The Moores

Christmas 2011

2011-12-29T16:01:00.000-08:00

Here is my baby and I right before Christmas. I was thinking that I didn't have very many pictures of me with the kids, and when they get older I want them to see that I was here with them the whole time they were little. This is what we do. Preston wakes up and we just play with him. He's so sweet! He's 7 months old and he got his first haircut yesterday. He looks so handsome! He loves all his siblings. He gets excited and his little fists start hitting his legs when any of them talk to him or play with him. This Christmas both sides of our family's celebrated Christmas with us earlier in the month, and when Christmas rolled around it was just our little family. That was a first for us. Since the girls are potty trained I was ready for 2 piece pajamas that they could pull up and down themselves. They were so excited to open up Dora pajamas on Christmas eve. I love when they hug, it's so sweet. It reminds me that they really love each other.

All 3 in their new pajamas.

Since Christmas was on Sunday this year and our church was at 9 we tried to do what we thought would be the best. So when everyone got up they did their stockings. Then after church we opened presents. If I were to do it again we would've just done it all in the morning before church and not worried too much about baths and things. It kind of broke up the momentum and it just felt kind of weird coming back and opening presents. Plus I don't think that it helped that I didn't take very good inventory of the presents I got the kids. I didn't really get the girls a very many toys. I got them dress ups and clothes and a few toys, but I don't think I'll do clothes for Christmas until they get older and want them. So, I'll do better next year!

Here's Preston at 6 months. He sucks on his hands a lot and his face is really rashy. All the kids have really sensitive skin except Piper. So I think I've finally found the stuff that works the best. I think it's just colloidal silver.

Preston started sleeping through the night at 3 months, and then at 4 or 5 months he got croup then started waking up at 5 or 6 every morning, and that was just an awkward time because if I fed him he wouldn't always go back to sleep, he'd stay up and talk for an hour, or he'd poop a lot. I don't know, but I decided a few weeks ago that I wasn't going in there until 7 every morning, and I think he's finally starting to sleep through the night. He's gotten 4 teeth in the last 2 weeks, so sometimes I can tell he's in pain, but when he's not he's been sleeping through the night. I'm so exhausted because I can't go back to sleep once he wakes up, so I've been waking up between 5 and 6 for months now.

My little Piper. I've had kind of a hard time with her lately. And I've been getting so frustrated with her. She's constantly making huge messes, teasing, and screaming/crying. I mean this is what she does from the second she wakes up to the second she goes to bed. There's no break unless she's watching TV, but she'll still think of things she needs to cry or scream about then too. Well, I was telling Matt about how I felt and he suggested that I do something with just her tomorrow. I told him that I did that a few weeks ago, I brought her to the store and she just ran away and pulled everything off of the shelves, and it just confirmed my frustrations. Well, I took her out anyway. She was having a good day and so I thought it would be fun. And it was! She was cuter than she's ever been, she just laughed and giggled and talked the entire time. She was just being so silly, and it was so fun. And it's helped today too. She's not as emotional and she's rational when I talk to her. So I'll have to do that more often.

Asher started Jr. Jazz basketball. I thought it would be more like T-ball where they just lay around and don't grasp the game. But it wasn't! He did awesome. He made a bunch of baskets, I was really impressed. He was one of the best ones! Tonight is his second game and Matt's out of town, so I will be taking all the kids by myself to the game tonight!

I just have to laugh at some of the things the kids say and argue about. Every time the kids all want something one will say, "I want it." The next one will say, "Me too." Then it's usually Averi who chimes in with, "Me three!" Then there's the same argument that happens every time afterwards. Someone yells, " I want to be me three." Then, "You can't! Averi's me three."...Then Piper usually gets mad because she's only 2 years old and Averi has miraculously changed herself to be three years old.

Last night Piper was talking to my dad on the phone and he asked, "How are you Piper?" She of course answered, "2" she paused for a second then got a sad look on her face and goes, "but Averi's older than me, she's 3."

Asher likes to talk about nick names, it was just me and the kids home last time we were talking about it. And he went through the whole family, like he's Ash, Piper's Pipes, and Averi is Ave. But as soon as he said that Piper wanted to be Ave. That made Averi mad because that's hers, and Averi does not and cannot share ANYTHING! So all day Piper walked around saying her nick name was Ave. And these are the important issues that I have to sort out with the kids everyday. Emotions run high around here, everybody just feels so much about everything!

Well, everyone except Preston. He only feels sleepy or hungry. That's why he's so sweet! He just eats, sleeps, and shoves everything in his mouth.

This is a proud boy. When we were filling the stockings on Christmas Eve Matt reached in because he felt something, and Asher had written notes to Santa on behalf of all the kids. There were quite a few pieces of paper that just said, "Go Diego Go!" But he wrote what everyone wanted then put it in their stockings. We saved them because it was too cute. He's just learning how to spell and you can see what he was thinking when he wrote each word. His paper did say rumot cuntrol car on it.

Averi loves Dora! Thank goodness Matt bought a few presents this year!

If I haven't mentioned it before, Averi hoards stuff! She always has her hands full, every toy in the house is hers, and she doesn't understand the concept of cleaning, because once you get a toy in your hand why would you ever want to put it down again. Someone might walk up right behind you and take it.

So this is her crib. There are about 10 blankets. 5-6 stuffed animals/pillows, a baby or 2, a few sippy cups, and a bunch of little toys. There's probably food in a ziploc bag in there too. This is how she sleeps every night. But it's different blankets, toys, stuffed animals and pillows. I'm scared to see what her house will look like when she's an adult!

Averi sporting her new robe. All clean, just out of the tub. I love Averi, she's so fun. She lives in a fantasy land most of the time. She's pretending most of the day. Usually she's a baby animal and Piper is the Mommy. I love when they pretend because they can't hurt each other, they only help each other. Averi has been a pig or cow pretty much this whole week, so she's ALWAYS stuck in the mud and needs "Mommy Piper" to rescue her. Piper calls Averi Baby when they pretend, Piper will say Baby about 5-10 times per minute while they pretend. I need to get them on video. I love how they play together. They play so well. They are just completely in tune with each other. I don't realize how well they communicate with each other until there's another 2 year old. They just look at Piper and Averi like they just don't get it.

My tall girls!

The other day the girls we playing and they were carrying something big around together, and Piper, who had her pants on her head, goes, "Averi, you should pull your pants down and put them on your head". Then Averi does this thing when she talks, she relaxes her mouth and talks in a monotone voice. It's hard to picture unless you've seen her do it. Anyway, in her monotone voice, she goes, "Ok, that will be silly. Mom, can I put my pants on my head, it'll be silly?" I say yes, and she puts her pants on her head, then they just go back to what they were doing as if none of that happened.

One more quick story. Piper was downstairs with me for a while the other day, and Averi was playing in her room. So they hadn't talked to each other for a while, and this was their conversation.

Averi: Piper! I have a booger for you.
Piper: No, I want a sandwich.

Averi: Oh. (walks in her room, then turns around and walks back out) Here Piper I have a sandwich for you.

I know better than to fall for that old trick. She's always feeding me pretend food, a lot of strawberries, and cookies. One day she was feeding me fruit from the pages of the book she was reading, then she fed me an egg. I about gagged! She put old egg yolk that was stuck to her face in my mouth. So gross! The other day I was kissing Preston and he spit up SO much right onto my mouth! It was gross and warm and it stunk! It gets pretty real up in here!

More of These Kids

2011-12-13T08:14:00.000-08:00

I absolutely love this picture. There are so many times that I see the kids or family and wish I could have a picture of it exactly how it is, but then by the time the camera is out the moment is gone. But the girls were so cute while Matt was reading to them and they didn't move, so I caught it. Averi is in her Tinkerbell costume and it looks like she has her usual 3 blankets with her. She just has to carry so much stuff around all the time! Matt's parents are spending Christmas with Mike's family this year, so they came down at the beginning of December and we had a little Christmas party with them after Kyle's baptism, or as Asher say, baptizy. I had a few errands to run before we opened up presents and it about killed them to wait an hour to open them up. My parents are coming this weekend, (the weekend before Christmas) and we'll have our Christmas party with my side of the family, so Christmas has really been all month this year. It's been really fun.

The kids sure look excited.

I thought we'd try and get a quick picture with all the kids. This is the best we got, they were so excited they could hardly hold still! Not that they would hold still if they weren't excited. Babies are so sweet. The kids absolutely love Preston! He just lights up when they play with him too. You'd think he'd be scared of them because they're a little rough, but he's tough and VERY sturdy!

I love this little face. Asher is so sweet. He's so independent and knows what's best for everyone, and that can make it hard on me sometimes. But lately he has been the best! Yesterday when I got up in the morning he goes, "Mom, did you get enough sleep?" I answered, "No, I'm still really tired, I ended up getting up with Averi, Piper and Preston." Then he goes. "Well, at least you have one kid that doesn't wake you up, and that's me! If you only had one kid and didn't have anymore, you'd get a lot of sleep!" I love how concerned he is with me and what I need. This morning I volunteered at his school for a little bit and when I was leaving I noticed he was going into the cafeteria with his class. They were practicing their Christmas songs with the school. So I walked in to watch him, and I was right in time. When he noticed me standing there on the side his eyes lit up and he was trying not to smile. I'm just really proud of him. He's such a good kid. He walks out the door all by himself every morning and gets on the bus, then goes to school. I love watching him grow up. He's reading really well. I can't believe how far he's come since the beginning of school. He' also really good at math. He just gets it and I think that'll be a subject he really likes.

Asher says so many funny things all the time, and I should write him down when he says them so I don't forget. I was working yesterday and I was doing a ladies hair who has a lot of property and horses. She must have told him that she had horses once. Then when my client was processing Asher and I ran to pick up the babysitter. She hadn't been to our house before, so we walked in and Asher goes, "This is our house, and there's a farmer under the dryer." That was all he said, then ran off to play. It was way funny!

Averi's my silly little girl. She has such a fun personality. She remembers all the stuff she learns and sees on TV. They love Dora, so she knows a lot of Spanish words, and uses them frequently. She always calls Preston her Buddy Boy, and she talks to him in a high pitched voice. It's cute.

Averi just loves all of her stuff. We were upstairs the other day cleaning up toys, and the girls were helping and Averi couldn't put anything away, everything was her favorite and she'd explain to me where she got it. Finally we made a bin of her favorite stuff that was hers and that helped a little. She and Piper just fight over toys all day. Piper takes them because Averi wants them, and Piper loves the excitement of making Averi mad!

Her hair has gotten curly this last year, but it's really fine and frizzy. Today she just woke up from her nap with her hair matted and kind of crazy. She was just standing in front of Matt and I and goes, "My hair looks so pretty today." We go, "Yeah, it's so nice." Then she spent the next 5 minutes explaining to us what she did in the tub with it to make it so pretty. (I did see her squirting water on it with a little squirt gun)

I have been so impressed with Averi. She's done so well with being potty trained. If they are doing good by the end of the year I think I'll put them in a little preschool class on Tue and Thurs. They'd like that, and that's right when Preston takes a nap, so I should be able to exercise and shower at least twice a week!

Piper loves to make faces, and Averi just gets so sad, and so mad all the time. She's either happy or super sad, or super mad. There's no in between. I see Piper's little scowl like a hundred times per day. When she asks me for something she goes, "DON'T SAY NO!" Then makes that face.

And how can you not love a sleeping baby? They're the best! It's the cutest thing and their little hands are the best! I love this little boy! He's so sweet! He's happy all the time and is finally sitting up, rolling over, and eating solids. I think he might even be slimming down a bit. For as big as he is (28 lbs) you'd think he'd eat good, but it's so hard to feed him!

A couple weeks ago Matt's parents were in town and said they'd watch the kids while Matt and I went and saw a movie. Preston would not fall asleep, and the other 3 were down for the night, and JoyLynn went to Chris and Corey's. So Kenny just had Preston, and he would absolutely NOT eat for him. So Kenny tried to bounce him, or rock him, I think he tried to put him to bed about 3 or 4 times. When he was still awake when we got home I was so surprised! Kenny was saying how he's just so stiff and so adamant about not taking that bottle. Then as soon as I picked him up he was limp, and so tired! I put him in his crib, gave him his bottle and he just smiled, drank the whole thing and went right to sleep. Kenny said that Preston kept twisting around looking for me the whole time. He just loves his mom!

Everybody got sick around Halloween, so that made me home bound for about 3-4 weeks. It gave me a lot of time to do some crafts. I made 2 little aprons, 2 wreaths, 3 little decorative Christmas trees, 25 hand sewn mittens for an advent calendar, a cloth book, a bunch of new recipes and some other things that I can't remember. Piper wanted Mac and cheese the other day, so she ran in the kitchen, got her apron on and insisted on being right by the boiling pot, until she burnt her foot of course. She just has to be right where the action is. It kills her to miss anything. Piper's so sweet! She still cuddles and wants to be held non-stop! She loves Dora, and "Bee-oontz" (boots). She's so funny, she adds a sound at the end of almost every word. I should get a little video of her talking, she has the cutest voice and then to add sounds after her words is so funny. So if she says game, she'll add the b sound at the end, so it'll be "gambe" (I don't know how to spell it so it's read the way she pronounces it). Spoon is "spooned". She just makes me laugh all day. All the kids do. They say the funniest stuff! It's so much cuter in their voices than when I try to write it though.

We have the smallest island. It barely fits 2 chairs, so the garbage is the coveted seat at the island. Averi being the smallest of the bunch never gets to sit there, plus she can't get up by herself. So when she got there this time, with her stash of stuff, she didn't get off forever!

It snowed for the first time the other day and the kids were so excited! They put on all their snow clothes and ran outside! I was at walmart the other day and saw that they had snow pants for $13, they're normally like $25 everywhere else. I grabbed 2 pink pairs in a size a little big and was so proud of myself. They'll last the girls 2 winters! But... they're horrible! They're like the most awkward shaped pants ever, and I'll be seeing them for at least 2 years!

Averi, I love her and her crazy hair, and her hands full of toys.

Funny...

2011-10-16T18:46:00.000-07:00

I thought this was a funny conversation that we had in the car the other night.
Me: Preston's tired, he just needs so much sleep!
Asher: He sleeps a lot, but I slept more when I was a baby, huh?
Me: Yeah, you slept a ton when you were a baby.
Asher: I slept like a hundred huh?
Me: You slept more than a hundred.
Asher: Like 31?
Me: Yeah.
Asher: Wow, that IS a lot!

Musical Cribs

2011-10-14T08:26:00.000-07:00

I haven't taken a ton of pictures lately, but had a lot of stories I wanted to write down before I forgot them. We have 4 rooms in our house and one of them is downstairs on the bottom level. Preston has been sleeping in our bathroom in a pack n play, so I'm ready to get all the kids into rooms, and have my bathroom and closet back!

We put yet another crib up last night and had Averi sleep in Piper's room with her. They had fun, but stayed up really late and woke up really early. I know it's the first night so I'll give it a couple days and see how it goes. I'll still have Averi nap in a different room but I don't know where yet. Maybe downstairs in the guest bedroom, then just have Preston sleep in Ashers room in Averi's old crib.
The other day when Asher went to school and Preston went down for a nap I threw the girls in the tub and started cleaning Asher's room. I ended up sorting through all the toys and organizing everything. I threw a bunch of old broken toys away. The next day I saw the kids outside playing then realized they found all the old toys. They ended up bringing all the toys in the house and they were spread from one end of the living room then into the kitchen and downstairs. I told Asher to clean them all up and bring them back out to the garbage because they were all junk. He freaked out and was mad. A few seconds later I saw him just staring at me on the verge of tears, and then he just yelled, "YOU HATE TOYS!" Then he just started crying. It was sad, so I let him gather them up and put them in a box in the garage. And if he did good listening he could have them. If he didn't do good they'd go back in the garbage. Needless to say almost all of them are thrown away. Listening is just such a battle all the time! Sometimes he does so well, and other days you'd think he really can't hear me.

I've been slowly potty training the girls. I thought Piper would be potty trained quickly and Averi would on her own time. It's actually been the exact opposite. Averi is completely potty trained and Piper sometimes is and sometimes isn't. Averi's so funny because she thinks that there is an actual potty train, and one day she'll get to ride that train. It's a confusing term for a kid that wants to ride a train.

A few weeks ago Matt and I went on a date and on the way home I thought it would be fun to talk about our feelings for each other, I'm sure Matt thought that would be super fun too! So I asked him what his favorite thing about me was. He said it was how good of a mom I was. My favorite thing about him was how good of a dad and husband he is. He spends so much time playing with the kids and likes to spend time here at home with us. It's just funny that the things we like the most about each other are things we didn't know about each other when we were dating. I just got really lucky marrying Matt and am so happy that we get to spend so much time together.

It's starting to get cold outside and dark early so I pulled out my bike trainer and have been riding my bike in the family room at night. Matt borrowed Greg's bike trainer to see if he wanted his own. So now at night Matt and I ride our bikes together downstairs in the family room. It's just like having a babysitter and going on a date! :)

I love these pictures of the girls. They're so sweet together and I love the way they talk to each other. They really are each other's best friends. They're so tall, I don't notice how tall they are because they don't spend a lot of time around other kids their age. Now that it's getting cold and I'm buying pants for them it's really apparent how long their little legs are. The other day when Asher got home from school I noticed he had a little slip of paper in his bag that said he had gotten caught being good at school. I go, "Oh cool Asher, what were you doing when you got this?" He said, "Not hitting anyone." I pressed a little more and got absolutely no more information than that. The next day I saw another one in his bag and asked what he was doing when he got that one. His reply was just as flat as yesterdays, "Not pushing anyone down." I go, "Do you normally push people down?" He goes, "Yeah." So I go, "Asher, I can't picture you pushing people down, or hitting them." He goes, "Well, believe it. I do it all the time." I tried asking him other questions to see what was really going on. I asked him about recess and who he played with. He told me that he doesn't play with anyone. He just plays by himself and that no one wants to play with him. (I'm thinking that they would if he wasn't pushing people down) So I was just really confused because what he was telling me just didn't seem like him. He's normally really good with other kids and has lots of friends. So the next day his teacher called to ask me a question, and I asked her if he's having any problems at school or anything. And she goes, "No! He's made friends really fast and is really friendly to everyone. Sometimes he might get a little chatty." And I go, "Oh, so he's never hit anyone or anything right?" And she goes, "Oh no. He plays really well with other kids." So... I guess Asher just likes to tell stories and likes to get a reaction out of me.

He's had so much fun in school, and from what I can tell he's doing well. He's picking up on reading quickly and I've found to just let him tell me about school rather than asking specific questions, I get a lot more truth. When he comes home he's always so anxious to read and do his homework. This is exactly what I hoped his school experience would be like and I hope it continues going this way.

One last little story. We all went to Pizza Pie Cafe last night. Preston, with his little cheeks, was getting a lot of attention from strangers last night. One lady actually sat down by me when the kids were up going to the bathroom (which takes up a healthy portion of every single dinner). She was just gushing over Preston and his cheeks, then told me that her pediatrician told her that babies with chubby cheeks are smarter. Something to do with all the fat in their face and it going to the brain... good enough, I'll buy it! Preston's just turning out to be perfect on every level!

Asher Starts Kindergarten

2011-09-22T08:21:00.000-07:00

Asher started Kindergarten this Month. I love this picture of him. He's so cute and growing up so fast! I thought when he got going to school he was just going to love it and make a million friends right away. I don't know if it was a little much for him, but it took him a week or 2 to feel comfortable in school and now that he's been in school for about 3 weeks he loves it and is making a bunch of new friends. Asher walks out the door at 8:50 and gets home at 12:30. He rides the bus and it's kind of a different feeling just letting him leave, figure out the bus and school on his own, then return when the bus drops him off. I didn't even bring him on his first day. If I did drop him off it would've been outside and he'd still have had to walk in alone. And if he rode the bus there were aids there to help him if he needed help.

Anyway, every morning when Asher leaves for school the girls always say they want a hug, so Asher starts with one of the girls, and when he's giving her a hug he picks her up and goes, "K, let's go to school you can come with me." Then she laughs and when he starts walking to the door she freaks out. So he puts her down, then gives the other one a hug does the same thing again. Then he goes to school. It's funny because now they ask for a hug and to go to school with him, so he does his little thing, they still freak out every time, then he puts then down, they all laugh and he goes to school. Asher's little sense of humor is getting fun, I can joke around with him and he totally gets my sarcasm.

Asher's homework for school is to read for 20 minutes everyday. So at 1:30 when I lay the girls down I'm usually sitting by the computer feeding Preston and getting him to sleep. So Asher sits at the computer and reads books from a website online. I thought reading would be easier than it it. But we've been really good about sticking to it. And I'm happy to say that he's totally figuring it out. I am just so proud of him!

Our schedule now that Asher is in school has really turned into that, a schedule! This is what our day's like. We get up around 7, give or take a half hour. (It seems to always be taken from me!) Then get the kids breakfast, have them watch a show or play together. Then once the teasing is unbearable I have Asher get dressed and ready for school. By then I'm feeding Preston and reminding him to wear socks with his shoes and having him bring me pomade.

He's out the door, Prestons down for his first nap and it's just me and the girls. This is a fun time. So I clean up and give the girls baths. Lately Preston has been taking 3 hour naps. This is plenty of time to waste time on the computer, clean, shower, and play with the girls. I haven't a block of time and energy in a few years, so this has been nice.

Then Asher comes home at 12:30, we have lunch, run errands then naptime again. For Preston and the girls. I either work or have alone time with Asher. This is when he reads, or he'll help me make dinner or play with friends or something.

