WE MADE IT!!

We have made it to VA and are starting to get settled. So much has happened in the past 2 weeks and I have had no access to blog so here will be a long post. I am going to try to go in chronological order which I am sure will be totally successful.

Thurs May 15: D closed on house in VA, movers arrive in TX to pack us up (and they pack EVERYTHING which was unfortunate since I had not gotten around to editing any of our junk which we accumulated in our spacious house over the past 6 years), K and the girls go to a hotel. Long story short, K ends up in the bathroom (cause I can't turn on a light while the girls are trying to go to sleep) at 8:30 eating her cold room service hamburger.

Fri May 16: D comes back home, we eat dinner in the hotel restaurant. No adventures.

Sat May 17: spend the day saying goodbye to friends - very sad. End the day eating dinner with D in the bathroom of the hotel - even sadder!

Sun May 18: the big day - the girls have their first trip on a plane. Very nervous, but the girls were superstars! We were camped out in the very last row and everyone who went to the potty commented on how cute they were (and let me tell you, a lot of people go to the potty-some more than once on the trip) They got their picture taken with the pilot (after landing) and got some little wings. Stayed in a Homewood Suites (2 bed rooms and a sitting area) until our stuff got here. K's mom also arrived in VA to help with the girls- couldn't have done it without the help.

Mon and Tue (19 and 20): met workers at the house to do painting and clean carpet in one room. No news.

Wed May 21: Movers get here with stuff - way more than will possibly fit into the house as there is like 1000 sq feet less here. They unpack as well - which basically means dump out the boxes. But at least they take away the packing material and boxes. We still have some boxes that we didn't have them do, but most of them are from the garage and laundry rooms and therefore are just a bunch of junk...and we don't have a garage. FYI - carpet not dry from previous day's cleaning - what a disaster!

Thurs May 22: K tries to make the house livable as this will be the last night in the hotel. Speaking of the hotel - Audrey chose this particular time to start waking up every hour almost every night. Fortunately all she wanted was her pacifier stuck back in, but worried that this trend will continue.

Fri May 23: First night here. Eat frozen pizza...on a coffee table...that has the wrong legs attached to it. Not really day specific, but during this time the girls are now totally sitting up by themselves and love it. They don't even get that upset when they crash to the hardwood floors (which we have put temporary carpet on that was left by previous homeowner) K decides she does not like it here.

Sat May 24: D is giving Audrey a bath a notices that she has grown a tooth!! All the sleepless nights are explained (hopefully!) I realize that this is not a great pic of the tooth, but it is super hard to take a picture without her licking you!

Sun May 25: Have first cookout. Make a disturbing discovery that we may have a mouse based on the fact that the hamburger buns have a hole in the bag and one bun has been nibbled on. Decide maybe it was done at the grocery store. Set up a test with an additional bun.

Mon May 26: Test FAILED! ziploc bag was eaten into and bun was snacked on. K goes into funk-decides that she hates it here. Name the creature Theodore and refer to it as that rather than mouse. Why Theodore? Well there is a little chipmunk (or several) that seems to live in our yard and his name is Alvin. There is a very brave and daring squirrel who I have named Simon. So obviously this last nature item is Theodore. Set up pest control and went to Home Depot for immediate action.

Tue May 27: Action SUCCESSFUL!! Theodore was captured...his weakness is apparently whole wheat bread. I have a picture but have not decided if posting it is appropriate. Mom leaves.

Wed May 28: Visit with friend Erica and have a normal day. K's mood is improving and she no longer hates it here, but far from loving it. Here is Brooke showing that while she may be big, she is still remarkably flexible!


Thurs May 29: Dinner with friends from Houston who have been relocated here as well. Very fun (the kids were super good even though they stayed up late partying!) and K has decided that this place is not too bad.



So those are the highlights (and lowlights) of our move in summary. If you made it this far, you are a real trooper!

SIX MONTHS

The girls are six months old today. It is their original half birthday! I love to celebrate half birthdays...my favorite half birthday memory is the card from John and Val that they cut in half for me for my half birthday! Very clever.

