We went up to camp on Saturday for a lunch and the boys played in the volleyball court...
The shirt is ruined *sad face* but I'm pretty sure it was worth it!
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Wordless Wednesday: Being a Boy
We went up to camp on Saturday for a lunch and the boys played in the volleyball court...
The shirt is ruined *sad face* but I'm pretty sure it was worth it!
Monday, April 23, 2012
A Little Hope
One of my favorite outfits!
For some random reason I have a lot of pictures of Joy and not of Hope. Here's to remedying that!
And I guess we make big babies... as of Friday, 5 weeks old, these girls weighed in at 8 pounds 3 ounces and 8 pounds 1 ounce and 20 inches long. They're growing!
Friday, April 20, 2012
A Birth Announcement!
When Noah was born TinyPrints sponsored my birth announcements. I loved them and have continued to work with them since. So for really high quality announcements I had to go back.
I loved this design for the girls, but the colors clashed just too much with the pink in their hats. As Noah would say, "What to do?" Well, they have fabulous designers and I just asked if they could tweak the background colors on the card to either match or complement the photos. Problem solved!
What do you think?
TinyPrints was a partial sponsor of this post. The rest of the announcements I purchased with credits from previous work I've done with them. All opinions are my own, obviously!
I loved this design for the girls, but the colors clashed just too much with the pink in their hats. As Noah would say, "What to do?" Well, they have fabulous designers and I just asked if they could tweak the background colors on the card to either match or complement the photos. Problem solved!
What do you think?
TinyPrints was a partial sponsor of this post. The rest of the announcements I purchased with credits from previous work I've done with them. All opinions are my own, obviously!
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Nursery: Decorated!
So at Christmas I won a gift certificate to a shop called WeeDecor that does fabric wall stickers. After I ordered them I discovered that you had to wait 30 days after painting to put them up... so between not painting until the middle of February and the girls making their arrival just shy of a month later I have just now finished...
Here are the letters I did (twice) back in February...
Here's the main design, a tree with pink birdies in it! And the Winnie the Pooh cross stitch my college roommate made me a long time ago...
And the whole design! There are also a pair of birdies over the doorway - the idea of my sister-in-law, and two more pink dragonflies on the wall by the light switch.
The other half of the room is still covered by my desk/computer/filing cabinet and a very large collection of diaper boxes. We'll have to move things around again in a few months when they both need their own bed, but for now they share!
I really love how it looks, but I'm not sure how long the decals will last... they don't seem to stick real well, especially on the texture. Story of my life I guess, nothing goes well on textured walls except straight paint!
Here are the letters I did (twice) back in February...
These are the extras on the wall under the window...
Here's the main design, a tree with pink birdies in it! And the Winnie the Pooh cross stitch my college roommate made me a long time ago...
And the whole design! There are also a pair of birdies over the doorway - the idea of my sister-in-law, and two more pink dragonflies on the wall by the light switch.
The other half of the room is still covered by my desk/computer/filing cabinet and a very large collection of diaper boxes. We'll have to move things around again in a few months when they both need their own bed, but for now they share!
I really love how it looks, but I'm not sure how long the decals will last... they don't seem to stick real well, especially on the texture. Story of my life I guess, nothing goes well on textured walls except straight paint!
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Wordless Wednesday: A Brother's Love
The littler brother wants to hold the babies too. And kiss them all the time! He was also "getting" the babies nose and having her get his!
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
The Twins Arrival
Notice: This post is probably not intended for men or the faint of heart!
Here's the story, as best I can remember!
On Wednesday I took the boys to Costco and then to the park to meet my friend Lindsay for lunch. It was supposed to rain later, but while we were there it actually started snowing on us. Crazy times!
Later that afternoon I started to feel a bit crampy and my regular practice Braxton-Hicks contractions started to feel a bit painful, but nothing too out of the ordinary. I washed one more load of laundry and decided that perhaps I should pack some bags for the boys before I went to bed rather than wait until later. At the very worst I could always unpack them in the morning, although they do have plenty of clothes!
I went to bed at 12:30 and at 1:30 woke up to a rather painful contraction. On getting up to use the bathroom I discovered that my water had broken. And then the contractions started in seriously. I woke Brian up and told him to call my mom and attempted to get the last few things together that I wanted. He got all the things out to the car and the boys in as well while I painfully and slowly got ready between contractions.
By the time we were on the road it was maybe 2:15 and my contractions were very painful and only 2 or 3 minutes apart. I called my friend Amie, who was my doula, and asked her to call my OB since I had forgotten to get his number.
My mom met us at the ER entrance and took the boys back home with her while they quickly bypassed admitting and took me straight up to the maternity ward. By the time they managed to get a monitor on the babies (although never at the same time for more than a minute) and check me I was already at 9cm.
Thankfully they listened when I told them about my IV situation and they put it in my arm with the first try and very little pain. I met the on call doctor and we went to the OR to get ready. My OB and Amie showed up at about the same time and I know there were lots of people around, but I don't remember much about that as I was pretty focused on just getting through the contractions by then.
I'm sure we weren't in the OR very long before I started to feel like I was going to split. I wimped out and was asking for pain meds, but because I was Strep B positive they were just trying to get the antibiotics in me as quickly as possible (pointless actually). Then Hope was coming with only one or two pushes and she was out. 3:08am - probably not even 45 minutes from the time we got to the hospital.
They took her away and the doctor was telling me to push and get Joy down even without the contractions. I'm not sure if it was before or at this point, but sometime there was an ultrasound to make sure that they were head down. My stomach was all lopsided and it's kind of hard to push when suddenly you don't have the pressure to push back with one baby gone! I could hardly feel it.
One or two more pushes and then Joy was out too. They took her away and then the doctor for some reason was in a big hurry to get the placenta out. He was massaging my stomach and pulling on the cords and that was NOT a pleasant experience. When it finally came out (at least as big as one of the babies) he looked at it and said it looked like it was one placenta. Which supposedly means they are identical, but we're just not sure. They definitely have different personalities, and we can tell them apart, although mainly by the birthmarks that will fade. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.
