Simple

For the last month our house has been a wreck, and Mel and I knew that we could do better.

So we came up with simple rules to get us on the right track:

Kitchen

1. Who cooks dinner cleans up their preparation dishes and wipes down the counter.
2. Who does not cook dinner cleans up the kitchen.
3. Who cooks lunch or breakfast cleans up the kitchen.
4. If the dishwasher is full of clean dishes the next person to cook unloads the dishwasher.
5. We will not leave any dishes in the sink when we go to bed(This is the most important).

Living Room

1. The living areas(and playroom) will be cleaned before nap-time and bed-time(no exceptions).

Trash

1. Put all trash in trashcans (required better placement of trashcans).
2. Take out all full trash bags immediately and replace the bag.
3. Begin recycling paper and plastic.
   

Laundry

1. No clothes will be in the washer, dryer, or baskets(except the kids clothes) when we go to bed.
2. When the washer finishes put the clothes in the dryer immediately.
3. When the dryer finishes take the clothes out and put them away immediately.
4. When a clothes category hamper is full start the load of laundry (only if you will be around to put them in the dryer and put them away).
   

General Rules

1. Team work (critical).
2. Don't be so freakin lazy (a messy house will just put you in a bad mood).

There seems to be a lot, but they are easy to apply and they work.

-Dane

Kera :(

This morning I went to go get Drake and Kera up from bed. I usually get Drake out of bed first, and change his diaper, etc. Because he likes to try and take Kera's diaper away if I change her first. Since the changing table is part of his crib. So I got Drake out, and I always give Kera kisses while I bend down to get the wipes. She felt so incredibly HOT!

I took Drake to the breakfast room and crumbled a strawberry nutrigrain bar for him. Went to get Kera to change her diaper. She was in the corner of her bed sucking her little fingers. I took her out, and wow, I could really feel the heat all over her little body. It was suprising, because I've never had to deal with this before. I took her temperature and it was 102.2. I gave her a dose of tyenol, and called Daddy at work. He said to just keep an eye on her. She ate fine, drank her milk fine, and played fine.

1pm, was nap time. 3pm Drake started screaming. I went into their room, and Kera was so cranky, and looked so red. I put my hand on her to see... she felt REALLY REALLY HOT! I got Drake out, changed his diaper, put him in his high chair, and gave him some Ritz crackers. Went back got Kera, took her temperature. 103.1! I started crying my eyes out! It all flashed back to me that during Christmas this past year Kera had a 100.0 fever, Dane called the nurse line (since it was at night) and they said take her to the ER if it gets over 103. So that is why I was bawling my eyes out! :(

I called Dane- no answer. I called my mom, she said to get the pedi's number, and I told her I don't have it. So she was getting the number for me. Called Dane back, finally an answer. He called the pedi set up an appointment, and he left work. We met at the doctors office, when I got there I took her temp again, and it was 103.4!

The doctor said that it is probably Roseola. She had to get her blood drawn :(. We came home, and she was BURNING up. We took her temperature, and it was 104. Daddy gave her a cool bath. The doc called later to give us the results of the blood test and he said he was 99% sure that it was a virus not an infection.

We ate dinner, the kids played for a little bit. I've got to say this, I asked Kera "Where is the baby", she turned around and walked to her baby and picked it up! I was so proud. This was the first time she did this, she hardly plays with her baby! :D

We put the kids down for bed. At around 9pm she woke up crying. I went to get her and I tried to comfort her in our bed, but she just wanted to play (which included head butting me in the nose). Her hair was drenched with sweat. I put her back to bed a few minutes later, and she went right back to sleep. I checked on her about an hour ago, and she feels cool to the touch. So I am not sure if it was Roseola or not. We will find out tomorrow or Friday if she gets a rash or not. It may have just been a 24 hour bug of somesort.

I'll keep you updated.

