HOLD the PHONE...

...BIGGEST exciting most WONDERFUL news!!! (HOW on earth did I forget this?!)

MAXSON and KENLEY are officially SLEEPING through the night!! (for right now anyway) Eric and I have been enjoying a FULL nights rest for the last MONTH! Could we have been blessed with better babies!? I dont think so!

4 Months!

Hello! Ok so I am kind of slacking again... LOVELY. OH and I just wanted to tell everyone that I will NOT be blogging daily in 2012... I don't even know what I was thinking. I will {HOPEFULLY} be blogging weekly! I repeat WEEKLY. [about pinteresting things] I think that I can handle this adventure. I hope so anyway.

SO on to the good stuff. MAXSON and KENLEY are 4 MONTHS old! (well on Dec. 11th) What?! Where did the time go? I swear it seems like just yesterday we were figuring out names, and talking about what our babies might look like, and dreaming about what they might be like! And now, my sweet little newborn babies are INFANTS. No longer sleepy, sweet, yummy smelling newborns! They are now smiling, giggling, grabby, perfect little infants!

{PS I am also going to start posting monthly about Max and Kenley. Just things that I will want to remember later on.}

.Appointments.

Max and Kenley had their 4 month appt. on the 12th. HERE are their stats:

MAXSON: Weight- 14lbs 5oz (38%)

Height- 25" (54%)

Head- 42.2 cm (49%)

KENLEY: Weight- 11lbs 11oz (12%)

Height- 23 1/2" (22%)

Head- 39.7 cm (17%)

They are growing! YAY! It is so funny to actually see the difference in these two. You would be amazing at how much 3 pounds makes a difference. Max is our little chunk. And Kenley is our little one. I am glad that she is the smaller one. I think that they both would grow up with a complex if Max was smaller than his sister.

.Milestones.

-Max is laughing! He loves to play peek-a-boo and to play in his EXERsaucer that Grandpa J got him for Christmas. He has the cutest laugh! It makes us all laugh so hard!

-Max is starting to actually grab at things with intent. He loves to lay under his jungle gym and swat at the elephant.

-Max LOVES talking. This boy talks all the time. And seems to be especially loud during church... well at least he is not crying all the time.

-Kenley has discovered her hands. And they are ALWAYS in her mouth. Her favorite thing to do is to grab moms hair, and pull it towards her mouth! Seriously considering chopping my locks. She doesn't like teething toys yet, just her hands.

-Kenley is a little bit more serious of a baby. She loves to smile and has the most tender little giggle! But you have to get her RIGHT in the morning to see her cute smile, or right after she has eaten.

-Kenley is ALMOST rolling over! She can get up on her side, but her arm gets in her way!! She loves having alone time on the new quilt Nana made her.

This past month we got to do so many fun things! LOVE the HOLIDAYS!

-We had Thanksgiving here in Pocatello with the Jensen's. I love thanksgiving. This year for the month of November, I posted an instagram picture of something I was thankful for everyday! It is fun to look at and to remember certain things!

-My mom and I went Black Friday shopping. BUT only to JoAnns! It was crazy. But TOTALLY worth it. Got some cute fabric for me to make crib sheets ! [PINTERESTING thing post to come*]

-At the beginning of December, Eric's parents met us in Salt Lake City! Corey (Eric's dad) was able to get tickets to the Christmas Devotional! We got to spend the whole weekend with Grandma and Grandpa Massey! We went to YUMMY sushi. Then spent all day shopping at Fashion Place mall! It was so busy, and I swear, we saw about half a million cute pregnant ladies and new babies. Well I guess it is Utah... Just kidding I am totally one of those new moms now and I love it! We went to Temple Square and walked around and saw the lights. That is one of my FAVORITE things to do over Christmas! I love the wonderful spirit the Temple grounds has, and it is BEAUTIFUL with all of the lights. Max LOVED the lights. He would not blink! It was so fun! Sunday we got to go to Church in SLC and then waited around to go to the Christmas Devotional. Unfortunately, Max and Kenners couldn't come! (no kids under 8) So Grandma Judy stayed at the hotel and watched them while Corey, Eric, Aunt Julie, and I were able to go and listen to the prophet!

