Pieces of Spring . . .

One of these things is not like the other ones, one of these things just isn't the same. Can you guess which one? Yup it is the snow 0n my grass in May! Okay perhaps I am a little overdramatic about the delay of Spring, it is Utah after all and we almost always have some snow in April, but c'mon it's May already and we are ready to PLAY! At this rate we are going to skip spring altogether and go right on to summer which is such a disappointment as I LOVE spring and the heat of summer actually limits play time as well. At least the days are getting longer . . .and in case you want to know, the snow totally ruined the pink blossoms on our flowering cherry and isn't helping the seeds I planted for the twin play group this month !

Well, besides complaining about the weather, what else have we been up to? Our usual busy-ness and running around. We caught the Baby Animal birthday party which turned out to be quite wet and soggy (still complaining) and the boys just did not do well with the crowd. It is usually not very busy at farm country and they were overwhelmed by all the people. We did see all the babies up closer than usual, enjoyed birthday cake, and played a few party games. We also caught the last day of the tulip fesitval and have been back since of course and the tulips are finally looking fantastic. I'll have to remember my camera next time, it is breath-taking right now at the gardens. The munchkins got lots of wiggles out running around as well since Daddy came (I don't dare let them loose on my own!). We also paid a visit to "nemo" at the aquarium which is always a hit. The bubs haven't been in a month and were happy to run and visit all their "friends". Yesterday I went to 2 baby showers, congrats to Erin (baby Madeline due 6/22) and Jordan (baby Eden due 6/19) so the boys got extra playtime outside with Dad and rounded out the day with some ice cream. I gave each of the gals at the showers a "few of my favorite things" which I will share here in case anyone wants to know. These are the things I could not live without the first year of the boys' life.

1. Lanolin--the kiddos were NOT good latchers and struggled to eat for 2 weeks in the NICU as 34 weekers. I pressed on just to get them out of the hospital but didn't work on form enough I think as it hurt to breastfeed for a long time. The nipple blisters almost did me in toward the end, but I pushed along nursing both kids until 18 months. Despite the complaints I am a major proponent of breastfeeding if you can and really did nurse that long because I enjoyed it as much as the boys. Anyway lanolin and nipple shields got me through the rough patches.

2. Stretchy swaddling blankets--these are really cheap actually 1.29 at Macey's but they have elastic going in one direction so you can stretch the blanket around the baby and swaddle them quite snugly. We had plenty of fancy blankies but swore by these cheapies, hey it worked!

3. Mylicon gas drops--man I wish I had figured out sooner that all the fussing was just gas!

4. Mesh Safety Feeders--These look a little like over-sized pacifiers except with mesh sacs on the end that you can fill with fruit or biter biscuits or whatever and the kids won't choke on them as the mesh is so tight that only little bits get through. You can also put frozen fruit in for teething woes, but we mostly loaded them with fruit and let the boys go at it. They were always content for several minutes this way and the mess was worth it.

5. Onesies--Such a standard part of any wardrobe but I do seriously swear by them and my boys still wear one every day (and at night). As little guys it helped protect their outer clothing from messes and now it keeps them from getting into their diapers and making messes. It also gives an extra layer on warmth and just makes them look all dapper to me.

6. The following article: http://lds.org/conference/talk/display/0,5232,23-1-851-37,00.html For those who don't know, I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, also known as the LDS or mormon church. This was a talk at our latest conference by an apostle about young mothers. It meant a lot to me because oddly I needed an apostle of God to tell me, yes parenting is hard and it is okay to think that. He also talked about ways to enjoy your young children so I shared this article with the new moms as well.

So that plus a diaper bag is what went to the showers this weekend. Other favorite things of note: sleep sacks, disposable bottle liners, sound machines, and lots of toys!

Well, back to work I go, hoorah hoorah! I really need a nap today, I have stayed up much too late this whole weekend. I got most of my work chores done yesterday and already read my church articles for the day so except for a few ebay auctions I am watching I should be able to rest.

Love to all!