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Lilypie Second Birthday tickers

Monday, July 27, 2009

Sunday Swinging

As if you needed any more proof that the girls are growing up right before our eyes, here's some more. I bought some convertible carseats this past week. $100 off each, making it a grand total of $360 rather than $560. Yes, everything costs more when you have twins. Anyway, I was pretty excited though because I knew that the time was coming when we would have to buy new carseats. They are getting heavy to carry around. It's doable, but lugging around 50+ pounds is probably wearing on my body. Here is Kate modeling off her new car seat. I haven't made the switch yet. I'll probably wait until after our vacation. The infant seats still has its benefits especially if I want to make a quick run into the grocery store because they don't have two seats for babies. Once again, twins makes things just a little more difficult. Everything just requires more thought and planning. It's a good thing that God made me a planner.



George and I took the girls to the park on Sunday night. I've been wanting to do this for a while, but it's so hot and I'm only one person. It was overcast Sunday night so we decided to make a quick trip to catch these pictures and just check out the park closest to our house. I'm sure parks will become our friend in the upcoming cooler months.


Kate

Hannah-Happy Hannah loved to swing. Kate wasn't as crazy about it.







Wednesday, July 22, 2009

What a Champ!

As mentioned in my previous post, Kate is getting her top two teeth. One that I can only see and the other one I can actually feel and see. Well, I was feeding her bits of cheese this afternoon and saw another (yes, that makes 3) tooth coming in. It is a bottom tooth! No wonder this girl has been clingy and cranky and had a fever the other day. I give her props because not that we remember teething, but I'm sure it's no fun. As the girls have been standing in their cribs lately, I knew that they had begun to chew a little on the crib rail, but I finally took a peek today at the non-showing side of the rail and...oh my goodness. It looks like a kitty cat has been in their sharpening her claws.


Hannah's crib. It's a little hard to see on this picture, but notice the lighter marks.
Needless to say, I hit up Babies R Us for some crib rail guards and we'll have to touch it up with some furniture markers. I guess I shouldn't have waited so long to get some teething rails...oops!
And yesterday, Michael, Matt, Sarah, and Rachel came over for a Philly Cheesesteak dinner. It's the first time I've ever made them. This was how Hannah and Kate greeted Rachel. They love to play with carseats now.




I bought some Baby Einstein DVD's off of craigslist and this is Kate watching one of them. It doesn't hold her attention long, but for a couple of mintues if she's uncontained. I don't think it will be long before I need to clean out my entertainment cabinet because she was opening the doors today. Oh the joys of mobility!


Monday, July 20, 2009

Weekend Fun

We had a whirlwind of fun this past weekend. George is continuing to work a lot between Verizon and the lawn business so Saturday was mostly just me and the girls, but I got some fun pictures of them eating little bits of banana for the first time. I'm trying to experiment more with more texture and finger foods. I'm curious for all of you recent moms out there. What kind of finger foods were you feeding your babies at 10 months old?




Hannah


"Enough with the pictures already, Mom." I was actually trying to get a picture of her two little teeth. It's blurry, but you can see them.


Kate-she'll eat anything you put in front of her




Kate-holding her own bottle. Daddy was proud of her and had to show off her skills. She's been doing this for a while though. She's smart. It means that while I'm changing Hannah and getting her ready to eat, Kate doesn't have to wait. I just give her the bottle and she feeds herself.




Kate-our first time wearing a bow to church. There's not much hair to hold it there, but it's still cute. Their hair is actually really growing in in the back, but still no comparison to Rachel.

Bright-eyed, bushy-tailed, & ready for church


So after church on Sunday, we had a pool party with some friends in our Bible Fellowship class. George went night hunting on Friday night and was with a group of guys that killed a pig.


George and a friend spent Sunday morning cooking it and then served it up at our pool party. It was pretty good. However, as did my lunches in the early days of twins, it went mostly uneaten. The girls were a little cranky yesterday afternoon so I was more in a rush to feed them, change them, and get them into the pool before we had to go home for a nap. And people often ask me how I lost so much weight. We then hurried home after a short swim and the girls took a nap.


This is how I found Hannah sleeping during her nap. Doesn't look very comfortable, but I guess when you are exhausted, it doesn't matter what position you sleep in.


Sarah and I were asked to speak to a youth group at the church of our former high school life group leaders. (I hope that made sense.) Basically, we shared our testimonies and how God worked in our lives during middle school and high school. George, the girls, and Rachel all traveled with us. We had a lot of fun and it was great to see the Aden family again and have them meet our babies for the first time.
At the Adens' Church
After that, we headed to my parent's home and spent the night having dinner with them. My brother is now moved in and we are just glad that he's home. Without going into any great detail because most of you already know the general situation, please be in prayer for our family right now. The only thing that I will say is that I really respect and admire my brother's character and I love him.
Doesn't all of that make you tired just reading about it? And that is why today we are recouping from our busy week. One of Kate's upper teeth is finally breaking through the skin so she's not feeling completely well and it's rainy so it's a good day to stay inside and clean the house...or not.

