Milestones!

The past few days have been ones that are full of milestones! The boys are smiling and laughing more than ever and Joey is as smart as a whip. On Friday, Johnathan and Jonah rolled from their bellies to their backs! I can't believe that they are doing these things already. They are grabbing the rings that hang from the handle on their carseats and chewing on them. They are laughing out loud and just all around happy boys. They do have their moments, but they are fairly good. People keep asking me how I do it. How do I feed two babies at the same time and also keep track of what my toddler is doing. They say that feeding two babies is hard enough without having to worry about Joey. You just do it. There are no how is it going to get done, no what if's, no questions. You just have to do it. If anything good comes out of this, the boys will learn patience. They don't get their needs satisfied at that exact moment, but they are taken care of once all of them are safe and in a good place. I have to make sure that Joey can't get hurt or anything when I am feeding the twins and I have to make sure that the twins are safe when I am dealing with Joey. It's not the easiest thing to do, but its doable. God has given me the ability to figure it out!

Joey is getting big too! He moved into his big boy bed a few days ago. We kept his crib up in his room just to make sure that everything is good with the new bed. He did great. The first night, we didn't have the bed rail clean so he ended up falling off the bed within 2 hrs of being put in it. We learned our lesson from that and the rail went up that night. He has slept and napped in it very well since then. I can't believe that my baby is not in a crib anymore! He has only gotten out of bed in the morning once since we had him in the big bed and his door was shut so we don't have to worry about him wandering around the house.

Happy Mothers Day!

Hi All! I just wanted to write a blog about what Mother's Day means to me. Well before I had kids, it was about getting my mom a present to show how much I appreciated her. But my questions is, Can you show someone how much you love them just by a material present? Once I became a mom myself, I quickly understood that you can't. It's not the material things that matter, its the emotional things that mean the most. Last year was my first Mother's Day. "Joey" got me flowers (I put his name in parentheses because of course, at 7 months he didn't go out and buy the flowers himself.) I appreciated them very much because not only were they supposed to be from my little boy, but I saw how much Marc valued me as a mom. He wanted me to feel like I was important to his son, but with the same gesture, he showed me that he wanted me to feel important because I was his wife and a good mom to his son. Fast forward a month. I found out I was prengnat again. (The pregnancy just so happened to be my suprise Mother's Day present. I got pregnant that night!) I was super excited but also scared. How could I love another child (and we would soon find out that there were 2) as much as I loved Joey. Fast forward again to January 12 of this year. I had two wonderful, perfect boys. My arms are so full now.

People keep telling me that I have my hands full. They say this in a negative way. I take it as a positive thing. My hand are full. Full of love, joy, promise for the future to come, full of smiles, laughs. There are so many people who are not able to have children. God has BLESSED me many, many times over with the children that I have. I honestly don't know what I would do without them. I had a friend tell me yesterday that she didn't know if she wanted kids. I told her that if she ever had one, she would never want to lose that experience. Children are such a blessing. As many times as I wanted to pull my hair out and scream right along with the kids, I wouldn't trade them for all of the money in the world.

I think that having a good role model is key to being a good mom. I have a wonderful mom. We had our differences and fights when I was growing up, but what teenager doesn't fight with their mother. At least I had a mother to fight with. As I got older, I realized that she did things for a reason (and no mom, you can't hold this over my head now!) Once I became a mom myself, I realized that I needed her help. Not only with how to raise my sons, but how to emotionally deal with it all. I am a bundle of nerves. I cry all the time (even though no one sees it) and I get easily irritated sometimes. I am sure this is normal for moms, but also normal for a mom having 3 kids 19 months and younger. I never thought that I would have 3 kids this close, but God gave me them for a reason. Maybe that reason was to see how much I do need my mom. As adults, we think that we are adults and don't need our parents help, but that is the farthest from the truth. I need my mom more now than I think I ever did. She is there not only to help me with my sons, but to make me a better mother and woman. She tells me that I am a good mom and a great person. I don't ever want to be without my mom.

Last year she found out that she had cancer. Let me tell you how much my world crumbled at that one phone call. I was shaken to my core. Life without my mom flashed before my eyes. I was so upset. Fortunately, I won't have to deal with that for hopefully a long time. She went through radiation and is cancer free! I don't thank her enough for what she does and on Mother's Day, I just want to say thank you mom for everything you do. I LOVE YOU!

To all of those other moms that are reading my blog, Happy Mother's Day to you too. I hope your day is everything you wished it to be and I hope you realize how lucky you are to have your families and your children.

Question of the week-Mother's Day

Question of the week: What do you like the most about being a MoM?

So for some people, when I post the word MoM, they think that its a mistake in my capitalization. That would not be unusual for me to have a grammar mistake in my blog, but this time its on purpose. It really means Moms of Multiples. I have been chosen by God to be placed in this wonderful group of amazing women. Not only are these women great mothers, but they understand each other in a way that not many people do.

