Looking for suggestions....

This past week Terry has been telling me that Alexis has become the master escape artist.  She has figured out how to take apart her gate and escape her fenced in area.  I didn't believe him.  Last night, Terry went out to the hardware store to purchase some zip ties to secure the gate so she can't take it apart.  I still wasn't convinced, but whatever.  So, last night why Terry was at Home Depot, I had started working on dinner.  I was browning some hamburger and I hear Addison giggling.  I look behind me and Alexis is in the kitchen at my feet.  She had really taken apart her gate.  Little booger!  Terry was able to zip tie it together so if she figures out how to escape now, she is pure genius!!!

Here's what I'm looking for help with.....

When Alexis escaped, Addison wasn't far behind.  I figured as long as the girls stayed out of trouble I would just let them play in the kitchen while I finished up dinner.  Alexis opened one of the cabinets and proceeded to pull out the giant turkey roaster pan.  She started smacking it with her hand and laughing.  I handed her a plastic spoon and she banged her little heart out.  I only wish that the video camera was close by.  I did manage to get a few pictures...... 

Addison says, "banging these pots is super fun sissy!"

Alexis my little goober!

Even with the messy hair, I still LOVE this picture.

Addison, always trying to eat everything!

Addison, I'm not quite sure what she is up to here?

Both girls thought it was funny to crawl in and out of the pans, but apparently banging on large roaster pans is also hysterical.  While I must agree that it was pretty cute and funny to watch my girls to this, it made me realize that we need to get our butts in gear with baby proofing more of the house.  I've been reading online reviews for cabinet and drawer locks, but none of them really have great reviews or safety ratings.  Does anyone have any suggestions on what works best?  We have 22 cabinets (yes, we have a lot of kitchen cabinets, but this also includes the 3 bathrooms) that we need to secure and probably 12 drawers.  I don't want to break the bank but I'm also not concerned about price as much as I am safety.  Any and all suggestions are welcome!!

I promise gym pictures will be up soon!  Sorry for the delay!!

A Tale/tail of two.....Well, pony tails anyway.

There has been much discussion in our house lately in regards to haircuts.  This is something I'm SO NOT ready for yet.  I'm not sure why, but in my eyes, having the girls get their first hair cut means that I have to accept the fact that they are not babies anymore.  I can't do that yet!  Wasn't it just yesterday that we were bringing them home from the hospital? 

Terry still thinks that at least Alexis needs a "trim" to help tame her wild mane.  He probably is right, but I just can't bring myself to take them for a haircut.  Yes, eventually I will give in, but for now bows, clips, and pony tails will have to suffice.

In the past whenever I tried to put bow or anything in the girls hair they would pull them out.  If they didn't pull out their own hair accessory, then Addison would pull out Alexis' or vice versa.  So we hadn't really done much with hair products.  Now in an attempt to delay haircuts we decided that it was time to try again.  Here are some pictures of the girls with their first pony tails:

I wish I could tell you that Alexis was doing something cute like blowing kisses in this picture but she isn't.  I think she actually was in the process of running away from me while I was trying to take her picture.

Alexis again.  It's nearly impossible to get these munchkins to stand still for a picture anymore.

Alexis giving me the evil eye.

Alexis plotting how she is going to break free from her "fenced in" area.

Addison more excited about the pony tail holders than her actual hair do.

Addison Grace

Addison:  Those eyes get me every time!

Addison running away from me.

Over the weekend we celebrated Father's Day at Terry's Mom's house.  The girls were super excited to have a new place to run around and play.  We attempted to get a photo of Daddy with his girls, but as I previously mentioned....It's near impossible to get the girls to sit still for 10 seconds.  Here's our best effort:

Alexis pink & Addison blue (And Uncle Keith on the left)

Monkeys I tell you!!  (Cousin Lila popped in on the left)

See what I mean?.....nearly impossible!

And the one halfway decent picture that I get.....Terry isn't looking at the camera.  UGH!

You may remember almost a year ago, some pictures that we took of Alexis and Clifford at Ga Ga's house.

Well It seems that this past weekend, Alexis enjoyed Clifford a little more than she did a year ago....

I just love that grin!

Alexis riding Clifford with Cousin Lila.

