Grow, Baby, Grow!

Our littles are a month old!

Alright, I'm a tad late in posting this as they are now 5 weeks old, but I'm sure you'll forgive me. I'm changing twenty diapers a day and getting peed/spit on every other hour. Its difficult to find time to shower (still haven't accomplished that today), let alone blog.

Anyhew, here they are with Max (aka Maximus):

Once again, Cohen is on the left and Jack on the right.

Although you may not notice it from the photo, the twins are growing like little weeds. At their one month appointment Cohen was 6lbs 11oz and Jack was 6lbs 8oz, which means they both gained 1.5lbs in two weeks. 

Wouldn't it be great if I lost what they gained?!

(sigh)

I digress...

They even feel bigger in my arms - although it still amazes me to think that they are nowhere near the 10lbs Kendry was when we brought him home. Weird.

 As for personalities... well ... they still sleep A LOT so I'll have to get back to you on that.

I won't leave you completely empty-handed though.

COHEN looks more and more like Kendry did as a baby, except his eyes are bigger/rounder. He is just starting to enjoy floor time, is already crying real tears (break Mommy's heart why don't you!) and he keeps us laughing with his various expressions.

JACK has more Binder features - both Justin and I have noticed a resemblance to our niece Amaya and just this week I swear I saw my sister Stephanie in his expression. He also has a tiny dimple in his right cheek, just like big brother. Everyone comments on Jack's long fingers - they really are -

which makes it all the funnier when he does this while sleeping.

And we can't forget big brother Kendry, who had his four year check-up while we were in the hospital. Mommy's little man is 42lbs (90th percentile) and 43.5in (100% percentile). He is also wearing size 12.5 in shoes. The littles have some big shoes to fill, literally.

Praising the Lord for healthy and happy boys!

 

Now join in with Cohen; you know the words.

"We're not gonna take it. No, we ain't gonna take it. We're not gonna take it anymore!"

A Gimlin Canine

You will be pleased to know that not only have we added two little boys to our family, but we recently became the proud parents of this little canine as well.

Except he isn't that little.

 

 {1 week old}

He will, however, be a fun prop for measuring the growth of Jack and Cohen.

Don't you agree?

I threw in the basket prop so our two little 5 pounders didn't get lost beneath puppy's huge paws.

 

 Cohen stared up at puppy the entire time, with these thoughtful wrinkles across his forehead.

"Really, Mom? Really?!"

Now help me out, folks - giant stuffed puppy needs a name.

God Bless America!

"If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed."

~John 8:36~

Its been a little while since my last handprint craft with Kendry, but we regrouped just in time to do this one for July:

Thank you, Lord, for the freedom you give through Your salvation.

Thank you for the freedoms we have in America.

Thank you for those who have fought to protect our freedom.

Please guide and give wisdom to our country's leaders.

Amen.

Happy Independence Day from the Gimlin Family!

Ten on Tuesday

{1}

Got your taxes done?

{2}

I planted Cinderella pumpkins this weekend.

Google

We didn't plant any pumpkins last year and I was kicking myself for it when October arrived.

Not this year.

{3}

Oh, and you’ll be happy to know the other starter plants I bought on Saturday are still alive and kickin’.

That’s quite the feat for this black thumb.

Despite previous failures I am trying my hand at gardening again this summer; we’ll see how it goes.

{4}

I forgot to do a March handprint/footprint craft with Kendry, but April's makes up for it:

See it?

{5}

Monday morning with a toddler = potty accident as we are literally walking out the door.

Tuesday morning with a toddler = apple juice splattered all over the dining room floor.

I can’t wait to see what Wednesday brings…

{6}

Please, oh please, let Kendry's birthday party day have sunshine. A baseball party will be much more fun if we can do it outside.

{7}

Even though I haven’t posted many projects lately, I always have something in the works, including a few recent thrift finds.

Two matching fleur de lis lamps (one is getting a makeover).

The spray can isn’t the color I’m going with, its simply to show you how big these lamps are.

I’m in love!

And an enormous ornate frame.

At a mere $6 I couldn’t walk away from this beauty.

Look at that detail!

Fun stuff!

{8}

We have lots of family visiting this week. Hooray!

{9}

The spring sunshine has sprinkled the most adorable little freckles across Kendry's nose.

