Happy Halloween!

I found my idea for the girls' Halloween costumes on the internet months ago.  Then I found someone on Etsy who was selling them, but they were fairly pricey for a costume that was solely going to be used for taking pictures.  So what did I, a very busy working mother of twins who never even took home economics decide?  I could make that.  And I did, with quite a bit of help from my mom.  After all, I don't even own a sewing machine.  It doesn't matter because I love how they turned out.  I think my daughters are the most adorable things ever, but put them in bug costumes, and the cuteness just multiplies!

I even planned out a little Halloween photo shoot when my parents were in town.

They found their ribbons and each other:)

This weekend we took them to the zoo during trick-or-treating, but it was too cold to just wear their costumes.  I put their buntings on underneath their costumes, but we still ended up with a whole lot of, "Oh, look at the cute baby leopards!".  Oh well, they make cute leopards as well:)  They also get to wear their Halloween costumes for daycare today, so it was well worth the time that my mom and I spent making them!



More Apple Picking

I had more pictures from our apple picking adventures that I just had to share.  I look back at some of the pictures, and the girls look so serious.  This is funny to me because they are generally smiley little babies.  I think they're still a little afraid of the camera, but they are all smiles when the camera's not in front of my face.  Harper actually learned how to show off this weekend.  She was laughing away at Wei-Yand, and when she realized that all of the adults got a huge kick out of that she would look at Wei-Yand and laugh like crazy.  Then she would look around to make sure that we were still paying attention to her.  Then she would look back at Wei-Yand and laugh again.  This was repeated a few times, much to my delight!

Happy Anniversary!

It's hard to believe that it's already been three years since we got married.  That day was so much fun, but just the beginning of our wonderful adventures together.  I'm so excited that we'll be celebrating tonight as a family of four!

October 25, 2008

We're taking the girls to their first swimming lesson tonight.  I'm a little nervous for how Tannah is going to react, but hopefully she'll enjoy it.

Apple Picking

We have been blessed with some phenomenal weather for October in Wisconsin, and we took advantage of it this weekend by taking the girls and my parents apple picking.  We're late in the season, so the apples weren't great, but I got some cute pictures of the girls.  They aren't big fans of applesauce, but they sure love to lick a whole apple if you put it in front of them.

Milestones

Look what my girls can do!

Tannah can sit independantly for a few minutes now.  Harper is a little more wobbly, but she's getting there.  Of course, she also likes to lay back and just chill out too.  I love how she's crossing her little feet in this one.

Halloween

It's the middle of October, and we are getting ready for Halloween.  Tannah is particularly excited.:)

The girls' costumes are all ready to go.  They aren't going trick-or-treating, because really the candy would just be for us, and that's just weird to me.  So, I'm looking for activities that will allow me to dress the girls up in their costumes.  I think we're going to go to the zoo during Halloween weekend, and I'm going to put their costumes on this weekend just to take some of my own pictures.  I can't wait!

Food Update

We have continued marching along with our introduction to solid foods.  So far the girls have had oatmeal, sweet potatoes, avocados, acorn squash, bananas, and peas.  They don't seem to dislike any of the food, but still haven't quite mastered eating.

Tannah insists on putting her hand or her bib in her mouth between every bite.  She always ends up with food everywhere as a result.

Harper is a little neater (and more enthusiastic) than Tannah.

We also gave the girls sippy cups for the first time.  They weren't quite sure what to do with those.  Harper drank from it if I held it to her mouth, but
Tannah just chewed on it.

Tannah likes to feed herself.  I tried to give her a plastic spoon in exchange for the metal one, and she had a meltdown of epic proportions.  I'm looking forward to starting finger foods so she actually can feed herself.

Harper was just hanging out wondering where her peas went during Tannah's meltdown.

Six Month Well Baby

The girls had their six month well baby appointment today.  They are both doing great, but Tannah has her first ear infection.  In the last month I have taken both girls to the pediatrician for suspected ear infections, and neither had one.  Today, she was exhibiting no symptoms, but there it was. Oh well.

They did very well with their shots, and I even managed to get some decent pictures of them this afternoon.

The girls both have horrible rashes around their mouths from the massive amounts of drool they produce every day.  I think teeth have to be coming soon, but so far no sign of them.

