numbers

14...the number of diapers I change in an average day

2...the number of loads of laundry we need to do a day to keep up

0...the number of loads of laundry that get folded and put away each day ;)

16...the number of times I fill up sippy cups with milk or juice

4...the number of kids that have completely stolen my heart

2...the number of times that Hailey has gotten vinegar on her tongue before she realized she should stop asking for the same thing over and over after I said, "be patient"

100...the number of times I repeat, "I'll do that when I'm done with_____, you need to be patient" 

94...the number of days that we have been a family of six

 8...the number of times I nurse the twins a day

1...(hour) the amount of time it takes to feed the girls each time

2...the days that all 4 kids have slept at the same time

17...the number of days that we have been fighting this flu/cold bug 

5...the time I get up each day to feed the girls and to have an hour or two of quiet to myself

10...the number of painted toe nails at our house

1...the number of my little brothers that are willing to come and brave 4 sick kids just to help his big sister out 

2...the number of "grandma's" that come up to help us out, regardless of weather and/or sickness

12...the number of days that have been overwhelming and I have felt like I'm floundering

0...the number of days that God hasn't provided me a "way out" when I'm overwhelmed and drowning in my life

3...the number of times Hailey and Jack took a shower and/or bath 2 Saturdays ago

26...the number of times I laugh at my life a day

1...the number of families I've found that have "beat" us with the amount of kids in such a short time- a mom of 5 under the age of 4 (she lives in the UK and the last two were twins) 

2...the number of friends I have that will soon have 4 children, also- woohoo! 

4...(hours) the amount of glorious time that Maysen and I got to spend together, just bumming around town doing nothing 

3...the number of times Hailey got up and walked into my room last night

2...the number of times I have rocked my 3 year old to sleep in the last 3 months

6...the number of words in mine and Hailey's new memory verse, "do everything without complaining or arguing"

1 bazillion...the amount of thankfulness and gratefulness I feel towards my friends- new and old- who have been an encouragement to my family since the girls came into being!

3 months

Maysen and Maelle are 3 months old! I just feel like the months are flying by and they are growing up so incredibly fast!! 

 Maelle is just the most smiley of babies. She's kind of like her big sister, Hailey, she's always either happy or sad- there's not a whole lot of in between with her! She's even started giggling and she coos all the time at her Daddy or Hailey- whichever one happens to be talking to her.  

These two girlies are just so sweet and so special to our family. They are the best babies and I feel so privileged and so "lucky" to be blessed with babies that aren't colicky or crabby and like to snuggle together and sleep! I don't know if its because they're twins or not, but they do a great job of settling themselves down and falling asleep without needing to be rocked and for that I am so grateful. I do enjoy the times that they need extra snuggles and sometimes its nice when one of them has a little "crabby" day, because then I get a chance to hold her and play with her a little more, but on a regular day it makes life so much easier that I can just put them in bed and they fall asleep on their own!  

 little Maysen is quite a ham these days- she really enjoys just checking things out and sticking her tongue out at us all! I took her out and about with me the other day and she was so good, as long as she could see all the people and watch what was going on. 

I just love how they like to snuggle together. It seems like if either of them is a little crabby all we have to do is put them close and they just settle right in and get all cozy with each other. In fact, I put them on the couch together the other day and they were head to feet and they were kicking each other in the head and sucking on each others' toes and neither one seemed to mind one bit.  

 3 months of my little girlies lives have come and gone and it seems almost like an entire lifetime has passed. I can't believe that just 3 short months ago I was still in the hospital with them and we were trying to work on getting them to eat and breath well enough to go home...now they want to nurse all the time! :) I'm so enjoying the girls as they're getting bigger and more and more on a schedule. I feel like I can basically predict how my day will go and the girls are so good at sleeping through the night, now, that they've even been doing 9pm-6am for the past 5 days!! woohoo- one step closer to 7pm and Korey and I having our evenings to ourselves, again!

I thank God so much for these precious girls and I feel so blessed and so incredibly special to be given these two little ones to enjoy and watch grow up! 

silent sunday

Maelle Kay says, "have a great week" 

Philippians 2:14,15

"Do all things without complaining or arguing so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without a fault in a crooked and depraved nation, in which you shine like stars in the universe" 

My Mom and Dad were up yesterday and my Dad really encouraged me to start memorizing Bible verses with Hailey...something that we used to do, but somehow life had just gotten crazy and we had gotten away from it! So, this morning I picked a verse that I thought we both could use and got to work memorizing the first part...there has been a lot of complaining and arguing going on around our house and maybe this will be a good reminder for both her and me!  

In fact, it got put to good use really quickly for both of us- Hailey had to practice it when she had to share making a treat with her brother and I had to put it into practice when we made a treat that ended up dirtying my entire kitchen :)

 yum, yum, yummy- who doesn't love ice cream, especially snow ice cream!

