Birthday thoughts

At the last minute, I decided to take off work yesterday to get some more stuff done around the house.  I was gone all day Saturday with our church youth group, so I really didn't get a lot done at all this weekend.  My goal for yesterday was to find some curtains for the double glass doors that lead out of our kitchen onto the deck.  Right now, there's nothing covering it, which is a little weird now that we have neighbors!  Here's what I have in mind:

Photo credit here.

Anyway, now that we have returned to the small-town life, finding decent curtains requires a trip to Huntsville, about 45 minutes away.  I decided to make a day of it, and pick up some other things on my list for the house.  I did find some curtains that will work for the time being, but I'm not in love with them.  I am going to keep an eye out for some fabric and when I find THE ONE, I'm going to make (or have made, more likely) some curtains myself.  These doors are really the main focal point as far as curtains go, because the windows in the living room are overshadowed by the fireplace.  I picked up some valances for in there, but same story, I'm on the lookout for fabric.  I'm hoping to get everything up next weekend, and I will take some before and after pics to share.

SO, I did get the main thing I set out to find yesterday, but I also lucked up on tons of birthday supplies.  I'm a champion procrastinator, but I'm trying so hard to get things organized for the girls' first birthday.  I will share about my finds later this week. 

In the meantime, if you also happen to be looking for birthday party goods (we're all going to have one sometime this year, right?), check out this blog.  Cat is hosting a Princess Party giveaway bash this week, and it looks like there will be some great prizes.  Even if I don't win, I'm looking forward to finding some new ideas.  Though the button and the title are pretty girly, I'm sure you mamas with boys can find something useful...and if you win something you can't use, feel free to pass it on to me!  : )

We're In!

Just over two months after packing up and moving out of the house we brought our babies home to, we are finally in our new home.  It feels so good to be able to settle in and know that we are going to be here for a (very) long time!  Things are coming along pretty well.  We were able to contain the girls long enough to get a lot of work done this weekend, though it took some creative measures at times.

The house is pretty well in order, with the exception of the kitchen.  It's coming along slowly, but that's a job I have to do myself to get things just the way I want them.  Decorating is another story altogether.  We've got some things done, but there's a lot left to do.  I will have some pictures soon, and I may even ask for some input, as I am home-decor-challenged.  : )  I have a particularly hard time with curtains, but I have some ideas that I hope to get some time to work on soon.

Addison and Mackenzie are adjusting fairly well to their new room.  Mackenzie has not been sleeping as well as she normally does, but hopefully things are improving.  After sleeping through the night with very few exceptions over the last roughly 7 1/2 months, getting up to rock a baby multiple times a night gets rough!  Isn't it funny how quickly we forget how to survive on minimal sleep?  Ten months ago, just being up once or twice a night sounded heavenly. 

I was afraid her sleep issues might be related to teething or an ear infection, but I've seen no other signs related to either one.  Now I'm thinking maybe it's separation anxiety.  The pediatrician warned us that we might see anxiety begin to set in, and I've read that it happens frequently around 9 months--which is the babies' current adjusted age.  (Never mind that we are now in our third house in two months...)  Mackenzie is especially sensitive to where I am even while she's playing, and she fusses when I leave the room.  This new development is oddly sweet in some ways--she knows where I am and she wants ME specifically, awww--but it's also exhausting, and I could definitely do without the middle-of-the-night screaming.  Has anyone else dealt with separation anxiety at night?  I know she will grow out of it eventually, but if you have any tips, I'd love to hear them! 

Watching Baby Einstein from their new favorite seat.

I might be having a little separation anxiety myself...I will be chaperoning our youth group to a conference on Saturday, and the babies will be spending the whole day with their daddy for the first time.  He is excited about spending 2-on-1 time with them, and I know they will have a good day hanging out together.  If I had to guess, I would say there will probably be a Reese's Blizzard from Dairy Queen involved at some point...which they definitely don't get when they spend the day with me!  I will miss the little bitties like crazy, since I will leave before they wake up and get home long after they go to bed.  And I will be spending the day with about 15 teenagers, so I am sure that getting back home to my sweet girls will be a relief--at least they don't have that teenage girl drama yet!!  (Oh, how I do NOT look forward to the early teen years with two girls...) 

Happy Friday, everyone!!

Wordless Wednesday: Sunday morning

Why we usually don't make it to church with hairbows...



Find more Wordless Wednesday posts at 3 Kids and Us.

