Flashback Friday: Celebrating at My Youngest Brother’s Graduation
My youngest brother Josh and my parents
Today’s Flashback Friday goes back to my brother Josh’s High School graduation in May 2005. It was also the girls first trip to Kansas. It was a lot of fun being able to celebrate with my brother on his special day. A lot has happened in the past ten years, but it is neat to look back on this fun day.
Thankful for a chance to spend a long weekend in Kansas with my family. It was an adventure and exhausting with two little ones in tow, but we had a great time. It’s not every year your little brother graduates from High School.
Josh with Grandma Doris and Grandpa Verlyn!
Josh with Grandma Willa and Grandpa CE
Grandpa Russell and Jake handing the girls for Josh to hold.
My oldest brother Jeremy and his wife Amber (who was pregnant with Brandon at the time) with my youngest brother Josh.
Jake, and I with my two younger brothers Josh and Lee.
Jake, Josh, Karlie, Brina, and I at Josh’s High School Graduation celebration
Congratulations Josh!
As you can see Karlie and Brina were SUPER thrilled to be celebrating with Uncle Josh!
Cousins – Lee, Alecia, Josh, myself, Jordan, and Rachel
Siblings – Lee, Josh, Me, Jeremy
Josh with Uncle Sam and Uncle Paul Uncle Sam recently passed away (about a month ago). Thankful for the memories and times together. Cherish the time you have with your family while you can.
Flashback Friday: Meeting Extended Family Members on 1st Trip to Kansas
Great Grandma Doris holding Brina.
Today’s Flashback Friday goes back to when the girls were just over 3 months old. It was also their first airplane ride and visit to our Kansas family. I have a lot of extended family members in the Kansas, Nebraska, and Colorado area. It was an adventure flying with two little ones on heart apnea monitors. Thankfully my brother Lee flew with us and was a big help getting all the kids and their stuff into the airport.
The biggest disadvantage to flying with twins is that you cannot sit together. There is only one extra air mask per row on the airplanes so you cannot sit in the same row, you have to sit either behind or in front of each other if you have a “babe in arms“. Something we were not aware of until flying with the girls the first time.
We also realize that a lot of airport workers are not used to seeing babies on heart apnea monitors. At one point they delayed the plane from leaving and brought the monitors up from the storage area to put them on. Per the Doctors if we are holding them they didn’t need to be on any monitors, however, the workers insisted that they have them on. It made one of the security guards at one airport so nervous when we took the monitors off the kids that he pushed all our stuff through without stopping to thoroughly inspect everything and immediately said “please put those monitors back on!” I guess having tiny ones on monitors makes some people nervous. To Jake and I it was pretty normal, we had to deal with them from day one.
We had several family celebrations and gatherings during our long weekend in Kansas. The girls got to meet a lot of Great Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, and cousins for the first time during this adventure. They met many new faces on both the Hendrich and St. Clair sides of the family. Thankful for kids that travel well, safety, and for time with family.
Thankful for these precious pictures. The girls are blessed to have so some many wonderful memories with their Grandparents, Great Grandparents, and many more extended family members.
Great Grandma Willa talking with Karlie
Renelle, Karlie, and Grandpa Veryln being silly!
Aunt Tracy with Karlie.
Aunt Vick and Alecia with Karlie and Emily with Brina
Snoozing on the bed at Grandpa Russell’s and Grandma Penny’s house!
My fun and cute nephew Nathan! He is the girls oldest cousin on that side of the family.
Jake relaxing for a few minutes with Brina! Thankful for all his help and willingness to travel all the way out to KS with the little ones to visit my family. Love him so much and he is an amazing Dad to our girls.
We got to go to my cousin Jordan’s High School Graduation while we were in KS. Jordan’s pictured above with my brother Lee.
Aunt Renelle holding a sleepy Brina. Renelle is super good with kids. She was my “partner-in-crime” while growing up and probably the closest thing to a “sister” I had while growing up in a house with 3 brothers!
My cousin Whitney and her niece Claire!
Flashback Friday: Sometimes Nobody’s Happy
Brina was watching Karlie cry.
On this Flashback Friday we go to May 2005. The girls were still itty bitty and in preemie clothes. Some days all it took was for one of them to start crying which would cause the next one to start crying. There were times when I knew exactly why they were crying and could help them (diaper change, food, etc…) while other times I had no clue.
I didn’t always get everything done on time or necessary in the right order during those days on little sleep. With the help and encouragement from family and friends we made it through. Jake was a huge help! Due to them being preemies and having the occasional apnea they had to wear apnea monitors at home. It was nice having the monitors go off whenever they had apneas and we never had to worry when they were sleeping if they stopped breathing.
They also had some caffeine in their first morning bottle every day. The caffeine was prescription based and helped with their apneas. The amount of caffeine they received would be the equivalent to my husband drinking several large amount of mountain dews back to back. Needless to say as soon as they stopped taking the caffeine in their morning bottle they started sleeping through the night. It was really nice once they started sleeping through the night. It felt wonderful being able to function on a full nights sleep.
Brina decided that if Karlie was crying she should probably start crying too! The joys of parenthood.
Flashback Friday: Naps with Tigger
Brina sleeping soundly on her boppy with Tigger!
Today’s Flashback Friday takes us back 10 years ago. The girls were only a couple months old. They were great nappers and would sleep pretty much anywhere (from their cribs, swings, boppies, pack-n-plays, and other random locations). We usually rotated them to different spots to take naps so they got used to sleeping anywhere in the house. At night we would always put them to bed in their cribs, but were more flexible with their napping locations. Looking back on it they were awesome travelers because of this too. They could sleep at anyone’s house or a hotel and it never bothered them the least bit. Probably their favorite place to sleep was their swings, they LOVED their swings!!!
There is something so peaceful about a little one that is sleeping. So thankful for these two little ones. It doesn’t seem like that long ago they were rolling around on the floor, taking naps throughout the day, and playing with the little Tigger toys. The years have went by quickly, but I am grateful for these precious moments.
Karlie on her boppy with Tigger on her tummy and her foot sticking out of her clothes. She had a way of wiggling her toes out of the closed-toed outfits!Flashback Friday: Exhausting Day
Must have been an exhausting day!
Our Flashback Friday goes back to April 2005 when the girls were almost 2 months old. Jake and the girls were playing while I was making dinner. When I came back to check on them this is what I discovered. Everyone was napping peacefully. Must have been a busy day for the crew. Maybe it is all those middle of the night feedings interrupting our sleep.
Thankful for my family and the blessings in my life. They look so peaceful when they are sleeping. Those first few months were especially tiring for Jake and I. I am not sure how he did everything. He got up every night to help me with feeding the girls and then go work a full day. There weren’t a lot of parties and late night fun activities other than taking care of babies during this season of our life.
Flashback Friday: Exploring the World
Loving the flowers and petals! Brina in the purple and Karlie in the pink.
Today’s Flashback Friday takes us back to when the girls were just over a year old. They loved exploring new things. Now that they were constantly on the move they were getting into all kinds of things around the house. Thankful for these little blessings and for the opportunity to watch them grow up.
Their smiles always brighten my days!
Love their cute little pinchable and kissable cheeks!
My little sweet peas are growing up too fast!
