Lately...

Mommy Lately...
Over the last few weeks, I have not been feeling my best.  I dealt with a stomach virus and as of late my sinus and allergies  have been pretty bad.  I broke up with my allergies via twitter, but they continue to stalk me.  At any rate, I know things could be worse...so my complaining stops HERE.

Since finishing up my photography class, unfortunately I have NOT been taking many pictures.  I think it's a combination of being sick, being tired, and the girls now being one.  All of a sudden they aren't changing as much as fast...but still I don't want to miss this stage either so...I'm going to get the camera back out...for motivation, I am going to take a refresher Basic Course before enrolling in Photography II.  The refresher starts next Tuesday...I'm excited.

MacKenzie Lately...
MacKenzie is nearing her last few weeks of school.  Third grade is coming to a close.  She has had a great year and really for the first time ever, I feel like she was challenged this year.  I LOVE that.  Her teachers are really good and sincerely care about the kids learning.

Things have been busy for her lately as really they always are.  She recently finished up her "official" gymnastics season last weekend with the Oklahoma State Meet that was held in Oklahoma City.  I don't think her main goal was Gold...her focus was on making the state banquet.  In order to be invited to the state banquet you had to score a 37.00 all around and/or score 1st , 2nd or 3rd on any one apparatus.  She scored somewhere between 37 - 38 all around and will be attending the banquet.  She was THRILLED.  She also got a cookie at the end of the meet from her coaches...she couldn't have been happier.  Yes, she's 9...but a cookies still makes her day.  So next year she moves up to Level 5 and will be required to practice  3 days a week for 3.5 hours each day...for us...this seems like ALOT.  We'll see how it goes this summer...I'm just not sure.  Our main priority obviously is her education.  She is such a bright girl (yes, if I say so myself) I just don't want her to lose her focus on what really matters.  

She has a piano recital coming up and will be playing "You've Got A Friend In Me" from Toy Story.  She still has a lot of practicing to do, but hopefully it will come together for the upcoming recital.  Her teacher has mandated uninterruped practice (I think someone has been blaming the twins for her lack of practice) and came out and made me promise that she would get just that.  So far so good!

We have exciting plans for MacK this summer...it will be fun and full as it always is.  This summer she is going to do a cooking camp and go to a residential camp in Missouri in addition to some of her normal summer activities including swim lessons etc.  We're hoping she'll have time to take a hip hop dance class too.  Also, we are planning a family reunion so she'll get to go to my hometown (small town called Bogalusa, in Louisiana) and we'll also be hanging out in New Orleans for a day or two.  That's the extent of planned vacations this summer.



And that's what's up!

Birthday Party Details - Nearly A Month Later :)

I (with a lot of help from MacKenzie) did a lot of party prepping for NiNa's birthday party...but I must admit...I don't think anyone worked harder for their party than Dez at Papercandee.  First she designed super cute Parisian Passport Invitations and then she did all the cute little detail stuff for the party including the banner, cupcake sticks, signature drink signs, favor bags, etc... I can't thank her enough or rave about her enough.  Check out her Etsy store...here is her Facebook Page and finally here is her blog.  She is awesome!  Ok, I just clicked on the link and saw that she featured our party on her blog...here is that post. I could have just directed you there! :)

The party wouldn't have been complete without French tunes (to set the French bakery tone) and a custom cake (or three) from Jennifer at Icing on the Top!  Jennifer has done cakes for MacKenzie for the last five years and was happy to add the twins to her line up.  We LOVE her work.  Beautiful cakes that are YUMMY to eat!

Overall, the party for us will be memorable...and well we have the pics for the girls :)  I won't fool myself into thinking they even remember it today a short 3 wks later...

Joyeux Anniversaire Nia & Nala

 

Joyeux Anniversaire Nia & Nala - April 3, 2010

On April 3 we celebrated NiNa's 1st Birthday.  It was such a beautiful day.  We were surrounded by friends and family and the girls had a really great day.  I can truly hardly believe my babies are one already.  The time just really flew by.  It seems like yesterday that we brought them home.  Over the last year they have brought so much more to my life than I could have ever dreamed they would. When I think about the girls the following words come to mind: joy, grace, and pure sweetness.  We celebrated this joyous occasion with a French/Parisian Themed Birthday Celebration.  Of course I took loads and loads of pics :)

The girls adorable dresses were ordered from this Etsy Seller - Double Love Designs (she also has twins).  Super cute and they complimented the party so well!  

Wish List Wednesday

I would love for the girls to have their first table and chairs set.  MacKenzie used hers for years :)  I recall sitting down and having many lessons at her little table.  Since there are two of them...looks like I'll be on the floor this time...this set is from Pottery Barn Kids. 

I would also like for the girls to learn how to eat properly at the table.  As of the last couple of weeks, I think we have reached that point where going out to eat with them is a little more difficult.  We try to bring food for them too to occupy them and/or let them attempt finger foods while out...well both girls have some how grown accustomed to just throwing food on the floor...and no this does not mean that they are done eating (if only it were that simple)...it is very frustrating.  By the end of dinner, the waiters/waitresses have EARNED a large tip...

This darker wood set actually matches our home better...  furnitrue in their room, the kitchen, and living room are all darker wood...i just like the white better...it's more girlie IMO...

so...what are you wishing for on this fine wednesday???

