Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I can not even explain all that I am thankful for.... to sun it up in one word it is "family". I have such a wonderful family and I can believe how fortunate I am. Here is a big part of why I am thankful:
Jack and Bella in holiday attire (I made them :) )

Mischief....

First off sorry for not posting more but I have been sick for the past three weeks now. Two trips to the doctor later I still have this hacking cough and dizziness... boo to that! I just started some steroids so I hope to start feeling better soon!
So just one pic today so I can rest while the babies are sleeping....
This is what happens when you leave them alone with a box of wipes while you go pick out their clothes and are gone for 2 minutes...



It was hard to be mad and I wasn't actually because they were so proud of themselves and having so much fun!

National Prematurity Awareness Day

Today is National Prematurity Awareness Day.... did you know that 1 in 8 babies in this country will be born premature? ugh, that is just too many!
I have thought about this many times throughout the day and it is just amazing to me to see my little preemies and where they are today.

I did everything I could in my pregnancy to take care of these two and still they came 6 weeks early. I will never forget that night.... good and bad, I can remember it all.

Tiny Bella as she was getting "sun" for her jaundice

Jack in his "box".... ha ha, I remember the Doctor joking with me with my "Jack in the Box"... I laughed but it was sad at the same time.

But I am very,very fortunate to have two NICU graduates...

This was them last December with Jack in all his chunkiness


tee hee hee

here they are over the summer....
And this is myBella, the ballerina on Sunday night


The whole point of this post was just to remind me how wonderfully fortunate and lucky I am to have had such a success with our preemies. I am truly blessed!

Don't mess with Jack and his puffs....

Jack is such a cute boy. For the most part he is easy going and he loves to laugh. He has the best laugh and his smile lights up a room. But fair warning: DO NOT mess with Jack and his puffs! He takes them very seriously and is a piggy if they go on his plate... he will literally try to scoop up as many as possible and hoard them.


See that face?? I don't think he can possibly fit more in his mouth let alone trying to hold any more.
He just really, really, really, really loves his puffs.... almost as much as he loves his Daddy


That smile... what I wouldn't do for that boy when he smiles!

There are days when I just love being a Mom of Twins!

This morning was just great.... Jack and Bella were playing with this one toy and one would bend down and "hide" and pop up and make the other one laugh... they played peek-a-boo for awhile and times like those make up for all the other not so fun times!
This afternoon though it seemed like both the babies and I were just "blah" and we all needed something to do.... Well I decided that it would be fun that if they not only had pudding but if that ate it themselves. So I whipped up some vanilla pudding and got them mostly naked....


Yeah... I think they had fun

Seriously.... how can you not smile when you see these faces???

Bella enjoyed herself:

Jack, on the other hand LOVED this and when he could not get any more up with his hands the smart boy bent over and sucked on the tray....

Bella wanted to make sure that she got every last drop before I gave her a bath:


So all in all it was a success! It totally changed my mood around, I was able to sweep the floor, the babies got a bath, and the high chairs got a good cleaning... winners all around!

(oh... how could I forget this JACK IS WALKING!!!!! So I now how two walkers on my hands! He is just so proud of himself... he will walk to you and he has this crazy smile on his face... it makes me so proud!)
Here is a picture of Jack walking while he is modeling his new slippers:
dang, he is skinny... he kinda looks like he is going to get me like Godzilla or something....

Jack giving us a pouty look



Bella modeling her slippers:


Now here is where she looks like Momma... curled up in her chair enjoying a cup of coffee.... (ha, ha, ha, ha, ha... okay I will keep laughing, I don't actually get to sit and enjoy a cup of coffee but it is a good thought right??)


hmmmmm..... not much else is going on with the babies. I will ask for any extra thoughts and prayers though... my Grandmother, who this blog is for, is in the hospital with extreme pain in her stomach again and we are still not sure what is going on. So if you can spare a prayer for Grandmom Newman I would greatly appreciate it!

Hot Air Ballooning!

Okay so I know that this is a blog about the babies (errr... toddlers?) but Jason and I went on a Hot Air Balloon Ride yesterday and I just had to share.... it was amazing.

Did you know that the top of a Hot Air Balloon is held together with velcro??? Yeah that was a little unsettling. The crew said that the straps are what hold all the pressure the velcro is just there to help them in the end when they are trying to get the air out and pack it up. Whatever the reason I still found it interesting


This was our balloon as it was being set up. It is a 10 person balloon and there were a total of 8 people. It was quite roomy.


In the other picture you can see how that basket is on it's side, well that is the way that you get it. We were told that it is much easier because once the balloon is up it is much more jumpy.



After a little bit of a bouncy start we were finally up in the air!

It really is quite amazing how calm and peaceful a balloon is. It was such a smooth ride and so not scary. I really though I would end up peeing my pants but it was just calming.





We were through Lancaster and we were over many Amish farms... we went over one and they were all playing volleyball....

It was neat to see all the people come out to wave to us


I really liked this pic... you see our balloon and an Amish buggy


The ride was suppose to be about an hour long and the pilot was having a hard time finding a place to land that was not super muddy so we were up for about an hour and a half. We ended up landing in the middle of an Amish farm. He had wanted to go over some but with the power lines he landed it where he did. The ground crew was missing (it turns out that they got stuck in a muddy driveway and could not get out... so we sat). We became quite the spectacle. We had 15-20 Amish people come up and chat with us. Since we were not able to move the balloon all the guys in the balloon got out and along with the help of the Amish, they pulled us (as the pilot floated us) to the driveway


Jason was able to take a picture of our balloon just before it was let down




There was an amazing sunset



So two and a half hours after we were suppose to be back we finally were. It was such an amazing experience. I never thought that it would end with us hanging out with the Amish.