Why I Shouldn't Brag...

Any time I see a mom of twins, they always tell me, "Hang in there. It will get better." Cocky me, I'm always like oh, it's not that bad! Honestly, having twins really hasn't been quite as hard as I thought it would be, and then there are nights like last night...
I didn't get home from the band cotest until midnight, but thought I was doing well since I got to fall back an hour. Then I couldn't get to sleep until 2:00. "Whizzing Wesley" woke up at 2:30 having wet his clothes. Then they whined and fussed off and on, which of course woke me up. Then I got up to feed Will at 4:30. As soon as I fell back asleep I was up feeding Wesley when Ashton woke up, and it was all down hill from there. Both babies continued to whine and fuss until Will ended up in the swing and Wesley in bed with me, but the worst part is Ashton proceeded to talk from 5 on. Jon and I finally decided her problem, she has no interior monologue! The worst part is we didn't make it to church. I HATE missing church, but was literally crying when Jon told me it was time to get up. He told me he'd go, but then he got a call from work and had to fix it. I'm sorry we missed but hope what those other moms said is true and it will get better! Last night was beyond miserable! I think it would have been better to just stay up rather than get woken up every time you had just fallen asleep! Any way, I've had breakfast and I'm hopefully going to take a nap! Here's to hoping they sleep through the night tonight and the Hallelujah Chorus is playing inmy head once again!

Hallelujah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I wish you could hear the hallelujah chorus that is playing in my head because...the twins slept through the night!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! From 10 to 5! I don't know what caused this miracle, but hope it wasn't a fluke! We think it might be because we fed them ready to feed formula last night instead of the powder kind, and it kept them full longer. Rest assured they will get that kind every night! Jon must be living right because the boys just happened to sleep through the night the night he was going hunting. Then he got a great buck this morning!

You'd think after a full night's sleep, I'd be Mrs. Energetic but instead all I want to do today is sleep, maybe I rememebered how great it is! I'm awake now, but too lazy to do much so I thought I'd post a bunch of cute pics!

I love this one of Daddy and Will.

Will loves his big brother and sister so much. I remember when I had Jackson that his eyes lit up when Jon and I entered the room like they did for no one else. Then when I had Ashton, her eyes lit up like that for Jackson. I was actually jealous! Now I am simply amazed at how Will and Wesley light up when their brother and sister are around. It's like they know at this young age that they are something really special to them! I can't imagine how much they will worship them when they are a little bigger. It worries me though that they'll be jealous of each other or have favorites. I had to have a talk with Jackson and Ashton this morning about not picking a favorite because they'll hurt their feelings as they were fighting over one!


My favorite day of the year is the day we go to Gentry's Farm. The kids have so much fun, and it's my favorite because of the great photo ops! My all-time favs are them on the tire swing. I take it every year and love comparing it! Here's a few from this year.




Everyone always asks what it's like to have twins. I don't think I can describe it, but here's my view as I feed or hold them both. Too cute...


Since the boys have started smiling, we are all a goofy mess around here trying to get them to smile for us. Jon plays, "I'm gonna get you", and I play "Where's Mommy's smile" with camera in hand, of ocurse. Will has actually even laughed a couple of times- so sweet! I look forward to the day they laugh at the same time, video camera get ready! Will grins at anything and everything. He's Mr. Personality, really happy or throwing a fit, while Wesley is like Daddy, Mr. Calm, future pitcher! His smiles are rare but all the more precious for it. Here's a rare one caught on camera...


Enough Dodd cuteness for today! I'm off to my brother's band contest. They are competing in state tonight, which they have won the last 2 years, so wish him luck. I'm really proud of him following in big sis's band footsteps, though his band and their shows are a little cooler! Still, I'm not too embarrased of being a band nerd as I met Jon at band camp, wearing make-up and a bra- him not me! I'm in so much trouble for sharing that! Hee-hee!

Halloween Cuteness

I don't know if anyone even bothers to check my blog anymore! I can't believe it's been a month since I posted, but for SOME reason I don't have the time I used to! Even as I type this there are 2 babies hysterically crying (gee, I wish there was sound so you could all share this with me;).

