Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Wednesday Wonders

Okay, so I was going to do my typical "wordless wednesday" post, but I am just way to proud of my little guys to not brag on their accomplishments last night!

Jared and I have been working so hard at night to help the boys to sleep through the night. Our pediatrician had explained to us (or maybe kinda kicked us in the butts) that they are not needing the calories at night and were waking up every 3 hours out of habit and that was a habit we needed to break, or it was going to stick for a while. Sooo...needless to say, we have spent some long nights trying to wean them off of those late night bottles and only give one (if needed) around 3 or 4am.

The boys have been doing well with it and last night they slept from 7pm-6:45am!! Coleman did wake up around 11pm screaming like a crazy man, so I gave him a 2oz bottle mixed with 4oz of water (ie~ a VERY diluted bottle) and he passed back out halfway through it....I have a feeling a tooth or two is going to be popping through his bottom gums soon (they don't always present themselves with a nub beforehand).

So now Mommy is well rested, as our the babes, and they went down for their morning nap like champions after playing to work out some energy and having their breakfast. WAY TO GO C AND C!!

Look at this big ol' smile from Coleman...melts my heart!

Monday, September 27, 2010

Music Class

The boys had their first music class this morning and they had a GREAT time (and so did Nana and I)! I had been searching for a while for a class that we could join and wasn't super expensive (remember, everything is times two!) and we finally found it at a local church. The class was great and is christian focused, which makes it even more awesome! We sang songs, shook all kinds of shakers, played with colorful scarves, and did some marches. I don't know if the boys enjoyed shaking the shakers or putting them in their mouths the most, but either way it was a hit! At the end of the class they gave us a cd so we can continue to have fun at our house while we wait for next weeks class.



Milestone Monday

It's still hard for me to believe that our baby boys are 6 months old (well, and a few weeks I guess). They have come so far since the NICU days of being in their little incubators to almost sitting up independently and showing their true little personalities. Here are a few of our milestones the past few weeks, along with some things that are "old" and "new".

~ We are almost sitting up on our own and are really starting to want to grab everything around us.

~ We don't really care to be held to have our bottles and/or solid foods. We've become pretty independent and would rather sit up and look around.

~We are really starting to notice our dog, Nestle, and we like to follow her around the room with our eyes.

~ We go to sleep on our backs and in our cribs for nighttime and for naps but we tend to roll over and sleep on our tummies.

~ The "tummy time" mats are packed away since we now roll over both front and back and could hurt ourselves on the plastic corner pieces of the mat. Our new place to lie around is on a quilt.


And, no matter what we do...our mommy thinks we are just the cutest!

Friday, September 24, 2010

Sing us a Song You're the Piano Man...

Carter really enjoyed listening to his Daddy play the piano and even added in a few notes himself.


Splish Splash


The boys have been using their infant bath seat (thank you, Anna!) and have loved it but today we decided to try them in their "big boy" bath seats where they could sit and face each other. Jared and I thought it was the coolest thing...the boys on the other hand were not so sure. Oh well, we'll pull them back out in a few weeks and give it another whirl...until then it made for some cute pics!

Happy Fall, Y'all!

We brought in the first day of Fall with some yummy carrots. These boys seem to love veggies just like their Daddy!







Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Tick Tock

We are FINALLY in town for more than a week and I have been working REALLY hard at getting us back on a consistent schedule that includes our solid foods. We were doing great up until the move and then things got a little hairy with vacations and visits and it seemed like there was always one baby up and one baby down. I loved it because it gave me time to spend with each of my sweet boys but it also made it impossible to get anything done!

Needless to say, I have put the boys on a strict schedule this week and I have not taken them out and about on errands to ensure that they get this schedule and routine down without falling asleep in the car, etc. It has been tough but the boys are adjusting GREAT!!! They have three naps a day and are eating two meals a day. Such big boys!!! I am so proud of my little munchkins and how far they have come in just the past week.


Wordless Wednesday











Monday, September 20, 2010

Happy Birthday, Nestle!

My "first" baby turned 6 this month! Nestle has been such an amazing dog and LOVES her little brothers, Coleman and Carter. She still thinks she is a puppy and likes to sit in my lap and snuggle....and I can't say I mind when she does it either. :o) Happy birthday my four legged girl!

My helper

Coleman and Carter are REALLY into watching the tv, computer screen, or anything electronic these days. Carter decided to help me update the blog the other night...he gave me some "ideas" too as we typed. :o) I am so in love with these sweet boys!





