Dear stomach flu, please please please leave us alone now.

So, the twin's birthdays' started out well, and then it all went downhill from there.

We started the day out making number "1" pancakes, which Finley and Scout thoroughly enjoyed! They loved the whip cream on them!







We had plans of just hanging out for the day, and then having a mini birthday party with just the family that night. BUT Finley decided to get sick. When I got him up from his nap I discovered that he had thrown up. There was vomit ALL over his crib. :(

And that was the beginning of a very long week and a half...

He threw up again after supper, and then again while opening their presents, (which happens to be caught on tape...lovely birthday memories huh!)

He did feel good enough for a little while to participate in opening presents.



One of the things we gave the babies was this penquin, and Scout was not so sure what she thought of it.



Finley continued to throw up all through the night, and couldn't keep even the tiniest bit of water down. By 9:30 am on thursday, Thanksgiving Day, he couldn't even hold his little head up he was so weak and dehydrated.

We called the on call Dr. who suggested we bring him in to the E.R. We agreed, and Mama and Finley went while Daddy stayed home with the rest of the kids.

Apparently our Thanksgiving tradition has become going to the E.R. for some reason or another! Last year it was me with dehydration.

When we got to the E.R. the Dr. said right away that he definitely needed fluids. He was like trying to hold an 18 lb. newborn. He couldn't hold his head up, couldn't sit, wouldn't even move on his own. He was just limp. :(

First they did a chest x-ray and took a urine sample, and then they started the IV and took blood. They came back later saying they didn't get enough blood, and had to poke around in 2 more spots to finally get some.

My poor little babe was just limp in my arms all day. We hung out in the E.R. for about 5 hours, just rocking and snuggling.

After 2 units of fluid he was doing a little better as he wasn't throwing up anymore, but was definitely feeling pretty miserable still. The crappy pictures are from my phone.





The Dr. decided he was still too dehydrated, and needed an IV fluid drip overnight, so they admitted him.

Around 3:00 they moved us up to a room in pediatrics. After we got settled in the room, Daddy, Malichi, Kinzie and Scout came to the hospital. We had our Thanksgiving dinner at the hospital from the hospital cafeteria. The food was....not the most edible, and it was far from what we planned on doing for Thanksgiving, But we were together and that was what mattered.













After our "feast" I took the big kids and Scout back to the house, and Mom and Grammy came to stay with them so Aaron and I could be at the hospital with Finner. Scout came back with me to the hospital and stayed the night too. Since they are both still nursing I couldn't leave her home overnight.

The nurse asked me if they could just share a crib for the night! REALLY? First of all no, they don't share a crib...Scout might maul Finley...and second...um he has the stomach FLU! Hello. We brought in a pack-n-play for Scout.

Thursday night Finley's IV came out of his hand, so they had to take it out and they tried to put it back in the same spot, which was a disaster. He started throwing up and they couldn't get it in. So then they put it in his foot, and threw up then too.
Overnight he did pretty good, and had quit throwing up. By friday morning he was wanting to be up and crawling around, but with the IV he couldn't. The Dr. saw us early and we were discharged around 9:30. We took our baby home, and he seemed to be doing so much better! It was so good to see him smiling and crawling around again!

Finley was doing well, so I went out Black friday shopping with my mom while Grammy and Daddy stayed back with the kids.
Saturday Finley did really well too, and was on the mend. The big first birthday party was scheduled for Sunday, and I spend the day saturday preparing for it, baking, making soups, cleaning, and finishing up a birthday present for the twins I was making.

Sunday the party was ON! I was so excited to celebrate with my babies, especially after the few days we'd had prior!

I made giant cupcakes, one for each of them, to dig into, and small cupcakes for the guests instead of cake.










The party was really great! Finley and Scout had a blast digging into their cakes, and opening their gifts!















Late saturday night I finally finished the project I was working on for the twins, so I gave them their gift on Sunday.

They each got their own fabric book; "Who loves Scout?" and "Who loves Finley?". The books have the family, the Grandparents, Great Grandmas, and Aunts, Uncles and Cousins in them.












Sunday night we thought everything was good, and everyone was healthy, until Finley threw up again! Even then we thought maybe it was just too much to handle with all the excitement and too much cake, too soon after being sick.

But we soon realized that was not the case. He threw up again Monday morning, Monday evening, Tuesday morning, and Tuesday night.

Monday we went to the Dr. for the babies' 12 month check ups. We didn't do Finley's shots because he was still so sick, but we did Scouts. She had to get 2 in each leg and 1 in each arm! :( Poor babe!

Finley weighed 18 lbs. 12 oz. (up from 18 lbs 1 oz in the hosptial on Thanksgiving), which put him at 5% for weight. He was 28 1/2" (20%) for height. Scoutie was 22 lbs (70%) for weight, and was 28 1/4" (25%) for height.

After Finley was up for about 2 hours screaming tuesday night and most of wednesday morning, I scheduled a Dr. appt. for noon that day. I was starting to worry that there might be something else wrong besides the stomache flu.

We were on our way to the Dr. when Scout starting throwing up in the car. A lot.

We got to the clinic, and I got Scout cleaned up, and we saw the Dr. She thought Finley was probably having cramps from the flu and that was why he was so fussy. He didn't want to be put down at all and just couldn't be consoled. She gave us zofran for Scoutie's puking and nausea. And just told us to really try to keep her hydrated as much as possible to avoid another E.R. visit!

My mom came up that afternoon to help out. Thank you Mom for coming on such short notice!

Scout puked again after supper on wednesday, so we gave her the zofran. That seemed to help, and she slept pretty good that night. Thursday and Friday she wouldn't nurse or drink anything, and we didn't give her any solids. Finally on friday night we gave her a little toast. She kept that down, but still wouldn't nurse. We gave her medicine syringes full of pedialyte and gatorade to try to keep her hydrated.

By Friday Finley was finally back to his old self, giggling and playing. It took him a few days after the symptoms were gone to really feel good again. This flu has just taken so much out of them.

Saturday afternoon Scout finally started nursing a little, but was pretty lethargic and had not had much wet diapers and wasn't producing tears. We debated bringing her in for IV fluids too, but just kept pushing the fluids through the medicine dropper. Saturday night she nursed a lot so decided to keep her home as long as she was keeping it down. Sunday morning she threw up after breakfast again. She seemed to feel a little better after vomiting. We gave her medicine syringes of pedialyte all day. She slept a lot, and kept down the fluids. By evening she was producing tears and even had a somewhat wet diaper.

