One year later...almost

With my birthday fast approaching...YIKES I will be 33. I am finding myself reflecting on the last year. What a wild ride it has been. I was not near ready enough on my birthday last year for what was about to send my world into a frenzied spiral. I cannot say that a year later I have anymore wisdom or control in my life now. I guess I feel like I should but my life has turned out much different than expected. I am making this all sound bad but its not bad it is just so much different. For instance I quit my county job. A job that I worked incredibly hard for many years. My day is now filled with laundry and emptying the dishwasher. There is nothing in my day that is glamorous or even worth writing about except my two beautifully growing boys. That is the difference from last year to this one. Its not about me anymore not one bit. It is about them.

One of the hardest decisions I have to say would not be quitting my job surprisingly. On Friday we gave up our beloved Lab Doc. We had been talking about it for some time and knew that it was indeed time for him to leave our family. He wasn't good with the kids it turns out and never really adapted over the last year. We had been putting it off and putting it off. The time came and now its done. I have to say I know that it was the right decision but tell that to my heart and it disagrees. I cannot go a day without crying and I have not felt so much pain in a very long time. Like I said before my world this past year has changed so much. I don't really even recognize myself anymore. I am a new Amy...One without a county job, a black dog and mascara. Although I don't really miss the make up.

In the next few weeks we will hit the big one year birthday milestone. I have been waiting for this day a long time and I just knew things would be so much easier by then right?!? HA! Not happening that way quite as planned. I am hoping the next blog entry I write I will tell you about an easy day...but as honesty would have it there has not been many of those in a very long time for the Oliver family. I know that everyday is worth it though when the boys giggle at each other and give us big smiles. because life will never be the same for us again....parenthood is a wild ride full of twists and turns of fate. I am anxious to see where it takes us in the next year. I cannot even guess where I will be on my next birthday. I promise to start writing more ...but we will see if the boys allow such time.

The Switcheroo

My boys have traded places....Now Austin is in a good place and sleeping and eating well. Jason however has turned into a nightmare sleeper. We are working on week 2 of sleep training. I hate sleep training. I use the very controversial cry it out method because my boy is so stubborn we cannot do it any other way. Actually Jason is crying as I type. He refuses to nap during the day which makes for a very grumpy, sleepy, unhappy baby. I have tried everything but letting him cry so that is what is on the agenda.

Austins poop- I have never talked about poop so much in my life! We switched Austins formula and ever since he has been well, constipated. SUCKS! I had to have one of those mommy moments a couple weeks back when you must do the dreaded suppository bleh....Now we are on to prune juice in bottles once a day. THANK YOU PRUNES.

FYI Jason won the first battle of the day eh....next one begins at noon. Bring popcorn and a stiff drink for momma please. I hate my rule of no drinks until 5....especially on days like today!

We are now feeding the boys solids...I bought a baby bullet and I am making the boys their food. I think if I could puree everything on the grown up menu I would be considered a great cook tee hee. The boys think that its something fantastic so I must be doing pretty good.

We made a trip down to Eugene last week and I would say over all the trip was a HUGE success. Both boys slept in a pack in play for the first time EVER! Funny thing is that Jason got his own room because the difficult man that he is would keep Austin and I up at all hours.....I can already see the man that he is shaping up to be. PLEASE LET THIS PASS.....PLEASE! Why won't this kid sleep. The million dollar question that is making this mom a straight crazy person. UGH! It was wonderful to see all the family and especially my mom. I swear the minute you have children your mom becomes the most important resource in the world.

My chunk a munks already plotting against me...Please have mercy!

All about Austin

HE ROLLED OVER!!!! and of course I missed it :( I was changing a poopy diaper from Jason and I heard Rob get all excited downstairs. He rolled from his tummy to his back. We are thinking it was on accident because he hasn't done it again. But next time I will be ready! Austin has been feeling so much better since we put him on this new formula called Nutramigen ...crazy expensive but it is lactose free. This makes all to much since that his tummy has been so upset...daddy is lactose intolerant. The formula smells so bad and it took a whole day of mixing old and new to get him to drink it and I still don't think he likes it. His poops awful...seriously I try to pawn him off to daddy as soon as I hear the familiar grunting coming from my little man. ugh no thanks! It has taken almost 5 months to figure out how to make this kid happy....cheap garage sale toys and smelly formula...what a boy!

The Gift

For Valentines Day most women want diamonds and pearls not this girl and my hubby knows it! I want SLEEP...Austin has become our tummy sleeper and while he is now getting amazing amounts of sleep at night mommy is not. I have this fear inside that if anything happens its all my fault. The doctor warned us about SIDS. I hate SIDS. What the heck is it. No one can tell you how it happens or what will prevent it...just that lying a baby on his back decreases the chances. So of course we can never take the easy road with Austin who wants to sleep on his tummy. Rob gets me the Angel Care monitor for Valentines Day ( I love that man) this monitor feels for movement in the crib (i.e. breathing) so if there is no movement after 20 seconds it sends off alarms and I can come running. I have now been getting a lot better sleep in my own bed AMAZING! Thank you honey!

