The Burdorf Family Funzone

Project 365 - Day 23

2012-01-24T04:58:00.000-08:00

Who needs toys?! Bowen sure doesn't!

Project 365 - Day 22

2012-01-24T04:56:00.000-08:00

All these years we thought Fred the monkey was a boy...Lol.

Project 365 - Day 21

2012-01-24T04:54:00.000-08:00

ISU Dance Marathon. More about this to come.

Project 365 - Day 20

2012-01-24T04:53:00.000-08:00

Brody's buddy. Our neighbor Jon. :)

Project 365 - Day 19

2012-01-24T04:51:00.000-08:00

Blake (left) and Bowen's (right) favorite spot.

Project 365 - Day 18

2012-01-24T04:48:00.000-08:00

Jenna's hair things. So colorful!

Third time is the charm

2012-01-19T19:39:00.000-08:00

After we tried...and tried...we finally made it to Iowa City today for Blake's January check-up. Despite the cold and wind, the trip was just fine. On today's agenda was labs, a bone xray and dialysis.

The labs looked great! We've had days where his numbers are all out of whack, but today wasn't one of those days. In fact, Dr. Jetton actually decreased one of his meds, which I assure you, never happens.

The bone xray was short, but Blakers wasn't having it. He absolutely knows that when he is put on his back at the hospital, it's not a good thing. Blake screamed the entire xray, but the two gals that did it were awesome and we were done in five minutes.

After that we headed to dialysis where we meet with the nurses, the doctors, dietician, social worker and whoever else pops in to see the babies. They were all extra excited today because they got to see Bowen for the first time in three months. :)

The dialysis visit was pretty uneventful, which is a great sign. The dietician is adjusting his formula recipe to get him some more calories, but that was it.

Today I am thankful for cooperative weather and good doctors appointments!

Project 365 - Day 17

2012-01-18T15:55:00.001-08:00

After taking photos outside in the snow I was almost inside and turned around and saw Jenna doing this. SO GLAD that I was able to snap this photo.

Project 365 - Day 16

2012-01-18T15:53:00.000-08:00

Double the boys, double the bottles, double the cute John Deere onesies.

Legit Snow!

2012-01-18T04:21:00.001-08:00

On Monday night/Tuesday morning we got legit snow! It was only a few inches, but here in Central Iowa that is a lot for this winter season. It was good and bad. Bad because for the second straight try the twins and I didn't make it to Iowa City for Blake's monthly check-up (Thursday, hopefully Thursday!). Good because the kids have been so anxious to go play in the snow.

Here are some pics of their time outside:

Brody got tired at the end. He kept telling me the snow was "too deep." He must not remember last winter... :)

Brody shoveling our neighbor's yard; Jenna doing cartwheels. Now we now: cartwheels don't even stop in the snow.

My random...

This swing is over at a neighbor's house. Jenna was all about swinging on it.

Just Brody, his shadow and his shovel...

I LOVE this. Their happy faces enjoying the season. :)

Project 365 - Day 15

2012-01-16T10:21:00.000-08:00

Blake's new favorite thing to do. Chew on socks. He doesn't care whose (this one is Bowen's). Must feel good on his teeth.

Project 365 - Day 14

2012-01-16T08:06:00.000-08:00

Saturday afternoon the kids and I played I Spy, a new game Jenna got for Christmas.

Project 365 - Day 13

2012-01-16T08:00:00.000-08:00

Comfy socks and footy pjs. Staples in our house in the winter.

Bad day...Good day

2012-01-15T18:57:00.001-08:00

I had one of those days on Friday. I won't get into details. I will say I was mad and frustrated and pretty much at a loss. About mid-afternoon I made the decision I wanted to do something fun with the family that was a little out of the ordinary for us. Something I knew would lift my spirits.

We had our first ever make your own pizza night. We have this argument all the time with Jenna. She always wants cheese whenever we order/make pizza. We tell her to pick off what she doesn't want. This seemed like the perfect solution and the kids would love it.

But first important stuff...

...like getting started on dessert. Brownies. What better than chocolate when you need a mood lifter?

Brody was all about licking that spoon.

Jenna took pizza making very seriously.

Our brownie sundaes for dessert. Yum-O! Perfect end to the night. :)

P.S...Jenna ended up putting pepperoni on her pizza. Apparently it is good when you put it on there yourself?!

Project 365 - Day 12

2012-01-13T10:46:00.000-08:00

This is how I spent my cold, windy Thursday nite. Covering a wrestling meet. Unfortunately, the WM kid is not doing the pinning, but I like this photo anyway. :)

Project 365 - Day 11

2012-01-12T04:57:00.000-08:00

I had one of these for the first time in years. Ruby Red Squirt.

It was so good!

Project 365 - Day 10

2012-01-11T04:09:00.000-08:00

Puzzle time in the afternoon. We love Thomas the Train.

Project 365 - Day 9

2012-01-11T04:07:00.000-08:00

Baxter delivery day. Once a month they bring us dialysis supplies. It's a lot of boxes. And they are HEAVY.

Thanks Santa!

2012-01-10T19:05:00.000-08:00

Santa was really good to us this year. He brought us (ok, the kids) a Wii. I was a little apprehensive because I'm not a video game person, but I'm really loving the Wii. We are all a little competitive and enjoying hanging out with each other playing.

Brody's favorite game is boxing

Our favorite dance on Just Dance 2...

Jenna likes to shake her groove thang. :)

Aaron just likes to move his hands and says that's good enough...

All in all, a great gift from the guy in the red suit! Can't wait to see how much more fun we can have together with the Wii.

Our weekend...

2012-01-09T11:58:00.001-08:00

Our weekend went super fast it seemed like. Maybe it's because I spent a good chunk of Saturday cleaning?! Anyway, we hung out and had some quality family time.

We made monster cookie bars. A new family favorite. Thanks Grandma Sara for the recipe!

They are sooooo good. And way easier than making the cookies!

Since I cleaned and emptied the baskets the boys thought they would be fun to play in.

Jenna and Brody played peek-a-boo with the twins. They loved it! I had a moment where I looked at them and thought...Wow, I really do have FOUR kids. :)

On Saturday night, Aaron headed to a basketball game to take some pictures for me for the paper. The kids and I watched the movie, "Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules." It was cute. We're fans of those movies. We finished reading Judy Moody and started a Junie B. Jones book. I love reading with the two older kiddos!

Aaron got some good pictures and I thought I would share some of them with you:

I love West Marshall's big man (in black). He's a throw back and has some good post moves.

Love this picture of our defender. Her ponytail flying. She is a rodeo-er. And has the guns to prove it!

Did you all see the moon Sunday night? It was so big and bright. I took the two oldest for a walk to see it. Here is my (bad) picture of it...

To end the weekend we decided to start a new resolution for 2012. Every Sunday nite, to end the weekend and start the new week we are having root beer floats.

They were a hit. :)

Project 365 - Day 8

2012-01-08T15:08:00.000-08:00

Brody hanging out in the window. So serious...

Project 365 - Day 7

2012-01-08T15:06:00.001-08:00

Jenna found this dress of mine when we were cleaning closets and asked if she could "model" it.

My dirty little secret...

2012-01-08T05:16:00.000-08:00

...is this. Our bedroom.

When I say "our" it's actually not "our" problem as in Aaron is involved. It's a Jamie problem. I have this really bad habit of um, not putting away my clothes. I live out of baskets. I'll put the kids clothes away. Aaron puts his clothes away. I just don't. Because I hate it. These baskets have been here for a few (ahem) months. Yeah...

Saturday I was feeling motivated and I made myself a to-do list for the weekend. Cleaning this cluster of a room was #1 on the list. Let the fun begin.

Originally, I was just going to just put away the baskets, but then the more I thought about it I figured I should go ahead and clean out my closet as well. So our bed was full of clothes that I was organizing.

I seriously found a pair of these in the back/bottom of the closet...

BIBS! Are you kidding me?! Those were "cool" like double-digit years ago. I was laughing so hard when I found them I had to try them on. Jenna saw them and said, "Did you guys used to live on a farm?!" hahahaha!

This was the goodwill pile. Brody was relaxing and watching t.v. I think I ended up with 5 bags full to donate.

Four hours and three bags of trash later, I had an organized closet again.

I told Aaron that the reason I don't clean more is that it sucks. He laughed. This though, this makes me so happy!

One of my 2012 resolutions is to put my clothes away AS SOON as I get done folding them. No matter what. Wish me luck!

Project 365 - Day 6

2012-01-06T04:51:00.001-08:00

January 5th. In Iowa. Record-breaking 62 degrees. Just crazy.

Project 365 - Day 5

2012-01-05T04:53:00.001-08:00

Love this look on Blake's face. His eyes just sparkle.

Project 365 - Day 4

2012-01-05T04:50:00.000-08:00

Bowen learned to climb into the baby swing and make it go. He giggles uncontrollably.

Project 365 - Day 3

2012-01-05T04:48:00.001-08:00

A wintertime favorite at our house. Hot chocolate. Marshmallows. Candy Cane.

Project 365 - Day 2

2012-01-05T04:44:00.000-08:00

Brody...Mr. Goofball

Project 365 - Day 1

2012-01-05T04:34:00.000-08:00

I have, I don't know what the right word is...resolved? challenged? myself to do a 365 (ok 366 with leap year this year) day photo challenge. Every single day. One photo. I'm not going this alone though. My sister-in-law Mandy, a fellow lover of picture taking, is going to do this with me.

I don't know if I will have the time to post every day, so some days there may zero photos and somedays three. I'm going to do my best! I read tips on this - like take your camera everywhere. Take a picture of people in your life, new people you meet, places you go, food you eat, etc. I hope this challenges me to be creative. I need to catch on up since today is January 5th, so here we go. Without further a-do, photo #1...

Jenna reading to Blake

Right now...

2012-01-03T18:10:00.000-08:00

A blog I follow did this tonite and so I'm stealing it, just because I liked it.

RIGHT NOW I'M...

listening to CNN in the background discussing the Iowa caucuses

sitting in the recliner with my feet up

drinking a glass of red wine

thinking I should be working out

wanting to curl up and go to bed at 8:12 PM

needing to fold some laundry

thankful for the dance party tonite with the kids. So fun!

wearing sweats and a t-shirt

praying for guidance

feeling frustration

dreaming of new possibilities

wondering when I will take my Christmas tree down

hoping for some snow!

loving the cuddle time with Jenna and Brody, reading, "Judy Moody."

The way I see it...

2012-01-02T12:49:00.000-08:00

This is my column for the week. We are going to be a Children's Miracle Network Dance Marathon Family at Iowa State. Pretty cool. This photo below is on the front page of our paper this week (yikes!). I thought I would write about our experience with CMN.

We are pictured with some of the college kids who are also doing the dance marathon. Oh yeah...Aaron was stinky from loading hogs, so that's why he isn't in the photo. :)

Small things; big difference

Did you all see my mug on the front page? I’m not big on getting my own photo taken, but when it comes to a good cause, you can count me in!

You all know our family’s story from this crazy past year of our lives. We actually just celebrated the one-year anniversary of that horrible doctor’s appointment we had. A day I will never forget. The day we were told that Baby A had a 10% chance of survival. The day we were told that if we tried any intervention we could lose both of our babies. Those things just stick in your mind.

What an incredible difference a year makes! Now we have two precious eight, almost nine, month olds. I read somewhere, a daily calendar of inspiration I think, that said ‘while I respect medical professionals, ultimately God is in charge.’ At that moment when I read it, I was carrying those two babies, trying to be optimistic about the unknown, but scared at the same time, it really struck a chord with me. I now know with 100% certainty that we were meant to have BOTH of these boys. I think about that quote often.

