A year's worth of updates in a nut shell!

Well hello everyone! If my calculations are correct it has been over a year since I have blogged. Oh boy, have we had some major changes in the life of the Ah Sam family. The past year I have spent raising our energetic twins almost as a single mommy. Greg deployed in July of 2013 to Afghanistan and he returned home May of this year, Thank You Lord for bringing him home safe I am eternally grateful.

 

 

 

Our handsome angels were just 8 months old, hardly getting into everything, and only crawling when daddy left. I witnessed many first while Greg was gone, their first steps, their first words, their first experience eating solid foods. Fast forward a year.... we are quickly approaching terrible twos and boy have things DRASTICALLY changed!! I always tell Greg thank you Lord you are home now because if you had been gone any longer I think our little monsters had the potential of tying me to a chair and throwing me in the closet!

 

 

 

At 22 months, the boys are walking ( wait more like running or sprinting) , climbing on absolutely everything including the dining room table and the dresser in their room. They are eating ALL solid foods and whole milk, ( daddy sneaks them sweet tea every once in awhile, which of course they love). Christopher knows the animal sounds of the dog, monkey, lion, tiger, and we are working on the pig. Jonathan is sticking strictly to his lion sounds. They are both obsessed with cars and trucks, and love to make the noise of an engine revving up. They can say mama, daddy, and NO hahah! They are still a little behind in the language department, but the doctors have reassured us that because they were preemies this is typical.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We have had an extremely BUSY summer since daddy came home. We started our summer vacation off at the beach for a few days in Destin. We had a blast and the boys loved to play in the sand, but were still a little afraid of the roaring ocean. However, they were not shy in the pool! They can almost swim on their own and LOVE the water! The week after the beach, we made our way to Disney World! It was the boys first trip, and we all know how much they love mickey mouse! The look on their face the first time they met mickey was absolutely priceless. We did all of the Disney parks ( magic kingdom and animal kingdom were their favorite) and we went to typhoon lagoon which I think toped it all. They had the best time splashing around in the kiddie area, and floating down the lazy river. After a very LONG deployment I think we were all so happy to finally be on vacation away from reality.

 

 

 

 

 



 

 

 

 

There are so many pictures to share I could only pick a few! We also met up with Granny and pop-pop in Orlando for fathers day. We had so much fun with them and also got to go to the Cape, and visit NASA. The boys had a pizza party in the room with Granny and pop pop :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

To end the summer, we went to Ft. Lauderdale to visit granny. We had such a good time ( like always). The boys got to go swimming in the pool every day, and they got to go to the beach again. Greg and I took the boys to the Miami Seaquarium which they loved ( have I mentioned the boys now have their own fishtank?) We spent lots of time with family which is the biggest blessing of all <3

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

While Greg was deployed in April he started the LONG process of applying to the Florida Highway Patrol. He made it through each step extremely fast, the trooper who was approving all of his steps and test said he had never seen someone's packet go through the process that fast. Greg started at the Academy the beginning of August. We are so very proud of him, and we cant wait to see what life brings our family next! In December we get to find out which part of the state we will be moving too!He gets to come home most weekends, so the boys and I are settling back into our routine without daddy. To add to the stress I have started back at school this semester to continue my long term dream of becoming a physician assistant. We are all BUSY, BUSY, BUSY, but so thankful that daddy is back home now even if we only get to see him on weekends!

 

 

As for the boys, every time I look at them I am reminded of life's greatest blessing. Greg and I are so thankful that the boys are completely healthy after everything we went through to get them here they are doing perfectly fine and hitting all the right milestones! I still cant wrap my head around them turning two. Oh how time flies! Soon we will be attempting to potty train them, and boy do they have their daddy's attitude! They each have their own personality, and 90 % of the time fight and are extremely mean to each other! Every once and awhile I will catch those precious moments, of them hugging each other, or giving each other a kiss, or even sharing their snacks with each other. Those are the moments that completely melt my heart. Having twins is definitely not an easy task, but I would not change it for the world. They are our miracle babies <3  Maybe now that life has returned to a somewhat state of normalcy I can continue to blog! <3













Into Everything

The boys have been into everything lately!! They are scooting all over the place and they are extremely fast! Both of them go in different directions when they want something so it was getting a little hard for me to chase after both of them. By the time I would get one back to his original spot the other would have taken off somewhere. Well, Greg and I fixed this problem and the boys now have a colorful and fun jail (as we like to call it in our house).

