Beautiful Blessing Day

Today was a beautiful day!
Chayce and Chandler were blessed at church. It was a very sweet day for me. To have my Priesthood holding husband be able to bless them and then to sit on the bench at church and look down and see all of my nine healthy, happy children. It made me so grateful to be a mother. When I was younger I used to go into homes that had large families with lots of chaos and be envious. When I would say my prayers I used to ask to someday be blessed with lots of children. Those prayers were definitely answered and I will be forever grateful. I am also grateful for a husband who loves and supports me in this role.
I am truly blessed.

We had wonderful support at the blessing.
Cumin and MaryAnn Jones, Brian and Jessica Jones family, Stephanie and Scott Hatch family, Stacey and Kirk and their boys, Jake and Cilene, Todd and Benka Kerby family, Miki and Bryant and of course my great mom!

After the blessing we came back to my mom's house for dinner. While we were preparing the food Scott and Stephanie were nice enough to hold and feed the babies.

We had a Tostada Bar for dinner. Shredded beef, homemade beans, quacamole, salsa, spanish rice and all of the fixins. It was delicious! The Ellis family and the VanUiterts joined us for dinner. I am surrounded by the greatest people!!!

Keslee and Sydney

Jake and Cilene

Raegan and Nicholas

Kalli and Taylor

Max and Teagan


Chandler is quite content with a full belly of milk!

Chad and Chayce

Busy day for sleepy little guy

We are so blessed!

Catching some ZZZZZZ

Guess who has started sleeping through the night???

Chayce and Chandler have been sleeping between 6-9 hours every night this past week. Way to go boys!!!

Bumbos and BYU

Chayce and Chandler

Our family has been really into the BYU Basketball season. We love watching the cougars play. Who doesn't have a little "Jimmer fever"? Chad always wears his BYU shirt the day of the game. He decided during half time he was going to spend some time holding these two future cougars.

Two days ago was the first time I got them really confused. I had fed Chandler but then he was accidentally put in Chayce's car seat. So when we got to my mom's house I was so confused as to why Chayce was so upset, I figured he had a sore tummy so I kept trying to burp him (thinking he was Chandler who had just eaten). I couldn't figure out why Chayce was sleeping so sound (which was actually Chandler who had just eaten), he should have been hungry. Well I finally figured out that I had confused who ate and who hadn't. Poor Chandler was crying not from a full upset tummy but from an empty one. I fed him and all was well. But oh my heck that was a crazy "lost my mind" moment.

Chandler

Chayce

We got these Bumbos as a baby gift. I suggest everyone who has a baby get one. They are wonderful! It is so fun to see them sit up in them, they love it!

Chandler and Chayce
Loving their Bumbos!

Wide Load

Just as I was leaving on my "stroll" with Chayce, Nicholas and Chandler.

Today I ventured out. It was lovely. I received a triple jogging stroller for my birthday and I have been dying to try it out. It is really big but really awesome! I love it. So today I thought because it was a beautiful day, Nicholas LOVES to go on walks and the sun was actually out I thought I would just take a quick little stroll down to the corner and back, just to try it out. Well I got a little wind in my sail and I ended up walking TWO miles up some pretty awesome hills!!! I am going to be sore tomorrow but it felt so good!!!

This was the first hill I concurred.
I absolutely love where I live, I love the beautiful view, it's awesome. I never get used to it.

This was hill #2. It was so fun to do this, I can't wait to go again. Too bad that the weather is supposed to turn cold so I think I will have to wait a few days before I can do this again. It will probably take my body a little while to recover from today's "stroll" any way.

I think the babies loved the walk and I sure enjoyed the fresh air.

I felt so great!!
A reward of Tillamook Chocolate Ice Cream was just what I needed!
(Maybe next time I will choose to eat healthier to end my walk but this was cause to celebrate!!)

