Breanne and Jim

A visit to the Heidrick'a

2012-02-18T21:36:00.000-08:00


Lily was so great, reading to Annabelle!


Gotta love Costco. Both kids in one cart!

Little princess after bath time


Dahlia loves to cuddle with her Aunt Brea!

The girls love the toys at Aunt Heather's house!

We all had such a great time on our visit.
Thanks for being such good hosts Jeff and Heather!

Happy Birthday Jim!

2012-02-02T13:26:00.000-08:00

Happy 30th Birthday to my amazing husband!

For such a tough guy, he sure has a soft spot

for his girls! I love you Jimmy

9 month pictures!!

2012-01-27T11:58:00.000-08:00

2012-01-19T13:12:00.000-08:00

New hats from Kiki!!

Both girls started really interacting with each other! Sometimes it's
in the form of pulling off each other's hats or tights!

Other times, it's fighting over diaper cream!!

Much larger bookends

2012-01-09T15:02:00.000-08:00

8 month Pictures!

2012-01-05T10:58:00.000-08:00

Hard to believe our little 4 pound babies are

8 months old!! It has been a bit of a blur, but

what an amazing 8 months it has been!!

How could these ladies not light up your life??

It's hard to say which one is happier!

Our Evelyn is becoming such a big girl!
She is SO close to being able to crawl forward.
She's mastered crawling backwards, and it
seems to suit her just fine, until she gets stuck
up against a couch or a wall!

Annabelle recently decided she likes rolling
in every direction in order to get where she
wants, and she does it fast!! My living room
has recently been restructured because of
this mobility! She is recovering from her
first ear infection:( It was a sad few days, but
with help from some antibiotics, she's a new girl!

Evie loves eating absolutely anything, bath time or
pool time, smiling, laughing, crawling,
chattering, listening to daddy play music,
and beating toys senseless into the carpet!

Annabelle also will eat anything I put in front of her.

She loves the taste of her medicine and gets frustrated

when it's all gone. She loves playing in the water,

squealing with delight, sometimes vey loudly.

She loves listening to daddy play music,

and she loves blowing spit bubbles!

Oh....and chewing on her tights:)

Babies' First Christmas!!

2012-01-02T17:33:00.000-08:00

The day after we got back from Florida, we headed
over the mountain for the Roe Family Christmas!

The girls had a wonderful time at their first Christmas!

Magnolia being cute!

And now she's being a little too cool!

Aunt Leslie has the magic touch!

Grandpa Jim reading the Christmas story

Uncle Frank and Evie

Santa came by for a visit!

Evie wanted to know who the guy was
holding her!

And Annabelle didn't bother waking up
for his visit!

Evelyn opened most of her own presents!
The wrapping paper and bows were a hit

Her new baby doll got a lot of use

Evie took her new teddy bear and used it
and grandpa's foot as a pillow....so cute!

Annabelle went to town on her presents too!

Jim got a roadside kit from the Heidricks! Oh boy

Annabelle loved her little pillow pal from
Grandma and Grandpa!

A very content Evelyn

Daddy and Onnie

More wrapping paper!

While we ate dinner, we put the girls
in boxes.....not sure who had the idea
but they absolutely loved it!

They each got their own:)

Oh boy!! Can I go for a ride?

Lily wanted to join in on the fun!

Christmas morning with the cousins!!
We got the best Christmas present of all......

Heather and Jeff announced that there will
be one more cousin joining us in July!

Florida part 2

2011-12-30T12:35:00.000-08:00

Here's another round of pictures from Florida that I stole from my lovely sister-in-law Jackie!

Florida!!!

2011-12-27T21:14:00.000-08:00

We had the most gorgeous weather,
and the sand was unbelievably soft!!

I have a lot of blogging to do this week, but I will start with
the best of all. We just got back from a week in Destin, FL
where my sister got married to the lovely Brit, Matthew!

It was the experience of a lifetime, and I was honored to be a
part of it. My mom rented a 10 bedroom house, and we had 30 people stay the entire week. Matt's family came from England and by the end of the week, we were all family!

The girls had their very first plane ride
and they started off with a long one!

We were fortunate to have some free seats
next to ours, so the girls got to spread out a bit!

Both girls were complete angels!
I was thankful because traveling with
kids adds enough stress!

They loved looking out the windows!

Here's the amazing house we stayed at!
I got lost a few times at the beginning!

The girls got lots of loving, and ate all sorts
of random things, like chocolate!

And grapefruit!!
It came out just like it went in!

The place looked pretty cool at night

And the pool was nice and warm!

Kiki and Annabelle

Lots of walks on the beach!
We packed the babies

The big day!! All the girls getting ready
Oh hey Colton!

I did Kelsi's hair.....it didn't require much!

Kelsi and her 3 flower girls!!
4 gorgeous ladies!!!

Evie wanted to give the bride a kiss!

Or maybe eat her!

Out of order pictures.....Jimmy rented this sweet ride!

This was Annabelle's bed the entire week!
It may seem mean, but she loved it, and when
you're traveling, you have to get creative

My toast.....couldn't get through a third
of it before getting choked up. I love these
2 so stinking much!

Matt's dad took Annabelle a dancin' and she
loved it!!

Despite the bright sunshine, the girls loved
the beach. The highlight was eating sand!

Sitting up like a big girl!

My perfect little accessory

And one for the other hip!

Babies were happy! Adults were happy!
It was a perfect week!

