Nine Months Old

Official Stats

Suzette - 23 lbs. 10 oz. (98th %tile) / 29 inches (92nd %tile)

Ian - 21 lbs. 4 oz. (76th %tile) / 30 1/4 inches (98th %tile)

Wow, can you believe those stats?!  My babies are growing so fast and so big!  I knew Ian was getting longer, but wasn't expecting to see a number over 30 at the doctors office today.  And Suzie Q, oh my, she is my chunker.  I could feel she was getting heavier, but didn't know it'd be 3 pounds more than her last check-up.  Ahhh, this is going by so fast.  I'm in love with my big babies.  I do have to remind myself of that at times when carrying both of them in their car seats at the same time.  But secretly I would take a chubby baby over a skinny one any day.

 This past month as both Ian and Suzette have started to become more mobile.  And thus begins the baby proofing.  I knew this day would come.  Suzie enjoys pushing the flap on the VHS player, opening the drawer with the plastic bags and pulling down the cable box.  I figure before I go crazy baby proofing it'd be helpful to know what I need to do exactly.  Hence seeing how much the twins can reach, what they can and cannot open and how far they can go.

 Caught in the act!

 Ian has started to get up on his hands and knees and rock back and forth.  Suzie has been doing this for a while now and has skipped right over belly crawling into hand and knee crawling.  I'm thinking Ian is about to follow her lead.

 But for the most part he is our rolly polly man.  When he is sitting up he'll fall straight back then roll onto his tummy, then again over onto his back and so forth until he reaches his desired object or destination.  On this day is was under the coffee table.

It has been fun to hear more talking from each of them this past month.  Ian and Suzie are now both saying da-da and ma-ma and ba-ba.  The grunts from Ian and squeals from Suzie have continued and provide an interesting soundtrack while driving in the car.

The twins have also gotten really good with eating table food and bringing even small pieces to their mouth AND getting them in.  Today their pediatrician told me to be prepared for going 100% table food and no more baby food at the 12 month mark...not sure I'm ready for that (i.e. more mess, longer feeding times, more food stained laundry), but I know they will be.  Good thing I have 3 more months to prepare myself.

Naps have been going well, but we always seem to fall short of the golden standard of 2 naps a day that are 2 hours long.  Usually it's been 2 naps that are 1 - 1 1/2 hours long with them both still sleeping 12 hours at night (so thankful they've been doing that since the day they turned 4 months old!).  The other day a lady mentioned to me that soon we'll be transitioning to the one nap a day schedule.  Really?!  Could that be coming so soon?  I need to count my blessings now because their nap times, even if they do end up only being 1 hour, have saved me through the first half of this pregnancy.

As for teeth Suzie is getting her second one on the bottom and Ian is still going strong with the six he has.  I thought for a while there that he was getting his molars because he became super fussy at every nap time for about a week, but I haven't seen for felt anything back there yet.

Nine months old, crazy.  They have now been out of my body longer than they've been in it.  Wild.

And on that note I will leave you with a candid out take photo from their 9 month photo shoot today...

  Pretty cute, right?  I couldn't agree more.

First Father's Day

Dave and I have always thought of the roll our fathers have played in our lives on this day, but this year was the first time the word DAD applied to Dave.  I wanted to make sure it was a special day so we decided to celebrate with only our little family soaking up just being together.  We started off by going to church in the morning AND stayed for all 3 hours!  

Yes folks, this has not happened up to this point.  I was pretty hesitant since naps and feedings are always missed or delayed because of church (I had visions of us walking up and down the hallways with unconsolable crying babies by the last hour), but up for the challenge and it turned out not to be that bad at all.  After sacrament meeting Dave and I feed and changed the twins in the kitchen, because guess what - that is one thing I cannot do on my own at church in the mother's lounge.  In our building the mother's lounge is actually a room only accessible from inside one of the women's restrooms.  So even if no one else was in there at the time Dave couldn't just come in to help.  I propose a family lounge be put into all church buildings so fathers can help when needed.  Luckily in our church building there is a pretty big kitchen with a table and chairs in the middle so it actually works out well.  

