Captured moments

One thing that I'm very interested in is photography and so I love to take pictures of Rachel and Haley.  The pictures I take may not be the best, but they definitely capture the precious moments.  I take a lot of pictures and most of them don't make it on our blog.  Here are some of my favorites from the past couple of weeks.

Rachel scared in the swing.  This was her first time in this swing.

Haley in the swing

Rachel and Haley wearing cute matching outfits

Haley

Rachel

Haley after standing up on her own

Rachel attempting to stand up.  She's working on it.

Haley wearing bunny ears

Rachel

Changes in the girls room

Thomas and I made some changes to the girls room, specifically we had to lower the girls mattresses in their cribs.  We knew that was coming soon, but Rachel made us do it today.  See the pictures below:

Rachel on her knees in her crib

Rachel holding on to the side of her crib

I put Rachel in her crib for a nap and when I came back into her room to check on her, I found her up on her knees holding onto the side of her crib.  I had not seen her do this before!  What a surprise!  She definitely is coming along in her progress.  The girls physical therapist is doing a GREAT job!  Haley is also pulling up, but has not done it in her crib yet.

Rachel's crib lowered.

Haley's crib lowered.

 I also finally hung up some cute things in the girls room:

Flowers & butterflies

  

I made this butterfly.  It fits the decor of the girls room well.

These were gifts from a wonderful friend. 

 

Happy Easter

Easter , that holy day designated throughout all Christendom to commemorate the victory of Jesus Christ over death. His Resurrection broke what to that point had been the unyielding chains of death. Easter brings thoughts of Jesus, His life, His Atonement, His Resurrection, and His love. He indeed has risen from the grave. 
  I am eternally grateful to our Heavenly Father for his holy Son, who because of a love that we fully cannot comprehend came to this earth and over came the sting of death. I know that because of Jesus Christ, Thomas and I will be able to see our children who have gone on before us again one day. This Easter season we testify that our perfect and loving Savior does live and has overcome the grave. Thanks be to God for His precious Son.
I can't believe this Easter is the girls 2nd one.  How time flies!  I feel like their first Easter was just yesterday.  We are so grateful to have them with us and to celebrate every moment with them.  This Easter we spent some time with family here in Houston.  It was a great day!  Happy Easter!

Easter 2011 family picture

Rachel and Haley wearing their Easter dresses

Rachel

Haley

Haley and Rachel last weekend in Austin wearing their bunny ears

 

Life's Ups and Downs

Life is full of surprises - good and bad!  Just when things were going along well here in the Stansel household - pow!  We get hit with an unexpected blow.  Thomas lost his job as a  medical sales representative last Friday.  It was a big shock and surprise to us.  We feel that the Lord will bless him with another opportunity.  The Lord has always been there for us and I know that something will come up.  If anyone has any connections or contacts in the medical sales field please let me know.  Life can throw curve balls at anytime, but life can also bring great surprises.  This past weekend we attended a surprise celebration for my Aunt Phyllis and Uncle Wayne who are celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary.  What a great milestone to accomplish.  It was wonderful to see them this past weekend and to see how happy they are. We truly love them and are grateful for them.  This past weekend we also spent time with our families.  We are so grateful for our family and are so glad to have them.  They are a great support for us.   

My Aunt Phyllis and Uncle Wayne

Their cake

The napkins

Me, the girls and my mom at the party

Rachel playing with her food at the party

Rachel and Daddy

Grandma and Haley

Rachel and Haley in their cute outfits

  

Haley's New Eye Prosthesis

Haley finally got her new eye prosthesis.  It took a while to get it, but now she has it and it looks great!  She looks so beautiful.  Her eyes are symmetrical and her left eye is nice and open.  We are so glad Haley was able to get this prosthesis and are so happy she has a more normal appearance with two open eyes instead of one.  Though Haley is so beautiful no matter what.  Haley will be wearing the prosthesis at all times.  We won't have to take it out.  She doesn't seem bothered by it at all.  Haley handles things so well.  She is such a trooper. 

Haley before the eye prosthesis

Haley with her new eye prosthesis

Haley with eye prosthesis and glasses

Haley with eye prosthesis

I just had to put in a cute picture of Rachel as well.  She likes to have her picture taken.

Rachel giving a cute grin

Our precious girls

The past week has been uneventful, but good.  The girls are doing well and are continuing to make progress.  They are busy little girls and keep us smiling.  Rachel is so curious and loves to get into things.  Haley loves to play and is so happy.  Rachel and Haley love to play together.  Here are some recent pictures of our precious girls.

Rachel and Haley playing together

Haley happy to be with her sister

Rachel and Haley

Rachel

Rachel's beautiful smile

Haley trying to stand up

Haley loves to do this

Rachel still likes to take toys from Haley

20 months old!

Haley and Rachel

 The girls are 20 months old today!  Wow, time is flying by so fast.  The girls are doing well and are so active!  They are growing.  Rachel weighs 20 lbs 10 oz and is 30 1/2 inches.  Haley weighs 17 lbs 6 oz and is 27 inches.  Haley is working on pulling up to standing.  Rachel continues crawling around and getting into everything she can reach.  They are continually progressing and we look forward to what the future holds for them.

Haley and Rachel

Here are a couple of videos of the girls.  The first one is of Haley falling asleep in her high chair as I was feeding her.  She was so tired.  The second one is of Rachel playing in her crib not wanting to take her nap.  

 

April Fool's Day - 2 Years Ago

April Fool's Day two years ago was very memorable to me.  That was the day I had my first ultrasound of the sextuplets, but the ultrasound that day did not show 6.  The ultrasound showed only 4.  We were very shocked and surprised thinking we were having quads, but little did we know we were actually having 6!  April Fool's Day on us!  We didn't know we were pregnant with sextuplets until 2 weeks later on April 16, 2009.  Today brought back so many memories of that time two years ago.  Thomas and I were excited, scared and felt so blessed to be pregnant with our children.  Looking back on that time, I can see the Lord had a plan for Thomas and I and our children.  We are so blessed to be parents of all 8 (twins + sextuplets) of our children and are especially grateful to have Rachel and Haley here on earth with us.    

April 1, 2009 - 5 weeks pregnant with what I thought were quads