Weekend Visit

We went to visit Gary's Grandparents this last weekend. I got some good pictures of the girls. Grandma was cooking so I didn't get one of her with one of the girls. But I will next time :-)

Great-Grandma with Abby

Abby hanging out with Uncle John watching football
(She watched football whenever she could that day :-)

Great-Grandpa hanging out with Olivia

Abby with Papaw

Cousin Camden loved holding the girls!

When the girls would cry, he would look at them and say "Shhh, baby." Isn't he cute!!

Happy Anniversary

Look below for a post about how we celebrated our anniversary. And look here for a post on how I feel about Gary. I am all about the actual wedding in this post.

It has been two glorious years since our wedding. I had so much fun planning this one. We got married at this really great spot in Downtown Fort Worth. It was perfect for our little get together. (I spent the night before at the hotel next door. You can see it below - it is the little white building. We also got ready there)

It was on the top floor of a restaurant on the Sunset Patio.

The Sunset Patio overlooked the next floor down which was also a patio and there is where we had our reception. It was all open except where we actually got married.

It rained that morning and everyone scrambled to get under shelter and also to protect the cake, pictures, candy and all that from getting wet. I will never forget looking out the window as I was getting ready and saying, "It's raining!"

They say it is good luck to have rain on your wedding day so I held on to that.

Everything was DIY (do it yourself). I did everything from the invitations, to the flowers, to the candy buffet, to the advice cards we had. My mom did the wedding cake and his mom did the grooms cake.

One of my favorite things was that we had pictures of our grandparent's and our parent's weddings displayed.

We wanted to include Z in everything so he walked me down the isle.

He also said, "I do" when asked Who gives this woman to be married?". Gary said vows to him and gave him a pocket watch to remember the day. We also had a sand ceremony where we each (me, Gary and Z) had our own color of sand to pour into a vase to signify our lives coming together.

We laughed through the whole thing practically

Since our wedding was just 2 hours long we had our photographers for a little longer. We walked all around the downtown area with them snapping pictures of us along the way. We had great fun!

He proposed to me on that balcony right there that he is blocking with his head.
This is at Bass Hall

We were actually running in this picture. It was a cool thing the photographer did.

At this corner there is wind tunnel that causes the wind to always blow. When we were dating we always went downtown to a theater or restaurant. We would stop at this corner and kiss as we waited for the light to turn. I would hear music as my hair would blow all around us. ::sigh:: Sappy, yes. We wanted to be sure and get pictures of it.

I call this one our Hollywood shot



Our little family

OK, so that turned into a longer post than I realized! Go here to see more great pictures from that day. Some of them are here on the post but there are some that aren't.

Sara

Our 2nd Anniversary

We actually went out!! We went to downtown Fort Worth to Texas De Brazil. It is a restaurant where the servers come around with hunks of meat and cut you off whatever you want. Yum! Plus, we had 2 hours to ourselves without children. We got all dressed up and everything. We were going to walk around downtown after we finished but our girls were crying so we went home. When we arrived it was obvious that Abby had been crying for some time. Her little eyes were red and puffy. She had a tummy ache and she missed us :-( Olivia had been crying too but she was ok when we got home.

Grana and Grandad are ready to babysit
Don't they look happy??


Abby likes to play patty cake with Grandad

A picture with all my wonderful kiddos

Sara

Friday Update

Wow! Is it Friday already?? The girls are 3 months old!! Holy Cow, where has the time gone?? Ok I'll quit with the multiple punctuation marks now.

Z got his new badge and pin with his first red jewel on it from Awanas. Yea!!! Way to go Z!! He got upset at his meeting this week for a little bit but since our friend Sarah was there he brightened right up. He has not cried before school since Monday so that is a huge relief that this phase is finally on the way out.

This week has been super tiring and I don't have many new pictures of the girls but I will give you a few from previous weeks.

Plus I found out how to let you guys see my collages of "baby bits" I did a few weeks ago.
Go here and here to see my collages of Olivia.
Go here and here to see my collages of Abigail.

