All 3 kids Pumpkin Picking for the first time.

Connor and Caleb enjoying the park in cold NJ.

Caleb not sure about Santa.

L and I got to go to a Mickey Mouse Magic show...she was delighted!

Connor and Caleb finally hold their own bottles!!!

The boys' cribs are set up...no more guest bed, sorry grandmas. Their room is officially done and they are in their own beds. They have been for awhile, but the cribs were right next to each other due to the guest bed.

Also, the kids got upgraded in the bathroom department. I loved my daisy bathroom, but too many breakables. Now the kids can enjoy a bathroom made for kids!

We are all unpacked and sleeping back on Okinawa time. We were so thankful to see so many friends and family! We are amazed that the boys will be L's age when we get back to the States again, but we are half way through out tour! This year is harder than last year to be away from family for Christmas. I would so love to be spending the holiday with my little brother and sister or our niece and nephews....but that will be another year. I think because we were just with everyone, it is fresh in my mind how wonderful it is to be around family and friends in the States. We are appreciative of all the WONDERFUL friends we have here and will enjoy our holiday celebrations with them!

I am especially sad for our close friends who have their loved ones over in the sandbox. We are grateful for your service and appreciate all that military families sacrifice for our country! (As we travelled, I kept thinking in my head during the very rough spots, "You're welcome America for serving overseas! Because if we didn't server overseas, we wouldn't be having to do this long flight back and forth!!!" Seriously, we are truly appreciative of the men and women who are in the midst of combat. Thank you and Merry Christmas.

We have plans to go to one of the restaurants on the base we live on. We will be sharing a meal with several friends. We are excited to have daddy home or several days ---maybe go to the Aquarium or something! Basically we will be having a very quiet Christmas in sunny warmer weather.

Merry Christmas to all!

Christmas Carols

I am actually humming Christmas Carols! This is huge because I only hum when I am joyful and the last 6 days and been FULL OF JOY!

You know we went to the States from Oct. 28 - Dec. 9. So many of these joys are a result of that trip, but I am listing them out so you can know why I am so thrilled.

1. The boys now go to bed/sleep at the same time. This is a gift my good friends, who have 2 year old twins, blessed me with.

2. The boys hold their own bottles (also gift from friends above).

3. The boys are using bottles only (that means no more parasite-like action from my body. We are done nursing which means that after about 3 years, my body is mine again.)

4. The boys are now sleeping from 7 pm to 5 am. Take a bottle and were in bed today until 8:45 am!

5. L is back to being a sweet child now that we are adjusted to being back home.

6. While on our trip we got to see so many family members! Family flew in from Bermuda, South Carolina, and Kansas City. We also got to see lots of our family who lives in Jersey.

7. I am able to keep up with the house this week because the kids (all 3) take naps in the afternoon at the same time!!!

8. I get to shower each and every day because I can now count on the boys taking a nap in the AM at the same time!!!

9. I was blessed with a fabulous family who kept the kids 3 different nights while we were in the States so that I could have a full night's rest and relaxation.

10. I am grateful for webcams and all of our family who takes the time to get on and talk with the kids! For families who live far away, this is an awesome way for kids to stay connected!

11. I actually got to buy clothes that fit and didn't have to return them through the mail!

12. It is so easy to live in America! I really enjoyed the ease of being in the States.

13. Thankful for a husband who works a job with health insurance, because C and C have had to make a couple of trips to the ER/Dr. lately.

14. Loving the warm weather this year again in Okinawa as the States have it terribly cold and snowy right now and you know how I HATE the cold!

15. Aside from an Act of God, we will not have to do the newborn thing again! This has been the hardest year of my life (worse than recruiting and you may remember how hard that was). I am grateful that the itty bitty phase of our lives is over.

16. I am grateful to be celebrating Christmas with all 3 of my children -- the boys had a very rough start so I am so appreciative of the fact that they are overall healthy and here.

I hope that you are feeling Christmas cheer in your life!

Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday Jesus!

Coupons

One of my family members suggested I share the following with you. One way to support military families is to send coupons! In overseas duty stations (which is where we are) we can use coupons up to 6 months after the expiration date. So if you have coupons that you are willing to mail, our family would greatly appreciate them! I went shopping a couple of weeks ago and saved $30.00! If you are interested in helping families across the military, here is some info. on coupon support.

Our family specifically uses the following coupons:

Tide

Joy dish soap

Huggies

Luvs

All baby wipes

Bounty

Charmin

Daisy sour cream/products

Any packaged baking mixes

Cheese sticks

Batteries

I suppose those are the big ones. Please feel free to send any of your expired coupons and I will pass them out to friends. Thanks for you support!

Send a Facebook message if you would like our mailing address.

P.S. Our commissaries let us stack most coupons. So no limit for most coupons for us to use on any one product. That means some products end up being free!

UPdate

Alright, so those of you who placed bets on whether I could let Matthew go back to the states w/o us...collect your winnings.

