15 Months

A little update on the girls.  Not the best picture takers lately.  They had their 15 month doctor appointment this week and overall are right on track.  Here are their stats and a few things about them these days.

Both girls have a love for the Baby Signing Time videos.  We checked out a couple of them and they will sign baby and then look at the TV when they want to watch them.  How can you resist that?  They are obsessed with these videos and are totally mesmerized when they are on.  The Wheels on the Bus song has now been replaced by me singing Baby Signing Time when I want to get their attention or stop them from whining/crying.  As of now they can sign, Baby, Time, More, Milk, All Done, and Siena just learned Please yesterday.

Neither of them are saying any real words yet.  The doctor was happy with their signing though.  She said twins are usually late talkers because of 'twin speak' where they can speak to each other and they understand each other and no one else can.  I don't really see them talking to each other much (except yelling or giggling with each other but the doctor says that is it) but they sure do babble a ton around each other and act like they are saying things so not really sure.  Siena is a little closer to saying things that I think I'm understanding so I'm sure it's just around the corner.  Just need to her to say it in context.

Siena
21 lbs 8 oz - 30%
31.5 inches - 85%
Siena still has no teeth.  The doctor wants me to take her to get X-rays done but then said there wasn't much they can do anyways.  So I think I'll wait a little while longer.  Where are her teeth?  Siena has learned to fake cry and it's pretty funny.  All I do is laugh when she starts fake crying.  Siena likes to be read to but she likes to hold the book herself so she pretty much dictates what page we read and what order we go in and many times just gets up and walks away.  Siena is starting to climb more and more.  She can escape just about any barricade we try to put up.  One of Siena's favorite things to do is after we change diapers she likes to take the diaper to the trash.  For some reason up until yesterday she would not put the diaper in the trash but would drop it 5 feet before the trash but she knows that is her job and she loves it.

Aria
20 lbs 2 oz - 15%
30.5 inches - 50%
Aria is walking and walking all over the place.  My favorite thing about her walking is when she goes to turn she plants her left foot and then pivots with her right foot until she's facing the direction she wants to go and then keeps walking.  Aria has 3 teeth and one bulging just waiting to come out.  Aria is the one that will find a book and walk it over to me to read it to her.  She'll let me read to her for however long and rarely gets bored if I read the same book over and over again.  We have 2 windows in our family room where the girls play and there is one window that if the shutter is closed Aria will go over and open it.  Sometimes I don't think about it and as it gets dark I go over and close it only to turn around and find Aria over there opening it back up.

This age is so fun and cute with how excited they get learning new things and how their face lights up when they know they've done something good/cute/mischievous, etc.  However this age is also pretty exhausting with how much attention they both demand at the same time.  Both girls are still pretty attached to me and many times both want to be held.  In fact sometimes I'm holding one and if I sit down they get mad.  They love to be carried around.  They do pretty good entertaining themselves for small periods at a time so I can't complain.  It's just they always want attention right when I'm trying to get something else done.  They almost always win though! :)  We still love our little girls more then ever and are still amazed what blessings they have brought into our lives.

Thanksgiving in Quincy, CA

Finally posting about Thanksgiving!

We did it.  We went on our first long drive with the girls for Thanksgiving.  We decided to go visit Shane's mom in Quincy, CA.

The girls did great on the trip.  Shane's sister and her dog came with us and so I was way paranoid that the girls were going to scream and not stop for hours.  I checked out a bunch of DVDs and we set up a laptop between their car seats.  They loved watching the DVDs and it kept them more entertained then I thought it would.  They didn't really sleep on the way there except for a 40 minute nap but they were still happy travelers.

Shane's mom was all ready for us.  She bought the girls a cute little Sesame Street table and chairs they could eat at and set up cardboard blockades to keep them in certain parts of the house and away from their wood burning stove.

One day we decided to go on a little walk and we ended up walking to the store to get my favorite ice cream from when I was growing up, chocolate malted krunch.  We walked across the street to the High School where Shane graduated FROM High School. (That's for you Jennifer and Brigitte.)  The girls loved the ice cream and as you can see for some reason we had no napkins!

Shane did a bunch of stuff around the house with his sister for his mom and I just mostly hung out and played with the girls.  I even had time to read a book!  Now that's a sign of a good vacation.

The girls shared a room and did really well together.  After one nap I walked down the hallway to hear them giggling at each other.  We put their pack n plays across the room from each other and between a futon bed so they couldn't see each other but they were giggling away at each other.  It was cute since they don't share rooms at home.

