Party Preview!

Just wanted to say a HUGE thank you to everyone who made our birthday party so special!!  I will do a complete post in a few days.  I feel like I haven't slept or relaxed in over a week.  I don't have the energy right now to give this post the time that it deserves.  Here is a quick preview of some of the pictures and videos to come.  Terry is having back surgery tomorrow so it may be a few days until I can get to it.  I just wanted to say thank you again to everyone!  I wish I would have had more time to sit around and talk to everyone.  I feel like there are some people I didn't even see.  Thank you so much to everyone!  Hope you enjoy these pictures until I have the time to dedicate to a full birthday posting.

Isn't this cake incredible?  The two little lady bugs on the sides were the smash cakes for the girls.

These pictures are just a tease.  Wait until you see the full on messy face pictures!!

Addison on top & Alexis on bottom

Baby Steps....

The last week of so, as I put the finishing touches on my girls birthday party, I've been looking back to the past year and reflecting how far we have come.  How we beat the odds when dealing with infertility, how our family survived 12 weeks in the NICU, how my girls have surpased all the statictics for preemie babies (knock on wood) and just generally how my life has been a series of baby steps the past few years. 

I don't remember my parents teaching me how to walk when I was little.  I don't remember taking my first steps, but I never will forget how these past few years have taught me how to "walk" in a different way.

When we struggled to get pregnant, month after month I would see that huge "NOT PREGNANT" light flashing at me on the digital First Response test, I wanted to crawl into a hole.  We wanted nothing more than to have children.  Terry held me hand through every appointment with our fertility specialist.  As we walked through those huge glass double doors, I remember Terry telling me "this is just one step that have to overcome to being parents".  My husband, My rock....he walked me through everything.

When we found out we were having triplets, I will never forget being scared to death!  A close friend told me, "This is obviously the path that God has chosen for you to walk.  HE would never lead you astray."  She told me the same thing when we lost our third baby girl.  Come to think of it....she told me that numerous times during our pregnancy.

When my girls were born and were immediately whisked away from us, I remember thinking that I didn't have one more ounce of energy left.  I wasn't strong enough to deal with this.  Those first few days, I couldn't find enough energy to pull myself out of the hospital bed.  I know I've said this before, but I credit, my Mom for teaching me how to walk again.  She forced me to get out of bed and made me realize that I was a stronger person than I ever thought I could be.  She showed me how to put one foot in front of the other again when I couldn't do it myself.

As I watch my precious Alexis toddle through our living room, and my darling Addison's strong will as she continues to be determined to walk.....I can't help but reminded of my favorite scripture:

Jeremiah 29:11

"For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you. 

Plans to give you a hope and a future."

God's has a plan for all of us.  Every step, stride, pace has all been a part of the road map that he has for us.  Sometimes we will fall, sometimes we miss a step.  But in the end, He will be right there protecting us.

I'm confident that His plans, and His protection is what allows our family to march,

through this crazy path of life!!

Rain Rain GO AWAY!!!!!

Ok, so the way it looks now.....we are fairly sure that it's going to rain on our parade this Saturday.  I'm still praying and crossing every part of my body that will cross, in hopes of a beautiful day.  Being the planner that I am, I know that we need to incorporate a "plan B". 

Here is our new plan:  If it is raining at noon on Saturday, the party will be moved to our house.  This is not an ideal situation, but we will make it work.  Since there are a large number of people coming, I just want to try and make everyone aware of our back up plan in case we do get rained out. 

I'm trying to keep a positive attitude and hope for the best.  Ever since the girls were born, we've been thrown curve balls and obstacles to overcome.  This is just another one of the curve balls.  We will roll with the punches and do the best we can.  What doesn't kill us makes us stronger!!  We will enjoy this celebration of life with our closest family and friends regardless of the weather!!

I will be sending out a mass email soon.  This will have directions from the hotel to our house.  If you are planning on coming and know others who are as well, please help me by passing along this information.  We continue to be optimistic and are hoping for a great day, but we also need to be realistic and form a back up just in case.

