Olympic Stars!

As we watch the summer Olympics 2012, I imagine what it must be like to be a mother to any of these professional athletes. It is almost like I can feel their pride as I see them cheer on an Olympian. While my girls might not be dancing on a balance beam, swimming laps in a pool, or running any races (at least not yet anyway!), I feel like I gleam with pride on how smart, how athletic, and how beautiful they are. I am one proud momma and every single day I am so thankful for their beauty and perfection inside and out.

Aubrey and Avery continue to be healthy, growing, and speeding past developmental milestones. Aubrey is starting to catch up to Avery and keep up with her activity level these days. What makes me smile most is when the girls play together…which usually goes like this: Aubrey is playing with a few toys and Avery is across the room playing with other toys. Something catches Avery’s attention and all of a sudden, anything that Aubrey has seems like the most coveted toy in the room. Avery quickly crawls over and Aubrey watches her with anticipation and excitement. Avery might bulldoze, she might climb, she might steal toys…it doesn’t matter—Aubrey loves it all! Aubrey laughs, squeals and just becomes super excited to be in the company of her sister. There are more times that Avery climbs through Aubrey than around her and Aubrey just continues on her merry way.

This month for the first time, I saw Avery standing in her crib talking with her sister who was on her belly, pulling down the bumper, who was talking back with her. From across the room, these girls were telling a story together and they were all smiles as they figured out a way to see each other while being in their cribs in the nursery. This is just the beginning!

In this past month, the girls have been loving extra attention from Aimee and Israel. They both have spoiled them with so much love and fun times. It is like a dream come true having them so close and sometimes the 35 minute distance between us seems too big!! We are so thankful they are here in Houston, both with great job opportunities! The girls also enjoyed a visit with Nana and Grandpop…as always everyone had a fun time during the visit. Nana was proud to show them off when we went shopping and to eat Tex-Mex for dinner.

This month I have really been focusing on learning/teaching the girls animal noises, body parts (eyes, nose, mouth, ears, fingers etc) and clapping hands. The girls love hearing me make animal noises (although I wouldn’t be caught dead doing these in public!). Their favorite animals are the bee, the monkey, and elephant. While it will be a while for them to really grasp what we are going over, I do find it entertaining when I stick out my tongue and Aubrey sticks out her tongue too and starts with a hearty laugh. Avery is really starting to clap her hands (usually likes to clank toys together to make a little more clatter) and Aubrey is still working on putting the mechanics together, but will have it in no time.

It has been really neat watching their personalities continue to develop—they sure have two different perspectives in life! Avery is my risk taker…she literally has no fear. We have to keep an eye on her because she already has pulled several daredevil stunts in her short little life already. Aubrey, on the other hand, is very calculating. Before she does most things, she wants to make sure it worked out for her sister first, she will do a mental “pro/con” list in her head, and she will do a full risk assessment analysis before she proceeds. Aubrey is definitely a mix between Jay and I, and well Avery, we aren’t sure where she got her adventure-some side from…but we love her innocence and perhaps some would argue ignorance!

We went on our first overnight trip this past month. We stayed in a hotel suite in Galveston, TX. It was the first time the girls were forced to sleep in a pack and play, which went probably better than we expected. It was really key that we had two rooms to the suite so that they could be in their own area and we could have our own room too. My friend termed vacation with twins as “relocation with twins” which truly is a perfect description. We went away for two days and our van was pretty packed full! It adds up quickly when you have big items like a double stroller and two pack and plays and all the supplies for pumping/feeding! Overall, we had a great time and definitely look forward to many more vacations as a family together.  

This year I had two very special girls who celebrated my birthday with me. Of course I was super spoiled by Jason, family and friends. It was special year too as I could celebrate with Aimee and Israel in person. I truly am blessed to be surrounded by so many people that love me. I can only hope that our girls will have similar friendships in their lives as well.

Here is a little more detail about each girl this past month:

Avery Grace: weight- 14lb 13.5oz

**Avery uses full advantage of her slender body and really has exceeded all expectations as it relates to locomotion. Last month she perfected crawling to perfection and this month she is working on walking. She walks by pushing a car in front of her, or by holding our hands and it will be very soon before she is walking independently (yes, she is only 10 months old!). She has been cruising along furniture for almost a month now and she likes to transfer from one object to another that is slightly out of reach that requires her to take a step and leap of confidence. She now also stands on her own (she is standing longer and longer every day). One of her other favorite tricks is to visit mommy and daddy in the nook, where we prepare all their bottles, which means she has to crawl up two steps—and she does it with such ease. Maybe we do have an Olympian on our hands!

