Mother's Day

Me and my boys
It's my first Mother's Day and boy do I feel blessed. Have you seen my boys? Have you seen my husband? I am a blessed woman. I have 2 healthy little boys who are growing, learning, funny, smile, laugh, crawl and love. I GET to love these 2 little boys with all my heart. I GET to laugh, tickle, change diapers, wake up in the middle of the night, hold, cuddle, hug, kiss, wipe snot, feed, and love, love, love these two amazing miracles in my life. I'm the happiest mother alive (I'm sure the rest of you mother's feel the same).

I love being a mother. It's what I've always wanted. I always wanted 2 boys, and I got them at the same time! I love doing "mother things". I love beaming with pride over my kids' accomplishments and cuteness. I love being responsible for them and giving them all of myself. I love Owen and Chase!

I want to talk about how great of a Mother I have, too. It was my Mom who taught me all I know (along with my Dad). She is an amazing woman and I strive to learn from her and be more and more like her each day. She loved me when I wasn't very lovable and listens when I need an ear. She doesn't judge me or call my ideas crazy. She's a great support. She's MY MOM! I love her dearly.

To reward me for all my mothering tasks, my amazing husband built me an oasis, a sanctuary, a garden. I love to garden. It's nourishment for my soul. Check out these amazing pictures. The garden is a raised bed, due to the nature of our clay soil. It is filled with 120 bags of soil (why we didn't just have dirt delivered, I'll never know.) To get the sanctuary you must walk under an arbor on a flagstone path. The garden lies in the wild grasses of our backyard overlooking a ravine and lots of beautiful trees. It's like being on the farm. It's beautiful. I love it! I can't wait to get dirt under my fingernails and get some plants growing.

We went to church this morning and then went to Jeff's brother and sister-in-law's house for lunch. Jeff's parents returned from Florida this weekend and we got to spend Mother's Day with them. Sandy cooked a great lunch. After that we played outside and went home. The boys had nice gifts for me today and I got a special card from them too.
Jeff and the garden
r

Susie and Owen, Sandy and Chase, Lindsay and Sophia


The Berger Family on Mother's Day

Shake Shake Shake

Chase and Owen have fun playing at the gate. There is nothing like shaking a gate!

Grandma and Grandpa Anderson Visit

My parents paid us a visit last weekend and we had a great time. The weather was beautiful and we had fun with the boys outside, as you can see from the pictures. We all did some yard work while my Dad watched and played with the babies. We bought a new tree for the backyard. It was fun to show off the new moves and skills Chase and Owen have. My parents were thrilled with their development and how fun they are. Thanks for coming Mom and Dad!

Daddy's Birthday

Chase and Owen's Daddy turned 33 today! It was an exciting day-baking a cake, singing, having steak on the grill, too much for all of us! :) It's also the anniversary of our engagement 3 years ago. My how things change.

Do you think it's easy to take a picture of 2 10 month old babies eying a beautiful cake with lots of colored objects to try to grab? This is a work of art! A masterpiece! :)

10 Months

10 months! yeah!!!! (Owen left, Chase right)
Chase at 10 months
sOwen- 10 months
This picture says it all for Chase and what he is like at this point in time. He is picking at the little fluffs of fabric on the chair and intently looking at it. He is an examiner. He loves small items he can manipulate and try to figure out.
This picture says it all for Owen. He wants to move ALL THE TIME! He suddenly stood up on the chair and I was afraid he was going to go over the arm. Sitting for Owen is nonexistent.

Chase and Owen turned 10 months old on the first. They are getting to be such big boys. Scooting all over the house, talking up a storm, feeding themselves and getting teeth. It's been busy here lately. We've been making improvements to the landscaping, making a garden and enjoying the sunshine. Chase and Owen love to hear the garage door open, knowing they will get to go outside and see new things.

Owen is sure a smiler. When he isn't crawling and standing, he is smiling. In fact, he smiles when he is crawling and standing. He's amazingly sweet and loving, wanting to be held all the time. Chase loves to make you guess what he is thinking. He doesn't wear his emotions on his sleeve like his brother. He keeps his lips tucked in and only when something is very very funny, scary, or interesting, will he let you know. He's funny like that.

