videos

Here are the two videos of the girls. The first one is Atley walking and the second one is Avery standing up.
Enjoy!

so long, so short

Sorry it has been so long since I've posted. And sorry this will be so short!

I've been trying to post a video of Atley walking and Avery standing up on her own, but I think it is too big and won't work.
Needless to say, Atley is walking! She is so fun to watch because she loves doing it and it makes her so happy. When I say to Avery, "stand up" she knows what I am saying and stands up! It is so fun. So, I am hoping to take another video soon and I'll get it on here, I promise!

PS. I took my stitches out by myself today. Easy. I'm so glad not to have "spider" finger anymore :)

Have a great day!
Shelly

Stitches, Valentines, and more...

To begin, I'd like you all to know that I basically live with a knife in my hand.
Just kidding...but not really. I am constantly cutting up food for the girls.
On Tuesday the girls were napping and I was quickly working away in the kitchen. Before I knew it my finger was gushing and I was freaking out. I've never really cut myself before and didn't know how bad it was. Once Phillip came home (about 20 minutes later) he agreed I indeed needed stitches. In the picture below, it really doesn't look that bad, but it was pretty wide. So after 2 hours of Urgent Care, I came home with 5 stitches and a really bandaged finger. Luckily I was able to take that big thing off the next day and only wear a regular bandage. My finger is still a little swollen and bruised, but I'm really doing great. Just wanted to add a little more excitement to our week, not that we needed any!

This week we have been dressing the girls in their Valentine jackets every day. Throughout the day they do so many cute things and look so cute that I try to capture it with the camera. But every time I pull it out they start crying, without fail. So as you can see in the pictures below, their smiles were quickly turning to all out tantrums!

Avery about to be put in the car. She still had pink eye this day, and was pretty cranky.


Atley was next, and at least not crying.



Our attempts to take their valentine picture. Avery, Lilly, Atley



Slowly creeping off the fireplace....



Hey look she is standing up on her own....but she is screaming!



Avery standing in her daddy's shoe!



Avery loves to climb into things like Lilly's crate and the kitchen drawer. Atley likes to shut her in and wait behind her until she comes out.



I hope you all had a wonderful Valentines!
Blessings to all,
Shelly

Healthy Home

Last week we took the girls to their hearing and vision screening through Rockwood Parents as Teachers. This is an amazing program that I love. We have a Parent Educator, Carroll Cranch, whom I adore, who comes to our house every few months to check up on the girls. She has been coming since they were only a couple months old and has been able to see them grow and develop. When she comes she tells us about what they should be doing, ideas to help them reach developmental milestones, and plays with them to see how their little brains work. It is very encouraging to have someone look at them and tell me they are doing great, especially since they were preemies and a little behind. Anyway, the program is free if you live in the Rockwood School District. They also do free hearing and vision tests each year. So last Thursday was our first time to go. Both girls did great and have perfect hearing and vision. They also weighed and measured the girls and showed us where they are on the growth chart. I was really surprised!

Atley weiged 20.6lbs and Avery was 20.2. (This was with shoes, diapers, and sweaters on...) But Atley has always been one pound lighter than Avery for the past 10 months or so! Now she is catching up! But...Atley is also 29inches tall, and Avery is 271/2. So Atley is much taller than her sister. I also thought it was interesting that they were in the 20% for weight and poor Avery is in the 10%for height. Last time I went to the doctor the girls were 8 months old and in the 80% for weight. This was normal for them at the time, since they had been drinking extra calorie formula, and then regular formula up until then.(Which most of you know I think is all SUGAR) Right after that I made the change to Goats Milk and the girls continued eating only fruits and veggies, but more of them. Also, up until 8 months old the girls were on track as far as development for being 2 months premature. But it seemed they were so slow to begin doing new things.
Shortly after I made the switch to goats milk, the girls have become very attentive, mobile, and extremely happy and social. I know that a lot of this comes from their current stage of development, but I can definitely see a change in them. Especially Avery. We started going to a chiropractor for both girls and we've seen a big difference in Avery. She used to be so tight, non mobile, and had slight eczema. Since we've been going to the chiropractor and switched to goats milk, she hasn't had any eczema and has begun crawling, bending and chewing on her toes! (Flexible) She is also much happier and attentive.
What a blessing this has all been and what a testimony to the Lord. He is the creator of "Seed bearing plants" and gives us all the nutrients we need from the ground. At this point you might be thinking I'm crazy, and that I'll never give my girls anything "fun". Phillip and I have had many conversations about this. And you know I am a chocoholic! They will eventually eat other foods, but for right now they LOVE what they are eating. They are GREAT eaters and love their diet of: bananas, oatmeal mixed with mommies smoothie, egg yolks, green beans, sweet potatoes, potatoes, apples, carrots, avocado, squash, strawberries, and flax seed. They eat other fruits and veggies as I buy them, or as they are in season.
I believe we should be taking care of these bodies the Lord gave us without being a "crazy" person about it. But I have seen the benefits these last months and it's been pretty amazing.
PLUS....if you make your own baby food, it is MUCH cheaper!!!!

