Splishin' & a Splashin'...

Allie taking her first Big Girl bath. I wonder if there will be this much enthusiasm when they are five?

Ditto for Brooke!?

Brooke very upset that she was left in her crib a bit too long. This is so fitting of her. She hates to be corralled. She is going to be our wild child!

Little Drummer Girl...

Brooke really isn't into this whole baby 3 food. Look and see for yourself...

Allie being her usual goofy self. She did not crawl into the bucket, however. Dad thought it was funny to get her in there with some toys...as thought...hilarity ensued!

Double Your Pleasure, Double Your Fun...

Oh boy, has another week past already without a new post? Sorry about that! I would say that we will get better and post more often, but I can't promise anything :) Let's see, what exciting things are going on with us? Allie and Brooke are getting back on a "regular" schedule. See previous post if you are wondering what I'm talking about. Allie has been doing great lately with her crawling attempts. She is still army crawling really well, and she is rocking more and more in a crawling position. I'll bet she is crawling very soon. Watch out Brooke! Remember all those times you stole Allie's toys and quickly crawled away, knowing that she couldn't catch you? Allie is going to get you back! Brooke has been crawling for about 2 and a half months now, so Allie has lots of toy stealing to catch up on!

Can you believe the girls will be one in a few weeks? That absolutely blows my mind to think about! It is amazing how much they have grown in one year. Brooke is about 18 pounds now and Allie is about 19.5 pounds. That's quite a bit bigger than the 2 pounds where they started. We are beyond blessed at their progress over the last year. We knew that there would be delays, but our girls are healthy and happy and bring us SO much joy! God's mercy and grace is MORE than abundant!

We had so much fun last week with some new twin friends, Kaelyn and Shae, and their mommy, Ashley. We all met for lunch and then had fun playing at the mall play area. We all had so much fun! Here are some pics from the last week:

Cutie pie, Shae (Ashley, correct me if I'm wrong :)

Kaelyn sitting on the foamy floor trying to decide where to play first!

Brooke taking in the big play area between Kaelyn and Shae.

Brooke taking a breather before crawling all over the place!

Allie is cheering on all the girls!

Both girls sitting on the sidelines away from the all the madness

Poor Allie...gotta get crawling soon so she can keep up with the others!

Brooke giving a quick pose for the camera!

Allie

Brooke and either Kaelyn or Shae. Definitely can't tell them apart without seeing their faces :) I bet their mommy can though!

Allie reading up on some educational information...

Brooke: Thanks, mom, my hair is a mess and there is snot running down my face!

Look at Brooke's sweet little face staring right into the camera! Allie looks intrigued by something on the floor.

Please note that the following captions were typed by dad :) Ya never know, someone might have wondered about that!

Allie mesmorized by the little orange bath toy...or is she in shock at the sight of Dad's Big Foot hairy legs!?

Brooke chilling in her little summer outift. For the girls reading this...it is a cute outift...for the guys reading...how about the Cowboys sticking it to the Broncos?


We finally found a good use for the Boppy! Some how, some way Mom was supposed to use that blue monster wrap around pillow thing to feed the girls at the same time...never happened. So many easier options...


Now that is one way to make sure Allie stays sitting up! The kids really enjoy our "Dining room." Mom N' Dad sacrifice each night eating on TV trays in order for the girls to have a play area that is all their own!



Both girls are trying to feed themselves. And what I mean by trying, I mean sticking the bottle in their mouths for about .4 seconds and then slamming the bottles down making a real fun noise that could make the hardest soldier have flashbacks of a mortar attack!

Winnie The "Poo"...

Okay, everyone. Let’s talk poo. No, not as in Winnie. As in baby poo. This weekend was quite a tramatic one, and it involved poo. Now, this may not seem like a great blog topic, but we figure we’ll keep you updated on the good as well as the bad. So, if you are not interested in hearing about baby poo, you can skip to the next paragraph because I’m gonna talk poo for a minute or two. As of Friday, neither Allie nor Brooke had gone to the bathroom in 8 full days. That’s a LONG time! I had already called the doctor a few times, and we were giving the girls adult prune juice to try and get them going. So, I called again Friday to let them know that nothing was happening. They wanted to see the girls to make sure there wasn’t some kind of obstruction. The girls had been on a medication for about a week for their cough and stuffiness, so we concluded that this was the cause of the problem. The doctor gave us some powder (basically a laxative) and told us to use suppositories. Finally, Friday night Allie was able to go. But, it wasn’t until after A LOT of pain and crying (for Allie and mom and dad). Imagine the size and hardness of a golf ball. Got the idea? Well, she proceeded to go about 8 more times Friday night and into Saturday morning. I know she felt SO much better! Can you imagine? But, Brooke still was without relief. We tried everything with her that we did with Allie. Let’s just say that hers was bigger and harder than Allie’s (which didn’t even seem possible). She was in SO much pain that I called the doctor on Saturday morning and asked if I could bring her in right away. So, I took her in and she helped her out. I’ll spare you the gory details of how she remedied the situation, but it was PAINFUL for Brooke. She cried….I cried. Now, she has also gone about a dozen times since then, so dad and I have been changing lots of diapers this weekend! But, I’ll be happy to change diapers if my girls are not in pain. Small price to pay! Lesson learned here: next time the girls are taking medicine to dry them out, give them LOTS of liquids!

Anyhoo, sorry about the novella about poo. Not much else happened this weekend b/c we had to stay home and change diapers. Luckily, by this morning, they were all back to normal. So, they got all dressed up in their Sunday best and hung out in the church nursery. There were about 20 other babies in the room with them, so let’s just hope that we don’t catch another round of colds :)

Here are a few pictures for you to enjoy:

We left these pictures out last post. This is Brooke's gorgeous mohawk!

