One Year Ago

One year ago today, we were discharged from the hospital with these two:


As we drove toward home, we had one of those conversations that went something like this; "Are you ready for this." "Do you think we can handle this."

For good measure, here are a couple more:

6 week's old:


Well we've gone this far... Hard to believe they're crawling and and now just starting to get into everything.

Two Little Monkeys!

Here are a few pictures that describe my day today:

I left the room for 5 minutes to get a new outfit for Patrick and he has pulled over 20 wipes out of the diaper wipes package! He was so proud of himself. I wasn't too happy but I was happy that he was feeling better than the last couple days before.

Yesterday Payden learned how to pull himself up on his feet and has been pulling up to every available surface. Today his favorite was the dog kennel.

Today also was his first time pulling up to his crib. We DEFINITELY need to lower the mattress down. Don't let that face deceive you, he has been happy today, just not happy that I wanted to take a picture of an accomplishment first before getting him up from a nap.

Very Belated Christmas Recap - Part II

Now for Christmas!

On Christmas, the boys woke at 6:45 after only being up once in the night. We decided to put them in the empty room across from us and it worked out better when they were IN the room with us. Back to Christmas morning. We get the boys fed and dressed and start feeding them Breakfast. Then we realize that we needed more time as his siblings are coming at 7:30 to start unwrapping presents. We ended up starting at 8, but that's okay. Good way to learn patience, I guess!

I'm glad that Patrick and Payden got to unwrap gifts on Christmas Eve because they were very tired and fussy on Christmas Day. They seemed fine to play with their old and new toys while we unwrapped for them.

Here are a quite a few pictures from the day. Again, picture credit goes to my incredible, talented sister-in-law Lindsay. Don't mind the pajamas and the hair, I don't think I showered until almost 3 in the afternoon..

"Why or why are we doing this?"

Ooh, these bows are interesting, I wonder what they taste like"

"And now we're getting tired, Are we done with pictures yet?" - said by Patrick.


And some more!

Payden playing but also tired.

Grandma playing with a tired Patrick
Mom and Payden reading stories

Payden sitting with Daddy. One of my favorites!

When his siblings had gone home, later in the afternoon the boys were a little happier and explored all their new toys. As we were playing, we were shocked to see Patrick up and on all fours rocking. We cheered him on and knew it wouldn't be long!

We woke the next morning and went to church. His parents are now part of our old ward (when we lived in Kansas 4 years ago) and it was fun to see some old faces and talk to people. Early that afternoon, we made the drive home to start organizing gifts and getting ready for the workday the next day.

12 month post! (1 Year!)

Here are this month's stats for our two boys.

Patrick:
Weight: 20lbs 15oz (weighed 2/17)-
Height: 30.5 in
Head: 19 in

Payden:
Weight: 18lbs on the dot (weighed 1/25)
Height: 29 in
Head: 19.25 in

Patrick

• Started crawling the day before his birthday. It was at church and he saw the double doors and took off. From there, he has crawled everywhere and has been into everything. It seems like he'd rather be pulling books and DVD's off the shelves instead of playing with the toys I've laid out. His favorite is the refrigerator which he'll move his arms in joy and "book it" across the floor in anticipation of playing in. Thank goodness he hasn't learned to open it yet!
• Last Wednesday, while Maddie was in her kennel for a time out, she got out and I couldn't figure it out. I put her back in and watched from a distance with surprise as Patrick unlocked the kennel door and let Maddie out. Maddie has found a new best friend!!
  
• Another favorite of Patrick is drawers and loves to open and close them. He also likes to throw toys in, and them open the drawer and find the toy again. Thankfully, fingers have only been left in a few times; I think he's learning!
  
• Says Da Da and knows what it means and can also wave Bye bye.
• We love that he'll try a new food at least once.
  

Payden

• Has been crawling for the past month but usually he falls down and army-crawls. Now (about a week or so before his Birthday) it is a full-fledged and very fast paced crawler. Watch out when he sees that TV Remote! He'll shoots across the floor after it!
• Unlike Patrick, he is content playing with the toys that are set out. Many times, he's has a book in his lap, turning pages as he reads the book.
  
• About a week ago, he pulled up to standing all by himself and now is no longer content to be on his knees. He has to be standing! He can walk along the couch pretty well too! It is so much fun to see these guys learning new things.
  
• Loves banana and banana bread. I have been trying new things all the time trying to find something else that he'll eat just as well.
  
• He is showing so much personality. It is the cutest thing when Christian comes home from work to watch Payden shoot across the floor to be picked up by his Daddy.
• This week, he has taken to holding his bottle by himself and would rather feed himself than let you hold it.

