Moments

I have been accused of not posting enough. Mostly I just feel like I don't have a lot of exciting stuff going on. Well and plus I always seem to be busy....

Tonight I just got done running. When I run a lot goes through my mind. Even though I watch TV and listen to my music while running- I think a lot. So I will share.....

I think about how nice it is to have my brother back. He has had to endure so many Goliaths the past ten or so years of his life. On his birthday (the 26th) we laughed..... how nice it feels to have him back.

I think about the amazing marvels of medicine and life and the human body. This year alone the Harrison side of the family has dealt with our babies and bedrest with two weeks of NICU, Jim's dad having bypass surgery, a nephew who was born at 30 weeks (was in NICU for 10 weeks) and is perfect in so many ways. A 3 week old niece who was just diagonsed with a heart issue and will have to have surgery in a few months.

I spent time with my friends Katie and Heidi today. Katie had brain surgery about 2 years ago at such a young age and with a 3 year old daughter at the time. She is fine today. A little crazy but still fine :)

In the summer of 2007 my brother also had brain surgery and Lizzie had her first surgery.
Everyone is fine and still here to laugh with, spend time with and enjoy.

Just the fact that I can run and have that blessing of a body that can do that......
So there are my thoughts for tonight.

I am now off to have ice cream and homemade hot fudge!!!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

This is Jim's new favorite thing. After he bought it- it did not snow for a month!!!! He has been so excited the past few days and is snowblowing like four of our neighbors houses also :)

*Also we do not have dial-up anymore. Can I just say how much quicker and easier it is to put pictures on our blog and do internet shopping. Yahoo!!! I love it. Thus all the pictures and blogs the past few days :)

Siblings

Here are Ethan and Lizzie helping the babies look their best for picture time :)

I am assuming anyone with older sibling has pictures of them being loved or harrassed (depending on how you look at it) by big brother or sister. Lizzie thought she should play "dollies" with her baby sisters. They actually were quite cooperative for the ordeal.

Achtung!!!!!

Here is a picture of how I found my sweet little Afton today. Yes, she is learning how to pull herself onto things. She can stand against things now. She scoots EVERYWHERE and she has two bottom teeth that have broke through.

Lilly on the other hand just sits and is such a good girl :) No teeth, no scooting and no worrying her mom more by learning how to stand. She just spends her days smiling at everything. I did take this picture today of my usually smiling Lilly and maybe it is an indication of how she feels inside seeing her sister do all these things :)

The babies have also figured out how to grab toys and pacifiers from each other. It is pretty funny to watch. They love to eat and so far are eating anything I give them- crackers, toast, cottage cheese, cooked carrots, cheese, green beans, scrambled eggs, pancakes, waffles, etc.. Maybe they are just going to take after Ethan and Lizzie and be pigs with everything.

One year ago.....

One year ago tomorrow (Dec. 13th) I was put on bedrest. That was just a horrible day for me because I realized what a high risk pregnancy I had become. At only 20 weeks I was down for the count. I remember just crying all the way home from the doctors office thinking " This is too soon. I am not strong enough to do this." The poor people that may have looked over at me as I was stopped at any red lights :) I knew my role as mother, wife and just as a normal person in society was on serious hiatus for awhile. I learned a lot while on bedrest. Mostly how to trust in my Heavenly Father, to let others help and to realize they like to help and to appreciate the blessing our family has been entrusted with. It was such a spiritual, emotional and physcial journey for me. Here are some of the reasons that still make me go wow!

-So Jim and I had always planned on having four kids. After 5 weeks of bedrest with Lizzie my doctor had told me I will be on bedrest for any future kids (even a single birth) because my body just does not cooperate. Heavenly Father totally knew that by sending twins our family we would only have to go through the stress of bedrest one more time. How grateful I am for that. We always wanted two kids close together, take a break then have two close. I guess you can't get much closer than 3 minutes :)

-The whole time I was on bedrest neither Ethan nor Lizzie got sick. That is from the end of December to the end of March. To any that have been around kids during this time of year- it really is a miracle.

- I managed to stay dialated at a 5 and 90% effaced for over two weeks. And during that time when chance of bacteria getting to the babies is very high-I managed to avoid that. I am so grateful for that.

-Through 15 weeks of bedrest Ethan and Lizzie seemed to have no major issues during that time. Well besides their usual quirks and idiosyncracies. I think that is because of all the people who helped take care of them truly loved them and I know they felt it.

-The night before the babies were born Jim had come home from work and said "Tomorrow would be a good day to have the babies. They haven't scheduled me for any patients tomorrow." That has never happened with his work. It was the weirdest thing.

