Tis the season...

This past weekend was Christmas and as it was very busy it was so much fun and like always hard to leave.  We love the family time, catching up with everyone and finding out what is new with each others lives.  Sadly because everyone is so busy it is not often we all get together, but when we get to it is always a good time.  Before we left for Omaha on Thursday (Dec. 22) we opened a few gifts of our own here.  The boys got some toys and then Jared gave me a new camera!!! I was sooo excited we needed a new one and I wanted a nice one and boy did he spoil me and can't wait to post pictures now even more excited to post now:).  The boys got a couple things and gave me a gift card for a massage and they gave daddy a really neat handmade frame that we can write daddy special messages on.  After that we went into Omaha to just hung out and helped Janet get things ready on Thursday and Friday then Saturday (Christmas Eve) we opened the kids' gifts in between work schedules.  Brandon (Jared's brother) had to work in the morning and Tara (Jared's sister) had to work at night and Braeden went with his dad at 10 pm until Dec.26th.  So we started opening gifts and all the kids did GREAT!  Tristan slept until 10:30am, yep I said 10:30 am he went down about 8:45pm and must have been tired.  Then Landon went down for nap about 10:30-1:30 so Tristan opened his gifts and some together gifts and then Landon joined in when he woke up.  They got waaaayyyy to much and got spoiled too much from everyone.  I know it is part of it but I hope everyone knows how thankful we are for everything they got.  They loved it all and I am sure it will all seem like new toys for awhile now.  Their birthday gifts are still new to them!  Then at 3:30 we all rushed to make 4:00 church, which was very crowded but VERY nice to all go as a family.  It was so packed we had to sit in the chapel because everywhere else was packed, but our boys didn't want to sit that much in church so we didn't sit much either:).  After church we went back to Rich and Janet's and made dinner and just hung.  We were all pretty mellow and just hung out watched Home Alone 2.  Sunday we got up and got ready and the adults opened their gifts then went out to Den and Cathy's for the Bodammer Christmas.  It was nice to see all the aunts and uncles and cousins.  They are always so nice and loving!  It was a late night for the boys but they did AWESOME for how late it got.  They were not so sure about Santa but Tristan was trying to be so brave but Landon wanted nothing to do with him, nothing.   The boys had ham for the first time and absolutely LOVED it.  Monday we just hung out for the morning and packed up to head back to Sioux City for my practice at 6.  Tomorrow we will open some more of the boys' gifts, Tis the season.

That took me waaaay to long to upload those pictures will try and do more but no promises.

GREAT DAY

Today was a great day for mommy, much  needed day for me!  The last couple of months have been super super busy with basketball and traveling to games, recruiting, practices, etc. etc.  We had a game on Saturday and then we gave the girls off until Dec. 26th so I decided to stay home with the boys today and just hang out.  We hung out in our pajama's until after morning nap, well the boys did.  I decided to get in a quick workout and clean up while the boys were taking their morning nap.  I even managed to get shower in too, they took a good nap oh and I got the house picked up and kitchen cleaned.  They got up and all I wanted was to play with the boys and not worry about the house and such.  So in a nutshell mom got a lot of snuggle time and play time in that she had missed out on the last couple months especially the last couple of weeks.  And daddy was pretty happy to have dinner ready when he got home from work.  He said I could get used to this, I said I could too, hehe:)
I will go into work tomorrow for a few hours and then home to hang with the boys and get things ready for Christmas, which we are almost ready.  We will head to Omaha Thursday sometime to hang with Jared's family and then to my home New Year's Eve weekend for my family's Christmas.  I love this time of year, its my favorite holiday...being with family is the most important thing to us and we love hanging with them, playing games, talking, or just sitting in each others presence.  This year will be very different (but a good different) then Jared and I are used to with kids that are mobile and into opening gifts, we won't just be sitting back watching our nieces and nephews we will get to watch our own along with our nieces and nephews.  I love to GIVE gifts LOVE LOVE LOVE it and love to see their faces when they get the gift they had wanted or asked for.  If I was a millionaire I would buy for EVERYONE (maybe some day...but don't hold your breath).  Well, with that being said I will post after Christmas and I hope you all have a Merry Merry Christmas and enjoy you family and be thankful for what you have!  God is great and he is the REASON for this SEASON!

