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...

WHAT A WEEK!

It has been super busy since my last post. The Grandparents Hadden flew in from S.C. to babysit the girls for a week. K had a mini-meltdown since she was leaving her babies for a week. D and K flew to Virginia to find a house. K and D both had mini-meltdowns trying to decide what house we wanted...after all we had to decide in only 2 days!! Much craziness ensued, including doing 3 contracts on 3 different houses and fortunately withdrawing 2 of them just before they were accepted. So we are the proud almost-owners of our favorite house. This was the house that K picked out via the internet even before we got there. It is smaller than our current house (D and K are currently debating about whether to sell or store the excess furniture) but was in "move-in" ready condition....though one room is an awful neony-blue color and the room that D and K are going to make the master bedroom is boring basement color white. So ideally we would like to get those painted before the move, but obviously not a major issue. The plan is to close in the middle of May.
I am sure by now you are wondering, but how did the babysitting go. Well K was in tears as we left (in a tragic turn of events, Audrey got her very first fever the night before we were supposed to leave!!) and threatening to take one of the girls stashed away in my carry-on. However, I couldn't decide which girl to take, so I was forced to leave them both. As it turns out, the girls managed to not only survive, but to thrive. In another tragic turn of events, both girls cried when we got back. I am going with the theory that they did not realize that I was gone until the moment that they saw me and where then overwhelmed with sorrow that I had been gone for an entire week.
Brooke: She is eating much better and is now enjoying both pears and sweet potatoes (which I wish were not orange!!). She has suddenly become much more smiley which is adorable, but she has also learned to stick out her bottom lip in a huge pout. And finally she has started to love her mega-saucer. She rotates herself all the way around and plays with all of the toys! Yeah!! There is some discussion about teething because she is super drooly and frantically rubs her gums...but she is quite young and there does not actually appear to be any hint of a tooth.Audrey: She continues to be a rock star at eating and her spit-up is getting better. She has started to grab her feet and loves to flail them up and down. In fact she somehow uses this kicking to rotate herself 180 degrees in her bed...for you non-math people, that means her head ends up where her feet were when she went to bed.Here are some pictures...since I have spent limited time with them this week, please excuse the fact that they are in the same outfit (Thanks Mrs. Thacker for the dresses!!) in many of them. We had picture time after church today.

5 MONTHS!

The girls are 5 MONTHS old today!! What did we do to celebrate? Well, Brooke ate her entire container of pears without any crying! And both of the girls (finally) rolled over. We have been practicing our rolling over skills and both girls can now (Brooke was able to do it 2 days ago) push and kick themselves over from their tummy to their back. We are very proud of them.

Both: These glasses are waaayyy cooler than those hats!

Brooke: I LOVE my spoon!!

Audrey: I LOVE to sleep unswaddled!!

Audrey: OK. I have figured it out. If we put our arms like this and then move our legs, we can move!

Brooke: Who has a giant bow now??

Brooke: I know the TV is over there and if I could just stretch a little more...

NOTHING BUT PICTURES

Brooke: I am soo tired...I just can't jump anymore!

Audrey: I finally got my first Daddy shoulder-ride

We are so cute in our little summer dresses!!

Brooke: Don't they understand that I don't like PEARS!!

Audrey: I LOVE pears!!

Audrey: I am too cute for words in my giant bow!!

Brooke: Why don't I have a giant bow??