Our first Valentine's Day...

This post is a little late, but still worth sharing.
 Recently I was reminiscing about Bryan and my first Valentine's Day together.  It was my freshman year of college and we had been dating each other for about four months. He was the first guy I had ever really dated, so I was a little unsure what was expected of me for Valentine's Day and basically pretty awkward.
 Valentine's Day came and I hadn't done anything and really had no plans to do much of anything. Did  I mention I hadn't dated much?  My friends all told me I had to at least get him a card. So, I dragged my friend Erin with me to a local shop in Orange City. We were in front of the store window, with our backs to the parking lot, looking though cards. I was quickly rejecting most of the mushy Valentine cards she showed me and stressing out about what I was going to do.
 As we were looking at the cards, we heard a car horn honking over and over again. We ignored it for a while, but it kept going on...so we looked behind us and saw that there, in the flesh, was Bryan, my...whatever he was after four months of dating (our monthly DTR's hadn't defined us as boyfriend/girlfriend yet...even though we really were).
 Anyway, he waved and smiled. Now, most normal people would have waved back and continued looking at cards, not seeing this as weird, awkward or any sort of big deal.
  I, of course, freaked out thinking that  he knew I was looking for a card for him, grabbed my friend Erin and hit the floor. Literally, hit the deck...all the way on my stomach. I then had her follow me as I army-crawled to the back of the store and asked her in all seriousness, "Do you think he saw us?"
 Her response?
 "I am pretty sure he did, since he was the one honking at us..."
Busted.
 But, he shockingly didn't bring it up for a very long time...and when he did, he mocked me endlessly.

Our Love Language

  I have heard a lot about how the best way to show your spouse you love them is by speaking their "love language". There are five different love languages- physical affection, quality time, words of affirmation, acts of service and gifts. I used to bug Bryan about how we needed to work at speaking to each other through these love languages more...but then I realized that we had our own love language- the love language of "pestering".
    Since both of us are the eldest child in our family, we got a lot of practice at pestering. We are so good at pushing each other's buttons that we know exactly what will annoy the other...or get a rise out of them. It is kind of our special thing.  Here are a few ways we pester show our love:

* When Bryan comes in with a clean load of laundry, he dumps it on my head.

* When Bryan is trying to sleep, I like to hold my hand right above his face, not quite touching it, but close enough that he knows it is there. It makes him so mad...it's awesome.

* Bryan purposely sings all the words wrong in songs to drive me nuts. This drives me nuts.

* One night Bryan was annoying me, so when he went to sleep, I took a couple pairs of his underwear and got them wet and put them in the freezer. This is a very mature approach to conflict-resolution.

* Bryan traps me in the "tent" (under the sheets) and laughs as I freak out because I can get a little claustrophobic.

* Whenever we are driving in the car or van, when he isn't looking, I turn his seat-warmer on so his butt will get really hot.

* Recently, I have really been pushing his buttons by spreading Cami's plastic princess plates and bowls out all over the cupboards, instead of in one nice stack in the same cupboard. Last night, when I went to bed, I laid down on my pillow and felt something hard. I looked inside my pillowcase and found a bunch of Cami's bowls and plates. Bryan found this really funny. I just brought them to the kitchen and spread them out all through the cupboards again. We'll see how long it takes for them to get back in my pillowcase.

We are in love...can you tell?

Wife of the Year

Sometimes, I am not a great wife. This story will illustrate that.

A few Saturdays ago, I was trying to quickly get out of the house to meet up with friends for a multi-family garage sale. My hubby was going to stay home with the kids so I could make us the big bucks selling all our junk. 

 As I was about to run out the door, I heard him call out, "Is that poop on the wall?"

I heard him walk down the hall, presumably to get the paper away from Grant that he was eating and went over to see for myself.

I quickly saw, that it was indeed, poop. I saw Jace sitting closely by. I picked him up and instantly smelled that he was the likely culprit.

And then I ran out the back door. 

Shopping used to be fun...

Shopping alone is boring. When I go to the store now, I make sure to bring my kids. This ensures that I won't spend extra time browsing (which in turn means spending extra money), that one of my kids will be crying and a selfless customer will let us cut to the front of the line and that people will go home praying for a frazzled mom and her cute kids.
 One of my favorite shopping experiences was this past fall. We were having friends over to carve pumpkins. Last minute, I decided I wanted to run to the grocery store and grab a couple of bottles of wine for the party.
  Unfortunately, I mean luckily, Bryan was at basketball practice, so I had to was able to bring all three kids with me.  However, I wasn't too worried, it was going to be a quick trip.
 I unloaded our massive double stroller from the van and loaded it up with the boys. I held Cami's hand and awkwardly pushed the beastly stroller across the parking lot. When we got inside the store, I hustled us over to the wine, grabbed a couple bottles and started making my way to the check out line.
 Things were going surprisingly well, but they almost instantly turned bad. Cami wrenched free from me and ran toward the candy stand next to the register, Jace started crying and Grant took it to the next level by doing a little screaming over Jace's cries.
 I looked around apologetically, rushed over to Cami and told her we weren't having candy today. She decided to act her age and laid on the floor kicking, screaming and crying. Meanwhile, the boys also continued to cry. Looking like "Mom-of-the-year" with screaming kids and only bottles of wine in my basket, I threw them  down on the counter (don't worry, they didn't break. They were plastic...we're classy like that) and tried to pay and get out of there as quickly as I could.
 A lady behind me, who had been observing the excitement, came up to me and whispered in my ear, "We started drinking when we had kids too...Are you sure that is enough?"
 I smiled and instantly laughed, feeling much better about the entertainment I had just provided the customers at Fresh & Easy.

