Camp Meeting

Last week the girls went on their first trip to camp meeting at Southern Adventist University in Collegedale, TN. Chris was assigned to the youth department while the girls and I just enjoyed the leisurely time away from home. The pastors and their families that come from across the conference stay in the girl's dorm...we made sure they knew we were bringing twin babies and in answer to that, we were put at the very, very, very end of the hall...with no one on either side of us! We were "banished" to the far corners of the building! ha! We were thrilled for the banishment actually....there was one moment when Chris was gone at meetings and I was trying to bathe both girls. They were both screaming at the top of their lungs and I literally had to hold one of the girls while plopping the other in the sink - where I had to bathe them. Unfortunately, through all the screaming, I missed answering a knock at the door from a friendly neighbor who also has two small children. She heard what was going on from out in the hall, and figured that like her, my husband too was gone at meetings while we were holding down the fort by ourselves, so she knocked to see if I needed help. I totally missed the knock, otherwise I would have gladly handed one of my sweet girls to her to help! There are a few moments like this in my days where I truly cannot find it possible to juggle my two girls at the same time...however, somehow, we always make it! Team effort of me and the girls, I suppose.

The rest of our time there was really great! Our good friends Stephen and Kyndre were in town as he was speaker for the youth. It was great getting to finally introduce them to our new baby girls! Grammy watched the girls for us one night while Daddy and I attended a banquet for the pastors. Many of the other couples didn't have sitters, so it was fun to watch all the families walking their babies around, trying to calm and soothe them, while we were able to sit back and enjoy a meal!! Ok, it wasn't fun to watch that...it was just fun for us to not be joining them! But only being away from my girls for a couple of hours made me miss them terribly!! I couldn't wait to get back to them, and when we arrived, my mom had them propped up in their Pack-N-Play and all three were just laughing and having a big time. I know it was a special time for Grammy too.

We got home last night from camp meeting and after one night in our own beds and cribs, we're now re-packed and heading to Florida today for a week of vacation with my sister Robin and my neice Caitlin. We're looking forward to the adventure ahead, starting with how we are fitting everything and everyone into one car!!

The Tent

Um...ok...so maybe Daddy needs to be the one to get the sleep tonight.... :-)

This is Daddy trying out the new beach tent we got the girls for their first vacation to the beach in 2 weeks....it passed the test. Very cool and breezy inside...and shaded! Perfect.

Progressing Sleep

Last night Chris every so sweetly agreed to wake up with the girls because they have been waking up at crazy odd hours of the night. They are just now reaching 11 pounds, so I am sure that they are still needing the food if they wake up early, so I've been up for night after night feeding these sweet baby girls. They had been consistently sleeping 8-9 hours, but for the last few weeks, they stopped that trend most likely due to growth spurts. With them growing like they are, they LOVE to play in the daytime, often on different schedules, so they aren't giving Mom the chance to sleep when they sleep right now. When they are on different schedules, I call it a "Mommy Time Day". This means I get good, quality one on one time with each of them when one goes to sleep and the other wakes up. There truly is beauty and blessings in the craziness!

However, this has resulted in a deliriously, losing it, can't-think-clear mommy! Yesterday, we had a couple of youth over from Georgia-Cumberland Academy and they must have thought for sure I had lost it. I would forget things, in mid-sentence, and I looked like a walking zombie. It had been a rough week. Okay, a rough few weeks. I needed to pluralize that.

So, last night, Chris took over. We were ready with him armed with bottles for the middle of the night wake-up feeds. At 6:45 AM I woke up to Savannah crying. I got up and there was Daddy, changing her diaper. It was so very sweet. I assumed he had just had a very, very long night. But much to my surprise, he informed me that Madeline had not woken up at all! Savannah woke up at 4 AM, but only because of serious gas, not from hunger. After he changed her diaper, I fed her, put her back down, and Madeline stayed asleep. She ended up sleeping until 8:30 AM! It was a true 12 hour night for her! By the time I finished feeding her, Savannah was ready to eat again, so I got them both on the same schedule after all...the rest of the day has been amazing so far. Both Madeline and I got a great night's rest, and Savannah and Daddy did pretty good too...we've just got to work on that gas. (Savannah's gas....not Daddy's...haha!) Also, I read about the "45 Minute Intruder" of naptime....and after a rough crying it out for a few minutes, the girls have been falling right back to sleep and taking longer naps. I'm thankful to just know that they are capable of a 12 hour night....and longer naps too..and pray that they keep it up! Not only for their own well-being and happiness, but for....wait...I have no idea what I was going to say.

