Bummed

Bummed is right. Tomorrow morning Greg's family leaves for their annual trip to Hawaii... and we're not going! We've gone every year since we've been married (except for the year that we went on our Mediterranean cruise), but this year our lives have changed some. We now have sweet little babies that we feel are too young to take along and too young to leave behind. So we all are staying home this year. We usually go to Maui, but this year the trip is to Kauai. We're a little sad about not going, especially since last year our trip was plagued with horrific morning sickness, but perhaps there's hope for next year??? Thinking about the trip made me want to look at pictures from some of our trips there... we sure love it there! =)

Our condo view!
Outside The Plantation House Restaurant in Kapalua... great breakfast AND view!

Another view from the restaurant... far out there to the left is the Ritz-Carlton where we stayed on our honeymoon! =)

The fam getting ready to go out for dinner.

Me and sister-in-law, Kimbo!

Me and brother-in-law, Kevin, waiting outside The Gazebo restaurant. Banana Macadamia nut pancakes with coconut syrup-- yum!

This picture says it all!

Sit! (well, kind of!)

I was changing Bean today on the changing table and in order to button up this outfit, I had to sit her up against my arm. I quickly noticed that she was working on lifting herself up and not relying on me as much. I then decided to put her down on the floor and see what would happen (don't worry, I had an arm right there to catch her in case of a tumble over!). So this is what she did! I know it's not close to a "real" sit, but she seemed pretty proud of herself... and mommy was, too! =)

A Picture's Worth a Thousand Words

I've been working on a project and it's finally complete! Since I haven't taken the babies down to get "real" pictures taken, I wanted to put something more substantial up in the house... so this is what I came up with! I took some of my favorite blog pictures and printed them in black and white and put them up in our family room. Greg and I get a good chuckle every time we look up there and see their sweet little faces! Boy, do we love them!

Ella's Got a Problem!

She LOVES bows! Here's a couple pictures of my girl's obsession! Last count: 81 clippies, hats, headbands, and bows. Her father and I do not condone this type of behavior! =)

Evan & Daddy!

I just love them!

Bean Photo Shoot

So there were too many sweet pictures of The Bean so I decided to dedicate a post to just her! =)

Grabbing!

Ella and Evan are in to grabbing everything!

Here are a few things that have peaked their "grabbing" interests as of late:

• mommy's hair
• toys, toys, and more toys!
• each other's arms and hands
• mommy's nose
• their toes! That is SO cute to see! =)
• burp clothes
• their monkey blankies
• more of mommy's hair
• bath towels-- as I'm walking out from their baths, I notice I have a baby AND towel in tow! Greg says they're like Linus from Charlie Brown! =)
• car seat straps, which is difficult to tear from little man's freakishly strong arms!
• ... and pacifier clips, resulting in their pacifier being pulled from their mouth and then looking at me as if I had something to do with it!

Here's a little clip of Ella grabbing her toys... she's still a little shaky and wobbly, but she's doing just fine! Evan just sat in his exersaucer and gnawed on his "thin" bib for a good 10-15 minutes! Silly boy!

Oh... the "thin" bib is used after he eats because he continues to spit up... his regular bib is usually pretty soaked by the end of the feeding time and I don't want to leave it on him. That's where the "thin" big comes into play; not thick enough for a meal, but thin enough for the aftermath! =)

One year ago today...

... I found out that I was pregnant!

Little did I know it would be these two precious babies!

We are truly blessed!

I had actually started taking some pregnancy tests a couple of days before and it had a faint line on the test. I didn't know if that was a true positive or not, seeing how I hadn't ever been pregnant before, so I continued to take tests... after test... after test! i even sent my friend Amanda a text message with picture attached asking if she saw the line! =) I became a little obsessed with it all and even though we wanted to be pregnant, I was in a state of denial, too, not believing that it could be true. Plus, I was taking the test so early (even earlier than the "5 days sooner" that they promote) that I thought it wouldn't be accurate either. Little did I know that I had twins, raising my hormone levels so much higher than a singleton pregnancy, allowing the test to show results much sooner. We were both so ecstatic and couldn't wait to tell family. We bought a couple of diaper bags filled with diapers, wipes, and books about grandmas and grandpas to give to our parents as a way of sharing our news. Both of our moms were a little "slow" at getting the drift, but our fathers mentioned to them that we may have been trying to tell them something! =) Everyone was unbelievably excited and quickly changed gears into Baby Land!