Last year, two people that I knew well were participating in their respective schools’ dance marathon; I knew instantly that I wanted to give a donation to both of them. I thought, I don’t know what’s going to happen with these babies and we might benefit from what the Children’s Miracle Network (the organization that the dance marathon benefits) does. Sure enough, we did.

We spent ten weeks in Iowa City and we were given weekly parking passes for four of the weeks. They were courtesy of the Children’s Miracle Network. You may not think having to pay for parking is a huge deal, but it really added up, especially when we were spending so much time at the hospital. That was a huge help!

We were approached by Emily Morgan, who does a lot for Iowa State’s Dance Marathon, to be a Dance Marathon family. We agreed. So, on January 21st we will head over to Iowa State and meet families much like us. I’m sure it will be a very memorable experience.

It’s funny how one thing in your life that turns it upside down can in turn open up a whole new world to you. There are three organizations I know of that our family will have benefited by all because of Blake. The first is the Ronald McDonald House. That place is the best! I can’t say enough good things about the one in Iowa City and I never go through the McDonald’s drive thru without emptying whatever change I have in my vehicle into the Ronald McDonald box.

The second is what I talked about earlier in the Children’s Miracle Network. The third is a “someday” thing in the Make-a-Wish Foundation. We were informed by the hospital that Blake would someday get to make a wish. Whenever that happens, I know it will be an awesome experience for our entire family. We drove down to Jolly Holiday Lights (a fundraiser for Make-a-Wish). I felt better leaving there knowing that not only had my kids loved it, but that we made a small difference in some child’s life. A child just like our own.

I don’t think you ever really think your child will be born unhealthy. I think we sort of expect them to be healthy, because that is just the way most kids are. Some people out there know what it’s like to deal with a child who has health issues and some people will never know what that’s like. Everything you deal with in your life makes you the person that you are today, no matter what it is. Blake’s situation turned our world upside down, but it is what it is. Blake is who he is. The one thing I know for sure is that I’m so grateful for things like the Dance Marathon and the Children’s Miracle Network, because they have done small things that have made such a big difference for our family, but that’s just the way I see it.

To You 2011

2012-01-01T04:30:00.000-08:00

Dear 2011,

What a year you were! By far, the most memorable in my 31 (Aaron's 32) years. It's not even a contest.

You made us nervous, anxious, happy, sad, scared, but most of all you made us feel so BLESSED. We are so grateful for such an amazing year!

We added two new members of our family. Our family of six is now complete. We wouldn't trade it for anything in the whole entire world.

We had our first lost tooth. We had a member start kindergarten. And one start preschool. Aaron hung up his baseball cleats and is done with the coaching gig for the time being. We ran our first 10K together in Mankato. In honor of Blake.

After you, 2011, we know that we are a strong family. We know that we can handle anything. So bring it on 2012. We can't wait to see what you have in store!

Signed,

The Burdorf Family

Merry (belated) Christmas

2011-12-29T04:03:00.001-08:00

I'm not getting awards this year for getting my Christmas cards out on time. UGH. If you usually get one, I'm really sorry. They are sitting on my counter in a box. It's just been a little (lot!) crazy around our house. You may get it by Valentine's Day...if you're lucky. :)

Here are some photos for the card. Hope these tide you over until you get the real thing:

Sassy Jenna

Ornery Brody

Bowen

Blake

Just the six of us

The Farm

2011-12-27T12:34:00.000-08:00

Please be patient with my randomness. After I put the boys down for a nap, I took my camera and walked around the farm. I just wanted to take some pictures of it. I love this barn.

This is the view from the road.

Everybody makes fun of NW Iowa for having so much snow. It looks like this snow fence hasn't gotten much of a workout this winter. :)

I don't know what this is, I just thought it ended up being a neat photo...

Grandpa has three tractors in his machine shed. This one is the newest.

This one the oldest. Cira 1970-something maybe? I'm not well versed in the age of tractors. :)

In the barn I found this bucket of fishing rods. Seriously! I think somebody has hoarding issues. LOL

This rooster napkin holder was actually inside. My grandma LOVED roosters. I love this. It reminded me of her.

I took this photo through the van window as we were driving home down the gravel road.

So pretty...

Beadle Christmas

2011-12-27T11:34:00.000-08:00

After the Burdorfs left Sunday morning, we headed up North to Swea City. Ahhh...Northwest Iowa! The trip up was a little rocky. We had to stop for four potty breaks, Bowen screamed for about a half hour of the time and Jenna threw up (luckily I got a bag there in time and avoided a major mess!).

It was so great to see so many family members! Everybody was there except the Romans from Wisconsin. We missed you Romans! It was so fun to catch up with my cousins. We don't get together near enough, but when we do it's like the good old days laughing, talking and catching up.

Here's my uncle Brad with the twins. He is so good with them!

Grandpa Cliff. Cliffy-O! He brought tears to my eyes. He held Blake and talked to him about pheasant hunting together someday. :) He also told him he was a very blessed little guy who has a lot to be thankful for. Ok...I'm tearing up again thinking about it..

From serious conversation to a big cheese!

Three generations of the Beadles

My cousin Brooke's little girl, Maeci. So cute! I loved her hat and coat.

Somebody got out the 4-wheeler and took the kids (Jenna, Camden, Brody) for rides. Although, I don't think Brody ever actually rode it. When I asked him why he didn't want a ride he said, "I just like gator rides."

What says Merry Christmas more than two yummy cakes?! :) Brandi brought this peppermint cake from Illinois. Soooo good!

And Bill made this equally yummy chocolate cake. I didn't want to discriminate so I had a little bit of both...

We didn't get everybody together in time before they left, so by the time we decided to take a photo...this was who was left. The cousins with Grandpa.

The kids slept on the way home. Yay! It was a great day and hopefully we can plan a get together this summer so we can see each more than once a year.

Burdorf Christmas

2011-12-27T02:50:00.001-08:00

Let the barrage of photos begin! Haha The Burdorfs came down to our place for Christmas this year. Frank and Linda made it on Friday and Adam and Jill and the girls on Saturday.

We were very laid-back this year. We watched the Vikings actually win, watched some Christmas movies, the kids played, went to church and opened gifts.

Friday I was giving the boys baths and Aaron asked where my recipe was for my star cookies and I was like, 'What? Why?' Those are kind of my thing, but he assured me he could handle it. :) Technically, he mixed them and I baked them. Teamwork! A double-batch of the best darn cookies at Christmas...

I decided for lunch Saturday we would do soups and sandwiches and I mentioned to Aaron I wanted to make a cheese soup. So, he found a recipe. And made it all by himself (minus me cutting up the cheese). It was YUMMY!! Nothing more attractive than a guy in the kitchen. ;)

Yes, my father-in-law Frank really has this sweatshirt. Yes, somebody really bought it for him. I couldn't get over it, so I had to take a picture.

I wanted to paint my nails on Saturday and Jenna wanted to do festive nails. Hers turned out cute! Mine didn't turn out because they weren't quite dry when I went to pick-up a baby.

The twins. The best darn Christmas present ever. This captures there personalities exactly. It makes me smile looking at their expressions. Oh Bowen...!!

I think Brody might have opened the wrong gift. Those pjs might be just a tad small. Who looks just like daddy?!

Aunt Jill reacts to some canvases we made for her of the girls. I think she liked them!

Cutie-patootie Miss Addy.

Adam liked his Red Ryder BB gun, Christmas Story style.

Grandma Linda with the collage I made for her of all six of her grandbabies.

Our pretty tree...

I got a bottle of wine in this bag. It made me laugh... Clever, huh?!

A trail of Santa goodies...

...And a cookie for the rode for Aubrey.

Thanks to everybody for coming to State Center for Christmas! We had a great time!

I have a problem...

2011-12-26T19:29:00.000-08:00

I, Jamie, am an overshooter!! Seriously, I took hundreds of photos of all our Christmases. I don't know what to do. I could pick just a few, but then the people that were at THAT particular Christmas might feel left out. But, on the other hand, do I need 50 million photos of each of our Christmases?! I think because I know my relatives at least would appreciate the photos, please bear with all the photos. :) I'll be posting some soon!

Not our finest moment...

2011-12-22T13:35:00.000-08:00

At least Jenna and Mrs. Claus were happy to be there...

Two fussy babies...one blinking Santa...one annoyed daddy..one pouty three-year old...and a partridge in a pear tree. :)

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Exersaucer Love

2011-12-21T19:44:00.001-08:00

Besides with his mama :)...I don't think there's any other place that Blake would rather be than his exersaucer. He loves it. I love that he loves it.

This leaf thing is one of his favorite parts. Especially with more teeth coming in. He chews...

...and chews and chews.

I have to interrupt this Blake post with a Bowen photo I captured. The kiddo climbed right up on my lap and was trying to get the camera. Aren't his eyes the bluest of blues? I love them!

Blake and his tongue crack me up! He always has it out.

So happy....

My favorite. The face. The tongue. The expression.

Blake is now making three sounds. He started with dadada and progressed to bababa and now does mamama. Tonite he sat on the floor when I was changing him into his pjs and he smiled and just babbled on "mamamama". That is the best sound in the whole entire world. We are so blessed to have this happy, smiley baby boy in our family. He brings such JOY!

Hunecke Christmas

2011-12-20T18:26:00.000-08:00

We had our Hunecke Family Christmas last weekend. Everybody was awesome enough to come down to State Center! That was so nice to not have to pack and stress about that. Everybody was nice and pitched in and brought some food. My mom especially brought food! She is her mother's daughter. Grandma Beadle always made sure we never starved. :)

Anyway, we spent the entire day together on Saturday. All of us. Nowhere to rush off to. Just relaxing. It was WONDERFUL. Some pics of our 2011 Christmas!

My brother is a dork....

Bowen and Grandma Jo

Grandpa Larry thought it would be fun to do sugar cookies with the kiddos. I think he got more than he bargained for with little hands everywhere. :)

Brody was a mess before he started. Not sure what is already all over his face.

Blake playing his piano. He loves this thing!

Somehow in the making of the cookies, Grandpa Larry and kiddos neglected to frost them. Bill, Mandy and I were just sitting around, so Bill made us some frosting and the three of us frosted.

The finished products. Bet you can't guess who did the yellow frosted cookies with green sprinkles? I'm sure it wasn't a certain Green Bay Packer fan... LOL

Me and my girl. Getting ready to open gifts.

Mitchell and Jess

Justin and Maddox with his new Hawkeye sweatshirt, courtesy of the Burdorfs.

Mom, Bill and all four of the kiddos. This is the best we could do. Not too shabby I would say.

I didn't get pictures of the kids opening gifts. It was chaos with all four of them. Gifts and wrapping paper everywhere. Thanks for a hilarious game of What. (If you all haven't played that game, you should. Funny stuff). I haven't laughed that hard in awhile.

Thank you to EVERYONE for a memorable day!

Christmas-y Happenings

2011-12-12T09:39:00.001-08:00

We got into the Christmas spirit at our house this past weekend by participating in a couple of things that were happening around town. One of them was called the Jingle Bell Jog that was held at the elementary school. It didn't work out for Aaron or me to take the kids, so our pal Jay was nice enough to take Jenna and Brody. Jay showed up at our house in a santa hat and so the kids had to put theirs on too. They even got little bells to put on their shoes. Getting ready for the race...

