Christmas Eve

Our pediatrician told us that we shouldn't take the girls to any parties until the end of RSV season in March. So originally we weren't going to go to the annual Christmas Eve party at Brandon's parents house.

I just couldn't imagine us sitting at home all by ourselves and missing the party so we changed our minds and decided to make an appearance for 45 minutes in the middle of the party.

Then we found out that the party would be the only chance for Brandon to see his brother Bryan who was coming up from Arizona. So we decided to go early to the party and see him, his wife, and their 4 month old boy.

As soon as the other guests arrived with their kids we put the girls into a back bedroom to keep them away from any germs. They fell right asleep and stayed asleep for the whole party.

The cousins were allowed a peek at the tiny new babies.

The party was so much fun. It was the only Christmas Party I went to this year so it was awesome to be there. I wasn't burned out from Holiday cheer. I had a blast talking to everyone and eating all the wonderful food.

As always my favorite part was the chimes. This year the chimes went really well. The little kids are getting old enough that they can do the chimes without much help.

I also enjoyed our tradition of holding hands and singing carols as we dance around the Christmas tree. This will be so fun to do with the girls next year.

All too soon the party was over and everyone started leaving. The girls had been so good the whole time that we decided to stay late and talk to Bryan and Kara. We were there until 1:00 in the morning. It was fun to hear Brandon laugh and joke with his brother.

I'm so glad we could spend so much time with family at the wonderful party.

Announcement

Here is the birth announcement for the girls. The footprints are their actual footprints -just not actual size.

Do you know how hard it is to get one good picture of two 7 week old babies? It took over 60 pictures to get the one we used. Here are some of the not so great pics.

One baby would be cute and the other would be crying.
Brandon was standing above the girls and they kept looking at him.

2010 Christmas Video

Here is our video Christmas card for 2010. This is part of my family's annual DVD Christmas card tradition.

It is crazy to look back at every thing we did. If someone had shown me this video last year I wouldn't have believed it was really about my life. I mean it's like sitcom writers took over. Graduation! Twins! Epic Road Trip! Miscarriage! Still Pregnant! Moving! Hospital!

Anyway enjoy the video.

Using My Major

I majored in Economics. Pre-law economics to be exact. It sounds impressive, but really I was too sick of school to pursue the longer Managerial Econ degree. I figured any thing was better than paying professors to be mean to me with lectures and homework.

After I graduated I started working at a third party utility billing company. I didn't use my major much, but it did come in handy occasionally. For instance part of my job included figuring out why the resident's bills increased or decreased based on the percent changes in occupants, city bills, consumption, etc. It was very similar to figuring out the shift factors of supply and demand.

Here is a pic of me being all business-like when I worked at H&R Block during college. (I'm at my parent's house right now and I can't find where they saved any recent pics.)

Since finding out about the twins I've thought about my major a lot. I think about one economic principle in particular - economies of scale. Economies of scale basically means the more things you produce the cheaper they are to produce (up to a point). Click on this link for a long more accurate definition.

Economies of scale are totally at work in my life right now. People often say "double the trouble" when they find out I have twins, but for the most part I say the girls are only about 1.5 times more work than a single baby.

For example: we have one cradle that holds both babies, we probably wash out bottles just as often as with one baby, I can take both babies to the doctor at the same time, etc.

I often think that if we're going to give up a second income for awhile it might as well be for raising two at once. I'm glad I can use my major on a daily basis.

Here are some other pics I found on my parents computer. Most of these were taken while I was in college.

September 2006 - I'd met Brandon a few weeks before this.

Our wedding invitation/announcement.
This one was taken at Badger Creek Ropes Course (not to be confused with Badger Mountain RC) when I was 17.
One of my Bridals.
January 2007

April 2006

Picture this . . .

There are pictures in this post. But I'm going to write about moments I don't have pictures of. I think you will see why I don't have pictures of them.

Last night I was making dinner while the girls were having tummy time on the floor. Picture me chopping vegetables and stopping every minute to walk over to the girls and pop there errant binkies back into their mouths. It took me an hour to make dinner, set the table, and load the dishwasher. I'd planned on it taking that long and dinner was ready when Brandon got home.
On Saturday I decided I wanted to put the beaded monogram onto the girls' stockings. The girls decided that they HAD to be held. Picture both girls laying propped up in my left arm. There is a bowl with beads resting on their legs. I'm stringing beads onto a needle and thread with my right hand. Later the girls were content with laying next to me while I sewed the beads on the stockings.
My sister called me the other night. Picture me talking to her while charging my phone, pumping milk, and keeping a binky in Charlotte's mouth. By the way, lots of people have mentioned that they are afraid to call me because I might be napping. Go ahead and call me. I can ignore my phone if I am trying to sleep or otherwise busy. And the girls can sleep through ANYTHING so don't worry about waking them up.

During the night both of us get up if both twins wake up at the same time. Picture both of us sitting on the couch. I'm nursing one baby and Brandon is bottle feeding the other one. Both of us are sitting with our heads laying back on the couch. The room is absolutely silent except for the slurping of the babies. Words and names are too complicated at night. The girls names at night are "this one" and "that one."
My system of nursing one twin and bottle feeding the other twin is working out really well. (Take a look at all the milk in the fridge. That's about 450 ccs of expressed milk!) The other day both girls woke up and were hungry at the same time. Picture me sitting on the couch nursing one twin. The other twin is laying right next to her and is drinking from a bottle.

Obviously I have my hands full, but I love it! The other day I was thinking about all the high stress jobs I've had over the years. I thought about how this job may be stressful, but what I am doing is 100% meaningful to me.

We went on a date!

I love that Brandon is a twin because it means his parents are already experts at taking care of two babies at once. As a result we were able to go on a date on Friday night without any reservations about the competency of our baby sitters.

We went to the Ogden Christmas Village. We've gone here every other year since we were dating. Every little house has a cute Christmas display inside. Most of them are at kid eye level. Next year we will bring the girls.

I love how pretty all the little houses are when they are lit up. I love these lights more than the lights at Temple Square.
When we got home everything had gone well with the girls. Thanks Steve and Jacque!

Some more stuff

Here are some more pics of the girls. Lydia was sucking on Charlotte's nose seconds before I took this picture.

Lindsay C this picture is for you. I know you love pics where it looks like babies are bonking each other.

And Emily this one is for you so you can see them in the hats you made.
And here is a collection of some of video I filmed this week.