Camping themed engagement party

My mom and I had our first party decorating experience! Besides just doing it for family events! ;)
My parents friends son's engagement party. We were in charge of the theme, decorating, and dessert table. (they had already sent out invitations and asked everyone to bring a dish to share before they asked for our assistance.) Here are some pictures! We are hoping to do more parties, we had a great time creating and decorating!

Dessert table, all S'more related items!

S'more cupcakes and S'more pops

My mom got creative with her Cricut! :)

Party favors- self-serve trail mix bar!

Table at the entrance of the party with the guest book

Centerpieces- branches in jars with river rock and campfire sticks with marshmallows, on the branches Save the Date tags for the upcoming wedding!

Save the Date tags on branches

Party favor Trail Mix bags

We have a couple more parties lined up for this summer and I can't wait!

Adding to this post a few days later: This party was featured on Catch My Party! Woohoo! I feel so special! :)

One crazy day after another!

Seems like life is so busy sometimes! I don't even feel like we are involved in that many things...I guess there just aren't enough hours in the day.

So Asher & Hadley will be 7 months old next week...craziness. It feels like this last month went the fastest so far...not sure why. Hadley is making many attempts to make our life crazier by trying to crawl. Asher is happy to just sit in one place or jump to his little hearts content. They are both the sweetest, funniest, and dearest babies. What did we do with our lives before them? (Ok I do remember...but sometimes if I go down that road...I may not come back for awhile :-D) But they do make our lives so full of joy.

My mom and I are trying our hands at party/event planning/decorating. We've got our first "big one" next week. I'm so excited to see how it turns out. I can't reveal the theme yet because it's a surprise to the engaged couple...and I wouldn't want anyone to spill the beans ;) I also joined a site, Catch My Party. I will be posting our events there most of the time. I'm trying to think of a name for our "business"...let me know if you have any good ideas :)
This weekend should be interesting, Nathan is going camping with some guy friends...my first time being alone with the kids overnight! I will have help from our moms if I need it though :)
I'm looking forward to Easter next weekend...and I'm hoping to take Asher and Hadley to the twin group Easter Party this coming Sunday. They have the cutest Easter outfits...so fun!

Where does the time go??

Asher and Hadley were 5 months yesterday! They are rockstars...that's pretty much all I can say! Been sleeping through the night since they were 3 months old (which makes our lives so much easier!), Asher weighs about 20 lbs with Hadley weighing in about 15 lbs...they are both 25 in long. They already interact with each other...as much as 5 month olds can! But it's so cute...they make noises at each other, smile, laugh, kick pull ears...which then causes crying! We were going to start rice cereal this weekend, but they both started getting runny noses so we will hold off until the first weekend in March. 

We've done so much since my last post! Here's some recent pics:

I decorated for my soon to be here neice's baby shower in January...I want to do more!!

Had the small group gals over for some crafting :) Here is Jenny with her fabulous creation!

When the weather is nice, we take walks...we usually end up at the park.

After decorating for my coming soon neice's baby shower, I'm addicted. I want to do more parties! I don't even care if I know the people having the party! I just want to decorate :-D I'm trying to think of how I can make that into a business...hmmm. Anywho....I'm starting to plan the babies one-year birthday party...so that helps curb my urge, just a little tho!

We are planning our first out-of town adventure with the kids. We will be going to Portland end of April to visit our niece after she arrives and of course we will be taking the babies to the zoo! I can't wait to see their reactions! And we are staying in a hotel with an indoor pool...so it will be the babies first "swimming" experience :) Our next planned adventure is the first week of August...Cannon Beach with both sets of grandparents! Can't wait for that! Love the beach!

Well...better go be productive :)

2010, A Review

January: On the 27th we got a positive pregnancy result. We decided to keep it to ourselves until we saw the doctor to confirm that I was indeed pregnant. I calculated my due date, October 1st  oops Oct 4th!...seemed like it was going to take forever!
February: Valentine's weekend, Nathan and I took a trip to Portland to go shopping and look at baby things without anyone we knew seeing us do so....we're so sneaky! ;) Little did we know what was in store for us! We anxiously awaited my first OB visit so we could break the news to the family.
March: March 1st...this date will be in my mind forever. The ultrasound showed 2 little beating hearts. I cried and told the doctor I felt like I was going to pass out. Nathan was very excited and thought it was the coolest thing. The next 6 months was a whirlwind of tests, ultrasounds, shopping, and doctors appts. That night we had our family over for pizza, we gave them a picture of the ultrasound to announce the coming of the babies. I don't remember anything else that happened in March ;) By the way, Nathan's co-workers placed bets on the date the babies would be born,...I picked September 20th...dang I'm good! ;)

10 weeks, no clue what I would look like 28 weeks later!

