Tuesday, March 31, 2015

So it starts

Eeekkk to my dismay the girls have now officially grown out of their first container of baby clothes.  At officially 3 months, they no longer fit into the premie and under 10lb clothes.  They are officially in the 0-3 month outfits.  I know we want our kids to grow big and strong and be healthy but geesh it pains your heart to put that first container of clothes away.  I know there will be tons more containers to come in the next few years as they quickly grow out of everything but the first one is always the hardest.


Friday, March 27, 2015

A little laugh

Joshua was frantically running back and forth between his Crazy Coupe (which he had parked in the hallway) and his bedroom.  At first I paid no attention but then I went to take a closer look to see what all the commotion was about. That's when I found this. He was packing all his favorite books into his car to go for a ride. I couldn't help but laugh and think about how many times I have been to the library and signed out so many books I could hardly carry them or when I went to Barnes and Noble and came out with an arm full of books.





I was hysterically laughing when he actually tried to climb in and go for a ride.


All I could think about was that at some time or other we have all felt like this on a shopping day (especially a Costco run) when you buy too much and then have no idea how it's going to fit in the car!

Friday, March 20, 2015

Reading Time

Everyone in our house enjoys reading.  Books are scattered throughout the house and everyone seems to have a book they can't put down.  Something I've recently noticed is that the girls are read to a lot!  During their awake time I will read them a few stories but they are also present while I read to Joshua as well.  They get to listen to all his stories (and some are read twenty times a day over and over) as well as their own during the day.  They are usually nearby for the boys bedtime routine so they listen to the family read aloud. On top of that, the big boys have started to ask for the girls to come and read with each of them in their bed before lights out.  Right before bedtime you can often find a girl or two cuddled up to their big brother listening to whatever interests the boys at the moment.  So last night as I tucked Joshua into bed I came back to pick up Emma from Mathew's room and found the two reading the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series. 




This was the scene at story time this morning.  I had been reading a few books to Josh and the girls were playing on their blanket and listening.  When I went to get a glass of water, I came back to find Joshua reading to the babies. 

 
Of course he insisted on reading his favorite book to them as well - A Very Hungry Caterpillar!




Thursday, March 12, 2015

Cleaning Help

I have to be honest, our house is never spotless.  It's never dirty but things are not always put back in the exact spot.  With 5 children 7 and under, completely tidy 100% of the time is not something I even try to accomplish.  The to-do list grows faster than we can check items off of it but that's okay; we just keep plugging away.  The older boys have certain little chores that they help us with; like putting the stuff in the recycling bin, tidying their rooms and picking up toys etc...  Yesterday they both asked to do an extra chore.  I got Mathew to wipe down and dust all the windowsills and light switches and Zach did the same for the baseboards.  So as I was tidying along with the bigger boys, Josh was chasing behind us to help.  If only I could bottle up his enthusiasm.  He would help clean all day if I let him.  He has his own little cleaning set with a broom, mop, dustpan and this is the most used toy in our house! Every single day he pretends to clean with them.  His new favorite cleaning chore is washing dishes.  There are ALWAYS baby bottles on our counter.  No matter how often you wash, the sterilizer isn't even done with them and magically there are more to be cleaned.  Most often, some are usually soaking, ready to be washed so Joshua has taken it upon himself to wash the never ending pile of bottles.  His routine, he pulls a chair over, stands at the counter and grabs the bottle brush and pretends to swish and scrub at them like crazy.  It's incredibly cute!  a flood ends up on him and the floor every time but he has a blast and water clean up is fast and technically it's soapy water that's washing the floor too right :) ?  The bottles aren't technically washed when he is done but my way of thinking is that with all that swishing and splashing, they have had a good soak and are ready for us to clean :)



It may not be the best help but in the words of Bachman Turner Overdrive "I took what I could get"
 
 
 

Wednesday, March 11, 2015

Can you tell them apart?

Every time someone sees the girls for the first time they always ask us if we can tell them apart.  To be honest, for the first 2ish weeks it was crazy hard to tell them apart.  I made them wear their hospital bracelets for a week when we got home just so we could have a back up to know who was who.  I painted Emma's toe nails pink so that was always an easy way to check as well.  Sarah quickly started to gain weight. Much faster then Emma actually; so when we took them to their 2 week appointment, they were in fact the exact same weight, right down to the fraction of an ounce.  At that point it was almost impossible to tell them apart!  As they continued to grow it became easier and easier.  The both actually have birth marks on different parts of their heads so if you are able to see the top of their head, you know for sure who is who now.  If they are awake, I would say we typically can tell them apart 99% of the time just by looking at their faces.  They smile slightly differently and open their eyes differently.  If they are sleeping and have a hat on....geeshh I would have no clue who is who.  I think it has more to do with the fact that when they are awake their different little personalities come out.

It has been weeks since we have gotten the babies mixed up when they are awake. That is until last night! I went to bible study and brought Emma (I take one with me each week) and Sarah stayed home with Jason and the little boys. I got home about 4 hours later and was sitting in the living room while Jason and Sarah were in the dinning room. She woke up and started to fuss and I heard Jason say to her "Little Emma, don't worry, what's wrong?" I thought nothing of it. Honestly, mixing up the names of the kids is not out of the ordinary (sometimes we even call the kids the dog's name). I was watching my show and I heard him refer to her as Emma a few more times and still I thought nothing of it. He then came in the living room and was going to play with Sarah and he looked over at me and a look of confusion crossed his face. He started laughing and said "you will never believe what I did." He had assumed Emma was staying home and hadn't really paid attention or double checked and the entire evening, he thought Emma was home with him. He played with her, called her Emma at least a few dozen times and not once did he realize he had Sarah the entire time.

So yes we can tell them apart.....usually hahahahah!

Wednesday, March 4, 2015

2 Months Already!

Today we took our sweet, cute, tiny little girls for their doctor's appointment. Actually it was their two month checkup.  I am still as shocked as can be that our tiny precious little girls are already two months old!  Both are thriving, smiling, cooing, laughing little girls who both tipped the scales at 10lbs!  It's crazy how just two months ago we went from this....

to having two baby girls!  It's amazing how quickly they have fit in. It's hard to remember our family without them!  They are loved by all their brothers, mommy and daddy and we are smitten with these tiny little beauties!








Happy 2 months sweet girls!













We sure do LOVE you!