Christmas was only 3 months ago...

And we finally got our present in the ground! We did have a thing or two going on the last couple months. :) The final product is at the bottom of the page!

The girls are getting sooooo close to some big smiles! We call them half smiles. Too hard to capture on a picture at this point but it's sure fun to watch. Audrey seems just a couple days ahead of Audrey on development and it makes sense since she's a little bigger. She's the one who has been working most on her smiles.  

Speaking of size, at their appointment on 

Monday Audrey weighed 7 lbs 5 oz and Anna weighed 6 lbs 15 oz. 

 Anna and Audrey moved out of our room into their room. We are all sleeping better now! Here they are snuggled up in Ash, Sadie and Nate's crib.

 They still love their bath time but sadly, they won't be able to share one bath much longer. They are getting so big.

 Anna all dressed up to go to school.

 I don't know how I would do twins without the help I get from Sadie and Ash! They are amazing helpers.

All five of us (the older 5, that is) jumped together when they first got the trampoline all set up. It was so fun! I grew up with a trampoline so this feels like part of my childhood! 

Our funny photo shoot

First off, my apologies to the photographers out there. Plenty of the pictures are not top quality and even way less than top! Some are snapped with the cell phone with one hand while juggling the babies in the other. 

 Nate makes the best machine gun sounds. He has tried to teach me and I try but I just can't compete with the boys. Nate was listening to a book on tape and periodically he would make his machine gun sound and moves. It was so random and I know it had nothing to do with the book he was listening to. There are plenty of girls around this house but I don't think I need to worry about him learning to be masculine.

 Anna and Audrey

 President Roosevelt and I have something in common. We both let our kids roller blade (or skate) in the house. I don't know why I let them. Maybe because in the winter it's harder to play outside. Or maybe because we have wood floors and it's just so fun to blade around. The kids have developed a pretty fun game of roller blade tag. They even pin some of the doors back so they won't run into them when the lights are out (yes, there's a roller blade in the dark version). We have one set of roller blades that can fit an adult so once in a while we join in. I played for the first time this weekend and I must admit it's pretty fun. Anyway…Nate has gotten so into roller blading and we saw a little 6 week ice-skating class that prepares you for an ice hockey class. We signed him up and this is Nate on his first day of class. He was in heaven. He loves it so much and couldn't stop talking about skating.

 I'm afraid ice-hockey just may be his sport. I can only picture the fights they always get in during games…but hopefully Nate is a nice enough kid and no one will want to fight with him????

 Anna…but it's harder for me to tell who it is when they are sleeping.

 It's just something so special to hold them at the same time.

 Audrey

 Sadie and Audrey…and I can't say enough about what a huge help Sadie is with these babies!

 Sleeping beauties at church

 We have been hearing a few woodpeckers working on our house recently so we set out on a family hike to find them (and eliminate them, hence the gun). I just had to laugh at Dave holding our precious little baby with a gun in his hand. Those two things just don't go together.

 We bundled the babies up to stay warm on the hike.

 It was such a beautiful night and we are so enjoying the spring weather.

 Ash and….can't tell!

 Anna 

We wanted to get a few pictures of the girls in their cute little spring dresses. I put a bunch of the pictures of the photo shoot on here. It really made me laugh at how it's hard to get one baby to sit up right or smile or whatever…but two!!! What are the chances! So why not take pictures of them both crying too...

 Poor Anna. Is it that bad?

 Audrey

 Those headbands are too big for them!

 Sleepy babies after their photo shoot. :)

Now I know why

For almost 9 years now (minus Nate's pregnancy and entrance to the world) I have had many a heartache as I walked by the maternity section at Target, heard friends announce new pregnancies, attended baby showers, baby blessings, watched new babies in carseats at the store, ETC! It seems that instantly my eyes would fill with tears and I would just have to press forward with my "lot" of not being able to have more babies. Sometimes I begged Heavenly Father to take away my strong, strong longing for more babies. But it never went away. And now I know why. 

Yesterday I ran an errand by myself. I saw a baby in the carseat in a mom's shopping cart and I smiled at the cute baby…and then I realized…I wasn't sad! I have my own babies! Then I saw a baby in what looked like a not-so-good family situation. Those situations always break my heart. They make me want to do foster care and/or adopt. I saw this situation and then thought…we adopted!!! We brought babies from a would-have-been tough situation into our loving home! 

I walk by the baby section at Target and want to shout hurray! (One time I sort of did…just ask Dave). I'm finally not sad walking by the baby section. 

 The girls are getting more alert each day. It's so fun. Audrey smiled at me today and I about melted. She was wide awake, too. Not the sleepy smile.

 Cute little Anna.

 Being good girls sleeping on the couch while I was getting ready for school this morning.

 Snuggling sisters

 This picture doesn't quite do it justice. I put Anna in the front pack to get some dinner ready. She was just starting up at me with the biggest eyes. And I just cried happy, happy tears. I can't believe I have two babies to love. My years of dreaming have come true. And some days I just can't believe it.

 Audrey was just about to drift off to sleep.

 The darling hats my friend made for the girls.

Last AND least, Dave was walking around the house with this dragon on his back. It just made me laugh. It looks like he's just going for a fun ride.

Babies are ready for some milk. Better sign off.

Back to life...

With Mom gone, spring break over (loved the spring break from the regular activities…less driving and loading the babies in and out of the car) and the babies growing up a tiny bit, it was time to get back into school and normal life….hence the fewer blog posts! Oh, and this week we had our last meal brought from friends and the ward. So I'm really back in business as the full time mom! It's a lot to juggle but it just means I quiz Ash on her geography while nursing (and a ton of other school things while nursing on the couch). The babies are also getting a lot faster at nursing so that helps too!

It's been really fun to watch them grow (preemie diapers are now too small!). They feel like a "normal" size newborn. That is, if 6 pounds is normal. My babies were all 7+ pounds.

 They love to be snuggled close.

 Nate snuggling with someone…definitely can't tell from this picture!

 Nate wanted to fall asleep with Audrey. It was so cute to watch him fall asleep but she stayed wide awake! When I went to take Audrey away, Nate jumped as if he was falling in his sleep. He woke up and said "Oh, I worried she was falling out of my arms."

 Sadie loves any chance to snuggle a baby on the couch.

 Audrey

 Anna and Audrey

 This picture was taken right after nursing. They fell asleep on my lap and I had to take a picture of them holding hands.

 This was after their 5 am feeding. I just had to laugh as I put them down and they were both wide awake and ready to play! Luckily they just looked wide awake but went back to sleep after a few minutes.

 Cute Anna. Some people have asked if I'm the kind of mom who dresses her twins in matching outfits. As you can probably see in pictures, for the most part the answer is no. When they are dressed alike, it's usually Ash and Sadie who are putting them in matching outfits. I do think it's cute to see them matching…just not all the time.