Easter

Originally we were going to spend Easter at my sister's house in Joplin, Missouri. However everyone had a change in plans and we all went down to my parents' house in Ellinger. The weather was gorgeous (though a little on the hot side) and we had a blast. The twins went for their first "swim" and both loved it! Presley's eyes lit up when she saw the pool, but it took Marshall a couple of minutes to warm up to the idea. After a while though, he was loving it! We pretty much just hung around the house the entire weekend, which was fine with me. Had I been able to lay out by the pool for a couple of hours with a margarita in my hand, the weekend would have been perfect. :)

"We" got a new fancy camera last week (I use quotation marks because I haven't even held the thing) and Kyle took lots of pictures around the little town and of my parents' property. He has some good skills! Now I just need a tutorial and then I'll be able to take good pictures too. (hint, hint, Kyle)

Both Presley and Marshall hate to crawl on the grass. I guess it tickles their knees? Not sure. Anyway, whenever they are on grass they crawl around like a gorilla...it is ridiculously funny! So I included a picture of P. Marshall had fun showing off his new skills...standing alone and bending down then back up again...during the egg hunt. Presley was "over it" before we even started and just wanted to play with the eggs. :)

My sister is barely 12 weeks along, but I felt the baby move Friday night. It was so neat. I'm sure this sounds weird, but I LOVE feeling babies move. I think it is one of the most amazing things ever! The twins had fun with their cousins, but I'm sure Emmie and Sophia will be much happier when M and P can walk. :) I know there are a lot of pictures, sorry! Click on them to make them bigger.

Marshall's First Steps!!!

So exciting! This evening I was sitting on the rug in our entry way folding a load of laundry (no, not where I normally fold my clothes). Marshall was to my left standing up against the french doors that lead into our study. I was looking down and see him moving out of the corner of my eye. I looked up and realized, he is coming towards me...by himself!!! I saw him take about 6 steps so he probably took about 8 total. He had the biggest smile on his face and it was so sweet! To see him walking towards me, with open arms (well not really, he just had them out to balance) was the neatest thing. Unfortunately Kyle was still at work so he wasn't there to witness the steps, but I know Marshall will show him his moves tomorrow morning! We knew that he was on the verge walking, since he has barely holding on to your hand when you walked him around with one hand. He had better balance than Presley, and part of that I think, is because he is more adventurous and likes to discover things. Presley, not so much. Who knows when she will catch up to her brother, but I don't think it will be long! I'm so proud of my little man!!!

Eleven Months

Um, I'm sorry what? Yep, only one month till my "babies" are one! I can't believe it!!! Neither one is walking yet, but they barely hang on to your fingers when you walk around with them, so I'm thinking it is close. I've had to start putting cheese sauce on veggies for Presley to eat them, I think she is going to be a picky eater just like I was. I guess it's pay back! She takes a piece of food between her thumb and pinter finger and inspects it before she puts it in her mouth. If it has anything on it (like cream cheese) she sucks that off first, then eats the rest of the food! They are still sleeping 12 hours at night and taking 3 naps a day, although lately we've had a couple of longer naps so that is a plus. They are still growing like weeds. Marshall is solid...that is the best way I know to describe him. You pick him up and it's like picking up a 100 pound brick! He's not fat, if you push on his stomach it is hard and doesn't squish at all. Kyle was a "big" baby/kid and I think Marshall will be the same way. They still fight over toys, and Marshall pulls her hair and she tries to bite him. Since she still only has her two bottom teeth it doesn't hurt. Oddly enough, she doesn't cry when he pulls her hair! I think maybe he just grabs it but doesn't pull? He still has 6 teeth, and her top ones STILL haven't come in! I feel like she has been teething for 3 months! They are both talking up a storm, and in general they are still happy happy happy! Um photo shoot was a little rough this time, thank goodness we only have one more to take! (kind of sad too though) The first picture is the ONLY picture of them facing forward and looking at me that I was able to get, and the rest are some out takes just to show you how difficult it is to take their picture!

Daddy Day Care Weekend

This past weekend I went with two of my friends from high school to Little Rock to help celebrate another one of our friend's birthday. Kyle had the babies...all weekend...by himself! He's never taken care of them for more than 6 hours by himself, but he did awesome! I wrote some tips down for him but I don't think he needed them. Even even ventured out of the house with them! Saturday they went to the Main Street Arts Festival and Sunday they went to Home Depot. I came home to happy babies and a clean house, which was a nice surprise! (the clean house thing, not the happy babies thing) They had so much fun together, so I told Kyle maybe I should be gone more often! :)

We had a wonderful weekend in Little Rock! My friend Pam drove in from Austin Thursday night and spent the night with us. THen Friday around 1:00 we met our friend Shelley, who lives in Keller, and we headed off down I-30. It is a 5.5 hour drive, but really isn't bad at all because it's a straight shot down I-30. Friday night we just made pizza and hung out at her apartment since everyone was pretty tired. Saturday morning we got up and walked the Big Dam Bridge (yes that is it's name). It's a huge pedestrian bridge that crosses the Arkansas River. It was SUPER windy, so we didn't walk the whole thing. We ate lunch at a cute cafe, then headed to the mall. We shopped for a while, then came home to get ready. Andrea's friends had planned a little dinner party at a yummy Italian food restaurant. After dinner we headed to a bar, then home. Sunday we got up and were on the road by 11. Short trip, but so happy we were able to help celebrate Andrea's birthday!

