10 Months (Let's Just Pretend)

Dear Hadley and Harper,

What active little girls you have become.  You are both crawling and pulling up on everything!  You have learned to play peek a boo with each other.  Which you think is so funny. You are playing with each other and even teasing each other by holding a toy up infront of your sister's face and then moving it away right when she goes to grab it.  You love to watch Mickly Mouse Club house on TV.  Hadley, you bounce your little body when the songs come on. You must have dance moves like your daddy. You are not doing a very good job taking a bottle anymore.  I think it is because you would rather be moving and playing than having to sit still long enough to drink the whole thing.  You have woken up a few times in the night this month.  That is how I knew you had an ear infection.  For the most part you still sleep 12-13 hours at night and take 2 long naps during the day.  You are wearing size 3 diapers and going through them quickly for some reason.  You love to eat and make a mess on the floor.  It is hard to go anywhere right now because you always want to get down and crawl. I am looking forward to watching for your first few steps someday soon.

Love,
Mom

All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth!

Namy and Grandbobby took all of the girls to see Santa.  Rudolph was resting for his upcoming responsabilities so Santa was flown in on a helicopter from the North Pole.  He landed on the 4th hole of the golf course.

We watched him land, had lunch, and  drank hot chocolate. Then went to see the Big Man!

The girls did MUCH better than I expected with Santa.  They sat on his lap and asked him for their two front teeth for Christmas.  We posed for a few photos and then let McKenzie have a turn with Santa.

I think Kenzie was just disappointed that Santa did not bring Rudolph .  She told him how she felt.

Let the Games Begin!

Martin was not home last night for our dinner/bathtime/bedtime routine, so let's just say it was not pretty at times. There was a good bit of crying, mostly because the girls were tired and wanted to be held. I could not hold them both at the same time and make dinner, put on pjs and change diapers. We managed to get through our routine and put everyone in bed. A few minutes after I put them in their cribs, I heard them laughing. Their laughing got louder and they could not catch their breath. I ran upstairs to look in the monitor and found them playing their favorite game, peek a boo together. They took turns bending down and popping back up. I could not catch the initial excitement and laughter on the video, but I did get the end of their game.

This is all from the monitor screen.

Hadley kept falling down. Harper was waving "hi" to her sister.

2 Sick Babies...and a Partridge in a Pear Tree

The girls have had a runny nose for a few weeks now, and I have debated taking them to the doctor.  They have not really ever had a cold before.  I knew they would not do anything for them until it had been a few weeks.  Last night, I finally decided that Hadley may have an ear infection.  She woke up in the middle of the night and that rarely happens.  She was pulling on her ear, but she never had a fever or really cried. 

So I decided to make two appointments this afternoon for both girls.  I was right, they both have double ear infections and Harper also has a sinus infections.  After the appointment it got a little crazy.  Martin was working late so I took the girls to get their antibiotics.  It took them 45 minutes to get their prescription filled.  Both girls had a full diaper and wanted out of their car seats.  I ended up sitting in the pharmacy parking lot, in the back seat, between their car seats feeding the girls mac n cheese with my fingers there was food everywhere. This is a great memory for our first of many colds...
This is what 2 sick babies look like....

They are happy all the time. Sweet girls!

Baby It's Cold Out There!

 This is how we usually eat dinner....Naked.  It is just easier to strip them then to scrub stains out of their clothes.  We have been doing this ever since they were old enough to eat baby food. 

Well, Harper started to shiver during dinner, so obviously I would rather have stains then for her to be cold.  I just put any clothes on her that were in the diaper bag and this is what we ended up with.

Such a funny picture.

2 Little Turkeys

I am trying to catch up, and update all of the picture we have taken this month.  My camera is broken so I have had to use my camera phone..pictures are not as good.

The girls had their first Thanksgiving 3 times.  We celebrated and ate a traditional Thanksgiving dinner with all the family, then some of the family, and then some more family.  The girls loved all three of their Thanksgiving meals.

I have been waiting a long time to wear these little turkey outfits. 

We are sooooo blessed to have a sweet friend who allows us to borrow her girls' clothes. 

Hadley tried macaroni and cheese for the first time. She LOVED it.  She was shoveling it in faster than I could put it on her tray.

