Previews!

Well, over Thanksgiving I took several people's pictures. I had a lot of fun doing it, and some have been asking for some sneak peaks.. So, here are a few of my favorites. I finally finished editing all of them. I have found it takes a lot longer to get things done with two babies around!

My adorable nephew Kobe.

My sister in law Angie's boys. She is amazing. She also has twins. When they were born Daxton wasn't even 2 years old yet! That's why I think she is amazing. I can't imagine having another little person to worry about right now!

This family needs to find a career as family modeling or something! They are such a good looking family right?

I thought this tree was awesome.

Love this picture with the awesome red shoes!

My other awesome sister in law with her adorable family!

I think this is my favorite picture of all! Isn't she beautiful?

Update

I have decided Christmas cards require too much work to get in envelopes this year.. So consider this picture our Christmas card. Everyone I would have sent them to reads this blog anyways, so why bother right?? Maybe next year. MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

This past year has been very eventful and so fun. Lance is busy enduring the hardest semester of his life, and I am busy enjoying the many challenges that come with taking care of two babies all by my lonesome! I have said this over and over, but thank goodness they are good babies because I don't know how I would do it if they weren't! Lance and I are completely exhausted each night as we go to bed, but although we have never been so tired in our lives (yes, even more tired then when we were playing college basketball and dating, staying up until 4 each night and then waking up the next morning for practice or weights) we have honestly never been so happy. It's amazing how happy two little human beings can make you! Merry Christmas!

That was the easiest Christmas card we have ever done. I think I will start doing it this way from now on.

They are 4 months old now. Can you believe it? I hate how fast they are changing, but loving it at the same time. It is so fun watching them learn and figure out how to do things.

Will is still cuter than ever, and always smiling with his whole face. See example above. I love how his eyes get that cute little squint. He is also becoming quite the yeller. He has found his voice and loves to use it. When he gets mad he lets us know by throwing a "Higbee Tantrum" as Lance likes to call it. Lance says Will has some fire to him like his sisters!

Our sweet Evvie Jane. (By the way.. I have had several people ask how to pronounce her name. I will explain. It is prounounced Eh-Vee. Not to be confused with Eve-ee.) Does that make sense? Poor girl, we set her up for lifelong confusion. But, we love the name, and we knew she was an Evvie when we first saw her!

We can't get enough of her. She has laughed several times now, and is the easiest baby. I always feel bad when I say one good thing about one baby, because I feel as if by saying that, I am in a way saying that the other baby is bad or something.. Which I am definately not.. That was confusing sorry.. Moving on.... Evvie is so sweet. She could babble for hours and makes the cutest noises. She is always so pleasant and loves to stare at Will. Today she actually reached out and took his binky right out of his mouth. She is getting good with her hands!

I often find them doing the exact same thing as shown above. Must be a twin thing right?

Evvie rocking her leapord leggings and painted nails. I swear, if I would only take care of myself as good as I take care of our kids I would be looking good! Baths everyday, dressed everyday, painted nails.. Someday I might get to that point.
I love that Lance is in normal clothes!! I love when he is in normal clothes because that means we are doing something fun. Scrubs or a shirt and tie = studying or school.

They are loving to read nowadays, and thanks to Brittany, their favorite book is "Bubbles, Bubbles." Will always smiles when he see's Elmo. Crazy how he can pick him out every time.

Will has the bluest eyes you ever did see. He is becoming quite particular with things we are finding. When he wants to eat, it better happen fast or we will hear about it. When he needs to burp, act fast or else! And when he is ready for a nap he needs a nap! But, the good thing is we can read him pretty well, and predict what he is going to want next. As long as we are on the same page as him he is a very happy boy. He makes the cutest noises, and squeels way more like a girl than Evvie.

Our pretty girl.

