Update

Ok, I know it has been entirely too long since I have given an update. A lot has happened since Halloween! We spent an entire week in Lake Tahoe with Jay's family for thanksgiving. It snowed one of the days we were there and the kids were in absolute heaven! We also took them to a snow park where they got to sled with their aunties and uncles and they just loved that too. (I will post pictures once i find where i put my camera!) It was a great time. Well... great except for the fact that I got really sick and that part of the week was just miserable. But, all in all it was a good trip and so great to see all of the family together at the same time. We also celebrated Christmas at the same time so the kids got all kinds of nice gifts. My sister came out this past weekend and offered to watch the kids for a night so Jay and I could have an extended date. It was great for us to have that time by ourselves. We had spent the few days before going through old emails that we wrote eachother before we were dating and all the way up until we got engaged. It was a great time. This Tuesday we are moving into our new place. I am sad to say we have not started packing, not at all. Sad. I think it is just all the memories of packing up our house in Georgia, or just being pregnant.. but i am so not motivated! I am however excited about the new place.. it is going to be great for us. Speaking of pregnancy, I am nearly 15 weeks and feeling good. No more morning sickness and I am not as exhausted as i was before. Started the second trimester last week. Jay and I are super anxious to find out the sex of these babies and to ultimately meet them. It is sinking in more and more for me that we are having twins and the thought of two newborns is quite overwhelming. But, i know that God will be our strength and we will get through it. So.. that is what is up with us.. since I am sure you were all just dying to know.

Better late than never... Halloween

I decided months ago that rather than purchasing new costumes (boring) for the kids for Halloween this year I would just dress them in their Starbucks aprons and make them Starbucks baristas like they were last year. Super cute, and easy. I will attach a picture from last year so you can see just how cute they were. Anyway, I waited until the last minute to find their aprons, and could not find them anywhere! Ok, that stressed me out. So, 2 days before Halloween i scoured the house to come up with something for them to wear. The result was a runaway bride for Rylie, complete with my wedding veil and tennis shoes. She was so cute! She called herself a pretty princess. Tristan was a little harder, but i put him in a polo shirt and khakis. Put on one of Daddy's golf hats, and had him carry one of his small golf clubs and voila.. a golfer. I have to say i was pretty impressed with myself. :) We went to our church (Shoreline) Halloween part. I say we, but that means me, the kids, and my father in law since Jay was working late that night. It was really fun! The highlight for everyone was the HUGE slide. Tristan loved it, and Rylie would make me go down with her. Note to self, don't put your skin on the slide while going down. I got a bad burn on my arm. Ouch! Anyway, here are a few pictures of my crew. They are a cute bunch, aren't they!

Pregnancy Update

I am so blessed to be feeling better for the most part. The meds (Zofran) the doctor prescribed at my last visit to ease my morning sickness have really helped me. I have still been sick a few times, but the all day nausea is gone. My energy level is still very low, but i do know that is to be expected. I am just thankful I am able to stay home with the kids right now, i can't imagine working while feeling like this. I had lost 2 pounds at my last appointment, but i think i have quickly gained that back, and maybe more. I am hungry all of the time! Other than that, I am doing well. Just trying to rest and eat to feed these little ones. It is starting to sink in more and more that we are having twins and I am trying my best to cherish my time with Tristan and Rylie while they are our only kids.

Let me just put this out there, since I am not sure who reads my blog..

If you are done having kids and want to get rid of any of your baby stuff please let me know. We got rid of everything when we moved back to California and I would love to take anything you don't need anymore off your hands. Thanks!!

Halloween Pumpkin Carving

We went to the pumpkin patch last week and picked out 2 fairly large pumpkins to carve for Halloween. Today was the day I was determined to get those things carved! Somehow, every year, I think you forget how nasty and messy it is cleaning out the inside! Seriously, yuck. Jay left that job to me, which i was actually grateful for. He had to do the carving. If you know me, you know i am not crafty.. like not at all. Anyway, we had one stencil for a bee, and Jay did that one first. It came out really good. Then next he decided to free hand a mickey mouse. See what i mean, he is the super talented one in the family when it comes to drawing.. for sure! The kids mostly watched as they did not want anything to do with the inside of the pumpkin, and we obviously didn't let them do any carving yet. Maybe next year?! Anyway, check out the pictures..

