I think my "break" is over

I was pleasantly surprised at how little endometriosis symptoms I had when I was pregnant. I was of course busy complaining of other things pregnancy related :) Now at 27 months past delivery, I haven't been feeling well the last few months. I'm having some spotting in between periods (I take continuous birth control pills with 1 period every 3 months). I've had PMS being explaination. A few weeks ago my entire pelvis felt frozen and I even had trouble waking. A week or so ago I started having pubic bone pain. What it feels like is those last few weeks of pregnancy when all of the girls weight was pressing down on me. I have a doctors appt set up for Monday. I am 98% sure she will tell me it's the endo rearing it's ugly head but I always have to make sure it's nothing else... like a cyst, fibroid, etc. I'm not sure what next steps would be for me regarding handling pain. I try to take as little motrin, etc as possible but I think it may be time to look into having pain meds on hand if I need them. I have always felt that you shouldn't mask pain because your body tells you these things for a reason.

In the meantime, we haven't taken any steps forward yet in trying to conceive again with our frozen embryos. However, I know if we are going to do it, we need to do it within the next year or so because of my age, the girls age and a million other reasons :)

One week ago today we lost Grandma Minnie

My dad's mother passed away last week at 95. She lost her husband almost 30 years prior. She lived a long and full life! The girls will never remember her, which is actually okay because she hasn't been doing well for a few years now. She hasn't been "grandma" for awhile. I will always think of her when I hear polka and will pass down polka to my girls. I hope there will always be at least one polka played at the weddings we attend in the future!

Infertiity and H1N1

Please pass this along if you know anyone going through treatment...

Seeking Infertility Services? Experts Recommend Seeking H1N1 Immunization First

New research from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute for Child Health and Human Development confirms the need for H1N1 vaccines in women before undergoing infertility treatment.

Using data from the National Survey of Family Growth, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and a PubMed search, the number of infertility visits, H1N1 vaccination rate, H1N1 infection rate, the number of obstetric patients hospitalized with H1N1, and maternal death rate from H1N1 were estimated.

It was found that at the current immunization rate of about 24%, up to 17.5 maternal deaths could be prevented by H1N1 immunization. If all women receive the vaccination before infertility treatments, they researchers estimated 72 deaths would be prevented.

Last year, the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) and the CDC issued a joint statement calling for women to be vaccinated for the H1N1 virus prior to undergoing infertility treatments.

Based on these findings, William Gibbons, MD, President of the ASRM, concluded, “We stand by our recommendation and urge all women to receive an H1N1 vaccine prior to undergoing infertility treatments.”

Built in best friend

It just hit me last night how very lucky these girls are to have each other. I already know how lucky we are as parents. I watched the girls play "get you" for 1/2 hour straight and couldn't get enough of the giggles. Having a playmate allows us more time to get some things done while they occupy each other and how lucky are they to have their bestie by their side to play all the time :) It completely melts my heart when I see them grab each others hands or hear Emma say "Come on Mady, here's your baby." Emma has definitely taken on her role as big sis and ALWAYS looks out for Mady.

At almost 26 months, the girls are sleeping great for the most part. Mady hardly ever gets up, but Emma will end up waking up screaming my name about 1 day a week and usually ends up snuggling in bed with me. I love every minute of it... that is until she kicks ;) They go to bed at night like angels, thank god. However, naps as of late have been challenging. They basically haven't napped Fri-Sun for the last 2 weeks, which leads to cranky babies come 6-7pm. They sleep in to anywhere from 7am-8:30am. Usually around 7:30am.

Miss Mady is the temper tantrum queen. She will drop down to the ground regardless of where we are to show you just how very mad she is. This weekend we had to leave a restaurant as soon as we sat down because she just wouldn't stop. That being said, we have not and will not give up on going out. I think it's good for all of us! We usually take them out 1-2 times a week, usually one breakfast and one dinner. I know plenty of parents who just stop taking their kids out, BUT we hardly ever have date nights, so we need to get out of the house.

The girls are talking, talking, talking and singing. It's so entertaining to hear what will come out of their mouths next.

Pics to come of the costumes I've been slaving over making for Halloween and our trip to the Zoo Boo.

Thank You!

Turn up your speakers to hear Emma and Mady's Thank You greeting. Thank you so much for all the wonderful gifts and for those of you that were able to share their day with them! I'm sorry it took so long to say THANKS!

