New Kicks

I took the 3 big kids today to get new tennis shoes. Everyone's feet are growing so fast! They loved trying on shoes, and especially loved running down the aisle to test them out.

Catherine and Will really wanted shoes with laces, not Velcro. We have a lot of tears in our house with Velcro shoes that don't stay fastened or won't fasten tightly enough. So it's finally time to teach those two how to tie shoes. We are hoping that new tennis shoes will help Catherine's mood on PE days (her least favorite school activity). Will is now a super fast runner in his shoes that look like daddy's.

Anna really really wanted shoes with princesses on them. Thankfully we found some with princesses, and much to her delight, they also light up. Somehow we have made it 7 years into parenting without light up shoes, but if any of our kids need light up shoes, it's Anna! She also scored a pair of purple rain boots from the clearance rack.

Lots of fun....but hopefully their feet won't grow too much anytime soon. There are a lot of feet and shoes in our house :)

A little winter sunshine

Jay and I just returned from spending a few days in the Dominican Republic. It was glorious to sit in the sunshine, read a book, eat meals leisurely, and just enjoy some time together.

Jay's regional agency hosts these trips as a reward for meeting certain annual goals. It's a really nice reward for Jay and all of his hard work. I don't say it publicly enough, but I am so thankful for my husband who works really hard to take care of me and our five little people. The man gets up at 4am most days, works for 11-12 hours each day, and takes a lot of challenges and risks. It takes a lot of courage, discipline, and motivation to do what he does. And he loves it! I'm very thankful for him.

And this week I was thankful for the warm sunshine too.

Many many thanks to ALL the grandparents who kept our kids. Catherine and Will were with my dad and Kay. Anna stayed with my mom. Mimi and Poppop kept the babies and then had all 5 for one night and day. We really appreciate our family's support of our marriage. When you have lots of little kids, (or even if you don't) it's important to take some time away and just relax, have a conversation, and make new memories together.

Ice Skating in our 70 degree winter

Will's class went on an ice skating field trip this week. The kids had a great time. The walkers are a huge help when you have about 25 four and five year olds on ice skates! They liked crashing into each other with them, a strange bumper car type activity. Will was adventurous and tried skating some on his own too. His favorite part was throwing snowballs, especially at his teachers. He also really liked taking a sled ride with his friend Sophie. He thinks she's really pretty :)

It's humorous that this is the only winter activity we've had around here. This weekend it has been 70+  degrees. The daffodil bulbs are coming up, cherry trees have blooms on them, the kids are outside in shorts and short-sleeves. Kinda crazy for the middle of January. So we have to play with some pretend snowballs and go ice skating inside!

Babies' Baptisms

On December 30, James and Elizabeth were baptized at our church. We view this baptism as a recognition that they are God's covenant children and that  He will work salvation in their life. We promise to do all that we can as their parents to point them to their Savior and trust Him with their lives.

God has been extremely faithful to us in trusting us with 5 children. He has so graciously provided for not only our physical needs of care, but even more so our spiritual and emotional needs. It's quite amazing if you really know us to see some of the spiritual transformations and growth that have occurred over the past 7+ years. We love that God's plan for our family is different--and better--than what we would have planned for ourselves. We would have "played it safe" and made decisions out of fear or anxiousness. That's still a temptation. But we've stepped out in faith and are so thankful for His blessings and His care.

Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

6 months old

James and Elizabeth turned 6 months old at the end of December. I can't believe it's already been 6 months. They are getting to such a fun baby stage where we can see their personalities developing and they learn new things all the time. I love watching them interact with each other, the other kids, and Jay and me. It makes you feel like you won a prize to get sweet smiles and coos.  They both really love to touch faces, out of curiosity and affection. It's really sweet when they touch each others' faces, and they still like to hold hands.

James is our crazy little man. He has 2 bottom teeth and has taken to liking baby food pretty easily. He's still active/crazy. I can only put him in sleepers with zippers at night because he rolls and thrashes around so much that he kicks open the buttons and undresses himself. He loves to jump and will jump in the jumperoo, exersaucer, or just in your arms. He's a great night sleeper, but a terrible napper. Some days he barely naps at all. I don't know what the crazy kid does in there when it's nap time. Well, sometimes he poops. That always makes him mad and he won't nap. But if he's happy, he so so happy and smiley and melt-your-heart-adorable. I could eat him up. 

Elizabeth is our sweet baby doll. So peaceful, but also very observant. She loves to be held and snuggled and is content to watch all her brothers and sisters. She loves to be held by Will and Catherine. She has this great laugh--it's a lot deeper than you would expect from a sweet baby girl and it makes us all laugh every time we hear her. She's a great night sleeper and napper, and thankfully can sleep through her brother's antics. She is curious about the baby food, but not totally sold on the idea yet. She, too, loves the jumper and exersaucer. We do have a few concerns about her gross motor skills and muscle tone. For example, she doesn't really roll over. She's probably only done it 6 or 7 times, and when she does she is primarily using her head and neck muscles and it's a huge struggle. She also feels "loose" when you hold her and has a hard time supporting herself. She's going to be evaluated by BabyNet (the SC early intervention program) to see if it's anything we need to pursue OT/PT for. I think it's just a mild delay at this point, but we want to offer her any assistance we can if needed.

