2013 Year in review...a month late. go figure.

THE end of 2013 happened a whole month ago! Geez. I tried to get photos for this post and never got around to it.  So if you only read my blogs for the pictures, I guess you can skip this one. Sorry, I know pictures are way better than ALL my words.  But oh well, it's for my journaling sake too.  Just follow me on instagram or facebook and you can see those pictures.  I will finally post this since I wrote it in December and wanted to post it near January 1 but didn't.  Happy January 31st instead.

WOW, what a year.  This is my year in review blog.  For the sake of anyone who reads this, I will TRY try try to make it short and sweet.  I think I will do some bullets, how's that sound.  Much easier to read.

• January - I was very pregnant, but not too pregnant to be on bed rest or anything.  I worked this whole month, getting ready for the twins to make their entrance into this world.  I loved being pregnant, yes, I'm one of those.  It wasn't uncomfortable, surprisingly (until February) and I really did feel great.  I say that now, but next time I'm pregnant, I'm sure I'll think differently.
• February - Wade finished the remodel and addition completely on our house in North Dakota, just in time for the birth of our baby girls!  I was all ready, just needed them to come, thought they would be Valentine's babies (I was 37 weeks that day), but they came a week later instead, which I was okay with. 
•  We went to the hospital on Feb. 21st at 5am, it was 10 degrees outside and we were not leaving til we had two baby girls in our arms.  I was ready, started Pitocin, then the doc did an ultrasound to find Delaney had flipped a complete 180 and was breech. I admit, I cried when she said we should prep for a c-section.  They left me and my husband alone and he gave me a blessing and it calmed my nerves and I knew Heavenly Father was involved in this decision and it was good and it was right. We all felt good about doing a C-section instead of trying to deliver Paisley (who was first) and then trying to flip Delaney or end up with a C-section after a normal delivery.  I'm sorry, but pain from TWO deliveries was not what I wanted.  What I wanted, was to give birth to two healthy babies by whatever means necessary.  And that I DID.  I gave birth (yes, by C-section) and yes I still experienced the most serene spiritual moment in child birth.  I have strong feelings about this, and I want anyone to know who hasn't delivered by C-section and has only delivered  naturally, that I still got to experience childbirth and even now I tear up about it because it was such an emotional and amazing experience. 
• These girls are my world.  SO incredibly grateful for them and for the love they have shown me, never knew how much you could love a tiny person until now.
• March- My parents visited ND to help with the twins when they were 2 weeks old.  It was SO much help, I was a zombie nursing fool and my mom and dad helped a ton.  They would bring me a child to feed, someone would bring me water and food, they would let me sleep while someone took care of the babies and then a week later they left and Wade went back to work and I was flying solo.  Which surprisingly worked out wonderful.  I loved being at home in bed all day with my babies just feeding and sleeping.  Loved those moments. They were fleeting moments. Autumn's birthday was great. She turned 11. Oh boy! The girls took their first trip to Minot, ND.  We took Autumn shopping for her birthday, she loved it and spent way too much money.  We also bought a mini van.  Toyota Sienna and I love it! 
• April- We took a trip to Idaho to visit family and to give the girls their baby blessings surrounded by many loved ones.  Wade gave them their blessings in my parents ward and it was beautiful.  He did such an amazing job.  I love my husband and his priesthood. And by the way, the twins did AWESOME traveling 2000 miles.  They slept most of the way thank goodness.  Good little 2 1/2 month olds!
• May - I went back to work for 2 weeks part time.  It was tricky.  I went back from maternity leave to give my two weeks notice that I was quitting.  I worked for a wonderful company and had amazing coworkers that were very helpful and accommodating to my circumstance.  I had to bring the girls a couple times and no one ever complained.
• June - We sold our home in North Dakota and moved back to Idaho.  Into our home we bought when we were married and we rented out while we were in ND.  It was sad leaving friends in ND but we were thrilled to be moving back by family. Girls traveled the 1000 miles great again!  My dad flew up to help drive us back (Uhaul, truck and minivan) and it was super helpful and great to have the company. This month also marked the girls rolling over! Getting big!
