A Special Birthday Message

Happy Birthday, Mamma! We hope you have a great birthday on Sunday!

"Hey, I know you!"

"I love ice cream!"

Dear Sleep, I Miss You

The girls all had colds last week, which has resulted in a few steps backwards in the twins' sleeping progress. They were waking up once at night, but now are waking up twice. They are four and a half months old...they should be sleeping through the night, or at the very least waking up only once!!! And, to make matters worse, I was reading a blog of a mom with quads and she said all of her kids were sleeping for 12 hours straight at four months old. Whatever.

At least they are cute while asleep. (Sydney)

And while awake.
(Jane)

The Biggest Surprise

I am a planner. I like to know what's going on, who's going to be there, and when it is going to start. So when I found out I was pregnant on May 7, 2007, I was thrown for a serious loop. Casey and I had planned on having another baby but not so soon. Clare was only 13 months old! We thought we would wait until she was closer to two before we really started thinking about baby number two.

Back to May 7.... Immediately after discovering I was pregnant, my thoughts went to Clare. I was worried about how she would react. And honestly, I wasn't ready to divide my time between her and another baby. Of course I was excited, but foolishly, I wasn't sure how I could love another baby as much as I loved her.

Casey and I decided that we wouldn't share our news for a little while. I was only four or five weeks pregnant, and we wanted to get used to the idea ourselves before we spread the word. I had a doctor's appointment a few weeks later, and we wanted to wait until we knew everything was OK.

During the next couple of weeks, life continued. I was totally exhausted, but thought that was just the result of being pregnant with a very active toddler nipping at my heels. I was sicker than I was with Clare, but chalked that up to the normal first trimester yuck. My sister-in-law came into town and while she was here, she announced to our family that she and my brother were expecting their first child...my first nephew! Her due date was one week after mine. I was so excited for them, and I became very anxious to share my news.

I had my first doctor's appointment on May 31, 2007, when I was seven weeks pregnant. At first, Casey didn't think he would be able to go with me, but thankfully at the last minute, he was able to meet me. I thought this doctor's appointment would simply consist of a sonogram and a "yes, you are pregnant," from the doctor. I didn't know that the biggest surprise of my life was about to be revealed.

The appointment began with an exam from my doctor and then moved on to a sonogram. I was laying on the ultrasound table and Casey was sitting next to me. The technician squirted that nasty jelly stuff on my belly and began looking around. She was quiet for a while, but I didn't think anything of it. After a couple of minutes or so, she looked up and said, "OK" and then she paused. The pause was long enough for me to start worrying. I thought something was wrong. Finally, she continued with "I see twins."


To be continued......

My Day in Numbers, 2nd Edition

2...number of smiles in this picture (Syd-left, Jane-right)

3...number of runny noses in our house

50...estimated number of tissues used today

30...number of fingernails clipped today

8:00...time of Casey's softball game, which meant he missed helping with bedtime, but also that I got to watch The Bachelor without competing with the basketball game!

12 lbs. 9 oz....what Jane weighed at her 4 month appointment

12 lbs. 1 oz....Sydney's weight

0...number of highchairs at our table for our anniversary dinner...it was great!


5:30...time that Clare put on real clothes today (one of those days), only so she could go to the park with her Daddy

4...weeks until I get to meet my nephew!

Through the Years

On Saturday, Casey and I will celebrate our 5th anniversary. We met in 1994 during our sophomore year of high school in Mrs. Thomas' chemistry class. We started dating when we were 15!

Here we are at our first dance together. Homecoming in 1994. Don't you love the way I am standing?

Homecoming our junior year....we had been dating about a year.

Casey and I broke up during our senior year of high school. We got back together our senior year of college. This picture was taken sometime during "round 2" of dating. I am not exactly sure where we were or what we were doing, but I like the picture.

We got engaged on October 12, 2002 on the 50 yard line of Eagle-Mustang Stadium. We had a short engagement, just shy of six months, but I enjoyed every minute of it. I had such a great time planning our wedding, and I was so excited about starting our life together.

Here is one of our official engagement pictures.

April 5, 2003....one of the best days of my life. It is so fun to be at a celebration full of people who love you. Recently, I found a card that I had given Casey on our wedding day. In it, I had written, "If I could pick one word that best describes how I feel today, it would be 'lucky.'"

Now, five years and three healthy kids later, I can honestly say I feel the same way. Multiplied by a million.

Here's the Latest

Here's what's new with our crew:


Clare:

• We took her for her two year check-up on Monday. She weighs 32 lbs and is 37 inches tall. Those stats place her in the 95th and 99th percentiles. Where did she get that height???
• She continues to talk up a storm. Last night I counted a six word sentence!
• She is loving her new sand table that she got for her birthday. She also still loves her play-doh and doing anything outside.
• She is doing great without her pacifier, although she still gets it to sleep.
• She is timid around people that she isn't familiar with and it usually takes her a while to warm up to new people. However, once you're "in," you're "in" for life!
• She knows her colors, all of her family members, most of the numbers from 1-10, and a few letters.

The twins will be four months old on Friday. I'll post their stats after their appointment.

Jane in purple, Sydney in yellow

Jane:

• She continues to be my easiest baby yet. She is most often content and easy-going.
  
• She takes her pacifier and is napping well.
• Jane has started to laugh a little and has a very sweet smile.
• Her eyes are the darkest of all three of my girls. I think Casey's brown eyes may have gotten through to Miss Jane.

Sydney:

• Sydney rolled from her tummy to her back yesterday!
• My latest concern with her is that she won't take a bottle. She nurses great, but won't have anything to do with a bottle. Any suggestions????
• She is snuggly and pretty content---when she is being held!
• She is a cat-napper. She sleeps for about 45 minutes at a time. I am working on this one!

Both girls are typically waking up once during the night, usually around 3 or 4. They are cooing all of the time and are more expressive everyday. Now that flu season is over, we are going to start venturing out more often. I am sure these outings will warrant many blog postings!

Here are a few pics of Clare "playing " with the twins.