Happy Valentine's Day!

I have been waiting to post these pictures! I sent out valentines to some family members and I didn't want to post these and then when they got their valentine they felt like they had been there, done that! I made some freezer paper shirts for my kids and got them together for a little photo shoot! I should have known that it was going to be tough but I had no idea! But my favorite of all four is this one right here! This made it above the mantel! I am going to put a few more of the random ones... it just shows are life right now!

I was trying to get them to smile and somehow I scared Amelia... notice the red eyes and the glare? So funny!

I love this cutie! He sure is giving us a run for our money right now but I think he deserves his time. He has been the easiest kid in the universe up until now.

I don't know if we will get a good Max smile for a few years but I love his half one anyway.

For sure such close brothers! I love their relationship.

Cooper wasn't in a very smiley mood either but he usually isn't when I put a camera in front of his face. He wants to check out the camera! He is such a curious kid. I love it.

See... notice how curious he is about his sister's tutu. I think it is hilarious!

This picture just says to me "I didn't do it!"

This one cracked me up because it looked like he was saying "Be quiet!"

Look at those blue eyes!

She for sure is our little princess! I love Valentines day! I have been doing 14 days of valentines for my husband and tomorrow I am throwing a party for a few of my boys friends. We shall see how it turns out. I have never really thrown a party before but I guess I better start somewhere! Happy Valentine's day everyone! I hope you spend it with those you love!

The truth about twins- or at least mine

I use to be invisible. At least that is what it felt like. I use to be able to go to the store and no one would look twice at me. If I had a baby, you always got a smile from the grandma in the isle beside me but that was about it. Nothing compared to what shopping is now. I am not exaggerating when I say that I literally have heard someone running behind me only to have them slow down and act casual when they asked 20 questions about my kids. Really? I guess my favorite is "Are ALL those children yours?"Or I often get "You have 2 sets of twins?" My favorite was when a couple of ladies were arguing with me about them being twins! The conversation went as follows: Them, "Are those twins?" Me, "yes they are!" (as I beamed with motherly pride.) Them-,"Are you sure?" Me, "yes, I am sure." (beam dimming a bit) Them, "But they don't look alike! He looks bigger!" I assured them that they were twins and went on my way but the whole time I was thinking... "REALLY? You are going to QUESTION me, the MOTHER?!?!?! I think I know for sure that they are twins!" Do you know what the definition of a twin is? Of course then there is every parent of boy/girl twins favorite: Are they identical? Just a review of biology, identical twins are two individuals that started as one embryo that split in two, meaning they have the same DNA. That means that they have the same sex. Boy/girl twins CAN NOT be identical unless we did some early gender reassignment surgery, we didn't. Besides from the earlier comments from some well meaning ladies, you can tell that they don't look alike. So here is your chance... Ask me ANYTHING about twins. I will be 100% totally honest about my experience. Even if you are a blog stocker and don't know me, I will answer. Just ask! Of course I am not an expert on all things twins, just my twins. For now here are some answers to questions I get asked a lot and some things I have learned thus far in my twin journey. Hopefully if someone that is expecting twins finds this post they will have some questions answered and hopefully a few fears settled.

A question I get asked a lot is: Your not breastfeeding them both are you?

I am not quite sure if it counts as a question when it is worded like that but... I will answer anyway! Yes I am breastfeeding them both. I usually get the response, "it took all the milk I had just to nurse one baby!" It took all the milk I had to nurse one also. I actually have to work very hard at having enough milk for one baby. I had to work even harder at having enough milk for two. Luckily I am one that if I work hard enough, I can increase my milk supply. I know that not everyone is so lucky. I have had many friend that have struggled and weren't able to breastfeed. Or friends that give them as much milk as they can but it isn't ever enough. I am just a really lazy mom and I love the convenience of having the best quality milk, always ready, warm, clean and available. I HATE planning ahead and wouldn't do well if I had to remember formula. I am lucky if I remember diapers! Needless to say I am glad that I am able to do it. But that brings me to the next question-

What is the hardest part about having twins?

For me it is having to hear one of my babies cry while I tend to the other one. I don't follow a "style of parenting" but if I had to label my style it would most resemble attachment style parenting. I feel like when babies cry they are communicating. I feel like when people communicate you should respond! I don't think you should give a baby everything they want just because they cry but most of the time they are just communicating what they need. But when you have two sometimes one needs you but you are busy with the other one. Yesterday my babies had to get shots and the nurses come in, shoot up your baby and then walk out leaving you with two screaming, naked babies and you need to get them calmed, dressed and out of there as soon as possible. Those are are the hard moments. Of course we have plenty of multiple meltdowns at home. I rate them by stars... a four star meltdown is when all the kids are crying a five star is when I join them!

