Pumpkin picken

We went pumpkin picking this past weekend. Gates was more interested in pulling the wagon around then the pumpkins.

These are the pumpkins we picked to go home with us.

Ultra Sound pictures

I went for a check up last week and the twins are looking good. Here are some pictures.

Yummy cooking!

I cooked for the first time in forever! We have been very fortunate to have home cooked meals by Chris' mom almost every night for the past couple of months that we have been staying with his parents. Being pregnant with twins has really worn me out and made me feel cruddy pretty much all the time, so by the time I have managed to get through a work day and keep up with Gates the last thing I can even think about is cooking. I got a bug in me after seeing a couple other bloggers post some meal ideas. It turned out I haven't completely forgotten how to turn the stove or oven on.

The two recipes I tried turned out really delicious so I thought I would share. For dinner I was inspired by Farmer's Mexican Stew from All Things Farmer blog. I didn't have the recipe with me when I was at the store so I didn't know what to get so that is why it is a variation.

Picture from All Things Farmer

My version of this yummy Mexican Stew went something like this.

> I chopped up a large onion and browned it

> Added about 2 cups of chopped chicken let cook all the way

> Add a taco seasoning pack

> Add 4 oz can of diced green chilis

> 8 oz can of whole kernel corn

> 14 oz can of diced tomatoes

> 14oz can of black beans

>14 oz can of Kidney beans

> cayenne pepper to taste

> salt and pepper to taste

> 1 TB minced garlic

> Mexican cheese

> cilantro

After cooking this all in a big pot I put it in a baking dish and put cheese all over the top and baked it for 15 mins. This wasn't necessary, but it looked like Farmer did something like that which I am a huge fan of lots of melted cheese. And to finish it off some fresh cilantro made it taste really delicious. I will definitely make this again and again. I think I also need to try Farmer's way with the beef and sausage.

For dessert, I was inspired by Darby's chocolate chip pumpkin muffins from Fly Through Our Window.

Picture from Fly Through Our Window

I didn't change anything on this one. Just the Betty Crocker chocolate chip muffin mix that you just add water, 1/4 of the can of pumpkin, 1/4 a cup of water, splash of cinnamon and baked. I also did like Darby and made the cinnamon icing drizzle. YUM YUM! and easy.

Give these recipes a try for something quick and yummy!

3 years and still just as in love!

Last week Chris and I celebrated 3 years of being married. Time flies when you are having fun and life is crazy. Here are some pictures over the years of being together.

Us together when we first started dating.

My senior year in college sorority formal.

We went on a trip together while we were dating to Jekyll Island. At the time I never thought that we would be saying our vows in the garden we took this picture.

Trip out to California.

Trip to New York city. We got engaged while we were there.

Down at Jekyll again for engagement pictures.

We got married on Jekyll Island, Ga at the Crane Cottage. It was my dream wedding. Everything about the weekend was perfect. Jekyll is a very special place for us, we both went on multiple family vacations there with our families growing up.

The Crane Cottage.

Maybe some day I will share more of the details of the wonderful wedding weekend.

Even BIGGER news!!!!

Our new house was big news in my book until we found out...................



















I am PREGNANT!
and even bigger news than that...................................................................................................



















TWINS!!!!!

Can you believe that!? No joke! We are in shock, but very excited! You are probably doing the math, basically this means 3 kids under the age of 2! Ahhh, I know that is crazy! Everyone's first question has been, "were you planning this?" Yes and No. Yes, we wanted another baby close in age to Gates so they would be close. No, we were not planning on twins. We would have waited a little bit longer if we had known it would be twins but, it doesn't work like that I guess. Our life is about to get really crazy but we are looking forward to it. Everyone's second question has been, "do twins run in the family?" Yes, on my dad's side, my grandfather's sisters are twins and then I have a cousin that had twins. They are far enough out that we were very surprised when the nurse said "there are 2". Which of course could have meant 2 arms, 2 legs, but no she meant 2 babies.

"God is faithful, and he will not let you be tested beyond your strength but with your testing he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it" (1 Corinthians 10:13)

Gates' 1st Birthday!

We celebrated Gates' 1st Birthday today! Nothing big, just something a little special with family. He wasn't suppose to get too many gifts since he is still young but it looks like every one got a little carried away.

It has gotten almost impossible to take a picture of Gates sitting still. This is the best I could do.

Here are some of the details from the party. My mom and I made Gates a special bib for the occasion.

Uncle Ted made the trip down for the special occasion.

Gates checking out all his presents.


Opening presents with dad.


Gates' Birthday cake. Unfortunately, Gates wanted nothing to do with the cake, he wouldn't even try it.

Chris grilled chicken in the rain for everyone. We also had okra and macaroni and cheese.

War Eagle!

Chris and I went down to Auburn this past weekend to tailgate with all my college pals. I love Auburn, and I love all the my wonderful Auburn gals. I am so blessed to have made such great friendships that have lasted through out the years. I just wish I got to see them more often.
We also got to see Gates' best bud, his nanny from this past summer. It was a great day trip!

I wish I took more pictures!

