Cutest Twins Ever!!

2010-10-04T21:35:00.009-05:00

This was taken at a health expo at a hospital this early summer. We mainly went because of the fire trucks ;). You are still obsessed.

Yeah! We got to visit Daddy when he landed in Dallas. AND, we got to watch him take off. You were a little scared of the plane and didn't spend but a few seconds in it.

FINALLY a return to blogging

2010-10-04T21:19:00.002-05:00

Ok, it's official, mommy was put in timeout from blogging. :) Ok, maybe not, but I have been really busy and I'll explain why I haven't kept up with your blog in months. First of all, I'm really sorry and I have thought about doing this for months...as I should have. Secondly, I started a new job as a baby planner at Sweet Pea Baby Planners and have been putting A LOT of my down time into that as well as researching for it. I guess time will tell if that becomes a successful use of my time. Thirdly, you were out of school and mommy was pretty exhausted taking care of you busy busy active and busy two year olds! Forth, we sold our house. Fifth, we moved into our new house! That was super exciting and now that we've been here for about 2 months and I've gotten at 2% of the projects done, I have a little more time to devote to the details of your life.

What's happened since April with you two. TONS! Your vocabulary is starting to crack me up. You are so aware of everything and commenting on all of it. Nothing gets past you. And your humor is already hillarious! This was a recent conversation one evening before bed, "ppoooottttt"! (from Jonah) "What was that," Jonah said. "Hmmm, I think it was the alarm." Yeah! Good one! He also has a thing for my hair lately and if it looks bad, you tell me flat out you don't like it and to put it up! Rude!!!! ;) Jake on the other hand is SUCH a big brother. You are already telling Jonah what he should and shouldn't be doing. But, you can be really sweet about it too. Lot's of times you will tell me, "mommy, I lud you."

Here are some funny things you say:

*Jake: Oderware - for Over there

*Jonah: Yesh - for Yes

*Both: Ment truck - for Cement truck

*Both: Ms. Coco - for your teacher Ms. Cobos

*Jonah: You gotta be kidding me!

*Jake: Dain der us - for Dangerous

*Both: ca'cu'min - for vaccuming

*Jake: dksldkjwoeirlkjdlkfjwoeiure fire truck - your brain moves WAY faster than your tongue

*Both: I lud u mommy!

*Both: Go away mommy - you go to timeout a lot for this one

*Jonah: I want to see daddy - when I was disciplining you

Like, I said...very funny but full of attitude! :) I will have LOTS more to say about your nuttiness later but for now, we have some photos to catch up on!!!

We have a giveaway for our followers!

2010-03-16T15:17:00.007-05:00

Hey guys and gals! You know how much we love and cherish our friends and family, right!! And, in honor of oh, I dunno, the birthday, St. Patty's Day, Easter...we're celebrating!!!!

For all of our blog follower friends, www.allmodernbaby.com is sponsoring this fun project. Please, check them out. They have TONS of great eco-friendly, baby-friendly, mommy-friendly stuff! I gotta tell you, I had a hard time choosing which item I would love to give away. They REALLY do have some cool stuff that you don't see everyday at very reasonable prices.

Check out their other options for kids bedding! They have lots of really cute stuff in kids bedding for your older kiddos too! And I HAVE to figure out a way to get a pair of these ADORABLE fire truck bed! And if you're into choosing more eco friendly and non-toxic choices for your family, they have a big Go Green section too! And while you're at it, take a glance at these Argington Babylon Toddler High Chairs, they are adjustable and WICKED cute! Man, I wish I could get my hands on 2 of these babies ;) ;). Ok, before I ramble on and on and their cute stuff, here's the prize for one lucky follower...because I believe in reducing our babies' exposure to toxins more than I can relay, and because I'm a twin mom, I choose THESE!!!

The bloom Alma Organic Fitted Crib Sheet (Set of 2)

These sheets are:

100% organic cotton
Unbleached and un-dyed natural cotton color
Safe sleeping surface for baby
300 thread count
2 fitted sheets per pack
Available in Coconut White and Natural Wheat

And besides being organic, the best part is that there are TWO!!! They come in a set...a twin mom's dream ;). And, the winner gets to choose the color. So, as long as you're a follower of my blog, you're in the running! We'll choose the winner on Friday, April 2nd...because April fools day is just too strange of a day to tell someone they won something. ;) Good luck! And thank you www.allmodernbaby.com for loving Cutest Twins Ever!!

Just because I love you

2010-03-07T22:16:00.006-06:00

I've been reading/hearing about 2 young sweet girls lately that have been diagnosed with illnesses that they cannot possibly recover from unless by some miracle of God. It breaks my heart over and over when I hear new updates or see new photos of these precious little girls. Ugh, I've actually been very upset tonight about one of them in particular who didn't even wake up today despite being moved around, diaper changes and her mother reading to her. How incredibly saddening that must be to live that every day. To see your sweet baby girl and hold her knowing that your time with her is about to be a sweet blissful memory is something that I cannot being to fathom, but nonetheless, as a mother, it makes me ache for them as I try to imagine how they find the strength.

To have healthy children is merely a gift from God, not a promise. It is a blessing that I hope that I never take for granted. As a mother, as soon as we know that we are carrying new life, ours are never the same. Our hearts grow in immeasurable ways that is simply indescribable. The love outpouring is beyond comprehension. The desire to take all the hurt and pain away from our little ones is instantaeous and unwaivering. I have not the slightest inclination into what the parents of sick children must endure but lately I have begun to think of them more. And for them, I become a more grateful mother. I have been praying for more patience and wisdom so that I can be a better mother. My children are healthy and that is not just their but MY gift as well. I must use that gift well, and I must make the most of it!

So, thank you, parents, for sharing your stories and my prayers are with you daily. And thank you to God for the health of my children and Neal and me. May I use the blessing of health to honor and glorify you! Thank you for showing me that every person's story has meaning and that even the smallest, the youngest and the meakest can show me the greatest of lessons in life!

And just because I love you, I thought I would share some cute photos.

2010-03-06T23:38:00.003-06:00

So I know it's been a while...but we've been some busy boys! Last weekend we turned TWO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yes, it's hard to believe that my "babies" are now full fledged toddlers, but that is a fact. They are even developing into "typical" toddlers if you ask me. ;) The tantrums have started, the throwing themselves on the ground is in full-swing ;) and the back-talking...well, don't get me started! One of Jonah's favorite words is "no". Ugh! And, as H-A-R-D as I tried to not use the word "my" or "mine", they managed to pick it up. So, there's a lot of "my doggie", "my car", "my milk" going on presently. Oh, and as one of friends joked about the other day, the "toddler repeat button" has no off switch! Ha, these boys say the same thing over and over and over. Nearly every morning Jake inventories the car situation, "Mommy's truck...OUT-side", "Daddy's car...OUT-side", "big truck go...bye bye!" And the fun goes on and on. Jonah isn't as much of a repeater but he's more of a mocker. You say something, and it's likely to be repeated by Jonah...beware!

But despite the toddler fun-ism's, the boys are wonderful and healthy and chatting it up!! Their 2 year appointment found a 27lb Jakie and a 25lb Jonah in good health and A+'s all across the board. Praise God!

So, last Saturday was their actual bday. We woke up to waffles (a fav), followed by a few presents. Then, Gigi arrived, followed by a few more presents. And, we were off to their fav gym (which is now officially closed so that was their last Open Gym at The Frisco Gymnasium, bummer). The gym, or gym-a according to the boys, was a ball. Jake threw a fit there and Jonah, in true form, wanted nothing to do with the bounce house nor the trampoline. Jake on the other hand, could jump for days. Then, we ran over to one of our fav cafe's for some late brunch and cupcakes!! Nap time followed, which then led to an afternoon of more presents and family time! Good bday guys! We had fun right along with you. Happy Birthday!

Then, Sunday, we went to church. And then the boys went down for their naps after lunch. Then...party time! The theme: Rock Star Party! I found the cutest decorations online which actually gave me the idea. The boys were all dressed up, as were some of the other guests. Daddy got us a BOUNCE HOUSE!!!! It was awesome...except that everyone loved it except for the bday boys. Jake thought it was cool for about 30 seconds at a time. Jonah is still wanting nothing to do with bouncing. We had 6 (that's right six) sets of twins at the party. Rogert sang some acoustic kiddy songs like ABC's, Wheels on the bus, and The Itsy Bitsy Spider. Aunt Lo was his back up singer. Other than bouncing, singing and dancing...there was yummy (and healthy) food! I think they had a good time. It was short but sweet. We decided to open presents after the guests were gone. So, the family watched as the boys opened one present...the first present...a Fire Truck from Aunt Lo. And yes, they received a multitude of other gifts...of which they had zero interest. The Fire Truck was the best present ever, apparently.

Well, I'm glad you had fun! And I'm glad that your friends came and had fun with you. I'm glad that you're 2 and you're getting so big!! I'm glad that you're healthy and talking to us more and more. I'm glad that your days consist of playing, having fun, eating, sleeping, maybe a little "firetruck tv" and more playing. I'm glad that you know what hugs and kisses are. I'm glad that you're starting to count and sing ABC's. I'm glad that you say "bless you" when someone sneezes and "thank you" even when you're not reminded. I'm glad that so many people love you. And I'm glad that God gave you to me. Happy Birthday my precious angels. I love you SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much!

23 months and counting!

2010-01-30T20:44:00.005-06:00

I feel like a bad mommy blogger these days. I have been a buuuusy gal between CAUSE and the boys and some research I'm doing for a future interest which I will hopefully be able to blabber on and on about very soon! In the middle of all of that, we've had some lousy weather, Neal's crazy schedule and bouts of illness. Whee!

The dudes are doing very well, despite some runny noses, coughing and boredom of being trapped indoors for so long. They are, as always, very very busy with testing mommy and advancing their verbal skills. Jonah seems interested in his ABC's lately, and I have yet to get him to include any other letters besides ABC's but it's a start. And counting doesn't go past 2 for either of the boys. Everyday, they learn a new word or phrase. Yesterday, we added "Go Away!" to this list. Ugh. Jake seems to be a consumate echo. He just repeats everything! And the jibber jabber back and forth between them at times is SOOOO Adorable! Sometimes they are SOO sweet to each other, bringing the other one his favorite blanket or (in Jake's case) stuffed dog. And, other times it is biting, pushing, hitting, throwing, etc. I suppose that is the case for all siblings though.

I cannot believe that we are about to start planning our 2nd bday party! It's just not possible that it can be 2 years from the day they were born. No way! I love you boys!

Here's Jonah eating out. We are more stir crazy these days waiting on the meal to arrive so we have to come prepared with anything that has wheels!

And Jake, same story. Interesting how they're giving me the same look. Ha

Neal took this photo of me and the boys in their classroom before the teachers arrived one morning. The guys LOVE school and I enjoy a little quiet work time!

Neal & I took the boys to the mall last week for some getting out of the house time. Jonah was having fun with mom's sunglasses while we waited on our lunch to arrive. Cutie!

Here's a really cute photo of the York twins and the boys on a playdate around christmas time.

I love this video. I was cooking and kept hearing a smacking sound to find the boys spontaneously giving each other kisses! Ugh, sooo cute!

I took this this morning. They are in LOVE with firetrucks and were paying tribute. Smarties!

A Christmas Video...finally

2010-01-17T20:17:00.003-06:00

2009 Holiday Season

2010-01-03T21:03:00.010-06:00

The holidays were good to the boys. If there is a toy involving transportation out there, I think the boys now own it! We had a great time, but I'm glad we're getting back to our normal. Yeah, school tomorrow!!!

We had one Christmas on Christmas Eve Eve...since Neal was flying out the next day. Then, we had a Christmas with the Grandparents and Auntie on the real Christmas day. Both, were a lot of fun and the boys had a blast with all the new things to play with and/or ride one. The favorite toy is probably the monster trucks that Aunt Lissa got us. BUT, the trucks and Motorcycle that Aunt Lo got them were also huge hits. And, the Grandparents did nooot dissappoint! Thanks everyone for the generousity! And thank you Santa for the AWESOME STUFF.

My computer is acting up so I'll have to repost the videos, but here are some great photos.

Here's what Santa brought us, taken before the boys woke up!

Jake trying out the new lawnmower while rockin his new Elmo slippers!

The boys LOVE this slide. It was hanging out with their ball pit for a few days, which made for a fun new activity!

The twins opening presents from M&D...new shoes! Sweet.

These bathtowls that GG gave us were soooo cute!

Jake just LOVES this truck. I could slap Aunt Lo for buying it...since it plays the song "Hammertime" by MC Hammer over and over...but it is a hit!

Jonah got SO excited when he saw his motorcycle.