At 4-5 Matt gets home. After that it dinner, exercising, bed times, and errands.

I felt lucky to get such a good baby, but he's gone from good to even better. Today he took a 3 hour nap, then was up for a few hours. Then took a 2 hour nap. He'll be able to stay up for a few hours then to bed for the night by 7 or 8. He's been sleeping through the night since he was about 3 months. I just love him and how sweet he is. He's so happy all the time!

The other day I called the kids in the house and told them it was time for bed. Then Piper pulled out all the dish towels and Asher made Piper a little bed to sleep in.

Averi wanted a bed, but Asher didn't want to make another one, hence Averi's scowl and red eyes.

So she made her own.

Asher then decided to amp up the mess and pull out bath towels too!

Piper and Averi love their babies. Piper reads to her baby all the time! I love it!

I got the kids umbrellas and they just wanted it to rain so bad, finally it rained a little bit and by the time they got their umbrellas it was over. And now all the umbrellas are broken and never got to be used properly.

Piper loves to play like she's asleep. She's actually really good at it. This is always her sleeping face.

...and this is always her face when she wakes up.

The girls play so well together, they don't fight too much if it's just the 2 of them. The funny thing is if they do start fighting they have a few things they do to diffuse the situation. One will say, "Here puppy." Then the other one will immediately drop to their hands and knees and be a dog. The other thing they do is say they're SO tired to each other. It's usually Averi that does it, Piper will be chasing her or something, then Averi will say, "I'm SO tired Piper, then they'll put each other to bed, on the floor with their blankets.

The girls have been singing a lot. They were going to watch some little songs on youtube, then they wanted to sing, so I thought I'd record it, and of course Averi decided her feelings were hurt about something and pouted until I put the camera away.

I love Averi's little face. She's so cute and funny. Most of all she's fragile. Something cute she's been doing lately is making up her own words. It's usually adjectives. She has to describe everything with what she feels like it should sound like. Every thing good is Pampy. Every thing funny is Krunky. There are about 50 others but I just can't think of them now.

Averi loves helmets as much as Asher did.

I always sit in that brown chair to feed Preston, so the girls were sitting there with their babies taking care of them.

I love this little chubby boy! He is so happy all the time. And he loves Asher. Asher will sit by him and just talk to him, and Preston just has the biggest smile on his face.

I think my favorite thing about Preston is how much he loves me. I had like 10 pictures of him and every one of them he's just looking at me like he just loves me. There's nothing better. Well, him sleeping through the night is about as good.

This boy has some serious man boobs!

Just lovable!

...and even more lovable!

The picture at the top is just a few weeks earlier than these bath pictures. He has gained 5 pounds since then. Preston is 25 pounds and 27.5 inches long and he's only 3 months. I am scared to take him to the doctor because I don't want them to tell me to change anything. I think he'll just be a big boy and this is how big boys start out. I pulled up a growth chart online and he is so far off the charts. All our kids are off the charts, but he is WAY off the charts. It'll be fun to track his height and see how tall this little guy gets.

Our Summer is winding down.

2011-08-13T18:31:00.000-07:00

I just want everyone to know that this is how my children are at all times. Loving, not fighting, eating their food that I make for them, then they thank me for making it for them.
Actually right after I took this picture Piper dumped her plate upside down, then so did everyone else. Then they fought over who's food was who's on the ground.
We were just leaving to go to the splash park and the girls were singing twinkle twinkle little star. But when one would stop the other would pick up where she left off. It was cute, but of course they both wouldn't sing if I tried to get it on video. They both love to sing and be sung to.

Highland has a new splash park. Those have been fun since the pool hasn't happened much this year. 4 kids that can't swim and a mom that doesn't want to get in a swimming suit has made for a summer of splash parks!

There's a new restaurant up by this splash park and we got a bunch of coupons for it, so we've been going there afterwards and it's been our fun summer activity.

It has been good because I spend half of my life sitting on my brown chair feeding and rocking Preston so the kids hang around me in the living room making a mess. So I've had Asher clean up the living room for a quarter and it's really motivating for him because he's starting to comprehend the concept of earning money. So he cleans, we go to the splash park, then pizza pie cafe, he gets a .25 cent bouncy ball, we all get a salad and pizza then go home for naps.

Since Asher turned 5 he has been able to rally comprehend a lot more and it just makes for some funny realizations. The other day I was on hold with the IRS, and I ended up talking to Asher about taxes and how the government takes all our extra money. And he goes, "Oh! Just like Pirates!" We just laughed because yes, it's just like Pirates!

I've been training for another triathlon and I got a new bike. I've been riding up to suncrest a lot this summer and it's a pretty hard ride. So I tell Asher when I go up there and the other day I was on a ride and was almost home and got a flat. I took him to his craft class and I go, "Do you want to see where I got a flat and had to walk home from?" He goes, "I know, I know, I know!!! You rode to the top of that mountain, I know!" Ok, so I won't be telling him when I do that anymore!

It's fun having him catching on to things more and more. He starts school in 2 weeks. We're so excited for him. He's going to love it. He'll be riding the bus too. I just remembered something else funny he said. The other day he said he hated one of his sisters for doing something small and I was telling him we don't talk that way. Then he kept saying, "But I hate it when she does that!" And I kept saying, "Please don't talk that way, blah blah blah..." Finally he goes, "Fine, I'll talk nicely..." then he paused and goes, "So basically you win and I lose."

He just wants to be in charge of something, or someone and it just kills him that he knows everything and can't just solely be in charge of Averi and Piper. The other day I go, "Asher, you aren't in charge of Averi and Piper, you NEVER will be!" He just stopped and looked at me and goes, "Never?" I just have to reassure him that when he gets older he'll have his own kids he can boss around.

This boy just can't stop being chubby and sweet! He's gotten so big lately. This picture is recent and he is so much bigger now than he was when I took this. We weighed him yesterday and he's 20 lbs. That's at 2 and half months.

I couldn't love this picture more! I asked Asher to go clean his room. Then I didn't see him for a while then noticed Batman in the gutter, peacefully watching cars go by with his new basketball. I didn't even think anything of it when I first noticed him out there. Then realized it was funny and took a picture. He just layed there in the gutter for about 10-15 min. He's so funny! I think he was just tired and didn't want to take a nap so this was the second best thing.

The girls know that they have free reign of the house while I'm feeding Preston. You can see her trail, her pajamas on the floor, a few pairs of underwear to choose from... I think her hat and underwear are in the same drawer and she just realized how cute it would be all together. I love her little muscular body. She is really so strong! You can see all her little muscles when she's walking or playing around.

Melanie and I took the kids to the Thanksgiving point petting zoo. I love how Kalli will pose for a picture. Maybe girls just naturally want to look cute in pictures. Zane poses a lot like Asher usually does.

I love Averi's little face! She has such a cute sense of humor. She's pretty silly. Her voice makes the things she says funny too. It's kind of robotic, but really cute. She knows so many words and talks all day long! She's still throwing huge fits all day, but I'm hoping that those are coming to an end soon. That would make our house so much more peaceful!

Grandma Moore got Asher some mustaches and he was nice enough to share with the girls. They were a little too sticky for the girls sensitive skin and Averi ended up with a little rash, but it healed quickly. This boy loves his mustaches and can't wait until he can grow one of his own!

This was taken the night before his blessing. Matt and I went to Cheesecake Factory with his parents. A few weeks ago Matt and I decided to save money and cut our date nights out. That lasted for about 10 days. I woke up one morning after Matt had let me sleep in and was so grouchy I couldn't even thank him. He was just as frustrated with the kids, and surprisingly ME! (I know, what would I ever do that isn't just happy and perfect?!) So I called a babysitter and we went out that night. What a difference it makes to take a break together with each other! It's really rejuvenating. With all of our kids being so little and so physically and emotionally demanding that is just something we can't afford to give up. We don't go on vacations so we just try to make sure we go out one night a week. We've been taking Preston with us. It's kind of fun to have a little one on one time with him too.

I just remembered something else that Asher said the other day. I was making dinner and he was just thinking, then goes, "Mom, are you sometimes ugly?" I go, "NO!!!" Then he goes, "Yeah, you are, sometimes when you don't sleep in you are." Then thinks for a second and goes, "What does ugly mean, does it mean grouchy?" I can't argue with Asher on that one. I might get a little grouchy if I don't get enough sleep. It's kind of a hard time right now as far as sleep goes, because I still get up with Preston, usually just at 5:30 or 6, but it's so hard to fall back to sleep for that last hour, so I usually fall asleep about 6:50 and the kids are up about 5 minutes later. So hopefully Preston can start sleeping until 7 or even 6:30. He will soon. It's just so tiring to have so much to do each day all day with the kids and with work when I've gotten 6-7 hours of sleep every night for days on end.

It's fun though. We're starting to get into more of a routine and the girls can do a lot more. They are so cute and fun. They still take a long nap every afternoon, so it gives me a nice break and some peace and quiet. Their naps are about 2-3 hours and then Asher either sleeps or has quiet time or plays with a neighbor so our afternoons are really nice here.

2011-07-24T16:02:00.000-07:00

Could he be any sweeter? Preston's 6 weeks in this picture. The kids pick flowers and dandelions for me and come in the house saying "Hatty Birthday Mom!" I love it.

I decided that 3 kids in diapers is just too much. Apparently I the only one that felt this way. Averi sat on the toilet for 3 days straight, by choice, and didn't pee once. She did poop on the toilet every time though. Piper was fine to pee on the toilet without being asked. But when she pooped in her underwear then on the front seat of the car I decided diapers weren't that bad.

I asked Asher to get dressed the other day. Looks like I need to be more specific, like shorts and a T-shirt. In his defense there weren't many clean clothes. He pulled the pant legs up above his knees. He wore that long sleeved shirt all day and kept telling me he wanted to be hot. And it looks like Piper didn't quite make it to the toilet.

These kids are so sweet! They are so so so much work. But I'll really miss the ages that they are right now. They say the cutest things and do the cutest things all day long! They fight and tease, but they also play together too. It's so fun to watch. I love their interactions. Asher's always trying to let them know that he's in charge, and the girls just want to do everything he does. Even posing for this picture, as soon as they all sat down Asher would move up on the stairs, then without thinking the girls would both move up. They did this until I had them all come down and just sit on the same stair.

We were all getting ready for church this morning and Preston was asleep in the bouncer. Everyone was a little loud and I think he just kept his hands out like that to ward off anyone from touching him. Not that we have a problem with two motherly girls touching him constantly!

I always forget my camera but we've gone and done a few things lately. We went to the splash park in Alpine and Greg and the 3 older kids met up with us while Mindi stayed with the twins. That was fun. There were about 4 other sets of twins there and it just pointed out how these babies are just coming down from Heaven so quickly! And we sure didn't feel special knowing everyone else has gone through this exact same thing.

I met up with Melanie and we went to the Splash park in Highland. I brought the 4 kids and she had Kalli, Zane and Reagan. The kids just kind of hovered around us. Oh well, it was easy to keep track of them.

A couple weeks ago Asher begged us to go to the canyon. So for Family Home Evening we got food and went up there. We were kind of tired and asked if a park would be ok. He insisted on the canyon. By the time we got there and got everyone out, Asher goes, "THIS is a canyon? I meant that park with water." The kids all complained about "buggies" and cried most of the time. I insisted that we walk around and explore. We found a ton of snails and that was good enough then turned around and came home. There were a ton of bugs up there where we were.

Preston's still getting big really fast! He's 7 weeks and already 17 pounds. Asher's really tall and he's way bigger than Asher was at this age. I think Preston will be a tall one! The girls are so tall too. I don't realize how tall they are until we get into nursery. They are a head taller than everyone in there. They're also so good when they're in there. It's funny because they don't talk or play with each other when they're in there. It makes me wonder what I'm going to do about school. Should I keep them together or separate them? We still have a few years to decide.

I've been riding my bike a lot and the other day Asher came running in the house and goes, "MOM! My bike was built for speed... just like yours!" Then when I went to take Melissa, our babysitter, home, I go, "Asher get in the car." He goes, "I'll just ride my bike behind you, I'm really fast now so I can keep up." So cute. I need to go on more bike rides with him. He's been so sweet lately. He always tells me that he'll always remember me, then asks if I'll always remember him. Then before I can answer he goes, "I know you will mom. I'm your son!" It's sweet. He tells me that he loves me and gives me big hugs quite a few times a day. I love it!

The girls are so funny! They're been singing a lot. Piper especially loves to sing. She sings all day long. But Averi's been singing the alphabet and her version goes, "A B C D Elmo cheese..." then just starts laughing. They sing twinkle twinkle a lot too. And it doesn't matter how many times I sing it to them they sing it the same as each other. They always will pronounce something the way the other one does, not the way I do. I love it though. I hope that Averi never stops calling horses, Forsees. When it's just the 2 of them they play so well together. I hope they are always each others best friends.

They still get scared of each other too. Piper has been pretending to be a Dragon and just has to smile and mouth whatever noise she thinks a Dragon makes. And Averi screams because there's a Dragon in the house. Then she'll say, "It's just Piper." Then Averi will be ok until she does it again. But Averi's just as bad as Piper. They just do this to each other all day. Then the other one runs screaming, like blood curdling screams, asking to "keep me safe".

Matt and I found a lot that we like that's in this ward. We are praying that everything works out and we can build on it. I hope that it does! We really like it here. But if it doesn't I'm sure we'll like wherever we end up.

4 Cute Kids

2011-07-11T12:12:00.000-07:00

Here is Preston at one month old. He's so big! He's a sweet sweet baby. He's kind of got the same stomach issues that Piper had, minus the throwing up. He pretty much just eats and sleeps right now. He's awake for a little bit, but if he's up he wants to be eating. I can definitely relate to that!
I've really been able to enjoy this baby more than I have the others. With Asher being my first it was just a huge adjustment, then with the twins it was really overwhelming. But with Preston here it's fun! Life is already hectic and chaotic so one more little one isn't that big of a difference. The other kids sure love him! When I set him down I try to put him some place different each time so that no one knows where he is. We haven't really had any problems, but I don't want any either. If I can't find Piper I know that she's "checking on him". The other day she had climbed right into his pack and play. I don't know how long she had been there but she was sure happy there.

Averi and Piper always ask to hold it. They do a good job, they both love babies.

Piper likes to have her little fingers right by or in his mouth. When he was first born she was putting her face by his and he started sucking on her cheek. She loved it so much and was just giggling saying, "He likes me, he likes me!" That's what both of the girls say when they're around him and they get any kind of reaction from him.

The last few months I've have just felt extra grateful for Matt. He's been so so so helpful and sweet, with me and with the kids. They are a lot of work and the house is a lot of work. When I was pregnant Matt helped a ton and now with the baby I think he even helps more than he did. I'm so lucky to be married to him. I could go on and on about how much he does to help. The girls just absolutely love him. When Piper wakes up she just yells, "DAD... DAD... DAD" until he comes in and gets her. If I get her a lot of times she'll sit back down and say, "No, Dad." Then I'll explain that he's at work and she'll eventually let me get her. I'm sure I haven't been the funnest mom the last few months.

This 4th of July we did some fireworks at our house. It was overcast so it felt later than it was and we still got the kids down at their bedtime. The kids love to play outside. They spend quite a bit of time riding their tricycles around the driveway and sidewalk. They're really good to not go in the road. And Asher is a good example by staying on the sidewalk too.

The other day I was in the house feeding the baby and the kids all wanted to be outside. So I asked Asher if he'd help keep an eye on the girls and make sure they stay on the sidewalk. He goes, "Yeah, I'll be the lifeguard of the sidewalk. Some people are lifeguards of swimming pools, but I'm the lifeguard of the sidewalks." I wish I could remember and write down all the funny things the kids say. They're so much cuter in their little voices, but we'll just have to settle for me typing it.

Every time a fire work would go off all 3 kids would come running back up to me screaming. Screaming is a favorite pastime of all the kids!

There's nothing better than when these kids get along! There's SO MUCH teasing that it melts my heart when I see that they actually do love each other. When Asher chooses to he can be so sweet to the girls. I just love to see that side of him. The other night I woke up Asher to go to the bathroom and I told him I'd wait for him to come back in so I could cover him back up. He's such a deep sleeper and he was tiredly walking back to bed and then noticed me and came up and gave me a big hug and said he loved me and that he'd always remember me forever and ever, even when we get to heaven. I just love that boy! He likes to talk about how much we love each other. It actually makes me feel good because he doesn't listen that great and I end up threatening him with whatever just to get him to do anything, and I feel like he must think I'm so annoying (which he might, but that's fine). But he still loves me and tells me he knows that I love him and I always will no matter what.

My cute family!

This was so cute! The other night after my family birthday party Piper came downstairs with her baby in his car seat covered with a blanket. She also had her computer. So she sat down to "work" on her computer but checked on her baby every 2 seconds. Then acted a little put out that the baby was causing her so much grief so she picked up the baby and put him on the other side.

Then when the baby was fine she'd go back to the computer. I just wonder where she's seen someone get on the computer and then try to manage the children around her...

These kids have been at such fun ages. I'm always looking forward to the next phase in life, so I have been trying to just enjoy where they are. They really are so cute and do and say the cutest things all day.

One of my favorite things right now is listening to the twins together. Especially in the tub when they're stuck by each other. They have these little conversations and they totally understand what the other one is talking about. They pretend together a lot and even when they're pretending together they are both totally on the same page and without saying anything they both know all the rules for whatever it is that they're doing. They like to pretend that they're different animals and as soon as one is an animal the other one is scared of that animal. It's the funniest thing. So if Piper is a dog Averi runs over to me and wants me to keep her safe because she's scared of dogs. But if they're cats that's ok because cats are nice and not scary. Averi's been pretending to be a monster and she really just holds her elbows up high and behind her. It scares Piper SO BAD! It's just funny.

But they're sweet to each other too. If one of the girls is sad then the other will go look for their blanket and bring it to them. It's so sweet. Although usually there was some fight between them that led to the sadness in the first place.

Since Preston has come home a few things have changed. Averi wants me and only me all to herself. And she throws these fits and starts crying and screaming and just can't calm down. She usually has about 5-10 of them a day. She gets plenty of sleep and I give her a lot attention, sort of... but I don't know what to do about them. She's been waking up Preston with them so the last few days if Asher's willing I'll send her outside and have him go out there with her. She doesn't want to, but with in a few minutes she's happy again.

Also, when Preston came home Matt's parents then my parents came out for a while. I think with so many people here he felt like there were people everywhere so he didn't need to be so scared. He didn't really have to worry about going upstairs or downstairs by himself because there were just people everywhere. But I haven't heard him tell me he's too scared to do something for weeks now. It's so nice! We moved all the toys to his room and he also realized he has a lock on his door. So he's been locking himself in his room and playing, instead of cleaning for hours. I'm so happy. He is so much better when he has that alone time and can just use his imagination without the girls interrupting everything he does. So I'm very happy about that!

I'm planning on doing the St. George triathlon that I did last year. I started training again and have a ways to go but am really excited to be exercising again. I love riding my bike and will force myself to run and swim, but feel so happy that I'm exercising again.

Our New Arrival!

2011-06-16T19:02:00.000-07:00

We had Preston on June 2, and it's so nice to have him here. The kids have loved him! We got to the hospital at 5:30 in the morning. It was fine, because I woke up at 2 and couldn't go back to sleep. Because this is my 3rd c-section I knew exactly what to expect. And of course out of everything I was nervous for the IV. And the nurse didn't make it easy on me. She just kept talking about my veins and my blood... BLAH! I ended up throwing up just hearing her talk about it. Then by the time I got to the OR I was nervous for the spinal, and yes, I threw up in there too. But once I was done with the needles things got better.

Preston was born at 6:54 and weighed 8 lbs. 13 oz. I thought for sure he'd be in the 9 lb. range, but I guess my umbilical cord was kinked and he wasn't getting enough fluids. So once he was born they rushed him to the NICU and gave him an IV and pushed a bunch of liquids through him. He needed oxygen for a little bit too, but after a few hours he was fine and they brought him to me.

This was right after his bath. He's so sweet, he doesn't cry much and didn't even cry during his bath.

My first time holding him. (I have to have that green stuff over my IV so I can't see it)

Matt's parents came down and stayed with the kids while I was in the hospital. It's so nice having them here, I didn't have to worry about the kids, or the house and knew everything was getting taken care of. I thought I'd enjoy the break at the hospital but found that I was bored and missed everyone at home.

The girls have loved holding "it". They just love having a baby. That look on her face says it all!

Averi is so sweet with Preston. I don't worry too much about her with him. She's really motherly. The girls have been carrying around their baby dolls all day since we've brought Preston home. They've even spent quite a bit of time breast feeding their dolls too, from their belly buttons. I think it's easier that way.

I knew this would be a long summer if the kids didn't have something to do. I signed Asher up for Summer school, a craft class and T-Ball. He's loved all these activities. The girls have had fun too!

Asher's learning fast and it's so fun to watch them. Every time they get up to bat Asher starts close to the front of the line, but by the time he's done goofing around he's usually the last batter. It works out though, because the last person up to bat runs all the bases and gets a homerun every time. His first time up to bat he hit the ball then turned around and looked at us. So we told him to run. He hung on to the bat and started towards 3rd base. Then finally got him to run to first and somewhere along the way with everyone yelling he dropped the bat and made it to first base. It's cute, all the other kids had similar experiences their first time up to bat too.

2011-05-20T07:36:00.000-07:00

If anyone has been wondering what we're up to, this is it! Me doing as little as possible and the kids watching way too much TV! Averi is so funny, she can just make funny faces and loves the attention she gets when she does.

