Happy 9 Months

Tuckered out after our hike...she never snuggles like this..

So it seems as though the twins are doing so many new things as they reach this 9 month milestone. I know I say this all the time, but I can truly hardly believe they are 9 months old. A friend of ours just had very preemie twin boys & Justin and I were taken back to those early days with the twins. Neither one of us would trade him places...those early days were some of the toughest & most sleep deprived days we will ever know. As they say "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger." In all seriousness, I have loved every stage although some have been more challenging than others.

Now that we have hit 9 months; I think for this post I am just going to list some of the new things that the babies are doing and some of the funny things they do that I love. So here goes, I love it when:

1) They wake up for a nap they are standing up in their cribs with a huge grin.
2) They now pull up on everything.
3) They both say Ma-Ma, although Audrie more than Ellie
4) Audrie goes around a lot of the day saying, "Mmmm, Mmmmm"
5) I do the hand sign for "milk" their eyes light up and they high tail it over to me
6) They crinkle up their nose & do a little snort when they want something
7) They reach up for me when they are sitting on the floor and want to be picked up
8) They try to feed themselves finger foods.
9) Audrie tries to take steps & does a high step with her left foot

10) They play with each other or when they look over at each other and just start giggling.

11) Audrie grabs the spoon from me when I'm trying to feed her

12) Audrie babbles the entire meal..who knows what she's talking about!

So that's just a few of the things that I love, I'm sure I'll post many more later! Happy 9 months Audrie & Ellie!

Our First "Vacation"

The girls watching their "Baby Can Read Video"





Audrie exploring the new place.

The girls picking on Daddy.

So I thought I would tell you a little bit about our 1st vacation with the girls, not counting Kansas of course. I'm not sure if that counts as a vacation or not :)

Justin & I have been wanting to go snowboarding forever. I got new snowboarding boots 2 years ago and still hadn't used them; with being pregnant, etc we just hadn't had a chance. So we decided to load the girls up and go. We had to find a nanny to watch them, which I was a little aprehensive about. I hadn't left them with anyone since they were 8 weeks old. For this reason & since I'm still nursing we decided on 1/2 days. They did better then expected! By the 2nd day with the nanny, they acted like I was old news. Ellie was a little slower to warm up to her, which was surprising. Usually it's Audrie that is a little more cautious. This trip, Audrie was the perfect baby. She was SO laid back.



I was amazed that when we first got to the house where we were staying, the girls played for awhile & then it was time for their nap. I thought, "Oh no, here we go." I figured being in a strange place, sleeping in a pack n play they would fight me on taking a nap. To my surprise, they fell asleep immediately without so much as a whimper.

Justin & I had a great time. While Justin is used to leaving the girls everyday it was a little strange for me. The nanny and I kept texting back and forth and she assured me they were doing great.. It was really nice to get away though and just hang out with my hubby.

After this trip, we decided we need to start having more time to ourselves. I think we're going to try to make more of an effort to leave the girls with someone every month or so & go to a movie, out to dinner, etc.

My Little House of Terrors

Just when you think you have Ellie & Audrie's personalities pegged, they switch on you...but as of right now Ellie is the pistol of the 2. She is kind of running circles around Audrie. She is always on the move & likes to take whatever toy Audrie is playing with at the moment.

It's funny, just the other day I asked Justin, "Do you think the babies will be able to pull the ends of the door stops; should we take them off?" He said, "No, I'm sure they can't get them off yet." Haha!! As evidenced below, I looked over and of course ELLIE has not only the end off, but the whole dang door stop.

Then, as evidenced below...not long after I find she's torn into a magazine.

All the while, Audrie just pretty much sits and watches her. I love how Audrie has started putting her hands on her hips..so funny! She does it constantly, everytime you look over she's got both hands on her hips.

Happy 8 Months

The girls turned 8 months old this past Tuesday!! They are growing so much & each day I fall a little more in love with them. Our next visit to Kansas will be in March & I'm not sure our families will even recognize them. It's incredible how different they are just since Christmas. We celebrated their 1st Valentines Day. Note the shirts from Ma'Ma and Pa'pa Suhler. Audrie started crawling tonight and I am posting the video. It's just a short clip of some of her first attempts at crawling. She has a little bit of catching up to do to keep up with her sister. Ellie is all over the place! They've had a couple of new foods this week. We tried broccoli and also yogurt. They LOVED the yogurt! In fact the only thing so far they haven't liked is mashed potatoes. Weird, "Who doesn't like mashed potatoes?" We also started learning sign language this week. Just a few simple words like "milk", "all done," and "nap." It will be nice if they pick it up and can tell us what they need by signing until they are able to talk. Well, that's it for now! Happy 8 Months Audrie & Ellie!

Ellie is on the Move

Ellie finally got it figured it out. She's had the leg part of crawling figured out for awhile, but couldn't quite get her arms to pull her. Yesterday, all day she kept lifting up one arm at a time until finally she was able to put it all together. Yay Ellie! Dad wasn't home, so I was able to get her first crawl on video for him! Here it is!

4 Days Later Ellie Sits

Well, I knew it wouldn't be long before Ellie would be sitting. Audrie sat up on Saturday and Ellie did it on Wednesday. Obviously they get some of their competitive spirit from Mom; or wait, maybe a little from Dad too. It's so funny how they keep meeting milestones just a few days apart. It's as if they don't want the other one to be doing something they can't.

Audrie Sits Up First

So last night Audrie was working really hard on something. I wasn't sure if she was trying to crawl or sit up. This morning I got done feeding her and then put on the wood floor and went to get her sister. When I came back Audrie was sitting STRAIGHT UP!! This was the first time she's sat on her own without any support and got in that position all on her own. I think she woke up this morning and was bound and determined to finish what she started last night. The middle picture is of her trying to get to a sitting position last night...She just couldn't quite get there.

I was a little worried with her on the wood floor, thinking she would bonk her head I quickly moved her. I think she's ok though; when she does fall, she falls quite gracefully.

Ellie probably won't be too far behind..I've noticed her trying to really watch Audrie and copy her so I'm sure she'll be sitting up soon!