Another tooth gone

Well, Chris was out of town all week so it was just me here with the kids. I'm very tired but we made it, and I think the kids all felt taken care of. We did have a nice unexpected visit from my brother on Monday night. Julian was so excited to see Blake, and even got to stay up a little late so they could socialize. Julian asked that Blake sleep with him. Julian always gets very chatty at bedtime, and no telling where the conversation will go when the lights go out. Chris and I always laugh at the things he talks about. As I was leaving the room, I heard Julian asking Blake if he ever has a problem with his pants going up his bottom, and then Blake was describing a wedgie (sp?) to him. Very funny. It was also nice to have Lauren (my babysitter) Mon., Tues, and Wed night for a few hrs. I even got to slip away to the basement to walk on the treadmill for awhile. I think it gave me the extra energy to make it through the night.

Julian had a cleaning appt at the dentist Monday morning. (Of course it was pouring down raining and I had to take all the kids). Found out he had a loose tooth. Mommy doesn't do well with pulling teeth. It seems not much bothers me, except teeth. I can scrub in on operations, deliver babies on my own, deal with throw up and diarrhea, but the teeth thing bothers me. Julian was sitting in bed Wednesday and the tooth was so ready to come out that he could turn it horizontal. Julian was such a big boy and took a washcloth and pulled it out himself. That makes 2 bottom teeth gone. It's hard to watch my first baby grow up.

The babies are still doing good. Not much else to report this week. Lilly is such an independent little girl. It's so funny to watch her personality because she is so different from the boys. She does not like me to feed her, wants to do it herself. So today for breakfast she had strawberries and bananas cut up and did really well. She's taking her bottles great! Alex will eat almost anything you put in his mouth. Both are busy moving all around and love playing with Julian's stuff, which I'm sure you can guess he doesn't like that.

We also had a couple inches of snowfall Thursday morning( gone by the afternoon).

Funny watching them look outside, I can't wait until we can actually GO outside.

Big Week

He's just a tad bigger than she is (ha ha)


The babies turned 10 months on Wednesday and I turned another year older on Thursday. Where does the time go? I can't believe that 10 months have gone by. The babies are growing and changing so much that each month goes by. They are both very mobile now. You put them down and seconds later they are off and they definately know what they want. Alex is on his way to walking. He has the motion down, just have to work on balance and he'll be on his way. Lilly is getting there. She really wants to do it, put the legs don't cooperate as much as Alex's do. Lilly is getting very vocal with her wants, likes and dislikes. I can't wait until she learns some words to express these, right now, it just comes out as a LOUD shout. Sometimes it's a chain reaction here. Lilly screams to get something, she scares Alex, so he cries, then Julian gets upset because they are interfering with his activities or he can't hear the TV. We also really need work in the nap department. How do you get babies to take more than a 30 minute nap. They really need more than that to be happy, but won't do it. I remember when Julian was around 1-2 yrs old. Naps were so nice. We would both put our PJs on and take about a 3 hr nap together and I loved every minute.

I did find a really nice girl in college to come help in the evenings with feedings, baths and bedtime. Since my kids really don't sleep they are both exhausted by around 6. Sometimes they are both asleep before Chris can get home from work. I feel bad sometimes because since he has to be the one that works he can go several days without seeing them. By the time he gets home they are cranky and ready to go to bed. Quality time with them is definately during the day. It was so nice to have an extra pair of hands so that their was a greater degree of calm in the house. Will be especially nice when Chris is traveling. I wonder if I can get her to sleep over.

Mom came down this week so that Chris and I were able to go out for a dinner together. It was great getting to actually sit down and eat, but we were both so tired we didn't stay out too long. The birthday aren't that exiting anymore. But I do have to say that at 33, I am doing exactly what I wanted to be doing. I have 3 beautiful children that I am so thankful for. 32 was a rough year for me, but I have great hopes that 33 is going to be a wonderful year for my family.

It seems as if time is just flying by. I have tried to sit down and write something for several days now. It seems as if there is always something to do or someone to take care of. The problem with twins is you never get the full opportunity to take advantage of naps. By the time you get both of them down, you may have a few minutes before one wakes up, and they never take long naps on the same day. The nights have gotten a little better, but it never fails you think things are turning around and then the next night is awful. Lilly has started to get a tooth and makes her very figitity at night. Alex is doing better, but we are having to let him cry for a period. It seems like clockwork that he wakes up around 4:30 am. If we go get him, that's it, he's up for the morning. We have started to let him cry and eventually he will put himself back to sleep. I feel bad because Julian never cried himself to sleep. I haven't figured out if we are doing things a little different because we have more than 1 or if we have twins. Things haven't gotten better yet with the babies, in fact I believe it is even harder now than when they were younger. As babies you just had to feed them and put them to bed, now they are getting a little older and more aware of what they want and they can make it very clear what they want. It's harder to entertain and make both happy, especially when they both want mommy. Hopefully it will get easier soon. I just wish I can be the hands on mom I was with Julian with the twins and give them the attention they deserve as well.

Julian got a baseball tee for Christmas and he is really good. T- ball starts soon, and I think we found something that he really enjoys. We have set it up in the basement (since it is so cold here) and we go down every night and he loves hitting the ball, and I am so pleased that he is having fun doing it. I will be happy if this is a sport he will like since I played growing up. We are also still trying to figure out how to keep fish alive and take care of a bunny. Julian first thought the fish were doing tricks when they died, now he has figured out the death thing.

