that during our days around here, and they serve as constant reminders of how grateful I am that we all learned so much sign language.

- Put family pictures in plastic frames on the fridge. Last month my sister Vanessa came over to babysit for the first time while I went to work. She lives about an hour away, and so the twins haven't seen her very often. She came over a few hours before I needed to leave, and right away when she walked in, both Abbey and Luke went over to the fridge, pulled off the picture of me and my sisters, and pointed at Vanessa. Amazing!

- Introduced ALL veggies before a single bite of fruit. For all I know, this one is an old wives tale, and we just got lucky, but all signs point to this being true. I had heard if you introduce only veggies in the beginning of starting solids before introducing any fruits, you will have good vegetable eaters. Sounded good to me, so that's what we did. And lo and behold, both our little ones will chow down on green beans, peas, corn, carrots and even broccoli. They reach for it without being asked or reminded!

- Associated lovies with sleep time. Sleep. Oh what an issue sleep was for a loonngg time in this house. I know we'll have many, many stages and phases to come, but right now we are in a good sleeping pattern, and neither Luke nor Abbey has fought naptime or bedtime in a long while. They know when that sound machine (white noise) comes on, and they get their binkies and their respective lovies, it's time to go to sleep. They only get binks and lovies in their cribs, and it's worked wonders for cuing sleep time.

- Discovered these. They're a little pricey, but totally organic, so I don't mind spending more on them. My kiddo's LOVE them, and they make a great "treat" for longer car rides. They aren't messy and they kids find them tasty =).

-Rotated toys. This is something my older sister does, and I'm so glad I do it too. Every couple months we pull out "new" toys from the closet and Abbey and Luke are entertained anew. Plus with only 2/3 of their actual toy collection out for play, it makes for less clean up for all of us =).

- Haven't taken away the binky yet. This one is TOTALLY selfish, but...sometimes it just comes in handy. Luke and Abbey only get their binkies (or "kinkies" as Ab's calls them) during naps and bedtime, or sometimes when we're out and about and we need to "push" them a bit longer than they'd normally allow. Last week I had to take them both to the doctor by myself, and anytime I've had to do soothe two babies post being poked and prodded at, I'm always grateful to have the binkies to help with the soothing process.

-Blogged. I am so grateful I've documented - words and pictures- my pregnancy and the twins first year and a half. Someday I hope to make the time and budget to make blog books like this Momma. It's been a wonderful way to keep family updated, a great way to journal, and fantastic for preserving memories.

How about you? What are some things you're glad you've done? I'm always looking for good ideas!! =)

My silly boy...

2011-10-10T21:59:00.000-07:00

Where's Luke?

There he is!!

Sometimes, having two babies the same age is difficult...

2011-10-08T20:33:00.000-07:00

But most of the time, it's awesome...

Nighty Night!

2011-10-05T21:24:00.000-07:00

Weekend Wrap Up

2011-10-03T19:49:00.000-07:00

Yeah I know it's Monday evening, but I just didn't get around to writing about the weekend until now.

We had a good one! I hope you did too. =)

The weather was crummy, but such is Fall in Oregon. We made the best of it on Saturday and went for a family bike ride...

Luke helping Daddy pump up the bike tires. I told you the boy idolizes his Daddy these days. Nothing makes him happier than when he gets to be a "Workin' Man" with his Dad.

Sis and I waited inside while the boys got things all ready...

We rode a few miles and then pulled over and let the kiddo's explore...

Sunday we went to Church.

Abbey Mae (Aka Cindy LouWho)

I don't think The Mister has ever looked more handsome...

And then came home and napped and then got right to stirring...

Stirring and stacking, stirring and stacking...those are our favorites these days!

Tell me it's not just me...

2011-09-30T23:34:00.000-07:00

A conversation occurred in my home tonight, and I need to know some of you Mom's out there have had a similar one so I feel normal.

After the kids were in bed, David was showing me a few things he had changed on our laptop this afternoon while I was at work.

Me: "You got this done while the kids were up??"
David: "Yeah...?"
Me: "HOW?!?"
Him: "I just...did it...??"
Me: "They weren't climbing all over you and begging to turn the music on and dance???"
(the laptop sits next to our stereo)
Him: "They ask for it, but I just tell them 'not now'"
Me: "And then what?"
Him: "They go play with something else"
Me (incredulously): "they just go play with something else?!? Just like that?!?!"
Him: "Yeah"
Me: "You mean no fits? No crying? No pulling on your pant legs and whining for minutes on end resulting in inner dialogue on your part wondering if you should just give in in the name of Peace and Quiet, but you know you can't because giving into a tantrum this time will make things way harder next time??"
Him: "Um, no. I just tell them not now, and they just go do something else"
Me: "I kind of hate you right now"

Then & Now

2011-09-29T21:17:00.000-07:00

Aug 2010

Sept 2011

18 months

2011-09-27T20:23:00.000-07:00

Today our sweet babies turn 18 months old!

I stopped writing monthly letters to Luke and Abbey at a year, but 18 months seems like such a marker (halfway to TWO!!!) that I thought I'd write down a few things they're up to at this age so I can always look back and remember.

We've had a fun summer, filled with family and friends...

We had tons of fun, sunny days spent going for walks, bike rides, and playing at the park.

It's been a good summer =).

I must say I'm finding this age to be pretty fun! I always tell people it's hard for me to be too sad that my babies are growing up, because I seem to enjoy them more and more as they do.

There are some challenges to be sure, especially as they learn new ways to express emotions. We've introduced "Time Outs" here, which seem to be going well. Luke got sent there (the mat in front of the door in the living room) the other day for hitting and he had to be reminded several times to "sit on your bottom on the mat because you are in TimeOut". Twice he got up and tried to run away, only to be escorted back. Then at one point he stood up, picked up the mat, threw it a few feet, turned around and sat back down where it had been, as if to say "I'll sit in your time out, but I'm not sitting on your mat!" It was HARD to keep a straight face for that!

They are showing more passion for things they like lately (i.e, not into sharing) which sometimes we let them work it out on their own and sometimes we intervene. Yet at the same time they are consistently very considerate of each other. Abbey ALWAYS gets Luke's milk for him before getting her own. Luke RARELY puts up a fight (even though he's got at least 4 pounds on her) when Abbey steals something of his.

Speaking of milk, they both love it now. When we first introduced it right before I stopped breastfeeding, they were totally not interested. Then for a long time they'd drink a few sips as part of their bedtime and morning routine, but never really guzzle the stuff. Now they down it in seconds flat and almost always ask for more throughout the day!

More favorites around here include blueberries (especially for Luke, he devours them!) and cheesy eggs. And anything they get to "dip dip dip!" as they say =).

They are crazy for music. I mean CRAZY for it. They beg for it all day long. They make the cutest little dancing moves and point at the stereo if it's not on. And once it is they groove for awhile and then go about playing...but don't even think about turning it off - they notice right away! We attended our old Church back home last Sunday and both Luke and Abbey enjoyed dancing to the praise music, especially since it was Poppa leading the worship songs!

They are also super into singing songs with hand motions. Their current obsession is "Bringing Home a Baby Bumble Bee", but they also love "Row Row Row Your Boat", "Jesus Loves Me", "Itsy Bitsy Spider", and "This Little Light of Mine".

They both say "mooooo" whenever they see a cow. There is a little baby dressed up like a cow and a few real cows in the Praise Baby DVD we watch before nap time and it sounds like a barnyard in my living room when those scenes are on.

We've officially transitioned over to a one nap household. We made the cut while we were camping, and just kept it up when we got home. It was shockingly more seamless than I thought it would be. We had a few rough mornings where crankies set in but for the most part it wasn't at all what I had been dreading. And the best part is (**knocks on wood**) they've been sleeping later in the morning!

Bedtime is around 7:15pm and they've been getting up anywhere between 7:15-8:15am!! Can I get a Hallelujah!?!?!

To say it's been glorious would be an understatement.

=)

Our days lately look something like this:

7:15-8:15am: wake up, milk
8:30-9:00am: breakfast
Playtime
11:15-11:30am: lunch
11:30-noon: go down for nap
naps have only been about an hour to an hour and a half, but I'm not complaining since they are sleeping so long at night.
2:00-2:30pm: snack
5:30pm: dinner
6:15pm: bath
6:45pm jammies and playtime to get the wiggles out
7:15pm: Bible Story, prayer time, sing a few songs and off to sleep!

They've been really into stirring things lately, and one of their favorite activities is getting out mixing bowls and wooden spoons and stirring their blocks around. They've also gotten really good at stacking and want to stack different things every day...

They are growing like crazy these days. Luke is wearing 12 -18 month pants, and 18-24 month shirts. Abbey is still a peanut -but growing!- she is in 12 month pants mostly (with a few pairs of 18 months) and 12-18 month tops.

Their verbal comprehension is daily growing. We can give them fairly complex directions and they know what we are saying. The other day Luke came up to David and both said and signed "poop", and sure enough...he wasn't lying =).

Most of all it's just been fun to continue to watch their personalities emerge...

