Giving blood

Yesterday me and Farfar took the twins into the city, on the bus, to get their passports.  It is the first time I have been on the bus with them and it went really well.  As always they were little angels and I was left feeling very proud of them.  We had anticipated a long wait at the passport office but we were seen straight away and the whole process took no more than 10 minutes.  Like I said, they were little angels and before we knew it me and Claes were standing in the middle of Gothenburg with the sun shining down on us.

I have wanted to give blood since the beginning of the year.  I think you need to wait 6 months after giving birth, but the opportunities for me to actually do it are few and far between these days.   I get really tired after, so looking after my little crawling rugrats afterwards isn't the easiest thing. But Irene was coming over after work and we had about 2 hours before the twins needed lunch, so it felt like the best time to do it.

So as I am waiting I started feeling a little bit scared of the needle (I have given blood lots of times) which then got me thinking about all the times my little ones needed blood, which got me thinking about how much it must have hurt them and how many bags of blood they needed to survive.  I do not know how many but almost every day there was a new bag of blood hanging by their beds.  Then I felt the well inside me start to open and i tried my best to not to cry, I even went into the toilet and told my reflection to pull myself together, but there was just something about being there that brought it all back.  When the Nurse took me into the little room to ask me how my pregnancy had been, I just broke down.  It was only a tiny emotional explosion and I felt a lot better aftwerwards but I was so moved by the whole experience.

Blood doners are heroes and I believe that every healthy person has a duty to give blood.  Oh and when she put the needle in, I hardly felt it :)

Still opposite

Yet another example of how different my twins are.  Here is Emilia eating a sandwich, you would think it was the most precious thing to find its way into her soft little hands:

 Here is Eva eating a sandwich, or should I say, destroying her sandwich:

There is NOTHING the same about them :)

We just spent a weekend at the cabin, it was so lovely to be able to get away.  Unfortunately we forgot the camera, but here are a few pictures from when we were there in July:

Chilling out in the swing:

 

Play time:

Sleep time:

Happiness:

Good times!  The twins are now professional crawlers and our house has never looked so tidy .  I am sure they will be walking soon :)

Feeling it in the air

There is a nip in the air this morning marking the end of summer.  I know that makes most people sad but I love Autumn, it makes me anticipate all the new things on the horizon.  The summer has been so terrible anyway that I am sure it won't be missed too much.  It is difficult to miss what you never had.  I am looking forward to taking long autumn walks with the twins.  For the first time in my life I have the time to really appreciate the nature around me.  I watched summer move in, in what felt like slow motion.  It usually just explodes around me, one day bare trees, the next vibrant green, but this year I watched the buds form.  It was really magical and now I can watch my favourite season work its magic.  I am very much looking forward to seeing the trees around our cabin change.

The twins are doing great.  Eva has a fascination with my eye lashes, touching them makes her squeal with joy.  I get the same reaction if I touch them myself in front of her.  The strangest of things make our little Eva laugh, but getting one of her real belly laughs is one of the best things in the world.  She likes crawling under things too, under the tables and chairs.  But then she kind of gets herself stuck and needs to be saved, it is hilarious.

So as you can see, I have two very busy little girls :)

And a few more!

I could do this all day :)

A few more pics

Couldn't resist posting a few more, from our perfect day.  A true celebration of life:

Christening poem

Perfect Angels

By Paula Lindqvist

Thank you for sharing our twins' special day

A day that has always felt so far away

Like all things in life you just never know

What's there round the corner or how things will go

But we all dared to dream and those dreams have come true

Two beautiful babies with eyes shining blue

And two personalities that are worlds apart

It is hard to believe they had the same start

Emilia our warrior, red hot like the sun

We will never forget all the battles you've won

Your energy and drive just blows us away

Your life is a gift, so grab and it and play

And Eva our thinker, our sweet gentle soul

Whose premature start has not taken its toll

We will never be able to thank you enough

For being so calm when the going was tough

A year has gone by and the things we now know

Are that all bad things pass and small babies DO grow!

And to our two perfect angels the promise we make

Is to love and support you, each step that you take!

Mandy read this in the Church and she did such a great job!

This is just a lovely picture of Mandy that I had to post:

First birthday, Christening, crawling, talking

Here are some pictures from the Christening day.  It was lovely and the twins were so good; the perfect party princesses :)  I got all the pictures yesterday, and we have so many amazing ones.  Thank you so much Andreas.

Jens has been on holiday for the last month and during that time I haven't felt the urge to write anything here.  It gave me a chance to also take a break from the day to day, a break that I really needed.  Emilia and Eva are amazing little people, but there is no getting away from the fact that small babies are all consuming. My Mum and Dad were here for 8 days, which gave me even more of a break.  We spent the first part of the week planning and organising the Christening party and the last couple of days at the cabin. I love seeing my babies so happy and content with my Mum and Dad.

So the twins have had their first birthday, we woke up at the cabin which was perfect seen as that was their main present.  We also got them a little frog charm each for their pandora bracelets.  Even though they are big girls now, we will never forget when they were our little frogs who used to snuggle up on us. We celebrated their birthday at Hällunge, where Farfar and Farmor Lindqvist had organsied a shared party with Olivia who is now 5!  I cannot believe how big she is.

Both twins are crawling now, Emilia has been doing it for longer so has mastered the art a little better.  Eva is like a worm and seems to prefer going backwards.  Eva has started to baby talk too, and her favourite word is mamamamama :) So much is happening now!