Summa Tiltonica

Our first home! some before and "middle" pictures

2013-07-08T20:55:00.003-04:00

No "after" pictures yet - those will be months in the making yet. We closed on our first home on April 9th. Lots and lots of money and work later, we're here! It's not quite done, but we love it. We still feel like we're house sitting, like soon we'll have to go back to our rental. But it's really and truly ours! It's been very hard work and very expensive to make it our own, but much more fun than we could have ever guessed. Jer's family has saved us thousands and we've learned a lot. Family (read: Corky!), if you're reading this, you know we wouldn't have our beautiful home without you -- a million thank yous!

Here are some before and after pictures for posterity's sake. There is still a lot of work to be done, but here's our work in progress. I started in the kitchen and worked my way clockwise around the house.

Our raw-nerve-ending red kitchen and cartoony white cabinet pulls before:

And our brown/gray after (we're still missing white trim under the bar counter):

Family room mid-demo with drab gray and silly Scott:

Stained concrete and happier neutral after:

Our affectionately termed "Aztec Wall" (we still don't know what to do with this space):

A detail of the 3 mis-matched grays before (they looked worse in real life - promise!) the walls were really just a downer, the carpet had lots of stains and a purple hue, and the tile (wait for it) had streaks of pink and turquoise painted on the gray fake marble:

And a detail of the stained concrete we opted for. We love the cracks and ghosting from the tile. Lots of character. Wears well, easy to clean. We're very happy with it!

One of the most breathtaking rooms in the house before, our powder room (even the ceiling was painted this color, including all vents):

And after, a barely-blue, with stained concrete floors (insert soothed sigh)

Our pink, 500 sq ft. master bedroom before:

Neutral after

And the wall we put in to make 2 huge rooms instead of 1 ridiculous one (pardon the mess - we live here now!):

And a double door we can close when we want a clean room :)

Pink master bath before (we didn't get a picture of the CARPETED floor!):

Neutral master w/ Jeremy-tiled floor (and grouchy Sammy) after:

more tile

Dining room before:

Dining room after (we'll replace the light fixture eventually):

Entry:

Our music room before:

A snapshot of wall color (a warmer gray) and carpeting after:

Ruthie's lemon room before:

and after:

The boys' Christmas room before:

after:

Sam's purple room before:

after:

Kids' bathroom before:

and after:

And the backyard. It is small, but not quite as small as it looks in the pictures. It's about 20'x60', plus a covered patio, which should give the kids plenty of room to play once we get our sod in. Before there was a massive shed we thought we could convert to a playhouse, but it wasn't in great shape, so we took it out and left part of the concrete pad:

And "middle" - Jeremy and the guys hauled out that shed, jack-hammered the awkward pieces of the concrete pad, hauled out wheelbarrowful after wheelbarrowful of rock, leveled the stone-hard ground, we had curbing poured, we bought a few pretty trees, Jeremy is in the process of trenching for sprinklers, and soon we'll have some grass!

It really does look tiny, but it really is 60'. The small yard was our compromise, but we're still excited for the finished product.

And lastly, just for fun! Babes and cousin Ella

James bo bames

and gap-toothed Scotty

for cousin Rie

2013-05-18T02:13:00.000-04:00

Hi Rie! Here are some recent pictures of the kids. Wish we could drop in for a real live visit! Wouldn't that be fun?

Here are all 4 crazy kiddos having a tub

Ruthie and Sam lounging in front of a show

Both babies giving the camera a big "cheese!"

Ruthie's sporting her first pigtails during lunch

How Ruthie's hair normally looks (we call it her puppy hair):

And a very photogenic day for Sam. Isn't it funny how he got the gorgeous curls and Ruthie's hair is as straight as it can be?

Static-y hair from Grandma's trampoline:

He always makes this little face with the pursed lips - even when he's chewing. We love it!

Generally a happy little guy

And sometimes a stinker

I'll try to be more regular about posting on here now that you have a computer again. Hope you've had a nice visit with Karen and that you're well! Lots of love from Nevada.

Luke and Leia

2012-12-14T02:16:00.001-05:00

We did finally end up getting some costume pics of the babes. (These are for you, Lisa!) We decided to go with Luke and Leia 1) because we may only be able to choose their costumes for another year or two and 2) Sam has some good Luke hair going on this fall.

Sportin' the do

Are we supposed to be excited about this?

What *is* Aunt Katie doing?

You have one too? That's awesome

Ruthie's saber-phone

Fall

2012-12-04T17:21:00.000-05:00

Jeremy and I have decided the weather here is as consistently gorgeous as Des Moines' weather was terrible. We've had a lovely, looooong fall. The temperatures are just starting to dip into the 30's at night, but we're still in the high 60's by afternoon. The winds are often strong in the valley, so we get great clouds and some breathtaking sunsets.

These were taken at the Las Vegas temple, across the valley from us. Never a more stark contrast between Zion and Babylon - the temple site overlooks the strip.

James is enrolled in a neighborhood preschool with his cute little cousin Ella. I love to listen and watch them play together. The other day, I overheard this:

James: "Ella, yo my bes fwend"

Ella: "You're my best friend too!"

J: "I love you Ella"

E: "I love you too!"

J: "I gone mawy you"

E: "I'm going to marry you too!"

Then they gave each other hugs. They're exactly the same age and I'm so glad they're buddies! We'll address the cousin - marriage issue later :)

We went trick or treating with cousins in grandma and grandpa's neighborhood. The babes were Luke and Leia! Scotty was a self-invented "Hallween Hero" who saves candy from villains, and James was a Star Wars something-or-other.

