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PROBAR Fruition Review and Giveaway

noreply@blogger.com (Krista) — Mon, 04 Jun 2012 07:30:00 +0000

Most of you are aware by now that my boys have to be gluten free and I have been for the past few weeks as well to see if it would help the girls. The jury's still out on that one, but I haven't tested it yet since we've also been dealing with so many nursing issues.

However... going gluten free myself it really hit home how much gluten is in literally everything. So it was very fortuitous that I had just received some samples in the mail of a new gluten free fruit bar. Created by PROBAR, this line is called Fruition and is certified gluten free*. Hooray!

I am super impressed by these bars. Of course I love that they are gluten free so the boys can have them. Second, the base is a date paste which is naturally sweet so they're actually not very high in sugar, but plenty sweet to the taste. Third, they are non-GMO and don't have any soy products in them. And finally, they are soft without large chunks so even my toddler can eat them easily (as compared to some other granola type bars that have large nuts in them).

PROBAR comes in seven flavors and I got to try them all. Of course my favorite really was the chocolate orange, but blueberry definitely came in a strong second! The other flavors are cherry, lemon, cran-raspberry, peach, and strawberry. I tend not to like peach anyway so my family ate those and the only one I didn't care for was the lemon. I think because lemon is a tart flavor to me and the bar was still relatively sweet I didn't like it as much.

Each bar contains a full serving of fruit and was chosen as Prevention Magazine's "Best Bar" for 2012's Healthy Food Awards. They actually have really strict guidelines for their food awards including less than 400 calories (these bars only have 170), less than 500mg of salt (they have 10mg), and no more than 10g of added sugar per serving as well as no genetically modified ingredients.

If you're interested in trying Fruition for yourself there's two ways you can. First, enter the giveaway below for a mixed box of flavors. Second, get 40% off your first order from the PROBAR shop by entering code "blogger" at checkout. I know I'll be ordering a few boxes here soon!

WIN IT!

To win your own mixed box of Fruition please leave me a comment stating which flavor you think you'd like best! You are also encouraged to "like" PROBAR on facebook to keep up with all the latest they have to offer. (and it looks like they run giveaways over there too!)

Winner will be chosen next Monday June 11th at midnight. Please make sure I have a way to contact you!

This post was written as part of the Family Review Network. I was not compensated in any way other than the product I received to facilitate my review. All opinions are my own!

*For my gluten free friends. The label is misleading as it does state that it was produced on equipment that processes wheat, however they are certified and it was checked with the quality assurance manager that all equipment is 3rd party certified as gluten free before production of these bars begins.

Sleep Like A Baby

noreply@blogger.com (Krista) — Thu, 31 May 2012 21:35:00 +0000

People complain about the phrase because babies really don't sleep very long at any one stretch. But the funny thing is, when they do sleep it doesn't really matter where they are or how they're positioned...

And I couldn't get my camera out fast enough this morning to catch one like the above, but with both arms above her head...

I have a lot more pictures of Joy... because she sleeps more, generally, and isn't as fussy. So I can take pictures of her when she's down and I don't have to hold her. Here's Hope, wide awake and probably going to scream in a few minutes!

A Little Treat for Father's Day (Giveaway)

noreply@blogger.com (Krista) — Mon, 28 May 2012 07:30:00 +0000

Papa. That's what my boys have christened my dad. I still call him Daddy most of the time.

And sometimes he still calls me Widget...

He's not a big talker, but he loves to fish. One of these days I'll get around to posting a few really old pictures on here out of my scrapbook. You know, in my spare time? I have so many memories of fishing with my Dad and hopefully the boys will enjoy it just as much. Oh, and maybe even the girls too! Fishing rules!

While I can't really go fishing with him this year for Father's Day, I have hopes that in a couple more years I may be able to go again! In the mean time I'll probably get him a card with a fish on it. And we might have fish for dinner if he's caught any lately!

And where will I get my fishy card? From Tiny Prints new card site called Treat.

If you've been around here for any length of time I'm sure you've noticed I kind of have a love affair going with Tiny Prints. See, I'm one of those people who really likes stationary and cards and especially getting things in the mail. And Tiny Prints just has such cool stuff!

