8 Months Old!!

Seriously? How has it been 8 months since the babies were born? It feels like yesterday that Jeff and I spent our first night home alone with Jozlynn and got the call at noon the following day saying Jeffy was officially discharged. And what did I do on their 8 month 'birthday'? I adjusted their car seat straps to the *final* position. I'm getting choked up just thinking about it. When they were born they barely fit in their car seats. We had to put rolled up washcloths under their butts to make them fit, and even then the straps were about an inch above their shoulders!! They are still in their infant seats currently, which can be used until they are 32 inches tall or 32lbs. Once they outgrow these they will be in convertible car seats, potentially forward-facing (I am still debating whether or not to turn them forward-facing at a year old, I may wait until they are 2). Time is flying so fast, and it is strange to think that they will be a year old in only 4 months! I've already reserved the place where we're hosting their party, which seems completely insane to me!!

Here are some pics I took this morning:

I always love when they hold hands!

For some reason, neither baby wanted to smile for me today. This was the only smile I got and it absolutely cracks me up. Jeffy is such a ham!!

We're in the process of trying to sell our home. We've had it listed since the end of September. From the middle of January until now we've had 3 realtors do walk-throughs with their clients. Last Friday, the 3rd client actually made an offer, which we countered but eventually accepted his final offer. He (the client) was hesitant to sign the purchase agreement right away since his realtor was going on vacation the very next day. Knowing his *slight* hesitation, (and despite the fact that the realtor said the purchase agreement would be presented once he returned/we had a verbal agreement, etc) I just saw red flags all over. 3 days later the realtor - supposedly on vacation - called to tell us his client was backing out. Although he had been pre-approved for a mortgage, he wanted to keep his monthly payment below $x and couldn't do it with the price we had settled on. Seriously? You didn't know how much your monthly payment would be with that offer? You've got to be kidding me. In the 4 days Jeff and I had been looking into new homes, we had been pre-approved for a mortgage and knew - down to the very last penny - exactly how much a monthly payment would be at any given amount. And the realtor claimed his client had been looking "for a long time", not that that matters all that much but you'd think he would know what he was getting himself into?? Wow, just...wow. Obviously we've been through a variety of emotions in the past week, excited, nervous, apprehensive, slightly worried to downright upset. Why do people do this? We had even started contacting realtors about viewing their listings but had to turn right back around and say, well we were interested in the property but our buyer has backed out. I'm still upset. Whatever... if it's meant to be, it's meant to be. I'm sure someone will eventually come along with a legit offer, and maybe there will be more options available for us when we are finally able to start seriously looking.

In other semi-exciting news, Jeff's sister has 'hooked us up' with a deal on one of the vehicles at the dealership she works for in New Mexico. We're about 3 weeks away from trading in his 2010 GMC Terrain for a 2008 Saturn Outlook. Her dealership is willing to give us $3k more on a trade-in than what Jeff currently owes on the Terrain and he'll be saving approximately $120/month by buying the Outlook. A bigger vehicle for less $? How can we say no? It's still practically brand new too, with only 34,000 miles. I am excited about it, but also worried about the fact that they have to meet halfway and will essentially be 'road-tripping' approximately 800 miles to do the switch all by themselves. What can I say, I'm a natural worry-wart.

Well I best be going. The babies are up from their naps!

