Christmas card 1

This week is Christmas Card week. I feel like plugging some of our pictures into Christmas cards & sharing them with you. Since snail mail and I don't get along together these digital versions are from my heart to yours!!
Front

Middle

Back



In the last few days Blake went from occasionally using words to using them all day long! Madison also totally shocked us when she filled in the next number and letter when counting to 10 {haven't even done that much!} & singing or saying the ABC's. Love it! The explosion of skills and knowledge is no joke.


We had a fabulous time with Leanne in DC last week. She had never been there before. Leanne lives in Melbourne Australia and has been visiting the other siblings in Utah for the previous two weeks. Tomorrow she is in for it with the really long flights and she'll skip Wednesday with the time change on her way home! Mum, Dad & her dog Bailey will welcome her home with open arms.



I have a lot to say about our trip to DC. We encountered an example of absolutely FABULOUS customer service from the staff and manager of the Lorien Hotel & Spa in Old Town Alexandria. Upon our original check in we were informed the staff was changing the two cribs over to another room since they would fit better in the bigger room. How sweet & lovely. Our first night there the parking attendant {valet parking only} caused some damage to our roof top hard plastic luggage storage. The damage caused the top section to break off while driving. Luckily the car behind was able to swerve. The manager from the hotel took responsibility with a can do attitude to fixing the issue prior to us checking out. He managed to get a new luggage storage unit for us the next day! He also upgraded our room to a two room suite our last night when he learned the kids didn't sleep well in the same room with us {up 6 times in one night}.



The huge claw foot tub in an even bigger shower room was worth the stay in the suite alone. Leanne, Guy & I all took a turn in the tub {I was even able to comfortably fully submerge my body which is rare}. The view of the downtown street on the second level in our first room was way cool. The kids loved watching the people go by. Every time Blake hurd the bus go by he'd stop in his tracks to let us know another bus went by. He only said it for busses and not for any of the large trucks & street sweeper that went by. Smart kid. The view from the 5th floor two bedroom suite balcony was equally impressive for a different reason.



We had a super relaxing and enjoyable trip with no real agenda & no real sight seeing plan. We used the train, our super sweet stroller and our feet to get around most of the time. Leanne was feeling a bit sick some of the time & we also came down with it. The sick didn't make us miserable and did not affect out fun level at all! It's just a small side note to a fabulous time. I knew it was going to be fun when Guy & Leanne came into the room the first night after midnight {flight came in at 11pm} trying to contain their giggles & after four turn arounds due to more attention paid to giggling instead of listening to the all mighty TomTom.

Here is Leanne's Twilight shot. So not really, but I had to get her Twilight obsession in here somehow! lol

The time approaches quickly

I find myself looking forward to January while dreading it at the same time. We have decided to try for another child in January. Really, I wanted to try in November, but open enrollment to add maternity coverage to my policy is in November for a January 1st effective date. The good news? My cycle should cooperate fully for us to begin treatment right around the 3rd. Health insurance is in order, Aflac coverage is in effect, and the Reproductive Endocrinologist doctor has been visited with a plan in place. I'll order my fertility meds on January 1st so it leaves the door open for a second cycle without having to meet my yearly prescription deductible again. Though really, I think we'll just do one cycle. Even with drug coverage the cost will be about $400 just for the meds. The doctor visits will all be on top of that.

If you are unfamiliar with our story here is a brief rundown of our history trying to have kids. We got married in November 2002. I'm not a fan of the pill so we used a method of birth control my OB called parents... Nothing happened that first year. We started to see what happened the 2nd year we were married. Nope. Nothing. By the third year we were given Clomid by my OB to help us. This caused my cycle to be a day or two longer, but we had no result. About this time I started to learn more about fertility and we went to a fertility specialist {Reproductive Endocrinologist}. I finally read Take Charge of Your Fertility {mind opener & life changer}, and started learning as much as possible about fertility causes and treatments. In year three we did more Clomid rounds {7 total overall}, had a uterine polyp surgically removed, underwent more testing & did a couple rounds of super ovulation cycles with intrauterine insemination {IUI}. Year four finally brought us success 9 months into it after 3 more super ovulation cycles, a big simple cyst, discovering fibroids in my uterus & giving up.

