5 Months

Sweet smiles. Hilarious {expressions}. Loving bond.

Intense gazes. Focused looks.

and absolute {amazement} at God's goodness!

Five months people! Five months! I ask it every month...but where does the {time} go?

I went to stand up to put the girls back in the bed early one morning and could hardly muster the strength. It was like they had {grown} 5 pounds each during the night...and I wouldn't doubt it! I always know when they're growing because I usually get a crick in my neck and have aching arms. What an awesome reason to have to deal with aches and pains...{growing} growing babies!

I love how these little girls love their {big} sister. I love how they coo and talk to her. I love how they immediately grab onto each other's hands (or ears or arms) when they are near each other. I love how they've discovered their feet. I love how their {personalities} are evolving; and just as I think I've got them pegged, they reverse roles!

I've never seen so many smiles. So many tears. So many diapers. So many fall clothes. So many spit up covered objects! So many loads of baby laundry.

So much joy. So {much} happiness. So much love!

Anne Perry has obviously been battling some teeth eruption. They haven't made it through her gums yet, but they're almost there. She feels pretty much the same about her incoming teeth as she does about sitting for even 3.5 seconds in a poopy diaper: {intense displeasure}!

But something has happened over the last week. Utter happiness and relief. So many smiles. Silly noises with her tongue. Squeals and coos! She's at least {temporarily} reached the other side of this initial encounter with teething...I think?

What scares me about this little one is her ability to know when she's about to be put down. She will start wailing before her back hits the floor/bed/changing table except for when she's asleep. She would much prefer to be upright, sitting in her bouncy seat or bumbo, or held tightly on my hip!  

She wants to see what's going on, {take it in}, make sure it's all sorted out, and not miss a thing!

She's started this wonderful thing she does with her {tongue}.

And she looks so darn {cute} when she does it! Don't you think? ;)

She's also already preparing for a career in music...or ballet....or something {dramatic} with her arms/hands!

She's even picked up a little of her sister's Derek Zoolander face. Agree?

But it's this {smile} that I love seeing. It's more frequent and common every day. I'm so thankful for her bright eyes and little curls already growing. I'm so thankful for her desire to watch and observe her surroundings.

We are so {blessed} to have you little one!

Audrey Kate tends to be considered more {laid back}. She doesn't usually mind being soaking wet with spit up. She'll still play on the floor or in the bouncy seat for what seems like hours at least several minutes! She loves to gradually turn her body as she lays on the floor. While she's not the biggest fan of being on her tummy, she's learned to almost immediately prop her arms up, hold her head up high, and {roll} to her back!

Her little cry is now a tad hoarse from the reflux. And even though I know she's not calling my name, it breaks my heart when she cries and says {mamamama} at the same time.

I adore watching her interact with her big sister. Addie does the Audrey Kate dance and AK just coos and giggles at her. When Anne Perry is laying next to her, she automatically grabs for her, which can sometimes end their close play. But bottom lines, she loves people and loves {interacting}!

 

Unfortunately this little laid back girl has hit the {teething} stage as well. She can fit her entire fist in her mouth, but she is almost always chewing on a few fingers! She's the first to wake us up at night right now (which the teething has restarted), so I can't help but wonder if she's {growing} again!

and believe it or not, shes can put herself to sleep in her bed in an unswaddled sleepsack with a lovey and paci. my favorite thing is to look over the crib when she wakes up, catch her eye and watch her break into the cutest {grin}!

And I'm not sure you can see it here, but she's got this fabulous {fuzzy} hair. It's so soft, and I love rubbing my hand lightly over it!

and when she's sleepy she {rubs} her eyes and wants her paci!

Her little squinty smile makes her look so much like her {daddy}, and I simply adore seeing it!

I am so thankful for her fuzzy hair and hoarse cry. i am so thankful for her happy smile and social self.

God has really blessed us with two more precious little girls!

Psalm 46: 10-11

Be still, and know that I am God; 

I will be exalted among the nations, 

I will be exalted in the earth."  

The LORD Almighty is with us; 

the God of Jacob is our fortress.

a Flashback Friday of Sorts

{a little late} 5 month post to come!

But for now, here are our {not so} little girls!

Harder to hold

Harder to feed

Harder to carry in their car seats 

{together}

{Easier} 

to

nap

  interact with

entertain

and a total and complete

{joy} 

to watch grow up together and with their big sister!

The LORD your God is with you, 

he is mighty to save. 

He will take great delight in you, 

he will quiet you with his love, 

he will rejoice over you with singing.

Zephaniah 3:17

Musical Motion Activity Jumper

With a name like that, you'd think this contraption could change diapers, wash clothes, teach Addie to read AND entertain the twins.

Not so much, but all three of our girls think it's pretty {swanky}.

There wasn't much, gear wise, that we had to purchase for having twins.

