Johnson Fam

Moving

2012-02-06T19:22:00.000-08:00

Hey Everyone!

Just wanted to write a quick note letting everyone know we are moving back to Colorado this week. It has been crazy and I haven't had much time to blog (as you can imagine) but I will try and get caught up with all the pictures and videos when we get settled.

Derrick's job got relocated back to Colorado. Pretty crazy huh? We are moving back into our old house (our renter was okay to move) and our ward and it will be like we were on a big vacation in sunny Arizona. We are very excited to be back (and yes, we are excited about the snow) but will miss an awesome community of people here in Arizona.

I hope to find as good of a homeschool group in Colorado as there is here (it is amazing here). We will miss being able to go to the grocery store in shorts and a t-shirt in the winter and being able to play outside all the time. We have a lot to be grateful for and excited about to be back in Colorado. We grew closer as a family and are very excited to introduce Sawyer and Briggs to all our Colorado friends!

Babies' Thanksgiving

2011-11-25T15:56:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving

2011-11-25T15:40:00.000-08:00

Tony and Turner got the turkey legs.

Doesn't that look amazing?

Derrick loving the bird with a seasoned butter rub. I thought this year I would get to make my first turkey because we were doing our own Thanksgiving. I was wrong. Derrick and the boys did the turkey and I gotta say--it stole the show!

Everyone helped with the pies!

Tony and I made the pumpkin roll. Delicious!

Turner and Derrick made the stuffing...MMM yummy!

Pyramid

2011-11-25T15:38:00.000-08:00

The boys built a pyramid out of sugar cubes for part of our Egypt unit.

At the park

2011-11-25T14:19:00.001-08:00

The boys love playing in the sand.

Petting Zoo Birthday

2011-11-17T17:09:00.001-08:00

Goats

Rabbits

Baby chicks

We had a friend have a birthday party for her 2 yr olds and they had a petting zoo. The boys thought it was fun. Derrick was cheering on Tony in the Veterans Day Parade. He looked great in his scout uniform.

Spooky

2011-11-17T17:01:00.000-08:00

We made "Spooky Punch" and "Spooky Pizza" for dinner for Halloween. The boys helped decorate the house and set up a spider booby trap at the front door. It was fun to get into the season.

Think I put too much dry ice in...whoops!

Tony and Turner designed the pumpkins and Derrick carved them.

Egyptian Magicians

2011-11-17T16:46:00.000-08:00

The trick-or-treating totally wore Levi out.

Derrick and Briggs passed out candy

Sawyer was my costume

Buzz and 2 Egyptian Magicians

We were studying Egypt in history and the boys decided they wanted to be Egyptians. Tony was one for the church party and Turner decided that was pretty cool so he wanted me to make him one too. He no longer wanted to be the alien from Toy Story. So I slaved away (those puppy dog eyes are too hard to say no to) and we had 2 Egyptians. I thought the costumes turned out great.

Halloween fun

2011-11-17T16:34:00.000-08:00

This is before the Halloween party at the church. Derrick took the older boys and I stayed home with the twins (they were sick). They had fun!

Tony really getting into the dancing. :P

Cell Party

2011-11-17T16:22:00.000-08:00

We studied cells ( plant and animal) and decided to throw a party with some friends from the homeschool group.

Animal Cell posters. Plant cells are on the other side
Model of an animal cell made out of jello

Plant cell

Levi sporting his "Cowboy the Horsey" costume. We used the eggs for a relay race as "proteins traveling along the Endoplasmic Reticulum", played "Nucleus Says", a variation of Sharks and Minnows with everyone being Lysosomes and catching the "waste" in the cell, and a matching game. Everyone had fun.

Interesting afternoon

2011-11-17T16:08:00.000-08:00

Just took a couple of picts of everyone in the same room doing different things.

reading
feeding/eating

drawing

excersaucering?

sleeping

This is the Halloween costume Levi wore 2 years ago....He called it "Cowboy the Horsey" He had fun wearing this for a couple of days.

First foods

2011-11-17T15:54:00.000-08:00

This oatmeal wore him out! I am sure there will be some who look like this after Thanksgiving dinner.
Lucky for me I've only been sneezed on a couple of times. You would think I would be better at getting the food IN their mouths. Sometimes I feel like I'm running through an obstacle course trying to get the spoon in their mouths...swinging arms that like to whack spoons and send food flying, hands trying to grab the spoon and shoving the food in their mouth, and tongues that try to do everything BUT swallow:)

Labor day fun

2011-11-17T11:39:00.001-08:00

Yeah...I know. It is November but this was a really cool display of fireworks.

This is the 2nd part

This was done in Snowflake. We got the fireworks from Derrick's parents. It was so much fun to see it go off!

First foods

2011-11-17T11:37:00.001-08:00

The boys are professional eaters now. I just have Sawyer on camera for this. It is funny how much more difficult it is to feed 2 babies at a time than I thought. They are both so impatient when it isn't their turn :)

Bath time

2011-11-17T11:20:00.000-08:00

Sawyer loves to splash!

Briggs's turn

10 o'clock at night

2011-11-14T19:50:00.000-08:00

So...this kid has sleeping issues. I think it is fair to blame them all on my husband :) He decided at 10pm to get a bunch of books out of the twins' room and read them. At least he was being quiet?

Yeti part 2

2011-11-14T16:05:00.001-08:00

Attack of the yeti videos

2011-11-14T15:55:00.000-08:00

Archaeology

2011-10-15T13:31:00.000-07:00

We learned about archaeology and decided do do a "dig" at the park. Turner was a little enthusiastic about buryin a couple items and we "donated" them to the sand.

Don't you love our grid?

Levi helped too

Sleeping

2011-10-15T13:21:00.000-07:00

Briggs trying to get in on the sleeping action.

Levi wanted to play in the baby bath. I saw he was tired and layed down...this is his most creative spot yet.

Yep sleeping behind the couch cushions. I really do try and lay him down for naps. Some battles aren't worth fighting though!

A new adventure

2011-09-29T17:01:00.000-07:00

We have decided to begin homeschooling. You may think I am crazy...and I might be a little bit. I feel like we are doing this as an answer to prayer. I think this will work out great for us. This has been something that has always been on my "radar" and now we feel is a good time to start. It is kind of a long story as to why we are doing it. Basically, we feel it is best for our family and the boys are super excited to learn at home. I have found an awesome homeschool group up here in Anthem that is very supportive and I think the boys are going to do awesome in this environment. I know this isn't for everyone, but for us we are ready to begin the journey! Wish us luck!

Couponing

2011-09-29T16:55:00.000-07:00

Just thought I would add a picture of my latest haul at the grocery store. I have been doing some couponing and while I don't have endless hours to try and save money I do try and save what I can. Here I bought $92.18 of groceries for $26.47. I know it will take a while to go through the 12 packs of gum and all the juice but when you get a good price...ya gotta stock up!

Tony figured out yesterday how much money I would save if I averaged this amount of savings per week over the year. $3416.92. Pretty good? We also figured I spent about 3 hours gathering everything together and shopping for the food. I "made" $21.90" an hour. Go coupons!

Raingutter Ragatta

2011-09-29T16:44:00.001-07:00

This was my first experience with a Raingutter Ragatta. Tony built a boat from a kit and they raced them down a raingutter by blowing on the sails. Tony did well and won the "Cubmaster's Choice" award. I think it was because he had a smiley face on his boat :)

Afterwards they cleaned out a raingutter and lined it with wax paper and filled it with little sundaes. The kids thought it was awesome eating out of a trough.

Levi wasn't tall enough for the trough but we got him a spoonful of icecream.

Haircuts

2011-09-29T16:38:00.000-07:00

So I went to a meeting Saturday night and came home to haircuts! Derrick thought he would sneak some buzzes in while I was gone. I love the boys' hair a little longer but no one likes to comb it! Go figure! So I get some buzzed kids. They are still cute though :)

Thank goodness he finished off the buzz.

