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Saturday, October 30, 2010

Ben's Prayers

Ben has started to say his own prayers, rambling on as is per usual. He rarely get prompted unless he missed saying something... most of the time, its: "dear.... this hot dog, this donald duck..." So, we have to go back and start over.

This was his prayer on lunch:

Ben: "Dear.... this hot dog"
Mom: "Heavenly Father"
Ben: "Fadder... this hot dog"
Mom: "thank you for.."
Ben: "Thank you for.... this hot dog, this day, this animal cracker, this..what this (pointing to the vase of fake flowers) "
Mom: "flowers"
Ben: "this flowers, this mickey mouse fork, this babies AddiePeytieAddie (yes, that is all one word), this face (pointing to his own), this pumpkin, this pumpkin face, this.... (its a calendar that he's pointing at)
Mom: "calendar"
Ben: "..... these numbers, 9, 10, 10, 10. Jesus Christ..... AMEN!


Yes, these prayers are precious, and that was pretty much verbatim. He's adorable when he gets going. Some times he thanks Heavenly Father for all this body parts, and goes through them. Most of the time he lists his toys and shows that he likes. Lately he's thankful for candy, duh.
He's so adorable, and i'm grateful he's so excited about church and Jesus, and prayers, he reminds us every night to say them (sometimes multiple times to get out of going to bed.)

Sunday, October 24, 2010

My kids are awesome!

I was doing so well there for a little while, posting regularly. Then, I got lazy. I know, I know, story of my life, right. So, i'm here to tell you, that i'm going to try and do better. As in, i'm going to post more often than once a month. Here is a quick update:

Ben has hit the terrible twos hard!! He's mostly a pain in the butt, with a few sweet moments thrown in. He doesn't listen, does everything that i tell him not to, and whines ALL. THE. TIME! Its drives me nuts, and I feel like a bad parents because i feel like all i do all day is yell and him and scold him. AGH! I hope this stage passes soon!!

The girls are doing amazing!! Last wednesday they had a check-up and Addison weighs 11 lbs. 6 oz. and Peyton weighs 11 lbs. 5 oz. They have gained a little over 10 lbs. since birth! how awesome is that!?!?! They are both able to roll over both ways, no problem. Peyton holds the record for sitting up: 35 seconds. (she kinda got stuck, but we TOTALLY counted it) Addie has a more reasonable record at 3 seconds. They are both smiley and happy girls as long as they have food in their tummies. They are up to 6 oz. bottles, but down to twice a day. But, they have started on rice cereal, so it make up for it.

Proud Mommy Moment: My girls, who were 4 month premature, are STILL nursing! yes, i pumped for 4 months, endured countless tears and frustration to get them to learn how to nurse! I went from pumping to nipple shields to finally getting them to nurse without any problems. They like to pull off many times while they nurse. I've learned to deal with them, and it now seems like the most natural thing. I'm so glad that they are still nursing, and actually getting nutrition out of it. They are the most amazing girls, ever!!

More to come later, I promise!

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Dearest Penny,


Dear Penny,
I'm sorry that I can't be with you to say good-bye. You probably don't even really remember me right now, its been about 2 years since you last saw me. I did however, want to write you a letter and mom said she would read it to you before you pass.
I remember the first time I saw you. We drove a few hours to check out these cute little pure-breed Red English Cocker Spaniels. You came into the room and proceeded to find you way into my lap and fall asleep. I was in love. We'd never had a dog before, and you were the cutest little thing. Your ears were a few sizes too big, but they just matched the size of you heart. We took you home, and you were so happy to finally have a home. We were told you were a boy, but it could of gotten lost in translation between the old German lady and her 6 year old interpreter, but we even learned that we got boy papers for you. Unfortunately, it even confused you because the first time we took you out to go potty at home, you lifted you leg, then looked back at us because it seemed to unnatural. Its ok, our neighbor was a Vet and finally set us straight.
When you were little, you used to trip over your ears all the time, it was so cute! You loved to run around outside and chase us all over the place. Not even a chain link fence could stand in you way.. actually it did, but you just went around instead of trying again to go through it, which didn't work in the first place, hahaha.
We used to tease you mercilessly. Whenever it snowed we would hid doggy treats out in the snow and laugh as you would pull out your superest sniffer to find them. I never did understand it, but you would always get these icy balls of snow stuck to your big ears. They would remind me of burrs. It was so cute! I remember the first time it snowed enough to actually play in, you thought you were a frog and would hop around in the snow. It was so cute to watch!
You were such a happy puppy, and so dang cute! You have the most gorgeous coat of fur, and you had really long eye lashes. Even with you good looks, you were a mischievous little devil. You used to climb up on the table and eat all the bacon i just cooked. Or the chocolate chocolate chip cookies i just backed. You even got into the box of milk on the floor. Of course, back then you had an iron stomach. We even once found a little baby doll hand sticking up out of your business in the yard. Its ok i forgave you, for that one. You used to eat my underwear and sometime my clothes if i had food on them and didn't get them into the wash quick enough.