I'm about 36 weeks pregnant and just feeling so tired and uncomfortable. I've also been having a sharp pain on my c-section scar when I have contractions or when the baby moves. So I think we'll have this baby pretty soon. The doctor is kind of leaving it up to me to decide if the baby is developed enough and how bad the pain is getting. We're hoping to make it around 37 or 38 weeks.

We went 4 wheeling with Carl and Melanie. That was fun. The kids loved it too. The weather was perfect and there was dirt, snacks and gatorade for the kids and they had a lot of fun.

Asher got to ride on Kalli's 4 wheeler. He has since gotten a more masculine helmet. We're thinking next year would be fun to get one for him and maybe another so we can go with all the kids.

I love this picture, I'm not sure if their little faces or Zane's hair is the cutest part.

This little face is cute though!

Kalli and Asher. They love playing together!

Piper saw someone go to the bathroom in the dirt and decided she wanted to. She peed about 7 times and pooped once, all within an hour or 2. Then when we went home she went to the bathroom on her little toilet for about 3 days.

Then she wanted to watch a show on the 3rd day. I told her as soon as she went to the bathroom she could watch a show. She brought me a diaper, and I go, "Don't you want to go to the bathroom on the toilet?" And she goes, "All done!" And hasn't cared to use the toilet since then.

Poor Averi, she just wants what everyone else has SO BAD! It's sad enough that everyone usually gives her what she wants!

Asher turned 5 on Easter this year. We had his birthday the Friday before. He told me he wanted a party no one had ever seen before, a cowboy party. I actually couldn't find very much cowboy stuff, so I asked if Spiderman was ok. He said that it was and that's what he meant to ask for the first time.

Happy.

Asher's spiderman cake that Piper grabbed as soon as we got it home. It still tasted good!

Opening presents.

Blowing out the candles.

Piper doesn't want to miss a thing!

That Sunday we had a bunch of family over for Easter. My parents were in town, then Carl and Melanie, and Brett and Rachel's families all came up. It was fun, but really cold!

Sharing candy.

Averi was a good little egg hunter. She just went around and gathered as many eggs as she could find. At this age most kids find one egg, eat the candy, then go look for another one.

2 days after Easter Asher got his tonsils out. I was just as nervous as he was. It just sounded horrible and the recovery is long. He did great though. We went in and he was nervous but did great. I guess he freaked out when they tried to put that mask on him and it took everyone back there to hold him down to get it on him.

He did good and by day 9 he was fine and has told me they don't hurt at all. I've noticed such a big difference in him since he's gotten them out. Before he had sleep apnea and just never got enough sleep. I could never get him on a sleep schedule that worked very good. Now he doesn't take very many naps, goes to bed early, doesn't wet the bed and wakes up happy. He used to just hit a wall at 2 or 3 and was so tired he could barely function. Now he's just normal all day. It's been so nice. We butt heads a lot less!

Matt got me a swing for Mothers day this year. It's only been nice enough to go outside a few times since I've gotten it, but it'll be nice to have when the baby's here.

We moved!

2011-04-10T13:13:00.000-07:00

This winter Matt got a 4 wheeler. The kids absolutely love it! They've only been on it in the cold so they'll have a lot of fun when it gets warmer. This February Matt and I decided that we needed a bigger house since we're expecting our 4th child. We ended up putting our house up for rent and rented a house down the road with a salon in it. It's a little bigger and has an extra bedroom, so we either have a guest bedroom or nursery. We're not sure yet. I was a little nervous moving the kids. Averi had been sleeping in our closet, and when we moved I wanted to put her in a room with Asher, it's worked out really well. I think he wakes her up every morning, but at least she can take a long nap if she needs more sleep. She has just been so sweet! She's talking a ton and is very opinionated. Her hair's starting to get a little thicker and it's getting curly too.

Asher's always a little hard to get a picture of. He's been helping me a lot since I'm pregnant. He helps with the laundry, picking things up and helps the girls with whatever he can. He's got such a cute personality. He really cares about how Matt and I feel about him. If we are mad or frustrated he takes it really hard and wants us to be happy. One day he'll learn that if he listens I WILL be happy! He's so easy to take places now. In fact it's usually easier to have him there to help me with the girls than if I were to go somewhere when he was in school.

I love Piper's smile. I don't know how to explain her personality. She's just kind of wild and does what she wants. She loves to cuddle, and as soon as you pick her up she goes limp just laying on you, but usually is giving you a big hug too. I'll really miss that when she gets older. She just needs a lot of love! She skips almost everywhere she goes and is generally just happy. She does love to tease and loves the TV right now. She'd watch TV all day if I let her.

When the girls were babies people would always ask which twin was more dominant and we'd say Piper, or they'd guess Piper. As they've gotten older it's funny to see how much they've changed. Averi absolutely gets her way over just about everything. If Piper is playing with something and Averi decides she wants it she cries as though it's been ripped out of her hands and will throw a fit until she gets it. She is, out of the the 3 kids, my best listener though. She happily does what I ask and likes to make me happy by doing it. She's taken on the job of making sure nobody takes food out of the kitchen. If she thinks Matt has food in his hand she'll yell, "KITCHEN! KITCHEN!" until she's sees that there is no food or drink on the carpet. I actually really appreciate it. This is an example of Piper in the car and Averi feeling like it's hers.

I was a second too late on this picture. Piper sometimes will go to the bathroom on the toilet. And this time she decided to poop on the toilet and Averi sat in front of her on the ground with her hands on her knees telling her to push. It was cute, Averi was really trying to help Piper.

I got really lucky with this baby, I'd gotten rid of a lot of Asher's old clothes. A friend of mine gave me all of her baby boys clothes, and she had a ton! This bouncer was in with the clothes and the girls have loved it. They take turns in it. One will bounce the other singing, "Rock a baby". Piper found some 0-3 month bloomers to wear over her jeans. I think she wore them for about 3 days straight.

Piper's head in the background made me laugh when I noticed it. Here Asher is showing off his 2 silver teeth. We did one and went back a few weeks later to do the other one. When we were getting out of the car he goes, "Mom, I want either gold or silver teeth. I'd rather have gold, but silver if they don't have gold, but I don't want white!" I've gotten used to the silver now, but I prefer white. He does so good at the dentist too. He just acts so grown up and talks to the people there like an adult. It's so funny to watch and to see him grow up.

March 11th was the final move in day. The people who's house we're renting moved out on the 10th, we moved in on the 11th, and our renters moved in on the 12th. We were so lucky to have so much help. Matt's parents came down and really did just about everything. I packed for 2 weeks before, and that really helped, but it would've taken us so much longer than it did if we didn't have so much help. This was our first day in the house. I don't think anyone got naps or slept that well the first week. Averi just looks so sweet getting tired while all her cousins were over to play.

Since some cousins were over Piper was excited! I love that big smile!

The last couple of weeks I've really felt so grateful for our kids. They've gotten to the age where they are really so much fun. They play a lot together and love having siblings. When the girls go down for a nap Asher gets so bored! And when one of them wakes up they ask about the other one until they're up. It's cute to see how much they love each other. They say I love you to each other all the time. It melts my heart because that's what I want so much for them. Because all our kids will be so close in age I just tell myself that it's all worth it because they'll be each others best friends.

I got a little bench for the salon and it's really just the right size for the girls. Now that it's in the salon they sit on the bench and wait their turn to get their hair done. Asher never has cared about the salon, he never goes into it, he closes the door if too much noise is coming out of the salon and I just thought that the girls would feel the same way. They don't, they love it. They fight over getting their hair done, they love to get it washed and styled, everything in there is fun and they even like to be in there while I'm working. My only fear is that one day they'll sneak in and cut each others hair. I hope not! I'd probably better hide my scissors now.

I need to get some better pictures of Averi's dimple. It's cute and I never see it in the pictures I take.

She just always looks like she's trying to think of something to do that will make a huge mess.

This was cute, Piper went upstairs and got some socks for Averi and put them on her. Usually they don't like help with anything, but Averi was a good sport and totally let her put both of them on.

I love having Asher, he's so old and is so confident! He loves to do things on his own. We found a website and he's learning how to read. He's doing well, and I think I'm going to try to find some flash cards and he can learn addition and subtraction. He has really picked up on that. He's so excited for kindergarten this year. He'll get to ride the bus, I'm nervous about it, but he'll do great!

The Girls are 2!

2011-02-24T17:46:00.000-08:00

We decided to have the girls' birthday party at Boondocks this year. We had a lot of family come and it turned out to be really fun... for me! I love the games and getting tickets. The girls took turns blowing out the candles. I wasn't sure they'd even know what to do, but they did. It was cute.

Piper's is a little fuzzy.

This is a picture of about everyone.

They got Baby Alives and those have been a big hit. They drink bottles, eat food, pee and poop. We haven't fed the babies food yet though.

Piper looks happy to get a new baby!

We decided that it was time to move since I'm pregnant with our 4th, which is a boy. Averi sleeps in our closet and with one more coming we just decided it was time for a bigger house. So we sold the chickens. That's been kind of nice. They were kind of a pain. Their water would freeze everyday, and Matt was the only one taking care of them. We're actually moving in 2 weeks. We got really lucky because in order to keep our house and rent it out we need to have renters in our house for a few months. So we need to live in a rental for a while. Some neighbors of ours have a house a little bigger with a salon in the basement. So we'll live there while we look for something more permanent. Matt got a 4-wheeler a few months ago and the kids love getting rides on it. I'm sure it would be a lot more fun if it were warm outside. But they all look happy!

The kids are all getting old so quickly. Asher has been a really big help lately. He'll do a job and just ask what's next. The only issue is that he's really scared! It's sort of taking over our lives. He has to take one of the girls with him wherever he goes. I really hope he outgrows it soon because it's so tiring!

We just registered him for kindergarten a few days ago. I'm excited for him to go to school, I think he'll love it. Where we're moving to he'll be able to ride the bus, and we're both happy about that.

Averi is so sweet. The kids and I were sick throughout most of January, and Averi had me hold her for about 3 weeks straight. Averi just learned how to open doors and is talking a ton. She and Piper sing to each other a lot. That's really cute. They play good for the most part, but still take toys from each other and cry over stuff like that.

Piper has been really good lately. She was really sweet while everyone was sick and that helped a ton. She's not up on the counter as much as she used to be. Piper talks a ton too. It always surprised me to hear the new things they're always saying. The girls are starting to notice my belly. It's getting big!

I don't have any pictures of me while I'm pregnant, but you're not missing much! It been a lot nicer just being pregnant with one, but I feel like it's still really hard on my body. My scar has been really sore and hurts a lot. I've heard a bunch of nightmare stories about problems, so I'm just going to have to not lift anything heavy while we pack up and move.

I'll have to post some pictures of our rental when we get in.

2010-12-27T12:23:00.000-08:00

Best Santa Ever

2010-12-18T18:50:00.000-08:00

It's about a week before Christmas and we finally got some snow. Matt and Asher made the best looking snowman I've ever seen. I'll have to get a picture of the final project in the morning. It's so cute to watch them do things together. Piper loves the tree and can't leave it alone. This is the one ornament the kids can touch, and Asher was at a friends so he couldn't guard it like he normally does. Piper and Averi talk so much, and lately they started singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. It's so cute! I posted a video of it. It's not the best video of her singing, but it's cute.

I took Piper back to Primary Children's Hospital this last week to meet with a specialist about her reflux. We did an X-ray where she had to drink this dye and lay flat, then let them take pictures. This is the worst age to do it, but she did ok. Since I'm pregnant I had to be behind a wall, and I think she did better without being able to see me. We haven't gotten the results, but the radiologist didn't see anything. She might just have reflux the rest of her life. We won't know until after she's 3. There's a small chance that she'll outgrow it by then. If not her odds aren't very great.
The doctor did recommend that Piper drinks her last bottle a half hour before she goes to bed. I usually lay her down with a bottle. But tonight I felt like she was full, and she kind of spit up in her mouth a few times so we did it. We said night night to her bottle and she didn't make a peep after I put her to bed. Now that I've started I'll have to follow through.

Asher is upstairs in his room asleep, but he's crying in his sleep. Usually when he does that he just has to go to the bathroom, but I just got him up and he didn't. So it's sad to just listen to him whimper, but he won't wake up.

This is a picture of Asher at his Christmas program for his preschool. That has got to be the best Santa ever! As soon as a kid sat on his lap he was looking for the mom with the camera, then would hold his pose until you were done. He has that beard year round.

At our ward Christmas party I was helping Santa with the gifts for the kids, and Asher was kind of hanging around me. He looked at me weird for a second and goes, "Is that Brad under that Santa costume?" I didn't know what to say since it was Brad. So I told him to go play, then minutes later he was asking where is sleigh and reindeer were. It's fun that they want to believe. Too bad I have such a hard time telling them there is a Santa.
This is our new Christmas tree. I never really liked our old one, so at the end of Christmas last year we went and got this one. So far we've really liked it. Especially the kids!

I couldn't help but post this. She's just got the cutest butt!

Piper was trying to change her baby's diaper. It was funny because she couldn't figure it out, but the baby was poopy!

The kids watching us put the tree up. All of them looking their best!

They love their counter!

The girls figured out how to climb behind the couch and onto the window frame. They're seriously ALWAYS climbing on something!

Nobody took home the first place prize for our ward costume party. So Asher ended up with it, and possibly ate the whole thing too. You can't tell by this picture but Asher was so happy to be smothered by sugar!

So was Piper.

Whenever the highchairs are moved the girls love to sit in them.

Coloring. That is the latest craze at our house. They have written all over the couches, the walls, the doors, the chairs, my check book, bills, and mostly themselves.

We've been having so much fun with the kids lately. They can communicate so well and they're so funny. They like to play with each other some of the time, and there's nothing cuter than when they do.

I've had a really hard time with Asher lately and I got so frustrated the other day. I don't know if it was me sitting down and talking to him about being good or telling him that if you're on the naughty list Santa will bring you coal. But for 3 days straight he has tried so hard to be good. He tells me all day that he's trying and it's been so nice! He's helpful and sweet and nice. He even holds my hand when we're in a parking lot and doesn't fight me on everything that comes out of my mouth. I've made a really big deal about him being good and he tells me constantly how much he loves me and how happy he is when he's being good. Plus he hugs me like 10-15 times a day. It's really sweet because he's trying so hard!

Last night we were all in the car and Asher goes, "Mom, I want to get you a present for Christmas because I love you." And I go, "Oh, Asher that's so sweet!" Then he immediately goes, "Dad, can you take me to the dollar store tomorrow." It was so cute! I feel like we've really needed this. I was feeling like I didn't know what to do with him, and that he was completely out of control and getting worse each day, and when I'd talk to him it would just be negative. Hopefully he is turning over a new leaf!

He's finally stopped taking naps and he's doing good with out them. He's 4 and a half and just stopping, and Averi's not even 2 and skips her naps a few days a week. I hope this is just a fluke! Piper sleeps like Asher did at this age. 2 and a half to 3 hour naps each day. She goes to bed earlier than he did and wakes up just a little earlier than he did. She doesn't ever wake up at night. I never expected her to be the best sleeper, but right now she's definitely in the lead. Averi's closet just gets cold so she wakes up because she's cold a few times.

We're going to list our house at the beginning of the year, and hopefully it sells quickly. Our neighbors want us to buy their house and we do too. It's a rambler with a finished basement. We hope it all works out. We'll miss being right by the park, but we're outgrowing this house and with the baby coming I don't know where we'd put it.

Our Growing Family

2010-11-08T13:02:00.000-08:00

This last month has come with a lot of changes. About a month ago Matt and I were out on a date and I told him it seemed like I was "late". I've cried wolf a million times so we ate our Carrabbas dinner and thought nothing more of it. That night I just couldn't sleep, worrying about the fact that I might be pregnant. The next morning we packed up the kids and ran to Walmart.

I ran in, got a pregnancy test, took it then quickly shoved it back into the wrapper. I casually left the bathroom then got in the car. We started driving away and I told Matt that I took the pregnancy test I just haven't looked at it yet. He stopped and I pulled it out and sure enough there was a really dark second line. I just started crying. Matt just laughed. Then my next thought was, "TWINS?"

I tried not to think about the fact that it could be twins. Being pregnant was just such a change of mind set. My goal was to lose 15-20 pounds over the winter and be a skinnier and a faster triathlete. Very selfish, but it's just what I wanted to do. So over the last few weeks I've quickly turned to a more sluggish lifestyle. I ran 10 miles the week before I found out I was pregnant, and now it's all I can do to get up and take care of the kids. I got sick early with this pregnancy and it's just sucked all my energy from me!

But right now Matt and I both feel really lucky and excited for this baby. It doesn't take much to get excited for a baby. They're so sweet and it's really what makes us happy. We did go in and got an ultrasound. There is just one baby. That was such a relief!

I did what anyone would do if they just found out they were pregnant. Hurry and get family pictures.

This is my favorite family picture. This is the one I'll put up on the wall. I just love this picture! It's my wallpaper. It's ok to blow it up right now and really stare at it. I just can't get over it.

Isn't Asher so old? He really liked posing for this picture. He's 4 1/2 and looks like he's about 6. He acts that old, sometimes, too. He's been really interested in church, the scriptures, Heavenly Father and Jesus. He just asks so many questions and brings me his scriptures everyday and wants me to read them to him. He just doesn't want to hear anything else about Lehi's dreams!!

I love this picture too. I love how Piper looks like she's about to explode. She loved the attention, and would get so excited that she'd just take off running, giggling so hard. Aside from their faces their little hands are so cute.

The last couple of weeks has been really nice. The kids are getting along so well. All 3 are playing together a lot now. They'll go upstairs and play in their rooms for a long time with no crying. There's nothing better than watching them play together. I hope they're all good friends with each other as they grow up. I never expected to have my kids so close together but now that we're so quickly expecting the fourth I'm excited. I could potentially be done having kids then focus on being a triathlete without needing to ever get pregnant again! That's the way I'm looking at it now.

Summer 2010

2010-09-22T12:49:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted for a long time so this is going to be very long! In May I decided that it was time to start running, I couldn't run for very long so one Saturday I ran a couple miles and got home twenty minutes later, it wasn't a long enough work out so I put Asher and Kela, our neighbor, into the trailer and pulled them on a bike ride. It was way fun! I talked to Greg and he said that I should start training for a sprint triathlon. It didn't sound too bad, so he taught me how to swim, and I spent the rest of the summer training.
This picture was taken after the Stansbury Triathlon. I really struggled with the swim, and was so tired for the rest of the race. My time was 1:40. That was my goal, so I was happy with that time. Greg went up with me that morning and I'm so glad he did! He was there when I got out of the water and help me with my wetsuit, then ran up to transition with me and told me I was doing good. As soon as that race ended Greg thought his shin splints were better and could run, so we signed up for the Jordanelle race and started training for that. I get so nervous before a race that I usually get sick. I was really sick for this one and Greg's legs weren't healed yet, so we both missed it. I just had so much fun training for this race. I had a babysitter come over in the mornings so I could bike or run. It has been the best summer!

Liberty Land turned into Trafalga here in Lehi. We took the kids to it to see if it was any better, it wasn't! But there were tables, so Piper climbed up. She's been making that face every time I try to take a picture of her.

Averi kept walking then slowly laying on the ground. It was probably cooler there.

Asher and Piper watching the boats.

Averi is so funny, this isn't a good picture, but she makes this face all day long! She squats down a little then stomps around.

I have had a hard time finding jeans that are long and skinny enough for the girls. So they are trying them on here.

Once Piper got her pants off it looks like she started pulling on her diaper.

I love this picture! Her little butt is hanging out, she's up on the counter, and writing on her hand. Every time she's on the counter that's the look I get. She's wondering how I'm going to react to her being up there.

My skinny little Averi.

Piper on the counter again! Making a face for the camera.

We went up to Idaho on Labor day weekend. Mike and Amy were there with their family. The girls loved Mike!

I just wouldn't know what to do if our kids didn't puke every time we left the house. Piper and Averi took shifts waiting in front of the dryer for their blankies. Piper would sit and face the dryer. The boys loved it so they went in to wait with them.

A cute picture of Averi with her Grandpa, but pretty fuzzy!

Cute Asher!

Grandma Edie, Matt and Piper.

Herb and Averi, I think they're both a little uncomfortable.

Piper wasn't feeling good while we were up there, and it was so cute, she just snuggled with Kenly for so long!

We were planning on just going to Bear Lake for the weekend but Asher went home with Kenny and JoyLynn the Wednesday before and stayed for a few days. He absolutely loved being up there. I guess he made new friends, and stayed busy the whole time they were up there.

Matt called him a day or two after he'd been there, and when Asher got on the phone he said, "Hi Dad, I'm fine. Bye." So it made it easy on me. I didn't worry about him at all! And he's been so good since he's been back.

So we got to Idaho Falls Saturday night, then went to Bear Lake on Sunday and stayed the night there. It ended up being a lot of driving, the girls did ok, they whined, cried and threw up a lot.

Monday was freezing, so there wasn't a lot to do. We went on this boardwalk thing out to the lake. And when Piper got there you'd think she'd never eaten dirt before! She just kept putting handful after handful in her mouth. It was pretty gross.

Even after Piper had gotten up from her nap later that day there was a ton of dirt in the crib from her pockets and the nipple on her bottle was covered in little tiny rocks.

Matt and Asher.

I don't think Averi let go of my hand for more than 2 seconds at a time the whole morning. I love it though, Asher never holds my hand, except for in this picture! The boardwalk.

