Reading With G.G.

Addie LOVES books and reading with G.G.! 

My grandma has COPD and pulmonary hypertension and has been on oxygen for about five years. She started Hospice a couple weeks ago...something that I am not at all happy about, but that I am slowly learning to accept. 

We've been spending a lot of time with GG lately, trying to soak up as much of her as we possibly can!

Teddy Bear Picnic

A few weeks ago, a friend at church hosted a teddy bear picnic at our church building. It was a potluck and we all brought our own blankets for the gym floor. All of the kids brought their teddy bears and they played while the moms visited. Addie had a GREAT time! 

A little more than a week later, I woke up from a nap to find this...

 Addie set up her own teddy bear picnic in the living room.

I'm loving this stage and her imaginative play!

Sunday Best

All ready for church! Could he be any cuter? 

My Day...In Two Pictures

These two pictures sum up my days...most days at least. 

Mason is my crier. He has reflux, which makes life tough for him right now. He's a baby...so he eats a lot, but it hurts to eat. Fortunately, the doctor was able to give us some medicine for the reflux. He's almost a whole new baby when he takes it. But when it starts to wear off (or when he's just in a mood), this is the face I see. Luckily, I'm starting to see this face less and less and his smiling face more and more!

Alisa smiles in her sleep ALL the time! It's adorable! She is my peacemaker. She still cries, after all she is a baby, but she's pretty content to just hang out and look around. Sometimes I feel guilty because her contentedness often means she doesn't get as much attention. I am SO grateful for her calmness, though. I don't know what I would do with two little babies that were criers!

Now...if I just had a picture of Addie laying in the middle of the floor screaming because she didn't get her way this post would be complete!

Playgrounds

It's about eight billion degrees outside, so we've been trying to find things to do indoors that entertain Addie...and hopefully help tire her out! 

Last week, we found a place called Playgrounds close to our house. It's an indoor play area. My grandma went with us, which was lucky because it happened to be grandparents day so it was only five dollars for about three hours of fun! My grandma sat in one of the comfy chairs with the babies while I played with Addie.

Addie had a blast! We'll definitely be back again!

Random Cuties

This little girl makes me smile! She is obsessed with seat belts. She ALWAYS wants them buckled. She buckles Alisa and Mason's car seats (whenever they are out of them), the swings, her doll stroller, everything. She asked me to buckle the buckle on the shopping cart at the grocery store, but it wasn't long enough to go around her waist so I told her I couldn't. No worries...she's got it covered!

Aren't these the cutest babies you've ever seen? Mason looks like quite the stud in this picture!

I am grateful for how much Addie LOVES the babies! She wants to be included in just about everything they do...even if it's something as simple as sitting in their Bumbo seats!

The Way We Sleep

I should be cleaning... or reorganizing the babies drawers... or deciding what to make for dinner... or paying bills...but in 30 years, is anyone going to care if I did any of those things? No! But, I'm pretty sure that in 30 years my children and grandchildren and I will enjoy reading the books I make out of these blog posts, so I'm doing this instead. Plus...this is much more fun!

I think the hardest thing about having twins has been not sleeping...that and trying to breastfeed two babies. The first couple weeks were awful! I actually had such a bad headache at the hospital it started to blur my vision, which totally freaked me out! The nurse I had that day was W.O.N.D.E.R.F.U.L! She decided my headache was due to lack of sleep, told me she and Wil would take care of the babies, convinced me missing a feeding would not hurt anyone, put a sign on my door warning people to stay away and turned off the lights.

Luckily, sleeping has gotten much better! Especially in the last few weeks! Usually I only have to get up once now. They've even made it a couple nights from 10 p.m. - 5 a.m. or from 10:30 p.m. - 4:30 a.m.

These are pictures of the babies sleeping during the day...the rare times when everyone is napping at once are the highlights of my week!

Seriously...how do they sleep like this? And how do they wake up without a stiff neck?

Mason 

Alisa

Mason 

Doll House

 

 Addie's cousin Karina gave Addie her old doll house a couple weeks ago.  Addie LOVES this doll house! She plays with it constantly!

 

Quick flashback. About a month ago, Addie figured out that my real name is Jessica. Every once in a while she would say, "Mommy, Jessica?" I think it was a little strange to her that other people call me something besides Mommy.

 

Back to the present, the doll house came with three little dolls. Addie named the babies Alisa and Mason.

