Loving their nanners

M and M's first time eating nanners...YUMMMMY!!! I can't wait to make and try out all types of nutritious foods with the baby bullet! It comes with recipes and recommendations, storing containers with dating on it, and is super quick and easy and saves a ton of money on buying baby food...I highly recommend it.

Eating bananas

Back on November 8 we fed the girls bananas for the first time and not just any bananas, but bananas that I made with my awesome Baby Magic Bullet. A friend gave this to me back when I was pregnant and I thought it would not be until at least 6 months old until we tried this thing out. However with all of the issues the girls have had with their reflux and throwing up our pediatrician suggested we try to give them cereal or oatmeal by spoon if we were up for it up right before the girls turned 4 months old. She was comfortable with this so early because since the girls were two months old we had been mixing in oatmeal with their bottles of breast milk in order to thicken it up to help with Makaylas laryngomalacia and their reflux. So we waited until just after the turned 4 months and gave them the oatmeal by spoon on November 5 and they did pretty well. So three days later we decided to go for it with the bananas and as you will see in the video the girls seemed to love it! Now they LOVE to eat and Carl LOVES to feed them!


Click the link below for the video:
Girls eating nanners for the first time

On Halloween I was feeling like complete crap from that nasty cold going around and it was a long day between the girls 4 month check up and shots and the long weekend we had. However this was the girls first halloween and there was NO WAY I was missing out on taking them trick or treating for the first time. We were a little hesitant because the weather was nasty, but we decided that we would take them to some of the family and then we would dress them up again for Carls family when we got together to celebrate my birthday later that week.

Even though it was nasty out and I felt horrible the girls looked so stinkin cute and I am so glad we were able to take them to see a few people. It put a big smile on everyones faces and our sweet M & M's were very well behaved and too adorable not to show off.

As you can see in the video it was late and the girls were tired but you can see a glimpse of their first halloween.

November 15, 2011

There is really no nice way to say this other than this past Tuesday sucked...

I know that last week I said that I was going to try and catch up on the last couple of weeks, but unfortunately we have had a lot going on and with the girls who was I kidding...I just don't have the time or energy! It has taken me all day just to get to this point of this post between everything going on. I still have a couple posts to get out there like Halloween and all of their cuteness when I find the time though.

Basically though from the first of November the girls have been sick and all out of whack. We were very fortunate up until that point as far as their sleeping at night went. Then as soon as they hit four months between getting their shots and getting that horrible cold thats going around and then I actually got a stomach bug which the dr thinks Makenzie got a bit of as well things went downhill at night. For the past 2 weeks the girls were up EVERY 2 HOURS to eat!!! It was worse than when they were newborns! It was like an alarm clock went off in them throughout the day and night and if it was more than 2 hours (sometimes less) watch out world for the loud cries!!! Needless to say I was going crazy!

So Monday night I said that's it...we're going to try them in their cribs and see if that helps. We have still had them in our room because their room is upstairs and honestly I knew once we put them upstairs that Carl would no longer help me at night and when they are up all throughout the night to eat it is so helpful to have Carl to change them after I feed them. However it was time...they are four months old for crying out loud. So we tried it out...long story short the night did not go well. We knew it was going to be a work in progress though so I was not too shocked I just did not expect to be up until 5 am. At 5 Carl finally woke up and came upstairs and made me go down to bed and I gladly did.
This brings me to my original statement on part of the reason Tuesday sucked. At about 7:15 Makayla woke up for the day and I asked Carl to be the one to go upstairs to get her which he immediately did. I actually drifted back to sleep when the next thing I know I hear the first of many loud crashes and bangs and Makayla screaming.The noises will haunt me forever and there is no way to put them into words, but I knew exactly what was happening after the first bang and scream. Carl was falling down the flight of 14 steps with Makayla...I had no clue if he dropped her or held onto her. On one hand I wanted to lay there frozen because I was so afraid of what I might find at the bottom of the steps...because at the end of those 14 steps is a small area of hardwood floors then the wall and front door with the door stops protruding from the wall and how could a 4 month old handle crashing into any of that. The reality is I could not lay there I jumped up and ran at full speed ahead...in fact we have one of those tall metal baby gates up in between the hall to our bedroom and the living room because of our dog and I seemed to forget all about it because I ran right into it with my stomach so hard that part of it came out of the wall. When I arrived at the end of the stairs I could not breathe or speak and I was crying, but somehow I muttered slowly "what happened is she ok". Carl said that he protected her and did not drop her...he may have squeezed her to death but he did not let her fall! Such relief...she was just screaming out of fear. It took me a while to recover from my heart attack...I think it was scarier for me because I could just hear those terrifying noises and had no clue what was going on...the fear of the unknown is tough! I still have a hard time even talking about it without getting upset it was that serious and scary y'all! Thankfully Carl is an amazing dad and protected her at the sake of hurting himself. The rest of the day Makayla did not want to be put down and honestly I did not mind one bit...I didn't want to put either of them down but they are so big I can't carry both of them so easily any longer. But I was just so thankful that Makayla was ok I just wanted to love on her. Carl banged himself up but he was just thankful his sweet little monkey Makayla was ok! This was by far the scariest moment we have had as parents so far with many more to come I am well aware. It was such a quick ordeal, but one that also could have changed our lives forever. The whole thing really put things into perspective for me though...it did not matter that I am completely sleep deprived and frustrated all that matters is that we have two beautiful healthy babies and yes at times things will be difficult, but at the end of the day I just need to thank God for how blessed we truly are and thank Him for protecting my family at all times!

