yIKEs!

Ike is on its way to my home... :(

This brings back terrible memories of Hurricane Rita 3 years ago and the mass Exodus.

This time I am not an evacuee, but all of our family is hunkering down and getting ready to ride out the storm.

PS-I did not forget to post the 6 month celebration post. It is patiently awaiting my return in my edit box. Unfortunately, I am now a working mother and don't have the time I used to. I have been choosing sleep over blogging. I hope to return shortly after the newness of school wears off.

I love gifts!

I have always been a fan of gifts. Lately, I have been in great awe (and a little jealous) of other peoples' gifts.

I always wished I could sing like this.

I love dancing. Love it!

Wish I could dance like this...

(shout out to So You Think You Can Dance-This was one of favorite dances. Just beautiful!)

I am in awe of the athleticism of the Olympics.

Wish I could swim like this...

God is so Good and gives us so many talents and gifts. I am not sure what my "World Record Achievement" will be, but I have a good guess:

Am I Seeing Double?

One year ago today, I dragged my pucking butt out of the house for the 1st time in 5 weeks. At this point I had been very, very, very sick and lost 6 lbs already! (Impressive since I was growing 2 babies at the time) I knew that I would be sick during pregnancy, but really?! This was sooo much more than I ever could have expected. I had spent the last 5 weeks staring at the fan between "episodes" (every 3 hours-just like their feeding schedule which I think is wild now.) I was thinking this is TERRIBLE and I AM NEVER DOING THIS AGAIN. I was trying every home remedy known to man, 3 different types of drugs, and finally on this 8th week the doctor called me in something that stopped the vomiting (not the nausea) and I took this drug twice a day for the next 8 1/2 months. "What to expect when you are expecting" became my quick reference for every little thing I read that some EXTREME sickness can mean that there is a multiple pregnancy. Well, I felt like this was extreme, but was it extreme enough for twins? No...It is just "morning" (noon, and night) sickness.

August 8th, 2007 finally came and Michael and I went to the Doctor's office. I was trying not to vomit the whole time and Michael was soooo anxious. We had to wait an hour and half to see the Doctor. We met with her and she went over the usual stuff. I am still not wrapping my heart around the fact that we are pregnant. I am not believing anything until I see it. We go back in the sonogram room and she feels my belly. It was really sensitive and I winced a little.

I remember the doctor doing a "hmmm" moment, but thought nothing of it.

The screen popped on and she moved the thing real fast and came to the sack. (This was her seeing that there were 2, but keeping it a surprise.) "Here is your first baby." On the screen was this little peanut. I was soooo memorized. A healthy little baby inside me-IV real! "And here is your second baby!" Think of a car slamming on their breaks and that screeching noise you hear-"What?!" "How could this be??!!" "What?!!" "But, I don't even have twins in the family." "Is everything ok?" "But, what?!!" (mouth dropped the whole time-speechless)

So, 1 year ago today was the most shocking of my whole life. I was scared. I couldn't imagine that a 5ft 1" girl of 26 could carry 2 little babies. Oh, but I did. Much to my former body's demise, I did. I stretched and pulled and stretched and pulled and made it past 37 weeks to welcome the most perfect little boys God ever created.

Happy Surprise Day!

Below:

Twin "A" : Dylan Matthew (top) and "Twin "B": Brody Daniel (bottom)

Back to School Blues

I've got the blues!

The sleepless nights have begun.

The tossing in turning has set in.

Tears have begun to creep up.

Anixety is taking over.

It is that time.

Back to School time.



It is always hard to go back, but I am finding that this is heart wrenching. I have spent everyday with the boys since school has been out. We haven't been apart-inseparable. When Michael would go on his youth trips, I had them 24 hours a day. I have watched these little boys grow from little babies to little boys. And I am very, very, very sad to be leaving them. I really was hoping for a part-time job. I know that I enjoy being plugged in the teaching world, but I am so nervous about going full force and keeping up with being the best mom I can be. I am always sooooo nervous about getting a good group of kiddos. I just want the sacrifice to be worth it. This is my 6th year to teach and the group of kiddos really can change your whole teaching perspective. Since I have begun to teach the pre-k group my stress level about a good class has gone up sooo much. Please know how to hold a pencil, please have some cutting ability. I had one year when my whole class had never cut anything in their whole life. Everything was soooooo much more difficult and it took us till January to do an age-appropriate job. I miss teaching Kindergarten...