Nice weekend

This weekend was very nice and laid back and I am looking forward to the next couple weeks!!  Friday night Jared, the boys, and I went recruiting.  The boys did great we got there and the boys ate and sat in their car seats until halftime then they got out and played for a bit.  Landon went with mommy to talk to recruits, he used his cute smile to try and get some extra bonus points on the girls so they would choose Morningside:).

Saturday I had a game in Fremont, NE so I got up and feed the boys and hung out with them a bit before I had to leave to get to shoot around at 10:30 and on the road at 11:02.  We had a slow start to the game but ended up winning 77-52.  Jared decided not to get a babysitter and took the boys up to Briar Cliff to the men's game that was at 4.  He said they did great.  I got back into town abut 6 and home about 6:30 and Jared home about 7:10 and we had a party/limo ride to get to.  One of our friends Kathy and Jeff LaFavor asked us to dress in ugly Christmas attire, meet at their house for a drink and then we would get in a limo to look at Christmas party.  The group was super super fun, we had a GREAT time.  Kathy is a doctor at my OB clinic so my doctor and the boy's doctor was there (they are married), her nurse and husband and 3 other couples from BC Nic and Michelle (men's BC BB coach) and Brian and Stacey Eben.  It was a great time.  Jared and I had only been out once to a concert and one other time for an hour without the boys so it was nice. 

Sunday was very relaxed day we hung out at home most of the day.  I did a little scrapbooking, not sure why I thought I had time for that with everything else we need to get done before Christmas but I really enjoyed it.  Then we went to our good friends Gunderson's for the evening.  Lisa has been asking us to come out and it hadn't worked out, they missed the boys' bday party because Isabel was sick so they had some gifts.  They are sooo good to us and very nice.  They are like family to us.  For you that don't know I nanned for them years ago and have stayed very close to them!  They spoil us!  They boys had a great time playing with Blaine and Lisa and the kids.  They were tired boys and were out before hitting the interstate. 

I am looking forward to the next couple weeks, as I love my job I am ready fro a break and some much needed cuddle time with my babies.  We don't have practice again until Dec. 26th so I will go to work a little this week but mostly hang at home with the boys.  I am so blessed to have the job i have and the flexibility I get so I can have this time with the boy.  We will just try and hang out but do need to get some Christmas shopping done and hopefully if time allows a little baking done before heading to Omaha on Thursday.  I hope you all have safe travels during this holiday season.

More and more tricks

Sometimes I feel like we tell our boys to do things like we are telling a dog to do tricks:).  Landon has been doing "so big" with both hands for a couple weeks not and he thinks it is soooooo funny!  Tristans just started doing it but of course he decides he wants to only put one hand up to be different than his bother.  Then this past week Landon started clapping (Dec. 5) and Tristans followed and started a few days later but gain he does his clapping a little different.  Tristan uses one hand and just hits his leg and thats his clapping.

Then tonight I call after my game to see how Jared and they boys were and Jared said that Tristan shook his head no-no when he asked if he wanted to go night night.  So Jared thought he was just being silly and asked him again a little later and he said the same thing no-no.  They both are shaking their heads no-no and yes-yes when asking them questions.  At first I thought they are just doing it but a lot of the times the answers are right.  It is pretty funny when you tell them to say yes because they get their whole body into it and shake their head up and down. 

Oh and both boys got another front top tooth, Tristan got his front top right one and Landon got his front top left one.  I tell you what it is crazy how one boy will do something and the same day or next day or soon after the other boy will do the same thing.  One gets a tooth the other gets a tooth, one stands on his own the other stands on his own, one day one says dadda next day one says dadda.  It is really neat to see how they really are twins inside and out. 