On another note, Halloween was great. Yes, I know that was a long time ago.. But I had to show off how cute they were! I don't know why I thought a cow and pig would be great while thinking up what they should be for Halloween, but I threw it together, and I think it turned out so cute! Unfortunately we didn't get much candy.. They weren't too good at the trick or treating thing yet. We're hoping next year they pull their weight and bring in some good stuff. Lance and I were farmers to go along with their costumes.

There are those hands again.. Always so proper and lady like.
Will's face is awesome in this!

3 months!

3 Months!!

Time is flying by, and I find it so fun but so sad at the same time! It seems like just yesterday my babies were little preemies in the NICU, and now they are chunks who are smiling and being "real people" instead of just sleeping, eating and pooping!..(although a lot of that is still going on.. :) )

Will- He is our happy boy! Here are a few things about him..

-He has rolled over 3 times!! He rolled over at 1 month.. crazy.. but he just barely did it again two times in a row.. Lance was a very proud dad..

-He is "wirey" as Lance likes to proudly call it.. He is always so stiff and trying to stand or do something..

-He is SOO happy! At nights I will be closing my eyes trying to burp him and whenver I open them there he is giving me a big gummy smile! Whenever he locks eyes with someone he smiles so big.

-Speaking of his smile.. it's the cutest smile! He smiles with his whole face..

-Has started sleeping through the night!!! About a week ago he slept 9 whole hours!!! I didn't know what to do with myself. And what makes it even better is that Evvie did too!!! I haven't gotten that much sleep since June!!! I feel like a whole new woman!!

- Loves, Loves, LOVES to eat!!! As soon as he is up I better act fast because within a matter of seconds he is letting me know he is starving!! Such a good change from his past NICU days with a feeding tube in his nose!

-Likes to tell us "stories." We think he really thinks he is talking to us..

-Likes looking at his sister when they lay down by each other.. cutest thing ever.

-Has just recently started doing a pouty lip. I love it!

-Gets furious whenever he gets the hiccups.

-Is so close to laughing.. but instead does a fake laugh/chuckle.

-So happy in the mornings! But only for a short period of time.. then it's on to food!

Evvie Jane

-Our long skinney girl!

-Is so sweet and has become quite a cuddly baby.. which I love!

-Is ALWAYS moving her hands so cute.. hard to explain.. but she is so dainty with her hands and is always touching her face softly with them. She has also recently discovered them and likes to stare at them every now and then.

-Such a patient baby, thank goodness since Will has a very strict agenda!!

-SOO happy! When she wakes up in the mornings she never cries. I always wake up to her kicking and squeeling and smiling! It is the best way to wake up!

-Sleeps 8-9 hours straight every night for about 2 weeks now!!! WOOT WOOT!! Like I said, I feel like a whole new woman!

-Hates it when Will hits her in the face.

-Loves her baths.

-Falls asleep on her own all the time. When she wakes up at 6 I feed her, lay her under her toys to kick, then go back to bed. She plays for about 20 minutes then falls back asleep on her own. Bless her... ;)

-Loves to kick and squeel. Sometimes she sucks in and squeels so loud and hard it makes her cough! It is so funny.

-Has the sweetest little smile

-Is starting to get the cutest fuzzy hair that I can put into somewhat of a mo-hawk!

-Still loves to snuggle up with Will. She goes right to sleep with him by her. Which I love.

-Such a sweet little girl!

Lance has 2 more weeks of intense school and finals and then we are off for 2 weeks for Thanksgiving!! There have been a few long days where It's just me and the babies from 7 am to 8 pm with a break in the middle for lunch, but we are all surviving! I go out all the time during their naps because it seems like they nap better when they are moving in their carseats. I am getting used to the attention having twins brings, and have found the number one thing that gets said to a mother of twins is, "Looks like you've got your hands full!" Seriously, no joke.. I swear that's what I hear 90% of the time.. I also hear, "A boy and a girl?? How lucky!! ARE THEY IDENTICAL??" I am amazed about how much people don't know about twins.. but for all you readers out there that don't know.. A BOY AND A GIRL CAN'T BE IDENTICAL!! hahaha... I find that question so funny. I will usually try to explain this reasoning, and one time a girl said, "Ya, but they look a lot a like.. So they could be right?" I just laughed and pretended like she had a good point. Pretty funny.