This boy is always exploring. Checking out how things work. Twisting caps off things. Closing lids. Seeing what fits where.

He loves to play with balls...

And is ALWAYS up for an adventure...

Everyday getting braver and braver to do more by himself...

While still being plenty silly...

...and smiley...

...and downright adorable...

He is such a joy. David and I have both commented lately how intent he is on eye contact, and how much he seems to understand.

He's been a real Daddy's boy lately. David recently gave him a haircut (his 3rd) and I told him when it was done that he looked just like Daddy. For the rest of the day he pointed at his hair and said "Daddy!" and smiled widely.

He's a good boy who LOVES to assist and takes pride in being praised for being helpful. He may only be 18 months old, but he loves to feel like a big boy =)

And Little Miss has been a lot of fun too!

She's super into dressing up lately...

...and has been a GREAT little eater...

...content to play by herself...
(for Daddy that is, never for Momma!)

Sis LOVES dogs...

...and is a pretty good little adventurer as well...

She's not quite as obsessed with Daddy as her brother is (she's still a Momma's girl) but she agrees he's pretty great...

Abigail is also crazy about her brother. Sure, he steals toys sometimes or wants to play alone, but she still just idolizes him. She thinks he is so funny, and whatever he is playing with is most interesting to her as well =). She's also fiercely loyal to him, one day even choosing to sit in Time Out with him even though she knew she didn't need to be there.

I pray they are always loyal friends.

Happy 18 months my sweet, sweet babies. I love you more than ever.
-Momma

Fun on the Farm!

2011-09-24T19:51:00.001-07:00

Today we went on a field trip with my Moms of Multiples group to a Farm.

They had a petting zoo with goats and llamas and bunnies. This is about as close as either of our children would get to any animal there...

So the animals weren't a huge hit for our Littles.

This, on the other hand was...

That my friends is a giant box of corn kernels. And my son was in HEAVEN with all that sensory stimulation, trucks to move, dump trucks to fill, and shovels to dig with.

Finally we pried them (and by them I mean Luke) out of that box and tried to look at more animals...

This farm had "exotic" animals, which included lions. Yes, LIONS. Here are my three beloveds checking out the lions...this was as close as I would let them get!

(you'll note Abigail's 12 month shorts are still hanging off her. She sure did not inherit her Momma's birthing hips)

We took a little train ride out into some fields and saw horses and donkeys. Contrary to their expressions here, Luke and Abbey both loved the train ride.

Luke signed "train" about 1,000 times after this.

We went down a giant inflatable slide a few times, on which Abbey shrieked and giggled with joy, while Luke just kinda looked confused.

Then they braved the bouncy castle...

Then we found our second favorite spot of the day (next to the corn kernels, naturally)

The Ball Pit!!

Yup- they were both fans!

Marriage advice in the Operating Room

2011-09-23T21:04:00.000-07:00

So. Awhile back I got to stand in and observe a fancy new procedure two of the doctors I work for are currently preforming. It was very interesting and I enjoyed the whole process. But what stood out to me the most from that day was a conversation I had with the charge nurse before the procedure began.

She was inquiring how I was able to be there the entire day (I normally only work afternoons), and I told her David was able to be home with the twins. I then explained how we work opposite schedules so Luke and Abbey always have one of us home with them.

"That's great, but be careful" she cautioned.

She went on to explain that she and her husband had done the same thing for 15+ years as their children were small. And then the kids got into high school, the changed their shifts around and were able to spend more time together as a couple.
And they realized they didn't know how to.

Something about the way she spoke made me take heed. I've had many, many people tell me not to neglect my marriage and that it's important for us to make time for each other, but it's always gotten shuffled to the back of my mind, as we've just been knee-deep in trying to survive infanthood and toddlerhood with two little ones.

But this time, I listened. I knew she was right. (In retrospect, maybe it was just the fact that we were wearing surgical masks so her eyes seemed so much more prominent and pouring... =) )

It's interesting the opinions and advice you get on such a matter. I've had many people tell me I needed to leave my babies overnight much sooner, as that will help them with separation anxiety and teach them other people are safe and "good" at caring for them as well. On the flip side, I've had people advise me not to leave them overnight until they are "much" older.

The research -as is so often the case with research- you can pretty much make say anything you want it to say.

My take? Every kid is different. Mine were born on the same day and are being raised at the same time by the same parents, and they are very different. You've gotta do what works for your family. What I've learned so far is I can't push my kids. Especially Abbey. Around 10 months she became a real Momma's girl and remains so today. She doesn't like to be far from me and if I'm around she's usually in my lap.
And I don't push her. The few times that I've tried, she's become much clingier as a result. Sure, we have our times where she needs to be outside of her comfort zone, simply because it's what needs to happen at the time, but they are few and far between. She simply hasn't been ready for me to be gone for an extended period of time before. Luke has his clingy moments, but isn't as serious about it as his sister. I wouldn't say he's been really ready before either, although he's probably been more ready than Abbey.

But I also haven't been ready. I never even missed a bedtime until they were 14 months old, and Dave and I went out for our anniversary and Auntie Natalie put them to bed. And guess what? The twins didn't miss a beat. They went to sleep just fine for their Auntie and slept great. We've been gone for bedtime one other time (Natalie sat again) and it went off without a hitch as well. But I've never been gone overnight before. Dave's been away overnight a (small) handful of times, and he's offered for me to get a chance to do the same, but I just haven't felt ready.

Which brings me to my next point. I don't want to project my separation anxiety onto my kids.

I have a penchant to hover and I'm already fighting Helicopter Mom tendencies. I personally think at 17.5 months my kids are still young enough to need me A LOT so I don't sweat these tendencies too much just yet, but I'm aware of them and know at some point I'll have to pay more attention to them.

I worry about my babies. Like, a lot. I do best when they are with me. But I don't necessarily want them to know that =)

But back to the advice.

I put this kind, wise woman's words into the forefront of my mind and began to keep an eye out for a good time to carve out some time for my marriage.

Towards the end of the summer, Abbey started to become more and more independent, and comfortable faster in new environments.

I could attribute this new confidence and independence to a lot of things...it could be because of the hard work we put in her first year+ of making sure she is properly attached to us. It could be because I don't push her, and so she's finally feeling comfortable knowing that she won't be forced to do something she isn't ready to. Or it could have very little to do with our parenting and simply be a natural progression at this age.

Whatever the case, I began to feel like she was ready to be without both Daddy and I for a night.

I felt like Luke would be able to handle it fine too.

Then the perfect scenario for babysitters appeared. I knew I would not be willing to leave my babies anywhere but our house, so whoever watched them would need to come here. Well, my sister Emily stayed with us for 12 days (so Abbey and Luke were already used to having her around the house and a daily part of their lives) and my sister Natalie was more than willing to sacrifice a night of freedom to come have a sleepover with her niece and nephew. (Yes, I know I am ridiculously blessed with wonderful extended family!!)

So...here I was beginning to have confidence my kids would be okay for a night...but would I? That's where the real hang up lingered.

The main reason I finally decided to go away for the night is my marriage. My marriage needed it. Dave and I needed it.
Fear not, Worriers, our marriage is fine, but it could be better. For the last 17.5 months we've operated on the idea that neither of us is going anywhere and we are no doubt in this together, but we've often been two ships passing in the night. Our conversations our often reduced to cliff notes. We are Luke and Abbey's parents, and that involves wonderful things like sharing the mutual joy when they do something adorable and fun, both our hearts swelling with pride when they learn something new, and the absolute unexplainable feeling of seeing your spouses features or mannerisms in your child. But there are other components to co-parenting that aren't as wonderful for our relationship...like arguing about discipline, and sleep deprivation (which can put even the kindest people at their worst), and financial stresses, and being pulled in two more directions than we were previously. Yes, we are Luke and Abbey's parents - and we are beyond BLESSED to have such roles- but we are also Dave and Kendra. A couple that existed for 6 years prior to Luke and Abbey's birth. And that relationship needs some nourishment.

I also firmly believe that one of the best gifts we can give our children is the gift of parents who have a strong, healthy marriage.

And a strong healthy marriage isn't going to just happen.

David and I are friends, and we have fun together. And honestly (and sadly) it can be easy to forget that in the daily grind.

Natalie told me about this smokin' deal, and we were able to go away and do our entire trip for under $125. Room, meals, a movie, everything! Amazing! For a family on a tight budget this was a huge blessing.

So, we went away.
For 26 hours.
And we had a blast.

And guess what??? Our kiddos had a blast too! In their very own environment with one on one interaction from a loving auntie.

Our room was adorable...

The view off our deck...

The happy couple...

It was a wonderful time away.

It was also a little strange...

I keep reading articles about how around this age my children are fighting a strange brew of wanting to be independent and yet still very much drawn to be with me. I can't help thinking...me too. For nearly 10 months they were a part of my body, and then for another 13 more as we breastfed they remained a part of me. That's nearly 2 years where we were practically inseparable.

