This BOY!

My little Landon is quite the character. Apparently he's getting a little bored around our home because this is his new favorite toy...a toy we bought when Jaden was 1. But it's not the basketball portion of it he likes; he likes to wear it. I informed him if he kept this up it would be his halloween costume:)

I worry about this kid. He still is very delayed in speaking even though he now attends weekly speech lessons. His therapist does think part of the problem is that he's so shy & she struggles to make a lot of progress with him for this reason so starting next month Landon will have lessons twice a week. I also was at a hearing clinic yesterday having Eliza's hearing checked since she didn't pass the one in the hospital & asked them if I could have Landon's hearing checked (we did this a year ago but I just want to double check & rule everything out.)They can do it with a referral so I'll have to start working on that:)

I have come to really appreciate something through this TINY trial and that is how blessed I am that my kids are healthy & we really don't have a lot of issues we have to address. At his speech & language clinic most of the children have severe disabilities. Some of the things I see break my heart. Many of the kids are dropped off by a transport service & I'm grateful I get to take Landon & talk to his therapist after each lesson. There are a couple of other moms that sit in the waiting room too & their attitudes are so wonderful despite some of the challenges that they face. I'm drawn to one mom in particular; she has identical 4 year old boys that I believe have MD. They are the cutest, well adjusted little boys I have ever seen and I just want to squeeze them. On top of that because many children are dropped off by transport she helps watch them in the waiting room while they wait for their appointment....some of them have severe behavior problems and it can get really loud.

Jaden waits in the waiting room with me (the girls too). I really appreciate that Jaden doesn't seem to notice that some of these kids have challenges. One day he was staring at a little boy with down syndrome & I didn't know what to do. He then informed me he wanted an Ipad like he had (he and his mom were doing learning game on it.) I was so relieved that it was jealousy he was experiencing. I like my kids to be exposed to this so they can learn compassion, to never judge others, & that we can be friends with everyone. Jaden is too....he's made a couple of friends while we wait.

Too funny!

I always put the girls to bed like this....

And find them like this.

I'm not sure if Alisha is pushing Eli over or of Eli moves & Alisha wants to be next to her. It gives me something to smile about every 2 1/2 hours I have to get up to feed them during the middle of the night:)

We've grown

Oh, these cuties are so much fun! I may regret these words (especially putting them in writing) but having twins has been easier then I expected. Either I made the expectations of them too great or I've just been blessed to have really good babies! I'm not saying it's easy but just easier then I expected:)


Eliza is the higher maintenance of the two & likes to be held. She also notices when Alisha is missing & I just love that about her.


Alisha is almost always a very mellow and sweet baby. She's easier to calm down when she is upset & I just love to snuggle her little body.

Overall we've gotten into a routine...the only thing that would make it better is warmer weather & the girls to be a little bit bigger so we can go out more:) I can tell that poor Landon is feeling a little couped up. We've done some mini bike rides...me pushing the stroller with the girls & lots of wrestling. Either my boys have become even more boyish since we had the girls or they've always been this way & I never noticed until now. They love to wrestle & make lots of noise. Landon loves to play different super heroes & exercise his LOUD powers on the girls. The plus side is that they can sleep through almost anything.

Today was the girls two week appointment & they are growing like crazy. I'm usually not one to ask a lot of questions & make the doctor double check everything but I sure did today since I'm not totally sure why the girls were different sizes. So I made him check Eliza's heart really well (in twin-to-twin the dominate baby can have heart issues; we don'tknow if it was twin-to-twin) and look at Alisha's coloring & one of her eyes has been getting goobers. Yes, these sound so silly but I just like to be re-assured they are healthy:) I haven't been a great picture taker since my arms are almost always full but here's some fun ones that make me smile.

Chris and I have been getting really creative with getting the girls around the house. Since we have two full sets of stairs we really feel the need to improvise & take them as little as possible. That means we get very creative when it come to transporting the girls...often done in twos:):):) Today I told myself that it was ok to go up & down the stairs twice as much because its good exercise and boy do I need it. Telling myself that & doing it are two different things:)

We go out very little but when we do it takes a litte bit more work then usual. We try to go between naps, feedings, & diaper changes but sometimes it doesn't always work out perfect. When they start walking life will be a little bit easier but right now I'm lugging two car seats & hoping for some very tone arms...today I used Eliza as my weights because she wouldn't stop crying while I was working out. She was happy & my arms felt the burn!

Mothers Day!

Mothers day definitely takes on a new meaning when you are blessed with two precious angels in the same week.

Chris and I keep talking about what an amazing experience it is to have a child be born & we were both a little sad to realize we probably won't go through the experience again.

As we've reflected back on this week we realize how incredibly blessed we are. We are so fortunate to have two healthy little babies despite so many possibilities of thinks that could go wrong. Statistically our girls had a lot of strikes against them. The two-vessel umbilical cord is only a 5% chance for twins...they both had this. Then to find out little Alisha had a valementous cord insertion which is only an 8% chance in their twin type & to recognize a stillborn baby was very probable with this condition. We are so humbled to be so blessed!

