Sweet sixteen

First off, it FREAKS me out to be writing this post. Tomorrow is my little sister's 16 birthday. I distinctly remember life before she came around and distinctly remember the morning she was born.

I woke up Sunday September 18th, 1994 with one thing in mind; the primary program at church. I had a speaking part and was super excited about it. When I walked out of my bedroom, I found the phone off the hook and some sewing patterns scattered on the floor. My parent were gone and my oldest brother, Craig, explained that they ran to the hospital because mom was having the baby. I was NOT happy. I already hated this kid for stealing my 'baby of the family' status and she decides to come on the most important Sunday of the year?! Not cool, baby. It took a few years for me to like my little sister (I was a rather angry child...), but I'm happy to say now I love her.

She's probably in my top 5 favorite people ever. She's the most caring, self sacrificing person I think I know and she's beyond hysterical. She's super smart (multiple AP classes as a Sophomore), plays the viola and can tell you just about anything relating to Harry Potter (plus she looks a little like Luna Lovegood!) She sometimes snorts when she laughs and there have been countless times where she's 'excused' herself from the dinner table because she's laughing so hard that she can't breathe. She has such a big heart and wants to change the world by doing humanitarian work in Peru (she even wanted a passport for her birthday. Who wishes for that at 16?). She always puts others before herself and is definitely the 'got-to-girl' in the Herdman household. I feel bad that I haven't always liked her and feel bad that Fro and I used to throw stuffed animals at her face when my mom would force us to let her join in at our sleepovers. She is an example of the kind of person I hope to be someday and I can't imagine our family without her.

(See, she's got even got Luna on her shirt!)

(this picture still makes me laugh almost uncontrollably)

Love you Kels and happy birthday!
Can't wait to spend the day with you!

The most hated thing...

...in our home is this:

Too bad we have to use it about 30 times a day. These girls produce a remarkable amount of boogers.

I called the pediatrician today. Who knew that it was normal for babies over a month to not poop for almost a week? Me either. Luckily, an ounce of apple juice got things going for a certain little girl.

Still cloth diapering. I think it's awesome and am so excited for the girls to get a tiny big bigger so I can bust out my pocket diapers.

Sophie has decided that she hates sleeping. She didn't really fall asleep until 5 this morning. It wouldn't be such a big deal if she was peacefully chillin' in her crib, but she chooses to scream. Sometimes for hours. I tried rocking her, the swing, bouncy chair, the floor, swaddled, not swaddled, nothing worked. I finally fell asleep with her on the couch, just in time for Lillian to wake up hungry. I was terrified to wake Sophie up to eat, so I just let her sleep. Convenient at the time, but now they're way off from each other. In theory, having twins on a schedule seems easy, but having two different temperaments is making it a little difficult. Hopefully we get back to normal soon and hopefully Sophie actually decides to sleep tonight.

Despite the lack of sleep, today was much better than yesterday. I got ready and got out of the house. It's crazy how quickly your day flies by with two little ones and you realize it's 4 pm and you still haven't brushed your teeth. Luckily, Josh doesn't work Fridays so I'll have an adult to share my day with. I talk to myself more and more these days and that can't be good for anyone's sanity. ;)

Dumb school

I got an email today informing me that the online classes I am signed up for are for residents of Logan. I guess there's a Salt Lake section for the classes, but they are currently full. I don't see why it matters since it's an online course and I don't know how the school knows we moved, but I now don't know what to do. You see, I'm really close to graduating. Like, 6 or so more classes. 2 of them are math {stats} classes that I can't get in to because it's been so long since I've taken math, so I have to take the placement test. {Which I will probably fail and have to retake a few classes. I am terrible beyond measures at math} The 2 classes was going to take next semester filled requirements I need, but now I'm back at square one with nothing to take. Online classes are very limited and get filled quickly and I want to take relatively easy ones since I'll probably have two mobile babies this coming semester.

Boo.

I am so annoyed.

Thanks for letting me vent.

On a happy note, my cousin just posted this on facebook.
It's beautiful.
I hope you agree.

Yep, beautiful.

Dear today,

You were not fun at all. I'm glad you're over. Well, sorta over....

The babies are crying and duty calls.

Good thing they're cute or I think I would have lost it by now.

Lillian

Sophie

These were taken on my phone. Hence the professional quality.

Ok, now they're really screaming.
Peace out.

Our state fair is the best state fair! Don't miss it! Don't even be late!

We went to the state fair on Saturday. We've ventured out a lot with these girls for a few reasons. 1. Being stuck in Cache Valley for a over a month was no fun. 2. We didn't do much this summer because I was a major party-pooper. I couldn't even go grocery shopping for more than a half hour without feeling like I was going to die.

I had only been to the state fair once in 6th grade, but I want to make a yearly tradition out of it. SO entertaining. We saw lots and lots of interesting people, animals and lots of twins. I even met a set of down syndrome twins. Do you realize how crazy that is to have twins that both have downs? Seriously, the chances are probably one is a gazillion. Their mother seemed incredible and they were possibly the cutest little boys I've ever seen. Anyways, I didn't take too many pictures (oops) but here are some we did take.

This amazing cow sculpture was carved out of butter by my friends' mom. (and by friends' I mean, Kelly, Steph and Peter) I tried to get a better picture of it, but it was impossible due to its popularity. Seriously, there were about 20 people crowding it and talking about it's life-size-butter-cow awesomeness.

