Room Switch

We made the switch! Since we moved in we decided that once the kids were able to all share a room we would move them to the big bedroom and we would set up in the small bedroom. This past weekend we made the switch.

I love the new arrangement! Our room is cozy! It's much better having it attached to the living room. During the day when the kids are sleeping I can keep the french doors open and let the light from the bedroom window flow into the living room. Before the doors were shut for Jacks nap and I was "stuck" in the living room with no light other than the lamps. I enjoy lots of natural light. I've also found that it's the perfect nap time retreat. When the kids are sleeping I go in there and lay down on our bed, read, listen to music, just relax! It's perfect. And another benefit, last night for our growth community we didn't have to shut the doors for Jack to go to bed. We were able to keep it open and it didn't feel as cramped!

- the ABC picture is not hanging there anymore, it made it's way to the kids room, we have another picture hanging over our bed, just didn't get a picture of that for the post

- the display of pictures is my favorite in our house. It's nothing fancy. In fact it is on a wall that nobody will ever see except me and Freddy, but it's our family and I love it! The two pictures of Lillie and Elliott are pictures from when they were in the hospital and their hospital bands are below them. They were a baby gift, really cute.

I really like the kids room as well. As far as more room to play there really isn't more than before since there are 3 beds in there now instead of 2. But its a fun room and its nice to have all the toys in a place that is not so noticeable to everyone who comes over. I feel like our apartment looks a little neater than before. (don't get me wrong, it feels like a disaster most of the time, but this arrangement is a nicer disaster!)

- The pictures on the bottom right are from Lillie and Elliott's baby dedication. Our church does a neat thing where people can sign the mat inside the frame and write them a little note or prayer after the dedication.

Last night Jack slept in the big boy bed for the first time and the twins slept in their own bed for the first time. Jack had a little trouble falling asleep, but not as bad as I anticipated. We'll see how nap time goes today. Lillie had trouble falling asleep last night but was fine once she did and Elliott had no trouble falling asleep but was wide awake and crying at 3 in the morning, at the same time Jack sat up in his bed and told Elliott to be quiet then went back to sleep. So we still have some adjusting to do, but we are making progress.

Crocs

Jack informed me Sunday that he needed some sandals to wear. Today we walked 18 blocks (almost a mile) to the Croc store and bought him a pair. Look what he picked out to go on them.

I thought it was funny, candy corn and a football!

Spring Fair

Jack went to the Spring Fair at Hippo Playground today after church with Reid, one of the college students at our church. He came home with this twizzler fruit loop necklace on... so cute!

Hippo Playground is at 91st and Riverside. It's not too far from our apartment, but the hill to get down to the actual playground is very, very steep, so we won't be going there much, I would die with our stroller! If there's anyone out there who knows of a way to rig my stroller to be battery powered let me know! I know that sounds crazy... I don't need a full battery powered one, just something to "help" me push. There are more hills around here than I ever realized and I bet my stroller is around 100 lbs. with the kiddos in it.

Have a great week!

A Year Ago...

One year ago we found out we were having twins!

Baby B- Lillie, Baby A- Elliott

They've changed a lot! We are so blessed!

What's a Lawn Mower?

We finally have a warm beautiful day here in The Big Apple! We spent the morning at the playground in Central Park and had a great time. While we were there I was helping Jack up a ladder and this little boy said "You're in my shop." So I proceeded to play along, here's how our conversation went... (I'm in bold)

What are you selling?
Anything you want.
Do you have candy?
Yes
How about some M&M's?
(he proceeds to "give" me M&M's and I "paid")
How about some skittles?
(same exchange)
I'm selling houses too. Do you want a house?
No not today, I don't need a house.
(Jack came to my side so I asked...)
What about lawn mowers? Do you have any of those?
What's a lawn mower?
You know, the thing that cuts the grass!

I could not believe it! Too funny!

Family Photo

Tractor!

Who said there were no tractors in NYC?

He went crazy!

Twins First Time In The High Chair

They are doing so well eating their cereal. Elliott is sitting up well in the high chair, Lillie still needs a little support.

Yesterday I put Lillie in the high chair to feed her cereal and Jack started almost crying saying "no! no! don't give her cereal," why not jack? "it's yucky, it's yucky mommy" what kind of cereal should she eat then? "go to the store, get new cereal"

He was so upset they had to eat the yucky cereal! Come to think of it. I think he wanted to try it the other day and I told him it was yucky. Guess that's where outburst came from...

Amazing Easter in NYC!

You can read a little update about our Easter services in NYC here.

Strum Guitar Go

I tried all last week to get Jack on video playing his "guitar." Every time I got the camera out he would get mad and stop playing. Tonight we were talking on Skype with my aunt and uncle and he was preforming for them so I got the camera out and secretly filmed him. He's saying "strum guitar go, strum guitar go..."

*Please ignore the disaster on my living room floor. Sometimes there is so much going on it all piles up!

Easter

Happy Easter! We've had a nice day today worshiping with our church family at the Gallery Church. Lillie and Elliott were dedicated this morning. Our church does a neat thing where we provide a 5x7 picture of the kids being dedicated and they put it in a frame with a large mat and the church members sign and write a prayer or a little note or scripture, what ever they want to the kids. I haven't even looked at the pictures yet.

Jack woke up this morning to his Easter basket waiting for him in the living room. He had to share this year with Lillie and Elliott. They all got bunnies and Jack got some M&M's and a fire truck. He gave Lillie her bunny when she was eating this morning and I found Elliott's in his bed beside him. I guess Jack threw it in there.
