**Avery loves joining Mommy and Daddy when we eat in the play area. As soon as she sees us eating from a bowl or plate, she busily crawls over to us, and stands up holding onto our legs just waiting for scraps. She is so eager to try everything but she of course will moosh it around in her mouth a little while and sometimes eat it and sometimes let it roll back out of her mouth (yumm!). She is a daughter after my own heart—she loves Chick-fil A waffle fries and pancakes. She doesn’t like ice cream which her sister seems to love (com’on…they have to try some yummy foods too!). Speaking of food—the girls are trying to feed themselves food at dinner from time to time and we were very easily fooled by Avery when we see that she has cleared her tray and then when we go to clean her up and we find 95% of her meal tucked in her bib…oh and we thought you were so hungry! Avery’s favorite food this past month is eggplant.

**While we always say that Avery doesn’t talk much…she sure says “mommmma” all the time! There are some play times that she just says “mommmmma” over and over and over again…and I can’t say that it doesn’t make me one proud momma! Every now and then I wonder if she slips in a “daddda,” so we are keeping our ears peeled for her next word.

**Avery sure does enjoy the toys that Aubrey is playing with, but perhaps even more fun is my tubing that belongs to my pump. Both girls enjoy hanging out with momma when I’m pumping, but Avery especially needs to be climbing all over me to get the tubings in her mouth. She will wrap her mouth around it and then make raspberry noises…it really is quite funny!

**Avery has successfully weaned off her evening dose of Prevacid for reflux and we continue to see improvements with her reflux. She continues to eat approximately 5-7 ounces every 4 hours. One time she surprised us and ate 10 ounces for a feed—that is almost unimaginable for her! She sports 6-9 month clothes and wears size 3 diapers.

Aubrey Hope: weight- 16lb 3oz

**We are so proud of Aubrey…she have picked up the pace and is keeping up better with her sister. This month she has gone from having the smallest amount of backward movement, to army crawling, to rocking on all fours. We are amazed that she really has learned to boogie quite well with her army crawling! She is getting faster and faster every day (the video posted below was the beginning of her army crawling ventures...now she can just about keep up with her sister!). We love that she is now able to crawl to new toys and join her sister in discovering the gift of locomotion.

**Aubrey continues to be the better eater compared to her sister. She gets pretty excited about her solid food, opening her mouth wide open and brimming with excitement. As she has always done, she makes these adorable munching noises while she eats. She enjoys trying to feed herself and has a little better accuracy in reaching her mouth than Avery, but we still have to be prepared to clean up a mess after dinner! Aubrey also loves when we bring food into the play area and I swear these girls would do back flips if they could, just for this very simple baby food called “puffs.” Aubrey seems to really love ice cream and mashed potatoes—she is definitely following in Jay’s and my footsteps, what can I say?!? Aubrey’s favorite food this month also is eggplant.

**Aubrey loves a new trick she learned—when we pat her on the back, she will continue to talk/sing (sweet nothings!) to get the inflections in her voice with us patting her on the back. She is so funny—as soon as we start, she starts to make noise to hear the pitch changes and then when we stop, she stops. It might be just as entertaining for us as it is for her!

**Aubrey has also successfully weaned off her evening dose of Prevacid for reflux and has less issues with reflux too. She continues to eat approximately 5-8 ounces every 4 hours, and right now is actually squeezing in a whole extra feed mid-day because she is growing (yay!!). She  also wears 6-9 month clothes and size 3 diapers.

Ummmm....I need some extra fiber.

Just taking a break....playing is so much work.

Playing together, standing at their musical toy from Uncle Joel.

Thank you Great Aunt Dee Dee and Great Grammom for my cute outfit.

Thank you Great Aunt Dee Dee and Great Grammom for my cute outfit.  This is one of my favorite toys this month.

\Sweet sisters...finally a picture where they aren't crawling in opposite directions! 

Girls standing at the toy box.

Such cute outfits from Gramma!! Poor Aubrey looks like she is about to tip!

Avery--what are you so serious about?!

Thank you Gramma for our cute dresses. Look, we both looked at the camera on cue!

Sweet girl (trying to reach for my phone!!)

Hey gramma-thanks for my pretty rainbow dress...Mom tells me a special story about waiting for rainbows.

And now you can see what picture time is like in our house these days!

