Friday, October 31, 2014

Happy Halloween!


Happy Halloween! 

I am proud of myself for getting photos of all the kids in their costumes before the big day! Wow, does it feel weird to say all the kids. Anyway, I had this marked in my planner for days to get photos and knowing how easy it is for me to lose track of little things these days I call this a win! I didn't catch the elusive photo with all three kids in it but I have to snap away when I can while the girls are in a happy mood. 


The girls' alternate costume is this critter hoodie from Old Navy. I thought it looked so cute and fluffy that I had to splurge on it even though it is kind of silly. The actual name of the animal is just "critter", so I guess it is up to you to determine the exact critter it is. So far guesses have been a deer, raccoon, hedgehog, and fox. I only picked it because it was pink! I figured it was something halloween-ish and also something they can continue to wear all winter long, especially since I ordered 0-3 size and they are still solidly in newborn at 7 weeks! I must have thought they would be much bigger by now when I was ordering! 


Anna


Brynn


My pumpkin heads! 

Of course every baby at Halloween needs to have a photo of themselves dressed up as a pumpkin because...of course they just do. It's like a baby thing. 

See evidence A: 

And evidence B: 
(big brother Michael at about three weeks old) 


Anna 


Brynn 


And for big brother...


Captain America!

(or Captain Ta-Merica as he likes to say)

These photos were a ton of fun to take! The girls were magically sleeping in their car seats after I picked Michael up from daycare yesterday so I instructed him to run inside as fast as he could,  change into his costume, and meet me outside. We then shot a whole bunch of cool photos in about 3 minutes. In my opinion, the best way for a photo shoot! 


We let Michael watch the Captain America movie with us a few weeks ago and since then he has been obsessed with it! The shield was definitely his favorite part and he can do all the moves with it just like in the movie! 


I also have to include this photo which shows my great pumpkin harvest of 2014...one orange pumpkin. We had a few others but they were still very green! 


Have a great Halloween! Thanks for stopping by! 

p.s....just for fun: 


Wednesday, October 29, 2014

6 weeks!


Anna and Brynn are six weeks old! (as of last Wednesday!). I am a little behind on my blog which I am fine with but I feel like these days are so fleeting and wow-time is flying! We had a rare morning  last week of happy, clean and alert babies so I seized the moment and took some really fun photos. I love the way they turned out! 


Brynn


Anna


Brynn again. I had to include this one because she was being such a good little baby model, posing up a storm! I love her dark little baby eyes. Everyone asks us if we think they will turn blue, and yes we are 100% sure they will. Both Scott and I have light blue eyes, as well as everyone in my family except my sister whose eyes are more gray. I think the odds are in their favor they will keep their baby blues! 


Two peas in a pod!

I guess I should also update you with a how's it going post. We have turned a corner around six weeks where the girls are very unhappy and I know it is just due to growing or some sort of temporary colic/tummy pains/who knows what. We are trying to set some foundations in place to get them on a better schedule but it is very, very hard and time consuming. They had been doing really well with being on the same schedule but then they got off track. Suddenly they were taking turns being awake at night and that is not okay! I was literally getting zero sleep except in 30 second increments when someone wasn't crying. I know keeping babies on a schedule is controversial but I think it is a different game with multiples and I cannot do it if they are not on the same schedule...I will literally lose my marbles. So we've been trying to keep them on a three hour schedule with trying to stretch out feedings to four hours. It is hard because most times they can hardly make it to three hours so usually it goes like this: I feed them, they are happy. I lay them down for a rest, usually it goes well for about an hour or so. They wake up, and are screaming angry until I wave my white flag and feed them again (usually from 60-90 minutes). Luckily, they are usually pretty happy if we are in the car or going for a walk so I have been using those activities to entertain them for the screaming hour. Otherwise it is just my futile attempts to keep them happy and soothed which are not always successful! I am not complaining in the least but just wanted you to know what it is like with twins. I am also having a hard time because I know when the boys were like this I would just wear them and be on my happy way. It is hard for me to hold the girls at once let alone figure out how to wear them at once (but I will do some research and get back to you!). I do know that things get better and I am hoping by this time next week when we hit our 8 week milestone things might be a little better. 

Otherwise the girls are continuing to grow well, nursing in tandem is going extremely well (I love the snuggle time and it is so much easier than making/washing/pumping bottles), and we are getting a little bit of sleep at night. The girls are sweet and we hope we are doing a good job helping them be happy twins that can sleep at the same time at night. :o) 


Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Anna and Brynn's Baptism


Anna and Brynn were baptized on Saturday, October 18th! 

