Family pictures!!!

So yesterday we finally had some family pictures done...we have no pictures of Jakob and Kaleb yet, well besides the ones we take. But there are plenty of Gavin in the house, hehe

I contacted Erin Farrell Photography ( http://www.erinfarrellphotography.com/ ), she did Gavin's pictures when he was 3.5 months and she had a great Black Friday deal I just couldn't resist! Not to mention she takes fantastic photographs!

All of the boys did great while she was here...we had a few meltdowns towards the end when the babies were getting tired but overall I would think she caught some great moments of the boys, along with Marcin and I :-)

Here is a little sneak peek of one with the babies, I CANNOT wait to see the rest because this one is so stinking cute it makes me smile every time I see it! And yes I am certain they are TWINS even though they look nothing alike...believe me, there were definitely two babies in there while I was prego, hehe!

Going....Going....Gone!

J&K showing off their cute outfits from aunt keeley in chicago!

Push presents....

Wikipedia: A push present (also known as a "push gift" or "baby bauble") is a present a new father gives a new mother when she gives birth to their child. In practice the present may be given before or after the birth, or even in the delivery room. The giving of push presents has grown in the United States in recent years.

I think this tends to be more of a southern tradition, when I moved to Delaware and Gavin was born, alot of people I knew hadn't really heard of push presents. Did you get a push present? Even though I didn't really 'push', I had a c-section both times, but still carrying gavin and then the twins counts for something right?

Of course, I had to introduce Marcin to them, hehe! When Gavin was born I got a beautiful necklace that I rarely wear because I am worried something will happen to it : / Plus with the babies it hard for me to wear necklaces often because they are always grabbing it, pulling and if they lay their head down, it might bother them.

For the twins, I asked Marcin if I could get something to celebrate all the boys :-) Well my 3 littlest boys, not including my oldest Marcin lol I have always wanted a piece of jewelry with all my kids birthstones. I decided a right hand ring would be perfect! So I set about finding somewhere to design my ring and discovered the boys birthstones lol I am not good with what birthstones go with what month. I have known Gavin's was a ruby but I didn't know the twins ( bad mommy!), turns out the twins birthstone is a sapphire. So when I put the ring together, there is a ruby in the center and a sapphire on each side....it looks a little patriotic with the red, blue and then some white diamonds but beautiful all the same! Nothing wrong with being patriotic...while the country has our issues, I am thankful for the opportunities provided here but that is another blog post :-P

So I am anxiously awaiting for the ring to be ready....another week or so and should be!

These are the days...our babies are only babies once!

Lately I find myself frustrated when someone doesn't nap or Kaleb decides he is too distracted to eat or I worry that the babies reflux is flaring up...something, there is always something for me to stress over or overanalyze :-) While I don't do it quite as bad as I did with Gavin (him being our first child and all), I do still do it lol

I need to let it go....I am a typical Type A personality and I have a few control issues (yes Marcin, I am fully aware of this!) I do best when I have a routine and some structure. This was probably my biggest obstacle when Gavin and the twins were born because as we all know, if you have kids....routine and structure takes some work to establish. They are pretty much non-existent the first 3-4 months.

So with the twins, we do our best to have them eat around the same time...this obviously doesn't always work out when someone (eh hem, Kaleb) doesn't want to eat because he is too busy or would rather play than eat (i.e. JUMP). I do my best for the twins to nap at the same time and while I am usually successful, I don't stress over that. Jakob and Kaleb have different needs when it comes to napping...Kaleb is an easy sleeper. Jakob is not. I can miss Kaleb's sleep window and he will still find his thumb and go to sleep, usually. If I miss Jakob's sleep window...he will cry for at least 30 minutes and then only nap for 30 minutes instead of 1.5 hour. The child is his father's son...high maintenance ;-)

Reflux...for now Jakob and Kaleb's reflux is under control, thankfully. It was a rough couple of months when we were trying to figure, along with adjusting to 3 under 3, shew!

All in all, I look at my sweet babies at the end of day when they are bed so peaceful and my heart is just full of love for my boys :-) And I need to stop and slow down because this is all going too fast. The twins are going to 6 months next week, how is that possible?

One day they aren't going to nap at all and I can't complain about them not eating or sleeping, wonder if its teething or reflux because when I can't worry about all this silly stuff, that will mean they arent my little babies anymore...they are growing up. And while they may not like it...they will ALWAYS be my babies and I know my current worries will be replaced by new ones, but again that is because they will be growing up. I am excited to see what young men they grow up to be.

