?-8 Months Slideshow

Ok, I have been a complete slacker, yes, but I have also been without a camera, and I also cannot for the life of me keep track of how many weeks old they are!! So, I am now going to do this every two weeks, and do a half-month post. So, here is *I have no idea how many weeks* up until 8 months, LOL. Enjoy!!!

New Camera!!

Hey all in the blogger world! I'm back! I have been Ms. Depressed Lady since my charging cradle on my camera went kaput. Good news, though..I have a new one! And a good one!! My birthday was on Wednesday (September 8th - Happy Birthday to Moi). I had asked for a new camera, but really didn't think i woudl get one. I assumed I would get some money and would just buy one off of Craigslist. Imagine my surprise when I opened up a brand new Nikon D3000! Woohoo! I'm going to take some professional shots and all that jazz! Woohoo! (again!)

This camera is incredible. Here are some recent shots from it, that I love. And I don't even know how to use it yet. I am so excited to learn more about it so I can take even better pics!

Wow....

Was I really this large???? Really?

I'm reminiscing because my babies will be 8 months old next week. 8 months old! And honestly, try as hard as I might, I just don't remember being pregnant. I can't wrap my brain around the fact that my two precious, full-of-life, sweet , personality-crazy, funny little babies were in my belly! Its beyond my comprehension! In my job right now, I am seeing people that I haven't seen since I was this large. And I can sort-of remember walking in and out of schools and waddling around, but I honestly can't remember any of it, and its so sad!! I am so glad I blogged about it every two weeks, or I would not have any memory of it whatsoever.

Football season starts tomorrow!

and the babes were decked out this morning in their UT onsies. They have much cuter outfits to wear on game-day tomorrow, but thought they might want to celebrate for two days.

p.s. check out Josh's Bed-Head.

No camera :(

I have no camera. I cannot begin to tell you how sad I have been about it. I haven't taken a picture of the babes in two weeks! I have a Casio Exilim camera, which I have loved. Well, all of a sudden the charging cradle stopped working. I have fiddled and fiddled with it. So, then I brought out my old Kodak EasyShare camera from many moons ago, and it doesn't work either, with new batteries and everything. So, for the time being, I can only get pictures that other people have taken, which is actually ok, b/c everyone takes pictures of the babes at any given moment. But, I am used to taking pictures of them EVERY DAY. So...I'm a little blue about it. I had already asked for a new camera for the birthday next week before any of this happened. (hint, hint) So, hopefully I will get one!

Here is a recent picture of them on their new scooter-thing. They LOVE it, I can't begin to tell you how much.

The Babes got Baptized!

Finally, we did it. What a special, special day. They were both so freaking cute!!

Details

Outfits: Jules wore the gown I was christened in, as well as both of my sisters as well. She and Josh both had bonnets made by my cousin Melanie. They were made from a (Melanie's) bridesmaid dress from mine and Jake's wedding. Josh did not wear his due to protests from Jake, LOL, but Jules wore hers and was a cutie. We got Josh's outfit from a boutique here in Brentwood that we also got their "take-me-home" outfits. I also made little onsies for them to wear at home. They were white, with a blue/pink crown that said "Blessed" along with their monogram.

"Special" Baptism: My Aunt Clara brought back water from the River of Jordan 1998 specifically because she knew she would eventually have grandkids (and/or a great niece and nephew) that would love to have it for a baptism. It is literally water from the River of Jordan. You can read more about its significance here. While we didn't use it at the church (my church has a huge baptism pool of water, even though they only sprinkle it on their heads) we decided still to bless them with it when they got home. So, although it looks like we "did us a home baptism cause we'z frum the south" it's actually a very neat thing, LOL.

Family: Guests included my mom, dad, my sisters Leslie and Ginny, Ginny's husband Jason, my Aunt Clara, and my cousin Donna. Also there were Jake's mom and dad, sister Jennifer and boyfriend Scott, his Aunts Nancy and Bennie, and his cousins Lisa, Heath and their son Gabe.

Service: They were baptized at the 9:50 awakening service at Brentwood United Methodist Church

Party: We had a lunch afterwards at the house. It was catered by Swanky Taco in Cool Springs, and dessert was cupcakes made by me and mom, and a coconut cake made by Aunt Clara.

It was such a wonderful day!!!!!

32 Weeks-Update on the Babes

32 Weeks Old!!!

Ok, I have officially entered slacker territory. I have started back work full-time now that schools are back in session, and my time in front of my computer has come to a slowdown. So....what happened to the other weeks? Hmmmm...I guess I will just have to pick up where I left off. And, also while I am admitting things, I do believe now its the time where I have no idea how old they are. Seriously, the past few weeks I have had to get my calendar out and count out how many weeks old they are. I know in terms of months, obviously, but cannot tell you on a week-by-week basis how old they are. I had to look this one up! LOL! We have had lots of fun things happen the past few weeks. We have survived our first cold-yippee! one of us is mobile (Ms. Jules), we have moved out of the kitchen sinks for baths into our bathtub, we got baptized and had our first party, we are (unfortunately) sitting up in our crib (Jules again) and we have started finger foods!