Now for the stats:

Birth

Harper - 6 lbs 6 oz (30th percentile), 21.5 inches (75th percentile)

Tannah - 7 lbs 7 oz (60th percentile), 20.5 inches

2 months

Harper - 11 lbs 2 oz (40th percentile), 23 inches (75th percentile)

Tannah - 12 lbs 4 oz (75th percentile), 23.25 inches (80th percentile)

4 months

Harper - 14 lbs 2 oz (50th percentile), 25 inches (75th percentile)

Tannah - 14 lbs 14 oz (70th percentile), 26 inches (95th percentile)

6 months

Harper - 15 lbs 11.5 oz (45th percentile), 26 3/4 inches (80th percentile)

Tannah - 16 lbs 1 oz (55th percentile), 27 inches (90th percentile)

The girls are so much fun right now.  I know I say that every month, but they just keep getting more fun.  They are developing their own little personalities. 

At six months:

• Both girls are rolling.  Tannah can roll a good 5 feet.
• Tannah can turn herself 360 degrees while on her belly.
• Both girls still love the exersaucer and the jumperoo.
• The girls love to play with Sophie, their Say Please tea pot, soft books, and Freddy the firefly.
• The girls are happy little babies who love to giggle when we make funny noises.
• Both girls are so close to sitting on their own.  They can both balance for short periods of time.
• They have had oatmeal, sweet potatoes, acorn squash, bananas, and avocados.
• They have both slept all night long, but not consistently.
• They generally go to bed around 7 pm and get up around 6:30.
• They still don't take very good naps.

They bring so much joy to my life, and they make everyone around them smile.  Love these girls so much!

Smart Babies

Look what she found.  A whole box of toys rather than just the ones mommy gives her.

You can't see it in this picture, but she got the book she wanted.

Six Months!

My babies are a half a year old today!  It's strange, but it feels like they just got here yesterday and at the same time like they've always been a part of our family.  They are developing their own little personalities, and today those personalities were not so into getting their pictures taken. 

I had an appointment scheduled to get their pictures taken, but they both started screaming almost immediately upon being put down.  After feeding both of them, we managed to get a good shot of each girl individually, but nothing together.  I had grand plans to get pictures of the girls in their cute little dresses and then to do some in their Halloween costumes.  Yeah, that didn't happen.  We ran over our session time (which is way too short for twin infants) in just one outfit.  And, the lady taking the pictures actually mentioned to her assistant that she usually had a parent to help with posing the baby.  Again, this is why I just need hire someone to come to our house.  I'm thinking about hiring our wedding photographer to come do family Christmas pictures.

Then I tried to take their picture this afternoon in their dresses.

Cute individual pictures, but put them together, and they'd rather eat each other.

Finally, we moved onto month sticker pictures, and this is how that went:

Already going in opposite directions.

Good Things Come in Pairs

The girls are starting to notice each other more and more.  They often grab each other's hair or ears.  They also always seem to be kicking each other.  No matter how we lay them on the floor, one always seems to wiggle her way to having her feet against her sister. 

Tannah wasn't so amused at having her ear pulled.

The girls are getting very close to being able to sit up on their own (for more than a few seconds), and we have to watch Tannah very closely in the Bumbo.  She managed to get herself out of it today.

Harper has started rolling, so both girls are getting more mobile every day.

My Big Girls!

There's something about jeans that make my babies look so grown up!  I've been having lots of fun shopping for fall/winter clothes for the girls, and these outfits are two of my favorites.  They're size 6-12 month, and still pretty big, so they should be able to wear them all winter long!

Grandma and Grandpa's House

September was our month to travel to Michigan to visit my parents, and we decided to take the ferry to cut down on travel time.  The girls were very good on the trip over, and they wore their "Nuts about Grandma" shirts for the occasion. 

On Saturday, we decided to check out their local farmers' market.  I'm very excited that it's Honeycrisp season again!  I love those apples!  We took a family photo for daycare while we were at the market.  I have no idea what the girls were looking at.

On Saturday the girls wore some camouflage since my dad gets such a kick out of it.  My mom worried that people would think they were boys, but I don't worry about that anymore.  They can be dressed identically in hot pink dresses, and inevitably, someone will ask if they are both boys.  Whatever, they're adorable either way.

Visiting grandma and grandpa threw a slight wrench in our sleep training, but we're getting back on track (and we moved Harper back into the nursery, so the girls are together again:).