Holiday Road...Part 1

What does an 85 year old man do when seeing his great-grand babies for the first time do? Well he becomes a human jungle gym, of course! Brooke enjoys a good climb on Mt. Great-Grandpa!

Allie finding a new friend. That dog runs at 110% at all times. Great in keeping the girls entertained.

Brooke is enjoying her time in W. Texas a little to much. Here she shows her approval with a big "Ta, Da!" Finish!

Mom as a little girl. Look like anyone you know?

Back in Black...

Where can six hours get you? Think about it from where you are sitting right now reading this? Six hours any way but north for the "southern refuge" side of Dad's family gets you extremely wet and in need of a boat. Six hours for a New Yorker gets you the majority of the original 13 colonies. But here in Texas six hours west gets Mom, Dad, Dog and the twins in to deep Texas. Not even TOTAL West Texas...that is still another five hours due west of our hour six destination!

Mom N' Dad took the girls to the sprawling landscape of the Permian Basin to visit with family. This is the first time that Mom's side of the family, minus grandma, had seen the girls. It seems as if you spend more time driving than visiting but it is worth it in order for our girls to met and see their great grandparents, grandmother, aunt, uncle and cousin.

We made the trip in record time...the traveling with twins that have messy diapers and need to be changed in the Dairy Queen parking lot in a town called Clyde, Texas record time, that is!

Every Texan knows this sign. If you don't, you aren't a Texan. Get it? Back in the 80's and early 1990 this HS was king.

The real deal. The HS football stadium that brought you, Friday Night Lights. The history here is pretty cool. It rolls up over the horizon, nothing but the light stanchions to be seen in every direction. But the stadium itself doesn't even begin to compare to some of the monoliths built in homage of HS football in the Dallas area...I am talking to you SL Carroll!?

This is the view for miles and miles. Ever wonder where the road to nowhere lead... It is actually quit beautiful. There is something about the west Texas landscape that brings out the "outlaw" in me.

These little guys are all over the place. Prairie Dogs are pretty entertaining to watch. And yes that is Stonehenge in the background and no we are not in the English countryside.

after a long weekend in west Texas visiting family, being chased by a little "rat dog", and 12 hours in the car...the dog has had enough!

Don't Fence Me In...

Hi everyone, mom here. Well, we got clever and decided to buy a play-pen of sorts for the girls. So, what should be our dining area is now a gated area of fun. It was exhausting chasing Brooke all over the place, especially since she wanted to follow the dog (Bailey) everywhere. And we are not 100% confident that Bailey won't snap at one of the girls if they pull her ears. And, of course, that's what they want to do. So, for their own safety (and Bailey's sanity), we made them their very own area to crawl and roll around in. They love it! And so do we!

Dad and I got to have massages on Saturday. It was so nice. I got a gift certificate back in December for my birthday, and we were finally able to use it - 7 months later! But, we are both deserving of an hour long, baby-free break every now and then.

The girls made it through their second Sunday at church. The Sunday before last was their first time to church and in the nursery. They cried the ENTIRE time. We went to pick them up and they were both being held by one of the workers, and their eyes were red and puffy and full of tears (the babies, not the nursery workers - it was worth clarifying ;). Pretty heart-breaking. Our girls are definitely not used to "strangers" taking care of them, so I think they were a bit traumatized. But it's not like they were the only babies crying. This past Sunday was a little better. Only Allie was crying her eyes out when we picked them up. Brooke was sleeping. So, I'm hoping that they will adjust very quickly and learn to enjoy hanging out with other babies.

Hope everyone is having a great week so far! I'll leave you with my favorite verse: "So let your light shine before men, so they may see your good works and glorify the Father in heaven." Matthew 5:16

Brooke and Allie playing in their new play area.

Brooke trying to get out of her papasan chair. We can't keep her still for anything!

Allie looks like she's been drinking some silly juice!

When you only have hair on the very top of your head, you gotta spike it up!

Allie after her bath!

Silly Brooke with pants on her head.

Watermelon Crawl...

Short and sweet. Brooke has begun to crawl. Batten down the hatches, put the fine china away and send the women to bed...it is about get ugly up in here! Mom and I were talking in the kitchen last night and looked down and there was baby B! Look on the bright side...Mom N' Dad are about to lose a ton of weight chasing babies! Enjoy!!!

Brooke coming to see what Mom N' Dad are doing in the kitchen...