April: Nothing much of note happened in April. We hosted Easter which was fun! We also ordered our stroller after our second ultrasound. We also saw the perinatologist for the first time and everything checked out great. He suggested that my pregnancy not continue past 38 weeks, which was September 20th.

17 weeks

May: What a busy month! On the 12th we found out we were having a boy and a girl, hooray!! We announced this to our family and friends at a BBQ that evening. At the end of the month we purchased our family vehicle, a 2003 Chevy Trailblazer. We bought it at Bob Hall Chevrolet in Yakima. Afterwords we celebrated with my parents at Bob's Burger's n Brew. Nathan and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary on the 28th and took a trip to the West side for some shopping!

21 weeks

June: Heidi graduated from high school on the 4th and we hosted her graduation/going away party on the 6th. Nathan's cousin Ashley got married in the middle of the month and we enjoyed the nice weather that June brought. I never enjoyed being pregnant, but this is the month when I started to feel really uncomfortable. I was tired all the time and my belly hurt.

23 weeks

July: Heidi left for Albania on July 1st. It was tough saying good-bye! We took a trip with our small group to Wallowa Lake where we all rented a cabin together. It was a great time and we enjoyed getting to know our small group friends better. We also found out we were going to be aunt/uncle to my brothers first baby coming in March! (which we know now to be a girl!) We started our childbirth classes on the 12th and I had to start seeing my OB every other week. Nathan went to Brooks, OR with his parents to help them make ice cream at the Steam Up. I drove down with my parents the last weekend of July to Portland and visit Nathan in Brooks. This was last time I was allowed to leave town.

28 weeks

August: Coming down the home stretch!! I can see the light at the end of the tunnel! We had maternity pictures with Jessica Greenfield on the 7th which was a lot of fun and that started a great relationship with her! We love using her for pictures, she is so creative and professional! I started working half days at the beginning of the month. On the 10th, after working a half day, I started having cramping. I ignored it. I went about my day and by 9 pm they had not quit. I told Nathan and we headed to KGH. I was admitted and was in the hospital for two days. I wasn't able to work after that and was forced to stay home,...doing nothing. Booo. But at least I kept the babies in to full term...a good trade off :) My "moms" threw "us" a twin shower and so did mine and Nathan's co-workers. We were truly blessed with all the proper gear and clothing!

32 weeks, already the size of a 37 week singleton pregnancy

September: The big month!! The NST and ultrasound on August 31st showed that both babies were breech, when we saw Dr. Smith on the 2nd he decided to schedule a C-Section, since it was very unlikely that the babies would turn. September 20th was to be the big day! That is if I didn't go into labor prior ;) I turned 25 on the 8th...it was a little hard to enjoy my birthday, since I was hugely pregnant and I was so tired but could not sleep. I also went to the chiropractor at least once a week until the babies came. September 20th finally came, after what seemed like years of being pregnant! Our healthy babies entered the world at 8:08am and 8:09am. We brought them home on the 22nd. I don't remember much after that...it's kind of a blur ;) I do remember that we woke them up every 3 hours to eat. I'm so glad we are past that stage.

Home from the hospital!

October: This month I don't remember much either. I remember a lot of late nights, bottles, diapers, family members stopping by, baby dedication, and people bringing us meals. Nathan turned 26 on the 17th...we have decided that we feel our age, LOL...and we will probably look older than our age by this time next year!! The babies also experienced their first Halloween. They were pea pods ;)

Asher & Hadley meeting Great Aunt Deb, and "cousins" Ben & Noel

November: On November 1st, we decided to stop waking them up to eat...that gave us about an extra hour of sleep a night. Then every week they started going a little longer at night. They had their 2 month well child exam at the end of the month and they checked out great. She told us to fed Asher more and to let Hadley sleep at night and not wake her if Asher does. We spent their first Thanksgiving at Gramma Edie's and Granpa Jeff's. I was so excited for Christmas that I started decorating the week of Thanksgiving.

The twins at their first birthday party, Cousin Ben turned 1!

