Disclosure

Effective January 2015 we will no longer send birthday cards to everyone.  Life is just a little crazy with the babies and sending cards to over 60 family members throughout the year is a lot.  We will still try to send cards to immediate family members.  We still love you all and we will think of your families on your birthdays.

Christmas Eve

Our Christmas Eve was quiet but nice.  We planned on going on a sleigh ride like we did last year, but we don't have any snow.  We live in "snow city" but we didn't have a white Christmas.  We were really disappointed.  Instead of going on the sleigh ride we visited an elderly woman from church and sang her some Christmas songs. We also had our traditional dinner and a short program.  For the first time we acted out the Nativity.  I thought it was the perfect opportunity since we had small babies to play the part of Baby Jesus.  Rebecah was Mary, Kimball was Joseph, Lincoln was Baby Jesus, Joseph was the Donkey, I was the narrator, and Annika was an angel.  Kimball, Joseph, and Rebecah were also the Wise Men.  The kids enjoyed acting out the story that we had to do an encore on Christmas Day.

Rebecah was SO excited to be Mary.  She had her blue dress planned out days in advance.  Somewhere she learned that Mary dressed in blue so she HAD to wear her blue dress.  I loved it!

At the manger

Mary and Joseph traveling to Bethlehem.

Add in the donkey...I just chuckle thinking of Joseph as the donkey.
At one point Rebecah said Joseph could be a camel instead of a donkey.

The Wise Men bringing gifts.

Annette with Lincoln.  I don't have many pictures of the babies and me so even
though the background isn't great I have a picture of myself holding Lincoln.

Hanukkah Wishes

For Social Studies this month Kimball has been learning about different holidays.  I believe his class talked about Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and Christmas.  As part of the Hanukkah holiday they made a paper menorah with the names of family and friends that Kimball would bless.  I thought it was sweet that Kimball included all of his family members.

Here is a brief run down of the wishes for everyone:

Rebecah:  happiness
Annika:  to get over her cold
Mrs. Ryan:  happiness (this is his teacher)
Lincoln: good health
Friend: to be nice
Dad: time to be home (Kimball loves his Dad and really struggles when Joseph's work schedule doesn't allow them to be home at the same time.)
Mom: time to relax (this really touched me and also let me know that Kimball is aware of just how busy I am with the babies.  I feel guilty that I can't give Kimball and Rebecah more of my time because the babies need me so much, but it was sweet that he would wish for me to have more time to relax.  Goodness knows I haven't opened a book in 9 weeks and I only occasionally turn on a movie Friday or Saturday evening when I'm holding babies so I feel like I'm spending time with the older kids too by watching a movie with them.)
Fish: to find food  (I had to ask Kimball about this one...He said he wanted his fish that we let go in the lake when we moved to be able to find food.  It has been over 2 years, but I guess he still thinks of his fish every so often.  I guess it hasn't dawned on him that they were probably fish food themselves shortly after we let them go!)

I loved this project that Kimball did and it is definitely a keeper!

Two Months Old

On December 16th, the babies turned 2 months old.  The last two months really have gone quickly, probably because I'm SO busy.  The babies are wonderful.  I admit that I never wanted twins, but I wouldn't give either of them back.  They are precious.

Yesterday they went to the doctor for their well child visit.  Lincoln weighed 8 lbs 12 oz and was 21 3/4 inches long.  He is almost in the 5th percentile for weight and his height is about the 7th percentile.  Lincoln loves to be held.  He will take a good nap in the morning in a bouncer or even on the floor.  In the afternoon it is a different story.  In order for him to take a good nap he likes to be held!  If we try to lay him down on the couch or floor he will literally wake up about 30 seconds later.  He will cat nap in the bouncer or swing, but not sleep nearly as well as he does in the morning.  He sleeps great at night.  Usually he will get up just once at night, but a few nights a week he'll want to get up twice.  He is starting to smile at me and there is nothing like a smile from a baby.  He melts my heart!

Annika weighs 8 lbs 10 oz and was 21 1/2 inches long.  She is in the 5th percentile for weight and the 10th for her height.  Apparently boys are supposed to be bigger babies so that is why Lincoln is only in the 4th percentile even though he weighs 2 oz more than Annika.  Annika is still "Joseph's baby" since he cares for her when he is home.  I still hold her a fair amount when Joseph is at work.  She sleeps a little better during the day than Lincoln does, but she also wakes up more at night than Lincoln.  She will get up just once a few nights a week, but she usually gets up twice.  Not a big deal when Joseph can help out, but on the mornings he works early then I care for both babies and then I get pretty tired.  Annika is smiling too and I love winning her smiles as well.  

Last week I transitioned them to 0-3 month clothes and we are using our last package of newborn diapers.  The size 1 diapers are still huge on them, but we need diapers that hold a little more.

Here are quite a few pictures of the babies...mainly for my mom and sister who like a lot of pictures, but feel free to scroll through them all.

Annika

Lincoln...to me it looks like he is saying "Hello!"

Rebecah and Lincoln

Kimball finally got in on the baby action!

Lincoln

Lincoln

Annika looking very worried about something.

Looking thoughtful.