UAH

(photo credit:  http://blog.al.com/breaking/2010/02/close-knit_uah_biology_faculty.html)

If you live in the South, you may have heard about the fatal shooting that occurred Friday afternoon at the University of Alabama in Huntsville.  My heart is heavy today for the victims and their families and for the students and faculty at UAH.  You see, UAH is my school, and no matter how long I am gone, I will always think of it that way.  I received my undergraduate and graduate degrees from UAH, and I spent two years there working in the College of Liberal Arts.  I met my husband at UAH, and I gained friendships that will last the rest of my life.  I grew up there; became the person I longed to be. 

My UAH is a place filled with some of the most outstanding students and faculty you could ever hope to find.  The research projects and developments that take place on that campus absolutely blow my mind.  Although students at UAH do lots of studying (UAH does have a reputation as one of the most demanding schools in the Southeast), like any other college, you can always find students gathered outside the dorms and buildings, laughing and talking about weekend plans.  I am so angry at the thought of a disgruntled professor taking matters into her own hands and causing the fear and heartache that is going on over there right now.  How incredibly selfish.

My UAH is an amazing place, full of amazing people, and I have no doubt that they will come together to survive this tragedy, emerging stronger than ever before.  My thoughts and prayers are with the students, faculty, victims, and families.

Jonah's Online Auction

Have y'all met Jonah?  If you haven't, take a minute to click over and read his story.  It will touch your heart, I promise.  Baby Jonah is just a month or so older than my girls, and he has a condition called Epidermolysis Bullosa, EB for short.  Here is a little exerpt from his mom's profile:

I am a child of God, a wife to a super great guy, and a mother to the two most beautiful little boys. Our first, Gabe, was stillborn at 37 weeks. He was only here with us a short time, but we treasure every single moment. On Feb 27th, 2009, we had Jonah, who was born with an extremely rare genetic skin disorder called Epidermolysis Bullosa. Jonah spent 32 scary days in the NICU, but is now at home! He has been diagnosed with Junctional EB, a very serious form of EB which CAN be fatal. The experts are fairly confident Jonah is non-Herlitz (less severe), although the biopsies were inconclusive. He faces a life of painful blisters, hair, nail, and major teeth issues, as well as the possibility of respiratory involvement. Jonah stays bandaged from the neck down. We suspect EB is the cause of Gabe's death. We know that no matter what happens with Jonah, God will be glorified. We can't wait to see Gabe in Heaven and can't wait for Jonah to meet his big brother a long, long, long time from now after he's old and gray and lived a long, full life. Please pray for a miracle for Jonah. We are.

Patrice's blog has become one of my favorite to read, as difficult as it might be at times.  She deals with so much pain, heartache, and stress over Jonah's condition on a daily basis, and I love that she is pretty transparent on her blog, admitting when she's at a low point instead of glossing it over with funny stories and cute pictures (though there's plenty of that too!). 

Anyway, in honor of Jonah's first birthday--which is no small milestone for an EB baby--some friends of Patrice are hosting an online auction to raise money for DebRA, the EB research association.  The auction will run February 23-27, and it sounds like there are going to be a lot of great things to bid on.  A sneak peek was posted on Facebook, and let me tell you, there will be some CUTE stuff! 
 


 
If you are interested in the auction, help spread the word by grabbing the button above and posting a link to the auction site.  Every little bit helps fund more research to work toward a cure for this horrible disorder.  I'm praying for a cure to give these little ones a brighter, pain-free future.  Will you join me?

Mom Fail (times two)

Warning--this post contains poop talk.  Proceed at your own risk!  : )

My poor little Mackenzie and I have had some trials this weekend.  It all started Friday night after bathtime.  I have been bathing the girls together for a couple of weeks now (which, by the way, is so much fun...I love to watch them playing in the tub!).  I usually take two diapers to the bathroom with me and put them on the babies as I get them out of the bath.  Then, we head to the bedroom to finish getting dressed one at a time. 

Mackenzie has had a little bit of diaper rash, so when I got her out of the tub on Friday, I decided to let her go diaper-free for a few minutes while I got Addison dressed...to let her "air-out," as my mom would say.  You probably see where this is going, right?  She was over in her crib, playing happily while I wrestled Addie into her pajamas.  I look over to see that Mackenzie has pulled up on the side of her crib, then she got very still and let out a little sigh of relief.  Getting suspicious, I picked Addison up and headed over to investigate, thinking please, please don't pee in your bed.  Well, let's just say she didn't pee in the bed...