The girls have their first tumbling class tomorrow morning.  We are all very excited so stay tuned for pictures!

What a difference a year makes....

 

Wow!!  I can't believe that the above picture was taken a year ago.  Man, how things have changed.  This was Terry last year on Father's Day in the NICU.  Alexis (left) had only been home for a few days, and Addison (right) was still perfecting the use of a bottle.  Terry looks a little stiff and uncomfortable in this picture.  Let me say, he is not that anymore!  He is SUPER DAD!!!  The girls are very lucky to have such an amazing Daddy who loves them so much!!

I've been trying to make a card for Terry from the girls.  Unfortunately, our STUPID camera decided to crap out on me again.  Here are the best pictures I could get.  (We have decided on a new camera but every time it goes on sale, it sells out.  I have a rain check to get it, but we are just waiting for it to be back in stock.  I can not wait!!!)

I love this picture of Addison.  If only my stupid camera didn't mess it up! 

Yes, this is typical Alexis.  Every time she sees the camera she runs.  I guess she doesn't like having her picture taken?  Every time I tried to get her to hold the sign she would put it on her head.  Little Booger!!

In an attempt to get the girls to sit still, I pulled out their toothbrushes.  It worked for all of about 30 seconds.  Addison determined not to look at the camera!

While this is not the best picture in the world, I'm still shocked that I managed to get both girls to sit still and both look at the camera at the same time.

Another toothbrush distraction picture.  Alexis is still learning which end she is supposed to put in her mouth.

Failed attempt #645 to get a picture of both girls looking at me.  But I still love this picture anyway.

Even though Addison has a blank stare on her face, this is one of my fav's.

I can't say it enough......We are very lucky to have Terry. 

It's very apparent that he loves his girls as much as they love him!!  Happy Father's Day Terry!!!

Just some stuff....

I thought I would post a couple of the random videos that we have taken of the girls recently. The first would be Miss Alexis. She is all about the walking lately and checking everything out. A few nights ago, we took the girls outside to play. We thought that since it was a nice evening we would lay a blanket out on the lawn and play with their bubbles and their bubble blower that they got from Terry's Mom for their birthday. Alexis liked the bubbles but was more interested in checking out everything outside, like the mulch in the flower bed, the mailbox, the sidewalk, pulling grass.....pretty much everything except playing ON the blanket. Here's a video of her exploring....please ignore her Einstein/Don King hair do...(we are in discussions regarding haircuts, which is a blog post for another time).



Addison has also decided that she is finally ready to start walking. Every since our little sunshine was born, she has always done things when "SHE" is ready. She has been practicing with her walker toy that she got from her Uncle Keith, Aunt Veronica and her cousins for her birthday. Yes, the cat has been run over on more than one occasion. Here is a video of her with her walking toy.



Addison is walking more and more everyday. I would say, probably 15 steps at the most. But she really is getting the hang of it. I FINALLY was able to capture her walking on camera this evening. Every time that I grab for the camera it seems like she immediately stops walking and starts to crawl again. Here is a video of her with her walking in our kitchen.

Here are a couple of random pictures from this evening:

Alexis wishing she was taller so she can reach whatever is on the top shelf.

Alexis just after I told her to leave Mommy's wine alone!

Addison says, "I'm taller sissy, maybe I can help you reach what's on the top shelf."

Addison, thinking that she's getting away with something.

And a BIG birthday shout out from the girls!  They are wishing their cousin Luke a HAPPY 6TH BIRTHDAY TODAY!!  These aren't the best pictures, but it was the best I could do!

Thanks Lex!

So apparently Alexis took my request yesterday for quick and easy meals for the kiddos literally.  This morning I was fixing the girls some pancakes and they were playing in the kitchen.  Addison was crawling around by my feet and Alexis was walking around just excited to be out of her "gated area".  The next thing I know, Alexis has a hand full of cat food and is feeding herself breakfast.  I can't say one way or the other whether she liked it or not, but she did actually chew and swallow a couple of pieces while I was trying to pry the rest out of her hand.

Either she was too hungry to wait for her pancakes or she was trying to help out with a "quick" meal idea?  You decide?? 

The latest and greatest....

