Way Back Wednesday

Easter 2009: I was about 27 weeks pregnant - this is my favorite preggo picture, when I was looking and feeling good.  We spent a quiet afternoon having brunch with friends at a local restaruant since I wasn't allowed to travel.  This year will be a different story, surrounded by dozens of two sets of family members!

May 24, 2009: I didn't know I'd be having the boys the next day when we took this picture!  I was 35w2days.  All things considered, I felt pretty good this day, and confident I'd make it to my scheduled C section date of June 17. (Ha, ha, joke's on me!)

 

June 1, 2009: Matthew comes home!  While we were happy to bring him home, I sobbed all the way out to the van because Nathan was still in the NICU and we didn't know how much longer he'd be there. 

June 4, 2009: Nathan (in Steve's arms) comes home!  We were so excited to get our first family picture at home that Steve was still wearing his hospital band.

It's unbelievable that these photos are almost a year old.  Those tiny little 5 pound lumps are now nearly 20 pounds each, feeding themselves bananas and drinking out of sippy cups.  I know they'll be walking and talking any minute now.

Dear Daddy

I'm catching up to Nathan!  I cut my 4th tooth yesterday, so I'm halfway to his 8.  Hopefully, he'll keep slacking so I can catch him.  Grandma has one of those ride-on cars, too.  Here I am trying it out this morning.  It's doesn't really go anywhere.  Maybe it's broken?  Bring some warm weather from Florida so we can go outside and play when you get here.  Can't wait to show you my new tooth!  Love, Matthew 

Last night, I just couldn't sleep.  I don't know why.  Mom says that sometimes she can't go to sleep when you're traveling.  Maybe that's what it was - I missed you.  But I know you're working hard and will be home, soon.  I keep really busy playing with all these new toys at Grandmas, though.  Check out this airplane!  This morning, I was teaching Mommy how you get on a plane and fly to work.  I can't wait to bite your toes with my 8 sharp teeth!  Love, Nathan

We're Big Boys!

I'm not sure how they did it, but since they turned 10 months old the other day, both my fellas have turned into Big Boys!  That's what we've been calling them this weekend because they graduated from the ducky tub to the big person tub.

Matthew celebrates the "big tub" with a mohawk!

Nathan can almost make the new big toy car move - almost.

 And look how big they are in jeans and a t-shirt!  They are officially wearing 12 month-size clothes, which don't look babyish at all! 

The days sometimes go by slowly, but months are flying!

2 Tim. 4:7-8 (Princess Kay of the Milky Way Version)

"I HAVE FOUGHT THE GOOD FIGHT"

• 10 months - 300 days - of providing my sons with the best source of nutrition possible: breastmilk
• 1 Medala Pump in Style (it isNOT stylish!) and DOZENS of assorted parts
• 2 post-hospitalization appointments with United Hospital's lactation consultants, resulting in
• 1 Nipple Ointment antibiotic prescription for an infection
• 2 boxes of disposable breast pads before I wised up and bought washables ones
• a dozen or so assorted nursing bras and tanks
• 2 twins nursing pillows and 1 green Boppy pillow
• excruciating pain as "Barracuda" and "Piranha" learned to latch

"I HAVE FINISHED THE RACE"

• Hospital
• My house
• My mother's, mother-in-law's, grandmothers' and sisters' and friends' houses
• Airport bathrooms
• AirPLANE bathrooms
• My van in parking lots (notably, Burger King and Meijer's)
• Hawaiian condo and beaches
• St. Maartin hotel room 
• Church nurseries
• Macy's Mall of America

"I HAVE KEPT THE FAITH"

•  3 months of pumping 8 times/day  (approximately 120 hours of pumping)
• freezing breastmilk in ice cube trays resulting in 4 gallon-sized Ziploc bags full
• using the frozen milk that I thought would last into eternity in the 4th month
• 7 additional months of pumping at least once/day (approximately 60 hours of pumping)
• roughly 180 hours of pumping in 10 months =  7.5 24 HOUR DAYS attached to a milking device

"NOW THERE IS IN STORE FOR ME THE CROWN OF RIGHTEOUSNESS BUTTER, WHICH THE LORD MINNESOTA STATE FAIR WILL AWARD TO ME ON THAT DAY - AND NOT ONLY ME, BUT ALSO TO ALL WHO HAVE LONGED FOR HIS APPEARING NURSED TWINS FOR 10 MONTHS OR MORE."

