Gotta Love It

You gotta love it when one minute both babies are sleeping like little angels...heads snuggled right up to eachother and then a few minutes later...

all three kids wake up from their naps screaming...well, Ava was just yelling to get out of her crib...but still makes for some stressful moments. ;)

Birthdays and a Road Trip

What a busy week and weekend we have had. On Tuesday the 20th my precious little Ava Jane turned 2! I can't believe it TWO!!! How has two whole years gone by since we welcomed her into this world??!!

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She is really turning into a little girl and I am really enjoying being a part of her life each and every day. Her vocabulary is really exploding. She surprises us by saying something new each day. She can count to 5 on her own, can recognize numbers and shapes, loves to color (her fav color is blue), and LOVES her some shoes. Give the girl a new pair of shoes and she is in heaven. Not sure where she got that from. :) She is the sweetest little girl. When Owen and Ella cry she finds a pacifier on her own and takes it and tries to put it in their mouth. She also enjoys church on Wednesdays and Sundays, and usually cries when it is time to leave. I look forward to what this next year brings.

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On the 25th Jamie turned the big 3-7!! WOW!! He is really getting to be an old man!

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This past weekend we also did something crazy...we took our first road trip to Dallas. Having to keep the babies in the house at all times, means we have to stay home, and we felt like the walls were closing in. So we decided on a change of scenery. We loaded up the babies, Ava and headed my my sister Diana's house. It also gave some of my family that has not been able to come to Austin a chance to meet the twins. It was nice to get away, but it was a very long hectic weekened, and getting to Dallas and back was an adventure as well. All in all we had a great time, and hope to do it again soon.

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Last week Jamie's parents came over to watch the babies for a few hours, and it gave us a chance to get out of the house and go to the Bastrop Varsity football game. We are currently undefeated. Ava had a blast eating popcorn, candy and watching the cheerleaders cheer. She also sang loudly along to the national anthem and had everyone laughing. :)

Ava on her 2nd birthday. Such a cutie!!


Even Owen and Ella got dressed for the occasion. Just over 6wks old.

Thanks Aunt DeeDee for my sweet cardigan/sweater!

Wow-it sure it hard to get a picture of all the kids!!

I think I have made Ava a little too afraid of fire. I did this to make sure she didn't mess with the gas stove when she was younger. She cried when I lit her one little candle, and didn't want anything to do with it. Lol.

Loving her birthday cupcakes!

One of the things Ava got for her birthday was a pop up book about different animals. Their mouths open and close and I guess this was a little scary for Ava. I think her face says it all. Sadly Jamie and I couldn't stop laughing.

Gavin even came over to play on her actual birthday. They are such great friends, and always have the best time playing together.

A quick pic of Owen and Ella getting ready to take baths. You can tell how much bigger all around Ella is than Owen. We put 3 ounces in their bottles, and Ella consistently finishes it all, while it is a struggle to get Owen to finish his required 2 ounces, and most of that comes out of his mouth while he is eating because he is still a weaker eater.

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At almost 8 weeks they are just about to move out of preemie/newborn diapers and into size ones, and are wearing newborn clothes. Size 0-3 months still swallows them whole.

We had a birthday lunch for Ava and Jamie while we were in Dallas.

Again...afraid of the candles...

She got to open a few gifts...her favorite was a Dora the Explorer backpack kit. Dora is one of her new favorite cartoons. Pooh and Mickey are her other two.

We also enjoyed going to Boo at the Ft. Worth Zoo while Grandma Sher Sher stayed with the babies. This was her second year to go. Since Owen was a bee and Ella a bouquet of I stuck with the theme and made Ava a ladybug tutu costume.

Diana, Eric, Maddy, Jazmin, Ashleigh and Lawson also joined in on the festivities. Maddy was the cutest little bee.

Daddy and Ava in front of the giraffes.

Mommy and Ava checking out the Elephants.

Lawson was an adorable dinosaur. Hehe

Having fun at the carnival section of the zoo.

Me and my baby sister Jazmin

By the end of the night Ava was pumped up on candy and making some crazy faces for the camera.

On Jamie's actual birthday we sang to him with a doughnut and some whipped cream.

I leave you with some pictures of family holding the babies with their masks. :)

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Grandma SherSher and Owen

Granddaddy Jimbo and Ella

Grandpa Rick

Uncle Eric

Sorry for so many pictures, but since I haven't blogged in a while I had a lot to post in this one and the next.

