They are growing so fast...

If you look back at when I first started taking their pictures together in this chair, it's just amazing. They are turning into such wonderful & amazing little people.

Sleeping Princess

This is how Christina likes to sleep...with her cute little bottom in the air and her legs crossed. Isn't that how all princess' sleep?

Good Times

Strange Toys

Even though it's not Easter time...I love my daughter so much that I let her have one of her Easter baskets and Easter eggs. She LOVES to play with the Easter eggs.


and

the vent.

New Shelf

Thanks to Antzy, Gran Gran and Debbie...the babies have a beautiful new shelf in their room! We love it!

Cute Stuff

The babies are really enjoying each other. They smile really big at each other and reach for each other. AJ REALLY tries to grab her and Christina always steals his pacifier or, in this case, his bottle. They are too sweet.


Christina needs to be rocked to sleep, but she sleeps really well. She's slept all night 3 times already. She also naps really well. When I rock her, she pulls at her blanket that her Gran Gran made for her and when I start to give her the bottle, she spits the paci out and it FLIES out of her mouth! So funny! She also started sleeping more with her little bottom in the air :-)


AJ has started spitting. He LOVES it. He sticks his little tongue out and just spits rasberries! It cracks me up! He is really enjoying having his blankie and bear with him when he sleeps and although he's still not sleeping much and he doesn't nap well during the day...nomatter how exhausted I am...I still treasure the time I'm with him in the middle of the night. He also belly laughs...alot. He seems to giggle more when he's really sleepy...but it can also turn to a cry really quick at that time!

Goodbye Fido

Fido leaves us today. We really wanted to keep him in hopes that once the babies got older things would work out, but we do not have the time for him. I think we actually kept him 7 months too long, but nothing we can do about that for now. Fido is a very, very sweet puppy and whatever family adopts him will be very happy. The organization that will be placing him is wonderful. They deal ONLY with bull terriers and they screen their adoptive families very carefully. He will be neutered and microchipped on Monday and have all of his shots updated. He's such a sweet boy and I'm so very happy that he's going to be able to live with people that will have time for him. Once he is placed we will be in touch with his new family and I'll be able to get updates on him and how wonderful he's doing. Bye Fido. We love you!

Vote for Christina!

If you haven't voted yet, please do! You can only vote once, so we need all of the votes we can get! AJ wasn't entered...this was a LAST minute thing...literally! I'll make sure both babies are entered next year!

Go to www.hot995.com and do a search for baby idol.

THANK YOU!

She's the Christina from GERMANTOWN, just in case there is somebody that doesn't know :-)

Naughty Girl! (not really)

Christina is hilarious. She is in to everything! AJ will be following soon so don't worry, we'll have tons of stories about him as well! It just so happens that girls are just faster than boys and it also seems that God put extra "spice" into this little girl! :-)

Here she is in the MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT.


Here she is getting up under the jumperoo while I used the restroom.


Here she is standing up in her crib...I had to raise the side that very day and it hasn't been lowered since!

News Flash!

AJ is just coming along SO well! Those first 4 months may have set him back some, but he's catching up fast! Tonight as we sat here with him (Christina fast asleep) he got his paci out of his mouth...held it for a few minutes and put it back in! We are both SO excited right now! :-)

Baby Update!

Christina: She pulls at her ears when she's tired. She has to have a bottle at bedtime whether she's hungry or not. She's eating very well, but does not like green beans, thank you very much! She is crawling at about 90% I'd say. She can go from laying down to sitting quickly and get anywhere she needs to be. She can pull up on her crib side to standing up. She loves to scream. At a very, very high pitch. She does everything in her power to NOT sleep. She is very good at sleeping at night though...she did sleep all night once already. She loves books and any toy that AJ has. Her hair is growing a little bit...but still not long enough to stick cute things in...but she's really just adorable all on her own. She now fusses with excitement when I run the bath water. She loves the bath. She also loves to be held and she puts her face against yours very lovingly. She doesn't like to be left to sit while you go to do anything. She puts her arms out for you when she wants you to take her.



AJ: I have now given him his blankie and bear for his crib. When he wakes up or is falling asleep at night, he always pulls on his pj's and accidentally scratches his face. The blanket and bear give him something to pull at and hold on to. He can roll over from his front to his back...but he'd rather not. He gets frustrated. He talks. Alot. Loudly. Nomatter what time it is. 3am seems to be his favorite time. He sits up perfectly. He loves to sit up and play with toys and he tries to reach out and touch his sister if she sits next to him. He has the sweetest curly hair. His excema is getting better on his face and that spot on his arm is gone. Some days he's a big eater, some days he's not, but with the prevacid, eating isn't such a problem anymore. He's not really into the baby food yet. He is getting there though, I just keep offering it. He also loves the bath. He loves to splash and kick and is still really into his feet. He has sweet dimples and smiles so much.

Happy Birthday Auntie Bean!

We love you so much.

Happy Mother's Day!

Today is my very first Mother's Day. I didn't think I'd ever be able to celebrate this day for myself. For all the wonderful mother's in my life, yes...but not for me. It's hard to believe and I've been pretty emotional over it this week whenever I think of it. These babies are amazing and I couldn't imagine my life without them.

Life doesn't just change inside your own home...it changes how people see you and treat you. You become somebody different when you have a baby (or 2). I never knew what it would be like on the "other" side and before you have children you can't really give advice or state your opinion on raising kids because you'll hear "you aren't a mother, you don't understand".



