Goodbye Magen (& Derek) - we'll miss you!

Our friends Magen & Derek are moving to Nashville this weekend.  Magen got a job at Vanderbilt working in psychology research, so we're happy for her because that's what she wanted and we've been praying for a long time about that!  But we're sad, too, because she comes and plays with us about once a week.  They boys love her!!  Here she is playing with Jordan.

She came over yesterday (she sneaked away from packing for a few hours) and saw us.  Her apartment sounds awesome - it'll be almost as big as my house.  And we have family up there, so we'll see her when we take those trips.  I didn't get any pictures of her with Aidan, so here are some of the silliness he's been showing lately.

Yep, that's a bird's foot in his mouth.  He's been playing like this all day yesterday and today - too funny!
We love you Magen!!

Christmas Recap

We ran ourselves ragged again this Christmas - we must stop doing that!  I just hate to miss out on any family.  Thursday night, we went with the Alanizes to a Christmas Eve service at their church and went back to their house for supper and presents.  I didn't get any pictures because we were later than I expected which made the babies fussy and me stressed.  I'm sad it went that way and I didn't get any pictures, but I'm sure Sheila did.  Friday morning, we went back over there to see what Santa brought in our stockings.  I still didn't get any pictures because my camera batteries died!  Sheesh.  But they got lots of cute clothes, a learning puppy who sings songs (they love it), some stacking cups, and each a VeggieTales CD that puts their name into songs.  Andrew and I also got clothes, a George Foreman!!, and some gift cards.  We left after lunch that day and headed up to my Pappaw's in Arab to be with my daddy's family.  We were only there for about an hour before it was time to head up to Huntsville for the night.  My brother and his wife and baby girl were there, so everyone was together on Christmas night.  We had a nice dinner and opened more presents!  The boys got more cute clothes, some stacking rings and a precious pull toy duck, new jammies, new learning cards (like flashcards), and I'm drawing blank on the rest.  I got the 2nd season of Friends on DVD - whoohoo!  Andrew got a travel coffee mug, which he'd been needing.  I know there was more, but once it's unpacked, it's hard to remember!  It was fun, though.  The new jammies came from a family friend, and she got all the grandkids a pair.  We took several shots trying to get a good one (most are hilarious).  Here's a few:

Saturday morning, Andrew and the boys and I went with Sarah to Target because she needed some jeans.  I had some birthday money to spend, and I found a pair of jeans, too!!  This is an amazing accomplishment!!  They fit, they look nice, they don't make my belly a muffin top!!  I feel good in them and now I just need to hem them.  Excellent!  Then we went on over to my mom's cousin's house for her side of the family's Christmas.  All the cousins were there and it's always nice to see everyone and get to sit and talk.  This year, we just did presents for the little kids.  Aidan and Jordan got a little toy each, 2 cans of formula, and a Target gift card!  We love free formula.  We also got some cute cute books from another cousin (just because she loves books and loves to share books) - they are by Eric Carle - who wrote The Hungry Caterpillar - and they're shapes and colors and numbers and seriously very cute.  We had Christmas dinner and the kids sang songs for everyone before they got their gifts.  pictures:

Taking a bow!  Cute, aren't they?

We are still teething (no new teeth showing yet).  The growth spurt isn't as bad as I thought - the last time we really had a crazy one, I was still nursing and that was seriously challenging.  Now I can just add another ounce to the bottle.  I must say, I prefer this in dealing with twins.  But I still reflect and miss that special time we share while nursing.  Anyway!  We had a good Christmas and we have now put away all the decorations.  Time to sort through the new stuff, find places to put it, and put up the play yard!  Both boys are now rolling back and forth at will.  Still not using it to get them across the floor, but they definitely are creeping and scooting.  Jordan is really good at sitting up, but needs to learn not to fling himself backwards toward the floor.  Aidan is working on it.  Jordan has started blowing raspberries with his tongue - too cute!  I'll try to get pictures of that.

