Latest Professional Phots

We took the girls in for some new professional pictures. I had wanted to get them done around the 15 month mark but things slipped away from us. The girls are now 16 months and they have grown so much since the last pictures taken on their birthday. I was a little upset with JC Penney's because they used to allow you to post the digital copies of the photos to facebook and the blog but now they no longer allow this. I was extremely frustrated about this new change to their policies and I'm not sure if I will go back. Luckily my dad was able to capture the images so I could at least post them on the blog. I keep the blog as the girls' baby book instead of doing a traditional book so I need a photographer or a photography place that offers the digital copies regardless of what I purchase. I alwasys spent around $80-90 each session so why can't they humor me with the digital copies???

Riley had a large bump and bruise on her forehead but you really can't see it. Both girls are going through an awkward hair phase. The hair on the top of their head seems to grow much slower than the hair on the back of their head, giving them a mullet type of look. I think I may cut their hair to give everything a chance to even out....I just haven't decided yet. If anyone has any suggestions let me know. Riley has more bangs than Addison...Addie takes after her dad with her hair line but she does have little hairs in front that my grow in later.

Here are the photos, keep in mind they are not the best quality because they were captured from the online album so they have lost some of the luster.





Addison and Mommy

Riley and Mommy

Riley





Addie:

I got the Job!

Yesterday was a nice day. I met with Tiffany at Rebound Gymnastics . Rebound Gymnastics West is owned and operated by former International Elite and ASU gymnast, Tiffany VanDusen. Tiffany is passionate about gymnastics and has made her passion into her own business. I had a great time talking with her and it looks as though I will be a great fit for the gym. I will teach the mommy and me classes and some of the pups classes. I will probably teach on 2-3 days a week for short class times. I'm excited to do something I am passionate about and get paid a little as well. I start on Saturday morning where I will learn from the friend that introduced me to the gym and the position. Nikki is such an energetic person and she does a great job with the little kids so I know I will learn a lot from her.

Last night we went out to dinner to Olive Garden with my parents and the girls for my early Birthday dinner. My dad bought the girls "One Thing" "Two Thing" Shirts to wear when we go to Disneyland! He also got me the Cat in the Hat book which was my favorite growing up and now I can read it to the girls.

Today at work my team is taking me out to YC's Mongolion grill for my actual Birthday. Then my mom is taking me out to dinner. We will probably fill up on some yummy Mexican! I will probably find a few extra pounds before this weekend is over. Jesse has to stay at work for Open House at the school so it will be just me and my mom tonight.

New look and other news

I thought it was time to dress up the blog a bit. I hope you all like the new look. Just humor me if you don't.

One a different note: I am going for an interview today to coach/teach mommy and me gymnastics. The mommy and me class is for both boys and girls age 18 months to 2 years that want to learn a little about gymnastics and have fun with their mommy/daddy.

I was a gymnast for many years as well as a cheerleader and I have always wanted to find some part time work in a gym teaching young gymnasts. I don't know much about the skills of a young toddler but I am willing to learn and hopefully later on I can move up to the higher levels. The position is for 2 classes a week one during the work week right after work and another on the weekend. I don't think it would be too much to add this to my schedule.....and yes, I am crazy for even considering it.

Progress on Bed Time

For the longest time, Riley has been our easy girl to put to sleep at night and Addison has fought bed time with every ounce of her being. Riley used to be our one with the bed time issues and to deal with those issues, I would put Riley to sleep by rocking with her and giving her extra mommy time, which I think she needed. Jesse would be the one to dress Addison for bed and deal with putting her to sleep. Somewhere along the way, Addison started refusing to go to sleep. If you tried to put her in her crib awake, she would scream bloody murder and wake up her sister. This was always a stressful situation to have both babies up screaming at bed time when all Jesse and I needed was a little down time.

So as inexperienced parents, we started giving into Addison by allowing her to stay up later and play and get extra mommy and daddy time before she would conk out on the living room floor. We were putting her to bed asleep rather than awake which I know is not smart. This routine continued for months and months.