Now we are entering a phase where we are all able to be a little more independent. And it's both exciting and something I am slightly mourning.

Wordless Wednesday

2011-09-21T22:34:00.000-07:00

It's a good thing I don't work more...

2011-09-20T19:23:00.000-07:00

...or I would have some seriously spoiled children.

There is a month between Summer and Fall terms in which David only teaches one class Tuesday and Thursday mornings. It's great for the family time, but not so great for the paycheck. So in order to help supplement, I try and take on as many hours as I can at my job.

Twice in the last month I've had 36 hour work weeks.

I know that is nothing compared to many of you who work 40+, but for me it's more than I've worked in the past 20 months. And it was hard to be away from my babies so much! They were beyond fine - having a blast at home with Daddy, but I missed them. And I missed being at home and staying on top of things here.

Don't get me wrong, there were a few benefits to working so much (hello, wonderful long lunch break to read my book, or something more educational, or just stare at the wall in blissful silence, and lots of adult interaction). But really it just proved to me how much I am meant to be at home as much as I am. I feel so much more settled this way. 15 hours a week seems to be the perfect balance.

So the spoiled part. Because I was only home two mornings last week, I found myself straying from any and all forms of discipline. Even when one of my sweet cherubs took a swat at me...I let it go. Why? Because I wanted our minimal amount of time together to be happy, and good. I felt guilty for being away so much (at work! It's not like I was out shopping or at the movies all week!) and I didn't want any of my precious time with them tarnished with harshness or tears.

It was a good thing to realize about myself (you gotta know where your penchants lie, good and bad), and even better to know I shouldn't need to work weeks like that again for a long time.

Here's to knowing your limits.

Yogurt Pancakes

2011-09-17T22:11:00.000-07:00

When I was pregnant with the twins my sweet friend Amy - who is an incredible cook- sent me a bunch of healthy, hearty recipes.

One of them that I frequented during pregnancy was a recipe for Yogurt Pancakes. I started making them for Luke and Abbey around 12 months, and they LOVED them! We average them about once a week around here. Whats so great about them (besides being tasty) is they reheat gloriously in the toaster, so I always make extra and it's breakfast for a few days.

Every time we have a house guest that tries them they always comment on how good they are, so I thought I'd share the recipe here. Maybe your family will love them as much as ours does.

-1 Cup flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
-1 teaspoon baking powder
-1/2 teaspoon baking soda
-1 Cup Yogurt (I use Tillamook Vanilla Bean)
-1/2 Cup milk
- 1 Egg
- 1 tablespoon melted butter

Whip up all ingredients and cook on hot skillet.

Enjoy! =)

Have you all seen this?

2011-09-15T22:18:00.000-07:00

Okay.

So the language is wildly inappropriate. Like, Hangover style.

But a friend brought this book for me to read today, and I laughed so hard coffee came out my nose.

Again, language warning. But seriously, all you parents who have ever begged your little ones to puh-lease fall asleep, read this book.

First Camping Trip!

2011-09-08T19:56:00.001-07:00

For the last 5 years, we've gotten together with David's family for a Labor Day Getaway. This year, we went camping!

Dave and I have always loved tent camping, but I was not ready to brave tent camping with toddlers. We had a little cabin instead =). Tent camping will come in the future.

My two greatest fears about this trip were 1. the campfire 2. sleeping troubles

I am beyond pleased to report neither were a problem! Of course we had far more adults than kids so we were all able to keep an eye out while the campfire was going. That was SO helpful. And when we first got there, before the fire was even going, we took the twins over near it and explained it was a "no-no". After that whenever Abbey or Luke got even within 4 feet of it, they'd wag their pointer finger back and forth and shake their heads!

As for sleep, mercifully, both kids slept through the night both nights. Abbey had a hard time going to sleep both nights, but we (and by "we" I mean David) remained patient and just stayed with her until she was comfortable since it was a new place.

We stuck to their bedtime routine as close as possible, but also added in an evening stroll in jammies to help "settle in"...=)

Pretty sweet digs...(complete with blankets covering the windows, I do whatever needs to be done to insure good sleep! =) )

During the day we stayed busy playing with family.

Luke giving Grandma some love...

David playing Badminton with his niece and nephew (and Luke on his back)...

Abigail and Poppa reading books fireside...

Daddy loaning his baby girl his beanie on a cold morning...

Something else I was nervous about was ALL THE DIRT. I kept telling myself to just embrace it. Let 'em get as dirty as they want. And boy did they.

Abbey gifting Grandma handfuls of dirt...

CHECK OUT THE DIRT ON MY GIRL...

Luke getting some lovin' from Poppa...

Lucas and his cousin playing IN THE DIRT...

My kids were beyond THRILLED to get to explore so much...

I have fewer pictures of Luke than I do his sister because he was on the go the entire time we were there. He just ran around like crazy! I've told you before, his Love Language is FREEDOM!!!

Bundled up and ready to head to Uncle Tony's camping spot (where the coffee is) for breakfast...

The cousins had such a great time playing together. It made me so happy to watch!

Fun was had by all...

Our first camping trip was a SUCCESS!!! Hooray!

"You've sure got your hands full!"

2011-09-03T22:54:00.000-07:00

Yes, I sure do.

But my heart

is full as well.

What do you think?

2011-09-02T21:52:00.000-07:00

After StoryTime at the Library Wednesday morning, we took Luke and Abbey to Burger King for the first time, and we all four sat in a booth (no high chairs, no bibs) and ate chicken nuggets and french fries dipped in ketchup.

We are pretty sure they enjoyed themselves, but ya just never know for sure. I'll post these pictures I took at let you be the judge...

Thoughts???

=)

A quote

2011-09-01T11:48:00.000-07:00

From this book:

"You hear parents of one newborn talk about how grueling the lack of sleep is, but experiencing the endless cycle of waking-feeding-changing with twins is simply not to be believed. Let's just say I understood why sleep deprivation is the number-one form of torture for political prisoners"

I could not have said it better myself!

Peek a boo!

2011-08-31T21:04:00.000-07:00

Because it's been awhile...

2011-08-30T15:37:00.000-07:00

Our big boy...

And our big girl...

We've been busy lately.
Ya know, the usual. Playing Super Hero's...

...and trying to keep the house clean...

...and playing at the park...

...and just being cute...

...and daily being able to reach further back on the kitchen counters...

So, as you can see, it's been a busy few weeks.

A Picture Post

2011-08-14T23:14:00.000-07:00

Just stopping by to post some pictures of my Adorables...

Abbeygirl sportin' Daddy's hat...

Can you even believe this boy's eye lashes?!?!

"This way Momma!"

Cooking up something yummy...

Pausing mid-giraffe ride to give the babydoll some love...

Gorgeous boy...

And lastly, our little ones have been hammin' it up lately for the camera!

LOVE!!!!!

A post of their own...

2011-08-13T16:15:00.000-07:00

Sweet Kaitlynn, our resident family photographer, was gracious enough to stop by last week when we were all together and take some photos for us...

My beautiful baby girl...

My beautiful baby boy...

Cousin love!

The three little ones...

Get used to hugs from the ladies, son....

All of us...

Thanks Kaitlynn! You are so very talented and we appreciate you!!!!

The Fab Five

2011-08-12T20:14:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday all of my sisters and I were in the same room - for the first time in THREE YEARS!!!

(Emily, me, Natalie, Amanda, Vanessa)

We had plans to go to the beach for the day, but it ended up not working out, so we gathered at my Dad and stepmom's house and had a blast.

Me and my sweet boy...

Abbeygirl LOVES her Auntie Natalie!

Amanda, Vanessa and I walked over to a garage sale in the neighborhood. Amanda spotted a Water Table and asked how much, and the guy said "free, you can have it" SCORE!

Amanda and Natalie took turns making sure all the Littles stayed properly shaded...

Our kids alternated taking turns chillin' with Daddy...

After Luke and Abbey were thoroughly soaked from all the Water Table play, we changed them into their jammies and had some more indoor fun...

...which included getting their first taste of Cheetos...

It was so, so fun to get to have all my sisters under the same roof. And my sweet little niece too! Before we knew it, it was time to pack up the van and head home...all tuckered out...

Boys and Girls: Part 2

2011-08-10T20:46:00.000-07:00

Last week was a busy one. My co-worker was on vacation and I worked nearly 30 hours to help cover (I normally only work 15) and Amanda & Cadence were in town.

By the end of the week, Luke was a little out of sorts. He's usually my more independent one, and it got to the point where he was having a hard time whenever I left the room. That was hard for me too. So by the time Saturday came around, I knew we needed a Momma-Son date =).

I had plans to hit up a giant consignment sale that day to stock up on clothes for the kids, so I packed up my baby boy and the Kelty backpack, and off we went! Luke is always up for an adventure, so I knew no matter what we did, he'd enjoy being out and about.

And fun we had!

He was SUCH a good boy and we talked and laughed and just enjoyed some one on one time. He is such a sweet boy, I swear I could just eat him up sometimes.

Meanwhile, back at home...

Daddy and Sis had a dance-off.

