Enter at Your Own Risk

The picture above shows how I used to cook on the right and how I now cook on the left.  I have learned that my husband’s culture is  way more sociable than my culture.  Don’t get me wrong.  Before him, I had friends over and hung out.  I found out that I just thought that I was sociable.  I mean, I was always out, but it was nothing compared to now.  My husband made the comment the other night asking how it always happens that when we invite 2 people over for dinner 20 shows up.  I have often wondered that myself.  I have told him on numerous times if we ever build a house, I want a very large dining room and kitchen.  The rest of the house we can figure out, but I need a large dining room table where at least 30 people can fit.  I really don’t care what the table looks like or even if the chairs match, I just need a place for all of us to sit.  Over the years, I have had my husband come over at half time of a soccer game and inform me the entire team is coming over to eat after the game.  I immediately  leave to go prepare a meal for the team and their families.  Or another example is for our wedding, we gave out 225 invitations, but 425 people showed up.  I knew to be prepared and we were.  For years, I would fix Christmas dinner and 50 people would show up in my one bedroom apartment to eat.  We were sitting on top of each other, but it was fun.  As you can see,  I have always been able to adapt to culture, but I must say now that we have twins it is a little harder.  I have always been particular about my house being clean when people come over.  If I don’t know you are coming, I can’t guarantee how the house will look.  However, I am very picky about the house for others to see. (Elizabeth, Stacey H. and Laura…you don’t count)  Now it seems that it is impossible to keep the house clean.  And it is a little harder to try to prepare a meal quickly when both babies need to be fed at the same time, and then demand to be held for a little bit.    Not to mention, how fast the dirty bottles stack up or the diaper genie fills up, or the burp clothes and bibs get thrown around all over.  There is this one couple that shows up at the worst times.  They tend to visit at least once a week if not more.  Like their last visit.  My husband didn’t have work for the day, so he stayed home with the babies.  He did some laundry.  He folded it and put it on the couch and when I got home I started putting it up.  I got most of it put up then the babies needed to be fed and then Victoria needed to be held.  I am afraid her father has spoiled her a little bit.  So after holding her and finally getting her asleep, I was exhausted.  I had been up since 3:00 that morning, and I decided I was going to bed.  It was already 9 pm.   I knew that I would have to get up with David at 1:30 and then be up for the day by 4.  I had just gotten settled in bed, and I heard it… the doorbell.  Now, I knew that I wasn’t expecting anyone, and I wasn’t getting up.  But then ..he did it.…he opened the door.  Several hours later my husband came to bed and informed me that the laundry that didn’t get put up was our underwear.  He said he was a little embarrassed that they had to move it to sit on the couch.  Now all I have to say is, if you come to my house uninvited and show up that late, it isn’t my fault what you might find.  You are always welcome at my home, but if I don’t know you are coming…enter at your own risk. 

Catching Up

I have so much to be Thankful for.  When a time of change happened this year in my job and many lost their job, I was able to keep mine.  I had a great first year with my husband and we had an addition of 2 precious healthy babies to our family.  I have a great family.  My parents are so nice to keep my twins for us, so that we can keep them out of a day care while they are so small.  I have been blessed to live in the same city as my brother’s family and get to spend time with my nieces and nephews.  My sister in law is a great friend to me, too.  After my marriage, my family more than tripled in size and I am so happy to be a part of their family as well.  I love all 18 (9 couples) of my new sister and brother in laws, and I am so happy to have around 40 additional nieces and nephews.  I am thankful for Facebook to help me keep in touch and get to know that part of my family a little better. 

So our first Thanksgiving was a great day.  We went to my parents’ house and we all went to watch Ranita play soccer.  Then off to Golden Coral we went for lunch. 

