Moments with my littles I never want to forget

Both kids fight each morning and mealtime over who gets which baby (current favorite is Lo because he "talks" so much to the kids) but at least we have two so each big kid gets a baby to sit with and "be in charge of".

Right after lunch and before the dreaded naptime (that little a tends to run away from and fight me with in the beginning), little d gathered some grapes and headed out the back door with a "don't worry mama, I'm just making raisins for sister to have after her nap!"

Gosh I wish she'd keep those cute pigtails in!!

During quiet time he offered to watch the boys while I showered... I came back to "hiiiii sweet boys! Iiiiiits okayyyyy brothers heeeeeeere!" While rocking them gently in their sleep n plays, As he tried to calm one of them down and get the pacifier back in his mouth.

A few days ago after a particularly long scream-y altercation I only heard in the house because I was nursing the boys, I approached the two big kids, ready to scold them... Little d started immediately apologizing, "I'm sorry I made her scream mom but I just wanted to keep my little sister safe!" (She was trying to get outside by herself and he was blocking the door).

Both kids have been getting into trouble a lot lately... Mostly due to fighting. But they've both been really good about saying sorry and I love you when they do stuff wrong so it's crazy hard to stay mad at them.

I'm so so very lucky to have the two of them. And the boys are extremely lucky to have two incredibly loving and sweet big siblings.

Not to mention they have each other. Instant best friends for life!! I call this the "watching out for baby brother" look:

I have so many good memories building in the walls of my home over the past past two and a half months...only a fraction of which i manage to share on this blog. I've had a scary small amount of sleep since April (usually bordering 5 hours a night when I'm lucky) but I've been incredibly blessed to only really feel the sleep deprivation every once in awhile. And I can only hope that until I can function properly with a full 8 hours of sleep a night, that I will be able to continue to document as much as I can here so that I can always remember these early crazy years as a young family of six.

What's popular will not always be right, what's right will not always be popular

Never has this saying rung more true in my life than it has the last couple days with the most recent supreme court decision. I am usually one to shy away from controversial topics because I feel as if addressing them usually does more harm than good...feelings get hurt, people get offended, and no one changes their opinions. I am not writing this for you reading this or anyone else who can read this today for that matter, I am writing this directed specifically to my children. My children who will now grow up in a society and live immersed in a culture where same sex-marriage is accepted, possibly even as a "norm". I am not writing this to be patted on the back by fellow members of my church who hold my same views, and I am not writing this to anger those who do not hold my same views. I am writing this so that my children will know where their mother stood, and will continue to stand bravely, on the issue of family.

I remember being only 10 years old when I heard what is know called "The Family: A Proclamation to the World". I remember everyone making a pretty big deal of it as time went on and I could not understand why. They were such simple, basic truths in my mind... God ordained marriage between a man and a woman...who could argue with the creation of Adam and Eve? I thought. I felt like everything listed in the Family Proclamation was really not that big of a deal and I could not understand what sort of significance it could have in my life and what merited our beloved prophet to proclaim such a thing. And now, a mere 20 years later, as I read through it, nearly every thing listed in that proclamation is being challenged. And it will only get worse.

I believe in God. I believe he is my Heavenly Father, and I was created in his image. I believe that my gender is something that I brought with me from the pre-existence, as did everyone who is here on this earth and that it truly is a part of our eternal identity. I believe that I chose to come to earth because I accepted a Plan, a Plan that would include being tried and tested in an earthly body and that I would make mistakes. So many mistakes that it would prevent me from returning home to my dear Father in Heaven.

BUT. I also believe that I have a brother. An elder brother who was chosen from the beginning, chosen to help create the earth and everyone on it and then to assist in the salvation of those people. People who would hate him, mock him, despise him, deny his godliness and he would love them unconditionally and suffer, bleed and die for every person who would ever walk this earth. Through some power manifested in him that I will probably only understand in this life as using the priesthood in one of the most miraculous ways possible, Jesus Christ was able to not only die and bring himself back to life, but through the Atonement, he was able to carry an enormous burden--to suffer the sins of every single person on this earth so that if they so choose (because I do believe we were all given the gift of agency) they may repent and live once again with our Father in Heaven. I do not profess to understand how this will happen but I believe it with all my heart to be true.

