Give Thanks

Doug and I went took turns attending our church meetings today as both babies have yet another cold.  I attended Sacrament meeting and listened a couple speak about gratitude.  They have just moved into the neighborhood.  I walked out the door a better person.  The husband is in a wheelchair from a motorcycle accident that left him paralyzed from the shoulders down--unable to use his arms.  The accident happened when they had been married only 11 months.  Every quote, experience, story, scriptural example they shared on gratitude left me feeling so much gratitude for the many blessings in my life. 

Here are a few blessings:
These two cute muffins are 10 months old.  My camera battery died after the first attempt at a photo of them before they went to bed.  Sydney fell backward just before I snapped the shot, but it will do.  They are getting so big and so fun.  It seems like most days I look down at a sleeping baby in my arms and I can't believe that I am a mom!  They bring so much laughter and sweetness into our home.

I love living close to family.  We spent Thanksgiving day with my parents, grandparents, and my brother, Matt.  My mom is one of the best cooks I know.  She spent more time and effort to make a dairy-free option for me for just about every dish on the table.  She is amazing.

Thanksgiving night I thought I'd snap a shot of my very tired husband who had made pumpkin pie for me(dairy free) the night before and woke up to bring the stuffing over to my parent's house early the next morning.  He is my best friend.

We had a great time introducing Ethan and Sydney to their first U of U party at Doug's brother's house Saturday.  We have so many generous people in our lives--one of them is a family friend who gave E & S these adorable Utah sweatshirts (and beanies not pictured).  Doug jumped at the chance to get them dressed for the day before the big BYU/Utah game.  Go UTES!

Doug was so dedicated to watching the game that he rocked E&S in their seats to put them to sleep for their naps.  They don't transition well into their carseats to stay asleep.  I can barely carry them together like that anymore.  Pretty soon I'll need to take one seat to the car at a time.  They are getting pretty heavy.  Doug is almost like a second mother to them.  He is up with them a lot at night so I can make it through the next day.  I am so lucky.

Raising Little Chefs

These two are getting so cute playing together.  The other day after I fed them, I was burping them (a very familiar position) on my nursing pillow and Sydney snuck her arm around Ethan.  She kept it there for several minutes and Ethan seemed to love her attention.

I don't know why I want to buy toys for them--I pull out this plastic spoon and my serving paddle/spoon from my rice cooker and they fight over it and go nuts! 

Same with the wooden spoon and spatula...their favorites.

I did Ethan's hair for the first time with a bit of gel this last week.  It's starting to hang over his ears a bit and, for some reason, I am just not ready to pull out the scissors.  Somehow they just get older once you start trimming their hair.

Syd discovered Ethan's pockets on his jeans this last week.  We're pretty sure she thinks they are the best thing ever.  Doug and I just couldn't stop laughing when we saw her grabbing at his rear and he was rolling around and playing.  She couldn't keep her hands off him!

I love a good deal.  Some of you may not know that about me, but I am guessing many do.  When I was 10, I would send in the mail-in offers for free things I didn't even need just because I could.  Well, having said that, I have wanted a Cuisinart food processor for a few years now.  Every time I saw it, I just couldn't justify spending the money.  Doug and I went into Kohls a few months ago with a $10 of a $10 purchase card that we got in the mail.  We waltzed past the food processors to see that it was on sale for $99!  Yes, a 14-cup food processor regularly $230.  I decided to get a 20% off coupon I had at home for a $100 purchase and come back that night...

I went to dinner with a few of my sisters and my mom that night and begged them to join me to pick up my food processor.  I had been getting more and more excited all afternoon.  When I got to the machine, it said it was now $199.  I asked the cashier closeby and she said that it was a power-hour sale and I had missed it. I was devistated.  It sounds rediculous now, but I returned to tell my family that I had missed the sale and I felt like I could just sit down and cry. 

