Two to Five

Anna vs. the alarm clock and CrossFit

2012-01-28T08:00:00.001-06:00

Yesterday marked the end of my second week of CrossFit. Last week was a bit...bumpy, we'll say.

Monday was easy; I practically jumped out of bed at 5 AM. It was the first day, and I was excited. The workout was great. I was sore after, of course, but I felt great about myself. I accomplished a TON (more than I usually do in a whole day) before 9 that morning. I unloaded the dishwasher, started a load of laundry, and made dinner for Monday night all while entertaining William and feeding the twins.

Be very impressed.

BUT, Tuesday did not go so well. It actually did not go at all.

The short story is I overslept.

The long story is long and explains that it wasn't exactly my fault. ;) I have a terrible history with alarm clocks. We have a mutual hatred for one another. It never rings loud enough to wake me. And if it does, it makes me so mad that I must turn it off. This time I woke up and hit snooze - one of my favorite things to do in the morning.

(*It is important to note here that I have not used an alarm clock in the morning for 2 years. And I have NEVER used one at 5 in the morning.)

This was my first time using the alarm clock on my iPhone, and I didn't realize that there is a 9 minute snooze. Yikes! So, I thought I would get to close my eyes for 5 more minutes, but I got 9. Then I hit snooze again. Double yikes. I thought it would be 5:10 when I got up, but it was 5:19.

Too late. It was too late to go. I was mad. But there was nothing I could do.

There is no morning class on Wednesday, so Thursday was my next shot.

The exact same thing happened. I was livid that morning and in a bad mood all day long.

Thursday night, Cole and I devised a plan. He would set his alarm then kick me out of bed.

It worked, and we've been doing that ever since. (Yes, he does get extra brownie points for technically waking up at 5 AM so that I can work out.)

I really, really like CrossFit so far. It's a little difficult to explain to people what the workouts are like because they are different every day. Suffice it to say, they are difficult but doable. I've done lots of squats, situps, pushups (I try, anyway), and weightlifting. And I've done lots of other random things (rope climbs, rowing, etc.). One day I'll do a post about some actual workouts we've done so you can get an idea of what I do so early in the morning.

I think I would prefer not to go at 5 in the morning, but that's really the only time that works for my life right now. It makes me feel so much better about myself AND I get to talk to adults. About something other than babies. It's pure heaven...at 5 AM.

What a difference a year makes...

2012-01-26T22:58:00.000-06:00

2010

2011

Oh, hello 2012

2012-01-13T15:32:00.003-06:00

Somehow, I think I'm still stuck in 2010. (When I originally wrote the title for this post, I wrote 2010.)

Yet, here we are, 13 days into 2012.

Today Ellen and Cole are 18 months old. That is completely unbelievable to me. They are seriously growing up so fast. (Some days seems to draaaaaaaaag on and on, but that's another post.)

Looking forward to 2012, I've been thinking about my goals for this next year. Yes, I suppose "goals" are the same thing as resolutions, but my word sounds better. :) One of my goals this year is to focus on my fitness. Not weight loss necessarily, but fitness. I want to feel good about myself. I want to be in shape.

Last December I was just starting to get serious about getting in shape again after having the twins. And then I found out I was pregnant with William, so I quit working out and watching what I ate and started focusing on surviving. I told myself that when William was 6 months old, I would revisit getting in shape.

William turned 6 months on December 24. I'd been thinking for a long time about what kind of exercise routine would work best for me. I would love to be able to work out in the afternoons, but it's so hard (and expensive!) to get a babysitter every afternoon. Early mornings were going to be best, sadly. I am NOT a morning person. I tried to get up and do a DVD by myself a few times, but every single time something stopped me from getting a full workout in. After that, I knew I would need to leave the house.

I decided that CrossFit might be my best option. The location closest to me offers a morning class (5:30 AM! Yikes!). They have a trainer there telling you what to do, helping with all the moves, and offering encouragement. PLUS, there are other people there...other adults. I desperately need some interaction on a regular basis with adults.

I have now completed the first of two beginner classes, and I think I'll be able to start regular classes Monday morning. I can't wait!

I'll post more about our workouts and how getting up in the mornings goes later. And I promise to do a Christmas recap. I have some FUNNY pictures of the twins (especially Ellen) to share.

Funny kids

2011-12-15T07:00:00.000-06:00

To follow-up my Debbie Downer post, here's a happy one.

Most days, the twins are really fun and funny. Even William gets in on the shenanigans every once in a while. I usually text Big Cole during the day to tell them what the kiddos are up to, but I realized recently that I haven't documented these things in any other way.

So, here we go:

Lately, when I go to wake Ellen up, her feet are poking out through her crib. She likes to sleep sideways in her crib.
Ellen LOVES to squeal. It's super high-pitched, and Cole and I are convinced it will make us deaf one day. One day William squealed just like her.
William is looking more and more like Little Cole every day. We think his cry and laugh sound like Cole too.
William and Ellen love to laugh at each other. Ellen especially likes to put her finger in William's mouth then look at me and laugh.
Ellen has been walking around the playroom lately singing. It's so cute. And her face always looks so serious, like she's trying to come up with the words or something.
Cole and Ellen really like putting their Halloween costumes on. For a while after Halloween, they were in the playroom and the twins would bring them to me and whine for me to put them on.
Every now and then I leave the twins in the playroom while I jump in the shower really quick. It's completely baby-proofed, so there's nothing they can really get into. One day I came back after my shower and found the twins running around the playroom with my iPhone! I'm still not sure how they got it.
Ellen is quite frightened by the sight of me with my hair wrapped in a towel. She won't talk and usually stands very still when I walk in the room with a towel on my head.
Cole's giggle is just about the best sound ever. He gets so tickled!
Cole and Ellen are both TERRIFIED of dogs. Seriously terrified. I dont' know where it came from, but it's definitely real. Sometimes this fear even applies to stuffed animals (and not just stuffed dogs). It's pretty ridiculous.
The twins love to shake their heads back and forth (like they're saying no) while they eat. One of them starts. The other sees, laughs, and does it too.
Sometimes Ellen pulls her right arm out of her pjs while she sleeps. And she hates socks on her feet if she doesn't have shoes on too.
Cole beats his head on the floor and on the kiddie gate when he's upset. Ellen has started doing this too recently.
Sometimes Cole steals something from Ellen (usually the remote or something equally exciting) and runs away laughing. He seems so proud of himself.
Cole tries to put his paci in my mouth sometimes.
Both Ellen and Cole like to feed me Cheerios. For some reason it's entertaining.
Cole loves turning big toys in the playroom upside down - the activity table, the exersaucer, etc. He then laughs at himself and climbs on the toy. Such a boy.
Ellen will sometimes try to climb on the toys too, but she's so cautious that she ends up whining for me to help her get off.

All three of my kids keep me laughing. It's really the only reason I keep them around. The last few weeks (ok, maybe 5 or 6 weeks) have been pretty terrible. I was tempted to run away. My happy crazies seem to be back now, though, and I am much, much more content.*

*(My attitude change is also due in LARGE part to my mom visiting us last week for almost 4 days. She washed everything in the house, vacuumed, and took care of all three kids while I played and slept. Yes, she's amazing.)

Thursday in pictures and videos

2011-12-02T07:00:00.000-06:00

Ellen did this today too.

We went for a walk after lunch.

(Yes, the stroller is heavy. I think the stroller itself weighs approximately 35 pounds, then add three kids approximately 15-20 pounds each. I burned about 1,435,343,875 calories.)

Then we went outside after an afternoon nap. Ellen seemed fearless when we first got outside, but then she seemed to freeze in her spot and wouldn't move. It looks like she wants to move, but she never did.

Cole was playing in the "dip" in our front yard. He liked to run through it. Apparently it was funny.

Cole fell onto the patio not long after this (he has a nice bruise on his forehead to prove it), so we went in.

Then we were silly until Dad came home.

Ellen actually got the jersey on her head after I quit filming.

All in all, it was a pretty good day.

Teething, tears, and turning a corner

2011-11-29T07:00:00.001-06:00

The last few weeks have been tough around here. Really, really tough.

Ellen is cutting about 6 teeth (that I can see), so she is fussy. Cole is cutting teeth and perhaps going through a jealous stage (whines when I pick up William). And William is still a less than stellar napper.

To top it all off, the twins seem to be trying to drop to one nap.

I thought this phase would be easier, but I was wrong. Usually, kids who take one nap take it in the afternoon. The twins, though, are always SUPER tired in the morning. Like even an hour or so after they wake up. That makes for a L.O.N.G. morning. And I'm not a morning person. At all.

There have been lots of tears shed in this house lately. Lots of temper tantrums. Lots of grumpiness. Lots of growing pains.

Sunday night I was almost in tears thinking about the week starting. About Cole going back to work (he'd been home since Wednesday). About being alone with all three kiddos again. Ugh.

But, Monday was better. We seem to be turning a corner. The twins were far less fussy and even played by themselves a good bit. For the last few weeks, they've just wanted to stand next to me, whining and crying. Even if I got on the floor to play with them, there was still whining and crying. But not yesterday. Yesterday the old Cole and Ellen were back. They even chased each other around the room, laughing hysterically.

They were relatively happy until 1:30 when I put them down for their nap, and they slept until 5:15. It was glorious. And William even napped better and played really well too.

So, I think we're going to make it.

Unless we have another bad day. Then I'm going to drop the kids off at my parents' house on my way to the beach. And I might not come home. :)

Sidenote: I tried to wake the twins up TWICE this morning. The first time at 8:50. I turned on the lights (we have a dimmer, so the light wasn't bright), talked to them, rubbed their backs, and they were having none of it. Cole budged a bit but never opened his eyes. Ellen never moved. I went back in at 9, did the same thing, and got the same response. I gave up. I finally heard them talking around 9:15.

Yes, I do have the most ridiculous children ever.

Halloween in November

2011-11-17T07:00:00.001-06:00

We did Thanksgiving and Christmas is January (oops!), and now we're going to recap Halloween in November. Actually halfway through November...that is scary.

A little backstory: I had been thinking about costumes for the kids for a while. I wanted to dress all three of them either in the same outfit or something coordinating. I had several ideas, but (of course) I never pulled the trigger. Finally, my lovely mother-in-law came to the rescue. She was at Pottery Barn Kids and found some costumes that were on sale. Perfect!

That's how we ended up with three little pumpkins:

First, we went to the parade in our neighborhood. Cole and Ellen were amazing. They were supposed to go down for their second nap at 3, but instead we were dressing them as pumpkins. They didn't take a second nap but never fussed the whole night.

William slept through the parade.

We went to a friend's house to regroup before going trick-or-treating.

Our crew.

We went trick or treating, pulling Ellen and Cole in the wagon. They didn't get any candy, but they seemed to really enjoy people-watching.

Cousin Martha Ann joined the pumpkin patch.

We got home around 7ish (I think), fed everyone, and put three tired little pumpkins to bed.

Random thoughts for the week

2011-10-22T07:00:00.001-05:00

My mom got here Wednesday afternoon, and I couldn't have been more excited about her coming.

She always, always does my laundry and gets it under control which is something I desperately need.

She lets me sleep in and do whatever I want during the day.

She loves taking care of my children, and she even claims to love cleaning my house and doing my laundry. (I'm not sure I believe that last part, but I'm not going to argue with her.)

She left this afternoon, and my house is looking better than it has in a while. All of our clothes are washed and hung up or folded. All of the kids' clothes are washed and hung up. The laundry area is organized. And my children are appropriately spoiled. (My mom lets them play with her iPad and look at the pictures on her camera.)

The kids have been up to some funny things lately. The twins went nuts when William's seat was in the playroom. They had a ball playing with it.

They were giggling uncontrollably at this point.

Ellen has been playing with the box from Aunt Sara's iPhone.

Ellen and Cole had their 15-month check-up Wednesday. Ellen weighs 20 pounds 6.5 ounces and is 31 inches long. Cole weighs 19 pounds 15.5 ounces and is 29.75 inches long. The doctor said that it sounds like they're meeting all their milestones appropriately and that everything looked great.

William's 4-month check-up is on Monday. I'm totally expecting him to weigh close to 20 pounds. Ok, maybe not. But I wouldn't exactly be surprised.

Waiting for the doctor to come in.

I've noticed lately that I haven't been working on my photography as much as I want to lately. Yes, I'm busy and have probably the most difficult subjects in the world to practice on, but still. I want to get better. I want to take time, at least once a week, to try to take a really good picture.

Cole and I were looking back at some of my older posts, and we stumbled onto this one. The pictures are so good and so much better than the ones I'm taking now. Part of that is because the twins weren't mobile then. I could just position them where I wanted them, and they had to comply. But still. I need to make it more of a priority. I want to take the intermediate photography class in the spring, so I need to get crackin'.

(This one was turned the right way, but somehow it flipped back around.)

That's about all that's going on around here lately. Hope y'all have had a great week!

Week in my life - Friday, Saturday, and Sunday

2011-10-17T07:00:00.000-05:00

Participating in Week in my Life with Melissa at Adventuroo has been fun, but I'm a little happy we're nearing the end for two main reasons.

First, my days are all very, very similar. We have the same routine. The twins do random funny stuff. William laughs. And we go to bed. :)

And, second, it's quite difficult to take pictures of little ones who can walk and who really, really, really want to touch the camera. There have been several times either Cole or Ellen has been doing something funny. When I pick up the camera, they see it, stop what they're doing, and run toward me. And then I don't get the shot. But, I've still gotten some pretty cute ones.

Apparently it's fun to climb into the booster seats Cole and Ellen eat in:

As you can tell by the lack of recent posts, I've been slacking a little bit lately. I have no excuses...I just lost steam. But here's what we've been up to the past couple of days.

Friday was a great day. The twins and I had fun playing; William napped pretty well, and we got to see Aunt Sara! She was technically here to get her new iPhone, but we'll pretend she came to see us. :)

I even tried to get a picture of all three of them Friday. This is what we got:

For some reason, Ellen is obsessed with putting her finger in William's mouth. She gets so excited when she sees that he's in a place where she can get to him. She immediately sticks out her finger and zeros in on his mouth. At one point, I let her sit in front of him while he was in the Bumbo seat. And she started talking to him! It was adorable! I tried to get a video, but of course she stopped talking and started staring at me.

