My Other Role

So this afternoon/evening (since I'm getting this posted late, it was actually the afternoon/evening of December 23), I got to play my other role: a wife!


Jeremy, Jenny, Dave (my sister and brother-in-law) and I went to a Dallas Stars hockey game for Dave's birthday. We sat 5 rows up from the glass (if you slow down the camera, you can actually see us on tv!). We had such a lovely time!

Before the game we had dinner at The Cheesecake Factory. I did gorge myself (as in I almost completely finished off my huge plate of Chicken Tortilla Wrap Ups) and nibbled on my Original Cheesecake with strawberries. Mmmmmm! It was sooo good!!

(I was able to eat such a large amount of food because I starved myself all morning. That makes it okay, right?)

Anyway, the game was amazing. I loved jumping a little each time they ran into the glass in front of us and cheering for all THREE points we scored! Makes me wish we lived closer so that it was more convenient to go to games. But I guess those times we get to go are just that much more special.

The Great Twin Mommy Meet-Up II

As I have mentioned before, I have been actively involved in a twin mom message board for a year and a half now. I have gotten to know many women who are going through the same experiences as me. I love them all and each one has a special place in my heart.

So on Wednesday, I actually got to meet (in person) one of my great friends!



Erika and her family drove 30 hours just to come see me!

Okay, maybe not just to see me. Maybe they came to visit family for the holidays...maybe.

Erika has twin boys, Jacob and Spencer, that are about three weeks younger than Jack and Ian. They all played so well while we visited. Well, we visited and corralled...those babies can move! And we had four!!

Unfortunately, we never got a picture of all four babies together. :( Guess we'll just have to meet-up again! Here is Jack and Spencer:



Erika's oldest son, Hayden, and Seth played so well together. You would have thought they had already met!



I really appreciate Erika and her wonderful family taking the time out of their vacation to see us. We had a blast and cannot wait to do it again!

This meet-up has been my encouragement to get back to writing emails to big talk/news shows. Surely someone wants to have lots of women with twins on their show! The trick is, finding out who... :)

Christmas Festivities Begin!

We are all officially home for the holidays! With Parent's Day Out and work behind us, we get to enjoy a lot of quality family time.

We started today by baking cookies. Seth loves to help cook and bake. However, we are still learning when it's approriate to lick our fingers and when we need to wait. We're also learning that it is inapproriate to lick the sugar off the countertop.

Here are our masterpieces!



Seth helped add some ingredients, roll the dough in balls and roll the balls into sugar, unwrap the kisses, eat the kisses, and push the kisses into the hot cookies.

They are very yummy! I predict these cookies lasting until Sunday...maybe.

Happy Birthday Grandpa!

So, almost a week later...

Happy birthday, Grandpa! Hope your birthday was great!

Love,
Jeremy, Krista and the boys

Time For a New Wardrobe

I'm in a house with all boys. Which I love!

But boys are different than girls in lots of ways.

How do I explain to my 3 and a half year old son what those things on mommy's chest are?

Time for turtlenecks. :)

Once Upon a Time...

When my sisters and I were little, we always enjoyed going to Six Flags amusement park. We went every year as a family.

Each night before we were to make our trip, we would stay up talking about which roller coaster we would go on first, who was going to sit with who, and what order we would ride the rides.

But we only went one day each year. That left 364 days to come up with something else to occupy our time.

One thing we liked to do was to make our own amusement park.

Let's just say, kids these days have it easier:


One Step Ahead Baby - Extreme Coaster

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Kids Say the Darndest Things

Or more approriately: Kids say the most embarassing things!

Seth and I were in WalMart one evening picking up a few things before going to a friend's house. I told Seth, "Mrs. Andi has a baby in her tummy." Of course he replied, "Just one baby or two babies?" I told him that Mrs. Andi only had one baby...that we know of. :)

We make it to the checkout. The cashier greets me as she's ringing up my items. During this, Seth asks me if I had any more baby brothers in my tummy.

Of this, I assured him no.

Then he replies:

"But your tummy is big enough!"

Where in the world did he get that from?! Of course the cashier giggles, because, come on, it really is funny.