There was not a thing to complain about!

I love you Kelsi and Matt!
Congratulations, and thank you for
letting us be a part of your special day

More to come!

Christmas Time!!!

2011-12-05T10:23:00.000-08:00

It's that time of year again!!! Trying to get
the Christmas card pictures done is a little
trickier than it used to be!

Miss Evie in one of her rare serious moments

And this is what a normal photo shoot of a 7 month old
looks like. "Hmm.....this shoe looks tasty!"

And just when you get the one ready, the other
decides to eat her shoe too!

7 month pictures!

2011-11-29T10:30:00.000-08:00

Here they are in all their glory!!

7 months old and Dedication!!

2011-11-27T14:58:00.000-08:00

Our girls turned 7 months yesterday and
we had a dedication at church this morning
for them! They were dressed in their fancies!

It was exhausting standing up on that stage.
They passed out right after the service!

Look at my pretty dress everyone!

Annabelle cooing at her Poppy!

These little ladies are our pride and joy

Hard to imagine life without them.

Here is the prayer we wrote for our little girls:

God,
We lift up our two beautiful girls to You and recognize
that You are the only reason we are so blessed to have them.
Protect and guide them as they journey through life, and open
their hearts to You. Let them realize the value in living in truth.
Our desire is that Evelyn and Annabelle be women of character,
that they treat others with kindness and respect and most
importantly, that they love You. Help us to guide them in these
things, that we might be an example to our daughters. Give
us wisdom and patience to show this same character that we
desire for them. We recognize that we can't do this without You.
We take this opportunity to acknowledge Your presence in their
lives. We ask these things in Jesus' name.

Updated Stats

2011-11-05T08:43:00.000-07:00

When I did their 6 month post, the girls

hadn't had their appointment yet, so here are

their updated stats.

Our little Evelyn, who has been ahead of her sister
on weight since right after she was born, just got passed
up. She weighs 16 lbs and is 26" long.
She's 48% on weight and 51% on height

I never thought I'd say it, but this little preemie
is SO CHUBBY!!!! Annabelle weighs 16.5 lbs and
is 25 " long. She is 20% on height and 56% on weight!
She's what some might call short and fat!

Both ladies are very very healthy and the doctor
was thrilled that they were still being breastfed.
I think that might have something to do with how
big they are!

Halloween

2011-11-03T22:26:00.000-07:00

The girls first Halloween was a blast!!!
They are getting so so chubby, which made the
costumes even cuter!

The plan was to be Ron Burgundy and
Veronica Corningstone.....it was close!

The whole gang! Everyone dressed up!

The mustache went away very
early into the evening.

My parents may have won the costume
competition of the night!

The original plan was for Evelyn to be the
cow, but Annabelle has recently developed
some serious chub, so this was much more fitting!

Evelyn holding her oozy

Katy Perry and Russell Brand

Aiyana and her guy were Bonnie and Clyde
It was a really fun evening!

6 months-Part 2

2011-10-27T09:42:00.000-07:00

Our sweet little ladies are 6 months old!!!!

Both girls love their Aunt Kelsi and Uncle Matt
We're all trying to get in as much time with them
before they head off for Australia

My mom has also gotten lots of baby time!
If I need my children to fall asleep, all I have
to do is hand them to her. She's still got it!!

A few things the girls have started doing this month:
Annabelle became fascinated with her tongue.
It's constantly hanging out of her mouth

Both girls are really close to being able to
sit up without any help from Mom and Dad

These girls are such a joy! I wouldn't trade my
days with them for anything. So much personality
coming out more and more every day!

I'm going to have a hard time saying no to them.
I mean, look at that face!

Both ladies are fascinated with hanging,
jingling toys and stuffing them in their mouths!

We started food a couple weeks ago and the
girls weren't exactly sure how they felt about it
I made homemade squash, peas and applesauce
and we've also tried bananas and rice cereal

It's pretty normal to have more food on their
faces than in their mouths.

Annabelle loves her swing and her soft blankets
that she pulls up over her face to fall asleep

Evelyn twists her entire body into this position
to fall asleep. I used to worry because she'd have
her face smashed into the crib bumper, but she loves it!

We'll have actual stats in a week when we have our
checkup, but I anticipate the conclusion being that
these 2 are quite chubby. Look at this girl!!

Evelyn's new trick. She'll stand here for a while!
Annabelle also likes to stand up!

Beaver game day!! The girls will always love
their orange and black!

Watching the game with her Poppy

Dad, I love football!

There she is again! She looks like such a big girl!

One of Jim's customers knit the girls these adorable hats!

Evie is tickling her sister:)

We're half a year old!!!

Look, no help from Mom and Dad!

Me and my ladies! We are so blessed!

6 months- Part 1

2011-10-26T16:49:00.000-07:00

I've got a lot to post, so I figured I'd do it in a couple

posts. This one will be full of the videos and the next

one will have all of the pictures. This shows the

girls first time eating food. It was squash and they

both were pretty skeptical!

Evelyn nursing in her sleep:)

Annabelle's new trick! This captures it better than

the last video I put up.

2 cute ladies!

2011-10-20T16:37:00.000-07:00

A 6 month update is coming soon, but I thought

I'd buy some time with a couple videos of the girls.

It's been a crazy month, some bad but mostly good.