Everything was going okay and the girls were fine so they gave them both to me and wheeled me back to the delivery room. Then things got interesting...
My OB had said he would give me pitocin after the delivery because he was concerned that my uterus wouldn't contract fast enough since this was a 3rd pregnancy and also with twins.
I started to have the after contractions and they kept getting more and more painful to the point where I felt like I was in labor again. I knew they were some what painful normally, but this was unbearable and I remember thinking "there's no way I can do this for a day or two" and I was asking for pain medication again. They had finally given me some after the birth. Hope had low blood sugar so they wanted me to nurse her or they were going to put a tube in her stomach. I really wanted to, but I was in so much pain I finally just said, okay, go ahead. This made me really sad.
But very shortly I started to feel blood coming out under pressure, which I thought was weird. I told the nurse and she turned around and practically jumped on my stomach. Yes, it hurt like crazy. But a huge amount of blood came pouring out all at once. It was like a waterfall and Brian said he really wasn't quite sure what had happened.
I think a lot of things were going on at this point, but I was so relieved to immediately not be in pain that I wasn't paying attention. My OB had already gone home so they got the on call one back in to check on me and make sure I wasn't actually hemorrhaging (I wasn't) and then they weighed it... 1.7 liters of blood. Imagine a 2 liter pop bottle... yeah, 85% of that. Between that and labor I basically lost half my blood.
They told me that because I had come in with a really high blood level (40) that they would just watch me. I did not end up having a blood transfusion at all, but my score dropped to 20.8 if I remember correctly. By 24 hours it had come up to 21.4 and I hadn't passed out or anything so they actually said I could go home on Friday if I wanted to. I decided to stay one more night since I was feeling pretty weak - although that proved to be a frustrating experience almost not worth it.
I've been thinking on this for a few weeks now and I'm not sure I can be convinced that the pitocin didn't actually cause the whole problem. See one of the side effects of pitocin is that along with causing stronger contractions it can also cause blood clots. My blood already clots really well (as in, if you don't keep my IV flowing at least very slowly it will seal itself off). So what happened was that I got either one really big clot or enough little ones that they couldn't come out. Then since they were in the way my uterus couldn't contract down like it was supposed to. In essence it was like there was another baby in there, hence the pain. And because it couldn't contract down it was still bleeding much more than it should have been. A bad situation all the way around. Good thing the nurse knew what was happening...
So... the girls were fine and because Hope had the stomach feed she didn't want to nurse for at least 12 hours. I suppose that was a blessing in disguise because she just slept and I only had to think about one baby for awhile. (except for the fact that 3 days later she spit up a blood clot and freaked us out - it had irritated her esophagus or something)
I couldn't get out of bed on my own so I didn't get to see both of them together at all for about 2 days. And by day 2 I looked down at my legs... and they were the same color as the sheets. Yes, it was March and I'm a pale person anyway, but I really never knew you literally could be white as a sheet. That was weird. And also the reason there are no pictures of me until this past week, I looked awful!
In this time I had three awesome nurses, Anna, Kayelee, and Rachel. Anna was there for the birth and later looked at me and said "I know you" and we figured out that she was also a birth attendant for Noah's birth at the birthing center 2 years ago. It was so nice to have her there the first night knowing she was coming from that perspective as well.
Kayelee and Rachel were awesome as well. Rachel took the girls out in the hall with her the second night so I could sleep a bit since there is no more nursery in this hospital and one of them seemed to be fussing all the time!
On Friday I got a nurse that wasn't very friendly at first and was also really busy so that was hard. Then that night the new nurse was telling me that the girls had lost almost too much weight and I needed to nurse them more... except how do you force a baby to eat??? They were really sleepy and just wouldn't eat when she wanted them to. She was talking and talking and giving me worst case scenario until I just started crying. At that point Brian asked her to leave and he went out and kind of dressed her down. I don't do well when people just talk at me... plus I was going on 3 days of very little sleep plus labor and losing blood!
Then he went home to bed (this was the main reason I stayed, so I could have a nurse help me and he could actually sleep for a couple nights - since he'd been sleeping on the couch/floor for a couple months). It was a bit awkward with that nurse at first, but she turned out to be fairly nice after all.
Saturday we were getting ready to go home... and Brian accidentally got an extra meal voucher when he paid for his lunch and they said he should go ahead and use it. The food at the hospital was actually pretty decent so we decided to take our time, have dinner, and then go home. I'm not sure it was worth it though...
Our day nurse got off at 3pm for some reason so the next nurse we got didn't come in until we were getting ready to leave - about 6pm. Suddenly she says "you can't leave, you have to do the carseat test" and we're going, "why?". Because the girls were born one day before 37 weeks and one of them weighed a few grams under the limit they had to sit in their carseats for 90 minutes while hooked up to monitors to be sure they didn't stop breathing. We live 10 minutes from the hospital.
So... after sitting in a teeny tiny hot room and watching the another episode of Downton Abbey (Season 1) we finally were cleared to go home. We got home at about 9:30pm after only 2 1/2 days in the hospital!
Everyone kept telling me to expect to feel really really tired because of the blood loss. But I think it's a testament to how exhausted I'd been since Christmas that I really didn't feel any worse after coming home. And actually because I could move I felt better in some ways! Now after 4 weeks I feel like walking a lot... if only I could get a bit more sleep!
Here's the story, as best I can remember!
On Wednesday I took the boys to Costco and then to the park to meet my friend Lindsay for lunch. It was supposed to rain later, but while we were there it actually started snowing on us. Crazy times!
Later that afternoon I started to feel a bit crampy and my regular practice Braxton-Hicks contractions started to feel a bit painful, but nothing too out of the ordinary. I washed one more load of laundry and decided that perhaps I should pack some bags for the boys before I went to bed rather than wait until later. At the very worst I could always unpack them in the morning, although they do have plenty of clothes!
