"You Have Your Hands Full" Competition!!!!

This picture was taken by the receipt checker at SAM's. She couldn't believe I tackled a Sam's trip on my own with (2) 8 months olds, a 4 year old, and a BIG stroller. You just DO what you GOTTA do! How else would things get done? I have to leave my house, but somedays the comments make it undesirable to do so.

The competition is on and you could be the lucky winner. Let me explain.

Prior to having twins, I recall vividly doing the same thing that I am about to discuss. The fortunate thing is, I did it VERY innocently, and while I am CERTAIN many are also doing it innocently to me, the unfortunate thing is I am really getting tired of hearing it.

Before becoming a Christian, I did everything in my power to be famous. Ha ha. I applied to be on multiple reality television shows (Fear Factor and Big Brother are just a few that I recall). I was successful with two in particular. One show was called, "My Family Rocks!" I was personally contacted by the network and was asked for more information regarding my family. And then there was Big Brother (I believe it was season 6). Out of over 100,000 applicants, I made it to the semi-finals (only 100 people stood remaining). They flew me out to Pittsburg, Philadelphia, were I was interviewed by CBS' back seat people of the Big Brother show. Needless to say and truly thankfully, I didn't make it. I guess I wasn't sexy enough, gossipy enough, wild enough, etc. And then, God blesses me with twins.

I will admit, having twins has given me the front seat to and a very small taste of, I am sure, what being a celebrity is really all about. I feel eyes on me constantly. I have voices from every end of the spectrum commenting, both good and bad, on either Lilah/Jax, the size of the stroller, etc., etc. The comments range from extremely heart-warming and beautiful to deeply shocking, as well as, hurtful. I even have people come up to me as I am loading the babies into the vehicle, startling me, and probing me fore answers regarding the babies. People truly just do not think before they speak or act.

In the beginning, I loved the attention. As I have stated before on my blog, it's a miracle that a child is even conceived to begin with. Having one child is such a beautiful miracle in and of itself. Many women struggle with the ability to conceive, while others have no desire at all to be a mother. I didn't struggle with either: conceiving immediately. I feel blessed beyond belief that I was able to carry one child to full term, much less another two at the same time. I got to experience pregnancy and child birth in two different fashions. BOTH were equally amazing.

However, with that being said, being a mother of multiples has it's tough times and it's not because I have two more children. It's because people just won't leave you alone. I am NOT some anti-social person. I love conversing with people I know and love as well as a perfectly good stranger, but there are those days that you just want to enjoy an evening out with your family and not be harassed.

So here is where the competition begins. I hear MANY comments and to MOST of them, I have great comebacks. For instance, I hear so often, "Wow, double trouble!" I just respond with, "I like to say Twice as Nice!" I think people think I am lying, but I'm not. I love my babies. I have tough days, but we all do. But overall, they are Angels!!!! Ask Kaitlyn or Shawn if you don't believe Darren and myself. Another comment is, "God bless you!" I typically respond with, "He already has twice." (Well really 3 times, but they are referring to Lilah and Jax most of the time.) Yesterday, while at Wal-mart, I was in the toy aisle, with about 4 other families. Someone spotted the double LONG stroller :) and said aloud, "WOW, how do you do it?" I responded, "You really want to know? GOD. CHRIST. That's how I do it!" You would have thought I said the "F" word by the reaction of those standing in the aisle. Everyone literally turned around and starred me down. Where I really am having a tough time is when I am out in public and someone says, "Boy, you've got your hands FULL!" DO I REALLY? Here is where I want your help! I need a GOOD response for this one. So, you have the ability to post a comment on this post. I will compile everyone's suggested responses to that comment. Darren and I will decide which reply suites our personality and/or the situation BEST. I want the reply to be Christ-like, loving, possibly humorous and maybe even a little sarcastic, if that's possible to do while focusing on making the response Christ-like. If your response is chosen, I will offer you a $25 gift card to the store of your choice. I am so excited to see what clever comebacks you come up with.

In the meantime, pray for me :) and PLEASE respect those people with multiples. Think about the things you say, before you say them. After all, in the grand scheme of things, having twins shouldn't be that obnoxious or abnormal compared to octuplets. It's really just ONE more child. Why is that such a big deal to so many people!!!!

