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!