The race was a fundraiser to get an old train depot moved to State Center (hence the RR crossing stuff). I am in LOVE with this picture of Brody. His face is so him. :)

Jenna is cartwheel obsessed!!! If there's space, she will do cartwheels. She's seriously out of control.

When all was said and done, the kids (and Jay!) ended up doing 2 miles. I would say that's pretty darn good for little legs. Jenna ended up getting second place in her division. I think they all had a really good time!

They held a breakfast with Santa on Saturday in a nearby town. I killed two birds with one stone by taking the kids down and also getting pictures for the paper. We had to BEG Brody to sit on Santa's lap. He said he wanted some transformer thing that turns into a fire truck. No clue what that is... :)

Jenna had no fear. She wants a hula hoop and a DS. We'll see what Santa brings her... :)

We are getting in the Christmas spirit! If only it would snow!! SIGH. Anyway, the Huneckes are headed our way this weekend and we are really excited to see everybody.

Concert Weekend

2011-12-06T15:03:00.000-08:00

We had a sort of laid back, sort of busy weekend. Saturday was kind of a lazy day, but Sunday was pretty busy.

Aaron, who has been reffing a lot of basketball, reffed Friday night and Saturday afternoon. The kids and I had movie night on Friday night. Our movie of choice was, "Santa Claus." That was the first time the kids had seen it and they loved it!

Saturday, I decided it was time for a craft. I found cottonballs and so I thought they would enjoy making a Santa. This is what happened when we started...

...the kids thought it would be fun to have a "snowball fight" with them. The finished products:

For some reason lately, it seems we are eating a "breakfast for supper" meal about once a week. I was not in the mood to cook Saturday night, so we had pancakes and bacon. I saw this idea on pinterest, to make rainbow pancakes. I made the batter and let Jenna and Brody each pick a color. Brody chose blue; Jenna "violet" (those are her words, not mine!).

I swear, if you want your kids to think you are the best ever, just add food coloring. The kids LOVED this. Oh yeah... Jenna won't eat pancakes without chocolate chips these days and Brody just follows suit.

What happens when you leave Brody alone with food color for five seconds... :)

Because it is going to be so cold this week, we decided to break down and try the winter coats on the boys that we bought LAST season when they were on sale. They are just a bit too big. LOL

Saturday we got rain. Lots of it! Unfortunately for us snow lovers. The kids seemed to think we got about six inches. Notice the grass...

They thought there was just enough in our neighbor's driveway.

Sunday was Jenna's first concert at school! She was a nervous wreck all day. Jenna is so her mother's daughter. :) Here she is lining up:

...and singing. It was so cute and fun to watch. And would you believe it?! Jenna survived!! :)

Grandpa Larry and Linda surprised Jenna by coming to her concert and then were nice enough to watch the kids so Aaron and I could get some Christmas shopping done. We got all four kids done! Woo-Hoo! And it's not even December 23rd.

Bowen's Tricks

2011-12-01T16:26:00.001-08:00

If you come to our house you will hear things like, "Bowen!" "BOW-EN!" "No-No!" (Turn your back for 3.2 seconds) "Where did Bowen go? Bowen?!"

Ok, you get the idea. This little nugget is strong! And with that strength comes many new tricks, like crawling. Legit crawling. None of this belly flopping, leap-frogging stuff he's been doing. Arms and legs moving the way they need to. He's getting fast too.

Trick number two is pulling himself up on things. Like chairs. And his crib. I almost had a heart attack last week when I came in to get the boys and he was standing up looking at me.

Doesn't he look guilty?

And now, he's just showing off!

He decided to take a break. Snapped this cute pic.

I love baby toes. :)

See what I'm saying on the strong thing? That's quite the plank for a 7 month old!

And taking pictures is a challenge because he's always coming at me! LOL

This is one of his favorite places. Under the coffee table where he either pulls on the cord or crawls behind the chair where I can't reach him. Stinker.

It seems like everytime I feed Blake Bowen tries to climb THROUGH the high chair.

This time it turned out ok when I took the picture last nite. Today? He face planted into the kitchen floor and got his very first bloody nose! One of many I'm sure.

This kid has zero fear. ZERO. He is going to keep us on our toes and I'm sure him and Brody will be best friends!!

Decorating the Tree

2011-11-29T18:28:00.000-08:00

After we got home from Omaha, the kids were ANTSY to decorate the Christmas tree. Aaron took the older two with him to get some new lights and they put those on on Friday evening. They wanted to continue decorating, but Aaron and I were exhausted from lack of sleep the prior nite, so we promised them we could put the ornaments on first thing Saturday.

So, first thing Saturday, Aaron laid out all the ornaments for the kiddos and they got to work. It was so cute to watch. Listening to Jenna and Brody discuss how to put the ornaments on and where to put them on cracked me up.

We also put our tree in the basement. Even though we're down there, we're not down there as much as we are upstairs, so with the twins, we thought it might be a safer bet. Jenna showed Blake the tree. He just stared at it. I think he liked the lights....

Brody gets to work...

Bowen. He LOVES the tree. Time will tell how much he really loves it. :) For now, he just stares at it.

We did have a minor meltdown. As I type this I can't even remember over what, but the face was too funny to not put this picture on here. Don't mind me in the background with my mismatched pjs still on. ;)

We have some branches that are currently sporting three or four ornaments. I resisted the urge to change it. Everytime I look at those branches hanging on for dear life, I smile. I think there's eight in this small space. :)

My randomness...

Is there anything prettier than a tree filled with lights? I think not!

Jenna and Brody's big ta-da!!!

What's your tree like? Are you a random assortment of homemade and store bought ornaments like the Burdorfs? Or, are you matchy-matchy right out of a magazine or have a theme to your tree?

Thanksgiving 2011

2011-11-24T18:35:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving 2011. I think it's definitely safe to say that this year more than any other year our family is SO GRATEFUL and SO THANKFUL for what we have. It's hard to believe that a year ago we had no idea we were having twins, let alone the journey and challenges that we have faced since last April. We have so much to be thankful for and are so very blessed!!

We headed to Omaha for a couple of days to spend time with Adam, Jill, Addy and Aubrey. Frank and Linda also made the trip from Sioux City. Adam had to work for part of the day, so we just took it easy and enjoyed each other's company.

Here's Jill, the hostess with the mostess! She did awesome with the Thanksgiving meal!

Grandma and Grandpa with the twins

Our niece Aubrey. She's adorable. Blue eyes. Wild curly hair.

Not only that, she has good style. How cute are these shoes for a 1-year old?!

I read on a blog somewhere this week that everybody needs to make sure they take a family picture over Thanksgiving. Don't worry if everybody is not perfect. Or you all don't match. Or not everybody is looking directly at the camera. This is just you. In the moment. I LOVED this idea.

Soooo.....Here we are with our families. After a long day of Thanksgiving. After a big meal. After playing outside. After we put our sweats on. After pie. After naps.

Adam, Jill, Addy and Aubrey

And all six of us. I love Bowen's serious face. I love that Jenna has costume jewelry on. I love that Brody is smiling but not looking at the camera. I love how much Blake looks like Brody. I love how I'm leaning into the picture awkwardly like I tend to do. I love how Aaron is ridiculously photogenic like he always is.

I am so thankful for Aaron. There is no way I would have made it through this past year without him. He is my rock and always assures me that everything is going to be ok and will work out for the better.

Quick Trip to the 'Kee

2011-11-23T14:51:00.001-08:00

Last Sunday my dad invited us up for a Thanksgiving meal since we won't be getting together when it is actually Thanksgiving. We drove up and back on Sunday. The kids traveled so well! We had a great time listening to the radio, reading books and enjoying some naps.

Anyway, after a nice, big, filling meal my dad took the kids outside to play. I helped with dishes and then headed out with my camera to see what they were up to. My dad had gotten out this...

Our old wagon. All metal. I love this thing. Built to last.

Grandpa Larry posing with Jenna and Brody.

Bailey! I always love when we see my dad because we get to see Bailey too. I love this picture of her.

Anyway, once I figured out what my dad was up to I said, "Uh...I don't think this is a good idea dad."

His response, "It'll be fine." I didn't like the sound of that so much. My dad has a sloped sidewalk on the side of his house and he thought this would be fun:

Ok, so judging by the expressions (which are priceless!) it was fun. But, it gave the mom a heart attack!!

Then they had the idea to hook the wagon to the tractor and that might help with their lack of steering skills with just the wagon. Brody LOVES tractors. Any tractors. Doesn't he looked determined?!

And then Miss Jenna had a turn. Look at her tongue! :)

...And away they go down the sidewalk.

Meanwhile inside the house...

Daddy and Bowen must have had so much food that it wore them out. :)

Turkeys

2011-11-17T04:41:00.000-08:00

At our house we are thankful for crafts! And creativity! The kids really enjoy craft time, so I told them I'm going to try REALLY hard to be organized and plan something for one day a week after school.

Since it is Thanksgiving, I figured the obvious thing to make would be a turkey. After picking up Jenna from her early out, we went home and got started. The feathers for the turkey:

Brody starts putting his feathers on. He is getting so much better at sitting and doing things like that. I think it must be preschool that is helping.

There was a lot of discussion about how to arrange the feathers on their turkeys. So funny to listen to both of them.

Brody took this picture of my turkey and insisted it be put on the blog. :)

The finished products! I think they turned out really good and we hung them up in the kitchen. Jenna's already asking me what we're doing next week for craft time. Hmmmm....

State Football

2011-11-15T19:27:00.001-08:00

The West Marshall football team made it to the semi-final round and that meant a trip to the UNI dome. We were matched-up against Spirit Lake on Monday afternoon. That meant a day with no school. Aaron has been my "ace reporter" :) for WM football, so he covered the game from the sidelines. It was nice to sit in the stands and just enjoy the game. Some photos I snapped at the dome, aka marshmallow as Brody calls it.

The blue icees! The kids shared one and Jenna kept making me take photos of her blue tongue.

The kids did reallly well for awhile, but I was sure to bring other entertainment. Jenna drew a picture of the football game and Brody played the DS.

The action on the field. I don't have very fond memories of Spirit Lake when we played against them in high school. That seemed to carry over when we played them Monday. I will say, they were one hard-hitting team! Wow. I was cringing sometimes at how hard our boys were getting hit. It made me have that moment where I wished my boys would run cross country or just play fall baseball. :)

Our friend, Mary and her sister, Amanda and little Miss Cailyn sat by us. Cailyn was super cute in her black and gold!

When all was said and done, West Marshall's season came to a close with a 35-14 loss. They guys did great though! 12-1. Pretty impressive. I snapped one more photo of the kids so we could remember our first trip to the dome and state football.

If you happen to be wondering where the twins are, Grandma and Grandpa Burdorf were kind enough to come down and hang out with them for the day. What a huge help that was! :)

The way I see it...

2011-11-15T18:57:00.000-08:00

**This is long! I must have been extra windy this week!**

Unexpected Stay in Iowa City

As good as things were going with Blake health-wise, we hit a bump in the road last Thursday. I took Blake down to Iowa City for his monthly check-up and they ended-up admitting him to the hospital and we didn’t get to come home until Saturday night.

Blake’s iron was low last month, so they started having us do iron infusions. During these, your blood pressure can drop, so the nurse checks it periodically throughout the hour-long procedure. The blood pressure machine was turned away from me, so I couldn’t see it, but I heard the nurse on the phone out in the hall with the dialysis team talking about how high his blood pressure was. She came in and took it one more time before we headed to our dialysis appointment and it was 150-something. For those of you that know anything about blood pressure, that’s a high systolic number even for an adult. That means poor Blake’s little heart was just working entirely too hard.