Pictures, Pictures, and more Pictures

Today we got the boys one year pictures taken and wanted to share them with you.  To view them go to http://www.christinakjarphotography.com/index2.php#/home/
then click on clients and password is bodammer

They did pretty good for a couple hours of trying to smile and stay still (which is very difficult right now).  They are so into exploring and see what they can get into especially in new places.  All in all we had a great time and they did great, but mom and dad were tired.  We had the lady that took our wedding pictures take them and she did great and was VERY patient with them.

One year Appointment....

Today was a big day, lots of questions from mommy.  Are our boys ok weight wise? Height?  How do we adjust their diets? Do we get to switch to Vitamin D milk or not because of weight.  There was many more but I won't bore you.  But some of the main things we were curious as were you is their weight, height and where on their charts.  Our doctor is absolutely AWESOME!!! So nice caring treats us like family and treats boys as if they were his own, we are so lucky and blessed to have gotten him as our doctor.  So here is the numbers: Landon weight 19 lbs. 13.5 oz. (his birth weight 3lb.s 13.5 oz) 10 percentile, Height 28.5" 15 percentile, and head 46cm 40 percentile! Tristan 19lbs. 5 oz. (birth weight 3 lbs. 9 oz) 10 percentile, Height 29" 25 percentile(isn't it crazy what .5 will do on the charts?) and head 45cm 20 percent (again 1 cm different and look at the percentile difference).  So after all my questions and many shots later(4 each:() the doctor was VERY happy with where they are and where they have come.  We once again said many thanks to God for blessing us with such healthy babies after a scary start.
 Back to the shots, mommy cried this time a lot more as I hold Landon down, he looks up at me like, "mommy help me please, why are you letting them hurt me".  Broke my heart as there are 4 different nurses with 4 different shots in their hands.  Then he was down and Jared starts to hand me Tristan and I said oh no, you get to do him.  Poor little peanuts but they did great and stopped crying pretty quickly but were a little tired too so that didn't help. 

A Note of Thanks...

This year we have so much to be thankful for, where do we start?  A year ago at this time I was pregnant and in and out of the hospital and then had our tiny little baby boys.  Who would have thought that fast forward a year later and our worries we had then would all be a distant memory.   I had people tell me, "hang in there and it will pass."  I spent so much of my day praying, I would pray on my way to the hospital, at the hospital, on the way home, to work, back to the hospital, while holding one, then holding the other, etc.  Now, here we are on Thanksgiving 2011 and couldn't be happier.  Well, maybe a little happier since I had to leave my boys on Thankgiving day to go on a basketball trip!  It was very hard to leave them, but I knew I would be back in a few days.  I am sure it was harder on me than on them (which I will take any day).
 
So Thanksgiving day (Thursday) we spent the morning as a family just hanging out eating and playing trying to get in as many hugs and kisses as possible before I had to leave them.  I put them down for nap and then packed and off to practice I went.  Jared let the boys get a good nap in since he would probably be at Aunt Cindy's most of the night and the boys would go down later than normal.  From what I was told, the boys did great at Thanksgiving and played and played with the other kids.  They really wanted to go down the stairs and they loved playing the game "Chase our cousin Ella and grab her pacifier."  Which is so funny because they haven't had a pacifier since shortly after getting out of the hospital, so not sure what that is all about.  I apologize Ms. Ella.
 
Friday was a BIG day for daddy and he had been looking forward to this day for a real long time.  He was going to the Nebraska vs. Iowa game in Lincoln with one of best buddies, Tony.  He headed to Lincoln about 7:30 after getting the boys up and started to feed them before Grandma Janet got up.  He made a couple pit stops at some stores to try and get some deals before arriving at the game, but he made it in time for kick-off!  For all of you that didn't watch or hear, Nebraska won 20-7 and Jared said it was a great game.  I was doing a little Black Friday shopping myself in Rapid City, S.D.  The boys were at Grandma Janet's hanging out and getting some much needed cuddle and fun time with Grandma, even though Grandma was real tired from the night before.  You see, Aunt Amy and Grandma decided to try and go to Wal-Mart and hit up their midnight sales and didn't get home until 5 a.m.!  So, Grandma was tired!