I have no idea what was making their little eyes be huge like that.

Bath Time is fun! We got this attachment that is a sprayer to put on the faucet.
They love it!

Oh, my sweet Abby! She just talks and talks to us! We see her smile a little more every day. She did do a tiny bit better last night with the cereal in her bottle. She is still gassy as all get out. When she wakes up she grunts, farts and wiggles around. She got to lick one of my fingers after I was holding a biscuit and smacked her lips and just worked her tongue around and around waiting for some more buttery goodness. She is a drool bucket and still loves her fingers. You can hear her smacking down on them from the next room.

And Miss Olivia. She is well...getting to be a whiner. She whines whenever she doesn't see me. And then when I come back into view, she just talks and talks to me about how I was gone. She just looks at me when these eyes that say I have hung the moon. She is very much living up to her diva image she got way back when she was born and maybe adding a little bit of a drama queen to it too. She does this little noise like, "ahhh" all the time when you pick her up after she has been griping for awhile. Oh my!

I will try to take 3 month pictures tomorrow and post them in the next few days. Gary and I are going out tonight for our anniversary!! Yay!! I missed that anniversary post too which I will be making up in the next few days as well. As I said, it was a busy and tiring week. I am beginning to think this is my life! Oh yeah... it is ::sigh::

Sara

Tired Day

Olivia decided she wanted to be up until 12:30 last night. Not crying, just awake and ready to talk. Abigail is usually up until 11:00 at night herself, so needless to say we are tired, tired, tired.

The question is:
Cereal or no cereal??

We are thinking of putting a tiny bit of cereal in Abigail's nightime bottle so she will sleep more than 2 hours at night. I know that a lot of people think this is bad, but we think it may get a little more calories into her so she can get a good 3-4 hour stretch of sleep. We are not trying for sleeping through the night or anything crazy like that :-)

I am feeling a little on the desperate side for rest so...

Sara

I missed my 100th post

Dang it!! I missed it, but I will make up for it here. In accordance with bloggy tradition I will now share 100 things about myself.