I went to bed at 12:30 and at 1:30 woke up to a rather painful contraction. On getting up to use the bathroom I discovered that my water had broken. And then the contractions started in seriously. I woke Brian up and told him to call my mom and attempted to get the last few things together that I wanted. He got all the things out to the car and the boys in as well while I painfully and slowly got ready between contractions.
By the time we were on the road it was maybe 2:15 and my contractions were very painful and only 2 or 3 minutes apart. I called my friend Amie, who was my doula, and asked her to call my OB since I had forgotten to get his number.
My mom met us at the ER entrance and took the boys back home with her while they quickly bypassed admitting and took me straight up to the maternity ward. By the time they managed to get a monitor on the babies (although never at the same time for more than a minute) and check me I was already at 9cm.
Thankfully they listened when I told them about my IV situation and they put it in my arm with the first try and very little pain. I met the on call doctor and we went to the OR to get ready. My OB and Amie showed up at about the same time and I know there were lots of people around, but I don't remember much about that as I was pretty focused on just getting through the contractions by then.
I'm sure we weren't in the OR very long before I started to feel like I was going to split. I wimped out and was asking for pain meds, but because I was Strep B positive they were just trying to get the antibiotics in me as quickly as possible (pointless actually). Then Hope was coming with only one or two pushes and she was out. 3:08am - probably not even 45 minutes from the time we got to the hospital.
They took her away and the doctor was telling me to push and get Joy down even without the contractions. I'm not sure if it was before or at this point, but sometime there was an ultrasound to make sure that they were head down. My stomach was all lopsided and it's kind of hard to push when suddenly you don't have the pressure to push back with one baby gone! I could hardly feel it.
One or two more pushes and then Joy was out too. They took her away and then the doctor for some reason was in a big hurry to get the placenta out. He was massaging my stomach and pulling on the cords and that was NOT a pleasant experience. When it finally came out (at least as big as one of the babies) he looked at it and said it looked like it was one placenta. Which supposedly means they are identical, but we're just not sure. They definitely have different personalities, and we can tell them apart, although mainly by the birthmarks that will fade. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.
Everything was going okay and the girls were fine so they gave them both to me and wheeled me back to the delivery room. Then things got interesting...
My OB had said he would give me pitocin after the delivery because he was concerned that my uterus wouldn't contract fast enough since this was a 3rd pregnancy and also with twins.
I started to have the after contractions and they kept getting more and more painful to the point where I felt like I was in labor again. I knew they were some what painful normally, but this was unbearable and I remember thinking "there's no way I can do this for a day or two" and I was asking for pain medication again. They had finally given me some after the birth. Hope had low blood sugar so they wanted me to nurse her or they were going to put a tube in her stomach. I really wanted to, but I was in so much pain I finally just said, okay, go ahead. This made me really sad.
But very shortly I started to feel blood coming out under pressure, which I thought was weird. I told the nurse and she turned around and practically jumped on my stomach. Yes, it hurt like crazy. But a huge amount of blood came pouring out all at once. It was like a waterfall and Brian said he really wasn't quite sure what had happened.
I think a lot of things were going on at this point, but I was so relieved to immediately not be in pain that I wasn't paying attention. My OB had already gone home so they got the on call one back in to check on me and make sure I wasn't actually hemorrhaging (I wasn't) and then they weighed it... 1.7 liters of blood. Imagine a 2 liter pop bottle... yeah, 85% of that. Between that and labor I basically lost half my blood.
They told me that because I had come in with a really high blood level (40) that they would just watch me. I did not end up having a blood transfusion at all, but my score dropped to 20.8 if I remember correctly. By 24 hours it had come up to 21.4 and I hadn't passed out or anything so they actually said I could go home on Friday if I wanted to. I decided to stay one more night since I was feeling pretty weak - although that proved to be a frustrating experience almost not worth it.
I've been thinking on this for a few weeks now and I'm not sure I can be convinced that the pitocin didn't actually cause the whole problem. See one of the side effects of pitocin is that along with causing stronger contractions it can also cause blood clots. My blood already clots really well (as in, if you don't keep my IV flowing at least very slowly it will seal itself off). So what happened was that I got either one really big clot or enough little ones that they couldn't come out. Then since they were in the way my uterus couldn't contract down like it was supposed to. In essence it was like there was another baby in there, hence the pain. And because it couldn't contract down it was still bleeding much more than it should have been. A bad situation all the way around. Good thing the nurse knew what was happening...
So... the girls were fine and because Hope had the stomach feed she didn't want to nurse for at least 12 hours. I suppose that was a blessing in disguise because she just slept and I only had to think about one baby for awhile. (except for the fact that 3 days later she spit up a blood clot and freaked us out - it had irritated her esophagus or something)
I couldn't get out of bed on my own so I didn't get to see both of them together at all for about 2 days. And by day 2 I looked down at my legs... and they were the same color as the sheets. Yes, it was March and I'm a pale person anyway, but I really never knew you literally could be white as a sheet. That was weird. And also the reason there are no pictures of me until this past week, I looked awful!
In this time I had three awesome nurses, Anna, Kayelee, and Rachel. Anna was there for the birth and later looked at me and said "I know you" and we figured out that she was also a birth attendant for Noah's birth at the birthing center 2 years ago. It was so nice to have her there the first night knowing she was coming from that perspective as well.
Kayelee and Rachel were awesome as well. Rachel took the girls out in the hall with her the second night so I could sleep a bit since there is no more nursery in this hospital and one of them seemed to be fussing all the time!
On Friday I got a nurse that wasn't very friendly at first and was also really busy so that was hard. Then that night the new nurse was telling me that the girls had lost almost too much weight and I needed to nurse them more... except how do you force a baby to eat??? They were really sleepy and just wouldn't eat when she wanted them to. She was talking and talking and giving me worst case scenario until I just started crying. At that point Brian asked her to leave and he went out and kind of dressed her down. I don't do well when people just talk at me... plus I was going on 3 days of very little sleep plus labor and losing blood!
Then he went home to bed (this was the main reason I stayed, so I could have a nurse help me and he could actually sleep for a couple nights - since he'd been sleeping on the couch/floor for a couple months). It was a bit awkward with that nurse at first, but she turned out to be fairly nice after all.