Some of the things I will always remember about you:
-Your big ears
- the way you would always try and ride shot gun, as if
- sometime you would go temporarily insane and just start running around the house for no reason
- You loved rice and tuna.
- When mom gave you away to "teach us a lesson" all the neighborhood kids hated her, and loved her when you came back!
-You were a "Bad Dog" jail bird for Halloween, every year
- You would always shake SSSSOOO badly if you saw a squirrel.
- we used to tease you with a fake squirrel
- you loved playing hide-and-seek with us, you were the best seeker!
- you chewed through every ball imaginable except a raquetball, Penn brand, of course
- You never slept in any of us kids room, you always had to be near your momma
- you loved dark corners, and we'd always find you laying there
- in Darmstadt, you used to sleep on the stairs so you could see out the little side window and wait for us to get home!


there are many more, but i can't list them all. I'm so sad that I won't be there to tell you goodbye, but i know that you are sick and that its easier to let you go now than to watch you suffer any longer. You were always my favorite pet, yes I loved you even more than the tadpoles we used to catch, or Figaro the frog that lived in our yard in Utah and peed on Bryan. You were and are and always will be the best puppy in the world. Have fun in heaven, tell Toby we said hi (the dog), and chase some squirrel, just remember not to bark tooo loud. You're loved! I'm just sorry that I can't be there with you. You have given me so much happiness. I love you, Penny dog, Penelope, Cylla from the Poppy Valley, dirty dog, chicken butt, chicken legs, you crazy pooch.
Samm

Sunday, October 10, 2010

8 months old


Addison


Peyton

Sorry, there only a few pictures up here, we are trying to get some family picture taken, so those will be up soon.

September 28, 2010 marked the day that the girls turned 8 months old. This day was very special to me because they spent exactly the same amount of time in the hospital and they had at home with us. The next day, they were more mine than the nurses and drs at the hospital.
Since they've been home, they have thrived. They did extremely well in the hospital, as you know, because they had little to no complications with their prematurity. The complications that they did have we minor complications and weren't too serious, (i.e. PDA ligations, laser eye surgery, Peyton's PIE). Anyways, since they've been home, they came off the oxygen within 3 weeks. That is AMAZING!! Lots of babies who were born a couple of months after the girls had been, were still on oxygen for close to a year, if not more. So, what is the miracle here, why were my babies protected and saved? You know, I don't know, i'm not one to claim to know what they will do in life, or what other babies will do. I do know for a fact that they came at the right time, and they were spared much because they have a mission on this earth and they needed these experiences, as little as they were, to help refine their spirits.
Who knows the impact that their premature births had on any one person? I can tell you that they were some of the most prayed for babies. Friends and Family prayed, let their university classes know, and their class mates had their church congregations pray for the girls, etc,etc. Who know how far their story reached? All I know, is that Prayer works. My girls are LIVING evidence of this.

Today, they are smiley, happy, playful, loving, beautiful little girls with bright eyes and a hunger for learning that is already evident in their eyes. Both are now trying to sit up, Peyton holds the record ofr 4 second. both have started Rice Cereal, which they don't too often because I can't seem to fin the time to nurse, bottle feed AND feed them cereal. I don't know if it will get better with time, maybe they will get more over Christmas vacation. who knows?
The girls have a weird schedule. They wake up about 730 or 8 in the morning to eat, then they go back down for their morning nap that turns into a full out sleep-fest. On most occasions, they will sleep until about 2 or 3. I've tried waking them up to eat, but they won't latch to nurse and they just play with their bottle, whats a girl to do? So, i just let them sleep. Sometimes i take a nap of my own on the couch while Ben plays or watches a movie. Other times, i enjoy the time with my beautiful blue-eyed Ben.

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Random thoughts

So, it was a little over a year ago when we found out that we were having twins. I was probably still in shock and a little teeny bit of denial... haha Last Conference, I was still on the drug fenergen, which was supposed to help with the extreme intense nausea that I was experiencing. While this drug was supposed to help with the nausea, it really only made me extremely tired and sleepy. It did not help with the sickness at all. I'm grateful at least that i didn't throw up too much, just whenever I ate something the girls didn't like, just like with Ben. Anyways, getting to the point, I've just been reminising about how hard that time was, and especially how grateful I was for my friends during that time.
Some days I was so sick, that I wouldn't even be able to take care of Ben. All I could do was lay on the couch trying to figure out what to eat that wouldn't make me throw up and that would actually take care of my nausea (which was nothing). Some days, my close friends would take Ben for a few hours so I could get some sleep (thanks meds) and wait for Toby to get home.
Then, when I was put on bed rest in the hospital, and Toby was still in school full-time, our best friends took Ben in pretty much full-time. We are so grateful for Katrina Johnson (and her husband, Seth, when he wasn't in school) for watching Ben when we couldn't. We are eternally grateful for their hospitality and charity to our family.
Second, we want to thank my mom for coming and giving Ben the stability he needed when our family was in crisis. It was invaluable to our family!

Thank you to everyone who prayed for our family, made meals, phoned with concern, took care of us, or gave any of your time for our family! This year has been a hard one, and probably the most rewarding.
Love, Toby, Samm, Ben, Addie, Peyton

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