THIS could happen to you....

The perfect caption for this pictures is THIS could happen to you! TWINS! Our good friends from our Muncie, Indiana days, the Torries, stopped by this past week for a quick visit. The Torries paved the way into the wonderful world of multiple births and had boy/girl twins just a few weeks after we moved away. Their twins, Brooklyn and Colby, are standing at the very back of this pack of children and are just days younger than Caleb...2 years old now. We hadn't seen their kiddos for quite a while so it was especially fun now that we have a set of boy/girl twins of our own to let the kids run around wild while we caught up and exchanged experiences on the rigors of raising lots of little people simultaneously. Between the two couples we had 9 children under the age of 7 scampering around our basement (one of the Torrie's boys was asleep upstairs on our couch and didn't make the photo). Good times! Thanks for coming to see us Torries!

On another note: You know when you have a conversation with someone that you know they probably don't remember at all, but for some reason what was said really sticks with you? Well, I had one of those conversations almost exactly 6 months ago with my brother-in-law John. The babies were tiny tiny and John was in town for their blessing day, seeing them for the first time. The baby of John's own family had relatively recently turned one and talking about that darling little boy I said to John something along the lines of: "I bet seeing these tiny babies makes you SO glad that you have all of this behind you. Don't you love knowing you never have to go back through some of these stages again?" I guess I was expecting him to say yes and go on and on about how great it was to have certain baby stages and challenges behind you "forever" but his answer has stuck with me for a long time. Instead of what I expected he commented that: No, it was actually kind for sad to him to think that he wouldn't experience those things again. He acknowledged that it was fun to watch their kids grow but that he loved every little stage and accomplishment.

Fortunately, or unfortunately (not sure which) my personality is such that I tend to relish checking things off, getting things done and going going going as fast and as hard as I can (even when I shouldn't...Spencer reminds me of this frequently). I worry that sometimes I may not enjoy NOW for what it is, instead of working and looking forward excessively. That conversation with John stuck with me and thanks to his advice, I have tried to enjoy "every little stage" of the twins lives to date and can't believe how fast they have grown and changed. It makes me teary just thinking about it. These pictures show how they've grown up in just 6 1/2 short months--it is unbelievable. Thanks John, for lots of things, but particularly for helping me appreciate every day.

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Addendum

Word must've somehow gotten back to Emmy about what I wrote about her in my last post because the very next day she started rolling like crazy. Amazing what a little peer pressure can do, eh?!? She also wanted me to tell you that she is doing really well sitting up all of a sudden too. A little slouchy, but sitting up nonetheless. WE LOVE YOU EMMY! :)

Six Month Update

I feel like life is coming at us at about a million miles an hour these days and there has been no time to post! So...as a meager attempt to keep you all up to speed on our lives, I'll include a little 6 month update I wrote for the twins' baby book. Then at least you'll know what Jake & Emmy have been up to! :) You can safely assume that the rest of us are just chugging along! This afternoon we have Cort's first SEP conference (parent-teacher conference) and both Spencer and I are planning on going. I'm sure that's a bit of overkill to have both parents attend, but hey, Cort's our first child...we don't want to miss a thing! I'm sure my the time the twins are in school we'll be drawing straws to see who HAS to go! :) Here's the update:

This month Jake has really been rolling around like a maniac. He will go and go until he hits a solid surface and then wails to be rescued. Emmy, on the other hand, has decided that rolling is altogether WAY overrated, and we can’t get her to budge off of her back or stomach, depending on how she’s set down on the floor! I’m sure it will come in time when she is duly motivated by watching her brother crawling around the room! Neither baby is sitting up unassisted yet but both are getting close. It will be nice to have them be able to sit up and see us without the assistance of so much gear. And the thought of them crawling? Dreamy! Maybe by Christmas…

Both babies love toys to play with and like to taste everything they touch. Jake can be particularly aggressive in this regard and has, on countless occasions, attempted to prove once again that neither Emmy nor her clothing are edible. When I set them down on the floor in close proximity to each other I often hear, “Mom! Jake’s attacking Emmy!” which is a fairly accurate description of Jake’s attempts to either roll up over the top of his sister or pull some part of her face or body off for a taste test! It is pretty darn cute (if you’re not Emmy, I guess!).

Speaking of food, the babies are well into solid foods now and loving their cereal or fruit and vegetable meals following nursing. Emmy finally got the hang of the spoon and Jake’s been a champ from the get-go. I feed them simultaneously (bite for one, bite for the other), and Jake often grunts with displeasure when he has to wait his turn while I’m giving Emmy a spoonful. What can I say, the boy loves to eat!

The exact DAY that the babies turned six-months old, the woman next to me in church commented about Emmy’s darling teeth. TEETH??? I had no idea. A closer inspection ruled that yes, Emmy indeed is cutting her two bottom teeth simultaneously and Jake has two poking through on the bottom as well. Man! The things you miss when you’re distracted by three other needy kiddos! Thanks to the aforementioned teeth, I slept for 3 hours last night and spent most of my time pacing the upstairs with a poor, suffering Emmy. Ugh. But, I’m sure they will be cute once they break through all the way!

Halloween Highlights

I don't know what the Halloween equivalent of the Christmas "Bah-Humbug!" is, but it probably applies to me. I don't know why I don't really dig Halloween but I guess I'm coming to grips with the fact that I don't. For some reason I don't really get into the "spooky" decorations, although I love "autumn" decor, and getting everyone into and out of their costumes for the family party, the ward party, the school party, and then finally for the actual trick-or-treating wears me out! SIGH. So, that said. We had a really FUN Halloween. Seriously. We did. Sure, I grumbled a bit while I carved a pumpkin franctically all by myself at 5pm on Halloween night and was a little frazzled trying to get everyone to inhale some pizza just moments before throwing costumes on for the umpteenth time and heading out the door. But, once we were on our way, the kids had a BLAST! :) We took the whole crew out with us for a good 2 hours of trick-or-treating fun. Cort, Macy and Caleb were HILARIOUS and had such a great time. Jake and Emmy were so content strapped to Spencer and me in the Baby Bjorns and all bundled up for the walk through our neighborhood. It was a beautiful night to be outside and we had so much fun. I may not be the biggest fan of Halloween in general, but I do have to admit that kids in costume are pretty darn cute. Here's proof:







There isn't a picture of Caleb because he has an issue with being photographed (remember the Lake Mead post?!?!). Anyway, he was a puppy dog and a super cute one, at that!