There are so many other things that happened but I won't bore you all with the details. I have written them down so I can share them with Afton and Lilly later.

Although right now I am dealing with mobile babies, teething and feeling like I never get anything done.... I am so grateful for these two precious souls.

So once again- Thank you to all who helped. One day when I have time I am putting this quote up in the babies room.

"Because of the goodness of others you are here."

Got Traditions?

Today we put up our Christmas stuff. Ethan and Lizzie have been so excited and it was the first thing out of their mouths once they woke up today- "Is it time to put up the Christmas stuff?". As we were putting decorations up they kept saying "Look at all this Christmas joy!" Which got me thinking of Christmas traditions. Here is a sampling of ours..... Would anyone like to share theirs?

• Putting up our Christmas stuff the Saturday after Thanksgiving


• Taking down our Christmas stuff as soon as Christmas is over. Well actually that is mine while Jim's is to leave it up as long as possible. I think he liked the fact that last year I was on bedrest after Christmas and couldn't touch anything. Jim's mom fulfilled my request when it was like January 7th or something.


• Jim and I losing our patience trying to get a family photo to send in the Christmas cards :)


• Jim and I give each of the kids a Caldecott book for Christmas. Our intention is once they are older and have a family of their own they will have a nice library of books.


• My dad always reading Twas the Night Before Christmas on Christmas Eve. He has done this for as long as I can remember and now does it for our kids.

New for this year-

• Pajamas for the kids to open on Christmas Eve. I think we are the last to get on this bandwagon.


• Requesting for Santa to only bring 3 main presents for each of the kids. Hopefully it will help to symbolize the three presents Jesus received and makes things much simpler with four kids. Of course Santa still fills the stockings.

I am sure we have more but that is all I can think of for now. The pictures are of Afton (do you like that old man hair style she has :) by the tree and our attempt at getting a cute picture of our four kids. I think this one is hilarious. The final cut will be in mailboxes soon.

Ethical

How ethical is it to sell tickets someone gave you just for being nice :) About a month ago a friend from Jim's work said she would get us some U/ BYU game tickets. We didn't think much of it but were just excited for a date night. When we got the tickets they were great seats. Within the last month interest in this game has skyrocketed.
So today is the big game. This afternoon Jim and I will be heading up for the UofU/BYU game.

Our seats are the FIRST row at the 50 yard line. If Deron Williams didn't have a game tonight and decided to use his season tickets he would be sitting BEHIND US. Last I checked on KSL.com tickets in this general area (a few rows up) were sellling for between $1,000 and 2,000 A PIECE. Yest that is enough to fly our whole family to Disneyland, everything paid with money left over.

But alas Jim and I will be enjoying a very spectactular evening together. Don't get me wrong if these were our tickets I would totally be selling them :) But for now I am way excited to be in on the excitement and go up to the game. Thank you Lizzie for the tickets and the date night.

Oh and by the way - GO UTES!

Jim day

Today is Jim's Birthday. Although I think he is not too excited about his age- I will not reveal the true age but just say it is somewhere between 36 and 38 :) And although I know he very rarely checks our blog- I will still devote an entry just to him. Here are 37 ways why I think he is amazing.

1. He volunteers in Ethan's classroom. Not too many dads do that.

2. Went on a field trip with 25 first graders to Silver Lake

3. Takes Lizzie fishing just him and her.

4. Takes Ethan golfing with him and Uncle Tom

5. Was so patient and understanding during 15 weeks of bedrest

6. Brings me flowers after every priesthood session

7. Is one of the most unselfish people I know

8. Gives me backs tickles when I hardly give any in return

9. Gets so excited over shows like How It's Made and Dirtiest Jobs

10. Has such a strong love and testimony of the gospel

11. Loves nature!

12. Can fix just about anything

13. Invents new ways to fix just about anything :)

14. Is an amazing father to his 4 kids

15. Makes really good homemade Macaroni and Cheese

16. Makes cookies for his family almost every Sunday

17. Was so supportive of me when I was training for a half marathon

18. It brave enough to take 4 kids to the DI and a myriad of other places that I would not take all four.

19. Always makes time for me when I need to go have a girls night out with friends

20. Forgives me of all of my shortcomings

21. Still laughs at the word fart.

22. Has taught the kids to giggle at the word fart :)

23. He has a doctorate.

24. Doesn't complain too much about our usually messy house

25. Gets excited about something (composter, snow blower) and that is all he talks about and researches until he gets it.