What I LOVE about Costco.....

DOUBLE CARTS!!!

It's so much easier to shop when you have a shopping cart built for two!!!

Yes, I am slacking in my blogging lately, I know!  I'm working on an update from the girls one year physicals that I hope to have up in the next day or two.  I've been very busy putting the finishing touches on the girls party.  Please pray for beautiful weather this Saturday!  What was I thinking planning an outdoor party at a park?  This is stressing me out!!  Please Please Please let the weather be nice!!!

WE MADE IT!

Well, it's official....Terry and I survived the first year!  It seems so surreal to me that I'm writing a blog entry about the first year already!  I'm not going to lie....this past year has been probably the hardest of my entire life.  But on the other hand it has been the best and most rewarding year of my life. 

I'm surprised that this day has been so emotional for me.  I never expected to be dealing with a morning full of the water works!  The day started just like any other...my alarm went off, I hit the snooze.  I laid in bed for a little bit.  I checked my email on my phone and checked my Facebook page. I was surprised that at 6:30 in the morning I already had four emails wishing the girls a Happy Birthday, all of which made me a little teary eyed.  Then onto Facebook.  I was just looking to see what kind of crazy status updates my friends had from the previous night, and I came across my sister's status update......

"It is amazing what can happen in a year!  A day to day fighting battle for life!

Not knowing whether a precious lil baby is going to make it the

next day, hour, minute!

Happy 1st birthday Addison and Alexis!

You two are my little heroes!

BAM!  I couldn't fight back my tears.  I had a full on cry fest!  I hopped in the shower and bawled like I haven't in quite some time.  I heard my phone ring a few times during the ten minutes I was in the shower.  I checked my voicemail and had two more messages wishing the girls a Happy Birthday!  One of those messages was pretty sentimental to me and again...bring on the water works.  It was at that point that I decided today was probably not the best day to go all out with a lot of eye makeup.  Thank goodness for waterproof mascara!  My girls are definitely worth every single tear that I've shed over the past year.

If I could thank each and every person individually that has helped us out along the way, I totally would.  I know that we've had thousands of people praying for us and those prayers have definitely been answered!!!  I remember back to those early days of standing around the NICU.  I'd hover around my girl's isolets just praying for God to watch over them.  Many days when I didn't think I could take much more, we would arrive home and we would receive letters in the mail from churches all over the United States.  People had signed prayer petitions stating that they were praying for our family.  We received letters from Missouri, Illinois, New Mexico, Utah, Oregon, Maryland and probably a couple more that I'm forgetting.  There were literally people all over the world praying for our two precious girls.  I found peace in knowing that God was watching over our family.  I'm confident that all of those millions of prayers are what allowed us to survive this past year.  God has surely blessed us with two amazing miracles!!

There's nothing like holding two tiny precious babies after many weeks of bed rest.  I am so grateful for my precious angels.  They are two miracles that I never take for granted.  I have loved every second of being their Mommy.  While I may feel robbed of being a normal Mom, I will take the good with the bad.  The 12 weeks in the NICU and the 10 hour days that I would spend there....the every 3 hour 'round the clock feedings X2.....the 12 diaper changes a day, the sleepless nights, it's all been  100% worth it to call myself your Mom.  Addison and Alexis I love you more than life itself and I wouldn't trade my life for anything in the world.  Happy Birthday Babies!  You've come a long way since that early Monday morning on April 13th, 2009.

Shop 'til you drop?