 Harper was full after all her turkey and mashed potatoes.

Hadley and Namy, "walking off" their meal together.

9 Months...oh so late!

Dear Hadley and Harper,

9 months old has been so much fun!  You girls talk and laugh all the time.  I so enjoy lying on the floor with you, tickling and rolling around.  You shake your head No No No when you want to play, because you know it always makes us laugh.  Your absolute favorite game to play is Peek a Boo.  You laugh out loud every time we say “boo.”  You play it by yourself and you play it with each other. 

You girls have your first cold.  Two sick babies is a lot of work. We called poison control for the first time this month because I gave you Benadryl before bed……and so did your dadJ.  It was no big deal, but we called just to make sure.

You can both sit up on your own very well and with great posture.  You pull up to your knees.  Hadley, you are days away from pulling up to your feet.  Your favorite show to watch is Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.  I like to hear your daddy sing all of the Mickey Mouse songs.

You are still taking 2 naps a day.  You sleep 12-13 hours at night.  Your naps last about 2 hours sometimes 3 hours. We put you to bed around 6:30 or 7pm.  And you sleep until 7:30ish in the morning.  You are wearing 6 months clothes and some 9month pajamas.  You wear size 3 diapers.  We go through about 10 diapers a day and an extra large canister of formula in 5-7 days.  You are starting to drink less formula in your bottles and eat more table food (4, 6oz bottles a day).  You girls have tried a lot of new foods this month and you are pretty good at picking up the food and putting it into your mouth.  You mostly eat peas, green beans, bananas, strawberries, macaroni noodles, cheese, chopped up chicken, scrambled eggs and still some baby food like sweet potatoes and apple sauce. And your FAVORITE snack is veggie straws.  You hate your car seat, especially you Harper, so I am constantly passing Veggie Straws back to you just to avoid screaming.

Hadley I love that you smile when you hear someone else laughing.  You have such a happy spirit.  You crawl into the playroom by yourself and get out your favorite toys and books to play.  I would say that you are the “ring leader” of the head shake No No No!  You do it all the time, because you always want to play. You LOVE to eat.  You and Harper smack your lips and makes this “mmoop” sound when you are hungry.  It cracks me up. Hadley, I did the Heimlich on you this month, I was passing a banana in front of you and you chomped down on it, getting a big bite as I moved it past your face. I did not know you were so fast. Your spitting up has gotten so much better. We started giving you an anti acid medicine that has helped A LOT.  It taste horrible, you are a champ at taking medicine….unlike your sister.

Harper, you LOVE to be held especially at the end of the day.  You will crawl into my lap and whimper until I pick you up.  You raise your arms up when I say “so big” you always wave “hi” and “by” when we tell you too.  You talk all the time in such a sweet high pitched voice.  You are the “ring leader” in getting your sister to play with you through your cribs when it is time to take a nap.  You girls will pull up onto the rails and face each other in your own crib.  We can hear you talk and laugh in your cribs for over an hour during nap time.  I watch the video monitor like it is a Television and laugh out loud. You still have some stranger danger…but getting better.  We have a basket of diapers out living room.  Your favorite thing to do is to pull all of the diapers out of the basket.  You pull them out one at a time and throw them behind you.  You probably do this 10 times a day:)

This age has brought on the challenge of trying to figure out how to hold you both when you crawl into my lap crying at the same time.  I am getting pretty good at picking you both up and the same time and carrying you to a new location.  I think this is my favorite age to far!

Capturing your picture is getting more challenging:)

Peek a Boo

9 Month Stats

We took the girls to the pediatrician yesterday for their 9 month check up.  They did great.  They are finally back on the "charts." I didn't really care, but I would like to officially get rid of ALL of my 3month clothing. They are both in the 5th percentile.

Harper weights 15.6 pounds and is 26.5 inches long.

Hadley weighs 15.7 pounds and is 27 inches long.

Harper's head circumference is 18.2 inches. (95%)

Hadley's head circumference is 17.5 inches (76%)

These girls have a lot of brains!!!!

Of course, I almost cry every time they get shots, but after some cherry flavored Tylenol and a veggie straw...they were happy and smiling!

No No No

They have no idea what "No No" means but they think that shaking their head is hilarious!

