So yeah…our first set of stitches. Heaten had a few weeks of crazy clumsy (maybe a growth spurt?). It started with him falling down a flight of stairs (he’s ok). Followed by zipping his wiener up in his pj zipper (it’s ok). Followed by running into a few walls, falling off of the couch, and other minor stumbles. Then the grand finale….3 stitches to his head (January 19th). He was pushing Trever [bus from Thomas] on the slate tile when Trever caught an edge which caused Heaten to fall head first onto the tile. Lots and lots of screaming and lots and lots of blood later we took him to the Dr. where they gave him 3 stitches.

Doesn’t he just look so pitifully sad. =(

The Nurse and Dr. said they’d never seen a 4 year old be so brave and lay so still through the stitching process - Yay for Heaten! I’m bummed I didn’t get a photo of the massive amounts of blood and huge gash, but for once I was a little too shaken up to grab my camera.

Once we got home and assembled Lionel all was right in his world again. He hasn’t complained about his head hurting even once which is kinda weird, but I’m so happy he’s not in pain.

For some reason I thought getting them taken out would be virtually painless. I promised Heaten it wouldn’t hurt to get them out. He was so scared to go back to the Dr. and so scared to be back on the table he just cried and cried. The Dr. had a tough time getting the stitches out since there were scabs and ickies all around it.

He screamed and cried when she dug into his cut to find the end of the stitch. It was just so sad. I’m happy to report that all looks well and he is totally back to his crazy lovable self. =)

My Heart x2 Edition:

The first few weeks of Heaten in his big boy bed and actually going to sleep in it were interesting. Once they learned that fighting = immediate bedtime they will play and play and play for hours (sometimes until 11pm when I go to bed). Having two kids the same age and on the same level is totally paying off these days. They make up games and laugh, giggle, run, yell, scream, and play the night away. Occasionally I’ll hear a bit of a fight, but they know if we have to go up there then its lights out right then so almost always they work it out on their own. This, in turn, has helped them work it out in the day as well which is nice. The constant tattling and fighting is annoying. While they do still fight quite a bit, they play together 100% more than they did before they had this night time to themselves. Heaten, who is rather CRAZY about his trains, has even offered up the use of his Geo Trax remote control train/track (which is a HUGE deal) while he plays with his new Lionel train/track. Up until this transition they had never referred to one another as friends, and now….well, now they are best friends which almost makes me cry. =)

While I love this time they have and this friendship they’ve created the 10 and 11pm bedtimes were getting a little annoying so we started the sticker chart with a BIG prize at the end (Heaten asked for Lionel and Shenzie for a Rapunzel dress up costume). After about 1.5 weeks of working towards the goal they have each earned their prize and nighttime is now amazing. We go up around 7:30 for teeth brushing, vitamins, and potty and then set the timer for about 45 minutes. Most times after it rings they will beg and moan for 5 more minutes so I set the timer for another 10-15 minutes and then call for lights out. Jeff and I alternate kids and read them a story, while working on our letters and numbers. Heaten sleeps with his light off and his door pulled almost closed while Shenzie prefers to sleep with her door open and light on (all the lights if I’m being real…the bathroom light, our bedroom light, and both hall lights).

Every night when I check on them Heaten is on his back with Baby Doggy at his face and his Thomas the Train bedspread pulled up to his chin. Shenzie is always on her tummy at the edge of her bed with Baby Bear next to her. They are so, so sweet and cute in sleep I just want to squish them awake for one more kiss!

The Little Things Edition:

Soft curls blowing…..

Long and beautiful lashes….

Oh how blessed and lucky I am to be their Mom.

Hi!!!

Just popping in for a quick hello while I take a break from “work”, which at this point is me sitting here trying to get motivated to revamp my entire Photo Website and Blog. Ugh. SO SO not fun.

After weeks of no snow and LOTS of rain I woke up this morning to SNOW!!! Too bad it won’t stick around long. It is already melt, melt, melting away. I’m wishing and hoping the Mountain gets DUMPED on so I can finally try out my new helmet. Whats that?? You want to see how awesomely rad I look in my helmet?

Don’t say I never gave you anything [to laugh at]. =) Giro G10 Snow Helmet. Comfy, warm, adjustable, and very lightweight. Highly recommend.

And now I must get off my lazy tush and get to work. Two newborn sessions coming up this week, both girls. Can we say EXCITED!!!!!

Little Drummer Girl Edition:

Jeff is so proud. =)

**As a totally unrelated side note, I posted my first Photography Birth Session on my Photo Blog. It was pretty amazing.

Is it too soon to be Wishing for Summer Edition?:

Photos from July 2008 (Las Vegas)

Shenzie loves to “shake her bootay” and does it quite frequently.

I took this as a sign that she was ready for dance class. =)

A few of her friends were taking a ballet/tap combo class so we jumped on the band wagon with them. Needless to say, she was VERY excited about taking ballet with her besties!!

Her first class we a huge success. The studio was very nice with lots of window room to watch the little dancers. I’ll admit at one point I got a little teary eyed over my big beautiful girl in her first ballet class. She listened very well to Miss Kylie and danced her heart out. It was so sweet, adorable, wonderful, and amazing to watch my little girl with her friends doing what she loves.

Here are a few videos of her first class. This is before the class started….notice how she can’t take her eyes off of herself in the mirror. Hahaha.