But y'all know me, I will still do my best to have some structure and keep some sort of routine, especially when it comes to sleep! sleep begets sleep. I was skeptical with Gavin when I read this but it was proven to be true....others tell us just keep the kid up late, he will sleep in.....nope not Gavin. The later he stays up, the earlier he is up. If he ever missed his naps or didn't nap well, his night sleep would be awful. The twins are just reinforcing that point. So as one friend lovingly called me with Gavin, The Nap Nazi, is still here and won't be going anywhere just yet :-)

BREAKING NEWS!

My oldest son sat STILL for longer than 30 minutes working on crafts! Seriously...I have been waiting for this day lol
I talk to other friend with toddlers and they will tell me how they do all these fun activities/crafts with their kids and Gavin, well he doesn't sit still for that long and will usually lose interest quickly. Apparently I just needed to pull out all of my old scrapbooking supplies and he was hooked! He loved the hole puncher, the other tools and gadgets that roll around, the ribbons, glues, stickers, edge cutters, scissors (not sharp ones :-P) and sat at the table for about 45 MINUTES just cutting paper, sticking sticker, tracing his hand, drawing 'sunshines' and 'faces'....so cute! I love this kid and his awesome personality! He is so much fun to hang out with and says the funniest things.
And he is loving stamp! I had bought a stamp set a while ago but I was afraid of the mess the ink would make, hehe! It says its 'washable' but its hard to determine sometimes if a manufacturers idea of 'washable' is the same as mine, turns out...it is! So he had fun with those too!

what a fun day!

Marcin went out last night and stayed night in philly, lol!!! From the looks of him, I'd gather he had fun :-P
We had some friends over this morning for playdate that we have been trying to plan but would get rescheduled for a while so it was fun to finally get together! The kids and adults had lots of fun :-)

Here are some fun pics, I think pics just brighten up a blog page, don't you?



Gavin looks like it was a knee slapper!



And I think Jakob and Kaleb had their first official argument over a toy, hehe!!! I had them both sitting up on the floor with the alphabet spinny thing and they both wanted, Kaleb would yell because Jakob was spinning it and Kaleb couldn't reach it, so funny!!! Oh we are in for some fun adventures :-P

And I think I need to purchase more waterproof bibs....they are drooling like faucets! I was trying to remember when Gavin started that but I couldn't remember. Apparently it starts around 5.5/6 months :-D
These pics are before the 'argument' while they were playing with it on the couch...I can' believe how big they are getting. I still picture them as our little 6&5lb babies we brought home. But they for sure are not....they are doing more everyday...Kaleb is moving into 12 month clothes and Jakob is just about in all 9 month clothes. Kaleb seems to be growing bigger than gavin at his age! Gavin wasn't in 12 month clothes until right before his first birthday!



So darn cute!



House to myself!

For the Clemson fans :-)



I LOVE LOVE LOVE this pic of Jakob!

so niiiiccceee :-D I mean..I miss you honey :-) lol

Marcin is out tonight and I am so happy that he finally went out! He needs a break from our somewhat chaotic house! And I like having the house to myself so I can watch a movie without any commentary (lol), read my book, write on blog or catch up on others blogs or just play on the computer :-) Its not like I have any excited plans, just the quietness of relaxing by myself :-)

Here are some pics of the boys!

where are the manners?

{{Disclaimer - this is not insinuating that everyone in delaware fits this type of character, just a few that I have had the fortune of running into lately :-P}}

In retrospect being from the south I was always 'learning my manners' pretty much all the time. It was a constant thing and just a given. I never said 'huh?' to my parents or any adults in my life or strangers. Or 'what?' It was always yes/no mam, yes/no sir and that was that. When I was working in the school as a school counselor and the kids would say 'huh' to me it would irk me like you wouldn't believe! Then one of the kindergarten teachers asked a child "are you a goose?!" and the little girl looked at her like she was crazy and said "HUH?!" The teacher said "You sound like a goose saying HUH HUH HUH" lol So ever since then, when people say 'huh' I giggle because it reminds me of them being a goose :-P
Needless to say, our boys will be saying yes/no mam and yes/no sir, that is just normal to me and Marcin agreed that it was fine with him, well one week he is fine with it and the next he usually changes his mind but I am going with him being fine with it since I am home with them 5 days a week :-) I WIN! hehe

At the store the other day, the cute little old lady was slowly walking to the door and a man about 25 or so just cut right in front of her and went inside. Didn't bother to hold the door for her, just whizzed right by without a care :-(

