The Twins Turn 4

The twins turned 4 on April 28th and I am finally getting around to posting about it. I feel like I'm seeing them with new eyes lately. They have grown so much in stature and intelligence. They amaze me with their vocabulary and their creativity everyday. They love pretending and telling stories. Meredith loves school and Berkley is more of my free thinker. I wish I had time to really think through all the milestones they are reaching, but I'll let the photos speak for themselves. They had a pirate party which opened with a scavenger hunt that my brother Joey created and introduced. Cousins Hutch and McKinley helped read the clues hidden all throughout the house. Their big gift from grandparents and parents was a playhouse, which you'll see our family photo in front of. We also celebrated with their preschool class on the Friday before their birthday. It's so much fun celebrating with a large group of 4 year olds, they all get so excited for one another and unashamedly shout out the happy birthday song. Priceless memories!

Family Photo Bloopers

So these are pictures of our "real" family. Fun in the chaos and boy was it chaos:)

Family Photo Session

Here are some family session photos we had taken when Elizabeth was around 2 weeks old. Blooper photos to follow. And can I just say, my babies are GORGEOUS!

Sharing Newborn Photos Finally

When Elizabeth was just 6 days old we took her to Peggy Rogerson Photography to capture some sweet newborn photos. I can't believe it's taken me so long to share them, but better late than never. Here are just a few of my favorites. We expected her to be an Easter baby because she was due a week before Easter, that's explains the rabbit hat, for which I'd like to thank my friend Heather Harden for crocheting for us. And I want to thank my friend Sarah Robbins for the precious flower headband you made Elizabeth, it gave the photo something special.  Looking back at these I just can't believe how tiny Elizabeth was.

Welcome Spring

When I first wrote the title of this post I wanted to write welcome summer, but technically it's spring here in eastern NC. The weather continues to jump from 70's one day into the high 80's the next, but I'm not going to complain about it. We welcome the warmer weather and my kids are especially happy because it meant playing in the water hose. I caught some cute pictures and just had to share.

The Manning Five

We enjoyed a visit from cousins Hutch and McKinley last week. Happiness for the twins is a visit from their cousins. Shout out to my nephew, Hutch, who turned 11 yesterday on April 1st! I was happy to catch a picture of the 5 grandchildren together.

Our Own Egg Hunt

The twins enjoyed coloring Easter eggs this past weekend, but we didn't have time to hide them until this afternoon. It's never too late for some family fun. And as you'll see from the pictures, my children love boots:)

NC Herring Festival 2013

The Herring Festival is an annual family fun event held in Jamesville each Easter weekend. I grew up attending the Herring Festival with my brother and sister, grandparents, parents, and cousins - it was always a blast. So of course, it's been fun to carry on the tradition with my kids. And although the festival has changed from when I was a child, it's still a great community event to share with your kids. The festival is held just a short walk away from our house, which makes it even better for us. Even Elizabeth tagged along for the fun, and boy did we have her bundled up, she couldn't even move in her little suit we put on her. Here are a few pictures from our weekend festivities.

Elizabeth is 1 Month Old

Four weeks ago today our sweet Elizabeth Irene was born. It’s unreal to me that she is already one month old. I have to say that things have been incredibly different with Elizabeth than it was with the twins; from the pregnancy, delivery, and the first four weeks of life. I carried the twins full-term (37 weeks and 3 days) and had a natural delivery. But with Elizabeth things were different, she arrived at 36 weeks (technically a month early) and I had to have a c-section due to her footling breech status. I know, you would think it would be reversed that the twins would have been more complicated in pregnancy, but this was God’s perfect plan for me and my babies. With the twins I was utterly exhausted within the first 3 days of their lives. By one week old I was on the brink of an emotional breakdown due to sleep deprivation and feeling totally secluded (sorry twins, this isn’t a guilt trip, I’d do it all again in a heartbeat for you). And here I am one month into Elizabeth’s life and I keep waiting for things to get really hard. I feel like it’s a whole new world and had I had one baby to begin with I would have thought being a mom was easy. Don’t get me wrong, I’m tired and wish I could get more than 3 hours sleep at any given time, but I’m just so thankful that I’m not exhausted. Thankful would be the word that defines this first month of being a mom with three. I go to bed at night and the last words floating in my head are thank you God. Thank you that my children are healthy, thank you that they are beautiful, thank you that I can be a mommy, thank you that I have family who assist me and love me, thank you that I have a husband who is a hands on dad, etc. I pray that this attitude of thankfulness will continue to sustain me as we continue to transition as a family of five. Today on Elizabeth’s one month birthday she really looked at me and gave me a half grin in response to some silly sounds I was making. She is getting ever more alert with every passing day. Elizabeth is one stretchy little things, she stretches so much and makes the cutest little grunts in the process. Elizabeth gets the hiccups at least 3 times a day. They seem like they’d be such a bother, but she doesn’t let them stop her. When she hiccups Elizabeth makes a squeaky sound, she sounds like a dog’s squeaky toy actually. I’ve considered nicknaming her “Squeaker,” but she’d probably hate me for that when she got older. Elizabeth is strong, she has been trying to sit her head up since we brought her home and I don’t remember the twins being so determined to sit up their heads so early. Elizabeth has been a good sleeper (thank you Jesus!). She goes to bed around 11-12 each night after I feed her and will sleep until about 3:45, so I actually get at least 3 hours of sleep at the time, which is so much better than a measly 1.5-2 hours between feedings. Elizabeth is a good eater. Nursing was burdensome and painful with the twins and I inevitably had to solely pump by the time they were 3 months old. Elizabeth has been a joy to nurse and I actually see how it can be a bonding experience instead of a burden (once again twins, not a guilt trip, it was worth it to keep my precious babies healthy). I think being a mom of two nearly 4 year olds has helped me gain perspective and appreciation for these little stages. I want to treasure all these experiences, as I know this will be our last child (unless the Lord has other plans for us). I know that before you know it we will be celebrating her 1st birthday and then she’ll be 4 in a flash. Elizabeth Irene Manning, we are blessed that God gave you to us and I’m so thankful that his plan was better than anything that Steven or I could have ever dreamed of. Happy one month!

