AnnaLisa - 9 months

 

a 9 month old shot of AnnaLisa as a baby

Some of my favorites of the twins...

 

 

 

Seeing double...

 

Well, it was bound to happen. If you read the last post which had a picture of about a month ago about William having to wear his sister's PJ's because his were all dirty, the same thing happened with poor Rosi. She is wearing her brother's grey PJ's because she went through a lot of clothes in one day. What are these kids eatting???

Twin advice - Josh

 

When I called to tell Josh, one of my brothers who is a twin, that I was having twins, he gave me one bit of advice, "Don't dress them the same". I did not think that would be a problem. I guess I was wrong. Sometimes little boys can go through amazing amounts of clean clothes and be left with borrowing PJ's from their sister. Tough luck, big guy! (William is in back, Rosi in front with the darker pink)

To dress or not to dress...

 

Recently a relative of mine was asking people on Facebook whether she should get dressed for the day. There were many responses debating the idea. Here's my response.

OK, maybe it is just me being the mom of 6 kids, with two of them being 3 month old twins - but you all have too much time on your hands to be able to think about whether or not to get dressed. My mantra (about clothes) lately is it less than 24 hours old or have less than three spit-ups that don't cover more than 35% of my body?
Anybody want to hold a baby? How 'bout 2?

PS I choose this picture, because it is one of my favorites. It has nothing to do with getting dressed. Although it does have two cute babies that need holding in it.

MaggieMae this month...

 

Here is a shot of MaggieMae doing what she enjoys the most, helping cook. I think we were making muffins or crum cake here. The only thing better than helping out is sitting on the counter and helping out.

Our poor little Maggie has been the latest to succumb to Croup. We thought she was better on Friday and then Saturday proved to be too much for her. We decided to keep her home on Sunday while the rest of the family went to church. It was such a sad sight to see and hear when she was pleading to "put on a dress and go to church and Nursery". We left her home with dad and RosiLee.

JJ's Birthday

 

We decided to have a birthday party at the park for JJ. With all the sickness going around, I did not want to drag a whole bunch of people into my house, and this way we could leave a friend at home with the twins. JJ had a great time. We got to meet lots of his friends from school. His siblings enjoyed themselves as well. I think that JJ got overwhelmed with his presents and really fizzled out in the end.

For his birthday JJ wanted a "tall birthday cake with a rainbow". I interpreted that to be a double layer yellow cake with rainbow sprinkles and white frosting with a rainbow colored on top of it. JJ thought it was great. He carried it from the car and held it sideways and it slid against the container. I was able to re-center it without great difficulties. I was glad if one of the kids had to mess it up, it was JJ - and fixable!

Thankgiving with the twins...

 

The twins are being held by their cousins, Sariah and Rachel. Sariah and Rachel have been close to our family for a lot of years. While they are two years apart, I would call them twins by choice. They do almost everything together and share just about everything. They are always in the midst of having a great time. In addition to all of this, they love to hold our twins (as long as they don't cry - I remember being a teenager and feeling that same way). As you can see RosiLee and William are plumping up quite nicely. They are just too cute - all four of them.

A family milestone...

 

This month our oldest turned old enough to choose to be baptized. AnnaLisa has wanted to get baptized for a long time (about a year and a half). She asked for her own set of scriptures for her birthday last year and reads in them. She is a spiritually sensitive child. This is one of the events that marks our family growing up and older. I think the most shocking to me is when AnnaLisa was interviewed by the Bishop. He asked her questions about if she understood what was right and wrong. What she knew about Jesus and if she tried to be like Him and keep the commandments. He also asked about her understanding of the Prophet (one of the main tenants of the LDS faith is that the Church of Jesus Christ has been restored and currently is being led, like times of old, by a prophet whom Jesus Christ directs) Thomas S Monson.