In my neighborhood, which granted is quite a melting pot of ethinicities and I while I don't know everything about the various cultures in my neighborhood, is it so wrong and rude for your neighbor to say hi while passing you on the sidewalk? In the south, EVERYONE talks to EVERYONE! Whether you know them or not....you just say hi when someone catches your eye. Not here, we will have lived in our house 4 years this summer and there are still people I can pass on the SAME sidewalk who I see all the time that do not speak or even look at me. They just look straight ahead and keep walking :-( I, of course, still say hello. Or just wave at people who drive through the neighborhood! I mean I see the SAME people and the SAME cars, there aren't that many homes in my neighborhood, yet hardly anyone speaks to each other. It was the same way in our last neighborhood and it was smaller than this one!

Even when we are out and about, most people just seem to be out for themselves and while I get that, does it really take that much time to hold a door open for someone when their hands/arms are full? Or if you see them struggling with a big stroller and a crying child? Or just hold the door because they are coming in right behind you or going out as you are coming in?

I just don't get it.  Whenever I go home to South Carolina, I find that people will speak to me and I have to readjust myself and remind myself that its ok to talk to people that I pass. To wave at people and they will wave back, to SLOW down :-)

I will never forget when a group of us when to my dad's house in NC mountains. I can't remember if it was Kelly's first time that far south or not, but she hadn't been there much and she was laughing because everyone waved at everyone on the road and said hi in the stores lol
And then one trip to Mississippi for my grandfathers funeral, Marcin came with me, thank goodness because I couldn't have done it without him. He was like my 2nd dad and helped raise me, I learned so much from him and miss him everyday! So we had the service and we were driving to the cementary which was about 25 minutes away. Anyone who saw our convoy passing immediately pulled over and waited for us all to pass. Some even got out of their cars and stood there with their hands over their hearts as a salute, I still shiver when I remember that day. Marcin said he had never seen anything like that. But to me, that was the norm...I don't think I have ever seen that happen since I have lived here :-( Not to say it doesn't happen, I just haven't experienced it.

I guess the point of all this is I want our boys to open doors, to be considerate of others, to be respectful of others, empathize, and have good manners. We are going to do our best to teach them these things, I just hope it is reinforced in the outside world.

It's Spring!

at my house anyways, LOL I got some beautiful flowers from Marcin for Valentines Day, tulips are my favorite flower and the other flowers smell WONDERFUL! It really smells like spring in my house....these flower just might get me through the next few weeks of winter :-D
Thanks honey!

Happy Valentines everyone!

Clearing it out!

I am slowly but surely selling baby stuff, maternity clothes, baby clothes, etc. I just want it OUT! I feel like there is so much clutter in our house and it drives me nuts!  It doesn't help that all the baby equipment is so bulky and awkwardly sized, hmph! Like you can miss it in the bright primary colors and ADD noise makers and such :-P

I listed 28 items of clothing yesterday on ebay :-D It took me about an hour...these people that sell so much on ebay must have a lot of patience, that is seriously a full time job! And some of the things I listed 2-3 shirts together! But it was all Gap & Motherhood, good stuff! I thought about donating but if I sell all that I will make a little over $100, seems worth it to me! I donated some of the other off brand stuff. And some other baby stuff like my Bjorn and little things here and there!

I have sold a lot on Craigslist, YAY!!! I was a little hesitant about strangers coming to the house but so far no weirdos have shown up on my doorstep *knocking on wood*

Now I need to list some baby clothes! I have 3 separate bins of baby clothes!
1) for friends! I have 3 friends expecting end of august/beginning of september so the good stuff will be split between them...well if they have boys. I am predicting they will all have girls but more on that later!
2) stuff for ebay
3) stuff for goodwill

I am going to try to sell the baby clothes in 'lots' on ebay, meaning a few items at a time. I  need to do some research to see how much others are selling their 'lots' for. again, time consuming but if I make $50-100 on it, worth it!

And I feel like Craiglist or Ebay are better options for clothing and such instead of a yard sale simply because I can charge a bit more. I know when I shop yard sales I take a little bit of money because yard sales are usually cheap. Ebay you can pay with credit card, much easier to charge more than $2 a shirt when you can just 'charge it' hehe

So my thoughts on my friends having girls....When I was pregnant with Gavin, everyone I knew that was pregnant around that time all had boys! Then there was a phase of girls. When I was pregnant with the twins, everyone I knew pregnant around that time had boys too! Seriously...out of 16 people I knew pregnant, all boys but one (miss maggie!). So since I am NOT pregnant nor do I  have any intentions of getting pregnant, this time around I think everyone will have girls! Which is great because that way I can buy lots of pink girly princess stuff and get it out of my system!

lol this kid cracks me up!

