I'm Back . . . I Think?

Things got really crazy around here.  In a good way.  Everyone is doing well.  Isaac is growing up so fast.  He's nine years old and in third grade.  He's such a good kid.  He's just finishing up with Jr. Jazz and loves it.  He's so funny to watch play.  He is all about the defense.  Even when he's supposed to be on offense.  He also spends a lot of time jumping up and down on the court rather than running across it.  He gets so excited.  I guess I should just be happy he's having fun, right?   We signed up for baseball which starts in April.  That's more my (and his) pace.  This will be his fourth year playing, and it will be the other kids pitching.  I think it'll be a  little more serious.  Which is a good thing.  

Marcus and Grace are almost three years old.  They make me laugh and drive me crazy every day.  

Grace is such a girly-girl.  Her latest thing is that she wants to wear a dress all the time.  Which I don't mind, but she wants to change her outfit at least seven or eight times a day.  That gets old really fast.  Especially since I have so much laundry to do anyway.  She loves all things princess and sparkly.  Today I took her with me to pick up my wedding ring from the jeweler.  She was in heaven at that store.  Her eyes got big and she was looking at all the sparkly things.  She came home and told Greg that she wants a diamond for her birthday.  She also loves dancing and singing.  I want to find a fun dance class for her.  She would have a blast.

Marcus is the total opposite of Grace.  He is all boy.  He wants to work in the garage with Greg and fix things.  He loves to run and get dirty.  He has no fear.  He is the only one of my kids that has had stitches.  It was about six months ago and he was running in the front room, tripped and hit his forehead on the fireplace.  Three stitches.  I'm sure it won't be the last with him I'm sure.  He loves sports too, and wants to do everything like his big brother.  He thinks he's nine too.  

The twins are old enough now that they play together some (until someone cries).  It is so fun to see them together.  The other day they took their stuffed animals in the play room and had a "meeting".  They just sat and chatted.  It was pretty cute.  Isaac is also really good at playing with them.  Every now and then, Marcus will get on Isaac's nerves and they get mad at each other, but they get along pretty well for the most part.  

Greg has been working on some projects in the garage.  He's taken an old piano and made it into a bar.  He's almost done with it and it's so pretty.  He left the sound board and all the strings, but took out the keys and refinished the wood.  I'll have to post a picture when its all done.  He's also working on a coffee table that will have the piano keys set under glass.  He hopes to sell both.  

I have been pretty busy with kid stuff.  I've been volunteering more in Isaac's class.  I really like that. I feel more connected to his teacher and what goes on at school.  His teacher this year is fantastic.  She really expects a lot of her students.  Isaac needs that extra push.  

Last week we spent a lot of time with my mom's side of the family.  My Grandpa Holder passed away on Valentines Day.  He had been having a hard time for a while.  Just a few days before he died, we found out that he had prostate cancer and it had spread to his bones and lungs.  I was able to see him in the hospital the night before he died.  He was pretty out of it, but was still cracking jokes.  He told me that the reason he was in the hospital is because he'd partied too hard on his birthday the week before.  The thing I will always remember about my grandpa is his sense of humor and his smile.  He was a great man.  

So I'm going to work on posting more.  It's all about finding time, and that's rare these days.  I'm also thinking about making the blog private.  We'll see.

Resoultion

Happy 2013!!!   I usually don't do new years resolutions, but there are a few things I really want to do this coming year so I might as well make them official.  I really only have 2.

1.  Keep up on this blog.
2.  Run a half marathon.

Shouldn't be too hard, right?  We'll see. 

I considered letting the blog just die since I haven't posted anything since May of last year.  But then I realized that this is really the only record I keep of our family, and I think that it is important to write some memories down.  I remember as a kid my mom reading to us from her journal and I loved hearing stories from when I was little.  So I am really going to try and keep up on this.  I downloaded the Blogger app on my phone, so maybe that will help.

Since it's been so long since I've posted here's what's going on with our family:

Isaac is 7 years old and started first grade back in September.  He had a hard time getting used to going all day at first and there were some days when I had to walk him into class, but he loves it ow and is doing really well.  When we went to parent/teacher conference at the end of the first term his teacher suggested we apply for the accelerated program for 2nd grade.  We decided to wait until he is in 3rd grade because the 2nd grade program is at a different school.  I really like the school he's in now and I think it would be too hard on him to switch schools for one grade.  Isaac also did Jr. Jazz this last fall.  He LOVED it.  It was a six week instructional class and I wish it would have been longer.  He has another year before he can play on a team and I know he will do really well.