Nicknames:
Chase-Chasey, Boo Boo, Brother, Bubbu
Owen-OBaby, OJ, Brother, Boo Boo

Self Feeding

Some may ask, why am I letting him feed himself like this. Others may ask, why is he not wearing a bib. My only answer is, I don't know.


This is the cutest little video I've ever seen. I'm not sure how I got so lucky to capture it. The boys just love to love each other and obviously do. Enjoy.

Monkeying Around

The boys are now wearing big boy jammies. No more sleep sacks. :( Aren't these monkey pjs cute!

A Hidden Tooth and Two Sinus Infections

Chasey and Daddy
Snuggle time with Daddy
Owen

An intense exchange of love.
So the boys were back to the Dr. again today. After much debate I decided to take them in. Fevers, coughs, and general yucky feelings have been going on too long. The consensus? They both have a sinus infection. I'm so glad it was identified as SOMETHING and they are on antibiotics to get rid of it.

Also, while looking in Chase's mouth the Dr. and I found a hidden tooth! ha ha, it surprised the heck out of me. It's the top right incisor (eye tooth) tooth and it's weird because he doesn't have his top middle teeth yet. It was so cute just sticking out there. He never lets us in his mouth anymore so it's hard to tell what's going on in there. He is such a good boy, you'd never know he's teething. He has been on a lot of Tylenol to control his fever, so maybe that has helped disguise his pain. Anyway-it was exciting. The Dr. also noted that Owen's same tooth is about ready to pop through-which might account for some of his crabbiness. My parents are coming for a visit tomorrow and I can't wait! Oh-Chase climbed the stairs tonight! Yipee Chasey.

These pictures have nothing to do with the title of this post. I just love them so I thought I would share. Chase is in the white, Owen the blue. Can anyone tell them apart yet?

Thinking Inside the Box

We had some fun today in a big box. Don't you just love boxes and how easily they entertain children.

Chase is back on the nebulizer treatments for a cold that made its way to his lungs. He HATES the treatments-I mean HATES them. He cries the hardest I've ever heard him cry. I have to sing to him the entire time (many many verses of "The Wheels on the Bus", did you know there were cats, dogs and pigs on the bus?) and today he was so worn out he fell asleep. Praise God! He also had a high temp which scared me, but after discussion with the nurse, she said it was fine.

Update

I thought I should provide an update on little Stellan, for those of you who are following. He is currently in Boston, had surgery last week and is doing well. The surgery did not go exactly as planned, neither great nor terrible. They are waiting for him to have no SVT for 48-72 hours and then they think he will come home on meds to help regulate the SVT. Thank you for your prayers!

Pics

Owen holding on to the new gate we had to put up to keep them contained.
Owen and Chase playing on Daddy and having a good time.
Chase in Daddy's hat
Chase loving Daddy's hat
Owen's chubby chubby cheeks.
Owen wearing Daddy's hat
Owen on a walk
Chasey looking oh so cute as a little baby
eChase outside eating his snack. Notice it everywhere but in his mouth?

Not much is new around here. I had to come back and add a bit here. Obviously from what I wrote after that first sentence, there are new things! Owen is crawling like a big boy-everywhere and fast. He won't sit still for anything, including diaper changes. Have you ever tried to change twins and get some place on time? It's impossible. Jeff did a bunch of yard work today and I came out to see him sweating from trying to get the boys' diapers changed and their clothes back on. It was like I had been doing the yard work. You'll see many pictures of them without pants and it's mainly because it's too difficult to put pants back on! :) Chase can keep up with Owen-he can sure scoot if he's motivated. Motivation is the key word. Chase is so easy going that he doesn't really care if he sits in 1 spot the whole day. He'll find ways to occupy his time. Obviously I don't let him sit in 1 spot all day, but seriously he could! They both have been doing these big smiles that show off their 2 little teeth while wrinkling up their noses. It's hilarious. Every where we go lately we've been getting more attention than normal. With twins, you ALWAYS have attention. They are looking more and more alike when we go out-even I think so. I can always tell them apart, but they do look an awful lot alike. It's fun to watch the back of their heads in the stroller-always looking the same way, turning to look at something else at the exact same time-weird twin stuff. They get more and more fun by the day and we love them to pieces. We enjoy being outside, but that also requires me to be on major alert. Grass, leaves and yes, even mulch end up in their mouths. Not so good for the esophagus if it were to go down. Lots of things have been extracted from mouths, not so willingly. They are loving to eat by themselves! They have chunks of green beans, pears, black beans, crackers, carrots, broccoli, etc. They are really good at it. Owen is the best eater-he loves loves loves to eat and will sit there forever putting food in his mouth. He's pretty patient with the amount of time it takes him. Chase eats well, too-just gets a little frustrated sometimes and then bangs on his tray smashing the food and making it fly. It's a war zone-any where you walk you must be prepared to step in some sort of soggy veggie. Gross. We need a dog. A dog you don't have to take care of. Maybe the vacuum will have to do.