Oddly enough I am not nervous about leaving them at school. (yet.) I have taken them to the nursery since they were 3 months old so I can practice for now.

I think was is bothering me the most is the schedule the boys have been on for the last 3 months is all messed up. Like I said before, we are trying to figure out why Brody is waking up through out the night. I think they are going through a growing faze and our feeding are changing times. I am so stressed about getting this all figured out in the next week because I am not going to be here. And we need our schedule!



Sorry to ramble. Anyone out there made the break?

Night Night

Tonight is an experiment. We are going back to basics and returning to co-sleeping. That is the boys sharing a crib again. They slept together for almost 5 months. When we outgrew the swaddling at night, the boys had a harder time going to sleep and were all over the place in the crib. Brody would kick Dylan in the neck, they would roll on top of each other, and pull each other's passies out. So we split them up into separate spaces. Brody has had a difficult time and hasn't been resting well at all. At first I thought it was him getting sick. Then we thought is was those awful teething pains. I have 2 more suspicions and missing brother is one of them. He loves, loves, loves to cuddle and really sleeps well when he is tucked right next to someone.So tonight I put them together to sleep. The boys had minimal whimpering, a round of mobile time, a round of soother music, and 1 passie duty to zzzzzzzz. It has been 2 hours so far and they are still doing great. They have been wombmates and bedmates and I guess that is the way Brody likes it. He loves his Big Brother.

PS:We finished our antibiotics today! Yea!!! They are breathing much easier.

Shhh! Babies Sleeping.

We have been under the weather (and under house arrest-ahhhhh!) for a week now.

So like any sick person-we have been wanting to be held all the time...

and sleeping a lot.

SHHHHHHHHHH!

It only takes a bounce to get a nap going!

GOING, GOING

We love to bounce on mommy's core ball.

GONE!
We love to nap on mommy's core ball.

We've got the blues

(note:my sad face)

We 3 are sick for the first time! Thursday Brody has lots of drainage and coughing. Friday, Dylan started up with the summertime crud. Saturday I was having the same symptoms. Today we are all starting a round of antibiotics. I am very nervous about giving the boys drugs, but I want them to get better. For being sick, they have been very happy little boys.

We have been home for 5 days and everone has been in pretty good spirits.

Mommy and Brody's Self Portrait while sick

Dylan and Daddy playing while home sick
(one of my fave pics of all time!)

Brody is counting his toes.

Dylan is working on his physique. Pump it,D!

Dylan doing push-ups

Give me a high FIVE!

We are 5 months old!

IV Real!!!!

I can not believe that the boys are 5 months already! They are just a joy to be with each day-even when they are SCREAMING because their gums hurt.

Our new tricks include:

* rolling over both ways

*drooling buckets

*giggling and laughing-My personal favorite!

*talking and jabbering

*trying to escape from the bouncy seats and car seats

*reading books with Daddy

We love our boys very much! They are very special and we thank God for our blessings!!!

Special Challenge:

Can you tell who is on the Left and who is on the Right????

Double this, Double that

It seems like the past year I have been seeing double. A year ago Aug. 8th we found out there was DOUBLE the blessing growing inside of me. Since Feb. 22 everything has been DOUBLED. Car seats,bouncies, bumbos, passies, sweet kisses, and giggles. It only fits that "the girls" should be 34 DOUBLES. I have been putting off writing about this on the blog, but it has changed my life. I guess with DOUBLING the feeding, the girls had to grow...but really!!?? I CAN NOT WAIT till I say adios to the DOUBLES. Until then you will be hearing me sing
Do your DOUBLES hang low, Do they wobble to and fro?
Can you tie them in a knot, Can you tie them in a bow?
Can you throw them over your shoulder like a cotton tin soldier?
Do your DOUBLES hang low?

Pose for the camera, Now click with it!

Michael did the wedding for my cousin Jon and Krystina a couple of weekends ago. It was great to go to Houston and see family! Krystina was beautiful, the wedding was beautiful, and of course my boys were HANDSOME!

The boys are stylin' with the groom all of them in their blue and white stripes.

Brody is such a ladies man getting love from the bride!

While in Houston, we stopped by one of my favorite store's (and Dylan's too!)

The boys are just getting so big. I hope to blog (yeah-right) about all their changes, but I figured if I didn't do something...I might lose all my readers-if I haven't already!