Oh, and thankfully we decided to do kid friendly ones this year. No one wanted a repeat of the screaming and crying we got last year just doing regular jack-o-lantern faces! Yikes! You can check out the archive for those photos. Funny.

Happy Halloween!

Two Babies, Two Heartbeats..

Jay and I had another appointment with our doctor to look at our babies. We immediately saw two sacs again, and then two babies, and then two heartbeats. It was surreal. We are in for an adventure!

Twice as Nice?!

Oh man, the last few days have been VERY bad for me, symptom wise. Whoever said with twins your symptoms are twice as intense was NOT joking. Seriously, if i wasn't pregnant i would think i had a bad case of the flu. So naseous, extremely exhausted, sweaty, hot, everything. I really hope this part of the pregnancy does not last long. I just had to get that out. Thanks for letting me vent!

You see... what?!

As you should know by now Jay and I are expecting again. I wanted to tell the whole story here for a few reasons. One would be so i could document my feelings at this moment and of course the other is to inform you all (are there any of you out there anymore?) what is going on. 3 weeks ago my clothes were not really fitting right. I looked extremely bloated. I didn't really think much about it. But Jay kept telling me i was pregnant. I really didn't believe it. But he kept saying it so often that one day when i was out and about running errands i decided to pick up a test, just in case. When i got home, i really had to go to the bathroom, perfect timing. So, off i went. Then i waited for the result. Almost immediately the test came back saying PREGNANT. For the sake of honestly, i think i said a choice word here, something to the effect of Holy %&$*. (If you know me, you know i really don't cuss at all, so this is big). Then i walked out to find Jay with pregnancy test in hand. By the time i showed it to him i was crying. Such a mix of emotions. i can't say that i was upset, but definitely shocked. For years Jay and I had said we were done having kids. Anyway, i showed Jay and he actually seemed excited. i was not expecting that. He said "I told you" a million times. The next day we kind of switched emotions, i got more excited where he got more terrified. We were nervous to tell our families. They all thought we were done too, and let's face it.. most days we have a hard enough time just with our two (precious, heaven sent) children! But, in the end we decide that we are adults, we love the Lord, and this, in the end.. is a good thing. We decide to wait to tell our families for 2 weeks which was when i was supposed to have my first appointment. A few days later i started spotting. I don't care who you are, if you spot during pregnancy you immediately think the worst. And that i did. I called the doctor and they decided to see me the next day. (This was last week) The appointment goes well. I meed Dr. Alexander and his staff and could not be more thrilled with them. Really, they are soooo awesome. He does an exam. That was fine. Then we joke that twins run in my family and that there is a possibility. He jokes that he has delivered enough twins and doesn't want to do any more. Then he does the ultrasound. Honestly, i have no idea what i am looking at, but it looks empty to me. My heart drops. Then, i see it.. one little sac. He says everything looks good and that he wanted to take a look at my ovaries.. then he says, wait.. "Ok, i have to be honest, i see another sac." Then he says, "One, Two, One, Two" and goes back and forth between the two. I say something like "No way!" because even if we joked about it i really didn't think that would happen.. i mean, really?! Then he went on to talk about how i am only 5 weeks along (at the time) and it was too early to see anything inside the sacs and that i needed to come back in 2 weeks. He also mentions that it is possible one of the sacs could be reabsorbed back into my body. My head was spinning by this point. The spotting i had was likely due to implantation spotting, and it was just a little late.

Jay was at home with the kids during my appointment so i did not get to share this with him until i got to the car. His response was, "No way, he had to be looking at it wrong.. no way!" Ha! Then i called all the rest of my family and told them the news. Most were fine when i said we were pregnant. Then when i said twin they were dead silent. Classic.

So, our next appointment is a week from today, October 20th. At this appointment we should be able to hear/see heartbeats for either one or both. After letting it sink in for a week or so we are praying that God would spare both of their tiny lives. So, please join us in prayer for our unborn children!

We are in for a true adventure!

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Update

Because I know you are all just dying to know!!! Rylie has not had a single accident since day 2 of potty training. She is doing a great job. We have gone out of the house for a few hours almost every day since then. I am amazed. I don't even have to remind her anymore, she just tells me when she has to go. This just proves one thing... Girls are SO much easier to train than boys!!!!!!!!!!!!! That and when they are ready, they sure are ready!