Both Patrick and Payden love books and it is one of the easiest ways to calm them down. Christian and I have memorized a few books (from reading them so much) and it's nice to be able to quote a book and have them calm down. Singing also works pretty well that way in the same respect. They are starting to follow me when I go in the kitchen to prepare food but luckily they haven't figured out the stairs quite yet. I have a feeling we've only hit the tip of the iceberg so far when it comes to exploring!

Happy Birthday Patrick and Payden!!

Happy Birthday Patrick and Payden! *

Dear my two boys,

This day is the one year anniversary of your birthday; the day you came into the world. We, your parents, have been waiting so long for this day to come. We had been married 6 1/2 years when you finally made your entrance.

We love you so much and now can't imagine our life without the TWO of you to share it with. Yes, now that your crawling and exploring everything, life has gotten especially tough for Mom all day. Carrying you both up and down stairs used to be easy but now it's an exercise in weight lifting and tuning your mother's biceps. As you've gotten older, it's allowed us to see your personalities more and more.

Payden, we love how you dance to any and all music. Once you stand up to any surface, you just start dancing and moving your body. We laugh so much at the joy it brings us. We love your abundance of hair and know that we probably should look into getting a hair cut before another person asks if you are a little girl. You love to smile and also crawl as fast as you possibly can to get your dad when he comes in the door from work. You are a lover of everything banana and as such, it is hard to get you to eat anything else!!

Patrick, since you started crawling the Sunday before your birthday. You've been into everything! Forget the toys, you love drawers of any kind to open and close them. Unfortunately, the most fun for you is to empty that drawer of its contents! You absolutely love dad's DVD shelf and love to take them off; much to dad's chagrin. On Saturday, you discovered goldfish crackers for the first time and love them. We love that you always try a new food once and love to eat! Your hair is finally started to grow in and it's a bit curly in the back. You are definitely one determined little boy and won't stop until you figure out something new!

We love you so much,

Mom

* - My 12 month (1 year) post will be posted later as we're waiting on a re-weigh for Patrick when we take them for shots this week.

Very Belated Christmas Recap - Part I

Well, I wasn't going to blog about Christmas because for Christian and I, it was a very hectic time with overtired, off-schedule babies. We were stressed, trying to keep them happy and playing after short naps. A good friend though, suggested to write about the happy times and maybe I would remember it differently. This is my attempt to do so. Due to the craziness of it, I didn't take any pictures.

All the pictures are with credit to my awesome sister-in-law, Lindsay. I envy her skills with a camera.

Christmas Eve!
We celebrated Christmas with my husband's family who live about 45 minutes east of us. We arrive around noon to help prepare for the big feast. Christian's family always does Italian food for Christmas Eve dinner. His mom's grandparents immigrated to the U.S. from Italy in the 20's. Dinner was a scrumptious affair although because the boys needed attention, I didn't get as much as I wanted. Yay for leftovers!

Here is a group shot of everyone on Christmas Eve Dinner.

From Left and going around: Lindsay (Christian's sister) and her husband Andy, Bill - Jimmy's Dad, Christian - holding Patrick, Me - holding Payden, Christian's Dad, Christian's Mom. Joanie - Andy's Mom, Carol - Jimmy's mom, Jimmy -Brooke's husband, Brooke - Christian's sister.

Before dinner, we helped the boys unwrap some gifts. They had quite the pile of gifts and we knew it would be more fun to drag it out a couple days. The boys had no interest in the wrapping paper but sure loved their gifts.




One of their favorites is this toy. It is so fun to watch their little minds work and they play with the colored beads.. I also remember it being one of my favorite toys in our doctor's office growing up. I think it was a lot bigger though.


And here are four more pictures from Christmas Eve..

One Year Ago Today

One Year Ago Today -

• I had almost given up hope of going into labor by myself before my scheduled C-Section. I was still so dumbfounded that I had lasted to 38 weeks with these kiddos inside of me. I was so sure I was going to go into labor sooner.
  
• I was so excited to become a parent and so wanting to meet my little ones especially after suffering so much morning sickness and acid reflux/heartburn my entire pregnancy.
  
• Christian and I went out for our last "couples only" dinner to Cheesecake Factory. It was so good. I didn't care if I had heartburn, I loved it so much. We met another couple with 8 month old twins and talked to them for a bit.
  
• I had no idea what my life was going to be like with two almost mobile little children
  

When we went to bed at 11pm that night, I didn't know that at 2:30 my water would break and the boys would be born a short 2 hours later. How quickly our lives were going to change!

