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.

Stinky drive

I was looking through old videos that I have uploaded to youtube and realized this little gem never got posted. While we were on our trip to see Kyle graduate the kids, especially Hailey. noticed whenever  we drove near some cows. It was hilarious because Hailey was convinced that Taylor had pooped or someone had farted because the smell was so bad. So what did I do? Tried to capture the moment on video of course...what did you expect?

7 Years Ago

On August 28th 2004 I married the love of my life! We celebrated by going to see Les Miserables earlier this month and it was amazing! I love musicals and often times wish that my real life was one and this one was particularly amazing. The story, the music, the talent, the company...it was just lovely. Jer was at Sons of Thunder all weekend and I was at Sunriver with the girls and Grandma Tammi so I think some relaxing is in order and then Jer is on vacation for a a week. There aren't any plans except to be together and get stuff done around the house that we've been too busy to get to. I sure do love this guy though and he is my most favorite person to be around! Happy Anniversary to my love!

Cutest little couponer

One of the reason's finding time to coupon can be challenging!

Girl Time

This summer as Jer has been leading Son's of Thunder up at Tadmor he's been able to take Lincoln along and those guys have had a great time. There is another one this weekend at Elkanah and yesterday when we were in the car Linc 'I'm going to Sons of Thunder with dad it's where dad's teach their kids, teach their boys to be men, it's where I, it's where I learn to be, to be, learn how to be a man' (sometimes he stumbles over his words and he gets distracted, that is a direct quote to give you a glimpse to what listening to his stories can be like).
While Lincoln's been carving his walking stick the girls and I are getting some rare time alone together and I decided to embrace it more than ever. The way I like to shop, lets see I should start over, when I HAVE to shop I go in get what I need and get out, it's a very direct process. So when the girls and I were at Payden's eye appointment and realized there wasn't anything else on the agenda I decided to go to the mall, I was feeling crazy! As we pulled into the parking garage Payden asked if we could park on the top floor because we weren't in any sort of hurry it sounded like a fun idea. It was a hit! And kind of creepy with every turn we went up and there were no cars after about the 2nd  floor and I suddenly realized this is why the scary stuff always happens in parking garages because they are quite deserted. Well needless to say it was a really cool view and they loved being up so high, and getting to ride the elevator down.
Once in the mall we went and enjoyed the kids play area for a while...





Lately Payden either tries to hide because she doesn't want her picture taken or...

Poses like crazy! Mommy threw in a curve ball and let everyone have their own quarter to pick out candy from the always attractive candy machine


After walking around the whole thing everyone decided what they wanted. Payden settled on Mike n Ike's


Hailey couldn't stop moving with excitement after she picked Runts


And Taylor wanted Reese's Pieces


The 'I'm only smiling cause you said I had to before I get to eat my candy' smile


Ummm, I didn't know that you could get only the banana's from runts, these are hands down my favorite little treat but runts are never worth it because there are so many that aren't my favorite, so when I saw this was an option I joined in on the excitement!

Back to the car we go

Just Like His Dad

If you know Jer at all then you are well aware that one of his favorite things to do, as far as rest goes, is hot tub. Not just the casual way that most people do...a half hour here, 45 minutes there, the Jer way to hot tub is hours, and hours and hours. Whether it's first thing in the morning, or late at night I've never met anyone that can stay in a hot tub as long as my dear husband. Well if you haven't noticed Lincoln is a little bit like his dad, and actually it's kind of creepy at times how similar they are. So the other day when Lincoln didn't even entertain the idea of getting out of the kiddie pool (water was heated by the sun, so it's the closest thing we have to a hot tub) I wasn't all that surprised and Jer, who was home for lunch, was beaming. I kid you not this kid stayed there until I made him get out...he even made his own bubbles, and no not in the way you might be thinking.






Nothing like a random really loud Oregon cheerleader to ruin the mood ;)

Rainbow Excitement

Few things delight my children more than rainbows. Whether it's a little one that shows up on the ground from the sunshine through a window, or a big one in the sky the reaction is pretty much the same and it's a little something like this...

My favorite age!

Now that is not in any way to be confused with a favorite child because as all parents know, that just isn't possible. But Taylor is at my favorite age. She is learning to talk more and more every day, she's a little parrot, has a sense of humor, is pretty much like a miniature version of the big kids and it is so stinking cute! One of my favorite things is the way she brushes her hair out of her face, it's like she uses her whole hand to do it even for the tiniest strand. She has the sweetest little voice (that she can actually use quite loudly) and without prompting says thank you often...she's a little doll. And she's recently gotten into growling because she thinks it's funny. Oh and the laugh with her hand covering her mouth. Those are some of my favorite things about her at this age. Here she is the other morning we were practicing animal sounds and I just don't want to forget what this sweet little voice sounds like.

4th of July in the culdesac

Last year as we were driving out of the neighborhood to watch some fireworks at Bilquist  we realized that our entire neighborhood was sitting at the end of their driveways doing fireworks of their own and we wanted to be a part of that. So we had a party and stayed home only to migrate to the back deck once it was really dark and watched as everyone else was doing all the illegal fireworks

It was quite the collective little party

Here is a little video of some of the enjoyment that went on. I just love the enthusiasm that my kids have towards fireworks. Taylor was so funny she covered her ears all the time because the loud noises were too much for her. Speaking of loud noises, if you have a baby sleeping near you while you watch this you might want to turn the volume down...

A new found love for the sprinkler

A quick note before this little entry, I have been working on some old posts that are dated with the day I started working on them so if you haven't seen them yet (I think most of them were in May) take a quick look back and you'll find some new posts.

Ever since the kids have gotten better at swimming the whole 'my eye's are getting wet this is no fun' thing is a non issue and they have fallen in love with running through the sprinkler! It is now fun and not at all intimidating.