July 4th 09'

We had a wonderful Independence day with the family! We woke up and I started to make pancakes for the family. We all played for a little while, and took a nap. Ate lunch, and rushed to get out of the door. We went to Grandpa Kens house. Our plans were to go on the boat, but we changed our mind at the last minute, because well, I just don't think that our children could be on a crowded boat with a life vest on for 3 hours just yet. We still went to Grandpa's house though. They had a carnival by the playground with a band. So we took their wagon (next year I'll decorate their wagon). We played on the playground for a while, and we got a spot of shade in the grass to watch the band - The Aubrey Tucker band. Kera was Ms. Independent and walked a few feet away from her family, and stood on her own and clapped her hands to the sound of the music. Drake sat right by Daddy and I. When the sun started to set, we walked to the house. Gave the kids dinner, and got our swimsuits on. We went swimming for about an hour. Drake fell asleep on my chest, it was such a sweet moment. I was just swaying him back and forth in the water. Then **BOOM** the fireworks had started. He woke up (he got about a ten minute nap in) and Kera was all excited. We stood in the water and watched the beautiful bright fire works in the sky. Great view I might add. Drake and Kera weren't scared at all!

That was the end of our Independence Day. It was a great 2nd 4th of July for our family. Pictures are posted.

Kisses...

I just have to jump on and give a quick update. Today we went to Grandpa Kens house to celebrate fathers day with everyone, and we went swimming. The babies enjoyed it a lot, surprisingly, Drake more so than Kera.

When we got home, we played with them in their playroom. It was the sweetest thing. Kera kept running up to us and giving us kisses (mouth open). It is sooo sweet!!!! It's the first time she has given kisses ever. :) I loved it. She kept running back and forth from me to daddy giving us both kisses.

I love them both so much, they bring so much joy to my life. I love this age!

Some more steps!!!

Saturday, June 13th Drake took his first steps (2)!!! It was very exciting. It was especially exciting for me since he was walking to me. Kera walked to daddy for the first time. Drake walked to me :). One of his legs is weaker than the other, but he is getting much much better! I am so very proud of the both of them. Kera walks everywhere now. No more crawling for her. She practically runs. She turns corners, and everything. It's very cute. Drake is standing up more and more now (still not by himself, but he is starting to grab up on things lower and lower to the ground - so he has a longer way to go). They both babble constantly. Kera says Mama, Dada, daddy. Drake says Dada. No mama yet. Sunday night Kera started doing peek a boo with her hands in front of her eyes! So precious!!! Kera knows how to get on her 4 wheeler by herself. They are growing so incredibly fast. I think once our house is either sold (yes we have our house on the market until Sept 1st) or not sold... starting September 1st, I am going to try to potty train Kera. I doubt she is ready, but I am going to take her to the bathroom with me, now that she is walking I think it would be the best time. We'll see how it goes. Hopefully she takes to it like a champ. I would like to potty train them seperately.

They played with their Sand/Water table we got them for their birthday for the first time today. I think over all they liked it a lot. Pics to come soon! Just wanted to give a quick update!

Walking all over...

I am sorry, I have been a procrastinator with pictures, and this blog. I'll try to get better.

It is official, I have one walker on my hands! Kera hardly crawls if at all! She is all over the place. Walking along, playing with toys, tripping over her pants. It doesn't matter if her pants are down to her knees, she continues to walk. Even if that means tripping every five seconds. It's so adorable!

They have both been very lovey lately. It's sweet! Kera will be sitting in my lap, and Drake will craw as fast as he can to me, and push her out of the way, and put his head on my shoulder or in my lap and go "awwwwwwwwwwww". I guess he hears that a lot when he gives me loves. It's going to be difficult trying to teach them how to share. Drake always takes the toys that Kera has away from her! The only thing they know how to share, are cups, and that is something I don't want them to share. Sometimes they are very sweet together. Kera will walk to the play room door, and she looks for Drake and says something in her language. Drake follows, and then they go play in the play room together! Super cute.

This weekend will be their first official overnight vacation, in a hotel. We are going to go to Corpus Christi. Saturday morning, and stay until Sunday afternoon. It should be fun! I'll be sure to take lots of pictures :).

