Bad Blogger

I have been so bad about blogging this week but things are just crazy!  So here are the happenings:

1. Jake and Alice pull-up to everything.
2. Jake stood on his own for 3 seconds today:-)
3. Grace and Drew are both doing swimteam and are doing great.
4. Grace offically finished her 1st full year of HS
5. Drew is reading at a 1st grade level (just turned 5)
6. Sam is 2.5 and has a mind of his own
7. Sam has taken a few swim lessons and loves it.
8. He has also learned to pee standing up.....Lord help us
9. Jake and Alice went to daycare for one day and cried all day....crazy because they are such sweet, easy, and happy babies.  They are offically banned...lol
10. Grace and Drew finised AWANA and their grand prix cars did great.
11. We started construction on our basement to finish it and I am so happy!!!!
12. We went on an offical HomeSchool group trip to the zoo.

We are so blessed these days and I can't believe in a few days we will be celebrating the babies 1st birthday's.  It just doesn't seem possible.  It is a goal of mine to post their birth story because J&A's was the craziest of them all!!!!

Here are a few pictures of my monkeys:  As you can see I am loving my new camera!

Dear J & A

I wanted to stop and send you a little note about what you are doing today 11.5 months!  You two are something else, you bring new meaning to the word baby proofing!  Jake, you are pulling up to everything, and your brothers and sister think this means you are ready to walk.  Maybe even go outside and play.  You love to swing, pull books out of the book shelf, steal your sisters bottle or toy.  Alice, you are just figuring out that you might be able to pull yourself up if you really try hard.  You are full of smiles and still our little sweetpea.  I really think you might be petite, not sure how that is possible!!  I trimmed your crazy hair, well because it was crazy.  Plus you won't leave your bows in and you cry when your brother (J) pulls them out.  You eat so well and stuff so much in your mouth it looks like you are storing nuts for the winter.  I love how you steal food off of J's tray if I set you too close.  You both army crawl and lose your pants........my favorite!

Your big sister adores you and thinks of you as her little babies.  A, she loves to dress you especially when you can match her.  G is your second mommy for sure!  Your big brother D thinks you guys are so funny and can't wait for you to be able to really play.  S likes to hug you too hard and occasionaly wrestle you.  You both are good sports and take it in stride.

My favorite part of the day is first thing in the morning when I go upstairs to get you too!  J, you are always just barely peeking over the crib bars with the biggest grin.  You are yelling loudly at your sister.  A, you are sitting with your legs swinging between the bars hollaring back at J.  It really is the cutest thing.  I would love to know what you are saying to eachother.  I look forward to the day when I can sneak-up on your little talks....so precious.  You guys are two of  the sweetest babies I have ever met.  You fill my heart-up with such love, I just wish you guys would slow down a bit!!!!!

Love, Mommy

Feel the burn

Well, I just started my 1st 60 days in my new program "Insanity", and let me just tell you it is "insane". I have only done two workouts and I can barely walk (in good way). You know like when you were in high school and you just started your basketball season and did so many suicides you could barely walk......good. I really like it because it is intense to say the least and it says you can burn up to 1000 calories, now that is a lot of burgers and pizza I can eat! Not to mention yesterday I had to change my Weight Watchers from breastfeeding to not breastfeeding (wipe a tear Jake is done) seriously they took away 9 points!!!! I almost cried and was through all my points by dinnertime..oops! I also love it because most workouts are 40 minutes long and this works great for my crazy schedule. Plus I can't handle more than 40 minutes of this stuff.

I am back to getting up early (4:45 early)ugh. Not my favorite but DH hits the treadmill at the same time and when we are done working out he showers and I make him breakfast and send him on his way. I know I am very 1950's but I am great with that. So it is only 6am and I have time to sit down with my coffee and write, just a little me time. The babies are stirring but just with sweet conversation to eachother. I love this time, I need this time. I feel ready to start the day when the monkeys get-up and already have a great sense of accomplishment. I do think tomorrow I will have to parent from the couch because I won't be able to move!!!!!

Potty training was so easy!!!!

