New pictures

I have been very lax lately at taking pictures. I feel really bad about that since the girls are changing every day. Years from now, we are going to cherish EVERY picture, even if the lighting isn't great, the girls aren't looking at the camera, or it is a tad blurry.

So one of my New Years resolutions is to take more pictures. Starting tonight... So without further ado, here are some recent pictures.

Words With Babies

We are very excited and proud of Nordoo. She has said her first word! She said BABY. My cousin came to town, and she has a dog who is named lily, but sometimes she calls lily Baby. And Nora caught onto that because Nora pointed to her and said "baby!" And then, that evening, we were looking at Nora's Christmas album from last year, her first Christmas, and she pointed to one of the babies in the book and said "baby!" We, of course, know this means she's brilliant. .... Until Lucas was holding her and she pointed to the Christmas tree and said "baby!" And I think she has called other things baby, as well. The picture here of Nora is from a video that I took of her, in which I was trying to get her to say "baby". I mouthed the words: baby. Baby. Baby. And then what did she do? SHE mouthed the word "baby". Brilliant! I tell you! Brilliant!

Margaret is brilliant, too. She says two words. "Do" and "due". She likes to point out to the side and declare "DO!" Or, sometimes she says it like, "Do?!" Okay, it's not really a REAL word, but it means something to her, I think. :). Another cousin of mine, Joanne, took this picture of Margaret at the Houts Family Christmas on Dec 8th.

14 Months

Well, clearly we haven't been blogging!  Because we've got two fourteen month olds now... two walkers... two good eaters... two curious little tots... they love bananas, spaghetti, and playing with their older cousins. 

Margaret is our little Magic 8 Ball.  I ask her questions and she either nods or shakes her head in response.  She points to things and shouts "Da!" (... she's a little German baby.)  We call her "Little Grandpa" sometimes because she's a little Vennie... Something about her... her face and her hairline.  Actually she is finally getting hair.  Daddy says she's getting "that little girl mullet".  It's long on the top and back, and short on the sides.  Sounds attractive, huh?  She clings to us when we're in new situations around people she's not used to. And she loves shoes.  Hers, mine, anyone's really.

Nora is fun and spunky and full of life!  She is always up for new experiences... like the swings at the playground.  Or dominating the big staircase on her first try.  It is so easy to make her laugh.. and she has the sweetest giggle and the deepest belly laugh.  She's always smiling with her big teethy smile.  She is probably the most happy when she is walking to the stairs and I am chasing her.  She loves her freedom (walking) and she LOVES the stairs... or she loves being upstairs... one of the two.

Lucas and I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary on Nov 11!  We had a nice night out while Lucas' aunt babysat.  We went to a couple wine bars and then to get steaks.  I think the highlight of the evening was the cheese tray we ate at our first stop.  We were pretty much full after that.. but thought we should stay out longer than an hour on our date night!

We moved into my mom and stepdad's basement, and we our renting our house out.  This is to save money for our next house, since our Kirkwood house is so small with no room to grow, and we aren't in a position to sell at this time.  Living in Wentzville has been great.  My mom watches the girls full time, and it's so wonderful that we don't have to pack up the girls every day and take them to day care. 

We had a renter who lasted 45 days....  I know, I know, but conducting illegal activity in our home was just not something we could live with, so he had to go.  (I know, we're those kind of landlords... ) So now we're in the process of finding a new renter.  It's only been a week, but we have already had quite a lot of interest.

I am very much looking forward to Christmas. :)  It will be a lot of fun this year with the girls!

Hopefully our next post will be sooner than 8 months from now!

Much love,

Betty

I'm sure all of you know how we feel about Betty.  Today was the last day that she will be with the girls.  [a sad face emoticon inserted here really doesn't even come close to how we feel.]

Even Margaret has been crying since I got home from work.  I can't help but think that maybe a little of that is because she knew Betty's goodbye today wasn't a "see you next week" kind of goodbye.

Since I went back to work, Betty, our friend from Parkway UCC, has graciously volunteered her Tuesdays to spend with the girls.  They went on walks, read books, sang songs and made up stories with her.  We are so fortunate to have had that help from her, and we wish her best of luck as she returns to her busy Tuesday schedule.  We are also so happy that on Tuesdays during the summer, Margaret and Nora will get to be with their Nana as she is taking over for Betty on her summer break.  Thank you, Nana!

And thank you, Betty!  We really cannot thank you enough.

