February in pictures

This month was cold but that didn't stop us from having fun. We finally feel like we are on a good schedule and got out a bit.

We went to the free carousel night at the mall. I think I rode that carousel about 15 times with miss Ruby.

Shad is super dad and handles twins like a champ.

Mommy does ok too and is soaking up the snuggles. The house cleaning can wait.

We are anxious for spring, but settled on an inside picnic with friends.

Someone went to the repentance bench and was so stubborn he finally fell asleep.

Haken and Jack have really stepped it up in taking care of the babies. Jack is holding a baby any chance he gets and loves to change diapers and clothes. They are the reason I can make it to church on time.

Gracie on the other hand is still asking which baby is which. She can't tell them apart. 

However, she has become a master big sister for Benny and Ruby. Any game she creates they want to be a part of it and she loves that they follow her every command.

She couldn't wait to show off Benny and Ruby at her Valentine's party at school. She insisted I bring them with me.

 Luckily the blowouts have been minimal this month. 

Haken has become a busy Jr. High student being involved in student council, the school newspaper, Science Olympiad, and Scholastic bowl. Sometimes I wonder if the extracurricular activities are just a ploy to get out of riding the bus home. He really loves the time he gets to spend with his friends though. He was one of the captains of the scholastic bowl team. 

2 months

Lots of growing going on around here. We are starting to figure out their personalities this month.

They both still fit into newborn clothes and feel like they weigh pretty much the same. 

They rarely cry at the same time, but when they do it is like "baby surround sound."

They are really good at the blank stares. 

The first smiles popped out this month. Monica caught Chap while babysitting at her house (Lincoln wanted to get a little sniff)

When Tenny smiles it shows how chubby he really is.

They are awesome car riders and can't resist falling asleep.

They are great sleepers and have slept through the night a handful of times. They usually wake up around 3:00am but I think they are ready to start stretching it a little bit longer.

Tenny loves tummy time and Chap doesn't last very long as he is not a fan. 

Happy Valentine's Day!

Dear friends and family,                                                                                                                  

Because our Christmas was a little crazy, we decided to write a Valentine letter instead. We figured better late than never. Here is a quick rundown on the family, and each member.

Bonnie and Shad:

We were excited to find out that Bonnie was pregnant again, and shocked when they showed two little guys in there. In fact, I wasn’t even at the first ultrasound because, you know, you’ve seen 5 you’ve seen them all. When Bonnie Facetimed me at work, I wasn’t expecting anything out of the ordinary. When I was shown the baby, I was like “good, a baby is in there” when I was shown the second baby I had to sit down. My very first thought was “we have to get a bigger van”. Hilariously, we had just bought an 8-seater in anticipation of trying to have our 6^th and final child. Now we are the proud owners of a humongous, 15 passenger, medium roof behemoth we call Moby.

Bonnie is doing remarkably well considering the C-section (her first) required by a breach baby A and transverse baby B. We have a pretty efficient system at 2 am of Bonnie nursing both at the same time, handing me the quicker-eater to burp and change, then handing me the slower-eater to do the same while she tops the other one off. They are graciously giving us chunks of 3-4 hours at a time. We have been blessed with lots of friends and family to help including a week long visit from sister-in-law Nicole and a two week visit from Bonnie’s mom, Lori.

Bonnie continues to write for mymommystyle.com (a mommy blog) and hopes to be ready for a half marathon in the summer. Shad continues to coordinate seminary and institute programs for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and enjoys taking kids on early morning visits with him around central Illinois.

Tenny and Chap (or is it Chap and Tenny?):

I guess for now the twins go together, someday they’ll be their own paragraph. Chapman was born first at 2:01 am and you can get his deets on the announcement- Tennyson was born at 2:02 am. Since we only create two models of Anderson, it’s only fitting that we made one of each here as well. Chap looks like Jack and Grace, is smaller, and has dark hair. Tenny looks like Haken and Benny, is growing a ton, and has blonde hair. Everybody is thrilled to have them join our clan, even Ruby, we think…

Ruby:

Turning 2 in August, she was very considerate to not begin the terrible’s until AFTER the twins were born. She is now in full swing. I actually think she’s rather adorable when she has a tantrum and puts herself in timeout, but the power struggles have become a daily occurrence. She is still the favorite of all the little girls at church who love her chubby cheeks, curly blonde locks, and almost understandable jabber. Next on her list of achievements is potty-training and a big-girl bed. Here’s hoping these things get accomplished before summer roadtrips.

Benny:

Turning 4 this month, Benny was gracious enough to potty-train weeks BEFORE the twins arrived, sparing us the ignominious honor of 4 in diapers. Benny has been going to pre-preschool since last spring because of his speech delay. He really loves getting out and being part of a class. He’s a pretty social little guy. He and Ruby are kind of like our older twins as they love to play together and fight together. They understand each other in a way no one else seems to be able to. Lately, Benny has been cracking us up with the things he says, making us wonder what he’s been saying all along.

