Regression and Progression

I think it is human nature to look back at where we used to be in our lives and tend to think the grass was greener on the other side. I look back at what I stressed out about in college and laugh now. There is the 50 year old guy that has a mid-life crisis, buys the convertible and runs off with his 25 year old secretary. I am now even more convinced that wanting to go back in time is innate in us. Example...Ruthie.

Yes, this is my 1 year old in her bumbo. We pulled it out for the party since some friends have a baby and forgot to put it up. I walked in the room to find Ruthie sitting in it. Actually, she was stuck in it. The child had not sat in this thing in 6 months, but it was all she wanted this morning.

Then there are others who are fighting growing up, but slowly resigning themselves to it. Example...Maddie.



The chair and the book say, "I'm a big girl" but the pacifier says, "I'm still a baby". What a conflict of the soul my children have!

Happy Birthday!

Well, their birthday has come and gone! Ruthie and Maddie are officially 1 year old. We had a small get together of family and a couple of friends for the festivities.

After the girls woke up from there 3 hour afternoon nap (Happy Birthday to Me!!) they started with some pizza, just in time for our guests to arrive.

Then off to the presents! Brace yourself for the picture of the amount of presents these girls received.

Presents from our secret twins. A bunch of women on my message board of twin mom's went in on a secret twin gift pool. Can't wait for the big reveal!

The girls loved the bears and the books!!

Ruthie was the present for her own birthday!


Thanks to the grandparents for the cute chairs. (Like their birthday outfits? I made them while under house arrest. At least I did something productive).

Then came the cake!



We cut the Big Red Car right in half. It was a sad moment for me.

But a happy moment for the girls!

Happy Birthday Ruthie and Maddie!

Let them eat cake!

Nothing can be simple in this house it seems. Hence, the birthday cake.

We decided to do a Wiggles themed birthday party because my children are slightly obsessed. As for the cake, I decided to leave it to the professionals....Publix. So, I called them and asked them if I brought a picture in if they could put it on the cake, and they said they could for $8. Sounded good to me. So, yesterday, I head off to Publix with my picture of the Wiggles only to be told that since it is copyrighted, they can not put it on the cake. By this time, it was too late to order cake toppers from online. Ok, so it wasnt actually too late, but they wanted $25 for overnight shipping for a $5 product that was this (cake not included).

I could not justify spending that on what would essentially be 200 diapers at Sam's Club. So, I resigned myself to just a plain cake with Wiggles colors. For some reason, I just couldnt let this happen, I dont know why. So, off to google I went. After a quick search of "Wiggles Birthday Cakes", I pulled up this website. http://www.coolest-birthday-cakes.com/wiggles.html

Man! These woman are crazy building cakes like this! But, I was intrigued. What is this Wilton 3-D cruiser cake pan they speak of? After a phone call to my friend who was a professional cake-maker in a previous life (or actually up until her last child was born)...I FOUND ONE!

Ok, so I can bake a cake in a pan, no problem. But, what about decorating it? I can barely draw a stick figure, yet alone design a car on a cake. So, back on the phone with my friend who tells me that she will help me frost it! Awesome!

Back home I run to bake my cake at 5:00PM. Stupid thing takes over an hour to bake all the way through. I run out the door to get there around 8:00 because I had to stop at Michaels for red food dye for the Big Red Car. I get to her house only for her to tell me that it is too hot for me to frost. So she helped me make up all my colors and sent me home with her piping tools for the icing and good luck.

I started this afternoon when the girls went down for their nap. 2.5 hours later, my finished project.

Not too shabby for my first attempt, if I dont say so myself. If I am crying in the birthday pictures, it isnt because the girls are 1 year old, it is because they have destroyed all of my hard work.

Where has the time gone?

I think this is the longest I have gone without posting. Sorry about that. I can hardly believe that the girls will turn 1 year old on Thursday. I cant help but look through old photos and get all nostalgic. Since I didn't have this sight when the girls were born, I'm going to post some of my favorite pics over the past 12 months. Stay tuned for pictures on Thursday of the cake....

So tiny...Ruth Ellen at 5 lbs 14 ozs and Madilyn Jane at 5 lbs 4 ozs.


I still love seeing babies doubled up in these things!

This picture brings back so many memories. We were getting ready for our traditional family leaving the hospital shot when the cardiologist came in and told us about Maddie's heart condition. She was not positive at all about the outcome of it and told me, a new mother of twins, that I couldn't let Maddie cry or she would stop breathing and turn blue. We just broke down crying....hence the red faces and puffiness as we tried to pull it together to take the girls home. What a great first family picture, huh? Amazing to think how well Maddie is doing now.