Ellen walked around with a Nutri-Grain wrapper stuck to her foot for a while!

About 30 seconds later, the bib was over William's face.

Daddy's home!

Saturday was a wonderful day for me. I was productive and I got to sleep.

My productive activity? I finally cleaned out my closet! I have been wanting to do this since I got pregnant with William. It never seemed like a good idea, though, since I couldn't really fit into anything in the closet so I couldn't make a good judgement about what I would or would really wear. I had some time Saturday morning so I just go down to it.

My closet looks practically empty, so now I need to go shopping to fill it back up! :)

Ellen has loved sitting in the Bumbo lately; sometimes she gets stuck though. :(

After all of that work, I decided I needed to take a little nap. Cole was taking care of the three crazy cuties, so I crawled back into bed around 10:30 or so.

After a lovely nap, I opened my eyes and couldn't believe what I saw...it was 3:00!!

The rest of our Saturday was filled with football. One of my favorite moments of the afternoon (I'm still so sad I didn't get a picture of it!) was Cole sitting, more like lounging, in Big Cole's lap. It was so cute. They just sat on the couch watching football together. So far, Cole is definitely the best "lounger." Ellen is too curious and wants to play with too many things.

Getting ready to leave for church.

Sunday was an easy, laid-back day. We hung around the house then went to church.

I'm so glad I documented a Week in my Life, but, boy, it was work. It will be fun to look back at this one day, though, and see what we used to do. I may try to do one day a month (or something like that) and document it in detail again. I've definitely taken more pictures of the kids this week than I have since William was born!

I hope you've enjoyed this peek into our lives!

Week in my life - Thursday

2011-10-14T07:00:00.008-05:00

Today was much, much better than yesterday. First, I started my day with these two cuties.

They just love playing with Cole's shoes. And his socks. And his ties. Basically, they're fascinated with his entire wardrobe.

They didn't get up until 9AM this morning! Even though they are typically pretty late sleepers (rarely up before 8), I think this was a record for them!. Ellen and Cole played really well together this morning. And William napped fairly well.

They went nuts when I got them up from their first nap. Of course, I didn't film that. I filmed them waking up for the day. I'll try again tomorrow to get a funny video of them waking up. At one point, Ellen stood up then fell down like a ton of bricks, face down in her mattress. She laid there, completely still, for a while. Maybe she thought it was a game??

I had a babysitter come over for the afternoon, right after the twins got up from their nap. It was wonderful to eat my turkey and swiss sandwich in peace (while catching up on the blogs I read). I got a shower and left to run some errands.

The most fun "errand" was visiting with my cousin who had a baby a few weeks ago. Sadly, we don't get to see each other often enough, but I love our time together. We even made a plan to have a dinner date next week!

Ellen doesn't usually take a paci, so we laugh every time we look at this photo.

Everybody had a great time when Daddy came home. First, they ran to the gate to greet him. (This was the first time Ellen has answered "Dada" when I asked "Who's here?!")

Then they both took turns playing with the cord on the fan.

Tonight Cole bent at the waist, but his forehead on the floor with his bottom way up in the air, and looked in between his legs. He saw Ellen, and they both thought this was hilarious and started giggling. Then he just sat on the playmat.

Before Cole changed out of his work clothes and started getting their dinner ready, he played around with the twins.

Waiting for dinner

Ellen is playing with a diaper.

They tried tomatoes for the first time tonight (yeah, it's not exactly tomato season anymore, but they don't know that). Neither of them seemed too impressed. And they were both super duper talkative tonight. I'm not sure what got into them.

Talking things over with Dad during dinner.

And my little William was a laughing fool today (even though this photo doesn't show it).

I cooked a yummy dinner tonight - Walnut and Rosemary Oven-Fried Chicken from Cooking Light. We were both starving, so we ate it before I remembered to take a picture of it.

While I was prepping dinner, Cole put the twins to bed. Ellen took her sippy cup to their room with her, but Daddy took it away after she dropped it. Little Cole cried a little before he went to sleep, but otherwise they went down easily.

It was a good day. I'm so excited that tomorrow's Friday! I have a couple of fun ideas that I want to do for my last few posts. I'm going to try really hard to accomplish them because I think they'll be neat to look back on.

Hope y'all had a good Thursday too!

Week in my life - Wednesday

2011-10-13T07:00:00.003-05:00

(As a reminder, all this week I'm linking up with Melissa at Adventuroo for her Week in my Life series. It's been fun and a bit exhausting so far, but I'm determined to soldier on!)

Today was better than yesterday. I didn't have time to shower until 3PM, and even then couldn't dry my hair until the babysitter came at 3:25. But there was way less fussing today.

I am sad to admit that I didn't really take any pictures today. It just wasn't in the cards. So I'm going to interject some random pictures I haven't posted before.

The three crazies who keep me busy.

Some highlights of the day:

William was very talkative and giggly all day. It's so fun to see his personality coming out.
Cole and Ellen still LOVE when I let them touch William.
Remember when Cole had the remote yesterday? Well, today I found "Heartfelt Holidays with Valerie" on my DVR.
I think Ellen got scared when she saw her reflection in the glass of the door to the hallway. It was pretty funny.
I cut William's finger while trimming his nails this morning. I wish someone would open a manicure/pedicure/bath place for kids. I would pay big bucks for someone to take care of those things for me.
A babysitter came this afternoon so I could get out of the house a bit. It was lovely. I've forgotten how much I love listening to the radio in the car.
The Wal-Mart trip I made fun of yesterday was actually a great idea. I now have light in the playroom and my bathroom!
Cole ate dinner with work friends tonight, so I was on my own. Thankfully, all three kids cooperated and we had a fun evening together.

Breakfast

Since I didn't take detailed notes or photos today, I decided to discuss how I've structured my life to work for me. (Thanks Melissa for the idea in your Wednesday post!)

My life is all about routine. Not schedule (we don't do everything at the same time everyday), but routine. We do the same things over and over.

And over.

Every night I clean bottles and sippy cups.

(This picture was taken when the twins were still taking bottles.)

It helps me stay sane and feel like I have a little bit of control over my life. When the twins were born, all I heard from other twin moms was to get everyone on a schedule. I took that to heart, and now we have a very predictable routine each day.

Brotherly love

Yes, it gets boring sometimes. No, I don't really leave the house very often. BUT, I believe that my kids are happier for it. Because I am a happier and better mom because of it.

(Note: I don't think this is what every mom/family should do. This is just what works for me and my family.)

When William was born, he threw a little wrench in our routine. We're working on our new routine with three kiddos, but it's taking some time.

Playing in their secret spot

As the past two days' posts show, I have very little time for myself. The time that I do have, I really, really do not want to spend doing laundry. Or cleaning the bathrooms. Or cleaning anything at all.

When you walk into my house, you can tell. But I don't care. This season of my life is chaotic and busy. It won't matter 5 years from now (or even 5 months from now) that my house is messy and makes my mother cringe when she sees it. :)

What will matter is that I spent time with my kids, played with them, loved on them.

I think Cole's mad because I won't let them play with my computer.

Ellen loves to be close to William.

I have the opportunity to stay home with my kids, and I'm determined not to wish it away. Sure, the days can be miserably long. I'm lonely sometimes and feel like no one in the world knows what I'm going through (which is obviously so untrue). But I get to spend every minute with my kids. And they're funny kids. And listening to them giggle is just the best.

So, really, life is sweet.

Week in my life - Tuesday

2011-10-12T07:00:00.001-05:00

Difficult doesn't begin to describe today. I felt like it would never end.

The battery in my real camera died, and I forgot to charge it last night so I used the iPhone today. I had planned to start around lunch and focus on the second part of the day. As it turns out, I ended up shooting mostly video today anyway.

William woke up at 7:15 AM.

8:01: We sit on the couch and "talk" while I work on my post about Monday.

8:31: He is down for his nap.

8:36: I tweet that the twins were still asleep.

8:37: I hear giggles coming from their room.

8:57: The twins are eating breakfast. Every now and then Cole will look over at me, mouth stuffed full, and laugh randomly. He's such a goober.

11:35: William wakes up from nap, eats his bottle, and plays.

We had another nice little chat. (Sorry for my annoying voice on the video. Toward the end, he finally laughs like he had been doing a ton of before I started filming.)

12:37: I hear the twins wake up.

The twins ate lunch, but Ellen was pretty fussy. I changed her diaper, and she SCREAMED the entire time. She had a terrible diaper rash. I planned to call the doctor but called Cole first to make sure he could pick up any prescription the doctor might prescribe. This was 1:55. He can't hear me over Ellen crying and William screaming in my arms. I called back at 2:10 when everyone had calmed down a bit.

Finally Ellen settled and started playing with Cole. (Warning: this video is long. Grandparents may be the only ones who enjoy the entire thing.)

Ellen played with the window treatments.

Then put a bucket on her head.

"What's so funny, Mom?"

2:50: William starts a bottle.

2:54: I have to make him stop while I put the twins down for their nap.

4:49: The fun really starts.

Yeah. Isn't that awesome? Maybe my kids aren't so cute afterall? (I kid, I kid.)

I quickly started counting down the minutes until Cole would come home.

Ellen recovered eventually and played with Cole for a bit before dinner.

THEN, the babysitter came and we got to go out to dinner!

(I was going to take more pictures, but my phone died.)

Dinner was fab. Then, to wrap up a glamorous evening out on the town we went to Wal-Mart. To get lightbulbs, formula, and wipes.

Yes, you should be jealous of my life. :)

Hopefully tomorrow will be a little happier.

Week in my life - Monday

2011-10-11T08:23:00.000-05:00

Monday started a little early for my taste. At 6:55 a.m. I got up to put William's paci in to see if that would soothe him a bit. He was fussing, but it didn't sound like his I'm-so-hungry-I'm-going-to-die cry.

Well, at 7:02 a.m. I heard that cry.

Got out of bed, stumbled to the kitchen, and made bottles. By 7:10 all the bottles were made for the day (didn't take time to take a picture because William was losing it).

At 7:38 a.m. William finished his bottle and had some time to play without the big kids trying to hurt him.

We did some tummy time which quickly devolved into crying. He pretty much hates tummy time, just like Ellen did.

At 8:08 I hear the twins chatting in their room.

Wake-up time is always funny in our house for some reason.

I made breakfast.

And gave Cole his medicine (for reflux).

Then they finally got to eat! They both shovel waaaay too much food in their mouths.

After breakfast, it's time to play. Cole loves to climb on things.

And he likes for you to laugh at him while he's climbing on them.

They went down for their nap a little after 10. I jumped in the shower, and by the time I got out and dried my hair (about 15 minutes) William was fussing and wanting to be held. I held him until the twins got up at 11:48.

At 11:50 Daddy came home for lunch! The twins both go NUTS when they hear the door open and him walking in.

Cole and Ellen at lunch while Daddy ate. I fed William his lunch bottle.

William was waiting (not so patiently) while I fixed lunch for Cole and Ellen.

After they ate, they played with Daddy for a bit. Cole LOVES to untie Big Cole's shoe. It's hilarious to watch. I tried to get a picture of it, but little Cole just wasn't cooperating. He wanted that shoelace!

Then we played with some really fun toys.

A wrapper

And the remote

There was more random playing around the room. I got a picture on my iPhone of them in their hiding place just laughing hysterically at each other.

While I was changing William's diaper on the couch (it's easier to change it there than to take him back to the nursery), both Cole and Ellen came over to "help."

I caught Ellen poking William which turned into this:

Pretty sweet.

The twins went down for their second nap at 1:40. Right when I put them down, William got fussy and wanted me to hold him. I held him all afternoon while he slept.

It was nice. But I did have some things that I wanted to accomplish. Oh well...they'll keep.

It's so funny that William likes to be held for his naps just like Cole did. Ellen was never interested. There's just something about those boys.

Ellen and Cole got up around 3:45 and had a snack of Ritz, Cheerios, and milk while William had a bottle. We played a good bit during the afternoon, so I wasn't able to get a ton of pictures.

William took his third nap around 5ish, so I could play with the twins for a bit. Ellen wanted to sit in my lap. She was so cute...she was sorta singing while she sat there. She didn't need a toy in her hands or anything; she just wanted to sit.

We read books, sang, and laughed. It was fun.

Then we all started fussing. William woke up from his nap around 5:45. When I left the playroom to get him, Cole got upset. Then Ellen got upset. Then we all stayed sad until Daddy got home at 6:11 p.m.

He played with the twins for a while and then fixed their dinner. They ate while William took his last bottle.

Everyone went to bed around 7:30 and I started dinner. Yes, I actually made dinner. We had chicken baked in a balsamic vinaigrette with couscous and breadsticks. It was pretty tasty.

I spent the rest of the night uploading photos, watching How I Met Your Mother with Cole, and going through the huge pile of mail I'd been neglecting.

So, there's Monday. I did pretty well with pictures early in the day, but not so much toward the end. I'll see if I can catch the end of the day later this week.

A week in my life

2011-10-10T07:00:00.001-05:00

I've been working on a post about what we do every day for a while, but for some reason I just can't seem to finish and post it.

But, this week Melissa at Adventuroo has given me the perfect incentive to finally get around to it. And I'm not just doing one day...I'm documenting a WHOLE WEEK.

Seriously. I'm really going to do it.

I'm going to try to use my real camera as often as possible, but sometimes my little ones move too fast so the iPhone will have to suffice.

Who knows, I might even get a video or two for you.

Get excited.

William

2011-09-25T07:00:00.001-05:00

Our little William is growing like a weed. At his last appointment, he had gained FOUR pounds in FOUR weeks! Crazy!

He's now wearing 3-6 month clothes. He eats about 8 ounces per feeding. Sometimes he eats every 3-4 hours and sometimes every 1-2 hours. He hasn't gotten into too much of a predictable routine during the day, but for the last three weeks or so he has been sleeping through the night (8ish - 7ish). I'm pretty excited to be sleeping too! I'm hoping he gets better at napping soon. I'm working on trying to get him on a stricter 3 hour schedule. The last couple of days I haven't gotten a break at all because he sleeps while the twins are awake then wakes up right when I get the twins down. Ugh! We'll get there. I just have to be patient.