The last 5 days poor Scoutie has just been laying around not interested in doing much :(



We are going to take it easy the next couple of days and hopefully she'll be back to her old silly self again soon!

In between all the puking, we did manage to get our tree up this week, which brightened up our lives a little! I just love having the tree up, the house decorated, and listening to Christmas music.



Hopefully we can all stay healthy the rest of the holiday season!

Happy 1st Birthday Finley and Scout!

Our babies are ONE today.

Not only am I celebrating this huge milestone for them, I am also celebrating the fact that I have made it through the first year with twins!!! We made it, babies!!!

It is very bittersweet for me.

As exciting as it is, I must admit, I am also very sad. This first year has gone by much too fast. The first 5 or 6 months really are kind of a blur to me. I was functioning (or trying my best at functioning) on very little sleep. I was adjusting to having not one new baby, but two! The days sometimes dragged on, but the months flew by.

And then they became mobile.

And life became even crazier! Good. But crazy!

And now, here we are, celebrating Finley and Scout's first year of life.

Although neither of them are big babies really, it still amazes me how much they have grown over the past year! It is hard to remember what they were like as little 5 and 6 lb. babies.

Finley might be small, but his is soooo strong! He is not yet walking, but he stands on his own now for a short time, and he has taken a couple of steps! He loves to push things around the floor walking behind them though. But he gets around just fine crawling and he is quick too! When he has gotten into something he knows he is not supposed to, he'll see me walking over to him as I say "Finley...what do you have", and he'll drop it immediately and make a beeline to get away!

Finley is a great eater! He will try anything we give him. And he dives right in too. He loves to make a mess! He also likes to drop things off the side of his highchair to let us know he is finished. We started whole milk a few weeks before the twins' first birthdays so we could supplement with that instead of formula, when nursing wasn't enough. Finley took to the whole milk wonderfully! He is just not a picky boy!

Finley likes anything that provides sensory stimulation. He loves to squish food in his fingers, or scratch his fingernails on different textures, or smell new things. He has done the scratching thing since he was just a newborn.

He doesn't love going down for a nap or bed, he usually cries at least a little. He does not use a nuk, (unless he wants to take it from his sister and pretend to use it briefly before tossing it). He loves his baby, (a wind up giraffe from Great Grammy), and his rattle blankie, and he loves to snuggle. He does not sleep well at night still, and insists on getting up to nurse 2-3 times a night. He is a very light sleeper.

Finley has a small vocabulary consisting of Mama, Dada, and as of recently, "Hi". Though he sounds like is trying to say other things, we can make out what any of them are.

Finley loves to play. He loves to bang toys together to hear the noise they make. He loves to get into everything he is not supposed to. He loves to climb. He does not especially like his play area, (AKA 'baby jail') although he has gotten much more used to it. He cries when I put him in, but usually will calm down after a minute and play. If the door is open he goes in and out and in and out and loves it, but the minute I latch the door, he knows it and lets me know he is not happy about it.

Finley always wants someone to entertain him and give him attention. He will play on his own for a short time, but he lets me know when he wants me to play with him. He loves to be around people, and watch what everyone is doing. He loves to be held.
One of his favorite games is "drop the baby". He'll throw his head back when we say "do you want to play drop the baby?" Then we'll pretend to "drop" him, of course holding on and catching him. He just squeals in delight when we play that!

He loves to play peek-a-boo too! He'll take whatever object is around, a book, a blanket, a spoon.... whatever, and put it up to his face until we say "Where's Finley". Then he'll move it and giggle as we say "There his is!!".

Scout is much more delicate when she eats than her brother. She picks at her food much more, rather than just shoveling like her brother does. She is much pickier too. She doesn't like meat very much, or things with a lot of texture, or things that are very cold. She eats like a bird much of the time, and is wary of new flavors and textures. Wouldn't you think it to be the opposite when she is 3+ pounds bigger than her brother who shovels in his food!?

We started Scout on whole milk as well, but she definitely doesn't love it as much as her brother does. Especially if it is cold. She'd much rather nurse, and if I produced enough milk, I'd let her, but she's never full after nursing so we give her whole milk.

Scout is very independent. Now that she is walking, she can get where ever she wants to go. She will explore everything, just taking it all in, but not really getting into things. Just looking. She loves to walk all over the house, and check things out. She will go in the baby jail and play on her own, and it doesn't seem to bother her too much. She can definitely entertain herself.

Scout loves to go through the house collecting and hoarding nuks. She'll have on in her mouth, and then she'll always have 2 or 3 in her hands that she is carrying around. When she was still crawling she did the same thing, one in her mouth, and one in each hand as she tried to crawl.

Scout has cut out crawling completely and walks everywhere she wants to go. She gets ahead of herself sometimes and tries to "run", and topples over. It's hilarious!

Scout is a light sleeper as well, and also doesn't sleep through the night much of the time. I think if she could just sleep through Finley waking up, she might actually sleep through the night. She goes down for naps and bedtime pretty good usually. She loves her nuk, and her blankie and her baby (also a wind up from grammy).

She is a loud little girl. She loves to talk and shriek. A lot. She mostly babbles, but she does say "Mama", "Dada", and "Moooooommmmmmm"(when waking up from her nap and wants to get up)!

She loves to dance and move. In the morning sometimes I will have "Ellen" on, and every time the music comes on and Ellen starts dancing, so does Scout!!!! She's got some cute little moves that girl (my baby I mean, although Ellen can dance too)!

Scout loves to play peek-a-boo too. She'll throw a blanket over her head, and then pull it off giggling when we ask "Where's Scout?"! If she doesn't have a blanket she'll put her hands over her ears, instead of over her eyes to play peek-a-boo!

Both of the babies are always very aware of what the other one is doing. If I am nursing one, the other cries and hangs on my leg in jealousy! If I am rocking one, the other hangs at my leg and cries. If I am playing on the floor with one, the other one crawls up on my lap wanting to get in on the action too. If one is having a snack, the other must get some too.

They get along well overall, but they have just recently started to truly fight over stuff. If one has a toy, and the other wants it they have no problem grabbing it and having a little game of tug-o-war over it. Scout usually wins, and Finley usually cries. Finley likes to take Scout's nuk out of her mouth, put it in his, then spit it out 2 seconds later as if he just remembered he doesn't like nuks. Then he'll notice she found a new one to put in, and he'll take that one. Usually she doesn't get too upset, (unless she is tired) she just goes and grabs a few more from the stash.

The babies both give kisses, and they both are particular on who they give them to! Usually they will give them to each other, but are much more hesitant with anyone else.