Question: Which one do you like better?

Answer: Which ever one isn't crying. Actually I have to admit I was a little nervous. When I was pregnant with Max I wondered how anyone could love another child as much as their first. When I asked a friend about this she replied, "you love them for different reasons." I actually would disagree with that. In my experience, I love them all for the same reason, I am their mother. Yet I do LIKE them for different reasons. They all have different personality traits that are endearing to me. So I knew I would love the twins the same but I was worried about being in love with two babies at the same time... not a problem! I can't get enough of either one of them. I was a little worried that having a girl, that she would over shadow having "another boy." Although I love dressing Amelia up, love, true love, motherly love has nothing to do with what you put them in or painting toe nails or hair bows... they are my children and I love them all the same!

Question: Do twins run in your family? or Are your twins natural?

Answer: Now I realize that these questions are really asking is did I do fertility treatments. The answer is no. I do have two great aunts that both had twins. Fraternal twins run through the maternal line. These aunts were my maternal grandma's sisters. I heard that they were pregnant with their twins at the same time! That would have been so nice! Mostly just to have someone who understood my neurotic fears. Just something else I learned, identical twins are completely random! So if you marry a guy that has twins in the family, you are probably safe.

Safe?... I know YOU always wanted twins! I guess this isn't a question but it is something else I hear A LOT! Well, I didn't always want twins. In fact when people asked me how many kids I wanted I would respond "I am not sure, just one at a time." There are times that even now I wonder why these two precious ones couldn't come down one at a time. I mean I seriously wonder what it has to do with God's great plan that these two came together. Did I need to learn more patience? Did they need one another? I just don't know but all I know is that it is pretty cool to see the relationship between these two! So although I am not sure that I ever wanted twins, watching these two it makes me wish I was a twin!

Question: Do twins really have a "special relationship?" I can't speak for all twins but mine sure seem to. Since they were brand new, they always reached out for each other and held hands. See the top picture of them. They were less than two weeks old when that was taken. They are OK to be separated but they really love to be together. Unless the other is getting in their space. The picture below shows how much they already depend on each other. Amelia was mad at me and I placed her by Cooper. She grabbed onto his arm and put her head on his shoulder while she cried. He glared at me as to reprimand me for making her mad. I love it! And I feel very blessed, even through the chaos and madness and losing my mind, that I was chosen to be their mother!

two halves make a whole!

We made it! A whole half a year down... and since I decided that two halves make a whole, I decided to make a cake and celebrate. As much as I love cuddling a newborn, I love it when they get to be about six months old*. I was hoping that the first six months with twins would be the hardest but I think I have determined that life is just going to change what is hard about it. I am feeling more "normal" (as if I ever was to begin with) and that my life is a little bit more manageable! At least I felt like making a cake... that is something for sure :)

Like they really care :) but it was the thought that counts right!

Here is Amelia enjoying her sweet potatoes!

Here is Cooper gagging on his sweet potatoes!

And here are my adorable big babies. We went to the Doctor today and here are the stats:

Cooper

Height- 26 inches (32%)

Weight- 15 lbs. 6 oz (12%)

Head- 17.8 (85%)

Amelia

Height- 26 inches (58%)

Weight- 14 lbs. 11 oz. (22%)

Head- 17 inches (70%)

Of course when we stand the babies next to each other Cooper appears to have about 1/4 to a 1/2 an inch on her so I am not sure what was up with the tech. I guess next visit it will look like he had a growth spurt :)

*Disclaimer: Although I am happy about the milestone, I always get a little sentimental before my babies hit the half year mark. To me it is the difference between a little baby and a big baby. It was no different this time. The night before I held them extra tight and there may have been a tear or two shed... maybe. I love the new but miss the great things about the old too.

Double the blessings

We decided to bless Cooper and Amelia in Prescott since my family was going to all be together. Josh's mom is from AZ also and so most of his maternal side still lives there. We blessed them on January 23rd. My parents also spoke in church that same Sunday (I guess it isn't called a homecoming but you know!) It happened to be the same chapel I was blessed in 32 years earlier. I thought that was pretty cool. Josh gave them both wonderful blessings and I LOVED having so much family there!
Here is Josh's grandparents!

Here is Mom and Dad Thomson with Granny and Grandpa. Cathy made the blessing outfits for the twins. To say I loved them would have been an understatement. We used my mom's blessing outfit for inspiration. Although they didn't end up looking a lot a like, both of the outfits were PERFECT!

