Late 11 month post

I'm a bit late but must document 11 months before the big 1-0!

We have seen lots of change this month and seem to be in somewhat of a transition with naps and eating and lots of stuff. They are transforming into toddlers right before my eyes!

Zoe:

You are only walking now. No more crawling for you. You are such a smart little girl and are starting to follow directions like "come here", "stand up", "point to the light", "point to my eyes", "up", "all done?", "give me a kiss" and "no". You just started initiating peek a boo and when we say "where's Zoe"? You always find something to hide behind or you just cover your face. You love dancing and clapping and babbling. You have the cutest giggle and are just such a happy camper. You continue to be LOUD when you cry or are super excited. You say, "mama", "dada" and that's pretty much it and even those you don't seem to say much. You will randomly imitate some things, but you don't say to much in the way of "real" words.  You are content for now with just babbling jibberish all day. You are a tall, chunk and such a good eater! You eat just about anything we set in front of you. You are an easy baby. Like, really easy. We love you little Zoester!

Nora:

You started walking this month and your little walk is hilarious! You walk forward for a few steps and then always seem to turn sideways and kinda shuffle towards your end point. You have said a few more real words than your sister. We have heard "eyes" "bye" "up" "mama" and "dada". You have been cutting some horrid, monster teeth the past few weeks and haven't been your chipper, sweet little self. You are generally pretty annoyed with life lately, but I can tell you are trying your best to be sweet! You LOVE (like obsessed level) fan strings, clocks and light switches. You get out of bed every morning and the second I pick you up you start reaching for the light switch on the wall to flip on and off. I always feel like the light would bother you after 12 hours of darkness but you don't seem to care. You are sleeping like a champ. Yep, it took 11 months. Whew...thank goodness little Nora! You are such a good eater, a little piglet really. You love fruits, veggies, meat, you name it! We love you little Nor Nor!!

Your schedule is a bit "lax" these days. You get up between 6:45-7:45, go down for your morning nap between 9:30-10:30 and then again in the afternoon between 2-3pm. You guys keep me on my toes with wake up times and I think that you are possibly getting woken up early on weekdays by the neighbors dog. It's all I can conclude since you will spring awake at the exact same time, about an hour early in separate rooms! I have been trying my best to figure y'all out so I can beat you to the punch and have some time to myself in the mornings. BUT this week at least, you kept me guessing.

You still take 3-4 bottles a day. We do a wake up bottle, a little before morning nap bottle, before afternoon nap bottle, and a bedtime bottle. You are usually taking one good nap and one shorter nap these days. We have even had a couple one nap days and you both did shockingly well. You eat a good size breakfast, lunch and dinner now and sleep great! Well, maybe not considered great to some BUT great for y'all! 

Girls we love love love you. PLEASE stay little forever! Please please please!!!

Love,

Mommy 

Sneak peak from our one year shoot! 

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!!

You are 10 months old.

(wrote this a while ago and forgot to finish and post it)

Little girls, you are TEN months old. Your tiny baby selves are almost completely gone at this point. You both still let me rock you at night and still enjoy cuddling during the day, mostly Nora, but the days of having tiny little babes are pretty much gone.

However, your new found big girl selves are pretty cute too! I can just really see those wheels turning and know that you are both just about to explode with new skills. I love to see you learn and grow, but have officially hit the phase of wanting to freeze time and make it stop. It's starting to fly by so fast and it's bittersweet.

Zoe: You are walking! Just a few days ago it became your preferred mode of transportation! You are still such a good little sleeper and eater. You are such a lover and give out kisses all day long. When I get you out of bed you look up at me, come in for a kiss, then lay your head on my shoulder. I really can't think of anything sweeter on this earth!! You love to talk and crawl around just babbling nonsense all day. Every now and then we will be talking to you or singing to you and you will imitate a word as clear as day. Then of course, we will try and try to get you to do it again and you won't. You say "mama" to me and "bada" to daddy. However, lots of days you just refer to me as "mommm". You are beginning to socialize better with others. You will smile and wave to people at the grocery store now as opposed to hiding in Nora's chest and crying. When we are in a new place, you still cling onto me for dear life and hide your head in my chest for the first half hour or so, but after that you will get down and play with other people and kids! I am so proud of you for this! Just last night we were at your cousins birthday party and you sat on the floor amidst a sea of crazy children unwrapping gifts and joined in the action, smiling and laughing with the kids. It almost made me tear up to see you getting so big and confident! Zoe Rose we love you and you add so much joy to our lives!

