babies

Bestie + Gender

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It is still raining in Texas.  I heard someone blaming El Nino in a joking manner and then on the news last night I learned, it really does have to do with El Nino!

Luckily, there has been reprieve from the rain enough to let the Nuggets outside to play for a few hours but they were ecstatic to actually go bye-bye this weekend.

On Saturday we attended a gender reveal party for my best friend.  I don’t use the terminology best friend lightly.  My mom used to tell me, “You’re lucky if you have one, to two best friends in your lifetime.”  I am very lucky to have Erin as my friend.  As my sister.

Gender reveal parties are SO fun. Whether you chose to wait until your baby actually pops out or if you find out in advance, it’s exciting. But having a party is the best.

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cake // Sweet P Cupcakes

Erin is not a patient person and she doesn’t do well with keeping secrets, so when her results came in on Wednesday, it was a dash to drop it off with Janet from Sweet Pee Cupcakes (N. Dallas area) so she didn’t peek.  When we arrived on Saturday for brunch, I told The Hubs I would time how long before she wanted to cut into that cake.  She made it one hour and 10 minutes.  I was impressed!

When the time finally came, there was a pretty even vote between boy verse girl but, I think in the end, pink was favored.  (That was my guess).

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G I R L !!!!

There were a lot of high pitched squeals of excitement and both of the Nuggets freaked out.  They’re not so much for loud commotions.

Monday I went out and bought these…

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I actually sent a picture of them to her and she was like, “pleeeease buy them for me?!” and I was like, “girrrrrl, I never put them down!”  This, among other things.  I totally enjoy buying for my boys but this will be a new kind of fun!

Erin is one of my most favorite people and I am over the moon for her + husband and I cannot wait to meet little the new lil Missy.

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Weston thought something was funny.  Probably the number of pictures we had to take to get this shot — and I still ended up with hair in my face.

XOXO,

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More Children

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I once read a quote that said, “If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans”.

He probably laughs at me quite a bit.

I’m always making plans.  I want to do XYZ this year. Then, next year I want blah, blah, blah and so on…

I’m one of three children.  I’m the middle child; does that shock you at all? I have two brothers and we’re all four years apart.   Momo said that she wanted her babies, to be a baby before introducing another baby.  Makes sense.

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Although my brothers and I are all good friends now that we are adults, it wasn’t really that way growing up.  I mean, what 8 year old boy wants to play with his 4 year old little sister?  It was a little different with my younger brother and I because what 5 year old girl wouldn’t want to love on a baby brother?  Switch it back again; what kind of relationship will a 14 year old boy have with a 6 year old younger brother.  It’s too big of a gap. My plans were always to have my kids close in age, to hopefully encourage tight friendships at younger ages.

There it is again, my plans.

My mom is also the second oldest, of eleven.  You read that correctly.  E L E V E N.

How awesome is it to be part of a big huge family?  Very. My grandmother was pregnant for 20 years practically.  She obviously had zero infertility issues.  Talk about built in best friends.  Shoot, that’s an entire basketball team.  All of my aunts and uncles are pretty close but I know relationships changed from when they were kids to adults.  My mom moved out, along with several of the oldest siblings, when the youngest were still in grade school.  That would have apparent effects on relationships.

People ask me all the time if we’ll have more kids.  One of my (31 first) cousins has four children.  She once told me that people have actually commented to her, “There is a way to prevent that you know.” Like she needed to be enlightened to the idea of birth control.  We have other good friends that have three daughters. The mom told me that people always assume, and comment, that their third little girl was an accident.  What would happen to the world if they have another one!  Gah.  What is wrong with people? Why is it that anything more than 2 children is SO outside of “normal”? WHATEVER.

Now, even more that we have children, I want more. I read a blog on Scary Mommy recently that cracked me up. It was a mom of three claiming to be crazy because she wants more children.

It’s not for everyone. A friend of a friend has one child and she told me, “Just having one made us realize that’s all we want”.

The boys couldn’t be any closer in age. Two minutes is pretty much as a close as you can get.

But since my plans never really go according to plan…I’m not sure what’s next. Do we want more? Yes. How does that look for us? I don’t know. Will it mean more fertility treatments or dare I consider it actually happening without assistance?

Will it even happen at all?

That’s up to Him. I have to constantly remind myself that whatever the outcome is, there is a greater plan in play.

These guys would make such good big brothers.

reading blog

XOXO

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17 Months

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We still do not have any new teeth!

