{7.30.18 - 8.5.18}

8.5.18     My baby is three months old! He is really good at convincing me that he needs to be rocked or nursed to sleep and he only likes to nap for 30 - 40 minutes. He likes to eat at least once a night but I've been okay with that so far! He likes to be held and he's getting so good at controlling his head! I feel like he'll be sitting up in no time! He doesn't like to be on his tummy at all - he hates it more than any of my other kids have hated it! I've been able to get him to laugh multiple times but it's hard, and he definitely has to be in the mood! Haha! I'm so glad this sweet, smiley boy is mine! 

8.5.18  Eli was given a beautiful blessing by Matthew today!   

The kids love to "fly" on my feet and I love the smiles I get to see when we do it! // Lyla and Eli! He's getting better about letting them hold him!  

Alya and Eli // These kids are the greatest!  

Grandma and Grandpa came down early for Eli's baby blessing and took Matthew and the bigger kids fishing. They loved fishing on a boat, even though Lyla accidentally dropped her fishing pole into the lake. 

Axel is so excited about this fish! I'm not sure why the girls look so grossed out by it!  

I love this little boy with all of my heart! This picture of him is so darn cute!! 

He's getting so good at grabbing things and he loves to lay and kick...but only if I have him somewhere he can't be bothered...like on the counter while I'm working in the kitchen! Ha!

My sweet baby Eli! It's getting harder to lay him down and expect him to stay asleep for very long. He sure likes to be held! As hard as that can be, I know how fast they grow up and grow out of these phases, so I haven't pushed too hard to get him to fall asleep and stay asleep on his own!  

Luke and Diana came down a little early for Eli's blessing so we met up with Evan and Megan and had a BBQ. I really love these friendships! I'm so glad that I like all of Matthew's friend's wives! Haha!  

He really struggles with tummy time, but he is so stinkin' cute!  

Some of the kids at the BBQ. Evan's mom was so sweet - she got a little gift to give to all seven of the bigger kids.  

Diana and Megan and I took our kids swimming before the BBQ while our husbands worked on Evan and Megan's house. How dare we make the kids stop playing to take a picture, though! 

Some friends here in Ephraim invited us out to their parent's pond for family home evening one night. It was my first time on a paddle board and the girls loved playing in the canoes and swimming. They were so brave and I was so proud of them! Axel had every adult take him around on the paddle board and it was hard to convince him that it was time to take it back to shore.  

Oh how I love this smile! // I have a slight obsession with hands, and these are some of my favorites. I have many favorite little hands! 

I was doing my hair one morning with Eli laying where I thought he would be safe behind me on the bathroom floor. Axel came in the bathroom and before I knew it, he was dragging him out the door!

Axel's Blessing Day

11.13.2016 - Axel was blessed today! It was a beautiful day and we were surrounded by family and friends; I am so thankful for the love and support that we feel from them!

Matthew gave such a beautiful blessing - and I just think Axel looked so handsome!!

I wish I had been better about taking pictures! I only took pictures in this room of my house while everyone was there...oops!

I love this picture of Axel with my grandpa! He is such a good man!!

I'm not sure when Daxton grew up, but he is such a great kid!

We have to get the kid picture! Haha! It's always entertaining!

2 months down...

That might not have been the best title for this post. I am not counting down days until my girls turn 18. The longer they stay my cute little baby girls, the better!

These two are so fun! They have been such a joy for me and Matthew! It's been great getting to know them, and I feel so lucky to be their mom.

I have to say, there are days when I get a little jealous of moms who only have one baby. Twins can be hard. Not to say that one baby can't be hard...but there are things that I try to do with both of them that I just know would be so much easier with one! For example, trying to calm down two babies at once is not easy, bottle feeding two babies at once is not easy...heck, NURSING two babies at once is not always easy! I haven't even tried taking them to the store by myself yet (granted some of that reasoning is because they are still SO TINY to me...) 2 month shots with two babies by myself would be pretty near impossible. :) But I am SO extremely grateful to be a mom of twins. I love the fact that I have BOTH of my girls and that they will always have each other!

