Here's to 15

I was trying to be really clever and fill in all the number blanks but I'm stuck so here's what I have come up with the some fun numbers for the 15 years we've been married

One of the two anniversary date crashers

15 years of marriage

14 times the dishwasher is run in a week

13 loads of laundry done a week

12 flowers given every special occasion 

11 Kibbe Party of 11

10

9 olive shoots

8

7 girls

6 different cars (and another van on the way)

5 different church locales - but finally no more moving!

4

3

2 boys 

1 set of twins

'Crown them with Glory and Honor O Lord'
 

November 1 we celebrated being married for 15 years. Sometimes it feels like forever and other times it seems like we just got married. When I think back on that day it was such a great day. When I think back on all the years it has been such a great time. I definitely wouldn't want any other life even with all the crazy adventures and ups and downs we have had. I am a much better person for it. Marriage is sanctifying and all these little people that are the result of it are part of the sanctification process for us. We have learned so much and come so far. It is hard to imagine what the next 15 years will look like but I am quite sure it will be great. 

A few other thoughts and pics.

September 2023

Just catching up a bit

We kicked off the month of September with an open water swim that got delayed because of weather and then canceled due to thunder (while some of the swimmers were still swimming) so that was reeeaaalllly fun)

H and J befriended some kids at the park who shared their juice jugs with them and they couldn't have been happier. Its strange reliving some of the stuff I used to do with the bigs or the middles with the littles. 

I've been plotting a rework of our photo wall. I have since spaced out the pics a bit to give them a little elbow room but it remains a work in progress and there are never enough black and gold frames to go around

H is super into dipping her food - even if it is sour cream. 

The Gs are still going strong at work and have even starting stretching a longer nap in the mornings which I very much appreciate. Yes their shirts say I'm the Favorite. I've been accused of only holding my favorite : ) 

Sometimes, some kids can express parental emotions better than the parents themselves 

H had all my feelings locked in her facial expressions the afternoon the van was towed - I think she was just scared of the tow truck but she and I were tracking

One Thursday afternoon I whip into the driveway after hearing a weird noise as we drove down our street. I sat in the front seat texting but then knew we were toast when E announced - ummmm Mama I think you need to see this. 

I hop out to find fluid pouring out of the front underside of the van. I hustle everyone out since I didn’t know what it was. Well come to find out it was coolant and a week and a thousand dollars later the van was back. Transporting 11 people around in two cars for a week gave us even greater appreciation of le Van. Also, we have the exact same van on order because this one is fast approaching the 150K mile mark. More on how we came to that decision later. 

Six month old twins. I love them and I am so grateful they are ours

J helped me make his bday cake and I let him lick the beaters and he proceeded to dip them back into the batter... but I couldn't be mad at him. Also on his bday week we realized that if you are painting with OIL based paint you CANNOT use your oven (unless you want your food to taste like gasoline or propane). Fun Fact

He is FOUR! He loves everything outside. He is not a huge fan of playing soccer but he will stand on the field. He is a very early riser. He is probably the most perceptive kid - he notices where we are when we are driving and if we take a different way. Trains, trucks and machines make his day

For he bday he really wanted a lawn mower - like a real one. We talked him down to a wheel barrow which he loves to fill up with leaves and dirt and yard trash and dump it. Also he has conned A into giving him and C wheel barrow rides. 

Seven months of Twinning

 Or alternatively titled…

I haven’t Slept in Seven Months

The Gs are seven months old today. Crazy to think that it has been that long and crazier to think they haven’t always been here. They have fallen right in line with everyone else and all the activity. 

They are just over 14 lbs which is supposedly on the smaller side of average but when they were on the scales today they looked enormous. I just started jar food two weeks ago and they have taken to that. I was hoping that might push them over the sleeping thru the night edge but alas - still waking up for nightly snacks.

They have used a bottle since the day they came home from the hospital so that has been a super freeing aspect of not being able to nurse both of them 100%. I have been able to run to the store or pick people up or go on a run and they go between formula and BFing without a single issue.

The girls are so funny to watch. They hold hands and talk to each other and make each other laugh and cry and sometimes hit each other when they nurse together - it is really the best.

Twins hasn’t been a cake walk though. The not sleeping thing and taking two babies to work has been a challenge. I think they have gone with us to dinner the two times we’ve been out in seven months because I just can’t leave them - along with the rest of the bunch. Maybe if they weren’t 8&9 in line I would feel better about it? 

