Saturday, May 28, 2011

POOPED!



The above pictures are what I found when I walked back into the living room, after taking care of clothes in our bedroom. One minute Mason was wide awake, babbling to daddy, and seconds later, he just passed out, sitting up like he is. LOL

I snapped a couple pics, and couldn't help but laugh my butt off every time I looked at his adorable chubbiness, snoring so soundly.

But, I did manage to compose myself from laughter, and carry him into our room and lay him down comfortable on our big, soft bed, where he was much more comfortable, indeed. :-)


Sleep tight, angel boy.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Thursday, May 26, 2011

I Wouldn't Change it for Anything...

I thank God every single day for blessing me with twins. Twins are not always an easy feat. Hell, one baby isn't an easy feat. But throw in a second, at the same exact age, and that throws it all off. But I wouldn't trade it for the world.

I have had the most amazing two years of my life with Connor and Merasia, and I know I am in for many, many more amazing years of my life as they continue to grow. I think back to the days when they were babies, and I miss them terribly. Don't get me wrong...I LOVE where we are now, and the age they are now, but I would also love to be able to go back to when they were little babies, and re-live parts of our life then. I soaked up every single second then, and I strive to do that now as they are older, but sometimes it's a little more difficult.


 Every baby is a miracle, and twins are definitely so! It's amazing to me to think of them sharing a womb, and the bond they created from the moment they were conceived. To see that bond in real life, from the day they were born, to now, is even more amazing. Everything they do amazes me.
 
While I am forever grateful to God for choosing us to be the parents of twins, I don't always take time to thank Him or to soak in the gratefulness. There are many times the twins make me want to pull every single strand of my hair out, one by one. Like when Merasia repeatedly pushed her brother so forcefully that he slams into the wall or the stove or to the floor. Or when Connor bites Merasia so hard he leaves a scar that can still be seen several months later. Or when they both tag team their baby brother and hit him or kick him. Or when multiple times a day, Merasia says "Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!" until I frustratingly reply "WHAT??" Only to hear her say "Hi!" and run off giggling. These are the times I forget to be thankful. These are the times I might raise my voice to them more than I am proud of. These are the times where I forget that God chose me to be their mother for a reason. HE knew I could handle it, and He is simply giving me this challenge to help me grow as a person, as a mother. He's not doing it to torture me or make me regret having children. I would never, ever regret having my children. But sometimes, "What were we thinking??" occasionally crosses my mind. ;-)





But...when I discipline Merasia for pushing Connor and she gives me a big hug and pats my back, I forget all about my frustration and anger. When she says sorry to her brother and gives him a big hug and kiss, I forget all about my frustration and anger. When Connor puts his head down in shame and walks to the corner for a time out after biting his sister, it melts my heart. I stand my ground through the discipline part, and then he gives me a big hug and says sorry and again, I forget all about my frustration and anger. When they tell me long, drawn out, made up stories...or when they sing me the cutest songs in their cute little voices...when they come up to me and hug or kiss me for no reason...when I think back to when they were itty bitty babies and I would just sit and stare at them for hours, amazed at their beauty....and now, when they won't sit still long enough for me to dress them, let alone cuddle and stare at them for hours....or when I go in to their room to check on them at night and find them in the same bed, cuddling each other...my heart melts every time, and those are the moments I forget my frustration and anger when they are misbehaving and being normal 2 year olds. These are the moment I say a quiet prayer, thanking God for choosing me to be the most blessed mommy to Connor and Merasia.










Life with twins is incredible, amazing, crazy, frustrating, wild, sad, happy...it's every emotion rolled into one......

But I wouldn't change it for anything.


 ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥


♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

The Charm Factory Review and Giveaway, Part 2!

I recently had the opportunity to work with Angie from The Charm Factory, on another review and giveaway! You can read my first and original review and giveaway here.


With my first review through The Charm Factory, I received a beautiful charm bracelet seen on the original post. I wanted something meaningful, and what better way to make something meaningful than involve my children? So I got a charm bracelet with Connor and Merasia's first initials, their birthstone heart, and two birthstone hearts for hubs and myself. I loved it as soon as I got it and wore it every day. When the twins got a little older and more curious, I didn't wear it as much because I didn't want to risk them breaking it.