 (does these faces look like they ever have a problem with arguing or whining?!) 

 then, mommy had to put it into good practice when she noticed the floor was very sticky and dirty and needed a good scrubbing...it's no longer sticky and dirty, but there are a lot of little "footprints" stuck in it and it took a little longer than I would have liked (and used a lot more water...)!

 they are fairly cute "working" their fingers to the bone over the floor, though, aren't they?! 

Hopefully this verse will begin to work a change in all of our hearts over here at the Konietzki house! I find myself arguing with God and complaining that Korey's working too much or the kids aren't sleeping enough, or I don't get any time alone, or enough sleep or any number of things that I can complain about...but, the truth of the matter is that life is difficult! No matter what your circumstances you can always find something that isn't going the way you'd like it to or the way that you think it should. And, instead of cultivating an attitude of complaining and arguing in my own life and portraying that to my children I want to cultivate the attitude portrayed in the second part of the verse- one where we shine like stars in the universe! One where people can look at our little family and immediately know who we live to serve- that we are children of God. 

12 weeks

here are some cute pictures of our sweet little sissies :) Not sure how much they weigh these days, but I'm guessing for sure around 10lbs! they are growing like crazy and getting so good at so many things. They're also getting a little "routine" and that has helped all of us over here out a lot

 Maysen is wearing the pink bow and Maelle is wearing the white bow

 can you believe these blue eyes?? I just can't get over them!

 even her tongue sticking out can't make this little girl any less cute :)

 Maelle just loves her tummy

 I just love how their both sucking on their fingers in this picture...

 it's getting easier and easier to see how much of a blessing it is to have twins at our house and I'd say that all of us are enjoying them more and more these days! I know that them sleeping through the night and taking good naps during the day has really helped me enjoy them more :) (or at least be more awake to appreciate them more)

I love these little girls so much and can't get enough of their snuggles and cuddles. I can't believe that they've only been a part of our family for 12 weeks...I feel like I can't even remember what life was like without them! 

it's exhausting work...

being a baby at the Konietzki house!

 there's all the eating, playing, smiling, looking, giggling, cooing, diaper filling, bath taking, but other than all that "everyday stuff" there are days when your brother throws up on you and the exhaustion ups itself a notch! :) 

 yup, you read that right...yesterday was one of "those" days that the Konietzki house! luckily for Maysen and Maelle, mommy was there to bounce them and cuddle them to sleep after their "scary" ordeal! 

poor M and M had to get their shots in the morning, so they were pretty wore out, crabby and exhausted from that...then, their big brother decided to help them feel better about the shots by giving them something to really cry about :) You see, Korey was gone, and I had sat down to feed the girlies when Jack walked over and threw up a little, but luckily (or so I thought) I caught it in my hand...then I started thinking to myself, what am I gonna do with this puke in my hand I have two babies attached to me and both my hands are used...then, it ceased to be an issue because the amount of throw up that came after that was more than enough to get both the girls, completely soak mommy and still have a lot leftover for the floor and couch! It no longer seemed important what to do with the stuff in my hand- I just wiped it on my already coated pants. Needless to say the girls were NOT happy and didn't want to stop eating long enough for me to clean up Jack and myself (not to mention them)! So, we just propped them up on whatever we could find to give them each a little bottle! (and figured we'd clean them up later, when life settled down a little bit- which turned out to be a good idea since when I picked up Maysen she proceeded to throw up what seemed like her entire bottle all over herself and me) 

then, my poor sick little boy got all stripped down and given a bath during which he promptly decided he also had some diarrhea (poor kid was just miserable) and set in front of the tv to watch blues clues until mommy could clean up the bathtub, the house, and herself enough to get him off to bed! I don't know if our couch or our floor will ever be the same after this winter and all these colds and flues we seem to be getting at our house, but I'm so thankful that the little covers come off and are machine washable- that made cleaning up the couch so much easier! 

I'm so incredibly thankful that my mom in law was here to help us out yesterday morning, because poor Jack just wasn't himself all day and was definitely having some HUGE tummy issues! I don't think I realized how much nicer it was to have Hailey sick, because at least she can tell me when she has to throw up, when her tummy is feeling icky, and sort of try to hit the bucket! (plus, she gets calm and sits nicely when she's sick and Jack just got all antsy and ran all over the house making himself sicker...) 

Luckily, Korey came home fairly soon after it all fell apart- we all survived and no one was too worse for the wear and both the girlies had a good excuse to have a bath!! :) 

Happy Valentine's Day!

when I was younger I hated Valentine's day because it was the holiday so close to my birthday and I felt like it took away my "thunder", but today I LOVE it. It got to be so much fun when I got married and could make a big deal about stuff, but since I had kids it's gotten even more fun and exciting. 