Ok, so this may sound a little strange, but it's our life.  The girls will be one year old tomorrow and have not been in a retail store until this weekend.  Honestly, they really have not been anywhere with the exception of relatives houses and the doctors' offices.  Ok, maybe once or twice we've gone out to dinner with them but for the most part we've kept them pretty sheltered.  We've done this for several reasons....(1.) RSV kills!!  I've been told that my obsession with the girls getting RSV is a little out of control, but I'm just trying to make sure nothing happens to my girls.  Preemie baby's lungs do not fully develop until they are 18 months old.  Something as simple as them getting the common cold can turn serious very quickly for a preemie.  YES, our girls will be considered and treated as preemies their entire lives, don't scold me for being protective!  (2.) Imagine how much faster you can get in and out of a grocery store if you don't have to unload two munchkins.  Just for convenience sake, we've always just left the girls at home.  (3.) My obsessive anxiety issues about taking the girls out in public.  I'm always afraid I'm going to be the Mom in the middle of the store trying to console a screaming child or in our case, two screaming children.

This weekend the weather was great and we need to start getting things in order for the girl's party.  I needed Terry's help making some decisions at the store.  I also think Terry was starting to get a little claustrophobic in the walls of our house.  We made the decision that we were going to take the girls shopping with us. 

Once again, my anxiety was all for nothing.  Why can't I just relax already?  Addison definitely has my shop 'til you drop gene and Alexis has my love for people watching.  Addison sat beautifully and kicked her little legs as they dangled from the cart.  She had a blast and as long as I fed her an occasional Gerber Puff she was happy as a clam.  Alexis was very into just looking at everything.  I could see it in her eyes that she was just taking it all in.  She seemed very curious as she glanced around at everything.  Both girls did an amazing job. 

I know that you all think that I'm nuts, but a trip to Wal-Mart with the kiddos was a big step for us.  As the girls get older, I'm starting to feel more comfortable venturing out and doing new things with them.  Yes, I will continue to Lysol wipe down the entire shopping cart before I put them in it, or the swing at the park, but I'm looking forward to more and more adventures with my big girls ( I can't exactly call them babies anymore).

Addison left, chewing on the container of Gerber puffs.  Alexis right, just hanging out, waiting until she can go home and play with the new purple ball.

Tears of JOY!!

For about the last week, Alexis has been taking little steps here and there....nothing that I would really consider as walking. Tonight she decided that she was going to just up and stand up and then take off. She's taken at most about eight steps. I was able to capture her on camera just once. As soon as she sees me grab the camera she immediately tries to grab for it, so I haven't been too successful at videoing her yet. This was the best that I could do. Everytime I see her walk I get a little teary eyed. I can't help but think back to those days where we were told that our girls might not make it. We are truly blessed and I firmly believe that God is the only reason!

The girls have also loved playing with boxes lately. Some early birthday presents have begun to be delivered to our house. The girls are more excited about playing with the boxes than their actual toys. You can see in the video that Alexis is walking over to the box to play with it.

Here are a couple of pictures of the girls playing with the box.

Alexis in green--Addison in white.

Kind of like Jack in the box, but in this case....Addison in the box.

Alexis in the box.

Happy Easter!

I have to say, that this Easter was so much better than last year!  Our two little blessings enjoyed a great day!  Here are a bunch of pictures to prove it!

My little snuggle bunny Addison.  She loved her bunny ears!

Above two pictures:  Alexis felt that the bunny ears made for a better chew toy than they did as a fashion statement.  She did not enjoy the bunny ears at all!

This was the best I could do at getting a picture of the two of them in their bunny ears.

Terry's parents treated us to brunch at the Indianapolis Museum of Art.  Here is the four of us after.  I'm holding Alexis and Terry has Addison.

Addison loves her Ga Ga!

A very creepy looking Easter Bunny was also at brunch.  Alexis had a death grip on his whiskers but really didn't seem to mind him much.

Addison also didn't mind the creepy looking bunny.

Addison loving being outside with Cousin Georgia.

After brunch we went back to Terry's parents house for an Easter egg hunt.  Unfortunately, it had rained early this morning so the girls hunted for eggs inside.  Above:  Addison going for an egg.

Addison thought it was fun to bang her eggs on the window.  Yes, we did change their dresses because it was a beautiful day and they were warm in their Easter dresses.

