New words

Sadie girl is going to be a talker! Her new words over the last few weeks are "uh-oh" and "yay"! So fun!!


-Stephanie

Thankful

I had a million things to do yesterday.

Finish reading my book club book (with tons of pages left)

Get the kids to take a nap (not an easy or fast process with two babies in the house)

Go buy a book for a book exchange

Finish some presents

Wrap presents

Look for my next book choice

Get ready for the party

Etc.

I was really nervous about getting it all done.

Chris was supposed to go to a guys event that he looks forward to all year. And it only happens once a year.

But because he knew how crazy my afternoon was going to be, and because he knew there was no way I was going to get everything done without his help in watching the kids...he stayed home!

I can't tell you how thankful I am for his help and for his selflessness to put aside what he really, really wanted to do to help me out and make things easier for me!


-Stephanie

Hats

-Stephanie

The Power of a Note

I love people. And I appreciate so many things about people. Over the years, my heart has been full week after week from seeing dear people at church. (I am in a unique position in working for the church to see all the great things people do!) And I always thought I should write them a note to let them know they were appreciated, thought about and loved.

But I very rarely actually did it.

Then a few months ago, I finally decided I was going to do it! So I gave myself a rule that I would write 5 notes to people each week. I have now written 30 notes so far, and the results have been amazing!!

I have heard back from the VAST majority of people saying it was appreciated. People have even made special trips and phone calls to the church office to let me know this.

A number of people have let me know that they were having a really rough week or day, but when they got my note it helped them and they felt better.

Even though I wasn't expecting anything in return, I have been blessed by hearing that my notes meant a lot to people. And I've gotten notes, emails, phone calls and visits from people because of it also.

The weird thing was that the first week, after I put notes in people's boxes, I felt weird. And even embarrassed. "What are these people going to think about this?". I was very self conscious about it. But on the very first day that people started getting notes, I knew it was worth it because i immediately started hearing from these people. And I'm not self conscious about it anymore. Really it all makes me want to write even more!

I say this not to brag about myself but to throw out there:

I know we are all busy, but it only takes a few minutes to write a note, but I can attest to the fact that it does mean a lot to people when they receive one. What if we all let each other know how much we appreciate and love each other like we should?

-Stephanie

Cute outfits

It's a rule. As soon as you put cute outfits on babies, they have a blow out or spit up all over the cute outfit. Luke didn't make it through the first hour of school in his this morning. :)


-Stephanie

Morning time

Since Caleb has to be at school so early, I have to wake up all three kids each morning. I dread doing this. I hate that I have to wake them up. I wish I could just let them keep sleeping. So, I stand in the babies' room each morning trying to decide which one I am going to wake up first. Which one might look like they aren't asleep the hardest. Then I try to gently wake them up. I'm looking forward to this long weekend so we can all sleep as long as we want!


-Stephanie

Still going strong

The babies will be 7 months old tomorrow, and we still haven't had to buy diapers for them. In fact, it really looks like we may never have to buy diapers for them. That's how many people have given us. It is such a huge blessing!!!


-Stephanie

Today

Caleb boy is loving school! Last night he said that he wanted to go back right then!

The last two mornings, I walked him to school. Yesterday it was just to make me feel good that he actually knew how to get to his classroom. Today I dropped him off in the van at the front door. When we were still a ways away from the front door, he said "I can just go ahead and get out here." So, he did. And he looked so tiny walking in the building all by himself strutting along because he thinks he's big stuff now!

I love it!!!


-Stephanie

Wondering

Ok, so I'm still sitting at the dr's office. Which made me wonder. How much pee do they need for the pee test? Always wondered that. :)


-Stephanie

Time

I'm sitting here waiting forever to get into the doctor. I'm ready to get home and see my family, eat dinner, and hear about everyone's days. Kind of frustrated.

But then I just realized I don't get much time away by myself. Even though this is not how I would choose to spend it, I should enjoy it.


-Stephanie

Having a Kindergartener

I always thought it was kind of silly that some parents were sad when their kids started school.

Not anymore.

I have to admit I have been a little teary a few times over the last week. Mainly when thinking about how he's not going to be with me at church all the time. But most of me is really excited for him. For all he will learn. Friends he will make. Etc, etc.

I can't wait to hear all about his first day!!!

-Stephanie

Communication

Here's the next wave of church communication!



Yep, that's right! Brochures in the bathroom stalls as reading material!

-Stephanie

Meeting the teacher

We went and met Caleb's Kindergarten teacher last night. Her name is Mrs. Garner.

When she came by to meet us I introduced myself, Chris and Caleb (the babies stayed home with the grandparents). After I introduced Caleb, here's what happened:

Mrs. G: Hi Caleb
C: I'm astro boy!
Mrs. G: what is it that you would like me to call you?
C: you can call me astro boy!

