Waiting for Maggie & Natalie

I have so been bad at blogging...

2009-11-18T20:10:00.000-05:00

Just too many irons in the fire and I have let this go. Until I can get on here and catch up I will leave you with a pic.

Vacation in the Smoky Mtns. 2009

2009-08-22T13:13:00.001-05:00

I'm waaay behind in my blogging. I'm working on catching up. In the meantime here is a vacation slideshow.

Vacation in the Smokies 2009

Just a few pics from our great Memorial Day weekend!

2009-05-25T17:28:00.003-05:00

Thing 1 and Thing 2 at it again.....

2009-04-12T13:09:00.004-05:00

They made Easter baskets at Mother's Day Out on Thursday

Friday night the little darlins had so much fun coloring eggs that they couldn't wait to get up Saturday morning and hide them. Daddy forgot to put the refrigerator lock on the door Friday night. Boy did they have fun EARLY in the a.m. on Saturday. When will I ever learn that a little peace and quiet is just not worth it. Quiet means TROUBLE!

I know someday we will look back on all this mischief and laugh about it. But when I was on my hands and knees for 2 hours scrubbing egg out of my one year old carpet it was pretty hard to fathom.

Some great new pics and Bri took a lot of them!

2009-03-08T20:43:00.005-05:00

1st ponytails! But today they got a haircut, so no more of these for a while.

Mommy and daughter silliness.

Sister silliness!

Bri's photo shoot.

Conversation w/the twins this morning!

2009-02-27T10:01:00.000-05:00

Maggie: Where Max(the cat) go?
Nattie: Right here Naggie.
Maggie: What he doin?
Me: Licking his butt!!
Maggie: Me wanna licka me butt, Mommy!
Me: LOL!!!

Bloody morning...LITERALLY!

2009-02-23T12:38:00.003-05:00

Maggie fell down two stairs this morning, which they do all the time, and cried like it killed her. Me being such a sympathetic mom says "get up your o.k."! Nattie starts crying and screaming "Naggie bleedin"! OMG!! BLOOD EVERYWHERE!!! At first I thought she split her lip but the blood is so bad it takes me a good 10 minutes to see that she just scraped a layer of skin off of the whole center of her lip. I think she had a paci in her mouth. Her upper lip is swollen and red and the bottom lip is huge and looks like raw meat. I called my neighbor to ask for suggestions on stopping the blood flow after a solid 20 minutes of it. Her suggestions are the same as what I am doing cold wet washcloths and ice. So I called the pedi office. And learned something new. Don't use wet cloths! They prevent clotting. Who knew? I sure didn't. Sure enough after another minute or two with a dry cloth it stopped.

Now does anybody have any suggestions on how to get blood out of what looks like a murder scene!! Carpet, brand new gymboree outfit!! I have them soaking in cold water with oxyclean in it. It's only 11:15 AM!! It's going to be a LONG day! Chet is out of town ALL week. It's going to be an even L-O-N-G-E-R week.

Some New Pics

2009-02-16T15:16:00.005-05:00

Remember as you look at these that we are at home all the time. Therefore the twins stay in their p.j.'s most days and always look like they have just had a visit from the hair fairy! And often times will have dirty faces too! And then there are the goofy hair pics because all 3 girls love to play "hair"!! And oh yes, "dress up". We have a basket full of dress up clothes and they sport those over their p.j.'s quite often too. LOL!

Boo-boo bandaid! This looks like a good place for it.

They wore their bear halloween costumes(the hat anyway)

while they ate their captain crunch this morning.

Maggie lil Momma in training

Nattie loves to sit on her potty but has yet to produce anything in it!

2009 Winter Storm pics!

2009-01-29T19:40:00.008-05:00

We are among the lucky that have power. We lost it for 3-5 hours during the night Tuesday. It was off at 6am and already cold in the house. We went back to sleep because what else could we do at least we were warm in bed. When we got up around 8:45 it was back on but still very cold in the house. These first pics are from Tuesday night.

This is what we woke up to Wednesday morning.

I hope my poor weeping cherry tree makes it.

The warmest place in the house on Wednesday morning.

Crazy Girls

2008-12-03T14:30:00.008-05:00

I can't believe what big girls they are getting to be. We can actually carry on conversations with them and they talk back. We are all having a good time saying things and getting the girls to repeat it. That is Brianna's favorite game. Then of course they love it because she laughs so much at them. Christmas is going to be a blast this year. It already is. Every light, every tree, every flake of snow, every Santa or ho-ho-ho, or the mention of Jesus' birthday gets a very loud and happy "Merdy Kikimas"!! It is so cute!!
Here are some recent pics. Most of them from this past weekend. Friday night we went to "Light up Louisville" downtown.

We LOVE our new rocky horses!

So does Max!

CRAZY HAIR!!

The BIG new chairs that give CRAZY HAIR!!

Being silly with Daddy with the camera.

Frosting tasting of the Red Velvet cake Mommy made for Thanksgiving.

Getting our blankies ready to take to Light up Louisville.

Fall is here!!

2008-10-22T12:53:00.003-05:00

Finally the temperatures have cooled down! I love this time of year. We have had plans for weeks to go to a U-Pick it farm for pumpkins but that just hasn't worked out. Nattie had a virus Saturday and Sunday and then of course Maggie got it on Monday and Tuesday. Nattie had fever and vomiting. Thank goodness Maggie just had the fever. Poor things felt really crummy though. I am so glad they are doing better. Sunday just before lunch Nattie started feeling a little better so we piled in the van and went to a local produce market for pumpkins. The girls have been so funny annimatedly talking about their "punkies". The holidays are going to be a blast this year.
They are so funny talking and talking. They both have a funny sense of humor. And although we still have LOTS of whining and temper tantrums galore there is also alot of laughter.
Here are a few pics from this weekend.

Brianna turns 10!!

2008-10-07T22:25:00.002-05:00

Holy cow where did 10 years go?
Friday night we hosted a halloweenish birthday party sleepover for Bri. We had 5 girls and they were a blast. Chet and myself and the twins had about as much fun as all the girls did. They bobbed for apples, had a scavenger hunt after dark, played halloween bingo, had a talent show and watched movies. I took hundreds of pictures and made a little slideshow for Bri and her friends.

Brianna's 10th Birthday Party

My Babies are 2!!!

2008-09-04T13:46:00.010-05:00

What fun we had celebrating being two!! Granny and Pappaw, Aunt Jennifer, Uncle Eric, and cousins Hailey and Jace came to help us celebrate! Angelique and Cierra came over too and their birthday gift was the 3 wonderfully delicous cakes!!!! Here are a few cute pics out of the 142 taken!!!

The 1st is the kick off pic for the festivities!

Natalie on the lft. and Maggie rt. waiting patiently for their cakes

Nattie didn't waste anytime, the girl loves cake!!! Like mother like daughter!!

Maggie was a little slower but she figured it out pretty quickly.

Out to the pool and water hose for some clean up before opening gifts!

I love this pic!! Nattie looking like a fallen angel or something!!!

Maggie posing for us and then Bri had to ham it up too!

The last 4 pics are Jace deciding he wants to BE a surprise! Cierra had the camera and I just love these expressions she captured!!

My babies will be 2 in a few days!!

2008-08-29T00:07:00.006-05:00

My oh my how the time has flown!! No big party plans, just a few friends and family, Elmo party stuff, balloons, a few presents and of course CAKE!! Pics to come next week but until then here are a few from the last few days.

Recently

2008-08-01T20:58:00.003-05:00

We have had a busy summer! My girls are growing up. The twins are 23 months old today!! I just can't believe it! They are talking more everyday and say some of the funniest things. They still only have 10 and 11 teeth but both of them are cutting one now that I hope and pray breaks the skin soon. Man have they been irritable this week! I will be so glad when they finally get all of their teeth. I think they have been teething since birth and at the rate they are going will still be teething 2 more years from now. Finally life seems to be getting just a little bit easier with twins. They are so funny now we laugh at them all of the time. They think they are so grown up and want to be and do just what their big sis does.

I usually explain each photo but blogger has all kinds of code up instead of the actual pics and I can't see them so I will just generalize. The one of Bri is the day she came home from summer camp and she is modeling all of her fellow campers signatures on her arms including "Johnny" the cute guy that played in the band!!
Maggie snuggling with her favorite blanket(thank you Aunt Jennifer)! Bri has been dressing them up again and I called them my homegirls!! The twins rocking their baby dolls. Watching Hannah Montana in 3D. That's all I can remember.

Those of you that read my blog please sign up and leave me comments. I don't know if more than 2 or 3 of you are even reading and looking anymore. Thanks to those that comment!!

Our 2 week vacation!

2008-07-08T14:18:00.003-05:00

We had a blast!!! We came home tanned and tired but happy! We camped for 12 days at Jellystone Park just outside of Gatlinburg. My sister Amy and her kids and my Mom came up and stayed for 4 days the first week. The kids had a ball together and I really enjoyed my Mom and my Sister's company and HELP! Ha! Ha! Then it was just our family for about 5 days. Chet and I took the kids to Amy's house for a couple of days. Chet and I enjoyed one full day and two nights kidless!!!! It was so nice and peaceful but we did miss the kids. Thursday we packed up camp and went to stay at Amy's w/the kids thru the 4th. We had a big family barbecue, swam, played, and watched the fireworks that night. Saturday morning we said our goodbyes and drove home. What a great vacation!!!
Here is the proof!

