Thankful...

I wanted to post this earlier, but didn't get to it as quickly as I would have liked.  It is hard to believe that one year ago I was in a hospital room being a ticking time bomb.  That had to be one of the scariest times of my life.  Not knowing anything, having no control over anything anywhere and missing out on all the holiday festivities.  Thankfully everything turned out as close to perfect as possible.  I went home Christmas morning!  The babies came safe and sound and had the smoothest NICU stay I have ever seen and I have seen a lot! 

I'm so lucky to have a wonderful husband who stepped up and ran the home front wonderfully.  Wonderful kids who hardly ever complained.  A wonderful mom who helped out any way she could.  Great family, neighbors, and friends that helped with meals, came to visit me and kept us in their prayers.  A tender, loving Heavenly Father that kept our family strong, our courage up, and the babies safe and sent them at just the right time.  An awesome NICU staff that took great care of the babies, I never had to worry about the care they had.  THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR EVERYTHING! 

But with all that said, I NEVER want to do that again!!  :)

11 Months!

WoW!!  The twins are almost a year!  Where does the time go?!?!  They are happy most of the time, unless you withhold food to long then they are very cranky!  Do not make them wait!  They both have 4 teeth.



Chloe



Chloe is definitely the more adventurous one.  She wants to crawl so bad and is getting very close.  She will do 3-4 crawls on her hands and knees and then gives up and army crawls around.  She will sit herself up.  She is the one that will go to other people without having a heart attack.  She is trying really hard to pull herself up to things, she will get onto her knees but has not figured out how to get her feet under her. 





Caylee



Caylee is more reserved in most things.  She does entertain herself by smacking Chloe (not to hard) and by trying to get Chloes bows or the decorations on her shirt, etc....She does not get the whole keep your hands to yourself, yet!.!.  :)  Caylee army crawls, but is not really interested in doing anything else.  She is content to cry until you sit her up or stand her up or whatever she is wanting.  She does have a heart attack, usually, about going to other people.  She will smile at you and babble to you as long as you are not trying to take her. 

They have finally started sleeping through the night!!  HALLELUJAH!!  I thought this day would never come!  :)  I have been making them sleep up in the bonus room, so they can fuss a little without waking every one else up and I guess they got the picture because they are sleeping through the night!  I moved them into Cassidys room a couple of days ago on their big girl beds and it has been smooth sailing since!

I love that the older kids love them so much.  Cassidy always kisses them goodbye before school, Corbin will sit and talk to them and make sure they have toys, Conner (WOW) we have to tell him to give them some space usually and he just says, "What, I'm just giving them a hug!".  Conner still says in every family prayer, "Thank you for our newborn babies!"  So cute!



Oh to be young again!



Stats:  We went in for ear infections so their weight this month was 15 1/2 pound for both girls.  A little down from their 10 month check, but oh well.  The dr. did not seem to concerned.

Halloween 2010

This was one of the most calm Halloweens I can remember!  The boys knew exactly what they wanted to be, the red and gray iron man!  (Conner is the gray iron man and Corbin is the red iron man.)  Cassidy used one of my old witch costumes from when I was little.  The twins, well, they were going to be butterflys but with all the rain and knowing we were not going to take them out that much I took them back and put them in their pumpkin outfits and called it good.  They don't care!!

Friday we went around town with the cousins. The businesses put on a trick or treat which is always fun. They give out fun prizes and candy and the kids get enough that we could really call it good, but of course we don't.


Saturday was very rainy!  I stayed home with the twins and had about 5 trick or treaters!  Cassidy, Corbin, Conner and Cameron braved the weather and made the rounds to the great grandparents, grandparents and the neighbors.  I couldn't believe they lasted the whole night, if was freezing and wet!  Thank goodness for Cameron, there is no way I would have done it!



Warm and dry on Halloween night!

  I loved my porch this year!  I thought it turned out so cute and festive.  I was a little sad to take it down.

Family Pics...

