Smiling

Finally!  I got a picture of both of them smiling at the same time.  I won't say how long it took me, but I snapped quite a few pictures trying to get this picture today.  Shane wasn't home so I was both the person getting them to smile and the photographer.  It was quite the accomplishment in my book.  Once again, not the best lighting...my camera battery should be here this week, until then you have to deal with my iphone.

Tomorrow they might not be smiling like this as they get their first round of shots...sniff sniff.  At least I'll have this picture to refer to.

And one other picture I couldn't resist posting...this is my dad playing with the girls tonight.  He loves these girls as he does all his grandkids and it's so fun to watch both him and my mom hold and interact with them.  I love that he is down on the ground talking to them.

 

One of these days I might post something just about me or Shane, but until then you get posts all about these cuties...our lives really do revolve around them right now, but one day...we might just go on a date and leave them with a babysitter!  I've had many volunteers so I just need to take someone up on their offer.

Mix Up

I get asked all the time if the girls are identical or fraternal.  To me it's very obvious that they are fraternal.  The obvious differences are Aria's dark hair, and she's darker complected.  But their faces are very different to me as well.

So the other day Shane and I had come home with Aria and Siena after being out running some errands.  We left the girls in their car seats in the kitchen and I walked into the other room to put some things down.  All of the sudden one of the girls started crying.  I looked over and saw that it was Aria.  As I walked over to get her out of her car seat I realized I had just mixed up my girls for the first time...it was actually Siena crying.  I had only looked at their profiles from across the room, but I still couldn't believe I had just mixed them up.

So it got me thinking if they look more alike than I realize.  I think there are times that they do look alike and when I look at pictures when they have a hat or headband on, they do look similar.

Today they are wearing cute little matching hats with their outfits so I decided to take some pictures and I took some of their profiles to see if they looked alike.  So take a look yourself, look at the first one only and decide if it's Siena or Aria and then scroll down to the other one.
 

They aren't the greatest pictures because my camera battery died and I'm waiting for a new one to arrive in the mail.

To me when I look at both pictures at the same time it's very obvious but when I look at just the first picture it's a little harder to tell.  In fact I showed this first picture to Shane and asked who it was and he got it wrong.  They definitely are not identical but I think they'll pass as sisters.

So...who's who?

Another Visitor

We had another visitor this weekend.  I love all the visitors I've been getting since the girls were born.  I want to say that they want to see me but really I know it's because of Siena and Aria.  That's ok, whatever it takes to get people to come visit me.

My good friend from high school, Konstantina, came to visit this weekend.  It was a short but fun and relaxing trip.  We really didn't do anything except talk and talk and hold the babies.  She is in love with the babies (how can you not be though...) and it was so fun to see her and catch up.  We talk on the phone a lot but it's not the same unless you have 2 whole days to get completely caught up.

She made us dinner Sunday night that was really yummy, Brigitte and Tyler came over to enjoy the dinner as well.  She taught me to text in Greek, saw my parents and just had a great weekend.

She says she is going to come more often now to see the girls grow! Thanks for coming Konstantina.

2 Months

2 Months!  Seriously?  That is crazy and yet believable all at the same time.  Here are some things that have happened this last month.

Together 

• Both smiled on the same day.  Aria smiled for Shane and Siena smiled for me and then we saw the other one smile later that night.
• Both have found their voices but Aria uses hers a lot more.  It's so cute to hear their little yells.
• Michelle brought over a play mat this week that Aria loves, Siena thinks it's ok and both move their arms and hit the dangling toys and then they just stare at it until they hit it again.
• Both are pretty good sleepers.  They go to bed by 10, Shane feeds them at 2 and then they usually sleep until 7.
• They are both in their own crib and don't wake up to each others cries
• Both are getting strong necks and holding them up more and more during tummy time
• Both are still in newborn clothes although I'm getting ready to transition to 0-3 month clothes soon.  In fact these pictures are in 0-3 months clothes and they were too big.

Siena

  

(Siena gets 2 pictures because this was the first picture we caught her smiling in.)

• Has gone from hating her bath to tolerating it...occasionally and even liking it once.
• Has had some feeding issues, maybe reflux, but we're still trying to figure it out
• Loves to grunt in her sleep in the morning for an hour before she really wakes up...soo not fun to listen to.
• Laughed out loud in her sleep twice, I can't wait for her to do it when she's awake but it was so cute to listen to.
• Graduated to size 1 diapers
• Is drinking 4oz at each feeding

Aria

 

• Has gone from tolerating her bath to liking her bath, even kicking her legs this last time.
• Is pretty smiley and talkative, especially in the morning.
• She got rid of her monitor and oxygen...yeah
• Still in newborn diapers
• Is drinking 3oz at each feeding

I don't want them to grow up and yet I get so excited when they learn something new or hit a new milestone.
Their doctor appt isn't for another 1 1/2 weeks, I'll post about their stats and stuff then.

