It was supposed to be an 11 month post!

The nostalgia is in full force around here people! I didn't even realize the girls were 11 months old until half way through the day Saturday! Possibly, because my mind can't quite wrap around the fact that they are almost 1! What the heck!? It doesn't seem possible. I have kind of been floating through this weekend remembering little flashes of foggy, overly tired, AMAZING memories. I was rocking Zoe tonight in her room, remembering when the girls shared a room (before "no-sleep-Nora" was kindly relocated) and Lance and I would swaddle the girls like little burritos and one of us would give a bottle in the glider and one on the ottoman and we would be rocking rocking rocking, bumping into each other and muffling laughter (or delirium) until the girls fell asleep and then we put them each into their little rock n play beds in the middle of the room. Or, sitting on this couch right now blogging, I am looking across the room and remembering the countless nights that I nursed the girls in the wee hours and Lance would lay sleeping on the love seat waiting for his cue to burp and return a baby. We would then change diapers, swaddle, get them back down and high five on the way back to bed if we got it all done in under an hour or try to hold back tears of frustration and exhaustion if we were still trying to get babies back sleeping 2 hours later, knowing a new feeding was just around the corner! Or, looking at my breakfast room FULL to the brim right with toys, I can remember back to when it was all neat and tidy and just had a changing table in it because the girls were too tiny to make any kind of mess. Now they get up and hit the ground running...walking and climbing and DUMPING everything in sight.

Every corner of this house now holds a memory of them. It's like they have been here forever. It was a happy house before, but now it's broken in. It's messy and cluttered and sometimes I think the broom and vacuum should just become extra limbs because I am using them constantly. But the overall feel of this place is just different because of them, and different for the better. I'm trying to think of a word to describe it. I think it's just "warmer" around here now. It's just a family home every where you look and it makes my heart happy to the point of bursting, I'm not kidding you!

I was tired when they were tiny because I never slept and now I am a new kind of tired. The kind of tired that comes from chasing babies all day, keeping them out of the cabinets, pulling them off of boxes and playing referee all day as toys are yanked from each other and fits are thrown frequently! Cutting uncountable numbers of grapes and steaming veggies, and cooking dinner with babies pulling so hard on my pants that sometimes they pull them off! And the height of my exhaustion really comes from trying to clean up after them. Just this past week I had been out with them all morning at the park and when we got back they were kind of in melt down mode and were just acting nuts! They were throwing spinach and rice on the floor and then walking around the house with rice stuck to the bottom of their feet, spreading sticky streaks everywhere. They had opened up the video cabinet and pulled out every DVD and done the same with the blanket, Tupperware, and cutting board cabinets. Usually, I would at least attempt to clean up after them but on this particular day I truly did not have it in me and just sat with a glass of water and watched them destroy! Well, while I was rocking Nora for her nap my mom walked in and said she just laughed and then stood there wanting to help but literally not knowing where to start. The funny thing is I was sitting with Nora asleep in my arms, paralyzed in that glider because I knew what was waiting for me in the next room!  Which is really funny since I am reminiscing, because before the girls were born I thought my house was just filthy if the baseboards weren't dusted....no not even not dusted, but not scrubbed down with Windex THEN dusted. Ha!

All that to say, things are always crazy but I love it. Lance and I are used to our new routine of never stopping unless we are sleeping. I still get overwhelmed when I feel like I have lots of "life" to do because apparently life and responsibility still go on after kids. ;) It's still hard for me at times to get little tasks done like laundry or bills or manage to wash my hair on Monday & Wednesday evening for work. I have yet to master effortlessly running up to the post office or getting a meal to every new mom, but I am getting better! It is getting so much easier!

I am needed by my girls, and my husband everyday. Literally, someone always needs me these days and for that I am so thankful. I know there will be a phase in my life where no one needs me. I won't have multiple little (and big) lives depending on me. My heart is so full. All day today I have been thinking of the verse;

Psalm 113:9 He settles the childless woman in her home as a happy mother of children. Praise the LORD.

It was the kind of day when I had to pray myself out of bed because I was up reading until 2am (not smart) and then Zoe got up for the day at 5:30! I asked God for joy and it was one of the most joyful days we have ever had together! Have I mentioned if you pray daily for the strength that you need to make it to bedtime it WILL come & if you forget to ask God to help you through the day you will still make it but possibly minus the joy! :) 

Anyway, I have rambled on and on and totally forgot to talk about the girls 11 months. And it is time for bed so I guess the 11 month post will come later! In my mind this is around the age we will be getting our little Jane so I am hoping to be good about posting our daily schedules from now on because I know I will want to look back! 

Okay, Happy Monday!

Almost one year since I kissed those sticky, precious little faces!! :)

Look at them now!!