Pink Eye

I woke up Sunday, February 6 to the strangest sensation. My eyes felt like they were glued shut! This was around 3am, so I jumped out of bed to see what on earth was in/on my eyes. Aside from them being crusty and (very) goobery, once I finally got them pried open to see out of them I realized they were bright red!! I sauntered back to bed, and tried going back to sleep without waking Jeff. I slept very fitfully and woke again about 2 hours later, same story. This time I woke him, telling him something was wrong with my eyes, and asked him to take a look too. He turned the light on and confirmed: "Yeah, they look pretty red." Then turned the light off and went back to bed. The babies woke around 8:30 and I had Jeff feed them because I wasn't sure what was happening with me. My eyes were beginning to itch and burn pretty badly so I told him I thought I'd go to Urgent Care. I'd never had pink eye before, but was almost certain that was what I had. The nurse that took my stats asked, "Have you ever had pink eye?" before the doctor even came in to diagnose me. Yeah, it was that bad. I looked like... a zombie. I was going to post a picture but it's scary. LOL. Anyway, the doctor tells me I have the highly contagious bacterial kind. Well isn't THAT just wonderful. As I'm driving home I'm praying that nobody else in the family gets it, because whatever I'd been exposed to...you can bet the babies have been exposed to as well. I had taken them to the pediatrician the Monday before for their follow-up flu shot. Honestly, that was probably the only place we'd even gone that week so it only made sense that that was where I contracted it...

Jeff's sister was in town visiting and we were supposed to go over to his grandparents' house that afternoon for lunch and to visit some more. We decided it would be best for me to stay home, and I'd try and rest while he took the babies. He called me on his way home, "Jeffy has some goobery drainage in his right eye.." Oh boy. The babies went down for naps shortly after they got home and when Jeffy woke up crying hysterically I was almost afraid of going in there for fear of what I'd find. Sure enough, his eye was all crusted shut and he was pulling at it. 12 hours later, Jeff took him to the same Urgent Care center I'd gone to and Jeffy was diagnosed as well. His eyes never got to the stage mine were at (they never got pink!) so I think we caught it in time.

It's now 2.5 weeks later (Can you believe I started writing this post last week? So much for my once-a-week challenge!!!) and both Jeffy and I are completely healed. Thank goodness! I'm going to post this now and start on my next topic: the babies are 8 months old today!

7 Months Old!! (& Once a Week Challenge)

I am a terrible blogger. When was the last time I updated this? Over a month ago! So many things have happened in the past month but for one reason or another I just never find the time to jump on here and post something. I guess I spend too much time dinking around on Facebook, etc. Oh well...

Happy 7 months Jozlynn and Jeffrey! I honestly cannot believe how big they're getting! Here is their "7 Month" photo:

Updates! Both babies have 2 teeth now. Yep. They're turning into little children right before our eyes! Jeffrey started teething something fierce right after New Years, and on January 6 his first tooth popped through! A mere 2 days later and his second one was already in as well. Man, that was FAST! He was terribly crabby and fussy in the few days leading up to his tooth cutting: Waking in the middle of the night screaming, grabbing at his mouth, etc. Baby Orajel was constantly on hand and a couple nights we gave him Motrin just so he'd sleep OK. It was so sad to see him in that much pain!! I told my mom about it and she said when I was a baby she never even knew I was teething, she just looked in my mouth one day and there were some teeth! So, a week later (January 15) I peeked in Jozlynn's mouth and wouldn't you know - one tooth was already in and the second one was just popping through as well! She didn't act any differently (although, like most babies she has been drooly since she was 2 months old). Like mother like daughter I guess!

Jeffy, who had been fussing a little bit prior to this photo, 

is seen here modeling his new "chompers", and so is Daddy!



In "milestone news", both babies have been sitting up unassisted fairly regularly. They love to be on their bellies and will wiggle to get something but haven't mastered full crawling yet. If they want to wait until their first birthday before becoming completely 'mobile', that is perfectly fine with me!

Such a big boy!

