Mom of Farm Boys!

Last night I think I found worst time of day... And maybe one of the biggest downfalls of having boys. Let me paint you a better picture...

It's 4:00am and you know who wants his bottle... I come downstairs to get it, and instantly went down--- I repeat "mom down!" My sweet and loving baby boys decided to leave the farm animals out on the carpet last night instead of putting them in the barn. You'd be amazed what horrible pain a plastic Little People Piggy causes on a bare foot. That's it... That's the big down fall--- if they were girl's it may have been a dolly. BUT in our farmhouse there's a 50/50 chance... 50% chance it'll be a cow, pig, horse and the other 50% could be a tractor, baler, combine.... Ah, raising farm boys--- ain't life great! 

Speaking of my "farm boys"--- is our house the only one that the cow doesn't "moo". Yep, in our house we have a stuffed bull and a baby calf. Both make different sounds... Thank you politically correct farm dad. I look forward to our boys going to preschool and arguing about what sound a "cow" makes :) and better yet, I would like to apologize in advance for the day they will explain the difference between a cow and a bull.--- quite possibly it'll be in front of the whole class. BUT--- I have a plan for that too. EMERGENCY CONTACT will be listed as Dad or Grandpa, they can explain. 

That's today's trials and tribulations: being a mom of farm boys... And it's only  just begun. 

Celebrate life's little victories...

Celebrate life's little moments. Moments that tell you that everything is truly in God's hands... Tonight my blog is going to be expanding a little bit on my 'baby A'...

Landon was attached perfectly throughout my pregnancy (to my placenta) so honestly, he was what I considered my "easy" baby. However, when he was born-- that all seemed to change. I nursed my boys exclusively in the beginning, and Landon had troubles figuring that out. The big concerns came as he got older and we started supplementing with formula. Landon was throwing up, a lot. I saw many local doctors, and heard many times that it was: "normal" or a "virus"... But watching my identical boys grow further and further apart size wise... I knew something wasn't right. 

 Finally I had enough, shed some tears (alot of tears) and after many phone calls, loaded Landon back up and took him to the city once again. I was seen by our peditrician who reminded me that, I'm the mom, and I will always know what's best for my baby. I knew in my heart, something was wrong with my little man, and I was NOT going to shut my mouth until someone helped. We were referred to a gastrologist, and finally I heard that "no, it wasnt normal". First off, an upper GI... it turned out good. After a few months of trying different formulas, and medicines... Landon was diagnosed with MSPI. (Milk Soy Protein Intolerance) this meant that the formulas that had soy, were making him sick. We crossed our fingers, and hoped that at about 12 months he might grow out of it. 

Fast Foward

12 month appointment was today:

Landon is only a few ounces less than his brother, and is back on the growth chart... at a perfect weight for his height! Yay!! I'm also happy to announce, we are 100% medicine free! Small steps now, trying to introduce milk back into hos diet. Tonight he had a bottle with 1 oz of whole milk mixed with his 7oz of formula--- and--- he didn't get sick! Yay!

I understand that this is really early, but for me this was the greatest sign that we are maybe on the right track! After months and months of blaming myself, I have finally realized that everything is in much bigger hands than mine. But, God  choose me as his Mom and it is my job to protect him and be his voice. 

Moral of this blog:

Celebrate the little victories in life everyday, those little things add up to big things! 

Teething Babies

Teething babies!

Another glorious moment as a momma of twins, teething! Fortunately for us, our boys were late getting teeth... I sure hope the old wise tale is true, that the longer they wait to get teeth, the better & healthier they will be! Well Mr. Tooth Fairy, sign us up! 

Logan got his first tooth at 11 months old. That tooth made him fussy, he had a fever--- the whole works! And after that, Sir Logan has decided to just get all of those things in at once so, not only are we cutting our top tooth, we are getting BOTH our top teeth AND our second one on the bottom! Our day was great, but tonight-- he wanted to be held, and wouldn't eat a thing, and don't even think about trying to touch his gums. For a person with just one baby teething, sure you can hold him... but when you have a brother the same age teething--- that is when a daddy comes in handy! A pedialite popsicle seemed to do the trick at first (it will also be at the top of the list for cleaning tomorrow, sicky sicky everywhere!) But, ultimately a little tylenol calmed him down enough to get him to bed! 