-My friends Kourtney, and Jessi, and I threw a baby shower for our friends Ashley! She is having a baby girl this March! It turned out SO amazing! I am so thankful for all the people that helped and we had SO much fun planning, decorating and celebrating! I have known Ashley for a long time, and I am SO stinking excited for her to have this baby! She is going to be such a good mommy!

-Christmas Eve we had our annual Jensen, Bodily, Lowman Christmas celebration at my parents house. Every year our families get together to catch up and celebrate the season! It is so much fun when we all get together! I love these guys like they are my own family!

-Christmas Day! MY absolute favorite thing is to give gifts to people for Christmas! I always go over budget. (BAD!) This Christmas was the best! I feel like since I have become an adult, Christmas has SORT of lost its magic! Don't get me wrong, I have always enjoyed celebrating, and remembering the life of our Savior. But I feel like it has just lost some magic. Sort of just monotony. BUT this Christmas was the BEST! It was so fun to buy for my babies! I am so excited for next year and the years to come when they start to understand the real meaning of Christmas. And also for the MAGIC of the season! For Santa. For Elf of the Shelf. For reindeer, and snowmen, and gingerbread houses! Christmas is my favorite time of the year and I hope and pray that my children love it just as much as me!

-Yesterday we got to go down to Logan to meet up with some of our FL friends! We went down a little early so that my good friend Dani could teach me how to edit photos, and so I could see and love on her little girls! Hazyl and Hattie are going to be besties with Kenley I am sure. Then we got to go to dinner with Adam and Brittney! WE LOVE THE JACOX's! They are currently expecitng their first baby! A boy! And I couldn't be happier for them! We were supposed to meet up with a couple other families, but they couldn't make it! Stupid sickenesses!

NOW we are just gearing up for New Years, and for the new year! I am starting to think of my Massey High Five... (five goals I want to complete in 2012). I will let you know what they are as soon as I know.

Also, pictures to come. Maybe after the weekend. OR maybe tomorrow! We shall see!

Domestic Goddess....

Thank you PINTEREST for making me into the Domestic Goddess I was meant to be.

Thank you for teaching me how to make delicious meals.

Thank you for teaching me how to sew, paint, and crochet.

Thank you for giving me sweet ideas for family pictures.

Thank you for giving me motivation to get my butt back in shape.

Thank you for entertaining me for hours on end.

Thank you for teaching me to be the best and most organized mommy in the world.

Thank you for teaching me how I should dress.

Thanks for all the great hair ides.

BUT, most of all, THANK YOU for making me feel like a Domestic Goddess, when I really have just been sitting on my iPhone app all day long. Thank you for making me feel productive!

Seriously you guys, I love pinterest! I think it is such an amazing thing!

Starting January 1, 2012, I will be doing a PINTERESTING thing each day!

And... get this... POSTING about it! Thats right! That means at least ONE blog for everyday in 2012! Wish me luck!

I hope you are as excited about this as me!

Woah! Got a little ahead of myself...

Hi. I obviously forgot to post the rest of my pregnancy pictures BEFORE telling you about my labor and delivery! I really need to get myself together... I apologize! :)

One thing I have forgotten to mention was the WONDERFUL SIAB (shower in a box) that my very best friend sent me! THANK YOU KOURTNEY TEW!!! BEST package EVER!

Please do not judge me, I had just gotten out of the shower, and it was like 95 degrees in Florida with 90% humidity! SWEAR I did not look horrible my entire pregnancy.

I was SO excited to open this package!!

SERIOUSLY have the BEST friends!!

{april, jessi, kourtney, sarah, rachel}

{dani, ashley, kristie, kate, becky, heather}

CHECK OUT ALL THAT SWAG!!! Worlds BEST friends!

OK now for ALL of my prego pics! YOU will notice that as I get bigger, I didn't take as many pictures! ENJOY!

17 weeks!

18 weeks!

19 weeks!

20 weeks!

21 weeks

22 weeks

23 weeks

24 weeks

25 weeks

26 weeks

27 weeks

28 weeks

29 weeks

30 weeks

34 weeks

35 weeks... can you tell I am miserable yet?

FINALLY 36 WEEKS!

8.11.11

... BEST DAY OF OUR LIVES!

