Randomness, and some pictures

I haven't posted in awhile, so I thought I'd check in.  Nothing too exciting around here...we're just enjoying the holiday atmosphere!  I put our Christmas tree up over the weekend-earlier than I ever have before-and I'm already enjoying the glow of the lights. 

My incentive for putting the tree up was to get a good picture of the girls for our Christmas cards.  Hopefully they will turn out well.  I can't wait to see them!  Here are a couple from our photo session:  (none are edited; these are some we didn't use)

The little ones are waking up from a nap, so that's all for now.  Hopefully I will get a Thanksgiving post up sometime this week!  We also may have a contract on our house, so maybe there will be some exciting news to report soon!! 

Wish List Wednesday: Books

I always have a mile-long list of books I want to read, and since my girls arrived, I've naturally had less reading time than ever.  Most of my reading these days is in the form of blogs or magazine articles-I can finish them quickly if something comes up and I don't have to struggle to remember what was happening the last time I read.  I am currently reading both Firefly Lane and Julie and Julia, but neither is outstanding in a can't-put-it-down kind of way (which is probably good, considering I have two nearly-mobile babies to keep an eye on!).

Assuming I will eventually be able to complete a book within a reasonable amount of time, here are a few that are on my list:

1.  A Change in Altitude I generally enjoy Anita Shreve's books, even if they aren't memorable, all-time favorites.  This one is about a couple taking off to Kenya, reminding me a little bit of The Poisonwood Bible.  I tend to gravitate toward anything Africa-related, so I'm thinking I will enjoy this one.

2.  Handle With Care Similar to Anita Shreve in some ways, Jodi Picoult can certainly weave an emotional story.  I have skipped some of her books, especially the more out-there, fantastical sounding ones, but this one sounds pretty good.

3.  The Help  Sounds like a good story, which is the essential element for me.

4.  Happens Every Day  I actually found this book when I was gathering links for the others, but I'd be ineterested to read it.  The author is the actress that played Stabler's wife on Law & Order: SVU, and it's a personal story of her divorce after she followed her husband to Ohio. 

What books top your wishlist?  Head over to The Foster Family to play along!

Pictures, Pictures, Pictures

Pictures seem to be consuming my thoughts this week.  I'm consumed with trying to get a decent picture for our Christmas cards at the moment.  We don't really have time in our schedule to go have professional pictures made, so I'm hoping to get a couple of decent ones I can edit enough to come out with some cute cards. 

Speaking of editing, have you tried Picnik?  It's a great photo-editing site, and the best part is that plenty of features can be used for free.  I don't know anything about Photoshop or any program for serious editing, and Picnik is easy enough for even me to use! 

I've also been trying to get all of our pictures copied over to DVD and somewhat organized.  Lots and lots of picture-related chores this week.  Here are a few from the beach that I've played around with on Picnik...

I love Addison's face in this one...she's probably about to let out a screech because she can't reach her toys!

I think this is Addison again, but to be honest, I'm not sure.  One more reason I need to do better about organizing/labeling pictures!

Mackenzie, being her usual happy self.

Addison finds something pretty funny...

My little drool-face (Mackenzie).

My funny girls.  I love watching them discover one another and learn to play together!

Playdate

Since we all had a day off yesterday, Kelly and Wyatt came over for an afternoon playdate.  The babies all had a great time rolling around in the floor (well, at least my two rolled; Wyatt's not quite there yet) and bouncing in the jumparoos.  I am so thankful that these three get to grow up together!

We laid all three babies out in the floor, and Kelly and I couldn't help but think of the first time they all played together in our floor:

We have come SO far since then....



I only got a couple of pictures of the three of them together, since two-thirds of them move pretty fast these days.  : )  Addison and Wyatt seem to gravitate toward each other the most, and he often smiles and stares at her.

Hopefully she will stop that before they are teenagers.  -so, so wrong, I know! : )-

Aren't they sweet??