In case you need translation: "Thank You for our Presents" ;)

Pics!

Some birthday pics and some pictures from the beach!

Just click on the pictures to see more.

Miss Emma and Miss Mady are now up to 4-5 word sentences. I can't believe how fast this is all happening! We're also introducing the potty again. Emma is much more excited about it than Mady. Emma pees on it about 2-3 times a day, Mady maybe goes once.

Somehow it happened.

My little 3lb babies are now 2 years old. Where have the last 2 years gone? And the 9 months of pregnancy? And the 2.5 years of trying? I have somehow sped past 5 years!

The girls had an amazing birthday party full of friends. They had so much fun. It was all a blur for me, but I know they enjoyed every minute it of it and couldn't stop talking about their "happy".

Their 2 year check up went great. Emma is 25th precentile for weight and Mady is 50th. They are both 75th for height.

I will post pictures from the party soon.

We also just got back from Myrtle Beach, the girls second time there! They had a great time, we all did. They really miss their cousin Eli and Uncle Todd. They woke up every morning and immediately asked for Eli. He is now 18 months old and keeps up with those two very well! Pictures to come from our vacation as well. The girls rode carousels and trains, we went to a zoo in Roanoke and they did pretty well during the drive. We stopped half-way each way to spend the night and stopped half-way through each of those trips for a meal. So, most of the time the longest period in the car was 2.5 hours. At the 2 hour mark things got a little crazy. We did buy dual DVD players, which were a god-send. We watched Coraline, Monsters Inc, Shrek, Milo and Otis and Bolt repeatedly.

I'm currently trying to find something to do with the girls in the fall/winter. They did like music class, but I'm looking into some other options as well. It's hard to find something that doesn't break the bank, but will be fun.

Well, that was a super quick update. We're loving every day with these miracles. I missed them so, so much when I returned to work after vacation. It was really hard.

Pics!

A few recent pictures of the girls...

Favorite Books @ 2 years old

The girls have a few favorites right now. It's amusing to me how they gravitate just to those books.

The Little Red Hen
My Momma is a Llama
Goodnight Moon

I'm looking for some creative, space-saving solutions for their books right now. I love the look of these, but want something even easier to make ;)

http://blog.craftzine.com/archive/2010/02/how-to_book_display_shelves.html

Word Watch

I saw this on another mommies blog, she posted all of her kiddo's current words on her blog, and it reminded me to do this! The girls are now saying 3 word phrases and sometimes 4! Still plenty of gibberish, especially when Emma reads.

Everyday words/phrases we hear a lot from both of them...

1. Animals
2. Apple
3. Baby
4. Ball
   
5. Banana
6. Bath
7. Belly
8. Bless You
9. Bike
10. Bird
11. Boo Boo
12. Book
13. Blankie
14. Blocks
15. Bolt
16. Broccoli
17. Bug
    
18. Bunny
19. Cake
20. Car Wash
21. Cat
22. Cheese
23. Chicken
24. Choo Choo
25. Clean (I Keanin')
26. Cold
27. Color
    
28. Cookie
29. Cry
30. No cry (Emma)
    
31. Daddy
32. Daddy Golfin'
33. Daddy go work
34. Dark
35. Diaper
36. Dog
37. Door
    
38. Dora
39. Down
40. Duck
41. Emma
42. Elmo
43. Eli
44. Eww
45. French Fry
46. Fork
47. Funny
    
48. Glasses
49. Grape
50. Granny
51. Grandma
52. Hand
53. Hair
    
54. Hello
55. Help
56. Hot
57. Hugs (Emma says this all day long)
58. I do
59. I want that
60. Llama
61. Light
62. Mady
63. Me
    
64. Mickey
65. Milk
66. Mine
    
67. Mommy
68. Monkey
    
69. More
70. Move (moussseee)
71. No
72. Nose
    
73. Off
74. Ouch
75. Out
    
76. Outside
77. Owl
78. Pap-Pap
79. Play
80. Pee
81. Phone
82. Pillow
83. Please
84. Poop
85. Potty
86. Pretty
    
87. Purse
    
88. Remote (mote)
89. Ride
90. Slide
91. Shoes
92. Sit
93. I sit
    
94. Snack
95. Sister
96. Socks
97. Sshhhh
98. Thank You
99. Tickle, Tickle
100. Toes
     
101. Train
102. Tree
     
103. Turtle
104. Tunnel
105. Up
106. Water
107. Welcome
108. Woof
109. Yes
110. Yuck
111. Miko, Abbi, Wookie, Cody, Macie (pets and Grammie's pets)
112. 1,2,3 - which often comes out as 2-2-2 :)

There are actually a lot more, but these are the ones we hear almost daily. It's amazing how far these peanuts have come!