Vacation 2008

O.K. sounds like I have too much music going on. The slideshow from the last camping trip automatically starts playing music when you open my blog. So w/out taking it off completely I'm not sure how to rememdy it it. Click on the thumbnail above and it opens a new window. So close out my blog window then if you want to hear the music for the new montage. Sorry for the confusion.

Memorial Day Weekend Camping Trip

2008-05-28T16:31:00.001-05:00

If you have the time look back at last years camping trip. Wow!! My babes have grown!! Enjoy the slideshow!

Brianna's busy week

2008-05-17T23:26:00.005-05:00

We are wrapping up the end of the year activities and have been running like crazy. Bri is preparing for a dance recital in June. We had professional photos made last Sat. and here are some snapshots that I took.

Thursday night she had her American Heritage Girl badge and advancement ceremony. She completed all of her requirements to advance to the next level. We got lucky and got enough friends to come that someone could take the girls out and entertain them and someone else took pics for us. It was nice to give Brianna all of the attention once again. She so deserves to feel special and have the spotlight on her every now and then. She's a great kid and never complains about her baby sisters getting most of the attention.

Mommy and Daddy love you Bri and we are very proud of you.

Who's Who??

2008-05-16T10:14:00.002-05:00

We put them in the wrong cribs last night!!!!!!! Holy Cow we have never done that!! I went to get them up this morning and I thought they played a trick on me by somehow climbing out of their cribs and into the other one!!!!!!

Last week and weekend, zoo, aquarium, etc..

2008-04-14T11:41:00.007-05:00

These first few pics are the zoo last Monday. It was a gorgeous day and then the week went downhill from there! Bri took her friend Allison w/us.

A picnic on the back deck. Less mess for Mom to clean up inside!

My bathing beauties!!

We went to Cincinnati on Friday for the weekend. I met up w/some of my Mommy friends from a board that I post on and we spent the day at the aquarium.

Sister Love

2008-04-04T18:34:00.003-05:00

Recent pics including Easter

2008-03-24T17:52:00.009-05:00

A ride in the jeep

I cleaned up this table and brought it up from he basement
and they thought it was the grandest thing. Then they started pushing it around the house and using it to climb on everything!! So it went down to the playroom. So far they haven't gotten in too much trouble with it down there.

Maggie rocking her baby.

Sister play before bedtime

Found the jelly beans inside the eggs!!

There is some cool stuff in here!!

Can you believe he left us chocolate....Mom are you really gonna let me eat this??? Notice Maggie's black eye?

A little outside play before the snow came!!!

Snow Day Play Pics

2008-03-10T20:50:00.006-05:00

14.5 inches of snow on March the 8th!!! Crazy weather. It was 60 degrees on Monday. Bri was excited to finally have a good sledding snow. The twins loved it. They were like watching two puppies play. So funny. Maggie threw one of her famous temper tantrums when it was time to go in. But seriously now if your eyes are tearing and your nose is pouring I think it is really cold and time to go in and warm up!!!

I didn't label each of these pics because, now this is sad, w/the twins all bundled up like Michelin men I cannot tell who is who!!!

A few pics from the last few weeks

2008-03-07T16:11:00.006-05:00

Maggie in all her dress up attire! Her favorite thing to do.

They are feeding their baby doll.
Minnie Pearl, a.k.a. Maggie Mae
Bath time fun!

Before church a couple of weeks ago.
Notice Nattie's scuffed up face....she fell on the front porch face first! and

it was such a beautiful day for play she got over it pretty fast considering

she scraped from her forehead down to her chin and busted both her top

and bottom lip!

Maggie modeling a safari hat at the zoo on Sunday.

Bri bird head!!

Daddy/Daughter Date Night

2008-02-26T11:23:00.003-05:00

American Heritage Girls Daddy Daughter Date night. Brianna looks forward to it every year. They always have a great time. And I always love the pics every year. Daddy doesn't let us take many pics of him, so I look forward to this one. My big girl is getting so BIG. Sniff, sniff......

Wkend in Nashville

2008-02-20T11:46:00.007-05:00

We met my sister Amy and her family for a day in Nashville. What a great time. Family we should do this more often, 2 hours is not a bad trip. And it beats 4.5 hours or not seeing each other for 6 months at a time!!

BIL Steven and niece Katie

The cousins!

Daddy and Daughters

Our family taking a rest

Katie

Bri and Parker

The "CHEESY" sisters!!! LOL!!!!

The twins favorite part of the day.

The cousins happy to see each other!!

Amy and Katie

Photo Friday

2008-02-15T15:18:00.004-05:00

How to keep em busy!!

2008-02-11T16:22:00.000-05:00

They found their sisters stash and brought me a page of heart shaped stickers. I stuck them all over both of them!! LOL!!

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Check out my Slide Show!

2008-02-08T11:38:00.001-05:00

"Yes We Can"

2008-02-05T19:43:00.000-05:00

First off I want to say that I am not really sure which political candidate I am for at this point but I thought this video was worth watching. We all want the same thing even if we don't choose the same candidate. Let me know what you think?
http://youtube.com/watch?v=jjXyqcx-mYY

Sad day in our family, The passing of Moose

2008-02-04T14:45:00.001-05:00

We lost our sweet Moose E. Poo Poo a week ago Saturday. Actually he died before that but that is the day that we found him. He died a tragic death. He fell in a hole that we think is there to place a street light in. I don't know if there was water in it and he drowned or he just couldn't get out and froze to death. I am more sad about how he died than him dying. Of course I hate that he is gone but it just sickens me to think that he suffered for however long he did before dying. Brianna was devastated! We got him just before she turned 2 and Moose was 2 at the time. So she always thought it funny that her and Moose were the same age. She cried alot but seems to be doing o.k. now. Here are some old pics that I dug out. I plan on making her a photo album as soon as I can locate more pics. There are lots missing, probably still packed up somewhere.

Here's Bri fresh out of the bathtub loving on Moose sometime within a few

weeks of us getting him.

We were trying to get changed but Moose wouldn't stay down from the

changing table.

I Love this pic! Moose in the babydoll crib and Bri's nekid butt in the
background. She was getting some panties out of her drawer. You can barely see him in this pic, but he is snuggled in her arms.

These are here at the new house.

The twins were well on their way to loving him just as much as Bri and I.

Recent Pics

2008-02-01T15:45:00.000-05:00

Here are some recent pics of the Monkey girls!

Yes they wear their pj's alot because it is so cold and we never go anywhere!!

Maddie

2008-01-24T22:31:00.000-05:00

http://www.godtube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=719ea12d4e98c522bff6

Little Maddie went home to Jesus

2008-01-16T20:54:00.000-05:00

To any of you who have clicked on the link at right "Madeline Lester" and have read her story, she went home this morning to be with Jesus. Please keep her family in your thoughts and prayers.

Check out my Slide Show!

2008-01-10T11:57:00.001-05:00

Check out my Slide Show!

2008-01-05T17:46:00.001-05:00

Sorry it's been so long...

2008-01-03T10:28:00.000-05:00

*I finally figured out how to arrange my pics in the order that I want them!!! WooHoo!! Laura cut and paste didn't work, I have tried numerous times. I decided this morning to click and drag and low and behold it worked!!!!

So we had the sickies at Christmas and let me just say that Christmas was NOT fun this year!! Bri got a stomach virus about 3 days before we traveled to TN. She got over it quick aside from still not having much of an appetite. I sprayed so much lysol and I guess it worked because none of the rest of us got the stomach bug. But at the same time Bri was sick Nattie came down w/a horrible cold and I decided to take her to the doc before we traveled to be safe that it was nothing more serious. He said just a cold. But she kept getting worse and worse all the thru the holiday and then Maggie came down w/it on Christmas Eve.

Here's how the trip went. 4.5 hours in the car with two screaming babies!! They cried, especially Nattie, the whole entire time we were at my Mom's. They didn't sleep and they didn't eat. They would not let anybody else hold them or even speak to or look at them. We didn't get to eat a meal with the rest of the family. And did I mention we didn't get to sleep!!! Then they cried most of the 4.5 hour trip home!!! We were all so exhausted and at least everybody did start sleeping again when we got home. I called the doc last Friday and asked for an antibiotic and finally they are starting to feel better. They are cutting teeth like crazy too so that could have been part of it. O.K. that is 2 Christmases in a row with the twins that have not been very pleasant. Let's hope the 3rd year is a charm and we really do have a Merry Christmas.

I know you will see some pics here that aren't all tears but let me just say that probably 5 secs before and after these were taken, they WERE CRYING!!!

And oh yeah, how could I forget the good part!! CHET is the most wonderful hubby!! He went shopping the day before Christmas Eve and brought me home an early present..........

CANON REBEL XT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love it and I was so surprised and happy!! Now I just have to learn how to use it!!! These pics were taken with it.

A RARE smile from Maggie! She did smile a little more than Nat and cried a little less until she got really sick.

The cousins! This isn't all of them but all I could get to sit still!
Maggie liked Santa, hey he gives toys!
This is pretty much how Nattie looked the whole time.
We all know Maggie does like to cheese it up for the camera.

Christmas Morning! At least one of my children was happy and enjoyed Christmas!

They did like the presents even the clothes.

Poor little sickie girls!

Joseph and Beckie, my neice Haley and my sister Jennifer

Santa Pics

2007-12-17T21:59:00.000-05:00

Not much difference except Maggie didn't get hysterical last year. And even though this pic implies she did this year, she really didn't. Right after this was taken she was checking Santa out. They took 3 pics and this wasn't the best one but I wanted the one of both of them crying. LOL!!! Nattie flipped out and Santa almost dropped her. He said she screamed so loud she could break glass!!! Tell me about it!