Potty Training

For months now Rylie has shown all the signs of readiness to be potty trained. I have been leary to start in fear that my result would be the same as Tristan. It took us a year to train him. It was likely my fault for starting before he showed readiness signs and literally trying every method. It finally clicked by just making him run around naked. Now, he is fully trained and goes himself. I never worry about him. Anyway, back to Ry. 3 days ago we were at Target (surprise, surprise!) and she adamantly told me she had to potty. I will admit that I was a little skeptical at first but she was adamant. So I rushed to the bathroom where she immediately went and I discovered her pull up was dry. It was then that I realized I really needed to start with her. So, start we did 2 days ago. Hardcore. Undies only all day. That first day she had 2 accidents but still told me every time she had to potty. Wow. Day 2 was yesterday and she did great. 3 accidents in the morning where she started to go in her undies and the rest in the potty. She still told me every single time. Wow!! Today is day 3. I will continue to follow her around constantly reminding her to tell Mommy if you have to go potty' but I think she is very close to being done. I will say however that she tries to sit on that potty all the time to get that M&M. She has gone way more than necessary but I don't mind. Today is the real test. We have to go to the bank and pick up a few things at the grocery store. I will bring a few changes of clothes just in case but I'm sure she will be great! All this makes me wish I had started with her months ago.. Oh well.

Doesn't she look adorable with her little undies!! She is super cute!

Scared

Every few weeks Jay and I decide we are going to go out and do something fun with the kids. This past Monday we decided we would take them to the Santa Cruz Beach and Boardwalk. We knew the rides would be closed but thought it would be fun to miniature golf with the kids. I
should realize by now that I always have this grandiose idea of what we will do and how fun the kids will think it is.. Because we are dang good parents! It never works out that way. Problem number 1- it was loud. The golf was inside the arcade. Tristan hates loud. Problem number 2- Tristan looked up and at the entrance of the golf there a skeleton dressed as a pirate that totally freaked Tristan out. He was so scared he was crying hysterically and would not let go of us. Nice.
No golf. So we thought we would walk around the arcade. All kids love that, right?! Wrong. He wouldn't play anything. In the picture below Jay and Ry are playing skeeball but this is how Tristan looked. The whole time. That is, until we left the arcade and bought a licorice rope. He was all better then. I should be used to this by now. Poor Rylie wanted to do everything. Either she didn't see the skeleton or she is braver than her brother. I'm starting to believe the later is
true..

Stinker

Tristan's new favorite thing is to make a 'house' using all the pillows from both couches in the playroom. I feel like I clean them up at least 10 times a day! Maybe I should just leave them.. Clearly he loves it... Dang he is cute!

Auntie Stacia

Many of you know that Jay's sister, Stacia lived with us for 3 or 4 years in Georgia. She had a super busy schedule but still managed to help out a TON (more than i realized at the time, but do now!) with the kids and the house. The kids love her, and really miss her. . praying for her every single night. In fact, she is not only my sister in law, but i consider her a really great friend.

I was giving the kids a bath tonight when there was a knock on the door. I was leary to get up, thinking it would just be a solicitor. I am glad i did though because right outside of my front door were two large boxes. A care package from Stacia. It was huge, really. The first big box was a super cool pool with a slide. The second box had a Nemo slide, small ipod speaker (for the beach!), plates (I just said i needed more of the seperated ones today!) and a mug for Tristan, a cute bathing suit for Ry and a dress, a pair of shorts for Tristan and 2 shirts. Seriously?! What an awesome surprise. In true Stacia fashion i am sure she got insanely good deals for all of it. But still, she thought of us and that means a lot! We miss her. So much. And not because she always buys us super cool things. It is days like this that remind me there are people who care about us. So, thank you, Stacia. We love it!

Short end of the stick

Sometimes i find my self complaining that Rylie isn't more "girly". She doesn't really like to play with dolls (maybe because we haven't bought her that many) or most of the typically girly things. She would rather play with cars (with her brother) or wrestle. I realized this morning that i am not helping the situation by putting her in Tristan's old pajamas, that are obviously all boy. Luckily, she doesn't seem to mind. I guess this is what happens when you have a boy and then a girl. It will be interesting to see what kind of girl she turns out to be. For the record, i did paint her nails pink yesterday so maybe there is still hope for a girly girl after all...