I attempted after church to get a picture of the kids. I knew with our schedules that a family picture this year was out of the question, so I thought one of the kids was better than nothing. I tried! Lillie was the only one cooperating. Elliott was screaming and Jack was Jack. He is very uncooperative when it comes to pictures here lately. You decide which one is the best! I've wanted a good Easter picture for 3 years now. Still haven't gotten a good one. Jack's first Easter he was crying, last year we didn't get one at all, and you see what I got this year. Maybe in 5 years!

By the way. I tried to format this blog with smaller pictures in various places. I obviously don't know what I'm doing, but the kids are asleep and I need to take a nap more than try to figure this thing out!

What Puzzles A Two Year Old...

Here is the conversation Jack and I just had before I left his bedroom putting him to bed last night... I'm in bold...

Pretty soon you'll be sleeping in a big boy bed

I want to

And pretty soon you'll share a room with Lillie and Elliott... won't that be fun?

Yes... Lillie wear make up?

Some day she will

Elliott wear make up?

No boys don't wear make up

Babies wear make up?

No babies don't wear make up

Nay Nay wears make up?

Yes

Nay Nay wears eye shadow?

Yes Nay Nay wears eye shadow

Paw wears make up?

No Paw does not wear make up

Great Gran wears eye shadow?

Yes Great Gran wears eye shadow

Frank wears make up?

No Frank does not wear make up

Lee Ann wears make up?

Yes Lee Ann wears make up

JR (my aunts dog) wears make up?

No JR does not wear make up

Doggies wear make up?

No doggies don't wear make up

Doggies eat food

Yes doggies eat food

Oh OK

Passed Out

Jack wanted to play in his bed with all his animals about 30 minutes before nap time while I fed Lillie and Elliott. I finished with Elliott and went and checked on him. He wanted me to put the basketball, football, and baseball(small balls, not the real thing) in the bed with him. He was having a great time in there (which is helpful to me becuase usually he is hanging all over me when I'm trying to feed the twins.) I was in the middle of feeding Lillie and realized how quiet it was in his room. When I finished with Lillie this is what I found...

...passed out!

Spitting Lillie and Smiling Elliott

Here's my first stab at uploading a video. This is Lillie's trick.

Twins: 5 Months

We're in month 5! Lillie and Elliott are both doing well. At their 4 month check-up (they were actually in the middle of month 4 by the time we made it to the doctor) Elliott weighed 15 lbs 10 oz and Lillie weighed 14 lbs 7 oz. They are both in the 50-75 percentile for weight, they're doing great! Lillie seems to be going backwards in the sleeping through the night progress. She has started getting up two times during the night now instead of one. Elliott on the other hand gave me a present last night for his 5 month birthday... HE SLEPT ALL NIGHT LONG! From 8pm-7am. We were excited although it didn't mean a full nights sleep for me yet because of Lillie. So maybe she'll start making progress in the right direction soon. Elliott is smiling big and laughing some. Lillie is coming around. She's starting to smile a lot when she sees us. She can blow air out of her mouth and it makes a noise. We do it back to her and she does it back again. It's funny!

Ms. Doris

About 3 weeks ago I was in the lobby and our 87 year old neighbor, Ms. Doris, asked if we had been out of town. "It's been so quiet, I thought you had gone out of town." I smiled and told her we'd been here the whole time and it hit me. God gave us a neighbor who's hearing isn't great!!! I can't believe it! I never thought to even pray for such a thing but in God's goodness he gave us a neighbor that can't even hear the chaos going on on the other side of her wall! What a blessing!

Our First Trip

I've been in TN with the kids for the past week and a half spending time with family and a few friends. It was nice to be back in the south for a short time. I had no idea how my heart would feel being back in familiar territory. Thankfully I missed NYC and was glad to get back home to Freddy and our little apartment. We have our challenges here, but it is so good to know that we are exactly where God wants us to be.

I forgot to bring my camera (and I forgot make up too!) so hopefully those that took pictures while we were there will share!

We had a nice flight down. Fairly easy. We flew to Nashville with Freddy's sister and her family. They came to the city for a visit for a few days and we went back with them. My mom flew back with us and just left this afternoon. Our flight back home was more interesting. We had a 3 hour delay and got back to the city around midnight. LONG evening!

We had a nice brunch/open house on Saturday for friends and family to stop by Freddy's parents house and visit.

We got all the grandchildren on the Wyatt side of the family together for a picture. Denise Moore took them. Challenging! 6 boys, 1 girl, ages 9, 5, 3, 2, 4 months, 3 weeks. Jack was a hand full that afternoon. I had a feeling he would be. Even so I think we got some decent shots.

I got to have lunch with my friend Rachel and then we got pedicures (Thanks Rachel). And I also got to meet up with Ellie, Renee, and Rebecca in Nashville for lunch one day(Thanks Rebecca and Ellie, whichever one of you paid). I lived with Renee and Rebecca for 3 years in college, actually shared a room with Rebecca. Ellie lived with us for one year, but we are all good friends. Renee is moving to CA in late May so it was probably the last time for a while for us all to get together. So much fun.

Most of our time was spent with family. I loved the extra help and familiar faces. It was nice to have a conversation without having to give context to the conversation. That's part of making new friends up here, any conversation has to have a story with it to help it make sense...like James, he's my brother, MTSU, that's where I went to college, etc...

As wonderful as it was it's good to be back in the swing of things up here in NYC. It hit me about a week ago how interesting it is that something that used to be "not normal" can all the sudden be "normal" and what used to be "normal" is strangely "not normal" anymore.