26. Is not afraid to try new opportunities (is starting his own business)

27. Is so patient.

28. Is the medicine man for the kids when they are sick

29. Absolutely loves to take care of his garden

30. Respects his family

31. Asked me to marry him

32. Encouraged me to finish my schooling and would even have dinner ready for me to eat in the car while he drove me to ASU for my bachelors.

33. Babysat our new baby Ethan every Monday and Wednesday night when I was getting my Masters.

34. Knows medical terms when things come

up with our kids.

35. Goes to work every day to help support our family

36. Actually misses us when he is at work.

37. Actually takes pictures of himself with a big rooster on a merry go round :)

This is Halloween

What is Halloween without some pictures of adorable kids :)

Afton and Lilly are making their Halloween debut as Thing 1 and Thing 2. It just make me smile to look at how cute they are.

Lizzie is an assortment of princesses. All through the month of October whenenver you would ask her what she was going to be for Halloween she would say "you will see." For pre-school she was a snow white princess, for the ward trunk or treat she was a purple dress princess, for Ethan's school parade a sleeping beauty princess. Who knows what princess she will be for actual trick or treating. Luckily she just pulls something out of her pile of dress up clothes so we are good.

Ethan of course is Indiana Jones. He looks awesome. What else really would he be? Indiana Jones is his obsession right now. It is ironic that Jim and I haven't let him see any of the movies but he still thinks Indy is so cool. He did see the Last Crusade with Grandpa Bob though. He absolutely loves his Indy legos and his Indy computer lego game. In his Indy bag he even has a golden idol. Hilarious!!!


There also is a picture of Grandma and Grandpa Harrison with the kids at our ward trunk or treat. Jim had to work late that night. I would not have survived the evening without their extra hands. Thank you so much!!!!

Numbers

I get asked a lot how many diapers we go through. Honestly I haven't counted because I know it would be more than I really want to know. Here are some fun facts though.

Diapers- It takes us 3-4 weeks to go through a big Costco box. I think the size 2 has 268 in a box so someone else can figure out the math :)
Formual- A big 24 oz can lasts us 5 to 6 days. Yes, 5 to 6 days!!!!! As of two weeks or so I stopped nursing (long and painful story) so they are solely on formula now.
Baby food- We go through about 2 to 4 jars a day.
Wash- I think I mentioned before about 12 loads a week.

Despite the being busy all the time life- these babies are so cute and I have not forgotten what precious souls they are and how grateful I am to everyone for the help in allowing them to be in our family.

The other question I get a lot is- how are they different.

They really are quite different

Afton- she is my grabber girl, she will grab anything and everything in your sight including your fingers, nose, chin, hair and Lizzie's glasses. She scoots a little right now to whatever she really wants to get. Afton absolutely loves baths and I think could stay in there for awhile. She loves to bounce and rough house with Jim. Afton looks a lot like Ethan did as a baby. Well except for in pink clothes. She has the lightest blue beautiful eyes.

Lilly- she is my smiley girl. She smiles at everything and it is the biggest hugest smile. Well that is unless it is bathtime. She absolutely hates baths and cries. She doesn't really move around yet but that is just fine with me. I actually think Lilly will have Jim's dark hair. Can you imagine that. One of our kids with dark hair. Wow!!! She also has Jim's eye shape. Her eyes are blue also but a little darker.

*I will work on getting that darn picture bigger but for now if you really want to see it you can just double click on it. I love it!!!! Lilly is the one showing off her tongue.

Double Tagged

I've Been Tagged (twice)

10 years ago I...
1. was just figuring the newness of a place called Phoenix, AZ
2. the only working person in our family
3. crying at least every day from homesickness
4. married for a whopping 3 months.
5. getting excited for trick or treaters only to have 10 come to our door on Halloween

5 Things on today's "to do" list...boring, I know
1. straighten up the house
2. help Ethan with homework
3. make chicken noodle soup for my sick kids
4. change lots and lots and diapers
5. maybe mop the kitchen floor (wow what an exciting day :)

5 things I would do if I were a millionaire...
1. Pay off Jim's student loans
2. Pay off Jim's student loans
3. Pay off Jim's student loans
4. Pay off Jim's student loans
5. Oh yeah, and some clothes for myself :)

5 places I have lived...
1. Kearns, Utah
2. Logan, Utah
3. Phoenix, AZ
4. Sugarhouse, Utah
5. Sandy, Utah


Next Tag

5 TV Shows I Love to Watch:
1 Hereos
2 The Office
3 American Idol (when it is on)
4 John and Kate plus 8 (if they can do it I totally can)
5 Arrested Development (I still laugh even though I have seen them a million times)