Allie likes to eat. Even when it isn't food! Beware of the Allie-gator!

You Oughta Be in Pictures...

Lots of pictures coming your way!!!

This was the girls first thing this morning. We were awakened with Allie singing "dadadadada" early this morning. So, I scooped her up and put her in Brooke's crib to hang out. They are such morning babies!! (Brooke - left, Allie - right)

Both girls smiling at the same time - rare find! (Allie - left, Brooke - right)

Brooke standing on daddy

Brooke crawling to her pink doggie

Allie playing with her feet

Allie at the NICU reunion on Saturday - right after pulling out her pretty pink bow. She keeps it in for about 5 seconds now.

Brooke looking pretty excited to be at the NICU reunion too!

Mommy and Brooke after the reunion

Allie playing on daddy's belly

Allie and daddy being lazy together on the floor

The girls hanging out at the crib (Brooke - left, Allie - right)

Allie trying to put her foot in her mouth during bathtime

Brooke's pretty blues

And Allie's too :)

This is Brooke with our favorite doctor from the NICU. She was awesome and took such good care of our girls during their two month stay.

Hey, A Day Day...

"A" has begun singing up a storm. Her favorite song is titled, "Hey-A-Day-Day." She will sing it anywhere and everywhere. And to not be left out, "B" adds in a chorus of raspberries, "Pbssstttsss" almost on cue!

Mom did an awesome job taking care of the girls while dad was out of town all week on business. She really is a great mother. Dad didn't know exactly how much I would miss his 3 girls...but I know now and it hurts being away from them for long periods of time. I would have hated it if I would have missed B's first real crawl.

The girls got to go to their NICU reunion this weekend. It was a ton of fun. They got to see a lot of NICU mates there. As always, it is easy for Mom N' Dad to get pics while on the comfy confines of the living room, but when it comes to taking pics anywhere else...we get like some social inept fool that can't operate a camera. Anyways, we are a very blessed family. There was one boy there in some contraption that doubles as a wheelchair. It carried a portable ventilator, dialysis machine, and feeding tube. This boy was a prison inside his own body. Other boys and girls just had the "Preemie Look." I can't describe it, but there is a specific look that most preemies have and compared to others, out girls look full term.

"B" about to crawl. She has every piece down but can't put step 1, step 2 and step 3 in correct order. She stumbles and bumbles around like Dad getting up from a too-long nap!

"And in this corner, weighing in at 18 lbs, The Master of Diaper Disaster, The Power Pooper - Baby B!" Out girls love to get in the same crib and do a little Greco-Roman wrestling.

"B" just chilling in her swing. We can't keep her still for anything. She is our little wiggle monkey.

Just too flippin' cute not to post this pic!

Rock and Roll Twins

These are all real song titles, people. You may have to search a little to find them, but they are real (even if you or I have never heard of them).

The girls are having so much fun getting out and about at the mall, Target, and going on walks. They are SO quiet as they take in the world around them. “A” is so funny b/c when someone talks to her, she just studies them very intently. “B” will usually give a smile and make funny faces. She has really learned how to use her high pitch scream in public places. It is SO loud, and people all over the place stare at us. I (mom) really need to start a list of all the funny questions I get and ALL the people who come up to me with twin stories. A lady in Target the other day talked to me for about 20 minutes about her identical granddaughters. I now know their names, birthdates, birth weights and several funny stories about them. She showed me several pictures too! So, next time I am in North Carolina (where they live), I could probably pick them out from a crowd. I used to think that twins were a rare thing, but they really are not. EVERYONE either is a twin, has twins, or knows someone with twins. And they want to tell you all about it. I mean, what are the odds. I was in Wal-Mart the other day. The lady standing in front of me had twin nieces. The guy behind me is a twin. And the lady who rang me up has twins. Of course, she said she is hoping for triplets next…CRAZY! Someone in the mall the other day asked if they were boys or girls. I had to bite my tongue as I kindly said “girls” as I look at them in their strollers WEARING BOWS in their hair. I know she looked at them before asking too. Maybe boys wear bows where she is from :)

Anyhoo, we will be going to the NICU reunion this Saturday. It will be nice to see all the great nurses and doctors who took such great care of our girls for 2 months. Hopefully we’ll get to see some of our roommates too. We’ll definitely be posting some pictures from that next week.

"B" is modeling her new mohawk hairdo

And here is "A" modeling her pretty hair - okay maybe she's sleeping

Here is the actual modeling picture of "A"