Fall 2012

We have had quite a busy fall! We have been going constantly it seems like. I am luckily starting to get back into running which makes me a much happier person. I am about to reach my first weight goal. Yay!!!! Great motivation for me!!! So, one weekend we went to the Corn Maze out in Cave Springs. David and I anticipated being there about an hour and planned on a trip to Sam's after that. Well, after being there for three hours, we finally left and had a much quicker trip through Sam's that we had planned for. That was okay, though. Long trips to Sam's are always much more expensive. Here are a few pics from our day.

I wish I could express the joy Brayden was full of as he rode that pony. That is so strange for me because Cole was always so scared of any big animals like that and Taylor appears to feel the same way. But Brayden saw that pony and his daddy said, "Do you want to ride it?!" And Brayden gave his enthusiastic, "Uh huh!!!" David put him on and said he was giggling and laughing the whole time and saying, "Yee haw, horsey!" I put this picture in a frame and showed it to Brayden and he just smiled and looked at it for several minutes and said, "Horsey. Horsey." So sweet! Great memories!!!

Well, here I am almost two years later. Not that I haven't been blogging. I have. I've just started working on my teaching blog instead of my family blog but so many things have happened. MANY things in my family have happened. And I'll get to those. But I've realized a lot lately. Last weekend, Matt Turner died. Former KNWA news anchor. He left KNWA a few months ago. I can still hear David's words a few weeks ago. We were watching the 10 o'clock news. "I miss Matt." I agreed. The new guy is fine. But he's not Matt. Matt could've been your close friend. Or your brother. Now he's gone and it breaks my heart for his wife and daughter. They have a whole new reality. Can you imagine? I can't. And I hope I never have to. But it's really made me realize how lucky they are that his wife, Julee has been blogging for so long. She will have the record of their lives until he passed. It made me think I need to get to work. So, Here I am!!! I hope to start blogging about the Berry life. I will do better. I'm realizing how blessed I am. I have 3 beautiful, healthy boys and they are more than I could've ever asked for. Here are a few pics. Enjoy!!!!

January 23

Last weekend was such a whirlwind! David was gone to the Chili Bowl in Tulsa, mom had to work, which left me at home with the three kids. So many people came through for me and helped me out which I appreciated soooo much!!! Thanks so much to Allison and Susan who basically spent the majority of their weekend taking care of my babies! And I appreciate their families who lived without them just to help us. I am so lucky to have such good friends! And thanks to everyone else who helped or came by. Every bit helped me out. Those people were Dad and Suz, Alison and Kali and Gary, Natalie, and Gini. The weekend went by so much faster with all of our visitors. I know Cole appreciated everyone, too, because it gave me time to play with him, even if he did spend the majority of his weekend playing video games!
We had two snow days this week, which will be great for me as far as pushing back the date I have to go back to work, which is looming. I wish I could go back part time, but it's just not an option as a teacher. Oh well, it will work out and it will be good for me to get out of the house again. Babyland is great, but not a place where I want to live forever. :)

January 12, 2011

Happy New Year! Well, 2010 was great for me! It definitely flew by and I will always remember it. I spent the majority of the year pregnant and was rewarded at the end!
Things are starting to get better. After learning to swaddle and "shhh" the babies, that has helped tremendously to get them quiet when they're screaming. Sometimes that doesn't even work though and mom and I have just turned on the hair dryer or the vacuum and it usually at least quiets them for a few minutes. It's frustrating because I want to solve whatever their problem is and I've been given all kinds of advice, only because everyone I talk to wants to help if they can. :) But I still truly think most of the time they're crying not because they're in some type of pain, but because they're bored or especially overly tired. They do have times when things just don't come out for they as they should :) but most of the time they cry because they're babies! And there's two of them! They do feed off of each other, too. They can sleep through each other's cries, but if they are both awake and one starts to cry, it usually upsets the other one, too. Then we all get upset, too, of course. Time is going by too fast, but I will be happy to get out of these colicky months. Hopefully only a few more weeks...I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
The blessings are that they are starting to smile some. And they are awake a lot during the day. When they're not crying, they just look around, so curious about their world. And whenever they sleep in the same crib, their little heads always gravitate towards each other. It's so cute! At night, they're usually only awake during their two feedings, which I think is pretty good. The problem is when they sleep through a feeding and get off schedule, then I'm up 4 times in the night instead of 2. David does help with the feedings, much to his dismay. When you have one baby, you can sleep when the baby sleeps and I think if one person is working, they should be able to sleep more at night, but when you have twins, there's not too many times when both babies are asleep, so the naps don't come as often. Believe me, I try and take them when I can, but it doesn't happen too often. So David and I are both quite sleep deprived. I dream of the days when the babies sleep through the night. What a luxury! If you get to do that now, I hope you appreciate it! :)
We have an exciting weekend ahead. David will be gone all weekend for his annual trip to the Chili Bowl (midget car races) in Tulsa. BTW, it's the car that is small, not the driver. ;) So, I have several people coming to help Cole and I with the babies. It will be fun, I'm sure!

December 30

I can't believe this year is almost over! I also can't believe the twins will be 4 weeks old tomorrow! My how time flies. Our Christmas was great. Lots of family, food, and gifts. The twins were fairly quiet although that is over for us at home. Today there was at least one baby crying for about 5 hours straight. I guess they are both colicky which I'm trying to read about and figure out how we can get through it. So far, Dr. Harvey Karp's book told us to try the 5 S's, which David seems to be an expert at: Swaddling, side-lying, Shh-shhing, swinging, and sucking. This definitely worked tonight when they were just a little fussy. I want to see if it works when they are screaming. He claims it will work like an off switch for the baby. If that's true, I hope he's a very rich man. I laugh when I think of the days when I thought having one infant was so hard. Having twins is more time consuming than I ever imagined. I have no idea what I'm going to do when I have to go back to work. How do parents spend enough time with all their kids? I'm sure we'll survive, but I certainly can't wait until summer!!!

Cole's 4th Birthday!

December 6, 2010

The boys are here!!!!! They arrived December 3, as planned. David and I got up and got to the hospital at 5:30 that morning (ok, maybe 5:45). Dr. Hix told me we were the planning to be the first c-section that morning and I think he was right.

We really didn't have to wait too long and by 7:43 am, we welcomed Taylor Hubbard aka Baby A into the world he came out crying and weighed 6lbs. 6oz. Brayden Scott joined us two minutes later (Baby B) and weighed 6lbs. 8oz.


It is really hard to describe and it's amazing to me but I don't think I've ever felt more relief in my whole life, as I did when he pulled Brayden out from on top of my ribs. I had a spinal, so of course I felt no pain, but I could feel him pull the babies out and as soon as Brayden came out, I could breathe, after not being able to breathe well for several months. And the babies were perfect! Lungs were developed and they got to come to the room with us as soon as the were cleaned and weighed and such. They did have to go under the warmers for a little while that evening, just because their body temp had gone below where they wanted it to. It made me nervous, but the nurse said it was perfectly normal and she was right. Personally, I think the hospital room was just really cold and we never could get it to warm up.

I got to go home yesterday, even after a few blood pressure issues. They said it was related to just having twins, but given my family history, it's definitely something I want to stay on top of. We got home around noon, then we went to JumpZone for Cole's 4th birthday party. I really just sat while everyone else served food and such. I was just so happy to see Cole. I wasn't going to miss his party for anything.
The first night home was surprisingly good. David stayed up with them first. Then I got up for a few hours, then my mom took over after that. We are very lucky to have her help. She cooks and does our laundry, as well as taking care of the babies. She is definitely helping in my recovery process.