So Cute, it's Scary!

We joined the Dallas Arboretum this past weekend, and enjoyed the "Autumn at the Arboretum" pumpkin festival and fall flowers. I'm really looking forward to taking the babies during the week for fresh air and exercise (for me, anyway!).

I decided not to buy the babies costumes this year (but thank you Uncle Daniel for coming up with the idea to plunk pumpkins on their heads and call them the Headless Horsetwins :)), but instead they are wearing cute little Halloween outfits. We took pictures of them in their Halloween best at the Arboretum on Sunday and, though they were sleepy, it was a nice cool day and perfect for being outside.

The babies are waking up from their nap now, so I have to rush this posting! Enjoy the pics in the slide show below!

Make a Smilebox postcard

The Babies Busy Social Life

" If I'm gonna lie on a pink pillow, I may as well act silly!"

"I'm a model, you know what I mean, and I do a little turn on the catwalk..."

"Sheesh, you can't even stop taking pictures at the mall?"

"Like I was saying Aunt Lisa, sometimes a guy just needs to relax on the couch every now and then"

With cousin Charlotte after her Marathon Kids event.

Last week was so much fun, we had lots of visitors and Vince and I had our first date since the babies were born!

My mom drove in last Sunday and stayed until Tuesday so she could watch the kiddos while Vince and I went to the U2 concert at the new Cowboys Stadium in Dallas. The concert and stadium were amazing, I wish I had brought my camera with me! My mom stayed at our house and watched the kiddos until we returned late that night, and I think she deserves a medal since they were still a little cranky from their colds the week before!

Later that week, my sister Lisa came to visit the babies and came bearing gifts of ADORABLE clothes for the babies (so did my mom, thanks to both of you!). So, Lisa played fashion show with Owen and Emmaline while giving me a hand with them, so nice! We had a little adventure on Thursday night leaving the Galleria: my car battery decided 8:00 at night was the perfect time to conk out, and the babies were a half hour past their feeding time. Fantastic. Lisa said she's never heard my voice get that high! Vince was out of town, so my friend Bianca lives close by and came to our rescue. What a mess! We must have been a sight, Lisa and I each had a hungry baby in the Nordstrom parking garage!

Lisa left on Saturday during the incredibly disappointing OU vs. TX game, and my cousin Charlotte arrived later that day from Austin for a quick visit. It was her first time to meet the babies, so I was excited!

Nursery Pics

I finally got around to taking pictures of the nursery, and I am so happy with it! Vince did a great job with the crown molding and paint, and I took care of the rest. :)

Two Against One!

Waiting for Mommy to hurry up and get ready so we can go to dinner with Angela and Bianca. "We look cute, that's all that matters!"

Emmaline sizing up a rattle.


"Hee hee, wait till Owen finds out I'm a minute older! I crack myself up."

"Emmaline may have been a whopping minute older, but I was bigger! And, if we had a staring contest, I'm pretty sure I would win!"

Out of my 12 measley weeks of being a Mom, this past week has definitely been the most challenging, but has also shown me what I'm capable of. So yes, let me just toot my own horn: Vince traveled to Hollywood, Florida this week (it's close to Miami) for a training, leaving Sunday and returned Thursday night. Meaning, I was alone with the babies for the entire time, which I was pretty confident I could handle. They do still get up religiously every three hours at night for feedings, so I knew I would just be missing a little more sleep than my usual little sleep, since Vince and I share the feedings each night. A breakdown of our three hour cycle at night with twins: 45 minutes to feed, a possible hour of troubleshooting a baby(ies) who is unhappy and won't go back to sleep, then an hour of sleep for parent. Repeat. I know this isn't news to my Mom friends, but the feeding schedule did take me a little by surprise when it started, I must admit! (We're working to get them to sleep longer, which they occasionally do, but our pediatrician said to expect developmental milestones from their 40 week due date so, being born five weeks early, gestationally they are seven weeks old.)

On Sunday, just as soon as Vince's car pulled away and headed to the airport, my throat started to burn. I had a thought I had never before considered: I don't have any sick days! Ack! I can't take off work to recover if I get sick! I ended up with a killer cold and the babies caught it too. Needless to say, this week has been rough, but we made it, and I'm just so proud of us! Owen is still a little cranky, but no one has run a fever yet, thank goodness.

To get us out of the house, and to see people besides each other, the babies and I met my friends Bianca and Angela for dinner at Celebrations restaurant on Tuesday night, before we started to feel really icky. I wish I had taken my camera, each friend held a baby, it was too cute!

So, hats off to my Mommy friends and family, this is HARD work! One, two, three or eight babies, caring for a tiny person is rewarding and wonderful, but work. :)

Visit From the Sowers Family

Visiting the JFK assassination site (babies are OUT)

Sarah Squared with Owen, Emmaline and Luke. Seriously, I could have made more of an effort to hold their heads up, but it's just too tricky with two!


