We're 7 Months Old!!

I cannot believe that my girls are 7 months old today! Six months seemed like such a milestone but now I realize how close they are to being 1 year old already! I don't even want to think about it. It just goes so fast!

We had a rough start to our morning but it turned out great by around 9 am. The girls woke up coughing at 6:15, so we got up, and got them changed and fed. They were still coughing so I gave them some benadryl and then they passed out in bed with Eric and I. We never sleep with them in our bed, but we just snuggled them in between us and let them fall asleep next to us. It was really sweet and I just love tender moments like that. In my opinion, there is nothing better than smiling at the man I love from across our innocent, sleeping angels!! We don't have to say anything. I just know that we love each other and are completely content in that moment...just the four of us! :) Sorry, I got carried away, but it was really sweet!

In order for you all to understand another part of my blog, I have to give you some background information...my mother-in-law sent the girls a gift card for Christmas in order to purchase some walkers. We got the jumperoo before Christmas and have posted pictures of the girls in that, BUT there has been drama with the second one. Eric picked out the second one that we wanted to get, however our WalMart never had it in stock. So I started checking online and it was out of stock everywhere...and I mean, everywhere!! I checked about 7 different places. We finally found it on Amazon and ordered it. 3 days after ordering it, we got an email stating that they were out of it and could send us one sometime in February. We canceled the order. This particular item had won a lot of awards as one of the best toys of the year. I guess it was just sold out for Christmas. About 2 weeks ago, we found it available again at WalMart.com, so we ordered it AGAIN! Then we received an email saying that they were out, and if they could not send us one within 10 days that they would cancel the order.

I told Eric that he should just pick out a different one because this was getting ridiculous. Well, yesterday we received an email telling us that it was at the store waiting for us!! Of course, we were super excited. Eric went and got it right away and we put it together while the girls slept.

After they woke up this morning and were feeling better, they got to play with it for the first time! We told them that Nana and Papaw had sent them a gift for the their 7 month birthday and they were really excited!! That LONG story explains some of the pictures below.

My little ones playing on the bed this morning before I got them dressed! Lexi slept on her hair funny and it stuck up on top all day...it was too cute!! Lexi is on the left...

Here they are in their adorable little dresses sent from Aunt Denise, Uncle Greg, and their twin cousins, Ashley and Alyssa! I love these dresses...once again, if you can't tell from the hair, Lexi is in purple! :) Eric got them to smile.

This is Lexi checking out her "birthday" present!! It is so great! She is playing the piano in this picture. The girls can walk around the activity table in that seat and when they get too big, the seat can be removed and the table can be used as a toddler toy. It's really cool!

Lilly played the piano and tried to jump, thinking it was a jumperoo too!! She played with it for a long time. Here she is "taking a break" and leaning over the seat.

I put Lexi in the jumperoo while Lilly was exploring her new toy and they spent a lot of time talking to each other!

Lilly spends a lot of time squealing loudly and making happy faces...case in point...

Then while I cooked dinner, the girls rolled around on a blanket (Eric was observing)...and somehow, Lilly ended up resting on her sister! They were so cute. They stayed like this for about 15 minutes, once again, talking to each other! I think we have some little talkers..poor Eric!!

These last two pictures are sooooo funny! Lexi pulled one of her favorite books out of her toy basket. They got 2 of these books for Christmas and totally love them!! They are cloth books and the girls use them like blankets half of the time. As you can see, Lexi buried herself in the book and then could not get it off. Eric snapped these pictures as he laughed at her...

So another day has come and gone. My girls are a day older and I love them a billion times more than I ever expected to love anyone. I think we took 62 pictures today...and just random fun pictures of smiles, frowns, giggles, and tongues being stuck out! I wonder how many pictures we will take on their 1st birthday!! Uh oh! Goodnight, all!

Yesterday and Today

Eric and I took the girls to see Dr. Riser yesterday. Lilly's cough was worse and Lexi was clearing her throat a lot. I know that I was being one of those "first time moms", but with the girls being early, I wanted a little extra assurance that their lungs were okay and that they were not heading into dangerous territory.

Dr. Riser said that their lungs sounded great with no problems and that their ears looked great. They just have a cold and the throat clearing is most likely her reaction to the drainage. They were so out of it yesterday and I felt bad for them. Today, they were more alert and more like their normal selves...of course, I was a mess today! I caught their cold and was miserable. I couldn't breathe and have now rubbed my nose red and raw. So, I called a pharmacist and asked what I could take while breastfeeding. She said I could take some benadryl, so I did...YIKES!

