this time last year...

This time last year. I have been looking back at our old caring bridge blog to see how far our little ones have come. This time last year Frederick was 5.8 lbs eating three bottles a day at just under 2ounces. He was wearing 0-3 month clothing and we were thrilled. Cal was just under 4 lbs and bouncing back from an infection. They had turned the heat off in his giraffe and he was sleeping a lot, and on the vent. This time last year our little ones should have been in Mommy's tummy, would have been 36 weeks. This time last year we had no clue how good we would have it this time this year.

O is for ORANGE!

First of all today is amazing. Its on the cloudy side but as I sit here typing a breeze is meandering through the room. I have a view of blooming flowers, and I can hear Cal saying daddy. Does it get any better?

This post is not dedicated to the boys but a means of communication to friends too far away to come for a visit:( I miss you girls.

I painted my kitchen this week. things are getting bright around here. I have a blue living room, yellow hallway, ORANGE kitchen and a green sitting room off the ORANGE kitchen. I had no intention of posting before/after photos so please be nice. Its bad. Real bad.

I only took the photograph because little Cal (with daddy's help) left me a love note. I almost left it.

And the after photos. Travis told me that he is starting to feel as though he is living in a Mexican restaurant. I am convinced that he likes the color despite what he says.

I know its very orange. My intent was to hide the oak stain on the cabinets. I am not a fan of oak. But I love pumpkin spice aka: orange. I also added 1/2 cup of glitter to each gallon of paint. Sadly it does not show in the photos. the glitter is subtle, just reflecting light. I would not add more than 1/2 cup or you may get that disco ball effect. It needs to be that super fine powdery glitter. I heart the glitter:) So there you go Sarah and Fe. you will have to let me know if you like it. If you don't like it lie--thx:)

cause and effect

 cal is crawling all of the way. zooming around the house, pulling up faster, more agile by the second. this past week i have noticed the "what ever you have i must have" becoming a theme for the boys. yipee!!   i'm over the moon stinkin' excited. but not excited. not one bit. not a smidgen tickled. good thing cal is such a laid back child, if he becomes upset over a toy snatched he recovers quickly. frederick. hmmm. frederick is a bit more aggressive, if i were not his mother i may use the word bully, but i am so i won't. nether should you. you'll be sorry if you do. that would not be polite.  we try to always be polite. see? i'm working on my manners, because there are little ears listening. all of the time these ears are allert, so travis tells me. everyday.  the boys have also taken to selecting their own toys from the shelf. cool. very cool. I actually moved the couch table away from the couch  against a wall in the living room. this has been done to  house toys at a level the boys will have access. their favorite part is clearing off the lower shelf in order to crawl about on it. it looks like that... (upper right)  as you can imagine i have many concerns. i removed the small persoins, but apparently the shelf has irresistible powers. they ignore me already!! i was worried that something like this may happen....

but hey i'm just the mommy what do i know?  i so just borrowed that line from my youth,  i sound like my my mother!?!  um, i think i will have to process that later-love you mom! am i a bad mom because i photographed the child crying rather than immediately saving him? in my defense i was already taking photos and it was less than a second to snap the photo. promise. then i scooped him up. cooed. kissed. hugged. swayed till' not a whimper was heard. i set frederick back down to resume the demanding business of being a baby. not a toddler-yet. baby. baby. baby. baby. got it? good!

now for a more serous matter. I have been doing a bit of reading, and this subject has presented its self to me randomly through this last week. random. very random.  because bof this i am looking for input, wisdom, thoughts on vaccinations? its a tuffie but i would appreciate any input.



poor sweet cal. with his new found freedom  has chosen to scurry of to the baby gate that separates the dogs from the babies. I think i mentioned this earlier; our jack russel is a bit afraid of the boys. frederick seems not to care what arnie likes/dislikes. cal on the other hand very much wants to be friends. every time cal approaches the gate arnie gives warning growls and eventually barks. every time cal breaks out in a fit of tears until he is soothed. and then he tries again. such a sweet boy. i hope arnie comes around.

