What a difference a day makes...

Yesterday I was in Austin presenting a workshop to teachers across the state of Texas at a STEM education conference. I was wearing a suit.

Today I had to call a locksmith because my adorable children locked themselves in my bedroom. I was wearing my bathrobe.

Are you laughing yet? I happily spent $35 dollars to pay a nice man to laugh at my situation and unlock a door I didn't even know could possibly lock. My amazing father in law came to my rescue and made me feel better that it wasn't just me... he couldn't get it open either.

I had to call FOUR locksmiths before someone would agree to help me out. I tried explaining that there were twin toddlers locked in the room, but that just didn't get any emergency bonus points. If you live here, I highly recommend Slim Jim. I'll call him first next time. (NEXT TIME? WHAT AM I THINKING?)

Palmer found a box of girl scout cookies on Carter's nightstand (you'll have to ask HIM why they aren't in the kitchen!) and shared them under the door with me. He also found two books of stamps in my purse and stuck the "stickers" all over himself and my bedroom. I think he had enough stamps on him I could have put him in the mail to one of YOU... and trust me, this morning I thought about doing just that!

Harrison occupied himself by learning how to use the three remote controls we have in our room (again... ask Carter!)

Overall... it was a hilariously mortifying situation that I know will be remembered for years.

Are you ready?

OK folks... here comes some personal information I'm sharing with the Blog world...

We are attempting IVF again!

• I have quite a saga so far... so just skip this post if you aren't interested.

• Most of you know the boys were conceived through In vitro fertilization... with Dr. Sonja Kristiansen in Houston. The experience was expensive, painful, yet amazing; and Carter and I were blessed that it worked the first time. We ended up with 11 embryos left over... which is a whole new blog post.

• Wednesday we had a consultation appointment with Dr. Jabara at the med school. We absolutely adore him already and are excited to try this process together. The process this time will not be nearly as invasive as the first time... since we already have embroys. The first obstacle we have to over-come is getting all 11 of our remaining "kiddos" to Lubbock from Houston! They can't fly because they are swimming in liquid nitrogen... a big no-no on airplanes for some reason. ;) Our plan right now is to drive them back over spring break... can't you see it now? All THIRTEEN of our children in the car together... Ha! The fact that all but 2 of them fit in a space that is about one square foot is convenient for traveling.

• Dr. Jabara was very honest and upfront with us that the success rates for a "thaw cycle" as they call it are MUCH lower than for a "fresh cycle". These terms make me shudder... but I don't know any other way to separate the two. There are lots of factors that go into the lower success rates, and we meet almost all of them. The first one he listed is whether the embryos are thawed within the first year. This one made me laugh! Can't you imagine me carting my 9 month old twins to the IVF clinic to try this entire procedure all over again? Not happening, folks! We're not even totally sure how we'll handle three kids spaced almost 4 years apart. Those of you who have closely spaced kids... my hat goes off to you!

• Dr. Jabara also feels very strongly that in order for this process to be worth our time, money, and effort he will either implant 2 or 3 embryos, depending on their quality. This scares me to death... because if I have another set of twins I might have to be institutionalized. ;) We put three in the first time and came out with beautiful boys... I just don't know if I can do four children under the age of 4. Do you think we'd be a hit as "Mandy and Carter plus FOUR" big enough to compete with "John and Kate plus EIGHT"????? (P.S. I can't watch that show without feeling lazy as a mom of two... not eight. How does she do it?)

• Have I rambled enough? I know there are more details here than some of you were ready for... and I promise to try to keep the TMI factor to a minimum... really I will.

• Because of all this, we are asking for your prayers as we attempt to have a sibling for Palmer and Harrison. We'll keep you posted.

Valentine Picture

Sorry this is sideways... my dumb computer isn't cooperating. Just thought this was too cute.

Happy Valentine's Day

Sad that I haven't posted since my Christmas update, huh? The boys are at such a fun age right now... challenging, but fun. Their vocabulary astounds me every day! We are having so much fun hearing them talk to us and to each other. Palmer is the bossy big brother (remember... he is a whole MINUTE older!), but Harrison has started really standing up for himself lately. Hilarious. I have a super cute picture of the boys with their cousins wearing wax lips... but for some reason my computer won't let me rotate it. I'll keep trying... it is a funny picture.