Sittin' Pretty!

All new this week:  Jordan got his belly off the ground!!  He was up on his hands and knees, just not very for very long and his belly wasn't real high off the ground.  But he's on his way to crawling!  Considering how quickly this has happened since he started rolling (and still doesn't roll to get any farther than the next toy), I don't think it will be long before he's off!  This is exciting, but scary!  I'll be getting the play yard from my mom this weekend.  It took me about 15 minutes to get a good picture of it, but here it is.

"Do you really think I'm going to do this for the camera?"

Up!!

That is hard work!!

Aidan still only rolls front to back, and not very often.  I think he's just lazy.  :)

Also, this week we've been sitting up!!  They don't have great balance yet, but they started this weekend sitting up and propping on their hands (leaned over their legs, like a frog).  Last night (and again today), Jordan sat straight up!!  He's been "doing crunches" for about a week and wanting to sit up all the time and now we know why!  I can't believe we're already here - almost 6 months old!

Please excuse the spit-up.  :)  We get what we can.  Today, our friend Magen came to visit.  She's just been offered a job in Nashville and we're happy for her, but sad she'll be leaving.  We'll miss her visits a lot!!  She left around lunch and my mother-in-law came and took us out for lunch.  Mama Goldberg's was yummy, as always, and then we went walking at Heardmont Park.  We walked for probably an hour - it was gorgeous outside!  Not Christmas weather at all, but I really needed that time out of the house.  It was good to get some exercise, too.  Tonight, Sheila stayed for supper, and a cousin of hers brought us some toys and clothes that her kids have outgrown.  Oh. My. Goodness.  Talk about a blessing.  Two garbage bags full of toys and another of clothes.  Excellent condition.  We're so thankful.  God has used so many friends and family members to bless our lives this year, especially this month.  He is truly faithful.

Two songs that are on my heart this week:

Give us clean hands, give us pure hearts.

Let us not lift our souls to another.

And, oh God, let us be a generation that seeks,

who seeks Your face, oh God of Jacob.

I will never be the same again.

I can never return, I've closed the door.

I will walk the path, I'll run the race.

And I will never be the same again.

Fall like fire, soak like rain.

Flow like mighty waters again and again.

Sweep away the darkness, burn away the chaff,

and let a flame burn to glorify Your name.

There are higher heights, there are deeper seas.

Whatever You need to do, Lord do it in me.

The glory of God fills my life

And I will never be the same again.

Talking

Well I posted about Jordan rolling over, so this is about Aidan.  I posted last week that he'd started "talking" more and he's going non-stop!  He's so funny!  He just talks (squeals) all day long.  He doesn't need anyone to talk to or answer him.  He's got a deeper voice than Jordan, but squeals higher.  I love it!  We laugh at him all day.

I never posted about my birthday!! I just realized it last night when I was posting about my family taking us out for my birthday this weekend.  Well, my birthday was the 7th, so Andrew's family took us out to Cheesecake Factory (love it).  Excellent food, excellent cheesecake.  Love it.  I got Fiddler On The Roof on dvd!!  So excited!!  I also got some money, a scrapbook of the boys that Sheila made for me, and a gift card to Cheesecake Factory for Andrew and I to use on dessert some other time.  It was a fun night!  Andrew had given me my birthday present a week early just because it came early when he ordered it online.  It was the first season of Friends on dvd!!  Now I have plenty to watch during the day when I should be doing other things - like yoga.  Excellent distractions.  :)