Now they've gone and created a site that's entirely dedicated to greeting cards and it's called Treat. It functions just the same as it always has, with cool customizable cards that you can have sent to you or directly to your recipient.

Treat is giving away 10 tokens good for one card each. So if you'd like to make some special Father's Day cards, birthday cards, or just Thinking of You cards please enter by leaving me a comment below. What do you call your dad?

Also: You can get your first card free by signing up and using the code: FREETREAT at checkout.

Giveaway will end next Monday the 4th at midnight. Please be sure I have a way to contact you!

I have been compensated by Treat for this post, but all memories and opinions are my own!
Find Treat on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Google+.

10 Week Old Smiles

noreply@blogger.com (Krista) — Fri, 25 May 2012 04:45:00 +0000

Hope

I want to make photo books for the girls like I have for the boys and I realized I just don't have as many photos of them... so here's to remedying that every few days!

I'm sure you all will mind seeing more cute baby photos, no?

Joy

The State of Nursing

noreply@blogger.com (Krista) — Wed, 23 May 2012 03:28:00 +0000

So... I feel like I haven't written on here much lately because I'm not even sure what's going on. For at least the past month nursing has been extremely painful. To the point of crying (and sometimes screaming) at 3am and being ready to give it all up.

We've been to the chiropractor. I've given up eating anything with gluten in it. We've been to an ear nose and throat specialist. The La Leche League leader has been to my house. Next week we are going to visit a specialist in Seattle. Right now the only thing helping me keep on is the hope that something will change next week. If it doesn't? I may very well give up.

We think that Joy may be tongue tied, a very particular kind called posterior tongue tie. And perhaps to a lesser extent Hope as well. Which means that they can't get a good latch unless they are in the exact perfect position and even then it doesn't last long.

It's so bad that Joy hasn't been getting enough to eat (which I didn't realize until last week) and so weighs significantly less than Hope. I'm not sure how much, but you can tell by looking at them and picking them up. When you're only dealing with 10 or 11 pounds to begin with a significant weight difference means a lot.

It's not a fun place to be in and I really hope we can resolve it next week.

On a slightly happier note... I have been enjoying working in my yard a lot. And we have a wild rose in the back corner of our yard (that the renter before we bought it tried to kill so this is the first year it's actually bloomed).

As well as this gorgeous white blooming bush on the fence in our neighbors yard!

And I planted some wildflower seeds which I hope will come up... I don't seem to have much luck with planting anything, all we've got is what was here before we moved in!

Perspective...

noreply@blogger.com (Krista) — Fri, 18 May 2012 07:09:00 +0000

9 weeks... of little sleep and screaming babies. Of boys staying too long with loving grandparents and a house full of crazy. Of short tempers and giant piles of laundry.

It's all a blur. 9 weeks feels like 9 months, but all too soon it will really be 9 months and I will wonder where it's gone.

Perspective is seeing my 5 year old reach 4 feet tall and teaching him to read. Seeing my 2 year old learning new words every day and enjoying outings without me. Knowing that soon they will be 5th and 2nd grade and I will wonder where it's gone.

Trying to remember not to get bogged down in the little things that are so frustrating and remember where they fit in the big picture. Time.

Perspective.

This is a post prompt from The Gypsy Mama. Join in?

Two Month Old Girls!

noreply@blogger.com (Krista) — Thu, 17 May 2012 07:30:00 +0000

My babies are two months old already! It of course seems like forever and also not like forever since they were born. The last two months are mostly a blur... good thing I have pictures to help me remember!

The girls are starting to make sounds now (other than grunting and screaming) and it's almost startled me a couple times to hear them coo! A smile here or there, but not too much interaction yet. Although they have started to notice and stare at the toys on their bouncers a bit more.