We got to dialysis and they took his BP again, this time on a different type of machine. It was down to 108. I thought, ‘Good. We’re going to be just fine.’ Then we got his labs back…

It seems his hemoglobin was down to 7. Now it’s not unusual for people with kidney issues to have low hemoglobin levels. It’s just another thing that those amazing organs help the body with. A normal hemoglobin is 12-14, so Blake was at half of what he should have been (he’s usually around 9 and the doctors are ok with that).

The next thing you know Blake’s doctor is telling me how he is going to have to stay the night for observation because his BP is too high, blood pressure too low and they can tell that he is retaining fluids. All that, just that fast!

I think I stood there in shock. I know a lot of other kids with kidney issues are in and out of the hospital a lot, but because Blake had been doing so well, we haven’t had to deal with that. The doctor informed me that Blake is their little dialysis superstar and we are doing a wonderful job of caring for him.

They ended up putting Blakers on some BP medications, made him do a couple of 17-hour dialysis treatments to rid him of all that fluid and gave him a blood transfusion to help with his low hemoglobin. Whew!! It was a crazy couple of days. My husband and I both took our turns down there and bringing him home Saturday night felt so good. I think Blake thought so too, because I’m certain he kept looking around his hospital room looking for his brothers and sister.

The power of facebook is amazing sometimes. I put on there the situation and I had so many friends telling me they were sending prayers. It lifted my spirits immediately. I am a firm believer that the power of prayer got us to where we are today. We even had three families help out by bringing us meals. It makes me tear up thinking about what an amazing community we live in. You all have been so supportive and I literally cannot thank you enough. It means the world to our family!

As sad as I was about our situation, there’s nothing like a trip to the hospital in Iowa City to make you have that moment where you think, ‘I could have things so much worse.’ I literally have a moment every single time down there where I see a child or adult who I know is having a truly difficult time. I’m thankful that all we have to deal with is “just” Blake’s kidneys. There is a transplant in his future. He will be on medications his whole life. That’s just how it’s going to be. It’s not going to be easy, but things are going to get better, slowly but surely. Positive thinking, prayers and Blake’s smile get me through, but that’s just the way I see it.

Jenna News

2011-11-09T19:38:00.001-08:00

A couple bits of Jenna news for you. First, Jenna won an award at the Character Counts assembly last week! She was chosen for the pillar of responsibility and we are so proud of her. We got an email from her teacher and were asked to keep it a secret and so we just showed up at the assembly and she had no idea. It was great! The kids get SO EXCITED and you coudn't help but smile. :)

Ever since Jenna went to the dentist this summer and he told her that she had a loose she has been wiggling that thing non-stop. Yesterday it finally happened. She lost her first tooth!! It was a tooth on the bottom and she lost it at school. Jenna is very excited and was even more excited that the tooth fairy came and left her some money! Parents out there...what is the going rate for the tooth fairy these days?!

Monkey-ing around

2011-11-06T18:58:00.000-08:00

One morning last week the boys were being super adorable (like always!) and they were in matching monkey shirts and so I grabbed my camera for a little photo shoot. I thought they turned out so cute! Plus, you can just tell by the pictures there is a little story going on between Blake and Bowen.

Bowen with his deer in the headlights look

He got it figured out. This cutie pie is all about his tongue. Bowen always has it sticking out...

Mr. Serious aka Blakers...

This face is just so precious. I always think he has a little dimple on the right side. I guess this proves it.

Let the twin conversation begin. Bowen smiling and Blakers not so much...

Pretty sure Bowen was telling Blake that he was supposed to smile when I point that big black thing at them. So he did...

Hey brother - now we have it figured out!

Bowen is sick of the brotherly bonding, so he's going to try and push Blake over, but...

...instead lost his balance and ended up falling over. :)

I think Blake must have laughed because Bowen wasn't having it and the next thing I knew, this happened...

Bowen with the takedown. :) Photo shoot over.

More Fall Fun

2011-11-02T19:18:00.000-07:00

This may or may not be the last blog on fall fun that we're having. :) I figured since I'm on a roll, I would tell you about our impromptu trip to the apple orchard in Cambridge. Aaron decided we should randomly go on a Thursday after school. It was nice. And less crowded. Way less crowded. A tour of our time at the apple orchard:

The obligatory shot when you walk in. Smart idea with the name of the place and the year. All four kids actually facing the camera! Woo-hoo!

The duck races. Aaron is all about the duck races. He raced and beat Jenna. Brody tried too, but he somehow got his finger in the way and that just didn't end well.

Aaron and I tried our hands at lasso-ing. Man that is hard! Seriously, how do those rodeo-types make it look so easy?! I'm in awe. Here I am giving it a whirl.

Jenna with her scary face.

My two oldest took a second to pose with their mama

Gotta love the kissin' pigs. They make me smile every year. I told Aaron we should put this on our Christmas card! :)

Where there is a tractor, there is a Brody...

Daddy and the kiddos on the giant pillow. I really think we could have just paid admission and had the kids jump on the pillow the entire time.

The giant slide. This was a favorite for all of us. They all three wanted to go together. I got a lot of pictures on the slide with great expressions.

And last but not least...

We just love Fall! As I am typing this I just heard the weather on t.v. and they mentioned the "s" word. I'm not ready for the white stuff yet! I will take 60 and 70 degree weather for a few more months.

10K

2011-10-31T13:00:00.000-07:00

The 10K! In Mankato! Our first! Good news is...we survived! I was a nervous wreck starting Friday night. I don't really know why, but I was. Scott and Lisa Nelsen - our awesome friends - ran with us and it was their first 10Ks as well. For the record, Lisa was nervous about the run too.

Saturday morning we left the hotel about 6:30 AM and headed to downtown Mankato to get on a bus that would take us to the starting line, which was on MSU's campus. Here are all four of us in the hotel, getting ready to leave:

My super-smart hubby had the idea that we should have these shirts made that match our #keepfightingblake bracelets. In addition to wearing the shirts, Scott raised money for the Ronald McDonald House in Iowa City that is very near and dear to our hearts. Last I knew, he had raised over $500. Wow!!!

Jenna and Brody LOVE Scott and Lisa! A sleepy pic with Scott.

And Lisa too!

It was kind of weird because it was dark out when they dropped us off. It was a very "balmy" 36 degrees at the start of the race. It actually turned out to be the perfect temperature. The picture above was taken right before our run. Sorry for the bluriness, but it was with my phone.

THE RACE:

Aaron - he said he didn't feel like he ran very well. He even had the nerve to tell me after the race that he thought he was running so slow that he feared that he would look over his shoulder during the run and I would be right on his heels. LOL. Real nice, huh?! Aaron finished in under an hour, which was his goal.

Me - My lungs felt great the entire race! I never felt out of breath. I had been having some issues with pain in my left knee. The Sunday before I ran about 6.8 miles and I was in major pain that night and the next day. I took the entire week off in hopes to not injure it more.

Around mile 2, I could feel the pain start to creep. At about 4.5 miles my knee buckled and I literally almost fell. I kept going though. It sounds weird, but all I could picture was little Blaker's face that day he was poked four times. I thought to myself, this is just your knee. Look what Blake goes through every single day. Suck it up and keep running. And I did! I crossed the finish line in 1:07, beating my goal by about 8 minutes. I could barely walk the rest of the weekend, but it was worth it. :)

Scott and Lisa: They both ROCKED IT!! Lisa beat her goal and Scott did his as well. I am so very proud of both of them and it was extra special that we all did it together.

Aaron said he doesn't want to run any farther than a 10K, but plans to run some 5Ks in the future. I said I might want to try something farther. Maybe. We will see what happens, but it was definitely a great accomplishment!!

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T11:42:00.000-07:00

Happy Halloween from the Burdorfs! We had our trick-or-treating last nite, so we snapped a few photos before, during and after trick-or-treating. What can I say? I like my camera just a little. :) Without further ado, I give you a witch, batman and thing one and thing two.

The sassy witch. She insisted on striped socks and a green face.

Batman. Brody as a super hero was just too perfect. It's so him.

The twins (Blake on left; Bowen on right) as thing one and thing two. That's from Dr. Seuss for those of you that don't know. They were adorable, even if they only made it for the first long street and chose to sleep after that. :)

The Burdorf Bunch!!

Birthday Weekend in 'Kato

2011-10-30T19:08:00.001-07:00

A couple of weeks ago we headed to Mankato to help our nephew Maddox celebrate his 2nd birthday. It felt like we were just up there for his first! I just can't believe he's already two! Anyway, it was a great time to get to catch up with family and it was also the weekend of our big 10K (but more about that later).

We got up to 'Kato on Friday around supper time and after unpacking all of our junk at the hotel, we were able to hang out at Justin and Mandy's for a couple of hours. We had to hook Blake up to dialysis early, so he was done in time for us to UN-hook him before the run.

Saturday the weather was perfect and we watched football, played games, caught up with each other and relaxed! Here are some pictures of the weekend:

Aunt Jess and Jenna

Aunt Mandy and Bowen

The three Hunecke siblings - Jess, me and Justin

The thing about Justin and Mandy is they are awesome hosts!! They always keep us doing SOMETHING. Justin made these cool bean bag things (I don't know what they are called) and all of us took a turn to play a few games.

Mandy and Mitchell

Maddox the birthday boy taking a whack at the pinata. That's a pretty impressive swing for a newly turned two-year old!!

Brody waiting for his turn at the pinata. He's just cute. :)

All in all, a great weekend! But then again, it always is when we all get to be together! Thanks Justin, Mandy and Maddox for having us!

Pumpkin Painting

2011-10-26T03:34:00.001-07:00

I have been promising the kids for about, um, two weeks now that we would paint our pumpkins. I'm not so much into the carving. It's a lot of work with the kids at this age. Anyway, since the weather was cooperative, I laid out some old newspapers and let the kids go to work.

What we started with:

Brody got to work on painting the little pumpkins

Jenna wanted the biggest pumpkin

Go Brody Go...

Brody was all about mixing and matching his colors

And then Jenna wanted to try to make stripes, so out came the painter's tape

Brody tried to use the star stencils, so cute :)

And the final product... With some that the mom did! I think I always love craft time as much (or more!) than the kiddos!

Hickory Grove Park

2011-10-25T19:04:00.000-07:00

We LOOOVVVEEEE Fall! Honestly, some of this weather we've been having is so awesome! I wish we could bottle it and save it until January. I know the winters get long, so I've been trying to get the kids outside to soak up the weather as much as we can. We headed over to Hickory Grove Park one beautiful afternoon. What a wonderful few hours, the only bad part was that daddy had parent-teacher conferences and couldn't go with us.

My pretty girl posing.

We walked on the trails...

Brody and Jenna posing on a rock, pretending to get a long ;)

In addition to a lake, they have a playground area. Jenna has been working really hard on getting across the monkey bars.

The twins were such troopers. I think they loved the fresh air! Blake on the left; Bowen on the right

I must have given about 45,792 underdogs to Brody! The kid just can't get enough of the swings.

Thank goodness Jenna can pump herself on the swings.

Tough week of Dr. appts.

2011-10-18T04:26:00.000-07:00

Last week sucked. No need to try to sugar coat it, it was tough.

