Our Growing Family

Busy Weekend

2011-10-10T13:23:00.000-04:00

We had a really busy {fun filled} weekend. And now, we are all exhausted. Fun times with good friends, great laughs, and new memories!

Good Morning!

2011-10-04T09:42:00.000-04:00

I am enjoying my morning coffee and hanging with this little boy.....

While his brothers are doing this.......

The time has come....

2011-09-29T08:27:00.000-04:00

Savannah- Part Two

2011-09-22T08:38:00.000-04:00

We can't wait to do this again next year!!

Yesterday.....

2011-09-21T08:00:00.001-04:00

Today has to be a better day.

Yesterday was tough.

It involved this.....

....this....

....and of course.....

this.

Waiting on brother....

2011-09-20T15:43:00.000-04:00

Waiting for big brother to get home from school......

Savannah Trip

2011-09-19T18:04:00.002-04:00

Over Labor Day weekend the boys and I headed to Savannah to visit with the inlaws. James had been especially excited about this visit to watch the kickoff of college football season with his dad......and to golf of course! We had a great long weekend and the boys were overall pretty well behaved. I was even able to sneak a way with my sister-in-law Julie for pedis!

The little boys had their first boat ride too. It is so nice that they are getting to an age where they are a little more predictable and we can do fun things together. They loved the boat. We drove to a small island and hung out on the beach. They had so much fun playing in the sand and water. I can not wait to do it again next year!!

It really takes a village with these boys....

Aidan was pretty impressed with all the boats!

Getting ready for their boat ride!

My adorable MIL. Love her!

To be continued....

The Twins Turned Two!!

2011-09-15T17:38:00.000-04:00

We had the twins party at The Little Gym. It was a great place to have a party, and super easy for us. The twins turned two on the day of the party, and the day that North Carolina got hit with Hurricane Irene. We were waiting to see if the party would go on, and thankfully it did!

The staff was amazing and took care of everything.

It was so nice to just sit back and play with the boys....and take pictures of course.

Landon on his big day! Happy 2nd Birthday sweetie!! We love you!

When people ask if we have a more dominate twin, I always laugh and answer, yes!

Landon is the feistiest of my boys.

He is stubborn.

He is fast.

He is also very tough.

Sometimes I feel bad when I just automatically think of him as the "bad" twin. He is not ~~always~~ that bad. I mean, sure he starts most of the fights... But that same spirit is what made him so strong during the past year. So, I am thankful that he is a little fighter- although we really have to work on the hair pulling and wrestle mania moves with his brothers.

He really is super smart. He talks in sentences most of the time, and he quickly learning his colors. I can't wait to see what the future holds (hopefully preschool very, very soon!!) I love you, Landy!

And here is Grayson, on his big day!

Grayson is my sensitive one.

He is sweet and a true boy's boy-

I can totally picture him in 20 years as a man's man!

He will most definitely be a football player!

If I had a passive child- and I am not sure I do- but, if I did, it would be Grayson.

He is my "good" twin- most days, but he is also becoming quite a little stubborn guy himself. He is usually the one who ends up with a bloody nose from rough play with his brothers. When him and his twin brother get together, anything is possible. If I had to guess though, he is the follower of most of the mischief these two get into- thanks, Gray!

Gray is smart too, and it is so fun to watch his little mind grow! And boy, does he have some dance moves! He will make one girl very happy (and possibly embarassed) one day!!

Grayson has these precious little lips that I love to kiss!! I love you Gray! Happy 2nd Birthday!!

It is so hard to believe these guys are TWO! Landon and Grayson, you have brought so much joy and love into our lives (and some drama too, of course)!

We all love you so much and can't wait to watch you grow!!

{And, please, I am begging you..... don't make the twos too terrible.}

Wordless Wednesday

2011-09-14T14:37:00.001-04:00

My boys have an unhealthy obsession with flies.

2011-09-13T12:32:00.000-04:00

I am not sure why, but my boys think all flying insects are "bees".

So often I hear, "Mommy, bee!!", "Bee, bee, bee!!!!", etc. When I run to them, armed with my fly swatter, ready to protect my boys from a painful bee sting, I usually find nothing more than a fly.

Our weekends are typically spent grilling, riding bikes in the driveway, playing inside then outside, and doors are almost always left open.

Our Monday's usually start with several annoying flies taking over the house like they own it.

It drives.me.nuts.

So this morning, I decided to let the boys have their way with the fly that kept buzzing in my ear this morning as I made breakfast.

First they planned their attack:

Landon seemed to be the one they voted to take the fly out. He tried pounding him with his fist....

When that didn't work, Landon and Gray decided teamwork would be a better approach, and they came in at different angles.

But, that thing was quick....and kept getting away.

So for now, this fly will continue to drive me crazy until sometime around Wednesday morning when I find him and his buddies on a window sill someplace in the house....

Good effort boys. At least you were entertained for about 20 minutes this morning.

{No flies were hurt or killed during this activity.}

First Day of Preschool

2011-06-29T08:11:00.001-04:00

The twins had their first day of PRESCHOOL yesterday! They were so excited and very proud of their little backpacks. I have to say, they looked super cute.

This picture cracks me up because they look so big. But, when I sit here in my living room and look at them running around in their little onesies, I would swear they are 9 months old. I still just think of them as little babies. I guess that is probably because there are two of them, and because they are the 2nd and 3rd child. Time had just flow by, and I just cant not wrap my head around the fact they are almost TWO.

They are doing a little summer preschool program where Aidan went a couple summers. All three boys will actually go two days a week together. I am so excited for the twins to meet some new little friends and for Aidan to spend time with his friends too.

Busy summer weeks!

2011-06-27T08:55:00.001-04:00

It is hot. Like, really hot. Like I have seen 3 digits in my car hot. So, we are trying to stay busy with some fun, indoor activities. The boys and I had a very busy, and fun week. We were on the go so much and took advantage of Aunt Haley being on summer break!

Haley and I took the boys to Jumping Beans and the twins were in heaven! We have gone several times before, but they really could not do much without help. This time they were on the go!! Climbing, sliding, jumping all by themselves! It was great!!

We had a to have a snack break too, of course!

Jumping Beans has a coffee bar, and wireless internet! I never could understand how moms could go there and sit at a table, drink coffee, and play on the computer. Now I am seeing the light!!!!

Aidan started a summer gymnastics class this week. This was our first class at The Little Gym and I am super impressed! Haley actually works there teaching classes and birthday parties. Aidan and the twins are signed up or a class all summer and we are so excited to have a new activity!

James and I took the boys fishing on Sunday. Aidan has been begging to go fishing for weeks. So, we loaded the poles, bait, stroller, and boys into the car...did I mention it was 135 degrees?

This is basically how it went.....

James caught fish...and the rest of us just watching while sweating profusely. Aidan wanted nothing to do with fishing once we got there. The twins just kept throwing their sun glasses and juice boxes, and all I could think about was laying in the kids baby pool in the driveway. It was hot!

So after a few fish, we headed home. I think we at least got it out of Aidan's system for a while.

We spent the rest of the weekend in the driveway riding bikes, eating Popsicles, and cheese sandwiches, and playing in the pool. It was great!

I love summer days! Popsicles before lunch!

The twins had their first little gym class this week too! It is the perfect activity to wear these boys out for a good nap! They are crazy, so I was not surprised at all how much fun they had!

Haley and I also braved lunch at a Mexican Restaurant with all 3 boys. It was not a total disaster......

