painted churches

On our way out to Austin we stopped to see some of the Painted Churches. We didn't know much about them and we were a little disappointed when we thought they looked like normal small town churches, but them we went inside. They were beautiful.

blue bonnets

We stopped to take photos on our way home from Austin. The babies were pretty worn out but the flowers were amazing. We weren't the only ones out, it seemed that at almost every field there were families out taking photos of their children, pet or some combination of the two.

austin

My parents are in town and we took a road trip up to Austin.


Max enjoyed seeing the view with dad.


Maya demonstrates her new cheesy grin.

breaking out of his cage

This is how I found Max today when I went in to check on him during the morning nap. He has fallen asleep in his crib sitting up a couple times in the last couple of weeks.

Thankfully, the babies usually are good sleepers. They know that the crib is for sleeping, and as soon as I put them in beds, they wiggle around until they find a comfy spot and then fall asleep. Lately, Max has been testing out his abilities and is now pulling himself up in his crib. I think it is the thrill of his new mobility. Not only is he crawling, but he is also holding on to walls and roaming through the house. His favorite spot seems to be under the kitchen table, probably due to the abundance of Cherrios that can be found there.

I took the babies to the doctor's office today. They have had runny noses and coughs for a couple weeks now. During the past week, their coughs have gotten worse. Last night, Max had a high fever. The doctor said they both have ear infections. Hopefully, they will start feeling better soon.

great new dinner recipe

Happy April Fools Day!

kahlil gibran

And a woman who held a babe against her bosom said, “Speak to us of Children.” And he said: Your children are not your children. They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself. They come through you but not from you, And though they are with you, yet they belong not to you. You may give them your love but not your thoughts. For they have their own thoughts. You may house their bodies but not their souls, For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams. You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you. For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday. You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth. The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far. Let your bending in the archer’s hand be for gladness; For even as he loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that is stable.

From Chapter 4 of The Prophet, by Kahlil Gibran

cousins

We had a great visit last week from Max and Maya's cousins from Tennessee. Lonnie's sister Lisa and three of her four kids were able to come down during their Spring Break to spend a couple of days with us. The babies were bit leery about the visitors when they first arrived. I wish we would have gotten a photo of their faces when Lisa and her kids came in to see the kids during bath time. Thankfully they quickly warmed up to them and were trilled to have so many adoring fans at their beck and call.

Ammon, Mason, Maya and Zaley snuggling on the hammock.


I think Lonnie and his nephews kind of look alike in this photo.

Zaley pushing Maya on the swing.

Max really enjoyed sitting with his cousins while they played x-box games.

cousin adventures

While the cousins were in town we took them to Brazos Bend State Park. Spring is a great time to visit the alligators and they were out in full force. We saw more than 30 alligators.

A couple of small alligators sitting on logs.

While Lisa and I were walking with the babies back to the car we saw this very large alligator (probably around 7 feet) with a smaller alligator in it's mouth! We asked a ranger about it and she was even more surprised than we were. She said they were probably in a territorial dispute and it looks like the bigger alligator had won. Mason and Ammon couldn't miss out on the excitetment so they ran all the way back to see it.

We also saw several bright pink Roseate Spoonbills.

welcome spring

no one should guilt you into breastfeeding, there is already enough guilt associated with motherhood as it is. But if you do want to breastfeed and are having a hard time getting started here are a couple thing that helped me......

1. Talk to a lactation consultant. She may not be able to slove the problem but she will be able to elimnate possible problems and give you some solutions for getting started.
2. I pumped all the time, usually 4-6 hours a day.
3. I used nipple shields for a while. They helped the babies to latch on, but they made it harder for the babies to get as much milk. As soon as the babies did a better job of latching on I stopped using them.
4. I feed the babies on schedule, when they were wide awake, after taking a nap. If I waited until the babies were tired or extreamly hungry then they would not even try to breastfeed.
5. When I was worn out I gave myself a free pass to not even try to make the babies breastfeed. At night I just bottle feed the babies and them pumped. When I was stressed did the same.
6. Even after the babies were finally breastfeeding I kept them on one bottle a day, right before they went to sleep at night. This ensured that the babies got a full meal before they went to sleep and it helped the babies maintain the ability to bottle feed.
7.