In sleep news, we are completely done with overnight bottles. Part of this was probably related to the fact that they were sharing a room and when Jozlynn would wake up at say...4am, Jeffrey would wake up too and then I'd just give in and feed them knowing they'd inevitably go right back to sleep. (Going back and forth between cribs and replacing pacis for over an hour was just NOT cutting it...) Anyway, we have them in separate rooms now. Jeffy slept all the way through the night the first night, 9pm to 9am - just as I envisioned he would. Jozlynn woke at 4:30am and I let her cry for 3 minutes, gave her a paci, that worked for a few minutes, then I waited 5 minutes, gave her a paci, which worked for another few minutes then waited 10 minutes, gave her a paci and she FELL BACK ASLEEP until 9am! ::Hallelujah:: Believe it or not (I definitely couldn't), that was ALL it took to get her to sleep through the night. Just one night, crying a little bit - without her brother joining her in an echoing chorus to prevent her from falling back asleep. She has been sleeping through the night ever since. At first I was hesitant to split them up because all I could think was how convenient it was to go back and forth between cribs when settling them down for naps, replacing pacis, etc. but the truth is, they woke each other up all the time!! Looking back, I'm kicking myself for not agreeing to do it sooner (like, when they were 3 months old!)

Solid feedings are in full swing, and we have been giving the babies little tastes of what we're eating as well. It's always fun to see their reactions to something new. Jeff and I recently purchased highchairs for the babies, here they are modeling their new 'gear':

I love this picture, doesn't Jeffrey look so proud? "I'm a big kid!"

Well, I think I'm fresh out of things to 'blog' about so I'll end here. In the title of my post I said, "Once a Week Challenge!" I am challenging myself to do a little update every week. I'm afraid I might not have a whole lot to post about weekly so if anyone has any questions or suggestions for post topics, I'm all ears!

Christmas has come & gone!

It's hard to believe Christmas has already come and gone! I am 3 days late in documenting the babies' first Christmas (as well as 6 month update!) but truth be told, I've been too busy! Well, I can't say I've been doing anything all that thrilling or productive (HAHA), but Jeff has been home since December 22 so aside from my normal daily "Mama Duties" I've been really enjoying his company, and putting off my blogging! Without further ado, I will now update with plenty of pictures!

The babies turned 6 months old on Christmas Eve. 6 MONTHS OLD!! How on earth has it already been half a year?! Time is flying by at warp speed now, and as I say in every post - I feel like I just wrote last months' update! Here is a pic I took of them on their '6 month birthday':

Christmas Eve we went to Mass at 4:30pm. Well, actually we arrived at 4:15pm thinking the service started at 4:30 but it didn't start until 5:30. Woops. Somehow 10 of our family members all trusted that we knew what time the service started and we in turn counted on them to save us seats since we figured we'd inevitably be late. My mom called me as we were rushing out the door, "We're the only ones in the Sanctuary and the pastor just came in and told us it doesn't start until 5:30." Oh for cripe's sake. I was so mad. I had even told myself to check the church's website earlier in the afternoon just to be sure of the time. Obviously I forgot to do that. I was completely flustered by the fact that we were running very late (LOL, or so I thought. I'd hoped to leave our house at 3:40, Jeff was just getting in the shower then...) I had already loaded up the car by myself with all the gifts, the diaper bag, the bottles and the babies, when the bomb was dropped. I started half-panicking and telling Jeff, "We can't stay for the 5:30 service! The babies are going to need a nap!! They need to be fed at 6pm!! My mom needs to get back home to put dinner in the oven, we have to open gifts at their house and be back at our house in time for baths and bedtime! Christmas Eve is RUINED!!!" Deep breaths. We decided to try our luck with the babies in the 5:30 service and even took some nice family photos before hand. Believe it or not, both Jozlynn and Jeffrey were absolute angels during the entire service!! Jozlynn entertained herself by pulling her pacifier out of her mouth and putting it back in. When that game got old we grabbed a toy from the diaper bag to keep her occupied for the remainder of the service. Jeffrey was perfectly content sitting on Grandma Lynn's lap, and when he started to fuss ever so slightly, she handed him to me and he settled down instantly (just as I was prepared to leave the Sanctuary!) Thanks babies, for the best Christmas Eve ever!

We headed to my parents' house and enjoyed dinner with them (and my brother and future sister-in-law!) and then exchanged gifts. Usually we exchange gifts Christmas Day but not until late so we decided we'd do it on Christmas Eve instead. Here's a pic from the evening!