Addison trying to figure out how to get her egg open.

Addison listening to her Pop Pop tell her where more eggs are.

Addison rolling around on the floor with an egg.

Alexis trying to sink her teeth into a jar of baby food that was in one of her large eggs.

Alexis making sure no one takes her egg.

Alexis finding more eggs.  LOVE this picture!

Alexis thinks plastic eggs make fun toys!

Alexis checking out her Easter basket!

And another one of my favorites.....Terry and Alexis.  Terry's not a fan of this picture but I love it!

Hope you all had a great Easter!

THEN and NOW #2....

This picture is very bad but it's the best that I could do.  These were the first diapers that the girls ever wore back THEN.  No joke.... these diapers were HUGE on the girls!!!  They would almost go up to their necks.  They don't even sell these diapers in the store.  They are about half the size of a preemie diaper.

NOW the girls are both wearing Pampers Cruisers Size 3 and Alexis is on the verge to needing to bump up to a Size 4.  Oh, how far we have come!!

Quick story that I thought was pretty funny....

Many of you know that Terry is a stay at home Daddy and I'm the worker bee of the household.  I would give anything to trade places with Terry, but for now, this is what works best for our family.  Anyway, I always try to make sure that I'm ready for work in enough time so that I can get the girls up in the morning and feed them breakfast.   This way I get to spend a little bit of time with them before I have to go to work.  This morning I get both girls out of their cribs and I bring them downstairs to get them dressed for the day.  The girls are getting too big for the changing table that we use on the pack-n-play downstairs.  So, I changed and dressed Alexis on the living room floor.  She was very clingy and didn't want to let go of me.  I set her down next to me so that I could change Addison.  Without going into much detail, Addison had a very messy diaper, so it was taking me awhile to get her cleaned up.  Alexis was watching and assessing the whole situation.  Then all of the sudden Alexis pops up and grabs Addison's belly button.  Addison has an outie belly button.  Alexis did this abour 5 times while I was trying to diaper Addison.  She was very intrigued by Addison's belly button.  I had to push her hand away each time since I was still trying to get her diaper on.  Then Alexis starts trying to find her own belly button, only to discover that she has an innie and her's doesn't stick out in the same way.  Just the little confused look on her face was so adorable.  The little things like this make me remember why I love being a Mommy so much.  Watching them learn and explore everyday is priceless!!

OFFICIAL TOOTH COUNT....

Addison now has a third tooth.  Two on the bottom and one on the top.

Making our official tooth count at five!!!

Spring has Sprung.....

We have been loving the beautiful weather here in Indiana the past few days.  The girls (as well as Mommy and Daddy) are loving the walks to the park every evening.  The girls thoroughly enjoy playing outside and swinging their little hearts out.  We may have to keep a closer eye on Addison, as she likes to flirt with all the little boys at the park.  Her Daddy has mentioned getting a shot gun for any boys who come around....so watch out gentleman.  Terry has already said no dating until they are 30.  Just thought I would share some cute pictures that we took last night.  Enjoy!!  The sweaters and hoods probably weren't necessary since it was close to 80 degrees, but with the wind yesterday, we didn't want to take any chances of getting ear infections.  And yes, I am that crazy Mom who cleans off the swings with a lysol wipe before I allow the girls to play.  I don't care, make fun of me if you want!  Where my girls are concerned, I can never be too careful!

Not quite sure about swinging double at first....

Addison laughing at her Daddy.  She loves it when you say "wheeeeee" when you push her in the swing.

Addison says, "look at my two shiny teeth boys".  Followed by Terry saying "back off"!!

 

Alexis also showing off her pearly whites!

My little dare devil Addison playing on the slide.  This kid seriously has no fear!  We are afraid she's going to be jumping out of planes and bungee jumping in her teen years.

"Hey boys!  Look at me over here being a big girl on the slide!"

"Best Friends"....my favorite picture of the girls from yesterday.