• July - We went to Utah for 4th of July and Millarapalooza 2013.  What an AWESOME reunion that was to see all the cousins and just hang out.  I absolutely loved it, wishing we could do that every year.  SO fun.  I also turned 30 while I was there, wow, 30!  It was pretty awesome to have my birthday with ALL my family.  I was treated well and it was a lot of fun.
• We also decided to build a house and started the process in July.  Bought a lot, got permits and we were on our way.
• August - Autumn went back to school in Idaho.  She is in 6th grade which is middle school.  Wow, she is all grown up!  Crazy! She was excited to reconnect with old friends from two years ago.  Wade was busy framing the new house (which at the time we were planning on selling this home as a spec home). The girls started to sit up all on their own this month!
• September - Wade worked long hours building the house and then we decided we were going to move into it!  Exciting!!  A brand new house! We were thrilled! (I was...and I think Wade was).  He also started working for Coleman Homes as a superintendent and hit the ground running.  He works 2 minutes from our new house.
• October - Wade continued to get the new house finished while working 8 hours a day at Coleman, so he was busy busy and not getting home til late.  Luckily we got to see him on his lunch hour everyday. The girls had their first Halloween and were Thing 1 and Thing 2. They were so stinkin cute and I'm biased, but everyone thought so too.  Autumn was a prom queen for a party and at school she was a granny.  Yes, she dressed up for school!  Everyone at school said she was the best costume, complete with Grandma Donna's old apron and real wig.  She was the whole package. Delaney started crawling at 7 1/2 months.  Little cruiser, Paisley is close behind.
• November - We finally moved into our new home.  I was so eager that I moved in before wade could even finish the house.  He still had about 7 things on his list to get it finished (nothing huge, like put a door handle on one door, and power wash the garage, little things).  He now only has about 4 things left on that list.  But I was so thrilled I moved in the day they installed the carpet.  We love being home owners and are so grateful we were able to build this beautiful home and what a better month to feel grateful than this one! We had Thanksgiving in town because we had to work on the other house to get it ready to sell and to finish stuff at the new house.  It was nice to be with family and we were grateful for my sister and her hospitality. Paisley started crawling and is super fast, she is keeping up nicely.
• December - We loved the snow and the cold weather we got here.  It felt like North Dakota when we got down to some pretty low temps.  And we even got snow and it stuck around for Christmas! Love that!  Wade worked hard at Coleman and is really getting the hang of things there.  He still loves building houses and is always looking for another home for us to buy and move into and fix up.  That guy!  He's a builder, what can I say.  But I tell you what I married good, he is amazing and does so much for our family.  He makes it possible for me to financially stay home with the girls and that is my dream and he makes it come true!  Gosh I love him!  Delaney and Paisley are both standing up and walking around the furniture.  Delaney took 3 steps on Dec. 23 but nothing more since. Christmas was wonderful, the best part was probably taking Autumn and the girls to the store and telling her we are buying gifts for a family in need.  They had a girl her age and size and she picked things out that she would love to get and didn't even want to keep them for herself.  She said as we walked out to the parking lot, that just makes me feel all warm inside.  THAT is what this time of year is all about.  She was super grateful for everything she got for Christmas and truly felt the spirit of giving.  I have to give credit to my amazing husband for suggesting we do this and it certainly will be a Christmas we won't ever forget!
• Well, I did it again.....I WROTE A TON OF STUFF.  Sorry.....but not really because this is a great way for me personally to keep track of the things we have done. It was an exciting and eventful year for us.  One I have looked forward to since I was a little girl and "wanted to be a mom when I grow up with little babies".  I was the baby doll mom and fed and changed my dolls diapers often and now I have my own baby dolls and trust me I feed and change their diapers OFTEN! 
• I wanted to take a family picture in October and here we are in December and the only one I could get was Christmas day in front of my parents tree.  Maybe next year we will get with the program!
• We hope you all had a marvelous 2013 and that you will forgive me for being a little busy and not posting as often and for posting catch up posts that are SUPER long!  We love you all and count you, our friends and family, as some of our most precious blessings.

