Playin' with Abby

Abby was being pretty cute this morning - On my birthday.

first smiles

This was a little over a month ago. Jan 12th. Got some good smiles in.

Husband Tag

What is his name? jason

How long have you been married? 7 years January 5th 2001

How long did you date? we started dating in april, were engaged in september and married in january

Who eats more sweets? that would definitely be me. jason does not eat any chewy candy, and they are my favorite. i stock up on jelly beans during easter, i love hot tamales, tootsie rolls, red vines, gummy bears, gum drops (but only the spice ones), those sour round things, cinnamon bears... need i go on. hmmm, could this be the cause of all those cavities?

Who said I love you first? it was totally jason, we were in a park in New York where he was doing an internship and i went out there to visit him. we were just walking along and it was soooo green and beautiful and peaceful, and a couple days later we were looking at rings!

Who is taller? it's too close to call

Who can sing better? well, i sing more, so i win by default

Who is smarter? jason is always saying that i'm pretty smart, so... it's unanimous. jason has the market cornered on business stuff, news, and all things electronic - especially gadgets. i have all the household stuff covered along with art, decorating, and knowing where his shoes are at all times.

Who does the laundry? we both do, but jason is banned from turning on the drier

Who pays the bills? jason

Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? i do, but it gets re-evaluated every time we move or rearrange things. luckily the right side of the bed was closest to the door and the bathroom - a must for when you're pregnant!!

Who cooks dinner? jason will if we want quesadillas, otherwise i usually do.

Who drives? jason. i think i did once when we were in a hurry and it just felt wrong.

Who is more stubborn? we can both be, i usually give in, especially if jason feels strongly about something, but there are somethings i won't budge on

Who kissed who first? jason totally went for it on the first date!! we had been to lunch a couple of times, and been working on a school project for a while before there was an official date, so it wasn't too shocking. and actually i dodged the first attempt, but not on purpose - i turned and in my periphery saw him leaning in - oops. luckily he's persistent and wouldn't let a dodge slow him down

Who asked who out first? jason asked me to be in his group for an english assignment at ASU. several lunches and meetings at our houses occurred before he officially asked me on a date. interestingly enough there were two other girls in our group, but i don't remember them being at any of these meetings. hmmmm.....

Who proposed? jason of course, although there was an early scare that had me nervous all night. jason went to NY for an internship and the week before he left he took me up to south mountain(which we don't recommend it turns out it's mexican makeout point), and i could tell that something was going on, and i started to get nervous that he was going to propose. we had only been dating for like a month, and i really didn't want to tell him no, but there was no way i could say yes... i was really starting to sweat especially when he pulled out a box that looked exactly like the box my sister's engagement ring was in(turns out it was, thanks Tam), i ever so slowly opened it wracking my brain for what to tell the poor guy and inside it was a promise ring whew!!! so i totally said i would be his girlfriend then told him about my fears and we both laughed because it was too early for him too, so now we call it the 'not yet' ring and i still wear it.

Who wears the pants? i totally let jason wear the pants, actually we're both pretty easy going, but i really depend on jason alot

Ok, so hopefully Jason doesn't read this and dispute all the answers... and now I tag Tiff, Diana and Celeste

happy valentine's day

here's a couple of fun things from some of our favorite websites

from my new favorite artist phil hansen (no relation) a song about the abc's of love



and from our favorite email answering cartoon strongbad:

valentine teen girl squad

Retail Therapy

yay we finally got out of the house. it's been a little warmer lately so i thought it would be ok to go for a walk, so i busted out the double stroller, strapped the girls in and away we went.

we went around the block, checked the mail, and talked to libby for a few minutes - then back home and down for a nap


it went so well that saturday, we decided to go shopping!! jason was having an x box party at our house, so we grabbed grandma hansen and headed to target.

we had such a good time looking around at all the neat things, and so many people. grandma held maddie for a little bit as she was a little fussy, and grandma said she got alot of smiles from people, and she's pretty sure they weren't smiling at her - but i'm sure they were smiling at the grandma with her grandbaby. we took the stroller with us and it was great - it's a little too long to turn around in some of those small aisles, but it does have very good steering, now we just need someone to come with us all the time so they can push the cart.

the shopping trip was a success, check out our new hats! afterwards we hung out at grandma's house for a little bit so we could visit with grandpa who took our pictures

thanks for going on our first shopping trip grams! we had a great time, and all of us are worn out. time for a nap!

shots

tawnya & maddie at the dr waiting for shots

abby on the dr's table waiting for her shots

so the girls are two months old now, which means shots - what an ordeal. we get the girls up two hours earlier than they normally get up so we can be to the dr on time, and even though we're the first appointment of the day we still wait 50 min to see the dr. in the mean time they both got weighed and both abby and maddie weigh 8lbs 5oz, and abby inched ahead in the length category at 22in to maddie's 21 1/4in. i wouldn't have guessed it, but abby does tend to scrunch her legs up under her and maddie is always kicking and stretching so she seems longer.

we talked to the dr and things are going well. they are growing just like they should be, which is a worry sometimes when you're nursing, but they are good eaters so i don't worry too much. he did say that it was time to let them 'cry it out', which we've been doing - sorta but not very consistently, and definitely not long enough. he said it would take about two weeks for them to figure it out, but then they would not cry as long when you put them down for naps and things. so while they're crying their eyes out i just have to remind myself that i'm responsible to teach them how to calm down on their own and that i'm being a good mother by letting them cry - very counter intuitive. i'll have to update you on how this little venture is going.

so after we talked to the dr, the nurse came in with her tray full of shots. three shots each and one that they swallowed. two in one leg and one in the other - so both legs got pinched and there was a fresh cry with each shot, but jason got to hug maddie after her shots, and i got to hug abby after hers and by then they were so tired that they basically just fell asleep. on advice of aunt penny (who has twin girls as well) we gave them some tylenol before the shots so it wouldn't take as long to kick in.

as you can see we are all doing well one day after our shots

i was a little worried how the girls would handle the shots and what kind of day it would be like. i had aunt penny and lindsay merkley on call and ready to come if it was a bad day, but the girls really just slept all day. i noticed that they were both warmer, but not enough to be concerned and we kept up with the tylenol, so it was actually one of the quieter days we've had in a long time. i am just grateful that they didn't get sick

smiles

the girls are starting to smile!! this is a new activity this week. maddie was the first to smile - at least that I saw. I was getting ready to feed her a few days ago, she was laying on my lap, looked up at the fan and smiled really big. then maddie was really hamming it up for her grandma hansen, so I grabbed the camera as fast as I could and caught a few of them before they turned into cries for a nap. So some of them are a little blurry, but very exciting.

we took some more the next day with both abby & maddie smiling. jason is putting together a slide show of it, so i'll update it here once he has it done.