It was amazing to hear my little girl answer these questions. She is just getting so big and is growing up too fast for her momma. All that said, the baptismal service was wonderful. Grandma Williams gave a talk on Baptism and I gave a talk on the power of the Holy Ghost in our lives. Daddy baptized her and confirmed the Gift of the Holy Ghost upon her.

She was thrilled.

Before we left to go to the church for the service, AnnaLisa's friend (and hab. worker) Adriana was braiding her hair. AnnaLisa asked her, "What if my sins get caught in my hair and don't wash away?" That just makes me smile, seeing the litteralness of her personality in her perceptions.

AnnaLisa's baptism

AnnaLisa and Daddy



AnnaLisa with her Aunt Kathy and Uncle Trent's family

 

AnnaLisa with her Grandma and Grandpa Williams

no blue light special for this guy...

 

Andrew and JJ share a bedroom. Andrew was sick last week and we found ourselves taking him to Urgent Care in the middle of the night. Jeff dropped Andrew and I off at home while he got the prescription filled and bought a new humidifier (it even had a cool night light on it). He set it up when he got home and came and crawled into bed. We all slept well at that point until around 4:00 when the babies woke up to eat. I fed them real quick and then poked my head in on the boys to check and see how they were doing (it is a mom thing). Andrew was resting well, but JJ was not in bed. Hmmm, maybe dad moved him to the couch so he would not catch Croup. No, JJ on the couch. Hmmm, maybe JJ is under his bed (this would be his official sleeping place if I allowed it. I told him no way because the fireman would not look under the bed if there was a fire. Got to love knowing your kids well enough to be able to find the one excuse they won't argue even if the likelyhood of your house burning down is like 1/2%). So then I calmly start to search the house using the basic search pattern -look everywhere. I check to see if he came into our room and fell asleep on the floor before he woke us up, not there, checked the bathroom, walk-in-closet, toilet (we have a water closet) - not there. Oh, wait a minute - back to the closet. There next to our pile of dirty clothes is the back half of a JJ. I squat down to see what is going on. It appears that he has burried his front half of his body, including his head, into the dirty clothes. I reach out to wake him up, but he startles awake and says, "No blue light on the ceiling!" Poor guy, got scared by the gimmickie nightlight. I walk him out to the couch and he sleeps there the rest of the night.

Side note- JJ's dad showed him the nightlight in the humidifier and let him turn it on and off, watched how it shining through the water changes the light. Now JJ likes it a lot.

What is 2/3's of a pun? ...P-U!

Can you wear a Christmas tree skirt? Jeff and I were window shopping and saw Christmas tree skirts. We pulled out a few that we thought were nice, until we saw the price tag - yikes! maybe I could make something. Anyway, we continued through the rack and I came across one that looked like it belonged at a Fiesta. I put it in front of me like a skirt and posed like someone dancing at a fiesta. Jeff thought it looked great on me and told me so. I made a joke about wearing it to church, but I wasn't sure if I was "tree"y enough. I poked my arms out like branches and asked him, "What if I bark? Would that help (pull off the tree thing)?" He rolled his eyes - the appropriate response to a pun and said, "It is starting to grow on me." To which I responded, "Tell me the truth, you 'pine' for me don't you?" Then I added that I would "Leaf him alone".

Silly I know, but I grew up on puns. My dad is well known for them, most of my siblings are very capable of joining in, but it is still a favorite past time of mine. I don't know if Jeff did puns before he got married to me, but he does now. His skills in this area have definitely increased as well. Whenever I do one I always remember my dad. It is interesting what we remember and what is important to us once we have grown. I don't know what I will pass on to my children, but I hope it is sweet memories and honorable past times like this.

Children shouldn't play with matches...

AnnaLisa was not in a good mood when I assigned her to unload the dishwasher tonight. She spent the usual time avoiding the job by going to the bathroom, etc. Then she came into our room (Jeff, one of the twins and I were in our bedroom)and said, "There are some matches that I saw on the window sill and I thought that I could burn the house down, but then I thought, 'I shouldn't do that' because that would be bad. So could you put the matches away so I won't be tempted?" I sighed because I knew that she'd never touch the matches (she follows the rules way to well), but that she was trying to communicate that we should not leave matches around for small children to play with because they might burn our house down.