Family. Happy New year too!

So it's 11:54 and I will post this by midnight which means I cannot write a novel, I only have 6 minutes. Ha!
I wrote a really long post a few days ago and haven't posted it yet because I am still trying to get all the pictures uploaded onto the computer.  It is a year in review, quite a dandy of a post.  But I just feel like I need to be blogging again.  My family is all asleep and I can't sleep.  It's almost the year 2014 and I can't help but reflect on the incredible year that 2013 was for my little family.  I sit in my twins bedroom on the little stool between their cribs and I am almost brought to tears just looking at them in their cribs sleeping.
I am so grateful that my Heavenly Father has blessed me with an amazing husband who is so supportive of my hopes and dreams and with 3 amazing daughters.  I have the incredible blessing to have one not from my womb, but who is so wonderful and sweet and loving.  She truly is a good girl and is such a joy to have as a part of my little family.  And this last year, my dreams of giving birth came true and I was doubly blessed with two wonderful little girls.  I seriously am so lucky.  uh ho it's 11:58, times a tickin.
These twins have taught me so much about the love my Savior and Heavenly Father have.  It is indescribable.  I laid there in bed with my husband reflecting on things we didn't do or weight we didn't lose or whatever, then it hit me, all the amazing things that DID happen, that we DID do! We are so blessed. It's MIDNIGHT now, and I have said what is most important.  My family is what means the world to me.  My little family of my own and my huge extended family.  I have such amazing parents and grandparents, brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews...I just am so blessed and grateful.  This is what eternity is all about. Family. Happy New Year!

2 month Catch up

Frequenting Home Depot because they have a double seater!

Hangin out at the house while dad works and mom helps.

-I completely skipped October.  It has been a busy month for us.  We are building a house and it seems that if I'm not running to Home Depot, Lowes, the brick store, etc. or the house then I am at home trying to coax the girls into a nap.
  My awesome husband works 8-5 and then goes to the house and works on it every night and every Saturday.  We are crossing our fingers that we can get moved in in a couple weeks.  Hooray!  Can't wait for new house smell and fluffy clean fresh carpet and a much bigger lovely kitchen...OH and a HUGE soaker bath tub!  I'm tempted to take a bath this weekend since the plumbers and electricians will be done with their finals by Friday.  I might, but we don't have a blind in the bathroom....but thumbtacks and sheets work great too.  Just sayin.
Our little family is doing great.  We made it through the first quarter with a 6th grader.  It isn't as bad as we thought it would be, judging from the first week of school and the case of "TEEN" syndrome Autumn caught.  But she is good and funny.  She is actually figuring out homework now and listening to her parents.  Hooray that we are done with the age of 8-10.  She is maturing into a great girl and will soon be a 12 year old.  Crazy!  She will be in Young Women's at church and will be able to go to the temple to do baptisms.  I remember when SHE was baptized, can't believe how time is flying!


7 months and getting ready for church

The twins are also growing up so stinkin fast!  I seriously count my blessings everyday that I have these little sweeties!  I just adore how much they learn and change.  I love watching their little personalities and I especially love watching them interact with each other. My favorite is watching them when one has a binky and the other has none. They will go back and forth stealing it and putting it in their mouth, just to have sister steal it right back out of the other's mouth and put it in her own.