With Jesse's new work schedule, I am often left to putting both girls to bed by myself so I would put Riley to sleep at 7pm with no issues and then help Addison get comfy and sleepy. Addison was staying up until 8:30 or sometimes 9pm and that was not working in my schedule. I turned out the lights in the front room and would rub her back and just give her individual attention and after a few nights, I was able to put her to sleep "sleepy" but still awake. She would get into her crib and I would get her all comfy with her blanket and BAM, she would go right to sleep. For the past week she has gone to sleep by 7:30 at the latest and the only night she went to sleep by falling asleep before hand was on Jesse's watch. On my watch, Addison will not be allowed to go to sleep in the living room. She needs to know that she goes to sleep in her room. Last night she went to bed at 7pm. She talked to herself for about 5 minutes and then she was out for the entire night.

Now I get that down time at night that I need to recharge my batteries and allow me to watch terrible reality TV to put myself to sleep. Normally I don't watch TV hardly at all but I do love to partake in the bad reality TV once in a while.

I hope this new bed time routine sticks and I can know that another caregiver or babysitter could actually put the girls to sleep and not have a big fight out of the girls. Riley doesn't even need to be rocked to sleep anymore and that makes the whole routine doable for one person, if need be.

Trying to stay productive...

We have so much to do in the house to get it ready to sell. I'm trying to tackle one closet or one part of a room at a time. I am going through everything in that area and putting things in piles of "keep", "sell in the garage sale", "donate", and "throw away". On Saturday after I worked my 4 hours of overtime, came home and got straight to work on the hallway closet. This closet was organized at one point complete with a plastic organizer for all my crafts and gift stuff but over the years, more and more things were piled in there and that closet was busting at the seams.

As I got started, the girls were very happy to help me out. They were cranky up until I started the work and then they were entertained the whole 2 hours it took me to go through everything until they went down for a nap. They were happy to play with Christmas paper rolls, old papers, bows, and any other junk we had piled in there. As much as it slows me down to have them there, it is so funny to watch them. It keeps them entertained, so I might just have my two best helpers around as I work on each room.

I was able to box up everything in that closet and I got several boxes ready for the garage sale. We still don't know when we will have the sale, but the sooner the better. I am thinking maybe the weekend after we come back from Disneyland or maybe the last weekend in September. I need boxes and tables to use for that sale so if any family/friends have things I can use or want to help out in the garage sale, let me know.

The girls had me smiling and laughing all weekend. After a long week of the girls being cranky, I was ready for a little fun with them and they gave that to me both Saturday and Sunday. I will be posting our pictures of fun at 16 months tonight, I hope.












That is our news for now, everyone have a good week.

16 Months

The girls turned 16 months old yesterday. The 26th of every month seems to come faster and faster. Sometimes I barely recognize that the 26th is here and we have made it another month raising twin girls. These girls are the light of my life and I can't even remember what life was like before these sweet girls made their entrance into the world. I think I vaguely remember a little more sleep but I don't remember the fulfilment I have today.

As the time passes, I barely remember what it was like being pregnant. Sometimes when I get a gas bubble, I am reminded of the movement the girls used to do in my womb. I miss those quiet mornings when the girls would wake up and roll around and play together inside of me. The miracle of life amazes me sometimes and I just can't get over how much of a miracle it is to bring children into this world. I am also reminded of how our story could be very different.

Our first scare started at 18 weeks when my cervix began shrinking rapidly and the doctors didn't even know if I would make it to 24 weeks where viability could be an option. I was put into the hospital for a few days to monitor the girls and keep me on strict bed rest. We later learned that a cerclage to keep my cervix closed was not an option and the best way to stay pregnant would be lying horizontal until the girls made their entrance.

I remember feeling so scared and so upset that after all we had been through, we might not get to keep our little girls. I made a vow to myself to do my best with the bed rest and do the job of baking our girls as long as possible. I was released after few days to home bed rest and was told to come back to the hospital around 24 weeks where they would get more aggressive to keep the girls inside my womb. Looking back on this now, I see that the doctors didn't know if I would make it to 24 weeks and at 18 weeks there wasn't much they could do. Well I surprised them all and made it past 24 weeks, and I got to participate in my early baby shower. I remember not wanting to plan on the shower or register for items not knowing if the girls would make it. When we got to 24 weeks my confidence grew and I knew I would have happy healthy girls. I was put in the hospital 2 more times before the girls were born and I did my best to carry them to 32w6d gestation.

