Baby Baptism

Today was a special day for our family. Blaine's sister and brother both had children dedicated to God. Carmyn and Dave's twins Kolton and Kallyn, and Kyle and Krista's little girl Kiera. Thank goodness it was a laid back ceremony because there seemed like a million children running around (esp. mine, they would've loved to have been able to freely explore the church) and there was a baby crying at all times. Carmyn asked me to sing with my guitar and I found a beautiful little song called "Blessings" written by Twila Paris. I love the picture of Blaine and his dad with the girls. The girls were dressed alike and so was Blaine and his dad.

Bee Happy!!!!!!!!!!!!

What a fun time at the park on Saturday with the Wood's family and my parents. We picnicked by a playground and the girls were much more interested in playing with the stones than anything else. Elle especially was putting them in her mouth. I hate to think this, but as many times as I had to open her mouth and dig out a stone, I am sure that she may have swallowed one or two-ugh! I hope I don't see any of them in a day or so-if you know what I mean. Something else very interesting happened. Carey called and said there were thousands of bees swarming by my parents house. Than all of a sudden they looked and they were in 2 large masses in a lilac and pine tree. My dad called the bee keeper (there are hives on the farm for pollination) (watch Jerry Seinfield's movie called "Bee Movie" if you want to learn more about bees) and explained that there were too many bees and they were looking to set up a new hive/colony. Apparently, the bee keeper had to come over and add new bee houses, than coax the bees and their queen back to the hive. That sounds pretty tricky I would imagine.

Baby Borrowers

I haven't really watched any TV since American Idol, but heard about a new show on Wed. nights on NBC called Baby Borrowers. The motto is that it's not reality TV, it's birth control. They take young, teenage age couples, who are in "serious" relationships and who think they are grown up, etc... So, they put them in their own homes and simulate adult life. Last night, the girls had to wear "pregnancy suits" and then the next day, here comes a real, true to life, baby. They had to care for the baby for 3 days. Of course, the real parents could watch on camera. etc...Blaine and I were laughing so hard. It's a series and so next week will be a continuation on the fun.

abc

The lazy hazy days of summer are here-well, maybe not the lazy part. Running after two 16 months old is exhausting, but we are loving summer!! Most days I take them in the jogging stroller the 1/2 mile up to grandma and grandpa E's to swing, play on their climber, have snacks on their pint size picnic table and of course, play in the kiddie pool. This week they have been into stacking things-cups, bottle tops, toys, etc... It was a busy week. We picked sweet cherries at the Orchard-YUM! (The girls missed seeing their Owen). I am also trying to get the new nursery together and have been painting and sanding every minute they are down for a nap. Tonight we had fresh strawberry pie. Oh, my dad has fresh tomatoes already and wow, are they good. The corn will be ready soon too. I can smell it as I walk through the fields. (are you getting hungry reading this?) This week, the girls discovered the registers in the floor and have been caught lifting them up and attempting to throw toys down the floor vents. There is no way to screw them down-they just sit on the floor openings. Whatever genius designed them didn't have small children. Eden has a new laugh that sounds like a high pitched horse whinney-it's too cute. We finally got to take a pontoon ride Sunday evening and all the new little cousins, minus Kiera, were there. Blaine was a portable feeding station to Elle, Emersyn and Eden. Thank goodness for fishy crackers.

Port Huron

Today we spent the afternoon in Port Huron. We love to go there and picnic on the river just by the Blue Water Bridge. The big freighter ships come off lake Huron down through the river and there are so many other neat boats to see. The girls were squealing when we got out of the Pilot and headed straight for the water. They really attract quite the attention. Several people asked if they were twins (I get that all the time-isn't it obvious??) and the next favorite question is "where do they get their red hair from?" I used to say that God gave it to them,(which He did), but that just doesn't seem to be what people like to hear. They just look at you with this blank look, like they are trying to process your answer. So, I have now changed this response to the UPS man. For some reason that always gets a big smile. What is ironically funny is that UPS and mail carriers won't even drive out to our home but will leave any packages at my parent's home. Sadly, rain and hail came and cut our outdoor play time short, but we were so happy to get to visit with Tom and Veronica who luckily live in view of the bridge. What a nice surprise to see Donna and her 3 yr old twin boys there too!

Pacifier Wars

I took the girls to VG's this week to get a few groceries. I love that store because it is the only store that has a kids cart that has a double seat by the push handle, plus it has the attached front play car with 2 steering wheels. So technically, you could take 4 children to the grocery store if you are particularly adventurous. They love the produce section and I point out the fruits and vegetables and let them touch (not squeeze) them. (So make sure you always wash your fresh fruits and veggies when you get them home since you never know if a twin or two has groped them). We had gone through most of the store when Elle started getting fussy. I reached into the diaper bag for a pacifier. As soon as Eden saw Elle put it in her mouth she decided she wanted one too, however, she already had one in her mouth. It was so entertaining to watch this transaction because I could see the wheels in her little head turning. Eden stopped grabbing for Elle's pacifier, pulled her own pacifier out of her mouth, intensely studied it for several seconds, and with a sign of relief and pleasure, place it back in her mouth. Than all was well in the worlds of Elle and Eden. Before the days of them walking, they would sit in front of each other and swap pacifiers, suck a few seconds and swap back. Never assume for a single second that they don't know what the other twin is doing-they may be busy playing with their own toy, but they know exactly where and what the other is doing.