This past year has been....amazing. It has been so much fun to watch Finley and Scout grow and learn in their own ways, and develop their own, very different, little personalities!

Here they are one year ago.



Here they are now.



Happy 1st Birthday Finley and Scout! I love you both so very much!

Finner....sorry you are spending the second half of your first birthday throwing up :( Poor babe.

The Birth Story.

This is an journal entry I wrote nearly a year ago documenting the last day of my pregnancy, and the babies' birth story. Sorry for the lengthiness....I just copy and pasted, instead of doing a summed up blog version. No time for that! :P


37 wks. Exactly; 11/24/08.

After a miserable weekend of a racing heart, chest pain, and little sleep, Aaron and I went into see Dr. Larose prepared to beg him to induce me a week early. With the rapid heart rate that had been going on for weeks we had already talked about taking the twins a little early. Knowing that they had a very good chance of being completely healthy and with my resting heart rate staying up in the 150’s much of the time, I was definitely ready to have these babies. Dr. Larose checked me and I was still dilated to 5, which is what I was the previous weekend when we had our “false alarm”. I asked him what the earliest he would induce me was, and he said. “Well I know they are pretty full up there today, but I will check on tomorrow.” So he made a phone call up to the hospital, and was told that they would put me “on call” and if they had room I could be induced. I was supposed to call in at 5:30 a.m. and they would let me know, and if they had room, I would go in at 7 am.

I was so excited to be finally reaching the end. I was huge, measuring 46 weeks along, in measurements of single pregnancy. I was so unbelievably uncomfortable. I had hardly slept in weeks, couldn’t breath and my heart was always racing.

We were trying to decide whether we should have my mom come up that evening or not, since we didn’t know for sure if I would be induced. I decided to call the hospital at 7 pm, to see if they could give me some idea if they thought I’d be able to come in or not. The woman I spoke to on the phone was wonderful. I just told her we were trying to decide if we should have grandma come up to watch the older 2 kids or not, and was wondering if they were still pretty full or if things looked good for us at this point. She told me she couldn’t guarantee anything, but she was pretty sure we’d be able to come in in the morning. So mom came up that night. I woke up at 4 am on Tuesday morning; anxious to find out if I could be induced or not. I waited very impatiently until my clock said 5:30, then I called the hospital. I told the woman who I was, and she says, “oh we were just talking about you”. “oh??” I replied. “Yeah, We were just trying to decide if we wanted to risk letting you come this morning or not because we are pretty full, but they gave me the ok to tell you to come on in”. Whew…I was so relieved. I was so scared they were going to tell me I couldn’t come in, and then I would have had to wait until Friday. And at that point I didn’t think I could make it until Friday.

So I got up, got showered, and got everything all ready to go. We brought Malichi to Kristie’s to get on the bus and then we headed to the hospital. We had to wait for a short while to get into a room; they were pretty packed up there. Around 8:30 Dr. Larose came in to talk to us. Although we had already planned on trying to deliver naturally, we discussed the option of a C-section as well. The nurses had already done an ultrasound that morning, and determined Finley was still head down, and Scout was transverse/almost breech. She had her head by my left rib, and her feet were by my right hip. He discussed the fact that he would have to turn her after delivering Finley, and if he couldn’t turn her he would try a breech extraction, which would basically be grabbing her feet and pulling her out quickly. He also talked about the chance of having to deliver her by emergency C-section after Finley was delivered. He said there was a possibility it could come to that, and he said an emergency c-section would be the last thing we would want. It would mean Aaron would have to leave the room, they would put me completely out, and within 2 minutes of me being knocked out, they would have to have Scout delivered. So basically it’s pretty gruesome he said. He said he’s only seen that happen once, and with delivering 2 previous babies with no complications, he left the decision completely up to us. It wasn't enough risk that we HAD to have a C-Section, but he wanted us to know what could happen. We decided that we would try to deliver naturally. I desperately wanted to have these babies naturally, and I felt good about it. I thought, or at least hoped, that I could do it! Aaron and I also talked about if I would get an epidural or other pain medication. I decided I wanted to try to do it without anything, but if I decided I really needed it, I would get it.

So around 8:30 Dr. Larose broke my water to start the induction. Instead of fully breaking it, he put a pinhole in it so it was a slow leak. He tried to attach an electrode to Finley’s head so they could monitor his heart rate, but when he tried to put it on, Finley kept moving. Dr. Larose said he could feel Finley’s hand, which wasn’t good because that meant it was up by his head and could come out first, so hopefully he’d move it by the time we delivered. Dr. Larose had to come back a few times before he could finally get the electrode attached to Fin’s head. In the meantime they had me up walking trying to get things going. I was having contractions but not anything too strong or consistent. And every so often they would hook me up to the fetal monitor and monitor the babies and my contractions, they would check me periodically as well. I wasn’t dilating very fast though.

Around 11:10 I was still only dilated to about a 6 so they started a pitocin drip. I warned them that after pitocin is started things will probably happen pretty fast. And that they did! I started having very strong and painful contractions that were right on top of each other. They checked me and I was already at an 8. They started preparing to bring me into the operation room for delivery. They had me delivering in the OR with a surgical team standing by in case I needed and emergency c-section.

I remember at one point, after I was already at an 8, asking if it was too late for the epidural. I was in so much pain, I didn’t think I could handle it anymore. They said they would call the anesthesiologist, but it could be anywhere from 5 to 30 minutes before she got there. A few minutes after that I was feeling like I needed to push, so they wheeled me into the OR at about 12:20. I was still at an 8, but the nurse told me to start pushing to try to finish dilated my cervix. The pain was excruciating and I seriously had to keep telling myself “you are not going to die, you are not going to die”. The pain was so bad I felt like I was going to. At one point the anesthesiologist came in, and the nurses said it was too late, I was already pushing. Dr. Larose made his way into the room and some point, and shortly after that, Finley was born at 12:44 p.m. They took Finley and put him in the warmer in the left corner of the room. Since I still had to deliver Scout I wasn’t able to hold him yet. But they said he looked good. Aaron took a few pictures of him in between my contractions. He let out a few cries, and then after that, he laid there contently.