They go together like peas and carrots...

I had to use that as the title since I love Forrest Gump!

This morning the boys had their first REAL solid food!!! Everything that I had read said to start on peas or carrots because they are low in sugar and were a good texture, etc. Well, I thought that I had bought some carrots but it turned out that I had bought sweet potato baby food (they're both orange so it was an easy mix up, right?). I'll just blame that on the never ending "baby brain" and lack of sleep that I seem to be experiencing lately. Anyways, I had purchased some peas (thankfully), so with the peas we started. I didn't have high hopes for the boys really liking the peas (who truly does), but they did AWESOME! Here are some fun pictures from our morning. After this week I hope to be making all of their baby food...I can't wait until they are trying all sorts of new things but right now we are slowly introducing one food at a time for 5 days before starting any others. So, pass the peas please :o)






Sweet Home Alabama

This weekend we loaded up the boys early Saturday morning and headed to Birmingham
to visit with friends and to tailgate at the UAB football game. We originally thought about taking the boys to the actual game, but after the forecast prediction of a 97 degree day we decided that tailgating in the shade was just as fun (welcome back to the south, right?!). Here's Carter getting ready to go...can you tell he's almost ready to start sitting independently?!



We stayed with some of my best friends, Anna, Ryan, and William. I have missed Anna so much and was so glad to be able to spend the weekend with her and her sweet family! They were so generous to have all four of us invade their home and Anna had anything and everything our sweet boys could possibly want to play with. William was such a big boy for letting us borrow his baby toys and it was so awesome to see how grown up he has become! He is just one year older than the boys, so it was crazy to think that the boys will soon be that independent and BIG! I just know William is going to be a great older brother when their second baby is here!!

Here are some pictures of Coleman and Carter enjoying the beautiful morning with The McClendon's.



William


Carter


Coleman


Jenn came to visit us too! We missed seeing her little guy, RJ, but we will be back in Birmingham soon to play!


At the tailgate we were able to hang out with some more old friends. Look at these sweet girlfriends (Payton and Eva Rose) that Coleman and Carter already have! Love these girls and their sweet babes! We enjoyed our afternoon outside of the stadium even if we didn't go in :o)








Thank you Anna and Ryan (and William too!) for hosting us during a fabulous weekend! We can't wait to visit again soon!!


Sunday afternoon we headed down to the lake to pick up our other baby, Nestle. She had been staying at the lake for the last few weeks while we were at the beach. I know she had a blast! We were also able to see Jared's aunts and cousins as well as Mamaw, the boys great grandmother. Such a sweet moment!



Friday, September 17, 2010

6 Months and Growing!!!

Yesterday, we took the boys to the doctor for their 6 month well visit and shots. They are still below the range for a "term baby" but are growing like little weeds! Coleman is 26 and 1/4 inches long and weighs 14.1lbs and Carter is 25 and 3/4 inches long and weighs for 13.1lbs. The doctor was impressed with how healthy our sweet baby boys are and have been, and wants them to start using them to start solid foods again, start using sippy cups with water, and to stop taking bottles in the middle of the night! Whew!! I cannot believe how grown up these little guys are getting!!! It's bittersweet to see my little munchkins develop so quickly and transition into big boy things. We are still using the rice cereal at the beginning of the morning and will transition into regular solid foods next week. I am hoping to make my own baby food (from what I hear it's not too difficult), and I am eager to get on the bandwagon in only a few days.

A few things these sweet baby boys are into (and not so into) these days:

~ We only like to sleep in footed pj's lately. The "sacks" or gowns seem to drive them bonkers since their little toes and legs can't move as freely.
~ Carter CANNOT lay on his back without rolling over, and over, and over...playmats for him have been retired and he enjoys playing tootsie roll on a large quilt.
~ We are both just babbling up a storm! It makes me nervous to think about how crazy my world is going to be when my both of them really start to talk!
~ We LOVE, LOVE, LOVE to grab anything and everything and put it in our mouths...anything!
~ We are also enjoying our toys, pulling at them, shaking them, and did I mention putting them in our mouths?!
~We are really noticing one another and are talking and smiling at each other...by far the cutest thing to watch!

Here is Carter bug with his new sippy cup....


Look at how much these sweet boys have grown!!! It is so hard to believe that they shared a pack n' play for almost 3 months!


Then

Now



And just one more of my cutie pies!