arnie is not ready to be friendly.



cutie cal

today was a day of recovery in our home. the boys played and rested, daddy played and rested, mommy cooked ate and rested. sigh. but how cute is this?



 
until next week. i hope. i hope







waving bye bye. it's new. shiny and new. he's a smarty marty:)

xoxo the buell's

mama you rock

moms love you no matter what. they make you fruit punch and a cot in the living room when you are sick, they sing all i want for christmas is my two front teeth every time you loose a tooth-even if its july. moms tell you you are beautiful when you are a nasty ungrateful teenager. they hold your hand when you are feeling broken. i love my mom. the end.

 that's my mom, up there, see? purr tee.

happy mothers day to all of the moms in my life, here are just a few more......

beautiful nancy

vikki and her mommy :) german princess's

there are so many moms that make my world go round. it is hands down the most heart breaking and heart lifting vocation e v e r.  i find myself worrying, thinking, worrying, reminding myself not to worry. i say to myself  "self don't fret, God toootlly has this" -like i could do better?  this worry mother thing is a slippery slope. it will start off with one hallmark commercial. hallmark commercials should be outlawed..amen. then you think

oh my, they will leave me someday!! what ever will i do? i will go with them! that's what i will do, they will need me (code for i need them), then you will ask your husband if he thinks maybe your kids will be those rare ones who never go through that "my parents are soo lame phase thingie" said husband lazily looks at you like you are lame now, and says " honey they are one; and of course they think you are lame"  one day at a time.

 some how i see this photo.....

i  think of all of the things i will teach my boys about the world, of how loved they are, of how God blesses them every day, and how they have  power, the power to become whatever they can dream. I  feel excitement build and am thankful that i am part of their story.

last mothers day, our NICU nurse, megan took our very first family photo.ever. what a difference a year can make.

hows that for a happy mama?

to all of the mamas out there that make worlds go round i say to you, YOU ROCK.

much love xoxoxo

holy i had no idea...




cal crawling in his own unique style.
 he sure sure get around though.

 

 

where does all of this come from??
where i ask?



we have been patiently waiting, encouraging, silently wishing, implementing play that encourages, and praying that our cal will soon commence crawling. and..............he has done so! I placed a call to kelli yesterday, i was sweating, out of breath and a bit overwhelmed to be honest. I had wiped the boys presentable, clothed them appropriately rushed them to the car strapped them down promptly, got the air conditioner purring and said a silent prayer of thanks and asked for mercy. then i called my go to girl on parenting twins, as my nieces are just a bit older than the boys and sternly discussed why in the world she did not tell me two crawling babies does not a saign mommy make? i am disappointed to say that i took them to hobby lobby as an activity so that i could catch my breath while insuring their safety. phew, they are fast. one is grabbing at the jack russel who is terrified of little grabby hands, i'm running to save both lives, as i spot the other on chewing on the gas lighter key thing for the fireplace, meanwhile frederick is ticked that i swept hem away from the baby gate/ cute puppy he's dying to yank on. put frederick down, redirect cal and begin to put toys away. its quiet. hmmm....both boys are behind the couch looking a board books. awwww. put more toy away, as i do not enjoy mounds of toys lying about. look over my shoulder just in time to sprint across the room to catch th falling 40 pound stroller frederick is pulling up on; now milliseconds from falling on brother. yes i do believe i pulled something. sigh. they really are quite cute though. i am big time excited to see sweet cal begin to explore his world. 

 



cal and frederick playing



ok. one more discovery this week. frederick, oh frederick.  i  found him in the morning waiting for daddy to feed and change him first thing. only this day daddy left for an early tee time. not without making breakfast for us all first . insert awww here______. i open the door to a room of smiling, cutest ever made baby boys. one of whitch is missing all forms of clothing. all form of clothing just in case you missed that. he is standing in his crib grinning at me, nudie pants with an all over soiled crib. awesome. way awesome. we are so cool around here. am i toast or what?

