Matt and his dad in a heated Wii tennis match


Smiley Will in the tub



Splish splash!




Haysie in the tub





He loves bathtime!






Hays attempting to stomp Will







Mason cuteness


How cute are the bathtime pictures? They are so funny in the bathtub. They both love to splash the water with their hands-especiallyWill- and they'll just laugh and laugh. I want to get some video of it if I ever remeber to grab the camera while we're heading to the tub.

We finally started planning the twins first birthday party! I can't believe they'll be one in less than a month. Of course, their adjusted age is only 9 months old, so they don't really seem like one year olds, but they will be. Lord, what a year it's been. So much has happened. Can y'all believe it's been an entire year since this roller coaster ride began? And so many of you have been along with us the entire ride. Thank you for caring about my family enough to keep up with or mundane lives! And feel free to leave comments. You don't have to have a blogger ID, you can sign in as annonymous. I get curious about who's out there sometimes, and I'd love to know who you are and how you found us. Or you can remain a silent observer to my struggles and triumphs as a mom to these three hooligans!

Aunt Bea buried under a pile of nephews!


3 days worth of laundry from the twins!


Today was a typical Monday. I spent most of it trying to clean house and catch up on laundry. You can see from the picture above, that we generate a lot of dirty clothes around here, so laundry gets away from me fast! My parents came over this morning to spend some time with the twins, so I was able to get a fair amount done. Then Paige came over this afternoon, so the boys got entertained by Aunt Bea!
Mason and his dad have been having a big time with the Wii. Mason can slaughter me in any game we play, and he can beat his dad a good bit of the time as well! He loves playing it, but he does get frustrated if he isn't instantly good at it, or if he doesn't win. It's giving us lots of opportunities to talk about good sportsmanship! That's going to be an important lesson since he's starting t-ball in a few weeks.

Wii has arrived

We have a Wii. I did not stand firm on my "no video games yet" rule, and Matt and Mason are now the proud owners of a Wii. Now, I have not played it yet, so I may change my mind, but I did kind of agonize about whether or not Mason was old enough. It just seems like such a big boy thing to do, and I'm not really ready for him to be a big boy! I don't want him to be the dorky kid who can't hold his own when it comes to video game prowess, but I don't want him to be the obnoxious kid who can kick everyone's butt at games when he's 4 1/2! I don't know.
I guess it's too late to worry about it now. It's here, and he's already kicked his dad's butt at bowling. So there you go. I guess I'd better go learn how to play this stuff so I can hold my own against a little kid!

Fighting over a toy, as usual


Unhappy Hays stuck under the couch



It's a bird, it's a plane, it's Supercat!!!!!




SpiderMason!!




Here are some fun pictures from the last few days. I love the one where Hays is stuck under the couch! He managed to get there with a combination of rolling and scooting backwards. Both of the twins have recently learned to roll to get to what they want, so I don't think crawling can be too terribly far behind. I'm not in any real hurry for them to crawl. Once they're mobile, imagine all the things they can get into!

Perhaps y'all have figured out by now that I'm kind of crafty, in a very amateurish way! This is my latest little project. I found the sign at TJ Maxx, and I loved what it said, but it had some stupid, tacky wreath with a cheesy wooden heart on it that I hated. I was going to let it pass by, but I was just really drawn to it. Upon further inspection, I realized that I could take the ugly decoration off and do my own thing, so I bought it. I printed a black and white picture of the boys and edged it in black grosgrain ribbon, then used the same ribbon to hang it. I think it turned out pretty cute, but I really like having a constant reminder to give thanks for all of the blessings we have been given.

I had a blessed moment this afternoon. I was in the kitchen with the boys. Mason was eating a snack, the twins were playing in their highchairs, and I was folding laundry. There was nothing particularly interesting or unusual about the moment. If anything, it was its sheer ordinary-ness that made it stand out. But I just felt so blessed and happy to be this mother, folding clean laundry in a cozy kitchen surrounded by her sweet, happy children. In that moment there was nowhere and no one else I would rather be. So if you haven't already, take a minute to remember how blessed you are, and to be thankful for the moments in your life when you feel exteremely lucky and fulfilled.