We had our family pictures done a couple of weeks ago and there is a few up on Mckenzies blog.  She always does the best job!  Go check it out.  http://www.mckenziehansenphotography.blogspot.com/

Mckenzie is having twin girls this winter (HOORAY) which puts her out of commission for when I will want to get the twins 1 year pictures done.  Any suggestions?  They need to be willing to do inside pictures and I would love some one that will do some creative things with them.

Baptism

Cassidy was baptized and confirmed on Oct. 9.  Cameron baptized and confirmed her.  He always does such a wonderful job.  I love to hear the blessings he gives.  He was so nervous!  Cassidy was so excited, she talked about it none stop the whole week.  Making a schedule, what she was going to wear, what jewelry, how she wanted her hair, glitter toes, how to hold her hands during the baptism, who would come...on and on she went. 

I wish you could take pictures of the baptism.  The look on her face when she came out of the water was so beautiful.  She is so cute.  I am so proud of her and what a wonderful young woman she is becoming.  She is excellent with her brothers and sisters.  She is a great friend to everyone and loves to be right in the middle of everything.  She is ecstatic to be involved in activity days (this is for 8-10 year old girls).  She is beautiful inside and out!  She is doing wonderful in 3rd grade!  She is also getting better and better at the piano.

 Our wonderful neighbor, Hillary, did Cassidy's glitter toes and hair.  She knows that I am challenged when it comes to hair.  :)  Thanks Hillary!  Cassidy always feels like a princess when you do this for her. 

There is no way I could have done this!  A heart shaped french braid!  Everyone commented on it and asked who did it!  (They knew I couldn't!)

I knew I wouldn't have been able to pull off a party after the baptism because we had been at my Grandma's funeral all day and the viewing the night before.  So we opted to be duds and not do anything after with all the family.  We did however take Cassidy to dinner, her choice.  She wanted to go to Olive Garden as long as she could order dessert.  The boys and the twins stayed with Grandma Cathy.  It was fun to just be with Cassidy and not have to worry about everyone else.  We had a great time.

We love you Cassidy!!  You are doing a great job!

9 months old!

The girls are now 9 months old.  They are getting more and more spunky every day.  Caylee is cracking me up with her constant babbling.  She is making more and more noise everyday.  She is interested in everything around her.  She loves to touch whatever is close to her, usually Chloe (this ticks Chloe off).  She is starting to get a little nervous about going to other people with the exception of Grandma Cathy and Candace, but she will smile and talk to anyone if she is in familiar arms.  On Oct. 10 she finally cut her first tooth!  Caylee is loving solid food more and more.  She is sitting up, wiggiling herself around the room and loves her toys.  She still won't roll off her back but gets onto her side and is so close to doing it! 

Chloe babbles here and there but not as much.  She is quick to give anyone a smile and show off that dimple.  She has some serious endurance.  There have been a couple times I have tried to get her to cry herself back to sleep and it does not work with her!  She cries harder and does not let up!  She is not totally convinced about the solid food thing, but is getting better at it.  She is rolling everywhere and likes her toys also.  Her new thing is rubbing her face on things:  my shirt, her stuffed animals, blankets, etc.  I'm not sure why she does that. 

(Can you guess who is who?!?!)

They both have their first cold/flu of the season.  Not fun for mom!  They were not sleeping well for a couple nights but seem to be on the mend now and back to their old schedules of just waking up once and eating and going back to bed.  Their pediatrician is trying to get them approved for at least a couple shots of synergis, hopefully that will help us make it through the winter with less sickness.

The big kids are so cute with the babies.  I love to listen to Conner talk to them!  It cracks me up.  He will scold them or one of them if they are bugging eachother.  He will say in his best high pitched voice, "You are so cute, yes, you are so cute!"  while he is right up in there face and squeezing their cheeks.

(Caylee showing Chloe some more love!)

 These girls definitely add fun and excitement to our life!  There is never a dull moment!

Stats:

Caylee- Weight-14.7 pounds, 1st percentile

            Length-26.3 inches, 10th percentile

            OFC-17.7 inches, 73rd percentile 

Chloe- Weight-15.2 pounds, 2nd percentile

           Length-26.5 inches, 13th percentile

           OFC-17.4 inches, 56th percentile

Funny girls!