Here is a picture of them playing in the huge leaf pile between our house and the next one.




















And here is a funny picture that needs explanation. Palmer was home sick for three days a few weeks ago... and all he wanted to do... 24 hours a day... was play with Mr. Potato Head. Carter and I traded off staying home with him and I took this picture of all seven of his creations at once. We've since added a few more to our collection because Taco Bueno has Pototo Head toys in their kids meals! Notice the big potato is wearing Palmer's sunglasses :)

Christmas & New Year

I realize it has been quite a while... blog friends! Christmas was great... the boys got "big boy beds" from Santa so that has been our big transition. Here are a few pictures updating you on our holidays... and I apologize for the strange spacing.

Here is a random picture of Harrison that I absolutely LOVE. It captures him completely. Loves wearing hats... loves drinking out of straws (note the purple pumpkin on Christmas Day) and LOVES his Thomas house shoes.

Big Daddy got the boys cowboy hats... one of their new favorite things!

Here are the boys on the night we went to see Santa... this was at Vintage Township. I love their silouhettes in front of Frosty. Our Santa pictures were pretty bad... but we did get a cute one with the Chic-fil-a cow (who the boys enjoyed MUCH more than Santa anyway!)

One night I was cooking dinner (surprise!) and the boys wanted celery (like the WonderPets!) so I sent them to their room with Carter and a baggie of celery. I found the baggie empty and was excited that they ate it all! As I was getting Palmer ready for bed, he told me he put the celery in his boot. So here is the picture of his cowboy boots with celery in each one. Too funny.

We made a quick trip to Dallas to see my Dad's family... here we are with Mama and Papa... how cute are they?

Palmer is hooked on Santa and nutcrackers. Here he is hugging one of my Mom's stuffed Santas on Christmas morning. Now that we have packed away everything until next Christmas, Palmer thinks anything that is missing is gone "until next Christmas". He couldn't find something the other day and when I asked him where it was he said "Gone until next Christmas". I love that he loves Christmas.

The family on Christmas Eve

Harrison's favorite snack...

What a bad mother I am for letting my child eat cheese puffs... but he absolutely LOVES these! I thought these pictures were so cute... the gigantic bucket is almost as big as he is! He also just learned how to open doorknobs, so the pantry is no longer a hiding place! Notice the orange all around his mouth... and believe me when I say that I don't let him carry this around and eat as many as he wants. :)

Trying for a video...

We tried so hard to take a Christmas card picture last night... but the following pictures will show you some of the "challenges" of having twin 2 year old boys. I hope it gives each of you a laugh today. Enjoy!

I made this in Microsoft PhotoStory which is a free program. It captured the hilarity of the evening, but it is a big file!

Green Bay and Carol of LIghts

Gran and Big Daddy had to come to our house to watch the Cowboys/Packers game since it was on DISH Network... and Gran made sure the boys were dressed as Packers! Here's Palmer in a Green Bay hat...

and here he is wearing a Cheese Head (a real one from Lambough field!). I wasn't trying to neglect Harrison in these pictures, but he wanted to EAT the cheese head instead of WEAR it, so that doesn't make for great pics.

Here we are at the Carol of Lights (that is Luke and Isaac above the strollers... sorry for cutting off your heads, guys!) We were all bundled up!

Thanksgiving Update

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving! It was so nice to stay at home and not travel... we are so thankful to have ALL of our families here in town! We ate at Cecilee's house and then hit Mimi and Papa's for leftovers. We spent the night with each set of grandparents once and were spoiled to all wake up and spend the days together for several days...

Here are some pictures of some fun things lately

Harrison loves to help cook! Here he is stirring the Macaroni and Cheese. Those of you who know me know that this is about the extent of my cooking... they'll have to learn the rest from Carter. :)

This is a random picture... but I put it here to show everyone that Palmer has learned to open doors! We have had to toddler-proof all over again.

Here we are wearing Daddy's shoes... a classic picture every family needs.

And here we are all bundled up for the cold weather!
(Note the Krispy Kreme doughnut holes we're holding... our new Saturday morning tradition from Papa!)

