Coming Soon!

Posts on:

Sophie and Campbell's first Christmas

My new nephew, Crew Hudson Michael

As soon as I find 2 seconds to upload pictures to my computer and gather my thoughts, it will happen.

Bear with me!

xoxo

Merry Christmas and formally announcing...

This year, our Christmas card served double duty as a birth announcement, too!

Special thanks to Cara for creating such a sweet and perfect card!

Merry Christmas to all. Can't wait to post pics of our girls' first Christmas.

xoxo

Weekly Menu

So whenever I started telling my family and close friends that I was having twins, many of the responses I received were along the lines of telling me how perfectly suited my type A personality is for twins. Given twins require rather strict schedules and organization, I suppose my anal, sometimes militant-like control freakishness was suited for the job. And, I must agree it has come in handy with my girls (I dare you to try and throw off their schedule).

One thing many a friend always noticed in my kitchen was the Nevels' weekly menu promptly displayed on a dry erase board on our fridge. Some laughed at it, others admired it. I swore by it. Back before Kyle and I relied upon my mom for our dinners, I cooked dinner and actually bought groceries at the grocery store (oh how I am not looking forward to this impending task again). I anticipate I will continue my weekly ritual once we have our own home again soon.

What I never understood is how people did not have a weekly menu. Every Sunday, I would sit down and flip through my favorite recipes and cookbooks and come up with meals for the week, and thus, my grocery list. It was a good chance for me to also check in with what Kyle's evening plans were for the week (work functions, basketball games, etc. instead of getting the 4:00 text: "Oh, I forgot to tell you that I have a basketball game tonight.") Grrrr. Once I figured out how many dinners I needed to make, it ensured a quick and easy trip to the store and less wasted food by the end of the week. My grocery bill was also almost always the same amount which made budgeting for the month much easier. I did this mostly because the last thing I wanted to do after a long day at school was stand in line at the grocery store with all of the other wives that had just gotten off work. There are also few things I love more than a well-stocked pantry.

In lieu of our old dry erase board (who knows if it will survive the move), I'm considering getting one of these cool vinyl chalkboards to put on our fridge.

It will also cover a rather large dent in one of our refrigerator doors my husband incurred during the move. I also tried the whole "Isn't it time for a new fridge anyways?" thing with no luck.

So I get my weekly menu minus an ugly dent. Win-win right?

Happy menu planning. ;)

How Do I Love You?

...let me count the ways.

I love you as the sun loves the bright blue days.

I love you as the bee loves a fragrant flower.

I love you as the thirsty duck loves a sudden shower.

I love you as the bird loves a song to sing.

I love you as the walking bear loves the smell of spring.

                                                 I love you as the cat loves a sunny sill.

                                          And as the dancing snowflakes love the winter's chill.

                                               How do I love you? Let me tell you how.

                                                 I love you as the nest loves the sturdy bough.

                                                  I love you as the sea loves the sandy shore.

And as the ancient world loved the dinosaur.

I love you as the wind loves its own sweet sound.

And as our friendly Earth loves to spin around.



I love you as the moon loves each shining star.

                                    I love everything that you will be and everything you are.

Two months with two sweet girls. Can't imagine my life without you, S & C.

xoxo

Dear Santa...

...we would really like this super cute pillow with our birthday and initials on it for Mommy's rocker in our nursery.

xoxo,

S & C :)

House Update

We are nearing the end! As the days get colder, our house nears its completion. I have been bad about taking pictures throughout the process, but I was able to capture a few (bad quality) pictures today of the inside. I know several of you make "drive by's" to see the outside, but you probably have no idea what the inside looks like!

The front. Pretty much complete minus landscaping and lighting.

Our kitchen! I'm dying in anticipation of getting to cook in this wonderful kitchen everyday. The island in the middle will also have a butcher block top that I can't wait to see. Our cabinets will be an ivory color (like my sister's for those of you who have seen hers), and we have dark brown stained concrete throughout most of the house minus the bedrooms.

Another view of the kitchen standing in the living room. Our breakfast bar is directly in front of me.

A view of our kitchen from the hallway.

