MY NEW BEAUTIFUL NIECE, EMMA

Being an aunt has been one of my greatest blessings in life. And I have been blessed again!!

My sister, Jesse, delivered precious Emma Lynn on February 1st. Momma and new baby girl are both happy and healthy. God is so good!! And of course big sisters, Ava & Cora, are loving their little baby sis!

Emma is so beautiful and precious. I'm in love with her already!


Elijah and Will are just four and a half months older than Emma. They will be in the same grade and school. Oh my...this could get interesting!
Here are the THREE AMIGOS meeting each other for the first time...


Me and my three adorable nieces...


Uncle Nick holding Emma for the first time.


I love you, dear, sweet, precious Emma Lynn. And I'll spend the rest of my life letting you know it! :)

MY VALENTINE'S DAY PITY PARTY

Today wasn’t the best day. It also happens to be Valentine’s Day. A day about celebrating love, and all I want to celebrate is getting this day over with. So, please bear with me, as I am having a pity party…

Yes, I’m thankful to be a mother. But is every day wonderful? No way! At least not for me. And I’m willing to bet I’m not the only one who thinks that. There are good days and bad days. But I’m tired of hearing mothers only talking about the good stuff, like motherhood is perfect. Is that really possible? If it is, then consider me totally jealous of them. And if they’re flat out lying, they need to stop. Cause it’s driving me nuts! Why don’t people just admit there are downfalls? I’m feeling a little unworthy here. Am I just hard to please and ungrateful? Or is it okay for me to, on some days, wish that I could pawn my children off onto someone else for the day?

Today was definitely in my top 5 of worst days since the babies have been born. It started out just fine, but went to the crapper right around 2pm. I go to a “Baby and Me” class offered by ECFE (Early Childhood Family Education). I originally signed up because I thought it’d be a good break in my horribly long Mondays. Nick works out of town every Monday and I’m home alone with the babies all day until around 8pm. Mondays are long enough anyway when they are good days. So on a bad day like today….it makes for a very very long day.

Unfortunately, the class is from 12:45pm to 2pm, which is right when the babies are usually napping. (To my defense, when I signed up for the class, the babies didn’t have a napping schedule. Otherwise I would have never signed up for it if I knew this could happen every week.) Usually they either fall asleep during the class or power through it. Today they powered through it and feel asleep on the drive home. When this happens, I simply take them out of their carseats and lie them in their cribs and they stay asleep. No big deal. They don’t sleep for as long as they usually nap at that time after being transferred from carseat to crib, but they still sleep.

However, today was a nightmare. When I moved them from their carseats into their cribs, they both woke up frantically screaming. How do you hold two screaming 5 month olds at once? You don’t. It was breaking my heart. I’d get one asleep while the other was crying, but as soon as I’d try to lie him down, he’d wake up screaming again. I finally gave up and brought them downstairs.

I figured they’d fall asleep for super long naps after I fed them next. Eli did take a short nap. Thank goodness! But no such luck for Will. Dear little Will giggled and smiled up at me in the dark nursery as I took my turn bawling. I laid him in his crib and he just said “gee” over and over. At least he was happy for a bit. And Eli was sleeping. As for me, I just laid on the nursery floor and cried.

They both proceeded to be fussy the rest of the afternoon, wanting to be held. It was totally unlike them. It was like someone took my sweet, happy babies and switched them with someone else's crabby-pants babies. Who were these boys? It’s hard to calm two needy babies at the same time. I began thinking that if they were like this every day, there would be no way I could be a stay at home mom. I imagine this would be what life would be like with a colicky baby. I guess God knew I wouldn’t be able to handle that. I said a prayer of thanks for not having babies with colic! And my heart truly goes out to those mothers who have gone through it. There's gotta be a special place in heaven for you!

I also thought about how this would be what life was like if the twins weren't on the same schedule. I would never have a break in the day while they were napping. At least I've done something right! Putting them on the same schedule was the best choice ever!

Will ended up being awake for 7.5 straight hours. (Well, minus the 15 minutes he slept in his carseat.) They are hardly ever awake for more than 2 hours at a time. So that was CRAZY! They both passed out during the middle of their last bottles at 6:30pm. (Which is early as they usually aren’t asleep until 8pm on a normal day.) I hope this doesn’t mean the overnight is going to be messed up as well.