The past couple of weeks have been really hard. I think they may have a gluten sensitivity as well so I've gone gluten free (that's another post in and of itself!) and Joy is having a LOT of issues nursing. To the point that I've started pumping and feeding her a lot more from the bottle. She has a doctor's appointment on Friday to see if she's tongue tied. I kind of hope she is because it's a simple fix and hopefully then we can move on. If not... I am not a fan of pumping. Poor girl weighs less than her sister because I didn't realize she wasn't getting enough to eat. It's amazing how long she'll sleep now that she has food in her tummy.

They have both outgrown the newborn clothes though and are in 0-3 and 3 month clothes now. Lots of cute clothes!

Here's to a much better report at 3 months...

Beyond Coastal Review and Giveaway

noreply@blogger.com (Krista) — Tue, 15 May 2012 07:30:00 +0000

It's starting to get warm around here; we put the AC in our window last night! That means summer's just around the corner.

One of our favorite treats in the summer is to go to the waterslides. Now normally I don't put sunscreen on myself or my kids every time we go outside. I prefer to try not to be out in the heat of the day and just wear light clothing to cover up. But going to the waterslides you don't really have that option! They don't open until 10 and the hotter it is outside the more fun it is to be in the water. So, we really need a good sunscreen.

Now, I'm pretty particular when it comes to sunscreens. Cory reacted badly to a sunscreen the first time he wore it when he was just a year old so I did a lot of research and finally found one that has worked for us. This means it has no fragrances, no extra ingredients, and we are limited to the mineral sunscreens.

If you know me you know how important it is to me that we limit the amount and kinds of chemicals we put in and on our bodies. This sunscreen that we use on our boys is still available (although it's rather expensive), but the one that I have been using is no longer available in the formulation that the Environmental Working Group (EWG) lists with a good rating. So now I need a new one for me, too.

Recently I was introduced to a new sunscreen company called Beyond Coastal. They sent me a trial package of their sunscreens as well as information on the company. I was thoroughly impressed by the fact that I can read all the ingredients and actually have a clue what they might be (Vitamin E, Aloe Vera, Shea butter, etc.). None of their sunscreens have a rating higher than 3 and the Natural line all have a 2 rating (on the EWG Skin Deep Database).

This makes me super confident that when I do need to put sunscreen on my kids I'm not doing more damage to their little bodies by adding yucky chemicals. When I used the Natural Kids SPF 30 I liked that for a mineral sunscreen (that's the white stuff) it actually rubbed in fairly quickly and really didn't feel greasy. Usually I have to wash my own hands after applying it, but with this sunscreen I didn't notice it was nearly as bad.

And, if you absolutely can't stand the white sunscreen you can try their Active line. They use the least toxic of the UVA blocking chemicals; avobenzone, plus all the other ingredients are natural just like in the other line.

Finally, all their sunscreens are fragrance free, paraben free, and even gluten free! They have a slight scent, probably due to the various oils used, but I found it to be light and pleasant.

I'm happy to have a new family of sunscreens to add to our arsenal for fun summer days!

WIN IT!

If you would like to win the same sampler pack that I received all you need to do is answer this question: What does your family like to do in the sun?

Leave the answer in the comments!
Please be sure I have a way to contact you or I will have to choose another winner.
Contest will end next Tuesday (the 22nd) at midnight, or whenever my mama brain remembers to close comments!

I received the sample pack of sunscreen in order to facilitate my review through the Global Influence network. All opinions are strictly my own.

First Family Photo

noreply@blogger.com (Krista) — Mon, 14 May 2012 22:15:00 +0000

Wherein no one told me to stand up straight and Noah's shirt is wet because Cory sprayed him with the hose. And Cory's shirt is wet because then Uncle Kevin sprayed him with the hose! But it's Mother's Day and the boys are both wearing their favorite colors and we had a yummy dinner... once we all got there on time! Sorry Mom!

Wordless Wednesday: Fun with Chalk

noreply@blogger.com (Krista) — Wed, 09 May 2012 21:46:00 +0000

Noah and the balloons, a fun idea I've seen online!