Uno, Dos, Tres, QUATRO!!!!

OH MY GOODNESS...THE BOYS ARE 4 MONTHS OLD!!!

I will post all the fun things about being 4 months as soon as Dylan cooperates with my camera. I got sweet pics of Brody, though.

DUMB DOG

"Dumb dog, Why are you bothering me? I ain't got a crumb dog. How about letting me be?"

-Annie

I am devastated...My precious plants are no more!

I love to garden. It was one of my favorite things to do in Houston and now that we have our house here it is one of my favorite past times. For my birthday, I spent over $100 on these beautiful pots and a variety of plants. I had plants of heights, textures, and colors. They have been on the back porch for over a month and are a part of my morning routine. The babies wake up, I put them in their bouncies, and then I tend to all my plants. Zeke has never bothered the plants or the pots.

Michael left a tennis ball in the back yard last night...and I think that is what stopped me in my tracks today.

I was sitting on the couch working on my bible class lesson. Today is Michael's day off and I take this time to go up to the church and get my class ready. Michael heard a noise and leaped over the couch. I asked what was wrong. He said, "You don't want to know."

I walk out side to find the contents of my large pots scatted across the patio. The plants are ripped to shreds. I also find the tennis ball covered in dirt.

What is even more ironic is last night we carried all my plants in because we had some intense 70 mile winds that blew through. I saved them from the storm, but couldn't save them from my dog. :(

Daddy's Home!

I am sooo excited! Michael has been gone on a youth trip since Saturday. He got home tonight and we were glad he was here. It has just been the 3 of us for 4 days. I am sooo proud of the boys and myself-if I might say so! They did great.

Saturday we watched a movie and hung out.
Sunday I got the boys ready for church and we were only 15 minutes late. I dropped them off at the nursery, set up for bible class, went to service, taught 25 4 and 5 year olds, picked the kids up after class, and went home for the rest of the day.
Monday we went to the mall and some sweet girls came by to babysit while I went to the gym and grocery store.
Today is my standing lunch date with the Abilene girls and the boys are so excited to be admired by all! We ate lunch and went to the mall with Kate. Daddy was home by suppertime. :)

I am so glad to have Michael home. He missed his first Father's Day so now we can celebrate the great daddy he is!

Adventures in twinsitting...coming soon

Just a quick word that I am still here and everything is going well. I hope to have some time to do some catch up blogs and try to post once a week. But...that may be too hard.

The boys are getting bigger everyday! We are almost 4 months old and have limited time in our 0-3 month clothes. So...they have almost caught up! They are happy little guys and LOVE TO SMILE!

Boys Meet World

We have been in Houston meeting the family for the 1st time this past weekend! Our trip has been WONDERFUL! I haven't been out of town in FOREVER with bedrest and delivery. We haven't been "home" to Houston since November! I forget how much I love this town. It is soooo green here. It makes me miss my garden. (We drove by our old house and it is being well loved by the couple that bought it.) The boys have loved their time bunking at Mimi's. In fact, they have slept 6-7 hour stretches!!!! That is more than we were sleeping at home. All the extended family came to my parents' house to meet the boys. They got lots of love! We went shopping, ate lots of yummy mexican food, visited our old church, and had extra hands and help. It has been like a true vacation. Just what I need before I got back to work one week from today. The boys have met the world and I think the love it! They are really changing. We now weigh 8 lbs and are growing out of our newborn clothes. (I mean they are 2 months old!) They are smiling, cooing, and playing so much. Every day I spend with them I am reminded how BLESSED we are and how much I am in love!

3 generations of Mercers...watch out world!

Bumbo Fun-Brody:blue Dylan:green

Brody isn't too sure about this bath thing!

Dylan thinks being clean is overated. (He loves it now!)

My Little Boys

Now and Then

We are now 6 weeks old! They are really sweet and following our voices. The boys love to cuddle with me and together. They love to eat and are only happy when doing so it seems. They love to shop. We went out to eat twice this weekend & they were perfect. Their preemie outfits are fitting perfectly now.

Saturday we celebrate our 5 yr anniversary! Can't believe it has been that long... Speaking of marriage my girlfriends are celebrating an engagement of one of our friends! This is super exciting news. I love the look of pure joy they have in their pics. SO FUN!

now for some pics

cuddle up-its nap time!

3 days old

6 weeks oldDylan gets ready for his 1st baseball game.