Family pictures

2011-09-29T15:37:00.001-07:00

Rocking chair

2011-09-29T15:36:00.000-07:00

Need I say more?

Cold?

2011-09-29T15:30:00.001-07:00

Turner wanted to go outside in the morning about a week ago. He came in about 5 mins later complaining that he was cold. Cold? Itr was probably high 70s...hehe...I told him to put on a jacket. Levi loves being like Turner so he decided he needed his big coat. It was classic. Tony enjoying the cool weather minus a shirt...Levi in a heavy coat, underwear and sandals, and Turner in a jacket and sandals. I think the boys have officially acclimated to the weather.

Levi and Sawyer

2011-09-18T18:04:00.000-07:00

Sawyer looks so big next to Levi. I think they are only about 10 pounds difference. So cute!

Levi Strikes

2011-09-18T18:01:00.001-07:00

This kid is so funny. He had to set up a place to sleep in our doorway. Maybe he wanted to make sure we weren't going anywhere? Or maybe he has just tried almost every other place in the house. I've slept in his bed and it is pretty comfortable. Maybe "the grass is always greener" applies to him. He has to try new stuff.

Conserving Energy

2011-09-18T17:58:00.000-07:00

So our electricity bills are kinda A LOT. So I decided that we were going to dry our clothes the old-fashioned way. Hopefully it will make a difference on our next electricity bill.

No Sleep and other interesting tidbits

2011-09-18T17:43:00.000-07:00

Aren't those pictures so cute!!

Well...the twins are just teasing me. I am only getting sleep here and there. Briggs has been pretty good lately at sleeping but Sawyer not so much. It seems like someone has a bad night almost every night. It is interesting how much they have both changed. Briggs used to be the super easy laid back guy and Sawyer was pretty difficult to manage. Now, Sawyer is all smiles and Briggs is kinda tricky.

Briggs is temperature sensitive when it comes to his bottles. He used to not care if the bottle was room temperature but about 1 1/2 week ago he decided that slightly warmer than warm was the way to go. He kept refusing bottle after bottle. I was at a scout thing all day last Saturday and he ate only 6 ounces within a 12 hour period! I knew he was hungry but he wouldn't eat! Finally after I got home and he got settled he had a bottle that I used warm water with. (Warm water was harder to come by at the scout meeting.) That night he ate all his bottles perfectly (which makes sense now because I always warm them up at home.) He wouldn't eat for Derrick but Derrick usually just does room temperature for the bottles. At church he refused to eat again. This was because (in hind sight) we fill up the bottles with water before church and then just mix the formula when we get there. (The water in the bathrooms takes FOR-E-VER to get warm.) I was going crazy because I knew if he didn't eat during the day he would be up all night eating and I was getting tired. After church, I had a thought that I should warm up the bottle I had been trying to feed him with. It worked like a charm! I know the Lord was definitely helping me understand what Briggs had been trying to tell me for 3 days. How frustrating would that be? To be in this little body without use of language trying to tell your mom what you need? I can understand why he was so frustrated with me. Sawyer, on the other hand, is not particular about the temperature of his food. Pretty funny. I am VERY glad that I finally figured that one out.

Labor Day Weekend

2011-09-13T11:46:00.000-07:00

We went to our friend's house over Labor Day. It was awesome. We were able to get to the temple. It was really nice. The kids had a blast dressing up in costumes to play capture the flag and Levi went around saying "shoot! I gotcha!" with all their pretend guns.

Cameo and I with our sleepy wraps. She showed me a new way to put the babes in. They loved it.

Turner and his buddy Jonah. We kept confusing them all weekend with the same haircuts and similar walks. Best buds!

Sleep?

2011-08-31T08:03:00.000-07:00

It was amazing! I rolled over to look at the clock and it sai 4:45 am. The babies slept!! Both! They went to bed about 8:00 pm. I feel like a new woman. Of course they wanted to be awake at 5am but hey! Consecutive sleep!

Cheese

2011-08-31T08:01:00.000-07:00

Tried to get em both smiling but they got distracted by the camera

Good Morning

2011-08-31T07:46:00.000-07:00

Did a little video for a good morning. Sawyer was smiling but got camera shy.

Levi strikes again

2011-08-31T07:43:00.001-07:00

I thought Levi had found all the cool places to take a nap in the house...nope! He has some new places he found!

Yes. Those are underwear. He is officially potty trained. I think those look like they are backwards...hehe. He is independent and sometimes lets me know that "they are on right mom!"
Sawyers car seat. Awesome!

Hoarding tendencies?

2011-08-31T07:34:00.000-07:00

Turner with his PILE of stuff on his bed

I don't know if you have seen the show "Hoarding" but we tease eachother about hoarding tendencies when we have some stuff pile up. I admit I LOVE school supplies. There is something about a new box of crayons, colored pencils, paper, and notebooks. I love them. AND I love the prices for back to school time. So of course I stock up. Just because we have like 10 boxes of crayons doesn't mean we don't need more? We MIGHT run out :). And Derrick admits he does have a thing for games and puzzles. We cleaned out a few this past weekend but we have enough games to play a new one every day for at least a month...and puzzles? We have a lot of those too.

So when I was changing the sheets in the boys' room, I noticed Turner had a pile of stuff on his top bunk. Pencils, paper, colored pencils, crayons, craft sticks...I mean who knows when you will be stuck on your bed and need some craft sticks? Levi is the same way only he has his "sack of joy" which at this point is his backpack full of all his favorite things: cards, cars, guys, little toys, etc. It is always an adventure when making their beds.

Tony's birthday paty!

2011-08-29T15:46:00.000-07:00

Look at all that yummy goodness!!
Tony with his friends

Turner

Levi enjoying his sundae

Tony wanted to do a swim/sundae party with a couple of his friends. We went to the water park then we came back and made collossal icecream sundaes and played Wii. Pretty cool party!

Silkies

2011-08-29T15:42:00.001-07:00

So since we have been back, it has been pretty easy for me to get Sawyer and Briggs asleep. I realized that isn't always a great thing. They have been sleeping for me during the day and not at night. We tried keeping them more awake during the day but a couple days ago realized that maybe they are ready for their own cribs.

It was kind of sad moving them to their own room and setting up the monitor but it seems to help a little bit as far as their sleeping. Hopefully now that they are not hitting and kicking eachother, they will be able to put together a good night's sleep.

The silkies have been amazing. I can't believe how much the babies calm down and snuggle into them. They absolutely love them and it is nice to use them for them to go to sleep! So amazing. Thanks for helping me make them G-ma!

Crazy Trip

2011-08-29T15:38:00.000-07:00

Well we made it back from our trip. It was wonderful to be able to spend that time with everyone. We owe GG (great-grandma) a big hug and kiss for helping me drive all the way up and back. She is awesome and a good sport. (I don't know many people that would volunteer to drive 5 boys...2 infants...about 12 hours away.) It was so incredible to see everyone. I hope we have many more fun road trips. The boys were awesome. They traveled great. Everyone pitched in and helped out.

Derrick realized that it isn't as much fun to come home after work when you come home to an empty house. It was much too quiet for his liking. It is great to be back together as a family. Next trip we will have to make sure he can come.

Visiting gravesites and 90th birthday party

2011-08-29T14:29:00.000-07:00

We visited my Grandmas gravesite. This was my mom's second mom.

This is who my grandpa is named after. Evera Morgan.

This is where my mom's first mom was buried, Grandma Annie. This is where Grandpa will be buried when he dies. It was cool that all these graves were so close together.

All the girl cousins were so helpful....oh to have a girl that loves to hold babies

Carter waiting to go down the slide at the birthday celebration for my Grandpa.

