The School Year

Wow!  I've neglected our blog for the past 8 months.  I'll have to catch up on a few things... mostly about little Oliver and his birth.

First, some of the things we've been up to...

Mack has had quite the school year.  Lots of fun activities and sickness.  Typical kindergarten, right???  He also experienced his first break-up, although he says he'll still invite Mia to his "line-up" when he picks his wife... and maybe, maybe he'll choose her.  :)  It's been fun to hear his read and see what he writes about.  The other day he was supposed to practice his writing by completing two sentences on his own.  He wasn't too happy about it, and I told him he could write about whatever he wanted.  So, this is what his sentences read: "I like to frtt.  It has a funee sound."  He loves using "potty words" and is always in trouble for using them, so I guess he decided to express them in a different way.  Grrr!!  Ha!  Another thing he got in trouble for recently... at church last week, he was kicked out of class for using the word "boob."  I was so upset at him and asked, "Where in the WORLD did you even hear that word?!"  "From the movie The Cat in the Hat!"  It dawned on me... he used it as in cry-baby.  Oh, the innocence of a child!

Cuddling with Oliver.

Lydia is quite the little spitfire.  She is really silly, has a great sense of humor, quirky, opinionated, tough, and loving.  She loves to pick out her clothes and has a fabulous ability to match things for a two year old.  She knows all her colors, can count to 10, & knows some of her letters and shapes.  She loves to use her manners and us quick to say "Sorry, Mom!"  Maybe it's because she has had a lot of practice using it.  :)  She likes to climb up Mack's loft bed that sits about 6 feet tall and has fallen off a couple of times, but continues to keep climbing.  Lydia loves The Little Mermaid and Tinkerbell, but pretends she is Superman all the time.  She and Mack are little buddies... she idolizes Mack, and he loves that he has an audience, but also appreciates her silliness.  She is also outgoing, but shy at the same time.

Her 2nd birthday.

 Addie is pretty even tempered, but can quickly become extremely demanding.  She's more quiet, passive, stubborn, imaginative, sensitive, clumsy, and carefree.  She loves to play make believe and can turn the most random objects into useful props while she plays.  She loves to play with baby dolls and be my helper.  She isn't as adventurous as Lydia, in fact, she isn't as adventurous as most 2 year olds.  She's afraid of falling, because she does it so often.  She won't even stand on her tippy-toes.  A couple of weeks ago, she was sitting on Grandpa's lap during church and still managed to fall off... I swear she is the only person I know that can fall while laying down.  Addie loves to share and cuddle.  She also loves Oliver and tries to hold him all the time.

Addie's 2nd birthday.

Oliver is my little sunshine.  He is the best, happiest baby I've ever known.  I think Heavenly Father knew I needed him right now, because he's the one that calms me down when the twins are being crazy.  He sucks his thumb, sometimes, and loves to cuddle and smile.  He's been sleeping straight through the night for, probably, two months.  He'll be 6 months in two weeks and already sits up, rolls over, gets up on his hands and knees, and just cut his two bottom teeth this week.  I just love him!

Oliver 5 months

Summer 2011

I finally downloaded all the pictures from this summer. Sad to say, I didn't take very many. I am at this point in life where I am always chasing after a toddler or just too exhausted to move much.


To kick off the warm weather and before we planted a bigger garden in our normal gardening spot, I let Mack make mud pits frequently and play in them to his heart's desire. Isn't that something every kids dreams of doing, but rarely gets the chance to??? Well, Lydia joined in. I believe I had just changed her diaper and hadn't had the chance to wrestled with her to get dressed, again, because I was tossing her other clothes in the wash, picking out clean ones, and washing my hands. And then I noticed she had gone outside...

Here's a closer look at the damages.

At the same moment, around the corner, was Addie playing nicely. Such different personalities!
However, a few weeks later as we were digging up a bigger garden plot and letting the girls dry off a bit from playing in the kiddie pool, I found them doing this...




Lydia has a small sprinkler pipe in her hand that was full of fresh mud. I think she was trying to convince Addie to live a little.