The Plan Revealed

My girls could never do a thing to make me stop loving them. They have only been in my world for 5 months now, and I have already experienced an expanded view of love I never knew possible. On their most colicky nights, I love them. On their fussiest days, I love them. And of course, when they smile back at me with the biggest, most precious eyes, I love them. There is nothing I wouldn't do for them. If when they grow up they do something I could never approve of, I will love them. If they turned their back on me and went the other way, I would love them. If they went for months without speaking to me, I would love them. If they spoke badly of me, I would love them. If someone were to tell me that one of my girls was dying and that I had an organ in me that could extend their life at the expense of mine, I would do it. You see, there is a love beyond comprehension that I have for my daughters.

I didn't know the capacity God had in me to love until I became a mother. I never fully understand God's plan of Salvation until I became a mother. Now I understand more clearly how God could have sent His Son into this world to die so that we might live. I also understand more clearly that no matter what I do, or what I have done in my past, that God loves me. I cannot mess it up. I cannot make Him turn His back on me....I'm the only one who can turn my back on Him. And wow, the pain He must feel every time one of His children turn their back on Him. I understand now. I get it. And I'm thankful for the way God chose to reveal the Plan of Salvation to me....through motherhood.

Two Lily Pad Crawlers

Ok, so they are not crawling...yet...so maybe Lily Pad Crawlers is the wrong term for this....but they sure do love tummy time now, which makes me love it even more!

5 Months Old

On May 18, my girls turned 5 months old. I can't believe how fast time is flying by. It seemed like the girls knew they were having a month birthday milestone because they started achieving all of these "firsts". Savannah started rolling from back to front, Madeline finally made her debut roll from front to back - effortlessly I might add. I think she's been capable of doing this all along, but had just been holding out on us! They both now suddenly love tummy time! Madeline giggled for the first time - I mean really giggled. Savannah giggles all the time now too. Both of the girls started adding to their sweet coo's the cutest, high pitched scream of delight! They make a happy scream now. It is the cutest thing ever. They both really watch each other now, communicating with their eyes and starting to communicate in their own language. They really know the other is there, and just hold onto each other now when I put them next to each other. And, just this evening, Savannah finally ate rice cereal. She didn't spit it out...she ate it!

And finally, the kicker, the real kicker is that tonight, on a Tuesday when Chris is gone, the girls had a completely colic-free evening! Maybe my last post was all it took to get things moving in the opposite direction. Maybe my last post inspired a few prayers on the girls behalf. God certainly heard and answered those prayers because tonight, as I was bathing Savannah, I could hear a happy Madeline in the other room, just cooing away. When I finished with Savannah, I gave Madeline her bath and could hear Savannah in the other room just cooing away. When I fed both of them their bedtime bottles at the same time, they both ate effortlessly, and just smiled at me and their sister when I would stop to burp one, the other patiently waiting her turn. It was too good to be true!

My girls are growing up.....thank goodness they are only 5 months old and we still have many, many, MANY more milestones ahead to look forward to! I can't imagine loving them any more than I do today, but I know my heart still has amazing surprises in store for me of its growing capacity to love these two special, special girls of ours. Five months is a fun, fun time! And I know it's only going to keep getting better.

Laughter in Chaos

My girls have nighttime colic. There. I said it. Colic is one of those dreaded fears every parent has that their baby might get...and for so long, I completely denied that it was colic. I had always heard the "3" rule: Colic is when your baby is fussy for 3 hours straight, for 3 days straight, for 3 weeks straight. For some reason, I was ignoring those signs. Yes, every night the girls would both get fussy at 6:00 PM like clockwork. They would remain fussy no matter what we did (well...the bath worked wonders, but once out....crying began again) until we finally got them down for bed around 8:30 or 9:00 PM if it was a really fussy night. And yes, this was happening consistently, so we met the 3 day rule...and yes, it had been going on for weeks, so yes, we met the 3 week rule. It wasn't until our pediatrician diagnosed it that I realized, yes, both of my girls had colic. But thank goodness, it was only nighttime colic. I've heard too many horror stories of babies with colic around the clock.