The girls were blessed this month (11-3-13) and Matthew did such a beautiful job with their blessings. In their pictures (which are not the best...there was absolutely terrible lighting...and one day I'll have a really nice camera...until then, I will keep practicing) they are on the blankets that their Aunt Sarah made for them for their blessings! They are so beautiful!

 My little Lyla is so cuddly. She still loves to lay on our chest and snuggle her face into our necks. She still likes to be rocked to sleep. She has such a high pitched scream that sometimes just comes out of nowhere! You would have no idea that she is upset until she screams. Other times, there is no doubt in your mind that she is upset! She has been a little less bossy this month, and a little more patient with me. Maybe she is learning that I am also learning. She is such a sweetheart. She sometimes really likes to sleep on her belly, and she thinks that she doesn't like to be swaddled, although she won't put herself to sleep if she is swaddled. If someone is holding her and rocking her, she will sleep without being swaddled. If she is rocked to sleep and we try to put her down once she is asleep, it doesn't take her long to realize that no one is holding her and she wakes right up. Lyla is starting to smile at me and her dad. It is one of the most amazing things - being able to make my baby smile! :) She is doing SO good with her "tummy time!" She holds her head and torso up for a really long time and just likes to look around. We were doing "tummy time" one day on my pillow. As soon as I laid her down, she snuggled up in the pillow and fell right to sleep!She has great big blue eyes, which I love. In the past two days we've heard a lot of people comment on how big and blue her eyes are. I really hope they stay blue! I think that Miss Lyla is going to be a mommy's girl ... which would be just fine with me! Lyla likes her baths, but still does not like getting dressed and undressed. I think her least favorite part of getting a bath and our bedtime routine is the lotion. We always rub lotion on the girls before bed and she makes some of the FUNNIEST faces! She 

really hates it, and it is so funny!



 I think that Alya looks SO much like me when I was a baby...which is kind of weird because she and Lyla are identical...but Lyla has just been so much smaller than Alya. She is very alert and likes to see what's going on. She likes her sleep, but doesn't like to let herself fall asleep sometimes. I guess both girls are like that. When she does let herself sleep, she is really good about putting herself to sleep. At night, she pretty much always falls asleep while drinking her bedtime bottle, but as soon as we lay her in her crib, her eyes pop right open, and she is wide awake. She likes to just lay in her crib and talk and suck on her binky until she falls asleep. She is really even tempered, but she has been more assertive the last little while. She has been enjoying sleeping on her belly, too. Just a couple of days after Lyla fell asleep on my pillow during "tummy time," Alya did the exact same thing. She still LOVES her baths. She does so well! I think bath time is going to be pretty easy with Alya. She likes to be held, but it's not a necessity for her. She is such a content baby, unless she's hungry! She loves to be free of her swaddle. She's most happy when she's laying on a blanket and just kicking around. I need to get a ceiling fan, I think. She was laying on a blanket at Aunt Patty's house underneath a ceiling fan and she was 

pretty mesmerized by it. I think Alya is going to be more of a daddy's girl! She is making tons of noises, sometimes it sounds like she is saying "mom." She has been SO smiley! Mostly in the mornings, but when she is in the mood, it's not hard to get her to smile. She gets distracted by the camera, though, so it's hard to get a picture of it. Just know that it's ADORABLE!!!

The girls have been AMAZING sleepers. They take their bedtime bottle around 10:30, and go to bed, and they don't eat again until around 7:00 in the morning. Some mornings Lyla decides that she misses me and her dad and cries around 4:30 in the morning, so she gets to spend the last few hours of her night in bed with us! Alya usually gets jealous of her and joins us around 5:30 or 6:00. They are so fun and so cuddly!

 This is Lyla...and I promise she likes her "tummy time," but I thought this picture was hilarious!

My girls are so funny! I love them to pieces!!!

OH! I can't forget to update you on their doctor's appointment!! They are both doing so great! The doctor said that they are very healthy babies!
Lyla is 21.5 inches long and weighs 9 lbs 2 oz
Alya is almost 22 inches long and weighs 10 lbs 1 oz