They are so cute I could just eat them up!

{10}

This Week's Blessing:

Answered prayer...over a concrete truck.

Details tomorrow.

Ten on Tuesday

{1}

Sorry we've been a little absent on the blog but I have been working on a writing project.

Details on that to come.

{2}

I got the sewing machine out this weekend and completed this banner.

I initially planned for it to be a 'happy birthday' banner we could use for Kendry each year, but then decided I want to keep my options open on the wording. Instead of gluing or painting letters on, I am going to cut out an array of felt letters and attach them with velcro for each occasion:

"Happy Birthday!"

"Congratulations!"

"Happy Columbus Day!"

You get the picture.

And yes, Columbus Day is worth celebrating; it's a paid holiday for yours truly.

{3}

This week's Kendry-ism:

Kendry: "Mom, remember Mo?"

Me: "Nope."

Kendry: "B-I-N-G-O and Bingo was his name, Mo!"

How does he come up with this stuff?

{4}

I am headed to a women's retreat this weekend.

It is sure to be a great time!

{5}

I watched "The Help" on Friday.

Octavia Spencer's Oscar was well-deserved.

{6}

Confession:

Seeing home pregnancy tests on a great sale still makes me a little bitter sometimes.

Its an infertility thing.

{7}

Kendry's handprint/footprint craft for February.

This is the cutest one yet.

{8}

He wanted to wear my 'hat':

{9}

I will not buy/wear colored jeans, I will not buy/wear colored jeans...

{10}

This Week's Blessing:

The resiliency of a toddler.

Kendry fell at open gym this weekend and tweaked something in his leg. He wanted to keep playing but with every few steps he would start limping or collapse and start crying. Not what a momma likes to see. I prayed and then gave him a dose of Children's Advil before naptime; when he woke up he was back to his usual bouncing-off-the-walls self.

Footprint Snowmen

Our 12 months of handprint/footprint crafts continues!

This month's inspiration was, yet again, inspired by Pinterest - and quite fitting in the wake of our snowstorm two weeks ago. Kendry was so proud of the snowman we built in our back yard that day. Alas, our weather turned warm again and within a few days Bucky the Snowman (Justin picked the name) was nothing but a hat, a tiny carrot and two sticks laying in a heap in our back yard.

So even though I am more than ready to bid winter farewell, we went with a snowman theme.

I cut out the snowman accessories and Kendry glued them on. He was adamant about using the huge googly eyes, even if it did make this snowman look like a bug.

He didn't understand the concept of a top hat either, so our snowmen look like chefs.

This has been such a fun project to do with my kiddo!

 

I did an experiment this month to see if my footprint would look as cute as his.

Nope.

There is nothing cute about size 11 feet or toes that are longer than my kiddo's fingers.

Hands and Feet

Sometimes I might upset you

Because I am so small

And always leave my fingerprints

on furniture and walls.

 

But every day I grow a bit

And soon I'll be so tall

That all those little fingerprints

Will be so hard to recall.

 

So here's a special handprint

Just so that you can say

This is how my fingers looked

When I placed them here today.

My baby is growing up too fast.
He doesn't even let me call him "my baby" anymore; he says he is a big boy now.

He still holds my hand when we go on our walks, but with each walk it feels like his hands are getting bigger and bigger.

  How do I stop the clock?



After browsing some fun kiddo handprint/footprint ideas on Pinterest, I had the idea to do one handprint/footprint craft with Kendry for 12 consecutive months.

My goal is to keep and/or photograph each one to include in his baby book.

While I cannot keep him from growing, at least I can document those precious hands and feet as they are right now.


We're only three months into our project and Kendry and I are both having so much fun with it.

October:

These are supposed to be spiders, can you tell?

November:

Our turkeys looked a wee bit creepy this year, like they were turkey zombies leftover from Halloween or something. Try as I might, I couldn't convince Kendry that the turkeys did not need their googly eyes painted.

December:

This month we changed it up and went with a footprint instead.
I saw this manger idea and knew it was perfect.

Theirs:

source


Ours:

I am in love with this one, even if Kendry did wiggle his toes a bit while making his print. And I put it on canvas so we can pull it out each year with our Christmas decor.

 

Stay tuned for January!