We've been pretty busy over the last couple of weeks with family in town. First we had Scott's dad here for Hannah's birthday and then we had the rest of both of our families here for the babies' blessings. We miss family a lot sometimes, so it was nice to see everyone.

It's become our tradition to go to Hee Haw Farms every October, and this year was no different. We took Hannah and the girls to this little place and loved every minute of it.

Above is Hannah, Grandpa Sprague, and Brynn

Hannah has grown quite a bit since last year

This past Sunday we blessed the babies in church. Let me just tell you that there's nothing hotter to me than my husband giving our children blessings. I'm not much of a crier, but I couldn't stop the tears from coming as my husband took both of our girls in his arms and gave them both very sweet blessings.

Here's our family at the luncheon afterward.

I really wanted to crop the above picture (actually, I'd really like to crop myself out of this picture.....as I've made clear in a previous post, I'm grossed out with the 15 lbs that I still need to lose) but my husband just put Windows 7 on our computer which wiped away my program that crops pictures. Oh well. This is me, my mom, and my three sisters with the babies. This was pretty much the only picture I got of anyone at the luncheon. We had a lot of family there but I'm lame and didn't get pictures of anyone else.

Beautiful blue-eyed cousins

I tried to get a good picture of the girls in their blessing dresses, but this was probably the best one I got. Bailey was not a happy camper.

Thanks to those of you who came out for the blessings. We really appreciated it and loved seeing all of you.

HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY HANNAH DEAR.....

Today my baby turned THREE years old. I can't believe it. Time has just flown by. I swear just yesterday she was a baby, and now she's a sassy little three year old. Today she had her first birthday party with friends and I think she really loved it. I let her pick out the theme- The Little Mermaid. I was surprised considering the fact that she is in love with Barbies right now, but I think she chose The Little Mermaid because she had just watched the movie that morning. We had 7 of her friends come over and we ate pizza and played "Pin the Flower on the Ariel" and had a pinata FULL of candy. Here are some pictures of the party.

The table decorations

The cake- totally turned out lopsided and my cake decorating kit broke on me in the middle of it. Let's just say that I was really frustrated last night. Oh well, at least Hannah liked it.

The birthday girl

Getting ready to blow out the candles

The kids playing with balloons

Opening presents

All of her candy from the pinata

Her friends (minus 2 of them who were late because they got lost) eating pizza

Here are a couple of videos from her party.

P.S. That pinata was a bear to bust open. Scott actually ended up doing it because none of the kids could.

Say Cheese!!!

I love these girls!

Poor Brynn

So, who do you think looks more like Hannah?


This is what Hannah looked like at the same age that they are. I don't know. She doesn't really look like either of them to me. She had no hair. I can definitely see Bailey in her with that round face and chubby cheeks but I think that she and Brynn have similar noses.

Oh and I forgot to mention, I am 95% sure that Brynn is going to have brown eyes. They are extremely dark and I can even see dark golden flecks in them. Although I LOVE blue eyes, I am excited to have one child with my brown eyes. I'm still not sure about Bailey's. They could go either way at this point.

Frustrating

Here I am 2 months after having my twins and I'm still a good 15 pounds over my pre-pregnancy weight. I was hoping that breastfeeding twins would help me lose all the weight quickly but it looks like that isn't happening. I HATE the stage that I'm in right now because I can't fit into most of my pre-pregnancy clothes. I think I have one pair of jeans that I'm able to squeeze my hips into but my disgusting belly hangs over them. I can't fit into hardly any of my shirts either. So where does that leave me? Yeah, I'm still wearing some of my maternity stuff and I HATE IT!. The maternity pants fall off of me because they're too big. So I'm in this sick in between stage where my maternity clothes are too big but my regular clothes are too small. I don't want to go out and buy new clothes (which would then be called my "fat clothes") because I am hoping to lose all of the weight.

To speed this process up, I decided to get a gym pass. I've never had my own gym pass before (although I have been to gyms many times). Tonight I went to the gym for the first time in years and realized that I am SO out of shape. And I also realized something....I hate exercising. My legs are burning, my knees feel like they're about to crack, and I start to get a cramp in my stomach. I always feel good afterward but when I'm actually doing it, I just can't wait to stop. Back in high school I ran track my Sophomore year. I remember it being really hard at first but then I grew to love running as the semester went on. I certainly hope that's the case here too.

I took a picture the other day and thought about posting it as my "before" picture, but I was just too disgusted with it. Hopefully I will lose all of my weight and then I can post a before and after picture (although I'm sure I'll post a picture of myself on here when the babies get blessed in two weeks). Anyway, I'm excited to start exercising again. And sorry for using the word "hate" so much but I'm frustrated.

P.S. I'll post some more pictures soon of the babies. They are so stinkin' cute!