2 months and Smiles

Chayce and Chandler
Today I took these two little monkeys to the doctor for their two month check up. Chayce weighed in at 10 pounds 11 oz and 22 inches long while Chandler weighed in at 10 pounds 14 oz and 22 inches long. They are growing so fast!!! We go through a can of 22 oz formula every 2 days. They are good little eaters, they gulp it down, slurp and make lots of noise when they eat.
They are good little burpers too!
They are ALL BOY!

Chandler is all smiles!

Chayce

Chayce likes to smile too!

They are sure loved by their brothers and sisters!!

We are having so much fun with these two little guys!

7 Weeks

Chayce and Chandler at 7 weeks.

They are spending more time awake but still not sleeping more than 4 hours at a time at night, wish I could change that. They are still really good babies, a lot more alert during the daytime.
They should start smiling soon...I can't wait for that!

It gets pretty crazy some days when both babies are crying to eat, be cuddled, needing changed or to be burped. When that happens I sometimes call a neighbor and say "Wanna come hold a baby for 10 minutes?" So my neighbor, usually Bet Hawley will run over until things get a little more under control. Having twins is more time consuming than I ever imagined. And then you add my sweet 14 month old Nicholas in there and there is no times for anything but babies! I have to squeeze in a shower (when I am not too exhausted) at night which then results in an amazing display of bed head the next day which requires either wearing a hat or wetting down the "Do"! Laundry only gets done at night and it is just thrown in the machines and rarely gets folded. Grocery shopping only occurs if a neighbor, usually Sue Major comes over during the morning so I can sneak out for a quick trip to Maceys Grocery store. I have never had less time to worry about the way I look or smell, some days I don't even look in a mirror.
(Good thing I have a 13 year old daughter who takes care of that! She looks in the mirror more times in one day than I have this past year).
I do try to go over to my mom's house once a week for a change of scenery. That helps!
I know things around here will get more "routine" and I have to just let things go. It's hard sometimes but necessary.
This too shall pass...But hopefully not very quickly!

Big cousin Jake hanging out with Chayce and Chandler
in their "Valore Leisure Suits"

I love Daddy I love Mommy

2 of a Kind

Look how they are doing opposite moves...It is still so crazy that there are two of them.

Chandler

Chayce

I LOVE their big dark eyes.

I LOVE their dimples in their chins.
They both have one and none of my other kids have one.

"Seriously Mom...are we done yet?"

Happy Valentines Day?

Chandler and Chayce happy to be back home

We had quite the scare over the weekend. Last week the babies started getting a little cough. Their older brother Nicholas had been sick the entire week before with RSV, which is a really bad cold with fever, cough and runny nose. Well it was impossible to keep the babies away. No matter how many times you wash your hands, change your clothes you cannot keep all of the germs away. It was just a matter of time before the babies became sick. They became very sick very quick! We took them into the doctor on Wednesday night and he suggested we take them into the suction clinic to get all of the snot suctioned out. We had to take them into the clinic five different times during the next 24 hours. On Thursday night, Chad had just taken them into get them suctioned while I took my two oldest daughters to a play. When I came home, I took one look at Chayce and told Chad that we had to get the babies in the car and get back to the hospital now! Chayce looked gray. He looked terrible and lifeless. It was awful. We loaded the babies back up and headed back to the hospital. I walked into the suction clinic and told the respiratory therapist that Chayce needed to be admitted right away! He took one look at him, tested his oxygen which was at 76 (they do not like oxygen to ever get below 90) They immediately put him on oxygen and admitted both babies. We then spent the next 4 nights in the hospital, with the babies on oxygen and getting suctioned around the clock. If you think it's bad to be in a hospital room with one baby on monitors try two!! BEEP, BEEP, BEEP around the clock. It was such a blessing to have them in there but also very exhausting. Chad had to keep things under control at home while I spent the days and nights in the hospital. Thankfully I had a few friends, sister and mom stop by at different times to relieve me for a shower and a change of clothes. It was a long weekend, I am so grateful for modern medicine and miracles!!! We brought the babies home on Valentines Day...that was the best gift ever!

So Happy Together

Chayce and Chandler

Don't they look like they are
telling secrets to each other?
I love these little guys!