Happy Easter 2013

Happy Easter everyone! I love Easter. I love celebrating our Savior and his selfless atoning sacrifice for each of us. He overcame death that we all might live again! I enjoyed this video!

Today was my LAST day attending all of my church meetings with my sweet family before returning to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir on Tuesday night. I know Chuck is a very capable father and our ward is so loving and supportive. I'm sure they'll be great with helping him out. I think it will just be a matter of him getting used to things. It was wonderful to attend church together however.

This evening we had an amazing meal at Chuck's parents house. Well, we have a dinner at their house every Sunday night. Tonight we took pics of all the cousins. Carol made each of the grand kids a clothing item in the same fabric. She made the boys bow ties, the older girls skirts, and our babies dresses. Thank you for the dresses, Carol. I love that they were all matching. So cute! I was amazed the pic turned out as well as it did too.

L to R Back row: Seth, Mia, Alexa holding Harmony, Ainsley, and Ben
L to R Front row: Phoebe, Alyssa holding Charity, and Sam

The girls cousins are so good with them. They love to hold and help the babies.

Random pics

Just some random pics of my sweet girls. I am so in love. 

Syme Grandparent love

I haven't taken OR posted nearly enough pictures of the girls with Chuck's parents. They are great about helping babysit when we need (so is Aunt Rosanne!)

They love holding them when we come to visit as well. The girls love their grandma and grandpa. We couldn't ask for more loving grandparents for the girls. We are so blessed to have such amazing family members!

 

Now I need to get more pics of aunts and uncles. I'm so bad at taking pics of every day occassions. If something RARELY ever happens I'm great to remember the camera. If it's something we do weekly (Syme family dinner every Sunday night with Chucks entire family) I'm really lame. That's my next goal. Is to take more pics! :)

Andrea's visit

My friend Andrea is in town! Andrea and I go back to 2004. We've been friends, roommates, etc. She is a BLAST. I love it when she visits from San Diego. She came into town to have foot surgery. It wasn't the best of circumstances but I was happy to see her. She was last in town when the girls were 3 weeks old I think. It was fun for her to see the girls now that they're more interactive and rolling around and such.  

Andrea's niece Hazel is in the picture with us. She and her brother Jack are twins too. It was so fun to see Andrea and her family again.

 Andrea and I before her drive south with her mom. We barely fit the visit in before they hit the road but it worked out perfectly.

 Hazel helping put the girls in their car seats. She and Jack were so cute with the girls.

Good luck in your recovery Andrea! We hope to see you again soon!

Sick babies

The girls have been sick for the first time. I know congestion and runny noses don't sound like a big deal but it is, okay? I got a cold last week and I think I infected them. Boo! Thursday night Harmony got up in the middle of the night with boogers everywhere. Charity followed about 12 hours in her place. We tried children's Tylenol. It was all I had. I went to the store and got baby Vick's. We later purchased a humidifier, and propped their mattresses. We had to use the nasal aspirators too. Oh, the poor babies HATE it. Harmony acts like she is being tortured. They were fussier, sad little babies. ugh. Sad babies times two is not easy. Hence the reason I did everything in my power to keep them well.
Friday being on my own with two sick babies kicked my butt. I was so glad when Saturday rolled around and Chuck was home to help. What a blessing. My poor babies. Sunday afternoon my friend Connie let us borrow some of her essential oils. Some were for immunity building and one was for congestion. We've been using them for a day and my happy, healthy girls are almost back 100%. They're sleeping better and are much cheerier and 99% less gunky. I hope by tomorrow they'll be completely over it. I'm so happy they're feeling better. It's so hard to feel so helpless.

New Hair Do!

With Ombre being all the rave I decided to go a red ombre back in August. (Total side note about the Ombre look. I happened to be watching Fashion Police a couple of months ago when Giulianna commented about Lea Michelle's Ombre hair by saying it was so 2011! *blush* I felt better about myself when the box hair dye's came out with an ombre box in 2013. Luckily I don't have to keep with Hollywood's trends on their timetable. :)

 

Here's a pic for a shower I threw with my friend Kris for my friend Becky who had her little boy Camden exactly 2 weeks before the girls were born. It was so fun to be pregnant with her.

Notice my hair though. So it was darker at the roots faded to a red and then copper at the tips. I loved it. I though it was a fun, different look.

