Perfect Match

Life has a funny way of working out. When we started the adoption process we knew that there was a good chance of the children not looking like us and we were fine with that. Doug and I look like opposites so we figured our children would as well. We also never thought that we would get two boys at the same time but we all know how well that turned out. But for thinking that our children would be so different from us, we sure ended up with the opposite. These boys could not look or act more like the two of us.

Proof:

William looks at acts just like Doug. William wants to sleep all day, like Doug, and most of the time wants to just be left alone to do his own thing. He never cries unless he is hungry or tired. He has big beautiful brown eyes and a darker complexion. Doug is on the left, William on the right. They have the same eyes, nose, and ears.





































Then there is Benjamin. As much as we love him he is no angel. He wants to get into everything and demands every ones attention. He won't sleep because he is afraid of missing out on something fun, he is very social and talks all the time. His smile will brighten your day but he will ware you out. With his blue eyes and blond hair he sure looks something like I did.

Rodeo

You may have be thinking, sweet, the Halls live by Beverley Hills and we're going to hear about Rodeo Drive. Not quite. Yesterday we drove beyond the regions of the 909 to Hesperia where our niece and nephew Sage and Colton were in a rodeo. This may be a shocker, but their dad is Tamara's brother Rob in the post before this one (see pic). For the regular readers, Rob's ranch is where I went branding and enjoyed my first Rocky Mountain oysters.
Anyway, we drove on up to the park and made pretty decent time. We looked for Rob's white pickup and the trailer. That tactic would have worked if every truck didn't have a trailer and half of them weren't white. Once we found them, we settled in and tried to get the boys changed and fed. With all the horses and goats around, Will's dirty diaper actually improved the scent in the area. To give this perspective, a couple weeks ago one of Will's bombs made my mom leave the apartment and Ben cry. Sage and Colton performed well but given it was their first rodeo on the California circuit they didn't perform as well as they hoped. They both did pole bending and goat tying and Sage did the barrel race as well. They chalked it up to a learning experience. I don't know if Rob was happy with the price of learning, but what are you going to do?
Some other notable things from the trip. Will might have slept for over 22 hours yesterday. And today. We hope he's going through a growth spurt, though if he does he'll be about 33% bigger than Ben. Ben started making clicking sounds with his tongue and spends the majority of his waking hours doing that. Speaking of, Ben developed a serious aversion to sleeping. We're hoping it's just a phase but it's one of our least favorite of his phases. Tamara promises she'll post pics and videos shortly.

What are you going to wear?

Yes, that is Bon Jovi and yes, we were that close!! I will get to that in a minute but first I have to tell a story leading up to the concert.

I got two tickets from Papa Hall for Christmas to go see the Bon Jovi concert.... I was so excited. After Doug laughed at me during the last Bon Jovi concert for being so excited I decided that he was not worthy to come to this concert with me. I asked my older brother Robert because back in the day we used to rock out to Bon Jovi in the car. The last concert that Robert and I went to together was Pink Floyd and that was going to be hard to top.

The week of the concert Robert called and asked me what I was going to wear. First, that was strange coming from Robert and second, I realized that I had not even thought about what I was going to wear. Back in the day this would have been the most important question and Robert must have remembered me trying on about five different outfits for the last concert. Then I thought about the four other Bon Jovi concerts that I had been to and most of the time I was wearing black leather pants and some party blouse. I realized that I had officially become a mother of twins. I was more concerned about getting them ready then getting myself ready. Times have changed but I am so grateful. Although it is still important to be yourself and remember to take some time to have fun, I much rather be admiring how cute my boys are then how good I look in those tight pants:)

And....the concert rocked!!! They played for about two hours and still were the bomb. I noticed that John had retired his leather pants as well. I danced the whole time and made sure to scream really loud. My brother even sang the songs he knew with me (this is also a big deal). They played Living on a Prayer last and I lost my voice singing along. It was a night to remember and it made me realize that I am one lucky lady!!!

High Maintenance Babies

I know that this will not seem like a surprise to most because children take after their parents, in this case me, but my boys are totally high maintenance babies. They will only poop in clean diapers. Every time I change their wet diapers and I am thinking we are all good, then they poop....every time!!! Don't they know how much those diapers cost?:) But then they smile at me and I think to myself...you can do whatever you want, just don't tell you dad. J/K...but could you stay mad at these little faces?