Pretty sure Sis won.

Daddy's Little Helpers

2011-08-09T19:41:00.001-07:00

Brie, with a side of perspective

2011-08-05T21:17:00.000-07:00

Last Thursday night, I wrote this post, in which I chronicled some of the challenges we are seeing in raising toddlers.

As a first time parent, it can be tempting to think "as soon as we pass (insert frustration situation here) stage, things will be much easier..."

Saturday night, I went out for appetizers an adult beverage with a dear friend. She has two children - a boy and a girl, just like I do - but hers are teenagers. As I listened to her talk about the things they are going through right now, and the parenting struggles she has, I was reminded (again) of my need to heed my Dad's sage words...

"Parenting is a journey, not a destination"

I must stop waiting - expecting- to arrive.

Cousins!!!

2011-08-03T19:56:00.000-07:00

Remember last year when they met for the first time?

Well Amanda and Cadence are in Oregon again, and on Sunday we got to spend some time together!

(clearly, it's still not easy to get a good picture of all of us looking at the camera!)

We had such a fun afternoon and it was so, so great to get to see them again! Our other sisters Vanessa and Natalie were here as well...only missing Emily who is busy working, but will join us for some fun this weekend!

Sunday was a beautiful day, so we loaded up on sunscreen and headed to a SplashPad.

Abbey took right to it...

Auntie Natalie took one for the team and got soaked with the kids...

Cadence showing Abbey how it's done...

I just can't believe how much joy I feel when I get to see Cadence. She is a living, breathing, walking, talking miracle. And every time I am in her presence I am stunned anew by God's goodness.

For those of you who are new(er) here, Cadence was born in August 2007 at 26 weeks weighing 1 lb, 11oz. She was in the NICU for months, and had multiple surgeries on her tiny little body. For months we waited and prayed. We watched as my sister and brother in law remained strong and faithful, and fought on behalf of their daughter. And now, today, we get to play with her, and talk with her, and hug her. She is a gift. Her story defies the odds. I often wonder why the Lord has us walk the paths He gives us, and I give thanks when I see my stretch marks.

Looking forward to some more family fun this weekend! It'll be the first time in three years that all 5 of us sisters have been together!!

Then & Now

2011-08-02T12:30:00.000-07:00

August 2, 2009

August 2, 2011

Thanks be to God.

America's Got Talent!!

2011-07-30T19:24:00.000-07:00

Or at least our babies sure do.

Abigail hits her mark:

And Lucas shows off his moves:

Boys & Girls

2011-07-29T21:34:00.000-07:00

Luke had a follow up appointment with his Orthopedist this week, and I can not stand him (the doctor, not my sweet son) so David took Luke. I could write you an epic novel about all the reasons this man gets under my skin, but I'll spare you the details and just leave it at it's better if I don't go.

So anyways.

The great news is his feet are looking fabulous and we can keep his braces on just for night sleep as we have been doing. The doctor said the odds of Luke's feet turning back in at this point are as close to zero as is possible. Hooray! He said we'll keep the braces on at night right up until Luke turns 2, then be done for good. We are so pleased with this report!! When I was pregnant and we first went in for a consultation, they had given us a much more stringent path. Casts for 6 weeks, surgery, casts for 6 more weeks, and then braces on until age 3, for nights and naps. Well most of you know we never needed the surgery - and Praise God because the idea of putting my 6 week old under general anesthesia nearly gave me an aneurysm - and he was able to reduce to just night time sleep for the braces at like 10 months. And to be done with them a whole year earlier than anticipated?! Super. Luke does so great with his shoes, although he has serious beat up his crib as he tosses and turns in his sleep =). He rarely puts up any fuss when we put them on, even after we've given him a few nights off when he's sick or we're away from home or something.

David said he and Lucas had a blast together! It's so fun when we get to have one on one time with a baby. It's tempting for us to think that just having one toddler would be sooo easy, but I'm sure triplet parents think that when they see us out with "only" two =). And it goes without saying (but I'll say it anyways) we'd never have it any other way. We can't imagine life without either one of our sweet children.

After the check up, the boys stopped at Burgerville for lunch. Luke even got a temporary tattoo!

He was so proud to show it off!

My boys...

Meanwhile, while the boys were out on their adventure, Abbey and I went to StoryTime at the Library by ourselves! Normally our whole family goes every Wednesday morning, but that day it was just us girls...

It was so special to get to spend one on one time with my sweet girl.

As much as each parent and each baby was happy to spend time the way we did, we were all four delighted to see each other again after a morning away. Especially these two, who came right in for a hug and kiss:

You take the good, you take the bad...

2011-07-28T19:29:00.000-07:00

My babies turned 16 months yesterday.

It's a strange dichotomy of both it's only been 16 months? and how has 16 months gone by so quickly?

This age is fun. Slightly less awesome than 14 months, simply because we are dealing with more independence and strong wills than we saw just two short months ago.

I titled this post as such because it's true. Some days in this job are very hard, but it's all worth it. I'd chose it all again.

But.

I write about the hard stuff because it's real life. It's not because I just like complaining or because I've forgotten how blessed I am. It's because I feel it's important to be honest. Both so I can remember when these days are far behind us, and in an effort to never even pretend to give off the impression that things are perfect and we've got it all figured out over here.
When we first brought the twins home and I was in UTTER SHOCK at how hard everything was, I found honest-mom-blogs to be few and far between. Which only made me feel certain that something must really be wrong with me. Once I realized that wasn't the case, I vowed to always be honest about my struggles in motherhood. And I've made some amazing, encouraging friends in the process.

So, the challenging stuff. There have been tantrums. Some big ones. And some strong wills. It's funny...I pray my children have strong, independent personalities...just not when it opposes with what I want them to do...=).

There are days where I feel like I say "no" a thousand times more than I say "yes". And as often as I try and phrase things more towards the positive..."we sit on the couch", frustration often sets in and I'm saying (in a louder tone than I am proud of) "NO STANDING ON THE COUCH!". They are into EVERYTHING. Especially Lucas. That boy is just sooooo busy. I was looking at an old ultrasound picture the other day, where Luke -even at 13 weeks in utero- was blurry as Abbey sat still. The same is true today. He is constantly in motion. And constantly keeping me on my toes...he brought me a book of matches the other day, proving to me that he can now reach into the top kitchen drawers. Ai yi yi.

I took them to a new park the other day, and in the 60 seconds it took me to get Abbey strapped back into the stroller to head home, Luke had climbed to the second tier of the giant play structure and aiming for the top.

I do love his curious and determined spirit - as much as it exhausts me sometimes - and I know God will use it for so much good in his lifetime.

Abbey is not nearly as busy, and is so content to just play quietly next to me. But she sure can be dramatic. When she wants something she can't have...prepare yourself. She will let you know her displeasure, to the point of sheer panic. The first few times it happened I worried a medical event was occurring, like she was having a seizure or something! She can take a long, long time to recover from such fits, and it's hard for me to know when I should try and help her get over it and when that's just making it worse and I need to just let her work it out on her own.

I find myself asking those kinds of questions often. Like, really often. There have been so many challenging days lately where my patience wears thin and I am just worn out by the time evening rolls around. I want very much to be a consistent parent and teach my children that obedience is expected...but sometimes it can be hard to reconcile my heart at night that being a Momma isn't all about snuggles and laughter and fun memories. So much of my days lately involve re-direction, distraction, and discipline. And it's hard.

But it's a job. Parenthood is a job. It's a relationship, sure. It can be very rewarding and very fulfilling. And when it's neither, I have to trust that my consistency now will be rewarding later.

There is so much good as well.

I was on my Moms of Multiples Group forum the other night, and a momma with 18 month old twins was lamenting how the second year was so much harder than the first. Now I may only be four months into year two, but so far I COMPLETELY disagree! Yes, this age has it's challenges, and yes they used to just stay on the floor where I put them...but now they SLEEP!!!! Seriously, maybe she had some of those infants I'm always hearing about who sleep through the night at 8 weeks or something. But mine didn't. And as much as I do have many, many fond memories of my babies early days, I enjoy them so much more now that I can function properly. Sure, I may be worn out by the time bedtime comes these days, but having my toddlers sleep 11-13 hours each night gives me time to re-coupe for the next days challenges.

And they interact with us. They seriously crack us up all the time! They have these hilarious little personalities and beam with pride when they make us laugh. And they are so smart and eager to learn. They know more signs than I can count and absolutely love to be quizzed on them. Sometimes even mid-meltdown you can say "show me 'cracker'" and they'll stop crying and sign it with a big grin on their face!

They also play together more and more, which is endearing. They are buddies, and it warms our hearts so much. They look out for each other, and it's so sweet to watch the different ways they show their love. As we settle in before nap time, Abbey has taken to laying across my legs while I stroke her hair. Luke takes his position in the crook of my arm, and he'll gently pat Abbey's head as well...melts me!

We are still pretty much on two naps a day, with one nap days still only occurring occasionally.

They are getting better at using forks and spoons, and are SO proud of these new skills!!

