Big Girl

Before I've had time to blink,

we've gone from this (for 21 months):

(at 7 months)

to this (for one month):

to this (her 1st night)!

{sigh}

she had a wonderful 1st night in her big girl bed. she cried for maybe 5 minutes and was asleep in 10, no getting out of bed. she piled herself up at the very top of the bed on the very flat pillow i put in there for her. i am very thankful for our video monitor! i just can't get over how tiny she looks in this big twin bed! oh how my baby girl is growing up before my eyes! i'm so proud of her for handling this transition so well. tomorrow night might be a completely different story, but i am thankful for tonight!

Here's her new dresser. the drawer pulls finally came, only after double the time estimated by the eb@y seller. needless to say, I won't be sharing the store with you here; but i do love how they turned out! sorry the pictures are so dark. i couldn't seem to get enough lighting in there.

(more pictures of her big girl room after her Gramma comes next weekend to help us paint it)

Flashback Friday: January 2009

Wordless Wednesday

A Few Things You Might Hear...

...around our house.

• uppie side down (as she stands on her head)
• happy to see you Addie (at random times)
• come here right now! (emphasis on right now! clearly mimicking me!)
• be right back
  
• sleepy peepy
• 1, 2, 3/ready, set go! (or just yell RUN!)
• crawl like a baby...fast! 
• mommy watch (whatever)! 
  
• touch (whatever)? one finger?
  
• meeky (music)
• songs/rhymes:  
• mumble mumble garble garble ashes ashes all fall down!
• rock a by baby on the tree top
• patty cake patty cake bakers man
• peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge mumble mumble 9 days old!
• row row boat
  
• more sugar or just sugar (meaning more kisses)
• whoa Addie
• Shhhhh. Quiet, mommy/daddy's sleeping. (at completely random times too)
• Watch show (often times she'll name the show, her version of the name)
• Happy, happy, happy! 
• Run away Fuzz/Winston/Abbey.
  
• Daddy, Daddy, Whoops, Daddy (for the finger play game Johnny, Johnny, Johnny, Johnny, Whoops, Johnny and back; and she goes through Mommy and Cady and Mandy and Didi and RieRie and whoever else she can think of!)
• 1, 2, 3 (free), 4, 5, 6, 7 (sev-en), 8, 9, 10, 11 (ewevan), 12, 13 (firteen), 14, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 (skipping 15)
• What's in Mommy's tummy? babies How many babies? two babies. (and now she'll name them!)
• How many dogs to we have Addie? One dog.  How many cats do we have Addie? Two cats.
• Uh oh Addie! Oh gwoss! (right after she gagged herself and threw up!)
• Addie uh oh gettios! (you know, uh oh spaghettios)
  
• I like (whatever).
  
• Mommy fix it! 
• Daddy get it.
  
• If she hits or does something she's not supposed to, I'll always start by asking her "what did mommy say?" (if i've told her no) or state what we do/do not do. Her typical response: No, no! (as she shakes her pointed finger at me, not telling me that but telling herself that.) 
• Her newest response to hurting us/the animals or getting in trouble: I'm sorwy.
  
• Hey Fuzz (or hey whoever/whatever as she cutely waves at them/it)
  
• Thank you sweet heart. (mimicking me!)
• Bless you Addie! (after she sneezes).
• Addie loves letters. With the exception of a few she confuses (that look/sound similar), she's got them down. A few favorites: O, Y, A, E, Q, L, S, T.  A few we're still working on: D, V, Z.
  
• Addie put {something} away. So much! (because we say thank you so much!)
• Hold you! (who can resist that!)
• Tickle you. (then she stops for a second and says:) Tickle me!
• Snuggle
• Thank you your welcome! (when she gives you something or gets something)

Addie's language literally exploded about 6 weeks ago. We could hardly understand anything she said! Our vocabulary has finally caught up to hers, and we are much better at interpreting.  There was a week in there where I think everything turned into a tantrum/meltdown because she couldn't make us understand! We are so thankful she learned the baby sign language so well and was able to communicate with us for so long without words. Now, I can't imagine her not having the words! I know there are words/phrases/sentences that I've missed, but I just wanted to list as many as I could remember now so we'd have them later!

Mobiles

I really wanted mobiles for the girl's cribs.  Addie loved her mobile. She would just lay there and watch it forever.

Well, I knew I had one but knew I'd never find a matching one. It also never really fit well on our crib. It always sat crooked and really bothered me. So I started looking. I'd found Addie's on a huge sale, and I wasn't finding any sales. They were all either really pastel or primary colors. And worst of all, they were outrageously priced. I was looking to buy TWO.