Life is so good.

As of Lately..

Life is good... My babies are almost 2 1/2 months and I can't believe it! It seems like these past 2 months have gone by SOOO fast and no it is just one big blur. I am trying so hard to soak in every moment and enjoy every second of these two. So far so good.. Thank goodness my babies are good babies. Evvie is an angel baby, and once Will gets all of his gas out then he is an angel baby as well! :) They are so much fun, and are starting to be real human beings by smiling and interacting with us!


Will has the cutest lips..

My beautiful Evvie Jane..

2 month check up stats-

Evvie- 11 lbs 7 oz >97% for length! >97% for weight

Will- 11 lbs 5 oz >97% for length! >97% for weight

We were pretty pumped about that... Our little preemie's aren't so little anymore! It makes us so happy to see that they are already tall.. hopefully that continues to be a trend.. I don't see how it couldn't.

Things I have learned being a mother of twins-

-I have suddenly become the worlds best multi-tasker.. and I am always planning ahead for what my next move will be. I honestly wish sometimes people could see me sometimes.. The other day I was nursing one baby, pumping on the other side, and holding and feeding the other baby a bottle! I mean come on!! that is impressive right? Too bad no one gets to ever witness it.. probably a good thing I guess.

-I am constantly amazed that a human being can function on so little sleep for so long. I mean seriously.. It started at 7 months pregnant.. And now ever since their birth, the longest stretch of time I have slept is 5 hours.. and that was only one time!! Right now I am averaging about 3 hours of sleep a night. But weirdly enough I think my body is getting used to it.. I'm sure it will all catch up to me sooner or later.

-It's true what they all say... You really do feel like a milk cow.

-It's ok if babies cry.. Or at least that's what I have to tell myself when they both need me and I can't help them both.

-I have become really good at handling and holding a baby with just one arm/hand.

-Taking pictures has never been so much fun..

-Traveling is crazy!! I mean it seriously took us 4 hours to pack for our first trip.. it was nuts! Our little car was packed to the brim with stuff!

-I am completely in love with these two little babies.

I am loving every aspect of being a mom right now. We have waited a long time for this and it has been worth every second! We can't get enough of them!

They're Here!!

This post is a long time coming.. But it is hard to find time to do much of anything around here if it doesn't consist of feeding, changing or burping a baby!!


Our sweet babies decided to suprise us a bit earlier than planned! On July 25th Lance and I were at home enjoying the evening and trying to decide what we wanted to do the rest of the night... I got up from the couch to go get a drink of water.. and WATER is what happened!! I was in the kitchen when all of the sudden something just did not feel right, and we heard a big splash on the floor! My water had broke! I yelled to Lance in a worried tone and he immediately sprung into action!! So many thoughts started rushing through my head!! My biggest concern was that it was too soon. I was 34 weeks and 5 days along with the babies and I knew there was definately a chance they would need a lot of help after they were born.


Lance was hillarious. I have never seen him move so fast!! Within 2 minutes our bags were packed, toothbrushes loaded, baby outfits packed, and we were on our way to the hospital! Man was it an odd experience walking around after your water has just broke! I was soon hooked up to all sorts of monitors and they started running different tests on me. We figured out it was the baby girls sack that had broke. They then took a sample of amniotic fluid to see if the baby girls lungs were developed. Thankfully the test showed that they were.. That was a huge relief!! The only problem was we didn't know if the baby boys would be developed yet. But odds were pretty good that they would be.


Anyways.. fast forward a bit.. they had me labor through the night and in the morning we met with our doctor. Soon we were schedule for a C-section at 11:00 am! It all happened so fast!


