Tuesday, December 30, 2008

VIDEO OF WALKING

We have a lot to post to catch up from our Christmas, but in the meantime here is the video of Brooke walking. She has now begun to walk (aka take a couple of steps) without even realizing it (aka even when we don't stand her up and put out our arms and say WALK!!)

Since Audrey is still not walking, I thought that I would post a picture of her feeding herself some yogurt (she even would put the spoon in the container to get the yogurt!)

Saturday, December 20, 2008

UPDATES

We had our one year doctor's appointment on Friday...it is this late because it was originally scheduled for the same day that Audrey had surgery and they won't do the well baby the same day as anesthesia. Unfortunately this "well-baby" appointment featured two babies who were not actually well. Brooke (who has had a cough off and on since October) started to really cough and have a runny nose on Thursday. By bedtime she had a fever and was just laying on the floor (so sad!) Since she was wheezing and breathing fast, she is now taking puffs from the albutoral inhaler. Of course, now all 3 of us gals are all sick (though I don't have fever) Hopefully we will get over this in time for the holidays...or soon after our vacation starts!

The first of many wrapping paper sword fights...it's never too early to instill a competitive spirit, right?

Here are the stats for the girls:
Brooke: 32 inches (over 95th percentile) for height, 22.5 lbs (between 75th and 50th - though she had not been eating well and probably lost a few oz), and her head is 46.4 cm (75th percentile)

Brooke LOVES her chair...she gets in and out of it constantly and when sitting she smiles and pats the armrests!

Audrey: 30 inches (around 50th percentile) for height, 20.5 lbs (25th - though she is legal to be forward facing!), and her head is 44.4 cm (25th percentile).

Audrey loves to chat on the phone...she will even hold it up to her ear (occasionally!)

The girls seem to be on the same growth curve as last visit and everything looks good. They got their chicken pox and MMR vaccines and got blood taken for iron and lead screenings....FYI Audrey's earlier bloodwork for liver functions and anemia came back great and she won't need bloodwork again until the first of the year...and her head is looking much better-only one big spot left!

Audrey rocking her Pepples do (this makes her bald spots less noticable!)

Here is a video of Brooke dancing. Still no photgraphic evidence of her walking....as she has been just laying around lethargically since then.

Thursday, December 18, 2008

WE HAVE WALKING!

YEAH!!! We have a walker today (an easy to remember day as it is our friend Lesa's birthday - Happy Birthday!).

So I have been meaning to update the blog with these two hilarious bathroom stories (which I will wait and share another day), but today we had a giant breakthrough....actual independent steps. So after our MOPS today, the girls and I were playing in the playroom (and talking on the phone to our friend Jennifer). I put one of the girls up on their feet and pulled my fingers out of her grasp and left my arms out. And amazingly she took one step toward me! So of course I repeated this and she would take 2 or 3 steps toward me! I AM SO EXCITED!! There is no photo or video footage of this yet as she is walking into my arms and therefore I can't hold a camera too, but I am sure to record this as soon as Darren gets home from work.

Now you are probably wondering who was the walker? Well 57% of you who voted are....wrong. Our little walker is Brooke!

Saturday, December 13, 2008

13 MONTHS

The girls are (as of yesterday) 13 months old! I feel like I should have a bunch to say, but instead I just have little bits. So this will be moderately random....and the pictures will also be random since it is especially difficult to get a good picture of the girls at the time (lots of movement and irritation during the photo shoots!)

The Golden Girls: The early years

The girls love to travel around from room to room (with me as an escort since our stairs are not gated) but they especially love to play in the kitchen...helping me unload the dishwasher and opening all cabinets and the pantry and removing whatever they can. And they love the phonics fridge magnet!

The girls are "sharing" the magnet...Brooke does all the hard work!

Brooke now has 10 teeth through the gums - the most recent molar made an appearance over Thanksgiving. I predict that additional teeth for both of them are right around the corner. This is based on the amount of drool, the constant chewing (we may never get rid of the paci), and most importantly we will be traveling and with family again!

More peas please!

The girls have decided that they only need one nap a day and so we are working through that transition. They are also eating 3 meals and one afternoon snack. It is amazing to see the quantity of food that they can eat...sometimes we just have to cut them off! They love to play peek-a-boo and it is really their best trick.


After Santa pictures we played at the mall...Audrey seemed to like this block for some reason!

It has been quite cold here (yes, I know Houston has gotten more snow than us) and I just think that the girls are so cute in all of their winter gear!...to be honest, I think that I am also quite adorable in my winter gear too!

My snow bunny Brooke

There has not been any independent walking yet, but they do love to push their walkers and cruise on the furniture. They are both dancing to music - absolutely adorable! They can both stand independently (Audrey has only just started that today - in the bathtub no less!).