At nap time Aidan and I super glued his train tracks to the train table. Our table has been put away for about a year or so. The twins are just too young and destructive and so it was really fun to get it all back out again!

Brotherly Love.

2011-06-23T22:05:00.001-04:00

Trust me, they are not always this cute.

Monkey.

2011-06-21T08:00:00.000-04:00

DO you know who this is? Cause I have no clue.

Landon?

Grayson?

My babies' daddy

2011-06-20T08:35:00.001-04:00

[Warning: Post with ALOT of pictures!]

I know I do not say it enough, but the boys and I are really lucky to have this guy:

James is a great father, and I am a very lucky gal.

James worked really hard so I could stay home when Aidan was born.

He takes Aidan to school in the mornings on the way to work, so I don't have to drag the twins out.

(Aidan's first Christmas)

He is excited to teach his boys how to golf...and to watch them grown into athletics.

His boys adore him....

I know he will teach my boys how to be a true "guy's guy".

He baths the boys for me, so my back doesn't hurt.

He teaches them young, how to be a great Georgia fan. (Aidan 17 months)

He takes them trick-or-treating. (Aidan as Charlie Brown in 2008).

He changes diapers and crib sheets.

He only freaked a little when we found out we were having TWINS!

He can dress really well....most of the time.

He obviously passed his good looks to the boys.

Through the past five years he has supported all my crazy ideas too. :)

He teaches them how to do "boy" things....

And is a very proud daddy.....

The boys are always so excited to see him when he gets home from work. After a long day he comes home and digs right in..

James gets up with the twins on weekend mornings, so Aidan and I can sleep in.

We are lucky.

Thank you for being such a good dad to my boys, babe. We love you!

Happy Father's Day!

2011-06-19T08:27:00.000-04:00

Happy Father's Day to the best dads I know!

We are all lucky to have you!

My (failed) fathers day idea....

2011-06-18T08:53:00.000-04:00

I had a great idea to get a few pictures made of the boys and I for fathers day. James has been asking for updated pictures for months now, so I planned on getting a few nice ones framed. I picked out some coordinating outfits, got my sister to help, and we headed to a local park.

This is the best we got.

I really wanted to get at least one good one of all four of us. The boys were not interested. The twins just wanted to run, and Aidan just wanted to play in the dirt. It was also 4:00 and although we are going through a "cold front", it was pretty warm out.

And the day ended like this, a dirt fight between the twins that ended with lots of tears:

That's a wrap, folks.

Decorating the new house

2011-06-17T08:53:00.003-04:00

We are unpacked, and after only living here 6 weeks, that is pretty impressive for us. Even before we signed the dotted line at closing, I was already ~~obsessively~~ secretly decorating the new house in my mind.

I have only hung a few pictures, but overall it is looking like home.

Except...for the office. So, I have been "window shopping" for ideas online. Since I am surrounded by boys in this house, I thought it would be fun to make the office very shabby chic. I think I want to turn the closet into my little sewing room, a cozy little place that I can ~~go and shut the door to be alone~~ call my own.

My inspiration:

My favorite part of this room has to be the chandelier!

I love how girlie this room is. Can you tell the walls are actually painted pink? Not sure if I would be brave enough to do that....but it looks great in this room!

via

I love how this closet was turned into a little study area. My closet in the office is bigger, and pretty deep.

I think it would make a great sewing area and may try doing something similar.

Can't wait to get this project started!

via

2011 Triangle Run/Walk for Autism

2011-06-16T08:57:00.000-04:00

If you are local and want to participate, please join us at "Team Aidan". Click here for "Team Aidan"'s webpage! We hope that you will consider running/walking with us this October! After the morning Walk, join us at Moore Square enjoying music, vendors, and special entertainment.

The face of Autism:

...isn't it beautiful?

First Haircuts!

2011-06-15T14:22:00.000-04:00

The twins got their first haircuts (back in March). Pretty cute if I do say so myself.

Landon was first. What a ham.

Grayson was next (since he is the youngest and everything...)

See that guy in the background? Ok, well I will come back to that....

Grayson was a little less impressed with the whole process.

It took a lot of cookies, suckers, and....

Remember that guy? Well, that is his phone. Clearly he is a dad.

He handed Gray his phone, already with Disney Channel playing.

My kids like to feed each other...

2011-06-13T08:38:00.000-04:00

Landon feeding Aidan.

Aidan feeding Gray.

Landon feeding Roxy.

Gray trying to feed me.

Landon feeding Gray.

{Love their facial expressions in this one.}

The A word

2011-06-10T15:12:00.002-04:00

Well it has been a while. I will blame that on the fact that we have recently moved, opened a business, and....oh yeah, have three very busy little boys 4 and under. I have been dying to get back to the good ole blog, but there just have not been enough hours in the day. Now that the twins are approaching their SECOND birthday, I am forcing myself to get back into the groove. The days are so short right now, and life is so busy. I don't want to forget any of these moments with my boys.

As I sit here in a clean house (my inlaws on coming ;), I have 2 sleeping boys upstairs, and one big boy sitting on the couch next to me. Aidan is laying his head in my lap, watching Thomas on netflicks. I sat down about 5 minutes ago to do a little surfing before I see the red lights on the baby monitor start to dance, meaning my quite time has come to an end. After checking my normal sites, foxnews, wral.com, and facebook (keeping it real people), I open my favorites tab, and check out a few blogs. I have had kelly's korner on my favorites list for a couple years. When I visited Kelly's blog today, she is doing one of her SUYL posts and the theme is "Special Needs Families". I first found Kell's blog when she had just given birth to her daugher Harper. I along with thousands of others would sit down on the couch every night and check on sweet Harper's progress. (You can read about Harper's story on Kelly's blog). During that time of my life, Aidan was 2 and I had just found out I was carrying twins. It was around that time that we learned Aidan had a development delay. That is where his journey starts.

I have always used this blog to document our crazy lives as a family of 5. When Landon was diagnosed with Lambdoid Synostosis, I started PrayersforLandon to document Landon's journey. For some reason, I wanted to keep this blog as my happy place. Now that we are on the other side of Landon's surgery (you can read more about that at PrayersforLandon), I want to celebrate his progress. I have also learned the past two years, that I can't tell our story, without telling the whole story.

When Landon got his diagnosis I reached out to friends, found websites, and blogged about everything we were going through. By doing that, we were led to the amazing doctor who fixed our little boy (update coming soon on Landon's progress). I would google for hours on end trying to learn of his rare condition. I found a few, not many, but a few, blogs written by moms who had gone through something similar. It was the most comforting feeling that helped us get through those early months. I wanted to share our story so others could find the comfort that I found by those few moms. I believe I did that, and I want to do it again.

So, for the first time since I started the blog, way back in 2007, I am going to use this blog as a way to share the struggles, joys, hurdles, and amazement of what life is like for a mom (and dad) who's son is on the Autism Spectrum. I hope that anyone who "stops by" will come back, leave a comment, or a link to your blog.

Chat soon!

{And because blog posts without pictures are not as fun....}

Hi, I'm Heather.

2011-03-16T08:42:00.000-04:00

And this is my blog. It has been a while. When I look back, it seems that every year from Decemberish until Marchish, I take a hiatus (I spelled that right the first time, impressive-for me). Maybe because that is such a busy time of year. Then the post Holiday blues set in, and it is hard to get motivated to do much, especially blog. Or maybe it is that this is such a busy time, and I am over motivated that I overfill my plate. Yeah, I think that it is.

