We had a great year in 2009. We started the year by welcoming our twins into our lives and we closed the year by buying and moving into our first home.
The months in between were full of ups and downs, but we made. We had lots of fights and tears but even more hugs and laughter.
Michael and I grew together as a couple and grew more into our roles as parents. We watched our family get acquainted and adjust to being a group of 5. Our boys have grown closer and closer and are now quite the little trio.
We definitely write 2009 off as a success. Here's to hoping 2010 brings just as much joy!
Monday, January 18, 2010
We decked our halls, but it wasn't a silent night
Christmas was a time of fun and excitement in our house this year! Hayden really caught on to the celebration and took it alllll in. He met Santa and asked for dinosaurs. When anyone asked what Santa was bringing him, he replied, "Dinosaurs! PRESENTS! TOYS!"
We went for a drive after dark a few nights before Christmas and he was just mesmerized by the lights. He saw and inflatable Santa and yelled "HE'S COMING!!!!!" with such intensity I nearly wrecked the car. Every few houses he would scream, "MOMMY! MOOOORE lights!" It was the sweetest, cutest, funniest thing I'd ever seen or heard.
Since we didn't move into our house until December 5, we were a little late putting up our tree. We finally got around to it about 1 week before the holiday. We waited to do it until the boys were all asleep which turned out to be a big mistake! At 6 am the morning after the tree went up, there was a little boy in our bedroom yelling, "Mommy! There's a CHRISTMAS TREE!!!!" He was sooooo excited that when I mumbled about him going back to bed, it made him cry. I felt so bad and let him crawl into bed with Mommy and Daddy. (I'll save the can of worms that opened for another post :) )
Christmas Eve was a late night for us as we spent the evening at Michael's mother's house. After putting the twins to bed and getting Hayden in his pajamas, we grabbed the comuter to check out Santa's location only to see: "Santa is currently in Atlanta, GA. Next Stop: Charleston, SC ETA 2 minutes!" Seeing that I was very much in the holiday spirit, I yelled at Hayden that Santa would be here ANY minute and he had to go sleep or else Santa wouldn't leave him any presents. I have never seen a child run so fast to go to bed. He jumped right in, covered up, and said, "Night night, Mommy. Sleep! Santa is cooooming!" I wish it was Christmas Eve every night!
Christmas morning was lots of fun. It was so wonderful to watch all of our boys open their gifts and get so excited over their new things. This was our first Christmas with our family complete and it was honestly a perfect Christmas.
I can't wait to spend many more Christmases with our family.
We went for a drive after dark a few nights before Christmas and he was just mesmerized by the lights. He saw and inflatable Santa and yelled "HE'S COMING!!!!!" with such intensity I nearly wrecked the car. Every few houses he would scream, "MOMMY! MOOOORE lights!" It was the sweetest, cutest, funniest thing I'd ever seen or heard.
Since we didn't move into our house until December 5, we were a little late putting up our tree. We finally got around to it about 1 week before the holiday. We waited to do it until the boys were all asleep which turned out to be a big mistake! At 6 am the morning after the tree went up, there was a little boy in our bedroom yelling, "Mommy! There's a CHRISTMAS TREE!!!!" He was sooooo excited that when I mumbled about him going back to bed, it made him cry. I felt so bad and let him crawl into bed with Mommy and Daddy. (I'll save the can of worms that opened for another post :) )
Christmas Eve was a late night for us as we spent the evening at Michael's mother's house. After putting the twins to bed and getting Hayden in his pajamas, we grabbed the comuter to check out Santa's location only to see: "Santa is currently in Atlanta, GA. Next Stop: Charleston, SC ETA 2 minutes!" Seeing that I was very much in the holiday spirit, I yelled at Hayden that Santa would be here ANY minute and he had to go sleep or else Santa wouldn't leave him any presents. I have never seen a child run so fast to go to bed. He jumped right in, covered up, and said, "Night night, Mommy. Sleep! Santa is cooooming!" I wish it was Christmas Eve every night!
Christmas morning was lots of fun. It was so wonderful to watch all of our boys open their gifts and get so excited over their new things. This was our first Christmas with our family complete and it was honestly a perfect Christmas.
I can't wait to spend many more Christmases with our family.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
The New House
After nearly 2 years of planning, looking, and working toward buying our first home, all our efforts paid off. We were able to build a beautiful home for our family and have, at last, moved in!
We closed on our house Dec. 4. This was such a special event for me because it's my father's birthday. My father passed away 2 years ago this month, and my inheritance is what funded our down payment. To close on his birthday made it even more special for me.