I haven't been taking nearly enough pictures of him lately! I can't remember the last time I picked up my camera during a regular day. I used to be so good about that with twins, so I need to make more of an effort now.

I have had William's birth announcements done for a while now (way too long to confess on the blog), but (surprise, surprise) I haven't ordered them yet. Tinyprints.com will now address, stamp, and mail your cards out for you. You just have to design the card and provide the addresses. For some reason I can't get my act together and upload the addresses - that I already have in an Excel spreadsheet - and just get the darn things done. (This is the story of my life.)

The twins are obsessed with William. Especially Ellen. She squeals with delight when I let her get close to him and pat his head. Sometimes the pats turn to hits, and we have to call it quits. Most of the time, though, she's very sweet with him. Sometime while I'm holding him and the twins are standing right by the couch staring at me, I'll hold William up for them to see. They both laugh and laugh. For some reason William is funny.

I put him in the Bumbo on the floor today, and the twins raced over to see him, laughing all the way. I got a picture of the three of them (and one of Cole trying to get in the Bumbo with William!) that I'll try to share tomorrow. They're on my phone, so I just need to get them on here.

So, that's William in a nutshell. Hopefully pictures coming soon...

Another funny video

2011-09-22T16:58:00.006-05:00

I promise...a real post is coming soon. Very soon.

For now, though, I leave you with this:

Videos of Ellen and Cole

2011-08-25T07:49:00.004-05:00

I don't really have the mental energy for a real post, so here are a couple of funny videos from the past week or so.

We have a walker!

2011-08-18T07:00:00.001-05:00

Miss Ellen is walking!!

Here she is standing by herself (and holding my mom's camera lens cap).

She took her first steps August 5. She had been standing by herself for a few days (maybe a week?) before that. But today, she walked from the gate to the rug by herself! That's almost FIVE FEET! It was bizarre to see her doing it by herself.

And today Cole stood by himself for the first time today. He was so proud!

It is ridiculous how fast they are growing. I'm not sure I'm ready for walkers!

Latest Milestones for Ellen and Cole

2011-08-12T07:00:00.000-05:00

Ellen and Cole are growing and changing every day it seems. Some of the things they're up to lately:

Ellen -

She weighed 18 pounds 14 ounces at her 1 year check-up.
Took her first step Friday, August 5, 2011. She let go of the chair she was walking beside, took a step, and sat down.
Has FOUR teeth now - two on bottom (the first two to come in) and two on top. Her teeth seem to come in two at a time.
Her "babbling" is more like a foreign language. It's hilarious to hear her talk. Most of the time she does it pretty quietly. Cole and I frequently mimic her language and laugh hysterically. It really is that funny.
She is incredibly messy while eating table food. She eats one piece at a time and nibble/gnaws on it until she's ready to swallow. She loves brownies and Nutri-Grain bars (particularly the apple cinnamon ones). She is NOT impressed by cheese, turkey, pasta, or anything else that feels weird to her fingers when she tests them. She recently tried and liked raisins a lot. She almost always makes a funny face when trying something new.
She still loves her hands and has gotten very good at using them. She can put Legos together and pull them apart. She can pick up a Cheerio using her thumb and index finger.
She loves to find fuzz from our carpet and "inspect" it. I have no idea what she's looking for or what's so intriguing about it, but she can stare at fuzz forever.
She is looking more and more like a little girl lately.
She happily plays in her crib (or stares at her hand) when she wakes up. When I go in to get them in the morning, she is usually still laying down but awake.
The minute the gate that corrals the twins in the playroom opens, Ellen makes a beeline straight outta there. You've never seen a girl crawl so fast; the trouble is that she makes so much noise as she's crawling toward freedom that every adult hears her and beats her to the punch, closing the gate on her dreams.
She has the most pitiful/hilarious sad face.
She is a thief.

Cole

He weighed 17 pounds 10 ounces at his 1 year check-up.
He has started scrunching up his whole face when he smiles, and then he laughs. It makes me laugh every time he does it.
He has two teeth on bottom.
He has become quite the sneezer.
He LOVES food. Last night he cleared his tray before Ellen had finished 3 Cheerios. He just shoves it all in his mouth. I can only put 3 Goldfish at a time on his tray because he'll put them all in his mouth at once and choke. He loves Goldfish, Ritz, raisins, and pretty much anything else you put in front of him.
He is still in love with the playmat. When it's set up, he giggles as he crawls through it. He must like the hanging toys hitting his head...who knows though?
This kid loves to laugh. Yesterday it was almost like he was on speed the way he was giggling as he crawled super fast all around the playroom. The laughing seriously lasted almost 30 minutes or so.
He constantly gets toys, pacis, etc. stolen from him, but he usually doesn't mind. He'll just find something else to do. This quality is especially nice for him since his twin steals pretty much anything.
He is eating his crib currently. He wakes up with white paint around his mouth. Should I be worried? :)
He lets you know pretty much the moment he wakes up.
His "talking" is just yelling. It can sometimes almost sound like he's upset, but he's not. He's just telling you something really, really important.
He looks and me and laughs when I tell him no.
He is still obsessed with bouncing. He used to have a jumpy-thing that he loved. He would go nuts in that thing. Now when I hold him up, trying to get him to stand on his own, he wants to bounce.

Both

They are so, so funny when I put them in the crib together. They sleep in separate cribs, but I put them together sometimes when I have to go get something or just want them contained. They will tackle each other, bury their foreheads in the other's stomach, and crawl around and "chase" each other, all the while laughing like crazy. It's so fun to watch and listen to.
They apparently hate cheese. I put it on their trays every single day, and no one eats a bite. If I try to put it in Ellen's mouth, she turns her head. If I try to put it in Cole's mouth, he'll take it and then spit it out, giving me a look that says, "WHY in the world did you put that in my mouth, Mom??"
On the way home from church Sunday, Cole and I heard them giggling sporadically. I looked back and saw them holding hands. Cole held his hand out, Ellen grabbed it, and they laughed. Then Ellen would hold her hand out, Cole would grab it, and they would laugh some more. All of this happened when they couldn't see each other.
They have a "secret" hideout behind one of the chairs in the playroom in the corner with the door to the outside. Our theory is that they like to look out of the window, but it's still super strange how much they love to be back there. They laugh and laugh at who knows what back there.
They both stare at William when he cries. When I am feeding or changing him in the playroom they laugh when he's laying on the couch. They both want to touch his head. I'll let them sometimes, but more often than not it turns a little violent. :) We're working on the concept of being gentle.

As you can tell, we laugh a lot around here. And I wouldn't have it any other way. There are moments of yucky, but mostly the twins seem to just enjoy life.

Ellen and Cole are 1!

2011-08-08T07:00:00.000-05:00

Let's just pretend that I posted this July 13, the day they actually turned one. :)

We had their party on Saturday, July 16, and it was perfect.

I tried to keep it really easy and low-key. I didn't want to get stressed out about everything having to be perfect. And it worked. I was able to enjoy myself and had a great time.

I ordered the invitations, birthday banner, and cupcake toppers from Babycakes Art & Design on etsy.com. The seller was so nice to work with. Everything was shipped super fast and was exactly what I envisioned. In case you haven't looked around, it's extremely difficult to find cute birthday invitations for a boy/girl twin party. I didn't really want a "theme" party (mostly because I couldn't think of a good one that would work for both Ellen and Cole), so that made finding invitations even more difficult.

Once I found these invitations from Babycakes, though, I decided on a loose theme of cupcakes. We had a banner that said "Happy Birthday Ellen & Cole" and various cupcake toppers - "Happy Birthday Ellen," "Happy Birthday Cole," 1, a silhouette of a little boy holding a cupcake, a silhouette of a little girl holding a cupcake. They were perfect.

We got cupcakes from a bakery in town, bought some ice cream, and called it a party.

We tried to get a picture of both of them on the couch looking cute in their birthday outfits.

That's as good as we could do before Cole crawled off the couch. (The fall scared him and all of us, but he was fine.)

Martha Ann: Ummm, dude, what's that on your head?

Ellen really wanted to grab the candle.

Cole was NOT impressed with the cupcake.

Clearly, Ellen wasn't either.

They looked pretty darn cute in their hats, though, if I do say so myself. (I got them from diapers.com.)

By the end of the afternoon, Cole was just worn out. :)

It was a fabulous first birthday party. The twins behaved beautifully, and William slept through it all.

We were so happy that all of our family could be there to celebrate with us (minus Uncle Rob).

I can't believe I have two one-year-olds.

William's Birth Story

2011-07-27T22:32:00.001-05:00

(FYI: This is a little long, but I wanted to make sure I wrote it all down.)

William Edwin Gresham made his debut June 24, 2011 at 11:42 p.m. after, shall we say, an "eventful" labor and delivery.

As I've mentioned before, my body likes to spread labor out over several days and weeks. I had been having contractions (sometimes all day long) for a while, but what they call active labor never actually started. So Friday when I was having contractions consistently every 2 minutes for several hours, I wasn't surprised. Some of these contractions hurt, though, so I decided we should probably go to the hospital just to sure nothing was happening.

Cole came home around 2 p.m., we took the twins to my sister-in-law's house, and drove to the hospital. After a couple of hours there it was determined that while I was in fact having fairly strong contractions every 2 minutes, I wasn't dilating at all (which is what they look for when determining if you are in labor), so they sent me home around 5 p.m. Bummer.

We picked up the twins, took them home, fed them, and put them to bed. While doing all of that, I was still having contractions, and they were still uncomfortable. After they were in bed, I told Cole to go to a dinner his firm was having so he could just get out of the house. While he was gone, my contractions went from uncomfortable to downright painful. When he got home at 9:30 he told me we had to go to the hospital. I told him I really didn't want to go yet, but he insisted.

So I called my little sister to come stay at the house with the twins. At this point, I was still thinking that they were going to have to send me back home again and I was less than thrilled with this idea. Cole, on the other hand, was sure this was it and packed a bag in preparation.

We arrived at the hospital around 10:30, and I was in pretty intense pain. They checked me, and I was only 3.5 centimeters dilated (I had only progressed 1.5 centimeters since my appointment Monday.). I was pretty upset and started crying. Cole tried to stay positive, though, and reminded me that at least I had made progress. That meant that they would admit me; this was the real thing.

Thirty minutes later, at 11 p.m., the nurse checked me again and I was 5 centimeters dilated. At this point I was begging for something for the pain. Each contraction was excruciating. I didn't have contractions that painful with the twins until after my water had broken. The nurses told me that the doctor was on his way which I took to mean that I wouldn't get anything for pain until he arrived.

The doctor got there around 11:30ish (things started getting foggy here because I thought I was going to pass out during each contraction). He wanted to check me before we did anything. I asked him how much I had dilated and was worried that I was still at 5 after all that pain. He looked at me and said very calmly, "I think I'm just going to break your water and you're going to have this baby."

Ummmm...WHAT?!

I reminded him that I did NOT have my epidural and did not intend on having this baby without it. He simply told me I could do it and would have to do it. He broke my water, and I thought I was going to lose it.

I was so scared to push, but it turns out it didn't hurt nearly as bad as the contractions. About 3 pushes later, William was born.

I absolutely could not believe he was here. It happened so quickly, and Cole and I were so unprepared. Suddenly we were a family of five.

William doesn't look very much like Cole or Ellen. When he sleeps, we see a little bit of little Cole in him, but you have to look pretty hard. He's his own person. His hair is pretty wild, so we think it might be curly.

So far William is pretty quiet. And, honestly, he sometimes gets lost in the shuffle around here. He's just so content (most of the time) that we forget he's sleeping right next to the playroom where the twins are going nuts, banging toys on the floor and laughing hysterically at each other.

Ellen and Cole are becoming a little more interested in him. By interested I mean that they want to pat (read: hit) his head and they laugh when they see Cole or me changing his diaper or feeding him.

He had his four week appointment on Friday, and he now weighs 7 pounds 10 ounces. The doctor was very pleased with his weight gain. We'll go again in two weeks (I think).

We're pretty in love with this little guy.

We're still around

2011-07-20T22:00:00.001-05:00

Don't worry...we're still here. We're just trying to adjust to life as a family of five.

It's truly amazing how much you can forget about having a newborn in one short year. I thought since it hasn't been that long since I had the twins that life with William would be a breeze. I was wrong. Sleepless nights and post-pregnancy hormones do a number on you. Ugh.

In reality, William is a really easy newborn. Cole and I had just gotten used to handling the twins who sleep through the night, hold their own bottles, play by themselves, don't spit up, and when they fuss we put them in the bed and they go to sleep. William does none of those things.

Plus, I know how to read the twins' cues. I know how to figure out what they want and need. William is a HUGE mystery to me. Still. After three weeks, I feel like I should know a little bit more about him, but I'm still clueless. Life with him is a huge guessing game.

I hate guessing games.

I know we'll figure each other out eventually, but we're currently in the phase of newborn-dom that feels like it will never end.

Stay tuned for more posts including

The twins' first birthday!

And more about this little guy, including a birth story.

Checking in...

2011-07-01T21:27:00.000-05:00

First, I forgot in my last post to add the link to some pictures my photographer sister-in-law, Emily Joy, took of William. You can see them on her blog Emily Joy Designs. She did a fabulous job (especially considering the less than desirable lighting in the hospital room). I have loved looking at them and remembering our first few hours with William.

Second, I also neglected in my last post to tell y'all about William's name. We decided on this name when I was expecting the twins. Since we didn't know the genders of the twins, we had four names ready to go. William Edwin was our second boy name. William is after Cole's uncle, and Edwin is my dad's name. It's funny that Ellen's name is completely from my family, Cole Jr.'s name is completely from Cole's family, and William is a combination. Our second girl name was also a combination. We didn't really plan it that way, but I'm glad that's how it worked out.

So far we're doing well. My parents came to meet William and hang out with the twins on Saturday, but they went back to the beach for their vacation on Monday. Cole's mom and sister have been a huge help this week. They've even kept the twins overnight twice!

William's doing great. He had his first check-up with our pediatrician on Wednesday and had gained an ounce since we were discharged on Sunday. He's very easy to feed so far. I never realized exactly how difficult and frustrating feeding Cole and Ellen was until I started feeding William. The few extra weeks before birth definitely made a difference in feeding, and I am thankful for it.