They shake their head in the middle of playing or laughing.  I think it is their way of being silly, because Martin and I laugh every time.
I also think it is so funny how they always want to eat off of their sister's tray, even though it is the exact same food.

Two Little Pumpkins

We have had a lot of fun in this beautiful fall weather.  The weekends in October were full of family, fun and pumpkins.

We went to Burt's pumpkin patch with our cousin McKenzie. 

My sister took this picture to help me understand why I draw so much attention to myself.  We do get stopped a lot to "talk about twins." I don't mind chatting with the strangers, it is only when I am in a hurry that I become a little flustered.

We call that Hadley's Bulldog face

Sweet Harper

This is the pumpkin that the girls wanted to bring home:)

We went trick or treating with daddy

and we had a costume party at Nammy's!

 The girls were trying to climb up the step at Nammy's house.  We were all cheering them on.  Kenzie thought it was funny and wanted to show them how it is done.

She was giving Harper a pep talk!



8 Months

8 months old.  Unbelievable.  One, because I never thought I would survive this long with twins, and two because they have gotten so big!

Dear Sweet Hadley and Sweet Harper,

The month of August has been a blast!  You are so mobile and active.  You want to play all the time. You never get tired of us tickling you and making silly noises.  There are many days that I am "out of breath" when I finally put you in your crib at night.  But I still love every bit of fishing things out of your mouth, following behind you as you crawl, and wiping up the never ending spit up. 

Hadley, you wear a permanent smile all day long.  You tongue is always hanging out but your grin shines through.  You never refuse food, but you spit so much of it up, no wonder you are always hungry.  You kick your feet constantly. You are like a little puppy that never stops wagging her tail.  You make ridiculous growling noises, especially while you are in your car seat.  They are loud and deep squeals.  You think it is so funny and you do it over and over again until your throat is dry and you start coughing.  You have officially moved from the army crawl to a real hands and knee crawl.  Although Harper is still doing the army crawl, she can keep up with you...no problem.  You are even starting to sit up by yourself.  You fall over quickly but will stay sitting for a minute or two.  You love the tub.  You kick and kick your feet.  I always know you had a good time in the tub, when the walls are covered in water.  Your dad likes to put a good bit of water in the tub so that you can splash a lot (and make a huge mess).  

Harper, you are more mellow than your sister.  You make sweet cooing noises, and say a lot of mamamamamamam, dadadada in this high pitched voice.  I call it your singing.  You love when I make choo choo noises or smack my lips.  You think it is funny to put your fingers in my mouth and grab my tongue.  You have such a funny trick that you play with your dad.  You throw your head back every time your dad says, "Wazzz Up?" You eat well, but become impatient while I feed your sister bites of food. You get 3 meals a day and 4 bottles.  We have tried almost every fruit and vegetable.  We give you veggie sticks, mum mum crackers, peas, and rice crispy cereal. 

You girls definitely know each other now. You crawl all over one another and grab at each other's eyes and toes.  When one is crying loud the other will start a sympathy cry.  I think you have grown a lot this month.  We have a check-up soon.  I am guessing you weigh 15.5 pounds, which is still tiny for your age but maybe we made it back "on the charts" We have moved you up to size 3 diapers.  They are a little big but size 2 is a little small.  You are wearing 6 month clothes (some 3 months).   Your the best babies that we could imagine!

Love, Mom and Dad

Harper Singing!

Swings

I have always wanted to take my girls to the park, but it never made any sense to go, because they can't walk or even sit up.  Well, we walked to the park in our neighborhood a few weeks ago to let McKenzie play and I figured we would just watch and enjoy the beautiful weather. 

I decided that I would try to put them in the swings, but really thought that they would just slump over and cry.  As soon as I started pushing them, they LOVED it.  They both laughed and giggled every time I said, WEEEEE

7 Months

Well I am only 15 days late this time.  Maybe next month I will be closer to their actual "birthday."

Hadley and Harper,

Seven Months old has made me say "I am feeling the craziness of twins" out loud, once or twice.  You girls are mobile. I can't let either one of you out of my site, but I can hardly hold both of you at the same time anymore.  This is very challenging when I am alone with both of you and I need to take you upstairs for a bath, or downstairs to eat. I feel like every day is a marathon, but it is a rewarding run and a lot of fun. 

