picnic in the park

thank you for sharing

Thank you, thank you, and thank you to everyone who added advice on the service post. You all shared so many wonderful ideas and insights. I was also so happy to hear from those of you that I didn't even know were checking out our blog. I always love connecting with friends from the past and making new friends. I have decided to be on the look out for more service opportunities (including being less selfish in sharing my husband's time and enjoying special moments to appreciative my wonderful children) for the next couple of weeks while also using some of the ideas that you have suggested. I will report back on what I have learned. Thank you for all your support. I feel loved a virtually hugged.

I kind of feel like an unintentional blogger. Lonnie and I started our blog as a contact point for adoption. We were told that we would have to wait until we had been married for two years before we could officially sign up with LDS Family Services. We were also advised that we should be ready for a long wait once we were officially signed up. After two years of infertility and a strong desire to have a family (along with having waited until I was 30 years old to get married) I wanted to do something right away to start our family. I wanted something I could work on everyday that would help me feel empowered. We had heard so many wonderful stories about a friend of a friend or a distant relative who had found out that a couple were interested in adopting and then connected them to a women looking for a couple to adopt her baby. So we reached out to our friends and family to help expand our family. We hoped our blog would be a place where people could come and get to know a little about us. We had heard about people using websites, but we liked the idea that our blog would be a place that friends and family would come to often and remember us when the topic of adoption was brought up. So we shared our stories (sometimes more that I would have shared had I not felt the need to be open and vulnerable) and hoped that somehow we would be connected to someone who was also looking for us.

No, we never got a strong adoption referral from our blog, but we did let the world know that we were interested in having a family and maybe more importantly I was able to feel like I was doing something small everyday to build my family. We took a risk and put ourselves out there.

Then one year and nineteen days ago (yes, we know the exact date) thanks to some good doctors and lots of prayers we got pregnant and a few weeks later we found out that we were expecting not only one but two babies and we started a whole new adventure.

Now I am part of the ever-growing group of mommy bloggers. To be honest I don't normally think of myself as a very open person and I don't think I would have started a blog were in not for the original intention. I love to hear other people's stories but I tend to be a bit more vague about my own. So what is our blog now? I' not really sure. Is it a photo album for adoring grandparents, a memory book for the kids, and a public journal for our whole family, sounding board for me, or a new type of online community? I'm still trying to figure it all out but it the meantime I will continue to write when I feel inclined and I will continue to post photos and stories of our kids (it never hurts to hear other people tell us that they are as cute as we think they are). On Monday when I was having a hard time getting the kids to nap and I was exhausted from all the crying (my tolerance is low because the babies thankfully are usually pretty happy), Lonnie suggested that I get advice form my blogging friends.

Sometimes I feel like I am writing our story. But there are so many things left out....so many posts I started but never finished and posted, so many events, thoughts and thanks that are not recorded. There are also so many joys and struggles that never get posted because they are so eventful that I get caught up in the moment and can't seem to put the experiences into words or photos. Maybe one day I will finish as my unfinished posts. Maybe one day I will get better at telling our stories. In them meantime, this is what we get.

Why do you blog? Who do you blog for? What are your motivations? Are you ever surprised at what you are willing to publicly post? Are you ever thrown off when someone knows something about you they learned about you over the internet?

I also added a photo for those of you who don't really like to read blogs and only want to look at photos.

why we have a double sink

In honor of making it in the crazy world for five months we bathed the kids in the sink for the first time last night. Maya had had a pretty hard day, refusing to nap and crying most of the day. By the time Lonnie got home from work I was worn out, tired and was ready for some happy time.





Max loved the sink. He probably could have sat there for hours. He looked like he was sitting and relaxing in a hot tub. Maya tolerated her bath and sucked on wash cloth most of the time, but she kept quite and didn't cry so I was satisfied.

Seems to me that double sinks were especially made for twins.

Twins hangin' out

I was just experimenting with iMovie and adding a video, so this is just a short clip. Alisa is always wanting to have Maya wear a head bow, so I'm now lobbying that Max should be able to wear a sweatband to church. It'll happen one of these weeks.
-Lonnie

service

I really look forward to weekends because Lonnie is home, and I am no longer outnumbered by the babies. Thankfully the kiddos are pretty low key given their age, but there certainly are times during the long week that I wish for a second set of hands and more often when I wish for adult conversation and a break from being the only one responsible for the social, intellectual, physical, and spiritual welfare of my children.

