our tough little guys

this picture was taken today in the NICU.

(Adrian has McKay & I have Crew.)

i can't believe how different the boys look

compared to when they were born 16 days ago.

they have both been such fighters and have progressed so much.

luckily, our boys have had very few setbacks while in the NICU

& have mostly taken steps forward each day.

this forward progression has made the experience so much easier for us all.

there are a few criteria that need to be met for babies to be released from the NICU:

1.  need to breathe on their own

2.  need to hold their own temperature

3.  need to take all of their meals through their mouth (rather then feeding tube)

4.  parents need to be comfortable taking baby home

5.  home needs to be ready to care for baby.

as of today, the only one we are still working on is #3...

they are well on their way though!

 in the last 24 hours the boys have both taken multiple bottles successfully

and have been able to nurse full feeds as well.

now we just need to keep this up for a few days...

then they will remove the feeding tubes.

(yeah!  i can't wait to see my babies without tubes on their faces!)

and, if all goes well the next few days,

the twins should be home soon!

i'll post more pics of how they have progressed while in the NICU soon.

these sweet little boys have accomplished so much already!

we love you McKay & Crew!

THE TWINS ARE HERE!!!

We are proud

(although a bit late) 

to announce the arrival of...

McKay Adrian

and

Crew Anders

 on Thursday, September 29th.

McKay was born first at 8:55 PM

and weighed 4 lbs 5 oz.

Crew followed at 9:11 PM

weighing 3 lbs 15 oz.

The boys came 6 weeks early and
both boys are still in the NICU at the University of Utah,

but are doing better and better each day.

We love these boys!

We so appreciate all your thoughts and prayers on their behalf.

I was released from the hospital on Saturday, October 1st...

so it is tough to have the boys away from us

but, we know they are in the best place for now...

Hopefully they will be home with us soon!

We love you McKay and Crew!!!

bye bye audi.... hello minivan!

Any of you that know Adrian

probably know how much he loved his Audi.

Sadly a few weeks back we had to say

goodbye to the Audi.

Our growing family had suddenly outgrown it.

I knew Adrian would be devastated about it...

and I must admit I was sadder than I anticipated.

Adrian and I had our second first kiss (ha!) in the Audi.

We left our wedding in the Audi.

We brought Beckley home from the hospital in the Audi.

Beckley, however, didn't seem to be sad about saying goodbye to the Audi...

he is too excited about how big the new car is

and that he can watch Toy Story while we drive!

SMOODIES!!!

Beckley is a bit (well more than a bit) obsessed with

SMOODIES!

check out this video

Mimi and Pa visit (in August)

Everything is more fun when Mimi and Pa are in town...

I don't have to stay in my stroller on walks

b/c Pa lets me sit up high on his shoulders where i am "so big!"

when we go to the zoo...

there are twice as many people to go on the carousel with me

so, i get to go two times!

Pa's shoulders are also really good to see the giraffes from!

i even got to ride the choo choo train with mimi & pa!

Running errands like going to Home Depot

are way more fun when Mimi & Pa are here...

they let me ride in the cool car cart

instead of the boring cart my mom puts me in...

and, when i'm tired of the cool car cart

they let me out to play on all the cool things in the store...

my mom never lets me out of the cart. 

Mimi & Pa also let me get messy when i play...

which is always more fun

mama can't take me to the park that much anymore

because she has two babies in her tummy, 

but Mimi and Pa took me the park as much as i wanted.

i even went down the big slide all by myself!

(mom is too scared to let me do that)

usually we say prayers in my room,

but when Mimi and Pa are at my house

i get to say prayers down stairs

with my new yankee hat on

(thanks for the hat mimi & pa!)

and standing up high on the ladder.

 i also got to read my bed time books

on the couch with Mimi & Pa...

and they let me read as many books as i wanted to!

everything is more fun with Mimi & Pa!

Mimi & Pa... come back to my house soon!

love- Beckley

you can pick your friends...

you can pick your friends

and you can pick your nose

but you can't pick your friend's nose.

(a family saying... i think it came from my Poppa)

more nor cal (in August) pics...

18 MONTHS!

Beckley 

turned 18 months old

on August 16th.

We LOVE this little boy!

Here are his stats:

weight    46th percentile

length     78th percentile

(we figured this was too good to be true, 

so we measured him when we got home

and they were off by a couple inches.

i'm guessing he is around the 50th percentile)

he still has a big head - 90th percentile!

Beckley is such a good and fun little boy!

Although, he has A LOT of energy

and is running everywhere and climbing on everything!

(I literally can't keep up with him these days...)

He recently started going down the "big" slide at the park and is quite proud of himself!

He still LOVES his little black dog stuffed animal...

and real dogs too.

He loves to watch Yo Gabba Gabba and Toy Story.

When he wakes up in the morning he just stands up in his crib holding

2 of the many dogs in his crib and says "mama mama..." until we go get him.

He is currently obsessed with "smoodies" and the "smoodie" maker (Adrian's Vitamix).

He is talking A LOT and recently started putting 2 words together.

He loves to give kisses and now says his own version of "love you".

He still does not love riding in the car,

although we just turned him around which helped..

and the TV in the new minivan is make things way better!

We started him in nursery a month early and he loves it! (and so do we!)

He also loves to clean - I finally bought him his own toy cleaning set

and he is in cleaning heaven!

He loves to go to a "pardy" and thinks that a "pardy" is all about dancing

(he is definitely his father's son)!

He has become such a good helper to his "mama" - which I love!

He folds his arms at church and during prayers and says "menmen" (amen).

This little boy is SO SWEET and SO MUCH FUN!

We are SO LUCKY to be his parents!

Nor Cal trip

 In mid-August,

we went to Nor Cal for a long weekend...

our first stop was San Francisco!

we rode on a cable car

Beckley loved it!

ate some havarti bread at Boudin's

(a first for Beck!)

The next day we went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium

Beck had a lot of fun

on Saturday we attended Liz & Rich's wedding at the Oakland temple

(i love that Beckley is resting his hand on my belly!)

That night, Beck got all dressed up for the reception

here he is at the end of the reception

(or party as he called it),

you can tell he had a good time and wore himself out!

On Sunday we were able to attend two Palo Alto wards

and see lots of old friends.

Monday morning we took a flight back to SLC.

Beck feel asleep on the plane,

which we knew was too good to be normal.

he fell asleep again while watching Toy Story 

in his little chair not too long after we got home...

our sweet boy was sick for the next few days

(i guess we wore him out?)

We had a great time in Nor Cal

and hope to go back often!

we've been busy...

i have been totally slacking on updating my blog!  we've been busy preparing for the boys - getting new strollers, 2 new cribs, doing home improvements projects that we'd been putting off, going to dr. appointments, washing baby clothes, sterilizing bottles, setting up nurseries, buying a mini-van, etc!

but, i'm going to try to get caught up before these little guys come....