5 Things That Happened Yesterday:
1 visiting teacher interviews
2 made a nice dinner
3 fed babies babyfood
4 took a nap while the kids watched Cyberchase
5 ate Halloween candy that is supposed to be for trick or treaters

Favorite Places to Eat:
1 Red Butte Cafe
2 Noodles
3 Great Harvest (for turkey avacodo sandwich)
4 Target croissants (I know it is not a restaurant but I love those things)
5 Lone Star Steakhouse but only for their sweet potato yam thing

5 Things I'm Looking Forward To:
1 bedtime
2 not having to pay pre-school for a few more years (once may comes)
3 a finished basement
4 clearance holiday candy
5 watching how excited the kids get for the simple things of Christmas (twinkly lights)

Wish List:
1 clothes
2 clothes
3 clothes
4 clothes
5 someone to clean my house once a week

5 People I Tag:
1 Liz
2 Ruth
3 Stacey
4 Darci
5 Katie Gardner

darn sophomore

Yesterday the new school district was announced on the news and in a meeting. The new district is called CANYON SCHOOL DISTRICT. Yes, if you remember right that is the name Jim submitted. Unfortunately for us a sophomore at Brighton High School submitted the name before Jim. This boy will be known as the one who named the school district :)
The kids were a little sad that dad did not win.
Still pretty cool that the name Jim thought of won and we have the print out of when Jim submitted his idea in.
Jim- you are still a winner to me, Ethan, Liz and two precious babies in so many other ways!!!!!!

another gem

As much as Lizzie drives me crazy she is such a little gem. We have patience testers at least 6 to 8 times a day and I know they will continue as this little personality of hers develops. I do know that she is my little Lizzie and really hilarious to be around. Today I made it a point to spend more time working with her. We did puzzles together, read for over an hour (which is one of her favorite things to do besides coloring). I made an effort to look at her every time she talked to me and I talked to her. I taught her how to do leaf rubbings which she thought was amazing. She loves any kind of craft, coloring and then scotch tape to hang all her pictures up with so leaf rubbings totally fit in that category. In fact, any time we do a craft she says I am the best mom ever :) Today before pre-school I painted her finger and toe nails (four different colors because she was choosing). When she got home I asked her if she showed her teachers her fingernails. She said "I forgot and I forgot to show them my toenails." I said "Well your socks and shoes covered up your toes." Lizzie's priceless reply- "Too bad it isn't a naked school so they could see my toes."
PRICELESS!

mashed potatoes

The other day we were in the car with the kids and Ethan was describing to Lizzie how clouds are made of water and how it rains, etc. Very seriously Liz said they are not made of water but mashed potatoes. I couldn't help but laugh at that one.

holding their own

A couple of weeks ago Afton and Lilly figured out how to hold their own bottles. I wish I could say I now have more time in my day but no. My days are suddenly very busy. I spend my days taking care of kids, trying to win the ever constant cleaning war with my house, car pools for school, quality time with each kid, etc. Espcially evenings can be chaotic when the babies are a little more fussy, kid jobs to be done, homework to do with Ethan, dinner to make, attempts at a sit down family dinner, etc. Trying to do all this with four kids and Jim still at work makes for a busy evening. Did I mention at least 12 loads of wash a week?
Afton and Lilly are at a age where it seems they need more attention and entertainment than that preemie stage where they slept a majority of the day. Afton is the mover and never stays on her blanket anymore. She is learning to scoot and I have caught her doing an army type crawl. She reaches for anything in her sight. I know it is awful but a couple times I have purposely put toys that she was reaching for within her reach to discourage any attempts at crawling. I am terrrified of two mobile babies. I was not scared to have twins, to take care of two newborns and all that other good stuff but I am terrified of two mobile babies. Especially since I am not the greatest cleaner and I have two older kids who have some very small toys (those darn legos).
Afton and Lilly went in for their 6 month check-up yesterday. Afton weighs 13 lbs and 14 oz and Lilly weighs 13 lbs and 2 oz. Growing! Growing! And Growing!

The Canyons SD

Most of you may be aware that the Jordan School District has split. Well the new district has not been named yet and people in the district could submit possible names. Both Jim and I submitted names and Jim's might be in the top 10. I say might because they say some names had more than one entrant and whoever put their entry in first gets the glory. They will tell you if you are in the top ten sometime between now and October 21st. Anyways, Jim's name has made it into the top ten (out of more than 500 sumbmissions). Anyone can vote. Well as long as you have an e-mail address. Please go to www.nameourdistrict.com vote. Vote for whichever name you like best- we would just highly suggest THE CANYONS SCHOOL DISTRICT!