These cool trucks not only talk...a lot...but they also came with a cute DVD. Thanks GG and Granddad!!

Christmas Morning with cuties & Granddad!

This drum brought a little jam session out in Granddad and the boys. It was pretty adorable.

We brought in the New Year with a family breakfast at The Original Pancake House...yum! The boys learned how to cheers with sippy cups! Daddy again had to leave on New Year's eve so he missed the festivities, but thank God we have some awesome family to party with ;). Here's to a terrific, healthy, fun, wonderful, peaceful, educational, loving 2010 filled with LOTS of God's blessings!! 2009 was a good year, filled with lots of ups and downs. But we made it through and are looking forward. I still can't believe these boys are almost 2 years old. We've come so far so fast. I miss your tinyness and feeding you bottles and goopy baby food...so sweet. I miss you cuddling up on my chest as you slept. But, I LOVE that are so busy talking and watching you play is so entertaining. You both are all boy, all the time! I'm excited to see what 2010 holds for you, my precious sons! I loooove you more than I can put into words. Thanks for making my holidays a joy!

Christmas Cookies, Aunt Lissa and of course, Trucks!

2009-12-22T19:57:00.007-06:00

The last week has been a little tough for us. The boys, as always, shared a looovely bug. Jonah was first and ran a fever about a week ago. Then, on Saturday, Jake woke with the same crud. He ended up having a much rougher time with it too, running a fever of 103.8 on Saturday night. Poor guy! Thankfully, my parents (GG and Granddad) were here to help soothe the ickies away.

Somewhere between Jonah getting better and Jake getting sick, we made some christmas cookies! Aunt Lo was here to help eat them (thankfully) and we were glad to see her again.

Aunt Lissa was able to stop by this weekend and she gave the boys their first Christmas presents. The other presents will pale in comparison to the mighty Monster Trucks. The boys love everything and anything that is considered a transportation device...trucks, airplanes, trains, helicopters, tractors, motorcycles, buses, cars, bicycles, fire trucks, ambulances, etc. And, of course the bigger, the better. So Monster Trucks are the cooooolest. In fact, this is one of the boys FAVorite shows we let them watch:

And so when the guys opened their presents...of course, they looooved them. In fact, today is Tuesday and they still are rarely seen without one of their monster trucks in hand(s). :)

So Thank you Aunt Lissa!!! And Thank you Uncle Jimmy!!! We loooove our trucks. :) :)

Updates and Photos

2009-12-16T21:55:00.007-06:00

We had our (what was supposed to be) last appointment at Children's Hospital today to get Jake's blood checked out. His count is 147,000, which is considered normal...still. Yeah!!!! The nurse did mention that his pediatric hemotologist did want to see him but we're not exactly sure why, so we're going to look in to that further. But, this is still great news that he is normal. Thank you God!

I took some photos of the boys on my phone while we were there. Jake did sooo good getting his blood drawn. And he was so darn cute. When he finally got the bandage off his finger, which he hated, he said through whining, "there ya go". Ha...sweet Jakie!

And last weekend we had family photos made. It was kind of thrown together at the last minute but the photos turned out better than I had anticipated. And the boys did great! The photographer even said they looked into the camera more than any other toddlers had for her. I think they're born covermodels! How could they not be, check these out!!

2009-12-04T22:03:00.001-06:00

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

2009-12-04T21:58:00.001-06:00

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

First Snow!

2009-12-04T21:41:00.002-06:00

Wednesday morning as I was waking the boys from school I was SHOCKED when I pulled back the boys curtain to see a blanket of snow all over the ground and huge flakes still falling. It was so beautiful and extremely unexpected. But, it was fun to get the boys out to see their first snow!

Fun Weekend with Santa and Trains!

2009-11-30T22:33:00.006-06:00

As of lately, things have been a little topsy turvy around here. Two weeks ago, Neal's poor dad fell and broke his back the day of his arrival. He's been in the Hospital and then a rehab center ever since. It was very sad and we hope that he gets better soon. And because Neal was at the hospital so much on his vacation :(, we had to change up our schedule too due to some vehicle arrangements. Then, of course, it was Thanksgiving! The holidays were good to us, but unfortunately it was just Granddad, GG, the boys, A-Lo and me. We were missing some key players so it felt a bit empty. Oh well. Not much happened besides the yumminess of it all, but it was good to dedicate a day to thanks.

So, this weekend seemed like the first time in a while that things seemed to be back to normal. And thankfully, my friend Sheryl from KVIL, invited me and the fam to have breakfast with Santa and ride the North Pole Express. That was a big...DUH! We were so excited and with Neal out of town and sick (bad combo, poor thing) Granddad and GG filled in with enthusiasm.

It was so much fun, and with the boys' recent fascination of trains (anything basically that moves is awesome in their book) it was great timing.

Here we are at the breakfast prior to santa's arrival. Great pic of the grandparents with the buds. At the table behind us was another set of 5 year old twin boys. And then there were also a set of twin gals...all fraternals oddly enough! We just can't seem to shake twins! They're everywhere these days.

After the breakfast, we were ushered off to the pre-North Pole Express show. This was basically a warm up Christmas singing goof led by an obnoxious comedian wanna-be and his adorable little back up dancers. Jake wanted nothing to do with it for the most part, but Jonah was into the show!

Adorable little back up dancers.

Here we are getting on the train! It was really old but super cute...kind of like a rideable antique!

Me and the boys before the train was in motion. Oddly enough, the boys were very sweet and almost quiet on the train.

And just as we got started...we were joined by a surprise visitor!

Surprise Santa!

Sweet photos.

Sweet Jakie

Precious Jonah

The rest of the weekend was pretty great too. The boys had a great dinner later this evening with the grandparents. They even got excited about going to the church nursery. And yesterday afternoon, we made some homemade playdough. That proved both messy and a good filler of about 30 minutes, which in toddler time is awesome.

Good weekend!

First Hair Cuts, First Road Trip and First Wedding!

2009-11-15T21:56:00.006-06:00

After I fiiinally convinced Neal that I could not and will not cut the boys hair anymore and subject them to further scrutiny, we got our hair cuts by a professional!

The girl was great, very patient with suckers on standby and a cute little beany cow to moo away the tears. The boys weren't as receptive to it as I had hoped. So, they sat on my lap. I didn't mind having a front row seat to this first haircut. Jonah was first up! He was all about the sucker, and the cow wasn't too shabby either. So, it went ok. And like everything, the further into it we got the more his fears subdued.

Hold still Jojo!

Seriously thankful for that sucker.

Coooolllll! I think he knew how awesome he looked. He was workin the new do.

Jacob was even more skiddish than his bro, which I thought was interesting since he seemed to watch the who show on his dad's lap. I figured he would be ready to go after seeing Jojo was ok. Nope! He took a little longer because he was veeery reluctant to turn his head...could have made for a very odd cut.

I'm so lucky Jakey loves his mama.

Sweet do Jake! He was workin it as well. Couple of future heart breakers on my hands.

A few days later, we were off to our first wedding. I was honestly genuinely surprised when the bride asked if the twins could be the ring bearers. I thought she was crazy...two rambunctious 20m old toddlers at a wedding ceremony!?? But I agreed...even though they had to wear hunter camo jackets. Noooot my cup of tea, but hey, what the bride wants...

The boys did ok during the 3+ hour car ride out there. Luckily, my whole family (minus daddy, he was working) went along. So, it was a family affair. The guys did better than expected at the hotel. I was surprised how easily they went to sleep in a foreign room and foreign beds. But, the excitement of it all probably just wore them out! Although, I will tell you that Jojo woke Aunt Lo and mom up the day after the wedding b-e-f-o-r-e 6AM. You're lucky we love you so much buddy! And he had a total melt down on the way home, but thankfully, Granddad was there to calm my nerves. Phew!

All in all, a pretty good wedding experience for being so young. I was exhausted at the end of the evening because I literally ran around all night chasing them in 3 inch heels....ouch! And, I thought it was hilarious at the end of the night the wedding coordinator told me they were so well behaved for their age. HA! She obviously wasn't paying any attention to them. (which was good!)

Mom & Jonah walking down the aisle.

Aunt Lo and Jake

I kept reminding Jake that he already had a girlfriend (one of the Murray twins) but he was in LOVE with the flower girl, Zoe. She was a sweet heart and Jake just kept saying her name over and over...Hi Zoe, Hi Zoe, Bye Zoe and again and again. Yes, I'm gonna have to watch out for this little flirt!

Mom & Jonah

Jake decided to yank Aunt Lo's hair...stinker!

Too many cute photos

2009-11-01T22:50:00.007-06:00

My boys were the cutest astronauts ever! I was so glad I found these costumes. They fit them perfectly and you could tell they loved wearing them. I think we may just have to find a reason to play with them again sometime in the near future.

Friday mom and I took the boys to a PAMOM costume party at the mall. Wheee! Lots of twins and triplets all dressed up in their cute outfits.

We started out in the play area, then had a parade and then stopped for cute photo ops.

Jojo looks like such a big boy here.

The boys with one of the Melker Triplets.

Busy boys.

Then, of course it was lunch time!

"GG, it's time to put the camera d-o-w-n."

So...a couple of weeks ago, I turned another year older. See my excitement:

Anyway, the boys threw me a lil surprise party with my fav Italian take-out. As you can see, Jake liked the pizza.

And Jojo was all over the chicken parm. Yum!

Party Jakie!

And Jonah is clearly in party mode (yes, that glass is empty).

After all the sickness and the rain, we FINALLY made it to the Pumpkin Patch. It was a soggy mess and there were hardly any pumpkins left, but we managed to try to have a good time. Jonah tried to pick up the pumpkins, not sure why but I guess it was just something to do.

Jake wants to push his wagon everywhere. I don't know why but he throws a fit if he's not pushing it around. Stinker

Daddy 'n boys.

Cuties.

Mommy n boys.

AWESOME NEWS & Fun Times!

2009-10-24T21:08:00.004-05:00

THANK YOU GOD!!!!! We have wonderful news! Jake's platelet count this week was 302,000. That number is beyond normal. It's so much higher than we were even praying for. Normal platelets counts are between 150,000 and 400,000. The last time we were in there (3 weeks ago) he was at 21,000. So, this was such a shock that even his Dr. personally called us. She was thrilled. So, now we'll go once a month for the next 3 months and if his count remails normal, then we'll be discharged. Ahhhhh.....for the first time in a long time, I felt like I could breathe. I had two healthy baby boys again. It's just awesome!

So, to celebrate, I have been very active with my little monsters lately. Jake seems to notice his health as well. He's been even more busy, more agressive, more all over the place. It's like he feels normal and it shows. For starters, I took the boys to the mall by myself this week and we actually attempted to have Chick Fil A in the food court. It's the first time I've taken them to eat without another adult. It wasn't bad at all! You did so good guys :). And of course I got lots of, "ahhhh!" from passerbys. I know, they're pretty cute.

And this Friday, we went to our church's fall festival. It was very packed with lots of people and stuff to do...but mostly for bigger kids. But, we still had fun dressing the boys up and letting them loose. I found these ADORABLE outfits online. I wanted something that wasn't hot or too bulky or had a headpiece. And I also wanted them to coordinate but I didn't want them to match exactly. So, I found these perfectly made NASA space suits. And they love them. You can tell they are aware that they're a big deal when they've worn them. They just light up.

Jojo, Aa-Lo and Granddad (he's such a Granddaddy's bud!)

GG and her Jakey

My boys n me on the Fire Truck!

Jake was a little fascinated at all the gear on the truck.

Jojo and Granddad bounching on the Moonwalk...get it!

Takin' a breather

The sisters n the brothers.

Seriously, could you guys BE any cuter?

And today, we took in the airshow at Alliance airport. I took the boys because they've become VERY interested in all things that transport....planes, choppers, trucks, cars, motorcycles, etc. Plus, the Blue Angels were there and well, I LOVE them! My uncle was a pilot in the BA for 2 years and I feel like I have a minor connection to them, which makes me feel very proud and honored. And they're a-m-a-z-i-n-g so there. But the big poopy of the day was the fact that we didn't get to see them. The show was running behind and we just couldn't wait any longer. We were too tired and it was getting a little too warm outside. Oh well, someday in the future, we're there! But, in general, we had a great time. The boys really light up watchin the acrobatic planes dance all over the sky. Good times!

Jojo & Jakey in a military chopper. Cool!

The Flu...Ugh

2009-10-18T22:52:00.003-05:00

We haven't posted lately because life has been busy and Jake got the flu! And, I tried as hard as I could but those boys could not stop swaping their sippys...or rather, one or both couldn't not steal his brother's sippy. So, just as Jake started to feel better, well, now it's Jonah's turn!!!! Oh, it's been fun. And, THANK YOU GOD, that I have not been ill yet. But it all started right as Neal was leaving for a trip. Perfect timing as usual. I've been trying hard to get them busy and out of the house because the weather has been faaabulous lately. With this lousy flu though, we have just had to put everything on hold. And I know the boys are going stir crazy with cabin fever...as am I.