With the birth of Mason, I had to add to the bracelet, of course. I received another M charm and another heart charm in Mason's birthstone. Hubs immediately went to town re-arranging the charms and adding the new ones for me. My bracelet used to look like this:


And now, it looks like this:

I. LOVE. IT!!!

Once again, Angie was a joy to work with, very sweet, and got the charms sent out immediately so they were here a couple of days after we spoke. The charms definitely did not disappoint in their quality, and the fact that I can wear the bracelet every single day, through my crazy, busy, wild days with twins and a new baby, and it shows no signs of wear and tear, doesn't turn my wrist green like cheap store bought bracelets commonly do, and, most of all, has not broken, is incredible. I can't express enough my full satisfaction with The Charm Factory's products and customer service.

Now, for the fun part........

ONE lucky reader of A Day in the Life of a Mother of Multiples will WIN their choice of a charm, on a sterling silver necklace, from The Charm Factory!

HOW TO ENTER:

MANDATORY ENTRIES (These MUST be done BEFORE the extra entries):

1. Visit The Charm Factory and check out their wide variety of charms available. Then, come back here and post a comment, telling me which charm you would choose to have put on your necklace if you won.

2. Follow my blog publicly, via GFC, and post a comment that you do.

EXTRAS (Post a seperate comment for each extra entry you do...if it says something counts for 2 extra entries, post 2 comments):

1. Promote this contest on your own blog, and post a link here to your post (2 extra entries)

2. Comment on another of my blog posts (1 extra entry)

Contest ends June 4th at midnight. Winner will be chosen randomly, via random.org and announced June 5th. GOOD LUCK TO ALL! :-)

Monday, May 9, 2011

Mother's Day 2011

I had a fabulous Mother's Day this year! First off, my birth mom came to visit Saturday, and we gave her new pictures of the kids, cards that the kids made for her, a flower, and a Mother's Day cake. She gave me the most yummy, HUGE chocolate chip cookies with icing and sprinkles and a beautiful card. Then, Saturday night the hubs surprised me with dinner out. He had set some money aside for this special day, and took me out for a mini shopping trip to get some capris and summer clothes I had been talking about for weeks. Then we went to dinner at a cute little diner I LOVE.

Mother's Day morning, I woke up to breakfast in bed and lots of "Hi mamas!" from my love bugs. French toast, maple bacon, and sausage...yum!! We had a lazy morning. Hubs helped with Mason a lot, feeding him bottles when he needed them and just playing with him and keep him occupied while I did my nails, showered, and got a little bit of housework done. Yesterday afternoon we went to see my grandmother and my (adopted) mother, and give our gifts to them and visit. We went out for ice cream last night, and I made dinner. I know, I know, it was Mother's Day and I shouldn't have made dinner, but I WANTED to. Hubs would have done it without a question asked, but I chose to, and was fine with it. :-) It was totally yummy, and after that was cleaned up and the twins were in bed, we had some baby Mason snuggles and got some shut eye ourselves. And as if all that wasn't enough, Mason gave me a straight 4.5 hours of sleep last night. :-)


It was a glorious, beautiful day, and I hope all you other beautiful, hard working mama's out there had a beautiful, wonderful day as well! ;-)

Adventures with Connor and Merasia

It's about time for an update on the twins! I'm finding it difficult to keep up with this blog now that there are 3 children to update on and chat about, and of course I want to give them all the proper "writing" attention they deserve. ;-)

The twins have adjusted beautifully to the addition of Mason. It was a little scary at first, for me mostly, just not knowing how they would react or how they would manage with a little less attention. But, as expected, they did fine and still are. I guess it's different with them, since there has always been two of them. They have always known what it feels like to have to share mom and dad, and have always known what it's like to not have full attention on either of them at once, so the addition of a new baby and having less one on one time wasn't a big surprise to them, which is great. They have zero resentment towards Mason, and love on him all they can. The first thing Merasia says when she wakes up every morning is "Baby? Baby?" As soon as they see Mason in the morning, they run to him and give him kisses and hugs and say "Hi baby! Hello baby!" They know they can hold him if they sit on the couch, so they always do that and reach their arms out and ask to hold him. They are the best big brother and big sister!