The past several weekends, Lonnie has been away from home helping with post Hurricane Ike cleanup. Our area was not as seriously affected by the hurricane as other areas not too far away, where there is a lot of work that needs to be done. Lonnie has gone to Galveston and Bridge City to help muck out houses and remove debris caused by the hurricane and the rising flood waters. Due to the fact that Lonnie is also the Elder's Quorum President at church, he has also spent many weeknights on the phone organizing volunteers for the weekend work.

It has been hard having him busy and gone, and I have found myself complaining about the time that he could be spending with the family even though I know that the service he offers in important and necessary. I have always considered myself a service-oriented person, but now when faced with having to share my husband, I have am having a hard time being able to give.

I have realized what is most upsetting is that I can't go and help along side Lonnie. I can't dig through debris and nurse my babies at the same time. I can't be a mother and be on the front lines in a disaster. The service that I offer now is the same service that I offer day in and day out, I care for my children. While I do not in anyway discount this service and its value, it is yet a significant adjustment for the activities I was previously involved in.

I had always assumed that I would be able to put my baby in a sling and take my children along on my service-oriented adventures, but I didn't expect motherhood to be so all consuming. I didn't expect that I would be so tired all the time. And I didn't expect to have two babies at once.

Maybe, as my children get a little older and I get a little more skilled at mothering, I will be able to again venture out into the world and find ways to be involved and allow the kids to also be involved in service, but in the meantime I need to do some adjusting. I need to more willingly and happily allow my husband to leave me on the weekends and offer the service that I can not offer myself.

So how do you combine service and motherhood? Has this adjustment been a surprise to anyone else? Please share with me your wisdom.

Guatemala women's group: pre-marriage, pre-motherhood.

conference weekend

Max only stayed this way for a few seconds but it sure looks cute.

We had a nice and relaxing conference Sunday. Lonnie spent Saturday helping with Ike cleanup so we were all looking forward to having a quiet day at home together. The kids were getting a little bit fussy during conference and I was tired, so Lonnie strapped both babies into the carriers and danced around the room to keep them entertained. It was pretty impressive. Too bad it took both of us to get the kids in and out of the carriers or I would have a new work out method.

i'm a winner

I have to admit that I am am behind in the blogging world. I didn't even know that you could win things on other people's blogs. Thanks to Melissa and Marci for keeping me in the know...
I am also late in getting this post up, but I wanted to thank Jenna at Sweet Baby Creations for these great diaper clutches that I won on SuperMom Central. Jenna was even sweet enough to not only send me just one but two, one for each baby. They each hold a couple of diapers and wipes and even a small cloth changing pad. The best thing about having two diaper clutches is that when I send one of the kids with Lonnie I can just toss him one of these and he is set to go.

Thanks Jenna and Supermom Central!

i love mommy/daddy

I think I've found my new favorite outfits. Thanks Cathy!
The babies are starting to sit up with support. They can't stay up for long, even on the couch, but they are starting to really enjoy being able to see what is going on around them.

house of babies

Today we got together with women from church who have babies around the same age as Maya and Max. Thirteen babies (and a couple of older kids) were at our house today. There were even at least 3-5 other babies missing.

Just the little ones. (Click on the photo to see better resolution)

Max seems a little unsure of all the craziness.

This was the best one I got of the entire group...

top from left to right: Max and Maya, (both 4 1/2 months), Megan (3 months), Ian (4 months), Elinor (8 months), George 4 months), Anna (5 months)
bottom: Zane (11 months) Brooklynn and Katelynn (also twins- 8 months), Brooke (11 months), Olivia 8( months)

Max and Maya checking out the other kids.

vampire babies

My kids have become finger, thumb and sometimes double fist suckers. Lonnie says it is due to the fact that they are now breastfeeding they have developed a taste for flesh.

I think it might have something to do with the fact that Maya has such a great, long tongue.