I'm Thankful for...

...this guy! When Rusty asked me to be his girlfriend 11 years ago this month, I got this feeling that I was getting myself into more than I realized. Was I ever right! I never could have predicted what a wonderful husband, friend and father he would become! There isn't anyone else I'd rather go through life with!

A Week of Thanks

There is something about this time of year. A change in the weather, crisp mornings, fall colors and then Thanksgiving. My favorite holiday! A day of coming together with family and friends, enjoying good food and good company. This year, more than any other, we have so much to be thankful for. Each night until Thanksgiving day I'm going to share some of these things.

Tonight I am thankful for our basic needs. We have shelter, food and water, and our health. We have never known what it is like to be hungry, truely hungry. We've done our fair share of cheap spagetti dinners but we have never gone without. I recently took care of a patient that hadn't eaten in 3 days because he didn't have money to buy food and I realized that we sometimes take some of the most basic things forgranted.

Fall is here!

The weather has turned cool, my spiced pumpkin candle has been lit and life is good! Things have been busy around here and the month flew by! I think the girls wore their Halloween outfits three times (maybe).

We bought weekday passes to Disney and started with a visit to Epcot. The girls rode their first ride (the boat ride in Mexico)! It seems to be getting a bit easier to go out with them but we haven't quite figured out naps on the go. The day usually just ends in tears and an early bedtime..haha!

We also took a trip to the Sanford Zoo. Of course, the girls don't really get much out of all this but Rusty and I enjoy the time out as a family together. Paige was down for that weekend so it was so great to see her too!

THEN we hit SeaWorld. Uh, I'm tired recalling all of this! SeaWorld's Spooktacular was crazy! Could've had something to do with going the day before Halloween but I see a few more of those trips in our future. We got the girls dressed up in their costumes and people were stopping us to take pictures. Twins certainly draw a crowd!

The girls continue to mature rapidly! They are getting really good at self-feeding and their favorites are carrot, asparagus and banana! I used to have to help them get the food in their hands but now they just go at it as soon as I put the tray in front of them. Things that used to be difficult for them to pick up are now simple. They are working on drinking from a sippy cup and can now sit up on their own (still losing their balance from time to time!) Audrey crawled a few inches with daddy the other night and Madison is now starting to roll more often. This makes sleeping interesting..I no longer find them where I left them! Who knows what this month has to bring?

In other news: Rusty enjoyed a nice raise at work (yay!!) Universal is now having to compete with Lego Land but all the better for us! We have moved into busy season at my job which is good since I won't be getting canceled as much!! This month we are looking forward to having our annual get together with our friends just before Thanksgiving. This year we have SO MUCH to be thankful for!!! More pictures of the girls are in our photo album to the right!

6 Months Old!

It's hard to believe half a year has passed since the birth of our girls! I'm not sure that time is so much moving faster since their birth, but we are so much busier that it truly seems that way! Each day passes into the next, always something on the horizon. Looking back, this is not how I ever imagined my life would be! But what a great life it is! Rusty has been such an involved dad, interested in the fun things that come with being a parent but also the side effects (dirty diapers, baths, cleaning dishes and a constant need to tidy the house!) Our marriage is truly a partnership with shared hopes and goals. Something almost 6 years in the making! Being a mother is also something I knew I would love but it is different in unexplainable ways. I think the most surprising thing is the emotional roller coaster. One minute your heart is about to burst with joy over your precious babies, the next, they are screaming for no damn reason and you want to tear your hair out! Haha!

This past month we were busy with ordinary life. My sister, Paige came for a much needed visit and we took a trip to the beach with Grandma and Grandpa Jones. Most noted, we introduced solid food to the girls' diet! So far they have eaten: avocado, pear, sweet potato, zucchini, butternut squash, banana, yellow squash and carrots! They hardly ever like something the first time they try it but when offered a second or third time, they will polish off the whole jar! It's so much fun to see them exploring food and trying new things for the first time!! We are still letting them explore table food as they experience spoon feeding. Their favorite things to feed themselves are avocado pears and bananas!

Developmentally, they are starting to sit unassisted. Audrey is rolling all over the living room and Madison prefers to sit and watch the show. (Especially when it involves Layla chasing after her toys!) They are doing well, according to their doctor and Audrey remains solidly in the 5% for weight and height and Madison is around the 50%! They differ in weight by 2.5lbs now and are certainly very different babies! For October, we are looking forward to visiting SeaWorld's Halloween Spooktacular, a mommy's day out brunch (with daddies to babysit!) and a picnic with work friends at Lake Eola. Oh, and babies' first Halloween of course! With fall in the air, it's shaping up to be a pretty good month!

Adventures in Solid Food!

Today the babies got their first taste of something other than milk: Avocado! Probably much more exciting for Rusty and I than for Audrey and Madison but they didn't seem to DISLIKE it!


First, they started out feeding themselves (well at least Audrey did, Madison was totally uninterested!) This is called the baby-led-weaning method of introducing solids. In true BLW, there is never any spoon feeding, the baby decides when and how much solid food to eat and when to wean from milk. I'm into letting them discover textures and foods in their natural form but I'm wanting them to actually EAT the food too (this doesn't usually happen until about 9 months old with BLW). So we are making up our own routine! BLW with some spoon feeding thrown in the mix! It was so much fun watching their little faces with the first tastes of food!



I'm not quite sure what Madison thought of the whole experience. Definitely not as interested as Audrey but not totally rejecting it, just unsure! Our more timid child for sure!!! Next on the menu: baby cereal and pear and sweet potatoes! I wonder if the girls will have the same reaction to sweet potatoes as Rusty did as a baby (he spit it all over his grandmother!) Just another day in the life of a twin mommy :)

August

As August draws to a close it seems it is time for another update. I feel like I'm doing pretty well if I can update this blog once a month...lol. We didn't do much this month except maintain! The grandparents (my dad and Rusty's parents) alternate watching the girls on Saturdays and daddy gets the girls Sundays when I work. Monday and Tuesday are our weekend but it's hard to just enjoy when there are long to-do lists on our short weekend! I have started to work less night shifts and more day shifts. It's harder on me that way (less time to sleep between shifts!) but it's nice to have my Monday off be an actual day off and not just a recovery day from staying up 24+ hours.

We took a trip to the beach, just the 4 of us, and had a great time until Mother Nature decided it was time to have a thunderstorm. We got a good hour at the beach but would have loved a bit more! I think another trip will be in order soon. I never got my nap!

The girls are now 5 months old and we have gone through the trouble of getting a new pediatrician. We met him this week and are really happy with our choice. Audrey is now 12lbs and Madison, 14lbs. Madison is almost 3 times her birth weight. I almost can't recall how tiny they were anymore. It's sad how memories fade so fast.

The girls are both very smiley these days. Audrey is very interested in anything and everything going on around her. She likes to sit, stand, look around and be stimulated as much as possible! Madison is much more easy going and has started to giggle, especially at the dog. It's fun to watch their personalities blossom.

Next month we are looking forward to Labor Day weekend (my sister is coming home...YAY!!!) She returned to school at the beginning of August and her leaving has been an adjustment! (We miss her!!!)

More pictures...

July pictures are uploading now! Check them out in our web album on the right side of this page!! :)