About the time I got to her crib, Mackenzie was plopping down to continue playing in her POOP.  I screamed a little (yeah, I'm not the best under pressure), and stood there for a second, trying to figure out what to do with poor Addison.  I think at first I put Addison down in Mackenzie's crib, before I thought about it and realized she would be in the poop in about 30 seconds!  I scooped Addison over to her own (poop-free) crib, and yanked Mackenzie up to survey the damage.  It was not pretty, especially for the crib sheets, but at least the damage was confined to Mackenzie's rear end...she hadn't yet gotten her hands in it, thank goodness.  I got her cleaned up fairly quickly and changed the sheet, feeling a little like I was housetraining a puppy again (you know how you pick up the puppy poop in tissue and go flush it?  TMI, right?) 

So, we survived the first major poop outside the diaper crisis.  I fully expect it to happen in the tub before it's all said and done, but hopefully it will be on Daddy's watch next time!  Here's my little pooper after she was all cleaned up:

What's the big deal?  It's just a little poop.

Unfortunately, the next incident was a little tougher on Mackenzie.  Sunday morning, I was in my bedroom getting dressed while the girls played in their crib.  I heard a big thud and ran into their room to find Mackenzie ON THE FLOOR in front of her crib.  She FLIPPED out of her bed!  I was so scared, but she seemed to be fine, just a little shaken up.  Thank goodness she started screaming immediately...it scares me more than anything when a baby falls and doesn't make any noise.  If they are screaming, they are breathing!

I have been a nervous wreck leaving them in their cribs since Sunday morning.  I jump up at the first sound in the morning, afraid they will decide to pull up and go for a dive again.  The crib matresses will definitely be lowered when we move next week! 

Wait, did I mention we are moving into our new house next week?  We closed last Thursday, the painter will finish up tomorrow, and new appliances should be delivered on Saturday.  I'm not looking forward to all the hard work that this weekend holds, but I am SO looking forward to being settled in our home-the home I plan to keep for a long, long time!

Mackenzie practicing her standing in a much safer spot.

Addison and her daddy being silly.

10 Months...or 2 months until my babies are ONE

As far as life in our house goes, ten months is a blast!  Addison and Mackenzie are developing such fun little personalities and are doing new things all the time.  This might actually be an almost perfect stage...they are just mobile enough to be fun, but aren't too adventurous yet.  Both girls can definitely get where they want to go, but still crawl army-style, rather than on all fours.  They can pull up, but are not too confident at doing it on their own yet, and they are definitely not standing alone or taking any steps.  I tell them all the time that it's totally fine to hold off on the walking for another few months!  (I'm hoping they wait until we get moved in our new house, which will be mostly baby-proofed.)



These girls are an absolute joy to be around-at least until naptime-and they LOVE to laugh, especially at their daddy.  Peek-a-boo is the game of the month, and they can both put a blanket over their face, and will pull it down when you say peek-a-boo.  It's adorable, and I'm hoping to get it on camera soon.  (I'm just full of cute, sappy overload tonight, aren't I??)  We sing "Jesus Loves Me" a lot, and we are working on learning "Pat-a-Cake." 

Addison has a word this month...she consistently says either "bye" or "bite"...sometimes it's hard to tell which it is!  She adds a little "ah" syllable at the beginning, too, so it comes out "ah-bye, ah-bye, ah-bye."  Again, need it on video.  Mackenzie said "daddy" a few times one day, but hasn't been very consistent with it since.  (Don't tell her daddy though, he thinks everything she says is "daddy"!!)  Mackenzie does love to say "heyyyyy," so I guess maybe that counts?  It's so fun to hear their little voices and imagine what they are going to sound like once they really start talking.  I was a BIG talker as a child, so I'm pretty sure that once they get started, there will be no stopping them.  (Lord, help us all!) 



I can't believe that at this time last year, I was getting huge and uncomfortable, starting NSTs to monitor the baby's heart rates every two weeks, and beginning to really prepare for our girls to join us in the world.  Looking back, it's funny to realize how very little we knew about what to expect.  I'm glad we didn't know enough to be terribly nervous about it all in the beginning.  Those first few weeks were definitely a shock to the system, but I think it would be that way for most anyone...and really, I guess it is with a first-born, regardless of how many babies you have at once, right?  Anyway, that first week at home I could not imagine what life would be like ten months down the road...but it's absolutely amazing.  I love our little family more and more every day.

(I hope you enjoyed tonight's sap-fest.  Look for much more to come as we approach the emotional one-year mark and the biggest first birthday in family history!)  : )