I take this to mean we are going to have one hell of a month when the remaining 14 (Weston) and 16 (Corbin) teeth all decide to come through at the same time…like when they’re two.

Seriously!?

Seventeen Months

Weston

Weston blogOh those baby blues.  Which is a rare photo catch because he’s always squinting!

Weston is still pushy and steals every single toy that his brother has.  He will spot Corbin playing with something from across the room and I can see the look in his eyes.  He zones in on what ever is in Corbin’s hands and, no matter the distractions I put in his path, he is laser focused.  He hasn’t gained much weight, still strong at 26 lbs but he seems to be getting taller.   I cannot say for sure because he won’t stay still long enough for me to check his height.  His little chubby cheeks are starting to thin out (just a bit) and I can see more toddler and less baby.  Pause for sobbing.  He still isn’t saying “mama” often but he is very sweet to me.  He loves outside and sticks.  He could play for an hour with a pile of sticks and a bucket.  His facial expressions are awesome.  I catch a glimpse of the teenage years to come.

Corbin

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Corbin is slowly starting to “stand up for himself”.  90% of the time he just relinquishes whatever toy Weston wants but on occasion he holds on tight and/or tries to run away.  Once last week, he actually bit Weston on the arm, out of frustration.  I knew it would happen eventually but it hasn’t swayed Weston from toy-stealing one bit. Corbin is weighing at 24.6 and is also getting longer every day.  He is still a big time daddy’s boy.  If he can hear Daddy in the hallway or The Hubs leaves the room, Corbin is out searching for him and saying “Da-da, Da-da”.  He is also very attached to his blanket (the love is getting stronger ) and likes to snuggle now, as long as the blanket is involved.  I’ll take it.  Even if he calls me “Da-da” most of the time.

They have both become generous with kisses and I love it.  The best is when they give each other a smooch.  SO STINK’N CUTE.

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They’re really challenging me on their meals at this point.  One day they’ll eat one thing and the next, completely refuse it.  I know it’s all normal but I’m trying to encourage variety and it’s proving a challenge since they don’t like pasta or potatoes.  I look on Google and Pinterest to get ideas and I find that I’m already offering them similar meals to most moms out there.  That means I’m doing something right. Right?

Example: Yesterday’s meals

Breakfast – Egg and cheese omelets, LIFE cereal, mandarins (West), pears (Corbin).  Weston eats scrambled eggs all the time but wanted nothing to do with his omelet.

Lunch – Oscar Meyer Selects Turkey Hot Dogs, edamame (which was sampled about 10 times annnnnd spit out all 10 times, by both boys), banana.

Dinner – Chicken Divan (recipe) which they ate about 1/2 and then Weston refused and started spitting it out.  What?  Why, after 10 bites, is it now terrible?  It’s totally not terrible.  I love it.

Today’s Meals:

Breakfast – Peanut butter & banana Oats

Lunch – cream cheese and jelly sandwich, Lil Crunchies, and peaches

Dinner– meatballs, star pasta w/tomato sauce.  Star pasta is the only kind of pasta they’ll eat because it is tiny.  I don’t know how you can even tell it’s pasta. Of course they don’t sell this kind in whole wheat.  Grrr.

I battle with providing substitutes when they don’t like something and also striving to offer variety.  It would also be great if I had time to make everyone dinner and we could all eat the same thing.  Alas, not possible when I don’t even arrive home from work until 5:30 and The Hubs even later.  #thisisnottheWaltons

Oh well.  I’m doing the best I can.  If you’ve got any suggestions for toddler meals that don’t include pasta or potatoes, shoot them my way!

More Harm than Good?

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So there is a post I wrote about green beans.  And how much I hated them as a kid.  Like, every single time my mom served canned string beans and I would gag, *literally gag* them down.

Oh, wait…I still kinda hate green beans.  Well, kinda.

Enter Lindsey as a Mommy.

My boys will totally eat veggies. If I blend them up and add applesauce.

Which is frighteningly similar to the way I used to consume vegetables. Except The Mo didn’t blend it up.

So my question is, as the boys get older, am I making it worse by semi-blending up veggies and “masking” them in applesauce?

I don’t always add the sweet stuff and a lot of the time they’ll still eat it. Most of the time, I go with giant bag of mixed veggies (corn, carrots, peas and green beans) and they’ll eat that combo but only if they’re blended.  None of that whole chewing business.

I started to notice that they wouldn’t eat veggies as often after we started transitioning from “baby food” to table food.  I didn’t want to give up the healthy green foods and after lots of battling with them to eat it, i.e., them winning with TONS of veggies on the floor…I went back to blending it up. At least they’re getting the nutrition, right?

