Updates

So much has happened the last little while and things are continually changing around here. These kids are keeping me busy!

I guess a quick update will have to do!

First off, the twins. Oh, the twins! They are both sitting up! They are 6 1/2 months old already. They eat baby food. Walker took a bit longer to figure out the whole eating thing, but he is a champ now! Cooper is a bit more picky with what he likes to eat. Cooper popped out two teeth overnight 2 weeks ago! Walker is still toothless. Walker is my little mover. He has been rolling all over since he was 4 months old. He is so close to crawling already! Cooper is a brick. He can roll over. He just doesn't. He likes to just lie on his back. Walker likes to lie on his stomach. They are really good sleepers. They get up a few times to eat in the night, but they don't have play time. They still sleep better swaddled. They are so extremely different and I love it!

Macey is doing really well. Her outbursts have started to calm down again. Except this last weekend while we were in Salt Lake. Oh boy! I thought I was going to lose my mind! She is more work sometimes than the twins. She FINALLY can write her name. She refused for so long and now she just does it. She still needs a bit of help, but she will at least do it now! She is a huge helper and she normally likes to do it. She is a little tired of taking diapers to the garbage though. Can't say I blame her. Twin boys, enough said. I have worked really hard at trying to get her to be happy and everyday I can see a difference as long as I keep her scheduled and fed. She still eats all day long. She is still my hardest challenge, but she also brings some of my greatest joy. She talks non stop and is always hilarious. She is my feisty little girl!

Mackinley is doing really well in school. She has been busy! They went skiing last month and they are in swim lessons right now. She is a good little reader. It is fun to listen to her read books to the boys. She is not a little kid anymore :( She is turning into a kid. She is almost 7! She still hasn't lost any teeth yet though. I think I will be sad when she does. They are wiggly, so it's just a matter of time. I almost cried when Cooper got his first teeth. I really hope that Mackinley doesn't lose her first tooth when Walker gets his first tooth. I will be a mess! I love that my kids are growing up, but I hate it at the same time.

I know that we do want to have another baby sometime, but I also know that that doesn't mean we will. I am treasuring every moment with the boys because it might be my last firsts with them. It might be the last time we have baby giggles. It might be the last first teeth. The last learning-how-to-sit, or crawl, or walk, or talk. I gotta stop thinking about this stuff! It really gets to me for some reason. I hope it's not our last firsts, but I know that I am blessed to have 4 beautiful kids! I didn't even think I would be able to have that many. So I will just enjoy all of the 'firsts' that I still have with all 4 of them!

We are hoping to move soon. I want to be able to put our house up for sale in the next month or two. We love our house, but we have outgrown it. We could do a lot of work to get our family to fit in this house comfortably, but I am tired of renovations when hubby works away from home more than half the time. It takes FOREVER to get anything done. So, I'd rather just move and find a house that doesn't need any extensive work done and it fits us all. Plus, the money we would put in to an addition or whatever we would have to do, would just go towards a newer and bigger house. Makes sense to me. Plus, I could really use a bit more socializing. I have friends, but it is hard to get together with people out here especially with hubby's work. So, it just makes sense to move. Know of anybody that wants to buy a house out here?

I seem to talk mostly about my kids with little jabs of me here and there. Well, my kids are my whole world right now and yes, I do feel like I have lost 'myself' somewhere in there. I literally sit on the couch most days and do nothing but deal with babies. When they are all in bed I should be cleaning and doing laundry, and some nights I do, but a lot of the times, I just sit and do nothing. I catch up with my shows. I go on the computer. I just zone out. It is awesome. I love bedtime.

Mentally, I think I am handling these twins, well, all of the kids, pretty well. I don't stress out too much and I have been pretty happy. By the end of the day, yes, I am tired, but we have good days. I am actually quite surprised at how well we have done. Physically on the other hand.....let's just say I am not too happy. First, I am totally okay with being bigger right now. I understand I had twins. I understand that I am nursing twins and my body is doing what it needs to do to sustain two babies' lives. I really dislike having to buy a bunch of new clothes. I know eventually I will get rid of it, but I am a little disappointed that nursing twins hasn't melted the extra weight off. The problem with it all though is that it hurts. My fat that is. It is always tender, but now that I have more, it hurts more. I am constantly in pain in my joints and I am always really tired. I did decide to do some exercise to see if that would help, but it only made my exhaustion worse. I went to the doctor this week and had some blood work done. I haven't heard anything, which is good I guess. But I was hoping they would have some answers. 5 more months of nursing before I start weaning. Oh, and the last 2 months I have been dealing with a plugged milk duct. It started out as a plugged milk duct and then it turned into a milk bleb. I love that word. Bleb. Anyways, it is basically dried up milk that is stuck and it won't come out. It is sensitive and most of the time it is bearable, but some days it hurts pretty bad. About once every week or two it turns into a plugged duct and I deal with that for a day or two and it's good again. Only 5 more  months of nursing before I start to wean. Did I mention that already? Anyways, that is the worst of my problems, so I really can't complain. I can handle a bit of discomfort. I think it's worth it anyways. I love nursing my babies. I am not really pro breastfeeding and anti-bottle for the general population, but for myself I am. I never thought I would be a gung-ho nurser, but I am.

We just got back from Salt Lake on Monday. At 6 am. After driving for 14 hrs. Through the night. With 4 kids. Two of them 6 months old.  Everybody actually did pretty good. Saturday was our/my worst day. We went down with my parents for General Conference. I love being down there for Conference. Everybody had tickets for Saturday afternoon session and Jar had a ticket for the Priesthood session. Let me just back track a minute. Thursday we got up bright and early. We were on the road just after 6. We got to our hotel around 8 that night. Friday we were up and ready to leave the hotel at 9 in the morning. We didn't get back to the hotel until around 10:30 that night. Saturday morning we were up and ready to go by 9 in the morning again. We sat around Temple Square for the morning session. I headed over to the new mall to hang out and get some food with the kids, 4 of them that are lacking sleep, while everybody else was getting ready for the afternoon session. Macey decided that she had enough of anything and everything. I decided I had enough of Macey. It was great fun. The afternoon session was done, but because Jar still had Priesthood, we were kinda stuck still. Looking back, I really should have taken the kids back to the hotel, but I didn't want to deal with finding parking again. Plus, I didn't want to be driving around by myself in the big city. Once the session was done, the rest of the family left to go back to the hotel and meet with some other family. They eventually came back and we waited for Jar to get out and we got some really good food. It was late when we got back to the hotel again. Sunday, we slept in and took our time getting ready and packed up. We got out around noon and head over for the afternoon session. We hung out until 3:30 and left before it ended so we could get on the road without having to fight the traffic. The rest of my family stayed another day, but Jar had to fly out of Calgary Monday evening, so we had to get back. We/Jar drove all night and we got home and crashed. Mackinley didn't get to school until later that day. I think we are still recovering from our trip! It was fun though and I am glad we went. I want my children to be able to feel how amazing it is down there. I think it might take awhile before I mentally recover and consider doing something like that again, but it's done and we made some memories!

One of the reasons we went is because my brother Dawson got back from his mission almost  2 weeks ago now. He served in Seoul, Korea for 2 years. We wanted to be able to spend some time with him. We are heading back up to hear his homecoming talk in church this weekend and then we will be able to stay put for a bit. I think anyways. I hope!

Anyways, I think that is enough for now!