Gracie:

Turning 7 in June, Grace has thrived in Kindergarten, which has been a relief for us as we agonized about holding her back last year. We now feel satisfied we made the right decision for her. Gracie is a story-teller, and plays pretty fast and loose with her fiction and non-fiction. She changes into 3-4 outfits a day, and also cracks us up with the things she says, although if she didn’t intent humor she gets pretty upset at our giggles. We love her raspy little voice and quick laughter. Her drawings of mermaids are FANTASTIC, the shell placement seemingly inspired by Picasso.

Jack:

Although he turned 8 in December, he patiently waited until January to be baptized so that Grandmas and Grandpa would only need to come once. We ended up baptizing, confirming and then doing both twin baby blessings in the same meeting, which was a pretty meaningful experience and Jack didn’t mind sharing his special day. Jack has really stepped it up as a big brother, taking on the senior companion role when he and Benny moved downstairs. He’s not the cleanest big brother, but he is on point when it comes to getting himself and Benny ready for school and church. Jack took seriously my assignment to study baptism in the months leading up to his experiencing the ordinance, and has been a pretty diligent little gospel studier ever since. We also stepped up his diabetes technology with a continuous glucose monitor which gives us readings without a finger prick. He’s learning to become more independent with his diabetes every day.

Haken:

But the winner for the fastest growing up this year has to be our oldest. In one policy change within the Church, Haken was suddenly an 11 year old deacon, passing the sacrament, and taking the hundreds of names he has been finding on family search to the temple. I know it was only 6 months early, but I keep looking at this young man and having a panic-attack realizing that he will be leaving our home in 6 short years. He is the third adult in our family, and despite being a bit of a wuss when it comes to getting puked, pooped or peed on, we rely pretty heavily on him to help keep the chaos from exploding everywhere.

We are grateful for the out-pouring of support and love we have received as we have tried to adjust to our new family dynamic. We are blessed with an awesome family, amazing friends and neighbors, and an abiding faith in our Heavenly Father, our Savior Jesus Christ and Their Restored Church.

We love you!

Shad, Bonnie, Haken, Jack, Grace, Bennion, Ruby, Chapman and Tennyson

Benny is 4!

Benny turned 4 this month and got his dream of having a "Cheetat" cake. "Cheetat's" are his favorite. I am not really a cake maker. It always takes me way too long and I usually give up towards the end. I asked my friend Sarah who is a fantastic baker if she could make me one and she did an amazing job. It looked so real and Benny was thrilled. It was also really tasty too, so that was win. 

We love this sweet boy so much! He has been such a blessing to our family. Some things I want to remember about Benny at this age:

- He's obsessed with animals. His favorites are cheetah's, tigers, sharks, wolves, red pandas and monkeys. He is always sleeping with a stuffed animal.
- He loves to read books, especially books about animals and his favorite show is Wild Kratts.
- In the last year he has become so much more independent. He was finally potty trained in the fall and can now do it all himself. He shares a room in the basement with Jack and gets up and dressed on his own for school every morning.
- He loves to patronize his sisters, especially Ruby. He loves the screams that he gets and then acts all innocent when we ask what he did.
- We are still working with him on speaking. He can't say his R's, Th, among a few other sounds. However, he is much easier to understand now and even strangers understand now.
- He loves school and rides the bus every day back and forth. It picks him up at 7:15 am every morning. He can now step up onto the bus without too much effort. He loves his teachers Miss Emily and Mrs. Claus.
- He still takes naps every day. (Hooray!) which he really needs after getting up so early for school.
- He's a little stinker some days, but gets away with a lot when he flashes his cute little smile at us.
- He is such a good brother to his little brothers and is going to be a great example to them one day.

Hard Joy

The twins are now over a month. Time is flying and I'm worried that in 5 years I won't be able to remember what my life was like when I first had these little boys. I had a friend with twins tell me that the first year of her twin's life is a complete blur because they were in survival mode. She said at least she had the pictures to prove that it actually happened. I decided I wanted more than just pictures, but also a memory of what I learned in the first month of having twins and how it is shaping me as a mother and a person.

In no particular order, here are the top 10 things I have learned this month with twins...

10. You will eat your own words. 

The things that I said I would never buy because they were a waste of money, I realized I needed when I had two babies. That ginormous nursing pillow called "my brest friend" really has become my best friend. It is absolutely necessary to tandem feed twins. The other lifesaver has been the double bottle warmer. These boys take bottles great (hallelujah!) and the bottle warmer heats up breastmilk to perfection so much faster and easier than running it under hot water.