Now we have beautiful girls that don't seem to be affected much by their prematurity. Our girls are toddlers now and they walk, attempt to run, and play all over our house. They are growing like weeds and we are excited to take them on their first visit of many to Disneyland in 2 weeks. We are a big Disneyland family and the girls will have many visits over the years to the Happiest Place on Earth.

Mommy loves you girls and I just ask that time slows down just a bit so I can enjoy the last bit of your babyhood.

Picture Post

I have been neglecting the blog by not putting up enough pictures of the girls. Blame it on sickness, being tired, or too much work. I have very little time to sit and download photos and make a blog post the older the girls get. Dare I say that I miss those days when they were younger and slept all day??? A few people have requested some new pictures so to appease the masses here you go:

Riley at the mall:

Addie at the mall:







Riley doing her thing on Facebook

Riley sharing with Addie:



Riley:

Addie:



Hanging out with their older cousins, Nate & Nick

Addie:

Riley:

Busy Busy Busy

I bet you would never believe that a family with twin toddlers is busy but seriously, our days just fly by. Jesse is now the head volleyball coach at his school and this takes him away from the family in the evenings and he often doesn't get home until really late. Jesse is also being forced to take a community college course on literature by the school administration even though he has a masters degree in Education and is state certified to teach English. So this is forcing him to get home late every Monday night in addition to the other days that the volleyball team has practice or games.

I'm working 11 hour shifts Monday - Thursday with a half day on Friday and a half day on Saturday to help jump start our debt repayment plan. We have done well so far by paying off 3 credit cards and we are about to start attacking our line of credit. It feels good to make such great progress but this mama is tired!!! We are also putting our house on the market right before Labor Day and we have some clutter to get through, a garage sale to put together, and a few improvements to finish.

In an effort to keep this mama sane we are looking to hire a mother's helper / Babysitter to help out on a few evenings a week and an occasional weekend day or date night for Jesse and I. I will also be starting my 2nd masters program and I want to take this at the ground campus rather than online so I will be gone 1 night a week for class and Jesse will need help with the girls. We have interviewed one lady so far that has twin experience and preemie experience which is a big plus! She has more experience probably than what we need but she is having trouble finding full time work so she is willing to help us out until she finds some thing full time and even then she may still be able to help us. Her references check out great and the girls seemed to like her. We are interviewing a high school senior this weekend and have a few more interviews to set up.

The girls have never been in the care of a stranger before so this is all new to me and I hope we find the perfect person to be our helper. If anyone local knows anyone that can help us out too, feel free to let us know.

In baby news, Riley is teething her premolars and she is cranky throughout the day and is waking up several times at night which is no fun at all. Addison is sweet as can be and she is taking more steps every day. She works hard with her walker during the day and I bet we will have her walking full time here soon.

So that is the Prather news for now.

They Amaze Me

My children just amaze me. I was rocking Riley to sleep last night (for the second time I might add) and I was surprised to see how big my little girl is getting. It amazes me that they were tiny little babies that fit inside my belly and now they barely fit in my lap. The whole concept of how babies start out as a bunch of cells and turn into the most beautiful people is just amazing. I often wonder if my mom looks at me and thinks “Wow I carried her in my belly, and now look at her”. It is still crazy to think that I had two babies inside me at once and how I was able to deliver them 2 months early, yet they were perfect in every way, just a little small.

I’m trying hard not to take moments for granted. With Riley’s new bout of teething, she is waking up several times through the night and it is easy to get worn out and frustrated but as I was rocking her last night, I was thinking about how I will look back a few years from now and miss those moments. I’m sad knowing that my girls are growing so big that they take up my entire lap instead of just my arms. It is funny when both girls want to be in my lap because it is so hard to juggle both of them. I don’t want these moments to fly by so I am trying to keep a good attitude and to cherish those moments that I can rock my babies to sleep and have them feel secure in my arms.

More Teething?

My sweet Riley who is our good sleeper girl woke up 6 times last night. 4 of those times were between 9:45pm and 12:15am. Riley is our girl to go right to bed after her bath and we normally don't hear much out of her. She may make a small cry during the night but she doesn't get up often.