Um....no.

So I got this hair brained idea that I'd just make one two. Sure. I could do it. I didn't have anything else I was making or to do! ;)

But I just couldn't find the right things to hang on them. The little wooden cutouts were cute (and cheap) but it just wasn't exactly what I wanted. So I got on my favorite site (ok, one of them) etsy.com and found the cutest little owls (and a handful of very scary ones that I avoided). Yes, owls. No, I'm not reverting back to my college years and dorm room full of owls, but they were so cute and fun for the nursery. They were also a tad expensive if I wanted 4-6 for each mobile. Until I found these. I talked with the seller and got them for even less because I ordered so many, and she wanted to get rid of old inventory! I didn't have as many colors to chose from, but we made it work. That's why there are so many blue ones.

And this is what was created...

Not to worry, the little pom poms are nice and secure. Everything is hot glued on or tied really tightly. They'll hang from the ceiling and not the crib. There won't be any stray owls falling into the cribs or pom poms causing choking hazards. By the time the girls are sitting up, these will be far out of reach.

We finally got the 2nd crib set up today. The new bedding is on, but I don't have a sheet to match yet. Once things are a little more together in there, I'll post some more pictures. The letters for their names are done too.

And yes, I'm caving. The names are out. I'll post them soon here. Soon, but not now. Addie's learned them already though, and it's so cute to hear her name the babies in mommy's tummy.

Baby B never stays still; and earlier tonight, they were both kicking/punching me. Love it!

I'm getting excited, can you tell?

Tennessee Aquarium: Chattanooga

As I mentioned here, the whole point of our trip back to Tennessee was to visit the aquarium.  The Tennessee Aquarium was fascinating to say the least. The exhibits were ginormous. The inhabitants ranged from fish to seahorses (amazing creatures) to sea turtles to penguins. The majority of the habitats were so authentic that they took you right into the wild.  I was impressed.

But taking pictures was another story. We would go from pitch black rooms with lighted exhibits to practically being in outdoor light. I tried not to use a flash, but sometimes I had to resort to it. I had my ISO way up, so the pictures are pretty grainy and my shutter speed fairly slow, so some were pretty blurry; but they tell the story, which was my goal. 

We started off with just fish;  but they were simply enthralling to Addie.

Every time Addie saw one of these little ledges in front of an exhibit, she would say "Addie sit," and plop herself down.  It was like they were made for her.

There was a room that seemed a bit like a rain forest. It had lots of plants and two very interesting creatures!

Can you see how big this turtle is?

And how would you like to come face to face with this...

We saw so many beautiful creatures (another post to come w/ more of this!):

Can you see that freshwater stingray? Isn't it beautiful! I aways think of the salt water animals as having the vibrant colors, but not in this instance.

There was a ginormous tank at the end of the tour. It housed so many beautiful fish and so much sea life; but the sharks swimming around in circles in front of us made me quite thankful to have a foot of glass between us! You could literally see the rows and rows of sharp teeth.

The otters were hilarious. They weren't as big as the ones we saw in Alaska because these were river otters; but they were so much fun to watch! Most of them went 90 miles an hour and never stayed still, except this one who seemed to just pose for us.  I was quite thankful that they didn't try to jump up and bite my camera. They seemed way more interested in Addie, so we kept her back a little bit.

The jellyfish were fascinating! So beautiful but so deadly! I would not want to encounter any of these anywhere in nature,

These were taken at the a place where people could actually touch the fish.  Paul and Addie stood there looking at the stingrays and sharks for probably 15 minutes. Addie even stuck her hand in and touched them!

I have two favorite pictures from the day:

This one of Addie and Paul (notice that Addie smile for the camera face!).

But this picture pretty much sums up our entire day. Every exhibit. Every new type of sea life. Every step of the way.

Complete awe!

We had a wonderful Addie trip. She enjoyed it, and we enjoyed it. She still talks about our trip: the big fish, the seahorses, and the sharks. And even if she's too young to remember it in anything but pictures, it was precious time that we got to spend with our girl.

Recalls

I just need to say that I'm tired of so called good baby products being constantly recalled.

First it was our McLaren single stroller. Got the covers to fix it.

Next it was Addie's crib made by Storkcraft, that we'd just bought a duplicate of for the twins. We ordered the pieces to fix them.

Now it's Graco strollers? What? We have a single travel system and have been given a duo for the twins. Are they in the recall? I have no idea.