Marcus and Grace are nine months old.  I seriously cannot believe it.  Time has flown this year.  They are growing so fast.  Marcus is crawling and pulling himself up.  He has 5 teeth.  I'm pretty sure he's getting another one because he's been pretty fussy the past few days.  Grace is such a cutie.  She is a mellow easy going baby.  She's not crawling yet, but I think it's because she hates being on her tummy because of her reflux.  The reflux is getting better which is awesome because it means less laundry. :)  She is the talker of the two babies.  She's constantly babbling.  She has these bright blue eyes that I love.  There are still times when I can't believe I have two babies.  It's crazy.

Greg has gone from working at Canon, to going back to Intermountain Staffing in sales, and was just promoted to a branch manager.  He is doing really well.  He works really hard for our family.  He bought a jeep a few months back and that has been his project.  He and Issac have also been working on a go kart and they have a lot of fun with that.

I'm just hanging out being a mom.  Sometimes I still feel like I'm just trying to survive the day, but I think that's normal with twins.  It's a lot of work to get out of the house with them, but I try and do it as much as I can.  The kids and I all benefit from it. 

So that's what's going on with us.  We had a family picture taken a few months back, so you can see what we look like these days. 

April 2012



Most of the month of April was spent at the NICU with Marcus and Grace.  We were there every day.  We got to know the NICU staff really well.  The nurses and doctors there are awesome.  I would ask question after question (and I'm sure I asked the same questions over and over again) and they were so good to answer even the dumbest ones for me.  They made us feel comfortable and welcome there.  The twins had this one nurse that I really liked, Norma.  I really felt like she really cared for them.  I wish I would have got a picture of her and the babies. 

Pics from the NICU:

Grace was only in the NICU for two weeks.  This really surprised me.  If you would have asked me in the beginning which baby would do better I would have picked Marcus.  Grace was smaller and she was on a ventilator for a while.  But she surprised us all. 

Coming Home!

You should have seen the swag they sent us home with for her.  Honestly I think it was because Norma was there the day we left and she gave us more than normal.  See, I told you she was awesome. :)  Here's everything they sent.

When Grace came home she was on an oximeter monitor.  It monitored her oxygen saturation and heart rate.  I hate that thing.  Yes, it let us know if she needed some help, but it was so sensitive that if she flexed her foot or wiggled a little the alarm would go off.  So we had several false alarms.  It made it really hard to sleep at night. She's done with it now, which is nice, but it's still here because Marcus needs it.  Gurrrr, I'll be so glad when that thing is gone.

Like I mentioned in my last post, Isaac wasn't allowed in the NICU.  So when Grace came home, that was the first time he had been able to see either of the babies besides through the NICU window.  It was so fun to see his reaction.  He was so excited to hold her. 

 



I was so happy to have my little girl home, but it made it hard because little Marcus was still in the hospital.  I wanted to visit him too.  Fortunately they would let me take Grace with me back to the NICU, but I know it was hard on her to be in the car everyday.  As I said before, I know it was hard on Isaac too because I had to find someone to watch him everyday for a few hours.  I am so lucky to have family close who are willing to help any way we needed it.  We also have great neighbors and friends that took Isaac too. 

Speaking of Isaac, he finally lost his first tooth in April!! It had been loose for so long.  Like months.  He was so afraid of it coming out.  Greg threatened to pull it several times, but Isaac finally worked it out on his own.  He left the Tooth Fairy a note, and she let him keep his tooth and the money she brought.



 Easter was in April this year.  Isaac had asked for a black suit.  I don't know what it is with this kid and suits.  Whatever.  He looks really grown up here and it makes me a little sad.

Looking for Easter eggs at home.

Greg's sister Heidi has an Easter egg hunt at her house.  She told me that she hid over 300 eggs.  Including Marcus and Grace there's only 5 grand kids.  Yeah.  Those kids make a haul.  They have a blast though.