Almost everyone made it into this family picture. Derrick isn't here :(. He had to stay home and work.

Tony zooming down the slide

Turner having a turn

At the campfire

2011-08-29T14:26:00.001-07:00

Levi and G-pa became really good buddies. The kids roasted marshmellows and did some smores. They were good.

Zac was doing some really cool things with his camera. He exposed the picture for a long time and the cousins were all making cool shapes with light on the pictures.

Looks like a perfect ending to a long day to me :)

A day at Shoshone Falls

2011-08-29T14:08:00.000-07:00

Shoshone Falls was very beautiful and cool. It was fun to get sprayed by the mist.

All the cousins with Uncle Zac

The 3 older boys looking at the falls

Whoa it is a far ways down!

The twins are up at the top. The stairs were too tricky to navigate.

Crazy silly faces!

Tony playing football with Uncle Kemp and Kade.

Levi rolling down the hill just like his older brother Turner.

Turner and Kloe were best buds all week. They were always being seen together.

Shannon and Cooper

Nana and Briggs.

My dad brought some ball gloves and we threw the ball around a bit. It was a lot of fun. Nice and cool. I love the nice summer days. Turner kept asking while we were on vacation..."Why is Utah so hot? Why is Idaho so hot?" I explained to him that it is summer. I guess that I confused him because we said we would "escape the heat" of Arizona by going out of town. I guess he was hoping for snow and blizzards :)

Meeting up with friends

2011-08-29T14:04:00.000-07:00

We spent one night with our friends up next to Twin Falls. It was so nice to catch up and have a little "girl time". I am glad we ended staying there that night...Briggs ended up throwing up all night and they had a washer/dryer we could use :) Thanks! The older boys had fun running around a fun backyard and playing with Caleb and Colby.

Hanging with the cousins

2011-08-29T14:01:00.001-07:00

The second half of the vacation we spent time with the Christensen side of the family. Here the boys are playing on the mini golf course that was at the KOA.

Tony and Kade

More fun at G-ma's

2011-08-29T13:38:00.001-07:00

The last night we spent at G-ma's and Papa's we went to a baseball game complimentary of Uncle Darren and Aunt Bri. G-ma stayed home with the twins and I got to hang out with the older 3 boys. It was a lot of fun. I was definitely entertained...the game was good too.

Towards the end of the game it got pretty exciting. Our team even came back to pull ahead by 1 point. I had Turner and Levi chanting with me different baseball cheers. We had some hecklers sitting in front of us that Levi kept repeating. Like "c'mon can't you see that wasn't a strike" and stuff like that. (It always cracks me up. I am sure we had a better view of the strikes and balls than the home plate umpire since we were really far down the left field lane :) ) The language was clean so I let the heckling go. Levi was having fun being in the spirit of the game.

Turner got bored with watching partway through and decided he would do some "exercising" sliding up and down the railing.

Blue icees from Uncle Darren hit the spot!

Yes...that is a bite out of Levi's cup. Apparantly styrofoam tastes good.

Pictures of everyone

G-ma and Tony made waffle cookies for his birthday celebration. They were really good. We spelled Happy Birthday on each of the cookies. Great birthday cake idea.

Tony and Turner spent all afternoon making water balloons. They kept trying to make the bubble at the top as big as they could. I think this one is pretty impressive.

G-ma posing for the camera...haha. Grilling some dogs.

What is summer without a great water balloon fight?

Playing catch with a new toy.

Levi always says "Cheese Pizza!" every time he smiles for the camera.

10 years old!

Cheese!

Back to school shopping

2011-08-06T19:42:00.001-07:00

I am really spoiled. I have great kids...and they are boys. I went school shopping for clothes for the boys up here at DI and they told me they wanted some "sporty" shirts and shorts. Perfect for AZ. They already have some nicer polos so I thought that we could get some stuff for them. I went there while Tony and Turner stayed at G-ma's and picked up some stuff. I think the most expensive thing was $3 and most were $1-$2. I love thrift stores. The boys loved everything. It was very easy. I was told if I had girls it wouldn't be as easy.

One little thing that was funny though...as we were getting tags off shorts I noticed the pair that Turner fell in love with were actually marked 18M. Yep. He is wearing 18Month pants as shorts! And they look good on him. Maybe we will let him keep them or I might have him give them to Levi.

Silkies

2011-08-06T19:24:00.000-07:00

G-ma and I (okay mostly G-ma...she is the talented one) decided to make a couple of quilts in our "spare time" yesterday. We were at DI and picking out some clothes and Sawyer was holding a pair of silky basketball shorts. He had been pretty fussy all day but was really quiet feeling the material. It really seemed to calm him down and so we decided to get some fabric for these "silkies". They are satin on one side and the off-white inner is a really delicate soft flannel. They turned out really cute and the boys really love them. Sawyer calms down while holding his...hope that it continues to work!

Swimming in the back yard

2011-08-06T18:48:00.000-07:00

The boys helped Papa set up the pools in the back yard. There were 4 pools and the boys had a blast jumping from pool to pool "wipeout" style.

The only thing missing here is the sand, volleyball net and some Top Gun music.

To the rescue!

Levi and cousin Raegan swinging on the swings

G-ma and Briggs

Papa and Sawyer with Uncle Darren

Can you really beat Capri Suns and cheese balls?

At the park

2011-08-03T18:23:00.000-07:00

We had a lot of fun at the park with G-ma. We fed ducks and played and had a picnic.

Notice Tony in the background with the I-pad...he loves when we visit someone with one :)

Me with Turner and Levi. Levi is already starting on the cheeseballs.

It looks like he rubbed his eye with cheesy fingers.

Levi got an owwie

Sawyer hamming it up for the camera

MAN...says it all hehe

Oh...Mommy's little man.

Tony on the I-pad. He was playing this while I took all the pictures of his brothers playing at the park.

Burying a foot

X marks the spot

Tons of fun!

Loosing my mind

2011-08-03T18:09:00.000-07:00

As I was packing for our trip to UT and ID, I kept forgetting things and trying to remember what I needed to pack. It seemed like I really couldn't focus and get it all packed without forgetting something. For example...I thought I had everything ready and got everyone loaded in the car and drove out of the driveway before I realized in order to fill up the van, I would need my purse which was still sitting on the kitchen counter. Next example...after I filled up the van I realized I didn't have my tennis shoes I needed to go camping with so went back to get that. About 30 minutes later after traveling on the road I realized I forgot my camera.

I was very frustrated about this because we were going to be gone for 2 weeks and I wanted to get some good pictures. I texted Derrick and asked him after work if he would overnight the camera to his parents (where I would be staying for part of the trip) so I could take pictures. (I was taking this trip with all 5 boys by myself and Derrick had to stay and work. My Grandma took pity on me and flew down to Phoenix to help me drive up...love you Grandma and thanks!) We drove to Bryce Canyon and met up with one of my cousins and looked at the beautiful scenery and again lamented my lack of camera. I wanted to document this beautiful place and seeing my cousins who I haven't seen in a few years. The next day I went down to Cedar City and met up with Deb so the boys could see their aunt. I wished again I had that camera. We finally dropped Grandma off in West Valley UT and then headed up the Papa and G-ma's house. I called Derrick to remind him to send the camera and he said he couldn't find it. I decided to look through the bags I packed to see if I could possible have packed it and forgot?? I looked through all the bags...no luck. Finally I looked in the pocket of the bag for the babies' clothes and guess what?? Yep. There was my camera. It is a good thing my head is attached.

So I had a thought....I have heard that with each pregnancy you loose brain cells (and I feel like I've lost double the regular amount). I don't really like thinking that because getting less intelligent is not something I want to do. :) Not sure if this is an old wives tale or not but I have a new take on it. I don't think you actually loose your brain cells but you have more things you have to be concerned about and think about and it puts a little stress on the brain until you get used to it....Whaddoyouthink? Wishful thinking?

