Quincy and Miles turn 1 !!

It seems so fast. So fast it is almost cruel, I can't believe a year ago I was just entering the new adventure of being a Mom of twins. Quincy and Miles are my biggest surprise in life, a gift I did not expect, nor know how to receive. I have stumbled through it at times, and at other times felt like I had it all under control, only to stumble again. What they have given us this past year is a feeling of completeness, and love. They made Darrian a brother, and they made Keith and I more capable parents. The laughs, I would put up with the sleepless nights several times over to have those laughs in my life.

Now you all know me, I love a birthday party. Or a party period. I love planning all the details, I love seeing it come together. When I was asked if I wanted to have the c-section on Monday or Friday I choose Friday so their actual birthday would fall on a Saturday for the party. :) When they were a few month old I saw all the "thing 1, thing 2 parties" and decided on something different. I loved the idea of a "one in a flash" type theme, I saw a shirt Darrian had with blue and orange and decided on that being the colors. I wanted vintage and frill, even a little as a Mom of three boys and little frill to go around :). I love how it all came together.

I usually end up not making many things myself. I come up with the idea, and I go out and find a vendor to make it happen given it be Etsy or a local vendor. This year I thought I would do a dessert table. When the quote came back at $600 !!!!!! and it did not even include one ounce of food for the party, just a table, platters, and a backdrop I went back to the drawing board. In telling my woes to a few friends they were generous and offered to help by making cookies, marshmallow pops for the party.

A celebration really only has to include (in my opinion) a cake and some lovely loved one's, all this stuff is bonus. However I love doing the extra stuff, and making it special for my guys.


Here is a photo dump.. actually there may be two :)

The cakes on the cake stands I made, with the banners I made using printable's from Barbara Neeley Designs.

The boys invite created by BN designs, framed by the photobooth set up.

Fondant camera cupcake toppers from LC Cakes on Etsy.

marshmallow pops Sol made

set up of Q's side with cupcakes, cake stand, and Q I painted and the crepe paper backdrop I did.

Photo "1" I made using pictures of the boys through the year

I ended up renting the vintage cameras, suitcase, crate and couple other items from Milk Glass Vintage rentals. She is reasonable and so easy to work with.

Quincy and Miles 1 year stats

Looking back at my blog which is sort of my "baby book", I can't seem to find one flipping stat for Ht and Weight for D from his first 4 years?? How did I miss that? I am trying to be better with the twins but would like to compare them to D's so I will have to get a copy from the doctor.

So we had the boys 1st year wellness check. It went fine other than the Dr. being 40 mins late. Ever tried to sit through a waiting list with one baby? Ya imagine doing it with 2 for 40 mins. Then we had to do a blood draw on the boys, they do it the same way they do it for adults.. so imagine the fun of holding them both down to find a vein.

Good news is they are both happy, healthy, and ahead of the game on milestones so far. That is happy news.

Here are their stats:

Miles stats: 23 lbs 8.5oz, 31.5" tall
Quincy stats 22 lbs 15.4 oz, 30 3/4 tall

Cathching up November recap

Here I am playing catch up again, story of my life these days. At some point I will get it under control, someday right??


Here we go, November was filled with a lot of fun, and new things for the kids. The babies turned 11 months old, and started taking a bath in the big bathtub.

Quincy started taking steps about 4-5 at a time. He LOVES to climb. The couch, a box, a stool... it gives me heart attacks, but thankfully in Nov he also mastered getting down feet first and not head first. That is a huge milestone! He loves to eat, not picky at all. He has a great sense of humor and crinkles his nose when he smiles or laughs. He loves to sing and dance, currently obsessed with a Santa that sings silent night. His favorite toy is a ball. He loves to chase them, throw them, or carry them around.

Darrian is working on his numbers and letters at school and is pretty close to spelling his name on his own. He talks all the time, and has a imagination. He is in love with all things superhero. He is really into Christmas and hoping Santa will bring him a batman cave and scooter. He learned about what being "thankful" means, and on his list of things he was thankful for included his family, his toys, and spider man.
Miles became a full fledged walker this month, going all around the house toddling about. He is the snuggle bug of the bunch, comes over to get hugs and kisses then he is off. He is more picky in his eating habits, and finds lots of laughs in his brothers. He waves hi, and makes the "all done" sign. He does not like shoes, refuses to walk or crawl even in them. He doesn't really like socks either, he takes them off right after I put them on then goes over to Quincy and tries to take his off too. He thinks everyone should be barefoot.