2006

2007

Bri's Mini-Dance Recital

2007-12-16T11:36:00.000-05:00

Here are a few short video clips of Bri's hip hop dance and tap dance. They are short because it takes so long to download here. Bri is the tallest one in the front. She hasn't had dance lessons since she was 5 and we were living in TN. So when she started this fall here in Louisville they didn't know where to put her. I can tell you after watching her yesterday that they have got to move her up. She was better than all the other girls and most of them are alot younger than her anyway. She supported her ballet group. None of them knew the routine but her and I felt so sorry for her out there trying to herd them around.
Also, you can't really tell by these pics but this kid has got the longest eyelashes I have ever seen on anybody, thanks to her Daddy, but hers are longer than his even. I could barely put any mascara on her because one stroke of the wand brought them up to her eyelids. It looked like she had on false eyelashes. NO JOKE! She is gonna love those when she gets a little older.
Way to Go BRIANNA!!! My beautiful dancer!

Love on my Kids!

2007-12-16T11:25:00.000-05:00

Have I mentioned lately that I have the greatest kids? I feel so blessed. I just wanted to post all of these sweet pics. Enjoy!

Another Walker!!

2007-12-10T10:48:00.001-05:00

Some recent pics that I thought were worthy of posting

2007-11-26T15:29:00.000-05:00

They think the kitchen is their own personal play room.
They have never had access until the new house. I will
be glad when the new wears off!

It is nearly impossible to get a pic of all 3 together!

Maggie, Bri, Nattie, Thanksgiving.

Maggie, trying on sissies fuzzy socks!
Nattie loves these bunny ears!

They both think this is a new toy for them.
Another Thanksgiving pic
Getting 1st haircuts, Maggie wasn't happy about having a very

few twigs of hair cut off!!

Look Mom, we got to the top of the stairs!!
Brianna and Natalie on Thanksgiving.

My baby's wedding!

2007-11-12T15:21:00.001-05:00

Might I just say that I hate how this blog lays out the pics!!! Everything is always from last to first. I tried changing it around but w/out starting all over I couldn't get them to post the way I wanted. And we all know that time is precious and something I don't have enough of...so here they are backwards or not!!

The wedding was absolutely beautiful!! I cried from the moment Joseph stepped out until it was over. My camera sucks so I didn't get many good pics at all. And because the twins could not last from 3:00 until 6:30 we didn't get in any of the professional pics! I am upset about it but what could I do. It was either show up at 3 for pics and miss the wedding or skip the pics and see the wedding at 6. I hope the photog. at least got a few good shots at the reception of all of us in them. So here is what I have...

This is obvious...but look at the beautiful flowers on the cake
yes they are real and that was the color theme throughout the
wedding. The flowers at the church were GORGEOUS!!
This is at the reception were Beckie and Joseph walked in. As soon
as the twins were let loose they made a beeline for the rose petals!!

I know this is a bad pic but I love the significance of it. Joseph and Beckie
love the song by Elton John and Keke(sp?) Dee "Don't go Breakin' my
heart". They were singing it here!!! It was really cute!!

This is the groom's cake. It is a piano. For those of you that

don't know, Joseph makes his living playing the piano. Hopefully

he will be rich and famous someday. He is well known already.

Saying their vows. Beckie cried thru the whole wedding too.

The best man to the right of Joseph is his Dad.

So cute! They did a little dance when they were introduced as
Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Cox.

This is the rehearsal.

Before the wedding in the church lobby

Joseph when he first saw Beckie coming down the aisle.

These next 3 are silly pics of my 3 blue-eyed babies at the rehearsal

dinner. The twins were eating red velvet cake. Mine and Joseph's fave!

This is Nattie on the long car ride.

Maggie ready to be home!! I also have pics of her sleeping

and Nattie screaming!!

Nattie figures out the pushtoy/walking thing!!!

2007-11-07T12:56:00.001-05:00

Natalie finally got it!! She didn't want to stop and she was so tired we had to put the thing away!! Maggie was thrilled to finally be riding instead of pushing!

Maggie walking

2007-11-01T10:10:00.000-05:00

The Move

2007-11-01T09:11:00.000-05:00

Dad trying to hurry because Nattie was ready to get the
show on the road, chopped Bri's head off!

My 2 little stinkers!
Maggie "Montana"!!

Nattie costume trial run the night before
Maggie hamming for the camera like always!
Everyone loves the new master bath soak tub!! Maggie lft./Natalie rgt.

Playing w/Daddy on the kitchen floor.

They were blocked off of the kitchen in the old house

so there are lots of new things to explore in the new one.

What is this thing??

The move was very slow! Maggie was sick w/a virus all last week and cried non-stop for days. It rained for days too!! We are finally completely moved out of the old house and into the new as of Monday night. So it took us a full week to get moved in. I pray that I NEVER have to move again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So I have a few pics to share and a video clip of Maggie walking.
I will have to post the walking clip later! My girls are into everything right now!!!!!!!!!!!

These are some Bri took. She loves to play w/the camera

but sometimes she does get some good pics. The first one is

Maggie and the next Nattie.

Self-Portrait!!!!! Ha! Ha!

This is Chet and me leaving for the closing on our new house!!

This post is so not layed out the way I wanted it to be but I don't have timeto rearrange it all. Gotta get my stinkers right now!!!

Tomorrow is the BIG Moving Day!!

2007-10-21T22:03:00.000-05:00

It's finally here!!! The house is complete and beautiful!! We have been moving some stuff over the weekend but the movers come tomorrow. So tomorrow night will be our first night in the new house. We are all so excited. I am so tired from this busy week and just ready to be in the house. We all are. The twins get so excited every time we go to the house. It is like they know that is their new house. It is so cute. I will post new pics when I can. Not sure when we will have internet service again. Hopefully by the end of the week.

View of the House from outside

2007-10-04T11:38:00.000-05:00

We took these last night. We have grass and a deck now!! The pics of the front of the house aren't that clear because the sun sets in the front and it's not a good time to take pics. But here it is!

A Day in the Life of a Mom with TWINS!!

2007-10-03T07:58:00.000-05:00

Remember as you are reading this that this is only a small part of my day!!

Changing a diaper with one baby is a huge feat much less with two. This was one diaper change with Natalie today. Fight to keep the baby still while trying to change a poopy diaper, sing songs, distract with different objects, and still have to clean poop from the baby’s hand because she somehow managed to get her hand in it!! In the meantime, I have laid the dirty diaper aside but not far enough out of reach of her twin sister!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH……….
Not once but three times today, they both manage to crawl behind the recliner that is sitting in the corner of the room with an upside down laundry basket and an end table on one side and a TV table turned just right so that not even the cat can manage to get thru!! Somehow these two do! A bookshelf sits back there with nothing on the bottom 3 shelves. Should be pretty safe right?? Are you kidding me?? They totally destroy a new People magazine that I haven’t even opened up yet! The new box of Kleenex is now empty but all of those soft tissues make a wonderful soft place for two little girls to lay down!! The TV is so screwed up it took me an hour to get it to work because God only knows what they did to the remote control. Someone calls my cell phone to say that they have been trying to call my house but it goes straight to voicemail. Yes they have found the cordless phones and turned them on too. How could they manage to destroy so much in a just a few minutes of my absence??
They also got the wipes off the changing table somehow. Maybe Maggie lifted Nattie up???? And they emptied the box for probably about the 3rd time in 2 days!! It seems nothing is safe. No place is too high! Nothing is out of sight!!
I am starting to really hate mealtimes. Can you imagine how much of a mess 2 toddlers can make 3 times a day?? At the end of the day I have washed 6 faces, 60 fingers, 6 high chair trays, and cleaned approximately 300 sq. feet of floor!! Not to mention trying to shovel food into their screaming mouths as fast as I can while trying to get in a few bites for myself. Most of the time they end up eating my food too!! Why oh why am I not the petite size 8 I used to be then you say????
Well, I’ll tell you. Because at the end of the day when my little angels are tucked into their cribs dreaming of the next days destruction, I have put on my nightgown and washed my face and settled myself into my recliner in front of my favorite TV show with a pint of Ben and Jerry’s or a plate full of brownies or cookies and a big tall glass of milk!! And then I pop a couple of Ibuprofen for good measure before I tuck myself into bed to rest up for the next day of life with twins!!!

New House

2007-10-01T17:40:00.000-05:00

From upstairs looking down into the family room.

From the family room looking upstairs.
These are the kitchen and dining area.

These 2 pics are the master bathroom.

I cannot wait to soak in this tub!! It was the most important

upgrade in the house!! Ha! Ha!

I don't have any more recent ones of the outside. I will have to post some though because they ended up tearing all the stone off of the front and redoing it. I thought it looked good before but now it looks GREAT! We are going over Wed. night to meet a painter for an estimate, so we will take some then. Hopefully our front door will be painted by then.

It's nice to have a twin sister!

2007-10-01T09:42:00.000-05:00

This has got to be the fun part of having a twin. Problem is Nattie doesn't return the favor! Ha! Ha! Poor Mags always does all the work. But I don't think she minds. She will be walking on her own very soon. Nattie is going to be a little slower walking. She is just now starting to pull up and let go of things.

I noticed yesterday that Maggie had two teeth come in at the same time. Her second on the bottom and her first top one. Nattie's second on the bottom broke thru too but no signs of any on the top.

The girls are so fun and so funny now. I love this age. I love that they can show us that they love us too. Giving kisses and hugs are the latest and greatest!

I couldn't get the last video to download because it was too big but this one is cute too!

I have some new house pics that I will post today too.

Enjoy!

