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Friday, April 27, 2012

Freedom.

I'm feeling free people.

Well, maybe not free, but definitely free-er.

For most of the last year, I've felt caged.  Getting out of the house was difficult with a toddler and being pregnant with twins.  Once the twins were born, well, that caged-in feeling is pretty understandable in that circumstance.  But the boys are getting older and it's getting progressively easier to get out of the house with them.

Most of our expeditions have been walks, play dates, or to meet Daddy somewhere.  All relatively easy things.  But I was hesitant to stray too far from home or go somewhere without another adult to help out.

Then one (terrible, awful, hectic) day, Brennan begged me to go to the zoo.  For whatever reason, I thought "Why not?  I need to get out of this house!"  So off we went ... and we survived.  And apparently we started a trend for ourselves.

Favorite Posts Friday {4.27.12}.

Woohooooooo!  It's date night people!  My dear friend Laura is watching the boys tonight while Daddy and I head out for some dinner and a brew (or 3) on the water.  I can't wait.  It's been a busy week and this mama needs some relaxation.  I hope everyone enjoys their weekend as much as I plan to!  Now without further adieu, my fave posts of the week...


Baby Rabies - This Much I Know -- I've been struggling with postpartum depression and anxiety for awhile now (something that's on my list of things to write about), but I'm happy to report that I'm feeling so much better.  I still have to work hard every day to combat certain feelings and emotions, but luckily I'm really learning how to cope well.  One thing that helps is keeping control and perspective on scheduling and organization, as Jill highlights in her post.  And she's giving away a momAgenda, so definitely check out the giveaway too!

Friday, April 20, 2012

Hear me roar.



I feel very accomplished today.

It started out as a crappy day.  Crabby kids, too many things to get done, and no motivation to do anything.  I decided that I needed to get out of this house.  But I wanted to do something more than play in the yard or go for a walk.  I wanted the effort to get out to actually be worth it.

Spoiled.


My children are SPOILED.  

We are so lucky to have amazing families.  They love us and support us through everything.  And they also spoil our kids rotten.  

It started early.  Soon after we told our families we were pregnant the first time, we had baby clothes and accessories pouring in.  We didn't find out the gender of the baby for that pregnancy, so we amassed quite the collection of ducky-themed outfits.  When we called our families at 7:00 a.m. to tell them we'd had a boy and that they could come meet him at noon, they came bearing gifts.  By the time Brennan was a week old, he had enough clothes to last him a year. 

Favorite Posts Friday.

T.G.I.F!!!  This has been the longest week ever!  My family left so I was back to flying solo, and the boys are all sick, snotty, and cranky.  Can't wait to have Brian home for the weekend to share in the misery.  I'm such a nice wife.

I skipped last week because I was having way too much fun with my family :)  So here are a few of my favorite posts from the last two weeks!

Heir to Blair - Joe the Caterpillar. -- I love this.  My sister brought Brennan a little bug collecting jar and they searched the backyard for acceptable insects to put inside.  He chose ants and lovingly provided them with some rocks to play on.  Then, he decided that they needed water.  So those little ants went for a swim.  Boys and their bugs!

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Save the drama for your mama.

If you're a facebook friend, you may remember me posting something about Brennan playing in the backyard unsupervised awhile back.  I wanted to write about it then, but life got in the way and I never did.  Then I came across this post on Babble written by admittedly one of my favorite mommy bloggers, Bethanne from the Heir to Blair.  And it all came flooding back.

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Grammy, Grampy, TT went?

My parents and sister Teresa (or TT as Brennan calls her) came to visit last week, and with family visits come massive amounts of pictures.  Mostly because I don't let anyone out of my house before stealing the pictures from their cameras.  It's like a fee for spending time with my children.

Anyways, we had a very busy and insanely fun week.  I was so.flipping.excited for their visit, I could hardly contain myself.  (I should pause to say that the only thing that was missing from the trip was my little sister Michelle.  You know, in case she reads this and gets all "Everyone always has fun without me, why am I left out of everything, my life sucks" on us.  Miss you George.)  They flew in on the Monday after Easter.  I was shoulder deep in a pile of laundry when the boys physical therapist showed up.  After a nice therapy session, I put the boys down for a nap while frantically stalking my phone to see when they would be on their way over.  They waited til I had both babies down so that they wouldn't disrupt nap time because they're incredibly thoughtful.  Well, either that or my Dad needed to get his Chick-Fil-A fix before heading over.  It was probably the chicken. When they walked in the door, Brennan was in the middle of opening a giant box of Easter presents from my aunt and uncle.  But he was thrilled to see them.  Grammy, Grampy, & TT trump presents ... but only for 10 minutes.  Then it was back to the presents.  We spent the afternoon catching up and relaxing.  The boys all got the life squeezed out of them and their cheeks kissed off by Grammy.  

Monday, April 16, 2012

Mondays suck.

Seriously, I hate Mondays.  Brian goes back to work and I'm left to my lonesome taking care of the munchkins. Oh well, at least they're cute munchkins.

Anywho, I have a few things to say -- all very random so excuse the flight of ideas.  I enjoy using bullet points, so here we go:

  • You may have noticed by my lack of blogging last week that we were a bit busy.  My family was here to visit!  It was glorious and I'll write about it soon.

Monday, April 9, 2012

Easter 2012.

This was the most laid back Easter EVER.  The Easter Bunny brought the boys a few things in their baskets and hid some eggs in the backyard for Brennan to find.  The twins enjoyed the sunshine and fresh air while brother hunted for eggs.  Cooper liked helping Brennan find eggs … a little too much.

Saturday, April 7, 2012

7 months!

