And They Shall Be Called...

We have known our babies first names for several weeks now. We still have not settled on middle names, but we recently shared their first names with a few friends and got anxious to tell you, too. We love their names and have already started to teach Silas to say them.

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Our baby boy and girl will be named Simeon and Lieren.

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I will share more about their names in the days to come, but for now, you might want to know that Simeon's name comes from Luke 2 when Jesus is dedicated in the temple and Lieren's name (pronounced leer-en, just in case you were wondering) is simply a name we love.

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I still have moments when I have trouble wrapping my mind around the thought of two babies at once. It's not overwhelming to think about caring for them (maybe I'm just naive), it's the reality that there are two little ones getting ready to join our family. As many times as I have seen them in ultrasound pictures, I still sometimes think, Are we really having twins?

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And just when I start to wonder how in the world we will have what we need for these two little ones, God goes and does something like He did yesterday...

We were given that entire mountain of baby girl clothes and shoes. I can't get over it. The sizes and seasons are just right for little Lieren. Everything is in perfect condition and some of it is still brand-new with tags. There is also a pink baby bouncy seat that I didn't pull out to get in the picture.

A lady in my Wednesday morning mom's group at church had a friend who was giving away all her baby girl things and decided to send it to our group for people to take what they wanted. Well, all the other ladies said they didn't need it or the sizes were wrong so they lavished it on me! Needless to say, baby Lieren is going to be stylin'! We were given a similar gift from a friend of Wes and Brooke before Silas was born. It was a huge blessing back then and Simeon will get those things passed on to him.

Well, I hear a little man waking in the room down the hall. So I'll head off for now. It is bitterly cold again and snowed a bit last night. We'll stay in the rest of the day and dream of spring, I guess.

Weekend Recap

I slept 11 hours last night. The babies must be going through a growth spurt because I just cannot get enough rest the past two days. Thankfully Silas slept in till 9:30 so I still was able to get up and around before he woke. I love being up before him. It gives me time to gather myself before the day really starts.
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We had a fun weekend with Grandma and Grandpa, who drove down for a quick visit. Silas enjoyed the extra attention and playtime. They had to leave early Sunday morning to avoid more snow headed their way back home. But we had a great time Saturday playing, eating, shopping, and reading books...

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I'm always hoping for a good "family moment" shot, but it rarely works for even just the three of us. In the first picture Silas was ready to eat. He was probably wondering why in the world everyone was waiting around! Then in the second, we had eaten and he was ready to go!

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In other news, Silas has learned to eat with a fork and is loving it. I just decided to try it last Friday after being inspired by my friend Michelle. Now Silas is a pro at it. I told my Mom over the weekend that he had started using utensils on his own, and we both lamented that he was growing up way too fast. It will be good for our hearts to have babies in the house again.

19 Weeks...An Update

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Silas and I got home from a little outing just a bit ago. He is already deep asleep in naptime. I realized that the poor baby had not been out of the house (except for the pizza run a few days ago) in over a week! Between sickness and snow, we've kept him in long enough. He and I really needed to get out today. So we ran to Target, where we browsed all things baby. Then we stopped at McDonalds for lunch. He sat in the booth right beside me and ate his whole kids meal like a big boy. We had such fun. It's days like this that I want to last forever.
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I am 19 weeks this week. So technically, I'm probably a bit over halfway to our due date (praying we get to 37 weeks). I am feeling the babies move more, which has been a lot of fun. I am in kind-of a clothes crisis because none of my pants fit. My old pants are way too small, and my pregnancy pants don't fit in the hips yet and want to fall off. But I'm making it all work. It's the least of my concerns.
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Speaking of clothes, I think there's going to be a little girl who will not be having any kind of clothes crisis at the beginning of her life. I've found some super cute things on the clearance racks lately and have started a tiny collection of pink...
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I decided to update our blog look yesterday. It's funny, I do not look at anyone else's blogs much. I read their posts in my Google Reader and rarely actually visit their sites. I forget that you can make blogs look so cute. So anyway, I found this template that I liked and a few minutes later, it was done.
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I told Shane that I love the new look. It's everything that I want life to be: simple, reflective, quiet. Right now we are in a season where those words describe life around here. It's calm. So I'm soaking it in. I'm taking the minutes I have to think because this season is a gift. And I know it's just a season. The Lord promises the seasons will come and go. In just a few short months, our season will be anything but calm, simple, and quiet. Two babies and a toddler do not add up to lots of minutes for thinking. So I'll reflect while I have the chance. It may be years before a season like this comes again.