How Nice

I received the nicest Mother's Day gift in the mail on Monday. It was from my dear friends (family really) the Kings. If you can't read the writing on the apron, it says, "Super Mom". Isn't that sooooo nice?! I'm far from a super mom, but it's fun to wear around the house when I feel less than super. I was a "Summer Girl" (aka, Nanny) for the King's the summers of 1997, 1998 and a few weeks of 1999. It seems like it was yesterday, although it's been over 10 years. Boy did that experience teach me a lot about parenting, having 3 wonderful kids to take care of and wathcing it all be balanced very well. I learned a lot from Catherine and Ed, the parents, on how to parent 3 totally different kids. What a joy it was to be involved in the lives of Alexandra, Wilson and Graham.

New

Chase and Owen have been doing so many new things lately-it's amazing. Here is a list:

Owen: crawling, going from sitting to crawling, going from crawling to sitting, wanting to feed self, knowing to put the spoon in the food and then bring it to his mouth, clapping, pulling up on all furniture, only naps 45-60 min. now, wakes us up in the middle of the night because he is standing in his crib and can't get down, plays peek-a-boo, loves to hold some sort of fabric while sucking his thumb (i.e., blankie, his own shirt, my shirt, etc.)

Chase: took his first crawl step last week, that wasn't army crawling, took a 2 1/2 hour nap today, wakes up at 4:20 on the dot in the morning, loves to feed himself, loves to feed himself with the spoon by grabbing it out of our hands, knows how to tilt his head back to drink from a sippy cup, plays peek-a-boo, opens and shuts cabinets, feeds lamby with a spoon, blows air

TWO-God is Good

As I read, think and pray for my MOPS friend, Jennifer's little boy Stellan, I am overcome by gratitude to the God who saves me, that I have TWO healthy babies. I mean, TWO. The miracle of life is amazing. Having one healthy baby is amazing, I'm not trying to discount that, but imagine the miracle in having TWO! I have TWO reasons to believe in God, TWO reasons to get on my knees each day and praise the Lord, TWO reasons to laugh and giggle and learn not to complain.

When we first found out we were having a baby we were amazed. When I learned we were having TWO babies, I was in awe. As the pregnancy progressed and eventually the babies were born, I realized the significance of what had just transpired. God provided TWO healthy babies to us. Not only did he knit together one healthy baby perfectly, but he knit together TWO healthy babies, AT THE SAME TIME! There was enough space, enough fluid, enough nutrients, etc. Within minutes of each other they were born into this world. How does this happen? Seriously. Think about it. It's a true miracle. I wake up to TWO miracles daily. TWO babies born the same day, formed at the same time, in the same womb, turned out perfectly. How can you not believe in God?! It wasn't my good nutrition (Cheetos count, right?!), it wasn't the constant reading I did, it wasn't the weekly Dr. appointments I had, it was God. It was His hand in it all.

Did I mention we had a scare with Baby B (Owen)? At our 20 week, level 2 ultrasound we were told everything was great. When I got to my appointment my OB said, "You heard about the calcium deposit on Baby B's heart right?". um, no. I started freaking out as I heard it is a marker for Down syndrome. The Dr. said, "Baby B had no other markers of Downs, he will be fine." Um-you know the kids I work with daily right? This was not "fine". I was told my chance of having a baby with Downs just went up to 1/500, which are the chances a 35 year old woman faces when giving birth. This may seem unlikely to you, but at the time it was extremely scary to me. Of course we would have accepted a baby with Downs with nothing less than love and acceptance, but it was difficult. Because I was carrying twins there was no testing that could be done that was safe and would provide a definitive answer for us. We waited 18 weeks to find out if Baby B had Down syndrome. We prayed, we trusted, we waited. Praise God, when Baby B came out, he looked typical and we eventually found out he did not have Downs.