Food Storage

Scott and I have been married a little over 5 years now and it's always been in the back of my mind to get some food storage. We hear this counsel given over and over in church (if you're LDS), and I just kept making excuses as to why I didn't want to get food storage. Our apartment was too small, we didn't have enough money, etc, etc. Well, my excuses have finally run out and now this big burden can be lifted off of my chest because we finally have some food storage!!! This food would probably only last our family about a month if we're lucky, but if some natural disaster comes, we'll be prepared!! I'm going to continue to add more every time I go food shopping.....a can here, a bottle of water there.....so hopefully we'll eventually have 3 months of supply. I'm just so darn proud of myself for finally doing this, so I had to blog. We're sitting on a huge fault line here in Provo, so bring it on earthquakes!! I'm prepared!!

Baby Boot Camp Begins

Yet another post about the progress of my babies. No pictures this time, but you can enjoy the cute picture I took of the girls at the top of the blog. I'm sorry if this is boring to those reading it but I guess you don't have to read if it is. I really like writing these updates because it's fun to read back. I read back all the time on what was going on with Hannah after she was born, so I'm sure one day I'll read back on these updates as well. This week we started "Baby Boot Camp" with the girls. I have a book that is supposed to help your child sleep 12 hours through the night by 12 weeks old. You're aloud to start the process once your babies are 8 weeks old, which happened to be this week for us. I'm not doing the whole program because it's just too much scheduling, but I am doing part of it. The past 4 days have pretty much been heaven because I've been doing these things. What are they, you ask? Letting the babies cry. Yup.

On Sunday night I was bouncing Bailey from 8pm to 12am to get her to sleep. I was tired and my arms hurt and I was sick of bouncing her. Every time she'd fall asleep, I'd put her down and she'd wake up again. Scott did the same with Brynn that night, but he finally got her down around 11:30pm. It was that night that I decided that we were going to let the babies cry like the book says to do. So Monday we made the babies stay awake as long as we could in the afternoon and put them down in their cribs around 7:30pm. We let them cry themselves to sleep (although every 3 minutes we go in the room to pat their tummies and whisper that we're here to them). They both slept a good 6-7 hours after falling asleep and then 2-3 hour increments after that. They've both done that every night since then, and now they usually both fall asleep after only a minute or two of crying. It's AWESOME! I only have to get up twice with them at night versus the sometimes 3, 4, or 5 times that I was getting up. I am SO lucky because they are such good babies. The only times they really cry is when they are hungry, tired, or in their car seats. Occasionally they'll cry because of gas, but not very often.

Oh, and Bailey's rolled over 3 times already. I'm pretty sure they were accidents, but that's way earlier than Hannah did it so I was really surprised.

Anywho, so that's my update for the week.

As promised, here's the video of Brynn smiling. I can't believe she did it for me! What a little cutie!

Stuff

I've been on my own now for a week and a half. I was so scared to take care of three children by myself, but it actually hasn't been too terrible. Sometimes I just have to let one of the babies cry for a few minutes while I take care of the other one. I hate to see them cry but you gotta do what you gotta do to get through the day. Some days I feel like super mom, like yesterday when I took all three kids on a walk around the neighborhood by myself. Hannah rode her new tricycle while I pushed the girls in the stroller. 'I can totally do this whole 3 kids thing,' I thought. It actually turned out pretty good. Other days I feel overwhelmed and tired and wonder how I'm going to survive throughout the day. I certainly would not have been able to do all of this without this woman (my mother-in-law)

and this woman (my mom)


and these two girls




who let this girl come over and play a couple of times a week.
(Sorry, hope you don't mind me posting your pictures on my blog).

I especially could not do this all without this man:

He's such a good father!

I am lucky to have such kind people in my life:)

On another note, Bailey and Brynn have both started smiling. Here's a video of Bailey. I've only gotten Brynn to smile once for me. For some reason she seems to smile for everyone else but for me, it's all frowns :-(. Some time I'll get her on video smiling too and I'll post it. For now, enjoy the video of Bailey because she's so FRICKIN CUTE!

Matching Outfits!

There's nothing cuter than twins with matching outfits, so you will now get a plethora of pictures of my twins in matching outfits! They have many more cute outfits, but it's really hard to get pictures of them when one is not screaming as they are in this first picture.

Bailey looks a lot bigger than Brynn in the above picture. She does have a chubbier face, but the last time I got them weighed they were both 8 lbs 10 oz.

And here's a quick update on what we've been up to:

Scott went back to school about a week ago. We both decided that it would be best for him to only go part time this semester. I am going to need a lot of help these first few months but unfortunately that means that he's not going to graduate until next December. I feel like we've been in school forever, but hey, what's another 8 months? I know that he's exhausted and I feel bad for him, but I know that we'll get through this next year.

