My Little Fishies

So, after researching quite a few different swim programs for the girls; we finally decided in ISR or Infant Swim Rescue. With so many backyard pools in AZ, you hear of drownings nearly everyday. For this reason, we wanted our girls to be able to save themselves should the worst happen. You can check out a video on youtube than is pretty amazing. They re-enact an 11 month old falling in a pool, then floating for 10 minutes before his Dad comes out to get him. Crazy to watch!!

The goal for Audrie & Ellie is to learn swim-float-swim. So they will go under water, open their eyes to find the exit & start swimming to it. When they need air, they roll into back float then go back to swimming. We are starting their 3rd week today and they are doing amazing. It still involves some tears; but this is entirely normal until they are confident in their abilities.

Last Friday's lesson was incredible. Both of them are doing really well at breath control, opening their eyes, and finding the bar at the edge of the pool. On Friday, the instructor was still keeping a hand on them, but said it was really to make sure they stay confident & keep working. Both of them when laid on their back in a float would initiate rolling over to swim and find the bar and pull themselves up out of the water.
The lessons are intense...she comes to our house M-F for 10 minutes with each baby. It is really neat to watch though as they improve each day. Hopefully these lessons will lead to them be great swimmers & to love the water. Since I have no pictures yet...sort of hard to handle a camera and getting 2 babies in and out of the pool by myself; I'm posting some more scrapbook stuff. This week hopefully Justin will make it to a few lessons and we'll get some photos and video.

Dad & Audrie's Project

We finally got the girls "Big" present for their birthday on our doorstep last week. We needed more storage for their books and toys, so we got them a new book case. Audrie was Dad's little helper putting it together. Ellie would have helped, but she was watching from the background in her jumperoo. The only thing Audrie was missing was her tool bench. She also got a little tool bench for her birthday and she carries it around all of the time like she's getting ready to go work on something.

Ellie Bean's 1st Steps

My latest addition to their scrapbook, our little "Ellie Bean" as we call her


Our little Ellie Bean started walking this Saturday, July 3rd. Audrie took her first steps over a month ago, but Ellie just wasn't quite ready. She's been cruising around behind her lion toy for awhile, but didn't want to try on her own. Finally on Saturday she started standing on her own & then doing a 1/2 crawl, 1/2 bear crawl. By evening she was taking a few steps by herself.

If it's anything like Audrie, all of a sudden she'll stop crawling all together & be walking everywhere. It was funny with Audrie, when we were in Kansas she was happy walking as long as there was someone across from her she could walk to. As soon as we got back to AZ and I put her down in the living room; all of a sudden she started walking everywhere. It was almost as if she said, "if I can do it at Grandma & Grandpa's, I can definitely walk on my own here. She's never looked back...the day we got back home she totally stopped crawling. She's practically went from walking to running in the past 2 weeks.


Last but not least, we had their 1 year check up last week. They are doing amazing. Audrie weighed 20 lbs. 10 oz & Ellie weighed 18 lbs. 14 oz. They are healthy as can be.

My New Time Killer

Not quite done with this one...




Pretty proud of my embroidery skills on this one..;)

So, I've found a new hobby. My first hobby was photography, but then I realized I needed something to do with all of the pictures I take. So that my friends..is how scrapbooking started. I'm having a lot of fun with it, although I don't have nearly as much time to work on it as I'd like. I'm posting a couple of the layouts I've made this week. My goal is to make 1 book for each year of the girl's life. I'm a little behind since I started late..I'm trying to get their 1st year book done so I can start on years 1-2.


Below, are just a few snapshots of the girls hanging out in their pool on Sunday while Dad & I hung out in the big pool. This is before they started swim lessons...:) I'm a little behind on my posts..still hoping to post about swim lessons and also our trip to Kansas. "Hey, it was only 2 weeks ago, right?"

We TuRnED 1!!

"I know, I know,"..I'm a little over a week late on the 1 year post. We just got back from Kansas, so I wasn't around a computer on their actual birthday. I'm definitely going to post about our trip, but 1st things 1st I must blog about my precious babies 1st year of life.








1 year ago on June 16th our lives were forever changed. Audrie and Ellie blessed our lives more than we could even imagine. Over the past year we have found out that parenting is indeed the hardest job you will ever have, but also the most rewarding. It has been a true joy to watch the twins grow up in front of our very eyes.

So what's new at 1 year old

** Audrie is walking EVERYWHERE, crawling is a thing of the past.
** Ellie has 6 teeth, Audrie has 5.
** Ellie can throw a ball back and forth.
** Ellie likes to shake her head no-no
** Audrie loves to wrap her arm around Daddy's neck when he picks her up
** They both slap their hands on their tray at meals to let us know they'd like more food.
** Both are still nursing
** Both get binkies only for naps & bedtime
**They've traveled to Kansas 4 times.
**Ellie lights up a room with her smile..it's like she smiles all the way to her bones.
**They are so well behaved in public..nearly everytime we are out, someone asks "are they always such good babies."
**They are GREAT sleepers. They go down for naps without a peep and at night sleep from 7PM-8AM.

There are so many great things about being a Mom to these 2, really too many post. These are just some of the highlights. And now for the pictures..here a few of them demolishing their smash cakes at their B-day partieS and the beautiful Horton cake from their Aunt Paula. They literally ate an entire smash cake TWICE. I have no idea where they put it!

Looks Like We Need To Make A Trip To Target

So, I think we've found 1 toy that the girls really don't want to share. They have a little lion push toy which until yesterday they really didn't show much interest in. They liked us to push them around on it, but didn't have the skills yet to push it on the own. I think it is quickly becoming their favorite toy.

Last night, Audrie just took off with it and then so did Ellie. They made several trips around the house before we finally had to put it away so we could put them to bed. Here is a video of Ellie, her first few times walking with it. Now, she is super fast on it. It's funny...she tends to be the type to just go all out with it, as fast as she can and see what happens. Audrie on the other hand tends to be more cautious.

Today they have basically been fighting over it. My feet are tired from making so many trips around the house, following them. Pretty much our day was spent holding one, so she wouldn't try to take it from her sister; & following the other one around to help navigate the corners. I think we're going to have to get another one so they can each push it around as much as they want. Plus, I think it will probably be pretty cute watching them follow each other around the house.

On a side note, we'll be moving on Tuesday & Wednesday so wish us luck. I think it's going to a little bit more challenging than last time with two mobile babies who want to get into everything.

Audrie Is The First To Walk

Well, Audrie is starting to walk this week. For awhile now she's been standing up on her own. Finally this week she has started to take steps on her own. She's a very independent little thing. Every time you try to hold her hands and help her, she pulls her hands away and wants to do it on her own.

She usually takes about 3 or 4 steps on her own before she sits down or falls. I'm sure over the next week or so she'll be all over the place, but for now I think crawling is still her preferred mode of transportation. Ellie should be walking soon too...she never likes her sister to figure things out too far ahead of her.

A couple of other updates. Ellie now has 5 teeth with a 6th on the way. Audrie has started clapping her hands & they both are waving like crazy. It's so funny when you go get them from a nap, the first thing they do when you walk in the nursery is start waving at you.




Last but not least, my FAVORITE thing... when you get ready to lay Audrie down for a nap, and you're just holding her, patting her little back...recently she's started patting my back. She must think I need a little pat too. Thanks Audrie, so cute!