After the babies were finally asleep, I ran around the house frantically picking up after a days worth of chaos. As you can probably guess, I don't always do well with chaos. I finally put away their carseats and organized the diaper bag. I washed an entire sink full of bottles, lids, and nipples. I emptied the dishwasher, picked up toys, and went through the mail. I scrubbed two outfits that the babies pooped through today and started a load of their laundry. My stomach started rumbling and then I realized I never had supper. (And for those of you who really know me, you know how much I adore food, and that I never skip eating. Therefore, you know it must have been pure craziness!) Nothing sounded good, other than some greasy fast food like a burger and fries. Oh how I would have died for that! But since I couldn’t leave the house (obviously!), I settled for a bagel with cream cheese and two clementines. How fulfilling. NOT!

It’s 8pm and now I am finally in my bed, typing away on the lap top, blogging, and letting my thoughts run wild. (Good thing I can type 80 words per minute! My fingers can usually keep up with my brain!) Nick just called and he’s on his way home from work. Alleluia!

I love being here with my babies, but I'm not going to lie, being a full time stay at home mom is hard. I dream about the outside world knowing I would love to be out there every once in a while too. Being with two babies 24/7 is hard. And I know it's okay for me to want a break. Therefore, I’m feeling selfish today. And I'm giving myself permission to feel that way. I just want to do what I want to do when I want to do it. I want to lie around and watch TV, I want to make crafts, I want to read, I want to nap, and I want to go shopping. Could it be cabin fever setting in? Probably. This Minnesota winter is really dragging on. I’m really over the snow and cold. I would love to walk outside strolling the babies. Come on spring, hurry up!

Tomorrow is a new day, I know it will be better. (It better be better!!!)

So, Happy Valentine’s Day to me. See, I told you I wasn’t big on Valentine’s Day. Gee, I wonder why?

MY THREE HANDSOME VALENTINES

Happy Valentines Day! ♥

I'm not a big Valentine's Day person. I don't really make a big deal out of it or expect anything, especially as I get older. I'd rather tell someone how much they mean to me on any other random day out of the year when it's not expected, and many more times than just once. I just may be a Valentine's Day grinch.

There are many different kinds of love and I think Valentine's Day should celebrate all of those much beyond that mushy, mushy, romantic love. So Happy Valentine's Day to everyone in my life. And even though I don't have the means or time to individually tell each one of you, please know you are loved in some form or another. And I am blessed to have you in my life!

And let's not forget the best Valentine of all: Jesus!

"But because of his great LOVE for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions — it is by grace you have been saved." Ephesians 2:4-5

I'm especially giving thanks and feel so blessed to have not just one Valentine this year...but THREE!! I love the men in my life!!

My three handsome Valentines...

HAPPY FIVE MONTHS!

FIVE MONTHS...really? Oh my, life is sure passing by.

I love you little dudes...

Elijah


Will

I’M NOT ASLEEP, BUT THAT DOESN’T MEAN I’M AWAKE.

This was definitely true during the twins first three months of life! I wasn’t asleep, but I wasn’t awake either. I felt like a zombie! And I'm pretty sure I looked like one too! But, now that the babies are just eating once during the night, Nick and I are finally getting more sleep. I remember the first night I woke up after having a dream. I was so excited that I finally slept long enough to be able to have a dream! WOW!

Life is much different now. Especially looking back to the first weeks, when the babies were eating every 2 hours, which was about 10 times a day. And I was pumping between those times as well. We barely got any sleep. I honestly don't know how we survived that. (I guess that's what's good about life - you tend to let the bad memories fade away. Thankfully I've already forgotten a lot of the pain!) Now they are eating just 5 times a day. That equals out to more sleep, much much much more sleep!

As of right now, the twins go to bed around 8:00pm and get up for the day somewhere between 8:00am and 8:30am. (But don't get too jealous...because they aren't sleeping the entire way through!) The fact that they don't wake up until after 8am is AWESOME!! Because I am not not not not not not not a morning person! On an average night, we usually have to get up 2-3 times to put a pacifier back in one of their mouths before they need to eat. (Wait, who am I kidding, it's usually Nick who's getting up when they are fussing because I have the most supportive husband there is!) And they eat only one time during the night, usually around 3am (although it varies anytime between 1:30am to 6:30am). Nick and I both take a baby and feed them at the same time in our bed while watching TV (quality bonding time! HA!). Then after they eat and fall back asleep, we don't have to get up with them at all until they wake up for the morning after 8am.