Happy 2 months Siena and Aria.  You have brought such joy into our lives.  I love just holding and staring at each of you and sometimes hold you both at the same time so neither of you feel left out.

Blessing Day

 Siena and Aria were blessed on Sunday.  We had such a nice day.

It started out an hour earlier than normal since it was Daylight Savings and obviously the girls didn't remember that they needed to sleep an extra hour.

We had family from both sides here to support and celebrate the blessings.  Everyone in our ward seemed excited to finally get to see the girls and although this won't always happen, they were perfect the entire time.  They didn't even cry during their blessings.

Shane gave them both very nice blessings and some good things were said about each of them.  One of my favorite things that was said is that they each have already been given a companion and friend for each other.  I hope they always are good friends and stay close to each other.

Afterwards we had a nice lunch back at our house and enjoyed spending time with family and friends.  It was a nice day and I never once had to feed or take care of either girl as they were passed from person to person, mostly their aunts, all day long.  The girls were exhuasted at the end of the day but it was a good day.

Their outfits:
Dresses - Courtesy of Aunt Lori and us (we bought one to match the one Lori let us borrow)
Bracelets - given to the girls from Grandma Goold
Socks - Made by Aunt Michelle
Shoes - Made by Aunt Margene

They looked gorgeous and so fun that so many people contributed to their outfits.

I told you the girls were perfect for their blessings, well that ended as soon as we got out the camera to take pictures.  Nevertheless, here are pictures from the day.

Halloween Sweet Peas

We had a great Halloween this year.  No Trick or Treating yet, but we still celebrated and dressed up the girls.

They were Sweet Peas this year with these cute outfits from a girl in my ward.  I thought they looked so cute, and well, so did everyone else that saw them. It was our first picture capturing a smile on camera...love their smiles.  Now I need to capture one of Siena.

I went into work for the first time with the girls on Halloween.  It was fun to see everyone and introduce them to Aria and Siena.  It was good to see everyone at work.  I do not miss work at all but it was fun to see everyone.  They gave me a big basket full of a lot of different baby items, so nice of them.

After that we went down to my parents and just hung out for a while.

That night we passed out candy and we had a ton of trick or treaters.  We passed out 150 pieces of candy and ran out a little after 7:30pm.  That is so early, I think because of the good weather we had a lot more trick or treaters then we normally do.  So we turned the lights out and just relaxed the rest of the evening.  A funny thing that happened was after we turned the lights off, I was sitting on my couch directly down the way from the front door but in the back part of the house and the doorbell rang.  I didn't answer it because I had no candy.  All of the sudden I hear this boy's voice and he says 'but she's sitting right there on the couch."  lol...I guess he was looking through the little slat of my shutters.  Oh well, maybe he'll learn that no lights on = no candy.

So here are some other Halloween pictures of the girls.

ok this post has take me ALL morning to write because I keep having to go settle down both the girls...they are supposed to be asleep!  So much for their morning nap today.  I guess I'll go pick them up and get them to smile at me.  If they aren't going to sleep, it's the least they can do for me! :)  Good thing their so dang cute.

Cancer Sucks Take 3

So I've kind of been in denial about posting this on my blog and I'm sure most of you already know the news, but I still feel like I need to post it.

While I was in the hospital with Aria and Siena, my mom was diagnosed with Lung Cancer.  I can't believe it still.  3 generations in our family have now had cancer, all 3 different kinds.  We are so sick of cancer but are sadly all too familiar with it.  Having never smoked or been around second hand smoke, my mom's chances of getting lung cancer are less than 1%.  Of all people that get lung cancer only 5% are non-smokers.  Wow, that's some crazy odds that she would get lung cancer.

As I write this she has already had 2 chemo treatments and has a scan coming up next week to see how she is responding.  I just know that the scan will show some very good improvements.  She is going to my same oncologist, Dr. Harker, that I just love and know she is in great hands. It's been a busy few weeks for her between tests, biopsies, scans and dr. appts.  Not only that but she has had her heart arrhythmia act up as well and has spent a weekend in the hospital and a few trips to the ER.

I hate, hate, hate watching my mom go through this and it's brought back a lot of emotions and memories for me.  My mom is a trooper though and has been so strong with everything thrown at her in a few short weeks and I know she'll continue to fight through this.

So it's been a very bittersweet month for us.  And needless to say very emotional on both ends of the spectrum.

Please keep my mom in your prayers.

I love you mom!