Thank you Jennifer K. for these adorable ballerina outfits--I don't think it gets much cuter than these outfits. The girls first time in little tutu skirts!

Mom, I'm ready to come walking to you--reach your hand out!

Mom, you caught me mid-sentence.

I'm just too sweet for words.

I'm a beautiful ballerina!

I'm pretty sure these beautiful eyes will make it very hard for mommy and daddy not to spoil her rotten.

Thank you UD girls for our adorable alumni outfits. We are rocking them out!

Peek a boo momma!

Ready, Set, GO!!!

Enjoying our visit with Nana and Grandpa.Thank you for our cute new outfits...we are so spoiled!

Vacation Pictures--Gavelston Beach and Moody Gardens




Visiting at the beach with the new "Pleasure Pier" in the background.



Our view of the beach and Pleasure Pier from our hotel window.

Videos

Cheeeeeese---Aubrey and Avery Have Two Bottom Teeth!

This month was yet another sweet month full of love, joy, and being in awe how quickly the girls are growing up so fast. Thanks be to God that they are developing on target (and in some areas ahead of schedule) and that they have been so healthy and strong. This month we really enjoyed playing with them as they are much more interactive. We have loved watching Avery go from the “inch worm moves” to get around (see video clip below) to an actual crawl over this month. Avery also has gotten so much stronger with both sitting up and pulling up to a standing position. She now loves to hold on to one piece of furniture, reach for another and transfer to the next thing within reach. This past month Aubrey has done much better in the sitting position too and while she isn’t crawling yet, she sure knows how to get around in a 360 degree radius pretty quickly and is just starting to put army crawling together (slowly but surely). Both girls also have really started to enjoy different solids and become much less messy eaters! Overall, it has just been a fun month and we are enjoying every minute.

Within this past month, the girls enjoyed visits from Nana and Grandpa and another visit from Gramma. They sure are spoiled and I have a hunch they are well aware of it because they flash their adorable little smiles around nonstop. The grandparents have just loved being a part of their lives and enjoying their unique personalities. Soon, we welcome Aimee and Israel to Houston. I have no doubt that the girls will be spoiled by their love and attention as well.

This past month, we had the unique opportunity to share the story of our girls through a testimony at church at a woman’s night of worship and filming for a commercial for the Fertility Specialists of Houston. Needless to say, these girls have quite a reputation already—and may God receive all the glory for these little miracles we know as Aubrey Hope and Avery Grace.

CHEEEESE---the girls now have two bottom teeth! Avery kicked off the month flashing her pearly whites and Aubrey soon followed a little less than two weeks later. Both girls sucked on their fingers more than usual and Aubrey napped less, but overall, both handled it like champs. For those of you who are expecting to see cute photos in the blog of their teeth—you got to be kidding yourself! Getting a snapshot of both girls trying to sit still for one picture is enough, let alone trying to flash you some little teeth!

In this past month, we were able to get another set of professional photographs from our friend who is a photographer (Thank you Whitney!). Unfortunately, the girls had their own agenda (and it sure wasn’t smiling for the camera at the same time—more like peeing on the floor and having meltdowns!), but she was able to capture a few shots of their every day expressions that we have learned to love and adore. We hope you will enjoy the photos as much as we do.

Here are a few more details about both the girls…

Avery Grace: Weight: 14 lbs   Height: 27.25 inches       (from 9 month pediatrician visit)

--Avery has zipped through developmental milestones at an amazingly fast pace. This past month she has really perfected crawling and she is everywhere—in the blink of an eye! She also loves to pull up on everything to stand either on her knees of feet. She sometimes surprises herself when she is holding on to something and see another object within reaching distance…reaches for it and balances herself without falling. Avery gets very giddy when you attempt to help her with walking, but I think we are at least a month or so from her doing it on her own.

--You never know what you will find in Avery’s crib these days. Sometimes she is sweetly sleeping, usually curled up in a ball. Sometimes she is all sprawled out. Now, we frequently find her sitting up in her crib playing with toys, or standing in bed, trying to get out of her “baby jail.” She is such a good baby and is very good at self entertaining herself without making a peep.

--Avery continues to choose her favorite toy as being whatever Aubrey is playing with. Now that Avery is on the move, if Aubrey is playing with anything that looks halfway interesting, she sneeks on in for the kill. Most times Aubrey is fairly patient with her biggest sister being a bit of a bully. Avery also just loves pulling up on anything, but most especially the exersaucer and the bouncy chair where they are extra toys she can play with at standing height.