Somehow Dad always forgets to open his eyes. Oh well!

The babies got lots of awesome gifts on Christmas Eve and even more on Christmas Day! Santa was so good to them! Christmas Morning, Jeff's parents came over around 11 and we exchanged gifts then headed over to his grandparents' house. Here's a few pics:

Jozlynn and her first Minnie Mouse!

I think this was the only nap he took all day :(

As I mentioned above, neither Jozlynn nor Jeffrey took a decent nap all day long. I think they got a cat nap on the car ride over, then both fell asleep briefly while we were there. They also got a little (longer) nap on the way to my aunt and uncle's house. Needless to say, by the time the day was over they were extremely overtired and overstimulated. While Jozlynn crashed as soon as we got her home and into bed at 9pm, Jeffrey could not settle and would wake up and have a screaming fit every 40 minutes or so until 1am. At that point I gave up attempting to soothe him and got him a bottle in hopes he'd fall asleep. He did (finally!) and crashed until 9am, when Jozlynn woke as well. She didn't make a single peep all.night.long!

I'd give an update on the babies' 6 month stats, but they haven't had their appointment with the pediatrician yet. Due to Jeff's wonky insurance plan, we had to wait to schedule it until after January 1. Can you believe his insurance only covered the equivalent of 4 months' worth of well-baby visits in a given calendar year? Are you kidding me? Do they know how often babies go to the doctor when they're less than a year old? Thank goodness they weren't born in January, or else we'd be paying out of pocket after they turned 4 months old! Completely ridiculous! And don't even get me started on their immunizations (which are covered...but ditto the well-baby visit stuff). Sigh, I guess it could be worse..

Ok that went off on a little tangent. I'll leave you with pics of the babies and their Christmas loot!!

Hope everyone had a great Christmas!

Jozlynn & Jeffrey's first visit with Santa!

Jeff had taken last Friday off and we had initially planned to take the babies to see Santa that afternoon. (I figured the mall would be less crowded, smaller line for Santa, etc..) Well, we never got around to it since the contractors were finishing up the work on the bathroom in our basement & then the plumbing inspector didn't show til about noon. Anyway, yesterday we got hit with a pretty substantial snow storm - the first one of the season! - and I decided that it would be a perfect opportunity to go see Santa. The roads were pretty slushy on the trip there but luckily the mall we decided to go to wasn't very far from our house. Just as I predicted, not many people were at the mall and we were able to walk right up to Santa!! Aside from Santa's "helper" thinking Jeffy was a girl (???) we all had a good time 'visiting' him!

Look at Jeffrey's face, is that priceless or what? He had that look on his face the ENTIRE time he sat there! We had a little harder time getting Jozlynn to smile, but I am completely happy with the way the picture turned out! Neither baby is looking at the camera, they were looking at Santa's "helper" because she was holding up toys and ringing the sleigh bells, but whatever...at least they're smiling. :)

I can't believe Christmas is less than 2 weeks away!

5 months old!

It seems like just yesterday I was writing the 4 month post! It's crazy how time flies. The babies turned 5 months old the day before Thanksgiving. Here are a couple pics I took of them on their special day!

I just love the look she's giving me (she was having a crazy-hair day!)

Jeffy looks so concerned! 

My little angels! I tamed Jozlynn's hair ala the "Mom" thing, licking my fingers and smoothing it down. Ha!

The babies are getting much more mobile, and love to roll around on the floor. When laying on their backs, they are both able to flip over to their stomachs. This doesn't usually last for long because they don't like to be on their stomachs! The past couple nights I've woken to the sound of Jozlynn fussing, I look at my video monitor only to find that she's flipped herself over in her crib and she's mad about it. It's too funny! I flip her back over, give her a pacifier and she goes back to sleep. Although, one night she flipped about 4 times - every 10-15 minutes or so. That was a little exhausting because I was constantly checking on her (and getting up to flip her back over!)

