Here are some scrapbook pages of the twins

The rest of the photos from yesterday

This is the newest version of tummy time for us. If they are propped up high enough they like it. Blake is such a mover he doesn't last very long in the upright position. He ends up going lower and lower until he is laying with his face pretty much mashed into the lower pillow. Needless to say I do not leave him unattended in this position.


They still love to watch TV part of the day.


Blake making a funny face and Madison checking him out.



Both looking over at me.


They love their mommy!


Here is Blake, my super cutie!!! See how cute cloth diapers can be? We saw Bum Genius 3.0's at Target tonight! Way cool! I used to have my mind closed off to cloth diapers, but I am so glad Molly gave me the information and showed excitement about cloth diapering her son. We wouldn't be saving so much money if she hadn't.


Blake fell over.


The babies sucking on their fingers as usual. Madison is wearing a dress that pretty much doesn't stay down at all but is so cute.



Both babies smiling at the same time again. Right on. I guess it is going to be a common experience from here on out.


Even smiling she put her hands back into her mouth.


My sweet boy.


Here is Blake sitting up! lol I set the timer on the camera. Held him up until it was about to go off and let go. This was the third attempt. He stayed up about 5 seconds before falling over.


Madison got it on the first shot. She fell backward as you can probably tell.


Cutie Blake. Madison in the background trying to sit up straighter.


Madison


Blake grabbing onto Mady

Here are two more clear shots of Madison showing her new earrings!

Having a mom with a camera and a love of photography means a bazillion photos! Sheesh. I'll post a bunch more tomorrow including ones of the babies sitting up by themselves.... Don't believe a 4 month old will do it then check back in tomorrow to find out.

Madison showing off her new earrings.

A closer look at her with the cute flower earrings.

Blake on one of his long phone conversations. He has been talking to his Nanny, Grandma and Grammy allot now. They talk and he responds back over and over.

Now for the actual big news and some photos

Blake slept eleven and a half hours last night. Madison slept 9 hours uninterrupted. Whoa. That means I actually slept for 8 hours on the nose!!! Yippee. It is the first time since Guy took a feeding a couple of months ago. We came close on our trip to Utah, but this was my first official night. And you know what? I've been really tired all day.... lol

Guy worked two off duty shifts this 4 days off. It has actually been no break for either of us. It feels like we have both been moving full steam ahead for 7 days now. I don't think he should do two off duty shifts on the same 4 day off stretch. His normal 12 hour days are brutal enough.

We are going to Phoenix 10/4-14. It will be the 6th trip in 6 months for the babies. They are definitely well on their way to being accomplished travelers. Of course, we've heard they get a lot harder to travel with after the first year because they need to be entertained more. We'll see.

The trip to the grocery store tonight was not as bad as I thought it would be. Here's what I did. I put my wallet, the WIC checks and the keys in my pockets. I put on the front carrier with Blake in it. I carried Madison in my left arm propped on my hip. Once at the car in the garage I put Madison in her seat and then walked around, had into the far back row of the Envoy and put Blake in his seat. At the store I did the reverse. We went in. The clerks pulled the formula for me from behind the counter. He put all of it in one bag for me so I could make one trip to the car and into the house. The bag weighed about 20 pounds with the 11 cans of the liquid concentrate and the two cans of powder. By the way Madison soaked two entire cloth diapers and two bibs with her spit up while we were doing all of this. My guess it was too much pressure on her tummy with me holding her one handed for so long.

Madison got her ears pierced. That is the big news. Here's a shot of her with her new earrings.

Her cute smile.

Her in the Bumbo. She likes it and Blake hates it. I guess it's a good thing we only have one.

Bubbles and new earrings.

Her big smile. Her dress matches the earrings perfectly.

A funny face.

Blake looking at us when we walked back in the house.

Blake laughing in excitement. It loses something in a still photo.

Big news

Mady is in my arms so this post may not be as long as it should be.

We completely ran out of Madison's formula. Today was the first day we could go down to the local WIC office to get some more checks for them. Boy does it have to always be a long and aggravating line at a government agency. All we needed were some new checks printed out to increase how much formula we get a month. I signed in at 10:08 am. At 10:45 Guy went in to see what is taking so long. The lady told him they were working on getting all of the checks printed right then. At 11:10 he made me go ask them again. I asked it he should go run an errand or will it be soon so it wouldn't seem like we were bugging them. She told me she was just about to call me in. I went back to the waiting room. Yep, and waited. They called me in at 11:45. Sheesh. And the bigger sheesh is what we noticed a lady giving her child. The baby's bottle was clear and the milk inside was PINK. There's only one thing we could figure would make an infants milk turn that color. Strawberry Quick or syrup! It's amazing what people will give a child. That baby could not have been more then 2 months old.

