Kindergarten

Payden and Lincoln's first day of Kindergarten has now come and gone, it's just still so strange! Last week we practiced...more for me than them, the bus thing was hard for me to wrap my head around. And then Monday came and it was really happening. Here they are in our 'first day of school picture spot'.

 He was doing all kinds of faces and this one was just so cute!

The kids are obsessed with the straps at the end of their backpacks

We had a little adventure waiting for the bus to come. My mom showed up to stay with the little girls so after they loaded up on the bus I could head down to the school and help them settle in. Well there was a miscommunication when it came to where exactly the bus stop would be and we waited in the wrong spot, not too far off, just across the street. The only problem that came from that is it was garbage day and the persons lid did not get closed and there were about 20 yellow jackets swarming the can just a little ways from us. Sure enough Payden started tearfully complaining that her strap was hurting her foot. As I was looking my mom screamed "Heather there's a bee on you" and before I could swat it away I got stung on my hand...I forgot how much stings hurt. I ended up fishing a band aid out of my purse and that convinced Payden that she would be okay minutes before the bus arrived and whisked them off for their first day. Then I realized I left my camera in the car, so I started running back to get it when Lincoln shouted "the bus is coming!" So this next picture is from my phone.

Buddies getting on the bus together. It was so cute, they turned around and walked on holding hands. It makes my heart happy that they have each other!

Me following the bus :)

Taking their picture from inside school.

Walking into the classroom with all the kindergartners 

Payden settling in and getting ready for her seat work.

Lincoln was in the zone.

Picking them up from the bus stop on the corner.

Daddy was able to come home a little early for the pickup.

Me and my school kids.

Sunriver

What does a girls weekend at Sunriver look like while dad and Lincoln are at Son's of Thunder at Camp Elkanah for the weekend? Well let me tell/show you...

the drive down Thursday afternoon was wonderful with movies to kill the time


Friday consisted of soaking in the sun/swimming/and water sliding


bottoms up for our girls weekend


Taylor does this new squinty eyed smile now, it's actually stayed around for a while...


Payden practicing swimming underwater in the kiddy pool


Are you surprised? I'm not. Payden did the slide too, they were actually quite obsessed with it. After going down with mommy a few times they were pros!


Grandma discovered a bounce house area when she took the girls to breakfast and let me sleep...it was GLORIOUS!


So we had to go back and visit after we were done swimming and before getting ready to head to town for dinner.


Weeee


Too fun!


Saturday was spent with swimming and then going back to nap for this zoning out little girl


Taylor was helping put Hailey's shoes on but of course I missed that picture.

Alissa was there Friday night and Steph showed up while us girls were finishing up our Zumba workout. Then we realized Ken and Linsea were on a family vacation a few loops away so Linsea cam and hung out while the little girls were napping.


Then we got dressed up and went to town for dinner.




Bickriding like a pro! I was so proud of my Hailey bean!


Watching Cinderella together while the grownups packed up a bit.

It was such a delightful weekend of swimming, sun, shopping, eating, coffee, sleeping, not sleeping, talking, belly laughing, and most importantly memories.

Happy 6th Birthday!

I can't believe my sweet little 5lb9oz Payden and 5lb15oz Lincoln are now 6 years old!
I woke up the morning of September 13th 2005 (if you can call what I did sleeping at that point) feeling a normal sense of uncomfortableness that had been lingering for months...completely due the the two people God was knitting together inside of me. Callie had stayed the night because of an event she was helping with up at camp. I made us some scrambled eggs and then she headed back to Portland. At 2 that afternoon I had a non-stress-test scheduled to make sure baby A and baby B were still responding normally to sharing the space. Baby A (Payden) was smaller than baby B (Lincoln) and they didn't know if that was just a normal thing for these two siblings, or if baby B was getting more nutrients than his twin sister.
Before heading down the mountain I decided to take a shower, do my makeup and pack my hospital bag...you know, just in case. Jer had been wonderful and gone with me to as many appointments as he could and this specific appointment he had a meeting at the same time. So when I went to my appointment it all started very normally. Pee in a cup, blood pressure checked (it was really high) get comfy on the bed to get all the monitors hooked up to check two heartbeats and contractions. Once everything was ready they asked if I could feel the contractions, at this point my skin was always on fire and I felt like I was going to rip in two so I didn't really notice a difference in uncomfortably and once it was pointed out I could kind of notice contractions when they were happening.
The pee results came back and there was protein in my urine which meant, combined with high blood pressure that I had preeclampsia, a pregnancy related high blood pressure condition that is really only 'cured' with the delivery of the babies. So at that point my doctor came in, to check me and the position of the babies. I had so badly wanted to deliver them myself but she wasn't comfortable with that since Payden was breach, and Lincoln was transverse. We talked about transferring me to Portland or Eugene but she was doubtful that other Dr.s would be willing to try. So I called Jer to let him know it looked like we were having babies later on that day (this was about 4:15) and he gathered his stuff quickly and started down the mountain...but then his motorcycle got a flat tire and some friends let him drive their car down to the hospital.  We decided to go ahead with the c-section and I started getting prepped for that, called Jer again but his phone wasn't working, then called the parents and sounded the alert.
When Jer got to the hospital I was so excited to see him, he had a video camera in his hand that our family had gifted us, and was making our own baby story. That was when I told him we were having our babies very soon! It was pretty exciting. I then got taken to the delivery room and Jer had to wait outside while I got the spinal. He was going to be taking pictures of the delivery because our new camcorder did that but accidentally started recording the whole thing, which you are not allowed to do. So at 5:43pm Payden breathed the breath of life and was followed at 5:44pm by Lincoln.

Here are some pictures of the day, all the way through our whole week at the hospital and first few days at home.

Meeting my beautiful daughter

and meeting my handsome son!

And our first family picture

Lincoln's temperature dropped a little too much so Jer did some skin to skin contact while I was in recovery.

Grandma Judy and Pampa with Payden and Lincoln

Grandma Tammi assuming the signature twin holding position

Aunt Amy...assume the position! She graciously came and stayed with us for hours in the hospital!

Missy with Lincoln

Alissa with Payden

Little bitty Markie holding Lincoln

Grandma Tammi showing Lincoln to Bailey and Linsea

Mister Ken with Lincoln

Callie snuggling with Payden

1 day old, a tired and puffy me with my sweet new babies!

Just the 4 of us!

Daddy playing a mimicking game with Lincoln

Daddy with his babies

Aunt Amy playing with Payden

Lincoln on the left with Payden on the right...they were too sleepy to be interested in feeding much so we had a feeding tube in to help add some supplementing while they nursed.

Grandma's with Payden on the left and Lincoln on the right

I thought I was pretty funny putting little tiny Payden in my big ole bed!

Cuddling in the bed with mommy

Feeling like I'm getting the hang of this twin thing :)

This was our birth announcement picture, all comfy at home as a little family of 4!

Daddy is quite captivating, well he is pretty handsome so I don't blame them for staring.

In the cradle together, it didn't last very long.