omaha!

so what do you get when you have ... 1 pediatrician, 1 anesthesiologist, 2 ER docs, 1 yoga instructor on maternity leave, 1 nurse on maternity leave, 1 nurse who is on hiatus being a stay-at-home mom, 1 former nurse who just became a stay-at-home mama with hopes of becoming the next big thing in graphic design (ok, not necessarily the next big thing, but you catch my drift), 2 twin boys, 2 pretty much newborns (one just getting his wings- chicken, that is - one a hefty 14 pounds at 10 weeks!) and an adorable toddler princess who can hold her own with ALL these boys?!?! a crazy, fun-filled weekend of old friends and new babies!  let me explain:

i went to nursing school with kelli and kari- lived with them right after nursing school until i got married in october of '04- 5 years coming up!  we all went to KU, and the medical school just happened to be on the same campus as the nursing school... lucky us, i know!! :)  long story short, all of us nurses met and married doctors- and jacob (4th doctor) knew kelli from the lawrence campus and lived with her, then her and me, then eric during school... i know, you all care so much about this... oh, well :)

the last time all eight of us (plus aubs in the womb) got together was jacob and abby's wedding in may 2007 , and we've ALL spent the last few years having babies, so needless to say, haven't been able to travel all about the country to visit one another... the girls have gotten together a few times, but this was the first time every wife, every husband, and every baby were together- it was so great.  honestly, i thought it was going to be chaotic, loud, too much for all the new babies, etc., but it was so much fun and i can't wait to do it again! a breakdown of all the families:

kel + jared + aubrey = the scotts

kari + eric + noah = the rushes

jacob + abby + eli = the eastmans

and you know us - the storks :)

auntie kel, aubs, finn, and liam

finn, noah, aubrey, and liam

green for life - finn and a sour-pussed liam

eli

i mean, seriously, get a load of those thighs, cheeks, and eyelashes!! beautiful! :)

all roommates at one time or another

kel, jacob, lily, eric, and kari

aubrey, eli, sobes, gracie girl, and noah

eli and jacob

proud daddies

eric and noah, jacob and eli

noah's sweet high-tops :)

so it looks like jared, abby, and bryan were left out of this group of pictures - when i get the picture of EVERYONE from whoever has it, i'll add it to the bunch to make this post complete! 

a schmorgasboard...

well, my intention for this post was to write about several different things and share several different pictures... however, as most things in my life right now go, i am being interrupted by a chubby-cheeked little monkey who seems to think he needs my attention more than my computer does... so very quickly, i will try to sum up what i would like to say.

i've changed the title of our family blog to stork bites: i never really warmed up to the stork's nest and i just think stork bites is more clever... :)

i'm going to try to make more of an effort to post more often, because i'm realizing that, aside from a few notes jotted down on a calendar in the nursery, the babies' first year is whizzing by, and i don't have much to show for it... except two adorable, very-much loved, chunky, did i mention adorable?, little boys... so having this as a chronicle of their little lives will be great.

some of these pictures are from the latest adventure we took up to omaha. i can't say much on this, because i've promised a best friend that she will have an entire post devoted entirely to this trip. stay tuned for that, c' lil...

the last couple of pictures of liam toppling over finn were inspired by my friend jane, who has two little twin girls who are very similar in personality to my guys. she just posted pictures from what seemed to be a very ferocious wrestling match between her little ones, and it just so happened that a few days later, i was able to capture the same thing! so thanks, JB (who promised no one was harmed in the making of that post), for not breaking up the fight and getting in on film :)...

thing 1 and thing 2, courtesy of tiff :)

finn, who doesn't appear interested, but is in fact, VERY engrossed in

the sweet potatoes before him

our family, in the hotel pool of that place i'm not supposed to mention

liam, having a grand ol' time in his jumper

the wrestling match :)

liam: i can take you, big brother

finn: oh, just wait...