I believe that the family is ordained of God and marriage between man and woman is essential to God's eternal plan. I will never back down from, apologize, or change that belief simply because it is no longer popular.

I KNOW that the disintegration of the family will bring upon us the calamities foretold by ancient and modern prophets. The Supreme Court ruling to legalize same-sex unions is but one of many, many attempts (including abuse, neglect, divorce, abortion) to challenge the structural integrity of the family unit. I am terrified to see what will happen in the next 20 years as society chooses to "be accepting of everyone", because it truly seems to be that to stand for a belief these days truly means I will be standing alone. I know full well that this post is not going to make me any friends, perhaps it will even create enemies of the friends that I have. But I cannot deny what I believe.

What I do NOT believe in is HATE. I do NOT believe that just because someone is gay or chooses to be gay (whatever you believe) merits any sort of hate towards them. I have nothing but love for those people, but that does not mean that I have to support what they do. Christ was the ultimate example of one who loved everyone regardless of the choices they make. I have friends that I love dearly that smoke, drink, and do all sorts of things that I do not support, but I still love them regardless.

To my children, I reiterate... I may stand alone in this issue. You may not agree with me. By the time my children are fully able to understand these issues, I doubt there will be many who support my traditional views on the sanctity of marriage and the family and that is ok. But I testify that my children, my posterity, will know where their mother stood in this turning point in history, and that is with the family proclamation, with the ancient and modern prophets, with God.

THE FAMILY

---

A PROCLAMATION TO THE WORLD

The First Presidency and Council of the Twelve Apostles of theChurch of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

WE, THE FIRST PRESIDENCY and the Council of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, solemnly proclaim that marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God and that the family is central to the Creator’s plan for the eternal destiny of His children.

ALL HUMAN BEINGS—male and female—are created in the image of God. Each is a beloved spirit son or daughter of heavenly parents, and, as such, each has a divine nature and destiny. Gender is an essential characteristic of individual premortal, mortal, and eternal identity and purpose.

IN THE PREMORTAL REALM, spirit sons and daughters knew and worshipped God as their Eternal Father and accepted His plan by which His children could obtain a physical body and gain earthly experience to progress toward perfection and ultimately realize their divine destiny as heirs of eternal life. The divine plan of happiness enables family relationships to be perpetuated beyond the grave. Sacred ordinances and covenants available in holy temples make it possible for individuals to return to the presence of God and for families to be united eternally.

THE FIRST COMMANDMENT that God gave to Adam and Eve pertained to their potential for parenthood as husband and wife. We declare that God’s commandment for His children to multiply and replenish the earth remains in force. We further declare that God has commanded that the sacred powers of procreation are to be employed only between man and woman, lawfully wedded as husband and wife.

WE DECLARE the means by which mortal life is created to be divinely appointed. We affirm the sanctity of life and of its importance in God’s eternal plan.

HUSBAND AND WIFE have a solemn responsibility to love and care for each other and for their children. “Children are an heritage of the Lord” (Psalm 127:3). Parents have a sacred duty to rear their children in love and righteousness, to provide for their physical and spiritual needs, and to teach them to love and serve one another, observe the commandments of God, and be law-abiding citizens wherever they live. Husbands and wives—mothers and fathers—will be held accountable before God for the discharge of these obligations.

THE FAMILY is ordained of God. Marriage between man and woman is essential to His eternal plan. Children are entitled to birth within the bonds of matrimony, and to be reared by a father and a mother who honor marital vows with complete fidelity. Happiness in family life is most likely to be achieved when founded upon the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities. By divine design, fathers are to preside over their families in love and righteousness and are responsible to provide the necessities of life and protection for their families. Mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of their children. In these sacred responsibilities, fathers and mothers are obligated to help one another as equal partners. Disability, death, or other circumstances may necessitate individual adaptation. Extended families should lend support when needed.