Because this post is so over due I'm having a hard time remembering all the cute and funny stories of the things that happened over the summer.

Matt got a gun and wanted to shoot it, I wanted to go on a long bike ride, so I went on my bike ride and we went and shot guns together before we met up with my parents for dinner.

It was fun, one of the guns had a pretty hard kick and I was nervous to shoot a lot because I didn't want to hurt my shoulder and not be able to swim at my next race.

The girls are so happy in the mornings, Matt put their blankies in their pajamas and they thought they were so funny!

I love this one of Averi.

I accidentally just deleted a couple pictures and there is no forgiveness on here when you do that!

So after I skipped the Jordanelle race I signed up for Kokopelli in St. George. I thought it would be fun to rent a condo with a pool and stay there for a couple days while I did my race. So we picked out a cool room and invited Matt's parents. We decided to all drive down together and took a little longer getting out the door than we wanted to. I needed to be in Hurricane by 8:00 to get my packet. We left our house at 3:30 and just hurried! Every time Asher had to go to the bathroom we just tried talking him into a diaper. That didn't work.

Anyway, we got off of the exit right about 8:00 and started looking for the conference center where they were doing the packets. About a block away Matt got pulled over for speeding, then our insurance card was expired and they couldn't find our insurance in their computer.... I missed getting my packet.

I couldn't sleep all night because I was so worried about not having my packet and I didn't know the course at all. But I got up and felt fine and did the race. They gave me a packet and marked me and it was no big deal at all. And I am so glad I didn't know the course! I would've gotten less sleep! There was a steep hill on the bike and as soon as you climb that and come down you turn around and climb back up the other side. There were also a lot of hills on the run and I purposely avoid those when I train! But I did really well on the swim and did awesome on the bike, then ok on the run.

When I was done Matt was waiting for me and gave me a hug. I was so exhausted I thought I was going to cry. The only other time I've felt that way was when I finished the Stansbury tri. It was good though. I can't wait for Matt to do it with me next year. I'm not sure he even wants to. I don't think he really loves running, biking or swimming.

Right after the race, it was so nice to have my kids waiting for me. Matt and Asher were waiting at the top of the last hill right before the finish line and Asher snuck onto the course and I was trying to tell him to just give me 5 but he really wanted to hug me, it was sad, he totally didn't get why I wouldn't stop right then and hug him. He kind of tripped the girl I was running with. It was cute though. It was so good to see them at the end. Asher loved wearing my "trophy" that I got for finishing the race.

When we got back to our condo after the race we had my uncle and his family over for dinner. That was fun, but as soon as they left Piper was up just crying and throwing up! Then as soon as we'd get her down Averi would wake up throwing up. I don't get it, it's like they just know they aren't at home so they need to puke! Matt and I were so tired and hadn't gotten any sleep for a while so we had each taken a tylenol PM. I finally went to bed at 2 and Matt was up from 2-4 with Averi. I think that was the first time he had really been up at night with a baby and felt that horrible feeling that you get in the night when you're so tired, and you don't think you or that baby will ever sleep again.

I felt like Matt was a little traumatized the next morning but has since gotten over it. My trick for dealing with no sleep is that I never let myself think about the night before. I don't count the number of times I got up, I don't think about why they got up and I try not to tell people about it then it's like it didn't happen.

We did sleep in the next morning and that was nice! Matt's parents got up with the kids and we just slept. It was so nice. I NEVER sleep in much later than 6:30-7.

So we never got in the pool, or had much free time, but I had fun! Matt's parents said that next time they'll watch our kids at our house and we can go down alone. I'd be TOTALLY ok with that!

When we got home I realized I came home with 2 helmets, that's been nice for the girls because now they each have one, but I'm sure someone is sad! I have the girls number so I'll have to figure out whos it was.

The girls have a lot of pajamas, but for some reason these are the only ones I have pictures of them in. This happened last year too. Every picture of them in their pajamas were always the blue snowman ones!

Piper wore her helmet all morning. (that one is my helmet, so sporty, huh?)

I ran into Averi's NICU pediatrician at the post office the other day and was talking to him for a while. It just made me think about when the girls were born and how I felt. The pregnancy and first year were so hard! Just so much harder than I could've even imagined, and now I just look at the girls and I'm so grateful for them. They're so cute! They're cute together with each other and with Asher and I just love having them now. I've always loved them but it was so hard that I had a hard time enjoying them. When they play by each other, or in the tub it's so cool to watch them move around each other. They're just comfortable with each other and like to be close, well, Piper likes to be close to Averi and Averi is nervous that Piper is going to hurt her. They took off running across the street this morning and I know Averi wouldn't have done it on her own, but it was almost like she didn't have a choice. Piper was going and she just needed to stay right by her.

There are so many little things that have gotten easier. Getting in and out of the car has been so much better. Now Asher holds a baby's hand and I'll hold the other baby, so I'll get the first baby out and depending on where we are Asher will take their hand and either wait for me or walk the baby up to the sidewalk while I get the other one. And the girls can climb in the car themselves now, so I just have to buckle Averi because she'll climb right into her seat, then chase Piper all over the car and pull her out of the gum kicking and screaming and buckle her in. It's been so fun though. I hope we can think of some fun things to do with the kids this fall and winter.

I've been so tired while writing all this but just needed to get it done. I'll post more soon and it'll be a little more entertaining too.

She did it!

2010-06-13T21:01:00.000-07:00

At 16 months Averi is finally walking! We're so excited, she's been able to walk for months, but a few days ago she just started walking. I didn't want to get my hopes up because she's done that before, changed her mind then crawled again. We went to the Ark at Thanksgiving point and I have a bunch of pictures lower but added this one out of order last minute. Asher looks so old in it. He's so independent and social.

The other night we had Shepperd's pie for dinner and Asher has made it clear that he doesn't like it, but we do and the girls love it. He had also been playing outside and was just hungry and tired. But he was not going to take a bite of his dinner. So instead of making threats I told him that if he ate all of his dinner by 6:00 we could go get ice cream. That gave him about 15 minutes.

He started taking bites and just putting more and more food in his mouth, then he was gagging, then crying and mumbling something. I asked him what was wrong, and he started panicking and yelled, "Mom, you watch the clock!" So I tried to tell him that he had time to eat and if he just kept taking bites he'd be fine. Then the next round of tears came, and he said, "It's just taking forever!" I asked what was and he goes, "my mouth, it's just taking forever to chew." Anyway, we made it to Thanksgiving point and he got blue bubble gum ice cream and was so excited. Now he always asks what time it is then tells me he's scared of the clock.
I checked my email then walked into the kitchen and saw this. So funny, all my kids love blankets, or as Piper would say, "buck-EEE (the e's are in a really cute high pitched voice too).

Piper makes cute faces all day then studies your reaction after making it. I'll have to get a video of her meowing, it's the funniest face!

The girl's first bike ride, Piper touched Averi's arm the whole time and Averi whined because she was too close, good thing we started with a short ride.

Our new additions to the family. Our chickens, we have them outside in a cute little chicken coop now. The kids and neighbors have absolutely loved them! They've turned out to be a lot more fun than I expected, and soon we'll have eggs too.

Reagan, Kaden, and Piper. Piper loves her cousins.

Piper loved getting in the water, I obviously didn't have time to do my hair before hand!

JoyLynn surprised the kids and came right before we left, Averi didn't like the water at all and was happy to sit on Grandma's lap the whole time. She looks so content just sitting and watching everyone else play.

I am so glad that Averi won't have her hands all over the ground, and that her knees won't be scraped along the concrete every time she goes outside. She's so proud of herself too.

I love Piper's face in this picture. She's trying to make a face that lets you know that she knows she's cute!

It takes a lot of concentration to walk outside. I don't think she's ever liked the grass. Playing with dad on the trampoline.
The girls have gotten so much more fun lately. Plus I am only working on Tuesdays and Thursday afternoons and it's made it so that we have a lot more time together. I'm still looking for some exercise that I can do with all three kids but in the mean time I've a had a neighbor girl coming over while I work and so I can exercise so that's been fun. I've been running, biking and swimming training for my first triathlon. It's just a short sprint up in Stansbury Park, but I'm excited for it. I've had a lot of fun training.

Relearning the things I already knew...

2010-05-10T20:34:00.001-07:00

I'm not putting any pictures in this post. Mostly because I haven't taken very many lately. The latest exciting thing is that Averi is starting to walk. It's so cute. I have a bunch of videos of her, they're all on the trampoline because that's where she feels the most comfortable walking. I'm not sure why but she does. She's been the happiest she's ever been lately. Just sweet and giggly and talking a lot. It's so fun.

Matt's parents came down for our 5Th anniversary this last weekend and Matt and I got to leave overnight. It was my first time away from the girls, possibly Asher too. (Oh, the hospital when I had the girls) Anyway, we didn't have anything planned and when we got in the car I called few full hotels. Then ended up calling the Grand America and got a room there. Our package came with a $100 credit to anywhere in the hotel.

Our date started at Orson Gygi's, then checked into the hotel. From there we went to the Gateway and shopped then watched Iron Man 2. Then we hurried back for our reservations at the Restaurant in the hotel. There were more courses than anything I've ever experienced. It was way over the top. But fun. It was late at this point so we went back and relaxed in the robes provided. (I felt really weird wearing a robe, I have such a long torso that the waist is always too high)

The next day we were still full so we just slept in, got ready and came home. We were gone just under 24 hours but I was so excited to see the kids that it was hard for me to stay gone. It's not that I was so excited to see them, I just feel like this is where I belong and I always feel drawn home when I leave, no matter how long I'm gone.

When we got home I think Asher was tired and a little confused as to whom was in charge. He did a few things that landed him in his room, then right before he got there he called me stupid. That was a first as far as name calling goes. So I dealt with that, then talked to him about it for a while. (I'm sure talking about it was probably worse than the spanking) But since then he has told me he loves me a million times and asks me to do things with him and has done things that I've asked. Usually he can't hear me when I ask him to do something unless I threaten to take away a sticker or something. He has a sticker chart and when it's full he gets a prize. But he's been such a good boy. He rarely gets stickers and today he got 3 in a row, and I don't give out stickers easily. It's so nice and fun when he's good. Maybe he's just ending some phase he was in while he was 3. Maybe 4 years old is a good year for little boys. So I've really been trying to encourage this good behavior.

Last night we went to my parents house and Piper started getting fussy then screaming. She hasn't really stopped today. She even screams in her sleep. So needless to say that just wears me out so fast! Asher and Averi didn't take afternoon naps, but Piper did, so Piper was awake for a few hours longer than everyone else and I was trying to clean up and get things done. She of course just followed me around grabbing my legs to have me hold her. So I'd pick her up until my back hurt then put her down just to have this cycle continue. Finally I stopped and sat down and read a bunch of books to her. She was still and happy and calm.

I guess the point of the day is I need to slow down and spend more time with the kids. Each day is so busy, there are so many things going on, phone calls, emails, people coming over, hair appointments, laundry, dishes, baths, bananas on the floor... and I feel like if I slow down I'll be so bogged down that I'll never be able to get on top of the mess. (Piper just started crying in her sleep just now, she's been asleep for over and hour.) Anyway, all that stuff isn't as important as me spending better time with all the kids. I know a lot of you are thinking, "Really?! That's what your house looks like AFTER you've been cleaning all day?" And yes, it does. I clean all day and look around and every thing's messy!

We had a ward breakfast the other day and we did pancakes, so I was by the griddles flipping pancakes, and I noticed that so many people would come over and talked to us and just kind of hung out even though there wasn't much to say. It made me think that that is why mom's need to be in the kitchen making dinner. There is something about a mom in the kitchen cooking. They're a captive audience, there's no pressure on the conversation and it's just a time to be together and talk. My mom made dinner EVERY single night that I can remember while growing up. And I'm just hoping that I don't hurry over everything and skip the important times I can be with my kids.

Something kind of funny happened to me earlier today. I don't know if I can write it right...
My dad emailed me a copy of my Patriarchal blessing in case I didn't know where my copy was. So just a kind gesture. There was no writing in the email. It just said:

Thank you,

Mark Haehl...(then all his business stuff)

So I replied;

No, thank you.

He read my email and thought he had somehow offended me, thinking that I wrote;
"No thank you."

Then I felt bad, because my email should have read,
"No. Thank YOU!"

Anyway, kind of funny. Makes me wonder how many things I've written that have been misinterpreted.

4 Years Old

2010-04-26T14:49:00.000-07:00

The last couple of weeks have been kind of crazy. With going to California and Averi being so sick, Asher turned four, and Piper still has something going on with her stomach. Then I have decided that we are sitting down and all having dinner together every night!

Averi is finally better, her ears have almost stopped draining, her top molars have popped through and she's thinking about walking. She'll take a step here and there but doesn't want to commit to walking. So I'm thinking it'll happen soon.

Asher turned 4! He's been talking about turning 4 for so long that I thought it might never come. Matt and I took him to IHOP on Saturday morning and gave him a few presents. I think he liked the attention of both of us with just him. It was fun for us too.

When we got in the car to go to breakfast with him we asked him what special place he wanted to go eat. He said Carrabba's. We kind of pushed IHOP then he thought that would be fine. Our bill was actually quite a bit more expensive than if we had eaten at Carrabba's.

And of course Piper. I don't know what to do! When she's feeling good she's my easiest baby and she sleeps the best and is just cute and fun. But lately she hasn't been doing any better. She cried all evening and night and woke up with her ears draining this morning. So even with tubes they're still getting a ton of infections. I've been reading a lot and I have kind of decided that milk is the problem. So I went to Good Earth and talked to the owner for a while and we decided that I'd pick rice, coconut, Almond, or Goats milk and put in a few other things to make it more healthy.

So I went and spent quite a bit of money buying different things to add to the milk but would make it really healthy. I made a days worth of bottles, gave them to the girls and put them down for naps. Both girls couldn't sleep very well because they kept waking up screaming acting like their stomach was crampy or something.

I went this morning and bought goats milk, which is $11 per gallon. So I gave it to just Piper and we'll see how she does. If she likes it and does well with it I will start adding one thing at a time and a little slowly. I've been wanting to get chickens, but maybe we'll add a goat too!

So while I was in California I just was thinking that we really needed to sit down and eat dinner each night as a family and that would take care of a lot of the issues I have with the kids. Asher won't eat what I make then won't go to sleep because he's hungry and wants something to eat. Also he wouldn't have unhealthy snacks all the time because he'll be full on the food that I make for him.

Day 1: The kids snacked and went to bed without the dinner I made. Once the kids were in bed Matt and I dished up our food. We decided that just that night we'd eat dinner in front of the TV and be better the next night. I ate in front of the TV, he ate at the counter.

Day 2: Asher didn't eat one bite of his food, but the girls ate some and Matt and I ate it.

Day 3: Asher ate most of his food but complained the whole time. Everyone else ate it well.

Day 4: Everyone ate their food. Asher still complained so I just bribed him.

Day 5: Everyone ate their food and said it was good, even a neighbor girl ate all hers.

Day 6: Everyone ate their food. Still complained, still bribed.

Day 7: I'm out of things to make!

This is a picture of Piper right after a nap. She had thrown up and I was in the middle of making dinner so I just threw her in the sink with all the dishes so I could do what I needed to do. She really liked having so many things to play with.

I told Asher this morning that it was finally the day of his birthday party. He left for a couple of minutes and came back fully dressed for the day. It will sometimes take him an hour to get dressed and he complains and fights me the whole time because he wants me to get him dressed.
These are my gardens that I planted on Saturday after IHOP. I love having a garden! I wish I had a big enough garden to grow a year supply of vegetables and freeze or can them and use them up throughout the year.

We picked up the kids and headed to Thanksgiving point for a "bugs n fairies" party. They must've forgotten about the fairies because there were only bugs, but it was still fun. They got little bug catchers and did a little plastic bug hunt. They loved it.
Asher just doesn't know what to do with his face when it's time for a picture! I think I've just confused him.

They kind of did a little musical chairs game with the presents and passed the presents in a circle while we sang a song, then when the song was over whatever present was on his lap he'd open. He was cute because the songs he chose were I am a child of God and I love to see the temple. But the kids didn't really sing, just Matt, me and the lady that works there.

After the party was over the kids started running around and found all this new cool stuff that they must have put up this year. They had a ton to do there in the Gardens. I think we'll go back for Family Home Evening tonight. I wish Averi were walking so she could walk around. Instead she just crawls on the cement and gets holes in all her pants.

All the kids had fun and now Asher's confused. He knows he turned 4 on his birthday on Saturday, but now he thinks he's 5 because he had another birthday today. I'll have to explain it a little better to him.

San Ramon

2010-04-23T15:22:00.000-07:00

I don't know what got into me, but a couple of months ago I bought tickets to go to California and visit Carrie. Asher and Haley just play so well together and he always talks about her so I thought it probably wouldn't be that hard. Well, I was wrong. It was really hard! Matt started complaining about the trip before the tickets were purchased so I took my mom instead. That actually worked out really well.
I wanted to get a picture of the two of them and as soon as I pulled out the camera Haley started coaching Asher and telling him how to stand and what to do and not to do to take a good picture. It was so funny. She loves the camera and the camera loves her! She's just so cute and sweet. I don't know if those are the same words that Carrie uses to describe her, but I do! She's got the cutest little munchkin voice and is just as independent as Asher. They just talked about the funniest things. For most of the trip Asher was Super boy and Haley was Bumblina, well that's what he called her and she was ok with it. The first night we got there I was worried about Piper because her stomach wasn't doing very good before we left. But the night we got there Averi must've gotten sick because she threw up the whole trip! I have decided that the majority of Piper's problems have to do with milk. So while we were out there I had her drink soy milk. She actually did really well on it. So now I'm trying to figure out the most healthy alternative to milk. I thought I had a break through today with what I've learned, but both of the girl's couldn't sleep, they acted like their stomach's were cramping up. So, on to the next thing. It's been 15 months of finding just the right thing for Piper. We went to the park one of the days that we were out there. My kids were so tired. They don't sleep well when we aren't at home. I thought Asher looked so cute in this picture. He was really good while we were out there.

Piper wanted some chips, but you can tell how Carrie's holding them that she's NOT giving them up. It was fun seeing where Carrie lives. They'll probably be moving soon though. They were so good about helping with the girls and all the throw up. Most people aren't as accustomed to as much throw up as we are.

My mom really tried to help get Averi to sleep, she was so tired. I don't know if she even napped the whole time we were gone. She's still trying to catch up. Averi had gotten tubes almost 2 weeks before we left and I accidentally forgot to go to her check up and see if they were fine. I'm sure they are, but she got a double ear infection while we were out there. If you've ever seen an infection with tubes it's pretty gross. They drain and there's goop everywhere. I put her on antibiotics the day after we got home and it's been 4 days and she's still oozing. They probably should've stopped a while ago so I'm just hoping they heal up. I'm so sick of the Dr.'s office!

4 years ago today Matt and I were packing everything we'd need for the hospital so that we could have Asher. I can't believe he'll be 4 tomorrow! It's gone by so fast, but I can't even remember our lives before him. They were probably quiet.

He just says so many funny things all day. He has a little toy ring and I always try to put it somewhere that he can't find because he just drops it on the ground then I find it in the girl's mouths. So he found it this morning and wanted to keep it by my wedding ring. Then he waned to talk about who WE were going to marry the rest of the morning. His go to future wife is usually Emily from across the street, but today he informed me that he can't marry her because she says poop. Which is weird because that's Asher's favorite word. After some deep thought he decided he'd just marry Averi. Obviously not Piper but definitely Averi!

My perfect loaf of bread

2010-04-09T19:25:00.000-07:00

There hasn't been much going on to blog about, but maybe that's a good thing. Here's Asher eating his vegetables. He loves them and just eats a ton whenever they're sitting out. Then of course I feel guilty because he must feel so deprived and I should offer more! I guess that's just part of being a mom. Your kids do something good then you feel guilty. Asher's just getting so old. He'll be 4 years old in about a week and a half. He's been talking about his birthday for about 6 months so we'll have to do something memorable. I had just gotten both girls about of the bath, and they were just laying there, but Piper kept trying to grab Averi and she was getting so mad! It probably didn't help that her hand was stuck in the towel and she couldn't defend herself. She's been a little less scared of Piper lately, so I hope she outgrows that soon.

Yet another picture of Averi with something in her mouth, she doesn't walk so she uses her mouth to hold her toys while she crawls around. But she usually puts the bottom part of the toy in her mouth so that the toy is covering her face.

The weather was so bad the week before Easter and I wanted the kids to have a chance to do an Easter Egg hunt. So a few of us in the neighborhood had a little hunt that last about 5-10 minutes. It was so windy, and Averi had her double ear infections. So they just stayed in the stroller away from the wind with their hoods on. Yes, if Averi needs her hood on then Piper does too. Averi did go in the next morning and get tubes in her ears. We're getting to be old pros at it now! She's so much happier and we're hoping that without antibiotics and ear infections that the girls won't be sick very often. I was hoping that maybe she had a lot of fluid in her ears and once she got tubes that everything would be different with her equilibrium and she'd start walking. Her legs are still just like gumby. I'm going to take a video of her and put it on here once and for all.

Asher and Dakota with all their eggs.

Dakota dropped his bucket and Piper was happy helping him clean up his candy!

We went to Idaho for Easter and once we got up there Piper started feeling sick. Big surprise one of the girls were sick. It's been so hard keeping these girls healthy. She didn't eat much during the weekend, between conference and Easter I did though! Then when we got home she seemed to get a little worse. So Monday night after her nap she wouldn't eat anything and just laid on me but would start screaming and thrashing around. Anyway, I just put her in her high chair and gave her some food hoping she'd eat, and she ate more food than I've ever seen her eat. This was her face after a Costa Vida kids meal.