December: Starting December 20th, their 3 mo birthday we decided no more pacifiers. I was tired of getting up at 1am, 2am, 3am to give Asher his pacifier. I was also tired of going into his room every 10 minutes at naptime to give it back to him. It was a rough week, but we got thru. They now put themselves to sleep very well and started sleeping until 4:30ish and then going back to sleep until 7ish. Awesome. I'll take that! Their little personalities keep us entertained and annoyed :) Hadley is a sweetheart and is pretty much always happy. However, she can turn off the charm and stick out her lip very quickly! She loves to talk and read books. Asher loves to eat, stick things in his mouth, play with blocks and his "tools". He has the cutest laugh! He has been a bit of a pill lately, but I think he just won't be truly happy until he can have some "real" food. The poor guy is always hungry. Their first Christmas was so much fun. We spent the day at home and had family come over for brunch. The babies got so many toys.
Every month seems to go by quicker. We are enjoying every minute...everything we can remember that is :) I feel so blessed to be able to stay home and be these babies mommy. God picked them especially for us! We are looking forward to this next year and to see how our babies grow and learn. There will be so many milestones and so much fun ahead of us!
Happy New Year friends! We pray you see the Lord's goodness and blessings, especially in the hard times!

 

Christmas Eve

This morning, such cuties!!

Staying home in a winter wonderland

Well, it's the last day of November and we've had snow for over a week now. So not normal for the Southeastern Washington area!! And as I sit and type, it is coming down again! It is so beautiful, but it can leave any time :) My car is so gross with snow crud and there is a HUGE ice patch out our front door!

So much has happened since my last post! The babies are two months old! Yesterday they had their 2 month well child exam...they are both very healthy babies. Asher is 12lbs 9oz and 21 3/4 in. Hadley is 11lbs 10oz and 22 1/4 in. Asher is a hungry boy!! We wakes like clockwork every 3-4 hours. The doctor told us to get as much formula as possible in him before we put him to bed and see how that works as far as him sleeping longer. Ok by us! We are all for more sleep! :) So Asher has graduated to the big bottles...the one time he woke last night to eat, he charged through 6.5 oz!!! Way more than we've ever given him,...poor guy has been starving! LOL

The babies finally get to meet auntie Heidi on Saturday!! She is coming home from Albania for one month! We are so thrilled to see her and can't wait to have her around!
Nathan and I leave for Couer d'Alene on Saturday morning for a quick overnight getaway! The grandparents are going to take turns with the babies so we can have time away :) so sweet! We will be staying at the Couer d'Alene Resort and going on their Christmas light lake cruise! It sounds like a lot of fun!

All the Christmas decor is up! This year I'm using a lot of ornaments as decor and using things we already have to put them in. I've done one craft already...only took me like, 3-4 days to finish it :)

My mom cut out letters on her cricut for me, and Nathan cut boards to fit the size of the letters.

I painted the wood then decoupaged paper and the letters to the wood!

Finished product! It's on top of the fridge...currently...it may move ;)

 It was a super easy project...and I'm sure it's quick without two babies around! haha
Well...got to go fed the babies! Here's a quick picture for your enjoyment ;)

Our tree!!

One month!!

Today is the babies one month birthday!! I can't believe everything happened a whole month ago! I didn't think time would go so quickly since it feels like I've been awake for a majority of it LOL. Not really...they actually do pretty good at night, we are very blessed!
Since I'm not really doing a baby book for each of them...I just thought I would a take a few minutes to post on here some things we've noticed about them. (I am keeping a calendar for each of them tho...but a baby book for each...let's get real, it just wouldn't happen!)

Asher Ridge-  aka: Chubs, Chunk, Chunky monkey, little buddy, little buckaroo, little man, bubs
Asher is our little chill man. When he's awake, he;s very mellow, chill and loves to work his tongue! He wrinkles his forehead in such a cute way...I love it when he does that! He also makes a very cute face when he puts his lips together like he's saying "oh!" He loves his pacifier and LOVES to eat! I'm getting them weighed next week...but I'm thinking he might be a little heavier than his sister! We shall see :)
His hair started falling out this week,...he kinda looks like a little bald old man. But what hair he does have left has a slight reddish twinge in the sunlight. He also seems to have my fair skin tone....we could have a little red head boy on our hands! :)
Asher has a very special talent...he can pee up! Up his back, up his side, up his tummy....sometimes he even manages to not even get the diaper wet! He's a magician! He has been known to go thru 3-4 sleepers in one night.
Asher loves to look at a flashing lights toy that we have. He is very good at making eye contact and is such a little charmer! His smile makes me melt. He only likes his carseat if we are in motion. If we stop for too long, he's not a happy boy! But he is such a joy that we don't mind :)