Happy 10 month birthday, Matthew and Nathan - and congratulations on successfully weaning yourselves, my little fishies.

 (If you're not from Minnesota and don't know what I'm talking about, check out this article.)

Wordless Wednesday: May I Take Your Order?

ZOOM! ZOOM!

The guys discovered that if they get up on their KNEES, they can move faster!

ZOOM! ZOOM! ZOOM! ZOOM!

Oh, boy.

My New Busy Mom's Bible

Ninety-nine percent of my blog is re-telling the crazy days spent at home with my ten-month-old twin sons for the benefit of their grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends who live far away - that includes Daddy, who travels often on business.  But today I'm going to talk about something a little different. 

I got a new Bible last month! 

Huh?  That's newsworthy?

Yes! 

First, I'll tell you why the new Bible is such a great blessing in my life right now.  Then I'll review its cool parts.

I used to be very faithful in my daily devotions - I couldn't conceive of a day in which I didn't spend time reading the Bible, memorizing Scripture, and praying.  When I was single and lonely, praying for God to send me someone special, as well as a direction for my life, we got very close.

Then He answered my prayers and sent me Steve, with whom I'll celebrate 8 adventurous years of marriage in June.  My life got immediately more busy after that with our wedding, college graduations, a cross-country move, traveling, trying to get two careers off the ground, trying to conceive, carrying twins...sounds like a long list of excuses, doesn't it?

It is.

We continued to be active in the church throughout all of that, but as my life got busier and I got more exhausted, I found myself reading my Bible less and less.  Why?  Laziness.  NO excuse is good enough to abandon God's Word.  I found that I was only pulling it out when times were tough.  Thankfully, when we are faithless, He is faithful.

My mother, knowing I would love this, sent me an email about Zondervan giving away 5,000 Busy Mom Bibles - she'd heard about it on her local Christian radio station.  Hey, I could use one!  I'm a busy mom and sure need some inspiration to read my Bible.  I emailed my application, thinking it's worth a shot, even though my odds of winning are slim.

To my great surprise, I received a package a couple of weeks later: a beautiful, HOT PINK LEATHER BOUND BIBLE!  And it was a "slimline" size, meaning it was big enough to read, but small enough to carry around without building muscle - like, (gasp!) to church.  It's SO COOL! I thought.  I wish I'd had one like this back in the day.  I would have been stylin'!

Again, what I used to do faithfully had fallen by the wayside.  My excuses?  My church puts the Scripture on the screen, my study Bible is too big and heavy.  Dumb, dumb, dumb, I know.

Here's where it gets humorous: I really AM a busy mom!  The first time I cracked it open last month - and every night thereafter - was when I was hooked up to my breastpump before bed.  It was my only quiet time during the day!  To breastfeeding moms everywhere, that's not funny because everyone multi-tasks while pumping, but to the elite few who have the privilege of witnessing a breast pump in action, it is a downright hilarious sight! 

So there I am in my pj's, hooked up to the most ridiculous-yet-lifesaving-contraption-ever-invented, reading my very-cool-HOT-PINK Busy Mom's Bible.  A sight to behold!

But you know what?

God showed up. 

Every night.

The past month I've spent my last few waking moments each night with my Bible (and pump), reading God's Word, drinking in passages I've known and loved for years, remembering how much I love to spend time in the Word - from a mother's perspective, now.

Here's where I'll review the cool parts (besides it's beautiful appearance, because we all know that God values inner beauty!).

Hands-down, the best Zondervan-added part are the one-minute thought starters.  There are 52 of them on colorful pages inserted throughout the Bible.  When I don't know what to read or where to start (and that's most days!) I flip to one and start there.

For example, I flipped open to this one, found in Ezekiel.  The top pink box says "Beyond Discouragement - A Crown" and quotes Isaiah 28:5, "In that day the LORD Almighty will be a glorious crown, a beautiful wreath for the remnant of his people."  There is a paragraph afterward explaining how God encourages us with His presence "like a beautiful crown, resting on you and strengthening you."

In just one minute, I was encouraged!

Then the devotion goes on to suggest what to read if you have more time.  Um, I'm attached to an electronic appliance, so I guess I'm not going anywhere.  Yes, I have more time.