Annabelle started doing a funny thing that I captured

on this video, and Evelyn is a happy little girl, as usual

Sorry they're sideways videos:)

Oh, and take special note of the cheesy Gilmore Girls

in the background! Oops

More to come soon!

Roe Family Update.....5 months!!!!

2011-09-27T11:37:00.000-07:00

I always heard from parents that kids

grow up way too fast, but now I know it

to be a reality!!

The girls were 5 months yesterday!!!

So many amazing changes happening every

day. I can't get over how big a blessing it

is to be a mother. It's the most rewarding job ever!

Little miss Evelyn, cuddling with her blanket
Both girls find comfort in soft blankets near their faces

Here's the 5 month pictures. They are making this giant
bear look smaller and smaller each month!

Pictures, once again out of order, but oh well!
I have been trying my hand at all sorts of domestic
tasks of late, and it's going rather well.
We went to Hood River and got a bunch of fruit.
I made canned peaches, peach jam and raspberry jam!

Next stop: Applesauce!

I sewed some pillows for the girls room,
which didn't turn out exactly as planned,
but oh well!

I made little headbands for the girls,
which simply entailed sewing this fabric
together:)

My first clothing experiment.....turned out
ok but I'm pretty sure my girls are already
too big for it.

Back to kid updates. Both girls love the water,
but Evelyn is a little more cautious than her
sister. She likes to feel it out before she gets
too excited

Annabelle is definitely a water baby!

I absolutely love this picture of my mom
and my little papoose!

Both girls love little furry animals that they
can pull towards their mouth and chew on.
They have made their way through my wash
a few times already!

Back to the bear! We're all over the place

Evelyn is pretty much always happy. If
she is sad, it's a very sad day indeed!
She's still got her sister beat in weight. She's
around 15 lbs, but Annabelle is tailing her closely

Annabelle is also a happy baby but can
often be found staring off in the distance,
pondering life! She weights 14 lb 1 oz!

Both girls are enjoying tummy time a little more
and they can both roll over

We have gotten some huge giggle fits out of both
girls this month!

Evelyn, enjoying her studies!

Their eyes get bluer and bluer every day!
We're so blessed to have two healthy, beautiful girls
who are each so incredibly unique.

Random Pictures

2011-09-15T12:31:00.000-07:00

I just found a bunch of pictures from my phone

and decided to share them with you all!

Some are a couple of months old!

Bath time at grandma's!

Shonna and Miss Annabelle

Matt cooked us an amazing dinner

the other night. We ate outside on the patio, and as you

can see, there was even a spot for the babes!

Love these 2!

My little Beaver fan!!

Another passed out baby

Look at his death grip on her ankles!!

Evelyn and I on a hike with the Heidrick's

Happy morning girls!!

She uses her little hands as a pacifier!

Again....always fascinated with those hands!

My grandma also has magical powers for

putting babies to sleep!!

Evelyn loves her uncle Matt

Evelyn's such a big girl, sitting up

in her chair!

My mom has the magic touch!

Cousin Wesley with Evelyn

Sleeping babies are so sweet!!

Grandma Glenda with miss Evie

Again.....sleeping babies!

I'm sensing a pattern here!

There's nothing like this!

Go Beavs!!!

2011-09-07T16:42:00.000-07:00

We were pretty excited for Beaver football to kick off!
Slightly disappointing game for the girls' first experience!

They were dressed for success though!!!
The Roe family loves this time of year!

4 months!

2011-09-01T09:27:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe these little ladies are 4 months old!!
And getting so so chubby!!
We just had our 4 month appointment yesterday,
and the girls are officially not being measured on
the preemie chart anymore!!

Little miss Annabelle is weighing in at 12 lbs 10 oz!
She's 23.5 inches long!
Quite a ways from 4 lbs 3 oz and 17.25 in!

Evelyn's still got her sister beat, but not by much!
She weighs 13 lbs 2 oz and is also 23.5 inches
She started at 3 lbs 14 oz and 17.25 in!

The official 4 month picture!
This bear is looking smaller and smaller

My little Evie is the happiest baby ever!
I think anyone can get a smile out of her
and it requires very little effort! She just
started laughing and it's the cutest thing ever.
She is an easy baby. She loves to eat, smile and hang
with Mom and Dad! She likes baths, but
always has to warm up to the idea.
I love this little girl!

Annabelle has spent the last 2 months
trying to catch her sister, and she's done an
amazing job! It seems like she's always eating!
She is also very smiley and giggly these days,
but she can also be caught quite often with
the pondering stare on her face, like in this
picture. She LOVES water!! She loves
being naked, and maybe that's because she
knows that she's getting a bath!
I love this little girl!

Being a mom is quite possibly the best thing
ever! I am overwhelmed on a daily basis
over these two little miracles!

Kels and Matt

2011-08-26T15:30:00.000-07:00

On Wed night, we celebrated Kelsi and Matt, and
the merging of 2 countries!!!

It was the greatest party ever! So many family
members and friends came to celebrate!

Jim was in charge of music, and he had a very
formal British royal march for Kels and Matt's
first dance together...pretty funny

Kelsi and Roy, one of our sweetest
patrons at the cafe! He had some
smooth dance moves!

A bunch of ladies!

Kelsi had better watch out for Maggie!
She was out to steal Matt away!

Me and Jimmy

My girls will learn to dance at an early age!

We all gladly welcome Matt to our family!

I actually didn't hold my babies very much.
Lots of willing baby holders!