A "Me" Day

Tomorrow is Veteran's Day, which means I have a day off work in the middle of the week.  Wednesday is also the day Mackenzie and Addison stay with my mother-in-law, which is pretty much the only time she gets to spend with them on a regular basis.  So....I decided to do something I have not done much at all since the girls were born....I'm going to have some ME time. 

When they get up in the morning, I will be taking the girls to NiNi's house, then coming back home to spend several glorious hours ALONE.  Am I a terrible mother for being very excited about that??  (Just so you know, I'm kidding-I'm actually a proponent of getting a little time away every once in awhile!)  I have left the babies with family to go shopping or run errands, and Jeremy and I have been on a couple (as in TWO) dates since they were born, but truthfully, I'm pretty sure this will be the first time I have had a few hours to myself with no expectations of getting any sort of task accomplished and no plans to be anywhere. 

What am I going to do with this blissful, unscheduled time?  Most likely, I will end up back on the couch, in my pajamas, watching some tv.  (Hard to believe that less than a year ago, I spent an entire day on the couch watching Bones for 14 hours straight) I might even get ambitious and watch one of the netflix I've had laying around for going on three months now. If I'm not too busy being incredibly lazy, I might pick up a long-neglected craft project that I haven't had a chance to work on since the girls arrived.  That probably won't actually happen, though...I'm pretty sure I will be a couch potato all morning, and I will enjoy every single minute.  Sometime after lunch, I will go get my babies and I will kiss and smooch and squeeze them because I missed them SO MUCH all morning long.  : )
What would YOU do with a day to yourself??

A Little Something for My Bama Fans...

How Addison feels about wearing the Auburn outfit AGAIN...

I thought y'all might enjoy this picture...sure looks like Addison is getting tired of Auburn, huh?  : )

Actually, we were taking pictures for a photo contest (more on that later, as I will probably be asking for your help soon!), and she got scared by our dogs barking on the other side of the fence behind her.  Addison has the saddest little pout just before she cries, and she was about to let out a big wail here.

Bama will be facing the "other tigers" in a tough game tomorrow.  I think both girls should wear crimson and white to cheer on mama's team, don't y'all agree??

7 Months and a Surprise

Seven months...over halfway to one year...how did we get here again?  I may have said it before, but I tell all my friends that are having babies to enjoy every.single.moment.  Try to find the beauty even in the hard moments, because it truly goes by SO fast.  Everyone tells you that, but you don't really get it until you experience it with your own babies!

Mackenzie in polka dots, Addison in the stripes.

Addison and Mackenzie are developing more and more personality every day.  They laugh and smile at everything.  Mackenzie, who has always had such a quiet, sweet voice, has suddenly taken to yelling as loudly as she can all day long.  It's not an unhappy yell, more like exercising her voice.  It's hilarious!  Addison has been yelling for awhile, but now she yells until you look at her, then she will break out a big smile because she's gotten your attention. 

Developmentally, there is a lot going on as well.  Both girls have mastered sitting alone quite well this month, and they are rolling all over the place.  Mackenzie didn't start rolling until this month, but once she did, she really took off.  They both are now pretty much tummy-sleepers, which still makes us paranoid sometimes, but they look so sweet all curled up...and it's exactly how both their daddy and I sleep, so it's to be expected.  They are eating very well-a good assortment of fruits, vegetables, oatmeal, cereal, and now we have added pureed meats to the list.  The favorite addition this month:  yogurt!  Addison especially loves it, and sometimes cries when we stop feeding her.

Can you tell they just woke up?

It is so fun to watch my girls discovering each other.  You can really tell there is a bond between them.  Sometimes they just look at each other and laugh or shriek.  I love it!  There is lots of pacifier- and toy-stealing going on, with much, much more to come, I'm sure.

There was a little surprise waiting for me when I got home from work yesterday...Addison has a tooth already poking through her gum!  I was shocked.  We mentioned a few times last week that they might possibly be teething, but it's so hard to know for sure.  For some reason, while I was playing in the floor with them, I decided to check her gums to see if anything felt different.  Well, that sharp little tooth sticking out sure did feel different!  Bless her heart, she has done well with it.  She was fussy during bathtime, so I gave her a little tylenol and she went off to sleep without much of a fight.