Gavin just gets funnier and funnier by the day!

This afternoon we went to Kohls (what?! I had Kohls that HAD to be used! And of course they gave me more...their marketing department is genius! lol) and anytime we go to a store, Gavin likes to look at the toys, undertstandable. He had $1 in his coat pocket that he calls "Moneys" and I told him maybe we could get him something with his moneys.

So we go to the toys and he finds something he wants to play with.....I pull toy from BACK of shelf (yes I am a bit of a germophobe) and he wants to take it out of the box. I explain that we can't take it out of the box because we aren't taking it home. He says we will take it home and Tata can take it out of the box :-P I then go on to say that I don't have any moneys for the toy to go home. We walk around looking at things and a few minutes later Gavin says to me "MAMA! I got moneys! TAKE TOY HOME NOW!' During this excitement he is waving his $1 at me.....now how could I resist that smartness?! Needless to say, the toy came home with us :-P

And then again my little comedian was digging in my nightstand and found my Costco pack of chapstick, which I have to buy because he is a Chapstick theif! He found my stash and I asked what he thought he was doing because that is Mama's chapstick! He picks up the package and points at it and says, " This is Gavin's" dragging his finger across like it says his name on it.

Oh I can't wait for all the boys to talk and the funny things they will say!!!!

Not sure who will miss who more....

My dad has been here all week and it has been wonderful having him! Unfortunately we didn't get out much but that is hard to do with the frigid temps and 3 little ones, so we have spent alot of time with the boys.

Gavin loves having his Pop Pop here to play with him and Jakob & Kaleb love to give him those goofy, sweet grins!

It's time like this I wish we lived closer to each other. Man, I sure do miss that company plane right about now. I appreciated it when we had it but it would be SO nice right now with the 3 kids to just drive to New Castle, pack all our stuff and fly directly to HHI to see everyone *Sigh*

Now its time for Gigi to come visit! Uncle Reh is coming in a couple of weeks so we now have that to look forward too!!

OOOO and tonight we get to have a date night =0 I know...craziness LOL We are going out for a little something after we get the kiddos in bed. I am so excited!!! I love staying home with my kids but some days I feel very isolated from the world so it makes me appreciate our time away even more!

Not to mention Ole Tapas has THE best blueberry mojito and yummy food!!!

ok must get all kids fed and in bed, nite nite everyone!

is that a shadow?

When I got pregnant with the twins...I went in for an u/s at 5.5 weeks. There was one sac. Marcin came with me to the first u/s and he asked the doc repeatedly if that meant there was just one LOL The doctor said that yes for now there was just one BUT there was still time for another to implant or the egg to split...who knew?!

I went back for my 6.5 week u/s on this day one year ago...Marcin didn't go with me because this being our 2nd pregnancy, the novelty was sort of worn for him (I guess :-P) so I went by myself. My two favorite nurses came in to do the u/s, as soon as she started I saw the sac from my 5.5 week u/s and then I saw another one, I said 'Is that a shadow?' LOL The nurse said 'Um nope...that would be another baby!' WHAT?!

I swear I almost fell off the exam table, a million thoughts went through my head at once and I started to cry :-) I was happy and I just couldn't believe we had been blessed with TWO babies!

Marcin was in a meeting that morning and it lasted f.o.r.e.v.e.r.....I was waiting for him to get out and that was THE longest wait ever! So in the meantime I went to get some goodies to leave on his desk..I got a pack of Doublemint gum, some double heart candies and Sugar Babies candy :-) And a note to call me :-)

He finally called and I told him it was twins and for the first time since I met him...he was speechless LOL I don't think he really believed me, but I had had a few hours to let it sink it hehe He said he needed to call me back in a little while LOL

And that was the beginning of our crazy adventure! And what a pregnancy it was....6 trips to triage, alot of days trying to entertain gavin when I could hardly walk, the aches & pains, trying to find clothes that fit me at the end, the endless nights, 2 weeks of constant contractions 24 hours a day, much help from family to play with gavin and just clean our house and they were born at 37 weeks healthy. I can't ask for much more than that!

Gavin shared the exciting news!

Baby A - Kaleb

Baby B - Jakob

Completely outnumbered!