7 months old

Delaney is our active baby, that girl crawls like crazy and is FAST.  I turn my back for a second and she is all the way across the room.  She stands up to everything.  We try to teach her "no" to standing up to the TV stand (because it has doors and she has already opened them and closed them on her fingers once) and she thinks it's funny.  We say "NO" in a stern voice and she stops, turns around all mischievous and smiles and laughs.  Stinker!  She will be the child that when she learns to walk...which is probably sooner than we would like, she won't walk, she will RUN.  Thankfully we will be in the new house and hopefully I can make it safe for her to explore. 


Delaney loves eating her binkies like this.  Silly girl.



Double Tubbers.  They love the bath!

Paisley is our chill baby...except when she is tired and is not asleep.  Oh boy, she can get angry and scream good. She also has a wicked high pitch voice when she decides to scream that high.  She is funny though too.  She is starting to move like she is going to crawl,  I bet she is only a few weeks away from taking off.  She is our limp body babe and Delaney is our muscle body baby.  I love seeing the differences.  

Cute Paisley trying to eat some Halloween candy



Paisley lovin on her blue Monkey

Delaney gave us a scare a couple weeks ago.  She had a seizure and it sure freaked this momma out.  Unfortunately our family has a history of seizures and I guess it never dawned on me that I might have a child that has one. Indeed her seizure was very similar to the ones I had as a baby and my other family members.  We will still go do all the testing here in a week and check to make sure that's all it is and rule out any issues.  We just pray it is the same as our family has had and she will grow out of them.  But talk about scary.  I hope no parent has to go through that helpless feeling as they watch their baby seize.  I'm so thankful though for the blessing of the priesthood and my faith in my Heavenly Father.  I know she will be okay and I'm so thankful for her active healthy body.  She is one precious girl and I only want her to be as healthy and active as she possibly can.


Sad day for momma and Delaney.  This was after she had her seizure.

This stage of babies is so fun because, well, they LOVE their momma.  They can't get enough of me.  Sure sure I spend my whole day with them and they like me and all, but I adore how they coax for me and snuggle up to me or just want their momma.  Usually they do that when they are tired and hungry, but it's pretty cute and I love it.  Wade and I make sure to go on dates so that they can get used to us not being around at every second of the day. 


Delaney has 4 curlers in her hair! It's getting long!



Paisley can only get two in her hair.  Thicker, but not longer.

They love Grandma and Grandpa Burns babysitting them (and Uncle Noah and Autumn too).  Yes, it usually takes about 4 people to babysit the twins.  haha.
Oh and another reason why I haven't blogged is because it is so hard to sit down to the computer undisturbed for more than a minute.  Right now Delaney is napping and Paisley is semi-occupied by the babyfirst channel, but she keeps rolling over and getting mad that I'm not paying attention to her or that she can't move to the toy she wants. 
The girls love opening and closing things, aka the laptop.  They have their own toy laptop and they love opening and closing it, but they sometimes smash their own or their sister's fingers in it.  Not good.  Poor girls are getting roughed up, mostly by each other.  But that's good, they aren't sissy girls, that's a fear of their father.  We can't have that.  :) 
They are still the most precious angels ever though.  We are certainly normal overprotective parents. And on that note, Delaney is awake, Paisley is getting grouchy and tired and Autumn just got home off the bus.  I better be going.  Next time I post, I'll be in my new house and I'll post some pics of the house all done. Here are a few more pics of the last couple months.
Enjoy

Sisters at the Farmstead with the family



Happy October at the Farmstead



Aunt Jazz and Paisley Cheezin for the camera. Copy cats.

First ponytails with bows.  Love having girls.

Uncle Abe helping hold babies in Sunday School. 
Thankful to have Abe and Kam in our ward, sad to be moving out of the ward.

Hangin at the house..AGAIN.

Old Granny and the babes on Halloween



Their 1st Halloween.  We loved their costumes as did everyone else!



8 months old now.

These girls light up my world!  Love them to pieces!!!