The past 3 nights we've made great strides in the sleep department. Knock on wood, both babies have been sleeping from 9pm to 7am. Last night they actually slept from 9pm to 7:45am! But I think it was because they were worn out from the Thanksgiving activities :)

Speaking of Thanksgiving, I was a little concerned about them getting cranky since we planned to be out almost all day. We went to Jeff's parents' house around noon, then onto my aunt and uncle's house around 4:30pm. Jozlynn took a mini nap at Jeff's parents' house and both babies slept in the car on the way to my aunt and uncle's (40 min drive). Much to my delight, both babies were absolutely perfect at both places! They didn't fuss at all!! Our family members kept commenting on how good they were being, and didn't believe me when I said they usually don't do so well without their scheduled naps! We got home around 9pm, just in time for baths, bottles and bed. :) Tomorrow we have plans to go to my friends' daughter's birthday party. I'm hoping the babies behave there as well, they seem to really like when there's a lot of commotion, people, and things to look at!

And now I'll leave you with our first holiday family photo, taken at Jeff's parents' house:

God Bless Jozlynn & Jeffrey!

The babies' baptism took place this past Sunday, which also happened to be my 26th birthday! It was a very memorable day. Since the babies have been born, we have only made it to church a handful of times (unfortunately). It seems like almost every single week we *try* but either feedings get in the way, the babies are napping and we don't want to wake them, we're beyond exhausted, etc. The times that we do make it we are usually at least 30 minutes late or feeding them during the service. In any event, the logistics of getting them to the service this past Sunday not only on time but 20 minutes early (as the church requested!) was quite the task. But I digress...

We arrived with plenty of time to spare, got them dressed in the outfits Grandma Lynn had made for them and got to relax a little before heading out to the sanctuary. Normally the babies nap between 9am and 11:30am, and here we are...they've been up since 9am, they only napped in the car (a 20 min drive) and the service started at 11. Jeff and I sat down in the pew and he whispered to me, "I hope they do the Baptisms first." I told him I thought they would, since we have seen them in the past... and sure enough they did. The church must know that babies don't last very long before getting cranky (or at least mine don't!)

The Baptisms went perfectly! Jozlynn & Jeffrey were the first ones to be baptized. I think they did them alphabetical by last name - ours starts with an A. They were angels the entire time we were on the altar. There were 8 additional babies being baptized and we all stood up there until the end of the baptisms. We sat back down in our pew for the remainder of the service and Jozlynn only lasted 5 more minutes before she started to fuss. I made it to the back of the church just in the nick of time as she prompty had a 10 minute screamfest and then fell asleep. Jeffrey stayed out in the sanctuary with Jeff for the entire service! Jeff later told me he could hear Jozlynn screaming from his seat in the front... at one point I had shut the door to the room I was in, but someone else opened it again before Jozlynn stopped crying. Oh well.

We had a little get-together at my parents' house after the service. Here are some pics we took!

Jeff & I with the babies

Love Jeffy's expression, "7 more months and I am totally devouring one of these things!"

Note the fact that they each had their own cake, these were the 2nd 'set' of cakes my mom got, the grocery store messed up on the first 2 cakes (font didn't match, they spelled Jozlynn's name wrong and fixed it with the wrong color frosting, the designs were completely different...despite the fact that my mom ordered them at the same time, apparently someone didn't get the note that these are for twins and the cakes would be sitting right next to each other...) Anyway, the store let my mom keep the 'messed up' cakes and she had also gotten me a birthday cake. 5 cakes total. Suffice it to say, there was plenty of cake to spare!!

4 generations

Jozlynn says, "I like to stand up!"

This was a couple seconds after Jeffy kicked his foot and got blue frosting all over his bootie!

What a great day we had!

Thanks to everyone who were part of the babies' (& my) special day! And a special thanks to my mom for hosting the party and making the babies' gorgeous outfits!!