9 Month check-up

Even though it's one day early, we took Luke and Olivia for their 9 month check up today. I can't believe our babies are already 9 mths old!

Dr. Colyer said both of our cuties are progressing very well. I asked her what I needed to be doing with them developmentally since I stay home with them and they don't have exposure daily to other babies, and she said to keep doing what I'm doing-talking with them lots, reading, playing, and singing. They seem to especially love to help me with the laundry. Their favorite thing to do is pull all of their clothes out of the basket and play peek-a-boo with each and every item. It's the cutest thing! Tasks seem to take much longer now, but they are never boring!

Here are the measurements from today's visit:

Luke
20.7 pounds; 50-75%
28.5" long; 50-75%
Head circumference: 45cm 50-75%

Olivia
16.9 pounds; 10-25%
26.25" long; 10-25%
Head circumference: 42cm 3%

We hopefully won't return to see Dr. Colyer until they turn one year old. She said at that visit they will get 4 shots and one finger stick, so we'll probably wait until after their birthday before we make them endure that torture! In the meantime, we are enjoying seeing them continue to learn new things everyday. Dan has recently taught Luke how to "throw" a soft baseball (with each hand, no less!) and I am teaching them to give hugs and kisses. Olivia has almost mastered clapping and Luke is working on waving hello and bye-bye. They laugh a lot each day, and talk with each other in their own special language. It's quite amazing to see what a close relationship they share with one another, and we hope it's one that endures their lifetime. Happy 9 month birthday to our precious little babies!

Grandma' 85th Surprise Party

My grandma (dad's mom) that lives in FL has been visiting for the past couple of weeks, and her time here just happened to coincide with her 85th birthday. We decided it would be great to throw her a surprise party, and surprised she was! It was wonderful to have my sister's kids and our twins all together so she could spend time with everyone. Hope you enjoy a few pics from the day:

Olivia's first tooth

For the past few weeks, we have really thought Luke or Olivia would have a tooth coming in soon. This past weekend, I was checking gums (as I do every morning!), and I felt something sharp on Olivia's bottom gums. Sure enough, she has a tooth on its way. Finally! =) We feel sure Luke's aren't far behind, and hope that is why he has been a little more fussier than his usual chill self. I will be sure to post a pic once her little tooth finally makes its full appearance!

A tough decision

This past Friday Dan was presented with a great opportunity at work, and a very tough decision for our family. His company mentioned a few months ago that there is a new project starting up in Japan, and they may want him to be involved with the project. We decided we wouldn't really worry about it until or unless it became a definite reality. On Friday, it became a definite reality.

They gave him through the weekend to decide, and we talked a lot about the pros and cons. Obviously the most difficult thing is our family being separated for such a long time. But thankfully we now have video chat, email and phone calls to make things a little easier. And it really is too good of an opportunity for Dan to pass up. So he will be in Japan for 3 wks, home for 3 wks, and back to Japan for 4 wks. Luckily the timing is such he won't miss any major events (anniversaries or birthdays) except for Luke and Olivia's first Halloween, but we are still having to rearrange our schedules some. For example, I have to reschedule my trip to visit Lara in Texas and we have to find a new date to take 9 month pics. But everything is workable, and at least this trip isn't happening when Luke and Olivia are just born or when I was on bedrest. It won't be easy, but I think I can handle being both mom and dad for 7 weeks. The toughest part will be Dan missing out on Luke and Olivia day to day. Wish us luck!

Role Reversal

Since Dan's foot is in a boot, we are having to switch roles for a few weeks. He plays with and entertains Luke and Olivia while I get to cut the grass and take out the trash. The last time I cut grass was, well...never! We grew up on an acre lot of trees, so it took me until half way through the yard to figure out the lawn mower was self propelled. Things went a lot faster after that! I am definitely looking forward to Dan's foot healing very soon!

3 babies

I thought that would get everyone's attention! =) Nope...not another bun in the oven, but Dan is now my 3rd baby since he has a broken bone in his left foot. We aren't really sure how it happened, although we think it was when we were out for a run a few weeks ago. His foot has been bothering him ever since and he decided to get it x-rayed today. He has to wear a boot for 4-6 weeks and then have it re-examined to determine if everything is healing properly. Luke and Olivia are very intrigued by his boot and the funny noises the velcro makes when opened. It should be an interesting few weeks all around!

Now Luke is on the move!

I guess Luke got tired of Olivia getting to play with toys he couldn't reach, so after watching her for two weeks, he decided to join her on the other side of the room...and crawled for the first time! Poor little guy has been getting so frustrated after getting from his booty to his arms and knees and then falling down like an airplane stuck in neutral. We thought he would rock like Olivia did and then tenatively move an arm and knee. It ended up being quite the opposite. This afternoon it looked like he was going to get brave and move, so we grabbed the video camera and camera and got ready. We put the phone and remote on the floor and all of a sudden he was on the move!!! We clapped and cheered and kissed and hugged Luke, and Olivia seemed to cheer him on as well. We now live in a baby obstacle course of play yards, baby gates, exersaucers and pack-n-plays, but we wouldn't change a thing! We are so proud of Luke and Olivia for all they have already accomplished, and we know there will be many more firsts right around the corner. Now I just have to get used to the fact they can reach ANY corner without me having to put them there!

Look who's on the move!