Twins?

Every time I take the boys out I get asked, "Twins?" To make things simple I just say, "Yes." In the beginning I would try to explain the situation and that was usually followed by confused looks and to many questions. As the boys are getting older it is becoming more obvious that they are not twins but that is what I am going with still.

When we decided to adopt both boys many people would ask, "Do you have any idea what you are getting yourself into?" That was followed by me saying, "nope, never done this before." I thought that I knew so much about being a mother but as things progress I am learning that I had no idea what I was in for. This past weekend both boys were very sick, very cranky, and Doug was busy with school and not around. Taking two sick boys to the doctors is hard enough but I was not prepared for the emotions that overwhelmed me. I kept asking myself: what if I am doing something wrong, what if I am not doing enough, when is the fever considered too high, and when do I need to take them to the emergency room.... I was a mess. At the end of the day, the boys survived and Doug made it home in time to go to bed.

I found myself asking can I really do this? Then I started thinking about all the amazing women in my life that have all done this. Like my aunt Robyn that had twins after already having a young boy. Then about my old roommate Julie that has twins as well and then another little boy. There is also another old roommate, Kacy that has twins and another little girl. Then I thought about my friend Catherine that actually had one child, twins, and then twins again. Lastly, my friend Bonnie that just had triplets. All of them are wonderful women that I look up to and although I might not be as great and patient as they are.... I realized that they were put into my life for many reasons. The most important was to show me that I could handle these two miracles that I call twins.

Here are some pictures that I am loving right now:

Clippers game

As Tamara noted below, back in Jan. we went to a Clipper's game. If you think Bron Bron is awesome on TV, you have to see him in person. It's something else. You've never seen anyone so huge, quick, and powerful. It's really not fair. It's something every sports fan should do at least once.
Anyway, as you might imagine, we can't go anywhere in LA without getting hounded by a paparazzo. Yesterday I got home late and Tamara was all excited about something she recorded on the DVR. I had a couple guesses but was way off. She pulls up the list and it's the Daily 10 on E!, which I try and avoid. So I guess it has to be about either Seth Green or Chris Tucker. NPH/Barney Stinson? Alec Baldwin back in the news? Steve Prefontaine? All wrong. Somehow Tamara had seen a pic of me like one of the two on the bottom. I couldn't even see me when I first looked. As you can see in the next few pics, the paparazzi wouldn't leave us alone at the game but some couple kept on photobombing us. You can definitely see us on the top one and you can barely make me out in the next two. If that couple wouldn't have been so rude you could see us more clearly.

Very Exciting....

I have stopped blogging for so long I forgot to let you all know the exciting news.....I am going to the Bon Jovi Concert next week!!!!!! Papa Hall hooked me up with tickets for Christmas and my brother Robert is coming with me. If you know me at all you know what I fan I am, yes I cried for happiness at the last concert I went to in NYC. Doug likes to bring it all the time and laugh at me, that is why my brother is coming with me this time. I will post updates after the concert:)

Papa Hall also hooked us up with Cavalier tickets vs the Clippers at the Staple Center last month. It was our first date sense the boys and we had a great time. Papa Hall has front row tickets so we got to see Shaquille O’Neal and Lebron up close and personal. I have never been a huge fan of either but they have some serious skills and enjoyed showing them off for the crowd. I was just as excited to be sitting in arms distance to Rihanna.

Boys are crying....I am out.

I get asked often

I get asked often how I handle both boys at once and I always reply, "I just do." My family and friends have been super helpful with everything from babysitting, to bringing me meals, or just giving advice. It also helps that I love the boys so much and Doug and I have been praying for them to come into our lives for a long time. On top of that I thought that I would list a couple things that have really helped and I am not sure that I could have lived without, well at least helped me not to go crazy.

The BOB stroller. The boys just love to be outside and this has been the most amazing stroller. It is so light weight so it does not brake my back to carry it up and down three flights of stairs about twice a day.


The Baby Bjorn. Again this helps with being outside in tight spaces and in the beginning I would carry Ben around the house in it and still get things done without him crying.


A friend of mine gave me the book Baby Wise to read. This book made all the difference with how I scheduled our days. The boys are on the same schedule so I know when they are going to eat and take naps. It also helped with knowing the boys different cries so that I was not feeding them when they weren't hungry. It has always helped with the boys now sleeping through the night.


