Two peas

two peas in a pod? not my girls! they are very different from each other! its pretty funny actually. you have seen the pics, but every time we go to the doctor and strip them down it is just so much more evident. plus, annabel is my drama queen. that really showed through today during shots. (ps. shots are awful!!! i know all you moms know what i mean! i almost started crying today too!!)

so, as promised here are a few more pics and 2 month stats! i cant believe how much each of them has grown in just a few short weeks! i wish i could just stop time and keep them babies, but i know that i will love each stage of their growing up...well maybe not LOVE every thing in each stage, but you know what i mean. each will present its own trials and triumphs, but that is what will keep me on my toes! and with twins!! my life will never be dull again!

one last thing...thanks to my "village" who has helped me get the girls on a schedule this last week. from moms of multiples to singletons, each has been so encouraging and helpful...we are doing so much better now! its also so nice to have two healthy babies again! today was a great day, even with the shots, because we are finally on a good schedule!

sweet curious claire's stats at her 2 month check: weight 9.9 (11th percentile); height 21 1/2 inches (10th percentile); head 15 inches (50th percentile).

drama diva annabel's stats at her 2 month check: weight 11.8 (50th percentile); height 23 inches (75th percentile; head 15 1/4 inches (75th percentile).

so, claire is a peanut and annabel is a champ at packing it on!! :) remember, claire weighed 4.11 at birth and annabel weighed 5.9!

annabel on mothers day. love these sweet dresses from some friends!

claire. and they were rocking their daisy sandals from ashley!!

claire and her make shift sleep mask today at nap time. 

annabel has awesome amazing eyelashes

the girls were rocking head to toe vera bradley outfits today from mimi (my mom).

snoozing after shots

dont even think about waking her up!!

awesome hair claire!!

the following are from our  2 month pictures. the first three are claire and then 3 of annabel. i think the crying pictures are so funny!

trying to get both together is hard! good enough!!

this was at the doctors office today. really shows how much bigger annabel is compared to claire. can you believe these girls are twins??!!?? i love them both so much!!

Psalm 89:1 "I will sing of the LORD's great love forever; with my mouth I will make your faithfulness known through all generations."

blessings, ALo

Mothers Day 2013

i couldnt post yesterday. i was pretty tired. but thanks to my amazing husband (and babies, if you ask him) i was totally spoiled! peter helped in a huge way during the night by taking care of claire! all of her feedings and diaper changes, which was amazing because the girls somehow got way off schedule from each other! i woke up to feed annabel and found some amazing gifts from the girls! daddy helped them pick out a monogram necklace with the girls initials, and a kate spade pendant and earrings. so sweet! the gifts along with cards were in their bassinets. we took it easy that morning, sleeping in and what not...we went to church saturday night (sunday morning is still a little hard to get all of us ready, fed, bathed, and to church on time). i wanted brunch at a new breakfast place in town so we headed over there. the wait was crazy, but it all worked out because we were able to feed the girls while we waited. after lunch we went home to hang out and eventually went to some freinds' house out in the country. it was a great day of relaxing and enjoying our new family of four.

i, of course, couldnt help but think of my last two mothers days. i couldnt help but think of Charlotte. i miss her so much. i think about her all the time. i wonder which of the twins would look like her. i wonder if she would be a helpful big sister or more of the jealous type. i wonder what our lives would be like with a two year old and twins...well, i know what it would be like...it would be chaotic. but i also now know that Charlotte was SUPER sick. i mean, i have always known that, but when i look at my twins and i think about all the things Charlotte was facing/would have dealt with, it is just so overwhelming. Charlotte will always be our precious, perfect little baby, but i can say with full knowledge that God knew what He was doing, even though i still miss her so much!

i know that mother's day is hard for so many women. my heart ached for them yesterday. women who have lost their mothers. women who have lost their children, their babies. women who have lost hope of having children. women who have had to say good bye to too many things much too early. my heart aches for them. some of these women are friends of mine, family of mine. and i, unfortunately, know that there is nothing i can say to ease that pain, especially if this is the first mothers day after loss. but, does it ever really change for them? this mothers day was different for me this year because i was allowed to be celebrated. i had two babies to carry around. but not everyone can do that, many of them felt the same way i have the last two years and that hurts my heart. but they are still mothers. i like what my "fake mom", Caroline, posted:

