Tucker's first haircut

This week I made Tucker BYU legal, meaning he can now go on BYU campus because his hair isn't hanging over his ears.

The rest of the week is a blur. They got off schedule in the night two nights in a row and Jim went with the scouts on a camp out the third night. We are all overly tired, except the babies. They sleep whenever.

Before the babies got off sync, I went to the caucus meeting for our neighborhood. That was interesting. I've never been to one and was unprepared. But I'm ready for the next one in 2 years. I mostly felt like I didn't know what questions to ask. And I didn't realize how easy it could be to get started as a politician.

I finally met my goal to start making bread instead of buying it.

The first picture is of one of the scouts in the slot canyon hike Jim went on in the San Rafael Swell area. He was avoiding the water. Don't blame him. The water was just above freezing and it had snowed the day before. Not exactly perfect weather for hiking there, but an adventure, for sure. One of the pics is Tucker's first hair cut. The one of Whitney and mama is because Whitney is so cute in bright pink. The last picture was Tucker on the floor after the Daylight saving poop episode. There wasn't anywhere clean to put him. The floor was the cleanest.

Jim and I's advice to you is to check to see if the waterproof pocket you put the camera in really is waterproof, and, don't catch the edge of the toilet paper with the vacuum cleaner. I watched the vacuum cleaner get threaded with toilet paper like a bobbin on a sewing machine, but with the background smell of a burning engine. Awesome.

busy week

We got the pictures back on CD from the babies photo op through my neighbor's sister. She gave us a CD and released all the photos to us. They were taken the day they turned 2 months.

This week was fun but maybe a little busy. Monday we were able to have some friends over for family home evening, the Tiners. It was really fun to have them come down and visit, but we could talk all night. Tim had to get Denise and I to stop talking.

Tuesday I decided to go spend the night at Izana's. That was really fun and a trial of traveling with the babies. It was a little exhausting, but fun to have company all day and talk to Izana. She said she didn't hear the babies at night, but I'm not so sure. The hardest part about traveling with the babies was that I felt bad if the babies were crying too much or too loud or that Izana had extra work. Extra work with kids is not something that I want to create for someone else. But it must have been ok because they asked when we want to go camping this year. Crazy. Izana will be very pregnant or with a newborn if we go this summer.

Joseph, her 4 year old is very good at taking care of the babies. He fed them, always asked before holding the babies and came asking with his hands already washed. His favorite comment was of Whitney's feet: "Your baby has such little toes!". My kids must be cute because Joseph and my visiting teacher's 5 year old daughter both said my babies were cute and kids tell the honest truth, more than we want to sometimes.

Thursday we finished the baby blessing outfits. Sister Perry is awesome!! They are so pretty and handsome. I'm very excited about the finished product.

Yesterday Jim started on his plans and pricing out how to build our garden, compost pile and mini orchard we are going to grow in the back yard. We found a gala apple tree. Now I'm worried about it growing, not dying. I don't have the best track record with plants or pruning. I know we need to prune it soon, but not sure when. Jim will google it, I'm sure

This week the plan is to get dirt and supplies for the garden. Another busy week, but I think that is life!

I admit I have been very spoiled. I asked for diapers if anyone wanted to get me a gift and I'm glad I did. This week is the first time I've had to buy diapers. Hmmmm. No wonder people say it is too expensive to raise kids. Jim looked at the costco box and said, "That will last a day". Especially with Tucker. He peed on my friend's carpet as I was changing a poop diaper and telling her about my last sunday and daylight saving time. I won't tell that story again. It reminds Tucker of his skills.

It's official. Tucker and Whitney are no longer wearing newborn sized clothes anymore!! And I finally squeezed (no. take that back. Rolled my skin into) my jeans, so now I have more clothes to wear. I celebrated by eating four cookies.

Enjoy the pics!

Spring forward!?

So. You know those people that show up to church an hour late and say they totally forgot about daylight savings time? I think it is just an excuse to have one less hour of church. I can't believe that anyone could forget daylight savings time. It is very important. And we are now officially part of that group. I can't believe I forgot about daylight savings time. Jim woke up at 8:30 (really 9:30 unknown to us at the time) and asked what time I wanted to go to church. Then the next sentence was "Is today daylight savings time?" Oh yeah. The only reason we figured it out was because he looked at his phone, the only correct clock in the house. At least he didn't have to bring anyone to church today. It still makes that comic of the two dinosaurs stranded on an island watching the ark in the distance with the word caption "Oh crap! That was TODAY!" totally apply.

As Jim is having this conversation with me, Tucker is fussing because he messed his pants, so I go in to change him. He pretty much missed the diaper and is covered in poop up to his neck. Really. Up to his neck in poop. How is that possible? It's not like you can change the direction your bum can face. As I am trying to clean him up, he peed on the wall. I was too focused on the poop to watch the pee. I rapidly covered him with his diaper. A minute later, erroneously thinking it was safe, I tried to finish cleaning the poop and he peed on the changing pad cover, his clean clothes, Whitney's clean diaper and the wet wipe container. I quit. What an awesome spring forward day. Good thing the snow laced trees outside were present to remind me it is spring.

Anyway. This week was pretty good. I went to my doctor's appt and finally got full release to do everything again. The babies had their first shots and only got a mild fever. Oh yeah. That was the night Daddy was babysitting. I forgot to tell him about the second dose of infant tylonol and the warm bath to calm them down. They cried the whole time I was gone.

I went to a landscaping design class. That was pretty cool. My neighbor and I also got Whitney's blessing dress done and half of Tucker's outfit. It looks so cool.

I called my mom to tell her Tucker weighs 10 lbs. 1 oz and Whitney weighs 8 lbs 11 oz. She said that Tucker's new nickname should be "Hefty Hefty". He is getting cute and fat.

The pictures are of Whitney's shots and bandaids. The other is Tucker the first time he used his Bumbo chairs sitting on the table. He is getting so big.

Over the top!!

Last week was insane. For everyone involved, I think. Jim was able to do his presentation and spend the week Tuesday through Friday working from 7 am or so until 10 pm or later helping his clients that flew in for the conferences. I thought I was going to fall over dead doing all that child care alone and was very glad to see him Friday night. I think Jim was glad to be done, too. Now it is work as regularly scheduled. Jim mentioned one time that he was tired after all that activity at work. I don't think he'll mention being fatigued again to someone who has been woken up every 2-3 hours and is up for an hour for two months. His words fell on deaf ears.

Jim spent Saturday and Sunday helping to take care of the babies while I got caught up on stuff. Mostly housework and shopping. He kept walking around the house exclaiming "You're huge!" to Tucker. Apparently Tucker grew a ton in four days. Every time we go to pick him up, his weight is very noticible. That would explain why he decided to eat 4-5 ounces every 3 to 4 hours. Whitney eats about 2.5-3 ounces. I think all that attention from Daddy to Tucker made her jealous because now she is increasing her intake to 4 ounces on occasion, too. Whitney smiled at Mommy on purpose on Wednesday and Tucker on Friday. Whitney made a cooing sound today, just because. They are getting rather good at tummy time and lifting their heads to turn them. We are almost able to use the Bumbo chairs. That will be great when they want to see what Mommy is cooking. I will be able to set them on the counter.

This week we will be doing a photo op with a friend's sister. She needs newborn pics for a class and is coming to the house for FREE!! I can't wait. It is my awesome ex-neighbor that hooked me up with her sister to do this. A county nurse is coming to the house today to weigh them and they go to the doctors for their shots on Thursday. This is going to be a busy but fun week.

The picture of the babies in the boppy is right after eating. Milk makes a baby happy. The picture of them in their pink and blue bear outfits are the babies after a walk. Walking also makes them very happy. The one with them in the pack and play in their walking outfits made me laugh. It looked like they were saying " Mom. Mom. We can't move. Help. Get us out of these things!" There is a picture of Tucker in his full of cuteness outfit, also after eating and in his swing. The last one is Grandma Kim snuggling with Tucker.

Hmmmm. Smells like burnt quesadilla. I guess I forgot I was cooking trying to finish this before they need to eat again.

They're alive

I asked Jim what we should put on the blog this week. He said " They're alive!" I think it should should say that we are still alive. This week the babies are definitely bigger. They are eating so much I can't keep up with their food need. I gave it a week to see if my body would up the output to match them, but apparently not. Jim is the one that figured out they needed more food. He said to me after three sleepless nights " At night when I feed them, they slurp their bottles down an hour after you feed them. I think they need more food". Jim would know. That is what happened to him when we were first married. He needed more food for dinner. Maybe that's why the babies would cry so much on Jim's shift. They were trying to use their words and tell Daddy that Mommy was starving them. I felt really bad, but now they are doing so much better with supplementation.

