Easter Surprise

These are pictures taken with my camera of pictures taken on my phone so they're pretty bad (I don't have internet on my phone)!

So our Easter surprise was not fun in any way but it does have a happy ending! We spent all day Friday at the ER in two different hospitals because our babies had RSV. Justin was worse and had bronchiolitis, Emma had asthma. Emma was able to go home that night but Justin was admitted so I spent the night and the whole next day with him in the hospital. He did great & was discharged Saturday evening.

I must say it was pretty weird & scary to have medical personnel hovering over my babies and to see them hooked up to machines & monitors. And we rode in an ambulance too.

It was so sweet, they were both so happy & smiley the whole time despite the many pokes & prods. Justin really liked one of his ER nurses. Anytime he was close to Justin's face he would start cooing & smiling at him like crazy. I think they enjoyed the extra attention :)

So we will be celebrating Easter this coming weekend instead! And I've been enjoying watching the General Conference I missed sans children in the evenings via my computer-nice!

And here's the happy ending. Home all together again, happy & almost all the way better!

On an entirely different note, Hyrum wrote his name for the first time & also created his first self portrait. Looks just like him eh?

Me & Em

This is myself at 2 1/2 months & Em at 2 1/2 months. I thought she was starting to look a bit like my baby pictures at first but I don't think she really does except for the hair & the chub :)

Thanks for saving the dress Mum!

Pictures, pictures, pictures

These 4 are my new favorite pictures of my babies
(Jeremy just pointed out to me that the pictures look exactly the same, but to my highly-trained Mother eye they are not! :-)

Tummy time

Yes, our babies are chub, chub, chub! As my Mom pointed out, in a lot of the pictures you can't even tell they have ears they're so round :) We love chub.

The handsome duo

This is how they spend their awake time pretty much. Together, smiling & cooing & all of us admiring them
(sorry Dr. Roberts, they don't spend 50% of their awake time on their tummies)

I love the way Hunter says the word penguin, thus this video-highly recommend this book

Happy Birthday

To the best husband, Daddy & friend I ever hoped for

Havalah

My sis-in-law Hava came to play for a few days. It was so fun to get her all to ourselves & I already miss having her here to talk with during the day.

She made these sweet hats for the babies & I to wear-aren't they cute? They're almost enough to make me wish it would snow again, but there's always next year! She also made some FLOWERS for Em's hair and bow ties for the boys. She taught me how to make the flowers & they're so fun & easy that I'm going to make lots more & I'm not a crafty lady

In honor of Saint Patrick (& Dr. Seuss) we ate green eggs & ham & a little green milk on the side for lunch today

Here is Em sporting her blessing dress that my Grammy made that my Mum & myself were both blessed in as babies. Well, she still has two more months to go before the big day so I have a feeling the Missus won't be fitting...hmmm...

My happy lil' Mister

Oh & we went to the 'hot dog' park this afternoon & there were a million other people there, all in our short-sleeves & basking in the 62 degree glory. Gotta love MI!

The Mister & Missus

So our babies turned 2 months last Thursday! Who can believe it? So here are their stats as of yesterday...

Emmie:

poundage 13 & 1 ounce---95th percentile

length 24.5 in---off the charts

Justin:

poundage 12 & 14 ounces---90th percentile

length 23.5 in---75th ish

Conclusion? Our babies are so big!!! I'm lovin' these double chins & rolls, rolls, rolls

What to do when it's 50 degrees in MI??

Go for our first official family walk of course..bring on spring, we're ready!
(Thank you Rackley fam for letting us borrow your stroller!!!)

Survival week 1

This week I've learned to multi-task in a new way

The many faces of Hyrum
(I couldn't pick just one)

Constant condition of our couch

Burrito time

Smiley babies

It's funny how willing Hunter is to share with the twins but not as much with his older brother!

I really, really, really like sleeping baby pictures

My first week alone went so well overall! Especially the first 4 days. Fri & Sat Jeremy was gone each day for about 12 or so hours prepping for & taking his last portion of his boards test so those days were looooong. But we did good.

Some things really helped a lot. My friend Abbie posted about some things that help her to be a better Mommy.

1. I really liked the idea of "time in's" with my kids because sometimes it's hard to focus my brain 100% on them if there is a million other things to do & think about & they can tell. But if there's a time limit then it's much easier. So every day I give Hyrum & Hunter each 20 minutes that I will do anything they want me to do with them & it's so much easier to give them my whole attention

2. I started inviting them to do chores with me. Hunter has turned out to be very adept at rinsing dishes, I was impressed :)

3. When annoyed with one of my older kids, it helps to put them in my lap, give them a big hug & kiss & talk with them. Snuggle time helps us both

Some other ideas have helped a lot too

1. This week I've come to realize what a blessing the bottle feeding is (surprisingly). It has been another realization that Heavenly Father knows me & what's best for my little family. Because we prop the bottles up for the babies, that gives me time I can fix the boys lunch, change a poopy diaper or play with them on the floor for another 20 minutes or so (or give them a bath!)

2. I am a big list gal & love to cross things off my list. I have kept my lists SUPER simple, like sweep the floor, make lunch for the boys, and run the dishwasher so I can still feel good that I am accomplishing things.

3. From about 4-5pm the boys watch something so I am free to get dinner on the table &/or take care of fussier babies. I love 'Cars' & 'Land Before Time' movies, you help a lot, really

4. Be more structured through the day. The boys still get lots of time to just play but instead of always just running around like crazy (bound to drive me crazy) we try to have things planned out for the day. We do one letter every day, practice writing it, sounding it out, looking at pictures of animals that start with that letter, thinking of words that start with the letter & singing the ABC song. I try to suggest puzzle time, color time & building w/ blocks time etc.

5. When the babies are awake I try to encourage the boys to talk to them & show them their toys so they can be involved with them as well

Anyway, that was too long of a post if you're still reading ;-) There are hard times but it is so worth it! I still can't believe I have been blessed with twins!