THEN and NOW...

As we are just a mere 13 days away from the girls first birthday, I thought I would do a few "looking back" posts to the days leading up to the big day.  I'm doing this more as a "look how far we've come" tribute for myself, but I thought I would share it with you all.

THEN

The first time we got to hold both the girls together.  May 23rd, 2009.

June 2009

Father's Day 2009

July 2009

August 2009

September 2009

and for some strange reason I don't have any pictures of Terry holding both girls until just a few days ago??

NOW

March 2009

We've come along way since those first pictures back in May of 2009.

Just a Reminder:

Just wanted to send out a friendly reminder to anyone who hasn't reserved their hotel room for the girls party.....Today is the last day to get the discounted rate in our block of rooms.  The unused rooms in our block will be released to the public at midnight this evening.  I was just notified that there are only 2 rooms left in our block of 10 rooms. 

The hotel contact information is:  The Hotel Indigo @ 317-558-4100.  Be sure to mention the Smith Birthday Party to get a special rate.

We are looking forward to seeing everyone at the party and are excited that so many people are going to be able to make it.  I would like to politely ask that if you have not yet rsvp'd to PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do so!  Due to the large number of people invited it would help us to know if we need to plan for 50 guest or 100 guests.  Thanks!  Looking forward to seeing you all soon!!!

So Proud!

The girls had their one year appointment with the developmental specialist yesterday.  They both once again made me the proudest Momma that I could ever be!!!  Basically what they are looking for is any delay in their motor skills or development.  Keep in mind that they went into our evaluation expecting the girls to perform at an 8 month level, since they are only technically supposed to be 8 months old. 

Since most of the office was on spring break it was very empty.  This worked out perfectly for us.  They put us into a therapy room that mirrored what a small gym would look like for gymnasts.  It has mats on the floor, some climbing toys, balls and all kinds of random toys.  The girls were in heaven! They crawled around on the floor and showed off the fact that they are both part monkey, by climbing onto everything.

Alexis was up first.  She currently weighs 16 pounds 12 ounces and is 26 inches long.  They wanted to make sure that she could roll over on her own so we placed her on her back and within a half second she flipped right over.  They gave her some blocks to pick up to test hand eye coordination.  She picked them right up on cue.  The goal was to have her bang the two blocks together.  Bam!  She did exactly what they wanted her to do.  The therapist rolled a ball on the floor with the intent that she would chase it.  Again, right on cue! She crawled herself right over to the ball and picked it up with the proudest look on her face.  They did about 40-50 other little tests with her that she did just perfectly.  She was so proud of herself and Mom & Dad were as equally proud.  My little peanut scored very well!  They said that her body is very solid and her muscle tone is excellent.  Alexis scored at a 12 month old level!  The therapist as well as the doctor was very impressed with how well she did.

Addison was second, even though she really did most of her showing off during Alexis' testing.  Addison weighs 15 pounds 8 ounces and is 27 inches tall.  Addison also did just about everything right on target.  The therapist rang a bell to get her attention.  She looked at the bell and then the therapist hid the bell under a blanket.  The goal was to get Addison to crawl over to the bell, find it under the blanket, and to ring it herself.  She did it without a second of hesitation.  We learned that Addison is REALLY into playing with balls.  There was a volleyball on the floor that she was completely infatuated with the entire time.  Everything they asked her to do, she was right on top of it.  Addison scored at an 11 month old level!  They were also impressed with her progress given her rough start in life and her extensive bleeding on her brain.  The only negative thing that they said about Addison is that her muscle tone in her legs is a little weak.  They said that if her primary mode of travel is still mainly crawling, that once she starts walking more this should work itself out.  Knowing that we were originally told that Addison would never leave the hospital, she continues to amaze me on a daily basis! Who knew that I could love two little people so much?