I couldn't be happier for my sister!
She has met her match in Matt and I
can't imagine giving her away to anyone else.

Vacation!

2011-08-09T12:00:00.000-07:00

Before our beach trip, we stopped in at
Corvallis to visit the other set of grandparents!
The girls loved this little contraption Glenda picked up

Both girls are getting round!! Little Evie, hanging out

Grandma Glenda loved seeing the girls!

Their cousin Wesley was such a big help!

And on to the beach!! We got to spend the week
at Bella Beach with my family. My brother Tristan
and his wife Jackie came from Florida. This is their
little girl Fiona, who's 11 months!

Fiona loved her little cousins, and was
really good about being gentle!

We got these cool packs from Heather and Jeff
for the girls. It was perfect for Fiona's size
but Annabelle was just a little too small:)

Kelsi's guy Matt came from England.
We soon found out that Annabelle is his
miniature double!

Right down to the same hair!

Lots of people to hold babies!
Annabelle loves her grandma Kiki

Evelyn hanging with Dad

We found matching sailor outfits for all 3 girls

Fiona's outfit fit a little better than the girls'

It seems like we have a lot of pictures of
Annabelle staring up at her daddy!

Oh hey Dad!

My little dolls:) They look more alike
when you can't see their hair!

It was so nice having Tristan and Jackie here!

More matching outfits!

Cousins!

The happy couple!
Oh by the way.....these 2 got engaged this week!!!!!!

Mom and Dad and little Fiona legs

I did not get enough time with my adorable little niece!

Plenty of napping with babies! My sweet little Evelyn!

Here's the gang!

We had wonderful weather the whole trip!
Couldn't ask for anything better at the Oregon coast!

Lots of Smiles!

2011-07-28T16:03:00.000-07:00

It's like she knew I needed her to pose!
Annabelle Claire: now 11 lbs!

It's easy now getting smiles out of both of them!

Eveleyn Grace: now 12 lbs!!

Always so happy!!!

3 months old!!

Girls' First Camping Trip!

2011-07-19T10:59:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, my entire extended family went
camping at Prineville Reservoir. It was the
girls' first real camping trip, and they loved it!

There were plenty of people offering to hold
babies. My cousin Jessie, holding Evelyn

My cousin Brise and his adorable son Gracin

Nanny and Annabelle

The Roe family stayed in a tent, but during the days,
the girls took naps in my grandparents' trailer

We had off and on rain storms the whole weekend.
Everyone had cleared out except for Jim, because
tough guy that he is, he thought he could brave the storm!

Not so tough anymore!

Maybe we'll rethink that decision

My mom with Evelyn, who is packing
on the pounds daily! Both girls
are growing so well!

We also celebrated my birthday while we were there
and I got a new pair of TOMS!!

Daddy feeding Anna things he shouldn't

She would not stop staring at her dad:)

This is my favorite.....she looks like
she just got in trouble!

Happy girl!

Another happy girl!

There's an Annabelle under the towel somewhere!

Oh wow Dad!

What's camping without a fire?

She was full of faces:)

Auntie Kelsi with Annabelle

My little Evie

The sunbonnets came in handy!

Jim, as usual was the favorite of all the kids!

Both girls have been smiling and cooing at us

so much!! Here's a happy Evelyn!

2 months and counting!

2011-07-09T16:48:00.000-07:00

It has been a while! And when you have

2 babies growing like crazy, a couple weeks

is way too long without an update!

The girls are doing great!! Jim and I are

absolutely loving this! You always hear

people say that kids grow up so fast, and

now I understand it. We are overwhelmed

by Evelyn and Annabelle every day!

They've started smiling and cooing back at

us now and it's so much fun!

At their last checkup, Annabelle was 8 lbs

and Evelyn was 9 lbs!!! They're gaining a pound

a week. Preemies are supposed to gain approximately

4 ounces a week, so I think we're on track!

Annabelle is our kid that requires a lot of affection!
She loves being held and I needed to cook dinner last
night, so this was the solution we came up with!

She loved playing pool with Dad and when I came
out to check on her, she was sound asleep, dangling
from his chest:)

Here's the official 2 month picture!
They're 2 very different little girls!!

They posed so nice for mom!

The girls are getting lots of love from their
grandma, who can't go a day without seeing them!

One of my cafe customers, a 92 year old man brought in a gift
for the girls, a hat and pair of booties that were made by his mother
117 years earlier! I had to take pictures with them...it was
just too precious! He was sad he had only one set for me.
Such a sweet man!
Here's Evelyn in her antique christening outfit!

Getting Annabelle dressed! She was so happy!

So pretty in lace!

The only time they look like sisters is when you
cover up Annabelle's black hair!

They love hanging out already!
Annabelle is doing her best to catch up to her sis!

Annabelle, another photo shoot with mom!

And Evelyn, the tongue permanently out of her mouth:)

They're such good models for me!
The world's cutest book ends!!

That's all for now! I'll keep it coming.

NW Epilepsy Run

2011-06-22T13:00:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, the family got together

and did a 5K run/walk for epilepsy

in Portland!

Our team was called Brandon's Race to the Top

and we were pretty stinkin awesome!!

We were the only team that had a sign:)

It was pretty cool during the run seeing this
sign poking up above the crowd!

Lily rode with us and took care of the girls when they
started to fuss! Lily is a great big sister/cousin

Heather adding a layer....it was cold!!

