Easter

We had a pretty fun day here. We started with Easter baskets which the Easter Bunny delivered to our doorstep sometime overnight. We made it to church at about 9 a.m. and were treated to a waffle and strawberry breakfast served by the youth of Hope Lutheran Church. We had a wonderful Easter service given by Pastor Carl at 9:30.
After the church service, Tyler got to hunt for eggs with the other children at church (also provided by the teens of our church). After church we headed to my friend Hannah's parents' house (Jim and Susan). Jim is actually one of Erik's bosses. Hannah's husband Jan (Erik's friend and co-worker)and their three children, plus Hannah's sister and grandmother were also there. Tyler colored eggs and had an Easter egg hunt with his friends Michael and Seth. Aiden and Ashley hung out with their friend James (2 months old). We finished off the day with an early dinner at a Mexican restaraunt. It was the first time taking the babies to dinner and they did very well. Everyone helped keep the babies entertained so I could eat my dinner (yay!). Tyler got to spend the night at Hannah and Jan's house with his two friends. It was nice for Erik and I to have a little less responsibility and a little more time to relax in the evening when he arrived home.

All in all a wonderful day!!

New stroller!

I've been trying to get out and walk as often as possible lately, and my regular stroller was not handling the dirt all that well. I convinced Erik a new double jogging stroller would be a good investement. It arrived today! I am very excited about the front to back design. Most double strollers are side to side and take up tons of room (can't take them into stores). I can't wait to use it!

Life With Twinfants

Where do I start? This adventure has been amazing so far and so different from what I think I expected. I had a lot of fear and worry about how tough things were going to be before the twins arrived. I wondered how in the world I would manage even simple tasks like getting the babies in the car, feeding both at the same time, changing double the diapers, dealing with two babies different needs, etc., etc. It’s funny, because I have never really stopped to think about “how am I going to do these things?” since they were born. I simply do them. The Lord has given me the skills and patience I need and away we go! I have heard from other Moms that when people ask “How do you do it?” they always answer…”You just do it.” I find myself saying that all the time now, too.

I can’t even explain the joy that these two beautiful babies have brought to me and our family. Yeah, it’s tough at times (and what parenting job isn’t?), but getting double the smiles and watching their development as a pair has been so much fun. I have a poem framed in the babies room that sums it up pretty well:

Some days seem endless,
My patience grows thin.
Why was I chosen
to be the Mother of TWINS?
The answer comes clear,
at the end of each day.
As I tuck them in bed,
to myself I say.
There's two to kiss,
there's two to hug.
And best of all,
there's two to love!

This week both babies have started rolling over. Ashley was the first, on Monday, and Aiden followed on Wednesday. They are working on grasping objects, and bringing their hands together and to their mouths. The last two nights they both slept nine hours straight (8p.m. to 5 a.m.) Wooohooooo! Ashley took two ounces from a bottle for me yesterday (Yay!). Dolores, Tyler’s daycare lady, has offered to work with Ashley all next week with the bottle. Hopefully we will be back in business with that again soon so I can get away a bit in the near future (assuming I can find someone or a couple someones willing to watch three children J.
The pictures I have here are kind of funny, because I could not get a clear shot of both babies. Someone was always moving and blurry, But I picked the best facial expressions to share. As you can see, Ashley is quite the character. She is very much a flirt and will give a gigantic smile to anyone who will look at her for the slightest moment. She is known to keep many-a-church-goer distracted during the pastor’s sermons (esp. those sitting behind us making goo goo ga ga faces at her). Aiden is a little more serious and loves most to be held by Mommy, but he also has a very infectious smile and he carries on “full conversations” with anyone willing to chat with him. They are both incredibly happy babies. I have been amazed at what great temperaments all three of my children have. How did Erik and I get so blessed?

Best Buds

When I woke up and looked out the kitchen window this morning, this is what I saw. In case you can't tell what you're looking at, the brownish lump on the left of the blob is our cat, Dorey, and the black lump on the right is our dog, Codey. I could't get a better shot for fear of waking the sleeping buddies.

Update: I got a better picture this morning. They were right outsdie the window.

Tylerspective

Well, this is my second attempt at this post. I wrote three nice sized paragraphs and posted 5 photos just in time for my computer to freeze up, requiring me to end my task and lose all I had written. SO, here we go again.