Well, {except} a double stroller, a double jogger, a second crib, another bouncy seat...oh never mind!

But ever since Addie enjoyed this {jumper} at our friend Julie, John, Savannah (and now baby David's) house, I've had my eye on it.

(Addie at 5 months!)

I mean...wouldn't you want something this fun?

I just wasn't willing to pay for it.

Even the used ones were expensive.

So when my mom and I found this brand new {display} model almost 50% off at Sam's...there was no passing it up.

And after a thorough decontamination, it's been {hiding} behind the twin's bed!

That is until the little girls started getting stronger...

...more alert

...and older.

Anne Perry was the first to try it out, and she still seems to be the bigger fan of it.

She discovered her tongue weeks ago, and I'm not sure it's stayed in her mouth much since then!

But Audrey Kate was not about to be left behind!

And her Derek Zoolander face was in all actuality enabling her to concentrate on spinning the green frog!

You know.

Because as Addie would agree,

This contraption may not change diapers, wash clothes or teach her to read...

But it's already provided many hours minutes of entertainment and fun for all of our girls!

Seriously!

the Beach

Last weekend we packed the car to the brim and headed south to the beach to visit my dad and Pat. It was the {longest} trip we've taken with the twins so far.

The weather was beautiful. Perfect temperature. Gorgeous white clouds. Crystal {blue} skies.

For all of the first 10 minutes we were there! Did we bring the rain with us? As badly as we all needed the rain, we were a little sad to watch the weather radar predicting rain for all three days of our visit all day long.

BUT...

Thankfully the weather radar isn't always correct, and {this} is what most of our weekend looked like!

(and that sky was actually that color...no photoshop enhancements!!!)

Sure, it {rained} first thing each morning and during naps, but each time we were ready to head to the beach, the sun came out and the dark clouds turned beautiful and fluffy!

If you've followed our blog for at least the last year, you might remember Addie's last trip to the beach...

Um...we had to drag a baby pool out to the beach for her to sit in because she completely refused to put her feet in the sand! No walking in it. No crawling in it. No sitting in it. And certainly no digging in it!

Not this time! We literally couldn't keep her out of the {sand}!

She wanted us to bury her, at times up to her waist, over and over again! She thought it was so much fun!

We were very fortunate to see very little of this...

...those nasty {tar balls}. Although when Addie did stand up from being buried in the sand, she had several rusty colored spots on her legs from tiny tar balls in the sand. There are huge crews of people on the beach everyday except Sunday cleaning, testing, sifting, monitoring, watching, waiting, and working to keep the beaches beautiful. They have forged a trail through the sand where they drive all of their tractors/vehicles up and down the beach. All the sifting of and driving on the sand has made it powdery soft...and oh so cool!

and I think {Bama Girl} would agree!

Right up until she got too hot and would sit right up behind my dad to be in the shade! This is one {smart} dog!

But every once in a while she would venture out to watch Addie playing in the sand!

I really think Addie would have spent every waking hour playing on the beach.

{Digging} in the sand.

Very focused.

Making {sandcastles}.

Just so she could {knock} them down...

The little girls stayed in the condo with Paul some; but on the last day, they made their {first} trip out to sit on the beach!

What did they think of it you ask? Well I'll let you decide!

This is how they pretty much started out...

Anne Perry just watching and listening to the waves...

...and Audrey Kate letting the waves put her straight to sleep. 

But before we knew it, they were both sound asleep!

A perfect day for {napping} on the beach!

Addie walked out once with her Daddy to feel the waves, but it didn't take long for her to want to come back!

She informed me that she couldn't go out into the waves because they would splash her swimsuit and get it wet.

Maybe we should redefine {swim}suit for her. ;)

Of course, what's a fall weekend without {football}?

Up first was the Alabama game. Mawmaw Pat is a huge tremendous lifelong-diehard-bleeds-crimson Alabama fan! Addie wore her red dress and yelled Roll Tide to cheer them on. Thankfully, Alabama won!

Next up was the Auburn game, and what's an Auburn game without an Auburn {cheerleader}?

Unfortunately, Addie got a tad confused with what to yell for the Auburn game. She walked in and told Papa Ray...

WAR {BIRD}

well...at least she knew it was a bird. just not specific enough! :)

But this is really where she loved to be!

And this is probably my favorite picture from the weekend! Addie had so much fun with Papa Ray!

{perfect} weekend

{gorgeous} weather

{relaxing} getaway

{yummy} food

{delightful} company

Thanks for a wonderful time Papa Ray and Mawmaw Pat!

Two...

...and a half.

I had absolutely no idea how {exhausting} a two and a half year old could be. No idea!

And at the same time, I had no idea how {delightfully} entertaining, thoroughly engaging, and pleasantly accompanying a two and a half year old could be.

