Longest Year Ever

The twins are now 16 months old.

Wait...What?!?!

Yeah. Already.

You know how people always say that the first year just passes by SOOOO quickly? Lies, all of it. The first year of the twins' life felt like i did 20 years time, strapped to a yoga ball, and forced to watch reruns of Jersey Shore over and over...

and over...

The boys didn't walk until they were 13 months old, which is pretty normal, especially since they are 2 months premature. They have no security objects, they don't suck their thumbs, have pacifiers, special blankets, etc. That's a good thing for the most part, but it also means that at night, they do not want to go to sleep. They also are not cuddlers, not in the least. They never let me rock them to sleep, hold them while they were sleeping, heck they rarely even let me hold them at all. The real kicker here though, is that they didn't start sleeping through the night, until last month.

See. Longest year ever.

Oh, and they pretty much despise each other. How does that happen?! They are twins for crying out loud, IDENTICAL TWINS! They play pretty nasty, and fight over everything. Which brings me to the point of this whole post.

I'm going to wrap them in bubble wrap! Boys play so much harder than girls. They are only a year old and they beat each other up constantly. They bite, hit, and kick, push each other off of thing, head butt each other. It's crazy. I swear one day i'm going to get them some padded baby suits, mouth guards, and helmets.

Teenage years are going to be fun.

Teenage years with identical twin boys.

Yeah...

Well...that's because you've got two in there!

And that's where it all began...

Amazing how one little phrase from an ultrasound technician, at what was SUPPOSED to be a routine pregnancy exam, can change your entire life. By now, everyone is pretty up to date about what happened after that comment was made, and the full update is over on my weight loss blog for those that aren't quite sure what went down.

Now it's time to start this blog back up with all the fun stuff. Our twin boys, Dorian and Jasper, are now 7 weeks old. Time is flying! We have already had our first smiles out of both of them, they have both had their first colds, poor little guys, and they are growing so fast that they are almost out of their newborn clothes. It's incredibly hard being a parent of 3 children under 3. The boys were born just a few short weeks after Loralei's 2nd birthday so really they are all pretty close to being under 2. Terrible two's AND two newborns?! I'm tired just thinking about it and i live it every day. I won't lie, i'm a walking zombie most days, but they are pretty cute kids so it's worth it. Lori is an absolutely fantastic big sister, she helps us feed the boys, gets diapering supplies, helps rock and swing them when they are fussy, and sings to them when they just want some attention. The current song of choice being the Alphabet, though Lori sings it more like "A-B-A-B-A-B-B-F-G-O-P", At least she get's the "A-B" part right, and it's pretty cute listening to her try the rest.

Roman and I celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary yesterday. It's hard to believe how much has changed in the last 3 years. As fantastic as it's been, we both agree that we would like to slow down a little, and enjoy the little family we have now. Time passes too quick...except when you are pregnant with twins, then time slows to a snails pace (or slower if that's possible), but in general time passes too quick, time to stop and smell the...rose scented diaper pail liner.

Holidays are here!

I love this time of year. As much as i absolutely adore summer (the hotter the better!) i almost, ALMOST love the Holidays more. If i could swim on Christmas day, no doubt it would be my favorite day of the year.

We are surprisingly ahead of our normal schedule this year with shopping. Thanks to some awesome Toys R Us sales, Lori's Christmas is complete! On Christmas morning i am going to have a happy little munchkin with a brand new Kitchen, Vanity, Shopping cart, and her very first Cabbage Patch doll. We even let her pick out her own special paper to wrap her gifts in. Dora the Explorer, of course. Although she is more interested in using the roll of paper as a weapon, than on using it to wrap her gifts...she is my child.

I also have my nephew (and new niece or nephew!), all my secret santa's, a couple of friends, and Roman (halfway) bought for. Now i just have to nag Roman to get something with MY name on it. I love giving but i want gifts too! Especially those of the musical, healthy/exercise, and awesomely cool accessory kind. Hint hint, nudge nudge.

The countdown to Thanksgiving Dinner, and Christmas decorating is ON! Thanksgiving day will be a big family dinner with Roman's family, and Friday i will be getting up early to cook our own special meal. Which will be promptly followed by lots and lots of shopping with all the other crazy people out doing the same thing! Then we come home, exhausted and grumpy, put up our Christmas tree, and put all our gifts under it. After which we will swear to never, ever, EVER go out shopping on Black Friday ever again. Don't worry though, we'll do it again next year, we always do.

Baby has a brand new room!