6 Months Old

Our 6 month photo shoot was a bit of a challenge. Here's why:

April 7, 2011

One year ago, was a day we'll never forget.  We entered Dr. Forseter's office, so excited to see, and maybe even hear, our baby's heartbeat.  We were 7 weeks pregnant.  We had been there once before, and were ecstatic to be at our second appointment... hoping the baby would pull through and have that fluttering heartbeat that Dr. Forseter promised us three weeks prior.  And nothing could have prepared us for what we saw:

"There they are." said Dr. Forseter.  Like it was no biggy.  Like, "There's your sunglasses."  I remember him babbling after that about how "it's in the water" and we were like the 5th couple that week who found out they were pregnant with twins.  But in my mind, all I could think of was we don't have room for two cribs. We just don't.  We absolutely don't.

But, true to our expectations for the appointment, we were able to see the heartbeat! Heartbeats.  The babies looked perfect. 

We left his office dumbfounded.  Where do we start?  Who do we tell?  Is it okay to tell this early? Who has twins? How are we going to afford two babies?  We were still getting used to the idea of one baby.

This has been the craziest year of my life.  Pregnancy, in and of itself, is a special time that you probably don't appreciate until it's over.  Strangers see you in public and just smile.  And now I look at the maternity racks at stores and pout my bottom lip just a little bit because there's nothing else like it in your life.  Being pregnant. 

And anticipating twins was exciting, of course.  But also scary.  By default, it's a high-risk pregnancy.  I counted down the days to my next appointment so I could see those two heartbeats again.  People, mostly strangers, felt the need to share their Twin horror stories, of which I can't even think about, yet dare tell any of you.   And on top of worrying about the babies, I was worried about my own health and weight.  And CONSTANTLY worried about sleeping on my back.  But I couldn't help it!

Then ... October rolled around.  The babies were here in an instant.  Earlier than desirable.  We were parents of preemies who had to stay in the NICU while we went home without them.  It was the hardest thing I've ever done, leaving them.  But it was somehow easy.  They were in more capable hands than my own.  I was getting more rest than if they were with us at home.  This situation, in a way, eased us into parenthood.  We could see them when we wanted.  But we also still had time to go home a take a long nap.  It lasted two weeks.  And then we were finally all at home together.

After 8 weeks of maternity leave, I went back to work.  IAnd I was ready.  Caring for two infants is quite a lot of work.  Certainly harder than my day job.  So, as bad as I wanted to stay with them, I also wanted to leave them.  [I've been told to not feel guilty about this so I choose not to].

And today, we've got 6 month olds!!  It doesn't seem possible that they are so big and smiley and interactive.  One year ago they were like, what?  The size of an olive or something?   And they are 15 lb 9 oz now.  That's pretty remarkable. 

That's quite a year, huh?  I am so grateful for the many blessings in the last year.  The girls are beautiful and healthy and they've got a great daddy who takes good care of all of us.  We've been blessed in countless ways.

Our Little Date Night

Tonight, Jamie went to see The Hunger Games with our good friend Lauren from PUCC, leaving me alone with two little almost-six-month-olds (read: plug for forthcoming blog post).  Of course Jamie deserves a night out, and the three of us were happy to let her have it and do our own thing.  Well, really do my own thing, because they don't get to make their own choices yet.

We had to run a couple errands at the mall.  I know, the mall on Friday night with a double stroller...  I had to get pants taken in, though (always a good thing), and I had to get a new shirt for Easter, so we had to go.

We started at Men's Wearhouse for the pants and everything went really smoothly until the end, when it was time to eat.  We had to leave, eat bottles, and come back so that I could get measured for the tux for Jonas and Erin's wedding (just in the nick of time!).  Then, what basically happened was that all hell broke loose!  We were full but we needed to be changed, we couldn't keep our pacifiers in, and the shoes HAD to go, as well as the straps on our seats being no good!  Luckily, the nice lady let us sequester ourselves in a changing room and take care of all these needs.  Thank the Lord for accomodating strangers!

Then, I was allowed to have a fairly uneventful sandwich from Chik-fil-A in the food court (diet starts Monday, or those pants might have to come right back out...).

Finally, we went and bought a shirt.  However, during the shopping we had to leave the store to calm down before finally giving in and going to sleep.  Phhhhheeeewwwww was that ever a relief!

Anyway, while we were at Express, I saw the BEST thing of the whole evening - another dad, by himself, with a full double stroller!  I felt vindicated from feeling like a total freak.  Although our good friend at Men's Wearhouse repeatedly told me I was SUCH a good dad, I got a lot of funny looks and commentary.  I guess you don't see a lot of dads out and about with two infants by themselves - what, like it's hard or something?

That's a facetious question - it's very hard...I'm exhausted.

The second half of our date night consisted of Lowe's and Home Depot, where we were pricing some supplies for a backyard remodel we're considering.  They didn't have all the plants we were looking for, so it was only partially successful.  Sad.

We rounded out the night with an ice cream cone from McDonald's and screaming in the backset because we were ready to be changed.

