Lilypie First Birthday tickers
Lilypie Angel and Memorial tickers

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Preston and Ethan's First Christmas

Guess I'm a little late. We took a ton of pictures during the Christmas season. Christmas was a blast with our new babies. We were filled with so much joy, especially after going through 2 Christmases without Karissa. Here are a few...

~Our Christmas Tree~

~Our stockings hung on the mantle~




~Karissa's Tree~


~Cute Christmas Butts~





~4 generations of Ashley men!~

_______________________________

The pillow shown in the following 3 pictures was made by my sister. Every month we will take a picture of the boys next to the pillow as a fun way to see how much they've grown from month-to-month.

~Preston~
~Ethan~

Friday, January 21, 2011

With twins, it all flies out the window!

As I sit here writing this, I have two screaming babies, both in their swings and in their separate rooms. I'm about ready to lose my sanity, which is why I'm just letting them 'cry-it-out.' I have twins, don't judge me. I was never a believer in the idea of letting your child 'cry-it-out.' I also despised pacifiers, bottles and formula.

Before Karissa was born, I was adamant about not giving her a pacifier or formula. I never bought a pacifier and she never had one single taste of formula. Giving her a bottle, of pumped breast milk of course, was pushing it. I intended to do the same with the twins, but it became quite apparent to me, very quickly in fact, how much different things are with 2 newborns.

I had every intention of exclusively nursing the twins. I was heartbroken when our Lactation Consultant, whom we met with on various occasions, said that I would need to supplement with formula to get the boys' weights back up. They had each lost more than 10% of their birth weight and my body wasn't making enough milk yet to nourish two babies. We followed a crazy feeding schedule for a few weeks and finally got to stop the formula once they had gained weight.

But...as much as I despise formula, I still use it. Life with twins is beyond crazy and formula is now my sanity saver, as I prefer to call it!! And, quite honestly, I don't really feel like sitting around all day long nursing either. I don't really give them all that much, maybe 4 oz max/day, so, I guess I'm not doing all that bad. Oh, and pacifiers are lovely little devices too! Now, I'm off to nurse a baby or two.




Thursday, January 20, 2011

9 years

Yesterday, Mark and I celebrated our 9 year wedding anniversary! Originally, we had planned to stay at home, but Mark's parents offered to watch Preston and Ethan...yay for another date night!!! Over a fabulous dinner, we reflected upon how much we have been through over the past nine years. It has been quite an interesting journey, one filled with much joy but A LOT of heartache. I am so thankful to be married to a man that has stuck by my side through the good, the bad and the unimaginable. I am quite certain that many marriages wouldn't have survived after the loss of a child, battling depression and dealing with infertility. I cannot imagine going through all of life's up's and down's without my husband and without Christ as the center of our marriage. I am so thankful and blessed.

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Preston and Ethan Birth Video

One of these days I will get around to posting my birth story. The past 2 months have been absolutely crazy!! For now, here is the birth video...