Today I found myself doing something that previously would not have crossed my mind. By previously I am talking about pre twin life. It would also seem to me that there aren't many people who do it either based on the extreme helpful nature of the grocery store clerk on the phone. Madison's formula is not a widely used formula due to it's high cost (Enfamil's Nutramigen). After looking up the number on the internet I called the closest grocery store to see if they have her formula in the right kind and quantity in stock. The poor fellow literally ran out into the stores baby isle 5 times on the phone (his fault for not writing the info down to begin with) and then agreed to pull the 11 cans from the shelves for me. Nice. Now it is all ready and waiting for me when Blake wakes up. Their naps got pretty messed up today with our journey to government waitville.

Great. Madison just wet out of her diaper on my leg. Be back later....

Finally both babies smiling at the same time in a photo

This is where I left them to run and make their bottles. Blake was in a big melt down and had just calmed down so I snuck out! This shot was before they noticed me but after Blake stopped looking at Madison.

Madison is smiling soooo much more now. She also seems to be used to that expensive stinky formula so no more switching for us! She chucks up the most when pressure is applied to her chest/belly ((like when moving her or picking her up) and in the evenings. As noted in the photo below I am starting to let them have some time without a bib. O Happy Day!!!

Blake calm, but still really wanting to eat. Both babies seriously love their teddy bears. They hug them almost the whole time they are asleep.

Here it is!!!! Smiling at the same time for a photo!!!! Wooo Hooo!!!! They smile at the same time often but it's the first time for a photo.


Two shots with two smiles. It's a twin thing. They have to do it in pairs.

Just an adorable smile from Mady and Blake stiffening up his body in preparation for the final meltdown. He got his bottle prior the the final meltdown.

This was actually the second shot and just put in to show how Madison watches Blake a lot now.

My three cuties!!!!

We are also working on putting video on here. There are several segments taken, but the video editing hasn't been learned yet. Hopefully tomorrow.

Update & new photos

What is it about naked babies? Love, love, LOVE them! lol

The first four photos were taken when Denise & her adorable daughter came over to help with the babies. They gave them a bath they desperately needed.


Identical faces! From the big people and the babies. Guess who is related...






Heather's daughters. She came over on the fly to help after learning I still could not lift the babies for up to a week longer. Not many people will drop everything to come over like that. The babies loved the girls. The girls loved Moose! Especially Cloe (that spelling doesn't look right).


Don't the babies look all grown up in their exersaucers?!?!? Madison moves her hands daintily at objects but doesn't have much accuracy. Blake flails his hands about and hits exactly what he's aiming for. Neither of them have learned to grab items and keep them intentionally though. Both love to grab blankets and their teddy bears when going to sleep. They also both 'massage' us when we hold them with the hand on our chest or around our waist depending on how they are being held.


Madison (I keep thinking everyone should be able to tell the difference between them. People still think they look alike though)


Blake


Naked babies again. I can't resist! Madison in the foreground. Kathy got me out walking when she was over to help. We had a great time, but thought we were going to have heat stroke with the heat and extreme humidity. The babies were cooling off and getting 'air' time. I give them air time to help keep them healthy around the privates.


Madison chewing on her whole fist as normal. Really she licks her fingers and fist most of the time. Occasionally she will poke herself with an extended finger on her gums or roof of the mouth. Then she looks all offended for a moment before going back to licking or chewing away.


Madison from above.


A pretty picture over Fiji!

In other news.

Lin and Berni bought the truck from Mum and Dad this week. They left the beat up Bronco for charity, and headed off to check out Yellowstone National Park.

Mum and dad both had cortisone shots last week. Monday Mum is going to have some lookie lou surgery on her knee this Monday. They love the new floors still. Kenny (the dog) clicks his nails and tag on the floor to make noise. Blue goes for a run and slide across the floor.

Aunt Mady has to meet with the surgeon for her gall bladder troubles. I called her last night to go over the pros and cons and share my experience with her. She has had terrible nausea and vomiting as well as episodes of pain.

We are going to Atlanta September 9th thru 13th so the babies can meet Dad, Judy and their Aunt Gracie. They have a lake cabin we will be staying at.

Guy and I have been out rollerblading every day for the last three days. He uses the stroller to keep him steady while he learns. He's done so well he also had Moose the last two days. I didn't want to wrestle with Moose when I'm not supposed to do cardio for another week beyond today. But that 20+ pounds left to lose is starting to get on my nerves now! And let's just say with the loss of muscle the left and right skin by my shoulder blades are having a race to see which side can reach my waist first! I never thought to see fat/saggy skin on my upper back. EVER.

Babies are waking up and it's right at the end of the 5-9pm grumpies.