We're boring again. Hays has a cold. Actually, he's had a cold for over a week now, but it seems like it's gotten worse over the past few days. He hasn't wanted to eat the last couple of days, so I took him to the doctor today. He's got a yucky cold, but that's about it. We did get a little scare when the nurse was checking his vital signs. She checked his oxygen sats and it came up 87- which is like go to the hospital dangerous! I wasn't too worried because I know what a kid looks like at 87, slightly blue-ish, and Hays was pink and breathing fine. But the doctor kind of freaked out for a second there when she saw the numbers. Turns out the nurse had used an adult-sized monitor, and it didn't work properly on tiny baby fingers!
I watched a good bit of the inauguration coverage today, and I was glad that I got to see the swearing in while I was sitting at the doctor with Hays. I hope we're at the beginning of some great changes. I believe that Barack Obama is a good man, and I'm saying my prayers that he will be the kind of leader our country needs. I'm happy that I was a witness to a campaign, election and inauguration that made people truly excited and filled with hope. So, happy Obama day, everyone. Here's hoping that the next four years will be good ones.

Puttin' on the ritz!

The new and improved living room! (The walls are apple green-not lime!)


Our lovely new rug


So wait until you hear how fancy-pants we are now! We got new furniture last week, and today Matt's parents were kind enough to buy us a new rug. And it is fabulous!!!!!!!! I got to send a lovely afternoon with my mom and Matt's mom shopping for the perfect rug. Then my two style gurus were sweet enough to come back and help me re-arrange furniture, re-hang pictures and re-accessorize. The best part is that we've finally got the perfect arrangement of living room furniture- so thank you, thank you to the home decor divas and the old man!
And in other thrilling news, Hays has another top tooth. He is now the proud owner of front teeth!! So, way to go Hays! We're expecting Will's to come through any day now. Imagine the culinary options top teeth will bring!

My handsome boys!!!

Our septic system is fixed!! All for the low, low price of $1100. Oh well, beats the heck out of $5000. Today was the March of Dimes kick-off luncheon. Since we are the "ambasador family" for the Athens chapter, Matt and I attended the lunch with all of the kids. I was a little nervous about how they would do, since they're usually napping at that time of day, not to mention the fact that both of the twins have colds, but they were angels. I had to give a little speech telling our twins' preemie story, and that went well. Or at least everyone said it did! At the end Mason yelled, "Good job, Mom!" Telling the whole saga made me tear up a little bit, but so did my mom, Matt's mom and Paige. It's really awesome to be able to turn our hard times into a way to help the March of Dimes. It's a wonderful organization, and I encourage everyone to help by participating in the walk this spring or making a donation. My mom and I will be walking with my friend Jessica's team. She's got a great link on her blog where people can make donations, so I'm going to ask her to set me up with one as well. That way I'll be able to beg you all for donations straight from the blog!

So I was saying that we were really boring around here, but we certainly had some excitement today! We thought we were going to have to completely replace our septic system, so we had a man come out today to begin the repairs. He came out with a huge backhoe (much to Mason's delight) and started digging up the front yard. First, we got some good news. Tree roots had broken two of the lines, and the lines had gotten clogged with rocks and dirt. This clog was causing the water to back up and come out in the yard, rather than flowing down to the other fill lines. This is a pretty easy fix, since he'll just have to install a couple of new lines. It's also much cheaper than replacing the system- less than $1000 as opposed to $4-6,000. So I was really excited about that. But then things took a turn for the crazy. As he countinued digging to check out the rest of the lines, he accidently cut our cable line (knocking out our cable, internet, and phone) and cut an old, unused gas line we didn't even know we had! So then we had to call the gas company to come fix it before our house blew up! They instructed us to call 911 as well, so before I knew it I had 8 guys, several trucks, and a fire truck out in front of my house! It was madness. I guess that's why they tell you to call to locate utilities before you dig!
Luckily, my sister was intown today and she had come to see the kids, so she was able to look after them while I dealt with all the craziness. And we were able to get everything fixed within a couple of hours. We also got a couple of guys out here to mark the remaining utility lines. That way when the septic tank guy comes back to finish the job tomorrow, he won't cut anything else! But for now, we have a dug-up yard and a backhoe out front. Matt wanted to try to drive it around, but I convinced him that that was probably a bad idea!
As if that weren't exciting enough, both of the twins are sick. I've been concerned about Will for a few days because he's had a bad little cough. It's not bad during the day, but he'll have some brutal coughing fits at night- usually one at midnight and one staring about 5 am. Our nurses have been keeping an eye on him, and we've given him some extra breathing treatments which seem to help. But today poor Hays got hit hard by it. He's also just had a front tooth start to come through, so he's just a snotty, drooling mess. He's been waking up every 45 minutes or so tonight, and he was rubbing his ear earlier, so we'll likely be making a trip to the peditrician tomorrow to see if he has another ear infection. Poor little guy. I'm sure it doesn't help that they've been waking up between 5:30 and 6 for the last week and barely napping at all during the day. They've got to be exhausted. God knows I am! Oh crap, there goes Hays again. Sigh, will the fun ever end? I think I'm ready to be boring again!!!!