Edited to Add: I posted the wrong video up top. That's Maggie too but she was tired and grumpy! The one below is the twin sister fun!

Fun pics and video

2007-09-26T13:53:00.000-05:00

THESE ARE COOL NEW CARSEATS!!

PLAYING WITH OUR BIG BROTHER AND SISTER INLAW TO BE!

HEY THIS CARSEAT BOX IS EVEN MORE FUN!

Exactly when did our babies go from being babies to toddlers? Was it their 1st birthday? Or their 1st crawling pulling up boo boo? These girls have so many bruises on them and I don't know where half of them came from. Maggie has busted her mouth about 3 times in the last week. Nattie keeps hitting her head on the corners of the wall. And both of them have black and blue legs and carpet burned knees from crawling so much. They are seriously on the go! We are having a ball right now. They are learning new things everyday. Natalie is the performer. Ask her to show you where her nose is or her hair and she will. Ask her what a cow says and she has the cutest moo you have ever heard. Maggie is the daredevil. She isn't interested in learning where her nose is or what a cow says. She likes to move! I bet she will be walking very soon. Enjoy the pics and funny video. It's just a lot of silliness and laughter.

EDITED TO ADD: I will have to try and download the video later. I have been trying for two hours and it doesn't seem to be working. Sorry.

Maggie Dancing!!

2007-09-13T10:53:00.000-05:00

She likes to move it move it!!! I tried to catch Nattie too. She was standing and shaking her leg in this Elvis type move and it was so cute but she crawled away before I could get the camera ready.

I've been tagged!

2007-09-10T15:06:00.000-05:00

O.K. so I have been tagged and I am supposed to tell 8 interesting things about myself. I am not sure if I know 8 interesting things about my self. Ha! Ha!

1) I love houses! I love them so much that I dream about them all the time. I have a recurring dream about an old Victorian House that I live in. I am hoping that maybe it is in my future. I love to go to realtor.com and just look at pics of houses.

2) Speaking of dreams, I have dreams that come true. Kind of like daja vu but it happens to me alot!! There have been alot of things in my life that have occurred that I just knew before it happened that it was going to. You know like maybe you answer the phone and know who it is before you answer it. One example, and I am hesitant to give this one because my family reads this but, I always had a feeling my whole life that something was going to happen to my Daddy. My Dad died at 50 w/complications related to kidney disease and it was a totally unexpected death. The disease didn't kill him it was complications related to a lot of different things due to medical negligence. The morning I got the phone call telling me to come home, I knew before I answered the phone that it was my about my Daddy. I was crying before I even answered it.

3) I have always wanted 4 children. Due to my infertility and miscarriages I never thought I would get them. I knew when I got pregnant w/the twins it was probably my last pregnancy. So imagine my delight at finding out I was having twins. I got my four kids!

4) I am copying from some of the others that were tagged here but "I LOVE seafood!" Especially shrimp and lobster!!! YUMMY!!

5) Chet and I met in Panama City, FL. He is from Louisville, KY and I am from East TN. 2 months after we met I moved to Louisville and we were enagaged 2 months later and married 3 months after getting engaged. I had just come out of a 10 year marriage and swore I would never marry again!! Sheesh! I ate those words!! We have now been married for 11.5 years!

6) Back to food, I love chocolate and anything sweet!! Red velvet cake and Cheesecake Factory Cheescake are my faves!!

7) I love the beach. I wish I could afford to have a 2nd home on the East coast somewhere. I wouldn't want to live there permenantly though because I love the change of seasons. But to me the seaside is healing. I would like to have some of that medicine right now!

8) My favorite season is Fall. My favorite holiday is Christmas. I always build myself up for a big Christmas and end up a little depressed. I think because I have memories of these wonderful family Christmases when I was kid and they never seem to be like that now. I guess because I know too much and I have to do too much now. It's just not the same. My Mom made Christmas great and I have tried to do the same for my kids. My grown son still loves Chistmas too. Of course for obvious reasons who couldn't love Christmas? But I am talking about the trees, lights, food, family, gifts, etc....

There are the only 8 things I could come up with. Most of them were more about my likes and dislikes but at least they were things about me. Maybe not interesting but things about me.!

Video Montage

2007-09-04T21:13:00.001-05:00

This begins with the pregnancy and goes thru the girls 1st year. I personally think it is worth watching, but I warn you, it is a mini-movie. Approximately 17 minutes or so. And also, tissue warning!

The Year of the TWINS!

Happy Birthday, my sweet baby girls!

2007-09-03T22:31:00.000-05:00

http://www.slide.com/r/4s_ktPA41j8fg-SHdJdclHC8stUUb6Qj?previous_view=mscd_embedded_url&view=original

No Fever Today!!

2007-08-30T11:06:00.000-05:00

We have our Nattie back! They have both been happy and playing all morning. They ate a normal amount of food for breakfast too. By "normal" I mean more like what they usually do, as Nattie has not been eating well for a few days now. So maybe the fever was just teething and hopefully it is gone for good or at least until the next tooth comes in!

Today a little better than yesterday

2007-08-29T21:34:00.000-05:00

Nattie still ran a low-grade fever all day but she did act like she felt a little better. She played more and ate more. Maggie was better today too although she has napped very little the last two days. If Nat's fever is not gone completely in the morning I am definitly calling the doc. Over 48 hours has got to be more than teething.
Thanks for all of your kind and sympathetic words Mom friends.

2 MORE DAYS UNTIL NATALIE & MAGGIE TURN ONE!!!!

Rough day

2007-08-28T20:19:00.000-05:00

Nattie had her stent removed yesterday and did very well w/the procedure. She slept alot when we got home and didn't eat much and was overall just kind of a blob but she sure was a sweet blob. Mommy and Daddy got a lot of cuddle time in with her. She went down really easy last night but woke me up about 1:45 a.m. crying and before I could get to her I heard her cough and just knew that she vomited. Yep! She was so pitiful. I cleaned her up and gave her to Daddy while I change the crib. I guess you Moms of twins know what I am talking about, but have you ever tried changing a crib in very little to no light because you don't want to wake the baby that is sleeping?? I don't recommend cleaning up barf by touch!!! YUCK!!! After that she was up and down all night. She didn't eat much all day either. While doing my morning "is there a tooth in there yet?" check, I discovered a tooth in both girls mouths!!! Woo! Hoo!!!! Finally they both have a tooth! But man can those little boogers cause a lot of drama. Maggie cried all day long! Nattie ran a fever most of the day and when she wasn't whining she was lethargic. I hope the fever has nothing to do with the stent removal yesterday. My discharge instructions say to call the doc if she had a fever above 101.4, which she did, but because of the tooth and the fact that Maggie was such a bear too I thought it was just teething. We will see how tonight goes but we may be seeing the urologist tomorrow. I find one of the hardest thing about being a Mom is knowing when to call the doc and when to just ride it out. Do I call and they have me come in and the child is miracuously cured the minute you get into the docs office or do we wait and risk ending up in the ER over night??? Most of the time I end up paying a co-pay that I would have rather spent elsewhere. Let's hope tonight I made the right choice. Until tomorrow.....

We have 2 crawlers now!

2007-08-21T21:11:00.000-05:00

A FEW PICS FOR YOUR VIEWING PLEASURE!

Just learning to support themselves standing. Maggie left/Nattie Right

Maggie loves Bri to pull her around the room in the toy basket

Maggie LOVES watermelon!

Nattie likes it o.k. but she was being cheesy for the camera and I couldn't

get a clear shot. Just getting used to my new camera.

Just showing how much Maggie enjoyed the watermelon.

The gates went up Saturday! Nattie wouldn't stay out of the cat food. The gate between the dining room and kitchen had to be raised off of the floor because of the base boards. The cat's food is just on the other side of the gate in the kitchen and I thought that would put a stop to cat food play. I was wrong, Sunday afternoon Nattie was sitting in the dining room floor chewing away on something. You guessed it....CAT FOOD!!! YUCK!!! She reached under the gate and grabbed a handful. I had to move the bowl back out of reach and so far so good. Maggie started crawling yesterday and she pulled up for the first time on Sunday. It was really funny to watch her. She kept trying and trying and she got so mad her face turned all red and she screamed and pulled herself up like a weight lifter!!! Then she just looked at us and grinned. Funny little monkey girl!

It is amazing how much happier they have been just in the last few days since they are able to get around more. I knew once they got more mobile they would be more content.

Still no teeth thru the skin but we can see them just under the skin.

We have a crawler!!!

2007-08-15T17:33:00.000-05:00

Looks like it is time to go shopping for those gates! Nattie is finally starting to crawl, not far, but she is crawling. I don't think Maggie is far behind. They are both trying really hard to pull up on furniture. I moved the coffee table out of the family room today because they keep trying to pull up on it and they both keep rolling into it and hitting their heads. I figure it is much easier just to move it out for now.
Also, I think we will have some teeth anyday. Maggie has had a bump on her gums for weeks and Nattie got one last week but hers seems to have progressed faster than Maggie's has. I can actually see teeth beneath the gums now. FINALLY!!! Poor things have been gumming their food to death!! They insist on eating what we eat and that can be difficult if you don't have teeth!! Although, most of the time Maggie just swallows her food whole like a dog does!! Trust me, I know this to be true because I have seen the END results!! Ha! Ha!

Prayers for Madeline Lester

2007-08-11T10:53:00.000-05:00

I just wanted to take a moment to ask all of you who read my blog to please say a prayer for little Maddie. You can read about her thru the link on the right "Madeline Lester". She recently had heart surgery "again" and is struggling to heal. I have prayed for this little girl for years and followed her progress thru the blog. If you see her beautiful pics and watch the video clips of her you too will feel the powerful urge to lift her up to the Lord in prayer.