Yesterday we took cookies and a valentine's day card to the two ladies that watch the kiddos at the gym- I figure it's never bad to suck up to people who watch your kids! :)

 Hailey helped me pick out a Valentine's day present for her and Jackson...go figure it was pink and had a kitty on it! :) Good thing Jack didn't seem to mind! 

 we had heart shaped cinnamon rolls for breakfast...it's so much more fun to eat something that's made into a heart shape, isn't it?! 

 I wish I were a kid and could stuff my face and still look super adorable :)

happy valentine's day from my two naked kiddos :)

two birds of a feather...

always stick together ;) 

 aren't my little "birds" adorable?? 

(and I guess their little brother is pretty cute, too, huh?!) :)

 can you believe these big blue eyes?? I'm just in love with them. 

Maysen and Maelle are 11 1/2 weeks old, now, and I can't believe how big they are and how long it feels like they've been here! Life is still one big crazy day after another, but that craziness is starting to feel a little more manageable and a little less like we're just trying to survive! :) (don't get me wrong- I still consider the days that all of us are alive, no one has broken anything and we manage to maybe get one thing done a good day- it's just not quite so incredibly stressful to get to that point) ;) 

I remember...

I remember the day that they got married, because I was there! I remember the wedding shower, I remember the meal afterwards and I still have the dress that I wore. My sister and I stood up in the wedding that brought Grandpa Herb into our family and made my Grandma happy again. They would have been married 17 years this April, but instead Friday morning she found him on the floor of the bathroom. 

My heart broke at the news...

my poor Grandma- to have to bury two husbands, to go through this pain a second time, to have to be the one to find him this morning and to be all alone until my Dad could get over there and my aunt could get off of work. It's incredibly sad to think about. They lived together at his farm- where will she go, now?? Will she stay? Will she move? They had been married longer than Korey and I have known each other and I can't imagine being without him...

my poor little babies- this was the last remaining Grandpa that Korey and I had and now our kids will never remember him and how much he loved them. He truly loved my littlest cousin and my sister and I, as he had grandsons our age, but no grand-daughters, and Hailey found her way into that same heart on the day that she was born! But, it was really Jackson that brought out the best in Grandpa Herb. He knew how to get into the guys heart- he played tractors with him! My Grandpa owned a farm and loved to drive his tractor around doing "stuff" on it and he was absolutely overjoyed when he came to visit and the first thing that Jackson did was bring him a tractor and want to play. :) Maysen and Maelle never met their Grandpa Herb, but he was so proud of them. This year at Christmas he and my Grandma had flowers given in honor of them and he sent them a very generous gift when they were born and loved looking at the pictures of them that my Grandma would take home to him. You see, during the last year Grandpa Herb wasn't feeling too well. He was sick with one thing after another and just wasn't at his "best", so he didn't go many places. I think I'll always regret not just "stopping by" on Christmas this last year...
Tonight we will be at a wake celebrating and mourning the man that we called Grandpa Herb and it will be   a sad evening...he will be missed! 

just lovin' life

I didn't want to leave you all with my sad post for too long...because I didn't stay there! If you know me, you know that I cried, but then I got out of the shower, got on with life and tried to figure out how to not make days like that happen to me ever again! (one of the first things I did was put my twin stroller in the car and am now taking that with me when I go to the gym so that I can carry my son) ;) 

 Part of having 4 little kiddos is just re-arranging my expectations...sometimes I just expect to accomplish too much and then I get frustrated, but when I can keep my expectations in check life seems to run so much more smoothly! I just have to be ok with the fact that it takes me all day to accomplish things that a normal mom could get done in a 1/2 hour and I have to just learn to sit back and enjoy all 4 of these adorable kids! :)

 Instead of teaching my kids great and wonderfully grand things- we've been focusing a lot more on "family" and getting along with your siblings and simple things like being gentle and loving towards one another! One thing that I found from a mom of two sets of twins was to give your older kids a "buddy" and have each one of them take the lead with a younger one (she said it really helped when they got a little bigger and were running all over the place and you needed a little bit of peace)! The greatest thing is that I don't even have to ask my kids to "pick" a buddy- they already did! Jackson has always loved to hold his "may-may" and was the one to give her her nickname...

and Hailey loves her "ellie-belle" and was the one to give her her nickname! 

 (and apparently the feelings are mutual...hehehe) ;) 

I think this picture is Maelle wondering why no one puts her in bed...I can't believe that I finally have a kid that falls asleep wherever and whenever! I totally LOVE it!! :) 

 After I put the babies down for their nap I came back to find this...

I don't know how I can stop from smiling all day, 'cause these kiddos just keep doing the funniest stuff all day! I'm pretty sure they are trying to make it their "job" to keep me on my toes and keep me laughing for the rest of my life! :) 

Have a great Tuesday!!