Lemon Head

I have been nervous about giving the babies any sort of food with texture. I'm afraid they are going to choke and then I won't know what to do. I know it is part of the learning process on how to eat and that the baby will work the object out, but I have postponed on table foods for as long as I could. We have slowly started to put very small pieces in their mouths and yes they do choke, but like my doc told me they will gag a little and be fine. They are now eating watermelon, cheerios, puffs and yogurt bites. At lunch today a co worker of mine offered Carter a lemon. It's always fun to watch the baby give a silly sour face when given a lemon. Not Cater, he just sucked on the lemon like it was a bottle of juice. He is so silly!!! He basically ate the lemon whole. We tried Luke, but he wasn't as interested as Carter.

Rainy day

Today was spent inside watching the rain fall. The babies are getting adjusted back to Texas time. They have been a bit more fussy than normal and not eating quite as well. I guess they have travelers withdrawls-I don't know I think I just made that up. They have spent the past two days with Daddy while I have been at work. Here are a few fun pics.

Carter spent the day at the door watching the rain fall

California

Well we made it-our first vacation with Luke and Carter. We arrived in Coronado on Wednesday morning. The babies did great on the plane and were adored by everyone around them. We had all the common questions-"is it a boy and a girl", poor Luke, "are they twins", "that must be a lot of work", etc the list goes on. Anyway, we made it there with little drama, wish I could say the same for the flight home, and lots of smiles.

We had a lot of firsts on our five day trip. To start off with our first vacation as a new family. Our first plane ride, first time to the beach, first time on a really big boat, Carter's first time to pull himself up to his feet and say "ma-ma-ma" yes I was very pleased with this second one. Luke's first time to decide he didn't want anyone else to hold him except his Mommy, this one was flattering as well but hasn't stopped yet so I'm a little concerned we have a little separation anxiety going on. Our first bite mark-Luke decided to bite his brother and leave a mark on his leg. And our first time for a baby to fall to the ground. Let me explain this one-I left the room for a moment and when I return Jeff is holding Luke with a small grin. "What happened" I ask. He explains he was playing with both babies on the bed and some how forgot Luke was on the bed with them. He rolled and tumbled to the ground hitting his head on the night stand. For those of you who know Luke, he is very sensitive so Jeff and I knew for sure the rest of the day was ruined for our little Luke. He surprised us with only a small cry followed by a sweet smile.

The weekend was packed full of family fun and visiting. Jeff and I spent one day touring the town and a visit to the beach. The babies didn't love the wind and sun, but once I sat them in the sand they were happy. It must be a boy thing! They were covered in sand, including in their mouths.

Friday was my grandfathers birthday. He would have been 89 years old. We went to the cemetery to visit he and wish him a happy birthday. We miss our Grandpa Ryan and wish he were there with us to celebrate another year. Saturday, we went out for a boat ride in our Aunt and Uncle's yatch. We cruised around the bay while soaking in the beautiful sun. The babies took a nap in their seats in the cabin. I thought I was keeping a close eye on them, but I guess not since Carter almost climbed out of his when he woke up. Good thing my cousin, Natalie, noticed him-little stinker! Sunday we started our journey back to reality. We had such a wonderful time and we are so thankful we were able to spend some quality time with our family. We want to thank everyone in California for making our trip there so easy. Thanks to my cousin, Brigid, we didn't have to bring one piece of baby equipment, except our stroller. She had two of everything we needed plus some. And everyone would be pleased to know she had the exact Jumperoo we have so Luke was right at home and boy was it a life saver when he was fussy.

Headed West

Wednesday morning we will be leaving on our first plane trip with the babies. We are going to visit my 88 year old grandmother in Coronado, Ca for a long weekend. I am so excited to get to spend time with her and show the babies off to all their new Aunt's, Uncle's and Cousin's. Coronado is such a pretty place to visit, and I'm sure better to live. We usually go in the summer when it is blistering hot here since they have much milder summers than Texas. I am anxious to fly with the babies and to be away from their beds for so long, but I am hoping for the best. Don't you worry, I will have you updated on our trip as soon as we get back. Meanwhile I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend as we will do the same.

Hotel Del Coronado

Soaking in the Spring Sun

What beautiful weather Texas can have. The problem is the nice weather doesn't stay around long. Before you know it, it's 105 degrees and to hot to even walk outside. Good thing I'm a true Texan and love the heat. So...we are enjoying the nice weather while it's here and will find things to do inside when it gets to hot. Today we spent the day playing in the yard, soaking in the rays.

Carter has decided he thinks it's fun to tackle Luke and knock him over which of course makes Luke upset and leaves him crying. No matter where I put Carter he will find his way back to his brother and do it all over again. Jeff says he will be a line backer with his size and his new tackling skills. Fine with me as long as he takes care of his mommy. Well here's to another wonderful day of being outside and spending time with my L&C.

Playing before bed

We have had another busy day. We spent the morning going to our walking class and then a new playgroup. I really enjoyed meeting a new crew of mommies and look forward to getting to know them all. In the group there is two Luke's, two Carter's and two Jill's, we must have popular names. We are also the only twins. Luke and Carter are finally getting more out of playgroups, which means Mommy isn't able to socialize as much anymore-bummer. It's so much fun to watch them interact with other kids. I didn't have my camera with me so no pics of playgroup-maybe next time.