As if one baby isn't "fun" enough teething, don't forget we have the pleasure of having a second little boy teething too! Landon thus far is the exact opposite of Logan. He has a top tooth just in, and another on the top coming AND one on the bottom. However, you would NEVER suspect it. He is just so happy go lucky! He ate steak tonight, some potatoes.... mmmm mmmmm... life is good. (Yes, I knocked on wood)

So, as their daddy pointed out tonight, a few down... only about 40-some to go! Wowzy... this is just the beginning :)

Running errands...

I'm not one to stay at home just because I have kids. Actually, I'm a firm believer in taking the boys out and about often, the only way they'll learn to act good in public is to take them in public.

Since they were a few months old I have taken them along to grocery shop, run errands, and for dinner out. How do I do it... Here's your answers:

Grocery Shopping:

1) I do a lot of shopping at Sams Club (cheapest diapers & bulk formula)

The glorious part about SAMs is that they have double seats in their shopping carts! Hallelujah! Simplest place for me to shop... 

2) when shopping local: I take my double stroller in, what I can't fit in the bottom of that stroller, I don't buy!

3) I take backup, grandma usually... She takes a boy, and I take a boy. Divide and concur!

Eating Out:

1) pretty simple, put the boys across the table from each other and they'll entertain   One another. Oh, and bring lots of snacks to get by til dinner is served! 

Actually, come to think of it--- snacks is the answer to everything... Just feed them snacks, they're happy doing anything!

It's all in how you look at it!

There are a few advantages of having twins... I mean, yes... we do get to be the lucky ones to buy double the formula, and double the diapers.... BUT, when it comes to buy one get one free sales-- they were made for our family! Another big advantage of having twins is our bedtime routine.

Having two babies, I wasn't able to really rocking them to sleep for very long. You see, they've never been to big on being held together. I guess they think they just had way to much quality snuggle time for 9 months that they're just not interested. They learned at a very young age to soothe themselves... Landon sucks on his middle finger & ring finger, Logan is a thumb-type of kid. Landon also puts his free hand on the back of his head at the same time... the great thing is, at 8:00, my boys get put down for bed. I literally put them into their cribs (yes, they are in separate cribs) and walk away. 99% of the time I don't hear a word. THAT is fantastic!

Another "advantage" about having two is when one gets sick, the other gets sick... BUT, the way I see it, I know it's coming! So, unlike parents of just one baby, I get a forewarning. It's all in how you look at things!

But by far the biggest advantage of having two is the number of volunteers I have to babysit! I kind of figured it would be hard to find sitters when we had 2... that's not at all the case. SO, if you have volunteered --- I haven't forgotten about you, and I'll be calling just as soon as "more of their daddy" comes out in them.

Once again, it's all in how you look at it!

What a year...

What a year! I can't believe it's been a year, nor can I believe we have officially survived 1 year. One year of total chaos... but a good chaos!

I still look at my boys every morning wondering how I got so lucky. How'd God choose me to be the Mom of not only one healthy baby but two?! Honestly, in the beginning of this whole journey I felt selfish about having two. I was sad because there are those women who want a baby so bad and for reasons we can't explain they just can't... And here I was with two 'surprise' babies, perfectly healthy.

I also had a moment while pregnant that I asked myself how would I ever have enough love for two babies...Thank You, for a very special person telling me to relax, thank you for reminding me that God has a plan... and although it doesn't seem possible--- you can and will love both of them! My heart has never held so much love as the day the boys were born. Every day while pregnant and the long long days once they arrived, I told myself a few things day in and day out...
1) Everything happens for a reason...
2) If he brought you to it, he'll bring you through it...

This year has been pretty tough for our family as a whole, and I firmly believe God gave us these boys when he did because he knew we'd need them. No matter what life would throw at us, as long as we had each other -- we'd figure it out! As long as we had two little boys to make us smile at the end of the day.

