Heading South

This past weekend we headed south to have a belated Christmas with my grandma in Gainesville, GA and then continued on to Atlanta for the remainder of the weekend. It was a whirlwind weekend but we had a wonderful time seeing everyone.

We haven't travled since the babies have been off of bottles, and we weren't sure how they would be in the car once they woke up from their nap, ate lunch, and had to go back into their carseats for another hour or so. Luckily they did great and were very entertained with their toys. We got to Grandma's mid Friday afternoon and Olivia ran right to her. It took Luke about 10 minutes to warm up, and then they were off exploring her house, pulling books off of shelves and finding new tupperware to play with. We opened presents before dinner, and once the babies were in bed we stayed up chatting until almost midnight. Luke and Olivia did great sleeping in their pack n plays and we had a nice breakfast the next morning. Granny (Grandma's name for Luke and Olivia) really enjoyed seeing the babies walking and "talking" and hated to see us leave, as we hated to leave as well. It was a great visit.

Mid morning Saturday we headed to Atlanta to see some of our friends as well as Luke and Olivia's friends. We stayed with Jen and Marica and their twin boys, and it was so cool to see 4 little one year olds, two sets of twins no less, playing together. The babies have literally been friends since birth, and seeing their progression over the past year has been amazing. We took all of the babies to the park for the afternoon since it was such a pretty day, and then Dan and I went to a dinner party with some other friends while Luke and Olivia slept at our Jen and Marica's house. Another late night for us, but a great time nonetheless. The next day, Sunday, we had planned to get together with some other folks as well. So around 2pm, 2 more babies (for a total of 6 one year olds) and some friends came over for the afternoon. We went to the park again for a little bit, and it made me so happy to see all of the babies playing together. We were quite a sight for sure! We fed Luke and Olivia dinner and headed for home late Sunday evening. We got home around midnight and went right to bed. A fun, full weekend with lots of good friends. Times like those make me miss living in Atlanta, but we are thankful our family can see Luke and Olivia growing up as well.

Lots of changes

The new year has brought lots of changes to the Bartlett household. Several milestones have been achieved, and there are still lots more to come.

One of the biggest changes has been the conversion from formula/bottles to milk/sippy cups. A couple of weeks ago, we stared the transition. It took us about a week of mixing formula with whole milk, lessening the amount of fomula and increasing the amount of milk everyday, to make the complete switch to 100% whole milk. I have to admit, I thought it would be a little more difficult than it was, but our babies did wonderfully! Luke went on a bit of a milk strike for a couple of days, but by the end of the week, we had two milk converts on our hands. We were still giving them a night bottle with whole milk, and we knew that would be our next hurdle to cross.

This past weekend, we thought it was time to eliminate bottles completely. For Dan, this was a happy day as he was ready to have them on sippys only. For me, being a mom, it was a little bittersweet to think we were past the bottle phase in our parenting lives. Unless something unexpected happens, we will no longer revisit this phase ever again! Our usual routine was to feed Luke and Olivia dinner around 6:30pm, give them some playtime before bathtime and then give them their bottle around 8pm. It was rare that Olivia would fall asleep after her bottle, but more times than not Luke would pass out. We wanted to keep their routine pretty consistent. We moved their dinner time to about 6:45pm, playtime and bathtime is the same, but instead of a night bottle we now each read them a story and put them in bed around 8:15pm. All things considered, they have done great!!! The first two nights Luke woke up about an hour after being in bed but fell back asleep after abour 30 minutes. Olivia has fallen asleep on her own every night since Saturday, and they have both been sleeping pretty well and not waking up hungry. In fact, whoever gets up first has to wait on the other one to wake up so we can feed them breakfast at the same time. They are quite content to play and don't seem overly hungry, which gives us comfort in knowing they are getting enough nutrition throughout the day. They eat breakfast, lunch and dinner along with 2 snacks and drink water or milk throughout the day. We are SO lucky that they aren't very picky eaters, even eating and seeming to like broccoli and spinach.

The new year has also brought us 2 walkers. I thought they were fast crawlers, but this has brought a whole new set of challenges. Usually they find things of interest in opposite directions, and poor Piper cat just can't seem to hide from them. Olivia is a walker 100% of the time, and Luke is walking more and more everyday. He is still a little unsteady on his balance, but he is doing great and really gaining his confidence. I think in another week or two they will be walking hand in hand quietly and peacefully around the house. Hey, a mom can dream, can't she?

With their newfound independence also comes some stubborness. They sometimes test their boundaries of what they can and cannot touch, and they do not like to have toys taken from them. Usually it's Olivia who does the taking from Luke, but he is starting to take toys from her as well. They are learning about sharing, which is tough for any child to learn. Luke and Olivia point at objects they see, talk to one another in a language only they can understand, have temper tantrums when they feed the need, and give the best hugs in the world. They are typical 13 month old babies, whom I can't call babies for much longer (even though they will forever be my babies). Our next hurdle to conquer with be the pacis, but we'll save that for another day...

