Moving up in the world! Please join me!!!

I have some very exciting news- I am moving up in the world! I have moved my blog to www.thrivinghere.com. Please follow me there from now on, you can receive a feed or follow through email. Once you go my site you will see options on the right column. Thanks for your support and I look forward to keeping you entertained with our new adventures of living in Kansas and raising a 3, 2 and twin 3 month olds. We have some VERY exciting plans for the rest of this year. Stay tuned!

Life Lately

I can't believe its already mid July! This summer is flying by! As I drive around Kansas, I see all the hay bails and corn growing taller and taller everyday and I get SOO excited for Fall! Its my favorite time of the year. But as I mentioned before, I still have so much I want to do this SUMMER with the kiddos, still have some Kansas heat we need to enjoy.

I wanted to start participating in a "Life Lately" link my friend over at Wild & Precious started. She does it every Monday and I encourage you to check it out! Her and her husband have an adorable little girl about a month older then Josie (2) and are expecting another baby here soon! Blair, her husband and I worked at a summer camp in Tennessee waaaaaay back when. Its been fun to watch their lives grow and change. Make sure and check our her blog folks!

Anyways, back to OUR Life Lately.

Its been HOT. I understand why most people who live in Kansas aren't as outdoorsy as my Colorado peps. Its crazy humid hot! No wonder everyone goes to the mall on Saturday mornings instead of something outdoors. (I do miss my mountains). You could die of heat stroke. Seriously. I knew this from going to college here, but I think I forgot. So, besides early morning and swimming in the afternoon, the kids and I usually spend a lot of time in the house.

Josie and Samuel love to find bugs outside. For awhile they were really into rollie pollies, now they have ventured on to caterpillars. Samuel manages to find a new one everyday. He's that good. We build homes for them, give them leaves to eat and sticks to climb on. And then a little while later they die. Because he kills them. On purpose. We'll work on that lesson next week.

One of Samuel and Josie's Caterpillars

Madelynn and Levi have been smiling and cooing like no other. They love to watch their older brother and sister and try to talk to them. Before I know it they are going to be chasing after them.

The Twins

Curtis and I have been trying out the 30 day green smoothie challenge from Simple Green Smoothies. Its going pretty good. The first week was great! The first half of the second week- no so great. But we have discover more of what we like and what we don't like and that is the whole purpose.

Saturday Morning Green Smoothies (Yes, we were still in our pj's)

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Josie is 2 YEARS OLD!!

Josie is now two. I can't believe this little one is growing up so fast. She is speaking so well and loves playing with her brother. Being only two she is very gentle with there younger brother and sister. If I would, she would be okay with me holding her all day everyday. Josie can easily play by herself for hours. She loves building, stacking, puzzles, cars and jumping.

I was browsing through pictures of Josie and almost cried. I love this little girl so much and she has such a dear dear place in my heart. When she was born she completely changed my life and my heart. I was not ready for her and the precious joy she brings to my life daily.

Happy Birthday my little sweetheart. I love seeing you grow and become you everyday.

Josie 2 Years Old

Josie 1 Year Old

Josie Just Born

This moment.

Ever sense I can remember I have been constantly looking forward to the next stage in life. In high school, it was college. In college it was a job/career/marriage. Once married, kids. We love to travel, so I was always ready for the next adventure.

Hubs and I have been married for six years in August and we have moved 7 times (6 of those moves within 4 years). And during those four years of moving 6 times we have had 4 children.

We moved to Kansas and are staying in a cute little house. It was supposed to be temporary until we found somewhere else. So I was always looking online for a new place to move.

It's constant. And this constant change established in me a NEED to change all the time. Consequently, I never really settled in where we were located. Always looking for a new place, new location, new, new, new. And I was not content with where we were at. Ever. Creating a lack of happiness, contentment, friendships, community and a lot more stress.

While on bed rest during my pregnancy with the twins, I spent a lot of time reading blogs about others lives and seeing how happy they were. I longed for that. A cute little home I could call my own. Able to have a garden and space where I could create whatever I wanted. Paint and remodel MY house however I wanted and know that the efforts would be something I could enjoy for a long while.

Through all of this searching and longing I realized something. I don't know where we are going to end up. It seems God keeps throwing out a new plan then the one we thought we had arranged. I realized instead of waiting until we get "there" I need to be HERE. I am not in control, I don't know what tomorrow is going to bring but it is my responsibility to be happy with and enjoy what I have been given now. And when I stop and look around at this moment, where we are at now and what we have, our amazing little family and the happiness we share, all of the other wants turn into hobbies and fun adventures. Adventures we can enjoy now as a family now.

If I wait until I get "there" to start living the kind of life I have longed for, it may never happen because I don't even know where "there" is. Even if we move in a month, a year or five years, I have decided to create the life I have longed for now and create it wherever we go. Having awesome adventures everyday. Starting today. Enjoying this moment. Thriving here.

Two Months Old

Tomorrow Levi and Madelynn will be two months old. I can't believe how quickly they are growing! I was reading an article about the first year of growth milestones in Parents Magazine the other day and started to get teary-eyed at the thought of how quick it is going to go. Here is a recap of the past two months.
Honestly its been quite a blur as I'm sure you can imagine. We had the twin as a scheduled c-section on May 2. It was such a different experience then the last two. Not having to experience contractions and wondering how long I will be in labor.
The epidural was quite the experience. It made me so nauseous and uncomfortable. Laying on the table and having the doctor take the babies out was crazy as well. I tried to see the twins as they were "delivered" but it was hard to look around as it made me nauseous as well. It went pretty quickly and we were soon back in the room where I was finally able to nurse and hold them.
My dear mother was with us the first three weeks, which was a tremendous help in letting Curtis and I bond with the twins while she kept the toddlers happy. I was also able to rest a lot. For having two toddlers and two newborn twins I was fairly well rested. I appreciated this as I was able to really focus on bonding with the twins. And I still am!
A little about each one.
We will start with Levi- He is my little snuggler. Every time I pick him up her snuggles in, it melts my heart. He is a very calm and sweet baby. Curtis and I call him our angle baby, as he doesn't fuss too much and is an amazing sleeper! He pulled a 10 hour stretch one night around a month old. I was a happy mama.
Levi gave us a little smirk at one month old and loves smiling now. He likes laying on his play mat and smiling at himself in the mirror. Oh, I love that little boy.
Madelynn is a lot like her older brother Samuel (not to compare). Her traits and actions remind us so much of Samuel when he was a newborn. She resembles him too. She is a happy baby and loves to smile too.
Madelynn is very active and strong. She can hold her head up well already and loves looking around.
Both Levi and Madelynn are sleeping at least a 6 hour stretch each night. When they are swaddled they will both lay down with their binkies and good to sleep on their own. Neither Sam or Josie did this. However, I didn't try much as I wanted to hold them. With twins and two toddlers I can't hold these guys as much. Thats been hard but I try and give them cuddles and love as much as possible.
I've been able to pull of nursing the twins for the first two months. When they hit their growth spurts I started supplementing with formula because they would suck me dry and still want more. This was a hard mental adjustment. I wanted to solely nurse as long as I could. Another instance of way this pregnancy has really stretched me and made me be more flexible in how I "parent".
So far things are going well. There of course has been some adjustment and hesitation. I'll write more about that later.
Sorry for the lack of pictures. Gotta head home to take the toddlers to the pool!!

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* To see the whole post and PICTURES, click on the title to go to our website!!*