This year has tested my patience, has made me laugh, lots of memories and a few moments of tears...

All in all, I'd never change a single thing! Those long nights, those moments of doubt, none of them mattered when I saw my babies smile. So, when I say cherish each minute... Do. They grow so fast. It seems like just yesterday that I was up ALL night long, and now I'm up only once (thanks a lot Logan)... Who knows maybe by this time next year I'll sleep ALL NIGHT. 

As for this mom, I'm going to hold them close, put a book on their heads (to slow down the growing a little) and pray to God that the world treats them right. 

Happy Birthday my most amazing surprises, you two are loved more than you can ever imagine. 

Never be out numbered! Doctor Appointments with two!

Turning a year old means another round of those fantastic shots that every baby loves so much! So, my topic for today... doctor appointments with two...

The first doctor appointment I really can't remember... I had practically 0 sleep, and was a walking zombie! Having two little guys that need shots is the not-so-much-fun part of having multiples. The first few go arounds dad came with.... On the "normal" growth chart my boys have always been in the lower percentages, but it's really not a fair comparison....(40 week, 8 pound baby compared to 38 week 6 pound twins---not even close) If you compare them to other twins, they are growing perfect. Our peditrician is a mother of twins also, so she knows exactly what we're going through. Because we doctor in the city, they have the staff to do all shots at one time! Two nurses, shots go in each leg at the exact same time... Which is great, however that also means two babies crying at once. So, I NEVER go alone! That's the key, never be out numbered!! 

So, the funniest thing that has ever happened to us during a doctor appointment: (read cautiously)

The boys were young, maybe a month old... The first thing you have to do is get weights, so you gotta strip them clear down.... Diaper was off--- then a little toot came out, then the explosion happened!!! All over the room, Super Dad had deflected it with his hand, and... Wait, something was on my neck. Yep! You guessed it, Landon - 1 Mom - 0

The nurse came in as we were frantically using wet wipes everywhere, and of course she said "oh, that happens all the time"........

At 1 month we knew our lives were just beginning to get interesting..... 

I was born for this....

As the boys' first birthday approaches, I'd like to take a minute to give a quick run down on my pregnancy. Many have wondered, so if I get long winded - my apologizes.

A quick summary of reactions when we found there were two...
Tucker, laughed --- Kim, said nothing. Simple as that.

A few quick things to know about having identicals that we learned along the way:
-- Identical twins have nothing to do with genetics (yep, that was all my egg's fault)
-- You do have the option to have them naturally, but it is up to the mother
-- 0.33% of all babies born in a year are identical boys...
(our doctor said that for some reason most twins are boy/girl or girl/girl)
-- Oh, and any one who can carry full term with twins is a rockstar... you just don't find it much... (okay, so maybe I added that one....)


The next few weeks went REALLY fast. Lots of doctor appointments, and a referral to a perinatologist in the city. I began to see the regular doctor every two weeks, and once a month I went out to see my specialist. The amazing thing about carrying two at once, we got to see our babies every single appointment! My diet was a low sodium diet, to decrease the risk of me retaining water... the goal in the beginning was to get me to 32 weeks. That's the magic number! 36 weeks is perfect, and 38 weeks is considered full term.

Identical twins (1 placenta) run many risks, but the big one is the risk of one growing faster than the other. So the plan was, get as far along as possible -- and just pray that the boys grow at the same rate. Month after month, we drove to the city every month to hear that our boys were doing great! Perfect pregnancy! Time and time again I went in for that nasty horrible orange drink diabetes test, and time and time again it came back just fine!

32 weeks came really fast. I finally was able to breathe a breath of fresh air. The doctor reminded me that we didn't want them yet, but if they came... they'd most likely be okay. 34 weeks came, and I began to have some strong pains... simple fix at that time was to put me on a low dose of medicine to stop any contractions I may have been having. 36 weeks... I was more than ready for those babies to be OUT! I went to the doctor in Omaha all excited, and nope-- he sent me home! At 36 and on I spent a lot of time hooked up to the monitors at the local hospital, just to be sure nothing was happening... Nothing! At 37 weeks, they took me off all medicine --- and yep, they were going to let the boys come any time------ YEAH RIGHT! 38 weeks came around...... and this is how it all went down that day...

