more birthday pictures

My computer wasn't letting all my pictures load last time, but finally got it working. Here are a few more pictures from the babies birthday weekend. I love this picture of Alex and lilly. They can be so sweet with each other. I love seeing them love each other.

Just hoping she is going to eat that big scoop of icing. Calories, calories, calories.






Our 1 nice day in the past 6 months was spent at the philadelphia zoo. We had such a wonderful day.
Alex was going to brush the little goat.




Julian was in heaven in the reptile house.

Babies Birthday

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALEX AND LILLY!

We have made it 2 years!!!! 2 years is the mark with preemie twins that we were always looking to get. It is suppose to converge to normal now. Life is certainly interesting with 2 toddlers running around all day long. God certainly gave me children with LOTS of energy. They don't stop from the minute they wake up until the minute they go to bed. This makes for a long days, but wouldn't have it any other way.

We had a great birthday weekend. I don't know if they understood that the weekend was all about them, but they had a good time to say the least. Friday, the 18th, was a beautiful day. I think God knew we all desperately needed it, we needed to be able to enjoy going outside and feeling the sun. So that's exactly what we did. Julian skipped school, and I loaded everyone up and went to Philadelphia and met Mary and Tom at the zoo. They had flown in for the babies birthday the day before and thought it would be a great day to get out. The kids had a ball at the zoo. I have such animal lovers its unreal. Julian was so excited and really enjoyed the day. We lasted at the zoo for 5 hours, which was much longer than I thought the babies would last. They did great. Everyone was happy, and having fun. We had no meltdowns, and then they crashed in the car on the way back to Anne's house. Julian's most favorite part (of course) was the reptile house. He is so smart that he knew most animals in the zoo before we told him what they were and even educated all of us a time or two. We then went back and had dinner with Anne, Ray, and Rob. It was a long day, but so much fun.

Saturday, was a day of recovery in the morning from the day before. Alex even took a 4 hour nap that afternoon. They aren't used to being that busy and not getting a nap. Then that night, we planned the babies birthday dinner. PaPa came down to join us and help celebrate. (DeeDee had to be in Atlanta helping grandmommy nell move, but we missed her) We also invited our close friends, Kim and Mike to join us. Mary and Tom helped us cook a delicious dinner and we had great company to have a wonderful night. The babies opened their presents and it was like Christmas all over. They had fun.

Sunday, the actual birthday day! Happy 2nd birthday to my sweet babies Alex and Lilly. I can't believe they are 2. Everyone always asks me if it has flown by and I say it has and it hasn't. Due to our rough start, it has often seemed like time was going so slow. Days now though are much different than they were 2 years ago. I'm not worried anymore about what was going to happen to them being so premature. They have done great. They are 2 healthy, growing, active, happy toddlers. I can't imagine what life would be like without them here with us. They are exactly what we dreamed for when we were trying to have more children. I can't wait to tell them about how they got here and how strong they are.

We just had their 2 year old check ups also. Everything is going great. They are doing well. We still have some speech delays, but everything else is on target. The speech may be that they were premature, or they are twins, which sometimes have some delays because they develop their own language. Lilly, is still not on the growth curve yet, but is growing and the doctors were pleased with her weight gain this time. She's just going to be a little girl. I don't think any of my kids will ever have to worry about their weight. Even the doctor said, she was so active that her size is not holding her back at all. She's the most independent, fiesty, self-assured little girl I've ever seen. Alex, is more sensitive and needy, but loves being with Lilly. They are always right next to each other. Lilly is usually the leader, and Alex is right there with her.

Alex

weight 26.4 lbs ( 30th percentile)

length 34 inches (40th percentile)

head 19 3/4 inches (80th percentile)

Lilly

weight 21. 2 oz ( -3 percentile)

length 32 1/4 inches ( 15th percentile)

head 17 3/4 inches ( 4 percentile)

Long Winter

It's been so long since I posted, but everything has been about the same here. Still cold and not able to do many activities yet. Finally, we can at least see our grass. There is no snow out there right now, which is a blessing and we are just praying it is over and spring will start to appear. The kids are itching to get outside and play all the time. I am so not a cold weather fan and I can only take it outside for little bits at a time. The babies can tolerate the cold better than I can. I think they don't know any different like the rest of us and don't understand how much better our friends and family have it right now in the south. We are trying to make the most of being indoors and get outside whenever possible.