--Avery is a very quiet baby. It is rare for her to make noises or have an audible laugh. While she often laughs silently, we just absolutely adore when she giggles out loud, most frequently when we are playing at nighttime as a family. It is even rarer to hear Avery cry-I really think the schedule has helped both girls a lot and for Avery it is very easy to determine what she needs. When she infrequently has a meltdown, which is usually because we have kept her up too long from a nap because we aren’t at home, she will start to whine and say “mommmma, mommmma.” She has no idea that she is actually referring to me, but I have multiple witnesses that she says “mommmma.” I have heard it isn’t uncommon for babies to say momma first when they are upset and then take some time until they use it on a regular basis. We rarely are in situations where she is upset, so I have only heard it twice this past month, but it does melt my heart.

--We continue to do sign language with the girls. Avery gets most excited when she sees us signing “milk” and “eat.”

--Avery definitely still sleeps a lot, much more than her sister. In the morning, she will sleep for 1.5-2 hours. In the afternoon she will sleep for 2.5 hours. In the evening we wake her up at around 2 hours. Then she sleeps for a full 12 hours at night. Talk about a sleepy baby! I have a feeling she sleeps so much because she plays so hard…that girl never stops moving--remind you of anyone?!

--Avery still has some degree of reflux. While she appears to be less symptomatic, we have not successfully weaned her Prevacid dose. She still can be challenging to feed her 4-6 ounces because she gets distracted very easily. Sometimes you are thankful if she gives you 5-7 minutes to feed before she is literally crawling away. Now she does best if she is playing with a toy in her hands or watching one of the smaller toys make music and have lights to sit still for just a few more minutes to eat. Jay says she has ADHD already!

--Avery loves her cereal (usually with bananas) in the morning…in fact, if you aren’t feeding her fast enough, she licks the table trying to find a little extra! Also, if she thinks she should be getting the next spoonful and it goes to Aubrey’s mouth instead she lets out this moan and her spirits are crushed—poor girl! In the evening, Avery has different vegetables. This month she has tried beets, sweet potatoes, peas, broccoli and cauliflower. Peas were definitely her favorite.

--My favorite times with Avery this month are when she is across the room and she excitedly crawls my way, comes up to my legs, pulls up and leans in towards me as if she wants to be close. In actuality, sometimes she just wants to tug on my pumping supplies, because surely that seems like a lot of fun to her when she has about 100 other toys to play with, but I’ll take her loving any way I can get it. She is such a joy and a sweet, precious girl. Some of my other favorite times is when daddy is playing with her in the evenings, kissing her neck and cheeks and she lets out the most adorable giggles…it just captures your heart.

--Avery wears 6-9 month clothes and wears size 3 diapers (or as daddy refers to them as “poop shields”)

Aubrey Hope: Weight 14 lbs 1 oz     Height 25.75 inches      (from 9 month pediatrician visit)

--Aubrey has always been content at “taking in the scenery” and watching her sister and happily play with her toys that are within reach. Recently you can see that she wishes she could keep up with her sister and move around, but she has become very efficient at taking charge of the area in her immediate surroundings. Just over the past few days she is starting to army crawl, but only makes it a few inches, but before we know it, she will be on the “go.”

--Aubrey loves to sleep sprawled out sleeping with her hands tucked under her belly. She is a heavy sleeper and I often admire her and stroke her pretty hair at night when she is sleeping (Jay always warns me not to poke the bear! Avery flinches and pops up in her crib at the slightest of noises, so I have to admire her from afar). Aubrey doesn’t need as much sleep as Avery (naps 1.5 hours in the morning, 2 hours in the afternoon, and 1 hour in the evening) so we frequently find her playing with her toys in the crib. When we walk in the room, she lets out this little laughter under her breath, a huge smile, and kicks her legs wildly as she waits for you to pick her up to smack kisses all over!

--Aubrey loves playing in the exersaucer. She is so good at turning around in a circle over and over again, accessing all the different activity centers. She squeals and laughs and just has a blast in the exersaucers. Avery loves to pull up on the exersaucer (with or without Aubrey in it) and this month they have really started communicating back and forth with laughter and noises during this play time.

--We all know that Aubrey loves to talk, squeal, laugh, and have a good time! She keeps my heart packed full with joy and brings smiles to my face time and time again. Like her sister, Aubrey seems to understand the sign language symbols for “milk” and “eat” and gets ubber excited when she sees us sign, because those rolls on her thighs didn’t get their by accident! We recently have seen Aubrey do the sign for “milk” when she is hungry (and I’m trying to finish up pumping), or while she is eating. It is pretty awesome to see it…and Gramma was the first one to point it out!

