Allergies, Kisses, and Tornados.

As we have moved past our 12 month and very soon into our 13 month, the girls are experiencing some changes. Our first change we noticed right away is an allergy. When the girls were very little we were very cautious on what we fed them and even had to use a sensitive formula. When speaking to the doctor he spoke of waiting until they were 12 months before introducing them to dairy, especially since I am lactose intolerant. Well, this month we tried it. The toddler ravioli, fishy crackers, pintos and cheese, and cheese sandwiches. OH WOW! We didn't know we were in for it. Soon after introducing this new found food, the girls both busted into a rip roaring rash on their bottoms and private area, which itched them really bad. I felt terrible. I put them both into a baking soda bath and changed their diapers whenever I thought they might be wet. I am still struggling with trying to get rid of it and it has been almost a week. Not to mention, someone gave the girls cheese on accident a couple nights ago and their rashes started back to the beginning.

 Juliana in her baking soda bath.

 One day, I decided to give Olivia some "air time" since she had the worst of the rashes. I put a sheet down and put her in her play pen. I asked Daddy to watch her as I finished up some work. It got really quiet. I asked Mike, is Olivia alright. He then jumps up from his seat, runs over to her and says, "Jenn!!! Yuck!!!" She had pooped and she decided to play with it!!! Mike grabbed her by the underarms and held her in mid air as I tried to clean it off her hands and play pen gate. Yuck! We immediately put her in a bath and washed her down really well. I think Mama learned her lesson to keep the "air time" to the back deck. 

Olivia having "air time" on the back deck.

My Olivia

These girls are going to be under close monitor for awhile. Very strict diets. Not to mention, mama decided that it is time for her to go vegan. I have struggled with dairy so long that it is not worth the fight anymore. So, us girls are going healthy, anyone want to join us? Daddy says no. He still prefers his cheese and milk, although, he has scaled back a lot. 

Daddy and his girls Juliana and Olivia. 

(Olivia's wearing a shirt that says...Blame my sister).

Other changes that have happened are Olivia's and Juliana's kisses. This is the sweetest most precious thing they have done that has made my entire day. Mike and I are very affectionate with our children. We want Juliana and Olivia to know they are always loved and that the world will tell them different but they will always have Mama and Daddy loving them. We might not always agree, but our differences will never make us love our girls any less. Now we are teaching our girls to be affectionate too by giving kisses. Olivia puckers her lips and leans forward if asked to give a kiss. This is so sweet. She does it so eagerly. Juliana has a different way of sharing kisses. She gives Eskimo kisses. She will rub noses with me and then giggle. We will do this until we both are laughing pretty hard. So precious these little ones. Being a parent has made me realize how much God loves us. What a great blessing. 

Daddy giving Olivia a kiss. 

The girls continue to progress in their development. Olivia still prefers to travel on all fours and pull up on everything. Juliana on the other hand is being a little more risky. She is currently crawling to a location, pulling up, and letting go. She stands independently for about 10 seconds now. If she falls, she has learned to fall carefully on her bottom or hands and knees. This makes me feel a little better. I don't think it will be long before she starts cruising around the house.

 Olivia on all fours.

My cruising girls.

Juliana and Olivia have one more item to add to their experiences. Their first tornado. Not many babies have the opportunity to be rudely awakened by being ripped from their crib to get to shelter. Well, Juliana and Olivia have. Yesterday, we knew there were going to be some bad storms that evening. I will admit, severe storms and I do not mix. I was a ball of nerves after I put the girls to bed at 7PM. It was overcast and really windy, gusts up to 40 mph. Mike and I were keeping a close watch on the weather and saw it was getting worse. Mike, being the calm and collected one, told me...."ahhh its going to be alright, there is nothing to worry about", at 9:00PM while a wind advisory and tornado watch were in effect. 10:00 rolls around and the tornado watch turns into a warning and we got a call from our neighbors. They wanted to invite us to their house since they had a basement. Mike told them thank you, and thought we would be alright. 10:05PM is here and the weather man on the TV says "This just in, they have spotted a tornado in Limestone off of 11-E" AHHHH!!!!! That was 5 minutes from where we live! Immediately, I told Mike, "Quick grab the girls, grab the girls!" I packed the quickest diaper bag ever and leashed the dog. Ran into the girls room and grabbed Olivia and threw a blanket around her. Mike put on his coat and grabbed Juliana and her blanket.  Just as we were about to head out the door, I remembered their lovies. We can not go anywhere without those, so I ran into their room and darted to the front door. As we walked to the neighbors, Juliana slept through the whole walk outside. Once to our neighbors we settled in their basement to only wait out for the next 3 hours storm after storm. One particular one, they advised us "Jonesborough," to take shelter since there was huge possibility that a tornado was heading our way with winds going 80-100 mph. God's hand must have been on us, we only saw heavy rain and wind. I have never in my life seen such terrible skies. It was eerie calm and hot. Very scary. We praise God for taking care of our friends and family. There have been so many unfortunate ones that have lost loved ones in this storm. We keep them in prayer.

Tornado in Chuckey, TN- Just 10 minutes from our home. 

We arrived home at 1:10AM. Juliana was already sleeping since 12:30AM and Olivia was still wide awake. A friend asked if we thought the girls were scared. Juliana, not so much, Olivia, yes. I have a feeling she felt how upset I was and when I left her for a moment with Mike, she cried for me. She was very clingy, didn't want to go to anyone and didn't want to be put on the ground to crawl. Mama has now instilled in her daughter Olivia how to fear storms. Oops. J and O's first storm is now logged and they can remember the night they were ripped from their cribs to take shelter. I only pray we don't have that again for a very long time.

