living fairy tales

A Whole Lot of Love Here

Adali Grace Antisdel was born at 10:19 on March 8, 2008 to her mommy and daddy, Jamie and Jastin Antisdel. She weighed 1 lb 15 oz, 13.5 inches long. She was born by C-section at 28 weeks due to complications of pre-eclampsia.

This is a blog that will keep us all updated on how she and her family are doing.

When she was in the NICU the afternoon of her birth, the nurses put her right by the viewing window. There were at least 10 family and friends in the hall watching her. One of the nurses came out the door and remarked, "There is a Whole Lot of Love in this hallway."

So, there is a Whole Lot of Love on this blog as well.

Please pray for Adali, Jamie and Jastin.

drowning

thursday, march 29

 

i'm struggling.

i'm sleep deprived.

i'm juggling way too many things.

the balls are starting to drop.

i'm struggling.

 

oh and i'm switching blog providers.  bear with me.  

in the meantime, please don't forget about our march for babies fundrasing efforts.  

happenings

thursday, march 20

 

1. chubby baby smiles {emry}.

2. an impromtu appointment with daddy to check on adali's tubes and some odd symptoms going on in her neck.  to me she was incredibly brave about the whole situation...in part because she is so fasicnated with what he does. 

3. ames looking all serious with those big blue eyes.  serious look is hard for him because he's nearly all smiles. 

4. our house is one obsessed with smoothies lately.  

5. adali and i playing grocery store for the 354th time that day {emry in the background}.

6. sleeping baby {emry}.

7. spring!

8. celebrating signing the sidney house over to new owners with some ted drewes.  bittersweet...but mostly sweet to only have one mortgage now.

9. someone fell asleep during playtime {ames}.

10. babywearing {ames}.

11. adali feeding dancer at gaga and bapas where she is currently spending her spring break catching up with cousins and playing in good dirt.  

over and out.

someone got a hair cut

thursday, march 15

she asked to get her hair cut, so that's what we did...

 

she said she wanted her hair short, i said ok...and off we went to get it cut.   her dada was pretty sad when we came home...i think his lack of hair makes him super sensitive to me cutting hers...remember her first hair cut, but i can't even count how many times he's said how cute her hair is in the last few days.  

growing up i had long, thick hair with natural banana curls.  it was hair grown women pay a lot of money to get.  but there came a day when i wanted to try something knew, so i asked my mom  if i could get a perm.  ya know back when perms and big red glasses (girls, you know the glasses i'm talking about) were all the rage.  my mom asked me if i was sure that's what i wanted {with that look in her eye like you are so going to regret this}, and i said yes.  so off we went.  it took nearly 4 hours and lord knows how many of those little pink rollers to get that perm, but i loved it.  i appreciate that my mom let me experiment and decide who i wanted to be and i now hope to do the same for adali.

and no surprise, her reaction to getting her hair cut was the same as mine was the day i got a perm.  she loves it and if you ask me, it's so adali.  this summer her hair is going to be nothing but a mop of ringlets.  i can't wait!

 

love ya gracie!

under the weather

monday, march 12

i just checked my phone and it's 77 degress outside.  i wouldn't know what that feels like since i'm holed up inside fighting a virus.  i knew this morning i would need something to help get me through the day.  i found in it 2 chubby cheeked babies smiling back at me (after they had kept me up a good portion of the night) when they woke up, and a now 4 year old who promised to not be mad at me if i couldn't play grocery store with her today.  it's amazing how kids know what to do to make you feel like you can conquer the day even when it seems like it's going to take as much energy to do it as it would to climb mt. everest.  

and, as always the hubs pulled through keeping me nourished with his oh-so-good smoothies so i can keep feeding the babes.  thanks, j...you really are the best!  

so, if anyone else out there is struggling today. i thought i would share my energy shot for the day.  here ya go:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

the recipe is:

1 part smiley emry

1 part smiley ames

2 parts helpful big sister

mix and enjoy.

i need to figure out a way to bottle this and get it on shelves...

she's four!

thursday, march 8

 

 

she's four!  and we are making her feel extra, extra special these next few days because, well, she is.  right now i am listening to her giggle like crazy in the other room as she wrestles with her dada.  she has brought such joy to our lives and taught us so much about ourselves and the amount of love you can possibly hold in your heart for one little being.  

  

there will surely be recaps of her special day, but today i want to reach out to you, like i do every year and ask for your help as we once again commit to fighting prematurity.  i'm sure you know the drill by now, but just in case here are the details:

the widget on the left hand side will lead you to our page and will allow you to donate or sign up to walk as part of team adali's angels for this years march for babies.   the date is april 28.  the time is 9:00 am.  the place is forest park.  be there or be square.  as always, we will be having the afterparty at our house.  does free food and drinks make you wanna donate??  maybe a free t-shirt.... 

this year we are doing something fun that i am so excited about.  my brother teaches a graphics class to highschool students and we are having the students design the t-shirt for the walk this year.  every student will design a t-shirt, we will narrow our favorites down to 5 and then we will put those designs on the blog for everyone to vote on.  the design with the most votes wins and will be printed on the shirts by the students for this years walk.  fun right?  so if you sign up to walk with us this year, please make sure to email me with your t-shirt size.  

i can't thank all of you enough for your continued support in a cause that means so much to us.  there's no better feeling than when you have friends {and family} that are always there for you....even when you keep asking them for money.    

now pardon me, i have a cake to bake...red velvet with pink icing was her request.  

the babes {2 months}

friday, march 2

i figured i better get in gear and get this up seeing as they are 3 months in just a few days.  there are some days i feel bad about neglecting the blog but really i should be patting myself on the back for neglecting it because that means i am soaking in my babies (and adali) and being present for their little lives instead of having my nose in my computer.  