Boy Quotes #10

noreply@blogger.com (Krista) — Mon, 07 May 2012 07:30:00 +0000

At my parent's house:
"Cory, are you ready for a nap?"
"No, I'm ready to Rock and Roll" (said with attitude and body moves for emphasis)

Noah got a piece of cheese and Cory asked for some:
"Nana, can I have a piece of cheese..........................please?"
By which time, Nana had already gone back into the kitchen and didn't hear the please so she says,
"What's the magic word?"
Cory to me: "But I already said it"
I replied that I didn't think Nana heard him.
He says again, "But I already said it".
Nana comes out and he says to her, "I already said it".
She replies that it's nice to hear more than once.
He finally acquiesces and says,
"Nana, may I please have......." and now he's forgotten what he's asking for!

We had friends over awhile back and they were trying to teach Noah hide and seek. A few days later he climbs up in the chair, puts both hands over his eyes and says, "1 2 3 4 6 5 1 2, Here Tum Me!" Then he runs down the hall and "finds" brother playing in his room!

Wordless Wednesday: Nana Love

noreply@blogger.com (Krista) — Wed, 02 May 2012 07:30:00 +0000

Warning: overwhelming cuteness ahead!

I was getting ready to go and my mom was holding the girls... so I had to take a picture! Then Noah photobombed too. Unfortunately Cory declined to join in, but I love this picture!

On Birthdays and Easter and Grandparents... Oh My!

noreply@blogger.com (Krista) — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 07:30:00 +0000

Since it is now the last day of April I think it's high time I post these pictures from Easter weekend when the grandparents came to visit, meet the girls, and celebrate birthdays with us...

Bedtime stories are better with Grandma and Grandpa here (they always come in the evening)

We did make it to church or Easter, but unfortunately didn't get any pics. Bummer. No family pictures at all yet... it's more complicated now!

But we had a very yummy Easter dinner and then it was birthday time!

From Aunt Annika (and by default Uncle Kevin) a helicopter that makes all kinds of noise...
She'll be getting the favor back when she has kids!

And a Lightning McQueen horn for his new bicycle. Which was promptly determined to ONLY be honked outside.

Hope hanging out with Auntie Annika.

And for Noah a monster truck with trailer pulling a 4-wheeler. As you can also see by Cory's favorite (too small) shirt, monster trucks are all the rage in our house!

From Grandma and Grandpa, a Lego kit book that makes a police helicopter and "bad guy" getaway car or 2 other things, I forget what at the moment. This was the highlight of the evening...

For Noah, a book with holes in it where you see things on the next pages. It's kind of an eye-spy book.

He certainly has figured out how to unwrap presents...

See the helicopter in the back of the table? One of the things it says is "It's the police, put your hands in the air" and so my mother taught Noah how to put his hands up and say "I didn't do it!" It never gets old...

Gluten free Cookie Monster cupcakes! Came from an etsy shop with the kit for decorating. About all I could manage at this point!

Grandpa holding Joy. Looking like he wishes he could be asleep too after helping Brian with the laundry room! (which is slowly coming along to completion!)

The boys see the cupcakes. And this is the only good picture I have because Cory was more interested in playing with his new Lego car than paying attention when we were singing to him!

Highlight of the evening... and I'm pretty sure it's been played with every day he's been home since!

Noah reading his new book with Grandma

And after a whirlwind weekend, Grandma and Grandpa came to say goodbye on Monday morning.
(Hope with Grandma, Joy with Grandpa)

And now I have a 5 year old, a 2 year old, and 6 week old girls in the house.

Wordless Wednesday: Being a Boy

noreply@blogger.com (Krista) — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 07:30:00 +0000

We went up to camp on Saturday for a lunch and the boys played in the volleyball court...

The shirt is ruined *sad face* but I'm pretty sure it was worth it!

A Little Hope

noreply@blogger.com (Krista) — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 07:30:00 +0000

One of my favorite outfits!

For some random reason I have a lot of pictures of Joy and not of Hope. Here's to remedying that!

And I guess we make big babies... as of Friday, 5 weeks old, these girls weighed in at 8 pounds 3 ounces and 8 pounds 1 ounce and 20 inches long. They're growing!

A Birth Announcement!

noreply@blogger.com (Krista) — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 08:00:00 +0000

When Noah was born TinyPrints sponsored my birth announcements. I loved them and have continued to work with them since. So for really high quality announcements I had to go back.