Just ignore all of the background noise of us Mom’s oohing and aahing over our cuties. =)

When we found out we were having twins we went through a LONG list of names. While I was pregnant I read her name in a book and immediately loved it. I later found out it is one of the hyena’s in The Lion King. Lyric, Echo, Crue, Grey, and Weather also made the list. Once we found out we were having a boy and a girl we started the long process of narrowing them down. With a single syllable last name we wanted a double syllable first name so Crue and Grey were out. =( We ended up with Heaten Grey Myrick Barr. I remember Jeff saying {many times} that Heaten’s nickname growing up was going to be Heat. So far he is Bubba, Buddy, Bud, but no Heat.

So last week Heaten decided I was no longer Mommy or Mama, but Mom. I was SO not happy about this new name and made my dislike very known, which of course prompted more and more Mom’s from Heaten. He’ll still call me Mommy and Mama, but when he’s feeling mischievous I end up as Mom. Over breakfast when he called me Mom I refused to answer so he finally caved in and called me Mama. The conversation that followed went like this:

Heaten: Right now you’re Mama, but when I get bigger you’ll be Mom
Mama: That’s right, when you get as big as me you can call me Mom
Heaten: Right now I’m little so my name is Heaten
Mama: Your name will always be Heaten, bud
Heaten: No, when I get bigger my name will be Heat
Daddy: Proud Face
Heaten: And Shenzie will be Shen
Shenzie: NOOOOOOO! My name is SHENZIE WEATHER ECHO BARR!

So it looks like Jeff might get his way after all. Heat is one cool dude!!

OMG!! Today is the day. Today is the day (December 25th) my 4.2 year old FINALLY has his big boy bed. For months, and months and months (7 months to be exact), I have asked Heaten daily if he wants his big boy bed. Shenzie has been in her big girl bed (and loving it) since we moved to Bend, while Heaten flat out refused to even consider the idea. I’ve bribed him with trains and even at one point a train table. Nope, not having it. At first he would tell me he’d get a big boy bed when he was as big as me. Then it was when he was as big as Daddy. Then it was when winter came. Then it changed to he’d get his bed when it snowed. So yeah, winter and snow are definitely here, but he was still saying no so we didn’t push. Every single night I tell him how much fun he could be having staying up and playing with his trains (he has three sets, well, now four sets up in his room). How Shenzie stays up and plays every night until she’s tired and ready to go to bed (sometimes this is 11:30 when I’m going to bed). How he’s a big boy now and only babies sleep in cribs. Nothing is working so today (Christmas) I got the tools and told him Santa had been here time for his big boy bed. At first he kind of hem hawed about it, but I just continued on my merry way. So I should let it be known that Jeff is not on board with this decision. He is 100% happy to let Heaten stay in his crib (till he’s 7 no doubt) and he’s all worried about how our awesome sleepers sleep is going to be affected by this change. I’ll admit Heaten is like his Daddy and doesn’t really like change, but I am certain this is going to be way better for him. A way more comfortable full sized bed that we can read books in and he can play on. Independence over being a big boy and doing things for himself. Time for him and Shenzie to sneak play, bond, and hopefully have fun sleep overs in each other rooms. So yeah, I’m ready for Heaten to have his big boy bed.

With Shenzie and Heaten’s “help” we get his crib dismantled and the side rails from the garage ready to attach (his crib is the convertible one that converts to a full sized bed). We open the box, pull out the rails, and discover we’re missing the hardware to attach it to the head/footboards. Some during our move we lost the screws and such so his mattress is on the floor until we get replacement parts, which turned out to be a good thing since he already fell out of bed once. =)

We had a big talk with Shenzie tonight how she is to stay in her own room and play quietly and DO NOT go in Heaten’s room, yadda yadda. They are playing in there right now as loud and fun as can be. She keeps trying to get him to have a sleep over in her room and he is refusing. So cute.

Shenzie: Heaten! Do you want to have a sleepover in my room?
Heaten: Shhhhhh, giggle
Shenzie: Come play in my room
Heaten:Ok! Here I come!
Heaten: I’m going back to my room.
Shenzie: Why Heaten?
Heaten: Shhhhh
Shenzie: Ok I’ll be quiet.

Giggle giggle, thump stomp, scream with delight, shhhhhhh.

Another HUGE benefit to this progression is Shenzie will have someone to keep her company. A few times a week she just wants us to stay and play with her all night and will call down the stairs (we gate the top of the stairs at night) “Mommy………..Daddy………..Mommy” until I give in to the pity in her voice and answer. She always says “Come play with me, just one more minute, I’m lonely”. Jeff is a sucker for this and usually tells her he’ll be up after his show, so for the next 20 minutes she periodically calls down and asks if his show is over.

******************Fast forward a week**********************

Big boy bed a screaming success minus 3-4 nights of them staying up to 10, 11, and even midnight! Shenzie loves the extra playtime, company….and Heaten loves his new independence. This has also [finally] helped Heaten get 100% potty trained. Hip Hip Hurray!!!

Picture from their first sleepover. So stinking cute!

And this is how we found Shenzie the other night….

I swear, when the twinzies were babies all I ever did was worry, cry, moan, whine, and complain about sleep, lack of sleep, bad sleep, no naps, too long of naps, too short of naps. Now that they are older I rarely concern myself with thoughts of sleep. Not to jinx myself, but I can count on one hand the amount of times I’ve had to get up in the middle of the night in the past year for anything sleep related. I seriously LOVE age 4!