Annika 2 months

Lincoln 2 months

A trip to the Nutcracker

Tuesday evening Joseph took Rebecah to the ballet to see the Nutcracker.  Apparently, the Moscow ballet comes to Syracuse every December for one performance of the Nutcracker.  After Rebecah's ballet camp in August she and Joseph got really excited about the ballet so Joseph found some tickets so they could go on a special date together.  It was great for Rebecah to have this special evening with Joseph.  Joseph and Kimball have gone on quite a few adventures together...Monster Jam, Watkins Glen and Oswego Speedway...so it was definitely Rebecah's turn for a special dad date.

They had a lot fun at the ballet and seeing the pretty dancing girls.  Rebecah did get tired at the end so they snuck out a few minutes early.  I have decided though that next year it is MY turn to go on a special date with Joseph to the ballet.  I would have loved to have gone, but the babies are just a tad too young to leave them with a babysitter.

Their ballet pose by the Christmas tree.

Baby Blessings

Last Sunday, Joseph blessed Lincoln and Annika in church.  Our friends, Bob and Pearl Brumfield, had just finished a church mission in Cleveland, Ohio, and they decided to make a trip to Palmyra and visit us as well.  They are friends of ours from Arkansas.  Some of you might remember that we rented their house during their first mission.  Anyway, with no family coming for the baby blessings we decided that good friends were the next best thing to family. 

Joseph with the help of the Spirit gave both babies really nice blessings. The babies wore the clothes that Kimball and Rebecah wore when they were blessed.  Joseph had early church meetings, so I got the rest of us...myself and 4 kids...ready for church.  Here are a few pictures.

Annette with Lincoln

Joseph with Lincoln.  We never did get a picture of Joseph and Annika.  Oops!

Annette with Annika

Rebecah with Annika

Beautiful baby Annika.

Handsome Lincoln (even though his clothes were so huge on him.)

Our family

Our family with the Brumfields

The babies are now 6 weeks old.  The time has gone quickly and a lot of it is a blur.  The babies have grown so much in 6 short weeks.  They have really filled out their skin.  I'm guessing they are between 7 1/2 to 8 pounds.  At their 4 week weight check they were both 6 lbs 3 oz. so I'm just going off their growth trend thus far.  Here are a few other shots of the babies.  I don't think I have posted them elsewhere.  As you can tell, Rebecah LOVES to be in the pictures with the babies.  Kimball does not.

Peek-a-boo!  Lincoln peeking out of his blanket.

Rebecah with Lincoln

Rebecah with Annika.  To me it looks like Annika is saying..."What is she doing to me?!"

Visit from Sharon

My sister, Sharon, came to visit last week.  When Sharon found out that my mom wasn't able to come out to help with the babies as originally planned she and her family sacrificed so we could have some family help with the the babies.  Sharon has 6 kids of her own so it was a big sacrifice for Spencer and the kids to be without Sharon for 6 days.

It was great having Sharon visit.  She helped with the chores, laundry and cooking.  It was Joseph's call week so she also took over Joseph's job of feeding Annika.  That was a HUGE help, especially at night.  

It wasn't all work and no fun though.  We tried some new desserts which were keepers.  We (meaning I found the recipes and Sharon made them) made a cranberry upside down cake, gingerbread chocolate chip cookies, and a pumpkin pie.  We have all had pumpkin pie before, but this pie was made from Rebecah's little pumpkin that she brought home from school.  Rebecah really wanted it made into a pie and I knew I wouldn't have time to do it...Sharon to the rescue!  The cranberry cake is going to become a new tradition for the holiday season.  It was SO yummy.  The gingerbread chocolate chip cookies were also yummy.  For Joseph to comment how much he likes a particular cookie is HUGE in my books so I will make them again too.

Sharon also spent a lot of extra time with Kimball and Rebecah--Time that I just haven't been able to give them because I'm either too tired, sore, or busy with the babies.  Yes, I feel guilt that I haven't been able to give my older kids the attention they need!  Sharon brought them color wonder markers and coloring books and clay.  She also gave Kimball a few piano lessons too.  

Sharon with Rebecah, Lincoln and Annika.

All four of my kids!  

Wide-eyed Lincoln.

Sweet little Annika

Hanging out together.  

To show Sharon our appreciation for coming to help us out we took her to Palmyra the day she flew home.  Joseph and I both felt strongly that if Sharon was going to come help us out that she was going to see Palmyra.  It would be a shame to be just an hour from Palmyra and not go visit.  Sharon has never been to this area and we don't know when she'll be back to the area.  I wasn't physically up for the trip so I sat in the different visitor centers while Kimball, Rebecah and Sharon took the tours.

Kimball, Rebecah and Sharon in front of the Christus
 at the Hill Cumorah Visitor's Center.

Outside the Frame House.

Kimball and Rebecah peeking in the cooper shop.

We all really miss having Sharon here and we hope we can see her and the "Leigh cousins" again soon.

Here are other pictures that we have taken of the babies over the last 3 weeks.

Lincoln is in the foreground and Annika in the back.

Lincoln and Annika both like to just stare with their eyes wide open.

The big sister holding both babies!