The girls had their doctor's appointment this morning. I was quite impressed that we all got there by 8:30 dressed and ready for the day. I was congratulating myself at how well we are all doing when I realized that I smelled poop...from them both even though they had been changed not 30 minutes before. As I dug through all the junk in my diaper bag, I realized that in fact there were no diapers in it. Clearly I was not quite as on the ball as I had thought only moments before. For those of you wondering, the nurse found me diapers.
They got 4 shots and the oral vaccine. Overall they did quite well especially considering that they were missing their nap for this. They did cry when they got the shots, but were back to calm (with a pacifier) by the time we left....and obviously they were fine later that day.
Here are their stats:
Brooke
height: 26.5 in which is the 79th %ile
weight: 18lb 15oz which is the 95th %ile ...our car seat only goes up to 22 lbs!!
head: 43cm which is the 68th %ile

Audrey
height: 25.25in which is the 33rd %ile
weight: 16lb 6oz which is the 60th %ile
head: 41.6cm which is the 26th %ile

As an update, Audrey is an official independent - once positioned - sitter. She has been sitting up all weekend. Well not literally all weekend, but I think you know what I mean. When she is sitting in front of her little stage (thanks Flemings) she can sit for up to 5, Darren says 10, minutes. Brooke has taken lessons from Audrey and is now spitting. Lovely.

And here is a little video of the girls today. Though you can't really see it, Brooke is wildly kicking her feet as if she is upright and doing the RiverDance.

MOTHER'S DAY

Yesterday was my first mother's day...at least with babies outside my belly. It was quite exciting! D was so cute. Sunday morning I got up and went downstairs to make the bottles. Then when we went in to get the babies, each one had a little present and a card to me in their crib. D even filled out the card as if he were Audrey and Brooke...which is saying something cause he usually thinks that is dumb but I love it!! Audrey got me a necklace with a cross on it and Brooke got me a necklace with some green and blue beads. I really like them both...they all did a great job! Here is a picture of us on Mother's day.

MOVEMENT and OTHER UPDATES

The most recent posts have been primarily pictures, so to catch
everyone up on the super fascinating life that we have, this post will be quite wordy.

Well the girls are certainly behind on their "movement" milestones. As mentioned in an earlier post, they are sort of rolling over from their tummy to their back. And by sort of, I mean if their hands and arms happen to be in the correct place and they happen to get mad enough and happen to push their little booty over. But we still count that. We have many theories about the lack of movement ranging from the fact that they were 5 weeks early and twins to the fact that they are just so happy there is nothing that they could possibly want so there is no need to move to the thought that they just don't think rolling is sophisticated and are therefore boycotting it. Obviously we have put much thought into this.

Now with that long build up (and since I am pretty much using this in lieu of a baby book) I am pleased to announce that Brooke is now kicking her legs so hard that she is rolling to her side!! FINALLY!! Some movement initiated by them which will hopefully lead to additional movement. As an aside, I don't understand how their heels aren't perpetually bruised cause they slam them down so hard and so frequently-especially since they love to do that in the bath tub!!
More excitement: They are both practicing their independent sitting. Once placed in an upright position, both girls will stay that way unassisted for up to 30 seconds!! WOW!! Audrey is much better at this. Unfortunately once Brooke topples forward, she is not inclined to use her arms to push.

And as an aside about me, I am now able to carry them both in my arms! Not a practice that I do that much, but definitely necessary. The hardest part is picking them both up from the ground!

With all of that said, they are just adorable. Here are some updates about what they are doing: They are both talkers and now in the car you can hear them just chatting and cooing away--mainly from Brooke, but Audrey adds her few comments as well! And they both really like to play in the mega-saucer and jumperoos. And they seem interested in watching the pictures in the books especially the wriggly wiggly caterpillar book - thanks Em! They have added bananas (love them) and squash to their diets and eat "food" at 2 meals each day. They are such good eaters - especially Audrey who opens her mouth sooo wide!! And of course, they still love TV. Whenever we go into a room with a TV, you can see them searching to find it to see if it is on...I am so proud!

POOL PARTY!!

This weekend was beautiful, so we decided to take the girls to our neighborhood pool. We met our friends the Bradleys there (they have 15 mo old twins Carter and Olivia who we refer to as our twin-friends...very clever, I know).

This was the first time that the girls have been to a pool. They did FANTASTIC!! They were very good when they got their sunscreen - and for those who have seen D apply sunscreen you know that is really saying something...of course K did Audrey and in fact her little cheeks did get red, so I should not mock D too badly.


The girls sat in the water in the kiddie pool and seemed quite content. They were adorable in their matching suites and little sunglasses!! They also "swam" with D in the adult pool. The only crying came when D dunked the girls as we were getting ready to leave - and that was only from Brooke for a little while.

WHAT A PAIR...