Kids say the darndest things...

 

They say when you are going crazy, you need a sense of humor. Thankfully we have our children:

...since Andrew threw up (in the middle of Stake Conference when Jeff took the older three kids while mom was at home with the younger three kids), can we have his Frankenberry (snack)? - AnnaLisa and JJ

...what's that green stuff coming out of William's eyes?" -Andrew (it was just poor lighting and shadows - no worries)

..."Oh my Boshe!" - JJ. Jeff and I could not stop laughing after this. FYI We don't even own a Boshe.

..."Mom, why did Jesus put mosquitos on the earth?" - Andrew

..."Rosi said, 'Why'". "Sure honey", says mom. "Well she said it in baby talk. She can't talk human yet" - AnnaLisa

...I think Dad should become a lumberjack to help us earn more money for a bigger house - Andrew

...Now remember, (to Rosi) having a double chin is only fashionable when you are a baby - Jeff

...Whatcha doing JJ? says mom. JJ looking out the front window early in Friday morning, "I am waiting for the Recycle truck." Mom says, It comes on Thursday. Why are you waiting for it? "Grandma (Williams) said she put my big (collapsed, beat-up cardboard) box in the Recycle bin. I am waiting for the truck to recycle it and bring it back to me."

I am not sure if it is marriage, children, or a combination of the two, but I have learned that having a good sense of humor takes a lot of the pain out of life. Of course, so does Tylenol!

Pattern of Prayer

 

Some experiences with prayer in our home recently:
(JJ) God please help my bean plant to start growing again and make the cold (weather) go away (so it can grow more).
(Andrew) Please bless President Lamey (Laney)...
(JJ) Thanks for everything nice, Amen (I suggest that the kids thank God for two things everyday, JJ felt this met the criteria).

Recently in church someone suggested that we needed to have a "Pattern for Prayer" so that we would make sure we pray every morning (as well as other times). He then asked, "Do you put your shoes on everyday before you leave the house? Do you comb your hair everyday?". He then asked us to compare how we rate the importance of praying to combing our hair. Wow! I had never thought of it like that before (although true confession: there may have been a day or two this week that my hair did not get combed!). He suggested putting prayer into your morning pattern/routine for getting ready for the day.

If you really think about it, making prayer a lower priority than putting shoes on or combing hair, makes me realize that I am not valuing my time to converse with my God. This is a way that we can directly communicate with him and that when we are attentive, he can communicate with us. I know I am still struggling with exhaustion and feeling overwhelmed, but out of the 5 work days last week, the two that I made sure I prayed and read scriptures, I made it to the end of the day with energy and having accomplished most of what I had planned for that day.

Twins Blessing

 

We are holding the twins after they were blessed by Jeff. They were sleeping at this point, which makes for more cooperation, but lethargic looking babies.

Granddaughter like Grandmother

 
Maggie loves to shop (for her this simply means getting in the car and going somewhere). This is a picture of her and Grandma getting ready to go pick up something from the grocery store.

9 weeks

 

Rosi is on the left at approx 12 lbs, 11 oz. William is on the right at 12 lbs, 3 oz. Hard to believe it has been so long. Rosi has more than doubled her birth weight, adding about 13 ounces a week. They are nearly the same height now. As you can see they have both acquired healthy chubby checks and double chins. They have gained in chubbiness all over their bodies, but their faces/necks are the best areas.

Halloween Pics

 

This year I had one rule, whatever the costumes, they had to come from home. I was not going to try and hunt down or create any new costumes this year.

This first one is the trunk-r-treat. We did this at our church a few days before Halloween. AnnaLisa is a witch, JJ is a ghost - he designed this old pillow case, and the ghost is saying "Boo" that is why the mouth is so non-ghost like, Daddy is a pirate, Maggie wanted to be a witch like big sister, Andrew is a pirate like dad, and the twins are a tigress (Tigger) and a blue monster.