Since deciding that we wouldn't be able to afford tickets the prices they were, I kept checking the ticket prices almost daily. Just to hope and dream that we could afford them. Then I remembered, "Oh yeah, kids don't pay the full prices and the boys don't pay even close to the full prices." So after looking online today, I realized that we could afford the tickets. I called a couple close family members and discussed our options and the wisdom of traveling with 3 children 2 and under. Suggestions open here for those of you who have travelled overseas with small children...

We are super thrilled to be going back to the States!!! If you think you could make a trip to NJ area, we would love to see you!!!!

School Days

So here are the photos that all parents take the first day of school.

1st -- L leaving the house

2nd -- Standing in front of the apartment

3rd -- L standing outside her new school

After holding off starting school for one reason or another, L has officially started at a local Japanese school. She is the only English speaking child in the school. We are excited for this opportunity -- to stimulate neurons, learn a language and to just have an overall unique experience.

She loved telling me all about her day when I picked her up. She was so excited! Then she took a two hour nap from all the excitement! We think this is going to go very well.

Some updated pics can be seen here of the boys. Enjoy our cute kids!

The boys are asleep...

Connor and Caleb

Connor and Caleb

L going to visit her new school

It got real quiet one day, I walked into the living room to see what L was up to and this is what I found. Connor did not cry, he just kept hanging out.

L and mama got to go on a girls' date. This was L being super cute during our brunch.

Connor's whole face lights up when he smiles!

Being cute

Caleb talking and smiling away

Daddy holding -- can you tell which one?

And his baby girl.

So we will see how much of this post I can get done. These are just a few pictures we've been able to take lately. The boys are growing well, L loves being a big sister and with the maid coming and our Jenny, Mama is not going crazy.

Our most disappointing news is that when M and I moved to Okinawa, we planned all along to make a trip back to the states Nov. 2010 for M to run the NYC marathon. We also wanted to take a trip to KS/MO for my family to be able to meet the boys. (Well, when we moved we thought we were pregnant with one). But then we found out about twins....

Which meant buying an extra car seat, highchair, clothes, etc. Then we needed more help, so the maid and helper. Then with the extra ticket -- well you get the idea. We did not plan on twins when we planned a trip back to the states. Since I am not willing to commit to the stress of traveling on a Space - A (military flight) we are not coming back to the states. You see, if we try a military flight, we have to get up each day at about 3 am and be at the airport (with all the kids and all of our stuff). We hope and pray to be able to get a flight and if we don't, after waiting for 4 hours, we go back home to try again the next day. Then the flights only get us to Seattle, CA, etc. We would then have to buy a last minute ticket to get to NJ and that could be more $$$ than the ticket to get to the States. But we could get stuck on the West Coast for several days until we can get on a flight. If the kids were older, I would be all about this. Traveling alone with 3 kids 2 and under, there is NO WAY! So our disappinting news is that the whole family is not coming back. M will fly to NJ on his won, run the marathon and then come home. Since he gets about 2 weeks away, I stated that I get two weeks next year when the boys are bigger and don't need me all the time! Fair trade don't you think?

Babies are waking up so I am off to nurse (yes, 6 months of nursing!) and take care of my crew.

Prayer requests:

M is going to be gone a lot over the next 2 months, so we need prayers...mostly that I don't eat one of my young. ;)

These days

Some days are good around here and some days are not so good. Today was a good day. In fact, this has been an alright week. However, I think the biggest blessing and reason for bringing my mood up -- Caleb slept through the night last night! And not just the 5 hour block that Drs say is "through the night". That is NOT through the night in my book! He slept from about 10 pm until 7:00 am! Then to top it off, Connor only got up once through the night!!! So I woke up refreshed and renewed and looking at the world through brighter eyes. Typically I am getting up about 5 times each night with one various boy or the other, so it was AMAZING!

Now we have also figured out that Connor has reflux. So he started Zantac today and a friend provided some suggestions of things we can do on our own. So with the medicines and helps, Connor may just start sleeping even better. So I am hopeful that we are on our way to more and more sleep. Three years is a long time to go with only a few good nights sleep here and there.

At out 6 months Dr appointment this morning, the Nurse Practitioner didn't have any major concerns. Which was a huge relief since I have been a little stressed about how delayed the boys are physically. She said there were even a few areas where the boys were actually ahead of even what a 6 month old baby should be doing (their adjusted ages -- 4 1/2 months). The boys are growing well and doing well overall. They are still delayed, but making progress with PT and what we do with the boys after the PT leaves.

Other big news is that L is going to school. On Tuesday night, the night before we visited her school, she went to bed at 6:30. She was SOOO excited about going! When I went to get her the next morning, she jumped up on her bed shouting, "Lexi wake up, Lexi go to school!" Then she jumped up and down several times. She will be starting for one 1 -- 1/2 day on Sept. 3. Then she will be going for 3 -- 1/2 days the next week. After that she will be going 3 full days per week. She is so thrilled to talk about school and to get ready for it! She already has her backpack packed and ready to go. I hope she has the language skills of one of M's sisters (she spent 2 years in China and can speak fluently) and not my ability for languages.

