My Babies Can Read???

So Justin & I have been wanting to start the girls on "Your Baby Can Read" for awhile now. Well, we finally gave in and ordered it. We got it last week and the girls are on their way to learning to read...we shall see how it goes!



It's going to take some dedication on my part. Obviously, day in and day out I will show the babies the videos and flashcards with no indication that they have learned a thing. But then I assume one day I will show them the word "nose" and they will point to their nose. I'm excited to try it!!

It's fascinating to me how babies learn! It makes sense that babies have a window of opportunity whereby words are learned extremely easily. This occurs from birth to 5. After 5 yrs. of age, it becomes more difficult for children to learn new words, etc. So my thought is why not start them early!!

On a different note...both Ellie and Audrie drank from a straw last night. I think they felt really grown up. They actually drank the milk much faster than they did from their sippy cup!!

2 Teeth in 4 Days

Well, little Miss Ellie is certainly catching up to her sister in a hurry. Just a couple of weeks ago Audrie had 2 teeth while Ellie had none. Over the span of 4 days, Ellie now has 2 teeth. She got her first on the 15th & the 2nd on the 19th. Weesh!! Surprisingly she wasn't that fussy! Boy, I think I would have been.


Also, they went for a weight check at the pediatrician yesterday. They are doing super!! Ellie gained almost 3lbs in 5 weeks. She is now 12.7 oz & Audrie is 13.9 oz giving her a gain of about 2 1/2lbs. What a growth spurt! Ellie is finally catching up recently on weight!! The Dr. said just keep doing what we're doing. I told her I felt like we were overfeeding them, but she said not. It's unbelievable the amount of food they eat!!

Happy 7 Months

 

Well, I can hardly believe that it's been 7 months. In some ways it's gone by really fast and at times I thought we would never make it here. They are growing by leaps and bounds; I see them changing in front of my very eyes. Audrie now weighs 13.5 lbs. & Ellie weighs 12.4oz. Not bad for starting out so small!

Audrie has cut 2 teeth and Ellie is working on her first this week. They aren't crawling yet, but seems like it is just around the corner. They've been very healthy this first 7 months until just this past week when they got their first cold from Daddy.

It's hard to believe we are over the hump to their 1st birthday. I think I will be sad when this day comes, although I've already started planning their 1st birthday party theme. Sick, huh? I know, but I've always been a planner.

It's certainly getting much easier. I don't think twins will ever be easy, but Dad and I are learning. We're getting a lot more sleep and everyday is more fun than the last.

Christmas 2009

We are back home from our trip to Kansas for the holidays. We had a great time, but there sure is something to be said for being back at home. The girls had an awesome Christmas...complete with a visit from Santa. They were spoiled rotten!! Mom was also spoiled too..I got a new Nikon camera for Christmas. I guess the pressure is on now to take better pictures!!

The trip home was a bit of a downer as we were delayed by 3 hours. The girls have always been perfectly behaved on the plane, but not this time. Unfortunately, Justin & I weren't able to sit together and poor Justin got Audrie who was fussy most of the flight. They both were mad the majority of the 50 mile drive home, but it was funny...as soon as we walked in the back door and we sat them down; they both got a big grin on their face.

The girls were also dedicated at my Mom & Dad's church. They looked so adorable in their little white dresses & booties.

We enjoyed spending time with my mom, dad, & also my brother & his family. Shannon was so good with the babies. I think he's the only one that was able to rock them both to sleep at the same time. He sang to them & they just loved it. My Aunt Paula & her family came to Lyons and we had a great time on Saturday. Funny enough this was the first time my cousin Gabe had met Justin. They got along swimmingly which I knew they would. They are both a couple of clowns :)

We had a fun time sledding behind the 4 wheeler back at Justin's. I knew my rear was a little sore the next day, but didn't realize until we got back home that I had a bruise about the size of a grapefruit. Thanks, honey!! :) I think I must have been going about 50-60mph.