After years of making whole wheat bread this is the perfected recipe. I have learned a few things lately that have helped the rising, the taste and the texture. I think I'm going to go have some right now. It used to be really good now it's just so much better. It's probably the most exciting thing that's happened here at our house for a while!

My mom and I are taking all the kids to visit Carrie in San Ramon this week. I'm a little nervous but excited to leave the house. They have never met my grandma, aunt and uncle either so this will be a fun trip to see them. It's Carrie's big chance to try to talk us in to moving out there. I don't see it happening but it would be fun to live by them.

I never bring my camera anywhere, that's why all our pictures are in the living room. So if I do remember it I'll post about our trip when we get back.

Blobsters

2010-03-22T18:00:00.000-07:00

This is the first day that I have ever given the girls a bath and dressed them in mis-matched clothing. Averi was feeling sick so I wanted her in sweats, since she was sick I tried giving her Motrin. She hates medicine so she threw it up, from there I gave them a bath and still wanted her in something cozy so she got the other sweatsuit. I felt like I had a good reason but it's been such a pain since! Matt got Piper dressed the other day and I couldn't find the matching shirt, then they were in different clothes again and it's just been a downward spiral. Averi is still just as scared of Piper as she's always been. So lately her favorite thing is to hang out on the couch. She's up high, it's soft and she can look out the window. I think she'd be happy if I left her there all day. Well, now Piper wants to know what the draw is so she's trying to get up all day too. But once she's up she just starts climbing. I was trying to get her to put diaper on her but she just ran as far as she could then climbed up higher!

The kids were taking turns pushing each other around. We finally found something that the girls can do together without Averi getting scared that Piper will hurt her. Well, this and falling into their blankets headfirst, hoping it's a soft landing.

This was the face I got when Piper was done pushing her.

I never take any of Asher. Here he is eating his vegetables. He loves them!

I've been getting so frustrated with Asher lately because he is not listening to anything I say. He just tunes me out and goes on with his day as if I am just there in case of emergency. So I just threaten him all day, saying things like, "Asher get dressed or I'm going to..." (throw away toys, spanking, go in your room, stay home...) It's just so negative, and I hate to say it and I'm sure he hates to hear it. So I've been trying to reward him with money, he just realized that it buys candy. But he still just looks at me when I ask him something and then looks away like, "I heard you, I just don't care what you have to say". So then back to the threats. But they do work, he has this toy turtle that I keep threatening to throw out. But when I head for it he freaks out, then does what I asked.

So I have no solution, but he fell asleep in the car at 6 tonight and the house has been so peaceful! I know the problem is that he's not getting enough sleep but there are so many kids at the park during nap time and it's so nice that it's hard to keep him in the house in bed. We were going to make a sticker chart tonight for Family Night so that when he listens he gets a sticker then eventually a reward. He wants a Green Jeep for his reward, he's so spoiled that I'd totally get him one if he started listening! Well, a blue one because I found a used on KSL for cheap.

On the other hand Asher says way funny things all day. This morning he was playing on the ground and goes, "Mom, are blobsters food?" Then he started asking if I could make him some, and what do they taste like, are they good? I heard him under his breath talking about blobsters for quite a while. Later he came running home from the park and said, "MOM! These kids at the park were totally acting like blobsters and pushed me!" Then in the same breath asked if we could finally eat some blobsters. After about a 30 minute debate he accepted that if you dip a quesadilla in ranch it tastes just like a blobster. Since then I haven't heard another word about them.

I just checked on Asher when I ran upstairs and he woke up and asked me to snuggle with him. He's so sweet and cuddly. Maybe I don't need to be so hard on him, but he also needs to listen, so maybe I can find a happy medium.

Blankets and Balls of Jarn

2010-03-15T15:56:00.000-07:00

Well, I have to say that this month is probably the best month we've had with all the kids. Piper is doing so good! She has really turned into my easiest child. She sleeps a ton and is so sweet and fun. She does like to be held a lot, and I mean a lot. I think it's more that she just wants to be up higher and see what's going on. I never thought I'd see the day but Averi just took two steps tonight. They're getting to be quite the handful. It's getting really hard to do hair when they're awake because they're always trying to stick their hands in the color. Piper got a good fistful today. She got it all over her face, her shirts, my shirts, and Averi's. I don't know how, I washed her right away, but you don't really see all the damage till the color has processed. When she woke up from her nap I thought she was bleeding, but it was just all the color she's gotten everywhere.

The kids love it when Matt and I get on the floor with them. Tonight I was on the floor and Piper climbed on me then stopped and looked around and saw Averi and goes, "Vaevri!"
After that I realized every time I said Averi she would say it too. She's really talking a ton. Averi is going down to one nap a day now. That's kind of a bummer because our schedule will be. 10, Piper's nap, 12, Averi's nap, 2, Piper and Asher's nap. And I don't think Piper's even close to giving up that first nap.

Kids just love little tight spaces. They like to crawl through the maze of chairs and legs and see if they can get lost in there. Usually they just get stuck and cry.

So far all of my kids love blankets. They just get weak when one's close by. Piper just closes her eyes and falls because she knows that it'll be so soft when she lands. This makes Averi nervous, she wants to play too but has to be really careful. When they play together with a blanket she'll cut Piper a little slack and let her get closer and if they get a little rough she'll look at me wondering if she's okay.

These are my favorite jeans on them right now, they're so tall that I have to get the bigger size and then they're too baggy, but these are tight on them and long, but sort of stretchy too.

Heaven - That smile on Averi's face says it all!

Craft day! I saw on someones blog a link for easy Easter crafts. So I thought this would be a good thing for Asher and I to do when the girls were asleep. By the time we got back with everything we needed the girls were up. That was fine, I wasn't going to let that stop us. So we started dipping the string in a little glue mixture. Asher seemed a little apprehensive, and after about 30 seconds of complaining that we were just making a mess and getting our hands sticky he looked at me and said, "Mom, I'm done. I don't want to do this. I don't like my hands sticky!"

Anyway, I ended up doing them by myself.

You pop the balloon when they're dry and they're little egg decorations. I didn't take a picture of the final thing, but they're cute.

I was so busy wrapping the balloons and when I looked up Asher had gotten a hold of the pink yarn. I would hang on to the string and throw the ball. All the kids were just giggling!

The funny thing was that Asher kept calling it his "Ball of Jarn". We told him it was yarn about 20 times, but jarn sounds better.

Then they got the yellow. Once he was covered he obviously looked like the Easter bunny. So he went around telling us he was the Easter bunny and asking us what we wanted for Christmas.

It turned out to be a fun day. We wanted to build more garden boxes but it was so rainy, so it was fun to have a little project to do. One of the biggest things I've missed since having the twins are projects. I never have a good block of time to do something messy and creative.

2010-03-10T16:14:00.000-08:00

1st Birthdays!!!

2010-02-22T15:11:00.000-08:00

Here is a typical morning when all the kids get up. They all have their blankets and just cover themselves up with them. Averi tried to cover herself up with anything that's laying around. At first I'd always tell Asher to stop putting blankets over them, but they just laugh and laugh... Piper loves to wear necklaces! If you notice she also has my phone in her hand. She walks around talking on anything, she was holding up a dinosaur to her ear earlier just saying, Hi, Hi, Hi, over and over again! She has a real breathy voice and it's cute when she says it. (Don't mind Asher's big foot that he kept trying to stick in front of the camera)

These girls absolutely love the toilet and toilet paper! I have to take them out of the bathroom all day! This isn't as bad as when I walk in and the toilet paper's wet and they're sucking on it!

We have a lot of fun new toys at our house since the girls turned one. I always have the pictures out of order. But this little riding toys are so fun for them. You can see Averi's dimple in this picture. The girls were so sick and this is the first time she played in almost a week. She just looks so pale and skinny in this picture! All the kids were sick and no one ate!

Averi was the sickest and just laid around while someone held her all day. Piper was sick too and would just cough until she threw up. In this picture Piper had just thrown up so I just hurried and laid Averi down so I could clean it up, she just cried the whole time. So Piper just laid on top of her until I picked her back up. It was really sweet.

That's the look Averi had on her face for a whole week! She had a mild case of RSV and double ear infections. When I'd lay her down she would just hold her head even once she was asleep. I've never seen her in so much pain!

Piper wasn't feeling very good this morning and she just laid there for the longest time. Averi kept laying on her but every time I got the camera out she'd hurry and sit up. They're so cute with each other. When they're excited to see each other they just kind of fall into each other hugging and kissing until someone gets hurt.

Since I'm doing this whole thing out of order here are the pictures we took while opening presents.

She looks so content here!

I love this picture!

Here are some of the pictures that Chrystal took.

She has the cutest smile!

Pretty blue eyes!

Averi must've thought she was on the Doctor's table when I set her on the table. It took her a while to calm down!

Asher got up there with the girls and wasn't sure what to think either. He just moved slowly and watched me while he grabbed some cake. He was just sure I was going to stop him! It's just wrong to sit on the table and smash the girl's cake into your face!

Well we're really looking forward to this next year. It's getting so much more fun with the girls. Their personalities are really starting to shine through. Piper's getting easier each day, and Averi's starting to get silly.

Asher is finally out of pull-ups at night. Although this morning he woke up and had to take off his clothes because he was too sweaty. I'm thinking he peed. I'm proud of him though, he's getting old and so sweet. He still takes a nap everyday and he helps me with the laundry. He can write his name and knows how to write all his numbers and letters. He just catches on so quickly. He also loves books. Lately he wants me to snuggle with him when it's time for bed. So he reads me a book, and gets mad if I open my eyes, then sings me a song and turns off the light. I'm usually asleep when he's all done.

Piper is walking, and just pops up wherever she is. She's also sleeping good during her naps. She's still up a lot at night, but maybe soon she'll start sleeping better. She's starting to talk a lot. She says hi, bye, mama, dada, papa, thank you, nose, ball, bottle, duck, quack and a few other things that don't sound like anything but she thinks she's saying something.

Averi's still just crawling, she's starting to pull herself up on furniture a little more. She loves toys and still freaks if anyone acts like they're going to take it away. She loves the tub and loves to splash. She says a few things like, mama, dada, bye, and thank you. I'm sure she says some other things too.

Matt and I spoke in church on Sunday. Our talks were on Integrity. It went really well and we were glad for the opportunity!

More of the Kids

2010-02-02T19:11:00.000-08:00

Well, this is the best couple of weeks that we've had so far. With the girls sleeping better everyone is so much happier! I must think the girls look cute whenever they wear these pajamas because that's about the only time I take pictures of them. Plus I keep the camera in the desk so all my pictures of them are within a foot of the desk. I've bought them so many cute clothes, I need to be better at capturing more than just these pajamas in the living room.

The girl's personalities have been coming out a lot more lately. They're so silly! The girls have mastered the stairs, so they really roam around the house now. They just crawl around together everywhere they go. You can hear them coming because they just giggle and squeal the whole time they play together. They're getting more and more comfortable around each other. Averi hasn't been as afraid of Piper lately.
A few days ago Matt was telling me that the girls have been kind of snuggling and kissing each other. Then when they were in the cart together at Costco they just were falling all over each other hugging and kissing each other! It was just cutest thing I've ever seen. They just love each other. It's been so cool finally seeing that relationship develop. The first year has been so much work and it's really been rewarding lately. I've also noticed that they're different with each other than they are with other babies. They play and sit right on top of each other without hurting each other when they play, but as soon as there's another baby they're pulling that babies hair and hurting them.

Asher loves playing with the girls. He's so good with them! He always calls them sweetie, and wants them to follow him around. They're usually all 3 crawling around on the floor. He never wants me to put them to bed because he's having so much fun with them. In the evenings before bed they are so fun. They are tired enough that they just fall all over the place and laugh.

Asher's still taking naps. It's nice to have a little break in the afternoon, but he's been staying up late. He just goes up in his room and reads book then comes out hungry or thirsty every 15-20 minutes.

Asher's learning a lot in preschool. He knows the Pledge of Allegiance, and can recognize all the numbers and letters. I don't know what else he does in school because every time I ask him what he did, or what he learned he just says, "Markers". But I'll hear him in the back of the car singing some song or saying some little nursery rhyme that I've never heard before.

All the kids are so big. I took them out by myself to run errands today. I stopped at Payless and went in to have their feet measured. The girls are a size 5, and Asher is in between a 13 and 1. I guess it's no surprise at this point that they're tall and have big feet.

The kids all had Doctor appointments this week.

Averi is:

30.5 inches long, 20.5 lbs., and her head is 41.5 centimeters. So for length she's in the 97th percentile, and for weight she's only in the 50th. So she's just long and skinny!

Piper is:

31.25 inches long, 22.5 lbs., and her head is 45.3 centimeters. So for length she's above the 97th percentile, and for weight she's almost in the 80th percentile. So she's about 2 pounds heavier than Averi.

Asher's still off the charts for height. He's outgrown 5T and is now just in boys clothes. He's just so skinny that they're a little too baggy. There's quite a jump from 5T to size 5.

Piper has gotten so fun! She's walking now, and it's so cute. She stands up in the middle of the floor and just starts walking, she falls every couple of steps. It doesn't seem to bother her. She's learning so fast. I think it's been a lot of work because she's been sleeping really good. I think within the next month they'll be sleeping through the night without those brutal 5 and 6 am feedings. It's such a weird time because if I don't feed them they'll just stay awake for the day and wake everyone else up too. So I'm up for any tips!

Piper's talking a lot too. She mimics a lot and has the cutest voice! She's a good eater but I'm thinking that we're going to have to have her completely off dairy. She just cries and cries when she has any lactose. I'm researching right now and trying to decide what we're going to put her on when she's done with formula. Everything has so many negative side effects that nothing is a good choice!

Their birthday party is this Saturday and I should have some good pictures to post then!

Itty Bitty Basketball in a Nutshell!

2010-01-18T20:19:00.000-08:00

After two weeks of intense training at the Legacy Center I think we have a future star! This picture was taken in the middle of their last game! If he wasn't trying to get the whole team to make snow angels on the gym floor he had his face in the net.

He had a lot of fun. He and his little friend Dakota were on the same team, The Kings. Aside from the laffy taffy's, yelling "GO KINGS" was his favorite part of Basketball. Asher would usually be ready for basketball by 7 in the morning and ask if it was time for almost 4 hours. It's a lot of work getting there with all the kids. I was glad it was only two weeks, those little programs and the coaches are awesome! They were so patient and were great with all the kids.

When the basketball started I was having a really hard time getting the girls down for naps. They'd just play in their cribs and talk for about 2 hours every nap time. Then when one baby fell asleep the other would wake them up right away. They were just getting more and more sleep deprived, and I was getting so frustrated and exhausted. I set up a pack and play in my closet and thought I'd just put Piper in it and see how she did. It made napping a lot better. I didn't really commit to the idea, then I tried Averi. She slept for almost 3 hours, which is way better than 40 minutes. I thought that was a good thing for when I was desperate. Then when Matt and I went out our babysitter Candace put Averi down for the night in our closet. They didn't wake each other up as early. Needless to say Averi is our little closet sleeper. She's so much happier!!! I think we all are. It makes showering and getting dressed a little harder, we just need to plan ahead better.

Piper is still the same bless her heart! She wakes up a lot and is now learning to put herself back to sleep by herself. She's never been able to cry much because I didn't want her waking up Averi. Now that she can cry more she doesn't! She's more rested and I don't run in right away. But she still cries LOUD. I've given up on waiting for her to get over the next hurdle and get easier. That's just how she is and we love her! I keep saying it but I really need to get more videos of the girls. They're so funny and so different!

Piper is really strong and intense. When she's showing you affection you need to be on your toes. She'll put her hands up in the air like she's so happy then smack you in the face, she's fall into you and give you the biggest hug with her face buried into your neck and then just bite you. It about breaks her heart though if you act surprised or hurt, because her gestures are so heartfelt.

Averi's been so funny too. She's been getting a good response when she cuddles. She usually just keeps me at her little arms length when I hold her, then she'll just rest her head on my shoulder. Every time she does that she looks up at me like she knows she's being cute. She's getting a little stronger, she's started pulling herself up to her feet instead of her knees. I think it's been hard for her to do that but she's doing good now.

Averi loves taking baths. I usually put the girls in then soon enough Asher's hopping in too trying to monitor all the toys. Averi just splashes and laughs the whole time. She wants to be sucking on a washcloth or drinking from a cup the whole time and she's very serious about it. When someone takes something away she lets out a scream like she has been seriously hurt. She gets all limp and just wails until she gets it back or something as equally fun.

It's been so fun to watch these little girls together. There's nothing cuter than when I go into a different room and watch them both crawl together to find me. They just stay right by each other and play together all day. Lately they've gotten comfortable playing on the bottom stair, they climb up and down that one stair a hundred times. It's funny because neither of them has dared to try the next stair up. If I put Piper on her stomach she'll climb down the stairs but they both just prefer that bottom stair.

This morning I was coming downstairs and wanted the girls to follow me out of my room, Piper wanted to go find the toilet of course. Poor Averi didn't know what to do, she'd follow me then turn around and get Piper, then come back to me and just went back and forth. I just hope more than anything that they have a great relationship and are the best of friends growing up. I know they love each other right now they get so excited when they see each other and love to watch each other. Piper was putting my clear lettuce spinner on her head the other day and Averi could barely breath she was laughing so hard. The more she laughed the more it encouraged Piper. It was so cute, these little moments make me excited for more as they get older and their relationship develops.

We've almost made it through the first year!

2010-01-09T19:24:00.000-08:00

Matt and I are really looking forward to this year. I'm looking forward to the girls walking and talking more. I love watching our kids learn and grow. That's my favorite part about being a mom.
Asher graduated from nursery and started Primary this year. He told me all week that he didn't want to go to Primary then as soon as we were walking to his class I told him that he'd be a sunbeam and he was so excited! I didn't know that was the magic thing to say! He loves music so I think he's happy to sing more. The other day I was holding Piper and trying to get her to sleep. So I sang her a song. Then every time I'd finish a song Asher would say, "Mom, I think Piper wants you to sing..." then name his favorite songs.

We took the kids to see the reindeer at Thanksgiving Point! That's always so cold that we're inside within minutes. Here we are with the girls trying to warm up.

This Christmas we had it at our house. We waited until both Matt's and my parents could be there. So Asher waited patiently until 11:00am to open presents. He was really good, you never know how they're going to act when they're surrounded by way too many presents.

The girls on the other hand were so tired! They didn't sleep that great and were so tired and just laid there the whole time.

Grandma Moore got the girls the cutest little baby monkeys. As soon as the girls got it they were both sucking on the baby's binkie. If only I could get them to take one! I still try everyday. They're almost one and I haven't given up on them taking binkies.

It look like everything Asher got was red. He always told me that he wanted a fishing pole for Christmas, but every time he sat on Santa's lap he told him that he wanted a real golf club like his dad's. So cute! So my mom found one for him. He loves it!

Averi played with those pots and spatulas for the longest time. I think we forgot about her and left her downstairs all by herself accidentally.

Averi has the biggest eyes and is always making the cutest faces. She just has a couple teeth all spaced apart. It makes her smile so cute! She loves to play with toys. I always try to hold her and cuddle with her but she just pushes me away and is off trying to find toys. Of course every toy that Averi finds Piper wants. Averi gets so mad! She screams like she smashed her finger and just throws a little fit. It's pretty funny but a little too dramatic for me. Averi is so funny. She started crawling right before Christmas. So she's moving around now, but there's something different about her body. It's really loose and floppy. When you pick her up it feels like her bones and things aren't held together very tightly and you're going to hurt her. Then once you're holding her she doesn't even support herself. Her upper half just hangs there. I'll have to get a picture of it, because unless you've held her or seen it I'm sure it just sounds weird.

Piper's so busy right now. She's all over the place, but she likes to be where I am. She would have me hold her ALL DAY LONG! If I'm not holding her she's usually whining and tugging on my leg. She's pretty cuddly so it's fun to hold her. She's the exact opposite of Averi as far as muscle tone. She is so strong! She's got to be about 3-4 pounds bigger. They're both way off the charts as far as length goes, I'll have to bring them in and get them all measured. Averi's the smallest of the kids and she's really tall too. That little face just melts my heart.

This picture was taken at about 6am. The girls were both up and just really wanted to be up by me. Averi has a hard time pulling herself up to her feet, she just stays on her knees. They're pretty fun. They've both got the cutest personalities. It's been so hard but fun too. Lately it's been taking me two hours to get them to bed, and since they take two naps I've been spending about 5-6 hours a day trying to get them all to sleep. It's been just exhausting and discouraging. We don't have another room so we could split them up so we've just been trying to figure something out. I finally set up a pack and play in our closet and Averi's been sleeping in there for about a day now. It's already making a huge difference. They aren't waking each other up.

Getting ready for Christmas

2009-12-22T05:30:00.000-08:00

We got our family pictures taken this last November. They turned out so cute! She's the best photographer and Is so good at getting everyone looking at the camera and smiling. I guess she's had a lot of experience with large groups. Her name's Crystal Hadlock. Anyway, I just posted some of my favorite.
I met up with Crystal to get the CD of pictures. She had put a few on the outside of the case and I was looking at them. Then I thought, "Oh my gosh the girls look so alike in these pictures, I can barely tell them apart!" Then I looked a little closer. See if you can tell what happened.

Averi had gotten photo shopped right out of the picture. We laughed about it. I guess Matt and I switched babies during the same pose and I had put so much pressure on her to edit them fast that she got mixed up! This next picture is one of my favorites. It's just so precious to me.