Aaah storage! We have TONS of it throughout the house. Which is great because we will have plenty of diapers, etc. to store!

And....our mud bench! My sister has one in her house, and I am equally as excited about mine. Perfect place to store my diaper bag, purse, coats, keys, and other items we use everyday. One major must-have I decided early on was that we have an awesome laundry room. And awesome it is! In addition to the mud bench, we have a folding area, and it also leads into our very large master closet. Woop woop! 



I can't wait to put pictures up of our completed home! As of right now, we are planning on moving in the first or second week of January. Although it may be finished before then, we recently found out that we will save a heap of money on our mortgage by waiting until after the first of the year to close. So, we are sucking it up and waiting. As my little angels grow and grow, I become so much more eager for our little family to have our own home. I can't wait for all of the fun memories we will make in this place. :)

And I promise to do a much delayed post soon of all of my favorite pictures so far of my sweet babes.

xoxo

Christmas Duds

So being S & C's first Christmas, I am getting way too excited about their Christmas attire. I already have one outfit I bought before they were born from Baby Gap. It's not super "Christmas-y" but I'm in love with it and they need a good occasion to wear it before they grow out of it. And since they are growing at the speed of light, we gotta be quick! Here are a few others I'm considering...

I'm loving this onesie I found on (you guessed it) etsy. I think the lady is going to make me one that says Joy (above) and one that says Peace. I think I will pair it with their black skinny jeans, little Uggs, and...

these! Just got them in the mail the other day. I think I'll have one wear pink and the other wear red.

And my dear friend, Katie, just showed me these darling headbands on etsy for $6. I got them in black, grey and white.

My sisters also got the girls these precious Christmas-colored leg warmers. I'm sure I'll have to work them into this outfit somehow. :)

And oh how I love this.

And this.


So many outfits and a limited budget.

Can't wait to put pictures up of their first Christmas!

xoxo

Full of Thanks

I'm not sure where to begin with the list of things I'm thankful for this year. Ironically enough, my girls' "real" due date was Thanksgiving Day. I add this to the list of reasons why God has a sense of humor. I have no doubt it was no accident these girls were supposed to arrive on a day we are to remember what we are most thankful for as a continual reminder throughout my pregnancy. Here is just a short list of things I am thankful for this year:

1. Two, healthy, beautiful girls that are growing more and more each day and are as healthy as can be.
2. A superstar husband who has proven to be an even bigger superstar dad.
3. The most incredible moment Kyle and I shared just a few short hours after I delivered our babies where we were both overwhelmed with emotions at the miracles that had just entered our lives.
4. One of my beautiful girls may be starting to resemble her mommy. And the other one is undeniably her daddy's daughter. :)
5. The one pair of pre-pregnancy jeans that I can button and zip. Yes, I have a muffin top and yes, they are very snug. But it's a small victory.
6. We will soon be moving into a gorgeous new home that was built by my unbelievably generous sister and brother-in-law.
7. I get to stay at home to raise my girls.
8. I have the most adorable, hilarious nephew in the world, and I can't wait to meet his brother this Christmas!
9. Aunt Sara and Sam who have showered their neices with so much love. They are so lucky to have such cool aunts.
10. A wonderful family in general.
11. Special friends who bring such joy, laughter, and realness to my life.

Kyle always makes fun of me because at both of our anniversary dinners I have teared up talking about how thankful I am for our life together. I never thought that marriage or having a family would make me as happy as it has made me. I see everyday that my wildest dreams have come true.

I can confidently say that this year, although filled with its fair share of challenges, makes me see once again that my cup runeth over.

Wishing you the happiest of Thanksgivings.

New Hope

So this past week, Kyle and I's dear friend, Kris, approached our life group about supporting one or more kids through the New Hope Children's Home. The organization seeks to provide physical, spiritual, and emotional support to the abandoned and orphaned children of Peru. Like most people, the thought of abandoned or orphaned children breaks my heart. It's opportunities like this that make me wish we were millionaires and could make sure no child suffers from hunger, sickness, or abandonment ever.
Kyle had told Kris that we would like to support 2 children (one for Sophie and one for Campbell). Kris has a friend who has worked as a missionary with this organization, and we found out today that our giving will actually go to support a pair of twin girls-Sandra and Carolina. Amazing! What an incredible opportunity for us made sweeter by the fact we get to directly impact a pair of twins half way around the world.