What have I been busy doing? I got a good idea for a scrapbook page called "proof that I'm a mother of 4" so I've started taking photos to document that.

This is 1 day's worth of bottles!

This is all the laundry I have to fold. I get about 4 things folded and then a baby needs me!

I sent Jon with the 2 big kids to get 2 pumpkins, one for each them to carve. Well, in men's minds bigger is better;) because Jon came home with the biggest one they had. He even had to have our neighbor help him get it out of the car! I griped about both kids getting to carve one so he put a face on each side! It actually turned out great and got lots of comments from our trick-or-treaters.

Of course, the upside of a 70 pound pumpkin is you can stick your head in it!

In possibly the cutest photo session ever, Cowboy Will fell asleep in his hat while out "Chunky Monkey" Indian Wesley hung out!



Not to be outdone, big brother and sister were very cute as Peter from Narnia and Sharpay from High School Musical.




I still can't get over how BIG our family is, but LOVING it!

More Atlanta Pics...

I'm finally getting a chance to use Jon's computer and download the rest of our trip pics and I wanted to share bc/ I'm LOVING sharing pics again!

I know I said it before, but we couldn't belive how good the twins were. In fact, I think they were easier there than here! We let them sleep in the stroller, and they did so well Jon said we should let them sleep in it at home.

These are my silly kids "helping" take the luggage down on checkout day.




The last thing we did was go to the aquarium. It was really great. It was so kid friendly with slides and lots of animals to pet. Jackson stayed at the petting areas as long as we'd let him, especially this one where he got to pet sting rays and this shark. Notice his 2 finger technique which is exactly how they told him to do it.



Every time we turned around Jackson was asking the people that worked there all kinds of questions about the animals, ex:"How big do they get? How much do they weigh? Where do you get them?". He was in his element. He is still as into animals as he has ever been and still wants to be a vet.


This is "Little Jon" bragging/exagerating about how big the fish was she saw!


Jackson had just finished interviewing the worker about the sea lions when I had him sit down in front of their tank. I was so lucky to get this great picture that looks like the sea lion is posing with him.

After this picture came out so great, we decided to get the twins out of the stroller and take a family pic with the sea lions. There was no shortage of people to take our picture as again the twins drew more attention than the actual fish people were there to see!

Our trip was wonderful. It was great to know we could manage 4 kids with just the 2 of us-ha!ha! Of course, everything will change when these 2 are mobile- YIKES! "I can't think of that today. I'll just die if I do. I'll think about that tomorrow." That was my Scarlett O'Hara impersonation. It works better if you read it with a Southern accent! I asked Jon how I should end this post, and he recommended talking about my incredible husband, blah, blah, blah, but I think ending a post about a trip to Atlanta with a quote from Scarlet O'Hara is perfect! See you tomorrow, "Because tomorrow is another day!" OK, now I'm getting carried away, sleep deprivation strikes again :)

Look where I am...

I just got the laptop back from Donnie after a few weeks and am in the familiar position of sitting on the couch reading everyone's blogs. This is how I maintained my sanity and passed thousands of hours of bedrest. Yet, I just realized the HUGE difference. I just looked beside me and was dumbfounded by the fact that there are 2 precious babies laying beside me. For months I lay there waiting for them, and now they are here and perfectly healthy, praise God! Let me tell you a surprising fact about twins, you never get over the amazement of the fact that there are 2 of them! I am struck again and again by the surrealness of it all. Granted, it's a little harder to use the computer than it was when I was on bedrest. Sure, I'm vertical, but I only have 1 pacie at arm's reach so every few seconds I switch it from 1 twin's mouth to the other. Yes, the old adage is true, "The squeaky twin gets the pac." Wow, that was really bad. I'm going to play the sleep deprivation excuse card, again! Any way, so glad to be here in the vertical world, fussy babies and all!

Greeting from "The ATL"

For those of you who didn't know, we are on our first family of 6 vacation. A long weekend to Atlanta complete with a trip to American Girl, Braves game, and the Atlanta aquarium with 2 kids and 6 week old twins??!!!! I know most of you probably think we're crazy, but things have gone GREAT! The babies couldn't have been any better. The trip down took an extra 2 hours with various stops, but they survived 6 hours at the Braves game without crying once! It was unreal how great they were. God bless the inventer or slings (and Ashley J. for loaning me hers!).


