Everyday Life

I was just listening to Rascal Flatts' song, "Everyday Love," on the radio the other day, and it made me think of my life! Here are the lyrics:

"It's ordinary plain and simple
Typical, this everyday love
Same ol', same ol' keeping it new
Emotional, so familiar
Nothing about it too peculiar
Oh, but I can't get enough of this everyday love."

As I was listening to it, I thought, wow..that's my life! Having twins, you have to have a constant routine. We try to keep their schedule as predictable as possible. It is very ordinary and the same thing, day after day. You would think that would be boring..BUT...I just can't get enough of it! I love the ordinary things that go on in my day. I love coming home from school and seeing them sleep for a half hour and knowing that at 4:30 we get to go through the feeding routine! I love the way they are SO sweet at bedtime and that they know that at 7:00, everything should stop and we need to start getting ready for bed. I love the way they play by themselves in the morning as I get ready for work. All of it is so routine, nothing too special, but I just LOVE it! I absolutely can't get enough of my time with the girls!
So, being inspired by that and by the girltalk blog from a few ladies from our church, I have decided to try to document our "ordinary, plain and simple," lives by taking a picture of what is going on in our house every day and posting it on here! Now, I know that I will not be able to download and post a picture everyday, so I may have to post three days of pictures all in one day, but I really hope to be able to capture at least one moment a day on film. One disclaimer, if you do follow the girltalk blog...Janelle is a GREAT photographer. Her pictures are BEAUTIFUL and so talented. I am just a mommy with a camera, so mine will not even come close to her pictures, but my intention isn't to be a great photographer....it is to document my family so that when the girls are older, they can look back and this and see what our lives were like when they were babies!! So...all that babble leads to picture #1...here was what I saw yesterday as we got close to the 7:00 bedtime routine. Daddy and Leah playing on the couch! She LOVES when her daddy kisses her belly! She laughs and laughs!!!

Facebook Already?

Can you see what my little girls are enamored with...facebook? Well, maybe not facebook, but they do love that laptop. Every time I have it near them they make their way over to it. Yesterday I held Leah in front of it and she was doing everything she could to get out of my arms just to touch it. Isabella mostly loves to eat it, but Leah will push buttons, talk to it, and then try to close it. So cute!

Caught red-handed

The stare-down..who is going to play with it?


Leah, checking her facebook page

"And...we're done...let's close this thing together!"

Last weekend, we had TWO babysitters to put the girls to bed! Our nanny stayed Friday night so that Cesar didn't have to take off work (and I could stay after school all night for the middle school spring dance...oh what fun!). Then Grandma babysat for us on Sunday night so that we could go to the member's meeting at church. I was very nervous (and sad) to have someone else put them to bed, but they did great! They cried for grandma because she forgot to give them their much needed 15 minute nap before bedtime routine starts (whoops!), but otherwise, no real problems. I guess now that we know they are good with other people putting them to bed we might just get to have a date-night sometime soon! WOO-HOO!!!

Grandma reading to the girlies

One last picture of Leah trying out a new look!

6 Months

Leah eating Isabella's feet

Daddy and Leah playing after work

Love this sweet picture

Leah's appetizer before her lunch!

So it has already been a half year since these beautiful babies came into our lives! It's hard to believe that they haven't been with us forever. They are at the perfect age right now. Every second with them is amazing! They are so fun and I just can't get enough of them. A few things I want to remember about this stage:

They LOVE to play with their feet. They pull them up, stick them in their mouths and even love to eat each other's feet.

They are almost sitting up on their own. As of today, Leah can sit for minutes on her own without support and Isabella is not far behind. She can do about 30 seconds before toppling over.

They LOVE to laugh..especially when Daddy gives them kisses. It is so fun to see them play with him when he gets home from work. They get so excited and just laugh and scream with joy.

They started eating solid foods about two weeks ago. They are getting better everyday. They still get it all over their face (and their hands and feet when they shove them in their mouths between bites), but they are getting more in their mouths than on their bibs now! They are OK with the rice and oatmeal cereals, but they LOVE the rice cereal with bananas. They even say "mmmmmm..." while they are eating!

They play together more and more every day. If you put them on the floor together, they will look at each other and laugh, grab each other's hands (and face and every other body part), and play with toys together. We have a big Caterpillar that talks and they will sit together and push buttons and play with him for a long time. They both still LOVE the frog on the jumper! I don't know what it is about that little guy, but for some reason they just love it. As soon as you put them in the jumper, they scream and try to kiss him :) Grandma also bought them a giant frog toy and they seem to love that equally. So weird.

