Mom Jeans ** Enough said!

I REFUSE to go there. You know, give into the frumpiness looming out there in Momsville, but I now know why the "Mom's jean" issue exist. ** Umm, I have birthed three children. I have been pregnant, bigger than imagined possible with my twinnies, and have past 30. I am a stay at home mom meaning- some days I could stay in PJs all day with no make-up on. ** But no, I REFUSE to go there. I feel better about myself when I feel decently confident in my appearance as a normal human being. (My confidence in me leads to a happier, kinder, better mom and wife.) Hmmm... So I decided great jeans was where I needed to start.

Fashion emergency: I don't know any cool stores. I went from professional to maternity to my old clothes from college to maternity and then... we were done popping out kids. My youngest(s) just turned 3; and no more kiddos and the weight is stable. So I went to where the store associates half-kill themselves to assist you. Nordstrom and the Buckle. (I had been checking out girl butts on jeans slyly for a while, looking at brands trying not to stare and be a FREAK. Do I like pockets/flaps, bootcut/skinny, dark/light, or dressy/holey?)

OK, I know that I want:

1. NO FREAKING CRACK!! I don't want to see anyone's crack and I am assuming that they don't want to see mine. And we all know that it is usually GIRL CRACK showing nowadays vs. man crack. I want mine covered ~ like seriously, I am crawling around wrestling with boys. I don't want to even be CONCERNED about crackage.

Solution: A higher rise on the JEANS. 7 and 1/2 inch or more rise. Mid-rise, my solution. Still below the belly button, but guaranteed NO CRACK and room to zip your jeans in the front.

2. A bit of SASS. Oh yeah, you heard me. I want my hubby to stop momentarily when I walk in and notice the attempted cuteness.

Solution: A jean that is truly your size (not a hand-me down that fit decent), your style (so you are happy and confident), pockets you love that make the booty look good.

Here are my FOUR favorite jeans.
Ohhh... I LOVE these. They are MADDIE fit from the Buckle. The rise is 7 and a 1/2 inches, trendy, worn-in look, boot-cut. These are 29 inches long. These are perfect with flats since they are shorter than my other jeans. The pockets are my FAVORITE!
$119 new in store, I got for $23 shipped to my door.

These are a pair of MADDIEs from the Buckle as well. I need the higher rise after having twins.

I don't like my belly showing/hanging out. These do the trick BEAUTIFULLY!

These are a darker denim, 31 inches so I wear them with boots. I almost always wear a heel because I am short. Easy dressed up or down. LOVE them!

The 3rd Pair

Now these jeans are called JOE's Jeans from Nordies. I love the style - MUSE! They have a NINE-9!!! inch rise and are amazing. So comfy. The pockets go from almost plain (the stitching is in navy) to BLING, BLING! Just go and try yourself a pair on. Know your size and style then, get on E-bay and bid. These jeans were $120-160 in Nordies, mine off E-bay were $16.78 shipped to my door. ( I am a stay at home mom~ like I can afford that price for jeans. I just need to find the size and style I want. I am sure some shopaholic overbought jeans and is just waiting to sell them, to ME! So I am an E-bay girl, I only bought one full price pair of capris from the Buckle.)

I cannot say enough good things about Joe's Jeans. There are lots of styles, but I love MUSE.

Ahh... these pretty jeans I am wearing as we speak. These are a dressier, slimmer, darker, non-distressed pair. They are Adriano Goldschmied - THE ANGEL.A little longer, slimmer and dress-up easily. Another E-bay purchase!

All 4 of the jeans above were from e-bay, immaculate condition and shipped to my door. All were $30 and under!

Now these, ... these are skinny jeans. They are from a boutique in CA. I like them enough, but truly only wear them with Uggs and my super-cute rainboots.

The brand is C Pink if interested. Hello, I already did skinny jeans in Middle School. Zippered Jordache jeans were my favorites back in the day. I just have a hard time doing skinny jeans again, so I am kickin' the bootcut. What about you?

So hopefully these musings over cool MOM JEANS vs. the dreaded frumpy MOM JEANS was fun and maybe even helpful. Just reminder MID-RISE jeans fight off CRACK and taking the time to find a type and style you love is worth it. The cost? Relax, if you can adjust to lightly used then E-bay is a JACK-POT and you can afford more than ONE pair.

Now lay it on me. What jeans do you love? Own? Want? Any styles that I should try? I need and love fashion help, because I usually have 3 junior shoppers with me ~ in the dressing room possibly ~ blocking the mirror ~ throwing snacks around and causing me to break into a sweat by the time that ordeal is over.

Cheers ~ Karen

Secret Slacker

Sometimes I like to be a secret slacker.

Lesson 1: Whenever your mom, dad or mother-in-law come over for a visit have a HUGE mound of clean laundry on the couch. Mine gets folded everytime, and NOT BY ME!