I'm thinking that she may be teething again because getting up THAT many times last night is not in her nature. After the last time she woke up, she got some Tylenol and she was able to sleep until 6am after that. I'm thinking that we may have to give her a dose of Tylenol before bed if she is working on some of those molars in the back.

This non sleeping thing is not good for the whole family and she ends up waking Addison up as well so we really need to keep her happy and sleeping. And these are the times I wish we had the girls in separate rooms to avoid the other baby waking up. Maybe we will entertain the separate room idea when we move into a bigger house.

A Surprise Delivery

The girls and I were playing in the front room and we kept hearing a chirping noise outside. Finally I went outside to see if there was a bird in the tree or something and as soon as I opened the door, I found 3 little cute kittens crying on our front step. It was 110 degrees outside and they were hot and hungry.

Of course I had to bring them in the house and get them fed and now they are hanging out in our laundry room until we can find homes for them. Hopefully we can find a good home for each one and we won't have to bring them to the humane society.

If you know anyone looking for a cute lovable kitten 6-8 weeks old, let me know. They are all litter box trained and are eating both dry and wet cat food. All they need is a loving home.

The girls went nuts when they saw them and have loved playing with them ever since.

Twin Facts

This weekend is twins weekend and the 34th Annual Twins Days Festival kicks off in Twinsburg, OH. I know we can't make it out to this festival any time soon, but I think the girls would love to go to this when they get older to meet other sets of twins and celebrate the fact they are twins and they share that special connection with other 100,000 new twin births every year.

The states with the largest concentration of twin births each year include:
- Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New Jersey

Ironically, the states with the lowest number of twin births include
- Arizona, Alaska, and New Mexico

Although fertility drugs play a big role in the incline of twin births nation wide, and we are a part of that statistic. A combination of the fertility drug Clomid and IUI produced our precious fraternal twin girls.

IGBO-ORA Africa has the highest concentration of twin births at 4x the national occurrence of twin births. Researchers think that a diet rich of the Cassava plant is what leads to the high number of twin births.

Pretty nifty stuff!

Determination

Things have been very busy lately. I feel as though my days just blend together. Because Jesse and I are so determined to get out of debt, I have been working overtime. Most days I am working 5am to 4pm with a shorter day on Friday. I am planning on working 4 hours on Saturday morning now while Jesse takes care of the girls. This will be about 10 hours of overtime a week which will lead to us paying things off faster. Things are going to be tough for a while but the rewards of being debt free will be even nicer. We have to live like no other now, so we can live like no other later, as Dave Ramsey would say.

Jesse is helping out with increasing our income by becoming the girls Volleyball coach at his school. He will be coming home late most nights so he can run practice and go to games. The stipend for coaching is small but it is something. Is it worth not being home with the girls, we will soon find out. Every little bit of extra income will help so we can really start applying more and more to each debt. So far we have paid off 3 credit cards and we are working on our last small one and then it is on to bigger debts like our credit line and Jesse’s car payment. The last step is the student loans and those will take a while.

This determination is something we have passed on to our girls. We have some strong willed little ladies in our house. We have entered the temper tantrum phase. Most of their tantrums center around being on the couch. They are climbing on everything and their favorite place to be is on the couch. They don’t just stop at the couch, they will crawl on to the end tables and over the back of the couch to the kitchen counter. Seriously, these girls are little monkeys. When we pull them off the couch, they get really upset and throw themselves on the floor kicking and screaming. Riley cried for 30 minutes straight the other day with my mom because she couldn’t be on the couch. They get more and more upset with each other also. They take toys from each other, pull hair, scratch and knock each other down. The sibling rivalry is in full swing in our house and this will take place over and over again as the years go by. Oh..the joys of raising twin girls.

Good bye Good Friend

This pump and I became good friends over the last 15 months. From the day the girls were born, this pump was attached to me at 3 hour intervals. I rented the pump after leaving the hospital. This pump is very efficient and was what I needed to pump enough for twin girls. Many said it would be next to impossible to pump enough to feed the girls breast milk exclusively but I did just that minus just a few oz of formula right before the girls turned 12 months. The Medela Symphony is an efficient little machine and it helped me to make close to 37,000 ounces or 370 gallons of milk over the last 15 months.

