What we're up to these days...

I feel like the girls have been doing so many cute things and I want to write about them before I forget it all!! I'll start with Stella and how she is all the sudden giving real kisses with a little smacking noise and all! It just melts my heart! She has always been the more affectionate one and she has been giving kisses for while but she would just lean real close and put her lips on you. Now it's a full out lean in and smack on the lips! Tonight she even pretended to "tuck" in her baby and gave her kisses too. I know it's just part of her growing up but the fact that she is really getting interested in baby dolls is so sweet too. They put a baby doll in their old entertainer today and they were spinning her around and turning music on for her.
They both have been really interested in this little block set that we have where you have to fit them in the correct slots. All the sudden they love it and they will sit still for several minutes (which is RARE) and put all the blocks in. They are starting to get really good at it too. Sloane can almost always get the star in on her own!
I love that our sweet daughters are also starting to say more words. They try to copy so many more things and I am starting to understand more and more. I have been worried a little because I have known other kids this age that talked more but I asked their pediatrician at the last visit and she said that they are normal. She said they should know 5-8 words and signing is good too. When I started thinking about it I realized that they do know that many or maybe more.
They LOVE to play outside and have recently learned how to climb the ladder and go down the slide all by their selves. I stand close to make sure they are steady before sliding down but usually they don't need me at all. They still love airplanes and birds and spend most of their outdoor time looking up.
One thing that is good (and bad for me) is their climbing ability. They are climbing any and everything. We almost go nuts keeping them from climbing on the kitchen table and chairs. They are fast and can pull themselves up before you know it. I know it's just a phase but this is one of the hardest ones! As soon as I get one of them down the other is climbing up, then I get her down and the first one is back up again. And it goes on until I can find something really fun to distract them from it.
They are still great eaters and pretty much always have been. Every few days they will have a meal or two that they eat less but then by the third meal they are gobbling it all up again. I know I am lucky that they eat all the variety of foods that they do and I pray they keep up over the next couple years.
Its so funny when I think of how different everything was this time last year. I found a video on the camera of them in their bumbos and I had just fed them rice cereal and they were about 5 and a half months old. Stella is "cooing" at Sloane and they are trying to grab each other and it's just the sweetest thing. I teared up watching it because it feels like that "baby" stage went by SO fast. I mean I knew it would, but I think my girls grew up especially fast because they started walking so early (9 months). It's like all the sudden they were toddlers! I can only imagine the difference I will see next year. I need to video them soon so I can remember this fun and challenging stage too.
And my favorite S&S thing lately is them "loving" each other. One will get on top of the other and they will both start giggling and laughing. The they will start kissing each other on the head or belly like we do to them and make each other laugh even more. We love to watch them interact like this and pray they always love each other.
Oh, and they are obsessed with belly buttons! They will try to lift up our shirts and say "bu-bu-bu" for belly button. It's funny because they have no social boundaries so they are always trying to look at our belly buttons at the weirdest time or trying to check out their grandma's and other friends' belly buttons whenever they can. All we can do is apologize and hope they outgrow it soon. :)
We took them to a restaurant for the first time in a long time and they did surprisingly well. Here is a pic of them enjoying some chips and queso.
Have a great Thanksgiving everyone!

16 Months Old...Already?!?

I really don't know where the time goes because most of my days seem very long and tiring but before I know it another month has passed. Our sweet twins are really a handful these days. Climbing up on everything and no sense of fear or danger at all. It's pretty scary to say the least but I can only pray we get through this phase as quickly as the others. I have been so worn out by them lately and really needing a break. I am going to start tutoring Tuesday and Thursday so I can get out a little. My cousin Christine will be watching the girls and I just feel so blessed that it has worked out for her to do it. I am not worried at all about leaving them with her and that was my main concern before I decided to do this.
We went to the doctor for their 15 month check-up on Friday (yes a month late) and the doctor said that her toughest time with her son was 15-18 months. I was so glad to hear that it wasn't just me. I think with me getting out a little bit during the week I will be able to handle the rest of the days much better. They both weigh 22 pounds now and Stella is measuring just a little bit taller than Sloane even though Sloane looks taller. Other than the climbing, they really do mind well and want to please us. I can't wait to see how they react to Christmas this year!
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2nd Annual Pumpkin Patch Visit