SO after we got all moved into our CUTE new home... AKA my parents basement. We started our lives here in Pocatello, ID. Eric was working at Lithia Dodge, selling cars. I was at home growing bigger and bigger by the second and also becoming more miserable. I had developed a rash on my big belly called PUPPP {pruritic urticarial papules and plaques of pregnancy} woof, it even sounds as horrible as it really was! Basically my tummy had stretched to maximum capacity! (OH PS I didn't get ANY stretch marks UNTIL I developed PUPPP at about 34 weeks.) And my skin was just so irritated from being stretched and it ITCHED like crazy! I could find NO relief. I would scratch and scratch and put lotion and different moisturizers and even resorted to putting a bag of ice on my belly! That was really the ONLY thing that worked. But it wasn't comfortable!

I will be completely honest.

I WAS MISERABLE the last 2 and a half weeks of my pregnancy. I even went into my Dr.'s office to tell him he needed to induce me because I was so uncomfortable. HA he basically scolded me and told me women do this everyday and that I need to suck it up and the longer the twins stayed inside of me the better. I felt like an idiot.

At 34 weeks I went in for an ultrasound and the tech said there was a large difference between the weights of the babies. Baby A (Maxson) was weighing around 4lbs 12 oz. And Baby B (Kenley) was weighing only 4lbs 2oz. My doctor was very concerned about the difference, and ordered another ultrasound at the hosipital, two steroid shots, and nonstress tests twice a week.

When I went in for my other ultrasound, the technician measured the weights only being 4oz apart.... SO I wasn't really worried after that. He said that each baby had an even flow of fluid and that they looked just fine. PHEW!

After that it was just nonstress tests and regular check ups...

Then I started having contractions a little more regularly... but only about 10 min apart for 2 hrs... then they would stop. Dr. said nothing to worry about. So that went on for about a week.... THEN when I was 36 weeks I went into LABOR.
Right before Eric and I headed to the HOSPITAL!

{not the best picture BUT you can see how massive I was}

LABOR AND DELIVERY:

I woke up around 3:00 am on August 8, 2011 with pretty strong contractions. They were coming about every 3 min. I went to the bathroom, got something to drink (thinking I was just dehydrated and needed to drink some H20), and layed down on the couch for a bit. But these contractions did not stop. And they kept getting stronger! So I decided that this might be the real thing. I brushed my teeth, got dressed, packed my hospital bag and then woke Eric up. He SHOT out of bed. He was so cute. He was trying to be calm, but he couldn't fool me. I knew he was anxious and nervous! We got in the car and he drove me to the hospital. I swear we hit every red light and every pot hole. He was trying to speed but it just wasn't possible! Everytime I had a contraction he would get this look of determination that said "I NEED TO GET HER THERE ASAP!" He takes care of me.

Anyway when we got to the hospital, we went to the Women's center. We parked the car and walked up to the door and it was locked. WHAT?? Yeah it was locked. Eric started freaking out trying to find a door that was open! Finally we found a maintenance door that was open and we rushed in. We made it to the Labor and Delivery floor and I told the nurse that I was in Labor. She just laughed and said well lets hook you up to the machine and we will check you out. I was in labor. I was dialated 2 centimeters! They did an ultrasound to dteremine the positions of the babies. Baby A was head down and low. and Baby B was... HEAD DOWN too?!! (she had always been transverse and breech during my last ultrasound) We now had the possibility of doing this thing vaginally!!! WooHoo!

We hung out til about 8:00am and my parents came up and the Doc checked me... 4 centimeters. I then decided it was time for an epidural. I am so thankful for modern medicine. The epidural took and I felt amazing. I was even able to get a couple minutes of sleep here and there. SO great. :) THEN the epidural began to wear off. I was checked again around 11 and I was 7 Centimeters. Dr. Cox then broke my water. After that my contractions were much stronger and closer together! And MUCH more painful especially after the epidural had worn off! I asked for another one! As soon as I got it we were ready to deliver! WAIT what?! This epidural has NOT taken YET!! And it never did. (this was the "I knew something had to go wrong! moment I mentioned before)

I was wheeled down to the OR (just incase) and I started pushing around 12:10pm. I will be honest, I was NOT prepared for the pain of labor at all. This was the worst of my life. Maybe if I had taken some classes or even mentally prepared myself for this I would have been ok. But I secretly thought the whole time I was going to have a C-Section... so why go to classes right?? Haha, I felt every contraction, every push, EVERYTHING. I pushed for about 40 min. And Eric was right there holding my hand and encouraging me the entire time! Later, he told me it was all he could do to stop from breaking down, he hated seeing me in so much pain!