and miracles of all miracles!, they DO smile at the same time

our first vacation

well, i think i can say our first vacation/airplane rides were successful.  like most people, the biggest thing we were worried about was the airplane- being those people with the screaming baby.  wait, two screaming babies!  however, except for a 20 minute meltdown courtesy of a very tired finn, i think they did wonderfully... bryan had to pull out the DVD player (in case of emergency and LAST resort) only once for liam, who surprisingly was ok with sitting for as long as he had to.  these babies just continue to amaze- they're seven months old and becoming little people!  sleeping through the night, eating yummy food like sweet potatoes and bananas (not at the same time), swinging at the park, getting teeth-  we're having a lot of fun with them :)  we tell ourselves almost every day that we're pretty lucky- i think having two babies at once could have been a lot worse...  here are a few pictures of our vacation!!

liam, enjoying his space while we were in denver waiting for our flight to reno

our new nephew, ben ~ one month old

my brother pat~finn~liam

their future's so bright...

my younger sister molly and liam

hanging out after breakfast in lake tahoe

totally planning something...

big boy finn kind of sitting up

my older sister kate w/ben, molly w/finn, myself w/liam 

~ at the pool ~

finn getting a bath in the sink :)

my great family, from left to right

sean, mom, pat, kate, lily w/ben, dad, molly, and bryan!

the boys had already gone down for the night... :)

sweet liam- if you look closely, you can see his two bottom teeth!!!

half year-olds!!

so my little guys are six months old! although it has sometimes seemed like we would never get to this point, the time has flown...  my mom and i were remembering that one year ago at almost exactly this time, we, i'm sorry- I was driving a u-haul with my car on a hitch all the way home from fresno... she, stuffing my face so i wouldn't get nauseous; me, eating gas station lemon drops like there was no tomorrow.  approximately 1700 miles... a drive i'll hopefully never have to do again.  so fast forward through the end of a mild summer, the beginning of a new job for bryan and an old one for me, bedrest between thanksgiving and christmas, a surprise delivery the day after christmas, a quick stay in the NICU, winter turning to summer without much of a spring, and here we are!! six months... we had our appointment on tuesday- they're on the charts for their weight, height, and head circumference for non-adjusted age!! finn is finally weighing more than liam at 15 pounds 5 ounces, while liam comes in right behind at 15# 2.  the doc said neuro-developmentally, they're both on track and are doing pretty much what 6-month olds should be doing : )... yea!  we have the green light to start solid foods anytime, and in the next two months, should slowly get to eating 3 times a day!  as a little present to myself for having to make food for two babies (yes, i'm going to make it because jarred baby food tastes like poo), i bought the beaba babycook.  i understand that i probably fell prey to marketing (which i'm guilty for a lot), but it's so cute and compact and can do lots of neat things to fruit, veggies, meat, and even fish!  i'll let you know how it goes... meanwhile, here are some pics of the guys enjoying life!! the first one i took on my phone, but liam's got such a cute look on his face, i had to include it!

going to the pediatrician's office in our sweet hats

 from jane, camille, and evelyn

saddle up!

he's got one of the greatest smiles...

love! this one

our first time in a pool!! we loved it...

bedtime

bedtime has become one of my very favorite times of the day...  i think my other favorite is in the morning when i wake up to liam talking very loudly to a) his mobile b) his hands or c) finn, trying to wake him up.  most mornings, it's liam who's talking, but actually it was finn this morning and liam was laying very quietly just staring at the ceiling.  when you walk in, finn's crib comes first (which reminds me, i need to post some pictures of our nursery since we've put up their names and hung jen's SA-WEET mobiles), and if i just glance at liam and see him not moving, i automatically think he's asleep because he's NEVER not moving!  so it's a tad creepy to go over to see liam awake, but just staring... but oh, so cute when he sees me or bryan and squeals with excitement!! : )