But seriously people. Either we're doing a really poor job of choosing our baby gear, or these companies need to get their acts together! Kids are getting hurt! They've been making products long enough to know what's safe and what's not safe. That's why we're buying their products, right?

Ok. Over my gripe session.

Send in that silly registration card for your baby gear products, especially car seats. Know what your buying when you buy things used. And find blogs/websites like the Baby Bargains Book Blog and Safemama who routinely check these recalls and notify readers.

Off my soapbox. I'm blaming the double pregnancy hormones.

Happy Wednesday :)

Discovery Museum: Chattanooga

A few months ago, Paul and I gave Addie a new DVD called Underwater Adventures.

It was filmed at the Aquarium of the Pacific in California and is truly fascinating. There are penguins and polar bears and big fish and little fish. Our little girl clearly likes fish!

Well that gave us an idea. We wanted to take a little trip, just the 3 of us, before I couldn't travel and before the twins were born. We wanted to take an Addie trip, and what better a place to go than an aquarium.

We are closest to the Atlanta Aquarium, but we've heard it's 1.) expensive, 2.) huge and somewhat overstimulating, and 3.) very crowded.  So Paul suggested we go to Chattanooga. We found an ultra cheap good hotel on Expedia and set our date. We also found out there was a Discovery Museum there and of course the Chattanooga ChooChoo!

We got up early Saturday morning and headed to Tennessee...this trip already starting out much better than our last visit to Tennessee! We spent the afternoon at the Discovery Museum, ate dinner in a train car at the Chattanoogo ChooChoo Hotel, and spent the next day at the Tennessee Aquarium.

And it was cold. This cold did not touch Montgomery cold. Addie even wore gloves! It was freezing! But we had a blast.

Addie knew we were going on a "twip" to see "big fish." But it made sense to go the Discovery Museum on Saturday for a quick visit. There was a great toddler's section, but a lot of what was there was too old for Addie. It didn't stop her from having a blast though!

She loves to slide:

And play in the fully stocked kitchen:

The car wasn't as much of a hit though...

And we discovered she has a little rhythm too!

She really enjoyed playing with her Daddy.

And she loved "playing" the player piano:

Although interested in coloring, she was way more interested in making sure all the crayons were back in their little tin bucket.

There was a huge playground built above the room, and she loved looking up at the big kids playing.

But the water was her favorite! We finally made her wear a "smock" so she wouldnt completely soak herself before we headed back out into the 20 degree weather!

After a fun time at the museum, we headed to find our hotel. I dont have any pictures of this, but Addie immediately discovered the phone in the room. Funny thing is, she's never seen a phone like that. I had to tell her and show her what it was. But it didn't take long for her to figure it out and she was "talking" away. She loves to play talk on the phone, but the minute someone says something on the other end, she pushes it away!

And the cutest pictures I got were of Addie and Daddy playing right before bath time.

Clearly the ice bucket makes a perfect hat! She was so cute running around with it on her head.

More pictures from the aquarium soon!

Ramblings

Starting on Friday...finished on Saturday.

I found a lump on Abbey's (the dog) side last night. After a biopsy, it's only a "fatty tumor", and we even made it out of the vet paying under $100. I love that dog. I hate going to the vet.

I finished Addie's dresser! It could probably use another coat, but it will do. The white looks so different in her room but so sweet! I can't wait to get the other pieces in there. But it made me sad to unload her nursery dresser and put her clothes in a big dresser. They looked so small and tiny. Now if i can just get that ebay seller to send me the drawer pulls I bought from her back in December...

I unpacked 95% of our 0-6 month little girl clothes today and put them in the dresser that's finally in their room. I don't remember them being so small. I remember the clothes like yesterday though. Has it already almost been 2 years? I found lots of coordinating onsies and sleepers that will be fun to put the girls in. I even folded them in twos. This is real.

I got my first "oh, you don't have long" comment this week. I bit my tongue and politely said, yes, I hoped that I did because I was only 22 weeks pregnant...with TWINS! I was already feeling like I looked like I did when I was 8 months pregnant with Addie. Maybe I do?


I had 3 pairs of maternity jeans (2 of which were borrowed). I can now wear one. I went through at least 5 shirts this week that I've now outgrown. Um....this might be a problem in a few weeks, or next week.


Addie had one of the worst meltdowns today that she's has since a few weeks after my surgery. She wanted her paci. We're trying to only let her have it in her bed for naps and sleeping at night. She went and stood by her bed, sobbing and saying, "bed. bed. bed." I picked her up and plopped her in and gave her a paci. She laid down whimpering. So I picked her up and held her. She was asleep within 5 minutes, only 2 hours before she normally takes a nap. I did it because I can't do it much longer. She had to lay next to me because I can't actually hold her on my shoulder any more. And so I rubbed her hair and kissed her head and thanked God for my little girl.