I have only taken Benadryl one other time in my life and fell asleep in church because of it. :) But that was almost 15 years ago and since this was Children's Bendryl, I figured it wouldn't affect me as much. Ha! I was a walking zombie all day. I was fuzzy headed and shakey and couldn't keep my eyes open for the longest time. I slept while nursing the girls and then Eric let me go nap for a while too. It took from about 9 am until 4:30 pm to clear my head. I think I will just suffer it out from now on.

This is Lilly feeling better today...she was giggling and smiling away when I snapped this one.

Lilly Bug practicing her crawling pose....she kicks her legs really fast and tries to scoot forward!

This one turned out cute. They both grabbed my hand and held it tight. I could cuddle with them all day and night.

I think they look so much alike in this one.

And we tried green beans for the first time today...Next to the peas, I think they like these the best!! The first picture is Lexi and the second is Lilly!

I wish this video had sound. Lexi was chewing on her burp cloth and making funny noises. She acted like she wanted to eat it and then fell right to sleep!

Microbiology

I was looking through some old photos today and was reminiscing about a previous job I had at Baylor. Call me a nerd but I really do love biology. For the most part, I love the macro stuff, the stuff you can see...birds, mammals, human anatomy & physiology, BUT then there is microbiology.

I worked as a lab manager/lab technician for the microbiologist at Baylor after finishing my Master's degree. I LOVED that job! There were stressful, boring, or tiring days just like with any other job in the world, but I had so much fun working with Michelle and Samir and the other people who came and went from our lab. I might have worked there longer, but we ran out of grant money (which paid my salary) and God had other things in store for me!

I got to help Michelle and Samir work on a cool project for a lot of my time in the lab dealing with E. coli. We collected and grew a lot of that special little bacteria. :) It is, to this day, my favorite little guy...well, as long as it is in a petri dish!

On one of my last days working in the lab, there were some agar plates that needed to be used up, so Michelle and I had a little bit of fun with them....sure, go ahead and call us nerds, but it was truly fun!! The agar on some of the plates was specifically made for E. coli, in that only, that bacteria grew blue on the plate. So here are some pictures of the plates that we made...we drew farm animals and wrote our names on the plates...These pictures make me laugh so much! I miss you, Michelle!!!

And in one last note, I want to share another one of my favorite things with everyone. Some of you may not know about these little guys...www.giantmicrobes.com. They are so cool! I now have about 6 or 7 and definitely need to get lots more. I got "gangrene" for Christmas this year. Please don't think I am crazy, but I have them displayed in our guest bathroom on the window sill. The girls recently noticed them. Now, everytime we go into that bathroom, the girls can't take their eyes off of them. They want to play with them, but I just can't seem to come to grips with the thought of handing "ebola" to my daughters to play with! :) :)

It's A New Week

I had such a wonderful morning because I used my gift certificate that was one of my Christmas presents from Debbie and my dad...I got a massage!! It was awesome!! I got a 30 minute swedish massage and then a 15 minute facial and scalp massage. My scalp still smells like peppermint. Thanks you two, I love you so much!! :)

It was so cold out and I came home to my sweet family with a fire in the fireplace, and two little girls with big smiles. It had been raining for hours and while there was no ice on the ground, our trees were coated in drippy icicles!! It was actually quite pretty! Our house is in a small neighborhood but our yard backs up to a large, un-developed field with lots of cedar trees and brush! Here are a few pictures of our view this morning...

Yesterday, I took some pictures of Lexi doing her daily activity of squirming in her bouncer seat. She loves to sit up in her seat. They are sitting up better and better on the floor, but she is perfect at it in her bouncer. She likes to turn around on her belly and then get her knees on the ground, and fall to the ground. She kept sitting sideways too...the video is of her playing as well. Note Lilly's sweet smiles at the end of the video...she is becoming a ham with the camera!

This is Lilly smiling when her sister was about to fall out of her bouncer!! She doesn't look sick, does she? :)

Next, for lunch today, we tried carrots. I figured since I have taken and posted pictures of all the other foods up to this point, why stop now...first is Lilly.

After eating cereal for the past few weeks and now with the brightly colored foods, the bibs have been taking a beating. So I made a special trip to WalMart yesterday to purchase my new favorite item...PLASTIC, sink-washable bibs!!! They rock!

Yesterday, Lexi fell asleep in her daddy's arms, so of course, I took their picture. She tucked her head under his chin as I was about to take the picture. The girls snuggle really well with daddy!

The last picture shows this same thing...later that night, after putting them into their jammies, I set them on the couch with Eric. I had planned to go into the kitchen and make their bottles. Then we were going to put them to bed. They had been full of energy when I set them up there...this was about 3 minutes after setting them down! Guess they were sleepier than we thought!