                             xoxox--the buells:)

    





9/11

all day i have heard about the death of osama bin laden. i first hear the news last night, and woke to it this morning.  celebration...friends posting on fb about how finally the "sob is dead" among other colorful statements.  i just felt sad.  sad that this day reminded me of 9/11, sad that people i call friends would celebrate the loss of human life. I feel like i am one of the very few that sees the death of an unrepented sinner as one more person who will forever be lost.
I have on other occasions asked myself if i would want another human to loose their life if they had violated myself or others i loved. The thoughts occur when watching 20/20 or dateline, you get the picture. I was not sure, but now i know. never ever ever would i want another to lose their life. i can say as i listen to my little ones play that i am grateful  they are a fraction safer today than yesterday. don't get me wrong i understand war.  i am able to comprehend necessary death, i am simply unable to as a mother, christian, and human understand celebrating loss of life. I find comfort, awe, in knowing that God knows my name, that he loves me the most. wow. and guess what? that goes for all of us .

"do not rejoice when your enemies fall, and do not let your heart be glad when they stumble."
                                                         proverbs 24:17
i <3 proverbs...

i'm going to try...really try. super a lot.

 i was cleaning up my favorites list, getting rid of blogs that i no longer look at and such. then i came across the boys blog...guilt. this blog was for them and all five of you who read it. i'm not a fan of guilt so i will try harder. my last post was september 8. sad. pathetic. shameful. too much has happened, loads. i will just start with this

week. good. you agree.

 frederick is a hand full. tonight at church, josh our fearless leader was giving a lovely talk of which i heard 1/2 and absorbed 1/3. i like to think i walked away with the good bits. anyhow, the reason my attention was impaired is because i was attempting to tame a wiggle wormy, thrashing, loud small person named frederick. he is crawling like an olympic crawler. if crawling were ever to become an event my boy could bring home the gold.
 here it is 10:47 and i can hear dadadadadada coming from his crib. why you ask? you got me, today was a no napper. i am just along for this ride.
 mr frederick is the proud owner of two shiny new teeth. i'm rather fond of them although they are not often seen. you know how some people are not big bottom teeth smileys? travis is one, don't think i know if his bottom teeth are nicely aligned or all crazy in there?  hmmm.  my sister for example smiles with all teeth visible.  top and bottom-not any crazy back teeth, she's not weird. frederick is a top teeth smiler, but what a great grinner he is. i'm learning every day what different smiles mean. one says "haha i'm gonna eat the dog food before you can reach me he he he", one says "ya brother i'm gonna steel your passie and watch you cry bah haha", and one says "hi mom!! hi mom!! sooo happy to see you!! hold me!! pleeease!?!"--love that one. our frederick; he's a complex cookie. loves to take a bath, and puts his face in the water! thinks its a hoot. uses his brothers head as pushing off point to stand and puts every object known to man in his mouth, excluding food of course. duh.

cal. sigh. everything i just said about frederick, reverse it and ta daa you've got cal. He is crawling s l o w l y, but crawling none the less. he is patient with his brother constantly taking, well everything. if i had to use one word for cal i would say content. except if you are late wit his food. no sirree.  tardiness will get a belting cry form our ordinarily content cal. i do my best to be prompt. cal is quite skilled at feeding himself. the whole event looks a bit like cookie monster. he shoves all of the food into his mouth and some makes it to his tummy. the rest makes its way to the floor and then to the dogs tummies. everyone is a winner. cal is also quite a talker lots of dadada bababa mamama ooooohhh. dadad is his go to phrase and his voice is the sweetest voice ever. ever.  i know what i'm talking about. the end.  really, it is its a bit raspy, but sweet to and he often looks at you and whispers da da da da. it will melt you. i should put a warning on the back of his abnormally large ( big brain) head. warning: i am so sweet you will want to put me in your pocket and take me home with you. something along those lines.
cal pal is not so into bathing, its ok.  he'd take baked beans over bath time any day. also, i know most of you have held both of my boys and they are cuddlers, but cal. wow. that child can hug. he loves to snuggle. i'm just a lucky girl.

over and out:)