anyway, i digress... bedtime.  it's a long day in the stork house, spending all my/our time with the babies, especially if it's hot like it is right now and we don't get outside at all...  since we're not really to the sitting up stage quite yet, it's hard to figure out how to entertain them for the hours when they're not taking their naps... and no, kasey, we haven't tried the baby einstein yet, although i'm about to put it in, because i think i'd much rather have them watch that than the crap TV i watch!  i just think we need to can the TV altogether, i just hate the look they get when they stare at the screen... completely gommed out, like their brains have stopped working altogether... anyway, the days are long and i'll admit, i get tired of hanging out with them somedays.  i want some 'me' time!! so i'm watching the clock, looking forward to 7:00... it's been a long time coming, but they finally are going down pretty easily- we're able to put both of them down while they're still awake, but drowsy after their bottles and they're usually pretty good about soothing themselves to sleep.  finn's a little more difficult because if he's not in the right state of drowsiness, he'll just keep spitting up and not go to sleep... liam usually rolls about for a good 15-20 minutes before finding his comfy spot for the night- i love going in before i go to bed and seeing where they've ended up... and seeing their adorable little feet crossed- liam's done that for awhile now, but finn just started- so so cute!  

liam loves his yellow blankie

look at those thunder thighs!!

and i realized after i downloaded these pictures the lovely spit-up stains on both of their sheets.  i was going to try to crop them out and then i thought that all of you who are mothers would understand and not think i was a terrible mom who never changed the crib sheets.  and if you do think i'm a terrible mom, i just have one thing to say: crib bumpers. worst thing in the world. times two. or three if you're tiff. worst. thing. ever.

stay tuned for more pictures- they'll be six months on friday!!!! : )

rice cereal

well, we've started the next phase of the babies' lives: solid food!!!  i really really wanted to be able to breast feed these babies until now or even 9 months or a year... however, they had other plans and i ended up pumping and doing half and half formula/breast milk.  let me tell you how THRILLED i am not to be having to pump anymore, although i do wish they were still getting breast milk, but that's a whole other issue that i've pretty much gotten over... almost :)... so since we've gone to just formula (hello bankrupt), we've been having some constipating issues.  i wasn't sure when i was going to start the solid food because even though they're going to be six months this month (i know!), they're still adjusted and i didn't think i needed to rush it.  well, again, they (or their digestive tracts) had other plans.  so a couple of nights ago, we started rice cereal!!  it was a bit difficult, considering they're not able to sit up yet and still bobble their cute little heads a bit, but they actually did a lot better than we thought they would... we haven't gotten their high chairs yet, so we ended up putting one in the carseat on the floor next to us, and bryan held the other while i fed him... let's just say it will be nice to get the high chairs! :) enjoy these messy boys!!

finn, who did a tad better than his brother

liam, who was already cranky and wasn't very patient

these two pictures are ones i just had to share immediately: although we can't leave them on our bed unattended anymore (oh, like you haven't done it once or twice!! : )) because liam is a rolling machine, i went to the nursery to get a pacifier and came back to find them just hanging out like this... i'm hoping finn's always okay being bulldozed by his brother- i have a feeling it will happen a lot! and of course, they can't ever smile at the same time so here is the same picture twice, just one difference... :)

my new header!

i'm sure i'm making a much bigger deal of this than it really is, but i'm pretty proud of myself for the new header you see above... i am guilty of spending too much time blog-hopping on different sites having to do mostly with design, art, photography, etc..  i always notice the look of these sites (they are design sites, after all, so these people are experts), and find myself wanting to be just like them.  however, my style is a little more simple- not really flowery, over the top, or embellished... just simple, clean, and classic.  so i got this idea from one of the many sites i visit: from a mom who made a flier for a play group that she started and thought it would be pretty simple to do... well, with a little help from my graphic designer friend, jane, and bryan (who helped with the animals on the babies' shirts), 3 hours later, the stork's nest has a new header!! enjoy :)