Today we went to the doctor for their 6 month check up and they are growing beautifully. Leah is 15 pounds and Isabella is 14 pounds. That puts Leah in the 25th percentile and Isabella in the 10th. They are doing great in height too. Leah is 26.5 inches and in the 50th percentile and Isabella is 25.5 inches and in the 25th. That is so great since they were both way under the 10th when they were born.

SLEEP...they are sleeping through the night! Well, at least for the last 5 days. Once we stopped swaddling them, they decided that sleeping through the night was for the birds, so after 4 weeks of getting up and replacing pacifiers all night long, we decied to sleep train. It only took one real day of training to get them to do it, and last night they slept from 7:30-6 without waking up a single time.

The other sleep issue is my little fountain named Isabella. Somehow she manages to pee through her diaper every night. I have tried EVERYTHING to get her to stay dry, but she manages to get through it. I finally have gone to using TWO diapers on her at night! I know that sounds silly, but it actually works. She has only peed through the two on one occasion!

OK, enough writing, hope you enjoy the new pics of my 6 month old princesses!

Happy Easter

Savannah

We just got back from our first family vacation! I was very nervous about the long drive to Savannah (9 hours) but the girls did GREAT! On the way down, they slept for the first 8 hours and then we stopped, fed them, put them back in their seats and they slept the rest of the way. On the way back, they needed a little help getting to sleep (they screamed for about 30 minutes while we tried to calm them down) but then they slept the entire way and didn't even need us to stop to feed them!

The actual trip itself was so much fun! We got to spend a lot of quality time with Dad and Vikki! Dad even held the girls (which he swore he wouldn't do until they were 2!) . I also got to see my high school friend Nicole and her ADORABLE sweet boy Patrick!

The weather down there was beautiful and the girls and I got to go on a few long walks and Cesar got to get some much needed fishing time in!

Overall, the trip was great! We can't wait until our next Vacation!!!

Videos for Grandparents-jumpy jumpy!

Here are Leah & Isabella's first tries at the jumper at Dad's. The both LOVE the frog. Once they got into it, they were even more excited than this! I will have to shoot some new ones once we can figure out how to get our jumper low enough for them to use it.

Videos for the Grandparents-feeding

The girls eating their first spoon-fed meal!

Weekend of Fun!

Hanging out with the Strands

Santi and the girls playing Wii

We had such a fun and busy weekend! Uncle Santi came to visit us last week for his spring break. The girls LOVED having him around. They laughed and laughed whenever he was around!

 Saturday morning, Aunt Deanna, Kai, and the girls and I went outlet shopping. This was the girls' first trip like this and they did great. As you can see below, they slept throughout most of the trip, which was nice. Look how handsome Kai is! He is going to be a heart-breaker!!

Sunday, we had a relaxing day at home...the weather has been SO nice, the girls were able to break out their ADORABLE summer clothes (thanks Lauren!)! As you can see they are very
happy about the warm weather!

And finally, a much needed nap after the long weekend!!

Returning to Normal

So, the girls are 5 months and I feel like life is finally returning to normal (well, as normal as can be with twins)! We decided to get a treadmill so that I can start running again, so this week I have tried to get back into it (although it is still hard to find hours in the day to do it!). I also FINALLY got my coupon book organized again and had a couple great trips to safeway this week. I had to take a picture of my trip today. I got all of this (25 boxes of cereal/granola bars/fruit snacks, two boxes of pasta and 6 cups of yogurt for $7.50!! Woo-Hoo! I love the fact that I can start saving money again...it was killing me to pay full price at the grocery store week after week :) So sad the things that get me excited!!

Play Date!

We FINALLY were able to get together with cousin Kai for a play-date this weekend. It has been SO long since we saw him and Aunt Deanna! One or the other of us have been sick for what seems like forever, so it was great to all be healthy and get a chance to play! Deanna took some great pictures. My favorite is the first one. Take a look at these links here and here to my posts from November and December...it is so fun to see how much all three have grown!!

Isabella is just enthralled with her cousin...I love that they are holding hands!

OK, so maybe not so enthralled when he tries to eat/kiss her

I would love to know what Leah is thinking here!

This is what they looked like MOST of the time that we were trying to take pics :)

And one of just Isabella...all ready to go for a walk outside!!