Boys...boys...and more boys

2011-07-28T16:54:00.000-07:00

The boys made a super fort. It was pretty awesome!

Happy boys!

Tony and Turner taking turns holding Sawyer

Levi spilled something on his shorts and so went to get another pair. These were in his drawer but obviously too big (they are Turner's shorts) and Levi couldn't be convinced that they were not his...Reminds me of Calvin and Hobbes.

Happy Sawyer!

Say Cheese!

Levi hidin'

2011-07-28T16:49:00.001-07:00

It was about 10pm and I was super tired. I walked into my room and noticed there were some blankets out of place on the floor. I walked over to the bed and was going to pull down the covers and noticed that there were some little arms sticking out of a blanket...

Yep! It was Levi. He was obviously "hidin'" and fell asleep waiting for someone to find him. :) He is being so creative with finding new places to sleep. haha.

Chore Chart

2011-07-28T16:42:00.000-07:00

My kids love Chore Charts. Well...they like them better than me telling them what to do all the time (and I like them being responsible.)

I put it on canvas and stenciled their names on with permanent marker.
This is a picture of it all done. I sewed vinyl on for pockets. The boys can move a chore that they have done over to the done side of the pocket. Each person has their own color and the orange cards are for earning some extra money. It is great. We just have to sew some buttons on by their names. Each person gets to pick out pins or buttons that showcase their personality. When we go up to Utah, we are going to do a dowel rod on the top so we can hang it on the wall.
Easy and fun project :)

Turner's cake

2011-07-28T16:36:00.000-07:00

Turner wanted a maze for his cake so we made a brownie bottom, chocolate frosting and wafer cookies for the maze.

He had fun decorating it with traps and gummy bears.
Yay! 6 years old!

Wow...Levi needs a haircut :)

Notice the darker spots are "swampy" chocolate.

Movies

2011-07-18T19:05:00.000-07:00

I love waking up to smiling boys.

I hear this the first part of the day.

This is what I hear the second half of the day. Sometimes I hear them at the same time.

Derrick said you should play them both at a time and loop it for the full effect. :P

Happy Birthday Turner!

2011-07-18T18:47:00.001-07:00

The day started off great with Turner's 6th birthday! We had sausages and chocolate chip pancakes. Turner got to be in charge with the whole day so he decided he wanted to go swimming. He opened a couple presents and wore his new goggles and swimming suit to the pool.

I don't even have a comment :)
Briggs dreaming about eating at the pool.

Sawyer relaxing

I tried to convince Levi to wear this hat all day...lasted about 30 mins.

Brothers playing with the diving sticks in the wading pool.

Sawyer is excited for cake!

Dad, Tony and Turner making cake balls

Levi and Turner playing with the outside paint that Nana gave Turner.

Whew! Looking at this picture makes me feel hot. Notice the beautiful desert landscape.

After we got done playing Turner got to pick what he wanted for dinner. He wanted "Ramen Noodles, Hot dogs, or bratwurst...but mostly ramen noodles." After much coaching from his older brother "Turner, you can eat whatever you want. You can even pick going out to eat like corn dogs at Sonic!" "But I really feel like Ramen Noodles" Turner said.

They went back and forth for a good 20 minutes before Tony had Turner convinced that Sonic was the way to go. So we had Sonic for dinner. :)

Happy Birthday Turner! Hope it was awesome! Next week he gets to have his friends over for a party.

This little piggy

2011-07-15T18:52:00.001-07:00

Sawyer is hungry and done playing with Levi

This little piggy...

Briggs and Levi

Levi is trying to show Briggs his keys

Just Chillin'

2011-07-15T18:49:00.001-07:00

Briggs just getting comfortable
Sawyer must be having a good dream

Photo Op

2011-07-15T18:06:00.001-07:00

Briggs was being super cute and smiling like crazy so I tried to get it caught on camera.

Everything was going well

And then the photo op ended ubruptly...he is still cute when he is angry though :)

I couldn't just post pictures of Briggs smiling so I thought I would catch a smile from Sawyer too.

His smiles are a little quicker and I didn't quite catch it at the right time.

I love his facial expressions.

Ahhh!

And the elusive smile.

Summer Heat

2011-07-15T18:02:00.000-07:00

Lets face it...you have to be a little creative to stay cool in the heat during an AZ summer.

Levi loves pouring out water.
Hehe! The fun things you can do with a pitcher and some water.

Brothers having some fun

Best Buds

2011-07-15T17:58:00.000-07:00

I love it when they fall asleep with their heads turned toward eachother.

Thought these were cute...can you still tell who is who?

A day in the life of...2 months!

2011-07-09T16:31:00.000-07:00

I wrote down what Sawyer and Briggs did when they turned 1 month and thought I would try to continue it just so that I could compare.

Derrick did the late shift with Sawyer and Briggs and they went to bed around midnight.

3:15 am Briggs woke up...feed/change/burp

3:40 am Sawyer gets up...feed/change/burp

4:00 am I get to bed.

5:45am Briggs starts fussing. I gave him a pacifier

6:20am I get up to feed Briggs

6:40am Sawyer gets up. Derrick gets him.

6:50am I feed Sawyer. Derrick gets ready for work.

7:20am I put both boys in swings

7:30am Derrick leaves for work

8:00am I eat breakfast

8:15am I do the dishes

8:30am I start organizing the babies' clothes (this is my project of the day. I got a bunch of baby clothes from people that I needed to organize according to being appropriate for Arizona and size.)

9:00 am Briggs needs to eat

9:15 am Sawyer starts fussing. Tony gives him his pacifier.

9:20 am Tony takes over for Briggs and I go wash bottles and make Sawyer a bottle.

9:30 am Sawyer falls asleep. I take over for Briggs.

9:45 am Lay Briggs down--Sawyer is up to finish his bottle

10:10 am Put Briggs in his swing. Sawyer is down for a nap.

10:20 am Go back to organizing clothes.

12:30 pm Get older boys lunch

12:45 pm Sawyer wakes up--feed him

1:00 pm Briggs wakes up. Tony helps me feed him

1:45 pm Levi goes down for a nap

2:00 pm Put Briggs down for a nap

2:15 pm Sawyer falls asleep

2:20 pm Go back to organizing clothes.

3:00 pm Sawyer wants to eat

3:15 pm Briggs wants to eat. Tony helps again

3:45 pm organize clothes. Briggs layed down but I needed to bring Sawyer in to "help" me.

4:30 pm Finished organizing clothes. Played with the babies.

5:30 pm Derrick gets home from work. We both try to calm and feed babies

6:00 pm We eat leftovers

6:30 pm The older boys take a bath. Derrick helps Levi.

7:30 pm Start getting the older boys ready for bed.

8:00 pm Bed time for the boys. I read some books to Levi while Derrick takes care of the babies.
8:30 pm Derrick goes to the gym. I try to get things cleaned up

9:00 pm Babies need to eat again.

9:30 pm Derrick gets home and helps with the feeding.

10:00 pm Get the babies down.

10:30 pm I get to bed and Derrick stays up for the late night feeding so I can get some sleep.

Very busy day. I think it is better than last month. I feel like I'm getting more sleep. I just with I could get to sleep earlier. I got all my clothes organized. Overall a very productive day. High-five to Tony for all his help!

Sleeping?

2011-07-09T16:29:00.001-07:00

Im not sure what is going on with Levi, but he has been finding different places to sleep lately. He fell asleep on Tony's bed for nap one day, the toy room, and the last place we found him was under his bed....Not quite sure what that means but he is very proud of setting up different beds in different places.