Here are the kids a bit more cleaned up... with the snacks we had currently been eating on their little faces...

My mom made the girls' little rompers and I couldn't make them wear those outfits enough! I love them!

Mack's "Batman" face... as always for pictures. I am nervous to get his school photos back.
Mack and Chad went on a really cool adventure this summer. My brother, RyLee and his amazing wife, Sara (she is one of my favorite people in the whole world, btw) moved to Ogden. RyLee asked if we could meet him up there so he could take Mack to the train station. Well, our train adventure turned into a full adventure. Chad got off work early and he and Mack walked to the bus stop about 1/4 mile away and caught a bus to UVU. From there, it headed up to Sandy, where they hopped onto TRAX up to downtown Salt Lake. From there, they took the Front Runner up to the Ogden train station. So, they took public transportation the whole way up there. Mack was in HEAVEN! The girls and I met them up in Ogden and couldn't have timed it better. We pulled into the parking stall as the boys were walking out of the train station.


Walking along the trail to the first stop.

At the first bus stop.
At UVU.

On the Front Runner.
Once at the Ogden train station, we had a great time with RyLee, Sara, and KayLee. One funny thing that happened... RyLee was on top of a big, black, Polar Express type engine and pretended to fall off. He actually just laid down, but Mack couldn't see him. Then, while Mack ran around to the other side of the engine, RyLee climbed down the ladder and laid in the gravel. Mack was really concerned and trying to be so helpful. It was really cute to see him trying to handle the situation. He very shortly realized what RyLee really had done and laughed quite hard about it. What a good sport.

The girls have a love for dolls and when I showed them their clothes can be changed, both Addie and Lydia were so excited. They love when their dolls match their jammies... Speaking of jammies, they also love their Elmo jammies!


We celebrated Mack's 5th birthday in June. I am not a good cake decorator, but my friend, Angela, is a professional, so she cut some fondant for his cake. Mack chose the color of frosting...


On his birthday, we went to 7 Peaks (we went there often during the summer) for the day. When Chad was done with work, Mack chose to go to Jasmine (formerly known as Thai Chili Garden) and then we went to Trafalga and played mini-golf in the black lights. After we came home and did the present/cake thing, we had a slumber party in the living room and watched a movie. So, the next morning, the kids took the new kiddie pool and "rowed the boat" on my bed.

Other activities, besides going to 7 Peaks... We went to Lowe's Xtreme Airsports a couple of times. It is a huge warehouse with trampolines and foam pits! The kids all loved jumping into the foam. We also went to the Zoo and up to Salt Lake to visit Shaurie. The kids and I stayed pretty busy with different activities and Chad was busy cutting down the trees in the back yard... and playing with a new toy... He only paid $200 for it and I can honestly say, it's the best $200 spent. Such an amazing deal!



We got a lot of rain this summer (perfect for a pregnant lady!) and this is what happens to our yard when the rain falls!
This neighbor bravely came around the corner and got in the water to see how deep it was. Can you believe how much water collects there?!? She is about my height... she's not short.
This is sweet KayLee at the Zoo...

and sweet Jax.
Every black person, baby or not, Lydia exclaims, "Jack!" when she sees them. He is my sister, Shaurie's baby.

Since the trees are gone, we purchased a used swing set for the kids. It has been a life saver for me this year! Mack has learned to pump in the swing and hand upside-down on any bar. Lydia hangs from any bar and even brought the skill inside to the counter tops, table, and chairs. She also climbs the ladder to the slide and goes down it in various ways... head first, laying down, crawling, she tried walking and failed... Addie likes to swing on her tummy like a superhero. They are funny to watch.

We had some close friends visit for a couple of days at the end of July. It's kind of hard to explain the relationship, but fun. Chellie and I used to be step-cousins... my mom was married to her step-mom's brother... if that makes any sense. Anyway, Chellie and I have kept in touch through the years. She and her family live in Logan, so we went and stayed with them last summer and they came down this summer. I LOVE their family! Chellie's little girl Maddie is one of the greatest kids. She is so polite, kind, cute, and funny. Her little boy, Max, is the same. He is so polite, sweet, and happy. I love spending time with them. They also have a baby named Connor and I couldn't get enough of him. Chellie is such an amazing mom. What a great example to me.