Happy Halloween!

Here are my little spooks... this is a picture of a picture, so the quality isn't that great. When we were getting dressed for these, Harrison was supposed to be Woody but threw a fit to be Buzz... so they switched. It made me laugh that I was fighting 2 year olds over who was going to wear which costume... really.

Britta and I dressed up today as a pair of BLUE JEANs... we have blue bows on our heads and everything. We were both going to wear our junior high cheerleading uniforms (since we both cheered at Hutch) but decided against that crazy idea. :)

Buzz RIGHT HERE says "Howdy"

Palmer and Harrison dressed up in their Buzz and Woody costumes last weekend for our church's Spirit Fest. They were adorable... pictures coming soon. This blog is just for Mr. Palmer. He absolutely threw a full-out 2 year old FIT when I gave the cowboy hat to Harrison (Woody) to wear. Harrison didn't really want to wear the hat, so we let Palmer put it on to appease him. (Hmmmm... who's in charge here?) To make a long story a little shorter, Palmer and the $3.99 cowboy hat have been inseperable for the past week! I went in their room yesterday when I heard them awake...

and saw Palmer standing in his bed with it on...

And he wore it in the bath tub...

And he wore it on the potty...

And my very favorite of all... wearing it all by itself!

The Lone Aggie

This week has felt pretty lonely... being the only Aggie I know that works on the Tech campus. The whole crazy "Vick 'Em" shirt thing hasn't made it any easier. I miss being surrounded by Aggies!

Here are some pictures of random events lately...










Harrison wearing uncle Jay's crazy ski hat






Sitting on our potties (any mom who has gone through this will laugh at this picture!)













Our new bedspread!

























The boys at a Seagraves football game with Big Daddy

















Video of bath time singing (my first video to try to upload on Blogger!)

Do you read me?

OK... So I realized tonight that we have watched Toy Story a few too many times. I've been bragging about the boys' vocabularies, right? I probably didn't mention that I can't understand every word they say. (Any mom of a 2 year old understands that, I hope!)

We solved a mystery tonight. Palmer has been saying a word that sounds like "dark-a-man" for a few weeks now. I had no idea what he meant. Of course, my mind jumps to DaVinci Code with the "so dark the con of man" phrase, but I know that he hasn't seen that one (we do have SOME boundaries at our house!) so I knew it had to be something else.

Just about 10 minutes ago I heard him say it and everything clicked. We were watching Toy Story and he is saying "Star Command" like Buzz Lightyear! (Come in Star Command... Do you read me??)

I figured that was a blog-worthy story that might get a laugh from a few people!

P.S. Palmer calls Buzz Lightyear "Buzz Right here" and Woody is more like "Woooooody". I can't wait for Halloween pictures!

Time Flies!

When I looked at my blog today and realized it has been almost a month since my last entry, I realized my life is too busy. Most of my other friends in the blog world blog daily... or at least weekly! What is wrong with me?

Here's what's going on in our lives right now...

1. The boys are hilarious right now. Their vocabularies blow me away! We are working (slowly) on potty training... what a chore with twin boys! We wore Pull-Ups for the first time last night... Harrison kept his dry all night long!

2. I just "won" my first two eBay auctions! (Alyssa... I know you are addicted here... I think I'm about to join you!) We bought halloween costumes for the boys -- Buzz and Woody from Toy Story. We seem to be hooked on that movie lately.

3. For those of you who live in the Hub City... there is a great new photography place in town! It is called "Portrait Innovations" and is in Kinsgate North. We had so much fun having the boys pictures made there! Highly recommended!

4. My Dad had an angiogram yesterday. It was stressful to think anything could be wrong with either of my parents, especially since we just lost my grandfather so recently. Daddy got a great report, however, and all is good. His heart muscle is a little bit weakened, but that can be corrected with medication.

Life is good... check back soon for a better post with pictures. :)

Book 'Em Horns

I am constantly given grief by my Red Raider family about being an Aggie... so here is something we can ALL agree on! (Thanks Raider Mom-in-Law for sending this to me!) Gig 'Em!

