Post birthday party

The boys' party was wildly successful! We had a FULL house, with all our friends, family, and lots o' kids running around, all celebrating the fact that these precious souls were born and have lived (almost!) a whole year!

I can't even begin to think about how emotional I am going to be on Wednesday, their actual birthday. My tiny 5 and 6 pound babies have brought me more joy than I knew possible. I remember doing my first shot of Follistim and Menopur in a hotel bathroom in Tulsa (how funny infertiles are. Most look back fondly on a special weekend/vacation/night that their child was probably conceived on. I remember shooting up on a girls spa weekend when my husband wasn't even with me).

The boys got a lot of great gifts! Fun books, blocks, toys, jammies, and cute outfits! We are blessed! I think our favorite gift, however, were our big boy chairs from Mele and Papa!

We went to the gym this morning (gotta burn off all of the cupcakes/rice krispe treats/cookies/Qdoba) then decided to stay home and play all day with the new toys.

My sweet friend Callie took pictures for me, so as soon as I get those back I will get them on here!

I have been blessed

I love our family pictures this year! Last year, I was 10 days post-partum with twins, running on zero sleep...however, this year, the boys are mobile and had runny noses - but I digress.

It was gorgeous out and the trees were in the peak of their fall glory. We went out to a little neighborhood at our country club and our lovely photographer met us there.

I die.

"We are stitched together, and what love has tethered, I pray we never undo." - Blake Shelton

So thankful for these precious memories of my sweet family!

Busy doesn't even begin...

to describe my life this past week. The twins were sick, we are in full potty-training mode with Paige, and I'm trying to tie up all the last-minute details of the boys' party Sunday.

It got me thinking how everyone has told me that twins get harder as they get older. For me, things are actually getting easier, but not in the way that you'd expect.

I am busier - the twins are in to everything. Jack can crawl up our stairs, from the bottom all the way up to the top. He loves to crawl in the study and turn our internet off. He has learned how to start the dishwasher. Braley loves the bathroom trash cans, and to take all the contents out and kind of wade around in them. Jack loves to turn the bathtub on. He finds every single door stopper in our house, takes them off, then hides them somewhere. We are missing about 5. Cool. Braley is a momma's boy through and through, so if he can see me, he generally wants me to be holding him. And if I don't, he crawls up to me, squeaks, then lays his head on my feet and sucks his thumb.

Not to mention, I also have a 2.5 year old we are potty training. So as you can imagine, I am busy. But this is so much easier to me than the first 6 months. The first 6 months were clouded by guilt. I felt guilty that I couldn't hold the babies as much as I wanted. Guilty that Paige had to watch TV while I worked on nursing. Guilty that I held Paige for hours on end as she slept, but the babies had to nap in their bouncy seats. Guilty, guilty, guilty.

As time has gone on, I feel like I can give my time more evenly to the kids, the boys love to play on the floor with their toys, meal times are easy because the boys are on all table foods and all the kids are on the same schedule. We are in a routine.

Don't get me wrong, when both boys are sick and just want to be held and I can't do that, those feelings of guilt come flooding back.

But I must say, that I'm enjoying this time a lot more than I thought I would.

I will try to get back in the groove of blogging next week, after the party.

I'm pretty excited to celebrate my babies first year of life with those who love them : )

xoxo

Been MIA

I've been MIA. I am in a little bit of a funk - can't really explain it. Maybe having something to do with the fact that my babies will be babies no more in 8 days? And then Braley getting sick, which I'll get in to below...well that has done nothing to help my spirits.

I'll start with Halloween! Trick or treating was fun, but David had to work, so he missed it. That made both of us upset, and it was very stressful for me - to say the least.

Little bubber cub loved trying to get into the candy!

Jackpot!

The weather has been hit or miss here, one day it is beautiful and we can play outside, then the next it is cold and raining. Certainly could be contributing to my funk.

We had fun at the OU game on Saturday, then family pictures were Sunday! A little preview of one of my little buddies: : )

The kids (and hubby!) were extremely well behaved for our pictures. It really could not have gone better! I CAN NOT WAIT to get them back! It was a perfect day, our location was gorgeous - a perfect fall photo shoot.

But the littlest of my loves (Braley bub) started getting sick and it has gotten worse and worse. All the kids (and me!) have had some congestion, but nothing too bad. But poor Braley seems to always get the worst of it.

I went out today and stocked up on any and all products I could find to help combat colds and congestion.

The main problem was fever and the fact that I couldn't suction out his nose fast enough and he kept swallowing the congestions (gross, sorry) - and vomiting non-stop. He slept on an off all day. Around 11, I went in and got him from his crib to find that he had vomited, yet again, and I could tell it was mucous-y and green, so I decided it was time to see the doctor.

Little man couldn't even lift his head at this point : (

And it was all he could do to even keep his eyes open.

Love our pediatrician so much - she was so sweet and just very concerned about this sweet guy. He was dehydrated and that was making him even sicker - she saw him dry heave several times. And I told her that he had been doing that all day, so she knew this was something we had to correct before it got serious. We did pedialite, and he took it very well!

It still took him about an hour of being lethargic and not being able to stay awake, but once that got in his system, it was like flipping a switch! It was nuts! He fought to get out of my arms, crawled up to Jack's highchair and started eating his food!

Then a little eucalyptus bath helped even more.

I struggle with watching my kids be sick. I know that I am lucky that this is the most major thing we deal with, but it is difficult for me. I had David come home from work and my mom come over because I just get so stressed and upset. And, I have 2 other children who need love, attention, and to be taken care of. I am blessed with people in my life who love to help me care for my kids. And David is a great dad who worries right there with me and doesn't make me feel like I am paranoid or crazy for being so upset.

All 3 little loves are sleeping and David is fetching me some Sonic right now, so things are looking up : )

Song for daddy

David has been working crazy hours at work and hasn't gotten to see his kids. Paige and I made him a video to cheer him up: : )

Paige and Braley

I think that Paige and Braley look SO much alike. It is wild! This is Paige a few weeks before her birthday and Braley J a few weeks before his first birthday.

And the funny thing is, Jack looked exactly like Paige at as a newborn.