Lesson 2: Clean the bathroom (toilet, sink, floors) but leave the cleaning supplies in the uncleaned shower, the hubby is happy to finish up the shower since everything is there and he was going to shower after work anyways.

Lesson 3: Put all 3 kiddos to naps, knowing probably only 2 of 3 will sleep. Then play on the computer for 45 minutes ~ let up the big boy ~ and have him help you clean the rest of the house. Yup, great help and he is just happy to be up!


What are your household cheats or secret slacker moves?

"How was your Christmas?"

Amazing! The boys recovered from strep throat just in time to feel good. They were a FABULOUS age for fun, magic and understanding the TRUE meaning of Christmas. They really understood it.

"Jesus is God's Greatest gift. Because he saves us from our sin. God really loves us. Baby Jesus was the best gift ever." Ahh... sniffles... love them boys!

OK, so we had 3 major Christmas. We started on the 23rd with Corey's Mom's House in the Dalles. We spent the night there and on Christmas Eve morning began Christmas Numero Uno!

Here are the boys guessing what Christmas Present might be their own.

Mazzy made each boy a special card. She totally rocks as usual! She's Great!
Ha! Plus there was moolah in there!

Grant the sports boy got a BETTER BATTER BASEBALL. One of the most fun boy toys EVER people!

Gavin got the cutie polar bear outfit (they are STILL obsessed with polar bears - look at the Pez at the bottom of the picture) and a "digger"/ backhoe!

Gabriel received a leapster explorer and case! Rockin' Awesome.

Plus Mazzy and Papa John still had some snow. Here is the digger outside.

We made a snowman. Look at Gavin- he can't see, but Frosty was cute!

Yup, they named him Frosty and can sing (LOUDLY) the whole first verse.

They were laughing that they gave him a belly-button instead of buttons.

And here is where the fun ended, yup- Grant smacks Gavin with a icy snowball.

Tears, apologies and hugs.

Gavin is out! Corey takes him in and snuggles him up!

It seemed like fun, so all the boys chose blankets on Mazzy's couch!

That evening at my parent's house. Christmas Eve I tortured the the 5 cousins and made them sing Joy to the World for us, Well... because the is the only carol that my 3 littles know.

The boys get some gifts. There were some serious presents there!

Gavin and Grant get bike helmets from Uncle Andy and Sarah!

Gavin won't quit wearing his!

Grandpa and Grandma B. gave the 3 monkeys cute fleece hoodies.

It was a great evening and the food was DELISH!

This is Christmas morning! We spend Christmas at our house, all day us here. The boys needing to fully recover from strep and the business.

Daddy picked out a RC Car for each boy! Gabe's was a piece of Crap, but Gavin and Grant's were AWESOME, fun and EASY!

Gabe's best gift: a small, cordless vacuum!

Here they are excited for the next gift!

Corey was loving his gifts: flannel Carharrts, the softest blanket Evah!!!, a rockin' Chris Tomlin Cd, and Keurig Coffee holder. Yup ~ my first time since Gabe's birth I have done even remotely good at gifts. Could be I finally sleep now! :) The boys best gifts were handmade by Corey TREASURE BOXES for the boys, with real locks and keys stocked with everything cool imaginable. What a DADDY!

And yup ~ me, no make-up, a little sleepy but HAPPY! Happy because God sent Jesus to us, that is our Greatest Gift and my precious family is here with me. I love those 4 boys with all my heart, and there is just something special, magical and HOLY about Christmas. So how was my Christmas? Wonderful, the best yet!!! How was yours?

Questions about Christmas, Gabe's answer! :)

Christmas morning presents!

Three Years Ago ~ my twins were born : Memory Lane

In my wildest dreams, I didn't know that life could be THIS good. I have my family and I adore them. My husband is my best friend. We met when we were 14, were friends until 17, and dated from 17-21, engaged, and then married at 22. We traveled and lived with no cares until we had our first angel baby Gabriel. We liked him so much that on/after his 1st birthday we started trying to have more children. Instantly I was prego, and in May took the "test" ~ POSITIVE!

At 10 weeks I went in to meet with a mid-wife, and found out I needed an ultrasound due to NO PERIOD between Gabe and baby #2. I went in to find out a due date. I told the ultrasound tech, "OH! And please just tell me I am NOT having twins. I keep having these HORRIBLE premonitions." "Sure Honey, " was her response ~ for about 1 minute! Lay back, cold gel squirt, whizzing around my belly. FREEZE ~SILENCE ~ She goes to her computer.

"WHAT?!?! It's twins, isn't it. Tell me! NOOOOOOOOO!!!" Sniffling and crying.

Pretty soon I have non-stop (seemed like it) appointments, get switched to a MD and wait nervously due to all medical personnel terrified at the fact that my twins were identical (and that there was a THIRD ~ triplets!!!)