Dedication of our Sweet Babies

We have had the best two weekends in a row. The first weekend in April was the celebration of our girls' first birthday and this past weekend was the celebration of our girls' dedication to Jesus. We have been so blessed with these little ones we would love to claim them as our own, but really they are God's children. I only hope and pray we will be able to raise them to love and honor God through the thick and thin. I know in our personal lives, it is easy to try to do things on our own, but when it all comes down to it, we can't do a fraction of what God can do.

On April 9, 2011, Juliana Grace and Olivia Judith were dedicated to Jesus at Johnson City SDA Church. It was a beautiful service. The girls' godparents, Greg and Dawn Schrader, had the children's story and Mama and Daddy helped with praise team. When the church service started we had Oma and Opa Colburn do Scripture and then morning prayer. After prayer, Mama and Daddy had a special video they wanted to share with everyone.

Click here to see Juliana and Olivia's dedication video

We had our girls dedicated by Pastor Micah and the dedication prayer by Opa Colburn. Daddy held the girls during the prayer, as it is tradition from the Old Testament that the father is the one to pass the blessing.

 Opa saying the dedication prayer

After the dedication Toni and Brittany Davis and Mama did special music. After special music Pastor Micah gave the message about parenting.

 Toni, Brittany and Mama

Pastor Micah

It was such a memorable experience and such a joyous time. The Davis family has always been a special part in my life. I (Mama) was Pastor Micah's first baptism, he performed my grandmother's funeral, our wedding, and part of my mom's funeral. So it was very important to me that he dedicate my children. I hope that one day he will be able to baptize them as well. What an honor to have such an amazing family here.

 Olivia and Pastor Micah

Toni and Juliana

Following the service we had a lunch for about 30 people. It was a baked potato bar, with deviled eggs, salad, and veggies. I even made cake pops, which were a hit!

What a wonderful weekend that God has truly blessed. We pray that God will continue to be the central part of our lives that we may be able to instill that in our children's hearts.

 Olivia and Precious

We thank everyone that came for the girls dedication, Nonny, Poppy, Auntie Heather, Davis family, Oma and Opa, Uncle Doug, Aunt Nik, Mick, and Kinnon, Auntie Joy and Uncle Jan, Uncle Greg and Auntie Dawn, Ed, Sandy, and Robin Sanders, Melisa and Walton Heber, Bob and Jody Wolf, and Misty Stein and all of our friends here in Johnson City that have really shown support to our family.

Happy 1st Birthday Juliana and Olivia!

What an amazing and the most wonderful year we had of our lives. On April 3, 2010, our twin identical girls were born. Juliana at 4 pounds 13 oz and Olivia at 4 pounds 14 oz. They have since then grown into beautiful little toddler girls. We are so blessed. For the past two months, I have been working on making their birthday an amazing event.


Starting in February I picked a theme for the girls birthday...Ladybugs.I wanted to be able to have something that would be easy theme to find decorations for. So, I started searching for ladybug items. I found their plates, cups and napkins at Oriental Trading Company, and other items at Michaels craft store.


In March, I had another few challenges, first the menu. I wanted it to be kind of a picnic style party, so I sat down with my friend Joy, and she helped me plan the meal. The menu came down to this....a sandwich bar, with all the toppings, a pasta and potato salad, fruit kabobs, veggie tray, and desserts.

After the menu was planned, we got on the internet to see if we could find our second challenge, a picture of what cake I would like the girls to have. Being that it was a ladybug theme, we obviously wanted the girls to have a ladybug each. So, I found a picture of one and then did what I could to find the right frosting and cake pan.

 Olivia

 Juliana

All of March was busy with making thank you baskets, getting the girls pictures taken, making invites and sending them out, and finding the perfect outfit. My intention was to get the girls to look like ladybugs, but the dresses out there were so expensive so we opted for a sweet spring dresses. That was until shoes were purchased by our girls Godparents, Dawn and Greg.

 Uncle Greg and Auntie Dawn (Godparents)

They bought the perfect shoes with ladybugs on them. Those shoes inspired me to go to Walmart and buy the black pants and red top. But something was missing. I wanted to put them in a tutu, but I couldn't find any that were black and red. My friend Jeanna suggested a link on how to make your own tutu. It looked easy enough so I decided I would make them. It took an hour to accomplish each tutu, but the end result was amazing! The girls were perfect little ladybugs.

 Olivia and Juliana

Ladybug Juliana

 Ladybug Olivia

Yesterday, April 3rd, I went for my Sunday run and then came home to prepare the ending details for the party. We decided that the party would be at 2PM so the girls were able to take a nap before their big event. It was perfect. I made yellow pinwheels and placed them along the sidewalk, and Joy and I were up the night prior until 12:00AM decorating the house with black and red streamers, a banner, and little detail items, like the styrofoam ladybugs. In the end everything was perfect.

The girls had about 15-18 guests and a lot of fun playing and socializing with everyone. They received 4 pillow pets and lots of stuffed ladybugs and 2 stuffed fluffy dogs. They opened lots of clothes, which is a blessing, when you have twins, and they received some books and toys.We are so thankful for friends and family that care for our little ones and for the generosity they have shown all of us. Thank you.

That evening Juliana and Olivia were so tired. We needed to keep them up a little longer so the ladies took a walk and the men went to the golf course. After our walk it was time for a bath, bottle and then bed. It wasn't even 10 minutes and the girls were out sleeping. They were so worn out from their big adventure. What sweet little troopers they were. They did however wake up around 9:30PM wanting to be up, but Mama and Daddy put their foot down and told them it was time to go night night. By 10:30PM we finally convinced them to go to sleep.


What an amazing day and we thank everyone that helped with the food and decorations. We also thank those that took the time to come to the girls' party and make it so special. It means a lot to us and can't wait to share the next year with you. We are truly blessed with such outstanding friends.