I love Christmas time.  We decided a few weeks ago to take a trip to Opryland Hotel to see their Christmas decorations.  I have always wanted to go see the Rockettes, but we decided this year might not be the year for that.  We loaded up the van and our friend Laura came along for the trip.  We decided to break the trip up in case the babies didn’t enjoy traveling, so we went to Laura’s parents’ house in Huntsville for the first night.  The babies traveled fine and we were so happy about that.  The next morning we went on to Nashville and first went to the ICE exhibit.  We had fun and the babies seemed to enjoy it as well.  Then they got to meet  Santa for the first time and have their picture made.  We then took advantage of the hotel.  We rode the boat, took a carriage ride to see the outside lights and enjoyed all the Christmas decorations.  Our babies traveled so well that we decided to extend out trip a day and head back to Huntsville and take a walk in the Galaxy of Lights in Huntsville Botanical Garden's.  We had a great time and we are so glad the babies like to travel.

Roll Tide Roll.  We were very happy with the results of the Iron Bowl.  We invited our Bama friend Stacey over to watch it with us and the Garcia family (Auburn fans) came too.  I think the babies were more of a draw for them than the game.  We had a table full of football snacks as well as our Mexican snacks.  After the game, we had our second shift come in.  They had been wanting us to stop by so they could see the babies, but we never made it.  So, they decided to bring some meat and have us throw it on the grill so they could visit with the babies.  So the game crowd left, and the next 10 people came in.  Ranita pulled out the grill and cooked the meat and fixed some salsas to go with it and one of the ladies that came made some homemade tortillas. 

Roll Tide

My niece came over during the week to help get some pictures of the babies for our Christmas card.  Here are some of the photos that she got.

One thing that I love during the Christmas season is the Hallmark Christmas movies.  My husband is so sweet to tolerate some of them.  He even watched a couple over the holidays and last night the whole family (Ranita, the twins, and I ) watched one.  We popped popcorn and everything.  This will be a family tradition for us for sure.

We had lots of celebrations for the month of November.  We had birthday parties for mom and Cason.  I don’t have the pictures of Cason’s party uploaded yet, but here are a few from mom’s.  For Cason’s we went to eat pizza and came back to mom and dad’s for cake.  For mom’s, we went to Nancy’s and we each got to decorate our own cupcake.  It was fun.  David slept through the entire party.

David rolled over for the first time today without help and I wasn’t there.  But at least his father was.  Way to go David!!!

I rolled over!!

Happy for my brother.

No matter what you say…Mommy brain is real….



They are worth every second of mommy brain.



Ok, so I used to think that women that blamed things on mommy brain was just crazy, but I see now…it is real.  It all started with my pregnancy brain when my husband banned me from the kitchen for reasons like me making a grilled cheese with the plastic still on the cheese.  I thought once the babies were born that my brain and common sense would come back.  But I am still waiting on it.  I mean it is so bad that my husband has used comments like…”where is your common sense?” or “Did you use your brain for that one?”  He isn’t being mean with these comments, they are well deserved.  I mean let’s just use this morning for an example.  So I hear David making noises, but he wasn’t crying so I decided to leave him until he was ready to get up.  I wanted to do something nice for my husband and let him sleep.  So when D started crying I quickly jumped up and ran to get him so my husband could keep sleeping and what did I find  in the den but  my husband and Victoria.  I was so confused.  I thought I left him in bed.  So I excitedly remarked that we hit a new milestone and both babies almost slept the entire night to his quick response of this is the third time he had gotten up.  Oops…I must have been in a really deep sleep.  My plan was to let him sleep and get up every time last night to which I failed.   So after putting David back down,  I decided since I didn’t pack the diaper bag the night before that I would go ahead a do it.  So I looked and looked for the shirt I wanted Victoria to wear under her dress and her pink bow.  I looked in every container, the suitcase we took on our trip, the diaper bag, the dryer and back into the room when I realized that I was looking in David’s room and her clothes and bows are not to be found in David’s room.  Many other things happened that I won’t mention now. But time had passed, and  I was ready to leave for work so I went to grab my purse, but I couldn’t find it anywhere.  I looked in places that it should never be, but I was desperate to find it.  I mean I looked in both baby beds, bassinets, closets, playroom, dryer..you name it I looked there.  I finally got my husband in on the search.  He finally said did you take it with you yesterday, and maybe it is in the car.  Ding ding ding…we have a winner.  I never took it out of the car.  So now I am ready to go to work.  I lock the door, shut it and am ready to go, only to find that I have no car keys or house key.  I mean really.  They are hanging right beside the door.  How could I miss that.  So off to ring the doorbell.  My husband had a good laugh when he realized I locked myself out of the car and home.  So insured’s..if you call today and I am not making sense.  Sorry…my brain is on vacation for the next 18 years. J

