Tuesday, November 8, 2011

10 months of blessings

Reas and PJ have had a busy few months (as have mom and dad). We've been traveling and partying like fools but loving every minute of the time we get to spend with family and friends celebrating birthdays, weddings and holidays.

MJ and I continue to marvel at how blessed we are. Not just with two amazing, fun and loving boys but for the little things that come with having children. Here are a few of mine:
  • The fun of running into a parent of twins and knowing that they fully understand what you are going through.
  • A truly supportive work environment where my co-workers and volunteers are supporting my role as a mom. Everyone should be so lucky.
  • Grandparents - our boys are so lucky to have four awesome and loving grandparents who love our boys with endless energy.
  • Best friends - PJ and Reas are fortunate that they have great best friends already and I look forward to them growing up with good influences and having some great adventures.
You can see some of these blessings in our photos from October.

Thursday, September 29, 2011

9 month update

Bananas, bread, cheerios, yogurt - oh my. The boys are in full on solid food mode. It is fun to watch them try new foods. Fortunately they like and eat everything we've given them so far. September was a busy month for the boys they took a few trips, learned to crawl and got to spend some time with their cousins in Nashville. October will be equally as busy with a trip to Florida to see grandma and grandpa and visit the beach and the ocean for the first time. We'll definitely have photos from the trip to post soon.


Here are the photos from September.

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Dear Dodge

Dear Dodge,
I drive one of your vehicles, a Stratus to be exact , and ... I don't love it. However after driving 120+ miles a day for five years, catching it on fire, putting it in a ditch during an ice storm, getting rearended and recently rearending someone my Stratus is still running. It will not die and make way for the nice new car just waiting for me out there somewhere. So ... I think this Stratus and I will be friends for a little while longer.

Sincerely,
I swear, it wasn't my fault

Monday, August 22, 2011

Summer Fun - July and August 2011

Okay okay... I know everyone says that it goes so fast but seriously, it goes so fast. Reas and PJ are over 7.5 months old and continue to be so fun. Here are some highlights from the past few months:
Giggling. Their giggles are infectious. In the July photos on Picasa there is a great video of Uncle Bill making Reas laugh.
Crawling. Only backwards and in circles, no forward movement just yet.
Interacting with each other and finding each other to be hilarious

They love bath time and love to splash each other
Rolling over and propping themselves up so they can see outside their crib. It's so cute even when they are supposed to be sleeping
Eating solids - sometimes. They really like bread

The boys are also social butterflies. We are so blessed that when we take the boys out they just hang out and behave. Its so fun to be able to have dinner out and not worry about them making a scene. Let's just hope they stay this way.

Enjoy the photos from July and August.

Friday, July 22, 2011

6 months and rolling (literally)

The boys are officially six months old. 6.5 to be exact and I don't know where the time has gone. They had their six months photos taken and rocked their photo session, if I do say so myself. Photos can be found here. They joined the 2009-2011 NPC executive committee at their July retreat and won the hearts of some wonderful sorority women. I'm sure these are the first of many sorority women who will swoon over my boys. They are rolling all over the place and started eating "solids". I'm not sure how mush of sweet potatoes and bananas is considered solids but they seem to like it alright. And so it goes. MJ and I have hit our stride with our routine and continue to marvel at how blessed we are. I know the next six months will fly by as well but I'm so thankful for every moment I have to sit in awe of my amazing boys.

Sunday, June 19, 2011

Happy Father's Day

Where do I begin? I am infinitely blessed with a lot of amazing people in my life but none more amazing than my husband, MJ. I had a friend once tell me that she never thought she could love her husband anymore than she already did, and then they had kids. I completely agree. I have loved MJ Meneley for a long time now and I'm blessed that he loves me back but watching him with his boys is the real blessing. He is so good with them and they love seeing him every day when he picks them up from daycare. MJ is so supportive of me and whenever I say "I need to go to (insert city here) this week" he doesn't even flinch or sweat the fact that he will have to do all the feedings solo. This year for his first Father's Day, I surprised him with a trip to West Palm Beach to see two of his best friends and their families and his parents. Despite being on the scariest flight in my entire life (the boys slept through all of it) we had a wonderful weekend.

Here are the June photos.

Happy Father's Day to the best husband a gal could ask for.

Monday, June 13, 2011

Making sense of loss

MJ and I have friends who recently had twin boys at 24 weeks old and one of them didn't make it. This is such a devastating blow it is hard to make sense of it and somewhere, somehow try to see God's hand in this. I have recently been finding myself feeling guilty and thinking why me/us. How did we get so lucky and does this mean the proverbial shoe will drop for us later in life? Are we all destined to have a certain amount of pain and suffering? And if God only gives us what we can handle, how does He believe anyone could handle the loss of their child. There are so many emotions and I just need to remind myself that sometimes it just doesn't make sense. All we can do is support each other the best way we know how, love each other through the good and the bad and hug our children each day and night and make sure they know we love them. Off to hug mine!

