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!

CRIB HIJINX

Brooke has discovered that she can sit up and stand up in her crib...and what do you know? Audrey is just right next door for her to see. (Audrey only stands up if you put her in her crib sitting up - once placed on her back she stays that way) So Brooke finds it so fun to stand up and look at Audrey. And apparently she is trying to give her pacifiers to Audrey cause they are all ending up on the floor between the cribs - very convenient for me when I am searching for them in a crisis.

Brooke talking to Audrey during nap timeAudrey listening to Goodnight Moon while Brooke looks in Audrey's crib....there must be a way in!

RAIN

So I don't ever go out with the girls when it is raining. I haven't figured out the logistics (even though it has almost been a year) and for the most part I can always just wait until the next day to get whatever I was needing. However, today it was raining and we were in desperate need of food...we had sandwiches for dinner twice last week and frozen pizza once (sad especially since nice dinners are supposed to be a perk with a stay at home wife!). But realistically we have food that we could do something with or at the very least order take-out. Alas my limiting factor was not food but diapers. The girls were wearing their very last diapers in the house...and these I found in diaper bags that I was ransacking earlier today. So we HAD to go out in the rain. Did I mention that it was 40 degrees!?! So I put hats on the girls (so super cute I wanted to stop and take a picture but wisely chose not to) and off we went. I had planned to go to both Target and Safeway (our grocery store) but decided we were not up for 2 stops. It actually went well - the only casualty was a giant scratch on Audrey's face where she was desperately trying to get her hat off...with all her head problems who can blame her? - and by the time we finished it was just a light drizzle and had warmed up to a toasty 42 degrees!

A FEW HOUSTON PICS

I am currently waiting on the girls to wake up from their nap, so I thought I would back track and post some pics from our trip to Houston. (I started this post on Friday and here it is Sunday night and I am just now back to it!) We had so much fun and are looking forward to our next trip back next time D has another business trip for us to tag along on.

The girls with their twin friends Carter and Olivia...Olivia was so cute and kept patting the "babies" on the head...very hard to get all 4 in a picture together.


Playing with Amelia's table....Amelia is one month younger but is a super walker and doesn't need the table for support!


Audrey being "attacked" by Ryan...actually quite cute that he was trying to kiss her, but there will be none of that until she is in college...well at least high school!


The girls opening their first birthday present...Audrey actually enjoyed ripping the paper and Brooke enjoyed holding a small piece of it that she proceeded to nibble on.

AT LAST...

Brooke is now crawling on all fours! Today at the park she just busted out with a crawl.

Her first off the belly crawl!! Her friend Grayer was shocked!

Here is a video of her in action back at the house:

FALL FUN

Here are some cute pics from our day at Cox Farms for the Fall Festival with Crystal and Eric. It was lots of fun, though Brooke seemed to enjoy it more than Audrey.

They think that this tractor is sexy!

In the corn maze...or the maize maze!

Brooke enjoying the animals...

Audrey not as sure of the animals!

Fun with giant pumpkins!

The trees change colors here and it is beautiful!

Here is a video of the girls going down the castle slide...there were a bunch of slides and they seemed to enjoy them (as did the adults!)

ON THE MOVE...SORT OF

This past week has been very busy (which is why I still have not posted about our trip back to Houston!) which means that I have enjoyed it a lot. The girls seem to really like to get out and about and have a lot of stuff to do/see. We had a story/music time at the library which the girls seem to like a lot. The books they read are always so cute. I think I am going to purchase the Counting Kisses book....much better than Goodnight Moon (which they hear every night!)

Brooke standing at her toy...she can pull up to standing on this one...love the tights!!

I joined a MOPS group and we had our meeting on Thursday. There was a nutritionist that was our speaker and she was interesting. We made a craft where we painted a flower pot to look like candy corn (though as it turns out there was quite a bit of debate as to what the correct order was.) And the girls were little stars in the nursery. The lady said that they were very cute cause Audrey would bang on her tray, Brooke was bounce up and down and smile, and then Audrey would laugh at Brooke...and they kept doing that over and over.

Playing together.

Audrey went back to the doctor for her head. The doctor agreed that it looked worse (I tried to get him to say that it was to worst he had ever seen, but he would not go that far.) He took a culture to find out what kind of infection it is and put her on different antibiotics (which she HATES) and said we need to go see a dermatologist. Poor baby. But it doesn't seem to bother her unless we have to touch it.

All smiles with her little bear...she holds him so cute in her crib!

We also had company this week. Starting Wednesday, our friends Crystal and Eric came to visit. On Saturday we went to a big fall festival and there will be a separate post on that.

Brooke is on her knees here and is still close to Audrey's height!