This is Mack and Maddie playing "Batman Special," as Mack calls it. Basically it's Batman and any other character that his friend wants to be. He plays it almost everyday at school. In this case, Maddie is a cowgirl.


Speaking of good friends, our friends, the Kruegars, lived back in Utah for a few months. I can't believe we didn't get any pictures. Mack and Leyna have played together since they were 1. It was so great being around them, again, especially Trine... and Larry. :)

We spent a good amount of August in Washington. Chad's grandma (Addie "Bernice" Weber) passed away in AZ, and Chad was able to spend time with her the day before she died. Her funeral was in Washington while we were there. I was able to spend time with my dad and Mary, the whole Weber family and many friends, my Chlarson Grandparents, the Hesselroth's and a few other close friends. It was so refreshing to get away. My amazing neice, Lindsay, came with me to help with the kids. She is only 13 and as responsible with my kids as an adult! And she has such a fun personality! Chad met up with us twice while we were up there. What a trip!

Shortly after we got home, Mack started kindergarten. I can't explain how great school has been for him. As his pediatrician said, Mack has been waiting his whole life to start school, he just didn't know it. He'll take off, now. Dr. Cornish was spot on. His teachers love him and have shared a couple of cute stories about him.

The backpack... Are you surprised?

His first project. He had to dress this cutout like himself. So Batman shirt, jeans, and cowboy boots it is... wait, cowboy boots? Yep. They are his favorite shoes.
And last, but most definitely not least, MIA. Yes, things are still going strong between them. They aren't in the same class, but he has to wait for her to come out of the classroom everyday after school. He won't let us leave until he has talked to her and makes sure her mom is there to pick her up. At least he knows how to take care of his woman! He's gotten defensive a couple of times when other boys have tried talking to her, though... we'll be working on that one.


It's getting late, I'll have to do another post about Addie and Lydia next week... sigh...

I almost forgot!!! My sister, Shaurie, and her hubby, Mike adopted a baby at the end of May! Their adoption story is amazing... this kid was meant to be in their home. They were only approved for a week, before the agency picked them. He is such a doll... Black, chubby, curly hair, HUGE eyes and he likes to pop them open when looking around, so they look even bigger. They named him Jax. I wish I had pictures, but I've been totally lacking in that department. When Shaurie and I go places together with our kids, we cause quite a commotion. And everyone says, "Oh, look at those twin girls... And look at that tiny black baby!!!" It's kind of funny.

Shaurie is such a great mom and so cute with her little Jax. And Mike is quite the proud dad. Congratulations to the both of them!

Well, I don't have much to say... I am still pregnant and should find out the gender in the next week or two. It's been absolutely nuts trying to choose a provider for this pregnancy, since our doctor retired and we got new insurance in June. In the end I am choosing to do a natural birth through a nurse-midwife at UVRMC. Wish me luck!

Mack had his 5th birthday. We went to 7 Peaks for most of the day, then went to dinner at Jasmine (used to be Thai Chili Garden), his choice, and ended the day at Trafalga with some miniature golf in the dark. Before bed, we sang, ate his Batman birthday cake and finished opening presents. All very exciting to a 5 year old. We are registering him for kindergarten this month. Yesterday Mack had his 5 year check-up and did very well. He LOVES his pediatrician, so Mack will tease him, draw pictures for him... I think if he could, he'd go live at the Cornish's house. Anyway, Dr. Cornish said he is very bright and will love kindergarten. I am excited to see what he think of it all.