Audrey loves to push Brooke around


Thursday, December 11, 2008

SANTA

We went to visit Santa today. I knew going in that it was very likely that the girls were going to cry considering they cry whenever handed to people who are dressed normally...so a large man with a giant beard in a fuzzy suit was a for sure cry starter. But alas we went anyway. They only take 3 pictures (got to move the line along!) and this was the first and by far the best. The crying escalated as time passed.

Monday, December 8, 2008

THANKSGIVING

This year for Thanksgiving we drove down to Darren's family in South Carolina. Fortunately, we were able to turn the girls around in their carseats and use our DVD player. Audrey was mesmerized by it! The girls did great on the drive and we changed plans mid-drive and made it all in one day....of course we arrived at about 12:30 am!


It took the girls a little while to warm up - they currently are in an attached phase. But once they settle in, they are good to go. By the end of the trip, Brooke would even touch the giant golden retriever (Audrey was not so sure about it!).


They ate like little rock stars - they are huge fans of meat: turkey, ham, roast beef, BBQ pork, chicken. They ate everything that the adults did (though they, like their mom, skipped the collard and rutabagas!)

While there, they got to have another first birthday party-complete with cakes for each of them. They again really loved the cake!

Audrey has been really cute lately and has been hugging all her stuffed animals and dolls...which is funny since she is not our little cuddler. Brooke has also been really cute - but she has been dancing! (both of them really, but more Brooke) Anytime music comes on she starts to boogy down.


The played with their cousin Kayla quite a bit. Here is a video of Kayla pushing Audrey around in a doll stroller. This went on for quite a while and it was totally adorable... until Audrey fell out - who could have seen that coming?

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

F-L-O-R-I-D-A S-T-A-T-E...whooo!

As always I am behind. So I will start with the weekend before Thanksgiving. My college roommate Stacy (the aforementioned Chicken) came up to this area for Thanksgiving to be with her wonderful finance Peter and his family. And since FSU was playing Maryland (in football for all of you crazy non sports people) that same weekend we decided to go...of course this was in September when the weather was wonderful. As it turned out, it was freaking cold the day of the game which happened to have a 7:45 pm kickoff! But we had a great time and survived the weather!

Here we are before the game all decked out in our new winter gear.

Stacy and Peter's moms babysat the girls for us.

We are all smiles as we KILLED those little turtles!


Unrelated, but too cute of Audrey in a drawer!

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

HOT DOG...IT SNOWED

Today we had actual flurries of snow...It is barely mid-November!...I am not sure I am going to make it. To be clear, the snow was really barely anything. However, for a true Southerner, it was if not massive at least note-worthy. Though at first I thought that some tree must be blowing off lots of little leaves (and while that sounds weird, I will let you know that it has been raining leaves lately....so much so that I actually couldn't find my rake cause it had fallen and had been covered with leaves!!)

I took a video of the snow, but you really can't see much of anything. But since I had the camera I thought that I would document the girls eating their first hot dogs (they were all turkey, if that makes it any better.) The girls are on a permanent boycott of baby food and insist on real food. However, they don't seem to like a lot of the real food. So each meal is an adventure. So here is a 2 minute video of them eating--really only for the die hards!

BATHING BEAUTIES

What could be cuter than some naked baby bottoms??

Friday, November 14, 2008

UPDATES:

Audrey had her little procedure yesterday and it went fine. She was under general anesthesia (which they let me be there for) and then they did an IV and numbed her head. Then the doctor (her dermatologist) was going to scoop out two of the sores/hard spots - similar to how they scoop out if they are taking off a mole - and have them analyzed. Apparently when they did the first scoop, they realized that underneath it was a hole to her skull that had puss in it (gross!!) So it was much deeper than they thought. So for the second one, they cut it out to get a bigger area and stitched it up. We should get results in about 2 weeks.
She handled it all very well! Actually amazingly well. How cute is she in her little hospital gown??

Brooke climbed up our stairs for the first time yesterday. I took a video but it is awful as I am also trying to make sure she does not fall backwards. So here is a video of her playing with her birthday balloon instead.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

ONE YEAR AGO...

I headed to Women's Hospital at 7 am for our weekly non-stress testing to be followed by my 35 week appointment with our OB. D was planning to come to the appointment so that we could get all our last minutes questions answered about our birth plan. But that was not to be. Instead we found out that the babies were coming that day!! So at 5:00 and 5:01 pm little Brooke and even littler Audrey made their appearance into the world. What a wonderful day! So here is a little look back at that day:


K is giant...and here is a picture (4 days before) that really does my belly justice.

Sweet, beautiful baby Audrey at only 3 lbs 14 oz...she has more than quintupled her weight in one year!