But, I am back. And it feels good.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

2010-12-04T16:28:00.000-05:00

It's snowing. In Raleigh. On December 4th.

We are home, with 3 sick guys, daddy and his youngest boys.

So, what do you do?

Make hot chocolate, watch football, eat comfort food...

and make a fire after the twins go to sleep.

Welcome December!

Lamps

2010-11-24T09:00:00.000-05:00

Can you guess why these are here?

Surely I don't need 3 lamps in the same spot.

Good Morning

2010-11-21T14:54:00.000-05:00

We are having a great weekend at home getting into the Christmas spirit!

Yesterday we went to the Raleigh Christmas Parade, and today we are decorating the house for Christmas!!

The boys started their morning with some fun, quality brother time....

Off to start decorating!

Preschool Halloween Events

2010-11-19T20:30:00.003-05:00

Aidan's preschool has a Halloween Costume Parade each year where all the kids get to walk around the building and show all the parents their costumes. After the parade they have a fall festival during school. It is a fun day full of pumpkin picking in the pumpkin patch, hay rides pulled by a tractor (that was Aidan's favorite park), bean bag toss games, and more outside fun. This year we had all the little kids there to watch the parade with the parents. It is hard to believe next year they will be participating as two year olds!

Aidan's class had a Halloween party the same week of preschool. I volunteered to come in and help with the party. It as so fun to get in there and see him in his element. It wasn't fun that my child had to have a meltdown though because his mom was there. His teachers assured me that all the kids act up when their parent is present, but still.....it is kind of embarrassing when you can't control your 3 year old. We are working on it though.

{I really think the term "Terrible Twos" should be changed to "Terrible Threes". Just sayin'}

Trick or Treat!

2010-11-18T20:00:00.000-05:00

I am a little late with these but I wanted to include them.

Sweet Aidan and Landon.

Unfortunately for James, Halloween and Georgia Florida always fall on the same weekend. And with Halloween, comes a weekend full of family events. I think I left out the disclaimer when he married me that Georgia Florida would not be on the top of our priority list. It never fails, the year that Halloween is on Sunday, and not on game day, we have a birthday party for our best twin buds. So, what do you do? Luckily for James we have some pretty great friends who took the time to put a special tv up outside on the deck for the game. So, everyone was happy. Well until the game ended. We won't go there.

After the ~~loss~~ game, the boys did what else, but carve pumpkins.

On Halloween we went to our Church's Fall Festival before meeting our friends for trick or treating.

Then for the main event, we took Thomas the Train, Thing One, and Thing Two to our friend's house to go trick or treating with 10 of our three year old friends and all their brothers and sisters. It was a blast as always, and turning into quite the tradition. These kiddos have been trick or treating together since they were babies. They go way back.

Getting a picture of 3 boys, 3 and under is impossible.

Thing One and Thing Two were champs all night.

2010-11-17T20:05:00.001-05:00

Me: would you laugh if i wanted a sewing machine?
Hubby: omg.
        yes.
        This reminds me of the time when you were going to start your own business out of our house selling arts and crafts.
Me:      ha ha ha ha ha
          :-)
         You love me
Hubby: eh

********************************************************************

He knows me well. And yes, I do want a sewing machine.

One highchair + Two babies....

2010-11-17T09:00:00.002-05:00

This is what happens when you forget a highchair at your friends. Being that where ever we go, we usually have the most kids in tow, I sometimes bring a highchair or two with me. Aidan's friends now all have (at least) a sibiling (except for a very special friend who's baby brother is still cookin in the oven), so we can always use more highchairs.

When you forget to bring your highchair home...you have to be creative. And since Landon IS the older brother, he had to.....stand.

I think he is over it!

November 16th?

2010-11-16T11:42:00.000-05:00

Is it really November 16th? Is Thanksgiving next week? Is Christmas just over 6 weeks away?

I have a lot to do.

Sleepover

2010-10-30T20:12:00.001-04:00

I had reserved today's post to celebrate our win vs FL. Since that sadly didn't happen, I am moving on.

Aidan went home with Aunt Haley and Uncle Corey last week for a sleepover. He was so very excited! Aunt Haley asked us if he could go, and his exact words were "Oh, I would be so excited", while he jumped up and down and covered his mouth with his hand. Who could say no to this face?

So, he loaded up into Uncle Corey's car as was off. He gave his mommy a quick kiss, and that was it.

We skyped with him, and got a few picture from Haley. They watched TV, had snacks, and sang songs while playing the guitar. What a special night for him!

Tennessee (Part 2)

2010-10-21T16:27:00.001-04:00

While we were in Tennessee, we made a day trip to Chattanooga. I had never been, and though it was such a cute city. I would imagine it is a great place to raise a family with all there is to do with the kids. We were there just long enough to go into a couple shops, eat lunch, and play in the park. I hope next year we are able to spend more time there, and maybe do the children's museum or aquarium!

The leaves were so beautiful!

Love this little face! Look at those lips.

Such a great big brother helping Grayson walk!

True Story:

James, Aidan and I went for a ride in the Rhino. (Picture a jacked up golf cart). Well, we made a couple drinks, the babies were with nanni and Papa, so we headed out to the "hill" to watch the sunset. Once we got to our spot, Aidan and I climbed into the back, which is like the bed of a truck. It was so beautiful, and relaxing. I was enjoying my Sea breeze and boys. A few minutes after we got settled, James was checking on the Rhino and found a little lever. He says "I wonder what this does", before he decides to find out, and pull it. Instantly Aidan and I ~~fall~~ fly out of the bed, and land flat on our butts, covered in my drink.

Typical.

Sweet little Aidan took my cup, and headed toward to house to get me another drink.

What a view. (Yes, I am talking about the mountains!)

The boys were able to meet Uncle Greg and Laura! It was great to see our Tennessee family!

My little peanut allergic baby playing with a walnut....

...and his brother doing the same.

(This is the Rhino bed- just for your imagine!)

At lunch in Chattanooga. Priceless!

We had a wonderful trip, and already planning for next year! James and I have big plans which include tubbing down a river, with a cooler of beer, maybe a night out for dinner in Chatonagga, and more fishing, riding tractors, walks, playing the creek and more county fun!

Tennessee Trip (Part 1)

2010-10-19T16:15:00.000-04:00

We just got home from 6 days in Tennessee vising James' parents. They have a farm about an hour from Chattanooga, in a valley town called Pikeville. Beautiful just doesn't explain how breathtaking the valley is. The town is VERY small, and such refreshing change. There isn't much to do, but good ole fashion fun.

Aidan threw rocks in the creek...

...and peed in the creek.....and the pond, and in the hay, and off the deck....

We took walks....

and the twinks played with the dogs...all four of them!

We went out to eat (and learned we won't be doing that again as a family until 2020)...

and we tried to get a good family picture.

Aidan rode the tracker...

and we enjoyed this scenery.

We had special time with Aidan while the twins didn't nap...

...and enjoyed this view while sitting on the deck.

I caught my first fish...

...and so did Aidan!

We fell in the mud...

...and pulled the wagon.

Enjoyed beautiful sunsets...

...and took naps to fresh mountain air.

To be continued....