Dahlia was all bundled up! Not a peep the entire race

Little Evie didn't seem to mind the weather either

Wesley ran like a champ!

Oh, and did I mention that my husband wore
tight cutoffs, high socks and Step n' Tones, which
are the off brand of shape ups?!!

Sorry for the sideways picture, but you get
the idea!!

To see how he started off the race, click here

Here we are in all our glory!

Me and my girls!

Here's the gang!! And this was only a small
fraction of our whole team!

Maggie ran the entire 3.1 miles!! I was
so impressed, especially since her little
legs had to work 3 times as hard as the
rest of us!

Annabelle looks grumpy!!

Lily was my running buddy! We stuck together
the entire race. She kept telling me how much
she could feel her muscles and her bones
getting stronger!!

We were drowned rats by the end....stinking rain!

Here are the onesies Glenda made
for the babies! They were so cute
and had a wonderful picture of Brandon
on them!

Family BBQ

2011-06-16T13:15:00.000-07:00

Another funny video of Evelyn acting hungry!!

We had a family BBQ to officially debut the girls!

There was lots of baby holding:)

Mags holding Annabelle
She tired of it rather quickly!

our nephew Wesley holding Evelyn

We had awesome weather for sunbathing!

Dahlia got lots of love too!!

She looks a tad larger than our girls!

Evelyn grabbing her toes

Grandpa got to feed Evie

My grandpa playing pool with Jim.
Let's hope my husband had enough sense not to
hustle him!!

Leslie and a very tired Annabelle!

So nice to have 2 babies! No one has to share:)

We ended the day with no clothes!!

Baby butts are the best!!

Happy 4 years to us!!

2011-06-10T10:00:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was our anniversary. A little overshadowed
by recent events, which we are perfectly ok with:)
I can't believe it's been 4 years!! Here we are, baby-faced
on our honeymoon

We have had many adventures in the past 4 years......

Many of them involved dressing in strange outfits

And visiting different places...

And being complete idiots together

We went through a year deployment!!

We went through a somewhat frustrating pregnancy

But the reward was 100% worth it

We have become parents to two amazing
girls together!
It's been a wonderful 4 years! I love you Jim!

Hee Hee

2011-06-07T13:00:00.000-07:00

Evelyn was just a little confused and Annabelle was

amazingly indifferent:)

Mr. Mom

2011-06-04T18:34:00.000-07:00

Jim got to watch the girls this morning for a few hours.

I came home to this!!

My little girls

2011-06-03T10:46:00.000-07:00

I don't know how all you moms have time to blog

so frequently! This is a hard job:)

I'm starting to get my balance of twins down, but I

have to say, it is not easy when two tiny babies are

screaming at you for the same thing at the same time.

Fortunately I have had a lot of help, and am starting

to get into a routine.

And it sure does help that they're pretty stinking cute!

Makes it all worth it!

I know it's probably mean to always prop them
next to each other, but they really do seem to like cuddling!

Bath time! Thanks for your help Jenna and Tiff!

Annabelle wasn't so sure about it

But she grew to endure it

Evelyn, on the other hand was cool as soon as
I wrapped her in her monkey towel:)

Amy, I stole your idea! What better way to document
milestones than by propping your kids up next to a giant
teddy bear!
Annabelle and Evelyn: I month old

Not so easy to keep one month olds sitting up!!

I told you! They love cuddling! They sleep like this
for every nap time and at night!

The other night, both girls were crying and I asked Jim
to work his magic. I came back in the room and this is
what I saw. Both girls were out!!

And it turns out, they both fit in a single
bouncer:)

I'll do my best to keep the updates coming!!

Our Family is Together!!

2011-05-28T16:10:00.000-07:00

This was my first full day with two children

and therefore, I don't have enough time to share

too many details of what's going on, but I can

tell you one thing. We are so happy to have

our whole family together!

Evelyn got to come home yesterday!!!!
Now we have the 4 of us under one roof

They like each other!

Evelyn is a bit tanner than her sis! She was in
sunny Bend while Annabelle was in the rainy valley:)

Annabelle was mad and Evelyn was completely out the

entire time!! That's one nice thing. They don't wake each

other up when one is throwing a fit!
Also, take note of the breast pump in the background.
Oops!

Update # 3

2011-05-19T20:08:00.000-07:00

And now for an Evelyn update!

She is doing very well!! She's eating like a champ

and it's only a matter of time before she gets released!!

Here are a few of her many faces......

Very common to find tongue out of her mouth:)

Looks like someone's happy after eating!

She sleeps with her mouth wide open
most of the time!

You've got to have a grumpy face in the mix!

She has an amazing double chin!!

It took us a while to capture this grin, but Jim finally got it!

Such a sweet girl!

Her dad fed her a bottle today and she took it down!!

Once again, the sleeping pose

She loves food time! She passed her sister up,
just barely. She is weighing in at 5lb 1oz!!!

This letter was addressed to Annabelle Roe and came
to the Eugene hospital! A little note from her sister.
I cried.

It is now taped up in Annabelle's crib so she can
always see her sister!

Update #2

2011-05-19T12:20:00.000-07:00

Now, here is an update for our little Annabelle!

A few weeks ago, she was doing great with her

feeding and growing steadily, and then very

suddenly, she developed a condition called

NEC, which has 3 stages to it. She had an

infection in her intestine, which has the

ability to develop into a more serious condition.

She never progressed past the first stage,

but the doctors in Bend didn't want to gamble with her

health, so they made the decision to airlife her to Eugene.