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Lake Babies

The whole Meneley family had a great Memorial Day weekend filled with fun festivities with great friends but the icinig on the cake was taking the boys down to the lake for their first dip! They loved it (to be read they didn't scream at all) so we're hopeful this is a sign of good things to come. Here are just a few of the great photos we took.


Here is the link to the May 2011 photos.

Reas, hanging out with Dad.


PJ, resting in his boat

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

4.5 months update

PJ and Reas,
4.5 months and counting. You are getting so big. At the last weigh in PJ (in blue) was 13.2lbs and Reas (in yellow) was 14.6lbs. You are smiling all the time now (encouragement that you already think Mom and Dad are hilarious). As a gift to me for Mother's Day you started sleeping through the night. We are constantly amazed at all that you are able to do. PJ, you love to lay under the activity mat and reach for all the things dangling above your head. Reas, you are content to watch your brother push those things around. You both are starting to be more vocal which is good and bad.


You spent your first Easter at Grandma and Grandpa Reas' house and had a great time. They got each of you a book that they read and recorded and you love them. You always pay attention when those books are out. You also loved the Peeps grandma got for you... or someone did.

Grandma and Grandpa Meneley came to visit you for a week and you were so good for them - this really helped because they were running out of things to brag about for you :).






You are also very into each other. You will sit in your Bumbos and have a staring contest or hold hands on the activity mat. It is so fun to see your brotherly love begin to take hold.
We love you both so much and look forward to a great summer with you!
Love, Mom & Dad
April Photo Link

Thursday, May 12, 2011

"Don't lick the babies"


Having children and having a dog has been an interesting adventure. When MJ and I found out we were having babies we knew that it would be an adjustment for us but we didn't anticipate how much of an adjustment it would be for Kaia. For the most part she loves the babies and doesn't bother them too much but we often find ourselves saying "Don't lick the babies." Kaia is also a big fan of formula and is always hovering during feeding time in hopes that she will reap the rewards of a spit up. I hope Kaia is ready for these two to grow up and terrorize her.

Monday, April 18, 2011

An Irish Blessing

May the road rise to meet you, May the wind be always at your back, May the sun shine warm upon your face, The rains fall soft upon your fields and, Until we meet again, May God hold you in the palm of His hand.

You know those people in your life who come and go and no matter how long it has been since you've seen them it feels like yesterday? That is Mary Dennis. Mary and I worked together at the Purdue Alumni Association for five years and she is such a dear friend. I feel so blessed to know her and her family. She came to visit and of course the boys fell in love with her and her Irish accent. Here she is holding PJ and making Reas smile.

Her visit was the beginning of a great weekend. The photos can be viewed here.

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Crafty Lady

In my pre-baby days I was an avid crafter. Notice I said avid, not good. I believe its the effort that counts. Regardless, my time for crafting has declined a bit since the boys arrived but I saw this letter collage on a great interior design blog I follow and thought I would give it a try and a little twist. You can see the original project and steps here. Overall I think it came out pretty great.

Monday, April 11, 2011

Blessings

Eleven years ago I met nine of the most amazing women. Little did I know during the summer of 2000 when we were training in Indianapolis and NOT parking cars on our lawn that these women would continue to play a huge role in my life for years to come. In the 11 years since our stint as Collegiate Leadership Consultants we have religiously gotten together at least two times a year. We've shared many joys and some sorrows together and through it all we've shared a lot of laughter and love. The blessing I feel to be a part of this wonderful group has no words. We spent this last weekend together in Indianapolis with some of our children and I already can't wait for our next gathering.

When people ask me why I believe so strongly in the sorority experience this is the example I use. We did not go to college together so we didn't share four years of fun in a sorority house. We had one month of living together, a year of shared experiences and now we'll have a lifetime of friendship. That is the power of the sorority experience.


Here are the photos from our weekend.

Sunday, April 3, 2011

3 months update

Reas and PJ turned 3 months this week. They are definitely becoming more active and aware of what is around them. We are getting a lot more smiles and conversation.

They love bath time and swinging in their swing and sitting in their pappasan chairs. It has been a great three months for us as well. We are very blessed with wonderful friends and family. This weekend's visitors were Brian and Corrine Sipich and Ben Jennings & Erin Rossier. We had a great time watching the Butler Bulldogs advance to the final game of the NCAA Tournament.

