True Love

Joey: Michael, remember when I said I was sorry and you said it was okay?
Michael: Yeah.
Joey: And remember when I said it again.
Michael: Yeah.
Joey: And again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again and again, and again, and again, and again, and again and again?
Micahel: Yeah.
Joey: Thanks Michael.

After school, I saw Adelyn and Michael running around the block.  I asked them if they were getting their exercise, and they said, "No, we're doing knock and runs!"  I tried to tell them that it's not very nice to knock and run unless you're going to leave a Valentine.  "We did!"  Adelyn used candy from her class party and decided it would be best to distribute it to all the neighbors.  They were so proud that they only got caught once.

Welcome to the club!

The other night, Joey was showcasing his independence by stacking one stool on top of the other, and climbing up on them to wash his hands.  I've seen this act before and have threatened punishment.  However, the best punishments are always built-in.  In this case, falling off and chipping your tooth!

top middle right

After Mike mentioned that he had chipped a tooth once too, Michael immediately started consoling Joey witth the fact that he was now in a "chipped tooth club" with Daddy. I was not consoled until we saw the dentist the next day. It didn't get to the nerve I guess, but the tooth may die, and there's nothing we need to do cosmetically, so now we just wait and see if it gets infected.

This incident prompted a very special work project.  "Project: Tall Stool" took help from all the kids and was completed quickly enough for a test run tonight.

He only has one month left to be terribly-two, and hasn't exercised the privelage much at all, so the very next day, he tried standing on an inflateable punching bag (do you sense the roundness I'm describing?) and crashed, landing on a tooth and cutting his lip.

This is night... this is day. This is night... this is day.

This is night.  Swaddled up all cuddly and warm.

This is day.  You can sleep, but you must do it in the sun, the noise, and without any blankies.

We're trying to hammer the idea of night/day into these boys so Mike and I can get some sleep.  We all do much better when we get lots of sleep.

Nelson's First Bath

Nelson was the first to lose his umbilical cord and able to have an official "soak-em-up" bath.  The best part about giving Nelson his first bath, is being able to give him his second.  For his second bath, we put both boys in the tub together, and you'd think I'd introduced them to heaven.

Happy Family

Can you believe we have SEVEN people in our family?! Count them up!

One capeable-of-doing-everything-that-Superman-was-never-even-thoughtful-enough-to-do husband.
One happy, helping daughter.
Two adoring, playful brothers.

One tired mommy.
Two good babies.

We're Awake!

One seat is all they require.  Two seats is required by law.  We use one car seat at home, and two car seats if we leave.  That is... IF we leave.

Braden is usually in Brown.  This time Braden is Brown Bear.

Nelson is such a pacifier champion.  He loves those things.

Happy, HAPPY birthday Adelyn!!

We were all SO HAPPY to be able to celebrate Adelyn's birthday together as a family.  Even Braden and Nelson got their first whiff of birthday cake that night.

She is growing up so fast!  Her birthday dinner was sponsored by some gracious ward members.  We made sure she was okay with this before anybody brought anything by, since usually the birthday girl gets to choose what she wants for dinner, and of course she was okay with it.  She is a very understanding girl.

I was able to plan most of Adelyn's birthday in the hospital.  I wrote up a couple treasure hunts and printed them off when I got home, and had Mike and my brothers running all over the house hiding them so Adelyn could find her presents.

I ordered a couple presents online, and actually went to shopping a couple days before I was being induced to buy her a shirt.  She got some a shirt, some brushes, lip smacker, Kerplunk, and a Webkinz cat from us.

Pink is the color of the year for Adelyn

And her cake... I keep getting deemed as some legend for making her cake so soon after bringing home two babies.  But really, I know how time consuming cakes are, and I knew this was going to be the easiest cake I have ever done, especially because with Adelyn turning 7 years old, she was old enough to do most of the hard work.  Check out her masterpiece!

The cake boss and her work of art in progress

The finished project.  Both the cake, and our newly-turned 7 year old are gorgeous!  I love how Mike whipped up some contraption so that the doll could be holding one of her candles.

24

24- how many hours from the time Braden and Nelson were born, and the time we were discharged from the hospital.

After worrying about spending weeks and weeks in the NICU, we were THRILLED to be able to get away from the hospital so quickly.  Mike didn't expect that we were going to able to leave so soon, but I was pulling for a miracle.

I was exhausted that first night, but not able to sleep a wink.  I went to talk to the nurses in the nursery during the night and found myself telling quite an emotional sob story about how long I'd already spent in the hospital, and how I hated the smell of their soap because it brought back so many hard memories.  The next morning, they were working really hard with my doctors to let me go.  Those dear, dear nurses.

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