Happy New Year!!!!
Wow, did 2008 fly right by in a blink of an eye. This year has been full of blessings including 4 new children in our immediate family-twins Kolton and Kallyn, Keira, and Evia!!! This is our attempt to get 8 children/cousins to pose for a picture. This is an almost impossible feat with children so young-but we sure made some memories~!
Little Evia is 2 1/2 months now and has discovered her fingers. She is sucking on them quite a bit. And she is sleeping through the night on occasion. She has had several 7 hour stretches at night!!! She isn't quite big enough to sit in the bumbo with good head control, but that won't be long.
We had such a fun day with the Morgan family. Happy 80th Birthday Deloris. While we were there we took some pictures of their family and ours with my folks. Somehow my brother Carey got out of the picture.
Elle and Eden at Carol and Elmer's Christmas Party on the 13th. They were excited to see Santa but NOT sit on his lap.
Stay tuned for VIDEO clips from Blaine's new Flip Mino.
We were awoken in the wee hours of Monday morning to hear the most horrible cough. Poor little Elle developed croup-what an awful barking cough she had-and by the time we saw the Dr., her temp was 103.6! She was SO sick. After 2 doses of steriods and being pumped with tylenol/motrin, she is on the up and up. And wouldn't you know, it was Evia's 2 month appt. that day, so they both saw the Dr. That little Evia is a little fatty. She is 2 ounces shy of 13 pounds and grew another inch. She is in the 90% percentile for weight, and 75% for height. The Doc asked me what I was feeding her. She is a breastmilk baby. For all those nursing mom friends of mine, I just read this:
Not only is it legal to breastfeed in the United States, but many states have enacted laws to protect a woman's right to breastfeed in any place, public or private, as long as she's authorized to be there. Some states have laws so strict that asking a nursing mother to stop, cover up, or move elsewhere is a violation of her civil rights and gives her grounds to sue for damages in a court of law.
Put this info in your back pocket.
So, the last 2 days have been rough with a very sick little girl. I would die without the help of my parents. Carey and Mark were here this afternoon to help rock Elle, chase after Eden, while I fed the baby, etc... I am so grateful for their help too! I hope this Christmas won't be plauged by sick children like it was last year. fa la la la la la.........la la la la!
Well, winter is here officially as of 7 a.m. this morning, but we've already had lots of snow and cold weather. This weekend was the Christmas potluck at church, hosted by my parents, and there was lots of great food. Is Christmas really here this week?? I was hoping to have a beautiful Christmas tree up this year since we didn't have one last year because the twins were crawling and pulling up on things. This year, they would've climbed up the tree I am sure. I didn't feel so bad when Blaine's Uncle Ken told us there was a man at their church who has 20 month old twin boys and after he had to set the Christmas Tree back up for the 4th time, he realized they couldn't have a tree this year. Mmmmmmmmmmm........next year we will see what Evia is up too! I will have 3 little ones running around. Hopefully, they won't all be in diapers next Christmas. Here are a few things I want for Christmas:
1) World Peace
2) Ron Paul for President (well, I guess I will have to take this off my wish list this year)(did you know he was an economist. It would have been nice to have one of those in the white house right now.)
3) A Silent Night----LITERALLY!
4) More Silent Nights !
5) And even more Silent Nights!
Actually, I just wish for health and happiness for our children and family and friends.
Everyday is Christmas since Elle, Eden and Evia have blessed our lives!
Evia can really smile now
Here are the twins in more of their adorable Ann Geddes Outfits
They are the cutest little Ladybugs Ever!!!
Grandpa came for Breakfast-and of course had to call George to
update him on the day's events. And Elle's animals are busy
"kissing" again this morning.
Elle is my food thrower. Some days there is more food on the floor around her chair than she's eaten. This drives me absolutely batty. I have tried several different approaches and disciplinary techniques to quell this behavior, but NOTHING works. (any ideas out there???) What drives me even more batty is that when mealtime is over, there is Elle, eating off the floor-ugh!
Here is the funny of the day:
I saw Eden "breastfeeding" her toy panda.............!
Gramma Marlene couldn't resist getting all 3 of her little girlies matching dresses!! (Thanks Mom So Much!)
You can't imagine what effort went into getting this one photo-my toddlers are ON THE MOVE these days!
I took some pictures of Evia last week and was shocked when I looked back at a similiar pose I took when she was 3 weeks old. There is roughly about a months difference in these pictures-but has she ever changed and filled out. 
My Uncle Don from California has sent the twins and the baby the most absolutely adorable outfits from the Anne Geddes store. Anne Geddes is a famous photographer who takes beautiful portraits of newborns. There is only one store in the world and its located inside Disneyland. So of course, it is pretty special to get packages from Uncle Don!!! Here is a picture of Evia wearing an outfit from the Angel Collection. (Thanks Uncle Donnie)
Here are the girls wearing Ann Geddes this summer-they were 18 months old-Eden is in Pink, Elle in White. TOO CUTE!!!!!!!!!!!
(there are more pictures of Anne Geddes outfits to come)
The twins are now 22 months old. They are saying some words-finally-and singing all sorts of songs. The ABC's is the favorite and they love to count fingers. They have really gotten into action songs and are mimicking everything.
I think their most favorite toy of all so far has been this set of plastic jungle animals that I bought for $10 at Target last year. They play with them ALL THE TIME. The twins are always kissing the animals and making the play animals kiss each other. The play animals "kiss" just about everything in the house-doorknobs, the refrigerator, the safety gates, books, you name it.
I find the animals just about everywhere, even at the dinner table. If Mr. Giraffe or Mr. Elephant "eat" a new or unusual food, than the twins might try it too!