Lifestyle change

A few weeks ago Jim's dad went in for heart surgery. I have been trying to gently encourage Jim to excercise for awhile now but to no avail. His dad did the trick. Jim has been on a lifestyle change since then. Whenever I say it is a health kick or something to the effect he corrects me and says it is a "lifestyle change."
Our juicer has been put to really good use lately as we have been making all sorts of healthy drinks. Jim is exercising 5 to 6 nights a week and alternates nights between running and lifting weights (sometimes doing both). I run 4 times a week and am now up to 3 miles. I will increase up to 4 on Saturday and maybe soon will be back up to my 10 miles Saturday runs. It is amazing that even with all this exercising we have more energy, feel better and are eating much better.

Of course the most dramatic change has been only making our homemade chocolate chip cookies on Sunday afternoons instead of twice a week like we used to do:)
*This picture was taken in July on our 10th anniversary. Thus before the lifestyle change :)

M.O.M.

Almost six months ago I became a mother of multiples (M.O.M). It has been a great adventure so far. There are actually local chapters of M.O.M.'s all over. Although I have not joined I do try to make it to their twice a year fundraiser (yard sale) that they have. I wasn't going to go to the one today but then decided I would buy just one or two outfits to support the M.O.M. local chapter. Well I got there and found my couple matching outfits for way cheap. On my way out a lady stopped me and asked me if my babies were twin girls. She was a vendor and showed me a box at her booth and said I could take any matching outfits I wanted for FREE! She just really liked the fact that her matching outfits that her girls have outgrown could go to some other girl twins. Bonus!!!!
So I got everything in this picture for $17.50. I insisited I at least pay for some of the stuff. Everything but a pair of shoes and a shirt I bought for Lizzie are all two of everything for the babies. There are even cute little matching outfits that say babies 1st Christmas. Good stuff!!!
Here are the cute babies in some matching outfits we already had. Afton is the more serious one while Lilly is trying to smile. Afton's smile is so sweet but she is more picky at when she brings it out. Lilly smiles at almost anything and sometimes I think she really smiles at air :)

If your happy and you know it....

How cute are these faces? Our smiling Afton and Lilly!!!

Lilly has the bow on her head and Afton is in the stripes.

The box

Our cute little babies are 5 and a half months old already!!!! The other day I actually had to go buy our first big box of diapers from Costco. To all of you that gave us diapers as presents. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!!! We had bought a few preemie diapers and while on bedrest my friend Heidi was my diaper shopper and spent about $40 for me. Otherwise up until now we had been using "gift diapers." But don't worry we have spent PLENTY of money on formula. I still nurse about half of the time but that still means we go through a lot of formula. At least $60-$80 a month on the powdered stuff. Plus within the past few days the babies have only wanted to nurse at 5 in the morning and 8 in the morning. Then they rebel the rest of the day and I give up and give them bottles. I am trying to figure out what to do about that because I really don't want to spend even more on formula. Now we get to add at least another $40 for diapers. Oh well it is preparing us for two payments of pre-school, sports, dance classes, school pictures, college, and on and on.....

Afton and Lilly are doing awesome. They love to roll over on their stomachs, reach for things (including hair) and eat their hands (and yours). Lizzie was the first one to get a real laugh out of Lilly and it was so cute. Lilly likes baby food so far and Afton not so much. Well actually Lilly likes squash. Today's peas did not go over as well. Afton really likes the exersaucer. I am trying to think of other exciting news they do but they do great just being cute and adorable.

*Lilly is in the pink and Afton is the one relaxing and chewing on her hand

Harvest Time

We have begun to harvest items from our garden. In the spring Jim was so excited to plan out his garden. Anyone who knows Jim well knows that a lot of pacing around our yard went into effect as he thought about layout, where the sun is at each time of day, design, the fence, etc. This is our first real harvest at our house. Last summer we moved in the end of June and were only able to plant peas. This year we (by this I mean Jim and the kids) planted corn, raspberries, tomatoes, assorted squashes (acorn, butternut, spaghetti, gourd, etc.), cilantro, basil, and parsley. The kids were so excited for their tomatoes because we got ones called Beefmaster, Mr. Stripey and Oregon Spring.

We have had tons of tomatoes. Since I am not much of a canning girl we have been finding other uses for the tomatoes. Luckily we have figured out how to make delicous V8 drinks from our juicer. We also made salsa last night which was delicious. Plus lots of deli sandwiches. Our corn is almost ready. I at least know how to freeze that :)

Jim and Liz go out each day and be farmers to see what they can harvest.