I know that we all parent differently but I just wonder if I’m causing more harm then good?  In the LONG game.  Does it matter if the boys are 15 years old and eating blended combo of vegetables and fruit?  I imagine when they leave for college, they might realize that’s not exactly cool.   Then again, fruit/veggie/protein shakes are quite popular…maybe this is a head start??? 🙂

No, really.  As with many foods, it takes multiple introductions to a food before your tot seems to actually like it.  Eggs took MONTHS with The Nugs but now they gobble them up. So should I just diligently try to feed whole veggies and deal with the masses that are thrown on the floor?  Will they eventually decide, Mommy is not relenting and these green things are going to keep showing up on their plate?

Doesn’t that contradict my aforementioned post that I wouldn’t “force” feed ’em green beans? What is the end result?  Hating green beans?  Growing to like them? Or tolerating the veggies? blog food boys What is most important? I think, I’m totally over thinking this for a couple of 16 month olds. What do you think?5E1F90B120FB20C197CC10E4FF74EF96

No Words.

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Last night The Hubs shared with me the most devastating news.

He didn’t get right to it, when he arrived home from work.  We were in the middle of bath time when he finally said, “Mom told me some super super sad news.”  He paused and I said, spit it out, what happened?!

A baby died.  Choked on food and was unable to be rescued in time.

The mommy is my age.  She and her husband went through the IVF process, a month before us.  Their sweet girl is exactly one month older than the Nuggets.

On this Thursday, she choked on a Cheeto puff.  It got lodged in her throat and the sitter couldn’t save her in time.  It’s something baby girl eats often. She goes to the baby sitter one day a week.   Sweet pea spends 75% of her week with her daddy. He is a paramedic fire fighter.

Next month she would have been 17 months old.

I have no words.

There is absolutely nothing that can be said, that can make it better.  Fix it.  To turn back time.  Thinking that God has a plan provides no comfort in a time like this.

I squeezed my boys so tight last night.  Tight enough that they were very irritated with me.  Nothing in life is guaranteed but I do not want to imagine going to bed, knowing they won’t be there in the morning.

I only met Emma Kelly once.  At Thanksgiving this past fall.  But I saw a future with the Nuggets and her growing up together.

All I can do, we can do, is pray for this sweet family. They must lean on God through this terrible tragedy, He is the only one that can hold them up.

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Too Soon

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I cannot believe The Nuggets will be an entire year old next week.

It doesn’t feel like an entire year has passed since the night my water broke, and in the wee hours of the morning, I was finally able to embrace them in my arms.

Since then, a lot has happened.  Obviously.

Weston Lain is a whopping 22 lbs, 6 oz and is 29″ tall.  That puts him in the 75-95 percentile.

I mean, who wouldn’t think I’d have tall kids?  Duh.  I’m 5’11”.

He is also starting to take very cautious steps but hasn’t coordinated more than one or two.  He had TWO more teeth come through on the bottom this week, which has also made him, let’s just say….feisty.  That brings his teeth count to a total of eight.  Weston is eating pretty much everything I put in front of him.  Except eggs.  When he puts scrambled eggs in his mouth, he immediately opens wide, puts his tongue out and eggs come tumbling down into his lap. He does like chicken nuggets, cheese, cheerios, waffles, toast as well as, all the usual fruits and veggies we’ve been munching on since about 7 months.

Corbin is still my little peanut.  Josh actually got me a peanut charm for my bracelet after the boys came home from the NICU.  My little guy, that started off at 4 pounds, is now rocking in at 20 lbs even and is 28″ long.

He is musically inclined like The Hubs (this mommy had zero to do with that) and even though he seemed slower to get moving, I wouldn’t be surprised if he and Weston started walking around the same time.  Corbin is also mimicking your words more closely.  He watches your mouth intently when you are trying to encourage him to say something.  He says ma-ma! Although, I’m sure he doesn’t actually mean me.  He is waving bye-bye as well and it melts my heart.  Corbin’s smile is an adorable snaggle tooth grin.  His two teeth on the bottom still and three on top, with one of his front teeth missing.  When it comes to food, Corbin is a more finicky eater. If you give him time though, he will usually eat whatever you give him.  Even eggs!  Not a fan of green veggies unless there is apples mixed in with them.

I have two very healthy and happy boys.  And although it feels like it’s too soon for them to already be a year old, it feels like a million years ago that we struggled to get to this point.  I call it selective memory….remember the good, try to forget the bad.