This week has been incredibly busy. Last week we decided that we wanted to put our house up on the market, to move to a better school district. Now we want to build a new house (once our house sells), while we live in an apartment for 6 months. We've been scraping wall paper down for the past week! There is not one inch of wall paper left in this house! YAY!!!!! Tomorrow Ken is going to come over and help Dane paint the outside of our house a beige color, then he will texture the guest bathroom and dining room. Saturday we are leaving for Corpus. Sunday we are coming home, and we are going to start cleaning and organizing the whole house. Continuing with that on Monday as well. On Monday we are also going to prime and paint the guest bathroom and bedroom. Then Tuesday the realator is meeting with us to put our house on the market. I hope it goes fast. I want to get into a new house before the kids second birthday. So we'll see.

Alright, Sunday I'll write another blog, and post pictures from the beach!

Happy Birthday and One Day!!

Wow, I can not believe that I fell asleep last night without writing a blog wishing my babies a Happy Birthday!! I can't believe their first birthday and their first birthday party has come and gone! It went by so quickly.

Yesterday on their Birthday we gave them a new Breakfast. We gave them french toast, powdered sugar, and syrup (not much of the later two). They devoured it. We had their portraits taken at Picture Innovations, we finally used that gift card that Dane's lovely co-workers got us for our Baby shower present! We have been saving it all this time to use it for their one year old pics! Kera hated having her pictures taken in a studio :(. That is probably our fault for never going to one, except once when they were 4 months old. Drake was really scared at first also, but he warmed up after a little bit. We did get great shots of them, so it all turned out ok. I was hoping for a little more of them together, but all in all I am very pleased with the amount of pictures we got and the poses. We then came home, and baked... and baked.... and baked.... and baked... and baked... Ok I could go on for a couple of hours, with these "and baked.." statements, but you get my drift. I was baking all day :). Then my wonderful Sister in Law A came over to help me put the finishing touches on my cupcake pop favors for the kids party today. :) Thank you A so much, that was such a great help. Without you I probably couldn't have gone to bed at 1am, I probably would have still been up at 4am dipping those cakes! So thank you.

I was originally going to go to the party hall at 7am and start frosting the smash cakes and the cupcakes. However my lovely husband told me to wait on him. So Grandpa and DeDe came to watch the kids at 8:30, while Dane and I went to the party hall... it took some time to unload the van. Then I had to help Dane unload all the tables. Then I started getting the cupcake stuff out and on the move. I was freaking out, I had like 30 mins to ice all of the cupcakes and the smash cakes!! I was a bit nervous. Thank God for my Mom and Ned who came and helped. My sister also came and helped! So everything was done in the nick of time. Dane ran home to get the kids and to get my outfit, and right as the first guest was showing up, Dane got me my outfit. Thank goodness :D. We thought we were going to have a Pizza dilema, but everything turned out perfect. Sure I got WAY more food than what was needed, but some people got some free dinner for the night :). The party was great!! Kera officially does NOT like cake. My weird child I know. She had it two days in a row, both times she didn't like it. Drake was not a fan yesterday of the cake, but today was a different story. He was chowin' down. They also got Pizza for the very first time today, TWICE actuallly... at the party, and then again for dinner. They LOVE it!!

They love all their new toys! They ate their afternoon snack on their picnic table from Grandpa &DeDe. They LOVE their Activity block that D & A got them! Drake especially LOVES the ATV Grandma & PeePaw got him, and Kera loves hers as well! They love all their new toys, seriously, they haven't played with any of their old toys so far. They go to the new ones! Thank you everyone who came, and who made our memory of Drake and Kera's first birthday a special one! Love you all.

Bye Bye Bottles, Hello Sippy Cups!