Here is a picture of Jim and Lilly. Our corn is already tons taller but you get the idea.

something borrowed, something blue

One of the plusses of parenthood is you can try to talk your kids into dressing up into almost anything. I got Lizzie to dress up in one of my old dresses. Here is a picture of me when I was five. Here is Lizzie in the same dress at about 4 1/2. We even did her hair in braids like in my picture but you just can't see it as well. She loves her new dress and calls it her princess dress and has already worn it to church many, many times.

On another note, Ethan had his first day of 1st grade yesterday. When I picked him up one of the first things he said was "I want to lay down, mom.!" The poor kid was tired from a full day of school. He seemed to have liked it though. He said they played the Indiana Jones theme over the intercom which he thought was cool. Lunch went okay. He said the fries were a little cold but dessert was awesome. I missed him and our house felt weird without him here. So I am now home with 3 girls all day :) Lizzie starts pre-school on the 9th so we will see how that goes. She also starts dance class on Sept. 4th.

Afton and Lilly are doing awesome. I will post some pictures of them later. Lilly has found her feet and loves to grab them and is so close to laughing. Right now it is a squeal, scream type thing. She has also found her hands and likes to move them around in front of her face. Afton absolutely loves rolling over and will roll to her stomach at every opportunity. They are both grabbing onto toys which is fun to watch. They are also eating rice cereal. I have forgotten how time consuming feeding baby food is.

true sign

You know you have truly earned your "mom badge" if you are at a Harmon's at 9:30 at night on a Friday buying Pull-Ups and Formula and a bag of Peanut Butter M&M's (mom needs something right? :)

Growing Up....

I have been a little too thoughtful this weekend at how fast my kids seem to be growing. In one week my cute little Ethan will enter the 1st grade. I am going to miss him so much. He is my big helper and it will be an adjustment for all of us for him to be gone from 8:15 to 2:55. I think this is harder on me than when he went to kindergarten.
The other day I had to tell him that his best friend will not be going to the same school as him anymore. Ethan started crying and was so sad and kept saying "But he is my best friend."
It was breaking my heart. Even worse was when I realized in these years of growing up there are going to be many more things I am going to have to tell him that I won't want to. I know there will be a day that I would trade anything in the world to tell him something as simple as your friend won't be at school but we can still call him to play anytime.

Let's watch it....

3 words you hate to hear from your pediatrician.


Today the babies had their 4 month check-up. Technically they are already 4 1/2 months. They are growing, growing, growing.

Afton weighs a whopping 12 lbs and 3 oz. while Lilly now weighs 11 lbs 3 oz.

Afton has an issue called torticollis. Her muscles on one side of her neck side are weak and she likes to kink her head to the side at odd angles in the swing, crib, etc. Our pediatrician reccomended we take her to a chiropractor to fix it. Isn't that funny. A little 4 month old to a chiropractor. We also need to do neck exercises and have her try to strenghten the muscles. Good thing we have a physical therapist in the house that can help out. Afton also has a little ridge on her head where the bones are together weird. We are going to watch it for a couple months and check it again at the 6 month appt. She can grow out of it. Worst case scenario if it is still there we might start talking about having to go up to have a procedure done up at Primary's where they go in with some laser thing and fix it. As you can tell I am not the best at medical descriptions. It would be at least an overnight stay though. We will cross our fingers. Jim's mom came and helped me at the appointment and it was so nice to have some extra hands.

Lilly is Ms. Smiley girl and will smile and baby talk at almost anything. She is also our kicker and kicks, kicks, and kicks, she is also learning to grab onto things.

Afton is learning to roll to her side and twice now has rolled onto her stomach. She also is grabbing onto things. She does a lot better on her stomach than Lilly and likes to sit in the Bumbo.

*In these pictures Lilly is in pink, Afton in purple and I am holding Lilly.

Jim + Alisha =10

I am a little slow in getting this posted but last weekend Jim and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary (July 18th). I still cannot believe it has already been 10 years. On Friday afternoon Jim and I went up and hiked a little around Solitude and then went and had lunch at the Silver Fork Lodge out on their patio. Saturday we had a family activity and took the Solitude ski lift up and then hiked down with all four kids. Jim and I each put a baby in a Snugli type thing. Lizzie was pretty funny in that she said "she wanted to go home and never ever wanted to hike again!" She did pretty good though for 4 year old legs. I just think this is the cutest picture of her and is my favorite from the weekend.
That night just Jim and I went up to the Deer Valley Ampitheater for the 1812 overture concert (and other songs). It was such beautiful surroundings and music. It was a wonderful weekend.
Hard to imagine we have spent 3,650 days together (well being married that is :). You don't go a day without smiling or laughing when you live with Jim. Plus we have four cute kids. Wow!

a house divided

So our house has now become split up into the "kids" and "babies " group. I realize I have not talked much about the "kids" in our household.