Potty? Really?

The girls have one potty that I introduced to them a few months ago. It sat in the cupboard and every once in awhile, Emma would follow me into the bathroom get it out and pee along with mommy (Fully dressed). This weekend, Ms Emma expressed that she had to "poop" and begged to get into the bathroom to use the potty. Sure enough, she pooped and peed. Now, some of the pee didn't quite make into the potty because she was actually pretty freaked out. The next day, Ms Mady told me she had to pee and sure enough, she peed.

I'm not ready for this! I should be happy, but we're going on a road trip from Pittsburgh to Myrtle Beach in Sept and I don't want to have to worry about pit stops! I bought another potty yesterday and we're just going to casually see what happens. I foresee Emma making this into a little game, because now she always wants to be on the potty. :)

The new house is great and the girls love it. A great backyard to run around in and a deck. They are always asking to go "ouwside". The also love running around in the basement.

They are talking more and more every day and growing likes weeds. This Friday we're taking them on their first real train ride! As I always promise, I will post new pictures soon. The move has us even more behind on things we were already behind on!

I'd love some potty advice if anyone has any!

We bought a house!

Which is a reasonable excuse for not posting for awhile right? We have been out with both girls almost every night for weeks searching for a new home. Our sold only a few days after being on the market! We found a great home for our family with four bedrooms, 3 baths and a finished basement. The selling feature is a great, level back yard for the girls to run around in!

The girls are doing great and are really into climbing right now!

I will post again soon, but thought I should definitely get in a quick update. We close on our new home in two weeks!

WIN A LIL' LJ ONESIE OR TEE!

Check out this great review from MK Robinson and enter to win a Lil' LJ product. How cool! I love their site for checking out the local happenings in our area.

Click here to check it out!

Yay for my miracles

The girls had their 20 month developmental evaluation a few weeks ago. They did so good. The only thing they were a little behind on was putting 2 or more words together, but they are still right on track. I was actually amazed at some of the things they could do when she asked, like mimicking a line that was drawn with a crayon and stacking several blocks on top of each other.

Yesterday, we walked for babies and the March of Dimes. We had about 10 walkers with our team and we raised $1,000. It was a lot of fun and feels so good to be part of something so great.

Moving!

We put our house up for sale after many, many months of debating whether to or not. And within 2 days, it is now under agreement! Yikes! We currently reside in a 3 bedroom 1.5 bath home. We have made it a beautiful home, but are feeling the squeeze as the girls get older. We're looking to step up into a 4 bdrm 2.5 bath. I'm not looking to step up my mortgage by too much though! I'm all about not spending every last time on a mortgage. We spend that extra mortgage money on daycare every month!! We have a few school districts in mind to stay within, but really want to stay close to the area we are in now, as it's close to everything. I'm curious to see what the girls think and how they do with a move. It'll be so much fun for them to explore a new home, but I worry about their sleeping habits.

Anyway, we have 60 days to vacate! This will become a little more real after the home inspection this week.

This is what being a twin momma is

as taken from a fellow blogger: http://www.hdydi.com/2010/04/i-always-wanted-twins/

“Oh, are they twins? I always wanted to have twins.”

How many times have you heard that one? It ranks right up there, for me, at the top of the list of incredibly annoying things that complete strangers feel compelled to say to me. As with most of the inane comments, I generally give a half smile and continue herding my cats children through whatever errand I’m trying in vain to accomplish.