I liked this one because it kind of shows their personality a bit more. Averi's always got something small in her delicate fingers and is making that face concentrating on how she's going to get it in her mouth. Piper's always looking up at me to see what I'm doing and if I'm noticing or connecting with her. These girls are so different from each other. It's been fun watching them grow and change. Piper crawls all over and Averi just bends and stretched without having to crawl. She'll crawl a tiny bit, I'm thinking that in a couple of days they'll both be all over the place.

This is my handsome boy! He's so sweet. He's getting so old! I've been really working on having him do things himself. Lately he wants me to feed him, dress him, buckle him in his booster, carry his stuff and clean up after him. The other day he cleaned, ate and had gotten himself dressed. When he was done he asked for a piece of candy for doing so well. I just ignored his question and he went away. He came back over to me and showed me his candy that he just unwrapped. He was about to put it in his mouth and I yelled, "NO!!!" That made him put it in his mouth faster. That's when he realized that just because chicken bullion is wrapped up doesn't mean that it's candy!

Here's Matt and I. This picture is really telling of Matt and I, we love fences and often times pose by them!

Asher has the softest cheeks. A mouse ear is the only thing comparable. I don't feel comfortable rubbing a mouse ear on my cheek so it's fun to have Asher.

Ok, I'm about done with the captions about each picture.

This is Averi, most people use their hair to tell them apart and can't tell with their hats on. She's so sweet, she'd found a piece of glass on the ground and put it in her mouth seconds before this picture and even with a little cut she was as happy as can be.

Piper, she has such an expressive face.

We went and saw the reindeer at Thanksgiving point again. I usually last for about 5-10 seconds. It's usually the coldest I am all year.

We went in and got hot chocolate afterwards. We love going to Thanksgiving Point. We go quite a bit and always have fun there. Don't mind the blank stare on Averi's face. They wake up in the 5 o'clock hour so I've been doing all I can to keep them up later. It might have been a quarter to seven here. So she was exhausted!

Asher thinks that it's banana pudding, not figgy pudding. Then wanted me to take a picture of him saying banana pudding. I love this picture because it shows his tie. He loves a tie like he does a good mustache. But he can't see it when it's on his shirt under his sweater. He's worn it to church like this 2 weeks in a row. I think it's cute!

I had the girls from across the street over. They just read to the girls, and loved them to death. It was fun to see the difference of how Asher plays with them. At first Asher and the older girls were playing with the girls, then the 3 year old came up to me and asked if I could go upstairs and get more babies because there wasn't one for her.

Sometimes I'll throw the girls in the sink when they've eaten something messy. These girls are so fun, I love the looks on their little faces.

Here's Averi not quite crawling!

When my sister was in town we tried to get a few family pictures. This is everyone!

Probably my favorite of all 3.

Our Fall Update

2009-11-24T17:47:00.000-08:00

This month has been a lot of hanging around the house. In the meantime Asher has left his mustache phase and entered the Pirate phase! Aaaarrrghh.... He usually has about ten swords down the back of his shirt and I'm fixing the string on his eye patches all day. It's cute to watch him with it all. Asher's starting to really not want to nap, or go to sleep at night. That's been a real challenge, because he wakes up at 6:30 no matter what. I don't know what to do about that. I think a lock on his door is coming really soon. When he gets enough sleep he's so sweet, but lately he's just been sick, and tired and can't hear anything I say. The girls are getting old so fast! They're both so big, they're almost 10 months! I'm already putting them into their 18-24 month clothes. They're starting to sleep a little better at night. The other night Piper slept 12 hours straight! Averi's still waking up a few times, sometimes just once. So the sleeping is getting better. Every one's just up really early.

It's so cute, the girls can sit up in the bath now, so bath time is more fun. Averi really likes to splash and doesn't mind the water in her eyes. I love watching them have fun together. They really do love each other. I think it's going to be so fun watching them get older together. When they're on the floor together they don't crawl but they really move around and they stay right be each other. They really are so sweet, Averi's getting a little better about letting Piper touch her. She's still extra dramatic, but easing up on Piper. Piper has been on the verge of crawling for a month. Averi's not even close. But she always surprises me. Piper usually will move to the next milestone and I think Averi won't ever get there but she'll be all caught up by the end of the week. There hasn't been as much throwing up lately. We're probably down to 2-3 times per week now. That's a lot better than 3-4 times per day. It's both of the girls, they just gag really easily.

I had to throw in a few Halloween pictures. Matt loves dressing up if he has a good idea. He's with Peter Pan, aka Greg. It's just not a good Halloween costume if you aren't wearing tights I guess!

This is Matt the following night for our ward party.

You'd never guess who this super hero is. It's the real batman. It's a pretty cool costume, as soon as he puts it on he turns into batman.

The girls were fairies for all of 5 min. They just pulled on each other's costumes too much.

Asher loves the first snow! He was out there for a long time.

I can't even look at a picture of Averi without thinking how sweet she is. There is just something about her. She's got one tooth, it's one of the bottom middle teeth. Her hair is as straight as can be and you would think I'd have some clue as to what to do with it. She's got big blue eyes and the biggest smile. It's really wide. Right now one of my favorite things that she does is when I go into her room while she's asleep she'll roll over and look at me with the biggest smile that lights up her whole face, then she closes her eyes and is back to sleep. She's got this floppy little gumby body and it's really long. I try to keep her in the same size that Piper wears but her clothes are a little big on her. She's just the best baby, she gets so excited when she sees someone she knows, and she laughs a lot. She also talks a lot, she'll mimic sounds you make. It's the best watching them learn new things.

Piper makes this face all day! She gets a good reaction, now when she does it we can see all her teeth. She has six teeth. She got them all within two weeks. That is just her nature. The pain of getting those new teeth made her feel the same as if she had an ear infection. She's all done now for a while, hopefully. She's been so fun, she loves toys, and her mom. She's the only baby I've had that has let me hold her to feed her a bottle. Asher and Averi only would take a bottle in their cribs. When I feed her I just try to enjoy it. There's nothing sweeter than their little bodies just laying in your lap. I think Piper has the cutest little body, she's really strong and and has really soft skin. She's just really sturdy so I don't feel like she'd break very easily.

This is what the girls do all day. They just sit on the floor and play with toys. Everything goes in the mouth!

Tubes

2009-10-24T14:54:00.000-07:00

We finally did it! Piper got tubes in her ears this Tuesday. She was so good before. She couldn't eat much before she went under anesthesia and she seemed fine. This was taken while we waited for 45 min. for the doctor.

Piper has been a lot better since she got her tubes. That night I laid her down for a bed and she just twirled her hair and closed her eyes. That is such a change, because when she's laying down that's when her ears hurt the worst so she usually just screams and cries. Since then she's had good and bad days. One of her ears was really infected so I'm sure that still caused some pain. She's not eating as well as I thought she might so that's just how she is, it wasn't her ears that made her hard to feed. When I give her a bottle she just arches her back and yells. So I usually hold her and rock her in a chair and calm her down then when she calms down I have a small window of time to put the bottle in her mouth. If I wait she'll start crying again.

I wish I had a camera right outside the girls room to catch every body's expressions after they've tried to feed the girls and put them down. I've had so many people try to help with the girls and when they walk out of the room it's the same expression every time! They're feeling that same frustration that I've felt so many times!

Averi's had a cold this week and been coughing a lot. I think she's getting over it because she's starting to seem more like her old self. She really didn't smile or anything very much this last week, but she's been talking and laughing more today.

Asher had school pictures this week and I tried to teach him to look at the camera and smile at the same time. I think we've confused him too much with what to do when he's getting his picture taken. This was practice, he was looking at the camera and almost smiling!

Matt's mom came down this week to help out and she spent a lot of time with Asher and when she's here I'm definitely on the back burner. When I saw him this morning I go, "Hi Asher! Can I have a hug?" He glanced at me and started walking upstairs and goes, "Oh, no mom. Sorry 'bout that! But maybe later I can."

Today on the way home I had all the kids in the car and Asher was so tired from skipping his nap. I looked back and his eyes were glazed over and he was almost about to close his eyes. One of the girls made a noise and he goes, "It's OK sweetie girl, we're almost home." It was so sweet, he really feels a responsibility towards those girls.

He's so good with them. He's always climbing up in the pantry looking for those little baby snacks that he can give them if he thinks they're hungry, and he always brings them toys. In fact he's the toy monitor, he's always switching out toys that could potentially hurt them for something softer. It's so sweet and fun to watch him be silly and they just laugh so hard at him. Those moments I just think that it's all worth all the sleepless nights and long days that follow. The girls really are fun they have such cute little personalities and they just get so excited when they see me.

A Typical Day

2009-10-19T20:23:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I've posted. I've wanted to update, but I didn't want to complain. Then I was thinking that this last while will be a time I always look back on. I'll look back and wonder if it was really as hard as I remember or not. So I wanted to write the details of what a full day is like right now. I usually post thinking about my kids as the audience that I'm writing for, but this one will be for me.

A typical day at our house has been starting early. I'm not sure if it's night or day. For the last couple of months it's been really hard to keep the girls up after they're last nap. By 6:00 they're exhausted and want to sleep. So I do what I can to keep them up until 7:00. I lay them down and then we put Asher down. So from about 8-10 is the time I either relax, or get things done.

Then Matt and I usually go to bed around 10:30. I'll either feed the girls then or just go to bed and wait for them to wake up and eat. The feedings usually start anywhere from mid-night to about 2 am, I'll either feed them at the same time or get up at different times to feed them. Then I'm usually down until about 5 am or so. Sometimes I'm up quite a bit more. Every night's different from the one before.

This is the part of the morning that just kills me. The girls are in a light sleep between 5:30-6:30, and just wake each other up. So a lot of times I'm up and down with the girls until 6:30, a lot of times it'll be about 5 times, then I give up on me and them sleeping. Piper's cry is really loud and it will wake up Asher too. So he'll get up and ask if it's morning. Then I'm trying to get him down without waking up the girls then I'll go in the girls room and try to get them back to sleep without letting Asher know that we're awake and up. Asher usually sleeps through the night but has a lot of nightmares so he'll wake up yelling. He prefers me to go in, sometimes I do, sometimes Matt does.

Needless to say I'm way tired in the mornings. So when Matt leaves for work I have been having him turn on the TV for Asher then he'll go downstairs quietly and let me sleep if the girls are still asleep. But as soon as a show ends he turns off the TV and starts yelling asking for another show. Then I have to hurry downstairs and get him quiet. This has really turned into a bad habit. Asher used to get up at around 7:30 but as of last week he has been getting up between 5:45 and 6:15. I hate to have him get in the habit of getting up that early so I try to lay with him or reason with him. Usually he doesn't go back to sleep then goes downstairs and watches a show until I come downstairs.

This is a typical morning. So then once we're up we either play with the kids, eat breakfast, clean or whatever. The girls go back down at around 9:30 or 10. Then I usually have a hair appointment or I just try to clean up. They wake up about and hour and fifteen minutes later. They're up for about 2 hours then another nap. This part of the day is about as bad as the early morning for me lately.

So I lay the girls down, Piper has been in so much pain with her 3 months of continuous ear infections that I end up having to hold her back to sleep. Now it's time to lay Asher down. He doesn't eat very well so I beg him to eat, then go upstairs and take a nap. It's about 1 or 2 by now and since he got up so early he has a hard time holding it together. But, he won't lay down. He just pops back up and wants to read books or bother me. I've been getting really grouchy at this time of the day, I'm sure due to the lack of sleep. So then Asher comes out of his room a thousand times having to go to the bathroom, is hungry, or needs to tell me something. It's just all I can do not to lose it, because I'm either working now or just desperately needing a break at this point. So I fight with him over taking a nap from 1-3 and then he just cries over everything and is SO tired from 4-7.

Matt gets home from work around 4 so the girls wake up around 3 and we try to do something then put the girls down and do it all over again. The solutions to a lot of the problems don't work because they usually disrupt a different kid. Like I can't lock Asher in his room for his naps because he gets scared and just screams and kicks the door or walls and that would wake up the girls. And I can't let Piper cry herself to sleep because I know she's in pain and she just ends up waking everybody up and if she does cry herself to sleep she's awake again only minutes later.

I think the only reason I can write about this right now is because first thing in the morning Piper is getting tubes in her ears. I'm hoping she'll start sleeping through the night and if she does Averi will too. Then if the days get hard it's OK because I will have had some sleep.
I have a picture of Asher with his arms like this at this same age.

Piper and Averi love Asher so much. There is nothing better to me than watching and listening to them play and laugh together. He's so sweet to them and really cares about them.

This is during one of Piper's bad infections, she doesn't look good to me. I can tell she's breathing out of her mouth and I think she does that more when her ears hurt.

I still love her little face! She just looks so tired...

Right before she threw up all over.

So cute! Her arms just pop up! I feel like Averi's bones are hollow. I've never felt a baby that feels like her. Floppy is the only way to describe her. You'll just have to pick her up one day.

I love her big eyes.

She loves her gums. She made this face for a week straight. I haven't seen it for a couple of days though.

I just set them on this chair while I do things. Then they just play with toys. Those days are over though. Piper is moving around a little more and fell off the other day. Oops

I'll bet she was watching Asher, that's the look on her face when she studies him.

Asher was probably showing off his 3 year old humor. They totally get it and thinks it's awesome.

Batman and Piper. Now they have to play on the floor.

This little boy loves his mom. He's been very clingy lately! He has a hard time being away from me right now.

Sitting up, Ear Aches, and One Night of Sleep

2009-08-31T20:27:00.000-07:00

We've finally hit a couple of new stages. The girls started sitting up. And last night the girls actually each slept through the night. I know better than to expect it two nights in a row, but I can hope! The girls are getting more and more fun. They are both so smiley! Averi is just happy to watch what is going on, and Piper loves to play with toys. They both have such a different look from each other, it's getting fun to watch them. I could do better at trying to enjoy them. They like to be by each other and touch each other, but they just hurt each other so much that I can't keep them too close. I love these little outfits on them, they looked like they were ready for their first day of school! If Piper sees a toy she wants she'll do whatever she can to get it. Averi isn't quite as aggressive but she does pretty good at holding her own. Piper will grab something from her and she'll either hang on to it or switch. They were both sitting in their high chairs today playing with a toy and when I looked up they both had switched their toys with each other. They're at that age where they just grab at everything! They've about pulled my food onto my lap quite a few times. Asher's getting a little more comfortable with the girls. He likes to try to hold them and play with them. For the most part he's been so good with them and he's so sweet with them. There are the times though when he's just tired of them taking all my time.

Lately Asher has decided to have picnics in the back yard. He brings a kitchen towel out, lays it out and sits on half of it with his food on the other half. But whatever he eats needs to be eaten with toothpicks. He's very particular about the details, he has to come in for about ten things before he can have his picnic. I know it's a big surprise that he's eating fruit on his picnic. That's all he likes to eat.

I've has such a hard time getting good pictures of the girls together. As soon as I get the camera out that's the look on Averi's face. And Piper wants to play with what I have so she gets excited. We'll have to get professional pictures soon. They're getting to a cute age. Not too much has happened lately. I've been really busy working because school just started and it seems like Matt has been just as busy. This is just a hard busy time for us. We are trying to enjoy it but it's just so hard! I think once the girls are sleeping through the night it'll be a lot easier during the day.

Piper has gotten a few ear aches too. That's probably why we haven't done a lot lately. The first one was really bad and the antibiotics didn't take care of it completely. Then the second one was in the other ear and we got something a little stronger so hopefully this is the last one for a while.

Our Kids

2009-07-30T11:26:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking for a while that I wanted to write down a little bit about each child right now at the ages they are and what they're personalities are like. Their personalities and traits are so individual and sweet that I needed to have it written down before they get older and evolve. I am starting from the youngest and going to the oldest.

Averi Jane

Averi is so sweet, it's always the first thought I have each time I grab her out of her crib. She's really easy going, she'll just lay in her crib and play with her toes while Piper cries. A lot of times she'll fall asleep through all the tears and yelling. She has one big dimple on her right cheek. She has beautiful big blue eyes. I don't think they'll change at this point. They're just so pretty. She's about the floppiest thing you'll ever pick up. She's long and thin like a green bean. She also kicks her left leg. When she gets excited her left leg just starts going up and down really fast and hard. When she is just sitting there her hands and feet just rotate in circles. It's really funny.

I had to use this picture because it's just her. Her legs just stick up when you set her down. There have been a lot of times that they've just popped up and hit her in her face, and even a lot where they've hit Piper in the face while they're laying next to each other. She drools a lot, and always has her mouth open. She makes the cutest sounds. She sounds like a dove whenever she talks. She also likes to do raspberries.

It seems like she is always trying to do new sounds with her mouth. She loves her sister and mom, but she just lights up whenever she sees Matt and Asher. She thinks Asher is so funny. I can't tell who she looks like at this point, I think I might be to close to all everyone to tell. But a lot of people say she looks like a little Asher. They do have similar coloring and eyes. She's just so delicate, physically and emotionally. She doesn't cry much but when she does it about breaks your heart. It's the saddest cry you've ever heard. We really love her and are so happy that she and her sister decided to come at the same time. She has made having twins so much fun. I do always feel a little guilty because she's just so happy and content that I feel like she doesn't get held or as much or as much attention but I really do try my best.

Piper Lynn

Piper is so sweet too. They are so different! Piper is thick and strong. She started out a little smaller but is quite a bit bigger by a few pounds now. She's got dark curly hair and her skin has an olive tint to it. When Piper gets enough sleep she is really happy and content. She's so smiley and likes to stick that tongue out. We had a rough start with her, but you love who you serve and I've really do love her! She's got a sensitive stomach and has a hard time eating because she sucks in a lot of air and has a hard time holding still. We've tried a million little tricks and are still working on her eating issues with her, but she's doing so much better now that she's getting older.

Sleep has also been harder with her. I thought that maybe she just didn't need as much sleep or something. She needs a lot of sleep though. Right now most out of all the kids! If she's up too long, like much more than an hour, she just gets tired and starts crying. The problem has been that she wakes up a lot. She'll get into a lighter sleep and wake herself up. Then she gets more and more tired as the day goes on. But because Averi and Piper are in the same room it's been hard for me to let her cry herself back to sleep and things. We've taken care of the daytime problem for the most part and she's actually doing really good now. She also wakes up a lot at night, we've had more good nights than bad lately. There have been so many nights when I'm so tired and she just looks up and me and smiles so big. With the combination of the eating and sleeping problems along with being a twin and everything that comes along with that has really been hard for her. Even though she's had to cry more than a baby should I feel like she is happy now and knows that I love her. (I always worry if my kids know that I love them for some reason)

Piper has just cutest smile and laugh I've ever heard! She's just a beautiful baby! Her eyes are like a slate blue and she has eyebrows. Not a lot of babies have them, but for some reason she does. Piper looks a lot like my baby pictures, and I think she looks like my mom's side of the family. Her little ears and eye shape look like the Sampson side to me. When she was first born and Matt showed her to me I thought she looked a lot like Asher, then I never saw it again. She loves her sister. She sees her and just smiles, when I lay then next to her she just reaches out for Averi. She always wants to be touching her. It's really cute. Every time I try to get a video of it they just stare at the camera and kick. I think that Piper is going to be one of those people that just loves to laugh. Averi will coo and spit and Piper just looks at her like she's so funny. They're still a little young, but that's the impression I get of them. Averi thinks she's funny and Piper thinks Averi's funny too.

Piper's almost sitting up, she reaches and grabs things really well. She's got some chubby little legs and cheeks that are so cute. Her skin is so soft and she likes to put her cheek on mine when she goes down and gets up from her naps. I love those little cheeks. When I lay her down to go to sleep she instantly pulls the blanket over her face and sleeps that way. So she's got her face covered and her arms stretched out, then her arms and legs just go crazy kicking and waving and I guess that's how she puts herself to sleep. That's probably why she has such a hard time. Those arms and legs are always going nuts, when she's excited, mad, tired or hungry.

Piper has been different from my other babies and I just know that with different personality traits comes different talents and with her it'll be fun to see how she grows up and those traits develop.

Asher Chad

Asher and I have spent so much time together over the last three years that I really know him the best. He is so funny! He says so many cute funny things each day. He has a big vocabulary and really feels comfortable using it. He makes up a lot of words too. I find myself wanting to use them when I talk now. His most common words are; ery (very), possily (somewhere between probably and possibly), capt (hat, cap), enner (already), fring (bring), fuv (love). I hope that he never stops saying these things. I just love it when he goes, "I fuv you mom."

Some examples of how he uses these words are like, I'll ask him if he's cleaned up his toys and he'll say, "I possily enner did!" That's a common sentence for him. And if he's telling a story he uses the word ery quite a bit. If I ask him where something is but he doesn't want to look for it he usually says, "Oh! It's ery lost."

Asher's really tall for his age and I think acts older too. He has really big eyes and long eyelashes. People think he looks just like Matt. It's possible, I can't tell. Asher has cute legs, I get to see them a lot because he likes to take his pants off. All our bathrooms are upstairs, but Asher is really scared of the upstairs right now because that's where all the ghosts and monsters are. So if I'm busy and he's scared he has a hard time going to the bathroom, so it's really drug out potty training!
Asher's really been sweet with his new sisters. He always calls them sweetie! It's so cute of him, he's really sweet to them. They'll yell or cry for a second and he won't even look up from what he's doing and just say, "It's ok sweetie, don't be sad." I'm looking forward to watching them all grow up together and interact.
Asher's really social and takes an interest in others. He remembers everyone's names, except his sisters he gets those mixed up. He loves curious George, fruit, his blanket, his binkie, nursery, his family, grandparents, and juice. He has eating ADD, he cannot sit and just eat a meal. That's our biggest issue each day.Asher still takes 3 hour naps most days, and remembers anyone or anywhere he's ever received candy from. He likes to play at the park and is very independent. He'll just walk out the front door and go there. He doesn't wander and doesn't go into the street, and we haven't had any problems with him over there for the most part.
Asher's my little buddy. I usually take him wherever I go. He's a little spoiled but he's our first. We love him and have so much fun with him everyday.