Wish List Wednesday

I'm currently loving Fossil's Stella Watch.  There are lots of fun colors...but I think I'd like one of these two...they are fun yet still classic.

So what are you wishing for???

Looking Back - A Year Ago Today

A year ago today our family officially became complete...we FINALLY got to bring Nia home.  Nala was able to go home with us right away, but Nia had to stay in the NICU for ten days.  It felt like an eternity at the time, but really we were blessed.  It could have been much longer.   Look how tiny she was.  The pictures actually make her look bigger than she really was. 

This picture was taken her first day at home :)  She really loved being reunited with Nala.  She would always snuggle up against her bigger little sister.

My friend Regina's mom made these blankets for us.  We ended up losing one of them at the outlet mall in Dallas.  Sad sad day.  They are really soft blankets.

A Gentleman's Woman??

Heard of a ladies man, right??  Well my little Nala is a Gentlesman's Lady.  She LOVES men...Case in point...

Here she is with the phone technician.  Last weekend our phone line and internet service was messed up...the Company sent a tech out and apparently Nala was very happy to see him...mind you...we'd never met him.

She hasn't yet completely warmed up to my best friend Brandy...but to her husband... she loves her some Isaiah...(notice the difference in demeanor)

It's not like she just met Brandy...they met the day she was born...

Today, she met my friend Toni's dad for the first time ever...we were over there for about an hour and she never left my lap... that is until my friend's dad came home...

The examples go on and on... yesterday at mother's day out, she saw my friend Marti's husband and just insisted that he hold her and refused to be passed to the MDO director and even her mommy (yes she chose him over me!).  What's odd is that she has separation anxiety pretty bad right now with the exception of people that she is really familiar with (like she needs to be seeing you at least on a weekly basis).  I feel really bad when people visit that love and care about her like her Granny Margaret (her real twin) this past weekend.  She can be...well funny acting sometimes...but once she gets to know you, I promise she is the SWEETEST baby in the world.  Oddly enough though, somehow that separation anxiety thing just goes right out the window when she sees a man...

I'm going to have to watch her!!

Nia & Nala - Looking Back - 24 Little Fingers

In the Surgery Room I think the nurses and doctors thought I might be surprised to find out that my baby girls each had 12 fingers...or extra digits is what they eventually called them...extra fingers with no bones...but if you look closely you can see they actually had a nail bed though...(see first pic of Nia's ---I think that's Nia...they looked  little bit more alike in the beginning...the second picture- I know for sure that's Nala :))  Well I always knew it was a possibility because it's heriditary.  My husband had extra fingers as does lots of people in his family including my mother-in-law.  I think one of his brothers had extra toes... :)

Nia

Nala

To remove the extra digits, they tied them with surgical threading and after several days they eventually fell off..that simple...well Nala's had to be redone, she somehow lost her threading see the second pic below...the end result for her is pretty good...Nia's is not as seamless...she still has some remnants of the extra digits which is simply a factor of how well the performing physician ties the knot and how close they get...

Nia's post results

It looks a little bit better than this today b/c I eventually had them to redo it since (that's that black threading here) I was unpleased with the results.  It's a little bit better, but not much...totally minor cosmetic issue though, if she wants to get it "fixed" later, we will, but it's not a huge deal...for her and at the time, it was the least of our concerns.

Nia & Nala - Looking Back - Birth & Hospital Stay Part I

The girls are one now and I didn't do a lot of blogging really until I got my awesome new computer...so for a little while, I might be doing some looking back posts.  Here is the first of likely many.

Birth & Hospital Stay

Though threatened many times by my high risk doctor, I managed to give birth to my twin baby girls without any bedrest at 36 wks.  My plan was 37 wks, but they had other plans.  I was at work on Thursday night April 2, 2009 really late, hoping to wrap up my final deals to leave for maternity leave the following Friday with no worries of work.  I began having sharp contractions around 6 p.m. that worsened by 9 p.m.  MacKenzie had gone with a friend to a fun night of sorts to her school.  She was dropped off to me around 9:45 and thank God for that.  Although I tried really hard to hide it from her friend's parents, I was in labor.  MacKenzie was such a big girl and helped me to count the time of and space in between my contractions.  I drove all the way from downtown Tulsa to my home in Bixby (25 min) in labor.  I went home and took a bath and the contractions did not subside.  Toliver Dad met us at home and picked us up and we went straight to the hospital.  When I arrived we found out I was 5 cm dilated and whether we were ready or not...we were to have babies within hours.

After a nap and epidural, I gave birth to Nia Grace at 1:47 a.m. She was very tiny weighing in at 4 lbs 4 oz and I didn't feel a thing!  Honestly...she literally slipped out.  Although it was my heart's desire to deliver both girl's naturally, when we were told that Nala's vital's were not responding well to the doctor attempting to turn her (she was breech for 99% of the pregnancy) I had no argument with my OB when she told me that we would have to do a C-Section.  So sixteen minutes later, Nala Iman was born at 2:03 a.m weighing in at 5 lbs 3 oz.  Somehow I feel asleep in between the birth of the two girls and haven't today and honestly never did have any recollection of Nala's birth.  I just remember waking up and she was there.  They let me see the girls briefly, but I did not get to hold them right away.  Even so, I was very happy to have delivered what we understood at the time to be two healthy babies.

Yes, I had a couple of chins and necks...