But what I really want to say is… Oh really? You always wanted to:

• have a high-risk pregnancy, in which you live in fear of going into labor too early, get five times as huge as a normal human being, and stop being able to tie your own shoes at about 24 weeks?
• leave the hospital without your babies, because they’re still in the NICU?
• attempt to breastfeed two premature babies whose mouths are so small they can’t possibly get a decent latch?
• try with all your might to keep these two infants on roughly the same schedule, in the hopes of maintaining a small shred of your sanity?
• have your vision of what it’s like to be a first-time mom completely turned on its head, because you don’t have a single spare moment to actually enjoy your babies?
• live your life by your babies’ synchronized nap schedule in the name of survival?
• push a double stroller that drives like a school bus?
• have a simple cold take three weeks to go through your house, as it gets passed from baby to baby to mom to dad?
• get pulled in the direction of two new crawlers, and then two new walkers?
• worry about gross motor delays, fine motor delays, plagiocephaly, torticollitis, and speech delays?
• get stopped by EVERY SINGLE FREAKING PERSON IN THE GROCERY STORE when all you want to do is get a gallon of milk and get back to the car before they both start crying, again?

Oh, no? No, you weren’t saying that because you wanted to experience the most intensely difficult 4 6 12 18 months ever known to man?

No, I think what you really wanted was to have a nice matched set that you could dress the same for formal pictures, and imagine them to have some sort of secret language or ESP or something.

Oh, and maybe you always wanted to:

• have two babies who became two toddlers who could entertain themselves much better than most of their age-mates.
• hear the shrieks and giggles and babbling that becomes shrieks and giggling and conversations from their shared bedroom (even if it means they aren’t asleep when they should be).
• watch them make up games and invite each other to play at a surprisingly young age.
• have your own little built-in social/parenting experiment, watching them grow in ways that are the same and different. And having the second one there to let you know that not all of the hard stuff is your fault.
• have that “instant family” with two kids, without having to actually go through labor twice.
• be a somewhat more laid-back parent by necessity.
• find an awesome sisterhood of moms simply by virtue of having parented two kids of the same age at the same time.
• feel kind of like a rock star whenever someone says to you, “I don’t know how you do it.”

- I AM a rock star ;) and I love ALL of it!

Some Easter Pics

Words

Here's a what girls are saying now regularly. They repeat EVERYTHING.

They both say basically the same words. Emma talks a little more than Mady.

More, Book, Water, Milk, Thank You, Emma, Mady, Baby, Kitty, Dog, Moon, Owl, Fish, Bear, Polar Bear, Turtle, Cup, Cookie, Up (Emma), Alligator (Emma), Down, Bird, Mama, Dada, Uncle, Please, Block, Clock, Banana.

and how could I forget the word "No!"

Pneumonia and other happenings

So Mady, did indeed have pneumonia for the 2nd time in 3 months. She went back for a re-check on Friday and still had some crackling in her lungs. The doctor and I decided to get some blood work just to make sure there's nothing behind all these times Mady has been sick. We counted 11 doses of antibiotic in 19 months. Emma had about 1/2 that. They are daycare kids 2 days a week, but still... I'm taking Mady this week for her blood work.

I posted March's pictures on Shutterfly:
http://emmaandmadelyn.shutterfly.com/

Some very, very sad news hit us Friday. An old friend from high school lost her 2.5 year old boy to cancer. He had been battling it since September. I'll be attending the viewing this evening to support her and her family. It's a horrible story. As his mom puts it, he is now pain-free, cancer-free and running free. Hug your kids tight and be thankful for them every single day!

I've been a little busy lately trying to ramp up Lil' LJ even more. We had a really great first quarter, so it put me in gear. I'm looking to start carrying toddler sizes as well as some adorable dresses/rompers for girls. We also have a super cute new Peanut Butter/Jelly twin pack.

Will post some Easter pics soon. (I think maybe I said that a week ago?!)

Bring on Summer, please?!

Well, we've had quite the week. Viral gastroenteritis hit our house and hard. First Mady, then me, then Emma, then Christian. And then Grammie, Pap-Pap and even 2 uncles and an aunt! Most of us had it anywhere from 4-7 days. I landed in the ER needing fluids. It has been exhausting and sad watching our helpless little girls vomiting and have diarrhea. My birthday was March 30 and we basically skipped right over it. We cancelled our big Easter dinner with Angela and Todd, as we didn't want to risk anyone else getting sick. We had an easter egg hunt with Grammie and Pap-Pap in the front yard (pics to come) and then went to church Easter morning and I-Hop. Then we hung out with Aunt TT and Uncle Fritz. We'll celebrate Easter/my birthday with Uncle Todd and Aunt Angela and Eli this weekend.

Poor Mady has a had a fever the last few days and has been miserable and coughing. We decided to take her to the doctors again today. Turns out they want her to get a chest x-ray for possible pneumonia (again). She also has a lot of air in her belly from the virus, which is causing her pain. In addition to that her I-teeth are coming in causing even more pain.