Our successful cycle was a super ovulation cycle decreasing by 1/3 the folical {egg} stimulating hormones, adding a couple days for them to mature, skipping the IUI by getting together normally, using PreSeed sperm friendly stuff & increasing the progesterone dosage by 1/3. Even with twins we had low HCG {pregnancy hormone} numbers that did not double within the normal 48-72 hours. We are going to try the same wonder combination of drugs this time we try.

One thing no one tells you at any point on a journey to parenthood with any issues... It is always a game of hurry up and wait. Hurry get your appointment, wait three months to actually see the doctor. Hurry up and use or do these fertility drugs/treatments, complications cause a 2 month delay in trying again after it was unsuccessful. Find a possible cause for your fertility issues, go through treatment and/or surgery with no active trying for a while. There is always a hurry to do something followed by a period of waiting until finally there is success with a live birth or adoption.

It's pretty funny. The people we have told we are trying again almost all assume that we will definitely get pregnant again And it will be more then one again. We're not so sure it will work. I love their optimism though. Maybe it's the general fascination with multiples mixed with the desire to personally know a family with more then one set prompting those predictions. It's human nature to want to know something other people don't. Hey, my aunt & uncle won the lottery! See, I play that game too. Who else knows someone that actually won the lottery? lol

Here is a shot of the twins with their smushed blueberry hands that I talked about on my Facebook status.


Blake is such a natural poser! I did not encourage this pose, but I'm so glad he did it.



For all those who think Blake looks like me. Yeeaaah, No. He looks just like Guy here.


Madison looks so old here to me. Like a 4 or 5 year old. Wow, so crazy.


Guy made a JibJab ElfYourself video with the twins. I finally see why people think they look alike. With no hair showing and no real body their faces are quite similar. Check it out. Blake's tongue out is so funny. Madison's zen expression makes all the radical moves funny too.

Our sweet Madison

Our cute little Madison has decided she doesn't need hands or handrails to go up or Down steps. Well, some steps. She is a smart cookie so she'll only go down wide steps and last steps when there is plenty of room to correct a bit of wobble. We were all totally amazing since going down stairs with no support is usually a 2-3 year old skill. Check it out!

We were definitely grateful for our friends pool net. Madison also decided to test it out by walking right into it. She got wet, but no one else did trying to fish her out! lol The only part of her that got wet was her knees and a little of her shorts.

If you are hanging out with me and are looking for a little baby love Please pick Madison. She seems to have the need to be held about 1/2 of every day now. What's up with that? She is definitely our Little Lumpa Love!

Her bangs are getting long enough I really need to start pulling them back every day. She pulls hair bows out right away, but will leave a rubber band in longer. The other day I switched her earrings out, and she was really pleased when only she received the special earring treatment & pretty compliments on them. Hmmm, maybe I'll start making a big deal about the hair clips. Blogging is often so good for organizing ones thoughts.

Madison loves to sing. She loves dry snacky foods like pretzels, goldfish and corn chex. She'd rather drink milk then eat anytime, and breakfast is not her favorite meal. Madison can repeat almost any word I ask her to say, but she rarely talks to say something. Her feelings are very easily injured, but she does not want to stop doing something just because I tell her no. No matter how badly Blake hurts her in his exuberance she loves him unconditionally and will always be in site of him unless she is in our arms or asleep.

Speaking of asleep. I'm off to bed! Madison will not nap in the car unless it is an hours long ride. She also takes her time going to sleep. We knew she took a while to go to sleep, but with the supervision needed due to the toddler beds we see how long it takes her. I love watching the process she goes through. We now are leaving the door open instead of sitting in the room with them. Maybe by next week well be able to just shut the door after telling them to go to sleep.

Do I remember how to blog?

Hey my family, friends and followers! It really has been almost a month since I posted anything. So many things have happened the last month. Once again many blog posts were written in my mind with no one to appreciate them, but me. Aaahhhhh, oh well.