Scotty and James designed and carved their pumpkins with less supervision than ever this year. Scotty's is second from the left, James' is far right.

The babies learned some new tricks this fall. Ruthie often carries things around in her mouth like a puppy. Here it looks like she's got some mad balloon skillz

Two things here: they found a favorite hide-out in the kitchen. Only problem is all that stuff mom and dad put in it. Both babies also put their hand up to their ear and say "ohhh?" anytime we say "hi" "hello" (like I did to take the pic). I know that's a pretty common baby thing, but it never fails to melt me!

Partners in crime

More mischief, and Sammy's first cheeser

And here's Ruthie's typically crazy hair. She usually manages to keep her clippies in for 2.5 seconds. Then the rest of the day she looks like this:

And finally, one of the rare pictures of the babies together, ready for church one Sunday morning.

September babies

2012-12-04T14:36:00.001-05:00

The babes are 1! September 1st was a momentous day. Everyone told us all we had to survive the first year. A hazy zombie-like feeling washes over me every time I think about our lives a year ago. Many days I really didn't think we were going to make it. Yet here we are. We've learned so much! More on that another day.

Birthday Sam

Birthday Ruth

Jer captured a little twins moment. Funny thing about this particular tiff: it didn't end how it usually does...

Sammy won, and the princess almost ALWAYS wins! She looks dainty, but this girl can fight!

Cake time!

Our other September baby turned 7. Unbelievable. Our litte baby is a handsome boy. He asked for a swim party this year, hence the shirtless pics.
Still as delightful as his infant and toddler self, and ever-more helpful, curious, and imaginative. He designed his cake this year:

...the boys examining one of the new Hero Factory sets - predictably, all Scotty asked for were Legos!

Happy Birthday to our 3 September babies!

Last hurrahs of summer

2012-12-04T14:04:00.000-05:00

By August, I was feeling a little guilty for doing absolutely nothing with the boys all summer except let their aunts take them to swim lessons. So I went Pinterest crazy and we had a week-long camp mom. We all had a blast! Here are a few of our favorite activities:

baking soda - vinegar balloons

playdough BRAAAAAAINS

shaving cream paint mural with cousin Henry

Sumo wrestling

baking soda - vinegar fizzy painting

spontaneous GQ photo shoot

James' "tough guy" pose

and dino claws

This was all during babies' naps, which they were kindly taking twice a day.

Two things I never want to forget about the babes... Sammy did this to ALL of his jammies! Every last pair. Even before they were too small -- somehow he'd just work his toes out the end.

And Ruthie-lou, every single time we plopped her in the stroller, would immediately fling her legs up over the stroller bar, lounge-style.

Labor Day weekend we had the super duper experience of going to my freshman year roommate Jodi's wedding. It was lovely! And quite romantic -- Jeremy and my anniversary month, attending a the sealing of an amazing couple in "our" temple, Salt Lake. Congrats again, Jodi and Tom!

Later that day we tried some family photos. Ha! Not a single one turned out, but I have to giggle when I see the attempts. (Yes, these were the best we got!)

Individual shots were more successful. I do have to give credit for most of these to Jer. Can't you tell his princess is looking at him? I wonder sometimes if the kids are so excited to get some individual attention they can't help but perform:

eyebrows higher!

puppy Ruthie

puppy Sam

chubby finger point, elbow dimple

fuzzy shot together, par for the course now that they're mobile:

"I'm pretty hot stuff, you know"

and goofy

and proud of my first tooth gap

I'm just plain silly

And finally, the official end to summer. Scotty started 1st grade! His face says it all -- he loves it! It's December already and I still feel like the school day without him is too long, but really school was made for this boy. I don't know if I ever wrote about this or not, but last year (Kindergarten), he got a stomach bug in the middle of the night one night. The very first thing he said post-barf, in a sob: "I don't want to miss schoooooool!" So Scotty.

Henderson

2012-10-10T17:45:00.000-04:00

I know our last post didn't sound too enthusiastic about our move... I was missing favorite friends and places! We do like it here in Henderson, though, and we're growing to love it. We're near lots of family: 4 of Jeremy's siblings and their families live within a few miles, and the 5th lives an hour and a half away. So our social circle is family! Which is new for us and very fun. We have a lot of cute little helpers. Here's our niece Ella in her favorite spot, baby heaven!

I'll start with one of Scotty's camera tours of our rental. We have almost arrived at a "real" house. By his standards a "real" house has a garage and a basement. (Might be waiting a long time on that one here -- almost no basements in the desert.) Yes, it's pink, but it's a garage!

These next two pics pretty much sum up our summer : lots of Legos and lots of TV. It was SO HOT! Hotter than I thought it would be. Too hot to go to parks, too hot to even go to the pool. For most of July and August. The boys did take swim lessons in the mornings, which got them outside at least a little bit, and the babies slept a lot -- making up for the sleep they missed on the move all summer long!

Can you tell the babies like their big brother? I love these expressions! I don't get anything like this when I'm the photographer:

And here's squishy pink James. Cute, huh, Scotty's photo tour? He didn't leave anyone out. Except me, but I think he knows how I feel about having my picture taken.

Jeremy sometimes gets this welcome home. Pretty cute puppies!