Bend doesn't have a pediatric surgeon and they

wanted to make sure that if she needed surgery,

she would be in the right place. Jim and I

drove straight over and met her at the hospital.

She was stable, and has stayed that way for the

past 2 weeks, but she sure scared us!

I have been spending most of my time in Eugene

and Jim has been staying with Evelyn in Bend.

We can not wait to have our whole family back

together!

Here's our sweet little girl! Despite her little
speed bump, she has been growing steadily!

She even has a room with a view in Eugene!

She wasn't allowed to eat until recently
because of her tummy issue, but she sure wanted to.
She loves sucking on her binkie!

Yesterday, Annabelle breastfed for the first time!!
She was only supposed to get a little to get the hang of
it, but she took over the amount of food that she was
supposed to eat total!! She also sucks down her bottles
with ease!!

She is now weighing in at a whopping 5 pounds!!!

She was so tired after eating, she crashed!!

She curls up like a little frog on my chest:)

Here she is with her grandma Kiki! She melts us all!

Wide awake, very alert, which they tell me is a good
sign of progress!

Thank you all for your prayers!! Keep them coming
so we can get these two girls out of the hospital and
home with us!! We are so ready for that day.

Update #1

2011-05-19T11:55:00.000-07:00

Alright world.....it's been a crazy few weeks!!

We have a lot to fill you in on so I'll have to

do it in a few posts.

As soon as I was released from the hospital,

we had lined up to stay at the Bend Ronald McDonald

house, which for those of you who don't know, is an

amazing resource! It's set up for families who live out

of town and have children at the hospital. Because

we had 2 girls in the NICU, we would have been driving

30 miles each way several times a day.

Well, the Ronald McDonald house was going to be

full for a few days, so in the meantime, we got to stay

at an even cooler place!!

Stone Lodge Retirement Community!!!!!

Yes, that is correct! We got to stay in an apartment at

a retirement community and we were the only people

under the age of 75!! It was great!!!

Here's Jim in our room, loving life!

We had our own personal balcony!

They had set mealtimes, 8:00 breakfast, 12:00 lunch
and 5:00 dinner. We loved eating with the old folks!
And they loved us!!!

Jim checking the menu for the day
They had a chef prepare meals to order!

And they had a pool table, so Jim wasn't too upset
about living in a retirement home.

We stayed for 4 or 5 days and then moved on.
We were very thankful for the place to stay
and for the cute old people we got to meet!

Babies' First Baths

2011-04-29T22:05:00.000-07:00


We got to give our girls their first baths!!

Sponge baths, but nonetheless, it was pretty amazing!

I was in charge of getting Annabelle clean.

It was hard to not be timid at first, but

eventually I got in there!

Add caption

She was a little grumpy about it at first:)

But she got over it!

We got to wrap them up and dry them off afterward

I was busy fluffing her huge head of hair!

Looking up at mommy!

Jim was in charge of changing Annabelle's diaper,

his first diaper change ever!

Look how tiny she looks under his hands!

Hi Daddy

She just stared right at him:)

Time for Evelyn's bath

She didn't even know what was coming!

Jim gave Evelyn her bath

So much better being clean and dry!

So precious

It was my job to change Evelyn's diaper

Ahhhhh......so much better with a clean body and

a new diaper!

Kangaroo Care

2011-04-29T07:38:00.000-07:00

Last night, Jim and I got to hold our babies for an hour
or so, using a process the NICU staff likes to call
kangaroo care. It's proven to be great for new babies,
especially premature ones, to have skin on skin interaction
with their parents!

Since one of the main issues with early babies is
maintaining their body temperature, our body heat
is really good for them!

We each took off our shirts and the nurses brought us
our babies. The joy of having 2 is that we don't have
to share the time!

I had little Annabelle

She cuddled right up to me and instantly fell asleep

Jim held Evelyn
She looked so tiny on his chest!

I think we'll get to do this pretty often with the girls!

It took Evelyn a little longer to fall asleep, but
she did eventually pass out!

Oh how we love these little girls!!

Annabelle and Evelyn

2011-04-28T15:38:00.000-07:00

Alright everyone! Here's the story......

Some of you may already know but last Tuesday,

I went in for an ultrasound and was told that my cervix

was less than a cm in length, which meant my babies

wanted to come early. I was told by the tech that an

ambulance was on its way to come get me and take me

to the Bend hospital. I thought this a bit extreme, and

apparently my doctor did too because he called a few

minutes later to tell me that our personal vehicle would

suffice but we did need to head straight for the hospital.

I was then hooked up to all sorts of monitors and told

that I would be there until the babies came, which wouldn't

be long. I held out a week, which was one more

week the girls could be incubated and I think that

even my doctor was surprised that I made it that long.

Bedrest is not fun, but somehow, when your children's

health is at stake, you can do anything!

I had so many family members and friends visit me
and bring me sources of entertainment, for which I was
so grateful! Here I am, after the nurse found out that I was
at 5 cm dilated and we would be having babies soon......doing Sudoku

The entire week I was given a medication to slow
contractions, but I was still having them pretty frequently.
The weird thing was I couldn't feel anything. Finally, my doc
wanted to know if I had progressed at all and that's when they
discovered that I had progressed quite far
without feeling any pain!!

Heather making an angry face because apparently my body
thought getting to a 5 was no big deal! She suffered a lot
7 weeks ago to get to that point!

