Five Months

They are five months old now! (well, they were five months old, a long time ago. I'm a little behind schedule)

I'm not going to lie, this has been the hardest month for me so far. They are such good little girls and they still don't cry too much and still sleep through the night, but this month has been frustrating for them and for me. They want to go, they want to play, they want to be held (all day long), they want mommy to read to them, tickle them, and play with them the whole time they are awake. Which would not be a problem if there is just one of them. But there are two babies and only one mommy! This month I have looked at people with just one baby with envy. I wish that I could just sit with my baby and love on them all day, but I have to choose which one to play with. . . . which just sucks! There are a few things I have learned to do with both babies, but they want one on one time too, and I do love it when I am able to just pick up my Izzy and love on her, but it brake my heart then when Pepper looks up at me and starts crying because she wants one on one time, so then I pick her up and put Izzy down and then Izzy looks at me, so . . . you get the idea. Don't get me wrong, I love having twins and I feel so lucky. I can't imagine one baby without the other and they are such good girls, but where there are many pros there are bound to be few cons.

How could you not love this little Izzy. She is my sweet little girl. She has finally found something she likes to eat. Solids! Yay! Now maybe we can start putting on some weight and catch up to her sister. (ya, right!) She is such a happy baby and loves to smile. She is my little smile girl. She smiles all the time and loves to be around other people. I can hand her off to anyone and she will turn on her charm and before you know it, you are in love with this little girl.

She loves to read with her mommy and we are working on sitting nice. She is an archer. We call it planking. She will go stiff head to toe. It is funny but makes it hard when you are holding her on your lap or trying to change her diaper.

Pepper has been doing much better with the sitting but she still will need some work. She is the big talker! She ga-ga's and goo-goo's all day. We are having a few problems with stranger-danger and she does not like being handed off to anyone, but other then that she is a very happy baby. (Most of the time)

Her new thing is kicking her bed. While she lays in bed on her back she will lift her legs up in the air and slam them down onto the bed as hard as she can! You can hear it from anywhere in our house! I will put them down for their nap and start cleaning the house and every few seconds hear, bump, . . . . . bump, . . . . .bump. It makes me giggle. Oh, I love them so much!

Eating of the solids

So everyone told me that the first time you feed solids to your babies you have to brake out the camera and take some pictures. So we did and I have to say, my girls eat like they are much older then just 5 months. First, they eat cleanly. No food on the face. They don't really spit it out and they don't make a mess with their hands in their faces. Second, they like the taste. They didn't make the sourpuss face! I was so looking forward to it too! :( Third, they eat whatever I give them and ALL I give them. I have finally figured out something that Izzy likes to eat!!! I am so happy! After fighting with her for 5 months 5 to 6 meals a day, trying to get her to drink her bottle, I now know that she will eat solids like it is going out of style!! In fact she lunges forward to the spoon. She just loves it!

Pepper

Pepper was trying to help daddy in this picture. Mom is usually the one to feed them so this was a learning experience for him too. I love her curled little toes!

Izzy

Full and done!

I am going to be making my own baby food and can't wait to try different foods. If we find something they don't like I will grab my camera and be sure to grab some cute pictures. (maybe just for the fun of it I'll have them try a lemon, he he he)

The Girls First Halloween

Tell me these aren't the cutest Halloween costumes you have ever seen!

My mom made the wigs, I made the tights, and we bought/had the oneies.

I can't believe they turned out so cute!

So, Halloween this year was fun. We went to two different church parties and even won a costume contest. Everyone kept telling me how cute their costumes were, which of course, I had to agree with!

I know that they are not old enough to go trick or treating but I just had to do it this year. I didn't want such cute outfits to go to waste. We only went down one street and then I few houses on the way back home. I had so much fun, even though a few houses looked at me funny for trick or treating with kids that were not going to be eating the candy. I even had one or two people say to me, "who is really going to be eating this?". Oh well, I had fun showing my cute girls off!

At 5 or 6 houses when we would get there the woman who answered the door would yell to her husband, "John, you have got to come see these costumes" that always made me feel so good. I had so much fun this Halloween and I can't wait to do it again next year. I thought it was fun to go trick or treating when I was a kid but I never knew how much fun it would be as an adult. Happy Halloween everyone!

Breast Cancer Walk

A couple of Saturday ago we (Cory, my Dad, Jordan, Kaylee, the Girls, and I) went on a breast cancer walk. It was really cool and nice and short; only three miles. We had a lot of fun and enjoyed being with one another.

There were a lot of people there and lots of families walking together too. I saw youth groups and even young kids too. (3 and 4 year old)

I thought this was really cute.

I walked for my Grandma on my mom's side. She died from breast cancer before I was born. I wish I had had the chance to get to know her while here on earth.

It was a beautiful walk. I loved looking at the mountains and seeing the blue sky. Luckily it had cooled down a little and the temp outside was nice.

Yeah! We made it to the finish. We had a great time and I loved spending time with my family.

Pepper

Pepper Whittaker

Oh, Pepper, what a cutie!

When I was pregnant and the girls were big enough to start kicking around in there and have me feel them, Pepper took the cake! She was the biggest kicker ever. In fact, I called her a spaz because she could go for hours. She would kick me every which way and as soon as she got tired of one spot she would flip her whole body and start up again. Something she still loves to do today. Due to her sister's need to take up most of the belly, Pepper was pushed down into the corner of my belly. Try as she might she could never get her sister to share, however, she was able to get her back another way. Food. Pepper was taking all the nutrients and not sharing with her sister. With twin-to twin-syndrome one takes all the nutrients and the other doesn't get any. You would think the baby that was not getting anything would be the weaker baby but it is not true. It is the baby that is getting too much that is at a greater risk. Pepper and I had a talk and I told her she needed to share.