This is why Tuesday and Wednesday nights have been particularly hard for me. My husband pastors two churches, which means two prayer meetings. So every Tuesday and Wednesday evening, he's gone and I'm left to fend for myself with two beautiful, but crying babies.

So last night, the girls were particularly fussy again and this time, Chris was home to help. I was in the bathroom trying to get the miracle working bath water ready when I heard Chris calling for me to come quick. I ran into the living, expecting to see something terribly wrong, when instead I found a sight that brought laughter to Chris and I both.














































Savannah was sitting in her Bumbo seat, arm propped up on the side, just looking at us with mere exhaustion while Madeline was crying her poor little precious heart out. It was as if Savannah was worn out from the crying too and looking at us like "can you believe this?" It was one of those rare, classic moments that we were thankful to catch on camera. Yes, there is joy in motherhood. There is joy in having two special girls in the house. And yes, we even found joy and laughter in those not so fun moments. I suppose that's what happens when you love little ones more than life itself.

Motherhood Moods

The last few weeks have been nuts. Pure nuts. The girls have been going through an erratic sleeping schedule at night. Just when I thought they were ready to sleep through the night, they started waking up at crazy, odd hours. Madeline would wake up at 2 AM, but Savannah might make it all the way to 5 or 6, but Mom was still up at 2. The next night, Savannah would wake up at 3 AM, and without waking Madeline, I'd put her back down, lay my head down only to be woken up at 4:30 AM by Madeline. There has been no rhyme or reason, no consistent waking times for either one of the girls. The only consistent theme has been that Mom is getting no sleep. With brand new newborns, I could at least get rest in the daytime because I would sleep when they do. However, at 4 months, they aren't napping like they did, and when they would nap, one would always be awake when the other was asleep, so there was no "sleep when they sleep" possibility for me.

This has meant issues with my moods! Just ask my sweet, loving husband who often gets blasted in the middle of the night for absolutely no reason at all. It's usually things like me hearing him make a tired sigh at 7 AM and I'll abruptly look at him and say "I've got no sympathy for you!" Poor Chris. I say this because I'm the one literally up with the girls all night feeding them - he can't help with this. So why do I jump on him for that? Because I'm tired, that's why. Poor Chris.

Knowing this is my problem, I recently got a Women of Faith study guide book called "Managing Your Moods". I've started going through the studies just this week, and it is doing an amazing number on my heart. God's word clearly addresses issues on moods, with David as a shining example of someone who struggled with the ups and downs of his moods. What I was forgetting through all of this was my desperate need to turn to God for help. The book says "When we think God's way, we not only become wiser but also emotionally steady...we can become influential women of faith, making amazing contributions to our families and to society." And just as is always the case, He had the answers, all there in His word, it was just up to me to turn to it. I know one poor scapegoated husband who will be happy I did!

Back to the Diaper Thing

This video sent to me by a friend is a perfect illustration to my earlier post on Diapers and Spiders. If only I had gotten a video of Chris and Madeline that day, it would have fit in well with this clip! Enjoy!

A Mother's Day to Remember

"Being a mother means knowing that whatever else you did or didn't do, you gave the world something beautiful." - words taken from a card I received on Mother's Day.

For the first time in my life, I fully experienced Mother's Day...not only as the card giver, but as the card receiver. It's one of those moments when it hits you, really hits you, that you are a mom with two precious daughters that look up to you already at such a young age, and love you. The responsibility of motherhood truly hits when these beautiful blue eyes look up at me and know (or think) I can fix everything! I'm the one they want to snuggle with when they are sad, or just tired. I'm the one they look at and just cry to when they are trying to tell us something. I'm the one they coo away to when they are discovering their voice. And yes, I'm the one they smile to when they let out a toot that relieves all that tummy tension (love those little gassy hearts!!). I try to tell these baby girls that I love them, but I tell them that words can't even begin to describe my love. Then, it hits me. They have no words...they can't communicate with me in words...but with ways that words cannot describe, they tell me they love me. Maybe that's why babies can't talk...because the love they have for their mother's (and most certainly yes, their father's too) is a love beyond words, and it is at that moment that we are able to fully understand love beyond words. So, for a first Mother's Day with wordless "I love you's" from my beautiful daughter's, it was truly a Mother's Day to remember.