They've become interested in really sitting for Baby Signing Time and Play With Me Sesame. I'm not even gonna lie, it's wonderful. Try not to judge me. They will sit contently for 20+ minutes before losing interest, and it's precious time to me when I need to get something done without their "help".

There are many, many fun things happening in our house these days. I love that I can ask the kids "do you want to go to the park?" and they get all excited and run to get their shoes. I love that they are signing please and thank you, often without having to be reminded. I love the way a mischievous grin creeps across their faces as they duck down behind the coffee table and wait for us to ask "where'd they go?", and I love it even more when they pop up and scream to announce their hiding spot. I love their smiles and the way they run towards me with open arms when they need comfort, or even just want a hug.

I love being their Momma.

A Saturday of baseball and family

2011-07-26T06:48:00.000-07:00

Last weekend was a busy, busy one. David plays on our Church's softball team and Saturday they had an ALL day tournament.

The babies slept in for us a bit on Saturday morning, 7:00am and 7:45am respectively, (AH. MAZE. ING.) and so I decided to ditch the morning nap and head to the field to catch some early games before the heat set in.

Where we goin' Momma?

Way too distracted to look at the camera...

At first, Abbey and Luke were enthralled by the game...

Then, when Daddy had a break between games, they were enthralled with the water fountain...

Then, on to exploring...

...while occasionally stopping in to check on the game...

And we were so happy when Daddy got to hang out with us between games...

We also got to hang out with Poppa Bruce!

And our Aunt, Uncle, and cousins!

It was so fun to get to hang out with family and enjoy watching some of David's games. Luke and Abbey were troopers. Around 12:30 they started to get a little fussy and I knew it was time to head home for naps. I had prepared the nursery before I left, so my plan was to have them fall asleep in the van and then just transfer them to their cribs for a nice long, restorative nap.

The first part of my plan worked perfectly, they were out before we even left the parking lot.

The second part was an epic fail. They did NOT transfer to their cribs, and apparently felt like the 20+ minute car ride home had been just enough of a nap to not go back to sleep. But I assure you it was not enough of a nap to get rid of the crankies. The rest of the afternoon was spent trying to get them to nap, then giving up, then trying again...wash, rinse, repeat.

ANYWAYS. My sister Emily had called and had a rare opportunity to pop into town for like 16 hours (literally) and so I loaded the babies in the van and went to pick her up where her ride had dropped her. Lo and behold, both babies fell asleep on the way there. Not an ideal nap time (5pm) but I couldn't have cared less!

We were so happy to have Auntie Em here for the night, and my dad and stepmom were already in town, so they stopped by for a quick hello as well. So in one day, Luke and Abbey got to see 3 grandparents, 2 aunts, 1 uncle and 3 cousins! So fun =). Unfortunately, by the evening my kids were DONE (but to be fair, I'd pushed them pretty far that day...) so we didn't get any pictures.

I am so happy that my kids get to be surrounded by such a loving extended family so often! I hope they grow up knowing what a blessing that is.

As promised...

2011-07-24T19:35:00.000-07:00

Growing like weeds over here...

Cliff Notes

2011-07-21T20:56:00.000-07:00

So I haven't really blogged in over two weeks. We've been super busy. And then super sick. And we're not quite over it, so I must get to bed soon. But I felt like hopping on here and catching up a bit first. The last two weeks have included...

- Fun with old friends.

- A houseguest (the good kind, that cook meals for your family and help with your kids)

- My helpful husband being away for a much deserved night of Baseball and respite when the illness first began. I'd like to think I appreciate David on a daily basis, but I really, really realize how much I appreciate him when he's gone and I'm up until after 2am settling one child only to get up with the other at 6am.

- Pink eye, for (eventually) all four of us. That sucked. A friend and fellow twin momma sent me a text asking me if I knew where we had gotten in from, to which I replied "Satan".

- Learning the hard way that I am allergic to Sulfa meds.

- Attempting to work from home. Since my job has me interacting with patients who either just had, or are about to have, their chest cracked open, my doctor nixed the idea of me heading to the office while I had pink eye. To which I must say HATS OFF to those of you who work from home with toddlers. I don't know HOW you do it. It was impossible to work while they were awake, which means I spent every sweet moment of nap time working away.

- All four of us coming down with nasty colds. We're still not totally over it (and we're on day 8), with stuffy noses and two out of the four of us still hacking...but I no longer see The Grim Reaper pacing up and down the hallway. So, that's progress.

- Watching older kids, that I've known since birth, play with my babies.

- A shameful amount of Baby Signing Time. Seriously. There were days Luke and Abbey watched this more times than I can count. When your toddlers are sick and fussy, and you are sick and fussy, it's all about survival.

- Binkies, all day long. Again, survival.

- Tantrums. And while the majority of them were thrown by the toddlers, a decent percentage were from the adults in this home.

- Take out Chinese food.

- Giving thanks to God for the foresight to buy a brand spankin' new washer and dryer set when we found out we were expecting twins. On that same note, a word of advice to first time moms of infants out there: save your burp rags, they will become snot rags later. You're welcome.

- Being so sleep deprived, sick and stressed that I actually called hospital security and bawled over the phone claiming my car had been stolen or towed...only to have them send out a guard who drove me around and found my car in the exact same spot I had been looking, just one floor up. Embarrassing? Yup.

- Having a deep cleaned house. When an illness passes through our home, I operate under the (futile) idea that I can combat the illness and make it go away quicker by sanitizing EVERY SINGLE nook and cranny of our home on a daily -sometimes twice daily- basis.

Alrighty. That about covers it. If you come back tomorrow, I'll post some pictures of the cutest little almost-16-month-olds you've ever seen!

You wanna know...

2011-07-12T10:10:00.000-07:00

...what looks more ridiculous than a 30 year old woman with pink eye?

A 30 year old woman who has an allergic reaction to her pink eye medication.

I look like I got in a fight.

And lost.

Happy Independence Day!

2011-07-04T15:27:00.000-07:00

From our family to yours.

(thanks Grammie for the adorable outfits!)

Pictures

2011-06-29T21:04:00.000-07:00

Who says towels are just for after baths?

It must be genetic...

Cheesin'...

Ah, there's a real one...

Wrestling together is so much fun...

...until it's not...

My new love

2011-06-28T20:34:00.000-07:00

I've never really been one for purses.

I don't think I've ever spent more than $30 on one. It's just not my thing. In fact, I've rotated between the same two purses for years now. I appreciate a cute purse, sure, but I could never bring myself to spend three digits on one, or even, say $62.

It's not that I'm so great with money, because I'm not. But my trouble comes in the form of piling far too many $15 or $20 items into my cart at Target or Old Navy or even Costco, thus creating a very high number at the check out register.

But recently I allowed myself to splurge and spend more money than I was comfortable with on...

a diaper bag.

Yes, a diaper bag.

Seem like a lot of money to spend on such a thing? Well, before you think such things, hear me out. First, look at how cool it is...

I know.

I love it too.

And it's incredibly practical. Really.

My favorite part about it is it's a backpack. I had been wanting a backpack style diaper bag since I found out we were expecting twins, but I had never been willing to fork out the money before now. It was a combination of trying to go places with two toddling toddlers, each needing to hold my hand while the over-one-shoulder style diaper bag we've had hits one of the kids in the face while I'm constantly trying to keep it from sliding off my shoulder, and finding a smoking deal on ebay. This bag retails for $120, and I got it for $62 with free shipping. At that price I know it shouldn't be a problem to get our money back reselling it when we're done with it.

I've had it for over 2 weeks now, and I freaking love it. It makes my life so much easier! Birds sing louder, the grass is greener, I've lost 10 pounds... Ok, none of those things, but seriously, I wish I would have dove in and purchased one sooner! It makes being out and about with the twins so much easier.

So, I guess I'm officially a 30 year old mother, with a minivan and a mortgage, who spends more money on a diaper bag than she does on anything else she wears. And I'm okay with it. =)

Um, no.

2011-06-27T05:41:00.000-07:00

No. We are not doing this.

My children got up at 5:09am on Saturday. In turn, they went to bed before 6pm on Saturday evening.

They woke up at 5:20am yesterday, which was to be expected after such an early bedtime.

But last night, bedtime was 7:00pm, so there is no reason, I repeat - NO REASON - for us to be starting our day today at 5:24am.

Not. happening.

They've been diapered, binkied, lovied and rocked. And they are back in their cribs protesting.

I am in the living room, coffee percolating in the kitchen, in protest as well. We are not going back to before-6am-wake-ups here. Nope. Not gonna do it.

Sunny Saturday

2011-06-25T17:46:00.000-07:00

We had such a fun day today.

Well, it started wayyy too early (5:09am thankyouverymuch) which was not so fun. Twice this week both babies slept past 7:00am (7:45 on Wednesday and 7:15 on Friday), so Dave and I got greedy and stayed up far past our bedtime last night desperately hoping the past-seven trend would continue.

We were all four a little fussy by morning nap time.

