Father

Dear Phil,

I love you. Words don't do the feelings in my heart justice when I see you with our children. I love how tender you are, how excited you are to see them in the morning and when you get home from work. When I am nursing the kids in the morning and you walk in the room I love how both kids come off in tandem and 4 big blue eyes are glued on your every movement, waiting for you to greet them. They flash you a gummy grin, eyes lit up and then they can resume the task at hand. They adore you. I adore you.

I appreciate the endless help you offer and the many tasks you assume without my asking. Parenting with you is fun and I am grateful for an equal partner. Diapers, bath, bedtime, feeding; nothing is beneath you. I love how each night you sneak into the nursery to check on our sleeping babes and too many times to count I have found you rocking with a babe nestled in the crook of your neck.

Thank you for taking care of us. Thank you for loving us.

Much love,

Heather

9 Months

The happy faces that greet me after naps.

Nine months old!





Well, I tell you both to stop growing but neither of you are listening. Obviously.


Yes, his eyes are that blue, no photoshopping.

Max. I love you. You are such a sweet boy and it is so fun to watch your personality emerge. I have been waiting to officially declare you mobile as you have been "crawling" for weeks now, it has been a work in progress. And now it is official. We have a crawler. You have gained speed as the days go by and are getting more coordinated with your arms and knees with a few belly landings for good measure. You easily come to us and are a frequent guest in the office and sit under the chair waiting for us to pick you up so you can pound away at the keyboard.

You melt our hearts everytime you crawl to where ever we are and softly place a hand on our leg to get our attention or lift up your arms to be held. Your dad eats it up, as do I. You still giggle and laugh like a wild man when we eat your belly and you have learned to suck in your tummy so we can't get you and you have started putting your hands on our mouth to stop us. I think we need to listen but you are so tasty.



You are an excellent eater and nurser. We try new foods regularly and so far cottage cheese and green beans remain on the "don't like" list, everything else has been a hit.



Dearest Kate. Where do I begin? I love your spunky attitude and sweet nature. I saw a glimpse of your sass and your dad and I good naturedly fear we will have our hands full with our Princess. Because clearly you reign.


Literally all snapped within seconds of eachother.

We have had a bit of a rough patch lately with nursing and your biting me. Repeatedly. I had flicked your cheek in the past which always broke your heart but it had seemed to work and we have gone a few weeks without a bite. Lately I have been firmly telling you "No!" which also breaks your heart but hasn't been so effective. Today you bit me again just a few minutes into the feeding and I barely tapped your arm and told you "no" and you were devastated. I comforted you and then tried to get you to eat again but you weren't having it. You would stare at my breast and then start crying, several times I tried, same outcome, which in turn broke my heart and my mother guilt was on over drive.

I worried that I had scared you from nursing and I do not want it to end until you are one. I stopped trying to get you to eat, and decided to just let it be, relax and show you lots of love in hopes to make you comfortable again. The rest of the day went okay and when you come off I just wait and let you take the lead. Although you can be tricky and open like you are going to latch only to bite me. Little booger. You keep me on my toes. ** I think we have it figured out. Seems you don't want to nurse tandem for whatever reason, so solo it is.**

Other than that you are still the most charming little pip squeak. You love solid foods and eat just as well or better than Max. You love LOVE your sippy cup of water and will steal Max's. I actually have to ration your water and make sure to only offer it after you have nursed and eaten so you don't fill up on nothing. You are so tiny you need your food!

Your hair is growing in all crazy and sticks up in the back. Your cowlick still rules in the front and my repeated efforts to comb it to the side are in vain. Only time will tell.


Again, so many emotions in such a short amount of time.

You can sit well but prefer to lay down when playing. We are working on that but you usually win. You have perfected the army crawl and also reach out to us when we are near. We are officially wrapped around your finger.

We went to the doctor yesterday and here is the latest:

Kate: 13 pounds 14 ounces, 26 inches long, 3%-5%
Max: 16 pounds 9 ounces, 26 1/2 inches long, 7%-9%

In summary, they are both little but given that they are preemies, their adjusted age of 7 months, they are meeting milestones and are healthy and happy we are not to worry. And we don't. We just love them to the moon and back.

Tech Savvy

I don't like to let the kids watch TV. In fact it is never on while they are awake, even when they are asleep for that matter. We just don't watch much TV. Phil & I are quite guilty of the internet though. And the kids have learned that what is on the laptop is exciting! To them at least (and it must be to us too since we are can be found there quite often, too often.) They love to bang on the key board and I imagine they feel quite grown-up sitting by us.