We are absolutely loving it and so are the boys! They will stay occupied in their new jail for a while before we hear any fussing! However Christopher is the aggressive one and is always crawling all over Jonathan. They have a huge play area but they still are on top of each other. Jonathan is doing a lot of babbling recently and the other day he babbled dada and mama... but I know he didn't do it on purpose and we cant get him to do it again....Also, the other day Greg and I walked out of the room for a few seconds while the boys were in their jail and when we walked back into the room Jonathan was standing up holding onto the side of the gate!!! Can you believe that?? We ran for a camera but by the time we got one he was down. We could not believe he pulled himself up to a standing position!!!!! We can tell already that Jonathan is the observant one and Christopher is our little energizer bunny because he is always smiling and causing trouble! They are growing sooo fast and everyday we see new changes. Greg and I are cherishing and soaking up all of these family moments!

6 months!



(We can tell Christopher has the outgoing personality! hehe)

Can you believe the boys are already 6 months?? We can't... it feels like just yesterday they were born! Now we have 2 busy bodies on our hands. They are into EVERYTHING!!!! They absolutely LOVE to explore and learn new things. They are soooo incredibly close to crawling... they are more like scooting around on their tummies. But let me tell you if they want to get somewhere they get there somehow. Tomorrow Greg and I are going to buy one of those play area gates that you put puppies in... yes we are going to put our twins in one. They are so mobile that they go in opposite directions of each other so I am constantly chasing them... ohhh how I know its only the beginning (sigh).

They are very very close to sitting up on their own. They can sit up for a few seconds by them selves and then a toy catches their eye and they lose their balance.... its so adorable! They are also babbling like crazy.. I was in high hopes that we might hear a mama or dada before daddy leaves for deployment but as of now no such luck. Christopher is the outgoing and aggressive one.... he loves anything he can get his hands on. I can tell he is going to be the trouble maker already! Jonathan loves to explore also but he is more laid back and likes to watch us all the time!

They are now eating solids three times a day in addition to their bottle feedings! They are doing extremely well with it! We still get the occasion instances where they spit it out at us but everyday it gets better. I cant tell you what their favorite foods are because they pretty much love everything. They still LOVE baths, and we still get soaked every night. They absolutely love to splash mommy and daddy. The boys Love to show off when we are trying to dress them or change their diaper by trying to roll over on the changing table... which is not funny. They recently had their 6 month check up and got their shots. The doctor said they were growing beautifully and that we are doing a fantastic job with them. She also said that we make having twins look easy! That complement made me feel good :) Christopher weighs almost 20Ib and Jonathan weighs almost 19Ib. They are growing soooo fast. They are wearing some 9 month clothes but mostly 12 months, and some 18.

Surprisingly they do a lot of things together at the same time. If one burps... two seconds later the other one does, or they spit up at the same time, or they  roll over at the same time. Its amazing! They are still waking up a few times through out the night.. so we rock them and usually they go back to seep. Lately they are becoming extremely aware of each other... they make each other laugh all the time which is so precious! Oh my goodness I fall more in love with them every single day. No matter how frustrated or exhausted I get they still make me smile. There is no better thing in the world than being a mother. I cant wait to see what new milestones they will cross next!

Growing!

I know it has been over a month since I have blogged!!! Time flies so fast and the boys have changed so much we can't even believe our eyes! Greg and I went on a 5 day cruise which was amazing, however I missed my boys terribly and was so ready to come home! We also visited Gregs parents for his brothers graduation. The Ah Sam's have been busy busy busy! Daddy had been gone for a week training again so we are so excited that he came back home today!! We missed him so badly. Our time together is dwindling so fast... Lord give us the strength to stay strong for what is ahead of us. Daddy will be leaving us again for almost the whole month of June. All together we have about 4 weeks left with him so let me tell you we are going to make every second count!!

