New Car

Well I suppose not many of you knew this, but Eric and I have been debating a car change for several months now. We were super determined not to do anything unless it would advance our financial situation. Eric drove a really nice truck...a man's truck. If was a fully loaded, racing development truck.

I have a little Honda Civic that I adore. It is paid off so we didn't want to get rid of it. But with 2 infant car seats in the backseat, there was no room for another person. Eric also had to sit the front seat straight up in order to get the car seats leveled, so his 6'2" frame was not very comfortable. We knew that if any more babies were in order, we would have to get a different vehicle.

I am so excited. We did our research and Eric test drove lots of options. We finally found one that we liked. Now I am a Honda girl all the way, but this car has won lots of awards and I was impressed with it. So after deciding it was a good decision and it put us in a better financial spot, we did it! Eric brought it home after dark, so I didn't take a picture of ours yet, but this is what it looks like...we got a 2007 Mazda CX-9!!

Sitting Up, Lattes, and Sunshine

Today it was 80 degrees and beautiful!! Eric and I took our little "sunshines" out into the sunshine!! The only problem was whatever blew in today...we were only out there for about 5 minutes and we had to come back in, because the girls kept sneezing and Lexi had tears streaming down her cheeks. It seemed like Eric and I blew our noses for the next 30 minutes! This is a picture of Lilly sneezing...poor baby!

It was still worth getting a little sun and soaking up the warmth. We have had several days of warm weather now, but by Saturday it will be cool again! We have been taking walks and sitting outside as much as possible since Monday.

I took pictures of my "twincesses" today and they turned out to be great pictures. Some of the best ones had a smudge across them though...there was an unknown smudge on the camera lens. Woopsie!

I put their little pink sunhats on them, which are soooooo big. Maybe by this summer they will fit. Right now, it is just so much fun to see them in the huge hats. :) I am sure they love it!

Here are my beautiful angels before we went outside...

They sit up so well now. It always amazes me how fast they learn new things and how strong they are.

Where did the babies go? :) :)

Lilly checking out the dry grass...

They love to put EVERYTHING in their mouths...and I mean everything. Tonight, Lilly rolled over on the floor and started trying to taste my foot! Below is Lexi chewing on her new favorite rabbit rattle.

Lexi girl..see the smudge over her left eye...bummer! This would have been the best shot!

Lexi tends to be my more serious child. She was looking around the neighborhood. She looks so big here...they are really catching up. They now fit into their 6 months and 6-9 months outfits. Although I still have about 10 pairs of pants that are 0-3 months that still fit...just a little short. They work as capris! :)

Here is Lexi trying to figure out why her eye was watering. Right after this picture, I had to wipe the tear from her right eye as it dripped down her cheek. She was not sure what was going on...

A little sly smile from Miss Lilly...

A little video footage of the girls playing outside...

Then yesterday, I ran down the street to our local Starbucks...my favoritest place in the whole wide world. Even though nursing requires the decaf, I still enjoy a nice Vanilla Latte every once in a while. One time, Sneezy wanted to know what I had, so after finishing my drink I let him take a lick of the lid. WELL...apparently he loved it and remembered what it smelled like. When I got home yesterday, he got so excited. He came over to me and laid down, placing his chin on my knee and gazing, oh so sweetly, up at me. I was sitting on the floor, playing with the girls.

I finished my coffee, removed the lid, and let him sniff the cup. He immediately stuck his head in the cup, getting foam all over his face, and licked the cup clean. He got so excited that his face was stuck in the cup. Eric got this shot...

Now for the baby food update...The girls have tried all of the vegetables and fruits available for Stage 1. The ultimate favorites (which surprised me) were peas and prunes. They loved green beans and applesauce, but the other two were definitely favorites. We gave them each food for at least 2-3 days to make sure they got used to the flavors and that their tummies wouldn't get upset by anything.

Today, we started mixing it up. We had peas for lunch and bananas for dinner. They were such happy campers. The goal is to keep mixing up for a while and see what happens. When they have that down, we will move on.

This was hilarious though...here we have Lexi. She had not had peas for a while and obviously missed them. After Eric gave her a few bites today, she went nuts. She would eat a bite and then start chewing and licking all over her bib. She was a royal mess. I had to change her clothes afterwards. She had it in the crease of her neck and behind her ears. Eric swears that she was responsible for all of the mess and he did not contribute! Hmmmmm...here she is, in all her messy glory! The second picture is her sucking the peas off of the bib.

At least they had a fun day!! Until tomorrow...

Signing...

Today we officially began a new adventure! We started teaching the girls simple sign language, or baby signing. My best friend, Amy, did this with her daughter and since then, I have observed a few other couples teaching their babies to sign. It is the coolest thing I have ever seen! I don't even remember what I did, but the last time I was in Oklahoma with Amy and Hannah, Hannah told me "thank you" for something. She was only about 16 months old. I didn't realize what she was doing but when Amy told me that she said "thank you", I was touched. Here was a little child who was still learning how to talk and she could convey thanks so easily. It is very helpful for pre-verbal communication.

