Special Weekend

We had a wonderful and rare visit from Carmen and her folks, Richard and Constance, this weekend. Richard and Constance had been up from Battleground in Nov. to meet the girls and I'm amazed they wanted to come back! It's been way too long sine we saw Carmen and I'm so glad (and grateful) that she made the trip!

We had a great and sunny day and a half, of which we spent most of the time inside doing family stuff. Carmen loved getting to meet the twins, hanging out and being Auntie to Cassidy. Cass LOVED being with Carmen and all the fun things they did, especially making sugar cookies. Richard and Constance were slightly amazed, ok totally amazed, that the girls were the same babies they had seen back in November and thoroughly enjoyed hanging out with our smiling happy constantly moving bundles of joy.

We spent the afternoon Friday at Deception Pass with a little hike down to the beach. It was a beautiful afternoon and we couldn't resist heading outside to play.

The visit was much too short, but I'll take it! Thank you Carmen, Richard and Constance...can't wait to see you again! Maybe next time us girls will come get some sun in New Mexico! Carmen...Cassidy wanted me to show you what the cookies looked like after she decorated them...I think she had a good time

Beach Day

On the way home from preschool today, my very smart daughter said; "Mama, the blue sky is out. Can we go to the beach today?" (by the way, we woke up to a dusting of snow this morning) My first thoughts of course were all the things that needed to get done, lunch, naps, cleaning and on and on, but then the smarter side of my brain kicked in and I said yes, if the sun was still out after lunch. I'm soooo glad it was, we had a wonderful afternoon and I've decided we definitely need to seize the sun more often!

Cassidy never slowed down and neither did Mossy! Echo loved being around and in the water and kept close to her girl

The twins loved being out, not a peep out of them despite missing naps...there were quite a few excited kicks and head swivels as they were trying to keep track of all the action After an hour and half at the beach they were sound asleep before the 5 minute drive home (Rylee is in the backpack, Sawyer in the front)

Despite Cass saying "I promise I won't go swimming or get in the water" in response to my warning of it being pretty cold to go to the beach she amazed me by repeatedly giggling when waves came up over her boots. "Isn't that cold" I asked her..."Nope" was the reply but she added "I think my tights might be wet". Tights? She didn't even wear a dress to school today, where did the tights come from? Wet tights (and boots and pants) didn't slow her down though

We did have to strip down to panties and shirt to make the trip home and I have a whole extra pile of laundry but I wouldn't have traded this afternoon for anything...definitely the good stuff!

Spring

Spring fever has hit my little girl head on...she's pretty cute running barefoot in her carharts!

My new strategy for outings! The twins are too heavy to both be in the front packs so we've busted out the backpack and it works pretty well....at least for now!

We've been able to have some fun times in the house too

Sawyer tackling that big ol' dog!

Rylee on the right

Story time

It's awesome to get the sun and spreading cheer inside too!

Firsts

We've had some firsts around here...with the twins being over 6 months old it's time to introduce some real food, or what counts as real food for babies. They started with some cereal, Sawyer is in the green/white top and Rylee is in the polka dots. Sawyer does not seem too impressed, but Rylee is getting the hang of this food business. They have since added avacodo, banana and applesauce, but just a few bites here and there.

Another first was a bowling night for Cassidy at a Birthday party. She did awesome and had a great time. Using the ramp and bumpers she bowled a 72 and then a 98 with an 8 pound ball! We had lots of support for the twins and for most of the night I didn't have them. It is wonderful that they are so much happier and social. We had a great night!

Rylee had had enough and crashed out with Rob

and this picture was just too cute not to share....

6 mos

6 months have passed since we brought our two baby girls, one not even big enough to fit in her car seat, home. I can't say it's been smooth sailing or even that it's been more fun than stress. I can say that we love these little girls fiercely and that the last two months have been huge in their development and for our family. Rylee and Sawyer are now social, engaging and happy babies who are a joy to be around. We've been able to go from a stressed family with a 4 year old and twin girls with all day colic to just a busy family with a 4 year old and 6 month old twins. It doesn't sound like a big difference, but oh man it is! With that comes the ability to start seeing their personalities grow and how different our identical twins are. You'll see that they are both happy and not wanting to miss a thing, and busy!

Sawyer in yellow, Rylee in polka dots

For their 6 month birthday they got their "loves", or as Cassidy calls them their Lulu (after her love Lulu). We got Rylee a giraffe, as she loves to look and observe and is generally pretty low key and chill. We got Sawyer a monkey...

They were put to good use right away and have quickly become a good snuggle buddy and must have. I have to say they are pretty darn sweet

They are happy on the floor for pretty good chunks of time, but they are never where I left them, especially Sawyer who often manages to travel long distances (under Cass's red table, over to the dog bed, between the couch and chair...)They may not be crawling' but they are definitely moving; rolling or scooting!

and still hanging out together (Rylee in flowers with pink trim, Sawyer in elephants with purple trim)

Rylee muggin' and laying the smack down

Our Rylee. Quick to smile and giggle, loves close contact and zurburts, social, wanting to watch and not miss a thing and focused on reaching and grabbing for anything that "might" be a toy! She is able to sit up for quite a while without support and likes being in the position...she can see better! She is generally content if a few toys are within reach and loves being able to manipulate and figure them out.




Our Sawyer. A big beautiful smile when she shares them but is often studying things. She is determined, loves close contact and "wrestling" and is always on the move. She too can sit up, but doesn't do it for long as she would much rather be scooting around exploring and getting into interesting situations. She is already getting up on all fours and rocking and I've watched her scootch her knees up to be able to launch herself over her arms...she is so strong and always ready for action.





Health wise the girls are growing well (we'll have our Dr. apt later this month so check back for stats). They are in 3 month clothes, but close to moving up. Sawyer is still a little smaller and petite despite being a better eater, could be all the moving! Both girls seem to have happy tummies and it is wonderful. We did have to start supplementing with formula as I wasn't quite keeping up with their appetites and are at about 50/50 now. Making that switch was tough for me, but the girls are now stretching four hours between feedings during the day and sleeping from 8/8:30pm to 6:30/7am at night without feeding, maybe just an occasional resettling. It's been really great seeing their contentment grow, allowing their personalities to come out and for their skills to develop. It does seem like they are making up for lost time, growing and changing daily! I can see that we are always going to be a busy family, but the good stuff is definitely making a comeback!