The rest of the second hour was spent in the lobby with the other moms and babies.  And for the third hour we braved it going our separate ways each taking one of the babies.  Since it was Father's day Dave took Ian to priesthood and I had Suzie in relief society.  Both did great!  I think by that time they were beyond tired and just didn't have the energy to cause much mischief.  Needless to say we didn't even get out of the parking lot after church before both Ian and Suzette were out cold.  Dave and I talked about how nice it felt to be there for the third hour meetings again.  It just allows more opportunity to not only socialize, but completely recharge our spiritual batteries as well.  It felt great and we knew we'd finally made the big step and crossed over to attending all 3 hours as a family.  So that was Dave's 1st gift and here are the others...

 When getting home from church he received a photo card from Ian and Suzette with the 'We Love Daddy' keychain inside,

woo hoo, check out that 20 week preggo belly!

 a homemade grilled margarita pizza(using the best recipe ever!) with super yummy corn and tomato salad for dinner that were DELISH,

mmmm, mmmm, good!

 and a little memento to keep with him while at work - a water bottle with photos of Ian and Suzette.

 I think the scrumptious vegetarian dinner will become our Father's Day tradition.  As for the gifts this year I really wanted simple things that would be meaningful, useful and that he could keep with him.  It has been my pleasure and joy to watch Dave enter into fatherhood with such ease and grace.  His patience with and love for his children are amazing.  It brings such peace to my heart knowing these children will grow up having such a wonderful man in their lives who holds their well being in highest regard and cherishes them beyond measure.

Six Years

June 16, 2006 we were here...

and June 16, 2012 we were back in the same place with two new munchkins and one on the way (plus a little more weight and a little less hair, but we won't focus on those things)!

 Saturday was a beautiful day and we started off celebrating our sixth wedding anniversary by visiting the place where we became an eternal family.

Next we headed to Little Bennett Regional Park to have a picnic on the grass near the stream.  The weather was perfect with a cool breeze and birds chirping all around.

Say cheese!

Dave and I enjoyed some chicken salad sandwiches, potato and pasta salad and cherries while Ian and Suzette fought over the bag of strawberries. 

Ian, it's my turn!

No Suzie, it's my turn!

Okay, let's compromise and both chew on the bag at the same time!

After lunch we headed over to wade in the stream for a bit.

Ian was a little cautious, as usual :-)

Suzie loved every minute!

Showing off her 1 bottom tooth

 We had fun celebrating our first wedding anniversary with children, but after our awesome day at Little Bennett the babes were worn out.  We put them down for the night then Dave and I headed out for a celebratory dinner while my Grandpa was on babysitting duty.  We found a list 100 cheap eats in the Washingtonian magazine and had already starred all the ones we wanted to try.  Freddy's Lobster & Clams caught my eye right away and Dave agreed to indulge my love of seafood for our anniversary dinner.  It was PURE HEAVEN!!!  Reminiscing over our previous years of marriage and sharing our hopes and dreams for our future has always been a great way to celebrate for us and this year was no exception.  Not to mention the scrumptious food did nothing but enhance the experience.

 We each got 2 of their famous dishes, the lobster roll and lobster stew.  I debated about getting the lobster roll warm with butter or cold with the house paprika mayo.  After reading some reviews I decided to go for the cold version and I couldn't have been happier.  They put the meat from one whole lobster on the roll and I savored every bite!  Simple sweet and succulent goodness filled my belly and I was oh so happy.  Dave had the lobster stew, which he shared with me.  It was also divine with a cream base and huge chunks of lobster.  The hot stew and cold lobster roll were the perfect combo.