At their 6 month checkup, James weighed 14lbs 7oz (4%) and was 26in long (29%). Elizabeth weighed 14lbs 5oz (15%) and was 26.5in long (73%). The slight differences in weight and height still make a huge difference in those percentiles at this age, especially for boy vs. girl. I think James hasn't gained as much weight because he is so busy and active that he uses up all his energy every day!

A super handy trick they've learned this month is holding their own bottles. For feedings, I have been nursing them when they wake up and when they go to bed and giving 8 oz bottles 2 to 3 times per day. I think I now am going to have to either alternate nursing one in the morning and giving the other a bottle or pumping and giving them both bottles. I think I'm only making enough milk for one baby :( While it is easier to hand them both bottles while they're propped on boppy pillows simultaneously, it makes me a little sad and I feel slightly guilty that I can't nurse them as much as I did my other babies. I'm doing the best I can and I recognize that, but nursing them was one of the only times during the day that I sat down and snuggled them individually. 

Jay and I had our first night away from them in December. Mimi and PopPop stayed here with them while Jay and I went to Charlotte for our anniversary. They did great! Which is good....because in a few weeks we're leaving them for 4 nights with Mimi and PopPop. I'm both excited for a vacation and nervous/sad to leave them.

We've made it 6 months with twins! We might just survive this after all.

Christmas Catch-up

Okay, so I know it's already January, but I"m still catching up and recovering from Christmas. I just took the wreaths off the windows this morning and installed the last batteries in new toys last night. Isn't Christmas a 12-day celebration anyway??

Regardless, here are a few more pics from Christmas and then I'll move on to 2013!

On Christmas Eve, we attended our church's Christmas Eve service and then had a yummy Christmas dinner at Mimi and PopPop's. We were very thankful that Melissa, Andy, and Marshall (Jay's sister, husband, and son) were able to be here all of last week. Our kids love playing with Marshall, especially Anna. And it's an impressive feat that Mimi was able to find coordinating outfits for 6 children, boys and girls, ranging in sizes from 6 months to 7 years. We had to document that with a picture :)

Christmas Eve is probably my favorite part of the Christmas celebration. I love the anticipation and spending time with family, without being overrun by toys and gifts. It's one of the more simple days of Christmas and I love reflecting on Jesus's birth.

On Christmas morning, we had some very excited children. Especially Catherine and Will! Will had a slumber party in the girls' room so that they would all be together. They woke up at their usual 6:15am. We told them that we wanted to read the Christmas story in the Bible before we went downstairs for gifts, and Will suggested that we read Jesus dying on the cross. I actually think it's perfect. Without the cross, Christmas would just be a celebration of a baby. But with the cross, it's the celebration of the birth of a Savior. So I think we started a new tradition for Christmas morning.

The kids had a great time seeing their Santa gifts and opening gifts from us. Santa even left Marshall his gifts here too, so Mimi and PopPop and Melissa, Andy, and Marshall came over that morning.

On Christmas afternoon we headed to Union to be with my family. I think my pics from that are on my phone. It was wonderful (and crowded) to have all of my family together for Christmas--my mom, grandma, my Dad, Kay, Kelly, Kevin, Riley, Jasper, Amanda, Bill, Maddyson, Brooklynn, Kennedy, Logan, April, April's sister Ashely, Mr. B and the 7 of us. Now that's a lot of people! Total chaos but great!! We spent the night at my dad's and headed back to Greenville the next morning. We did Christmas gifts with the Hatten's that afternoon, in shifts around babies' and kids' naps.

The babies both ended with croup during the middle of all of this too. I had to find a pharmacy open on Christmas day to get James some medicine. He sounded terrible, poor little guy. And by Thursday night/Friday morning, Elizabeth had it too. I took them both to the dr on Friday and it took a few days for them to start feeling better. I think the medicine (predisone-like) made them feel pretty off for a few days. They weren't napping and were grumpy. It was pitiful.

Between the chaos of Christmas and the house being turned upside down and two sick babies, Jay and I were near the end of ourselves. I am thankful for this week to be getting back to "normal"--just the normal chaos, I guess!

Mary Poppins Birthday Show

Instead of having a birthday party, Catherine opted to attend Mary Poppins with one of her friends who also has a December birthday. We met them downtown, watched the show, and had dinner at The Lazy Goat. This was a special birthday treat by Mimi, who is very excited about going to more of these shows in the future. Jay and Steve don't love the musicals, so we figure the girls can enjoy them.

The show was great. Catherine especially liked it when Mary Poppins flew in and out with her umbrella and when the chimney sweeps danced. Parts of it were a little hard for her to follow the storyline and it was slightly different than the movie, but overall she really enjoyed the experience.

We are so fortunate to have a great performing arts center here, and lots of fun restaurants downtown too. It was a very fun way to celebrate Catherine's birthday (which yes, was in the middle of December--but I'm still catching up!).