1. I was born with the umbilical cord wrapped around my neck
2. I was a strange shade of purple
3. Because of this I was quite dark and my grandparents thought I was a Hispanic baby when they first saw me.
4. I was 9 days late
5. I am always late wherever I go to this day
6. It is not my fault, it was ingrained in me at birth
7. I have brother who wanted to kill me when I was brought home ( he may still )
8. I had 9 children dolls growing up
9. Annie, Christina and Christopher(twins), Emily, Jeremy, Timothy, Monica, Kippy, and Amanda
10. They each had a Christmas stocking.
11. I grew up on about 85 acres of land that I was able to roam free on. It included a lake, many ponds, creeks, and streams where I learned to fish, skip rocks, and catch crawdads.
12. I had one of the best childhoods
13. I went to a private Christian School growing up
14. I liked it at the time
15. I hate it now
16. I developed an ulcer in the 3rd grade from worrying so much about not making a 100
17. I have horrible handwriting
18. I was named after my brother's kindergarten teacher
19. I moved into the public school system in the 6th grade
20. I played the French Horn
21. I was a dork
22. I had a great youth group as a teenager
23. My best friend came to live with me when we were 14
24. My family welcomed her as one of our own
25. She made some bad choices
26. We are no longer best friends
27. She keeps her son from seeing us
28. We haven't seen him since last year
29. I have 9 nephews and NO nieces
30. I have no living granparents and am really sorry about that
31. I have attended 20 funerals
32. I was married at 18
33. I thought I had the perfect marriage
34. I was wrong
35. We were married for 7 and a half years when he left
36. He left when our son was 8 months old
37. It shook me to my core
38. and made me doubt everything I knew to be true in the world
39. I got over it :-)
40. I lost 50 pounds in 2 months
41. I was a size six
42. I wish I was again
43. I developed a bit of an eating disorder when I was that small
44. I tended not to eat very much
45. I used to buy clothes just to return them
46. I was VERY addicted to shopping
47. It was my therapy
48. I have a blue ladybug tattoo on my hip
49. I got it on Valentine's day when my ex was with the other girl (I refuse to call her a woman)
50. More people have seen it than I would like
51. I have a very mild case of psoriatic arthritis.
52. I take meds and I am more tired because of it.
53. I finally have accepted the fact that I battle depression.
54. It has nothing to do with my happiness, it is a chemical imbalance
55. I also have something called pressure hives
56. Anything that applies pressure to my skin, gets swollen
57. Thats shoes, purse straps, bracelets, my arm on a arm rest, everything
58. I used to break out into hives all over my body when I was stressed
59. As soon as I stopped teaching it went away
60. I was a Kindergarten teacher for 6 years
61. and a first grade teacher for 2
62. I loved teaching Kinder!!
63. I miss it just a little
64. I started my own business last year making wooden teacher's name signs
65. I had to stop when I got too big (pregnant) to fit behind my saw.
66. I would love to start it up again (I have about 18 standing orders right now)
67. I would love to go to Venice
68. I met my BFF in the first grade
69. I don't like this position
70. I am a horrible housekeeper
71. I am a total slob
72. I wish I was neater
73. I am very organized
74. I just can't seem to put things away where they belong
75. I can follow a recipe
76. But I am not a very good cook
77. I wish I was better
78. I love love to read
79. I am a speed reader
80. I love Neil Diamond's music
81. I wish I was a better photographer
82. I love the smell of oranges
83. My favorite color is blue followed closely by pink
84. My favorite flower is a tulip
85. I love to eat Jelly Belly jelly beans
86. Spiders scare me
87. I am a pretty strong person
88. but Gary won't let me do anything to prove it
89. and that's ok
90. I have met my true life partner in him
91. I love him very very much
92. My children are the most important things to me
93. I can sing pretty well
94. I love to take long hot showers
95. I have incredibly thick hair
96. Anyone who has ever cut it has to tell me that I have enough hair for 3 people
97. I wish I had nice straight hair
98. I prefer vanilla ice cream to any other flavor
99. I have wonderful friends in real life (Hi Casee! Sarah! Farrell! Nikki! Brandi!)
100. I think I am a pretty great person most of the time

Whew! That was tough. Could you tell I was grasping at straws with some of those? Want me to expound on anything? Leave me a comment...

Sara

No School Woes

Absolutely no tears this morning! Ahhh...thank you, Lord! He did want to take one of his little animals in his backpack to school with him and since that is fine with his teacher, I said sure. Whatever helps, right?

I am super super tired this morning for some reason. I slept really late yesterday since we haven't gotten up the courage to take the girls to church yet. So, I really should be semi-caught up with my sleep, but nope, I am tired. And Olivia is very clingy and fussy today. So no rest for the weary. I am holding her now and typing. Sweet Abby is snoozing away in her swing but making the sweetest little noises in her sleep. So sweet baby!

Sara

Ready for Society?

Look below for the weekly update on all the kiddos.

On Friday I found myself with a couple of hours to kill between dropping off my garage sale items and the time when I could shop. Hours of alone time on my hands and one of the coolest outdoor malls in the area is right down the road. Oh I was so there. As I got closer, I realized several things

1. I was not dressed for the upscale area the mall was in. I was dressed for garage saling. And who am I kidding, even if I would have known I was going to go there before I left there is nothing in my closet I could fit into anyway that would be appropriate for the area.

2. All I really wanted to do was drive around and listen to music or...take a nap.

3. I was extremely uncomfortable with the idea of getting out at these upscale stores and even browsing. Not just because my clothes, but because it has been, literally about 6 months since I stepped foot into a store that didn't have anything to do with feeding my family, babies, or outfitting myself for after babies.