We rushed home, took care of that, and now everyone under the age of thirty are in bouncers, getting ready to eat their last bottle of the day.

What a fun date we had, even though we don't have any pics to show.

5 Months Old

Month 4

Only a few more days and the girls will be 5 months old!  Why is it that when you've been too busy to blog, you can't even remember the things that you've been busy with?  Let me try...

Lucas and I have continued to train for the relay marathon coming up in April.  [Except for the last week,] we have made running and/or going to gym a pretty high priority.  This is stressful and a lot of work and switching around schedules and carting babies to the gym nursery, but it's important, so it's a no-brainer.  Lucas will have no problem running the 6-7 miles.  I am running 4 right now, and I like to think that the next 2-3 will be acheivable over the next 6 weeks that I have left to train.

Now let me say a special thank you to Melissa, Betty, my mom, and Jenn.  We'd be lost without you.  I think it's pretty amusing right now that I am on the loveseat, laptop on my lap, blogging. And Betty is on the couch, reading, what is probably the Wall Street Journal.  And we've got two babies alseep in their cribs.  Mission accomplished.

At Melissa's, Nora laughs hysterically when Violet puts her hands on head.  Well, truth be told, Violet doesn't have to really do anything, and Nora will be smiling and laughing.  This may be true of Margaret as well, I just haven't witnessed that yet.  Melissa takes all three girls for lots of walks.  A little fresh air goes a long way for sleepy almost-5-month olds.  (and Vi, too).

Margaret and Nora light up when they hear Grandma's voice say, "Good mornin' Baby" on days when she's here.  They know her face, her voice, and they recognize the songs that she sings to them, even if it's me or Lucas singing.  They are lucky girls to get to spend some time each week with Mary, their cousin, who is such a well-behaved girl for Grandma. 

On Fridays, Miss Jenn watches them and brings none, some or all of her kiddos to the party.  Sometimes Grammy and Grandpa (Houts) take Bailey or Riley out for special one-on-one outings, which is really special for them. 

And, of course, Betty...  who loves these girls as if they were her own children.  She brags about them to her friends and shows their pictures around.  Her grown sons and husband are sick and tired of hearing about Margaret and Nora, and she feels comfortable enough with us to share that.  My favorite thing that Betty talks about with the girls are their mobiles.  What are those birdies doing?  Where are they going?  Are they going to get food?  Are they flying through the trees?  Are they swooping down, back to the nest?  Yes.  Yes they are!

Within the last couple of days, the girls have had some blog-worthy milestones:  We are smiling big at everyone.  We can both laugh out loud if mommy and daddy put a lot of work into it.  We are pros at sitting in the Bumbo seats and we like to face each other and laugh and smile and kick.  We went for a walk in the double stroller and sat upright like big girls instead of in the carseats. We are eating rice cereal from a spoon every evening.  We tried bananas but didn't like how cold they were.  We are not quite sleeping through the night, but sleeping from about 10-4:30 on a good night.  (I guess technically that could be considered "sleeping through the night", except, keep in mind folks, I said, "On a good night".) 

Margaret's Favorite Things:  Kicking her legs and flapping her arms.  Eating her hands.  Finding Sissy and smiling.  "Swimming" on her Ocean mat.

Nora's Favorite Things:  Her Paci.  Looking at her curtain by the changing table.  Seeing her bottle.  Stretching big after being unswaddled.

The picture below is very special because they are sitting in front of an afghan knitted by their Great Grandma Houts.  She didn't knit it for them specifically, but I know she'd be happy that the get to snuggle with it!

I've discovered the joys of pinterest. (Turns out, sometimes I miss the bandwagon and catch up with it 2 years later). I would tell you here how to find me, but I don't know how to do that.  I don't care that it's "social networking" - I would do it even if no one could see what I post. Here's what I like about it: It takes #1 your idea.  #2 anything you might find in "Google Images" pertaining to said idea and #3 puts them into organized folders or "boards".  Except, it's not taking up any harddrive space. And you can email a link to your board, rather than a zip file of all your tutu ideas or cute felt food or what have you.

Other things going on:  We joined Kirkwood Baptist Church.  There we have found a great Sunday School class, a safe nursery, lots of new friends, and it's close to home :)  I FINALLY joined the St. Louis Mothers of Twins Club.  We had someone come out to look at our cracked basement floor and he suggested that we call a Structural Engineer.  That can't be good.  (As Betty aptly put it:  Structural Engineer never spells "C-H-E-A-P").  We got to meet precious Baby Emily, born 2 weeks early on February 24th at a whopping 8lbs.  I am happy about the fact that Emily, Margaret and Nora will all be in the same grade at school.  :) 

So all that, and watching a lot of episodes of Friends, is what we've been up to lately.  Thanks for tuning in!  And look for the 5 month post on Saturday or shortly thereafter!