Lydia is still my little spitfire. She is often in trouble for pulling my hair and lips. She really thinks it's the best game in the world. I have tried to stop her by very sternly holding her hand and telling her "NO!" She just laughs at me and plays harder. So then I've tried to give her a little slap on the hand... she still laughs; hysterically. I thought she was way too young to understand time-out, but it was the last thing I could think of... It works. She hates time-out. Now when she is being rough, all I have to do is say, "Do you want a time-out?" Her grip softens and she will then caress my hair. Lydia is really smart when it comes to application. She often goes to the fridge and pretends to get a drink. She also feed her stuffed cat and likes to sit on the potty. Lydia doesn't say many words, but uses sign language, instead. Her jibber-jabber is pretty cute though, because she becomes very animated and tries so hard to say things.

Both of the girls are happy and easy to be around, but Addie is the bubbly one. It's easy to get her to laugh and smile. Lydia generally picks on Addie. She steals toys and pushes her down. Sometimes, Addie likes to be pushed, but a lot of times, Lydia is a bit harsh. When they fight, Addie will laugh and then cry, where Lydia is completely silent. Addie likes to boss Lydia around, though, by telling her "No, no, no, no!" when she knows Lydia is doing something wrong. Addie likes to cuddle and be kissed and she rarely starts a fight or hits the other kids. She is a great communicator and uses both sign language and words. When she figures out how to say a word, she repeats it all day with much excitement. It gets stuck in my head like a song.

Both of the girls are getting to the point where they notice Chad is gone. When he comes home, they both get excited and repeat "Dad" over and over, until he picks them up and kisses them. It is really cute to see two little girls become so happy when they see their dad.

The kids' growth has been interesting to watch. Addie and Lydia eat more food than Mack does. Yesterday, for example, Mack had two pancakes for breakfast. The girls each ate 3 1/2! 7 between the two of them! However, Mack is in the 60th percentile for weight and 75th for height. Addie is less than 20th percentile for both and Lydia is less than 5th percentile. I can't seem to get them to grow. It is hard to believe they are so little, especially when you look at their little fat rolls and chubby cheeks. I guess they are just meant to be petite.

Well, I'll post again in a couple of weeks to give a baby update!

New Family Pictures

Before my belly REALLY starts to bulge, we decided to have some family pictures taken. My cousin, Eddy, and his cute wife, Miken, agreed to take them, after convincing them the pictures couldn't go wrong with the three munchkins being photo'd. :) Miken has a great camera, and would like to get in to photography, but she had never done this before. I love how they turned out and can't wait to get them printed and hanging in my house. Anywho...

These first two pictures are a bit sentimental. This lovely green building is the Ream's by our house, that closed last year. At first we were nervous to shop there, but soon found we loved it there! It was a very quirky setup and looked really ghetto, but the customer service was amazing. When it closed, we were so sad. It happened right before the girls were born, which was a time full of change for us, already. Plus, Scrubs (our favorite TV show) went off the air (or was trying to fade out JD and put in that intern girl)... either way, we stopped watching it around the same time. This grocery store just represents a new chapter for us. Kind of silly, but not really to us.







On our way to a new (last) location, Addie fell asleep and would not wake for the life of her. We even did a few family pictures with her sleeping. They would have been my favorite, if she'd been awake. However, I do love this picture!




A funny little thing about Lydia, she LOVES being whispered to. It will completely stop her dead in her tracks, and if you know Lydia, that's saying a lot!

Need a new name for this blog!

Suggestions are welcome!

Also, I have been playing catch-up with blogging a lot this year, and it is about to get even worse! I go to the doctor in an hour to find out exact details, but we are expecting, again!

It's amazing how life works. Mack took 1 1/2 years to get here; Lydia and Addie took 8 months. Both pregnancies were very planned out and both were from the help of fertility pills. However, this new baby was a total surprise. We are so excited and feel very blessed to go through this experience. I am anxious to find out why this baby had to come at this time. What mission does it have to fulfill at this time?

The thought has crossed my mind that Heavenly Father sent us two babies at once, because we waited too long to start our family (not that I am saying twins was a punishment, or anything like that!!!). I don't feel that way anymore. Each child has come exactly when they were supposed to and we don't have control over that.

I am very blessed to feel good so far, with barely any morning sickness. I am just tired and try to nap when the girls do.

Anyway, I'll post more later. Like I said, I am always playing catch-up.

