White Elephant Gift

Neal remembered on Sunday night at 8pm that he needed a white elephant gift for work. I told him I would take care of it. My first thought...



I heard they were on clearance on the radio and I am a bargain shopper. I doubted I would be able to find one so my next thought.....a photo ornament with Neal's picture. Not just any picture, the new crazy smiling Neal. It is impossible to put it into words, so I will simply show you.












Trust me, you cannot see his face, but he has his new found silly dad grin on.

My Little Fashionista

Aunt Stacy brought Gwen some leg warmers from Chicago. She is so adorable in them. As soon as I put them on her she jumped up (for the first time ever) started dancing and said her first words...."She's a maniac, maniac on the floor". I guess Gwen just needed some inspiration to start walking and talking.

The Dogs

The dogs continue to do good with the babies. They are not overly interested. Tippy just started to play with their toys a little more, but he stops when you tell him no. Tippy enjoys baby cereal way more than the babies, although that is not saying much, he also likes dog poop. The babies on the other hand love the dogs. They watch them all of the time. The dogs actually distract the babies when they are eating. The babies like to pet the dogs too, but the dogs do not quite appreciate it yet. Luke loves to give the babies kisses. This week he wanted to hang out with the babies, Santa and the snowman.

Breakfast with Santa

This past weekend the local twins club hosted breakfast with Santa. We may be a little premature for this, but I liked the idea of being able to take my own picture and not get ripped off at the mall. Not to mention I would not have to wait in line forever and I would get to eat. Pretty much two of my favorite things. So Neal took the pictures and claimed we had a great one. There was only one picture where both of the babies were kinda looking at the camera. So without further ado here is my kids first picture with Santa and some other ladies behind.



I was also hoping to meet another couple that Neal and I both got along with and had twins about 5 months old. Well, let's just say we will try again next year.

MINE

That is what the babies would be saying if they could talk. They started having their first tug of war over toys last week. It has not gotten that ugly yet, they are still smiling.


And yes, my little fashionista is rocking her Halloween bib in December. She cannot always be on.

5 months old!

I cannot believe the babies are already 5 months old. Time goes by so fast.

Sleep
Both babies are now sleeping through the night. Gwen started around 3.5 months and Grady around 4.5 months. They were sleeping 7-7 then started waking up at 6 so we are trying to keep them up until 7:30 or 8 and that seems to be working. 6 is a little too early for us on the weekends! The babies started napping in their cribs this month. I wish I would have started that sooner. There is still some crying involved, but it has gotten way better. We have resorted back to swaddling during naps and it seems to be helping. At the first sign of them being tired we immediately put them to bed. If we wait to long it is a struggle.

Food
The babies eat about 5-7 ounces per bottle. They are still eating every 3 hours. We were letting them snack too much before, so we stopped that. They both adapted rather quickly. We have been doing cereal for about a week now. The babies still make funny faces, but they seem to be swallowing a little more.

The twins favorite toy this month was a balloon Grandma brought over. They cannot get enough of it. They are eating everything. They have even tried to eat the balloon. Basically their main goal for each day is to get as many things into their mouthes as possible. They are both laughing more and more all of the time. Grady smiles all the time. He is the happiest baby. Gwen is starting to smile more every day. Gwen is going to be sitting up real soon. She holds herself well and has good posture. She is also showing a lot of interest in holding the bottle by herself. Grady has a hard time holding up his noggin, but is getting stronger every day. No one has rolled over yet, but we are working on it.

We headed to Cleveland for Thanksgiving Day. Luckily the babies sleep in the car. I think the trip went pretty well. It is easy now, they are not mobile yet! Next year will be more challenging.





It is amazing to think one year ago we had just found out we were going to be having twins. We are so very lucky to have these babies. I cannot imagine life without them.

You Had a Bad Day

Gwen had her worst day ever today. Well she may say the day she was born was the worst, but in my mind today was the worst. Her eczema flared up. I tried to control it during naps with Vaseline or aquaphor, but today it did not work. I actually think it made it worse. I think she rubbed the Vaseline in her eyes. Regardless we are going to the doctor tomorrow. I hate seeing my baby cry. Next up, I will tell you how I made my other baby bleed and cry! I am having a bad mommy day all around. Hence the trip to Kroger after bedtime for some mommy juice!