"Please God heal Maddie. Please God ease her pain. Please help her family to continue to be strong for her. Thank you God for bringing her thus far. And please God let her be able to drink apple juice today. Thank you Father, Amen."

New House News...

2007-08-05T20:23:00.000-05:00

I have been dying to share our news but we had to wait until the stars were aligned so to speak. We are building a house! We are all so excited. It will be so nice to have the extra space and a little more privacy. Lots of closet space and a play room for the kids and a guest bedroom, until we separate the twins anyway. It is right at 2500 sq. ft. It has 4 bedrooms, 3 1/2 baths, a huge familyroom, a kitchen and dining room that is open to the familyroom, a playroom on another level and a full basement and separate garage. The house is multi-leveled and hard to explain without seeing it. I have never seen another floorplan like it. The master bedroom and bath are on it's own level as is the playroom(they call it a bonus room). I am posting a few pics of the progress so far. We hope to be moving in by the end of September or first of October. The only downside that I can see is keeping it clean!!! That is alot more house than I am used to and all those bathrooms!! I can't keep 1800 sq. feet clean right now!!

A few pics of Nattie at the hospital

2007-08-03T12:41:00.003-05:00

These are in no particular order, but most of the ones w/her smiling were

taken just a few hours before we went home. She was ready to go!

Home from the hospital...

2007-07-31T20:51:00.000-05:00

Just a quick update to let you know that we got home about 8:30 tonight. I just got both girls in bed and they are sleeping soundly. I think Nattie was so thrilled to be in her own bed, she went to sleep in record time! Now I am off to the shower and into my comfy nightgown and I will probably fall asleep as soon as I sit down in front of the TV. Hopefully Nattie will have a good night but at least if she doesn't I can just put her in bed with me.
Thanks for all of your well wishes and thoughts and prayers. I will let you know how she is tomorrow.

Nattie's Progress

2007-07-31T10:33:00.000-05:00

The surgery went very well and Nattie is doing great! No fever, the catheter is already out because she keeps peeing around it so much we can't keep her or the bed dry, she is sleeping well and seems to be tolerating the pain. They are keeping her pretty medicated but as needed. Like this morning she had probably been 8 hours or so w/out pain meds before she started getting really irritable. She played for a while and drank a bottle of formula and some apple juice and had a few bites of a biscuit and a waffle(plain and dry both) and then the fussiness set in. So we asked for pain meds and it took her a while but she has finally settled down and is sleeping again. We are waiting for the doc to come and check her out and hopefully tell us that she can go home. The nurse told us that he told her early this morning that he couldn't believe how well she is doing. I am praying that means we can go home this afternoon. She is crying again, I will update more later....

Tomorrow is the day...

2007-07-29T10:58:00.000-05:00

Nattie's surgery. Please pray for her and for Chet and me. I will update as soon as I can. Today is a hard day for me. I am trying to stay busy so I don't think so much. Too much thinking is not good.

Nattie's surgery is next Monday

2007-07-24T14:08:00.001-05:00

Brianna and her friend Maggie after completing their swim test for camp.

The girls watching sissy take her swim test.

Bri jumping in!

The wagon ride over to the camp area. Look how excited Bri is!

Girls in yellow!

ABOVE: Happy Mags.

BELOW: Mags going from 0 to 100!! TEMPER, TEMPER!!

They are finally holding their bottles and sippy cups!!

Maggie looking so sweet but looks can be deceiving!

Nattie being her mostly sweet little self.

I am trying to gear myself up mentally. It is hard to prepare yourself to have your child taken from you and know that anything could happen. And then to watch her suffer in pain for days while going without sleep for many days. I am exhausted already just thinking of next week. Please keep Natalie and our family in your prayers.

Both girls have had diarhhea so bad the last few days. I am pretty sure that they both have their bottom right tooth coming in. Hopefully that is the cause of it and it will be over once that tooth breaks thru. They aren't sleeping well again either. And we were making such great strides.

Bri left for summer camp on Sunday and Chet is out of town on business and being alone with these two while they are so irritable is very hard work!! I couldn't wait for their bedtime last night!!

Above are some recent pics of the girls and Sunday when we dropped Bri off at camp.

Maggie had a rough week.

2007-07-20T15:21:00.000-05:00

Tuesday night I was at home w/the twins by myself during their most irritable time. I had them in their bumbo seats on the kitchen table while I was collecting stuff for their baths. I was right there but Maggie still managed to throw herself out of her seat, off of the table and onto the floor landing on the top of her head. She screamed hysterically for about 2 minutes. I was as upset as her trying to see where she was hurt. She was red all over from crying so I couldn't see anything until she calmed down. The whole top of her head was red but no knots or bruising. Other than her usual evening time before bed irritability she seemed fine. She did take a bottle before bed and slept all night but she woke up before 7. I plugged her paci in and didn't hear anything else from her until 10 a.m.!!!!!!! I am starting to get worried at this point. When I go in her room to get her the stench almost gagged me....she had a major blow-out!!! Change all the bedding and give her a bath kind of blow-out. And air freshener galore for the whole upstairs portion of the house!!! She took about 3 ozs. of formula and then ate rice cereal and bananas. About 1/2 hour later she seemed lethargic and was whiny, just not herself at all. I tried laying her down and she acted like she was going right to sleep but started this moaning humming thing. You know like kids do when they are sick. She was restless and I decided to try and rock her. She was obviously sleepy but couldn't relax. She had her eyes closed but still doing the humming thing. So I was trying to decide whether to call the doc or not when she vomited all over the both of us. I cleaned us up and called the doc and they said they didn't want to take any chances with a possible head injury and that I should bring her in. While they were asking me questions about her she started vomiting LOTS, and LOTS, and the nurse said to just bring her on in. She was so pale that even her lips had no color. O.K. I am getting pretty upset about this time thinking that I have given my kid a concussion. She fell asleep on the way but was still doing the humming thing. When we got into the office she did have more color and as soon as we went in she had smiles for everyone!!! Little turkey!! She seemed fine. The doc checked her out really thoroughly and said that he didn't see enough to warrant a CT scan and suspected that maybe she had a stomach virus or ate something that did not agree with her. The last week or so they have been eating lots more table food because Nattie is refusing baby food, so it could have been something her little tummy just couldn't handle yet. I was praying it wasn't a virus because her and Nattie trade paci's and bottle's all the time. That means she would end up with it too. The doc put her on a lactose free formula and said to feed her bland things for a few days and no dairy products and check back if she gets worse or no better. She is much better thank goodness. I think it may have been something she ate. Nattie didn't get it, again thank goodness. I am still being careful about what I feed her and have started buying the Gerber Graduates instead of so much table food. Nattie will eat those. Man it's tough to know what to feed teethless babies that refuse baby food!!!
I swear I have managed to let these 2 get hurt more times already than I did my other 2 in the first 5 years of their lives and they aren't even crawling yet!!!! I better get them helmets and bodyarmor!!! I don't know if I am losing my touch or it's just because there are two of them and it's harder to keep my eyes on them both constantly!
Whew!! What a week!

Are they ever going to get any teeth??

2007-07-07T20:59:00.000-05:00

I am beginning to think that my girls are just going to teeth forever! Maggie had a few days last week that she was so irritable that I was sure it was teething. She got better but didn't get any teeth!
We had a fun and busy 4th of July week. We have been to State Parks and little historic towns w/in an hour of home going in and out of shops and looking at old houses and eating in quaint little restaurants. And speaking of eating Bri and I are truly enjoying ice cream this summer. I can't stick to South Beach because I can't lay off the ice cream! So come fall I will be whining about my jeans still not fitting!!
The girls seem to be growing and changing by leaps and bounds these days. The only thing that doesn't change is how whiny they are. I sure was hoping they would outgrow it by now. Maybe if they would just get some dang teeth! They are sitting well on their own and starting to scoot on their bottoms to get what they want. Finally they are both rolling now and trying to sit up from a laid down position. They won't crawl but they lay on their tummies and push backwards w/their arms.
I have lots of pics that I need to download and some on my 35mm that I will get on CD so I can post them here too. But here are a few until then!

It's been a while....