Here's the babies' favorite perch. They were either here or in their beds most of the summer. For the first time in our married lives, I wanted a real puppy -- I should take a picture of the floor after a meal sometime. It's pretty spectacular.

We celebrated the 4th with Jer's oldest brother and family in a little town outside of Mesquite, NV. I think the grass was a little prickly for Ruthie.

They had a 4 wheeler there, which the boys spent forever on.

Then we went to their small-town not-so-small fireworks show. Fun evening. Thanks Jeff and Andrea!

We did get one break from the Vegas heat for a weekend family reunion in San Diego. The babies loooooved the sand.

Sammy especially liked the taste...

The boys played and played and played and Scotty even caught a few good waves on a boogie board.

And, of course, the ceremonial boy burials took place:

Aside from a major life event for Scotty not much else happened this summer. We feel like the boys transitioned pretty well since they're surrounded by cousins. The babies each have their very own closet to sleep in :) and we're settling in nicely. Jeremy loves his job and feels like we made a good choice coming here. More on this new chapter of our family's life soon!

Bethlehem

2012-09-07T20:28:00.002-04:00

I was feeling some anxiety about moving to Henderson after we made our final decision. I couldn't quite put my finger on what was bothering me for a while. Then I realized I was moving straight from the absolute epitome of quaint, Bethlehem, PA, to the absolute void of quaint, a Las Vegas suburb. So I decided to take some pictures, as many as I could, of my favorite Bethlehem spots. I missed a lot, but I'll post what I did get.

Here's my favorite cape cod. Nothing spectacular, but I could always picture our family living right there. In that very house.

One of our favorite gardens. So very tidy. Always had every color of the rainbow, and by the end of summer it's absolutely overflowing.

My favorite giant of a tree. Notice how they built the road around it instead of chopping it down. Very Bethlehem.

Scotty sometimes commandeers the camera and takes a bunch of pictures. I love to see what he chooses to photograph. I was about to delete these and then I realized they're pictures of things I wouldn't normally take pictures of, that we might like to remember. So I'll post a few, for fun. Here's our GLOBE Bush. This thing was taller than Jeremy. I never liked it really, except in the fall when it turned flame red for a few weeks. It did provide some nice stealthy coverage for all our bikes and ugly outside toys though. Thank you, Globe Bush.

Here's James' exuberant reflection superimposed on our green screen in the back. Those shrubs (still don't know what they were) were everywhere in Bethlehem. Some of them grew stories high. These were the perfect backyard privacy screen. Green year round.

Our front door from Scotty's point of view. We miss you Lincoln Ct. James-head in the bedroom window is saying hello.

I'm including this one to help me to always, always remember to be grateful for a garage. This is our 5th and hopefully last Jeremy Tilton family parking lot!

Here's more Bethlehem. Henderson St., near our house. Took this pic for the pretty sycamores and for the ridiculous road. Driving on it was like running the car over a massive wash board.

Here's an average sidewalk on the same street. Walks with a double stroller were quite the adventure.

Hydrangeas. Everywhere.

Centuries-old buildings all around downtown. This is part of a ritzy private school, the Moravian Academy:

A little old shed surrounded by wild roses.

My route to the gym

Gorgeous historic mansion downtown. There were too many of these to take pictures of!

Of course Bethlehem had its share of tacky, but I think even this type of tacky has a place in quaint. Vegas tacky is a different kind of tacky. For example, we would never see this here, a Maryland Fried Chicken come Cigarette Outlet Drive Thru:

[no comment]

Or this, a nail salon / deep fried turkey joint in a re-zoned house:

Our favorite ice cream place was the best kind of tacky. Inside was a hodgepodge of Elvis posters and kid-painted murals, but they served the absolute best ice cream in town, in all sorts of exotic flavors. Bethlehemers, please enjoy a scoop in our memory every chance you get!

I'll end with a purely nostalgic pic of Scotty's first Elementary School, Spring Garden. Great people and good times. We love you Bethlehem!

the MOVE

2012-09-07T19:11:00.002-04:00

May we never, ever, EVER have to make another move as grizzly as this one. From packing our house, to packing the UBoxes, to trying to sleep 2 infants in hotel rooms, to driving through mountain ranges with 2 infants who probably had ear infections.... wow. Some dark days. But we kind of want to document them. Just to remember that life wasn't all smiles and roses this summer!

I'm kind of a stresser and very much a planner, so we started packing months and months in advance. Kudos to Jeremy for being my box-moving monkey. What a trooper. Our front room looked like this for a very long time before the move, with boxes lining every wall. The babies loved the extra space to wiggle.

Here are our UBoxes when they arrived. Our lives were about to be shoved into 3 tiny boxes. Thanks to some help from church friends, WE FIT! Still can't believe that. Jer and those guys filled every last square foot.

Despite my whining, I really did love the drive across country. I was feeling overwhelmingly patriotic through most of the drive, through the Appalachians, into the open plains, through picturesque towns and huge industrial cities, so much farmland and grazing land. Loved it! The Arch was a definite highlight. It felt fittingly symbolic for our family to cross it on our move from east to west.

We didn't get pics of Aunt Katie and Uncle Van's safe haven in Colorado, but weren't they a welcome sight. Thanks for putting us up, the ragtag bunch we were.

Here's Ruthie in her favorite sleeping spot: the tub! Her bassinet fit just right. This wasn't just a moment of desperation on the trip, this is where she slept for 6 solid months. That's right, folks. Ruthie's boudoir was our second bathroom from January to June. It made for some blissful nights for us in our tight quarters in Bethlehem, and we got the most sleep of the trip the one night it worked to sleep her in our hotel bathroom. Just look at how at home she is!