I could choose to read Isaiah 28:1-6 on page 591 - by the way, I think adding the page numbers is an AWESOME feature for new Christians who never had the benefit of Sunday School and learning the order of the books of the Bible.

OR, I could choose the 5 minute reflect and pray option, where I am faced with questions to answer, like "Who do you think is an example of hope amid dark circumstances?"

OR, I could choose the 10 minute study, where I am directed to turn to page 1157 for additional verses about my emotions.  When I get there, many emotions are listed, followed by related verses.  For example, page 1157 references my absolute favorite verse in the Bible for anxiety - "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God." Phillipians 4:6.

THEN, I have a word to take with me for the day: CROWN.

Ah, what mom doesn't deserve a crown?

So, Zondervan, THANK YOU for sending me this beautiful new Bible!  I am rediscovering my relationship with Christ daily and becoming a better wife and mother because of it.

And, thank you to Pastor Rob of River Valley Church for your current series on the Dead Sea Scrolls and for changing our church culture by asking everyone to bring their Bibles!  Look for my cool HOT PINK Bible in the back at noon service (hey, I've got twins in the nursery - do you REALLY think we'll make it on time to get a front row seat?)!

And thanks to MY mom for knowing how much I'd love it!

 

 

Mother's Intuition

Do you believe in Mother's/Father's Intuition? Give some examples.

Yes! Yes, I do!  

My mother's intuition kicked in early in our pregnancy.  When we found out we were having twins at 6 weeks, we immediately began brainstorming names for the babies.  Steve and I agreed quickly on two girls' names, and I said, "You know we'll have two boys - that's why we can't agree on names!"  Deep in my heart, I knew there were two boys in there early in the first trimester.

At twelve weeks, we heard the babies' heartbeats for the first time.  The actual numbers elude me now, but one heartbeat was slower and the other faster.  It didn't faze me until I told this to some people (you know who you are *cough*momandmotherinlaw*cough*) who convinced me that the fast heartbeat was a boy and the slow one was a girl.  It happened again at our sixteen weeks' appointment: one fast and one slow.  I was swayed a bit and began to think I was having one of each, but I KNEW there was AT LEAST one boy in there.  There was no way it was two girls.

And sure enough, at our twenty weeks' ultrasound appointment, we learned we were having TWO BOYS!  We just HAD to find out - especially since we'd been calling the babies 'Righty' and 'Lefty.' Even though we told everyone we were having boys, we wouldn't tell the names - not because we were being coy, but because we just couldn't decide!


So yes, I believe in mother's intuition.  Matthew and Nathan will be 10 months old this week, so I don't have a lot of stories, but I CAN tell if the cry means hunger, dirty diaper, or a binky tossed from the crib.  I also know if the silence is playing with toys or playing with the kitchen trash.  So I think my mother's intuition is getting better!

 Here's Matthew sucking on his blue bink and stealing Nathan's green on right off his shirt yesterday!

To Daddy

Dear Daddy,

Good Morning!  We surprised Mommy by staying quiet until 7:30 am.  Then we surprised her again when we EACH had diapers full of green, smelly poo.  She didn't feed us peas again today, so our plan worked!

Good Afternoon!  We were very good boys with Mommy and her friend at the Mexican restaurant.  She even let us try the beans - they were okay, but we're glad she had Cheerios we could throw on the floor eat instead.  Then we read our library books this afternoon.  She reads to us, but we prefer turning our OWN pages, thankyouverymuch!

Good Night!  We were making Mommy a little crazy by 5:00 because we only slept one hour this afternoon, so we Skyped with Grandma.  Since we BOTH wanted to see Grandma on the computer at the SAME time - and we'll have you know we made that VERY clear by wailing and whining and pulling at the computer cords under the desk if one was not on her lap - Mommy invented this game where we can both see Grandma.  This is what Grandma saw while Skyping.  Pretty cool!

We love you and can't wait to see you soon!

Love, Nathan and Matthew

"I did it!"

That's Matthew's phrase lately. He loves to make the "D" sound: Da-da-da-da, Heidi, I did it. It's so sweet, especially when he whispers under his breath, "I did it, dada, I did it." MAYBE I'm hearing things, but of course I think my sons are absolutely brilliant in every way! Especially Nathan, who's been saying "Mama." It melts my heart.

