Testing Out Our New Camera

At my suggestion {read: insistence}, our family purchased its first camcorder earlier this week. I was worried that too many memories would pass by unrecorded, and that I would forget so much of my tiny babies' existence. I already regret not owning proof of Maggie's constant grunting, which she grew out of a couple weeks after coming home from the hospital, and which earned her the nickname "grumble monster."

As you can tell from the following video, I'm not really sure what I'm doing this first go-round, but on the other hand, there are some pretty cute shots of Maggie. {Maggie is my daughter, and I love her so much that I just want to carry her around in my pocket all day long.} Enjoy!

We Are a Happy Family

Christian and I are on our way down to Morehead City right now {I'm writing this post courtesy of Catherine's iPhone. Boy, does this keyboard take some getting use to}. Just three days after the twins were born, my SIL Elizabeth had her third baby. And while I delivered seven weeks early, Clark came right on time. Consequently, he's younger, but weighed a pound and a half heavier than both my babes combined at birth. I think Christian and I joked about little Clarkie being a tank a couple times too often for Elizabeth's comfort. {It was only because we were jealous of his chubbiness, LB.}

The purpose of our trip today is so we can be at Clark's blessing tomorrow. We would have gone in the morning, but 9:00 am church means we would have had to leave way early in the morning. We've never traveled more than 45 minutes in the car at one time before, so this is an adventure. Being together with family makes it worth it, even if this trip ends up being a screaming baby nightmare. Two hours down, and they've been sleeping peacefully so far. Cross your fingers the remaining hour goes by as easily and quietly for us!

Someday

Goodness. I keep meaning to post more often, and I keep getting sidetracked by other activities. Mainly things like feeding babies, feeding myself, and squeezing in my bi-weekly shower. There are even days when I think to myself, "I'm going to tweet today," and I can't even get that done. True story. {Although honestly, spending a fair amount of time on Pinterest takes precedence over Twitter every time.}

I have so many things I want to do every day. I want to clean my house. I want to plan the family get-together we'll have after the babies' blessing. I want to plant the flowers that have been sitting on my patio for two weeks, and I want to hang the artwork that has been leaning against the nursery dresser for just as long.

I didn't realize a lot of things before the babies were born, but I think mostly the thing that I didn't realize was how little time I would have left for myself. I crave time. I'm hungry for a few peaceful seconds to myself.

At this point, I'm going to make myself feel guilty if I don't add the caveat "I love my babies." I start many frustration-venting conversations with the phrase "I love my babies, but..." And I do love my babies. I love my babies so much, sometimes I think my heart will break. I love my babies so much, I just sit and rock them when I should be eating breakfast. My babies are wonderful and adorable, and with them in my life I feel more confident, strong, and more myself than I ever have before.

BUT I didn't realize how hard raising twins would be.

I keep reassuring myself with the words of other mothers, who have told me that the first year is the hardest. I tell myself, "this is just a phase. Enjoy your tiny babies now, and don't worry about everything else -- it will keep." And someday I will have time to myself again. Someday I will do more than just survive.

Family Picture

See my adorable eight-week-old babies? My SIL Catherine was kind enough to take a family picture before church on Sunday. {And I'm only now just getting around to posting.} Eight weeks before Sunday I became a mother. Eight days before Sunday I hit my due date. Can you imagine me pregnant with almost 14 pounds worth of baby? Holy cannoli, I would have been massive.

I'd like to make this post longer, but Max is calling.

One Month Pictures

For those of you keeping track, the babies actually hit their one-month mark on April 20th. I'm a little late with these pictures. And if you can do date math in your head {I couldn't, and had to pull out my trusty calendar to count the days}, you'll realize that "a little" means two weeks. I'm hoping that at this point, in whatever way I fall short in my life, and however short I fall, people will forgive me and chalk it up to the fact that I have twins and spend most of my energy keeping them alive.



Ever since I saw this idea on Pinterest, I wanted to try to copy it. I only have my point-and-shoot camera, I made letters that were way too big, and holy cannoli is it hard to get them both clean and awake and quiet at the same time, but I'm reasonably pleased with how this picture turned out. As a quick reminder, that's Maggie on the left, and Max on the right.



Christian's been teasing me lately that I've become a mommy blogger, and I guess it's true: my last six posts have been about the babies. It's hard not to talk about them when my world revolves around them right now. Besides, they're just so adorable with their round toes and neck rolls and pudgy thighs, it's hard to imagine that anyone would want to hear about anything else. {I might be a little biased about the perfection of my offspring}.