So I have been learning simple signs myself the past few weeks, and today, I just happened to see a video for teaching babies their first signs. I bought it, and the girls and I had our first movie time...which consisted of watching the video for 15 minutes in their bumbos...then they were done. They have short attention spans (and Toby kept walking by!)...but we finished the last 12 minutes later on tonight.

Wish us luck! We are going to teach them all sorts of fun words...play, eat, drink, more, milk, blanket, mommy, daddy, baby, bath, friend, etc.

A Great Day

We had a great day today and took lots of pictures. We have days like that...where you just find yourself documenting all the cute moments. But before I tell you about today, let me share my favorite picture of the week...I took this one yesterday evening while getting the bath stuff ready. Eric plays with the girls on our bed while I bathe them in shifts. I am looking forward to bathing them together, but for now, I wash each baby separately. (Lexi is in pink) This picture makes me want to say that I have triplets! He he he!

The big deal over the past two days has been the girls new found love, and affinity for, sitting up unassisted!! They had been practicing this feat since Thanksgiving, but never have they done so well until yesterday. The last week or so, they could sit up for about 10-15 seconds, but starting yesterday, we are talking minutes. Today, I sat Lexi up and she just hung out for probably 10 minutes. If she started to wobble, she would just support herself by her arm and then lean back up. It is the coolest thing to see them learn all this new stuff and then do it successfully! This is Lexi below and the next picture is Lilly!

Lexi gets really excited about their little singing "Lilly" frog!
When we first got up this morning, after breakfast, we were playing in the living room. Here are some fun pictures that we took...Isn't daddy sweet with Lilly? :)

Here is me with Lexi...in my VERY COMFORTABLE scrubs. :) I got these from my old boss when I worked in her microbiology lab. In case you are wondering, the print on the scrubs is an image of Staph bacteria. Go ahead, call me a nerd! But at least I was comfy playing with my girls this morning. I did change before going grocery shopping!

Miss Lilly and I were being silly!

For lunch, we had peaches. Lexi liked them but managed to get a bunch on her chin...maybe it is the way Eric feeds her? Hmmmm!! :)

This is the very first time that the girls sat up together. I sat them up and neither one fell over...I was so excited!

Then Lexi got really excited about Sneezy. I am holding her arm because we are still teaching them to be gentle with the dogs. They tend to grab and pull hair...trust me, my scalp could tell you stories!

Then while I was grocery shopping Eric took pictures of Lilly doing her new thing...apparently the coffee table tastes really good! She rolls to it a lot just to try and chew on it! :)

Lastly, I just love these dresses. They were some of the new ones we got on Saturday! Until next time...

New Clothes and New Friends

Well we met the family in Killeen with twin girls yesterday and had such a fun time hanging out going through clothes. Whitney had her girls so well dressed. There were tons of outfits sized 6 months to 12 months, and it took us almost 2 hours to go through them all. Her girls were super sweet and played with my girls the whole time. They are 2 and were so gentle with Lilly and Lexi. They brought my girls their toys and covered them up with their own little blankets. My girls talked to them and smiled away. Three of the four fell asleep with exhaustion by the time we were ready to go. There were just so many clothes that we couldn't afford to get them all yesterday, but she is going to save them for me for another month.

It is just such a joy to meet another mom of twin girls close to the same age as mine. AND...I am going to have so much fun dressing them alike until they are at least 12 months. I even got them swimsuits with little zipper cover-ups yesterday. I left a lot of things I really wanted and liked, but there is no way we could afford ALL those cute outfits yesterday. The clothes are name brand and a few of them still had the tags on them. So, this may bore some of you, but I had to post some pictures of my favorites. We are trying to figure out what the girls are going to wear to their cousin't first birthday party next weekend..such a hard decision.

The pictures don't do the outfits justice, but here is a little sundress that came with matching bloomers. I think it is size 12 months. Next are some cute and hardly worn little sneakers.

This is a onesie with bloomers and then a little breezy skirt that goes over them. It is super adorable.

This is a 12 month sundress with bloomers and below that is a purple dress with little shorts to go under it.
Here is a long-sleeved top with matching jeans.
You gotta have "Twins Rock!" onesies.

Here are the swimsuits...She has matching little terry cloth flipflops that we will buy next time, but since the swimsuits are 12 months, we have time! :)

This is one of my favorites. It is a 3 piece set with a onesie, jeans, and then a light windbreaker. It is so soft and perfect. In fact, I put the coats on them today for our walk around the block. They are nice for this crazy Texas weather.

This is my ultimate favorite...it's a yellow corduroy dress from Gymboree. I am hoping it still fits around Easter. She had several light colored sundresses for the spring that I wanted to get, but since I was budgeting, I just got my favorite. There is only 1 hat, but they can share. Eric said that's how he will tell them apart. :)

Last but not least, here is Lilly modeling her new yellow dress. I could not get her to look at the camera. :)