tired mommy

Little Evia Erianna is 6 weeks old and has already grown out of her Newborn clothes and hats-is that even possible already??? Here she is with her tired mommy.

gloves and boots

I found the twins little stretchy gloves their size. I wish you could hear them oohh and aahhh when I show them something new-especially shoes! So I put their new gloves on and their rubber boots Aunt Carmyn found at the mom to mom sale, and they pranced around in front of the mirror admiring themselves. Than it was off to climb on dad-their human jungle gym.

twin time

I got to do a few hours of shopping today (all alone..wow) and Blaine was home w/all 3 girls for the first time. The twins found "new" toys to play with today. They occupied themselves playing with 2 empty diaper boxes for the longest time. (don't you love the hairdo their dad gave them?????? ha!) While they were in the box, there was a little squabble and so Blaine told them to give each other hugs and kisses-it's TOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO CUTE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

......more of Thanksgiving day pictures

eden, emersyn, elle (cousins)




krista, kyle, keira

Thanksgiving 2008

I hope you all had a blessed Thanksgiving. We hosted Thanksgiving dinner at our home for the first time ever and Blaine's parents, siblings, and all the cousins were here. We missed my family but my parents and Carey had a great Thanksgiving in Kentucky w/Brent and his family. And what a year to be thankful!!! All these beautiful children that God has blessed our family with. Somehow we managed to get everyone together for a family picture

more on life with multiples........

So the twins seem to get into the most trouble while I am breastfeeding the baby.
I am somewhat immobile at that time and I think they know it. A few days ago while I was feeding Evia, I saw the top of the broom handle swaying back and forth above the couch
across the living room. Than I hear a whack followed by crying and of course I can't always
jump up and run to see what's happening. Later that morning it got real quite (this is usually a bad sign). I had to stop feeding Evia and sure enough, Eden was sitting on the granite counter by the stove-a new feat. This was almost the last straw because earlier that morning they had climbed the rubbermaid toy bins-another new feat-ran off with my cell phone and dialed a number as I heard the operator say, "please check your number and dial again" and when I was in the bathroom for 2 minutes of respite, they were frantically pulling at the doorknob and when I opened it Eden had blood running down her chin and had somehow cut her lip (she was OK). I have no idea how she got hurt, but she's been climbing the pink toy kitchen
again and they like sitting on the back of the couches and "surfing" down the front of them to the floor. My mom, who is ever the optimist, reminds me that my children are healthy and not handicapped and how determined they are by challenges in life, and how successful they will be ya da ya da ya da.......... I reminded her that if Eden fell off the granite on the stone tiled floor, she could be handicapped-I am watching for the first gray hairs to appear on my head!

Parenting is hard work-but I can't help but love my little twinnies!!!!!!!!!!!

The label maker

I am married to an engineer-one that likes to have things organized. This is good and this is bad. Yes, his desk at work is organized but check out his closet sometime. ha. Anyways, Blaine went to a conference for work this year on organization and it has now gone from work and infiltrated to our home. As he says, "A place for everything and everything in it's place". So a label maker has appeared and my house is becoming one giant label (Ugh-its a good thing I love him). He attacked the kitchen yesterday and the drawers where the pots/pans go is even labeled. This could scare some people if they didn't know Blaine. He had the utensil drawer pulled out as he was not only labeling/organizing but adding more drawer latches to keep the twins out of the knives. So last night when he was putting the drawer back he started laughing. The open area where the drawer was must've attracted the twins as he found toothbrushes, balls, mega blocks, hand puppets, socks, etc.....that had been thrown inside! Those girls!

mommie and evia

Babywise

Evia had her 1 month check up yesterday. She gained 2 lbs and 1 inch since birth. Wow-I must be doing something right with this breastfeeding thing! She is already holding her head up for a while and cooing. Blaine changed her diaper last night and said he was shocked that her "chicken legs" were gone. For any of you new mothers out there (and I have alot of friends right now who are pregnant) I was given a book that I highly recommend. It's called "On Becoming Baby Wise" by Gary Ezzo. I didn't implement its philosophy till Evia was about 2 weeks old -since that is when I was given the book-but I swear by it. As many of you know, the twins were just shy of 6 months when they came home, so the newborn thing is new for us. You hear so many things from the nurses at the hospital, your pediatrician, ideas from Le Leche League, etc... and it can be SO confusing!!! Basically, the book recommends a Feed, than Awake, Than Sleep cycle. Most parents/moms, feed their baby, than lay them down to sleep or allow them to sleep at the breast/bottle. This is opposite to that idea. They do not advise demand feeding, but use a parent educated approach to assessing what your baby needs as far as hunger, etc... By 3 months, close to 90% of babies are sleeping through the night. The babies are happier and less fussy because they are on a predictable cycle and are getting a good eat/awake/sleep pattern. Also, another key ingredient is to make sure the baby gets a FULL feeding every time and no "snacking" at the breast. There is way toooo much to write here, so get the book!! Evia now eats almost every 2 1/2 to 3 hours like clockwork and wakes once, sometimes twice, a night. She was waking every hour the first 1-2 weeks, nursing sporadically, and I was dying of exhaustion!

The Cabin Fever Climbers

Here is Eden walking around with a plastic carrot, the book "Goodnight Moon", her doll purse from Aunt Dawn and a pacifier.