I had some strong pains in my back, and after talking to Tucker, decided to call the doctor. After much discussion with my local doctor, I was to call my specialist. They told me to come out to be checked, AND I QUOTE (the nurse) "don't worry... no rush... if you were in labor, you would know..."

I waited for my other half to shower, we relaxed for a bit, loaded the truck... got to the city, got a bit to eat (Milkshake and Double Cheeseburger)...... got to the hospital at 3:00pm. They checked me in, opps! Off to the O.R. we went! (Side note: all twins are delivered in the operating room, just in case of complication) Yes, I had a C-section. That was my personal preference, that way if anything were to happen, they could get my boys the help they needed immediately. Wham Bam...The boys were born at 4:34 & 4:35!

The next morning my doctor made me feel like a million bucks... I'll never forget when he came in and said to me... "Honey, you were born for this!" I had carried identical to exactly 38 weeks on the dot. That was the happiest and proudest day of my life. 4 days later, we were released to come home.

Each and every day I think of what he said, and I tell myself over and over again. I got this... because I was born for it!

"How do you get anything done?"

After my last post, I thought I'd answer the question crossing your mind...
"How in the world can you get anything done?"

WELL...For the first few months, I had a trick up my sleeve... a little cleaning fairy that would zip around my house every few days. She specialized in picking up burp rags, cleaning bottles, vacuuming the floor, and still managed to snuggle babies. My mom would come up after work, or on her day off and without being asked she just snapped her fingers, and somehow the house was clean!

That was then, this is now.......
The boys both nap at the same time. So, Mom gets some time to do all the little things she can't do with two little boys under her feet. Some days their naps last 15 minutes and other days I get a good 2-3 hours worth of silence. On the days of long naps, I am a mad woman cleaning! Laundry, Vacuum... dishes... and anything else I can think of. It is truly amazing how much a person can get done in such a small amount of time. The trick is..... after the boys go to bed, I do another sweep of the house, and hopefully between the two times it looks presentable. 

With two babies born at 38 weeks in perfect health... You get a big reality check on what really is important. Someday my house will be perfectly clean, but not today. Today this house will have toys all over the floor, and next year a feedlot operation---complete with fencing and lots of little plastic cattle will take over both the dining room and living room... But that's okay, my boys are making memories. 

Listen for the Laughter....

I am so fortunate to be able to stay home with my boys everyday. Each day I wake up knowing that today's going to be great! The first wrestling match, saying "dada" for the first time, rolling over... I get to be the one to see it all, first! Which brings us to the next part of our day..... PLAY TIME!

One thing's for sure, we do a lot of playing. If I don't get laundry done, I don't get laundry done. If the sink is full of dishes, so be it! My boys and I play. On a typical day you can find us playing with a singing barn, dancing with Mickey, splashing at the water table, or crawling thru the tunnel. (Yes, I know what you are wondering, of course I get in the tunnel) There's nothing in the world greater than seeing the boys learn and discover new things every single day. Example: Landon went in the tunnel from the North, Logan headed in from the south.... they ran into each other in the middle and the giggles were hysterical. Landon gets to laughing so hard his nose wrinkles up, eyes squint, and he snorts! Logan has this deep deep little belly laugh... as a mom, that's music to my ears--- I must be doing something right!
They are so fortunate to have each other to play with. A few months back, I was approached by a lady who said to me, "Two babies, how exhausting"... the truth is, when I went home that night yes, I was exhausted; However I kind of felt sad for singletons. My boys will ALWAYS have a friend, they will always have someone to go on adventures with. When they want to play hide and seek, they will have a hider and a seeker. It's already been proven, sometimes being a brother IS better than being a superhero!

So, next time you're in the area... stop in. Look past the dishes, step over the laundry... and listen for the laughter, because in the end--- that's all that matters.