I had been apprehensive about the whole switch to the sippy cup for some reason. After this topic was brought up on a forum, I told Dane that I would like to do the transition this weekend! We did, and now it has been two days without bottles. They are doing VERY well! It has been such a smooth transition, and I am so happy. I really shouldn't of had any doubts. My children are amazing :). They do prefer straw sippy cups to regular spout sippy cups, but that is ok, because I heard that the straw sippy cups work their talking muscles. It must, because Drake has started to babble now. It is too sweet. He has such a cute little voice!

Today when we got home from getting their party supplies, and going grocery shopping for our dredded 10 day diet :(, Drake and Kera were in the living room. Kera picked up an empty bowl, and put it to her face, and played peek a boo with Drake. They were both giggling so hard! It was the sweetest thing. I love when they play with eachother, and show love to eachother.

Kera also was practicing her gymnastic moves today. She was on the hard surface by our front door, and she stood up by herself, and she reached down for her cup. She kept reaching and reaching, as her feet seperated more and more and more, and she finally did the splits! It was pretty funny!

Well less than two weeks until their first birthday, and less than two weeks until their first birthday party! I am not sure what to expect, I should of put RSVP on the invites. We invited 80 people, but I am pretty sure not all of them are going to come, but I need to know who is not going to come, or who is, so I can get a approximet guest list. I am not that great trying to put together a party :(. Hopefully everything will go smoothly.

First steps!!

Tonight as I was watching Dancing with the Stars in the bedroom, Dane yelled out "Mama come here quick!". I got up, and went as fast as I could out of our bedroom and down the hall. He told me Kera too a step! So we stood her back up, and sure enough she took two steps to daddy! That was the sweetest thing ever. Tonight after there bath, I hope to capture it on video! Pretty soon, I'll have a walker on my hands. Oh no! :D

Consultation appointment.

Drake had his consultation appointment, his second one mind you, for his circumcision. Basically the Urologist said "There is no medical reason to perform a circumcision, his foreskin pulls back nicely. If you go through with a circumcision, it is because the two of you wanted to do it." So it definitely made Dane and I think. There are pros and cons to each side of the debate. Over all we decided to do it. Now if something happens to my baby boy during surgery, or complications after, I will definitely never be able to forgive my self. I don't even want to think of the ifs but they are there. I don't want to hand my baby boy off to a complete stranger, and then have him sedated. That is so scary to me. I wish I could be in the room with him to hold his little hand, and rub his hair. I just can't bare the thought of something happening to my little man. We are doing a cosmetic procedure, is it really worth all the risks? I am not sure really. Overall I think we are going to do it and get it over with while he is young. It is such a tough decision. I think we will be scheduling it for July. That way it will be after their birthday and our Corpus Christi trip, and after 4th of July, and before the arrival of Drake and Kera's cousin Avery Kate.

I hope Avery and Kera will be very close growing up. It would be so cute to see the two of them playing Barbie's, dolls, etc. together. I can't wait until she makes her debut. Well I can, but you know what I mean. I am happy that D and A found out the gender today. :)

Oh, Drake and Kera went to visit the Easter bunny today as well. Drake LOVED the Easter bunny. He was just hamming it up. Kera on the other hand, I don't think she was too amused. She had a look on her face like 'take my picture already so I can get off of this bunnys lap'.

Drake and Kera also got their first pair of 'real' walking shoes today. We went to stride rite and got them their first pair of shoes. Crazy expensive, but they hardly even notice they are there. Any other shoe you put on them, well Drake rather, he will just sit down, and refuse to stand up. These are very light, flexible, shoes. I think he loves them. He stands better in them in my opinion, as well as Kera. I hope they fit for a while!!! If not, they are going in a box for our next kid. Well even if they do fit for a while, that is where they are going!

A break down!!