But this is what she got 7 weeks ago, a sweet Dahlia.
My mom and dad came up as soon as they heard that it was time
for their 2 little granddaughters to make their debut.

Jim thought it was funny that I was just chilling,
waiting for babies. I found out a couple of days in
to my stay that because the babies were little, my doctor
would be doing a C-section. Even though baby A was
head down, he didn't want to turn baby B because she
was too fragile. This ended up being the biggest blessing
ever because baby B had her cord wrapped around her neck
and if I had tried to deliver her, it would have been an
emergency C-section, which is much worse than one
that everyone is prepared for!

Jim thought he was good to go to work on Tuesday
since I wasn't in any kind of pain so when he got the call
that we were going to be having babies VERY soon, he headed
straight to the hospital, wearing his romeos and covered in sawdust.
His work shoes looked pretty incredible with the doctor scrubs!

Jim was the only one allowed to watch my surgery.
I didn't think it would be something that he would want to
watch, but he couldn't tear his eyes away. It' pretty incredible
how much they've perfected this procedure.

Look how excited he is! My doctor is the guy on the right.
He was incredible, very competent and very calming for me.
He chatted with me throughout the procedure to make sure
I was comfortable. The many people in the background are
awaiting the arrival of the girls so they can sweep them away.

Here's our little Annabelle! Jim made sure I was ok and
then followed the NICU team with our babies

Annabelle getting her vitals checked and being hooked
up to IVs. We were prepared for how quick this
process might be and therefore, neither of us felt
alarmed that 10 people were around our babies hooking
them up to different machines. They do this sort of thing
all the time!

Jim got to cut little Evelyn's cord but Annabelle had
already been taken to the NICU

This is little Evelyn soon after she was born!

Here's the team of nurses and doctors assigned to our babies
transporting them to the NICU

These are the beds in the NICU that each
of the girls stay in. Pretty high tech!

Here's our Annabelle! If I didn't know better
I'd swear she was a little black baby:)

Daddy checking on Evelyn....can you tell
that he's a little excited to be a dad?:)

This looks a little sad, but it was only at the beginning.
They're not even hooked up to any oxygen anymore!!

Our sweet baby girl

This is when a parent would freak out if they didn't
know it was standard procedure! I feel extremely
confident with the NICU staff that they know exactly
what needs to be done for our girls

I was so so tired after the surgery, but they wheeled my
massive bed down to the NICU to allow me to visit
my daughters for the first time!

They're really big on touch and want the parents to
touch the babies and talk to them as much as possible!

Little Evelyn grabbed ahold of my finger and it
was so very special!

Two proud (and very tired) parents!

Jim's big hand makes them look so tiny!

Officially Introducing.........

Evelyn Grace Roe
Born April 26, 2011 at 4:53 pm
Weight: 3lb 14 oz
Length: 17 1/4 in.

Annabelle Claire Roe
Born: April 26, 2011 at 4:52 pm
Weight: 4lb 3 oz
Length: 17 1/4 in.

Late Night Gardening

2011-04-21T09:30:00.000-07:00

It was 8:00 at night and Jim and I got in a crazy

mood to garden! So, we headed to the garden section

and picked out all sorts of random plants. You can tell

that we haven't done a ton of gardening because of this

random selection, and because if you live in Central

Oregon, you know that the golden rule is that if there's

still snow on Black Butte, you shouldn't plant yet. My

grandpa, expert gardener that he is, would be

ashamed of me, but I just couldn't help it.

So, needless to say, we will most likely be replanting

this particular garden but it was still fun!

First things first, it was cold so Jim
built us a nice fire on our back deck!

We planted everything in pots, so we can move
them inside if we need to (which we most
likely will)

Our selection includes tomatoes, sweet peas, rosemary,
cilantro, sweet onions and strawberries. We also
have a flower garden yet to be planted! Tulips, daffodils,
lilies and more!

Even if it amounts to little or no results, it was fun!

Shower # 2

2011-04-18T17:12:00.000-07:00

My mom threw me an amazing shower

yesterday at the cafe. For pictures from that,

click here

2011-04-04T20:39:00.000-07:00

Well here I am....almost 30 weeks!
Sorry for the lack of pictures....I've been
pretty bad about that.

Here's the bare tummy...
Sorry for the cell phone quality pictures.
Whenever I get the urge, I'm by myself:)

Whenever I get to thinking that I'm really uncomfortable
carrying around 2 other people, I look to pictures like
these and think, "wow, I'm lucky!"
Sorry random lady for using you as an example!

Here's what's happening inside right now!
The girls have been crazy active, kicking all the time.
I'll look down at my stomach and watch the entire thing
move like there's an alien inside me. So weird!!

At 30 weeks, many twins' lungs are fully developed.
They each weigh over 3 pounds and are 15 or so inches long!
They are able to open and shut their eyes!
They can recognize our voices, which is pretty crazy.

As far as I go, good sleep is hard to come by.
Breathing in general is REALLY hard
Lots of heartburn (which they say means babies will have a full
head of hair....surprising with me as their mom, I know)
My immune system is not what it used to be.....I basically
get every sickness that blows through!
However, I'm excited to be a mom and Jim absolutely can not
wait to be a dad! Judging by how often he holds his newborn
niece, Dahlia, he's going to be eagerly helping me with ours!
We are so very blessed to be welcoming 2 new members
to our family very soon!
Speaking of.....my goal is to make it to May 2nd, which
puts me at 34 weeks or so and the day my sister flies in from
England. She's coming home for her nieces births, so I
need to keep them in until then!

