Mother's Day

June 2009
Mother's Day 2010

I finally got to celebrate my first Mother's Day, missed it by 2 weeks last year. Despite the cool weather & having to work Saturday, we had a great weekend. I love my girls so much & am honored to be their mommy. My heart melts when they say "mama" & come crawling as fast as they can when my car pulls up. They are my world! Here is the sweet poem my husband wrote for me in honor of Mother's Day...

Patience and love; Unlimited hugs; Cries in the night; No end to spit up in sight; Diapers that need to change; And oh, the hunger pangs!; Tears and laughs; And splashing baths; Crawling then walking; Soon to be followed by talking; Oh the joy!; Oh the tactics that will have to be deployed!; Food being tasted; Bibs being wasted; Bouncing up and down; Geneva being a clown.; Bottles that need cleaning (that formula needs weaning!); Gates always come crashing and don't forget the plastic rings teeth are gnashing.; Books, books everywhere and pink bouncy chairs; Pink pink as far as the eye can see!; Little red circles on the crawlers knee.; Lexa growling like some wild beast; All the while your patience has increased; How do you do it?; Lesser beings would break!; Going nonstop from dusk to dawn without quit.; Always loving, always soothing, so easy for you... a piece of cake.; You are a natural in your role as mother; Mothering comes so easy for you; I could never find another As good, and as kind, and nurturing... I always knew That you had it in you.; Being a good mother is what a wife needs to be. Which makes you oh so very special to me. Happy Mother's Day to my wife My partner for life.

Happy Girls

The girls had fun with their dinner last night! And I had even more fun cleaning up the kitchen (and them). Not too much to report these days. We are getting into a routine with my new job as my hours have changed some. Lexa got her 3rd tooth Saturday night (top tooth). She had a 30-minute crying fest, okay more like screaming uncontrollably, which is very rare so we knew a new tooth had to be the culprit. After it popped through, no problems. Geneva still is toothless or as we say at the hospital edentulous. However, she reached a new milestone today...standing up. They are very happy all the time, really enjoying playing with each other heading straight for the toy box & dumping it over first thing in the morning. Lexa has a little separation anxiety from mommy & is starting to cry when I leave in the morning, but is quickly redirected when offered her oatmeal breakfast. Geneva continues to love to clap, play pat-a-cake, & can now say "bye-bye." Her favorite word is "dada" (she is quite the daddy's girl). Every time the phone rings, she claps her hands & says "dada." Their dada is wrapped around their little fingers, but can you blame him?

First Haircut

Saturday was the girls' first haircut. I was already scheduled for a trim & called to ask if I could bring the girls as their bangs were getting a little long. They were good as usual. I had been asked by someone if I was going to cry. Cry? Things like that don't phase me. After seeing your kids in the ICU with IVs, heart monitors, feeding tubes, & central lines, a haircut is no big deal... trust me. My hairdresser of 10 years, Robby, did a great job. As a mother of twins as well, she knew how to keep them happy & still. Geneva enjoyed flirting with the customers & loved posing for the camera. Lexa didn't quite know what was going on but enjoyed crawling around on Robby's floor & exploring the new environment. I look forward to taking the girls to new places & showing them off. I am (just a little) proud.

Trip to the Zoo

Last Saturday we made a trip to the Tulsa Zoo, the closest zoo to us (not including our own house of course)! We had the best day ever!! We got up, fed the girls their oatmeal & bananas & headed out. We got to Tulsa by their 11:00 feeding. We changed the girls & fed them in the van (could NOT have done that in the Altima), put them in the stroller & we were off. Can you believe the girls stayed in their stroller for 3 1/2 hours touring the zoo. No crying, no fussing, no meltdowns. They were SO excited to see the sights, mainly all the other little kids, squealing & talking & truly soaking it in. The weather was perfect, 75 degrees with a cool wind. After the zoo, we made it to a Mexican restaurant & we all ate, loaded back up & daddy drove us home (the remainder got in a nap)! It was a perfect day!! We are so blessed to have such good natured girls who just go with the flow. I love our family of 4.The girls favorite animal... only because the others were too far away to see
Geneva clapping her hands at the flamingos (well at everything)
My strawberry blonde
My real life monkey
And my social butterfly, Patrick says if all else fails she has a job as a Wal-Mart greeter. She loved flirting with, talking to, & waving to all of the kiddos she saw.
Patrick's favorite picture. He thinks Lexa is looking more like my baby pictures...not so sure about that. She does have the combover though.

Bookworm

This picture was taken by our babysitter. She went to check on Lexa because she was sleeping longer than usual for her nap, and found her just sitting up in her crib reading. She loves looking at & listening to books--just like her namesake, Aunt Joy who owned thousands of books. I think Lexa Joy will be quite studious. Her favorite book is "Whose Baby Am I?" It features cute illustrations of baby animals and asks, whose baby am I? Lexa's favorite animal is the baby owl. She laughs every single time she sees it.

Monkey & Lu Lu

Here are the latest pics of Monkey (Geneva) & Lu Lu (Lexa). Funny how nicknames get started, but they stuck for sure. They are growing before our eyes, overnight it seems. They are both crawling & Lexa is standing up (even in her crib), furniture walking with just one hand. It won't be long... until she is off! They both say "mama" & "dada" & love eating in their highchairs... bananas, oatmeal, squash, mango, you name it. They love to watch anything I do, especially cooking. They just sit mesmerized trying to take everything in. And something else we have noticed is they love to be together, always touching legs or hands, talking back & forth. They used to be at opposite ends of the room with little to do with each other but now are always together. Another milestone, we took them out to eat tonight for the first time. We tried to think of a kid friendly place to try out so Patrick picked Red Robin. It went great. The girls sat in the highchairs & we fed them cantaloupe & they smiled & squealed in delightment for an hour. They were so good & it was so easy getting them in & out of our new van. It was success for sure!

I heard Lexa playing in her room, went to check on her & she was having a conversation with her teddy bears!

See what I mean about always being together

Our little gymnast, yes she has flipped completely over in her bouncy

Meet the Newest Member of our Family

Our new Honda mini-van!
Lexa not so happy her first van trip came to an end & thus her nap
Geneva testing out our new ride

We finally did it, broke down & bought the mini-van. I am a very cheap person & have loved not having a car payment for 4 years, but I just couldn't manage the girls much longer in my Altima. Road trips were HORRIBLE, either taking two cars or being miserable packed in like sardines in my car as their car seats took up the entire backseat. Having 2 of everything--2 cribs, twice as many clothes, food, etc. meant a bigger car was necessary. We are very happy with the newest member of the family & took it out for a test drive today & are hoping for a trip to the Tulsa Zoo next weekend, weather permitting. I have to confess that I cried leaving Ally the Altima at the dealership yesterday. Not only do I get attached to my things, but she was the first car that I bought, paid off, & actually owned. She looked so sad in the lot :( I know I will grow to love my new car, the leather seats & sunroof will help :)