They Did it

Well, they did it.  My boys went and turned one on me.  At least we had a big birthday bash to celebrate!  We had a big BBQ with a bunch of Jacob's dental school friends.  And we had a blast!  It made me so grateful to have so many wonderful people to call our friends!  We really had quite the celebration.  I even attempted to make a 'peep' cake....you know, those disgusting Easter marshmallow candies that are covered in bright yellow sugar?  Well, they were my mom's absolute favorite treat at Easter.  When I saw the picture of it in the Food Network magazine back in March, I just new I HAD to make that for the boys.  So I attempted.  It turned out okay for my first shot at a fancy cake.  That is, if you consider a lop sided beak and uneven tail "okay".  It was the best I could do with two screaming baby boys by my side while I assembled and frosted it.  The point is, that I tried to make them something special.  That way, in 20 years when they are looking back at their pictures, they can see that I tried to do something special despite the fact that they were only turning one and couldn't have cared less about a cake:)

Jacob's friends were so kind and brought some very generous gifts.  More than anything, it was a wonderful celebration of the lives of two miracle baby boys.  How grateful I am to call them my children.  I have done a lot of reflecting over the past couple of months.  Lots of looking at pictures of them in the NICU and when we first brought them home.  Where did my cuddly little babies go?  Why does time have to go by so quickly?  Now I look at them, Sammy is crawling everywhere and is in to everything, has two razor sharp teeth that like to bite my ankles, laughs all the time and has the most infectious smile.  Drew rolls and spins all over, growls, slaps our faces and hates to sleep.  They are both growing up so quickly. 

Although the adults were all having a good time at the party, Drew was ready to call it quites as soon as we brought out the cake, broke out the birthday hats and sang "Happy Birthday".  Yep, he screamed at the top of his lungs the entire time we sang.  And when Jacob forced his hands and feet in the cake he screamed even harder.  It may sound mean, but it was actually really funny to see him so sad and all dressed up in birthday cake and a party hat.  Although he is incredibly loud, he makes one VERY cute unhappy birthday boy:)

It's About Time....

It's about time I post some pictures of our sweet boys.  I can't believe how quickly time passes and how fast these two are growing up.  I am LOVING being a mom of twins!  It is SO busy, but so rewarding to see them smile at me and snuggle with me.  Neither of them are big snugglers, but when they do, I eat it up!  I feel like lately we have been to a lot of appointments...not our favorite thing, but when I think about how many doctor appointments we thought we would need when these littles were born, I am relieved that there are so few!  It's all about perspective, my friends:)

Nothing really new with Jacob or me.  Jacob is just as busy as ever in school and comes home early when he can, but he is usually gone until at least 8:00 and sometimes 11:00pm.  He is such a hard worker.  It's crazy to think that he has less than two years of school.  We still love living here and LOVE our house!  It was such a good move for us.

We took the boys in for developmental and physical evaluations today at UCSF.  We set a record!  Drew and Sammy are by far the youngest (gestational age...born at 23 weeks, 4 days) they had ever seen.  In fact, the neurologist said that they don't even attempt to save babies if they are younger than 24 weeks at UCSF.  WHAT?!!!!  That sounds horrible to me!  One thing is for sure, despite how hard it was on us to be in Utah and to be away from Jacob, we were definitely in the right place.  The Neurologist and each of the therapists could NOT believe what they were seeing with our boys.  They were all so impressed with how healthy mentally and physically our boys are.  I can't even begin to tell you how emotional I was at the appointment.  These boys are absolute miracles and gifts from our Heavenly Father.  There is no doubt about it.  Why they came early, we'll never know, or we might.....but the important thing is that they are here.  I am their mother and Jacob their father.  We have the responsibility of teaching these boys (and any other kids we have) the wonderful Gospel of Jesus Christ, how to be hard workers, a good father (they have a wonderful example!), how to be men, a friend, and so on and so forth.  I sure hope I am doing this whole "mother" thing right.  Sometimes I wonder if I am being a good mom.