Nora: You are now a fast little crawler, and just started standing up on your own. You think it is the most fun game in the world to stand up and then crash onto my lap or a pillow. You continue to be a 100% spaz! The faster, or sillier, or higher the better for you. You love to squeal out in delight and love to scream (in delight). You had continued to get better with sleep, going 12 hours straight at night, until recently. You got really sick and now are back to your old ways. We are not thrilled about it little Miss! You have been standing up in your crib and just screaming "mamamama" until I finally give in and come in. I always come in to find no tears, and no issue I can see. Once you see me the screaming and "crying" is done  and you just smile and wave at me! Yes, you are a persistent one. You have definitely started with the whole separation anxiety thing. But I am counting my blessings that it didn't 100% overlap with Zoe, because that would have been tough. You love to play with your toys and love to see how things work. When we are in a new place you are SO interested in the things around you and are such an observer. You love to sit in my lap and read books or play with your ring toys. You love toys that you "get" and will do the same thing over and over and over. You continue to have such a sweet nature, but are also getting more vocal and dramatic when things don't go your way. I have accepted that neither you or your sister are laid back, but you are beyond sweet so it makes up for it! You have 6 teeth! When you smile up at me, I have to chuckle at the mouth full of big teeth I see! You sister still only has three but I think she will catch up soon. You only say "mama" consistently but the words we have heard from you are "bye" "baby" "dada" and most recently "eysh" aka eyes. You love to stick your finger right into my eyeball and say "eysh"! Nora Beth, we love your funny, hyper little self more than you will every know!

I know I need to save the sentimental stuff for your birthday. However, I can't help but start to reflect on all that has happened this past year, beginning with finding out we were pregnant with you! Having twins was not in our "plan". We were adopting a little girl, ONE, little girl from Ethiopia and that was how we were going to begin our family. But God knew better, and knew that we would in fact have THREE little girls beginning with the two of you! As I look back on this year, it has just been all about you. My "old" life of getting up every day and being a full time therapist, and then pretty much just doing whatever I wanted, with whomever I wanted, whenever I wanted, ended rather abruptly after going to a regular doctors appointment and coming home on bed rest! I never went back to work full time, my social life looks different and I have spent most of my time just learning how to be a mommy two both of you. I feel honored and so thankful that I have this new "job"! I'm glad you guys are a little more mobile these days and that we have been able to re-enter society with a little more ease, but I wouldn't trade one second of our time together and will always cherish our days together at home! We love you so much girls!!

Snapshot

Here is a snapshot of my days with our little cuties. A 10 month post coming soon, but right now I'm a little too tired! :) 

Girls "kinda" learning how to roll the ball to each other

My little no nappers this day were only wanting to be held....time to get creative! 

Selfie of three big head girls! 

Just playing together....it's so awesome when they take a few minutes and play together! 

Te

My little walker girl! She still prefers to crawl but when she hops up its so cute!

Smile girls :) 

Race time. When I start to leave a room it's not uncommon for them to literally start speed crawling, trying to "out-crawl" the other one to get to me. It's pretty amusing! 

Nora and her very best friend the Lamb 

Nora posing in her new clothes while sissy sleeps. Nora is still not such a huge fan of predictable sleep! 

The girls finally home tonight after a busy day! They partied hard all day and stayed up way past bedtime. But they were all smiles! 

As you can see these little girlies are getting BIG! So full of life, and fun and personality! We are almost to 1 year!! So hard to believe! 

Maybe next Valentine's day will be better!?

Oh, today was not a good day. Today was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. Both of the girls have been sick"ish" but Nora had her first legitimate fever/illness this week. She woke up Wednesday with a high fever and it came back today. She was a pitiful little mess so we took her and Zo...who had been tugging on her little ears, to the doctor. Zoester had an ear infection which really doesn't seem to be bothering her and Nora has a virus. But, no flu or rsv so we had to take her to the hospital for a chest x-Ray and to have blood drawn because that can't be done at the pedi office and they wanted to make sure her counts and things were ok with such a high fever. 

But first back up to Tuesday night around 4am. I was half asleep walking back from Nora's room after rocking her and I WIPED out on our new baby gate. Like, knocked down the metal gate, crashed onto the floor, knocked the sheet rock off the walk and scratched up our wood floors. Leaving me with a sprained wrist and horribly bruised, possibly fractured elbow. I got up the next morning to get the girls out of bed and realized I literally couldn't move my elbow. At all! So after frantically calling lance to come home and having my mom come in the mean time just to get my girls out of bed and fed, I headed out to have my arm looked at and ended up having my elbow jammed back into the socket. 

So keep in mind I am functioning with one arm and another in a sling. 

Anyway, my mother in law is in town to help me out and so we decided even though I'm not supposed to really lift the girls it would still be easier for me to take Nora to the doctor since they were going to be poking and prodding at her and I would just do my best to hold her with my good arm. So we go in for the chest X-ray and they literally try to shove her into this tiny baby seat thing where she has to sit with her arms straight up into the air and then they close this plastic tube around her so she can't move. Well, the tube wouldn't shut because she is such a chunk....and the woman was taking ZERO notice of my child's skin being pinched and her screaming. But I finally said, "I really don't think she is going to fit in this tiny thing! Is there another option"? To which she rolled here eyes and said, "I guess I will have to prepare the table for X-rays". So she begrudgingly "prepared" the table which consisted of laying a towel on the table for Nora to lay on. I hope all that preparation didn't wear her out to much! Nora was ticked, but fine on the table, but I highly underestimated the work it was going to take to hold her down and move her for all the X-rays while she was trying to wiggle away. So I had to take my arm out of the sling and just pretend that every time I moved I didn't feel stabbing pain radiating through my arm. 