So how are they different? Personality wise they are pretty the same. The biggest difference I see is Gi LOVES to roll on her tummy and Ge LOVES to scoot around on her back and go all over the place.

And then God Laughed

 It seems fitting to check in on the blog life front - today 10/17. I've missed writing about our adventures and, while I'll probably never get caught up, there's no reason not to try. I do enjoy writing carthartic... just me and the screen.

I left off with our beach trip of 2022 - actually I never posted it. It was a fun July 4 week. Sun. Sand. The works. 

The summer came to a crazy end with camps, work trips, COVID, school supply shopping and morning sickness. We thought 7 kids was a lot but God apparently thought we needed an eighth so we were rolling with it - because that's what we do - pray thy will be done and carry on. 

School, soccer, swim, choir, scouts - all the things - kicked into gear and a few more work trips. Completely normal life for us. I finally got around to check on the baby because I mean, eighth kid... been there, done that. Plus they canceled my first early October appointment because I was too late - even though I told them I'd be late because some one has to get all the kids to school!

Anyhow the super nice appointment lady got me in one October 17 because I was well past the 10-12 week mark I was supposed to be seen at. Do all the things. See all the people and sign in for step 2 of 3 of the visit - ultrasound. And everything was totally normal up until the kind ultrasound tech said...

Hey there's two babies in here. You're having twins. 

And that is the point I which I am quite sure God laughed and laughed so hard He might have cried - and smiled a whole lot. 

I lay there is silent disbelief - and gratitude too - all the thoughts swirling. 

I could do one. I got one. I'd done it seven times. 

But two?!?!?! How was I going to feed them? And how were they going to sleep? And how was I going to sleep? Could I take two babies to work? 

Then I saw my doctor - who we have HAD a running joke that I was going to have twins at some point and I had prepared my line of, NOT THIS TIME, only an hour before - but now was eating every single letter of that prepared statement. I can't tell you what he said because I probably wasn't listening.

My BP, which is typically on the lower side of the charts, was definitely on the higher side when the nurse took it. 

Do twins run in your family?

You didn't know? You're 15.5 weeks!

Does anything feel different? 

What is your husband going to say? 

What would the other half of this exponential child mathing equation say? You know, he wasn't there for the shock of everything. Everything at the OBs office had been so routine - he hadn't been there since 2013 when we talked about induction (for the first of five times). 

I rode back to work in silence and surprise and awe. 15.5 weeks with a single baby - you are pretty much in the clear but with twins? Some twin sets are born at 25 weeks - 9.5 weeks away. 

Still pondering how exactly to drop the twin bomb on Lee, I got to the office and talk to a friend who asked the same thing - Well, what did Lee say? Which I didn't have an answer because I hadn't told him. Finally I couldn't bear it any longer and I opted for the text option: 

Which was followed by him calling me moments later inquiring - if what he was looking at this right? Which I assured him, he most definitely was seeing double. 

Hoooooo Boy. Is probably what he said. 

Then we were tasked with telling everyone. Which I was not ready to do. We didn't need 25 million questions and shocked faces and everything. But it was getting increasing obvious that I couldn't hide this these with a hoodie for much longer. So we went to the mountains that weekend and had a totally normal family trip without the twin news being broken. 

We went to church on Sunday at this tiny little church in Bryson City and the priest was super nice younger guy and on the way out he said he was the youngest of nine and E pointed to H and said she was the youngest of seven and all I could think was... nope. 

When we did get home that Monday we told the kids at dinner. There was shrieks of excitement wonderment of TWINS! How were we going to do it? Where would they sleep? All the logistically questions that had been thought of a hundred times over in the last week. Then they wanted to call their grandparents to tell them - but Lee and I saved the honors for ourselves. We told our parents in the off chance literally fell out of their chairs - which they didn't but still twins is shocking and when twins are babies eight and nine in the family - well you know.

The next morning I dropped everyone at school with the news and flew out of the parking lot so the siblings could announce their news. I texted several people once I got to work - we had really kept the twins under wraps so the kids would be the messengers of the news. 

I think my favorite text I sent that day was to several other moms. It said... Well I guess I will be joining the ranks of TWIN moms. 

So that is where we have been for the last however many months it has been since I posted. It has been a journey and maybe I'll check in with more updates