Sawyer and Briggs get blessed

2011-07-09T16:08:00.000-07:00

Turner being silly
Levi and Grandpa got to be great friends

Levi trying on his floaty...he looks like an alien spaceship. Don't be suprised if we fall back on this for one halloween costume idea :)

Grandpa with Sawyer. This was very special for him and for us. Grandpa has an identical twin. It was fun to hear him reminisce about his brother. As far as I know, Sawyer and Briggs are the only other set of twins in the family.

My mom really wanted to have some pictures of her and the twins.

Sawyer and Briggs before their blessings

Briggs

Sawyer

All five boys after church. Don't they look handsome?

Family picture

We had a wonderful day. My parents, Derrick's parents, my little brother, Kade and Kory (two of my brother's sons) and my Grandpa came out to be a part of the blessings. Derrick's mom brought down the cutest little outfits for Sawyer and Briggs. They were sweater vest sets that weren't exactly identical but looked very similar. We ate some good food after church and it was great to socialize with everyone. Tony, Kade, and Kory got into an epic Monopoly battle that I'm sure they will be excited to continue and replay when we get together for a reunion later this summer.

4th of July

2011-07-09T15:33:00.000-07:00

This was actually the 2nd of July. Derrick bought some fireworks and the boys had fun watching them explode. Tony ended up sick (I think he had heat exhaustion) and watched them from his window. Later that night we saw the awesome fireworks put on by the Community Center. They were spectacular and we had a perfect view from the boys' window. We woke them up and were able to stay cool while we watched them at 9:45pm.

Attack of the yeti

2011-07-09T15:18:00.000-07:00

Hopefully my video will work.... This is a fun game the boys came up with because they are "cooped up" all day with it being so hot outside. In this picture Tony comes around the corner and attacks the fort while Turner and Levi hit him with stuffed animals. I remember playing something like this with my brothers growing up. I'm not quite sure where the "yeti" idea happened but I think it is a winner. I think I might have had as much fun filming this as they did playing.

Brothers

2011-06-30T15:57:00.001-07:00

Briggs is always looking at the camera and posing.

I can't believe how much bigger Sawyer is than Briggs.

Sawyer and his "straightjacket. We swaddle him tight with the pacifier when he won't calm down....gives us about 20 minutes of calm.

Briggs has the cutest facial expressions.

Dad is in charge of Dessert

2011-06-30T15:51:00.001-07:00

Blue Bell was on sale...and Derrick was in charge of dessert. I wouldn't have been this creative ;) This is totally "Dad's" way of doing things. The icecream was almost gone so what is more fun than eating out of the container?

Mmmmm....Before the icecream

And after. Sugar-induced hyperactivity. Gotta love it.

Love the pacifiers

2011-06-30T15:49:00.001-07:00

Pacifiers have never been my thing but I love that these guys will take them. Plus they look kinda cute with 'em. They sleep in their carseats because Sawyer has acid reflux and it just seems to help them sleep better for us.

Trapped!...in a good way

2011-06-30T15:40:00.000-07:00

Sometimes the babies trap us and fall asleep....

Tony with Sawyer

Both of my boys...Sawyer is a better cuddler than Briggs(orange shirt)

I love this one

This was hard work. You can see both pacifiers strewn about, my water, and my cell phone. I'm here for awhile.

Out to the park

2011-06-21T16:36:00.000-07:00

It is amazing to me how long it takes me to get somewhere. We went to the park this morning and it took a good 2 hours to get there. It was kinda chaotic trying to get everyone loaded and babies fed and bottles made...sunscreen applied, snacks grabbed, towels put in the car, and cold water brought.
I apologized to the older boys for being kinda crazy trying to get out of the house. After being at the park for an hour or so Tony said, "The craziness was worth coming to the park." I am glad :) It was a fun splash park that shoots water up out of the ground. The best kind of park to go to when it is over 110* outside.

Growing up

2011-06-21T16:22:00.000-07:00

Turner holding Briggs. He looks happier with his pacifier.
Everyone loves "Mom's chair"

Tony holding Sawyer while I was finishing feeding Briggs.

Levi and Briggs bonding

My mom got these super cute outfits for the boys. See how much better it fits Sawyer? Briggs is drowning in it.

Levi loves to organize things. Maybe he will want to be a traffic cop or something.

It is amazing to me how much all my boys are growing. Tony and Turner have turned into such great helpers and are being so considerate of eachother. They have developed a closer relationship and can be found staying up late at night talking. Levi has grown up so much too. He is a great big brother and is the life of the party. He seems to steal anyone's heart that comes to visit.

Father's Day

2011-06-21T16:10:00.001-07:00

As I was thinking about how blessed we are to have such a great Dad/husband, I was overwhelmed with the blessings that we have. Derrick is such a great dad to these boys and is so selfless in giving his time and energy to our family. He leads family home evening and has such great topics to discuss with our boys and trying to help them become great future dads themselves.

"My favorite thing about my dad is everything he has done. I loved it when he took us to Red Robin after the twins were born. We got free sundaes! It was great!" Tony

Turner's favorite thing about his dad is that "he makes awesome food that I like." I guess the way to a boy's heart is through his stomach :)

Levi is always so excited when Derrick comes home from work. Derrick and Levi are great buddies. They build puzzles, do cars, and Derrick is always ready to change diapers and help out where it is needed.

Sawyer and Briggs were unavailable for comment but I am sure their favorite thing about their dad is that he feeds them and changes their diapers...a lot.

Thanks babe! You are an awesome dad and I love you all the more for it!

Decisions...

2011-06-14T19:17:00.000-07:00

I never thought that making decisions would be so difficult. A few days ago, I came across a really tricky one I thought I would share.
The twins just fell asleep and I was super tired. Take a nap or shower? It was a really difficult choice. The shower won.

Family pictures

2011-06-14T19:13:00.001-07:00

After a long day at the pool, we got some family pictures taken.

Papa and G-ma with all five boys.

Riding a bike

2011-06-14T18:48:00.000-07:00

Papa with Turner helping him learn.

An extra set of hands was very helpful in teaching Turner to ride his bike. Papa and G-ma took the boys down to the park while Derrick and I were on a much needed date. G-ma had gotten Turner some elbow pads, knee pads, and gloves. He learned really quick. It was really cool. We got home from our date...Tony and Turner were still awake playing Wii...and Turner had learned to ride his bike.

Go Turner Go!

Levi is our little dare devil. He loves to ride down this hill and will try and go as fast as humanly possible.

Fun at the Water Park

2011-06-14T18:41:00.000-07:00

Levi hanging out with Dad while drying off a bit.
Turner loved going down these slides. It was fun.

Tony after going down the big water slides.

Tony doing some weird dance.

Cheese!

The babies slept pretty much most of the time. I actually went down both water slides also. It was a great time at the park.

We had a ton of fun with Derrick's parents when they were here. G-ma had the boys cleaning, hanging out at the park and doing some (or a lot) of Wii. It was great! It gave me a chance to get a little more sleep and I know the older boys had a lot of fun.

Fun pictures

2011-06-14T18:36:00.000-07:00

Levi loves to hold his baby brothers
So...lots of bottles...every day! Sawyer is eating about 4 ounces per feeding and Briggs is at 3 ounces

Briggs loves his bath

Sawyer loves his baths too...

most of the time.

A Day in the Life Of...

2011-06-14T18:16:00.000-07:00

I wanted to document how 1 day went with the babies when they were 1 month old...so I can look back and remember.

