I Remember

It wasn't that long ago.

In fact, some days it feels like yesterday. But honestly, other days I feel so far removed. But I am not.

I remember the sadness. Especially around Christmas.

Everyone posts pictures of their babies or growing bumps. They talk about announcing pregnancy to family or their babies first Christmas (sorry!).

All I wanted for four Christmases was to share the holidays with our own baby(ies). I pictured the mantle with stockings and the childish laughter opening presents on Christmas morning.

At some point, I thought the day would never come. I had even resigned myself that it was Jeremy and I. That's it.

All when I had nearly given up the hope, Max and Harper were conceived. I was the girl that announced pregnancy at Christmas last year and am celebrating their first Christmas this year.

But I still remember.

I know how fortunate and blessed we are. I know that I sometimes take our miracles for granted. There are so many good friends and wonderful people in this community that yearn for my excitement at this holiday season.

So, tonight...Jeremy and I plan on praying and lighting a candle in honor of our struggle and in hope for those that are still struggling.

I do hope that you have an amazing holiday that is filled with love from family and friends.

Blessings your way!

-Lisa-

Santa

It was time for Max and Harper to sit on Santa's lap for the first time. It couldn't be just any Santa...it had to be THE Santa. 

So, what did we do? 

We navigated the craziest parking structure known to man. No elevator to actually use with a stroller. So we walked down and down and down until we could enter Kansas City's Crown Center. 

When we get into the Center...we have no idea where Santa's Village actually is. So we walk and walk and walk. We nearly abandoned the task until we saw the line of eagerly awaiting children and frazzled parents. 

The line looked fairly short. That was until we noticed that it wrapped back and around multiple times. After an hour wait, we finally got to the entrance of the village. No strollers allowed they said. So we parked and got them out. 

They were dressed in their holiday outfits. Of course, as soon as we got Harper out...she spit up on her dress. With no burp cloth since that was abandoned with the stroller. I used my own shirt sleeve. When has this become acceptable to me? Seriously. 

Well, Santa's Village requires you to wind around inside the Village...so we walk and walk and still no Santa. Finally, we see Santa and we have both (Jeremy and I) had it. We have lost the Christmas cheer and spirit and just want out of the Christmas Wonderland. Good thing Max and Harper did amazing. 

We got our token picture and paid for the ridiculously overpriced ornament too. They wouldn't smile but didn't meltdown either. 

Needless to say...any old Santa will suffice for years to come. Live and learn, they say. 

Our presents are wrapped. School is out for the break. My papers are all graded. I am just SO much looking forward to the next two weeks off with the babies. I can't wait for their first Christmas even though I will have more fun than they will. 

I hope you all enjoy time with family and have a very Merry Christmas!

-Lisa-

5 Months and Fabulous!

Max and Harper are growing way too fast for Mommy.

They are now BOTH rolling both ways and can literally roll themselves across the floor. I think child proofing is in our immediate future. Max even scoots himself to get toys.

They wear size 2 diapers (but not for long!). Max wears size 3 at night because he quickly pees through those because he flips to his tummy to sleep. Nothing we can do to stop it but doctor said to leave him because he obviously has the neck control to be okay.

They both are in 3-6 month clothing and in 6 month as well. It is sad that I have had to pack away another size of clothing (3 months).

They are still only on formula but this is the month we are going to experiment with solids. Around Christmas (because it is close to 6 months), we will try veggies.

They hold their own bottles like champs.

I feel like that Max, especially, is looking like a toddler instead of a baby. He is so long and just looks like a little man.

We are excited for visiting Santa on Saturday. I will post those pictures soon. For now...here are their 5 month pictures.

We are getting so big and obviously too smart to only smile when Mom wasn't ready to take a picture. 

You grab my ear? I grab your stupid bow! 

-Lisa-

PEGPS & Ornaments

So I am a crazy person since it is the end of semester. There is a blog over at Love, Teach that had a recent article about how you should not date a teacher. Part of what she said was this:

You thought PMS was bad? Try PEGPS.

PEGPS stands for Pre End-of-Grading-Period Syndrome, the period of time before grades are due for report cards. Like PMS, PEGPS is characterized by extreme irritability, poor nutritional choices, and zombie-like fatigue. However, unlike PMS, PEGPS lasts for 2-3 WEEKS and happens four to six times per YEAR. 

And when PEGPS overlaps with PMS, you'd better get the hell out of Dodge, my friend.

I am this victim of PEGPS right now. Especially the irritability! I swear...I was angry teacher today. I am stressed on getting our projects done and me getting grading completed. Plus, there are finals to create and planning for our next units. 

I teach 4 different courses, and I am swamped. English I, 8th grade regular English, 7th grade regular English, and 7th grade enriched English. So....essays, more essays, and more essays. Yikes!

But my day was brightened when I came home. I received my adorable ornament as part of Teresa's ornament exchange at Where the Bleep is our Stork. My exchange partner is Stephanie. We just "met" and she is adorbs. Yep, I said adorbs. She is in the trenches of infertility and I just hope and pray that her miracle baby(ies) are on their way. 