October was my busiest work month ever {and I mean ever}. It has taught me that limits need to be set. I've decided to only make up to 3 appointments a week in the future so this amount of drama and stress doesn't happen again. By drama I mean for us as a family, because mommy and wifey were way too busy working much of the time.

These kangaroo outfits I had made for the kids are the cats meow! Love them. In case I neglected to mention it months ago our babies are officially dual citizens with citizenship in both the United States and Australia. We think it will give them options when they are making life decisions.


Our cute little Aussie's! Yes, Madison really does have a red face. It gets red whenever she is active or someone so much as hints at touching her. Unfortunately she just has sensitive skin. I only edit it out in the pictures I print and not even all of those. It's a part of who she is.


We converted the cribs into toddler beds this week. The first night was amazing! We could not believe they just went to sleep without getting out of their beds. Naps and night night the next three days required us to sit in there with them as a visual reminder to stay still. Within 2-10 minutes they were out every time. Madison has been inspired to learn how to open their door with this change. The first time after a nap I just thought it was a fluke. But the next morning and then this morning proved this is just not the case. The little stinker is so smart.


The kids love to bring us shoes! Their shoes or ours. It doesn't matter. They are really persistent about us taking those shoes when they are offering too.


"Really, dad, you Want the shoes!" ~ Blake



Tonight was a whole new level of drama when it came to the toddler beds.

It started out with me deciding we needed to move on to the next step of leaving the room immediately after getting them into bed. Madison was so quite I didn't even hear her get out of bed.
After only a few minutes I went in to look at one full and one empty bed. I found her sitting on the air vent behind the chair playing with the just unplugged night light. I told her she needed to get into bed for night night, only to meet with a major crying jag. m a j o r .
She calmed down after a minute so I left. I hear a little something in there, and go in to find Madison sitting on Blake's back. Another meltdown being put into her own bed.
This time I was a lot harsher with her saying she had better stay in bed and shut the door as I left {it now has a cover over the handle}. She cried and cried then quieted. Then she cried, cried right by the door and then quieted. The third time she cried, cried by the door and quieted I went back in.
We were cuddling in the recliner when I hear some not so happy whiny sounds from Blake as he's moving around. I thought maybe one of them dropped a bomb. Nope. I cuddled them both sitting on the floor for a minute. When Blake moved around and got off my lap I asked if he would like to go back to bed. He said, 'Yes' while moving to get in, but started crying as he did it. Pulling him back out just made him cry harder as he obviously wanted to go to sleep.
I felt along his legs to find yet another charlie horse! Man this kid gets knotted muscles way too much.
Madison was just trying to let me know her brother needed help. Oh, I can't wait until they can just tell me what they need and want. After spending an additional 30 minutes to work out the knot & give them a snack & cuddle we totaled two full hours of them 'going' to sleep tonight.

Fun & Rain

It's a perfect day to post about this day back in August. I had to reschedule today's photo shoot because it was 100% chance of rain. When is it ever 100% chance? lol Luckily their schedule will also be good for tomorrow. Cool rainy days are my favorite. I love the chill & gloominess with the sound of soft rain. There is just nothing more calm and homey to me. Grabbing a blanket & a book was the old way to enjoy such days. Now I have the super cuddly Madison who also thoroughly enjoys the fantastic feel of a blanket!

The Con Agra plant that had an explosion this summer is right by us in the town Guy works for. They had a huge picnic for the employees & their families as well as the town employees. We saw some friends there who made great companions to enjoy the meal. We met David when we hosted him in our home for a month while his family was in the process of moving here, and we fell in love with their sweet family. Nicole keeps everyone entertained almost anywhere she goes. She also sweetly brought over some clothes this week to donate to Blake's wardrobe.

While we were out on the playground after eating the rain started spitting at us. To me the clouds didn't look so bad. Luckily, Blake and I were close to the pavilion when the clouds unloaded. Not so much for Guy & Madison! It was a mad scramble for them to make it to dryness. Once again I was wrong when Guy suggested we leave & I thought it would all let up soon. We barely made it into the car when the heavy rain started again! It's a good think I listen to Guy's suggestions most of the time. He's like my mom, usually right...