Valentines for all the Grands

This is a little Valentine love for Silas' Nana and Papa, Grandma and Grandpa, Grandpa Mike, Great Nana and Papa, Grandma and Grandpa Great, and Great Grandpa and Phyllis. We wish we could all be together, but since we can't, I thought you might want to pretend you were here playing and singing with us.

For everyone else, I really don't expect you to watch more than 3 minutes of Silas doing a puzzle and singing the alphabet! It's just a guess, but I think the grands will watch them enough for all of us!

We love you, family!

Please Pray

I mentioned in a couple posts back about our friends who are adopting from Ethiopia. Would you please PRAY for them today? Charis explains the details in her post. We are praying that God would move mountains on their behalf before Monday. Thank you all for praying. It is the least we can do to love and help those on the front lines of caring for orphans.

Snowed In

All our normal Wednesday activities were cancelled today because of snow. So we found all kinds of things to keep us busy inside. We pretty much stayed in our jammies all day. We pulled the wagon all over the living room downstairs, did some laundry, read books, sang the alphabet song at least 20 times and went through letter sounds (Silas kept asking to do this over and over!), colored, and then this afternoon Silas decided to start stacking things on his blocks. We had to keep finding things to stack until the floor looked like this...

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Then he built this very tall tower with just a tiny bit of help from me...

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We finally got out of the house and all went to pick up a pizza for dinner. Silas is feeling much better, thanks for asking.

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I do also have to mention that all the love, comments, texts, notes, and messages about our babies has been overwhelming! One of our prayers has always been that our children will be a blessing to others. Know that right now, you are blessing us. I'll always tell our babies how much they were loved before they were known.

Pink and Blue

What we were told 2 times before was confirmed today...we're having a boy and a girl!

This is a picture of our babies, looking pretty much at the tops of their heads. They have their heads together right now, which I think is so cute. They both showed us how they could drink, wave, and reach for their toes. Every time I see them, the reality sets in more and more. I cannot wait to hold them!

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I had the sweetest ultrasound tech today. She talked me through the entire ultrasound, which took almost an hour! She described each thing she was looking at and told me that every little bit of our babies appeared to be measuring and functioning normally. She had no hesitation when she checked the gender so we'll be having a mix of pink and blue this summer!

Baby A is our girl. We're happy for you to meet her...
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And our boy is Baby B. If you look closely, you can see that he is waving at you. His hand is above his face and you can make out the fingers.

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Our day turned out to not go at all as planned. Shane was supposed to go to morning meetings at church then we were going to head over to a friend's house around noon to drop Silas off before heading together to the doctor's office. But poor baby Silas woke up at 3 in the morning with a stomach virus. I heard him crying so went to his room where I found him with a mess all over his crib and himself. He just kept saying, "wipe!"

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We were up the rest of the night and by early morning knew he wasn't going anywhere today. I talked to the doctor about how to keep him hydrated and by 11 the plan started working. He fell asleep a little before noon as Shane got home to take over.

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We are extremely thankful that Shane got to go with me on our unexpected visit to the doctor because that was when we were first told it was a boy and girl. So we were together for that big moment. We're also thankful that Silas napped today and is now sleeping. He did not have much of an appetite this evening but hopefully his tummy will rest and he will be back to his normal self tomorrow.

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I did think as I was driving to the doctor's office that this was probably only the start of balancing life with three kids!

My Random Saturday Evening Post

I am sitting in bed enjoying my latest favorite evening snack, blueberries and whipped cream...yum! And I'm gazing over at the sweet baby things we bought today. I had forgotten how small newborn clothes are. Just looking at them thrilled me. I can't wait to have babies in the house again. I would take a picture of what I bought, but it would give away gender. Our big ultrasound is on Monday and I can't wait to tell everyone what we're having!