The time has come for me to end my relationship with the pump. I thought I would continue a bit longer and make it until the girls turned 18 months but my passion was not in it anymore. My life revolved around pumping times, ounces accumulated, and the packing of pumping supplies. If I could have picked how things would have gone, I would have loved to be able to feed my girls at the breast rather than being an exclusive pumper. I could have stopped pumping at work at this age and allowed the girls to breastfeed and self wean, but that was not our situation. Riley was able to breastfeed but she self weaned at about 8 months. I think the reason for that was because we didn't have as much nursing time with me being a busy working mom and the fact I had to pump to feed Addison so it was much harder to coordinate pumping times with breastfeeding times and in the end I became an exclusive pumper.

I am just about done pumping. I returned the Symphony to the rental place and I am now using the Pump in Style Advanced to express a little milk in order to stay comfortable as my body gets the hint that I am done feeding my girls.

This is a bittersweet end to an era for me. You can say this is the end of the girls' babyhood. I now have toddlers walking around the house and my little babies that needed so much support have grown up a little bit. I'm sad to know that I am no longer providing their nourishment, but I am happy to be free from the restrictions of pumping. I no longer have to pack my pumping bag, clean pump parts, buy pumping supplies, and take time away from my day to pump. The only thing I am going to miss is the quiet time I had at work to pump and read. I probably read about 15-20 books in the last 15 months because I spent so much time pumping and I always had a book in tow.

I will leave you all with my Exclusive Pumping Tips for anyone considering pumping full time:

-You have to establish your supply early. This means pumping every 2-3 hours around the clock for the first 2-3 months. Then you may be able to go around a 4-5 stretch at night but keep to the every 3 hour schedule during the day.

-Pump for at least 20 minutes if not more if you want to have good supply. I would normally pump for about 5 minutes after the milk stops flowing and for me that was around 25-30 minutes per session

- Rent a hospital grade pump like the Symphony even if you plan on buying a personal pump. I used both the Symphony and the Pump in Style Advanced in my pumping journey.

- Drink water like a fish. Drink until you can't stand the thought of more water.

- Eat plenty of calories - You will be surprised at how calories play a major role in milk supply.

- Get your rest when you can. Have your husband or other family members help out with feedings so you can sleep and nap.

- Take herbs like Fenugreek, mothers tea, and more milk plus to increase your supply or to give yourself a boost.

- Use a pumping bra to give yourself the ability to do things with your hands while pumping. I read a lot but I could also fold laundry, hand my girls toys, and work or play on the computer while pumping. This was the one I used and I ended up buying 4 of them to always have a clean one handy. Pumping Bra I would put this on over my regular nursing bra and use a hooter hider if I was pumping in public or when family was around. I also used this bra to pump while driving. I was always looking for ways to save time and pumping while driving gave me more time with my girls. Just make sure you don't get pulled over because the officer may have an issue with this approach. :)

- Try power pumping to increase your supply. This is where you pump for 10-15 minutes then rest for 10 minutes, then pump for 10-15 minutes and then rest for 10 and so on until you have pumped for about an hour to an hour and 15 minutes. This will help mimic a growth spurt or cluster feeding session that a baby would do at the breast.

- Find some support. I found a few good online message boards where I could turn and ask questions and get support from other fellow pumping moms.

- And give yourself the ability to quit if you need to. Exclusively pumping is not for everyone and it requires a lot of time and dedication. Don't feel bad if you need to stop but try try try your best to find support.

15 Month Stats

The girls went to the Pediatrician today and they both checked out well. Our biggest thing to work on is getting the girls to start drinking out of their sippy cups and stop using their bottles. We have been working on this for a while and Riley gets it better than Addison but neither one really likes to drink out of the sippy cups. I guess if we take away the bottles all together, they will be forced to use the sippy cups.

We got a new prescription for Zantac to help with the reflux issues. I know we were not using the correct dose after putting them back on the Zantac so the Dr. will call in the proper dose for us this time.