RTT

RTT stands for Random Thoughts Thursday.

My sister-in-law Emma started this on her Blog and I think it is a great idea. You can see her blog here.

• We got 8+ inches of new snow yesterday. It started snowing yesterday around noon and kept snowing until early this morning. Since being in Washington, it's hard to get used to this much snow again let alone driving around in it. And to think, two added precious lives are now at stake. I think I'll stay at home.
  

• Ever tried to get a pug to go outside in the snow? Yeah, not going to happen! Pugs are notoriously wimpy and hate the cold. Nevertheless in the height of our storm yesterday, I was dragging Maddie around the in the snow, trying to get her to do her business. Not fun and also very cold!
  

• Payden cracked me up this morning. They were playing in different parts of the living room. Payden watched as Patrick was playing with their cell phone toy. All of a sudden, Payden starts crawling across the room to get to Patrick, tackles Patrick and throws him to the ground. All, to get his cell phone toy. It's not his, just that he plays with this toy the most. Patrick just laid there crying and doesn't retaliate just yet. I gave the phone back to Patrick and distracted Payden with another toy.

• Because they are starting to pull up to their knees and probably soon their feet, there has been a lot of bumps lately. Mostly bumps on their heads as they explore and go after toys. Patrick's new favorite is to open his drawer and empty it of all the contents.
  

• The boys got a new activity table for Christmas. It has been the absolutely favorite toy lately. After Payden has his bottle, he will crawl over to it and start playing. It also is just the right height that they have to pull up to their knees in order to play. One time yesterday, I found Payden on his feet. He has done it a couple times but I've never seen how he does it.
  

You can see a couple pictures of them playing here...

Picture Taking Fun

This morning, I wanted to get some pictures of the boys. I thought it had been awhile since I have taken some and also the boys were in their matching pajamas that their Auntie Brooke had given them.

No one was looking - concentrating too much on their toys..


One smiling at the camera


Both smiling..


My favorite one...

Grocery Shopping fun

For the past few weeks, we have had a new way of going grocery shopping and we love it. Typically I take the Double Stroller with car seats and he'll take the carts and we switch off each time. Frankly, the boys have been getting so big and so heavy that it's just easier to pick them up out of their seats and carry them in.

When my friend, Katie, mentioned to me that her twins ride in a double-seat belt grocery cart at their grocery store in Florida, I decided to be on the lookout for one at our store. I found one the other day and we LOVED it. So much easier!!

Aren't they cute?


It is SO nice to finally grocery shop together! Most of the time we'd split up and then have trouble finding one another. Plus I would stack way too many things in the stroller and then have a hard time getting it all out.

I have to admit that I don't drive it as I cannot steer very well and usually run into things. I leave that up to Christian who apparently has a drivers license for this type of vehicle.

First Blood

Such an original title huh?

Let me tell you the story.

I put the boys in their cribs for their morning naps. Payden sits up and then throws his pacifier out of the crib. He then pulls himself up to his knees in his crib and holds onto the railing. I'm only guessing that he started bouncing (which he LOVES to do) and hit his teeth and gums on the railing of the crib.

Here's what happened to the crib. There's also the side too.. I'm not sure if it happened here or on another day. Hopefully it's okay to eat wood.

I used a wet washcloth and got as much of the blood as I could out of his mouth. I know you're supposed to put pressure on it to try to stop the bleeding but he wouldn't let me. He was crying so hard because I'm sure it hurt plus he was SO tired. When it finally seemed to stop, I rocked him, sang to him and put him back in his crib for his nap.

I will have to take a closer look to see if his teeth were damaged in any way. I guess there's a first for everything. I think I am going to have Christian lower the cribs today so he can't just "knee" up anymore. Maybe that will motivate him to pull up with his feet and it will probably happen again.

High School Basketball Game

We live right next door to a private high school. It is for grades 7-12 and costs an extremely high amount of money per year to send your children there.

Anyway, Christian is treating a high school senior there and he is a basketball player. After we fed the boys last night we walked over with the boys bundled up in hoodie sweatshirts and their snow suits. It was quite hard to walk on snow and ice and trying not to fall. I feel like I don't have good balance anyway but then to add a baby. Whoa!

When we got to the ticket table, Christian said, "I'm Blake's* Physical Therapist and they let our little family right in. The boys had a blast watching the games and playing on the gym floor. I was so surprised that they lasted so long. When we got there the girls game was still going on and we had to wait 40 min till the boys started. We got to watch the first quarter where Blake had a series of assists and 3 point shots! Blake is also a twin, so that made it fun too!

