Holland's Birthday Party Take 2

Holland turned one!! Sadly we were out of town for it and missed her party. I was so sad about that. So we decided to have our own little party when we got back.

We met at the mall to ride the carousel. Only problem with that was that you have to be walking in order to ride a horse. Not sure what walking has to do with sitting on a horse. And it's not like I was going to let go of them for a second. Anyways, so we sat on the bench which was fine. Aria and Siena didn't know the difference or care so it was fine. Holland got to ride the horse. She was a little scared but rode it like the cute little one year old she is.

Afterwards we all went out to dinner at a new Mexican restaurant since it was cinco de Mayo. Fun times were had by the parents. And I think all 3 girls had a good time as well.

Happy Birthday Holland! We have birthday #2 on the calendar already.

8 months

Aria and Siena have officially been here longer then they were inside me (yes that’s what happens when you give birth a month early!)

Their hair is both long enough to put little clips in.  It's cute to see how grown up they look with a little clip keeping their hair back to the side.

I decided to let them start sitting up in the bath tub. They love it. They splash, play with some toys, and steal each others toys. And when I go to lay them down to wash them, they throw a fit most nights. So now I lay them down and wash them first and then sit them up to play.

I gave in (again) and both are back on their pacifiers to sleep. The saving grace was that Siena learned to find hers in the crib in the middle of the night…life saver for us. She is sleeping so good now. Aria only needs hers if she wakes up to talk in the early morning and then sucks it and if/when it falls out she stays asleep. So I don’t mind putting it in once a night, and hopefully she will be able to find it in the crib soon enough as well.

I think/hope they are finally teething, then maybe the snot, drool, chomping and sucking will subside for a couple weeks until they teeth again.

I love to check on them every night before I go to bed. I sneak into Aria’s room and she is without fail on her back with her arms spread out and her legs are usually bent a little with the bottoms of her feet touching each other. Siena has moved all over the place and her favorite position I think is her side with her head cocked upwards. Most the time it doesn’t look very comfortable but she loves it.  I could watch them sleep for a long time.

Both are still eating really good.  Siena screams if we don’t put food in her mouth fast enough and Aria shakes her head side to side really fast when she is done eating. How does she know to do that and does she know that means no?

They have both turned opinionated more this month. My mellow Aria decided to get an opinion and will often let us know when she isn’t happy about something, and she is still loud and starting to shriek, kind of cute, kind of not. Siena gets mad, in fact I see the forming of temper tantrums on the horizon…and it’s not going to be pretty.

Both girls got colds this month. In all 3 colds they’ve had so far, Siena has gotten it first and then Aria gets it, but it’s never as bad as Siena and Siena produces at least 10x’s more snot than Aria (seriously, not an exaggeration.) Poor cute Siena is always so miserable from not being able to breathe and us having to suction her.

Siena - 8 Months

Siena gets up on all 4's, rocks back and forth, has started to move her legs forward but is not officially crawling yet, but oh so close. I’m not in any hurry to have her mobile.

She can roll and get just about anywhere now. Time to start child proofing the house. So far, she hasn’t gotten into trouble with anything but I know that’s just waiting to happen.

Siena’s favorite pass time when she is sitting up is to straighten her legs and arms straight out and tilt back on her bum and then she likes to see how far back she can lean without falling over. It’s so funny to watch. This picture doesn’t do it justice but you can get an idea.

Siena starting spitting her food again this month. It lasted about 10 days and she gave it up again…thank goodness.

When Siena is up on all 4’s she has started shaking/rocking her head and body side to side. It’s the cutest and funniest thing to watch. Not sure where she learned it or why she does it, but I love it.

ARIA - 8 Months

I’ve started calling Aria Thumper. Whenever we feed her or hold her she always takes her left leg and thumps it up and down fast just like Thumper on Bambi, so funny she is.

Aria started playing peek a boo right after she turned 7 months. I hadn’t really even been doing it and all of the sudden one day she took the burp rag and started lifting it over her face and bringing it down again. I love playing it with her and she loves it too. Siena doesn’t do it at all and doesn’t really care so it’s just a little game between Aria and I.

Aria is pushing up not quite on all 4’s but getting closer. She is scooting backwards on her stomach and turns in circles on her stomach. So she doesn’t move around as much but is getting around a little at a time.

Aria has started looking away from me (mostly when I’m feeding her) and then with her head turned all of the sudden she moves her eyes to the side of her head to look at me without turning her head. It’s so funny. It’s like she’s saying, I’m not looking at you and then looks to see if I’m looking at her. When I talk to her then she moves her eyes away from me again.