We finally got some excitement around here! I had run out to Toys R Us to buy a bath seat for the babies. We had been using this cradle seat thing, but they had outgrown it and needed something for bigger kids. On my way home, I passed by a furniture store that was having a big tent sale. I've been wanting new furniture for the den for a while. I had tried slipcovering our old couch and chair, but the slipcovers weren't holding up very well, and I was sick to death of constantly adjusting them and tucking them back in. So I decided to stop and take a look around to see if I could find any killer deals.
Well, it must have been my lucky day, because I found a dark brown sofa and chair marked waaay down. The sofa was on sale for $450 and the chair was $350. And it's good furniture! It's sturdy and well made, and the upholstery looks like it can withstand daily assaults from the kids. I knew it was unlikely that we'd be able to refurnish the den for $800 at any other time, so I called Matt. His response was "buy it today." Awesome!!! But I have to admit, buying furniture without getting a second opinion from anyone is a daunting task. So I called my style guru- my mom. She wasn't busy at the moment, so she came down to the store to check it out. She thought it looked good and looked like it would hold up well, so I was sold.
Luckily, Matt's dad was visiting today and he has a truck, so he and Matt went and picked it up, and we now have a beautifully furnished den! And Matt really liked the furniture, thank goodness. I was a little nervous buying it without him seeing it first, because if he didn't like it I'd have to listen to him complain for the next several years!

We're still boring, but I wanted to post some of these cute new pictures of the boys. I hung the first one of Hays and the last one of Will up in the playroom along with Mason's professional portrait that was done at preschool. They're all 8x10, matted in 11x14 frames and hung in a line above the sofa. It turned out really good, and I love looking at my three beautiful boys every time I go in there.
I have a funny Mason story. Today it was insanely windy, and the noise of the wind was bothering Mason while he was trying to take a nap. I explained to him that I couldn't control the wind, so there was really nothing I could do about the noise. So he asked me, "Do you have God's phone number?" When I told him that I didn't he said, "Well call Santa and ask him if he has God's number." How funny is that crazy kid?

Everything's pretty uneventful around our house. We've been enjoying the ridiculously warm weather since we've been able to get outside and take walks around the neighborhood. The spring-like temperatures are fooling our trees and they're starting to bud, and my mom said her day lilies are blooming!
Mason started back to preschool on Monday. He was glad to get back, and I was glad to see him go back. I was singing the Hallelujah Chorus as I drove out of the parking lot! He's a high-energy kid, and it's good when he has other kids to play with.
The babies are good, but they're drooling like St. Bernards. They're trying to get some top teeth, but I think we've got a while before they'll actually come through. Will's gtube site is healing up nicely. He'll have a little scar, but we'll just add it to the collection!
I finally started working on the babies' scrapbook. Mason has a great one, but the twins have an empty album. We have tons of pictures, but none of them were printed out. So I spent a long time and $50 at Walmart printing out the last 10 months. It takes a while to do the pages- I don't do anything really fancy, but I try to make the pages cute- so I'm hoping to have it done before their first birthday. Which is coming up crazily soon!

We had a great New Year's Day lunch. Every year I have our family over for a traditional southern New Year's lunch- Ham, collard greens, blackeyed peas, macaroni and cheese, cornbread and banana pudding for dessert. The food is always yummy, and I love spending the first day of the new year with the people we love most. We had a good time this year, but we were all tired afterwards. (It was probably due to the mimosas we drank using the leftover New Year's Eve champagne!)


And I wanted everyone to get a chance to see what really goes on around here with these crazy babies. Lately they've gotten very interested in their toys. It never fails that no matter what toy Will has, he's always far more interested in the toy Hays has! Sometimes they're very sweet and share the toys and take turns, more often it turns into a brawl! So here's another day in the life of our silly boys.