More pictures of the boys

Brody and Deegan (in mom's favorite nighties)

The whole gang!

Cute piggies

Still such a ham

Brody at 4 weeks

Deegan at 4 weeks

"You, you're brothers...do you share everything?"--The Parent Trap

Tubby time...this picture shows off the "bishop hair-do" quite nicely (see below).

Announcing...

The boys are here!! Our sweet boys arrived bright and early on Tuesday, August 12th. I woke up about 4:30 am with some good contractions so I woke up Kelly. We called my sister to come be with Karly and left for the hospital at about 6:00 am, and the boys arrived a short hour and a half later!

Broden Grant Ash ("Brody")

time: 7:39 am

weight: 7.2 lbs

length: 18 in

Deegan Delbert Ash

time: 7:43 am

weight: 6.2 lbs

length: 17 1/2 in

If you can't tell from the pictures, Brody has quite a bit of dark hair and a rounder face. He looks just like Karly did when she was born. Deegan has a skinnier face and lighter hair like me. For some reason, both boys were born with what my sister, Erika, refers to as the bishop hair-do. They have a lot of hair on the sides and are bald on top. Their hair is coming in nicely now, however. :)

Below is a lovely picture of me in all my glory, right before we left for the hospital. (Yes, I'm wearing one of Kelly's fishing t-shirts.)

35 weeks, 6 days

They spent exactly two weeks in the NICU because, while they were a good weight, they both still acted like preemies as far as eating goes. They were very sleepy and had to be fed through tubes in their nose. We had to slowly work them up to taking all their feedings by bottle. It seemed like a slow and painful process at the time, but we're grateful it was only two weeks. We are so lucky they are both so healthy and happy!

This is them snuggled up together in their NICU bed.

(Brody on the left, Deegan on the right)

They came home on August 26th to a very excited big sister!

Deegan, Karly, Brody

Life has been a blur ever since!

About a boy...

Two boys!! That's right...Friday night we went back to the hospital for another ultrasound with Crissy, and Baby B was much more cooperative! Two boys! I'm a little shocked, Kelly is quite proud, and poor Karly has no idea what's coming. We decided she will be the diva-like ring leader and probably put the boys to work for her, so she'll be okay. Oh, and for those wondering that I haven't responded to (sorry), there is a seperation between the babies--they are in seperate sacks, so they are NOT identical. Two boys...I have to keep telling myself. And what will we name them?! We are too good at vetoing each others ideas, so any of your ideas are welcome if you won't get offended if we don't use them. :)

We're spoiled...

We are so spoiled! Having a sister that works in ultrasound sure is an amazing luxury when you are pregnant. I think I've already had four! So, as soon as we thought you'd be able to see the sex of the babies, we went in for another. Well, one of the babies was very stretched out, totally relaxing...and well, see if you can guess what it is:

Yep! That's a Mr. Peepers...it's a boy!!

Profile of sweet Baby A--boy

The other baby, well not so cooperative. It liked the more scrunched position and was not quite ready to reveal its gender. We will for sure be trying again though! It did, however, give us the sweetest yawn ever! I love seeing my babies! Thanks Sissy!

Profile of sweet Baby B

Happy Easter

The Easter Bunny came!

A new "My Little Pony" with bunny ears of its own.

Karly proceeded to march her bendable bunny around the kitchen while making a funny noise. I have no idea why...but it was very cute!

I tried to get some good pictures after church of Karly in her cute Easter outfit. But, it was really windy, and besides, who can think about taking pictures when there's a pizza cooking inside for lunch?!?

This is Karly's "oh come on, mom!" pose.

"Pizza!!!"

After naptime, we got to go to Erika's and have a nice Easter dinner with her family and Crissy and Alex. The cousins hid more eggs for Karly to find, we had such a good time! Of course, I forgot my camera so maybe I'll post pics from Erika another time.

Ba and Poppy's House

Karly, Bella and I all got to spend last week with my parents in Idaho. We sure missed Dad, but still had such a good time with Ba and Poppy. One day, Ba even hid easter eggs filled with candy. Boy, was that a great time! Our little stinker sure is smart. She found the eggs a lot faster and easier than we thought--which I guess worked out well once she figured out there was candy inside. This Easter has made me realize I'm kind of dreading this age at Halloween (ya know...the age where they could eat candy until it pops out their ears, and they don't take no for an answer). But, it really is fun to see her enjoying holidays and traditions more now that she's older--I still can't believe how old she is! Time sure flies!

You'll notice the tongue is out for concentration...

So happy!! Yay for "canny" (as Karly likes to call it)!

Karly got to dye some eggs too!

Her left hand was pretty blue for a day or two!

Big Sisters Rock

I have the cutest t-shirt for Karly to wear, but I'm so frustrated right now b/c I can't find it. So, I'll just have to tell everyone what it says and post pics later. It says, "Big Sisters Rock". Now, why would Karly need a big sister t-shirt, you ask? Because she's going to be one!!! That's right...I'm pregnant and due in September. We are very excited...but oh wait! It get's better! Below is a picture of the ultrasound from my first appointment, and tell me, how many babies do you see? :)

Yes...two....and we are still in shock. (But very excited!!)

The day my dog turned into a gremlin...

My poor baby...

Moving from Phoenix, we let her hair grow out longer than it had ever been. She looked so cute, but the mats began--and got worse and worse. So, after the New Year I took her in to get groomed. They informed me my options were to either shave her completely or spend a small fortune having them try to brush out the mats. Well, seeing how we don't have a small fortune to spend on dog grooming, I opted for the shaving and purchase of a sweater...yes, I have subjected my dog to wearing clothes. But, only for the greater good--and hey, I bought the cutest one at Target. :)

My cute fluff...

My cute gremlin! :)

She still has her cute black eyelashes, though...and she's still my sweet Bella. :)

Sledding

We wrapped up Christmas day with some good ol' backyard sledding. We got a ton of snow on Christmas Eve, so Kelly and Alex decided to make a hill out in the backyard. Kelly ended up staying out for about an hour building up this big hill. So, then on Christmas day we all went out for a couple rides...it was really pretty fun--minus the occasional snow going down the pants or up the back. I wish I had a picture of Alex's face plant. :)

More Christmas

The Saturday before Christmas, Kelly, Crissy, and Alex arrived--and the pigging out, crafting, movie watching, and play station playing began. We also have the family tradition of cutting out ginger bread cookies one day and frosting them the next (Christmas Eve).

Here is Ba helping Karly smoooosh out the dough.

Karly's beautiful contribution...

And, then she was content to just sit and eat the dough. But, who isn't??

The next day, frosting was pretty much the same senario. I showed Karly how to put frosting on the cookie, she got angry, and then began shoveling it in her mouth. Well, there's always next year. :)

Kelly made a stellar stop sign, so fitting for the transportation engineer. While I strayed from my usual santa face master piece and just turned out this fancy candy cane. Aren't we lovely!?

Christmas Day

Karly was thrilled with her new kitchen!

And what else does every DIVA need, but a microphone and the glamour look?!?!

Karly and her booty--she made out like a bandit this year! It's hard not to spoil her though, since her toys have to last a whole year until her birthday....maybe we'll start celebrating her half birthday in June. :)