Beachside Retreat Reunion

We just got back from a wonderful mini vacation in Long Beach with my family. It was the first time i have been with all of my siblings at the same time in literally like 5 years. My grandma Wilcox, few of my Dad's siblings, and my sister Nicole's boyfriend Danny came too. We stayed at the Beachside Retreat which is an apartment complex right on the beach. Many thanks to Muriel for putting it all together and allowing all of us to stay. We were spoiled for sure. Lots of food, sun, sand, and fun! I am hoping we can do something like this every year. I suppose the real reason we all got together was to celebrate my Grandma, Dad, and sister Natalie's birthday. It really was a great weekend!! Check out the pictures!

Back from the dead!

The past week has been brutal to our little family. A week ago on Monday Rylie got sick. Violently sick all of Monday night. It was bad. She woke up doing pretty well and after pretty much washing and wiping down the whole house i was thankful no one else seemed to get it! Then, Thursday night before bed Tristan kept saying his tummy hurt. He would go in the bathroom and put his face over the toilet like i had assumed he saw Rylie do a few days before. I thought it was a genius tactic for him to stay up and continually told him to go back to bed. Bad Mommy. Then, Jay got home around 9:00pm and Tristan ran over to say hi (he was still awake). He immediately ran to the bathroom and straight to the toilet he went with the same head over pose. But this time, he wasn't posing. That's when it hit me!! He really was sick, and his tummy really did hurt, and he was really trying to tell me the whole time. Dang i felt so bad!! He continued to visit the porcelain throne a few more times throughout the night. At the same time Jay was complaining he didn't feel so well and wanted to go to bed. I told him to stay in Tristan's room so he wouldn't get sick and Tristan could stay with me in our bed. Seriously, it wasn't even 10:00pm before Jay was in the bathroom completely sick as well. Perfect. 2 sick boys on the same night! Luckily Tristan was done about 1:00am, but i really can't say the same for Jay as he was up at least every 45 minutes. So sad. As with Rylie, the next day Tristan was in good spirits and acting as if nothing happened. Well, he did have the occasional bout of exhaustion but that is to be expected. Jay, however, SLEPT. The entire day. Seriously, i think we saw him for all of one hour and he was back to sleep. It was crazy. We have spent the weekend trying to recover and I really cannot believe i did not catch it. Especially since i was the one taking care of everyone!! God is good. Anyway, yesterday was the first day everyone felt well enough to get out for a bit. We weren't up for going to church yet (which, by the way, is where i think we caught it to begin with.. such is life) so we relaxed in the morning and then headed to Islands for lunch, walked around the mall for a bit, the kids got their face and hand painted, went to Rite Aide for some ice cream in a cup, and then hit up Petco to look at the pets. After all of that it is safe to say we were all ready for a nap. Anyway, I am so glad the flu has left our family and I am still praying i don't get it. Here are a few pictures of the kids with their paint. Rylie wanted a cat and it turned out awful, but it was because she moved a lot i think. This is when it looked the best. Tristan asked for a spider (looks more like a scorpion?!) on his hand and was so funny after.. he didn't want to move his arm at all. Too cute.

I love my kids!

I think sometimes I complain a little too much about my children. Yes, they are 2 and 3 and only 16 months apart (which I admit is very challenging) but I love them so much. I thought I would dedicate this post to them and 10 things I love about them!

1. The smiles on their faces when they wake up and see me in the morning. Complete joy.
2. I love their cuddles and sweet hugs and kisses.
3. I love that they pray for their Mommy and Daddy and sweet friends every single night.
4. I love to hear Rylie call Tristan "Brother"
5. I love hearing Tristan tell me to "Leave Rylie alone" if I have been too hard on her.
6. I love how quick they are to forgive me when I lose my cool.
7. I love that I look at them every day and see how much God loves me.
8. I love to hear Ry Ry shriek (very loudly) when she sees a balloon or birdie or something outside.
9. I love to hear them call me Mommy.
10. I love watching them hold hands and play together.

There are obviously so many things I love about my kids. This only scratches the surface. I needed to write this for me though. It is easy for me to get caught up in the messes and fights and little things like that. But I am blessed. I love them. So next time you hear me complain remind me of this...