As I drive down the road, with or without Addie in the backseat, I now find myself noticing birds, heavy machinery, motorcycles, car washes, fire trucks, airplanes, horses & cows.

You know, things we take for {granted}.

I didn't realize that when I'm stuck in traffic that I mutter, Come on people.

Or that I talk to red lights and ask them to turn green.

I don't remember how easy playing {pretend} came for me...because it doesn't come as naturally anymore. I have to work at it. But she never does.

Who knew that {potty} training could be so exciting and 15 minutes later so frustrating.

I love Addie's pure {enthusiasm} for life:

Good job, Mommy!

I made a good choices!

Oh. My. Goodness! Look at that! 

This is so yummy!

It was beautiful!

It's good to see you!

And I had no idea one could throw such a passionate {tantrum}...

...over a paci.

...or sticks.

...or doing anything that wasn't her idea!

She's {two and a half}.

And over the past year, her little world has been turned {upside down}.

But as a whole, I think she's adjusted pretty well.

(below are some of the things that we find Addie doing these days. I'm recording them here so we can remember them later. I know it's my blog and I can brag if I want to...but, I just had to warn you :)

Addie loves to:

play in her kitchen and with her dolls

read: 

being read to or making up "once upon a time" stories

be outside with rocks, sticks, and dirt

blow bubbles

play with puzzles, especially letters or animals

color with crayons and now sidewalk chalk

run, dance, and do front rolls

kick, throw, or bounce a ball/play soccer

"help" us cook

celebrate birthdays: 

making birthday cakes (a ball on top of a bucket, her pizza), making birthday presents (random objects wrapped up in her lovies) and singing happy birthday

music:

loves Kindermusik, rhythm, dancing, and instruments 
loves to sing Jesus Loves me, Old McDonald, Twinkle Twinkle, ABC's, Jesus Love the Little Children, If You're Happy and you Know It, The Farmer in the Dell, Spider Pig, Wheels on the Bus, Itsy Bitsy Spider, and so many more!
the funniest thing is that she wants to sing a song about everything: here we go to gym-nas-tics, gym-nas-tics, gym-nas-tics, here we go to gym-nas-tics on a thursday af-ter-noon...(or the beach or the park or to school or anything else we might do together!)

gymnastics:

loves doing forward rolls, straddles, pikes, swinging and flipping on the rings, walking on the balance beam, and jumping

she loves to talk about:

animals

letters

bugs

machines

fire trucks

her babies

she knows a lot about:

letters: 

recognizes all and knows the sounds to all but a few; 
can usually tell you what letter a word starts with if emphasized enough

numbers: 

great up through 14 and then she skips to 16. 
20 has turned into twelveteen.

shapes: 

consistently recognizes most shapes even in the form of objects.

colors: got them...finally!

where she lives: 

knows her street name, city, state, and that she lives in America where we proudly fly the American flag! 

drawing:

loves to draw lines and is working on circles

loves for you to draw bugs, hearts, smiley faces, giraffes, shapes, and spiders

Before the little girls were born, a friend (who's girls are less than two years apart) said she remembered her oldest seeming so big when their baby was born; but that she had to remind herself how little her oldest child still was at only 2!

As much as Addie's grown up over the past 5 months, as big as her hands and feet look compared to the babies, as tall as she seems...she's still so little! I'm so thankful she still loves to snuggle, to hold hands when I walk her into school, and for us to help her. As much responsibility as we do put on her (you know, like climbing into her own car seat and putting on her shoes or asking to be excused and putting her plate in the sink), I'm trying to savor those things that she still needs us to do with or for her!

I pray daily for wisdom in raising all 3 of our girls, but especially Addie right now. She can be so obedient and so helpful and then turn around and completely ignore you! I have to remind myself to use everything as a teaching moment, with our goal being to mold and shape her into a young woman of God. I'm relearning a lot about patience and consistency, biting my tongue and counting to ten, prioritizing and picking our battles. Needless to say, she's consistently teaching me!

As we said her prayers tonight, I helped her thank God for the big things: our family, our home, our food, and our health. And then she proceeded to thank God for: her baby sisters, her Mommy and Daddy, her bed and her clothes, her pullups and her animals, her kitchen and her microwave...her church and her teachers.

And we are so thankful for Addie. For her enthusiasm for life. For her sweet (mostly) manners. For her passionate protecting nature over her sisters. For her beautiful curls. For her love of singing and for her desire to help others. For the precious blessing God has given our family!

We love you Addie-boo!

Your love, oh Lord
Reaches to the heavens
Your faithfulness stretches to the sky
Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains
Your justice flows like the ocean's tide
I will lift my voice
To worship You, my King
I will find my strength
In the shadow of your wings

Flashback In a Flash Friday

flasback

a.m.a.z.i.n.g.

the difference a year can make!

...in a flash