Here's heaven on earth, aka Midway. Thanks to Aunt Janet and Uncle Russ for housing us too. Jeremy looks at any picture of Midway and his breathing slows a bit. It's peace defined.

Sammy found a new BFF. Followed Elkie around everywhere, wriggling as quickly as he possibly could wriggle. What a sweet doggie.

The boys had a super fun surprise when the neighbor rode by on her Clydesdale Sam. She offered both of them a ride! Isn't he beautiful?

The last day was the absolute hardest. Maybe because we had to leave Midway and GET BACK IN THE CAR. We pulled into Henderson on the 7th day as six pools of grumpy, crying mush. It was grueling, even with the welcome stops. Needless to say, we rested well, and we've all recovered since. I can't see these pictures without a little whimper of grief though. Hard times. Grateful that they're now only memories!

Farewells

2012-09-07T18:18:00.000-04:00

It's kind of hard to see these pictures and know that we can't turn back time. And we can't shrink this massive country. What good times we had in Bethlehem.

Here are Jeremy and his co-residents at graduation. FINALLY FINISHED. Only 20 years of schooling and training. Go Jer. We're very proud.

We made it! Scotty was born 6 weeks after Jer started medical school. Time for a new chapter of our family's life.

Here's a pic of one of my favorite Bethlehemers, Miss Cheryl, the gym childcare lady. Thanks for taking such great care of my kids for (nearly) 3 years! I always felt like I was leaving them with their auntie. We miss you! A lot.

Here's my cutest little man Cyrus. Oh how I miss you buddy!

Cyrus took very, very good care of the babes. He must have learned from his mama. (Why do I have no pictures of / with you Amanda?!) Here he is with "blue one:"

Scotty and his best preschool / kindergarten buddy Gussy. Aren't they cute?

A final fun outing to Becky's Drive-In. The boys (sadly) had never actually been on a teeter totter til this night:

The babes watched from the sidelines. Ruthie has *always* done this with her feet in this stroller. As soon as I plop her in, at least one and usually both feet go up, and she goes into chill mode. She sometimes falls asleep that way too. Little tiny baby quirk.

Firetruck!

Pony rides!

They let Ruthie have a mini ride for free :)

Then we watched Madagascar III with lots of fun toys and treats provided by party-lady Amanda. Thanks for taking such great care of us, Amanda. You made it impossible for us to claim that we don't have any family in Bethlehem.

Scotty's Primary class threw a party for Scotty. So sweet! We love love loved his teachers and all his little church buddies.

Two of my favorite little girlies:

Scotty's last day of school with buddies Ethan and Samuel (a Brasileiro!). Missed getting a pic with his super-fantastic teacher Mr. Ivanitch. I think he was the singular reason Scotty learned to love school.

James pretenting to be a kindgartener + Gus and more buddies. Good times.

And here's our last trip to see uncle Ben. These pictures make me far more sad than happy. We miss Uncle Ben so much already, and feel sad that he's all by his lonesome in MD. So grateful for the 3 years we got to spend near him though, and that our boys will have so many fond memories with him. He suggested we go to the same place we went on our very first outing, Patapsco State Park. It was a beautiful day, perfect for wading and taking little hikes. Ben and James are walking through the tunnel:

Splashing in the baby waterfall:

The babes (again) watching from the sidelines. Not too long now and they'll be fighting me to get in on the action!

Wow. I miss the east and all its lovely people. Didn't get pictures with most of our friends, sadly, but we will never forget you! What a great part of the world.

Random Spring

2012-09-07T17:55:00.001-04:00

We're aliiiive! Just not blogging much these days. But I'm ready to catch up. I was scrolling through pics on the computer the other day and realized we have a handful of random pictures that got skipped in Spring blogging that I want to preserve. So here they are.

The babes had a blast sharing their first swing on one of the first warm late winter / early spring days in Bethlehem:

Somewhere in the madness of Spring, our Jamesy boy turned 4!! Here's his favorite Chewbacca shirt:

His chocolate chocolate cake:

And his bilibo from Grandma:

We obviously kept it very simple (note the Christmas wrapping paper) but he seemed oblivious. We love 4 year old James! He's pretty much the exact same as squishy 2 year old James only with a slightly larger vocabulary and stretched out legs.

Here are all 3 boys "reading" stories. I snapped this pic because I had a sudden flash forward to these 3 amigos in a few years playing / reading / fighting all day long :) Sam wriggled his way to the action in his short-lived gecko-crawl.

I have no idea what inspired these, but I thought they were very 6-year-old-Scotty. I'm including them maybe for no other purpose than future bribery material:

Here is our exersaucer sea. If you know our front room in Bethlehem, you can only imagine how "cozy" this was for those 6 or so months, but it was totally worth the minutes of peace they gave us:

Sometime in late winter I went through a tiny-crown-making phase and had to snap a pic of our prince and princess. (Miss you Healy-girl!)

James' "twin" -- James and Ruthie resemble each other in complexion, disposition, and underbite. He performs a ritual every time I walk into the room with her: gasp, smile, and whisper-yell: "Pwincess!!" He begged for this pic one morning.

We had a lovely long warm spring. The babies were in that heavenly window of sitting up but not yet moving, so we sat on the front lawn .often. They were kept very quiet by the crazy neighbor kids running around. I stayed out as long as they would let me!