9. You can never have enough of anything.

My friends threw me a diaper shower before the boys were born and I had a closet full of diapers sitting there waiting to be used. I thought I had plenty of newborn diapers to get me through the first month. Turns out I should have planned on at least triple what I had. I mean I knew I would go through a lot of diapers but...wow...just wow. That pretty much goes for everything too...burp cloths, onesies, binki's...you name it!

One night of diapers. For reals.

8. Recovery from a C-section is...different.

I had my other 5 kids vaginally. These boys had to be a C-section because Chap was breech and Tenny was transverse. After I had my other babies I was up and taking a shower as soon as my epidural wore off. I felt great! It was weird to have to "take it easy" and not do anything for a while this time around. I realized if I did too much I usually regretted it with a sore incision. I learned my lesson a few days during the first month when I overdid it, like helping to undecorate the Christmas tree. I am now back to running and feeling somewhat normal, but it took three times as long as my other deliveries. I learned to be patient and listen to my body.

7. You'll mix them up and compare them.

Tenny and Chap are unquestionably fraternal twins. They are both made from different Anderson molds but I still get them mixed up all of the time. I also try not to compare them to one another, but I always do. I will admit that there are some days that Tenny is my favorite and other days that Chap is (usually it is whoever makes it the longest at night). They are two totally different babies with different temperaments, and I love that. I always wished that I could compare my kids as babies next to each other because I forget what they were like. It has been fun to see them change side by side. 

6.  Some advice holds true.

I've had lots of baby advice since I started having kids, but the best piece of advice I got from other twin moms was to keep them on the same schedule. When one baby wakes up, I wake the other one up. I feed them, dress them, and change their diapers at the same time. This has been a game changer. By keeping them on the same schedule I feel like I am feeding one baby (with my incredible nursing pillow) and then only burping, diapering, and dressing two. Feedings take about 30-40 minutes with diaper changes and then we are good to go for another 2.5 hours until the next one. I think this is the reason I have been able to keep my sanity. It's usually Chapman who initiates the feedings, but Tennyson has never objected to being woken up to eat. Thank heavens there is usually only one crying for attention at a time.

5. You'll love your spouse more than ever.

With my other kids, Shad didn't get up to help with nighttime feedings at all. I was nursing them and could handle feeding them on my own so there wasn't any point in having him be tired the next day too. I did feel some resentment that he could get a full nights sleep and I had to get up night after night, but I don't know what he could have done to help.
However, with twins having his help at night has been vital. I did a few nights on my own with him out of town and it took me an extra 20 minutes to burp and change diapers at 3am. I realized the next day how much I appreciated those extra 20 minutes of sleep. We developed a great system in the first month. We had a baby on either side of the bed in a pack in play so we could tell which one was crying. He handed me my nursing pillow and the babies (when I couldn't move from the C-section), I nursed them, handed over the faster feeder, he burped and changed, and then I handed him the other to change while I topped the first one off and he would put them both back down when I was done. Right now they are only waking up once to feed at 3am but even as brand new babies they only did two nightime feedings at the most.
I have treasured those 3am feedings with my husband. We have had some great conversations, funny experiences (especially with Alexa chiming in randomly), and endure the tiredness together the next day. I didn't realize that twins would strengthen my marriage as much as it has. I really do love this man.

4. You won't care about sharing twin germs.

I wondered how it would work with two babies. How would I keep one from getting sick when the other one is sick? They are constantly sharing wet burp cloths, blankets, binkies and feedings on mom. Turns out there really is no way to avoid it, unless you are super anal about it, and who has time for that with 7 kids? Chapman got a cold first at a week old and then Tennyson got it a few days later followed by Chapman getting sick again for a few days. They both had a cough and goopy eyes. I suspect this will be the norm for them growing up, especially with five other kids in the house. I gave up one week into it trying to keep designated bottles, binkies, and blankets. Usually, it's whatever I can grab right in front of me fast.

3. Getting out of the house will make you feel human.

I think I realized this with all of my other babies, but I was reminded more than ever with these boys that taking a shower, putting on makeup, and getting out of the house makes me feel human again and keep me from getting depressed. It's easy to get stir crazy during winter and I think it's even worse when you are at home feeding babies all day. I took every opportunity to get out of the house, even if it was just to go grocery shopping or pick up books from the library. I was really grateful to have my sister in law and my mom here for the first three weeks so I could get out without the babies. We even went to a movie when the babies were a week old thanks to my sister in law. It made me feel like I wasn't attached to those babies and had at least some freedom.

2. You will never regret accepting help. 

After I had the twins I decided that I was going to accept ANY and ALL help that people offered. I figured that they wouldn't offer it if they didn't want to do it. This decision was probably the reason I survived the first month.