We spent our thanksgiving at Chris and Julie's house. Julie cooked a turkey, we added some sides. We had a lot of fun and kids had fun playing.

trying to get a picture of all six kids was pretty impossible:

Bucket list revisted..

The other day I was thinking about my bucket list, and thinking that two years almost two years have gone by since I came up with the list and said on my 30th birthday that I was going to accomplish these things in the next 10 years. 8 years to go and I don't think I am doing so great. I need to break this up and get going. I have some traveling to do, which with three kids I don't know how I will get it all done. I am going to aim high though and hope that my 40th birthday will be spent in Italy. :) Who wants to come ?


Travel to Lake Como
Take a gondola ride in Venice
Take Baby D to Disney world
Give a stranger $100
Volunteer at a shelter on a holiday
Give a jacket to a homeless person
Drive across country
Go to New England in the fall
See a sporting event in box seats
Take a cooking Course
Take a photography class
Get in contact with my Dad's family
Call a old friend and catch up
Go back to FL
Visit my grandparents graves
Volunteer in an election
Be a big sister or mentor to a child
Eat at French laundry in Napa
Sit front row at a concert
Go to the Oprah
See a show on Broadway
Volunteer at church
Marry a couple
Go back to school
Have a bonfire on a beach
Do something drastic with my hair
See the grand canyon
Go to Yosemite
Go on vacation without a phone or laptop
Walk in a marathon for a cure
Take an Alaskan cruise
Make something useful with my wedding dress
Volunteer in Ds classroom
Escort on a field trip
Own a home with a pool-(this one I don't see doing in the next decade)
live abroad for a year --(this one I don't plan to do in the next decade maybe in my 50's)

Halloween

This year's Halloween seemed to last a while :) Darrian decided early on to be spiderman and my Mom got him a costume back in Sept. he wore it a couple times and it started to rip.. I had to order another costume from Amazon (that he wore 3-4 times for events and it started to rip) for actual Halloween events. At least he isn't the type yet to change his mind a bunch of times.

Quincy and Miles were Eeyore and Tigger, costumes a friend let me borrow. They were so cute in them I didn't want to take them off. :) We had a few fun events we went to. Darrian got to wear his costume to church for a parade, then we went to trunk or treat a free event in our city for the kids, and he had a school party.. and finally Trick or treating with our friends and their kids. All these events allowed me to get lots of pictures and Darrian is already talking about what he would want to be next year.

This picture is a free picture they took at the city's Trunk or Treat event

The crew before heading out trick or treating

Miles aka Tigger

Quincy aka Eeyore

Handsome Darrian aka spiderman

Love the tail!

Quincy and Miles Baptism

Quincy and Miles were baptized on 10/16/11. A bit late, but better late than never. I was baptized Catholic, raised in the Catholic faith, and I agree with the foundation of the religion. I believe religion is a personal thing, a personal journey, and a personal relationship. I mainly wanted our boys to be baptized so they can feel apart of a faith community, and to help them form the foundation that I am grateful I had growing up. At some age they will choose for themselves what they want their religion to be, if any. I am just giving them one option. Darrian this year is in religious education classes on Sunday for a hour or so while I attend Mass. I have been looking for a program for several years that introduced him to religion on his level because taking him to mass he wasn't really understanding anything. At this church I found a community I really enjoy, and I like how open minded and liberal they are. I choose to have the boys baptized there, and hope to enroll them in the same classes when they are old enough.

We are thankful for those to came out to see the boys being baptized, our friends and family who support our little family mean the world to us. Julie and Chris are the godparents for the boys, same as Darrian's. We trust them to guide them, we trust them with our most valuable possessions and happy the boys have them to lean on if they ever need advice in life. My friend Kelly is a wonderful photographer which you know now having seen all her pictures she has taken of Darrian and the boys this far. She was invited as a friend to the baptism but was gracious enough to bring her camera along. She got some images I know no one else would have captured. If your ever looking for some pictures to be taken look Kelly up, you won't be disappointed.

Darrian's first time in a suite. He took my breath away, I can't believe this amazingly handsome guy is my son.