Long Over Due

Okay Okay, it has been FOREVER since I have update the blog, but hey, can you blame me? :) Things have been super crazy, but so worth every single minute. The babies are getting so big and doing well. Can you believe they will be 8 weeks old this Friday??!! Boy time flies. Even though they are almost two months old, they still act like newborns. We wake them up to eat every three hours, and then they usually go right back to sleep until their next feeding. Just recently have they started sometimes staying awake for a short while between feedings. It is nice because it gives me a little break to take care of Ava and give her some attention and try to do some things around the house. I say try because it usually does not work out that way and my house is disasterous most of the time. :/

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We are starting to adjust to life with three small children, but it is very very hard and stressful at times. When all three are crying at the same time needing your attention, you definitely feel outnumbered. But when things are calm we have time to take a breath and appreciate how truly blessed we are.

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Here are some pictures taken over the past several weeks....

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Hunter coming over to see the babies for the first time at home. Ava really wanted to be treated like a little baby too.

LOVE how they sometime are in the exact same sleep position. Hehe.

Since the babies are still too immature to breastfeed, I pump every three hours. I think Ava has seen me do it one too many times. I walked around the corner and this is how I found her. HAHAHA!! (Putting my pump bottles up to her chest.)

Ava holding Owen. She loves them both SO SO much!

Owen-16 days old.

Ella-16 days old. Looks like she is doing a cheerleading jump.

Ava just HAD to have a bottle of her own.

Owen (L) Ella (R) 2 weeks old. They have already changes so much from this picture.

On our way to the doctors office. Ava got booted to the 3rd row. If Hunter was in the car we would be officially out of space...in a Suburban....YIKES!!

First doctors appointment at a little over 2wks old. Owen-5lbs6oz Ella 5lbs9oz both just under 18in long...their length is different than what they told us in the hospital. We are trying to get them RSV shots, but since they are over $1000 a shot they are hard to get approved by the insurance company. They come in a series of 3 or 5, so I can see why. Otherwise, the doctor does not want them to go out in public until after the flu season ends in February. WOW! They will be 6 months old before they see the outside world!! And if anyone comes over to visit they have to scrub down and wear a mask when around the babies. What a crazy life with preemies.

Ella's first bath

Owen's first bath. They both LOVED the water and have continued to enjoy their baths since then.

Lots of sleeping pics over the weeks....

Aunt Dee Dee and Maddy came to stay for a week. It was so nice to have help with Ava and for her to get some special attention while I dealt with the babies. They had a blast playing together. Here is where they played a lot of the time...both in a laundry basket on the floor with toys.

We also got to take them to feed the ducks at the front of our community.

The night that DeeDee and Maddy left, we noticed a spot on Ava's upper right butt cheek while we were giving her a bath. I had an inkling of what it was. I popped it and put her to bed. The next morning the spot was hard as a rock and she had a low grade fever. I was right...it was staph. We took her to the doc on where they drained what they could and sent us home with antibiotics, nose cream and special soap for everyone in the house. That night she woke up with 104 fever that lasted for days. Long story short, she had to have two surgeries to remove the staph, she battled a high fever for days, hardly slept at night, didn't eat for about a week, threw up every time we tried to give her medicine (she had 3 different ones that had to be given several times a day...you can only imagine the stress), and got so weak she could barely walk. It was the hardest most stressful week of my life. Taking care of preemie newborn twins and an extremely sick 2yr old who was in and out of the hospital was beyond hard. Another reason why I haven't updated the blog.

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Hunter was so sweet to lay with her on the couch when she was sick. Such a wonderful big brother!

Her bottom hurt her so bad, one day I found her sleeping standing up in her crib. Didn't even know it was possible. After her second surgery it took a few more days but we eventually got our old Ava back. I NEVER want to go through that again. Ava is now petrified of doctors and the doctors office. Even allowing us to change her diaper was a struggle for several weeks...she thought we were going to hurt her again. :(

Miss Ella Cate-little over a month old. You can see she is starting to get some cheeks!!

Mr. Owen James-he is still a lazy eater and is significantly smaller than Miss Piggy Ella.

Here are some pics of them in their Halloween costumes that I crochet'd. Owen is a bee and Ella is a bouquet of flowers.