June 6th 2011

Derrick took the first shift so I could get some sleep. I went to sleep at 8:00 and he stayed up past midnight.
1:30am Briggs wakes up--Feed/change/burp him. Fell asleep for 30 min while trying to burp him.
2:45am Sawyer wakes up--Feed/change/burp
3:20am Start pumping
4:00am Lay down to fall asleep...pray that Briggs will go longer than his normal 3 hour stretch.
4:20am Briggs wakes up. Feed Briggs--Sawyer starts grunting
4:40am Too tired to put Briggs back in bed so I fall asleep with Briggs in my recliner.
5:15am Derrick gets up with Sawyer
6:00am Derrick puts both babies back to bed
6:15am I start pumping
6:30am Older boys wake up
6:45am Make pancake batter. Tony wanted to make pancakes again for breakfast :)
6:55am Feed Briggs/change him...he peed all over me
7:20am Ate awesome pancakes
7:30am Derrick left for work
7:40am Attempted to lay down
7:55am Sawyer wakes up to eat.
8:00am G-ma and boys cleaned up and went to the park
9:30am Pump...babies started crying so I had to stop, got milk warmed up/changed diapers
10:15am started pumping again. Called lactation specialist to help with ideas for milk supply
11:00am G-ma and boys got home
11:45am Pumped
12:00pm Went to Costco. G-ma stayed with all the boys. I needed a little break :)
1:45pm Got home and ate lunch
2:00pm Latched Sawyer and he nursed for 15 mins then he finished a bottle.
2:40pm Latched Briggs and he ate for 15 mins then finished a bottle.
3:30pm Layed down
4:30pm Tried to latch both Sawyer and Briggs--unsuccessful. I am really sore at this point.
5:00pm G-ma and I bottle fed the babies
5:30pm Derrick got home
6:00pm Ate dinner that G-ma made for us.
7:30pm Bottle fed the babies with Derrick
8:00pm Pumped
8:45pm Went to bed. Derrick stayed up for the first shift so I could get some sleep.
11:30pm Woke up to pump while Derrick was feeding the babies

This makes me tired just writing it all down. This is the exciting things we did on the babies' 1 month birthday.

Sleepy wrap!

2011-06-05T17:22:00.001-07:00

I'd like to thank Cameo for turning me on to this Sleepywrap baby carrier. I had heard that you could wrap twins in it but I was a little nervous to try it out. Derrick's mom came in town and Sawyer was being pretty fussy so I put him in it. He settled right down and fell asleep. He absolutely loves it. Then Briggs started fussing a little bit. I had just watched how to wrap them on Youtube so thought I would give it a shot. They both fit and are so happy to be wrapped together. I am blogging wearing both twins and as I look down I see they are breathing in tandem. It is so awesome!

This is a great picture...except it looks like Sawyer is punching his brother in the nose...I wonder if this will be a recurring theme.

Fun Pictures

2011-06-05T17:10:00.000-07:00

Briggs looking at Sawyer. Sawyer was so comfortable he loved laying on the pillow.
We kept talking about getting some cute pictures with Nana holding both babies but this was the only one we got of her holding Briggs. This is my chair set up. You can see the yellow pump (hospital one...I love it!), nice big chair, book, and water at arms reach.

I had to get a picture of my 5 boys...aren't they so handsome??

I love this one.

This picture is Tony's favorite. Briggs is totally posing and it looks like Sawyer is about to smack him :) So fun.

Levi loves his baby brothers. He often comes over and says "Its okay Briggs" or "Its okay Soy-ya". He loves to cheese it up for the camera...dirty face and all.

Nana's Visit

2011-06-05T16:57:00.000-07:00

Levi at the pool. Levi and Nana were great buds! The boys went down the slides and had lots of fun.

We had a ton of fun with Nana while she was here. We got to go to the water park, she took the kids shopping, made lots of yummy food, and most importantly...allowed me to get some sleep! (Well she let Derrick get some sleep too.) I think we wore her out.

Because of all her help, I have been able to feel a lot better from my c-section. It was really bothering me before she came. I was running solo for a few days while Derrick went back to work. This one has taken me longer to feel better but I guess that is to be expected because they pulled 2 kids out instead of just one...and there is a lot more that I am doing with all the boys. Overall, we are doing great.

Best Breakfast Ever

2011-05-24T16:30:00.001-07:00

So it has been a little crazy and stressful at our house. I am feeling lack of sleep and I am sure that our older boys wish that their mom was back to normal. This morning, Tony came in to let us know that he was keeping Turner and Levi occupied so we could sleep in a little longer. It was really sweet of him.

When we walked out of the bedroom, there was a note that said "Please go to table #1". Derrick and I were being treated to "Antonio's Restaurant". When we got to the table, there were menus, plates, and napkins. Tony was wearing a "chef" badge, Turner was the "waiter" and Levi was the "cook". Derrick and I were very touched. I was starving and ordered 3 scrambled eggs and toast. It was awesome! I had to feed the twins and pump and wasn't sure when I was going to get time to eat something with protein in it. When breakfast was done, Tony and Turner came in and held Sawyer and Briggs' bottles. (The babies were hungry too!) It was so awesome to be able to enjoy some yummy food and have the twins not crying also.

Thanks guys! You made my day :)

They are both awake!

2011-05-24T16:22:00.000-07:00

Derrick thinks that Sawyer looks like an old man and Briggs looks like a baby. We have been entertained by some very funny faces that Sawyer makes. He seems to demand more attention and Briggs is pretty chill.
It is interesting that of all the kids we have, I think that Sawyer looks the least like our other boys. They are very fun to be with. I am working on having them be on a better schedule. Briggs seems to like to sleep during the day and Sawyer is sleeping at night. We will see how tonight goes.

Best Buds! Sawyer is on the left and Briggs is on the right.

Big helpers

2011-05-24T16:10:00.000-07:00

Tony and Turner have been great helpers with the babies. They love helping and holding them. These pictures were taken while I was getting a coveted shower and fixing my hair. It was great.

Tony with Sawyer. After he got to hold Sawyer for a while, he had to get ready for school. He said that he wished he could just be with them and hold them all the time. I love my boys!
Turner with Briggs. There are some advantages to pumping milk :) Good job boys! Now if we could only teach them to take care of their 3am feedings! :)

I haven't been able to get the boys to nurse yet but I am grateful that I am able to produce enough milk for them. Derrick let me rent a hospital pump (thanks babe!) that has been great for us. Hopefully I will be able to get them to nurse later but for now, this is less stressful. Derrick has been known to take an extra shift at night so I can get 4 hours of sleep in a row instead of just 2. It is amazing how much time these little munchins take.

Levi is doing awesome with the babies too. He calls them both Briggs until we let him know that he is talking to Sawyer. He is super cute with them. Now if I could only keep Levi out of the baby swings we would be doing great!

Home Sweet Home

2011-05-17T17:15:00.000-07:00

We finally got Sawyer and Briggs home today! The boys were are so excited to have them home and it is such a relief to feel like a full family. Sawyer and Briggs love lying next to eachother. They weren't able to do that in the NICU and I think they were missing eachother. I had heard more than one report from the nurses that Sawyer has a little temper...but he has been very sweet since he has been able to be with his brother.

This picture I took at the NICU before we were discharged. They were finally put in the same bed. Sawyer was being a little grumpy but I put Briggs next to him and he just stared at his brother for about 30 minutes before falling asleep.

We are sleeping them together in the crib for now. Derrick must have folded a lot of burritos in his life because he is very good at swaddling. Dont they look so happy to be together? Home Sweet Home. Briggs is in the airplane blanket.

Nesting

2011-05-16T12:17:00.001-07:00

Last night (Sunday) when we went down to see the babies, they took out the G-tubes on both babies and took off Sawyer's oxygen!! They said that we would be able to take them home soon as long as they continued to do well on their feedings. It was a really special night last night to see them make so much progress. I am very suprised that Sawyer and Briggs are going to be discharged on the same day because Sawyer got so much sicker than Briggs. Over the last couple days, Briggs has put on the breaks as far as feedings were going and let his brother catch up to him. I think they just wanted to come home together.

