Baptism

We confess Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, accept the promises of God, and affirm the truth of the Christian faith, which is proclaimed in the Bible and confessed in this church of Christ. We believe that these children, though sinful by nature, are received by God in Christ as members of his covenant, and therefore ought to be baptized.

We promise, in reliance on the Holy Spirit and with the help of the Christian community, to do all in our power to instruct these children in the Christian faith and to lead them by our example to be Christ's disciples.

When our boys were baptized this past Sunday, March 21, Jack and I dutifully responded to the above with "We do, God helping us." Well ... if I didn't think so before, I sure do now -- we're in for it!! Those are some hefty promises!! Not only do we have to keep them both fed, dry, warm, and happy but we also have the awesome task of teaching them about Christ and leading them to a personal relationship with him. Praise the Lord for the "God helping us" part of that promise! Praise the Lord for the "with the help of the Christian community" part of that promise!!

Last Sunday was a very special day for our family in a way that I could only anticipate until experiencing it for myself. I'm so thankful that my family could all be there to celebrate with us. (I'm also thankful that both boys did very well during their public appearance -- Sam was wide-eyed and curious and Tyler slept, go figure.) It was a good day!

A Look Back ...

My friend Kerry is an amazing photographer (check her out at www.imagesofessence.com). So when she offered to take pictures of my boys after they were born, I immediately accepted. She tried to warn me that sometimes these sessions take awhile. Boy was she right!

It was day 8 of being a mom and we packed up our newborns and headed over to her house for pictures. It took four hours! Despite the fact that the boys seemed to sleep all the time at home, Sam refused to sleep for the pictures! It was so frustrating (and might I add, Kerry has the patience of a saint)!

Despite being exhausted, overwhelmed, in pain and starving (we made a bee-line for McDonalds on the way home and promptly downed $15 worth of fast food), the end result was more than worth it as I think you'll agree.





Tyler Allen






Samuel Jay

So Cute

From a recent photo shoot at Nana's:

Sleep Update

So ... Three nights down. The first night they both cried for about an hour (which is a really long time) and then we snuggled them to sleep with their paci's. The second night, they magically slept 6 hours all by themselves! Last night, they made it through 5 hours so we let them cry for a half hour then snuggled them to sleep for another 2 hours. I think we're at least headed in the right direction! Plus, they still seem to love me in the morning! Progress ...

Sleep

I love naps. I have always loved naps. I have always been good at taking naps. During my days as an auditor, I was known to take 4 hour naps on a Sunday.

These days, however, my love of naps has taken on a whole new meaning. Not only do I love the quietness of when both boys zonk out for a nap (like they are doing right now), but I cherish the days when I find time to nap with them. Sleep, I find, is like chocolate for me -- something I can never truly get enough of.

With that in mind, I have been doing some research on how to get the boys to sleep through the night. I've read books and asked a lot of moms their tricks and have come to the conclusion that there is no easy answer ot magic trick. Last week, after reading Baby Wise, I told Jack we were going to let them cry it out this week starting tonight in order to miss the 3am feeding (they say it only takes 3 - 5 days for them to make it a habit)... but now I desparately want to back out. I just can't stand the sound of my babies' cries. I'm their mom! All they want is to eat! Do I really just say no? Mean mommy!

So ... we'll see what happens tonight. I have very low expectations for myself -- if I give in, OK; if I hold firm, fine. We'll get there eventually one way or another, right?

The Blog

So I have decided to try my hand at blogging. I love to share my stories and pictures and videos of our boys but I don't want to inundate my friends on facebook with countless "proud mommy" updates ... unless of course they want to see them, thus the blog.

Our twins Samuel Jay and Tyler Allen are now three months old and are doing so great. I thank God every day for their health and for the blessing of their lives on our family. We prayed and waited a long time for these boys and even though the daily grind can be tough with two, we are so thankful for these beautiful little faces.

The boys were 3 1/2 weeks early but weighed in at a healthy 6lbs 7 oz for Sam and 6lbs 13oz for Tyler and were able to come home with us from the hospital. While it certainly wasn't my plan to be let go from my job, I can clearly see God's hand was at work in that my pregnancy was generally without complication and I truly felt pretty good the whole time (thanks to a lot of naps!).

These first three months have been filled with lots of hugs, snuggles, dirty diapers, laundry, sleepless nights, naps, kisses and (recently) smiles. I'd say we're settling into a groove and while they may not be sleeping through the night yet, we're all doing pretty well.