Summer winding down

It's been forever since we've blogged, which feels a little strange after I used to do it everyday in my 29thyearinpictures. I felt a whole lot older this year, turning 31.

I'm sad to say we've probably lost a bunch of pictures from about April to August after a computer crash. I'm afraid to even put photos on our computer right now, but Jamin tells me there is space. There were some fun pictures I had from my sister and family visiting in June, my cousin Megan's wedding, and my friend Anne's engagement ceremony that I'm very sad to loose. We have a friend looking at our old hard drive to see if he can recover any of that, but I'm not holding my breath over it.

The kids have had so much growth-- it's exciting to see so much change every day. Xander and Wesley seem to be following a similar path of mobility that Zaria had, which means they only do an army crawl, but they also do it quite fast. Zaria's moving along with potty training. Some days are really good (like today), and some days are really bad (like yesterday). She is an amazing talker for a 2-year-old. After her preaching session I put on here about Jesus pooping, she now knows a couple of actual Bible verses that I've taught her in song. She learns a lot better with songs, just like me. She knows John 14:6 and "Jesus wept," and almost knows Galatians 5:22-23 (the fruit of the Spirit). It's fun for me to go over some of the old verses I learned back in elementary church choir, doing musicals like "J.T. and the Halo Express."

Little preacher

I was putsing in the kitchen yesterday and heard the boys laughing uproariously (in their baby way), so I went into the hallway to see how Zaria was entertaining them. She had a mini New Testament out and was preaching to the boys:




If you didn't catch what she was saying, it's "Jesus pooped." Xander and Wesley didn't really understand what she was saying, but our little potty trainer has learned that Jesus was fully human when he was born. I've mentioned that Jesus was born as a baby, just like her brothers, which means that he had to have his diaper changed just like any other baby. She's made her own conclusions. It's a nice reminder that God really did have to be subject to all of what makes us humans when he became a man.

Still, I'm trying to teach her an actual verse from the Bible so she doesn't have to make them up the next time she's preaching to her brothers.

January pics

Zaria has been a great entertainer for the boys. She often participates when they're doing "tummy time" and demonstrates how to roll for them. We've been checking out the "easy reader" books for her lately, which she loves. She also loves to "read" to her brothers by showing them her books and telling them something about them (not necessarily the written story). Above is Xander in the Bumbo chair in blue pants, and Wesley on the floor. A nick name I have for them is "Xander Blue" and "Wesley Bear."
The boys are surprisingly tolerant of Zaria playing with them. She can be a little rough sometimes, but she tries to be gentle. She pulled Xander out of one of the swings a while ago and we didn't realize it until we spotted him nearby on the floor. She must've been fairly gentle since we didn't hear him complain at all. Still, we have been very careful to buckle them in since then.
The boys are growing so fast, it's hard to keep up. These pictures are from a few weeks ago-- last we checked on the bathroom scale, they're both around 16.5 pounds. Xander seems to be just a few ounces under his brother's weight. We'll see if he's caught up at their 4-month appointment this week.

3 Christmases of fun

We have three wonderful sets of grandparents, and had three Christmases this past year. They're in reverse order in the photos.We celebrated with my Dad and Stepmom on the day after Christmas. This was the first year in a long time that we got to see my stepsiblings Scott and Katie for Christmas.
In back (L-R): Becca, Lauren, Linda, Tim and Kurt
Middle: Judy, Grandma Alpha, Grandma Wilma, Sara (holding Zaria) and Renee (holding Tricia)
Front: Dad, Dawn, Katie (holding Xander), Scott (holding Wesley) and Jamin

We spent Christmas Day at Mom and Dave's. Here Mom is holding Zaria and showing off her new jewelry.
Here's Xander while his Santa hat was still on!
We saw my stepbrother Brian, brother Jason and his wife Caralee at Mom's this year.
And after watching the Christmas program at Jamin's folks' church, we had his folks and his brother and family over for dessert. Pictured here are Dan, Gwendolyn, Zaria and Jamin.
And here's Jamin's mom, Marla, holding Xander by our Christmas tree.

Inside out

Rewind the clock a little.
This is me the day before the twins were born, 37 weeks 3 days.
This is less than 24 hours later, just after the boys were cleaned up and diapered. How did these guys fit inside me? No wonder it was hard to get around.
And these were my prize-winning red hot chili peppers on Halloween.

Identical? Perhaps . . .

Welcoming the twins

We added a couple of family members to our ranks last Monday the 13th, Xander James and Wesley David. They are wonderful babies, though we're still working on changing their sleep patterns to nighttime instead of daytime. (= Part of last night's troubles were my fault for letting Grandpa Lee hold Wesley and let him sleep in his arms most of last evening. Who wants to sleep in a crib after being held for hours and getting plenty of sleep already?

I'm also starting to wonder if the boys might be identical? Though they've looked a lot alike, I had thought one had bloopy earlobes while the other had fixed and that their noses were different, but as they're putting on weight, they seem to be getting more and more alike. Perhaps time will tell or we'll hear something from the hospital.

This photo is from Saturday. I've had a pretty easy time telling them apart until the last couple of days. Both of them have gained enough weight to surpass their birth weights, so they are growing very well.
Zaria is enjoying being a big sister and tries to help with baby care-- sometimes good, and sometimes bad. It's pretty hard to resist touching little newborns and she's usually pretty gentle, but then she also enjoys rocking them in their carseats quite vigorously or climbing on top of them to give them a pacifier when they're fast asleep. This continues to be a challenge, especially while I am recovering from the c-section and I can't forcibaly move her around. My stepmom, Dawn, has been here this week to help, so she's helped me try to keep Zaria in line. My Mom has also been around to help out. We've set up a Pack N Play upstairs and down to keep the twins safe as needed now. (=
Here's Grandma Dawn getting Xander ready for a diaper change.

Here are Grandpa Dave and Grandma Joy with Wesley and Xander, respectively.