 

let's be real for a second...twins are a lot of "f"ing work.  there are days i'm on the verge of tears and the sun is barely up but then there are others where it all seems to click and we're humming along and i think i could have 5 more sets of twins and love every second of it.  and then they both have a blowout all over my white bed and i wake up from dreamland.  but i am really, really loving my life right now.  i just feel so fortunate to have 2 healthy babies and one kick ass little girl that call me mama.  maybe it's the fact that i never really let my guard down enough to really, truly enjoy the different stages with adali her first year or maybe it's the fact that we tried so damn hard to have another baby or maybe it's the fact that i understand how quickly new life can be taken away but i'm in a good little "life groove" right now.  and that's with 2 boys that haven't decided it's a good idea to sleep through the night yet.  

they are just too damn cute to care too much about the lack of sleep. 

dear old man winter, thank you.

tuesday, february 21

i managed to catch the news this morning when they were showing some crazy pictures of the brutal winter europe is having.  all i could think was, "ewww, glad that's not us."  last winter seemed especially harsh and never-ending.  this winter has been exceptionally mild and actually quite pleasant {so far}.  we seem to have had enough nice days to make the not-so-nice days manageable.  i love looking at the forecast on my phone and seeing 50's and even 60's.  i'll take it old man winter.  i'll take it.  

here are a few snapshots taken only 10 days apart that sum up this winter thus far.  

 

 

spring

spring

winter

do you notice she has clothes on?  it's a christmas miracle.  its like she never had issues.  and it's a saving grace for me every morning not to have to fight with her to get dressed.  as a matter of fact she dresses herself every morning without being told, hence the the crazy outfits in most pictures.  

one morning she came into our room at 5 am and needed to be put back to bed.  i no sooner crawled back in bed and heard her opening dresser drawers in her room.  but, it was 5 am and if she wasn't bothering me, i wasn't going to bother her.  when she came back in at a decent time she was fully dressed and informed me that she got dressed in the middle of the night and went back to sleep.  nobody warned me that kids do some really strange things.

tomorrow they are calling for high's in the mid 60's...i bet she comes in our room dressed in a sweater and snow pants.  but i'll just smile and tell her she is cute.  and her response..."no i'm not, i'm just adali."

 

i love to love

wednesday, february 15

 

really, i do.  i love to love.  and most of all right now, i love my family.  like, i love them so much it makes my chest hurts, it makes my eyes water, it makes me lose my breath.  i like valentine's day for the memories it brings back of my childhood.  of reading {and rereading} little love notes from your classmates, of heart-shaped suckers received by friends in highschool, of unexpectedly making someone's day who wasn't expecting to be reminded how much they are loved.  i don't need a day on a calendar to be reminded of how much i am loved or to remind me to tell other's how much i love them.  for me, it's not a day i need, it's pictures, it's memories it's words.

i wrote on facebook yesterday that "i was reminded how important it is to hold those you love close and tell them how much they mean to you...not because it's valentine's day but simply because it is a new day and you never know if it's the last time you get to tell them. "  our family lost someone yesterday in an awful and untimely way.  and i know as much as i am heartbroken over it, his wife and children are hurting even more.  i realize that no amount of tears and prayer will bring him back but it doesn't make it any easier to say goodbye.  

so today i am choosing to look back on pictures, dig up memories and count my blessings for those around me that i love so much.  

here are just a few of the pictures i have found just of this past month that make me smile.

 

 

 

 

 

   

ps...i love you.

 

a night out on the town

wednesday, february 8

i wasn't sure if it was possible but we did it.  we managed to go out and mingle with adults.  it's true that i almost forgot that people existed that didn't need their butt's wiped or burped and could {gasp} actually feed themselves.  

last weekend we were invited to an event for the contemporary art museum.  it was sort of a dreery night but it sure made for a beautiful shot of the arch.  

 

{the lovely arch} 

i promised myself to put my post baby body insecurities aside and get all gussied up and enjoy the night.  and i did. 

 {an attempt at self portraits}

it was a great night shared with great griends.  oh and the 79 krug wasn't so bad either.  yummy.  it doesn't hurt to get to share some of the best wine you can imagine on your first night getting to enjoy yourself in nearly a year {thanks mark and mike}.

 

 {my favorite drink of the night and mayor slay}

i learned a few things this weekend...

you can still feel pretty even after just having babies a 2 months ago.

i really like 79 krug.

it's important to do things for yourself and with your spouse so you don't get lost in babyland.

you can indeed pump at a formal event in an evening gown.

after a few glasses of wine your husband will be willing to guard the door while you pump at a formal event in an evening gown.

thanks m & k for another fun night!

and check this out... the museum has free playdates for toddlers the first tuesday of each month...this is right up adali's ally...anyone want to join us??

 

 

they don't always have their eyes closed

tuesday, january 31

...they just rarely have them open at the same time.

while one is doing this...

 

 

the other is doing this...

 

 

i'm trying hard to get them on the same awake sleep schedule during the day and occassionally it is working...

 

they are such good babies and i am having so much fun wih them.  life is so, so good right now {even if some days are hazy}.