Last week at home...

It is official...I go back to work full time next Wednesday, March 2nd. I honestly have mixed feelings about this. Part of me feels like I will just be missing so much with my boys. They are changing so quickly these days and I hate to miss anything. Plus, the happiest time of day for them is right after their 10:30am feeding. They play so well and have even started smiling and laughing now. So, I will definitely miss that. The other part of me is SO ready to get back to work! I love what I do for a living and I am ready to start working with customers again and making their dreams of home ownership a reality. Plus, sometimes time away from the boys is hard to come by. On days when they both cry for 30 minutes straight several times, it is a relief to get a little "me" time. So, that will be a plus to going back to work.

So, I will just have to take things day by day and enjoy the moments that I have with the boys. Maybe going back to work will help me to appreciate that even more... :)

Baby update: They go into the doctor for their 2 month check up on March 1st. So, I will have some updates for you next week! We have started something new this week with them. Up until now we have rocked them to sleep at their bed time. I have been reading more about that and the articles I read encourage parents to let their kids learn to fall asleep on their own. Otherwise, we could be rocking a 3 year old to sleep every night... So, we started to put the kids in their crib before they are actually asleep. Cooper cried for about 2 minutes total and Emory had a little tougher time. I read that it is important to soothe them right away once they start crying, but don't pick them up. So, we rubbed their back and talked softly to them and shortly after they quieted down! It was awesome! We spent some time working on this with them after the 7:30 feeding and they did much better after the 10:30 feeding. So, it looks like it is working so far! Yeah! Good sleeping habits are always appreciated!

Mommy update: I am so excited to have a girls day on Saturday! One of the things that I asked for from Santa was a spa day and I got gift certificates galore! So, I am using my first one this Saturday and my mom is going to join me! So, we are getting massages and facials. Then, we are grabbing lunch and getting pedicures! Chris is going to watch the boys for the first time, but I am sure he will do fine. He is so good with them and honestly, he has to learn some time. :)

Date Night!!

I am so excited to post that Chris and I actually got our first date night in about 4 months this past week! We decided to go out to dinner at the Melting Pot to celebrate Valentine's Day. We actually hired a baby sitter (THANK YOU SO MUCH KIM!!) and left home for 3 hours! I know that seems like only a short period of time, but you would be surprised at how refreshing 3 hours can be when it is not filled with feeding, changing diapers and crying. Please don't misunderstand me...I ADORE my two precious gifts from God, but everyone needs a little adult time. It was awesome for us to get a chance to reconnect and build on our marriage.

Baby update: Our boys are now 7 weeks old! It is amazing to me how fast they are growing and changing! They are starting to grow out of all of their newborn clothes. So, we are having to switch over to the 0-3 month outfits now. Some of them are still too big, but they are starting to fill out a lot of them already. The biggest problem that we have is length. Who would have guessed that our boys would be too long for an outfit before they would be too round for it?? LOL.

Another update: Cooper gave us his first smile this week and he has found his voice! I love it! It is so precious when he gives us that big smile and starts talking to us. He was in our baby swing yesterday while I was feeding Emory and he was talking to the animal that was on the swing. It was adorable! I got a little of it on video, but I haven't figured out how to post that stuff yet. So, maybe next week...

Mommy update: This Valentine's Day has proven to be a new chapter in my life. The days of date nights filled with champagne, good food and movies are now on hold for a little bit. I am limited to my one glass of wine a night. So, I have to choose wisely... And, we rarely have enough time to watch a movie. But, my nights are filled with love in a different way. It fills my heart to see my little boys and get to snuggle with them before they go to bed. And, it fills my heart to see how wonderful Chris is as a father. And, that is not all. He has always been a wonderful husband, but now it just seems to be getting better and better. He is my supporter, my rock, and I am so blessed to have him! (Sorry for the sappiness, but I thought I could get away with it since it is Valentine's Day.) :)

Family picture day!!