When the boys got upset, we decided to make a break for it and go home so we could put them to bed. Maybe we should have brought bottles there and watched more.. I'm sure Christian would have favored that.

Here is a picture from that game! Some of those kids would have literally towered over me. Okay so almost every player was taller than me, I admit it!

*Name has been changed

New Developments

So this last week has been one of many firsts for Patrick and Payden. I wanted to make mention of it because it's been a lot of fun to watch them grow and catch onto things.

One of the cutest things that has been going on for awhile is Patrick knows his Da Da. I have a book with a picture of Daddy and Mommy and we point to Daddy and ask him Who's this? He will look right at you and say, "da da." Sometimes he will just whisper it. So cute!

Tuesday:

• Patrick learned how to hit the musical ladybug on the exersaucer to make it play music. He hit it over and over again. I think this finally clicked from playing at their Christmas Leap Frog Play Table where he has to hit something to make it play music.
  
• Payden crawled 4-5 knees at a time in the kitchen. It was amazing. I'm not sure but maybe it's easier on tile for him. Then again, maybe he is dragging his knees.
  
• Patrick pulled himself up to his knees to the couch and also another time trying to get something. This has been something I have been working with him a lot with. I was excited it finally paid off!! :)
• Patrick also has been rocking and rocking and rocking on his hands and knees. This has been happening for a few weeks. He is still moving backwards and getting stuck places but he's learning!
  

Wednesday:

• Patrick was rocking on his hands and knees and then went to sitting up by himself. I was so surprised. I put him on his stomach and watched him do it again. He has yet to do it in his crib yet. I don't know if I am ready for that yet!
  
• Payden crawled to Christian and I so well. He went 4-5 knees and is so close!
  
• Patrick and Payden are both now waving bye bye with their right hand. It is so precious! Patrick's is a little more coordinated when Payden is a little more floppy but they understand!

I am going to be working with them a lot! I so want them crawling by their 1st birthday in only 11 more days! So crazy!

* New development on Thursday - BOTH boys were sitting up in their cribs when I got them up from naps!

Adventures in Eating Out With Twins!

For Christmas we received a few Gift Cards for some restaurants around our town. We really enjoy going out to new places and of course we have our favorites. Since we had the boys, this was something that we just had to cut out from our budget. We just didn't have the money for it. Since then, Christian has lost over 30 lbs by just eating at home; not to mention healthier too.

Here are some of our experiences from the 2 places that we went to over the last couple weeks.

On the Border:

• Boys did super super well. We had many comments about the boys how cute they looked and people asking if they were really twins. I can't count how many times we get asked that question!
  
• I ordered a yummy Burrito and it was made wrong. Tons of Onions! The Waiter apologized and then didn't end up charging us for it all. Then he also threw in extra chips and salsa. I guess he didn't want any complaint from us.
  
• We did feel bad as there were things all over the floor. I need to research what the proper etiquette is for taking kids out to eat.
  
• As the couple next to us were leaving they said, "Those were the best behaved kids at a restaurant, we've ever seen. I wondered if they were just saying that because I didn't think they were ALL that good. Maybe they were trying to give us a boost!
  
• Patrick decided he wanted salsa and made a grab for it and almost had it ALL over the front of him.
• High chairs were a little open for our boys who kept slouching and it made it harder to feed them... Next time I wonder if it would be better to bring their boosters.
  

Apple-bee's

• A whole bunch of, "how cute, are those twins." and another comment, "they look just like dolls."
  
• Love the high chairs and it kept them right at the table and they really loved it. They actually seemed to eat better or maybe they were just hungrier, I don't know.
  
• As we left, an older gentleman told us, "I really enjoyed watching you and your little children, they were so cute." That really made us feel good!
  

Plus the food was yummy too.. Although taking kids out to eat doesn't give you much time to really "enjoy" the food but you enjoy it all the same because it's not the same foods we cook all the time either. Plus it gets me OUT of the house! Yay for that!

2010 in Pictures

The year 2010 was a pretty amazing, incredible year. We learned so much and were blessed doubly in so many ways.

Warning: picture heavy post is ahead.

Our little family first began like this:

Then in February of 2005, we added our beloved pug, Maddie.


And last year, 2010, we became parents of our beautiful, twin boys, Patrick and Payden.

Day by day, and month by month they grew and grew.

January 2010

February 2010

March 2010

April 2010

May 2010

June 2010

July 2010

August 2010

September 2010

October 2010

November 2010

December 2010

Now an updated family picture: