Twice Blessed

I was completely in shock during my visit when the doctor said, "There's the amniotic sac and the heart beat." there was a short pause and then he continued, "Huh, there's another sac and another heart beat." As you can imagine I was in total shock. I was in such shock that I didn't even do anything cute to break the news to John. I just immediately called him while walking to my car. When he asked how it went I told him that the babies looked great. It took him a minute to catch on and then his response was "Whatever, you're joking." After fifteen minutes of convincing him, he finally realized that I was serious and wasn't trying to be a jokester. John was positive that we would be blessed with two sons. He had no doubt that he would atleast get one son if not two out of the batch. Once again he got a surpise and was obviously wrong. Nevertheless we are so blessed to have 4 little girls. I can't imagine anything else. I wouldn't know the first thing to do with a boy. Having Preslee and Payge has been one of the funnest things that I have experienced in my life. Needless to say, it is a lot of work but the rewards of having twins is indescribable. John loves to go and get them from their beds in the morning because they wrinkle their nose and give him a big grin and squeal. As for Brilynn and Maycie I was sure the newness of the twins would wear off very quickly. I was wrong. They are constantly asking to hold them, dress them, and feed them. They have both been very helpful.

Top Ten Things I Love About Having Twins

1. Only being pregnant once but getting two offspring.

2. Dressing them in "twinner" clothes.

3. Watching them interact with each other.

4. Spending tons of money on formula and diapers ;)

5. Having to carry 2 carseats around and trying to fit them both into one shoping cart.

6. They will always have a best friend.

7. Answering ridiculous questions like, "Are they twins?"

8. Watching how similar and different they are.

9. How right when you get one back to sleep the other one wakes up.

10. Hearing everyone's stories about the twins in their family.

The long term effects of having a binki for TOO long!

I didn't have the heart to take Maycie's binki away when she turned 1 like I did with Brilynn. She loved it so much and I loved that she went to bed and took long naps as soon as she would lay down with her binki. The day came when she was going to be 3 and we knew it was time for Maycie to get rid of that dreadful plug in her mouth. She told everyone that as soon as she turned 3 she wasn't going to have a binki anymore. She held strong to her word and didn't think twice about getting rid of all binkis. I wish that was the end of the binki drama, but it is only the beginning. As soon as the binki was history, so were her lovely must have afternoon naps. I would try to rock her, sing to her, lay with her, but there was no naps without a binki. So to this day Maycie refuses to take her afternoon naps. Sometimes though, in the early evening she has a hard time staying awake and can get in one of her famous "I don't even care." moods. On this particular day I had been after Maycie for half an hour to eat her dinner. I told her not to even think about leaving the table until her dinner was gone. I continued to go about my hectic 5 o'clock hour schedule of trying to clean up dinner, feed the twins, change the twins, and put the twins to bed. Right as I was getting ready to take the babies upstairs, John walked in the door and just stood there with his hands on his hips and looked at Maycie and said, "What a doll baby!" Maycie had fallen asleep in the middle of eating and being disciplined. I felt so bad that she had fallen asleep in front of her dinner. Since giving up the binki she refuses to take a regular nap in her bed but it isn't uncommon to find her in the early evening taking a cat nap.

Birthday Pinata

You know kids like pinatas! There's something about being blindfolded, having a big bat in your hand and having the green light to wail away at whatever is in front of you. Usually a pinata is attached to a tree or hanging from a stationary object. As I searched for something to hang it from, my North Carolina roots kicked in and I quickly became the tree and our broom became my limb. Each hit would cause me to flinch as the pinata would dance around me since I created the perfect pendelum. It is a father's duty, I presume, to become whatever is needed for your kids. On Brilynn's 6th birthday, I was a tree.

The story of our Family in a Nutshell

Trying to join the Blog World

We have many friends and family members who have blogs and we have enjoyed reading them and keeping up to date with them. We are going to try to figure this out and hopefully join the blog world.

Thoughts from John about my idea to blog (my new obsession):

"I must say I never thought I'd be a blogger yet after the many sales pitches from Amanda, I am entering the blogging world. Watch out because my life is crazy and full of exciting stories to be told. Hence the sarcasm. I'll do my best because Amanda has asked me to."

I guess this blog is the closest thing that John will get to scrapbooking with me. We are excited and hope all our friends and family will join the blog world soon.