Here are the stats -

Addison:

Height: 29 3/4in ~ 25 %ile
Weight: 20lbs 4oz ~ 10 - 25%ile
Head: 18 3/4in ~ 90%ile

Riley:

Height: 29 3/4in ~ 25 %ile
Weight: 20lbs 9oz ~ 10 - 25%ile
Head: 18 3/4in ~ 90%ile

So our twins share the same height and head circumference and they are only 5oz different on weight. Riley the smaller twin is now the bigger twin for the last 3-4 months. It is so funny to see that they are so similar in their stats yet so different in their personalities.

They did great on their shots even though they had to have 4 each. They will only need 1 shot at their 18 month visit and then they won't have any more shots until they are 4 years old. Yay for a break in the shots.

15 Months

I'm looking back and starting to wonder how we went from having 2 babies to having 2 toddlers. Our girls are not babies anymore. We have walking, chattering, happy toddlers they have such a passion for life. These sweet girls brighten my smile and exhaust me at the same time. I love how they can make me laugh so many times a day and I love them dearly.

I look back to how life was last year ago at this time and I realize we have come such a long way. I had just gone back to work and I was getting used to my new schedule and being away from the girls all day was difficult. I also realized that I need that adult interaction and I enjoyed both of my jobs - inside the house and out. I still wish I was able to do some sort of work from home that would allow me to be home with the girls more but I know they are in good hands with my mom at home.

It is hard to believe that these were our sweet babies one year ago:

Riley left, Addie Right

Riley left, Addie Right


Addie:



Riley:



It cracks me up to see how little hair they had and even now, they are just beginning to grow out some hair.

And here we are, another hot Arizona summer later and the girls are 15 months old now.



Addie:




Riley:




Here are some stats and updates for both girls

Addie:
- is wearing size 3 diapers
- still only has 4 teeth
- still drinks breast milk at night, cow's milk during the day
- took her first steps on 7/22/2010
- can take 3-4 steps unassisted
- loves to laugh
- favorite toys include her blocks and stacking buckets
- tends to be a daddy's girl
- loves to eat macaroni and cheese and green beans

Riley

- is wearing size 3 diapers but could move up to 4's
- has 7 teeth, we thought she was cutting her 8th one but it hasn't popped through
- drinks breast milk at night - cow's milk during the day
- took her first steps on 7/5/2010
- can walk across the room with no problems, but still likes to crawl. That girl can crawl so fast.
- loves to gibber jabber and scream for no reason
- loves her piano and any musical toy
- is a mommy's girl - I can't leave her sight or she throws a holy fit
- loves to eat macaroni and cheese and peas

Riley is our early riser, Addie is our late night girl. Addie can nap a long time during the day and Riley likes shorter naps. Addie is our quiet thinker girl while Riley loves to make sure you know she is there. Riley is adventurous and Addie thinks things through first. Riley has a short attention span and Addie can sit for hours with the same toy. Both girls like to cuddle just at different times of the day. Addie has the most infectious laugh and Riley has the cutest smile. They are so similar and so different at the same time.

I will have more stats for height and weight on Wednesday after the girls go for their 15 month well baby visit to the pediatrician. Happy 15 months baby girls!!!!

Yay Addison

We officially have two walkers now. Addison took her first 2 unassisted steps yesterday evening. We had my parents over to visit with the girls. My dad was filming the girls to see how well Riley was walking and to get Addison's happy face on camera. Linda was helping Addison walk by holding her hands and she was doing such a good job walking along. She has been too scared to take steps on her own but she does really well walking if she can hold on to someones hand. My dad was filming away and Addison st oped walking with Linda. Addie sat down on the floor for a minute and then stood up close to Jesse. Jesse told her to come over and she took one step, and then another step and then fell into Jesse's arms!!! We all cheered for her and all the while, my dad was filming the big event. Jesse and I both had tears in our eyes to see our big girl take her first steps. You really are a proud parent when you see your child reach that next milestone. I'm glad we had the physical therapy to help both girls get closer to normal milestones.

Congrats Miss Addie!!!!! Mommy and Daddy are so proud of you and your sister.

I will post the video as soon as my dad sends it over.

Long Day

I am now working overtime at work to bring in some extra money to help with our pay off plan. I am starting work at around 5am and working until 3:30pm. These are long days and I have to go to bed pretty early in order to be fully awake so early in the morning.

