Rough Week

This past week has been pretty rough. On Monday, I took the girls with me and my visiting teaching companion to visit some of our ladies. We were gone for several hours! We had some good visits and all the ladies were amazed at how well-behaved the girls were in their seats. It helped that they slept through two of the visits! We got home and our afternoon went just as it normally does; eating, crawling on mommy and messing diapers. Our evening went just as normal. However, around 2am, Olivia started screaming! This was not her normal nightly whines when she loses her pacifier. She was crying like she was really hurt. Paul went in to get her so she wouldn't wake Aislee. He found that she had thrown up! He got her out of the crib, undressed her and wrapped her in a towel. She was still hysterical when he brought her to me. She threw up a few more times into the towel. We got a new towel and she eventually fell asleep for a little while. Olivia would wake up gagging and hacking into the towel followed by screams. I bet the first throwing up experience for anybody is pretty traumatic! Since Paul had to get up pretty early for work and her sporatic outbursts aren't very good for a light sleeper, we went into the living room and lied on the couch. Olivia was finally worn out enough to sleep for three hours straight. Thank goodness Ailsee slept in that morning! The rest of Tuesday was filled with towels on the carpet and Olivia just wanting to be held. Around 4:30pm, three baths, 4 outfits and three loads of laundry, I decided that the girls were just going to spend the rest of the day in their diapers and I was going to be in pajamas! Olivia slept all of Tuesday night on a towel in her crib. The next morning was better for Olivia but not so great for Aislee. Olivia still wanted to be held all day, but Aislee was now lying on towels and crawling into my lap. They were once again either in their diapers or in the tub. Aislee just lied around all day, throwing up and napping. I have never felt so bad for someone in all my life than for my girls and my inability to help. Paul picked up some pedialite for the girls and that's all they could keep down for the next day. Thursday, I got it. They were still sick, but now I wasn't doing so well. I was tempted to have my mom drive nine hours to take care of me! The medication I am for my pregnancy stops me from throwing up, but boy did I want to! Paul was kind enough to pick up Sprite on his way home. By Friday, the girls and I were feeling better. They had started eating more and crawling around like normal. That afternoon, it hit Paul! He came home not feeling so great. Too bad for him, the girls were so excited to see him! They wanted to crawl all over him! Saturday wasn't so bad. The girls were over it and Paul was feeling a little better. We stayed home from Church on Sunday for fear of infecting anyone else. We are all doing much better!

Two years and counting...

Paul and I were married on April 27 two years ago. To celebrate our anniversary, a friend of ours from our ward came and watched the girls the Saturday before the 27th. We only planned to be gone for two hours, we were just going to dinner, but Alyssa insisted that we stay out longer. We left her with Aislee sleeping and Olivia getting ready to fall asleep. Paul took me to the Olive Garden since that was the place we went after the wedding and the other festivities. We felt like we were newly-weds again without any responsibilities! We had a very nice dinner, and called to check on the girls. They were still asleep! So, we went to the mall to return some socks I had gotten Paul for our anniversary (I should really get those types of things when he is right next to me!). We just walked around holding hands and talking about all the things that have happened over the past two years. Quite a bit has happened! We've lived in three states. We've graduated from college. We've endured many nights at the Emergency Room!
We've even bought couches together! But, how could we leave out the opportunity to be parents to two...almost three?!?
That's right. We are expecting another baby, coming November 2009! We are very excited! And, there is only ONE baby in there! We are a little nervous to have three under 15 months, but we have adopted the motto, "Have 'em while you're young, and sleep will come later...hopefully!" This pregnancy seems to be going a little bit better. I had a pretty bad bout of morning sickness, but they have me on the same medicine I was on with the twins. I'm feeling much better, and we're hoping that this time it only lasts the first little while.
But, to continue with our date, we had a good time just being together. We got home to happy babies crawling on the floor with their toys and crawling all over Alyssa. Olivia had just woken up and Aislee didn't cry when she realized we were gone. We are really grateful for the opportunity to go out. I'd also like to say how grateful I am for a wonderful husband. Paul has been pretty awesome with all that we've gone through. I am so glad such a sweet and kind and wonderful person found me when he did. It's just fun to be married to him! I love you, Paul!