What a Weekend

We had a crazy weekend.  Andrew got home from Mobile on Thursday night.  He went to work on Friday for half the day and came home after lunch.  My family all came down Friday, too.  That night was Andrew's work Christmas Party - we forgot to take a picture of us dressed up, of course.  Oh well.  It was downtown at Ted's Garage - very cool - same venue as it was two years ago.  Great food, catered by Fish Market.  It was nice this year because Andrew knows more people and we were more comfortable with the whole scene, I guess.  Since my family was in town for the weekend, they watched the boys for us.  We got home pretty late, but it was our first time out of the house without the boys for more than 2 hours.  It was a welcome break!  We must schedule in date nights more often.  :)  Yesterday, my mom & sister & I hosted a craft show at my house.  We had a small turnout, but it was kind of a last minute thing.  Next time, we will plan earlier and advertise better.  I did make a little money, so that's always good.  My niece had gotten sick on Friday, so after the craft my sister took her back home and left my nephew with my parents.  We all went out to eat seafood for my birthday dinner last night and that was yummy.  My nephew is so funny - he ate catfish nuggets... yeah, I'd never heard of such.  Sounds gross to me, but he cleaned the plate.  This morning, we had a baby dedication service at church.  Us and three other families were presented with baby Bibles and had prayers said over the babies to dedicate them to the Lord.  It was a really nice service and it's so good to see the church family growing that way.  All of Andrew's family made it, so we took pictures.  These are a little dark, but we were in a hurry.

Rolling (in pictures)

Yay, Jordan!!

Jordan is rolling over so well!  He doesn't do much laying on his back anymore - he turns over almost immediately after I lay him down.  Tonight, he also turned in a circle while on his tummy.  Earlier, Andrew was laying on the bed with him and he rolled front to back and then back to front like it was nothing new!  Too much fun!

Rolling

Jordan is rolling over!  He's been working on it for about two weeks or so, I guess.  He rolled back to front first, and just yesterday got front to back figured out.  He usually saves it for when my back is turned, of course.  But I'm started to lay the toys a little farther away and make 'em work for it!  Aidan has just really started working on back to front.  He did roll front to back the other day, though.  He's pretty consistently two weeks behind Jordan on things like this.  But they both pivot around on the floor on their backs and Jordan wants really bad to be able to move around on his belly.  Aidan also just started "talking" this week!  Jordan has been babbling and actually moved on to trying to squeal.  It's so funny to me, but Aidan's voice is a little deeper than Jordan's.  I can't explain why that's funny - I just love seeing their differences and similarities, it's so interesting to me.  We're working on more teeth, too, I just don't know which ones.  I think it's probably the two on either side of the middle two on the bottom.  They will look really funny with four teeth on the bottom and none on the top, if that's the case.  The drool is about the same and we've got one snotty nose this time (Aidan) that won't clear up.  All in all, they're not too fussy or clingy.  They're usually satisfied with a few teething tablets, so that's good.  But we will be really happy to have Andrew home tonight!  He's been in Mobile on business since Tuesday and Mommy is exhausted.  Great timing with the craft show being this weekend, right?  No worries, the show will go on.  I've had great help and things are almost ready!

