What a Difference...

I am truly amazed at the difference a few months can make... things are so much easier with the boys. (At this moment in time). I totally understand that as soon as these two start walking it will be a whole new ball game again, so I am enjoying this time. They have been sleeping so well, taking long naps and have been just so good at playing together. I am able to get so much more done than I used to... still not able to really have more than a half hour before I'm interrupted, but at least I can be hands free longer! Not to mention the boys are just so fun right now! So funny too! Seeing them together is the best. They just love being goofy... playing peek-a-boo and chasing each other. Neither are walking yet, but both are close. Both have taken steps, but not more than a couple. Funny thing is, Luke can stand on his own... just about from anywhere, using a table to balance or just standing up from the middle of the floor... but not walking yet?!

I took these pictures last night. Luke had a little bit of a red butt from his diaper so I was letting him roam free... then he decided he wanted to look at Dad's landscaping magazine with him... so sweet!

Not sure how well dirty Carhartt's help with butt rash! ha!

Best Buddies!

Happy Friday... and don't worry, are are NOT camping this weekend :)

Happy Summer Days

The boys were able to spend some time down at Aunt Rachael and Uncle Josh's new house that they are in the process of remodeling. They sure love the water. I'm sure in a couple years they will love to spend LOTS of time there swimming!

Grandma Candy and Aunt Rach getting the boys wet!

Foreman A and Foreman B... keeping the boys on track.

Funny new thing... the boys love yogurt burst cheerios... below is Luke, slowly working away at his pile...

And here is Max... picking out all the yogurt ones, and preceding to throw handfuls of the plain ones on the ground! Ha ha ha! I thought it was too funny, Caleb didn't. His first comment was, "Great, just like your mom, another person to pick all the good stuff out of the trail mix!" Sorry Caleb, gotta love those genes! :)

Oops, we did it again...

No, we aren't pregnant with twins again, but we did go camping again. Why?! I can no longer remember!!! It all started out great... we decided late on Saturday afternoon to head up the North Shore to do some sightseeing and enjoy our camper... you know, we wanted to wash away the bad memories from the other weekend and start fresh. With new good memories, in our trusty-rusty RV!

We finally headed out of Hayward around three in the afternoon and sailed all the way past Silver Bay, MN that evening. We were able to find a campsite, surprisingly, since we learned that there was a kayak festival in Two Harbors and the Fishermen's Festival in Grand Marais all that weekend! Caleb was excited to hear about the festival in Grand Marais (sounds similar to our Musky Fest) so we decided to head that direction Sunday morning to partake in the events that day. Camping Saturday night went well. The boys actually stayed in their own beds all night in the camper and we were off and back on the road, smooth sailing once again... headed to Grand Marais.

When we were about 20 miles south of GM the ol' girl started chugging... Caleb said not to worry, it was the same thing that happened the other weekend, but it would be fine. He worked that problem out already. I was thinking... oh, crap! So we continued down the road, with an uneasy feeling, but full of optimism... at least one of us! As we chugged along the fuel seemed to lose all pressure and then it happened. We just stalled... the big fat lug of metal quit! I was trying to get Caleb focused on pulling over so that we wouldn't hold up ALL the traffic headed to the Fishermen's Festival, so he quickly coasted to a drive off the highway...

You might find this funny, I guess I do now too... but at the time I didn't! This was the road we landed on... for the next six hours!

HAPPY ACRES DRIVE :)

Poor Caleb, he diligently tried to work on the engine while the boys and I played in the RV. It was evident quickly, however, that our chances of getting back on the road were slim. One of the residents that live on Happy Acres Drive stopped and helped confirm the fact that we were stranded, in an OLD RV, with two babies, a frustrated dad, a pessimistic mom, and no where but UP to go! We got the number to dispatch from him and in no time a state patrol came to be our next possible savior.

Nope, he was no good either. But also very helpful in pointing out the doom in our situation... now we had two crabby babies, one irritated mom, a hopeless dad, and more bad news... no one that could tow our big, bad, broken down beast! All the tow trucks in the area could not tow something that heavy and our only option was to get a tow from Duluth... for $1500!!!! So, of course, Caleb said no thanks... he was thinking why tow it for that much when I can't get that out of it! And I was thinking, well I actually asked if we could just find a paint brush and paint to write FREE! Driver comes with! ... or ... $3 Tours, come see REAL LIVE TWINS! in their natural vacation habitat! $1 per question.... I assured Caleb we'd have that tow truck there in no time! We would have made $100 bucks off the state patrol officer alone... "They don't look alike, are they identical?" Here's your sign...

We ended up calling my mom to come get us (she was the savior that day) and while we waited we enjoyed the AC from the generator, had some lunch, took a nap, and really had a nice afternoon, camping!

We made it home safe and sound and Caleb and one of his buddies went back up that night to pick the RV up and trailer it back home. What a feat! They had to pull it up, with just man power in the middle of the night... but they made it! Barely, but they did.

So the ol' girl now sits and waits at a local repair shop. The thing is, I know and Caleb knows that after we get it looked over and redone by a professional mechanic, we will most likely venture out for one more try... BUT our families have warned us that we are not allowed to go farther than we can walk home! Good news is, Jolly Fisherman Road is only 10 miles from our house, so we might just end up parked there next weekend!

Homecoming...

So I really don't want to be sappy and sentimental ALL the time, but it's really just this time of year! Ugh! A year ago tomorrow my boys were officially discharged from the NICU at St. Mary's in Duluth. A year ago tonight we stayed in the hospital one last time, with our boys actually (we had to do a trial-run with them before we could leave) and then we were all FREE! We passed, really the boys passed with their temperatures and breathing tests so we were sent home. HOME. Such an exciting and scary time. So happy we have made it this far. All still functioning as one unit, all still alive and kicking, and some of us almost ready to do it again. Well, that may be stretching it a little. But I think God gives us the ability, or maybe the inability to remember only the good things, pushing back the bad so that when we reminisce on the past we see the highs and laugh at the lows. I truly believe this because if it were not true, all women would only survive one pregnancy. Some crazy ladies, with really bad memories, even have lots and LOTS of pregnancies! I'm not sure what would be more effective, birth control or ginkgo biloba! Ha ha! I'm really kidding, children are amazing! So far, they are my favorite! :)

In other reminiscing related news... I got the boys' admission and discharge paperwork in the mail the other day for insurance and I was amazed at what I read. A very detailed account of what happened to my boys at birth! I was completely under anesthesia and didn't meet them for about 2 hours after their birth so it was extremely exciting and disheartening to read all the information of the events that followed their births. Neither cried at birth, both were pale with fused eye lids, Luke took less effort to get to breath, and Max needed two attempts of resuscitation and more oxygen before he was hooked up to the ventilator. Just mind blowing to think of how grim things were when they came into the world, and how amazingly God faithfully saw us through each hurdle... to now!

Oh man, it was such a crazy time... but really, I miss so much of it!

It's hard for me to look at this picture in some ways... Max looks like a normal healthy little baby, while Luke looks so tiny and fragile. But now... they are BOTH doing great!

The watchmen... they were keeping an eye on dad and his guys as they prepped the driveway to get resurfaced.

Busy boys... always UP . DOWN . UP . DOWN . on the stairs!

I look at this picture and think I couldn't love two beings any more!

To any one out there that may have tiny twins, or know someone in my old shoes.... Please encourage them that it does and will get better. It is difficult in different ways, but it sure does get better! Thank you Lord for seeing us through!