I've posted some pictures of the girls in their Valentine jackets. We've been wearing them everywhere and will wear them every day this week! Yeah Pink and Red!
Not only are the girls crawling so well, they are also standing on their own! Atley loves to stand by herself and rock back and forth to music. She claps for herself too. Avery lights up a huge smile and is very proud of herself as well.

Atley standing along

Avery standing alone

Avery and Atley

Here is a little picture of my day. They mostly play in the same area and LOVE to play with Lilly. Here is Avery trying to climb in with Lilly, and Atley trying to close the door on her. If you look really close you'll see the "V" on the bottom of Avery's shoes. Each girl's shoes are labeled so mommy can put them on the right girl.


On a totally different side note....
We had the Missouri voting last week and I was so disappointed that Huckabee lost to McCain by 1%!! So you guys in Texas had better represent. Huckabee supports pro life and no gay marriage. He is the ONLY candidate who does that!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-BFEhkIujA

So, when the Texas voting comes around, I hope you are all prepared and knowledgeable of who to vote for.

Thanks for reading this super long post. I just wanted you all to know how important it is to think about what you eat.

Also, sorry for all the weird font colors. I tried and tried to fix this, but to no avail.

Blessings and happy early Valentines Day!
Shelly

Super Bowl

First of all, yeah Giants! What a game! It was so exciting....the last 5 minutes that I saw.
We had a party at our house, which was super fun. After feeding and putting the girls to bed (thanks Julie!) I made it down for the last little bit.
Here are some pictures from the big night.

Bath time!

Brushing teeth

BIG BLOG

This could potentially be my longest blog ever. Don't worry though, it's mostly pictures!~ First of all, here is a picture of me and the girls in our winter coats. I thought that since I live here in STL...where there is actually a "winter" we would need winter coats. But...putting little babies in those super cute, but suffocating winter coats, and then trying to put them in carseats is not very much fun. Even though they are cute, they've not worn them very much. Good thing they are big enough to possibly wear next year too...

The girls are sick. Everyone is sick! They have a cold. Times two is not very much fun. REALLY runny noses, and cranky, clingy babies. Needless to say after 3 days of them clinging to me, and wiping snot all over me, I'm getting sick too. Here is my "go to" table during the day. Tylenol, saline, nose "plunger", thermometer, and LOTS of kleenex.

Ok, now for the fun part. We recently (or maybe a year ago...) discovered mold in our bathroom carpet. Who installs carpet in a bathroom anyway.... So we had been planning on tiling it for quite some time now. As we worked on this project, we also did little projects all throughout the house. I felt like it was time to update all of you who never get to see my house with some pictures. So I started at the front door. When you walk is this is what you see.... and yes we will make you sign the guestbook :) Here is the new master bath! So fresh and so clean.
A different view. Phillip installed the faucets all by himself! He is such a handyman :) Around the tub. This is my favorite part :)
We also tiled the floor in the guest bath. We got a new shower curtain and rug, and left everything else the same.
I just thought I would update you on a picture of the girl's room. It is pretty much the same. You can see that we had to take out half of their bumper pads because they were standing on top of them, and pulling the ties off. Still such a sweet room:) Here is our living room. We painted the fire place black (it used to be gold). Here is our bedroom. LOVE our bed:)
A wall in our room....
The guest bedroom.


New and improved basement! We got rid of our blue/white striped couches and cleared out a lot of clutter. Now it is even better, and such a fun place to watch movies. We also love it because the girls' can't hear us down here when they are sleeping...even with the loud movies.
In the back we've made a place for the girls to play. Thanks to all our family who have greatly contributed to the toys in this area!!
In Missouri we have basements, which also means more storage! Here is a picture of some of my attempt to organize storage.... Here is another side of our basement. This part is still in the works.... Here is where I spend most of my time. I've made drawers with things the girls can play with in here. They like to be wherever I am, and I'm almost always in here:)
Last but not least....my gold mini. Just to complete my jump into mommihood, and attempt to organize my life around twins on the move.
I actually have more pictures and updates to write about. I'll save that for another day soon. I hope you all enjoyed seeing a little glimpse into my life and feel a little closer too. (for all my Texas readers). We are off to the chiropractor and whole foods. We are going to beat the cold this week!

Love to you all, Shelly