4th of July

2009-07-08T09:05:00.000-07:00

We had a family reunion over the fourth up in Idaho on Matt's side of the family. I was nervous to bring the girls up there when I had been working so hard on their schedule and sleeping. It ended up going well and we all had a lot of fun. We took family pictures while we were up there. The last family picture Matt's family took we had only been dating about a month. So it would've been a little premature to get in the picture with everyone. The girls were happy and doing good after the pictures so we snapped a few too. This is such a typical face of Asher. He knew I wanted him to smile so he just kept making this face. I promised him a sucker if he smiled. I got the picture I asked for then this is the one I like because it's so him.

The next day we went on a little wagon ride. It was so pretty and fun to see all the animals and farms up there. Asher loved it!

Piper after the wagon ride. Looking tired as usual. I don't know why she won't just sleep! It would make both of our lives so much better!

Averi with Matt's aunt Dianne. She has twins too. They're just a little older. She really loves these girls. I think it reminds her of when hers were little.

Things are going OK with the twins. They aren't even close to where I want them to be as far as sleeping during the day and night goes. Piper is waking up every 3 hours again. Now Averi is waking up twice too. I hate to wake the other one up at night if they sleep through the other baby's feeding in case they'd skip it and sleep through it, but all I'm doing is getting up every hour or two all night instead. Then I feel bad because when Asher wakes up I just turn on the TV for him and try to get a little sleep. Asher loves it so he doesn't care, but I'd really like to get enough sleep at night so I can just get up and get going for the day.

I feel like I have no idea what to do next with the girls to help them sleep better. I should let them cry at night, but it just ends up waking everybody else up. Piper's cry is so loud! If anyone has any tips or ideas I feel desperate and would love any advice.

And to make matters worse Asher's been pooping his pants, so gross!!! I just hosed him off. I could've waited for a good day to post, but who knows when that would've been.

The girls at 4 months old.

2009-06-26T19:52:00.000-07:00

This last month has been the worst, then the best! I'm so glad things have finally turned around! After about 3 1/2 months old this just started getting so hard, I was getting up every 3 hours at night with Piper. Then during the day she would just cry a ton! She had a hard time putting herself to sleep and it was even harder if I tried to hold her to sleep. Then she'd wake up after she'd been asleep for 30-40 minutes. She'd be tired when she woke up and then I had to pick when to let her cry it out around Averi's naps. It was just miserable. Then one day they woke up and took good naps that day. Now we're having good days more and more often. I started putting some rice cereal in her bottle during her first middle of the night feeding and that has helped with the 3 hours. Now she is sleeping from about 4-7 hours at a time. And we're still working on the naps. Two nights ago I got up once the whole night and morning. (I'm usually up and down all morning in the early hours) Then the next day Piper took 3 almost 2 hour naps.

This is very detailed, but their sleep makes all the difference, as does my sleep. So the last week and a half has been totally doable. There have been a few times where I've just felt like it's over! The hardest part is over and we'll just have hard stages here and there as they get older. Averi is just the best baby. She's even a better baby and sleeper than Asher was. I just lay her in her crib and I don't hear a peep out of her for a couple hours. Then when she wakes up it sound like a little dove just starts cooing. Lately though she's just silent and I can hear her little legs stick up in the air then fall. She's just happy and content, but if she does cry it's the saddest thing. Every time anyone hears her cry they think I'm hurting her or there's something wrong. I would do anything for her if it meant that she didn't have to be sad for another second. It's funny how their little temperaments are so different. If Piper wants something she demands it and doesn't give up until she gets it. Averi will just patiently wait until I'm ready. It's fun having both. I can't wait to watch them grow up and interact with each other and watch as their personalities develop.

The other day the girls were both in such good moods and were giggly so I decided to take a few pictures. I don't have enough pictures of them laughing. I love it!They're 4 1/2 months old here. They're starting to grab things and suck on their hands. I love how their onsies are soaking within 5 min. of getting them dressed. Right now Averi's the drooly one, and Piper likes to suck on her little bracelet.

I love these cute little faces!

We have some friends, Casey and Leslie, and she made these blankets! They are unbelievable. They are so soft too. I love to just cuddle them up in them. There are a lot of pictures where their arms are linked like that. It's cute because if you lay them next to each other they always do that. Lately Piper can link them and get Averi's hand in her mouth.

Piper's looking at the ceiling fan, my babysitter!

Her tongue's been sticking out quite a bit lately. She's been so happy now that she's eating and sleeping good.

That is a typical Averi face. Very serious. It's hard to get good pictures of her because as soon as she sees the camera she gets very serious and concentrates on the camera.

I brought the girls to their 4 month check up. They are both 26 inches long. Piper weighed just under 16 pounds, and Averi weighed 13.5 pounds. Piper is just thick and strong. Averi is just fragile and feels like a string bean when you pick her up. I'm feeling good now about our little family and hopeful that we'll be getting on a schedule and sleep.

I guess I didn't take any pictures of Asher, but I wanted to write down some of the cute things he says. Most of the things he says are so cute because of the way he says them, but since this is my journal I just need to write them down and this is good enough.

The other day we were eating lunch and he was telling me that he had a cavity, and I was agreeing with him. Then he goes, "Yeah, it's not terrible!" (talking with his hands of course) Then he thought about it and goes, "No, it is terrible!"

He's been so good lately. He likes help me clean and is really starting to do some good work. He still calls the girls "He".

Asher always asks if I'm a princess, or if I'm cool. Usually when I'm dressed up for church he says I'm a princess, but the other night I put a new shirt on and he goes, "Mom, you a princess?" I said yes, (why not?) then I went to a meeting. The next time I put on that shirt he started crying telling me that I'm not a princess and to take it off. He has gotten mad at me every time I've worn that shirt. I'm not sure if he hates the shirt or associates it with me leaving. Oh well, a lady at bajio asked me if I wanted some chips and salsa, and when I said no she said, "Yeah, you don't want that pregnancy to last longer than 9 months." I should have said, "Yeah, well my 3 year old thinks I look like a princess in this shirt!"

I can't think of anymore stories, it's getting late and I'm not sure if I'm making sense anymore.

A Busy May

2009-06-05T10:24:00.000-07:00

The girls are getting older and with that you'd think I'd be getting everything figured out. I'm not really. I know how to feed Piper without her sucking in air, and that's about it! This month's been really hard. Piper is now back up to four feedings a night and she wakes up early, she's taking a million cat naps and is getting cuter and cuter everyday. I am also getting really frustrated too. I don't know what to do for her. I started feeding her cereal and the first time she did good, the second time she kept gagging and I haven't tried again. Averi is still so sweet. She's kind of had a little bit of a rough time too. She's always constipated, so that makes her really uncomfortable. Once the girls start eating normal I think that it'll take care of a lot of our problems.

I accidentally deleted this picture down a little further, but I loved the look on her face. And her two little fingers! We've been talking to Asher about baseball for quite a while and that once he was 3 and potty trained he could play baseball. We enrolled Asher into Itty Bitty Baseball. He really had fun going to it. It's perfect because they teach them about baseball and rotate to different stations learning different things. On the last day the mascot came and posed with Asher for a picture I tried to take a couple to get a less terrified look but they all came out about the same.

For Memorial day we went up to Idaho. On Sunday we went to Arco and visited Matt's grandma, that was the first time they had met the girls.

We went to the cemetery and to put some flowers out. It was a little windy and Piper couldn't breathe at all so I had to sit in the car with her.

They both are liking their hands right now!

Here's Asher at the Arco cemetery in front of his Great Grandpa's grave.

We ran into a bunch of friends at the cemetery and they brought us to their new video store and they had.... Yes, a mustache vending machine! Asher wore it for hours! He's so dang funny about mustaches. The other day I said, "Wipe off your face Asher you have a milk mustache." As the words came out of my mouth I was trying to get them back. Now he's always got milk crusted around his mouth. Then Matt needed a turn with the mustache, Matt colored it dark to match his hair. Doesn't Matt look just like his dad?

Here's Asher helping me with the girls. He's so good with them. He always tries to console them if they're sad and calls them sweetie. It's so cute to watch. He's never smothered them and is good about being careful around them. That was a big concern of mine when I was pregnant but haven't had to worry about him with them at all.

I'll bet you guys thought that once I had the girls I'd post fewer pictures of Asher with fewer stories. Maybe when the girls do funny things I'll do more of them. The other day he brought his horse downstairs and said he wanted to ride it to the park. I thought he was pretending but he rode his ROCKING horse all the way to the park and back. It looked hard but he managed.

We're starting to sleep... sometimes

2009-05-20T10:07:00.000-07:00

This May has been really good. We've finally gotten to the bottom of Piper's air swallowing, lactose intolerant issues! She has been an angel for the last couple of weeks. She's starting to sleep better, and her stomach doesn't hurt, so now she's asleep a lot more and when she's awake she's happy instead of crying. They're also starting to get on a little bit of a schedule. That's been fun. There is now awake time and asleep time! Then to make matters better I'm getting some sleep too!

Matt brought a little tractor home for a neighbor the other day. Asher thought that was pretty cool! We have been loving the warmer weather and decided to go for a walk. We were getting the girls ready and came out to find Asher with his favorite blankets and a newborn binkie. I told him we weren't taking that stroller...

Then when we came out to leave I couldn't find him. That's where he likes to ride now. You'd think that with all of these pictures of him with binkies that he still takes them. He doesn't, but he's been telling me he's a baby lately and wanting to suck on them. He's usually hiding when he has one. I don't blame him, babies are sure getting a lot of attention here at our house right now.

Here is Averi in her blessing dress. She's so sweet, I can't even look at her without thinking about how sweet she is.

Here's Piper, she's really sweet too. She's finally starting to coo and make happy sounds. She has the prettiest smile too.

Right before I took these pictures Piper threw her had forward onto my thumb and got her eye. She wasn't too happy the rest of the time.

Lately when I put the girls next to each other they will kind of talk back and forth together. It's fun to see them start to notice and acknowledge each other.

Blessing Day

2009-05-03T17:33:00.000-07:00

Today turned out to be such a special day. We had a lot of family and friends come down for the girl's blessing. Our ward was at 9:00 and Matt did a great job on the blessings. The spirit was really strong, and it was just a neat Sacrament meeting. Here is Matt and Boone after the blessing with Averi. I don't know what happened but I didn't get any pictures of Averi in her blessing dress. I'll have to dress them back up and take some good pictures. It'll be better because we won't feel rushed.
Here is Grampa Dean with Piper. We were so glad that he and Mary could make it to the blessing. Piper looks so calm laying there in her pretty dress!

They were so sweet today

We decided to celebrate Asher's birthday right after the lunch after the blessing. The other day I asked Asher what kind of birthday cake he wanted for his birthday and instantly he turned to me and said that he wanted a mustache cake. He then clarified and said that he wanted a guy with a mustache. So here is his cake that he was so proud of.

He has been so excited to blow out the candles. He has me sing to him everyday and pretends to blow them out. Asher wanted a mustache so thanks to Greg and Paul they made him one with frosting. I told them that they could give him one as long as they didn't go with their original plan of permanent marker, although I don't think Asher would've minded.

Thanks everyone for coming today, it was fun to see everyone. It's always so hectic then it's over and I always feel like I never got a chance to talk to everyone like I wanted to.

Maybe this next week will be warm and we can bring them outside for a walk in our new stroller. I think the girls will like that. I'm sure there will be pictures documenting their first walk!

11 Weeks Old

2009-04-27T13:45:00.000-07:00

The girls are now 11 weeks old. Things are going good. It really depends on the day that you ask me. Yesterday I was tired, burnt out, and just wanted a break. But today has been awesome. Even fairly easy! This morning the girls woke up at the same time and then I laid them back down at about 9:30, awake. They fell right to sleep and woke up three hours later. It was really a miracle. I had to keep going in to check on them, and when they were okay each time I just felt so proud of them. Two nights ago they slept through the night for the first time. So I'm hoping that within the next few weeks they start doing it every night. Ok, I took this picture from the window in our bedroom. It was about 2:00 in the afternoon, I had tried to get him dressed earlier but he insisted on staying in his pajamas, then when I was putting the girls down he grabbed his blanket, snuck a binkie and put his frog boots on. It was so funny to watch him play out there looking like that, then when he walked in the house I noticed that he had taken a pen and colored all over his face. He's just gotten so dang opinionated about everything.

Asher talks so much and he'll decide how he likes to say certain things and there is no changing his mind. Lately it's been the word very. He says ery. He just leaves the v off. Which is fine, but he uses the word very at least twice in every sentence lately. So his sentences sound like this. "I ery ery want to watch a show." While I typed that sentence he just walked by and said, "I'm ery so happy!" He just saw a spider and said, "There's ery ery a spider... it's ery ery so scary." These are samples of the last 20 seconds! I hope he always talks this way and says ery with so much conviction!

Here is Piper, she's about 10 weeks old here. Her hair is getting so long on the top, she's going to have a 6 inch long Mohawk soon if I don't figure something else out. Her hair is really curly so I might try something with the curls. You'd think I'd have some idea about how to do her hair. I tried flat but it just wasn't her.

I love this picture of Averi, she's so sweet and so cute! The best way to describe her is pink! She's just pink.

Doesn't Piper have the cutest smile?! I didn't even know we got that picture of her. We're starting to get more and more smiles out of the girls. I love them so much, they both have the biggest smiles! Thanks to the Booths for their super cute skirts and tights!

I've loved matching these girls.

I'm glad that I took the time to post today, because tomorrow is another day and I want to remember the positive Things from when the kids are young and today was a good day, not everyday has been this smooth but hopefully we'll get more on a schedule and we can get a few things to go smoothly each day.

Our Easter Milestones

2009-04-12T12:30:00.000-07:00

I wanted a few shots of the girls on Easter. This weekend has really been a turning point for us. They both are only waking up once at night to eat, them wake up at like 8 or 9 in the morning after that feeding. Also, I can lay them down awake and they go to sleep now. This has been a huge accomplishment, I've been spending the last couple weeks doing this. I've never been one to really let them cry so it's taken a little longer for them to figure out how to put themselves to sleep. But it sure is nice when you can just lay them down and they close their eyes. Now I just need to teach Asher how to go to sleep without yelling for drinks, food, toys, songs, bathroom breaks, etc.... Aren't these pictures as great as the professional ones?! You'd never know we took them ourselves running out the door to church.

I liked this one of Asher. It's a big responsibility holding a baby. He doesn't usually ask to hold them and I kind of just put her in his lap and he was so proud.
He's trying to get his arm around both girls. What a great big brother! He feels pretty proud when I ask him to help with the girls. Either that or he runs so he doesn't have to help. He has been so good with the girls. He always tries to be gentle with them and talks to them. He always goes, "Hey little fella!" He does it in a real soft, high pitched voice. It's so funny. I think Adam calls him little fella.

The other day I had them both in the crib together and when I went in their room they were like this. Averi's hand was all over Piper's face and mouth so I separated them. Then I came in a few minutes after that. (I must have been doing laundry) They were close like that again. It was so sweet. Lately I feel like they've liked to be together when they're awake. Also today they've both kind of started to smile. Because they were so early they've been a little slow to smile and things. I love their little smiles, they're so rewarding after so much work. It's like they're acknowledging you and giving you a reward for so much hard work. It makes it all worth it.

Six Weeks Old!

2009-03-22T15:50:00.000-07:00

Well, we've made it through the first six weeks. It really hasn't been that bad. I was so excited because Piper has been really fussy and I finally found a formula that she likes and she is now an angel too! I'm so lucky to get good babies. I always feel so sorry for parents with colicky babies. Before Piper was waking up 3 times a night and once I'd lay her back down I'd go back to bed and with in minutes she'd be screaming again, so I'd try to get her back to sleep just to have her repeat this over and over again after everytime she'd wake up to eat. That's not to mention that I'd also have to feed Averi each time Piper woke up too.

Then the other night Piper woke up for the first time at 2:30! I was so excited it took me forever to fall back to sleep. Since then she has gotten better and better. The other night she slept for almost 6 hours! I don't get why when I finally get a little sleep I'm more tired the next day.
This is JoyLynn, she's up in Idaho. I know she misses seeing these girls all the time. They change so much when they're little so she just needs to come down a lot. Plus when she's down she'll wake up with the babies and feed them so I don't have to.

After I get up and the girls go back to sleep Asher and I go in the girls' room and gather up all the bottles and diapers from the night before. We set them on the counter and I throw away the diapers. I should've gotten a picture of all diapers from the night. If we have a poopy night it can be quite a few diapers!

Last week Matt did a load of laundry and when he went to switch it there was water all over the ground. A coin had gotten into the pump of the washing machine and made a hole in it. It was a week before we could do laundry again. By the time we got it running and everything washed and dried I think we had ten loads of laundry, and our washer holds 3 normal size loads. It covered our whole living room and took hours to fold and put away. This is Asher holding the box with the part that I spent almost $40 overnighting. When I opened the box the part was broken so I was taking a picture of it to send to my dad to see if it was ok or if we needed another one. (It ended up working fine)

Paul and Heidi were over at our house the other day, they were also experiencing water damage at their house and had to be out for the day. Kate wanted to hold the baby, but as soon as we'd be about to take a picture she'd be all done and want to run away. We finally got one though.

The only other exciting news at our house is that I finally got my first Ipod. We also sold our car and got something that the whole family can fit into. So that's been fun. Now if I can figure out a way to leave the house and get music onto my Ipod we'll be in good shape!

I wanted to put in a cute thing that Asher said the other day. We were all in the car and Asher was looking over at the babies and he goes, " I Fuv you my babies!" And we both said, "Oh that's so sweet that you love them..." then Matt was telling Asher that when he gets older he can protect his sisters and keep them safe. Then Asher got all excited and goes, "Yeah! And when I get older I can get a mustache on my lip!" Matt and I were totally laughing. I sat him down and explained to him right away that there will be absolutely no mustache wearing when he gets older!!! (just kidding)

Twinfants

2009-03-11T13:57:00.000-07:00

We just got our newborn pictures back last night and they turned out so good! I love them, I'm not sure if I love these girls or their pictures more! I"m excited for them to be able to see each other and be awake and start developing their little friendship. I try to put them together when they're both awake at the same time and that's fun. The other day Matt was holding both babies and Averi started sucking on Piper's toe. It was the cutest dang thing!

I love the look on Piper's face in this one. (Piper's the one with dark hair)

As I look at these pictures I just love these girls. They're both so sweet. I've really enjoyed having them. I've had a lot of help and that has made it so that I can enjoy them. I know people want to come and see the babies, and I just want everyone to know that it really helps me to have someone just hold a baby for a little bit, so feel free to call if you want to come over.

Chrystal Hadlock took our pictures, she's awesome and her prices are really good.

http://www.pauldgreen.com/crystalhadlock.html

Two weeks old

2009-02-22T18:12:00.000-08:00

I thought I would post a few more pictures of the girls. It's fun when they're both awake at the same time to put them together to see each other. Obviously they don't stay awake for very long. Here they both started to fall asleep and both kind of smiled in their sleep at the same time. Averi always makes so many faces in her sleep. It's so cute. Their little mouths are so cute!

This isn't the best picture of their faces, but their little bodies were so cute. As busy as it is having three kids it's better than I thought it would be. The nights are still long, but I just have really loved having them here. It's definitely better than being pregnant! I had a c-section and I'm almost all healed and it's starting to feel good to have my body back. Not that it'll ever be the same after a twin pregnancy.

Piper was getting hungry and she kept trying to suck on Averi's arm, it was funny.
Piper will try to suck on anything when she's hungry.

This was right after we got home from the hospital. I can only tell the time by the color of her bows. She is such a sweet easy going baby! I'm really lucky that she's as easy as she is. Piper is a little more demanding and when she wants somethings she will let out this high pitched cry, Averi's is a really cute cry, I don't hear it very often because she really doesn't cry a lot.

We had just given Piper a bath and I was about to get her dressed and she looked like this, it was so cute. I don't know how to turn it right side up, but if you cock your head to one side you can see it!

We've really had fun with these girls. I can feel it getting harder, but they've been so sweet and Asher is adjusting well too so it's good. It's been really busy, as soon as they're asleep I have to run and clean up after their last feeding or pooping session and then try to make a little time for Asher. Well, Piper is upstairs crying so I'd better end it at that.

Piper and Averi's Arrival

2009-02-13T10:58:00.000-08:00

Just leaving for the hospital with one last shot.

The boys getting ready for the big event.

Me during the c-section.

Poor Averi, this is what she looked like hooked up to everything, it was so sad.

Piper right after she was born, I think she looks so pretty even before her bath.

This is Averi once we brought her home. I think she looks pretty here.

Piper once we got home.

Averi in the hospital, this must have been right before we left. So sweet!

Once they took the lines out of Averi's umbilical cord we could finally hold her.

My first time holding her. She had so many monitors on that she couldn't even wear a shirt.

This was their first time together once they were born, they just turned that close to each other on their own.