The twins went down shortly after 9, and slept until 11am. That is longer than average. We played and then had lunch, and then were stuck with the reality that there was no way they were going back down at 2pm as they normally would. What's a family to do?

Pack up and head to a new park with a splashpad.

Luke and Abbey were apprehensive at first, wanting to stay very close to us...

(that is not a flattering picture of me by any means...showcasing my giant thigh, hair a mess, pale legs on display, child pulling down my shirt...but it's such an accurate depiction of my life right now that I forced myself to include it in the name of memories)

But very soon they were comfortable exploring a bit...

At times even wandering off to make new friends...

Once in awhile, they'd stop by to say "hi" to Mom and Dad...

But for the most part, they ran around and enjoyed the freedom...

If things got boring, they took a different perspective...

We played and played well passed 2pm, and then made a decision that could very well come back to bite us hard tomorrow morning. We decided to just ditch the afternoon nap all together and keep on playing. We left the water area and let Luke and Abbey lead us on a walk where ever they wanted to go. We stopped and picked at the grass, said hi to dogs being walked, felt several different types of leaves, and explored every inch of the park.

Dave and I had a great time watching our babies be little people. I am quite sure Luke's Love Language is freedom (and Macaroni and Cheese). That boy is never happier than when he's given an open road and the chance to lead where ever his heart desires. He just GOES. And he's always so heartbroken when it's time to turn around, even when it means he can still lead and there is still a lot of free walking to be had, he likes that less because it's where we just came from and he's already conquered that area.

Abigail on the other hand is a doddler. She doddles along, happily talking to herself, or sometimes giggling to only she and God knows what. She'll stop mid step to sit down to play with a rock. At one point we were walking across a bridge, and she just decided crawling would be more fun. She got down on all fours, crawled along the wood, and laughed to herself the entire time.

Around 3:30pm we were pretty much done at the park, but there was no turning back from our ditch-the-afternoon-nap plan, and neither of us loved the idea of heading back to the house to contend with two overtired toddlers.

So, again, what's a family to do?

Go get ice cream.

It was Abbey and Luke's first time trying ice cream, and they LOVED it, which is good because I'm pretty sure it's my Love Language so we usually have some in the freezer.

After we killed enough time there, we headed home. Played for a bit, ate an early dinner, had an early bath, and our kids were asleep in our arms before they even finished their bedtime milk. We laid them in their cribs at 5:48pm.

Please join us in praying that we've passed the "sleep begets sleep" phase in infancy and Luke and Abbey will sleep long and hard until after the clock says at least 6:00am tomorrow.

Busy, busy...

2011-06-21T20:58:00.000-07:00

We've been keeping busy over here lately. My sister Emily was here for the weekend, and the twins loved the extra attention =)

Abbey even fell asleep on Auntie Em while "settling in" right before nap time...

A new term begins this week, which means David's hours/days change with the new classes he's teaching, and in turn my hours/days change as well. (we work opposite shifts so one of us is home with our babies). Adjusting to a new schedule always takes me a little bit, and blogging is usually the first thing to take a backseat.

But, I didn't want too much time to pass without posting some pictures of my Adorables.

Whoever says they only make cute clothes for girls clearly hasn't been having as much fun as I have dressing up my boy lately...

Of course, dressing up my baby girl is pretty fun as well...

Yup, having one of each sure is a blessing.

Happy Tuesday all!

Happy Birthday...

2011-06-15T06:04:00.000-07:00

...to the person I have the most fun with...

You are an amazing father, have been since day one...

My favorite friend to adventure with...

...to listen to music with...

...or even just lay around with...

You've got more style than anyone I know...

A loving son...

...loyal brother...

A phenomenal uncle...

A friend to all...

I'm quite sure just being in your presence makes me cooler...

Whether it be sunny times...

... or rainy...

...it's much better when I'm with you.

Thank you for sharing your life with me.

Happy Birthday Davey.

2011-06-14T11:50:00.000-07:00

Home from the doctor. No UTI. Praise Jesus.

Thanks so much for all your advice and prayers yesterday! I love blogging for many reasons, and that is one of them. Yesterday after I hung up with the nurse I said aloud "how am I supposed to do this?" and right away I thought of you all. Some other momma out there in Blogland had to have been in a similar situation before! Such a great community.

Happy UTI-Free Tuesday all.

Any helpful tips?

2011-06-13T12:20:00.000-07:00

Alright ya'll, I need some help.

Abigail has had a 102 fever since Saturday afternoon, but for the most part has been acting like her happy self. She slept terrible Saturday night, but slept okay last night. She's a little clingy today, but otherwise just fine. She has no other symptoms (no runny nose, no rash, not puking, etc), but I called the ped this morning to just check in, and she is worried about a possible UTI.

So, now I have to try and catch a clean urine sample.

How on earth do I do this with a 14 month old girl?

If I can't catch one today, they will cath her at our appointment tomorrow morning. I will pretty much do anything to avoid having to hold my baby girl down while they do that, so I'm open to any suggestions you all can offer me.

Have any of you been successful at doing this?

Thanks.

***UPDATE***

WE HAVE PEE IN A CUP!! CAN I GET A HALLELUJAH??!?!

It was a joint effort. Thank God my sister Emily is here visiting and my sister Natalie happened to stop by to say hello! We gave Ab's a fun waterbottle to drink out of to encourage lots of hydration, then took her diaper off and let her walk around. She was incredibly nervous being nude and diaper-less at first (let's hope this desire to be modest sticks around into the teen years), but she relaxed a bit, and finally let a stream go. We probably would have caught more but I let out a loud exclamation of joy when she started streaming and it scared her. Oops. And then we realized the container we caught it in had a hole in it. I'm not gonna lie, I swore a bit. Anyways, after a successful transfer to a better container, we've got about a teaspoon of Abbey urine in the fridge. I called the doctor and confirmed that should be plenty. I don't think I've ever been so happy to have pee all over my hardwoods. I am so relieved!!!

14 Months = Awesome!

2011-06-12T20:42:00.000-07:00

Seriously.

I LOVE this age! I can not believe how FUN Luke and Abbey are right now. They crack us up constantly as we watch their little personalities become not so little.

Such a happy boy!

They are amazing us every day with what they comprehend and are able to do! Thanks to Heather's sweet gift of Baby Sign videos, they are both signing "diaper" (toilet), "please", "thank you", in addition to what they already knew (more, eat, all done). I am super excited about them learning please and thank you. While I'm aware it's completely normal to demand, bark, and grunt at this age to communicate their desires, it makes it feel slightly less like we live with two little Dictators when they are at least demanding with manners =).

They are both saying more and more words lately, "ball" and "duck" are the latest. We hear "I wan dat" (translation: I want that) accompanied by a finger point at least 428 times a day.

Their dexterity is stunning to us! They can twist caps off things and push the tiniest of buttons! We find ourselves often learning our house wasn't as babyproof as we thought!

And teeth? Why I honestly don't even have a current count. They've both got a mouth full of them, and Abbey has her two lower molars in the back, with her upper ones getting ready to bust through.

They are walking masters on the verge of running. Abbey gets faster every day and can often be found going up and down the hallway, giggling to herself as she picks up speed.

We're seeing some fits and tantrums, which is to be expected at this age. So far nothing too brutal and Dave and I are doing our best to figure out what works for each baby...(side note, if this book tells me that discipline should be fun! one more time I'm gonna turn it into confetti).

They love to be where ever I am. This is pretty much the scene around me as I try and doing any cooking or baking...

Where ever I go, they love to set up shop and play near my feet. It can get a little irritating to have them underfoot constantly, but I try and remember that before I know it, they won't want to hang out with their Momma nearly as much, and I will miss it.

(Abbey)

(Luke)

We're pretty much down to nights and naps for binkies inside the house, and just new places when we are out and about. But we haven't drawn any real hard lines with it. We ask them to put their binks in the basket (in a drawer) when they wake up, and they never seemed bothered to do so. Funny story though, we kept noticing the basket had fewer and fewer binks in it and wondered where on earth they could be, seeing as how they never walk around with them anymore (so they don't have the opportunity to stash them around the house like they used to). On a hunch I pulled Abbey's crib away from the wall and found TEN binkies back there! Silly girl! We knew she had been tossing them somewhere because if we ever have to go re-settle her in for nap or bedtime she is always binkie-less, and when you say "Sis, where'd your binkie go?" she always goes "Huh?" and then pretends to look around while saying "hmmmm...". Such a stinker =).

They are loving trying new foods and are usually willing to try anything at least once. Luke still devours spaghetti and mac&cheese like he's never had a meal before =). And Abbey still prefers pineapple to anything.

They are both becoming expert climbers, and LOVE to get up and down from the couch 1,472 times a day. One of their favorite things is when I get one of the crib mattresses out and lay it on the floor for them to climb and jump all over. Oh to be entertained so easily!

They've been playing together more and more (as opposed parallel playing) and they crack us up all the time with the things they come up with. The other day they thought it was the funnest thing in the world to drag their spoons from side to side across the gate, like all prisoners do on their cell door =)

That video shows Luke's hilarious new trick - nodding emphatically when we ask him if he's being a good boy.

