Preggo at Easter last year

I found these pictures of Easter 2008 and I had to post. It is making me feel a little better about my post pregnancy weight loss "progress". I haven't done as good as I could have, but looking at this pictures makes me realize I have come a long way!! I was not even six months pregnant yet and already a whale! I felt great (besides the rib stretching and water retaining ankles) and had a great pregnancy, but I hope to never be this big again! And I still had 2 and a half months to go! These are the only shoes I could wear for a long time and I swore I would burn them, but for some reason I haven't yet. I need to get on that!

Me and my mom

Me and Brian

More Easter.. Two things I almost forgot!

I was in such a hurry in my last post, I forgot to talk abut why Easter means so much to me. The pastor said it well in his sermon on Sunday. He talked about hope and how without Jesus rising from the grave, we would have no hope. But because he has risen, we can be joyful knowing that he is alive and we are forgiven. We have hope that we will be together with our loved ones who are taken from this earth before us. Thank you God, for loving the world so much that you gave your only son, so whoever believes in you shall not perish but have everlasting life!!!

Also- no Easter baskets this year, but I did get them each an Easter bunny and they got cute bunnies from my boss, Joan. Next year I will do baskets!! On Thursday Donna gave Nate and Lilly Easter presents and we opened them when we got home. They got new fun bath toys and lots of other fun stuff!! Pictures below.. THANKS DONNA!!

No Nate, you don't eat it, you open it!

See I told you there would be good stuff inside!

Lilly looks a bit suspicious at first too
Presents- good stuff!!

Good Friday and great Easter!

Sorry this is a little late, but I have been busy this week!

So Friday, Donna (babysitter) was off so I got to stay at home with Nate and Lilly. We had a lot of fun and even met Grandma out at the park for a walk! On Saturday Brian and I took the babies back to the park for more walking and I even got a little jog in. I use the word "jog" loosely here, but it felt good anyway!

Sunday we went to church with my mom and Nate and Lilly did great (sorry about the blurry picture- it's the only one we got)! After church, we came home and made an Easter lunch (okay, everything started in either a can or a box- but it was still delicious)!

That about sums it up. Here are some pictures from the weekend! Happy Easter!

Pictures from last weekend

Enjoy!

A little duet to start off the weekend!

Hey Mom!
Nate is "scooting" now.. uh-oh! As you can see- Lilly is still relaxing!

At the park on Saturday.. It got up to 80 degrees that day!!

Look closely and you can see daddy and Nate in the background (no swinging for Nate today)!
She was so unaffected on her first swing- no smiles.. no fussing.. she couldn't have cared less!

Pooped after swingingSweet Nate in his new Texas Ranger digs! GO RANGERS!

9 month stats.. and Happy Birthday!

Nate and Lilly did great at their 9 month well check this morning! They didn't even cry when they got the toe stick to check their iron (which was great for both of them, by the way). Lilly kept reaching down toward her little foot like was trying to help her! The doctor said we may need to let them be a little more independent so they can start learning how to get around better on their own. You just can't win! Don't hold them enough, they're insecure and neglected. Hold them too much, they never learn to crawl or walk. DANG!

Here are the stats:
Nate-
20.7 lbs, 28 inches (50th percentile)

Lilly-
21.1 lbs., 28.25 inches (he just said she was at the TOP of the growth chart, so I'm assuming about 95th percentile!)

Thank you God for our beautiful, healthy babies, who were born a month premature but you would NEVER know it to look at them today!! 3 more months and they will be the big "1"!!

Last but not least- HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Aunt Hilary!!

Sweet picture of Hilary with Nate on Thanksgiving..

Pictures of doctor appointment..

As promised, here are pictures of the sweet babies waiting patiently in the exam room at the pediatrician's office (see post below).

One mommy, two babies, and a double stroller

I have never run a marathon so I don't know what crossing the finish line feels like, but I'm pretty sure it is similar to the feeling I had yesterday leaving the doctor's office after a SUCCESSFUL visit with the babies BY MYSELF! Lilly woke up with a horrible cough and Nate was still running a fever too, so I decided to get them in to the doctor. Putting all of my double stroller fears to the side, I decided to try and make it a fun outing. After all, my day was already an improvement because I got to stay at home with the babies instead of going to work! It had been raining all morning and by some miracle of God, it stopped before we got to the doc's. I was already running late, so I pretended like I was trying to beat a record and managed to get my 500 pound double stroller out, unfolded and carrying two babies in about 3 minutes (woo hoooo)! We quickly strolled across the ginormous parking lot in victory. I walked up to the door, opened it, and pulled the stroller inside from the front (just want to say thanks to everyone who just stared at me banging the stroller into the door trying to readjust to get the right angle to clear the doorway and get inside -and didn't offer a hand)! Nate got a little fussy when I was filling in paperwork at the front desk. I could hear a collective sigh in the waiting room when Lilly made one little outburst and it sounded as if they may both go into hysterics in stereo. I mean, you're in a pediatrician's office in the middle of the day- what did you expect, a glass of wine and thought provoking conversation while Celine Dion plays in the background? I pushed down my instinct to say "SORRY" with my nervous frowning face and focused (calmly) on my kids. "You're alright!" I said. I took Nate out of the stroller to sit in my lap and pulled Lilly (in the front of the stroller) up where we were all sitting together. Nate was content to eat my keys and Lilly played peekaboo with an old lady sitting across from us. After everyone was calmed down and the babies were "cute" again, the questions start flowing from the mean, staring, sighing strangers.. "Are they identical?".. Me: "Ummm.. no". Mean staring sigher: "Is that one a boy? Are they both boys?".. I'm thinking: "Yes, they are both boys, but since I don't like that one very much and I had an extra purple onesie with a flowers on the collar laying around, I thought it would be funny to dress him like a girl." PEOPLE- look at what a baby is wearing before you start questioning gender out loud!!!! "Do twins run in your family?" Me: "Why yes in fact, they do, but after three painful years of not being able to have a baby, my husband and I used fertility drugs to help us get pregnant, thereby causing more than one egg to be released and fertilized. This is how our twins came to be. And now that you have heard my life story, would you like to share yours?" (Okay- I know I could have just said "yes" or "no"). I have to say I really don't mind the questions or anyone admiring my babies in any way..I think it just annoyed me that they were rude at first and then wanted to strike up conversations later. AT ANY RATE, after about 30 minutes in the waiting room, we got called back to exam room. The stroller pretty much filled up the entire room (pictures to be posted later), but it was no sweat. The babies checked out great and it turns out they are just congested- YAY! No ear infections, no yucky lung stuff. Great news. We checked out and were on our way. I was so empowered- like I could do anything! That probably sounds stupid, but it felt good! I was so proud of Nate and Lilly and how they behaved themselves. Poo on those mean sighing staring strangers in the waiting room! BTW-Thanks to everyone for the advice on the double strollers and getting around with two babies by yourself. I was reluctant, but it turned out to be MUCH easier than it was to carry two infant carriers at one time (MUCH easier).

Wow- that felt good! I really didn't intend on this post being so long, but I started typing and couldn't stop!!