Saturday we were getting ready to go home... and Brian accidentally got an extra meal voucher when he paid for his lunch and they said he should go ahead and use it. The food at the hospital was actually pretty decent so we decided to take our time, have dinner, and then go home. I'm not sure it was worth it though...
Our day nurse got off at 3pm for some reason so the next nurse we got didn't come in until we were getting ready to leave - about 6pm. Suddenly she says "you can't leave, you have to do the carseat test" and we're going, "why?". Because the girls were born one day before 37 weeks and one of them weighed a few grams under the limit they had to sit in their carseats for 90 minutes while hooked up to monitors to be sure they didn't stop breathing. We live 10 minutes from the hospital.
So... after sitting in a teeny tiny hot room and watching the another episode of Downton Abbey (Season 1) we finally were cleared to go home. We got home at about 9:30pm after only 2 1/2 days in the hospital!
Everyone kept telling me to expect to feel really really tired because of the blood loss. But I think it's a testament to how exhausted I'd been since Christmas that I really didn't feel any worse after coming home. And actually because I could move I felt better in some ways! Now after 4 weeks I feel like walking a lot... if only I could get a bit more sleep!
Joy
Hope
And if you made it all the way through you get rewarded with these going home pictures! :)
Monday, April 16, 2012
Month One
It's been a month already... hard to believe!
The girls are looking more and more identical every day, but they definitely have different personalities and I think eventually we'd be able to figure out who was who even without the toenails painted!
Sadly, I don't have any good first week pictures with the bunny. I took the bunny to the professional photo shoot, but she didn't know how to prop them well so they didn't turn out very good. :( I know how to prop babies in the bunny since this is the third time around!
The last few days have been a bit rough... eating constantly. I hope this is just a growth spurt and not that they just are going to need more food constantly. We're a little bit zombie-ish around here!
They are at least growing because they were swimming in these outfits at the hospital and now they fit well. Which means they'll probably have outgrown them by next week! I don't have an official weight, but they were back up to their birth weight and over a bit by 2 weeks so my guess it they're well over 6 pounds each by now. Still much smaller than either of the boys when they were born, but that's okay!
Hope in pink, Joy in purple
Sadly, I don't have any good first week pictures with the bunny. I took the bunny to the professional photo shoot, but she didn't know how to prop them well so they didn't turn out very good. :( I know how to prop babies in the bunny since this is the third time around!
The last few days have been a bit rough... eating constantly. I hope this is just a growth spurt and not that they just are going to need more food constantly. We're a little bit zombie-ish around here!
They are at least growing because they were swimming in these outfits at the hospital and now they fit well. Which means they'll probably have outgrown them by next week! I don't have an official weight, but they were back up to their birth weight and over a bit by 2 weeks so my guess it they're well over 6 pounds each by now. Still much smaller than either of the boys when they were born, but that's okay!
Friday, April 13, 2012
Blog Party Time: 2012!
I'm Krista. Welcome to Married Life, welcome to my blog! Things are a little haphazard and chaotic around here lately... because this is what I've been doing a lot of!
There are actually 2 of them, but I can only hold one and the camera at a time! My baby girls are 4 weeks old and I'm getting used to going from 2 kids to 4! My boys are 2 and 5, but so far I haven't had to take care of all 4 of them at the same time for too long!
This blog has kind of been taken over by all things baby and kid related (especially as all of them have birthdays in March now!), but I do write about other things too. I'm heavily into photography, although only as an amateur so far. Someday I might have my own photography business... when I have a little spare time!
I'm a science nerd and strongly believe that all the chemicals we come in contact with on a daily basis have an effect on us. To that extent I try to use all natural non-toxic home, body, and personal care products. I sometimes write about those products.
I like to travel and meet new people. And if you'll stay in touch, you'll always hear back from me... eventually! I've had a penpal from Australia since I was 7 years old... she's coming to visit me in June for the second time!
And now... since it's past midnight I hope my babies are ready to sleep since I am... although the one I'm holding is still wide awake! So if you get a comment on your blog at midnight or later you'll know why! Leave a comment here and I'll come visit!
Happy Blog Hopping!
There are actually 2 of them, but I can only hold one and the camera at a time! My baby girls are 4 weeks old and I'm getting used to going from 2 kids to 4! My boys are 2 and 5, but so far I haven't had to take care of all 4 of them at the same time for too long!
This blog has kind of been taken over by all things baby and kid related (especially as all of them have birthdays in March now!), but I do write about other things too. I'm heavily into photography, although only as an amateur so far. Someday I might have my own photography business... when I have a little spare time!
I'm a science nerd and strongly believe that all the chemicals we come in contact with on a daily basis have an effect on us. To that extent I try to use all natural non-toxic home, body, and personal care products. I sometimes write about those products.
I like to travel and meet new people. And if you'll stay in touch, you'll always hear back from me... eventually! I've had a penpal from Australia since I was 7 years old... she's coming to visit me in June for the second time!
And now... since it's past midnight I hope my babies are ready to sleep since I am... although the one I'm holding is still wide awake! So if you get a comment on your blog at midnight or later you'll know why! Leave a comment here and I'll come visit!
Happy Blog Hopping!
Thursday, April 12, 2012
Boy Quotes #9
Noah's got it figured out when he wants something brother has... "One mitten (minute), Noah turn"
We have a duck/lemonade stand joke that Noah thinks is hilarious. He frequently says, "glue tree, otay Mom?" because the duck is threatened with being glued to a tree if he doesn't stop asking for grapes at the lemonade stand... and so he's "threatening" to glue me to a tree. Which he thinks is also hilarious!
"No take a dirt out Noah grass" - don't take the dirt out of Noah's grass
We got sprinklers installed this week (hooray!) and when Noah got up from his nap and saw that his beloved yard was all torn up he was distraught. It's all done now, but there's grass seed down so they won't be able to play in the yard for a few weeks. Time to visit some parks (wish ours was done already!).