Our boys are absolutely amazing... our opinions might be a little biased but they are so smart! They are both into everything and I mean EVERYTHING!! They are so curious! I wouldn't quite say they were crawling ( it is more like crawling on their tummies) but they scoot around to get wherever they want to go and FAST!!. I think it is time I invest in one of those play area gates. Christopher has realized that he can make noise.. so he loves to slap his hands on the carpet, crib, tile floor. Lately they have started to whimper when I leave the room and they try to scoot after me. ( It is sooo cute and melts my heart) They almost do not like to be held anymore because they are always trying to get to the floor to play with their toys. Also they have realized that they can climb on things.... not good!
They try and climb on everything including their cribs... not good. I can't believe it is time to lower their cribs already :( My babies are growing up way to fast... the other night after bath time I walked into the nursery and found Jonathan like this....

(You can tell he is sooo proud of himself!)



They are grabbing at ALL of their toys. Especially this one that is a hippo and it pops balls out at them. They LOVE it! However, they have realized that they can fight over a toy and they are not nice to each other at all. They poke and pull each others hair. I have a major feeling that this is only the beginning of twin rivalry.  We went to Maclay Gardens to take some family pictures with Daddy in his uniform. The boys did very well even though it was extremely hot outside!

We are very very happy to have Daddy home tonight and for another two weeks!! So off I go to spend some much needed family time!!

Rolly Pollies

Just a quick update!! My first born aka Jonathan has finally found his way to roll over from his back to his tummy!! I knew he had it in him. Now I have two little munchkins rolling all over the place! I'm a proud mama :) Also, Jonathan has found his toes just like Christopher. I must say the boys have been increasingly curious of each other in addition to mine and Gregs face haha. They grab each others ears, noses, and put each others fingers in the other ones mouth. They love to grab at mine and Greg's noses, eyes, my hair, and our lips. Christopher has been making this farting nose all the time and practically spits at us hehe. One very hilarious thing that has been happening is if the boys find their way to roll under the coffee table they grab a hold of the legs and they try to eat the legs of the coffee table! Its like they are little puppy's hehe. I definitely remember bella doing the same thing! So I have been pulling them back to their play mat so these instances wont happen. Night time has not been going so well, last night Christopher woke up three times and had to be rocked back to sleep. This morning we had lots of family cuddle time in bed because the boys decided to wake up extra early. They finally fell back asleep in mine and Gregs arms so we all got another hour of sleep. It makes my heart feel at peace when we are all together! Im gonna miss those moments so much! The boys are SOOOOO incredibly close to crawling! Especially my chunky monkey ( Christopher). Any day now im sure I will posting about it! I am always right on both of them with the video camera and the regular camera that probably when they finally crawl I will probably miss it! Is'nt that how it always happens? Ahhh, life with twins! My precious boys are amazing and would not change a minute of it for the world. I must say things have gotten much better and even though the wake ups during the night are stressful we are definitely getting more rest then when they were newborn. So no complaints tonight. God has truly blessed me with a wonderful and supportive husband and two beautiful baby boys :) Cherishing every moment with my family.

5 months!

 

