Random Talk

I've been so amazed at how well the kiddos are talking lately. They are like little sponges. I just have to say it once and they know. Very cool.

Holden frequently points out the freckles on my chest...kinda scratches at them like he is trying to get them off. I've been calling them spots, but this morning i said "freckle" and he looks up at me and says "rock-cle"...and then throughout breakfast points at me and says it over and over. So it's his first random word. All other words have been "normal" baby words. I think it's super cute.

If you'd like to keep up with other words they are learning check the tab above titled "We Talk".

Movie Monday

Another Funny. Scroll down and turn off the music so you can get the full effect.

Babysitters in Training

My good friend Marybeth is kind enough to help me out and keep the twins occasionally when i have somewhere i need to be. This past week her kids were off school and able to come help out too. Bethany and Elizabeth are great with the kiddos, too bad they are leaving this summer. They would be great babysitters in a few years!

ALERT : BREAKING NEWS: ALERT

**Nora just hugged me! It's my first official hug from my children. Amazing! ** Ewa Beach, Hawaii: 0900: It all started this morning, when i went in to wake them up. I picked Nora up for our usual morning snuggles and instead of her just laying her head on my chest, she wraps her arm around neck with her little palm pressed against my back. We stayed like this for quite a while so that Momma could savor the Oh So Sweet moment. What a great start to my day! Thank you for allowing this interruption into your regular scheduled program, enjoy the rest of your day!

Confessions of a Former Breastfeeding Mother of Twins

That's right, I said FORMER. I meant to write something on this much earlier, but as you all well know, time flies and all of a sudden New Year's is over and it's middle of March, geez.


But i can't just let this milestone go without a little acknowledgment.


Nursing was an experience prior to being a mother i was positive i didn't want to do. Then once i found out that i was pregnant, my thought process shifted somewhat and i decided that i would at least try it.

Knowing that we were having twins, i read A LOT on the subject. Nursing one child is daunting enough for a new mother, much less figuring out how to manage feeding two. As informed as i was, i went into this with no expectations-- i really just thought i would end up doing a mixture of both nursing and formula. But then, when my precious babies were born and it came time to start feeding them... and it just fit. I loved it. When the doctors tried to push me to supplement those first few days i was adamantly opposed. After having a c-section, it is common for your milk to take a little longer than normal to come in. Still I just knew that I would be able to make this work--I really believed that God's plan is the best plan out there and he planned it so that a mother can nourish her baby and that was exactly what i wanted to do. I wanted to be the vessel through which my little ones could grow and thrive.

I'm aware that so many mother's out there struggle with breastfeeding, but for us it was great. I'm sure our first days of success are primarily due to the fact that i had a great lactation consultant on call at the NICU. So for the first week there was almost always someone around to help guide me through the process. By the time we came home i was completely confident in what to do.

I will say that breastfeeding twins took A LOT of my time. Tandem nursing was never something i could get used to, so those first few months i literally spent 10-12 hours nursing a child. Talk about a full-time job! Time was the biggest obstacle for me in breastfeeding. I could barely get housework, sleep or errands done before the feeding process would start again. Around 4 months, i really started getting fatigued and restless...just wishing i could get some of my time back. But it was also around 4 months old that the babies started eating quicker, eating more at one time, and eating less times a day. Again...God's plan is perfect. He knows what we can handle. And from my own experience and talking with other nursing mommies, about 4 months of nursing around the clock every 2-3 hours is about our limit...just in time for babies to grow a little and change their eating habits to better suit both mommy and baby.

Of course the older the babies got, the easier nursing became. I began to really cherish that time with my babies. The baby stage flies by so fast--having that time to just hold them and look at them--it's priceless.

Weaning was a natural and easy transistion for us. I really had no plans or expectations for this as well. Especially since my babies were a little small for their age, i figured i would continue nursing until they met better met their weight goals. Around 10 months they just started dropping feedings on their own and by 12 months we were just down to one feeding in the morning.

On New Years Day I tried to nurse Nora and she wanted nothing to do with it. It's funny because the day before she wasn't too interested either and i thought to myself how soon this stage of my life would all be over. As I was feeding Holden that morning, I really tried to cherish that time--stay in the moment instead of letting mind wander about something else. I'm so glad I did. That feeding ended up being the last time I would nurse my sweet babies. They never asked for it again.

It's really such a milestone. When you get pregnant that baby is living and growing in your body. Everything that a pregnant mommy does has a direct relationship to the life and development of that child. Then after 9 months or so, we give birth and that child is separated physically from the mother. Breastfeeding still allows for some of that same bond that the mommy shared with its baby in the womb. So when a baby weans from its mommy, they are literally separating themselves from us--becoming physically independent of us.

Really, it was a little sad for me, letting them go-- but happy too because of how well they are growing and thriving--just the first of many times i know i will feel this way. ie: first day of school, drivers licenses, graduation, marriage...whew. Just one milestone at a time and one day at a time, right?

Tabs

So I finally finished all of the tabs along the blog header. You may or not have even been paying attention to them, but check them out! (for all my devoted readers that are not so blog savy, by "tabs" i mean the buttons right under the large photo/title saying: home, our family, our story, etc.... )

Movie Monday

This is how we "be nice to brother"

Outtakes

While taking pics for their 15 month post, i ended up with some really cute pics and some hillarious ones--all that are too good not to share. So enjoy.

Kissing Bessy

and hugging and giving raspberries the fakest cry you ever did see poor poor pitiful Holden

the escape

not happy with his momma

but momma knows how to make it all betterthe escape 2

how do i get out of here?

um...help, there's a monkey on my back

and a fish on my head

Where's Nora?