Most days we are still a two-nap household, and it seems to be working fine for all of us. We occasionally have our one-nap days, but they aren't as often as I thought they'd be.

This is a moment captured on film that we see a lot of lately...poor Luke fending off kisses from his adoring little sister. Luckily, as is evident in his grin, he does it with love =).

Saturday we went to my work BBQ and the twins loved running around and playing with the "bigger" kids. It's so crazy to realize we're crossing over into a phase where Luke and Abbey are content -and want- to wander away from us and play with other kids. Sure, when we first arrived they stayed in our laps to acclimate a bit (and Abbey longer than Luke), but then they were off, playing and exploring, and only coming back to "check in" with us so often. They sure are growing up fast...

Twin Momma Must Haves

2011-06-11T20:33:00.000-07:00

Megan is expecting TWINS this fall (Yea! and Hooray!) and asked what baby products were must haves with multiples.

Well, do I have a list for you!! =)

IF you plan on breastfeeding, here are the essentials:

-EZ 2 Nurse twin nursing pillow. Or some variation there of. I did not get mine until after my twins were born because I (naively) thought I would just nurse my twins one on one every single time to allow for more bonding. Ha. If you are able, it is 10,327 times more efficient to tandem nurse. It takes some practice, but it's such a time saver, and trust me there is still plenty of bonding going on.

-Nursing Tanks. I spent wayyy too much money a Bravado tank (because Bravao made my favorite nursing bras) only to find I did not love it nearly as much as I loved these tanks. They are the best in my opinion. They are not expensive, and mine held up just fine even though I rotated through about five of them (I lived in them!) and so that meant being washed a lot.

-Boppies. Two of them. These were great for when one person needed to feed both twins a bottle at the same time (even if you plan to breastfeed, it's good to have a plan for when someone else may need to give them a bottle, like to take one overnight feeding so you can sleep a little bit, or if you have to go back to work or something). Plus I used these when my twins were tiny as part of my set up to nurse them when I was by myself (I would put them each on a boppy on either side of me on the couch, get my nursing pillow situated, and then pull a baby up on my pillow one at a time)

Misc gear:

- Double Snap and Go stroller. I don't mean to sound dramatic here, but it will SAVE YOUR LIFE. Many times I had to take my infant twins somewhere by myself, and this stroller made it so much easier to do it. Just pop the babies -still in their carseats- directly in this thing and off you go! No unbuckling and re buckling and moving from one seat to another. Life saver. It's light enough that it was easy for me to lift in and our of our trunk even post c-section. Our twins didn't move into convertible carseats until right before their first birthday, and part of the reason for that was this stroller. It just made things so convenient. I can't say enough good things about it. I loved it so much that if I weren't already taken I'd marry it.

- Wipe Warmer Do you like a cold, wet anything on your person at 2am? Me neither. And neither does a baby. Middle of the night changes are rough enough, and we were all about doing whatever we could to make it as smooth as possible and disturb the babies as little as possible.

- Swaddlers And this movie right along with it. Our babies loved being tightly swaddled. They craved it. And Dr. Carp is a freakin' genius. His tips in that movie worked wonders on our colicky daughter. If he ever needs a kidney, he can have one of mine.

- A sling or wrap that can fit both babies at one time. Dave and I spent a lot of time pacing the halls carrying both babies in a sling to soothe them.

The only other "tip" I can think of is you really don't need two of everything. Unless you have an abundance of space and money (which we didn't), then save and only buy one swing, one jumparoo, one exersaucer, etc. Especially until you know what your babies will like! For example, neither one of my babies ever really liked the swing, so I am really glad I never spent money on two. And you end up with so much gear (even with just one of each!) that we had plenty of "stations" to rotate through=).

Ok twin momma's - time to link up! Head over to Megan's page and tell her everything I forgot about.

Hiking

2011-06-07T20:06:00.001-07:00

On Saturday we took advantage of the GORGEOUS weather we had here and met up with some family to hike Multnomah Falls. It was stunningly beautiful, and we had a great time.

First, we geared up for some sun...

Family pic at the top!

Luke and Dave peering over the top of the falls...

David wore Luke in the Kelty Backpack and I wore Abbey in the Ergo on the way up, and then we switched babies on the way down. Luke fell asleep which was just precious because this boy is busy most days and I sure loved the cuddle time =)...

When we got home Dave and his dad settled in to watch the Giants game for a bit. I can't remember what exactly happened, but at one point I noticed an expression on Bruce or David's face (I honestly can't remember which one) that looked just like Luke's angry face. So, naturally, I made them all pose for a generational shot of the Hoffman Scowl...

HA!

Then & Now

2011-06-02T21:32:00.000-07:00

April, 2010

May, 2011

We've come a long way, baby

2011-06-01T19:20:00.000-07:00

I've told you before that I've struggled with anxiety since the twins were born.

Well, actually, if I took the time to really reflect on it, I probably have my whole life, but it's definitely heightened now.

I saw a counselor for awhile over the winter about it, and one of her famous lines to me was "you can't believe everything you think."

Amen to that.

A good portion of my daily anxiety has decreased, thanks to prayer and working on mindfulness. I no longer think every sneeze is the bird flu. I no longer suffer from insomnia.

But, there is one area I still find myself struggling with...the awesome burden of parenthood.

I am - at all times- acutely aware of the fact that I am responsible for molding people. That my actions and words and body language will help (or harm) how my children will view the world. How they view themselves.

Parenting is a HUGE responsibility.

And while I personally believe any mother worth her salt takes the job seriously, I tend to lean towards possibly taking it too seriously.

You see, I can't seem to stop allowing my mind to play it's continual, accusing track of "is this the moment my children will refer to 17 years from now when they are sitting on Oprah's replacement's couch and saying 'well, I can pretty much trace my life of violence and crime back to this time when I was 14 months old, and my mom didn't drop everything -even though she was trying to make us dinner after spending all afternoon playing with us- to hold me the minute I fussed. I can pinpoint it to then...that's when I lost my ability to trust and started fending for myself...'"

Seriously.

I know.

But it's a nagging question that haunts me constantly. And if I'm honest, it can be crippling. It's WAY too much pressure.

I've read too much. I've read way too many books and articles on parenting and child psychology that I am literally too aware of how much damage I can do, and how easily it can (supposedly) be done.

Some days, it's not so bad. We hit our stride right out of the gate, and the day goes smoothly on all counts. Those days I tend to let myself think I've got a handle on this mothering thing.

But then other days...not so much. And those are the days I tend to spend entirely too much time analyzing why our day (or our dinner, or bathtime, or naptime, or whatever) went the way it did.

I was stressing (and over thinking) something the other night and lamenting to David how surprised I am at the amount of times in a day when I second guess my instincts while mothering. In fact, sometimes I can't hone into my instincts at all. (You know, the instincts I clung to during infertility that I swore were dead on and would make me the best mother ever) This led to a discussion as to why I thought that might be, to which I finally answered "I guess...I often don't let myself believe...I don't trust...that we are all going to be ok."

David looked thoughtful for a moment, and then posed "define 'ok'."

Now it was my turn to be thoughtful. I sat in silence for a bit, and finally came up with "to where we all get to live a long life together, where you and I get to see Luke and Abbey grow well into adulthood. That our marriage stands the test of time. That our children's marriages stand the test of time. That in the end we've managed to turn out two functioning members of society, who know how to be good spouses and good parents themselves. That we show our children Jesus, and that they chose to live for Him. That we always have "enough" money. That we are all spared chronic - or God forbid, terminal- illness for the majority of our lives... " and on and on I went.

And even as I was listing it all, I knew. I have no guarantees for any of that.

I am realizing that what it boils down to is a lack of faith. Faith that my Savior has a perfect plan. Faith that even though we will have trouble (individually and corporately), God will overcome, and use it for good. Faith that God knew what He was doing when He blessed me with this role. Faith that He loves my children more than I ever could. Faith that He really will lead and guide me if I allow Him to. Faith that He is ultimately in charge and any control I feel I have is nothing but an illusion.

It's not all on my shoulders.

This morning I had my quiet time while the twins napped, and I put on a CD of worship music my sister made for me when we first came home from the hospital. It's filled with soft praise songs, meant to serve as an aide to help me relax during a time of extreme stress. I listened to it a lot in those early days.

I left it on in the background as Abbey and Luke got up, and watched as they danced in their highchairs while they happily ate their snack.

And in that moment, I was able to reflect on how far we've come. A little over a year ago, while that CD played in the background of our days, chaos and tenseness ruled our home. Tears (mine more than the babies) were aplenty. I was beyond overwhelmed and unable to imagine it would ever get better.

And yet, now, just over a year later - a year that has not been without illness, stress, arguments, disappointments, misunderstanding, financial worries, or frustration - we are in a much better place than I could have ever pictured.

We've come along way in a year. And while I don't know if I'll ever claim to have this mothering thing down...we're doing ok so far.