Tuesday: We had the twins' 6-month check-ups in Ames. I took the twins (and Brody) by myself and everything would have been just fine, except Dr. Nau decided Blake wasn't breathing the best (we are all suffering from colds) and so we had to do a nebulizer treatment while we were there.

Then, of course, was the shots. Three each, plus an oral, plus Blake had to have a TB test done for Iowa City. They did something different this time and brought in two nurses and did shots at the exact same time. Without even asking me! I'll be honest, it made me mad! It's a lot easier to comfort them one at a time, but I had both babies crying and then the nurses just walked out and left me. That was when I had already been there for an hour and a half, so it could have just been that I was pretty tired and crabby at that point.

The good news! The boys are doing great. Bowen: 17.5 lbs. and 26.5 inches long; Blake 16.5 lbs and 26 inches long. Dr. Nau is so happy (as is Iowa City) how close the boys are staying in size.

Thursday: I took the twins with me (and picked-up our friend Sara) to Iowa City. What a long day that was. I left the house and 7:30 and got home at 6:30PM. I went down expecting Blake would be just fine, like he always is. He wasn't. :(

He did labs, like always. He had to do a quick x-ray because they wanted to check and see if his PD Cath is still in place. Then we headed down to dialysis. They got his labs back and the nurse turned to me and said, "Um...his labs are bad."

Long story short his numbers for everything are all out of whack. They are either way too high or way too low. Dr. Jetton went through the entire list with me and told me what the targets were. She assured me we are doing a wonderful job in caring for Blake, but they think he's just growing and they needed to make adjustments to his dialysis script, along with his other prescriptions.

Blake's iron level was SO LOW. It was 23 and they would like it to be 70. We had to head upstairs for an hour of iron IV. It was the worst thing I have been apart of since the boys have been born. 4 times they had to poke him! 4!!! The look on my poor baby's face... The screaming.... The tears....

I stayed strong through the first two pokes and then I lost it on the third one. God bless the nice lady who was in there trying to distract him and wiped my tears for me. I felt so bad for Blake and the nurses. Once they got the iv finally in Blake napped in my arms and he got some much deserved cuddle time. :)

The bad news is that instead of going back in a month, we go back in 2 weeks. BOO!! Another set of labs and (lucky us) another iron IV. Praying for better numbers!

The way I see it...

2011-10-18T04:20:00.001-07:00

10K Crazy

It’s official. With the birth of these babies, my brain cells went right out the window. I’m telling you this because the next statement I’m about to make will be shocking. Are you ready? Here goes: I, Jamie, am running a 10K this weekend. That’s 6.2 miles. See what I’m saying? I’ve officially gone crazy!!

I’m not sure if you remember my column way back where I mentioned that I have this fear of failure? Well, let me refresh your memory. I was thinking about doing an 8K in Newton last spring, but I was a big chicken and didn’t sign-up for it because I didn’t think I’d be able to do it. While I’m refreshing your memory, let me also remind you that the farthest I have ever run in my life was a 5K (3.1 miles).

So what did I do? I got this cockamamie idea in my head this summer that I should go and sign-up for something that is an even farther distance than the previous race that I was scared to run. Are you all confused on how my brain works? Me too.

Last year, I was in Mankato for my nephew’s birthday and the first year of the Mankato Marathon took place (along with a half-marathon, 10K and 5K). We were close enough to the race that we walked a couple blocks and cheered on the runners. I remember my pregnant self thinking, ‘I want to do this next year.’

That was before, well, EVERYTHING. Before we found out we were having twins. Before we found out of the seriousness of the entire situation with our then Baby A. Before Blake got transported to Iowa City. Before he started dialysis. Before he spent 70 days there. Before we would, as a family, adjust to this new life.

When I think about all that and everything we’ve gone through and continue to go through, does running 6.2 miles seem that hard? Honestly, as much as I have this love-hate relationship with running, it just doesn’t. I think about our little fighter and everything he’s been through and me running a race that might push me a little (or a lot) just doesn’t seem like any big thing.

For the 10K, there was a cap of 750 runners. If I finish 750 does it really matter? Ok, for the record I will try really hard to not to the very last person, but somebody has to, right?!

I think it’s going to be a fun weekend. Aaron is running it “with” me. By “with” I mean he’ll be way ahead of me. We also have a few friends of ours that are running it too. Mind over matter. This is just a small obstacle compared to everything else we’ve been through, but that’s just the way I see it.

The twins are 6 months

2011-10-14T12:03:00.001-07:00

My babies are six months old! Where has the time gone? The twins are getting so big, so fast! They get funner by the day. :)

Some things about them:

Size 2 diapers

Love, Love, Love their exersaucers

They both love to "chat" with you. It's hilarious. Makes me smile.

When laying next to each other on the floor their favorite thing to grab on each other is ears. I let them pull for awhile, and then move them apart.

Here are a couple photos I took that I'm in love with. They are going to be canvases on my wall.

Blake

Likes to roll over, not so much into getting on his knees and crawling yet, drooling like crazy, but no teeth to speak of, loves snuggling, eating more all the time.

Bowen

Loves to roll, he is up on his knees and rocks, rocks, rocks and belly flops, if he needs to get across the room, he will. he has two teeth, isn't a big fan of carrots, likes to drool a lot.

Big Day for the Kindergartener

2011-10-09T19:15:00.000-07:00

Last Wednesday, Jenna came home from school so excited to tell me she got an award. I was like, for what? Apparently, they had an elementary-wide coloring contest for World Rabies Day (or something like that...). They picked a winner from the entire kindergarten and the winner was: JENNA! Too funny! She had to go out in from of the entire elementary to get a certificate. I asked her if that made her nervous (I knew it would) and she said no, "But I almost pooped my pants!" My Jenna. Good golly she is so my daughter!! hahaha!

Also on that day, because we are friends with the P.E. teacher, we found out that Jenna was the hula-hoop champion of her class! That's quite the day in the life of a kindergartener, wouldn't you say? :) :)

How simple life seems when you're five. A coloring and hula-hoop contest. I love it!

Apple Pickin'

2011-10-09T05:01:00.000-07:00

One of the things on our imaginary "Fall List" is apple pickin'. We go every Fall and this year we went to the Berry Patch in Nevada to get some apples. Our good friend, Mary, went along with us as well. I love Mary. We're a lot alike in the fact we like to do "experiences" like apple picking and strawberry picking. We both like to make things homemade (she made an awesome batch of drunken apples with what she picked - yum!). Anyway, we always have a good time!

Mary, Jenna and Brody trekking to the apple trees. It was literally a crisp, Fall morning on the Saturday we went. It was great!

I just liked this picture a whole bunch.

Brody and Jenna didn't help pick a lot of apples, but they sure enjoyed taste-testing. Brody apparently couldn't be bothered to take time to quit eating for this photo. :)

All three of us at the end of the morning. Do you get that the apples are an "11" so I remember the year?! LOL.

*Sorry for the bad lighting on all the pictures. The sun/shade was a mess!!

Veggies

2011-10-04T19:06:00.001-07:00

BOWEN

BLAKE

The twins have been eating cereal and veggies the last month or so. They are getting pretty good at it. What we've learned so far is that Bowen hates squash and Blake is not a big fan of peas. With Blake's dietary restrictions he can't have carrots, squash or sweet potatoes because of their high potassium levels. For stage one veggies that leaves green beans and peas. Because of his lack of variety, I make him tolerate the peas. :)

Our first road trip

2011-09-26T03:40:00.000-07:00

We decided to take our first road trip since Blake has come home a couple of weeks ago. We packed EVERYTHING up and headed to see Grandpa and Grandma Burdorf and Adam and Jill and the girls in Sioux City.

The time spent with family was great! We don't see each other often enough and we always have fun when we're together. I think that is especially true of Jenna, Brody and Addy. They just have a blast!

Saturday night we got to go to our friends, Jared and Jill's house, for supper. They had identical twin boys (now 9 months) in November. I'm completely fascinated with twins and it was so fun to watch them crawl around and interact. We miss the Bodammers a lot so it was great to spend a couple of hours with them.

The whole "process" of actually packing and traveling and doing dialysis not at home, well, I'll be blunt...it sucked!! I'm used to packing for three and with the twins I now pack for five. Remember what it's like to pack for a baby? Ok, now take that times two. And now add on a crap-ton of medical supplies. Yeah...not fun. I was a nervous freaking wreck that I was going to forget something for Blake. The trouble with his stuff is that it's not usually things you can just get anywhere. The other problem is that our van is full, REALLY, REALLY full. Busting at the seams.

It was a couple of long nights with the dialysis and I can definitely say that although we enjoyed the trip, I think the number of trips between now and the time Blake has his transplant will be few and far between.

Here are some family pics:

Addy, Jenna, Brody

All the grandkids - together for the first time!

Grandma and Grandpa with all the grandbabies

Adam, Jill, Addy and Aubrey

And our family.

Thanks again Grandma and Grandpa for having us! Sorry it took me so long to get these pictures up. Thanks to Adam and Jill too for making the trip from Omaha. Always great to see you all!!

Benefit Breakfast

2011-09-26T03:37:00.000-07:00

Here's my disclaimer from now until my kids graduate: I will always be behind on my blog. I'm always busy with something it's hard to find time!!

Ok, moving on. :)

Over the Labor Day weekend the cheerleaders at West Marshall were kind enough to put on a benefit breakfast for our family. What a bunch of sweet girls and parents to do that for us! I kept thinking there might be about 7 people that showed up, but it was such a good turnout! Not overwhelmingly busy, but steady for four hours straight.

Aaron and I tried to get around to thank as many people as we could. The babies got passed around and Jenna and Brody played with whatever kids were close to there age.

The girls were ready to start!

All of us with the cheerleaders

This benefit made me realize how fortunate we are to live in State Center and the West Marshall community. People here have taken our family in as one of their own and we are just so grateful to everyone!

Iowa City Check

2011-09-14T19:33:00.001-07:00

Last Thursday I headed down to Iowa City for Blake's monthly dialysis check-up. Our good friend Sara, who recently moved down by Cedar Rapids, was kind enough to want to go with and help with the boys. Bless her for making my day easier! :)

Anyway, Blake is doing wonderfully!! He is growing like he should and his labs are looking great! The one thing that they are a little concerned about is his blood pressure. It's a little on the high side (but it has been since he was in the hospital), so they tweaked his dialysis script once again to try to get that down a little. Like Dr. Jetton said, Blake is a "moving target," because he is constantly growing so we have to continually change his dialysis script, along with his meds.

Other than that, a pretty uneventful trip. We did make a quick trip up to the NICU to visit. One of our favorite nurses was working, so she got to come out and visit. Jodi, if you're reading this, it was WONDERFUL to see you!! :) Those nurses up there are so great and I know I wouldn't have made it through those 10 weeks without them.

So, we head back on October 13th for our next check-up.

The best so far...

2011-09-01T20:18:00.001-07:00

There's really no general theme behind any of these photos. They are just a random assortment of the twins and what they've been up to. Getting too big, too fast.

I love these onesies because they each say "One in a million." Notice how they are holding hands. Melts my mommy heart.

Blake (left) and Bowen (right)

Both serious...

...and both happy!

Bowen (left) and Blake (right)

I love naked babies! Love the bigs eyes and that they were both gnawing on their hands. I think they were giving me the, "are you going to feed me soon?" look.

Blake (left) and Bowen (right)

Boys lovin' some tummy time! Notice the drool on both of them. :)

Bowen (left) and Blake (right)

And finally...