This past weekend my in-laws were here and my mother-in-law bravely accompanied me, the girls, and Noah to the mall for a couple of errands. When we were done the girls needed to eat so we were sitting in the van. Noah was strapped in the back and didn't want to be left out... He started telling us a story about how the "dinosaur eat white car" and then "dinosaur eat Mama house" and when we asked where we were going to go then he said "sleep Nana house". But then the "dinosaur eat Nana house" so then we were all going to go "sleep Bama house" (Grandma's house). There were many rounds of this sometimes interspersed with "oh no! what to do?" It was quite hilarious and cute as he's got the storyteller's inflection down!
We have a duck/lemonade stand joke that Noah thinks is hilarious. He frequently says, "glue tree, otay Mom?" because the duck is threatened with being glued to a tree if he doesn't stop asking for grapes at the lemonade stand... and so he's "threatening" to glue me to a tree. Which he thinks is also hilarious!
"No take a dirt out Noah grass" - don't take the dirt out of Noah's grass
We got sprinklers installed this week (hooray!) and when Noah got up from his nap and saw that his beloved yard was all torn up he was distraught. It's all done now, but there's grass seed down so they won't be able to play in the yard for a few weeks. Time to visit some parks (wish ours was done already!).
See my pretty daffodils!
This past weekend my in-laws were here and my mother-in-law bravely accompanied me, the girls, and Noah to the mall for a couple of errands. When we were done the girls needed to eat so we were sitting in the van. Noah was strapped in the back and didn't want to be left out... He started telling us a story about how the "dinosaur eat white car" and then "dinosaur eat Mama house" and when we asked where we were going to go then he said "sleep Nana house". But then the "dinosaur eat Nana house" so then we were all going to go "sleep Bama house" (Grandma's house). There were many rounds of this sometimes interspersed with "oh no! what to do?" It was quite hilarious and cute as he's got the storyteller's inflection down!
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Wordless Wednesday: Two for One
One of the very few carriers you can use with twins... my brother gave me this Moby when Cory was born. It's come in handy!
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Book: Always the Designer, Never the Bride
Audrey arrives in Atlanta early to perform all of her maid-of-honor duties along with final fittings for a one-of-a-kind dress. But Carly’s wedding is nothing short of an event, complete with Prince Charming, and the festivities make Audrey question whether there’s a prince of her own anywhere in her future.
Enter the groom’s brother and best man. Shaggy-haired, tattooed bad boy J.R. Hunt couldn’t be any more different from Prince Charming if he rode in on a Harley Davidson. Oh, wait. He actually did ride in on a Harley!
If you would like to read an excerpt of the first chapter of Always The Designer, Never The Bride, go HERE.
***
I've read a couple of Sandra's novels and they are the perfect light read. I'm not really up for much in depth right now! They have substance and deal with some issues, but you come away with a good ending and feel like you've just stopped in on some friends for a few hours. Best to read this one in the series or you'll get a bit confused by all the characters and references to the back stories!
***
For more than a decade, Sandra D. Bricker lived in Los Angeles. While honing her chosen craft of screenwriting in every spare moment, she worked as a personal assistant and publicist to some of daytime television's hottest stars. When her mother became ill in Florida, she walked away from that segment of her life and moved across the country to take on a new role: Caregiver. The Big 5-OH! was released by Abingdon Press in the Spring of 2010, and the novel was very well-received, garnering a couple of nibbles from Hollywood.
Always the Baker, Never the Bride was released by Abingdon Press in September 2010. With its phenomenal reviews, the novel spawned a series of three more books based on the popular cast of characters at The Tanglewood Inn, a wedding destination hotel in historic Roswell, Georgia. The series cemented Sandie's spot in publishing as a flagship author of Laugh-Out-Loud romantic comedy for the inspirational market.
"Being allowed to combine my faith and my humor with my writing dream," says Bricker, "well, that's the best of all worlds, as far as I'm concerned!"
Wednesday, April 04, 2012
Wordless Wednesday: Sunset
The view from our house last night... although I had to run out to the highway to get the power lines out of the shot. I'm sure the people driving by thought I was crazy in my apron since I had been making dinner!
Thursday, March 29, 2012
The View From Here
I am working on the birth story... for those of you who keep asking! But somehow it's just not something I'm up to writing right now. That and going through all the pictures... I'll get to it!
In the meantime... the girls are 2 weeks old already and I've got a few recent pictures...
They are sharing a crib for now, and even the same blanket! One time we came in to find the Joy (on the right) had scooted over closer to Hope and Hope had her arm out and was touching her head.
Small enough to share the same bouncer for awhile... although I'm not having to fish their arms out of their jammies every time I pick them up now. They're definitely growing, although the jammies are still very large width wise!
Taken yesterday for possible birth announcements...
We can actually tell them apart and just tonight Brian switched the blankets on me and handed me one to feed... I looked at her and said, no, this is the other one. I checked the (painted) toenails to be sure and I was right. :) Currently it's mostly due to the faint red birthmarks on their foreheads and eyelids, which will fade eventually, but they also have different personalities and Hope's face is rounder than Joy's. So we'll see!
They are pretty good babies and eat very efficiently, for which I am thankful! The house is actually rather quiet with just them here and the boys gone for a couple days!
In the meantime... the girls are 2 weeks old already and I've got a few recent pictures...
They are sharing a crib for now, and even the same blanket! One time we came in to find the Joy (on the right) had scooted over closer to Hope and Hope had her arm out and was touching her head.
Small enough to share the same bouncer for awhile... although I'm not having to fish their arms out of their jammies every time I pick them up now. They're definitely growing, although the jammies are still very large width wise!
Hope on the left, Joy on the right
And most of the time Hope will be in pink and Joy in yellow, purple, brown, etc.
Taken yesterday for possible birth announcements...
We can actually tell them apart and just tonight Brian switched the blankets on me and handed me one to feed... I looked at her and said, no, this is the other one. I checked the (painted) toenails to be sure and I was right. :) Currently it's mostly due to the faint red birthmarks on their foreheads and eyelids, which will fade eventually, but they also have different personalities and Hope's face is rounder than Joy's. So we'll see!