Saturday, July 18, 2009

Back from Hiatus

Sorry that I have not posted in the last week. I was the lead teacher for a one year old classroom for Vacation Bible School this week. Whew....finally have a morning at home. It was a lot of fun and I loved doing it, but definitely glad to be back into our normal routine. Most of my "free time" last week consisted of napping when the girls napped and running errands. I'm not sure that there is anything too new and exciting to report. Hannah started pulling herself up to stand a lot this last week. These little girls keep me so busy. And to think I need to start planning a 1 year birthday party...wow.
Hannah and Kate also got to attend VBS, only because I was working it. The whole theme of the week was the Boomerang Express, set in Australia. Yesterday's activity was to wear crocs. George's mom bought them these crocs when she was down to see them last November. This is the first time they have been able to wear them. Of course they didn't stay on long, but it was long enough to take pictures and to show the nursery workers at church.


Sunday, July 12, 2009

Farewell, Loyal Friend

The day has finally come. You have been there for me through ups and downs over these past 10 1/2 months. You were the path through which I could provide the little that I was able to through the first weeks of Hannah and Kate's lives. You kept me company in the wee hours of the night and morning. As much as I hated you at times, you were the one thing that I kept coming back to because it's the only way that I knew and sometimes it felt like it was the only thing that I could do for my girls. We met in the hospital. Little did I know the hundreds (maybe even thousands) of hours that we would spend together. You've accompanied me everywhere I've been the last 10 months. You have amazed me at how well you have kept up. You were worth every penny. You enabled me to shed pounds and get to a weight I haven't seen since high school. So as I say farewell, there are some bittersweet memories floating through my memory. Remember the late nights in the hospital when I could barely make it out of bed, remember the bottle after bottle that I filled as a new mother wondering if the flow would ever stop, remember those times when you simply sat with me as I cried wondering how in the world I could ever be a good mother to two precious little girls. But most of all, remember that we shall reunite someday in the not too distant but not so near future. I leap for my newfound independence with a slight sadness at finally having to pack you up and say goodbye. Here's to you my loyal friend.


Call me crazy, but maybe it's only something a mother who has had a baby born way too early with not even an option to breastfeed until weeks later will understand. While I am very excited about being able to wake up just minutes before the girls wake up and it's one less piece of "luggage" that I have to carry around, it's just a tad sad to put away something that was the only way I could provide for my daughters who were fighting to live.

For those who are considering buying a breastpump, I will highly recommend Medela. I have literally spent the last 10 1/2 months using and abusing my pump and it still works just as good as the day I bought it. I sincerely hope that the next go around I will not have to use it that much. So with that said...

The Dairy Bar is officially closed for business.

Friday, July 3, 2009

Happy 1st Birthday, Baby Lantz

My Precious Baby,

A year ago I was supposed to give birth to you, but that was not what the Lord had planned for you. He planned that you would miss the pain and suffering that happens here on earth and go straight to Heaven where there is nothing but joy. He planned that you never experience anything less than perfect and that you rest in His arms. He planned that you have two beautiful little sisters to play with one day in heaven. His plans were not our plans, but we trusted that He had something better mind. I don't know if you can look down from Heaven and see all that He has done this past year. I don't know if you were there encouraging your little sisters to keep fighting everyday when they were in the hospital. I can't wait for the day when we get to be a complete family one day. Mommy loves you and has great joy knowing that you already know the fullness of Jesus's love for you.

Until that day,
Mommy

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Rain, Rain, Go Away...

So it has been raining here a lot the last couple of days. In fact, we have twice had plans to go swimming or out to breakfast with friends and we haven't even been able to make it out of the house because it has just been pouring rain. That also makes it extremely difficult for our lawn crew to cut lawns, but they are working around it the best they can. God has poured down blessings of a lot of tree jobs, more lawns to cut, and a big landscaping job, but it's hard to get all of that done when we've had constant rain. We woke up to rain this morning and after about 4 hours of a hard, steady rain, it has finally let up. Hannah found her way over to the sliding glass doors and watched the rain for a little bit this morning.



George spent some time yesterday practicing for a wedding he is playing in this weekend. I think it's the first time they have heard him play his cello since they were in the womb. They showed semi-interest. It was more a of a really big toy to play with than to enjoy listening to.