Anyways, the chest X-Ray was nothing compared to the next event. Drawing blood. This doesn't sound traumatizing and horrible. But really, it so was. We go in and they put the rubber band thing on her tiny arm and start looking for a vein. They look and look and look and I could even tell there was just NO visible vein. So they stick her with the needle and I notice no blood. They take it out and stick it back in, no blood, they move it up, move it down, push on her arm, squeeze her arm, no blood. Remember, this is a 9 month old baby who is absolutely hysterical. So they try to find a better vein and stick her again and still not able to get it. Apparently she has the family curse of tiny tiny horrible veins. At this point my sweet Nora is hysterical and I am holding her as close as I can and I'm crying and trying my best to comfort her. I finally just say "ok, enough, we are stopping". The technician immediately stopped and took out the needle and backed up and let me pick Nora up and comfort her. I told her I wasn't sure why we needed to draw from her arm, and they described why and I decided I would take the risk on missing out on this test. So they drew the blood from her heel instead, which was seemingly way more painful for her, which was so sad too, but I knew it would at least end in them getting her blood. So after they finally put a bandaid on her foot they sliced open (this was no little prick it was still bleeding at 8:15 tonight) I didn't even bother to put her Jammie's back on. I just wrapped up my poor tired, feverish, hungry little angel and put her in the car and she was asleep before I even bucked her seat. This is the child who hasn't fallen asleep without her sleep sack, bottle and sound machine a day in her life. 

I sat in the car and called my mom and just burst into tears. This was the first time I have really experienced my child being in pain and it was so hard. I can't imagine the trauma mommies go through who have children who are terminally ill and have to watch their babies be poked and prodded on, on a daily basis. Those must be some really strong mommies ! This was a simple chest X-ray and blood draw and it about sent me over the edge! 

But I have learned from this that babies with fat arms are not good candidates for having blood drawn. They kept using medical words for why they couldn't find a vein and I finally asked, "is it really just because her arms are so fat"? To which they answered "yes"! And just generally fat babies aren't good candidates for chest X-rays. Poor Nora's hefty physique really worked against her today! :( 

Oh sweet Nora, I hope you wake up tomorrow and have forgotten all about this terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day! :) 

We love you and are SO glad you are ok!!!!! 

This picture in a little old....but it's the most recent I had on the iPad and she just looks SO cute!! 

Insomnia post

I can't sleep, so why not blog!? Remember the adorable little pics of sweet Nora enjoying her wontons that I posted today!? Well, she very quickly broke out from head to toe in hives following the meal. She had a little face rash when we put her down for her nap and as Lance was changing her for a Super Bowl party right after she woke up, we noticed she had red, raised hives covering whole body. All we have to do it give her Benedril every 6 hours until the hives subside, but it's still hard for me to sleep with her such a mess. She scratched and scratched so much she had scrapes all over her sweet, fat little legs AND Zoe has been coughing and has had a runny nose all night too and it took me over an hour to get her suctioned to a place where she could breath and down for bed tonight. Poor baby girls!! So I'm just sitting here watching Home Alone, wondering when I will be able to go to sleep! It's so true that once your a parent, you are never "off". Even when they are both sleeping , you find yourself up at midnight starting at a monitor! :). 

Happy

I love the simplicity of my life right now. I love that my job is to get two sleepy heads up in the morning and make them breakfast. I love reading them stories and playing on the floor. I love getting them dressed, changing diapers and keeping them happy and healthy. I'm not great at it, but I love getting the groceries and making meals. I love trying out things for the girls and go to bed at night thinking up what new foods I can make them the next day. I love getting in my MINIVAN, yes minivan ha, and listening to my praise and worship music while I soak up the babbles and squeaks behind me. I love that so much is "taken" from me each day, that when the girls go down I really appreciate my time to myself. I love flopping down on the couch SO exhausted, but SO fulfilled. I love watching Lance be a Dad. I love that he knows all the words to the baby einstein DVDs and knows just how to get the girls to sleep. I love how he can smile and laugh that we eat dinner at 9pm amidst piles of laundry and toys. I love matching baby clothes, hair bows and baby dolls. I LOVE that when I am without them, although I really enjoy some time away, I feel like part of me is missing. I love their unique personalities. I love seeing their potential and dreaming about what kind of little people they will turn out to be. I love the way being a mom has upped my prayer life like a million percent. I have to pray myself out of bed each morning and specifically ask God to go before me each day because I cannot do this job alone. My dependence on him has become much more tangible now that we have the girls.  

I love being a mommy more than I every thought imaginable. I know life comes and goes in seasons. I know these days will soon seem like a little blip on the radar. I don't want to forget them. I don't want to wish them away, dreaming of a day when the budget won't be so tight and I won't be so tired. 

God has given me such a great gift. I am so thankful. 

I seem to have a hard time remembering the days when I opened the fridge, got a snack and sat and ate it alone! But this picture definitely sums up my days right now. :)