Gulf Shores, Alabama

Freezing Picture day on the beachPhillip and I on the balcony of our condo

The girls and I

It took her a little while to like the sand, but once she did she kept eating it!

Atley liked to walk in the sand

First beach trip!

Phillip and Avery. We took walks on the beach every morning before everyone else was up.

Atley in the bath getting all that sand off!

Avery making faces

We are going to Dallas on Tuesday to see our sweet neice, Brenley Ruth Buster. I'll post and add pictures as soon as we return.!
Shelly

It's been forever!

Sorry it has taken me weeks to update this blog. I usually update on Wednesday nights while Phillip is at ZOE. Last Wed. I was pureeing/steaming/freezing food for the girls for our vacation. We are leaving on Saturday morning at 3:45am to go to Gulf Shores, Alabama for Thanksgiving. Phillip's whole family is going too. We'll be gone from Saturday to Saturday and then by the next Wednesday after that I'll be in Dallas! ( My sister is having her baby girl this Friday! Please be praying for an easy, safe, quick delivery) So we have a lot of traveling ahead of us. Phillip and I have made a HUGE list of items we need for traveling with babies and the beach. We may or may not fit it all in our minivan....

Before we go I wanted to post a few pictures from this past week of the girls.
Avery is getting her third tooth! Top middle left tooth. Atley still has no teeth :)
Atley is army crawling and getting faster every day. Avery is beginning to scoot as well. Both jabber up a storm and LOVE bath time.

When I get back from the beach, I'll try to post a quick blog with pictures from our trip. Then when I get to Dallas I'll try to post some pictures of my first niece! Yeah, I'll be an auntie!

They love to stand up and hold onto things now.
Atley can crawl and pull up on furniture.

Avery eating apples out of her mesh feeder

Atley eating her apples while crawling around the floor

Dinner time!

Avery smiling!
Don't worry, that is not her third tooth on the left....it's a piece of chicken. :)

Atley is getting good at sipping from her sippy cup.
Yes...that is red/brown hair! Her daddy had the same thing :)

Avery is biting her sippy cup. teething....


That's all for now! See you in a week and 1/2!
Shelly

10 months old!

It seems crazy that in 2 months the girls will be one year old! We took a lot of pictures this weekend of them playing in their crib, and in their sweaters from the Schuster's with their initials on them. So fun to get out their new winter clothes. I also posted some pictures from when my mom was here, a cold walk outside, the girl's great grandma Hunter, the Mizzou vs. Texas Tech game, and more...

I have so much hair I can wear a bow!!

Look at my two teeth!

This is my clothes line in the basement. I hang all of the cloth diapers to dry each night.

sick baby

Avery is sick.
Wheezing and coughing.
NO fun, up all night.
But sweet girl still smiles and waves at everyone.
I'll update soon with more pictures and fun things to say.
Right now I'm going to bed....
:)
Shelly

One Year Ago Today

WOW! I never thought a year could go by so fast! One year ago today, I left my classroom at noon and never went back. During my doctor visit, they discovered my cervix had decreased in length by 1cm (which is actually a lot in one week). I was admitted to Labor and Delivery and immediately hooked up to monitors.
It is amazing to think that it was an entire year ago!

My plan today was to go to the hospital and see those nurses who supported me and helped me through those 2 1/2 months. However, the girls had different plans.
The girls woke up at 5am and then cried off and on ALL morning...I never even got in the shower today (that barely ever happens). Even this morning Phillip and I reminded ourselves that one year ago we were fighting to keep these girls, and here we are one year later with healthy, happy babies who are having no complications of being born early! So while they were sick and fussy all morning, I constantly reminded myself how grateful and blessed I am that they are here! The Lord has a funny way of timing things, and doing this out of our "plan".

My mom was here this weekend and watched the girls for us while Phillip and I and about 13 others from our church went to Louisville for The Truth Project conference. It was great to learn more about the Christian World view Vs. a Secular World view and see the truth behind all the lies the world is feeding us. We are doing The Truth Project with our ZOE small groups this year. I really encourage you to spend a few minutes looking at their website and learning more about this. http://www.thetruthproject.org/

This Saturday is Texas Tech VS. Mizzou Football! We'll be at the game sporting our red/gold/black attire so be on the lookout for more pictures coming soon!