"For EVERY woman today, a mother or not.... realizing women of all ages and stages of life may be experiencing different feelings today for various reasons.... YOU ARE LOVED, and your life is valuable and important in the lives of others. Many women who are not mother's have spoken immensely into my life, and the lives of others, and I am grateful to God for your life. . . . YOU are fearfully and wonderfully made! You are DEARLY LOVED!   Psalm 139:14"

i know that i am behind in posting 2 months photos. i am waiting until wednesday when we see the doctor for their visit...i will have their weight and height, etc. it got pushed back a week because we wanted to give the girls a chance to get over all their sicknesses before giving them shots, etc. so, i will post that this week :) 

here are a few pics from when peter's family was here the end of april and a few of me with my girls on mothers day and 2 collage pics to show how much our girls look just like us!! :) plus just a few others from here and there. enjoy! 

casual in their jeans and tshirts. annabel on left, claire right

claire all swaddled up at nap time

annabel was having a good dream

lol, claire was obviously totally relaxed

claire may not have been loving the ruffles

annabel wasnt sure either

all ready for bed! they wanted to sleep with mom and dad!

pretty sure those socks are 1/3 of her body! lol 

annabel's fit a little better

mothers day gift from claire

mothers day gift from annabel

claire was rocking daddy's shades while we waited for brunch

so precious! love you, claire! 

i am on the left and annabel is on the right. we are twins!

peter is on the left, claire is on the right! twins!

claire looks good in vera bradley!

so does annabel! starting them young!

annabel was so alert

claire may have been mid cough

aunt laura, mom with annabel, dad with claire, grandpa 

the LOtwins love their aunt Laura

babies and grandpa

mom, this sun is too bright!!! (ps. i remember saying this to my mom ALL the time growing up!!)

annabel smiling for me!! 

snuggles on mothers day with annabel

bed time kisses from claire on mothers day

blessings, ALo

Hard

the past few weeks have been a little bit hard. not that i thought this whole parenting thing would be easy all of the time, but there are some things that i may not have thought of/considered/known.

my girls have been sick. nothing horrible or life threatening (thank God, i am not sure i could do that again). just normal stuff, but in a baby everything is exaggerated. and why are my newborns getting sick? probably because i hate to sit at home and mostly because i love to show them off. all of which means that they have been exposed to people and places. not always a good thing. i feel really bad now, knowing that i could have prevented some of this!! i have told you that annabel had an ear infection and they both were congested. and i have told you that annabel has a hernia (not my fault). but now claire has croup!! great! croup is scary...the cough, the weezing, the sad look on her face because she just doesnt feel good. even her skin color looked off for two days. now, i am not some crazy lady that just takes her kid to the doctor for every little thing, but i am also not going to sit at home if/when i think they can help me. so, after lots of research and talking to a few nurse friends, i took claire in this monday to see the doctor. they gave her a steroid in hopes of relaxing her airway. i also took her in because she had projectile vomited all over me. not just a little spit up, not just like, "hey mom, this doesnt taste good so i am going to spit it out." nope, all over the place kinda thing. and of course i had just taken a shower and blow dried my hair!! lol. but what got me a little worried was that it was plenty of time after her feeding to not do that, plus she was not upset and had not been coughing. they said that yes, there was a stomach thing going around so i needed to watch her. but thankfully it didnt happen again...until tonight.

claire seems to be getting better and not having as many issues with croup, but for whatever reason tonight all of her feeding came up again. this time i think it was a gas bubble's fault, not any type of sickness. peter is out for a guys night at the baseball stadium, so of course, things have not been nearly as easy as when he is here! annabel was screaming and claire was trying to eat. i sat her down on her boppy while i picked up annabel. while holding annabel and feeding claire propped up on the hoppy, 3 oz suddenly started hitting my lap, the couch, the boppy and all over little claire. screaming annabel came out unscathed. lol. funny thing is, as soon as it was all out, claire just sat there like nothing was going on! i kinda panicked. i had just texted my friend a few minutes before and told her that she should have come over while our hubbies were out (she has 3 boys and loves to hold my girls, but tonight one of her boys needed to be chauffeured around town). ironic...i think i must have jinxed myself by texting her. anyway, i called my sweet neighbor next door and she came right over!! christi and tim are so sweet and have always been very generous in helping us with anything and everything. as soon as she walked in, i handed annabel off to be soothed/rocked and i started running a bath for claire. after just 10 min things were good...both girls were falling asleep, so (like the books say), we put them in their beds to soothe themselves to sleep. well, it has been almost an hour and annabel is still screaming. claire is awake, but just hanging out. ugh!!! at this rate, annabel will be screaming in time to start her next feeding. oh wait...i just gave her the pacifier and she hasnt peeped for the last 2 min.