Weekend Wrap Up

2010-10-11T22:19:00.000-04:00

80's! 80s in October!?! That was our weather here in Raleigh this past weekend. AND, the high today and tomorrow is 88!!!! What's going on? Time to pull out what's left of our shorts and t-shirts for the boys. Not fair, I love little boy's butts in jeans, and the cuteness of layers! Looks like the twins might not get much use of theses adorable little Halloween shirts I got them.

Landon and Grayson are checking out some animals at Hillridge farm. We took the boys this weekend to the pumpkin patch, and had a wonderful time. We came home with 3 very tired little boys and three little pumkins. We went with friends and ran into others there. This is the third year we have gone, and they have added so much, including full service.............bathrooms? Not sure what was there before?

The little boys are walking so much these days. I got Landon out of the stroller for a few minutes to test out his new shoes. He was really confused and could not quite understand the added weight on his feet. Neither of them had ever walked outside, so it was so funny to watch them focusing so much on the silly things on their feet. After they got the hang of it, they walked around for a few minutes and then back into the stroller they went.

Daddy and Aidan went down the big slide and you can tell, they both liked it. From the looks below it is hard to tell who had more fun, Aidan or daddy.

There is so much to do at this pumkin patch. They have a corn pit, hay jump, chickens, goats, a rabbit house, train ride, jump house, hay maze, and the hayride! We were on a time limit because we came at nap time, first thing in the morning to avoid the crowds. We timed it right and left with three smiling little boys.

It is hard to believe the twins were only a month old when we visited last year. It is amazing how fast time goes by.

The look of pure joy on Aidan's face. Love it!

Aidan and Grayson.

Landon and Aidan.

The Brogdon and Seaman twins.

Grayson picking his pumpkin.

The Brogdon boys.

Nat, Aidan, and Mitch.

Twin mamas! So thankful to have her in my life!!!

I can't stop laughing at these two and their poses.

Landon, "Which one do I get??" ---- Grayson showing off his standing skills!

Three tired little boys after a great time at the pumpkin patch!

On a side note, I recently found out my dear friend, college roommate, and pledge sister, is pregnant.....with TWINS!!!! Congrats Lindsay and Justin! Out of my 4 best friends from college, Lindsay is number three expecting twins! It is so amazing!

Saturday fun day!

2010-10-09T20:11:00.000-04:00

Whew, I'm tired.

Guess what we did today?

Toddler food?

2010-10-08T10:17:00.001-04:00

Ok, mommy friends. I need some ideas for quick, healthy, easy to clean up (2 babies after spaghetti dinner clean up is not easy), meals for my twinks. Aidan is easy enough. He will eat what we eat, or not. But, I am losing my creativity when it comes to new meals for the twins. (Remember-quick, healthy, easy to clean up (2 babies after spaghetti dinner clean up is not easy), this is key!

If you are new to the blog, and have babies, or a baby (I have a bad habit of referring to all babies are plural-wonder why?) click here about homemade baby food! If you still aren't sure click here to see how much you can save by making your own baby food!

Why did I use so many parenthesises in this post?

Have a great day blog friends!

I'm backkkkkkkkkk.....

2010-10-07T16:46:00.003-04:00

I hate to admit it, but I have used this title before on my blog. What can I say, I am a busy mama!

Friends and family used to ask me how I had time to blog. Now, I ask myself the same thing. When the twinks were little (by little I mean pre mobile), I had more time. Although life is getting easier (or maybe it isn't, maybe we just have a better grasp on things), my time is slipping away. The twins are walking. And by walking, I mean walking and falling. Climbing and falling. Anything and falling.

I am finding my "me" time is lessening as I ~~speak~~ type. And I am not afraid to admit, I miss my me time! Every mama needs it! Blogging is my outlet. It is my journal. It is my wind down with a glass (or 2) of wine and sometimes some whine too, after a really long day.

So, I say it again. I'm backkkkkkkk. Ah, and it feels good!

Just some good ol' fashion fun...

2010-09-09T21:27:00.000-04:00

9125

2010-09-08T17:16:00.000-04:00

I actually think my math was off a little, I believe the true number is closer to 10,000.

So, did you guess??

Well....10,000 is the number....

of these:

we went through in the past year!

{Computer crashed. Like really, crashed. So now, we are back in business!}

So much to say, so little time!

2010-08-31T18:02:00.000-04:00

Will be back {very} soon. In the meantime, a little trivia for you.

What does the number 9125 represent?

See you soon!

Well....

2010-08-19T07:48:00.000-04:00

It looks like I feel off the face of the planet...and I did, sort of. Dad and Corey took a 10 days trip to Sturges for Bike Week, along with several members of the Bubac family. So I have been trying to wear dad's (many) hats. As a result, I have been beat the past 2 weeks, and as you can see, have not blogged at all. :(

So, I will be back soon, with more posts about my sweet twosome, who are turning ONE next Friday!!

Meeting Landon

2010-07-28T10:10:00.000-04:00

When I woke up in recovery on August 27th, 2009 I was alone. James came in a few minutes later and showed me pictures of the boys on our camera that he had taken through the nursey window. He said my mom was with them, watching them in the nursey! I waited patiently (well, not so patiently) until I heard a little cart being rolled my way, and in comes a precious baby. I met and held Landon first. He is the older twin, and was "Baby A" before he entered the world. I was told that Grayson was being monitored in the "special care" nursey being he had a heart mumor. They reassumered me that everything was ok, but they just needed to watch him for a few minutes. Stubborn already! I was able to hold Landon in recovery as soon as I could move my toes for the nurse! It was so frusterating trying to get my legs to wake up! What a strange feeling! My mind was trying to move my legs, but nothing was happening. Finally, after about 20 minutes I got a little toe to move! Finally I was able to hold my new baby boy!

Happy 11 Months, Boys!

2010-07-27T19:50:00.004-04:00

I can't believe the twins are 11 months old today. Wow, where has the time gone. In honor of the last month, before we officially can say that we made it through the first year, I am going to (try) to post a special memory each day. The first year is so crazy special with a new baby, and doubly so with twins. It is so hard to believe that in one month, the boys will be one.

Boys, I will never forget the moment that I was wheeled into the OR to have you. It was the most emotional moment of my life. I was so scared when they took me back. Your grammy and daddy were in the room with me until it was time to go. Then I had to say goodbye and went all by myself (and the rest of the 17 person team) that would bring you into the world. When I went into the OR, I had nothing as far as meds, not even an IV, so I literally freaked out at my surroundings. They had to give me something for anxiety before anything. The spinal sucked, but once I was all prepped and laying down, your daddy came in and everything was ok. The next few minutes went by so quickly and then at 12:51pm, I heard a precious little cry and Landon Ervin entered the word. Less than a minute later, Grayson Robert greeted us with another cry. They whisked you both away to get all cleaned up for us. Just like when I had Aidan, your daddy wiped my tears of joy as we watched the nurses take you away. Those will forever be the best moments of my life. Nothing will ever compare to seeing your beautiful faces for the first time! Ahhh......

If You're Happy And You Know It

2010-07-26T21:30:00.001-04:00

If you're happy and you know it....

Shout hooray!

If you're happy and you know it....

Shout hooray!

If you're happy and you know it....

Then you're face will surely show it....

If you're happy and you know it....

Shout hooray!

Hooray!!

Happy 17th Birthday Haley!

2010-07-25T21:26:00.000-04:00

Pool Days

2010-07-24T08:17:00.000-04:00

It has been so hot here in NC. I just read the morning news online, and with the heat index, it was 111 here yesterday! And to think my hubby was outside running on his lunch break. Can you say heat stroke?

We had a great week! Haley and I took all three boys to the pool before family dinner one night. We went around 5pm, and it was perfect! We hall had a great time. Aidan practiced jumping into the pool, and the boys just floated around in their little floats. Since Haley is out of school for the summer, she has been able to help me quite a few times with the boys. It has been great! I have been able to do things like this, that I just can't do with all three by myself. We love you Aunt "Hay-lee"!

We are so excited it is the weekend again! Aidan has soccer this morning, and we might head back to the pool this afternoon! Being at the pool is just about the only way you can be outside for more than 17 seconds. Have a great weekend!

A moment like this

2010-07-23T20:36:00.001-04:00

In all the craziness of the past year, with 3 under three.....

it's the moments like this...

that make it all worth it!

(and the hugs, and kisses, and diapers, and bottles, and smiles, and laughs, and tears, and late night cuddles, and hours in the rocking chair or pacing upstairs, and crying babies in the car, and airplane rides, and big brother's toys, and mama and dada's bed, and stroller rides, and playgroups with friends, and lullabies.)

I am one lucky mama!

A new goal

2010-07-22T14:35:00.000-04:00

I feel like life is finally starting to slow down, a little. Landon's surgery is behind us, we are approaching the twins' first birthday, we are smack dab (is that a word) in the middle of summer break, and life is good. Now that I am at a place where I can shower more than once every 3 days, and on most days get dressed and even put on makeup, I thought I needed a new goal. I mean seriously, life would not feel complete without adding one more thing to my plate anyways. So, I am going to start blogging more. Landon is doing wonderful, so I do not think I will be updating his blog very often, other than quick updates of how he is doing. I want to put my focus back into our family blog. I love, love, love having this blog! I blog for me and my family! I don't really do it for anyone else (although I have learned recently that quite a few people that I didn't know are reading, and I think that is so cool). I love being able to go back and look at posts from 2007, and compare the twins to Aidan at this age. The three of them really do look alot alike! I love being able to relive those special times, that are forgotten with the craziness of life.

So, my new goal is to blog more. Not necessarily about anything important, just to blog more about our life, and our day to day routine. So.....let's see what happens!

And, just because I want to include a picture.....

Kisses

2010-07-20T14:35:00.000-04:00

I LOVE some baby kisses!! Especially the hair pulling, two handed, open mouth kind.

Mommy's New Best Friend

2010-07-13T10:00:00.000-04:00

Camp

2010-07-12T14:52:00.000-04:00

Aidan has camp this week at school! Can you hear the cheering coming from my house? I think I am more excited about camp then he is.

When he is at camp, I get some two on one time with these little guys. We left the house this morning at 9, and didn't get home until 1:30, after we picked big brother up from his first day at camp.

We went to target, the library, and lunch. It is amazing the things I can do when I only have the twins. Seriously, two ten month olds are much easier to run errands with than one three year old. They just chill in their car seats, while I push them in the stroller. I don't want to even think about when they outgrow their infant carriers. What will I do? No more napping on the go. And when they start walking.....Just the thought makes me want to open a bottle of wine. And to think they won't start kindergarten until they are 6.

Shout

2010-07-10T10:34:00.000-04:00

"AIDAN!!!!"

"Mom, I queenin"

Breakfast in bed

2010-07-09T09:29:00.001-04:00

So, little Mr Grayson decided he wanted to get up at 4:50am in the morning. He also decided that he wanted everyone else in the house to get up with him.

So, by 5am James and I were on the living room floor with a blanket and a pillow, We turned The Wiggles on tv, threw some toys on the floor for the twins, and tried to go back to sleep.

Yeah, right. After about 48 seconds, one baby was pulling my hair while the other was stuck under the kitchen table. So......

We all started our morning at 5:05.

But....this guy decided he wasn't ready to start HIS day, so at 7:15 while eating his breakfast he went back to sleep..

So.not.fair.

Gray

2010-07-08T09:30:00.000-04:00

Gray bear

is turning into quite the Mr. personality!

Seeing Double....double

2010-07-07T20:14:00.001-04:00

The Brogdon and Seaman Twins.

Preschool Spring Program

2010-07-06T10:37:00.000-04:00

These are months old, but I just saw that I forgot to post them.

Aidan's preschool had a spring fling and this is the 2 year old class of little performers.

Mitch, "Hey Aidan, there's your mom!"

"Look, right there."

Looking....

And once he spotted me, he proceeded to leave the line up, and walk to the front and say,

"Hey, mom!".

I've been a little busy

2010-07-05T21:26:00.000-04:00

I hope to get back to our family blog soon. But for now, we are getting back into the groove.

What we have been doing.

Ooppsss.....

2010-06-23T10:48:00.000-04:00

"Mommy, can you fix it?"

Warning

Don't wear flip flops while driving!

House Arrest

2010-06-22T10:00:00.001-04:00

We are on house arrest. So we are doing alot of this.....

and this.....

some of this.....

and a lot of this.... (no, it isn't his birthday, but he loves this shirt!)

but, none of this.... :(

test

2010-06-21T19:11:00.001-04:00

Testing....
:)

Butts

2010-06-21T11:50:00.000-04:00

LOVE 'em!

I wish I could....

2010-06-20T21:55:00.000-04:00

bottle up these moments

so in five, ten, fifteen,

or twenty years....

I could go back and be here.

One week....

2010-06-19T10:00:00.009-04:00

One week....

....until we fly to Dallas.....

....to fix this beautiful little head....

....and then we can finally....

breath.

9 Months Old!!!

2010-06-18T20:48:00.000-04:00

Boys, you are 9 months old. I can not believe it. I blinked and now you are crawling all over the place and eating finger foods. How did this happen? I was just laying in bed, as big as a whale, with a belly that was not at all normal looking, complaining about my back hurts, and anxiously waiting to meet you two. Now you are 9 months old and my back still hurts from carrying you two around, but now I am complaining because you are growing to fast!

I know I am biased, but I think you two and your big brother are just about the cutest kids I have ever seen. You all have the most beautiful blue eyes (that you did not get after your father or I). You two are bald just like your big brother was, and I love it!! I love bald babies!

You two are growing like weeds, and just hit the 17lb mark. You have gained 4 pounds each since March 9th! Yay!! You have 3 bottles a day, breakfast and dinner, and nurse in between. You are consistently sleeping through the night and we normally don't see you from 730pm until 6am, and that is fine with me! When you wake up in the mornings your dad and I always bring you to our bed, just like we do Aidan until 7 or 730, so we can get a few more minutes of sleep. Well that has recently ended, because you will not have it! You two are stubborn and want to play! So our day starts everyday at 6am. There is one benefit to getting up that early, I now have time to shower in the mornings before you dad leaves for work. I now don't have to wait until Sundays to bath myself! (I kid, I kid...well, kind of.)

Landon, you are a crazy one. I think you are going to be my trouble maker. You are quick and loud! You and Aidan love to make noises back and forth and each other and we love to hear you copy his sounds! You started crawling first and can now put yourself into the sitting position.You are very stubborn and will try to get into everything! You usually get stuck and throw a fit until I come and help you. You love food and picked right up on finger foods! You have to be the sweetest little baby, and it breaks my heart what you are going through. You are so strong and one day, you will have a really cool story to tell your friends, and an awesome scar to go with that story. I love you so very much sweet Lan.