Both girls did the same tests with the therapist and I can honestly say that I've never been more proud of my girls than I was yesterday.  I completely expected them to be a little irritable since we had to schedule this testing during their naptime, but both girls had a blast.  They loved crawling around and climbing in the mini gym.  They thoroughly enjoyed playing with all the different toys and were perfect little angels the entire time.  Terry and I had a great time at the appointment as well.  I think we had just as much fun rolling around on the floor and playing as the girls did.  Last night, Terry and I discussed trying to get the girls into an infant gymnastics class since we all loved playing on the mats so much.   We both feel that we have been cooped up in the house for so long that it will be nice to do something normal with the girls for a change.

Both girls do not possess and signs of down syndrome or cerebral palsy which is also excellent news.  We were warned that just because they don't possess any signs right now that doesn't mean than it can't sneak up on us at a later date.  We continue to be cautiously optimistic and very proud of our two miracles!!!

Party Info for out of town guests....

As the rsvp's are starting to roll in for the party, we've been receiving several questions that I thought I would address at one time.  Please excuse the informality of this, but this way seems a lot easier since I know most of our guests traveling from afar to the party will read this.

1.  Indiana is permanently in the Eastern time zone now.  We used to not change time with the rest of the world but now we do.  We are one hour ahead of most of you.  The party is from 2-5 EST.

2.  The Hotel Indigo is approximately 4 miles from the park.  Terry & I estimate that it would take about 10 minutes to travel from the hotel to the park.

3.  The Hotel will hold our block of rooms through March 31st.  If you plan on coming, and are in need of overnight accommodations, I encourage you to book your room before the 31st.  There is a NCAA basketball tournament in Indianapolis the same weekend and most hotels are already booked to capacity.

4.  We have 10 hotel rooms reserved in our block.  Four of which I know have already been reserved.  Rooms have been discounted to $79 per night plus applicable taxes and fees.

5.  The hotel is within walking distance of many restaurants and shopping locations.  It is located off of a very busy intersection so walking is probably not recommended but as requested here are a few things located within a half mile:  Wal-Mart, Meijer, Kohls, Sams Club, McDonalds, Wendys, Steak-n-Shake, Cracker Barrel, Ruby Tuesdays, Subway.

6.  Yes, we will be serving food.  We are planning on doing your typical picnic/bbq in the park menu.  If anyone has any specific dietary needs that need to be met please let me know, so we can do our best to accommodate you.  And NO Carrie, specific dietary needs does not include your request for a large porterhouse steak!  LOL!

I think this answers most of the more common questions that I've been getting.  We are very excited to see everyone and are amazed at how big of a turn out we are going to have.  I would like to ask everyone again to PLEASE rsvp!!!  Due to the large number of people that will be attending, we need to get an accurate number so we can plan accordingly for food.  Thanks!!

My LUCKY charms!

The girls Ga Ga (aka Terry's mom) buys the girls the cutest pj's for all the holidays.  After we took the girls to the park tonight and gave them baths we attempted a few pictures in their St. Paddy's Day jammies.  They aren't the greatest pictures but it was the best that I could do.

The below three pictures are Alexis.  She was not having any part of holding still to pose for pictures.  When she did hold still she was more interested in chewing on her pj's then smiling for me.

The below three pictures are Addison.  She did a little better with posing but still wasn't too excited that I was snapping pictures of her again.

Getting a picture of the two of them together was almost impossible.  Thank goodnes for digital cameras because I literally took almost 60 pictures and these are the best two of them both together.

And of course I couldn't not show you the cute little tushy on their jammies...

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY TO YOU ALL!!

11 Months!

Our darling girls turned 11 months this past Saturday.  How in the world is this possible already?  I can't believe that a year of our lives has flown by so quickly.  Everyone was always telling us to enjoy them being little because before you know it, they will be grown.  It just doesn't seem right that we are around the corner from their first birthday.  They are becoming so grown up and turning into little people right before our eyes. 