But, here are a few pictures of us playing this evening with daddy. Carter has figured out the camera so every time he sees it he comes straight for it. He likes to try to get the lens cap, I guess he doesn't understand it's attached to the camera-oh well it makes funny pics. Luke is trying to eat daddy's shoestring. Enjoy!!

CARTER

This post is all about Carter. He is so full of energy and joy. He's my busy baby. Some days I don't even think he stops long enough to say hi to his mommy. There's no wonder why he is such a good sleeper. He uses every bit of energy he has. It is so entertaining (and tiring) to watch him play and explore. Speaking of exploring, Carter is full blown crawling. As I have mentioned in past post, he has been working on crawling for a while now. He pretty much went through all the steps like book work. It was so awesome to watch him put all the steps together and Monday morning he popped up to his hands and knees and off he went. I was at work but thankfully Jeff was able to get it on video for me to see. I am so proud of my little man and you can see the look of achievement on his face.

Carter also had a good time with his cousin Gavin this past weekend. No matter Carters mood, when he sees a big kid he is always entertained. He can't wait to big enough to run around with them. I just love his little laugh and I love watching him play with his cousins.

Stay tuned to a blog featuring Luke. That is once I can get some good footage of him. He is very layed back and likes to sit and watch.

Happy Easter

What a wonderful day!! We had lots of family over and lots of good food. I am so happy my very first Easter egg hunt went well. When I was a little girl we always went to Oklahoma and colored Easter eggs with our cousins and then the next day we would have a huge egg hunt. I always had such a great time trying to find the winning egg. Well there wasn't a winning egg this year but lots of memories and the first of another of my hopeful family traditions for the babies. Thank you to everyone who helped make this a special first Easter for my precious babies.

Coloring Easter Eggs With Our Cousins

Man, I can't remember the last time I colored Easter eggs. That is one of the fun things about having children, you get to do all the things you did as a kid all over again. So I took an advantage and got in on the egg decorating. Although I do realize my babies are a bit to little to understand or have interest in coloring eggs. But maybe sometimes we just use our kids as our excuse to be kids ourselves. At any rate I enjoyed spending time with my nephews and making dull white eggs into bright, creative pieces of art. Gavin, almost 4, really enjoyed using the little wire egg scooper to transfer the eggs from color to color. I think his fingers were about as colored as most the eggs, but he had a good time and that's what matters most. Here is Gavin and his "most beautiful" egg.

Random

Oh my goodness, I can't believe it has almost been a week since my last post. I hope all my loyal readers haven't given up on me or my dedication to this blog (sorry Mom). I guess it has been a busy week. Unfortunately it was with work instead of fun baby things. There actually isn't anything to exciting happening right now. Carter is still working on his crawl, which he does have the army crawl down. Maybe he decided on the army crawl for his Oma. Hee hee. And Luke, well he's Luke. (See pictures)

Brotherly love

Luke climbed out of his bouncy
(I guess that's what the straps are for)

Carter stretching to do his push ups


1 and 2 and 3, come on Luke


Luke can't quite figure out the push up thing.

Texas Bluebonnets

Friday evening Dixie and I took all the boys to take pictures in the bluebonnets. We did this in dedication to our Oma. I remember when I was a little girl she would get so excited when she would see the first bluebonnet on the side of the road. And of course before they were all gone we were sitting the middle of them smiling for a picture. So since she isn't here this year to see them for herself, we took several pictures of all her sweet grandsons surrounded by the beautiful flowers. Thank you Dixie for such a wonderful job on the pictures and I can't wait for Oma to see them.

Mason, Gavin and Ethan

Meeting the Easter Bunny

To start off with Luke and Carter turned EIGHT months today. Wow-where has the time gone. I know I say something along these lines each month, but I am really seeing big changes in the babies and I can't believe one year is just around the corner. They are really working hard to crawl and are talking up a storm. They are such a joy to be around. They have the sweetest little personality and make me proud to be their mommy.
Now on to the Easter bunny-Our twins group holds an annual Easter egg hunt and this year we attended to meet the Easter bunny, but choose not to hunt eggs. We decided to save that for next year. Although it looks like Carter is almost in tears, they were happy to sit in the bunnies lap and try to pull at his whiskers. Like always it is almost impossible to get a picture were both babies are looking at the camera and smiling, so I get the best I can. Happy Easter to everyone.

Family Picnic and Boat Ride

Today we had a Manning family picnic and our first boat outing. Jeff's parents bought a "fun"toon boat for the family to use for fishing or just relaxing. We were a little concerened it would be to windy to take it out today, but we managed fight the wind and still enjoy the day.

The guys went out early in the morning to give the boat a test ride. It seemed to run well so they spent the morning fishing. I think the "test ride" part was just an excuse to go early and fish, but that's okay cause it was windy and cold and they didn't catch anything. Sorry guys maybe next time.

When we arrrived we had lunch and took a little walk. Havin, our neice, had fun pushing the babies in their stroller. She likes to play with the them like they are little dolls of her own. She is such the mother hen and really does a great job with them.

Can you find Samual in the tree? This is one thing I am not looking forward to in the future. Boys have no fear and I have two of them. I feel we might spend lots of time in the ER.

Luke and Carter did well on the boat ride considering it was time for their nap and they had to wear those huge life jackets. Luke wasn't to sure about the whole thing,but he will get used to it or just learn to love it. All in all a wonderful day with the family and I look forward to spending more time on the lake.

Kisses for Daddy

How sweet!!! They miss their daddy when he's away at work so they both decided to give him big kisses this morning. Of course they didn't have any left for me. Little stinkers!!!