Holden's new Paci fascination

my boy

my girl

The End.

Nurse Nora

15 months and preparing for her future already...

A Couple Months of Pictures

I just uploaded the last few months of pics up and videos have been added to youtube. check them out! here and here

The Park

i found these pics today...i forgot we even did this, what a nice suprise! One day after a few days of rain, there was a nice afternoon and we met the Larson's at the park. 4 adults and 5 little toddlers....you can be sure we were ALL getting a workout!

and then there were 3

Yep. It's officially just me and my little ones. I really am blessed beyond measure to have so many wonderful friends who have been able to come stay with me over the deployment--Hillary, Carrie, Jenn (for 4 months!), and then Megan. You guys have been great. I am also blessed to have been able to go home for the holidays for as long as i could. It was great to spend that time with my family and give them the chance to hang out with the twins.

But now, it's just us 3--at least until May when we hopefully will be getting another visitor. We'll be fine, i know. The kiddos are at a great age--everyday is fun with them. It's just hard to not have adult interaction everyday, to have the full weight of responsibilty on my shoulders day in and day out, and the logistics of course of just getting in and out of the house, grocery shopping, running errands, etc. Let's face it. It's always easier with help. Still like i said, i was so lucky to have had help for this long. What's a few months, yes?

Anyway...i'd like to say another thanks to Megan for coming and hanging out with us. You were a great help and a lot of fun and we will all 5 miss you (yep, the cats too!) Love you Auntie Meg!

15 Months

What's been going on lately??

Well, our Princess Norabird is still a skinny minnie weighing in at 19.1 lbs and measuring at 30 in tall.
-She's such a funny little girl. She has mastered walking, and the walk is getting faster and faster--i'm expecting a run anytime now.
-She loves to carry things around the house. Magnets, purses, dish rags, empty boxes, diapers...you name it. Give her something and she will walk around the room and bring something else back to you. It's her favorite game.
-She is starting to follow simple directions. I can ask her to bring me something and most of the time, she will do it--although she will get distracted sometimes and i have to remind her of the task.
-Nora loves to snuggle, especially first thing in the morning or when she is getting tired.
-She has 10 teeth and 2 more almost out.

-She knows that "pretties" are in the bows in her hair and whenever you say the word she reaches up to touch her head. She also tries to brush her hair whenever she can get a hold of her brush or comb.
-She knows shoes go on your feet and brings people their shoes all the time. If she finds her own shoes she brings them to me to put on her feet.
-Nora is learning some simple signs--right now we are working on "more" and "drink".
-Nora is adding a lot of words to her vocabulary. We have: car, duck, cat, ball, dog, quack, pa (paci), shoe, fish, brother, momma, dada.
-Nora is also very cautious in most things she does and is scared easily.
-She is super emotional with very high highs and very low lows.
-She's silly and has little giggle spells that crack me up and when she is very tired she gets 'slap happy'.
-She LOVES to Skype. If she sees me turn on the computer she runs over and begs for me to pick her up so she can talk to the computer. Such a social butterfly already!



My Handsome Holden had a HUGE growth spurt over Christmas. He is now 24 lbs and 33 in tall.

-Sometimes he can be so mellow and chill, other times he is stoic and pensive and then for a complete 180 he can be a COMPLETE drama king. He has mastered the fake cry and it's as funny as it is irritating. -He's a bit of a perfectionist, and will do the same thing a hundred times until he's mastered it....like shutting a door, spinning a wheel, or saying a word.
-He has 9 teeth and working on one more molar and when you stick your finger in his mouth beware HE WILL BITE!-He LOVES men, especially Daddy. If there is a man in the room, that is where he wants to be.
-Holden is an explorer. He's fearless and doesn't mind being alone. He's the kid I have to constantly watch. He's always into something he's not supposed to be in or trying to escape.
-Holden can function on little sleep which is great when we have a busy day, but if i lay him down he can sleep for hours, which i also really love about him.
-Every morning i go into the room he has thrown everything in his reach all over the place. I try to remember to move everything out of the way but sometimes I forget and in the morning there are diapers thrown about the room, toys all over the floor, pictures off the wall and a camera monitor hanging out of his mouth...all the while he has a HUGE grin on his face like "look what i did for you momma!"
-Holden has decided he likes pacifiers again. He's not dependant or anything, but if he's sees Nora with one he gets upset if he doesn't have one too. It's like he thinks he's doing something special when he has one.
-He is walking pretty steadily now, still puts both hands in the air while doing it though, which i just love. He crawls if he wants to go somewhere fast and is also learning the art of climbing.
-He has a few words...momma, dada, ball and car are regulars, but once in a while he will say something pretty clearly, like "big boy", more, and dog. Like everything else, it seems he only does something when he is confident he CAN do it...crawling, walking, talking....he takes his time, but gets it right very quickly once he tries it.


I am truly enjoying this stage in their life. It's like you can literally sit back and watch them grow and learn. They are sweet and innocent, just babies still, but at the same time they are so grown up and independent from how they were just a year ago. I just love them so much and am so thankful for these two precious children the Lord has blessed me with.

Movie Monday

We have a special movie for you today, made by Auntie Meg. Please scroll down and pause the music, it will be worth it! Enjoy!

Life with Daddy

Here's some other random times while daddy was home.

Holden was so excited to see Mike every morning. Look how he is holding onto Mike's arm. It was so sweet. One Saturday Momma and Daddy were doing stuff around the house, and the kiddos were helping us out. It was nice to have a "normal family day". It's rare to have those around here.

putting up our new gates

folding laundry..it always takes 3times as long with little ones crawling around!

shopping for new shades

TacoBell....mmm good!