As funny as it sounds, I was almost unsure on how to function in society. I know that sounds really dumb, but I have been out of it so long with my pregnancy and the girls. I ended up driving around and around the mall. I finally decided on stopping at The Gap because I had a gift card and Bath and Body Works that was right next door and I had a great coupon. As I drove back around I told myself I would stop if there was a parking place. As I passed in front of the stores I saw one going to other direction so I flipped a bitch, and went to get my great space. The car right in front of me took it! And so I just kept going, now discouraged and losing the small confidence I had.

I did end up going into a little shop that was out of the main hustle of the mall. Guess what it was; a toy shop. ::sigh::

When will I get my shopaholic tendencies back??? I am sure Gary hopes I won't.

Friday update on Saturday again

Whew! It has been a crazy couple of days. We had a visit from our friend Lily and her mom Sarah yesterday. Then I was off to drop my stuff off for our semi-annual Moms of Multiples garage sale. Then we got to stay and shop before it opened to the public this morning. I got a few cute outfits and yes, I needed more. We don't have enough! I also got a big plastic yard slide for $25 and an extra bouncer for upstairs for $10, but overall I was pretty disappointed. I only spent $70. Then I worked at the sale for a few hours today and again was disappointed in the turnout. There was a ton of stuff left over. Most of my stuff did not sell. I'm not sure what the deal was but it will just go into the next sale.

First off, Z has great news!

He earned his Sparky Vest from Awana!! He memorized 2 scripture verses plus some other things and he is on his way to getting his first badge. He was so proud of himself and so are we! Yay Z!!

Here he is playing his DS.
And before you ask...
I have no idea why.


And then this is the look I got after he saw the flash

And thank you so much to all the comments of encouragement about his school. It will get better, I know this in my head, but it is hard for my heart to go through it with him. We went to Cici's Pizza together today for his special outing. I let him play games and he wasted most of it on those stupid crane games. You can't convince him that he won't get it and I didn't even try. Because maybe he is the kid that finds the secret to those things, so who am I not to let him find his true calling.

On to the girls, here is how tummy time is going. Well...it's not really

After I took the picture Olivia lifted her head for a half a second but for the most part they hate it. Oh well, we have time.

Their new favorite toys

They suck on their little hands constantly! And they are starting to drool. It is pretty funny because they don't exactly know that they are sucking on their own hands and they kind of catch it on the way by and then loose it. Abby actually sucks on her palm. I tried to get a picture of it but she is pretty fast. This was the closest I got.

And look how well they are sitting up!

I will start with Olivia this week since I usually start with Abby. She wakes up in the best moods! She just smiles the biggest smiles at us. And wiggles around as she is trying her best to coo at us. She is almost there. She "talks" all the time but not right at us as she is smiling. She was in a great mood one day this week, so I took advantage of it. I got a ton of pictures of her, but here are some of my favorites.

This is how she smiles all the time now. With her little nose wrinkled up

Don't touch my bling, man!

Now for Abby. She is mostly Abby to me now but still Abigail to Gary. She must be growing cuz she slept a lot of the days away this week. She is waking more during the night too. She is reaching for her toys under her floor gym! And she is cooing up a storm at us. She cries less and gripes more when she wants something. She still only shares her smiles sparingly, so when you get one it is special. She is a wiggle worm! Always moving and squirming so I could hardly get a good picture of her this week, but I managed to get a few.

This is how she is in most of the pictures I have this week


But once again I got one that is pretty good of both of them.
They looking at Z who is over to the side trying to make them laugh.



And I leave you with the real reason I couldn't blog yesterday and today


Allie Cat says, "Don't even think of moving me off your computer chair!"

Sara

Friday Update will be late

Friday Update coming soon. It was a busy day with visits from friends and then I went to our MOMs garage sale. It is late now and am super tired so I will update when I can. Maybe late Saturday because I have to work the garage sale tomorrow then take Z on his special outing with just me.