Magic Number 6

So this month marks a couple Number 6 milestones. On August 20th, Autumn became a 6th grader!  She is in middle school!  She goes to the same middle school I went to when I was in 7th and 8th grade.  Crazy.  She has a teacher that my oldest brother had and will have my same PE teacher. I signed up to be a parent volunteer, now that I'm a stay at home mom, I get to do those things.  They haven't called on me to do anything, not sure what parent volunteers do in middle school, but I am sure one of them! It's been one week and she is doing great.  She is growing up so fast too, it's like she went from a kid on Monday night to a teenager on Tuesday afternoon. Something about having a locker and 7 class periods makes you a teenager I think.

Autumn is an awesome big sister to the twins and she loves coming home and getting them all excited and smiling because "Autumn's home!!!"  They get so excited when Autumn and Wade get home.  Their excitement is so contagious.

We are happily busy working here in Idaho.  Happy to be home and close to family.  It's been great.  Wade has been busy building and we are so grateful for that.  We miss him during the days, but somebody's gotta bring home the bacon. I just cook the bacon.  I am trying to keep up with the house and though we only have a little house, it sure gets messy quickly and it explodes with baby stuff daily. But as I'm reminded, dust and dirt will stay and keep nicely, but my babies, the won't.  They grow and change so quickly, so my house remains livable while my babies are young and changing by the hour. Occasionally I clean while they are napping or we power clean once a month when the home teachers come over.  Thank goodness for faithful home teachers, best house cleaning tool I have! I do enjoy cooking and baking and have done a few fun things this summer.  I discovered zucchini bread also can be zucchini donuts.  Yeah, I had some left over batter after I filled two loaves so I poured it into my mini donut pan.  It's great.  It's like the edge of the loaf, how it gets all crispy...well the donut also becomes crispy all over.  Best part of the bread.  Great discovery.
I also made a huge pot of Spaghetti sauce with the bags and bowls of tomatoes that grandpa delivered this summer.  I was pretty excited that I made actual real sauce from actual real tomatoes.  I was more amazed with myself than anyone was with my sauce.  That's okay, it "just taste like spaghetti sauce" like my brother and husband and mom said.  But it's made from REAL deal tomatoes I cooked myself.  Oh well, I felt like a Pioneer woman (which consequently is my favorite cooking show, mostly because they live in the middle of no where on a farm, love it).
The next big SIX is that Delaney and Paisley turned 6 months old this month! These 6 pictures are in the order I took them, it's like they tell a story.
 Delaney is looking and being good, so then I say "Paisley" and Delaney decides to help and get Paisley to look, so she looks away to help all the while Paisley looks AND smiles. So then I whistle and make funny noises and they both look and laugh.

 

Then they are off to distraction again, Paisley distracting Delaney. Paisley yanks her headband off.

Seriously, where did the time go.  They are the most animated and cute girls ever.  They have such fun personalities and these 6 month photos totally show their many different faces.  They never cease to amaze me. I looked at my last post when they were 5 months old and they do so much now that they weren't doing then.  Amazing how quickly they learn.

Found sister's foot, they love their feet and each others.

 

These grass photos are so cute.  I wonder what is going through their minds.  This was their first experience in the grass.

Then I had reinforcements come in: Autumn. The smile maker

Then, they were getting done with the pictures:

Too funny, I can't stop taking pictures of them.  Thank goodness for a digital world!

Some things they do that I never want to forget:
Well they sit up now on their own. 
Delaney sits fine without a pillow behind her. She loves to play with things in front of her.
Paisley is still a little wobbly and we put a bobby pillow around her.
Atleast now when then tip over it is graceful and not a hard crash.
Delaney seems to entertain herself for longer with just toys.
Paisley does okay, but she loves being held and loves kisses on her cheeks. 
They are both pretty happy and smiley babies. 
Delaney will instantly smile, but she will also instantly cry if she is startled or just wakes up and sees someone she doesn't know.
Paisley will stare you down and then warm up to you and give you the sweetest grin.  (She smiles instantly for mom, dad and sis, but anyone else, it takes a little work).
When they lay down, sit up or play facing each other, they steal each other's toys, binkies, wipes, books, whatever they have in their hands.  They often take each other's binkies right out of the other ones mouth.