Not much else is going on as far as news. They are busy busy still trying to chatter away. Jonah said, "I love you" the other day which was just so darn cute I almost cried. They're both just so clever and busy. And the flu has had them very mommy clingy. That has been hard on me because I want so badly to be able to hold and comfort them both but they just get their poor feelings hurt when I'm spending some time with one and not the other.

Here are the only photos I've been able to catch lately. Due to this crud we haven't really had some good photo ops. We'll try harder!

The boys got a new table to play and eat on. The high chairs are OUT!

Tables are awesome.

This is our fake smile.

Breakfast with our gal pal Reece pre flu.

19 Months!

2009-10-01T00:09:00.004-05:00

Yesterday we were officially 19 months. It seems like the last month flew by. I should have posted sooner, but the weekend before last we went to the Plano Balloon Festival and Octoberfest. It was a busy weekend! We had fun and the weather remained somewhat cooperative, so that was a pleasant change. I have posted the photos below from the outings.

In other news...I took the boys to their Mother's Day Out today and NO ONE CRIED!!!! That was such a big deal for me. It has been difficult to leave them there while they're (or mainly just one) is crying. But we apparently had a good day! The boys have been bringing home some really cute art projects that just make me smile. I know someday I'm going to look back at them and probably cry because they're growing up so fast. :)

Yesterday, we had our 2 week Hemotogist appointment. Jake was a big boy but he still hasn't gotten to the point where he's ok with getting his blood taken. That's rough, but the rest isn't so bad. Our count was 21,000. I wasn't exactly thrilled at the tiny bump up, but I have to remember that it's still up...which is exactly what we need. But, we still need prayers. But until we're out of the woods, we're going to continue to take it easy and try to enjoy this fantastic fall weather! Yeah!

The boys eating their dinner at the Plano Balloon Fest

The boys got assulted by some Hooters girls with stickers! Awful...;)

Me n Neal

The boys with GG at Octoberfest.

Yes, that's milk in those sippys!

Jake was high fiving a new friend who was seated next to us. Friendly guy!

Jojo & his Grand-dad

Stinker face!

Oh and I forgot to mention Jonah's recent fascination with airplanes. He can barely say the word, but they've become a favorite toy for him. He often points to them in the sky and tries to say airplane but it comes out more like, "au-ju!"

Maybe Jojo's going to follow in daddy's footsteps someday...??

Picnic dinner at Plano Balloon Fest.

Cute Photos/Lots To Do

2009-09-23T21:39:00.002-05:00

So I haven't posted in a while...my baaaadddd. We've been busy lately, but in a good way. So no Hemotologist appointment this week. I'm not looking forward to next week's visit since last week's SUCKED. It sickens me to the core that his count dropped again after we were SO hopeful that it would keep going up and we would be out of the woods. In other health news, we had to go to the Pediatrician this morning to check Jonah's Iron...it was normal!!! Thank God. At least that is one of my kids who has some normal blood. Now if only Jake would catch up. :( We have been staying somewhat active lately. The weekend before last we went to see Aunt Lissa and her dog Oden do a demo at an SPCA activity in Plano. That was fun. Last weekend, we went to Plano Balloon Fest and Octoberfest. I'll post those photos soon.

Jake was SO excited to see his Aunt Lissa. He was trying to jump out of the seat he was strapped into so she could hold him. Super cute.

Jonah & Granddad

Aunt Lissa and Jake makin bubbles. OMG Jake was facinated by this.

Hey gorgeous!

Jonah got in on the action too.

Aunt Lissa talkin' shop and showing off her AWESOME pooch Oden. He was so funny because the grass was wet and he did NOT want to sit in it.

The next night my mom & dad & I took the boys to the kitchen table of Buca. It was fun! The boys love to watch me in the kitchen so I thought they would be fascinated by this spectacle.

"Melmo's" World & Mom's Day Out

2009-09-11T21:44:00.005-05:00

This week has been a busy one! Neal left Tuesday so it's been pretty much me n the boys for most of the week. Wednesday we started our Mom's Day Out program! The boys will be going to a 2-day a week 5 hour Christian based pre-school which should hopefully be LOTS of fun once we get past the initial freak outs. I was more of a basket case getting everything ready for them from nap mats to snacks, sippys, lunches, extra clothes, diapers, etc....it was like we were packing for a road trip. The boys did good! They get a daily report card that basically told me Jake was a little sad but mostly happy and a great eater (btw, totally surprised me how much he flipped out...that's usually Jojo's job). The report card said Jonah didn't even cry. Crazy!

Oh and I made them some homemade blueberry pancakes for breakfast and didn't realize that Jake had big blue spots on his shirt until we were in the car. Opps!

First Day of School Breakfast

Jake wasn't having it obviously.

This morning I took the boys to an open house at My Gym because ELMO was there! It was BA-ZURK with the amount of people there. I could barely keep up with them. But it was cute...until we sat on Elmo's lap. YIKES! And of course, as always, a few of our twin friends were there.

Here we are at arrival, taking shoes off and checking out the scene.

Jake got a little adventurous in the ball pit. This was about the farthest I let him get away from me.

Eventually, the staff had everyone sit in a "circle" (more like massive ameoba) to welcome Elmo. The couple in front of us are fellow PAMOM-ers with their twin gals. And the two boys playing with the big balls are also twins, whose mother is in PAMOM. And our twin-buds Jacob & Lucas were there with their mom n dad.

Hi Elmo!

This wasn't even everyone in this shot. C-r-a-z-y

I sat the boys on some elevated mats so we could see over everyone. They were a little in awe of the whole spectacle.

And here's the most classic photo of all! Ah, fun times. Sorry Elmo, they really do love you!

Good News for Jake & Somewhat Poopy News for Jonah

2009-09-06T20:08:00.006-05:00

Well the boys have turned 18 months!!! It's hard to believe that in only 6 months, we'll be celebrating the big 2. Oh boy x 2! It seems like only a few months ago we had babies. Now, we have full fledged crazy toddlers. And it's very exciting.

In the meantime, we had our 18 month appointment. The boys had no vaccines to get and Jake had the week off from getting his blood drawn for tests on his ITP condition SO we decided it might be a good time to get the flu shots. And right before we had that done, they needed Jonah to get his finger pricked so that they could do a quick blood scan. Since Jake had been having this done nearly every week for 3 months, he didn't have to have this checked at this appointment. Well, unfortunately, Jonah was just under what the Dr. considered normal for his Iron levels. :( His reading was 10.8 and the normal range mimimum is 11.1. So, we are now having to give Jonah a daily iron dose. Jonah will go back to the Dr. in a month to see if this has helped, and if so he won't have to stay on it but will have it re-checked at his 2yr appt.

The following week (this past week), Jake returned to his favorite friendly Hemotologist's office. Since it had been a 2 week hiatus, the Dr. wanted to see him instead of just getting labs. So, we did the usual awful blood draw which as you can guess makes Jake go bonkers screaming. We waited for about 10 minutes before the Dr. got there. She cracked open the door and said, "Guess what....it's 33,000!" My jaw dropped and I was jumping up and down before I even realized what I was doing. I was so excited to see his count going from 10,000 to 33,000. That was news I had been hoping to hear for a loooong time. Now, this could obviously change and go back down, but we're very hopeful that it will continue to go up and we'll be back to normal soon.

Moving on from the medical hoopla, the boys are crazy talking! It seems like every day they say something new. It's really so awesome to hear them trying to say the words they've been hearing for so long. Jonah has gotten really good at "Thank You" which I love. He has the sweetest little munchkin voice too. Even when he says "NO" I have to stop from smiling because his voice is just so darn cute! And I love the way Jake says "dirty". It sounds like "du'dee" with a little almost swanky accent on it. He likes to tell us when his diaper is "du'dee" too. Jonah's new word of the week is "truck"...except his truck sounds like "chit" which you can imagine turned a few heads at first.

And thank God the summer is winding down. But we've had a fun time swimming these past few weeks at GG's house. Here are some cutie photos of recent swim days. Bye bye summer! And hello football season!!!!

The boys relaxing with Granddad on the swing after the pool.

And Ogden decided that he needed some cute photo ops too.

Jakie relaxing on GG's lap after swimmin'.

And Jojo chillin with mommy.

Summer Winding Down

2009-08-25T00:32:00.006-05:00

Let it be known...I HATE Texas summers. I'm soo super glad that this is the end of August. And, school started back up today! I said to my mom today...just think, in 4 years, I'll be escorting my precious little men into school for their first day. We both made a sad frown. :( I don't want to think about them growing up too soon.

Even though we are still on ITP alert and not allowed to do a lot of stuff, we've been trying to stay somewhat busy. Two todders in one house for too long= tiny house and cranky toddlers. So, we're doing what we can when we can which basically means play dates indoors and trips to GG's house.

Jake is still what the dr. termed "severe acute ITP". Last week was the same drill, up to 10,000. But she explained that in there books, there really wasn't any difference between 8k-12k. Those numbers fall within the margin for error and could mean the difference between one measly cell. Basically, what that means is that Jake really hasn't changed his status for the last 7 weeks. He is still covered with bruises and petechiae (tiny red spots on the body caused by a minor hemorrhage).

The last time we were at the dr. (one week ago) she told us that she wanted to give Jake a week off so she would see him in 2 weeks. This made me both relieved and nervous. I was relieved because Jake is sooo aware of what goes on in that office and starts to freak out as soon as he sees the nurse. THAT SUCKS for mommy to know her baby is aware that he's about to be in pain. I was nervous because obviously we're not going to see the dr and/or get blood tested. So I have to live a week not knowing if he's gotten any better. I'm SO over this crap already, but I know that this could last up to 6 months or even longer. UGH!

But, we keep praying multiple times a day for healing. And I know Jake isn't in much pain over this (besides bruises and getting poked by needles to draw blood) which I am so thankful for. There are many things to be thankful for and sometimes it takes something bad to remind you of all the good.

Speaking of good, the amount of chatting that is going on in this house is absolutely astounding. Every day these guys repeat something new someone will have said. They are just carrying on complete sentences and conversations of baby talk...and sometimes it actually even makes some sense. It is ADORABLE to hear their sweet high pitched little voices just carry on as if they are speaking the same language. And I know they actually understand more and more what we're saying to them. They say these words a lot: momma, dada, GG, granddad, aa'lo (aunt lo), doggie, melmo (elmo), dirty, no-no, narni (Jonah's word for Noah), bath, no-mo' (no more), car, hi, bye-bye, gee-dow (get down), moo, quack and probably a few others I'm forgetting. We're still signing too. I've taught them to use the sign for Thank You and they've turned it into something like a kiss goodbye but with a different sound. A kiss goodbye sounds like, "mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmuah" and a thank you goes more like "ba". Big difference there. Jake uses Thank You a lot. Jonah is a work in progress but every now and then he'll suprise us.

Speaking of Jonah...he is becoming a little obsessed with "melmo" or Elmo. It's pretty darn cute but I hope it doesn't get any more obsessive than it is right now. He wants to walk around all day with his talking Elmo. He and I sat watching Melmo videos on YouTube the other night before bed and after each one ended, he would just give me the sign for "more". Super cute.

And Jonah and his GG....ugh, a whoooole other obsession. He is just in complete love of his GG more than ever before. It's great, until I come home from being out for a little while and he looks at me, runs past me and points at the door yelling "GG?" over and over. Hello! Mommy's home! No..."GG?" "GG?" "GG?". She just started this thing with him too where she rubs his back, man Jonah goes into this trance. He just has this "ooooooh yeeeaaaaahhh" look on his face. And the other day GG actually put him to sleep with her hypnotic back rubs. Apparently I'm not as awesome as GG. Oh well, she's pretty great!

Shopping for our Organic fruits. The guys don't mind grocery shopping with mom. Thanks!

Our recent playdate with the York Twins! We looove our Hayden & Ella.

Another recently playdate with the Colbrie-Fisher Family. Thank you Jake, Luke, Maddy & Lilly:)

The York Twins playin in our priate ship!

The guys at the park with Aa-Lo. It was hot!

The water hose at GG's seems even more appealing to the dudes then her amazing pool!

Sharing is sweet!

Ah HA! Gotcha! Does this face say guilty or what?