I took pictures of the positive pregnancy tests with the dates written on them, but for some reason cannot find them... I'll keep looking. I have one that shows about 13 all together! I guess that's the pessimist in me-- not believing what I was seeing! haha =)

I will never forget that day babies, when I realized I had life growing inside of me! God truly blessed our family that day!

Our Day

Today was a big day for me and the babies. We went out shopping for Daddy's birthday party, went to lunch, and then visited our favorite baby boutique, Ragamuffin! It was lots of fun and the babies did so great!

They got their morning nap and then we fed and promptly headed out the door with Grandma in tow! They slept in the car and a while during our shopping excursion, but didn't get their normal amount of nap time. They did so well though! We then went to lunch at Subway. I know, not very fancy, but still trying to lose this baby weight- Ugh! We then decided that Ella should get another hair clippie and we could check out all the fun outfits at Ragamuffin. I love to go in and shop there, but the babies haven't ever been, except in utero! =) I can tell already that Ella is going to love to shop-- watch out Daddy! She loved all the bling bling for her hair. Evan had a good time, too, laughing and squealing a lot... so cute! We then came home and took a giant nap. I had to wake them, actually, at 6:20 to make sure they were up long enough to eat and be able to go back down this evening. They were pretty pooped by the end of the day, but it was sure fun!

Ella showing off her new bling bling!

...and modeling it with her pouty lips! =) Babies cuddling with their bears that Aunt Rosie sent to them! They were actually made by their Great-Grandma Pearl before she passed away a couple of years ago. She had no idea that we'd have boy/girl twins... how perfect that worked out! They now have something special from their Great-Grandma! Thanks Grandma and Aunt Rosie!
Hanging out before feeding time... Evan looks somewhat distressed! :P

He has to be teething!

Ella playing with her first doll, Dolly! When we gave it to her in the car she gave a big smile and grabbed on to it! Sweet girl! =)

Evan was really tuckered out after our big day!

Had to get a picture of those scrumptious thighs! =)

Introduce Yourselves!

I'm stealing this idea from my friend Amanda's blog...

In the blog margin there's a map that says where visitors are from. It's crazy to think of some of the places that visitors come from... other towns, states, countries-- it's really cool! I do the same thing, but it's so interesting that all these people I don't even know check my blog (Greg constantly asks me why I'm so interested in other blogs and their families!!! haha)! So if you're a regular checker, introduce yourself! Leave a comment or an email; I would love to hear from you! =)

Back to Belly!

Today Ella rolled over from her back to belly-- WOW! Evan has been working on it for about a week or so, so I thought for sure he'd be doing it any day now... and then Ella-bean decides she's going to jump to it and whip out with it out of nowhere! I got part of it on video, but seriously, she was so quick I didn't have time to catch the beginning part of the roll! Silly girl. Here's what I caught on video though...

Now try to ignore the overly-excited behavior in the video... it's a first time mom thing! =)

4 months old!

Wow! I can't believe it, but Ella and Evan are 4 months old today! It seems as though time has really flown by lately. The first two months were really hard and a time of adjustment, but things are definitely getting better now.

Ella and Evan have changed a lot. We celebrated their 4 month birthday by going to the doctor's and getting a shot! Yuck! They did pretty well though. Our appointment was at 3:00 p.m. (our feeding time), so my mom and I went early so that we could feed them right before their appointment. But, of course, they decide to call us in early! They did great though getting undressed and waiting for the doctor.

Here are their stats:

Evan

*almost 15 lbs., coming in at 14 lbs. 13 oz. Somehow we all thought he'd weigh more than that for some reason... he just looks so chubby! Even the doctor thought that was weird because he's only in the 50th percentile.