A lot has happened since the last time i updated. We went on our first beach vacation as a family! Lori loved it, although honestly she wasn't absolutely thrilled with the ocean...or the sand...or the alligators. She had fun with Nana and Papa though, that's what counts right?

We have also officially moved into a larger, family friendly home! We have been waiting on this since the minute we found out i was pregnant with Lori, two years ago. We loved our old apartment, which is partially why it took us so long to get moving but it was just too small for all of us. We found a fantastic little apartment that is just perfect for our little family and only a short walk to Roman's work (and the mall, but who's keeping track!?!?). It's been a little over 2 weeks since we moved in and we are getting settled nicely. I want to go all out and give Lori the "nursery" that i couldn't give her when i was pregnant, i'm still deciding what to do though, suggestions welcome! I really don't want to have to paint, but i want to liven it up so i'm up for any ideas.

We also just passed Lori's 2nd Halloween. I can't believe how time is flying! Lori was a witch for Halloween this year, not as creative as last years run as a punk rock princess but she was still just as cute! We didn't do trick or treating because Lori still doesn't eat candy and sweets so there was no need to tempt her (and us!) with all the chocolaty goodness. We also dressed Lori up in a halloween tshirt and took her to the park, might as well take advantage of the beautiful fall days we have left this year!










Christmas is coming soon! It's now time to start getting shopping lists together. I can't wait to pick out toys for Lori this year and see her face on Christmas morning. It's going to be a Christmas to remember for sure.

15 months and counting

I swear Lori is too smart for her own good. She learns more every single day, so much so that it really scares me sometimes. She is picking up whole phrases now instead of just words, which means what exactly? That mommy and daddy really better be careful what they say around her! Last week while changing Lori's diaper i told her that she was stinky, she now goes around screaming "i stinky, i stinky!" which makes me die laughing no matter what. Another favorite phrase is "i did it!", i'm thinking she must be watching WAY too much "dora the explorer".

Speaking of cartoons, i had no idea that when i had a kid that i would pretty much only be watching kids programming. I wasn't going to let my kids watch tv, blah blah blah. That lasted all of 6 months, until my mom introduced Lori to PBS Sprout and like magic i finally had a few minutes in my day to be sane. Sure i felt bad for letting my baby watch tv, but it's not like i park her in front of it 24/7 as her babysitter. I go to sleep every night now with the sesame street theme song playing in my head and wake up to the thought of "kipper the dog" and "pajanimals". I really need to get out amongst adults more...

Lori had her 15 month checkup two weeks ago. She is thriving and growing like a weed. Weighing in at 17lbs and 31.5 inches, although how she weighs that much i have NO idea, she runs nonstop! This appointment was also our first really bad experience with a vaccine. She had a dose of the prevnar vaccine in her arm and it was swollen and red for well over a week, not only that but Lori was incredibly fussy. It was definitely not my favorite visit to the pediatrician's office. It's hard to believe that her next appointment will be at 18 months old, i can't believe my baby is already almost a year and a half. Time flies so quickly.

One short year

We are almost done playing catch-up...

Lori grew fast. At first, when everyone tells you that you won't get any sleep for months you think it's never going to end, but surprisingly it passes so quick, too quick really. Lori smiled at a month old, rolled over the same weekend, slept through the night at five weeks old, crawled at 5 months, knew who mama and dada were at 8 months, walked at 11 months, has 8 teeth, says multiple works, and grows far too much every single day. As a newborn, i couldn't have asked for a more laid back baby...as a toddler, she has her daddy's looks and her mommy's temper. This week she will be 16 months old already, time flies by to fast...

I have a slideshow of her first year in the sidebar...with the promise of more to come soon!

Welcome Loralei

Within weeks of our wedding, Roman and I got the biggest surprise of our lives. We were expecting a honeymoon baby! We weren't quite sure what to feel, it was so sudden and unexpected, we were thrilled and terrified all at the same time! As the days passed our feelings turned completely to excitement and we started preparing for our new arrival...

Our first ultrasound at 8 weeks


Gender ultrasound on Christmas Eve 2008
It's a Girl!


22 Week 3D ultrasound



36 Week 3D ultrasound

She has Roman's nose!


The room is all ready to bring her home!


Final ultrasound at the doctor's office


Roman and i took one last date night before Lori's arrival



And one day before her due date, at 330am on May 12 I went in to labor. 14 1/2 hours later at 5:50pm, Loralei Noelle arrived...








Welcome to the world little Loralei.