Slacker Mom Blogger

2009-08-11T23:31:00.006-05:00

I know it's been a while. SORRY! Let me update on Jake. Last Tuesdsay (1 week ago today) we went in and got blood tested as usual. I should have suspected something when it was 2pm and I still hadn't heard back from them. I finally called up there with a "hello, what's up with Jake?" call...and the nurse finally let me know that Jake's platelet count had dropped yet again down to 8,000. I was floored as I was SURE it was on its way up. We had such a fun day that day and Jake's bruises looked better...I felt so confident. We were told by the nurse that the doctor wants to see him the following week.

SO, fast forward to today. We saw the doctor and got tested again. He was up to 9,000 (which in my book was no change). Again, dissappointed. The dr. began discussing when to make the call to take action. Again, I felt more dissappointment because why would I want to put Jake through something that could cause him additional health risks only for a temporary fix of his platelet count. These treatments are simply bandaids and unless his body was recovering from this, any interaction on our part would be short-lived. So, we're still waiting...frustratedly.

Neal did make a point of adding that this is the first week that he's actually been up...at all. And even though it's barely up, I guess it is a silver lining. But since we've been diagnosed with under 10k, our dr. said all activity related events/outings/play dates need to be put on hold. SO, we haven't done much lately. We did have a play date at our house with our buddy twins Jacob & Lucas. Yeah! And hopefully, we will get together with the York Twins again soon too ('cause we love our Ella & Hayden too). Other than that, we're having to keep Jake at a minimum because being under 10k platelets leaves us very suspetible to HUGE problems should he even fall down hard. It sucks...but we gotta do what we gotta do.

Since we haven't done much, I don't have a lot of photos but I do have some of when we took daddy to lunch at Chucky Cheese on HIS birthday last month. ;) They had fun!

Jake was ALL OVER this 3 wheeler!

You thought I was kidding...the boy loved the big wheel!

Jonah stuck with a truck, like his daddy!

"Hey...how you doin'?"

Jake getting out some aggression on baby Wack A Mole!

The dudes eatin pizza! MMmmmm

17 Months & More Prayers Needed Please!

2009-07-29T23:13:00.005-05:00

Two days ago my (previously tiny) baby boys turned 17 months and I'm in disbelief of how big they are and how far we've come....and how the time has flown by! Tonight as we were celebrating my Dad's birthday, the comment was made that my babies can no longer be called "babies." My dad said since they were now attempting to be as independent as possible, that they could only be considered "toddlers". Not only are they doing the usual running, jibber jabbering, climbing, darting, not listening to mom, etc., they are now DEMANDING to feed themselves.

These little Monkeys are finding feeding themselves to be a fun adventure. I decided to give it a try about a week ago and once again, the boys haven't looked back. Shocker! And, surprisingly I'm having fun watching them. It's pretty cute to watch them try to get food on their forks or spoons. What's even more adorable is that they'll usually take a large amount of time trying to scoop up the food, and then end up using their other hand to actually get the food in their mouth. In the meantime though, I have actually found that I can use this time to my benefit by either eating with them, cleaning or unloading the dishwasher. So, thanks guys!

In the meantime, my sweet Jakie STILL has extremely low platelet counts. Every week, at least, we head up to Children's Hospital to see our Hemotologist and draw his blood. He's gotten VERY aware of the situation and usually starts to get extremely quiet and on edge as soon as we get to the office. He knows the woman who draws his blood and as soon as he sees her he starts to squirm. And when I sit down in the room with him, in that chair...the tears begin to flow even before the needle touches him. Oh it's so hard on all of us. Even Jonah starts to freak out because he's watching Jake meltdown. And every week I wait in anxious agony for his counts...and every week my heart sinks a little further with the news that it's still so low. When are we going to be done with this ITP!???!!??

As much as it rips out my heart to see my little preciousness covered with bruises and remain in constant fear of his fragility, I am in awe of the blessing of ONLY having ITP. His Hemotologist is located in the Center for Blood Disorders and Cancers at Children's and I have seen several tiny little bald people walking around, some even being carried by a parent they are so young. How the site of this just absolutely makes me want to drop to my knees in that hospital and PRAISE GOD that Jake doesn't have cancer. I cannot imagine having to hear that diagnosis for your child, let alone living with it every day.

Jake's count this week was another dangerously low level, 12,000. A normal level is 150,000-400,000. So you can see that we have a little boy who has a tough situation right now. Please help us and say some prayers for Jake that he will get through this quickly and without further issues. Thank you!!!!! In the meantime I'll try to relax more. However, his doc did say that she wants him doing low key activities indoors as much as possible. She obviously has never had 17m old twins! And Jake especially LOVES to run and play and be a crazy little boy. That's what he was built to do. Trying to cease this inate behavior is not only hard, it's nearly impossible.

And, for the last few weeks, in an effort to give both the boys that outlet they need to run in a safe environment, we've been heading up to Open Gym! At least there everything including the floor is padded and the dudes LOVE IT! I don't know if we can continue to do this now that we've been told to keep it to low key activities. That makes me sad, but we'll do whatever we can to keep our baby safe and out of trouble!

Jake playing soccer with Granddad. It's just amazing to me that he actually knew just what to do with a soccer ball. AND, he's good at it!

Run Jojo!!

Come on Granddad!

I'm having so much fun!

I loved watching Jake attempt to figure out the trampoline, he sorta bounced but his feet never left the tramp.

And just so we don't leave out anything on our sweet Jonah, the week before last I actually saw him look for me amongst a room full of kids and say, "mama" several times before he finally scanned the room and saw me waiving at him. Thanks for that sweet thing! I have heard him say this before but never really knew if he associated mama with me. There's no doubt in my mind now. And, also, I wanted to say how sweet the boys have been to eachother lately...for the most part. They definately spend some time hitting, biting and throwing object at eachother BUT they also hug, kiss and bring eachother things they know the other needs like milk or a blanket. It's so cute to watch. And I think Jonah is especially good at this. And he has been such a trooper being there for his Bubba when we're at the doctor's office. He provides a special distraction that I feel is very comforting to Jake. So thanks baby!

Prayers Please!

2009-07-19T23:29:00.004-05:00

My boys are well....deeeeefinately boys. And I knew sometime we would probably be rushing to a hospital for some mishap. I didn't realize we would be doing it so soon. Jake is still dealing with his ITP (for those of you who are unaware of what that is, please refer to previous posts). We have seen a Hemotologist twice at Children's in Plano. His counts have not changed one bit and I'm so discouraged :(. Well, Thursday he bumped his head a few times from tripping and/or trying to get down off of things he's not supposed to be climbing up on. ugh! But he seemed fine afterwards, but I am always keeping an extra eye on that guy lately. So, it was very alarming to be running towards his bedroom Friday night at 11:15pm only to find a scared, shaking and vomiting little boy.

Since vomiting was one of the signs that there may be internal bleeding, I immediately called his oncall dr and she had me come to the ER to get Jake a catscan. When 3am rolled around we were FINALLY able to head home. He was fine but the experience of it all left us wishing this ITP would become a distant memory sooner rather than later. Jake was SUCH a trooper even though he was tired and scared. He kept asking for his "Jo Jo" which just melted my heart. And true to form, because I can't go ANYWHERE without running into other multiples, our nurses were identical twin sisters...no I'm not joking.

So, please say prayers that we get over this stuff soon! It's no fun at all and poor Jake's head looks like it's been through the ringer! Sorry baby boy :( Don't even get me started on the rest of his body. Ugh, he just looks beat up and I know that it's not the case...but it makes me wonder what others are thinking when they look at him. How could they not be thinking the worst.

Sweet Jakie playing with his Grand Dad

GG sneaking in some kisses, muuuah!

Here is a brief sit after storytime at the Library...cuties!

Mom n Aunt Lo in the pool with the little fishes.

This photo is a little hard to explain...those are their Grand Dads socks. And for some reason they LOVE wearing his huge socks around pulled up to their thighs. Strange but super funny.

I have a LOT more photos to come. We've had some really cute moments lately with feedings and Daddy's birthday. So hopefully I'll get a chance to do that soon!

Granddaddy!!!

2009-07-11T22:29:00.007-05:00

I just LOVE the relationship that the boys have with my side of the family. God knows I wouldn't be where I am today without their help and support that is constant. It is something special to see the love that the aunties, their GG and Granddad pour out. These boys are very lucky! And it's just fun to watch how much these boys love back. It is truly heart melting. However, there is someone that is so special in their lives that I'm not sure where these boys would be without him...their granddaddy. Granddad spends most of his free weekends with his boys and they will run and leap to greet him. They have on many occasions even leaped out of my arms to get to their granddad. They just absolutely adore him and vice versa.

So I managed to capture a really cute moment with them just messing with each other but I missed :( the good stuff. Granddad broke out his Donald Duck voice and the boys were belly laughing everytime! It was obviously hillarious stuff and I wasn't able to run and get the camera in time exept for this one last video...which by now there were mostly over.

But I just wanted to say thank you Granddaddy for spending so much of your free time helping me wrangle them up and entertain these little busy bodies. And thank you for making a fool of yourself so my boys can get the extreme giggles! And thank you for being their favorite wrestling partner. They are so lucky to be so loved and obviously the feeling is mutual.

Granddad a few weeks ago with pants on his head...funny guy!

Jake sneaking up on his Granddad ready to pounce.

Jake is mid-pounce while Jonah is so obviously too comfy to notice.

Guy talk. They're probably discussing the upcoming Cowboys training camp or something...who knows.

Lots of Updates: Both Good & Bad

2009-07-08T20:29:00.006-05:00

So, it has been a while since I've been able to post. I hopefully am going to be able to catch us all up on the happenings. Since Father's Day Neal and I have had the opportunity to take a 4 day weekend trip to San Diego without the boys. My mother was on Primary Guardian duty for that time and we are VERY thankful for her time and being the best GG we could ever ask for. The trip was good, however, when I left the boys were slightly under the weather with runny noses, mild fevers and the overall poos. This of course meant that I had the overall poos as well. I didn't really feel great when we left but I had hoped it would improve. When we got there though, Neal started running a fever so our first night we didn't do anything but eat and sleep. BUT, we got 10+ hours of sleep each night and I know I hadn't done that since I was pregnant!!! After the ickies wore off, we explored the city, shoppe and had some good food. It was a relaxing trip. San Diego is beautiful and the weather is absolutely perfect.

Since then, the boys have improved in health as far as their runny noses and fever issues go. They're cutting their molars every so slowly though and that is causing all sorts of fun! However, since we've been home, we have had another development that is not nearly as much fun as the teething. Jake has always been a bumpy headed kiddo. He's all boy and since he's been on the go and crawling at 6months, he has had the bruises to show for it. Lately though, my family, Neal and I have noticed that he has considerably more bruises than normal. Yes, he's running, climbing and jumping just as much as usual if not more, but Jonah, who is keeping up, didn't have as many purple marks as our Jakie. So, we collectively thought there may be more to this and I made a doctors appointment soon after we got home from SD. We got to see our Pedi last Thursday and he determined that Jake did in fact have something that wasn't normal. He has what is better known as ITP.

ITP is a disorder of the blood that involves the immune and blood clotting systems. ITP stands for Immune or Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic (a decrease in blood platelets) Purpura (purplish areas of the skin and mucous membranes). As far as experts know, ITP occurs when a person makes antibodies, which attach to his or her own platelets. Thus, the boy's immune system start attacking its own platelets because it is confusing them for a virus or other foreign invader. A normal range is 150,000+. Last Thursday, Jake had 41,000. Our Pedi referred us to a hemotologist at Children's Hospital here in Plano. Luckily, this hospital is simply minutes from where we live and it is a brand new facility.

Neal watched Jojo while GG and I took Jake for a Tuesday (yesterday) appointment at Children's. The people there were AMAZING! I had zero issues with anything...even though we were there for 2.5 hours. Jake did great having a lot of blood drawn and being poked and probed all morning long. We got information overload on the who, what, when, where and why's of ITP. The Hemotologist believes that it is ITP based on his labs and physical bruises. Also he has what looks to be a pin-prick red rash that is called petechiae that is very common with ITP. The disturbing thing about our visit is that now Jake's platelets are down to 13,000. I was SHOCKED they had dropped so drastically in just a few days. The dr. said she was not surprised and that it was considered normal with his condition to drop drastically low.

For now, since the treatments aren't cures but merely bandaids, the dr has suggested monitoring him closely and checking his levels weekly to see if we need to look at the treatments. Unfortunately, the treatments do have some high risks associated with them and I would rather not have deal with more issues.

The good news is that this condition does eventually clear up on its own usually within 6 months. It could become chronic and last longer but the chances are slim. However, if within that time, Jake were to suffer a good thump to the head or get in a car accident, we could be in trouble. So, this is where God and prayer comes in. I have already been somewhat of a wreck trying not to follow him around with a pillow all day. This is unrealistic with one let alone two to physically be next to him every second of every day until he gets better. BUT, that is all I want to do. By the time I lay him down to sleep I'm physcially and emotionally drained. I just pray, and I hope you will too, that we have no other issues before Jake gets better. And I also want to pray that he starts getting over this soon!