A White Christmas!

Well, it may not be December 25th, but this is as close as anyone can get to having a white Christmas! The national weather service has issued a winter weather warning for Friday through Saturday evening in Roanoke, VA and surrounding areas. The weather men forcasted snowfall totals to accumulate anywhere from 16-20 inches and while we always joke that those weather men do not have a clue about weather, this time, they were correct. It's the most snow we've had in 12 years.

The roads were trecherous as soon as the snow began to fall. Darren actually was driving home from the mall with Ty and lost control of his vehicle and landed in a ditch. Luckily, one of our Church members saw Darren and Ty and pulled them out of the ditch. Thanks Adam Schoonover!!!! Rob Higgs was on his way, but the roads were so bad that it was taking him longer than normal to reach Darren at the location where he wrecked.

I am so thrilled to be all done with my Christmas shopping. I am using this "down time" to wrap all of the gifts, cook, bake, clean, and hopefully relax a little. I feel so sorry for all of those people who thought they had one more weekend to get their shopping done. Not sure how that is going to happen. I believe the malls are open, but the roads are terrible.

Enjoy a few pictures of Lilah and Jax enjoying the snow in a multitude of ways.

Merry Christmas From Our "End" to Yours!

By now, our Christmas cards should have arrived to your home. We had the pleasure of hiring Shannon Maggi who captured some cute Christmas photos in our family's matching pjs. These 3 photos of the twins are just a few that I was unable to incorporate into our Christmas card, but I had to share them on the blog.

On top of the family get togethers, holiday parties, yummy food, and the gift exchanging, it is our prayer that your Christmas is filled with the true meaning of Christmas...Christ. "For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government, shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." Isaiah 9:6

May God bless your home now and always!!!!

Jaxon and Lilah Try to Understand Christmas!

There is so much to learn about the true meaning of Christmas, but unfortunately we cannot really teach that to Jaxon and Lilah just yet. So, in the interim, Jaxon and Lilah are divulging all there is to know about Christmas through the lights, the holiday events, the Christmas trees, and I guess all the Christmas music we have been singing around this house (since November 12th). I captured this picture today as Jax sat on my bed and looked out our Christmas-decorated window while the snow fell. Ugh, he's so scrumptious. AND, as someone else put it so perfectly last week, "I love me some Jax" - - if you can't guess who that was, I'll tell ya ~ Kaitlyn.

Drastic Times, Call for Drastic Measures!

The other day, it was about that time of day, the time of day it always is every 4 hours on the dot - feeding time. Lilah and Jax were depending on their last calorie to hold them over until mommy tried to get "just one more thing" done. Finally, as the whines began approaching and the screams were getting louder and louder, almost as if they could be translated into English, you would hear, "What are you waiting for woman. We are starving!" I finally began to prepare their bottles OR so I thought. Lilah and Jax only use one type of bottle. It's the Playtex bottle with liners. If you don't have a liner, you can't feed your baby or in my case babies! Anyway, just thought I would share what I was forced to do out of desperation. I get the hebe gee bees just thinking about it. I'm sure you could guess. Can you tell I am ashamed to admit what I had to do from the delay? Okay, I had to take two bottle liners out of the TRASH CAN and rinse them in blazing hot water and reuse them. AHHHHHH! GROSS!!!!!!

This morning, I woke up at 6:15 am. I was extremely uncomfortable because I was sleeping in between Jax and Ty. Yes, Lilah was the only well behaved kid last night. I decided to get up and do a few things before the house got up for the day. The boys, including Darren, slept until 8:00 am, but Lilah got up about 7:15 am. SO, when it was time for me to get showered, Lilah had to come with. I guess I could have kept her in her bumbo outside of the shower, but I felt I had more control over her in the shower. I thought these pictures did a great job capturing Lilah taking a big girl shower with mommy (don't worry... there are NO pictures of me! Are you crazy?)

Oh the things you do as parents now that you swore you'd never do because it would mean you were mimicking your own parents actions from long ago. LOL!