He is still in the sleep newborn stage which is lovely. I am a little nervous about how things are going to go once he wakes up and realizes he's alive. Thankfully I am going to have help in the afternoons, so we should make it.

So that's us in a nutshell. More pictures coming soon.

New Baby is here!

2011-06-28T07:00:00.001-05:00

William Edwin Gresham was born at 11:42 p.m. June 24, 2011. He weighed 6 pounds 5 ounces and was 19 inches long. His birth was rather eventful and rushed, but we'll get into that in another post. First I want to share a few pictures we've taken over the past few days.

Shortly after he was born

Me and my sisters, Sara and Mary Alice

Sweet William

Ready to go home!

The best picture we could get of our new family

William in the same outfit little Cole wore home from the hospital, made by his great-great aunt Patsy

We're still trying to figure William out and get acquainted. The twins have been good so far (especially since I think they're both getting more teeth and are a little whiny). I'll update more soon...just wanted to get some pictures out there.

Father's Day and Thoughts about New Baby

2011-06-20T22:03:00.000-05:00

For Father's Day this year, we celebrated with my dad (we were in Monroeville for a wedding) and my entire family. And my father-in-law celebrated with my kids. :)

I got Cole a little gift this year, but I haven't given it to him yet so I can't tell y'all about it quite yet! His birthday is also this week (Wednesday), so I've decided to give him both of his gifts on that day.

For a while yesterday, we thought we would meet New Baby, but unfortunately that didn't happen. I think he's enjoying teasing us.

As his birth day nears, I am simultaneously excited and nervous. I had a fantastic labor and delivery with the twins (not including the week I spent in the hospital before they were born!). I am a little worried that this time around won't be as easy. I know I have no control over it, so I try not to dwell on it too much. But since I'm pretty much constantly having contractions (most of them don't hurt...they're just uncomfortable), it's hard to think about anything else.

I went to the doctor today, and he guessed that I wouldn't make it to my due date (July 11). I'm not sure if I was glad to hear that or if it will just make the wait seem that much longer. While in the hospital before having the twins, I remember thinking I would surely be pregnant, miserable, and in a hospital bed for the rest of my life. Now I'm thinking that I will be 37 weeks pregnant and having contractions all day every day for the rest of my life. (When I'm thinking more clearly I know this isn't true, but it certainly seems like it is lately.)

The plan for now is to sit tight at home until I am positive labor has started. Cole is terrified we will have this baby at home or on the side of the road. Clearly he doesn't trust me. :)

In more exciting, and non-baby related, news, I got an iPhone today! It's so pretty! Cole got it for me for our anniversary which is Saturday. Until now I'd had a "dumb" phone (a regular flip phone), but now I'm technologically caught up. I'm working on getting a case for it before I hurt it. It's definitely the best anniversary present he's gotten me during our six years of marriage.

So, that's me in a nutshell. I really, really hope I will be posting about New Baby's arrival very soon.

A fun afternoon

2011-06-09T07:00:00.001-05:00

One afternoon Cole and Ellen were playing together in the playroom and laughing hysterically. I pulled out the camera so I could catch it all.

The quality isn't the best...I was just snapping to capture the moment. I just love their expressions and the way they climb all over each other. One of my favorite parts of having twins is watching them together. Their relationship is fascinating.

This used to be typical of playtime for them, but these days they are busy pulling up on the couch, the table, and the baby gate. It's almost as if they aren't content just being on the floor any more. Ellen sometimes pulls up and can't figure out how to get down. So she'll just stand there until she gets tired, and then she whines for me to help her. It's pretty funny. She is so cautious while trying something new (I think she gets this from her Aunt Mary Alice!).

Cole enjoys pulling up on the couch lately, but he's so fearless that he will let go and then crash to the floor. He has a nice bruise above his left eye from a fall he took that landed him on one of the many toys littering the playroom floor. Even though he falls (and sometimes it seems to really hurt!), it doesn't stop him from trying something new and/or crazy. Perhaps that's just the difference between boys and girls? Who knows?

Playtime is quite fun and entertaining these days, even though New Baby is starting to slow me down a good bit. I still try to interact with the twins as much as possible, but it's rapidly becoming harder. I guess that just means that it's time for New Baby to come on and meet us! (Ok, maybe not for a few more weeks...my house is a disaster area; but it won't be long.)

Swinging with Dad

2011-06-06T07:00:00.000-05:00

In April Cole's mom got us two swings for the big tree in our front yard. I took some pictures of Cole and Ellen's first swinging experience. It was really cute.

Cole getting strapped in

Cole and Cole

Ellen getting strapped in

Cole and Ellen

Ellen

Cole

Cole and Cole

The twins had a great time swinging, and Cole and I loved watching them. They are so funny lately.

Catching up

2011-05-25T07:00:00.002-05:00

Wow...it is May 25, and I just realized I haven't posted at all in May. That is ridiculous. Mainly because I am denying y'all the pleasure of "oohing" and "ahhing" over my adorable kiddos. :)

We have not fallen off the face of the earth, but we have had a busy month at our house. Tornadoes hit all around us shortly after my last post. We were watching on TV as is raged through Tuscaloosa, where we lived for three years. I couldn't believe it. I still can't. Thankfully, all of my friends and former co-workers made it through ok, even though some suffered damage. And some lost everything - house, cars, etc. Still so hard to comprehend.

We went to the beach with Cole's family which provided a much needed break for both of us. My wonderful mom kept the twins in Birmingham. Cole and I unexpectedly got to visit briefly with our friend and former campus minister from RUF at Furman, Rob. We had a great time catching up as always. He's hilarious. Overall, it was nice to relax with Cole's family and soak up a little sun.

Sadly, while we were at the beach, my grandmother (my mom's mom) passed away. She was 88. I am sad that those of us still here don't have her to talk and laugh with, but I am happy she is resting now. I am certain she is rejoicing in heaven with our Father. And that makes me smile.

We went to Monroeville last weekend for a good friend's party to celebrate her engagement and upcoming wedding. We are so glad we could be there and loved seeing my parents. HOWEVER, the drive that should have taken 3 hours took 7.5 hours. Ridiculous. A diesel tanker overturned and closed BOTH northbound and southbound lanes of I-65. The twins were troopers and hung in there as best as they could, but it still wasn't fun. After we made it through the traffic, we stopped for dinner and to let the babies out of their car seats.

We've had a few other happenings around here, but I'll save those for later. For now, I'll leave you with a couple of pictures.

First Easter

2011-04-26T06:30:00.000-05:00

Sunday was Ellen and Cole's first Easter, and it was wonderful.

Saturday afternoon we went to a church-wide Easter egg hunt and had a great time. Obviously the twins didn't hunt eggs, but it was nice to spend time outside on such a beautiful day. We tried to get a cousin picture, and this is how it turned out:

Cousin Martha Ann (who is 11 days older than the twins) thought she needed to taste the grass.

And then she needed to taste the Easter egg. :)

As you can see, trying to take a picture of a three-year-old and three 9-month-olds is quite interesting.

After the hunt, we went to dinner, and the twins were fabulous. Ellen sat in a chair in her bumbo and looked like such a big girl! Cole got to sit on top of the table in his bumbo.

We went to brunch at Cole's parents' house Sunday morning and tried again to get a cousin picture. And this is how that turned out:

Martha Ann: "It's okay Cole. It'll be over soon."

Ellen: "Can I try on your bonnet, Martha Ann?"

Obviously it's pretty hard to get so many little ones to face the camera and not look upset, confused, or generally uninterested. But we got some pretty funny ones.

We even remembered to get a family shot (which I usually forget about).

Before we left for church Sunday night, we gave Ellen and Cole their Easter baskets. They were not interested at all in posing for the camera but seemed fairly interested in the contents of their baskets.

Their Easter baskets had new sippy cups, a few books, a sleeper, and a nice outfit (Cole's is a bubble outfit with dump trucks smocked on it, and Ellen's is a pink and white gingham smocked dress). New Baby has a blue basket as well, but we have to wait until next year to break that out.

The babies were very well behaved all weekend (even though it looks like Cole cried the whole time!); it was nice spending time with family; and church was great Sunday night. It was a pretty perfect weekend.

We're germy but still cute

2011-04-08T07:00:00.000-05:00

Well, we made it almost nine months without having to visit the after hours clinic.

The past few days Cole has been getting sick after his bottle. I have been assuming that he was just eating too much since he seemed to feel good otherwise. However, on Tuesday he was not himself at all. He was Pitiful Cole. I don't think he smiled at all that day until 6 p.m. which is highly unusual for him. (Of course I have to mention that the first time he smiled, it was for the nurse at the clinic. Typical little flirt.)

As it turns out, he has had a virus that just has to run its course. He's been happier every day since Tuesday, so I think he's almost back to normal. While it's been sad to see him feeling puny, the naps have been amazing. They have both been taking 3 hour naps in the morning and two hour naps in the afternoon, plus an extra hour in the late afternoon. Because of that, this week has been a great week to recharge for me. I haven't put pressure on myself to organize, clean, or anything like that. I just needed a minute for me. And I took it.

Next we'll I'll try to be productive again. :)

And since I've deprived you of my words and pictures of my precious children all week, I'll share this photo:

I have more from this series, but this is my favorite. I love their faces. I love that their foreheads are touching. And I love, love Ellen's feet. I wonder what they're thinking about here...

Funky Friday

2011-04-01T20:20:00.013-05:00

Today was an odd day. The twins were great - cute, happy, laughing all day, hardly any spit up, took great naps.

Cole's cute little legs

I just couldn't get happy. I, of course, am blaming pregnancy hormones. I mean, what's the benefit of being pregnant if you can't blame all of your yuckiness on the hormones? :)

But, really, I think I was just in a weird mood. It was one of those days.

Thankfully, Cole (Big Cole) came through big time for me tonight. He picked up a real Diet Mountain Dew (with caffeine! - normally I drink caffeine free while pregnant), and then he picked up the dinner I wanted that he wasn't so crazy about. It was super sweet.

Serious Cole

So, at 8:30 Friday night, the day is looking up. Hopefully tomorrow I'll wake up with a better attitude.

Photography Update

2011-04-01T07:15:00.002-05:00

Our photography class has gone on a few field trips to allow us to take pictures and ask the instructor questions as we shoot. It's really helpful to have him there. Many times I see a picture I want to take but can't get it to look right in the camera. He usually has helpful hints as to how to go about getting the shot you want.

Here are a few pictures I've taken over the last couple of weeks. (As always, you can click on the pictures to see bigger versions.)

This picture was taken on our first field trip to Botanical Gardens. The lighting was rough, so some of the pictures didn't turn out. This was one of my favorites.

This picture was taken at the Calera Railroad Museum. Unfortunately I missed our official class trip there, so I went on my way home from the beach. This was my favorite of the bunch. I wasn't in a particularly creative mood, so it was hard to get good shots.

These were all taken at Botanical Gardens. We shot there for the first hour of class two weeks ago. I tried to be more creative and take pictures of typically "ugly" things, but they didn't quite work out. Flowers are my friends.

I've decided that sometimes I just lack the photographic "eye" when we're on field trips. I want to see things like a photographer, but I don't. I guess it's a good thing that I don't want to do this for a living. My main goal is to take better pictures of my kids, and I think I've achieved that. I do hope to keep learning and pushing myself, but I feel like this class has been more than worth it already.

We only have one more week of class...boo. I'm sad that it's ending. It's been a great way to get out of the house, exercise some creativity, learn something new, and meet new people. But you know what they say about all good things...

We may have another field trip this weekend, and if I can go I'll be sure to share the pictures I take.

The paci thief strikes again...

2011-03-31T07:00:00.000-05:00

I haven't been great about taking pictures of the twins lately. Part of this is because they seem to always have bibs on, and I'm tired of having pictures of bibs next to their adorable little faces. They're just so much happier after they eat, so it's sort of a necessary evil at this point I'm afraid.

But, earlier this week, I made an effort to get some pictures of them. Cole woke up first from their afternoon nap, so he got to eat all by himself.

He was "talking" in this picture.

And then Ellen got up, so I decided to be brave and try to position them in their bumbos to see how they did. Here's what happened:

That girl does not give up. She knows what she wants and goes after it. And she always seems to want Cole's paci.

I've also noticed lately that they seem very interested in the toy that the other one has. No matter what I put in each of their hands, they keep an eye on the toy the other has.

They are so much fun these days. It's so much easier to entertain them, and they seem to even entertain each other a little bit.

One of the best parts of the day, though, is when Cole comes home from work. Both babies totally freak out. It's hilarious. They start screaming (or squealing in Ellen's case!), smiling, and talking like crazy. Of course Cole loves the attention and screams back to keep them going. It's one of the highlights of the day for all of us.

Maybe this weekend we'll dress Cole and Ellen up to get "good" pictures of them. We'll see.

New Stroller Accessory

2011-03-30T07:00:00.001-05:00

My friend Laura over at Grizaland has the same stroller we have - the Baby Jogger City Select. However, I don't think you'd ever know it. Her kid is riding in style with all of the latest accessories, while my kids haven't even gotten to sit in the real seats that came with the stroller! Laura seems to always be in the know with the latest greatest gadgets and gizmos for moms.

And, to top it all off she finds these things at amazing prices at her super-secret discount store. Color me jealous.

Last week, though, I took a small step toward her greatness. I finally got the Baby Jogger Parent Console!

My mom and I got to try it out for the first time while walking in the Rumpshaker 5k (more on that later) this weekend, and I really liked it. It was so nice to have somewhere to put all of my stuff. I had previously been putting my phone in the car seat with whoever was sitting closest to me. Not ideal. The two pockets on the right have a velcro closure which is nice for things you don't want to lose - like keys. Overall, the parent console makes the stroller even more amazing than it already is.

So if you're in the market for a single stroller that turns into a double, the City Select is a great choice in my opinion.

And, just for fun -

Here's a riddle for you...

2011-03-24T16:00:00.000-05:00

What do lint, a pen, a hanger, and a screwdriver have in common?

They were all a part of my domestic handy-woman adventure last night.

As you know, if you've been reading lately, I've been trying to do a better job of keeping our house clean. Or at least presentable. Part of my plan for this is doing at least one load of laundry every day. The best time for me to do this is usually at night while everyone is sleeping. I can get it in the washer, move to the dryer, and fold/hang and put away all at one time without getting sidetracked. This works way better for me than to try to do a load throughout the day. I usually end up forgetting it in the washer when I try that method.