I can't sit up straight enough. My belly is huge. I feel rotten right now. It might have something to do with the 3 tacos I ate for lunch. I think they are all still sitting at the bottom of my esophogus. Maybe they've made it to my tummy...but I'm seriously doubting it for several reasons I won't go into.  Scratch that. I ended up with a serious stomach bug, that we're hoping is only 24 hours, on Friday night. Miserable. The first 12 hours was awful and now Paul has a milder version of it. Thank goodness my mom and I had today blocked off for shopping. She's kept Addie all day so Paul and I could sleep. I am thankful for phenegran (sp). I think I feel rotten to remind me of how good I've felt over the past 6 weeks and how awful I felt before that. I remember. I am thankful.

I love listening to Paul and Addie. They have the sweetest relationship. He's so patient with her. I truly thing he's the best daddy ever; I know I'm biased. But every so often I hear, "Mommy?" "Mommy?" and it melts my heart.

Now I'm going to go concentrate on keeping down the chicken and stars broth and graham crackers I just ate. Hope your weekend has started off significantly better than ours!

The Top 20 Things I Took for Granted...

...that I don't anymore.

1. Carrying my little girl.
2. Swallowing pills without gagging.
3. Taking a shower without gagging and having to lay down for 30 minutes afterward, or even better, having to take a nap!
   
4. NOT throwing up. NOT worrying about throwing up.
   
5. NOT being constantly hungry but being unable to eat.
   
6. Eating. Period. 
7. Walking from one room to the other without getting out of breath.
8. Walking from my car in a parking lot, into a store, around the store, and back out without having to sit down for a break (or practically passing out).
9. Being able to stand while talking.
   
10. Looking pregnant, finally, at 20 weeks.
11. Feeling the girls kick.
12. Cooking dinner without having to hold my nose. Cooking dinner at all.
13. Deciding what we'll have for dinner more than 30 minutes beforehand and actually enjoying it!
    
14. Changing diapers (cloth diapers especially), even the poopy ones. 
15. Giving sweet Addie a bath. 
    
16. Cleaning my house.  
17. Sleeping normal hours. 
18. Sitting (and standing) all the way through church without having to leave. 
19. Driving! (being independent!)
20. Sitting on the floor playing with Addie! 
    

I know there are countless more, but these are the ones that came to mind. What a difference 12 weeks post surgery has made.  Being pregnant with twins comes with its own set of unpleasantries, but they pale in comparison to life after that surgery.  What a blessing to be able to enjoy my family and just feel normal! God is so good!

Philippians 4:19

"And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus."

Christmas In Augusta: With Grandpa aka Munga

We had dinner the 2nd night with Paul's dad/Grandpa and Paul's uncle, aunt, and their kids. The next day, we had Christmas with Grandpa. There's always somebody around here on a computer!

Kira, Aunt Laura, and Addie

getting sleepy...

I think the best Christmas present Addie gave to anyone was to Grandpa. She renamed him! We were driving back to his house the night before, and we hear from the backseat: "Munga's house. Yea Munga! Munga's fish." It took her saying it several times and us repeating it to figure out what on the earth she was saying. Grandpa's house...duh! But he had a new name: "Munga!" We would tell her to say "Grandpa's house." and what would come out: "Munga's house!"

So it's official, for now at least! Munga it is!

The girls had fun opening presents and playing with their new toys.
(i know, major blur. she was moving so fast!)

And clowning around a little!

Addie found Uncle Jay's phone and decided to play around with it a little. His phone doesnt lock like ours and apparently she made a few calls.

Grandpa Munga and Kira

Uncle Jay, Kira, and Grandpa Munga

Grandpa Munga always requests when both girls are there that I get a few pictures of him and his girls. Never fails that there are a few out takes mixed in with one or two great ones.

But these two were my favorites:



And I leave you with a few favorites of the girls:

(check out those eyes!)

(and here!)

Love it when those eyes smile! 

I love this one because it shows how crazy wild Addie's hair has gotten. I'm afraid a trim is on the horizon!

But my favorite picture is of Addie's "smile at the camera" face. I love how she closes her eyes, squinches up her nose, and shows her teeth. Cheese!

...and there's our Christmas!

Now I can't wait to process the pictures from this past weekend! We took Addie to the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga! Fun times!