Meanwhile Chris and I are trying to let her know he is kidding and trying to find a rock to crawl under from embarrassment!

First impressions aren't everything, right? :)

After Mrs. G walked off, we immediately had a discussion with Caleb that she doesn't know him yet and that he needs to try not to joke around too much until she gets to know him better.

We're looking forward to what Monday brings!!


-Stephanie

Just for fun

-Stephanie

Blog Writing App

I have been HORRIBLE about blogging for a long time. I always think of things I would like to write but since I never get on a computer at home (no time and no interest since I'm on one all day at work) it never happened. But now I have this new, cool app to where I can write on my phone. Expect to hear from me more often!


-Stephanie

Special Lunch - Back to School

Caleb and I went out for a special lunch today. He starts Kindergarten on Monday, so we are doing all kinds of special stuff to get ready and excited!

First we went and ate at Chick-fil-A!









Then we went to Target to pick out a few shirts. The main idea was to get him even more excited about school coming up!



Oh, and we did get a special toy too. Mom's not a sucker too often but she was today since he only has a few more days at CARE with me.

We are so excited about starting school!

-Stephanie

Life With Twins (in pictures)

Meet Sadie & Luke

Sadie Dawn & Luke Roger were born on February 2nd, 2011! Sadie was born first at 9:50 a.m. and weighed 4 lbs. 14 oz. Luke was born at 9:52 a.m. and weighed 5 lbs. 15 oz. They were 3 1/2 weeks early, but they were perfect as can be and did not have to spend any time in the NICU!! They are a HUGE blessing!

How I Found Out I Was Pregnant (With Twins!!)

Ok, so it's been a year, and I haven't posted about this yet. I'm such a bad mom!

So, in previous posts, you've read about our struggle to get pregnant. I had just had a treatment that didn't work and was going to have to wait 3 months to try again. By this time I was FED UP!! Completely fed up!! The two days after I found out that the last treatment didn't work, I sort of had a mental breakdown. I just couldn't handle it anymore.

Some friends had told me about a guy that specialized in herbal remedies a long time before this point. I had always thought about contacting him, but just kept hoping that things would work out without having to use him. But at this point, it was time to contact him. What could I lose? Things were looking pretty grim.

The response from this man was that I had an infection, and I was told to take goldenseal root to clear it up. Again, what did I have to lose? So, I took the herb.

Then, June 19th we left for a family vacation to Colorado. I knew instantly that something was different with my body. It just wasn't behaving like it had for the past few years.

On June 20th, when we got to our destination and things were still weird, I had a feeling I knew why they were so weird. So, we went and got tests, and lo and behold, we found out I was pregnant....on Caleb's 4th birthday...which was also Father's Day! How cool is that!!!

When we got home from our vacation, I contacted my doctor. I was worried about a few things, so I requested that we do a blood test to make sure everything was ok. When I got the results back, my numbers were through the roof! From this, I started thinking that there was a chance that we were having twins.

A few weeks later, I went to my first real doctor appointment where she did a sonogram. I saw immediately that there were two babies! It took quite awhile for the reality to soak in (and honestly, even though they are here now, it still sometimes hasn't sunk in!)

Talk about exciting!!!

A New Favorite Thing

Ok, so it's not all that new to me. I've had it for awhile. I just haven't used it like I should. Until now. Now I'm hooked! I'm really not very good at being a girl. I never have been. I just don't seem to overly care all that much about girly things. This includes shopping, clothes, make-up, etc... and yes, skin care products. But awhile back while shopping at Ulta, I was talked into buying a few Exuviance products. The ladies at Ulta raved about these products and how great they worked. So, I got the moisturizer, eye cream and facial cleanser home and just used them every once in awhile. Since I wasn't using them correctly, I wasn't seeing any results. But recently, my skin was starting to feel really dry, so I started using the moisturizer everyday. I really didn't think much about it (wasn't looking for results) for a good while. Then a week or two ago, Chris started mentioning how soft the skin on my face was. I really just thought he was trying to be nice or something and still didn't think much about it. But then I started noticing it too. And it is incredible!! My face feels wonderful! Better than it has ever felt before. So, if you haven't heard of Exuviance, I recommend you check it out. It's kind of expensive, but now that I've seen the results of using it I think it is completely worth the money. And it's so good, I wanted to let my friends know about it!

The Twins are Making Their Debut Soon!

I went to my last perinatologist appointment this morning, and the twins are measuring at about:

Girl: 5 lb. 5 oz.
Boy: 6 lb. 5 oz.

right now! Very exciting! We are probably going to have a scheduled c-section next week sometime, so they will be here very soon!