Lovely, adorable baby Brooke at a hefty 6 lbs and 4 oz.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

AUDREY'S HEAD

Just a quick update about Audrey's head. We have been to the pediatrician several times and have tried various treatments. He recommended that we see a dermatologist and even called to get us in sooner (otherwise the first appointment was 2 months out). So we saw the dermatologist and he didn't really know what was going on but thought that it looked deeper than just the top layer of skin. He wanted to cut out a little chunk to biopsy it (not for cancer or anything like that). As Audrey is still tiny, this is going to be done under general anesthesia. So this Thursday at 8am she will be having the procedure done. I am nervous about it, but know that this really needs to be done to help us get rid of this and keep it from coming back (hopefully!). So say a quick prayer for us on Thursday!

Sunday, November 9, 2008

PARTY!!

This past Saturday we had the girls' birthday party. I am calling it a complete success (though Brooke was a little bit of a grump for part of it...which I am attributing to teething). The weather was wonderful so we were able to sit outside which is helpful with a small house! We had the party at noon and served BBQ (which we bought from Red Hot & Blue!) and cake. Almost all of their friends up here were able to attend so we had a packed house...there were 8 kids who were all 17 months and younger roaming about and of course their parental units. Family wise, my dad was able to come up from MS and my Aunt and Uncle and pseudo-cousin were also able to come. Here is a little recap in pictures:

My dad and Brooke all ready for the party!


The girls all ready for their first taste of cake!


A picture of the cake...adorable!!...and the two little cakes for the girls.


Their first taste of cake...now they know what they have been missing!


Brooke was a bit more messy during her cake eating - she did get it in her hair and eye, but cleaned up easily.


The damage done to the cakes - they mainly just ate icing.


Random opening present pictures....Virginia obviously agrees with me as I am looking younger, thinner, and better...OK I admit this is not really me. It is our "cousin" Lisa! Audrey kept her hat on all day!

Thursday, November 6, 2008

A FEW THINGS

There have been just a few things that I wanted to jot down and a few random pictures that I wanted to post, so here is a little hodge-podge of our life. Both girls are great crawlers -Audrey has really picked up some speed- and great puller-uppers. Audrey cruises around on the couch more than Brooke, but Brooke will stand independently for seconds at a time (I have counted up to 7 seconds!) So I am going on record and saying that I think that Brooke is going to walk first.

This past weekend the girls had their first swim lesson. They were stars! Brooke especially was adorable. She was just sqealing with delight and doing her little scrunched-face, lots of teeth smile to everyone. The only downside of the lessons is that it required the parentals to also wear swimsuits...no one looks good in a bathing suit in November (or at least that is my rationale). Brooke is cutting another tooth - possibly more than one, but I can definitely feel one - in the back. I am guessing a molar.

Audrey has started pointing a ton. She is a little ET....which may explain her obsession with the telephone! Both girls have also recently started to put the little rings back ON the stacker. Audrey seems to be a little better with her fine motors skills.

Audrey getting to the point.


Brooke is helping with the laundry and Audrey identified an area that I had not totally baby proofed in the bathroom! They are mommy's little helpers!


They stand at, and frequently shake, the gate looking longingly out at freedom. Audrey has started to put things through the gate...here she has lined up some of her blocks.


Greeting Daddy when he got home from work...suddenly Mommy is chopped liver!


Brooke says "I'm all done!"


Audrey says "No, I don't get the irony."

Sunday, November 2, 2008

A VIDEO

Here is a little video of the girls from Saturday night. They were being so adorable playing together that we just had to record it...it melts my heart to see them having so much fun with each other! This was the second time that we put up the big crawling tube, but the first since Brooke has been able to crawl.

Friday, October 31, 2008

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

Happy Halloween from "Surf and Turf"


These first pictures are the ones that I got professionally done. How adorable are they?? The girls have been very good in their little costumes (Audrey actually has 2 different cow suits which she has worn as you will see in the pictures).

First we had the Mothers of Multiples party last weekend. That was cute to see all the other little twins and different pairings out there. There was a puppet show that Brooke really seemed to watch and enjoy. During the show Audrey played with Snow White! Then we went to the Chambard's house (friends from Houston) for a pumpkin carving party. The girls only made an appearance in their costumes then went back to normal, adorable winter clothes (one of the best parts about living here has been the cute little winter clothes).


Thursday my mothers group had a Halloween party at the library. So fun to see all the little kids in costumes. They also enjoyed their first pizza...well all I gave them was some of the crust, but maybe there was a little sauce or cheese remnant for them to taste.


Their little friend Grayer was an owl...too cute cause he makes this little owl-like noise!

Now today, the actual Halloween, we went to our weekly music class at a local church. The girls were very animated today and did not want to stay in one place for very long at all. Which is a huge change from just a month ago. The used to need to be touching me or in my lap. This week basically I just went around and wrangled them back to our spot. I know I am biased, but it was the cutest thing EVER to see Brooke crawling around in her little lobster costume with all the little legs!

Here they are with their friends Olivia (the strawberry) and Lorelei (the witch)...Audrey would not stay in her place so this is the best picture I could get!