I’ve never documented this but Aria has been doing this I’m pretty sure her whole life. At least since she was a couple months old. When Aria is on her stomach or if I’m holding her over my shoulder she puts her face into the ground or my shoulder and rubs her nose back and forth really fast. It’s almost like her nose itches or something. It’s so funny and we aren’t sure why she does it but she does it all the time.

Aria started sucking on her bottom lip. At first it was kind of cute but now it’s annoying because she has a rash on her chin from sucking on it so much. Maybe that will go away when she cuts teeth.

Just a cute picture...because.

St. George Family Trip

Last week my whole entire family…yes that’s 13 adults and 17 grandchildren…all went to St. George. We were able to rent a beautiful home down there with 9 bedrooms and our own heated pool and Jacuzzi. To say we had a good time would be an understatement.

All 17 Grandchildren

 

Here is what it takes to get all 17 grandchildren to look in the same general direction

Some of the highlights:

Taking the girls swimming. We had floating tubes they used and the pool also had a big shallow end they could sit in. They probably thought they were just in an outside bath splashing away. They both kept trying to ‘eat’ the water and both ended up with their faces in the water a couple times. Their faces were hysterical each time looking at me like ‘what was that?’

Holding each girl while she slept during one of their naps on different days when they woke up early and then fell back asleep in my arms. I don’t get to do that anymore and I was in heaven.

Playing Just Dance on the Wii…Beating my brother in law who thought he was all that and getting the high score on one of the songs. Even my parents joined in on the fun. The grandkids loved seeing grandma and grandpa shaking their stuff.

Only having to cook one day. We all split up the meals so it was nice to cook one day and then have the rest of the week off and have someone else cook for us.

Getting the Master Suite. I guess having twins comes with advantages. My parents slept in the Casita attached to the house so it was quiet and they could get some rest. Which left me with the Master bedroom, walk in closet (aka girls sleeping room). It was big and spacious and not to make my sisters jealous but it was a nice treat.

Playing Deal or No Deal. My dad did this on another trip a few years ago and we played it again. All the grandkids love it and I don’t mind getting a little free money as well. I had gone shopping that day and bought myself a new shirt and the girls new dresses. So my goal was to win $10 +tax. I told Shane he had to pay for the girls dresses so he had to win $12. So when ‘the banker’ offered us each $12, we took the deal. Score for new clothes!

Nice, warm weather, but not too hot.

Relaxing, enough said

Some of the low lights:

Having my sister Christy beat me on Just Dance the last day.

Siena getting sick. Somehow she caught a bug and on the last day, she was so sick, her poor eyes were all watery and red and her nose wouldn’t stop running. She felt miserable and I felt so bad. Aria and myself caught it when we got home but we’re all mostly over it now. Unfortunately a few family members also caught it. I guess that’s what happens when you all get together in one house.

Not getting enough sleep, true to form, the girls didn’t sleep great and then getting sick on top of it made for some short sleeping hours.

Thanks Mom and Dad for a great trip!! It was so so fun and as always you spoiled us with candy, treats and a great time.

 ok so they didn't always LOVE the pool...

Mother Daughter Fight

Well, I’ve officially had my first mother daughter fight. And my daughters are only 7 months old! These last few weeks, sleep habits have gone out the window. They started getting worse little by little ever since our trip. I thought I could just wait and deal with it after our next trip next week. Well Saturday morning I had a “I have had it” moment again. Last time that happened we went on operation binky breaking. Remember how well it worked? Well, they’re older this time and a lot more opinionated. But…it had to be done. Siena was waking up about 3:30 every night until I gave her a binky or a bottle and then many times that didn’t work for very long or at all. Aria has gradually been waking up earlier and earlier. What used to be, I talk for a few minutes and go back to sleep, turned into I talk and then I cry until someone comes into my room at which point I get so excited thinking they’re going to get me up for the day, only to be very disappointed when they don’t.

So…we did Operation Cry it out. Sure enough Siena woke up at 3:30am and screamed/cried/yelled for an hour. Oh my gosh, that was a long hour. Finally she settled down and went back to sleep…for 1 ½ hours…at which time both girls woke up and screamed for 30 mins. After 30 mins of 2 babies crying hysterically, I couldn’t handle it. I thought I would lose it. I was about to get up and just feed them, when they both stopped crying!!! YAY!

That morning when I got Siena up and gave her her morning bottle, she was apparently still mad at me. I wish I had taken a picture because instead of her playing with my hand, my hair, or whatever else catches her attention while eating, she wouldn’t look at me. And I’m not making this up. She drank her entire bottle with her head turned away from me. Eyes open, staring off into the room, no smile, nothing. I was already feeling a little bad about the night but I really had no idea a 7 month old would know to hold a grudge like that. I for sure lost Mother of the year award in her eyes that night. Luckily after her morning nap, she warmed up and has been fine since.