June Days

Happy Belated Fathers Day to all you fathers out there. The past 5 days or so we have all been fighting a nasty sore throat/cough, running noses, etc... It is not fun to have two sick 16 months old at the same time when you yourself feel lousy, but I think we are now on the up and up. Good news-there was a tentative agreement at our hospital with a newly negotiated nursing contract and we will vote next Monday to ratify it. I haven't seen any details but am hoping that our health insurance package remains intact. I got the insurance bill summary for the girls' last 15 month well baby exam. It was $300.00 each. I just can't imagine what people do without health insurance. I have a feeling this will be a pivitol topic in this coming election-at least it should be. Last night I dressed the girls in their cute little nightgowns from Cindy-they are like the little house on the prairie type-so cute-but there are no pants or legs in them. This morning when I got Elle up, there were huge wet spots on her sheets. Usually there is a little drool spot here and there-but then I noticed a diaper hanging through the crib bars at the back of the crib. She had somehow managed to pull her diaper off in the night. She must've loved that! (she is going to kill me someday for writing this). Blaine said to me, "you must not have put the diaper on good last night." I reminded Blaine that this little Elle/Hercules can almost do a chin-up by herself. I am sure she can easily manage to pull off a diaper. Ha! Did I mention that when you come and visit us now, that you will see that our couch has new little faded out spots on it. This decorating style has been brought to you by Desitin Cream-which was then attempted to be removed by oxiclean. (ps-don't try and remove daiper cream stains out of your couch with oxiclean-first, it doesn't work, second, it will ruin your couch fabric). I guess no new furniture till they are 30! ha!
Here are some pics of the girls playing on their little tykes climber-they have almost mastered it. There are some pics of them having a picnic with grandma and grandpa E, and of course, some cute (but dirty) feet photos of Blaine with Elle and Eden. We tried to do Blaine and them together-but you try and keep 6 feet still at the same time.

The Storm

On Sunday, we had quite a storm come through our area. There were tornado warnings,high winds and heavy rain. We had some limbs fall down by our home, but luckily, no major damage and no one was hurt. After the storm cleared, we drove to the lakehouse to survey the storm damage and to celebrate Carmyn's birthday (Happy Birthday Carmyn!). We saw many large trees that had been blown completely over which was impressive. We loaded up the kids and walked down the road. The girls were more interested in playing with some driveway reflectors than anything else. Who would've thought that some simple reflectors could be so much fun? Yesterday, Eden climbed up on a lawn chair and had a soda cracker in hand. After breaking up the soda cracker into hundreds of tiny pieces, she entertained herself for the longest time throwing each and every little tiny piece of cracker over the back of the lawn chair, one by one. What fun for a 16 month old!

baby kicks

(above is a you tube clip of a corn kernel popping in slow motion)

Everyone has been asking me if I've felt the baby kick. I wasn't quite sure and thought I had a time or two-but I was reassured that when it happened, I would know. Thursday I was working in the recovery room and had a patient still coming out of anesthesia. The room was dark and quite (at home I am either up running around, or asleep....so to just be awake and still and quiet is something that rarely happens, ha). Anyways, all of a sudden I felt a pop, like popcorn in my stomach, and I instantly knew it was a baby kick. I gasped out loud-I am glad my pt. was still asleep or I may of scared him. I had a permanent grin on my face the rest of the day. I feel her moving now all the time-it's so amazing.
It's Saturday night-the girls are asleep after a long day..church, naptime, playing in the lake, stroller rides......and its finally 80 degrees! Yeah! Our Saturday night time activities have consisted of picking up toys, cleaning the kitchen/dishes, picking up toys, reading the newest Time magazine, and did I mention picking up toys.

statistics of pregnancy following adoption

Blaine and I are thinking about photocopying this and having it handy to hand out to those people who emphatically exclaim how after adopting, pregnancy just seem to always happen-well, it doesn't. (just my rant for the night)

encyclopedia of adoption

pregnancy after adoption

Although the majority of adoptive parents do not have a biological child subsequent to an adoption, virtually every new adoptive parent has heard about a person with this experience. It is unknown how many adoptive mothers become pregnant after adopting but probably well less than 10% have biological children after they adopt a child. In many cases, the pregnancy is unplanned because the mother presumed she was infertile.

In an extensive study performed by Michael Bohman, he found 8% of the adoptive parents ultimately had a biological child. According to Bohman, 8% of the infertile couples who had applied to the agency and then withdrew before adopting also later had biological children. Bohman discussed other studies, which indicate postadoptive pregnancies at a rate of about 3% to 10%.

June......already?

Can it already be June? The poor corn on my dad's farm took a hit last week when there were record breaking temps and late frost-you can see some of the corn damage. These pictures are a few days old and now the corn is brown-but will hopefully make it. And the propane tank picture-ask Blaine-or maybe you shouldn't ask Blaine. I am just glad that nothing bad happened and it's back on it's footings.
The girls LOVE being outside. I have suggested that we just burn the house down and live in a tent. Blaine said, why don't we live in the house and put the girls in a tent. ha. They are exploring everything-playing in the dirt, splashing water in the bird baths, eating leaf lettuce from Grandma's raised beds, pulling at grass, and moving piles of rocks here and there. The picture of the girls is from Monday evening-you can't see from the photo-but they were sopping wet and filthy from playing outside. Thank goodness for Oxiclean.
We had a visit from Grandma W and Aunt Maggie today-fun fun fun! Aunt Maggie said she could hang out all day here and watch the entertainment. Life with two red-headed twins=Priceless!