They are also getting bigger in that they are actually outgrowing some clothes. Tucker has a few outfits newborn size that he has to squeeze into, and they have outgrown all their preemie outfits. So sad!! Mommy's babies are growing up! They also outgrew the size of bottles we were previously using.

They are getting stronger. Their head control is starting to come and tummy time is less tortuous for Tucker. He looks around and lifts his head instead of yelling about how he doesn't want to do tummy time. Whitney is patient as usual.

I'm learning parenthood is learning to grow with them. Just when I think I've got them figured out, they grow and the previous method no longer works.

Grandma Kim is here getting stuff done. Like painting over all the holes I repaired when we moved in. It looks less like a house under construction. Hallelujah.

Jim's big presentation is this week. Another Hallelujah. I miss him!

The pictures are of Tucker sunbathing. He hadn't realized at that point that he doesn't like sunbathing. There is also a picture of Tucker, finally full and satisfied after eating! Whitney is in the front pack, cooking with Mommy. The other picture of Whitney is her smiling about how full she is.

Grandma An goes home...so sad

Cathy went home on Thursday morning. So real life hits for a couple of days until Mom comes on Tuesday. Saturday was eventful in that the babies seem to want to eat every two hours and couldn't seem to get enough to eat. But then the next day they wouldn't stay awake to eat. Whatever.

On Valentine's Day Jim cooked for Cathy and I. We overloading on chocolate, too. It was delicious. Jim got Cathy and I both long stem roses and chocolate. My mom sent me See's, which was gone in a matter of days. Oh well. The babies will just get an overload of chocolate for three days or so and then it will be all over. Maybe that's why they were cranky on Saturday. They wanted more See's.

Jim is practicing 2-3 times per day for his Summitt presentation. He likes to run the shower while he's practicing in front of the mirror. I'm not sure if it is to warm up the bathroom or to fog the mirror so the presentation goes better. Probably to warm up the bathroom. But now he wonders if the hot water heater is working. 45 mins of hot water at least once a day sounds good to me.

I started cutting up my wedding dress to make blessing outfits for Whitney and Tucker. My amazing ex-neighbor is helping me with the patterns, sewing and such. She said she could pull the bottom emboroidered part of my dress onto whitney's blessing dress. It will be gorgeous and, to me, a miracle.

Overall having fun trying to figure out babies, how much I can do in a day (not much, but much more with a third hand in the house) and Jim ramping up for a big week in two weeks.

The pictures of the babies are them on their boppies that Tony Campos made for them. This is during play time with Mommy face up. Tummy time photos are not happy photos yet.

Our family blog...started

Well, this should be interesting. I don't do Facebook, MySpace or texting for that matter, so this is me trying to be more technologically advanced. Jim did fine, posting on Facebook and YouTube as soon as the babies were born, but hasn't been good at keeping up with things since then. This is for all the family that wants to keep up with these little guys.

News for this week is that Tucker and Whitney went to the doctor and Tucker weighed 6 pounds 5 ounces and Whitney 6 pounds. Neither one of them liked the strip down to get weighed, but the doctor was smart and kept diapers on both of them. No accidents on his shirt at that hour of the day. Cathy helped me get them to the doctor. I'm seriously concerned about how I'm going to get them anywhere together when real life hits, but we'll see.

Tucker likes to cry about everything he doesn't like. For example, taking vitamins, having his shirt undone for a diaper change, the bath and his hairdo and other such nonsense. Whitney grunts a lot when she gets frustrated, but other than that is pretty low key. She already has Daddy wrapped around her finger. She also doesn't like to have both arms in her blanket. She grunts while getting settled for a nap until one of her arms is free and she sleeps with her arms overhead, so adorable.

Anyway, thanks to the help I've had from Cathy and Mom, I'm starting to get caught up on all the stuff I haven't done for 3 months due to bedrest and lifting restrictions after the C-section, so life is good. Jim is getting used to not sleeping through the night. This is his first week or so without continuous sleep, since the babies were in the hospital for three weeks. He is also already practicing for his Summitt presentation for work in March, so hopefully it will be a good presentation. We have fun snuggling with the babies at night while watching the Olympics.

The pictures are of the babies about to eat, Tucker after the bath with Mommy and his mohawk, the babies in arms after eating (very satisfied customers), babies in a basket, and nap time in their crib.