7 Months

Morgan and Riley turned 7 months on the 1st.  They are growing and learning so much every day!

Morgan sleeps so well in his crib and usually sleeps all night.
Riley is a finicky sleeper and usually ends up in our room in a pack and play at some point in the night.
Morgan is a finicky eater.  He fusses when being fed something that he doesn't agree with and that is mostly baby food.  He prefers 'solid' solid food.
Riley will eat just about anything, but his tummy is a little more sensitive so some foods do not agree with him.  He also stores food in his cheeks like a little chipmunk!
Morgan rolls EVERYWHERE and fast!  He is never in one place for too long. He is just now starting to sit.
Riley is a pro at sitting and is content to sit and watch everyone else and wait for toys to be brought to him.  He does not like to roll at all.
Both boys love their baths.
Both boys are rapidly growing out of their infant seats.
Both boys are so cute and giggly and we love them so much!

Bye Bye Binky!

So for over a year we have been trying to find a way to get rid of Evan's binky.

Evan LOVES his binky.  We would only let him have it at nap and bed time and occasionally in the car.  Sometimes he would trick us and he would have it throughout the day.  He couldn't go to sleep without it. Or so we thought.

We talked with Evan for about a month telling him what was going to happen and when his binky was going away.  On Saturday, after breakfast, we rounded up all the binkies, put them in a bag and Tony threw them away.  Evan traded them for Alvin the Allosaurus and Arni.  He also got to start riding in his big boy booster seat because he is a big kid now. We made the day more special with green cupcakes. He was excited to trade his binkies for his dinos and to be treated like a big kid.

We thought we were going to see convulsions, fits of rage, non-stop crying and simply inconsolable behavior.  Instead we got a couple of "I want my binky back....I just kidding you!!!" Then at nap time we had about 2 minutes of tears and that's it.  No tears at bed time or nap time today or bed time today!  Boy do we feel played!  Either that or he was just SO prepared that he understands the binky will never come back.

Ugggghhhh!  I think it was harder on me!  For 3 1/2 years we always made sure to grab the binky when we left the house, searched for binkies in the middle of the night, packed binkies for overnight visits, etc.  Not to mention with a binky in his mouth he was still a baby :-(  But he will always be MY baby :-)

3 years of the binky

Newborn

1st birthday

2nd birthday

3rd birthday

I knew he wouldn't go to college with a binky :-)

Soccer

Evan started soccer on Friday and he had a blast!

I was a little worried that he wouldn't participate or that he wouldn't listen to the coach or even want to wear the shin guards  but he proved me wrong.  Goes to show how much my baby boy has grown and matured in the last year.

He met his coach, coach Adam, and and even shook his hand.  He got right out on the field and started kicking the ball around with the other kids.  We ran into a little girl from his preschool class and also a very aggressive little girl and her brother who really put me into protective mode :-)  When the coach blew his whistle Evan listened and he was truly interested in what the coach had to say.

It was pretty chaotic because there were so many kids but it was the first day and I think it went well.

 This is the first of many sporting events in our future, I am sure!

Sunny Days

We have had a couple of gorgeous days and we have totally taken advantage of them!

Friday We spent some time at the park and Morgan and Riley experienced the swing for the first time.  They both fit in 1 baby swing and it was so cute watching their faces as they went back and forth, wind in their face.

Evan has done so much growing in the last year that I forgot that he really hadn't been on a regular "big kid" swing!  He was pretty nervous at first but once I showed him that he wasn't going to fall as long as he held on he did great!

After a long winter indoors, we are loving the sunshine and so look forward to many more days at the park!

No Time

I don't blog nearly as often as I would like too.  Sometimes I think I will have plenty of time when everyone naps or when everyone is in bed or when everyone is playing, but it seems like those "free" times get sucked up with other things.....laundry (never ending), bottle washing, cleaning, relaxing, errand running, etc.

Sometimes I am just too tired by the time I get a free minute.

So this is what is going on in our lives right now.

Evan just got back from Idaho with Nana and Papa.  He had so much fun!  He is starting Soccer on Friday and on Saturday his binky is going in the garbage.  He is doing well in preschool and I am signing him up for a peer modeling preschool at Mountain Meadow Elementary school for next year.  I am excited about this because I am hoping to get him into Early Kindergarten the year after.  Evan loves his brothers especially Morgan.  Morgan and Evan wrestle already and he can really make Morgan laugh.  Evan is growing up so fast and growing right out of his clothes!

Morgan and Riley both have colds and pink eye right now :-( they are pretty miserable.  We are still experimenting with food.  Morgan seems to tolerate anything but Riley has a pretty sensitive stomach and is not into eating as much as Morgan.  Both boys are rapidly outgrowing their car seats so we are in the process of switching all 3 boys into the next size up. Morgan sleeps all night in his crib and occasionally wakes up to eat once in the night to eat, but generally stays pretty happy and will just lay in his crib and "talk".  Riley is having trouble sleeping.  He cries often and all night long.  He usually ends up in a pack and play in our room.