I know most of you reading this post might get the feeling I am bragging.....maybe a little. You would be too if it only took you like a day potty train your 2 year old. Really I am just doing a happy dance about the fact I only have two in diapers....now you all are getting the last laugh! Sam was so easy, I am not really sure why but here are a couple of my thoughts. He was ready age wise. I believe 2.5 is the perfect age, I am not saying kids can't be trained before that, I just feel this is when "most" kids can hold it long enough to get "themselves" to the bathroom. I know we all have people in our families that insist they had their children potty trained at 9mo, 12, 15mo. Sure, ya did. A 9 mo old walked themsleves into the bathroom took their pants off, went to the bathroon, wiped, flushed, and put their own pants back on. Yeah right more like the mom was trained to take the child to the bathroom. (DH's Dad was potty trained at 9mo:-)))))
Another reason is he talked well, you gotta be able to say "I gotta go potty, mommy." I also think it helped that he had older siblings. My number 1 reason for his success of potty training is bribery. Not above it and won't ever be. The promise of spiderman big boy pants or M&M's goes a long way. So it has been about a month that he is using the potty with minmal accidents, and several times of pulling off the road so he can go to the bathroon. Him being potty trained is great and I have no more big boy dirty diapers (thank goodness). But on the other hand it was easier when he was in diapers and we are shopping at Walmart with 5 kids and a cart full of groceries!!! I am proud my little guy is growing up!

Potty funnies
He take his pants, underwear, shoes, & socks completly off to go to the bathroom.
He saw his brother stand up to "go" and insisted he was ready........he was NOT ready!
The first time I pulled over so he could go potty he made me tell him something to "aim" for.
He also had the stomach bug shortly after he was trained and now every time he goes #2 he says "I think it is diarreha Mommy". I don't know why but it is funny to hear a 2 year old to say such a grown-up word....TMI I know!
Just this week he learned to "water the trees" in our yard. One night about 5pm the kids were all inside playing and Sam walked out the back door and said "I gotta go potty mommy!" LOL

Dear Outstanding Wrestler Div 1

Drew we were so proud of you this wrestling season! By watching you wrestle no one would ever guess this was your very first season. You went out to the mat for each match with such focus and desire to pin the other kid standing in front of you. You shed a few tears and showed some fear but you always came back and did an amazing job. You made you mommy and daddy fall in love with this sport and you have totally put it in a new light for us. We hope you continue to wrestle because we think you have a special gift and believe it is teaching you so much about yourself. During this season you were 10-3 and all but 3 of your wins were pins, 2 were techfalls, 1 you beat on points. One of your loses you got beat by a kid that weighed more than 5lbs more, 1 match you lost by 1 point, and the other you got beat by a kid that took 2nd in the Rocky Mountain National. You got four 1st place finishes and two 2nd. We are amazed at the improvements you made through the year. Your coach thought so too because last night you were named "Outstanding Wrestler Div 1"!!! We love you so much Drew, we are so proud of you!!!!

L, Mommy & Daddy

We have a schedule...yippy !!!

I am so happy to report that after 11 months of living with twins we finally have a schedule!!!! I really never thought I would see the day. I mean as a mother of 3, you pretty much think you have your act together in "mommyhood". Then God throws you a curveball with TWINS. I think God has an awesome sense of humor. It has been a roller coaster ride to say the least. I think back to when I use to complain when I had one child that woke-up every 2 hours through out the night. Yea I pretty much should have kept my big mouth shut! When the twins were younger, I would ALWAYS have 2 up and sometimes 3 and really bad night 4&5 (BTW night terrors and growing pains are a real thing). The nights didn't stay like that forever, although last night everyone but sweet baby Alice made their way to our room or screamed bloody murder for me to come rescue them from the dark. For the last 6 years what has amazed me most about our households sleep patterns is the one constant, the person who can always managed to sleep soundly…… DH (gritting my teeth a bit). It is like the moment he became a father automatic ear plugs formed in his ears. The best is when (huge sarcasm) the screaming gets so loud into the monitor with multiple children crying, it actually wakes him. He walks into the nursery relieved to see me, so he can go back to bed and mumbles “you got this?” Ahh….. do I have a choice? Because if so……”you got this?”

I am pretty lucky though because since about 9 months both babies have been sleeping through the night or at least until 4am. Naps were such a different story. In my house naps don't count if they are an hour or less. If someone (not to name, name (JAKE)) would get up before sleeping at least an hour, I would explain to him that he got no credit for lying down. "Sorry pal better luck next time." These conversations went on for about 10 months. Then a break through one morning both J&A slept for 2.5 hours at the same time!!!! I mean I must have checked on them both about 4-5 times. They got-up and they were so happy and fun to be around. They ate lunch, crawled a round a bit, pulled books off the shelf and then it was like magic, they were tired again. Back down they went, for another 2 hours at exactly the same time. This trend has continued for about 2-3 weeks and I am so happy. In the mornings I can get school work done, laundry, treadmill it, and even have time to check facebook. The afternoons I can sit on the back deck and drink a latte, content and knowing that no one is upstairs screaming their head(s) off. It is such a nice feeling to know that I am going to survive the first year with 5, six and under and that I am not going to sleep deprived mommy heaven.

