A VISIT FROM "THE CHICKEN"

This past week, the Haddens had a visit from my college roommate Stacy who I affectionately refer to as The Chicken. While I am not 100% sure where that nickname came from, though I think it might have something to do with the annoying Chicken alarm clock that I got to listen to for years, it is a term of endearment and used with much love. The Hadden girls had super amounts of fun with Stacy and were sad to see her leave us.

Here is a picture of The Chicken with us in the backyard...as you can see she in no way resembles actual poultry.

Here are the girls at Costco. As you can see the cart is made for two kids, which worked out well as I have two kids...in case you were wondering, with regular carts one sits in the top part and the other is in a Bumbo in the basket.

Their first swinging!!! Success... until Brooke bopped her head on her little basket...twice.

Here is a video of Audrey enjoying her swinging...I don't actually know what this sounds like cause the person who set up the computer did not hook up the sound correctly...that person was me!

MORE TEETH...

Just a quick update on the teeth situation. Brooke now has 2 teeth peeking through on the bottom for a total of 3 teeth! So in the past month the Hadden gals have grown a total of 5 teeth!

Audrey is shocked that Brooke has gotten ahead of her in the teeth count...Brooke is quite pleased to be winning.

HOW TO GROW TEETH

Beach story #1:
So as you may remember from an earlier post, Audrey decided to grow her first tooth during our transition from Houston to Fairfax over Memorial Day weekend...very pleasant for us all as we were all 4 sharing one room. Since then there had been no additional developments on the tooth front.

In Destin the Hadden clan got the master bedroom in the villa this year (yeah!!). We were very clever and made the girls their own room in the walk-in closet. There was enough room for 2 pack-n-plays and it had its own air vent, light, and door. It worked so great, that next year they will also be sleeping in the closet. Of course the closet is still in the bedroom so quarters were rather close. Which of course means that it is time to grow a tooth!!

So little Audrey grew her second tooth on Monday or Tuesday...right next to the first one on the bottom. To recap, her first tooth was the bottom right and now she has the bottom left as well.

Here is Audrey showing off her teeth!

Since April, Brooke has been acting like she is getting a tooth (yes I have read on the internet that it can take months) but recently she really seemed like a tooth was just on the verge - lots of drooling, pulling things across her gums, unexplained crankiness. So like a good mom, when it seemed like it was really hurting her, I have been applying Orajel to her little bottom gums. Imagine my surprise when we discovered her first tooth on Friday and it was in fact on the upper gums!! That's right her first tooth is the upper left tooth - completely opposite of Audrey! (on the up side, together they could chew!) And alas, my orajeling was pretty much useless...fortunately for her, D was always very thorough and applied liberally to all gums. This is pretty much a useless picture as you can't even really see the tooth, but it is there. I will work toward getting an actual picture, but in the interest of fairness, here it is:

Here is Brooke sort of showing off her tooth!

This picture is totally unrelated, but this is part of what I like to call the Bitter Beer Face:

WHAT A DIFFERENCE A YEAR MAKES...

We just got back from our annual vacation in Destin with K's extended (read 12 adults, 6 kids who are 6 and under) family. At this time last year, I was just finishing my first trimester and my cousin Kathryn said "you should do a blog." Well one year later, I have 7 month old twins, live in VA, and am still posting the adventures of A&B. Unbelievable.

So the whole time we were on vacation, I kept thinking about how clever this post would be and all the interesting things that I would put on here. Unfortunately, I remember none of that. Instead, I will let the pictures tell the story for me…..at least until I can think of clever anecdotes.

FUN WITH THE FAM...

FUN AT THE POOL...

FUN AT THE BEACH...

THE THIEF AND THE CHURCH

We are settling into a pretty good routine here. Though the house is still super cluttered. All rooms are livable, but only the playroom and the kitchen are done....except no pictures have been hung yet and that just adds to the clutter.

We decided to try a church this past Sunday, but since it was close and didn't start until 9:50 we were having some relaxing play time after breakfast. The girls were sitting on the play quilts and just being adorable. (As an aside, the girls are in massive pacifier mode lately. They love them and want them constantly. I am blaming this on teething as well) So we see Audrey looking at Brooke very intently. And then she makes her move. She lunges toward Brooke, pulls out Brooke's pacifier, and puts it in her mouth. HYSTERICAL!!! So of course I get the video camera and hope that there will be a repeat...which there was...but I don't know how to post from that camera yet, but will eventually get that posted. In the days that have followed, this trick has been repeated numerous times. However, don't feel too badly for Brooke. Last night she took Audrey's pacifier. Audrey still had the clip and a tug of war followed. Brooke was victorious.

Back to Sunday. So we get to church (early, just to make sure we have time to sign the girls in at the nursery and make it to Sunday School class on time) and get someone to take us to the nursery. The room is for 1 year and younger and there were a total of 5 kids - including our 2. Signing in consisted of putting a nametag on their backs. There was no security system in place at all. K was quite nervous. But alas, not all nurseries can be as wonderful as the one at our old church. So we get someone to take us to the Sunday School class - K found on internet - parents of young children. We get there and room is empty. The lady that brought us said that she thinks the class runs late and will start at 10 - after all it is for people with young kids and they run late. K said we have 6 mo old twins and made it fine (perhaps not a necessary comment - yet totally valid.) So we wait. A lady finally shows up and basically says that the class is not meeting anymore. K asks where are we supposed to go (apparently in a slightly abrupt tone judging by the lady's reaction). We went to the class led by the ministers to "dig a little deeper" into the sermon scripture. It actually was nice - the other 4 people had a mean age of around 70 - but not our thing. So maybe the sermon would be better. I could go on and on, but let's just say it was not. One funny thing was that the preacher would occasionally go into this little fast forward mode for a few words - K found this super funny and laughed at inappropriate times. We will not go back.

Other interesting things about Sunday: the girls tried "meat" for the first time. I use quotes because it in no way resembled any chicken that I have ever seen or tasted before. It was truly one of the most disgusting things ever. Also, D and K have actually met several neighbors who are very nice (since we go out stalking - I mean walking - every day.)

Here are just a few adorable pictures:

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.