The day got better when I found out some exciting news from a precious friend that afternoon. The rest of the evening went smooth...I made a cute video of the girls that is on Facebook, we had a yummy dinner with the girls grandpa and great grandma, followed by a smooth bedtime in their cribs. Things were starting to look up and for once they were not up exactly two hours after we put them down.

Then all the good came to a screeching halt when we got the devastating news that our best friends brother passed away tragically (when I find the time and strength I will try and share more on this subject). Which brings me back to my opening sentence Tuesday simply sucked! I am sorry for being so blunt...I always try and keep this blog as positive as can be, but this is the reality. It's been a crazy weeks of ups and downs and all sorts of emotions and it just is what it is.

The girls 4 month checkup just happened to be on halloween so of course we had to dress them in orange tutu's with little pumpkins for their appointment (daddy just loved them lol).
Unfortunately that morning I woke up and could not even swallow my throat hurt so bad and I could not breathe. I had the dreaded cold that has been going around and that Carl had the week before. I started getting sick throughout the weekend and I'm sure all of the birthday festivities and pushing myself did not help make things any better. My main concern was the girls though and how do I not get them sick. So at the doctors that morning we spent quite a bit of time talking about how to treat them and take care of them if they did get this horrible cold because lets be honest I'm their mom and breastfeeding them so it's basically inevitable that they were going to get it. The doctor did offer me a pretty little mask to wear, but she also made it sound pointless since they had already been exposed.

The rest of the appointment was a typical checkup. They got all of their stats for height and weight and all that good stuff and were examined from head to toe. Makayla weighed 10lb 12.6oz which puts her in the 3rd percentile for her weight and her height was 23in putting her in the 9th percentile. Her head circumference was 15 3/4in which is in the 22nd percentile. Makenzie weighed 10lb 7.8oz which puts her in the 2nd percentile for weight and her height was 22 3/4 in putting her in the 6th percentile for height. Her head circumference was also 15 3/4in and in the 22nd percentile. As you can see we have tiny little peanuts especially for the weight and height, but don't let that fool you they are STRONG as can be and doing great!!! I was a little worried because their weight gain has slowed down and they went down in their percentiles, but the doctor was not too concerned and said as long as they are gaining weight that is what they want to see. She did suggest we do a weight check in 4 weeks just to double check things for everyones sake and I was all for it.

After they were all checked out and we talked with the doctor for a while it was time for shots. Because it was halloween all the staff was dressed up and our doctor was Peter Pan so her nurse was Tinkerbell. Needless to say I think the girls may never like Tinkerbell now since she gave them the shots and hurt them, but hopefully they were so young that they won't remember. Overall it was a good appointment and the girls handled it like champs!

Family birthday fun

I was very fortunate to grow up in the same town as most of my extended family (aunts, uncles, cousins, and both sets of grandparents). Still to this day my entire mom's side of the family all live within 15 miles of each other as well as my grandparents on my dads side. My cousins have always been more like my siblings and we love and disagree just like it too. Every single holiday and birthday and pretty much any event they can use as an excuse we all get together.



My 30th birthday was no exception so back on October 30 everyone got together over at my parents to help celebrate. It was a great relaxing evening full of delicious food and great company! The evening was topped off with yummy dessert and my families horrific wonderful rendition of singing happy birthday all off key, not together, and as loud as they can (this is a tradition that will be done no matter if we are in public or not so if you hear an insane happy birthday don't worry it's probably just us). We are definitely a crazy family and far different than most, but I am so thankful to be a part of it and even more excited that M and M will get to grow up with amazing family surrounding them!


(Of course the girls got gifts for my birthday)

A night of surprises!!!