 Dave likes seafood, but does not have the same LOVE of it that I do.  He told me during dinner that for him it was the entertainment factor in watching me enjoy my food that made it all worth while.  While sitting at the table we saw a sign for a twin lobster deal on Wednesdays - 2 whole lobsters for the price of 1!  Jokingly he said, "Hmm, I wonder if your birthday is on a Wednesday?"  Guess what folks, it is!!!!  Ahh, Freddy's thanks for the good eats and we'll be back!

 We've made it up to counting our years of marriage on two hands now.  I've learned many things along the way and recently came across this blog post that summed up my thoughts in 11 points.  It's written better than I ever could have articulated, so if you have a minute check it out.  For me each year has confirmed to me Dave is without questions the best person I could have ever decided to marry.  His strengths compliment my weakness so well and he'll be the first to tell you that it is vice versa also.  We've been on (and currently are on) some crazy adventures together and the best part of it all, we are honestly more in love and even happier today than we were the day we got married.  Before I was married I used to think people were crazy when I heard them say that - how could you ever be more in love than you are on your wedding day?!  Well, now I know and it is pure bliss.  To have such a complete and deep love for another and feel the same in return is one of the greatest joys in life.  

 How grateful I am to have the knowledge that our union is an eternal one and will continue forever.

Half Way

Today I hit the 20 week mark for this pregnancy.  It's still hard for me to believe I'm really half way there.  Luckily, this baby has been taking it pretty easy on me so far.  Morning sickness didn't set in quite as early this time and usually comes in mild waves of nausea around 5am and 5pm and is very manageable with my prescription for zofran.  During the first trimester I ate mostly bland starchy foods (baked potatoes, pasta, rice) as nothing really seemed too appealing, but now that I'm in the second trimester I'm happy to say my appetite has returned!  My sensitivity to smells has also diminished a bit which helps in wanting to eat a better variety of foods.  I seem to have a bit more energy, but not a ton.  It's still a lot of work taking care of the twins everyday and sometimes it's hard for me to tell if I'm tired because of this pregnancy or just from being with the twins all day.  I also worry soooooo much less with this pregnancy.  Having just gone through it with twins and that having been my first I had so many concerns and worries right from the start.  With Ian and Suzette having been born strong and healthy and doing so well now I just feel at peace knowing chances are pretty good this baby will be okay too.

I've started to accept my body image issues and even embrace them going from frumpy loose fitting shirts that would hide my postpartum belly to form fitting shirts that show off my 5 month baby bump.  I gained 45 lbs. with the twins and lost 30 lbs. before becoming pregnant with this baby.  I am happy that I haven't gained anymore weight yet, but I know the the second half of the pregnancy is really when the pounds start adding up quickly.  As long as I don't get back up to the same weight I was with the twins at the end I'll be happy.  No denying it now that maternity pants and shirts are often the only way to go.  And if they weren't so dang comfortable I might care, but since they are I say bring them on!  It's been really funny to be out and about in public and look at people's faces when they see me with the twins then glance at my belly and wonder if that's just left over from a twin pregnancy or if I'm really pregnant with another already.  If they start up a conversation with me sometimes I just leave them guessing and sometimes I excitedly say, "Isn't it great my twins will have another sibling soon?!"  We had the warmest reaction from so many people at church who are genuinely excited for us.  It has been so nice to have the support of those who share the same values as us.  When pregnant with the twins so many would comment with, "You're so lucky, since you're having boy/girl twins you can be done!"  I'd always reply saying that Dave and I thought it may be nice for them to have more than one sibling each.  Haha, little did either of us know how soon that'd come!

Overall I feel so blessed with this pregnancy.  To me it truly is a miracle and I try not to take anything for granted.  I am beyond grateful my body is able to function in this capacity and thrilled another child will be joining our family.  It really will be so fun for the the twins and this baby to grow up never knowing life without the others.  Heres to hoping the last half of this pregnancy will be just as nice to me as this first half has been!