I would have been much more embarassed had I actually been a little more round in the tummy. But I am proud to say, that I have officially lost all of my pre-baby weight!

Jack-in-the-Pantry

"Mom! There's a Jack in the pantry!"

Do you hear it too? Jack-in-the-box/Jack-in-the-pantry??

I don't think Seth realized that he was being comical when he said it, but I thought it was cute!

But he is right, we often do find a Jack-in-the-pantry. And sometimes, it looks like this:

Come on down!

Ian is still toothless in Texas. Which is fine. I love his sweet, gummy smile! However, these teeth have caused many poopy diapers, runny noses and made for one clingy baby.


Right now, he's doing fine. We're just waiting for those top two teeth to go ahead and make their debut. I mean, they are right there!

And the other reason why I would like his teeth to come on down is this:


I am tired of buying baby food by the truckload!

Well, also I secretly hope that our cabinet does not detach and fall from the wall.

Crap ... literally

You all know my precious baby boy Jack. He's a cute, cuddly little chunky monkey. And one of his new favorite things to do is smile and giggle. He does this often and it is aboslutely precious!

This sweet, heart-melting little boy has a yeast infection.

So, being the good mother that I am, allowed him to run around without a diaper on tonight after his bath. (You could call me brave...or stupid. But I will try things until I get burned.)

Me, being the bad mother that I am, was on the computer while the boys were finishing their bottles (yes, Jack is still naked).

Then it hits me - this horrible poopy smell. Then I see him - that bright smiling boy looking up at me cover and smothered in poop. And the grossest part about it: even his handsome smile was pooped covered.

Needless to say, I spent the next 45 minutes bathing (again) and trying to clean our rug. The tough part was actually finding all the poop as it seems our rug is the color of poop.

Hope I got it all!

This is My Life

When I was younger, I always had an idea in my head of what my life would be like when I "grew up."

But, sadly enough, those ideas were derived from television shows, things I saw other people doing, or things my mom did that I vowed never to do (haha...turns out when you become a mom, you kind of start understanding why your mom did certain things!).

Let's focus in on my ideas from television shows. Sure, we all know that those are fake, made up, ideally great looking lives. But I guess somewhere in that understanding, it never really clicked with me that it was also unrealistic and unachievable.

You see, I always wanted to be the mom who did everything (and did everything right). I wanted to be the mom who kept her shape post kids (that kind of went out the window after being pregnant with twins!), the mom who cooked dinner and had it ready when dad got home from work, the mom who always had laundry done and put away, the mom who didn't mind if someone just showed up at our house because it's always clean and presentable, the mom who was involved and made the cutest, most unique desserts for the school party, the mom who's cookies tasted the best, the mom who threw beautiful birthday parties for the kids, the mom who had endless amounts of patients with her children, the mom who did all the work at home and pampered her husband when he got home from work...oh my, I guess I could go on forever, but I think I have gotten my point across.

Anyway, that is the mom I have always wanted to be. The Perfect One.

Is it attainable? Is it even realistic?

Let's see...I have been trying to be that mom for over three years now and still do not feel like I am anywhere close.

What is realistic is that moms do run out of patients when the kids are screaming and whining all day, a mom cannot always keep a house spotless because there are kids (and husbands) going behind her dragging stuff out after she puts it up, who cannot always have dinner ready at 5:30 because she forgot an ingredient and has to come up with a new plan or has babies crying because they are starving, who runs out of energy to fold the laundry at the end of a busy day, and who doesn't have enough give in her to pamper her husband at the end of the way she would like.

But even though I know I can't be the ideal mom, I think I'll still try.

Our Thanksgiving!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving Day with our families! Our families live nearby so we were able to make Thanksgiving with my family and Jeremy's.

Seth had a wonderful time playing with his cousins, and Jack and Ian did great just hanging out. We have totally been blessed with great kids!

This year, we had Thanksgiving dinner with Jeremy's family. This meant that I got to help cook! My sister-in-law, mother-in-law and I made the dinner. Typically, I make something and take it to where ever we are going, so this was a fun treat!

