We've Come A Long Way Baby(ies)!

As the boys 1st birth day approaches Jared and I have been reminiscing a lot about their rough start in the world. Not because we are downers who like to wallow in what once was but because it enables us to appreciate these little lives Gods entrusted us with. I remember being thankful for the middle of the night wake ups because 1) I knew they were alive and well and 2) I would get to hold them and love on them. I should mention (before Jared reads this) that there were also times as a frustrated mother of twins that I wasn't quite so happy to be awakened in the night. I don't want to paint a perfectly rosy picture because until twins get on the same schedule, well, it can be a nightmare and you feel like God may have over-estimated your capabilities :)


In the next few weeks until my babies are one I thought I would share some older pics and show how blessed we are. When the looked like this, every day we would call the NICU when we woke up and check on our boys and although at the time I am not sure we would have admitted it we were making sure that they were still alive. Even as I "say" that I get chills but what is amazing is what God has done in the lives of these 11 month old boys ALREADY! They are doing SO well. I will admit that some of these pics aren't very glamorous and I hated seeing some of them at the beginning but I am so glad that we have them. The top two are the boys at at birth and just after and the other two are at a month old.

Five Years...How times have changed!

It is our anniversary today and I am blogging. Not a good sign :) Due to sick boys and lack of babysitters we weren't able to go out and Jared had to work at the church and get ready for the Good Friday service which I am bummed about missing. It is such a great way to focus on the reason for Easter and not get caught up in all of the other hype. Anyways we will make up for our date in the future and I can catch the message from the service by downloading it from our church's website (we are so hi-tech ;) ). I am laughing though at how quickly your life changes once you have babies. Once upon a time I would have primped and planned and purchased a new outfit. Tonight I am in my "don't have to go anywhere" sweats and watching it snow. If it sounds like I am upset about it I am not... thrilled?....lets not get carried away.....content? ....yep, that's the one. I have a great life that can't be ruined with one rough week. So, happy anniversary to us.

I can't believe we've been married for 5 years. Last night we were recapping some of our memories from our beginning. The good news is our love has grown along with our family. I am married to my best friend and wouldn't have it any other way. I love you Jared and here's to 50 more years. Now hurry home :) I plan to post a wedding pic in the future.

March Madness

My babies are sick. It looks like croup. Unfortunately for preemies this can be serious due to their breathing difficulties. That being said this week we have spent numerous hours at the emergency room and dr's office. We are exhausted. Unfortunately when babies don't get enough sleep they don't just do the logical thing and crawl back into bed. They press on as if nothing is offother than the fact that they are the whiniest little bubbas on the planet. We are very surprisedthat the boys have been the sickest this month. The good news is that Spring is officially here tomorrow (although the forecast calls for snow on Friday) and we have had no serious illnesses all winter. Thank you, Lord. Preemies first winters often involve re-hospitalization and ours did not.

Here are pics of Alex and Eli watching Baby Beethoven. We are "those" parents. The ones who swore their children would not watch TV until they were two. Well, the boys turned 11 months old yesterday and while at a Mom 2 Mom sale we caved. We do deserve a break here b/c it was only $5. I mean who could resist this temptation :) We hope to use it rarely but after the past 4 or so nights of little sleep this video came in handy. So today, despite the many times I have said my children won't veg out in front of videos, I would like to take a moment and thank you, Mrs. Baby Einstein Video Maker, you are my hero (this week)! As you can see in the pictures the boysenjoy the video.

The fun has just begun!

Our boys are just shy of 11 months old and for the last couple of months I have been dealing with their lack of contentment :). They only want the toy that the other one has. We are fortunate to have received hand-me-downs from our friends who also have twins (thanks Shannon and Jeff) so we have two of a lot of things. Unfortunately, this has not helped our current state. There may not appear to be a difference to us but in their little minds their toy can't possibly be as exciting as the one their brother has. Ugh....so it begins. I am already saying "No, don't take that , your brother is playing with that". Alex currently has the upper hand b/c although Eli is bigger he is less mobile. It is unfortunate that Alex can't "look down the pipe" and see that the repercussions to these actions may not be pretty. He did go a step too far yesterday when he tried to take Eli's bottle. Eli smacked Alex across the face. No, I am not kidding. He smacked him 3 times to be exact. I grew up with 3 sisters and although Mindy swears that I punched her once (I think she is delusional :) ) we didn't have the type of fights where someone ends up injured. My mother in law on the other hand has told me stories about my husband that ended with someone going through the front picture glass window. Hmmmm......great!