What...I ddn't hear you.....

Did I just hear that right?  I am sorry.  Could you please repeat that?  I can't believe my ears.  That was the way my conversation went with Ranita a couple of nights ago.  See if you go to a soccer game and you see a women that looks crazy while she has one leg propped on the stroller and 2 babies being fed their bottle at the same time while neither touching each other, that would be us.   I know that my husband LOVES soccer or as he calls it futbol.  He is the man that I let go 2 hours after our babies were born to go and play in the championship soccer game.  I was the wife that said that after the babies come he would need to not play on 4 teams but drop it down to 2.  I have known for 13 years that my husband loves the game of soccer.  We plan our vacations around soccer games, that is all that is on the TV when he is home. (country doesn't matter...it is a soccer game) I love that about him that he loves soccer.  See I learned early on that if I called his phone at certain times and he didn't answer he was out playing soccer somewhere.  I accepted that accepting him meant that I needed to learn to love soccer, too.  And I have.  So this is where that conversation comes in.  My husband advised that the soccer games just aren't as fun as they used to be.  He said that he would look over to the sidelines and see us and would just want to be with us.  I thought that was just a passing thought and then Monday night he had a game that the babies and I decided not to go to.  And to my amazement I got a phone call that he left halfway through the game because he just wanted to be home with us.  It is amazing what these babies do to us. 

We truly believe that they are our little gifts from God.  See we were told that I would never be able to have children, but God decided not to give us one, but two.  My heart feels like it is going to burst it feels so full of blessings right now.  First, I was given my incredible husband.  He becomes more romantic by the day and my first year with him was so much better than I could ever imagine.  I am so in love with him and each day my love for him just grows that much more.  Then along came our two little bundles of joy.  They look at me with the big brown/green eyes with such trust and love.  And the smiles I can't even explain how they make me feel.  I look forward to this new chapter in life and where God takes us.  He have given me so much more than I could ever imagine already.

Please don't judge me for letting Victoria wear one of her brothers sleepers.  It serves the purpose. :)

October

October was a busy month for us.  We were given some pumpkin hats by our photographer and they have worn them so much. The day we decided to go to the Pumpkin Patch it had turned a little cool and windy. 

We then went to our Life Connection Class Pumpkin Cariving Party.  Victoria's pumpkin got carved that night.  The next day David's pumpkin got carved. I have got to get this photo taking thing down with the 2 babies.  I didn't get many pictures from the party.

Halloween was an interesting day.  We ended up spending the day at Children's hospital with David getting some test run.  They all came back fine, but we did find out why he was spitting up so much.  Baby Zantac and a new formula and we have a new baby and a lot less shirts for mama needed now.  We were given several Halloween costumes, so we were pumpkins for the day.  V was a cat and D a fireman for trick or treating.  We still had 2 costumes that didn't get worn.  Maybe we will find a day to dress up for in November. :)  We went to Grandmommy and Granddaddies and Uncle Randall and Aunt Nancy came with their cousins Anna, Charity and Cason. They ended up trick or treating with their cousins Anna, Charity, and Cason.  We had a breakthru and Charity decided we didn't have to send D and V back.  She actually gave them a hug when she left.

My next picture....read the shirt...it says it all.

We also got to go to several of Ranita's soccer games.