Our beautifully dirty girl.

In awe that she caught the bubble. I love her.

Deals!!

I suggest all you Mamas out there rush on over to your local Toys R Us TODAY! I had to run some errands with the kids today and stopped by to pick up a writing toy for Tristan. (Remember, I am going to start teaching him to write and do Preschool stuff at home now. This thing is super cool and shows you how to write upper case, lower case, and shapes. This alone was $21.99) I walked in to find Crayola crayons, colored pencils, and markers on sale for Buy 1 Get 2 FREE. Yes! I spent $7.49 on 6 packages of Crayola products. I managed to walk out the door for $40 with all the Crayola stuff, the writing toy, construction paper, flash cards, and a Preschool workbook. Seriously, i feel so frugal! Yay for good deals! Now go tell your friends.

Change

I have spent the last few months trying to adjust to our new life here in California. I can't say that i feel like i have fully adjusted yet, but i know that will come with time. Anyway, Jay and I spent a lot of time with our new one income budget and quickly realized money would be tight and some things needed to be cut. One of those things was Tristan's Preschool. It was going to be $200/month and i can spend way less teaching him the same things at home. I was really looking forward to him going so he could get interaction with other kids but it was only 2 days per week and 3 hours per day. Who knows, maybe next year. The other thing we knew we had to cut out of the budget was, sadly, my hair. We just can't afford to get highlights like i did in Georgia. My hair was in desperate need for color so we talked about it and Jay wanted me to go Red. Well like a burgundy. I have done this before so it scared be but i took the plunge. My rockstar husband put the color on my hair, and let me tell ya.. it was RED. It freaked me out. So the next day he dyed it dark brown. I must say i really like it. Though i really am partial to blonde i think it is fun (and cheaper) to do something like this which is closer to my natural haircolor, minus the red of course. Anyway, here is the final result. It is going to take some getting used to for me. Here is to change...

New Fish

Here is our new fish. Sadly, Blue only lasted one day. He seemed sick from the moment we put him in the tank. This one is super feisty though! Hopefully he will actually last!

They really do love each other.

Precious.

Reading Blue a story

Tristan decided Blue needed some storytime. So cute!

Newest addition to our family...

Here he is, Blue, our new Betta fish. Well that is what the kids are calling him right now anyway. We have been promising them for months now that we would get them a fish so today was the day. We really hyped it up and got a cool tank with a filter (because secretly, or not so secretly now, i am scared to have to move that thing to clean the tank all the time) and some fake leaves and rocks and stuff. So, we brought Blue home. We got the tank all set up and the kids were amazed. Super cute. We fed him some fish food, which he didn't eat but whatever. Then, the kids went down for a nap and Jay and I watched a movie (17 again, which was really cute by the way). When Tristan woke up he apparently assumed the fish needed a snack, after all he always gets a snack after nap. So, what is a 3 year old boy to do? Feed his new little friend, of course! And that he did, bread. After fixing that little fiasco, and after Tristan pulled the filter out we took all the water out and made poor Blue come out of his very new home. Cleaned out the tank and tried again. After, of course, having a stern talk with Tristan that the fish does not need to eat bread (or rocks, or grapes, etc.) and the filter has to stay put. It's all for the best though since Jay put it together the second time instead of me and it looks WAY better. Seriously, if Blue makes it through the night it will be a miracle. Although I have heard that Betta fish are pretty resilient. Guess we will see. He has been hiding in the fake grass in the tank for awhile now. No doubt trying to hide from his new owners!!

Oh yeah, and as if that wasn't enough fun for one day the kids were just in the bath and Rylie POOPED. Seriously, that has never happened to us. I think it is time to call it a night. :)

Tristan's Before and After

Tristan's hair has been looking pretty long lately. We went to the beach today and I decided I would "trim" Tristan's hair tonight before the bath. Jay and Stacia always make fun of me because no matter how much I say I am just going to trim the sides I inevitably cut way too much off. Poor kid, I did it again today. I should probably just let Jay cut it from now on, or even... gasp, take him somewhere to get it cut. Here are his Before and After pictures. And seriously, what is up with the baby bangs?! When do those darn things grow out!? Yes, i do realize Tristan looks totally goofy in the after picture. This is the face he makes when asked to smile. Funny boy.