My Top 10 Must Have Baby Items for Boy/Girl Twins

It's been so, so long! We will have to catch up another time but I wanted to share with you my list of the Top 10 Must Have Baby Items for Boy/Girl Twins. You can check it out over at Every Best Of:

http://everybestof.com/1798-Top+Ten+Must+Have+Baby+Items+for+BoyGirl+Twins

Samuel and Amelia - 3 months old

That's right, the twins are 3 months old already!

Where did the time go? I swear, each baby I have somehow makes time go even faster than before. I swear I was just finding out I was pregnant, getting the news it was twins, revealing their genders, and counting down to their birth. Didn't I just meet them face to face for the first time and introduce them to their brothers and bring them home?

Mommy's pretty girl

My favorite duo

I am in the ever constant battle with myself that always happens in this stage (well, probably in most stages if I think about it) - that fight to keep myself from looking forward to easier, funner, different times down the road and to just embrace these moments. The smiles, the coos, the cuddles, the baby smell. Such good stuff! And the last time I will ever experience them from my own children.

Love those handsome smiles!

We have a thumb sucker - our first!

All smiles while sister picks on him

The sleeplessness is hard, but for twins I know I have it lucky. Amelia is often sleeping through the night and if not, she usually only gets up once. None of my boys were doing that this early! And Samuel generally gets up only twice. They are down by 7 every night and up around 6:30 in the mornings. There really isn't much to complain about there! Well, minus not having slept through the night myself for months (don't have the exact count since I wasn't sleeping during the night for a lot of my pregnancy either). But it's amazing as mothers how we learn to adapt and function under less than ideal conditions.

Headbands are fun :)

Littlest brothers bonding

The real challenge isn't any different then it was when I had one infant - the simple act of getting stuff done. Keeping up on the housework, getting meals made, getting myself ready. The day to day stuff is enough to overwhelm when there is always someone to hold, change, feed. Especially times two! And when you add in my 3 older boys I truly feel like there is always something to be done and never enough of me to go around. But there is such joy in getting to watch my children form bonds with each other and learn to pitch in to get things done as a family. The love definitely outweighs the work!

Thankful for my Moby Wrap!

My crew

Samuel is currently receiving physical therapy in our home once a week for what they originally thought was torticollis but for what the therapist now thinks is just a preference on his part to keep his head in one direction which has caused his head to be pretty severely misshapen. But he makes amazingly huge progress every week and they are pretty sure it will correct itself over time.

Rockin' his tortle like the cutie he is :)

I am excited to see what the next few months will bring. We are really looking forward to hearing them laugh and are sure the boys will be competing for the honors of getting the biggest laughs from them.

Motherhood is a curse

Yup, you read that right. I said motherhood is a curse. Shocked? Did you expect that sentence to end on a more positive note - like say, with a word like blessing? If you know me, you know that I believe that. That motherhood is a blessing. It is an amazing gift and one I am fortunate to have experienced 5 times over. And having experienced it I can also confidently say that my first statement is also accurate. Motherhood IS a curse. It also causes you to curse..but I digress.

I can give you some pretty solid reasons why I think this to be true but let's just go straight to the source. Genesis 3:16 says, "To the woman he said,"I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children.Your desire will be for your husband,and he will rule over you." God told us that our curse for disobeying Him by eating from the tree of knowledge would be pain during childbirth. And what is a result of childbirth? Children. And motherhood. While all great sources of joy they can also be great sources of pain. And the kicker is that God designed it that way. At first it's enough to make you shake your fist toward the heavens but when you stop and spend some time looking into it more, it makes sense and I am quickly reminded why God is God and I am not.

Let's look at a man's part of this curse - he is cursed with laboring the land. What was once supposed to be a haven, a place for man to rest and be fulfilled became a constant source of turmoil and back breaking work after Adam disobeyed God. They must work to eat, work to live, work to provide for their families. Men are to faithfully and obediently serve God through their work. In that same way, we as mothers are afflicted by bearing children. The misery of pregnancy, the threat of miscarriage, the agony of birth and all of the tribulations of child rearing. It's enough to make you wonder why we bother! We bother because it is one way to faithfully and obediently serve God.