They are pretty good babies and eat very efficiently, for which I am thankful! The house is actually rather quiet with just them here and the boys gone for a couple days!
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Five!
There's a five year old in the house today... how is this possible?
Cory, my son, you are somewhere between a little boy and a full grown boy. On any given day I'm not sure which is which!
You are independent and yet still need me for snuggles and play time. You can take care of yourself, but sometimes you don't want to. You're very particular and like things to go a certain way. Sometimes it comes across as bossy, but I think I understand where you get it...
You're so creative and the things you say just crack me up! I can't wait to see what you'll do with your life!
Cory, my son, you are somewhere between a little boy and a full grown boy. On any given day I'm not sure which is which!
New bike from Nana and Papa
Showing Joy your new dragon
You're so creative and the things you say just crack me up! I can't wait to see what you'll do with your life!
Loving on baby sister
Most of the time you are so helpful when I ask for a little thing. I'm so glad to have you around now with my hands full of babies! I know you love them too and it's so nice to see you lay down next to them and talk to them like you did with Noah. You are a great big brother!
You love books and going to the library is a new favorite thing. You're even starting to learn to read on your own and I was so impressed when you told me that a sign said "open" and you'd figured it out by sounding out the letters!
Cory, I pray that you will continue to think of others around you, that you will always be curious about the world, and that you will love to be around people like you do now! Happy 5th Birthday!
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Two!
Noah, my little boy, you are two! Not a baby any more and being gone for almost two weeks I see you differently now. You are a great big brother already, "tittin" the baby sisters all the time. (kissing)
You are my little helper, always trying to do what I'm doing when you see you might be able to help. You also want to do EVERYTHING that big brother does. I'm sure that is helping you grow up much faster than I want!
You talk in almost complete sentences now, something that really bloomed while you were at Nana and Papa's house. But you're still not always easy to understand! You ask questions about everything and they're very appropriate to the situation. Besides "why" which you've had for awhile you now ask, "What happen?" and "What dat, Daddy?"
You are a little ham and keep us all laughing! Daddy told a silly joke at Christmas about a duck asking the guy at a lemonade stand for grapes. Every day he comes back and finally the guy says "If you ask me again I'm going to glue you to a tree!" and you love this joke. Now you come and ask me, "Glue tree, otay Mom?" as if you're going to glue ME to a tree! And you think this is hilarious!
You have firecracker jammies and when we ask you if you're a firecracker you say "Boom!"
You say "Uh oh - Bey-yo-yo" for Uh oh, Spaghetti-O
Nana also taught you a poopy diaper song and now you sing, "Poopy diaper, my spesh-al-ee" (specialty) (Also, thanks Mom)
Your favorite characters are Mah-nee and Yanni - also known as Mater and Lighting
Your favorite color is orange - Grandpa is proud! You know most of your colors too!
You love Elmo and "Cookie Mah-tin" and looking for the moon!
You want to "nuggle" with your "bue bi-ya", but it usually only lasts for 30 seconds. Still, you're my little love bug, kissing me all the time and saying, "I love you too, Mom". And then when you're done snuggling you say "Ti-toe me" and I do and I love to hear you laugh!
You try to play the Wii with Daddy and brother. When you play Mario Kart you are always last, but you don't care and you throw your arms up in the air and proclaim "I lose!" just as happy as if you'd come in first!
When you are sad you wipe your tears away with both hands and it is the cutest thing ever.
But most importantly you remind us to pray. At dinner and at bed time. You fold your hands and put them up on your forehead or sometimes even on top of your head. And when you pray you remember all the people you love.
Never forget to pray, buddy. We love you!
You are my little helper, always trying to do what I'm doing when you see you might be able to help. You also want to do EVERYTHING that big brother does. I'm sure that is helping you grow up much faster than I want!
You talk in almost complete sentences now, something that really bloomed while you were at Nana and Papa's house. But you're still not always easy to understand! You ask questions about everything and they're very appropriate to the situation. Besides "why" which you've had for awhile you now ask, "What happen?" and "What dat, Daddy?"
You are a little ham and keep us all laughing! Daddy told a silly joke at Christmas about a duck asking the guy at a lemonade stand for grapes. Every day he comes back and finally the guy says "If you ask me again I'm going to glue you to a tree!" and you love this joke. Now you come and ask me, "Glue tree, otay Mom?" as if you're going to glue ME to a tree! And you think this is hilarious!
You have firecracker jammies and when we ask you if you're a firecracker you say "Boom!"
You say "Uh oh - Bey-yo-yo" for Uh oh, Spaghetti-O
Nana also taught you a poopy diaper song and now you sing, "Poopy diaper, my spesh-al-ee" (specialty) (Also, thanks Mom)
Your favorite characters are Mah-nee and Yanni - also known as Mater and Lighting
Your favorite color is orange - Grandpa is proud! You know most of your colors too!
You love Elmo and "Cookie Mah-tin" and looking for the moon!
You want to "nuggle" with your "bue bi-ya", but it usually only lasts for 30 seconds. Still, you're my little love bug, kissing me all the time and saying, "I love you too, Mom". And then when you're done snuggling you say "Ti-toe me" and I do and I love to hear you laugh!
You try to play the Wii with Daddy and brother. When you play Mario Kart you are always last, but you don't care and you throw your arms up in the air and proclaim "I lose!" just as happy as if you'd come in first!
When you are sad you wipe your tears away with both hands and it is the cutest thing ever.
But most importantly you remind us to pray. At dinner and at bed time. You fold your hands and put them up on your forehead or sometimes even on top of your head. And when you pray you remember all the people you love.
Never forget to pray, buddy. We love you!
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Wordless Wednesday: Spring
Last week I had a couple of crocuses pop up, but when we got home from the hospital they were all in bloom. I'm thankful for the volunteers because I probably won't be doing much gardening this spring! Daffodils are almost ready to bloom too!
And yes, I have lots of baby pictures... but it's easier to edit one than one hundred!
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Welcome to the World!
My babies are here!