This may not seem like a major milestone to most, but the girls took their first bath in their own bath tub last night.  WOW!!!  This makes things SO much easier for us.  I can't explain how much work and how exhausting it is to wash two majorly squirmy girls in the kitchen sink.  It amazes me that within just a few months we have gone from the little plastic bathtub, to the kitchen sink and now to their bathroom tub in their own bathroom.  The girls LOVE to splash.  As Terry will tell me, I have no one to blame for the excessive splashes but myself.  I taught them how to do it when I was trying to get them to enjoy bath time.  Now water is everywhere and it's such a big mess, but I love every minute of it, and so do they!!!  They both spent almost 20 minutes playing with their bath toys in the tub and splashing each other.  We did learn very quickly that we need to invest in a bath mat and a faucet guard.  Hoorah for little milestones!!!

So what are the girls up to lately?  Here are some quick stats:

Addison Grace

• No official weight but I'm guessing around 16 pounds.
• She has found her voice this month.  I was starting to worry because she wasn't as chatty as Alexis but Addison babbles away all the time now.  Nothing that amounts to any words but she gets her point accross.
• Still wearing size 2 diapers and size 3 at night.
• Wears 6 month clothes.  An occasional 9 month outfit will slip in since she is so long.
• Loves to be outside and take walks in the stroller.
• Loves to eat Gerber Puffs and bang on her tray when she's eating.  Basically she loves to bang on anything.
• Is a super fast crawler and will walk as long as she is holding onto something.
• Give high fives.
• Give's the sweetest kisses.  But won't give you a hug.
• Still sleeps well, but likes to wake her sister up in the morning.  I think she thinks that if she is awake everyone else should be as well.  Most mornings when I go to get her out of her crib she is standing up, yelling at her sister accross the room.  She generally sleeps from 8:00pm to 7:45am with one nap in the afternoon.
• LOVES LOVES LOVES to bounce.  One day recently I had her sitting on my leg.  I started to bounce her and she went nuts with excitement.  When I stopped she started to jump up and down as to tell me to keep bouncing her.  Now if i'm sitting on the floor she will crawl up in my lap and start jumping until I bounce her.
• Still has the most beautiful blue eyes and her hair is getting really long and curly.

Alexis Faith

• No official weight but I'm guessing about 17 pounds.
• Says Ma Ma & Da Da and what I think is Tat (Cat).  
• Now wears size 3 diapers all the time because her belly is too chubby for a size 2.  
• Wears size 6 month clothing.
• Loves her Daddy and is definitely a Daddy's girl through and through.  
• Will eat just about anything but isn't much of a morning person.  Breakfast takes her a little while to eat.  She doesn't mind the food she just needs some extra time in the morning to process things. 
• Crawls very well, walks all over the place as long as she is holding onto something, has started to stand up without assistance, and has taken a few unassisted steps prompting an immediate fall onto her tush.  I've been saying for awhile that she will be walking soon, but nothing yet.
• Sleeps like a rock!  Generally also sleeps from 8:00pm to 7:45am with one nap in the afternoon.  She always fights her naps but once she is out she will sleep through just about anything.
• Gives high fives and lots of them.  If you ask her to give you five you better be prepared for about 20-25 fives because she loves it.
• Loves playing "where's Alexis".  Usually in the evening when we are getting ready for bed I will take off her shirt and put it on her head.  I proceed to say "where's Alexis" and she will pull the shirt off her head and giggle uncontrollably.  Super cute!

Again, the girls continue to amaze me on a daily basis.  We have a VERY well oiled routine in our house.  In my opinion, having multiples requires routines to help build consistancy and structure.  I was again very anxious about adjusting the girls to day light savings time.  A fifteen minute adjustment on Friday night in preparation, a 15 minute adjustment on Saturday night and 30 minute adjustment on Sunday evening and we are all set.  Once again, I stressed myself out for nothing.  We are so blessed to have two beautiful and healthy baby girls.  Not a day goes by that I don't think God for everything that HE has given me.