WE WARN that individuals who violate covenants of chastity, who abuse spouse or offspring, or who fail to fulfill family responsibilities will one day stand accountable before God. Further, we warn that the disintegration of the family will bring upon individuals, communities, and nations the calamities foretold by ancient and modern prophets.

WE CALL UPON responsible citizens and officers of government everywhere to promote those measures designed to maintain and strengthen the family as the fundamental unit of society.

Cooking my first steak before I turn 30

It's about time mom, says soux chef Lo

Talk about crazy delicious...

Lan's story (or my temporary bout into the realm of being dairy and chocolate free)

Lucky for me, I have one twin that is not phased by anything I do. He eats and sleeps and even when he has a full diaper he rarely complains.

Lan is not that twin. I have had multiple comments on how my boys were never really "newborn" sleepers and they are right to a certain extent... Lo is definitely an easy sleeper, he can fall asleep anywhere with little to no coaxing, and stay asleep for extended periods of time. I have said it before but if I only had him, I would probably be getting a full night of sleep, every night. But I was blessed with two very different babies, and Lan could not be more different than his brother. I always think to myself in the middle of the night when I am feeding the boys that Lo is my calming presence to keep me level headed when I want to be anything but, and Lan makes sure to keep up my milk supply ;)

Both boys have reflux, but are affected so differently by it. Lo spits up and just smiles through it (much like when he has been sitting in a full diaper longer than he probably wants to be) and is not bothered in the least by it. He actually spits up more than Lan these days! Lan, on the other hand, would scream and writhe in pain after just about every feeding, and he just kept feeding until he would spit up, crying, screaming in pain... it was terrible. I knew something was up (also he was hardly ever sleeping!!) so when we went in for the 1 month checkup with the boys I mentioned it to the doctor and he said he guessed it was heartburn (which I knew all too well!) that was bothering him so much. So he prescribed Zantac and told us if he was correct we would see a total difference in Lan's attitude within 3-5 days.

Day 5 was the last day my mother in law was in town and Lan was WORSE than EVER, screaming bloody murder nonstop like he was being tortured even when he was being held... she mentioned maybe it was something I was eating and that day I cut out dairy and chocolate. It was hard, but I noticed a TOTAL TRANSFORMATION within 24 hours... he was HAPPY and sleeping longer than 10 minutes without assistance BUT it turns out it was because of the medicine, not the lack of dairy/chocolate....unfortunately it would take me a few weeks of experimenting to figure that out.

Mostly because no one in our immediate family has any food sensitivities, I had a really hard time accepting that a child of mine would be unable to have something that was so prominent in our family's diet, namely dairy. So every Sunday I would experiment a little with what I ate and add in a little chocolate or a little dairy and every Sunday was a nightmare it felt like with the screaming and sleeping so I would go back to being dairy and chocolate free by Monday morning. What I didn't realize at the time was there were other factors in play (ie, Sundays are usually the day with the least amount of consistency in our week) that were actually affecting him and long story short, I went back to eating regularly and he was just as happy as his brother (and sleeping much more, even though not near as much as his brother, haha!).

Then, two weeks ago (just over 3 weeks after being on the medicine) he started showing those same signs again...and after questioning my diet yet again (gotta love that that's always my default for why my babies are miserable... its gotta be my fault right?!), Drew reminded me that the doctor did say that the medicine was based on weight, so I requested an increase in his meds (Since we all know he's been gaining weight, the little chunker!) and even though it was slight, he was back to normal.

Now... naptimes/bedtimes are still hard. Occasionally we are able to tire the boys out enough to only have to go back into the room a handful of times before they fall alseep, but most nights are still a dance up and down the stairs to re-put in pacifiers (which thankfully Lan is finally taking!!!!) or nurse some more or re-swaddle but at least now the horrible, blood curdling screaming is gone and replaced by a much more normal amount of baby crying.