M is getting ready to head back to the states to run the NYC marathon. He is running lots and getting very excited.

Those are our big goings on. Have a great day!

At the Habu snake/Cobra show

Dr. Fish -- the fish eat the dead skin off your feet

L being cute

L promoting M with Brandon's help

M swearing in

We had my dad and sister here for 3 glorious weeks! I was so grateful to have them come and help out with the circus that is our home. My brother has now decided that each time he walks out of our door, the Circus theme song should be playing...yeah we have lots going on.

While my dad was here we got to see lots of the island and eat all over too. My dad LOVES to eat different/unusual/new foods so we tried to get in as many places as we could. One restaurant was a Garlic House -- fried garlic, baked garlic, fried potatoes, garlic and cheeses and on and on with the garlic recipes. Oh man, it was yummy!

We visited the Aquarium, a Butterfly garden, Fruit Land, Okinawa World and several other places I am forgetting. It was such a pleasure to be able to get out and enjoy where we are living. When our other visitors were here we had too much going on with sick/quarantined preemie babies. Having the boys older who could tag along was great. The little ones and I only went out and about every other days so they could rest (and I could rest) but we still were able to do lots.

Along with the sites, Matthew was promoted to Chief Warrant Officer 2! Matthew chose to have my brother help Lexi pin daddy's new rank on.

Let's see - other goings on. We have help coming two days/week. Our Jenny comes to help us hold babies and occupy L. She has Children's Lit background, so she has been recruited to read like crazy to little L.

The boys have started PT and are coming along. Mama has lots of movements that she has to practice with the boys, but they are making progress from week to week. In fact, we are already moving the PT sessions from one time per week to every other week. Caleb has also started baby rice cereal. Connor will hold off a couple of weeks on the cereal but has made baby progress in other areas.

The boys both have Opthamology appointments on Tuesday. Each one of them has a lazy right eye so we have figure out what to do about that.

L is also going to visit a Japanese preschool on Wednesday! She is so excited about going to school and we are so excited about her learning to speak Japanese. We hope this will be a fantastic experience for her.

This note is very disorganized, but the boys still get up 3 -5 times per night and I am up around 7 with L...so on little sleep, this is as good as it gets for now.

Have a great day!

EI -- Early Intervention

Update on C & C --

Being a former Early Intervention/Special Educator, I have watched very closely the development of C & C. When taking into consideration that the boys came early, I have watched even more closely. Several weeks ago, we decided that there was enough of a delay to go ahead and refer the boys to be evaluated. I discussed this with the Dr. at the boys' last appointment, but she was of the mindset that the boys just need more time. I agree that given more time, the boys would probably catch up and they probably wouldn't need anything. However, if they qualify, then what difference does it make to have one more person around to provide ideas/suggestions and interact with each boy individually. They don't get much 1:1 time, so a person here exclusively for each boy sounds like a good deal to me.

A Nurse and a PT (Physical Therapist) came to complete the evaluations and sure enough the boys qualify for services. Right now they are only needing physical development. Apparently during the last month in the womb, the muscle fibers develop that help you to make slow and precise movements. When you are born early, as the boys were, the muscle fibers do not have a chance to mature. The PT will be able to help the boys develop these muscle fibers and give us motor movement ideas and suggestions to carry on during the rest of the week. Each boy gets to work with the PT one time/week.

It also appears that each boy has a lazy eye. The muscle problems are probably contributing to the eye problems. So we have appointments to get the boys' eyes checked and see what step we need to take next -- probably just muscle exercises to work on strengthening the muscles.

We are excited to start services soon and get to work -- though I am not sure how to fit in the muscle activities we need to do in between feeding 3 kids, changing 2 boys and making sure L gets to the toilet (before she pees on the sofa one more time), playing, reading books, naps and errands.

The PT suggested that the boys will probably not need services a year from now so that is great! We are thankful that the only concern is physical movement. Otherwise the boys have sparkles in their eyes, smiles on their faces and are cooing up a storm.

Bday and project

I had a wonderful Birthday! M woke me up with a surprise appointment for a massage. Then I got to shopping all by myself for materials to build a table for L. M and I then went to dinner. My wonderful friends gathered for a party a couple of days before my bday -- which was fun. One gal brought those beautiful flowers!!!

I have found that if I have projects going, I am in a much better frame of mind as a stay-at-home-mom. So after finishing my painting of the house and my balcony garden; I had to move on. With the supplies I bought, I was able to build a table. Was fun to put together and will go with the wooden kitchen I am having made for L.

Three baskets underneath for storage and 2 baskets for sitting on.