Parenting 101

This was a post I started just before the boys were born, but never published.  This Sunday, while doing our family planning for the week, I looked at the calendar and realized February 1st a year ago, was when I was initially put on bedrest.  The gripping fear, anxiety, and stress of that period in our lives is something I don't think Dan or I will ever forget, and hopefully something we never have to go through again.

To say we've learned a lot would be an understatement.  Thinking back on our year, I know I've had to acquire more backbone and really stick to my guns with regard to how we/I choose to parent/mother our children . . . occasionally with friends, or family but especially when it has come to doctors. There have been heartaches, challenges, many sleepless nights, lots of reading/research, phone calls trying to figure out how to 'do' this parenting thing.  It's been a sharp learning curve, and the lessons are far from over, but we have made some progress.

Reading this tidbit from year ago, gave me a glimpse into heaven and made the veil seem a bit thinner as I thought of our loving Father in Heaven gently, tenderly guiding us along.

From 2012: The idea of being a parent truly scares me.  Despite that, I had a moment about 1 1/2 months ago which gave me a glimpse into my eternal 401k and actually made me excited about being a mom.  We are going to have he opportunity to bring two of God's children into this world - what an awesome responsibility!  I know it's going to be challenging and we are going to make a lot of mistakes, but I am grateful as well.  Grateful I get to do this with Dan by my side and for the father he will be; grateful for how abundantly we've been blessed in the time we have been married; grateful to know there is a purpose to this life; and grateful for the knowledge that I can learn a great deal about parenting from our Heavenly Father.  Knowing all of that, does parenting still scare me?  Yes, yes it does . . . but I am grateful to know we are not in this alone.

The trouble with twins . . .

. . . . is that there are two. 

Truer words were never spoken.  It's been a bit of crazy few months around here, mostly because there are two. . . and they have already discovered the beauty of tag-teaming.  We will get one baby settled down and the other will start fussing almost at any given time during the day.  It makes for long days, but they have finally started sleeping for six to seven hours at night (Hallelujah!). 

Although you wouldn't know it, we had one heck of a time getting this picture; in fact, Dan and I were both pleasantly surprised we got a picture that turned out so well - these boys like to wiggle around, a lot!  Some of the bloopers are quite hilarious. 

That's the latest from our neck of the woods.  We'll post more again when one of them isn't fussing ;)

Learning to expect the unexpected.

This pregnancy has been quite an experience for both Dan and I.  While it has not been what we thought it would be in many regards, we have felt and seen the hand of the Lord throughout this experience.  I think it has shown us that we are not the ones in charge and has also reassured us that things will happen according to the timing and the will of the Lord.  I know He is aware of us and of these little boys. One thing I keep coming back to in this experience is how my specialist responded at our first visit when he found out we were LDS.  He knew we would be taken care of, and we have been; due in part to our knowledge about families and that they can be eternal as well as the temporal 'relief and watchcare' of family and our ward family here. What a blessing the gospel is in our lives! 

Our 2nd annual Christmas 'P' tradition 2011

We realized upon arrival to the Pittock Mansion, in 2010 we went to Peacock Lane (a popular street in downtown where many homes have Christmas lights) with our friends the Bushchicken's aka the Hedgecock's.  Afterword (last year as well as this year) we stopped at Starbucks for their infamous spiced carmel apple cider = fatty goodness.  We thought it might be fun to start doing an annual December 'P' outing/activity every year . . . we'll see what we come up with this year. 

The Pittock Mansion is a mansion with an incredible view of Portland.  Each year the place is decked out in Christmas decor from all over so we thought it would be fun to check it out. Here are some pictures taken by Peter - our unofficial outing photographer. 

 
Here we decided to do our own version of the 'Kardashian Christmas Card'.  How'd we do?

And us actually smiling . . . 

Both families in front of the mansion and enjoying the view of the city. Hedgecock's oldest son, Jordan, took this picture and did a great job!

Christmas traditions

We are experimenting each year with new ideas of things we'd like to start as family traditions.  This year, Dan cut down our first Christmas tree.  They grow here like you wouldn't believe and you can get a good sized tree for about $20.  Love it!

We also decided to bake a ham (my first) and enjoyed eating it, picking at it etc. this week.  We have managed to maintain a tasty spread of treats and healthy snacks, make gingerbread houses (Dan's first in quite a few years) and visit the Pittock Mansion with friends.  I also thought it would be fun to start getting a Christmas book, a new ornament, and for good measure, a game as traditions too. We were successful on all counts this year. . . we'll see how well we do next year :)

My gingerbread house had quite a few roof cave-ins but luckily still managed to turn out okay.  Dan's was done with precision, structural soundness and a steady hand.  Both turned out great, and we had a lot of fun doing them together.