{iPhone Rewind} :: February

We started sleep training, so Eli and Maddie got sleep suits {aka baby sumo suits}

Sweet moments with daddy...

Tummy time with daddy!

How Maddie really feels about tummy time

Hanging out in the Bumbo seats!

Eli was too focused on his feet to be bothered with eating.

Getting things together for Laura's baby shower!

When mama accidentally dresses you the same #matchingmonday

Well hello, baby girl!

Brother meet sister. Sister meet brother.

Eli has this selfie thing down :)

Y'all. It took me 8 minutes to unload the babies and get them in the stroller {aka: Twin Tank} to run into the library and pick up a book on hold. I was in the library for a grand total of 45 seconds {no joke}, and then it took another 8 minutes to reload babies back into the car. My life is completely inefficient now haha! But I wouldn't have it any other way :)

Daddy and his boy <3 p="">

Story time! Eli was very intent on listening...Maddie could not care less :)

I call it The Ombre Mullet. Poor baby girl has blondish hair all around, except for this dark spot in the back.

Straight up chillin'

We love it when daddy is home in the middle of the week! #familyselfie

These are my "he-went-to-the-store-for-groceries-when-he-was-hungry-and-ended-up-adding-extras-to-the-cart-that-made-us-go-over-budget-but-he-bought-me-flowers-so-I-can't-get-mad" flowers. Haha :)

Embryo Adoption :: Thawversary + Transferversary

One year ago today, our sweet babies were thawed and transferred after being frozen for almost 7 years. They had been stored in tiny straws in tanks of liquid nitrogen, with a cryoprotectant liquid. How crazy is that? 

I had been preparing for the transfer by taking increasing amounts of estrogen and progesterone, so everything was timed exactly for transfer day. We had done 2 transfers before, but had lost our babies, so we went into this day with tempered excitement. 

Thankfully, our babies thawed well and were looking really good at the time of transfer!

First family photo!

A lot of times, doctors will transfer 2 embryos in hopes of a successful singleton pregnancy; in other words, transferring 2 embryos can increase your chances of getting pregnant. But of course, you also run the risk of having twins! For us, we were willing to parent twins, so transferring 2 at a time was not a hard decision. Because we believe each individual embryo is a life, we were the crazy people praying that both of our babies "stuck."

And when we got our beta numbers 10 days later, and we saw how high they were, we had high hopes that both babies stuck. So we were elated when our first ultrasound confirmed what we had been praying and hoping for...TWINS!

One of the things I love most about this process is that we have photos of our babies at their earliest and tiniest stage. We got to watch them grow from the time that they were only visible under a microscope to when they were born at 6 pounds, 8 ounces. 

We were pro-life before we knew about Embryo Adoption, but walking through this process makes the science and undeniable facts about the creation and origin of life that much more tangible to us. Those tiny multi-cell embryos were Eli and Maddie. The 6 embryos we lost in 2015 were Jack, Jill, Amy, Noah, Annie, and Hope. The 2 embryos we have remaining will hopefully be babies #3 and #4 for us to parent this side of heaven. There are a lot of ethical and spiritual implications regarding frozen embryos. Perhaps one day I will be bold enough to walk through them on my blog. But for now, the fact remains that each unique embryo deserved and deserves a chance at life. They are not just a random set of cells. My children are living, breathing proof of that.

It's crazy to think that 1 year ago, Eli and Maddie were still frozen, and now they are almost 4 months old. I will forever be grateful for Embryo Adoption because it allowed me to experience pregnancy and carry our babies. And it gave our precious ones a chance at life outside the freezer.

Welcoming a Little Rookie!

I had the privilege of planning Laura's baby shower, and it was SO fun to put together a baseball themed party to welcome baby Cooper!

My sweet sister-in-law was kind and gracious enough to let me host the shower at her house {#becausetwins}. And because she is amazing, she made the desserts. And when you ask Lindsay to make cupcakes OR cookies, she makes both. And they're AWESOME. Since it was an afternoon shower, we had a few snacks...the appropriate shower fruit, veggies, and cheese/crackers. But to stay on theme, we had peanuts, popcorn, Cracker Jacks, Baby Ruths, and Big League Chew :)

See! Lindsay is SO talented. They look good, and they taste awesome!