 

I thought it turned out beautifully in the newborn shots of the girls as well. (Notice my roots growing in though. SO noticeable.) 

Brown hair and red roots is just a lot of upkeep. With the summer coming I needed a lower maintenance color and a lighter look. I missed my all over red.

 So! JulieKaye did it again. I've never strayed from the red family so it was a new experience to have to go from dark to light color. It's high maintenance and required almost three hours. Luckily my amazing mother in law carol and sister in law Rosanne were able to watch the girls for me. JulieKaye bleached it and then had to recolor it. It turned out AMAZINGLY! I am SO in love with the color and how it all turned out. LOVE IT!!!

MOTAB Choir Tour 2013

Being a member of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir has ALWAYS been a dream of mine (well, at least since I can remember). When a person joins the choir they are set apart as a Musical Missionary. The biggest missionary opportunities is going on tour. I feel the choir is taken advantage of in Utah. I think people take for granted they can go see them perform any time (free of charge). I've only had a TASTE of going on tour (I went to Phoenix for a long weekend trip last February). The US Airways arena was PACKED and the energy in the room was electric. It was so amazing. People had to pay a pretty penny for their tickets (because moving the choir is not cheap). Don't get me wrong. The crowds are in Utah are always wonderfully receptive as well. Phoenix was just another level. I've been excited to tour with the choir again ever since. The members of the choir don't need to pay anything. Travel expenses are taken care of.
The choir tours every two years in the summer. It's usually for just over a week. It's such an amazing opportunity and the pinnacle of being a member of the choir. I missed the opportunity of going on tour in 2011 because I was too new. It was sad to have to sit out. I heard amazing stories. One of the bus drivers even got baptized. I wished I'd been there. It's also a great opportunity to get to know fellow choir members well.
When the Summer 2013 tour was announced I was so excited. I signed up for it, back in September I think, knowing I would have 9 month old babies at home. While I realized it would be hard on me to leave them and hard on my babies to be left I looked forward to being able to be a real "musical missionary".
The more I've thought about the tour the more I've stressed about it. How will it work? Who will watch the girls? What will they be doing when I'm gone? What will I miss? Will they be okay without me? Will they realize I'm gone and be inconsolable? Who could I burden with TWO babies? etc. As time went on my stress increased. For DAYS I prayed about what I should do but I didn't feel any answer. I now feel my stress was the answer.
This morning I decided I was fooling myself to think I could pull it off. My babies need me. The choir doesn't need me to go on tour. They have hundreds of others who can step away from their lives for 9 days. I haven't been away from them one night. How would I manage being away from them for 8? Looking back now I feel so selfish for having even considered it. While I'm really sad I'm sitting this tour out I know I'm making the right decision. Parenthood is all about sacrifice. There will be more tours in the future. Who knows if I'll be pregnant during the next tour but there will be more after that. (I can be in the choir for 20 years.) Someday it will be right for me to go. In the meantime I get to spend every day with my beautiful, sweet, happy babies. Who could ask for more than that?
To get an idea of a choir tour take a look here. TELL me you wouldn't want to be a part of that!

First walk

This long snowy winter has been killing me. I want to get me and the girls out of the house. I watch the news every morning looking for nice, warm weather to walk the girls in. Well, it finally arrived!
Charity

 Harmony

 

The girls LOVE to be out and about. With how often they eat and sleep it's really hard to find the perfect time to take them out. I just took them out during their nap time. It's not ideal so I won't do it every day while they're still on this schedule but it's so great for them to see the sunshine, feel the fresh air and say hi to some neighbors. LOVE it! (It's great for me too!!!)

I read a book!

I read my first book since the babies were born! It was an okay book. I didn't love it, but I felt a great sense of accomplishment. I'm finding a schedule and getting into the swing of things with mothering two little baby girls. I love it. I finished it just in time for book group. In case you're wondering, and I bet you are, the book is called "True (sort of)". It was a super easy read but it's inspired me to read some more. Bring it on!