They started out side by side and then wiggled themselves into this!!

First Day of School

Corbin and Cassidy started school on Aug. 25th.  Cassidy is going into 3rd grade and Corbin into 1st.  I can't believe it!  I know I sound like a broken record, but seriously, were does the time go!?!?!  The kids decided to ride the bus instead of me taking them.  I felt a little bad until we walked outside and saw 95%  of the neighborhood had decided the same thing. 

They were very excited to start school.  I'm not sure Corbin really understood that he would be gone all day, lucky the first couple of days are early out so he will be able to work into it.

Conner started his second year of preschool with Teacher Melanie on Sept. 7th.  He has been so excited to start, especially since Corbin and Cassidy have been in school.  Conner keeps asking me when he can go to school to see his friends.  He is such a social little guy.

8 months old!

The twins are 8 months old and boy are they getting fun!  We introduced them to baby food.  They were not immediate fans, obviously...but are slowly getting use to it.

They are full of smiles!

Chloe was the first one to have a tooth break through!

We are hoping Caylee pops her tooth through soon because she has not been a happy camper!  It is so close!

They are also sitting up all by themselves!!!

 

Oh yeah, and everything checked out just fine with the CT scan for Chloe and the MRI for Caylee!    Caylee had a MRI because they wanted to double check the hemangioma and make sure it wasn't growing inside her head.  Caylee's hemangiomas should eventually just go away as she gets older.  Usually they are completely gone by Kindergarten.

Corbin’s Birthday

Corbin turned six on Aug. 14th.  It was his year to have a friend party if he wanted and of course he wanted one!  The day before his birthday we had a water party and invited some of the neighbor kids.  We had a little pizza, ate some cupcakes, opened presents and played a lot.  Corbin and Conner had both got water guns for their birthdays and had a great time breaking them in.  They played till I thought they were going to fall over from exhaustion.

 

Taylor is one of Corbin’s best friends!  

On his birthday, we went to REAL soccer game.  It was our first time going to one and the kids had a blast!

We gave Corbin the option of waiting for his present while I wrapped them or he could just have them.  He picked to forget the wrapping paper!  (I know, I am a pathetic mom!)

Love you buddy!  Hope you had a fun birthday!

I love that Corbin lets Conner follow him everywhere! 

Love that he will let Conner sleep in his bed with him, since Conner refuses to sleep alone in his own bed!

Love that he wants to be my buddy and go places with me.

Love that he is always singing and is excited to start piano lessons!

Love that he is a tender heart!

It’s GREAT to be EIGHT!

I cannot believe that my first born is EIGHT years old!  Has it really been that long?  It does not feel like it has been that long!  Cassidy is turning into such a beautiful young woman!  She is a wonderful helper.  She is usually always willing to help with the babies and help out around the house.  She is taking piano lessons and is getting quite good at it.  Cassidy is a very quick learner and does great at anything she sets her mind to.  She is very excited to be baptized!  (She will be baptized Oct. 9th, mark your calendars!)

For her birthday we kept it pretty mello.  That morning we went to my friend Morgan's and swam in her pool.  She has a baby that is just a couple months older then the twins.  It was fun to get together and swim.  Cassidy loves swimming! 

That evening we went to Grandma Cathy and Grandpa Bob’s and had family night, cake and ice cream and of course, sang Happy Birthday! 

Then when we got home we were able to go over to our friend Hillary’s and she did GLITTER TOES!   So cute!  Cassidy felt like a princess having her toes done.  

   

 

After Conners 3rd near drowing experience we stuck him in Brynlee’s life jacket.  He would not hang on to the wall or stay in the shallow and everytime we grabbed him he would say, “I did that on purpose!” CRAZY KID!!

Cassidy got a sweet new camera since her last one broke.  She loves to take pictures.

 

 

I love you to pieces Cassidy!  Happy Birthday!