 We had a few fun activities for shower guests to enjoy {and ultimately bless Laura and Cooper!} I didn't get a photo of it, but I also had guests "autograph" a baseball bat as a fun memento.

Bib making station...complete with adorable bow ties :)

Writing messages on diapers...classic.

We also had a photo booth...because why not? :) I thought it would be a fun way to get some cute photo memories for Laura.

Even this cutie got in on the photo booth fun :)

We had so much fun, and I am SO excited for my sweet friend. I cannot wait to meet and love on sweet baby Cooper!

Baby Loves

These baby loves were patient with me while I dressed them up and made them participate in a mini Valentine's photo shoot :)

A few things I have learned about trying to take photos of these two:

• It's almost impossible to get them to both look at the camera at the same time. And if it happens, usually only one or neither are smiling. Or someone is drooling.
• Maddie is always confused when Eli touches her hand.
• Eli hates wearing pants.
• They are my absolute favorite.

But they are just so darn cute, that I can't help myself. And so they will continue to be subjected to these photo shoots for as long as I can help it. I'll keep telling myself that they will be more in to it when they're older :)

Happy Valentine's Day!

Photo Every Hour :: Birthday Edition

Look at me, blogging a little more consistently :)  We have been working on sleep training...and I feel like we might be getting our lives back! Seriously, Eli and Maddie have done so well with it; there's hope for some real sleep!

Anyway...yesterday I turned 32. I don't have a problem turning 32, but how on earth did I get to be 32?? It's like I blinked, and all of a sudden, I am the age that I used to think about when I was in my young twenties as so far away. Like, when you turned 32, you were a real life adult or something. For the record, I don't feel old, or even like a real life adult haha. But apparently I am now. Officially ;)

My birthday was a good day. The last few birthdays have been difficult, as they seemed to be clicking by while we were waiting on our babies. So yesterday was that much more special, because I got to wake up and be a mom to 2 precious, happy babies. That alone would have been more than enough, but the birthday blessings just poured in. And I am so thankful. 32 is shaping up to be pretty awesome so far.

I thought I would do a little "Photo Every Hour" to walk you through my day. It was a good one :)

six.

I checked the monitor to see that babies were still sleeping nice and soundly. And yes, that temperature says 69. In Erin-World, freezing. The sacrifices you make for your babies to sleep well...

seven.

Mike heads off to work pretty early, so I decided to do a little reading before babies woke up.

eight.

I mean...come on! When you get to spend your birthday with these 2 cuties, what more could you ask for?? 

nine.

Babies went down for their morning nap, so I worked on some laundry. Yes, even on my birthday. It is never ending. How do such tiny people produce so much laundry??

ten.

Babies were still sleeping {which doesn't always happen!}, so I decided to work on some reports that I needed to get done for the bank.

eleven.

I got to work for a few minutes on a few items for Laura's baby shower this month! Getting really excited about celebrating her and baby Cooper!

twelve.

I got a fun cookie delivery for my birthday from my sweet husband. Who doesn't love warm cookies delivered to your front door?

one.

My brother was sweet to bring over lunch and hang out. My choice? Panera, of course! Yum!

two.

Lindsay dropped off a birthday cake! She is always so sweet to think of me and bake yummy treats for me :)

three.

As part of our embryo adoption process, we have to provide post-birth updates every quarter for the first year. So Eli and Maddie were due for their 3 month update. It was such a blessing to reflect back over the last 3 months and put on paper how much they have grown. 

four.

Mike surprised me by coming home early...and he came bearing jewelry! He bought me this snowflake pendant {along with another one with light blue jewels, one for each baby!} I love them so much!

five.

Family walk around the neighborhood! Eli and Maddie are still not too sure about the stroller ride outside...they both are pretty stoic the whole time. But it's fun to get out and get some fresh air!

-------

I didn't get any more photos for the rest of the evening, but our evenings now consist of feeding babies dinner, bath time, and bed time routines. They are down by 7:30 now, so that allows me and Mike to have some time together in the evenings, which is SO nice {that hasn't been the case the past 3 months}. Even with all of it, I am still in bed and asleep by about 8:30 or 9 haha. I am going to soak up all the sleep I can right now!

Overall, it was a fantastic birthday, and I look forward to what the rest of this year holds :)