I don't know about the rest of you but I know I have learned so much since having my children. It revealed things to me I couldn't have seen without first becoming a mother. It has given me so much insight on my own parents. My relationship with my kids has also given me a glimpse of who God is and how He feels about us. It made me look harder at myself and taught me so much about what I want in this life and what is truly important. It also points a big fat blinking light-up sign at all my insecurities and weaknesses. I have never felt so incompetent in my life! But through that weakness and insecurity I have been forced to lean not on my own understanding but to instead trust God in everything. To let Him come through for my children where I cannot. It's not easy (hence the pain part of it all!) to realize I am not ultimately in control, and that I don't have all the answers, that they aren't even mine to try to control in the first place.

It is hard work. I would say harder than laboring the land, but these kinds of discussions can start World War 3 (at least in our house) so I will keep from comparing the two. It requires dying to self in so many ways. Truly a curse! But within that curse is the opportunity for so much blessing. When we choose to live out motherhood in a way that glorifies God we not only receive His blessings in our own lives, but we have the opportunity to spill that over into our kids' lives as well. What an awesome responsibility! One that can easily become a chore if I don't remind myself of what it's really all about. Lately I have needed that reminder which is why I think God planted the seed for this post. Maybe someone reading this needed that reminder too. I think that one of the devil's greatest tools is isolation. He makes us feel as if we are the only one struggling in this particular way and this can leave you feeling lonely, ashamed, and unworthy. What a lie! If this is speaking to you, know that you aren't alone and that it isn't all for waste. There is a purpose in what you do and it is not supposed to be easy on our own. I encourage you to form relationships with other moms where you can be encouraged and supported on your journey. I also encourage you to give the burden over to God and let him carry it for you. Jesus reminds us in Matthew 11:29-30, "Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light." Motherhood is a curse but it is also a huge blessing and my prayer is that you can see the blessing in it today.

They're here!



A little over 2 weeks ago we celebrated the birth of our twins. On July 9th I got up bright and early for my scheduled C-section (Samuel was breech the ENTIRE pregnancy, little stinker). I was nervous having only experienced vaginal deliveries before but it all went quickly and smoothly and at 8:13am Samuel Craig came into the world weighing 7lb 5oz, followed immediately by Amelia Joyce at 8:14 weighing 6lb 13oz. You read that right folks - about 14 pounds of baby in all. And that was at 37 weeks, imagine if I had gone longer! Such an answered prayer to have them come into the world healthy. They went to the nursery initially as is protocol for all C-section babies but joined me shortly in recovery and were with us the rest of our stay in the hospital. They were actually ready to be released before I was! Let's get on to the good stuff - pictures of my adorable babies.

My last pregnant picture, I think the day before delivery at 36w6d -

Here are some pictures from that first day:



And a few of my favorites since then:

We are just overflowing with new baby love (times two!) and getting used to being a family of 7. Looking forward to watching them grow but so trying to cherish this sweet time that I am sure will fly by. Lack of sleep and all!

Baby Shower for the Twins

Don't you just LOVE baby showers? I could look at teeny-tiny baby stuff all day long -when you add in a group of friends and double the baby stuff, I am in heaven! This past weekend some of the ladies I work with in ministry came together to celebrate our sweet twins. I wanted to share some of the fun we had with all of you.

First of all, how much do you love these diaper cakes? My sister-in-law made them and I just love that they have the babies first and middle names with meanings as well as scriptures poking out of them. She made these out of size 1 diapers so that we could have them around for awhile to look at. So adorable!

My SIL also made these cute little cupcake toppers - mustaches for the little man and lips for the little lady:



I brought along the onesies with bows and bowties from the gender reveal party and we hung those up with clothespins to make some cute banners:

We played some of the typical shower games but livened things up in the end with this relay race. After putting the ladies in teams of 3, one had to diaper the baby (the old-fashioned way with safety pins and everything) and then swaddle it, the second person had to put a balloon up her shirt and then put the baby in a stroller and race it around the outside of the house. Once inside the third person undid the swaddle and diaper and gave it back to the first person to do all over again. After the second time around, whoever has the baby undressed first wins. Lots of fun!

 What a great time of celebration and fun! It has me that much more excited about meeting Samuel and Amelia in a few short weeks.