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Love

Love is such a big word, it really should have more letters.

~ Kobi Yamada
As a new mom, and a new mom of twins, I'm frequently asked if I'm overwhelmed. The answer is yes. I'm overwhelmed with disbelief for the continuous generosity of our family and friends who have given us gifts, food, support and love while we figure out this parenting thing. I'm overwhelmed with admiration for every mother and working mother out there who seems to have it all together every day. I'm overwhelmed with adoration for my amazing husband who is an equally amazing father. And I'm overwhelmed with unconditional love for these two perfect little humans who have filled our lives and our hearts. So yes, I am overwhelmed all the time.

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Bliss


Bliss: complete happiness

Our sweet boys have been great sleepers from the beginning. Not sleeping through the night great but getting up only once great. We attribute it to the amazing nurses in the NICU who were religious with their schedule and now we see the benefits. Sunday we had a great nap, just the three of us and I share this moment because I'm told that very shortly these opportunities to hold my babies while they are sitting still are soon to be few and far between. While we are anxious for what the next phase of their development looks like we try to remember that it will go so fast and we need to live in the moment and enjoy each phase day by day. The present moment can only be described as bliss.

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Family and Friends Part II


PJ and Reas rounded out their weekend with a visit from the Brainards who graciously spent a bit of their Spring Break visiting us. It is so fun that the boys will have so many awesome cousins to grow up with. They only have their cousin Daniel to meet now and he's coming to visit in May!

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Family and Friends

It has been a blessed week. MJ and I were frequently reminded how lucky we are that God has blessed us with amazing friends and family that love our boys so much. Last weekend the boys got to meet five of their cousins when the Briscoes came for a quick visit. All the kids were great with the boys and very excited. The boys are anxious to be big enough to play with their super fun and imaginative cousins! Click here to see more pictures

This Saturday some of our friends from church came to help MJ in the yard and hang out with me and the boys. We also got a visit from Gibson and Amelia Brady. It was so warm Evie and Gib decided to take their snack in the sunroom. It was such a blessing to have so much help with the leaves we left from last Fall! Now the yard is ready for Spring and Summer and lots of traffic to the lake!

After a great morning we went for a walk on the Monon and then went to the Davis' for dinner. It was so fun to see Abby and Alex with our boys. I'm so excited that the boys have a built in friend in Alex! I'm also so thankful for Jill and Ryan and the support they have always given me and my family.

Sunday we made our first trip back to church and the boys did great which means they slept through everything. After church we met Bill and Alex for brunch and felt like old pros with two little ones in a noisy, crowded restaurant but again the boys did great. I think we're getting the hang of this thing called parenting.

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

2 months update

To my boys,

You are two months old already. As everyone tells us, it is flying by and you amaze us every day with your facial expressions and bodily functions (we are still surprised that something so foul can come out of something so cute). We think Reas is weighing in around 11 pounds and PJ around 10 but we go to the doctor next week for the official weigh in.

Reas - you are a typical first born. You want what you want when you want it. You are the bigger baby but more than that you are so long you don't fit into a lot of your clothes already.

PJ - you are our patient baby, likely because you always had to go second in the hospital. You are so sweet and you are already getting your brothers hand me downs :)

You are both really mellow and we couldn't ask for easier babies so thanks for taking it easy on us - for now at least! Both of you make amazing facial expressions and when the smiles appear you would have thought mom and dad just won the lottery but I think my favorite faces are the ones where you stick your bottom lip out at us in a pout.

You are rolling over already (yikes) and starting to follow things with your eyes which leads us to constantly attempt to get you to "see" us.

You have stolen our hearts and our lives are already so blessed because of you.

Love,
Mom and Dad

Saturday, February 26, 2011

Rollin, rollin, rollin....rawhide

The boys had their first big road trip to Grandma and Grandpa Reas's house last night. They handled it like champs! Slept pretty much the whole way. Once we got here, they decided to give GrandmaCon a special birthday surprise by rolling over! First Reas, then PJ. They did it the other day and we thought maybe it was a fluke, but last night they both did it over and over so it's official! Here is the evidence...


Tuesday, February 22, 2011

The Beginning


This is my first post on our family blog. My goal is to track our amazing adventure with our twin baby boys, Reas and PJ, born January 1, 2011.
Today, February 22, 2011 the boys are almost eight weeks old. After three weeks in the NICU we were able to bring our beautiful boys home. I have had the joy of staying home with the boys for the past five weeks. Lately the boys are staying awake more during the day resulting in more fun interactions. This past weekend they both rolled over - likely a fluke but definitely a proud moment for mom and dad.
We look forward to sharing more of our proud moments with you through this blog.