After Finley was out, they checked on the ultrasound to see if Scout’s position had changed. She was still almost breech so they had to turn her. They covered my belly in gel and manually moved her from the outside of my stomach. After they got her head down, we had to wait until she moved down into the birth canal more before they could break her bag of water. She was too high up, and Dr. Larose said he could feel the bag of water in the way, and if he broke it her cord could come out first. Strong contractions continued, but I wasn’t able to push or do anything. The nurse had her hands pushed firmly on my stomach to “hold” Scout in place, so she didn’t flip back into breech position. Dr. Larose just sat there waiting, not saying much. They gave me oxygen, because they said Scout’s heart rate started dropping. After probably about 30 minutes, she had finally moved down enough for them to break the water. At one point I was feeling like if I wasn’t going to be pushing her out soon, I was going to pass out. But finally they gave me the ok to push, and after a few pushes she was out too. At 1:22 p.m. we welcomed Scout into the world. I thought the pain would be less after already delivering Finley, but it wasn’t. It was just as intense. It was a long 38 minutes in between the births.

After she was born they took her over to her warmer and cleaned her up a little. Finley was just content in the warmer all while I was laboring and delivering her. But she was a little more vocal. She was in her warmer screaming. They brought Finley over to me, and the first thought I had was how tiny he was. His head was so little, and he had these long blonde eyelashes. The nurses kept commenting on his long eye lashes while I was laboring with Scout. He has this adorable reddish blonde hair, these super long fingernails and distinct facial features, He looked like a little man. Shortly after that they brought Scout to me too. She was tiny too, but seemed so big compared to her brother. She had lots of dark hair, and was wide eyed. I thought she looked like her big sister. She was beautiful.

Both of the babies were healthy and wonderful. I was able to keep them on my chest while I delivered the placentas and they cleaned things up. I was in absolute awe that both of these babies were inside me. Shortly after delivery they brought me back to the labor room I was in. I was able to hold Scout while they had Finley in the warmer for a while, and weighed him. Then while they weighed Scout, I held Finley. Finley was 5 lbs. 8 oz. and Scout was 6 lb. 3 oz. Both babies were 18 inches long. I nursed both babies before they took them to the nursery for their hearing checks. Both babies were having a hard time keeping their temperatures up so they had to be under the warmer for a while before they could be bathed.

Around 3:00 I was able to get up and get showered. I was feeling pretty good, but got really dizzy and weak in the shower. Around 4:30 they brought both babies back, bathed and with these cute crocheted hats on that someone donated to the hospital. Then they transferred me to a postpartum room.

We called my Mom and told her to bring Kinzie and Malichi to the hospital to meet their new baby brother and sister. I was so excited to see their reactions when they met them. Aaron went down to the lobby and got them.

They were so excited to meet the babies. I was so impressed with them. They were wonderful with the babies. They were so excited to give them the presents they picked out for the Finley and Scout. They opened up the gifts for the babies, showing them each thing they got them and reading them the cards they made for them. Malichi picked out a soft blue blankie for Finley and an assortment of newborn toys, and Kinzie picked out a little pink pig stuffed animal for Scout and an assortment of newborn toys as well. It was so sweet. Aaron and I couldn’t get over how big Kinzie and Malichi seemed. Especially Kinzie, she just seemed like such a big girl, and sitting on Aaron’s lap she looked like she grew a foot overnight! And Malichi seemed so mature. He did amazing being calm and gentle and quiet at the hospital. The kids opened their gifts from the babies. They each got a new board game, Pretty Pretty Princess, and Trouble. Malichi got a hat that said “Brother of Twins” and Kinzie got a shirt that said “Big Sister of Twins”. They both loved their new gifts. Malichi was pretty excited about his new hat, which surprised me a little, but he really was proud to wear it and show off that he was the big brother of twins.

After that we started getting visitors. Malichi and Kinzie made sure to remind everyone who came to wash their hands. They were so protective of the babies.

The first day we had my Mom, my Dad and Sisters, Aaron’s parents, Steph and Kristie up to visit.

That first night of sleep not being pregnant anymore was wonderful. I slept great. We brought the babies to the nursery to sleep , and they just brought them in to us every time they needed to nurse.

The next morning Dr. Larose came in to see how we were doing. I was feeling really good. Sore of course, but I could breathe again, my heart wasn’t racing anymore, I could lay comfortably, and I could sleep again! Dr. Larose sat and talked with us for quite a while. He told us that as we were waiting for Scout to move down, he was sitting pretty nervous. He was sure we were going to end up having to do an emergency C-section to get Scout out. He said I was bleeding a lot in between the births, which I guess is not supposed to happen, and the placenta was separating, which is why Scout was losing oxygen, she was taking a long time to move into the birth canal. He was like, “I wasn’t going to say anything to you at the time, but now that you have delivered them both and they are healthy, I can tell you this”.

Wednesday was a busy day. We had lots of visitors; Mom and Randy, Grammy, Jill and Kelsey, The Dustin family, Kim and Georgia, Jenn Ryall, Steph, and Jess Lundgren.
The babies were both doing great. Scout was a little jaundiced but not anything too bad that she needed to be under lights or anything.

Wednesday night we brought the babies into the nursery again. We wheeled them down there and placed them next to a baby that was 9 lbs. 11 oz! The baby looked like a giant compared to our little peanuts. The nursery was packed that night; there were 17 babies, and even another set of twins.

I went back to the room and slept heavily. I woke up at 4:30 am, looked at the clock and realized the babies hadn’t been in to eat yet. It had been like 6 hours! I freaked out and jumped up waking Aaron up. He was going to go down and get the babies and I went to the bathroom. As I came out of the bathroom there was a nurse just bringing the twins in. She started saying something to Aaron about the babies needing to eat and telling him how much formula they took. Aaron was like “um…we weren’t wanting to supplement them”. Just then I was coming out and she looked at me and was like “oh no..I am sooo sorry. I was told you wanted to supplement for the first feeding tonight so you could sleep”. She felt terrible and gave me a hug, and was like, “I always want to make sure we do what the mother wants and needs, and I think it is great that you are nursing”! I don’t know if they mixed us up with the other set of twins, or maybe it was just because they were so busy in the nursery.

We kept the babies in with us the rest of the morning while we slept. Thursday was discharge day for all of us. It was Thanksgiving day. We had a lot to be thankful for this Thanksgiving!!! I was feeling good and both babies were doing great so we were discharged around 11 that morning. Scout weighed 5 lb. 8 oz at discharge, and Finley weighed 5 lbs. 1 oz. I was so happy to be taking our little Turkey's home!

Mom was still staying at the house with the kids and we were going to have Randy’s wild rice soup for supper because I didn’t want to cook a big dinner the day we came home from the hospital, but Kinzie asked grandma, “are we going to have a big feast today?!” She was so excited about it, and was bummed that we weren’t. So mom called around and found a grocery store that she could order a turkey dinner from at such late notice. So we got our turkey dinner with everything including a pumpkin pie!