Seven months and a tooth...it's been a big week!  : )

Halloween, Finally

Addison and Mackenzie's first Halloween was pretty low-key, but that's pretty typical for Halloween in my family.  It's never really been my favorite, and I was never very creative with costumes and such.  I admit, it is a little more fun to think about costumes for my sweet little girls, but instead of spending money for expensive costumes this year, we went with something already in their closet:  Alabama and Auburn cheerleaders!

I said our family costume was "A House Divided."  : )  I thought it would have been cute if I had been able to cut a house out of cardboard so that Jeremy and I could each wear half, but of course, I didn't think about it until Saturday afternoon! 

We went to a carnival at our church (a "Hallelujah Carnival," isn't that cute?), with costumes, trunk-or-treat, games, and lots of candy.  We got there a little after 6, and the girls were never really feeling it.  They would look at someone and just all of a sudden burst into tears.  I don't think it was the costumes; it had more to do with being out past their bedtime!  After an hour or so, my mom and cousin took the babies to her house to get them ready for bed.  Jeremy and I stayed for a hayride with the youth, then went to dinner at a Mexican restaurant-ALONE!  Happy Halloween to us. : )

I just realized yesterday that I only ate two pieces of candy on Halloween, and we didn't bring any home with us.  What were we thinking?!  (Wait, I know what I was thinking...I enjoy weighing less than I did when I got pregnant!!)

Mackenzie says, "Roll Tide!"

Doesn't Addison look like my mom?

Update and Best Picture Ever

Well, we survived our first family vacation.  Let me tell you, "vacation" takes on a whole new meaning when you bring two six-month-olds along for the ride!  Of course, when we decided to bring the girls with us we realized there would be no sleeping in, no late dinners (maybe not even dinner at all, for that matter!), and no laying by the pool all day.  It was definitely different from our beach vacations in the past, but all in all, we had a great time spending the week together as a family of four.

The girls had a lot of "firsts" on this vacation:  first time in a swimming pool (pretty cool), first time to see the ocean (they weren't impressed), first time putting their toes in the sand (that was a little more fun), and first time sitting in a high chair other than ours at home.

There was also a first that we weren't so crazy about...for the first time ever, Jeremy and I were unable to finish our meal together in a restaurant.  To be fair, we knew we were pushing it.  The girls had been a little fussy all afternoon, but we had skipped lunch in order to eat an early dinner at one of our favorite restaurants (it used to be called the Bayside Grill, but the name changed to Harbor-something-or-other).  Bless her little heart, Mackenzie was NOT having it!  Nothing pleased her at all, so Jeremy and I took turns sitting outside on the patio with her.  Thank goodness Jeremy eats fast, and that Addison was behaving.  : )  We got dessert to go, and it was still just as good at 10:00 that night.  I guess making it nearly seven months without a restaurant meltdown was pretty darn good, especially considering that we eat out with them at least once a week! 

We played it safe every other night and Jeremy called in our order to one of the nearby restaurants, then brought it back to the condo.  Still tasted just as good!  (Another upside of the beach in October:  the food was ready in 10 minutes or less, so it was nice and fresh when he got back with it.)  It really was a great trip.  We had great weather-not too hot, not too cold.  We shopped, ate (a lot!), and just enjoyed being together.  The girls slept great in their pack and plays, and even did great in the car on the way there.  It's about a 6-hour drive, so we left around 2 a.m., and just put them in their carseats asleep.  Crazy, I know, but it worked!  They slept until we were only an hour away, both there and back.  By that time, we were ready to stop for breakfast anyway, so it turned out just perfect.  I definitely recommend it if your kids will sleep in the car!

We took lots of pictures of the girls on the trip (though none really on the beach...we were distracted just watching them see something new), and I am sure I will share more once I am finished editing them.  But I just had to share this one of the girls on a bench at The Wharf...I do believe it might be my favorite picture so far!  (Mackenzie is on the left; Addison is on the right, looking sneaky)