So Much

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I’m so lucky.

I’m so busy with life happenings that I don’t even have enough time to blog.  I’ve said it before, if this generated enough income so that I didn’t have to work, I’d be a full time blogger.  Since that dream hasn’t come true (nor have I put enough effort into it) I am busy working full time and being a mommy 24/7.   That means that my blog will unfortunately be cyclical.  Which also means any reader that I started to recruit…I’ll lose.

Thanks to anyone who continues to check in and see if I’ve posted in 6789 days….Mom. 🙂

So much has been going on!!!

My boys were baptized.  Finally.

Traditionally, in the Catholic religion babies are usually baptized pretty quickly.  Within the first three months. Typically.  Since my boys were discouraged from major public areas I missed that inital window.  And then things got hectic and I missed the next window.  Then I was approaching 10 months and I finally got it on the calendar. 

It was mostly family.

It was beautiful.

I have a very special bestie who agreed to be both boys Godmother and my younger brother agreed to be their Godfather.  There are many special people in our lives that I would have wanted to possibly be a Godparent/sponser but picking became difficult.  So we left it up to the religious aspect and selected only individuals that would assist us in bringing the boys up Catholic.

Are we perfect in our religious ways. NOPE.  The Hubs isn’t even Catholic but because he is indifferent and he knows my preference, he agreed and supported our decision. 

Very special day.

Next.

THE NUGGETS ARE TEN MONTHS OLD! 

What!?!?!?!?!?  When did that happen?! 

Weston has three, yes you read that correctly, three top teeth coming in right now.  He is still a pretty easy going baby.  I told you I was lucky.  Go back up to the top…re-read it if you need to. 

I was honestly wondering if we were going to make it to the one year mark with only two bottom teeth.  I imagine Corbin’s will start coming in pretty soon as well.

These boys.  They have some attitude.   Some real personality.  They absolutely see each other now.  They scream argue at each other when toys are taken by the other (I was curious when this would start to happen).  Corbin lets you know when he wants something.  Anything.  Everything.  Especially your cell phone.

Weston is pretty chill. He has developed a rash.  I’m positive it’s a food intolerance but I’m having challenges determining which food.  I’m thinking its dairy.  Even with his itchy rash and three teeth, he’s still chill. 

The Nuggets are still sleeping pretty well.  We’re on two naps a day and a bed time between 6:00pm-7:00 pm.  Wake up is also between 6:00am-….who am I kidding…it’s pretty much 6:00 am.  Wishful thinking for a wake up at 7am.  But I will take it and realized I’m very lucky.  There are mama’s out there still trying to get their babe to sleep through the night. 

I cannot believe I am saying this but we are starting to think about The Nuggets first birthday party.  My heart hurts because as a working mommy, I feel like I’m missing so much but I’m greatful that boys have a full time nanny to cater to them at home.  We recently went through the process of replacing our nanny (she decided to pursue other career opportunities) and it was incredibly stressful.  I will strongly consider a way to stay home if that happens again. 

My beautiful family

The Nuggets and their Godparents

The most special people that came to celebrate with us

10 month old Nuggets

Big boy Corbin

Weston and all his cuteness
Thanks to any of you still reading and as soon as I have more time (in about 4 years) maybe I’ll be able to update more than once a month…eek! 😉

Surreal

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I sit here and watch my babies play on their mat. I am amazed.  They are four months old.
Weston almost just rolled over. From his back to his tummy. He blows spit bubbles and babbles to who ever will listen.  He arches his back and can rotate 360 degrees with his wiggles. He weighs a whopping 14 lbs 1 oz and is 24.5″ long.  He may have started small but the doc says he’s in the 50th percentile now.  Weston has the best chubby cheeks and Buddha belly and is so smiley all the time (except for pictures).

 Corbin managed to roll onto his tummy on our bed this weekend. He was immediately mad and didn’t realize he just needed to roll back over. Corbin grabs the toys dangled in front of him and holds on tight and he absolutely loves talking to those toys. He’s still my peanut, weighing in at 12 lbs and 6 oz and 24″ long.  He’s closed the weight gap on Weston just a bit but he’s still only slighty above the 5th percentile.  I wonder when, or if, he’ll ever really catch up.  He’s long and lean but has some nice chubby cheeks and the longest eyelashes you’ve ever seen on a baby.  Corbin’s umbilical hernia is almost gone and the hydroceles that gave us a scare, are all closed up.
It seems like only a minute ago I was reading about these developmental milestones and gazing at 6 month outfits in their closet. I think The Nuggets are catching up. And fast. The doctor was happy with their visit today and that means The Hubs and I were too.