We go back to the doctor for two month checkups and shots on Weds and can hopefully sort out the medicine for sure. But until then I am just counting my blessings that my sweet little Lan, my middlest little, is happy and not in constant pain anymore.

I do so love my chunky monkey Landa-Panda bear!

"What's it like to breastfeed twins?" (with a whopping 2 1/2 months ofexperience!)

Easily the most asked question by my friends and family (and the occasional stranger). Most often heard comment is "wow, your hands are full!" (which I am sure I could tolerate better if the person saying it offered to open the door for me as I am struggling to get a toddler, preschooler, and double stroller through it).

So.

I thought I was hungry while I was nursing one baby.
I thought I was hungry when I was training for a marathon.
Then I had twins. Hungry took on a WHOLE NEW MEANING.

If childbirth is a marathon, nursing (namely twins) is like training for a marathon, Which if you have never done either, you should know that for either one you are constantly sore, sweating, HUNGRY and THIRSTY

ALL
THE
TIME!

I cannot even fathom what it would be like to be nursing twins and training for a marathon but since I have started working out (and it's not even that much!) I am eating roughly 4000 calories a a day and I rarely feel full. Possibly part of the problem is that I cannot get enough food into me in the earlier half of the day because I have too much going on with the kids, but then when I get them all in bed I am ravenously starving. Not a great combination, and certainly something I am still working on.

The first few days I was in the hospital the nurses were wonderful and supportive in helping me tandem (both at the same time) nurse the boys every time, which was not easy. I chose to tandem feed because I remember how time consuming nursing boys can be (I switched to bottles at night with little d because I got so impatient with the constant nodding off mid-feed), and I had the experience of nursing two kids before these ones, so I felt confident in my nursing abilities/skills. I was lucky that as soon as I could hold the boys post surgery, both (mostly Lan!) were eager to nurse and I was eager to get started. But it was not without bumps in the road...More often than not one was always sleeping and we could not get him awake (Ahem...Lo) and it was a super big pain that the nurses made me switch sides each time and keep track of the time I was feeding the boys and for how many minutes each one nursed for... I about went completely crazy. Not to mention a pediatrician (not mine) came in at the last day and informed me that I needed to supplement (advice that I completely ignored and was able to prove myself correct when my boys easily gained weight as soon as my milk came in).

As soon as I got home from the hospital (at the recommendation of a fellow nursing twin mom who made it past a year nursing!), each boy was assigned a "side" for the day/24 hours. Lan is my most demanding and eager and impatient nurser, so I decided that I would wear something on my wrist to remind me which side he was on and Lo would get the other side. Lan usually does a great job nursing and Lo doesn't eat as much (go figure, right?) either not nursing quite as long or as vigorously, so switching it up every night right before they would go to bed at night helped me to never get engorged or any sort of infection from clogged milk ducts, and my milk supply has been (knock on wood) great.

Insofar as taking care of myself as a nursing mom, I tried for the first seven weeks not to think much about attempting any sort of weight loss at all... I ate when I was hungry and attempted to drink as much water as I could tolerate (in the beginning it was upwards of 100+ ounces). I wanted my sole focus to be on milk production to be sure it was well established, which was more important than quickly getting back my pre-baby body, which come to think of it, it was around the time I hit the prebaby weight that my milk production slowed and eventually stopped with the other littles, so maybe that is something I will have to hold off on for a bit, and keep those last 5-10 pounds (I am still at over 15) until I am done nursing. Anyways, So once it was well established, we had a good routine of nursing every 2-2 1/2 hours.... and only in the last two weeks (the boys are 10 weeks on Monday) have I preferred to nurse the boys separately (without the My Brest Friend nursing pillow/baby feeding tray that had been basically constantly attached to my waist the last month or so) since they went from 20-30 mins or more of nursing per feeding, down to less than 10 minutes and sometimes as short as 5 minutes if they are super hungry. If both cry at the same time, Lo is usually content with a pacifier for a few minutes which is all I need to go ahead and nurse Lan (my faster nurser, anyway). At night I sleep until one wakes me up with his crying and then after I feed him, I will put him to bed and wake up his brother for a feeding to keep them on the same schedule. I LOVE nursing them separately... it makes the connection so much more meaningful to me now that they are actually looking at me while I feed them and some days it is my only time I get to spend, one on one with each of them.