Here's a snapshot of something they both DID this morning while I was cleaning up their breakfast trays. They're on the bottom step,

Matthew is on the second step and Nathan follows suit. I tried recording it with the digital camera but am currently failing to upload it. They both got to the second step and Nathan to the third before I carried them back down. I'm getting pretty busy here these days.

Today was storytime at the library. Our librarian, Miss J, knows them by name now! I guess me and the limo stroller filled with these little darlings ARE quite memorable. They LOVE to listen to her tell stories! When I read to them at home, I get mobbed, the book gets ripped out of my hands and eaten. Perhaps 20 or so feet would be a better distance for reading! We always have a good time at the library, but today was extra special because each family went home with a new book:

It's a bit out of our league right now, but we'll put it away and read it later. In the meantime, we checked out some new board books to read at home.

AND I just have brag a little on myself because "I did it!" I put up the room-darkening blind ALL BY MYSELF. My wonderful hubby would have done it, but after the SECOND trip to Ace to get the blind cut - and it STILL wasn't cut right - it became personal.

Kim vs. The Blind.

Matthew, Nathan, The Blind and I made yet another trip to Ace yesterday to get the blind cut for the THIRD time. Fortunately, the Ace Hardware guys were happy to see my fellas again, and even joked that they would get the boys little red vests, putting them to work. My blood pressure started falling upon hearing that, as well as upon watching The Blind be hacked in the saw again.

While daddy took over dinner duties last night, I attacked the window treatments yet again. And this time, I won! It ain't the purtiest window blind ya ever did see (hence, no photo), but it'll do the trick. The boys slept till a blissful 7 am this morning, thanks to The Blind.

And Mama's handiwork.
I did it.

1000! and other stuff

Today I noticed we have had over 1000 visits to our blog!  It's way over that, but about a month ago, I added a counter that counts every *new* computer (URL? visitor?  IDK) that visits our site.  (Meaning you've been counted for every different computer you use.)  I'm a nobody-nothing-goin'-nowhere-blog, so it's kind of a thrill that we've had that many visits!

AND, I haven't had a new follower in months, so click the follow button and add a picture of yourself so I can see your tiny pretty face every day.  You have to have a google account,  (at least I think so - anyone know differently?) but it's ok to make one just to be my follower - they're free!

Follow me or else!

Ha Ha, you're so bossy, brother!  Look, I'm a big toy!  Ha Ha!

In other news, we're in the middle of installing a room-darkening shade in the boys' room.  Daylight savings times to them means they can wake up at 6 am. I. Don't. Think. So.  I say "the middle" because...well, let's just say stuff like that takes...awhile. (SO WHAT if I told the guy at Ace Hardware to cut the 37 1/2" blind down to 36" even though the window is 34"?  I DID take the measurements...they were safe at home on the counter.  You ever try to take two babies to the hardware store?  Huh?  Have you?)

And, as you saw yesterday, Matthew likes to get into cabinets.  So we are also in the middle of installing cabinet latches.  Yeah, it takes awhile.  Maybe I should just get rid of all the toxic junk.  It would be easier.  Like M said, if babies weren't so darn cute it would make us crazy!  

Except I already am.

Happy Thursday!  Oh, and here's how we celebrated St. Patty's Day yesterday:

by feeding  painting ourselves with avacados, of course!

Wordless Wednesday

Los Quatros Amigos

If you know me at all, you know I have a dear friend, E, who gave birth to her twin boys 3 days after my guys were born.  There's nothing like a year in the trenches together, I'll tell ya!  We just snapped a shot of the guys together yesterday, which is getting harder each month - note my arm holding Nathan in place.  He crawled out of the first take! The funny photo got my monkey-brain wondering how many pictures we have of los quatros amigos together, then searching for them, then thinking this would make a great post.  They met in utero:

Here we are 8 months pregnant together, May 09.  Only once were we able to have a girls' day before the boys were born - lunch at the Olive Garden.  Mmmm...salad and breadsticks, where are you now?

The boys are about a month old here, I think.  Clockwise from top: her sons A, G, Nathan, Matthew.  This was our quietest playdate.

July '09: E's son's G and A in the yellow/green car seats, then my Nathan and Matthew.  About 2 months old.

G, A, Nathan, Matthew - about 3 months old Aug. 09.

Nathan, Matthew, A, G - about 5 months old, Oct. 09. 