I feel like I've been neglecting my blog lately.  I have a bunch of little random things that I want to document so this post may be a little all over the place...

Official TOOTH count....

The last week or so, Alexis has been waking up in the middle of the night.  Most nights just placing your hand on her back or patting her bottom for a couple seconds will get her to go back to sleep.  It was almost like she was having little nightmares.  She would let out a little scream, wrestle around in her crib for a bit, squeal again, and just repeat this until one of us would go into their room to calm her.  I don't know why I still didn't realize that this is probably a result of teething once again. 

Last night, the girls were having a snack and Alexis snatched some cheerios out of my hand like she hadn't been fed in a week.  Apparently, I didn't let go of the cheerios fast enough because the three cheerios in my hand, along with my fingertip, ended up in Alexis' mouth.  MAN that hurt!  I yelled a very loud OUCH, as I was pretty sure she had bit off the entire tip of my finger.  Alexis proceeded to laugh at me.  Somehow causing me pain was hysterical to both girls. Go figure!  No, there was no blood and my finger tip is still in tack, with just a small bruise but I did find out that Alexis now has four teeth on the top and two on the bottom.  Seriously those things felt like daggers.  I can only imagine the pain that the girls are feeling as they slice through their gums.  Hence the sleepless nights and crabby days!  We can't wait for teething to be over!!  Addison still has her two bottom and two top teeth.  Her upper gums look very red and swollen so we are thinking that it will be just a matter of days before hers pop through as well.

Conversations...

I feel like the girls are really starting to understand what we say to them.  I feel like they can comprehend and can follow simple instructions.  They both are starting to become more vocal and mimic us A LOT!  Terry and I both are really trying to watch our language around the girls.  It's not like we walk around cursing all the time, but there are some things/words that may not be appropriate for toddlers to be saying.  For example:  The girls are very restless when you try to change their diapers lately.  They are serious wiggle worms and you either have to make sure they have a toy to distract them or you are making a funny noise to keep them intrigued.  Well, Terry was changing Alexis the other night.  He was singing to her to distract her.  He was making up a song that went something like this...."I love you, I love you, We have to change your diaper, You can't have a smelly butt butt".  I know, stupid, but we do whatever we can to keep them still.  Well, Terry kept singing "you can't have a smelly butt butt".  The next thing I know, Alexis is saying "butt butt".  NICE!!  We have since switched our vocabulary to "tushy". 

The girls have a big purple bouncy ball that we got at Wal-Mart awhile back.  Alexis likes to carry it around while Addison just likes to roll it back and forth.  Saturday morning I told Alexis to go get her ball.  She walked across the living room, picked up the ball and brought it to me.  Followed by Addison looking at me and saying "ball".  Ok, it was more like "baw" but she was saying ball. 

Addison really has started expanding her vocabulary lately.  Along with ball, Ma Ma, Da Da, she says cat, bye bye (which sounds more like buh buh) and my personal favorite "all gone".  All gone sounds more like "aw dawn" but she is just so stinkin' cute when she does it.  She throws her hands up in the air and kind of shrugs her shoulders and in the sweetest voice says "aw dawn".  Terry's been teaching her this one.  Whenever the girls are done drinking their bottles, he always says "All gone", Addison just started repeating it.  Addison also is very proficient at patty cake, SO big, and peek-a-boo.  She covers her eyes with her hands and waits for someone to say "where's Addison".  She literally will keep her hands over her eyes for a long time playing peek-a-boo.  Addison is working on mastering walking right now.  At most, she has probably taken 6 or 7 steps.  She's very delicate and careful about walking.  She reminds us of a tight rope walker, the way she uses her arms to help balance.  I think once she gets the hang of it she is going to take off like a wild woman.  Our pediatrician told us that usually with multiples, one child is more vocal and one child is more mobile.  Then suddenly they switch.  Right now Addison is more vocal and Alexis is more mobile.  Alexis definitely is the more mobile of the two.  She barely crawls anymore and walking is her primary mode of transportation.  She does talk, but mainly still babbles.  She says Ma Ma, Da Da, Cat (tat), butt butt, and other random things that she may mimic once or twice.  I think this weekend made me realize that my girls aren't babies anymore.  They are now officially toddlers!  Both girls will wave on command and can show you one finger when you ask them how old they are!  Melt my heart!!!

