Happy Birthday Grandpa Bill!

Earlier this month, we celebrated Grandpa Bill's birthday. Mark made delicious barbque ribs. Grandpa loved his mug and picture of the babies for his desk. The adults chipped in and bought him a fancy pair of shoes that he wanted (but didn't think he would get). He also got a funny book from my mom. It was a nice evening of celebrating a great guy! I am lucky that my husband has a dad who is a fantastic role-model.  Grandpa Bill is funny, thoughtful, kind and helpful. He loves to tell stories and make people laugh. He loves everyone and we are so lucky for all he does to help us. Happy Birthday to a special guy!

  

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March

We've been very busy this month, but we don't have a lot of pictures to prove it. Or maybe that's why we don't have a lot of pictures. I realized that I didn't get many pictures of the kids in their summer outfits. The weather has been amazing and we spent a lot of time outside. They love going for walks and some days go for two (one with grandma and one with us). I am on Spring Break this week and hope to get caught up on blogging (in addition to other things).

 Will had a cardiology follow up appointment from his stay in the NICU. Everything looks great with his heart and we don't have to go back for two years!  YEAH!! Since we were at the Children's Hospital for the appointment we decided to stop by the 3rd floor(NICU) to see some of our favorite people. I had to get a wrap and a Coke Zero from the Cafe. I passed on the waffle ice cream cone because they didn't have my favorite kind. :-( I was surprised at how emotional I felt walking through the hospital. 

As you can tell from this picture, we need a bigger house. We have been working hard (actually Mark has done most of the work and I take care of the kids) to get our house ready to put on the market. We have signed the paperwork and the sign will be out front on Wednesday, April 4. The pressure is on to complete 9 years of projects in just a few days (in addition to maintaining our daily lives)!  

Will and Erin LOVE to look out the front door. With all of the beautiful weather we had they spent a lot of time here. Sometimes Clark jumps up and looks out the door with them.  I tried to capture a picture, but Clark would always hear me and get down.

Happy St. Patrick's Day! I discovered that we don't have many 'warm weather' green clothes. (It was 80' on St. Patty's Day this year!) So these were the best shirts we could come up with.

Will is modeling one of the many hats Grandma Pam has been making.

March Pictures

 We spent another fun weekend at Crystal Mountain.  The kids love to ski, spend time with grandma and grandpa and play with all of their toys.  I've said it before, but we are so lucky to be able to spend time here.

 Sleep Sacks!! These babies don't like to stay covered up with blankets when they are sleeping so thankfully we have sleep sacks!

 After 15 months, the time came for me to stop pumping. (I continued a month after I returned my rented pump).  I was surprised at how emotional I was when it came time for me to return my pump to the hospital.  I had rented a pump like they had in the NICU because I liked it much better than the Medela pump I got from my insurance company.  From the time the kids were born, I pumped every 3-5 hours for over a year (with the occasional 6-7 hour stretch for a good night sleep).  I traveled to Florida for Sarah and Marc's wedding with my pump and cooler for breast milk.  I hauled this pump back and forth to school each day so that I could pump during lunch.  And just like that this chapter in my life was over.  While Will and Erin were in the NICU I pumped because it was the only thing that I could do for them.  It was a 'normal' thing that a new mom would do.  Breast milk was the best thing for my babies and I would give them my milk.  When they came home I continued my pumping routine.  I remember the first months when they were home because every three hours I would feed Will, then try to give Erin a bottle if that didn't work she would get tube fed.  Then I would pump.  There was about 1 hour of time before I had to start the cycle again. It was a crazy time in our life and I have no idea how I did it, but I managed.
When I returned the pump I started to cry and couldn't talk to the lady at rental desk. I'm sure she thought that I had lost my mind.  This pump symbolized so much more to me than just a breast pump. It was part of my identity for 15 months. It allowed me to escape the craziness of having two micro preemies in the hospital and then at home.  I was doing something to help my babies grow and get stronger.  I am so thankful that I was able to pump for as long as I did and that I produced enough milk for my babies and do donate some to the milk bank.

13.5 Month Update

Will and Erin are growing, changing andmoving like crazy! The are always on the go and it's so much fun (in a few months I might now be thinking the same thing). They continue to be great sleepers at night. Some days they take two naps and other days it is just one nap. Yesterday, Will woke up at 6:45 am and didn't take a nap until 2:00! The boy doesn't like to miss out on anything. Erin is more like her mommy and enjoys sleeping in and taking naps. :-)

Erin is on the move! I captured this picture of her in mid-flip.

The kids each had 6 shots at their 1 year check up.
They were so brave and only cried right as they
got the shots.