I can only hope that summer = far less sickness in our house and happy, pain-free toddlers!

18 months : We are now a binkie-free house.

It almost makes me sad that my girls are big enough to not need them anymore. Last Thursday, we forgot to pack the girls binkies for daycare and they napped without them. I decided if they could do it there, we were going to do it at home. The first night was about 45 minutes of crying and gradually reduced every night. The girls may not sleep through the night now, but bed time hardly ever meant tears. Naps are a little more of a struggle without binkies too, but they are getting used to it. I'm so proud of them and us for not giving in!

As far as our nights... I have no idea why Mady is waking up. She usually wakes screaming sometime after 12am. Last night she made it until 5am. Once she cuddles next to me she is fine. Emma usually wakes up around the 4-5am mark and wants to cuddle as well. I'm hoping this is a little phase and will pass. While I love the cuddle time, it's very hard to sleep with two toddlers sleeping with you!

My talkers

The girls prime "talking" time is with a full belly and in the car. I caught quite a conversation yesterday. Emma starts off and then Miss Mady starts chiming in. The quality isn't so great, so you might have to hike up the speakers a bit.

Future Babies and Endometriosis

I had a reader ask me the other day how my endometriosis has been since my pregnancy, as a common misconception is that it'll just go away with pregnancy. In some women this has been known to happen. Of course, for others, it can get far worse. I had a good run. I've had 3 laps (laparoscopic surgeries) so far with anywhere from 1-2.5 years in between. My last surgery was 12/07. Right after that we did our final IVF and got pregnant with the girls. I felt pains during pregnancy but not many "endo" pains. Most were due to me carrying 2 kiddos. I'd say I had a good 6 months after pregnancy before I started feeling some familiar pains. I am now back to feeling something every day, but I've been lucky enough to only have severe pain maybe once or twice a month? All of my GI related issues are back as well, but not quite as bad. Mostly the horrific bloating.

I had my annual GYN appt this week. I asked the doctor that delivered my angels about future pregnancies. We have 3 frozen embryos left and do not want to discard or donate them, so we'd like to try this one more time at some point. This frozen transfer is far, far less costly and less invasive. However, she does not want me to risk a twin pregnancy. What does this mean? It means she only wants us to transfer one embryo to reduce that risk. Every time we did IVF we transferred 3 because our chances are so low. This basically means that our chances of having another child are lower than before. I am so very grateful for our girls and if they are the only kids we can have, we are still ever so thankful and complete. However, if you've ever been told you can't have something, you know how this feels. We will most likely still try with one embryo. I will not risk having babies in the NICU again. I will not risk the pain of not being able to keep my kids safe for the full 9 months. At the same time, I would not be being honest if I didn't say that I kinda figured if we did get pregnant again it would be with twins and besides the actual pregnancy, I thought we 'd handle it just fine! ;) I was really upset about this earlier in the week, and honestly Christian and I really haven't talked much about it again. We'll revisit all of this once our house sells and we are comfortably in a new home and ready for another go.

Onto the endo. My exam hurt. Bad. Like it always has, but this time I actually removed her hands from my belly out of reflex. I told her about my pain returning and some other weird bladder type things that have been bothering me. She's pretty sure it's all endo related and mentioned me seeing a specialist and having another surgery. That would be 4 surgeries since 2004. I just can't see doing that. My pain is annoying but it's not causing me to miss work or take pain pills to often, etc.

So, that's the latest on me!

Use your words!

My preemies are now 18 months old! How did this happen!?

I thought I'd take note of the latest words and phrases we've heard the girls say on their own or hear and repeat. Emma talks and sings all the time with so much inflection, it's hysterical. Mady will watch your mouth so intently while she tries to figure out how to make those same sounds.

Mady:
Bird, Hi, Bye Bye, Mama, Dada, Up, Diaper, Cat, Bath, No

Emma:
Bird, Hi, Bye Bye, Mama, Dada, Up, Cat, Mady, Baby, Bath, Pap-Pap. We swear she repeated back to us "put that back" and then said "shit"!