However, with that said, I am SO grateful to God that we aren't dealing with Lukemia or other serious issues. I don't even want to think about a diagnosis so devastating to hear, but at the same time, it was somewhere in the back of my mind when I made him the first appointment. THANK YOU LORD!

And on a lighter note, these boys are SO busy trying to talk it up these days. I was trying to teach Jake the sign for Thank You yesterday and when I asked him to "say thank you" he didn't sign it...he said it! My mouth just dropped open. And since then, he's said it a couple of times, not even prompted!! Good boy. Jonah is definately breaking out of his shell some. Today at the library he decided he was going to be the official greeter and said "HI-EE" to everyone that was coming in the front door. SO stinkin cute. Their "hi-ee"s are just one of the highlights of my day. And their baby chatter so mimicks conversational speech patterns. They are working on animal noises and mimick the monkey, cow and of course the doggie. Jake has begun saying "Jo-jo" and Jonah has been trying to say "Jakie" and he's very close. They still sign a lot. They finally learned to incorporate Please into their signing for more. There "please" is just rubbing both hands up and down their chests and is just adorable. And we're learning body parts. Noses and belly buttons are staples. The mouth, ear and hair are sometimes remembered and for some reason, no one wants to point to their eye ever...but maybe it's because they just don't want to end up with a finger in their eye. Who knows. Smarties!!

I bought the boys some crayons and large coloring books for entertainment while we were away. Jonah is mostly interested in how they taste as opposed to how they work.

Still checking to see if the crayons are tasty while Jake is creating his first masterpiece.

Still seeing if the black tastes different than the red while Jake keeps coloring away.

The boys don't really watch Baby Einstein videos often but when they do, they definately are able to sit for a few minutes and take it all in.

So cute...Jake put his head on his bro's lap while watching the video. Sweet boys.

I thought this was pretty cute that Jonah actually is smiling in this photo...and Jake leaned forward to get in on the moment.

Hey mom! And yes, Jonah is FINALLY saying "Mommy"!! Thanks Jojo.

My busy boys enjoying breakfast.

I love this photo.

A sleepy Jakie with his Daddy.

And the clincher...the boys finally gave eachother a kiss the other day. I know they will probably hate that I documented it on a video (which is too big to upload). But it was precious!

Happy Fathers Day!

2009-06-21T21:34:00.005-05:00

Sadly, we are without our daddy today. He had to fly out yesterday morning. And the boys have had their daddy around WAY more than usual so this morning (being the first morning absent of dad) the boys noticed! They ran from their room into ours and peeked around corners and even yelled down from the top of the stairs for their dad. It was kind of sad but cute at the same time. They were definately missing someone.

So, we had the next best thing...GRANDDAD!!! (the boys usually yell his name, thus the all caps) And of course, we had GG, Aunt Lo and even Aunt Lissa over too. We had a WONDERFUL cookout of burgers, corn on the cob and asparagus. YUM! And we had the most amazing cheesecake for desert courtesy of one of Aunt Lissa's fellow police officers. Who knew cops were gourmet chefs!

The guys were hillarious today....total chatterboxes!! They were making complete sentences of baby gibberish and clearly both guys had plenty on their minds. GG was floored at how chatty they were. It was precious.

Not much else is new. The guys are still EVERYWHERE!!! It is very frustrating sometimes because I'm always outnumbered and keeping them out of trouble these days is very difficult. They're so smart and have absolutely no fear! And when one gets in trouble for doing something wrong, it seems like the other copies his actions immediately. Jonah, lil stinker, even threw my iPhone in the bath tonight. But then there are times when they just want to cuddle even for a few seconds...and those little moments make my day!

Anyway, sorry you couldn't be here Neal. We wish you could have enjoyed the day with us. And I know the boys missed you!!!

Here are some cute daddy photos for you!!!!

Here's the most recent wrestle-fest! This one took place on the bed...no children were hurt in the making of these photos, just fun!

Hi Daddy!

Jakie loves to pin Daddy down. ;)

I just loved how cute this photo is of the boys testing their bath water.

And these are from a photo shoot we had done after their bday. These turned out great! Thank you Macey Hart Photography!!!

Movers & Shakers!

2009-06-13T21:43:00.006-05:00

My boys have been SO BUSY lately. They're constantly on the move, going, running, jumping, crawling, running, opening doors, crawling up and down stairs, running, grabbing and everything in between. And as always, they're astounding me everyday with what they're figuring out.

Last weekend, Neal picked up a new fan for our bedroom. I couldn't for the life of me find the power button. I fiddled with it for about a minute before I gave up. BUT, leave it to Jonah to show me up. He walked right up and pushed this tiny little button that I didn't even see. Well...I just had to laugh at that one.

The boys know where they're nose are on their face...and mine! And when we say "bellybutton" the boys look to see theirs. Jake has been saying "vacuum" a lot. The boys still love to pretend to vacuum...I even bought them a toy one and it's a hit. Jonah has made up a word in the last two days and I'm not sure yet if he's trying to say something but I think he's saying "buppy." Both boys are getting good at saying "doggie" and Jonah even said "Noah" this week...we have a music box in their room of Noah on the Arc w/a bunch of animals. "Ball" is still a popular one. They have gotten really good at the sign for "more." They point to everything they want which is both good and bad.

The boys have become quite the opposite in their dispositions while out and about in public. Jake seems to be a social butterfly, running up to strange kids and checking out their toys (and playing or stealing them). He played with lots of kids at a recent PAMOM social event in a park. He even blew a kiss to one the Hickey Triplets. ;) Jonah on the other hand has become a complete cling on. He is constantly wanting and needing me to hold him...especially in new/strange settings. The sweet boy is fine if he's in his stroller and we're on the move. He'll say "HI" to anyone when we're on one of our power walks...but get him out of the stroller and he's glue to mom. It's a little crazy when you have one that has to be held and the other one is running in the opposite direction. Ugh!

We changed our schedule this week. We have gone from two naps to one. :( I'm sad about that but what are ya gonna do. So now we stay up until 12 and then take a nap until about 2-2:30pm. We're still a little tired around bedtime so we're trying to go down a little before 8pm to help with that. But so far, it's been ok. I'm actually suprised at how we've been able to adjust so easily. Good boys!

In other news, we have a new cousin that was born yesterday. Neal's brother and his wife had a little baby boy. We hope to see pictures of the little guy soon.

Here's Jonah at Main Street Days Festival...so handsome!

Jake wrestling with mommy!

The boys in front of the Budweiser Horses...this one was named Jake!

Jakie eating...just looking cute.

Jonah begging to be picked up...a look I see often.

The boys with their kiddie pops...we're popping some new teeth. Eeek

And here's Jake...hard at work with his vacuum.

Updates and photos

2009-05-14T21:33:00.008-05:00

I know during my last blog, I posted a photo of our recent play date with 3 other sets of twin boys. However, I thought I would share the rest of the photos as it was just so cute to see all these babies playing together! All of these babies' mothers are in PAMOM and although I live nowhere near these ladies, I thought it was worth the hike to get the guys out of the house. I try to get them out at least once a day, even if it's to the store. This house just gets too small for all of us to be cooped up all day. Plus, it's amazing that they have SO many toys and after they play with them a few times, they are so bored! Most days are spent finding new pots and pans to bang on!

Run Jakie Run!

Look! Babies that stay in one spot!!!

I also must comment on the fact that my children's brains seem to grow leaps and bounds every single day. Their vocabulary is ever expanding...yet still no one has mastered "mom." Jonah has stared almost making sentences lately. He says, "Whassat" ALL THE TIME as he points at something. It is amazing! The other day we were getting ready to leave and I had 3 out of their 4 shoes. I kept saying, "we need to find a shoe guys, we're missing one shoe" while I looked under couches and in toy baskets. Then a few minutes later, while I was changing Jake's diaper, here comes super-smart Jonah with the missing shoe in hand. I just stood their with my mouth open for a few seconds...how did he know what I was saying? And these days, it seems like he says hi to everyone. OH, and let's not forget our furry friends. Jonah (and sometimes Jake) greets them all with a finger pointing and a "woo woo" which I translate to mean "woof".

And Jake seems to understand just as much. He likes to take the shoes off the shoe rack but when I ask him to put them back, he does. And if I ask him to hand me something that's on the floor, 9 times out of 10, I'll have it within seconds. Unbelievable! Of course sometimes, he'll run from me when I ask, but most of the time he decides to be sweet. See...here I'm asking him to give mommy back her phone for the 100th time that day. Thank you Jakie!

And it's so cute when GG or Granddad calls because as soon as I say "Hi GG" or "Hi Granddad"...echos usually follow. Super cute! And one of THE most adorable things ever that my kids are recently doing is helping mommy clean! It feels like I'm cleaning ALL the live long day. And apparently, the twins think so too. So, they've decided to pitch in. Anytime Jake has a cloth, napkin or wet wipe at his reach, he will bend over and use it to wipe the floor or carpet. He watched me mop the other day and then took the liberty of helping me swifer afterwards. And then Jonah has started adding a "hmmmm" sound when he swifers...like he's vaccuming. Ugh, so precious! A couple of days ago, they both ran their small toys along the carpet with the "hmmm" sound...which I think meant they were using the dustbuster. Ha! And, of course there's helping mommy with the laundry. My boys are SO helpful!

I couldn't turn this one but here's Jonah vaccuming. (And yes, it was a "no pants" friday afternoon)

And last night as the boys were getting ready for bed and doing the opposite of cleaning in their nursery, they decided that it was time to tell daddy who was boss around here. A wrestling fest broke out...and daddy didn't win. Hee hee.

But the most helpful thing they're doing lately is saving mom's back! The boys have figured out how to crawl down the stairs backwards so I don't have to carry 40+ pounds of baby up and down the stairs! It does make me nervous, but mostly appreciative. Jake has quickly mastered it and although you can't tell from this video, he'll flip his legs up and slide down on his belly...and boy is he fast. His GG and Aunt caught him doing this for the first time the other day and burst out laughing at his skills.

It's an exciting time in our lives, but boy does it wear me out! I am constantly on guard with these boys and I honestly don't feel like 2 eyeballs is enough. I have to watch them all the time, which as anyone knows is almost impossible with 2. Jake has learned how to open doors and mommy not only has less of a way to confine the boys when necessary, she can't even go to the restroom without company. They are soooo busy learning and touching and doing and jumping and running. They're having a blast but their attention span is super short and they're so fast that it's a challenge for me to even empty the dishwasher anymore without someone running off with a fork. Eeek! I love where they are in their development but I must say...it makes for one tired momma come bedtime. But, I wouldn't have it any other way. Love my boys!

And for my praying friends, would you mind asking the Big Guy to help find my parents some jobs! Both have been laid off and it's a hard time to be looking for a job these days. Thanks in advance.

I am so blessed!

2009-05-13T22:28:00.007-05:00

Recently I came upon an icon on one of the blogs I follow. It showed a tiny little arm that was just engulfed by her father's wedding ring. It said, "Please Pray For Kayleigh". I have seen this icon on occasion and the other day, I decided to see if this was a feel good story. The other day, it was a bad day and I've been intrigued to follow since then. I decided to check on her again tonight. Well, all I can say is that I am a pool of blubber right now. This sweet little girl who was born 12 weeks early weighing 1 lb and going through a string of over 200 medical procedures (including being the youngest person ever to undergo open heart surgery) lost her fight for life this week. Her parents are UNBELIEVABLY strong Christians and their faith is one of the strongest I've ever seen. Even in their suffering they are delighting in their gift from God and know that each day brings them closer to seeing their little girl in Heaven again.

This makes me think about my precious friend Allison. She and I met online and were both carrying twins when we decided to buddy up. Our due dates were within days. We became very close, emailing as if we were on instant message about our aches and pains. We both found out we were carrying boys around the same time. Our stories were so parallel. Then, at 25 weeks, Allison was in a car accident on the way home and both boys did not survive. Even though I have never met this woman in person, when I found out...I was a wreck. She and I are still close and this Mother's Day was a happy day for her as she was able to hug and kiss her newborn, Henry.

Hearing about and reading these stories makes me feel so ridiculously blessed. I have amazing, wonderfully healthy baby boys. And I don't know why God chose me for this journey but I will GLADLY hold on tight and enjoy this ride. I know that each day is a gift for me to wake up from the sounds of not one but two little cries. I try not to complain when I have to get out of bed to rock someone back to sleep because I know some people don't have that privilege. I don't even mind it when someone poops on the floor (Jake). I just try to laugh it off and enjoy the fact that I have this cute story to tell.