Fortunately I have time before I have to worry about things like that and in the mean time I will work on this smaller, much more manageable challenge my babies are throwing at me. I guess the grass is always greener mentality that the boys are displaying is pretty typical, as adults we are not much better. I know just like I wish that my sons will learn to be content with what they have been given. God looks at me, his child, and wants the same thing.

I have attached one of Eli's victories. He does win the pacifier war on a pretty regular basis. I should mention that although Eli is "King Pacifier Stealer Extraordinaire" he has no desire to actually use it. He just gloats over his conquest (as seen above). Such brotherly love.

Joy in the little (2, very little) things!

Ladies and gentlemen.....We have teeth! Eli is pulling ahead in the race and has two, yes TWO, little, teeth on the bottom. They are adorable. OK, I can't see them yet but I feel them and they feel adorable. This was a very exciting thing in our household. It involved lots of clapping and dancing and my sons looking at me like I was a lunatic, a very funny lunatic, but crazy nonetheless. Eli is, of course, taking it "like a man" and hasn't even been that crabby considering he is also dealing with an ear infection and a diaper rash. He is SO laid back and mellow much like his Daddy. (I would add a picture but he is not so relaxed when you want to open his mouth to look for said teeth. No need to discuss where this stubborn streak comes from because Jared and I might disagree :) . When Alex teethes we are going to have to buy stock in Tylenol, for us of course, considering he is more like yours truly and we will all be feelin' his pain, so to speak.

It is simple moments like this that make me enjoy being a Mom. I love my life. I love getting to be home with my beautiful (in a manly way ;) of course) boys. I love that my husband makes that possible. God is constantly reminding me of what a blessing my boys and my husband are. Jared and I have been married for 5 years on the 21st of this month. We are very happily married (really). Who knew I could have this????

Ephesians 3:20 "God can do anything, far more than you can ever imagine, or guess, or request in your wildest dreams!" (the MSG.)

That's who knew....when I didn't even know to ask or dream for this!

Gone are the days of setting them down while they are screaming and going to heat the bottle, retrieve the paci, regain my sanity. Alex now stalks me. He finds me! It is a hysterical thing for a new parent to realize there is no escaping them :) I can no longer put the distance of a few rooms between us to lessen the sound of their high pitched wail. Here is a video of Alex's first crawl a few weeks ago (it's been a party ever since) and a pic of Eli using Alex's crawling to his advantage (smart boy). Eli is rolling around faster than you can imagine. He is even almost army crawling. I am thinking at most I have a month of one child crawling and then complete chaos will ensue.

Alex Crawling

Weaning 101

My boys are weaning school drop outs at this point. I read in an article by an infinitely wise Pediatrician (on the internet) that you should start weaning your infants at 6 months. Oops my boys are 10 (strike 1). This process begins by removing a bottle feeding and encouraging them to drink from a sippy cup while substituting the bottle for food. OK, I can swing this. I did it! Although, hmmm, they seem awfully cranky, they must be tired (strike 2 if you're keeping track). I mentioned my efforts to one of Eli's Dr.'s and she said that their main source of food should still be milk. The funny thing is I have heard this before BUT what about brilliant internet Pediatrician. Curses!!! (I guess we will call this strike 3) Now I am taking a more relaxed approach b/c the dr's have all agreed that we should try and have them off bottle by 1 year corrected which in our preemie world is 15 months. I can now breathe a sigh of relief because I have 5 long months before ripping Eli's best friend (his bottle) away from him. The sippy cup thing isn't going too smoothly either. The boys don't even hold their bottles (although I am sure they are capable). They lay their arms lazily to the side and let Mom and Dad do the work.

I have this theory that when they lay in bed in the mornings and babble they are actually plotting our demise. When we hear bababa, dadada, ect., this is what I think is really going on:

Alex to Eli: "Hey I figured something out. Don't stress out about the whole holding your bottle thing. Mommy and Daddy CAN'T stop feeding us!"

Eli: "Umm, I don't know, maybe they can't stop feeding you but I weighed 23lbs at my last appointment and Mom had to give more of my shirts to Jackson because they won't stay down over my belly. What if they try and hold back some of the yummy white nectar?"

Alex: "I'm telling you it's not gonna happen. They're not worried about your chub, relax. OH and keep up that bit where you act like you have NO idea what to do with the sippy cup. I love watching the Mommy lady try and show us how to suck on the sippy when you know perfectly well she can use a big girl cup! Classic!"

Eli: Yeah, I thought you'd like that one ;)

The other possibility is that they are just saying: mamama, bababa, dadada and that I need to get out more :)