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.)