Ketchup

2011-05-29T20:37:00.000-07:00

A really busy week, coupled with our laptop dying on us, makes for no blogging. We're down to the ol' desktop in the spare room...the non-baby proofed room, which means it can only be accessed during naps and after bedtime. Which is when I tend to be the least thoughtful (also known as most fried=) )

I'll admit, it was a teensy bit liberating not to have easy access to the Internet all week. It can be addicting, and it's an area I am constantly needing to discipline myself in (which is why I am not on facebook, from what I hear, that's WAY too addicting). But, I missed it enough that I had to drag myself into the spare room tonight and catch up a bit.

We took the babies to an aquatic center this week for their first official time in a big pool, which they thought was pretty cool...

We played PLENTY of our favorite new game, which is see-what-can-fit-through-the-cat-door...

Turns out? Lots of things can! David and I have had to train ourselves to be very careful when we go through that door to the utility room, since there is almost always a plethora of toys on the other side.

We've also practiced our Downward Dog:

And ridden our toys up and down the hallway...

And pet our kitty Lucy (upper right corner)...

My sister Emily was in town for a brief visit this weekend, and the kids soaked up some good Auntie Em time...

This morning I needed to take Em to meet her ride right during the middle of Church, so my plan was to just keep the kids home so we could take her. But then David offered to take one with him and just wear the sling while he ran the sound during the service. He ended up taking Luke with him, and it was SO WEIRD to be at home without my baby boy! I know I leave for 5 hours stints 3 afternoons a week to work, but to be home with one baby and not the other was strange! But, one-on-one time with the twins is something we want to be purposeful about as they grow up, so I suppose no time like the present to get started.

And as much as I missed my sweet boy this morning, it was good to have time with just my baby girl...

...who is growing up SO fast by the way...

Pictures

2011-05-22T19:52:00.000-07:00

We had some warm, sunny days here last week and filled up the pool for the first (and second) time!

The twins were actually not all that interested in it, which really surprised me, being that they love bath time. So they spent the majority of their time throwing things in and then expecting us to fetch them out. Which was just as awesome for Dave and I as it sounds.

But they also chilled poolside in style...

GrandDad and Grannie Annie bought this ADORABLE umbrella table and matching chairs for their birthday, and they thought they were seriously hot stuff sitting there!

(I know it's hard, but try not to covet the beautiful scenery of trash and recycle bins. It's a sin)

Our backyard's grass is a little too spotty for a pool just yet, and our front yard is too close to the street for my comfort, so we set this up in our driveway around the back of our house.

Indoors we've been having some fun too...

Our happy boy. He loves riding on toys, and then sitting on them while continuing to play with things below him. I think he likes to feel superior =).

And this is a face we can't get enough of:

Luke comin' at me for a hug and a kiss. He assumes the position miles away, and holds it the entire time he's coming towards you. Hilarious, and downright adorable. I love that boy.

And this cracked us up as well...

I was in the nursery closet putting away toys after rotating out some new ones, and Abigail saw the Kelty Backpack and wanted to get in. I explained to her that we couldn't go for a walk at that time because Momma was in the middle of a project, but that there was plenty of fun things to do inside the house. She then smiled respectfully, nodded in understanding and moved on to something else.

Just kidding, because she is one.

She threw herself down on the floor in a tantrum and pretty much let me know her world was ending at that very moment.

I told her that I was sorry, but we could not go for a walk right then. She got up and just kept reaching and grunting towards the Kelty. I finally asked "do you just want to sit inside of it?" and she got all happy and started clapping. So, I put her in, buckled the straps, and there she happily sat for nearly a half hour! Just chillin' on the floor.

Whatever works.

And lastly, the babies and I stayed home from Church today due to some runny noses, and this was the sight when Daddy came home...

My cup runneth over.

Momma & Me

2011-05-20T20:28:00.000-07:00

And they're off!

2011-05-17T20:15:00.000-07:00

Abbey started toddling awhile ago, and was slowing walking more and more each day. Luke was really not showing much interest. He would walk along just fine if you held his hand, but he had only taken one or two steps all on his own.

Until Mother's Day, that is.

That afternoon, I was sitting on the living room floor playing with the babies and watched as Luke pulled himself to a stand and took three or four steps from the chair to their play house. Then, he let go of the house and took four steps towards the kitchen. Then, he took off and walked the entire length of the hallway. And he's been walking ever since! It was one of the craziest things I've seen and if I hadn't watched it with my own eyes I probably wouldn't have believed it!

One really fun thing about that was seeing how happy Abbey was for her brother. She followed him all around clapping and laughing - it was SO CUTE!!

Here's a glimpse at our world lately:

A whole lot of nothin'

2011-05-13T22:23:00.000-07:00

I don't really have a whole lot to say (shocking I know), or at least nothing of real value...but tonight is my designated blogging night, so I figured why not just spew a bunch of random information floating around in my head?

I know, you are excited.

Did you hear that Meredith Vieira is leaving The Today Show? I am so sad I could cry over it. Second only to Tina Fey, she is my favorite woman on television. I remember when I was pregnant, I would trudge downstairs to eat breakfast, and then have to rest for a bit and watch TV before making the hike (while carrying a litter) up the stairs to finish getting ready for work. It would always be about 7:00am, and I would always watch The Today Show. And then towards the end of my pregnancy I wasn't working and had weird sleeping patterns, so I almost always missed it. Then after the babies came, I pretty much spent a good three months sitting on the couch breastfeeding all day (and night) long, and most mornings I would watch the entire 3 hours of the show. During those days it would always strike me as odd when I talked with someone who hadn't heard of the latest news story (or even the not-so-latest, end of the hour news stories), and I constantly had to remind myself not everyone was glued to their couch with a giant EZ 2 Nurse on their laps (and two babies on that pillow) rendering them unable to move for hours on end.

Not that I am complaining, I loved breastfeeding.

But I digress. (Which, dear readers, you should prepare yourself for a lot of if this post keeps going nowhere likes it is headed.)

Anyways, I am so sad she is leaving. But props to her for wanting to spend more time with her family, and a big hooray to Ann Curry for movin' on up.

Speaking of women on television, I have recently been introduced to Jillian Michaels. I know. I am one of the ten people left on the planet who doesn't watch The Biggest Loser. Never even seen an episode. But she's come into my life nevertheless, after a conversation with a friend in which I was relenting the fact that my remaining baby weight flat out refuses to just fall off on it's own. So, she recently loaned me her "Banish Fat, Boost Metabolism" work out video. Gotta say, not loving Jillian Michaels. She is mean. But, I am red faced and sweating when finished, so hopefully it's getting something done (like banishing fat and boosting metabolism) besides feeling like I need to yell at the TV while she taunts me.

Let's see...what else?

I think the twins may be trying to tell us they are ready to reduce to just one nap. I am pretending not to notice. Because if I were noticing, I would have to acknowledge that Abbey has maybe been ready for a few weeks now, but we've been putting her down at the same time as Luke (around 9am and around 2pm), and she's just been playing and talking and turning on her soother and whining for awhile before eventually giving into sleep. It's been working. Luke's been snoozing right through it all. Baby boy loves his sleep. But then yesterday morning her playing reached a level where it kept her brother up, and he managed to catch a second wind, and they both were still up 45 minutes after I had laid first laid them down. Abbey was wide awake and stimulated. Luke was over tired and fussy. Bless her heart. Bless his. Bless mine.

So, we may be making the transition to being a one nap household soon.

Aren't you all glad I am not on Facebook or Twitter? Can you even imagine the riveting status updates and tweets I would be producing tonight?

Tomorrow we (and by "we" I of course mean David) are finally painting our master bedroom. We bought the paint back in October when we painted our living room and kitchen, but then we all got sick and the holidays happened and then...well, we just didn't feel like doing it. I HATE when my house is in disarray, and the idea of pulling all our pictures and art off the walls and moving our dressers and nightstands into the spare room stressed me out. But tomorrow "we" are biting the bullet and getting it done.

Our babies have BOTH slept until 6:30am every morning this week. I know. I can hardly believe it either. 6:30 is just so...civil. It's early, but it's no 5:15am, or 4:45am. Now I better wrap up this post so I can go knock on some wood, because you know I'm afraid I've jinxed it now.

Happy Friday all.

UnPolished

2011-05-11T20:28:00.000-07:00

There is something to be said for a beautifully posed family photo. This one is proudly displayed on our entertainment center:

I love it. I love seeing our little family in our Christmas best, posed for a picture. Sure, I could (and have) critiqued how my hair is falling over my eye. How Luke isn't smiling. How you can see the Adidas logo on David's sock. How the "plan" was for me to hold Lucas and David to hold Abigail, so our clothing colors would compliment each other better, but our daughter wanted only to be in Momma's arms that day, so we went with what worked.
Whatever. The bottom line is it's a professional, polished photo of our family. And it captures a time in our life, when our babies were 9 months old.

And looking at it makes me smile.

And then this weekend, in an attempt at family photo, my mother in law captured this moment:

And it makes me smile more.