Ho hum. Buh-horing. Why do our parents care about this stuff?

Vince and Emmaline sharing a joke while Luke clings on for dear life.

Last weekend, one of my oldest and dearest friends Sarah visited with her husband Bryan and nearly seven-month-old son, Luke (darling darling darling, could not get enough of him, and I mean Luke, by the way!). They flew in from Topeka, KS on Friday and left on Sunday, and somehow we all managed in our house with three babies and two dogs! :) Like Sarah and I discussed, it seems like just yesterday we were roomies in the dorms at OU, and now we're discussing which diapers we prefer. Nuts!

We kept it pretty low key and went out for meals around Dallas. On Sunday, we visited the street in downtown Dallas where JFK was assassinated, and walked around the area that includes the depository where the shot was allegedly fired and the grassy knoll. The heat of the day coupled with the stroller ride zonked my kids to sleep, but we got a few cute pictures.

Owen and Emmaline suddenly seem just a little more developed and "older" this week, and they turn 11 weeks today! Last night they had their best night yet, with no fussing and four hours of sleep between feedings.

I went to dinner last night with a friend (margaritas, yay!) and have a get together tonight for a new book club I may join, which will make my second book club (and no, I probably will not actually be reading the books, unless we will be discussing Good Night Moon, Snuggle Puppy or Dinos to Go). I feel like Vince set my friend Angela and I up for a date last night, I think he could tell I needed a baby break!

A Few of Their Favorite Things

Ella (she thought she was hiding in the guest room during our fussy period, but we found her!)

Books! We've been reading Owen, Emmaline and the Bunny, I Love You Through and Through (thanks Grandma!), Hippos Go Berserk and Barnyard Dance (thanks cousins Fletcher, Shilo and Kyla!)




Musical Seahorses (they remind me of GloWorms), which have been a lifesaver getting them to calm down and go to sleep. They are also loving their sleep positioners, which have helped with the reflux.

Not pictured: Soothie pacifiers (we have about a dozen to quickly replace when one falls), Skip Hop Farm Blocks, play gym, sound machine (more help sleeping!), the painting behind the couch (apparently mesmerizing to a newborn) and....MOMMY (ha, had to do it, and no, pictures just aren't an option at the moment).

Last week Owen and Emmaline had their two month appointment, and Owen weighed 8 lbs, 8 oz and Emmaline weighed 8 lbs 4 oz. Still in newborn clothing though!

I'm starting to leave more on the weekends without babies, and this past Saturday I went to a Junior League brunch, which was so much fun (mimosas, yay!) and nice to catch up with everyone. I'm taking a Sabbatical this year from the League, which means I'm still a member but don't have a volunteer commitment. I'll pick it up again next year, but knew it would be tough this year!

Vince has been working on the guest bedroom this weekend, painting and adding crown molding and trim. It really does look great, he's pretty talented at the home improvement thing, though thankfully we didn't need a lot on this house! :) The room will be ready for our friends Sarah, Bryan and baby Luke this weekend!

Happy Eight Weeks Owen and Emmaline!

Chillin' in my bouncy

Sheesh, this is boring

BOOMER SOONER!

(not feeling so smiley after the game though, ugh)

So much for a cute game day photo shoot!


"Don't worry my boy, one day we will bust out of this dumb Pack and Play"

"Thanks Mom, for another thrilling, edge-of-your-seat hour of tummy time"

I cannot believe it, Owen and Emmaline are eight weeks old today, it just doesn't feel like it's been that long! They're eight week appointment with the pediatrician is next week, so it will be fun to see how much they weigh, especially since they had an early start.

Skip this paragraph if you don't care to read about gassy babies and it's remedy:

As some of you may have read in a few of my desperate sounding emails, the kiddos went through a week of constant screaming a few weeks ago, which was pretty challenging because, as I calmly explained to them through the wails, "Mommy only has two hands!!" If the wiener dog could have held a baby, she would have, instead of staring at me like "you know, it was more fun when it was just you and me!" It turns out Vince and I make very gassy babies, and so we started giving them a minuscule amount of Mylanta three times a day. That worked for a week, but they were still spitting up and sleeping in a bouncy or swing in their crib. So, as of last night they are taking a prescription for acid reflux, and they slept (yes, both of them, yippee!) from 12:30 am to 4:20 am straight. Sleep, sweet sleep!

Fed up with spending the weekends with only one of us gone at a time, Vince and I decided last Saturday to take the babies to lunch at a sit-down restaurant. We decided to skip bringing in the Suburban sized stroller and just each take a baby to carry. The babies did great, so we did a repeat on Sunday and Monday. I thought we were pushing our luck three days in a row, but they did okay. So far so good!

We've started seeing a few happy-not-gassy smiles, especially from Emmaline, which unfortunately don't last long enough to take a picture. I've taken a few pictures (see above, because I cannot figure out how to post pictures below my entries), but I have got to get the hang of taking good ones of BOTH babies, which is a challenge.