At Wits End

I do believe that the phrase "At my wits end" came from a mother of multiples. I have never before reached the point where I was at a wit end until this week. Jason is impossible to get down for naps or bed time :/ Once you get the boy down everything is peachy but getting him down is a fierce battle which he is currently winning. I am at the point where I don't even want to try putting him in his crib eh but I know that I have to keep it up. That is where my wit ends! On a lighter note the boys have taken notice of each other this week. I caught them laying on a blanket just starring at one another. I hope that they love each other and are best buds some day. It is hard at this age to keep them together. I mean entertaining two 4 month olds all day long makes you crazy by the days end. I feel bad that I have kept them so separate  but I don't know how to make sure they are getting enough sleep and eating well with Austin crying like he does and Jason refusing to sleep. Some how we will figure it out. I do however have a photo treat for all of you.






Austin wants to crawl to the bug so bad. He is talking to it.



4 Month Check Up

The boys had their 4 month check up yesterday and much to our pediatricians surprise the boys are growing good. Austin is weighing in at 7 pounds 3 ounces and Jason is a whopping 18 pounds 6 ounces...he is over a pound heavier than his brother. I love their doctor because not only does she do the health part but also gives us guidance for raising these two handsome fellas. So our new task is to start having naps in their cribs and implementing a 4 hour eating schedule rather than the 3 that we have them on now. The only sad news is that she wants us to wait to feed them solid foods until 6 months ...whoopsie we already started Jason on rice cereal..to bad so sad. I am keeping him on the cereal because he loves it! So I am thinking they are either destined for hockey or football :) Proud momma!
As for myself I have to say that before I got pregnant I was about 20 pounds over weight. I was working real hard to lose the pounds by exercising and lifting weights but little did I know that I just needed to get pregnant. The twin diet is AWESOME...I am eating and exercising don't you worry but with a little help from the boys right off the bat I lost 10 pounds of my original weight when I gave birth and I am continuing to lose more weight. I am just 5 pounds away from my college weight. WHOO HOO! I also have a little muscle tone from lugging the boys around in their car seats. WOW they are heavy. So I would say our check up went real well. I am excited for what the next few months have to bring. Jason wants to sit on his own and Austin is so close to rolling over. They are chatting and love their Mickey Mouse Clubhouse show. The boys are growing everyday and I am thankful to see them making new discoveries everyday.


P.S. I am writing this while the boys are taking a nap in their OWN CRIBS :) Shhhh don't tell anyone it might jinx it!

The Bread

Update on that banana bread....I actually haven't even started making it mainly because the recipe calls for sifted flour. Sifted Flour? I am still googling the correct way to approach this. In the mean time I made beer bread that was dry and had absolutely no flavor...not even of beer. So my bread making skills are basically a BUST as of right now. I am also waiting to see which dog poops out a butter wrapper because I am missing the entire stick that I left out to soften. So note to self put butter where dogs won't eat it....oh my life!

Week One - Banana Bread

Well I am starting my first week of my new job and so far so good. This weekend Rob and I finally moved Austin out of our room...bye bye co-sleeper HELLO crib. The only thing is that we had to rearrange our rooms. The guest bedroom is now also Austin's sleeping room. We moved his crib out of the nursery so hopefully the boys won't keep each other up. Austin is doing pretty good except that he has reverted back to waking up every 3 hours again. I am hoping the more comfortable he gets with his crib the longer he will sleep. Jason has decided this week to refuse naps :(
Okay so what to do with my time....Cleaning and organizing is good but I need projects. I need to learn to sew I think and I have been cutting out coupons. I took my first grocery shopping trip yesterday with my list and coupons. Man it is hard saving money. It took me forever to find the right brands and read the coupons to find out the restrictions and don't get me started about checking out. I was THAT GIRL in the check out line that you stand behind waiting with all your groceries that pulls out a pile of coupons. Yeah I am that girl but I did save us some dough.
Today I am going to make banana bread. I have never made it before but I have brown banana's on my counter and some time to kill while they boys nap this afternoon. So why not....Can I say that being home is an adjustment. I don't think it has hit me that this is my new norm. Thursday is the boys 4 month check up. I hope that Dr. Dernboch gives us the green light to start cereal...cause Jason is a hungry boy. I can tell that he needs something more than formula. He keeps looking at our food like WHAT'S UP why do I get this milk crap and you get a steak :) My healthy eater.

Change and more Change

Well it has been awhile and as most of you can imagine I have been so busy that I barely have time to eat let alone update a blog...but things have change significantly since yesterday. I am no longer employed by Benton County but as of today I work for Austin and Jason Oliver. That is right I am going to be a stay at home mommy. For those of you who know me BEST your jaws are probably hitting the floor right about now. I want to start by saying that this was never part of the plan but life has thrown us a curve ball. I have always been a planner. Since birth I came out with a schedule and a plan. I do believe that I have hated change since birth...even if it is my choice. Thankfully I have the support of an amazing husband who is extremely supportive and understanding of my hesitation into this new world of limited adult interaction. I am a social butterfly so I am really worried about how I am going to handle not having an adult life. I know the stay at home mommy's out there have had a moment of selfishness when they were sad about leaving behind the working world. I stood outside the Courthouse last night after my last day of working my very favorite of all my jobs and I cried. I cried when I said good bye to my co-workers and the whole way home. I have worked very hard to get to where I was at in my professional life. I am not saying that I love it more than my children because I don't. I am saying though that a piece of me died yesterday on the steps of the Courthouse. I believe that piece is Independence and whatever it is that gives us a sense of accomplishment. I know that I need to mourn my old life and trust me I have been. Time heals all wounds as they would say. Today I am just sad, I will miss my career and social life that followed suit. Hopefully tomorrow I can figure out this whole domestic thing....stay tuned!