About an hour or 2 after getting home from the hospital, I was feeling really sick to my stomach so I went to lay down. I slept for 2 hours and when I woke up I was still really sick. I was dry heaving pretty badly, and my heart was racing again. My heart rate was 140 as I layed in bed. I was having irregular heart beats about every minute that were really uncomfortable, and I was feeling like I couldn’t breath. I called Dr. Larose and he recommended I either go into the E.R. now, or I could try to take some of my atenelol to see if that helped and if it didn’t after an hour, to go to the E.R. We decided to just go into the E.R. right away because I was really worried about what was going on with my heart, and I was feeling really miserable. So Mom helped Aaron and I get the babies all loaded up in the van and we headed back to the hospital. They brought me back to a room right away and told Aaron to get me admitted and then they would come and get him. They hooked me up to a heart rate monitor, and oxygen. They started an IV and gave me zofran for the nausea, and fluids. I asked the nurse a few times to go get my husband and the babies so I could feed them, but they weren’t coming in. Then they took me to the ultrasound room to do an ultrasound on my stomach because I was having pains under my ribs all across my upper abdomen. They determined my spleen was a little enlarged but everything else looked ok. Basically they had no idea why I had the stomach pains I was having. After almost an hour and a half, a nurse finally went and found Aaron for me. He was sitting out in the waiting room, worrying, the whole time. He didn’t have any idea what was wrong, or if I was ok. He and the babies came back in the room with me so I could nurse the babies. I was feeling much better after having 2 bags of IV fluid. Basically they said that I was dehydrated and my hemoglobin was low (around 8) and those things combined were what caused everything. By the time I left I was feeling much better, but exhausted. It wasn’t exactly the ideal first outing for the babies, nor was it my ideal Thanksgiving!

Mom stayed with us through Sunday, helping with the big kids, the babies, and the cleaning and cooking. Sunday night Carolyn came, and spent the next week with us to help. After that Grammy came the following Sunday and has been staying ever since. She goes home on weekends and comes back Sunday nights to stay for the week. Steph was living with us too until just before Christmas, so we have had lots of help, which has been wonderful. I am so thankful for all of the people who offered so much help and support!

I owe MUCH apprecation to my husband as well. He was absolutely WONDERFUL! He was right there with me the whole time, asking what I needed, how I was doing. Making sure I was ok. This labor and delivery, and everything afterwards was by far the best one for me. I really had Aaron by my side. While I was on bedrest he was taking care of a lot of the things I normally do. He was by my side with all of the medical stuff I had going on , and took care of me. He encouraged me to take it easy and rest. He arranged his work schedule so he could be home with me and Kinzie during the day, and get the kids to and from school. With the other stressful things we had going on in our lives during that time too, he was so supportive. He knew that I didn't need any extra stress during this time in my life, and tried to minimize that as much as possible for me. He was supportive of my feelings and truly listened to me. During the labor he was right there with me through every contraction, attentive , and asking what I needed. He was calm, and that helped me stay calm. He stayed by my side, encouraging me and saying that proud of me. I needed that. After the babies were born, he was wonderful with them. He was very involved in their care, and even got up in the middle of the night with me when I had to get up with the twins. He took great care of me afterwards and tried to make sure I was getting enough rest, and just made sure I was feeling ok. He is a wonderful husband and a wonderful Daddy!

2 weeks out now, and I am feeling pretty good. My heart is feeling much better, I am able to sleep when the babies sleep, which wasn't a lot, but more than when I was pregnant, I am even back to my pre- pregnancy weight already too! And I have my 2 precious babies I have waited so long for.
I must say, when all is said and done, I am pretty proud of what my body can do! Carrying almost 12 lbs. Of baby and delivering naturally! And we have 2 healthy, amazing, babies to show for it!

Finley's First Haircut!

Finley got his first haircut today. Here he is with his crazy hair before:



And here is he is with his 'still crazy hair just a bit shorter' look after:



Not too much of a difference in the photos, but the back and around his ears was sooo long it was driving me nuts!

Doesn't he look so handsome? :)

11 months.

The Twins are 11 months. Just one month away from ONE!! It is hard to believe....

One year ago today, I was awaiting the arrival of my 2 precious babies and I looked like this.....



And now... those 2 precious babies are growing up and look like this:



Scout is pretty much walking now. For over a month now she has been taking a few steps at a time, but recently she really started walking more. She'll still crawl when she wants to get somewhere quickly, but a lot of times now, she'll let go of whatever she is holding onto and walk until she loses her balance, and then she'll plop down and crawl to get the rest of the way.

Finley is crawing the "normal" way all the time now. I miss his cute little inchworm crawl! But he sure looks cute crawling around on all fours too! :) He walks along the furniture and when you are holding his hands, but he has no interest yet in doing it on his own!! I don't think I am ready for 2 walkers quite yet anyway....so it's all good!

We have transitioned to mostly table food, with just a little bit of baby food once in a while. They love getting to eat what we eat, and I love being able to let feed themselves so I can actually eat! They love to feed themselves! A few of their favorites are bananas, cooked carrots, macaroni and cheese, or any kind of pasta really, waffles, pizza, yogurt. We haven't found much that they really don't like actually! They are really good eaters!

They are still nursing, and are supplemented with formula some as well. They nurse in the morning when they get up, before their morning nap, before their afternoon nap, before bed, and then they STILL get up and nurse a couple times during the night. I am hoping they transition out of this soon! They usually go to bed at 7:30ish and then they get up to eat around 11 or 12 and again around 3 or 4. We give them formula before bed most nights in hopes that they will sleep longer, but apparently it isn't working all that well! And then if I nurse them and they aren't full, then Daddy usually gives them a bottle.

Both of them are getting more and more vocal. They both say "Mama", and "Dada", and Scout says "mom" too. She'll be up in her crib yelling, "mooooooom" after she wakes up from her nap! They make lots of other sounds too, but mama and dada are the only ones so far that we know they are associating with something. Although when Scout wants more to eat she gets really REALLY loud and lets us know she wants MORE! :)If you ask her if she wants more, she shakes her head "yes".

She still does her little head nod all the time! When we say "Scout are you a pretty girl"? She smiles and shakes her head "yes". :)

Finley has 5 teeth now, and his 6th one is almost through! Scout's teeth seem to be coming in nice and straight just like Kinzie's and Finley's are crooked just like Malichi's! It is so weird how similar they are to their same sex siblings!!!