Massanutten

 Dave's parents let us use a week at their Massanutten time share which made for a very affordable vacation.  Massanutten, which I didn't know much about before, is resort in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia that has skiing in the winter and golfing, hiking, mountain biking and water parks in the summer.  We were so excited to go and very much looking forward to having some time to relax with just the four of us.  

I had to take a picture because I knew if I gave just a description I wouldn't be believed - this was the jumbo jacuzzi that was in the 2 bed, 2 bath condo we stay in all week... 

can you believe how big it is?!  This helped with my relaxation throughout the week and also made for some fun bath times with the twins.  I have now added this as a must have item for any of our future houses.

There were some cooler days while we were there so we made the most of indoor activities.  First we headed to Luray Caverns to check out the awesome stalactite and stalagmite formations.  I thought it'd be a pretty cool temperature in the cave and having not packed any socks for Ian or Suzie (oops!) I decided footed fleece pajamas would work perfectly!

And then we found out it was not cool at all, but warm and humid.  We both ended up taking our jackets off and taking the twins out of the carriers to cool down.  Oh well, at least I tried to be prepared.  It seemed like Ian and Suzie liked looking around.  Suzie had fun making her squeals and hearing them echo and Ian kept making his low grunting sounds.  We started calling him our little cave monster.  There was a time when both of them were totally silent - when the stalacpipe organ was playing which was so cool to hear!

Our attempts at getting a family shot while in the cavern...

Everyone looking, but not everyone's face made it in the shot

A little better, but Ian is still out of the photo

And we did it!  Everyone in the shot, mostly ;-)

 We also enjoyed going to the indoor pool on the rainy days.  At the resort there are a ton of pools and an awesome looking water park.  We would've had to pay $60 to get into the water park so we opted for the free pools since at this age there really isn't too much of a difference for Ian and Suzette.

Believe it or not we had our first restaurant experience with the twins while on vacation.  When they were younger/smaller it was just logistically harder to find room for 2 car seats at a table or booth and now that they're old enough to be in high chairs it was something I would only attempt having another adult with me to help.  So Dave suggested Shoney's since he has fond memories of going there with his dad as a kid and it's a great family friendly place.  It was also fun to get Suzie and Ian different things to try from the breakfast buffet.  Peaches, yes.  Cottage cheese, no.  Cheerios, always!  And when we left the floor under and around our table didn't even look that bad.  The experience went so well we took them to Five Guys later in the week!

A little blurry and out of focus, but happy to document the twins first time at a restaurant.

 There were so many awesome things to do outdoors that during the sunny days with perfect temperatures we spent as much time outside as we could!  Our condo complex was right across from the driving range so during a few of the babies nap times Dave would walk over to practice his swing.

We had fun feeding the animals at the petting farm.

Suzie liked looking at the turkey and Ian liked watching the ducks.

Suzie was pretty excited after seeing all the animals!

 Massanutten is known for having some awesome mountain biking trails so after going to the petting farm in the morning we drove to the overlook at the top of the mountain (yes, I realize in Utah these would all be called foothills) in the afternoon to take in the beautiful scenery...

 drop Dave off at the trailhead...

 then meet up with him 30 minutes later at the bottom of the mountain.  

 It took just about exactly the same amount of time for him to ride down the trail as it did for me to drive around to the other side of the mountain and pick him up.  I loved driving along the back country roads and soaking up all the quaint sights of farm houses and rolling hills.  And as a bonus I had some pretty cute faces to keep me company along the way!

Ian's favorite new trick to do while in his carseat

Suzette was pretty happy to see daddy again!

 We also enjoyed going to the outdoor pool when it was warm and sunny.  Suzie and Ian were happy just floating around and people watching.

Mr. Ian and I taking a short break from being in the water.

 On the way home we decided to take Skyline Drive through Shenandoah National Park.  The views were unbelievable!  A place we will go back to for sure.

 When taking a wrong turn down a country road I saw this sign and thought it was the perfect way to sum up out trip...

Thanks for the wonderful memories Massanutten, we hope to see you again!