I loved this design for the girls, but the colors clashed just too much with the pink in their hats. As Noah would say, "What to do?" Well, they have fabulous designers and I just asked if they could tweak the background colors on the card to either match or complement the photos. Problem solved!

What do you think?

TinyPrints was a partial sponsor of this post. The rest of the announcements I purchased with credits from previous work I've done with them. All opinions are my own, obviously!

Nursery: Decorated!

noreply@blogger.com (Krista) — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 16:03:00 +0000

So at Christmas I won a gift certificate to a shop called WeeDecor that does fabric wall stickers. After I ordered them I discovered that you had to wait 30 days after painting to put them up... so between not painting until the middle of February and the girls making their arrival just shy of a month later I have just now finished...

Here are the letters I did (twice) back in February...

These are the extras on the wall under the window...

Here's the main design, a tree with pink birdies in it! And the Winnie the Pooh cross stitch my college roommate made me a long time ago...

And the whole design! There are also a pair of birdies over the doorway - the idea of my sister-in-law, and two more pink dragonflies on the wall by the light switch.

The other half of the room is still covered by my desk/computer/filing cabinet and a very large collection of diaper boxes. We'll have to move things around again in a few months when they both need their own bed, but for now they share!

I really love how it looks, but I'm not sure how long the decals will last... they don't seem to stick real well, especially on the texture. Story of my life I guess, nothing goes well on textured walls except straight paint!

Wordless Wednesday: A Brother's Love

noreply@blogger.com (Krista) — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 08:00:00 +0000

The littler brother wants to hold the babies too. And kiss them all the time! He was also "getting" the babies nose and having her get his!

The Twins Arrival

noreply@blogger.com (Krista) — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 08:06:00 +0000

Notice: This post is probably not intended for men or the faint of heart!

Here's the story, as best I can remember!

On Wednesday I took the boys to Costco and then to the park to meet my friend Lindsay for lunch. It was supposed to rain later, but while we were there it actually started snowing on us. Crazy times!

Later that afternoon I started to feel a bit crampy and my regular practice Braxton-Hicks contractions started to feel a bit painful, but nothing too out of the ordinary. I washed one more load of laundry and decided that perhaps I should pack some bags for the boys before I went to bed rather than wait until later. At the very worst I could always unpack them in the morning, although they do have plenty of clothes!

I went to bed at 12:30 and at 1:30 woke up to a rather painful contraction. On getting up to use the bathroom I discovered that my water had broken. And then the contractions started in seriously. I woke Brian up and told him to call my mom and attempted to get the last few things together that I wanted. He got all the things out to the car and the boys in as well while I painfully and slowly got ready between contractions.

By the time we were on the road it was maybe 2:15 and my contractions were very painful and only 2 or 3 minutes apart. I called my friend Amie, who was my doula, and asked her to call my OB since I had forgotten to get his number.

My mom met us at the ER entrance and took the boys back home with her while they quickly bypassed admitting and took me straight up to the maternity ward. By the time they managed to get a monitor on the babies (although never at the same time for more than a minute) and check me I was already at 9cm.

Thankfully they listened when I told them about my IV situation and they put it in my arm with the first try and very little pain. I met the on call doctor and we went to the OR to get ready. My OB and Amie showed up at about the same time and I know there were lots of people around, but I don't remember much about that as I was pretty focused on just getting through the contractions by then.

I'm sure we weren't in the OR very long before I started to feel like I was going to split. I wimped out and was asking for pain meds, but because I was Strep B positive they were just trying to get the antibiotics in me as quickly as possible (pointless actually). Then Hope was coming with only one or two pushes and she was out. 3:08am - probably not even 45 minutes from the time we got to the hospital.

They took her away and the doctor was telling me to push and get Joy down even without the contractions. I'm not sure if it was before or at this point, but sometime there was an ultrasound to make sure that they were head down. My stomach was all lopsided and it's kind of hard to push when suddenly you don't have the pressure to push back with one baby gone! I could hardly feel it.