How can my baby boys be five months old already??? Oh how time flies. Jonathan and Christopher are doing great! They are working soo hard on sitting up by themselves! Christopher is a rolling machine! He flips from his back to tummy, back to tummy, back to tummy, …. Just this morning he was on his play mat on the rug in the living room and I turned my head for two seconds and he had flipped three times to make his way under the coffee table. Lord help me!! Jonathan rolls from his tummy to his back but he has not yet mastered rolling from his back to tummy… he just needs a little more time. Christopher is very active and wants to move all the time. Jonathan is our more laid back baby and likes to look all around and examine and explore new things. He also LOVES watching tv. Their favorite is mickey mouse clubhouse. Christopher has a new obsession of sucking on his bottom lip.. it is so adorable he looks like he is blowing us fishy kisses! They both still LOVE diaper changes, and Christopher has found his feet!!! Every time we change his diaper he is grabbing his toes! Jonathan loves to throw his arms back by his head to stretch and relax at the changing table… see I told you he was our laid back baby! Both boys can not keep their fingers out of their mouth!!!! They are really grabbing at all their toys and everything goes straight to the mouth! We must be doing something backwards because we think they are both SOOO close to crawling ( before sitting up??).. probably just a few more weeks. They get their legs up but they can’t quite figure out how to work their arms to crawl yet. We are having lots of tummy time to practice! Their daily routine is going wonderful!! They are doing a lot better with the solid foods! They have rice cereal in the morning for breakfast with a fruit mixed in and at night they have vegetables. Their favorite breakfast fruit is apples and pears. They do not like peaches AT ALL! Their favorite vegetables are carrots and sweet potatoes! Surprisingly they actually love peas and green beans! They absolutely LOVE bath time they splash and make a huge mess!!! Not fun for mommy and daddy but they LOVE it so we don’t mind! We actually just recently had to buy a bigger baby bath tub because the one we got from our shower is to small now. We just had to take Jonathan to the doctor because his eye was irritated.. they think he might of scratched it so they prescribed him some eye drops. He does not like that at all! They prescribed the same for Christopher because his tear ducts are not wide enough.. he was born with them that way so they get really goopy.. poor baby. If his eyes do not clear up by nine months then we have to take him to see an ophthalmologist. They weighed Jonathan at the doctor and he weighed 17.4 pounds! We are thinking that Christopher is probably a pound or so heavier than him. Of course smiles are infinite these days and boy are they absolutely adorable! My heart stops every time they smile. We are getting bunches of laughs and giggles these days! Although daddy is the only one that can make them laugh and laugh and laugh for a good 15 minutes. They both are sleeping in their cribs every night… and occasionally they wake up through the night but we think that is because their gums are bothering them. Usually with a little rocking and a song they go right back to sleep. We are loving every second with them, they are truly a gift! We shower them with LOVE and lots of kisses everyday! Greg and I are trying so hard to get them to say mama or dada but no such luck yet! Fingers crossed they will soon! We can’t wait to see how much they will grow and change this next month! They are truly two amazing and strong little boys! After everything they went through you would never know that they were born one month premature. They fill my heart with so much love! They are precious! You never know a mothers love until you become a mother.. I love you baby boys!

Busy Bee's

Warning.... Long post to follow!!! Oh my goodness.. where to begin! Yes I know I have not blogged in over a month! Life has been pretty hectic the past month! Our month started off with daddy leaving us for two weeks to start his pre deployment training. It was his first long time away from the boys so saying goodbye was not easy… do not ask me how we are going to all say goodbye for a whole year….After he left  nana, the boys and I went to Ft. Lauderdale to visit granny and attend my cousins baby shower! ( So excited for baby Easton’s arrival by the way!!) We had tons of fun down there and I have to say the boys did very well with the transition! However the car rides were not fun at ALL! The boys got tons of new summer clothes and were showered with LOTS and LOTS of LOVE from granny! It was so hard to say goodbye as always… wish we lived closer. 

When we got back home 2 days later Greg’s parents came to visit with our nephew DJ and the next day daddy came back home!! We were so excited to meet DJ for the first time! He has a great personality and is such a happy baby! Greg and I found out how much work we have ahead of us while DJ was around.. he is 10 months old and getting into everything! Lord help us when the boys start crawling! Two weeks without daddy was rough I spent a lot of my time stressing out! I think the boys can sense when I am alone because man do they play me. The morning feedings with their rice cereal are sooo dramatic!!! 

Skipping ahead to Easter… We had a wonderful Easter weekend! On Saturday we all colored Easter eggs as a family… We wanted to make the most of it since daddy will not be here to celebrate it with us next year. We took a MILLION pictures! Greg even had Christopher drop his egg into the cup of dye… (adorable)! Come to find out it was my egg that said “ We Love You Mommy”. Sunday morning we went to church and the boys did excellent!! They barley made a peep! Of course we got slammed with questions about the twins but we didn’t mind because they are just so darn cute!

As for me, I am trying very very hard to shed this baby weight!! I am doing the HCG diet and it is anything but easy. Greg is being so supportive dieting and working out with me! We are going on a cruise the beginning of May to the Bahamas! The boys are going to stay with nana! I am so excited but at the same time am so scared and sad all at the same time to leave the boys. This will be my first time away from them. Although I know nana will have everything under control. Next stop on the agenda… daddy is leaving again on the 22^nd… At least it is only for one week this time. I just can’t imagine it getting any easier... Last time he was gone he was able to skype us.. and it was adorable because the boys would smile at him!!! Someone pinch me so I can wake up! Time is moving sooo fast! Can you believe the boys are already five months old and daddy is leaving in 2 months…SLOW DOWN time! The boys are doing great! They are learning new things everyday and we are enjoying every second with them as always!