After a long day yesterday, I went out to my car to leave for the day. Can you tell where this is going? Yeah, my car would not start. My battery was dead. I remember that in the morning my car had a little bit of hesitation before turning over but I completely forgot about that until my car didn't start. So I went back into my office and had a few of the guys on my team try to help me. We attempted to jump start my car but apparently the battery was too dead to be revived by a jump start. I was then forced to call AAA to help. Let me tell you, it is not fun waiting for AAA during rush hour. It took them 1 hour 15 minutes to finally find my office after the driver got lost twice. So by then I had been at work for almost 12 hours.

The driver got his super charged jump battery charged up and was able to jump start my battery with extra voltage. The driver then said he could sell me a new battery right there which I thought was a great idea because I didn't want to go drive to over to my shop and wait for them to put in the new battery. I ask how much the battery is and he tells me, $165....are you freaking kidding me??? What kind of battery costs that much money. He goes in to tell me about the warranty and blah blah blah but I couldn't justify spending that much money, especially now we are working towards paying off debt.

So while the driver was running more tests on my car, I called my shop and told them my battery was dead and wanted to find out if it was still under warranty and they told me it was. I get a partial payment back and the new battery would cost around $30. Yeah, that sounded so much better than $165 so I was willing to make the drive down to my shop. By now it is 5:30pm and the shop is closing at 6pm. I had to rush down there in more traffic and I barely made it.

I get to the shop and they tell me it will just be a few minutes and I will be on my way. Well after a few minutes they come out to tell me that the battery they had on the shelf was bad and they didn't have another one on the shelf. They could put in a loaner one. The loaner one was smaller than the battery I have so they had to rig my car up to hold the smaller battery. By 6:30pm they finally had it fixed so I could come home but they wanted me to come back the following day to get the new battery put in.

I finally got home and it was time to give the girls a bath and put them to bed. I was exhausted and sad that I would get no time to spend with the girls. This was not my idea of a good time but it was all in the name of working longer and getting out of debt.

Dave Ramsey, I hope you can see my horrible day and the sacrifices I am making to get out of debt!!!!!!!

I hope today is a better day.

How are things going?

I have been so bad about updating the blog lately. It seems that work and taking care of the girls has me busier than before. I don't even know how I was able to manage work, school, and the girls before I graduated from my masters degree. I only have a couple of more months before I start my next masters in Adult Education so I need to settle down and enjoy this free time.

The girls are growing so much every day. Riley is so close to walking. She has taken a total of 15 steps before falling in her best attempt so far. She really likes to stand up all the time. She is good at bending down and picking up her toys and then standing back up without any support. Every time we try to get her walking on video she starts crawling again. She doesn't like being filmed or she just gets too excited and doesn't concentrate on balancing.

Addie is standing up without assistance now. She watches Riley and laughs at her and then stands up on her own. She will walk really well if you hold on to just one of her hands but she doesn't quite have the confidence to take steps without any help. We had to take her out of physical therapy because Jesse is starting back at work as the new school year is just about here for AZ. I might check to see if there is a time that I can take Addie where I can leave work just a bit early or something. So far they don't have a time to accommodate us but I feel as though Addie is doing really well and will be walking on her own time.

Jesse and I are thinking about selling our home and renting for a while to have some lower payments and allow us to pay off some of our consumer debt. We are following the teachings of Dave Ramsey. If you have not hear about him, you really should check out his book, "The Total Money Makeover". This book was life changing for both Jesse and I and we hope to be debt free in the next couple of years. We then plan to purchase a house and work on paying the mortgage off in a maximum term of 15 years.

And before I go here are some recent pictures of the girls standing and showing off their skills:

Addie:


Riley:


Addie:


Silly girls:


Both standing:


And we are working hard to take the bottle away from the girls, but so far no luck:


And Friday was Brea's 29th birthday and we went out to celebrate. This is a big birthday because in a woman's life, you won't have any more birthdays. You will just have anniversaries of your 29th birthday so we had to have some fun.