One or two more pushes and then Joy was out too. They took her away and then the doctor for some reason was in a big hurry to get the placenta out. He was massaging my stomach and pulling on the cords and that was NOT a pleasant experience. When it finally came out (at least as big as one of the babies) he looked at it and said it looked like it was one placenta. Which supposedly means they are identical, but we're just not sure. They definitely have different personalities, and we can tell them apart, although mainly by the birthmarks that will fade. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

Everything was going okay and the girls were fine so they gave them both to me and wheeled me back to the delivery room. Then things got interesting...

My OB had said he would give me pitocin after the delivery because he was concerned that my uterus wouldn't contract fast enough since this was a 3rd pregnancy and also with twins.

I started to have the after contractions and they kept getting more and more painful to the point where I felt like I was in labor again. I knew they were some what painful normally, but this was unbearable and I remember thinking "there's no way I can do this for a day or two" and I was asking for pain medication again. They had finally given me some after the birth. Hope had low blood sugar so they wanted me to nurse her or they were going to put a tube in her stomach. I really wanted to, but I was in so much pain I finally just said, okay, go ahead. This made me really sad.

But very shortly I started to feel blood coming out under pressure, which I thought was weird. I told the nurse and she turned around and practically jumped on my stomach. Yes, it hurt like crazy. But a huge amount of blood came pouring out all at once. It was like a waterfall and Brian said he really wasn't quite sure what had happened.

I think a lot of things were going on at this point, but I was so relieved to immediately not be in pain that I wasn't paying attention. My OB had already gone home so they got the on call one back in to check on me and make sure I wasn't actually hemorrhaging (I wasn't) and then they weighed it... 1.7 liters of blood. Imagine a 2 liter pop bottle... yeah, 85% of that. Between that and labor I basically lost half my blood.

They told me that because I had come in with a really high blood level (40) that they would just watch me. I did not end up having a blood transfusion at all, but my score dropped to 20.8 if I remember correctly. By 24 hours it had come up to 21.4 and I hadn't passed out or anything so they actually said I could go home on Friday if I wanted to. I decided to stay one more night since I was feeling pretty weak - although that proved to be a frustrating experience almost not worth it.

I've been thinking on this for a few weeks now and I'm not sure I can be convinced that the pitocin didn't actually cause the whole problem. See one of the side effects of pitocin is that along with causing stronger contractions it can also cause blood clots. My blood already clots really well (as in, if you don't keep my IV flowing at least very slowly it will seal itself off). So what happened was that I got either one really big clot or enough little ones that they couldn't come out. Then since they were in the way my uterus couldn't contract down like it was supposed to. In essence it was like there was another baby in there, hence the pain. And because it couldn't contract down it was still bleeding much more than it should have been. A bad situation all the way around. Good thing the nurse knew what was happening...

So... the girls were fine and because Hope had the stomach feed she didn't want to nurse for at least 12 hours. I suppose that was a blessing in disguise because she just slept and I only had to think about one baby for awhile. (except for the fact that 3 days later she spit up a blood clot and freaked us out - it had irritated her esophagus or something)

I couldn't get out of bed on my own so I didn't get to see both of them together at all for about 2 days. And by day 2 I looked down at my legs... and they were the same color as the sheets. Yes, it was March and I'm a pale person anyway, but I really never knew you literally could be white as a sheet. That was weird. And also the reason there are no pictures of me until this past week, I looked awful!

In this time I had three awesome nurses, Anna, Kayelee, and Rachel. Anna was there for the birth and later looked at me and said "I know you" and we figured out that she was also a birth attendant for Noah's birth at the birthing center 2 years ago. It was so nice to have her there the first night knowing she was coming from that perspective as well.

Kayelee and Rachel were awesome as well. Rachel took the girls out in the hall with her the second night so I could sleep a bit since there is no more nursery in this hospital and one of them seemed to be fussing all the time!

