Six Means....

...."you get five spanks and one pinch on the butt."~Joe. ...."being Twins and about having fun." ~Zach

*warning* this is, as yet, my longest post ever.....please don't feel obligated to real it's entirety.

Yup, you guest it. My Babies are six. Truthfully, I call all my kids my babies. But the youngest Babies.....are.....six (sniff, sniff). I cannot believe it. There is no logical reason time should be traveling this fast, but, alas, it is.

When I asked the Boy's what birthdays meant, they said....."It means we're still Twins and we get cake." ~Joey. Zach said "It's about growing and CAKE!"

This past week I've been asking each Twins what they were going to do with the days they had left to be 5. Example. "Zach you only have two days left to be five. What are you going to do today?"

Well, last night the question was.....you have 30min left to do something when your five what are you gonna do?!? I wish I had my camera ready when Zach replied. His face was an excited/pressured mess! In the end they both chose game boy. Thanks Sam for sharing!

Zach's on left.

Joey's on left.
Now about their original birthday.

As far as I knew, this was a normal pregnancy. Morning sickness for a little longer time than the last two but nothing alarming. My midwife changed my due date by a whole month sooner and asked if I had a heart shaped uterus. She never even said the word twins or multiples, but she did say something (now I can't remember what) to get me thinking about twins. She said it would be a good idea to have an ultrasound (she delivered Sam and never ordered one). So at 17.5 weeks gestation I met Ben at the techs office and he discovered not one but two heads. By that time I looked like I was six months and I was only 4.....and some wonder why I'd like a tummy tuck :) For prego photos visit this post. They're new due date was 1/13/2002 (but the Doc kept moving it sooner), but I was told that I could go into labor as soon as 32 weeks, and to be prepared. Never in my life would I have thought they'd be full term multiples....and I was induced!

I called my Doc one Sat. in Dec. begging for help. That past week I'd only slept in 1/2 hour intervals. He said to be at the hospital the next Mon. I was so excited for help that I didn't even know or really care, at that point, that it was New Years Eve. We got to the hospital at 7 and a full induction started by 8. By 4.30 that same day I was miserable and the staff were more than pushing a epidural (less to do if a c-section was required) so as I was getting the epi. my water broke and I was contracting. Yet, the nice Anestigiologist was gently telling me to "Hold as still as possible." Right.

I was rolled in to the O.R. (required for high risk pregnancies) by about 6pm. There were hoards of staff there. (An honorable mention is needed here. My Sister-in-law, Brigit, accompanied us to the O.R. and took all the pictures.) Each Twin got it's own team of nurses and each got it's own Pediatrician. I pushed for 15 min. with Zach. They let me start pushing when I was only 9 cm. Yea for me! I was excited to be done. Zach was born at 7:42pm and weighed in at 7lb 7oz. The Doc started to push and prod my belly to maneuver Joey down. Since my water had broke, Joey's cord had fallen down first and then his head was pushing on the cord. It's called a prolapsed cord. If I were to push he could die. A c-section was required and performed. We saw Joe for the first time at 8:01pm. He weighed 8lb 3 oz. Both were 21 inches long. By about 9pm that night I was loopy on med's and back in the room.

Ben holding Zach in the OR.

Joey, same night as delivery.

Me and Zach is laying on Joe. I'd just finished nursing.

Awwww. One is Zach and the other Joe ;) One month old.

Joey's on top of Zach. 6 months.

Joey's getting strangled by Zach. 3 years???

Zach 4 years. Couldn't find a good one of Joey:(

Both 'fixing' Sisters hair. Zach on L. 4 years.

Last spring at the beach. Joey middle right. 5 years.

Happy Birthday Buddies! I love you Zach. I love you Joey. God bless this year ahead as you grow into the young men that God has planed. I pray that your faith will be firm and made real. Love your Mama.

White Christmas

Photos from today......Christmas day. The snow picture was taken after about 10 min. of us discovering it was snowing. Our yard now is completely white. Zach said that while he was still in his bed (waiting oh-so-patiently for Dad and Mom to wake up this morning) he prayed and asked God for it to be snowy. Then he looked out his window...no snow. Oh well, he said. But then he was overjoyed when he realized his prayer was just delayed!

From us to you; Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday Jesus!

Jesus; the only sinless man, born to die and save all humankind. Thank you God for sending your one and only Son!

New Job Charts

I love being organized. The more organized, the better we all feel and the happier the Mother is!

The old job charts were just confusing and hard to use. I was thinking and got this new idea. I'm sure in another few months I'll have to re-think and implement, as our needs change.

We've had these new ones for almost a week and the kids are doing soooo good! Here's the low down: there's Velcro on the back of each paper representing the days of the week (we don't have chores on Sun.) and Velcro on the fridge. The pocket holds the days of paper that aren't in use. On each paper I left room at the bottom to add anything else that might come up that I need the child to get done. Bonus for me; I found dry erase markers that already had magnets and erasers contained in each individual pen. This has allowed all the kids to be self sufficient. If they want to watch TV, play a game or go outside, I just ask if they have everything done on their job chart.

Life has gotten oogles easier.