I know that we told everyone that we were having the babies Monday the ninth, but my Doctor was going out of town and said we could do it the Saturday before. So that's what we did. I didn't think I could be pregnant for two more days, so it worked out good.

We woke up took some last belly shots, and headed to the hospital. I was so nervous for my IV and spinal. Neither were bad. Then right after they gave me the spinal they just layed me down and put a sheet up. The doctors came in and I talked to him for a second and he said that he had been up since 3:00 worrying about my c-section and pregnancy. He knew I was in a lot of pain and my belly was so big. I told them that there should be a lot of amniotic fluid so we got started. Then when they broke my water both of the doctors were just so surprised about how much fluid there was. They suction up the water into these containers, a normal pregnancy fills one and mine filled 3, plus it was everywhere too. They both said they had never seen anything like that before. It was so nice having the pressure relieved, I could just breath for once!

The babies were born about 1 minute later. They were born at 8:04 and 8:05. Piper was born first, she weighed 6 lbs. 5 oz. and Averi was 6 lbs. 8 oz. Piper was breathing fine, but they were kind of struggling with Averi. So they hooked her up to Oxygen right away.

They added morphine to my spinal and once that kicked in it kind of made me feel miserable and loopy. I was itching and couldn't really focus my eyes and a million people were trying to explain things to me about Averi and asking me stuff. There were also a ton of visitors and I can barely remember who was there. That day was kind of a blur once the morphine kicked in.

Then by the afternoon I still hadn't seen Averi, and they were saying that she had a lot of air in her belly and she was breathing really rapidly. So she ended up being hooked up to Oxygen, she had an IV, she had two lines running into her umbilical cord, monitors all over her chest and feet, she had a see pap machine (sp?), a tube running into her stomach and another into her lungs. It was so sad! Matt spent most of the day with her that first day. Then at around 4 the Doctor said that they need to send her down to Utah Valley, and that I wouldn't be able to see her until wednesday. I about died. My brother was on his way to the hospital with his family and once they got there Matt and Greg went in and gave her a blessing. At 6:00 the life flight crew came and put her into a little box to transport her. Then they made a few phone calls and came in our room and said that within the last hour and a half her stats had really improved and they aren't going to take her to Utah Valley after all. What a blessing! We were all so happy and she just really started improving quickly after that. They moved her to the level 2 nursery and she stayed there the rest of the time, and I couldn't complain about that!

Because she had been through so much Averi really just slept the whole time in the hospital, well so did Piper, I guess all new babies do though. On Monday they started turning down her IV and her blood sugar stayed up then Tuesday the did the same with the Oxygen. By Tuesday morning she was completely off of Oxygen with just one scare. I can't even remember what happened now, but they still let us all come home together on Wednesday morning.

We've been home now for a couple days and are just having fun with these babies and trying to adjust to having 3 kids. I can't think about when Matt goes back to work and I'm here by myself with all 3. The jump from one to three has felt really over whelming to me but hopefully I can get used to it soon.

My final thoughts on this pregnancy

2009-02-03T20:24:00.000-08:00

I thought since my pregnancy was almost over I'd write some things down about it. I'll start with the embarrassing things. I don't get embarrassed very easily, but if I did these would be some of the highlights!

A couple of months ago I was about to do a haircut, and before we went downstairs I decided to hurry and lay Asher down then we'd get started. She was waiting at the bottom of the stairs and when I started walking upstairs I thought that something felt weird. I looked down and realized my skirt was around my ankles. It didn't help that I didn't have any clean underwear so I was wearing my backup pair of men's underwear! Not too flattering!

A few weeks ago we went to our favorite restaurant, I really didn't look cute and was feeling about what I looked like. They seated us in a booth and when I went to sit down I didn't fit. I could sort of wedge myself in, but that just didn't work. Then the hostess got uncomfortable and then it got all weird. Turns out there was more room on the other side of the booth. Since that day that's happened to me 3 other times. Sad huh?!

I was putting lotion on my belly over Christmas and of course Asher was there to see what was going on, and he looked at my belly button sticking out and goes, "Mommy, is that yucky?" I haven't even been able to see my belly button for a while so I was like, "I don't know, it's fine." Then a few days later he asked again and I told him it might be a little yucky. Now he just tells me it is.

I've been going to the hospital for non-stress tests since I was 29 weeks. So we walked in for my first one, and the lady behind the desk thought I was in labor and wanted me to take a wheelchair. I told her that I was fine but she kept wanting me to take it. Now when I go in I try to walk normal and not make eye contact. They still ask me about half the time.

Some other things about my pregnancy that have made this one a little different are the following. I drink probably 1.5-2 gallons of liquid each day. I go to the bathroom about 25 times a day. I have to flip sides about every half hour at night and I feel like I'm just a whale trying to flop around to get to my other side. I can barely walk, I'm in so much pain that now I waddle and limp at the same time. (I really hope this goes away once the babies are delivered) Both babies are breech right now and their heads are touching each others up in my ribs. It's cute and I just have to be grateful that with all the pains in my hips I don't have two heads down there too.

All in all this has been a good pregnancy, I've been able to work and not go on bed rest the whole time, and they are both growing really well and should be healthy once they're born. I've made a lot of friends because people can't help but comment on my status and it turns out that everybody either has twins or their parents are twins and they tell me about it. It's like when you buy a new car, then all of a sudden everybody on the street has that same car. It's really been fun to hear every one's experiences. I hope I'm prepared enough!

1 and a half weeks left!

2009-01-29T09:21:00.000-08:00

Well, it's getting closer. I went to the doctor's the other day and I asked him to confirm a date so that I had something to focus on the last little while. I picked Feb. 9th and he said that was fine. So I'll just go in early that morning and I'll have a c-section and he said that by 9 o'clock at the latest it'd be all over!

I had an ultrasound with my appointment, and as soon as she put the monitor on my belly she goes, "Oh No!" That scared me but then she said they had both flipped around and are both breach. It doesn't really matter because we were already planning on a c-section, but I can't believe they are still moving around in there when they are that big. Baby A has been head down for 4 or 5 months now, then for some reason she completely flipped around. They are a good weight. Now that they both have their heads up it was a little easier to measure them. They were both just under 7 pounds. They're weight estimations are hard to be exact the further along you get. So they could be plus or minus about half a pound. We'll see. But everything looks good, and aside from the pain I'm doing good. There's something in my left hip or ligament or something, but it makes it extremely painful to use my left leg, at all! I just hope that having the babies takes care of that problem.

3 weeks to go!

2009-01-19T11:03:00.000-08:00

As much as I hate taking pictures of my pregnant self I know I'll wish I did in the years to come. This is me at 34 weeks. I have three weeks left now. Asher likes to pretend that he has twin babies in his tummy. I wonder if he'll be disappointed when he finds out the truth. I wonder if it'll get much bigger in the weeks to come. I'm feeling like this is about as big as I can get. Although I do remember feeling that way at about 6 months pregnant with Asher. Your body can really do some amazing things.

I think the babies are up to about 6.5 lbs. and around 6 lbs. Piper, the top baby that's laying sideways across the top of my belly is still somehow managing to flip around. Every week when I get an ultrasound her head is on the left side then the right the following week. The only thing I can think is that she likes being on the right side, but Averi's feet are right there by her head so I think that she gets kicked a lot then has to flip around again. I don't know. I'm getting excited to see what these little girls look like. It should be fun seeing what two of our kids look like in one shot. I try not to picture them. When I had Asher they showed him to me and I thought, "Oh, that's not the baby I've been picturing!" So I'd rather just go in with no thoughts or expectations. In the meantime I'm just trying to stay busy, I'm still working and that really helps to make the time go fast. So if anyone needs to get in last minute I'm planning on working up until we have them, then I'll take a month off and slowly start back then.

4 more weeks to go!

2009-01-14T20:54:00.001-08:00

I haven't been taking great pictures lately, so there's nothing that fun to look at, but I just wanted to update everyone and let everyone know that every thing's going good with the pregnancy still. If the babies lungs are developed the Dr. said that he'd take the babies on Feb. 9. I went and got checked today and I'm not progressing at all, which is a good sign right now so there's no more worry about bed rest or anything. It's always just been in the back of my mind that I might have to quit working and stay in bed all day. Sometimes that doesn't sound so bad, but for the most part I'd rather be busy and have the time go by quickly.

I think we've finally decided on first and middle names for the girls. Baby A will be the first born, and her name is Averi Jane, and then baby B will be Piper Lynn. We've got about everything we need, I still need to get baby bedding, and curtains for their room, and maybe a stroller. I have my side by side, but some people think that I need a front and back one. We'll just probably wait and see. I can't even imagine leaving the house with 3 kids anytime soon, so I'm not in a huge hurry. Oh, I guess we need a new car too. Matt needs to buy a truck for work so we'll probably do his first then mine next.

Lately it's seemed real that we're really going to have these babies. I haven't been able to think about the reality of twins since we found out, but lately I've been able to think about it for a few minutes at a time. At this point I don't know what would be better, having them in or out of my stomach. I'm already awake all night, and can't get much done. I thought that before I had Asher and my Dr. warned me that they're a lot easier inside even though it might not seem that way. She was right, so I just have to remember that.

At our ultrasound this morning we got to see the babies again. It looks like they both have a good amount of hair. I think it looks blond, but Matt says that you can't tell the color from an ultrasound. So we'll just see who's right here in a few weeks. Both of the babies are measuring big for their age, big surprise! I make big babies! One is already over 6 pounds and the other is just under 6. So if I'm pregnant for 4 more weeks then they'll both be about 8 lbs. And I have a lot of amniotic fluid again. So I'll have 16 pounds of baby! I shouldn't spell it out that clearly it makes me kind of sick. But it's really good for the girls, just not my body. But it's sure not about me anymore. Also we kind of counted up about how many times I go to the bathroom in a day. I think 30 times and Matt says realistically probably 25 times. Who knows. It's a lot. Every time I stand up Asher says, "Oh mommy you have to go the bathroom?"

What good would a post be if I don't write something about Asher. I've been feeling guilty for not writing down cute things that he says, so if I don't write it here it's gone forever! But today we were in the car and I turned around to look at him, and I go, "Oh Asher, you look SO tired! " And he just glanced up then back down and goes. "Oh thanks." But the way he said it was just so funny. He makes me laugh so many times a day.

Asher bumped his mouth climbing out of the crib a while ago and didn't want to do that anymore so I'd still have to go get him after his naps. Then another lazy Sunday he woke up and I asked him to just climb out, so now after he wakes up he comes out of his room announcing that he woke up and slept good. That's been nice, he doesn't realize that he can climb out before he's fallen asleep so that's good.

Christmas 2008

2009-01-02T20:11:00.000-08:00

We had so much fun this Christmas. Matt's parents came down from Idaho and spent the week with us. We had a lot of fun, and of course Asher loved every minute of it. Carrie and her family were here too. He and Haley, Carrie's 3 year old, played so well together. It was fun to watch. Every time they'd see each other Asher would get excited and go, "Haley!!! I missed you!" I don't think he got a full nap for over a week, but it was worth it to be able to spend so much time with family that we don't always get to see.

We had such a fun Christmas, Asher asked for train tracks all day for about 3 weeks, so it was fun to watch him open and play with all of his things. Next year will be different so it was fun to just focus on him. Although I'd have to say the girls got way more stuff than he did. Thanks everyone for everything, everyone has been so generous and I think we can have the babies now! (I wish)

I've started going into Doctor's appointments about once or twice a week now. It's been fun having so many ultrasounds. I think Matt wants to do ultrasounds for a living. He can read those things as clearly and quickly as our techs. Except for when he told me that he thinks baby b has a clef lip. Turns out he was wrong and the babies are still good!

The babies and I are doing really good. They're already getting big. One of them is just under 5 lbs. and the other is over 4 lbs. I still have over a month left and they'll probably each grow about a half a pound a week from here on out. So I'm really in for it this month! The babies also both have hair. I'm getting so uncomfortable. I have good and bad days. The other day I pinched a nerve and could barely walk. Today's been good, I worked about 5 hours and went shopping. I'm paying for it now, but I'm doing good.

We're looking forward to this new year. We've already started the year out with a bunch of big changes. I think it's what needed to happen to get ready for our crazy life this year!

Getting ready for Christmas

2008-12-21T14:04:00.000-08:00

Asher is still working on potty training. It has really created a lot of unique outfits. When we're at home he does really well. If he has a diaper on he doesn't really think of going to the bathroom on the toilet. I don't really care when he gets potty trained. For some reason his little toilet REALLY grosses me out. I gag every time I clean it. But for some reason diapers aren't so bad. Asher's getting excited for Christmas. He talks about it nonstop! Mostly his "train tracks". That's what he really wants and we told him a thousand times that maybe Santa will bring it to him. Then this morning I had him come help me wrap some presents and I couldn't find the scissors so he was looking on the ground and under the bed for them, and he goes, "Oh, there's my train tracks!" I got all weird and was all, "No they aren't! Let's go downstairs." Then I looked under the bed to see what he saw and it was of course his train set, but it was in two big bags, you could see the logo on the side. I wrapped it and moved it so even if he does try looking again it'll be gone.

In this picture Asher was pretending like his horse was a sleigh, and he had his stocking filled with little pieces from his nativity scene, and he was going around saying, "Ho Ho Ho, Merry Christmas!" Then he was giving out "toys". It's been so fun seeing him learn about Christmas and hearing him sing Christmas songs.

I'm still pregnant! I'm getting to the point now that strangers are commenting every time I go somewhere. I went to the hospital for a non-stress test the other night and an old lady was trying to make me take a wheelchair because she thought I was in labor. Then when I was at the front desk they asked me in front of everyone how far along I was. I tried to say it quietly but everyone heard and started apologizing!

I don't really care about the comments and how people clear like a whole aisle just to let me walk past, but I'm getting so uncomfortable. Sleeping's a disaster, so is sitting, standing and walking. I have been lucky that I can still work and it's really not too bad. My goal is to work until the third week in January. If I can go longer fine, I'll just see how I'm doing.

The Reindeer at Thanksgiving Point

2008-12-12T15:39:00.000-08:00

We went to Thanksgiving point the other night to see the reindeer. It was fun but SO cold! We asked a lady to take our picture and she almost cut us out! She must have really wanted a good shot of Rudolf in the background.

I love how Asher looks at Matt. He loves him so much!

Here Asher was trying not to be scared. He talks about Santa and his reindeer all the time but gets so scared.

Here is a perfect example. He wanted to see Santa so bad but would absolutely no get close to him. I don't think it's so bad to feel like he shouldn't get on some strangers lap and talk to him and act like he's happy about it.

Asher has been thinking about getting potty trained. He spends a few hours each day without pants and a diaper going to the bathroom every two minutes so that he can get some candy. We're both not totally sure that we're ready to be potty trained. I'm sure when we're buying diapers for three we'll be ready for Asher to be potty trained.

The day after our Christmas party Matt and I were so tired and I heard Asher wake up from his nap and I didn't want to go all the way upstairs (it's SO far!!!) to get him and I go, "Oh Asher can't you climb out of your crib for once by yourself!" I didn't think he could even hear me and two seconds later he came running out of his room yelling, "Good Morning! I woke up!" It was really cute. He'll climb out a little here and there after his naps, but for the most part he likes to have someone come get him. So I think it's getting close to time for a toddler bed.

Yesterday I went to lunch with a friend and I brought Asher. He kept escaping and when I went to get him he was walking down the aisles of the restaurant with his hands on his back pushing his stomach out and announcing to everyone that he was having twin babies. It was pretty funny. I think he thought all those people were lined up in a row just to watch him perform. As far as he's concerned the world revolves around him. Poor thing, in a couple of months he'll find out that it actually revolves around the twins!

...still pregnant

2008-12-04T18:20:00.000-08:00

Since I've been pregnant with twins it seems like everybody else is too. And I love looking at other peoples blogs to see how their pregnancy is going. I feel like I've had a really uneventful pregnancy (which is a good thing). But when I was pregnant with Asher I took that glucose test to see if I had gestational diabetes and I was borderline. And since I get most of my information from the Internet I've read that if you were borderline with a singleton then when you're pregnant with multiples you have a greater chance of having it.

I took my test yesterday, then today I went to lunch at Olive Garden. As soon as I got home my phone rang and it said "OB". I thought, "Oh great! I just ate my last meal!" Then she told me that I'm metabolizing my sugar great and that I'm not even close to borderline, but my Iron levels are extremely low.

This explains why I've been feeling the way I have. I have felt like I just want to sit on the couch and never get up! So I've upped my Iron and it almost made me think that we're all low in Iron. So every one's eating more spinach! (Or maybe flinstone vitamins with Iron) So that is the big event of my eventless pregnancy. I've been really lucky that this pregnancy has gone so well. I know so many people that have had and are having problems. At this point I have to look at the positive on everything because I'm just getting so uncomfortable. I'm almost measuring full term as if I were having one baby. So it's hard to think that I still have a little more than two months left. I'm sure that once I get my Iron up I'll feel a lot better though.

I've had so much fun with Asher lately too. He has been so good and so sweet! This has been the first time that I've really felt like I don't want him to get older. I love the age and stage he's in right now. I just hope that he always stays this sweet.

Last night I was talking to Matt's mom on speakerphone and she was about to hang up and Asher could tell so he ran to the phone saying, "Wait Grandma wait!" And she goes, "Oh what do you want Asher?" And he smiled and goes, "A bike!" It was way funny. People have been asking him what he wants for Christmas, so that's been his answer.

Asher has also been going to the bathroom on the toilet quite a bit lately. I'm not sure if it's me or him who's not ready to commit to being potty trained. Diapers are so easy when we're out doing things. He doesn't wear a diaper for at least a couple hours everyday and so far no accidents! Well, he doesn't poop in his toilet so we're waiting for that, and there was one of those accidents, at least he had underwear on though!

I don't know when I'll be ready for a picture for those of you who haven't seen my belly yet. Matt keeps wanting me to take a picture, so maybe soon.

TAGGED!!!

2008-11-19T19:28:00.000-08:00

Share 7 random/weird things about yourself.

I'm trying to decide what I should write, I should put down 7 things I do that Matt thinks is weird or teases me about. It would probably be the most honest. I don't think I do ANYTHING weird! :)

1. Since I've been pregnant and hot I've had a hard time sleeping because I get so hot, so I try not to let Matt touch my side of the bed. I have a few tricks but it seems like everytime I get up to go to the bathroom at night there's a leg using up my cold spots when I get back!

2. When I was 12 my brothers were playing with their new pellet gun and shot me in the stomach. I ended up going to the hospital and I have a two inch scar on my stomach.

3. I seem to forget really important things, but can remember some things that are so useless and in great detail too. Like phone numbers and email addresses. (Actually sometimes it is useful)

4. I love to listen to love songs. If you've gotten your hair done lately you probably already know that. I found this station that is all straight love songs. It's the best!

5. I like to wait till Asher's asleep to have a treat. It seems like it takes the fun out of it if he's awake wanting some or just not letting me enjoy it!

6. I grew up in Northern California and moved to Utah just before highschool.

7. The first time I saw Matt we were at the gym he busted me for staring super hard so I waved. We ended up getting set up on a date about six months later and have been together ever since!

My baby's gotten old!

2008-11-15T07:11:00.000-08:00

Asher's just getting so old! And he's been saying the funniest things. It's so fun. I think just over night he started comprehending so much more. Then that allowed him to talk about more things. The other day Matt was telling me something that he did and I was joking/teasing him. And Asher goes, "Mom, you want to be nice to Daddy?" It's obviously cuter in his voice, but he's just picking up on my tone, and what I'm saying. So he's going to have to start picking up on sarcasm or I'm going to have to stop.

Yesterday it was kind of cold but I wanted to go for a walk, so I thought that we could just go to walmart and just walk around the store a few times. As we were walking past the make-up aisles Asher goes, "Mommy, I want to see the fishy's." So I turned him around and we looked at the two little grimy fish tanks that they had against the back wall. So we were there for a second but had to keep moving. Then when we left I was putting him in his car seat and he goes, "Mommy, I had fun at Cabela's!" At first I thought he was just getting the names mixed up, then I realized that he meant he had fun at the huge fish exhibit like at Cabela's.

Asher realized a few weeks ago that McDonalds gives out toys with happy meals. So everyday he tells me that he wants to go bye bye, and I ask him where he wants to go and before it was always the bank, (suckers) but now he goes, "Um... How about Fick Donalds? Remember Fick Donalds?" I don't really mind going because he'll carry the toys around for a week or so. In fact I was at the beauty supply the other day and they asked if he had a lion that he left there, which he did and it was like Christmas getting it back!

I know I'm not writing down very many of the cute things he says, but it's so hard to remember and to think that I'm going to forget everything as he gets older. He's just been so fun and been SO good the last few weeks. I hope that when the babies are born he finds his place quickly. It makes me sad to think that we just have a few more weeks with just the three of us here at home. I'm sure that when the babies are here we won't be able to imagine it any other way, but we just have so much fun and freedom right now.

I just remembered a few cute things that Asher says and does. Any time I hurt myself or say something hurts, like my back and feet, Asher always gets a concerned look on his face and goes, "Oh, you want need a band-aid?" I love it. He want needs everything. I think that's how I'm going to start talking, it really is more clear. I want need new couches. Speaking of couches, when I lay down on our couch I always ask Asher if he wants to snuggle and he goes, "Sure" then drags over a blanket that weighs about as much as him, then walks over and turns off the light then runs back so we can snuggle, and watch TV. I love it. He's never been very snugly so I just love when he tries even though we snuggle for about 3 or 4 seconds at a time. He's a little wiggly!