Getting ready for the hunt to start



That was our April.  It seems like it went so fast.  Probably because things were so crazy with the twins.  It's taken a while, but I think we've finally set into a routine.

Marcus Ray and Grace Denece

Marcus on the left, Grace on the right.

They're here!! I know my last post was an announcement that we were expecting our little twins, but they decided to come a little early.

At the end of February, I was 29 weeks pregnant. I went in or a regular check up with my OB. My blood pressure was really high. He sent me over to the hospital for some monitoring and tests. After getting the results back, we found out that I had Toxemia and high blood pressure. So my doctor put me on bed rest for the rest of my pregnancy. At first it wasn't too bad. I got to sit around and watch TV and read all I wanted. But after about three or four days, I WAS BORED. My mom took Isaac for me every day so I was home all by myself. It got a little lonely.

Sunday, March 25th, I woke up at about 6:30 am, with what I thought were Braxton Hicks contractions. They were on and off throughout the day. I went to go to bed that night and couldn't sleep. I got up to go to the bathroom at about midnight and I was bleeding a little. I woke Greg up and told him we needed to go. We woke up a very confused Isaac and took him to my mom's. All this time I am thinking that I would go in and they would stop my labor for a week or so.

We get to the hospital and they give me a shot to stop the contractions. It didn't work. All it did was give me the shakes. At this point I was already dilated to a 5. These babies were coming. I asked for an epidural. By the time I got it I was at a 7. I said some pretty nasty words before I got that epidural, I don't mind telling you. The epidural was really nice and both Greg and I were able to get a little nap in. And by little I mean a half hour. The epidural wore off. Gah! The same thing happened when I had Isaac. So not fun. I was in so much pain I was throwing up. When I was ready to go, they took me in the OR. Twins are delivered in the OR just in case of an emergency c-section. We get into the OR and the pump for the epidural was out of batteries. Are you kidding me?!? So someone had to run and find some. I was finally ready to push. Marcus was born at 8:10 am and Grace at 8:14 am. No c-section for me! :) Marcus weighed 4 lbs 11 oz, and is 18 inches long. Grace weighed 4 lbs 9 oz and is 17.5 inches long. Greg got to hold Marcus for a few minutes before they took both babies to the NICU.

They are doing really well now. Grace had to have some help breathing for the first few hours but was taken off really soon. They no longer need oxygen or IV fluids. They need to be able to gain weight, eat through a bottle only (they have feeding tubes right now) and maintain their own temperature. It's a slow process, but they are doing great. They were moved to an open air crib yesterday. So the big hurdle we have left is eating/gaining weight.

Isaac was finally able to see them through a window on Friday night. The look on his face was priceless. His eyes got all big and he was jumping up and down. I know it's hard on him because I have to find someone to watch him when I go to the hospital for a few hours everyday. Hopefully it won't be for too much longer.

We are so happy that we have these new little ones in our lives. We love them so much.

An Epic Post and and an Explaination

So much has happened since I last posted. I guess that's what happens when you don't blog for almost six months. But I do have a good excuse. Well, two really. But we'll get to that. First a recap of the last half of 2011.

In August we took a trip to Bear Lake with my family. We rented a house for a few days and took my parents' boat. It was a lot of fun hanging out with them.

We went to the local rodeo while we were there. Issac and his cousin Ashlyn entered a contest to try and grab a ribbon off the tail of a calf. Neither of them got it, but they had fun running running around with the other kids.


We had big plans to go to a local cave. When we got there all the tours were sold out. So we wandered around for a little bit and took some pictures.

Isaac decided that he wanted to try water skiing. We borrowed some skis and let him try it out. It didn't go so well. Greg got him out there and got the skis on. We started going and he fell. No biggie, right? Wrong. We forgot to tell him that when you fall, you need to let go of the rope. He was dragged for about ten feet before the boat stopped. Poor kid. He refused to try again that trip. I don't blam him. A face full of water is never fun.

So he just chillaxed in the boat the rest of the time.

The house we rented had a loft. Isaac and Ashlyn thought they were pretty cool climbing all the way to the top.

Also in August, my mom and I took Isaac and Ashlyn to the county fair. We didn't last too long because it was so hot. But we had a good time while we were there.