Fake Tators... Feeding two

Onward and forward, that's the goal throughout the day with twins. Meal time has gotten much easier since the boys can feed themselves. Little garbage disposer Landon will eat anything you put in front of him, and anything you put in front of you too! Logan on the other hand has a lot of his Daddy in him. Steak & Potatoes everyday would be just fine with him. Unless the potatoes are "fake tators". He will NOT eat fake potatoes, they go in his mouth but they usually end up either in his hair or mine! Ornery little turd. Then, to add insult to injury he just sits there and giggles about it! 

Today he had food in his mouth and I told him to swallow it... out of the mouth of my 1 year old comes "NO" clear as day. All we could do was laugh, you see truth be told, I wouldn't eat that crap if my life depended on it. Logan wins another round...

Mom fail of the day.

Cadillac vs. Geo Prism

So, last blog I got everyone up to 6:40am  in our day. After diaper duty is over, we manage to work our way downstairs... Usually with one boy on each hip, once in awhile we get up and going fast enough for dad to take one down... the boys usually squeak and squeal at me until I get bottles made, bringing me to our next momma dilemma.

Feeding Two.

Due to some allergies, Landon and Logan are on different formulas. After some extensive doctor appointments, Landon went on a very special formula... as our doctor put it, he's on the Cadallic. Logan's more of a Geo Prism, a rusted out muffler in the backseat Geo Prism. When you have one little man drinking "liquid gold" one drop spilled makes me sick to my stomach. Luckily for us, Logan has no intrest in Landon's bottle. If he accidentally gets ahold of it, one drink and he knows he doesn't want that stuff. Landon on the other hand, will dart across the room if he sees Logan's bottle just laying around. You'd think it was Christmas when he gets a little drink of that glorious "normal milk" of his brothers... but it's short lived, it gets taken away from him and it's complete heartbreak until I can get the switcheroo done. The boys have the same bottles, but using the green & blue system each are labeled with these handy dandy bottle wraps! Score for mom, thank you modern day genius who invited those. 

And that's just the morning bottle...

Compliments of a klutzy mom... our "daily routine"...

With two, every day is a new adventure... per request of my sister, she's asked me to enlighten her on my daily routine... hold on to your seats folks, this is about to get interesting!

A "daily routine"... HELLO! Newsflash, there is no such thing as a daily routine in this house. Logan wakes up for a bottle at about 4:30am...proceeds to go back to bed until his brother decides to wake him up at around 6:30. By "wake up" I mean stand up on the side of his crib, holler and make noise until Logan finally stirs enough he wakes up. Most days I play the whole "hurry into their room to grab Landon before he wakes up Logan..." BUT it usually ends with my knee colliding with the end of our bed due to a lack of coordination compliments of a klutzy mom. Then, and only then is when I realize that you know what.... It's JUST NOT WORTH IT! So when you see me sporting the cool look of bruising on the knees, don't judge me... I'm a mom of twins, you just wouldn't understand.

So, we're out of bed... next step, diapers! We should've had stock in Huggies... when you have twins, changing diapers can be a bit of a challenge. Usually Landon goes first, diaper off... AND across the room, Logan sits with a smirk on his face and his brother's clean diaper in his hand. Thank You Logan! So, across the room I dart hoping to get that diaper back to the other side before Landon catches a cool breeze. (if you know what I mean) okay. Landon. Check. Now it's Logan's turn... Logan, diaper off, and boom---from the south I get sideswiped by his brother wanting Mom to hold him. MEANWHILE, Logan's rolling from back to front and in the process of takeoff to the other side of the room. Hurry, grab a diaper... wrestle that little steer down and strap that baby back on. Wowza... usually by this point, I say forget the clothes... we'll do that later!

Congratulations Mom, pat on the back... you've made it from 6:30am to 6:40am "carpet cleaner" free.

Yes my friends that is only the beginning... 13.5 hours until bedtime.......
To be continued....

Do what works....

"How do you do it?" Everyday lessons with twins...