Diapers and Spiders

This morning I was cradling Madeline in my lap when I heard it. The explosion. It was fierce and loud...and I knew that if we didn't change that diaper fast, it would soon be all over me. With the fragility of the situation, I handed Madeline off to Chris while I stood up. He headed to the babies room to make the change.

Before I had even stood all the way up, I heard "Bridgett! Get in here now!" As I was making my way down the hall, I heard "Get the bath water ready. She's going in. Clothes and all!" I walked in the room to find Chris on the verge of throwing up, and sweet Madeline just playing with her hands and grinning from ear to ear being held up in mid-air. Sure enough, there was poop down her leg and up her back and of course, all over her clothes. Chris just kept yelling "She's just getting dropped completely in the bath!" with this sickly, nasally sound...he was holding his breath and certainly not breathing through his nose.

We headed to the bathroom and as I started the water, Chris still held Madeline out at arms length while she just cooed and grinned. Suddenly I realized Chris was serious about putting her in, clothes and all! I looked at him and said, "honey, we are not putting her in with her clothes on." I slowly took the clothes off, wiped the poop off her legs while Chris just watched in shock. A little got on his hand and he said "It's on me!! It's on me!!" I looked at him and said "Babe, it's all over her too..." Somehow, SOMEHOW I was the one not grossing out!

Why is it that men have such a hard time with dirty diapers? Why is it that so many men out there so rarely change them? Why is it that the sight of poop can send a man cringing...in the same way the sight of a spider can send a woman cringing.....?

As he put her down into the tub to give her a quick bath, he said "I don't know how you just did that." It was at that moment it hit me. I am terrified, absolutely terrified of spiders. Chris always kindly and sweetly comes to the rescue with me when I think I see a "huge" spider that he'll say is not really that huge. My mother-in-law was very humored by my fear when I called her in to kill a spider that I spotted on the ceiling during my shower. I have always felt a little embarrassed at my fear. However, in this moment of watching my husband react to Madeline's explosion that I found so funny, it was at that moment that it really hit me. There is the point where motherhood and fatherhood meet and compromise is found! I looked at him and said "You take care of the spiders, and I'll take care of the poop." He promptly said "Deal."

Burp Cloths

Who would have ever thought dirty burp cloths would bring so much joy? I was climbing into bed tonight after such a long, exhausting but exhilarating day and as I pulled back the covers, I noticed a white cloth barely peeking through the sheets. Sure enough, it was a burp cloth leftover from a very early morning feeding today. I couldn't help but smile...as my heart skipped a beat at the site of a used burp cloth, I realized that this love I have for my children is incomparable to any love I'd ever imagined. This is the kind of love that makes you forget on some days to brush your teeth, forget to comb your hair, forget to take showers, even forget to properly make the bed in the morning - had I done so, I would have found that burp cloth much sooner! It was just one of those moments that made me realize that life truly is about the little things...even the dirty burp cloths.

Shower for the Girls

Today Chris, the girls and I were blessed by the sweetest baby shower that was thrown by our church family in Cartersville, Georgia. Due to crazy schedules and of course our not being here until after the babies were already born, we were unable to coordinate a day for the shower anytime before now. But as is the case with any brand new parents, there were many things that we still needed for our girls. The people at our new church opened up their hearts to us today and extended the warmest welcome not only to Chris and I as their new pastoral family, but to our precious baby girls. Just as the saying goes, "the way to a man's heart is through his stomach", the way to a new parent's heart is through their children. To see the genuine love they extended to our daughters today warmed our hearts like never before. I enjoyed watching the girls get passed around and just smile and coo at whomever was holding them. They were amazing little troopers, lighting up the faces of those they came in contact with.

The girls were in such good moods today and did such an amazing job being passed around that I decided to be brave and take them to the store later today BY MYSELF. This was a first for me, and went off without a hitch. I think I'm getting used to this "twin mom" thing...and I'm definitely enjoying seeing the girls bring so much joy to so many other people.