Jeremy's parents and grandkids

Us :)

My grandparents' great grandchildren

Now for the sappy stuff.

I do feel like one of my strong points is being thankful and recognizing what I have to be thankful for. Don't get me wrong, I am not trying to toot my horn - I have many not so great things about me! I have been very blessed and feel like it is important to recognize and thank God for all He has done. However, I do feel like Thanksgiving is a wonderful day to share things that we are thankful for and to also remember how our country started and what Thanksgiving is really all about!

So, for traditions sake, here is my tiny list of thankfuls:
God's grace and mercy, my husband, healthy and adorable and great children, our families, our friends, my fellow twin mommies who have helped me stay sane through pregnancy and twinfanthood, our church and Sunday school class, the computer that allows me to keep up with people (including blogging, message boards, facebook and email), our comfortable home, working vehicles, health, the time I have with my husband and children, dishwasher/washing maching/dryer that helps me keep a (somewhat) clean house (we all know how bad it is when one of those important appliances goes out!)...

The Case of the Disappearing Fish

Marlin was his name, and he was a fish.

Or is a fish. Either way, this may get confusing.

Marlin lived in a fish bowl in our bathroom. He was the only fish in the bowl.

One afternoon, Jeremy and I were in our bathroom and he asked me where Marlin was. He was no where to be found. The fish bowl is small with a receeding water line, and there was no way he could have jumped out.

I didn't touch him. Jeremy didn't touch him. We hadn't had any guests, and we do not have animals in our house.

That only left Seth.

Now surely (I tell myself), that I would have known if Seth had taken a fish from our bathroom. He is not a sneaky kid - surely he would have shown me his treasure, right?

Our son has a great imagination but typically tells the truth. The only problem is, his stories have changed each time he has told them.

Here is one version.

Daddy's Birthday!

November 1st is also Jeremy's birthday! And this is from our beautiful children:



Happy birthday to the most wonderful father and husband...we love you! :)

Happy Birthday Grana!

We have a double dose of birthdays today! Here's a happy birthday to Grana!

(No babies were hurt in the making of this film.)

Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day

Today, October 15, is National Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day. Today, I am reminded not of a personal loss but of a thankfulness for the children I have.

I have never personally experienced a loss of a baby through miscarriage or other, but I have friends who have. My best friend had a miscarriage at 10 weeks. Three of my twin mommy friends lost a baby each - two in utero and one after 4 and a half hours of life.

My heart completely breaks for the mommies and daddies that have had to experience this kind of loss. My prayers are with you tonight that you may experience peace in a way only God and give.

I thank God everyday for my little ones He blessed me with!

Jack Being Cute

Jack is sitting up really well and enjoying it very much. We have this one toy that he just loves to sit at. He laughs and smiles at it when it plays music and the lights light up...although he has not figured out how to make that happen on his own.

Here is a picture of him laughing at it the other day. He's so cute! :)


I was able to get a few giggles on film. I sure love these boys!

Ian's "Crawling"

For about a week or two, Ian has been on the move! He still hasn't mastered the actual act of crawling, but in the meantime he has invented his own version. And it goes like this:



Jack was showing off his turning around skills. He does that well!

Laughter

Hearing children laugh is the greatest sound, right?

Well we have two tough critics: Jack and Ian. For the longest it seemed like Seth was the only one who could get them to smile, let alone laugh!

The great news is, I got it on camera! (Of course the camera never does justice to actually witnessing such events in person, but it will have to do.)



That was taken a couple of weeks ago. Jack and Ian are smiling, giggling sillies now. It is so cute! :)

Happy Birthday Aunt Sarah!

I have, yet again, had camera/computer issues. They are now solved, and I have much to catch you up on!

On September 10 (yes, it has been almost one month ago), my youngest sister, Sarah, celebrated her birthday. Hope you had a great one!

A Beautiful Thing

I am the oldest child, and as the oldest child, I tend to do everything first - oftentimes even before my friends. I am the guinea pig; the one who learns by trial and error. Getting married and having a baby are two examples.