On Friday Jaden had a mothers day program at school that I just couldn't miss. Many thought I was crazy to already be out & about but I just had to be there & it was so adorable. Unfortunately being a little spacey I forgot the video camera & my regular camera but I did these cute pictures that Jaden drew on "Kid Pic". They also did a silhouette of each child to give to their mothers. Last night when I told Jaden how much it looked like him he informed me that it looked like Abraham Lincoln:):):)

Chris likes to take the boys to "Lowes Build & Grow" workshops. Yesterday they did a mothers day project & it was so cute to see them get their aprons and goggles on & to see their excitement to go build something. Jaden built his completely all by himself & was so proud of it. One of these days I'll actually capture pictures of their excitement...it truly puts a smile on my face.

Today I had to have a picture of all my little ones together...I keep forgetting to take pictures. Since Chris was at the church I braved letting both boys hold one baby for the occasion. They were both so proud...me, I was a little nervous & didn't require them to pose for a perfect picture but snapped it as quickly as I could.
I just love all 4 of them and I'm grateful to be their mom!

Two little cuties!

I've been very bad to return phone calls since our life has been a little crazy so I thought I'd add a quick update & a picture of the girls together....unfortunately my picture taking has been few & far between so sadly I have very few.

We were released yesterday from the hospital & they are both doing great. We had a follow up visit today because of Jandice & they both were great. Here's a picture of them at the doctors office. They look exactly the same but appear to be about a month apart.

Last night was a little rough for Alicia but Eliza did so wonderful. Eliza really reaches out for Alicia and loves to touch her while she sleeps. A lot of times they either turn to each other in the same position or mimic the exact same position. Seconds after I took this picture they both spit out their pacifiers at the exact same time.

Our Miracles!

UPDATE: Eliza was re-weighed this morning & there must have been a problem with the scale yesterday. She actually weighs 6 lbs 5 oz which is considerably bigger then Alisha. This may be due to twin-to-twin transfusion OR Alisha's umbilical cord issue. In a way I'm grateful (I had growth ultrasounds every two weeks with the perinatologists) that it wasn't detected because I believe they would have had me have the girls a lot earlier. They are healthy & should be out of the NICU by noon today if they can maintain their temperature.

The girls will be staying in the NICU tonight as a precaution so I thought I'd take a quick moment to share some photos & jot down some of my experiences today.

First off...they are both healthy & beautiful. We recognize how blessed we truely are and I feel wonderful.

We checked in the hospital at 7 am. I was at almost at 4cm and was very insistant I not have pitocin because of complications from it with both boys. I was worried that this would force a c-section so they broke Alisha's water & we waited to see what happened. Just prior to this they did an ultrasound and it appeared that Eliza had turned slightly sideways.We knew that Alisha would not need a c-section, but there was still a chance that Eliza would need a c-section.

Between the anti-naseau medication & epidural I spent much of the day sleeping...I was a little loopy. At around 2pm I was at a 7 & my nurse told me they'd take me to the surgical suite once I was an 8; this is a precaution of an emergency c-section is necessary.

Shortly after she noticed that Alisha's heart rate was dropping & that can be an indication she'd dropped into the birth canal. Upon checking she said I only had a ridge left & they rushed me into surgery & called my doctor. At this point I was throwing up a lot & she kept telling me to try to breath through it because I was pushing Alisha out from the pressure.

Getting wheeled to the surgical suite really quickly. I was on oxygen most of the day to help the babies heart rates...mostly Alisha's.

I only could have two people in the OR so my mom had to stay in the hall. Jenna was the picture taker & took 400+ pictures. It's gonna take some serious time going through all of them:) Chris was the daddy:):):) Thankfully Dr. Leavitt arrived just in time & told Chris he could deliver the babies. Here's their preparation stance.It only took 1 contraction to get Alisha out. I got to hold her for about 3 seconds before she was passed through to the NICU.

Eliza was much higher but with a couple of pushes we got her low enough to get her into position & break her water. 5 minutes later she was born at 4:47pm. Again, I held her for a quick moment & she was passed on through to the NICU. Chris headed to the NICU & I finished up.

One additional blessing that was discovered after my Dr. analyzed the placenta was that Alisha's umbilical cord was attached to the sac, not the placenta (there is a medical term but I don't remember it.) This could have caused some serious complications through out my pregnancy.

This is right after I delivered both girls. I felt so good minus that shakes.
So finally I got a report on the girls & here are the stats.

Alisha Murphy: 4 lbs. 14 oz, 18.5 inches long
Eliza Murphy: 5 lbs. 2 oz, 20.5 inches long

At this point I had to wait a couple hours for the epidural to wear off before I could go see the girls so Jenna went back & forth bringing me pictures of the girls. Here was bath-time. Eliza seems to be more mellow and Alisha more sassy!

A happy bath taker Eliza.

An unhappy Alisha.

Two very happy brothers peaking through the NICU windows.
First time seeing Alisha


First time holding Eliza.
I can't wait for when we can put them together & take some pictures. Because of the size difference we can tell them apart but all their features are the same including a chin dimple. I'm now off to feed both babies:):):)