It's been almost one (1) week without an arrest of a Longhorn footballplayer! Good Job Mack - way to keep those boys in line!!! (Note: for those of you that don't know, Austin's Pride has produced,within the last month, four (4) boys- w/ mugshots and prints. Two forarmed robbery (w/ firearms), one for auto burglary & DUI and another forDUI) Despite, their days of "good behavior" - I thought you might find these jokes timely!





1. What do you call a drug ring in Austin? A huddle.


2. Four UT Longhorns in a car, who's driving? The police.


3. The UT Longhorns have adopted a new "Honor System". Yes your Honor,No your Honor.


4. The UT Longhorns knew they had to do something for their defense, sothey hired a new defensive coordinator: F. Lee Bailey.


5. How do the UT Longhorns spend their first week at fall practice? Studying their Miranda Rights.


6. What do you say to a Longhorn in a suit? Will the defendant pleaserise?


7. If you see Longhorn football player on a bike, why don't you swerveto hit him? It might be your bike!


8. The Longhorns employ scouts. But to look out for cops, not to scouthigh school kids.


9. I heard a rumor that the Texas Department of Corrections plans tobuild a new prison in Austin, Texas in order to allow Longhorns to walkto school.


10. What do you call it, when a Longhorn goes on vacation? Time off forgood behavior.


11. Why couldn't the Longhorn get into a huddle on the football field? It's a parole violation to associate with known felons.


12. Obviously Coach Mack Brown is not paying his players if they have to resort to robbing people.


13. Book 'em, Horns!

(Whew... that is about as much burnt orange as I can possibly stand!)

Daddy J's Flowers

Some of you know that my grandfather passed away a few weeks ago. I haven't blogged about it because it is really still hard to talk about... but this week we were visiting my grandmother and took some great pictures of Harrison in Daddy J's back yard, so I just had to post them. Thanks to all of you who have sent cards, flowers, and food to our family. It has been (and continues to be) a rough time for us, but we are blessed to all live so close together.

The big 2-9 for my honey!

Happy Birthday, Carter!

Here he is at Joe's Crabshack doing the most ridiculus birthday singing EVER. The waiter said he had to pretend to be "Donkey" from the Shrek movie and kick the bucket and "hee-haw" each time they sang the word "Birthday." I must say, I would have been pretty embarassed. Carter took it all in great sporting fashion, however... and some of our dearest friends were there to celebrate with us.

How old are you, boys?

Here is a short video of Harrison saying he is "TWO"! Palmer, as usual is too busy to answer me, but is playing with his new Diego toy. Please forgive my singing... we're trying to learn our ABC's and this was early in the morning. :)

http://www.screencast.com/t/XiuV8Zwptei

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Today is Palmer and Harrison's 2nd birthday! Here is a link to pictures from their birthday party... http://picasaweb.google.com/mandybiggers/PalmerAndHarrisonS2ndBirthday

More on this post later!

Palmer's Trip to TCH

Palmer and I took his first airplane ride last Wednesday to visit Dr. Shannon Rivenes at Texas Children's Hosptial. This was his one year check up since we last saw the Pediatric Cardiologst. She is absolutely THE most amazing doctor EVER! He and I flew for the day and had a GREAT time. Here is how our trip went...


Playing at the DFW airport playground during our layover


Dr. Rivenes! (The spot in his mouth is a fruit snack!)



Laying on the table for his echo.




Just for perspective, the first time he had one of these, he weighed less than 5 pounds.





Lunch at one of our favorite places... oh how I miss Boston Market!

Shopping for a prize for Palmer and something to take home to Harrison (I miss living near a Babies R Us, too!)

Playing in the stroller in the airport (Thanks again Anthony and Renee and Nadia for letting us use your single baby stroller for this trip!)

Both boys after Carter picked me up from the airport... aww!

Overall, it was a GREAT trip. We were on FOUR airplanes that day... whew. We were both exhausted. He did so well! He also got an AWESOME report from Dr. Rivenes... he doesn't have to go back for 3 years! The hole in his heart has closed completely, and his valve is showing very nearly normal blood flow numbers... so everything looks GREAT! It is always scary when you have a baby with anything wrong... and especially heart defects, but this was better news than I could have asked for! God blesses us beyond our dreams. Now everytime we're driving in the car, Palmer looks out the window for "airFlanes" :)