Carols

We had a great family time tonight.
We visited a church that one of Ben's co-workers attends. They participate in a live nativity. I've never been to one. It was GREAT!
Previous to the nativity we went out for Dairy Queen (we left before we knew we should have and got there 30 min. early:(
Then, on the way home, we drove down a popular street in Gladstone that exhibits spectacular lights.
While on the way home Essy (first born) and Sam (2nd) started singing Deck the Halls.
This is how Es' version went:Deck the halls with bells of holly.......(the rest is the same until)....Don be now until tight carols.....

and Sam's:Deck the hall with bounds of folly.......(the rest is the same)......don we now our gang apharo.....
Needless to say I was rolling! This will be scrap booked!

100 Cinnamon Yahtzee

This is my hundredth post.....hum.....should I feel.....something?

This photo is terrible but shows the kids enjoying a tape series (it was a radio broadcast that started in the 20's??) called The Cinnamon Bear. They listen to a segment (10-15 min.) before bed starting the night after Thanksgiving. Sadly there is a scary witch in two of the chapters. I wish that was not part of it. Sam gets so frightened he covers his ears. It's not really scary, but still....a witch? Anyway...

We had some great friends over tonight and played Yahtzee. Ben and I continued to play even after they left. In one game my score was 407 and Ben's was 311. We'd both gotten Yahtzee's and every space was filled.
I'm reminded that I never posted about the Lewis Christmas party. I might later.
Thanks for the recent encouragement. Love you all.

Kill the A.N.T.s

I went to lunch with a friend a week and a half ago. This friend completely encourages me! Her mom is a teacher for North Clackamas. The mom went to a kick-off-the-year meeting and received this teaching (my friends Mom added the Scripture). I needed to hear this and it's just to good not to share.

A.N.T.s are automatic negative thoughts. They are the cynical, gloomy and complaining thoughts that can cause us to be depressed and dissatisfied. EVERY thought you have sends electrical signals through your brain. When your minds is burdened with many negative thoughts it affects the deep limbic system of your brain and causes irritability, moodiness and depression. When you think good thoughts your brain releases chemicals that make your body feel good. Proverbs 4:23 tells us to "keep our hearts (minds) with all diligence." so we must discipline our thinking to be godly and positive.
Consider negative thoughts to be pollution . Understand that your automatic thoughts don't always tell the truth. Talk back to ANTs. Exterminate the ANTs!
The ANTs:
1* Always/never thinking: thinking in words like always, never, no one, everyone, every time, everything. Eph. 4:25
2* Focusing on the negative: seeing only the bad in a situation. Phil. 4:8, Gen. 50:20
3* Fortune-telling: predicting the worst possible outcome to a situation. Ps. 42:5, 11, Ps. 43:5
4* Mind reading: believing that you know what others are thinking, even though they haven't told you. Pr. 29:5
5* Thinking with your feelings: believing negative feelings without ever questioning them. Pr. 2:10, 11
6*Guilt-beating: thinking in words like should, must, ought or have to. It is better to replace with phrases like "I want to do..." or "It fits with my goals to do...." or "It would be helpful to...." 2 Cor. 3:17
7*Labeling: attaching a negative label to yourself or to someone else. Pr. 23:7a, 2 Cor. 3:4, 5
8* Blaming: blaming someone else for your own problems or mistakes. Gen. 3:12, 13
9* Personalizing: interpreting harmless events with personal meaning. 2 Cor. 10:4, 5

Lets just say my day yesterday was a sucky one. Technically we're not supposed to use that word, that just goes to show how bad it was. Any why? Our future plans, hopes and goals were changed for us, not by us. But I wanted it to be the way I planned and dreamed. I was partly mourning and partly being selfish. Better to change today than tomorrow. After all, I still have Ben and the kids. We can always change our goals and dreams. They don't have to happen tomorrow or even in a year. Yet, even as I write this my vision is becoming cloudy with tears. I truly feel like we've made the best choice, but my heart still hurts.
Needless to say this little bit of info about the ants is good for me.
Over and out!

Sleeping Beauty

We've been fighting colds at our home. This photo was taken a few nights ago and needs explaining.
Since Esther was about 14 months old she's rubbed Pinky (the blanket around her head) under her nose to fall asleep. The more fuzzy piece of blanket, the better!
On this night, I'd given her some Mentholatum under her nose to help her breathe easier. But there was a problem. When she went to rub her nose, the greasy stuff just stuck to the fuzz of the blanket; preventing the feeling of moving fuzz. Instead of loosing hope, she wrapped her blanket around her to feel snugly and fell asleep.
I have other posts in the dust-bunny corners of my brain....more later.

The Treasure Hunt......Finally

My Parents organized a treasure hunt about two months ago and the kids had such a fun time. On the front of the paper(first photo) is the 'map'. On the reverse there were the instructions. My favorite instructions: *Get dressed (they dressed in pirate attire complete with swords and I think with make-up to make scars and such) *Look for the enemy *Fight the bad pirates* Fight the attaching wolves* Attack the killer bees*

What a great idea! Thanks Gramps and Grams!

The ADVENTture of Christmas

This is the title of a book I just purchased. I asked our church Secretary if she knew of any book that helped explain Advent. She referanced this book. This one not only does that, it has activities and experiments and crafts and......you name it, to complete with your child. There is a daily story and there are 'teachable tips' as you are involved in your craft, or whatever, to discuss. For more info click here. LOVE IT!