Quick update and pictures

Not much new happening in the Manning home. Carter is getting much more graceful at going from the sitting position to his tummy and putting the final touches on his crawl. He just hasn't shared it with us yet, but I know he will soon. He is so busy all the time. Luke is fine to just sit in one spot and play, but Carter is all over the place. I'm really not looking forward to him crawling. At least for now he stays in one central location. But he will continue to grow and crawling is next. Go Carter!! Yuck! Germs!
Best buddies

Luke is just beautiful!!! He has the sweetest smile and eyes that just melt my heart. He is my cuddler and loves to sit in our laps. He is a watcher. He just sits back and observes his brother or anyone else around. He now has 5 teeth, 2 on top and 3 on bottom, and is thinking about the crawling thing as well. I love that they are so different and challenge me in different ways. Smiles to everyone!

Breast Cancer 3 Day

This year, I'll be participating in a very special event called the Breast Cancer 3-Day.I'll walk 60 miles over the course of three days with thousands of other women and men. The net proceeds will support breast cancer research, education, screening and treatment through Susan G. Komen for the Cure and the National Philanthropic Trust Breast Cancer Fund.
This is my first year to walk and I am so excited!! This will be an experience like no other. With your support I know this will be a weekend I will always remember.
According to Susan G. Komen for the Cure, approximately 200,000 American women will be diagnosed with breast cancer this year, and nearly 40,000 will die from the disease. That's why I'm walking so far. To do something bold about breast cancer.
EVERYONE DESERVES A LIFETIME!!!!

A BORING DAY AT HOME

After a busy week of work and the weather turning cold today, we decided to stick around the house. Although some what a boring day, we found ways to stay busy. We started with the vaccum. When I started the vaccum cleaner both babies quickly turned to it and followed me around the room, staying in one place of course just turning in little circles on their tummies. I was surprised how excited they were over a vaccum.

Througout the day I deciede to see how many pictures I could get of Carter with something hanging out of his mouth. He is so funny!! Anything he gets his hands on goes straight to his mouth, but unlike most babies he keeps it there while he continues with what he was doing.

We had a good time with our tubby also. The babies we so cute trying to catch the water as it fell. They kept pushing each other out of the way in attempt to get the water. I tried to keep this G rated so hopefully there isn't any visible privates, for the babies sake.

Well that is our day in a nutshell. Not really to BORING. There is always something funny or cute going on around here and I can only imagine how much more fun and exciting it is going to get. I love it!!!!

Bubbles

I love this picture of Luke, it looks like he is blowing a bubble out of his mouth. I got this little bubble machine for the bath tub the other day and decided to give it a try at our playgroup. The babies really enjoyed watching the bubbles float in the air and trying to catch them before the pooped. I think the bubble machine was a good investment and we will have lots for fun with it.

Twins and MORE Twins

Yesterday Luke and Carter spent the day with Kara. She leaves today to begin her journey to New York so she volunteered herself to spend the day with the babies while Jeff and I worked. Luckily she did have some help. Brooke and Jordan are 13 year old identical twins who love helping with the babies. They are taking a CPR class so they can babysit for us in the future. We want to wish Kara good luck with her move and new job in New York and we will miss her sleeping on our couch.

Today we had playgroup at our house. It was the test of our baby proofing and so far we have passed. We were expecting 6 sets of twins, but only 4 showed up. All the babies had a great time playing together and showing off all their new skills they have conquered. I really enjoy getting together with the other moms and sharing our strategies for survival. We have a zoo day planned in a few week and I always look forward to seeing all the precious babies again. Luke and Carter 7 mo

Holden and Cason 10 mo

Montana and Takoda 8 mo

There it is.

My living room is officially a giant play pin. Jeff and I spent the weekend baby proofing our house. Not only is it free of any harm, at least we hope, it also looks like a day care. When I was pregnant I told Jeff we are not going to live in a toy box. Well, I quickly learned it's a bit impossible to have it any other way. I'm not sure about all the bright colors, mainly the mats due to having tile floors, but it will work for now. Luke and Carter are on the edge of crawling. They get up to their hands and knees, rock a few times, then just stare at us. Of course by the time I grab my camera they have fallen. I'm sure in a few weeks I will be able to get plenty of crawling pictures. Anyway, L & C enjoyed the evening in their new little play land along with Daddy.

Wow-What a Week!

First of all I have to say kudos to all you working moms. I worked full time this week and I didn't like it to much. I missed my babies and I'm super tired. My office is so busy there isn't much down time so working four days makes for a long week. On top of coming home and being a mommy. I am just so thankful that I don't have to work full time and that I have an even balance between work and being Luke and Carter's Mommy.

This week the babies have made some changes. Carter is trying so hard to crawl. He is getting his arms locked out and his knees under him, but he doesn't know what to do from there. It is amazing to see their minds at work and how they connect one thing to the next.
Luke is working on getting his top central incisors. He is a bit irritable and not sleeping to well. Actually I think one peeked through today-thank goodness. He is such a sweet baby and I hate it when he's unhappy, as any mother would.