So this afternoon when Dane got home from work we were feeding the babies. He mentioned Easter which seems so far off, but he said it was just this upcoming weekend! Then I looked at the babies and started to cry. He asked me what was wrong, and I said, next weekend can't be Easter, that means only two more weeks our babies will be one! It's really making me emotional. It feels like just a couple of months ago I gave birth to these two beautiful precious little ones, and now they are not going to be my little cuddly babies (they've been out of that stage for a while). Rather they are going to be my toddlers, running away from mommy! I don't want them to turn one yet. I am not ready. I want them to stay babies. I want them to be my babies, not forever, but for longer than two weeks. :( They are classified as toddlers when they turn 12 months old. I am not ready for toddlers. I want my babies back... I just want them to be small, and start all over again. I know this is life, but this year has went by way too incredibly fast! Dane started to tear up, and he told me not to cry, and I said but they are going to be one in a few SHORT weeks, and then they'll be 5, and then 10, and then 20, and then 30 before we know it! Life just goes by way too quickly when you have these special humans in your life. When you want to savior anything, rather it be a vacation, or a little baby... it all goes by in a flash of a second! :(

Happy 11 months and 1 day :)

Wow, in less than a month my two babies will be one! It makes me sad, so I rather not talk about it right now.

Today I had a busy day ;). I got the babies up, fed them, and let them play for about an hour and a half. Then I gave them each a bath, and laid them down to go to sleep. Meanwhile, I ate, straightened my hair, fixed a diaper bag, and got dressed. Then I woke the babies up, fed them, and dressed them, and then FINALLY we were out the door to go visit daddy and his lovely co-workers. I wonder why I stay home until Dane usually gets home ;). It's so much easier! But today was well worth it. I had a great time getting out of the house! On our way home we stopped by Target to spend my Target gift card that Ken and Debbie got me for my b-day (thanks you guys)! I am so stoked, I knew exactly what I wanted, I wanted an exercise outfit, a nice one! I fell in love with these pants, but they were 21.99, and well I was going to get them! Dane told me about the clearance rack, and lone and behold there were the exact same pants except the band around the waist was a different color - PINK :D and only for 10 dollars! Woo hoo! The shirt that matched that was on clearance was not my size. So I picked another black shirt that I thought was on sale from 14.99 to 12.99. When we got to the register, Dane said, "your shirt is on clearance too". I said "No it isn't, it's on sale for 12.99" . He said "Nope" and showed me the red tag that said 6.49!!! SCORE! So I got an exercise outfit, tomatoes, lettuce, onions, two boxes of cereal, and three cans of chicken all for what was on my gift card! YIPPEEE!

Anyways, Dane and I are doing great at working out everynight. Every night we are doing the one mile walk away the pounds. Every morning Dane has been getting up and jogging around the block. I am so very proud of him. So he is doing two workouts a day, I am just doing walk away the pounds. I just ordered turbo jam, and it should be arriving no later than April 9th. I am so excited about it! I hope it works great.

Drake is getting two more bottom teeth (to make a total of 8 teeth)! I am not sure how many Kera has popping up, it's a dangerous thing sticking my finger in her mouth. I'll try to look tomorrow. The other day her gums looked VERY bumpy, and I thought I saw some white specs on her top gumline. So I'll check it out tomorrow.

Kera says "Mama" "Dada" "NaNa-which I think means Mama" she says a lot of jibber jabber.
Drake is not talking, not even jibber jabber... except sometimes. However, he is a thinker. He likes to look at things, and think about what they do. He loves the ring stacker. He loves the shape sorter, though he hasn't figured out how to get a shape in the correct hole yet. He loves placing a small ball in a spoon that goes with their fisher price kitchen. He LOVES to make noise.

Walking- Kera is still SO CLOSE. Drake is getting a lot better, but one of his feet is always turned sideways. I am not sure what is wrong with him, but we'll be asking the pedi that in May if it doesn't correct itself.

Alright, I think that is it for now.

Almost...

Last night Dane and I were in the living room with Drake and Kera. We stood Kera up, and she took a mini step to Daddy and then fell down. She is so close to walking it is unreal! I need to charge my video camera, because I don't think it will be much longer before she is taking a couple of steps in a row. Drake will stand up and walk if I give him my fingers. Or he will crawl (he is not army crawling anymore) to the couch, get himself to a standing position, and walks along the couch. He reaches for things... he stands on his tippy toes and reaches and stretches until he gets what he is after.