On Friday I got a nurse that wasn't very friendly at first and was also really busy so that was hard. Then that night the new nurse was telling me that the girls had lost almost too much weight and I needed to nurse them more... except how do you force a baby to eat??? They were really sleepy and just wouldn't eat when she wanted them to. She was talking and talking and giving me worst case scenario until I just started crying. At that point Brian asked her to leave and he went out and kind of dressed her down. I don't do well when people just talk at me... plus I was going on 3 days of very little sleep plus labor and losing blood!

Then he went home to bed (this was the main reason I stayed, so I could have a nurse help me and he could actually sleep for a couple nights - since he'd been sleeping on the couch/floor for a couple months). It was a bit awkward with that nurse at first, but she turned out to be fairly nice after all.

Saturday we were getting ready to go home... and Brian accidentally got an extra meal voucher when he paid for his lunch and they said he should go ahead and use it. The food at the hospital was actually pretty decent so we decided to take our time, have dinner, and then go home. I'm not sure it was worth it though...

Our day nurse got off at 3pm for some reason so the next nurse we got didn't come in until we were getting ready to leave - about 6pm. Suddenly she says "you can't leave, you have to do the carseat test" and we're going, "why?". Because the girls were born one day before 37 weeks and one of them weighed a few grams under the limit they had to sit in their carseats for 90 minutes while hooked up to monitors to be sure they didn't stop breathing. We live 10 minutes from the hospital.

So... after sitting in a teeny tiny hot room and watching the another episode of Downton Abbey (Season 1) we finally were cleared to go home. We got home at about 9:30pm after only 2 1/2 days in the hospital!

Everyone kept telling me to expect to feel really really tired because of the blood loss. But I think it's a testament to how exhausted I'd been since Christmas that I really didn't feel any worse after coming home. And actually because I could move I felt better in some ways! Now after 4 weeks I feel like walking a lot... if only I could get a bit more sleep!

Joy

Hope

And if you made it all the way through you get rewarded with these going home pictures! :)

Month One

noreply@blogger.com (Krista) — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 08:00:00 +0000

It's been a month already... hard to believe!

Hope in pink, Joy in purple

The girls are looking more and more identical every day, but they definitely have different personalities and I think eventually we'd be able to figure out who was who even without the toenails painted!

Sadly, I don't have any good first week pictures with the bunny. I took the bunny to the professional photo shoot, but she didn't know how to prop them well so they didn't turn out very good. :( I know how to prop babies in the bunny since this is the third time around!

The last few days have been a bit rough... eating constantly. I hope this is just a growth spurt and not that they just are going to need more food constantly. We're a little bit zombie-ish around here!

They are at least growing because they were swimming in these outfits at the hospital and now they fit well. Which means they'll probably have outgrown them by next week! I don't have an official weight, but they were back up to their birth weight and over a bit by 2 weeks so my guess it they're well over 6 pounds each by now. Still much smaller than either of the boys when they were born, but that's okay!

Blog Party Time: 2012!

noreply@blogger.com (Krista) — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 07:23:00 +0000

I'm Krista. Welcome to Married Life, welcome to my blog! Things are a little haphazard and chaotic around here lately... because this is what I've been doing a lot of!

There are actually 2 of them, but I can only hold one and the camera at a time! My baby girls are 4 weeks old and I'm getting used to going from 2 kids to 4! My boys are 2 and 5, but so far I haven't had to take care of all 4 of them at the same time for too long!

This blog has kind of been taken over by all things baby and kid related (especially as all of them have birthdays in March now!), but I do write about other things too. I'm heavily into photography, although only as an amateur so far. Someday I might have my own photography business... when I have a little spare time!

I'm a science nerd and strongly believe that all the chemicals we come in contact with on a daily basis have an effect on us. To that extent I try to use all natural non-toxic home, body, and personal care products. I sometimes write about those products.

I like to travel and meet new people. And if you'll stay in touch, you'll always hear back from me... eventually! I've had a penpal from Australia since I was 7 years old... she's coming to visit me in June for the second time!

And now... since it's past midnight I hope my babies are ready to sleep since I am... although the one I'm holding is still wide awake! So if you get a comment on your blog at midnight or later you'll know why! Leave a comment here and I'll come visit!

Happy Blog Hopping!