And to relate back to the title of this blog: Brooke sat up from her tummy this week! She has done it a couple of times, so it doesn't seem to just be a fluke. Also this week, Audrey discovered that two of her toys actually move...the hippo and a walker (the walker had been pushed against a wall until this week). So a great deal of time has been spent pushing them around....both on her knees and some actually on her feet.

Here is a video from the second day of pushing her toys. She has gotten much better about staying on her feet. Please ignore Brooke's noise in the background. Whenever the camera comes out, they quit doing what they were or quit being super cute so this is the best I have.

MY ADORABLE ANGEL AUDREY

Adorable Audrey

The girls are 11 months old today. So in honor of that, I am blogging about each of them. Here is a little info about Audrey:

Audrey is INDEPENDENT!! She will entertain herself for ages. And now that she is so mobile, the playroom is her oyster (so to speak!) She loves, loves, loves the Little People! And she is so funny about them...they have to be just so. For instance, on Noah's Ark no animal can be on the top. If she sees one there, she bee-lines over to remove it. Similar to her bee-line if she notices one of the pop-up animals is left up. It must immediately be closed!

Audrey with her Little People

She is very easily cracked up these days. And her laughing is so super big! Frequently she is laughing at Brooke (which melts your heart for sure!) However, she is much more reserved when we are out and about....unless she decides to talk. She has one volume: LOUD!!

Getting so cracked up!

Audrey has 8 teeth through her gums (but 3 of them are still little nubs.) Unfortunately for little Audrey over the past month or so she has gotten a SEVERE case of cradle cap. So D and I have been trying all sorts of remedies. Alas, it continued to look worse and worse. We finally went to the doctor on Thursday (weight update: 19lbs, 12 oz...looks like we will be able to turn both car seats around at one!). He agreed that it was awful (the blood and the puss were probably the kickers) and put her on some antibiotic, Neutragena T-Gel shampoo, and some Cortaid cream. It is already looking somewhat better (though her poor hair looks majorly greasy!)

Helping pack for our trip and to get the bath water just the right temp.

Audrey loves to crawl, but she is not that adventerous. When in large spaces (like play group or music class) she tends to stay pretty close to me. She is pulling up on everything now. And she is so cute just popping up everywhere. She is also very careful about getting back down and slowly sits herself back to the ground. She loves to "help" with the dishes. She has just begun to "cruise" along the couch and around the corner of toys (I am talking 2 steps).

"I think I can reach that top rack."

MY BEAUTIFUL BABY BROOKE

Beautiful Brooke

Today the girls are 11 months old. Holy Cow...how is that possible? So here is a little recap of Brooke at age 11 months (don't worry one about Audrey will be forthcoming!):
Brooke is now our little extrovert. She has developed the cutest little personality ever! She loves to smile and wave (D is convinced that she knows the word wave) and clap and giggle to everybody. She makes this little hehehehe noise that is so very funny.She is just so happy and such a little flirt.

Here she is under the furniture reading her book and making her hehehehe noise!

We are currently calling her our little Billy Goat cause the girl eats EVERYTHING. Not one of our books is in tact...they all have little (or some not so little) bite marks (and I mean chunks that she has actually eaten off) from Brooke. She currently has 8 teeth (7 fully out and one that is about half out) but it seems like more could be coming soon. So far she has liked all the foods that she has tried...I can't wait to see her reaction to her birthday cake!

Brooke is sampling some items from around the playroom (don't you love the little thong skirt!)

We are still working on her crawling. She belly crawls pretty well, but still gets very frustrated....especially when she gets to where she is going (which most frequently is my lap) and can't quite get back up to sitting or standing. The girl loves to stand! She can on occasion pull herself up to standing but since she tries to do it in one motion (skipping the on the knees part) frequently she doesn't quite make it. But once placed there she is good to go for quite some time. She will take a few (like 2 or 3) steps when I hold her up.

Brooke loves to stand at her little hippo!

The girls have started to "play" together more. They like to hold hands while sitting in their high chairs and they totally get each other cracked up. They frequently have "conversations" with each other (these basically consist of back and forth, extremely loud squeals!)

Finally, Brooke is our little cuddle bunny. She loves to be held....she also loves to snuggle. And thus a bad habit has been formed. Each morning (ranging from 5:30 - 7:00) Brooke begins to scream hysterically. There is no way to comfort her (and clearly I am not ready to start the day) so in what I am sure is a mistake, we have been letting her come into our bed with us. As soon as she gets in bed, she snuggles up and immediately falls asleep. All is right with the world and she will sleep until 8:30 (more my starting time!). It really is just so sweet to cuddle with her...so please don't judge us!