Finley loves to play "drop the baby"! We hold him and pretend to "drop" him, and of course we catch him right away, but he just giggles and giggles! When we say, "Finley, do you want to play drop the baby", he throws his head back getting ready for it! And Scout loves to play the game too, but I think she loves to watch Finley play it even more... she loves to laugh at him laughing!

Another new game to him, is throwing EVERYTHING, thanks to Daddy! A couple weeks ago Daddy was playing with the babies while they were in their cribs after they woke up from their nap. He was tossing a nuk into the crib, and then Finley was grabbing it and tossing it back out, and the babies thought it was the funniest game! It was hilarious to watch! But....now he wants to do that with everything! When I put him in his crib, he stands up and throw his nuk, blankie, baby and anything else that is in the crib out and starts giggling as he waits for me to throw it back in! Or when he is in his stroller and I give him a nuk...he tosses it over the side. Or when he is in the highchair and he is done eating, he tosses the food over and giggles. It was cute at first... but can we be done with that one now Finley?

Both of them wave a lot now too. If you wave or say "hi" or "bye" they will wave at you! (sometimes anyways)

They both give kisses too. But they are still on the kick of only wanting to give them to eachother. Once in a while I can get them to give me one, if I am lucky. Scout has started to pat people's backs to when they are holding her. It is too cute. They both love to snuggle and cuddle.

Scout loves to dance to music too. She'll jump and bounce around, and sway side to side. Finley just loves to bounce to the music.

Finley was supposed to have his eye surgery on the 28th, but shortly after we saw the eye Doctor and scheduled the surgery for his blocked tear duct, his eye completely cleared up!! It hasn't been goopey, or crusty or anything! Yay! So we were able to cancel the surgery! I am so relieved!

This past month has been a really fun one with the twins. They are developing such personality!

Happy Halloween!

...a day late...

I meant to post yesterday, but we've been busy!

Thursday night we carved our pumpkins. Kinzie did hers almost all by herself! And Malichi and I did a Mummy.




Grammy babysat for me on Friday so I could go to Kinzie and Malichi's Fall parties at school! It was a busy day, but I love being able to go into their classrooms and participate in the fun!

Friday night we went to a Halloween party at Nate and Joan's house. Aaron and I have no costumes, so we had to raid Mom's bins of Halloween costumes and throw something together quick!

Grammy had the best costume.....



And Mom and Randy's were pretty great though too!!!



Saturday I took the kids to the local grocery store for some Trick-Or-Treating there like we do every year. And then we of course went out in our neighborhood as well. The babies came along for the ride, dressed up in their 2 peas costumes, and the big kids got lots of candy! Grandma Carolyn passed out candy at our house while we were gone.







Hope you all had a great Halloween! :)

27.

Today I turned 27.

I can't believe I am 27. Married for almost 8 years. 4 kids. I have a SECOND grader!

I remember when 27 seemed so old. It seemed like I would NEVER be 27. I dreaded becoming "old" like that.

But...now that I AM "old" like that, I realize it's not so bad! And I also realize it is really NOT old! :) I've got my whole life ahead of me, and each year continues to get better and better!

Our family has obviously grown as the years have gone by.
My marriage has grown and gotten stronger each year.
I've discovered more of what I really want in my life as I have gotten older.
I've made some wonderful new friends throughout the years.

Life at 27 really is not what I thought it was going to be when I was young. It's so much better!

All I could ask for on my birthday is to spend it with friends and family, and that is what I did.

This morning Kinzie brought me breakfast in bed, which was all her idea, at 6:30 am. She whispers to Daddy and they both head downstairs. In a few minutes, she comes back up with a bowl of Life cereal and a big Happy Birthday kiss for me. I love that girl.

Me, Kinzie, the twins, and Kristie and Chasey went to Mocha Monkey for lunch. One of my favorite places in town to get food, coffee, or just hang out.

Then I came home to these beautiful flowers on my front porch. Thanks Mom!!! :)



Tonight we all went to dinner at one of my favorite places, Noodles and Company. I got my usual. Whole grain tuscan linquine, sub the red pepper for tomato, mushroom for broccoli, and no onions. MMMMMM....



Aaron bought a cake and brought that along to Noodles, and after dinner they all sang Happy Birthday to me (well...mostly just Aaron)and I blew out my pretend candles. :) Kinzie and Malichi toasted with their Root Beer and Izze peach soda.



Then we went camcorder shopping. Ours died last weekend. :( So we found some we like and hopefully we can get one soon. I'd say it could be my birthday/xmas/anniversary present....but the new Canon 50D takes that spot...so...... maybe it could count as Aaron's xmas/anniversary present!?? :) It's what you always wanted, right Hunny?

And now I am going to finish off my birthday night, with curling up on the couch to watch some TV. (and NOT doing any type of project or paperwork while I watch). Not too exciting...I know. But hey...I AM 27. Boring and old right?

10 months

Another late monthly update.... :(

Well here they are at 10 months. 2 not so little babies anymore with 2 totally different little personalities forming.



Scout has started giving kisses! She is pretty particular of who she will give them to. Most of the time she will only give them to Finley. I'll say "give Finner a kiss", and she'll gladly slober on him with a big smile on her face and her mouth wide open!

Finley has started waving "Bye Bye".

She has started to nod her head "Yes". I'll say "do you want more", she'll nod yes. When Finley wants more, he'll sign "more"...although it could be that he's just clapping. I am not sure!

He claps all the time. Anytime you say "yay", he'll start clapping. He does "so big", and always claps for himself afterwards!

Finley still does his little inchworm crawl for the most part. Once in a while he will get up on all fours and go a few "steps" before he plops down on his tummy and off he goes! He is super fast!

Baby races are fun with these two. Finley almost always wins...and Scout doesn't seem to care too much.

Scout has taken a few steps. She'll go from the couch to the coffee table taking 2 or 3 steps! And she loves to stand all by herself. She can balance herself for a few minutes at a time now, and she just shows this proud smile while she does it!

Finley now has an easy time pulling himself up onto everything, and he has started walking along furniture now too. He is going to be a little monkey. He has learned how to squirm out of the super tight buckles in the highchair and STAND UP in it. Not sure what I am going to do about this, but it is quite scary. He also can get himself out of the excersaucer which we learned the hard way, so I guess it's time that we get rid of that!

Finley got 2 more teeth. His top outer ones; making a total of 4 teeth for him. Scout has 6 teeth now.

Finley has started saying "mama". Scout will make the noise but usually goes "mamamama" a whole bunch in a row. But Finley will just say "Mama". They both say "DaDaDaDa" as well. Scout is loud as always, and loves to just yell when we are in public places. I think she loves to hear her own voice.