But the good news of the weekend was they both slept through the night last night. Not a peep. Of course it could just be out of pure exhaustion but I’m hoping they just learned their lesson quickly.

First Family Vacation

This post is kind of long, sorry for the travel log.

We took our first family vacation. We decided not to make it too elaborate and just figure how and if we can travel with 2 little girls. Getting ready for the trip was exhausting. I started making a list of all the things we would need for 5 days…the list started with 70 diapers and went from there. I already felt tired after writing just that on my list. We needed 2 pack n plays, our stroller, formula, diapers, baby food, spoons, bowls, bibs, blankets, burp cloths, etc. that didn’t include the clothes we packed for them or our stuff. But we did it, we got it all packed and better yet we fit it all into my car.

So Saturday morning we got up, got ready, and just as they were ready for their first nap, we got in the car and left. We made it to Filmore where we stopped and fed them, let them stretch and play. We even let them have their first swing ride. You can’t tell by their faces in these pictures but they loved it. The girls were both such good travelers the entire trip and slept a lot or were happy to play with their links and firefly stuffed animals.

When we got to St George we were lucky they let us check in a little early because the girls were in need of another nap. After a short nap we decided to take them swimming. I was so excited to try out their new bathing suits that I had purchased for $.47 each…yep, you read that right, 2 bathing suits for under a dollar. I scored a deal that day! As you can see, the girls were pretty excited as well.  They liked the pool but it was kind of windy so unless they were mostly in the water they were cold and didn’t last a long time.

The 2 problems with St. George were that it was windy and cool both days we were there and that our hotel room had really thin walls. Even though Siena and Aria are pretty well behaved they do have their moments and in the early morning when either of them would cry out, I would fly out of bed to quiet them as to not wake our neighbors. We didn’t make any neighbors mad, but the girls were more than happy to have their binkies at their beckon call.

Monday morning we woke up and after their first nap we headed down to Las Vegas. We had gotten this groupon for a 2 story loft down there close but off the strip. It sounded pretty good. When we checked in the lady said they had 3 pools, our room was over looking pool #2 but that pool #3 was heated so we’ll want to go down there. I remember thinking the way she worded it was kind of strange and why couldn’t they heat all 3 of their pools. Either way, when we got to our room, this was our view…not only was it not heated…there was no water and there was a lovely jackhammer serenading us one afternoon. The good part about our room was it was big and 2 stories so it gave us a little more room to move around and wasn’t near anyone else for the girls to disturb.

We had a great time though, we walked through some hotels, saw the Bellagio water show (my fav.), went shopping at the outlets and met up with some family that was in town as well for dinner. The girls did so good being out and about and a little off their schedule. Never complaining once and would happily just sit in their stroller and take it all in.

I cannot even begin to tell you all the comments and people stopping us asking about the girls. We got it everywhere we went. It was pretty comical. Shane wanted to set up a video camera on the stroller so we could capture what everyone was saying, those smiling, whispering ‘look at the twins,’ etc. We do have cute girls but it got to be pretty funny how many people commented about it everywhere we went.

On the last night we were there we went to the Aria hotel and had to take some pictures of Aria there. I think they turned out so cute. Don’t worry, there is a Siena hotel in Reno, NV we’ll go to one day and do the same thing.

We had a really fun time although it wasn’t super relaxing. To sum it up, on the way home Shane said ‘Well that was…an experience.’ We learned a lot about travelling with little girls. I think they had a good time too but they were so happy to be back home. When we got home we put them in their jumper and exersaucer why we unpacked and as we would walk by, they would look up at us and then right back down to their toys. They stayed that way for almost 45 mins without a peep from them.

We can’t wait for our next trip in a couple weeks with my family. We’ll have more family to entertain them and hopefully we can relax a little as well. Or as Jennifer offered ‘Next time leave them with me and you and Shane go by yourself.’ We might just take you up on that sometime Jennifer.

7 Months

Aria and Siena turned 7 months today. 

I had to take pictures without headbands this month so you could see how much hair Siena is getting.  They are both growing a lot more hair but Aria has always had a bunch of hair.