Perky Ruthie enjoying her morning jaunt in the exersaucer:

Scotty totally cracked up when he saw the seatbelt:

And before we packed up, we took a ceremonial picture of Scotty's Art Wall. He was soooo proud of his pictures. Something clicked this Spring as far as staying in the lines goes, and he was pretty intense about his first "perfect pictures." I love the bright colors. Very Scotty!

Lastly, a favorite shot of Sammy with beaver-glasses eyes

Azalea Gardens

2012-05-24T23:12:00.002-04:00

In April we made a traditional Hawkes family trek to the Brighton Dam Azalea Gardens. Heaven! Here are Scotty, Rock, Uncle Ben, and Grumpy-pants James:

Jer got a few shots of all the kiddos

And we mostly just hung out

A little playing

Some rock skipping

And Zen moments. Boy will we miss the East. This was a very fitting, almost heartbreaking penultimate trip to MD.

Brooklyn Bridge

2012-04-29T23:14:00.001-04:00

We took a trip to see Grandma and Grandpa and the Brooklyn Bridge earlier this month. Oh how we'll miss that city! We haven't been since the babies were bean-sized in my belly. It was good to be back.

Here's James hitching a ride

The boys watching the cars zoom past

The city sklyine -- One World Trade Center is already looking impressive

After walking the bridge we hung out at the Brooklyn War Memorial Park for a while and visited. James dug the martial arts class

And the statue toes

Grandma and Grandpa held babies and visited

And Scotty had a Zen moment. He's always been a bit obsessed with symmetry, and this was no exception. No one directed him there. He just stood there, then sat there. For probably 10 minutes. Which, if you know Scotty, is impressive.

We ended the trip on the sweetest-ever note at Levain (our first trip!). One of those cookies served very well as Jeremy's entire bday cake the next day. No pictures. Just a few extra pounds. All in all, an awesome day.

Spring

2012-04-02T16:01:00.013-04:00

There's a place called the Lock Ridge Park near Bethlehem with a small field chock full of grape hyacinths. Area expert friend Amanda told us about it, so off we went for a family outing and kid photo shoot. There are ruins of an old coal-fueled iron furnace nearby. Neat place. We hope to make it back at least one more time to explore some more.

one of my favorite pics was an accidental shot of Ruthie's chicky fluff

Sam showing off his toothers

and his impressive noggin

checking out the purdy flowers

the boys were only mostly compliant

a few pictures worked out

a few others were more entertaining than perfect

all 4

isn't Sam's perma-confused face great? It's like we photoshopped the same exact face into each picture

situation deteriorating

.done.

3 little penguins

2012-03-09T09:40:00.003-05:00

Penguin #1. Scotty in February 2006:

Penguin #2. James in October 2008:

Penguin #3. Sam in March 2012.

We might try a feminine penguin too but she's not feeling well this week.

wow.

2012-03-04T22:38:00.005-05:00

Six months! We blinked and here we are. Suddenly the babes are giggling and rolling and starting to play. We're barely edging out of survival mode and remembering some of the things we used to do ... like grocery shop, cook, do dishes, vacuum ... They're worth it though. Looka these guys:

Monkey envy

Typical Ruth and typical Sam faces. Ruth checking to see if her hands have changed flavor. Sam zerberting.

Trying not to crack up

hands! toes!

Mr. Sam

Ruthie-loo, our blinking, smiling baby doll

We'll do a catch-up post soon, with a few pics from Christmas up til now and some of our other two not-forgotten children. Hope you're all happy and well!

PS - We got a real job! Jeremy signed a great contract with a doc in Henderson NV to start in July. We're excited.

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-18T14:57:00.007-05:00

What a memorable year. I don't get out often yet, but when I do, this is the most common comment: "God bless you!" The response that came to mind the first time I heard it was "He has!" He really has! We truly do feel blessed. No, it's not always easy. And no, I don't believe we would have survived the first months (or the months to come) without lots of help and lots of prayers. But yes, it's been wonderful. Unforgettable. And full of baby perfection that can only possibly have come straight from Heaven. We're enjoying getting to know Ruth and Sam's little personalities a little more each day.

I feel like we've settled into a bit of a "6 family" rhythm now. Scotty is proving to be a great little helper. He's loving kindergarten and has a wonderful teacher. James is a doting older brother and seems to be weathering his displacement as the snuggled baby. He's in a great preschool that includes his speech and physical therapy and is making steady progress. Jeremy is functioning as a full-time working single father -- the minute he walks in the door, he's cooking, cleaning, giving tubs, reading stories, etc. (What a guy!) And I'm holding babies. A lot.

In the last month we've started hitting the job hunt hard. Jeremy has a few interviews lined up already. Hopefully shortly we'll have more big news to share! Hard to believe yet another chapter of our lives is coming to a close and we'll be leaving Bethlehem. It's been a good chapter. We'll miss it here.

We hope you're all happy and well. Wish we could be closer to everyone we love. Here's a giant cyber-hug from Bethlehem, and some attempts at a family picture. Merry Christmas!

Twice Blessed

2011-11-17T10:44:00.013-05:00

What a fun day! We blessed the babies the first Sunday in November and both sets of grandparents were able to come. What lucky little babies.

The only drama of the day was not performed by our drama queen. Sam decided to take that role and hollered through his blessing. But everyone survived.