I love these boys more than I can say.  They are my little beans and I can't imagine life without them.  Despite the fact that they wear me out every day and by the time I go to bed I am completely exhausted, they are my treasures and I get excited to wake up to them the following morning.

Enough of my rambling......now the good stuff:)

                                                     Drew fell asleep like this on the floor

                                                        Oh I love this cute face!!!

                        Drew wanted some of my Costco frozen yogurt...one of our favorite treats!

                                                                Chillin' at Costco

                                                               All ready for church!

                                                          Just waking up from his nap

               I made the boys a green smoothie and they LOVED it!   I am so excited they like it!

                                                  Attempting to eat their bottles on the floor.....

                                        

So Fun!!!!

We have had a few exciting things over the past couple of weeks!  First of all, Jacob officially received his white coat!  Doesn't he look so handsome?!  I'll answer that for you...YES! Well on his way to becoming Dr. Jacob Jennings:)

d

I am one lucky girl to have this boy.  Not only is he handsome, but he is also such a wonderful husband and father.  I know most women say that about their husbands.  However, I mean it.  I couldn't have married anyone more perfect for me that this boy.  I am so proud of him and all the hard work he puts into school.

Also, my beautiful and wonderful sister and her darling family were on their way back to Utah from Oregon and they decided to drop in for a quick visit!!! I haven't seen her since January....basically that is an eternity for us, so you can imagine how excited we were to have them spend the night with us.  Isn't her son, Matthew so darn cute?!  I already miss those cute, chubby and oh so kissable cheeks!  And those eyes and eye lashes?!  BEAUTIFUL!  Thanks Elizabeth and Jeremiah for taking the time to come see us! Every second was enjoyed!


(Matthew 15 months, Drew and Sammy 11 months)

Big news at our house- Sammy is crawling and is into EVERYTHING!!! I love watching him get around!  It's a one armed Army/gimp crawl, but he gets where he wants to go.  And quick!  He is pretty proud of himself and loves to get into the shoe basket and pull out all the shoes, pull out the DVDs and anything that looks like a cord.  Oh I love him!  He crawls around with a giant smile on his face!  He is such a happy boy and laughs all the time.  I can't get enough of him! 

Drew is secretly a clown. You'd never guess it by the serious look he has on his face most of the time, but he is.  He growls at me all the time.  Especially when he is eating.  He lets me know when I am not getting food in his mouth fast enough or if he wants more after its gone.  He has also been into yelling and humming lately.  It's pretty funny until he gets so loud that it hurts your ears:)  He loves to be held, entertained and loved on.  We love him so much!!!

Adventures

A couple of weeks ago we had some of our very best friends visit the area.  We had a chance to show them around a bit and have some fun!  We went to the Golden Gate Bridge and walked across it, Fisherman's Wharf, Baker Beach and Sausalito.  We are so glad they came!  We also got to meet their sweet baby boy, Cole.  Thanks Cliff and Emily for coming!  We love you guys!

Just Pictures

Sammy loves to flip around in his chair to watch tv.

We have "Wrestle Mania" at our house:)

My cute boys at the doctor's office.  They are growing really well and are getting so big!!! 

Just because he's so darn cute!

Drew fell asleep eating the side of the play mat.

Sadly this is our first family picture.  Better than nothing I guess!

We always laugh when Drew does this pose.  It's almost like he is saying "fine then, I don't want to play if we can't do it my way."