I was listening to Christmas music on the radio this morning while giving the boys their bottles and the song "Mary, Did You Know" came on.  I never heard this song until I was an adult (that I'm aware of), so I've never taken a lot of time to consider it.  But sitting giving bottles and not being able to snuggle either baby while doing it gives me time to think (and yes, it makes me sad - it will be great to have Andrew home so we can snuggle our babies while giving bottles again).  We also had a really good sermon on Sunday that has me thinking about these things quite a bit.  Please bear with me, as these thoughts are hard to put into words.  It is so true that the Christmas Story takes on new meaning once you have children.  So I was trying to put myself in Mary's place as she dealt with this newborn baby, all the while knowing it was God.  I can imagine she had moments of doubt or thinking herself crazy because... well ... God?  As a baby?  That's beyond comprehension.  And to know that God (as a baby) is completely dependent upon you to feed him, change him, love & nurture him... that thought overwhelms me.  Somehow I've never gotten to this area of thought about God living as a human.  Maybe because we see Him always depicted as a man.  Maybe because there isn't much said about his childhood.  But have I considered the baby?  As I listened to "Mary, Did You Know", I thought about kissing your baby's face and it being the face of God.  Wow.  How would my relationship with my babies change if that were true?  And then I thought, but it is true.  Aren't we all His divine creation?  Aren't we all inhabited by the Spirit?  And if we could see God at work in each other everyday, how would that change our relationships?  My goal as a mother is to inspire my children and raise them to have a personal relationship with God Almighty.  My prayer is that God will dwell in them and guide them through their lives.  If I saw my babies (or anyone else) as being a vessel of the Lord, wouldn't my attitude toward them be different?  Furthermore, when I show respect for God's creation (and that includes myself), I show respect for God.  For those of you who don't know me as well as others, I tend to be a little hot-tempered.  I love my parents dearly (and mean no disrespect when I say), but I feel I come by it honestly.  So I see God working on me everyday, by giving me two babies at once and teaching me to be ever slower to speak and slower to anger.  Not that I'm always angry with my babies, please don't misunderstand.  But if you've had a baby or babysat or held a screaming baby you can understand at least half of my frustration at times.  For instance, what do you do when your two babies are too heavy for your two arms?  And why didn't God hand down a second set of arms to deal with the second baby?  I think I will always deal with guilt knowing that I have to choose who to hold first and who to let cry a little longer.  But I don't think God wants me to carry that.  I don't think He would allow multiple births if the mothers weren't capable of loving each baby equally.  And if I raise my babies to be Godly adults, I can trust that they will be loving and understanding individuals who will (hopefully, prayerfully) feel they are loved enough.  I don't know if all that will make sense to anyone else, but those thoughts I had this morning weren't put to .. keyboard .. until now.  So I'm sure a little something got lost along the way.
No pictures today, but I will have after this weekend!  Family in town all weekend!  Cleaning day tomorrow, Andrew's work Christmas party tomorrow night, Craft Show Saturday, baby dedication at church on Sunday.  Whew.  Should be fun!

Great Day :)

Just a small note to say that today was great!  Andrew and I have been learning a lot about coupons and how to use them more effectively - we've gone crazy with it!  Ok, not really crazy, but we do love it.  It's like a money-saving game to us.  We're hoping to hold a coupon class at our church some time next month!  I'll post details when I know them for those of you in town who might want to come. (Randi, you inspired me to this!)  We got started on the grocery list this morning and printing coupons (we're still a little slow at this) and finally got to Publix after lunch.  We spent around $140, but saved $65.  And that includes a lot of food that we're stockpiling.  It's about twice as much as we'll eat in a week.  Good times.  :)  Then we went over to Andrew's parents for the SEC Championship... OH. MY.  What a great game!!  Roll Tide!!  We had a good time eating chili and hanging out with them.

And I wanted to let you know (because I know you're so eager to see this) that I updated my pregnant belly timeline post to include the swollen feet and uncovered 36 weeks belly.  If you dare: click here

Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas to all!  And to all a good night!!

cutie patooties

5 Months Old!

Can you believe that??  I sure can't.  We've been eating solid foods!  They did great on rice cereal and after two weeks of just that, they were definitely ready for more.  They now have cereal before a morning 6 oz bottle, cereal and a veggie before a lunch 6 oz bottle, an afternoon 6 or 7 oz bottle, veggies when Andrew gets home, and a bedtime 7 oz bottle.  They are perfect little angels.  The new schedule is roughly 8a, 12p, 4p, 8p - with that Daddy time feeding around 6pm.  I love it.  I can get up early and get a shower before they get up and it's awesome.  We've had green peas, squash, green beans, and now carrots.  Jordan hasn't cared for either of the greens, but eats them just fine for Andrew.  For me (and my MIL), he clamps his mouth shut.  :)  He catches on quick.  Aidan doesn't seem to care - he just loves to eat!  They share a small jar of food at lunch and each eat their own at supper.  They are both working on rolling over from back to tummy, Jordan has done it once or twice without help.  They put themselves to sleep at nap and bedtime, we just have to love on them for a few minutes and then lay them down.  Jordan laughed out loud last night!!  I mean, a full belly laugh - it was too cute!  Aidan was close to doing the same, but we didn't get anything on camera.  We might try that tonight.  It's so much harder to get anything on camera with two!  I was making Jordan laugh, but Andrew was holding Aidan and they were having a good time, too.  So there was no one to take pictures or video!!  I need hidden cameras all over the house, I guess.  Here are some pictures Andrew took after Thanksgiving.  Aren't these the cutest PJs ever??  Our friend Kim handed them down to us - love them!!

