Life with twins as an AMA mom !

Wait...what?!

Well, I just got the invitation to participate in this blog (thank you, glorious leader/s!), and I'm looking forward to sharing some of *my* life with all of you! (At least some of the more interesting parts! :-)

Brief intro (not really brief, but just play along with me for a minute): My name is Carolyne (or CJ for short) and I live in the great state of Texas. I'm not a native, but I sure sound like one after living here since I was 12! ;-)


My life revolved around hpts for many years!
Now, by the grace of God, it revolves around my kids!

I am the mother (that sentence STILL brings a tear of gratitude to my eye after all this time!), after years of dealing with infertility, miscarriages, and a number of fertility treatments & IVF procedures (thanks to God that we have had wonderful insurance to be able to do all this!), of 3 miracle children. My oldest daughter, Maya Grace, was the result of my third IVF in 2000 and is 9 going on 19--yes, tweenie angst is our friend (NOT) here!
This is Maya:

Isn't she beautiful? :*) And smart to boot!

My twins, Samuel and Sarah, were the result of our "one last time" IVF(#6!) try in 2007. This is my son Sam:

My handsome boy, before his buzz haircut on 5/2.
He's the sensitive one.

And this is Sarah:

We call her "Mini-Maya", 'identical' twins
separated by 7 years! :-) She's the clown in
our house!

All 3 are the loves of my life. :*) Sam and Sarah were born in July of 2008 (someday I'll share all the exciting birth stories with you, I never could do anything easy). I find it so hard to believe they will be two years old in a few months!!

Now you may be wondering what that "AMA" stands for--especially since it seems like a lot of the moms here are younger than me. For some reason God had me wait a really, REALLY long time before my family came along! AMA is a medical term that means -*gasp*- "advanced maternal age"--yep, I'm what they used to call a 'late in life' mother. How old am I then? Hold onto your hats! Next year I'll be the big 5-0!! Yep, that's 50 in human years! :-)

Let me give you all a moment to catch your breath as you think about that OLD age. That really, REALLY OLD age. 1...2...3...there, it should have sunk in by now. LOL.
I can hear the comments now: "WHY WOULD ANYONE HAVE LITTLE KIDS WHEN THEY'RE THAT OLD?!" It wasn't like we planned it this way! ;-)

My husband and I started trying to have a family after we married in September 1994.
Yes, this was before cell phones, laptops, YouTube and Facebook were popular!

I had Maya just after I turned 39 (both of our birthdays are in October). I was 46 when I had the twins in 2008, just a month after I had BRACES taken off my teeth! (More adventures.)

Yes, my life has been anything but ordinary, that's for sure, LOL. So many stories, so little time...well, maybe some time, now that the twins are getting older and more independent.

So now, this forum has arrived, and a chance to share some stories about my history with my precious kiddos, my views as an AMA mom, and just life as it happens with the twins and Maya in general (I'll try to skip politics and religion, I've got another blog and Facebook for that). ;-)

That's about enough for an introduction for now, it's getting late and Maya's got school in the morning, and the twins get up early! Y'all sleep tight, and don't let the bedbugs bite! :-)