Almost 5 years later

I'm very doubtful about whether or not anyone will see this...but every once in a while, I still get in trouble for not posting anything for so long. To be honest, I really thought people would lose interest.

However, at Amber's grandmother's visitation just a few days ago, there were several people who mentioned once again that they had prayed all the time about our daughters and had faithfully looked for updates on here. These are people who we have never met. They were friends of Amber's grandmother. People who her grandparents had asked to pray for us and who had followed God's work in our family through this blog.

So I guess, I just want to say thank you again to all of those people like them.

This picture was taken by Jenna Henderson

In way of updates since the last post about 4 years ago, as you can see, we are now 5schwartzes. (I have no idea how to go about changing the title of a blog, though! Maybe I'll try to work on that.) Sophie and Mattie are as healthy as horses...and occasionally eat about as much as them! They are in preschool two days a week and love it.

Since the bulk of this blog dealt with medical issues for such a long time, I'm incredibly thankful to report that the only time my family has really been in a hospital since we left Vandy so long ago was 10 months ago when Sam was born. Sophie and Mattie are incredible big sisters. We were slightly worried they would have the typical trouble adjusting to less attention, but they have consistently shouted "no!" protectively whenever someone asks if they can take Sam home with them.

He, of course, adores them and wants to be in the middle of everything they are doing...and he usually is. He started walking 2 days after Thanksgiving and is now climbing over gates to get up the stairs when we turn our backs. The girls help us keep the bathroom door closed to keep him from trying to bathe in the toilet

In short...we've got just about as much chasing with one boy as we did with two girls!

God has blessed us incredibly. I'll keep this short, and will hopefully post again before Sam is 4!

In the meantime, I do a better job of maintaining a weekly (most of the time) blog (www.theverseoftheweek.blogspot.com) with a thought or challenge from scripture. You'll find several stories about my kids if you look through the archives.

Thank you again for your constant prayers almost 5 years ago. We are still overwhelmed by your love for someone you may not have even known. For those of you who we know and for those of you who we've never met, even if we think of you anonymously, "I thank God on my every remembrance of you" (Philippians 1:3). 

This was taken by Kim Linville on the same day...I accidentally messed up the resolution...her original picture is great:)

Tag

I've been trying for weeks to catch this on camera. This doesn't do it justice but you get the idea. Mattie is almost always the one who instigates the game. This time she went back and forth around Sophie and around the whole living room shrieking at the top of her lungs and seeing if she could get Sophie to chase her before Sophie finally caved and joined in on the fun. The video is a little long, but I wanted you to see some of the games being played at our house. Be sure to check the next post too since I'm posting two at a time. Didn't want you to miss the very serious conversation the girls had after lunch a few days ago. Here's some of the other stuff they are up to that is relatively new...at least since the last post:

• pulling up on everything (We had to turn the telephone table which they are under at the end facing the wall b/c Sophie kept pulling out one church directory for herself and one for Mattie to play with!)
• Sophie is cruising pretty well on the couches
• Mattie is waving hello and bye bye just a little
• Sophie is clapping and trying to say "yay" although it usually comes out more like "aayyyyy"
• Mattie likes to carry things in her mouth so she can crawl more efficiently. She will also occasionally shake toy keys or socks with her head when she has them in her mouth which looks impressively like a great impersonation of a dog...which is only worrisome because she has never really been around dogs:)
• Both girls are loving walking (closer to stumbling drunkenly with a crazed laugh) when we are holding their hands for support.
• They both say a lot of "mamamamamas," "dadadadadadas," "papapapaapapapas," "nananananana's" and an occasional "blahblahblahblah," from Mattie
• They absolutely love riding in the red wagon that was a gift from the youth group.
• They are eating a pretty good amount of baby food
• developing pretty good senses of humor (their timing with Peek-a-boo is pretty impressive)

That should catch you up fairly well. Amber and I talk all the time about how incredibly blessed we have been through all of this. It felt like a lot in the middle of the hospital stay and we occasionally still have our worries (like how in the world do we communicate to people that want to touch their hands and faces that we are still very worried about RSV!) but we have realized that comparatively we really didn't have to go through very much. We just heard about a couple the other day whose unborn twins were diagnosed with Twin Twin Transfusion Syndrome. They are around 20 weeks or so. Please keep them in your prayers. We never had to deal with that kind of waiting and the choices of treatment when TTTS presents itself that early. In reality, we didn't really have the TTTS full experience, for which I am very grateful. But we experienced enough of it to know that our hearts and prayers are going out to this family and others who have experienced and are experiencing things like this. Enjoy the videos and pray for these families.