Catching up.....it's twins!

I'm back!! It has been months since I last posted and I have been dying to get back to writing so I wanted to start by sharing a big reason for my absence. I am 29 weeks pregnant with boy/girl twins! While I have actually had a relatively uncomplicated pregnancy so far, it has taken a lot out of me and for a long time I wasn't doing anything blog worthy. And though I am now in my third trimester and slowing down more than ever, I wanted to at least make an effort to document part of this pregnancy and hopefully get back to sharing some of the stuff I love. So let's catch up a bit on the last 7 months.

Here's the first ultrasound from the day after Christmas when I found out it was twins. My husband wasn't with me so the sonographer left him a special message on the ultrasound. It was priceless handing this to him and watching his face as it all sunk in:

We had a gender reveal party which was such a fun way to share the news with close friends and family (and we got to trick them a little bit while doing it!):

The invitations

Bow and Bowtie Onesies for the Banner

What will they be???

Want to see the video of the reveal? Click HERE and make sure to watch until the end :)

We also did a fun Mad Gab to reveal the names to everyone. Want to take a guess for yourself? These are their first and middle names, just read the string of words aloud (I'll put the names at the bottom of the post so you can see if you were right):

Baby A: Say I'm Yule Car Ray Egg

Baby B: Aim Eel Haw Joy Sis

Here are the latest ultrasound pictures taken at 27 weeks. They are getting so big!

Amelia with her feet at her head

Samuel looking right at us

And here is what I am looking like at 29 weeks:

Well, that's the last 7 months in a nutshell. We are so excited for these two blessings who will complete our family. Nathan, Jordan, and Isaiah daily talk about and to their new brother and sister and are ecstatic to meet them. As everyone likes to remind me, we are going to have our hands full and while to some that seems like a burden, I am truly grateful and wouldn't have it any other way :)

Answer to the Mad Gabs:
Baby A is named Samuel Craig
Baby B is named Amelia Joyce

Motherhood should come with...

Almost forgot about 5 minute Friday. We started out this morning in a whirl which makes me even more excited to stop and write if even for only 5 minutes.

Today I am joining They Gypsy Mama for five minutes of writing without thinking, without stopping, without editing. What's today's topic? What else...Motherhood!

Ready, set, GO:

Motherhood should come with: A warning label. Maybe even a list of side effects. Yes there is abundant joy and unconditional love but you may want to know that with that comes vomiting, diarrhea, and headaches.

Motherhood should come with: A warranty. Insurance. Something that would guarantee that everything would work out exactly how it should and in the case of some unforeseen disaster, it would all be taken care of.

Motherhood should come with: A reward's card. Every positive parenting moment earns you reward points, extra points would be earned for times when your kids are sick, teething, terrible twoing, teenaging, etc. Points could be redeemed for mom necessities like coffee, pedicures, shopping trips, and week long secluded vacations.

Motherhood should come with: Customer service. Maybe a 1-800 number to call when you just don't have the answers. Some one who is available 24 hours a day to come out and "service" what ever is broken. A drop off service station where your kids come out reprogrammed and in the condition you first brought them home in.

STOP!!

That's all I got time for today. Can you tell what kind of week it has been in my house? I hard week for momma! Had this post came at a different time it might have looked different, might have had a touch of sentiment to it. I guess that speaks to the job of motherhood...it looks completely different from week to week.

Want to join in? Head on over and link up at The Gypsy Mama:

http://thegypsymama.com/2011/05/five-minute-friday-motherhood-should-come-with/

You know you are the mother of an infant when...

As the title states, you know you are the mother of an infant when:

*There are spit up stains on every shirt you own.

*You pick what you are going to wear based on how easy it is to pull your boob out and feed at a moments notice.

*You get excited about poop...any period of time with a constipated baby leads to great excitement when the poop finally comes!

*You find yourself despising noise of any kind as it inevitably comes as soon as the baby falls asleep. What in the world were you thinking moving so close to train tracks??

*You thought pregnancy brain was bad, but baby brain has proved to be worse. That lovely addition of sleeplessness has made you extra forgetful.

*You forget stuff...wait, did I already say that?

*You take the long way home when driving if baby has finally fallen asleep. Anything for peace and quiet:)

*You find yourself rocking even when you are not holding baby because it has become such a habit.