I am working hard in my very limited spare time, to get my resume ready to find a job this next school year.  I am determined to find a job.  Sometimes I feel like I went into the wrong profession at the wrong time. Nobody is hiring people who don't have a ton of experience.  I haven't sub nearly as much as I have wanted to.  But I am not going to let that stop me.  I am going to research and refresh my memory on all the "lingo", talk with friends and really put myself out there.

Tony is an awesome dad.  Although he has tried to no avail to get a job, he has kept a pretty positive attitude, still fixes computers on the side and is working hard on our finances at the moment to ensure that we have a bright and secure future.

Through all our business we still try to have fun.  We play and read.  Take little day trips and spend time together as a family.

6 Months

Morgan and Riley are 6 months old now

1/2 a year has gone by since their birth.

They are 1/2 way to a year old.

Where has the time gone?!?

Morgan is rolling all over the place, it is how he get around.
Riley doesn't roll yet but he is getting close.
Floor time for Riley is getting more bearable.
Morgan LOVES to move and jump.
Both boys loves cuddles and kisses.
Both boys are napping in their cribs and start out in their cribs at night, they like their cribs.
Both boys put themselves to sleep.
Both boys like solid food, although Morgan is a little more picky about textures...Riley eats anything!
Both boys are sitting for longer periods of time.
They are more aware of each other now and will grab each other when on the floor and almost wrestle.
Morgan belly laughs at Evan and is very ticklish.
Riley likes to smile but it takes a lot to make him laugh.

Both boys are growing way too fast, but I love every stage with them!

I love these boys....all my boys.

The Story of Morgan and Riley

So it turns out Morgan and Riley's conception wasn't so cut and dry as I thought it was.

Yes we used IVF.
Yes we only had ONE embryo implanted.
Yes we had twins.

HOWEVER....

No they are not identical they are in fact fraternal.
No the doctors did not accidentally put 2 embryos in.
No it was not an imacculat conception...LOL

It turns out we conceived naturally at the same time that we conceived through IVF and it all just happened to be the perfect storm....but an amazingly wonderful story that resulted in my amazing baby boys!

So the story might be TMI for some people, I am warning you now :-)

Tony and I tried to get pregnant for YEARS almost our entire married life.  I have Poly-cystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) meaning I do not ovulate.  Any eggs I have simply turn into cysts on my ovaries and fade away.  We have tried so many different ways of getting pregnant before being referred to Seattle Reproductive Medicine (SRM) for IVF.  Through the IVF process 4 years ago I got pregnant on our first try with Evan (ahhhh we were so in love) we had what we had been trying for for so long (could be why he is a spoiled brat LOL...Just kidding).  We had frozen embryos left over and I tried once to no avail and the second time on Evan's 2nd birthday I miscarried.  We were heartbroken and didn't know if we wanted to ever try again, but we thought since Evan was a "fresh" cycle we would try another fresh cycle (a last ditch effort because we had exhausted all of our resources) and it in fact was a success!
Now backing up just a little bit.  The way IVF works is I am pumped full of hormones and stimulation meds to help my ovaries mature as many eggs as possible (but not too many) and then they retrieve those eggs, fertilize them with Tony's sperm and wait to see which ones actually mature into embryos.  In 3-5 days 1 or 2 embryos are implanted in my uterus depending on how strong they look and our personal choice of whether we want to risk multiples.  We did not want to risk multiples so we opted for 1 embryo.
Now to back up a few days.  We are to abstain for sex for 5 days before they retrieve my eggs so that they get the max potency of sperm from Tony.  Well the doctors have since told Tony that he has "super sperm" and boy is he running with that term...LOL  anyway just meaning they are strong, they live long and swim fast. The point of me telling you this is that Tony and I shared a romantic evening 6 days before egg retrieval knowing full well it would be awhile before we could be in that position again.  When they retrieved my eggs they retrieved 21 eggs from my right ovary and only 3 from my left.  My left ovary was hard to reach, but had just as many mature eggs, however they could not get them all and just left them to expire.  In this process 1, 2, 3 who knows how many eggs ovulated on their own from this ovary and there in my uterus just waiting for an egg to fertilize was Tony's sperm!  OMG It really couldn't be more meant to be!

I say it is like the perfect storm because:
1. It is rare for a woman to ovulate during an IVF treatment
2. It is unthinkable for me to ovulate AT ALL!
3. It is rare, but has been recorded in textbooks, for sperm to live 6 days waiting for an egg to fertilize.
4. It is rare for an embryo making its home in a uterus to not be jolted, scared, traumatized by another embryo being implanted next to it by a long tube!

These boys really wanted to be here and they were both strong from the start.  We love them SO much and even though life is really though right now, we are really blessed to have them.  I am amazed when I see their smiley faces everyday.  I can't wait for the day when they will understand this story and then argue over who was who :-)

Morgan Michael

Riley Michael

I love my crazy little family and my house full of boys!