While we were at the mall I saw a lady with a stroller that had two tiny babies in carseats. I knew it had to be twins so I stopped to chat with her. It was a fun moment. She gave me good stroller advice so I left feeling like I had not only connected with someone, but had learned something too.

We had dinner with some dear friends of ours tonight. They are adopting a baby girl from Ethiopia who is a doll. Please pray for their paperwork to be finalized. Once their documents are in order, they will plan their travel to go meet her and bring her home. Silas and I pray for that sweet baby every day and we can't wait to meet her.

Friday evening we had our annual middle school girls' retreat. The girls all spent the night in homes but we met up at the church earlier in the evening for a daddy-daughter night focused on real beauty. It was sweet to see the girls there with their fathers. Made me miss mine!

Last year we did a fashion show for the girls. Part of it was a spoof and Shane dressed up in duct tape. We made Silas an outfit, too, which was so funny. I realized that we never shared a picture so here you go...
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And here's our little man this year right before we left on Friday afternoon. Even after his haircut, he still has a wild and unmanageable wavy hair that I absolutely LOVE...

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And just because I don't want to forget, I have to share this little tidbit. Silas came home on Wednesday morning with his first art project from church. Because I keep him with me during the Sunday School hour on Sunday mornings, he doesn't participate in the craft times. So now that I'm getting to go back to Mom 2 Mom on Wednesdays, he is getting his first real structured class-type experience. The teachers said he did great, and I think his coloring skills really show promise... :)

Holiday Favorites

We had such a wonderful time the week of Christmas. Here are our highlights. They are not in order of what was the most meaningful, but in the order in which they happened.

1. Getting to skype with my parents the evening before we headed out of town. We opened presents, read the Christmas story, and prayed together. It was sweet...
And Silas loved the new chair they got for him...

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2. Getting to be in Illinois for over a week. It was wonderful to just be there, not feel hurried, and not be rushing home. We stayed with Shane's mom and Lee. Unfortunately, in my pregnancy haze I did not get any great pictures of them. So because I have been reprimanded by the family before for putting silly pictures of them on the blog, I will refrain. Judy and Lee, know that we so appreciate you letting us crash with you for so long. It was a gift. Hopefully next time I'll be more with it.

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3. ELMO. Oh, the anticipation when he realized what was in the box...

I can just hear him saying, "Mommy, I really love my Elmo."

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4. Time with Shane's brother, Wes and his wife, Brooke. Or as Silas likes to call them, "Uh-Wes" and "Ahn-Book". Silas still randomly asks about them. Sometimes in the car as we're driving or maybe when he's getting up from a nap. It is so cute.

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5. Sleepy Silas still napping on daddy's shoulder after falling asleep in the car after an outing. Isn't the scenery gorgeous? There's a great hill heading down to the lake behind the house that Shane sledded several times while we were there.

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6. Seeing friends that we rarely see. Life is so different now that we all have kids. But so much fun! Some of our friends even have twins, can you tell?

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7. A new backpack. We've left the diaper bag days behind. But he looks so big, don't you think?

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8. Silas in his new Jordan's that Uncle Wes picked out for him. Shane had these shoes when he was younger. Too cute...

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9. How packed our car looked on the way home. There was a sleepy baby next to me...

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Two beasts on one side in the back...

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A whole bunch of stuff tied down on the other side...

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And more stuff in the front seat...

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10. New DVDs that Silas loves. We watched one this morning. Silas got Baby Einstein's Numbers Nursery from us. He tries to count the whole way through. Grandma got him a DVD I asked for because my friend Rebekah suggested it. It's LeapFrog's Letter Sounds Factory. Now that he's watched it about 3 times, Silas is already beginning to put letter sounds with the letter. He can do b, c and s consistently. I can't get over it!

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This picture is from today as he watched his video after our long trek in the snow outside. We both needed a break. Sigh and smile. And yes, Silas got a haircut last week...