He did great by the way, he said that he didn't have to use his hanky even 1 time today! Yay! Now we start riding with the neighbor next week again instead of Gary so pray that it will be just as easy as today was.

Nighty Night

School Not-so-bad Woes

OK, so we cut a piece of the blanket. He thinks it might make it worse. I told him he did not have to take it, but he wanted to try it so...
He had only a few tears when he left the house with Gary this morning. We told him that every time he thought of me and was sad to touch the blanket and hopefully it will help him to feel better.

We prayed that he would not be sad all day. I told him that I was praying for him not to be sad and for him to pray too when he gets sad.

::Sigh:: I'll update when he gets home. He can tell me how it went.

Thank you for all the encouragement and advice. You guys are the best.

And if this sound a little stiff it is because I am typing with one hand and holding Olivia. :-)

School Woes Part 3

So I actually took him this morning because Olivia wasn't feeling well and so Gary stayed home to help me. I don't know if it helped or not, but he started crying again. He was ok, then he looked back and saw me still standing there talking to his teacher (dumb! I should have high tailed it out of there) and started crying. We went to talk to the counselor and she had the same suggestions that many of you had.

~Put something from home in his pocket; a picture or something like that.
I think this might actually make it worse, but I am going to try it with a piece of a soft piece of fabric that could be taken for a hankie, but it is actually a part of a blanket of the girls. I cut it up to send a piece to be made into a quilt for another MOM who lost one of her twins.

~Have reward system.
I think this will work. If he goes to school everyday this week (never mind that he has to go), then on Saturday, we will go do something special just the 2 of us. Then maybe next week we can work on not crying every day.

I did go eat lunch with him yesterday with Olivia (she did great by the way!). But then when I left he cried, so again, I am not sure if I am helping or hurting.

You know, I have been there. I have been the teacher with the child who didn't want to be there or just missed his mom. I know they are fine for the most part. I know the goodbye should be quick, but dang it! That's mine that's crying now. It different when it's yours.

I am worried that this will be a year long struggle. I want him to love school and want to go and learn. I did not have a pleasant elementary experience and I so want that for him. I want him to love to read like I do.

I am starting to realize that when he was a baby I could pretty much shield him form whatever, but now...he is just out there for the world to do what it will with him. I don't like it. I guess this is just a new stage of parenting. Lordy help when it's college.

Sara

School Woes part 2

There were more tears today. His stomach hurt, his head itched, I am going to the dr today for some meds for my own head, so he thought he might want to get in on that. We talked to him about the fact that it is against the rules not to go to school. He is a big rule follower. One time we were having a great time pushing him on a luggage cart when he caught sight of the little sign that said not to, you know the one where there is a picture of someone riding it with a big red line through it? Yeah, he hopped right off. He was not going to break the rules. He asked if it was against the rules for him to go and then come home after lunch (at 11:00). Little negotiator.

He actually said this morning that he wished he was a baby. Oh lordy! I didn't know it could come to that!! We talk all the time about how I love that he is a big kid so he can play with me and help me cook (he loves that!). He can talk and tell me what's wrong with him. He can play outside. I pointed out that the babies had to come home from Great Wolf Lodge and he got to stay and have fun. The list goes on and on. He asked me once if I missed him being a baby, but I said that I loved him when he was a baby but I was sure glad he was a big kid now, for all the above reasons.

I need advice ya'll. I know he has to go. He knows he has to go. But it is so hard for both of us. I hate that he is hurting and he hates to be away from me and the babies. What can I do to make it better for him? Seriously, I need your help. Ideas!! Advice!! Help!!

School Woes

He didn't want to go to school today. There were tears. Silent as they streamed down his face as he looked at me imploring that I not make him go.

:Sigh:

Why does life have to be so hard on the little six year old? And why do I have to enforce the rules? Gary is convinced that he just misses me and the babies. And he does, I know he does, but is that all? First grade is a big change from Kinder. The work is harder. There is more sitting at the desks and such. Is his teacher nice to him? Are there bullies? But it probably does boil down to the fact that I am home with the girls and he is not. He is jealous of them because they get me...and probably jealous of me that I get them all day too.