4 Month...a little late

OK, so, the girls are beyond 4 months...in fact, they are only a few days away from being 5 months...but, I was waiting to post their 4 month info. until I could figure out how to get these videos loaded. Finally, I think I figured it out. These are mostly for the grandparents to see the kids...nothing all that exciting, but we think they are pretty darn cute (you may want to mute your computer because mommy is talking in annoying baby talk througout all the videos)!! I am hoping the last one comes out clear enough to see...it was dark in the room when we took it, but Leah was being SO funny...she LOVES to play with her tongue (as you will see in the other videos) and she kept trying to lick EVERYTHING..including the air...so we tried to get it on film.

Some updates...

The girls had their first sicknesses...it was MISERABLE. We learned that they handle sick in a completely different manner. Leah just acts pitiful..she would sit and stare with her watery eyes, cough, and just seem out of it. Isabella on the other hand...well, she is our little drama queen. She would cry herself into a coughing fit...wouldn't let us put her down, and DID not like the breathing treatments AT ALL. As long as we didn't put the mask on, Leah actually seemed to like the breathing treatments...wierd little girl! After 5 doctor visits, we finally got the all clear and the girls were able to get their vaccines...well, isn't that a great reward for getting better! At their last visit, they were 12lbs. 11oz (leah) and 11lbs. 12oz (Isabella). Isabella is 24 inches tall and Leah is 24.5 . Isabella's head circumference is 40 and Leah's is 40.5.

They are "sleeping through the night." That means they don't have to eat from about 7:30-5:30...however, some nights they wake up every half our to cry for their pacifier and sometimes they make it the entire night without it. Not sure yet what we do on those wonderful nights that they sleep all the way, but we hope to learn soon!

You'll see in the video that Leah LOVES to play with her tongue and Isabella is just starting to do the same. They are getting so much better with their hands. They will reach out and grab toys, their play pad, and especially, MOMMY'S HAIR...ughhh... One great thing is that they LOVE to hold hands. If you put them on the floor next to each other, they will almost always grab each other's hands and hold on...it is so cute!!

I am sure there are a million other things I am leaving out, but I will add them at their 5 month post! Hope you enjoy the videos Grandpa (and anyone else patient enough to watch ).

Happy Valentines Day!

4 Months

4 Months have come and gone and the girlies are doing so well. Every day is so much fun with them. They are so calm (unless they are hungry) and they LOVE to laugh and smile. They are not easily bored...they can sit and stare at their hands and be entertained forever. They are starting to show their own personalities. Leah is much more laid back (like her namesake) and Isabella is more excitable. They have their own unique facial expressions too. Leah LOVES to stick out her tongue and Isabella likes to put her lips up like Elvis. They both are talking a lot. They are trying out all kinds of different noises and will have a conversation with you if you repeat what they say. They are both completely addicted to pacifiers (remember that i said I will NEVER let my kids suck their thumb or use pacifiers..ha...good luck with that). They are sleeping through the night pretty well. They go down at 8 and wake up around 4. From 4-5:30, we get up about every 15-30 minutes and shove the pacifiers back in their mouths so we (we meaning tricia) can get an extra hour of sleep. Then they get up at 5:30, eat, play for exactly an hour and a half and are back to sleep for 2.5 hours. It has been so nice to have them down at 8 so we can have a little free time (and right now, by free time I mean time to clean bottles and go to bed!). Both girls can roll over consistently from their front to their back, although Isabella has mastered it a bit faster than Leah. Leah is really trying to get from her back to her front. She has come close many times! With this ridiculous snow storm we have had, I have been able to learn so much more about my sweet girlies. It has been such a blessing to be home with them for eleven straight days!!! I will gladly make up the time this summer to have this time with them now! They are the best! I have included a lot of pictures below to demonstrate some of the things I have talked about. Leah & Dad taking a nap...look how big she is!

Bath time! Isabella about to fly away!


Leah and her friend...her hand! She LOVES to suck her fist.

Leah

Isabella after bath. Check out her belly button. Believe it or not, it has actually gotten smaller, but you really can't tell in this picture...it looks huge :)

Leah is in the background

Curiosity

This is what we see most of the time from both of them...big adorable smiles!

The addiction. The pacifier. The sleep aide. The soother. The addiction :(

Isabella, just hanging out and looking pretty!

I love this picture because it shows their personalities. Leah is just relaxed and playing with her tongue and Isabella is about to start talking and kicking!

Isabella's head-shot

And, Leah's head-shot

*We go to the doctor on the 22nd for their 4 month well-visit...we'll update their stats then!