I have become addicted lately to this game called Zuma. Even though I have a huge pile of wash, thank you cards to write, a photo album to catch up, and a million other things- I play this dumb game a lot more than I should. I don't know if it was good or bad that I didn't have this game while on bedrest. Anyways, yesterday I was playing and Ethan was watching. I was almost going to die (in the game) and was saying "Uh, Oh, Ethan!!!!!" My cute little son's response was "You know how good you are. Just be yourself." Words for your whole life not just for Zuma :)

Lizzie is going to be great at answering questions once she gets to seminary. Each night we try to read scriptures as a family and ask the kids what they learned. Lizzie's response always rotates between Jesus, the gospel, be good or tree of life. Correct but .......Despite these brief answers, Lizzie has an amazing vocabulary and I am always amazed at the words or phrases that come out of her mouth. The other night she said "I will yell you awake mom." Tonight for dinner prayer she told Heavenly Father that she was grateful there were no poisonous tree frogs that live by us. I have no idea where she got that from. She is doing AMAZING with her glasses and I think she looks so cute with them. She still likes to pretend to be a cat and just now told me she was going to the litter box aka bathroom.

Both of the kids have started swim lessons and now think their clothes for the day should just be a swimsuit. Oh, to be a kid in the summer......

Afton and Lilly are doing great. They are almost 3 1/2 months old. They get so many loves and entertainment from their brother and sister. They love to smile and coo. They really like the fan in mine and Jim's room and I think once they figure out how to laugh that will be the first thing a real live laugh will be for. They go crazy in excitement watching it.

*Lilly is in the pink and Afton in the purple.

mom and babies

I had this picture ready to post like a week ago but forgot to put words with it. Here I am with my precious babies. It is still amazing when I have them both in my arms.

Blessing Day

Yesterday our two beautiful girls were blessed. It was a very nice day and Jim did a wonderful job.
It is hard to say how much I appreciated that yesterday was able to happen. There were so many times on bedrest when thinking about their blessing day helped me plug along for another day. I knew if their blessing day happened then our two daughters were here and healthy enough to be introduced. Their was such a burden of worry on mine and Jim's shoulders before these babies were born.
To all of those who came- thank you. We wanted to have a celebration with family and friends.

Also we thank you for the sacrifice of time many of you made to help our family during this pregnancy. We thank you for your thoughts and prayers. We felt every thought and prayer towards our family. I would not have made it as far as I did in the pregnancy if we didn't have all the help we did. These babies are here and healthy with the help of the goodness of others. I am so humbled and tear up when I think of all that went into getting Afton and Lilly here. There are so many miracles in life and I am honored to add two more to my family.

Lilly Smiles

How cute are these pictures. Both babies have figured out smiling and it is the funnest thing. Afton does smile too, she just was not cooperating as well for the photo shoot. We can get them to smile pretty easily when they see our face expression smiling or of course making the silly noises that is only normal to do for babies :)

slowly coming together

So our house is slowly coming together. I know we have almost been here a year but right after we moved in we dealt with Lizzie's awful recovery from her surgery, then I got the worst morning sickness I have ever had, then bedrest. Thus, our house decorating has suffered a little.

Anyways, yesterday Jim and I actually went and bought a bed!!!!! Sadly, for the past ten years we have just had our mattress on either the floor or some metal bed rails. No real headboard, footboard, etc. We went to Ashley's furniture. I was really impressed with the store. Nice furniture at a good price. We also bought a matching armoire for our bedroom. It will all be delivered on the 20th or sooner. Yahoo!!! The bed has a cool metal design if you can see it. Obviously the picture is not of our bedroom (I wish) but at least it is a picture of our bed and armoire coming soon.

I also hung a picture in our downstairs bathroom yesterday (big moment) and have hung two whole pictures in our bedroom. I am deciding on a wall arrangement for our kitchen and hopefully will have that hung within the next week or so. Still nothing on the walls in either of the kid's rooms though :)

maiden voyage

Today I ran!!! It was the first time in probably about a year. I had missed it so much!! I am definitely out of shape though. I did a .65 mile today and although it felt really good to be outside with my music I struggled at the end. Amazing that a year ago I could do 10 miles easily and had finished up my second half marathon. Oh well. You have to start somewhere right?