4 Months Old

Monday Funday - Thanks, Mlis!

Last Monday, Melissa took some great pics of M&N, including a smiley M, and a very shocked-looking N.

Check them out here:

http://www.tenholders.blogspot.com/2012/01/monday-funday.html

Show and Tell

I have some great things to share!

Check out this photograph taken on Monday by our wonderful and artistic friend, Melissa. What an awesome photo! And she's a pro at baby-raisin' cause taking three babies under the age of 2 for a walk takes some mad skills, not to mention a little creativity!  One twin is in the stroller, one twin is in the Moby wrap, and Vi is holding onto Mommy's hand.

And tonight I got to participate in a mom's discussion group hosted by the people who make Dr. Brown's bottles (the bottles we use).  We talked about general impressions of baby-related consumer products.  I was able to take another opportunity to brag about the wonders of the Moby wrap.  There were 7 other moms there, one of whom is 20 weeks pregnant with twins - her 2nd and 3rd babies!  The highlight of the night was, of course, when they let us go around the perimeter of the room, which was pretty much set up with store displays, and we each got to take our pick of products!!   Here's my loot:

And then!  I got to come home to these little cuties!!!  :)

You're the run that I want

It's a 4 mile underground race! One Question: Do you think your ankles would be covered in leeches at the end of it? Because that's a deal-breaker.

This year's run is Saturday, February 25. Lucas, what do you say?

New Header, 5K, Crying Babies

Welcome back!  You probably noticed the new header?  I hope you like it!  It was fun to make!  I used Paint.net... a free photoshop of sorts.  You can download it here. 

Last night we did the 5K at Our Lady of the Snows.  It was an awesome night, at about 45°, and the course wound through the holiday lights at the shrine.  I've only been running twice since the girls were born, and ran 1 1/2 each time.  So I didn't have high expectations to run the whole 5K.  But thanks to Lucas' encouragement along the way, I did it!!  And it was a VERY hilly course, so I'm proud of myself.  :)  ...It's all practice for the Shook Relay Marathon Smack-Down that's happening in April.  That's going to be about 6 or 7 miles per person, and it's Bloods vs Out-laws (the in-laws).  Go Out-Laws!

Well, nothing much else is new, so I'll end with some photos of two precious, gorgeous, sweet, huggable, kissable, irresistible babies.  I just love their little faces when they are really worked up, so one night I snapped these really quickly before calming them down.

3 Months Old

How can these girls have changed so much in the last 13 weeks, and yet, also stayed just the same? Margaret was always a sweet and sleepy girl in the NICU. And now, she continues to sleep a lot... or play possum, one of the two. Especially when she's in new environments and with new people - something that we've had a lot of over Christmas. Nora is still that inquisitive little professor that she was in the NICU. She doesn't miss a thing. Always looking around, Nosy Nora. And their cries, while more pronounced now, are the same cries that they each had when they were born. Beet red Nora with a loud and active cry and Margaret with a gentle, sad wimper and a quivering bottom lip.

Melissa gave us these hats and flower clips as a shower gift.  Aren't they precious?  ...I don't know why, but these pictures remind me of Daisy from The Great Gatsby???

Here are our fav tights from Nana :)  Remember this?

We had an awesome Christmas, full of good times with family, lots of good food, so many presents, and even a nap or two. It was very special for the four of us to go to church on Christmas morning. (Church, by the way, is the one place that Margaret won't sleep.) Pastor Scott made a special visit to our pew during the sermon and called attention to "the newest members". I felt a little guilty ... all those songs about the newborn Savior... all I could think about was our girls. Wouldn't they be cute in swaddling clothes? in a manger? But really, that's what Christmas is about. God's gift to mankind. And these girls are His gift to us. What a perfect Christmas.

And here, Nolie's got a hold of both babies.  Remember this?  They're sure a lot bigger now!!!

Well, not quite sure why this is sideways...  but I'm awefully happy about this picture.  We tried to get pics with Santa on THREE separate occasions and it never worked out.  So I was delighted with Santa's visit to Freeburg on Christmas Eve. Nolan suited up for his granddaughters and it was one of the sweetest moments of the holiday. I never really thought I'd see him in a Santa suit, but he loves those girls so I'm sure it was no big deal to him at all. 

This is so sweet. <3

Daddy and Lucas Jr, aka Lucy, on New Years Eve.

New Years Eve with Violet!  We went to Nathan and Melissa's, had homemade soft pretzels, worked on putting Theresa into labor, and the ball dropped at 11!  It was perfect!

Vi loves her babies so much.  And see that little smile that Margaret has??