Grayson, bear. You follow Landon's lead most of the time. He shows you the way as the big brother (by only a minute, but I am sure that he will remind you for years to come). You are so laid back and happy. We do not hear you cry very often, so when you do we know you need us. Your little crawl is so funny, I need to video it. You not only do the army crawl with your little legs, but your arms as well. It looks like you use your elbows to move around, like you are in sand. Silly boy. You are sometimes picky with new foods, but that is ok because you are showing your personality. Your big brother love you so much and are very affectionate with you. Landon loves to suck on your head and you often have the marks to show it. I love you so much Gray!

Boys, we finally got on a schedule!! Yay! Since you have gained weight, and we no longer have to feed on demand, I started what I think, works great for our whole family!

6am wake up and play
730-8am Breakfast
9-930 Bottle 1
10 Nap
11-1130 Wake up and play
1230 Bottle 2
2 Nap
3-330 Wake up and play
4 Nurse
5 Dinner
630 Bottle
7-730 Bed

Yay!!! I love it! As much as I tried with Aidan, we never got on a good schedule, so this is LIFE changing for us!

I need to update!

2010-06-18T09:29:00.000-04:00

This month has been CRAZY. I have so much to update, so I don't forget what happened in June of 2010. I hope to get some time this week to get all caught up before we leave for Dallas.

We want to thank everyone for the prayers, texts, emails, cards, etc. It means so much that there are so many people out there thinking about Landon!

Aidan James

2010-06-10T08:55:00.001-04:00

My little man.

You are turning into such a little boy.

You are still just my biggest baby.

But, somehow you turned into this, overnight.

"I'm free" (Translation- "I'm three").

Blah

2010-06-02T16:27:00.000-04:00

I have ~~writer's~~ blogger's block. Just in a blah mood, with no motivation to blog. I have a lot to blog about, but just not in the mood.

So, I hope that everyone had a great holiday weekend. I will be back soon!

Good Morning....

2010-05-30T20:20:00.000-04:00

8 Months Old....oops

2010-05-26T16:33:00.002-04:00

Well, the twins are turning 9 months tomorrow. I do not know where the past month has gone. I have not even gotten around to posting their 8 month pictures, so I thought I should do that now, before they are 9 month old!

It is getting interesting trying to take pictures of them together.

Since they started crawling, they do not want to sit in one place for very long.

They both started moving around at 8 months. Landon started scooting first, and about a week later Gray followed.

They are a mess.

We love them dearly and can not imagine our lives without BOTH of them!

Boys, this past month you have started crawling....I mean scooting. If seems that you are following your big brother's lead and are a fan of the "Army Crawl". It is so funny to watch you move around.

You are FINALLY sleeping through the night, and gained 2 pounds each from March-the end of April and finally hit the 15 lb mark! Whoo hoo!

You have really started to interact too! You will play tug-of-war with toys, and also like to grab each others ears, noses, and other body parts that are within reach.

You are keeping us BUSY!

Sick

2010-05-22T08:18:00.000-04:00

Sick Grayson

Sick Landon

Big Brother Aidan

I made a trip to the doctors with my threesome today.

Both Landon and Grayson have severe infections and

Gray is at the beginning phase of a respitory infection.

So, we are stuck at home trying to get better....

and trying to sleep.

Aidan was great for me at the doctors thanks

to his friend Thomas the Train.

And they did have a room big enough for my circus on wheels!

Brothers

2010-05-15T22:23:00.000-04:00

The twins love their big brother!

They love to laugh at him,

be held by him

pull his hair,

copy him,

play with his toys.....

and show off their new funny faces to him.

Puffs

2010-05-13T14:26:00.000-04:00

I bought the twins some puffs today for the first time.

I thought it would be fun to see if they had any interest in them.......

Apparently they did.

Wordless Wednesday

2010-05-12T16:36:00.001-04:00

Dallas Trip

2010-05-11T17:38:00.004-04:00

We had a wonderful trip to Dallas! We flew out on Thursday night and got home late last night. Our main reason we went was to meet Landon's doctors before his surgery next month. We were also able to spend some great quality time with our great friends who moved back to Dallas last year. The weekend was perfect and a great distraction from the reason we were there!!! (Isn't it great how many times I used the word great in this paprgraph?! :))

I thinkI saw people praying when they saw all 5 of us at the airport. I am sure this is the last group of people anyone would want to share a plane with! Not to mention we had 4 carry on bags, and two backpacks that aren't not pictured, in addition to our stroller, two car seats, and walking three year old!

Aidan was so excited to watch all the planes! I saw a new face of his, when we took off. He was so full of amazement. It was so fun watching him look out the window and then back at me with a grin ear to ear.

When we checked in they had moved James to the front of the plane with Grayson, and I sat in a row with these two and a stranger. Not ideal! Neither James or I could use each other for help. But, for the most part the twins did pretty good once they were asleep!

Giving Landon his lovie, such a good big bro!

Good-bye Grammy! Ha, ha.

Poor kid was exhausted when we got into town. He passed out in the car on the way to the Yates'.

The twins slept so well in Mallory's crib.

The next morning we got up and made a quick grocery run for the Great Wolf Lodge! Then we checked in and enjoyed the water park until our room was ready. Awesome, awesome place! We hope to made it a tradition! I took tons of pictures on a water camera and can't wait to get those pictures back!

Beautiful Mallory and her beautiful mommy!

After we played all day, we went back to the room, got cleaned up and went to dinner. The food was amazing!

Then it was time to head to the clocktower for story time in PJ's. The boys had a great time and listened to the whole show and story! Aren't they cute?

Aidan showing Peyton some love.

Mr. Wolf? (I think that was his name)

Bedtime story.

The next morning we woke up and headed back to the water park. Around lunch time we packed up and headed out.

The babies did this pretty much the whole weekend!

Grayson

Landon

Mallory

And the big boys did a lot of this...

Landon practiced his standing,

and jumping.

Grayson flirted with Mal and played in the saucer.

The big boys played with the water slide (including Marshall).

That was then....(June 28, 2009)

And this is now...(May 8, 2010)

Then

Now

(Missing Landon who was napping.)

Bath

and some Barney, before bed.

Marshall, James, Aidan and Peyton all went to Dick's and to eat Mexican on mother's day. Meredith and I stayed home with the three lil' ones.

When they got back, Meredith and I left all the kids with the dads and went to eat lunch. We enjoyed some great sushi, conversation, and cocktails!! Then we went shopping! I think it was pretty much the best mother's day so far!!!

And this is also what I got for Mother's Day! My sweet little babies went to sleep with me rocking them...together! They are getting so big that this just doesn't happen anymore. It was such a special moment, and I am so glad James snuck in and caught it with the camera!

Yesterday we met with two of Landon's doctors and they were both amazing. It was a crazy day, and I am so thankful to Meredith and her personal Mary Poppins for watching Aidan and Grayson. The last appointment ran a little later, so we rushed to the airport. It was a long day, but overall it went pretty well.

We flew home last night and the flight went so much better then they way there! We had the first two rows of coach all to ourselves! We were also able to bring on both car seats, so both babies slept pretty much the whole flight! Aidan watch Thomas and Barney 47 times and I read TWO magazines and had a ~~glass~~ plastic cup of wine.

(I plan to update Landon's blog later this evening with our update after meeting with both surgeons!)

Leaving on a Jet Plane

2010-05-06T15:40:00.000-04:00

It is weird to have two blogs. Sometimes I want to post the same thing on both blogs, because it is relevant to both.