Mother

Being a wife and mom is a lot of work. That's also the reason it is such an honor and such a fulfilling role to have.  Spending the days at home with my boys and being the wife of such an amazing man is such a joy.  And although I am usually completely exhausted by the end of the day, I wouldn't want to have any other job.  It's the best and that's all there is to it!  I have done a lot of reflecting the past couple of weeks.  Thinking back to the time we spent at the NICU and wondering if we were ever going to be a real family...you know, a family that actually lives in the same house.  It crossed my mind several times that it was never going to happen.  I spent days and nights wondering if my babies were going to survive and if they did, would they live normal lives?  So many 'what ifs' racing through my mind.  It was even more difficult knowing that there was not a single person who could guarantee what the outcome would be.  It was a horrible feeling knowing that my sweet husband and the father of our boys was 1,000 miles away.  For SO many reasons.  And now, comparing what our lives were like then and now, words cannot describe how wonderful things are!  Do we have hard days when the boys don't nap and cry all day? Yup.  Do I have days when I feel like I'm a horrible mom and don't do enough for/with my boys? Yup.  But I think part of that comes with being a parent.  I'll probably feel like that for the rest of my life.  Wonder if I'm doing enough or being a good example for them.  But it is also an incentive to be a better wife, mother, daughter, friend and sister.

I want to be the kind of mom that my mom was to me.  A "Sandra Hunter 2.0", if you will:)  My mom ALWAYS took time for us. ALWAYS.  If something was important to us, it was important to her.  She was SUCH a good teacher.  And I'm not just referring to her job as a school teacher (although she was the best school teacher ever too), but at home.  She took the time to show us HOW to do something.  She didn't just do it for us which would have been much easier for her.  She taught us how to sew, cook, plant a garden and take care of it.  She taught us how to take care of a home, how to be a good spouse and friend.  I could go on and on.  Most importantly, she taught us what it means to be a true follower of Christ.  I am positive that there wasn't ever one one ounce of mean-ness (probably not a word, but just go with it) in her.  She was the most pure and Christ like person I have ever met.  I would say that even if she wasn't my mother.

I wish I could be more like her.  I hope to be more like her.  What an honor it is to be her daughter.  A special 'Thanks' goes out to my cute Grammie for raising such a wonderful woman to be my mother, my dad's wife, my children's grandmother (i.e. Grams) and mother in law to my husband.  I wish so badly she could be here with us.  My sister and I talk about that all the time.  We always had so much fun together!  And there is so much I want to ask her about raising kids and about a million other topics.  Thanks mom for being the best!

I can hardly believe it is almost June!!! WOW! That means my boys will be one in just a couple of months...YIKES!  I'm so not ready for them to be one! However, I am already planning a cake and a fun little party for them because secretly I am so excited to have my own kids to throw a party for:) We are so excited for the summer to be here and for Jacob to have some time off of school.  We have a list that is 10 miles long of things we want to do.  Sadly, one of those things we MUST do is move.  UGH.  I hate moving.  However, this time it is just down the street and is much cheaper..YAY!  So really, its a good thing.  I just don't want to pack up the house again.  Oh well....YAY for cheaper rent! (I'm trying to sound upbeat about it)

The boys are doing so well.  Sammy has learned how to roll over and can now reach for toys and put them in his mouth.  He slobbers like CRAZY on everything and has even slipped through Jacob's hands!  Sam didn't have anything on besides his diaper and had been slobbering all over his stomach. When Jacob went to pick him up, he just slid right through!  Sammy is our happy, bright blue eyed, photogenic goof ball.  We love him so much and love all of the goofy things he does.  He makes us laugh!  He is also starting to be able to sit up on his own for about 30 seconds!  Go Sammy!

Drew has also turned into a little bit of a goof.  But I guess that is because he has some good examples around here:)  He smiles SO much more than he used to.  He loves to sing songs (hum really loudly) all the time, slobbers like his older and much bigger brother, and is still learning how to reach for things.   They are both so much fun to play with and I truly feel so blessed to be able to spend all day with them.

Thanks for being our boys Sammy and Drew!  We love you so much!

                                               

8 Months

 I know I say this every month, but I can hardly believe my babies are 8 months old.  All I am going to say is that I feel so very blessed to be their mother and they are such a joy to have in our home.  Thank you Drew and Sammy for being our little handsomes!!!!