After our nieces birthday party back on October 29 we headed over to my parents house to drop the girls off for the night. Carl let me know earlier that week that we would be going out for the night to celebrate my upcoming 30th birthday and the girls would be staying with my parents so it was no shock to me. After we dropped the girls off we headed home to get ready...Carl would not tell me anything that we would be doing other than to look nice and be ready by 7:30. So I did just that. While I was getting ready my first surprise arrived...it was one of our best guy friends from Wilmington! I was shocked to see him and he was honestly the last person I expected to show up here, but I was beyond excited! When it was finally time to go I walked out the front door to be surprised by a limo driven by my uncle for the night!!! We got in the limo and as hard as I tried they would still not tell me where we were going or what we were doing, but off we went. Next thing I know we are picking up a few of our closest friends along the way and then finally arrived at Jimmy V's for dinner! Dinner was absolutely delicious and perfect!!! This was exactly what I wanted to do. After dinner we got back in the limo where I was surprised by my cousin waiting in there to hang out with us. I still was not sure what we would be doing, but off we went again and picked up another one of our great friends who I was totally surprised to see. Then we headed downtown Raleigh. Carl had actually arranged for more friends to meet us downtown which I was unaware of, but unfortunately between our amazing dinner and taking a lot longer to get around in the limo than we had expected long story short we were unable to all meet up where he had planned. I felt horrible because I could tell how completely upset Carl was about it all, but we just went elsewhere with our friends and still had a blast! We ended the night with some drinks and dancing the night away!!!

This was exactly what I wanted to do...Carl had been asking me for a while what I wanted to do and I begged him to not have a big party. As much as I love to have a good time and see all of our friends things are just different these days and I needed a quieter birthday than usual. I told him all I wanted was to go out to a nice dinner with close friends and that is exactly what he planned for me; he just added to it and made it an amazing night full of wonderful surprises!!! I was a little worried he may not listen to me and do something crazy, but one thing I did know about that night was that a lot of our good friends were all going to be at a wedding so I think this may have helped me out a bit ;) Either way thank you honey for listening! And thank you to everyone who helped make the night so great!

I am beyond blessed with a wonderful husband that works so hard for our family and then to top it off goes above and beyond to always make me feel so special! Thank you Carl for being the most amazing husband and father and all that you do for us!!! We love and appreciate you!

So much has happened since I last was able to blog back on October 28 (the girls 4 month birthday) so I'm going to start where I left off and try and catch up throughout this week as I can...

Saturday October 29 we were all invited to Green Acres Farm to celebrate our precious Niece and Goddaughter Olivia's 3rd birthday. This was such an awesome place to take kids...they have all types of fun activities for families and this was the perfect place for a fall birthday party. The problem for us however was that when we first arrived there something scared Makayla so badly that we could not do anything to calm her down. Her little lip was so far puckered out and she was hysterical...it was so sad!!! I took her to the car and tried to feed her and spent quite a bit of time in there trying to calm her, but nothing seemed to work. (Carl took a picture of me in the car since I was out there so long)



We knew if she would just fall asleep that she would calm down. We did not want to leave though so Carl put Makayla in her car seat, bundled her up, put the visor up, and began to swing her with his arm. As long as she was swinging back and forth she was calm...hallelujah! So we were finally able to join in on the festivities just in time for the cake cutting and to sing happy birthday. After that it was time for us to pack up and leave...Carl had surprises in store for me that evening for my upcoming birthday and it was time to get the girls out of there. Unfortunately we were unable to enjoy all that Green Acres Farm had to offer, but we look forward to taking the girls there next year. It was great to see our friends and family at the party, but I really wish we could have spent more time together and enjoyed it more, but hey thats the way it goes and our kids come first! Thankfully Carl and Makenzie were able to enjoy the party a little more and Carl was able to get some pictures of things for me. All that matters is that the birthday girl had a fun party and she definitely did! I still can't believe she is already 3 years old?!?! She was such a cute little lady bug!


Makenzie says Happy birthday Cousin Olivia and share some of that cake with me!!!

Our sweet M and M's are 4 months old today!!!

It's hard to believe that 4 whole months have already flown by with our two little miracles! We have been so blessed by our sweet girls and learned so much already. Life is certainly different, but different in the best way possible! It has been absolutely incredible to watch the changes and growth in the girls from day to day. You two certainly have your own personalities and have been so different yet so alike at the same time since day 1...