Soon I find out that they are boys. Here is Gavin and the top, and Grant waving to Gavin on the bottom.
At 5 months people began saying, "Any day now?" Ummm... No, try another 4 months. WHOA was I HUGE!!! By seven months I just recieved stares and pointing. At 30+ weeks people would say a version of, "Oh honey, how many are in there?" I would try not to cry while toting my one year old around. "TWO ~ just two!"

Not for the feint of heart prego pics! 35 weeks. 1 week before I delivered (Dec. 23, 2007)

OUCH, that hurt so bad! I would check daily to see if I was bleeding. I felt like my skin was ripping! Plus I had cankles, heartburn (ICEEs were a staple), sore back, had to take iron, and weird broken blood vessels all over (especially on my face).

Pregant with twins was hard and hard on the body. I wear a tankini now folks. The tummy was unmendable.

I find out that the little twinsies are EACH over 5 lbs. What the WHAT?!?! I removed myself from my last 2 weeks of bedrest and started walking, Costco baby! (the samples were motivating!) Finally steady, HARD contractions and Corey and I head in.

Look at my alien stomach. Oh my GOODNESS. Get these babies out. I want to hold them, snuggle them, meet them, kiss them so bad that I am delirious with adrenaline. Plus, I am a pro; know the ropes and am getting an epidural this round. Praise God. I am confident in the health of the boys and my KNOW of birthing.

So I am admitted at a five (11:00 pm), get an epidural around 3 am, and still am a five in the morning (8:00). My sweet Doctor comes in and I ask her to break my water she agrees and leaves. I try some Bradley method stuff, working with your body on the contractions and from (8:30-9:30) go to a TEN!!! Call my doctor back!!! Corey and my mom scrub up and come to the OR with me, where I will be giving birth. ***Side note: small babies come out WAY easier.

We (Me/Corey/Mom ~ My Doctor and her partner Doctor ~ Their nurses ~ Two NICU teams ~ Anesteologist ) all pile in the room. Around 10:30 we are set up to PUSH, Gavin is out at 10:38 am. Grant isn't coming, worried looks, spotlights on, doctors whispering. They say that Grant is stressed and he will need a C-Section. Prep (numb me, move me, usher out Corey and my mom) when I annouce, "NO! He is stressed. I am stressed. I am freaking out. Let me calm down and try one more time. Please," I ask my doctor. She agrees. Freakishly the lights go out, everyone leaves accept for 1 nurse. Corey comes back in with Gavin. Finally I tell the nurse, out of NO WHERE, "I N*E*E*D to push." Doctors back in. I ask a nurse to get my mom. She's in, I push about 7 times and here is my second, perfectly healthy Monday morning miracle. Now he was thoroughly bruised, but again perfect. Praise be to GOD. Every perfect gift comes from Him.

Here I am back in "my" room. Holding my babies together for the first time.

BLISS ~SURREAL~ LOVE

Here I begin learning so much my first year:

Holding two babies and tandem nursing two babies

learning to love my two little ones, discover their differences

switch gears from a family of 3 to a family of 5, teach our boys what it means to be brothers

learn how to comfort two babies, have a deaf ear to crying, know that they really NEED to be touching, learn how to find time with each infant individually and my 1 year old

learn how to feed to babies, burp two babies

double diaper and dress two little ones, see devoloping personalities

bathe 2 or 3 little boys simotaneously, stop painting the toenail and fingernail blue on Grant trusting yourself you know who is who, secretly love all of the stares, giggles and smiles they get because they are truly a DOUBLE BLESSING!

We survive TWINSOMNIA and reach their first birthday. They are almost walking, right on track, great sleepers and the pieces that filled the heart of our small family.

Happy First Birthday Gavin and Grant!

Make a wish little angel babies.

You two were all I could have dreamed up and more!

Hmm... pictures are fun. One baby looking and smiling is tricky, two is ridiculously hard.

The year between one and two BLEW by. It was so fun. They walked, babbled, giggled non-stop and developed DISTINCT personalities. The twin connection though is uncanny.

Now here they are, almost 3. Still best friends! *How special to be born with a best friend.* I cannot imagine the only having one baby. THEY (the two) make our life complete.

And yes, for the record ~ I only dress them matchy 50% of the time. They coordinate often.

So 3 years ago today (Dec. 31st, 2007) was one of the 3 best, most precious days of my life. (Married to Corey ~ Gabriel's birth ~ Gavin and Grant's birth) I cannot think of a higher calling to mothering these 3 angel babies, more precious gifts from God, or a more perfect family than God picking the 5 of us to be THE COWART CLAN.

* I love talking TWINS. Have any questions? I would love to "chat". Memories of these 2 or this crazy time? Parts were somewhat of a blur! :) Comments appreiciated!