Today I got to witness (well, from a distance) my best friend start a new family. Kelly gave birth to Ivy Paige this evening. She weighed 7lbs 5oz and is just the perfect baby girl.

Today was my first time to be on that end of the birthing process. I was able to visit with Kelly during her laboring, listen to Ivy's heartbeat, and watch the contractions on the monitor.

But the best thing was seeing the new Daddy's face as proud and beaming as could be when he came and told us about his new baby girl. It was beautiful to see the brand-new grandparents smiling with tears in their eyes.

I am beyond happy for the new family! Since I have been through this twice (the twins count as one time, right?), I think I'm better able to appreciate what an incredible time this is for them. I know the excitment they're feeling. I know the new love that they have for this precious baby. And I could not be happier for them!

Congratulations, Kelly and Danny on your beautiful baby! You will make wonderful parents, and I cannot wait to experience your new journey with you. I love you!

SuperMom... (not!)

As previously seen on my blogger friends' blogs (Susan, Kate and Savannah), here is my blog dedicated to the common misconception of "having it all together."

Yes, I would like to accept compliments and truly believe that I do, in fact, have it all together all the time. Sometimes I even make myself believe it (that is, until I see the piles of laundry that should have been folded several days ago or the dishes in the sink or the toys on the floor or the...).

So, to make other moms who fall short feel better (because from time to time we do all fall a little shorter than we would like), here are my mommyhood pitfalls.

I spend too much time on the computer instead of drinking up every spare second to enjoy my young children.

I come up with cleaning schedules constantly but am never able to keep them.

I go through motivated periods when everything is kept up. But those times are always followed by times when I am tired and everything falls apart again.

Those times that I am tired are spend doing mindless and piddly things that typically do not improve our lives; although, I do justify my computer times by it being my social outlet. I may not need to be social every second of the waking day.

I have high expectations for myself, but when I fail to meet those expectations, I get frustrated and cease to be productive.

I, like Savannah, also has a hard time trying at things because I do not want to fail. I know what my limitations are and when I have to do something past those, I do it half-heartily (because if I tried my hardest and failed, how frustrating that would be).

I sometimes leave my children crying for their bottle to come check my email very quickly.

The only way dishes get washed some days are because I need clean bottles.

When my husband is on his weeks off, I spend my time relaxing like he does only to find that we live in a filthy house that takes me a week to straighten back up.

I feel the need to be everyone's friend and want everyone to feel the same way about me. This takes up entirely too much of my concentration and efforts when it would be better spent thinking of what I can do to make my family happier.

I love my life - I love my husband - I love my children!

No, I'm not a horrible person for not being a perfect wife and mother...I'm a normal person.

It's kind of a big deal!

Since having the twins, I've found how much more common twins are than I ever knew. We would run into people and they would say "oh, I miss that!"..."I'm a twin!"..."My cousin just had quads"...etc, etc.

Jeremy and I met a lady the other day. She was asking about the boys and she mentioned, very nonchalantly, "I have twins."

Well, it's a big deal!

I want to quiz everyone who I meet that has or has had twins. I want to know what they thought of the pregnancy (because, so far, I've not met anyone who thought a twin pregnancy was a breeze). I want to know what they thought when they found out. I want to know how hard it was the first year. I want to know what they went through personally with their twins.

I think I mainly want to know because that is what I'm living right now. Will me having twins not be a big deal the older they get? Will I forget the immense pain I went through to carry them in my belly? Will I forget how we had to buy two of everything? or fix two bottles at a time? or change two diapers at a time? or dress and bathe two babies at a time?

I know this is all fresh on my memory (you know, since it's now), but it is more work and I feel like the women who have raised twins should be giving a hefty pat on the back, a cheer...maybe even a parade. :)

It's definitly more work than having a singleton, and I want to show recognition to the women that have done it and survived! They've done an amazing job...and a somewhat rare one at that...and they deserve applause! (Along with every other momma out there!)

Thankfulness

My brain has felt tired over the last couple of days. As a mom to three children, two of which are infants, there is a lot to keep locked up in your head.