Yesterday morning, I woke Kera up to feed her, she was STILL sleeping at 10:30am! Anyways, she cried when I woke her up, so I held her for a few minutes. Then I set her down to change her diaper, and she said "Da Da". I said " No Kera Da da is at work, I am Mama". She didn't say Mama :(. That is until today :D I changed her diaper this morning, and she said "Da Da" I said "No I am Ma Ma" and I kept repeating myself, and she said "Na Na". I said "Mmmma Mmma" She closed her lips and said "mmMMMmmm" and I said "MMMMaaa MmmmAaaa" she said "MMMmma MMma" :)!!! I clapped my hands and said "Yes, I am ma ma, you are Kera, and (pointing to Drake) this is Drake". So she finally said Ma Ma. I was so happy. She LOVES to clap her hands. Any time I try to teach Drake and I say "Clap your hands"... he will Pat his leg ;) and she will clap her hands.

They are just too precious! My babies are growing up way too fast.

Busy Bees!

We've been super busy since Wednesday. Wednesday as you know by my last blog we went to the rodeo. Thursday, we took the babies on a picnic, and tried to get birthday invite pictures. As you probably saw by the pictures, Kera was having none of that. As soon as I put her tutu on and set her in the grass by her brother, she cried. All the way home! Non-stop! I thought she had got stung by a bee or something, I've NEVER heard her so upset. Turns out she was just really thirsty for her formula. She gulped down like 10oz after we came home. It wasn't even time for her next bottle yet, but the sun must have got to her. Friday, we weren't so busy.... we were just very LAZY :). Today we went with Paw to Ken and Debbies house. We had their amazing hamburgers... YUM, and delicious chocolate cake... EXTRA YUM! The babies had a great time watching Penny and Harley. We got some photographs there, hopefully some to use for their invitations. I've got to send them out really soon. My babies are turning one in just a month and almost a week :(.

Anyways, back on track... where was I? Oh yes, so Dane and I tried some samples of paint that Ken had gave us to try, because we are going to paint the exterior of our house. GOLEE that is such a hard decision. The paint looks totally different in each spot you put it. Anyways, so when we got back inside, we thought it would be a great idea to take the wall paper out of our bathroom for a project!!! (Why don't they have smiley faces on the blog? If they did I would enter a shock face here). TONS of work ;). Dane is still scrubbing the glue off of the walls... and he's just on one wall... one spot! :) We have several more spots to go. We started about 3-4 hours ago! I'll be sure to post before and after pictures.

Tomorrow, we are going to meet my mom for Cracker Barrel! I can't wait, I love Cracker Barrel!

Rodeo time!

So today was value day at the rodeo. We got in for 10 dollars (for all four of us). Of course we spent more on all the delicious food. Of all things I got a baked potato, crazy me! Dane had sausage on a stick, something else, and we both shared chocolate covered cheese cake on a stick YUM!

The babies LOVED the rodeo. They loved seeing all the people. They LOVE animals, it is so sad that Dane and I are not that great with animals, because Drake and Kera just LOVE them soooo much. We woke Kera up from a nap when we got to the petting zoo, and she didn't even whine. She laughed when she pet the deer. It was so sweet! Drake smiled so big, when he pet all the animals.

We bought the babies their first cowboy and cowgirl hat also. As soon as we put it on their heads, Drake had one hand on his hat trying to take it off, and the other hand on his sisters hat trying to take it off. We got a few pictures, so be sure to check them out a little later tonight.

Quick update...

So yesterday, Kera learned how to clap her hands the right way. She loves clapping her hands now! She will stand up, I will say "yay Kera good job!" and then she claps. :) It's sweet!!

Today we finally got to make it to the baby story time at the library. It was pretty fun. They have a story time, songs, and games for Newborn- 5 year olds at 6:30 PM on Mondays that we are going to go to. That way Dane can help me out since it's very interactive, I couldn't leave them in their stroller. I think it will be a fun thing to do as a family. They seemed to enjoy it today, and Drake especially loved the bubbles. Kera loved looking at the boy next to her walk around.