Lance and I were so excited to finally meet our little ones.. They had me walk down to the OR and soon I was numb from my chest down and they were cutting into my belly! Lance took pictures of the whole thing.. I must admit.. He just might have passed me up with his photography skills! He took some awesome pictures! First came our sweet girl Evvie Jane! She screamed and screamed right from the start. She was so ready to get out of that cramped space! Next was William Lance. He on the other hand did not scream. I was so nervous, and it made it so much worse because I couldn't see anything that was going on. I kept asking why I couldn't hear 2 babies crying.. after about 1 minute of working him over he let out a very relieving scream!! Afterwards the nurses told me they were seconds away from intubating him. He had bruises all over his back afterwards because they were rubbing him so hard trying to get him to breath.

Hope you don't mind pictures like this.. I thought they were pretty amazing!

Evvie Jane Higbee 6lbs 19 inches 11:13 am


William Lance 5 lbs 13 oz, 18 3/4 inches long 11:14 am

Finally Will is breathing!!! He is the one closest to the camera.
Evvie Jane all hooked up to cords and wires.. We HATED all those things!!

Will right after birth.. Upset his sister broke out early.. He wasn't quite ready to come!!



First time holding both babies. In the NICU. Lance is already such a good dad. It is so fun seeing him with our babies.

Both of our babies were taken to the NICU to get checked out and looked over. We were SO BLESSED to not have any serious problems. All the nurses couldn't believe how big our babies were for being that early. We were very blessed that way as well.. Hopefully that means they both have the tall gene!! Will and Evvie checked out completly healthy. No breathing problems or anything! The only problem was Will hadn't quite mastered the "suck, swallow, breath" reflex yet, so he had to stay in the NICU for 2 long weeks until we could bring him home. Evvie was a great eater right from the start so she got to come home 5 days later. The first 2 weeks were exhausting as we tried to juggle having one baby at home, and one baby at the hospital. I hated having them apart for such a long time. It was so fun to bring home Will and just lay them by each other again!

They had to put a feeding tube through Will's nose to help him get the nutrition he needed. Whatever he didn't eat they would put through his tube. As he got better at eating they started tubing less and less until one WONDERFUL day they took the tube out and he drank the whole bottle by himself!! He has already been through so much and is such a tough little guy. We HATED seeing him in there with so many tubes and IV's. But we're so thankful he didn't have serious problems.

Sweet baby girl..



Brain washing Will already to play ball.

Will's first day home from the NICU!! YAHOO! As you can tell he is pumped!!

Life is so good. We are completly in love with these two little people. My mom has been a LIFESAVER these past few weeks. So far taking care of twins is a piece of cake!! Lance, my Mom and I have a great routine down. I know I will be thinking a lot differently when Lance goes back to school and my Mom leaves in a few days!! I will then be flying solo and out numbered 2 to 1!! It will be a CRAZY next few months, but I am excited for it and just happy to have these babies here!

Thanks for your prayers and support throughout all of this! We are so blessed to have such great family and friends in our lives!

Where has the time gone?

Well, were back in AZ! We have been gone almost the whole summer visiting family and going on vacations. It has been a lot of fun and we are trying to enjoy every second of Lance's last summer!! We had a baby shower, went out to dinner in Vegas with Lances family, Roasted several good marshmallows on some good campfires, had fun in alamo, Lance and my brothers caught a 30 pound, 37 inch long fish, went to our cabin,went to Sun Valley and ended up with a week stay in Sedona with just Lance and I and a few friends!


It was so much fun, but I must admit a bit exhausting.. especially when your hauling around 2 babies in your belly and feeling very pregnant! But we had a blast!


Lance in front of the Tuzigoot Pueblos! I have never really been into Indian buildings and stuff.. but seriously, this was amazing!! It was by Sedona.. It was quite the long, HOT walk, and I had too many people to count walk by and look at me like I was crazy. I felt a little crazy myself and a little nervous I was going to put myself into labor! I got the questions.. Any day now? Past due? How much longer? and Do you feel like your ready to pop? .. Too many times to count.. I don't mind though.. I would ask the same thing!! maybe not actually. But I would definately think it!