 

 

We were playing with the house and the babies when I saw the bigger doll. I asked Addie if that was the Addie doll or if that was the Mommy doll. To which she replied, "no, Jessica." She still calls the doll Jessica and the baby dolls Alisa and Mason. Now, we just need a Wil doll and an Addie doll.

Growing

My babies are growing so fast!

 

The first six weeks were a complete blur of exhaustion, nursing, hospitals (for Wil & my Grandma), doctor visits (for Wil, the babies and me), diapers and stress, so I'm not really sure when they got so big! These newborn whale pajamas came with the outfits we bought for them to wear home from the hospital. We put the pajamas on them last night after their baths and they are getting too small. I think that's the last time they'll be able to wear them. I have no desire to go back to the first few weeks, but I do wish their growth would slow down just a little bit...although their path to sleeping through the night can move as quickly as possible! 

 

 

This is Mason's pouty, I'm about to cry face. Alisa has one just like it. I think it's adorable!

Bravery

I was feeing exceptionally brave yesterday and decided to take all three kids to the library for story time. It was my first time venturing out to a public place by myself with all three kids. I got out of the car at the library to find Addie and Alisa holding hands. How sweet is Addie? She loves her baby sister and brother so much!

 

This made up for the screaming fit she threw when it was time to leave. And Mason's crying inside the library. And the 8,000 degree heat. :-)

I Love to See the Temple

We took Addie to see the new Phoenix Temple that is under construction for Family Home Evening on Monday (okay, it was more like Family Home Afternoon/Prevening).

 

There's a small trailer for visitors to tour that has pictures and more information about the temple. I was showing Addie these pictures and explaining that they were building the baptismal font where people would be baptized. To which Addie explained, "a bubble bath!"

The senior missionaries working at the visitors' center gave Addie a business card sized picture of the temple. She took it to show the babies. "Look, Alisa. Jesus Christ, Amen." "Look Mason, Jesus Christ, Amen." and then brought it to show Wil and me. "Look Mommy, Jesus Christ, Amen." "Daddy, Jesus Christ, Amen."

I should probably mention that we had a Family Home Evening a couple weeks ago about learning how to pray. I'm not exactly sure how that connected to the picture, but it obviously did in her mind.

Alisa and Mason in front of the temple.

Mason was so excited he started fist pumping and shouting. :-)

Desperate Times

Desperate times call for desperate measures. This was Wil's solution to the pacifier not staying in Alisa's mouth! Don't worry, she wasn't like this for long!

 

Zzzzzz

The way we sleep...

 

 

It should be noted, Alisa has only been dropped once!

Apples

Addie asked for an apple while I was busy doing the dishes, so I told her they were on the table. I thought she would grab ONE of the four apples...not take one bite out of EACH of them!

 

Apron Strings

G.G. got Addie a new apron at the dollar store. Which meant they just HAD to bake some cookies together! Addie LOVES to bake, especially when she gets to make cookies! 

 

 

The only problem is there is no stopping her from snitching bites of cookie dough while she does it. She's more like me than I like to admit sometimes!

Three Kids

I love, Love, LOVE these three!

 

Father's Day Tie

When Addie was born, my Grandma helped me put her footprints on a tie as a gift for Wil's first Father's Day.

 

After he got the tie, he decided he wanted all of our future children's footprints on his special Father's Day tie. This year we added Alisa & Mason's footprints. I LOVE this tie...and to be honest, I'm a bit jealous I don't have anything nearly as cool!

Mommy & Mason

 

It's ridiculous how much I love this little boy!

Sticky Stickers

Uncle Arty & Aunt Jody gave Addie a book of stickers while we were on our staycation. She LOVES stickers, so she was thrilled. It turns out, stickers are even more fun when you can decorate your baby brother with them!

 

Staycation

We went on a staycation with my family at the Arizona Grand Resort July 4-7. The resort was awesome and even had a fun waterpark!

Addie had a blast! It was hard to tell whether her favorite part was the kiddie pool, the Lazy River, lunch at Rainforest Café or playing in the room!

Lynda, Addie, G.G. & Andy at the waterpark

Aunt Jody, Lynda, Wil, Addie, G.G. & Andy at the waterpark

 Lynda, Andy, Wil, Addie & Aunt Jody on the Lazy River

Addie & Aunt Jody on the Lazy River

 

Addie & G.G. having fun in the room 

 

Andy, Me, Mason, Aunt Jody & Lynda hanging out in the room

G.G. & Alisa - I LOVE this picture!

 

You'll notice a couple people missing in most of the pictures. My uncle was the cameraman and I was nursing babies when they were taken (which is what I do with most of my time now-a-days!).