A Quick Update

Our last few posts haven't had very many words. So, I decided to give a little more detailed update. We took the girls in for their 6 month check up. I know, they're 7 months old! What have I been doing?!? It has taken us a little while to find a doctor close by that we like. Our doctor checked the girls. Everything is going well. They're doing everything they should be and gaining weight. They are still exactly a pound apart. Aislee was 14 lbs 2oz and Olivia was 13 lbs 2oz. They're both getting teeth on the bottom, in the exact same spot. It's not too much fun for me, and we've had a few heart-to-hearts about biting. They're doing better. I really think they can understand more than one would think. As you've probably seen, they're big army-crawlers. They roll, scoot, and crawl all over the living room. We've started them on baby food since they're nursing days seem to be numbered! They're not too excited about Rice cereal, but they love apple sauce, bananas and strawberries, and green beans. Olivia will eat more of the green beans than Aislee. Bath time is an adventure now that they can roll over more. They're able to keep their heads above the water when they roll. They seem to like just swimming around and grabbing at the duckies. We're trying to get some modest shots in the tub! Other than exciting news with the girls growth and progrees, we have not much else to report. The knees in my pants are wearing thin from crawling on the floor. We're looking into getting Paul some new shorts...they're just wearing thin from years of wear. He loves those things! Hopefully, we'll have more exciting things happen in the next few weeks to report on!

The Race

The Army Crawl

We tried a clean plate, but they wouldn't reach for it. I guess, they thought something was on they could eat. They grab at EVERYTHING we are eating!

Movin' and Groovin'

We are enjoying the warm weather in Arizona. Paul gets every other Friday off so we fill that weekend with grocery shopping and explorations of Tucson. This past weekend we took a drive up Mt. Lemmon. We didn't end up going to the top, but we stopped at a lookout and took some pictures. It was a little chilly and windy, but the view was beautiful. We're looking forward to the next off-Friday so we can go on a hike!


Aislee and Paul. There's a guy climbing the side of the mountain. We weren't going to get that close to the edge!

Olivia and Molly. It was getting pretty chilly. It was a lot warmer in the valley!


The girls are pretty mobile now. They're figuring out the whole crawling thing. They like to roll and reach for things, but they haven't quite gotten the "moving forward" part of crawling. The girls get pretty frustrated when they reach for things in front of them, but end up moving backwards.

Olivia

Aislee

Olivia and Aislee

Olivia

Olivia and Aislee

Aislee

Aislee

Olivia


We were waiting until we got swimsuits for the girls to do a bath time video. We got these from Old Navy. The first few minutes were pretty quiet. I think they were getting used to feel of the swim suits. They were a little unsure for a while. They weren't "free" the way they normally are in the tub.

Here are few videos and pictures of their latest endeavors.

All the new things we do...

Since we've been in Arizona, we've been trying some new things. Paul and I play tennis when he gets home from work at a local park and then take the girls for a walk or run on the path around soccer fields, softball fields, and a dog park. All the ladies we pass can't help but tell us what pretty babies we have. It's their little dimples in their chins (from their daddy!) that the ladies love so much. The girls are enjoying new sippy cups, rice cereal with apple sauce, and mashed potatoes. I've been trying some new dinner ideas. We still have chicken enchiladas, Swiss steak, salmon, and herb chicken. But, we've tried Ranch turkey burgers, meat(ground turkey) and potato pie, Ritz chicken casserole, and Parmesan crusted Tilapia. We also got new couches and finally got the crib for the girls. I still need to get bedding for the crib. Here are a few pictures of our happenings.


The crib that needs bedding.

The new couches. They're "espresso".

Parmesan crusted Tilapia (I got the recipe from allrecipes.com).

Olivia looking at herself in the mirror.

Daddy and Aislee.

Aislee and her sippy with apple juice.

Olivia and her apple juice sippy.

The girls and their sippies.

Laying on the bed with mommy.