Maxson James Massey was born at 12:51pm he was 5lbs 7oz and 18 1/2 inches and absolutely perfect!

A couple more pushes and out came little sister! Kenley Blake Massey was born at 1:02pm she was 5lbs even and 18 3/4 inches and SHE was absolutely perfect too! :)

They were then whisked away to the NICU as a precautionary step. They were there for about 2 hrs. That was when I was finally allowed to go down and see them! THOSE were the LONGEST 2 hours of my LIFE!

First family photo! Love these 3 more than anything in the world!

One day old!

Finally HOME! 3 days old! FIRST nap at home! :)

All in all it was a wonderful experience. Maybe not as planned, but honestly is it ever?! But it ended up being perfect. Couldn't be happier with my cute family!!

Being HUGE and flying was NO picnic. I mean don't get me wrong, it was WAY better than driving 34 hrs across the country. I was almost 32 weeks along when I hopped on a plane from Orlando to Salt Lake City. I had a layover... somewhere. Werid I really cannot remember. BUT I know I had a lay over because I had to switch planes. And I know this because I had to sit by two different people.

SO when we booked my flight it was almost last minute, so we couldn't pick my exact seat. I ended up sitting in the middle... SO imagine me a little bit bigger than THIS.....

Coming to sit next to you on a flight... I don't know about you but I would be SO nice and respectful and if I had the aisle seat I would offer to switch!! I think that is what ANYONE would do. Right??? Well apparently I sat by the two rudest people in the world. Both of my flights I was stuck in the middle seat. My doctor told me to drink lots of water so that I would have to go to the bathroom so that I would have to get up and walk around at LEAST once an hr. if not more. I did warn said 'fellow flyers' about what they were going to endure during their flights. Unfortunatley neither of them realized what this really meant. Sorry Mr. Overallwearingjerk for waking you up probably 8 times so I could get out and go to the bathroom but I warned you. So sorry Ms. Ihavebeenpregnantbeforeandknowexactlywhatyouaregoingthrubutireallywanttositintheaisleseat for making you put your cross word puzzle down so I could get out. This could have been avoided if you would have just had some compassion and switched me seats.
I swear it wasn't AS bad as it sounds, but I am just amazed about how many people DID NOT care or help me or even move out of my way. I am sure I was just overreacting but I almost lost all hope in humanity after flying home. Almost.

Poor Eric had to drive all the way across the country all by himself!! That man is a trooper! He did it in 3 days, only stopped to pee and sleep and sometimes eat. He, my friends, is my HERO. I love that guy more than anything!

decisions... decisions...

The month of June was a busy busy one. Eric and just started a new job with a new company. And it wasn't what we thought it was going to be at all. We all know starting out a new company takes time and time was one luxury we did not have. We were living in a one bedroom apt., we had two pieces of furniture, I was pregnant with twins, and we were living paycheck to paycheck. Lets just say Florida was not the best thing financially for us. BUT we learned SO much about each other and about our family and about our marriage!

We decided that our best option was to move back to Idaho and live with my parents for a while. TWO huge blessings would come from making this decision... Eric had been looking for a job in Idaho for a long time. There was nothing. But after we prayerfully made the decision to move Eric got a job in Pocatello! Yay we had the means to move! Now we just needed to figure out how to get out of our lease! We had signed on for a year! But we were blessed enough that we were able to get out of our lease and only had to pay one more month of rent. And that was it! Luckily there was someone who was willing to move into our cute apt as soon as possible! Sweet! Next move.... SELL everything! We actually gave away our amazing bed. You guys, this bed was the most amazing bed I had ever slept on. We got it for such a great deal! But when it came down to the day before we were going to be leaving and no one had bought it from us, we decided just to give it away. We had a cute newly wed couple in our ward that needed a bed! So they came and picked it up. Sad day. Then we were able to sell our futon for twice what we bought it for! SWEET!

So the first blessing,... we were able to move across the country!

The second blessing is that we have SO much help with these two little ones now!

I believe God gives us what we need at the time we need it when we are doing all we can to live the best we can.

If it is trials we need, or blessings. I know He knows us better than we know ourselvese and He knows what we need. We may not see it at the time, but we always look back on situations and some how see things a little different.

PS in case you haven't noticed, I am just updating and making sure I blog about our lives the last couple months! I SWEAR I will get to these babies soon enough!