--Aubrey’s reflux is also improving like her sister, but we were not successful in weaning her Prevacid this past month either. So, we will keep her comfortable and try again later. She has really taken off with eating, both by bottle and solids. She now typically eats 6-8 ounces during the day or 3-6 ounces after solids. She loves her veggies and sampling of fruits (bananas and apples) this month and we are excited to report that she is a “good eater.”

--My favorite times with Aubrey this month is in the early morning after she wakes up and she is on the changing table, I kiss her belly in all different places. She absolutely has the best time, laughing, squirming, squealing…oh we just love it. As soon as she sees me coming to kiss the side of her belly, she squirms, knowing that she is about to be tickled with mommy love. It is the sweetest way to start the day.

--Aubrey wears 6-9 month clothes and wears size 3 diapers (or as daddy refers to them as “poop shields”).

Enjoy the pictures and videos. See you next month.

Here is how the month started out with Avery pulling up on her knees and starting to get into new areas to explore.

Insert audio of Avery making "farting noises" here. Aubrey is pushing her over saying "stop making those noises already!" Both girls have learned to make farting noises on their arms or just blubbering about.

Ok momma, we are ready to be serious for the picture now. Many thanks to Ronnie and George for these sweet outfits. Daddy sure is spoiled by his little girls!

MMMAHHHH...TV, I love you, where have you been all my life?!!!

Look Mommy, I'm standing and so proud of myself (this was the first day we saw her two bottom teeth).

Here comes serious Aubrey--watch out!

This photo just about sums up most of my pictures these days--you know how hard it is to get both babies to look at the camera on cue?! What is that Avery---a milk gut? Where on earth did you get that from?!

Avery is shopping for her toy of choice.

Aubrey in her favorite exersacuer and Avery coming up to say hello. When you see the video below, you will hear a short audible laugh from Avery in between Aubrey's squeals...wait for it!

And this is what the girls do while waiting in a waiting room before being filmed for a tv commercial. I have to say, our girls are easily entertained!

This is one of my favorite pictures this month. Ummm, can you say--"What a big girl!"

Daddy with his girls. Once again...Aubrey is more interested in something on the ceiling then me making all my goofy noises behind the camera!

This is Avery's famous "I love you sign" that she does when she sucks on her fingers. Avery loves her middle two fingers while Aubrey loves her thumb.

What a beautiful girl...with so much sas!

I'm finally looking at the camera--aren't you proud?!

Oh the TV--I have missed you so much! Mom, did you expect me to sit for yet another picture?! Good thing my backside is still so flattering!

Thank you Amanda and Todd for these adorable beach outfits. We can't wait to have sand between our toes. In the meantime, we will think of all sorts of funny captions for this photo!

Avery says: Frummppp....no more pictures!

Our first Happy 4th of July!! Thank you Leesa for our cute outfits--you have us so spoiled. We got to enjoy this holiday with Gramma this year.

Have to cool off in the Texas heat somehow (and get another wear out of the bathing suits we are about to grow out of!). It is amazing how they sit so well inside but then seem like limp noodles when there is a drowning hazard--awesome!

Can you hear Aubrey squealing?

Mom, you say something? I'm sort of busy!

What a pretty girl in a beautiful towel homemade from Maureen--love these towels!

Mom, it is cold out here....clothes, not camera!!

Shake, shake, shake....mom...I can't get out of here!

Food Pictures

Cereal in the morning--ummm, ummmm, delicious!

Really mom?? Avery enjoying her favorite veggie--peas.

Serious Aubrey enjoying her peas.

Avery trying broccoli...notice she "tried" broccoli...but is slowly getting a taste for it.

Aubrey enjoyed her broccoli--she will eat just about anything!

If you can believe it....we aren't even trying to make a mess on her face--this is just how Avery eats. Tonight she ate a mixture of squash, cauliflower and beets. Yummy!

Professional pictures (7 1/2 months)

Vidoes:

**********************************************

A big shout out to my best friend Liz (Carroll) Hamner who delivered a healthy and beautiful girl on July 13, 2012. Her name is Katelyn Kirby Hamner and she weighed 7 lb 8 oz. Momma Liz has been my life-long best friend and has left footprints of friendship on my heart. Here's to Katelyn leaving footprints of love on Liz's heart. Love you both!