Who ate what when? Who pooped today? Which outfits are dirty and need to be washed? Is there enough baby food in the freezer...when do I need to make more? How will I fit cooking supper into our schedule today? When will I do the laundry? When will I do the dishes? Have I showered today? How long have they napped? Do we have enough milk? "Put this on my grocery list." Are Jeremy's work clothes clean? Do I have clothes to wear? Am I being a good mom? Did I remember to play with all of my children today and show my husband attention? Do we have clean bottles? When was the last time I washed the baby's toys or pacifiers? What time do I need to begin packing bags and putting them in the car?

I have to allow at least 45 minutes every morning just to get the kids fed and dressed (and Seth dresses himself!), an hour for me, and 20 minutes to pack bags/lunches and get everything in the car. At night, I cook dinner, feed the kids, bathe the kids, bottles, books, bed...

It's just a busy life altogether!

But I am very thankful.

Thankful that my children are healthy. Thankful that I have a husband who loves us. Thankful that my kids are really great. Thankful that my kids sleep well. Thankful that they play well. Thankful that they are just so hugable and kissable. Thankful that they are sweet to each other. Thankful that we have a nice home. Thankful that we have great friends. Thankful that things are as great as they are. Thankful that we have loving family nearby. Thankful that we have time to spend together. Thankful that I am able to stay home with my kids right now. Thankful for great friends that help me get through being a mom at home. Thankful that I have God to lean on always.

Life's busy and tiresome; but I couldn't ask for a better one. And for that, I am very thankful. :)

I Love Fuzzibunz :)

Thanks to my friend, Nici from the twins message board, I am now a cloth diapering momma! And I love it!

I went with the Fuzzibunz brand cloth diapers. The inside layer is fleece, the outside layer is waterproof and an absorbent insert goes in the 'pocket' in between. I have bags to keep the dirty diapers in that actually hold the smell in really well. I have a toilet sprayer (that I installed myself :)) to wash off any extra poo. At the end of the day, I throw all the diapers in the wash with Charlie's Soap (a soap formulated to clean cloth diapers and such), then the dryer and wha-la!

They are so cute on the boys; plus, they are so soft on their tooshies!


(couldn't figure out how to rotate this)




I had a wonderful experience with the store that I ordered from - www.fuzzibunzonline.com. Serena was such a sweet lady and huge help in getting my order fulfilled. I highly recommend them along with Charlie's Soap. When you get great customer service, none of the other problems matter. They handled everything wonderfully - thanks again!

Anyway, so far I love them! (I'll let you know what I think in another couple of weeks ;).)

Visiting the Fish

Today we went on a mini-trip to the Texas Freshwater Fish Hatchrey. Seth really enjoyed watching and feeding the fish, and Jack and Ian rode around so well.

They have a 'catch and release' pond to fish in. Here's a video of Seth reeling in his fish. You can tell in the video that Seth isn't too keen on actually touching the fish. :)



It was a nice, relaxing afternoon. We are so blessed to have great kids! No meltdowns or other diffculties...just poopy diapers. :)


Jack and Ian having a great time watching the fish.


Seth feeding the fish.


Seth telling Daddy what a mean fish that is right there!

And the best part about our trip: No Twinerazzi! (The word 'twinerazzi' came from one of my friends from the twins message board, either Susan or Rebecca (sorry I can't remember which one!). The word refers to the attention, both spoken or otherwise, that comes from having twins. Some examples include: oohing and ahhing, being flagged down, being stopped while moving, being told 'you sure have your hands full' or anything of the sort, being asked if they are identical, and such.)

Tricky Tricksters

I have a couple of tricky babies on my hands. (Well, actually on my floor.)

I was laying on the floor with Jack and Ian when Ian started crawling...well...getting up on all fours and going backwards. It was so cute! But, of course, as soon as I got my camera out, he stopped. :(

Here's what I got!



While I was in here typing this, Mr. Jack decided to roll over from back to tummy! This is the first time I've *partially* witnessed it! We knew he could do it because he rolls onto his side all the time but doesn't want to seem to finish the roll. I left him on his back and went back to find him on his tummy playing with his toy while Ian was up on all fours playing with his. Oh happy day! :)