Janell has been posting some cute photos that her girls have taken from their own perspective. I thought it would be fun to give Tyler the camera and see what happened. He took four photos which can bee seen here. I thought they showcased some of his "loves" pretty well. Had Daddy been home, I'm sure he would have been in one of the pictures, too. Can't say I'm too fond of the post-pregnancy body shot, but I guess that's what I get for doing this experiment :)!

Yesterday I took Tyler on a walk/bike ride. Tyler got a new big boy bike from Daddy this week and he is really having fun on it. He rode it all the way around Atascadero Lake! One funny thing was seeing from his perspective what a "big hill" was while he was riding. Mommy got a good workout pushing a double stroller and pulling a four year old on a bike at the same time up these "big hills" (if you've ever been around Atascadero Lake, you know it's not exactly a hilly area, but I guess for someone just learning to ride a bike, it can be a little difficult). I was very proud of my little man. He got to play at the park for a while afterwards, too. It was a fun day. I even managed to feed the younger ones (one at a time) while sitting on the grass at the park as Tyler played. Seems simple, but for having twins, it was actually quite an accomplishment.

We are gearing up for Easter here. Unfortunately, Erik will be working, but the rest of us will go to church. I have no room to complain, though, because at least my husband is here in town, and not half way around the world (Scott, Janell, and girls, I continue to pray for you!). Tyler will have an Easter egg hunt at home and at church. This year seems extra special to me because Tyler is really beginning to understand who Jesus is and will know more about what Easter really is. Oh, and I have to share a funny thing that Tyler asked me this week. These were his exact words: "Mommy, did God put my ears on with glue?" Very cute!

Happy Easter Everyone!

Meet Tyler and Emily....

No, not that Tyler and Emily........This Tyler and Emily:

In case you can't tell what they are from the pics, they are two caterpillars we found in the yard and are attempting to keep alive long enough to see cacoons and resulting moths (at least I think that's what they will turn into). Also, in case you didn't know, Tyler named them. Emily is the big one and is named after Tyler's best friend from church and daycare. She is the big caterpillar because she is older and therefore "big." We've actually already managed to kill one caterpillar. Thankfully, that one didn't have a name. If we are successful in caring for these caterpillars, we will be moving onto something a bit bigger in the next month. Let's just say that Tyler and Emily (the caterpillar Tyler and Emily) could be food for our next animal adventure. I know.....I've got your interests peeked. But I'm not sharing just yet :).

O.K. babies are crying, so time to go. Oh, and by the way. Hannah and I had a wonderful two hour dinner at a French restaraunt in Paso Robles (Panolivo). I can't say Erik and Jan had nearly as much fun. Ashley cried the entire two hours I was away and Aiden cried almost that, except when he was eating a bottle and finally fell asleep. Ashley has decided she does not like bottles anymore. Yikes! We will be working on that. James, the other baby (almost two months old), was sympathy crying as well. What fun! Erik asked me if next time we could go to lunch instead :).

Tyler's Birthday

Whew! Finally getting back here again. Tyler's birthdya was almost a week ago now, but I wanted to share some photos, so here they are. We had nine crazy kids and their parents here for a couple hours to eat pizza and cake. It was pretty wild, but very fun. Thankfully, it was a beautiful day, so the kids mostly played outside. I enjoyed having a bunch of "Mommies" around to hold babies so I could get a little break and turn my attention on Tyler a little. Tyler had a lot of fun, but was a bit impatient about opening presents (I think he asked me about every five minutes "when is it time?"). He didn't even want to eat cake because he was so excited about the presents. His friends were all very generous and we are once again filled to the brim with toys. His favorites right now are Legos, Bob the Builder (of course), Rescue Heroes, and Power Rangers. What a boy!

We have been having fun visiting with Erik's sister, Igrid, who is with us for the last time before she heads back to live in Missouri next month. She and her husband Mitch will be greatly missed! She and Erik are loading up her truck right now with all sorts of stuff to take back to Missouri that we were ready to get rid of (lots of baby stuff that we are done with or can't use because it's for "singleton" babaies, and no, there are no babies expected from her anytime soon, we're just giving her the stuff now so it can go in the moving truck.....otherwise we couldn't get it to her when the time actually comes :).

So, anyhow, life is good here. We are off to the neighbors birthday party today (he is two days younger than Tyler), then We are all going to our friends' Hannah and Jan's house so Erik and Jan can watch three babies and three boys ages 3-6 while Hannah and I go to dinner by ourselves....Yippeee! I can't wait to see what things are like in the house when we return from dinner! I'm sure I'll have a fun blog to write about that!!! BFN! (That's By For Now).