Having two at once, is really trial and error. If something doesn't work, try something else! I've always tried to be an organized person... well, when it came to being a parent. The hospital bag was packed at 32 weeks, numerous books were read, the car seat bases were installed at 36 weeks, and we even took a special class out at the hospital for parents of multiples... but nothing can prepare you, nor can you ever truly be prepared for bringing home two babies at once! Those itty bitty 6 pound babies sure do take a lot of room! 


A lot of people tried to tell us that you really only need 1 of everything... one can swing, the other can be in the jumper... that's a big 'ole negative. With two boys growing at the same rate we found ourselves going back for the "2nd" of everything! If one was in the jumper, the other wanted in the jumper... and it's awfully hard to try to teach sharing at under a year of age. All those nice little baby toys were great tools for us in surviving! With two babies up every 30 minutes, all day long... you'll try any and everything to get just 5 more minutes of sleep! Two babies in swings = mommy nap time. Two babies in jumperoos = tired babies. Tired babies = sleepy sleepy babies. The cold hard truth about twins (our twins at least) us parents don't sleep haha... I found myself asking my older cousin when her twins started to sleep, thank goodness she lied to me and said it'd be soon :) Some things you just don't need to know... and the first few months, I didn't need to know that it'd be 9 months before these two little turkeys sleep good. DISCLAIMER: Logan still wakes up at 4:30am, I just tell myself it's cause he's got such a cool mom he wants her all to himself, it just happens to be at 4:30 in the morning.....

Moral of this story, do what works. 
as for my mom vs. twins count... I'm going to let this point go to Logan,  well played son-- well played.

"Oh, are they twins?"

The #1 question I hear, is one I have come to dread--- "oh, are they twins"... 

Now, it didn't use to bother me however, the more you hear it---Gee lady what gives you that impression? Is it the fact that they are in a double infant seat stroller, with the same seats, dressed the same? I've come up with a few good things to say...

1) "oh, are they twins... Nope, born a minute apart" (walk away)

2) "oh, are they twins... Well kinda..." (Walk away)

But my favorite comes compliments of my mother in law...

"Oh, are they twins... Well, they've got the same dad..." It was at that moment when we left that lady totally speechless... If she would have stood there a little longer I may have considered telling her that they also had the same Mom, but come to think of it--- leaving people guessing is much more fun! 

So, another twin momma problem solved, we have onesies now that say "yes, we're identical". Moral of this story don't ask silly questions and you won't get silly answers.

Chalk that one up as another win for mom!

How do you tell them apart?!

I hear it a lot, "How do you tell them apart" WELL the truth is, sometimes I don't!

TELLING THEM APART ---
During the first part of my pregnancy I had it ALL figured out, they were surely going to be girls (coming from a family FULL of girls, they had to be right?) WRONG! My idea of cutting one girl's hair short and keeping the other's long went out the window! Crap, now what am I going to do? Well, the nail polish sounds like a fantastic idea, except how many babies do you know like to come home from the hospital and just chill with their toes hanging out all the time? Dream on Kim, those babies were swaddled all day long... nail polish idea, TOTAL FAIL! So, against my hopes --- they were stuck with the "Baby A" and "Baby B" adorably unfashionable hospital bracelets.

Keep in mind I have identical boys, and a lot of times even I have to look twice.

In case you're wondering ---- Yes, I'm "that mom"... that mom that dresses her boys alike. The way I see it, god gave me twins so I COULD dress them the same, so by golly until they tell me they don't want to dress the same--- they'll be the same! So the clothing wasn't changing. Boys don't typically sport the bracelet thing, and I can't get them to leave socks on for anything! (I thought about getting initials put on socks, but both have LT as initials-- that was smart of us) So after much discussion with others, I finally had a genius idea!  After many shopping adventures I discovered a pair of shoes that were the same style, with different colored bottoms! FANTASTIC! one glance, you know who's who! So, here's my trick!

Logan has a "g" in his name so he will always be in either Green or OranGe...
Landon is most the time in blue!

Dilemma solved!
Mom - 1
Tricky Twins - 0