I am doing pretty well.....just exhausted all the time. My incision is healing nicely but unfortunately I have about 15 pounds to lose until I'm back to my pre-pregnancy weight. It took me about 6 months to lose all of my weight with Hannah so I expect that to happen with this one.

(Hannah has blue teeth in the above picture because she had a blue Ring Pop right before I took it.)

Let me just say that I love this little girl, but Hannah has probably been the hardest part of this whole process. She loves her little sisters (and loves to clobber and kiss them) but I believe she is also jealous of them. She always wants me to hold her when I'm holding the babies. She wants us to swaddle her and bounce her like we do the babies and she even asked me if she could breastfeed. Um, no thanks. She's also gotten strep throat in the past couple of weeks and then last week she broke out with horrible hives for 3 or 4 days. She scratched and scratched them until she would start to bleed. We think she might be allergic to the antibiotic that she took for the strep throat. Those two sicknesses brought a lot of whining, crankiness, and disobedience. When she's not cranky and disobedient, she's actually a delight to be around (very kind and polite). I don't blame her for going through this rough stage. In fact, I feel really bad for her and have cried many times over the past 6 weeks because I want her to be happy. She's gone through a lot with us moving to a new house and having two new sisters that need our attention. I just hope that this phase passes soon.
Bailey has been a good breast feeder since the beginning and we're lucky because she'll take a bottle as well. She's growing tremendously, even though she spits up like crazy. She likes to grunt a lot in her sleep. Both of our girls have gone as long as 5 hours at night without waking up, but Bailey usually wakes up every 3 hours and Brynn every 4.
Brynn was not so good at breastfeeding at first. She would get so frustrated when she'd try to latch on that she'd end up scratching up her face terribly. I started pumping my milk and giving her a bottle because breastfeeding her became really difficult. Then about 2 weeks ago, I decided that I wanted to try breastfeeding her again because I want to have that special bond with her like I do with Bailey. It took a few days for her to get it, but now she almost exclusively breastfeeds. It makes me very happy. Both girls also get a tiny bit of formula throughout the day (like a couple of ounces). I'd like to only breastfeed them both (or pump milk) but sometimes I just feel like they are both still hungry, and then I need to tell myself that it's okay for them to get formula.

So that's what we've been up to lately. Oh, and here's a picture of all three of my girls doing tummy time;-).

Here's the LINK to my cousin's website if you want to see some professional pics of my babes. If you're in the Utah Valley area and need a photographer, I'd suggest going to her. She's pretty awesome.

P.S. Don't mind the fuzz on Bailey's arms and back. The doctor says it will go away in a couple of months. Poor girl. In the mean time, we like to call her "Fuzzy."

Video

Here's a video I took of the girls today. I wish I had tons of time to write but I don't. I love these little girls so much. They bring a lot of joy into my life. All three of my girls are very different from each other but it's amazing because I truly love them all equally. Let me just tell you, though, that life is very difficult with two newborns and a 2 year old. I'm usually in my PJs all day and sometimes don't even get my shower in until late afternoon. Thank goodness my mother-in-law and mom have been able to be here with me. I don't know what I'm going to do when my mom leaves.

Anyway, stay tuned for some professional pictures of them. My cousin Angela took some pictures of them on Saturday and I can't wait to see how they turn out!

My Cuties

Here are some more pictures of my babies. If you would have asked me yesterday whether or not I wanted another child I would have told you absolutely not. Last night they actually slept pretty well, so maybe we'll have a forth child. I'll let you know in about two years:-) Bailey is crying so I'll have to blog more another time.

More Pictures

I'd better post this before someone starts screaming again;) We got home from the hospital last night. It's been nice being home, but last night was really rough with the twins. As soon as one stopped crying it seems like the other one started. I think we're in for a difficult couple of months with little sleep.

Anyway, here are a couple of more pictures of the twins. They truly look nothing alike. Brynn is long and skinny and Bailey is short and has chubby cheeks. They are so sweet and I absolutely LOVE the smell of their breath! YUM!

Hannah, Brynn, and Bailey with Grandma and Grandpa Meyer

Brynn

This is kind of a weird looking picture of her, but it's a close up.

Bailey

Hannah the big sister!

I've noticed that the babies already have different personalities. Bailey is more laid back and doesn't need to be held all the time. She's an excellent breast feeder, too. Brynn cries a lot and likes to be held. She's getting the whole breast feeding thing down but is still having a little bit of trouble latching on. She often gets so upset that it's difficult to get her to latch.

Hannah has been adjusting okay. Actually, she's been pretty good for all of the changes that have been going on in her life recently. She does love to clobber the babies, which is typical. I think she's starting to get a bit jealous of them, too. I found her sucking on one of the baby's binkies and rocking herself in their bouncer. We're working on being very patient with her, though. Anyway, that's all that I can write for now, but hopefully we'll continue to post more pictures when we find the time and energy.