Here are some things about the girls this month in no particular order:

• Siena is loving any toy that is in Aria's hands.  It doesn't matter if she has the exact same toy in front of her.  If it's in Aria's hands, she wants it and let's us all know.  Oh boy...this is only going to get worse.
• Aria rolled from her stomach to her back...finally!  She is close to rolling the other way as well.  So happy she hit this milestone.
• Aria has decided to talk non stop.  In fact I told Shane while she has been our quieter child, she might end up the louder of the two.  When she talks, she is so loud.  In fact Shane told me the other day that he could hardly concentrate on work with her talking so loud on her play mat.
• Siena is scooting backwards on her back.  She tilts her head up to look behind her and then pushes with her legs.  It's pretty funny to watch and when she gets going, she's pretty fast about it and very proud of herself.
• Siena is also rolling a ton and can scoot in circles when she sees something she wants.
• They continue to laugh more and more at each other and talk a little bit back and forth.
• We went on our first family trip where they enjoyed some firsts of swimming and swinging.  Post to come in a few days.
• Siena is jumping so high in her Johnny jumper. She looks like a rabbit with both feet together jumping up and down constantly.  She is loving her jumper a lot these days.
• Aria also likes the johnny jumper but instead of jumping she spins in circles.  She moves her little feet and goes around and around and around.  We have to unspin her and then she just starts right over again.
• Their sleep habits have gone down hill a touch this month.  I think they both went through a big growth spurt and although it's better now, it's not as good as it used to be.  We go on another trip the end of this month and if it's still not great when we get back, we'll have to do some sleep training.  For now it's ok, they have their good nights along with an occasional bad night and lots of early mornings.
• Siena is LOVING solid foods.  It took Aria a little longer but she has caught on and both eat really well.  We feed them rice cereal and fruit in the morning and a vegetable at night.  Siena has her mouth wide open after every bite until it's gone, and then she eats what Aria hasn't finished.  Squash is probably their favorite, Aria doesn't like peas (it's a little thicker texture so it might be the texture at this point.)  Siena started spitting/blowing her food earlier this month.  We said a lot of No's while putting the back of the spoon up to her lips.  I'm not sure if she understood or just grew out of it but she rarely does it and as soon as she starts and we say no she stops.  I hope that continues.
• We have been loving the spring weather and have been going on lots of walks in the evenings.  They love their stroller and are always happy and content in it.
• They both still love their feet and toes and still play and suck on them a lot.
• Both are sitting up really good.  Aria was a little wobbly and then just last week has gotten it down.  And now when Aria falls over you don't hear a peep and she starts playing wherever she lands, but when Siena falls over she lets us know every time. 
• I don't think I've ever written this down, but I've had people ask me how I get the girls to both look at the camera and smile at the same time.  I found a secret trick.  Their all time favorite song is 'The Wheels on the Bus'  It doesn't matter what they're doing, when I start singing that song, they smile.  So now when you see a picture of both of them smiling you can picture me in the background singing and snapping pictures.  I don't know how long that trick will last but I'll use it for as long as I can.  I keep thinking I need to broaden their song knowledge, but they just love that song so much.

Easter

We had a great Easter weekend!

Saturday we made an appearance at our neighborhood Easter egg hunt. The girls are too young to care or look for eggs but it was nice to get out and say hi to our neighborhood. The girls wore these bunny ears Grandma and Grandpa Goold gave them. I thought they looked pretty cute. Well when we walked up to the party, everyone was dying at how cute they were. In fact we had several people take pictures of them with their phone and cameras.

Sunday the Easter bunny brought them their Easter baskets, a little toy that lights up and some empty Easter eggs to play with. The girls love their light up toy but can’t make it light up on their own yet, but they will stare at it for as long as it’s lit up. However, Siena got her thumb on the button just right and had it lighting up on her own a couple times and then when she couldn’t do it anymore she threw a little fit. Kind of funny if you ask me.

I had to post both pictures of Aria cuz I thought her face was so cute in both of them, I couldn't choose which one to post.

We went to church and both girls looked so cute in their Easter dresses. We heard some really nice talks on the Atonement and I’m so grateful for the time we take to remember Jesus, his life and example, his sacrifice and resurrection.  How grateful we are for Him.

After church we went to my parents and had a really yummy ham dinner and just relaxed.  It was a great day and great weekend and we also enjoyed some really nice spring weather, which I'm loving.

PS...Aria had a little rough day. In church I went to clip Aria’s binky on the sleeve of her dress and clipped her skin with it. She screamed. (Very bad Mom moment!) I picked her up, put the binky in and she stopped immediately. That’s my little mellow girl. I felt sooo bad and now there is a red welt on her arm where I did it. I was glad I didn’t break the skin. Then that night at my parents we were about to feed her and she started throwing a fit. She got so worked up she wouldn’t eat or drink and the little she did, she ended up throwing up. We finally got her settled down and she was fine the rest of the night. Today she is happy as can be at my sisters, so she has recovered. We were late getting them in bed, Siena was fine and happy all day but she was the hard one to put to bed last night and woke up twice screaming before we had even gone to bed. Then she settled down and was fine the rest of the night.