Saturday (the boys' official birthday, even though we celebrated it the Sat. before) the boys and Jared hung at Grandma's before heading to Ella's baptism that night at 5 p.m.  It was very nice and Ella did awesome.  Aunt Tara (Ella's mom) was so nice and sweet and before Ella's cake she made Landon and Tristan a cupcake with number 1's on them and had everyone sing to the boys.  Of course I didn't know that until Sunday when I got home and it made me tear up.  One, because that was so sweet and two, because again I missed their official 1st birthday!  This day was a little rough for mommy, but she made it through it.  While I was at lunch with my team, it was someone else's birthday and they were singing to them (kinda made me cry and sad that again I was missing it).  But all in all I think I did a pretty good job.  That night, Morningside lost their game, so mommy was not in a good mood and all she wanted to do was get home and see my boys, all three of them.  But we had a 6-7 hour bus trip ahead of us.
 
We spent Sunday in our pajamas hanging out with each other and doing some much need cuddling and playing.  Man, did I miss them and was so glad to be home.  Tristan did not feel well, I believe he has an ear infection.  We go to the doctor on Tuesday and will find out.  Daddy and T look a long afternoon nap, while Landon and mommy went to church. This time of year I get really busy with practices, games, recruiting, etc.  Yet, this time of year I also think of all of the blessings that God has given us... 

-JARED he is my rock and my support and I don't think I could have gotten through this past year or years past without him.  Love you Jared! 

-Boy have our lives changed and I wouldn't change it for the world.  Love you so much LD and T! 

-Our family... I am so thankful to have such a great family even if we don't see each other as much as we would like and the health of both of our families.

-My in-laws (Jared feels the same way about his in-laws...I think:)) We could not be happier to have met and that God put us two together which such wonderful families.

-Our friends near and far...  I miss the ones I don't see every day or talk to near enough, but am thankful they are in my life and I know they would be there for me any second of any day.  A big thanks to our friends that are near and are here for us no matter what and treat us like family!

I could go on and on about what we are thankful for so if you are reading this know you are a blessing in our lives!  Hope you all had a great holiday too!  I am looking forward to all the Christmas cards so I can catch up on all of you.  I hope that we get one out this year, last year we were so busy and never home (always at the hospital) so we didn't get one out.  I hope that we can find the time to do it this year.  Keep your fingers crossed!

1st Birthday Party

First off, I need to apologize for not writing more often but the last few weeks have been a blur with basketball games, practices, hanging with the boys, and trying to find some time to plan "the Very Hungry Caterpillar" birthday party I didn't find time to up date but here we are...
As the weekend comes to an end I sit here thinking wow a year... ALREADY??  As I am a little emotional.   How very blessed we are and what a scary start to our precious little miracles we have!  But now looking back you would never know that they were 8 weeks early and only 3 lbs. 9 oz and 3 lbs. 13 oz.  They are doing great and are the love of mommy and daddy's hearts! 
So here is how the weekend went, waaay to fast also!  Friday night my family came into town and we hung out ate some pizza and got some last minute things done for the "BIG Party".  Saturday was the partay, it was so fun wow!  I will post pictures as soon as I find my cord to plug into the computer from my camera(I swear nothing is where you think it is:)).  Anyways boys did GREAT!  They took long morning naps which was a good thing with their big day a head of them.  The party started at noon and our little caterpillars we ready to play.  Mommy put lots of time into the invites, decorations, food, etc. but all of it was way worth it!  They may not remember besides looking at pictures but it was worth it.  Thanks to our families and friends who helped us soo much with everything we needed.  The boys are truly blessed to have so many people that truly and deeply love and care for them!  They got spoiled with gifts(that people didn't need to do) and love from everyone...THANK YOU, means soo much! 