So, Nick and I are averaging about 7 hours of sleep a night. Of course it’s not consecutive sleep, but it’s sleep nonetheless. And I am extremely thankful for that.

The boys fall asleep within a few minutes of laying them down for the night. Sometimes we hold them if they seem fussy and they fall asleep within a couple minutes. And after their middle of the night feeding, we simply lie them down and they are asleep on their own within a couple of minutes. It is wonderful!

We are so blessed with good little sleepers. Of course it wasn't that way at first. It took them a while to get to this point, but now that they have grown and their little tummies are big enough to hold a larger amount of milk for longer, they can sleep for longer periods of time.

I just really hope and pray they are just like their mommy and daddy and LOVE to sleep.

This photo is back from October 13th, when the babies were exactly one month old. We all had fallen asleep on the floor. We were probably getting about four hours of sleep per night. Exhaustion. Pure Exhaustion...

ORDINARY MIRACLES

Today I'm celebrating ordinary miracles on an extraordinary anniversary.

January 21, 2010 holds a very special place in my heart...

Exactly one year ago today, Nick and I watched the monitor in surgery at Mayo Clinic at the exact moment as our two embryos were being injected into my uterus. Little did we know BOTH of those two precious embryos would attach and grow into our beautiful, precious, twin boys that we hold in our arms today! Our dreams and prayers would come true, after 3 years, 3 months, and 18 days… (but who's counting??)



Dear Elijah & Will,

One year ago today you began your life inside of me. As your daddy and I waited 12 days after the Embryo Transfer Surgery to find out if you were there, we imagined what our lives could be like with you in it. We dreamed of our little family and all the joy we would have together.

And now, just one year later, we are celebrating the miracles of YOU. You are both such sweet angels, so very different from each other, but so full of the same love and joy. I'd be lying if I said you didn't drive me crazy from time to time, (hey, cut me some slack, two babies at the same time is challenging!) and I'd really love a full night's sleep someday (I'm highly doubting that will ever happen again) but I love you, nonetheless...every second of every day! :) No matter if it's a good day or a bad day, I give thanks and praise for you. I knew God had a plan for our family, and you, dear Elijah, and dear Will ARE IT. I'll spend the rest of my life thanking God for the blessings of you and the amazing gift of experiencing being a mother.

I love you my little E-Man and little Willie Wonkey. (And no, I'm not apologizing for giving you nicknames you'll probably dislike in the future!)

I am so honored to be your mommy!
I LOVE YOU!

ONE YEAR AGO...

Exactly one year ago on this very day, January 19th, the twins started their life, outside of my body! One year ago today, I had my egg retrieval surgery at the Mayo Clinic, where 14 follicles were taken from my ovaries. 12 of the 14 follicles were "good" enough to make the cut and Nick's sperm was injected into those 12.

It's amazing that one year ago today our babies started hatching into embryos in their little petri dishes! It was a day filled with fear of the unknown future, but also a day filled with hope of the unknown future.

Knowing what I know now, looking back, I would tell myself this advice: "God has a plan for your family. Don't worry about the future, because God is already there. And you better watch out, it's gonna be a doozy! Be careful what you wish for! Because sometimes when you pray for a miracle, God gives you TWO!" :) :) :) :)

It's truly amazing how much one year can change things...

These photos are taken right after the egg retrieval surgery one year ago on January 19, 2010!

PARTY IN MY CRIB: 2 AM!

20 FINGERS, 20 TOES

20 tiny fingers ready to play. 10 tiny toes dancing away. 4 tiny hands to hold from the start and 2 precious smiles that touch your heart. - Linda LaTourelle

HAPPY 4 MONTHS!!

Happy 4 Months, Elijah & Will! You are so loved!

Here you two were today, sitting in your Bumbo's talking away and smiling at each other! You are getting so good at holding your heads up.



And here you were all dressed warm to head out to HyVee to go grocery shopping. (But we had to take you out of them because you got too warm before we got out the door!)

TODAY I'M THANKFUL FOR...