Boy Quotes #9

noreply@blogger.com (Krista) — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 08:04:00 +0000

Noah's got it figured out when he wants something brother has... "One mitten (minute), Noah turn"

We have a duck/lemonade stand joke that Noah thinks is hilarious. He frequently says, "glue tree, otay Mom?" because the duck is threatened with being glued to a tree if he doesn't stop asking for grapes at the lemonade stand... and so he's "threatening" to glue me to a tree. Which he thinks is also hilarious!

"No take a dirt out Noah grass" - don't take the dirt out of Noah's grass
We got sprinklers installed this week (hooray!) and when Noah got up from his nap and saw that his beloved yard was all torn up he was distraught. It's all done now, but there's grass seed down so they won't be able to play in the yard for a few weeks. Time to visit some parks (wish ours was done already!).

See my pretty daffodils!

This past weekend my in-laws were here and my mother-in-law bravely accompanied me, the girls, and Noah to the mall for a couple of errands. When we were done the girls needed to eat so we were sitting in the van. Noah was strapped in the back and didn't want to be left out... He started telling us a story about how the "dinosaur eat white car" and then "dinosaur eat Mama house" and when we asked where we were going to go then he said "sleep Nana house". But then the "dinosaur eat Nana house" so then we were all going to go "sleep Bama house" (Grandma's house). There were many rounds of this sometimes interspersed with "oh no! what to do?" It was quite hilarious and cute as he's got the storyteller's inflection down!

Wordless Wednesday: Two for One

noreply@blogger.com (Krista) — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 08:50:00 +0000

One of the very few carriers you can use with twins... my brother gave me this Moby when Cory was born. It's come in handy!

Book: Always the Designer, Never the Bride

noreply@blogger.com (Krista) — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 18:13:00 +0000

Always The Designer, Never The Bride

It’s taken Audrey Regan years to establish herself as a wedding dress designer, and to date she’s been roped into creating dresses for nine of her girlfriends. Request #10 follows her vow to “Just say no!” and comes from her very best friend. She can hardly turn Carly down!

Audrey arrives in Atlanta early to perform all of her maid-of-honor duties along with final fittings for a one-of-a-kind dress. But Carly’s wedding is nothing short of an event, complete with Prince Charming, and the festivities make Audrey question whether there’s a prince of her own anywhere in her future.

Enter the groom’s brother and best man. Shaggy-haired, tattooed bad boy J.R. Hunt couldn’t be any more different from Prince Charming if he rode in on a Harley Davidson. Oh, wait. He actually did ride in on a Harley!

If you would like to read an excerpt of the first chapter of Always The Designer, Never The Bride, go HERE.

***

I've read a couple of Sandra's novels and they are the perfect light read. I'm not really up for much in depth right now! They have substance and deal with some issues, but you come away with a good ending and feel like you've just stopped in on some friends for a few hours. Best to read this one in the series or you'll get a bit confused by all the characters and references to the back stories!

***

For more than a decade, Sandra D. Bricker lived in Los Angeles. While honing her chosen craft of screenwriting in every spare moment, she worked as a personal assistant and publicist to some of daytime television's hottest stars. When her mother became ill in Florida, she walked away from that segment of her life and moved across the country to take on a new role: Caregiver.

The Big 5-OH! was released by Abingdon Press in the Spring of 2010, and the novel was very well-received, garnering a couple of nibbles from Hollywood.

Always the Baker, Never the Bride was released by Abingdon Press in September 2010. With its phenomenal reviews, the novel spawned a series of three more books based on the popular cast of characters at The Tanglewood Inn, a wedding destination hotel in historic Roswell, Georgia. The series cemented Sandie's spot in publishing as a flagship author of Laugh-Out-Loud romantic comedy for the inspirational market.

"Being allowed to combine my faith and my humor with my writing dream," says Bricker, "well, that's the best of all worlds, as far as I'm concerned!"

Wordless Wednesday: Sunset

noreply@blogger.com (Krista) — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 20:46:00 +0000

The view from our house last night... although I had to run out to the highway to get the power lines out of the shot. I'm sure the people driving by thought I was crazy in my apron since I had been making dinner!