I think this is the best both-looking-at-the-camera-and-smiling picture I have gotten in four and a half months. It was work. I had to be at my goofiest, but they bought it. I would be goofy all day long if I got results like this:

How do you not smile when you look at that?!

Bowen (left) and Blakers (right)

First Days of School

2011-09-01T19:55:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm only about 10-12 days behind here, but at long last...here are the kids' first day of school pictures! Jenna started kindergarten on August 19th. Brody started preschool on August 23rd. They both did so well! No clinging to my leg. No tears. It's times like those I'm glad my kids are independent. Here's everybody before we loaded up for Jenna's first day of kindergarten. I figure next year the twins will be running around... :)

I can't believe Jenna is old enough to be in kindergarten. I know every mom says that about their own kids, but she's my firstborn. She wanted her hair chopped to her shoulders and now she seems even older.

Sitting at her desk, ready to start her first day. She gave me a kiss and told me to have a good day. That's Jenna, Miss Independent. I walked her inside the first two days and after that she told me she could do it by herself. I watch her walk inside every day - total confidence with her hair bouncing from side to side.

Brody's first day of 3-year old preschool! I was thinking I was so smart to make them hold these signs that say the year, so 10 years from now I'll remember. Of course Brody had to be ornery about it...

And still more orneriness...

I was a nervous wreck the first day of preschool that Mrs. Randall was going to call me and tell me Brody was just too much for her to handle and was going to kick him out of preschool or something!

Picture with big sis

Our big preschooler...the first day when I went to pick him up, he was standing on top of the playset. Mrs. Randall informed me he's the first one to ever do that. I'm sure there will be more stories to come from this blond-haired blue-eyed kiddo!

Four and a half months

2011-08-27T19:19:00.000-07:00

Our baby boys are four and a half months old. They are growing bigger and getting stronger every single day and it is just so fun to watch them!

They are starting to catch-up a little as far as percentiles go. They are both 25" long and in the 50th percentile and their weights are right around 15 lbs., which is in the 25th percentile. The doctors are so incredibly happy that they continue to grow at the same pace.

I was so bummed that Blake had to be in the hospital for as long as he was. I really, really, really wanted cute twin newborn pics of them all snuggly and stuff. The other day I got the next best thing. I was doing a project in Jenna's room and the boys fell asleep on her bed like this:

I know, right?! Super adorable! I can sense the twin bond between them all the time. It truly amazes me.

This was too precious. It's like they are always aware of where the other one is. Bowen was resting his hand on Blake's leg.

My sleepy boys.

Here's another thing they like to do: SMILE!! :) They are such happy babies and we are so very lucky. No matter how crazy things are around our house, I see those smiles and it is an instant mood lifter!

Bowen

Blake

Jenna and Bowen

Brody and Blake

Some of the things they are doing right now are:

1. Rolling over like crazy

2. Getting into crawl position (it's only a matter of time...)

3. Working on eating cereal

4. Just started playing in their exersaucer

5. Drooling. Lots of drooling.

6. Kicking/punching/wrestling with each other

Brody's First Race

2011-08-14T18:46:00.001-07:00

A week ago last weekend there was a run east of town called Ethan's Tractor run. Long story short, it's in honor of a little boy who passed away and really loved tractors. The money raised goes towards scholarships for Marshall County students.

Saturday morning Aaron and Brody went with our friend, Jay, to the run. Jay's an avid runner and ran this race last year and had mentioned they had a kid's race. Brody wanted to do it, but Jenna was just too nervous about the whole dang thing.

Here's Brody with his bib on getting ready for the race.

According to Jay, they increased the distance by about 3 times compared to last year. The kids ended up running about a quarter mile. You can see Brody clear to the left in the picture. For not having anybody to run with and running so far he did great!

All the kids got a medal and Brody was SO PROUD!! Here he is with his medal posing with Jay, who got 4th overall (1st in his age division) in the 5K.

Because of Blake's dialysis, I wasn't able to go, but when Brody got home he said to me, "Those other kids beat me, but I still got the championship!" It was so cute!!

Ken's Photos

2011-08-13T19:16:00.001-07:00

When my cousin Ken was down she brought her camera with her. She had it out a lot a took a ton of pictures and I really think she's a budding future photographer. I'm not a professional, but I really think she has a good eye when it comes to taking pictures. I thought I would share some of the pictures she took.

Kase at Grimes Farm...so pretty :)

Blakers taking a snooze. Love the perspective.

Blake in the swing, his eyes crack me up.

Bowen snuggling with his monkey

Love the light and of course his cute smile. :)

This obviously wasn't taken while Ken was in Iowa, but I stole it off her card. The lake. In Wisconsin. So pretty. Don't you just feel so calm now?!

Summer is Slippin' Away

2011-08-09T11:28:00.000-07:00

Can you feel it? Summer is slippin' away from us. :( The countdown has begun at our house. Six days until Aaron has to go back, 10 days until Jenna starts kindergarten and 14 until Brody starts preschool. So sad.

The start of the school year means baseball season really is over, fall sports are ready to be covered by me at the paper, homecoming, etc. Until then, we're going to soak up every minute of the summer that we can.

We've been hanging out at the pool at one of our friend's house. The kids have so much fun! Don't you love it when people take cool pictures of your kids? Yep...me too! Our friend Jay took these pictures so enjoy some summer courtesy of Jenna. :)

Bowling

2011-08-09T11:00:00.000-07:00

When the girls were down we went over to Perfect Games in Ames. Every Monday through Thursday they have free bowling from 11AM-2PM, so we decided to take advantage. I think this was the first time for Brody bowling and maybe the second time for Jenna. They did really good considering. What we learned is that Aaron was the best bowler (surprise, surprise) and Kasea, Ken and I are really bad! Oh well, we had fun!

Ken giving it her best shot

Daddy helping Brody

...Letting it fly

...and the LONG wait. I think we spent half our time just waiting for Jenna and Brody's ball to get to the end of the lane.

Jenna and Kasea cheesing it up

Don't look at this form! I'm pretty sure this is how it's NOT supposed to be done. :)

Jenna did pretty good. She even held it like a real bowler.

Ken, Kasea and Me

'Scony Cousins

2011-08-08T19:41:00.000-07:00

My cousins from Wisconsin, Kasea and McKenzie ("Ken") came down last Friday, July 30th and stayed until Saturday, August 6th. Last year, they came and stayed with us for a week too. We had such a great time!! I (all of us actually) love those girls to pieces and we enjoy every minute we have together.

We did some craft projects after our trip to Hobby Lobby, my mom came to see us for a night, we took some senior pictures for Kasea, the girls helped me paint my kitchen, we went bowling, watched movies, went to a parade and went swimming. To say the week flew by is an understatement. In fact, the girls were supposed to leave Friday morning, but stayed an extra day.

These two are the best! They are so polite and helpful and don't complain. We really appreciated the extra sets of hands with the kids. I think both girls would tell you they came a long way in dealing with Blake and Bowen. When they came they didn't change diapers, feed the boys and Ken was even nervous to roll Bowen back over on his back. :) By the end of the week, they were rockstars! They were changing diapers, making bottles, helping me with dialysis stuff...

I miss the girls already and I wish we lived closer! We can't wait for next year!

Father-Daughter Dance

2011-08-04T19:54:00.001-07:00

There's a group of gals in State Center that started a Father-Daughter Dance five years ago. This was Aaron and Jenna's first year attending and Jenna was so excited for it. She kept asking how many days away it was until the day of and then it was how many hours. Aaron was so great about it too! He suggested Jenna wear her flower girl dress and get a ribbon to match one of his shirts. They were the best looking duo there in my very bias opinion. :)

In addition, this year they asked our family to be the recipients of the free-will donation that is taken. We feel blessed that they thought of our family. We are truly grateful for their donations.

The fathers and their daughters got to be announced in a promenade and afterwards they got to dance. Jenna informed me they did the hokey-pokey twice and also got to limbo.

This was taken right after the promenade. There's just something special about being a daddy's girl. :)

I'm "sew" embarrassed

2011-08-02T20:43:00.000-07:00

Here's my embarrassing confession: we have lived in our house for 3.5 years and I have no curtains in my living room and toy room. White, white, white. Finally, I snapped last week. I told Aaron we were getting curtains and getting them soon! So, last Friday when we were in Target I found some I really liked for the four windows that were needing them. Aaron had other ideas. Our conversation went like this:

Me: I really like these curtains!

Aaron: You are not spending that much on curtains. I can make you curtains for half that price.

Me: Yeah right.

Aaron: Yes, Jame, I can.

Me: Fine. I bet you $5 (big better, aren't I?!) that you can't make curtains.

Aaron: Let's go to Hobby Lobby.

Fast forward to us being home. Long story short, a few years ago I was able to get a nice sewing machine for free. Well, it was finally time to use the machine and do you think we could find the darn pedal anywhere? Of course not! Luckily, our good friend Mary let us borrow her sewing machine and Aaron got to work.

My cousin, Ken, helped Aaron pin the material.

And away Aaron went! I was shocked he still remembered how to sew. I'm embarrassed that I can't sew because it's something I wish I could do, but I'm also impressed that Aaron can.

After watching for a while, I decided I wanted to give it a try. Me, a person who couldn't even thread the dang sewing machine in junior high. Me, a person who opted to take shop over home ec in high school so I could avoid sewing again.

Aaron was trying to give me the run down. I actually did ok, until...

I pricked my finger with a pin! Oh well, I can say I sewed two sides of one of the four curtains Aaron made, right?! :)

Drumroll...the final product....

He was so proud!!

The way I see it...

2011-08-02T05:11:00.000-07:00

Tears

Do you ever have one of those weeks? Those weeks where you just find yourself crying a lot. I’m having one of those weeks, but I’m not really sad, just emotional. I had two incidents that happened this past weekend that made me break down.

First, on Sunday evening my husband and daughter went to the Father-Daughter dance that was held at the St. Paul Lutheran Church. It was so nice! What a great event for dads and daughters. Jenna was excited for a couple of weeks in advance and didn’t stop asking how long it was until the dance until she and Aaron left for the dance.

This year, the group that puts it on asked if our family would be the recepients of the free will offering they have. We said we would and I (along with the rest of my family) were so touched by the generosity that was shown. Honestly, it was just another thing that brought me to tears.

While at the dance, a little something was said about our family and Blake and everything we’ve gone through since finding out we were expecting twins. It was strange, I have to tell you. When you’re used to telling people about your situation and then you have to actually hear everything you’ve been through, it’s a different feeling. Enter me tearing up, yet again. Hearing it out loud made me think, “Wow, this sounds really bad. Twins...a baby in Iowa City for ten weeks...kidney failure...nightly dialysis...transplant.” I know I’m not explaining it right, but it was like an out of body experience or something to hear somebody talk about your life in such a way.

Incident number two: I checked our family’s blog over the weekend and noticed a new comment on one of the posts I had written. What I found made me speechless and reinforce my belief in fate.

The comment was from a gal in California who found our blog via Google (I have no idea how) and on the day, THE EXACT DAY, that Blake got to go home she welcomed a son seven weeks early. Her son suffered from posterior urethral valves (what caused this mess for Blake) his kidneys are working at about 15%, they have started the same dialysis that Blake is on, they are talking about a G-tube and he had just had a hernia repaired.

Does that sound familiar? Yeah, it did to me to. I just stared at the computer and read the comment two more times. I teared up. I am thankful she found us. If nothing else for a place to go just to realize that somebody else has been in your shoes. I always feel like everything in your life happens for a reason. Things like this don’t just happen. It just gives me goosebumps that she had her son the same day we took Blake home. What in the world are the odds of that happening?