I didn't think it was funny then, but...

And, I am back in the blogging world! For now...

Lately, I have had a lot of moments that at the time, really did not seem so funny. But looking back, I realized they may have been slightly humorous.

I thought I would share a few:

* Cami running up and down the aisle during the Christmas Eve children's message. My favorite part in particular was when she saw Bryan stand up and started to hold her bootie as she quickly high-tailed it  back to the stage so that she wouldn't get the spanking that she thought was coming. At least she looked cute in her new Christmas dress from Grandma.

* Forgetting to fill up the diaper bag with usual things that fill diaper bags like spare clothes and,well, diapers, thus leaving poor Grant pantless on New Year's Eve and Jace wearing a pink princess pull-up at the doctor's office.

* We took our youth group to Six Flags over Christmas break. Since the boys are still nursing,  I brought along my pump. Unfortunately, I forgot a couple key pieces to the pump. So, I had to take things into my own hands...literally...over the toilet...multiple times.  Bryan said I had never looked so proud.

* My dad came over to watch the boys so I could finish getting ready for a wedding last Saturday. I had  managed do my make-up and curl my hair before he got there. However, it must not have looked as good as I thought, because when my dad walked in, I was greeted with "Oh man, do you still have to shower?"

* Wearing what I thought was a cute outfit, only to have students tell me I looked like a horse jockey. Looking down at my clothes I realized...they were right. I decided to respond by letting them know  Smartie Jones was waiting for me in the teacher's parking lot.

Ahh...life is good.

Reality Checks

   Overall, we are adjusting well to becoming a family of five. The boys are eating and sleeping well...with the occasional sleepless night. Cami loves to hold and touch her brothers and really hasn't shown jealousy towards these new little bundles of joy. However, you have to take the good with the bad, and right when I start to feel like we have things under control, a little reality check is sent my way.
  Sometimes a reality check will look like this:

 Or this:

  The first and my favorite of our reality checks happened shortly after we came home from the hospital. Both boys were just hanging out and Cami was playing with her blocks. I confidently said to Bryan, "Go take a nap. We'll be fine."
 A few minutes later, I decided to check the boys diapers. I set Grant in a crib, and put Jace on the changing table. Cami was still playing in the front room. I took off Jace's diaper, forgetting the rule of always keeping his man parts covered, and instantly he shot pee behind his head, which conveniently landed all over Grant. He also sprayed poop the other way, getting all over the wall, other crib, sheets and changing table. I sighed and kind of laughed and started to clean it up.
 I then realized that I hadn't heard from Cami in a few minutes. I went up to the front room and found her in the kitchen, like this:

 She thought it would be fun to dump out a whole box of cereal on the floor to eat. Bryan's nap was short-lived to say the least.
 It was then that I quickly realized things will be a little crazy here for a while, but luckily it will teach us to laugh and make some "fun" memories.

My Cup Overflows...

It is hard to believe that Jace and Grant will be one week old tomorrow. This has been one of the best weeks and there are so many thoughts, events and feelings that I don't ever want to forget.  This is my attempt to document some of these beautiful moments from this past week.

* Bryan's parents driving cross-country to surprise us so they could be here to meet the boys. I wish I could have seen the look on B's face when they showed up in study hall.

* Falling more in love with my husband as he took care of me, the boys and our daughter. He has been so gentle, proud, loving, patient, attentive, funny... and it makes me so happy that he is the man I married.

* Hearing the boys cry as they were "excavated" out of my tummy and seeing their little purple faces held up over the cloth.

* Holding Grant and just being filled with joy at this little miracle- this baby that was supposed to be a
"vanishing" twin and had no chance to make it; beating the odds.

* Laughing about what went on in the womb and how Jace must love pop-tarts as much as I did during the pregnancy since he seemed to steal all the good stuff from Grant.

* Watching my beautiful little baby girl become a wonderful big sister overnight. She loves her brothers already and has only had minor bouts of jealousy.

* Having the support of such wonderful parents who watched Cami all week when we were in the hospital, never letting on if she was wearing them out or not.

* Friends and family supporting us through hospital visits, phone calls, meals and texts. We are so blessed to have such a great system of love and support.

* Being up nearly all night with Bryan our second night home and getting a glimpse into our "new reality".

* Holding our breath as Cami held both of her brothers for the first time by herself and was as gentle as could be...until she wasn't. :)

* Cuddling with our whole family on the couch the first night we got home, watching the ever-popular "Yo Gabba Gabba".

There have been so many moments since these boys have been born that I have tried to mentally store away, reminding myself not to forget.  We are a family of five. While I still can't believe it, I can't imagine it being any different.

God is good- all the time.

All the time- God is good.