Isaac started kindergarten in August too. It took him a few weeks, but he likes going now. He goes in the morning from 8:50 to 11:30. He has been doing really well. His last report card he got all "3s" Which is the highest mark to get. Also, just last week he started going to an advanced class. I'm really proud of him.

Here he is on the first day. What a goof.

On to September. We decided that we needed to get a camping trip in before it got too cold. By the time we found a free weekend, we could only go one night. I froze the whole time. But Greg and Isaac had fun.

October. Isaac's birthday was the biggest even this month. He turned 6! I know I say this every year but I can't believe where the time has gone.

I feel like I need to post a picture of Isaac and my sister, Melanie since they share a birthday.

We had a party with his friends at a local Nature Center. My brother in law is in the board there and got us a great deal. They did everything including the little gift bags for the kids. This s the way to do a kid's party. :) They brought out a turtle for the kids to touch and play with. They had a game ready for them to play. They gave them a tour of the birds that live there. It turned out great.

His birthday present was a set of golf clubs. He and his friend had taken golf lessons over the summer and he got really into it. I'm no golfer, but I think he does pretty good.

For November, I don't have any pictures. We had Thanksgiving with Greg's family. The food was fantastic as always.

December was Christmas of course. We were spoiled by both families. I really appreciate both My own family and Greg's family. They are good to us.

Because of the traditions in our families, I feel like I post the same pictures every year. I don't feel like any of these need an explanation, so I'm just going to throw these out there.

And now for my excuse. I promised a good one, and it's a doosey. We are expecting TWINS!!! We are having a boy and a girl. How perfect is that? They are due in early May, but my doctor won't let me go that long because of the potential risks. Honestly I'm glad. Here I am at 25 weeks and already uncomfortable and having a hard time sleeping. I can't imagine being 40+ weeks. I think I would die.

When I went in for my first appointment, Greg was meeting me there. He got held up at work and was late. So I met with my doctor alone at first and he did an ultrasound. When he told me there were two babies in there I was stunned. I really didn't say much. A few weeks earlier I had had a dream that I was having twins. Maybe I was being warned. LOL. So when Greg showed up, I already knew. The OB clinic I go to is also a client of Greg's so the doctor knew him. He decided that he would have a little fun with Greg. He did another ultrasound. He showed Greg the first baby and the heartbeat and all that. Then he asked Greg, "So has it been a good sales year?" Greg looked at him funny and said, "Yeah, I've done alight." The doctor, with a cheesy grin on his face said,"Good. Because here's your other baby." Greg gave a better reaction than I did. "WHAT?!?" He was so loud that when we left the exam room, the nurses wanted to know what was going on.

Everything is going well so far. I was really sick for about the first 15-20 weeks, but other than being tired all the time I'm doing okay. Isaac tells everyone about the twins. I was worried about what his reaction would be. For a long time, he told me he didn't want a baby in our house because they are smelly. But when we told him, he was jumping up and down he was so excited.

We had to buy a new car so that we could fit three car seats. We sold our Trailblazer and bought a Acura MDX. We've had it about a month now and I really like it.

So that's it. My excuse. It's a good one, right?

July 2011

July was pretty low key for us. I seriously don't know why it's taken me so long to write this post. We mostly hung out and enjoyed the outdoors before school started.

Greg's birthday was at the end of the month. We celebrated with our own little family, and both my parents and Greg's parents had a little party for him. So he ended up having three birthday cakes. I got him an ice cream cake that I think most of is still sitting in my freezer. Yum. As far as presents go, I got him a few little things, and then he wanted to pick out his own "bigger" present. He still hasn't decided.





We also did some more boating in July. Isaac has taken a step backwards in learning how to ski. He will be out there for less than 5 minutes, and then decide he's done and wants to get back in the boat. It's really frustrating, but what do you do?

See? Doesn't he look just thrilled? Um, NO!

We also spent some time with Isaac's cousins at the zoo. I'm kicking myself for not getting them together more in the summer. All three kids get along great and it's so fun to hang out with them.

Isaac and Zach in the turtle.

All three kids checking out the peacock in the back ground. Notice Isaac is the only one not looking at the camera? Gah!

We also did some hiking. We live really close to the canyon and love to go wander around. We really should do this more often too. Look how pretty!