Three Thanksgivings

Thanksgiving was... well, a blur!  We had fun, but wish we didn't live so far from my family.  Thursday we went to Arab to celebrate with my Daddy's daddy's side of the family.  It's a big gathering with Pappaw's brother and sisters and all their kids and grands and great-grands.  The boys did great, took short naps and ate some peas before we had to pack up and head back home.  Such a short trip!  I don't really have any good pictures, I forgot to get out the camera!  Here's all of my Pappaw's kids & their families that were there.

Friday was our Thanksgiving with Andrew's family.  We went to his parents house a little before lunch and had a little play time before everyone else got there.  We had gumbo, which was yummy!  (I think that's my second time to have gumbo.)  Andrew's dad had to go to work that afternoon, but the rest of us stayed and watched the Iron Bowl.  I was disappointed with the Tide, but glad they pulled it out.  I'm scared for the Florida game, though.  I hope they get it back together!!  Here's Aidan playing with Pops before lunch.

Saturday was Thanksgiving with my mom's family.  This year we had it at a cousin's new house in Ashland City, TN - about 30 minutes west of Nashville.  We weren't totally packed Friday night (big mistake), but we left as soon as we got ready after the boys morning bottles.  Not soon enough.  It took us about an hour to get on the road after their bottles, so the 4 hour trip was just a little too long.  I drove most of the way, but ended up in the backseat trying to feed them cereal once we got close to Shawn & Tara's house.  Did I mention I get carsick really easily and that's why I usually drive?  Yeah. I wanted to throw up by the time we got there, and Aidan refused to eat any cereal in the car so he screamed until he got his bottle.  Great trip!  But the day went on and was excellent after that.  The kids went outside and played in a huge pile of leaves (it looked like fun) while we all took pictures. 

Then we had a wonderful late lunch and visited with family.  Just before lunch, my cousin Catherine announced her engagement!  I'm so excited for her, she's the cousin closest to my age and we always used to play together and loved sleeping over when we could (they live in Nashville).  I was impressed, she kept it a secret from all but her immediate family until just then!  She pulled the ring out of her pocket and everything!  We are happy to welcome her fiance Philip into the family!  Here's Catherine & I at my wedding.

It's your turn now, Catherine!

here's brother & sister Michael (left) & Catherine with fiance Philip (right) playing with Aidan

This side of the family always shares what we're thankful for.  We used to have a Thankful Turkey that we would stick our Thankful Cards in after we had written down what we were most thankful for each year, but I think he fell apart.  We now have a Grateful Gourd!  After lunch, we all sit together and someone reads all the cards aloud.  Shawn & Tara's screened-in porch was perfect for that.

After all the festivities, we drove down to Huntsville and spent the night with Mama & Daddy.  The kids were happy to have us for another day and it was nice to see everyone at church and not have to rush back home.  We got back home about supper time on Sunday.  Yesterday, Andrew took the day off to relax since we didn't really get to do that over the "break."  I wanted to get the Christmas tree up, but... nope.  Washed clothes all morning and cleaned up a little.  Today, I can't find the tree, so maybe tomorrow.  :)  Yesterday afternoon, we also went to see a different neurologist about some things that I think have been off with me since the seizures.  He did a little physical exam and said everything looked fine.  I've gone back to not sleeping well, so he thinks that is part of it.  It sounds silly, but we went to the neurologist to hear "drink plenty of fluids and exercise regularly."  We're glad there's nothing wrong, anyway!  I'll get right on that exercising, too.  Maybe.