These kids amaze me every second. They are like mini adults. They are so helpful around the house already! Makes me think chore assignments won't be that difficult in a few more years... ;-) When they get their diapers changed, they get up, grab their dirty diaper, and throw them in the trash. If they find trash on the floor (napkins, pieces of snack from them, etc.) they pick it up and throw it away. They dump their plates in the trash can when they are finished eating, and then out them in the sink and ask to be picked up to wash their hands and face in the sink. They ask for their coats when they know it's time to go out to play or when we are getting ready to leave somewhere, and say "feet? feet?" when we are getting ready to leave. That's their way of asking to get their shoes on. They pick out which shoes they'd like to wear, and then put them on themselves. None of their shoes tie yet, so they are very easy for them to get on themselves. :-)

When they get hungry, they ask for a "nack" (snack), or say "eat!" They almost always say "peas" (please) when asking for something, and always say "thank you" when they get what they ask for. They even say thank you when we are out at restaurants and the waitress gives them their drink or food or extra eating utensils. The other day, we took them out for their first ice cream cone. They thoroughly enjoyed them to no end, and when we were loaded back up in the van, getting ready to leave, Merasia yelled "mama!" I asked what, and she sweetly replied, "Thank you." It was the sweetest thing! She loved her ice cream so much an even thanked me for it. :-) I almost cried!








They put together full sentences as well, but those are harder to keep track of and sometimes harder to decipher in their toddler lingo. Connor sweetly calls his "girlfriend" Cloey "Co-co" because he can't quite say her name. It's the cutest thing! Merasia lovingly calls Connor "Buddy." I. LOVE. THAT. They ARE buddies, the best of buddies! You hear people talk about the twin bond all the time, but you never really understand it unless you are a twin yourself, or you are a parent of twins and can see their bond firsthand. It's truly an incredible thing to witness every single day.

I find myself in awe of these children every day. It's just amazing to see what new things they will say or do every day, and to continue to help them grow and mature into the little people they are.



And just for good measure...



Mason had zero interest in the ice cream adventure. :-)

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Mason: 2 Months Old!

Tomorrow marks Mason's 2 month birthday! It's insane that he is 2 months already! It seems impossible that it has gone by fast, yet at the same time, it almost seems like it's going by slower this time around, which I love since it gives me more time to soak it all up before he gets too big!


The stomach bug has FINALLY left our home for good! Okay, well who knows if it's for good since I'm sure there will be many more stomach bugs in our future, but at least for a LONG time, it's GONE! It left Connor 2 days ago or so, but I still kind of had it up until yesterday. Yesterday was the first day I felt GREAT and had a great night's sleep the night before, so I knew it was done for me. Mason hasn't gotten it, so far, so good!

The last couple of days have consisted of cleaning and disinfecting the entire house to kill the sick, nasty germs, and getting all the nasty laundry done from the kids diarrhea and throw up and germy clothes and sheets and things. Yuck!

Mason had his 2 month check up yesterday! He weighs 11 lbs., 5 ounces and is 23.5 inches long! Such a big boy!



He is smiling a ton, and cooing too. I love his little cooing noises he makes when he's content and happy and has a fully belly, of course. He LOVES Merasia. I'm sure he likes Connor too, but when Merasia gets down to his level and says "Hello baby" he smiles real big and coos back at her. So sweet!

He still wakes up quite a bit at night, but that's to be expected and I don't mind. He still doesn't fill up properly on just breast milk, so we are still supplementing with 4-6 ounces of formula after each feeding if he seems to need it to top him off some. He nurses all night since he normally ends up in bed with me because I'm too exhausted to care LOL Not a habit I am happy with, but exhaustion takes over sometimes and I can't help it. I'll break it soon, I promise! ;-)

Other than that, he is thriving and just an absolute joy. He did have to suffer through his first round of shots though, and there were terrible. He has never cried so much in his short little life, not even when he was born! His face got so red, his eyes welled up with tears, and he cried and screamed SO. HARD! It broke my heart in teeny tiny pieces! :-( Thankfully it was all over within seconds, I nursed him, and all was forgotten.

(An update on the twins coming soon!)

;-)