So if you are looking for an opportunity to serve or give to those in need this holiday season, this is a wonderful organization to support. Check out their website if you want more info.

Colossians 3:17 – And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

xoxo

I want...

If only it weren't $695.

I did get a good laugh thinking about what Kyle's reaction would be if he saw this amount purchased from Banana in our bank account.

Maybe I'll ask Santa.

Keep Calm and Carry On

I'm feeling this will be a fitting piece of art for the new house and our new life with our munchkins. I'm currently contemplating between several varieties/colors of this print on etsy.

I'm thinking this should probably be mounted somewhere where I can see it at 3:00 am when I wake up to two hungry girls. Or, keep repeating the new phrase my husband came up with: "One nap and one feeding at a time" This has gotten me through more than one late night half-awake feeding, along with many prayers and hours of babies sleeping on Kyle's chest. Have I mentioned that I don't know what I would do without him?

Perhaps this might be more realistic?

Here's hoping I can keep calm and carry on through these first few tiresome months... ;)

xoxo

Sneak Peak...

This weekend, we had the pleasure of getting the girls' newborn pictures taken by the unbelievably talented Angel Porch. She is so creative and sweet and did such a great job posing the girls. I was astonished at how well the girls did. They didn't fuss once and insisted on snoozing throughout the entire shoot! I was so nervous they would either be wide awake or fussy (or poopy) the whole time. I was thrilled to know that my girls hopefully have many more photogenic days in their future. I also thought it was unbelievably sweet how much they enjoyed being so close to each other. I for sure thought having to be squished on top of each other would ignite some screams, but in fact it was quite the opposite. They loved being so close to each other and made the most contented, sweet little noises throughout the shoot. Perhaps they can carry this attitude throughout their teenage years? ;)
Angel was sweet enough to put together this little montage for me to see before all of the pictures are ready. Gosh, I don't know how we will ever be able to choose. I have a feeling we are going to be spending more on the pictures than we had originally thought, and will most likely have a wall or shrine o' Sophie and Campbell in the new house, which is exciting for me since they are much cuter to look at than Kyle or me!

And on a side note, I was also surprised to see how alike they look in these pics. They look as different as night and day to me when I normally look at them, but something about them being so close made me think they may turn out looking more alike than we thought.

I promise to do a post of many, many more pics from their session once we have them. Thanks for doting on them! ;) 

Christmas Cheer

With the girls' first Christmas right around the corner (and fingers crossed, our first Christmas in our new house!), I am getting excited about a few things. First, finding their "Baby's First Christmas" ornaments. Here are a few I'm considering on Etsy...

( front runner )

This one would show our whole little family. :)

And if course...stockings! I ordered one of these a few years ago for Teddy. Even though Kyle and I had some darling stockings we received as a wedding gift (thanks Lauren!), I've decided to go ahead and order all five of us matching ones from PB. I will have to find an extra special place to hang our old ones since they are one of the things I love most out of all of our Christmas decorations.

And, yes, I did get "Mom" and "Dad" on mine and Kyle's... ;)

A post is yet to come on S & C's Christmas attire...

First Bath and Thoughts on Mommyhood

 Well, here I am (almost) 3 weeks into motherhood. As you can imagine, I'm tired. But in the best way possible. If I'm going to be so deliriously tired that I forget my social security number when the doctor's office receptionist asks me for it, it might as well be because I am taking care of the sweetest little blessings imaginable. Here are just a few thoughts on my first few weeks of being a mom:

1. I never thought I could love the little bundle of sweetness that screams/fusses from 3-6 am every night so dang much (yes, Sophie, I'm talking about you!)

2. Being a mom of twins is harder in some ways, and easier in other ways than I had imagined.

3. I must get out of my house every 2-3 days or I start to go crazy. And by crazy, I mean I start fixating on the craziest things, forcing my husband to believe I am really losing it.

