Tuesday, December 29, 2009

HO! HO! HO!










We've heard lots of requests for an update lately. With the holidays here, it seems we have been on the go for weeks now. Where does time go? And HOW do babies grow SO fast?

Jenna and Blake had a great first Christmas! Santa (and our family) was very kind to them. Guess they figure the twins were pretty good this year. I would have to agree! Where to start, so much to report and share with you all.

We celebrated Christmas in Bryan a couple weeks ago with my sister, her family and my parents (PawPaw and Gammy). Jenna quickly took to crinkling, and better yet tasting, the Christmas wrap. She was more interested in trying to eat the paper than anything else. Blake got excited over all the movement and noise (as usual) and wanted to touch everything. He LOVED the sippy cup that was in his stocking from Santa. Then when he opened the Vulli Sophie the Giraffe teether, he was head over heals with it. I had one when I was a baby, so Aunt Donna thought it would be neat for the twins to have one too. We got some great pics of Blake trying to devour it, haha. Also got many pics of one of us removing mouthfuls of Christmas wrap Jenna had in her mouth. The kids did great with all of the excitement and even played together long enough to let mommy and daddy eat dinner uninterrupted! It was a nice day. Oh, and the big news was that Blake started crawling while at PawPaw and Gammy's house, Dec 12th. They both had been "low crawling" but much to our surprise, Blake took off and started actually crawling. Jenna did the same two days later!

We stayed in Austin on Christmas day. We decided to offer up our house for the festivities this year. We figure we hadn't had it here and it just might be easier on the kids to be at home. Since generally the festivities are an all day thing, we were hoping that by being at home, they would be more apt to take their naps and that all four of us would last the entire day :) We were planning on 30plus family members at the house. We did a lot of prepping the week before but am glad we did because much were things that we've been meaning to get done anyways. Jason and Adam replaced our old screaching sliding glass kitchen doors with a nice set of french doors. It looks GREAT and is 110% nicer! Just in time for company. Jason set up a firepit out back wich was enjoyed by many on Christmas day.

Back to Jenna and Blake.....on Christmas Eve, we started a new tradition. The kids open one gift, their Christmas Eve PJs. This year they got Paul Frank matching monkey PJs. They looked so cute! I can't believe they are wearing 12M clothes now! Again, Jenna just wanted to eat the paper. On Christmas morning Mimi, Papa, Syd, Tim, Christine, Kaylee, Sara, Josh and Jude, and my parents (we were glad they decided to join us even after having celebrated with my side of the family) came over to have breakfast and open gifts. Jenna wore her red and white velvet dress and Blake had his matching Santa suit on. The kids all looked so cute! There were gifts everywhere! The kids loved rattling the paper and peering into the boxes. Mimi bought them a Laugh and Learn Stage that the kids just LOVE! It's a real hit! They have been enjoying playing with it together. After opening sooo many gifts, the extended family started showing up. Before we knew it we had a full house. We had a great time having everyone over, it was real nice seeing everyone. The kids loved the attention and did such a great job handling such a long day. Fortunately being at home, they felt comfortable enough to take their naps when needed. In fact, Blake actually fell asleep several times right in the middle of the livingroom with all the noise and commotion. Blake snoozed on the couch while wearing his Santa suit, his belly hanging out (appropriately so). Jenna played with her cousin Jude. They had a great time seeing everyone. They really are such good babies.

What else have the babies been up to? Plenty!!! Blake continues to climb on whatever and whoever is near. Jenna insists on feeding herself these days! Yes, it has been quite the little development. It started one day all of a sudden with her grabbing for the spoon. The first day I kindly put her hand down and told her" Thank you but mommy will do it". That only worked for a day. The next day, she grabbed the spoon with both hands. I tried holding her hands down but it made her so angry she spit out the food and stiffened up so that she slid around in the highchair. So, I came to the conclustion that if she was being that persistent then it was probably time that I gave up the idea of a semi-cleanly feeding time and trade it for one that gave her an opportunity to try some independence, a much more messy approach. I filled the spoon and brought it to her mouth, she immediately grabbed it and put it in her mouth and smiled. Well, it took a few days of experimenting cause once she had the spoon, she didn't want to give it back. So I filled one, gave it to her, she fed herself and dropped the empty one for a full one. Quite the production. I had carrots in my hair, her hair, my shirt, her clothes, the chair, the floor, her eyelashes, my arms......whew. I missed those days of cleaner eating but when I see her smile because she is so proud of herself, I soon forget the mess she's made. Blake is still content with my feeding him although he does like to hold my hand while eating and at times likes to put the spoon in his mouth when he is waiting for me to open the jar of food. The other big development with Jenna is that she has started moving from a crawling position to a sitting one. She was getting so frustrated and has been so close for about a week now. She is much happier playing on the floor now that she has learned this new position change. She has also been pulling down the crib bumper to peek into Blake's crib. She does this to wake him when she gets up in the morning and is lonely. It is so cute to see her little fingers pull at the bumper and then all of a sudden you see two beautiful blue eyes looking through the slats at you paired with a precious little smile.

The biggest development with Blake I guess is that he is standing!!! Granted he is holding on to something while standing but all the same, he is standing! He has been pulling up on things for about two weeks now. Now that he has some learning table type toys, he has been pulling up on them and has quickly learned that he can pull himself up and stand. In fact, he also stands in his crib and looks over the end into Jenna's crib to say hello.

They play very well together these days. They are always looking to one another and talking to each other. It is great to watch.

Jason and I couldn't agree more that our greatest gift ever, has been our two miracle babies. It is hard to fathom that this time last year Jason and I went to sleep on Christmas night wondering what our little boy and little girl might look like and anticipating another 4 1/2 months of waiting to find out. Little did we know that we would find out a mere 2 1/2 weeks later. On Christmas night this year, we were extremely fortunate to tuck our precious angels into bed after having them fall asleep in our arms. It is just too hard to believe, even as I sit here today and watch them sleep-happily and healthy. Truly the most beautiful sight to see.

Thank you for your prayers and support this past year. I know our babies are with Jason and I today much due to the many answered prayers you all sent out. I can't ever thank you enough......


I am working on posting more new pics.....stay "tuned".






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