So, my point is, I'm a grateful mother. I'm so glad that I have twin boys. They fill my heart with more love than I even knew was possible. And I thank God for them and the family around me helping to raise them. I'm not sure why some children are only here to bless our lives for a short while, but it's not for me to know right now. The ony thing I need to know is that God only gives us what we can handle. And he is ALWAYS here for us to lean on. And although I thought he took the day off when I found out that I was carrying 2 babies, I know now that He chose to bless me on that day...even though I had no idea it was really what I always wanted. So tonight I will pray for Kayleigh's family and I will praise Him for her time here with her family and I will also say a thank you for Allison's bundle of joy as well as my two monkeys. And tomorrow I will kiss my boys 150 more times that I already do.

Aunt Lissa and the awesome Odin in our tent!

This was after we got back from our Mother's Day lunch. It was just a cute shot.

Jonah is chewing on his straw as Aunt Lo and I are trying to clean up the mess the boys made on the floor of the restaurant.

And Monkey See Monkey Do these days!

And last week we had a play date with 3 other sets of twin boys! 8 babies total!!

Jake is a ham these days as you can see. There is no piece of furniture or obstacle that these boys can't tackle anymore...I'm in trouble!

Just Some Cute Photos

2009-04-24T22:49:00.003-05:00

I just wanted to post some cute pics we've taken lately. :)

Sweet innocent look Jonah!

I love the hair Jakie!

Bath time is getting more hillarious every night!

Daddy bought us a guitar! Future band?

Daddy's getting ready for work!

Update on our nearly 14th Month Olds

2009-04-22T22:55:00.004-05:00

Ok, so I've been a BAD mommy not posting on my boys for so long. BUT, mommy's been a little busy lately. I've also had some big time computer issues. Yeah! That's not been our biggest concern though :(. For the past 2 1/2 weeks, our little cuties have had some tummy issues. They have had a very rough time and we finally got to see the doctor last week since we were told this should pass within 10 days...yeah, it didn't. Anyway, we are having some tests done so PLEASE say some prayers my little guys get over this stuff already!!!

In other news, we're trying SO hard to talk lately. Both boys say "Granddad" as clear as day. They said "dad" or "da-da" too. "Hi" is an oldie but goodie and is still usually said while holding some device or toy to their ear...smarties. (Is that a hint that mommy's on the phone too much!?) Jonah still says "BOP" all the time and it's hillarious. Jake started calling his brother, "Jo Jo" recently...which is his nickname. And he also said, "hi Dad" the other day. And one if not both say "GG" when grandma comes over. Who says "Mom"???? NO ONE!!! Yeah me. If it makes any difference, GG told me they don't have to say the word mom because I answer to "uhhh". Ha ha.

What I find adorable is that lately they mumble the same things over and over. Jake will say "do-da do-da do-da" a lot while Jonah, other than his "bop bop"s will say "jambi jambi". I don't know what any of it means but its so cute.

We're also recently climbing...fun for mom! The couch and chair are no match for Jake and Jojo lately. and the shutters are paying the price. Ugh. And our super yard that is around the tv is basically useless now. They know how to lean it over and still put their hands all over the electronic devices. Not good. And of course when you reprimand either of them they respond with smiles or giggles and then their brother mocks because it's an attention getter! Smart boys!

Another thing they've started to do which I actually like is they'll bring me things when I ask for them. If they pick up something off the floor that they're not really supposed to have, I say "can I have that please" and usually they'll just hand it to me. And today, I asked Jakie where his socks were (he likes to pull them off when he gets bored) and he looked at his bare feet instantly. I then asked him if he could bring me his socks...and he did. I was floored! I honestly did not expect him to understand the request but sure enough, he's smarter than I give him credit for. It makes me wonder what else he's picking up on. I better be on my best behavior with these super intelligent boys around.

Neal and I recently went to Ikea and picked the boys up a play tent. Boy has that been a crowd pleaser. See below!

And Neal got them a little bike that is still way too big for them but they seem to get a kick out of me and their Granddad pushing them around on it! Whee

And speaking of climbing....look what we can get up into ourselves. Hint Hint Mom!

The Quad Experiment

2009-04-01T11:14:00.003-05:00

What a lovely day it was yesterday. We went up to a nearby park with GG and Granddad to meet some other twin mommies and their twin boys. Only one showed up BUT as fate would have it, there were 2 other sets of twins there at the same time. I swear I am a twin magnet these days. We ALWAYS see twins when we are out. I love chatting with other twin parents and getting advice and just bonding over our unique situations. Now that it's getting warmer the boys are LOVING being outside. I'm trying to get them out of the house at least once a day. Sometimes they fuss when it's time to go back inside.

So here are some cutie pics of yesterday's outing with our friends Lucas and Jacob!

My Experiment with Triplets

2009-03-16T23:40:00.004-05:00

I used to think it probably wouldn't be that much different with one more. Two is challenging and I really think it wouldn't be that much of a stretch to go from two to three. So...I thought I would add one! Yeah right! Ok, this is my cousin's little boy. He's about 2 months younger than the guys but he's the same height. The main difference with three...it's louder!

More B-Day Photos

2009-03-16T23:35:00.004-05:00

Yes it has been FORever since I've posted. My bad. I've been a busy lil mama lately. So...here ya go:

Happy Birthday to my babies!!!

2009-02-27T21:55:00.002-06:00

Oh I cannot believe that my sweet sweet baby boys are one year old today. Gosh it has gone by fast. And, yet there were times that I thought I would never get to sleep through the night again. I am INCREDIBLY blessed to have such amazing babies. We went to the doctor today and Jake weighs 22.5lbs and Jonah is 19.13lbs. And Jonah is 1/4" taller than Jake. I cannot remember off the top of my head their height but it was somewhere near 29"...or something like that.

When the boys woke up today, we let them open their big present from mom and dad first thing this morning. They got a ball pit and boy I think it was a hit! However, the fun didn't last too long b/c we had to get ready to go to the doctor. The boys are healthy and ahead of the curve!!! Dad got to go too and it's been a while since he's been to the dr with us because we usually schedule it when he's out of town...and not on purpose. When we got home, we had a nap.

After naptime, we played some more. Daddy got the boys some sports balls - a little football, basketball and soccer ball. They had fun with those too. After our afternoon nap, we were bursting at the seams with family. Neal's family is in town as well as my favorite cousin, her 10 month old baby boy and my favorite aunt! They were all over as well as my mom, dad and two sisters. The boys had a blast with everyone.

We tried fish for dinner tonight...a first! They were not entirely thrilled but we got some down. THEN we had a little cupcake!!! Jake dove in and mushed it all up into a pile of mush. Jonah was intimidated by the strange object on his tray and didn't dive into it until I broke it up some - and then it was on! We had a great day all in all. We can't wait for our big party tomorrow. I think it's gonna be another great day.

Some things it seems I remember about their birth are in great detail while others are fuzzy. Unfortunately, the drugs of my c/section along with the nerves and exhaustion had me a little spacey after their birth. But it is a day I'll treasure forever!

Neal and I woke at 5am to get ready. We had to check in by 6am. Once we got checked in, I was put into a room by myself and once in my lovely hospital gown, was hooked up to fetal monitors. I was very nervous at this time that all would go well with this day. I did a lot of praying. Neal was in and out a lot, changing into his scrubs and on the phone with family. People kept coming in to my room to do different things, like put in an IV, check the babies heartbeats, etc. Then, my epidural was administered...not exactly as easy as I thought that would be. Once that was done, I remember hanging out for a while. Then, I remember my family arriving. I was so glad they were there. It was still so early and everyone was so bubbly and excited and I already felt so tired. My sister handed me a phone and my cousin was on it. I felt so lucky to have so many people thinking and praying about me and the boys. Then, my doctor came in. She talked with me briefly. I do remember before the epidural kicked in that I felt some pain in my back and she wondered if I wasn't experiencing some early labor. So, the boys may have chosen that day anyway, but I guess I'll never know!

Then, everyone was asked to leave, including Neal, and I was wisked away into the hall. I remember seeing my operating room door and on it was a sign that read: Duylle/Twinkies. I giggled at that. The room was bright and very typical of what I had expected. The nurses wheeled me over and tipped me so far over to get me onto the operating table that I thought, "omg, they're going to drop me!" They didn't. Then, it was all business. So many people were buzzing around me, putting up drapes and from what I could see, getting the beds ready for the boys. One nurse asked me if a nursing student could witness the birth. I asked her if she had ever seen twins being born before and she shook her head no. I couldn't say no to that. Then another nurse came over to my right shoulder and laid her hand on me. She told me that this was her spot and that she was assigned to me. She was a sweet lady. Somewhere in there Neal arrived. He seemed very nervous to me but he acted like he was trying hard to be my rock. I appreciated that.

Then, my doctor and her partner arrived. They said a few words of which I have zero recollection. Before I knew it they were in their positions making small talk. I remember at that point feeling my belly move around like it was full of jello and although I felt no pain, it was the oddest sensation of movements. I don't remember anyone saying that they were getting started. Neal started stroking my head at this point and I kept telling him how wierd it felt. He kept telling me that I was doing great and everything was going ok.

And, then from out of no where...I heard Jake cry. I had no idea they were even inside me yet and I heard this sweet crying! It was startling to me at first. Then, even though it was two minutes, it seemed like 2 seconds later that Jonah was crying. I was in shock at this point I think. I expected to be balling like a baby but I was just utterly in awe of the whole thing that I just didnt get emotional. They told me the boys were good and I had no idea of what was all going on but there was a lot of noise. At this point, I got a terrible pain in my right shoulder and they told me it was an air bubble. I think they gave me some more pain medicing because it went away shortly afterwards but it was sore for days in that area.

The next thing I knew, this sweet baby was laying across my upper chest right near my face. I honestly couldn't believe he was here. I didn't even know which baby it was but I did see that Neal was also holding a baby. And then we switched. It all happened so fast and they were put back in their incubators and wisked away. I told Neal to go with them.

From what I heard, Neal ran to grab my family as they were carting the boys up to the nursery. My fam got to ride in the elevator with the boys and this was their first glimpse. I have several photos of cameras smashed against the side of the incubator to get as close as they could to the boys.

I stayed in the OR a little while longer to get all stitched up and then they took me back to the room that I was in earlier that day. After all the nurses got done moving me around and putting things on my legs for circulation, etc., I was left alone in the room with the nursing student I had let observe. She never said a word and I think she felt a little awkward being left alone with me. I just wanted to sleep at this point. I felt exhausted. So, I closed my eyes and I know I was there for a while in that room resting. Then they wheeled me up to the maternity floor and told me they would take me past the nursery first to see the boys. As I rounded the corner, there my whole family was with video cameras pressed to the glass. Yeah...they were "those" people but it was adorable. As soon as I got there, I sat up to see the boys who had just had their first bath. The nursery nurses held the boys up for me to see side by side. All I could say was, "that was all in me." I could not believe how big my beautiful babies were. And I felt SO blessed to be able to carry them to 37 weeks and 5 days.

The boys stayed in my room with me for most of their hospital stay. It was 4 days of little rest and a ton of action. It is filled with memories as well as a few hardships. All in all, this was the best experience of my life. Holding two babies in me for almost 38 weeks is a feat that not many mother of twins are able to do and I would do it again in a heartbeat. When I found out I was pregnant, I told my sister that, "It better be a boy." And God gave me two!

Jacob Matthew and Jonah Cameron, you are the lights of my life. You hold the keys to my heart now and for the rest of my life. You are the best thing that has ever happened to me and I don't know what I did to deserve you. God gave you to me as a gift and I will spend every waking moment of my life loving you unconditionally. I will do everything that I can to make you happy and healthy. I hope that I can show you how to be good people and how to love God just as he loves you. It is my honor to be your mother.

The Countdown to our First BIRTHDAY!!!

2009-02-24T23:18:00.006-06:00

I'm super excited about our first birthday on Friday!!! Tomorrow, our other Grandma and Grandpa come into town from Phoenix. AND, my aunt, favorite cousin and her youngest, "Mr. Baby", also come in from Florida. I can't wait to see them! I haven't seen my cuz since we were both pregnant! I've been a wreck this week though because of the party planning, cleaning, decorating, organizing, working, etc. There aren't enough hours in the day!

The boys are great. Jake has become SUUUPER clingy lately. He just wants to be held...all...the...time! It's cute sometimes and other times, well, let's just say that he doesn't really understand the demands of twins. Jonah is still independent and only on rare occassions wants to be held, and that is usually only out of some jealousy.