4. Hormones take you on the rollercoaster of your life post-pregnancy (see #3).

5. I never thought I would cry tears of joy, love, exhaustion, guilt as much as I have these last 3 weeks.

6. What is it about being a mom that makes you feel guilty about everything? 

7. I wish more than anything that breast feeding could have worked out with the girls. For a myriad of reasons, it would have been extremely difficult and beyond exhausting for me to make it work. I am still pumping, so the girls are getting some, but it has been much more difficult resigning myself to the reality that they won't be getting it much longer than I ever thought it would be (see #6 on guilt).

8. It has been so much fun watching these little girls grow right before our very eyes. It seems they change on a daily basis. This is rewarding to know that those middle of the night feedings are helping them to become big, strong girls!

I'm sure there are a million other little things I have realized about being a mom, but I'm too tired to remember them all. I'll leave you with some pictures of the girls' first bath at home. What an adventure!

Sophie Kay:
"What are you people doing to me?!"

Campbell Jane:
"Mmmm...that was nice. Can we do it again tomorrow?"

And I just thought this was a humorous portrayal of how many bottles we make/warm/give in one night from 9 pm to 6 am.

I love you, S & C!

xoxo

Welcome Sophie and Campbell

As most of you now know, Kyle and I are officially a mom and dad! Words cannot describe our experiences this past week. First of all, we are thrilled to finally meet our little girls. They are perfect in every way, and we feel as though we cannot love them enough. It truly is a love like no other. Second, we have been on the emotional roller coaster of our lives this week, as well. Sophie and Campbell were born on Friday October 22nd, 2010. I was 35 weeks to the day. I went in Thursday for my twice weekly non-stress test. At my doctor's appointment a few days before, my blood pressure was a bit high, and I had gained (are you ready?) eleven pounds in 2 weeks. Was I eating ice cream and donuts at every meal you ask? No. I'm fairly certain that about 7 lbs. of that weight was water. I was definitely starting to swell up, and it happened fast. This is one of the big signs of pre-eclampsia. My doctor didn't seem too worried. Just that he wanted to make sure my blood pressure was closely monitored at my non-stress tests. So Thursday at the NST, my BP continued to climb. The nurse had me give a urine sample, which contained a trace of protein (another sign of pre-eclampsia). She also drew some blood which appeared to be borderline. She called my doctor, and he decided that I was far enough along that it would be safer to take the babies now than wait for me or them to get sick. I was shocked to say the least. I had no bags at the hospital, and Kyle was at work. Fortunately about mid way through my visit, I called him and told him to get up to the hospital quick as I had a feeling we might be getting some big news. About 15 minutes after his arrival, we get the news that we will be having the girls that night. I started to panic and kept trying to wrap my brain around the fact that I would be meeting them in 3-4 hours. Kyle was so excited, but the mom in me just started worrying that they might not be ready, and I just wanted healthy babies. At about 4:00, Dr. Shanbour called us and said that they had had a record-setting crazy day in labor and delivery and that he could do the C-section at 9 or 10:00, but he thought it would be better to wait until 6 am the next morning. I happily agreed (this meant I got to eat dinner, and I was starving). I also needed just a bit more time to try to mentally prepare myself for this. So we spent a sleepless night at the hospital, and 6 am came very fast. So off we go to the OR. For those of you who have experienced C-sections, it's the most fast and furious thing I have ever experienced. I was in the OR by 6:00, and we had babies less than 30 minutes later!

Campbell Jane Nevels
5 lbs. 7 oz. 18 in. long
6:27 am

Sophie Kay Nevels
4 lbs. 12 oz 18 in. long
6:28 am

Aunt Sara also did a wonderful post about their arrival.