The Year of Learning in Review

Wow! It went by way too fast. I wish I could go back to the day Lydia and Addie were born knowing what I know now... twins aren't that hard and are actually quite a joy. A year ago, in the hospital, I was freaking out about our future and thinking how stressful things were going to be. I kept thinking to myself, "What have I done to our life???" As if I could have prevented having two babies at once... I was still excited, just scared of the unknown.

As I look back on pictures, I feel sad that I was so focused on the stress and didn't take the time to enjoy the newborn moments... But, then again, I probably didn't have a whole lot of time to. Either way, the one thing I've learned this year is: It wasn't NEARLY as bad as I thought it would be.

At first, I just took one day at a time, tackling one milestone at a time... Nursing was the hardest, at first. My friend, Nicolle, was my lifeline and I swear I texted her 50 times a day, asking questions on how to nurse two babies at the same time. She was always so sweet and very detailed on what to do. I couldn't have done it without her help! The first three to six weeks, when I was teaching them how to latch, was really hard. I wanted to give up so many times, because it took so long and I was the only person who could feed them. Eventually, thanks to Nicolle, I was able to feed them at the same time, and then things became MUCH easier! I had to use a nursing pillow (thanks, Maria!!!) for multiples and sit on the couch with two throw pillows behind my back, so the nursing pillow was snug around my waist. Also, I needed the space of the extra couch on either side of me to put the babies while I got situated. Night feedings weren't too bad, as long as I made sure to feed them both at the same time, which meant I had to wake up a sleeping baby often. Otherwise, I would just fall back to sleep when the other one would wake up, and then I wouldn't get much sleep.

Next was teaching them to sleep through the night. I had to learn to feed them a LOT before bed, so I started pumping through the day and give them a bottle at night. BUT it had to be done just right... They couldn't be too sleepy, or they would fall asleep during their feeding and not get enough to eat and wake up hungry at night. Then, I put them to bed when they were still awake, so they could learn how to fall asleep on their own. Eventually they began sleeping through the night and I began to feel normal, again.

I also learned that I had to keep my house tidy everyday. I heard often, that I'd need to let things go and learn to live in a messy house. But, I found it was too much work to do things that way. If I kept things picked up, they were easier to find the next day, and there was more room to complete "baby tasks."

Nap time is done differently with Lydia and Addie than it was with Mack. I had the idea that I wanted him to be able to sleep through anything, so I tried not to be quiet, or darken the room. He didn't nap very well. The kids' room now has dark curtains and a humidifier, which makes for some cozy naps! Addie and Lydia take three hour naps, sometimes.

Fun Stories (some of these might be repeats, but I don't want to re-read every post form this year to prevent it):

• As newborns, Lydia and Addie woke up crying in the late evening. I carried them against my chest, into the living room. They both had their heads turned in the same direction and were so hungry... Lydia latched on to the back of Addie's head and tried to eat.
• In that same week, the girls were laying in their bouncy seats on the living room floor, when Chad sneezed. Both of them became startled and threw their arms up in the air simultaneously and slowly brought them back down. It was so funny to see four little arms waving in the air!
• So, I swear that babies can see things beyond this world. And I wouldn't have realized it, if it weren't for having twins. One night in my room, I was nursing the girls and they were looking around with their little eyes. At one point, they both caught sight of the same spot on the ceiling and tracked it along the same line, to the point that they both turned their heads. Nobody else was in the room and I couldn't see anything along the area they were tracking. There wasn't a bug, or light, or anything that I could make out with my eyes.
• They have learned how to fight and share at a very early age. A lot of times, they trade toys. When one of them starts tugging at the other one's toy, the second baby just grabs the toy from the first baby and they are both happy. BUT, they fight over crazy things, like sitting on a little box. They both want to sit on it, so they push, shove, pull, all while screaming, until they are both situated on the box. Then they are both happy.
• KayLee (my niece) was here this week and Addie kept going around the room collecting toys for KayLee to play with. Lydia did the same thing for Addie when Lydia was crawling and Addie couldn't even roll over. I love they've learned to take care of others.