A couple weekends ago we ventured out to the Pumpkin Patch that I love so much. I must say this year was much different than last year. My sweet little 3 month old babies are now 15 month old toddlers running everywhere! They were so excited to see all the pumpkins, Sloane kept yelling "Baa! Baa!!!" for ball because she thinks they are balls. We bought a few to bring home and put them out front by the garage so everytime she sees them she says gets excited and says "Baa" some more. Even though I say no, it's a pumpkin, she still says ball. So cute! The bad thing about this pumpkin patch is that there are lots of roots sticking up from all the huge oak trees so the girls were just running over them and falling right and left. Poor Stella fell one time really hard and got dirt all in her mouth and a huge bruise on her forehead. I felt terrible! But luckily after she rinsed her mouth with some water and I cuddled her for a few minutes she was back down running again. It was a lot harder to get family pics this time as they are SO active but we did manage to get a couple. (Excuse their white sandals in the middle of October. We hadn't had a chance to get new ones yet but thanks to their grandmas they now have a brown pair and a sparkly silver pair for this fall and winter.) :)
Okay I have tried about 10 times to get pictures uploaded and it keeps giving me an error message. BOO! I will try to add pics this weekend

Almost 15 Months!

Can you believe Sloane and Stella will be 15 months old this week?!?!? I really can't! I feel like we just had their birthday party and it was 3 months ago!! They have changed SO much the last couple months. Everyday they are learning something new and it's so fun to watch them learn and grow. Stella learned how to drink from a straw a few weeks ago so last week I got them sippy cups with straws. Sloane was never able to drink from a regular straw but she somehow picked up drinking from the sippy cup right away. They have had so much fun drinking water from their new cups. I am still giving them milk in a regular sippy cup for now.
We have been watching Baby Signing Time and learning signs for a while now but I think they are finally developmentally ready for it. They know so many signs!
Stella is quicker at recalling them but Sloane usually joins right in. They know: airplane, car, bus, boat, milk, more, eat, dog, cat, shoes, hat, "thank you" and "sorry". They also are learning their body parts from books we read so they can point to their eyes, nose, mouth, ears, and neck. When you say feet or foot they look at them and when you ask "where is your belly?" Stella pulls up her shirt (or tries to if she's in a onesie).
They can say a few things too. They have been saying snack (nack) for a while and mama and dada have both been shortened to just MA and DA. It's kind of funny. I guess they didn't feel like saying it all the way or they realized dada and dog-dog was confusing us. They say dog-dog for dog, and ba for ball. Stella says baba for baby and Sloane says muh for milk. She will also sign for milk when she wants it.
They LOVE to play outside and you can't even say the word with out them running for their shoes. Sloane is trying hard to say shoes. She will just say shhhhh over and over. Sloane can also say please (peas) and it's just the most precious thing ever!! She was saying it a lot but now it's more few and far between.
They can also give kisses and they will start smacking "kisses" when you say it. You can also ask for a real kiss and Stella will lean in and put her lips on you. Sloane is harder to get a kiss from but she will "air kiss" at you.
They really are just so much fun and I am so glad I get to be here with them witnessing all these milestones. They still take a morning (most days) and afternoon nap and sleep about 12 hours everynight. They have been getting up at 6:00 or 6:30 again which is harder on me but I can't really complain. They sleep well when they aren't teething or sick so I am happy.
All in all they are happy, healthy babies and we are so blessed! Have a great week!

Nick's Birthday Weekend

On Sunday, Nick turned 33! I really can't believe we are in our 30's! I feel like just the other day he turned 30 and now 3 years later here we are chasing twin toddlers. He is by far the hardest person EVER to buy for. He didn't even know what he wanted this year! He usually gives me some sort of idea (or let's be honest, emails me the link or shows me something in a store) of what he wants but this year he just couldn't find anything. So, I had to think of something on my own. I decided the girls would get him a cookie cake and I got him a new Texans shirt for the game on Sunday. (I am also going to get him some shoes or pants if he can ever find some he likes.) We went out Saturday night to our favorite date place, Michiru. We started going there before the girls were born and fell in love with the place. It's a great dark, trendy atmosphere and it's small so it feels exclusive. They have the best sushi! I love it because it's smaller pieces so it's easier to eat but they give you a lot so you will definitely leave full. On Saturday we sat at the sushi bar so Nick could watch football. There were 3 big games on so he was so glad he got to catch some of a couple of them. The prices are good, the food is great and the service is excellent! If you like sushi and haven't gone to Michiru yet, you need to!
Sunday was the Texans game. It was such a great game! They played well the whole time and we hardly sat down. I was so happy that it was a great game for Nick's birthday. We tried to get a picture of ourselves but it was too dark, so I just have one of the players coming out.
I am so glad that Nick's mom was able to come for the weekend and let us get out and have some fun. Here are a few pics of us this weekend.




Happy Birthday to the best husband and Daddy ever!!

It was bad, really BAD!