Then we saw the real cows. They were FAT. A few seconds before Josh took this picture, the black cow had it's leg propped up on the white cow. It was pretty funny, but sadly the cow moved right as we pulled out the camera.

While Sophie slept, we got Lillian out and let her soak up the livestock.
She was stunned.

Every fair needs a tractor man named Farmer Bob.

Lillian is turning into quite the chunk. It's getting harder to comfortably hold her with one arm and there's a significant difference from when we first brought her home. In fact, she's creeping up on being DOUBLE her coming home weight. Blows my brains.

Here she is waving at the crowd. Such a friendly little girl.

Sophie's getting bigger too, but she's still behind Lilly. I'm pretty sure she's going through the growth spurt that Lillian went through last week. She's eating us (me) out of house and home.

Josh felt bad that Sophie slept right through our visit to the animals, so she introduced her to the bull. She enjoyed it and wanted to take a ride, but we told her she had to wait until her she was at least two months old. ;)

Overall we had a really good time. We did make a big mistake though. Just outside of the sheep barn, the girls started their "I'm instantly famished and if I don't get food this instant, I will scream my self to death" scream. We wanted to feed them on the the bench, but since they were taken, we just popped the bottles into their mouths while standing by the entrance. Big mistake! We became a fair spectacle. I'm pretty sure we answered, "Twins?! How old? Weight?How far along? Girls? Identical? Run in your family? Hands full? I want twins! Getting any sleep?" close to 30 times. No joke. Next time, we'll huddle behind a tree and secretly feed them.

In other news, I put Lillian in a cloth diaper today. She pooped and peed and it was no big deal. We went through over 600 diapers in the first month, so it will be a nice break for our wallet to not have to spend 30-40 bucks every week on them. Sophie is now in one too, but I haven't changed her yet (yes, that means their schedules are slightly off today...grrrr....) but I'm assuming (hoping) it will go as smoothly as her as it has so far with Lillian.

It's bumbo time

For kicks, we thought we'd see how the girls would do in the bumbo for a few seconds. Sophie was first. It started out quite well...

but quickly turned sour.

She didn't slump over too much, but didn't like it one bit. Maybe it's good we only got one? I know it's still super early for them to be in them, but it provided us with much needed humor. Sorry, kid.

Lillian on the other hand didn't mind it.

We left her swaddled, so it was probably a bit less shocking, but she sure knew how to rock the bumbo.

It could be worse

and I thought nursing twins was hard.

This is hilarious, but I can take no credit for it

My friend Hannah shared this on her blog a little while ago. It's hilarious and I watch it about once a day. I decided that it needs to be shared with more people, so I'm putting it on my blog. If you are feeling the Marcel love, put it on your own blog and further expose the world to this awesomeness.

MARCEL THE SHELL WITH SHOES ON from Dean Fleischer-Camp on Vimeo.

Due Date

Today is the girl's official due date. Can you believe that I technically could still be pregnant? Thankfully, pregnancy seems like a distant dream. I went from this:

To being the mom of her (Sophie)

and her (Lillian)

They used to happily share a swing

but now I'm grateful we bought two

They both love being awake in their bouncy seats

Sophie

Lillian
and they love staring at each other (ok, so Sophie looked away right as I snagged the pic...)

Even though they're still under 7 pounds, they seem huge to me. Carrying them both (especially in their car seats) is getting harder (I know, I'm a wimp.) and they are finally starting to fit into their clothes! They've conquered 3 hours of church, going to the store almost every day (hey, I've gotta get out somehow...) and we're going to attempt going to the State Fair this week. They are more alert and awake now and are constantly making the silliest noises and faces. They are acting more and more like regular newborns each day and I realized yesterday that we no longer have preemies. The past 29 days have flown by and have been a blur, but I'd sacrifice the sleep, showering, and a clean house any day for these little ladies.

I love my new life I am humbled to be their mother.
I am obsessed with their adorableness
and I love them with all my heart.

Broken Blog

I think I broke my blog. Boo. I was toying around with the idea of changing it, but now I can't get it back. I like how my old blog was stretched out so my big pictures didn't hang off the side. I also like how it looked clean and how I had cool buttons and other cool things on the side. All of them are lost. Like all the links of blogs I read. How the heck am I supposed to get those back? Freeeeeaaaaking out!!! Ugh.

On a lighter note, the girls are 4 weeks old today! HOLY MOLY! Their due date is tomorrow and they've been hanging out with us for a full 28 days. I'm getting excited because we're starting to have 'normal' size babies. In fact, remember these outfits? They are currently wearing them. They're newborn size and they are just now fitting into them at 4 weeks old. I'm excited to have more than 5 things that fit them. They continue to keep us entertained and we love them more and more every day. Happy 4 weeks, girls!

I have a lot of posts I need to catch up on. The girls took their first trip out of Cache Valley on Saturday and I want to write about that and I want to do a 'day in the life' post for those who are curious. They're coming soon, but hopefully I can get my blog looking normal first.

Should I just keep it like this? I really do like the clean white look, but these birds are pretty cool too. I just want everything stretched out like it was and I want my links back. Grrrrr....I'm mad at blogger.

Anyways, I'm off to try to figure it out.