We let Jeremy help pick Sam's outfit (thanks again Aunt Emily and Uncle Danny!) and of course he picked the one called the "Jeremy jumper."

Our gifted grandmothers gave gorgeous gifts. Grandma Corky made the blankets in the pictures and Grandma Ann made these:

Yes! I will put the babies in these sweaters every chance I get as long as they fit!

Our 3 amigos:

Already getting teased, poor little guy:

Big brother

Our four (!!!!) children! ...such a sudden leap from two I'm still processing...

Lots of chats and yummy food later, family went home and everything is back to normal now. ("normal" - ha!)

About 3 weeks ago we started getting our first true smiles and a few gurgly coos. Some moments are so wholly baby-perfect I can hardly stand it.

Here's Ruthie mid-story. Of course anytime I try to record her she gets stage fright. Hopefully soon we'll have one of her stories to share.

I've tried uploading video so many times. Fail every time. Just says "uploading" forever and ever. Anyone have a cure for my video-uploading ineptitude?

Scotty's bday

2011-11-08T13:31:00.006-05:00

Scotty is 6! I love this age. A little while ago I was doing some face painting for Scotty and some friends. When I asked what he wanted on his cheeks, he said, "Sunshine! And a skeleton!" What other age group would make that request?

We started planning his birthday party a long time ago. A chain of questions and answers led him to believe that his late-September-almost-October party *must* be a costume party, with Halloween-themed games. The games he chose: Spider web dance (freeze dance), Spider says, Spider spider dino (duck duck goose), and Hot pumpkin. Yes, we had fun! Both planning and carrying out.

I wrote a hurried entry in his journal about 3 weeks after the babies were born. It says, "Never cuter, never naughtier." Sums it up pretty well. But it's always way more fun than it is hard to have him around.

Babies babies babies

2011-09-29T16:13:00.013-04:00

A month old already! We can't even begin to list all the ways Grandma helped us. We truly believe, though, that she's the reason the twins had a healthy start. We were all fed, clothed, and as well-rested as we could have hoped for a full month thanks to you, Grandma! Our sincerest gratitude.

Here are a few pictures from the twins' weeks two and three.

Ruth: Hey Grandma -- you make this look easy! You truly are a woman of many talents.
Sam: I could get used to this one-on-one attention....do you think they know I have Woofie?
Ruth is a woman of many faces, and we're convinced that some of them point to where she's headed in life.

the Illusionist
the Dramatistthe Diva
the Comic
the Model (how's my hair?)
the Ballerina

the Tease (she pinched me!)
the Gossip (how shocking!)
The world is her oyster. Obviously the little princess is favored in this post. Here's some more Ruth (a Sam-devoted post coming up!):

Back to snuggling close...
Aunt Katie came for a fabulous 5 days. Priceless in so many ways. She stayed up a whole -- very rough -- night with me while Jeremy went on a quick trip out of town. (Service only true love can give!) She made all sorts of yummies for us. She brought gifts for the boys. And she held babies. Often. Just last night at dinner James put on his most pathetic pouty face and said "Miss An Kayee." Thanks so much for coming!
(For the record, that's actually Jer's "baby," the richest ever chocolate cheesecake, but Katie did make the ganache and put the finishing touches on it. And yes, you might actually gain weight merely by looking at the picture too long.)

An eventful 2 weeks

2011-09-11T12:06:00.003-04:00

Our last 2 weeks have been memorable to say the least. They started with the threat of Hurricane Irene bringing Grandma Corky safely here from Vegas a little early (hooray!) and Scotty's first day of kindergarten. He was so much fun to watch in the classroom -- completely in his element surrounded by hyper kids and tons of activities. I'm glad the babies held off a bit so I could be there with him and Grandma on his first day!

I don't think he or James had any clue what was about to happen in our family.

Ruth Mary Jane and Samuel Clem were born on September 1 at 2:52 and 2:53. Sam, the gentleman that he is, let the lady go first, and weighed in a manly 2 oz heavier than Ruth (6 lbs 9 oz) at 6 lbs 11 oz. Here's Ruthie, sad that she hasn't yet had her bath:

Much better now

And Sam

I'm a total sucker for this little profile

Reunited

Thankfully, Scotty and James seem to have weathered the change very well. Here are the first pictures of our four (!!!!) children together:

The hospital was a mix of nightmares and miracles. What a strange 4 days! We learned time and time again that there are two sides to every coin. Here are a few of our dramas turned tender mercies:

1. In the recovery room after the c-section, my heartrate dropped into the 30's (!). Long story short, I was given medication that spiked my blood pressure, had an EKG and echocardiogram, and found out I have a heart defect, unrelated to anything that happened delivery day, that I may never have known I have. It's called mitral valve prolapse. Apparently mine isn't too serious, but I'm glad to know it's there, and will definitely be following up with a cardiologist to see what this may mean for me.

2. Because of my gestational diabetes and insulin taken during pregnancy, the babies' blood glucose dropped dangerously low immediately after birth. A nurse recommended I supplement breastfeeding with an SNS device, a tiny little tube that feeds the baby small amounts of formula while nursing, to keep their sugars level. I hated having to figure out one more thing on top of nursing twins, but in the end, I think it helped them learn to nurse much quicker than they might have otherwise. They both latched on and nursed like champs for nearly every feeding, my milk came in exactly on schedule, and we've had very few bumps along the way in those terms where it could have potentially been the hardest part of our hospital stay!