I have to blog about this because it is just one of those things that needs to be shared. (Well probably doesn't really need to be but I want to share anyway.) Years ago when I dreamed of being a Mom, I never dreamed of days like the last several we just lived. We ALL four got the worst stomach bug ever! It started Wednesday afternoon when Stella woke up crying during her nap. She had only been down about 45 minutes and usually naps for almost 2 hours so I went up to check on her. There was throw up in her bed! Oh no! I thought, that's weird. So I changed her and tried to get Sloane back to sleep and thought I would sneak out with Stella and deal with the puke later. Sloane didn't want any of it and they were both crying so I scooped them up and headed downstairs. Right as my feet hit the tile in the foyer, Stella starts throwing up again. Oh, it was bad! As bad as you can imagine. She's crying and trying to grab me because she's so scared and doesn't know what is going on, Sloane is just staring at her and I'm trying not to gag. I put Sloane in the playroom and grab some paper towels from the bathroom. I strip off her clothes and head to the kitchen to grab my phone and call Nick. In the process of trying to call him she throws up again!! Oh my word! What do I do?!?! So, he's in Freeport over an hour away. Seriously? Of all days! So I throw some paper towels on that mess and head to our bathroom to clean her up. Sloane follows me and thankfully is being good, just watching her poor sister in sympathy. I get Stella cleaned up and just kept her in a diaper. I made her stay in the bathroom in case she threw up again. I tried to call my mom and she wasn't available. I really didn't know what to do! It's one of those times as a Mom when you kinda start to panic because you haven't lived this part, or even thought about it! So I pray and get some composure and call my friend Karen. She often comes over after school (she's a teacher too, well literacy coach now, but teacher hours anyway!) and visits us so I thought maybe today she could come help me with Sloane since Nick wouldn't be home till 5:30 or 6:00. Luckily she answered when I called and came right away. What a friend! I mean really, I don't know what I would have done with out her that day! So, so thankful for you Karen!
The rest of the evening Stella kept throwing up every few minutes. I had called the pediatrician and they gave me a list of what to do and signs of when it was time to go to the E.R. When Nick got home finally Stella was really not doing well and I was getting scared. He called his Mom and she left church in Katy and got here as fast as she could. Luckily in the meantime, Stella settled down and fell asleep on Nick. Nick's Mom brought us dinner and pedialyte. Again, so, so thankful for her!! Stella started doing better and I was praising he Lord that maybe we wouldn't be taking her to the E.R. after all. Then, I heard it! Sloane had been asleep upstairs and all the sudden I heard her crying on the monitor. No! Not her, please, no throw up, but just as I got to the nursery door I heard her throwing up! Oh no! Right then I knew, this was going to be a rough one! This time it was on carpet! Ugh! My wonderful husband took care of that situation while I dealt with Sloane in our bathroom. Thank goodness Mamaw was here now to deal with Stella. We finally get somewhat settled, babies in pack n plays in our room, and Nick and I get into bed when all the sudden he is up again. Now it's hit him! Thursday morning was my turn!
It ended up hitting him and Stella the worst and Sloane and I skated by with a somewhat milder version, if there is such a thing!
We all felt pretty lousy from Wednesday night to Friday night. Saturday was better and I think today we are almost back to normal. I spent Friday night cleaning and sanitizing everything I could and a little more cleaning today. Hopefully we are over this and it doesn't come back to visit anytime soon!!!!!

What a difference a year makes!

One year ago today (the Tuesday after Labor Day) was the first time I started keeping the girls all day alone. They were 8 weeks old and I was determined to start caring for them all by myself. I look back and see how crazy I was. They were so TINY! Here are the pics of me practicing bottle feeding and burping by myself the week before. I was weaning them from breastmilk and things were getting much "easier". :)

I remember that first day so well, surprisingly! I rememeber being nervous but determined, like I said. I knew I could do it! About 2:00 in the afternoon, I was getting really tired. I found "Marley and Me" on HBO and it had just started. I had never seen it but it got me through that hard first afternoon. If you haven't seen it, it is a movie about a family and their dog. The main characters start out as a young married couple and you watch as they get a dog and start a family. Jennifer Aniston, who has no children in real life, nailed the Mom role. I was so emotional anyway and watching her struggle with being a new Mom in the movie was exactly what I needed that day. It does have a sad ending but it's a great movie about life.
I remember how long and lonley those first several months were, but how much I loved my babies and how perfect they were. Here are some sweet moments Kendra captured one visit that melted my heart then and still do.


Fast forward to a year later and they are 14 months old today!! It's so amazing how much they change in a year. They are doing something new everyday and just so much fun to watch! One thing Sloane has learned to do is open the doors so we had to get a lock for the pantry this weekend. She kept opening it for her and her sister and getting into all kinds of fun things.

I am so blessed to be Sloane and Stella's Mommy and I can't wait to see what the next year holds for us!