You know, there had to come a day when there was a snag. An adjusting period of sorts, because really it has been smooth sailing until now. There was never any kind of jealousy at all, no kind of period of adjustment at all. He says it is harder than he thought it would be. He thought we just had to rock them :-) So I am not really surprised that it has come to this.

But it does make my heart hurt.

Sara

Show and Tell

My Show and Tell is the ways I save money. Go on over to Deb's blog and check me out as her first guest blogger.

Go on...right now...I'll wait for you

Sara

Friday Update

Happy Friday everyone! First some cuteness!

We tried them out in their new toys. You think they might still be a little small for them??

Abby in her Jumperoo
Look how tiny she is! She can't even reach her arms out of it.

Look at the baffled look on her face.
"Ummm mom? What am I supposed to be doing here again??

And Olivia in the Johnny Jump-up
She didn't last very long in this at all!!

Things just keep getting better. The little ladies are sleeping well during the day in hour long snatches. And at night? Weellll...Olivia is sleeping one 6 hour stretch then a 3 hour stretch. Abigail is sleeping a 3 hour stretch then maybe a 2 hour one, then if we are lucky, in hour stretches for the rest of the night. We leave her unswaddled during the night now. We think she actually does better when she flails her arms around during the night. We are also letting her sleep on a boppy. And don't even give us a hard time. It's what works, 'kay? They have really switched roles. Abigail used to be the one you could lay down and her go right to sleep with her binky in her mouth. Now, she doesn't really want a whole lot to do with the binky and actually gags when you try to put it in her mouth, poor thing. And going down by herself is just not happening. Now Olivia on the other hand, will lay down on her own now with her binky. She used to be the one that had to have a bottle in her mouth to sleep. They are high maintenance in their own ways.

I have talked about them cooing, but Abigail has really started talking all of a sudden this week. Just kicking and waving her arms as she makes all these wonderful noises at me. She just talks and talks! She talks a whole lot more than Olivia does but she doesn't smile as much as Olivia does. Funny how different they are but going through the same stages.

It's fun to have two to compare side by side. Olivia smiled first, but Abiagil is talking first. Olivia can hold herself upright better, but she still has a startle reflex. Abigail will tolerate tummy time so much better than Oliva. Like I said, it's fun to see them both go through these stages but at different paces with their own personalities.

We have followed the dr's advice and are giving them each an oz of juice in the morning and at night. We call it shut up juice, because as soon as the juice hits their lips, they are instantly quiet. They just work their little tongues around it in their mouths trying to figure out what the heck it is. Olivia especially pushes her tongue way out. We give it to them in a dropper because I am terrified they will get used to it in a bottle and not want their milk. I know, I am probably just paranoid, but whatever.

The BIGGEST NEWS!! They smiled at each other this week!! I was so thrilled!! They just looked at each other and then both just broke out into smiles. Such Fun!!

Hmmm...let's see...what else is happening in our little world. I will be guest posting at Postcards from the Edge on Sunday. So drop by and comment the heck out of my post please visit me while I am there.

Personally, I have been struggling. I am not going to go on and on about my emotional state, but let's just say hormones are still evening out. Will they ever even out?? Ummm...maybe not . So I am looking into going back on my medication that I was on before I got pregnant. This is a huge failure in my eyes. I mean, I should be fine now right? I have a great husband, a great son, two beautiful girls that I can stay home with, a gorgeous house, wonderful friends and family...I have everything I could possible want? So why am I still fighting depression? It may be that it is a hormonal thing, but I don't think so. I think it is probably just me. Ugh! I know it is fine to take a pill if I need it to not be a witch have a balanced well-being. I just need to accept that this is me and move on. So I am...moving on...right now... Really, I am. ::sigh::

What does make me smile??

This

and this

and Gary, my wonderful honey :-)

Sara