*24 inches long
*Head Circumference 16

Ella
*barely scrapped by, but made it to 14 lbs., weighing 14 lbs. 2 oz.

She is in the 60th percentile.

*24 inches long
*Head Circumference 15 1/2

Everything looked good and we got the go for starting rice cereal, vegetables, and fruits. Rice cereal will be the first and only thing for a while though. I can't believe they're old enough for this! :(

Since we're spreading out their vaccinations, we had to walk over to the injection clinic and get their meds there. I was thinking that I'd feed the babies after their shots (seeing how the girl said it would be a quick wait!) to comfort them, but we ended up waiting close to an hour to get them! They messed up our charts and I had to go over it with the nurse to make sure they were getting what they're supposed to. Ugh. Ella got her shot first and cried, but only for a minute or so after I snuggled her in to me. Evan was a big, strong boy and didn't make a sound! Ella is just a little more delicate! =) So after close to an hour and a half, we were able to feed my sleepy babies. They did SO well though and didn't cry or fuss the whole time were at the doctor's (2 1/2 hours!).

We are feeding every 4 hours still, at 7 a.m., 11 a.m., 3 p.m., and 7 p.m. They're then off to bed at around 7:30 p.m. and feed again at around 7 a.m. Usually they'll take in around 7 oz. or so, but Evan is been known to take about 8 oz. recently. They take 3 naps a day, a morning one for about 2 hours, an afternoon one for about 2 hours, and a late afternoon one for about an hour. They're some crying in the middle of them, but I've been letting them cry some and self-soothe to fall back asleep (I know, some of you are probably cringing at that idea right now, but they're still SO tired and not ready to get up yet... so this has been my method...) I'm still pumping, nursing, and supplementing with formula. My milk supply isn't that great (not that it was ever that great! Obviously I have to supplement!), but is probably because we only have 4 feedings a day now.

They are both "talking" and laughing so much anymore. It seems like they do it all day. It's SO fun! I've tried MANY times to get it on video, but you know how that goes! Tummy time is pretty fun for them now and they look in their mirror and smile and squeal. Ella (Evan a little) likes to reach out and grab her toys. She really likes it when it makes it to her mouth to suck on and drool all over. These babies are like leaky faucets! They slobber more than a St. Bernard! The doctor said that they are definitely teething and are right on target for it. He also said that it looks as though their eye colors now are what they'll end up being. So Evan will have pretty blue eyes like his grandpa and Ella will have big, beautiful hazel eyes like her Daddy! =)

Many of their actions are intentional now. For instance, when I'm holding or nursing either one of them, they like to stick their hands all over my face and in my mouth. Not sure why? And Evan especially, likes to "knead" his hands into my chest/shirt when I'm holding him. The best way to describe it would be like a cat that is content and kneading it's paws into a blanket. They like to "yell" and squeal a lot in order to get my attention. Once I look their direction they get a big grin on their face as if to tell me, "hey, it worked!" Turkeys.

They both love to lay and look up at the fan, play in their exersaucers, going for walks and being outside, and play in their bouncers and swings. But still, their favorite activity is to have mommy hold them. Ella is getting a little more needy and wants me to hold her more often. Could be because of the teething? It's really cute to see them interact with each other now, too. They both have to check each other out, especially if one is crying... they whip their heads around in a quick second to see what the commotion is all about. They'll sit and stare at each other and smile, and just recently start "talking" to each other. They have their own little language apparently. They both love to cuddle and will lay their heads down on your chest either tummy to tummy or fall over on to me from a sitting position... SO sweet! They melt my heart!

I suppose I could go on and on, as they change so much all the time! I'll leave you with some pictures of the babies at 4 months...

Daddy and the babies!Daddy getting home just in time to say goodnight to the babies!Our first trip to the nursery to help mommy pick out some flowers!Buddy with mommy... funny how he can fall asleep so fast on a warm body! =)

That grin!

Looking up and staring at Daddy!

Smiling at her brother!

Notice the scratch above her right eye... she woke up from her morning nap with that... I guess it's time to cut the nails again!

Passed out after a big afternoon!