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."