I nurse my boys everywhere, and since I am usually these days with all four kids in tow I can't just duck into a nursing area because I have to keep in mind how I am going to entertain my big littles while I am in public. So I usually just let the big kids keep doing whatever they are doing and feed the boys wherever we are. I started out always wearing a nursing tank top underneath my clothes to keep my belly covered (since I usually just lift my shirt to nurse) but the hotter it has gotten, the harder that has been to keep up, since I try to wear the most minimal amount of clothing possible when I am caring for two little furnaces so close to my body every few hours. I do NOT use a nursing cover, which I did with the other two and I felt like it drew unnecessary attention to my feeding the littles (in my opinion), and was not worth the hassle to me... that being said I DO try my very best to keep my modesty covered up... the muslin blankets are great for holding the boys without them getting too hot, and using to keep the small amount of skin that is exposed when I nurse under wraps (not to mention to help me keep the milk spillage to a minimum). I am sure I have exposed myself a time or two (or more) but I feel proud of the fact that I am willing and able to feed my two boys, and that my big littles think it is perfectly normal for me to do so (even when I am completely exposing everything at home most of the time).i have a 16 year old brother, so I'm very aware and attempt to not be an idiot in wanting to flash everyone in sight.... I'm not trying to make any statement, I'm just trying to feed my babies.

Ok, stepping off my soapbox. Breastfeeding twins has been so interesting and hard and experimental and it feels like it is constantly changing BUT it has gotten easier and more enjoyable with time, and I am so so glad I stuck with it even when it was hard to latch Lo on every time and I kept having to re-latch him and manage crazy milk spillage and both boys crying.... oh man. I researched for months about what would be the best way to breastfeed with twins and I am hoping that what I have come up with here (while it is still fresh on the brain) will help any other soon to be twin moms with breastfeeding because being my last pregnancy, babies and therefore time I will be breastfeeding, I wanted to make it the most positive and lasting experience of the three times (only lasting two months with little d, after which I was exclusively pumping, and 9-ish months of exclusively bf-ing little a) and it has been.

Breastfeeding the twins together when they were so little was AMAZING.
I am so thankful each day that I am able to nurse my babies and they continue to grow.

The female body is AMAZING. and in a nutshell, breastfeeding twins is the bomb dot com. I LOVE it.

Teaching little d to read and moving miss Keely

We are only on lesson 15 and he's already read his first sentence!! I may have a real reader by the time this summers through. BEST recommendation ever from Keely, who is moving this weekend... So sad to see her go but at least it's only two hours away and not across the country like I was anticipating!

We managed to coordinate meeting blonde boyfriends in our ward just into our second year of college, getting engaged the same spring, married the same year, raising kids of the same age (each of our three sets will be in the same grades in school!), and we both found our "dream homes" within 18 months of each other in the same state. When we needed to get rid of my car to make way for our new one... They bought It from us!!! I cannot be happier that our first car with all its memories will be serving Keely's family as a second car for hopefully many years to come.

What a story these pictures tell.... :)

So much love and happiness at knowing and being around this cute family. Seriously so blessed to have them in our lives!

The last of the hospital bills have been paid!

To celebrate, I put the boys in some new outfits from grandma Darsi!

And painted little a's nails "like summer and Kenna"

Aka with "bouf" pink purple and blue

Let the weekend begin!

My new car! 2016 Honda Pilot EX-L

As I mentioned in previous posts, this car was nothing less than a result of some serious research then saving and then patiently waiting for the newest addition to our family. And unlike each of our darling children, we knew exactly what to expect and the only surprises were delightfully wonderful ones. (not that kids are not delightful, just that they come to our family full of unexpected surprises!).