Julian continues to do great in school. We are working on his 3rd oral presentation right now. It's right up his alley. We have to do a presentation on a wild animal. Just like Julian style, we aren't doing any normal animal. He picked the platypus. I bet we are the only ones that pick that one. It's funny being on the parent side and wanting your child to have the best presentation. Whenever he gets grades back, I see it as a personal failure of mine if he doesn't do good (which is rare). He is just like mommy though and already seems his strengths lie in math and science. Hopefully daddy can help later with the grammar and english. He continues to amaze chris and I how smart he is. The first 2 presentations, he got 100's and the teacher said he was a great presenter. He gets that natural just like his daddy and PaPa. We have registered for T-ball and are so excited for that to start and to get out and play.

The babies are doing great right now. (knock on wood) we haven't had any illnesses in a while, other than the winter runny noses. We are so happy though that the ear tubes have done what they were suppose to, and alex hasn't had a single ear infection since they were placed in November. That has saved us many doctor appts and antibiotics. Hopefully they will continue to do the trick until they are ready to fall out. Lilly, has also been doing pretty good. We have good eat days and not so good eat days, but overall, I think she's doing pretty good. They continue to go to speech and have early intervention for their speech delay, but everyday, they seem to make more sounds and try to form words. I keep saying I'm ready for them to talk, but may take that back when they start to.

I have interviewed this week for a job in Labor and delivery and am thinking of going back to work a little bit. It's a PRN job, so only 2 days a month are required and I think chris and I can still work around each other's schedule so I can do this. I will have to work a couple days a week initially to get through the orientation, but then can work at my leisure. It is a hard decision for me even to commit to that and leave my kids. I told the manager that the past 2 years has been devoted to keeping my kids healthy and meeting all their needs, which is still my priority and work is secondary. She agreed and understood this point of my life I'm in, so it's sounds like it may work well. She sounded like she is flexible to work around my schedule and what hours would be best for me and childcare. I've got to work on getting my license transferred, but think that is something I am going to proceed with. If it doesn't work out, or feel like the babies are doing as good with me gone a little, I can always change my mind. I do miss L&D and hopefully would give me an opportunity to meet other people since PA hasn't been the friendlies place we have lived.

Julian's 7

Happy birthday to my special Big boy!! Mommy and Daddy love you sooo much.

Julian has some pretty exciting weeks. His new weekend hobby is snow skiing. I took him the weekend before is birthday and he had a great time. It was so wonderful watching him try something new. He did a great job, and always makes lots of friends. I got to spend the day in the lounge watching from the window. It was a nice, relaxing day. Chris was wonderful and stayed home on baby duty. He entertained them all day so that I could spend some quality time with my big boy.

Then came the 12th, Julian's 7th birthday. He is getting so old, I can't imagine he's been in our life so long. He makes every day wonderful, and a blessing that I was able to become his mother. I remember when Chris and I were trying to have Julian. We tried for a year, and then got pregnant. I was starting to wonder if it were going to happen and then it did. I can still remember every part of the day he was brought into the world. It was one of the best days of our life. I knew the day he was here what an incredible responsibility this was to be his parent, and I was going to devote my life to him. I know he is growing up to be a fantastic person. He has such a great heart and personality.

For his birthday, Julian asked for a party at home an have someone bring reptiles. So that's what we did. It turned out great, and the kids had a wonderful time. We had 10 kids come over and they had a great time playing in the basement and then our reptile man came. he brought many different animals, including a python, lizards, turtles, and an alligator. We then finished with cake and presents. The 2 hours flew by and my house looked like a bomb blew up. That many kids running around really showed. But, if Julian had fun, then it was a success.