Landon's blog is to document his journey. It is for us to look back one day, and remember how hard these days were and how we made it through. It is for other families going through the same thing in the future. I found so much comfort from other blogs about children who were "on the other side" as they call it. I hope that I can bring some peace to families who's journey won't begin for years down the road.

Our family blog is a journal, my baby book for our boys. I can't wait to make it into a book! (Did you know you can do that now?? So exciting!!!). I want to be sure I record all of our crazy adventures so one day, we can look back and laugh.

"Remember that time that we all flew to Dallas. We had 3 seats for our family of 5, and carried on all of our luggage to avoid the checked baggage fee. What were we thinking?"

It is a true story.

Just so I can tell myself "I told you so", later.

So, I have posted this on both blogs.
James, Aidan, and I all have our own seats. The babies will sit with James and I as "lap babies". I was hoping the flight would not be booked and maybe we could bring a car seat on. No such luck. I checked last night and the flight is totally booked!

I am just going to bring my sense of humor with me. I can only image how the evening will go! (Do they still serve wine on flights?)

Aidan is so excited!! He has been talking about going on the airplane all week!! I have his backpack stuffed full of some new toys, snacks, crayons, stickers, and a DVD player. Hopefully he will be entertained on the 3 hour flight!

We are staying with our friends and can't wait for our reunion! We have a fun weekend planned with all the kids, and it brings tons of joy to what otherwise would be a very stressful trip!

Monday we meet with two of Landon's surgeons, Dr Fearon and Dr Sacco. I am very anxious and nervous, but ready to start preparing for Landon's surgery next month.

Have a great weekend and HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!

Wordless Wednesday

2010-05-05T20:23:00.000-04:00

How do I make baby food?

2010-05-04T16:39:00.003-04:00

Well after about 2.5 hours of quite time with a nice computer guy....I think we are back in business. It is a little strange to sit at your kitchen table with a complete stranger while he works on your computer and come up with conversation topics. Aidan was at school, so we didn't even have that distraction. BUT, it was much more convenient than taking my herd into Best Buy, and be charged a ridiculous fee while being without a computer for 3 weeks. This guy only charged me for one hour, and he was here well over that! So, if you are in Raleigh, I promised I would pass his name on. Send me an email if you need computer work (and tell him I sent you, ha ha! ;).

Thank you for the sweet responses on my last post! I was excited that other mom's want my advice on making baby food! I will try to make this as painless as possible for you!!

First, here is a list of things that you need when you get started:

Whatever produce you would like to make into baby food

A blender, food processor, or chopper (for older babies)

Zip lock (or store brand) freezer bags (I use gallon size)

Something to freeze your puree in. I have these and LOVE them:

I have heard that other's use ice cub trays, but I have not tried that. Let us know how it works if you do!

And last, but certainly not least:

Some vino.

I am going to use sweet potatoes, because it is the first thing I made. They are a great first food for your baby packed with tons of Vitamin A, beta carotene, fiber, as well as potassium. If your babies are anything like mine, we have digestive issues (also know as constipation), and sweet pots are great for the digestive track!

Start by washing, poking holes, and wrapping your pots in foil.

Place in preheated oven (400 degrees) and bake for 30-60 mins.

*Bake time depends on how many you are baking at once, and how large they are.

{Pour yourself a glass of wine}

When they are done, they should be nice and soft. Cut a slit long ways on one side of the potato, and gently pull off the skin.

Put all the guts into your blender, and throw away the skin. Depending on how soft they are, you can start by blending them without added any liquid. If your child is on stage 2, then you might not have to add any liquid at all.

Since my boys are still learning, we add some *milk to thin the puree.

*You may choose to add formula, water, or breast milk until you reach the consistency you like.

{Refill your glass of wine}

After you are satisfied with your puree, you need to pour, or spoon the pots into your freezer tray.

I have found that it is better to not overflow the cubs, as it makes it harder to remove them once frozen. I like to leave a little room at the top, so they are easy to pop out!

Then, just stick them in your freezer!!

(Side note- if you plan to leave your cubes in your freezer tray, you will need to cover them or just stick them into a larger freezer bag. If you are only freezing them until they are solid, no need to cover them!)

Make sure they are FROZEN! If they are still soft at all, they will make a mess when you try to get them out! I usually make my food at night, and by morning they are nice and solid.

With my tray, I find that it is much easier to pop the cubes out if I let them sit on the counter for about 5 minutes. Then I flip the tray over and push on easy cube until it pops out! I love my tray because it is made of rubber, so it is really easy to get each cube out.

Label your freezer bag, and stick it back into the freezer!

(Yes, I totally can't spell. Thank god for spell check!)

When you are ready, pull out the cubes you need. You can get them out the day before, and let them thaw in your fridge. I can't think that far ahead of time, so I just stick them in a glass bowl and micro them for 60 seconds and stir halfway.

I also wanted to give you a little hint on making peas. I usually get a big 'ol bag of fresh, frozen peas at walmart for $1. I boil them per the instructions on the bag, and puree them the same way. One thing I have noticed is once I warm them up for my boys, they need a little liquid. If your baby is eating thicker food, you may not have to, but I am just not a fan on the consistency if I don't.

Before

After:

Dinner is served!

Do you have any tips? So far we have made mango's, peas, sweet pots, pears, peaches, carrots, and mashed bananas and avocados! I have only tried peaches once, and I made a MESS! Everything else was pretty much the same. Warning: mango's get very watery when they are frozen. I have to add rice cereal to ours. I will let you know the next food I try!

This site has tons of great information about making homemade baby food!

http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/

Tomorrow, Tomorrow, There's Always Tomorrow...

2010-05-03T15:05:00.000-04:00

Tomorrow a very nice computer man, is coming to take away some of my frusteration by (hopfully) fixing our computer! See you then!!

Homemade Baby Food

2010-04-29T21:46:00.003-04:00

When the twins were born, something took over my body. Instead of taking short-cuts, or making life easier on myself, I have loaded my plate, so to speak! And that's how I like it!! It is kind of like when you are at a buffet, and you keep piling things on top of your plate until you look down and see that appears you are eating your last meal. (Not like I do that or anything....well, maybe.....ok, only on cruises!) Ha, ha!

I started making the twins' food a couple weeks before we introduced rice cereal. I never made Aidan's food, until he was eating off our plates and eventually "big people" food. My reasons for making the twinks food isn't because I am against store bought baby food! I think the convenience is wonderful!! However at .97 cents for two plastic containers of Gerber baby food (on sale), I needed to find a way to reduce that grocery bill!

I have done a little (very rough) math. This is what I came up with....
Let's just say each baby eats 2 containers of food in a meal (one fruit and one veggie- I am taking the rice cereal out of the picture). If you get those on sale at two for .97 cents, that is .97 cents per meal, per baby. Once they are eating breakfast, lunch, and dinner, that is $2.91 a day per baby, and a total of $5.82 a day for a twin mom! This equals $174.60 a month (plus tax)! $2124.30 a year! Ouch!

I bought $3.50 worth of sweet potatoes and they lasted my boys for months!!!

So how much am I saving?

A standard jar of baby food is 2.5 ounces. So you get 5 ounces for .97 cents (on sale-remember), that equals .19 cents per ounce!

Let's compare sweet potatoes. I bought just over 5 pounds of sweet potatoes at our local farmers market for $3.50 (69 cents a lb). Those sweet pots made 66 ounces of baby food! That is about .05 cents an ounce!!