I did manage to get away last weekend for a little pampering of myself. My feet needed some serious attention, and a manicure and pedicure was wonderful. A life of a stay at home mom is so not glamourous and it is all about your kids. I wouldn't trade being home with them for anything, I think they gain so much from having me here, but it is nice every once in awhile to make myself look pretty. Julian asked me what that red stuff was on my nails. He's used to seeing me in mommy gear. He asked me the other day how old I was going to be on my birthday and I told him, he asked if that came before 100. Makes me feel kind of old. But I couldn't be happier with my life as I turn another year older. I have 3 beautiful children and I am able to stay home and take care of them. My only thing I wish I could change is where we live. (I am sorry to our family that lives in PA, but this is not my favorite place to live). I would give anything to move to SC again. The people here are just not that friendly at all. At least in Canada we had good friends to make living apart from our family more bearable.

nice holiday

Well, alot has happened since I posted last time. It has been so nice the past 2 weeks having Chris home and family in town for the holidays and helping with Julian and the babies. I'm a little sad that now things are back to "normal".

The babies are doing great. They are mobile now, which makes it a little harder. It's time to start baby proofing the house. We've ordered baby gates so that we can start to keep them in one spot. They had their 9 month check up right before Christmas and are doing great. The doctor was impressed with how well they are doing developmentally. They aren't "delayed" at all to adjust for their prematurity. The doctor also wasn't worried at all about Lillian's weight. He said she is just small, nothing wrong with her, just small. They give preemies 2 yrs to "catch up " to full term babies weight. I don't know if she will catch up or always be small. She isn't that fond of eating as usual, but doing good with her formula, so that's a start. She acts interested in eating real people food. So I hope when she's actually big enough she will want to eat real food. She weighed 14. 3 lbs at 9 months, and Alex weighed 18.11 lbs at 9 months. He is definately a different story when it comes to eating. He still loves his bottles and will eat most things you put in his mouth. Hopefully that will continue. He has really taken off these last 2 wks. He figured he had to catch up with his sister. If he would just sleep better at night, life would be better.

Julian is doing great. He has really loved having so much company lately. More people means some extra TLC to Julian. He is such a trooper with the babies, he deserves it. He had a great Christmas, and got most of his list from Santa. We have several new additions to the family. Julian got a bunny and some fish for Christmas. More things to feed and take care of. My parents took him to buy his fish and he was so funny when they got home and 1 had already died. He said he was just doing a trick and he had rolled over. He is so cute. Later he agreed with us that he was dead. I wonder how many animals this animal lover will have one day.

The babies had a good christmas. It was probably like any other day to them, with more stuff on the ground to try to put in their mouth. Next year will be so much fun, when they get a better understanding of what is going on.

What a Year

I was just sitting her thinking of last Christmas and everything that has happened to this Christmas. Last Christmas we were with family in South Carolina and Georgia enjoying a warm break from Canada. I was finally pregnant with our 2 precious babies after years of infertility, countless doctor's appts, numerous and costly procedures, many heartaches, and a very emotional experience. We had no idea at the time what this year was going to bring last Christmas. Shortly after we found out that Lilly had stopped growing and was in danger. We turned our worlds upside down to do whatever we needed to do to ensure the pregnancy went as long as possible to give BOTH babies the best outcome possible. With the help of our doctors in Connecticut, we made it to 32 wks, and had 2 beautiful babies. We did have a long road after they were born, and they both faced many ups and downs, especially Alex. But they proved to be strong, and came home after 7 wks. Then Chris had interviewed for a new job, so that we could move closer to family and back to the US. We then moved our new family of 5 to Pennsylvania. Things have "calmed" down a little since we moved in, and we are starting to getting into a rhythm of having 3 children and mostly on our own. We love it when our moms have time to lend us a helping hand. We welcome the extra hands.

The babies are doing great, and Lilly is finally starting to eat a little better. Julian is growing into such a bright little boy. He makes me smile and laugh daily. we couldn't be more blessed this christmas to enjoy our family to what is has become this year. I can't wait to see Julian experience Christmas again this year. I also can't wait to see the babies experience their first Christmas!

I look forward to what the next year has in store for us as well. This past year was difficult but brought many blessings.

Well, another weekend is over and time to start the new week. I really hate when sunday is over, especially when Chris is going out of town. I made it this past week by myself, Chris had a meeting in Bridgewater with late dinners and early starts. He was here, but not here. I did have a nice treat from a visit from my parents on their way to South Carolina/Georgia for the christmas holiday. It was so nice to have some extra hands for the night and early morning. Julian was thrilled to see them, and I was sad to see them go. We look forward to seeing them again on their way home.

This past week, Julian enjoyed the left over snow, and we even got a few more inches Tuesday night before it started to rain. One day they had a snow delay at school, which really shortens a half day kindergarten, so we called it a "rest day". Julian like that. It was funny having a snow delay, after being in Canada where they never shortened school because of the snow. I think I drove Julian to school in blizzard conditions.

Alex has cut his second tooth, and is doing great eating. I am thankful I have at least one good eater in the house. One child I won't have to worry about eating. Lilly still has her good days and bad days eating. And when she doesn't want to eat, it's not going to happen. She is really taking off on crawling. She is really fast, and you have to watch her every second. I've weighed her lately and I think weight isn't gaining as fast because she is such an active child.

I've done a lot of online shopping and have gotten away a couple of times to do some christmas shopping. A few more things, and I think I'm done. Then, I just have to find time to do some wrapping.

well, I'm just going to pray i make it through another week.

I did find some time this week to do my christmas cards, which I should get soon and send out. I'll show you my pictures on the card, but you will see them again. I think they turned out pretty good, especially if you were here and heard the background noise going on.

more snow day pics