We decided to venture out and try taking some pictures of the boys while they are still so little this past weekend. No one told us that it makes no difference if you make an appointment some of these places. I made an appointment for noon on Saturday thinking that would be perfect time between feedings. So, we get there about 5 minutes early and there are about 20 people in front of us... So, I have no idea why we made an appointment! We didn't get in there until almost 1:00pm and then the boys were woken up and hungry. So, we had to postpone pictures once and feed them. We restarted about 1:45pm and really got some great pictures then. However, this put us home at about 4:30. So, it was a LONG day for the boys.

Here are some of the pictures we got though...

Look at the smile on Emory! I just love this shot!

This one cracks me up. Emory is reaching for his brother and still smiling. How sweet!

My sweet boys...

How can you resist this smile?

Sweet Cooper

I love this shot because Chris does this all the time at home. I just adore how they stare at each other!

Peace out yo!

I'm so excited that we got such great pictures! I think the day really had it's toll on the boys though. Sunday was a nightmare with them. They started crying and just wouldn't stop. We were up most of Saturday night with them and all day Sunday. Cooper seemed to be so much worse than Emory and that was so unlike him. He has always been our more laid back child. So, this was very surprising to us. He started to have some stomach issues. So, we just assumed it would go away in a couple of days, but it didn't. We ended up going to the doctor yesterday and she gave us some reflux medicine for both boys and some medicine for Cooper's tummy. Luckily by this morning it all ended up working through Cooper's system and he seems to be getting so much better. The best part is that he is so much happier! I was actually able to get a couple of things done around the house today! Yeah! It was so hard to watch him suffer. I'm just glad it is getting better and he seems happier now.

My big boys...

This past week has been so eventful! I have been at home by myself with the boys for an entire week now. It has been really not too bad. The boys are pretty quiet most of the day. So, we have been having a lot of fun. For some reason they both have a melt down at about 5:00pm every day. But, since Chris is almost home by then, I don't have to endure it too long by myself.

We also did our first full bath this week. We have been previously just giving sponge baths since you have to wait for the umbilical cord to fall off for that. I was really impressed by both boys. They both really did well. There wasn't too much screaming. In fact, I don't think Cooper cried at all. He loved being in the water! Emory fussed a little bit, but as soon as he realized he could stay warm in the water, he quieted down. All in all, I think we really lucked out on that one! Who knows, maybe we have some swimmers on our hands. We have a lot of swimmers in the family so I know that they would be proud of that!

We did find a day care for the boys this week too. It is only until May when we have a very special nanny that will be taking care of the boys. But, we are very excited to find such a great facility so close to home that is affordable! And, it is a christian facility. So, they pray with the boys every morning and afternoon. They pray for all of the parents and children. I just think that is awesome! And, they give such a great twin discount that there are several families with twins there and one that has triplets. So, this will be a great resource for us!

I also got to go on my first outing with the boys by myself! I haven't driven my car in so long though that the battery was dead. But, I hooked up the battery charger and a couple hours later was back in the road! I am so excited to have a little freedom!! I took the boys to see one of my realtor friends and then to the pediatrician's office for their weigh in...And, they did great! They didn't have a melt down when I was visiting with my friend and they both did great at the doctor. Cooper is now bigger than Emory, but not by much. He weighed in at 6 pounds and 7 ounces and Emory weighed in at 6 pounds and 6 ounces. They are growing more than an ounce a day. So, the doctors are thrilled! We could tell they were getting big. They have already started to outgrow some of their clothes and socks. It has been really fun to watch them change every day!

Quote of the week from Chris: "My shins are really sore from all of that speed walking in Target." He is going to hate that I posted this, but I just think it is hilarious. We went to Target on Sunday morning (to try and beat the crowds and get back before the boys next feeding) and Cooper decided to have a melt down. We aren't sure why, but he would not stop crying. Chris was going to take him out to the car and try and feed him a bottle, when he noticed that he stopped crying when the stroller was moving quickly. So, being the awesome dad that he is, he speed pushed the stroller around Target while I finished up the shopping. We reconnected in the check out line and made it home just in time for his next feeding. So, he was happy after that.