Birth Story

One year ago today Gates came into our lives. A wonderful, sweet, healthy baby boy. I am going to try and recall that day the best I can. I should have wrote this down a long time ago but better now then never. I apologize if this is too much information for some people out there.

Monday, September 20, 2009, I was walking up the stairs to go to bed when half-way up the stairs I had a very powerful sneeze that caused me to "pee my pants". If you have ever been pregnant you know that towards the end your bladder control gets a little weak, so I went to bed embarrassed and didn't think anything else of it. Tuesday, September 21, my due date, I woke up as usual and did some things around the house, felt fine, cooked some dinner. Around dinner time I started to get concerned that it seemed like I was leaking but I felt fine and just thought that is odd. Around 8pm Chris encouraged me to just call the doctor and see what he thought. I called the after hours line and left a message with the operator. The doctor took around 30 minutes to call me back and in that time frame I started to get an upset stomach, cramps, I thought maybe I ate something bad. When the doctor called and I told them what was going on he surprised me by saying I should come into the hospital. I didn't think I was in labor, I thought I would have this distinct feeling of
"the baby is coming" or something. So I started crying in fear that it was possibly time, started trying to get my stuff together to go to the hospital. I wasn't rushing because I always heard stories that with your first baby you should delay going to the hospital because you will just be sitting in the bed or walking around waiting for labor to progress. I also couldn't hurry because my stomach was really hurting to the point where I couldn't concentrate long enough to think "get a pillow, get your cell phone".

Chris and I finally where in the car around 9:45pm and on our way in the rain to Emory Midtown Hospital. I mention rain because a lot of people will remember September 21, 2009 because it was the day of record flooding in the metro Atlanta area, so it was a good thing we where close to the hospital. We got to the hospital around 10pm. Chris offered to drop me off at the ER but I was thinking about how walking helps progress labor and that this was just the beginning of many hours of labor so I wanted to stay with Chris and park the car and walk. It took me probably 15 minutes to walk a distance of 5 minutes because I had to stop and sit I was in so much pain. I remember multiple people passing us asking if we needed help, a doctor, or a wheelchair. "Oh, no I am fine!" through gritted teeth. When we got to the check-in they sat me in a wheel chair as they went through the check in process. The nurse gave me a clip board and asked me to sign, I couldn't sign it if my life depended on it, I couldn't even bring myself to scribble a line. I think this is when the nurse decided to skip the paper work and waiting for a labor and deliver nurse to come get me and take me back herself.

They put me in a triage room, which is where you go before the labor and delivery room so they can check to see if you are far enough a long to take up a labor and delivery room. By this point I am in serious pain. I couldn't undress myself or sit still I was in so much pain, I started immediately asking for pain killers. The nurses tried sticking me with needles to check my blood and get an iv to start the process of pain killers but again I was in soooooooo much pain that I was rolling around moaning in pain which made it impossible to get any lines into me. They poked me with a needle all over my arm with no luck while I screamed for an epidermal. The nurses didn't give up till my body started convulsing from me pushing uncontrollably. I remember this uncontrollable pushing, feeling like when you can't control your body from throwing up. This pushing put the nurses in a frenzy when I told them that I wasn't purposely doing it, probably because the doctor was still not there and the bed I was in was not set up for delivery. The most important thing I learned from going to the labor and delivery classes was that if your body starts pushing uncontrollably and the doctor says that it isn't time, you need to blow because it is impossible to blow and push at the same time. I tried this but unfortunately, the pushing urge was a lot stronger then my ability to blow. The doctor, not my doctor, or any doctor that I had ever met in the past, showed up just in time for me to deliver Gates at 11:15 PM. No pain killers at all! No delivery room.

So, looking back, that was not a weak bladder, that was my water breaking, but my stupidity lead to a very short labor. If we had gone in when my water broke they might have sent us home any way or eventually induced labor, which I would not have wanted. The worst part of the whole process was in the middle of Gates coming out, I felt a pop, and felt this terrible pain in my lower back that was worse then any of the other pain. It turns out that I did something to my tailbone. The doctors have no way of telling what happened but they think I tore the muscles or something from my tail bone in the process of giving birth. It feels like I broke my tail bone. I still have bad pain from this a year later.

This is me shortly before the big day.

Bringing Gates home from the hospital.

Look at all that hair. It never fell out.

Pictures of the flood that day.

I love this little man so much and couldn't imagine life with out him.
Happy Birthday Gates!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Fort

Because Gates loves climbing so much we bought him an early birthday gift! We got him a fort. It says for ages 2-8 but it seems to be perfect for him, he loves playing in it. We got a used one from someone we found on craigslist and it seems as good as new to us. His favorite things to do are to climb up, turn the stering wheel, and play with the hands on the clock that is on the wall inside the fort part.

Gates and Max

Gates loves Max, Chris' parents dog. Max also really likes Gates, he lets him do whatever he wants. Lately, that has been sitting on Max, as you can see, Max doesn't seem to mind. Gates also really likes to do this with my moms dog who has similar laid back personality. Unfortunately for Brinkley, my moms dog, he is a weiner dog so he gets squashed when Gates tries to sit on him.