This morning we went to my friends, Hillary, for a playdate and my goodness we were outnumbered! We had 8 kids all under 3 years old...it was crazy but fun at the same time!

The kids have so much fun and so do the adults...it is a win/win situation!

And honestly, I'd be lost without my friends and an added bonus we have kids the same age. I truly would be..it took me a long time to meet people after gavin was born and we decided I'd stay home. At least a year of networking, meeting at parks, playdates, etc. You think high school is bad with cliques? you should have been at some of the playdates I went to...shew! I met all sorts of people LOL

Not only are our oldest close in age but some of us had 2nd babies and they are close in age....we are REALLY going to be outnumbered when all these babies start moving around!

And we know we can count on each other, when we get together we all watch one another child which was super helpful when we were pregnant and even now that we have little ones to feed multiple times a day or at playdates when someone is busy with one baby...someone else can keep up with the toddler :-) I know for me its a huge help and not nearly as stressful having 2 babies to tend to and then try to keep up with silly Gavin turning on every single light on in Hillary's house ( I think I managed to turn them all off before we left!)
And most importantly.....GIRLS NIGHTS OUT!!! or girls day out...whichever we can coordinate :-)

I am getting all sentimental but I have the bestest friends!!!! And I have the bestest husband because I get to go out tonight with some more wonderful friends for yumminess at the Melting Pot! we decided to skip the entrees and go for the good stuff...yep just the cheese and chocolate :-D

and now all my children are waking up from their nap-a-thon :-) they had a busy morning!!!! can't beat a 2.5 nap and 2.5 of time to MYSELF :-)

gavin when he was 4 months in his jumper...they grow too fast!

I just can't get enough :-)

most of the time ....everyone needs a break every now and then! But I love Jakob and Kaleb's age right now, so much fun!
Here is Kaleb in jumper, he just figured out the jumping thing and will even try to jump when he is laying down :-) sorry its side ways  but you get the idea lol

Woody needed a diaper change...

I love that Gavin's imagination is coming out! He is usually creative and I sometimes don't have a clue what he is talking about but I try my best to go along with it!

This time, I knew what he was doing! He likes to pretend that Woody is his 'baby' like Jakob and Kaleb are our babies. He will put Woody in the jumper, exersaucer, bouncy, give him toys to hold and today he told me 'Woody dirty diaper, new diaper!' He went in the kitchen got his stool, took it to the changing diaper and then went to get Woody.

Woody got the full treatment from Desitin cream to Saline drops and even some Vicks Vaporub because 'his tummy hurt' LOL

27 trips....

...up and down the stairs today. And I still need to make one more to go to sleep!

I never thought I would say this with twins but I CANNOT wait for them to start walking! My lower back is killing me by the end of the day! Carrying a 36lb 2.5 y/o (who likes to think he is 5 months and wants to be carried), then a 20lb 5 month old and another 5 month old at 16lb up and down stairs all day is tiring...a good workout but tiring all the same!

they need to learn how to crawl up and down steps...yes at 5 months, they can do that right?! lol

I am loving this!

I can remember not long after the twins were born thinking, 'How in the hell am I going to do this?!' And being so scared. Even though I knew that this being the 2nd time around with babies that it wouldn't be like that forever...things would get better, I would sleep again.

Although some days are still 'challenging,' it is awesome to be able to stay home with my boys and watch them grow and develop!

Gavin is a great Big Brother! of course, right now it is on his terms :-) I have a feeling when the babies are able to take things from him that will be another story. But for now, he loves to plays his instruments in front of them and watch them smile! He can just simply jump up and down, J&K find this hilarious and just laugh. Not just a giggle but those belly laughs :-)

Jakob and Kaleb are so much fun! They find each other sometimes and will smile at one another or laugh, so cute! Sometimes Jakob will be in the jumper while Kaleb is beside him in the exersaucer and Jakob will start cracking up, so cute!

Here they are being silly! I feel like I never catch Gavin on video or camera as much as these two but he just doesn't sit still long enough!

I don't want to wish the time away but it is going to be so much fun watching these three grow up together! I still remember all too well in the beginning how scary it was and everyone asking me or both of us, 'how are you going to do this?!" and honestly...we just do. You do what you have to do and find your rhythm. Some days are better than others, some days are complete chaos but I just have to remember that bedtime will come eventually LOL

J&K are also feeling much better! they seem to be recovering just fine from the RSV,YAY!! of course now I think Gavin has a stomach virus, ugh! will this winter EVER end?!