Colic Tablets. Ben was a very colic baby and when I gave him a couple tablets he would instantly calm down. They are natural so I did not feel bad giving them to him. Trust me, I tried everything else and these were the miracles workers. They also help for when they do not feel well instead of giving them Tylenol.


The Bumbo Seat. Many people do not believe in these because babies fall and hurt themselves but I just never leave them alone in one. But it makes them feel like they are part of the group which keeps them happy while I am cooking or putting on makeup.


Baby wraps. These help the boys calm down when fussy and helps them to sleep longer. It also helps when I need to carry both boys because they are more restrained.


Lastly, Breyers Black Raspberry Ice Cream. This is a new flavor that helps me relax after a long day....SO good!!

Missed Calls

This last weekend we went to my parents place to let the boys cry through the night. Tamara went up one day before me on Wednesday. Wednesday night I got home around 8:30 and sat down and put on a little PTI. Next thing I know it's 11:45 and the first thing I think is Tamara is going to be so mad I didn't call her. My phone looked something like this:

Of those 14, at least 12 were from Tamara. I knew I was in trouble but surprised I hadn't heard a knock on the door. Turns out this time she showed some restraint. Let's rewind about 4 years. When Tamara and I were dating I'd take her home almost every night to 168th. Then I'd turn around and go back to my place on 63rd. It took forever. I called her between the subway and my place to let her know I got home safe. One night I totally forgot to do so. I got up in the morning and had almost twenty missed calls. I thought, that's weird, I wonder what happened. Turns out Tamara freaked out when I didn't call, called my roommates who didn't answer, and then called a neighbor downstairs, Jen Bennion (née York), who came upstairs and woke up a roommate who checked in on me. I was passed out, because it was 3 am. I had to swear and promise to never, ever do it again and hear I was doing it again. Fortunately, she was much more understanding this time. Must have been Ben and Will interceding on my behalf.

New Love

As Doug pointed out, I have not blogged forever and yes I have a new love. It is not the Dillon Panthers but the three men in my life or one man and two adorable little boys. Most of you know the story of us adopting these two miracles so I wont go into to much detail and I can't even begin to post all of the photos that I have taken so please still click on the these links for updated photos:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=126222&id=647682644&l=88373df83d
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=126226&id=647682644&l=af8717179e
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=126223&id=647682644&l=7625090770

Here was the announcement that we sent out that I just LOVE:

I will just give some highlights of our amazing journey. Ben came into our lives on October 2nd and was born in Utah. I was there for about a month (in the hospital with him for about a week.) We had a lot of visitors and enjoyed spending time with family. Doug was only there for the weekend and boy did we miss him. Once the paper work was taken care of we drove home. Will was born November 15th in California about three hours from where we live. We got the call at 11pm that the birth mom was in labor so we packed up our stuff and was at the hospital by 3am to see our wonderful William. Again I had to stay at the hospital for about a week and we had to say goodbye to dad and Ben (yes, I cried for a bit). Every night we would say our good nights by ichat (this was our first family photo.)

This is a bath tub that relaxes babies when they are young because it makes them feel like they are still in the womb. As you can tell, it worked very well.

Ben had this thing for awhile where we would only sleep if he was smothered in your arm pit.

Doug's mom, Katie comes every Wednesday to help and both the boys and I look forward to her coming to visit.

Ben loves taking naps with dad which really works out because Doug loves to take naps and he has learned that I wont give him a hard time if he naps with a kid.

Will also LOVES to cuddle, especially with his brother. I promise that I did not pose them for this picture.

The boys love to me outside so they look forward to days when we can take them to the beach.

Doug blessed both boys in December. It was such a special occasion and so nice to have most of our family there.

Here was our families Christmas photo.

The boys got to sit on Santa's lap.

I don't dress them a like most of the time but some times I just can't help it.

They love their Bumbo chairs and the chairs have been such a lifesaver for me. Often they will sit and talk to each other or help grandpa make cookies.

Ben has started to bounce in the bouncer and here he wore himself out.

Last week my parents took them to Chuck E Cheese. They were so worn out after four hours of looking at lights that they actually slept through most of the night.

Those are some highlights, I will try to be better but I make no promises. Because I am writing this post my laundry did not get done......