We have been given the go ahead for introducing solids but I am going to wait another week or so, or until they have a little bit better head control.  I’m excited for this milestone too!

When I leave for work in the morning the boys just stare at me.  I wonder if they realize mommy is leaving.

Both boys like to look at each other. It’s rare they both see each other at the same time but one of them is always looking at the other. Sometimes smiling and talking or just staring. I wonder what they are thinking….

I would love to give credit to whomever designed and made their shirts but it was a gift from The Hubs’s coworkers and I still haven’t gotten an answer as to who made them.  When I find out, I’ll let you know.

As always, I’m so in love with these little guys. 

XOXO – Lindsey

Update – The onesies are frome Simply Baby Stated on Etsy and they have a Facebook Page as well.  I recommend these products!

Worthless Worrying?

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If you know me, if you’ve ever met me, heck if you’ve read this blog more than once, you know I am two things: 1. A control freak, 2. A worrier. 3. Awesome hahahaha. No really.

So I stumbled across this super cute blog, Recently Rimini by Ashley and she’s a blogger similar to me.  She hasn’t been blogging for long, it isn’t her full time job and really just uses it as a journal for life’s adventures.  That is not where the similarities end either.  She and her hubs went through the infertility journey which ended in a successful IVF procedure and resulted in twins.  Creepy huh?  Not really, many people share this story with us.

If you pop over to her blog you’ll learn she had her lil Nuggets earlier this year.  At 28 weeks.  This is where the worrier and control freak in Lindsey totally spazes out.  I’m at 16 weeks today.  If we were to continue along the same path and I were to have the Nuggets at 28 weeks I would only have 12 weeks left!!!!!!!!  Calm down Lindsey (great now I’m talking to myself)…

I have a doctors appointment next week and now I’m anxious to get there to ensure everything is looking/progressing well.  I actually have two appointments – one with my regular Ob-gyn and another that afternoon with a fetal-maternal specialist (multiples are automatically considered high risk).  This will be my first time meeting with the specialists and we’ll have another ultrasound to make sure the Nuggets are growing the same.  I’m also secretly hoping we’ll find out the genders (or at least get it in an envelope so we can do a gender reveal).

As much as I enjoyed reading Recently Remini, I am now worrying about having the Nuggets early.  We are still trying to buy a house.  We still need to move.  We haven’t bought anything to prepare yet.  It’s overwhelming.  We have really awesome friends and family network, I know we could lean on for help but I have my fingers crossed this belly becomes giant and as close to full term as we can get.

-Lindz

Husbands and the Sh*t They Say

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Well our Nuggets had another photo opportunity yesterday.  I was released to see my new Ob-GYN and had an appointment yesterday.  They want to do an ultra sound and were pleased to tell me everything looks great.  I got to see and hear the heartbeats again which are super fast.  She said it’s totally normal and that it’ll slow down after the first trimester.

When I got home, I showed The Hubs and he said, “do they still look like little aliens?”  I’m like, honey, they are cells that are multiplying a bajillion times a day to create a human being…they have to start somewhere.  Goofball.  He then wanted me to try and point out where the head was on the pics – which was impossible as they still look like lima beans.

 For those of you who don’t know, it’s kind of alien-ish looking but I love them nonetheless.

Let’s also just comment on the above model’s stomach and how flat it is still.  My stomach is not like that at. All.  This girl here is super bloated, the ultra sound showed that my ovaries (especially on the left side) are swollen.  That is supposed to go down right as my Nuggets start to show.  Soooo my pants have been snug since February and I’ll see no relief in the future.  I’m actually ready to start showing “for real” so I can buy some maternity clothes and feel justified in wearing it instead of just being bloated and chubbish.

I also talked to Dr. Kindrick about my risk for miscarriage.  She stated that previously u/s were not advanced enough to hear the heartbeats until about 12 weeks which is why that was the “magic date” of being confident in the pregnancy.  Now with the equipment being better and the ability to hear the heartbeat(s) already and see/hear that everything is progressing normally, my risk is minimal.  She released me to work out but told me take it slow at first and she said if we want to start telling people she wouldn’t advise against it but it’s our personal preference.  I’d like to wait until the in-laws are informed (this weekend) and then we’ll start telling friends.

Allen Nuggets on the way – so exciting!