We never made it...

Brody is ready, too!

And I will walk 2.5 miles

And I will walk 2.5 more!

Yesterday we went for a mega walk up to ACU and around the walking trails. It wore all of us out and we slept great! If we could only sleep that great right now...

I'm a Big Boy Now!

We went to the doctor to be weighed and in just 5 weeks they have gained their birth weight back and more! Dylan is now 6 lbs 13 oz (WOWZERS!) and Brody is 6lbs 8 oz! It is quite the scoop when you are trying to lift one with one hand (because I am holding the other one in the other. It is the one arm scoop method.)
We have had a great week with just us. However, it is never ending and super exhausting. Feeding has gotten a little more challenging because we are having to prop and stop. Dylan was having trouble throwing up everything so the doctor said to prop him up, feed 1 oz at a time (when we are bottle feeding,) and wait a couple of minutes for the food settle. So it takes us a while to eat.
They have the funniest expressions and the cutest reflex smile. I can't wait to see the real thing. They are super strong and are working hard each day to turn over.
We continue to be blessed.
I have a couple more weeks at home and then I will go back in May to finish the school year. I am looking forward to seeing my class and co-workers again. The school has been amazing while I have been out. I got to go out once by myself for the 1st time in 10 weeks!!!! I didn't know what to do or where to go. I went out for an hour drive and quick shopping trip and I found myself looking for things for the boys and school. First a mom, then a teacher.
I am so excited it is Friday because Michael is off and have a couple of minutes to blog and eat breakfast!
Have a great Friday.

Quick Minute, Quick Post

Happy Spring!

Things are going well. I have been trying to post for weeks, but always get called away. We had our first Sunday at church, EASTER! They did great and slept the whole time. They were loved and admired by all. I am a full time mommy all on my own now. Mimi has left and Michael is back at work. I am still not "healed" enough to stretch across the car to load them up so we will be doing our outings by foot. Actually, I have just been released to drive now. With being on bedrest and the birth it has been 9 weeks since I have been behind the wheel!

The boys are growing leaps and bounds. We have about a week or 2 left in our preemie wear and are so excited to be newborns! It is very hard to find clothes for preemies. We have looked everywhere people send us and have come up empty handed. For Easter, I bought a brand that typically runs small and tried to shrink it. It worked pretty well. Things are going well. I am speedy gonzales tying away so please excuse any misspellings and my random thoughts.

And now for what you really want to see...my handsome men!

Easter Sunday-before church

Our Easter Photo...this is the best we could do!

Small update

This is Analee again.

I have been bad about updating. But I have made a little movie (a small hobby of mine) for everyone to enjoy.

Michael has gone back to work so my mom and my sister are on their own. They are doing great! And the little men are wide eyed (sometimes), wiggly and SO CUTE!

I guess the big news is they are fraternal! even though they look a lot alike. Brody has grown to 20 in and is 5lbs! Dylan is keeping up though. He isn't quite as long.

Anyway, enjoy the movie.

Home Sweet Home

Leah and the boys came home on Monday. Leah and Michael are surviving and are SUPER parents. I am in awe. Of course Leah could use some prayers to feel a little more spry while healing from surgery.

Dylan and Brody went to the doctor today and they are healthy! Dylan lost some weight, but the little one, Brody, has maintained his weight.

I have a few more pictures, but I also updated my facebook album with more pictures!
I will try to post on Sunday with another update!
-Analee

Leah about to carry Brody into the house.

Dylan with cream blanket and Brody with blue.

Brody's face. :)

Dylan being a cutie!!

Brody loves Mommy!!

Pictures!!!

I have loaded some (of the 250 pictures I took yesterday) on my facebook album.

Click Here to meet Dylan and Brody.

I will keep everyone informed of what is going on.

-Analee

"They are so stinkin' cute"

Dylan Matthew Mercer and Brody Daniel Mercer

8:23 am & 8:24

Dylan Matthew

5lbs 10z 18 3/4 in

Brody Daniel

4lbs 15oz 18 1/4 in

Mom and the babies are doing great! We just left everyone sound asleep in the hospital. Leah is so happy with her boys and just excited to be a mom. She even said "They are so stinkin' cute!" And they are!

Michael has been a great daddy, changing diapers and being cool as can be, easing right into fatherhood. The Mercer men all got their supper at the same time.


I can't wait to post more pictures!!
-Analee