this cry it out thing is kinda hard! i am waiting 10 min to give the pacifier to her. she will hold it for about 30 seconds before loosing it again. she gets several good screams/cries in, will catch her breath and relax for about 15 then start in again. oh...she is at it again! i am trying to follow the tips from the book "healthy sleep habits, happy twins". its nice because there are different methods/options to helping the babies and the parents, but none of them seem to be easy! and my girls are so different so they dont need the same thing. all of this bed time drama has really been wearing on me the last few nights. i have been so busy during the day that by "bed time" (usually 9ish pm) i am ready for bed too. the crying grates on the few nerves i have left. peter has been awesome and super helpful by taking care of the soothing at night, but i still hear it. and tonight he is not here. so, instead of making bottles, or starting puke laundry, or draining a bath, or taking care of the messy table, i am sitting in my dark room typing and getting up every 10 min to try to not talk to my screaming kid while giving her what she doesn't want. yep...a little overwhelming!! the books "say" this could take 4 nights, but in most cases with twins, more like a week. and i am not even sure i should even worry about it...i mean in just two weeks we are going to be in michigan and then we will have annabel's surgery...sleep schedules will be totally messed up. but i am praying i will be wrong. i am praying that by struggling through the sicknesses and struggling through the screaming fits, that my girls will have it under control!! :)

sorry this is not the best post ever. tomorrow i will post about their last month (crazy to think they are already 2 months old tomorrow) and some cute pics! for now i am done...its been a hard few days, but i am still so thankful for what i have and who i have!!

blessings, ALo

oh man!

i am typing this one handed...my other is rocking annabel...my drama queen. i have tried several times to sit down and blog but between two babies, company, lots of laundry, and pure exhaustion it has been hard!

things are good. crazy and really hard sometimes, but good. i am still only getting sleep in about 2 hour stretches. the girls are getting better!!! we went for a follow up doctor visit today...all four ears look good. claire has a slight dry cough, but her lungs and heart sounded good, so they are not concerned right now. i just have to keep an eye on it. they are new meds for the thrush...it was not getting better fast enough on the first medication. i also had the PA look at annabel...i was concerned that she had an inguinal hernia. unfortunately, i was right. :( so, we are being referred to a pediatric surgeon. thankfully, she is not in any pain, but it is a large hernia and needs to be remedied sooner rather than later. i almost had a breakdown in the office. i am glad that i realized what was going on, but i am so sad thinking that my baby may need surgery! the hernia doesnt seem to be bothering annabel at all...she is gaining weight like crazy. as of today's appointment annabel weighed 9 pounds 14 ounces. claire is a little peanut comparatively, she weighed 8 pounds dead on. yep, that is almost 2 pounds difference!!

so, we are still here...we are surviving, even thriving most days!

i couldnt do this without my "village" helping me! thank God for my village, both near and far!!

here are a few pics!

Claire was serious about our coffee time together! :)

We were out shopping and Annabel wanted to say hi to her daddy!

baby eyelashes. love!! (this is annabel)

i got to hang with my friend, Rachel, saturday night at church (i am volunteering with the middle school students) i cant wait to meet baby Ezra in just a few weeks (rach is due the end of june)

awww...daddy and his mini me, claire

peanut claire and her hooded towel. 

chunky monkey annabel!

i was giving claire a bottle and annabel just HAD to be touching me, so she found my elbow and tucked her hand under it and fell right to sleep. momma's girl!! 

lol. this is from just a little bit ago. claire loved to be basically naked, watch out!!

annabel fits just right in her daddy's arms!

this was me the sunday (not quite a week) before the girls were born (3/3/13).

i took this two days ago (4/29/13). i am feeling much better about how my clothes fit. i still have a long way to go, but these new shorts are the same size i was before babies and this is a medium tshirt. i should have taken the belt off, everything is a tad bit flatter.

i will have to post some pics of when peter's dad and sister were here last week...i havent uploaded them yet. :/

i have a special friend coming over for lunch tomorrow. i am hoping to blog about it tomorrow, but please be praying for both of us. God knows her heart and what she needs...i am praying that He protects both of our hearts and gives us a special time of bonding and sharing. thanks!

blessings, ALo