3. I gave Ruth a pacifier to settle her between feedings on day 2 and she took it so deeply she turned a little blue. When the same thing happened in the nursery, they sent her to the NICU for 2 days for observation. Having her across the hospital in the NICU meant that after we fed Sam, we trekked over to the NICU to feed Ruth, and came back to the room for an hour-ish of rest before the next round of feeding began. The "happy" side of this coin involved some of the darkest hours of my life at the time: they say the quickest way to recover from a c section is to move, and as miserable as I was, I HAD to move, a lot, every 3 hours. I thought those first 4 days in the hospital would kill me, but by my 5th day post op, I was feeling very little pain and could move [almost] like a normal person around the house.

4. Jer announced to me at the end of August that the chief resident would be out of town and that he was designated chief for the entire month of September. I just about fainted. It doesn't mean too much more in terms of his time commitment, but I need every minute he can spare at this point! Turns out that being chief also has its perks: he can schedule his own surgeries. haha. So he actually has ended up having a bit more flexibility than normal, which has already meant the world for my sanity. Hooray!

On to more pictures! We were delighted to be able to come home all together last Sunday. In a few hours it will be officially one week since we crossed the threshold as a "6 family" as Scotty calls us. I don't feel like these pictures need much explanation aside from YES, this is exactly how the week has gone! Lots of crying, usually not both at once, some calm, and gobs of cuteness.

You smell *awesome*... how do you taste?

My turn

No, my turn

MY turn!

Maybe we'll try something different

I'm hungry again:

that was tiring...

We're having fun and getting enough sleep to get along. We'll see how things go once Jeremy's mom leaves. We may very well just fall apart (she's been wonderful!) but eventually I guess we'll have to figure it out. Here's to lots of moments like these:

When the livin' is easy

2011-08-19T17:41:00.011-04:00

We've had a very quiet summer. Mostly spent chipping away at our B.T. List (before twins), i.e. Jeremy playing mr. mom and mr. fixit and mr. clean all at the same time. What a guy. A few fun times, but mostly mellowness at home, keeping the babies baking. Now that we're almost 36 weeks (!) we're feeling very ready to meet these little ones! I've officially started heavy lifting and going on longer walks and errands. Friends have offered reflexology, mini trampolines, and castor oil to trigger labor. Here in a week I may just take them up on it!

My friends threw me a super cute shower in June. This was one of my favorite parts of the morning. I only wish I would have snapped a pic of the spread of food! It was fabulous Lisa and Rita and everyone else who contributed -- thank you thank you!

We had two last quick trips B.T. to visit Uncle Ben. One we went blueberry picking and to this divine place that has finally joined us on the east coast:

We also visited Bonaparte Breads. num num. And Jeremy finally had a chance to dangle his legs from a chair:

We had a fun and mellow 4th with friends. Jeremy played and played with the camera:

...dads waiting for kids to come take the sparklers

James had a run-in with a mosquito that night. As far as we could tell, this was from a single strategically placed bite on his forehead. The swelling even spread into his ear, poor thing. He was our little quasimoto for 4 days afterwards, even on constant benadryl.

All better now, we got an accidental hear, see, and speak no evil from our squishy one:

Here are two more of Jeremy's summer projects aside from photography. Why he had to start this one while I have gestational diabetes, I'll have to ask him one day. Maybe he was fulfilling a secret need to tease. There is more focaccia in our future, though, and hopefully it will be made when my diabetes is a distant memory.

And this is a piece of Jer's exploding garden. The tomato in the background has since taken over everything in its path and yielded just barely too much perfect fruit. Enough at least to share with the squirrels this year. Last year they were too greedy... Finally some pics from our Ward Pioneer Day Party. Here's our next-week-kindergartener!

Gotta love James' pose:

Next post will likely be full of babies (!) and the lazy days of summer will be a thing of the past. Doctors say September 1st will be my absolute last day of burgeoning feet and belly. We'll post as soon as we have news!

Whirlwind New England tour

2011-07-18T15:39:00.012-04:00

Jer had a week's vacation that needed to be used in late May, so we decided to take a babymoon + 2. Since we're leaving this area next summer, and don't anticipate being mobile at all between now and then, we decided to try to cram all of our northeastern to-see sites into a whirlwind tour. We got to do pretty much everything on our list (except for our food tour: Moosewood Restaurant, King Arthur Flour, Ben and Jerry's, Cabot Creamery, we'll have to sample you in another life!).

We started with the mansions in Rhode Island. The fog set in pretty much as soon as we left New York -- in May! Strange, but beautiful

The mansions were spectacular, what we saw of them. Not so kid-friendly... to tour, that is: These boys would have eaten this place up had they had free reign!

Right on the coast and oh-so-purdy. The second place we visited had topiary gardens the boys could run through

A shot of the dimples that will be gone *all too soon!* I will miss them

The twins treated me pretty well. This was my 23 week belly. I thought I was so big then...

Next stop: Provincetown on Cape Cod. Did anyone else not know this is really the first stop for the Pilgrims?

I had a very strange hip thing going on at the time that made it so I literally couldn't walk by the time we arrived at the tower, so Jer took the boys up to the top solo. What a trooper!

The boys were pretty pleased with themselves

Later we found a gorgeous beach for the boys to fill their britches with sand on. It was a *perfect* day! And -- no offense to eastern beaches -- but I was surprised at how pretty it was there. I could have watched the surf for hours...