A, G, Matthew, Nathan - about 7 months old, Dec. 09.

Matthew, Nathan, A, G with the thumbs-up!  about 8 months old, Jan. 10.

A, G, Matthew, Nathan.  Taken 3/15/10 - 9 1/2 months old!

That last one cracks me up!  I don't know how we'll get all 4 of them to sit for a picture next month!

Here's me and E at her "reveal" - she won a makeover last week from MVMOM!  Doesn't she look fabulous? 

Question of the Week: Time Change

What are your tips/tricks for handling daylight savings time?

I don't consider myself qualified to answer this question, but I'm going to tell you what I did, anyhow.  For our first daylight savings time - fall back in '09 - we were on an airplane flying back from Hawaii with two 5 and a half month old babes.  So, nothing.

Our second was this weekend.  I'd totally forgotten about Spring Ahead because we'd had house guests all week. Because I'm such a planner, I would probably have devised a schedule of putting them in bed a few minutes early (or late, whatever the "experts" would tell me to do) for a week leading up to the change.  BUT, they woke up at 7:30 on Sunday morning - 6:30 because we hadn't remembered to change our clocks before that.  So we just got up then.


My freakish planning brain had completely turned to mush after a week-long staycation with the family.  So I just plopped 'em in bed at their regular times and hoped for the best.

So far, so good.  I have great kids! 

Tuesday update: Matthew was awake at 5am.  Nathan shortly thereafter.  It's 12:30 now, they're sleeping, and I'm tired.  Maybe we're struggling a bit with the time change.

Back to Regular Life

Yesterday Steve's family headed back to Michigan after a fun-filled week we called "Staycation," and we're sad to see it end.  Even though the weather was cloudy, foggy, and overall just plain yucky, we managed to fit a lot of fun into a short amount of time.  Now the fellas are looking around the house like, "Where did everyone go?"

We had so much fun playing Wii bowling at the house - here's Aunt L being "fierce" -

that we decided to go "for real!" Nathan and Matthew enjoyed watching all the action and playing with us between turns.  And before you get all, SHE TOOK BABIES TO THE BOWLING ALLEY?! on me, this was a fantastic local family bowling alley that was totally smoke-free.  Again, what took us so long to do this?  It's literally a mile down the road!  And Grandpa's back was bothering him too much to bowl (too many water slides the day before?), so we just took the babysitter with us

Here's Steve being "fierce!"  What's funny about this is that us girls beat the boys three games in a row!  No thanks to me, though.  It turns out that I'm not such a hot bowler, even though I played Wii for WAYYYY longer than I'll admit to on Friday night in preparation for the big day - and yes, I earned my pro status back.  However, it did not help one bit at a "real" bowling alley.  Grandma A, who hadn't picked up a ball since she was 8 and a 1/2 months preggy with my hubby, kicked all our butts!  Go Grandma, go!

Uncle A and Matthew with one more baba...I'm really impressed with both of my brothers-in-law, who did an incredible job playing with and feeding the fellas.  Don't worry, guys, we'll work on diapering skills next time!

Everyone is back home, back to work, and back to school today.  Back to regular life.  When my sister and brothers-in-law hear their college friends talking about Spring Break, I hope they'll know how much it means to me that they chose to spend it with us in the lousy Minnesota weather that's not really winter or spring to be able to spend time with their nephews.  Love you all and can't wait to see you again.

Staycation Report Three

Our staycation is winding down, but there is still one more day of fun to be had. The family photos finally came online, so here are a couple of shots:

I'm glad we started with the boys' 9 month photos because they were very smiley in the beginning.  Our normally-serious Matthew was loving the photo shoot.

You want me to do what?  Smile?  Gimme a break - I do that all day long.

What a cutie pie!

Nathan finally smiled in this one, but we didn't buy it because Matthew's waving cast a shadow on this face.  He was waving at the photographers!

And didn't L do a great job on my hair?  Wowsers, wish I had her here every time I needed it done!

Matthew LOVED the Water Park of America!  He immediately wanted to crawl in the water.

Look at those big-boy swimming trunks!  They're hardly babies anymore *sniff*.

Here we are after cruising the Lazy River, my favorite part.  Both boys LOVED the park - they splashed and played, and enjoyed watching the masses of kids riding the rides. It was our first indoor water park experience - wonder what took us so long?  It was great fun!