• You both LOVE your daddy...when you hear his voice your little faces light up and it melts my heart
• Makayla you love your paci and Makenzie you could care less
• Makayla would rather have mommy over a bottle every single feeding and Makenzie as long as its food going in your belly that is usually all that matters
• You both LOVE to lay on your mat and play and talk to the animals and your favorite is when the lights come on and play the music
• You both have the most beautiful smile and can light up a room and melt anyones heart
• Makenzie you are my talker...you can talk and squeal for hours...you are going to be our little social butterfly I do believe. You especially love to have adult conversations...you would much rather talk about the day like a grown up then people baby talk or make noises at you...its so funny you get so excited to have conversations and I love it
• Makayla you are more on the quiet side...you like to sit back and examine things and take it all in...you are much more shy and you do not like when people get close up in your face at all. You seem to like your personal space...and random noises in your face scare you. It is so sad to see your little lip curl up and hear you cry when you get scared. 
• You both fart louder than any grown man I know
• Makenzie your cry is so sweet and pathetic...you truly sound like a little sheep baaing which is why I call you my little lamb. At times it even sounds like you are already saying momma (I have witnesses its not just me)
• Makayla your cry is fierce...you go from 0 to 100 in 2.2 seconds. There is no in between with you and you do not calm down until you get what you want which is usually your momma or your paci. Your daddy says you sound like a constipated tiger...not quite sure what that sounds like but you do sound like a tiger and or a pirate too
• Socks...Makenzie you hate them and do whatever you can to get them off immediately. Malayla you are obsessed with your feet and anything that is on your feet that makes them easier to grab you appreciate
• Loud sneezes scare you both
• Naps...well you both pretty much are not good at them at all. I think you are so afraid you are going to miss something that you refuse to fall asleep and stay asleep at times. We will continue to work at this until we get it. It is no fun to have two cranky babies I assure you
• Makayla you have a STRONG grip and love to hold on to things for dear life
• Makenzie you are just strong all around...you have been rolling over here and there for the past week and you absolutely love to stand (with some sort of assistance). Maybe you like standing so much because it makes your belly feel better and helps with the reflux. No matter why you like it it still amazes me how strong you are...sometimes you even flex like a muscle woman and it cracks us up.
• You both love the exersaucer even though you are still a little too short for it you love to be in it and you have both figured out within days that when you push certain buttons they light up with music. I love to watch your eyes and your facial expressions as you figure stuff out...it melts my heart and amazes me
• You are both so smart...sometimes I think too smart for your size
• You both love to watch tv...especially sports and have enjoyed the world series and cheering on the Rangers
• You both still love your swings and bouncy's but are particular about them doing certain things
• Makayla you are a wiggle worm!!! Changing you is already tough and I am sure it will only get tougher
• You would both eat all day if I let you...seriously it is insane how much y'all eat. And when you are ready to eat you want it immediately!
• Makenzie you are a drool and spit up queen and Makayla lately you have been trying to keep up with her
• Mornings are your best...evenings not so much
• You love to be out of the house and moving
• You love to ride in the car but can't stand it when we stop
• For some reason (my voice is horrible) you like when I sing to you in the mornings when you first wake up...your faces just light up 
• You love other little people and are very fascinated by them
• You have to hold your sissy's hand if she is close enough...I love that you love each other so much and pray that remains the same forever!

I could go on forever, but considering this has already taken me all day to write bits and pieces here and there in between feedings, playing, and napping I better stop now because its getting to be that time of night. Hopefully 4 months is going to bring changes with your eating and sleeping habits...oddly today you actually took one good nap and a second short nap. Either its the 4 month mark or maybe you knew it has been a super long week and I was up late watching the world series and needed a break today or maybe it's an early birthday present for me. Whatever the reason I hope and pray we can keep it up!

Thank you girls for the most amazing 4 months we could ever imagine!!! God has blessed us beyond our wildest dreams and we are so thankful for you two!
XOXO, Mommy

A year ago...

Hard to believe that one year ago today was our egg retrieval day and this was the email and picture that Carl sent out to update everyone on October 25, 2010...

Hello everyone this is Carl i've hacked my rock star wife's email to update everyone. Today went very well. As you all know today was retrieval day so we went to the doc. at 8:30 they took us straight back and prepped Traci. The procedure was only suppose to take about 20 mins but it def was longer than 20 min seems like a life time to me as I waited to hear the news it really probably took 45 min. But with that said we were very successful, they retrieved 21 eggs which is great they were very pleased and so was I. Traci has been recovering all day it was more painful than we expected due to the high number of eggs that they retrieved but my wife being the trooper that she is we made it through it. We will not get any news till wed. Knowing these people it will probably be 5 o'clock on wed. but its all good we can wait. I wanted to thank everyone for all of the nice emails and text messages that we both have been receiving all day we do appreciate it. I hope all is well and everyone have a great night and a good tues. Traci is starting her new job tomorrow so add that to the prayer list that she makes it through, the day. Thanks again we love all you guys Carl

(this is a picture of me before the retrieval)