There was alot I really DIDN'T understand and alot of things that I thought and felt before that are COMPLETELY different now. Baby's cries never upset me before. The thought of sending your child to daycare seemed like no big deal. Things like that...I feel COMPLETELY different. Alot of my opinions haven't changed though...and I don't think giving birth or being a mom actually makes you smarter...it just gives you experience. I always felt people should not scream and yell at their kids or in front of them. I always felt you should never be negative or call your child names...especially "stupid". I always felt that being a GOOD parent was hard work and that you should engage your child and sitting them in front of the TV is just not a good thing to do ALL of the time. Alot of my thoughts like that remain the same and I pray I can be a good Mom. I want to be patient, consistent and loving. I'll always do the best I can.

I am, however, not at a point where I want a "babysitter". I have NO desire to be away from my babies at all unless I need a nap really, really bad. I have NO desire to go to the movies, hang out with friends or do ANYTHING that my babies can't do as well. I am told this will change. I'm sure it will...what choice will I have when they go to college?



I love these babies and I love being their Mom. Happy Mother's Day to all of the amazing and wonderful Mother's in my life.

Special Mother's Day Messages for the VERY SPECIAL Mother's in my life that make a difference to me and my babies DAILY:

MY MOM: Thank you for all that you do for your kids and your grandkids. Especially AJ. You have been a huge blessing to him and us. Thank you for taking such good care of him every single week. I love you so much!

Grandma: You are such a wonderful Grandmother. I don't know how I'd get along without you. You are so supporting and loving. Thank you so much for taking such good care of Christina and for loving us the way you do. I love you so much!

Aunt Nancy: You are such a wonderful aunt. I don't think there is another that comes even close in this universe...and I think you should be celebrated on this day too. Thank you for everything you do for us. I love you so much!

Andrea: You are amazing. You always impress me and I'm so proud of you. You are a wonderful mother to my sweet girls...it shows in who they are. I love you so much!

AJ's First Hospital Stay

Even though he was in NICU for 6 days when he was born, this is really considered his first "overnight hospital stay". He is SUCH a good boy. He was hardly fussy and he was very content to sit in the hospital bed for 2 days and hang out with Mommy, Daddy and Grandma. He had wonderful nurses and everybody took really good care of him. He isn't mad at mommy even though I'm still not going to let myself off of the hook. I am responsible for him being there and it hurts me to know that he went through all of the needle sticks and drinking CHARCOAL because of my bad mistake. I love my babies and I would do anything for them and I have to make sure I get more sleep so that I don't make really stupid mistakes. But, it's over and he's great and we are all recovering :-) He did have a BLUE hospital gown, but the pink one was smaller so I changed him into it and decided comfort was more important than color (in this situation only).

After we settled in, I changed him into a comfy onsie so that he could move around easier and he was very happy with that. It was really warm in the room we were in so it was nice he could wear something more comfortable. I also got him his toys and he was as happy as could be.

Here he is on the bed we both shared. His Grandma (who stayed the ENTIRE time with us - Thank you MOM! slept in a chair that pulled out to a "so-called" bed) and she got up with us all night long. She never slept at all and I may have for about an hour and a half. Behind him is the curtain that separated us from the other patient. A young girl that had bad asthma. She was having a horrible time. It was really sad. But when she had company for the first time of our arrival, AJ just kept staring at the curtain trying to figure out why it was talking. It was SO cute and funny.

Here is my son's foot after having it stuck a million times. After they made him cry EVERY single time they took blood for glucose testing, I wouldn't allow them to do it anymore and they let me take over. I took his blood for the remainder of our visit and he didn't cry anymore.

Aunt Nancy and Grandma came to pick up Christina on Sunday and kept her all day and night and alot of Monday. They took such good care of her and she was completely happy with them. She probably was wondering what she did to deserve such a treat! She was able to attend the birthday party that we all missed on Sunday and I heard Auntie Bean got alot of play time with her. When I picked her up yesterday after we were discharged, she really seemed like she was happy to see me and acted like she had missed me. It was a wonderful feeling. I had to hold back tears when I saw her because I had missed her so much. She was very clingy to me for the rest of the night. Very sweet. I'm really lucky that my family was there for me to help me and my babies. Mom was so wonderful to be with us at the hospital and I couldn't have asked for a better place for Christina to be. Thank you to all of you. I love you so much.

Here is Christina in her crib last night. She didn't want to go to sleep and I caught her up playing. I bet she missed her crib and her things. We all are like that. :-) She smiled a sweet smile at me when I came in and caught her and again when I came back with the camera.

I am REALLY tired!

Before the babies were born all I had to worry about during the week was what to have for dinner and what to watch on TV. I got alot of sleep and watched lifetime whenever I wanted on the weekends.

The past 7 months I'm lucky if I get to watch one TV show over 3 days. American Idol is no longer something I can watch "live". I rush home with the babies to feed them, bathe them, change them, brush their teeth, read to them, play with them and get them to bed so that I can rush to wash bottles, make bottles for the next day, make sure bags are packed, clothes ready and do any laundry that needs doing. I have to hurry and get to bed because it won't be long before one or both babies wake up...the nights are not easy and I don't sleep enough at all.

I am REALLY tired. This is REALLY hard.

But I wouldn't change a thing. I have never been happier in my life. There is NOTHING I love more than to take care of these babies.

How did I get so lucky?