They love to entertain each other from across the room in their cribs! They'll just giggle at each other! I have no idea what they are doing that is so funny, but if I try to sneak in to watch them, they always see me, and then they just jump up and down wanting to get out. I wish I had a video monitor!

Finley and Scout both know the word "no", but they don't always listen to it. Usually they will stop, look at me, smile, and continue what they were getting into.

Scout is our little explorer. She loves to inspect everything she gets her hands on. She'll move it from one hand to the other, turn it around, shake it, and then eventually she might put it in her mouth. Finley on the other hand, anything and everything he finds goes straight into the mouth.

Scout has started to love her nuk. She hoards them. I have a feeling she is going to be just like her sister. She'll put one in her mouth, crawl around the floor and gather up as many as she can, and then try to carry them around and crawl at the same time. Finley couldn't care less about his nuk. We give it to him and he sticks his tongue out pushing the nuk out. The only time he'll take it is when we are trying to get him to sleep, and even then he'll spit it out a few times before he takes it. He does, however, love to take Scout's nuk out of her mouth and play with it.

We have started quite a few new foods with the babies this month. They are getting a lot more table food now. Finley loves it, but Scout is still unsure about a lot of it. I just think she really doesn't like stuff with texture. They still get baby food, but if what we are eating is something they can eat, then they get that. They love bananas, spaghetti, yogurt, and stuffing. They still love their puffs and yogurt bites too.

As for the schedule, Finley and Scout are taking 2 naps a day, sometimes 3 still! But that is usually only if their afternoon nap was early or too short. Finley has decided it's cool to get up around 5 or 5:30, and Scout is up usually when I get Malichi up for school at 6:30. So by 9 or 9:30 am they are ready for their first nap. Monday, Wednesday and Fridays I have to wake them up at 10:30 to go get Kinzie from preschool. Then by about 12:30 or 1 after lunch, they are ready for a second nap. Most days I have to wake them up at 2:20 to go get Malichi from school. And then once in a while they will sleep again around 4 until about 5 pm. I hate having to wake them up from their naps everyday! I wonder how long of an afternoon nap they would take if I didn't have to wake them.

And nights....well..they are still getting up. They go to bed around 7:30 or 8. They'll sleep until about 12 and wake up to eat. Then they will wake up again around 4 to eat. I am still nursing them, so I think part of it is comfort, and part of it is that I am not producing quite enough to get them really full to last them all night long. We've started giving them some formula at bedtime after I nurse them, hoping that will help them sleep through the night a little better. I could really really use a full night of sleep. REALLY...

A couple more pictures...

Nephews.

I've had some requests to post pictures of little Thor on my blog so people could see him.. so here you go!

Isn't he adorable!?






I've also got another new nephew, Micah! Congrats Christa and Carlo! We can't wait to meet him!



I am so excited that our kids finally have some first cousins!!!! :)

the funny things they say....

I've got all these little notes that I have saved of funny things the kids have said or just things that I want to remember. I've always meant to get them into their scrapbooks, but it hasn't happened yet. I've come across some of them in the process of doing some re-organization projects, so I thought I would document some of them here.

Random thoughts from my kids:

When Kinzie was about 2 years old she would say funny things like
"You can't eat your email?" in a questioning tone, or "You can't eat your panties!"
Another funny thing she'd always say was "Bummer, Mom, Bummer!" when something went wrong!
A new one as of recently that she'll say is "oh, my bad" if she does something wrong and you ask her not to do it.


7/7/07
At the Litchfield Watercade Parade
Kinzie says to her Great Grandma Hildigard: "Where's your husband?"
Hildigard: "He's in Heaven"
Kinzie: "Do you want another one? I can get you another one!"

2007
Mama: "Kinzie, say dessert"
Kinzie: "I can't...I'm busy...I mean, my mouth doesn't work anymore".

7/07
"Holy Crap. That's a big ginormous poop!"

When talking about her friends she says "I like them. They live in my life".

(5/09)
As I am changing Finley's diaper Kinzie says "I see London, I see France, I see Finley's penis!"

(5/09)
Kinzie: "MOM!! Finley is crying. He's hungry. He needs a boob!"

(5/09)
Tiffany: "What do you want to be when you grow up?"
Malichi: "A parent"
Tiff: "Do you want to have a job too?"
Malichi: "No I want to stay and home like my Mommy does and take care of all the kids!"

11/3/07
Malichi: "Mom, let's pray".
Mom: "Okay, Malichi, You say the prayer".
Malichi: (folds hands and proceeds to pray) "Dear God. Please bring us lots and lots of presents so that we might like them. Bless you. Amen."

1/09
Malichi: "Mom, you still look a little pregnant. But I know you are not. You just look like it, that's all".

12/08
Malichi: (talking about the twins) They don't know much about life yet. They are just new learners.

baby races.

Finley does this little slither across the floor, while Scout does the traditional "crawl". Finley is much quicker as you can see!!!

all I want for christmas....

Kinzie woke me up to tell me her Christmas list this morning. Here is what it consisted of:

"Music Earrings.
Robot.
DSI.
and a wishing rock.

..oh yeah.. and some more stuff.

..and that's it.

oh. and some chalk."

Music earrings, by the way, are ear phones and an ipod or some type of radio so she can listen to music... in case you didn't know!

oh and by robot, she means a rubik's cube!!!

untitled.

Tiffany and Kinzie were laying down in her bed before bedtime tonight. Eric was texting Tiffany from Iraq, and Kinzie says, "Tell him you will call him back, cause we're gonna take a little snooze and he can work on fighting".

9 months

9 months.

Finley
Height: 27 inches (10%)
Weight: 17 lb. 4 oz. (%10)

Scout
Height: 26 1/2 inches (20%)
Weight: 20 lbs. 4 oz. (75%)

I can't believe she is 3 lbs. bigger!!! You wouldn't know it by the way they eat. Finley chows down. Scout is a little more hesitant to food that's not my milk. She doesn't like things with a texture much either.

Both babies are getting all over the place. Scout crawls around in the "normal" style now. Finley does this little leapfrog thing where he gets up on his toes and pushes himself and he kind of bounces along the floor.

Finley got both of his bottom teeth this past month. Scout now has 5 teeth! 3 on the top and 2 on the bottom. One of the middle top is about to come through soon too! She has started biting some with her new teeth! And she makes all these funny faces because she tries to rub her tongue and lip over her teeth all the time!