There is also a resident in our house that doesn't really care for the girls' toys:
Such as our cat Dolly
Unfortunately, the diaper Genie is a frequented play spot and all sort of things find their way into it besides diapers (I found sippy cups in there one day-YUCK!)
Here are some pictures of the girls playing under the table and pushing their strollers today. I guess I am biased, but I happen to think that these are the cutest little faces ever!!
Here is less than ONE hour in the life of a mommy w/3 children under age two.
Trying to make dinner (Chili):
-get out ingredients
-am interrupted with crying, fussy kids-find snacks
-open drawer for a can opener
-find a twin balancing on the top of the toy fridge while wearing her winter boots (that she has been wearing all day)
-try opening cans with one hand while supporting baby's head which she likes to pop put of the bebepapoose
-baby is crying, find pacifier
-pour ingredients into pot
-get sippy cup for Eden. Elle sees Eden with sippy cup and immediately there is a tug-of-war. Get Elle sippy cup (was on my way to do that anyway before tug-of-war erupted)
-baby falls asleep, take her out to put her in her swing
-while with the baby in the other room, I hear shake, shake, shake. This is the sippy cups with ice in them and the twins like to hear that sound
-come out of baby's room and find that Elle has figured out that water droplets come out the sippy cup top when shaking it hard-there is water drops all over the kitchen floor, hallway, etc.. my socks are now soaking wet.
-Simoultaneoulsy, Eden comes running/squealing from the laundry room with her hands over her head- she has a nursing bra dangling around her neck.
-Blaine comes home and says "Whats for dinner?"
.................................I am leaving the country for the night!
I had an "epiphanal" momement last week while we were driving about. We took a different route and as we were driving by McDonalds, like a shining star, the indoor children's play area came into my view like it never had before. Why...why...why...had I not thought of taking the twins to one of these play areas yet???? We rarely eat at McDonalds, but usually just drive through. So today, my brother and Blaine and I took the family to McDonalds for breakfast and to play. The girls scarfed down their breakfast and than off to climb. The play area is for 3-12 year olds, but the people who wrote those rules didn't know our red-headed little twinnies! With a little help from us and of course supervision, they were up to the top and climbing, without fear, through these tunnels about 2 stories up, part of the tunnels being made up of netting. Then they were sliding and giggling down the spiral slides. What was funny was that there was so much static electricity that our hair was poofing out in all directions. We kept getting shocked and the twins would just say 'ooohhhh' and touch where they were zapped. This evening Blaine took them out on the sled which they loved. Blaine said Eden is a "die hard" sledder. They were sliding down the big hill in front of our house and just laughing and laughing.
All 3 girls were dressed so cute today for church and I had wanted to get them all together for a picture, but it was nap time as soon as we got home and Evia was up-so we will have to get them all together later. This past week has been tough as Evia is in a growth spurt (which usually occur at 10 days, 3 weeks, 6 weeks, 3 months, 6 months) and eating sometimes every two hours. I read that they can gain 2-3 ounces and grow 1 centimeter in a 24 hour period during this time. As you can see, the newborn look has been replaced by a little baby with a double chin! We call her Budda Belly right now since she is filling out her onesies quite well. It looks like her feet have some catching up to do
Last Christmas, reporter Julia Zaher interviewed our family and wrote this beautiful little piece in the local paper. Who could've guessed there would be another Christmas miracle to add to our family this year! This is what she wrote:
The Christmas story starts with the miraculous formation of a family. This year, a very special local couple are rejoicing in the amazing circumstances that brought their family together. Blaine and Annmarie can't go anywhere without being stopped again and again as people "ooh" and "aah" over their babies. And rightly so. Their identical twin daughters, beautiful 10-month-old girls with fiery red hair and bright blue eyes, are undeniably adorable. Eden and Elle were sent to their parents not through supernatural conception or even modern fertility treatments, but by the selfless act of birth parents who knew they couldn't raise the chubby duo. What a gift they have given. Blaine, a structural engineer, and Annmarie, a peri-operative nurse, have been married for 10 years. They built their dream house by themselves and hoped to fill it with children. Christmas, a time made for little ones, has been painful in recent years. Two years ago, Annmarie planted a flower garden and started selling flowers at her parent's produce farm. She was saving money for an adoption, and customers came to know of the couple's longing for a child. "My mother always said we're going to get twins," Annmarie said. Annmarie wasn't so sure. Then the adoption agency called. A woman was going to give birth to twins in a month. Did they want them? Silly question. The real question became: Did the birth parents really want to go through with the adoption? The girls were born and Annmarie and Blaine were right there to hold them for that first week of life. Then the birth parents changed their minds and decided to parent. "It was so heartbreaking," Ann Marie said, crying. Over several months there were two more times when word came that they would get the girls ... and then that they wouldn't. Finally -- when the twins were six months old -- the birth parents relinquished their rights and fulfilled their original adoption plan. The girls had grown so much, from four and five pounds at birth to 15 pounds by the time they came home. A huge welcome banner over the Farm announced the wondrous event. "It's a miracle. It's a complete miracle," Annmarie said. "These were the most prayed for babies in the world," grandma Marlene told me. And likely the most loved. They have become the daughters of doting parents with an extended family eager to kiss and cuddle the girls and, yes, even change diapers. Lots of diapers. "We're still adjusting," Blaine said of the sudden shift from no kids to twins. "They'll be adjusting the rest of their life," grandpa Dwight said with a smile. It's an adjustment they're more than happy to make, especially on this first Christmas as a family. "It will just be the most wonderful time," Annmarie said. "This will be a major celebration." It will. And these girls, loved so much by so many people, will have a wonderful life.
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