When Pepper was born she was too blue and had a hard time breathing on her own the first day. It was so scary and luckily she was able to fight through it and within a few hours was doing much better. The next day she was breathing on her own and doing great. In the NICU she did wonderful. She was taken off the warming bed, taken off the IVs, and taken off the monitor faster then they thought she would be. In fact, they let me take her home the day I went home. It was a dream come true to be able to take a baby home. I had spent that day crying because they told me I would have to go home without my babies. I remember bringing my Pepper home and putting her in her crib. She was so small. I remember thinking the crib was way too big for her. My dad even said that I could fit like eight more babies in the crib with her. (no way, two is enough for this momma)

She cracks me up all the time. She is a very happy baby and smiles a lot. She is also my big noise maker. She talks (baby gabble) more, screams louder, and cries longer. We have started to reach the age where they can hear themselves, and I love to wake up in the morning and hear her talking softly to herself in the crib. She ga-gas and goo-goos all morning long and when I go into get her out of the crib I am met with the biggest smile. She loves to smile and sometimes it's a little smirk and others times she smiles so big that her whole mouth opens. Her smile warms my heart and she could be crying all day long and in one moment smile at me and all my frustrations fall away. I love her smile.

She loves to look at the world around her. She looks at her hands and looks at her binki. She looks at her toys and loves to hold and look at moms hands too. She likes to be read to and I love how I can tell she is learning everything she can. She loves her baths and loves to watch me pour the water on her belly. She watches me so closely when I am feeding her and looks around for daddy when she hears his voice enter the room. When I dress her now she wants to hold onto the next item of clothing until I need it. So I'll give her her pants to hold, then her socks, then her hat or bow, then her bracelet or binki. She studies each item until I need it, then I give her the next one. I love how much she loves to learn and I can't wait until the next step of learning.

I love my Pepper so much, and I am so thankful that God sent her to me.

I love you Pepper!

Grandma's purple blanket

(Pepper)

So, my mom has this purple blanket that she knitted out of the softest yarn ever. It is the best and everyone loves to snuggle up into it, especially the girls. Almost as soon as it touches their skin they start to get heavy eyed and they will stay asleep for hours as long as they are rapped up in it. They love it so much that they snuggle up into it bringing it over their faces and gripping it with their hands and toes. Sometimes their toes even stick through the weaves, so you see this lump of purple blanket and then baby toes sticking out of the side. (So cute!)

The only downside to the blanket is, sometimes the "fluff" from the yarn comes off.

I find it in their toes and fingers all the time!

The other day Cory was playing with Pepper and he noticed some "purple fluff" in her toes. As he pulled it out he turned to me and said, "So, I see Pepper was snuggling in the blanket today."

Yes, she sure was!

Four months

We are four months!

Can you believe it?

It seems like in the last month the girls have really grown out of the "Newborn" stage and are finally babies. They follow us better and interact with us so much better now. They also have found their hands, which I love to watch. They are still a lot of work, but it seems like they are becoming so much more fun.

Izzy

Oh, Izzy! I love her so much. She is still my cute "little" girl and we still are having a hard time getting her to eat, but she is putting on good weight. As of today she is 11.9 lbs. Good going Izzy! Although we are still doing our tummy time and even practice our sitting, Izzy loves to stand up! She does not try walking yet, just loves to stand on your legs, the floor, the bed, anything you will let her stand on. I'm sure that she will be the first to walk! It is almost like she can't wait to get going and experimenting (aka, tear the house apart) so she can learn everything.

She is becoming a thumb sucker. In fact, she is starting to bring everything to her mouth. Just the other day I put her binki in her hand and she put it right in her mouth!, all by herself! I can't believe they are growing up so fast. It makes me so sad. Slow down!!

Her new thing is sticking out her tongue. Oh, she is so cute! I could just eat her up! She smiles all the time now and has even laughed a few times. She is such a happy baby. When Cory and I took them up to Joe City, she sat with a group of people at one of the tables they had there and laughed, smiled, and entertained them for a hour or two. What a social butterfly. She has even started to talk, not really, just ga ga's and goo goo's.

Izzy, you are such a good girl! I love you so much and I am thankful everyday that you are my daughter.

Pepper

I love her so much! Pepper is also doing really good. She weights 14.2lbs today. She is such a little chubby girl and I love it. Why is it that this is the only time in a girls life where they can have rolls and it be cute? I say bring them on! She is still my big eater, and I think I can count on one hand the times she has not finished her bottle. She is so funny about it too. It is like a work out for her when she eats! She sucks so hard and so fast that she has to stop every few minutes or so and breath. She will huff and puff for a few seconds and attack the bottle again.

She loves tummy time and now whenever we put her down for it she get up on her elbows and looks around at everything. She is so funny. She crosses her little hands and looks all prissy about it, like she is all that and a bag of wigs. Oh, she makes me laugh.

She is such a big talker. She talks cute, loud, learns, yells, and even sighs. (Like I embarrass her already or something) I swear she has said mum, daddy, i love you, hungry, and ninja. I know she is so smart and is going to love ninjas or something. Although I can't wait for them to talk, I think I can wait. I think we are going to have some chatter boxes on our hands. I'll be sure to post their "twin" conversations.

How did I get so lucky to have such a wonderful little girl? I love you, Pepper.

This has been the best four months of my life! I can't wait to see what comes next.