So, anyway, last night I was moving clothes around and noticed that there was lint where the lint trap goes. I stuck my hand down in the hole to get it, but I couldn't get all of it. Being the brilliant and resourceful woman that I am, I decided to get a pen to try to reach the rest of it.

Bad idea.

I dropped the pen. It went down into the big space between the trap and the dryer. It was dark.

At first I couldn't see it (and I even considered running the dryer anyway!) and worried that I would have to get a repairman to come find it. I really, really, really wanted to wake Cole up - it was about midnight at this point - to ~~make him fix it~~ ask him sweetly to help me, but I decided that wasn't the best course of action.

I saw a hanger nearby and unwrapped the top so I could try to sorta scoop the pen out. That wasn't working as well or as quickly as I had hoped, so I moved on.

I decided the only way to get the pen out was to take the lint trap thingy off the dryer. This is where my brilliance really came through. I am not handy at all. Seriously. I don't like to tinker with things. I don't like to fix things. That's why I got married. :) (Ok, I loved him too, but the fixing of things was a big plus.)

But, I pulled out that screwdriver like I knew exactly what I was doing. Right tighty, lefty loosy. See...this isn't hard. I got the two screws out that I thought would be the answer to my little predicament. I was wrong. It didn't budge. Ugh. I couldn't find any other screws I thought might help, so I stopped being handy.

I picked up the hanger again to give it another go. This time I stuck with it for a little longer, and I was able to push the pen up high enough to reach it with my other hand. Whew!

I put the lint trap back in and continued on with my life.

Thank goodness my mom is coming to town tomorrow so I won't have to try to clean again for a bit. It's getting dangerous.

Bottles 101

2011-03-23T17:00:00.000-05:00

Before the twins were born my number one concern was bottles. Which bottle should I choose? How can you tell the difference? How many will I need? Do I need a bottle warmer? Do I need a basket for my dishwasher? And on and on and on.

I am not a planner at all (the cribs barely had sheets on them when the babies were born!), but bottles weighed heavily on my mind for some strange reason. I think I really believed that this was the issue that would make or break me as a mother.

And you know what I've found out? It doesn't seem to matter at all.

We have used disposable bottles from the hospital, cheapie Gerber bottles, Dr. Brown's, Tommee Tippee, and Playtex.

Right now Cole uses Tommee Tippee, and Ellen uses Playtex. (She still takes rice cereal in her bottle, and all the tops we have - needed to shake up the formula and rice cereal - fit the Playtex ones and not Tommee Tippee.)

I like them both fine, but the Tommee Tippee ones are easier to clean. It's just the bottle, nipple, and ring. Easy Peasy.

The Playtex ones have the bottle, nipple, ring, a bottom piece, and silicone piece that goes over the bottom. The extra parts allegedly help air escape and cut down on air the baby drinks in. I'm not sure I really believe that, but whatever.

The bottom line is, in my opinion, the type of bottle doesn't really matter. I will say, though, that some babies seem to prefer one type over another. If that's the case, then choose whatever your child seems to like best. My children have never shown a preference. They, especially Cole, take whatever is put into their mouths.

How many bottles to have is something else I struggled with. My advice is to start out with only a couple of whatever kind you choose. If you don't like them or your baby doesn't like them, you haven't invested a lot. Once you decide which brand you will be using, you can get as many as you want. There is no magic number. Some people get enough for two days of feeding. Some get a million. It just depends. I have 6 of each type. This gets me through a day and a half of feedings. I like this because it encourages me to wash bottles every night, but I don't absolutely have to if I really can't or really don't want to. I'll still have two to start the next day with.

Oh, and you definitely need a good bottle brush. I have killed several and have decided that my favorite is the First Years Double Scrubber. It has a sponge on the top and the bottom with bristles in between. It also has a little thingy that flips out of the bottom to clean the nipples. It has by far been my best bottle brush.

So, there's my take on bottles. As with most motherhood things, finding the right bottle is just trial and error. But don't get stressed that there's a "perfect" or "right" bottle out there for your little one.

For all the moms out there, what kind of bottles do you like best? Did your baby have a preference?

Refreshed

2011-03-23T16:43:00.000-05:00

I'm sorry for the week long blog break. I have been in desperate need of some down time. And I got it this past weekend.

I spent the weekend at the beach with my mom, older sister, aunt, and cousins. It was so nice just being with the girls. The beautiful weather, yummy gelato, and hours of uninterrupted sleep didn't hurt either.

I read. I prayed. I thought about something other than feeding schedules and laundry. I was a grown up...but without any responsibilities.

And now I feel like a new person. I can be a better mom. And wife. And friend.

Tomorrow is a new day

2011-03-15T21:59:00.003-05:00

And thank the Lord for that. I need new mercies in the morning. I need a clean slate.

"The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness." Lamentations 3:22-23

I feel like I've just been going and going lately. Cole was at the office pretty much all weekend, so I didn't even realize it was the weekend. On Monday I was sure it was Thursday. That is sad.

And to top it all off, Cole had to leave for business yesterday and won't be back until tomorrow. The twins have been good - as they always are - but I'm worn out. Little Cole has been a touch whiny, and I just can't take it sometimes. I thought about going to sit out in the front yard in the sunshine and leaving him to whine inside. I didn't, but it was tempting.

His cute little face kept me inside though.

The good news is that I made myself do some more cleaning and organizing last night. I can actually see progress today! I'm hoping to finish up a few more projects tonight so Cole won't recognize the house when he comes home tomorrow. (Ok, it may not be that dramatic, but I can tell a huge difference in how the house feels. It just feels...lighter. Less cluttered. More cared for. I think my mom might even be proud of the state of my house now. That's huge.)

We are 8 months old!

2011-03-13T22:09:00.013-05:00

Ellen and Cole are 8 months old today! I really can't believe how fast time is going. Before I know it, they are going to be a year old and Baby Boy will be here. Yikes!

Ellen got up first from her afternoon nap, so she got to help Big Cole do some work. She even played on her own laptop! (She loves her laptop. We can put her on the floor with it, and she'll press the buttons to make music play and will even kick her feet along with it. It's pretty funny to watch.)

Then right before church we went outside to take a few pictures. I think it was still a little too bright outside, so both of them are squinting in some of the pictures. They were so interested in the cars passing by it was hard to get them to look at the camera.

I'm still getting used to my new camera lens, so these pictures are necessarily the best ever, but I did at least capture the moment. Cole had to work this weekend, so it was hard to get out and practice, but I'm determined to get better at it.

And before I end, an update on Cole - we had him weighed on Friday, and he weighed in at a whopping 13 pounds 15 ounces. So he has gained a pound in about 6 weeks. He's still sitting on the same spot on the growth curve, which is good, but we'd like to see him move up the curve (he's about to fall off!). We've upped his intake of solids, so hopefully that will help. Our next appointment is in about a month, so we'll reassess then.

Hope y'all had a great weekend!

It's a...

2011-03-11T12:22:00.005-06:00

We got to see New Baby today, and everything looked great. We are measuring right on track, and all fingers and toes were present.

We also found out that New Baby is a BOY!!

I still can't really believe it. It's weird to know what I'm having this time, and it's also weird that we're having a boy. I had been feeling girl this time.

Needless to say, though, we are thrilled and can't wait to meet the little guy!

Cole is excited to have a little brother, and Ellen is glad she will still be queen. I think she'll be a good queen.

What we're up to

2011-03-08T22:42:00.008-06:00

Since we all know that my kids are the smartest, most advanced 7.5-month-olds around, I thought I'd take some time to tell you what they can do and what they're loving these days.

Ellen is always happy when she wakes up. Even if you get her up out of the deepest sleep, she grins so big when she sees you. She LOVES to talk. She talks pretty much all day long and at times likes to practice her screaming. She's not mad when she does it; I think she just likes to see how loud she can be. She still is very much obsessed with her daddy and laughs at pretty much everything he does.

She really likes baths lately. As I mentioned here, she splashes and smiles while I'm bathing her. She also sometimes tries to eat the rag! I'm hoping to try putting them in bath seats (like this) soon to see how they'll do. I'm ready for bath time to fun for both of them simultaneously. (Now, while I bathe one, the other has to wait. Sometimes this isn't a big deal, and sometimes it results in major meltdowns.)

Ellen is adorable, but she's also a little thief. More times than not, she wants whatever Cole has -especially his paci. She seems to instinctively know when his paci is near, and her eyes lock on it and won't let it out of her sight. Her little face when she has a toy or his paci in her possession is hilarious - so focused, intense, and oblivious to everything else around her.

She likes playing on the play mat and has actually torn down the play mat several times. She will hold on to the rings and won't let go while she rolls around. She can move around on the floor. It's definitely not crawling, but maybe you could call it scooting.

Ellen is still a finicky eater but is getting better. We had a bad episode with carrots and sweet peas which both resulted in lots of gagging and some spit up/throw up. Yuck. Apples are definitely her favorite, but it still takes some work to get her to eat them all.

Cole still wakes up first the vast majority of the time. He is sleeping through the night every single night now. For a while he was waking up every night between 11:30 and 12:30, but he finally stopped that. Sometimes he will wake up at the exact same time several days in a row; it's almost like he has an alarm clock in there. This weekend, he decided that 5 am was a great time to get up and visit. Not cool. He hasn't done it the past few mornings, so hopefully that has passed.

He is hilarious in his jumpy-thing (yes, that's the technical term). He will bounce so hard sometimes I really do think it's going to break or he's going to sling shot out of it! He's gotten very good at pulling his paci out and putting in back in. Sometimes he likes to chew on it sideways or he'll put it back in his mouth upside down. So cute. His laugh is infectious. He likes playing on the play mat still and really likes to roll around.

Bath time is so funny with this little guy. He love, love, loves getting undressed. And has for as long as I can remember. He gets nervous when I put him in the water, though, and holds his breath for second while he gets used to it. When I pour water on him, his whole body tenses up and a big smile comes across his face. It's pretty adorable.

Cole loves to eat. He would eat a gallon of formula if I let him. So far, he has liked every baby food we've tried (peaches, apples, carrots, sweet peas, green beans, to name a few), but he had a bad reaction to sweet potatoes. He ate them just fine, but both nights we tried them he slept poorly and spit up sweet potatoes all over his bed. We haven't tried them in a while but may introduce them again later to see what happens.

Even though he loves to eat, he's still a small guy. In fact, I have to take him to the doctor to get weighed this week since he only gained a pound between his 4-month and 6-month check-ups. The pediatrician wasn't really worried, but she didn't want to wait until 9 months to weigh him again.

I still can't believe they are almost 8 months old. That seems impossible. Some days it just hits me that they're getting so big. They can do so much now and it's making life with them that much richer. Cole and I both love watching them interact now. At night we'll talk about the funny things they did during the day and just laugh. I try to send him pictures during the day every now and then so he can feel like he's here with them too.

We can't wait to add New Baby into the mix and see what kind of trouble they will be able to get in!

Spring Clean Sweep Progress

2011-03-07T07:00:00.001-06:00

(This turned out to be a really long post without any pictures of the subject, so I decided to put in random pictures of Ellen and Cole I took Saturday. The lighting was very bad, and they're not the best quality, but the babies were cute.)

I have been a cleaning/organizing fool this weekend.

The party started in my closet (since I'm trying to complete Spring Clean Sweep through Making Lemonade). I took before and after pictures, but you really can't tell a difference since I didn't organize my clothes by article of clothing or anything. I went through and collected all of the random hangers. Then I moved my maternity/bigger clothes to the front since that's what I'm wearing these days. I hung all of my dresses together so I can easily find them. I went through the random bags and purses on the floor and arranged them in a more organized fashion.

Cole hanging out on the floor.

Ellen being ridiculous.

The best part of this exercise was that the cleaning extended into the bedroom. I'll admit that I have a huge clothes problem in our bedroom. I frequently (almost everyday) try something on, decide I don't like it, and leave it on the bed. When nighttime rolls around of course I never feel like hanging it up before curling up in bed, so I usually lay it somewhere carefully so it won't wrinkle or get dirty - which really never works, but I continue to convince myself that it will.

The result is piles of random clothes all over the place - the side of the bed (my side is next to the wall), the dresser, the dresser in the bathroom, etc. It's just not a pretty sight. This is why our bedroom door is always closed and why I would be horrified if anyone saw into our room. But this week, I tackled the piles.

I am actually utilizing the hamper that I labelled the "dry cleaning hamper" months ago and then proceeded to pile stuff on top of it. Cole knows that it's the dry cleaning hamper now too, so we just throw everything in there and can easily grab it when we have time to go by the cleaners.

I washed a ton of clothes. In fact, the hamper was so full I couldn't even move it to the washer and dryer. I had to wait for Cole to come home so he could move it. Shameful. And, this is the biggie, after I washed everything I actually hung it up or folded it! It's a miracle! Granted, I haven't actually put it all away yet (that's coming tomorrow...I promise), but I'm making great strides.

Ellen, the great paci thief, keeps her eye on the prize.

"Got it!"

"See, brother?"

Play time turns ugly.

I then started tackling the random stacks of papers, magazines, mail, and such that live all around our house. The main pile that has been bothering me for a while was in the kitchen. I sorted them all and put like things in manila envelopes until I decide where I ultimately what them to be. And now the pile is gone!

I tried to finish backing up my photos. (I'm convinced, for whatever reason, that my computer is going to crash one day and I will lose all the pictures of Ellen and Cole's first months. I'm not sure I would recover.) Unfortunately, my computer decided to punish me for not believing in it and wouldn't burn any CDs for me. Ugh. I seriously almost threw it across the room and marched to the Apple store to buy the biggest and best thing there. I'm sure Cole would have understood. :) I guess my digital organizing will have to wait. Boo.

Getting ready to go to church. We LOVE our feet!

Even though I don't have pretty pictures of organized bliss, I do feel like I'm on the road there. I even bought this at Target tonight to help contain the clutter in the kitchen. I've decided that only bills and things that need to be acted on will go there. Everything else will have to find its permanent home immediately after coming in the door.