I have this feeling in my gut that it was just meant to be that she found us. It couldn’t have been easy because my husband tried googling to find us and he couldn’t do it. I got her email address because she wants to talk to me. I am definitely emailing her, if nothing else just to let her know that we have been there and we’re making it and things are going to be ok. What I learned after this week is that sometimes, you just need to let go and cry, but that’s just the way I see it.

Sponge Balls

2011-08-01T20:11:00.000-07:00

I got this idea from a friend (thanks Chris!) to make these sponge balls for the kids to play with. With as hot as it's been, I decided it would be a perfect time to make these with the kids. You need three sponges for each sponge ball. The kids liked to mix and match the colors.

Start by cutting a sponge in half and then in half again.

Line up the sponges in any pattern you want.

Gather them together like this and then use a rubber band to secure them in the middle. The result looks like this:

Cute, huh?!

The kids and I had a lot of fun playing in the backyard with them. I even got in a pretty good dual with Jenna. Brody was my little helper and stole all the sponge balls from Jenna. :)

This picture of Brody freaks me out. I have a vision of him at about 17 pitching for his high school team. Daddy was pretty proud of his form.

Jenna had pretty good aim. She even nailed Brody in the forehead, which she found hilarious and Brody...not so much!

Rollin'...rollin'....rollin'

2011-07-27T19:02:00.000-07:00

Those Burdorf boys are rolling! Actually they have been for a couple weeks now, but I'm just getting around to blogging about it.

The week of Blake's one-month check-up we were at Aaron's baseball game and Bowen rolled over. Kinda. Sorta. With a little help from a little slope of the hill. I got excited and everybody sitting around me agreed we could count it as the first time he rolled over. But, he really and truly rolled over at home the next day.

With Blakers being in the hospital so long, we figured he might lag behind physically, just because he was laying around more. Exactly one week later Aaron texted me at work to tell me that Blake had just rolled over. I couldn't believe it!

The nurses figured that once Blake rolled over he wouldn't do it anymore because of his G-tube and PD catheter. Doesn't phase the kid a bit! In fact, he rolls over more during the day than Bowen.

Just like with Jenna and Brody, every little milestone is so exciting. The first year of life is such an amazing journey!

Project for the Twins' Room

2011-07-24T19:41:00.000-07:00

Once in awhile I like to do something a little crafty and I knew I had to make some personalized for the twins' room. I did two different things for Jenna and Brody's room with their names on it, so I headed to Hobby Lobby (I SO love that store!) for some inspiration.

After walking through the aisles I found some wooden letters, a wooden backplate, paint and baseball scrapbook paper. That's it! Bonus: everything except the scrapbook paper was on sale! :)

Here's what the letters and backplate-thingy looked like to start:

My two best helpers! Kids just can't resist paint, can they?

Here's what I did. I wanted them each to be in different colors, so I decided Blake's would be blue and Bowen's red. I had the kids paint the letters and then I painted around the edge of the backplate. Once that dried, I traced the scrapbook paper around the backplate to fit perfectly. I then modge-podged on the scrapbook paper. After that dried I used wood glue to adhere the letters on.

The finished product:

I'm pretty happy with how they turned out! Super-easy and cheap! :)

Story Time!

2011-07-24T07:10:00.000-07:00

Chances are, if you: 1. Have small children. 2. Live in Iowa. 3. Watch PBS - you know the guy pictured above. His name is Dan Wardell and he does all the kids things on Iowa Public Television.

During the summer, he travels around Iowa doing programs at libraries and he happened to be in Marshalltown, so I took Jenna and Brody over to see him.

I have to admit, when you see him on t.v. he appears a little on the dorky side (to an adult). In person, you realize that that's what makes him so awesome at his job! His program was so good! I told Aaron when I got home, you know if somebody does a good job if the kids never interrupt and keep their hands to themselves. Dan kept the kids so engaged at all times. I asked the kids what their favorite part was on the way home and Jenna said, "All of it!" Definitely a morning well spent. :)

Iowa City One Month Check

2011-07-24T06:56:00.000-07:00

About a week and a half ago we were scheduled for Blake's one month check-up in Iowa City. We had to see the nephrologist (kidney doc/staff in dialysis unit) and urologist that worked with us while Blake was in the NICU.

The dialysis check-up went well. They put you in one big room and there's a lot of people in there (doctor, nurses, dietician, etc.) and they do vitals, look at his growth, ask us a ton of questions about how things are going and anything remotely related to him. Bowen went with us and they were so happy that the boys are about the same height/weight.

After we got home, the nurse contacted us and said Dr. Jetton (our main doctor for dialysis) wanted to change Blake's prescription for the dialysis stuff because his blood pressure was a little high. So, we had to increase his fills from 220mL to 240mL and he's now on it for 10.5 hours instead of just 10. He seems to be handling it just fine.

We had to meet with urology. As you remember, they didn't think Blake was going to be able to pee on his own because of all the damage sustained in utero. He does, which is great! Now, they aren't sure how he'll do when he get to potty-training time, if his muscles will be shot or what. We won't worry about that for now.

Here's what we did learn, courtesy of a really horrible test where they stuck tubes/hoses in every possible spot "down there." I had to hold him down and I wanted to cry for him... Anyway, his bladder can't hold a lot. The urologist, Dr. Kiernan, compared it to a hard suitcase. Once it's full, it's full and it isn't going to hold anymore, whereas Bowen's is like a soft suitcase, the more he gets in there, the more it expands.

Dr. Kiernan showed us pics they took of Blake's bladder/ureters when he first got to Iowa City. What a mess! It looked like a tornado and the doctor said she has never seen a case of posterior urethral valves so bad (that's what caused the kidney/bladder mess). Today, his bladder looks so much better. Dr. Kiernan said she couldn't ask for it to look any better! We will meet with her again in October for a check-up. She did say when Blake gets his transplant, she will use part of his ureter and make his bladder larger with that so he can hold more.

Blake continues to impress the doctors (and us!) with his fighting spirit and we hope he continues to do well!

The way I see it...

2011-07-19T07:43:00.000-07:00

Sweet Season

Baseball season at West Marshall is officially over. With that means the end of a chapter of our lives at the Burdorf house. I’m sure everybody knows, but just in case you missed it my husband was the head baseball coach for the Trojans the past six years. Because of our family situation with Blake and having four kids instead of two and also because he wants to finish his Master’s degree (that got put on hold for the summer), he decided to step down. Aaron has always said that family has to come first and it was just the time to step away.

Decisions like that are never easy. Since the time we learned of Blake and dialysis and transplant stuff, we had been discussing it. I love, love, love baseball! I think probably as much as Aaron, if you can believe that. It was so hard, but like we said, it doesn’t mean he’s never ever going to get to coach again.

Anybody that’s coached or been around someone who has, knows it’s a tough job. You don’t do it for the pay check, you literally do it for love of the game and the players. My dad, who was a head softball coach for 25 years always says, “If you want everybody to like you, don’t be a coach.”

My dad is pretty smart like that. There will always be kids that get more playing time than others. There will always be parents that are on your case about their kid not playing enough. I have learned, growing up with two parents as head coaches and now being married to one, that parents have blinders on when it comes to their children. We’ve all seen that crazy parent who thinks their kid is an all-star and should have a starting position, but they’re just not. To me, that’s difficult. You’re going to upset someone. That’s just a nature of varsity athletics.

What I personally will miss is the players. What a great group of guys that always seemed to be out. I may even miss those nail-biter games! Games where my stomach was in knots and I was pacing like a crazy coach’s wife down the third baseline hoping that they could pull out the win.

With my dad coaching softball, my mom playing college softball, my family always likes to say we have “summer blood” running through our veins. We LOVE baseball and softball.

I grew up on softball and didn’t know how I would adjust to baseball games. Now, I can’t imagine NOT being at the field for every game. I consider baseball an “acquired” taste. Some people find it slow. Some people find it boring. I personally could sit and watch it for hours. I realize it’s something you have to get into to really appreciate.

The skill sets for baseball players are so, I don’t know, different than any other sport. The hand-eye coordination you need is unbelievable. It’s pretty brave to have a pop-fly coming at you, confidently putting your glove up to catch and having enough hand-eye coordination that the ball actually goes in your glove and not on your eye or over your head. I’ve also heard that hitting a baseball is one of the hardest things to do in sports and I believe it.

So, another chapter has closed in our life and another one begins. Thank you so much to all the boys and their parents for this past season. Thanks for checking in to see how Blake and Bowen were doing. Thanks for holding a baby when I needed help. Thanks for letting Brody help you rake the field after a ballgame. Thanks for making this season so fun and so memorable, our family will miss it next year, but that’s just the way I see it.

3 months

2011-07-17T17:57:00.000-07:00

My twins baby dolls are three months old (sniff, sniff). Man oh man, I just can't believe it! I don't want to say I feel "cheated" because Blakers was in the hospital, but I kind of feel that way. I know we got to spend time with each other, but it just wasn't the same as being HOME.

Anyway, we're home now, where we've been for about a month and I have been terrible about updating you all on the boys. This is going to sound hard to believe, but I'm a little short on time these days. :)

BLAKE

Blake is doing so well! Honestly, things have been going great since he's been home. We've been doing well, along with him, on the dialysis stuff. A couple of alarms have gone off, but we've been able to troubleshoot all of them.

Blake is growing very well! He is 25 inches long and weighs 12 lbs. 14 oz. The doctors are so happy about that. They said we gave him the gift of "good genetics." Blake spends his days sleeping, eating (still only about 2 oz. at a time), kicking his legs and smiling (you sometimes have to work to get it out of him). He is definitely our laid-back twin.

BOWEN

Bowen is doing great too! I call him my child of extremes. He smiles easily, but can also get really fussy, really fast. Bowen isn't a big fan of laying on his back, but he's getting better since we bought one of those mats with all the stuff for him to stare at and grab at.

He is also about 12 lbs. 14 oz and is 24.5 inches long. Great news that the twins are growing at the same speed. Bowen spends his time sleeping (he sleeps more during the day than Blake), eating (about 4-5 oz. at a time), kicking, lots of kicking and smiling a lot (he even giggled today).

BLAKE

BOWEN

Here's one of the best things about the boys: they sleep at night!!! People come up to us all the time and ask if we get any sleep. Um...yeah. The boys go down about 9 PM and will sleep until about 6 AM. At that time, Blake usually fusses and I go in there and they are both usually up. Blake usually filled his diaper for me, but will go back to sleep. Bowen usually is ready for a bottle and likes to spend quality time with us and won't go back to sleep for awhile, which is ok.

BLAKE ON THE LEFT; BOWEN ON THE RIGHT

They really are just so much fun! We can't wait for the coming months and look forward to posting more pictures and stories of Blake and Bowen.

We're going to the Zoo, Zoo, Zoo...

2011-07-17T16:42:00.001-07:00

How about you, you, you? Sorry...I made the kids listen to that Raffi song the morning we headed to the zoo. I really love that song!

Saturday we headed to the Blank Park Zoo and had a great day for it. We packed a picnic and had lunch before we walked through the zoo. The zoo in Des Moines is nice because it's not too big and the kids can walk through the entire thing without tiring out too much.

Brody loved the penguins! Here he is imitating the sounds they were making:

The boys did great! Slept the whole time. :)

They had a really neat dinosaur exhibit on display. The dinosaurs moved like they were real. This is Jenna trying to imitate them.

All six of us...