Food...

I have to say that typing this is my favorite part of today's post.  WE ARE OFFICIALLY DONE WITH BABY FOOD!!  YEAH!!!  After over 500 jars of baby food (this doesn't count the close to 400 containers of food that I made myself) WE ARE OFFICIALLY ON ALL TABLE FOOD!!!  This has both its pros and cons.  While baby food was so quick and convenient, I now have to plan meals for the girls.  This is quite challenging.  Trying to find something healthy, but yet soft enough for them to chew.....as well as getting them the calories that they need to pack on the pounds.  But on the up side, baby food seemed like it was costing us an arm and a leg, so we are happy to be free of the financial aspect of baby food.

The girls have either pancakes, toast, french toast or scrambled eggs for breakfast.  Followed by either, peaches, pears, or a banana.  There always is a handful of cheerios tacked into just about every meal as well.  Lunch is ravioli, shredded lunch meat, macaroni, chicken breast or some type of meat like that.  Followed by a vegetable, a handful of goldfish crackers, and some animal crackers and typically some applesauce.  We are still trying to perfect their meals to combine a healthy meal with also ease of preparation.  If anyone has any suggestions on quick, easy, yet healthy meals we would love to hear your feedback!  I'm looking forward to the days where the girls hit the mark with their weights and calorie counting is a thing of the past.

The girls are still on formula at least until their 15 month checkup.  We have switched to a toddler formula until the day we can use regular milk.  I think Terry and I will be very happy when this day comes!!  We use a can of formula a day, so that will be a nice break on the pocket book.  Our next goal is to switch to sippy cups from bottles.  Right now, it is still important for the girls to drink their bottles to get the nutrition and calories from the formula so we haven't pushed the sippy cup transition to hard.  When we gave the girls cups they were more interested in playing with them than actually drinking from them.

WOW!  I just realized that the girls will be 14 months in a week.  I still am trying to find time to take them for their one year photos.  I hope that happens soon!

Appointment Update!

I guess all and all, Alexis' eye appointment went well.  This little Gal is such a trooper.  We arrived at the appointment, signed in and was called back immediately.  The nurse, put drops in Alexis' eyes to begin dilating them.  Alexis was not happy about this, but nothing a few Goldfish crackers couldn't solve.  She had Alexis follow some objects, and shined some lights on the wall for her to follow.  She did great!  We were then sent back out in the waiting area for about 30 minutes so the dilating drops could process.  Man, I seriously did not realize how active Alexis was until this particular moment.  She would not sit on my lap for one minute!  She wanted down to play.  Terry and I took turns chasing her around the waiting area and picking up the magazines that she would pick up and immediately throw down on the floor.  Thank goodness there is a huge waiting area and we were the only ones there.  I feel like Alexis was almost running away from us at times.  She was never more than a few feet away from one of us, but when we would tell her to come here, she would get a big grin on her face and purposely walk in the other direction.  Little booger!!

It was very cool to spend some one on one time with Alexis.  This does not happen much.  Terry's mom was back at our house watching Addison so that we could focus on her appointment without having to chase two munchkins around.  We are very grateful that the girls have wonderful grandparents who help us out on numerous occasions!!

So the long and the short of it....Dr. Roberts examined Alexis.  He shined some very bright lights in her eyes.  He made her follow dots of light on the walls & ceilings.  He had her pick up small objects off the table.  Just general things to test her eye strength.

At this time Dr. Roberts doesn't want to move forward with any treatment.  He did mention the "S" word (surgery) and also mentioned the "G" word (glasses).  He added a new word this time, "patch".  But he said that he wants to give her 3 more months before making any decisions.  By giving her 3 more months, this would allow her to "actually" be one year old.  Since she was born three months early, he wants to wait until her adjusted one year birthday has past before making any decisions towards treatment. 

I've been receiving several emails with questions recently and I was just asked by a new mommy of twins to do another "favorite things" blog.  So I will be working on another Q & A blog soon if you have any questions you wish for us to answer, please feel free to email me at:  cardinalsfan0718@netzero.com and I will do my best to address your questions.