Good Mom, Bad Mom

Today was a rough day. Kyle had to meet with the H & R Block guy at 7:00 which meant I was on my own for bed time. Both kids had been fussy all afternoon, and I by 4:00 I could not fathom being with them, alone, in this house, for another 2.5 hours. So I called Kyle and told him we were meeting him for dinner at 5:00 at a yummy Italian place we love, Fortuna. Dinner is going great, and the babies are behaving very good. That is until our waiter apparently had issues, and it took FOREVER to get our food! (Which has never happened to me, EVER, at that restaurant) We were 1 of 3 tables, so it's not like they were busy! We got our salads, but as soon as we finished trouble started brewing.

Of course we as parents, always think it is worse than it really is, but let me just say that by the time we left I had taken two bites of my slice of pizza, drank my entire glass of wine (and started going for Kyle's), and the floor around us looked like a bomb went off.literally.

One table had a couple who had grown b/g twins of their own, so they totally understood. Plus, the lady was a NICU nurse and was super sweet. She and her husband even came over to "get a closer look" when they finished eating. She (in her own way) blessed each one of the babies...how sweet is that? They told us how great and how beautiful/handsome the twins were. (It should be noted that they left before the you-know-what hit the fan.) In their place came a young, twenty-something couple who obviously had NO children. I was thinking to myself, "well M and P will be good birth control for them!" The wife thought they were precious and just loved Presley (I was walking her around at this point to distract her). Next to us was a table of 3 older adults who just went on and on about how lovely, cute, adorable, smart, etc the twins were. At one point one of the women looked at me and said, "I can tell you are a wonderful mom!" Wow. Here I am, nerves shot from a not so wonderful week with the babies, and a lady who has only been around me for 5 minutes is telling me I am a good mom. It made me stop and remind myself that you know what? I AM a good mom, and I have really good kids. There have been several times this week when I have told myself that I WASN'T a good mom for one reason or another. Mainly because the twins have really been wearing me down. It was very humbling to know that someone who doesn't know me from Adam feels strongly enough to tell me they think I'm a good mom.

So I guess the moral of the story is, next time you see a mom who is doing a great job, tell her! It could be just what she needed to get through another day (or thirty minutes!) :)

Race for the Cure

My mom and my friend Amanda came in town this past weekend to walk the Race with us. It was beautiful weather, although the "breeze" became a "wind" towards the end! The twins did great, slept half the time and the other half they looked around at all the interesting people! My friend Shelley made them special onesies and they looked SO CUTE in them! My friends Lauren and Kari (with her 5 month old son, Gavin) came as well. We all had a great time and I'm looking forward to next year!

Random ramblings

We went to Midland this weekend to help celebrate Kyle's older sister Nikki, and his brother Brett's birthdays. The babies had a blast playing with their aunts and uncles and it was a nice, relaxing visit!

We have the Race for the Cure coming up on Saturday, and we are very excited for the twins' first "race"! My friend Shelley is making them something special that I'll post pics of next week. If you haven't signed up yet (and you live in FW), please do! It's only $30 and you get a t shirt. We will be walking exceptionally slow this year due to the Big Mama stroller we will be pushing around. :) My mom and bf Amanda are coming in town to walk with us as well so I can't wait for their visit!

I really want to take M and P's pictures in some bluebonnets, does anyone know where is the best place in or around FW?

I made home made mac and cheese for them tonight and they LOVED it! I used ditalini pasta and made a cheese sauce from one of the kid cook books I have. They would have licked the bowl had I let them! I also gave them kiwi today which they devoured. Let's hope this "living new things" keeps up!

Presley said something similar to "truck" and "outside" last week. She also says "hi mama", though not always on command. :) Marshall still just says mama and dada, but just about everything is "da" said many times in a row or long and drawn out. It's funny because he also talks very loudly so there is a lot of "DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA" in our house.

I found a lady who has an in home day care to take care of the twins next year when I go back to teaching (tear). She is very sweet and really cares for the kids. She is three minutes from my school so that is really nice and helpful! Speaking of working, I got my teaching assignment for next year...let's just say it'll be interesting! More on that later...

In a few weeks I am going with my high school girlfriends to visit our friend Andrea in Little Rock. Which means Daddy is on duty ALL WEEKEND! Kyle's never watched them for more than 6 hours by himself, but I have full faith that he will be able to handle it and when I come home the babies will be in one piece. Now the house, probably not!

I guess that is all of my random ramblings! Have a great week!