The next pic is our Tigress - Rosi - 7 weeks
Blue monster - William - 7 weeks
Pirate Daddy - This facial growth is actually charcoal - Jeff's facial hair is red

Halloween Day, some of the kids changed their costumes. AnnaLisa was Supergirl, Andrew - pirate, JJ - ghost, Maggie decided to be a pirate like her brother and dad.
Picture of daddy holding a tired little monster
Andrew in another costume, Aunt Rebecca dropped of some old costumes that her kids had and Andrew found a knight costume. This is at school party.
AnnaLisa in her witch costume at school party. This one screams, "What do you mean have I had too much candy?"

It all started with piano practice

 
Can you see the crib on the far side of the piano? This was where the crib has ended up. At first I thought that would be a problem with piano practice, but we have found the twins sleep right through our beautiful music - even when we are practicing the Forte portions.

Today was the second day that I tried piano practice in a different way with my kids. I played the music first and then had them practice it to see if they could match how I played it (I am not a pianist, I can read Trebile clef and had about three piano lessons in my life. The rest of any skill I might have, is the result of tinkering around). Well, the kids were actually ready for school about ten minutes early today, so I thought I would run through the lessons and practice instead of just trying to inspire. Who knows, maybe my kids taking lessons, will rub off on me. Andrew walked through the room and commented, "That sounded nice mom, good job." Cracked me up, because it is the type of comment I say to them.

Later that day I gave the youngest three baths. It was hard work (bathing the kids is the hardest on my still struggling body), but it was great to finally do it myself. MaggieMae, who was one of the ones getting bathed, saw me dressing the last baby and she said, "You did a good job" and gave me the "thumb's up" sign. Just made me giggle. I love that my kids are so complimentary - and even to me!

Drive-by shooting

OK, to appreciate this picture, you have to know that is our green van that looks like it is going for a piggy back ride on the Bison/Water Buffalo (never did figure out the difference). This was taken by my Brother-in-law as we came around a curve and happened to become the background for their picture. Their family had stopped to get a picture of this fine animal. We were heading back to the lodge to get, hopefully, a quick nap before dinner.

It was a good thing that we got in the picture, now I feel like I have some claim to the picture. So this picture sums up our trip to Yellowstone. It was a fast in and out and the sites we saw were via our car window. Some of the family were able to get down to Old Faithful before it erupted, but others of us, including me were still in the car and only got to the geyser after it erupted.

Park family reunion

G'ma and G'pa with all the grandkids wearing the PJ pants grandma made for each of them.


G'ma and G'pa Park with the twins.


Jeff and his siblings/parents in one of their more serious moments.


Here is the lodge that we stayed at for our family reunion. It was really nice inside and if I had had a moving van with me... The kids love the lodge too. They decided since we were looking for a bigger house, and this was bigger, that we should just move into it. When we asked them where dad would work because it was too far for him to commute back to Arizona Andrew responded, "No problem, you can become a lumberjack."

OK, why does the food in this house keep disappearing? I thought this would be over when the twins were born. It is not over, it has gotten worse. While we have money enough for food, it seems that my cupboards and fridge are always empty. At first I thought this was do to my lack of shopping, but my cute husband has done an awesome job with the food shopping. So then I thought maybe we have mice...or a small bear or something. Now as I sit here blogging and looked down to take another bite of my now evaporated late afternoon snack - not to be confused with early afternoon snack (1:30 pm) or early tea (3:30 pm)...I realized that I may be that problem. I guess I am still eating like crazy. Thankfully though my kids are doing well growing (they have put on a combined 7 pounds in the first month) and I seem to be maintaining my pre-pregnant with twins weight. But I think I shall enjoy the first day when I can go back to three balanced meals with an occasional snack, instead of being at this point where I have to come up with new names for consistent snack times.