Hadley Reegan- aka: princess, HadleyAnne, girly, sweetpea, baby girl
Hadley is a princess...she has known this from the beginning! She is dainty and acts girly. People are always commenting on how she looks very girly already. She has a smile that will make anyone smile, and a frown that will make you feel like whatever is wrong is your fault!! She tends to be a tad bit of a drama queen and has her diva moments. She is a daddy's girl, if she could talk, I'm sure she would get whatever she wanted!
Hadley is very wide-eyed and prefers to be looking around knowing whats going on....especially after her 4 am feeding. One thing is very obvious about our little girl...she thinks she's older than she really is. From the beginning she's tried to "help us" by trying to hold her bottle. About a week and a half ago she started lifting her head for longer periods of time. When I put her on her tummy, she acts like she's going to push herself up. This week she is holding her head up much better and is finding her voice.
My mom says that she looks so much like me when I was a baby and even acts a little like me. She seems like she wants to be independent, but wants attention at the same time.
She is such a sweet girl and I can tell she is going to be a lot of fun...maybe a handful...but fun :)
Hadley doesn't care too much for her pacifier and doesn't have as big an appetite as her brother....however when she wants to eat, she wants it NOW. She loves to look at herself in the mirror and frequently falls asleep in the swing.
She has dark hair, blue eyes, and is looking like she is going to have Nathan's skin tone...a little darker and tans easily...lucky girl!

It's so fun to see how these babies change everyday and see their personalities coming out! I'm excited to see how they grow in the next month!! And on a side note...I can't wait to see them in their costumes next week! They are going to be pea pods!
Tonight we are going to our first Mothers Of Multiples meeting! We are excited to meet other families who have been down this road before and hope to get some good advice and new friends from being a part of the group! 

This blog post is brought to you by the letter "C"!

Now that our babies are 4 weeks old, time to update the blog! I'll focus this post on Monday, September 20th, 2010- the day our beautiful babies entered the world, via C-Section! (hence the letter "C")

Nathan and I arrived at KGH Family Birthing Center Monday Sept 20th at 5:30 am. We walked in and the nurses were so excited to see us, our room was ready and waiting and they even had a special message on the board in our room:

Oh....I got ahead of myself :) Here is what I looked like leaving the house that morning...38 weeks prego with the twins...

Ugh,...looks so uncomfortable right? IT WAS!!! Ok...back to getting to the hospital :) We had a great room all to ourselves. All the nurses, staff, doctors...everyone we encountered was so kind and amazing. We just had the best experience! Here's a few pics of the room....

Room 1106

Hooked up to monitors...for the last time!!

Getting ready to head into surgery and meet the babies!

Next is the surgery!! It started about 7:50am. It's amazing...I was numb from my stomach down...but as soon as they pulled the babies out...I felt so much better! It was a great experience and I'm so glad Nathan was able to be in there with me!

Hadley's arm!!

Me after Hadley was born...yes I was crying

Hadley Reegan Stewart- 7lbs 7oz 19 in born 9/20/10 @ 8:08 am

Asher Ridge Stewart- 6lbs 5 oz 18.5in born 9/20/10 @ 8:09am

Proud daddy showing off the twins to the grandparents waiting in the hall!

Perfect babies!

 After they pulled out Asher...they gave me something to "relax" me...it sure did a dang good job,..I woke up an hour later as they were putting on my bandage...and my husband and babies were gone! Dr. Smith congratulated me and my nurse wheeled me back to my room to recover...which I did quickly! :) They had to make sure the spinal was wearing off in good time before they brought in the babies. Finally around 9:45...I got to hold my precious son and daughter!

Nurse Shirley handing me Asher

My gorgeous babies!

First family picture!!

After the four of us spent some time together...the grandparents came in. It was a perfect day! The entire stay at KGH was great and we were discharged Wednesday Sept 22nd.
Well,...that's a brief overview of the day the twins were born...I have a lot more posting to do! This last month has flown by and we are enjoying our family so much! God is good!
I will try to update more often as we establish a schedule :)