Allie's identical hairdo! Sunblock makes hair very greasy and easy to sculpt!

Brooke taking a jumping break to pose!

Allie looking pretty excited to jump!

This is what Brooke loves to do: crawl OVER (not around) Allie. Just wait until Allie starts crawling! Actually, she just started Army crawling this past week, so we are pretty excited about that. She has even gotten up on all fours and rocked a few times. Big improvement and another step toward crawling! The physical therapist was pleased with her progress!

Brooke playing with - not drinking from - her sippy cup.

Same for Allie! They are identical after all :)

This was Brooke's VERY FIRST time to pull herself up to a standing position in her crib on Saturday. Big girl! Needless to say, a few minutes later, dad lowered her crib to the lowest setting.

A look from the back side

She's not looking too confident of her new-found trick!

Brooke showing off her pretty church outfit

And again, identically cute is Allie!

So cute!

Until It Sleeps...

The second go-round at the swimming experiment went 100% better than the first. After some gentle coaxing...i.e. look at the claw marks on Dad's shoulders, the girls really took to the water. Even so much as to splash and get water all over their faces and laugh about it. They each have this little boat floaty thing that they sit in and just chill. It was so good to see Allie floating and getting to move her legs around so freely. Back on Terra-Firma it is much harder for her :( (Sidebar: who invented "emoticons"? Whoever it was, please Google thier address and leave a note here...I have a visit to make...and my only luggage will be sock full of nickels!)

Both girls are still battling the "bug" or whatever parents say when they know their kids are sick but are given the brush off medicine by the Pediatrician...Amoxicylin. Amoxicylin is like the noncommittal guy you girls once dated. I love you..BUT not in that full throttle slap-happy love. More like the "you remind me of my sister" kind of love. Not quite sure what good either one of them do!?

I almost hate admitting this but (if you aren't raising at least two children on the exact same age...don't judge) our girls have finally and successfully I might add, gone to sleep directly to their crib two nights in a row. It is officially a habit! Up until two nights ago they fell asleep in their chairs and then Mom and I transported them to their cribs. Not any more!!!

PS: 24 Days 16 Hours 59 Minutes 24 Seconds until 80,000 to the power of 12 gets fired up!

Allie looking stylish in her pink Boonie cap.

Brooke getting her floaty ready for some serious pool chillin!

Think we left them in the pool a little to long?

I know why the caged baby cries!!

Playing with all those toys can take a toll. Nothing a good nap can't fix!

Brooke not exactly understanding the concept of a sippy cup.

Allie giving her best "Norm" as she is served some bubbly juice!

If I...just....reach...a bit further....Tigger AND Pooh will be mine. Rats...foiled again!

Cuz you gotta have friends...

My goodness, another week has gone by since the last post. We are such slackers on this thing! Well, let’s see if we can get you all caught up in our exciting lives. There have been several all night coughing parties lately, so mom and dad are rather tired these days.

Allie started physical therapy this last week. A PT comes to the house and basically shows me (mom) some different exercises and techniques that dad and I can work on with Allie. Her legs and muscles are so stiff, so we are working on getting her loosened up so she can hopefully begin crawling soon. She is getting really good at sitting up by herself for minutes at a time. That’s pretty exciting stuff to us!

Both girls now have two teeth each. One is really visible, and the other one is just starting to poke through. Maybe that’s the reason they have been waking up each night around midnight ready to play! Fun times!

We are officially in the midst of stroller Hades. Buying a stroller is a big deal to me. It’s right up there with buying a car or house (okay, maybe not quite up there, but still…). The girls and I get out and about a lot during the week, so the stroller that I put them in has to be functional, small (HA), and lightweight (double HA). I’m not even asking for a trendy, cool looking stroller. Who cares at this point? With twins, nothing is about looks anymore. It’s all about function. If you go into Babies R’ Us, you will see TONS of strollers. Then this one little section of double strollers. None of them have everything we want in a stroller. Dad is convinced that he can design the perfect stroller and market it to all the twins’ parents out there. And ya know, I bet he could. He’s rather crafty like that.

Dad can tell you the official countdown until the Aggies play their first game. Seriously, down to the days, hours, minutes and probably seconds. We all gotta have something to live for, right? Aggie games around here are serious business. You hear that girls? No talking, crying, or otherwise during the games! That’s the time for naps.

DAD EDIT: 31 Days - 7 Hours - 7 Minutes - 12 Seconds...

...until "Thunder & Lightning 2007" Tour rolls through a Big XII city near you!

Well, I guess pictures will tell the rest of the adventures of the last week, so enjoy:

Allie making faces for the camera. Look at her sitting up all by herself. Way to go!

Not sure why she still has her tongue out...

Allie making more funny faces...

Brooke looks a little guilty of something, doesn't she?

The milk mustache goes on the top of your lips, not the bottom, Allie

I don't know what Brooke is doing here, but she is so darn cute!

Posing just perfectly for the camera as always...

Showing off that six pack, Brooke?

Telling stories...

Allie making more faces...

Better hurry before I fall over...

Allie and Brooke had a play date with lots of other kids last week. They had lots of fun, and sweet Ava shared all her toys with everyone!

Lots and lots of kids!!

Allie and Brooke got to meet another set of twin girls, Shae and Kaelyn. You can see them here in the picture dressed in pink. SO CUTE!!!!

On Sunday, we went to a "going away" lunch for our friend Brittani (2nd from left). She is getting married and moving to San Antonio to be a police officer. We will miss you!

Britt and her fiance...

Family photo :)

Allie showing off her excellent eating skills...

Not to be outdone by Brooke though...

Allie waiting patiently in her new highchair