1200+ hits

Since January 1, we've had 1200 hits to our site. I'm still amazed by how many people want to read about us ;) Hopefully this will keep me motivated to keep posting and posting more often. My goal in this blog was to help others with Endometriosis, Infertitlity and/or Multiples not feel alone and to hear it straight from a mom! My other goal was to document as much as possible about our family and these little girls that are growing up way to fast. I have a forgetful mind and I even beat myself up now about the things that I can't remember, like who got their teeth first and when. I wish I could remember to post everything, everyday, but this blog is about a twin mother who works full-time, does freelance work and owns her own business.

I wanted to say hi to those of you that I don't know or that I don't even realize keep up on us. Let us know who you are and why you visit this blog. Maybe it will help me in posting. If you have public blog you'd like to share, please do. If you'd like me to add you to our links on the side, I'd be more than happy to. I'm also accepting ads for a very nominal fee - if you have anything baby/toddler/multiple related! I'm especially interested in momprenuers like myself.

March for Babies

It's time again to start raising money for the March of Dimes. If you follow my blog you know our story and why the March of Dimes is so important to us. PLEASE walk with us this year and show your support for our girls. If you can't join us for the walk, you can donate whatever amount you are comfortable with. I'd love to beat our $750 raised last year.

Help us raise awareness and raise money so that every family can know the joy that Christian and I do.

Click here to sign up or donate.

New St. Patty's Day Designs

Some new Lil' LJ designs for St. Patrick's Day!

Cool feature on PoshLittle.com

http://www.poshlittle.com/baby/posh-little-baby-a-mommy-blog/got-a-chunky-monkey.html?blogger=posh

Thanks to Posh Little for this great review. I love this blog!

Yep, now they both have it.

We took Mady for her pedi follow up and took Emma along, as she started with a fever yesterday and has been coughing for weeks. Turns out they both have pneumonia. They are both on antibiotics and Mady has a breathing treatment because she is wheezing. We have a re-check on Friday. I have to take a sick day tomorrow to stay home with them since they can't go to daycare, nor would I want them to when they aren't feeling well. I'm hoping by tomorrow, the fevers will be gone and they can attend daycare on Thursday. We really, really need to find a back-up for the days the girls can't go to daycare for whatever reason. It's Feb 16th and I've already used 1/2 vacation day and now one of only 3 sick days. Christian has stayed home with them as well. It's a little easier for him to work from home IF he's not busy because you can't work from home with twins. Working from home for him means working from the time I get home from work thru the wee hours of the morning to get caught up :(

Anyway, Mady had a bad night and Emma woke up screaming around 5am with a fever. The go up and down with how they feel overall. They were basically running and babbling the whole time at the doctors office, but you can always tell just by looking in Mady's eyes how she is really feeling. Yesterday she was very needy and so was Emma.

We need healthy kids to attend Eli's big first birthday bash on Saturday! I'm so worried about any underlying issues that cause Mady to get sick as much as she does. I just keep getting told that they are toddlers and they are in daycare. That sums it up!

Pneumonia

I received a call from daycare on Friday that Madelyn was running, tripped and smacked her head HARD off of a table. When I picked her up, she had a horrible egg and black and blue mark but was acting fine. I woke her once that night just to make sure there were no signs of concussion. Saturday night she started squinting like she either had a headache OR was trying to focus. Sunday this continued and she started having a fever and slept the entire day. I called the pedi, thinking that the fever was irrelevant, but I really didn't feel right about the eyes. She told me it was completely up to us and we decided to take her to the ER. 5 hours later she was diagnosed via chest xray with Pneumonia. I am so used to her having fevers that I would have never taken her in after one day of fever. And while I thought her breathing was a little labored, I figured it was from the fever.

So, we left with no head x-ray and yet another antibiotic. Miss Mady has been on antibiotics basically non-stop for the last several months due to ear infections. This kiddo seriously needs a break. And so do mommy and daddy. Even though she's with Grandma and Grandpa today, I had a horrible time leaving her. When your child is sick, you just want to hug and comfort them!

Meanwhile, I was going to call the nurses today to ask about Emma because she has had a cough for several weeks that just recently changed and she coughed up some mucus yesterday. Tomorrow, we're taking both girls in. Hopefully Mady won't need any breathing treatments and hopefully Emma doesn't have it as well.

We need a quick recovery because cousin Eli's first birthday bash is this weekend!

All clear!