Funny story about this split picture... I actually took a picture of the car on the bottom because for a second I mistook it for my own car! In my defense, I was walking at it from the side and they were the same color and only parked one row apart from each other. But I figured I would keep it just to show the comparison... totally redone body style that I love, similar to the Santa Fe or Acura MDX, the new Pilot has a much sleeker look to it but still tons of space (which the Santa Fe and other cars in that class were eliminated from our radar early on because they just did not have the car space to fit 3 car seats across or trunk space to fit my stroller.

 

I am so not the person to love big cars. But driving this Pilot doesn't feel big and bulky, rather it feels like it fits me like a glove! I am so in love with it.

Everyone told me I would miss the ease of use by not getting a mini van. To be honest I have not missed it at all (the sliding doors, that is) because with four kids, including three who cannot get themselves out of the car (and two who get put into the stroller via car seat just about every time we get out of the car), it takes me no less than 7 minutes to get everyone in or out of the car by myself. I have no doubt that with a minivan it would have taken me just as long and I would have had to worry about the littles fighting over who gets to open or close the sliding doors...

Part of the reason little d is just as in love with this car as I am is because he (With his booster seat) is the only one who sits in the third row (unless we bring someone outside our family with us). He knows how to press the power liftgate button (ie the trunk) and step back, and he LOVES showing off "his door" to just about anyone and everyone who will watch. I can then close it with the touch of a button from my key fob or a button in the driver's seat.

It's a 60/40 split 3rd row (I think?) and we have the smaller seat down, and my stroller fits perfectly in the trunk... It has taken some experimenting and finaggling but I think have the stroller business down...we have the city select and have found that we can keep the lower car seat adapter on the stroller and still fold it perfectly and it sets into the trunk (you can lower the trunk floor for the extra cargo space, which I do so that little d has a ridge to hold onto when he hoists himself up, and it just happens to fit the stroller even with the big wheels just perfectly), then the adapter part sticks into that open part in the 3rd row.

And there's still space for groceries or whatever in the left part of the cargo area.

A few people told me they were concerned with being able to fit all three car seats into the middle row, something I went crazy into researching. We have one giant highback five point harness car seat (probably the cheapest one we could find at Meijer like 4 years ago?) for little a in the middle and the boys have the Chicco Keyfit 30 which we absolutely love. In the last 8 weeks before we got our big car we were able to snugly fit all 3 across in our toyota corolla and hyundai elantra, so it feels like TONS of space in the Pilot.

So in a nutshell... I love my car. Going into car shopping, other than staying within a certain budget, my only requirements were to have leather seats (because my corolla with cloth seats got completely trashed by the kids' car seats and, well, kids wear and tear/spills in general) for ease of cleanup, power locks (do you know what a huge pain it is to lock each individual door when you are carting around more than one kid?! And yet I have NEVER had power locks) and windows, and because driving a big car around was a bit nerve wracking to me, a backup camera (which comes standard in all new Pilots, and ours also has a right side camera for whenever I indicate a right turn, it shows a camera view from the right side rearview mirror).

We did get the navigation because the car that we wanted that had the interior and exterior colors we wanted happened to have it, but we opted against the entertainment system, since it ran about $2000 extra, and we figured with that kind of money we could just buy everyone who would be in the car an ipad for themselves, haha. But seriously, my kids are the sort that would expect a movie every time we would be in the car and I was not going to support that. But we may splurge and buy a portable DVD player for the car (since the one we have had since we got married 9 years ago died last year) in the near future, assuming we go on a road trip at some point.

I have been getting 24-28 mpg, and have gone through almost 400 miles in the last week since we bought it (mostly from the drive from Cleveland). SO I have put a lot of miles on it already and love how smooth the ride is. The pilot is such a beautiful, well done car and I am grateful that we were able to get it to carry our family of 6 (!!!!) around for the next 20 years... you may think I am kidding but if you know Drew and I, you know we are planning on driving our cars till they die ;) We WILL be making it worth every penny (which hopefully Drew realizes it already IS worth every penny since I am soooo happy with it and I LOVE driving it around, even with all four kids in tow!).