Afton and Lilly

I don't really have anything exciting to report but it has been awhile since I put some pictures on. Aren't the babies getting chubby :)

Here is a run down of what Afton and Lilly are up to......

As of today (at 10 weeks) Lilly weighs 8 lbs 6 oz. Lilly is really good at keeping her head up. She is still the wiggler of the two and is always moving around. She also likes to grunt and we call her our grunter.

Afton weighs 9 lbs and 10 oz. Afton has learned to have a cry that Jim and I swear breaks the sound barrier. It is really high and shrill. Other than that, she is really cute!

Our babies are actually the size of normal babies now! Yahoo!

*Afton is in the purple and Lilly is in the pink. Of course Lizzie is in the green :)

life with twins

Well I have learned a few things since having twins- mostly how to answer certain questions :) I have been asked these questions a lot in the past little while.

Question 1? You must be exhausted and busy all the time?
Really who is not busy all the time? Yes, I have learned that I now have four kids to care to all day but it really is not to much different than the beautiful chaos I had before.

Question 2? Do you get any sleep at night?
My question back is- does any new mom get any sleep at night?

Question 3- Are you overwhelmed with twins?
I am grateful I have had two other kids because I kinda know what is expected with delivery, afterwords, taking care of babies, delegating and prioritizing. I am not the best at all of them but at least I have had a little practice. I think it would be a lot more overwhelming if these were my first babies.

Question 4- Do you nurse?
Yes, I do. I try to nurse them as much as I can. I DO NOT double nurse. That is just not me. I did try it once though. We take turns and I will feed one baby, put her down or in the swing and then feed the other baby. Luckily these babies are great eaters and I can change diapers, feed and burp both babies all within a half hour to 45 minutes. Otherwise when it is just a lot more convenient or if both are crying at the same time I use the great invention of formula.

This next one is always my favorite-
Question 5- Are you guys having more kids?
You be on bedrest for 15 weeks and tell me what answer you would have?
Actually after these babies were born I had a really strong calming feeling that our family is now complete (no I wasn't in any pain or on medications at this time :). We are 99.9% sure we are done which makes savoring every moment of Afton and Lilly's baby stage so much more precious. Waking up in the night and changing way too many diapers each day doesn't seem so bad.

I will post some pictures soon as soon as I can figure out how to do it on our new computer :)

Full of gratitude

Do you ever have moments when you realize how grateful you are for the things in your life? Since the day we found out we were pregnant with these twins there have been so many things happening that I know we were totally watched over and blessed. So many things about the pregnancy and delivery of these babies was truly because of Heavenly Father. I am so grateful for my two little babies that have joined our family. We have four amazing children.

I have thought about how much our family sacrifices to add to our family. Our three girls were a result of 20 total weeks of bedrest!!!!!! Yet, here they are for us to take care of and love.

Here is yet another reason to be happy-Yesterday we got some wonderful news when Jim took Lizzie back up to Primary's for yet some more follow up tests for her procedure in March. Everything looked good and the reflux might finally be gone. We didn't even have to schedule ANY follow up appt. Not 6 months from now, not a year from now, not any! Jim and I could not stop smiling at that great news.

Despite medical bills coming every day (thank goodness for out of pocket maximums)
- life is good and I feel so blessed!!!!

smile please.....

So we have begun the process of trying to get a cute birth announcement picture

to send out. It is always hard enough with one baby to get that "perfect" shot but now we have two babies

that we need to cooperate in the same picture :) Plus we need to have both babies awake. What usually happens when we lay them

together is one of them thinks the other is food or a

pacifier and you get the second photo :) We will keep trying :)

*Afton is the one eating Lilly.

white shirt and flowered dress

Each year around their birthdays we take some special pictures of the kids. Ethan is always in one of Jim's shirts with a tie. Lizzie (and now Afton and Lilly) wear a dress that I wore to mine and Jim's wedding luncheon. I am really hoping the dress will last through three girls :) It is fun to watch them fill in the clothes a little bit more each year. They each have their own special book with a year by year look at how they have grown. Here are a few pictures from this year. For a full look at all the pictures you will have to look at their own books or our photo album :)

On a side note- April 25th was the 10 year anniversary of when Jim asked me to marry him. How lucky am I. He is such an amazing man and it has been a wonderful journey with him so far. Who would have thought 10 years later from proposing we would have a house, tons of medical and student loan debt, four wonderful kids (two of them twins!!) and of course a mini-van :)

*Ethan took the picture of us. I think he did prettty good