Miracles-they happen all the time. We have TWO! How about you? Miracles come in the form of Chase and Baby B, AKA, Owen. They also come in the form of Baby Stellan. Will you please continue to pray for him. Stellan goes into heart surgery tomorrow, a surgery that is rarely done on infants due to the complexity and difficulty of working with such a small heart. Pray for success!

Visit his site-www.mypreciouskids.net and be amazed at the miracle of this child and his mother.

Away from the Boys

Friday night was my first night away from the boys. I went home to my parents' for my sister's bridal shower on Saturday. It was hard to leave Friday. I thought I would be fine, but saying goodbye was more difficult than I imagined. I knew the boys would be fine with Jeff, but I was sad to not see them go to bed and wake up and play in the morning. I had a few small tears, but since they were playing they didn't notice. Apparently Jeff did great! I called many times and the boys were always laughing and having fun. They had their naps, bottles, solids and went to bed on time. My husband is so great! It was so nice to be home as myself. I could concentrate on conversations, watch the gifts be opened, talk to many people and just be "me". It's hard to be "me" sometimes with 2 babies to take care of. Of course I'm still me, but it's a different me. I was extremely bored in the car-man it is a long 4 hours!

I asked Jeff if the boys seemed to notice I was gone. He so politely answered he didn't know but they were very clingy. I'm sure they had no clue. Although Sunday morning when I saw Owen he got a huge smile on his face and began crawling toward me right away! :) It was so good to be home and cuddle them. When I went in to check on them Sat. night they both looked so little in their cribs. When I'm with them every day I begin to see them as "big boys". In reality they are still little guys. It was a precious reminder of their "littleness".

Even though it was good to get away, it was REALLY good to get back!

New

Spring!

Boy am I glad it's spring. We went for a walk yesterday, played in the grass (the boys actually liked it), visited with neighbors in the cul-de-sac, and I pulled leaves out Owen's mouth and helped Chase when he was choking on grass. I think I win mother of the year. :)

Last week my best friend, Lindzy, and her girls came for a visit. We had a great time catching up, playing, feeding babies, playing and feeding babies. It was busy around here and wonderful. He daughter Addyson is 6 weeks younger than the boys. Ela is 4 and kept the babies occupied.Ela, Owen, Chase and Addy playing together
Chase, Owen and Addy
Ela feeding the boys.

Fits

So the boys have learned how to protest-throwing fits is what I call it. They aren't actual "fits", but could soon be. When they get an object taken from them, or don't get what they want fast enough-food, out of their seats, etc. they will open their mouths very wide and yell. It's not a cry, but a yell to tell us they are not happy. I captured a picture of Owen doing it. Actually it's mostly Owen who does this.

Easter Fun

He is risen! It's an amazing day-a day I love. It's the day our Savior rose from death to live! Amazing. I hope your Easter is great, like ours was. We went to church and Jeff ushered. We dressed the boys in their Easter outfits-the scooter outfit we've had for over a year-waiting to use it. After church the boys took a mini nap on the way to Jeff's cousin's house for lunch. It was fun to be with family and we enjoyed all the kids. 3 sets of twins and 3 singletons-lots of kids.
Jeff and the boys
Momma and my Gems
The Berger family before Church. I'm holding Owen, Jeff-Chase
Owen reading his book from G and G Anderson
Chase chewing the head on his new lamb
Chase and Owen opening their Easter baskets from G and G Anderson
Happy Easter!
Aren't we cute in our Easter outfits?!
Chase and Owen opening their Easter package from Grandma and Grandpa Berger


Chase and Owen are Big Flirts! Shirts from G and G Berger
"You look funny!", "What are you looking at silly?!"
Chase and Owen love their Easter book from Auntie Kate

Owen loves his ears from G and G Berger
Chase's new bunny ears from G and G Berger