And there you have it - Anna getting organized. Let's see how long this lasts. :)

New Baby Update

2011-03-05T20:59:00.001-06:00

New Baby is growing and growing. I've started to feel a lot of movement in the last couple of weeks, which is fun and weird (even though I've felt it before). So far, I can't tell much of a difference between having one in there compared to two - except I'm pretty sure I'm smaller this time around.

I still can't believe that in a few months we'll have a new little munchkin around the house. We're still getting to know Ellen and Cole and are enjoying the routine we've established. I'm pretty sure New Baby will throw a wrench in that...but it will be a welcomed challenge.

As proof that I haven't really processed New Baby's arrival, we have purchased nothing for New Baby. Not. One. Thing. I just realized tonight that New Baby will probably need a bed, a mattress, etc. Yikes.

And I need to figure out my stroller situation. I've considered keeping my Baby Jogger City Select - which I love! - and wearing New Baby until I figure out what to do. But then I think that may be a bad idea. I've thought about getting a triple stroller (side-by-side) because I think I'll need it, but they're so darn expensive. Like $1000 expensive! And it's incredibly difficult to find a used one. Then I saw this stroller - the Valco Baby Tri Mode Twin stroller with a toddler seat. In this scenario, I would put one of the twins in the toddler seat and the other two kids in the stroller. Ugh...too many decisions! In reality, I probably will get lost in indecision land until New Baby shows up and then just go with my gut.

The most common question I've been asked about New Baby is if we're going to find out the gender. It's difficult when people ask me this and expect a short and sweet "yes" or "no," because it's actually a complicated answer.

The short answer is, "I don't know."

The long answer is that Cole is deciding. He loves, loves, loves to torture me, so he won't tell me what he has decided. He swears that he hasn't made up his mind yet and that it will be a "game time decision." (Read: He won't tell me until we're in the ultrasound room and the tech asks if we want to know.)

I seriously doubt that this is true, because Cole is the kings of making quick decisions. He looks at the situation and within seconds determines what he's going to do. He's just making me sweat.

If it were up to me, I would not find out, even though I'm far more curious about the gender of New Baby than I was with the twins. I think it's because we already have a little family started. I keep trying to imagine New Baby in it, but it's hard to do without knowing who New Baby is.

But keeping it a surprise was so much fun last time. One of the best parts of the day Ellen and Cole were born was when I heard everyone scream in the waiting room after Cole told them we had a girl and a boy. You just can't replicate that. (Please note: I completely understand why many, many people choose to find out. I'm just not a planner, so knowing beforehand isn't important to me. But I don't judge those who find out at all. In my opinion, everyone should do what they want. Neither option is better.)

Our next appointment is Thursday, and I think that's when we'll have our anatomy scan. I'll be sure to tell everyone what Cole decides. It should be fun either way. :)

There's New Baby in a nutshell. Now, I've gotta get back to cleaning up Spit Up Fest 2011. We had carrots tonight, which we've had before, and both Ellen and Cole spit up everywhere. And it's orange. I see myself fighting stains tonight...oh joy.

Practicing with my camera

2011-03-05T00:11:00.011-06:00

Today I decided to work on my pictures and try to apply what I learned in my first photography class. Ellen and Cole are always willing subjects - mostly because they don't have a choice! - so after they ate, I started clicking away.

I thought I was shooting in aperture priority mode, but I just realized I was actually shooting in shutter speed priority mode (TV for Canon users). Oops! :) I still like the pictures I was able to get.

Based on what I've been reading and what our instructor said, light is a big factor in good pictures. Natural light is best; the pop-up flash on your camera isn't going to cut it. When not shooting in Auto, the flash won't just pop-up, so you don't have to worry about it getting in your way.

I've also been reading about making sure the light is in your subject's eye. So, I positioned myself right under a window so that Cole and Ellen would look toward the window and get the light in their eyes.

I've also learned a little bit about manual AF point selection. Now, I really didn't know exactly what I was doing, but I wanted to just play around to see what would happen. With manual AF selection (as far as my limited knowledge is concerned) there is a small red dot that appears when you push the shutter release (the button used to take the picture) halfway down. I have read that the dot should be focused on the white part of the eye closest to the nose. (So in the picture below, the red dot appeared in Cole's right eye - as you're looking at the picture - to the left of the iris.)

I think most of the time, photographers focus the dot in the eye closest to the camera (which I tried to do below with Ellen).

I think these pictures are much, much better than the ones I've gotten in the past - partly due to my increased knowledge of how my camera works, and partly due to the time I spent thinking about lighting and such.

Even though these pictures could use a little work in Photoshop or Lightroom, I'm pretty proud of what I got. I tried really hard to capture their eyes - because I just LOVE their eyes - and I think I accomplished that.

Hopefully I'll be able to get more pictures this weekend (maybe even some of them without bibs on!), and I'll be sure to share.

My new obsession

2011-03-04T10:00:00.003-06:00

I'm going to be really honest here. Sometimes being a stay-at-home mom isn't fulfilling by itself.

Don't get me wrong, I love my kids. I would have an extremely hard time leaving them with someone else all day, every day - I had a hard time leaving them in the nursery for an hour for crying out loud. And I feel extremely blessed that I am able to be home with them. I don't take it for granted and know that many other moms would trade places with me in a heartbeat.

But, even still, the days sometimes drag on. The lack of contact with other adults can be hard. The desire to be someone other than Ellen's mom or Cole's mom overwhelms me every now and then.

When Big Cole walks through the door at night (sometimes not until 7 or later), words spill out of my mouth because he's the first person I've seen all day who can understand me and respond to what I have to say.

I miss using my brain regularly for something other than remembering the last time the twins ate. I desperately need a creative outlet.

Blogging is one way I fill that need. It makes me think. And that's good for me.

Another way I've found to exercise my creative side is taking a photography class. I had my first class this week (Cole was sweet enough to make a pretty big sacrifice to come home early so I could make it on time), and I LOVED it.

It was so nice to be learning again. I loved reading over the handout, taking notes, and asking questions. I'm dorky; I know. But I don't care.

Being in this class made me feel like a real person again.

And, as icing on the cake, I learned something about photography! We mostly touched on the more technical aspects of photography (aperture, ISO, shutter speed, etc.), but we will work on composition and the more creative side throughout the class. I've been obsessed with taking pictures ever since. I've read over my notes at least 3-4 times and have been playing around with the settings on my camera. I'm hoping to take some shots of the cutest subjects ever this weekend and will be sure to show you how that goes.

The only bad thing about this new hobby is that it is rapidly lengthening my things-I-want-to-buy-with-my-Christmas-money list.

Spring Clean Sweep!

2011-03-03T22:24:00.002-06:00

New Baby continues to stir the nesting instinct in me. I am a little happy about this because my house clearly needs me to get excited about cleaning and organizing. However, the lazy part of me is bummed that I can't keep ignoring the mess I call my life.

Carrie over at Making Lemonade is hosting Spring Clean Sweep for the month of March. Each week we'll focus on a particular task, and each day of that week she will post specific tips to help all the participants succeed. On Friday, we'll share our progress on her blog.

I am really going to try to complete the tasks because I do want to get my house in order. And I want to be able to keep it that way without needing my mom to come do my laundry. (She's amazing when she visits. She'll sort, wash, fold/iron/hang up, and put away all of our laundry. Yes, I do have the best mom in the world.)

I have to figure out some sort of system that works for me and my impaired ability to stay neat. Hopefully this will be the trick. So, there will be lots of posts about cleaning and organizing coming up. Get ready!

Play time

2011-03-01T07:41:00.013-06:00

Here are some snapshots I took the other day while Ellen and Cole were playing.

Cole trying to reach the bird on his jumperoo.

Just hanging out.

"Oooh...Ellen's bird looks fun."

"That's mine! "

"Your paci looks pretty cool."

"Look what I found Mom!"

"Hey! Give that back!"

"Yummy...Brother's hand is tasty."

The twins go to the nursery!

2011-02-28T22:07:00.004-06:00

Sunday we left Cole and Ellen in the church nursery for the first time. Since they were premature, our pediatrician recommended that they stay away from the nursery at least until cold season ended. For seven months we have kept them in church with us. Most of the time they behave, but they don't just sleep through it anymore like they did in the early days. Now they want to "talk" and play. Even though their talking is pretty darn cute, I have a feeling that others in the congregation would appreciate not hearing them try out all sorts of sounds throughout the sermon. And, truthfully, Cole and I have been craving a bit of a break. Just a small window of time that we can focus on something other than the drool twins.

Even though they're really cute:

All along I've said that around March we will put the twins in the nursery. The spring-like weather of late helped me go ahead and get it over with (even though technically it was still February).

I never, ever thought I would have a hard time leaving them in the nursery. They have stayed in the nursery a few times before for Bible study (it's a smaller nursery, so our Dr. ok'd that), but other than that they have been with me or another family member pretty much every minute of their lives. If we have ever used a babysitter, Cole and Ellen have been in bed before we left. Even still, I just knew that I wouldn't be bothered by leaving them.

But on Sunday I started feeling a little anxious about leaving them. I even considered staying home with them so Cole could go to church and actually pay attention to the service and listen to the whole sermon - something we haven't really been able to do since July. Cole encouraged me to come to church too and leave the babies in the capable hands of the nursery workers and volunteers.

When we got there, I could feel myself become more and more anxious about leaving them. I wasn't expecting to feel this way at all, so I was completely caught off guard. As we were walking out of the nursery, I felt tears welling up. Thankfully they didn't fall, but goodness...mommy emotions are serious business.

I pulled myself together and actually enjoyed being able to focus on the service. And, the Lord seriously knows what he's doing - the sermon was on anxiety. Ha! How's that for a direct message to me?

When Cole went to get the babies from the nursery, Ellen was in someone's lap laughing and talking. Little Cole had been great as well, so all that worry was for nothing.

I'm totally letting myself believe that since they did well the first time, every time in the nursery will be as easy. Please don't burst my bubble.

Productivity is exciting!

2011-02-22T01:26:00.004-06:00

Big things are happening in the Gresham house!

I have been productive 3 days in a row!

This weekend I worked on cleaning out the office and putting up Christmas presents and decorations. Yes, I know Christmas was in December and it's now February, but let's just focus on the fact that I crossed things off the to-do list. :)

Today I got the babies ready, and we went to Bible study. I love the group of girls in our Bible study group, and I have missed getting together with them. I've missed the last three weeks because of a life insurance physical and sick babies. These girls are such an encouragement to me, and it's just a great way to start off the week.

And, to top it all off, I went to the grocery store and cooked dinner. It hasn't happened much around here since July, but it happened tonight. Granted, it was just spaghetti, but still.

If I continue to be productive for the rest of my pregnancy, our house might actually be clean and organized before New Baby comes. Imagine that.

Since the last few posts have been light on baby pictures, here are a couple I took while playing around today.

We have a splasher!

2011-02-20T23:12:00.003-06:00

The babies had baths today, and Ellen learned a new trick...

Splahsing! She was having so much fun I almost didn't want to take her out of the tub. She was kicking her legs and slapping her hands into the water and loving every minute. It was absolutely adorable!

The bad news is that Ellen's splashing happened so fast and unexpectedly (and we were trying to hurry to get everyone ready) that I didn't get a video. I'll be more prepared next time.

Until now both twins have been pretty sedate in the tub. For a long time Cole would even get nervous and concerned when I poured water on him. He has started smiling when he gets wet now, but he still clasps his hands right in front of his mouth, takes a deep breath when the water pours over him, and chews his fingers for comfort while I bathe him. He's pretty cute.

It's pretty insane how big Ellen and Cole are getting. Cole can now pull his paci out and get it back in his mouth all by himself. They are both reaching and grabbing for everything in sight (including my hair...ouch!), and Ellen has even stolen Cole's paci twice! Each time he tries to get it back it results in a 7-month-old version of Tug of War. Cole and I have broken up the competition both times, but I'm already having visions of fierce fights in the future.

Pray for me... :)

If I had a million dollars

2011-02-17T01:27:00.010-06:00

Ok, so I don't have a million dollars, but I do have Christmas money burning a hole in my pocket. I promised myself this year that I would think about what I wanted to get before I just started spending. I've already bought this great bag:

Photo Courtesy of mybagaholicshop.blogspot.com

It came today, and I love it!

Yesterday I registered for a 6-week long photography class. I got my camera last year and have been meaning to learn how to really use it. I don't want to become a professional or anything, but I'd like to be able to take great pictures of my kids. My sister is taking a class next weekend, and she really inspired me to go ahead and take a class. Hopefully you'll get to see my pictures improve.

After registering for the class, I got excited about photography and found this on etsy.com:

Photo Courtesy of knittybittie's shop on etsy.com

It's a camera strap slipcover. They make slipcovers and actual straps. I don't know if I'll actually get one or not, but they're super cute. My sister-in-law got one for her birthday, and I loved it.

I still haven't quite decided what else to buy. I've thought about an iPod Touch because I'm dying to beat my brother-in-law at Words with Friends.

This storage ottoman has also caught my eye:

Photo Courtesy of Amazon.com

I think it would fit great in our bedroom. We need a little extra storage and a place to put the decorative pillows (instead of just on the floor).

Speaking of storage benches, here's the one we put together last weekend:

Sorry it took me so long to get a picture of it. We still need to get more drawers to go in it, but I really like it. I think it'll be the perfect place to store toys when the babies get a little bigger.

So, there's the wrap-up of my Christmas. Is there anything you've found lately that you think I need to have? Please share!

Hormones, hormones go away

2011-02-16T21:30:00.007-06:00

Don't come again another day.

It's no big secret to those who know me that I don't love being pregnant. Yes, there are some wonderful/miraculous things that happen while you're growing another human, but overall I could live without this process. Just give me the baby, please. :)

This pregnancy has been easier than the last, primarily, I think, because I'm not having twins this time. I was far less tired during the first trimester (it might have helped that I didn't even know I was pregnant until the first trimester was almost over!), and most of the time I forget I'm even pregnant.

However...this time around I'm also much more hormonal. I can have a perfectly good day, but by night somehow I'm in a terrible mood. Some days little things send me over the edge. And some days I'm just in a weird funk. Ugh...

Hopefully this will pass soon. Cole and I are getting more and more excited about meeting New Baby, so I'm going to focus on that and pray this yuckyness goes away.