Annnnnddd . . . I may or may not have starting watching Say Yes to The Dress. How have I not watched this before???? I love it. So, I decided to get all crazy and try my own wedding dress on to see if it still fit. Guess what?! It totally does! Woot woot!

June 2011

The most exciting thing we did in June was to take a vacation to Florida. Greg served his mission there, and I had always wanted to go. Also, we decided to take a bigger vacation to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary.


These pictures are in reverse order of our trip, but I have already been working on this post for almost a week, so I'm not going to take the time to switch them around. Deal.


It's become tradition for our family vacations to include a baseball game. We went to see the Tampa Bay Rays play the Boston Red Sox. We were at the field early enough for batting practice, and one of the Boston players threw Isaac a ball. Lucky kid.





We also went on a dolphin sight seeing tour. I was a little skeptical whether or not we would see anything, but we saw quite a few dolphins. They were even jumping along side our boat. Pretty cool. When the captain asked if anyone wanted to drive the boat, Greg jumped at the chance.

Isaac looks totally bored in this picture, but he was just mad I was making him look at the camera rather than at the Coast Guard boat. I promise he had fun.

We went to Gatorland too. I know this is going to sound strange, but the coolest thing at Gatorland wasn't the alligators! They had this aviary with about 100 parakeets. You could walk around and feed them. We probably spent more time in there than at the rest of the park.

It actually got us thinking we might get some pet parakeets.

That day was a hard one for Isaac. Not because he didn't like what we were doing, but because he got bit by two different things that day. At Gatorland you can buy hot dogs to feed the alligator's. Gross, I know. Greg and Isaac were feeding the alligators these nasty hot dogs, and there are these giant scavenger birds every where. I have no idea what kind they were, other than they were HUGE. So Isaac goes to throw a hot dog chunk to the alligators, and one of these birds decides he wants it instead. It miss took Isaac's finger for the hot dog. Aggggh!

Would you want this thing chomping on your finger?

He's just nasty looking. Fortunately, it just scratched Isaac's finger. But it did traumatize him a little.

Also, that same day Greg decided he wanted to drive past one of his old mission apartments. We found it and he wanted to take a picture by the mailboxes like he did as a missionary. He wanted Isaac to be in the picture with him. Isaac was being ornery and did want anything do do with it. So he thew a fit and ran behind the bank of mailboxes. Guess what was back there. A hornet's nest. Aaaaand he got bit. He FREAKED out and ran screaming to the car. He was fine, but now if anything looks remotely like a hornet/bee he jumps. LOL.

Greg got his picture anyway. Without Isaac.

We also went out to Clearwater Beach. On the way back we drove over Skyway Bridge. Since we have nothing like this at home, we thought it was pretty cool. Isaac looks soooo tired in this picture, but the sunset is pretty. :)

We spent about 3 days at the beach. I really wish I lived closer to one. We had a blast! We went to Clearwater, Daytona, and Coco Beach. I don't have that many pictures of the beach, but that's because we were having too much fun!

Of course, if you go to the Orlando area, you are required by law to go to Disneyworld. We only spent one day there because Greg doesn't like theme parks. Isaac and I thought it was fun though!


We also went to the Kennedy Space Center. Since Isaac has been into all things space/astronaut lately, he was enthralled with this place. He kept running to each new exhibit yelling, "Come look at this, Mom!!"

The ONE thing Greg wanted to do while in Florida was go on an air boat ride. Even though we had a GPS, I was sure we were lost when we were trying to find this place. It was in the middle of nowhere. Picture Greg and I arguing that we're in the wrong place while driving our rented Ford Fiesta down a sand road hoping that we won't get stuck. Awesome. We did eventually find it, but it was pretty tense there for a while.

Somehow we lucked out and were the only group on the boat. We had our own private tour. We saw so many alligators. It was cool to see them swimming around rather than holding completely still like at the zoo.

Can you spot the gator?

We also got to hold a baby alligator. Greg and Isaac did it willingly, I was forced. It felt really gross.

We had so much fun in Florida. Although, I don't know if I would want to live there. It is way too hot and humid for me. I felt like my clothes were sticking to me the second we stepped outside. Yuck. I'm so glad just our little family went. We went at our own pace, and weren't rushed to do anything. Isn't that what a vacation is supposed to be like?