We have hit some milestones this month, You both have teeth and you can both crawl.  It is still the "army" crawl but none the less you can get where you want to go, and quickly. 
Teething has not been that bad so far.  There has been a few days that your teeth got the best of all of us, but otherwise you have not had any major changes in temperament or activity. 
Your favorite toys are little rubber ducks (you like to suck on their heads), a little doll house girl that your cousin left over here, a cloth flower that makes a crinkling noise when you touch it's petals and any rattle or ball that makes a shaking sound when you roll it.  You also love the TV remote, the baby monitor, and Mommy's cell phone. We try not to let you have any of these but, sometimes you find them.
 
You are still great sleepers, you sleep 12 hours at night and take 3 long naps during the day.  We tried to eliminate your third nap but it did not work very well, so you are keeping all three for now. 
You still get 4 bottles a day (2 are 6oz and 2 are 8oz).  Just recently we have taught you how to hold your bottle!  You have NO IDEA what this means for mommy and daddy.  Feeding 2 bottles is such an ordeal.  You were both propped up on pillows, we had to use both hands to hold the bottles and then every 2-3 oz we had to put both bottles down to burp you one at a time, you both would scream until you got your bottle back.  There are still many days that we go through this process, but it is getting easier now that you can hold your bottle some. You are now eating baby food for breakfast and dinner.   You eat fruit, oatmeal and rice cereal for breakfast and peas, carrots, or green beans for dinner.  After dinner we give you a piece of fruit for you to suck on. You are both silent once we give you your fruit....until it is gone and you let us know that you need another piece.  We let you get MESSY and then carry you up to the tub.

You still go to Ms. Maria's house during the day.  You'll love to laugh and smile at her.  We still have to paint your toenail, Hadley.  Ms. Maria can't tell you apart yet!  Even after being with you everyday for 6 months:)
 
Your great grandma passed away this month.  It was the first time I had to leave you.  It was a hard weekend in many ways but Daddy did a great job of sending me pictures and keeping me up to date about was going on at home.  You girls would have loved to hear your grandma sing the Oklahoma fight song to you. 
Hadley, you never stop smiling. You can play independently well, but you also liked to be held.  You have both learned that if you whine, we will pick you up.  You will let me rock you before putting you in your crib.  We have such special time singing, tickling and kissing before I put you to bed.  You enjoy your paci at night, and hardly ever cry.  You have 2 bottom teeth and love to drool........and spit up.
Harper, you like to suck your bottom lip.  I don't know if it is habit, or makes your gums feel better.  You enjoy being held. You play independently, but not for too long.   You let me rock you a little bit, but you think it is so funny to try to put your paci in mommy's mouth while we rock.  You don't care about your paci much at all.  You sometimes have to fuss a little before you fall asleep.  You definitely know that when I put you in your crib that means that I am leaving...you don't like that very much.
You both kick your feet hard when we come to get you from your crib. It is one of my favorite parts of the day. 
Thank you for being such sweet babies!  Often times I say to your dad, "What is it like to have 1 baby?" and he always answers "It would be boring."  I agree.  We love our crazy life.

Love,
Mom
 

Appetites the shape of Texas

We started working on using/accepting a spoon with rice cereal at 5months old. Harper did really well.  She opened her mouth and swallowed what was on the spoon without a problem.  But sweet little Hadley really did not like the spoon or the cereal.  She would gag or spit every time I put the spoon in her mouth.  We kept practicing and finally after a few days she started to enjoy the rice cereal.  She could not quite swallow the food for a while, but they got it now.
We started giving them fruits and veggies at 6 months old.  They have eaten everything we have tried.

 Hadley does make a sour face at apple sauce but she still opens her mouth for more.  Martin and I laugh every time she tries it.

The girls are now getting breakfast and dinner.  At almost every meal Hadley sits like this.  I guess she thinks she can get to the food faster....she has come a long way.

I have been making their baby food and freezing it in these ice cube trays.  So every night I pop out two "Texas peas" and have dinner:)

The girls are OBSESSED with these fruit/mesh holders.  They love watermelon, cantaloupe, berries, bananas...anything we put in them.  They cry when they are empty or when we take them away to refill them with fruit.  They make a MESS but they are great!