surviving

Yes we are still here! No one tells you when you have twins that it just gets more stressful as they get older. They are constantly changing and in different ways so when you figure something out with one the other changes and then something else happens or one of the older kids changes. constant change and adjusting!

It's funny all the questions I get. The one I don't understand why people ask is, "are they identical?" really! think about it before you ask. I've learn to just smile and say no they aren't. Then there's the feeding question. "do you feed them at the same time?" I do what ever they need, so yes if they need to be feed at the same time then I figure out how to stick and hold a bottle in their mouth. One thing with twins is you learn how to adapt and fast! It is not always perfect but you figure it out.
Travis started kindergarten this year. He is twice as big as some of the kids in his class. He even got a big kid desk brought into the classroom for him. He loves school and I miss him at home.
Since the babies were born my boys have had some time to do things that normally they wouldn't get away with doing. Majority of the time as long as they are safe I just smile and say have fun.
Tyler is finally ok with having a sister. With Travis gone at school he has really become a big brother. You can really tell in this picture how much they have grown. They are both about 11 pounds. Amy looks bigger but that's because all of Cody's weight is in his head... literally. I think that he'll be big like Travis.

In this picture you can tell that they really do look alike. Amy smiles and "talks" a lot more then Cody.






We blessed them earlier this month.

Hopefully it won't be months before I post again.

20 fingers and 20 toes

They are here!! I'll spare you all the details and give you a the rough story. I started to go into labor the evening of the 13th. We went into the hospital and then my water broke....so much for stopping the labor. There was already someone in the surgery room so I was next in line. Half an hour later they pulled them out. Since they were born at 34 weeks they showed them to me and then they went into the NICU until thursday and then transferred to the pediatrics floor. They has no breathing issues, just some jaundice and they had a hard time learning how to eat. They finally let them go home a week later. Here are some picture...
Amy Marie 5 lbs 4 oz and Cody Joseph 4 lbs 9 oz

they had to go under some lights so they got to wear some cool shades.
Cody looks just like Travis when he was born and Amy looks just like Tyler when he was born too.
They both lost some weight and I was just glad the let us take them home. They had to do a car seat check and they barely made it. They don't look all that small in these pictures but they are tiny things.
The boys were able to see them and hold them in the hospital a lot and when we finally got home they were so excited. Yes Tyler does hold Amy too.
Travis is great with them! He loves to help and is really curious.

My mom has been here to help and Joe Finished teaching school earlier in June so it's been really nice to have the help around here. But that will soon come to an end. My mom leaves soon and Joe starts his summer job shortly after that. We will see just how much I'm able to handle.

just a little early

I am one of those people that never thinks "it can happen to them". For example, twins. I also thought that I would have no problem keeping them in. Travis was late and we finally had to cut him out and Tyler was perfectly fine staying inside too. But I guess these kids think that there's way too much more fun to be had out in the world then inside. They decided that 28 weeks was a good time to try to come out in the world. Luckily after multiple meds and a week in the hospital they stayed put....for now. I am now on "bed rest" which worked out fine because my mom was here for 2 weeks (yes she survived). It's been one week since she left and although my house doesn't look like it usually does and my kids don't look or smell like they usually do we are surviving. Joe is taking care of everything and majority of the time I love watching it. If everything goes well then my doctor says that we will have the babies the last week in June. right now each baby is four pounds and I'm measuring at 40 weeks. I still have four more weeks to go and I'm wondering how much more my skin can stretch.

Tyler

I just uploaded some pictures from our camera and I guess it was Tyler week.
We went to drop some stuff off at school to Joe and he was in Chemistry doing some lab. Tyler got really excited and wanted to help "do some experiments." So he put on the glasses and he was ready!

Travis was making toast and Tyler asked if Travis could make him some too. I was in the other room and they were talking about how hot the toast was. I walked over a few minutes later to see Tyler eating the toast with a pot holder.
Summer time is almost here and I love it!! You would think that our water bill would go up but with the boys "watering" the tree instead of flushing the toilet it helps out a lot. I think that I'll hang some hand sanitizer from the tree.

blogging?

Since blogging last... birthdays, Thanksgiving, Christmas, some snow days, new years, Valentine's Day, Wrestling season (Joe coaches which means he's never home) have all come and gone. Everything has just been one big blurry mess. As much as I would love (not really) to share everything that happened here are just some of the happening lately...
~Travis lost his first tooth! I was not expecting this at all. I had to call my sister just to make sure that it wasn't too early. Travis was freaking out but finally calmed down when I told him all about the tooth fairy.
~Travis loves pre-school and can't wait to get into Kindergarten. He is currently into sounding words out and writing them down. I find random papers all over the place with some pretty interesting words on them.

~Tyler, Tyler. He has recently developed an attitude. Sometimes I think there's a 16 year old boy in this three year olds body.

~The other day we were at the store walking up to pay and passed an older man with a patch on his eye. Well, Tyler has been watching Peter Pan lately so he looks at me and has the biggest smile on his face and points....,"Mom, there's a pirate!" It was like he found treasure he was so excited. It was one of those moments that I just kept on walking and hoped that the man didn't hear.

~Tyler is now in Primary! He loves it. I made a yellow "sunbeam" tie for him and I think he has worn it almost every sunday this year.

This picture isn't the best but it's the best I got. If you look closely Travis is holding baby #2 and Tyler has baby #1! Yeah I know crazy!! We're having twins! The biggest reason for the no blogging for four months. They are supposed to get here, as Travis says, sometime in the middle of July. I think that Joe was actually the one that was the most surprised (although it was a surprise to everyone, twins really doesn't run in my family). He wasn't with me when I found out and he didn't believe me when I told him. I get to go in for 2 hour ultra sounds once a month (not as fun as it sounds) and this last time we found out that one is a boy and one is a girl. When ever we talk about a baby girl Travis just laughs and Tyler gets mad. Apparently girls aren't allowed in our family. As I was taking this picture I asked who wanted to hold the girl and they both wouldn't touch the picture. I think we're going to have some adjustment issues. Tyler has no interest in the babies (but he thinks that it's cool that my stomach is getting bigger and bigger) and it's all that Travis talks about.

So there's the Sloan family and what we've been doing the last few months. Hopefully things will be a little more lively now.