Slacking...

So I have been slacking on updating pictures and our blog. So I decided I would do it right now ;).

I don't remember if I told you all that we turned their exersaucers into walkers, but they are using those now. They are walking with the walkers of course. They have a lot of practice a head of them, but they are doing very well.

Today Drake put all the rings on the ring stacker. Of course we had to give them the right rings in order, but he put them on the stacker. He doesn't give up very easily. It's really cute. We were trying to teach Kera how to put the shapes in the shape sorter, but Drake crawled right over to try. They don't get that yet, but soon enough :).

Kera today learned how to clap her hands. She doesn't clap them together, but she will clap the top of her other hand. That's how she claps her hands as of now. She's very sweet. I went in to their room tonight to feed her because she was still crying. After I fed her I rubbed her hair, and the bridge of her nose, and her cheeks. She just let out these small "ahhh woooo ahhh".... SHE'S SO BEAUTIFUL. I just love them both so very much.

In a couple of weeks we will be starting to transition to whole milk. CRAZY. They love their sippy cups of water, so I am not sure if it will be hard for them to transition from bottles to sippy cups or not. Granted the only thing they have in their sippys is water, so I am not sure if once we put whole milk in there if they will be thrown off, and have nothing to do with it. We'll see I guess.

Check out our new pictures :). We took both of those outfits back (the white dress w/ sunhat, and the green plaid shorts, shirt, and hat). We bought Kera 2 or 3 outfits at Kohls for the same price as that dress. And we got the blue set of the same outfit Drake has on. Daddy didn't care for that football shirt. I liked it ;).

Happy 10 month birthday ;)

Today Drake and Kera are ten months old! Where does the time go? I know I've been saying this for the past like six months, but my babies are about to turn one!!! REALLY, only two more months until I have TODDLERS instead of babies on my hands! Of course they will always be my babies!

So today Dane and I practiced walking with our loves today. Kera stands for so long now, and if I just give her my fingers she will take steps! Drake is starting to let go of things while standing. He gets so excited, and he bounces and huffs, kind of hard to explain. He just gets so excited by standing. He too will take steps if you give him your finger. I let go sometimes, and she tries to take steps, but falls. I don't think it will be very long at all before they are able to walk!

For the past couple of nights Drake has been fighting his sleep. It's like he needs mommy to rock him. Last night, I rocked him to sleep, and I was singing to him, and he just looked at me and started to talk (jibber jabber) in the tone that I was singing to him! It was the sweetest thing. Then a few seconds later he passed out. Tonight, he drank another 4 oz of formula, and I rocked him and he fell asleep on my shoulder. As soon as I put him down in his bed, he woke right up and looked at me and started to cry. I rubbed his face and the bridge of his nose, and he fell back to sleep. As soon as I stopped he woke up, looked at me with those big tired eyes, and started to cry. So I rubbed his face again, and the bridge of his nose, and his hair. He fell asleep, I stoped he woke back up. This literally happened fifteen times! It was the sweetest thing. He loves me so much ;).

Drake and Kera took another nap with Daddy and I this afternoon. I am not sure if we'll make this a tradition or not, because they usually sleep for 2 hours in their cribs, but if they sleep with us, it's only for 30 mins to one hour. I really would like to make it a little family tradition though, because Dane and I both like to spend the extra time with them, and watch them sleep.

What else is new? Oh yes, this past week we have been experimenting with table foods for Drake and Kera. This week they have had Spaghetti, garlic bread (garlic powder not garlic salt on their slice), corn and meatballs. We put this in the food processor to mush it up a little... they LOVED IT. They had burrito stuff , which included unseasoned meat for them, itty bitty pieces of tomatoes, a tiny bit of refried beans, and shredded cheese. They LOVED that too. They also got pancakes Saturday, and waffles today! They tasted a tiny bit of chicken and dumplings Friday night. They are getting a lot better with their chewing. We just need to practice a lot.