I'm thankful for a lot of things...but today I'm REALLY thankful for...

my big sister. I'm thankful for her each and every day, but even more thankful today! Only my sister, Jesse, who is hugely 8 months pregnant (but beautifully hugely pregnant!) would venture out in the cold to pick me and the twins up, teach me how to strap the car seats in without the bases while crawling through the minivan, and bring the babies to get weighed. (I couldn't get out with my minivan because the snow plow went by and blocked me in with too tall of snow at the end of the driveway!)

But most importantly she let me borrow a t-shirt when Eli blew out through his diaper and clothes onto my shirt while we were at her house. :) Thanks for not making me sit in a poop covered shirt...

Thank you, Jesse, for being my angel today and rescuing me and my sanity from being stranded inside the house all day! I heart you!

Back then...


And now...

HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM THE VINCELLI'S

(I saw on a fellow blogger's site a new year's letter with photos and monthly highlights and thought it'd be a great idea to do one of my own, since I didn't have time to do a "real" Christmas letter as I usually do! So here it is now, just a little late...)

2010 started with a hint of hope and possibilities for Nick and I, our little family of two. Little did we know what was in store as 2010 ended full of blessings and miracles, for our new family of four!

JANUARY

This month was all about IVF and didn’t leave much time for anything other than trips back and forth from Mayo for doctor appointments, blood tests, ultrasounds, an egg retrieval surgery, 10 fertilized embryos, and an embryo transfer! Did I forget to mention shots, shots, and more shots?

We had a lot of snow! And here's a photo to prove it.



What else is there to do when it's freezing cold? Ice skate!!




FEBRUARY

The most beautiful words we’ve ever heard occurred when Mayo called after my blood test, “You’re pregnant!” The second most beautiful words happened just 24 days later at our ultrasound when we looked and saw not one...but TWO placentas, “It’s TWINS!”

My OB appropriately labeled it "Two heads are better than one!"



This is TWINS territory!!



MARCH

We traveled to Tucson, Arizona for one final relaxing vacation as just “Nick & Amy.” Wasn't as relaxing as we thought, as I could barely eat, walk, or stay awake. I also celebrated 2 years of my own business, Vincelli Designs & Decor, where I sell crafts that I make! Check it out at: www.vincellidesigns.com



APRIL

Dr. Nick celebrated 1 year at Horizon Eye Care. He really enjoys it there and loves working in town. I celebrated 1 year of my online blog! It follows our infertility, pregnancy, and is now all about the twins! Nick attended the first MN Twins game ever at the new outdoor stadium, Target Field!

MAY

Nick and I celebrated our 6 year wedding anniversary! Nick was elected President of SEMOS (South Eastern Minnesota Optometric Society)! We went on a trip to the Wisconsin Dells with the Hess family for waterpark fun and also to Madison to see "The Lion King" on stage (for the third time! Seriously - it's THAT good!).

At the end of the month, we found out Baby A was a BOY and Baby B was a BOY! Nick started planning future golf lessons for the boys and I started thinking about trading in barbies for balls and dresses for dirt!

Nick finally took me along to the new stadium for a Twins game.




JUNE

Nick turns 31! I spoke at the LWML (Lutheran Women's Missionary League) MN South District Convention (about my experience as a Young Woman Representative to the National Convention in Oregon last year) to a crowd of over 500! Also, I was appointed to serve as a Committee on Young Women Co-Chair for the MN South District Board.

I played in the Owatonna Community Band for my 6th summer! I also serve on the Band Board.



JULY

I headed up my annual team for the “Relay for Life” in support of the American Cancer Society.



Later in the month, we broke down and traded in the Trailblazer for a Toyota Sienna. No worries, we make minivans COOL. Ours is appropriately named "Swaggerwagon."



AUGUST

I celebrated my 30th birthday by getting maternity photos taken by my sister, Erin! Here are just a few when I was 30 weeks pregnant.














We had a wonderful opportunity to get pampered from the “Champion’s Club” at Target Field behind home plate! I had fun making our special sign but unfortunately, we didn't get circled by Bert.



And of course we traveled to Detroit Lakes for the annual Vincelli golf vacation. I couldn't caddy for Nick like usual, so instead I sat around like a beached whale!



On, August 16th, Nick's brother, Ryan and his wife Emily had their second child, a baby boy. Our newest nephew, Max John Vincelli was welcomed into the world.