2007-06-25T14:26:00.000-05:00

We are having a busy summer! The girls and I spent a week in TN with family. Brianna had a great time with all of cousins. We went to Dollywood one day and the girls were so good even though it was a very hot day.
They have decided they love to play in the swimming pool. They weren't so sure for a while. I think it was the water temperature.
The girls have been sleeping about 12 hours straight thru!!! Finally!!! They started about 4 nights before we went to TN and the trip messed them up. They kept me up all night the last 2 nights we were there and it took Maggie a few days at home to get straightened out. It is a good thing they are sleeping at night because they sure don't nap. They take 1 to 3 half hour naps during the day. It really isn't enough but we had our 9 month checkup Friday and the doctor isn't concerned as long as they are sleeping at night.
Maggie has passed Nattie up in weight. They are 6 ozs. apart just like when they were born. Maggie is 17.17 and 26.5 inches long and Nattie is 17.8 and 27 inches long. The doc said they look great.
We are a little over a month away from Nattie's scheduled surgery. I can't wait until that is behind us.
The biggest news...........we got a puppy!!! I have been saying no more animals for so long I don't know how Bri talked me into it. I guess because it was my birthday Saturday and I was feeling giddy and said "let's go get a dog"!!! So we drove out to the country and got a beagle puppy. He is cute but Bri has decided that I was right and dogs are alot of work. He peed in her bedroom floor this morning and she was not a happy camper!!! I tried to tell her but she just insisted that a dog would be such fun and she could take care of it. She was not happy when her Daddy got her up at 6:45 in the morning yesterday to take him out because he had been crying for hours either! Let's hope the little fellow stops crying soon and is housebroke quickly! Oh, his name is "Tugg" McGraw. After all of us calling out about 50,000 names we turned to the last names of country music stars. One of us said Tim McGraw and it just so happened he came on the radio about that time singing "Live like you were dying". Chet said Tug McGraw and Bri loved Tug so we decided on "Tugg" McGraw. He looks like a Tugg.
I had so many new pics that I decided to try something new and did a slideshow. I hope this works. I still couldn't do all the pics I wanted because it would only allow so many but I tried to pic the best ones. There are some at Dollywood, the girls in a little blow up boat with water in it and then in a little blow up pool, one of Bri and the puppy, all the girls on our back deck in the swing, my Mom and my sister and the twins on my sister's deck in a swing, my nieces and nephews are in some of them, and I can't remember what else.
I think that is all I can think of right now. Oh one new thing, the girls are holding their bottles!!! We still snuggle with them before bed and feed them their last bottle but during the day it is such a big help that they can do it themselves. They are kind of scooting around on the floor now to get to toys they want. I sure hope crawling will be soon. Or do I??

I can't get the slideshow to play on my blogger page. I think you can copy and paste it into your browser and it will play.

THANK YOU STACY!!!!!

Twins 1st Camping Trip!!!

2007-05-29T21:16:00.001-05:00

Posing with Daddy!

Nattie B!

Maggie Mae!

Whoo! Hoo! this is fun!

Can you believe she is letting us do this outside??!!

These sure are good Ritz Crackers!

These are cool chairs! But why did Maggie get the UT chair?

Hey Uncle Marty!

The girls did really good for their 1st trip. I can't say that they were any better behaved or any worse than they normally are at home. Sleeping, as it is at home, was still our #1 issue. They actually did pretty good at night but didn't nap much during the day. They are extremely restless sleepers and since I was sleeping with them I didn't get much sleep at all. By the last day I was so tired and ready to be home just to sleep in my own bed w/out babies!!! We had alot of fun but it sure is a whole lot more work taking 2 babies camping. Thanks to Anglique and Terri for all of your help. Dawayne thanks for helping Chet and hanging out with him while I got a little free time. And Marty....who knew you were such a baby lover??!! Glad to have an extra set of arms for holding.

As you can see we got some pretty good pics. I think Terri has some more that I will post later because I am actually in a few of those.

Pic of me and the Girls

2007-05-21T15:20:00.000-05:00

I thought this pic turned out pretty good. Since I am actually dressed, w/make-up on and my hair is semi-fixed, I thought I would share it.

Thank you...

2007-05-15T20:29:00.000-05:00

Debra, Stacy and Laura for your kind words. You girls are such a comfort to me!

Natalie...

2007-05-09T12:38:00.000-05:00

She had another renal nuclear scan today and the urologist determined that she has to have the kidney surgery also. He said that she is worse than when she had the test in January. Chet and I were wondering that because she is soooooooooooo grumpy just like Maggie used to be before the surgery. Instead of calling her Nattie B we call her "Nattie BEAR"!!! She acts like an old hungry bear all the time. I was hoping it was just teething but I guess not. We haven't scheduled it yet because I want to wait until school is out. It will probably be sometime in mid to late June.
Please keep Nattie in your prayers. And please pray that her grumpy disposition is due to the kidney prob and she will be a different child after the surgery like Maggie is!!

My cuties!

2007-05-05T11:33:00.000-05:00

A little time on the floor! Nattie left and Maggie right.

More play time. Nat lft and Maggs rt.

These two are my faves! Aren't they just adorable! I was putting away laundry upstairs while they played in there cribs. I knew one would cry if carried them downstairs one at a time so I just put them and the other things I needed from upstairs in the basket and carried it all down. HEAVY!!! I won't be doing that much longer.

Dinner wore Maggie out!

They both slept all night two nights in a row!!!

2007-05-01T13:57:00.000-05:00

And by all night I mean from 9:30p.m until 8:00a.m. and this morning it was after 8am!!!! Woo!! Hoo!!!! It will be so nice if that nighttime feeding has been dropped.
Natalie is scheduled for another Nuclear Scan next Wed. 5/9. That will tell us her kidney function and how much it is draining. They said if it is the same or better they will just continue to watch it via ultrasound. But if not we may have to prepare ourselves for surgery for her also! So we will pray for results of the same or hopefully BETTER than last time. I can't help but wonder if maybe she just needs to have the surgery too. She is extremely irritable most of the time. And now Maggie is such a happy baby. I kept thinking it was teething but it has lasted for months now. Still no teeth so I guess it could be teething too.
Maggie has another uti. They called this morning and changed her antibiotic. Darn, I thought we were past this. It seems like we take two steps forward and one back.
I have some more cute pics but have to download them from the camera. I will try to get it done this weekend.
Until then....

Maggie's stint is OUT!!

2007-04-26T13:24:00.000-05:00

It came out this morning around 7:45am. Thank God it is over with. She did not do as well coming out of the anesthesia as she did last time. She was hysterical this time and they couldn't calm her down. We could hear her in recovery screaming and I got very upset because they wouldn't just bring her to us. One of the docs came by and asked if I was alright and I said "NO!" I can't stand to hear her screaming like that. He went back and told them to take her IV out and bring her to me. As soon as she saw us she stopped crying. As soon as she got nested in my arms she went to sleep. Poor thing. She is doing great now. Sleeping alot but otherwise herself. She ate good once we got home. We are all just tired from getting up at 4am!! Hopefully this will be one of those nights that both girls sleep all night.
Funny twin bond story: Nattie was in a dead sleep in my arms while kids were screaming all around us. As soon as she heard Maggie crying she woke up and was terribly upset. That upset me even more!
Thanks for all of your prayers!
Erin P: I followed your blog for a long time right after your twins were born last year while I was in the hospital waiting for mine. I cannot believe they are almost a year old!

New Pics!

2007-04-14T19:18:00.000-05:00

Maggie goes Hollywood!!!

Busy at play! I love these saucers!!!

In Granny's lap the day before Maggie's surgery.

Nattie

This is my favorite new pic! I was trying to capture the handholding.

Bri takes Nattie on an American Girl Horse ride!!!

Maggie is doing....

2007-04-11T14:15:00.000-05:00

WONDERFUL! You all were right when you said babies are so resiliant! It is like she never had major surgery. She is happy and smiles all the time. She keeps us laughing because she smiles so much. She has a dimple in her right cheek and it is just so darn adorable you can't help but just laugh at her. She is going to be the one that doesn't get punished when she really should because she is making us laugh!! We call her Smiley!
Both girls are very close to sitting up on their own. Still NO TEETH!! But they, especially Nattie, have been so irritable and chewing on everything. I can't keep Nattie's hands out of her mouth. I wish they would just pop on thru and give them some relief. Orajel is helping although they hate it.
I'll post some pics soon.
Gotta go somebody is crying!

Easter Pics!

2007-04-03T22:31:00.000-05:00

Maggie's home!

2007-03-28T21:32:00.000-05:00

Getting sleepy!

Feeling well enough to play for a few minutes.

Nothing would do but Mommy! Look how sad her eyes look!

A wagon ride to get her to sleep. Worked like a charm!

We got home today about 11:30am after a terrible, long night. Maggie's IV came out yesterday and they thought she was going home so they left it out. Late in the evening when we were still waiting to hear from the doctor the nurse came and told us that she had a UTI and that was the reason for the fever and they were worried she would become septic so they wanted to keep her one more night and give her IV antibiotics. So later in the evening, after she had fallen asleep, they came in to put the IV in. God it is so hard to watch your baby screaming while they are doing something like that to her. They finally got it in and gave her pain meds thru it along with the antibiotic. They also stuck her finger for a CBC. And would you believe the nurse dropped her blood into the sharps box??!!! AHHHHHHHHH!!!! They left the room and just when I finally got her back to sleep another nurse came in and said we have to stick her again!!! I was ready to kill somebody!!!!!! For some reason Maggie's blood was very thin and when they stuck her she bled like crazy especially the 2nd time. It looked worse than it was I know but blood was everywhere, all up her arm, on her blankets, all over the nurse and Maggie was screaming!! They finally got everything done to her but neither one of us slept much all night. The doc woke us at 7 to tell us she could go home!!

You thought that was bad?? I'm not finished yet. We get home and I change a poopy diaper and see something white that looks like a wire hanging out of her and I FREAK!! I called the doc and they told us to bring her in because it is the stint coming out. It rarely ever happens. Of course it happened to Maggie. After an agonizing half hour of her screaming while they were trying to poked that thing back up in her with a catheter, pee and blood and poop going everywhere, they finally got it in. My poor sweety is absolutely exhausted after the last 24 hours. She has cried so much and so have I. She slept alot this afternoon and evening and is sleeping soundly right now. She has been eating well since we have been home. I knew she would eat better once she got back on home turf.

We are so glad to be back home. I missed Bri and little Nattie terribly. Hopefully the worst of it all is over with. Please continue to pray for her. Mostly for a quick recovery and total healing of the kidney and ureter.

Update on Maggie....