December 5 was the great move-in! Unfortunately, it didn't go as smoothly as we'd hoped, but in the end, all was fine. Since the holidays were fast approaching, we did a very speedy move. Within 2 weeks of moving we had every box unpacked, every room arranged, and all the extras were stored in the attic!
We have lived in our house for 1 month and 1 week now. We love it! It has made our life with 3 small boys so much better. Getting out of the house on my own with the kids isn't such a struggle anymore since we don't have stairs and the car in conveniently parked in the garage.
Oh, and that tax credit is going to be pretty nice as well :)
We closed on our house Dec. 4. This was such a special event for me because it's my father's birthday. My father passed away 2 years ago this month, and my inheritance is what funded our down payment. To close on his birthday made it even more special for me.
December 5 was the great move-in! Unfortunately, it didn't go as smoothly as we'd hoped, but in the end, all was fine. Since the holidays were fast approaching, we did a very speedy move. Within 2 weeks of moving we had every box unpacked, every room arranged, and all the extras were stored in the attic!
We have lived in our house for 1 month and 1 week now. We love it! It has made our life with 3 small boys so much better. Getting out of the house on my own with the kids isn't such a struggle anymore since we don't have stairs and the car in conveniently parked in the garage.
Oh, and that tax credit is going to be pretty nice as well :)
A blogging to-do list
I was catching up on Krista's blog and she gave me a great idea about making a list of things I've been meaning to post on here whenever I get the chance!
Here goes:
--We MOVED!
--Christmas
--A review of 2009
--Twin Milestones (or lack there of)
--Weaning
--Hayden in all his glory
--Michael.
--Imaginary friends and playdates.
Now to just get around to spelling it all out :)
Here goes:
--We MOVED!
--Christmas
--A review of 2009
--Twin Milestones (or lack there of)
--Weaning
--Hayden in all his glory
--Michael.
--Imaginary friends and playdates.
Now to just get around to spelling it all out :)
Monday, November 30, 2009
Deep Breath... Now Repeat.
I have so much to post on here, yet I never seem to have the time to do it!
Let's see... To follow up from my last post. It's been a week. We were supposed to move today, but that didn't happen. We had to push the closing back to this Friday; something to do with the power company and having to wait on them to get out to the house. I'm praying they go out tomorrow, otherwise we'll have another delay and that will add more stress to my already overloaded burden-backpack.
Why so stressed you ask? Our lease was up October 31. Yes, that was over a month ago. Our property manager was awesome about letting us keep an extra month without an increase in rent. After that, she was kind enough to pro-rate us for an extra week. I'm afraid she won't be so understanding if we have to ask for yet another week.
We're supposed to get an update from the builder tomorrow. I'm really hoping they don't wait until 3 days before our move to say we have to wait again. I'm not a very patient person, nor do I handle stress with the most grace.
Happy Notes: My boys are so stinking beautiful it melts me. I love the way they light up when they see me. The twins have gotten into the habit of giving big hugs and those slimy kisses on a regular basis. I absolutely love it. LOVE IT! Hayden has been pretty snuggly lately, too. He says, "I wanna hold you, Mommy" which means he wants me to hold him. I love that he finally wants to let me love on him again. I thought it was gone forever, but my boy finally wants his Mommy again.
All three boys have been very clingy to their Mama lately. It's really sweet and I love it, but while trying to pack up our house and deal with the holidays, it's made life a little difficult. Cooper crawls after me crying, Lucas sits and bounces while screaming, and Hayden just wraps himself around my legs and I have to drag him around with me.
The twins are teething like crazy. Luke has his bottom two teeth, Cooper has bottom two and one on top. My nipples are so sore, I can barely stand it! Lucas is constantly biting me while breastfeeding. I'm finally ready to start weaning, but the boys just will not cooperate. They won't take bottles if I'm around and they don't really like sippy cups either. I'd prefer to go straight to sippy cups so that I don't have to wean them from breast, bottle, AND sippys, but I don't know how that's going to happen.
We had the twins' 9 month check-up (at 10 months old) last Monday. Lucas is 20lb4oz & 29.25" long. Cooper is 19lb9oz & 29.75" long. My big, chunky boys! I'm so proud :D
Not so happy news is that both of them missed their milestones this visit. Cooper crawls, but isn't pulling up or cruising. Lucas isn't pulling up, cruising, or crawling. Lucas also missed his milestones (rolling over) at his 6 month check-up so he has been referred to Early Intervention for Phyiscal Therapy. Hopefully it won't take long to get His-Laziness back on track.