Our friends Jon and Heather also live in AZ. Ever since we have moved here we always try to find an easy place to go to just get out of the city and dutch oven! But, we have found it is VERY difficult to do that around here! Our first try gettin out ended up at a city park, with us dutch ovening on a BBQ grill, right next to a soccer field and play ground for kids with a lot of people.. Big failure.. Our second attempt was much more successful, although it took about 2 hours to finally find place to do it. Sedona is a very pretty National park.. but it is SOOOOOO regulated and SOOOOO busy with everyone else trying to get out of the city.. So, we decided to take matters into our own hands.. We drove out into the middle of no where on top of the Sedona Canyon, and built a fire (Even though there were tons of signs forbiding it.) We were just fed up! Plus, Lance is an Ex-Fireman. Needless to say, we had an illegal fire, were scared the whole time we were going to get thrown into jail, but ended up with a DELICIOUS dutch oven meal in the middle of nowhere with no people around us.. just trees! It was a long awaited time that took us about a year to accomplish! The bad thing is, this spot is 3 hours from our home.. The search will have to continue for a closer destination! All you people living in Cedar, don't take for granted being 5 minutes away from a beautiful mountain that's not crawling with people!!!

In Sun Valley.. All the boys

And last, but not least.. The long awaited belly picture! I have been having people ask me all the time to post a picture! I understand.. It's pretty interesting looking at a belly that has 2 human beings in it! I am constantly amazed that there is enough room for them in here. Everyday my belly gets bigger! I feel as if there is absolutely no more room or skin to allow any more growth.. but, I continue to be amazed.
One thing I have found to be very true about being pregnant is that it truly is uncomfortable! I never thought much about it before.. But honestly, having a rock hard beach ball attatched to the front of you that is growing at an extremely fast rate does a toll on your muscles! Little things like bending over to pick something off the ground, shaving my legs, putting my flippin pants on!! Everything is hard! Don't even get me started on bending over to pick something off of the floor of the car!!! Not going to happen.. ever! Thank goodness for Lance.. I have never been one to order someone around, but Lance has had to step up big time and be the designated floor picker upper, and the one who pulls me or pushes me off of the couch or bed.

I already regret posting this picture of me..

Pregnancy is going great! Just uncomfortable. But so far I think it's totally worth having 2 at a time to only go through being pregnant once! My doctor will induce me at 37 weeks which would end up being around August 10th. Only 4 more weeks! We are so excited and I can't wait to see these two babies! Despite everyone telling me to "enjoy it while you can" We are excited to get them here and start settling into a routine!

Love For Clara.

The past few weeks I have been following a truly inspiring blog. My sister's niece on her husbands side was just recently diagnosed with neuroblastoma, a type of childhood cancer. Clara is 2 years old. It's very serious, she is now considered a high-risk stage 4 patient with such a long road ahead of her.

Clara's parent's write on their blog daily about updates and their insights on everything that has been happening. I have only met these people once when my sister got married, but they have amazed me with how spiritual they are and the things they are learning throughout this whole experience. This is a very hard time for them but it seems to me they are trying to learn everything they possibly can from it. It has strengthened my testimony so much just by reading their story.

Their family has set up several ways for people to help.

http://apps.facebook.com/fundrazr/activity/f3c0571927e94ce08e7de7b40eec994b

To read more about Clara's story go here.

http://furniturefix.blogspot.com/2011/05/love-for-clara.html

To follow the parent's blog go here.

http://mommastimeout.blogspot.com/

But most of all, PRAY for this little girl and her family.

Proud.

