half

http://beckdoubles.blogspot.com/

The link above is to my friend, Candi's blog.  It's funny to think that it seems all twin moms seem to have a sense of "this is what is meant to be" about their twins.  I think having twins makes us kindred spirits.

Question of the day: Who is your kindred spirit?  Why?

I know these girls' kindred spirits...each other!

Keeping Busy for Cheap!

My last post, I asked you for ideas about free/cheap things to do with little ones in the summer. Well, we have tried to do a few of those things:

Like go to the park. Mary (in back) and Olivia get to enjoy being outside and ride around in their stroller, and the heat alone wears them out so that they sleep well.

Mary says, "hello" to all of Mommy's followers :).

Olivia wants to reach out and touch you too!

Of course, Georgia absolutely loves going to any park. She likes it even better when there is a "paygound", as she calls it, involved. This is one of our family's favorite parks. It is in Duncanville, near where Pat grew up. The name of the park is Kidsville and it has been there since Pat and I were little. I remember going there with my family!

It has a unique design, including:

a "tightrope"

Regular and baby/toddler swings (lots of them!)

A wooden castle-like structure with lots of places to climb, crawl, and explore and a bicycle-sized street system complete with a "bike" wash.




We've also tried to get creative inside the house with having fun.

My mom brought this hat over and it proved to be good entertainment, especially on Mary while she did her "happy dance"!

And who could forget...EATING!

My dad brought us some pork chops not too long ago....you think that Georgia liked them much?

We've also being grilling in the backyard a ton. Pat can cook, while Georgia plays in her baby pool and with the hose and I keep an eye on the twins.

This picture IS summer to me!

My hubby!!! Love him!

Olivia cooling down with some frozen peaches in her mesh feeder.

Dinner on the grill.

"I'm gonna get you, Mama!!!"

Once in a while, I do have to get away...thanks to friends like these I come back sane. We travelled up to Frisco and had a great girls' day at IKEA, In 'n Out Burger, and Sam Moon. Yay for girls' day!!!

Question of the day:  Who do you need to thank for helping you stay sane?

Why Plan B?

Just thought I'd back up a little bit to explain the title of my blog.  Plan B for my family has meant something very different than most people would think of...in fact it's not really a plan at all.  If you know me personally, then you know that I am all about planning.  In college I even had a calendar/planner that was broken down into 15 minute time slots.  I organize and re-organize everything in my life way more than is normal or healthy, but that's just me.

If you read my first post, then you know that there is one thing that didn't quite go as I had "planned" and that is my kids.  Sometimes I find that my natural tendencies and personality are at conflict with my faith.  You see, I want to control my life.  I want to know what's coming, be prepared for it, know how it will work out, write down every detail of my strategy, and even put a few cute touches on it (it being life).  One little problem: to be a true Christian, I can't be in control.  Being a Christian means giving it up, letting God take the wheel and being open to the results of that choice.  That's what Pat and I have done when it comes to having babies.  And God decided that a 2 year old and twin 9 months olds is His plan for us. 

It's not easy.  Heck, it's really really hard a lot of the time.  I feel like I am constantly rocking a baby or doing laundry or doing dishes or rocking a baby...wait, did I already say that?  BUT it is exactly what God has planned for us and his "Plan B" is just what I want.  Even if it wasn't my plan at all.

I know that this post is heavy on my beliefs, and some of my posts will be.  But I want this blog to be about my life...ALL of it.  So some posts will be about how we survive our daily life (practical stuff, like feeding schedules), some will be funny stories of my girls, and some will be a little deeper.  Hang on and enjoy the ride!

Question of the day: Who's in control?

Welcome!

Welcome to our crazy life!  So here's the deal: I am married to an amazing man who I've been with for 8 years.  I've attended Mass with him for most of those 8 years and 3 years ago I converted to Catholicism.  Stay with me now...I'm going somewhere with this.  At one of our RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults) classes we heard a talk about why the Catholic church promotes natural family planning.  This talk really spoke to me, so we stopped using birth control and started trying our best to track fertility and use natural family planning. Welllll, about that... about 2 months after going off birth control I was surprise to learn that I was pregnant with my sweet Georgia. 

Georgia just turned 2 in May and she is a spit-fire and my "mini-me" for sure.  She keeps us laughing and running most of the time.

When Georgia was about 8 months old, I was again surprised to learn that I was pregnant.  Obviously, we aren't very good at this whole natural family planning thing.  About 5 weeks into the pregnancy, I started spotting.  So I went in to the OB to have an ultrasound.  As he showed us a heartbeat, I told my husband, Pat, "See, we're not dreaming.  I really am pregnant."  The doctor then responded with, "Well, you might think you are dreaming because..." (moving the ultrasound probe) "here's the other heartbeat".  At a moment like that you either laugh or cry...we chose and continue to choose to laugh.  Hence my blog title, "Plan B".  We never planned on having children with the timing that we did, but having our twins 16 months after Georgia is the best thing that every happened to us.  We are head over heals for our twin girls, Mary & Olivia.  They are 9 months old and full of life.

I hope you enjoy looking into our life...because you know you're curious how we haven't totally lost it with a 2 year old and twin 9 months olds!

I'm planning on trying my best to keep this updated pretty frequently and always end with a question for YOU!  So, here's your question:

What's your "laugh or cry" moment?