Hayden is... well, he's two. It's, honestly, terrible. The fit throwing and utter defiance has me pushed to my limits. It amazes me that one minute he will crawl into my lap for snuggles and kisses and then 5 minutes later he is terrorizing his brothers or tearing something apart.
He needs to potty-train, but won't. He refuses. I know he is ready. He came to me the other day and said to me, "Mommy, stinky butt. Change diaper." Why does he get upset when I ask him to use the potty?! Why? What am I doing wrong? I just don't understand.
Punishment is just a nightmare as well. If I take away toys, he throws the worst fits I've ever seen. When I went to put him in time-out yesterday, he asked me to spank him because he wanted to watch cartoons and spanking was faster. Really? Really?! I mean, no, I don't spank him hard, it's just a pop and always on his diaper, so it isn't really a punishment, but it gets his attention. I only use the pop for special circumstances (playing with outlets, kicking his brother in the head, etc.) so please don't think I beat my children. I don't. I swear. Anyway, timeouts now require earplugs for me. He throws himself back against the wall and bangs his head while screaming until his time is up. I'm terrified he's going to hurt himself and I hate the screaming. I hate it hate it hate it.
:( Re-reading this, it sounds like my children are driving me mad. I assure you, they are, but I love every minute of it. I smile more now than I ever have. I never knew that such little people could bring such big happiness. Once we're moved and settled into the house, I know it will get better. I think the stress of, well, everything, is just weighing me down right now.
Let's see... To follow up from my last post. It's been a week. We were supposed to move today, but that didn't happen. We had to push the closing back to this Friday; something to do with the power company and having to wait on them to get out to the house. I'm praying they go out tomorrow, otherwise we'll have another delay and that will add more stress to my already overloaded burden-backpack.
Why so stressed you ask? Our lease was up October 31. Yes, that was over a month ago. Our property manager was awesome about letting us keep an extra month without an increase in rent. After that, she was kind enough to pro-rate us for an extra week. I'm afraid she won't be so understanding if we have to ask for yet another week.
We're supposed to get an update from the builder tomorrow. I'm really hoping they don't wait until 3 days before our move to say we have to wait again. I'm not a very patient person, nor do I handle stress with the most grace.
Happy Notes: My boys are so stinking beautiful it melts me. I love the way they light up when they see me. The twins have gotten into the habit of giving big hugs and those slimy kisses on a regular basis. I absolutely love it. LOVE IT! Hayden has been pretty snuggly lately, too. He says, "I wanna hold you, Mommy" which means he wants me to hold him. I love that he finally wants to let me love on him again. I thought it was gone forever, but my boy finally wants his Mommy again.
All three boys have been very clingy to their Mama lately. It's really sweet and I love it, but while trying to pack up our house and deal with the holidays, it's made life a little difficult. Cooper crawls after me crying, Lucas sits and bounces while screaming, and Hayden just wraps himself around my legs and I have to drag him around with me.
The twins are teething like crazy. Luke has his bottom two teeth, Cooper has bottom two and one on top. My nipples are so sore, I can barely stand it! Lucas is constantly biting me while breastfeeding. I'm finally ready to start weaning, but the boys just will not cooperate. They won't take bottles if I'm around and they don't really like sippy cups either. I'd prefer to go straight to sippy cups so that I don't have to wean them from breast, bottle, AND sippys, but I don't know how that's going to happen.
We had the twins' 9 month check-up (at 10 months old) last Monday. Lucas is 20lb4oz & 29.25" long. Cooper is 19lb9oz & 29.75" long. My big, chunky boys! I'm so proud :D
Not so happy news is that both of them missed their milestones this visit. Cooper crawls, but isn't pulling up or cruising. Lucas isn't pulling up, cruising, or crawling. Lucas also missed his milestones (rolling over) at his 6 month check-up so he has been referred to Early Intervention for Phyiscal Therapy. Hopefully it won't take long to get His-Laziness back on track.
Hayden is... well, he's two. It's, honestly, terrible. The fit throwing and utter defiance has me pushed to my limits. It amazes me that one minute he will crawl into my lap for snuggles and kisses and then 5 minutes later he is terrorizing his brothers or tearing something apart.
He needs to potty-train, but won't. He refuses. I know he is ready. He came to me the other day and said to me, "Mommy, stinky butt. Change diaper." Why does he get upset when I ask him to use the potty?! Why? What am I doing wrong? I just don't understand.
