I love my brother....

Ramsey is so in love with her big brother... can you tell???? This time it wasn't rooting... but she may have been looking for her binky:) I'd like to think it's just plain sibling love, but I won't be that naive. Let's just pretend, because it makes for a cute picture!

9 weeks

Hard to believe we are almost in the double digits! The babies are just so much fun. They are both smiling at me and the kids all the time. Ramsey is cooing and making the sweetest sounds you've ever heard while Slade is a "grunter"... still cute, not as sweet sounding. They are sleeping better at night too... which means I'm sleeping a little better at night. We are still up 2-3 times, but it's to eat and back to bed!

Keller and Saylor have FULLY adjusted to the 2 new lives that are HERE TO STAY. Saylor is in heaven .. still... and Keller is loving 2 more people to tease.

The bad guys...

As Keller and Saylor understand it... "the bad guys have taken over our house and our bodies" this week. Sickness is merely the bad guys beating up the good guys, and our goal is to get those good guys strong enough to fight back and WIN!! Needless to say the bad guys are winning. Today is day 7 of fevers, some vomitting, coughing and runny noses. Keller got it last sunday and every night spikes a fever of 104. Saylor got it the next day, then I got it, now Slade... last night it hit Ramsey and Kingsley. It has been such a challenging week to say the least. I know only God has gotten us through as there were many times I was so feverish and "delerious" on the couch that I had NO idea where the kids were and what they were doing. Most of the time they were next to me on the couch as no one had energy to do anything. On the positive side, the kids have felt so miserable they have agreed to taking shots of apple cidar vinegar to break up the cough, drink vegtable juice, soak in COLD baths, and do all kinds of other "weird" things. I'm so proud of them. The one day I had to do the ice cold bath was excrutiating... I now have so much compassion for what they go through. They have been on a orange/pinapple/grapefruit juice fast since last monday.. and have done so well with it. I know it takes longer for them to get better w/o the medicine, but they have been so wonderful through the aches and pains. I'm a little worried about the little ones.. they seem to be getting it now... and they are so little. I pray they can fight it off and it doesn't attack their little bodies as bad as it has the rest of us.

Anyway, we are getting ready for the arrival of one of the MOST special people in my life, my KIWI! We've been best friends for as long as i can remember! She has literally kept me sane and grounded through the trials of life. She is willing to leave her family to come out and visit with me and the kids. Words can't express how excited I am to see her. She can make me laugh like no one else can and is just so grounded. I guess I always thought that by hanging around her I'd become more grounded as well:) I'll be sure to post pics of our weekend together.

Anyway, I've lacked in pictures b/c my soul purpose has been SURVIVAL! I took this pic today as the twins were having "play time together" Ramsey just loves to touch and poke at her big brother. He tolerates it for the most part... but isn't happy when she goes in for the hair (never mess with a man's hair). When I see them together I'm still shocked they came out of me... it's just so odd to have two, but wonderful as well.

I'm off to find some clean sheets... not an easy find these days...

down but not out...

Well the day has finally come... a day I dreaded... a day most mother's dread... the day when ALL your kids (and you) are infected with sickness! On Sunday Keller picked up something.. it starts with a fever, vomitting, coughing, runny nose (whining and crying seem to be a big part of it too). I got it Monday, Saylor Tuesday and the twins are coming down with it as well. Some minutes I don't know how we'll get through the day between everyone throwing up or screaming or having a coughing spell (wetting beds and just screaming for no reason)... but the sun still rises the next day and we are all here ... Thankfully Kingsley has avoided it so far. The one thing I need to get better (sleep) just doesn't seem to be in the near future. On a positive note everyone has been on a juice fast so I haven't had to cook all week.

Please pray for us as we learn how to be more patient, more tolerant, more loving and thoughtful of one another. I'm just hoping we can shake this thing soon.... everyone is irritable and feeling horrible. I try to remember each one of them feels just as awful as I do...... so I need to have compassion on them. Amidst the craziness, Ramsey (the least affected) has kept us smiling with her smiles and "coo's". It's funny how one little grin from a baby can melt away all the worries of the world. Here she is ... our strong one at this point!

I've fallen in LOVE ... again..

Here's my new man...

"until she dies"....

So I had just gotten Ramsey to settle down and fall asleep on the couch (don't worry... they don't roll... yet) and Keller comes running up and ROARS in her face. She of coarse throws her hands back in fear and screams for her life. Needless to say after going on 2 hours of sleep I was anything BUT happy with Keller. The rule is for the older two kids is this: If you purposefully wake one of the twins up, it's your job to sit and hold a binky or bottle with them until they are back asleep again. So I tell Keller, "you know the rule, go find a binky and help calm her down". I go into the kitchen and he mumbles, "Oh man, OK mommy, I will sit with her until she dies". It took a minute or two before I made sense of what he said and I asked "what did you say"? He said, "sure, I can sit with her until she is dead". A little shocked I asked "Why in the world would you say that? Why do you think she is going to die"? He said "because you told me that... " he then proceeds to remind me of a conversation 2 weeks ago we had. I had told them that sometimes babies can cry SO HARD that they could stop breathing (it happened to Slade that day)... I told them we need to breathe to live, so it's important to make sure we don't cover their heads with blankets or do anything to make them stop breathing. In his mind... he scared her so much to the point that her screaming was going to cause her to stop breathing. He so willingly (and with SUCH a good attitude) was just going to "sit with her until she dies"... LOL!!!!