We are so blessed where we live to have such great friends and church family that would do anything for us. In the first month, I think I made a total of 10 meals. People would randomly drop by and bring meals, gifts, groceries, and diapers. I had a large box of newborn diapers, but after the first week, I was completely out. A friend asked if she could pick anything up and I told her diapers and few produce items. She came with two bags of groceries and two big boxes of diapers and wouldn't accept a dime. We really were so blessed and I felt like the more help I accepted, the more willing people were to give it. If I would have constantly said "no" I wouldn't have given then the opportunity to serve and I wouldn't have reaped the benefit of their service.

Having my sister in law and my mom here was also invaluable. I feel like I really thrived the first month because they were here helping. I didn't do any dishes or laundry while they were here and could focus fully on the babies. I also felt comforted that my other kids weren't being neglected and were taken care of.

I also had no idea how much I was going to rely on my older kids to help. Haken and Jack have been my lifelines when the babies just want to be held and my other kids require my attention.

1. You'll understand hard joy.

I had a friend with twins describe having twins as "Hard Joy." I now know what she meant. It has been hard, so hard, but these little boys have also brought so much joy. In the first month the "joy" has outweighed the "hard" and made all of the sleepless nights worth it. I'm sure it's going to get harder but I also know that the joy will get even better too. I had no idea that I could love two babies at the same time so completely and equally, but it is totally possible. I feel stretched thin, but my heart is also so full. I never feel caught up and there are a lot of things I am neglecting right now. However, I know how quickly babies grow up and I just want to sit and hold them while they are tiny and still making those squeaky baby noises. It just does not last very long.

My mom gave me a saying for my wall that completely describes what I feel. It says "If you think my hands are full, you should see my heart." I see it every time I walk down my stairs and I am reminded of how full my heart really is.

January in pictures

Here is my effort to catch up on all of the little things we did in January...

January marked the beginning of the new "Come follow me" curriculum for our church. Throughout the week we study a block of scripture together with the curriculum manual. The first week of January talked about being responsible for our own learning and being prepared. We studied the story of the wise and foolish virgins and made oil lamps out of clay one night. It was a big hit with the kids. Jack asked if we could do that every night. They looked pretty legit. You can almost guess which one belongs to each person in our family.

The new curriculum has been so enjoyable to study as a family. We have already learned and grown so much in the first month.

Grandma came back on the 7th and stayed for 2 weeks. She was a huge help and we had a lot of fun.

Daddy drove our new van from Kansas City. We named him "Moby" after the whale in Moby Dick. It seats 15 passengers which means we can fit the Noonan family and our family all in one car. We are going to have some pretty incredible road trips. The kids were so excited to take a ride that they stopped playing the instruments they just made with grandma and we went around the block as soon as daddy got home. Jack begged for us to drive him to school with the new van the next day. I wonder when he will figure out that this big van isn't as cool as he thinks it is.

Chap and Tenny got their first bath at 3 weeks old. Ruby loved watching the whole thing. Chap really liked it, Tenny not so much. That's pretty much been the standard ever since.

Tenny hating it

Chap loving it

On January 12th we discovered our gerbil, Jake, was no longer alive in his cage in the laundry room. I think this just proved that I really was the sole person keeping him alive as I fed him whenever I was in there doing laundry. I hadn't done laundry in a few days since my mom was here and he just couldn't last any longer. This is why we can't have pets.

Jake was Gracie's gerbil and her response when finding out he had died was "Well I guess I don't have to clean his cage today." Apparently, she was heartbroken.

Daddy and Haken went out in the sub zero temperatures and did the only thing we could with the hard ground...cream mate Jake. The kids watched from the window. That's gerbil number 3 in our burial grounds.

On the same day Jake died we had a huge storm that dropped a bunch of snow. They spent the whole day outside shoveling and building a snowman. Ruby helped out by eating the carrots we gave her for the snowman on the front porch and daddy helped out by creating an incredible snowman scene that became famous in our neighborhood.

Haken was ordained to the priesthood, the babies were blessed and Jack was baptized. While we had grandparents here we did a quick day trip to Nauvoo. More about all of that in this post.

Tenny and Chap got really good at staring contests. I think Tenny won.

We finally took down all of the Christmas cards that greeted us every day on our garage door. We sure do love our friends and family.

We went through a polar vortex and school was cancelled two days in a row. We had windchills of -44. We were even colder than Antarctica. We spent one day with the Noonans at our house and the next day Jack had his friend Braeden here. We were really grateful for our nice warm house. Those cold temperatures are no joke!

Jack's school celebrated the 100th day of school by dressing up like they were 100 yrs old. I think Jack nailed it with the help of daddy's art skills and my dry shampoo spray.

 Of course, we also loved on our babies constantly. They turned one month on January 21st and are doing fantastic. Here is their one month update.