Hope Elizabeth ~ 3/15/12 at 3:15am
Joy Elaine ~ 3/15/12 at 3:08am
Both weighed 5 pounds 12 ounces and 18 inches long
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Happy Birthday Noah!
Even though Noah's birthday isn't for a few more days the time is getting short for me so when my parents decided to come down for dinner I thought this would be as good a time as any to have a cake for Noah.
Someone had this Elmo cake pan at Bible study last year and I snagged it. Totally awesome even if it did take me practically all day to make and frost it!
While we sing Happy Birthday, Noah's version is "Happy Diaper". He's been singing that to my mom all week and she always hope it's a "happy" diaper!
The cake was Betty Crocker gluten free Devil's Food cake and even though the pan called for 2 layers I think it would have been too thick/heavy. As it was, we had a thin cake, but it tasted pretty darn good! And eating the eyeballs and nose, etc, was fun for little boys as well!
Time for presents...
Annika also got this fun plane that the propellers spin, there's a pilot that comes out, and a cargo hatch on the bottom the holds a little life raft. Super cool.
Of course the parents are the ones that get the boy a toy with 30 pieces... don't ask me what we were thinking!
And someone has been very envious of Brother's Hexbug Nano that he bought last month... so we got him his own...
Orange of course! And I have to say, kudos to the Hexbug people because apparently various colors of bugs are rarer than others. So when I emailed to ask about finding an orange one they just sent me one! I guess orange is rather rare.
And finally... he figured out how to get stuff out of bags most efficiently... just dump it!
Here's a very cool beach towel from Nana and Papa that has "Mani and Yanni" on it. That would be Mater and Lightning in case you were wondering!
The birthday crew! Annika's the end of February, my mom was last week, and Noah this week. Yes, we have a lot of family birthdays in February and March!
Someone had this Elmo cake pan at Bible study last year and I snagged it. Totally awesome even if it did take me practically all day to make and frost it!
When he finally figured out what it was, Noah thought the cake was very cool!
While we sing Happy Birthday, Noah's version is "Happy Diaper". He's been singing that to my mom all week and she always hope it's a "happy" diaper!
And he knows ALL about blowing out the candles!
After licking off the candle... a frosting mustache!
The cake was Betty Crocker gluten free Devil's Food cake and even though the pan called for 2 layers I think it would have been too thick/heavy. As it was, we had a thin cake, but it tasted pretty darn good! And eating the eyeballs and nose, etc, was fun for little boys as well!
Time for presents...
Aunt Annika brought lizards, one for each of the boys... they are a BIG hit!
Noah got the orange one... orange is his very favorite color right now!
Annika also got this fun plane that the propellers spin, there's a pilot that comes out, and a cargo hatch on the bottom the holds a little life raft. Super cool.
Of course the parents are the ones that get the boy a toy with 30 pieces... don't ask me what we were thinking!
And someone has been very envious of Brother's Hexbug Nano that he bought last month... so we got him his own...
Orange of course! And I have to say, kudos to the Hexbug people because apparently various colors of bugs are rarer than others. So when I emailed to ask about finding an orange one they just sent me one! I guess orange is rather rare.
And finally... he figured out how to get stuff out of bags most efficiently... just dump it!
Here's a very cool beach towel from Nana and Papa that has "Mani and Yanni" on it. That would be Mater and Lightning in case you were wondering!
The birthday crew! Annika's the end of February, my mom was last week, and Noah this week. Yes, we have a lot of family birthdays in February and March!
Wordless Wednesday: Science with Daddy
Brian boiled purple cabbage to make ink... then he used vinegar and baking soda to show Cory how the colors would change. A little acid/base chemistry! Why yes, we are science nerds...
Sunday, March 11, 2012
36 Weeks = Full Term
According to my doctor at least I am now considered full term with twins. And I am so DONE with being pregnant. The itching on my belly is barely contained with benadryl cream and full on benadryl at night (I can't take it during the day or I'm worthless... or at least more worthless than I am already!) Of course then I had to go read the ingredients today and discover that the cream is full of parabens... something I've been trying to avoid for the last two years in all cosmetics and body products. Ugh.
On top of all that, Cory finally succumbed to the plague that we've all had and left us a lovely mess to clean up Thursday afternoon. It required a carpet cleaner rental. Noah stepped in it so I tried to carry him to the bathroom and of course managed to pull something in my lower stomach. So, I'm back to the walking like a cripple and taking many minutes to get in and out of bed. At least it's not my pelvis so I can sit somewhat better this time around.
I think we are all mostly healthy now, but Noah is on quarantine from any large group activities since he seems to be the most likely point of infection. Poor kid. But at least he got a few days by himself with Nana and Papa and he's having a ball. Jello is the highlight of his week. Who knew???
And on Wednesday the teachers at Brian's school (and my former) had cake and ice cream for us at lunch and supplied us with more diapers. They even had a small gluten free cake for the boys. We totally love this school!
At this point I kinda hope the girls wait another week since Noah's birthday is on Saturday and I'd really like to have a small party for him. But at least my doctor will be back tomorrow night and my friend who will be my doula is back from her trip to Hawaii. So... anytime!
Sleeping with Daddy's blanket... before the sick
On top of all that, Cory finally succumbed to the plague that we've all had and left us a lovely mess to clean up Thursday afternoon. It required a carpet cleaner rental. Noah stepped in it so I tried to carry him to the bathroom and of course managed to pull something in my lower stomach. So, I'm back to the walking like a cripple and taking many minutes to get in and out of bed. At least it's not my pelvis so I can sit somewhat better this time around.
I think we are all mostly healthy now, but Noah is on quarantine from any large group activities since he seems to be the most likely point of infection. Poor kid. But at least he got a few days by himself with Nana and Papa and he's having a ball. Jello is the highlight of his week. Who knew???
And on Wednesday the teachers at Brian's school (and my former) had cake and ice cream for us at lunch and supplied us with more diapers. They even had a small gluten free cake for the boys. We totally love this school!