I haven't been able to post in weeks and pics in months, but I had to share all the fun we are having right now! Our first stop was the American Girl store where Ashton's Bitty Twin, Carla, had her hair done in their salon.


Ashton also got to do a little shopping for her babies. I think this picture is adorable with her shopping bag slung over her shoulder. I'm sure I'll see her doing this many more times in the coming years, and it will get more expensive each time, but it's cute now.


This was our first real outing with the twins and, well, we're apparently a freak show! In 2 days we have met half of Georgia, I think. It's impossible to be introverted with twins because everyone wants to talk to you! It was so bad, it got to be really funny. In fact, Jackson and Jon started playing a game to see how many people commented on the twins. Just in one hour at the American Girl store they got to 42! We've about lost count after today. And how do the twins handle their celebrity?...


They took it in stride riding in their cool new stroller that has been invaluable on this trip!

Today we had the most perfect day at the ballfield! The twins were amazing, the game was a great 11 inning match with Smoltz pitching, and we had the most amazing seats we could ever imagine! It was amazing, even worth Jon missing the opening day of hunting season- what a sacrifice! Look at these great pics...

This isn't where our seats were, but taken from the top of the stadium we were checking out.


This is Will. Wesley was riding in the sling with his daddy. I carried Will because he is now the lighter of the 2. Wesley has now passed Will by almost a pound!

This is where our amazing seats were our seats were, front row. That is Chipper Jones right behind Jackson. We were in the front row (did I mention that already?-so cool!) which honestly made me very nervous with foul balls and the babies, but none came close!

This is one happy Daddy! I haven't seen Jon this excited without it involving a animal he killed or a child he created being involved in a long time!!! It was great to see him enjoy something so much and share it with his kids, even getting the new ones trained at 6 weeks!

Jackson enjoyed doing the chop and even taught his brother (Will again)...

The 3 innings they were awake, the twins really seemed to be taking it all in and enjoying the game and bonus, the Braves won! Now, I have to get to sleep to get ready for tomorrow's great adventure, espcially since I've probably jinxed myself bragging about the babies great behavior!

Apology to those in the Spring Hill Zip Code...

and the light sleepers in the Thompson's Station for Will's screaming fit after midnight! You see when one ignores his mommy telling him to eat more than one ounce at 8, then wakes up starving, then dirties a diaper, then pees in his own face just when mommy finishes changing him, one just screams louder and louder. I'm sure several of you were awakened, though his own daddy didn't even stir from his slumber!

Wesley, on the other hand, has done nothing but eat. If you haven't seen him in a while, I swear he added an extra chin and doubled his cheek circumference overnight! He is really starting to look like the bigger baby. I can't wait to see how much he has gained!

Jackson has started fall ball. He moved up to the more serious league with the pitching machine and outs, but is doing a good job. Today he had the biggest fan club ever as his brothers went to their first of MANY, MANY ballgames today. They were really good and had a great time, I'm sure. And, more amazingly, I survived (of course, I had help from Donnie, Nana and Pop).

Ashton has a new game she likes to play, triplets. She gets in the pack-n-play and pretends she is my girl baby Hannah or Miley (from Hannah Montana, of course!).

I know lots of you have felt really sorry for me and my lack of sleep, but things have actually improved some since then. Between feedings they've been sleeping upstairs in their cradle, so I actually get to sleep what sleep I get in my bed and not on the couch. Plus, God bless Ashley J. who let us borrow a portable swing which I can move upstairs when one's fussy and let them swing right beside my bed.

The boys are on the go, big time! Thursday morning they went to ballet with sister, birthday party that night, playgroup Friday morning, cook out that night and baseball game early Sat.! They are adjusting well to our busy life, which is good bc/ with 4 I don't think it's going to get any calmer. And I know you're all wondering how I did it alone: 1 gets worn on my body in a sling and the other I carry in his carrier! It's actually not that bad, but I'm not sure how it will work when they are heavier. I guess I'll just be buff mommy!