Because the house has a wood burning stove, the rooms at night would get pretty chilly.  I always made sure the girls were covered up before we went to bed and one night we found Siena like this.  I guess her face was cold...lol.

We went to church Sunday morning before we left.  Siena decided to snuggle up to Grandma and take a little pre-trip nap.

The ride home was long.  The girls slept a little bit more but towards the end kept waking up and crying, then going back to sleep, then wake up crying again, etc.  But over all I can't complain as they did great.

It was a fun weekend and nice to get away and it was fun getting to be in Quincy again since it had been several years since I had been there.

Friday Night Excitement

A few Friday nights ago, we decided to meet the Pace's and go to Jungle Jims so the girls and their bestie Holland could have a fun night out.  We all went to Cafe Rio beforehand for some good food.  Then the rest of our exciting Friday night was spent at Jungle Jims.  Siena got a little freaked out on the crickety carousel and after that was a little nervous about a lot of rides.  However, Aria loved all the rides. She went on the jeep/train ride with just Holland and she even went on the fast roller coaster with me.  Brigitte went on the roller coaster with Holland and I'm surprised it didn't send her into labor.  I still think their favorite ride is the swings for both of them.

 
I couldn't help but think how a few years ago it would've been Brigitte and I out on the town on a Friday night going to a party, or trying to find something fun to do.  How things have changed and I wouldn't have rather been doing one other thing then spending my Friday night at Jungle Jims with my family and the Paces.

PS I can't wait until they're old enough to all look at and smile at the camera.

Meeting Santa

We took the girls to meet Santa this week.  We went back to the same place we went to last year and it turned out exactly as we thought.  They were happy looking and talking to Santa when they were in our arms.  They screamed as soon as we set them on his lap and then were totally fine and happy as soon as we picked them up.  Santa was super nice and told them he would still bring them some fun toys and gave them a little bag of treats.  The girls were really happy with the free chocolate chip cookies they handed out.

Aria throws up....in church!

Embarrassing moment this week.  This cute little face caused quite the ruckus in church this week.  Here's how it went down.  We walked into church, happy, clean, hair combed, etc.  Church starts, the girls are looking through books.  They start passing the sacrament.  I get out the girls sippy cups of water.  Aria is drinking away sitting on my lap.  All of the sudden she coughs, then again, then tries to take a breath and can't, then turns bright red.  Then....she throws up...all over herself and me!  And it stinks!!!  Bad!!!  Everyone turns around wondering how to help.  Shane gets out some wipes and the the dry onesie change of clothes to mop up the puddle formed in my skirt.  It stinks, everyone is staring at us.  Aria is just fine by the way, not crying or anything, just looking around.  We wipe up what we can, and with that we stand up (All 4 of us) and walk out.  Everyone is looking, smiling, sympathizing and thinking either 'glad it's not me or been there done that.'

Aria really just choked on water, she wasn't sick and has been fine since.

We got home, cleaned up and changed and well 10 minutes of church is good right?

8 is great for Avery Jane

Avery turned 8 and was baptized this summer.  Since she lives in California, I wasn't able to go.  However, as is tradition with all the nieces and nephews when they get baptized, they get to go to dinner with me.  Avery was in town with her family for Thanksgiving so we decided to go to lunch.  Her lunch choice was Panda Express.  Since this was such a low key place to go we decided to then go get some ice cream afterwards.  We got to make our own yogurt combination and sit on couches while we ate them up.  Afterwards we decided to go check out the new Scheels to ride their ferris wheel.  It was so fun.  Then we walked around and took advantage of all their photo op spots.  Avery and I had a great time and it was fun to spend time with just her.

Congrats Avery on your baptism.  Thanks for coming with me for a fun afternoon.

Girls night out

While my sisters were in town before Thanksgiving all my sisters, sister in law and mom, decided to have a girls night out and go see the last Twilight film.  We all met at Olive Garden beforehand and then went and saw Breaking Dawn Part 2.  By far I think this was my favorite Twilight film out of all of them.  It was such a fun night out with my family.

Shane got invited to a Jazz game last minute that same night so we had to scramble and get a babysitter.  Luckily, Shane's cousin came to the rescue and watched the girls for us.  The girls were good and I was able to sneak out so they didn't cry when I left.  They went right down to bed for her like they do every night for us and so it was a great night out for both of us.