Baby Shower

2011-03-26T15:03:00.000-07:00


Leave it to Jenna to plan the cutest baby shower ever!!

We met at an adorable tea house in Philomath, and it was

just perfect! Thank you Jenna!

Everyone had their names marking their place at the table

We all felt like such ladies!

The wonderful dessert table!


Jenna had all the girls decorate matching onesies for the babies!

Here are the ones she came up with!

3 lovely ladies!!

And a couple more!

Thank you all for the adorable things!! It was so great to see you all!

The Loss of a Brother

2011-03-14T21:41:00.000-07:00

In Loving Memory......Brandon Lee Russell

Nov 19, 1973-March 12, 2011

Unc is the coolest!!

2011-02-21T17:30:00.000-08:00

Jim carrying sleeping girls across the
street is becoming a pattern:)

He even occasionally stops to take a nap
himself!

We took our nephews and nieces sledding at Hoodoo
last weekend! They all seemed to love it.
Aunt Brea was boring and sat in the warm truck
with my book since I'm not allowed to sled:(

Jim bullying poor Wesley

Here's the gang! Jim's mom and brother came and
went for a few runs themselves!

I tried to be tough and watch them but I only watched them
each go once before I retired to the truck. It was freezing!!

Little Mags was so bundled up.
She loved sledding and even went down the
hill by herself at the end of the day!!

Here she is with Grandma

The girls were excited to get doughnuts after our adventure!

Maggie did her best to get the doughnut in her mouth

We've been really enjoying the company of our nieces and

nephews! Unc (it's what they call Jim) is their favorite!

He builds them super elaborate forts, takes them sledding

and buys them happy meals. What more could you want

from an uncle?!!

23 weeks!

2011-02-16T15:16:00.000-08:00

Update to the world: We are all still alive and well.

Babies are growing steadily inside me and I'm still

amazed at the whole process of life.

I'm very healthy and my doctor is very happy with my

progress. He thinks that based on my cervix length,

I will carry these twinsies for a while, which is

awesome!

I've been feeling them move for a few weeks, but

Jim got to experience his first baby kick the other night

and he was pretty excited!

Jim is doing really well with his business.

Many are suffering in the construction industry these days

so we feel very blessed that he has been as busy as he has!

I'm still managing the cafe and trying to plan out how this

summer is going to look with me all of a sudden having

2 kids!! I'm definitely going to be home with them,

but it requires a lot of planning at the cafe to make sure

all my ducks are in a row before I take off for a few months.

We've been very blessed to live next to Heather and Jeff

this year and we got to do the pregnant thing together.

Having another pregnant lady, especially one that's done this

before is really helpful because I'm figuring out all

sorts of things for the first time.

We feel each other's pain, and each other's cravings, so

lots of late night fro-yo runs and fresh pineapple :)

Pregnant ladies have to do something with their hair
or they just feel bad about themselves......we got feathers!!

Here we are in all our glory!
Heather is at 38 weeks and I'm at 23 weeks

She'll be popping any day now and I absolutely

can't wait to meet Dahlia Leona Heidrick!

As for our names, Jim and I are keeping those a

secret for now.....also, we haven't agreed on them yet:)

At least half way!

2011-01-25T17:29:00.000-08:00

20 weeks and counting!!!!

I'm starting to finally get the
pregnant question.....I still
think those people are a little
too brave!

Drum roll please.......2 bouncing baby girls!!!

2011-01-13T17:41:00.000-08:00

Well, it's official (at least sort of) that we

are going to have 2 little girls in May or June!

They were able to guess that they will be

fraternal twins, based on the thickness of

the membrane between the 2 sacks. Pretty

incredible what they can find out nowadays!

They were very healthy and active in my tummy,

kicking each other quite frequently as we tried

to take pictures of them:)

I think I might have some hyperactive Roe babies

on my hands!

Jim's going to be surrounded by ladies!!

I promised you all that I would post some bump pictures.

Not super exciting yet, but you just wait. I will be huge in no time!!

This is at 13 weeks

Here I am at 18 weeks, finally starting to pop
out there a bit.

I have some ultrasound pictures that I'll post soon.
We were able to get a couple 3-D ones but the girls
don't have any fat yet, so they kind of look like aliens:)

We absolutely can not wait to meet our 2 daughters!!!!!!

A little longer.....

2011-01-07T15:18:00.000-08:00

So for those of you who were waiting for news today,

I'm sorry to inform you that it will be a little longer of a wait.

I had my first appointment today but it was not my

official ultrasound. It was a general ultrasound and

it was impossible to see babies' goods because they were

on top of each other and had their backs to us:)

They were, however, healthy and I could see their

tiny little hearts beating away.

The official day is next Thursday and I promise I will

have some news for you all!

1 week to go!

2010-12-28T16:04:00.000-08:00

I finally set up my first OB appointment today and I was able to get the doctor I wanted. I set up my initial appointment as well as the one where we can find out the sexes of our babies. They set me up for January 7th, which is before I hit 18 weeks. I asked her if that would be too soon to tell and she said they can find out at 12 weeks now!! Pretty incredible!
So, everyone be sure to vote on what you think we're having. I have heard every possible combination from friends and family and I'm curious what you all think:)