We walked to a White Cypress Swamp, which, although beautiful and unique, was hands-down the most intense mosquito experience I've ever had in my life! Since we hadn't thought to bring the repellent, we only caught a few glimpses of the strange rusty water and dense trees as we ran over the walkways to mosquito-free safety.

...much better...

That night, since it was the week before peak season, we scored a beachside hotel on the southern shore of cape cod. It was lovely! A bit chilly, but sunny and gorgeous. In the morning, I went out for a bit and came back to the room to get my sunglasses and have the boys get in their swimming gear. Literally 20 minutes later, this is what we found:

FOG! And lots of it! It almost toasted our camera, but the boys, of course, still found fun

Next stop: Sandwich to see the glass museum and have some sandwiches on the water. Loved the glass museum -- highly recommend it if you're ever out that way! No good pictures, but lots of great memories. Scotty got to help with the glass blowing demonstration, and we resolved to become collectors of beautiful glass once the kids are less of a liability and our pocket book is a little chubbier.

Next stop: Plymouth. Meh. This is about all we got out of it:

It was expensive and touristy, and we had to laugh at Plymouth rock and the history behind it. The boys did love the hotel (read: TV) there, though, and recouped a bit from a busy few days

Next we headed to Boston proper and the Public Gardens. It was fun to have prepped them with "Make Way for Ducklings."

That day was unfortunately the first of a heat wave, and with my hip the way it was and Scotty complaining about the 10 minute walk we had taken through the Gardens, we decided to forego the Freedom Trail :( Next time, Boston!

The alternative, while much higher ticket, ended up being super fun. We decided to Ride the Ducks. After a quick snoozer for James

both the boys got to drive the boat! I like that the tour included historical as well as contemporary facts about the city and that our boys felt like superstars for a day.

Two more highlights of the day: The USS Constitution (awesome -- and FREE!)

and .lobster tails. A first for the Tilton family. Yum.

Last, but not least, we headed to Tilton, New Hampshire.

It was a bit of a last-minute addition to the trip, but as Jeremy researched the town before our trip, we were so glad we decided to add it on! It was renamed in the 1700's after one of his ancestors passed away. We visited the random Triumphal Arch built in the middle of a field by a later (non relative) Tilton

then a graveyard, where we found some headstones of forefathers, and finally to... wait for it...

There could not possibly be a more fitting end to our visit of the town for Jeremy Tilton. If you ask him, he'll dissertate on that pizza's perfection for as long as you'll listen :)

In all, we had an almost-perfect whirlwind farewell-to-eastern-sightseeing trip to New England. We've loved living in and seeing more of this part of the world. Since then, things have been pretty quiet. Jeremy's enjoying third year and the boys and I are kicking it at home most days. Pictures of my blossoming belly forthcoming. Stay tuned!

Misc spring pics

2011-06-16T14:08:00.010-04:00

Found some extra pictures I never posted, probably from my "purse" camera judging by the dozens of fingerprints on the lens. Here's James' choice of outfit for one of the too-plentiful cold and rainy spring days we endured.

Maybe he took his inspiration from his dad's new surgical loops? Jeremy has officially arrived at surgeon-ness. When he first put them on, all I could think of was being a nurse and seeing the surgeon like this. Wouldn't you crack up? I totally would!

Move over Clark Kent

Here's Jer's birthday sombrero at Chevy's with brother Ben and his friend.

The thinker-come bunny in DC. I loved this sculpture. I could have a miniature in my house and never get tired of it.

Fountains in front of the National Archives

Scotty's preschool graduation. He hammed up the whole evening. I'm pretty sure the first little pose is a response to my request for "cute smile."

He surprised us with an announcement that he wanted to be a fireman when he grows up. Never would have pegged him for a firefighter, but why not?

Overall a fun evening except for the length (yikes!) and the mildly disturbing fact that neither of the teachers could carry a tune, so all the songs the kids sang were in a strange monotone chant.

One of my favorite little guys on the planet, Cyrus. I want him for my very own.

James' female counterpart Violet. They have the same squishy cuteness factor (off the charts!) and often similar dispositions. They're in Nursery together at church. Don't they make the cutest couple? I'm rooting for both of them to end up at the Y here in about 17 years and run into each other at the HFAC...

At the end of our ward Easter egg hunt I couldn't find the boys. Of course they had already hunkered down, serious about the business of candy-eating. Notice that all the tables around them are vacant -- all the other kids were still playing around and hunting eggs.

Lots and lots of empty eggs by the time I found them...

Introducing .THE CHAIR. One of my first freak out topics after learning we were expecting twins centered around nursing: how? could I possibly survive? is there such a thing as a chair perfect for nursing two yet comfortable enough to double as a bed? Yes, in fact, there is. We found it on craigslist. I know, it's slightly ridiculous, especially in our tiny nursery, but I have a feeling we won't regret the investment for one second of our postpartum sleepless delirium.

Neighbor Ben has resurrected his Halloween costume and requests it daily, so Scotty and James sometimes follow suit. The adorable 3rd amigo is Fabian, our new next door neighbor.
Pics of our trip to New England coming soon...

Chatting

2011-05-19T17:41:00.004-04:00

What do you think they're saying in there? This is our first and probably only picture of the two babies head to head. It's my favorite ultrasound so far. By the end of my appointment, they had both done sommersaults :) I'm measuring 5-6 weeks ahead of a singleton pregnancy, i.e. it looks like my due date should be next month. ha! 3 1/2 more to go...