2007-03-27T10:59:00.000-05:00

Maggie is a trooper!! She did great!! The surgery took about 3 hours, a long 3 hours for Mom and Dad. Her ureter was completely blocked. It also went into the kidney at the top of her kidney not where it should so they had to move that to the correct place. They removed lots of damaged tissue from her kidney. He said it was HUGE! They took out probably more than a baseball size amount. They wouldn't let her eat last night and she would not rest. Finally Chet and I demanded to feed her about midnight and she ate and went to sleep. She slept on and off last night and ate on and off. Early this morning she developed a low-grade fever that they are keeping an eye on. The doc said to get her up a lot today and if the fever stays below 102 she can go home this afternoon. They took the catheter out a few hours ago and she is filling up diapers!! So please continue to keep her in your prayers and I will update as soon as I can.

6 Month Stats

2007-03-19T21:51:00.000-05:00

Their 6 month checkup was today. I cannot believe how big they are getting.

Nattie: 15.15lbs., length 25", head circ. 42cm. She is in the 50th percentile on weight. At 2 months she was in the 10th percentile on weight.

Maggie: 15.3lbs., length 24, head circ. 42cm. She is in the 30th percentile on weight. At 2 months she wasn't even on the charts on weight!!!!

I just can't believe how far we have come. I know the doctors in the NICU kept telling me it would happen but it was so hard to believe at the time. But look at them now!!!

Get this; Brianna's 6 months stats: 15.8lbs, length 25.75"!!!
So the twins are right on track!!

I know it's been a while....

2007-03-19T08:41:00.000-05:00

But I haven't had any new pics and the girls haven't done anything new. Yesterday we took them to have professional pics made in their Easter dresses. We took a few pics at home first and as usual they aren't very good. We have got to invest in a better digital camera. They looked so sweet though that I just had to post a few.

Nattie still doesn't want to roll over from her tummy to her back although she is very close to rolling from her back to her tummy. Not much longer and she will be sitting up by herself I think. Maggie rolls like crazy! They are so cute right now and starting to be such fun. They laugh and smile. All I have to do is make eye contact for a big smile. They are very vocal! I don't mean crying, they just talk baby talk alot and loudly! They really are pretty good babies. They love to get out in public. If only they would sleep! Yes, sleeping is still a really big issue. Not napping well or sleeping at night. Oh well, I guess someday we will sleep in this house.

Please remember Maggie in your prayers. Her kidney surgery is next Monday the 26th. I will update as soon as I am able to. Until then....

New pics and some updates...

2007-02-19T09:41:00.000-05:00

Here are a few bath pics. I can't get them to smile for the camera for anything but they really do smile alot especially Maggie. Maggie is in the white towel and Nattie in the yellow.

We are back on solids again and doing pretty good with it. Maggie will eat as long as you shovel it in. Isn't it funny if you go back a few months in my blog and read I was asking you all to pray that she would learn to love food and eating. Isn't God great? Wow, Did he ever answer those prayers. Weight wise she is about to pass Nattie up. Now Nattie likes the solids o.k. but nothing like Maggie. I think sometimes she could take them or leave them. They have been sleeping a little better since starting them back. Me? Well I hope squash and green beans are good for my complexion. Surely that cereal is like a mud facial or something??!! Ha! Ha!! Yes, I have been wearing alot of baby food. One day after I had just shoveled a mouthful of peas into Maggie's mouth she let a big sneeze!!! Bri walked in the room just in time to see it and said green stuff was flying thru the air!! It really was funny even though Maggie and I and everything around us was covered in peas!!!

I really think they are cutting teeth. They are drooling so bad and chewing on their fingers constantly. Nattie has been really irritable for a few days too and run a fever of a little over 99. Hopefully we will be feeling or seeing something in there in a few days.

Oh, I almost forgot the biggest milestone......THEY ROLLED OVER this weekend. Maggie on Friday night and Nattie on Saturday morning. Everytime you put Maggie on her tummy she flips over. Nattie still has to work pretty hard as she is very impatient and hates tummy time!

That's about it until next time......

Baby Dedication

2007-02-13T22:17:00.000-05:00

The girls did pretty good considering they were really sleepy by the time it started and past ready to eat by the time it was over. I am posting this pic although it is not very good. As I have said before our digital camera is not very good and it was kind of dark in the church. I tried to crop it and lighten it up some but it made it grainy. At least we have the ceremony on a DVD.

New Pics!

2007-02-10T14:41:00.000-05:00

Big Sis helping out while Mom attempts to cook dinner!

So cute in their little valentine outfits!

A little tummy time! Dang those blue eyes, you get

red eye in every pic.

And last, Mags sleeping. Oh, life can be so hard on a little baby!!

Baby Dedication

2007-01-29T15:04:00.000-05:00

We are having the girls dedicated at our church on February 10th. We are christian and this is a ceremony that our church does for babies every 3 months. So there will be a bunch of babies. We are excited about it though. It is kind of like their debut! I took some pics here at home yesterday of them in their christening gowns but they didn't turn out very good. I will post one or two when I can.
O.K. I decided to nix the oatmeal for now and the rice went back in the bottles. Neither of them were sleeping good without the rice and the oatmeal was just too hard on their tummies. I don't think they are ready for solids yet. I am going to wait another month or so and try again. The good news is that they are taking more ozs. in a day now than they were a week ago and the best news is NATTI SLEPT ALL NIGHT 3 NIGHTS IN A ROW!!!!! Please God let it continue!! The bad news is that they are not napping well at all during the day and it makes for extremely grumpy babies. I am not sure how to remedy this problem. I do have them both down right now and just pray that they sleep for a couple of hours. They really need an afternoon nap whether they think so or not! Ha! Ha!
I will post some pics later!

Maggie's Surgery

2007-01-23T22:11:00.000-05:00

Please keep Maggie in your prayers. Her surgery is scheduled for March 26th. We had to push it out that far because we have no family here that could help with the other two kids. So my Mom can come up that week. In a way I am glad it is a ways out and then on the other hand I wish we could just do it and get it over with.

Today has been a bad day. Both girls have been extremely irritable. I think they are really gassy. Today is the 3rd day of oatmeal. Maybe their tummies are just adjusting to it. I hope tomorrow is a better day for both of them. Natti didn't sleep all night again last night! Starting about 3:45 I was up and down with her. I decided that since their reflux seems better I would omit the rice cereal from their formula. My thoughts are that without the rice in it they would eat more ozs. in one setting. The formula has more calories, protein, fat, and carbs, so it should keep them full longer. Right? Well they only ate more one time today. Unfortunately is wasn't the last bottle before bed. I could barely get them to take that one at all. Especially Natti and she's the one I wanted to eat more!! Oh well, maybe they will do better tomorrow.

Funny thing is when Natti woke up at 3:45 she was talking and laughing and I just laid there until she started fussing. When I went in she was completely unswaddled(I swaddle tightly and tie a cloth diaper around them! Houdini!) kicking her feet like crazy and looked up at me and smiled and squealed!! Her first squeal of delight and I had to play it down. I wanted so bad to pick her up and play with her, she was so darn cute!!! But I just reswaddled her and gave her the paci and she turned her head and closed her eyes. Of course it didn't last, I was up and down with her until 5 and she finally went back to sleep until 6:25 when I fed her and then she slept for another hour. She did take a 2 hour nap today, thank goodness!!
That's all for now....

4 Month check up

2007-01-19T22:41:00.000-05:00

We are a little behind, they are actually 4 1/2 months but they had RSV shots and their kidney tests at 4 months and I just couldn't do more shots too. Ped. says they look great! They are on the charts in weight and heighth and head circumfirence. With their adjusted age (3 months) it puts them in the 40th and 50th percentile!!! Wow! Brianna was never that high on the charts and she wasn't a preemie. She was just a small baby until she was about 4 and then she caught up with other kids her age. So with that being said, I am happy with their weights and heights. Natalie weighs in at 13.1 lbs. and 23 inches long and Maggie is 11.14 lbs. and 22.5 inches long. We got the go ahead to start solids. Since they have had rice cereal in their bottles for reflux since they were about 6 weeks, he said to start with oatmeal and progress from there. This is when it starts getting fun. Maggie is sleeping all night most nights. Natalie was before Christmas and I don't know what happened to her but now she is waking up several times a night and she just wiggles and squirms constantly. Half the time I end up putting her in bed with me because I get tired of getting up and down to give her a paci!! I am getting a work out in the middle of the night! The ped. also said that maybe solids will help her start sleeping better.
I still haven't heard from the Urologist about Maggie. I haven't called them because I just don't have the heart yet to actually schedule the surgery and start counting down days. And I just keep prayng that by some miracle it will start opening up and she won't need the surgery.

Brianna just got a report card and she is on the honor roll!! 2nd time this year. If we could just get her to stop talking so much now. Like mother like daughter! Ha! Ha!

I have great news about Joseph. Some of you don't know but he is my older son, 20 almost 21!! Whew!! Yes, I am too young but I am feeling older everyday. Anywho, Joseph is a very talented piano player and has been playing with different gospel quartets for the last couple of years. It has opened the door for wonderful opportunities for him. If you know anything about gospel music you have heard of the Kingdom Heirs?? He was contacted by them last week and told that they had heard wonderful things about him and would like for him to come and play for them. He did and a few days later they called him to come again and offered him a position in the group!!! He will be playing at Dollywood from spring to fall and then traveling the winter months. As a matter of fact the Kingdom Heirs will be here in Louisville in February and Joseph will be with them. I am so excited for him. He is thrilled. God has truly blessed him with this musical gift and I am so glad he is using it in this way. Go see him if you get the chance!!

Well that is about all for now. I have more pics but need to download them. The girls are out and I was awake most of last night and needless to say I am exhausted so off to bed I go too!