I am really nervous about next month. We are going to start transitioning them to whole milk. Their ped said that we can start when they are 11 months, and do an oz of milk for a couple of days. So instead of their 8oz formula bottle, it would be one oz of milk, and seven oz of formula. Do that for a couple of days, and up the oz of milk per formula. Once we get all milk, one weekend we are going to be brave and take away the bottles and start them on sippys. I mean they drink water out of sippys now, but it's just going to be sippys and no more bottles. This will HAVE to be a weekend, because I know it will be a hard couple of days. I am so scared.... I hope they transition to the couple of changes that are heading their way in just a month and a half :(.

Not too far away, I'll be potty training... aHHH, I'll just worry about the sippy cups and whole milk for now.

Burritos and a new camera!

So, I got a new digital camera for myself. It's a Canon Xsi. I love it, I have lots of practice to do. I am just so grateful that I don't have to share with Dane anymore, he is a camera hog. Plus it gives us a hobby to do together, and I love that!

Today I was asking a forum that I am a part of what types of finger foods to feed children. They told me anything that we eat, just don't make it too spicy. So I also looked at wholesome baby food website to get more ideas. They can have cottage cheese, woo hoo ;). I wonder how they'll like that? That is going to have to wait until we can go to the store again. I made burritos tonight. Guess what? The babies got some! I cooked the meat, and drained it. I put a spoon full of meat on each side of a plate. I picked tiny bits of tomatoes off of the diced tomatoes I cut up, and mixed that into each spoon full of meat. On the side of the meat I put a half of a teaspoon of refried beans. I let it cool. Then I scooped the mixture onto their highchairs, and topped it with shredded cheese. THEY LOVED IT!!! Tomorrow we are going to have spaghetti, and I am going to do the same thing, except I am not going to give them too much tomato sauce. I can't believe they are getting so old :(. **TEAR**

We reserved the place we had the baby shower at for their first birthday. I can't remember if I typed that in the last blog or not ;). This way we don't have to worry about parking, or renting chairs and tables, or a bounce house since there is a park for the kids to play at. The party is going to be from 11-1pm on May 2nd.

Colds, teeth, etc....

So last week I thought I just had allergies. All I had was a stuffy nose, runny nose at times, and a few little coughs here and there, oh and sneezing. So anyways, Saturday we woke up to our babies with congestion and runny noses! They don't really seemed to be phased by it other than the fact they can't breath through their noses. They are as happy as can be. I hope they get better soon though.

Today was the first time we let them take a nap with us in our bed. It was really cute! Kera was snuggling all against me, It was oh so sweet. But it only lasted for about 30 minutes with Kera. I moved the tiniest bit, because my arm was falling asleep, and I saw her eyes open up. I rubbed her hair to try to get her back to sleep, and rubbed her face. She was staring at our ceiling fan, and she just had the biggest smile every time I rubbed her face, which made me laugh, because it was just too precious! So right when she heard me laugh, she rolled over and popped up and started to play. So I put her in her crib, where she fell back to sleep instantly. I then came back to bed with the snoring daddy, and the snoring drooly Drake. He slept for about an hour with us! It was too sweet.

Anyways, we are getting MORE teeth. Drake is getting both of his teeth next to his top two middle teeth. So this will equal 6 teeth for him! Kera is also getting her top two middle teeth, so this will also be six teeth for her! Drakes started poking through last week, and Kera's just this weekend! So, WOW, my babies are getting a ton of teeth! We upgraded their tooth brushes from the finger toothbrush to the stage 1 oral B tooth brush, because it hurt too bad to brush Drakes teeth any longer with my finger! OUCH! They love their new toothbrushes.

As for the birthday party, Dane is going to call the hall that we had our baby shower at, to see if it is still open for May 2nd. It will save us a lot of money from renting chairs, tables and a bounce house. Not to mention the parking if a lot of people show up. So here is to hoping they still have it available.