A few weeks ago, I decided that I was going to start making baby food. I bought ice cube trays, 15 bags of frozen peas, carrots and green beans along with fresh fruits and veggies. I researched how to make baby food. I cooked a bag of peas, got out my food processor and smashed them up. I added a little bit of water to it mixture too. At dinner time, I was so excited to give Will and Erin their meal. Will took one bite and acted like I had just put poison in his mouth. The face he made was priceless. He wouldn't close his

mouth. He HATED the texture of the peas and took his little hand and tried to take the food out of his mouth. He wanted NOTHING to do with his mama's homemade dinner. I gave some to Erin and she spit it back at me. I decided to get out a jar of Stage 2 peas and Will ate the

whole thing! He really doesn't like food textures. I hope that this is a phase that he quickly grows out of because I don't want him to end up with feeding therapy. I tried making green beans and they didn't like those either. I have made sweet potatoes and Erin will eat some of them, but Will doesn't like them. So now, we have 13 bags of frozen veggies in our deep freezer. I hope Mark won't mind peas, green beans and carrots as a side with our dinners. I'll have to try making baby food again, but for now I am going to wait. I am watching for baby food sales and stock up when I can.

Will and Mommy

Both babies are on the move!!  Erin is still crawling and pulling herself up on everything. She pulls herself up on couches, toys and legs and then gets down just as quickly.  She goes from the crawling to the sitting position with no trouble. We had worked with the girls from Early On to help Erin learn how to sit from crawling.  One Sunday, she was sitting on the changing table and just moved her arm and sat up! It felt like she had finally taken the training wheels off of her bike!
Erin loves for me to hold her.  I come in the door and she crawls right over to me and wants to be held. I put her down and she crawls to me and wants to be held. I have gotten very good at doing many things with a baby in my arms.
Will on the other hand, wants to climb and climb and climb. He LOVES to play with the bouncy seats. Within three days, he figured out how to army crawl to the seat and pull himself up into it. He likes to play with the toy bars that are attached to the seats.  A few nights ago, We was standing up and playing behind the seat. We watched Will climb over the seat (from behind) and go head first towards the floor. Erin has NEVER climbed on anything! I am already seeing the differences between boys and girls.

Both babies can walk around the toys, walk while holding on to your fingers and transfer between toys.




They both love their bath time.  They stand, splash, swim, sit and play for a long time in the tub. Will has discovered the water coming out of the spout. I can only imagine the size of our next water bill. 


Erin melted Mark's heart by saying 'da da da' two nights ago.  She was saying it as she was looking at him too. (She's been saying 'ma ma ma' and 'ba ba ba' too. Last night, Will started saying 'da da da' in the sweetest voice. Those are the first constant sounds he has made.
The kids continue to keep us busy and are so good! We are so lucky to have such easy going, happy kids.

Congratulations Aunt Sarah and Uncle Marc!

Mamma got a spray tan!

On February 11, Mark's little sister, Sarah, got married on Ft. Myers Beach (which is where she lives and teaches). We were able to travel to the wedding, kid-free, because of my dad and Connie.   They watched the kids for us so that we could have a nice, long weekend. 

 Everyone had a great weekend together.  Grandpa and Grandma survived the four-day weekend with the kids.  Will and Erin had fun creating memories with their grandparents. Erin loved getting rocked to sleep by grandpa and I know that he loved it too! When we picked up the kids, they looked at us like, 'we should know you, but we aren't sure how.' It took a few minutes for it to click and they remember that we were their parents.  :-) 

We had a fantastic time in Florida! It was fun to have so many family members and family friends together in one place.  Sarah and Marc had 75ish people attend their wedding and only 4 of them lived in Florida. Sarah and Marc are lucky to have so many people who love and support them! The wedding was right on the beach and the reception was at a fun, beachside bar called Nemo's.  They rented the bar out and we had a blast dancing the night away.  We ate some of the best prime-rib and Bang Bang Shrimp ever served.  The drinks were great too! 

This is the 'Cousin's Picture.' Mark's cousins have this picture from every
wedding for the past 15 (?) years. Everyone stands in the same spot.
 If someone is missing, then a place is left for them. For this picture, cousin Christine's
fiance sent her a copy of the picture so everyone would be in the correct places.

Mark and I stayed an extra day so that we could enjoy the beautiful Florida weather.  Unfortunately, they had a cold spell that weekend and when we woke up Sunday morning the temperature was 35'. YIKES!! I was glad that I threw in jeans and a fleece jacket at the last minute. Instead of spending the day on the beach, we went outlet shopping and then drove to Sanibel Island and ate at Doc Ford's.  The fish sandwich was to die for!! We ended the night with a seafood dinner with Mark's cousins who were still in town. 

I am proud to say that I was able to pump and bring all of the milk home with me. It wasn't until I few days before we left that I learned that I would be able to bring the milk home with me. I thought that I would have to dump it.  The TSA agent put the bottles into a special machine to make sure it wasn't some sort of toxic liquid.  My pump and cooler didn't count as a carry-on either.

Congratulations to Sarah and Marc! Thank you for having a destination wedding and allowing us to create so many amazing memories!

Even though Will and Erin didn't attend the big day,

they did have outfits that coordinated with the wedding party.