My sister, Sarah, urged me to go talk to the manager and ask for the price.  I got up the courage and found the manager and dropped the 'I have twins' line that I have come to use frequently.  He said, "no problem. I can give you the price."  I was so excited.  In the end, they were sold out of the model and I got a rain check--including my two coupons.  After waiting for weeks for it to come in, I realized that they were going to be getting the new model.  I told the manager and he told me he would honor the $99 rain check for the now $359 machine!  After buying it online and getting my cash back through ebates (another money saving favorite for online shopping), I got this $359 machine for about $60.  I had to go in-store to use my coupons, so they refunded my card. 

I am now a Kohl's shopper.  Just 2 weeks ago, the box arrived on my door step.  Can't wait to make my favorite chocolate pie.

Another 'good deal' that I've been working with is Bountiful Baskets.  This morning was my first pick up and I was pretty excited to see all this fresh produce for my $16.50 that I put into it.  I've known about it for a while, but pick-up time is 8:15 am Saturday morning.  If you miss the 20 minute pick-up window, your produce is donated to the local fire station.  Now that I am up that early on Saturday morning with two cute kids, I thought I'd try it out.  It is a non-profit co-op that pools money together (order on Monday) and then they order at wholesale prices for pick-up Saturday.  The fun part is you have NO IDEA what you will get.  They shop specials and food that is in-season.  Interested?  They have this available in Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming.  It's pretty clever.  They ask that you volunteer when you can to sort the produce into baskets.  Highly recommend it.

Christmas Cards

I love getting Christmas cards.  It's great to see a recent photo, catch up on exciting events in my family/friends lives, and stick it up on my magnet board.  Ironically, Ethan and Sydney loved our Christmas card magnet board so much when they came home that we've had Christmas cards up all year long right in our living room.  So, I'm very excited to see the latest and greatest this year (hint. hint.)

The funny part is that I am debating sending Christmas cards--as much as I enjoy yours'.  It's the time and money that I am not sure I want to spend.  I'd love your thoughts on this.  My friend, Kayla, got me thinking about this because she did a great post on her photography blog.  She is charging only $15 to drop your photo(s) into her cute designs and then you can print them anywhere.  It's a cheaper option than making your cards with a template in a store.  She is doing a giveaway Dec 1st where 2 people can win their card design for FREE!  Just leave a comment. 

She used some of the photos she took of us this summer to demo some of her designs.  This one is my favorite:

So go check it out. 

Happy Dress-up Day

I am the Scrooge of Halloween. I don't like anything about the holiday--loading kids up with junk food, haunted houses, scary movies, people trying to scare you or people wanting to be scared, blood, gore, guts, people smashing pumpkins and other valdalism in the name of Halloween, and most of all that we celebrate evil things.  The ONLY thing I can come up with that I like about the holiday is the dress-up--not the scary costumes, but the cute, fun ones.  As a result, I chose to call this "Happy Dress-up Day" vs "Happy Halloween". 

We had a great time choosing costumes and dressing up the babies.  We went to a pumpkin-carving party on Friday night hosted by some friends we met in the NICU.  For those of you who have followed by blog during our NICU stay, it is the other set of twins I would refer to.  We took our first photo of the four of them.  The boys are fraternal twins by definition, but are most likely identical.  It is rare, but possible.  They are such mild boys and look so much bigger than E&S because they have huge heads. (85-95%tile)  We have done playgroup with them about 4-5 times in hopes that they will be friends someday.  Poor Syd will be the only girl...

Here are our little monsters.  They didn't mind their costumes the first time we put them on, or the second...

Here Sydney is attempting to roll over in her costume.  It was hilarious.

By the fifth time we tried on their costumes, they were pretty irritated with us.  We went to the party in cosume as well.  What else would we choose by cookies?  I turned to Doug and said, "they devour us".  It feels pretty accurate this morning.  Both of them have really stuffy noses and between two sick babies we were up most of the night Monday night.  Last night was better though.  I hate it when they are sick.  It's so sad.

Saturday night (the day before Halloween), we were glued to the TV watching the Utah Utes claim another victory.  We can't wait until this weekend against TCU.  It's a great year for Utah football.  GO UTES!

I cannot get a photo yet, but Sydney has cut two of her front teeth.  You'd never know it--she is so chill.  She had 2 fussy days while the second one came through (yesterday it finally came through).  She is amazing.  I have given her many 'high fives' and said, "you did it Sydney!"