I really hear both the boys mimicking speech lately. When someone says something like, "hi dad", one of them will go "haa da". It's cute and call me crazy, but it seems like they are trying so hard to repeat. I can't wait to be able to communicate with them verbally one day...although at the same time, I looove the sweet baby babble. There is just nothing like having a sweet sweet little face look up at you and hear "da bla ba da ga bop ya ya"!! It's just stinkin cute!

Daddy reads to the boys!

The boys rediscover a toy that has been at Grandma's house! Fun times!
Daddy and his mini-me

Cutie Jonah!

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

2009-02-15T11:25:00.003-06:00

My gorgeous boys had some SUPER cute V-day shirts that I just thought fit them too well. So, I had to post how cute they were. Our V-day was great. The boys were good. They stayed with Grandma so Mom & Dad could go out on a date!

There are some other photos mixed in of a recent trip to Gloria's with lots of Aunts and Grandparents joining us. I am so thrilled that lately I have been able to get the boys out to restaurants and order some things off the menu for them. I don't know why, that's just exciting for me not to have to carry all these jars of baby food for them. They are great when we go out and I know it's mostly because we don't get out too much and they're just mainly fascinated with everything. It's a lot of work to get the crew out so we do it in moderation.

So the boys have learned in the last 2 weeks how to wave and also how to blow kisses. It is ADORABLE!!! Jake has become quite the bully lately with wanting everything Jonah has. It's been the other way around at times so I hope this is just a short phase. BUT, Jonah seems mostly ok with it...probably because they have a million toys so it's just like "ok, what else..." Anyway, Grandma also said that she heard Jonah say "Bye" this past week and looked over at him to see him waving! Jonah is also very good at throwing his football...which has gotten him so many claps and "yeah's!" that he thinks it's good to throw everything!!! It's pretty cute though. Jake has mastered hiding things he knows he's not supposed to have...which is bad but actually really cute to watch him at work. He thinks he is being sooo sneaky!!! And my favorite thing that he's been doing lately is singing. AHH, it's SO sweet. I'm trying to get it on film to post.

Everyone is good and still healthy. We are very blessed and getting excited about our first birthday! It's hard to believe in two weeks I'll have two one year olds!!!!

I love you guys!

Jake & Aunt Lissa
Jonah in his diner chair
Jake & Grandpa singing
Jonah, GG and Aunt Lissa
Jake & Aunt Lo
Jonah is so cute in his Lover Boy shirt. Yeah, future heartbreaker!

11 Months old!!!

2009-01-28T22:22:00.010-06:00

Ok seriously, I love where the boys are now...but what happened to my little babies!?!?! I don't know where the time has gone. It seems like just a couple of months ago I was in the hospital with two brand new infants and just in awe of them. I think since I wasn't blogging until several months post their homecoming that I will post my birthstory on their bday. I'm so excited to be planning their first birthday. I realize how lucky I am to have made it through our first year of life. What a wonderful gift my two babies are and how awesome is motherhood! I just love being a mom even more than I could have dreamed. And I had no idea how simply wonderful it would be to have twins. Most people's eyes bug out when I say I have twins but honestly, I wouldn't trade it for anything. True, it was hard at first with two infants, but in all honesty, the experience of having two faces light up when you walk into their room in the morning and hearing them giggle as they chase eachother and the kisses and the snuggles is just so worth all the hardships. Can you tell that I'm in love with my kids!!! I even miss them when they go to bed.

Jake: My sweet first born is definately the best bottle eater. He is very focused and enthusiastic when it comes to his baba. However, eating solids is another issue. He is my picky guy. He will let you feed him a few bits and then...the head shake. And sometimes he slaps food if he gets really frustrated. I have a feeling that he's got a bit of a sweet tooth. At our last twins mom meeting we had a baby sign language expert so I started with the sign for water. Jake was the first one to tell me that he wanted his sippy cup which was very impressive. I would say that his favorite toy right now is a little toy electric keyboard. He walks around playing that a lot. And I'm not sure if it's an accident but he keeps kicking some bouncy balls around the kitchen floor so I wonder if he'll be a soccer player. He's become quite the snuggle bug lately. He will crawl up into someone's lap and just lay his head on your chest. It's so sweet. He says "DA" a lot. I'm pretty sure that means Dad. I think he calls his grandpa "daa-da"...which actually sounds like how you would say grandpa. Let's see what else...Jake has always been mischevious but at least he listens to me sometimes. I really appreciate that he seems to stop what he's doing when I say his name sternly. Jake loves to dance and he makes the funniest farty noise with his mouth...all the time. Jake is very daring, has no fear and often has bumpies on his head, poor thing. I hate to hear him cry. He seems to get easily frustrated and has a bit of a temper already. When he's not happy about someting, he will definately lay it on a little thick sometimes. But I think it's just that he has a sensative heart. I adore my Jakie.

Jonah: My precious baby is also great! For starters he really seems to hate his bottle. It is a struggle to have him finish all bottles but the first of the day. However, he is suuuuper with solids. He really seems to love the fact that he's trying new foods these days and gets very vocal when I don't feed him quickly enough. He also got the sign for water down but I don't think he's yet figured out how to use it to tell me when he's thirsty. Instead, he shows me the sign when I say water...a work in progress. His favorite toy right now is probably anything round. He has a ball in his hand a lot. And Jonah was the first to figure out that some balls can fit into round holes. I was very impressed with him the first time I saw him put a ball into a toy. And it was even cuter when he tried to put a huge ball into that same hole...you could see the wheels in his head turning so to speak! Jonah says "BA" and "BOP" and "MAA" a lot. I love mornings when he wakes happy...it's all "BOP BOP BOP" coming out of him. Adorable. My JoJo is definately a little stinker! He's everywhere he shouldn't be and heads straight for what he shouldn't have his hands on. And the word "NO" to him is either something to ignore or just laugh at. He makes up his own rules, my little defiant one. If you have seen my previous videos, you'll know about Jonah's hysterical high pitched scream. Well, he hasn't lost it! It is so loud sometimes that we joke about glass breaking. And he still has this heartbreaking cry that makes your heart just sink, not to mention this big bottom lip! He has a great laugh too and he has giggled up a storm the last 2 nights at his brother chasing him around the kitchen. I adore my Jonah!

And here's some cute photos with Daddy. Who does Jake look like??? ;)

Long awaited update

2009-01-22T21:47:00.004-06:00

It's been too long since I've been able to post due to some unfortunate computer issues. Oh well...on to bigger and better. I have amazing children and they have amazed me every day. Lately though has been so exciting. My babies are communicating more than ever. About a week ago, Jonah started to do Patty-Cake on his own. I was FLOORED the first time he did it. Jacob is also doing Patty-Cake and the little cutie is also shaking his head when he is done eating. How did he know what that meant? The other day he started dancing when he was holding his Grandpa's cell phone and it started ringing to some sort of techno ringtone. And then yesterday, I'm pretty sure that he even started singing to some music playing. Once again...I didn't know what to say...where do they get this from? How do they know to instictively dance to music or sing to a melody or that patty-cake is something that they can do on their own? It seems to come from out of nowhere...it's like one day it just clicks...or have they known how to do it all along and just not been capable of doing it? I don't know but I do know that it is just awesome to watch and that I have very gifted children. :) :)

Oh and just a side note: Jake's dance is know by his aunt as "the riverdance". I'm sure that gives you some idea of how hillarious and adorable it is to watch his little feet go crazy!

And finally, please say prayers for another mom in my multiples group. One of her sweet teeny tiny baby quads isn't doing well and needs lots of prayers for Preston King and specifically for his failing kidneys.

Happy New Year

2009-01-01T22:06:00.007-06:00

Happy New Year!! First of all, let me say congratulations to the Apple Family. Their first daughter, Reese was born this morning at 11:24am. A new year baby...great start to the year. I'm hopefully going to visit her tomorrow. As far as I know, everyone is well and she has a head full of hair.

2008 was an amazing year for us. I can't help but reminesce about this time last year. I was hugely pregnant and anticipating the arrival of my boys. Then their birth was text book and I was lucky enough to have them in the regular nursery right away. Their first few months were a blur of feedings, changings, exhaustion and pure love for these two wonderfully healthy, gorgeous baby boys. I often wonder how I got so lucky. From about 4 months on, life started to get easier as we got to sleep through the night and real routines were underway. Now at 10 months we are walking all over the place, still healthy, into discovering everything and I just can't wait to see what else is in store for us.

Since daddy is on duty today (get home soon daddy!), we went to the park with GG and Grampa in our new wagon! The boys had a wonderful time. They were fascinated at everything from the wheels of the wagon to the handle...very exploratory. Then we decided to go for some swinging. Jonah wasn't too keen on it and so I decided to swing with him. He liked that a little better. Jake on the other hand just entrigued his Gramps because he was leaning into the swing to go forward and leaning back when he would swing back...in other words, he understood the momentum with his body. Either way, Grampa was baffled. Then, I climbed up the park swingset and we did some sliding! That was fun. Althougher, it made for a great day. We hope that you have a great 2009!

Christmas and 10 months!

2008-12-31T15:24:00.008-06:00

Well our Christmas was GREAT!! The boys had a blast with all the new toys and clothes. They weren't quite crazy about opening the presents, but the tissue paper was another story. They were fascinated with tissue paper. We spent the morning with just mommy, daddy, Jakie and Jonah alone to see what Santa brought. Then, Grandma (GG), Grampa and Aunt Lo joined us. We had a wonderful breakfast after the boys went down for a nap. Then, we got up and continued to open all the presents.

Later that night, we noticed that Jake felt hot and he was not feeling good for the rest of the day. He ran a fever through the night. I figured it was because he was still getting his two top teeth. We gave him some tylenol and he felt less hot the next morning. However, Jonah had the same issue the following night. I know fevers are a normal way of the body fighting off something...but they scare mommy! We were supposed to go over to GG's house the next day but with Jonah running a fever over 100, we put it off until the following night. The reason we did 2 christmases was b/c our Aunt Lissa is a police officer and had to work on Christmas.

SO, Saturday, which was our 10 month birthday was spent at GG and Grampa's house. It was great. Aunt Lissa got us a cool new toy. And GG and Grampa got us a wagon!!! We put the boys in it and just drug them around the house a few time and they both giggled. It was super cute.

Both boys are back to normal by now. Jake is still working on getting those two top teeth out. They are slow movers. Other than that, we are looking forward to 2009. Happy New Year!

The monkeys LOVED their rocking dogs...Jonah especially!

These shirts were in our stockings. They say, "My brother is the naughty one". I couldn't resist!

Daddy is reading a card from Grampa George

We loved our present from Aunt Lissa.

Best wagon ever!!

2008-12-22T21:08:00.004-06:00

Well the cutie patooties are doing well. They are masters of walking now. They baaarely crawl anymore and if they do it's only for a few strides. They started picking toys up and carrying them places lately. So now they're multi-tasking walkers!!

We had another case of the sniffles lately that seemed to last a little longer than I would have hoped. Jake is popping in his upper teeth so now he'll have more than just his bottom 2. Jonah still stands firm at 4 on top and 3 on the bottom. Jake has started this new thing where he will purse his lips together and out like he's going in for a kiss, while shutting his eyes and doing what I like to call a "fake whimper". It's really cute and kind of pathetic all at the same time...already finding out how to be dramatic! Jonah on the other hand has still got this ridiculously high pitched squeel that has yet to stop. He will be the center of attention!

Both boys are getting better at their pincher grasp. They are picking up food and self feeding some at meal times...and then there is the picking up of everything else they can find that is even hard to see with the naked eye. It is amazing to watch them eyeball a TINY piece of fuzz and watch their thought process motion them forward to pick it up.

Their verbal skills are picking up too. I'm starting to wonder if "maa" means mom. And I've heard a few "daa"s in there too. They seem to say "maa" a lot when I get home. Some of my favorites times of the day are when I get them up from sleeping or when I get home and see their faces light up as I'm coming towards them. Those times make me forget about all the bad that is going on in the world and focus on those two amazing faces who just want to be in your arms. It's just precious!!

I took a few pics of the boys next to their Grandmother's christmas tree. I would love to tell you they're actually helping to put the ornaments on the tree but actually it's just the opposite. Oh well...at least the photos are precious. :)

Our two monkeys!!

9 months!

2008-12-11T00:08:00.010-06:00

It's crazy what a difference about a week makes. My boys have gone from taking a few steps and falling over to walking from a room into another room, bending over to pick something up then standing back up and continue walking and then changing directions before losing their balance. We headed back over to grandma's house tonight and she was AMAZED at the progress they've made since she saw them last week.