We were so thankful that my parents, chris's parents, my sister, Anne, Lorena, Joey, and Steven were able to come for a visit to enjoy the party. I wish we could live closer to our family. I would love to be able to have much more days like those.

Managing the winter

This winter is becoming harder and harder as the time goes by. Having to entertain a 6 yr old and 2- 1 year olds in the house day after day is a challenge. They are itching to get outside and to enjoy some fresh air and exercise outside. I want that also. The day would go by so much faster with some more activities to entertain very active children. My children have the attention span of an ant and the babies don't watch any TV yet to give me a little break. It is constant entertaining from one activity to the next, always trying to find something to do. Thank goodness we are lucky enough to live in this house and have room to expand to put activity centers around the house. We have turned the basement into play center for the kids. It gives them the chance to run, jump, and play to exert some built up energy. Here's a look at our outside activities inside

We have had one day in the longest time that has actually been above freezing, so we took advantage getting the kids outside to play. They were loving being outside and it only makes me more ready for summer.

Alex's favorite game to play is peek a boo and hide and seek.

Lilly can be so sweet sometimes. She loves to cuddle up with daddy in his office.

I just got home from the gym with no make up on and looking rough but love picking up my babies when I get home. Julian was the cameraman for this picture.

Ready for spring

First off, spring can not come soon enough. If anyone thought that being a stay at home mom is easy than they should try to entertain 3 small children in your house day after day. Over the last 2 weeks Julian has missed 4 snow days (due to all separate storms) and had one holiday. I don't think we have had more than 2 days above freezing since the beginning of the year. I don't even think we have been close to freezing in a long time. I guess if this is what you are born and raised in you would get used to it more, but I'm not. Julian has heard me say this a million times, but I'm a southern girl. This southern girl has seen more snow in the last 4 winters than I care to for the rest of my life. Julian has even told people that it's too cold for him because he's from the south. Little does he know he has almost lived more than half of his life in the north. This includes 2 extreme winters in Canada. He's so cute with some of the things he comes up with.

We did talk Julian into taking skiing lessons. Chris took him this past weekend to Blue Mountain. We signed him up for a half day lesson with other kids and he said he really enjoyed it and would like to go again for a whole day lesson. We are so proud of him for trying something that is outside his comfort zone and enjoying it. I love to see him learn new things. It is such a great feeling to watch him try something new and show himself that he can do it and become more confident. His personality is a little cautious of new things and takes a little probing and then he loves it when he thinks he can do it.

Lilly had her follow up with the GI doctor last week. It wasn't the best appointment because she didn't have the weight gain we were looking for, but I knew it wasn't going to be great because we've had a couple stomach bugs since thanksgiving. It's amazing how fast you can lose weight and how long it takes her to gain it back. My new year's resolution is not to obsess over her weight. She's doing great otherwise. She's a healthy, happy, developing toddler that is just still very small. They say most preemies catch up by the time they are 2 yrs old. We aren't quite there but we are getting a little closer. If you saw her when she was first born to now, she looks great. We still have some hurdles but we are getting there. Lilly likes to eat, she just eats a small quantity. She eats a variety of food, and I have tried everything under the sun to get her to gain weight. I finally realize it. It is not in my hands anymore. All I can do is continue doing what we are doing and try to keep her well. I can't make her something that God doesn't intend her to be. She's my little fighter that is going to be a little peanut. She can still take her brothers for a good run for their money.

Alex is still doing good and has continued to be ear infection free since his surgery. He and Julian are very similar. Their personalities are just alike. They both are mommy boys and a little more needy than Lilly. He continues to love to eat. If he sneaks off, sometimes he goes to the kitchen and comes back with his own snacks. Thank goodness I have one child that loves to eat. He is starting to make more sounds and is trying so hard to talk. Our therapists say we just need one to start and then the other will follow.
I love Lilly's lips in this picture as she is looking at Julian.
My sweet big boys



Lilly's shirt says it's nice to be nice. I said this shoud be her motto. Hopefully one day she will want to live by this.

Lazy mornings. My 3 sweet kids.