This picture is probably my favorite of the girls right after they were born.

Adjusting to home life... Also, adjusting to Momma dressing them up and taking pictures. I love this picture of Ruthie! (those are preemie onesies, btw).



Adjusting to hospital life (no, this isnt out of order)...

And seeing the amazing power of God.


Learning to smile for the first time (ok, so maybe I didnt have the camera for the very first time, but this was as close of timing I could get).

Learning how loud they can be when they work as a team

Finally being able to take a picture of Ruthie with both eyes looking at you and not one wandering(Thank you Vanderbilt...again!). Ruthie the day after her eye surgery.


Summer fun at the park...

And discovering new foods...



Discovering stairs....and soon after discovering baby gates.

I have no idea where the time has gone, but I have loved every minute of it!

Extreme Make-Over...Open Heart Surgery Edition

I thought I would include some post-op pics of Maddie. Her superglue that was holding her incision together finally fell off. Dr. Christian did an amazing job on her incision! I am very happy with how it is looking at this point. Just a little refresher of the progression over a mere 2 weeks.

Day of Surgery

6 Days Post-Op

2 Weeks Post-Op

She tends to be very modest about her scar...

Ok, so it isn't modesty....she is just picking at it, whatever. She is still a goof-ball!

For fair measure I thought I would also include one of Ruth Ellen. Poor girl has been pushed to the background as her sister has had all the attention. She's still a goof ball also.

I must say that ever since this surgery, Maddie has not quite been herself. Before surgery, she had a lot of attitude and could even give dirty looks at the ripe old age of 10 months. Spittin' image of her Momma! Mark refers to Maddie now as the new Maddie, Maddie 2.0 . She has just been nothing but sweetness and gentleness. We've had no dirty looks, no attitude...nothing. I kinda like the Maddie 2.0. Like any upgrade, I wonder how long before this one will be outdated.

1 year old going on 16 years old

When I found out I was having 2 girls, I knew I would have my hands full when they got older. I remembered what kind of teenager I was and thought of that doubled. I didn't think I had to worry about them arguing with me until they got older. I thought wrong.

They have been doing this for a while, for some reason. Whenever I say, "yes" they shake their heads "no" and laugh. They love it. They think it is a hilarious game. Mark uses this game to trick them into getting to shake their head for things like "Are you ever going to kiss a boy?" or "Are you ever going to disobey?" and they will shake their heads "no" and laugh. Such silly girls!

Back on the quarantine home front, we haven't left the house in a week now. One week down, one more to go. How people stay in for an entire RSV season, I have no idea. Maddie is doing awesome. Her incision site is healing great and she is still on no pain medication. She is getting quicker every day with her crawling and cruising. We have discovered that hiccups hurt her. Whenever she gets them she just starts crying, but there is nothing we can do until they go away. We are looking forward to her official release, just in time for their birthday!

Can you hear me now?

Sorry for the delay in the posts. It has taken us a little while to get back into the swing of things. I should actually re-phrase that. It has taken us a little while to get Ruthie adjusting back to not having the world revolve around her. After a week of being an only child, Maddie coming home was quite a shock to her. She seems to be more grabby of things from Maddie, cries when I tell her "no" to things, etc. We are nipping that nasty habit in the bud before it gets out of hand. Besides that though, things have been good. Maddie is doing great! She is on no pain medication and is crawling and pulling up on things. It is all pretty amazing to me. We cant take her out of the house for 2 weeks, so I am looking forward to her being officially "released" on Sept. 22.

One of the things we noticed right before the surgery was when I would answer my phone, Maddie would put whatever toy she had up to her ear. Super cute. Well, one day when I was driving home from the hospital my mom put Ruthie on the phone with me. I guess this was the first time that Ruthie actually recognized a voice on the other end. I hung up and my mom called me right back to let me know that when I hung up Ruthie just started crying and wouldn't stop until she called me back. Ruthie would take the phone and bang it against her head trying to get my voice out of it.

So, I found old phones we had yesterday and gave them to the girls.


Needless to say, they loved them. They pretend to talk on them.

This is Ruthie talking to our phone company about charges on our bill.

Hopefully we will be getting back into our normal routine soon. The girls are doing some super cute things that I attempt several times a day to get on camera to share with the world. I have multiple failed attempts...but one of these times I will get it.