Another Milestone

We cannot believe these cute babies are 9 months old. Time has gone by fast...yet slow. My days are long and many times, the nights as well. It's funny how the days fade into weeks and the weeks into months. I am starting to understand what my grandparents have said about how fast time flies.

Doug got an email through the BYU alumni association with an offer to tour a new community in Heber in exchange for 2 lift tickets to Deer Valley. We jumped at the chance and took a drive with the babies. It was a beautiful yet rainy fall day. After our short tour, we left with our lift tickets in hand and looked for a good photo spot on the way down the canyon. Here are a few of our treasures.

Ethan still has not gotten over his need to be touching Syd whenever she is closeby.  It's so cute to watch, yet painful sometimes when he squeezes her.

Sydney is the sweetest baby.  She is mild and content.  She loved the leaves.

She couldn't stop putting them into her mouth (she would then grimace and do it over again).

I love watching them discover the world around them.  Ethan takes it ALL in while Sydney can focus on just one thing.

Doug is the cutest dad to these babies.  So glad he's my other half when more than half of me is tired and needing a break.  He's the best.

Love the way she is looking at him in this photo.  I should've cropped this one.

This is Bridal Veil Falls (Doug just captured the very, very bottom of the falls in these photos).  The babies just stared at the water below their feet.

They are starting to show signs (just today) of being closer and closer to crawling.  I am so excited for it (and yet so nervous to have them MOBILE!)

We are Hippies

This photo says it all.

I am always saying that Ethan looks nothing like me.  Saturday night I thought it would be fun to see what he looked like with my color hair.  Hilarious.  Syd wouldn't hold still for her glamour shot, so I will post one later.

On another 'we are hippes' note, we've had some serious fruit fly issues this summer.  It has been frustrating, let alone nasty.  My friend, Melissa, posted this comment on Facebook and I decided to try it.  Vinegar in a bowl covered with plastic wrap with holes poked in it with a fork.  As soon as we poked the holes, the flies swarmed it.  We've caught 6 in 24 hours.  Woo hoo!  Huge difference.  I thought I'd post it so others can know about this.  Works great.  Thanks Melissa.

Last night for Family Home Evening, we do what hippies do - we drove up the canyon to see the leaves changing colors.  It is so stunning and it's just in our 'backyard'.  I have grown to love the outdoors more and more since being married to Doug.  He had a rough day working on his dissertation yesterday and I had gone to the office with the babies.  I called him on my way home and said, "grab some snacks and let's go up the canyon."  I didn't have to twist his arm.  We pulled over to feed the babies in this spot and couldn't resist taking a few photos.

 They loved it!

We opted for a family photo.  Thanks to my Grandma for making these adorable blankets for E & S.  They are so warm that we haven't had many occasions to use them yet.  They made their debut in this photo.

The photo just doesn't do the scenery justice.  It was breathtaking.  

Eight Months and growing

Wow!  Two posts in one day.  A few shots from the last 2 weeks. 

Sydney with her arm around her mouse friend.  Adorable.

Can't believe they are eight months old.  We stayed at a family's house last week to watch their teenage kids.  They were great with the babies.  We took some photos of them at their house on their eight-month-birthday.

Ethan loves to maul his sister.  We didn't get a decent photo of them because he wouldn't stop.  Sydney isn't a fan because his 'hug' usually involves pinching.  Poor Syd.  Ethan thinks she's the best thing in the world.

Weighing in (Ethan is catching up with his sister fast!):

Ethan

14 lbs 6 oz

26.5" inches long

Sydney

14 lbs 12 oz

26.75 inches long

Today, Doug took a jog while I made some lunch (see the recipe I posted on the Be Well blog).  I looked outside the kitchen window (we are in a basement apartment) to see two cute babies heads in the grass.  Doug was putting the stroller away in the garage.  Too cute.  They were rolling around and grabbing at the grass.

It made me laugh.  It's been a tough week with these babies.  They are both really congested and the nights have been long.  They wake up really often because they can't breathe through their noses.  When I am sleep deprived, I am not very patient with them during the day.  This makes for long nights...and long days.