Bad mommy...................

"You are the meanest mommy I ever met" these are words my two year old has been saying to me lately whenever he is in trouble. In his defense he in trouble a lot and I am probably the meanest/only mommy he has ever met. These words aren't hurtful and yes, they make me chuckle because when he says it he has a scowl on his face that is a cross between a wink, a blink and a mad face, which are all funny. I usually tell him "he is the nicest Sam I ever met" and he just looks at me not sure what to say. He really is the cutest thing ever! Some days I do feel like the "meanest mommy ever". I mean I seriously think I can go a whole day without saying "yes". My kids ask if they can do something and I feel like my immediate reaction is to say "no". I am working on it really I am, I would like to be the "bestest mommy I ever met." He did say this too me once but he was just buttering me up to ask for candy! I think I say "no" a lot because I am trying not to spoil them, teach them can't have everything they want, and the biggest is I want them to grow-up to be very humble grateful people. Motherhood is so tough because the moment you hold your newborn baby you can't imagine not giving them everything in the world. I feel by saying "no" (sometimes, not all day long) I am giving them everything in the world by teaching them: love, honesty, respect, forgiveness, integrity, discipline, and love again. I know there are days were I am walking a fine line of ruling with an iron fist to being a total push over. No one ever said Motherhood was easy or that we would have all the right answers. I hope by the time my kids read this they decide I fell somewhere in-between "the meanest and the bestest mommy they ever met." I will settle for "you were a very loving and understanding mom who taught me to be a good person."

A Happier Easter

J & A were 11 months on Easter Sunday and the day was so different from last year. Last Easter I watched from the couch (I should have been in bed) as the Easter Bunny hid the eggs, monitoring my contractions (which at this point I was having about 12-15 an hour, yes that is pretty much in labor), I had a needle in my leg giving me so much medicine I would just shake, plus I was also taking oral meds, and I was so big I really couldn't move without help. I mean I have always been big with all my other pregnancies measuring a couple weeks a head of schedule, but that was nothing to the 52cm (weeks) I would eventually measure. I watched the excitement of the Easter egg hunt from the couch (I should have been in bed). The Easter baskets were hidden so hard all the kids had trouble finding them:-) My DH made a wonderful breakfast that I didn't even feel well enough to eat. They all rushed out the door to head to church, while I lay in bed monitoring and re-monitoring about 3 times because I kept failing.....with too many contractions. I had to administer 2 extra doses of medicine just so I wouldn't have to go back to the hospital. I remember feeling sad that they were all gone and I was stuck being at home in bed again. On the other hand I felt so blessed to have made it past 32 weeks; I was determined to go full term. I was so happy when 3 little monkeys rushed into my room, hopped onto my bed, to show me their art from church. DH helped me downstairs (again I should have been in bed but this day was special) so I could eat an Easter meal he had prepared for us. I don't know where he found the time he was such a saint during this time and I would have never made it without him. I am sure he was as depressed as I was with the situation but he never ever complained. It was a very tough time in our lives but we made it through, he worked so incredibly hard at his job, playing mom, running the kids around, laundry, cleaning, cooking, and everything else. All while I lay in bed helpless and growing babies. For those of you who know me, I hate not being able to do things for myself and it took all I had to stay off my feet. I think during this time we realized that our family and GOD is all that matters and with his help we can handle anything.

This year was so different. It really made me thankful for last Easter and for all the months I laid in bed growing two beautiful healthy babies. This Easter they were crawling everywhere, grabbing eggs, and trying to put candy in their mouths. They were dressed so cute for church and we got to go as a family, all 7 of us. Plus DH prepared the same wonderful Easter dinner and I could actually eat it!!! We are so blessed......in too many ways to count.

Bloggers Guilt!

I haven't been able to blog all week and I am not really sure why? I mean I am busy but how is that different from last week? We have had a nice week with a lot of fun things.....zoo, reading together, play dates, wrestling, and bought a new Suburban! I guess I will forgive myself and pledge to do better next week. I am letting go of the bloggers guilt, Lord knows the laundry, housework, and mother's guilt is enough to make us not want to get out of bed in the morning!!!!

Until next time........happy day!