Ummmm.... So our boys weren't up for a lot of pictures after church but here is our best effort at a family picture :)

OK I had to get my own shot :)

Here is the babies with Dad and the grandpas! First time my own grandpa wasn't there but I am sure that both of them were there in spirit.

Here are the amazing men that stood in the circle. We are missing my brothers Jason and Brett who didn't go straight to my parents after church. It was a big circle full of AMAZING people! From Left to right: My Uncle Joe, Rick Mangum, My dad, Cooper, Josh, Josh's dad, Amelia (lucky girl!) Glenn Foulk (Josh's grandpa), My Uncle Rod, Clint Rucker, Rustin Mangum.

And my adorable perfect little sister. Doesn't she look like a natural? I think it is her turn next to have twins :)

Yes yes I do have the cutest babies on the planet! And yes those are the cutest blessing outfits ever made.

Cooper showing off his special one of a kind shoes, and tie and pants that match his twin sisters :) Except he has blue flowers where Amelia has pink... go figure!

I can only take credit for the bracelet and the flower in her hair. Otherwise it was all Cathy. This picture doesn't do it justice. I think we may need to do another photo shoot... twist my arm!

I don't think it took my mom too much time to fall in love with her 16th and 17th grandchildren!

Again I was in a Black and White mood today but isn't this picture priceless? It happened to be the most perfect day. We sure were blessed to share it with so many friends and family.

Arizona highlights

I get frustrated with blogger when I try to upload a lot of images. It seems like I can never get them in the order that I want! Oh well. This post is mostly just some sweet moments of our trip to AZ. I NEVER seem to take enough pictures while I am there. I am too busy chatting and spending time with some of my favorite people on the planet! First I had a lot of fun road tripping it with my family. Really the kids did a great job traveling. It did take us a lot more time than it use to but really was a lot of fun. My favorite part is just having so much time to just chat with my sweet husband. Every time we road trip together I realize more and more how much I love him! So I will just put a caption to these pictures... amazing people that I love so much!This is Turner and Max playing with my cousin's new dog Ruby. My cousin and his adorable wife have two adorable boys and Lindsay decided that they needed a girl. So they got this adorable boxer puppy. It made me puppy hungry but when you have so many kids, a puppy just isn't practical!

So here are Turner's cousin's that were all born less than six months apart. Turner is the youngest and Taft (the ski shirt) is the oldest. Of course Eliza is the cutest! Poor girl, there were a couple of times that she was a little disappointed that the boys wanted to do boy things and didn't want to play girl games. It broke my heart. Ok here is my family, the reason I included this picture is because it is the closest thing I have to pictures of my friends! My dear lifelong friend Lindsay {Glenn} Mellen took this picture for us. We had a couple of days of hanging out with my wonderful friends since birth... or at least grade school. It is fun and crazy when we all get together! Kids everywhere. Of course I can't complain I have the most :) I got to hang out with Laura lots, Lindsay, Janice, Raynee and Sarah. We have 16 kids between us with a few more on the way (there weren't all together at one time but still...) But we just let the kids run around and we chat! Amongst those there are 11 boys and 5 girls.

We saw this sign on the way down... in a little southern Utah town. We laughed and I guess it got our attention :)

My adorable nephew turned two the night my parents came home. The next night we had a chance to celebrate his birthday with a pinata and an amazing train cake. It put my train cake from Turner's 3rd birthday to shame. My sister is wickedly talented, and adorable, and downright perfect.

The birthday boy having a shot at the pinata!

OK so in the middle of the party sequence I have this shot of my cousin Maegan holding Cooper sleeping along with her little girl. She has another bun in the oven and will have a total of 3 kids 2 and a half and younger! This woman is a brave warrior! But as you can tell, she will do just fine. As you can see we didn't have any shortage in people willing to help out with the twins!

Turner taking his turn with the pinata! His cousin Eliza broke it right after him so he was one of the only "big kids" that even got a turn. But you can tell he had never been around a pinata before because as soon as it broke he ran in but quickly ran the other way when the grabbing started going on. I found him back inside crying on the stairs. Luckily he has amazing cousins that quickly opened up their own bags and filled up his in a jiffy!

Max didn't have a hard time getting in there and grabbing candy. He is a little scrapper!

OK and look at this cutie! I mean for real! This is Bridger and will be two soon. His adorable face melts my heart and I can't get enough!

I couldn't leave out this little guy! This is Brock and he is so sweet! I could just eat this guy up! I have to say I don't think it is fair that I live so far away from my nieces and nephews and they have no idea how much I love them! I really just want to bring them all home with me!