As I write this, both of our girls are still in the NICU. I could write many things about our experience with the NICU this past week. I will sum it up by saying it's been the single most difficult experience of my life. There is nothing normal about having a baby(ies) and having to go home without them. I have shed more tears of grief, joy, and love this week than in my entire life combined. I'm overwhelmed with love every time I look at my girls, and at the same time, grief because we have not been able to bring them home. Let me also say that I know without a doubt how fortunate and blessed we are that they are perfectly healthy, and will only spend a little over a week in the hospital. I know many other moms have and will spend many weeks and months with their babies in the NICU, and my heart breaks for them. The only issue our girls have ever had is getting the hang of feeding. As preemies, it's very difficult at first for them to maintain the strength to keep their body temperature warm and eat enough for them to gain weight. Who knew these 2 things could require so much energy? They were on oxygen for the first day, and taken out of their incubators on the second day. The most difficult part of this week has by far been the many instances of false hope. At first, we believed we would be able to take them home with us, then it was going to be by Wednesday, then Friday, then tomorrow, and now we are cautiously optimistic it could be Sunday evening. We just need our girls to take their feedings well through the night and into tommorow. They have done wonderful overall, and we pray with everything in us that they will continue the trend through tomorrow. We by no means want them to come home before they are ready, but it has been the biggest test of patience for us to acknowledge that we cannot control their readiness. Kyle has been phenomenal throughout this week and my rock. I realize more each day as I watch him with the girls that he is already an incredible father, and these girls have melted his heart. He has taken on the dirty diapers and feedings like a pro.The other night he whispered to me before falling asleep that he can't believe he ever wanted a boy, and this of course melted mommy's heart.

I will end this by saying thank you to all of you who have said many prayers for our little miracles. We have felt all of your support and love, and we will be forever grateful for it. A special thanks to our amazing families. You brought us food, gifts, love, support, and shoulders to cry on during such a wonderful and challenging week. All of the texts, phone calls, and facebook comments have warmed our hearts and sustained our hope. Above all, we know without a doubt that God has had his arms around our girls and us this week, and we pray he will continue to.

We can't wait to share so many more wonderful pictures and moments of our girls with you.

xoxo

Halloween Birthday

Well, it's looking more and more everyday that S & C are going to get the double whammy every year of their birthday and Halloween being back-to-back. Or maybe even on the same day! As my sister so aptly pointed out, this will make for some fun costume-clad birthday parties! I hadn't really given it much thought (or shall I say as much thought as my I-live-for-party-planning-sister), but I came across this cute blog post today and suddenly got excited about this idea. This of course will only be a possibility if these girls come before/on Halloween. And what parent doesn't love the excuse of being able to dress up their kiddo in their Halloween costume besides on Halloween?

And in the event they do arrive before the 31st, hopefully I can convince my sister to whip up some cute onesies such as these for them to wear. I would hate for them to be party poopers or un-festive.

And I'm oh-so-close to ordering 2 of these for the girls, as well. But what a waste on the off-chance they arrive after Halloween. And I just don't think I could stand to give these away!

Oh how I wish I only knew how close to this holiday the girls would arrive. But I think they're just going to keep us guessing... ;)

*Update: I did order 2 of these beanies. The lady is making 2 of them for me for $5 total. I couldn't resist!

Just the Three of Us

I know that the days of just the three of us are numbered. Lately I've been rather hormonal and sentimental about the last 5 years of just Kyle and I (and Teddy the last 3 years). I'm so thankful for the years we have had as just us. I wouldn't trade them for the world. We have been able to make so many fun memories, go on fun trips, be selfish, silly, irresponsible, and most importantly grow as a couple and realize every day that we couldn't have picked a better partner. I also know without a doubt that these girls have come at just the right time. We couldn't be more ready for the next chapter in our lives, and I am thrilled to see what fun and challenges "The Nevels: Part 2" brings to our lives. Here are a few highlights of Part 1.

I like kissing you.

Our Christmas card will look a tad different and less cheesy this year, and (gulp) Teddy might not make the card this year, but we still love you!

Last minute weekend trip to Ft. Worth when we were dating.

New Years in Vegas!

Incredibly fun trip to Crested Butte with friends!

Yet another fun Vegas trip to celebrate our first anniversary.

Maverick and Charlie. :)

Our first, last, and only half marathon. Go us!

Might be one of my favorite pics of us ever. Can't imagine ever two-stepping with anyone else.

Jamaican honeymoon

And the day I became Mrs. Nevels.

Cheers to the next chapter. :)