Pictures of the storage bench and van coming soon...

Why I love my minivan...

2011-02-13T23:23:00.003-06:00

After we found out we were expecting New Baby, Cole and I started searching for a minivan. We knew we needed it, and we were actually excited about it. I know some parents do anything they can to avoid it, but, seriously, just do it. Minivans are amazing for so many reasons:

I can open the sliding doors with my remote.
I can close the sliding doors with my remote. I love not having to fight to close the door after getting a baby in a car seat out.
I don't have to worry about hitting cars parked near me with my door while trying to pry my children out of the car.
There is tons and tons of room in the back for all of the crazy paraphernalia two tiny people require.
I can easily get my double stroller in and out of the car.
I am hopeful that all three of my children in car seats will fit across the middle row leaving plenty of room for all that stuff. (I know I talk about "stuff" a lot, but babies really do come with a lot of it.)
Have I mentioned the sliding doors?????

So, get over yourself. Yes, a minivan will make you look like a mom.

But guess what...you ARE a mom. Embrace it. Get a van.

Nesting for New Baby

2011-02-13T15:00:00.003-06:00

My nesting instinct has apparently finally kicked in. I'm not sure if it's super late from my pregnancy with the twins or super early since I'm only 18 weeks along. Either way, it's consuming my life, thoughts, and time.

I'm in uncharted territory since I didn't experience this the last go 'round - mainly, I think, because I didn't know how much my world was going to be rocked by the twins. I kept thinking I had all the time in the world to get things done. And that's why my mother-in-law and her best friend had to finish the nursery while I was still in the hospital. :)

This week I've been unable to stop thinking about the long list - that continues to grow by the second - of things I want to get done by the time New Baby arrives.

One of the major items on this list has been neglected since we moved in - the playroom. We finally got a rug for the room and rearranged some furniture to end up with this:

While the rug warms the room up considerably, we are still in need of a few things. First, storage. This is going to be baby/kid central. We need a place to hid all of their toys and paraphernalia.

To solve that problem we headed to Home Depot today. There we picked up a Martha Stewart storage bench and put it together tonight. I think I'm going to really like it. It will provide a small space to store some toys, and it also will double as extra seating. I took a picture tonight of it in the space, but it didn't turn out well. I'll take another in the morning and post it tomorrow.

The next item on my list for this room is to get the cable fixed. I have been dragging my feet on this because I have to call and cancel our current service and then call to order new service. I'm excited about changing providers, but I loathe confrontation. I guess one uncomfortable phone call is worth it in the long run, but still.

Then we will need end tables (since we may eventually move the coffee table out of there to provide more play space for the babies), window treatments, and some art above the couch. I'm thinking about something like this:

The only problem is that our windows are different sizes. We have three window in a row, but the middle one is a different size than the other two. I have no idea why, but it is incredibly irritating. And I have not been able to find anywhere online that makes roman shades (which is what I think I want for that room) in a size that will fit the middle window. Awesome. I may look into getting someone to make them for us, but I'm worried that will end up costing more than I want to spend. Hopefully something will turn up.

So, that is just one of the items on my to-do-before-New-Baby-comes list. All of the other items are just as involved at this one, so I'm glad that I've actually started working toward completing the most important task.

Stay tuned for more stories of nesting.

A Friday happy

2011-02-11T17:03:00.001-06:00

Consignment sale season!

2011-02-10T22:29:00.007-06:00

Consignment sale season has officially begun!

Last year I feel like I wasn't able to fully take advantage of the consignment sales in the Birmingham area. The babies were still very young and very, very small, so I didn't know what sizes to buy. This year, though, I knew exactly what I wanted.

The first sale was at Vestavia Hills United Methodist Church. My lovely sister Sara was able to get passes to get in early for my sister-in-law and me, and I racked up.

Here are the play clothes and sleepers I got:

And here are the nicer jon-jons and dresses:

As you can clearly see, I ended up with much more stuff for Cole - mostly due to the fact that the selection was just better for boys. But don't feel too sorry for Ellen just yet; there are many sales yet to come.

I'm most looking forward to the BAMOM (Birmingham Area Moms of Multiples) sale in a couple of weeks. They will have boy/girl coordinating outfits grouped together. I have had a hard time finding cute coordinating outfits for the twins, so I'm hoping I'll find lots of good things.

My cousin Katie is the pro at consignment sales, and she taught me a few things during the last round of sales. The best tip she gave was to grab everything you think you might want and then reevaluate before you check out. During this reevaluation, you should look closely for stains or signs of wear and tear. You should also pay attention to the types of things you are getting. Did you grab too many of one type of outfit? Did you get the right sizes? Did you get too many outfits of the same color? In other words, be more critical of the outfits at this point.

So to recap: First, grab everything that catches your eye, and then scrutinize.

Another thing that helps you decide if the price is worth it is to know what brands are the nicer brands. For instance, Feltman Brothers outfits are generally fairly expensive, so an outfit of that brand selling for $15 in good condition is actually a pretty good deal. The more you know about the brands and what they normally sell for, the better. That way you don't buy something used for $8 that you could've gotten new for $11.

To find consignment sales in your area, you can usually just do a Google search. If that leaves you empty handed, try asking around, especially at the churches. I have found that in Birmingham many of the better sales are organized by churches.

Anyone else have any tips for shopping consignment sales?

You might be a control freak if...

2011-02-09T21:49:00.004-06:00

Lately I have realized that I have some control freak tendencies. I have always thought of myself as laid back and very go with the flow, but that may not be true anymore - especially when it comes to the babies.

During the day, I mostly stay home because I like minimizing the risk of a baby meltdown. If we are in the grocery store and one of the twins starts crying, it's not very easy to comfort them. What if the other one starts crying right after I get the first one out of the car seat? Then I'm stuck in the middle of the store with two screaming babies. Not cool.

To be fair to the twins, this has never happened. But the fear of it happening is enough to get me to stay home.

I'm a homebody anyway, so this isn't a great sacrifice for me. I think, though, that this has contributed to my becoming more of a control freak. Since we're home most of the time the babies can eat when they need to and go down for naps when needed. I don't push them beyond their limits during a normal day. I do this both for them and for me. I believe that babies need their rest, so I make sure they get it. I also believe that I need for them to rest, so I can have a minute to shower or wash bottles or just be.

Being home also means that I take care of the babies 95% of the time. My mother-in-law is very sweet and offers to keep them. For a while she would come over about once a week so I could get out and run errands by myself. My aunt has even kept the twins on several occasions, but day-to-day I am in control.

I know exactly what Ellen and Cole like (or at least what I think they like) and how to feed them both at the same time and how to keep everyone as happy as possible. Sometimes when other people keep them I worry that they won't do things like I do them. I never, ever worry that the twins won't be taken care of or loved on. I never, ever worry about their safety or that they'll miss me. I just worry that whoever is taking care of them won't know which bouncy seat is Cole's (the seats are basically identical, but there is one I always put Cole in...don't ask me why) or that they won't know how I usually feed them and how often I burp them. The list goes on and on and gets more insane.

I need to let go of this. New Baby is on the way so soon I won't have time to worry about trivial things such as which seat Cole gets put in. And I just need to let it go because it's a little nuts.

I'm hoping to have someone come to the house a couple of times a week to help me out so I can get more accomplished, and I'm hopeful that this will help me relax about ridiculous things. And maybe it will allow me to see and believe that things don't have to be done exactly like I would do them. Ellen will live if she sits in Cole's seat. They will live if they aren't burped the exact number of times that I always burp them. I can say these things, and I know they are true.

But things are just better my way. :)

Our rice cereal experience

2011-02-08T21:25:00.011-06:00

Several weeks ago, the twins got to eat rice cereal from a spoon for the first time. Here's a play by play:

Watching Daddy get the video camera ready

Ellen: Ummm...Mom? I'm not so sure about this.

Cole: This is pretty tasty.

Cole: Keep it coming!

Ellen: Yeah, this is seriously gross.

"I can't believe you just made me eat that."

"Please no more!!"

And this is how we ended up:

Since then, they've become much neater eaters, but Ellen still makes faces at least during the first couple of bites. It's hilarious to watch. We tried peas tonight, and, of course, Cole ate them without a problem, but Ellen was made a face the entire time.

I'm afraid that even though she's like her dad in most respects, she might have my taste buds.

How do I look?

2011-02-07T14:40:00.002-06:00

My new blog design is up! And I love it!

Laura Edwards from Laura Edwards Design created it all for me, and I could not be happier. I'm terrible at describing what I want and what I'm envisioning, but she figured it out and made something beautiful.

I hope you like it too!

Pictures!

2011-01-31T15:29:00.011-06:00

The last few posts haven't included many (or any!) pictures, so I thought I'd do a big post of pictures from Christmas. And I still have rice cereal pictures to share too!

Getting our first Christmas tree as a family of four.

Making Christmas ornaments

The Christmas ornaments wore them out!

Family Christmas 2010

My sweet grandparents

Cole as a present

"I don't want to be a present, Daddy!"

Cole, Cole, me, and Ellen

My grandmother and Cole

Lee Family Christmas 2010

Mom, Cole, Dad, and Ellen

Dad and Ellen

Cole and Ellen laughing

Howell Family Christmas 2010

My aunt Ty, Rogers, Cole, Mom, and Ellen

And that's our Christmas in pictures!

Edwin McCain in Birmingham!

2011-01-29T10:25:00.003-06:00

Thursday night Sara and I went to the Edwin McCain concert at WorkPlay in Birmingham. It was a great show! Cole doesn't really do concerts, so it was nice to have someone to go with who enjoys music too.

I haven't listened to my Edwin McCain CDs in a while, but boy did he make me want to go find them. He sang a lot of new material that I hadn't heard before, so I got on iTunes today to add some to my library. He opened with the song that's on his web site called "Walk With You," and it's fabulous. I was listening to it today and started tearing up (that could be due to pregnancy hormones, but still). Not only was the music great, but he's also really funny. His stories in between songs were hilarious. And to top it all off...he's SOOOO good lookin'! And a Southern boy!

I'm so glad I have a cool sister in town who knows what's going on in the world and invites me to come to great concerts with her. :)

Oh, and there was a proposal on stage during the concert. And lots of drunk people to watch...amazing.

Oh, hello there. Who are you?

2011-01-28T22:11:00.004-06:00

Ellen and Cole have started noticing each other more and more lately. For a few months, Ellen has been staring at Cole, but he wouldn't give her the time of day. Over the last few weeks, though, Cole has started staring back at her. At their 6 month checkup, they were laying on the table, looked at each other, and started laughing.

Today was the second time I've seen something like this. I put them both in Ellen's bed so I could fix bottles, and before I walked out of the room I saw them look at each other and smile. It was so cute!

I'm so excited that it seems they are finally noticing each other. I can't wait until it's observable for more than a few seconds. This by far is my favorite part of having twins. It makes all of the not so fun parts more than worth it.

Blog Identity Crisis

2011-01-26T15:27:00.000-06:00

Since the babies were born, I've been suffering through a blog identity crisis. And I'm just now realizing it, 6 months later.

This blog started as a place to post my random thought about life, marriage, school, work, etc. It has turned into more of a way to recount various goings on in the babies' lives. That's fine, but I really want this blog to capture how I feel about this time in our lives rather than every little thing we are doing/have done.

So, starting now, this blog is turning a corner. It's getting a new name, a new design (I can't wait for it!), and a new lease on life. And I might actually for once start posting regularly. I was reading through my blogs from the past (around when it first started), and I miss posting about things that matter to me or that are on my mind. It's important to document trips and holidays, but, for me, it's more important to document and share what's really on my mind.

Big changes are on the way. Stay tuned for the next phase!

Ellen and Cole's first Christmas

2011-01-23T00:20:00.007-06:00

This year we spent Christmas mainly with my family. We started celebrating Christmas Eve morning with the annual Gresham get-together with their best family friends. There were lots of babies this year (4 under 7 months old!) which definitely made it a little busier than previous years.

After brunch, we hit the road to head to Auburn. The babies did great on the trip there. We never heard a peep from them.

We loved introducing Ellen and Cole to my aunts, uncles, grandparents, and cousins. They had actually met my grandparents before, but Ellen slept through most of that visit.

Christmas morning, Cole and Ellen got up, and we let them hang out in bed with us for a bit while I finished getting ready. They were so cute! Big Cole was making them smile and giggle, and Ellen was talking up a storm.

We took a family picture, and then they "opened" their presents.

We left Auburn around noon to head back to Birmingham to see Cole's family. Then celebrated another Christmas that night with the other side of my family.

Christmas night (also known as my birthday eve) my mom and my super-sweet aunt offered to keep the babies at my aunt's house so I could have my first night without the babies. It was glorious! Cole and I watched a movie completely uninterrupted for the first time since July!

Right before we went to bed, I got a little sad/emotional. I knew that the babies were in great hands (my mom did raise me successfully after all), but I worried that they would need me during the night. I knew it was silly - and Cole made sure to point that out - but I couldn't help it. I got over it quickly and fell asleep and slept for 11 glorious hours! A night without paci replacements or random whining was truly amazing. I am so thankful for such a generous and loving mom and aunt!

The next day we were reunited with the babies at my birthday brunch. The food was delicious! My mom pretty much kept the babies the rest of the day so Cole and I could run around town.

Overall it was a great, albeit busy, Christmas. I have a feeling next Christmas will be even more chaotic!

Thanksgiving (recap) in January

2011-01-21T16:50:00.002-06:00

Thanksgiving this year was definitely interesting. Not only did we experience traveling with two babies, but we also experienced our first time getting sick with two babies.

Sunday before Thanksgiving, Big Cole got the stomach bug. And it was not pretty. He was not allowed to touch the babies all day Monday or Tuesday for fear of getting them sick too. He was quarantined in our room, so I slept in the guest room and stayed away. It wasn't fun, but we made it. Late Tuesday afternoon we thought he was well, so we left for Monroeville.

It was great getting to see the whole family and having help entertaining the babies. Thanksgiving lunch was delicious as always, and we enjoyed visiting with extended family.

But Thursday night things started to go downhill. We were all playing a card game around the kitchen table, and I was holding Cole while he tried to fall asleep. Suddenly I started feeling a little off. I handed the baby to Cole and ran from the table. Cole immediately knew that the stomach bug had just gotten me.