And Elle with a very appropriate saying on her bib, putting cereal on the top of her head


















So we had to tie up the breakfast nook table this week since the twins were on top of that. I guess I need to learn better roping skills since my efforts weren't effective.

family potluck

Tonight we had family potluck at our home w/Blaine's family. We all live within miles of each other and for a while, hardly saw one another. So we are trying to get together every 2 or 3 weeks for dinner Sunday night for a simple meal and we all bring something to contribute. Now that we all have children so close it age, it really makes the night fun and a little chaotic at times. Before everyone left, the kids got their PJ's on and Emerson, Elle and Eden had some time playing horse on grampa!



(In the picture above, Notice Evia in the the bebepapoose I have wrapped around me-she slept almost 4 hours tonight in there-she loves it and so do I)

Here is a picture of Krista and Cousin Keira!

The baby and Evia

Before Evia was born, Blaine and I used a doll to prepare the girls for the baby. The doll would literally ride in the carseat with us and "do" all sorts of things the new baby would be doing. The doll was on the couch tonight and I had to lay Evia down for a minute. Here they are just about the same size!

life having 3 under the age of 2

So today I took a shower. Well, I know most people take them daily (I did in my old life), but right now, a shower is the equivalent to bliss. I am hesitant to admit this but I thought today was day 3 since taking the last shower, than I realized it was Thursday and hadn't taken one since Monday-yes-but this is my life right now. Someone is always crying or pooping or needing to be fed and many things get put on the back burner, i.e. showering. So the twins little personalities are really shining recently-both good and the bad. Today at lunch, they were eating veggie hotdogs and Elle decided that everything she was going to eat had to sit on the top of her head first. Eden had to copy this. So-after lunch they not only had their face and hands washed but I had to strip their clothes as well. Then, I gave them sippy cups w/water and made the mistake of giving one to Eden first and not Elle. I usually have to give them these things together at the exact same time. Elle chased Eden for her cup and Eden ran to the dining room table. They have been hanging out underneath the dining room table recently inside the roped chairs. It is like their hideout lately. Eden had the water and Elle was in full pursuit and then there was a screaming match under the table for a cup of water. Of course Elle got it from her sister, took a sip, then threw it. Go figure! So can you tell what the picture is???? It's Eden with bits of Ritz crackers in her hair from lunch today.

Evia-3 weeks old

Well, I thought I had better take some more pictures of Evia at this stage--When they can't run away-ha! Try and take pictures of the twins now and it takes all sorts of preparation and props and luck. ha ha. She is 3 weeks old!!!

the twins and their pigtails

One morning the girls were in the PJ's and watching Sesame Street-it was all I could do to divert their attention to the camera. Those pig-tails are SOOO CUTE!!!

Goofy Elle

One morning before getting dressed, the twins were running around in their diapers (which they love-I think they would rather just be in diapers and no clothes) and Elle found Blaine's socks and put them on. I haven't laughed so hard in a while. She was just so funny running and dancing and twirling around in his big socks. Notice how tall she is getting. Even the plastic shields over the buttons on the electronic equipment is no match for her little fingers!!

childproofing

So, having 2 active little twins in our house has been challenging at times. As you can see, our house is in full lock down. We have gates, safety latches, locks, ropes, etc... everywhere and our house is continually "evolving" (as Aunt Sally has said) in what we have to do to keep our kids safe. They just love to climb and so I thought I would post some pictures of a few of our childproofing items. We have to rope the chairs into the table or they pull out the chairs and are on top of the table, piano keys, changing table, etc.. Blaine put cardboard on the changing table since they were scaling up the shelves (we have a new changing table with cabinet doors coming), and the shelves the toys were in have been replaced by rubbermaid containers since they were climbing the toy shelves.

toothbrush wars

So the baby is now 3 weeks old and has gained more than 1 pound already. I have teased her about being a little piggy and I guess she is qualified-ha! My one major outing since giving birth has been to vote--I guess the social calendar is pretty grim when you actually look forward to going to the polls. The girls and I have been pretty much at home and I worry about cabin fever this winter-but I did manage to take several walks this week w/the twins in their double stroller and I put Evia in the bebepapoose (it's a long cloth wrap-LOVE it!). We've enjoyed this warm November weather-but I think the snow is coming. ugh! So this week-the twins have been doing anything BUT sharing. This afternoon, I heard screaming/hollering from the hallway. Here the twins were standing in front of their mirror (Blaine mounted one in the hall at their eye level-best toy ever) and they were fighting tug-of-war to the death over an old toothbrush one of them found. Eden won and than Elle was screaming even more. Than to add fuel to the fire, Eden chased Elle around trying to brush her teeth.

November!

Well, it's November. Where did the month of October go??? Can you get used to no sleep??? Do I really have 3 children in diapers??? Another busy week and full of adjustments. Evia has been doing well and even slept for 4 hours in a row last night. WOW!!!! But my other two little ones have gotten colds and Elle was up more than the baby last night, so we are all t-i-r-e-d!!! And Eden, for some reason, got hives several times this week and scared me to death. She responded to Benedryl and the hives disappeared as soon as they came, but after several evening calls to her Pediatrician and scouring the house and my brains for what may have triggered them, they seem to be gone. My 3 "e's" were ladybugs this year for Halloween. They were so cute running around the lawn. I think they KNEW they were too cute!!! The baby even got dressed as a ladybug for about a total of 3 minutes. Here are some pictures of the girls' cousins. Kallyn and Kolton and Emersyn as Tigger, Piglet and Eore (sorry Keira-I did't get a picture of you in your cute little Monkey outfit). Oh, and here is Great-grandma with Evia. There is 90 years between their birthdays!!! I had to post a pictures of the twins last year as they were Peas in Pod. Last year they were barely sitting upright, this year they could climb Mt. Everest. Ha!