Anyways, back to the question of the week. What do I like most about being a MoM. Well for me I guess I would have to say the smiles and the laughs that I get from the twins. From Joey, I love the hugs. The twins aren't doing much more than smiling, laughing and kicking right now, so I take what I can get. I love the times that I have with each one of them individually. The special moments that I have with Joey, Johnathan, and Jonah are so special to me. Even though I'm not around all of the time, I hope they know that I love them with all of my heart and I would do anything for them!

Mrs. Smith's Diaper Bag Review

A few months ago, I became a Facebook fan of Mrs Smith's Bags when I entered a giveaway for one of their bags. Unfortunately, I didn't win, but I do get updates now on their bags and all of the cool things that are happening in their business. When Mrs Smith's Bags was looking for a way to promote their bags and wondering how to get their name out there, I suggested doing a review on my blog. I always love reading reviews on new products and thought it would be fun doing one. With three kids under the age of 2, it's hard to find a bag that can hold everything for everyone. Before I saw this bag, I really didn't care much about the bag that I carried. It just had to hold some of the things that I needed. Little did I know that this bag would be the last one I would need to look for!

I was super excited when I recieved my bag. My husband called me while I was at work and told me that it had come in and that it looked cool. I couldn't wait to get home to try it out. I got home and tore it out of the box. It was so pretty. I got the copper color. I immediately took everything out of my old diaper bag and started putting it in the new one. I soon realized how big it was and how much it would hold. On a normal day out, we have 3 diapers for each child. That is 9 diapers. Add that to a package of wipes (because with 3 hineys to change, you never know how many you will need), a change of clothes for each of the twins, burp cloths (2), bibs (2), bottles (minimum of 2), formula (most of the time we take enough for 6 bottles), a sippy cup for Joey, snacks for him, and the various odds and ends that will possibly be needed throughout the day, it adds up very, very quickly. That doesn't even include all of the things that I need in the diaper bag (ie my ID, cell phone, keys, and any important papers that I might need during the day) This bag has room for it all.

This bag has a patented organizing drawer in the front. Who would have though to put an organizing drawer in a diaper bag? The inventor/designer of Mrs. Smith's Bags found a need for it when she was travelling with her 2 year old son and 6 month old daughter. Not only was she juggling the two children, but she was also trying to juggle the diaper bag. She couldn't find what she was looking for and ended up spilling her daughter's bottle all over the contents of the bag while looking for her son's toy train. She was beyond frustrated and vowed to make something that would solve her problems. In the bottom drawer of my bag, I stored two of the formula containers, tylenol, gas drops, snacks for Joey, socks for the twins, and any of the misc. things that I threw in at the last minute.

With the design of the strap on the bag, I can use it as a messenger bag or a backpack. This came in handy when I was carrying the twins at the same time in their infant carriers. The inside of the bag is so wonderful. It has 3 insulated cup/bottle holders, a zippered pouch, and a velcroed compartment. It held EVERYTHING that I needed to be out with for about 6 or so hours. The day that I tried it out for the first time, I put 9 cloth diapers in the top along with the wipes. There is even a pocket on the outside that I used to store 3 disposable diapers just in case we needed those as well while we were out. That pocked could also be used to store magazines, a book, or needed paperwork.

I honestly didn't think that I could ever find ONE diaper bag that could fit everything that I would need for all THREE of my kids in it at once. I have found it in this bag! You can find these awesome bags here. You can also visit Mrs Smith's Bags on Facebook at www.facebook.com/pages/Mrs-Smiths-Bags/123246658483. You can see the new things that they have going on and also they have discounts and promotions on a frequent basis!!

Thank you to Mrs. Smith's Bags for providing me with a sample bag for me to review that I am able to keep. I have not recieved any compensation for my review on my blog and all of the opinions are mine. All of the reviews that I put on this blog are my honest opinion. Thank you!!

Saying names and getting big

Joey is starting to say the boys names! He doesn't get it exactly right, but he is getting it! He calls Jonah, "Nona" and Johnathan, we have been trying to get him to say John which in return, he calls him "Non" Its not perfect, but its great for a 19 month old to be saying! I love my little man! He is getting to be such a big boy. He is communicaing so well with us. For the most part, we can understand what is going on in that little head of his. Sometimes I wish that we hadn't taught him some things, like mommy or Papa because he repeats them over and over. Sometimes I would like to change my name from Mommy or Ma to something that he doesnt know. LOL.

The twins are getting really big too. They are smiling and laughing so much! When you play patty cake with them, they laugh so hard and have the biggest smile on their faces. I showed a picture of them to people at work and they said that they look like they could be Gerber babies. I think they are the most precious babies in the world. They are happy about 90% of the time. They have to be in constant motion unless they are asleep for the night. They nap so well in their swings. I hope that isn't how its going to be from now on. I would really love for them to start napping in their pack and play. Oh well! Not the end of the world. They are going down better than they have been in the last few days. For a few days, they had to be held to go to sleep and if we were lucky, they would stay asleep once I put them down. That was a bit frustrating, but hopefully its over now.