Until next time....

Don't have all the details yet but...

2007-01-09T12:46:00.000-05:00

Maggie is going to have surgery. They will be detaching her ureter from the bad kidney and taking out the piece where the blockage is. The kidney now has some damage, swelling way beyond what it should be, so they will remove part of that and then reattach the ureter. They will place a shunt in the ureter that runs from the kidney into the bladder so that it doesn't grow closed during the healing process. Then unfortunately they will have to go back in and remove the shunt later. They hope for her to make it to 6 months of age. I guess they are basing that on how bad the kidney looks and how many infections she gets. She does have an infection now and she started a different antibiotic yesterday. We only saw the nurse practicioner who will be talking to the doctor and calling us back tomorrow with more details and a time schedule. Right now there is no change with Natalie's according to the renal US. They may schedule her for the nuclear scan again, like Maggie had on Friday, in the future.
They still would not sedate Maggie. They have to be 60 weeks old and they subtract how many weeks early they were, so Maggie was nowhere close. I was very upset and told them they had better get it right the first time! They hit the first vein and she only had to be catherized once but that was bad enough. Man she cried and it just broke my heart. And again it was a very long day.
The pediatric urologist no longer takes our insurance and they are the only one around here. They told us we would have to pay for the visits: $118 times 2!!!!! I said I don't think so. Just have the doctor call me and we will look for someone else to treat them. They went back and talked to the office manager and the nurse practicioner and only charged us $80 total for both girls. They were very nice and said they would work with us because our girls really needed help. DUHHHH.... Our medical expenses so far have been astranomical!!! I have a stack of bills that I can't get the nerve up to even look at and figure out a payment plan. Some of the letters are starting to get nasty so I know that I have to tackle this soon. O.K. I am rambling....sorry, just tired and worried.
Thank you all for your prayers and comments. I really look forward to reading them and the emails that you send me. Please continue to pray for my girls health.

Christmas Day pics!

2007-01-02T23:32:00.000-05:00

Don't they look adorable??? Nattie on the left and Maggs on the right.
We had a pretty good holiday. Most of my family was sick including me. Thank goodness the twins are o.k. Nattie has had a little snotty nose but not too bad. They go on Thursday for the next RSV injection and Friday for more kidney tests. I called the urologist and voiced my concerns about having the invasive tests so soon again. Unfortunately they say it is because they are fairly sure that Maggie will have to have the surgery to correct the blockage in her ureters. I just pray that the results of Fridays test show some improvement so they will hold off on surgery and give it a little longer to correct itself.
It is back to school for Brianna tomorrow and I am dreading it. I have enjoyed this down time. No homework, no early to bed and early to rise for her, no scheduled events. It was very nice and now we are back to the grind! She is ready though.
I hope all of you had a wondeful holiday! Happy New Year!
I will post the girls test results as soon as I know.

Merry Christmas!!!

2006-12-16T17:08:00.000-05:00

I just wanted to wish everyone Merry Christmas before I leave for TN tomorrow and post this new pic. Isn't it adorable?? Natti is on the left and Maggie on the right.
God bless all of you and your families and I pray you have the Merriest Christmas!!!

Nothing new really...

2006-12-08T09:54:00.000-05:00

The urologist office called on Monday and Maggie has another UTI. My suspicion is that she never got rid of the last one she had and probably won't get rid of this one at least not for long either. Not with urine just sitting in her kidney and not draining. So I decided to go ahead with the next scan in January but I do want a long term plan from the doc after that.

Monday night was the Mother/Daughter Christmas tea at church. We left Dad with the twins alone for the first time!!! and according to him the last time!! He says I can do it but I have to have Bri's help too. He said "how do you do it by yourself?" My reply of course, "I don't have a choice!" There is no other option so suck it up!!! and get it done!!!

On the way to the tea Bri and I were listening to Christmas music and singing along when I looked in the mirror she was grinning from ear to ear and I asked what she was smiling about. She told me nothing 3 times and finally the last time I said come on tell me what you are smiling about and she said "I just you love you that's all!" Awwwwwwwww..... Made my day!!! I just love that kid too!! All evening she kept telling me "Mommy you are so pretty and I love you so much"!! I guess she needed some one on one Mommy time. For so long it was me and her and then her world got turned upside down. We had a great time and Dad took a pic by the tree before we left. I just got all my hair cut off! It makes my head look huge, hee, hee! Or maybe my head was already huge. I gotta get this weight off!! Maybe after the winter when we can come out of hibernation!!!

Thanks for your replies Laura, Kim and Stacy!! Your support really helps me along.

The dreaded day was as bad as I feared...

2006-12-01T23:42:00.000-05:00

What a horribly long day! 1st we arrived at 7:30am and had to wait forever just to get registered. Both girls were getting grumpy because it was time to eat and we were told not to feed them after 4am because they were going to be sedated. Almost two hours after our arrival they called us back to get their IV's and catherization only to be told that they were too young to sedate. O.K. I am seriously aggravated at this point. They decide to catherize each one and then put in their IV's. It took two tries to get in Natalie's and I am not a happy Mom. Maggie's cath went pretty smoothly. IV's were a nightmare. They stuck poor Natalie 3 times before getting a vein!!!! I was pissed! After two tries on Maggie I told them to get somebody that could hit a vein on the first try. We ended up taking her to pre-op and this really nice, competent, male nurse hit it on the first try. By this time the girls were so upset they wouldn't eat. The first test was the nuclear scan. They filled the girls with IV fluids and dye and put them into a machine, looked kind of like an MRI machine and they could watch what was happening with the fluids in their kidneys. Then they put lasix into the IV to make them pass the fluids. They next test was to flush saline and dye into the catheter's and watch it. By the time we got to that department both of their catheters were out and they had to be catherized again!!!! I think the nurse we had first thing that morning was pretty incompetent!! Then we were off to the urologists office for the results. In a nutshell the tests showed that both kidneys on both girls are functioning just as they should. The problem is that there is a blockage in the ureters that go from the kidneys to the bladder. Natalie's is draining, albeit slowly, but they think with time it will open up and be completely normal. They just want to watch it for now. She is scheduled for another renal US January 5th. Maggie's bad side is not draining at all or only dripping and they can't even see it. So her kidney is staying full of urine all the time. They still think that she will outgrow it. Worse case scenario is surgery to remove the blocked portion of the ureter and reattach it. But they won't do that until they have to. She is scheduled for a renal US and another Nuclear Scan on January 5th. They promised me that they will sedate her this time!!! We finally arrive home after 3pm, very long day!
The more I think about it though, I am going to call the doc back on Monday. 1 month!!! How much can possibly change in one month? What will they do if there is no change? Is it really worth putting my baby thru that trauma again so soon? The US's are no big deal and pain free, but I can't stand all that poking and the drugs they will have to pump into Maggie for the scan. If they aren't going to do anything else no matter what the results then why not wait 2 months or 3?
Anywho, not really bad news but not great news. We are happy to know that the kidneys are functioning well. Please continue to keep our sweeties in your prayers. This is not over. Thank you all that are praying for them and thanks for all of your email and comments.
Thanks Laura and Kim!!
I think everybody is finally asleep and I am going to bed too, afterall, it is midnight!!

Need your prayers...

2006-11-28T23:54:00.000-05:00

The kidney tests are Thursday morning. We are just ready to get it over with. Please pray that all goes smoothly.
Here are a few more pics! Maggie is showing off her usual personality and Natalie's face says it all..."Can you please make her be quiet!!". Big sis watching TV with Natti B on her chest. Aren't they so sweet??

Happy turkey day!!

2006-11-23T15:24:00.000-05:00

We have so much to be thankful for this year!! I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!!

Recovering nicely....

2006-11-10T21:38:00.000-05:00

according to the pediatrician! He changed their breating treatment meds thinking the albuterol may be why they aren't sleeping well. Also, he did say to give them some benadryl tonight. They have been awake pretty much all day so I am hoping with the med changes that they sleep tonight.

Good news! Even thru all this sickness and not eating Maggie has gained weight! She weighs 7.15lbs!!! We are about to break 8 lbs!!! Natalie weighs 9.6, so she didn't gain as much which I knew because she has really not eaten much for a week. If you don't look closely they are really hard to tell apart now.

Keith thanks for the aquaphor suggestion and yes I have tried it. The problem is that the skin is oozy and nothing will stick to it. I bought some more stuff tonight with a higher zinc concentration in it. The doc suggested it. We shall see. They also cut back her antibiotic so maybe her stomach will calm down. And I am putting rice back in her bottles again for the reflux and it kind of constipates her. Surely she will plug up soon!!

RSV!!!

2006-11-10T11:02:00.001-05:00

Laura does it really get better??? I don't even know what sleep is anymore!

The girls are recovering from RSV. They were admitted to the hospital last Saturday. Maggie also had a UTI. They were so sick. They were released on Tuesday but still were very sick little girls. They are just now starting to get back to their full eating schedule. The antibiotics Maggie is on for her UTI have given her severe diareaha(sp?). Her little butt is raw. I have coated it in everything but nothing seems to help when she constantly has poop on. They go back to the pediatrician today for a recheck and I am hoping they have some suggestions. Just in the last 24 hours I can tell that they are feeling much better but they still are not sleeping much. They doze and cat nap. No real sleep. Which means I get no sleep. I am starting to have a hard time dealing with it too. I just so want my life back to normal. I love these babies so much but my God this is so hard........ Sorry I am just feeling a little sorry for myself. I just wanted to give you all an update. Please pray for healthy babies the rest of the winter and for my sanity!! I'm not joking!