Home from camp

I am now home from camp. I returned to everyone else's summer break. Rocky is now home with everyone, while I increase my hours back to full time. Yuck. I have been enjoying working just 3 short days a week.

The girls are doing well. They both turned over from front to back yesterday. Abigail was reaching for and playing with the catepillar on her car seat yesterday, and Isabelle will smile from ear to ear whe you talk to her, sometimes belly laughing. I will try to post more pictures soon!

Julie

Happy Birthday

Well, Yesterday was the girls 6 month birthday! We celebrated at Chili's. Imagine all 10 of us at Chili's at 7:00. Needless to say, we waited for quite a while for a table, and then sat in the Bar. The kids were really pretty good, considering we waited almost an hour for a table. Abby is rolling over front to back when she is mad, and Izzy is really smiling and laughing. They are both fascinated by these hand things that keep moving in front of their faces. Where are they coming from? We did our part to stimulate the economy. We spent part of our incentive check on this. Thanks President Bush, we have really appreciated it! The rest will go to bills - sorry. Even with the best of cameras, it is hard to capture a moving object (Olivia) but here is the best we came up with.

Mom and Her Boys

Mom and Her Girls

Mother and her Ducklings

Mom, Emily and part of Caleb after Church

The Great Grandmothers

Olivia

Caleb

Uncle David and Abby

Michael and Matthew on Mother's Day

Joshua and Izzy

Matthew at Emily's soccer game

Abby and Izzy


Mom and babies - 6 months old

Bumbo time

Girls Growth

I stumbled across this neat growth chart online somewhere. My girls are ALMOST ON the growth chart! Look

Abby's Weight

Abby's Length

Izzy's Weight

Izzy's Length


I couldn't put their starting weights and lengths in, the program said they had to be greater than 4 pounds - guess they started out early not listening to directions.

Barf is at our house for a visit

I'm sorry to say that we have Barf at our house. Now, Barf's cousin, Spit-up has visited Abigail and Isabelle pretty much since birth. Spit-up is not quite as evil as it's cousin, Barf. Barf is bad. Barf visited me on Wednesday, Rocky and Joshua today, and who knows who it will visit next. Will it be Emily or Caleb on the soccer field tomorrow? Will it be Matthew or Olivia on the Trampoline? Barf visited Mema a couple of weeks ago. Hopefully, he won't visit her again, that would be an overstayed welcome (welcome?). Anyway - sorry Christine!

Our Big Girls

I will have to update later with pictures but as of their appointments last week, the girls weighed the same - 9 lbs 10 oz! Their lengths were the same also. They are doing well. Eating well, spitting up well, starting to have some personalities, smiling at times...

Everyone is so busy finishing up school, soccer and getting ready for Mommy to go away for her weeklong "vacation" to Camp Reynal, held at Camp John Marc.

Pictures to come soon!

Happy Birthday, and other things

WOW! The girls are 5 months old. I can't believe it was only 5 short months ago that I was calling Rocky on the phone to get to the hospital quick, that the babies were going to be born. Or that we have had them home with us for only 3 months. Time is a really funny thing. Quick in one moment and slow in another. Rocky is missing the girls birthday. He is at Sky Ranch with school until Thursday. I am a single parent. It is not easy, and I am really tired. I will make do. I am constantly saddened and overwhelmed over the last day or so thinking about Audrey Caroline's parents and sisters. Not about Audrey, because she is sitting at Jesus' feet without a care in the world. I grieve for her parents and the emptiness in their arms, and for her sisters who have to wait a lifetime to play with her. Every time I think about her, I pray. I pray for their strength and peace in this situation, and I pray thanksgiving that all of our children are here, under our roof, alive and very well. That is something I really don't take for granted any more. I can still feel the emotions I felt when the girls were 2 days old and we didn't know if Abby would make it. I sat by Isabelle's bed because they were working on Abby and cried - for Abby, for Izzy and for myself. I sat in the family room and wept, begging God not to take her from me. I cried about how unfair it was that we were in this situation. Those emotions are still so fresh, and I almost hope that they stay that way. It helps me remember the humanness of us, and how fragile life is. I am trying to get over the fact that my house will not EVER look like a model home. There will always be a pile of shoes and socks by the front door, there will always be junk in the basket by the stairs to go up, and there will always be clutter in my kitchen...I just won't even go upstairs! These things are really not important, but it is the books we read at bedtime and the flowers we look at outside that are what matter. I hope I can always remember that. Good night.

Quiet is not always a good thing

As a mother of 7 children, I really relish and enjoy the quiet that rarely comes. Well, it would seem that you must actually know where everyone is and what everyone is doing to enjoy that quiet. Here was Olivia's quiet activity yesterday.














On a more serious note, my friend Christine posted about this blog. Please check it out and keep them in your prayers. Keep a box of tissue handy (thanks Olivia)! What incredible strength this family has.