I made a caterpillar of the boys from newborn til today to see how much they have grow above Tristan below Landon

yep another caterpillar

Caterpillar with Happy Birthday for gift opening background

The Hungry Caterpillar book everyone wrote a little note

Landon was being shy

Treat bags for the kiddos

their cakes that auntie Kris made with cake pops on top for the caterpillar that mommy made

Add caption

Their own little cakes that aunt amy and grandma Janet made, thank you!

sleds from grandma and grandpa Bodammer...they loved these (they got so many wonderful gifts and they loved them all)

caterpillar I made out of pumpkins

Grandma and Grandpa Rosenmeyer gave the boys their tractors they love them

Landon above (feel asleep eating cake, poor pumpkin) Tristan below finally started eating the cake when people left the room

Some of the boys nurses form the NICU...thank you ladies so much for taking such good care of our little peanuts!

food table (notice what my dad did to the (caterpillar sub)

notice the saying goes with the book:), I didn't get a picture of all the food but I did all of the fruit adn some other things he ate on Sat.

kiddos playing in boys' room (boys are really liking to play in there lately)

That night I had a game so my family stayed in town and went to my game so the boys had a long day!  We lost which sucked big time but got to see my smiling precious almost one year olds in my office afterwards.  Amazing how they can just make you melt...love them soo much.
Sunday was my side of the families Thanksgiving!  Last year we had it at my house because I didn't think I was going to be able to make it home and it worked great with my family so we decided to do again this year.  It worked out great to do the boys' birthday party too!  Unfortunately  my brother Mike and brother Ryan couldn't be there but we had a great time.  It is always so great to hang out with family!  Its so fun to because we have a BIG slumber party and everyone stays at our house, which I LOVE.  It maybe a mess by Sunday when they all leave but that is perfectly fine with me and is expected. 

Landon showing off he is eating turnkey for first time

Gracie saying what she is thankful for before dinner

Tristan....cheeser

Mom thankful for "all of us that we take such good care of her adn are so good to her, she loves us all"  soo sweet I love this lady so much!  Dad said he was thankful he was still here.  They taught me so many wonderful things and Lord, I am thankful for then and theyare still here.

When I think back to a year ago I think about how scared I was in the hospital about to give birth to twin baby boys and had no idea what to expect as a mother let alone to babies that were going to be 8-10 weeks early.  I just laid in the hospital bed and said many many MANY prayers to God that I know he has a plan but please be with my boys as they come into this world.  The weeks in the hospital leading up the "Black Friday" delivery day there was not many word to explain what I was feeling beside plain old scared!  I know if you would ask my family and friends that visited they said I was doing good and holding it together, which I think I did.  But there was many nights as I laid there before falling asleep and would look over at Jared and say, what is going to happen?, can we do this? what did I do wrong? are they going to be ok?  As sweet as my husband is he would just look at me with a smile and say, "God will take care of them and they will be ok".  He would tell me daily they will be ok. I have to say I had my doubts especially at 30 weeks when one of the nurses came down and told me the run down of the NICU and then again when the nurse practitioner came down game down at 31 weeks, when they didn't think they were going to be able to stop me that day I was scared!!  I was so blessed to have AMAZING nurses and doctors take care of me and we all we so BLESSED to have such great nurses and doctors to take care of our babies.  Even the morning I had them I was scared of the "unknown" how they were going to be and what they were going to have to be hooked up to, and when they would be healthy enough for me to hold them.  As it wasn't a normal delivery and such it was a blessing and as we look back we are blessed that GOD is so great to us!
Thanks to all of you and many more that said prayers weekly, daily, or hourly for us we couldn't have made it thought those trying weeks without you all.  With that being said we couldnt' have made it this past year with out all of you being so supportive and helpful!
Sorry so many pictures, but wanted to paint a picture for those of you that didn't come:)

Brushing teeth

Here are som ephotos from the boys brushing their teeth.  They think it is so funny and fun, which is nice lets hope they continue to like it as they get older. 

Landon

Tristan

They love bath so thought I would add this pic too!