A lot of people always brag about their husbands on their blogs, so I figured now was a good time to get my adequate amount of bragging in.. Lance is amazing.. Let me tell you one of the reasons why. This past week he was sworn into the Air Force. That's right! We are in the Air Force! If you would have told me 1 year ago we would be in the Air Force I never would have believed you and I would have been straight panicing at the idea of even being in that situation! But it happened, and we are SOOOO happy about it. Now that we are in the Air Force they will completely cover all of Lances Optometry school.. Phew!!! No more lingering debt of 300,000 + hanging over our heads.. In return we will owe them 3 years of service at a base here in the US after he graduates. That is the basics of it all.. Along with many other benefits along the way. So, let me get to the bragging part. Lance was 1 of only 15 people elected to receive this Optometry Scholarship for the Air Force NATION WIDE!!!! 1 out of 15!! I didn't even realize how competitive the scholarship was until the recruitor told us all when they swore him in. Bottom line, I knew Lance was something special. Seriously though, he is just on top of things and doing some pretty amazing things with his/our lives. Needless to say, I am very proud & blessed. Ok, Ill stop bragging now, it's probably getting quite annoying.

After They swore him in Lance had to salute the person swearing him in, then he turned and the guy in the uniform had to salute Lance! It was crazy because uniform guy has been in the airforce 30 or so years,and already Lance is a higher rank than him. They treat their medical proffesionals pretty good.

On another note.. I am also proud of this picture.. seriously.. We found this awesome place to take pictures down here, and there are birds everywhere.. I was saying to the Mom, "I wish we could get a peacock to spread its feathers for the background of a picture. " Literally seconds later we turn the corner and see this beauty. This NEVER happens right? It was huge, and we were scared it might be in attack mode so we only took like 2 pictures in front of it. Thank goodness one turned out!

Also, I never made it clear in my last post.. Baby A is definately a girl! Those dang ultrasound techs were giving me grief! We are glad to have things figured out finally! My latest project includes these cute onesies and a headband.. Poor boy always gets the short end of the deal.. They just don't have many accesories for boys.

Babies.

We had the big Fetus anatomy scan two days ago, and thank goodness everything looks completely normal and healthy! The babies are both measuring big and moving like crazy! I love that I can finally feel them moving! As for now it seems as if Baby boy is a bit more hyper than Baby girl.. we will see if that holds true.. He is constantly kicking my belly button. We are truly blessed and loving every moment of this. I am now 18 weeks, and I am not kidding you, my belly grows overnight.. We take weekly pictures of the belly and today Lance was just laughing looking at the pictures and saying, " You are going to get so HUGE! And it is going to be so awesome and funny!" I didn't know whether I should laugh or panic... So instead I just lathered on another coat of anti stretch mark cream... I figure I should maybe post a picture of the belly, just so when people see me in real life they aren't startled. We have however made a big milestone, we are halfway there!!! My doc tells me they will start me at 37 weeks with these babies. Fun times.

Baby Girls Foot.. All 5 toes!

Baby Girl touching her forehead with her toes! I love this picture and her sweet little profile! I am really bothered however because no matter how I rotate the picture before I upload it, it always turns out like this.. so just tilt your head..

This one is a bit confusing.. It is parts of both babies. They are getting so big that they don't both fit into the monitor at the same time.. But, On the right is Baby Girl laying on her back with her head on the right and her legs curled up on the left, then you can see a line inbetween her and the other baby.. That is the membrane that divides them. Then all the way to the left is the baby boys legs and feet.. they were kicking each other the whole time!

Baby boy's profile! I love this one.. You can see everything so good, his little nose and lips! Adorable already! The circle above him is his sister floating around in her sac. That is part of her feet that you can see.

Wait for it...

WAIT FOR IT.....

Don't judge me people who are pregnant and due 2 months ahead of me and we are the same size..

BOOM BOOM POW!

By the way, I just noticed I'm wearing the exact same shirt and necklace as I was in my last picture 3 weeks ago.. Oh great, now I am totally going to be judged.. It's becoming rough to find shirts that fit me these days! hahaha

Have a great day.