I went down to the hospital this morning to see the boys, and they suprised me with the news that my husband I can do nesting tonight. Nesting is where we spend a night in the hospital to practice taking care of the babies. We will have the nurses a phone call away if we have any problems, and they can see if we are able to get the babies to take their full feedings. If everything goes well, they will discharge them on Tuesday.

I can't believe that we are a mere 24 hours away from having the babies home with us. I am so excited. It will be so awesome. Soon we will be able to get to know them and learn about their personalities.

I have some stuff to get ready for them :) Wish us luck!

Special night

2011-05-15T14:13:00.001-07:00

Last night I was counting all my bottles (the hospital gives out disposable ones that I pump into) to see if I had enough to make it through the night and day today. We are going to visit the babies later today than we normally do so I was nervous that I wouldn't have enough. It was a good thing I counted because I needed to pick up some more. I told Derrick that we didn't have enough...and he looked at me and asked, "Are you sure you didn't pick up enough bottles on purpose so you could go back later??" He laughed and I didn't forget them on purpose but I wasn't gonna complain :) He had to get the boys ready for bed with baths and everything so I called up a friend of mine to give me a ride to the hospital to get them. She graciously offered to help and let me know that we could stay as long as I wanted.

While we were there, I was able to feed both Sawyer and Briggs. I really had an opportunity to bond with Sawyer. He has been hooked up to oxygen for so much longer than Briggs that I haven't had the same holding time for him. He was so alert and loved to listen to my voice. At one point during the feeding, he filled his diaper so we had to change him. He got upset and so after his diaper was changed, I picked him up and nestled him to my neck. He stopped crying instantly. It was so nice to know that he remembers who I am and can remember my voice. It was a really special night for me. There is something so precious as a newborn that just stares into your eyes...and I get 2 babies doing that for me. I am so lucky.

Briggs was as cute as ever and he did so good on his bottle. They have both made it back to their birth weights. Thanks so much to all those that have helped out. This has been challenging for me to leave my babies at the hospital and so many people have made it a little easier to get through. Hopefully we will get good news soon that they are coming home.

The whole family!

2011-05-14T09:49:00.000-07:00

We had an awesome morning this morning. The NICU lifted the RSV ban so siblings could come into the NICU. The boys were SO excited to meet Sawyer and Briggs at last. They were so good and were able to be "hands-on" with taking care of the boys. The nurse in this picture is Sarah. She has been wonderful and great with our babies. She is explaining to our curious 5-year-old how a tube down Sawyer's nose goes into his stomach and he can get some food that way.

Sawyer was a champ today in eating his bottle. He almost ate the whole thing. He was shy just a couple of mL. When they don't eat everything, the nurses put the rest down the feeding tube. Turner was lucky enough to be able to hold the syringe that had the rest of Sawyer's milk in it. Good job buddy! Sawyer has been doing amazing. He still isn't weaned off his oxygen but he is eating really well. If Briggs isn't careful, then Sawyer will catch up to him.

Tony was able to help do Sawyer's temperature also. Sawyer was not happy at all with that but Tony did a great job. Turner and Tony also got to listen to Sawyer's heartbeat. It was really nice of the Sarah to include them so much with helping.
Levi loved the babies. Here is Briggs. Levi was really interested in the feeding tube on Briggs. He loved looking and touching him. He did a great job at being very soft. I am so excited to bring the boys home and just get into the routine of everything.

I have been pumping like a mad woman to produce enough milk for these guys. I was nervous about being able to make enough because I wasn't able to nurse them and they couldn't nurse on demand. I know sometimes it is more difficult to build up a good supply when you have to pump and can't breastfeed. I am doing great though and making at least enough for both of them each time I pump and usually a half an ounce or more extra.

Levi here is showing us his muscles trying to pick up the milk in the little black bags.

Tony and Turner sitting in the rocking chair in the NICU. They were so good.

I have been waiting to hold both babies for so long (outside of the womb) and was able to hold them today. They unhooked Sawyer from his monitors for just a couple of minutes so we could take these precious pictures. Sawyer was so alert it was great to see. Sawyer here is the one looking at the camera.

I wish I had more pictures of Sawyer but we haven't been able to be as "hands-on" with him until now. He is doing so great. We will get a lot of pictures in the future I am sure.

The older boys watching mom feed Briggs.

Levi is being so soft with Briggs.

The whole family! Don't we have some handsome boys??...all 5 of them. Looks like the beginnings of a ton of fun at our house! (And I will be looking forward to those Father-son outings. Derrick will have so much fun with them.)

We don't have a FOR SURE date for when Sawyer and Briggs can come home with us but it is getting closer every day. I am so proud of all the progress they have made. I looked at Derrick while he was trying to hold Levi and let everyone look at Sawyer while I was feeding Briggs and I thought..."We are going to be really busy". It will be a wonderful busy...but it is little daunting to have so many wonderful boys to take care of.

More good news

2011-05-13T16:02:00.000-07:00

We went in to see the boys at the hospital today and got some more good news! Yesterday after we got home from the hospital, Sawyer woke up and was pretty mad that the ventilator tube was still down his throat. They have been weaning him and decided to take the tube out. He did great and is doing great today. We have been told my more than one nurse that he has a little temper on him. He doesn't like to be messed with and will let you know what he is thinking! Sawyer is only on 1 L of hi-flow oxygen and his % of oxygen is about 30%. He is doing awesome and is able to bottle feed sometimes now. He will be at his full feedings today and they are going to take out the other catheter in his belly button that was used for fluids.

Briggs was taken completely off oxygen yesterday as well but today went under the bilirubin lights for jaundice. Hopefully he will be off of the lights today. We don't want Sawyer to realize that Briggs gets a nice light to sit under and some cool shades to wear otherwise he might want to get jaundice too! Sawyer's levels are fine for now. Hopefully they won't get higher.

Briggs is eating his full feedings now. He has enough energy most of the time to get them all the way eaten. I was able to try to nurse him today and he did pretty good for a first try. He got tired though and I wanted him to be able to eat his food so I didn't mess around too much with it. I will be excited to start teaching both boys how to nurse when they get home.

Derrick and Briggs
Me feeding Briggs

Briggs after he got his oxygen removed

Sawyer after getting of ventilation. Isn't he so cute? They definitely look different but both boys are adorable.

Derrick getting to feed Briggs

Sawyer and Briggs!

2011-05-11T08:20:00.000-07:00

Right before the c-section...I am smiling here but this was before they missed twice on the IV and I wasn't quite as numb as I wanted to be for the c-section. I was completly numb about 3-4 inches above the incision but the spinal didn't do all it was supposed to do. After they pulled Briggs out, they gave me some other kind of medication that completly knocked me out and they were able to try and fix my belly button hernia and pull everything together as tight as they could. My doctor was awesome! He cut out a ton of old scar tissue and made everything nice and neat. Even with all the hard times in the pregnancy and the crazy day of surgery...I would do it all over again. I love my boys.
I love this picture. Sawyer is in Derrick's left hand and Briggs on the right. Doesn't Derrick look awesome in scrubs!
Briggs at 6 lbs 3.o oz
Sawyer at 6 lbs 3.1 ounces
Sawyer on the left labled A and Briggs on the right. Hopefully we don't have too much tandem crying. It was great to get here :)
Briggs before they did the CPAP
Sawyer
Sawyer on the ventilator
Briggs on the CPAP. He loves his pacifier and they had to cut it so it would fit under his nose mask.

Roller coaster

2011-05-09T14:27:00.000-07:00

Sawyer and Briggs day 3.

Sawyer still wasn't responding to the CPAP like the doctors were wanting him to so they switched him to a respirator around noon. His poor body has been working so hard to breathe for 3 days that it was such a relief to see him calm and not stressing that even though this is another step towards the machine breathing for him, he is doing better. The machine is set to breathe for him 50 times per minute and anything over and above that he is doing by himself. He was breathing about 57 times per minute and doing great. He is breathing with 70%oxygen help...so much better than yesterday. Overall, Derrick and I feel that this is what he needs to get better.