SEPTEMBER

The twins were born 4 weeks early on September 13th via c-section. (On Amy's dad's birthday!!)

Elijah Kingsley Vincelli
September 13, 2010 ~ 6:21pm
5 pounds 8 ounces ~ 19 inches

Will Clarence Vincelli
September 13, 2010 ~ 6:22pm
5 pounds 3 ounces ~ 18.75 inches

A proud daddy...



A proud mommy...



Together in the same hospital bassinet.



Wombmates...



Baby A - Elijah



Baby B - Will



Both baby's glucose levels dropped dramatically on day 3 in the hospital and we ended up staying for 5 days until they were healthy enough to go home. Here's Jesse with Elijah all hooked up to monitors in the hospital nursery. Eli weighed 4 pounds 15 ounces the day we left the hospital.



Here's Nick with Eli.


And here I am with Will. He weighed 4 pounds 11 ounces the day we left the hospital.



This is what having twins will do you to...this photo was taken when I was at just 35 weeks pregnant, a few days before the babies were born. Yes, I was big. And no, I'm not sure I could have stretched any further if I carried the babies four more weeks to full term!

I grow twins. What's YOUR superpower?



Sleeping in the pack-n-play together our first day home from the hospital. Just 6 days old...


The boys barely took up any space in their car seats!



Here they are at their first doctor's appointment. They looked a lot alike that first month!



Photo Shoot..just 13 days old...















OCTOBER

Elijah & Will were baptized on October 3rd. Welcome to God's family precious babies! Both of our pastors at Good Shepherd each baptized a baby for this beautiful double baptism!

As you can see the babies are drowning in their outfits. We couldn't find anything small enough for them to wear as "newborn" size was even too big!



Here is the Cox Family celebrating the baptism...



And the Vincelli Family celebrating the baptism...



We took some time to cheer on the Vikings, but of course it didn't help them win. At least we were fashionable doing it!



Couldn't resist this great photo...



We borrowed costumes to take a photo of the twins for their first Halloween. They wore these all of 10 minutes!



NOVEMBER

Everywhere we go, strangers stop to talk to us and see the babies. Well, how can they resist? They are sooo adorable!!



And even more strangers just stare. But I guess we have to realize when they see this "train" coming toward them, how could they not look? They gawk and we can only imagine all the things they are thinking...



People often ask us how we feed two babies at once. Well, we get creative...





DECEMBER

We celebrated our first Christmas as a family.



We've learned that taking embarrassing photos of the boys is fun and will serve as great blackmail photos in the future...







Sometimes you just don't want your photo taken...(Poor Eli!)



But sometimes you love it!! (Cute Will!)



It's just so hard to get that perfect photo. :)



This is a little better...
(If you notice, they are wearing the same sweaters they wore at their baptism, except now they finally fit!)



This one is pretty good too, but try to ignore Eli's pee pants...



People are always curious and want to know how the twins are doing. Well, they are fabulous...perfect and healthy in every way! Their favorites include eating, sleeping, peeing, and pooping. Oh and spitting up too...they do quite a lot of that. Their newest hobbies are smiling and cooing. We are also happy to report they have seemed to grow out of the "peeing on us when we change their diapers" stage, but unfortunately they have not grown out of the "blowing out of their diapers, through their clothes, onto mommy and daddy" stage!

Nick and I are great. Extremely sleep deprived, but great nonetheless. We are so thankful and gracious for these precious miracles. Even at this exact time last year, they were still just a glimpse of hope. So we give thanks in all that one year can change! We think we've adjusted to parenthood well and are pretty sure that having one baby would just be WAY TOO EASY. :) :)

Hard to believe our teeny tiny preemies grew from this...(photo taken October 1st)



to this...in just 3 short months!!!!! (photo taken December 31st)



So that was our 2010...
As our family has doubled fast from 2 to 4, we have quickly learned that two babies are WAY MORE than twice the work, but WAY MORE than twice the blessings. We hear a lot of "You sure do have your hands full!" comments. Well...if you think our hands are full, you should see our hearts.

Elijah Kingsley


Will Clarence


We are so blessed.
We pray you believe in miracles this year and always!
Happy New Year!

Sometimes when you pray for a miracle, you get two...