Peas....I got a large bag of frozen (fresh) peas at Wal-Mart for under $1. It made 35 ounces of food for the boys. That is under .03 cents an ounce!!

Pears, mangos, peaches, bananas, carrots, etc. You could do the math on them all!!!

Let's pretend my boys lived off of sweet pots and peas (yuck by the way, not a pea fan!). If they consumed 15 ounces of baby food a day (5 oz at each meal) that would cost me a total of only $1.20 a day to feed both boys! That is $36 dollars a month compared to $174! $438 a year!

$138 savings in one month!!!
$1,686.30 savings a year!!!!

Now, this is just for math, I know that the boys will not be living off 15 ounces of baby food a day, forever. Right now they are actually only eating breakfast and dinner- we have not fit lunch into our schedule yet. But, you can't deny the savings!!!

Watch for my first "How do I?" post coming soon! I want to share how I make, freeze, store, and enjoy making food for my boys!

Night, night!

Crashing....

2010-04-29T20:43:00.000-04:00

This is what our computer is doing. It has to be one of the most frustrating this to do deal, and really shows our dependence on technology. I have been wanting to update, but always feel the need to include pictures with my posts. Not today. Sorry! ;) But you can go check out my sweet boy Landon over at his blog, for a recent picture!

I feel like we have a lot going against us right now. The fight with our computer issues is just the icing on the cake, so to speak. But, having a break from Google probably won't be bad for me!

Once we are up and running again, I have tons of new pictures of the boys to share!! The twins are already 8 months old, 2/3rds the way through the first year!!! They are gaining weight, sleeping better, and changing every single day!

We fly to Dallas one week from today to meet the doctors who will be performing surgery on Landon in only 2 shorts months (from today actually). I am tempted to video our journey by plane next week, just for shock value. James and I will be out-numbered! It should be interesting!!

Down time

2010-04-12T22:23:00.001-04:00

The kids are in bed.

This makes for a happy mommy. Don't get me wrong, I love, love, love my children. I love them so much that I know I need some down time at the end of the day, time to recharge my batteries, if you will. Usually some quite time to unwind, catch up on the day's chores, read emails, time to reflect.....

....with a glass of wine. Just keeping it real.

Tonight it is Riesling. Yum.

James is watching Watchmen. Not my cup-of-tea. So, I am catching up on some blogs, and enjoying this adult time to do.....whatever I please.

The floors can wait, the laundry can wait, the toys can wait, the bottles won't wait-thanks to my hubby.

TGIF

2010-04-09T18:41:00.001-04:00

I have a few posts I need to fisish to get caught up, but I wanted to take 30 seconds to say

THANK GOD IT'S FRIDAY!

It has been a long week. We have a surgery date for Landon, flights booked for our May trip and are about to book flights for the surgery. Mom had surgery yesterday on her knee. Aidan had his three year old Dr visit, complete with 2 shots. And.....James is out of town (at least for another hour).

I don't think I have ever been so excited for him to get home. I have a bottle of wine chilled (thanks Amanda!). I have not showered in two days. I have changed 97 diapers in the last 24 hours, 96 of them dirty, and 2 blow outs.

I did not sleep well last night, because I did not have my husband in bed next to me, but instead my wonderful sister who talked in her sleep. Aidan also joined us at 445am with a bad dream, followed by Gray at 5am, and Landon at 6. (I must add Haley is an awesome aunt and sister who came to my rescue while James was gone and was a huge help with the boys). Yes, you talk in your sleep.

All. Night. Long.

TGIF

Happy Easter!

2010-04-06T22:06:00.000-04:00

We spent Easter weekend in Savannah with James' family. Their neighborhood always has a great egg hunt for the kids and a little petting zoo, perfect for Aidan's age. The weather was perfect! We joked because it seems that everytime we have gone down south in the past year, it has rained. Not this weekend, so we were able to spend hours a day outside, James was able to golf, Aidan was able to go on countless golf cart rides and play at the park several times with his cousins (I could do without all the sand gnats that Savannah is famous for).

Our attempt at a family picture.

Trying to get one of Nanni and Papa with (some) of their grandkids. This is very typical....

Take 2

This Aidan decided to sing the "Itsy Bitsy Spider" instead. And that's a wrap folks!

Aidan was not impressed.

Teething

2010-04-01T22:17:00.000-04:00

We are teething.

Or, should I say, they are teeth.

No, I think we sounds about right. After all, we are all feeling the pain. Literally.

These boys are rotating motrin and tylenol, and chewing on ANYTHING they can get into their little mouths. This includes hands, arms, toys, fingers, toes, and even.......

heads.

Poor Grayson.

I think he just smacked Landon. Not sure, I was adjusting my camera.

Ok, nevermind. It looks like he just wanted to help Landon out and offer his fingers. (And possibly pick a booger at the same time).

Silly boys.

Easter Egg Hunt

2010-04-01T21:44:00.000-04:00

We got together with about 15 of our favorite 2-3 year old friends, their mommies, and some of their little siblings for our Annual Easter Egg Hunt at Cheryl's. As always, we had a great time and the kids were able to hunt eggs and enjoy a beautiful day outside. Thank god my sister was off school and was able to go with me and give me an extra hand. Things that used to be so effortless, now require back up-like unloading the car of 3 kids, diaper bag, dish to return to a friend who brought us a meal, Easter baskets, Aidan's drink, crackers and chesse for the lunch spread, and of course-my camera. It cracks me up how tired she gets after a few hours at my house!! Ha, ha!

Landon slept almost the whole time so we sadly did not get any pictures of the 4 of us. You NEVER wake a sleeping ~~baby~~ twin. ;)

"Mom, I want this." He has no clue what "this" is.

Happy Birthday Dad!

2010-03-31T21:15:00.000-04:00

Happy Birthday Dad! I love you so much. We are all so lucky to have you in our lives.

His birthday present to himself!

A taste of Spring

2010-03-29T22:19:00.000-04:00

We had a taste of spring this past weekend. The weather was beautiful! We broke out the twins double stroller and went on a family walk. The boys really liked facing out for the first time and were able to enjoy the scenary.

Aidan and daddy checked out the creek that flows behind our house for fish.

He also loved pushing his brothers and would move my hand ever time I tried to help him push. He is becoming quite the Mr. Independent!

My life.

Playing some ball with daddy.

I think he is the cutest 3 year old I know!

Landon

2010-03-15T21:08:00.000-04:00

I have had so many nice calls, texts, and emails asking about Landon. Since it is hard to call everyone, and keep all of our friends and family updated, I have started a blog for Landon. I will try to keep it updated as we learn more and get closer to surgery. Thank you so much for your prayers for our little baby boy.

Landon's Blog (click here)

Aidan's Birthday Party

2010-03-15T10:29:00.000-04:00

We had to reschduled Aidan's birthday party because everyone (except the twins-thank god!) got sick. James, Aidan and I had the noravirus. It was miserable. I hope we never have to deal with that again.

But....the party must go on.

Aidan invited 5 of his little friends over to help him celebrate turning 3. The kids were so great and had a blast together.

Aidan's first trip to the dentist!

2010-03-06T21:50:00.000-05:00

Aidan had his first trip to the dentist on his birthday. (We tried to go before, but it didn't go so well....)

He did so good and I am so proud of him!

Next time I need to remember not to schedule his appointment on his actual birthday.

And especially not after he eats a big, fat, blue cupcake!