Feedings: My milk is still just "ok". I have to use one-half of formula for one bottle per day, and the rest is just breastmilk, so I guess thats good for two babies! But, now I am trying, again, to build up some sort of supply for when I am traveling in October. Jake and I are going to New Orleans for a weekend for the UT/LSU game, and then I am going to Paris with my mom and sister later in October. So, I am now trying to build up my milk to have some to store in my freezer. Fenugreek just isn't working anymore. And I feel like I am taking a ton of it. So, now I am in the process of "power-pumping". This is my third day doing it, so I will let you know if it makes a difference. It is supposed to mimic cluster feeding, which signals the body to produce more milk. You are to pump for one hour each day 10min on, 10 min off, and its "supposed" to dramatically increase your supply. We'll see. Solids are still going well. We have started adding a protein to their dinner. So far they have eaten chicken (pureed) and.....TOFU! They ate tofu for the first time last night and did fine with it. Crazy, huh? In other news, we are officially on a 4-hour schedule, and they basically did it on their own. And crazy enough, it was during the week they were sick! They just naturally started sleeping a bit longer and extending their waketime and just weren't hungry until the 4-hour mark.

Waketime/Napping: I think (***hopefully**) we have this figured out. We start naps at the 2 hour mark, and they usually sleep for 1.5 hours, or sometimes 2 hours. Woohoo!! They are still taking three naps.

Nightime: Still doing great here. They go down at 7:30 and will usually get up at 7. Here's the weird thing - Jules will still sometimes get up really early, and 95% of the time its because she has a poopy diaper! What is this about? And is there anything I can do about it? Its not like I can stop feeding her solids before bed, but its the most bizarre thing. Who poops in the middle of the night in their sleep?

Our Schedule:

7:00- wake/feed 7.5 oz for Josh, 7 for Jules then solids: 2 cubes of fruit each, mixed with 2 T cereal each (Josh usually gets more - either more fruit or cereal)
9:00 - nap (hopefully at least 1.5 hours)
11:00 - feed 7 for Josh, 6.5 for Jules (this bottle is my half-formula bottle)
1:00 - nap (usually wake at 2:30)
3:00 - feed 7 oz for Josh, 6.5 for Jules, plus 2 ice cubes each veggie, 3 for Josh
4:30 - nap
6:30/6:45 - feed 7 oz for Josh, 6.5 for Jules, 1 cube protein, 2 cubes veggie, 1 T cereal, and 1 cube fruit for dessert :)(Jules usually doesn't finish it, but Josh does!)
7:00 - baths
7:30 - story/bedtime

Outing/Events: We had their baptism this past Sunday. I will post the pics and update about that in another post. We usually still take them out to dinner with us about once on the weekend. AND, big news here....I have finally agreed to let our nanny start taking them on outings outings during the week, like playdates, etc. I am a complete Nervous Nelly about my kiddos, so I have to put my big girl panties on and know that they will be ok! its just weird, b/c Jake and I are the only people who have really driven them anywhere. I know it will be fine, but I am just a worry wart!

Diet: Interesting development here. A friend of mine that had twins five days before me posted on facebook about being diagnosed with diastasis recti. This is where your stomach muscles separate during pregnancy,. Its very common with a multiple pregnancy. The left and right sides of this muscle separate, leaving a gap in between. Well, in fitness terms, this means that you still have a pudge that honestly, there is nothing you can do about it. I started thinking about, and did the "at-home test", and yep, there is definitely a gap there. NO WONDER I am still not where I want to be! Good grief. Its not big by any means, however I am just not "Gisele" yet (she is my inspiration, since she had Benjamin a month before I had mine). The bad news, is there is basically nothing you can do. You can get a tummy tuck, or do major-intense ab workouts every day, to try to get your muscles to re-attach to each other. Jeez......

Milestones: Jules is officially crawling and she is everywhere. We haven't started baby proofing yet,so I guess thats next. I walked in the nursery this morning to get them up, and Jules was sitting upright in her crib, just smiling. She had found her pacifier, and was sucking on it (this is big too, when they can pick up and put their own paci in) and get this - her sleep sack was completely unzipped!! She had somehow (I have no idea how) un zipped her sleep sack from the bottom all the way to the top and it was completely open. CRAZY!! - How did she do that? She doesn't know what a zipper is, or pinch, or know that it upzips from the bottom to the top. Josh is SO CONTENT just sitting and playing with toys. And he has become an expert-sitter-upper. You can probably leave him for an hour with toys and he will be sitting in the same spot when you return. Its so funny. They are so different. She wants to get away and get into everything, and he is just fine sitting where he is. They have started eating Gerber puffs. This is their first finger food, and it dissolves, so it doesn't worry me too much. They don't have the pinch figured out, so they just use their whole fist to get it in their mouth. We got their 7 month pictures taken this past weekend, so I'll post them when we get them back. They are honestly the cutest, sweetest, most well-behaved babies in America. And they get cuter every day!!