*You will go to great lengths just to see that precious baby smile...crazy faces and silly voices that you once would have been ashamed of are a part of daily life.

*You feel love like you never have before. Your heart has expanded in a way you never thought possible.

Feel free to add your own. I know several of my followers just had babies themselves so I would love to hear your thoughts, I am sure I have missed some (i.e. baby brain!).

 


 

I am doing it!!

Breastfeeding that is. Sure, that may not seem like breaking news. Some of you may be thinking, you have a baby, that is implied. But for me it is not. While breastfeeding seems like a minor thing, a thing that millions of women have been doing since the beginning of time, it has been a big deal for me. You see I wasn't able to breastfeed my first two sons. Not exclusively anyway. With Nathan I couldn't seem to make enough milk to keep him happy. I would feed him for 45 minutes and then 45 minutes he would want more. This became physically and emotionally exhausting. I felt like I couldn't provide for my child and that I would be stuck to the couch for the rest of my life. I even tried pumping to increase my supply but could never get more than an ounce. I finally had to supplement with formula. This proved to be the best option as he got what he needed and it took some of the stress off of me. As a first time mom I felt overwhelmed on so many levels this was a much needed solution to what felt like a huge problem.
When Jordan came along I had pretty negative feelings about breastfeeding due to my experience with Nathan but felt like it was something I was supposed to do so went into it intending to give it my best shot. But within a few days after his birth he was hospitalized for jaundice. My milk supply wasn't coming in and he needed to feed to help with the jaundice. Even in my stressed and exhausted state (a 13 month old and a week old in the hospital felt beyond hard!), I tried to keep nursing him. But a very impatient nurse forced a bottle in my hand and told me I had to feed my baby. I caved. I think back now and realize that while it was again for the better in the long run, it sure would have been nice to have some support. Nonetheless, I once again supplemented. At this point I figured I just couldn't breastfeed. I wasn't able to. I remember having a long conversation with my sister in law before she had her daughter telling her how hard and painful it was to breastfeed and how much I hated it and that she shouldn't feel like she has to do it. I really felt that way.
Then Isaiah came along. I again decided to give breastfeeding a shot (what can I say, when I think you are supposed to do something it is hard for me not to...the rules follower part of my personality is hard to overcome). But in my mind I was already convinced it wouldn't work and was giving myself a quick out if I needed it. I stocked up on bottles and my cupboard was full of formula samples in preparation for having to supplement once again. Then he came and I gave it a go. Within 3 or 4 days my milk came in and he seemed pretty satisfied. His checkups showed that his weight gain was what it should be. He began to look a little jaundice and I worried about that but that cleared on its on. Before I know it, 2 or 3 weeks had passed and I was still exclusively breastfeeding. At this point I began to stress every time he got too fussy, worrying he wasn't getting enough to eat. My hormones were also getting the best of me and I was feeling overwhelmed with the duty of being the only one who could feed him. But Jeremy was a great support and I continued on. Isaiah is now 8 weeks old and I haven't had to give him even one bottle of formula.  I can honestly say not only is it going well, I am enjoying it. I am actually able to bond with him through the act of feeding him. I didn't have this experience with my other too. It was so painful and hard to feed them that I didn't get know the joy of it. I am thankful that I decided to give it another go. I appreciate the gift of being able to feed my child, it is a special thing that mothers get to experience. I think I was given a glimpse of both sides of this so that I could truly appreciate it. It has also helped me to not pass judgements on others. So often people sit firmly in the breastfeeding or formula feeding camps judging those who choose differently. I have no judgement as I know that sometimes it really isn't a choice. And even when it is, it is probably what is best for mother and child in their situation.
I am hoping to at least nurse him for 6 months if I can make it that long. For now, I am just taking it day by day. I am trying to enjoy what I have, not just in the ability to nurse but in all aspects of life. I am soaking in every minute of baby time as I now know how fleeting it is. I can speak from experience that sleeplessness and all the other not so fun stuff goes away so I don't need to dwell on those now. My third child has really been a blessing to me in so many ways. He is helping me to truly enjoy what I have been given. This is a gift I cherish and hope to be able to apply in other areas of my life.