PS For Lord of the Ring fans, "those hobbitses" have nothing on me when it comes to inventing new meal times.

Up the down staircase (or escalator)

I often get asked "How's it going with the twins and all (translate this to 'and four other children, you crazy nut!')?" I think I finally found a good response to it, "It is not as hard as I thought it would be, but it is still really hard". I hope this communicates the feeling that I am not breezing this, but at the same time it is not hopeless (many people have communicated their lack of confidence to me about themselves being able to be in this position and still maintain hope). Then this morning I had a rare instance of mental clarity accompanied by 2 and 1/2 minutes of nothing to coordianate, plan, or do. That was when this analogy clearly imprinted itself on my mind. "It is like trying to go up a down escalator".

The way this feels on an emotional or mental level and sometimes even on a physical one, is that I am trying to walk up a down escalator. The scenery is the same day to day...the motions that I go through as well. There is one task to accomplish (getting through the day with all family members intact)in this analogy, simply putting my feet on the next step. No matter how far I go one day, it will start all over again the next. It just seems no matter how hard I work or get done, seemingly overnight I am back at the beginning. I just don't seem to have the strength to actually make it to the top of the escalator. This is OK, because it is not expected, by me or anyone else, that I would actually make it to the top of that escalator for a few more months. The beautiful thing about this is that as long as I continue to put one foot in front of the other, I usually don't lose ground (until I fall asleep, and then are we really going to judge a person by losing ground when they sleep?). At times it can feel similar to a never ending march, but the reality is that after a few more months (hopefully!), I will be at the top of that escalator. Right now my goal is merely to keep walking everyday, to not give up. I knew this part would be hard, and I am not disappointed in that realistic expectation. Right now I am hoping that it will be a beautiful garden where I can lounge around and do nothing for the next several decades. I say that knowing that the reality is it may very well be an alligator pit. Of course that would lead to my mantra that I have shared with Jeff a few times during these difficult weeks, "When I am through with this I am going to find me a nice easy job, like wrestling alligators"!

Falling in love...or just plain being in love

I saw cute couple tonight falling in love. It took me back to my single days when I fell in love once or twice. I remember the whole, "Will he kiss me, will I kiss him, candle light dinners, late nights, flowers, etc." It was fun.

Now I think of being in love. It looks a little different. It still involves late nights, but usually it is getting up to help clean up a puking child's bed. I know that my husband will be right there with me. It doesn't matter if it involves changing diapers, doing dishes, or bringing in groceries, my husband is always there to help me. To me that what being in love is about - being there for each other - emotionally, mentally, physically... every way. I guess this applies to our children as well as to each other (spouses), but I am thinking of the way we are there for our spouses. When my husband sees me doing dishes, he helps. When he sees laundry that needs to be folded and I haven't gotten to it yet, he helps...sometimes he even does it all.

I am sure some spouses out there have managed to perfect the "dragging your feet until the spouse is done and then asking, "What can I do?". To me this shows a desire to appear responsible, but not to really help ease the burden that your spouse carries. When our daughter threw up the last night of vacation, hitting two beds (she was in the top bunk) at 10:30 at night, my husband grabbed the paper towels and started cleaning the beds while I helped our daughter to the bathroom. That is what love is, carrying each others burdens.

In addition to that, love also involves all the fun stuff as well...kissing, holding, candle light dinners, etc. But that is more the "icing on the cake stuff". Love is what you have when you are truly committed to one another, to each other's well being. It is the safe harbor to rest, to share, to dream.

As I reflect back on my "other loves" I realize that my husband was the first and only man that I was able to truly be in love with. We equally carry each others burdens as well as joy in each other. This is what will always bring me back to my husband, my love.

I have figured out one thing, no matter how well you say it, you can tell you are in love by trying to describe it in words or writing and it will never come out as well as you feel it even though you use the same words that explain it all to you inside yourself.

...besides how many other men would honestly help me clean up the puke?