Punishment is just a nightmare as well. If I take away toys, he throws the worst fits I've ever seen. When I went to put him in time-out yesterday, he asked me to spank him because he wanted to watch cartoons and spanking was faster. Really? Really?! I mean, no, I don't spank him hard, it's just a pop and always on his diaper, so it isn't really a punishment, but it gets his attention. I only use the pop for special circumstances (playing with outlets, kicking his brother in the head, etc.) so please don't think I beat my children. I don't. I swear. Anyway, timeouts now require earplugs for me. He throws himself back against the wall and bangs his head while screaming until his time is up. I'm terrified he's going to hurt himself and I hate the screaming. I hate it hate it hate it.
:( Re-reading this, it sounds like my children are driving me mad. I assure you, they are, but I love every minute of it. I smile more now than I ever have. I never knew that such little people could bring such big happiness. Once we're moved and settled into the house, I know it will get better. I think the stress of, well, everything, is just weighing me down right now.
Monday, November 23, 2009
1 Week...
...until we move. I'm nervous. I'm excited. I'm exhausted!
I busted my butt packing up all of the non-essentials yesterday. Michael helped a little. He really hates packing and I really hate that about him because he is more of a distractions than help. Even though I was killing myself with all of the lifting and tugging, I still had a good day.
Michael made all of my meals for me. I have to laugh because that's never happened before. I honestly think the only reason it happened yesterday is because I kept forgetting to eat. As a distraction, he was also very playful. I enjoyed getting to watch him be the main care-giver for the kids for a day. It was a nice change. We typically share baby-duty when he is home, or some days it's all me, but yesterday it was 90% him.
On to more fun matters... the house! It is beautiful. We went out Friday to have a look around. They were installing all of the ceiling fans and light fixtures. It is absolutely gorgeous. I love it. Our cabinets may be my favorite part. They are just so pretty!
We have the twins 9-month check-up this afternoon so I will post their stats a little later :)
I busted my butt packing up all of the non-essentials yesterday. Michael helped a little. He really hates packing and I really hate that about him because he is more of a distractions than help. Even though I was killing myself with all of the lifting and tugging, I still had a good day.
Michael made all of my meals for me. I have to laugh because that's never happened before. I honestly think the only reason it happened yesterday is because I kept forgetting to eat. As a distraction, he was also very playful. I enjoyed getting to watch him be the main care-giver for the kids for a day. It was a nice change. We typically share baby-duty when he is home, or some days it's all me, but yesterday it was 90% him.
On to more fun matters... the house! It is beautiful. We went out Friday to have a look around. They were installing all of the ceiling fans and light fixtures. It is absolutely gorgeous. I love it. Our cabinets may be my favorite part. They are just so pretty!
We have the twins 9-month check-up this afternoon so I will post their stats a little later :)
Thursday, November 12, 2009
We Survived!
As you saw in my last post, the twins were ill and they passed their disease on to Mommy. Turns out, the 3 of us contracted a beautiful case of H1N1. Lucas had a bacterial infection to go with his flu (a high white count). Cooper had a double ear infection to go along with his flu (with a complimentary ER trip on Wednesday... ugh). Mommy got a little bit of Strep and Sinus infection to go along with her's.
Hayden didn't catch anything! It's amazing. When he woke up Saturday and had no symptoms while the twins were sporting their 103/104 fevers, I was relieved and terrified. Instead of letting him hang around and catch what we all had, we asked MIL to take him for the night. After the diagnosis, the over-night trip turned into a 5 day stay and a broken-hearted Mama.
It's been nearly two weeks, but we are all better. The cough is lingering but no where near as bad as it was. Thanks to the power of prayer with a side of Tamiflu and antibiotics, we survived.
House Update: I have no idea what progress has been made this week, but as of Sunday, the drywall was all hung and they were in the process of finishing it. Hopefully we'll go out tomorrow and see what goodness the week brought :)
Hayden didn't catch anything! It's amazing. When he woke up Saturday and had no symptoms while the twins were sporting their 103/104 fevers, I was relieved and terrified. Instead of letting him hang around and catch what we all had, we asked MIL to take him for the night. After the diagnosis, the over-night trip turned into a 5 day stay and a broken-hearted Mama.
It's been nearly two weeks, but we are all better. The cough is lingering but no where near as bad as it was. Thanks to the power of prayer with a side of Tamiflu and antibiotics, we survived.
House Update: I have no idea what progress has been made this week, but as of Sunday, the drywall was all hung and they were in the process of finishing it. Hopefully we'll go out tomorrow and see what goodness the week brought :)
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