Mady's surgery went really well. All the fluid/pus from her ears was removed and her tubes placed. She was NOT happy with us before or after. I'm so glad we were both there because she only wanted daddy to hold her. We went in at 6am and were home by about 10am. She was feeling better by the afternoon and has slept straight through the last 2 out of 3 nights, which hasn't happened in a LONGGGG time. Hopefully they will stay in long enough to get through the rest of could and flu season!

Graduating and Surgery!

The girls have graduated to the toddler room at daycare! My babies are now toddlers! UGH! We are so proud of them and every new thing they do, but it's so sad how fast they are growing up. Today I walked in at lunch after a doctor visit with Mady and little Emma was sitting at a table with her friends eating lunch. So cute.

So on to Mady... she's had 6 or 7 ear infections this season and is onto another. So, we saw the Ears, Nose and Throat Doctor today and he feels she is a perfect candidate for ear tubes. We are all for this because I do not want to give her anymore antibiotics and I want my little girl to be well for more than 1-2 weeks at a time. It's a very simple surgery that only takes 5-10 minutes. I can't wait to see how much better she does with these in. Christian and I are both going to do some schedule swapping next week so that we can both go in with her. She'll be put under for it.

Mady got her first mini haircut this weekend, as she had a few strands getting in her eyes and since her sides have yet to grow, we decided to give her a trim. Once her sides fill in, we'll let her bangs grow, as we are with Emma. Mady's hair is so long in the back, it looks like she has a mullet. We put it in pig tails the other day and pulled Emma's hair back:


I hope to update again soon after Mady's surgery on Feb 8th.

Finally, some Christmas photos!

Are these the same girls?

I thought for the sake of me trying to remember these times, I'd post a little update on what the girls are doing and their personalities! At times it seems like they've completely switched. Emma used to be very nervous around new people and not quite as outgoing. Now she waves to everyone she sees. Mady is now very clingy in the morning and cries when we leave her at daycare. They are now 16 months old! They still get sick a lot and they are both just getting over a bad cold with ear infections. For a few weeks they were both waking up in the middle of the night and would not go back to sleep unless it was with us. Now that they are feeling better, they are sleeping better, though one of them usually ends up with us for a few hours. During Christmas break we had 2 nights of solid sleep AND they slept until 9am, so thank you my sweet girls!

Madelyn says diaper and will go get a diaper for her diaper changes if we ask her. Emma LOVES her baby doll. Last night when I was rocking her and her baby she was stroking her baby's hair and hugging her just like I was doing to Emma. Emma says hi and she now sings, which is awful cute. She only seems to do it for Christian and I though. Hopefully I can catch that on video. They both love books. Mady seems to always have one in her hands. They love to go out. They are excited when they see their shoes and coats come out.

They play pretty well together, although there are some fights over toys and Emma definitely gets jealous when I hold Mady. Last night she squeezed her way right into my arms by pushing Mady out of the way. They both love to give hugs and kisses and if you ask them to kiss each other, they will!

They are back to napping twice a day on most days, which is fine by me!

Christmas!

I was waiting until I had photos to update, but I haven't had time to upload them yet.

We had a great Christmas with the girls. They weren't quite as into it as I thought they would be,
but it was still so much fun. Christmas Eve we went to dinner and then came back to the house and opened gifts from Grammie and Pap-pap and Aunt Angela and Uncle Todd. All 3 kids were spoiled rotten! I think Emma's favorite gifts were her baby dolls from Grammie and strollers from Aunt Angela. Mady's are probably the Little People Farm from Aunt Julie and Uncle Michael and the Quad that Grandpa Mayer got them. They got some really cute fuzzy pillows in the shape of a bumble bee and turtle from Uncle Fritz and Aunt T. Santa got them a play house door thingy, which as a front door that opens and closes, light switches they can turn on and off, etc. They got some clothes, a sit and spin, tickle me elmo, a new play table, an activity center, books, and a bunch of other stuff. We can't wait till next year when they will be even more excited to see what's underneath the wrapping paper!

I tried to go through and put some older toys in storage to make some room for the new toys, but we've finally decided that it's probably time to move into a slightly larger home. We need one more bedroom and one more bath. We are so cramped right now and with us both doing freelance work we need a large bedroom for our office not the tiny, tiny bedroom we are both squeezed into right now!

I will update more soon and post some pictures from Christmas.

If you get a chance, check out my other blog: www.doubleedesign.blogspot.com to see some of the design work I do and of course you have to check out some of the new valentine's day designs at www.lillj.com!