Snow Day

Here are some pics we took the day after Christmas in the snow. Luke and Olivia had fun touching the snow, but got too tired before we were able to build a snowman. We sure hope it snows again soon!

Happy New Year

It seems as if everyone is asking the question "what happened to 2010?" We sure are! Moving and adjusting to parenthood sure helped the year fly by even faster than usual.

We rang in the new year with our good friends Marc, Sabrina, and her family, as well as Luke and Olivia. Actually, Luke and Olivia didn't make it until midnight, but they hung in there until almost 10pm. It was so nice and relaxing to not be out on the town fighting the crowds and crazy people. Good friends, champagne, and watching the ball drop on TV...a perfect way to start a new year.

Happy 2011! And I was just getting used to writing 2010 on everything...

Merry Christmas!

HoHoHo Merry Christmas! This Christmas certainly was different for us this year with two very mobile little infants. Luke and Olivia woke up this morning having no idea the fun that was in store for them.

The babies wanted to leave milk and cookies out for Santa as well as a note, so we made sure to do just that before they went to bed. We were going to leave Santa's favorite, Oreos, but it seemed as if Dan got to them first and there weren't any left. So we left a very traditional chocolate chip cookie along with some whole milk. Santa must have liked his treat because when we woke up the next morning, half of the cookie was missing and the milk was all gone. We also let Luke and Olivia open one present each on Christmas Eve, and they chose their pillow pets. Luke got a puppy and Olivia got a ladybug. They really enjoyed diving into them and giving them "hugs."

Once the babies drifted off to sleep, it was time to get ready for Santa. Dan and I had so much fun getting everything ready for Christmas morning. Santa's gifts magically appeared underneath the tree, and his presents were easy to spot because they were wrapped in completely different paper than the presents from us. The stockings were filled with lots of goodies as well, including their favorite-a banana =)

Olivia was the first one to wake up around 6:30am. I got up with her and had some mommy/daughter time before the boys woke up. We played and I took some pics of her in her Christmas pj's in front of the tree. The boys got up around 7:30am, and after taking a couple of pics of Luke in his Christmas pj's, we had their favorite thing for breakfast, pancakes.

After breakfast, it was time to dig into our stockings. We bought a small tree for Luke and Olivia's room, so each year Dan and I decided we would include an ornament for their tree in their stocking, along with a book and other fun toys. This year they each got some new bath toys, too. It was priceless to see the excitement on their faces as they pulled things out of their stocking.

Once they played with some of the things from their stockings, it was time to open presents from Santa. It took Luke and Olivia some time to open their gifts, and they sometimes needed help from us, but we were in no hurry. We were videotaping and snapping pics the entire time; I will remember those smiles forever. They loved the crinkling of the paper and playing with all of the boxes and bows. Who needs toys? They seemed to appreciate everything, and were not interested in taking a nap until well after 11am.

When they woke up, Dan made some delicious omelets (my family tradition) and they loved every bite. Then we spent the remainder of the day playing and waiting on the snow to begin. Yes, snow on Christmas day. It didn't start until after 6pm, but it was so pretty to see it falling and nice to know we would be able to play in it for a bit the next day.

We truly enjoyed our Christmas as a family of four in our new home, and we know we will have so many memories and traditions to be born here for many years to come. It's surreal to think last Christmas Luke and Olivia were only a few weeks old, and now they are walking and into everything. Dan and I are completely blessed to have them as our babies, and we are glad they chose us to be their mommy and daddy. We love them to pieces, and being parents only gets more fun every day.

We hope your Christmas was as wonderful as ours. Merry Christmas!

Christmas with the family

Since we are living in NC for the first time in many years (about 11 years, actually), Christmas was a little different this year. Normally we are traveling and we come up for a few days before the 25th to see as much family as possible. This year=no travel. YAY!

Dan's brother, Jay, and his two sons came to town Wed to have Christmas with MauMaw, Paupaw and us. Jay and I took Jacob, Luke, and Olivia to Discovery Place Kids for the afternoon and then we hosted everyone that evening for dinner and presents. It was a nice, relaxed evening and all of the kids had fun opening their gifts and playing.

Christmas Eve it was time for my side of the family to get together. Oma and Opa came over for the afternoon to spend some time with us, Luke and Olivia and see them open their presents. They loved their sit and spin and pillow pets. Dan and I received a year pass to the Biltmore, which we are very much looking forward to using lots throughout the coming year. After Oma and Opa left, my sister came over with my niece and nephews. The kids enjoyed playing while us adults enjoyed some time just talking. Before we knew it, the day was almost over and it was time to get ready for Santa. More to come on that later...

Christmas Day we went to Dan's brother's Wyndal's house for a bit to exchange gifts and chat. It was supposed to start snowing that evening, so we didn't get to stay for very long.

Although it was very different this year, it was wonderful to be able to see so much family without having to travel almost 500 miles round trip. We look forward to many more memorable holidays here in our new home, and less miles on our car!