My life is so full. People try and try to have a baby and I have 3 of them who are great little men. I hope that they will grow up to be wonderful, happy men who will treat their future spouses well!

Ugh! I hate being sick! (TMI WARNING)

So for the last week or so, our house has been so sick! Last Thursday I came home from work and immediately got a runny nose, started sneezing, and just felt plain awful. Well I had to buck it up and go back to work the next day. No biggie. Friday was pretty busy so I didn't have a chance to really complain and feel really bad. We went up to my in laws that night after I got off work. That weekend was a nasty nasty weekend. It rained and poured that weekend. It got colder than I thought it would. Sunday morning I was feeding Jonah and he ended up throwing up all over me. He had just ate, so I didn't think too much about it. I got in the shower and I had to jump out and throw up myself. It was awful. I got out of the shower and was getting dressed and ended up having diarrhea. I know its gross, but it is relivant in my story. I had it about 5 or 6 more times before we were going to head home. I didn't know how I would make it home when I had diarrhea that wouldn't stop. I took a Pepto and a Immodium. It worked! I made it all the way home. What I didn't know was that the icky bug started with me and was passed to the twins. Jonah threw up once we got to church and threw up again afterwards. I was starting to get worried about it. I just made sure he was having wet diapers. He got a little extra cuddle time because of him being sick. That night, Johnathan was starting to throw up too. I called the babysitter and cancelled for Monday because I couldn't send sick kids over there. I called into work too.
Monday was a rough day. Both of the babies were throwing up and I didn't know what to do. As funny as it is, I just automatically started keeping track of their intake and output. At work we call it strict I&O's. It helped me really see what was going in and coming out. It gave me more of a piece of mind about everything. Johnathan threw up and then threw up again a while later and it was green Bile. I freaked out. The doctors said that it was probably just stomach bile because he had thrown everything up that he had eaten earlier. I started some pedialyte and that helped alot. Joey ended up getting it. He threw up once IN MY MOUTH! It was so nasty! He had more of the diarrhea aspect of the bug that was going around.
By Wednesday, we were all feeling better. I guess I have made it through the first round of everyone in my house being sick! Here is to having a healthy family!

Thinking about things...

I am blessed. Truely blessed. When I first found out that I was pregnant with Joey, I was scared and excited all at the same time. Planning for your first child is nervewracking. You don't know which crib is best, which stroller is the easiest to unfold/fold, and which bottles are the right ones for your child. Nothing is good enough though. I always had second thoughts on what I should be getting for Joey. What would make him the most comfortable and what would make my life the easiest. Once I had him, I learned things through trial and error. He liked certain bottles and not others. Once he got bigger, we ditched the big stroller for a smaller, more compact and easier to use one. I didn't care as much what diapers he had or that we threw his formula away after exactly 1 hr that he started the botttle. Things were more lax. I truely learned what was important when Joey was about 9 or so months old. My mom was diagnosed with thyroid cancer and lymphoma. It was so scary. I was only 25. Mom was only 50. Thats so young to have reality knocked into you, but it happend. I was so scared that I was going to lose my mom. We all realized what was the most important things in life. It wasn't important if the laundry was done every day or if the dishes were all done. We realized that spending time with each other was the most important thing. Right after we found out she had cancer, I found out that I was pregnant with the twins. Mom and I were soooo sick. I think that we were meant to be sick with each other. Mom was going through radiation and that made her so sick to her stomach, have no appetite, and she was burnt. She had no energy and it was a chore for her just to get up and get around in the morning. She was awesome though. She still watched Joey while I went to work. Brayden (my nephew) was there to help her and I think that he made a world of difference in my mom. He did things for her when she couldn't. I was so sick too. the first few months of my pregnancy was the worst. I lost almost 20 lbs in one month from throwing up so much. I think that God put mom and I through those trials at the same time to teach us to lean on each other.
Anyways, as I was holding my boys today, I realized that lately I have been so stressed out and at my wits end with the kids. I have been stressing about how dirty the house has been and how things haven't been getting done like I wish they would have. I was stressed because the twins only wanted to be held and because Joey didn't want me to hold them. I realized that I need to calm it down. My kids are wonderful. They are perfect in every way. Sooo many people either are not blessed with children, or they take the children they have for granted.
When I was pregnant with the twins and even now, people tell me I have my hands full. I do. I have them so full of love! I wouldn't have it any other way. Someone said about me having twins and a toddler, "better you than me." I responded, "Yes, Better ME than YOU." The way that I look at it is that God gave me these boys for a reson. To raise as good Christian men and husbands. To teach them the RIGHT way to be. I am going to make it a point to make sure they learn how to do their laundry, pick up after themselves, and how to treat women the right way!
I am looking forward to the summer where we can spend a lot of time together outside and enjoying new things. I know that I want to take Joey to the park soon so he can play there. My children and family are the most important things in my life and I plan on making them more of a priority. I do see a need to keep my house clean for my own sanity and for the kids, but I know that its something that is not as important as playing with my boys. So for all of those who are reading this, take a minute to kiss your little ones. Some people don't have little ones to kiss.