We had our 9 month appt. the other day. Both boys are VERY healty!!! Jake weighs 21lbs and Jonah is at 19lbs. They are both the same height now and Jake's head is just a hair (get it) bigger than Jonah's. We're getting over the sniffles again this week. I hate when they get sick...b/c we all get sick...and I really hate it when my babies feel like the poo!!!

This video was taken right after Thanksgiving.

And these were taken last night.

Our Thanksgiving was great! The boys had fun playing in grandma's kitchen, or should I say destroying it! Unfortunately they slept through the main dinner but we discovered they like cranberrys and mashed potatoes. We have MUCH to be thankful for. I still can't believe we have TWO beautiful, healthy baby boys. They are the highlight of my every moment. I can't wait to see what they'll do next. I still can't believe it sometimes. Even tonight my mother said, "Shannon, your CHILDREN are walking! YOUR CHILDREN...how did that happen that you have kids?!" I said, "I know...I have to remind myself sometimes too that this happened and there's two at the same time...and it's the most amazing thing I could have ever happened to me!" I thank God for these babies and pray everyday for their continued health and progress. Even our doctor said they're way ahead of the curve as far as physical accomplishments. He said that even if they weren't twins it would be big but especially as a multiple. My kids are awesome!

Walkers!

2008-11-24T12:16:00.002-06:00

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. It's been busy lately. So, since I've last written, Jake took his first steps two weeks ago and Jonah took his first steps last week. Oh my!!! Jake is getting a lot more courageous lately with his standing without holding anything and trying to take a few steps before falling over and resorting to walking. I was amazed that he was the first one to branch out since Jonah was pulling himself up to a stand for at least a week before Jake. Jonah is still a little more timid about cruising from one piece of furniture to the next without crawling over to it...even if it's just a step in between but I see him getting a little less scared every day. I can't believe my babies took their first steps before they reached 9 months old!!!

We had our first playdate a little over a week ago with our friend Paisley. We had a great time and can't wait to see you again soon Paisley. And we're looking forward to getting together with more friends as soon as we can!

Eating

2008-11-05T22:48:00.005-06:00

They just started to eat some protein, just chicken and turkey as of right now. They definately liked it! Their favorites are sweet potatoes, bananas, apple sauce, peas, carrots and a few others they've tried. I dont think they are too wild about green beans or spinach but we'll work on that. They definately let me know when something is not good. Jonah looks at me like "WHY would you give this to me" and Jake makes the funniest gagging sound. He's not actually gagging, it's just a noise to protest my choice of veggie.

I do make my own baby foods as well as give them some store bought. BUT, everything is organic...even their juice. That's important to me to try to reduce the amount of chemicals/artificials that go into their mouths right now. I'm sure they'll have plenty of time to load up on unhealthy things when they are adults but I want to start them out on the right foot.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

2008-11-03T14:45:00.007-06:00

No we didn't go trick or treating. But we did get dressed up for a short time. These costumes were a bit too thick for the Texas heat so we didn't stay in them for too long. That may be why we look a little p.o.'d.

So here are Mommy's little monsters!

Having Fun on a Saturday Afternoon

2008-10-28T15:31:00.007-05:00

I just wanted to capture my cuties at play. This is what our typical day consists of: pulling up on the couch and cruising up and down it, banging on the door to make the dog bark, playing with our favorite toy, banging on the tv until we get in trouble, pulling up on the couch, making faces, etc.

Put the camera down mom!

8 Months old on Monday!

2008-10-24T15:15:00.003-05:00

We'll be 8 months old on Monday...hard to believe! We are working on many things and every day presents something new to explore. For example, we're starting to try some new foods that require a little bit of gumming like mango and apple. Jake thought the sound the apple made was HILLARIOUS! (see below...the camera ran out of memory or we would have gone longer) Every time he took a bite he laughed. The boys are SO active. They are pulling up to a stand almost all day long. They love their activity table that Aunt Lissa got us because it's easy to pull up to and it has lots to do. Of course we already know all the songs it plays by heart!

We're already growing out of some of our 6-9 month clothes. The hoodie outfits above fit nicely and are for 9 month olds. Neal and I ordered our toddler car seats so we'll be graduating from our infant seats soon. They love to follow the dog and have therefore discovered how to get to the kitchen...which presents a whole new world of wonders. They have just figured out how to open drawers...fun times await on that front.

Let's see what else. Oh we're getting better at sippy cups. Jake is almost better at drinking out of it without the top than with it. We had our first flu shots last saturday and while we were there we decided to get a weight check. Jake was over 20lbs and Jonah was over 18lbs. Sheesh! What happened to my little babies!?

Thing 1 and Thing 2

2008-10-14T21:13:00.004-05:00

I love love love these outfits and I wanted to share. And thanks to Anna for introducing them to me.

Pumpkin Patch SO Much Fun!

2008-10-12T15:10:00.005-05:00

So today is my birthday and I decided that we NEED to go out. One week ago today we all got the sniffles and this past week has been so hard. We were all three sick and boy did we feel like the poo. And since we all felt better, it was time to venture out to the PUMPKIN PATCH!!! And boy did we have some fun. We were even some people's attraction within an attraction. We had a couple of people ask if they could take pictures of the boys. It was cute...but then again so were they! It was a good start to the day. :)

7 Months Old...and busier than ever!

2008-10-03T23:07:00.008-05:00

Well our world is a little nutty lately. Both boys are crazy all over the place crawling and climbing up on everything they can reach. Every day is a new discovery. For example, today Jonah discovered the unique noise you can make running your tongue along the roof of your mouth...while I was trying to put him down for the night. And, Jonah has managed to pull himself up to a stand and then he'll occasionally let go...for a few seconds. He's never too far from something firm to make sure that if he looses his balance, it's not a far fall. Jake on the other hand has found the dog to be hillarious today for no apparent reason. I missed it but his aunt said, "he lost it!" What will they be up to next!?!?! Stay tuned!

We got a jogging stroller!!!

2008-09-18T13:42:00.005-05:00

Seriously...if you had any idea of how much I've obsessed over strollers lately and finding just the right one, then you will laugh at this post. And, you will gasp at the fact that I went into Babies R Us and just happened to have found the perfect one by accident...and it was cheap!!! Now I can work on getting back into my clothes :)!!!

Updates on what Jake is up to!

2008-09-16T00:19:00.013-05:00

Jake is very close to keeping up with Jonah in the crawling department. Although he's not as great at getting all the limbs to move in a coordinated effort, he is fantastic at the army crawl and thrusting himself forward. He can definately get from A to B. And he just giggles all the time now. OH and he loves to have someone bounce a finger up and down over his lips so that he's making bla bla bla sounds. He even started to figure out how to use his arm to make the sounds when no one has a finger handy! Very resourceful guy!!

Updates on what Jonah is up to!

2008-09-15T23:50:00.012-05:00

So Jonah just baaaaarely got the crawling thing down and he's already pulling himself up on everything. And, he's so proud of himself. Besides that, his newest thing is to do this squeal-thing that is so high pitched that we joke at times it's only in the range that dogs can hear.

He is just into everything and having so much fun doing it. He recently found his tongue too and it's constantly licking something or just hangin' out in general. It's so cute.

Abla Bla Bla

2008-09-05T23:04:00.003-05:00

Hawaiian Shirt Day

2008-09-04T22:56:00.002-05:00

I know it's not friday...but who cares when you're this darn cute!

Bath time cuties

2008-09-04T22:50:00.004-05:00

Bath time these days is a blast. Both boys LOOOVE the water and I usually end up a wet mess...but they're worth it! :)

Lil Stinker!

2008-09-04T22:31:00.012-05:00

MY BOYS ARE 6 MONTHS!!!

2008-09-02T23:26:00.004-05:00

It's just CRAZY to me that my boys are now 6 months old!!! In some ways it seems like the time has flown by. In other ways, their birth seems like it happened years ago. I guess I feel a few years older anyway.

We had their 6 month dr. appt and Jake is weighing in at 18.7lbs while Jonah is 16.7lbs. Both boys have the exact same size head and Jonah is still taller than his brother. We are healthy though and that's all that matters.

We tried real baby food for the first time on their birthday...ok, one day before because I was excited. :) We had carrots and it was no big deal at all. You would have thought that nothing was any different. But, the photos are awfully cute.

Jonah's first baby tooth just popped up yesterday. And Jake loooooves to hear himself blabber blabber. OH and crawling is just about to be our norm. They are practicing every day, all day. My world is about to be a whole new crazy...and I can't wait!

Busy Boys!

2008-08-15T23:09:00.005-05:00

Jake is working on his crawling already while Jonah is working on mastering sitting up! However, here Jake was starting to get the concept of hide and seek. And it was funny!

5 1/2 months!

2008-08-13T11:07:00.000-05:00

I can't believe our 6 month b-day is at the end of this month. Boy oh boy has the time flown by. I just fall more in love with my precious boys every single day. I am so blessed to be their mom. Yesterday we went on a family outing to Ikea...and it was just a "get outta the house for an hour trip" but of course I ended up with $100 in baby things. Oh well...I just can't say no to them!

One year ago & Five Month Birthday

2008-07-28T21:34:00.000-05:00

So I realized this weekend as we're celebrating my dad's birthday that this weekend marks the one year anniversary of the discovery of my pregnancy. I will NEVER forget the day I took that test and the shock of realizing that I was pregnant...and I wasn't trying to get pregnant. In fact, I was on bc. I remember that almost as clearly as the sonographer telling us at our first appointment that there are two babies in there. TWO! It is completely shocking and just amazing all at the same time. I feel INCREDIBLY blessed to have two healthy and wonderfully happy baby boys. I am enjoying every minute of their lives and I thank God for the blessing of Children. My father while holding one of the boys this weekend reminded me that children are a gift from God. I know and I'm reminded of it everyday.

At the 5 month mark both boys have been eating cereal once a day before their last feeding. They are gettin much better at eating with a spoon. They seem to (especially Jake) really like it! We are usually taking 6oz of formula/bm at each feeding, still around every 3 hours. For the most part they are sleeping through the night. Jonah has been sttn since 3 months. Jake still gets me up most nights around 5 or 6am. And all he wants to do is nurse a little and go back to sleep. I know this isn't for nourishment but for the comfort of being with mama right now, but I enjoy being with him too so I don't mind it. Since he was a reflux baby, we've been sleeping together for a looong time now, sweet baby. To be honest, I love that he wants and needs me because I know all too soon, he won't. So, for now, I'm ok with getting up so early to go get him.

Both boys are rolling over and have been enjoying laying on their tummies. They usually curl up in a ball on their stomach so that their little hineys are straight up in the air. It's pretty cute. Jake is oh so loud. He even woke his GG up from her nap today. Jonah is much quieter but has his own noises. His noises are really all over the place where as Jake will find a new noise and work on it until he masters it. This week's noise is what his auntie calls "farty face". Something they're also trying to master so hard is sitting straight up. Their other auntie got them some seats this weekend to help them sit straight up; however Jonah is so fascinated with his toes that he still bends over in it. I love that Jonah is so flexible that sometimes he has both a finger and a toe in his mouth!

Jake is getting really good at standing on his weight for longer periods of time (while being held) and his GG swears he knows what up and down mean. Jonah has this adorable new thing he's doing. When I ask him for kisses, he will grab my face and come at me mouth wide open! I know it's probably a coincidence but I like to believe he knows what kisses are. :) He still is such a flirt too! Both boys have completely different smiles but each one can just light up a room and make your entire day.

Does it get any cuter?

2008-07-18T22:54:00.000-05:00

Yes, this video is a bit old. I want to say it's almost 2 months old...so Jonah was around 3 months old. I absolutely love love love this video. He doesn't do this much anymore but for a while, his favorite thing to do was hold a conversation like this.

First Official Family Photos

2008-07-18T22:30:00.000-05:00

This past weekend we had our first official family photo shoot. It was an incredibly looong day. We worked our whole day around the event and the boys were super sweet most of the day. They got a little cranky during the shoot...but it was hot in that room so I can't blame them. I had a pretty good time despite the stress around getting 4 people ready and out the door on time. And I couldn't wait to get them back! My friend is the photographer and he gave me the raw photos on cd, asked me to pick out my faves and he would photoshop them. I've had a lot of fun with them already and can't wait to see them matted and framed and at home on my walls soon!

For Starters

2008-07-15T14:20:00.000-05:00

Welcome to my tribute to the most adorable twin boys ever. Ok, ok, I know I'm a little biased haven given birth to them and all...but they are pretty darn cute! I hope that you can find it in your heart to forgive me if you are reading this with twins of your own thinking that yours deserve this title as well. I am sure they do. I just wanted to convey how crazy about my little guys I am and will always be! So, thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoy catching up with my Jacob and Jonah...aka Jakie and Jojo.

Happy Birthday!!

2008-02-27T11:34:00.003-06:00