Slade's 1st smile.

I just happened to catch the END of Slade's first smile (other than the "gas" ones). Ramsey has been smiling a few days now... her first smile was at Saylor... but Slade stole mommy's heart when he smiled at me first:)

Graeter's Ice Cream..

For those of you NOT from OHIO... there is truly only ONE ice cream worth indulging in, and NO, it's not ben and jerry's! If you are going to truly binge on ice cream, it can ONLY be Graeter's ice cream. The problem is this: it can only be bought in OHIO. So those of us in California may have perfect weather, but we are far from having the perfect ice cream. I was more than blessed by my aunt, uncle and cousins when I received 6 pints on my door step! That is right, they SHIPPED it from Ohio with dry ice! Believe it or not, I did decide to save a pint or two for Kingsley. I will make you covet by letting you all know I received vanilla chip, mint chip, mocha chip, toffee chip, chocolate chocolate chip and the famous black raspberry chip! YUMMY!!! You can tell by the picture I was MORE than excited. Thank you so much Aunt Cindy and Chelsea (Uncle Dick too:) If interested you can ship it too by going to graeters.com!

Thanks Nikki..

My sweet cousin got the twins these amazing monogrammed onsies with matching chenille bibs! I absolutely LOVE them. Here are some pics from our photo shoot. You can see their personalities in them, but sweet Ramsey did get fussy towards the end.

The Stranger....

I had such a good laugh today. I took the kids out to pick up a few things and we were in the store when an odd elderly woman approached us. She wanted to see the twins and kept trying to touch them and pick them up. She appeared to be homeless. She was oohing and aahing over the twins so much then turned to Keller and said "Oh honey, I'm sorry, I know you need love and hugs too, so come give Grandma a hug". He wasn't into her too much but allowed her to hug him (as he was busy looking at toys). Then she said to Saylor "come to grandma and give me a hug" (to which Saylor gave her a huge bear hug-UNLIKE SAYLOR). I felt bad for this woman, it seemed the hug was more for her. She obviously didn't have anywhere to be and would've talked all day, at the same time, I was a little worried that my kids sense of a "stranger" seemed to be missing. The woman was starting to get into our "personal space" a little too much, so we had to say our good byes and go to the opposite side of the store. When I reached a safe place I leaned down to Saylor and said "Honey, do you remember our conversation about strangers?" She replied "yes". I said "well honey, you KNOW that was a stranger, right"? She replied EMPHATICALLY, "No Mommy, that was NOT a stranger", and I argued back, "yes honey it was". She argues back, "NO IT WAS NOT"... and I ask, "OK then, well who was she"? and she said "IT WAS GRANDMA!!!". Oh how sweet and innocent she was in that moment and I busted out laughing.... We had a talk in the car about how that was a nice lady, but some people may purposefully be deceitful to get kids away from their mommies...

On another note... Keller mentioned today that he "can't wait to grow up and be human".

I love the things kids say....

This one goes out to my uncle Don and fam... GO BUCKS

Being from Ohio you have NO choice but to be a buckeye fan, well you have a choice, but it's dangerous to be anything BUT a buckeye fan...

I found this little Michigan outfit years ago and thought it may give my uncle Don some anxiety to see a Family member (especially one with the "Ramsey" name) in anything but OSU.... Slade came through though and sported the OSU outfit.

I have a feeling we'll be doing A LOT of "dressing up" with the twins... they'll have to endure a lot!!!

Sleeping

Ahhhhh ... what a precious site FOR ME! I should be sleeping as well and NOT taking pictures.

5 weeks old!

Hard to believe they are over a month now... and you can see it too. They are slowly losing the "newborn" look. I may be ready for another (just kidding... kind of). I do love newborns... and toddlers... and kids! Anyway, they are doing well. They aren't sleeping any better, but I'm getting to know their personalities which is helping to know what they need/want when they cry.

Slade is doing this thing where he grabs a handful of hair, then screams for his life because he can't figure out how to let go. It's so funny and sad at the same time. I never had this problem with the others because they were all born bald! Ramsey just sits and stares at him as he screams. It's so entertaining for her. She is so good and content. She only cries when she is hungry. She just sit and watches everything. Slade is completely the opposite. When he's awake, my heart races because I KNOW FULL WELL he's not going to sit and be content. They are just amazing and fun. I have to pinch myself at times (partly because I'm afraid I'm sleep walking) but because I feel so blessed!

Anyway, here they are at 5 weeks.