I decided to try something new for bath time. Since they are sitting so well on their own and getting to big for their little bath tub, we had our first "tubby". I put a few inches of water in the tub along with all their bath toys and you should have seen the smile on their faces. They know when they are doing something "big boy" and they love to rub it in my face. They were so cute trying grab the toys are they floated away and splashing the water everywhere.

I think they like each other.

They are so silly and like to laugh at each other. I love watching them play together and hearing their sweet little voices. Sometimes I tell Jeff that I wish we had them seperate so we could spend more quality time with each one for they are growing up so fast. I do my best to show them individually how much I love them, but with life as busy as it is I feel I slack at times. I feel sad everytime I see another piece of baby gear leave my house. I wish it were going to the storage for the next baby, being Luke or Carter, instead of in the pile for my 3 day fundraising sale. I am very proud of my two babies and charish every day with them, but as most mothers would know it's hard knowing that the baby time goes so quickly. Thank goodness for cameras, video and my photographic memory. I am thankful everyday for my babies and couldn't imagine my life without them together.

All tangled up

Luke and Carter really like watching TV so I use it to my benefit in the mornings. I place them on a blanket in front of the TV while I finish getting ready or busy making bottles. I left the room for a second and came back to Carter on one side of the room and Luke on the other tangled in the blanket. Man did my heart skip a beat! It wasn't the sight I had planned on walking in on. This is exactly why you don't leave two 7 month old babies alone even for the slightest second. Things happen quick. Luckily I hadn't been gone long and Luke actually looked like he was having fun trying to untangle himself. I now leave the blanket out and try to keep one eye on each baby at all times, if that is even possible. Boy, do I have something coming to me once they start crawling.

Impossible Possibilities

In my attempt to lose this baby weight/fat, my friend, Martha, and I decided to do a St. Paddy's Day 5k. It was benefiting the homeless and a few shelters in Ft. Worth. It was a fairly small run, but still well done. We really enjoyed the day althought it was cold and muddy. The weather has been wonderful until we have something planned outside-go figure. At least it wasn't raining and we were able to get some exercise. Martha and I hope to do more fundraising runs in the future.

Happy Birthday to our Aunt Kara

Kara and I have been friends since we were two years old. We lived on the same street growing up and she was the first to introduce me to little people and my little pony. My grandmother discovered that we are very, very distant cousins and since then we have always felt like family. Kara and I were roommates after college and have been through more together than most friends can claim. We have laughed, cried, drank to many beers and traveled together. We also made a promise that we would run our first marathon together before we turned 30 and in June 2006 we did just that in San Diego, California. I have learned so much from Kara and I am thankful everyday for the friendship she has given to me.

The last month she has been our little roomy staying on our couch while she is in transition from Colorado to New York for a job transfer. She has been a big help with the babies and I think she has had enough exposure to baby puke and poo to put her desire for motherhood to the side for now. Kara, thank you so much for everything you have taught me, good and bad, and for being such a wonderful friend/sister. Hope you have a happy birthday and here's to many more. Cheers!!

I am on the left and Kara on the right

Jumperoo Drama

Luke still loves playing in the jumperoo. Sometimes when it is time for him to get out he refuses, usually with a lot of screaming and crying as you can see in the video. Also the silly little book is his favorite and he does not like sharing it with his brother. I'm glad they still enjoy the exersaucer and jumperoo, but I know our time is soon coming to an end. They will be crawling soon and there will be no holding them back. We have actually been working on baby proofing our house and getting ready for our playgroup in a few weeks. Whatever I forget I'm sure one of the twelve babies will be sure to show me.

United Through Reading

United Through Reading is a program were a soldier is recorded reading a book, he or she sends the video and the new book to a child in the States then the parents of the child will record the child reading along while watching the video. They then send the new recording back to the solider. I hope that makes sense. So in our situation my mom sent the babies Ten Little Ladybugs and a recording of herself reading the book to them. She added a special ending that brought tears to all our eyes. We recorded the babies basically eating the book while she read to them. What I like most about this is they can hear her voice and hopefully they will recognize her when we see her in August.

She also sent one to Gavin and he was so sweet to watch. He couldn't understand why he could hear and see her, but she couldn't see or hear him. We explained she will see him when she watches her video.

We really enjoyed this and look forward to receiving more in the future. Thank you Oma. We miss and love you and can't wait to have you home safe.

Mommy and Daddy's night out

Finally Jeff and I got an opportunity to have an evening with other adults at the Mavericks game. My friend's husband works for Coors Distributing and they have a suite at American Airlines Center. They were kind enough to invite us to join them the other night. The suite was nice and the best part is the dessert cart stopped by and we were able to pick anything we wanted--and it was FREE! Teresa and Charlie said late time they were there they paid for their desserts and it was about twenty dallors just for theirs. Of course Jeff picked chocolate and I tried to pick the least fattening thing, remember my weight loss challenge, but that was almost impossible so lemon bar for me. I can't believe I was more excited about the dessert cart rather than the all you can drink free beer. Wow how motherhood has changed me. The half time show was good and the Mavs won.