I nearly cried when I saw the ornament. Partly, due to my insane mood swings PEGPS (ha!) and mostly due to the specialness of our ornament. It is personalized for our miracle babes. I LOVE IT, Stephanie. It is perfect in every way. Thank you!

-Lisa-

You are Raising My Babies

I can't begin to tell you how difficult it is to have your babies away from you for most of the day. I am SO hoping that I can take a break from teaching for a couple years so I can focus on my own babes instead of other people's.

I do love the sweet smiles I get everyday when I pick Max and Harper up from daycare though. It makes my sometimes awful day forgotten. I love that. I just wish I was able to spend more time with them. I am really looking forward to Christmas break. I know that I will still need to take them to daycare even though I am off (we are paying no matter what) but will only take them for a short amount of time. I will use that time to clean, wrap presents, prepare food, etc. I just love morning snuggles and my morning snuggles only happen on the weekdays.

The people and place you leave your precious babies is so important. I HIGHLY recommend our daycare provider. Brighton Learning Center is amazeballs! Even though I hate the thought of leaving them...those ladies are so good with our miracles. They love them so much and I love that. BLC is worth the extra money we pay. We get educated and caring women who teach (I know they are only 5 months old!) them so much. We get crafts and pictures that show all they do. It is pretty incredible. BLC has a blog and Harper and Max are in some of the pictures for tummy time. I do believe they are the cutest babies featured if I do say so myself! Ha! Here is the link.

We looked around at a few different locations and considered lots of different options. I just know that we were led to make the decision to place our babies in BLC's hands. They are spending more awake time with them than we do...sad! But they love them and that is all I can ask for as a working mama.

-Lisa-

Happy Thanksgiving!

The holidays are upon us and this gal couldn't be more excited! I just love Thanksgiving and Christmas. I love the hustle and bustle of buying gifts, wrapping presents, large meals with family, watching friends and family open gifts, baking cookies, making candies, decorating the tree, and the love that everyone shows for each other.

We have always had our own traditions as a married couple. I am so excited to now see how we will introduce the holidays to Max and Harper. I can't wait to start FAMILY traditions with them.

For example, they both helped decorate our tree.

Sweet Boy

What? I am just helping Mom.

Hanging out...you know.

Big Girl.

Finished.

We know that they won't know what's going on this year but it isn't stopping us from trying to make the holidays great for them. We already got one of their gifts and are going to put it together for them now. They love their jumper at daycare so we got one for them when they are home.

Last weekend, we took their holiday pictures for our Christmas card. Of course, as soon as we got them dressed their smiles disappeared. They are still precious, of course. We probably should have got a professional to do them but thought we could handle a couple shots. Here are a couple outtakes we didn't use. We did some good ones for the card. I will post that when they are done. 

Not interested

It is so much fun to put my hand in Sissy's mouth.

No smiles.

Are we done here?

I am in the process of baking for Thanksgiving. We have THREE, yes three locations to be in one day. We start off at my in-law's house (they live a mile away) for a brunch at 10am. Then we drive an hour to my parent's house by 12:30pm. Then we drive another hour and a half to my husband's whole family at 4pm. So...we are crazy! I think we will discover that days like that are too hard on the babies. By next year, we may have to cut down our visits for sure.

Here is my Pinterest dessert find. It is an apple cranberry crisp. I am also working on cranberry sauce and cheesecake pops.

Thanksgiving is so much more than driving all over the place for WAY too much food. But it is about being thankful for what we have. We are so blessed. Last year, we found out that we were pregnant the day after Thanksgiving which was 11/23. Our BETA was 45 at 12dpiui. We were so surprised and even more thankful that our doubling times were amazing. 15dpiui it was 351 and then 17dpiui it was 943.

 I finally peed on a test 14dpiui...even though we knew were pregnant, I was afraid of pee sticks!

I wish all of you an amazing Thanksgiving filled with love and family. 

-Lisa-

Growing...growing...growing (oh and SLEEP!)

Four month appointment was Wednesday. It went well. Shots suck but I didn't cry this time. They didn't really cry too badly either.

Then, poor Harps got her ears pierced while we were there. Our doctor's office does ear piercing which is great! I feel like everything is sterile and safe this way. Plus these people know what they are doing instead of a teen from the mall! She cried but again not for long.

They are growing like crazy!

Max weighs 14 pounds, 9 ounces. He is 24 3/4 inches long. He is such a big boy! I can't believe how little he was now. I look back at pictures and he doesn't even look like he used to.

Plus...don't want to jinx anything but they slept 11 hours last night! We got 7 straight, uninterrupted hours ourselves. It was just what I needed. Hopefully, they are back on track!

Daddy loves bath time just as much as we do!

I weigh what?!

Harper weighs 13 pounds, 2 ounces. She is also 24 3/4 inches long. She is just the sweetest snuggle bug. She has changed the most, I feel. She looked like a preemie with no fat on her at all and now she has the chunkiest cheeks ever!

New bling

Soap beard!

-Lisa-