Meredith's First Haircut

Today was a big day in the Manning home, it was Meredith's first haircut. Yes, she's only a month away from her 4th birthday and is just now having her first haircut. My baby is not a baby anymore:( With her curls, Meredith's hair took a long time to look full and it seemed that all of a sudden her hair just filled out and it was time for a trim. Meredith has seen Berkley get many haircuts and was familiar with our stylist, Mrs. Amanda, which made her very comfortable in the barber's chair. I was so proud of how well she cooperated with the stylist. Way to go Meredith on your first haircut! You are one beautiful little lady to me. Here is a shot of Meredith's hair length to begin with. Meredith especially loved this part of the cut:) And here's her after shot, as you can see from that smile on her face she just loved the experience!

Welcome Elizabeth Irene

It's still unbelievable to me that my baby girl has already arrived. A week ago today I had no clue how different my world would be within the next 24 hours. I had shown several symptoms that were telling me that Elizabeth would probably arrive early and had even joked with Steven, whose birthday was Sunday, February 24th, that he might share his birthday with Elizabeth, but I didn't really believe that was going to happen. Saturday, February 23rd began as any normal Saturday for our family. We were having a slow Saturday morning, it was rainy outside which made the morning seem to drag on and the twins were a bit restless. I had felt extremely tired on Friday and hadn't been sleeping very well - I remember I had prayed that I'd have a restful night's sleep on Friday night and I'm so thankful that God did answer that prayer, I felt refreshed on Saturday morning. I honestly felt completely normal on Saturday, that is until my water suddenly broke around 12:00. I had actually just texted my childhood best friend and we'd talked about how Elizabeth needed to turn. The next text I sent her was telling her my water had broken and that we were on our way to the hospital. Meredith was sitting in my lap playing on my iPad when the waters flooded and there was no denying that it was time for Elizabeth to arrive. I shooed Meredith off of my lap as quickly as possible and shouted for Steven to get me a towel. Meredith animately jumped up and down when she saw the mess and said, "Oh no mommy, we need to panic!" That girl is so silly, she made me laugh and I reassured her that we didn't have to panic, it just meant that today was Elizabeth's birthday. Berkley ran in about then and exclaimed, "Oh no mommy, you pee peed," again I laughed and did my best trying to explain what happened. Steven and I shot into high gear. Thankfully I had my stuff practically packed, but I hurriedly packed bags for the twins to sleep over at Mima and Papa's while Steven called my mom and his mom to tell them what was happening. Steven kept telling me to sit down, but I knew I just had to take care of the kids and our dog and then we'd be off - I really stayed quite calm. Steven and I both knew it was serious though because Elizabeth wasn't quite 37 weeks gestation (she was just 36 weeks and 2 days) and she was still footling breech, which meant she was feet first which can cause some unique complications. Within 15-20 my brother was in my living room to sit with the twins and we were off to the hospital. Everything happened so fast. My water broke a little after 12, we were at the hospital by 12:30 and Elizabeth was welcomed into the world by 2:38pm via c-section. It was all very surreal for me and it still seems unreal that Elizabeth is here. My c-section went smoothly, but I was not prepared for the pain. The first 24 hours were rough, but thanks to finding the right pain medications I am feeling better with everyday and am already very active. I didn't get any pictures of the first moment that I saw Elizabeth because Steven was the one holding her to show her to me, thus no one to take the picture. I regret that we didn't capture that moment, but I'll always remember it. Steven showed her to me and I just remember saying how tiny she was and how beautiful. She was absolutely perfect, just tiny at 5 lbs 14oz and 18 1/2 inches long. When they first took her out she didn't cry for awhile, which scared me, but because she was born via c-section it took a bit of stimulation to get her lungs going. That cry was such a beautiful sound to me. And by the way, it's fun having a physician as your husband when you're having surgery. I watched Steven as he watched the actual surgery the whole time and he could discuss with the doctors what was going on, so I got a play by play of what was happening. Once the baby was out Steven went to be with her and I was sewn up. I was eventually wheeled from surgery to the maternity floor; the elevator opens on two sides, as I was being wheeled in on one side I heard Meredith and Berkley coming in the other door with Mima and Papa - it was perfect. I was awake and alert and was able to tell them that Elizabeth was here and we were going upstairs to meet her, I was so thrilled that I had that couple of minutes to share with them! They had to wait a few more minutes while Elizabeth was getting her first bath and shots, etc. She was eventually brought in and the twins, Mima & Papa, and my mom joined us in welcoming Elizabeth. The twins were so utterly excited. Meredith was clearly in mommy mode, she joyfully counted toes and rubbed her head. Berkley was a little more stand offish, but just as excited. The twins looked so big sitting there beside my tiny Elizabeth. Some memorable things said by the twins were Berkley saying to Meredith, "Elizabeth is pretty isn't she Meredith." I'm sure there are details I'm forgetting, but Elizabeth is ready to be fed again - boy how those 3 hour cycles fly by. Well, I think that's enough of her birth story for now. I'll keep updating about the events of her first week as time (and sleep) allows. Our final moments before welcoming Elizabeth.