Scout has started clapping, and Finley, we think, is doing "more" in sign language. He looks like he's trying to clap, but he only does it at mealtime, and when I say "more"?

Both of the babies are getting very vocal. Scout is just loud, and likes to be heard. Finley is a lot quieter. They both say "DaDaDaDa". Finley sounds like he is trying to say "hi".

Now that both babies are mobile and getting into everything, I decided it was time to invest in a play yard. Actually, I decided last minute one day, when I just couldn't handle it anymore! I loaded up the kids and we headed out to find a baby jail! Finley does NOT love it in there, but Scout doesn't mind it. She'll play for a while. But if has helped me a ton. I can actually go to the bathroom alone now!

Scout pulls herself up on everything, and even walks on the furniture! She'll go from the couch to the chair holding on and shuffling across the floor. The other day I watched her standing up holding onto a chair and she leg go, stood for a few seconds and then lowered herself to the floor to sit down!!!

Finley is just starting to pull himself up on stuff. He gets so excited when he gets himself up in his crib and can stand up on the side.

Usually after the babies naps, Scout will play for a little bit on her own, but Finley will cry right away and wants to get picked up. The other day though, I heard on them wake up on the monitor, and they weren't crying so I left them be. Pretty soon I heard them just giggling. I peeked in the door to see what was so funny, and I found them both standing up in their cribs bouncing up and down and laughing at eachother! It was hilarious!

They are at such a fun age right now, and everyday is new adventure with them!

8 months

The twins are 8 months now. I know... another way late post. I had it all done like 2 weeks ago, just never got the pictures added and published!

I think my days of getting monthly pictures of the 2 of them together are over...it's impossible.



Here is what has happened in the last month!

Scouts bottom 2 teeth came in.

Fin has one on the bottom.

Scout gets all over the place, she is almost crawling. She gets up on all fours and rocks back and forth. She pulls herself with her arms and does an army crawl. She can get herself all over the room.

Scout has started growling and she does it all the time! Such a cute little monster!

Oh and she bites with her new teeth too! Finn still bites some, so I am hoping he quits before his teeth come all the way in!

Scout loves to stand, and pull herself up on things. She loves to bounce and jump in her exersaucer.

Both babies are having some seperation anxiety. Finley gets scared of new people a lot. Scout doesn't really like when men hold her except her Daddy and a select few others! And sometimes if someone new holds her or talks to her she'll cry, even if it is a woman. She has become SUCH a mama's girl. I try to hand her off to someone and she'll cry and put her arms out back to me. Even when I hand her to Papa sometimes.

Finley is such a sensitive little boy. If people are laughing, or talking loudly or clapping, he cries. He doesn't like loud noises.

They have both decided they love the sippy cup! That usually entertains them for a while, even if they don't really drink out of it much.

Both of them put their arms up when they want to be picked up. I have such guilt when they both have their arms reaching up to me and I can only pick up one. :(

They love to reach up touch our faces when we are close enough. They both know their names, and look when we say their names. They've been doing that for a while.

Finley is still so ticklish. EVERYWHERE. I'll be getting him dress and buttoning the shoulder buttons of his shirt and he'll just giggle because I touched his neck! It doesn't take much to make this little boy squeal with laughter! I love it!

Scout has started to giggle more too, finally! She is always happy and smiling, but now she too squeals with laughter. She has gotten very loud too, she loves to talk, babble, growl, squeal. I think she just loves to hear herself make noise! She says "da da da da da" all the time!

Both of the babies are now sleeping on their tummies. I love it when they sleep like that with their little butt up in the air!

Scout loves to explore. She is so curious. If we move a toy, and put it under a blanket, she'll move around looking for it.

Finley gets around by turning himself in circles on his tummy! But usually he's pretty content to just play with whatever is within his reach.

They still nurse quite often, and they still get up about 2 times each during the night to eat.

They are both great eaters! We haven't found a food yet that they don't like. We have started giving them puffs too, which they LOVE. Just in the past few days their eye hand coordination has gotten really good. They have figured out how to pick them up themselves and get them to their mouths, instead of me having some in my hand and them sticking their tongue out and putting their mouth down to my hand to get them.

angels.

Today I got to meet with the two men who saved my life 10 years ago... to the day.

10 years ago, I was driving home on an unfamiliar road, after having been lost coming home from my boyfriend's house. I apparently lost control of the car or over corrected on a curve and went into the ditch. My car flipped end over end 4 or 5 times, and I was thrown from the car and landed in a river.

Rob, who lived just near where I had the accident, had just gotten home, and was still sitting in his car in the driveway. He heard the tires squeal, and looked down the road to see my headlights flipping. He went in to get his dad Rodney, and they came looking.

A lot of little things had to fall into place for things to work out just as they did.

They got to the edge of the road and the ditch was so steep and the grass was so tall that you couldn't even see my car. They went down to look for it and the dome light flickered and they were able to tell where my car was. Once they reached the car the dome light went out. They could see that no one was in the car, and they looked around the car and couldn't find me. As they were looking, I let out a scream from the river, and they were able to tell which direction I was.

When they approached the river, I was trying to keep my head above water. The river was 6 ft. deep. Rodney pulled me out of the water, and Rob ran home to call 911.
They had another neighbor bring a blanket and they talked to me and held on to me until the ambulance got there.

I was transported to Owatonna first, and then after assessing my injuries I was sent to Hennepin County Medical Center to the trauma unit. I had broken a both of my femur bones,and a broken vertebrae in my neck. I spent the next day in surgery to get rods and pins put in both of my femurs.

I then spent the next 10 days in the hospital, 3 months in a wheelchair, and 6 weeks on crutches after that.

The fatality rate for this type of injury is 20% as the femurs are the biggest bones in the body and breaking them at the same time is such a trauma to the body that some don't survive it.

I had a long, painful recovery, but I was alive.

And from that day on, my life was changed. I was headed down a path that was unhealthy and destructive. And this accident is what had to happen for me to change my life and my path.

It was truly a blessing in disguise.

And I have Rodney and Rob to thank for rescuing me and giving me another chance at life.



Today we all got back together and had a picnic at Mineral Springs Park. Rodney, his wife Lois, their son Rob, his daughter Lexi and his girlfriend Jessica were all there. And it was the 6 of us, plus my Mom and Dad and Nate and Joan. We brought a cake that said "You are a lifesaver" that was decorated with lifesaver candies. We spent the afternoon talking about what has happened in the past 10 years in all our lives, and we talked about the night of the accident.

It was a very significant day for me.

There is no doubt in my mind that if they had not found me that night, I would not be here today. I will be forever grateful for them.