7 months!  Holy bananas!  The days sneak by so fast.  It seems like just yesterday that we were bringing 2 tiny little boys home from the hospital.  And now?  They're not so tiny anymore!  I don't have official weights for them this month.  I'll try to get some for next month, but I'm guessing they're right around 20 pounds now.  Their personalities are shining through more and more every day.  We can tell the difference in their voices from across the house and are able to predict their reactions to certain situations.  Their temperaments, tastes, and even sleeping positions are completely different!

Beckett



Beckett's smile could light up a room.  We have started calling him "hambone" and "hammy face" because when he smiles he looks like a total ham.  He is such a happy, content baby.  I can put him on the floor with a few toys in front of him and he's perfectly fine for awhile.  This can be a little frustrating when it comes to his progress in physical therapy (or lack thereof), but it's becoming clear that it's simply his laid-back personality shining through.  He is making progress though.  He's sitting independently very well for a few minutes at a time and spins around on his belly quite a bit to follow his crazy brothers around.  We're working on getting him stronger so that he can keep up with them someday. 

 As I said, the boys sleeping positions and taste in foods are even vastly different.   Beckett hasn't cared much for fruits, and instead prefers peas, avocados, and even hummus.  But he's a cooperative, calm eater and will even open his mouth for foods he's not too keen on.  Beckett has begun sleeping better during the day.  It took a lot of trial and error, but we have almost perfected the secrets to get him to do so.  He likes to be snuggled, rocked, and fed to sleep.  Sometimes he likes to use a binky to relax.  He also has to be on top of a fleece blanket with a fleece & satin "lovey" in his arms.  He actually likes to sleep with it over his face, which of course freaks us out.  Beckett sleeps on his back and rarely moves from the spot we put him.  In fact, only in the past few days has he started rolling over in his bed occasionally. 

Like I said in the family update, Beckett loved the beach.  He seems to love water in general as he also liked swimming in the pool and always loves to splash in the bathtub.  He was sporting his famous "hammy smile" during much of his experiences in the water at the beach and pool.  I can't wait to watch him grow up at the beach!

Kiernan


Oh, Kiernan.  After one particularly trying day, I told Brian that Kiernan will be the kid that I have to tell to be quiet 100 times per day, but he'll never be able to because he has one volume - loud.  That boy shrieks and squeals and screams louder than any baby I've ever heard.  Happy squeals, giddy squeaks, angry screams - they're all ear-piercing.  And the whining.  Oh, the whining!  He needs lots of attention and if he doesn't get it or you walk away from him sooner than he'd like, he whines.  But boy, does he make up for all of that with his sweet smile and wide-open-mouth "kisses".

Kiernan is a MOVER.  He's already giving me a run for my money.  In early March he started getting up on all fours and rocking back and forth.  Over the past few weeks he's been getting stronger and moving more.  He does what his physical therapist calls the "inchworm" to get around.  It's adorable.  He just never stops moving.  Every time I go to get him from his bed, he's up on all fours, rocking back and forth, slamming his face into the bumper pad because he's so excited to see me.   He has a little more trouble sitting independently because he's so fidgety, but he's working hard at it.  With all of his mobility, Kiernan is getting into more and more of Brennan's toys.  He seems to take a liking especially to cars, just like his big brother.  The trouble is that Matchbox cars are scattered every few feet in our house  and it's tough to keep him away from these little choking hazards.  Lucky for us, Brennan is starting to catch on that if he keeps his most prized toys out of the family room, the boys can't get them.

Kiernan can't get enough of bananas and pears.  He loves them, but gets so excited that he dive bombs the spoon and forgets to open his mouth, so he just ends up smearing food all over his face.  I'm working on helping him remember to sit back and open up so I can shovel it in faster for him!

Friday, April 6, 2012

Favorite Posts Friday.

Quite the array of topics this week.  Running, crafting, breastfeeding ... all things I want to be able to do and be good at and haven't been able to get there.  But reading blogs like these are so inspirational to keep trying!


Mama Laughlin - MILF Monday: 10 miles -- This lady is so insanely inspiring.  She takes every excuse that I use for not being able to do it and flips in on it's butt.  I just need to work on remembering that when it comes time to work out...

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Daddy's Birthday {clinging to the 20s}.

My smart, handsome, amazing, wonderful husband turns 29 today.  He thinks he's old and fat and gray.  No matter how hard I look I can't see any of the things he sees.  I still find him to be insanely hot and incredibly smart and extremely kind and amazingly impressive.  

June 2005 - Red Rock Canyon, Las Vegas

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Love.


Before I got pregnant with the twins, I used to dream about having another baby and wonder how I could possibly love another tiny person as much as I loved Brennan.  It seemed like he filled my heart to the brim.


Of course, I knew I would love another one just as much as I loved him.  But that didn't stop me from lying in bed at night wondering if I really would or if I'd just say it because that's how I was supposed to feel.

Monday, April 2, 2012

March 2012.

March was a great month.  I would say it was busy, but busy seems to be our normal these days.  We started out the month with a trip to the beach.  A group of friends from work were getting together for a going-away beach BBQ and we decided that it would be the perfect opportunity to take the twins for their first big beach excursion.  It was a ton of fun and we learned that one of the secrets to having a successful beach trip is to have plenty of extra adults around to hold babies.  That and shade.  Shade makes 4 hours at the beach manageable!  The babies got to dip their toes in the ocean for the first time and Brennan was in absolute heaven playing in the waves with his Daddy.  He even got to boogie board a bit.  Mr. Beckett loved the beach and I have no doubt that he'll grow into a beach bum like his big brother.  Kiernan was a little more skeptical, as the sun and the wind were a bit much for his sensitive eyes.  But after he had some time to adjust he loved wiggling his hands through the sand.