I was so happy that we were able to baptize them when they were just shy of 6 weeks old. I knew long before they were here that I wanted to do it as soon as possible! It was a funny phone call that I made to the church secretary when I said I wanted to schedule a baptism for my twins but no, they weren't here yet and no, we didn't know their names or birthdate! Luckily, it all worked out well and were able to have them baptized at the very casual, Saturday night service at our church's "hub" (business office). I wasn't sure what to expect but it was about as perfect as it could get. 

I wanted to have the girls baptized as soon as possible because we never had Trace baptized in a church before he died. He was baptized in the emergency room, with the pastor who came, and a tiny dixie cup full of water. I hated that I couldn't have a beautiful ceremony for him and it just seemed so unfair. For these reason,  I wanted to be sure and do it right away with the girls. 


My mom had her wedding dress made into two very special christening gowns made just for Anna and Brynn! We have a family dress that my sister and I wore but obviously couldn't be used this time since there is just one. My aunt Linda did the dresses and I think they turned out perfectly! I am so happy that these dresses can do be an heirloom in my family and hopefully I can tell my girls how special they are when they get their babies baptized. 


My aunt also made special bonnets that I only have a few photos of! It was very hard to take photos of girls looking nice, making sure my family was ready, and getting out the door! 



The service was very nice and I like how the baptism was included during the regular service (sometimes they are done afterwards in a separate ceremony for everyone who wants to be baptized that day). It was following the (jazzed up) hymn "It is well with my soul" and I had to try very hard to keep it together during the singing! I couldn't imagine a more fitting song for the day, getting our precious little blessings baptized. 


Afterwards, we had a little party at our house with my family, Scott's parents and my mom's side of the family. My mom said it was the first time everyone on her side had been together since my aunt Karen's funeral. I was surprised to hear that and glad that they could all come together to celebrate the girls! 

It was a low key party with cold appetizers ready to be set out right after church, take and bake pizza from Papa Murphy's and cupcakes from Scratch. I would say the cupcakes were the biggest and they were delicious!! I thought maybe I had overestimated my need when ordering but they were all gone the next day! 

We are so proud of our little girls and are happy they could have their special baptism day! 


Friday, October 24, 2014

Instafriday!


Happy Friday, friends! 

Things have been very busy here the last few weeks and I have a lot to blog about but am struggling with finding time. The girls are keeping me very busy (in a good way of course!) and we are hitting our six week growth spurt so it seems like things have been extra busy lately. I do know that it will get easier and that growing is hard for little babies to do so it takes extra cuddles, snuggles and patience. Which in turn means lots of extra caffeine and snacks for mom! 


I subscribed Michael to Kiwi Crate a few months ago and he really likes the boxes! They are cute, easy crafts that he can do mostly himself. There are usually extra supplies and on this day in the photo he was playing with his castle he made as well as cutting up the extra felt into gold coins. He had a whole story he was telling so if you want specifics, you'll have to ask him! 


Trace's angel-versary was also earlier this month on the 10th. We went out the cemetery to clean up his headstone and remember him. It was the most beautiful fall day and the tree right by his headstone was a beautiful gold yellow and leaves were falling everywhere. It was really perfect. As much as I hate going to the cemetery to visit my son, it warms my heart with the beauty nature provides. 


Michael and I also got out of the house, just the two of us, to run some errands one day while my mom was here to watch the girls. I needed to get him a haircut and a flu shot and those things are hard to do with twins in tow! It was a really fun morning just the two of us and I hope we can keep having special moments now that our family has expanded. Michael is just such a fun boy to be around! :o) 


My grandparents came to visit over the girls' baptism weekend (will hopefully get a post up about that soon!) and my grandma brought me a vintage fiestaware pitcher for my collection! I love it and the little family it makes on my shelf!


As much as I have tried to avoid it, we are full fledged into legos around here. The itty bitty, hurts to step on them kind. We've been telling Michael he can only do the ones that are for five year olds because they are easier but he still really always asks for the star wars ones (which are for 7 or 8 year olds). Well, he went to the store with his dad to spend some birthday money and low and behold, he came home with a star wars set! He was grinning ear to ear that he tricked his dad into letting him get it. He was so proud that he put it together all by himself even though it took several hours. I think the fact that I said he wasn't old enough to do it was motivation to prove me wrong! 



And finally, we have really been enjoying fall here. The trees have been so beautiful and it seems like the color has lasted the whole month of October. I always worry that each nice day might be the last so it is important to enjoy them. I hope you have been enjoying all things fall, too! Have a great weekend! 


life rearranged
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