At this point I kinda hope the girls wait another week since Noah's birthday is on Saturday and I'd really like to have a small party for him. But at least my doctor will be back tomorrow night and my friend who will be my doula is back from her trip to Hawaii. So... anytime!
Sunday, March 04, 2012
35 Weeks and Holding
Well, I'm definitely feeling better than I was on Thursday. Although you can see the lovely bruise on the back of my hand from the blown IV. There's a matching one on the other hand.
People keep telling me how small I look and I'm thinking... what planet are you from? It's very odd to me because I know I'm way bigger than I ever was with either of the boys (comparison 35 weeks with Noah), and it is ALL in my stomach too! Notice how far back I'm leaning? Yeah, I didn't realize that until I looked at the pictures, but it's counterbalance!
I was measuring at term a couple weeks ago and he didn't even measure me last week. At the last ultrasound they were also still growing each at the rate of a single baby so I'm guessing (according to the online averages) that they are each at least 5 pounds by now. That's a lot of baby in there!
Now we just play the waiting game...
Friday, March 02, 2012
35 Weeks and a Little Hospital Adventure
I keep thinking today is Saturday... might have something to do with losing an entire day yesterday.
My poor sick toddler shared his bug with me yesterday. I spent the day on the couch and about the time Brian got home from school I lost it all... and couldn't keep anything down for 6+ hours. By then I was pretty dehydrated, which was giving me some pretty strong contractions. So, thankfully my mom came down to get Noah and we went in to the hospital.
Let me just say up front... I know they have a place and a job to do, but holy cow, sometimes I think hospitals are the most inefficient, worst places to get well in. Sheesh!
We got there a little after 10, I had called the OB on call and knew they would give me fluids, but it still took them almost 2 hours to get my IV started and I was complaining that I was dying of thirst. Not to mention they didn't listen when I told them I have tough veins to stick even when I'm NOT dehydrated and instead they blew out both hands before trying my arm. :(
But finally they got both babies on the monitors (oh, how I despise those things!) and an IV in. It took almost 2 full liters of fluid and me drinking on top of that (they gave me some anti-naseau meds so I could) before I felt like I didn't need anything more to drink. That's bad! And for a pregnant girl going 8 hours without needing to pee... yeah.
The girls were champs through all the contractions so that bodes well for later! And as long as they don't make me lay on my back (those labor beds are ridiculously hard) I think we shall do fine when the time actually comes. And my own heart rate was so high they wouldn't give me a shot to stop the contractions. Apparently it makes your heart race and you feel like you're having a panic attack so I'm glad I avoided that!
So it took 6+ hours for my contractions to stop and now my stomach muscles are way sore, but I'm home, slept half the day, and hopefully the worst is past us.
Here's to another week of sleeping in my own {comfy} bed and getting a few more things done!
My poor sick toddler shared his bug with me yesterday. I spent the day on the couch and about the time Brian got home from school I lost it all... and couldn't keep anything down for 6+ hours. By then I was pretty dehydrated, which was giving me some pretty strong contractions. So, thankfully my mom came down to get Noah and we went in to the hospital.
Let me just say up front... I know they have a place and a job to do, but holy cow, sometimes I think hospitals are the most inefficient, worst places to get well in. Sheesh!
We got there a little after 10, I had called the OB on call and knew they would give me fluids, but it still took them almost 2 hours to get my IV started and I was complaining that I was dying of thirst. Not to mention they didn't listen when I told them I have tough veins to stick even when I'm NOT dehydrated and instead they blew out both hands before trying my arm. :(
But finally they got both babies on the monitors (oh, how I despise those things!) and an IV in. It took almost 2 full liters of fluid and me drinking on top of that (they gave me some anti-naseau meds so I could) before I felt like I didn't need anything more to drink. That's bad! And for a pregnant girl going 8 hours without needing to pee... yeah.
The girls were champs through all the contractions so that bodes well for later! And as long as they don't make me lay on my back (those labor beds are ridiculously hard) I think we shall do fine when the time actually comes. And my own heart rate was so high they wouldn't give me a shot to stop the contractions. Apparently it makes your heart race and you feel like you're having a panic attack so I'm glad I avoided that!
So it took 6+ hours for my contractions to stop and now my stomach muscles are way sore, but I'm home, slept half the day, and hopefully the worst is past us.
Here's to another week of sleeping in my own {comfy} bed and getting a few more things done!
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
What's Going On...
So... attempting to do the #febphotoaday thing has made me a slacker in the actual posting department. Although there's really not a whole lot to report...
We're just kind of hunkered down here at home, playing the waiting game. As of last Friday I am 34 weeks and they officially won't stop my labor if it starts, nor have to send me to Seattle. So yay for that! I've been waking up some nights to contractions, which makes me extra tired the next day.
Add to that a puking toddler (last Thursday and then again today) and I'm just not really that into blogging right now! Although he is awfully cute... he likes to climb up the back of my chair and kiss me. He's really into the kissing thing lately.
You can also see that we've painted half the room yellow (the other half will get painted later when we have to move the rest of the stuff out - like in 6 months) and are sorting out baby stuff.
Basically, I would love to have these babies tomorrow because I am so freakishly uncomfortable. But I also want them to have the best chance at being healthy and not needing any extra care so I know they really should stay in another week or two! What a dilemma!
That's my life, how's yours?
We're just kind of hunkered down here at home, playing the waiting game. As of last Friday I am 34 weeks and they officially won't stop my labor if it starts, nor have to send me to Seattle. So yay for that! I've been waking up some nights to contractions, which makes me extra tired the next day.
Add to that a puking toddler (last Thursday and then again today) and I'm just not really that into blogging right now! Although he is awfully cute... he likes to climb up the back of my chair and kiss me. He's really into the kissing thing lately.
You can also see that we've painted half the room yellow (the other half will get painted later when we have to move the rest of the stuff out - like in 6 months) and are sorting out baby stuff.
Basically, I would love to have these babies tomorrow because I am so freakishly uncomfortable. But I also want them to have the best chance at being healthy and not needing any extra care so I know they really should stay in another week or two! What a dilemma!
That's my life, how's yours?
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