Merry Christmas!

Without a doubt, this December has been my worst month of posting in the three years I have had this blog. It has thoroughly kicked my butt, from multiple ear infections (the twins) to severe sinusitis (me) to acute bronchitis (DH) to preparing for and hosting five family members for the holidays (in-laws).  Not to put my in-laws on the same level as infectious bugs, but you know what I mean.  Ahem.

Despite limping along through the month, we managed to get a few things done.  In order to have an extra bedroom for our guests, and desperately hoping it would help get the twins on the same schedule (HA!), we moved the babies into the same room.  The jury is still out on that decision, but at least we no longer feel guilty for having Nix sleep in the lovely nursery with Gax tucked away in a random spare room.  I did most of my Christmas shopping online, indulging my love of Amazon.com and UPS tracking web site.  It's coming... it's coming... it's HERE!  (I am so house-bound right now that I almost rabidly await the arrival of mail and parcel trucks. Maybe Santa will bring me a life for Christmas.)

We are rapidly approaching 12 months since I went on bedrest with the twins: January 4.  It's been a strange year, filled with the most amazing blessings (gave birth to healthy full term twins, DH's mom successfully finished chemo and radiation for breast cancer, my parents moved across the country to be near the boys), but yet the daily grind was especially... well, grindy.  Spending almost 3 months on bedrest and then raising three munchkins under the age of three has NOT been easy.  But soon they'll have birthdays, so I'll have three kiddos under the age of four, which I'm pretty sure is going to be a breeze.

So 2010 wasn't exactly a bad year, but I am definitely greeting 2011 with open arms.  Hoping to get out of the house more, laugh more, sleep more, bake more cupcakes, read more trashy romance novels, spend more time with my husband, and play more with my children.  I have the most amazing people in my life, and as I slowly emerge from the fog of parenting twinfants, I am so excited to enjoy them more.

And speaking of the most amazing people... pictures!

This is the teddy bear that DH bought me for Christmas 1996.  Bean calls it "his" bear, because what's mine is his, and what's his is his.



Determined to crawl, Gax spent a few days getting the form down, then another few days coordinating movement...



...and now will spend the next 17 years getting into things he's not supposed to.



Nix has no interest in crawling yet, but he has every interest in being stinkin' adorable.



DH's parents, two brothers, and sister arrived in town from Michigan last week.  We are beyond thrilled to have them for the holidays.  It's the first time they are meeting the twins, in fact.  The boys are turning on the charm in the hopes that, like my parents, my in-laws will be unable to leave Seattle, ever.  Then we just have to capture my brother with our Web O' Cuteness, and the whole family will be together again!























The twins were baptized last Sunday.  It was such a lovely service, and it meant a lot to have our family there. Nix and Gax took pity on me and didn't fuss the entire time!  (They saved that for 10 pm, midnight, 3 am, and 5:30 am.)



Both Grandpas were on hand to entertain the babies for the remainder of the service.  Joy and love, indeed.



The twins absolutely adore their Bumpa, and evidence points to the reverse as well.



Bean is totally a Grandma's boy. They are thick as thieves, those two!



Bath time is major cute time in our house.








Nix shows off our new Lemony Inka wrap.  (No worries, I may have been sick and busy this month, but not too sick and busy to manage my stash of baby carriers.)



Despite teething six pearly whites at the same time (praise be to infant ibuprofen!), Gax retains his sense of humor.





Merry Christmas, from my family to yours!