The last 24 hours, in no particular order

Say what you will about the dangers of co sleeping twins

But I swear these two (even though their cribs are right next to each other!) sleep much better when they are in the same crib. It's almost as if Lan's crying lulls Lo to sleep... ;)

In my defense i always space them just over one baby-width apart... And they usually manage to wiggle closer to each other by the next feeding. 

Seriously the cutest. Having twins is really hard (like REALLY hard) but good grief they are so stinking adorable and having two babies to interact with even at 2 am is awfully fun sometimes!

2 months of my chunky monkey and string bean

Coming off of this weekend with such a high, the boys finally getting into a good napping schedule that happened to coincide with the big kids (and made it so I could nap!), getting our new car and just spending time together.... unfortunately there was no where to go but down.

And oh how hard we fell. The boys fought napping alllll dayyyy. And the big kids would NOT. STOP. SCREAMING. Is it completely against all morals to put shock collars on children? I kid. Sort of.

Lan desperately needs to go to the doctor so we can up his meds that don't seem to be as effective for his heartburn but as of this morning our insurance (who for some odd reason only put the boys on our insurance for one month?!) still didn't have the boys on it so I had to reschedule our doctor appointments for next month. After tonight I may need to call and beg our doctor to up the dosage over the phone... the boy is downright miserable, although you would not know it by this picture. For the first few hours right after I give him his medicine he is the happiest sweetest baby (and makes for perfect photographing)... and then it just goes downhill from there until the next dose. He sleeps best right after a dose as well, but not today for some reason.

My entire family came over tonight for dinner and my siblings and I got to take the big kids to see Inside Out which was adorable while my mom watched the boys and even all that did not do anything to kill my sour mood. Lack of sleep on myself as well as the boys will do that to me, and on days like today I can't seem to apologize enough. But seriously when the boys are awake at 5:30 and as I am walking the hallway to go to bed before 7 and little d comes running into our room... it''s all I can do to not just call it quits for the day. I wouldn't mind the kids coming in to snuggle with us at 7 am (or even before) but the fighting and the SCREAMING. Goodness. Gracious. Any ideas for an anti-screaming boot camp?? Oh and not getting around to my dinner till 9pm didn't help the mood...

The only way I have survived today with some sanity intact was remembering to count my blessings. Over and over and over and OVER again. Especially with having so much help tonight, when it could have just been me by myself wrangling four screaming kids into bed. It came to pass it did not come to stay... tomorrow will be better.

And until then I will just revel in my memories of this past lovely weekend and our two month photo shoot.
Both boys are getting more head control, cooing and "talking" to us. Lo is the most social but Lan is getting up there. Both boys are growing a significant amount of hair and before today were actually starting to sleep properly... every 3 hours eating and then being awake and then sleeping cycle was going quite well. Both taking pacifiers, but Lo much more often. Tandem nursing is a thing of the past because the boys are just so big! Unofficially I weighed them on our scale at home to Lo at 9.5 lbs and Lan at 12.5 lbs.

My sweet handsome Lan at church Sunday when I finally got him to nap for a bit

He is the first baby I've had where I can see his eyebrows and lashes so well! Maybe I'll have one little who is a little more brunette like his mama :)

Lashes for daysssss.

(A few hours later).... I am such a lucky girl. After my parents left and the kids were (finally!) in bed, my techie loving 16 year old brother suggests we get off our technogy/phones/laptops and play a ge of scrabble which turned into a few rounds of take two, which did wonders to boost my mood even if I couldn't stay up too long to play. I am incredibly blessed to have these 3 sweet souls as my siblings, who care for me and love me despite all the craziness that comes from me being a frantic spazzed out mom of so many young littles. I can only hope, when my babies are quite a bit bigger and I get my turn at being an auntie, that I can return the favor to each of them. In granting them some sanity amidst the throws of young parenthood.

Love love love my Anna, Sarah and DK.