Sleep Deprivation

This picture is from December.

Sleep deprivation can make a lot of things seem funny. Paul was giddy (hard to imagine i know but it REALLY happened) one night when the twins were just a few months old so when I came into the living room I found him smiling and standing over this ...

Yes ... its Gracie in our laundry basket!! He proudly said "Its like where is Waldo!" All I could do was laugh!

Moo Moo

These pictures are from November/December.

When the girls were little our fridge looked like this (please don't judge the random food in our fridge- there was not much time for cleaning it out ... let alone cooking or eating something nutricious).

I was nursing & pumping or BOTH every 3 hours so we ran out of space quite often. We tried really hard to come up with a system to keep it organized ... but could never really find a way to manage all the milk.

Top Shelf

Second Shelf

Our dishwasher looked like this for months on end!!

When we ran out of room in the fridge we resorted to freezing the milk. This was one weeks surplus!! We even had to borrow space in our friends freezers to accomodate all the girls milk!! Thanks to those who loaned us space!!

All the milk made a lot of these ... at one point we went through about 16-18 diapers PER DAY!! I got creative one day and made this diaper pyramid for Paul ... I think he was "impressed" with my amazing skills!!

Trying to Catch Up!!

So I fell a "little" behind on my blog ... at first you all were patient ... then you all mildly harassed me ... I understand if you eventually gave up on me ... I realize it had been almost 5 months! Yes, I am embarassed. I did think about the blog ... A LOT. I kept a list of things to blog about ... I don't really know if I will EVER catch up ... but I am trying to catch up ... and trying to commit to posting more often ... but if for some reason I don't ... please try and still love me ... after all I am just an unmedicated ADHD mother of 8 month old twins!!

These pictures are from Thanksgiving ... I know, I know ... better late than never ... Pauls grandparents (his mothers parents) from San Antonio came for a quick visit to meet the girls on their way to Pensacola to be with their daughter! They were very excited to meet the girls and we were very excited to introduce them to our precious babies!

Great Grandpa Ruebasamen & Gracie

I am not sure GGpa Ruebsamen was quite sure what

to do with such a little preemie baby ... but he did GREAT!

Great Grandma Ruebsamen & Natalie

LaLa (my mom) & Natalie

Opa & Gracie- she slept like this for about an hour!!

For Thanksgiving we took the girls to Lafayette to celebrate with my family (Paul and I switch holidays every year to be fair to both sides). We stayed in a hotel with the girls. We brought their bouncy seats for them to sleep in ... the first night they slept 6 hours straight!! They had never gone more than 3 hours before ... and after that night it was MANY more months before they went more than 3 hours again!! I guess it was the long trip and meeting so many new family members that wore them out! Regardless ... Paul and I were VERY grateful for the SLEEP!!

The girls all tucked in for the night! Sweet dreams!!

The girls meeting my cousins Melanie (L) & Celeste (R) for the first time!

My cousin Chris' wife A'dair feeds Natalie

A headbanger in a rockband!

Why does Natalie wear a helmet?

Our little Natalie has been diagnosed with positional plagiocephaly. A big fancy word for ... her head is flat on the back. I noticed her head was a little misshapen at 6weeks old. I told the pediatrician. She sent us to physical therapy for torticollis (stiff neck muscles) which was supposed to fix the probelm. We then saw a neurosurgeon here in BR who told us to have her sleep on her side and it would go away, which we thought was rediculous. Her head was getting worse so I continued to mention it to the pediatrician who finally got us in touch with Dr. Nadell a neurosurgeon at Children Hospital in New Orleans. He has reccomended that she wear a helmet to help her head grow properly. Many doctors visits later and many trips to New Orleans later Natalie now wears her pretty pink helmet 23 hours a day. She has a 1 hour break after bathtime. It was a major adjustment at first ... emotionally for me because I couldn't kiss her beautiful little forehead anymore and physically for Natalie because it was a little uncomfortable. We have worked through all the initial challenges at this point. She is such a brave little trooper. We are hoping that she will only wear it for a few more months. I would love for her to have it off by her first birthday ... but we will see. I had a mealtdown our first time in public because a stranger in a store asked me "how did you get one normal one and one not" - referring to the girls. Her comment assumed that Natalie was not normal. I cried, she didn't apologize and continued by asking if Natalie had Down-Syndrome. I cried some more!! Our second day out in public a lady asked me if Natalie had epilipesy. I did a bit better than the day before by faking a smile and simply responding "No." My dad suggested that when questioned about the helmet I should say "She is a headbanger in a rockband!" I love my dad!!!

Natalie's head being scanned. The sock on her head has wires that attach to the camera and computer to make a 4D image of her face and cranium. The images are sent to Arizona where the helmet is manufactured.

Natalie's first time with the helmet on ... she was thinking what is this thing on my head??

The orthotic technician is custom fitting the helmet to Natalies head. She has a machine that trims ear holes, trims it above the eyebrows and will shave out the inside of the helmet each time we visit to direct the growth of Natalies head.

7 month pictures

For Mothers Day "we" (wink wink) decided to take the girls pictures here at home. It wasn't worth the saved money to me!! Paul of course feels differently!! LOL. I like the pictures but it was rather stressful trying to get them taken, printed and mailed on time to our family out of town!! I much prefer going to Portrait Innovations where you leave that day with the photos!

So, the girls are 7 months in these pictures.

Abigail Grace

Natalie Adelle

Happy Fathers Day

Happy Fathers Day Paul!! I truly enjoy watching you with our girls. You are a wonderful father. I find joy in seeing you love our girls- playing with them, comforting them, teaching them, praying with them & for them, making them laugh etc. Thank you for working so hard so that I can stay home with them each day. I love you.

We started the day eating breakfast together at the table- unfortunatley a rare event these days. It meant a lot to me! I made whole wheat pancakes and eggs. The girls ate pancakes too! Paul opened his presents and cards- including on that played music. I splurged for the singing hot pepper card ... i couldnt resist! I had suprised him and had the girls pictures made for Fathers Day. You can see one of the pictures by his cards above. We all went to church together which was very nice too! We had a suprise visit from Paul's mother, father, little sister and cousin. The girls put on quite a show crawling, pulling up, babbling etc.

The girls missed celebrating with Opa (my dad) but they are looking forward to seeing him in just a few weeks. I also though about my sweet Papa. Its hard to believe he has been gone for three years. I know he would have loved seeing our precious little girls ... I feel confident he is watching from above!

I had intended to get a family picture at church ... but the girls were tired and fussy so sadly i missed my opportunity!

URGENT PRAYER REQUEST

Our dear friends Jodi and Tristan who are expecting their first child, a little boy, in August lost EVERYTHING in a fire at their apartment tonight. Please, Please pray for their precious family!! I am co-hosting a baby shower for Jodi next weekend and hope that we can help her and her husband prepare for the arrival of their sweet baby boy!! You can read more about their little family here: http://www.tristanandjodibernard.blogspot.com/