A Visit from Auntie Meg!

Auntie Meg stopped in the day after Thanksgiving and stayed for the weekend!




We had lots of fun with her and she brought us a fun project - kits to make Christmas ornaments with hand or foot impressions! Thank you Auntie Meg!!

The hands turned out to be a bit more challenging then expected because they kept wanting to grab the molding material to play with it, so footprints ended up being the way to go! In order to remember whose was whose, we did Mason's left foot and Ethan's right foot. I always think of Mason left and Ethan right because that is how they slept in their bassinet in the hospital and that is how we have the cribs set up in their room!



She also helped us decorate our Christmas tree and snapped a family photo of us in front. We are pretty much completely blocking the tree here though, so I'll have to remember to get a picture of just the tree (and babies of course) at a later time.

Peas Are Gross

The boys have loved every food they have encountered so far....except peas. They bombed in a major way. Yucky faces and spitting food back out. I made homemade peas and seriously they didn't taste bad (Brett didn't think so either), so it has to be a texture issue. I'm going to have to work on that to try to find a way to get these boys to eat their peas! We definitely want them to have lots of variety and we want them to like a lot of foods. And we figure feeding them the real thing instead of the jar has to be better because it actually tastes like the food they will eat as they make their way into table foods.

Even though I made sure not to laugh at them when they were doing it (because I don't want to encourage disliking foods), I must admit it was hilarious to see them screw up their noses like that at the same time!

I made sweet potatoes for the boys this weekend too - loaded up about 12 ice cube trays full and they were very excited about those. Of course if they keep eating only carrots and sweet potatoes for their vegetables they are going to turn orange so I need to restock the green beans soon and I'm planning some butternut squash and more avocado (though yes, that is technically a fruit.)

E Tooth #3

Ethan's 3rd tooth made itself known today. Funny because most babies get their middle bottoms, then their middle tops - he has opted to be different. He has his middle two bottoms and now has an upper left tooth that is one off from center. We are still waiting for Mason's first tooth to make its entrance! You would think with all the drool and swollen gums over the past few months that something would show up, but not yet!

Happy Thanksgiving!

So, yes, we agree that we don't look very festive here, but since mom was in the kitchen cooking all day we only have a picture of us playing in the morning. And no pictures were taken in the evening because we decided to celebrate Thanksgiving by not taking our afternoon naps. And no one wants to see a photo of what that looks like! We'll try to do better at Christmas!

7 Months Old!

Our official "we are 7 months old now" photos :) My little backseat drivers :)

2 Babies in a Tub

Now that the boys are doing such a good job with sitting on their own, they have graduated to their bath seats and can now take a bath at the same time and play with some bath toys. Not much bathing going on here, but lots of playing which the boys think is just great!

21 pounds

Today the boys took a trip to the doctors for some routine shots and while they were there they stepped up to the scales again. Mason is now 21 pounds (what?!!) and Ethan is 18 pounds. The doctor said everyone looks happy and healthy (though Ethan's reflux is not giving him a break lately - poor guy could hardly breathe last night as it makes his congestion so much worse and it kept him up half the night.)

But boy oh boy is our big boy getting big! That means we are only 1 pound away from needing the big boy car seats, so we will be installing those at some point over the next few weeks. The sad part about that is we have to take them in and out of their buckles everytime we take them in and out of the car - no more ease of taking the infant seat out of the car and snapping it onto the trusty snap-n-go stroller! So sad :( However, I guess it wasn't really that easy anyway since we were taking 21 pounds plus a car seat in and out of the car. I am seriously building some major upper body strength with these two!

And 21 pounds seems to be the magic weight of the week because this weekend, I prepared 21 pounds of pears (about 58 pears in total) for the boys because we were frighteningly close to running out (these boys love their pears!) So here is what 21 pounds of prepared pears looks like (after the peeling, coring, cooking and pureeing takes place). In case you're wondering that makes about 230 one-ounce (standard ice cube size) servings of pears. Which sounds like a lot, but it will be gone in the blink of an eye I'm sure.

Swings

This weekend we took our first ride on the baby swings at the park. We met some friends and their babies and had a play date (one other set of boy/girl twins who are 1 year old, and another baby girl, Ruby, who is just 2 weeks older than the boys). We had lots of fun and it was interesting to see what the boys thought of the real swings (as opposed to their Rainforest indoor baby swings). They definitely thought it was so much fun!! Mason had a hard time deciding if he should sit back and enjoy the ride or just lean forward and lick the swing. (No worries though, the swings were thoroughly disinfected before the babies got in them!)







And they thought it was so much fun that we visited the swings across the street from our house, behind the neighborhood pool, the very next day. (If Mason looks like he has been attacked by a wild animal that is because he was, or at least, his brother acts like a wild animal sometimes - and apparently mommy missed one of those really sharp nails in the last manicure session...)






And some action shots...

I Need My Little Muzz!

Little Muzz? If you're reading this...please get your clippers ready for Christmas because I think I need a haircut!!!

Baby Babble, High Notes & Peek-a-boo

Mason has started to say a lot of "da da day da day" and Ethan, a lot of "ba ba ba ba" - but of course no "ma ma ma ma" - figures right?

A little sampling of Mason's "day da da day da da", following by a lovely screeching



Ethan's "ba ba ba" (sorry this is so dark, but it was about 2am on a particularly bad night for sleeping, but it doesn't sound like it here right? sounds like he is having a grand old time)



Both boys can screech with the best of them and can really hit those high notes!!





The boys are also a HUGE fan of peek-a-boo. They are quite skilled at the game themselves if you give them a burp cloth or receiving blanket - they know just how the game is played. And they love it when someone hides and says "boo" instead of the usual "peek-a-boo"

Here mommy is trying to "boo" them and video tape at the same time - so try not to get sea sick while watching this one...



And when someone turns the tables and hides THEM, well they think that's just hilarious! In these clips Grandma is "hiding" them...

Family Photo

We hardly ever get to have photos with all 4 of us present, so while Grandma and Grandpa were here for a visit they took one for us!