Here we are together:

On the Mend

Our family is now on the mend. We had a rough weekend as Riley was very sick and continued to throw up all through the night on Friday night. I really thought we were going to need to take her to the ER because she couldn't stop throwing up. She was crying and looking at me to fix her, but all I could do was hold her and help her get the bad things out of her stomach. Finally she feel asleep on Jesse's chest and we decided to have her sleep in the Pack n' play out in the front room in case she had another episode. We didn't want to disturb Addison with changing her Riley bed sheets for another time. I slept out on the couch in the front room right next to my baby in case she got sick again. Luckily, she was able to keep everything down for the rest of the night and I managed to get a couple of hours of sleep. I felt like I had a newborn again and had to be up every few hours to change and diaper a baby.

Saturday was better and Riley only vomited up a little bit of apple juice. We cut milk out of her diet as the doctor said that dairy could cause the situation to be worse and Riley was always throwing up after having milk. We kept her hydrated with water, juice, and pedialyte and she was doing much better until Sunday. On Sunday, I started getting sick. I wasn't vomiting but things were running through my system and I was having bad cramps as well. I felt for both girls knowing what they were going through. I was really glad that Addison seemed to be getting by without getting too sick and my mom and Jesse were also doing okay.

Sunday night Riley started throwing up again and I knew there was no way I was making it through the night with her sick again and then trying to go to work the next day. I took Sunday off and tried to get some rest myself along with cuddling with Riley to help her feel better. Finally by Monday night, I was feeling better and Riley looked much better.

Tuesday I got back to work and Riley seems back to her old self again. Both girls are having normal diapers with no diarrhea and they seem to be happy babies.

Hand and Foot Disease

We have had a loss of appetite and diarrhea for this last week and last night our little Riley bug started vomiting. She vomited her night time bottle on me when we were rocking to sleep. She then woke up around 11pm and Jesse picked her up and she vomited on him. In the morning she was very cranky, drank half of her bottle and then vomited that up as well.

At that point, I knew we needed to take her in and see what the issue could be especially since it was Friday and I didn't want to go the whole weekend with a sick baby.

We took her and the first thing the doctor said was "another case of diarrhea and vomiting". So apparently this is going around in our area and the doctor was seeing cases like ours all week.

Riley seems to be doing okay. She isn't 100% but she is still laughing and playing with her sister. She vomited some apple juice and had another bad diaper around dinner time, so we aren't out of the woods yet.

I can tell she isn't her normal self because she laid on my chest for about 30 minutes after her nap today and normally that girl can't sit still for longer than 30 seconds. I felt like I had my little baby back that just loved to lay on my chest and cuddle with me.

It looks like this will be a weekend spent around the house as we get the girls back to feeling normal again.

We have a Walker

Little miss Riley took her first steps yesterday. She has been standing up independently for the last week or so and yesterday out of the blue, she took 3 steps. I was so happy that I was home to see this happen. I was so afraid that I would be at work when something big like this happened, but luckily, I was right next to her when she did it.

She tried several more times in the day to practice and got up to 4 steps before falling. We also tried several times to get it on video but any time we had the camera out, she wouldn't show off her skills. She is so bound and determined to get better and keep practicing though. She just squeals and laughs each attempt and she knows that she is doing something really cool.

Now I know that Addie won't let her sister get too far ahead. Addison started standing independently yesterday. Jesse watched her stand for about 15 second straight before she plopped back down on the ground. I'm sure it will be no time before both girls are chasing each other around the house.

The girls also learned how to get into the kitchen cabinets so we had to run out and get the supplies to baby proof the kitchen. Riley was so mad that she couldn't pull things out of the cabinets to play with but we couldn't have her playing with dish soap and bug killer, now could we?

My heart just melted with all the big accomplishments yesterday. It is bittersweet to know my girls are growing up. I miss my little babies that we had last year but I look forward to learning more about our growing toddlers.

Video Accomplishments

I've been trying to get blogger to upload these videos for days now but it just wouldn't take so I had to use photobucket to get the job done. I got these videos up on facebook a few days ago since FB is lightening fast.

The girls are getting stronger and stronger each day and I know it is just a matter of time before they are walking and running all over this house. Riley can now stand unassisted and here she is showing off:



Here is another video of them showing off their funny skills. They make me laugh every day> I'm so glad I have several pictures and videos of their "scrunchy faces".



This is all for now. Happy Independence Day to everyone!!!!!