We can't wait for summer!

Happy Babies

This is just a sampling of the fun we have on a regular basis now. Amber and I say all the time that we are very possibly the luckiest and most blessed people alive. Don't get me wrong, Sophie and Mattie know how to fuss and raise some blood pressure spiking cries, but for the most part, they are very happy easy babies...with great laughs.

Shameless Plug

Our friend Jenna Henderson came over several weeks ago for the girls first real photo shoot. We've never gone through the whole professional pictures at every stage thing. Once again, I'm afraid we're just bad parents. :) Thankfully, Jenna stepped in to save the day for their 9 month pics. She's an incredible photographer. Here are just a few of what she took. I wouldn't have believed they were taken at our house if I didn't see her start there. Check out her website and blog at http://www.jhendersonstudios.com/. We'd recommend her for weddings, babies, family portraits and just about everything in between. These aren't even our favorite ones. Amber wants to save those. :)

Sophie

Mattie

From Christmas to Crawling

Sorry, Wendy...no box pics. I think we're bad parents. We didn't get too many action shots that were good. Here's a decent example of their opening methods though:)
When the girls woke up Christmas morning, apparently they got the memo because they were rarin to go. Now it's a common occurence, but that morning was the first time the girl's were talking to each other through the rails of their beds. That was a great Merry Christmas for us:)
I think Mattie's (above) caption is something like "will you please hurry up!"
Sophie's (below) is probably more like an evil laugh:) (I don't think typing, "hehehehe" quite gets the actual sound across)

As of Christmas, they were both really close to crawling but no gates up yet. We'll try to put some video on tomorrow to show where they are now. Let's just say the gates are up.

Inside Jokes

Apparently I'm becoming more and more lazy...or at least my procrastination has gotten worse...or time must move faster. I think it's actually the last. We got on the other day and I couldn't believe it had already been two months since I posted last. The girls look completely different now than they did even then. I'll give the update on what they're up to and then just let you browse pics and the best video ever uploaded to the internet in the history of the internet. I'd love to know what the joke is that they find so funny. I have a feeling that it would make me appreciate life so much more. I suppose just watching them entertain each other like this is about as much joy as I can handle right now though. I wonder how similar God feels when his children are enjoying each others' company and delighting in each other. (I think the biblical word is fellowship, but I hesitate to use that word for fear potluck meals will be the only mental image that is conjured up.)

Here's what they are up to:

• Can't stop rolling over
• Can't wait for the next bite of apples and pears...not so much for the rice and oatmeal
• Sitting up like pros. Considerably better even in the last couple of days.
• Reaching for us to be picked up (I feel like I'm doing a good job of not getting wrapped around their fingers...if you believe that, you don't pick up on sarcasm well.)
• carrying on conversations with each other...just not in anything we can interpret yet.
• Getting very, very expensive shots to prevent RSV each month...we are very, very thankful for insurance.

9 months check up is on Monday so I'll try to report weights and all that boring stuff next week. Here's the fun stuff:)

Mattie

I'm not sure the antler to body proportion is exactly right.

Sophie going for Santa (Papa should be happy:)

Sophie

All worth while

I recently wrote to a friend saying that Amber and I are learning just how exhausting babies are...especially when they come in twos. Laughter like this makes it all worth while though. Thought you would enjoy.

This is a pretty good snap shot of our paranoia and our friends support. Trick or Treat was really just an excuse to get a peek at the girls. I don't think the girls knew exactly what to think, but Sophie finally started talking to everybody...apparently she enjoys the lime light. Mattie on the other hand just stared at everyone as they barked, panted, mooed, danced, and whatever else I told them to do to get the girls to laugh. The girls didn't laugh, but Amber and I had a good time. :) Speaking of Sophie talking and Mattie not- we had no idea that twins periodically switch personalities. Everyone always asks if they have distinct personalities, and they do. The problem is that they pass the distinct personalities back and forth. I'm convinced that since they came from the same embryo, they had to split the same personality in half as well. Right now they are simply "trying on" the different halves before they settle into who they want to be for the rest of their lives. I ran this theory past Jolie who has 6th grade twin boys and she confirmed my theory. Her boys switched personalities back and forth as well. (Of course, they aren't identical, but that's just a technicality)

Here's what they're up to now:

• sharing- A.K.A.- Stealing each other's toys and crying when the other one does it
• oh so close to rolling onto their stomachs
• sucking on their toes
• oh so close to crawling
• oh so close to saying "daddy" (may be wishful thinking, but I'm sticking to it)
• sitting up almost completely by themselves
• spitting up almost completely all day

And they can't wait to meet you.