We packed a lot of stuff into 7 days and had a great time!! It's makes goodbye's a little tougher when their are little ones. They change so fast especially when the family only sees them a few times a year.

Zoo Lights

I'm a little behind on posting about our trip to zoo lights, but here it is. A couple of weeks ago, the twins had their first trip to the zoo; it just happened to be at night. For those of you not from Arizona, every year the Phoenix zoo puts on what is called "Zoo Lights." They have a staff that works on it all year long and they end up putting up more the 2.5 million lights around the zoo. This was our first year to go..and it was well worth it.

It runs every night from 6-10.. We arrived a little after 6 o clock, just as it was getting dark. I sort of figured once we put the girls in their stroller it would be lights out for them, but not so. They must have been really enamored with the lights, because they stayed wide eyed the entire time. We circled the zoo twice, before we headed for home & they were perfectly content the entire time.

It's so funny walking around with twins...they certainly get a lot of looks and the "ooh, look it's twins" from all the passer-by's. My favorite is when people ask, "Are they twins?" I always want to respond by saying, "No, we just have babies REALLY close in age that happen to look alike." HA!! Of course instead, I smile & say "Yes, they are."

6 Months

Well, it's hard to believe the but the babies will be 6 months old on Tuesday. They grow up so fast!! It seems as though everyday brings a new development. I spent the first 3 months wishing they would hurry up and get out of the newborn stage. Now I'm wishing they would just put on the brakes a little bit.

They are well on their way with solid foods. They've now tried sweet potatoes, cereal, avocado, & bananas. So far, they eat everything with a smile. They haven't rejected any foods yet. They also got their first sippy cup of milk. They both did fairly well.. However, Ellie always seems to catch on to things a little faster when it comes to eating.

They hadn't had a bottle in quite some time, but when I went to have my hair done I had Justin give them a bottle. All of a sudden, Audrie grabbed the bottle and started feeding herself. Now, she also thinks she needs to hold the spoon.

Audrie now has her first tooth. It seems unreal that my baby can have a tooth!! She hasn't really been fussy; just putting absolutely everything in her mouth and a little drooly.

They are both sitting up pretty well on their own. They are certainly giving crawling a shot. I swear I'm going to look over one day and they're just going to take off. The both get their little rear in the air and scoot around, but just can't quite figure out the arms yet. We will be in for it when they do figure it out. Baby gates, here we come!!

Happy 6 months Ellie & Audrie!

Our 2 Little Turkeys

Well, I must say we had the best Thanksgiving with our 2 favorite little turkeys. How is it that having kids makes the holidays so much more fun? Ellie & Audrie had a big day!! I woke early, fed them & then started preparing dinner. As I was making the sweet potatoe casserole I soon realized I had way too many sweet potatoes. Lucky day for the girls!! I decided instead of waiting until next week to start them on cereal, they would get their first taste of "real" food on Turkey Day!! I was able to freeze 4 trays of sweet potatoes for the girls from the extra that I had. I had so much fun, I think I'm really going to dig making baby food for them.

They did SO good with their first meal...yes, it was a bit messy; but I think they managed to get some food in their bellies. Ellie started opening her little mouth and slurping down the orange goo right away. Audrie, on the other hand had a little more unique way of eating. She opened wide and then would try to lick the food off of the spoon. Both ways seemed to work for them though!! Oh what fun!!

Their bellies were full & they went for a nap. When they awoke, Dad had brought back the Christmas tree. We turned on some Christmas music and decorated their first tree. Their busy day much have tuckered them out because they had their best night of sleep yet. Normally we put them down at 8:30 and they wake up a couple of times throughout the night. Last night....not a peep until around 6:30 this morning...YAY!!!

AND can I just say, I think I have the BEST husband. He kept the kitchen clean while I cooked, cleaned up dinner and kitchen, put away left overs & wrapped packages. What a man and what a great Thanksgiving!!