We knew it wouldn't be long, and today Olivia crawled for the first time! I told Dan we better invest in some new running shoes now. She started the morning playing as usual and getting up on her hands and knees and rocking. Then she started to move an arm. I told Dan to grab the video camera because it looked like she was about to be on the move. We put her favorite singing turtle in front of her, and then left arm, right arm, left arm, right arm...she was crawling!!! She is still a little unsteady on the balance aspect, but if she sees something she wants, she definitely knows how to get there now. We have found that anything electronic (cell phone, camera, video camera) is particularly enticing and causes her to move a little faster than normal. Luke is starting to get up on his arms and knees, and we think it will only be a few short weeks before he takes off as well. For now, I'm glad only one baby is mobile. I can only imagine how crazy it will be once they are both on the move! There have been SO many changes over the past month, and every day now seems to hold something new and exciting!

Happy 4th of July!

This was Luke and Olivia's first 4th of July outside of my belly, and we wanted to make the day special for them. After going for a morning run with them, I dressed them in their red, white, and blue and started our busy day.

First we went to MauMau and PawPaw's church cookout so everyone there could meet the babies. They had a great time seeing everyone, and look forward to playing in the grass next year! Then we came back home and got ready for a cookout with some of Dan's family.

After Luke took a nap, we grilled ribs and fresh corn by the pool and spent some time swimming with Luke and Olivia's cousins, Hailey and Paige. Olivia was too interested in what was going on around her, and refused to take a nap from 12:30-8:30pm...when she passed out from exhaustion after her last bottle!

It was nice to have Monday off so we could just lounge around the house and play all day. It was great to celebrate Independence Day with our dependants. =)

Two completed nurseries!

It only took 6 months and two houses, but I have finally completed the nurseries for Luke and Olivia's room! They have been a slow work in progress since we moved, but we are happy with the way they turned out. We added a lot of personal touches, including curtains made by my mom, cross-stiched birth announcements made by me while I was on bedrest, and a personal poem framed from Aunt Lara. There are a few baby pictures and their handprints/footprints hanging on the wall, as well as their names hand painted by me hanging above their cribs. I'm sure we'll be changing and adding things as they get older, so we didn't want to do too much right now. Here are a few pics of their completed rooms:

A half-year update

Our lives changed for the best just over 6 months ago. It is so amazing how quickly Luke and Olivia are growing, and it is getting more and more fun everyday! Olivia plays hard and sleeps hard, while Luke is more laid back and catnaps. They smile and laugh when they see each other, and trade toys back and forth. They have also recently taken to pacifiers at night and tend to chew on them during the day. It never fails, though, that each with start out with their own paci, and by the end of the day they have traded a million times! They both love the "abc" song and "one, two, buckle your shoe" and they each have a favorite book they like to look at, talk to, and chew on!

Luke loves to lay back and play with his toys, and he thinks rolling over is the greatest thing ever! Olivia loves to sit up and play, and has recently learned how to rock herself forward onto her knees. We think crawling for her is just days or weeks away. They both scoot around on their booties and roll from one side of the room to the other. Olivia talks A LOT, while Luke talks when necessary (or when Olivia lets him get a "word" in every now and then!). They laugh and smile all of the time, and love to be tickled!

They are doing great eating solids now, and open their mouths when they see a spoon, even if it's an adult spoon! They have had rice cereal, oatmeal, bananas, yogurt, carrots, zucchini, squash, sweet potatoes and green beans. We will be introducing them to sippy cups with a little water soon, and we have already increased the amount of solids they are eating every day. They also recognize their bottles now, and Luke can hold his for the most part.

Luke and Olivia are teething as well. We think one day we'll just wake up and Luke will have 6 teeth, he's been teething for so long! He likes the teething rings, while Olivia won't touch hers because it's cold. It's so funny to see her touch it and immediately move her hands back as if to say "excuse me, I'm princess Olivia and you may hold it for me!"

Olivia is a great sleeper for the most part, while Luke still stirs quite a bit. It seems as if he is a little restless, but usually a quick pat on the back puts him back to dreamland. They typically fall asleep around 9pm and Luke starts to stir around 5:30-6am, Olivia a little later. They usually play for a little when they wake up before their first bottle around 7am. Then it's solids around 9am, bottle around 11am, 2pm and 5pm, followed by more solids around 6:30pm, a quick walk, and then bath, bottle, bed.

We have moved the coffee table out of our living room and into the sunroom so they have lots of room to roll around and play. Between the two exersaucers, the tummy mat and several toys, our living room definitely looks more like a daycare, but we wouldn't have it any other way! Each day they learn something new, and it's nice to just lay on the floor with them and see the world as they do. They are amazed to see a leaf blowing on a tree or Piper walking by them. Now if I could only slow down time just a little bit...

Splish, splash, we were taking our first bath!

I remember when Luke and Olivia barely fit in the net on top of our infant to toddler tub, and now they are almost too big to fit into the base of the tub! After our walk last night, we thought it would be a good time to see how they would do sitting in the tub without the assistance of the whale tub! They really like the pool, so we thought they would enjoy playing with some of their tub toys as well.

They sit up pretty well on their own, and seemed to do even better in the tub. They had such a fun time playing with their new toys and the rubber duckies. It's always funny, though, how there can be 6 ducks in the water and Luke and Olivia want the exact same duck! They are learning early the value of sharing. We will still probably bathe them individually sometimes until they get really good at sitting up, but it's fun to see them enjoying the water so much.