The 4th...finally

2011-07-17T16:17:00.001-07:00

Let's just pretend it's only the Tuesday after the 4th, ok? :) We had a nice 4th of July weekend. My dad and Linda spent a couple days with us. Friday nite we met them in Ames for some yummy Chinese, which I'd been craving since the boys were born.

Saturday, my dad suggested we go to the Blank Park Zoo in Des Moines. It was a gorgeous day and we had a lot of fun (I'll post some pics in a different post).

Ever since we lived in Armstrong, Aaron and I feel like it's the thing to do to go to a parade on the 4th. Ames has one every year, so we headed over there. It was a beautiful day and we even scored a spot in the shade!

Following the parade, we headed out to our friends Jay and Renee's house for some lunch, squirt gun fights, rides on the gator and swimming in the pool. We had a great time and the kids were exhausted!

The nite ended with two very tired kids getting to play with sparklers for the very first time. They loved them, even though Aaron and I were a little nervous the entire time. Here are some pics of the kiddos from the 4th:

Blake

Bowen

(Bowen on the left; Blake on the right) They can't lay next to each other without smacking each other in the face, which often leads to...

...one of them crying!

Me and my boys at the parade

Jenna and Brody sporting their red, white and blue waiting for the parade. Brode just couldn't keep his eyes open!

100!!!

2011-07-08T19:56:00.000-07:00

I'm behind blogging! I have 4th of July pics to put up and a bunch of other stuff, but I'm going to go out of order because I feel like it's the thing to do in this case.

Thursday night, in the last regular game of the baseball season, Aaron got his 100th career win! It didn't come easy, that's for sure. It was a back-and-forth game that came down to our #4 hitter hitting a 3-run walk off home run in the bottom of the 10th inning! Whew. I'm sure Aaron won't forget that game anytime soon.

He came home emotionally exhausted, but he was happy about the accomplishment. He's been the head coach at West Marshall for just six years, so I would say that's pretty impressive how fast he got to #100 and I'm so proud of him!

District play starts on Saturday. Each game from now on could be the last for him (did I blog on here that he resigned effective at the end of this season? Hmmm....I can't remember if I did or not). Anyway, between Blake & family stuff, taking master's classes in the summer, it's just a lot. I don't want to think about life after baseball because it is our life in the summer, so for now we'll just keep cheering on the boys and hope they continue to win.

My little model

2011-06-30T20:14:00.001-07:00

Little Miss Jenna is growing up too fast! Where's the pause button?! Aaron and I have both made comments lately about how day grown-up she seems. Makes us both sad. Anyway, Jenna was playing outside in her cute little dress, so I decided to take some pics. She was kind of a goof ball, but I'm happy with how they turned out. The kid is just way too photogenic!

I think this is her best expression, so carefree. :)

I love her sassy little stance. It's so HER! Along with her cowboy boots!

Just having some fun!

Just like daddy

2011-06-28T15:14:00.001-07:00

Jon, our neighbor, rigged this up for Brody one day. He hooked his sled up behind his John Deere trike. At first, I thought he just wanted to pull something around. Then, I found out that he wanted to "drag the field" like Daddy does at the baseball field. Aaron has let Brody ride on the tractor with him lately and needless to say, the kid loves it. So, this is what he does. He "drags the driveway." :)

Ready to play ball: Tee, Bat and Balls

About this point of him driving around Jenna yelled at him to pretend he was in a parade, so...

...he of course had to wave to the crowd!!

Multi-taskin' Mama

2011-06-28T15:00:00.001-07:00

I remember being in the ultrasound room when we found out we were having twins. The second thing the ultrasound tech told me "you're going to need to be really organized." Ok, I'm sort of middle of the road on that. For some things I'm super organized, for others not so much. It's a matter of priority for me. For example, I think it's more important I hang out and play with my kids as opposed to having house that is insanely clean. I try to keep it sorta clean, but I'm just not a psycho about it. Who cares?! Plus, it makes me uncomfortable to be in a house that is super clean.

This is a common scene at our house. Sometimes a necessity, sometimes a timesaver. :)

Anyway, I've been trying to be more organized and efficient since we've all been home together. I try to get Blake's meds all measured out and ready to go at nite for the next morning. I try to get as much of Blake's dialysis stuff done before we go to the baseball game so it will be less chaotic when we get home. I try to make bathtime organized. Sometimes I feel like I'm doing 12 things at once, but later when things are ready to go it makes it all worth it.

So, if any of you multi-tasking/organized moms out there have any tips/tricks to share with me, please do! I would love to hear them.

Bubbles

2011-06-26T06:16:00.000-07:00

The other nite the kids and I went outside to enjoy a beautiful Friday evening and they wanted to blow bubbles. Luckily we had two leftover bottles from last summer, so they blew a lot of bubbles!

I think blowing bubbles is so relaxing and fun! And, sort of calming to see all those bubbles just floating around in the air.

Jenna is quite the bubble-blower. Brody needs to work on his technique. He still does the thing where he blows entirely too hard and bursts the bubble.

Brode loved watching them float up to the sky.

The other thing about bubbles is...they make for pretty pictures. :)

Change of Heart

2011-06-22T04:23:00.000-07:00

I may have to take back my words. Eat crow. Whatever. When I found out I was expecting twins one of my first thoughts was, "I'm not going to dress them exactly alike." If other people want to buy us matching outfits, that's great, but I'm not personally going to buy them matching stuff. I thought if I bought them "coordinating" outfits that would be just fine. You know like, same plaid outfit, but in different colors.

So, now I have twins. At home. Together. Friday night we went out for our first outing and I dressed them alike. And they were so CUTE all matchy-matchy! Now, all I want to do is dress them the same. Plus, on Sunday, we headed up town dressed completely different (no coordination whatsoever) and I had a couple of older ladies ask me if they were twins. It might eliminate that question if they are the same.

What do you think? Dress them identical or not?

So HAPPY together!

2011-06-19T20:50:00.001-07:00

We made it home on Friday afternoon to find that Jenna and Brody had done some nice artwork with Grandma Linda to welcome Blake home.

Friday night State Center's annual Rose Festival took place. We are not really a family to stay at home, so even though Blake had just gotten home, we loaded up the kiddos and walked a couple blocks to see what was going on. It was craziness! We were stopped constantly by people wanting to see Blake and Bowen. I think the best sign for Blake is that everybody asked what baby was the one in the hospital, they couldn't even tell because Blakers looks just as good as Bowen!

Saturday we went to the parade in the morning, followed by two of Aaron's baseball games. The kids got entirely too much candy, but had a good time. Aaron's team won the first game, but lost in the championship game.

Bowen

Blake

I also captured pictures of the two boys smiling!! Everytime Bowen would see the camera he would quit smiling and Blake is just starting to smile more, so I felt lucky I captured this look. One thing we have noticed is that they look A LOT alike when they smile and sleep. You can see the evidence above. :)

Daddy hanging with his boys. Bowen is listening intently, but Blake doesn't really look interested.

The boys' new ride. And mommy's new ride too! I LOVE the new double stroller!

Bowen is on the left and Blake on the right. (Hope that helps you Grandma)

My boys! I love them!

Welcome to our "new chaotic life." Four kids is probably going to equal impossible when it comes to pictures. This picture makes me smile though, because even though it's crazy trying to get everybody on schedules and stuff, we are all together and that makes everything ok!

Discharge Day!

2011-06-18T04:48:00.001-07:00

Friday, June 17th was a day I don't think Aaron and I will ever forget. After 10 very long weeks in Iowa City, Blake got to come home and join the rest of the family! Thursday was more of an emotional day for me because all of our favorite nurses stopped by to say good-bye. Even though we're thrilled to be home, it will be an adjustment not to see those familiar faces every day.

Blake has this look on his face like, what? Really? Are you sure I really get to go home today?

All of the stuff we had to take home!

Blake getting in the carseat for the first time. He wasn't so sure about it.

The three of us before we headed out the door!

The drive home was good and bad. For awhile, he slept. For awhile, he cried. For awhile, he screamed. The poor baby! I can't imagine being in a hospital for 10 weeks and then have to deal with all of the new feelings, sites and sounds that he did yesterday. Over-stimulation! I ended up sitting in back with him to calm him down and he did great the rest of the way.

Bands for the Brothers

2011-06-17T04:03:00.000-07:00

The two worn out hospitals bands that you see above have been on Aaron's wrists for 71 days, since the night we went to Mercy to be induced. It seems like so long ago after everything we've been through. Anyway, Aaron made a decision when Blake was transported to Iowa City that those bands were not coming off until both of his twin boys were home from the hospital.

It was a gesture that definitely pulled on my heartstrings. Those bands were a constant reminder to Aaron of our brave little baby boy in Iowa City. They're faded and water-damaged, but today, we're cutting them off because Blakers is coming HOME!

The nice thing about boys...

2011-06-15T20:08:00.000-07:00

...is that when you are driving to Iowa City and you get east of Tama and there is NOTHING and absolutely NOWHERE to stop to go to the bathroom...boys require no toilet!! That's especially helpful on days like last Saturday when Brody had to pee 3 times on the 1 hour and 45 minute drive. Note to self: No more red Gatorade!!

Hot Dog Stand

2011-06-15T19:49:00.000-07:00

HOT DOGS FOR SALE!!!

Aaron put together the double-stroller in anticipation of Mr. Blake getting to come home on Friday and during naptime the other day Jenna asked if we could make something out of the stroller box. It started as a lemonade stand, but she quickly decided that she wanted a hot dog stand instead. It was just Jenna and me awake, so we had some quality one-on-one time decorating all sides of the box and cutting out the window and door. I think it turned out pretty good if I don't say so myself!

Jenna's pretty flower with a very colorful sun.

...And her portrait of herself, Brody and me. So Sweet!

Week One Training

2011-06-13T05:56:00.000-07:00

Our first week of training went well! We had a lot of early mornings heading to Iowa City last week. Then, we had to leave about 1 PM because Aaron would have to be back in time for baseball. It is a tiring process, but worth it since it's a FOR SURE that Blake gets to come home on FRIDAY!!!

Aaron and I both feel like we're catching onto things quickly and the nurse that is training us seems pleased with us. She had us penciled in to train for 3-4 hours a day, but we usually only go for 2-2 1/2 hours because we get done what we need to.

There's a lot to learn besides just hooking Blake up to the machine. The hardest part is that if something isn't right, alarms go off on the cycler and we need to be able to trouble shoot them. We also have learned things like how we need to give him a bath, exit site care and how to change his dressing over his PD catheter.

Our nurse who trains us will randomly ask us questions to quiz us over what we have learned. It's kind of nerve wracking, but Aaron and I can handle our own. She asks us questions like: What do you do if his drain bag is cloudy? What if it has white fibers in it? What do you do if a tube gets a hole in it? What do you do if the tornado sirens go off in the middle of his dialysis? What medicines can you give him for fever/pain? What can't you give him? Ok, you get the idea... :)

We have a busy week ahead getting ready for Blakers to come home and our whole family is counting down the days!!

Our 2011 Summer List

2011-06-11T19:15:00.000-07:00

I saw this idea in the blog-o-sphere and instantly fell in love with it! It's so simple, but when I told the kids about it they were more than willing to throw out their ideas for the first-ever Burdorf Summer List.

Remember when you were a kid and the simplest things were the most enjoyable? I want to pass that along to my kiddos. They don't need fancy toys or expensive gadgets to have fun. Just a summer day and endless possibilities. Without further ado, I give you our list:

So now I'm wondering, what's on your summer list?!