Briggs is doing well. The IV got moved from his head to his foot and they are trying to wean him off oxygen from the CPAP . They will let Briggs breathe regular air (which is 21% oxygen). He is at 27% right now. He started gavage feedings of 5ml every 3 hours. I am so happy that all the milk I've been pumping and all that wonderful collostrum is being put to good use. He loved his first feeding and I am eager to keep up pumping for them. Sawyer will hopefully be able to start garage feedings tomorrow.

I am being released from the hospital tomorrow and then will get to figure out the back and forth between home and hospital. I will hopefully be able to

Welcome Sawyer and Briggs Johnson!

2011-05-08T15:40:00.000-07:00

Well we have 2 new boys to add to our family. Sawyer B and Briggs S. Sawyer was born at 11:43am and Briggs at 11:44am on May 6th. I am not sure where to start...I am still in the hospital and trying to post this on my mom's IPad. They both weighed 6 lbs 3 oz. Both boys ended up in the NICU for fluid in their lungs. Unfortunately they got steadily worse with needing help with breathing. It seems that whatever Sawyer does Briggs is soon to follow. We are not allowed to hold them or touch them right now because it stresses them out too much. The neonatalogist finally decided this morning that both boys needed catheters into their belly buttons because they were having a difficult time getting IVs in their tiny veins. I guess that an IV will deteriorate in about a12hours and need to be replaced. Poor Sawyer was poked 6times before they decided that catheters were a better way to go.

Both boys were steadily needing more oxygen and a higher flow of oxygen. Sawyer was on 100% for a little while. Briggs was sitting at 60%. They decided to do a CPAP (Continuous Positive Airflow Pressure) on both boys (hopefully I get all the right information and spelling down). The CPAP forces air into their lungs and so they stay open. They also are giving them surfactant (sp?) which also helps their lungs stay open. It was explained to me as they are trying so hard to breathe. It is like they are trying to blow up a balloon that has not been blown up before. They have been breathing so hard and fast it is like they are trying to run a marathon. This proceedure helps them not work as hard to breathe. Because of all this, they haven't even tried letting them eat and are just giving them fluids.

Last night we were surprised that both my mom and Derrick's parents decided to come and see the boys. It has been really nice to have the extra support. My mom is staying with me until Monday at the hospital and Derrick's parents are at the house helping with our other boys. Derrick was able to give both boys priesthood blessings with his dad. I know that God is watching over us and I feel His love so strongly. Sawyer and Briggs just need some time to get past this hurdle. They will probably be in the NICU for at least a week. The nurses are doing a great job and I am grateful for their care for our boys. Please think of the boys in your prayers.

Babies are coming

2011-05-06T03:05:00.000-07:00

May 6, 2011...good day to have some babies?? Just thought I would blog really quick while I'm eating my last snack before I have my c-section today. The doctor took mercy on me and let me move my date up a couple of days. I am really glad because it has been getting harder for me to sleep. I am officially 37 weeks and am really excited. At the doctor this week, the babies were weighing in at 5 lbs 8 oz and 5 lbs 10 ounces according to the ultrasound. Hopefully the ultrasound is fairly accurate and they are at least 5 lbs a piece. This is such a perfect early mother's day present to me. We feel so blessed to be able to have these two little boys in our lives in addition to the 3 other boys that we already have been blessed with. I will post picts as soon as I can...(I don't know if Derrick will get around to it while I'm at the hospital).
Wish us luck!

As a side note...Tony, Turner, and Levi are going to be playing with some friends today after school. Turner said that he super excited about today because he will get to go swimming with his friends...oh and he is excited about the babies too. LOL. I love all my little guys :)

36 weeks!

2011-04-29T09:22:00.001-07:00

WOOHOO! I can't believe I made it to 36 weeks. There were many days that I really thought that I wouldn't get here. My groin is feeling better but my ankles are super swollen and my wrists are not feeling the greatest with the carpal tunnel. But right now, I feel so blessed to be able to make it this far. My c-section is scheduled on May 11th at 4:30...only 12 days away! We will see if I make it to that date :) but I am just so happy right now. I just hope everything continues to progress well and the babies get here safely! I will feel like I've just finished a marathon...but I think it will mark the beginning of another one! Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers for us!

Easter Fun

2011-04-25T11:22:00.001-07:00

The kids got to play a game where they hopped from hoop to hoop without trying to drop any eggs out of their baskets. Turner is jumping above.
Tony relishing his pancakes and sausages

Derrick was able to take the boys to the church for a pancake and sausage breakfast and Easter Egg Hunt. I was home recovering from my pulled muscle. I am glad they had such a good time!

Pulled Groin

2011-04-25T11:08:00.000-07:00

Really? How can I possibly pull a groin while getting in and out of bed? I am not sure but I accomplished it. I pulled it on Thursday evening before bed. I thought I had just tweaked it and it would work itself out but I was in for a suprise.

I tried to get up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night (I make about 3 to 4 trips nowadays) and literally couldn't walk. It was an incredible effort just to get on my feet and after a couple of steps was reduced to tears. I was trying to be quiet because I knew Derrick was tired but after a couple of minutes he heard me and got up to help me walk to the bathroom. It was a good 10 minutes to walk less than 10 feet. I felt so helpless and was just grateful that he was able to help me. It took a while to get back into bed and after he lifted my leg up for me so I could lay down, I was having some doubt as to how I was going to manage the next day.

Luckily Tony and Turner didn't have school on Friday, and my sweet boys helped me put my legs in and out of bed. Derrick gave me a priesthood blessing. I am so grateful that he is able to do that for me. I felt inspired to use the office chair as a "walker" to move from my bed and rocking chair to the bathroom. I knew that my boys weren't strong enough to help me walk and I needed something to lean on. Levi thought it was pretty cool and wanted to ride on it when I pushed it around. Tony helped me make grilled cheese for lunch and Derrick decided to take a half day so he could take care of me. My visiting teacher brought me some dinner and I was able to make it through a day.

It is now Monday and I am hobbling around. I am trying to stay off it as much as possible. I no longer need my "walker" and am so grateful that I am able to function :) So much drama for a little pulled muscle. I am sure that a pulled groin is painful anyways but all my extra girth isn't helping much :) I told Derrick that I am sure that I will look back and laugh about it. It is pretty funny to think of how pitiful I was for a couple days.

Getting into stuff

2011-04-25T10:55:00.000-07:00

Levi got into some chocolate cake mix while I was putting my feet up. My feet have been getting really swollen so I have been trying to stay down as much as I can. I hadn't heard him in a while but I figured Tony and Turner would be home from school in 5 mins or so...so I was probably safe.

When Turner got home he went into the kitchen and came back "Levi is having a problem!" I quickly (well okay...I can't move that fast anymore) got up to investigate. Levi had got a box of chocolate cake mix out of the cupboard (it is usually child proofed but I guess wasn't latched), opened it and was sticking his fingers into it. I looked at him and he turns to me and says "I just wanted some cupcakes Mom". I guess I haven't made cupcakes in a while and figured I should just take a picture and clean it up. At least he opened it on the table while sitting in his chair. He could have dumped it all over the floor...which would have been practically impossible for me to bend over and clean.

Man of many talents

2011-04-17T18:17:00.000-07:00

There have been so many instances that I am soooo grateful that I married Derrick! He has been so great in taking care of me and us. I am very grateful that his mom (G-ma) taught him how to cook and clean. He does a VERY good job of it and since I have been trying to be down so much lately, he has made most meals and we are eating at least as good as if I were cooking for us. The house is hanging in there and he and the boys are really doing a great job helping out where I can't. He is doing an awesome job at work and just is amazing. Thanks so much babe!