Back to church and family functions

We kept the girls home for pretty much all of January and February. We wanted to keep them away from large groups of people during the worst months for flu and RSV. It worked! (knock on wood). The girls have been completely happy and healthy. We are so grateful for that and don't care what anyone thinks or says to disagree. I followed Dr's orders and it worked. That was reason enough for me.
I digress.
I was so ready to bring the girls to church with us again. Chuck and I have just been taking turns. It was so nice to go together and have our girls with us. It was SO nice! We fed the girls, got them dressed, and got ourselves ready from 7-9. We got to church just in time for them to take a nap during sacrament meeting.
We had been taking them in the stroller so we wouldn't have to cart two car seats around. That banishes us to the very back, sitting all alone. I hate the back. This Sunday we went without the stroller and carted them around and sat in the front section. It was so nice and much more social. Our ward was so happy to see them. They were held by friends in both meetings. Chuck and I each take a baby for the last hour of meetings.
I intend to go back to choir starting April 2 (just in time for conference). Chuck will then be on his own for at least the first two hours of church. I know he is capable and I know our ward is so supportive and will be there for him. We see March as the month to prepare him to be on his own. I'm nervous about going back and leaving him but I feel strongly about having something in my life that I love, that will make me a better person, that I can accomplish away from home for just a few short hours a week.
Every Sunday night Chuck's family gets together for a dinner. We've been staying away from that as well. It was a sacrifice to miss it for so long but we're excited to go back to that as well just in time for a couple of birthdays. It was good seeing everyone. It's so cute to see the cousins interact with the girls. All of the kids are so sweet with them.
I was still a little nervous about the girls getting sick (our pediatrician advised to stay in through March but the illnesses are on the decline and we felt okay about it) but they did just fine and are still their happy, healthy selves. For that I am grateful! It's so good to be back out there. Scheduling is still hard and we don't take the girls many other places. I'm easing my way into it.

A day in the life...

I wish I'd done a post like this for every month previous to this. It's a goal of mine to keep it up in the future

As of today here's our approximate daily schedule:

7am Eating time: For the morning feedings Chuck helps me get the girls up. They coo and grunt around in bed until we get them.
(The girls wake up and nurse, then bottle feed to top them off. Chuck has started helping me feed the girls cereal in between nursing and bottle feeding before he leaves for work in the mornings. They started eating cereal Feb 17. They're getting better but still spit out all of their food every other bite or so.)

8am Play time or Bath time.
(Play time: I bathe the girls every other day. For play time I either talk or sing to them standing/sitting on my lap. They also like to lay on the floor. (Charity just started rolling over on Friday.) They love their little fabric books and little link toys. They love to smile and talk to each other. They are content to just play together without me. I'll also read them stories.
Bath time: I bathe the girls separately on the baby bath in the tub. I cannot WAIT until they can sit up on their own and can bathe together. Is there anything cuter than that?)

9am nap time for the babies. I usually eat breakfast and do the dishes/laundry.

10am. Eating time again. I get them up, and change them one at a time. They are so good and patiently wait for me to help their sister (for the most part).

11 am Play time again

12 am nap time again. I try to fit in a work out, shower and lunch.

1pm Eating time

2 pm Play time (see a pattern?)

3pm nap time. I maybe fold laundry, put clothes away, blog, etc.

4 pm Eat time

5pm Play time

6pm Go to sleep for the night!

They started sleeping for 12-13 hours a night about a month ago. It is so nice they are such amazing sleepers. In the evenings I've been known to go to book group, out to girls nights, go grocery shopping, but mostly I get to just stay in for some quality time with my sweet hubby.

I make sure to pump at night before I go to sleep at 11pm. Chuck and I get a solid 8 hours of sleep. It's amazing. They are such good/sweet babies. They rarely ever cry. They are so sweet and so smiley. I am so, so in love! We feel so blessed and pray prayers of gratitude to our Father in Heaven for them at least three times a day! I feel so, so blessed!

We've been keeping the girls at home for the past couple of months to avoid all the illnesses that have been passed around out there. It has been very successful. It's nice to stay at home. I can keep them on their schedule with no interruptions. But... this past week it started getting to me. I'm ready to be able to leave the house with them and I'm ready to show them off again. I love my girls and I don't want to hog them all to myself (not entirely).

 

We're ready to take them out now. While I'm excited to have a few more options to my day (running errands, visiting others, going to lunches, etc) I'm scared about how they'll react and handle not being home all the time. We shall see... :)

That's my day. Not too shabby. I wouldn't trade it for anything. They keep me busy. I'm not sure what other mothers experience. The girls dictate their own schedule and I go with it just as long as they stay on the same schedule. I LOVE my life!

Bath time fun!

Bath time Fun!
There is NOTHING cuter than a squishy, naked baby. Look at them!!! SO CUTE!