The rest of that night was pretty yucky. Thankfully, Mary Alice and Mom offered to take care of the babies during the night. Friday morning I felt a little better, but Sara had gotten sick. Cole left early that morning for the Auburn/Alabama game, and Mary Alice and Rob decided to get out of the sick house before the game started and before they got sick, so we were left a little short-staffed as far as the babies go. We made do and kept the babies fed Friday. By Friday night everyone in the family except my dad had gotten the bug. Yuck.

Cole had to come back to Monroeville after the game to help with Ellen and Cole since Mom was sick too. We had planned to go back to Birmingham on Friday or Saturday, but stayed until Sunday because of the bug.

All in all, it was good to see my parents for so long, but having the stomach bug is a terrible way to spend Thanksgiving.

Our Christmas recap is coming soon and is a much happier story. :)

P.S. Excuse the look of my blog! The background I was using was discontinued, so I'm working on something else. I think you'll be excited to see what's next!

Still here...

2011-01-13T15:34:00.000-06:00

We're still here. I got out of the routine of blogging over the holidays, and never picked back up. But, it's a new year, so it's time to get started again.

I'll post about the holidays (Thanksgiving was a doozie!) later, but for now I have some news to share. Ellen and Cole are having a little brother or sister! Baby 3 (as we affectionately call him/her) is due July 11 - two days before Ellen and Cole's first birthday. We are thrilled and can't wait to meet Baby 3!

I've been asked if we're finding out if this baby is a boy or a girl this time, and I don't know yet. Cole is in charge of making that decision. When I was pregnant with the twins, I called the shots. I had never wanted to find out the genders of my children, so I made Cole go along with it last time. This time, I told him he could decide. He's also deciding if we're going to share the name of Baby 3.

I'm waaaay behind on my pictures, but I'll try to get some together for next time.

Delicious new recipe

2010-11-17T22:38:00.006-06:00

It's no secret that Cole and I haven't cooked very much since July 13. We've been just a little preoccupied. :) This week we've been trying hard to change that. Monday after work Cole stopped by the grocery store to get stuff for dinner. He made this Cooking Light recipe. It was great and was pretty easy to make too. We paired it with couscous.

Tonight I made a recipe I found in Real Simple. I put sharp Cheddar cheese in the polenta instead of Gruyère. We added a salad, and we had an easy and delicious dinner. I especially love that this recipe has just a few ingredients. That way it's easy to pick up what I need to make it without needing a list.

Hopefully we'll continue this cooking streak. I have found that it's much more satisfying to cook (and do the mandatory cleaning afterward) when we make something new and different. Cleaning up after spaghetti just doesn't sound like much fun, so I'm always on the hunt for new recipes. I've found a few other new ones that I'm planning to try soon. I'll let you know how those turn out.

FATQs (Frequently Asked Twin Questions)

2010-11-11T13:15:00.001-06:00

As a mom of twins, I get asked a TON of questions. Some of them are understandable, and some are just downright weird. Since I seem to get a lot of the same questions repeatedly, I thought I'd post the answers here so you can know a little more about what it's like to have twins. Those of you who always thought growing up that it would be fun to have twins...be careful what you wish for! :)

Do they wake each other up when they cry?

If both babies are asleep, they usually do not wake each other up. The only time they even seem to hear each other crying is when one is almost asleep and the other starts to cry. The one who was almost out wakes up scared, and then I have two crying babies. Awesome.

Do they sleep in the same crib?

No. Some twin moms do put both babies in the same crib, but we never have. Cole came home from the NICU about 2 weeks before Ellen, so he had already been sleeping in his bed. We noticed that he seemed to move around a lot, so when Ellen came home we just put her in her bed. Now, most nights Cole sleeps in the swing (this is about to change) and Ellen sleeps in her bed.

Do you carry them at the same time?

Yes, sometimes I do. Most of the time, though, I just take them one at a time to change their diaper or whatever needs to be done. The other one is usually freaking out in the den while waiting their turn.

How do you do it????

I don't know...I just do. It is what it is. I don't know anything else. I have only had two babies. They need to be fed and changed, so I do it. Don't get me wrong, it was super hard in the beginning. The lack of sleep is a killer. But since they've been sleeping better, life is much, much easier.

What's the hardest part about having twins?

There are several things that I think would be easier with just one child. First, when one baby goes to sleep, Mom gets a break. However, in my world after one baby goes to sleep, I still have to wait for the other to go to sleep. Sometimes Ellen will fall asleep easily. Cole will finally go down after some persuasion, and then Ellen will wake up right after I put Cole down. The advice to "sleep when the baby sleeps" doesn't always work in my world. Some days in the beginning there was always someone awake. Not cool.

Play time and cuddle time are both difficult because I have both Ellen and Cole to think about. When I'm playing just with Ellen, I feel like I'm neglecting Cole and vice versa. Some days one of them is feeling more social than the other and therefore gets more attention. I try not to worry too much each day about who is getting more attention because I think it all evens out over time.

Waking sleeping babies. At least once a day I have to wake a sleeping baby. I know it has to be done, but that doesn't make it easier. If Cole wakes up hungry, I have to get Ellen up to eat too or they'll be on different schedules. If you ask twin moms what one piece of advice they would give to new twin moms they would almost all say to keep both babies on the same schedule. Before they started sleeping through the night, this was the hardest thing to do. I kept wondering if Ellen would sleep through the night if Cole hadn't gotten up to eat. Or if Cole would've taken a longer nap if Ellen had stayed asleep. Now it's better since they're not eating in the middle of the night anymore, but still not fun.

What's the best part of having twins?

Twins really are fun. And I've heard they get more fun as they get older. I love seeing their two distinct personalities every day. I can't imagine only getting to experience this with one of them. Part of the fun is seeing how different they are. They are just starting to sort of see each other. They have only looked each other in the eye a couple of times, but it was pretty funny. They both looked really serious as they stared at each other. I can't wait until they smile and laugh together.

And having two makes for some pretty funny days. One day after they had eaten Ellen sneezed. It scared Cole so he started to whine and cry, and Ellen laughed at him. Hilarious. And yesterday Cole started chewing on Ellen's arm since it was on his face while she was eating. Then they sneezed at exactly the same time. I would miss out on stuff like this with only one baby.

I know the challenges of having twins may seem harder in the future (Two crawlers?! Two walkers?!!), but I also know that the joys of having twins will multiply too.

Sip 'n See Pictures

2010-11-11T11:05:00.007-06:00

Getting ready to meet our Monroeville friends.

Ellen's cake

(please notice that the bees' wings are made of almond slivers...amazing!)

Cole's cake

Mom and sleeping Ellen

Friends

Mary Alice and Cole

Great great Aunt Patsy and Cole

(She made the outfits they are wearing that they came home in.)

It was a wonderful party, and the babies and I had a great time. Thank you so much to the hostesses!

World Travelers

2010-11-09T12:55:00.000-06:00

Ok, so maybe they aren't technically world travelers, but Cole and Ellen have visited two other states - Georgia (well, we drove through it) and South Carolina. The last few weeks have been quite eventful for our little family.

First, Ellen and Cole got to meet their Uncle Rob for the first time. You can read all about that on my sister's blog here.

Then we went to Monroeville for the first time. It was our first road trip with the babies, and overall it went really well. My best friends hosted a Sip 'n See so our Monroeville friends could meet Ellen and Cole. (I have some pictures that I'll put in a new post.) Both of the babies did so well and loved meeting everyone.

The very next weekend, we went to South Carolina to visit Aunt TayTay and Uncle Brabee (translation: Taylor and Bradley). The scary part of this trip was that I had to drive up there by myself since Cole was out of town for work. I packed the car Thursday night, woke up at 4:30 Friday morning to get myself ready, fed the babies at 6:00, and we were on the road at 7. They were silent until we were just north of Atlanta, and then there was fussing on and off from there to Greenville. I was very pleased with that and was THRILLED to see Taylor on the other side.

We had fun visiting with Taylor and Bradley and seeing old Furman friends since it was Furman's homecoming. Cole rode back with me, and the babies did great. So far they seem to be pretty good travelers.

Happy Halloween!

2010-11-01T05:45:00.003-05:00

Love, Ellen and Cole

We're still here

2010-10-26T10:25:00.007-05:00

I've been way behind on blogging lately. I have tons of pictures and stories to share, including our first two road trips with Ellen and Cole.

First, a little update on the kiddos. Ellen now weighs 11 pounds 10 ounces. She is holding her head up pretty well, especially when I'm holding her or trying to burp her. She smiles, laughs, and talks regularly, and often would rather do that than eat. She watches me and Cole everywhere we go and has recently started chewing on her hand. She is an excellent sleeper. For the majority of the last week or so, she has slept through the night (around 8:30 pm - 5 or 6 am) in her bed. It's been wonderful. She has an incredibly cute pouty lip she gets when she's upset and about to cry. Cole and I have a hard time not laughing at it. When she wants something, everyone in the house knows it. Her cry is unbelievable. It gets so shrill it's almost like a little girl's scream instead of a cry. She isn't the best eater. I offer her 5 ounces, but she rarely eats it all. Usually she eats 3-4 ounces instead. She has become much more predictable during the day. I can tell when she is tired after she eats. I wrap her up and put her in her bed. Usually she'll fuss for about 2-10 minutes and then she's out.

Cole weighs 10 pounds 8 ounces. He's getting better with his head and neck control, but he still wobbles a lot. When I hold him on my shoulder to burp him, he's likely to accidentally slam his head into mine. Not fun. Usually after he eats, he'll lay on the couch next to me and talk and smile. He looks so funny when he smiles. He has found his hand recently and will chew on it even when it's covered. His legs are moving all the time, frequently straight up in the air. He gets so frantic when he eats. He eats 5 ounces, but I swear that kid would drink a gallon I let him. He's been a terrible burper lately, but his spit up has gotten better. Instead of burping, he would rather stand up and eat his burp cloth. Cole is a little less predictable than Ellen during the day. Sometimes he is falling asleep during the last little bit of his bottle, but sometimes he's wide awake all the way through and ready to play. He naps, but usually not as well or as long as Ellen does. At night, he still wakes at least once. They have both slept through the night at the same time once or twice. I'm not sure what Cole's issue is. Sometimes it seems he's uncomfortable, but sometimes he just seems fussy. Who knows?

Cole and I are trying to get used to our new normal. Now that the babies have more of a routine and are sleeping better, we're feeling much better. We are so thankful to have help from both our families to keep us sane.

I'll post more pictures later, but here are some to tide you over.

Ellen playing on the couch while I'm feeding Cole

Cole has cradle cap, so we put oil on his head and let it sit. The bonnet is keeping the oil on his head and off of everything else.

Ellen is not happy.

The Coles getting ready for the game.

Confusion

2010-09-09T11:10:00.005-05:00

I have been asked several times if it's confusing having two Coles in the family now. And, honestly, it hasn't been so far. I think as little Cole gets older it will become more complex, but for now it's ok.

The one thing that has been super confusing is our car situation. After the babies were born, Cole and I switched cars. His SUV was bigger than my car, and we decided that I needed the extra space for the car seats, stroller, and other baby paraphernalia. Now when we ask if something is in the car or if the other person has the keys, it's not as easy as asking if it's his car or my car. Does my car mean the Camry or the Highlander? Which is Cole's car? Who's on first? Very confusing. We're getting more accustomed to calling the SUV my car and the Camry his car, but it has taken a while and we still get confused by it all in some situations.

Some pictures just for fun:

Ellen hanging out.

Cole is ready to go with a goofy look on his face. :)

Guess who...

2010-09-07T19:12:00.003-05:00

weighs 8 pounds!

Miss Ellen McCall. To be exact, she weighs 8 pounds 6 ounces as of Friday. That is twice what Cole weighed when he was born, and almost twice what she weighed at birth. Crazy!

We go to the doctor next week, so we'll get weights for both of them.

Shhhhhh

2010-09-01T09:08:00.010-05:00

The babies are sleeping...

Cole

Ellen

Both

Tummy Time

2010-08-28T18:32:00.003-05:00

We've been trying to do tummy time more lately. Cole has been trying to roll over, but his arm keeps getting in the way. Ellen seems to tolerate tummy time for only a short period of time. Then she gets mad and wants to get up. They can both turn their heads from side to side when on their tummies though.

Tummy time

And just for fun here's a picture of them with me:

Due date

2010-08-25T20:33:00.002-05:00

Today was my due date. It's weird to think that if we had only had one baby, he or she may not even be here yet. My doctor wouldn't have let me stay pregnant this long with two babies, but if I hadn't had preterm labor issues I could have one week old babies instead of six week olds.

In baby news, both babies do tummy time (you lay them on their tummy on the floor) but Ellen has far less patience for it than Cole. In fact, Cole was trying really, really hard to roll over yesterday. He can turn his head from one side to the other, but he can't quite get his body over yet. Ellen has been fairly lazy during tummy time lately. Who knows though...she may surprise us and just start rolling over.

I think both Ellen and Cole are getting close to growing out of the preemie clothing we have which is very exciting. The sad part about that is I don't think the newborn or 0-3 month clothing fits very well, so their clothes may look a little big for a while.

We're about to start baths around here, so I've gotta wrap this up without pictures. Don't worry, though, I still have plenty to share. I'll work on that tomorrow.

Pretty babies

2010-08-24T10:27:00.001-05:00

Some pictures I took during the photo shoot with Aunt Emily Joy:

Aunt Taylor gave us our outfits...Aren't we cute?

"Move over Cole. You're ruining the picture!"

Riding in the car with twins

2010-08-23T11:42:00.003-05:00

On our way to church last night big Cole sneezed. And if you know Cole, you know that his sneezes are incredibly loud and forceful. Immediately after his sneeze, one of the babies sneezed their little, petite, cute sneezes. Hilarious.

After our delightful trip TO church, we were due for a not-so-delightful trip home. Ellen and Cole both wailed all the way home. First they took turns crying a little, then both of them totally let go. Cole and I think we suffered a little hearing loss, because these babies are LOUD once they get going. They were hungry, so they had a very good reason to cry but still. Oh my.

Good thing they're so cute...

Ellen yawning

Ellen looking around while on Mary Alice's lap

Cole being cute while resting on my mom