The other day I pulled up Sesame Street's website and let them watch a short Elmo clip. They were captivated.



Glued.





And that's why we don't watch TV. Little slugs! I don't know how long I will hold out.





Kate & Phil looking at his laptop. Her dimples, ah her dimples! Definitely her father's daughter. Look at those two, same thin lips, round eyes. Love them both.

The 1st Date: Post Children

We have not been out on a real date since before Max & Kate were born. Easily over 9 months ago.

I had a little meltdown the other night after days of solitude had built up and finally spilled over. Moving away from friends, the daily tending of the kids and not getting out of the house had taken its toll on me and I finally spilled it to Phil, only after some prodding and him asking if I was depressed. I confessed to being a bit down, bored and tired of being boring cheap homebodies. We never go anywhere or do anything, wah, wah, wah. He concurred and reminded me that this stage will pass, school will start, he will have plenty to talk to me about, I will meet new people and it will be easier to get out with the kids someday. We will most likely still be cheap. Necessary stage of our life.

My mom was in town the past week and we took advantage of her being able to watch the kids and Phil planned a nice date for us. I'll admit I wasn't too excited about what he wanted to do, go for a glider ride. My inner worrier cropped up and I made sure we would be safe, I would return to the kids, no one would die, etc.

Guess what? We survived. And I had fun. Shocker.







Memorial Day Phil booked an aerobatic flight for himself and a scenic flight for me. Good call. His was a crazy roller coaster-esqe flight full of dips, nose dives, loops and the like. My own was rather tranquil, a nice 30 minute scenic flight with views of Lake Pleasant and the west valley. But I still got motion sickness and was very happy when the pilot asked if I wanted to land or continue circling around to stay up in the air.

Here's how it went down:

The tow plane. A modified crop duster. He circled around and did a quick test flight to ensure all was well before hooking us up.



Receiving instruction from my pilot. I sit in the front, he in the back, we both have the ability to control the glider, thus letting me "fly". Here he is showing me the basics; the altimeter, speed, how to unhook the tow cable and the controls.



Strapping me in.



Bidding Phil and his pilot farewell.


And we're off!

Tow plane takes off and we glide up behind him while my pilot maneuvers. I did fly the glider for a bit and it is rather tricky! You have to remember to use your feet and your hands to control the glider and being a land driver one has the tendency to just use their hands. I was happy to let the pilot take control after just a few minutes. That and I was hot and trying to keep my mind off the rolling mass in my stomach.



It was a beautiful day, the skies were clear. Phil took off about 10 minutes after I did and since I was in the air too I have no pics of his excursion. I was able to take video in my glider but due to the nature of Phil's crazy ride he was not. Phil loved it. He loved being able to fly and try something new. He did get sick near the end when they were trying to keep altitude by circling in a thermal updraft.

We rested a bit after the landings to get our bearings, I bought us a pop to settle our stomachs and we went to Paradise Bakery and split a sandwich, pasta salad and cookie.



Back just in time before the kids awoke. Thanks for watching the babes Mom and thanks to my husband for listening to his neurotic wife and getting me out of the house.

My mom and I also got to slip away for a girl's lunch before my mom left back to Utah. We got dressed up and dined at Cheesecake factory and then walked a bit at the mall. It was so nice to have my another pair of hands to help me at home, someone to talk to and just enjoy the kids with me. Love you Mom.

Fare thee Well

Before we hightailed it out of Mesa we got together with our friends at a neighborhood park. We had fun! The moms talked and passed babies around to munch on and the dads entertained themselves with a small game of modified baseball. I left lamenting that we should have taken advantage of such gatherings many times over instead of me holing up in the house with two babies and a whole lot of isolation. I blame it on RSV season, preemies and new mother paranoia. (Mind you I do not blame my children, I would do it the same again. They have yet to be sick.)

Oh how I miss these girls!



Six babies born from August '09 to March '10.



Random park nibbles. My children are constantly being barraged by my incessant kisses and here is rare footage of me with my kids, not just behind the camera.



Moving on to our last pics of the beloved Talbot Circle. This really deserves it's own post.

We spent most of our married life together here. It is the home I associate most of our memories with. This is the home where I dreamed of motherhood with Camden, experienced the joys and heartache of that dream interrupted. Where we returned with empty arms after his birth and death. Where the Spirit sustained us and enveloped us during that sacred time.

This is the home that was privy to our trials and triumphs.

It is where we finally got to bring home babies.

I love that house. It was Home.





But home is where you make it. I have Phil, I have my babies and therefore I have home.