Delaney gets so excited at the littlest things, just like her momma (says dad).  She screams when daddy gets  home and she gets so excited.
Paisley shows her excitement by sucking in air, sounds like she's choking and you look at her scared and she has the biggest funny grin on her face.  She is hilarious with all the faces she makes.  Uncle Noah can't get enough of her expressions.  They both make awesome faces.
These girls adore their daddy.  Here is Delaney sitting in the car with momma waiting for daddy to come say hi to her at the job site.

They "talk" or babble a lot more.  Sounds like "da", "ba", "pa" and "Ma".  So sweet.  Love it!
Paisley loves rubbing your face or facial hair (on men, ha) and will even put her hand in your mouth.  She has a fascination with the face, it's cute how she concentrates on you and rubs your face.
When Paisley is fussy, you can kiss her face softly and it totally calms her down.  She LOVES kisses. 
Delaney is a little chunkier weighing in at 16 lbs and Paisley is 15 lbs 8 oz.  They are about the same length now. 
They started eating solid foods at about 5 1/2 months old.  A little rice cereal in the bottle at night.  Some sweet potatoes, green beans, peaches, pears, squash and apple juice.  Paisley likes everything.  Delaney is partial to the vegetables not so much the fruit.  She makes a sour face at the fruit. She also hates when her sister gets a bite and she doesn't.  Feeding them at the same time is a little hectic because they get mad when the other one gets a bite and not them.  Too funny.

 

Delaney still wakes up to eat once or twice at night. Paisley is sleeping through the night!

They do the cutest things!  They are both trying to wave to say "Hi" and are doing a pretty good job.  It's so adorable.
They love being outside, laying or sitting on a blanket or even the grass.  Something about outside just soothes them.
Delaney tries to whistle because Wade is always whistling to her and so she purses her lips and blows and makes a high pitch sound. So stinking cute and smart!
Paisley will blow bubbles a lot and does it when she's goofing around or mad.
They both grab their feet when they are sitting or laying down.  Wade has helped Paisley practice her flexibility and she now can put her big toe in her mouth and suck on it.  Lovely trick.
 

When Paisley gets tired, she rubs her eyes so hard.  I have to hold her hands down or put my hand over her face so she doesn't rub the heck out of her face.  Delaney just stares and won't smile right before she is about to fall asleep.  Cute girls! So different.
They both roll over at night so no more blankets or anything for that matter in their bed.  I got the breathable mesh bumpers to save the binkies and their arms and legs.  I sleep much better not worrying about them suffocating on the bumpers.  But they do sleep face down now, like literally, Delaney will be right face down on her nose, but she's still breathing.  Scares me to death.
Doc says now that they roll over, there is nothing we can do to prevent them from rolling over and sleeping on their face.  Those stinkers.  Just when I thought I'd get a good nights rest, they go and sleep on their faces. 
When I went in to check on them, Paisley was face down (with her head turned though) and her little bum was sticking up in the air.  I LOVE when babies sleep like that.  Looks like crawling is right around the corner since they are on their knees in their sleep, it's just a matter of time before they are cruisin around the house. 
Well, these girls have stolen my heart.  Makes me love their daddy even more, so don't worry, he's still my number one, but gosh, they are such sweet girls.  I'm so grateful for their big sis Autumn, she really is a huge help and I love her to pieces too (even in all her teenage glory).
I am mostly writing this for my record and for a journal so I won't forget what they do and when they do it.  But thanks for reading and enjoying seeing my kids grow as much as I do.  I better go, Delaney is attacking the computer and I just about lost this whole post.  Grabby girl! I just captured these photos today.  Guess they are both grabby girls!