Shelly

Phillip's Birthday and my latest "plan"

Happy Birthday to my wonderful husband. He is the perfect provider, spiritual leader, encourager, listener, idea-maker, supporter, hard worker, fun maker, Godly and wise husband I could ever ask for. He is the perfect helpmate for me.

Lately I have been talking Phillip's ear off about all of the new information I am learning and all the new ideas I have about health. The Lord's timing is perfect, and thank goodness I didn't know what I do now while I was laying in a hospital bed for 2 1/2 months...eating hospital food. However, while I was there, the Lord started something for me. When I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes I had to really start watching what I was eating. For the first time I realized that there is really nothing beneficial about carbs or sugar (duh!...where was I in Food&Nutrition in College). In fact sugar feeds fugus which feeds cancer and disease. So after I came home and was no longer gestational diabetic I returned to my old ways. What really made a difference was when I had to start feeding the girls. I knew I would make their baby food, but thought I would just do what everyone else did as far as what foods to introduce when. With the help of my mom, and my mother in law, I was gently guided to my current plan. Why feed them rice cereal, why feed them crackers. Why do all of the things everyone else does just because everyone else, or the FDA does it. I in no way want to be different or stick out, but feel so strongly about my new "plan" that I must tell about it. The girls are only eating vegetables, fruits and protein. We are adding a new food every 4-5 days and are currently working on using our sippie cups (thanks Michelle). So no rice, crackers, or "fillers". Another HUGE dilemma for me was their formula. I've always disliked formula and wished so badly that I could have breastfed the girls. I honestly believe the Lord did not have that in His plans for us, so I made peace with the formula. However, just last week I decided to actually READ THE INGREDIENTS on the back of the can. GROSS! I was disgusted by what they are eating. 46% is Corn Syrup Solids and 10% is sugar. Back to what I was saying about Carbs and Sugar and here you go. Nothing "good" for you. All the vitamins and minerals they have in big font on the side of the can are only 2% of their intake! I immediately went to the health food store to buy goats milk...but I am told over and over not to put your child on goats milk until they are 1 year old. So on Monday we are going to our new doctor (a more natural approach) to just get his opinion. With Avery's excema she has to be on lactose free formula...so that limits our choices right now.
Phillip and I are also trying to watch our diet (this is a work in progress) and basically eat more fruits, veggies, protien and dairy. Cut out the carbs and sugar. Sounds simple really, but carbs are in everything, and if you look...so is sugar. Just read the back of the labels. You'll be amazed.
My feelings too are that I don't in any way want to say other people are doing it wrong. I honestly feel that the Lord has been the one leading me in this direction, and it has been SO exciting for me to learn about this and begin to implement it. There is no "right"way. But I am finding the way we are going to do things.
My mother in law introduced me to a show called "Know the Cause." It is actually filmed in Dallas. If you have direct tv you have it. 1:00pm on 378. This has been incredible for me and a GREAT learning tool. He has a website too at www.knowthecause.com
As I said, this is a work in progress. But for those of you who are around me a lot, you know I've been slightly obsessed with this lately and intrigued by what I am learning.
ps. I could write a whole other blog on my new ideas of immunizations, but I won't. It's just my opinion, and if you watched Oprah's show with Jenny McCarthy you'll know what I'm talking about. 1 in 150! Scary.

Phillip is so supportive of me and all my learning. He constantly has to listen to me ramble on and on about what I learned that week. He is the greatest!
Here is a picture of us celebrating his birthday!



We went to a different pumpkin patch last week - we are addicted!

Love you all!
Shelly

Pumpkin Patch

We went to Rombach Farms on Saturday and had a little photo shoot with the pumpkins.

Avery and Atley enjoying the pumpkins and hay

Avery was ALL smiles!

Atley's new hair doo.

Our Family

We had such a fun time on Saturday at the Pumpkin Patch. What was really cool about it was that it was almost exactly one year ago that Phillip and I went and took this next picture...

I was 5 months pregnant with the twins and this was about 2 weeks before I was put in the hospital. We decided to go back this year with the girls and celebrate a fantastic, healthy, and happy year. We will try to make this a yearly tradition.
The girls loved the pumpkins. Especially Avery. Atley loved the hay. They were so fun to watch, and when they are bigger, we'll take them back to ride the ponies.
We hope you are all having a fantastic Fall!
Love, The Hunters